Weekly Update

WEDNESDAY ENGLISH BIBLE STUDY

P1200292 copy

Above:
In contrast to last week's 'full house', only Gyula attended our English Bible Study on Thursday night. This turned out to be a blessing as I had more one-on-one time with Gyula to explain the Gospel. Gyula is the type of guy that just fades away in crowds, slow to speak and very shy. It was encouraging to see him open up and talk freely about what was going on in his personal life when there was not a crowd. Our conversation lead to the topic of trust, and having someone we can fully trust in life. I was able to share with Gyula that Jesus is fully trustworthy and never acts selfishly to take advantage of us. As I asked Gyula about his religious background, he told me that he has been brought up in an atheist home. Our study through the book of John is his first exposure to Jesus and His Word. It was exciting to see how Gyula began to understood Jesus' words in our study: “Destroy this temple, and in three days aI will raise it up.” (John 2:19) He is starting to understand the very basics of Jesus' death on the cross to redeem us from our sins and about Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Please pray for Gyula to gain complete understanding of the Gospel and to be saved into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

This past week, as Sharon was running errands, someone asked her if only handicapped and mentally challenged people attended our church and outreaches. As I think about this person's comment, it became clear why she would say something like that. We have a church member who has noticeable permanent damage from a stroke, a past regular attender who's daughter was mentally handicapped (and has since died), a regular attender who as an adult suffers from schizophrenia, and a few more who regularly visit who are mentally handicapped. With such a small congregation in these beginning stages of our church, this makes up for a noticeable amount in our body... and I am glad that these who are often rejected in this culture feel welcome and at home with us.

THURSDAY MARRIAGE CLASS

P1210027

Above: With my cracky voice slowly recovering from three weeks of sickness, God gave me strength to facilitate tonight's marriage class. I am deeply convicted that the Gospel must be allowed to deeply transform our marriages and how we interact as couples in order for our ministry of evangelism to remain 'salty' or 'attractive' to the world. As those called to carry the message of reconciliation with God to the lost, we need to have a clear living example of an environment of reconciliation happening in our marriages. As leaders in the church (primarily those who attend this class), this is a requirement. “For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? (1 Tim 3:4-5). I challenged us to examine ourselves to see if we have drifted into a pattern of sin with our spouse that we believe is acceptable, when in fact it is far below the good standard Jesus leads us in. “However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” — (Ephesians 5:33)

P1210039

Above: Meanwhile in our the basement, Niki hung out with the kids while we held marriage class.

SATURDAY "ARE WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE" LECTURE

P1210057

Above: Dr. Eric Barrett, a retired scientist, returned to PetÅ‘fibánya to give his second lecture seeking to draw people's attention to God the Creator and Jesus the Savior. Dr. Barrett laid out groundwork for why he believes there is no intelligent life, nor a planet which can sustain life like the created earth and created humanity on earth in our solar system. Through this lecture, a few new relationships were created (an answer to prayer!). Gyula (mentioned above) brought his parents. And Gizi who is a regular attender to our church brought her husband who attended our church for the first time after this lecture. We praise God for drawing more people to himself through Eric's outreach.

SUNDAY GOSPEL FOUNDATION/BAPTISM CLASS

P1210012

Above: Eszti and Niki. I am meeting with NIki before worship service to prepare for her baptism. My desire is to focus on foundational truths of the Gospel and our focus Sunday was on God's work of giving us a new heart (regeneration). I was thankful for Peti's brother who was visiting church for the first time today to also sit in and listen to our class. Most likely, this was the first time that Peti's brother was hearing about our problem of being sinners, and God's grace in sending Jesus to pay the price for our sin. I could see that in our study time, he wanted to answer some of the follow up questions I posed to Niki to test her understanding. Praise God for doing a work in Niki's heart and for drawing Peti's brother into our church for the first time to hear His the Good News.
blog comments powered by Disqus