Tag Archives: Witnessing

Another Profession of Faith in Christ

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Every week we are going soul-winning. John and I normally try to go out several times a week. We also work on contacting people by phone, by email, through Facebook, stopping by their work places, or however we can get in touch with people during the week. It is interesting to see how God is working.

Just a few weeks ago we started another Bible study not far from the Kokenzie’s house. We had been knocking the doors on that particular street and a lady said she wanted us to do a Bible study at her house. John and Julie began the Bible study and are teaching this lady, Fabiola, every week.

Just this last Tuesday, we tried to make some house calls because it had been raining. When everyone we contacted was not available and the rain died down some, we decided to go ahead and go out to knock some doors. Because we had not yet finished knocking all the doors, we decided to go ahead and finish the road where the Bible study was started.

The first person we found at home was a young lady with a six month old child. Her name is Dayelle. She showed some interest, then when we asked her about her salvation, she admitted that she was not saved. She said she did not know if she would go to heaven.

Even though it began sprinkling and she was holding her baby out in that damp weather, she wanted to hear what the Bible had to say. We showed her some verses and showed her how she could be saved. I prayed for the Lord to work in her heart while she was praying that the Lord would save her! How exciting!

Because there is such religious confusion in our area, this is not a common thing. Few people ever admit that they are not saved, even though they say they don’t know if they are going to heaven, they almost always say they have been saved and Jesus is the only means of salvation. However, being a Christian is in style here, especially in this part of the country. That means most people know the lingo, but hardly ever trust Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. They always have their own thoughts about who God is and how to be saved without having Bible to back them up.

After praying with Dayelle, she told us that they had just moved into the area because her and her husband had been sent away to seminary. They later found out that they were used as part of a scam and were mistreated. The pastors that sent them away were removed by the church. It is amazing, that people like this who know very little if anything about God or the Bible are sent to get seminary training.

Please pray for her husband. We have not yet met him, but are praying that the Lord will work in his heart also. She has been invited to the Bible study tonight on her street. Pray she will come, her husband would come, and we would be able to help them spiritually. Pray for John and Julie as head up this small Bible study this evening.

The Lord is working in many lives around us and we are very happy to be a part of it! Keep praying!

–Jeremy

Posted in Ministry, Old Blog

A Day in the Ministry

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Yesterday was quite a day! My morning got started quite slowly, but I soon jumped into the work that was cut out for the day. I had a couple things on my list that had to be done before nightfall.

Monday is the day we hold our weekly Bible studies. We always look forward to the Bible study, but at the same time it does require preparation. Each week we work on developing Bible studies and preparing ourselves to teach the Bible lesson. This week we also decided to print a registration card to help us gather a little more information about those who participate in the Bible study.

John and I worked most of the morning on getting the website ready for putting our Bible studies online. We created a few pages, styled them for the lessons and uploaded some of the materials we had.

In the afternoon Amanda wanted to go run a few errands, so we ran around town looking for a few things. Though we did not find any wrapping paper, we did find mini marshmallows! (This really has nothing to do with the subject, but I thought I would throw it in anyhow.)

When we arrived back home, the registration cards needed printed, the lesson needed to be printed and reviewed also before getting ready for the Bible study. The Lord allowed everything to go smoothly until we were about ready to leave for the evening.

I had asked Amanda and the boys to come to the Bible study with me this week. As we were about ready to leave, I sent the boys outside to wait by the car. Shortly after I heard a scream! Judson had fallen down the steps leading to the car and had skinned up his knee pretty good. We brought him inside and started to doctor him up when there was a knock at the gate.

With perfect timing, the neighbors had come to invite us to a birthday party they were having which started in 15 minutes. We obviously declined, but they told us we were welcome to stop by after the Bible study if they were still outside. Needless to say, we were a bit late leaving and still had to go pick up John before going to the Bible study.

When we arrived at the Bible study, the room was buzzing. There were half a dozen or more new faces in the room and others soon arrived. We had a record evening with about 24-25 people there and several faithful people were missing. Because it is the week before Christmas, several have traveled and others were busy with practices at their churches and things like that.

Bible Study

God blessed in a great way in the Bible study. The lesson was on true worship. You could see on people’s faces the concern they had about their means of worship. As always, we spent a good deal of time answering questions when we were done.

We arrived back home around 10pm and noticed that the neighbors were not quite done with their party, so we decided to go say happy birthday. We planned on just saying hello and leaving, but when we arrived, then expanded the circle of chairs to include us, and the husband began chatting with me.

We have been praying for these neighbors since we moved here and have had just a few opportunities to speak to them about the Lord. The husband is a freemason and heavily involved in the lodge. Every Wednesday he takes part in their meeting and often on the weekends they have a get together at the lodge.

The Lord has put a burden on my heart for these neighbors. The opportunities to speak to them are not many because they all work and stay busy with other activities. So, this being said, the opportunity to interact was at hand.

He began to talk small talk. We talked about what we had seen in the news recently, or what he had been doing for the last few days. Then as the people began to leave, he began to open up a bit and talk about an auction he had helped for a hospital that is connected to St. Jude. This opened the door for us to speak about religion, the situation of churches today, true christianity, and a few other things along those lines.

His wife expressed interest in us having a Bible study at their house, and contrary to what anyone expected, he was not opposed to it. The Lord has given us a great opportunity to influence our neighbors for the Lord!

So, how did it all end? Well, at about midnight, we walked back across the street being the last ones to leave the party. We have been invited over for dinner later in the week, and a great door of opportunity is opening before us! Please help us pray for these neighbors. The wife and daughters attend a church, but do not necessarily show evidence of true salvation. We would love to see them trust the Lord as their Savior and watch the Lord do a wonderful work in their home and lives.

The work of the Lord is full of surprises! We are called on in many different circumstances to go out of our way and take the light of the Gospel to many different people. I was tired at 10pm when we came back from the Bible study, but after our visit, I hardly slept a wink thinking about what God was doing in our neighbor’s lives.

We serve a wonderful Lord and Savior who is alive today and working all around us. May we open our eyes and see what God is doing.

“This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:23

— Jeremy

Posted in Bible Studies, Literature, Ministry, Old Blog, Websites

Results of Soul-Winning

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Recently we have started reaching out by going house to house. John Kokenzie and I have been going out once or twice a week to get to know people and take the love of Jesus to those around us.

Early this week we went out in the early evening to talk to a few people. We were able to find someone at every house we went to. We chose this specific time of day to go out because it was cooler, and we thought we might find more people at home. So far, it has worked.

After talking to several people, we came to a certain house where a young man nineteen years old came out to talk to us. He said he was from the First Baptist Church, but when I mentioned the pastor’s name he did not recognize it. So, he ran into the house to call his mother to ask her what his name was.

When his mother came out, she quickly confirmed that she attended the First Baptist Church and invited us into the house. Their house was very simple and the walls were nothing more than brick and mortar. No finished walls, no paint, and nothing fancy at all in the house.

After a little more casual conversation, I asked the mother, Andréia, when she trusted Christ as her Savior. After receiving an answer from her, I asked Ricardo, her son, if he had ever put his faith in Jesus as his personal Savior. He responded, letting us know that he had never been saved.

His heart was ready and after a little explanation we bowed our heads and prayed. Yes, he asked the Lord to save him! What a thrill it is to see people give their hearts to Christ.

Please pray for Ricardo and his mother, Andréia. They have been through many difficult times, but the Lord has something special for them. Pray that we will be able to help them and encourage them to move forward in their relationships with Christ.

— Jeremy

Posted in Ministry, Old Blog