Dear Brother Lahry, Hope you are doing well in Lagos. Yes, it’s a place full of activities, even in my city the largest African community is from Nigeria and they are busy doing business and most of them are small traders, but, they work very hard. In the Fellowship too they are the majority among the Africans and some of them are really very committed in their faith. I guess Lagos is a big city similar to Mumbai teeming with both good and evil, but may be cleaner than the latter. Anyway, I don’t know to what extend I am correct. I am still attending the same fellowship (gicf.net) but each Sunday it’s a long journey, almost four hours bus ride (round trip). It’s a kind of inter-denominational where you will find people from many denominations and it’s a bit different from what we see in our home countries. Sometimes, I get the chance to lead the small prayer group and I try to talk a little bit and often it’s about the importance of obedience, but most of the time, I could sense a kind of resistance to this topic and I think it may be because, they had been brought up in a church environment where the teachings are purely grace based, with too little focus on obedience. Recently I was reading the following verses in the Holy Scriptures and it made me think a bit differently from the way I usually do when I read this part. 39“Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you wouldc do what Abraham did. 40As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41You are doing the works of your own father.” (John, 8, 39 – 41) Here The Lord Jesus is telling the Jews that “if they were Abraham’s children, they would do what Abraham did”. I started thinking - what did Abraham do? - The following verses tell that clearly. 5because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions (Genesis 26, 5) So, Abraham lived a life of complete obedience to God’s commandments. Another noteworthy point is; he started to obey the commandments after he was saved by grace through faith and not before that. So if Abraham kept the commandments after he was saved, we, who are saved by the same grace through faith, are also bound to keep the commandments as he did. But unfortunately, this truth is not preached or taught in the modern protestant church. Like the Jews in the above verses, modern day spiritual descendants (They call themselves spiritual descendants just for the sake of claiming the promises) of Abraham too live a life of disobedience, yet they claim to be the children of Abraham. What a great contradiction between words and deeds! I will be going to India for another visit in the month of January 2014 and probably I will visit Ongol in Andhra Pradesh (This city is 4 hours away from Chennai, Tamil Nadu) I think you might know this place. If you are familiar with any missionaries there, please let me know. By the way, do you have any plan to visit India next year? I am still teaching English and hope to continue in it for a couple of years more and after that I don’t know what the LORD wants me to do. Anyway, I haven’t planned anything, just wait up on the LORD until HE gives a clear direction. A couple of times I tried my plans but they all failed and that is why I am still continuing in teaching. As you know, teaching English to Chinese students is not an easy task, because, not just the language, even the thinking is quite different. Most of the time, driving home even a simple idea is very challenging. Actually, I would like to teach some business subjects in English, but the students’ English level is not good enough for that. Goldie also has started her classes. She has fully recovered physically and emotionally and we are almost on our normal daily routines. Sometimes it’s not easy, but we have no choice except to surrender to The LORD’s will and move ahead. We are just trying to be happy in whatever situation HE has placed us, let HIS name be glorified. Brother, this letter seems already a bit long, let me close for now. With Prayer and Best Wishes In Christ Everest
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:01:32 +0000
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