Feb 2009

February, 2009

A Time to Give Thanks

iving thanks to God is a part of daily life for a Christian. There are so many things to be thankful for, but the one universal gift that all believers share is God’s great gift of salvation. Let us thank Him for our salvation and share in the joy of others who have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in response to Every Home for Christ outreaches around the world. A man in Malawi named Headson received a gospel booklet from an EHC

worker and through its message, became a Christian. “I am so happy to write this letter to you,” Headson wrote. “I would like to let you

know that after I read your booklet, ‘Put on Your New Life,’ my life has changed. I have received Jesus as my Saviour. Please send me more literature so that my spiritual life can grow!” A continent away in the Czech Republic a prison inmate named Stefan found freedom behind bars. “The most important step in my life was to accept Jesus Christ into my heart and make the decision to live for Him,” Stefan said. “Please give my thanks to all the people in the EHC Czech office for

making it possible for me to know this wonderful message. My faith and my new experience with God is all I have, but I am happy now. I am sure that without you, I had no chance of meeting God and Jesus.” The light of the Gospel is also shining into the hearts of former Muslims who are discovering that the prophet Isa (the Muslim name for Jesus) is also the Son of God and Saviour of the world. A Muslim woman in Sierra Leone named Fatmata came

EHC Czech distributors are eager to share the Gospel in homes, prisons, and wherever people need to hear about the love of Jesus.

It’s all happening because of 1 Cor 15:3

“Christ died for our sins”

to Christ through an EHC campaign and then asked EHC workers to pray for her ailing father. The right side of his jaw had been swollen for years and would not respond to any medical treatment. “Fatmata’s father held on tenaciously to his Muslim faith all his life,” said a pioneer missionary named Melvin. “However, we took time to share the love of God and the gift of His Son with Fatmata’s father. We further encouraged him, telling him that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has the power to heal him. After receiving the Lord as his personal Lord and Saviour I prayed for him, laying my hands on the swollen jaw.” Three days later Melvin returned to the community where Fatmata and her father lived and saw Fatmata running to meet him. “Our God has done it! Our God has done it!” Fatmata cried with excitement. The swelling in her father’s jaw had disappeared. “This miracle not only strengthened her

faith in Christ, but also that of her father,” Melvin shared. It was a time for thanksgiving. Church leaders around the world are also giving thanks for the evangelism training and resources they are receiving from EHC. In Mozambique, Pastor Orbed Nharucha said, “I would like to thank God for The Heart of Man charts that we received free of charge. A month ago I visited a man who was very sick. I started explaining The Heart of Man chart to the entire family. As I was teaching, the sick man stood up and cried in a loud voice, calling Jesus to come into his life and help him. This man was suddenly

healed after crying to Jesus. Truly, there is power in the teaching of The Heart of Man chart. Today, the man and his family are in the church, praising our miracle-working God and sharing his testimony with many people.”

Children are also finding direction and hope for the future in Jesus. A teenage girl in Lesotho named Tanki wrote: “I am a young girl of 14 years. I had a chronic headache since I was eight years old. But one day an EHC leader named Pastor Jacob came to my home. My parents asked him to pray with me. When he was praying, I heard something like pins moving all over inside my head. I cried loudly because of the pain, but after a few minutes the pain was gone. I believe in my heart that Jesus healed me because He is the God of miracles!

Now I am healed. Now I am a child of God. I can’t stop telling others about His mercy.” No one would have imagined that a hard and brutal military man like former Liberian rebel, General Bill Akar, would be giving thanks today for the transforming work God has done in his life. “I have been transformed and I am grateful to God for changing my life,” General Akar said. “Today people argue whether I am the same person who was involved in the war. Like Paul, I am now going back to those places and people we destroyed during the war to preach the Gospel. God has restored my integrity. Every day I evangelize. Many drug addicts and criminals are coming to know Jesus Christ through my testimony. I am grateful to Every Home for Christ for this wonderful vision to spread the gospel. My vision and calling now

Former Liberian Rebel Leader, General Bill Akar

is to be a pastor that God will use mightily.” Even a convicted murderer on death row can find new life. A condemned inmate named Robert in Ghana wrote: “Through your Bible-study course, ‘The Way to a Victorious Life,’ I came face to face with the realities of life, saw myself as a sinner and gave my life to Jesus as my personal Saviour and Lord! I promise to live a moral life in the name of Jesus. Now that I have surrendered all my life to Jesus Christ, I would like to be a fulltime Christian worker to take the Gospel to every home. I have already started here in prison.” Another inmate who received the Gospel through an EHC prison outreach has since been released and is now leading others to Christ through his church. “I was convicted of robbery and taken to Central Prison where some EHC volunteers regularly came and shared the Gospel,” said a former inmate named Weah. “I was convicted and decided to be a changed man. Upon my release, I started attending church and preaching the Gospel.” A young man named

Ishmael was on a sure path to prison, involved in robbery, drugs and a life of crime. But while he was walking home from school one afternoon, Ishmael discovered Jesus and his life was changed forever. “One day after school I was on my usual walk back to my home when two young men my age met me and gave me one of your booklets called ‘The Search for Satisfaction,’” Ishmael shared. “They also preached to me and I gave my life to Jesus. I received the Bible correspondence course lessons and carefully followed the lesson books and answered all the questions. You sent me a beautiful Bible and a certificate, and enrolled me in the advanced Bible-study course. Thank you for making me a true follower of Christ through your exciting and interesting Bible correspondence course.”

EHC’s vision for reaching every family in the world with the Gospel draws new inspiration every time someone like Robert, Stefan, Orbed, Fatmata, Headson, or Bill is reached through an EHC campaign and surrenders their life to Christ. Against the backdrop of Christ’s sacrificial death and the promise of the resurrection, the apostle Paul said, “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:15). We thank the Lord for your involvement with Every Home for Christ. As fellow believers, let’s thank Him together for His gift of salvation and give Him glory for working through each of us to help reach the world with the Gospel.

From the President Yielded to God

adly, two of the most often quoted but misunderstood verses in Scripture are related to prayer. In John 14:13-14 Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”

Almost without thinking we typically end every prayer with the words, “In Jesus’ name.” But what did Jesus really mean when He told us to pray that way? Can we really get anything we want from God if we simply use the three “magic” words, “In Jesus’ name”? The answer is no. When we pray in Jesus’ name, we are essentially standing in His place before God. But we can only pray in His name if we are living a life that is completely yielded to God, because that’s the kind of life that Jesus lived. There are three keys to praying in Jesus’ name. Jesus yielded His will to God. We must never imagine that by praying

by Dick Eastman in Jesus’ name we can somehow bend the will of God to do what we want Him to do for us. Just the opposite is true. Jesus never tried to impose His will on the Father. It’s hard to imagine that on the night before His crucifixion, Jesus, as a man, actually prayed that there might be a way for God to spare His life. He said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” (Matthew 26:39b). But then He added the words, “Yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39c). Praying in Jesus’ name means abandoning one’s own will and surrendering it to the will of God. Jesus yielded His way to God. Referring to Christ’s human nature, the writer of Hebrews

says, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). As sinners, we can’t imagine living a life free from every selfish motive or moral failure. When we pray in Jesus’ name, we must humble ourselves before the Father, as He did, abandoning every selfish motive or goal that may be quietly lurking behind our requests. We all have dreams, desires and goals that we imagine would make life perfect if we could obtain them, but when we pray in Jesus’ name, we must be willing to toss all our dreams aside to follow the path God sets

before us. Jesus yielded His life to God. Jesus came to earth to die. He abandoned His position as the King of Heaven, set aside His authority and became a lowly servant. Jesus never sought success, wealth, power or privilege. Jesus came into the world, knowing He would be mocked, hated, beaten, spat upon, nailed to a cross, and crucified. “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). The next time you pray in Jesus’ name, we need to remember the path He followed in obedience to God’s call. Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). Praying in Jesus’ name requires a life that is yielded to God in every way. We must be willing to yield our will, our way and our very life to Him, until we have nothing more to say than, “Thy will be done” (Matthew 26:42).

Every Home for Christ/ Formerly World Literature Crusade Australia: PO Box 168 Penshurst NSW 2222 Telephone: (02) 9570 8211 Facsimile: (02) 9570 4738 New Zealand: PO Box 31-260 Milford North Shore City 0741 Telephone: Free call 0800 900 200 Facsimile: 0061 2 9570 4738

n 1965 a small group of believers in India lifted up an “impossible” challenge before the Lord. They had heard about a ministry called Every Home for Christ and its vision for taking the Gospel to every home in any given nation. They also heard stories of great successes in Japan, Argentina, Vietnam, Portugal, Kenya, and other nations. But could it work in India? By faith, a small group of believers began distributing gospel literature home to home. Responses varied, but people were intrigued. “Who is this Jesus?” they asked. More and more people read the gospel booklets, requested Bible-study

INDIA Continuing Victories

Samuel Hilel Lal, Executive/Regional Director India Every Home for Christ

materials and were led to a point of decision where they accepted Christ as Savior. As the campaign continued, more churches got involved and the Every Home Campaign slowly spread nationwide. Large towns and cities

were the first targets, but EHC workers faced new challenges as the campaign spread into rural areas. Many remote communities had no churches or believers to help spread the Gospel. To meet the need, a small army of courageous workers

called pioneer missionaries was formed to take the Good News to places where the name of Jesus had often never been heard. As people responded and accepted Christ, pioneer missionaries helped establish home churches called Christ Groups. Soon, Christ Group fellowships were being planted across the nation. Today, the Christ Group count stands at 25,836 and counting. The success of the Every Home Campaign in India has been phenomenal, with 8.6 million people responding to the Gospel, and EHC’s pioneer missionaries are on their third national coverage. Pray for continued victories as believers share the Gospel in India.

Bible Readings: This month the daily text will be taken from Psalms. For those wanting to do the one-year Bible reading programme these chapters are in brackets.

PRAY FOR THE

February, 2009

JERUSALEM

PEACE OF

PSALM 122:6 AND THE WORLD.

PRAY for the Every Home for Christ staff as they work and plan for 2009. Pray many more people will become prayer partners and financial supporters and the workers in the uttermost parts of the earth will witness many coming to Christ. Psalms 107 (1 Timothy 4-6) ISRAEL Pop. 1.2 billion. Map 127. Pray for peace in Israel and the Middle East. Pray for the newly elected President of the USA Obama who will have great influence in the Middle East. Psalms 108 (2 Timothy 1:1 to 2:13) BANGLADESH Pop. 142,700,000. Praise God for the opportunity to distribute over 100,000 gospel booklets with 2,988 responses received in a recent month. Pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in the hearts of those who received these booklets and will cause them to grow in the knowledge of the Lord. Psalms 109 (2 Timothy 2:14 to 4:22) CREATIVE ACCESS NO. 11 We rejoice with the partnership of World Missionary Press and Revival Movement Association who have made literature available for distribution. Pray for wisdom in reaching a centrally located area in the country that also has an extremely high Islamic influence. Psalms 110 (1 Peter 1:1 to 2:10) NIGER Pop. 14,800,000 Map 35. Pray for Maman Sani, Mahamadou, and Abdoulaye, three schoolteachers that God would open their eyes of understanding to the Gospel and that they would come to know Jesus as their personal Saviour. Psalms 111 (1 Peter 2:11 to 4:11) SERBIA Pop. 7,900,000 Map 70. More than 20,000 families have had the opportunity of receiving the Good News in Nis and Belgrade. Several people have contacted the EHC office and have begun the bible correspondence course or have asked to receive a Bible. Ask the Lord to bless those who have responded. Psalms 112 (1 Peter 4:12 to 5:14) BURUNDI Pop. 8,100,000 Map 18. Continue to pray for the implementation of the Mobile Training Centre program as EHC leaders are strategising with churches and local leaders about how this ministry can best meet their needs. To date, more than 37,000 homes have been reached in Burundi. Psalms 113 (2 Peter 1)

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FIJI Pop. 900,000 Map 148. Pray for Mohammed, Hussein, Bagwan, and their families, along with the church groups meeting in their homes. They are facing challenges and persecution from their Muslim relatives. Pray that they will continue to grow in their newfound faith in Christ. Psalms 114 (2 Peter 2) NEPAL Pop. 27,900,000 Map 131. Deepak Kausal, who suffered from epilepsy for 12 years, received the gospel message from EHCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team. He received Christ and was healed of the epilepsy. Praise the Lord! Pray for peace and restoration of order in this nation where assaults, kidnappings and extortion are on the rise. Psalms 115 (2 Peter 3) BENIN Pop. 8,900,000 Map 36. Pray for EHC outreaches in Ouidah, a primary domain of various voodoo regions. Pray that God would open doors to pioneer missionary Marcel Adjassoho and the Christ Groups in that area as they share the good News of Jesus Christ. Pray also that many would be set free to serve the risen Lord. Psalms 116 (1 John 1-2) THAILAND Pop. 64,900,000 Map 134. Recently a Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Leadership seminar took place in the Samerng District where 80 leaders from eight churches attended. Pray that each attendee will return home with the desire to reach their people with the Gospel of Christ. Also, please be in prayer for the ongoing prison ministry outreaches. Psalms 117 (1 John 3-4) URUGUAY Pop. 3,400,000. Map 222. Pastor Roberto Carbajal has had an evangelistic ministry for many years helping small churches in evangelistic outreaches using EHC literature. Pray that God will continue to provide his every need and that many doors for sharing the gospel will be opened to him. Psalms 118 (1 John 5) ALBANIA Pop. 3,200,000 Map 73. An important base for EHC activity has been set up in Progradec, a Muslim region where five churches have been planted. The risk for persecution is always present so continue to pray for EHC workers and the impact of their witness as they share the Gospel of Christ. Psalms 119 (2 John)

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SIERRA LEONE Pop. 5,800,000 Map 43. Praise the Lord for the healing of an eightyear-old crippled boy. This miracle opened doors for EHC workers in other nearby regions. Pray that the Holy Spirit would work mightily in areas that have demonic activity where EHC workers have come under attack. Psalms 120 (3 John) ETHIOPIA Pop. 80,900,000 Map 29. We praise God for the 341 homes reached in the East Zone where over 90 people accepted Jesus Christ. Continue to pray that these new converts will grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and will be rooted and grounded in His Word. Psalms 121 (Jude) GERMANY Pop. 82,300,000 Map 81. EHC is encouraging evangelistic outreaches in hospitals, medical centres and retirement homes using the gospel booklet “Better Days”. More than 50,000 copies have been prepared for distribution. Pray for many open hearts. Psalms 122 (Revelation 1) INDONESIA Pop. 227,200,000 Map 141. Praise the Lord for pastors and congregations who are distributing literature home to home in Bengkulu and Batam provinces as well as North Sulawesi. Pray for much fruit from their efforts. To date, more than 23.5 million homes have been reached. Psalms 123 (Revelation 2-3) CAMEROON Pop. 16,800,000 Map 24. Praise God for the 1,310 people who came to the Lord during a recent month! Pray that they would grow in the Lord. Also, pray that the Holy Spirit will enable pastors and the members of their Christ Groups as they seek to reach the last home in their regions. Psalms 124 (Revelation 4) CREATIVE ACCESS NO. 5 Pray for the safety, health and protection of EHC staff and their families as they proclaim that “God is our strength and fortress”. Christians are increasingly facing threats to convert to Islam or face death. However, God is moving which is evident in the many responses to EHC’s outreaches. Psalms 125 (Revelation 5) KOSOVO Pop. 2,100,000 Europe. Ninety percent of the population in Kosovo is of Albanian heritage and mostly Muslim. EHC National Director Bekim Beka says, “We are very thankful to god because these families let us freely share the Gospel.” Pray for many to accept the Lord through EHC’s efforts. Psalms 126 (Revelation 6:1 to 8:5) MALAWI Pop. 13,200,000 Map 15. Praise God for the positive reports received from workers who are very zealous in the ministry of EHC. Pray for the physical needs of EHC field workers and their families. Most workers also care for extended family members who are injured, ill, or who have lost the head of their household. Psalms 127 (Revelation 8:6 to 11:19)

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PHILIPPINES Pop 85,600,000 Map 167. Pray for the gospel booklet distribution in the provinces of Negros Oriental, Palawan, Sorsogon, Aurora, Ilocos Sur, Cagayan and Quezon. Also, pray for the Train & Multiply program that it will be effective in the areas targeted for EHC outreaches. Psalms 128 (Revelation 12-14) BELGIUM Pop.10,300,000 Map 85. Uphold in prayer the special outreach that took place in the Antwerp area which presented “The Nativity” film. Also an evangelistic outreach took place that featured three-time Kungu champion Tony Anthony. Pray that many would come to know the Lord because of these efforts. Psalms 129 (Revelation 15-16) MONGOLIA Pop. 2,700,000 Map 173. Praise God for the distribution of 6,520 pieces of gospel literature that resulted in 786 responses! Pray for provision to print more literature as materials for the home-to-home distribution efforts have been in short supply. Psalms 130 (Revelation 17-18) UGANDA Pop. 30,800,000 Map 26. Pray for planning and preparation efforts underway to train 300 church leaders in EHC’s strategy of reaching every home. Pray that close partnerships can be established with churches and ministry leaders in order to spread the Gospel. Psalms 131 (Revelation 19) MYANMAR Pop. 51,200,000 Map 133. Pastor Saw Eh Htoo and his staff are planting new Christ Groups and leading Train & Multiply seminars in Kaya and Shan. Pray for much success from their efforts. Also, continue to lift up EHC workers as they minister in the rebuilding project for cyclone Nargis victims in this nation. Psalms 132 (Revelation 20) ROMANIA Pop. 21,500,000 Map 76. PraiseGod for the spiritual fruit that came through the Festival of Hope held last summer as many churches were involved in the distribution efforts. Pray for the youth of Romania-for protection from the abuses of drugs, violent behavior and pornography. Psalms 133 (Revelation 21) CZECH REPUBLIC Pop. 10,200,000 Map 80. With its 37,000 inhabitants, Tabor is a town of rich Christian heritage. However, the current generation does not know the Lord. EHC has recently had the privilege of introducing the Gospel to each of the homes. Pray for many to come to know the Lord through this outreach. Psalms 134 (Revelation 22)

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