On Saturday morning we continued the mission school in the Church, teaching on the Great Commission for a second session, with two more modules. It was such a blessing to see the enthusiasm in the group of people I was speaking to.
I met again with my hosts in the afternoon when we set off to minister at three different villages. The students from the mission led each of these outreaches to the children with such passion – many of them are teachers in their daytime jobs. They put this to excellent use teaching the youngsters English, the Word of God and some great action Bible songs. The children were so excited to show us their singing and following the scriptures.
Then, true to form “Joe Crow” appeared from his bag with a loud squawk – the children roared with laughter and became so excited with Joe’s antics! He dived back into the bag and came out with a ‘Prayer Hands’ tract, to help teach the Lord’s Prayer to the children – they loved this and so did their teachers.
This was the pattern of our next three visits in the villages, ministering in the pitch black. When we came back to the hotel, we were tired from a long day, but had a real sense of achievement and fulfillment.
Today is Sunday and I am going to preach in Pastor Kundate’s church in town. This time we weren’t picked up in a Jeep, but a ‘taxi’ – basically a Honda 100cc moped, pulling a rickshaw. It was fun and different! We arrived on the top floor of the church to vibrant music, and lively praise with the people full of joy. Pastor Kundate invited Bobby to play bass guitar and then to speak. He used his time to introduce himself again, and to talk about how we first met on the jungle mission several years ago. One or two the students had asked for me to tell them how I become a Christian and following Bobby’s introduction, I shared how the jungle mission brought us together.
This led me onto sharing the message that I felt the Holy Spirit wanted to share through me.
The Basic Gospel Message is Love
After all my brothers, you were all called to be free; do not use freedom as an opening for self-indulgence, but be servants to one another in love, since the whole of the Law is summarised in one commandment: “You must love your neighbour as yourself” – Galatians 5:13-14
“So that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built in love, with all God’s holy people you will have the strength to grasp the breath and length, height and the depth; so that knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, you, may be filled with utter fullness of God” – Ephesians 3:16-19
I sometimes find myself wondering how I’d present the Gospel message in its most basic terms. I think that at its most basic, it starts and ends with love. God is love and God’s word says He created us in His own image to be like Him; to be lovers of God and of one another and all living creatures without exceptions.
I shared the story of how a miraculous healing of a three-year-old child changed the life of a whole tribe in Malaysia. But this wasn’t just a one-off event – we all have the opportunity to live like Jesus everyday and see the wonders He will perform through us by sharing.
We can all grow in Him more each day. We have that power inside us as the body of Christ. Growing more and more like Him as we grow, till we will have eternal life through God. Paul’s words: “The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16)
Think of a tree
What do you see? The trunk of the tree, and then you look up and see the branches and leaves. What you don’t see? The root. And the root of Christianity is love. Without the root, there is no life – no tree. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:1, without love our words become no more than sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
Without the root of Love, there is no tree. But if we have that root, a tree grows; it has life, it continues to grow up to heaven. Paul describes that unimaginably glorious treetop in Ephesians 3:19 as “knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, and being filled with the utter fullness of God.” Wow – how amazing to think about the utter fullness of God! God is love – we need to be like Jesus, sharing with everyone the basic Gospel message of love (John 3:16).
Sunday evening was Bobby Ho’s last night with us in Cambodia, and he had arranged a wonderful Korean celebration dinner back in Seim Reap near the Church. Bobby has an amazing heart for these people and is supporting the vision of Pastor Kundate and his team.
On Monday morning, Bobby rang my doorbell at the hotel at 6.00am. He was leaving for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to get back to his business. Pastor Kundate was there to take him to the airport, and on his return, he collected me to go sightseeing. We saw one of the Seven Wonders of the World, which I really enjoyed. We returned back to the city and the hotel so I could rest, and I found my way to Costa Coffee to contact my wife on the internet – it had been so frustrating not being able to get a message to her!
I decided to explore and find something to eat: I had forgotten that I had used most of my cash on sightseeing and lunch with Kundate. So I walked around looking at the menus, when one attracted my attention. “Cambodian Grill” was less than $10 a meal and I could get a drink as well for the $15 in my pocket. It was something special! The meal started with crocodile (yes, crocodile!) It wasn’t to bad, although a bit gritty! Then I went on to shark, swordfish and six different kinds of meat, with a steamboat of many different vegetables and noodles. I really struggled to eat everything in this very different meal. The Cambodian food is generally really good and the rice is wonderful.
This morning Kundate picked me up at 9am, as he wanted to take me to a big lake and a boat ride. The Tonlé Sap Lake is unusual as its flow changes direction two times a year, and the part that forms the lake grows and shrinks markedly over time. In the dry season, the river drains into the Mekong River, and with the rainy season, the river forms the largest freshwater lake in Asia. It’s quite amazing, like a floating village!
The Lord’s ‘Prayer Hands’ tract continues to make an impact and God has laid this on my heart to translate it into Cambodian. I asked Pastor Kundate to take me to the printers so I can order his ministry some of these tracts for him to continue to sow in this wonderful land. He and his team are amazing – I love these people and am blessed daily! I am looking forward to tonight when we carry on with the mission school.
