August 30, 2015

August 30, 2015

Dear friends,

We had a great weekend. The services were all packed and the spirit was encouraging. We are constantly amazed to see God’s hand at work here in our midst. We thank God for His faithfulness and for allowing us to be a small part of what He is doing in this part of the world! This morning I continued in a series dealing with The Costs and Rewards of Discipleship. The people were challenged from the Word of God to live lives that are committed to loving and obeying God and loving those around them.

You can click on the video below to see a video update from this weekend.

We were blessed to be able to take up a benevolent offering for the poor this weekend. It was touching to see how the folks responded to the challenge. We had enough food products to prepare packages for 18 different families. Some of the gifts will be used to bless some of the members in the church, but the majority of the packages will be distributed to people who have no connection to our church whatsoever but who are in serious need of help. We pray that this demonstration of love will be used by God to help soften their hearts to the gospel. We plan to make this offering a regular part of the “DNA” of our ministries here by taking up an offering for the poor the last Sunday of every month that has 5 weeks in it.

These folks volunteered to come and help prepare the baskets to be distributed to the poor. It’s such a blessing to serve alongside so many people who love the Lord and joyfully serve Him!

Brother Man preached a great message tonight from Matthew 26 and challenged us to be faithful in not just giving an offering to the Lord, but to give our entire lives to the Lord’s service. It has been such a blessing to see how Man, and others, have grown in the Lord and in their ability to teach and preach God’s Word. The hope of any nation is not the missionary. It is nationals who are won to the Lord and trained to obey and serve Him. We thank God for the host of men, women, and young people who are being won and discipled for God’s glory. Please continue to pray that our team will be faithful and diligent to keep the main thing the main thing!

It was a special blessing to be able to meet Srey Mom this morning. One of the young men in the church, Bundit, reached out to her some time ago with the gospel. In recent months Bro. Bounna and Thy have been working with her. Others from the Phnom Penh Children’s Ministry have been faithfully working with her children. After the service was over this morning she approached me and asked if she could be saved. Those are the kind of questions you love to hear! Mrs. Has had the opportunity to sit down with her and help lead her to place her trust in Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour. Srey Mom returned for the evening service and even stood up and thanked God for her salvation during our testimony time in front of the whole church. After the evening service she shared with me the struggle she has had for many years in order to find the Truth. With a huge smile of appreciation to the Lord she said, “This morning I found the Truth that I have been looking for. Now I have peace with God.” Please pray for Srey Mom to be faithful as she grows in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray that her husband, Dara, will trust Christ as well. He is a professor in a university here in Phnom Penh and maintains a very busy schedule with very little time off.

Bundit is the young man who initially witnessed to Srey Mom and her family several months ago. For more than three years his mother has discouraged him from following the Lord Jesus Christ. At times his life has been quite difficult because of his desire to obey God while at the same time trying to honor and obey his parents. On Saturday Bundit’s mother gave him an ultimatum – “Stop going to church or stop living in my home.” She told him that if he went to church this weekend then he was to pack all his belongings and take them with him because he was no longer welcome in her home. This evening he came to church with all of his personal belongings in a backpack and a small box. He had made his choice to take up his cross and follow Jesus no matter what the cost. Please pray for Bundit to experience the unconditional love of his heavenly Father. He is a good young man and I believe that he has pure motives to honor the Lord with his life. He is currently living with Bro. Adrian and Sron, another teen boy who has been “kicked out” of his family for choosing to follow Jesus Christ.

We are thankful to report that Grandma Pheap has accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour! Thank you for faithfully praying for her. Please continue to pray for her daughter, Bopha, and son-in-law, Hang, to be saved.

This past week I had the opportunity to meet with Saly for breakfast one morning and present the gospel to him. Lord willing, I will meet him again this coming Saturday. It was great to have him in our service this evening. Please pray that he will be saved soon.

This past Friday evening was the last game of our Soccer tournament for this year. Brother Vannak and his workers did a fantastic job of organizing it. There were 4 young men who came to Christ as a result of the tournament this year. It was a blessing to have Zen(back row on the left hand side in the black shirt) and Ly (back row on the right hand side in the white shirt) involved in coaching this year. Zen was saved this past year and is a faithful single man. He serves primarily in our ministry outreaches in Kompong Chhnang province. I had the opportunity to lead Ly to Christ several years ago but he strayed away from the Lord until recently. Within the past year he returned to the Lord and his wife, Chout, got saved as well. Brother Keo has invested many hours over the past several months discipling Ly and Chout and they are both growing in the Lord. Please continue to pray for Zen, Ly, and Chout to be faithful to the Lord. 

You can see a short video clip from the game this past Friday evening by clicking on the video below.

I had the opportunity to begin meeting with Srey Mohm (not the same one previously mentioned) this past week. She has had some exposure to Christianity but is confused in regard to salvation, baptism, and a couple of other areas. Srey Mohm’s son, Lyma, was one of the teen boys who was reached through the soccer tournament this year. He has become one of our most faithful teen boys and has a burden to see his parents saved. I have met with Srey Mohm on three different occasions this past week for many hours. Lord willing, I will meet with her again this coming Thursday at 1:00 p.m. Please pray that she will be willing to turn to God from idols and be saved.

Please pray for Van and his wife, Roun, to be saved. They live in a province a couple of hours from here and have apparently never been exposed to the gospel in their entire lives. Van is the maternal uncle of Brother Vong. I had the opportunity to lead Brother Vong’s parents to the Lord over 20 years ago. It is such a blessing now to have Brother and Mrs. Vong serving the Lord here in Cambodia. It’s especially a blessing to see that they are making contact with family members who have never heard the gospel. Pray for the Vong family as they hope to take a trip to Van’s village in the next few weeks with the goal of presenting the gospel to their lost family members.

Because of God’s grace,

Dave, Debbie, Joshua, Jeremy, and Jason