Evangelistic Trip To Moldova

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(No Transcript)
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Evangelistic Trip To Moldova

• April 09 April 27, 2007

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I Thank God For All Of You

• First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for
  all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in
  all the world. Romans 1.8

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I Thank God For All Of You

• I give thanks to God always for all of you for
  your work of faith and labor of love and
  steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ
  and because the word of the Lord is sounding
  forth from you in Moldova and your faith in God
  is going forth everywhere
• Thessalonians 1.2-8

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I Thank God For All Of You

• I thank God for your concern for brothers and
  sisters in Christ, most of whom you have never
  met
• I thank God for your genuine interest in sharing
  the Gospel with those who been shut off from the
  Gospel for 80 years

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I Thank God For All Of You

• These things prove your tenderness of heart and
  interest in spiritual matters
• They also produce a heavenly celebration

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The Efforts Of Many People

• An effort such as this cannot take place without
  the involvement and commitment of many people
• And, certainly not without Gods care and
  answered prayers!

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The Efforts Of Many People

• Many prayers over several years have toppled a
  government, opened doors of opportunity,
  strengthened new Christians, emboldened workers,
  spread the glorious name of Jesus, and given
  courage to those who have decided to answer the
  call for help from foreign lands

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The Efforts Of Many People

• This congregation and several others are
  cooperating to make this trip possible
• It involves the sacrifice of four wives, several
  parents and children

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The Efforts Of Many People

• It involves men and women in several different
  congregations, most of who have never met, who
  are willing to take care of bulletins, preach,
  teach classes, look after families, and do a host
  of other things in the absence of their local
  preachers and elders

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The Efforts Of Many People

• This trip is not just Johnny Felker, Steve
  Brewer, Phil Morgan, Rebecca Brewer, Emily
  Prasuhn and John Gentrys trip
• In many very significant ways this is OUR trip
  and OUR work!

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Gods Fellow Workers

• What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants
  through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned
  to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God
  gives the growth. So neither he who plants nor
  he who waters is anything, but only God who gives
  the growth. He who plants and he who waters are
  one, and each will receive his wages according to
  his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You
  are God's field, God's building.
• 1 Corinthians 3.5-9

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Gods Fellow Workers

• Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to
  grow up in every way into him who is the head,
  into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and
  held together by every joint with which it is
  equipped, when each part is working properly,
  makes the body grow so that it builds itself up
  in love. Ephesians 4.15-16

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The Gospel Is A Universal MessageThat Meets A
Universal Need

• What then? Are we any better off? No, not at
  all. For we have already charged that all, both
  Jews and Greeks, are under sin for all have
  sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans
  3.9, 23

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The Gospel Is A Universal MessageThat Meets A
Universal Need

• And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in
  which you once walked, following the course of
  this world, following the prince of the power of
  the air, the spirit that is now at work in the
  sons of disobedience among whom we all once
  lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out
  the desires of the body and the mind, and were by
  nature children of wrath, like the rest.
• Ephesians 2.1-3

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Jesus Made Salvation Possible

• But God, being rich in mercy, because of the
  great love with which he loved us, even when we
  were dead in our trespasses, made us alive
  together with Christ--by grace you have been
  saved--and raised us up with him and seated us
  with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
  so that in the coming ages he might show the
  immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness
  toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have
  been saved through faith. And this is not your
  own doing it is the gift of God, not a result of
  works, so that no one may boast. For we are his
  workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
  works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
  should walk in them. Ephesians 2.4-10

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Gospel Must Go Into ALL The World

• And Jesus came to them and said, saying, All
  authority in heaven and on earth has been given
  to me. Go therefore into all the world and
  proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. And
  make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
  to the name of the Father and of the Son and of
  the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all
  that I have commanded you Whoever believes and
  is baptized will be saved but whoever does not
  believe will be condemned. Thus it is written,
  that the Christ should suffer and on the third
  day rise from the dead and that repentance and
  forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his
  name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
• Matthew 28.18-20 Mark 16.15-16 Luke 24.46-47

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The Need In Moldova

• Brethren in Moldova need to be edified,
  encouraged and strengthened
• The lost in Moldova need to have an opportunity
  to hear the gospel preached to them

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Our Work With The Brethren

• In addition to the regular mid-week and Sunday
  Bible studies, we will conduct a nation-wide
  Bible Conference
• April 23-25 (Monday - Wednesday)
• 13 lectures
• 4 periods of singing
• 3 extended QA periods

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Our Work With The Brethren

• This will maximize our time for study
• Allows us to present a lot of material to the
  most people in a shorter amount of time
• Will allow Christians who only met last year, but
  live only 2½ hours apart to enjoy spiritual
  fellowship with one another

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Our Work With The Brethren

• Topics for the conference will include
• Building A Spiritual Life
• Members One Of Another
• Contentment
• Godly Relationships
• Our Tongues
• How Should I View My Job
• Suffering

• Grace And Forgiveness
• Alcohol And Drugs
• How To Change Sinful Behavior
• Helping The Poor And Needy
• Overcoming Guilt
• Making Wise Decisions

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The Door For Evangelism

• Concentrated efforts with all churches with 2 men
  in Balti, 2 men in Tiraspol, 2 ladies working
  with childrens Bible classes in Chisinau
• Daily studies with church in Chisinau
• Studies at Pedagogical University
• Bible Conference (including studies with the
  Church of Jesus Christ in Chisinau)

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We Need Your Prayers

• At the same time, pray also for us, that God may
  open to us a door for the word, to declare the
  mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in
  prisonthat I may make it clear, which is how I
  ought to speak.
• Colossians 4.3-4

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Love The Lord And His Kingdom

• We should have an abounding love for the Lord and
  His Kingdom (Matthew 6.33)
• With courage and boldness we should go into the
  world with the powerful Gospel!

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Love The Lord And His Kingdom

• For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is
  the power of God for salvation to everyone who
  believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek
• Romans 1.16

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Love The Lord And His Kingdom

• The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as
  some count slowness, but is patient toward you,
  not wishing that any should perish, but that all
  should reach repentance 2 Peter 3.9

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Gods Plan For Your Salvation

• Hear Gods Word Mt 17.5 Rom 10.17
• Believe in Christ John 8.24 Rom 10.9
• Repent of Sins Luke 13.3 Acts 2.38
• Confess Faith in Christ Rom 10.10
• Be Immersed in Water Mark 16.16
• Live Faithfully Rev 2.10 Col 1.21-23
• Repent of Sins Pray for Forgiveness - Acts 8.22
• Confess Sins - James 5.16 1 John 1.9

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Our Work With The Brethren

• Christians in Balti have asked for a list of
  challenging questions to be discussed
• Shows their desire for serious Bible study

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Our Work With The Brethren

• Authority in religion
• Miracles
• How to make sure that your faith is true
• How to be filled with the Holy Spirit
• The temptations everybody faces
• Why is Satan so overwhelmingly powerful
• Who stands behind the natural disasters of our
  day God or the devil?
• A model day schedule for a Christian

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Our Work With The Brethren

• The Christian way to solve problems in the family
  and in the world
• How to learn to control the tongue and to protect
  from the tongue of others
• Attitude toward money
• How to overcome disagreements among the members,
  how to avoid them
• How to help an unbeliever to overcome the vanity
  and concentrate on more spiritual things

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The Door For Evangelism

• The door at the Pedagogical Institute has swung
  wide open
• No longer cloak lessons with secular topic
• Present a series of lessons on evidences
• Is God real and should I be concerned about
  serving Him?
• Is the Bible really from God and is it relevant
  in a 21st century world?
• Is it reasonable to accept Jesus as a real
  historical person? As the divine Son of God?

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The Door For Evangelism

• Opportunities exist at the Moldova State
  University, but they are not quite as open
• We will have to cloak our lessons with a secular
  topic (history, US politics, etc.)
• However, this is certainly an opportunity worth
  pursuing

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The Door For Evangelism

• The leader of the theater group has been in
  London studying for several months and will be
  gone while we are there
• Serious questions exist about his marriage
• The serious and open-hearted among them are more
  open to study and change than ever before

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The Door For Evangelism

• A small group of Christians in Benderi and
  Tiraspol who are slowly studying their way out of
  institutionalism have invited us for private
  studies
• Their leader recently forbade them from
  studying with us, which has caused more of them
  to want to study with us