Over 15 years ago, a young family moved into our helpers quarters connected to our house that we lived in at the time. The mom of the family helped me with household chores and the dad began working for Doug at the hospital, as a grounds keeper. They had two children Bo and Toto. Toto was the same age as Jonathan and the two of them became fast friends. They did everything together. Jonathan would often convince Toto to go church with him as well. For years they were best buddies until Toto hit his teen years, his parents moved to the clinic grounds, and we went to the states for our furlough time. When we came back we rarely saw him. His Dad (some of you know him as Khun Dang) still works for us at the clinic and is a vibrant Gospel sharer. The last we heard was that Toto went away to become a soldier. A few weeks ago, Toto came into my office at TCT to see if I might have work for him. He had heard we needed a strong man to help with some of the tougher chores around our center. I hardly recognized him. I talked to him about where he was at with God and he said he was on his way back to faith. I knew he would hear the Word of God everyday in devotions so I hired him on the spot. Now two months later I was completely blown away when in devotions on Wednesday, he walked to the front of the staff and told the Bible story he had been memorizing with perfection and confidence. On Friday he played the guitar during our worship time. (I didn't even know he could play) He even sings like a dream. So long ago I thought we'd lost him. But God found him and brought him back to us. This was my shower of blessing this week. Seeing Toto telling a Bible story to a bunch of adults and listening to him sing praise songs and play the guitar. My cup runneth over.
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On Sunday morning Doug and had a wonderful time teaching the children in our house church in Plang Yao about Gideon. In the process of telling the story we made a discovery of our own which gave us an incredible idea for the next time we meet. Read on and discover what we did. This is Doug helping the kids visualize how Gideon's army was chosen. Here we made little pools of water for the kids to try and drink. Doug is using his hands to drink the water. Here Doug is showing them how some lapped like a dog? Then he told them how the Lord kept telling Gideon there is too many men. When they got to 300 men, Gideon showed them their weapons, a horn, a clay pot and a torch. Gideon told them to put the pot over the torch. "When I give you the word, break your pot, blow your horn and yell," For the Lord and for Gideon" That's all it took to scare them all to death. God's hand and God's plan. "Sometimes you kids might find you are all alone in your schools fighting an army of people who don't know Jesus. Most of you are the only Christian in your class. You are God's 300 club at school. You can have strength to do whatever God asks you to do. God is that powerful." As we traveled home that day we decided we need to make 300 club bracelets or arm bands next time we meet so the kids will remember that God is with them and he will take care of them like he did Gideon. These kids face a lot of persecution that America kids can't even comprehend. Every event and ceremony is a Buddhist ceremony. The opening session at school begins with Buddhist chants. Their teachers often punish them if they do not participate. Please pray for our kids, Folk, Guy, Pear, Gift, Oom, Bank, Omsin, Pow, A, and Pho. That God would help them to be brave and live for Jesus. This morning in our devotional time at Thai Country Trim we are going through a series of Bible stories. We have split into teams of 2 and each team prepares to tell the story we have assigned and then together we look for the truth's that we find there. Today's story was the paralytic man of whom four strangers brought to Jesus for healing.
As a child I remember this story being told as, the four friends bringing the paralytic to Jesus. Actually the bible doesn't say they were friends, or that they even knew the man they were bringing to Jesus. They just new the power of Jesus to heal. As we discussed this today, we discovered something we had not seen before. These four men potentially brought this paralyzed man they did not know, to Jesus holding nothing back. Can't get in the door? Let's cut a hole in the roof of a house we do not own and lower him over the crowd so Jesus can heal him. What? How many of us would be so brave? If we know the power of Jesus to save, we should bring people to Jesus with no fear. Lay His plan out before them, with no fear. Go to places we do not know with no fear. Below are the thoughts of my national partners in ministry after thinking through the truth's coming out of this story. "It's easy to help family and friends when they are down and out, not so easy when its someone you don't know or someone who doesn't smell so good." "The four men taking care of this invalid makes me think of how this should be a model of how we should do evangelism. Work together to take people to Jesus" "They had to know and have a lot of faith that Jesus could heal him or they would have never taken such a risk." "They must have been very brave to go up on a strangers roof and cut a hole in it. Are we confident in our faith that we would take such risks to bring someone to Jesus?" Usually on mobile clinic, my job is to see patients and my Thai staff shares the Gospel with everyone when they pick up their meds. But one mobile clinic day recently, it was about noon and many of my staff were at lunch, so I handed over the doctor role to the capable American docs who were with me and went to help pass out meds and share Christ with the line of people waiting. While in that role, I talked to a 39 year old man who lived near the Cambodian border. I asked if he had heard about God before. He looked at me perplexed and said “no.” I explained that it was God that had made the world and had given us a conscience so that we would flee sin and try to know Him. He had a host of questions – he had never heard the story before. I finished sharing, and asked if he was ready to submit to God as Lord and ask His forgiveness for sins. Again, the perplexed look came over him – only now he was even more troubled. He was weighted by the truth that he had just heard…but he looked up at me and said, “I’ve never known God was out there. I’ve never even considered that there might be a God.” He said it again, almost to himself, “I’ve never even considered that God could exist.” “What should I do?” He asked me and then looked at the ground. It was a life changing – eternity changing moment. Just an hour earlier, his biggest problem in life was a recurring headache. Now he weighed changing his entire belief system and all his life’s priorities on the basis of hearing news from a stranger. It took him some time to decide, but he could not overcome his need. I prayed for him and then he bowed his head and prayed out loud, repenting of his sin, confessing his belief in God, and asking to belong to God from then on. It was his first time hearing the Message, and he took full advantage. Praise the Lord.
One of our groups of home workers for Thai Country Trim is in a little rural town named Tungmahajaren. In this little town there is a little church with no pastor but a wonderful lay leader that God has used to slowly build this little church. His father recently died, and at the funeral, he shared this story with the unsaved people who had come to his father’s funeral.
Not many years ago, my life had hit the bottom of the pit. I was a terrible drunk, I was about to lose my job as a teacher, and my wife wanted a divorce. I would walk down the street in the evenings and just shout at people and cars. I was the worst kind of person. A fellow teacher would tell me, Jesus can help you if you are willing to let him. I was not willing, until I was at my lowest point in my life. I went to that fellow teacher and he told me how to follow Christ. I gave my life to Christ that day and he healed me of my alcoholism, He helped me repair my marriage with my wife, and I became a better teacher. I had the privilege of leading my whole family to faith in Christ. My father is in Heaven I know. For years I have been trying to pass the test to be a school administrator. Last Saturday, I took the test. Usually the results are not known for several weeks. But on Thursday, seeing that my father would be in Heaven soon, I called and asked if they could tell me if I passed. They told me YES! I shared that with my father and 20 minutes later, he was gone. God has been so good to me. I thank him for giving me that word to tell my father –he went to heaven knowing how God was continuing to provide for me. Khru shared this story in a house full of people who were not believers. People who knew him when….. Pray with us that God will use his testimony to reach them and to grow this church Yupha is one of my Thai Country Trim workers that has been with us for over 15years. She came to me as a widow with no education, and a small child to raise. We took her on and helped her feed her family while we fed her God’s word in the process. She received Christ after working with us for several months.
Through the years she has been given the task by her family, not only to care for herself and her daughter, but others in the family as well. Her invalid mother was with them for about 8 years before she passed away. Then came a VERY sickly sister (her sickness, likely a result of the life-style she had been leading) she could not walk, feed herself, or bathe herself. Yupha gently took care of her for a long time, but any time she mentioned God or church, her sister would get very angry and say horrible things. When we began studying Bible storying, Yupha would practice her stories at home. She would leave her Bible open to where she was practicing her stories on the bed next to her sister when she would leave for work. Soon her sister began asking questions. She could see a softening in her heart. She began praying over her before bedtime. Some of her neighbors who are also TCT employees would also share with her and pray over her. Slowly she began to feel a little better. She could use her hands, then she could scoot around the room. She could sit up longer, then use a walker. They shared with her the story of the paralytic and the 4 who brought him to Jesus. They shared with her that God has the power to heal. They shared and prayed that God would do a miracle. Now Yupha’s sister can walk and fully take care of herself. The change is incredible. Then last Sunday, for the first time ever, she came to church with Yupha – walking into church on her own 2 legs. We rejoice over God’s power to heal. In our last newsletter I talked about learning a new Bible storying method that I had only begun implementing as I was writing the article. Now it has been 4 months and God has been moving in my staff in wonderful ways. As we have been practicing on each other daily for the past 4 months, these are some of the things my staff has shared as they have learned and began using Bible storying for themselves, each other, family and friends.
Pawana- (She has worked for us since she was saved at our Christmas program in our yard 15 years ago. She is a simple minded women who talks very little and works VERY hard.) “I’m a good reader, but I have never memorized a verse before never mind a whole story. When Cheryl asked us to do this, I thought it was impossible. I decided to try. So, I took my story with me wherever I went, I read it before bed, when I got up, when I was on the bus, while working. When it was my turn to stand up and tell the story. I did it.” No one thought this was something Pawana could do. When she finished her story. I was crying, people were cheering, and a transformation in Pawana began to happen. Now I can give Pawana any Bible story and she will take it on. God is using what she is learning to make her a new person. He is also changing us as we watch what God can do. Dang- (has worked full time for almost 20 years, she is a single women in her early 40’s, very smart, very sharp, and a woman of strong faith.) “Watching Pawana tell her story for the first time was inspiring to me. Studying the Bible this way has made me want to learn more. “ I have seen revival in Dang’s heart since studying the Bible together with this storying method. She is so gifted in many things, I look forward to seeing what God will do next with her. Phim- (Phim has worked for TCT for many years as well, first as a home worker, and after she gave her life to Christ, she came to work for us full time at the center. Phim also has little education, and studying anything scares her.) “Learning to tell and find the treasures in Bible stories has given me confidence to share things about God to my family. I always felt like I didn’t know enough. Now things are just pouring out of me. When we studied the woman with the issue of blood, I knew, that was me. It reminded me I have a testimony just like that, I need to share it. Phim told us when we were studying that story that before she became a Christian, she suffered with severe asthma since childhood. Usually her attacks would put her in the hospital several times a year. When our hospital evangelist would witness to her she would always pray God would heal her. Since the day she gave her heart to Jesus, she has not had an asthma attack. She is in her 50’s now. She had never told anyone this story. I told her, this is an incredible thing God has done for you, you must share it. How will Thai people who don’t know God, know how powerful He is, if we don’t tell them what God has done for us? She took that to heart and also has had revival in her heart and life. Teaw- (She has a college degree and seminary training. She has worked for us since she was in high school. She is a worship leader for us and our local church.) “Storying has been such a blessing to me. Seeing so many people who have very little education tell whole stories by memory has just amazed me. All of us have been made to read the Bible more than ever before, and I can see how it is changing us.” Teaw has become very proficient in leading our group to find the treasures God has for us in the stories we tell and study. I look forward to seeing how God will use her in the future. Phonpit- ( she has worked for us for almost 30 years. She is very simple minded and had to quit school in the 4th grade to take care of her family.) “Studying like this has made me not just read my Bible but really know it. Know it so well, I can tell it to someone else, just like I talk to them about anything else. I feel so smart." I sometimes call Phonpit our little Cinderella girl. Before she knew Christ, no one in her life ever showed her love. I love watching her tell her assigned stories, it blesses my heart right down to my shoes. Aroni- ( our longest working employee, serving the Lord here for 30+ years. She has helped develop this ministry from the beginning. She is in her 60’s now and still a vital part of what we do.) “This study really gave my faith a jump start. God used it to show me things I needed to change. It has helped me to be more bold when I go on visits to our workers’ homes. It has helped me become a better church leader. If we believe that what we have in God is good, we need to share it.” Aroni shared with me that at the church plant she is working in, they asked her to teach youth. That really scared her, but she didn’t want to say no. So she prayed and asked God to show her what to do. Then I began teaching this storying method and she had the answer. She has been using it ever since and always has wonderful stories to share with me. Studying God’s word using this method has helped us at Thai Country Trim in several ways. First, it has sent revival in our midst, second it has given us a level of confidence we were sorely lacking, third we have memorized more scripture than we ever thought possible, and fourth, we are beginning to see fruit from our new found boldness. (see my next story, “Far from God”) We had another baptism at our little house church in Plaang Yaow! Just writing that makes me smile. One was a young woman in her 20s who has struggled with the decision to follow Christ for some time, but finally saw her hopelessness without God and decided to follow Him. The second was a 14 year old girl who has come to meetings for a long time with her aunt, but never wanted to follow Christ. Finally, in April, she told her aunt, “I believe in God now, and if I get into Benja (a private high school that takes only the best students) I will get baptized.” The day came, and Benja announced the names of all the students they had accepted. Bam, our little 14 year-old’s name was not listed. It was a painful blow to Bam and her family. College acceptance is greatly related to the quality of the high school one attends, so failing to enter Benja put a cloud over Bam’s future. A couple weeks later, as the family discussed the matter again (it was hard to talk about anything else), Taew, her aunt, said, “perhaps you should not make deals with God. You either believe in Him and choose to obey Him or not. You shouldn’t make conditions for God saying you will only obey Him (and be baptized) if He helps you.” Wonderfully, Bam agreed. She called me at almost 10 o’clock that very night (it was a Saturday) and told me of her faith and asked to be baptized in the morning at church. I talked with her about her faith and made plans to talk with her more in the morning before baptizing her after the worship service on Sunday. Less than an hour after talking to me, several friends excitedly called her. “Bam! Benja is accepting more students! They just announced it on TV. Go on their website and see if you got in!” Bam’s whole family went into an upstairs room together and went to the school’s website together. And there was Bam’s name. She had been accepted. Her fledgling faith had been immediately rewarded – and we baptized her the very next day. Her uncle, our national leader the Plang Yeow House Church, was given the honor of Baptizing her. What a wonderful family event!
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