Bon Jour famille et amis! (Good morning family and friends)
Since our last time of updating God has still been moving and more and more of Gods children have been coming to the saving knowledge of Christ and accpeting His sacrifice instead of their previous faiths works. But there is one particular story and man that will forever change our lives.
We went out this past Friday to the ports to love and share the Good News boldly and God had us stop with a group of 5 men from Mali and Matt was asked to take the lead and share.
I (Matthew) looked at this group of 5 men and honestly in my own mind kind of determined which ones I thought would be really receptive and which would listen based off of what they were wearing and how they were acting. Friday is the Muslim Holy Day like our Sunday worship, so as I looed at the men in front of me, I noticed one of them was dressed in the traditional worship garments and the others were not. So, in my head I immediately thought that this message I am going to share will really not impact him. With some doubts in my heart, I let Gods word and love flow and as I asked the common question “In your faith, do you know your sins are forgiven?” We ask this to begin the spiritual conversation because in Islam there is no assurance of salvation for it is based on their sacrifices not what Jesus sacrificed for them. Moving the conversation in this direction something shifted. The one man who I assumed would be most open and ready to hear the Gospel (He was dressed in blue jeans and a blue jean shirt) and receive answered my previous question with, “I know my sins are forgiven because I help people often so I know God will accept and forgive me.” I was taken back because this is not the theology of the Islam faith. The man whom was elegantly clothed began to remind him that in their faith you do not know if you are forgiven and my friend in the blue jean shirt walked away at this moment. I continued with the news feeling deeply that the Spirit was up to something and as I drew it to a close and asked if anyone wanted to accept this sacrifice, take a guess which one wanted to follow Christ?!?! Yes, the one who I wrote off from the beginning. The one who was in the typical Muslim attire. He was listening so intently and we could tell that he really cared about hearing the good news. Sadly so many questions were asked by the other men that redirected the conversation away from his acceptance of this gift and Satan convinced him to wait a little longer to accept but we are still lifting him up because God is SOOOO chasing after him, but that is just the beginning of what will shape our lives forever.
When the questions were being asked and answered, guess who returned to hear? My friend in the blue jean jacket who left in disgust earlier. He heard more of the Good News but was not ready to say ”Yes.” So the next day we showed the Jesus film and he came and watched it. Afterwards he came up to our friend Remi, who translates for us and said he was ready to accept this Jesus!!!! WHAT?!?!? Then on Sunday I got to preach and at the port church and guess who was there?!?! You guessed it. His demeanor was completely different and you could see in his eyes something was different. He was truly touched by God. Thank you Jesus!!!
Watching this unfold has changed our lives forever. See this same thing took place in scripture in 1 Samuel chapter 16 when Samuel was sent by God to select the new anointed King. He went to all the sons of Jesse and looked and said to Eliab when he saw him “Surely the Lords anoninted is before him.” And the Lord responded “Do not look at his appearance or on his height or his stature for the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” We were so guilty of thinking we knew who we were there for. Gods ways and thoughts are so much higher and He can see even deeper into hearts than we can imagine. The Lord showed us that He is so much greater than us and our job is to faithfully share and let His Spirit work for itself. He looks into hearts, not the outward appearance and His Truth is not thwarted or received by the outward appearance of a human. We must never turn away from loving others and faithfully sharing His great promises and sacrifice because we think we know who will or will not take it in. God knows what He is doing so we must submit to Him. We will never be the same. This moment and salvation experience for my new brother has given us fresh eyes for people. Thank you Jesus!
Here is a picture of our friend who is now covered by our Savoir and we are one in Spirit.
Continue to pray for our time left here in Cote d’Ivoire and we will pray that through our partnership to reach these people God will encourage and lift you up to do this same in your communities. We love you all so much and are so thankful you have made it possible for us to be the hands and feet here!!
