Dave and I will be leaving for Cincinnati on Wednesday afternoon for the NMC. It starts on Thursday night and gets over at noon on Sunday. We will be staying at Andrea's house - that should be fun.
Donna is coming over to take care of Mom but she will be alone most of the time so if you think about it give her a call.
There are about 8000 people at the convention and 600 - 700 mission groups who will have displays. It is fun for me to go.
I will write when I get back.
Steve/Dad.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
sermon - Day of prayer for persecuted Church
Brothers and sisters in Christ?
John 15.20 – 21 and 2 Cor. 8 – 9
The International Day of prayer started in 1996 when missionaries talked about the Chrs of the world who were being persecuted and those in the churches did not even know about these brothers and sisters in Christ and their suffering. It is estimated that right now there are 200 million Chrs. who are suffering real persecution in our world. More than anything else, they ask us to pray for them. In most of these cases we can not send money or books to them. In most cases no missionaries are permitted to go into their countries to preach. We live in a country where there is freedom to pray these Chrs and we are going to do that today and hopefully in the days to come.
Jesus warned his disciples that there was going to be persecution against them just because they were followers of him. In John 15.20 – 21 Jesus told them that since he was persecuted, they too would suffer the same fate. Read. Jesus did not deserve what he received – he had done nothing but good all of his life, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, encouraging those who were sad. Yes, he had challenged the traditions of the Jews and that is what engendered the persecution against him. Since Christianity started it has been persecuted by the Jews, the Roman government, Muslims, and even some Vikings. Chrs have persecuted each other – Catholics against Protestants, P and C against Anabaptists, P against P, etc. As it is still today there is persecution from secular governmental agencies and from religious groups. It is hard for us to understand this here in this country where there is a minimum of persecution; there are huge numbers of brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering.
That is something that I have been asked about the people we are talking about. Who are these people? They are common people from all over the world – I do not believe the red and yellow, black and white thing from the song we learned as children, but people of all colored. If 10 of them were standing right here today, most of them could not understand what I am saying and we could not understand what they would say. What denomination do they belong to? Most of them would not even know how to answer that question since they have not heard of Lutheran, Baptist or whatever. They believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They are trying to live for Jesus and are suffering because of that.
Christianity is unique in that we are taught to care about all people everywhere, but especially those who are Chrs. Most religions do not teach them to take care of other, but Chr does. One example of this is when Paul was traveling in Greece he learned that the believers in the church in Jerusalem were suffering because of a famine in Judea. Paul told the Chrs in Greece about the problem and they responded by taking up an offering to give to their fellow believers. This is recorded in 2 Cor. 8 and 9. They had never seen the Chrs in Jerusalem and would not see them this side of heaven but they loved them enough to give even sacrificially to help the Chrs in Jerusalem.
We will never see these believers we are praying for today, but they are brothers and sisters in Christ, and we love them because God loves them. We need to pray for them.
There are millions of Chrs being persecuted around the world including North Korea, China, India, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Sudan and other places. These are the ones we are praying for today.
North Korea is one place where the government is persecuting the Chrs. Before the Korean War Korea was one country. Missionaries had preached the Gospel all over the country. After the War the Communist government of N Korea instituted worship of the dictator and started persecuting the Chr. Maybe 100,000 to 200,000 Chrs are in prison camps for their faith. Many have been there for 10, 20, and 30 years. In N Korea it is illegal to teach your children about your faith, to own a Bible or any Chr book, and absolutely wrong to try to convert others to Christ. Yet thousands of believers still worship their Lord Jesus Christ. They need our prayers that they will remain faithful to the Lord.
China is in the center of world attention today. Next summer they will host the summer Olympic Games. This week the Communist government has warned people not to bring more than 1 Bible with them and no Chr literature. In some places in China there is a lot of persecution, but in other places the church can meet freely. Many ministers have spent years in prison because of their faith. Millions of Chinese Chrs hold secret Bible studies to learn about the Word of God. We need to pray for them.
In India, persecution is coming against Chrs from radical Hindus. One example is about Ranjan Dangua. He is from the Dalit caste, the lowest caste in India. He was converted from the Hindu religion and began to share his faith. People from his own village kidnapped him, took him to a house and beat him with rods, cut his hands and threatened worse. He escaped two days later and did the logical thing – he got his Bible and started preaching in the streets. He was kidnapped again, and held him for over a week, beating him regularly until he was able to escape. Pray for Ranjan and other believers in Christ in India.
There are many Chr suffering in the Muslim countries of Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as other Muslim countries. There have been hundreds of thousands of Chrs in Iraq for centuries. They have faithfully served God, built churches, maintained hospitals and schools, and have served their country well. In the last few years they have persecuted by radical Muslims who want only Muslims in that country. I was listening to a radio show from WCCO last week. They had a former Iraqi official on who was a Chr. He said in two instances new churches have been built – one in Bagdad that can seat 1000 people. He also said thousands of Chrs have fled Iraq because of the persecution. Many of the Chrs in Muslim countries are “secret believers” who can not openly profess their faith or their family members would kill them, but they worship as they can now. We will pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in these Muslim countries
One of the worst places where persecution is taking place is in Sudan. There is the Muslim government mostly in the north has been using their military to attack Chr villages in the south and west. They will attack a village, kill the men, and take the women and children to be sold as slaves. Hundreds of thousands of mostly women and children are in refugee camps where there is little food and water, and a lot of starvation, disease and death. Yet groups like Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse have hospitals there and have struggled to get food to these brothers and sisters in Christ.
We will pray for these brothers and sisters in Christ.
I wish that there was more we could do for these fellow Chrs. Most of them can not receive money of any kind and would not need it. It is almost impossible to get Chr literature to them although some does get through. We can pray that the persecution stops, and if it does not, we pray that these believers remain faithful to our Lord.
Open Doors, an international Christian ministry which supports and strengthens persecuted believers, is calling on Christians to pray for over 200 million suffering Christians during the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) on Sunday, Nov. 11. During that day churches around the United States will focus on prayer and support for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. IDOP is one of the largest prayer events in the world and has heightened awareness of persecuted Christians since its inception in 1996. Because of persecution and suffering that Muslim Background Believers -- those who convert from Islam to Christianity -- face daily, Open Doors USA has made these hundreds of thousands of "Secret Believers" the focus of this year's IDOP. "The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church presents a tremendous opportunity for millions of people to make a difference in the lives of those being persecuted for their faith in countries like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, North Korea and many more,"
John 15.20 – 21 and 2 Cor. 8 – 9
The International Day of prayer started in 1996 when missionaries talked about the Chrs of the world who were being persecuted and those in the churches did not even know about these brothers and sisters in Christ and their suffering. It is estimated that right now there are 200 million Chrs. who are suffering real persecution in our world. More than anything else, they ask us to pray for them. In most of these cases we can not send money or books to them. In most cases no missionaries are permitted to go into their countries to preach. We live in a country where there is freedom to pray these Chrs and we are going to do that today and hopefully in the days to come.
Jesus warned his disciples that there was going to be persecution against them just because they were followers of him. In John 15.20 – 21 Jesus told them that since he was persecuted, they too would suffer the same fate. Read. Jesus did not deserve what he received – he had done nothing but good all of his life, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, encouraging those who were sad. Yes, he had challenged the traditions of the Jews and that is what engendered the persecution against him. Since Christianity started it has been persecuted by the Jews, the Roman government, Muslims, and even some Vikings. Chrs have persecuted each other – Catholics against Protestants, P and C against Anabaptists, P against P, etc. As it is still today there is persecution from secular governmental agencies and from religious groups. It is hard for us to understand this here in this country where there is a minimum of persecution; there are huge numbers of brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering.
That is something that I have been asked about the people we are talking about. Who are these people? They are common people from all over the world – I do not believe the red and yellow, black and white thing from the song we learned as children, but people of all colored. If 10 of them were standing right here today, most of them could not understand what I am saying and we could not understand what they would say. What denomination do they belong to? Most of them would not even know how to answer that question since they have not heard of Lutheran, Baptist or whatever. They believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They are trying to live for Jesus and are suffering because of that.
Christianity is unique in that we are taught to care about all people everywhere, but especially those who are Chrs. Most religions do not teach them to take care of other, but Chr does. One example of this is when Paul was traveling in Greece he learned that the believers in the church in Jerusalem were suffering because of a famine in Judea. Paul told the Chrs in Greece about the problem and they responded by taking up an offering to give to their fellow believers. This is recorded in 2 Cor. 8 and 9. They had never seen the Chrs in Jerusalem and would not see them this side of heaven but they loved them enough to give even sacrificially to help the Chrs in Jerusalem.
We will never see these believers we are praying for today, but they are brothers and sisters in Christ, and we love them because God loves them. We need to pray for them.
There are millions of Chrs being persecuted around the world including North Korea, China, India, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Sudan and other places. These are the ones we are praying for today.
North Korea is one place where the government is persecuting the Chrs. Before the Korean War Korea was one country. Missionaries had preached the Gospel all over the country. After the War the Communist government of N Korea instituted worship of the dictator and started persecuting the Chr. Maybe 100,000 to 200,000 Chrs are in prison camps for their faith. Many have been there for 10, 20, and 30 years. In N Korea it is illegal to teach your children about your faith, to own a Bible or any Chr book, and absolutely wrong to try to convert others to Christ. Yet thousands of believers still worship their Lord Jesus Christ. They need our prayers that they will remain faithful to the Lord.
China is in the center of world attention today. Next summer they will host the summer Olympic Games. This week the Communist government has warned people not to bring more than 1 Bible with them and no Chr literature. In some places in China there is a lot of persecution, but in other places the church can meet freely. Many ministers have spent years in prison because of their faith. Millions of Chinese Chrs hold secret Bible studies to learn about the Word of God. We need to pray for them.
In India, persecution is coming against Chrs from radical Hindus. One example is about Ranjan Dangua. He is from the Dalit caste, the lowest caste in India. He was converted from the Hindu religion and began to share his faith. People from his own village kidnapped him, took him to a house and beat him with rods, cut his hands and threatened worse. He escaped two days later and did the logical thing – he got his Bible and started preaching in the streets. He was kidnapped again, and held him for over a week, beating him regularly until he was able to escape. Pray for Ranjan and other believers in Christ in India.
There are many Chr suffering in the Muslim countries of Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as other Muslim countries. There have been hundreds of thousands of Chrs in Iraq for centuries. They have faithfully served God, built churches, maintained hospitals and schools, and have served their country well. In the last few years they have persecuted by radical Muslims who want only Muslims in that country. I was listening to a radio show from WCCO last week. They had a former Iraqi official on who was a Chr. He said in two instances new churches have been built – one in Bagdad that can seat 1000 people. He also said thousands of Chrs have fled Iraq because of the persecution. Many of the Chrs in Muslim countries are “secret believers” who can not openly profess their faith or their family members would kill them, but they worship as they can now. We will pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in these Muslim countries
One of the worst places where persecution is taking place is in Sudan. There is the Muslim government mostly in the north has been using their military to attack Chr villages in the south and west. They will attack a village, kill the men, and take the women and children to be sold as slaves. Hundreds of thousands of mostly women and children are in refugee camps where there is little food and water, and a lot of starvation, disease and death. Yet groups like Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse have hospitals there and have struggled to get food to these brothers and sisters in Christ.
We will pray for these brothers and sisters in Christ.
I wish that there was more we could do for these fellow Chrs. Most of them can not receive money of any kind and would not need it. It is almost impossible to get Chr literature to them although some does get through. We can pray that the persecution stops, and if it does not, we pray that these believers remain faithful to our Lord.
Open Doors, an international Christian ministry which supports and strengthens persecuted believers, is calling on Christians to pray for over 200 million suffering Christians during the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) on Sunday, Nov. 11. During that day churches around the United States will focus on prayer and support for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. IDOP is one of the largest prayer events in the world and has heightened awareness of persecuted Christians since its inception in 1996. Because of persecution and suffering that Muslim Background Believers -- those who convert from Islam to Christianity -- face daily, Open Doors USA has made these hundreds of thousands of "Secret Believers" the focus of this year's IDOP. "The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church presents a tremendous opportunity for millions of people to make a difference in the lives of those being persecuted for their faith in countries like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, North Korea and many more,"
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