Hope of the World Ministry
Going to the lost to bring them to Jesus
Dear Partners and Friends —I just returned from the Samburu Region of Kenya where I partnered with my friend Dub Lewis of Acts Today to carry the Gospel to the totally un-reached. On this trip we returned to the area we had worked in last August -- the one road town of Oldinero deep in the bush. The area is wild and primitive– and it is well known as a corridor for wild elephants. The natives fear the elephant—the true king of the jungle--- they have told us that many people are killed by them each year.
We saw this elephant as we drove through the bush
Now I had the joy of staying in the same $3 a night room that I had stayed in on my last trip. It was 6x6 with one 15 watt light bulb hanging from the ceiling that burned only a few hours a day -- no running water and a lot of bugs and rats — it resembled a jail cell.
Leading a village to Christ
On our first day of ministry a man showed up at the hotel to be our guide—to my surprise I recognized him immediately. He was the elder of a village we ministered in on our last trip.– he had told us that he had been a drunkard all his life and that he “caned his wife on a regular basis”. But after hearing the Gospel, he had knelt down to accept Jesus and apologized to his wife for beating her. He got into the car with us and led us across the bush to our first village. Now I noticed something about him as we began to minister—he was smiling, singing, dancing and full of joy. He stood up to greet the people of the village and with an excitement began to tell them about Jesus! He told them that the minute he had given his life to Jesus that everything changed! He quit drinking, he quit beating his wife, he had peace and joy and all he could do now was to tell others about Christ! He had gone overnight from being a wife beating drunk to a powerful Evangelist who was reaching his own people —only Jesus!!
Our Landcruiser stuck again-- the tires are completely off the ground this time
We preached the Gospel to the people in that village and 33 of them came to Christ. Then we prayed for the sick and they brought us a boy who was completely deaf --- the Lord healed him! Then over the next few days we went deep into the bush - village to village - telling people about Jesus. One day our car got stuck in a river bed hours away from Oldinero. We were in a very dangerous situation – if we were there overnight the elephants could have surely killed us—we had already seen one on the road nearby. Nothing stops the elephants when they get mad — they can even turn a car over with their hugh tusks. But by the grace of God after digging and pushing for over two hours the Lord sent a band of young Moran Warriors. They begin to dig and push beside us until finally the car broke free — Thank you Jesus!
Giving out Proclaimers -- the Spoken Word of God to a people who don't read or write!
In each village people came to Jesus and God healed the sick. Another deaf person - a woman - was healed in one village and two blind woman received their sight. We gave out proclaimers – the spoken word of God --- and we know that at least two churches will be planted in this area because of the miracles Jesus did. By the end of the trip we had seen over 100 hands go up for Jesus – people who had never heard His name before—this is hard for us to imagine here in the United States – people who have never heard the name of Jesus before.
Totally deaf boy completely healed by Jesus!
But I think the real story of this trip was the comments I heard from the people. Now you have to understand that these people were totally isolated and knew nothing about the Gospel, eternal life, eternal damnation, Heaven or Hell. They believe when you are dead you are just dead and they worship the ancestors and nature. So when we present the Gospel we have to start at the beginning and take them all the way to the cross. We tell them about creation, sin, Heaven and Hell and the sacrifice and love of Christ — and as we are speaking to them, the Holy Spirit is working in their hearts and they come to Jesus.
They know nothing about eternal life, Heaven or Hell
Coming to Jesus after hearing the Gospel for the first time!
Now here are some of the things they said as we ministered to them:
v In one village as we spoke of Heaven and Hell a woman said: “ Now you have brought us a big problem – yesterday we knew nothing about this place of punishment – Hell -- but today we know we are going there – now we have to know about this door to Heaven – please show us the way and open the door for us!”
v In that same village another woman said: I have been blind all my life and the blind know what it is to suffer – I have suffered enough here on this earth I don’t want to go to hell to suffer more – I must follow this Jesus.
v In another village a man told me that he was a good person and because of that he was going to heaven – I asked him how many good things he had to do good to get to heaven and he looked at me and said: “40”. H'mm -- interesting --- Then I told him that Heaven was a perfect place for perfect people and he said he was not a perfect person. I told him he needed Jesus and when we gave the invitation he knelt down and became perfect before God.
v In another village a woman said she would go to heaven and when I asked her why – she said: “ I know I am a sinner and I ask god for forgiveness every day.” I said – what god? She said: “I don’t know.” – Wow! What a privilege it was to tell her about the only One who could give her the forgiveness she was looking for.
v In another village a woman said – “I will not go to Hell – no one can make me or drag me there – I refuse!” But after preaching the Gospel the Holy Ghost touched her heart and she realized her need for the One who died for her – Jesus – and she knelt down and came into the Kingdom.
v Then there was the village where a man just happened to be there visiting when we showed up. He knelt down and accepted the Lord -- then he insisted that we come to his home to tell his family about Christ. As we drove up to the mud huts the man jumped out of the car running and screaming this: “ Come and see what I have found – Come and hear what I have heard!” And his family did.
It was like the woman at the well and the Philippian jailer all in one – he and his whole household were saved that day.
Daughter of the man who told us to tell his family about Jesus --
"come and see what I have found -- come and hear what I have heard!"
Then on the last day we met another old man we had seen on our trip last year. He argued with us on that trip and told us that he did not want the Gospel preached in his village. In fact the man had run his own son out of the village because the boy had heard about Jesus in Nairobi and tried to tell him about Him – the man wanted nothing to do with God. But finally he allowed us to preach the Gospel -- God healed two blind men that day and the whole village came to Jesus. I asked the man if he was still praying to Jesus and he said: “Oh yes! – I lead my whole village in prayer everyday and my son has come back to live with me.” I said: “How about the blind man – can he still see?” He said better than ever. Then I asked— “why are you still praying to Jesus?” —– he said two things:
v One – that you prayed for my best friend who was blind and now he can see – only the true God can do that!
v And two – we had been in a severe drought for months– everything was dying — and on the day you came to our village the rains began – the true God blessed us because of the Word you brought!
Thank you Jesus for allowing us to serve You — what a privilege and honor and blessing!
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