GOD AT WORK!

We have seen miraculous works in the hearts of three particular people this week! I am reminded by the Lord that our work is not in vein and that the sewing of seeds leads to men and women coming to know salvation through Jesus Christ.

MONDAY NIGHT PRAYER

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Above: A photo of Ildiko (eel-dee-koe) taken in 2006 in one of our worship services.

Each Monday, I meet with Miki, Dezső and teenager Gábor for leadership mentoring. At the close of this study, there is an open invitation to the church for our hour of prayer in my basement. After a gentle knock on my garage doors, we rejoiced to see Ildiko enter. As I mentioned last week, Ildiko came back to church last week after years of going astray in her faith. God spoke to her in that service and encouraged her to turn back.

As we were finishing up the last few minutes of our leadership study and touching on the subject of suffering, Ildiko, said, “Could it be that the suffering I have gone through was necessary that I would turn again to Him?” Her tone was that of someone broken and truly seeking answers. Although we didn’t claim to know the answer to her particular situation, we did highlight the truth that God sovereignly designed our lives in such a way that we would seek Him.

“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him.” (Acts 17:26-27)

Ildiko responded in agreement and although obviously hurting from recent happenings in her life, she was thankful that these things led her back to her Father. How encouraging to see her show up Monday night to pray with us. It is in this very time that we have spent the last few months praying for specific people that we have come to know over the years in Petőfibánya. Thank You Lord for drawing Ildiko back into Your arms, the place of peace, security and love.

TUESDAY PUPPET PRACTICE

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Above: Hugi, Brenda and Allen practicing this year’s Easter Puppet Show in our basement. See more below about our first show.

WEDNESDAY ENGLISH BIBLE STUDY

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Above: Church members Erika and Hugi with student Tünde (toon-dee).

We are thankful for God bringing Edina, Timi, Tünde and Klári each week to our Bible study. In Wednesday's class we read the story of Abraham's faith being tested as he was called to sacrifice his son Isaac, in whom God's promise to bless the nations rested. Abraham had faith in God, even to raise his son from the dead, if necessary to fulfill His promise through Isaac.

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,  of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”  He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” (Heb 11:17-19)

God was faithful to provide Abraham a substitutionary sacrifice, a ram caught in a thicket (Gen 22:13). This foreshadowed the once for all substitutionary sacrifice found in Jesus Christ, who willingly gave His own life to save us from sin, death, and separation from God.

This was a tough historical account to present to the students but all seemed to see the reason for this testing, and the necessity of faith in a relationship with God. In the open discussion that followed the study, one student asked, "What is hell?" "Is there a second chance in hell to be saved?" With this question, I was able to highlight that many people have opinions, but to know what is true, we need to go to God's word and see what He has revealed about these matters. In the short time that remained, I highlighted that "it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment." (Hebrews 9:27) This is the final judgment, leaving no room to be judged again. At that final judgment, there is no allowance for a change of the ruling decided by God. A second chance does not exist in hell to be saved. The 'second chance' exists now for all people before they die. This is why Jesus, in the greatest act of love, came into this world as our Savior. (John 3:16-18)

Tünde asked, "How do I distinguish between what teaching is true or false, what is from God or not from God?" With this question, I was able to encourage the students to consider what their standard was in life to determine truth. If your standard is your opinion, what is to say that your opinion is 'off'? If my opinion is that it is morally right to steal from you, how will you explain to me that it is not right to steal from you? Who's opinion is the right opinion? Is there more than a world full of opinions? Is there a standard of truth that is above all, and above all is right? I shared that I believe that God's Word is the standard given to His creation to determine His will. The Bible is the standard that I submit myself to when seeking answers in matters of life. Tünde asked, "But how do I know what to do in relationships or in my family or anything else?" I encouraged her to start in one of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. I said to simply begin reading paying close attention to what Jesus Christ is teaching. What does He say about life? What does He say about me? What does He say about relationships? Afterwards, Tünde asked to borrow one of the Bibles we had stacked on our living room table. I said, "It is of no use sitting here unread. Please, take it home, that's why they are here."

Hours after our class ended, Tünde was with Miki as their preschool kids play soccer in the same league. Tünde asked MIki what it means to repent. Miki was able to explain the Gospel to Tünde. It encourages our hearts to see her asking so many important questions and taking steps in response to the truth that she is hearing. Please pray for Tünde, and for our other students, Timi, Edina and Klári to fully understand God's will, that they would put their trust in Jesus Christ.

THURSDAY ENGLISH CLUB

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Above: Edina (Eddy-nah), Timi (Tee-mee) and Klári (Klar-ee) (Background teammates Roger and Brenda).

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Above: New student Gábor with son Benedekt far left. It turns out that Gábor teaches Japanese and even gave us some lessons at break time. His son attended our VBS last year and I am hopeful to get to know Gábor through our English Club.

FRIDAY TEEN OUTREACH

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Above: Teammate Heidi with Viki.

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Above: Teammate Roger playing with Viki’s brother Krisztian.

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Above: János. Over the past few weeks, Roger and Heidi have been meeting with Viki and Krisztian while Miki has reached out to János. All three of them came to our worship service tonight, Viki and Krisztian for the first time. For all three of them, this is their first time in their lives that they are hearing the Gospel and God’s word taught as truth. After service on Sunday, I asked János where he was in relation to God. He said, “I want to believe.” I invited Miki over to explain the Gospel again to János. He will be thinking about these things this week. Please pray for János as he considers turning away from a life of sin to a forgiven life lead by Jesus Christ. Pray also for Viki and Krisztian who were bold enough to come to church without their parents and without any other friends. Pray that the Lord would transform their hearts, giving them spiritual understanding beyond their age.

SATURDAY BAPTIST CHURCH PLANTERS CONFERENCE

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Above: It makes the long car ride to the conference much more bearable when you have someone like Hugi to laugh uncontrollably at all your jokes.

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Above: Hungarian church planters and churches involved in church planting converged in this conference in Bicske Hungary. God was faithful to renew our vision and build us up through the teaching and challenges brought to us through this time. We were thankful to have church members Dezső, teenager Gabi, teenager Zoli, Hugi, Miki and also Niki also attend the conference. It is our hope that one day they also will be involved in some way in church planting in Hungary.

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Above: We were not only at the conference to be built up, but to serve. We presented our Easter puppet show for the children at the conference in the closing hour.

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Above: Julika reviewing what happened in the puppet show. It was great to hear the answers the kids were saying about Easter. They knew about Christ’s death for our sins, and His resurrection from the dead on the third day. They knew about the necessity to forgive others and about the only way to heaven being through faith in Jesus Christ. Teenager Niki who joined us said in amazement, “Wow, these kids are amazing, they know all of the answers already!” I reminded her that these were children of Christian parents who have spent time raising them in truth. This is something that Niki did not have, but she continues to learn more and more as she spends time with us. Please pray for Niki (Gabi’s sister) to come to fully understand God’s will for her and His love for her.

Please pray for us and the children we meet as our Easter Puppet Ministry in public schools begins this week!
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