Today was an interesting day. We were
supposed to start to have our students make presentations. I did the
devotional illustrating how to study Mark 1:21-39. I thought it went well
and was excited to begin hearing from the students. They were supposed to
prepare sermon presentations before they came to the workshop, but we found out
that none of them had. I was shocked. It turns out that they did
not distribute the material until they came to the workshop on Monday, and
nobody had done the homework. They explained that it is not possible to
get the material to the students if not handed out during the previous
workshop, something they had not told me. Most live in remote areas without
email or a way to receive the materials. Our whole scheduled was ruined,
or so I thought. I accepted it fairly well and we gave them the morning
to work on their presentations. After one hour they all said they were
done. I was once again shocked. How can you do all the study
necessary to preach a sermon in one hour? This was a helpful thing to see
so I could address this issue with them. God does know what He is doing.
If they had done their homework before they came, I never would have
discovered this and would not have been able to encourage them to work harder
in study.
We had asked them yesterday to tell us the
significant problems in the Lahu church and the number one issue was the fact
that many Lahu Christians live no differently than the unsaved. Mike and
I tried to decide how to address this issue biblically, and finally
decided on a couple of passages, Ephesians 4:17 –24 and Titus 3:3-7. We
had no prep time so it was designed to be a group Bible study on these
passages. Mike took Ephesians and did an amazing job finishing in a way
that led perfectly into what I was going to do. After Titus I went
on to Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 to show how the Spirit uses the Word to
renew our minds, and how it is critical for them to preach the Word so their
people can experience this since so many of them are illiterate. I just
don’t know how it could have gone better even if we planned for weeks. God
is so good to lead us in teaching these men in ways that really helps them. I think they really understood the importance of what we are teaching
them for the first time.
Marting, the leader, told me that he had been
trying to use our approach in his preaching. One thing that he noticed is
that people were actually interested in hearing what he said and were paying attention. I have noticed at the chapels that almost no one pays attention
when the speaker preaches. I assume that is because they have all heard
the sermons before. But when one shows them what God is actually saying in
His Word, they get very interested. These are the times when it is so
much fun to do what we do.
Tomorrow will be another interesting day.
I do not know how we are going to adjust the schedule to fit the time we
have but I am certain God does. And, His way works just fine. Thanks so much for praying for us. Today
is one illustration of how your prayers help us do what God has called us to do,
and to do it with joy.
Al
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