DAY 18 – Understanding
the Task of Reaching Unreached People Groups
As I write this update, I am sitting in my office
in Northern Thailand reflecting on what God is doing in this part of God’s
world that many have described as the most thoroughly Buddhist area in the
world today. I want to thank all of you for joining us in this Spiritual
Adventure and Season of Prayer. We need your prayers. We want your prayers. We
ask for your prayers. We believe God is asking you to pray for His work that He
has entrusted to us as stewards.
This time of year is always a very reflective time
for me personally where some of the deepest desires of my heart are to not only
join God in what He wants to do but also to invite and to facilitate others
joining in on God’s agenda to reach the “nations” for Jesus Christ.
Back on DAY 1, we shared with you about “God’s
Heart for the Nations” and the meaning of “Panta Ta Ethne” as it relates to the
Great Commission so I will not review that now but ask you to go back and look
at that later. Here is the link for that discussion if you would like it: https://myemail.constantcontact.com/A-30-Day-Spiritual-Adventure-Of-Praying--For-The-Unreached-in-Thailand----Nov-24--2018.html?soid=1103335986076&aid=iuR5A-bJcoE&fbclid=IwAR2So8j-nhni4d1J1bY0LSC8Q_ZzNOT_sPIBFBtdS93hHmvZSOm9S5cXYKU
Jesus has empowered His followers to go into all
the world with His authority. Jesus stared that great commission passage with
“All authority has been given to me in Heaven and on Earth….. Therefore GO and
MAKE DISCIPLES “PANTE TA ETHNE” (of all the people/ethnic groups of the world.)
Think with me for just a moment. What is the
“business” of Toyota? I would describe the business of Toyota as a company is
to meet a transportation need of people who want to get from one place to
another place by relying upon their own vehicle to drive. It is not just about
selling as many cares as they can…when you really think about it, it is really
attempting to meet a felt need in the consumer’s life. What is the “business”
of SHELL? In a similar vein, I would say that the business of shell as a
company is to meet a transportation need of people who already have a vehicle
and need the fuel necessary to get from one place to another. It is not just
about selling gas… it is an attempt to meet the felt need of people who own
cars and trucks and need fuel to get them to their destination.
You might think it strange that I ask these
question. But let me take your thoughts a little farther.
Now, let me ask you this question? What is the “business” God has commissioned His
Church to be about? Jesus commissioned His disciples to join God in His work
of redemption and of life transformation (discipleship) of every people group
in our world today. We are in some ways to be like international farmers….
Taking the good seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ to very dark places that
have been steeped in traditions that have been handed down from one generation
to another for thousands of years.
We are to go to those places as farmers and we
must till that hard soil. If we don’t work that hard soil, this good seed
of the gospel will never enter into Thai people’s hearts. We will never have a
huge harvest if we do not spend time preparing the soil for this good seed.
Most of us are very willing to help with the
harvest at harvest time…but some of God’s people must go and do the hard work
of preparing the soil? If we truly desire to reach unreached people groups and
have a good harvest, we must never ever forget that it is critical that we work
hard at preparing the soil of the heart so that when the seed it planted, it
may bear fruit. How do we do this? This is where we must work hard at
changing people’s attitudes and beliefs about God, Christianity and about Christians.
In Thailand,
One of the ways that have seen God at work
changing hearts and attitudes is though identifying some of the felt needs of
these people groups and then helping meet some of those felt needs in a way the
allows the love of God to flow through our lives and touch them at the heart
level and in a very relational way. This is one of the reasons we spend so much
effort, time, and resources on Teaching English, conducting English camps and
English Fun Days. Yes, these are fun, but let me be perfectly clear that we do these
things not because they are fun, but because we are fighting over the souls of
people who have been trapped in darkness in Thailand for thousands of years and
it is our honor to be able to serve God in a way that blesses the Thai people,
helps change attitudes toward Christians and toward our Savior, and love Thai
people enough to invest and pour our lives into them in order that we might
have a chance to join God in seeing some of them become followers of Jesus and
have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
If teaching English helps advance the kingdom of
God then I am willing to become a teacher of English who desires to live my
life in such a way that others see the love of Christ in my life and am drawn
to this great Savior. This is the hard work of preparing the soil of the heart
and after 19+ years of doing this, I have seen God do some amazing things that
only God can do. As I think about all the lives we have been able influence for
the advancement of His kingdom, I am deeply humbled that God would use sinners
like us.
Please pray for all of us in Northern Thailand who
are working the fields and plowing the soil of the heart through teaching
English, through meeting felt needs, and by taking the message of our great
Savior to people during this Christmas season.
Prayer Example:
“Lord, We want to begin our prayer with thanking you for the awesome opportunity
that you have given to NTIM, Grace Language School, and Baan Athitaan Church to
celebrate Christmas and share the message of Jesus with thousands who have
never heard and some from the least reached peoples in Asia. We thank you for
their English teaching ministry that is truly reaching into the community and
changing attitudes and beliefs as they allow your love to flow through their
lives. We pray that you would work in the hearts of these unreached people
groups and help them to see the love of Christ demonstrated through good works
and help their hearts to become more tender toward the gospel of our Lord
Jesus. We recognize that our struggle is
not with flesh and blood but with spiritual forces of wickedness. Please help
your faithful servants to stay the course of preparing the soil, sowing the
seed, removing the weeds that choke out the gospel and be faithful at being
fishers of men! We pray this in Jesus name. Amen”
Until
all the Thai people know Him,
Michael
VP
& Director of Field Operations for NTIM
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