Well so concludes month four on the race and the end to a really great month of ministry. Its crazy how the month that I was scared of the most became of the the best ones yet. It is also the end of Septum Parabalani. We are heading into team changes next week and as nervous and anticipant I am, I know that the Lord has his hands in it and I will be placed with who I need for this next season of my journey.
That being said, I want to just share with y’all about this month and what ministry looked like. I shared at the beginning of the month about the trucker ministry here in Cote d’Ivoire. We left for Bouake with Remi, one of the evangelists and his wife and two small children. We sat at a bus station for 7 hours, waiting to get on the 8th bus leaving for the day. It was Easter Sunday that weekend, so everyone and their brother wanted to head north for the holiday. We loaded our bus, a crammed pack bus with 5 seats wide of sweaty stinky people who just wanted to get to their destination. We stopped periodically for people to relieve themselves on the side of the road and then trekked on. We arrived and headed to our house for the next week in two small taxis, holding our bags over the back seat as we drove so they wouldn’t fall out the open trunk. We got there and found a little piece of paradise in Africa. There were fans in our rooms and electricity and running, beautifully cold showers. No wifi, but hey, I am getting used to that by now. We settled in and prepared for what ministry would look like.
We set out on Saturday to share the gospel with the truckers. We all shared differently, but if it was my turn, this is how I shared it.
I would ask them how they were, establish friendliness and not be in their face. I would make some small talk and then eventually tell them that I was here from America to talk about God with them. Most of them are Muslim, so they know who God is. They would almost always agree to hear what we had to say. I would then ask them if they believed in God, and if so, how their sins were forgiven so they could get to heaven. Their answers were always the same, and it broke my heart. They would say, “I pray to God and I do good things so he is pleased.” I would then ask them if they had any certainty that he forgave their sins. Most would just shake their heads or say, “Only he can know that.” That was the in I needed. I would then say, I wanted to share with them how I had certainty my sins were forgiven. I had two stories to share with them if they were willing. Curiosity always won and they would agree that I could share.
So I began. I told them about how God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and how they knew no sin. God only todl them one thing and that was they could not eat from a certain tree. One day a serpant came along and convinced them that God was lying and that if they ate from the tree, they would be like God and he didn’t want that so he told them not to eat from the tree. They believed the serpant and ate from the tree. Their eyes were opened to what sin was and how they were naked in the garden, so they hid from God. God wants more than anything to be with his people, so he called out to them, “Man, where are you.” When he realized what had happened, God needed to make a way for sin to be forgiven. Sin seperates us from God. He then sacrificed an animal for their sins and made a way. We call this the First scrifice.
Throughout history, we see example after example of people who made sacrifices to ask forgiveness of their sins, but you may notice that we don’t make animal sacrifices today, and that is because of the Final sacrifice…..
The prophets predicted the coming of a man who would save the world of their sins once and for all. They had very specific predictions for when and how he would come, including him being born of a virgin. One day, a baby was born who met all of the criteria that was fortold, and his name was Jesus. Jesus grew up anf started his ministry, he healed the sick, spoke to large crowds, and performed many miracles. One day he came upon a man named John the Baptist in the water, baptising people. John said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who has come to save the world.” He called Jesus the Lamb of God because he was to be the last and final sacrifice. One day God told his followers that it was time for him to go and die on a cross. He was arrested even though he committed no crime. He was beaten and mocked, and they drove nails into his wrists and ankles. They raised the cross up and there he hung to die. Even on the cross he said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” He saw us yelling crucify and he pleaded for pardon to the Father. The last thing he said on the cross was, “It is Finished!” On that cross he took our sins upon him. He paid a debt that we owed. He took our sin and said it is finished. He did this because He loves us. Because He loves you. He died that day for my sins for their sins, and for your sins. Even if you were the only person on earth, he still would have died for you. Becuase he loves you so much. Because of his love, becuase of what he did that day, I know my sins are forgiven.
He said it is finished, and I have confidence in those words.
That doesn’t mean I won’t sin. I am human and as humans, we mess up. What it does mean is that when I do mess up, I am given a second chance, and he still loves me. I don’t have to make a sacrifice or say a prayer or do anything so he forgives me again, because he already took care of that. I still pray, and I still go to church, and I still do good things for others, not because I am required to as a means for my salvation, but because I love Jesus and I am grateful for what he did on the cross. I do it as a result of the sacrifice, not in replacement for the sacrifice. I can’t do anything to make him love me more or less, because he loves me more than I could even imagine, and He loves you just as much.
I leave them with an option. They can accept what I shared with them and live a life for Jesus or not, but the pressure is off of me. I have planted the seeds and its up to God to see if they are watered and grown.
