We Know

As I was teaching last nights Bible study I started to think, do we really know? And IF we really know how does that play out in our life? Let me explain, 1 John closes in chapter 5 with three "we knows"; "we know" that everyone born of God does not sin..... (is not given over to the power of sin, lead a life characterized by sin), "we know" we are from God......., and "we know" the Son of God has come..... Do we truly KNOW and IF so what does that mean for our lives? I got to thinking. If I know that sin no longer has dominion over me, why so often am I so powerless over sin? Why do I not walk in the victory over sin that has been granted to the believer? If I know that I am from God, meaning He is my Father, Protector, Provider, and Keeper (from the evil one) why again do I feel so powerless. And lastly, If I truly know that the Son of God has come... so that we would Know Him  is true, why am so often do I feel alone? Now I am in no way saying that I am not a child of God or anything of the sort, this is not some sort of confession, just my thoughts. The question lies in do we merely know what the Bible says, or do we BELIEVE it? If we are free from the power of sin, walk in the victory, not defeat. If we are of God trust in the one who has called us, protects us, and sets us apart from this wicked and dying world, and if we know the Son of God has come, we also know why He has come, TO SET US FREE! These three "We Knows" are our strength, and our hope. I am encouraged by these, because I KNOW! We need to walk in the victory already granted to us, knowing we serve the ONE true and living Savior.

Small correction/clarification

In "A Brief Update" I stated that we are happy to be in our new home with our new intern. This indicates that Sam Parker is staying in our home, I apologize for this as she is not. Sam Parker is staying a few doors down in a small home of her own. We are happy to be in our new home and also to have a new intern to serve along side us. It has been corrected in the original post.  Again I apologize for the lack of clarity. God Bless

Brief Update

In mid Feb. we had our first visitors from America Tom and Linda Chambers. It was so nice to have them here as we were already feeling a little homesick. About a week after they arrived we met with a team from North Carolina called International Commission. We were able to work with them and The Seed Church out of Phuket assisting them in ministry going into the schools preaching the gospel and street witnessing. What a blessing this was so many of the Thai students for the first time ever heard the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. We also had the pleasure of meeting so many new people who minister in our area. One being a Man named Raju. The team went to a Burmese church Raju is heavily involved in. There Linda had the opportunity to share the gospel. While that was going on Joe was outside sharing his Testimony. It was totally the Lord for the first time Joe was able to share in Thai. At the end of the evening this man named Chay was in tears and asked to be prayed over. Another lady named Jodi was at this time sharing with Chays daughter named Syn (Sin). This was on a Wed. That evening the Burmese Pastor had asked Joe to come on Sunday to teach which he
did, we will discuss this later.
Another opportunity that the Lord set up was, on one of Joe’s visits to the Rohinja refugees he met a Muslim cleric. There were about four five upper Muslim men and two Imams. In a discussion with this Muslim man Joe learned of about 300 more refugees in a nearby “refugee” camp. This man requested that Joe
let the area churches know about the need of these men. Upon the arrival of the IC team and the co efforts of the Seed church Joe and a small team of about 10 were able to take aid and deliver the Gospel to these Muslim Rohinja refugees. This was totally ordained of the Lord because at the other “camp” we were absolutely forbidden to mention the name of Jesus. Thank you Lord.

We are now in our new home in Northern Phuket, what a blessing! It is hot but we are adjusting, and learning how to deal with it, surprisingly it is hotter than just an hour north at our other home. With our new home we also picked up a new guest. Sam Parker will be an intern here with us for about the next ten or so months until her visa runs out. We are blessed to be in our new home and also to have a new intern to serve along side us. More info to come as the ministry takes shape and we get further directions from the Lord, God bless