I AM: Discovering the Nature of Jesus!

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

My Prayer Today

Heavenly Father, I pray for Pastor Chris today as he starts on his two-week journey to Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand.  I pray that You will fill him with Your Holy Spirit that everything that he says and does these next two weeks will bring glory to You and serve to advance Your Kingdom.  I pray for safety in His travels and I pray that you will give him good health throughout the trip.  I pray also for full-time missionaries around the world who seek to honor You by fulfilling Your great commission to go into all the world and make disciples.  I pray for missionaries Mark Geppert, Hubert Chan and Dan Ecker, who will also be part of the Cambodian mission, as well as Pastor Sinai from Cambodia and Pastor Bill Ellis from Oakmont, PA.  As they serve together, knit them together in the unity of the Holy Spirit that You may use them to equip additional saints for works of ministry in Cambodia and beyond.  Bless also the families of those who will be part of this trip that they may be encouraged while their loved ones are away.  All these things I pray in the name of Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, who came to lay down His life, that we may have life eternal.  Amen.

God's Word Today

Matthew 18:12-14

12“If a shepherd has one hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one? 13And if he finds it, he will surely rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! 14In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.

Thoughts...Seeking the Lost!

Today we’re taking a different approach to our study of Jesus, as the great shepherd of the sheep, as I take time to tell you about the mission/training trip to Cambodia that I will be starting today.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:12-14 that the good shepherd, who has a hundred sheep, and one who wanders away, will leave the 99 in the to go look for the one lost sheep.  As Jesus’ followers we are called to look for that one lost sheep.  The reality is that in Cambodia 96 out of every 100 “sheep” are lost, as only about 4% of the population is Christian.  The challenge is great in Cambodia, because back in the 1970’s the Khmer Rouge took over the country, and slaughtered some 3,000,000 of their own people.  Many of those who were murdered were the educated members of the Cambodian people.  Thus, three decades later education is one of the greatest needs among Cambodians.  This is particularly true for Cambodian Christians.  Since Buddhism is the predominate religion of the land, and since Christianity has bee legalized only ten years ago, there are no Bible colleges or seminaries in the country.  When folks accept Jesus as Savior and Lord, as the Good Shepherd of their lives, one of the greatest needs is for trained leaders to help them grow in their walk with Him.  That is where the Cambodian pastor training, which I am participating in for the second year comes into play.  Pastors and missionaries from various countries come together four times a year to teach groups of 60-100 Cambodian pastors and house church leaders in the areas of Bible, the Church, The Holy Spirit and The “Harvest”—evangelism.  Last year my role was to serve on one of the teams teaching the Harvest module to 100 pastors and church leaders.  This year we will be in a different area teaching 60-70 pastors the module on the Bible.  While that is the main component of the trip, the teaching of Cambodian pastors and house Church leaders, on the “front” and “back” end of the trips I will be having the opportunity to preach in Singapore and in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  As I understand it, my schedule will be as follows:

*This is the church where Mark Geppert serves as Associate Pastor

**I don’t know the actual location of the training, but believe it will be in northwestern Cambodia.

As with any missions trip, the “schedule” is subject to change and adjustment, and flexibility is the rule of the day. 

I ask you to pray for me as I travel, and serve Jesus in these various venues of ministry over the next couple of weeks.  (For your information there is a thirteen hour time difference between Singapore and PA, and a twelve hour difference between Cambodia and PA.  Thus, if it is 2:00 p.m. on Thursday in Singapore, it is 1:00 a.m. on Thursday in PA.  Cambodia is easier since it is just opposite us. 2:00 p.m. on Thursday in Cambodia is 2:00 a.m. on Thursday in Cambodia.)  While I ask for your prayers throughout the trip, I especially ask for them when I am preaching in Singapore.  There is a Buddhist Temple located next to the church, and they pray against the Christian services. When I preached there last year there was a “heaviness” that I didn’t understand until later when Mark explained to me about the spiritual warfare that was taking place.  As you pray, please understand that you are participating in this trip in a very real and powerful way. I appreciate your prayers, and your faithfulness in participating in finding the least, the last and the lost and bringing them into the fold in Jesus’ name!  I look forward to sharing what God did when I return on March 30! God Bless! – Pastor Chris

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