Slavic Gospel Association

This is a repost of one of my favorite entries from my other blog. It was originally posted 3/5/06
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We had a representative from the SGA visit our church this morning. Our church has sponsored a paster in the Ukraine for at least 10 years through this organization but had never been visited by anyone from the group. The man spoke during both our SS hour and worship service. I could have listened to his testimonies all day! He shared about believers being alone in areas for years praying that there would be other believers and a church; of persecution through loss of jobs, denial of education and even death at times; of the zeal to hold prayer meetings in the midst of gun fights and as a result, being blessed by having the local Muslim clerics tell them "Your God has told me to protect you, take you in my home, and build you a place of worship"; of people walking miles in below zero temperatures to hear the Word of God; of people repenting publicly of sins in the middle of a church service after hearing the Word read for an hour and so much more!

What sticks with me the most, though, is how he was told they will pray for the Americans. When asked why, the answer was "It must be hard for Americans" After again asking why, he was told "Americans have all known conveniences. It must be hard for them to live fully for God since they are so busy and noisy." Wow, what conviction because it is so true! We have so many other things that can pull us away and keep us from as close a walk with Christ as we need. To think we pray for them because we think it is so hard with how little they have but they think we have it harder. Hmmm, who might be right? Guess it depends on your viewpoint.

If you would like to hear the sermon from this morning, it can be found here.