The gospel is God's power to save

Sunday night in Dominica I preached from Luke 15 about the parables of the lost things--a sheep, a coin, and a son. During the invitation song a sister who had been out of the church at least 4 years came forward to be restored, for which we thank God. In the closing announcements the brother talked about how we all know these parables, but yet there were new points taught that evening.

One of the points we cannot forget, yet often do is that the Gospel is God's power to save. Since this is true several points follow from it:

1) If the gospel is God's power to save, then recreation is not. Whether eating or playing, recreation will NEVER save a single soul--only the Gospel can do that.

2) If the gospel is God's power to save then it doesn't depend totally on me. This is not to minimize the importance of each Christian reaching out to everyone they come into contact with, but rather the point is "I" don't have to win them. If the gospel will not win them, then I can't. This takes a great deal of pressure off of us. I've taught quite a few who have been converted but taught the same thing to others and they were not converted. What's the difference? It wasn't the teacher or the teaching, but rather the heart of the student. If a person is seeking truth, when shown it they will accept it. If a person is NOT seeking truth, the will not accept it even when they see it. Our job is to spread the gospel; God will do the rest.

3) If the gospel is God's power to save and we withhold it from the lost we are condemning them to eternal torment--what a responsibility we have to get the word out.

Tol

VBS in Dominica

We had vacation Bible school in Vielle Case, a village in Dominica. We had 55 kids the first day, then jumped to 66, 67, 71, and 69 the following days--there were 6-9 teenagers included in those numbers. Since the elementary school enrollment is 65 you can see that we had most of them in VBS. It was rewarding, but also challenging as there were only 8 of us teaching 5 classes. 2-3 more teachers would have really been helpful, as several of the classes had 14 + students.

VBS was basically two hours in the morning, followed by an hour in the afternoon to prepare for the next day. Since we also preached each night in the street it was a long day. Open air preaching is expected to be at least 45 minutes plus 5-6 songs and concluding remarks, so it starts around 6:30 PM and goes until 8:30 or so.
One sister was restored on Sunday night and didn't miss a night of the preaching.

Tol Burk

Some things never change

This old house looks today just like it did when I first saw it 14 years ago. In fact much of Dominica looks just as did back then. This is not to say that there is not change--new concrete block houses, new names on buildings, etc. but most things remain the same.

It is interesting that some of the churches remain almost the same too. Some of the older members have passed away and some of the younger ones have emigrated to other places for work, but most of the brethren are still there.

Is it much different in the States? Many churches change only when the older members die and younger ones move away for work. Eventually such churches will cease to exist. The experts say a church must grow by 10 % each year just to maintain itself. How much is the church where you are a member growing?

Tol

"Real" Life

A song I like alot contains a line that probably sums up life for most of us: "Mill work ain't easy, mill work ain't hard. Mill work ain't nothing but an awful boring job."

I think most of us can relate to this song. No matter how much you may love your job, there are parts of it you don't like. And while there may be highs (and lows) in your labors, for most of us, much of it can be downright boring--doing the same old things day after day. There is nothing like the exhilaration of baptizing someone into Christ, but the teaching that leads up to that moment is almost 2nd nature to me now. Even the questions that people ask have been asked and answered many times before. The follow up necessary to convert a contact to a prospect, to set up the study, the cancelled studies because "they forgot" can at times seem pointless and all too often prove to pointless (at least for now) but when that moment comes and they say they want to be baptized it's all worth it.

So what's the point here? Even though it seems that no one notices or responds to your efforts to encourage another to study, or to teach someone may seem boring or mundane they are part of the process of conversion. So much of converting others isn't easy, or hard, but rather awful boring. There are two main reasons we fail to teach others: 1) we never approach them and 2) we don't follow up--it gets boring and we move on to other more "interesting" things. One Brother in St. Croix had studied the Bible for more than 14 years, off and on, before he was baptized. Since that time he has never looked back and even though his wife refuses to attend with him (she was a "Christian" before him) he continues going forward.

No, life ain't easy, life ain't hard, but life can be an awful boring job. Don't let that get you down--keep plugging along and you will sooner or later see results.

Tol

Vacation Bible school time again

If the Lord permits, next Wed. I will be leaving for Dominica to get things ready for vacation Bible school in the village of Vielle Case. We still don't know whether we will have it at the church building, which is too small, or at the school just below it. Hopefully, I can get this finalized when I get there--that's why I'm going early.

What we do know is that when we begin on the 17th that we will have at least 50 kids and probably more. Some of them are children of the members but most of them are not, which gives us an opportunity to talk and try to get a study with the parents. Since some of the children live 2 miles or so away I go bring the smaller ones while the teenagers and older ones walk and yes, it IS uphill both ways.

Brethren, please pray for these efforts. Also please prayerfully consider if you could help us with such an effort in the future. There is good potential in the Eastern Caribbean, as there are still countries where people not only have more time, but more interest in God. These trips usually last about a week (Sat.-Sat.) and would cost around $1500 a person and only require that you speak English.

Let me know if you're interested in going and I will keep you posted for next year.

Tol

Life (and death) without a God

At the grave of his brother one of the earliest champion of atheism in the United States, Robert Ingersoll, made the following statement: "Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry aloud—and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. From the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead there comes no word. But in the night of Death Hope sees a star and listening Love can hear the rustling of a wing."

What is like to live without a belief in God? According to Ingersoll it is just a journey from one cold, barren mountain peak to another equally cold and barren peak, with no idea of what lies beyond either of them. We want to know where we are going after we die, but there is no answer except the echo of our own voice. If this is all life (and death) really are, then what is the purpose of life? If we are born only to live 100 years or less in this world of sorrow and sin, why would we want to live at all?

Our Heavenly Father, who put us on this earth, has not left us to wander aimlessly through this life nor to enter into eternity without a clue as to where we are going. He has given us "all things that pertain to life and godliness" (2 Pet. 1:4) in this world as well as the road that will lead us to heaven, where there is life indeed. Those who believe God and His Word know why they are on this earth--to serve Him. They understand that this earth is not our final home, but merely a proving ground, to prepare us to enter our final, eternal home, heaven.

Which group do you belong to?

Tol