Do You Know the Way from Death to Life?

On Monday, March 1st, a group of 10 people set out on a journey from João Pessoa to Cajazeiras: seven hours of road, good conversation, deep thinking and getting to know one another better. The road trip was just the beginning of what promised to be an uplifting and edifying experience for the church in Cajazeiras. We were going to campaign for Christ in the neighborhood that surrounds the church building. The neighborhood's name is Cristo Rei (Christ King), exactly the person we wanted to introduce. There were twenty-two of us: ten from João Pessoa, eleven from Cajazeiras and one from Belém, door knocking on some 550-600 houses during six days. We kept going back to the same houses every day, handing out six different tracks. The objective? To create trust, build a relationship that allows us to get past the door, to set up Bible studies so that Christ can do some heart knocking.

Since Cajazeiras does not have a movie theater, we tried to attract people by inviting them to watch movies on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights were more direct to the point: lessons on "Forgiveness," "Transformation," and "Resurrection from the Dead". As time passed we moved from the door to the couch, from the couch to the heart. Not everyone opened up, but some peaked out. We receive thirteen visitors on Friday, eighteen on Saturday, and twenty-one on Sunday. Six people asked to learn the way from death to life. Please pray for them as they study God's Word, as they answer Christ's knock at their heart's door and listen to Him speak about life eternal.

Do You Know The Way From Death To Life? If you do, are you showing others? I hope that you feel the love and joy of being able to take Christ with you as you go heart-to-heart knocking until someone opens and allows Christ to speak.

Comments

"What About Baptism?"

Edda and I went to a nearby city to study the Bible with a family, Genilda (who is already a Christian), Ana, Mariana, Luiza, and Jefferson. While we were reading God's Word, Ana's husband, Silva, came in and sat down, and then blurted out: "What about baptism?" It took me by surprise because he has barely studied with us, but, most certainly, is already thinking about spiritual matters. Our Bible study then took a lot of detours, answering this question or that. Silva said he still has a lot of questions, and we pray that the Lord will use us to answer them, bringing him to understand the Good News!

One More Goodbye

This year has been rough for Borges's family. They lost a pillar in their family, his wife's mother in February. Now her brother has passed, buried today. He was diagnosed with prostrate cancer 18 months ago. A policeman, used to taking care of the family, he had to settle with being taken care of by the family as his body gradually shut down when the cancer metastasized to his bones. Borges and Geilza have spent every free moment taking care of Demilson's needs, and it has been torture watching him slowly wear away. His colleagues in the Military Police carried his casket, played taps on a trumpet, presented his family with a Paraiba flag, and thanked his family for supporting him in defending society for nearly thirty years. It was a nice gesture, but the event that gives us believers hope in the face of death is Jesus winning over the grave. He is our certainty that a grave is not the end.

Men Preparing Themselves in the Word

Every Tuesday night for the last month we have been getting together to study God's Word. The subject is controversial but needed because it affects relationships and families in the church, and we as spiritual leaders will be more effective if we are united in teaching Jesus' will on marriage and divorce. Just like Jesus, we want to go back to beginning and uphold God's ideal when He created marriage: “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6

McKinney Report

Search This Blog