bibletoyou

1, 2, 3, GO! Have you ever gotten behind a car that needed pushed to get it moving? It usually takes more than one person to do the job, and they all have to be working together, right?  Here at the home of Bible To You, we are faced with a new challenge. One of our students needs lessons in the Karen language so he can take what he is learning, and then teach it in the Karen language, a language spoken in Myanmar and the border of Thailand.

We are in contact with several godly men who are using their time and effort to help move this need forward. Where do you come in, well, if you can’t help directly, then go to your prayer closet for us. God will use the caring of your hearts for this Christ centered effort to glorify his Son, in getting the gospel to these needy people.

Alright, 1, 2, 3, Go!

Hi Friends, How are you?  Are you able to reach and teach?  If you are not, I am so sorry; I know that hurts! Pray for us, will you?

If you are reaching and teaching, don’t excuse yourself and quit due to low response numbers. Pray and work; work and pray!

In recent weeks, we sent out multiple invitations to inmates, welcoming them to do Bible To You lessons. Though we sent to many, only 2 or 3 responded by doing lesson one on salvation. Of those three, one man said that he had been begging God to give him someone to help him in his Christian walk; one woman was very pleased to get the lesson for other reasons. At the same general time that those two returned their finished lessons and personal notes, we received a lesson one from a man who was either someone else’s sign-up or one of the multiple ones we sent out. He signed that he was saved the day he did the lesson.

We struggle with frustration over the hard work put forth with so little response. However, had we given up, who would have helped the first two?  Who would have reached the lost soul? So, once again, pray and work, work and pray!

This week our founder was able to spend quality time in the office, thanks to the Lord, who is adding strength, following his broken arm. He smiled when giving the tally for this week’s mail-outs. Together we prepared and sent out close to 100 lessons, 150 tracts, one Bible and 3 certificates for students who completed a series of lessons.

This brief entry is only to thank God and give honor to him, plus to encourage our readers and fellow servants. How many more weeks are left for harvesting is uncertain, but the condition of many people is hopeless apart from someone who will care for their souls.

Harvest labourers are needed today and every day until The Lord’s return for His Bride. are you harvesting in God’s field? If not, why not?  Jesus lamented to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few”.  He urged them to pray for more labourers.

You need not spend hours each day or each week. But are you willing to spend even a couple of hours teaching a Bible To You lesson to someone else? If a 76 year old man who battles cancer, a broken arm and sleep apnea can labour in the harvest, I’ll just bet that a lot of folks around are simply not answering the call. Whatever you can do, you should do! Harvest labourers are still needed!

Our family Christmas is like a reunion.  Our children and grandchildren all live and work in different areas. They all serve in Fundamental Baptist churches so their lives are busy. Their work hours also vary, keeping them from visiting each other much of the year.  But when Family Christmas rolls around, they do their best to get here to hug each other, share their own special stories of their year, and just enjoy each other’s company!

One day before Family Christmas I decided to clean the garage and bring people in through it, rather than have them enter by way of the “too small” front porch, which has a storm-door that tends to bang shut when released, shoving the last person through with a jolt!

We do not have a blacktop or cement driveway so dirt and silt are carried into the garage on the car’s tires.  Because I had neglected it too long, I had a lot of the stuff to sweep up and clean off the garage floor.  If I had not done that, our visitors would have been dragging dirt into the house, causing filth inside our home! I would not have been happy if all, or even part, of that dirt got dragged in! So, I made the decision to remove the dirt. I had to use  two different brooms followed by a couple of buckets of hot soapy water; what a job!  But, with the cleaning done, the garage held no more threat to my house. What a blessing!

Now that just reminds me of the Christians’ lives, and how we can get the dirt and silt from the world back into our spiritual lives through the brain, our physical garage. This world and it’s wickedness is literally raining down around us, washing its’ dirt into our lives and settling in the flesh’s garage, the  brain. From there it can easily be carried into our very lives, leaving the Holy Sirit within our house grieved!  Therefore it must be cleaned out, and the oftener, the better!

The Word of God, and sincere prayer of confession are two of God’s  brooms He gave us to keep filth swept up and cleaned out.  The blood of Jesus still washes away confessed sin like the buckets of hot, soapy water.

We need to check our human garages to see what filth has gotten in there, and we need to read, or remind ourselves, of  God’s Word, confess our faults to him, and then guard our human garages, so that we are no longer carrying the dirt back in!

Faith Baptist Church put on their Christmas Cantata today and I am still humming the music from it. We sang songs like “Only Jesus”, “Then Love Came Down”,  and “Bow The Knee”, songs that brought forth feelings of adoration to our God for His gifts to us. Those gifts range from life in general to life eternal, and life lived in between! ( For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Colossians 1:16&17)

Though man was, by nature, sinful and unfit for Heaven or for God’s fellowship, God sent forth his son to live and to die. Jesus shed his blood on the cross, making the only sacrifice that could wash our sin. The song “Then Love Came Down” proclaims “Then love came down wrapped up in a baby’s birth!”  and also “When sin did abound, then love came down”! Oh, the wonder of it all!

The song “Only Jesus” asks who can wash my sin away, and who can give me victory every day, and who can lead me all the way? The answer sounds forth, “…only Jesus”!

“Bow The Knee”  declares, “Bow the knee, bow the knee! He is King of all the ages, bow the knee. God alone on his throne! See him high and lifted up and bow the knee! Kneel before him; all adore him! As you learn to love him more, bow the knee.”

Our choir is small, but our God is big, and we rejoiced in proclaiming our adoration and praise for his wonderful gifts!

We recently travelled to North Carolina to share Bible To You with others at a missions conference at a Baptist College. We were well received and cared for by both staff and students. The fellowship with other people who were representing  twenty nine other missionary boards and missionary helps was fantastic!

This was our first time to put all of our lessons , including children’s and Spanish, on flash drives. A great many folks had never heard of Bible To You and were grateful to have it available for their use in ministries they are involved with.  We lost the exact count of people who chose to use the internet and those who asked for a flash drive, but out of 40 flash drives, we only carried a few home. That was amazing!

We made the flash drives, drove 500 miles each way, in our own car, and spent money on gas, food, and motels.  The days there started at 8AM and did not end until 9 PM. Before we got home, a deer ran out in front of  us and demolished the front and part of a side of our car.  Both, the deer and the car were totaled!

Was it really worth the time and money to carry this out?  We think so; we were able to get the lessons into more states.  One state was Alaska, where a young lady was returning to her Father’s church near Anchorage, where she plans to disciple 7 children who they have led to the Lord. The Lord prospered the work by also getting the lessons into several new countries such as Spain and Japan; we add that multiple churches in the States now have a great discipleship program!

The Word of God is worth more than anyone can value or buy, but getting it into the hearts and minds of others costs far less than its’ worth, not to mention how greatly God can be glorified as lives are challenged or changed for eternity! It’s worth it all!!!

Working this ministry is effective, as you will see from this blog. Some weeks ago we sent out letters to people who had ceased to return their Bible lessons. We thought that, by now, everyone who wished to continue their work had already written back. But this week we got a lesson and note from a man named Will. Here is what he told us:

God bless you. Sorry it has taken so long to reply. I went through a dark patch and couldn’t shake it. I don’t feel worthy, or deserve God’s love. Been really depressed and couldn’t shake it. Truthfully, I just gave up on myself. But between your letter, and God, who keeps hounding me to continue my Bible studies, I told him I would pick them back up and continue with them.  Sorry, this place tears you down…! Please forgive me, and thankyou.

We certainly did not hold anything against him. Alright folks, do you see that working at this ministry is effective? It truly is!

Blank spots are real , but not necessarily bad, as seen in God’s Word. There was a blank spot in God’s speaking between Malachi and Matthew with good reason. We have not added a blog since mid July of this year. Carl broke his left arm in a place where doctor’s could not cast it. His suffering has been immensely worse than for those who’s arm can be put in a cast.

Just when Carl was able to function somewhat each day, he received chemical burns on his left hand from poison ivy. He also had the ivy on his chest, stomach, neck and face. We treated the hand with burn ointment and bandages twice a day until the blisters shrunk and the pain decreased. As for the ivy on his body, the itching lasted, even with prednisone, two weeks or more, disrupting his sleep and wearing on his nerves.

The God of grace was our strength, our help, our Rock through it all. Our weekly work with Bible To You was continued except for one week, praise his name!

Lord willing, we will be updating and encouraging you every two weeks or so, as before the blank spot. Pray that the God of grace will see fit to add helpers here, who are capable, so we can avoid more blank spots!

We apologize for the gap in time since our last post. The Lord allowed some physical trials which took a lot of our time and effort, but not our service to the Lord. As a matter of fact, the Lord has sustained our Bible To You  work and brought along another missionary who could carry the lessons by memory stick (thumb drive) to another country.

We are just now able to get a memory stick to Brother Patterson for use in the Philippines, but in the meantime, the lessons were shared with a mission work in Gianna. That’s because our Lord’s ability surpasses our own. God sent this man along unexpectedly.

We recently viewed several documentaries about the early development of airplanes and their particular strengths and abilities as they were developed through the various wartimes. They went from using a motor similar to a tractor motor to jet propulsion. God has power that far exceeds any and all jet propulsion. He can get things to any place on the earth!

While grounded here, God still sent forth Bible To You in a totally unexpected way. That’s because Bible To You uses God’s propulsion!!!

  Every two weeks we send a chat about home happenings or church news. (We are careful not to share names of others unless they say it is alright. We never share personal information about children, only general, such as, “The kids of some friends were over and helped with the mowing, which was a real blessing.” You must use discretion.)

On the back of their half sheet “Bits of Home Chat”, we give them extra verses to memorize and to build them up spiritually. The following are the admonitions we shared with our students this week as we prepared their lessons to mail back.

Memory Verse: Psalm 107:8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

            (Let us praise Him for His wonderful works. Jesus suffered unbelievably without comforters and in humiliation, a tragic death to pay for our sin. He gives believers eternal life, a home in Heaven, and a full part in the inheritance of Jesus. Those are indeed wonderful works!)

 Verses to Ponder: Psalm 128:1 & 2; Psalm 112:1; 115:13; 119:1

             (Let us look to Him with reverential awe. Look to him as the one whom you will choose to obey and to honor above all others.  That is what the fear of the Lord means.)

Perhaps you already mail to folks and would consider adding a  personal touch by sharing stories about everyday life or interesting facts about science and the Bible, stories about Hymn writers, or whatever the Lord gives you!