October 26, 2014
Dear friends,
We had a wonderful day here in Phnom Penh today. The auditorium and overflow room was totally full and the spirit in the services was uplifting. It is always a blessing to be able to meet with fellow believers at the church. This morning I dealt with Matthew 12:43-45 and the truth that Jesus is more powerful than the obstacles that we face in our lives. The challenge was for us to each continue growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and to resist becoming complacent in our spiritual life. It is only as we move on in our spiritual growth and obedience to the Word of God that we can glorify God with our lives and can be used to bring others to Him. I introduced the concept of “New Levels = New Devils.” This basically means that as we grow in our own personal lives and as a ministry we can expect to encounter new and more difficult trials, but with each new level comes not only more opposition, but more opportunity to receive God’s blessing upon our lives as well as exercise more influence in the lives of those around us for the cause of Christ. We were all challenged to know where we are at spiritually then to strive to grow to the next level. Lord willing, next week I will deal with ways that believers open themselves up to demonic oppression (not possession). Ephesians 4:27 warns us not to “give place” to the devil. We will consider five specific sins which, when committed by the believer, automatically give place to the enemy and result in spiritual defeat. Please be in prayer for the preaching as the devil is not pleased when his devices are exposed and God’s truth is proclaimed.
The workers are doing a great job in the Phnom Penh Children’s Ministry. It is always a challenge to get the Sunday morning service dismissed and the building cleared out in time to be able to get the children picked up for the Children’s Ministry. Due to our constraints of space as well as the logistics of actually getting the children to church, we are not able to have the children attend the regular services with our teens and adults. It would be an unbelievable blessing if, one day, we could have facilities that would hold the hundreds of folks who attend services here at Pacific Baptist Church each week. However, the outrageous prices of property here in the city along with the extreme poverty of most of our people make that prospect rather unlikely. Each week the children here in Phnom Penh as well as in several other villages have a great time meeting with the workers and singing, playing games, learning verses, and being challenged from God’s Word. It is a blessing to see that the various Children’s Ministries that God has allowed our church to start are now being led almost exclusively by the nationals. Please continue to pray for the Children’s Ministry and the workers as the seed of the Gospel is being planted into hundreds of young lives each week.
Today we had two of our laymen preach the Sunday evening service. Hem, pictured above, preached a good message from 2 Timothy 3:16 and challenged us to make sure that we are placing proper value upon the Word of God in our daily lives. It is amazing to see the spiritual growth that has taken place in Hem and his family since he has been saved. One of our other men, Man, preached a good message from Hebrews 12 and challenged us to each run and complete the race that God has given to us. We are blessed by both of these men and their desire to honor the Lord with their lives. Please continue to pray for the many men and teen boys who have been saved and are being discipled here at Pacific Baptist Church.
This evening we enjoyed a special impromptu number from some of the folks who are between the ages of 19-30. It was a blessing to have two folks singing in this group who have been saved in the past month. This was their first time to be up front but they did it willingly and with joy. We are planning to do some things this next year to help strengthen this age group in the Phnom Penh church as well as the Anlong Tnout church. Please pray that we will have wisdom as we seek to effectively equip these folks and other young adults for the work of the ministry.
On October 8th, 2014 we asked you to pray that our friend, Mora, would be saved. (https://goodnewsfromafar.com/2014/10/08/october-8-2014/) She has been attending church each Sunday morning now for four weeks. This past Wednesday afternoon she came and met with Debbie and I in order to ask some more questions about the Bible and her need of salvation. Her number one “hang-up” was that, as a university student, she found it difficult to accept that God created everything and that evolution is a lie from the devil. She said, “How can I just forget everything that I have been taught in high school and university and just trust the Bible when it says that God is the Creator?” We were able to spend quite a bit of time talking with her about this topic and, by God’s grace, she came to accept that she has been taught a lie her entire life. There really is a God Who created everything and to Whom we are all accountable. Once she came to accept that God is her Creator, she immediately asked us what she must do to be saved. We are so happy to report to you that she bowed her head in prayer and admitted to God that she is a sinner who is totally incapable of saving herself and she is trusting Jesus Christ for salvation! Please pray for Mora as she now grows in her new found faith. Her school and work schedule basically consumes her entire life. She studies in the university each morning until she goes to work in the afternoon. Then she returns home from work around 11:00 p.m. and does homework until early morning. Please pray that she will be able to find a time during the week to be able to meet with us. I have never known a “Sunday morning only” Christian to live a victorious and vibrant life for the Lord. She seems to have a real hunger to grow and we expect to be able to begin meeting with her very soon. Though you are not here in Cambodia to witness to her, if you prayed for Mora’s salvation then you had a part in seeing her saved!
On October 19th, 2014 we asked you to pray for 20 year old SereyVuth to be saved. (https://goodnewsfromafar.com/2014/10/19/october-19-2014/) We are happy to report to you that he accepted Christ as his personal Saviour today. After receiving Christ this morning he immediately said that he wanted to help serve in the Children’s Ministry. It was a blessing to see him sitting with the young children today. He returned again for the evening service and this picture was taken out in front of the church. Please pray for SereyVuth’s spiritual growth as some of our men focus on helping to disciple him.
James 5:7 says, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.” There is often a waiting process between when the seed of the gospel is planted and the time that there is a harvest. We are to do all that we can to spread the gospel to everyone possible but we also must remember that it often takes time for people to respond to the truth. It is not that the message of salvation is difficult to understand but rather that man’s heart is wicked and lives in opposition to the truth. Such is the case with 15 year old Lyma. He attended the Children’s Ministry when we first started the church but he never responded to the gospel. He came faithfully for some time then totally dropped off and had no more interest in coming to church or hearing of his need to be saved. Suddenly last week he sought out Brother Man (in the red shirt) and told him that he and some of his friends had been talking at school about their need to be saved. It was a blessing that he knew that people from Pacific Baptist Church could show him how to be saved. Lyma trusted Christ as his personal Saviour yesterday. Immediately following the morning service today he asked me what he would need to do in order to get a Bible. I gave him a copy of the Gospel of Mark along with a set of questions that he had to answer. He assured me that he really wants bis own Bible and he will work on filling it out immediately. Please pray for Lyma’s spiritual growth and faithfulness to church.
Fifteen year old Sovann trusted Christ this weekend as well. He seems to be a very sharp young man and serious about his new faith. After the service this evening he told one of our men that he enjoys listening to preaching and that he thinks it would be fun to one day be able to preach as well. Perhaps he will one day become a church-planter here in Cambodia or somewhere else here in Southeast Asia! Pray for Sovann and his spiritual growth.
Seventeen year old Dy received Christ as his personal Saviour last month during the Jr. High boys soccer tournament. He has been pretty faithful to church for the past several weeks. Please help pray for SreyNeang and Dy’s mother to become interested in eternal things.
Last week Miss Grace and a couple of other ladies organized a soccer game for about 20 of our teen and young adult ladies. They had a great time together. This is the first time that we have ever had a soccer game for the ladies and it worked out great. Several of the deaf girls participated in the game and seemed to have a lot of fun. After the game they all went out for pizza. It was a great opportunity for some of our solid teen girls to have a godly influence upon the lives of some of the young adult ladies who are new Christians. It was also a great opportunity for our young ladies to reach out to two unsaved young adult women who participated in the game.
Please continue to pray for the salvation of Sarom and SokunThea. We are planning to have them to our home for dinner and fellowship on the evening of November 6th. We have also invited Brother Sinath and his wife, Sopheap, to join us as well. We have been working with this family for a couple of months now. I know that they are seriously thinking about their need to be saved but they are also counting the cost of what it will mean if they turn to God from idols. (1 Thessalonians 1:9) One purpose in having them to our home along with Sinath and Sopheap is to demonstrate to them that becoming a Christian does not mean they need to be totally isolated from friends. Once they are born into the family of God they will discover that the family is large, happy, and sticks together!
Because of God’s grace,
Dave, Debbie, Joshua, Jeremy, and Jason
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