Preaching Jesus Christ

Just wanted to throw this out there and see if anyone had one of these.  We are looking for either a camper, travel trailer,pop-up camper or some type of covered trailer that we can pull with our van.  Something we could take with us as we travel and preach.  We're currently in New Mexico but would be willing to pick it up.  If anyone has one that they don't use and either want to donate or sell for not too much it would be very useful to use.  I'll probably look here locally but I know sometimes people buy these type of things and don't use them very much.  So if that's you and you'd like to help send me an email! 

Thanks!

IN Christ,

Sean & Lisa Scott

www.preachingjesuschrist.com

NEW MEXICO

Our family has been in New Mexico for a few weeks now.  It's been a blessing to be able to fellowship with some brethren we've known for a while and to spend some time getting to know other brethren who live here.  I can tell you, at least for me, there's not much in this world that brings greater joy then worshiping and fellowshipping together with brethren in Christ.  And how could we not rejoice when we all have received the same saving grace of God and been made partakers of God Himself!  I truly believe most of us are just standing on the very tip of what God would truly have us experience and live in as the body of Christ.  I pray God would give us all a deep understanding of the Glory of God in the body of Christ and make it a present reality in our lives. 

Right now our plans are to stay here in New Mexico until the Lord leads otherwise.  Some brethren here who are out of town have been letting us stay in their house while they are gone.  We have use of the house until May 6th which is when they return.  We trust at that time the Lord will either provide another place for us or lead us in some other way.  The Lord know!  I know the word of God is true.  "If we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness all these things (daily provision)  will be added unto us" (Matt 6:33)

NOT QUITE INDIA

In India it's very easy to share the Gospel, at least in the area we were living in.  Most people would listen to what you have to say and many would even invite you over to their houses.  However, that's not the case in this country.  Though I've known it before I was reminded of the hardened condition of the hearts of so many in this country.  Myself, Lisa, and another brother went to one of the local parks where they were having a mustang car show.  It's basically a show where men bring out their idols on which they spend thousands and thousands of dollars making them look nice and try to squeeze just a few more horse power out than the next guy has.  The truth is though all our lives where consumed with "something" or "many things" before we met Christ.  It's in Christ that we get set free from all our idolatry and the worthless "things" of the world.  Upon arriving we passed out gospel's of John's to just about everyone there.  Then we split up and were able to talk to some people one on one.  After doing this for a bit I decided to pull out the mic and open air preach.  I was standing just outside the perimeter of the car and started preaching.  I had barely gotten started when a man who had Happily and Willingly taken a gospel of John from us jumped in his car and started revving his engine so no one could hear us preaching.  He was determined to drown out the preaching so no one would be able to hear.  Then one of the event organizers came over and told us we could not preach the gospel there even though we were in a public park bordering the event.  I asked the man if he was a Christian and he said yes and walked away completely angry.  I put up the mic since no one would be able to hear me and continued to talk to people one on one.  By this time the man who had walked off angry had called the police.  The police didn't really do much because we weren't breaking any laws and were preaching on public property.  In fact, I think one of the officers may have been a believer.  He seemed kinda convicted when he was questioning me and was real easy on me.  He was actually very nice.  It's amazing though, it never fails, the people who seem to persecute you the most are usually religious hypocrites.  Those who hold to the name of Christ but can't stand it when Christ is actually preached.  They many not be ashamed at the name of Jesus but they are ashamed of His words.  And that is the true condition of so many in this country.  Through my limited experience I've found that those who have less or those who don't seem to have everything together (nice job, house, money, good stature...ect) seem to receive the gospel with more of an open heart.  (Not always the case but more than not it is).  While those who seem to have everything, like $80,000 sports cars, and all the other delicacies the world has to offer have very little need for God and His salvation through Jesus Christ.  Again, I know the Lord saves men from ALL walks of life but if you ever just go to the streets and talk to people you'll see what I mean.  It makes the scripture ring true "For ye see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:  But God hath CHOSEN the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath CHOSEN the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and the things which are despised, hath God CHOSEN, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:  THAT NO FLESH SHOULD GLORY IN HIS PRESENCE."  (1 Cor 1:26-28)  My hope and prayer is that God will use the events of the coming days to bring low the proud and arrogant that they may look up and see Jesus Christ exaulted as Savior and Lord.  And when they do, that song called "Turn your eyes upon Jesus" will be true in their own lives which says :

                                                                         Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
                                                                       Look full in His wonderful face,
                                                        and the things of earth will grown strangely dim,
                                                                   In the light of His Glory and Grace.

We've also had the blessing of having one man I met on the street come over to the house for a few hours.  He's a man I met at a different park and just went over to talk with him and started talking about Christ.   We had this man over for dinner and spent a few hours going through the word of God.  I've been able to talk with him a couple times since then on the phone and praying God would grant this man repentance and truly give him the light of the Gospel.

We'll be spending more time in the coming days preaching on the streets.  Please keep us in prayer and pray God would add to His church delivering men out of darkness and translating them into the kingdom on His dear Son. 


BROTHER ISMAIL

Wanted to say thank you to those of you who sent money to brother Ismail.  I don't have some of your emails but wanted you to know that we received the money you sent for him and have forward it on.  I know it will truly be a blessing for him and his family.  They are doing well and continuing to preach the gospel to Muslims and Hindu's and meeting with their home fellowship.  I usually get to talk with him a few times a month over skype and exhort him and his family in the faith. 

OUR FAMILY

I also wanted to just say "thank you" to everyone reading this who has given to us before and to those who are currently giving to us.  I know that you give cheerfully and most of all unto the Lord.  We truly are thankful for each of you who through the love and grace of God have given to help meet our personal and ministry needs.  Some of you I've never even met, and may not this side of eternity, but I wanted to thank you for your donations which have and do help us preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

NEW IMAGE

Lastly you've probably noticed I've changed the image at the top of our newsletter.  As I wrote in our last newsletter I truly believe we live in a time similar to the time of Lot living in Sodom.   While I know during this time the Lord is calling in the last of His elect I know there are many "true" saints of God though grieved at the sin around them have not departed from it in full themselves.  And while we need to be about our Fathers business seeking and saving that which is lost we also need to be exhorting each other all the more as we see "the day" approaching.  Without watching and praying it can be easy to slowly get seduced back into a materialist culture that assaults us from every front.  If we don't watch and pray ourselves we could very well end up like Lot.  For those of you who are walking faithfully with Jesus I'm sure there are true brethren that you know who may be walking in error or compromise in their lives.  Brethren that you know have had a genuine conversion and know Christ but have allowed sin of some form or fashion to gain a hold in their lives.  Let us labor in prayer for these brethren knowing that God can and will restore those who are His and deliver them even in this late hour. 

With God ALL things are possible.  

IN Christ,

Sean & Lisa Scott
www.preachingjesuschrist.com

I received a few responses to the last email I sent out regarding the prophetic dreams the Lord had given Lisa about the coming Judgment on America.  Some of the comments were people asking how they should specifically prepare and others had questions concerning the nature of idolatry.  Then on the other end of the spectrum there were a couple people who made comments about God being a God of love and not judgment.  They believe that because God is love He would not bring judgment because that is not the kindness of God that leads men to repentance.  I thought it would be beneficial to address these comments and concerns in an email for the purpose of edification and clarity.  

Before I start though I would like to say there seem to be more and more Godly men the Lord is speaking the same things too.  I posted on the front page of our site a recent warning given by David Wilkerson and a video clip by Paul Washer.  ( www.preachingjesuschrist.com ).  I encourage you to read the warning and watch the clip if you have not already done so.  Though David Wilkerson and Paul Washer (or anyone for that matter) are not the sole and final authority on what God is doing it is interesting and compelling that saints from different theological and denominational camps, so to speak, are starting to say the same things.  The Lord is faithful to warn His saints and to prepare us for what's ahead.  

NO NEED TO FEAR

First and foremost let me say that any prophecy regarding judgment, in or outside the bible, should not produce an unhealthy fear in the saints of God.  If anything they should cause us to love God all the more for this great salvation He has given us and stir us to live soberly and righteously in this present age.  Even in the midst of great trials and tribulations we can have the peace of God in our heart though the world around us is living in fear and confusion.  Remember, the mystery of the Gospel is Christ IN YOU the hope of glory.  If Christ is in you it does not matters what is outside of you!   

Prophetic warnings though are given for us to test and if true to heed and prepare accordingly.  It goes without saying the greatest and most important way to prepare is spiritually.  It would do each of us well to look at the book of Revelations, an entire book of prophecy, and see how the Lord spoke to the seven churches in Asia.  Not only did Jesus point out what was right in the churches but He specifically pointed out where they were in error and sin and called them to repentance.  I'm not suggesting we spend endless days searching our own hearts but we should ask the Lord to do it for us and bring any hidden thing to light.  I would also encourage you to go and read the passages on discipleship and examine your life by them (Luke 14:26-35, Matt 10:37-39, Matt 16:24-25)  I find these specific words from the Lord are not taken seriously by most and apart from adherence to these one cannot be His disciple.  I’m pretty confident though that most believers know whether they are right with the Lord, whether they are walking in any known sin, and whether they have a clean conscious or not (1 Tim1:5,19  1 Peter 3:16) .  The Lord is faithful to reveal these things to
us.  

IDOLS AND SPIRITUAL PREPARATION

I know there are many people who do believe the Lord does bring judgment AND warns His saints before it comes to pass.  However, even of these I believe there are many who have and will have a similar testimony as we see of Lot.  We read in Genesis 19 of how the Lord delivered Lot from the destruction of Sodom.  In it we also find a delay in Lot to leave when He was told to leave by the angels.  What I find interesting about this whole passage is that Lot believed the angels when they said they were going to destroy the city.  Lot even went out and preached to his own family that they need to leave because the city would be destroyed.  He was preaching the Word of God and telling his family to flee from the wrath to come.  

"Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”   So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking."  (Gen 19:12-14)

Lot headed the word of the angles and preached to his family.  But the next morning when it's time to actually leave we see Lot himself lingering in Sodom when he should have been out the door as fast as he was able!

"When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.”   And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city."  (Gen 19:15-16)

In 2 Peter 2:8 we read that Lot was a righteous man and that while living in Sodom he was utterly grieved by the ungodliness he saw in Sodom.  

However, even though Lot's righteous soul was grieved, even though he had believed the word of the Lord regarding the coming judgment, and even though he had preached to others he himself was not ready to depart the moment the command was given to leave.  The word of God says "he LINGERED".  In fact, the angels had to grab him and his family by the arms and take them out of the city.  It says this happened because the Lord was being merciful to him.  

Next we find the angels telling Lot to flee to the mountains, not looking back to Sodom, so they would not be consumed.  But Lot fears that if they flee to the mountains some evil will befall them and they will die.  So he ask to flee to a city name Zoar instead.  The Lord accepts his request and he flee's to the city.  We also know from this chapter when the Lord rained fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah that Lot's wife, being disobedient to the command of the Lord with her heart still being in Sodom, turned back and was turned to a pillar of salt.  She was destroyed along with the rest of the ungodly.  

Why was it that Lot lingered when the angels told him to leave?  We know his righteous soul was grieved at the sin in the city so it's not like he wanted to stay and be a part of the community.  And while I'm not sure we can say for certain every reason I do believe Lot's greatest fear was the fear of the future or the fear of the unknown.  When the Lord told Lot to flee to the mountains Lot thought some evil might befall him and his family.  Yet the Lord was sending them there to deliver them.  Surely the Lord would have provided for his family.  The Lord did not just have mercy on them to deliver them from the destruction of the city to then kill and consume them in the wilderness.  Lot was clearly looking at what his eyes could see and not the Lord who was directing him.  

I truly believe this will be the condition of many saints in the coming days.  There will be many who are grieved at all the sin and godlessness they see, they know that judgment from God is coming, they may have even actively preached the gospel warning people to flee the wrath to come.  But many in their heart will be hesitant to depart with what they‘ve grown accustom to that has made their life comfortable.  The biggest mistake being that they like Lot pitched their tent towards Sodom."  (Gen 13:12,13)  It's interesting to see that in Chapter 13 Lot pitched his tent TOWARDS Sodom and then in Chapter 19 we find that Lot now LIVES in Sodom.  Something that Sodom offered enticed Lot to live there even though he was grieved and knew it was a wicked place.  Not only did his living in Sodom cause him to not trust in the Lord's provision it cost him a member of his own family.  He lost his wife to a wicked God hating culture.  I wonder how many men of God have been just like Lot, through failure to lead their families, have seen or will see them swallowed up and consumed with a godless culture.  And not only did he lose his wife but Lot himself was hesitant to heed the word of God. It all began with an open door to a godless culture.  

Now we obviously live in a Sodom and Gomorrah Babylonian culture.  There is really no where to flee to escape living in it but we are called to come out of it.  We certainly shouldn't pitch the tent of our heart towards this Sodom and Gomorrah Babylonian society and let it continue to creep it's way into our lives.  This can happen so easily especially with how much we are continually bombarded with utter wickedness in this society. Not only are we to be on guard against utter wickedness but also against the comforts and luxuries of the society that can spiritually put us sleep.   This is where many fail and in essence pitch the tent of their heart toward Sodom.  But there is a way out!  The Lord always provides a way out for His people.  The way it is through the cross.  We must let the cross do it's perfect work in us...crucifying us to all the world has to offer letting it find no place in our hearts.  We must follow the same narrow path Jesus did, the same path Paul walked, the same path the apostles and disciple walked.  In fact, Paul said to imitate him because he imitated Jesus Christ.  

Anything besides Christ that we let in our hearts and trust in becomes an idol to us.  Which means practically anything can become an idol.  One brother wrote me after I sent out my last email asking me if his car, house, land, job were and idol and if he was wrong to have them.  I had said in my email:

"Many believers and professing believers still have not let God deal with the idolatry in their heart and they will find these coming days most difficult as the Lord strips them of everything they've truly trusted in.  For some it will be their houses, for some it will be their comfort, for some it will be their money, possessions, ect...ect"

He wanted to know if he had to get rid of all these things to not be trusting in them.  Let me clearly state I cannot answer that question in most peoples lives.  One persons idol may not be another’s.  Each one of us must daily walk with the Lord and allow Him to show us what's in our heart, let us know what we really trust in, and whether we are indeed daily carrying our cross.  I was talking with a brother who shared with me that to forsake all means to utterly renounce it from the heart where it had no place or hold on your life.  This for sure is what we all must do.  Through this the Lord might have some to sell their houses, leave their jobs, sell the land...ect.   It would be better to be without these things than to be trusting in them.  Again it comes down to knowing the Lord and daily walking with Him in the light.  I mentioned that I cannot tell if someone has an idol in their lives in "most peoples lives".  The truth is in some believers lives we can see when something is or has become an idol.  When we are walking in fellowship together, especially and primarily in a local body, we are able to know each other intimately.  Through daily contact with each other we come to know each other as we really are (to the degree the Lord gives us grace to do).  Many times we may deceive ourselves but the Lord gives grace to others to see clearly into our lives for our edification.  This is just one of the many reasons why the body of Christ is so important.  

I will say this in regards to possession.  We should evaluate what we have in light of how it serves the kingdom of God.  Is what we own used to meet our needs and further God's kingdom?  Or is it simply because it brings us pleasure and serves really no purpose at all in the Kingdom.  I think many believers actually forget they are pilgrims and strangers just passing through this world and that while they are in this world they are involved in an absolutely real spiritual war.  When a believer truly has their eyes on eternity and understands these things their lives will show that's what they believe..  It will touch every area of their lives.  


PHYSICAL PREPARATION - WILKERSON'S WORD - IS IT FAITH?

Now many of those who are reading this email have not only read Lisa's dream but probably already read David Wilkerson's warning and maybe several other peoples.  David Wilkerson said the Lord warned him of a coming calamity and told him to store up enough food and essentials to last for 30 days.  The question is....is that biblical and is it for me?  While some people would say storing up food and supplies is a lack of faith in God's provision the Word of God say other wise.  There have been several brothers in the Lord who have disagreed with David Wilkerson and brought up the passage out of Matt 6 for their support:

"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."  (Matt 6:31-34)

These passages are absolutely clear that WE are to take no thought about what we are to eat, drink and be clothed with because our heavenly Father knows our needs.  We're not to be like the heathen who endlessly spend their time on the pursuit of the things (though many professing believers do as well!)  We can truly trust in the Lord to provide for all of our needs.  But if we turn to the book of Acts we'll see a man prophesy by the Spirit of God that leads to preparation.  

"Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar."  (Acts 11:28)

Agabus, by the Spirit of God prophesied about a coming famine that would affect the whole world.  He was not given this prophesy so everyone would just have some really interesting information about the future.  This prophecy was given so the saints of God might prepare for what’s ahead.  In this case it was specifically given so they could help meet the needs of saints who would be more severely affected by the coming famine.  It was the Lord taking care of His people.  We can clearly see there was a purpose in this prophecy that had to do with physical preparation and relief. I will say though, the absolute rule to how we should live our lives in regard to our provision is found in Matt 6.  We are to completely trust our heavenly Father for all of our needs and not worry about tomorrow.  However, if you are walking by the light of Matt 6, truly trusting the Lord for your provisions, and the Lord tells you to store for what’s ahead then you need to follow the Lord.  It is certainly not a lack of faith to prepare if you are already walking by faith and the Lord leads you to do so.  The unavoidable result of David Wilkerson’s personal advise (that he says he received for himself from the Lord) is that many will begin to store food and other goods out of fear of what’s ahead.  Their faith will be in their own provisions and not the Lord.  Again, there is no way to avoid this.  But should the word not be spoken because some will fear and move in a wrong way?  Absolutely not.  What each person must do is hear from the Lord.  What the Lord leads one man to do may not be what He leads all to do.  Or the Lord may just use Wilkerson’s word to confirm what He's already been speaking to you.  If you are one that is heeding his word to store up out of fear then you need to repent.  It would be better to go without your needs and walk by faith then to sin by trusting in your own provisions.  Our faith must be in the Lord.  

GOD IS LOVE - JUDGMENT IS OLD TESTAMENT - WHERE IS THE KINDNESS???

I've received a few comments to our last email from people who hold a view that God basically doesn't judge people anymore, the God of the New Testament is all about love, that God wouldn't deal out judgment because that is not kindness and we know that it's the kindness of God that leads people to repentance, and that it's not profitable to talk about sin, hell, and the judgment to come.  (long sentence!)  It's really hard to know where to begin with dealing with all of this.  It truly makes me wonder if some people actually do read their bible or if they just read select verses that appeal what they'd like to think God is like.  The truth is much of this type of thinking come from men like Brian Mclaren, Rob Bell and MANY other post modern emergent church type preachers. They absolutely distort the image of the God of the bible and present "another Jesus" for people to believe in.  

So let me see if I can briefly answer some of these rebuttals with the Word of God.  Though I'm not sure the Word of God will be sufficient proof to those who overlook the Word of God for the teachings of men.  

God is Love:  This is one of the attributes of God.  It is the description of God that is given in 1 John 4:8,16.  This without a doubt is absolutely true.  It is a wonderful thing that God is love.  Any true saint of God knows there is nothing like having the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by faith and knowing that we'll be able to dwell with this God of love through out all eternity.  The problem is many people seem to think the love of God overrides and overrules all of His other attributes which is absolutely false.  In fact, if you'll read Isaiah chapter six you'll get a glimpses of what some of the closest beings to God on the throne have to say about God.  

"In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim’s: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." (Isaiah 61:3)

Here the prophet Isaiah see's the Lord sitting on the throne with these heavenly creatures around the throne of God.  If you notice they don't fly around saying God is love, love, love (like the modern day preachers would have you think).  No, they cry to one another saying HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD of host.  It is the holiness of God they are proclaiming!  Some might argue that was seen in the Old Testament and now God is different.  If you look at Revelations chapter four though, you see heavenly beings around the throne of God saying the exact same thing!

"And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."  (Rev 4:8)

God is holy.  The love of God does not override the holiness of God.  It is actually governed by and within the holiness of God.  Yet many today preach, act, and live as if the love of God is some unrestrained unguided love that basically allows for anything and everything and condemns for absolutely nothing. (Which at it's heart come from not really understanding what took place when Christ was crucified) But the love of God does not work this way.  If God loves some things it means He hates other things.  If God loves righteousness it means God hates unrighteousness.  If God loves obedience then God hates disobedience.  And as I stated above many people believe that because God is love He wouldn't judge people as He did in the Old Testament.  Yet even in the New Testament we find people that were judged by God.  In Acts 5 we read about two people Ananias and Saphira that where killed by the Lord for lying.  God judged them and took their lives for their sin.  Also in 1 Cor 11:30 we read of believers who were taken by the Lord for taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner.  And then if you go to the book of Revelations, basically the ENTIRE book,  you'll find the God of the New Testament pouring out wrath unlike any that has ever been seen in the Old Testament.  Again, God judging people. Many people have a hard time with this and say that can't happen, even though it's in the word, because it's not God's kindness and God's kindness leads men to repentance.  What they fail to realize is that IT IS GOD’S KINDNESS to allow any sinner to live one moment after sinning even once against God.  And look at the verse in context (another huge problem with the postmodern emergent movement- they seldom use context):

"But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS" (Romans 2:3-6)

Notice right after Paul talks about the kindness of God he say they (some) are stubborn and unrepentant and storing up WRATH for the day of wrath.  Was Paul being unkind?  Did he just not correctly understand this verse like our modern day preachers do?  Paul obviously does not believe that talking about God's kindness excludes from talking about the truth of God's wrath.  In fact it's the very kindness of God for Paul to preach to them THE TRUTH. Just like the Lord Jesus did.  (Paul truly did love them).  Also, if you’ll take time and read 2 Cor 7 you’ll even see that Paul rebuked and corrected the Corinthian Church to such a degree they were made sorrowful by it.  This stern harsh correction by Paul was used to lead them to TRUE repentance.  Yet Paul would be condemned in the eyes of many preachers today for not being “kind”.  It really amazes me that some people have "found" a better way to preach to people than Jesus Christ, Paul, or any of the apostles for that matter.  It would probably take me all day to put up the innumerable scripture references on sin, hell, and judgment in the New Testament PREACHED by Jesus Christ and the Apostles.  My advise to those who have been influenced by these men who distort the wonderful truth of God's word is to PUT DOWN THEIR BOOKS AND TEACHINGS and spend time doing nothing but reading the Word of God.  And specifically read each verse in the CONTEXT as it was given.  It’s so simple but that in and of itself will clear up just about everything.  

I will say this.  If you, in your heart, agree with Jesus and pray "thy kingdom come" you are in essence praying for the judgment of God to come upon the earth.  The kingdom of God coming not only entails people beings saved, delivered, set-free, healed of disease and sickness, but also includes God pouring out His pure wrath on this godless world and putting all enemies under Christ feet (including false teachers - 2 Peter 2).  It is the very thing that ushers in the fullness of Christ kingdom.  Listen to the proclamation of the kingdom of God in the midst of complete and absolute judgment:

"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth."

How terrible will this time be?

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? "

So terrible that men and women will do everything they can to HIDE from Jesus Christ and His wrath.  Very sobering.  

So be careful.  Some of you who are praying and longing for Jesus to return are praying for God to do things you don't believe He will do or should do.  Whether or not you agree with God and His Word... He WILL be glorified through the judgment of the world, the eternal damnation of unrepentant sinners, and the ultimate glorification of all those who have truly trusted Jesus Christ for their salvation.  

*** I realize that I have only "lightly" answered and touched on these topics.  The truth is one could probably write and entire book refuting, with the Word of God, each objection originally raised.  If you personally have questions or comments though...feel free to email me directly.  I'm definitely open to going through the scriptures with those who want too.  Years ago I was indirectly influenced and taught what these post modern emergent teachers are teaching.  But God through His Spirit and His Word saved me from their teaching so I could rightly know Him AND not preach "another Jesus".  

I close with this passage of scripture in Revelations that we may all meditate on the greatness and glory of God.  

       “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.  For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.  And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.   The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”  (Rev 22:12-21)


IN Christ,

Sean & Lisa Scott
www.preachingjesuschrist.com

BACK IN TEXAS - LEAVING TEXAS

As many of you know we've been back in Dallas now for about three weeks.   It was a long flight back from India with just a few bumps.  The airline had to reroute our flights from India due to some weather delays but they worked it out and we made it back almost in the same amount of time.  The airline however lost one of my bags (containing both of my hand held PA systems) and haven't been able to find it.  Overall though it was a good flight back and the Lord gave us much grace with our children.  (They really did do well for taking a 6 hour bus ride and then 4 different flights!)

Since being back in Texas we've been able to meet with some dear brethren in Christ AND have been preparing to leave once again.  It was great to see some brethren we know and love here in Texas and to see Josef and Lina who traveled up from Mexico. Also, by the grace of God and a generous gift we were able to purchase a used van for our family to travel in.  Before we came back to the U.S. the Lord showed us we'd be in Texas for a short time and then He was sending us to New Mexico.  So tomorrow morning we leave for New Mexico to fellowship with and exhort some brethren in Christ as the Lord has led us.

In many ways it was really difficult to leave India especially seeing real fruit in some of the brethren there.  Two brothers in particular seemed to really grow in their faith.  And it seems the Lord sent us specifically for them during this time in their life.  One brother in particular, brother Ismail, I've written about before.  He was my personal translator, and has become a dear friend in Christ, who was kicked out of his fellowship for preaching the Word of God.  I've continued to talk with him since arriving back in the U.S. and he and his home fellowship are doing well.  Also, for those of you who would like to help brother Ismail as he preaches to Hindu's and Muslims can do so by visiting the "Missionary" page of our site (  http://www.preachingjesuschrist.com/missionaries.html  )  He is certainly a brother who has counted the cost of following Christ and worthy of the support of the body of Christ.  Any gift or support would truly be a blessing for him and his family.

It almost seems unreal that we're back here in the USA.  India seems to have come and gone in a flash.  But the Lord directed us to return and to specifically warn brethren about the coming judgment from God Himself.  During about the last month of our time in India the Lord began speaking to us about returning to the U.S.  The Lord even gave Lisa a prophetic dream concerning the coming judgment.  During the same time the Lord had also provided the air fair for us to return to the US.   We continued to pray about it all just asking the Lord to confirm everything.  We were all the way over in India and really wanted to make sure the Lord was sending us back.  About a day or so later, a sister in Christ who Lisa was meeting with said she had a dream about us.  In her dream she saw us all get on a plane and head back to the U.S.  She knew nothing of what we were praying about and what all the Lord had been doing in us.  It seemed clear that the Lord was telling us to return, telling us why He's having us return, and providing the means for us to return.  So we booked our tickets and headed back to the U.S.

DREAMS OF JUDGMENT

While in India the Lord gave my wife a prophetic dream about judgment from God specifically in the USA.  (The Lord has given Lisa many prophetic dreams since her conversion).  This was really a continuation of two other dreams the Lord had previously given her.  The first of these dreams was about 4 or 5 years ago.  In this dream she was in the U.S. inside a high tower looking out at the sky.  In the distance were very dark clouds that were moving to cover the whole sky but had not done so yet. They were still a great distance away. But she knew in the dream that God was in the clouds (Psalm 18) and that He was coming to bring judgment. She also saw a valley below and there were many people in the valley who saw the dark clouds coming. They were trying to escape but were unable too.  They were trying to climb out of the valley with all their effort without success.  This was the first dream.  Then about a year ago she had another dream along the same lines. In this dream she was in a closet praying. When she was done praying she went to look out of the window and saw dark black clouds with lightning going through it. Then she went outside and saw that the clouds were covering about a fourth of the sky but she knew they were moving to cover the entire sky. In this dream she saw people and they seemed to be unconcerned about the coming storm.  The last dream she had on the coming judgment was when we were in India about a month ago. In this dream she was in the U.S. and was again looking at the sky. Only this time the thick black clouds were covering the ENTIRE sky. The whole thing was completely covered. She knew that the only thing left was for God to rain down the fullness of His judgment and that it would happen very soon. She knew that we had very little time before this came to pass.  She also knew in the dream that the Lord had given us time to exhort brethren but that this time was SHORT. 

I truly believe there will be very few people in this country, including believers, who are ready for what's ahead.  Though many claim to be walking with Christ it is evident that the love of the world (lust of the flesh, eyes, and pride of life) still has a deep hold on them.  Many believers and professing believers still have not let God deal with the idolatry in their heart and they will find these coming days most difficult as the Lord strips them of everything they've truly trusted in.  For some it will be their houses, for some it will be their comfort, for some it will be their money, possessions, ect...ect (the list goes on and on).  As they see these things disappear fear will rise in their heart as they see their idol destroyed and be forced to realize they have not truly trusted in the Lord.  Many will certainly go through many trials and pains that could have been avoided had they heeded the Word of God and listened to that still small voice. 

If you are reading this I urge you to get before the Lord and examine your life in light of His Word.  And may the Lord give you light to know the true condition of your heart at this moment in time. 

In Jesus Name,

Sean Scott

It’s a great joy to share with you a testimony regarding one of the pastors we’ve been working with. Especially since about 90% of the pastors I’ve met here seem to be completely compromised. As I’ve written before most of them are not serving Christ but instead are serving mammon and are just as much idolaters as the Hindu’s they claim they want to reach. Unfortunately this seems to be the case in so many places across the globe and truly is a sign indicating the times we live in. But nothing, including apostasy, will hinder the Lord from accomplishing His will, in His time, and in His saints. So it’s a great joy to share with you about Brother Ishmail and what the Lord is doing in him. Brother Ishmail has been my translator for about four months now. He’s a convert from Islam and has been shepherding a small fellowship of about 50 people in his home town. He comes to our village each Monday through Friday to translate for me and work together as we preach in surrounding villages and in house meetings. He’s become more than just a translator, he’s become a dear friend and is a brother in Christ. Not only have we been able to preach together but have been able to spend time just going through the scriptures on many different topics. I can remember the first time we went village preaching together. In part of my message I had preached on Acts 17 where Paul is speaking in Athens and speaks to the people about their Idolatry and how God doesn’t dwell in temples made by hands of men. Ishmail was very uncomfortable as I preached through those verse and later explained he didn’t feel we should directly speak against the Hindu’s idolatry or temple worship.  Not only that but when I had finished preaching he proceeded ask every one “who wants to receive Jesus? “ and then led them all in a sinners prayer. I almost reached over and took the mic out of his hand but it was too late. He had officially made everyone a “Christian” by one prayer. Needless to say this led us to discussing many different topics such as the nature of Salvation, what regeneration is and isn’t, what happens when someone has true saving faith, as well as what topics to preach to those who don’t know Christ. Through our time together the Lord really helped Ishmail receive light on so many different topics. Brother Ishmail has grown in his understanding of the Gospel as well as understanding the need to present the “full counsel of God“.
About a week ago I asked brother Ishmail what he preached in his local fellowship for the previous Sunday. His wife was with him and they just kinda looked at each other then told me he is no longer part of that fellowship. This was a surprise for me to hear. He said lately he’s been preaching on topics he usually doesn’t preach on. He’s been preaching on God’s attributes and character, talking about God’s Holiness, His Righteousness, preaching about the Judgment seat of Christ, eternal judgment, sin and repentance, in other words - topics you don’t normally hear preached on in most churches today. The elders of the church came together and said they, as well as the congregation, didn’t like the topics he was preaching on and wanted him to only preach on the love of God, the mercy of God, and the blessings of God. They only wanted to hear preaching on the scriptures that comforted their flesh (though theses also are topics that need to be preached on). Brother Ishmail said he would continue to preach on all the scriptures as that is what he is called to do. The elders didn’t like his answer and decided to kick him out of the church! Brother Ishmail had been a pastor there for a few years. He now knows he was mainly pastoring GOATS and not SHEEP.
Even before he was kicked out of the church Ishmail and his wife had been discipling three ladies who are converts from Islam. They now have a small home fellowship with these ladies and are nurturing them as new born babes in Christ. They meet during the week because the wives husbands have forbidden them to follow Jesus. Since their husbands are home on Sundays it makes it impossible for them to meet on Sundays. In fact, one of the ladies husbands found out recently that she was meeting with Ishmail and his wife. He beat his wife until she was blue in the face and threatened her with divorce. The wonderful thing is this new born believer remained faithful to Jesus and would not stop following Jesus due to the persecution by her husband. And though at this point the number of those in Ishmail’s home fellowship is less than those he was pastoring in the church, he knows he’s discipling true Sheep that belong to Jesus Christ. He believes the Lord has now called him to work specifically among the unreached Muslims and Hindu’s in his home town.
The greatest part of all of this is to see Brother Ishmail’s faith in God during this trying and transitional time in his life. When he was kicked out of the church he lost all income he was receiving from them. Now that I’m leaving he’s also losing the money I was giving him for all the time he was spending with me helping with translation. The denomination he is part of (AOG) is going to give him 500 rupees a month, about $10, for a couple years as he starts this new work. (Though he’s part of AOG their fellowships are all pretty independent). Ten dollars is hardly enough for Ishmail, his wife, and his two son’s to live on. However even with this, he realizes all that has happened to him is the will of God and believes the Lord will take care of his needs as he remains faithful to living and preaching the truth. It’s so encouraging to see a Pastor serve Christ instead of money! (Update: since I started writing this a couple days ago the Lord has provided for Ishmails financial needs to be covered for the next six months! God is faithful!)
I wanted to take time to share this for a couple reasons. One, to give glory to God for what He’s doing in our brother. And two, that you yourself would be encouraged to trust the Lord in all things and know that God will provide for you as you faithfully obey His word. Like Ishmail, when you decide to not compromise you could lose your job, your friends, your family, your reputation, you might be misunderstood by others..ect but you’ll gain Jesus Christ!
I pray you will follow our brothers example in following the Lord. That you will seek a life with no compromise no matter how great the cost may be for you and your loved ones. Know that as you do Christ will never leave you nor forsake you and will always be faithful to His word!
Please keep brother Ishmail and his family in prayer.
IN Christ,
Sean & Lisa Scott
 

Time to Move

The Lord has clearly confirmed that our time here in India has come to an end. Our family will be leaving India to return to the U.S. on Feb 3rd. With all the opportunities to preach, people being open to the Gospel, and being able to exhort some true brethren truly makes it difficult to leave. But again and again the Lord has confirmed that this is definitely His will and has even provided the means for all 6 of our family members to fly back to the U.S. at this time (we came here on one way tickets). We’ll be back in Dallas, Lord-willing, for few weeks to visit some brethren. We’ll also be meeting up with brother Josef and his wife Lina as they cross the border to renew their visa’s. After that we’ll be headed to another state or two, Lord-willing, to exhort and fellowship with some other brethren as well.

I know this is a surprise for some that we would be departing from India at this time. Especially with all the favor God has given us. But the Lord has clearly given us direction to warn and exhort some brethren as the days grow darker and the clouds of God’s coming judgment (specifically in the U.S.) continue to grow thicker and nearer with every passing day. We know that when we are faithful with what God has called us to do in returning He will show us, as He always does, the next step and direction for us. Through everything the Lord has led us through we have learned, and are still learning, to follow and be led by the Spirit of God and NOT our own human reasoning and understanding. It would be so easy to justify staying here in India but it would be against the will of God at this time (Mark 1:37,38). So brethren please keep us in prayer as we finish our work here and prepare to leave.

 

Preaching at Cancer Hospital

It has definitely been interesting time here in India. The Lord has given us many opportunities to share the Gospel with people willing to listen. In fact, last week I went with a man here to a cancer hospital to pray for and minister to his mother. Instead of just praying for his mother we ended up preaching to the entire floor of patients for about and hour! It was an amazing time as we directed their thoughts to the resurrected Christ who is not only able to heal their bodies but more importantly to forgive their sins and bring them to God. There were probably about 50 people there and most of them were Hindu’s and Muslims. It truly seemed as if the Lord was doing a work as some of patients were in tears and others praying under their breath to the Lord like Hannah. We were able to pray for them all and pass out new testaments to those who wanted them before we left. So many of our outreaches have been just like this. I am thankful that there are a couple brethren here who will be able to continue the work we started in these different area’s.

 

True Brethren and Apostasy

In fact, my greatest joy has been to see two true brothers in the Lord grow in their faith and walk with Lord. Though we were able to preach in many different areas, villages, house meetings, churches…ect.. it seems the Lord specifically had us here for these two brothers at this time in their lives to teach them and exhort them to stand up for the truth in the midst of apostasy. And without a doubt, the apostasy with in many Indian churches is just as great as in those we see in many American churches (though it sometimes manifest itself in different forms). I can’t tell you how many false brethren we’ve met since being here. Pastors who are greedy for financial gain and using the name of Christ to promote their own kingdoms and to exalt their own names. People truly do either serve God or mammon regardless if they live in a rich country like America or poorer country like India. But we praise God he enabled us to meet some true brethren to fellowship with, to exhort and to be mutually edified. We will definitely miss these brothers and will continue to stay in contact with them and uphold them in prayer.

 

Nothing is Hidden From God!

I have to share a testimony about God’s goodness and care towards us that happened a couple days ago. There has been a man who we’ve continually preached too since being here. At first he seemed like he was eager to help us do daily task, acted as if he wanted to hear the gospel and at times even brought others to hear the gospel at our house. But God gave Lisa a dream a while back that this man’s heart was totally hard and that he wanted nothing to do with Christ. Which over time truly turned out to be the case. He had stolen a couple things here and there but we continued to pray for him and preach to him as the opportunities arose. Well he came over to our house a couple days ago wanting to accompany us to Hyderabad to say good by. When he was here our house owner showed up and wanted to talk with me. I had already given him notice that we were going to be leaving so this was a special trip he was making to our house from the village that he lives in. I went outside to talk with him and he said someone came by his house telling them that he was to give them our house key on the day that we leave so he could “help” move all our stuff out of the house (fridge, beds, ect.. we’re leaving these to a few brethren here). I told him I had not told anyone to go by his house and that I was leaving the key with a friend of mine. Just then this man in my house walks out to see what we’re doing and my house owner says “That’s the man! He‘s the one who came to my house”. You should have seen this young mans face. He knew he was caught and was trying to back peddle his way out of the situation. My house owner started confronting him. I told him he need to leave and he practically ran from our place once he was outside of the gate! Apparently him and his friends were planning on cleaning our place out of everything while we were on the train headed towards Hyderabad! God totally exposed him AGAIN and kept us from losing anything. Hopefully the Lord will use this to confirm to him what we’ve spoken to him about the condition of his heart and lead him to repentance. We’re very thankful the Lord was watching over us and that our house items will go to the brethren instead of a thief.

 

We plan on spending our last few days here fellowshipping with some dear brethren and in prayer and preparation for leaving. (and possible going to the cancer hospital again).  And by God’s grace our whole family is also recovering from being very sick which will make the travel much easier.  Please keep us in prayer and feel free to write any time.

 

 Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling,

and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory

with exceeding joy

To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty,

dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen

 

 

IN Christ,

Sean & Lisa Scott

preachingjesuschrist.com

IT NEVER FAILS!

Seems like every time I sit down to write an update the Lord brings someone over to share the gospel with. For the last couple hours I’ve been talking with a Muslim boy who lives around the corner from me. His parents run a little shop where I buy my milk and eggs at. This was his first time to come over to our house. He asked some of the best questions regarding the truth and the nature of God that I’ve heard anyone ask in a while. It was a blessing to be able to take him through the scriptures showing him God’s character and nature. Due to the recent Muslim attacks in Mumbai India he also had many questions about the Quran. So we spent some time online looking at different verses in the Quran he had never seen before. I ended up giving him Telegu New Testament and exhorted him to seek the Lord. It was a GREAT time of sowing the seed of God’s word into his heart. Lord-willing he’ll start coming to the children’s/young men’s meeting we have at our house.

GOD’S PROVISION

As some of you know for the last couple weeks we had the “Special Investigations Bureau” questioning us and some of the believers here that we fellowship with. We came here on a visa that’s pretty restricted. But the Lord provided a way for us to get residency papers which gives us more favor with the authorities and the permission to reside in the country for up to five years without leaving the country. Without these papers we would have to leave the country every 6 months to renew our visa’s. The main thing they do though is help us with the local authorities. It was pretty amazing how we found out about it and were able to receive them. I had no knowledge of the residence papers until one day when I was in a Christian book store in one of the larger cities. As I was looking at the bibles a white guy walks in and starts talking to the clerk. Not only was he white but he was talking in a southern Texas accent. I asked him where he was from and he tells me he’s from a city which happens to be about 20 minutes from where my house was in Texas. Pretty amazing. He has been in India for almost 10 years. I asked him how he was able to stay here without leaving every 6 months. He told me he was able to receive residency papers about 7 years ago. He said wasn’t sure if they still issued them but said I should check it out. Since being here I’d also made another contact. A friend of mine in the U.S. works for a company that has a branch here in India. When he knew I was going to India he wanted me to meet a friend of his from the India branch who is a believer in Christ. So I contact this man and he got on a train and came to our house. It was good to get to know him and we stayed in contact through email and phone. Well, when the situation with the authorities came about I told him about it. Come to find out his uncle is the Chief of Police over the entire state that we live in. He tells me to come to his city and he’ll help me get the residency papers! So I took a 6 hour train to Hyderabad and we went and met with his uncle. We walked into the head police station and into his uncles office. I was a little nervous not knowing what questions he would ask me. Well he just briefly looks at me and writes a note for us and sends us on our way. I couldn’t believe we were in and out of his office without any questions! We then went to the foreign registrations office. It was already past hours but since we had a note from the Chief of Police they let us in. It was still a long seven day process to get the paperwork filled out but we got it all completed. While I was there I saw other foreigners trying to get the same paperwork and they were all being denied. It truly was a Sovereign work of the Lord in the whole matter. When I took a step back and just look at the hand of God in all the details it made me just more amazed at the care and provision of our God. Nothing is too hard for Him! And having the paperwork is helpful. It doesn’t give us complete freedom in the Governments eyes but it does help!

PREACHING TO GYPSIES

A couple weeks ago one of our night meetings was canceled. I went to pick up brother Vali and noticed a whole bunch of blue tents across the field from him. We decided to go talk with them and found out they were Gypsies that travel around India putting on drama shows. It was a whole community of people from one of the lowest cast in India. They put on drama’s and dress up like all the demonic Hindu God’s. They showed me some pictures. It’s pretty sick. We scheduled a meeting to come back in the evening to preach since most of the men were not there. We came back at dark and set up a light under a tree. About 15 or so people came. I started preaching and about 5 minutes into it a guy interrupts me and says him and 5 other guys are Christians. He told me that they became Christians a few days ago by going to one of the churches not too far from there. I’m just looking at this guy telling me this and he’s decked out with about every Hindu trinket you could think of and he’s getting ready to leave in a couple days and put on more of these plays. Since these five were “saved “I asked them to share the gospel with me. They all just looked at me with blank faces. Then I asked them to share anything about Jesus and they just continued to look at me with a puzzled look on their face. So I told them I would tell them about Christ and began to preach again. They interrupted me again and said “we’ve hear this before”. So I asked them why they had not obeyed the Gospel and they replied that they had! I asked them about all their Idolatry. They then told me they still worship all their god’s but now they worship Jesus too. Apparently they somehow went to a church where the pastor just got them to all say a “sinners prayer” and then pronounced them all saved. The only problem was none of them were saved and now they were in a worse condition than before. Now they’ve been led to believe they already worship Jesus along with their other God’s. So we spent some time preaching Christ as the only way, that there is only ONE God, and that they would have to forsake their Idol worshipping and drama’s to follow Jesus. A couple guys got angry and said they couldn’t do that because they would lose their income. It reminded me of what Demetrius said in Acts 19. Most of the guys began to lose interest and even got angry once we started talking about the god of “money” and the call of Christ to leave all and follow Him. There were a couple guys though (there usually always are! ) who did listen intently and it seemed as if the Word of God was sinking deep into their hearts. Those couple guys took bibles from us and then we left. It was a pretty frustraighting night! While we were leaving one of the guys who had been against what we were saying began to sing at the top of his lungs. It seemed really odd. I asked Vali what he was singing. He said he was singing how they all need to follow Christ, forsake their God’s, how there is only One true God, how their friends who were preventing them from following Christ were worthless and they needed to forsake them! It was pretty amazing. I couldn’t believe this guy was singing these things… and it wasn’t in a sarcastic way at all. It reminded me of when Saul was chasing David and the Lord made Saul prophesy all day and he was unable to get David. (1 Sam 19:23,24) The Lord can even make an unregenerate Idolater declare the truth if He wills to do so! I did go back the next day but they had packed up and were on their way to another state.

 

I’M NOT SAVED!

We’ve been having regular house meetings with a group of people who live around our house. About every other week they come over and say they want to have another meeting. There will be about 10 or 15 of them that gather together to hear the word of God. This last meeting was a real break through for some of them. After finishing preaching a few of them came up to me and said they knew they were not saved and wanted to be. It was a real joy to hear! I didn’t have them pray a sinners prayer (which is unscriptural) because when the Spirit of God does a thorough work in their heart they will have saving faith and pray on their OWN to the Lord to be saved. I did exhorted them though with what the scriptures says about salvation, how we can be saved, the freeness of God’s gift of Salvation (Grace), and the assurance that GOD gives us when we are saved by faith. We’re praying for their souls and believing we’ll see them born-again soon! We’ll be having another meeting with them soon.

 

VILLAGE OUTREACH

We’ve been focusing a lot on one particular village. We actually do less open air preaching there and spend most of our time with home visits and personal bible studies. Each time we go we try to go new homes and personally teach them about Jesus Christ. Then one night a week, in this village, we hold an open meeting and invite the families we’ve been preaching to along with the rest of the village, or anyone who will come. Seems like we’re just starting to see people open up to the gospel there. Today me and Ishmail went to the village to go door to door. When we got there we found a group of people all with big metal rods in their hands. They were trying to kill a 5-6 foot poisonous snake that was making it’s way through the village. It was a great opportunity to talk to them about their Idol worship. I asked them how many of them go to the snake temple to worship the snake god. Most of them said yes. So we asked them why they would kill the snake which is one of the object of their worship. It was a great opportunity to help expose the foolishness of what they were doing and worshiping. We were then able to sit down with a new family, answer many questions, and preach the gospel to them for almost two hours. It was great. One of the ladies in particular was really antagonistic and against the gospel at first but by the end of our time her heart had been completely softened. She even said she’d like to start attending our weekly meetings. While we were preaching to the family a Hindu temple priest/beggar came and asked for money. They go house to house saying that if you give them food they will pray to the gods and their families will be blessed. When he saw us preaching the word of God he asked us for prayer for his sickness. We told him to sit down and listen for a while and we’d pray for him when we were finished. Surprisingly he sat down and listen to the end. Since he was there I took the opportunity to go over to Acts 17 and expound on what Paul preached to those in Athens. He listened the whole time and you could see him just processing it all in his mind. When we were finished he said he really didn’t impart blessing to the people but it was all a ploy and a way to just get food. And he said this in front of everyone there. He took a Telegu new Testament from us and thanked us. We prayed for him and the family and finished our time there. Lord-willing we’ll see them at our night meeting.

 

TWO BROTHERS

One of my greatest joys and where I see the Lord really using us is in discipleship and teaching of two brothers here. We spend a lot of time with these brothers in fellowship and preaching. It’s encouraging because I see the Lord using us to confirm a lot of things that He was already showing them. One of the brothers, who's become a good friend, in particular seems to have a real hunger and zeal for the Lord. He’s always concerned about the church and preaching to the lost. He was involved in a church and saw all the disunity inside it. So he wrote a tract using all the scriptures that deal with “loving our brother” and “loving one another” and passed it out to the believers. Well.. he was kicked out of the church for sharing the scriptures! Unfortunately this is the case of so many so called churches today. They desire you to grow until a certain point but any further than that and you become a threat to them. (Especially when you begin to question unbiblical practices with the Word of God) He didn’t realize it at first but getting thrown out of the church was the BEST thing to happen to him. He’s actually taking the word of God, DOING IT, and grow by leaps and bounds. He’s always telling me “God didn’t save me to just hear the word.. but to DO the word!” We’ve been able to help him through a lot of this, exhort him with the scriptures, and see so much fruit in his life. It was truly the Lords will for us to be here at the exact time that we came.

 

 

PRAYER

We’re continuing to do village outreaches, home visits, children/youth meetings and preaching at a few churches. I preached at a couple churches in Hyderabad and have a couple here locally this week that I’ll be preaching at. (In the churches I spend my time preaching on True and False conversion and what regeneration is and isn’t. Understanding these truths seem to Universally be the GREATEST need in the Church during this hour of ever growing apostasy.) Please keep us and these outreaches in your prayer. And especially the children/youth meeting. Our last meeting packed out our house and there are more and more Muslim youth coming. The Lord has really blessed these meetings .

Thank you for praying for us. It’s always our greatest need!

May the Lord Jesus Be Glorified!

IN Christ,

Sean & Lisa

Greetings in Jesus Name!

This last month has been a busy one and the Lord has opened so many doors for us to preach here.  He has truly given us great favor in the village we live in and the ones we’ve been preaching in.  Since our new translator arrived about two weeks ago we’ve been busy village preaching, open air preaching, having house meetings, and having a youth meeting at our house on Fridays.  Our translator, named Ishmael, is a brother who is a convert from Islam and works with us each Monday-Thursday.  On the weekends he goes back to his town to be with his family and fellowship. 

                                          (Brother Ishmanel - Above Pic)

Then there is another brother I met here who’s been a great blessing and has translated for us many times when the other brother is gone.  We’re truly thankful the Lord has provided genuine brothers for us to work together with in the Gospel.  Especially when so many of the pastors here seem greedy for gain, serving money, instead of serving Christ.  We’ve had many pastors come by our house wanting to work with us, set up meetings, and of course they only need so many $$$$ to do it.  But we’ve committed each one of them to prayer seeking if it was the Lords will to work with any or not.  It’s been amazing to see God’s faithfulness as He has shown us who to work with and who not to work with.  God is faithful!

There’s so many things I could share.  I’ll highlight a few of the outreaches and share what the Lord is doing.


VILLAGE OUTREACHES

One of the brothers I’ve become friends with, name Michael,  has really helped us out by showing us many of the surrounding villages where we can preach.  Most of these villages have no one who preaches there on a regular basis.  We’ve chosen about 6 or so villages to preach in so we can rotate them and go to them on a weekly basis.  Each day we’re able to have about 2 to 3 meetings in different villages.   This way we can continue to sow the seed of God’s word in the hearts of the people and we’ll get to know them as we continue to come.  While I know we’d all like to see people saved the first time we preach to them, and sometimes it does happen, it’s usually not the norm.  So by God’s grace we’ll be faithful to continue to preach the gospel to them and watch God give them the increase in their heart. 

The villages we’re preaching in now are predominately Hindu with a smaller Muslim community.  Some have a few believers in them but most of the “believers” here are not believers at all.  They are simply Christian by birth (which is impossible) and have no idea what the gospel is.  There’s one village by my house we’ve been able to preach in a few times.  Here’s a few photo's of the village: 

When we go to the villages it’s usually me and two other brothers.  We’ll find an area to set up in and usually start with some songs.  While we’re singing one of the brothers will go door to door and let others know we’re having a meeting and that we will be preaching about Jesus Christ.  By the time we’re done with a few songs there will usually be a small crowd gathered together to listen.  I’ll preach the Gospel and one of the brothers will translate.  I usually almost always preach two messages when we preach.  I’ll preach out of a text and explain the Gospel and then I almost always go and preach out of Acts 17 as well and relate it to India.  Because this country if FULL of idolatry it’s a great portion of scripture to expose idolatry for what it is and to lay some foundational truth about God and the Gospel.  After one meeting a couple families invited us over to their house (grass hut) to have tea and talk more.  Both of them began to take their idols down and throw them away!  Now, I’m not convinced these’s families are born again yet but God is certainly working in their hearts.  We were able to share with them some more one on one, pray with them,  and leave them with bibles.  Since we’ll be going to these village on a regular basis we’ll be able to continue teach them the word and, by God’s grace, see them enter into true salvation. 

Another time we went back to this same village all the men had gone to the city to try to get the power company to bring electricity to the village.  So when we started the meeting there were a few women and LOTS of children.  So we decided to do a meeting just for the kids.  Brother Ishmael and I, spent the next couple hours teaching the children bible songs and sharing some of the miracles Jesus did during His lifetime.  It was really a joy to teach the children about Jesus and to see them get excited as we shared. 


OPEN AIR PREACHING

While our village meetings are open air preaching we also decided one night to go preaching in a village center.  It was a place where four roads came together and was sort of an intersection for the villages.  We went at dark, and I wasn’t familiar with the villages around us, so I was a little nervous.  But myself and Ishmael stood up on a small wall with our mic and started preaching.  I started out sharing my testimony and before long there was a good size crowd.  Maybe 20-25 people who stopped or had come to listen.  I preached on sin, God’s righteousness, and the Judgment to come, and Christ as the only way to be saved.  It was more interactive as I asked people questions and let them respond.  It was amazing.  As I preached on sin you could see the conviction on people’s faces.  I then preached Christ to them and exhorted them to turn to the One true God.  When we were finished we again talked one on one and passed out bibles.   It was a good night.  And though I started out with fear I left rejoicing in the Lord. 


YOUTH/COLLEGE MEETING

There’s this young man (20 yrs) who is at our house every day.  He doesn’t speak good English but he comes over to just hang out when we’re home.  He’s pretty much a compulsive liar and has no real ambition except to hang out with his friends.  He reminds me a lot of myself before I was converted!  He’s a guy who knows just about everyone in town and he’s always brining his friends over to our house.  (I know the Lord has him at our house for a reason - and we're praying for his salvation!)  So a few weeks ago we asked him to invite his friends over on Friday night and told him we would have a bible study and talk about Jesus Christ.  The first night he brought about 15 young men over and it’s been the same almost every week.  On the first night he brought all his “Christian” friends who go to a “Christian” school in a large city about 45 minutes from here.  Since they go to a Christian school I asked them to explain to me the central message of the bible.  They all just looked at me with blank stares on their faces and had no idea what I was talking about.  They all said they were Christians by birth (which again is impossible).  I spent the next couple hours convincing them of their sin, showing them they were NOT Christians, that if they died in their current state they would go to Hell, and preached to them how there is forgiveness of sin’s through faith in Jesus Christ.  There was no confusion when they left that they too must repent and be born again just like the Hindu’s and Muslims.  The good new is that a couple of them have continued to come on the following Fridays.  Each Friday there’s a couple guys who continue to come and then there are always new friends that he brings over.  This last week we had more Hindu’s and a couple Muslims come as well.  I never really intended to start a youth meeting… and I wouldn’t really call it that.  The Lord has made a way though for these young men to come to our house so we can preach Jesus to them and teach them the word of God.  Please keep these meetings in your prayers!!


HOUSE MEETINGS

Another outreach we do frequently is house meetings.  We’ll meet someone and get invited over to their house for dinner and be able to preach to them and their neighbors.  There are always kids that come over to our house to meet us and play with our children.  Usually the children speak some English because they are taught it in school.  There are these two brothers that always come by and they asked us to come and have dinner with their family.  They’re from a Hindu family and their house is in walking distance from ours.  We had dinner and scheduled a time when we could come back the following week and have a bible study.   The next week we all went back and there were about 20 people there to hear the word of God (family and neighbors).  The brothers and I sang some songs and then I preached the Gospel and again preached from Acts 17.  People seemed pretty attentive when I was preaching from acts.  Lisa said she saw one young man get mad when I was preaching about idols.  He got up and left.  The rest listened and followed along in the bible.  When we were finished we prayed for just about everyone individually.  We again passed out bibles and had dinner with the family.  Lord-willing we’ll have another meeting at their house soon!  (We’ve actually had several house meetings like this in different places)

BIBLES, BIBLES AND BIBLES

Seems the word had gotten out that we are Christians and have bibles . J  Over the last two weeks, on almost a daily basis, we’ve had many people come to our house and ask for bible.  Some we’ve never met before.  Some are what people call “nominal” Christians  (which means that if they died they would be lost and go to Hell) and some are Hindus who are interested in learning more about Christ.  We had one lady who came by for a bible the other day and we had a home meeting at her house 2 days ago and have another one scheduled for this next Tuesday.  It’s been a blessing to be able to give bibles and see people come and ask for them.  I know that if they will just read the word of God it can do FAR more than my preaching for one or two hours can.  In fact the first thing I do before I preach the Gospel is always lift of the word of God and share some passages that talk about God’s word and what it will do for us if we receive it.  My sincere hope is that after I’ve preached they will take the word of God home and begin to read it for themselves….that God will give them faith…and that they will meet God through Jesus Christ and be saved.  We’ve actually run out of whole bible (praise God!) and will be getting some more.  I did find a place where we can get some free new testaments and have some on their way to us.  As far as ministry needs that’s pretty much our only need at this time.  If anyone wants to help with bibles we can get them for about $2-$2.50 each (whole bibles) and is definitely money well spent!!


PREACHING IN MUSLIM VILLAGE

I specifically want to ask for prayer for the next couple of weeks.  Michael, a dear brother the Lord has allowed me to meet and fellowship with, has shown me a village not too far from my house that’s probably about 90% Muslim.  It’s a dark place.  You can just feel it when you enter the village.  There is a local pastor there who’s been preaching and laying his life down to reach the village.  In fact he was financially well off, living in Hyderabad, when he forsook everything to reach the Muslims with the Gospel.  Now he lives in almost poverty so he can preach and reach the Muslims in the village with the Gospel.  He has nine children and often goes without food for periods of time.  In fact, one time they went without food for so long one of his kids got sick and died.  The pastor didn’t tell me all this…Michael did.  The pastor just had joy on his face as he talked about the Lord and introduced us to a mother and daughter who had come to Christ.  So we’re planning on going there and preaching along with this brother a couple times a week to help him reach those in the village.  We’ll be holding open meetings similar to our other meetings and going door to door as well.   If you could, please specifically keep this in prayer.


UNCLEAR GOSPEL AND FALSE CONVERTS

Ironically one of the greatest hindrances to the Gospel here are the PREACHERS!  So many of them preach a watered down half truth Gospel.  They apparently fail to tell their congregations that if they believe in Jesus they must FORSAKE their idols AND Hindu customs.  So you’ll see many so called believers who still paint their nails orange (Hindu custom), they’ll still have pictures of Idols in their homes, paint their children’s face around the eyes, do witchcraft on their children when they are sick and many other superstitious things.  When I ask them about it they’ll just try to say it’s India custom.  But the FACT is India custom comes from Hinduism.  When I point that out they’ll finally, reluctantly, agree with me. But they don’t see it as that important…yet their congregations are half dead.  You’ll sometimes go into a “believers” homes and find they’ve removed all the Hindu pictures and replaced them with these false Catholic pictures of Jesus (the one where he has the burning heart in his chest).  So instead of praying to the idols they pray before this picture of a false Jesus.  So they replace one idol with another idol and the preachers seem to be content.  It reminds me of what the Lord said in Jeremiah 6:14 “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. “   They fail to teach people that God is worshiped in “Spirit and Truth”.   (John 4:24)  They think the people are spiritually healed while they are actually still in bondage.  And when they don’t teach people that they must repent of and forsake their Hindu customs they are saying it’s ok to drink from the  cup of the Lord and the cup of demons at the same time…. contrary  to what the Word of God says (1 Cor 10:21)  So along with the saving message of Jesus Christ we always preach on these things as well.  Jesus was clear in Luke 14 regarding the conditions of discipleship and we should be clear about what it means to follow Jesus if we truly love people and the Lord.  The truth sets men free!  But if you don’t tell them the whole truth you leave them in bondage.  This is the case of much of the church here. 



THE OTHER IDOL


Everywhere you turn here there are idols.  There are probably 20 billion idols in this country…maybe more.  They are easy to see.  They look demonic.  They are usually some half man half animal creature with at least 4 arms.  Anyone walking into this country would easily agree with Paul when he saw Athens and say this country is “wholly given over to idolatry”.  But the bottom line truth is America is the same way!  And as many of you know Americas idol ($$$) seems to be in big trouble right now and unable to deliver those who are trusting in it.  People think the idolatry here is bad because it SO obvious.  It’s easy to look at and see how sick and perverted it is.  But the idolatry of money, possessions, comfort, ect is NO different.  God says that covetousness IS idolatry.  All idolatry is sin and NO idolater will enter the kingdom of God.  Whether you physically bow down on your knees before some demonic statue or with your heart you bow down and serve money, it makes no difference to God.  It’s all the same.  God lumps them all in the same class and excludes all idolaters from his Kingdom.   I don’t know what lies ahead but if things keep going they way they are it’s only going to get worse.  And if you’re secretly in your heart trusting in money, seeking possessions, and living for this life - even if you claim the name of Jesus, you’re going to be like the man who built his house on the sand - one who hear the word of God but doesn't obey. (Matt 7).   Your ruin will be great, your life will be a disaster, and you’ll end up in Hell.  I pray that before things get worse that you will evaluate your heart/life in light of God’s Word.   Let the Lord begin to expose any sin in your heart and truly begin to trust and obey Jesus.  “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”  (Romans 10:11)


Brethren, we ask that you continue to pray for us!  Pray that God would continue to graciously open the doors for us to preach and see a harvest of souls come into His kingdom.  The day of our final redemption truly does draw closer.  Let us all finish our race reaching for the prize! 

IN Christ,

Sean & Lisa
www.preachingjesuschrist.com
(there are more family pic's on Lisa's blog)

Greetings in the Name of Jesus!



PERSECUTION - Please pray for the Brethren!!!

Brethren, for those of you who aren't aware yet I would like to first let you know of the persecution that many believers in the State of Orissa have been facing.  A few days ago some Hindu leaders were killed by Maoist rebels.  Instead of retaliating against the Maoist the Hindu's have used this incident to persecuted the Christians and are blaming them for the attack.  The reports seem to change every day regarding the persecution but the numbers seem to keep growing.  Last I heard around 25 Christians have been killed, over 600 churches burned and up to 4000 believer have fled their villages for safety.  Some of them are hiding in the jungle to flee their attackers.  The few Christian schools where I live have all been closed so the believers could spend time in prayer for the Saints who are suffering for the sake of Jesus.  Please brethren, keep these Saints in prayer during this great trial they are undergoing.  I know there are ministries like GFA.ORG who are probably already requesting help for these brethren and have the means to deliver it to them.  If you'd like to help them and share in their suffering please visit their site and I'm sure there are ways you can help.  (I haven't visited the site myself because my internet connection is too slow.  But I'm sure GFA is working to help our brethren in Christ in this area).  You can also read more about the persecution on this thread at Sermon Index :  http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=24987&forum=44

Also Brethren, please pray for the Hindu's.  We are to pray for those who persecute us.  Pray God would be merciful to them and grant them repentance and faith in Jesus Christ!

WE ARE SAFE & FOUND A HOUSE

Thank you for the emails asking about our safety.  We live in Andhra Pradesh which is the state just south of Orissa.  We haven't experienced any of the persecution here and it seems, at this time, to be confined only to Orissa.  In fact, at this time the Lord is giving us great favor with those around us. 

After being sick for a couple of weeks and hoping around from hotel to hotel the Lord provided us a house!  We were unable to find one in the city we originally planned to stay in.  Many people there won't rent to foreigners and most of the Hindu's won't rent to Christians.  So the brethren were able to find us a house to rent in a town about 50 miles from the one we originally were going to stay in.  A couple of the brethren actually moved here with us so we could be close together and do ministry.  It's so encouraging to see brethren be more concerned with God and His Kingdom than where they live.  And they have truly been servants of Christ as they've helped us to get settled in.  We're staying in a one bedroom house - maybe 700sq ft?.  I know that seems small but it's actually a little bigger than what many people have.  There are people who are  living in grass huts just down the road from us.  For us, we're just thankful we have a place!  It's great for the kids because it has a place where they can play in front as well as on the roof.  Most of the roof's here are flat with stairs going up to them.  This is usually where you dry your laundry but it's also gives the kids a place to run around.  We're right between a Mosque and a Hindu temple.  On one side of our house I can literally throw a rock and hit the Mosque.  Which also means I can hear the calls to prayer 5 times a day pretty clearly.  On the other side, a little farther away, is a large Hindu temple.  But there are small Hindu temples in just about every little neighborhood.   So Praise the Lord, we're right in the middle of everything! 

God has given us great favor with those around us.  We have Hindu's and Muslims that constantly come by ours house to talk and just want to meet us.  In the evening there's usually about 7-15 kids from the area that come by the house.  Some of them speak English and at other times we have a translator with us.  There's actually more people who speak English here than when we lived in Rosarito, Mexico.  Most of the kids are taught English in school.  After next week, we're planning on holding Gospel meetings either in the front of our house or on the roof a couple days a week.

MY MUSLIM NEIGHBOR

I met a young Muslim man (maybe 27 yrs old) who lives across the street from us.  He's very nice and has spent some time showing me around the town.  Peter and I spent a good deal of time with him the other day sharing the Gospel with him.  He was a little hard at first - giving all the answers that the Mosque teaches them to give.  It's amazing, no matter where you go, when you talk to a Muslim they all have the same responses.  They give them not because they've actually searched out the truth but because it's what they've been taught in the Mosque to say.  Instead of arguing about the differences between Christianity and Islam I reasoned with him about God's righteousness, his sin, and the coming judgment.  As I began talking to him about his personal sin against God, God's just condemnation for his sin, and the coming judgment his heart seemed a little softer I think he could see more clearly why we say Jesus is the only way to be saved.  He's not converted but the seed of God's word is being sown in his heart.  And he's still coming around!  May God give him the revelation of Jesus Christ!

1st VILLAGE OUTREACH

Last week myself, brother Peter, and brother Vali went on our first village outreach together.  The village is about two hours from our house.  We took a little three wheel auto (taxi) to get there.  These are SMALL little taxis and they manage to get about 15 passenger inside just one!   It was a pretty cramped ride.  There's no a/c either and it's been very hot and humid.  After about a two hour drive in the taxi we were dropped off at a rice field.  By this time is was pitch black outside…it was probably about 7:00pm.  We hiked for a mile or so through the rice fields before we got to the village.  The path through the rice field was about eight inches across.  There were these huge frogs everywhere.  Maybe the size of softballs.  You had to be careful not to step on them!  But after walking for a while we began to see lights and made it to the village.  It was a small village where most of the people live in grass huts.  It was very poor.  I'm sure most of the people there probably work in the rice fields.  There is a brother in Christ there who lives there and has already been preaching.  So the village is made up of believers and Hindu's.  They had set up a pretty loud speaker and amplifier and called people from the village to his house for a meeting.  Usually they hold meetings outside but because it was raining and too muddy to do so we had the meeting in the brothers ONE ROOM house and on his porch.  It was a good crowd with a mixture of believers and Hindu's.  We sang some songs, prayed, and then I preached the Gospel for about an hour or so with brother Peter translating for me.  It was a good first meeting.  We spent the night with the brother and slept on his floor.  The next day we went to another city and did a bible study with some Hindu's the brother knew who wanted to know more about Jesus.  It was a blessed time as we preached Christ to them and explained how they could be saved and receive everlasting life!  There was one girl in particular who was really concerned about her sin and wanted to know more about Jesus.  We were able to get her a bible so she could read the Word's of Life for herself.  The next day we had another night meeting at a different rice plantation.  There was a brother who works and lives there and he had invited his Hindu co-workers to come to his house to hear the Gospel.  Most of the workers seem to live on the rice fields in these row homes that are just small narrow living spaces.  They usually have one living area that would fit two beds, another small room and a kitchen.  There will be a row of about 10 or 15 of them attached together.  When you open their front doors you can see the rice fields where they spend their day working.  Our meeting was similar to the other one and I was able to preach the gospel for a hour or so.  I had brought my amplifier so I'm sure some of the neighbors who didn't come were able to hear as well.  After the meeting we found an auto (taxi) and headed home.  It was a good first outreach and was good for me and Peter as we're learning to work together in preaching and him translating for me. 

NEXT OUTREACH

On Tuesday we leave for four days of village preaching.  We'll be going to a village that is totally Hindu.  There are no churches or believers in that area.  I'm really looking forward to this time.  We'll be visiting people one on one during the day, preaching and praying for them.  Then we'll be holding open air meetings in the evening.  The village is about 3 hours from our house and we'll be traveling there by bus and train.  It was good to preach in the other village but I'm excited to preach in a place where there are no believers and where we're not building on another mans foundation.  If you would please keep this upcoming outreach in prayer.  And also pray for our family as Lisa and kids will stay at the house while I'm gone. 


CONDITION OF THE CHURCH


It's been interesting to be here and meet different believers.  The town I live in has quite a few churches from many denominations.  I've had the opportunity to meet many people who call themselves Christians.  I would say the majority of the church here, at lease where I live, is in a similar condition as the Church in America.  It's mainly filled with FALSE CONVERTS!  People who think they are saved but still in their sin never having been born again by God.  When you ask them to share their testimony they tell you when they were baptized.  They have no testimony of being saved from their sins, trusting Christ for their salvation, or of God giving them a new heart.  They just tell you of another "work" they've done that's made them a Christian.  But that's what it seems like many of the believers here preach.  So many people here are trusting in their baptism instead of Jesus Christ for their salvation.  Reminds me of a lot people in America.  You also meet many "believers" who say they've been believers since birth.  They say they were born into a Christian family and have always been a Christian.  The only thing is the BIBLE says that's IMPOSSIBLE.  You can't be born a Christian.  Jesus is clear that one MUST be born again if they are to be saved and enter the kingdom of God (John 3).  So we've had a lot of opportunities to preach the gospel to professing believers.  I know for many of them it's the first time, and will be the first time, they've heard the Gospel preached.   I'm praying God will grant some of them repentance unto life.

We did meet a great brother in the Lord the other day.  It was truly a blessing to meet a brother filled with Spirit of God who has a deep love for God and a testimony of being saved by Grace.  He had us over for dinner and we had a blessed time just talking about Jesus and getting to know each other.  He lives pretty close to us and hopefully we'll be able to fellowship often.  He has two kids and our kids really enjoyed their time with them.  We had been praying that God would give them friends who spoke English and God has answered our prayers.   


OPPORTUNITIES  

If you would please be praying for me regarding the opportunities here.  Being a foreigner the opportunities are endless.  I've had several pastors who heard "a foreigner" was in town and came by my house.  They all want to set up crusades and speaking engagements at every church.  I had one pastor come by who was ready to plan the next year of my life!  It's actually pretty sad because none of these pastors even know the Gospel that I preach.  They have no idea if I'm a false teach or what I'm preaching and yet they are opening up their pulpits and want to arrange meeting for me.  While that can be a good thing  for them - allowing them to hear the Gospel - it's a scary thing to think anyone can work their way into these pulpits and spread false doctrine and fleece the flock.  And of course it already happens.  There are lots of American prosperity preachers who hold massive crusades in some of the larger town spreading their false doctrines.  So if you could just be praying that I would hear from God regarding which places to preach at and which ones not to.  I'm actually praying that God would also give me a brother who speaks English who is willing to go street preaching in the places where other won't go.  I think most of the believers shy away from preaching in market area's, by temples, mosque's and in the more busy areas out of fear.   But these are great places to preach at with lots of people who need to hear the Gospel.  When you walk down the main street in our town you'll sometimes see the Communist party openly trying to recruit members to their organization (there is a Communist political party in India).  If they are that bold for a wicked earthly political party shouldn't believers be even more bold and zealous since we hold the truth of God?  I pray God would give believers grace to not save their lives but to proclaim the truth of God with all the power and authority it should be declared with! 

Outside of the Church the opportunities are endless as well.  Especially for foreigners.  There's hardly a day that goes by that I can't walk down the street without being invited into someones house for tea or coffee.  One day it literally took me about 1.5 hours to go about 100 yards.  Everyone kept asking us to come into their home and meet them.  Even if you don't know the language God will provide a translator and you can spend the whole day preaching to people who really know very little about Christ.  I know that's not just the case here in India but is similar in many places in the world.  So if you've ever thought about missions offer yourself up to God.  Maybe you'll hear Him call you to preach to some of millions of people who've never heard about Christ or to those who may have heard about Jesus but have never heard the Gospel.  I'm sure if more believers offered themselves to God in this way, and currently lived in such a way as to show they were ready to go, that they would hear the call of God to go to a place where people haven't heard the Gospel!   I'm still working on uploading some photo's but our Internet connection here is SLOW.  We're working on getting a fast connection at our house but it's taking a while to do so.      Thanks to all who have been praying for us and please continue to do so!   IN Christ,   Sean & Lisa

Greetings Brethren!

By the grace of God we made it to India and are doing well.  It was a long flight but we finally made it.  We flew standby and thankfully we were able to make each flight without any problems.  A friend of ours had helped us get standby tickets which helped to keep the cost of the flights down.  Everything about the flight was great until we landed in Mumbai and learned that none of our luggage had made it out of New York.  There wasn't much we could do so we continued on the way and flew from Mumbia to Hyderabad.  I was able to meet the brethren at the airport and then started working on our luggage.  They told us they had located all of our bags and that they would arrive a day later.  So we left the airport and drove 6 hours to the village that we'll be living in.  The next morning I got up with the brethren at about 3:00 a.m. and drove the 6 hours back to the airport to get the luggage.  However, when we got there they said it still wasn't there and they were "expecting" them to arrive in the evening.  So we all stayed at a hotel outside of Hyderabad until the evening and thankfully our luggage arrived when we made it back to the airport.  So we headed back and started our third 6 hour drive back to the village.  I have to say, after flying for 30 hours and driving for about 20 hours I was getting a little delirious towards the end.  After a couple days of rest though and some time in prayer and the word I am refreshed and feeling much better! 

Lisa and the kids have been doing great too.  Jeremiah did good on the plane ride and to our surprise we were able to get the seats with the bassinet for the long flight over the ocean.  So far only Ethan's had a little sickness but he's already doing better. 

We're still staying in a hotel as the brethren look for a place for us to stay.  They had a place lined up but before we got here the owner rented it to someone else.  So our hotel stay is going to be a little longer than expected but we trust the Lord will provide a place for us soon. 

It's been a real blessing to meet and fellowship with some of the brethren here.  They really have been Christ like servants as they've sought to make sure we are well taken care of.  I was able to attend their fellowship last Sunday.  It's held in a little rented house that's maybe 500-700 square feet.  The roof is made out of tree branches that have been woven together.  It was raining during fellowship so we all got a little wet but this didn't stop about 30 people from coming together to worship the Lord and fellowship together.  I was able to pray with just about everyone there and sing a hymn for them in English.  I'll start preaching there next week and as soon as we find a house we'll start open air meetings in the villages.

If you would..please keep me in pray for this coming Wednesday.  I was able to meet a believing professor at one of the local secular colleges.  He's asked me to come and preach the gospel to about 250 of his Hindu students on Wednesday!  I'll be purchasing 250 new testaments to take with us to hand out to the students when we're finished.  Pray that God would use me to glorify the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit, to clearly present the Gospel of God's grace! 

Thank you brethren for praying!  Lord-willing I'll write another update next week and try to upload some pics. 

IN Christ,

Sean & Lisa
www.preachingjesuschrist.com



**For those of you who have or will be emailing me it may take me a couple days to respond.  Everything takes a little longer over here and the power is out at least 3 or 4 times a day.  But I'll write back!  :)