WBC Missions Conference ~ September 10-14, 2014

  

     Our family was blessed to be a part of the Worth Baptist Church Missions Conference this past week in Fort Worth, Texas! Their love for Jesus and for Missions is so apparent amongst the staff and church members at WBC! It was great to meet the other missionaries there, the Priday family to Honduras and the Haynes family to Kurdistan, and to hear about God's call for their lives.

     Evening services took place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as well as breakout sessions where each missionary shared their particular field. The keynote speaker was Pastor Luis Ramos who preached some excellent messages! Wednesday's message was on "The Scope of the Great Commission" from Mark 16. On Thursday, he preached on "The Lukewarm Church" from Revelation 3, and Friday he shared from Acts 1:8 on the "Ommission of the Great Commission". On Thursday and Friday, a question and answer and prayer time with small groups took place. It was neat to have this time with the church members and to talk and pray with them.

     A number of activities took place on Saturday. The ladies met for a brunch and Lena Priday, Apryl Haynes and I shared our testimonies. Michelle Volante gave the gospel and we heard from the pastors wife, Mrs Weaver, and were blessed to hear some dear ladies sing. 

     The children, teens, and men of the church had their own activities for the day. Laura, Heidi and I enjoyed an afternoon with Andrea Coker, who along with her husband, Darrell, was our sponsons during the conference. In the evening, the Coker family went with us to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History to see the IMAX show on Jerusalem. Very neat!

      Sunday arrived, the final day of the conference. The missionaries taught different Sunday School classes. In the morning service, we heard a message from Steve Volante on the Conference theme "True Worship Brings True Witness". In the Evening service, Miguel Triano preached on Isaiah 6, "Here I Am, Send Me". Following evening service was a presentation of gifts to the missionaries. We were so blessed by the outpouring of love from our friends at WBC. Thank you all who gave to help meet our needs!

     The Candlelight service after was amazing! Pastor Weaver gave each missionary a Bible and had us take our light and Bible to a section of the auditorium representing our country. All around the darkened auditorium were the lights of the missionaries and church members. To show what a dark world this would be without Christians being a light for Christ, in the still darkened room, all lights were extinguished.

     It was wonderful to gain new friends and Jason even had a few people express a desire to take a missions trip to Hungary next summer! What an awesome week! 

     To God be the glory!

Terrific Ten!

    Micah, turned ten yesterday, September 9. The day before, we arrived in Fort Worth, TX for a Missions Conference and decided to take the family to the Science and History Museum. It's so neat to watch the kids explore, learn and grow. They learn much with hands-on experiences such as those displayed at a museum. What's even more neat is to see the kids grow spiritually. Sunday we were in a church in Chattanooga, TN. The pastor there was quite thrilled to hear Micah ask him if he needed anything and if he could help. Micah's servants heart is growing so incredibly large! 

Happy 10th birthday, Micah! 

Showers Of Blessings

Ezekiel 34:26

And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.

     God has really been good to our family during our first half year of deputation. He has used churches to come alongside us to help here at home in the States as we proceed in our journey toward Hungarian soil for Hungarian souls. Some church members have offered encouragement in words, and others have been used to provide for needs. 

     I am so thankful for those God has used to help us along the way! 

     Köszönöm szépen!

Train Up A Child

Proverbs 22:6

"Train up a child in the way he should go:

and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

     Whenever we visit a church, Micah asks if he may preach. I love his desire to share God's Word with others. He wants God to use him in a place where he would be needed most. Before Jason and I left for our trip to Hungary in June, Micah told me he wished he were going with us.

     "Micah," I had said. "Don't you want to stay with Grandpa and Grandma?" I had assumed he was more than thrilled to stay with Jason's parents.

     "Of course I do, Mom," Micah had responded. "But Grandpa and Grandma KNOW they will be in Heaven when they die. The people in Hungary don't."

     As I wiped away a tear, I thought of 3 John 1:4. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

     Thank you, Father, for the children you've entrusted me with and may they always walk in truth. Amen.

     

N

Lessons on the Servant Girl of Naaman's Wife Part 3/3

The Product

Part 3/3

2 Kings 5:5-19

And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. 

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 

And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. But he said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused. And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord. In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing. And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way. 

I don't know about you, but I just love this story! I especially love verse 15 where Naaman confesses "Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel". It reminds me of when Jesus said in Luke 15:7 "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."  I'm not going into detail about the events leading up to Naaman's admitting this. The wonderful truth is that the efforts of the servant girl and Elisha led to Naaman's cleansing from his leprosy and ultimately, his faith in God. 

Just as there was only one way for Naaman to be healed of his leprosy, there is only one way to heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us be challenged to not keep silent about our faith, as the servant girl, and to show others how they might find forgiveness of their sins in Christ alone. 

Lessons on the Servant Girl of Naaman's Wife Part 2/3

The Plan

Part 2/3

2 Kings 5:2

And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. 

Here we are introduced to the heroine of the story. Hip hip, hooray! 

This girl was taken captive from her home, family, and all that was familiar to her. She must have been really bitter toward those that had taken her away, right? Nope! Just the opposite. 

2 Kings 5:3

And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. 

The servant girl was apparently bright and sensitive to the sorrowful heart of Naaman's wife, who perhaps wore a solemn countenance as she thought of her husbands plight. 

Not only do we not know the name of this girl, but we also don't know how old she was in this account. She was certainly old enough to have taken notice of the prophet Elisha, or at least old enough to pay attention to the stories her parents, relatives, or friends related to her of the prophet. Let's take a look at the events Elisha partook in leading up to this account. The first two would only be known to Elisha and God, but others saw the remainders:

1. Elisha saw the prophet, Elijah, whom he learned much from, taken up in a whirlwind. (2 Kings 2:11).
2. Just before Elijah was taken in a whirlwind, he asked Elisha what he most wanted. Elisha responded that he wanted a double portion of the Spirit of the Lord that empowered Elijah and it was granted to him (2 Kings 2:9,14,15).
3. God enabled Elisha to give the people of Jericho good drinking water (2 Kings 2:19-22).
4. God chastised forty-two children for making fun of Elisha after he cursed them in the name of the Lord (2 Kings 2:23-24). 
5. Elisha was known by and inquired after for help by Jehosaphat, king of Judah, when there was no water to be found in the wilderness of Edom. Elisha was known by his service to Elijah, and would have learned much from his teacher. Surely we are known for who we hang out with. (2 Kings 3:11-12).
6. Elisha prophesied that the Moabites would be delivered into the hands of the Israelites (2 Kings 3:18).
7. God performed a miracle through Elisha where a poor widow woman in danger of losing her sons to slavery for the payment of a debt was able to sell oil that was miraculously multiplied (2 Kings 4:1-7).
8. Elisha played a big part in the life of a Shunammite woman. She was very kind to Elisha and set up his very own bedroom in her home to allow him rest when he was in her neighborhood (4:10). To thank her, Elisha told this childless woman that she would have a son in a years time (4:16). She did have a son, but when some years had passed, he fell ill and died (4:20). The Shunammite woman sought after Elisha who went to the lad and God allowed life to return to the boy through Elisha (4:32-35).
9. When the people of Gilgal were hungry and tried eating of an unknown gourd provided by one of Gilgal's inhabitants, Elisha helped to make the food edible (4:41).

I'm sure word got around rather quickly about the prophet when others witnessed these things. Somehow, the servant girl also knew about the prophet, and she was quick to tell Naaman's wife, the woman she served, how her husband might find healing from his ailment. 

2 Kings 5:4

And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.

Sounds a bit like witnessing! There's a quote that says, "Evangelism is just one beggar telling another where to find bread." That's what happened when the servant girl, who rightly could have been angry with her captors, chose to tell how her master might be saved from his leprosy!  The rest of the story has a lot of facts that we'll go through quickly to get to the end result, The Product, Part 3.

Lessons on the Servant Girl of Naaman's Wife Part 1/3

Lessons on the Servant Girl of Naaman's Wife~ 2 Kings 5

Part 1/3

This is a lesson I did for the children at a Missions Conference. I liked it so much, I decided to write one for my blog. I followed a similar outline for a previous lesson concerning the woman with the issue of blood where we looked at The Problem, The Plan, and The Product. I pray this will be a blessing to others as we take a look at this nameless girl.

Only three verses refer to the servant girl of Naaman's wife, 2 Kings 5:2-4, but though she had only a seemingly small part, her influence played a much bigger role. We will look at verse 1 first and our heroine will be along soon in verse 2 (part 2).

The Problem 

 2 Kings 5:1

 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. 

The first character we are introduced to is Naaman whom had quite the resume. He was captain for the Syrian army. He was a great man with his master: in other words, the boss liked him a lot. I thought about this in relation to what the bosses we know today like to see in those under them, and here are a few words that come to mind: Reliable. Trustworthy. Honest. Confident. Naaman was most likely these things as well as a good worker who got the job done. The Bible tells us he was honourable and had valour.

But, he was a leper.

I can imagine Naaman must have defined himself by this disease that plagued him. Many of us have a "...but she was a..." or "...but he was a...", but we would not list it among the describing words of ourselves. In my case, my story would write: "Senja wife, mother of three kids, missionary to Hungary, who loved to sing and be artistic, but she was a diabetic." Hmmm, no, I don't normally define myself by my chronic illness and only talk about it when asked. Yet here we see Naaman's leprosy listed in his profile. I visualize others respecting him because of his position, but taking cautious steps away if his proximity became too close for comfort. The disease must have been a terrible ordeal for Naaman, especially for being one in command.

I looked up the incidences of leprosy in the Bible and found nothing good about the disease itself. The only good thing was being healed of it. Leviticus 13:45 shows us the leprous individual was to announce being unclean to others and verse 46 says, "All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean:he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be." I know what this reminds me of. Sin. Isn't this what sin does to us? It makes us unclean and separates us from God. He cannot be where sin is. I think of Christ's words on the cross as He took on a Him the sin of the world: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)

I know you're wondering "what about the servant girl? Isn't this blog post about her?" 

Well, we will be introduced to her in Part 2, The Plan.