Our Journey to Mozambique ... Part 5

Saturday, July 26th ...

We woke up this morning at 7:00 and Sean was playing music through the sound system. Gena is busy cooking bacon and eggs. It smells so good. This morning for devo we listened to another sermon that Sean had downloaded to his computer by John Piper.

If you would like to hear the message you can go to www.desiringgod.org or click on the link below.

"I Will Build My Church" -- From All Peoples

Missions Week

Matthew 16:13-26

October 28, 2001

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John Piper shared from Matthew 16:13-26

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 I also say to you that you are Peter, upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. 21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to M; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s” 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wished to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Below are some of the notes I took from what John Piper shared. I encourage you to listen to this message. It is powerful.

Jesus says “I will build my church.” It is not ultimately dependent on missionaries, churches or pastors – ultimately dependent on one thing - Jesus' faithfulness and power and commitment to his word. Christ is ultimately crucial – He uses us. If we don’t get on board he leaves us and moves on to someone else. He will get it done! Christ accomplishes it, we speak the we word, He performs it, and He gets the glory!

2) Christ's unwavering commitment to gather his church from all the peoples of the world, not just Westerners or white or red or black or yellow – but all peoples, every shade, every language, every tribe.

Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." Matthew 24:14, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations." Romans 15:11 "praise the lord all you gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him." Revelation 5:9, "You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation."

He is the King and He reins over the world and He will plant and build His church. Satan can't stop it, no one and nothing can stop it.

Missions are crucial, missionaries are crucial among the peoples of the world - the gospel won't get their any other way. The gospel must be known, heard and believed in order to be saved.

3) Christ's radical way of winning the nations, namely, by the death of himself and the death of his people. The gates of Hades will not prevail. They will be unlocked from the inside.

Jesus says that He will build His church out of dead people. The gates of Hades will not stop Him from building His church.

Matthew 16:24 says ... Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." Galatians 2:20 says ... "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."

The last point John Piper made was ... "Will we join him in dying to the world and living to Christ that we may win peoples in His name?" We must die to our self so that Christ may live.

John Piper said there are 3 types of people, he said you can be a …

1. a "Goer"

2. a "Sender" or

3. "Disobedient"

We encourage you to take the time to listen to John Piper. He has several messages about missions.

After devo we had breakfast and then went out to do hut to hut evangelism. We came to a hut where there were two women and a boy. Their names were Ida, Rosita and Pedro. I began to share the evangecube. For some reason I was nervous and I felt like I wasn’t communicating it well. (I know that it was just the enemy but I was nervous about sharing so I asked Jill to finish. As she was talking 2 men came (Edmund and Pedro) and they began listen as well. As we finished they all prayed to receive Christ.

We walked a little further and we came across a large group of people sitting down taking a break. It looked like they were in the process of building a building or home out of bricks. We recognized several of the men and women. Brad wanted to see if we could talk to the group. A man came over to us and explained that now was not a good time. Later would be better. They said they knew about the ministry times in the afternoon. We felt like they didn’t want us there because they were busy drinking.

We continued walking and we came to a nice area with several huts. We saw an older man sitting in a chair under a tree. We asked if we could visit with him and he said yes. There were two children who stood next to him and listened as we talked. Brad began to ask him some questions and he told us that he was a believer in Jesus Christ. His name is Elias he has 3 wives Lydia, Johanna and Sarah and 8 children. He introduced us to his family and told us that he was very happy to see us. He said that God sent us to see them. He told us that Lydia had lost a baby during delivery 3 weeks ago. He said they had to pull the baby out and she is experiencing pain in her hip and leg. Jill talked to her about the pain of losing a child. She shared with her the love God has for her and the hope she has in Christ. We prayed with them. They were a sweet family.

Elias and one of his wives, Lydia

Elias with his 3 wives and 8 children.

After we left their hut we headed back to camp for lunch and then got ready for afternoon ministries. In Children’s Ministry today we had 125 kids. Chuck and Debbie taught the lesson to the kids. For craft we made crosses. There were so many kids today so they had them sit in 5 rows so we could easily pass out all the pieces to the craft and help them glue it together. Tonight at the service Chuck gave his testimony and Jeff preached.

At the end of children's ministry Kathy taught them a song. They loved it!

Sunday, July 27^th ….

This morning after breakfast we got ready for church. There is not a local church in this village. We found a tree to sit under and have church. Several kids came along with several women and a few men. We also had one man (Phillip) who was in Mozambique working on the pipeline join us.

Phillip is the man in the black shirt.

We were excited to see Emilia coming to church. This lady lives by herself and is raising her child. Several years ago she was severely injured in a fall and she is now crippled. She came everyday to bible study. Her smile would light her up her whole face. She was determined to make it to our studies no matter how difficult it was for her to get there.

Emilia walked a long way to get to the church service. When Sharie, Mark and Chuck saw her coming they went to help her.

Our translators sang and also led us in worship. Jill and Isaac gave their testimonies and Sean preached the message. His message was from Matthew 7:13 -23... the Narrow and Wide Gate and A Tree and Its Fruit.

Sean warned the people that there is only one way to heaven, only one way to God and it is a narrow way. He talked about how we need to live a Christ like life. We need to demonstrate the truth of God in our lives.

He talked to the people about the ropes they wear and asked them why they wear them. He told them they don’t need a rope or anything other than Jesus Christ. He also talked to them about ancestral worship and how it is dishonoring to God.

This young man with the yellow bag is Osvaldo. We met him last year in Dindiza. He has a desire and a heart to become a Pastor. Please pray for him. Samaria Mission is praying about rather he is the leader for this church in DIndiza & Chilefu.

Sunday is our day off form ministries. After church we rested and played games. During the afternoon we stuffed bags with color pages, crayons and markers as well as candy and a small toy to give away to the kids on Monday afternoon.

Late that afternoon we watched a little of the local soccer game. It is amazing how they several of the play barefoot.

We had a bri (bbq) for dinner. Mark helped Rulof with the fire. We had steak and potatoes with salad. It was yummy. Afterwards we sat by the fire and visited.

Rulof and Mark were happy with the big fire they built for the bri. They used the hot coals to cook the steaks and potatoes.

Ann took this picture with her camera on the night vision mode. We are sitting by the fire outside of our camp. The restrooms are to the right and the showers are to the left. The lights in the background show you where our camp is at.

Instead of the nightly service we showed the Jesus video. We had a large group of people come to watch it.

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