Greetings! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the summer. We are now halfway through the year. Thank you for all your prayers and support. Pray really is a vital part of the missionary task. So thank you for praying for the displaced indigenous work in Bogota. Please continue to pray that the Word of Christ would speed ahead and be honored and that the gospel of our Lord would advance throughout the world unhindered. Pray that Christ would be boldly proclaimed to all peoples, that God would open hearts to receive the Word, that the Word would take root and be fruitful, that believers would be discipled, and that many healthy churches would be established. Pray that the Lord of the harvest would send out laborers. And as we go to the nations, our Lord has promised to be with us always.
In June, I had a week trip to Panama for some meetings. I had a good time their see friends I haven’t seen
in a while and making new ones. Although most of my time was spend in meeting, I was able to go to the
beach for one afternoon. And since we have some national partners working with us now, they were able
to visit the indigenous while I was out of the country.
Most of my time each week is spent visiting the various parks and shelters where 1000s of the displaced
indigenous live. In the national park where nearly 600 of them live, the park is blocked off and government social workers are guarding who goes in. It has been really difficult to gain entrance. I have
only been allowed in three times, and each of those time the indigenous had to advocate for us to the social workers to insist that I be allowed in. So please pray that we can gain entrance into the national
park. Also pray for all of our visits with the indigenous in the parks and shelters.
Please continue to pray for my Puinave friend “Mike” and his family. Pray that my visits with him would
be fruitful. I meet with him once a week to talk, pray, and read Scripture. Also pray for my visits with my Wounaan friend “Silas” and his family. I meet with him a few times a month to talk, pray, and read Scripture. He’s had a few medical issues. So pray for him regarding those. And pray for the Wounaan church in Bogota that it would grow and be healthy and that they would reach other Wounaan with the gospel.
Please pray that more national partners will become involved in the indigenous work in Bogota. Pray
that local churches and Colombian believers would see that need that in in their city. We already have
some national partners working with us. But the need is great. Ask the Lord of the Harvest to send
out laborers. And pray that our national partners would be trained to work well and with wisdom.
Right now there is a church planter training going on in Bogota with believers from other parts of Colombia. Later this year, there will be another training. So we are beginning to see training for our national partners.
Please pray for me as I continue my language learning journey as I tackle to task of learning Katio, one of the indigenous languages. Pray that my ears would be able to hear the difference sounds, that my tongue would be able to reproduce those sounds, and that I would pick up the grammar and learn to speak the language well so that I can communicate the gospel clearly in the language.
In Acts 10, we see the gospel spreading to the Gentiles. God sends Peter to preach the gospel to Cornelius. Peter proclaims to him both who Jesus is (Lord of all) and what He has done in His life, death, resurrection, and how He appeared to the disciples after the resurrection proving that He really did rise from the dead (cf. 1 Cor 15:5-6). He then says that Jesus commanded them to preach and testify to people about Christ how He will judge the living and the dead but all who believe and trust in Him will receive forgiveness of sins through His name.
In the Great Commission, we too have been commanded by Jesus to preach the gospel to all nations. In our proclamation, we proclaim to all who will hear who Jesus is and what He has done. Jesus is the sovereign Lord who will judge the nations (Acts 17:31; John 5:22). That is what people need to hear that they are sinners under condemnation and a day of judgment is indeed coming. But Jesus is also the glorious Savior. Through His life, His vicarious death on the cross, and His resurrection, Jesus saves sinners—sinners who justly deserve wrath. He is full of mercy and grace, and lavishly pours out His mercy and grace on everyone who believe on His name. This forgiveness is only found in the name of Jesus. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. Therefore, we boldly proclaim Jesus to the nations. All of this was prophesied in the Old Testament. This was God’s plan from the beginning that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed to the nations (Luke 24:46-47.
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