Depressed or Encouraged?
Can a quote be both depressing and encouraging all at once? I think so. At least I read one like that a few weeks back. It was from Tim and Tiffany Lanier. They’ve been working alongside Inapang believers in a cross-cultural evangelistic outreach to a neighboring Tangguat village. And the quote went like this:
“The people are walking around the village with their arms crossed and their shoulders stooped. They are seeing they are completely ‘messed up’ by sin.”
Depressing and encouraging all at once. Don’t you agree? Tim Lanier certainly does. He wrote, “We rejoice at the Holy Spirit’s work in their hearts. As people must be lost before they can be saved, we praise God for this. And we praise God as their Hope is coming very soon!”
Hope Brings Rejoicing
As I write this, stooped shoulders have been replaced with rejoicing. Months of teaching culminated in the Tangguat people of Papua New Guinea hearing how Christ took their place on the cross as the perfect sacrificial lamb. And better yet? They heard how He rose victorious from the grave. Rejoice with me that one day we’ll meet Tangguat believers in heaven!
A Few Testimonies
“There is nothing we can do to bring ourselves back to God. It is God alone! Jesus came and died for our sins and it is only because of Him that we can come to God.”
“We always thought that we could help ourselves and that we could stand on our good works,” said one more. “But now I have heard this story and I know that there is only one road …. His blood was shed for our sins and He made one way, one door, for us to go through and it is that we must trust in Him.”
“Jesus … is the one door to God. His blood was shed for us and if we believe in Him, then by that road we will come to God. He has completely erased all our sin and because of that I am so happy.”
The Real Work Begins
“Please continue to pray for the Inapang church and for the newborn Tangguat church,” wrote Tim and Tiffany Lanier. “As you parents know, while pregnancy and labor are difficult, after the baby is born is when the real work begins.”
I love reading updates about what God is doing around the world, and getting to partner in prayer. Would you join me in prayer for the this infant Tangguat church?