BIBLE PROPHESY ABOUT RECENT TSUNAMI IN JAPAN

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Jesus Christ the Nazareth!

Here is the online news about the Tsunami in Japan on March 11^th, 2011 “The quake off Japan's northeast coast was the biggest in 140 years and triggered tsunami waves of up to 10 meters (30 feet) that swept across farmland, sweeping away homes, crops, vehicles and triggering fires” - Reuters. Japan’s recent 8.9 magnitude earthquake already generated a 15 foot tsunami that crashed its coasts - Digital Journal.

Where does the word 'tsunami' come from? 'Tsunami' is a Japanese word meaning : storm ("tsu") and wave ("nami") - Oxford English Dictionary. For the plural, one can either follow ordinary English practice and add an 's', or use an invariable plural as in Japanese.

On Sunday morning, my reading took me to the Book of Zechariah 5 verses 2 – 4, “What do you see?” the angel asked. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It appears to be about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide. Then he said to me, “This scroll contains the curse that is going out over the entire land. One side of the scroll says that those who steal will be banished from the land; the other side says that those who swear falsely will be banished from the land. And this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: " I am sending this curse into the house of every thief and into the house of everyone who swears falsely using my name. And my curse will remain in that house and completely destroy it - even its timbers and stones.”

Then I sought God for an interpretation of Zechariah’s vision. The following is revealed to me.

First, the flying scroll is like the opening of a roll of papyrus or paper and so tsunami or storm waves come like a flying scroll.

Second, Zechariah said the measurement of the flying scroll is 30 feet long and 15 feet wide. This describes pretty closely the March 2011 Tsunami of Japan

Third, the 'curse' refers to the sea waves (tsunami) that sweep everything away.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are indeed living perilously close to Judgment Day or End Time. God 's anger and warnings are clearly prophesized in the Bible. It is entirely up to us to see and interpret this in the reality and happening around us. Ignore and dismiss these warnings of doom, we merely deceive ourselves! Life on Earth is short. Eternity awaits us. But are we ready and prepared to accept Jesus as our only Savior? Have we really followed or obeyed God’s Will and His Commandments?

I remember vividly the following story a friend has shared with me. A wealthy man knew he would be dying soon. He told his son, "Please bury all my money with me ".The son nodded. When the time came for burying, the son said," I am not that stupid to put all the money in the grave because he can’t use it anyway." Instead he wrote out pieces of cheques as substitutes.

In the Book of Matthew 6 verses 19 - 20 we are reminded, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal”.

Another Bible prophesy also deserves our attention. The Book of Revelation 6 verses 12 - 14 says "I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places’.

Checking the earthquakes statistics in the website http://earthquake.usgs.gov, you will find that earthquakes are happening every second. According to the latest news, Honshu Island has shifted 8 feet or 2.4 meters and we don’t know about other places. Maybe you can start checking the measurement between your house door and the front gate to see if the distance is shifting.!

I believe that the prophesy of the sixth seal on the scroll is already opened and now we will be facing the seventh seal.

Those who wash their robes are those who seek to purify themselves from a sinful way of life. They strive daily to remain faithful and ready for Christ’s return. It is difficult to imagine how blood could make any cloth white but the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the world’s greatest purifier because it removes the stain of sin. White symbolizes sinless perfection or holiness, which can be given to people only by death of the sinless Lamb of God on our behalf. God’s Word assures us that if we are willing and obedient, Christ will forgive and remove our most indelible stains. Amen!

The last word will be God’s, his ultimate sovereignty will be revealed in the end. We cannot predict when that end will come, but we can have confidence in his control over the world’s events. The world’s history, as well as our own pilgrimage is in God’s hands. We can be secure in his love and trust Him to guide our decision.

We just want to share our apprehensions as the stark reality hits us.

So, brothers and sisters in Christ, be forewarned. The End Time is near. Be prepared. And Live!

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

MISSION - GIFTS - EVENTS

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

We have received much encouragement in our faith walk with Christ as nothing is impossible with God’s call and Will. Now we have about 8,000 email readers and 6.000 page views per month on my mission blog. Praise the Lord for all that He has done!

We can almost sense the nearness of the End Time as mentioned in the Book of Matthew, chapter 24, where it is said we will never know when it will happen. For the past few weeks ago, I have been reading news about earthquakes, volcano eruptions, weather changing, riots within the nations, famines and wars between neighbors. We cannot predict when the end will come but we can have confidence in His control over the world’s events. The world's history, as well as our own pilgrimage, is in God’s hands and we can be secure in His love and trust to guide our destiny and life. Many are also “false prophets” with counterfeit signs of spiritual power and authority. One Jewish writing says that the story of Eve's temptation include Satan masquerading as an angel. Nothing could be more deceitful than Satan, the prince of darkness, disguising himself as an angel of light! In the same way, these false apostles were pretending to be apostles of Christ, while in reality they were agents of Satan. We must be alert to all these situation, stay close to God, believe that Christ has set us free and only the Word of God is truth.

God works so amazingly and our prayer is been answered. We have sought the Lord for a vehicle since August 2010 and finally we got a second hand car since late November 2010. The car costs us around THB 150,000 (USD 4,900) and the car condition is still new without need for much repair I took a hire purchase loan from the Christian Car Dealer and he requested my Malaysian Passport without any guarantor. Not only that, by now the car is almost fully settled. God is so good when we seek Him humbly and earnestly.

On the December 23rd, 2010, we published our first book called “A Journey of Life” in Thai Language. It is about our life testimonies of faith. Our book appears to have touched many readers, who share their thoughts with us after reading our book, one of them a devout Buddhist, who has decided to accept Jesus Christ as His Savior and many more. The Christian News also advertised our book in the newspaper and received tremendously orders from the readers. The book, 1000 printed copies, sells at THB 79.00 (USD 2.45) throughout Christian Bookstores in Bangkok. We decided to donate 100 books for free as charity contribution and one of the readers gave us an offering of THB 10,000 (USD 326) for one book. Praise the Lord! The Lord never returns less than what we are prepared to give Him, but more if we have faith in Him.

As reported in my last mail, we have earlier decided to become mission partners with Glad Tidings Assembly of God, Malaysia, and have been back in Malaysia to attend the Mission Committee meeting early January 2011. However, the Church has recently decided to delay this community project and church planting for the time being. This has affected our plans for work in Bangkok as we have been promoting the up-coming project and have also gathered more than 20 people to start the church. It is hard to continue to move along with this project due to these uncertainties and so we feel it best for us to withdraw ourselves from the earlier agreed arrangements. I believe that God has a greater direction for them as well as for us.

Since September 2010, Senior Pastor Dr. Sinchai has invited me to be part of his pastoral team in his Mahachon Church but I have declined the offer many times. In mid January 2011, Dr. Sinchai again offered me the position. In a mobile phone conversation, Jenny just said “yes” and so that was that. It could be God’s plan for us to help the church. The church appointed me as a volunteer pastor advisor while Jenny assists in the church.

The mission reports;

In mid December 2010, we decided to buy basic necessities (soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, body powder, noodle, biscuits, books, paracetamols, etc) to give to the homeless. I used the available mission funds to purchase around THB 5,500 (USD 180) and we were able to assemble about 120 packs for the homeless. We also bought 95 boxes of gifts for the children from the Australia Samaritan Purse with a sum of THB 1,000 (USD 33).

On December 18th, 2010, we joined the Lumpini Evangelism Christian Group at Lumpini Park There were about 80 homeless people there. I did not have the opportunity to share the Word of God on that day because the schedule was tight. An elderly man from Taiwan shared his thoughts about the Holy Gifts of laughter to rejoice God’s presence. After that, we distributed the prepared Christmas gifts. We also blessed other passerby with the remaining gifts. Proverbs 22 verse 9 says “A generous man will himself be blessed for he shares his food with poor”. Hallelujah!

Two days later, a church in Hua Hin invited us to their Christmas gathering. There were about 18 inter-denominational churches gathered there to celebrate the Christmas event in the Market Village. The Mayor of Prachuap Khiri Khan Municipality City came to launch the event and we were delighted he chose to spend almost 1 ½ hours to see through the exciting program. The church leaders had thought he would spend not more than half an hour after launching the event. Praise the Lord !

On the morning of December 22nd, 2010, we had Christmas Caroling in Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok. In this we were joined with a few other inter-denomination churches. I have an opportunity to share the Word of God with some of the patients. After that, I drove to Chiang Rai (about 900 km away from Bangkok ) with Jenny to help a Christian brother solve some issues. It was a tiring day traveling all the way, and I didn’t get to sleep much. But God freshed me each day for “when we are weak, He will make us strong”.

Early morning on December 24th, 2010, we were co-organizers of the Christmas Celebration event for the Lumpini Primary School and we arrived from Chiang Rai around 3.30am. Then we started to prepare the event around 6.30am. There were about 700 primary students in the school. We arranged many Christmas gifts and Ajarn Suchart assisted us to get sponsors for 700 packs of Vitamilk. The students were in great excitement, playing games and responding to questions giving us a wonderful opportunity to share the meaning and joy of Christmas. In fact, many of them don’t know much about the true meaning of Christmas, knowing only about Santa Claus, or waiting for Christmas gifts and not knowing who Jesus Christ is and why we celebrate His birth.. We also helped arrange the Australia Samaritan Purse boxes for distribution to students who won their games. The events lasted about 4 hours, then we returned home to rest.

The next evening that is on Christmas Day, we went to the Christmas Celebration organized by Mahachon Church in the Central World Mall, Bangkok. Many shoppers came to join the events. There were well known local pop singers (also Christians) singing there and a Korean dancing group to draw the crowds. After this we rushed to another Christmas event in the Avana Hotel (about 24 km away). A generous couple organized a grand buffet dinner for about 650 non-Christians and they shared their life testimonies. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay long enough as we returned to Central World Mall for the Christmas Celebration.

From December 30th, 2010 - January 1st, 2011, we were in Singapore to meet up with some Christian friends and stayed in a mission house that cost only SGD 20 per day (USD 16). Then we were in Kuala Lumpur for 5 days. We had a dinner meeting with the Mission Committees but nothing solid worked out. Perhaps the Lord has other plans for us. We were busy meeting up with Christian friends and had good quality time together. I have an opportunity to share the Word of God in the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship, Damansara Intan Chapter, Petaling Jaya.

During the month of January 2011, we were extremely busy organizing the HT Long - Elvis Malaysia’s concerts (The Golden Voice of Elvis) in the churches and hotel in Bangkok, from January 29th to 30th. On January 28th, we had dinner with the Elvis of Thailand together with HT Long. It was a pleasure to meet Khun Jaruek Viriyakit impersonating Elvis at the Asia Hotel as well as many other impersonators. Three Elvis impersonators sang together and thrilled the audience.

On the morning of January 29th, we were busy organizing the HT Long - Elvis Malaysia event in Avana Hotel, Bangkok. The hotel organizers invited many businessmen to attend this event. One high ranking government official who was not a Christian came to attend and to sing together with HT Long. During the program, HT Long took the opportunity to share his faith and the love of God. Later, this senior government officer and non believers was so touched by the testimony given that he decided to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior. Indeed, God works in mysterious ways to touch a man's heart. The hotel management offered two free hotel suites for our use during the event. May God bless the hotel management for its generosity and giving.

The following evening, we went to Mahachon Church, Bangkok to arrange the program for HT Long’s concert. We invited many non-Christians, including Jenny’s uncle. When HT Long made an altar call, many people came out to the front. HT Long prayed for them, many were slain and healed. Hallelujah! The Lord uses simple ordinary people, including one with the gift of Elvis' voice, to touch and heal people .

The next morning, we went to the Acts of Christ Church, Bangkok where the same concert was arranged at the last minute. Due to the limited time, the church leaders allotted HT Long 15 minutes' singing time. The congregation was thrilled to listen to his impersonation of Elvis Presley, clapping and shouting for more songs. Unfortunately, that was all the time we had as we had to hurriedly leave for the next event and destination in 1 ½ hours.

Some of the members from Acts of Christ Church and other churches came to the Second Samyan Church, Bangkok to attend the HT Long’s concert. It was a 2 hours event. When HT Long sang his Rock’n Roll, one cripple with stick came up to the stage and danced. When HT Long took away his stick, he was healed totally. Again an amazing miracle of healing ... Praise the Lord! A few weeks later, the church pastor informed us that his church leaders were very happy with our program and they look forward to working with us for more such events in the future.

We wish to thank all of you for your continued support in our work in Thailand. Please continue to pray for our health and joy in serving the Lord. May God bless you and yours richly with His abundance!

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok and Sister Jenny P Kok

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

CHANGE THAILAND

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Faith comes from trusting the Lord in every way ... for our daily needs ... for the work we do joyfully in His name … that it will bear fruits, and add more to His Kingdom .. How true ... so in Him we Trust and Obey. Hebrews 11 verse 3 says: “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen”. God called the universe into existence out of nothing, he declared that it was to be and it was. Our faith is in the God who created the entire universe by His Word. God’s Word has awesome power.

During the past 2 ½ months, we were extremely busy with all kinds of Church related activities and so we were unable to update our reports regularly. Most of the time, I was only able to update some of our activities in our Facebook wall.

Recently, my home church, Glad Tidings Assembly of God (GTPJ), Malaysia decided to place us as a mission partner in Bangkok, to help GTPJ to start a community centre, church planting and community outreach. As I prayed and looked for a suitable location to start our work, God answered our prayers in a mysterious way ... in no time at all, God provided us with about 20 local volunteers to help us in our planned ministries. Praise the Lord!

We sense that our Almighty God will bring us bountiful harvests in our planned Bangkok planting. So our vision and prayer theme for the coming year will be “Changing Thailand for God's Glory”. Together with existing local churches, we will strive to work hard in unity with them to bring the Good News to the local people. In John 14 verse 6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. We will bring this message to save souls. We will also strive to free sinners of the bondage that holds them back, so that the Love of Jesus will set them truly free!

The Christians in Thailand constitute less than 1% out of a population of 67 million. For 180 years, the Christian missionaries and local churches had tried many ways to spread the Good News but have, by and large, failed to find the key to open their hardened hearts. There has been a measure of success elsewhere, many mission workers have focused on the Hill Tribal people from Myanmar, Yunnan and Laos where more than 40% have been saved. Praise the Lord for that. But we need now to concentrate our focus on the majority of the Thai people themselves, where the needs are greatest. So let us together pray diligently for the theme adopted for next year to come to pass, for the greater Glory of God.

The mission reports;

On September 5^th, 2010, I was invited by Rev. Dr. Sinchai, the senior pastor of Mahachon Church to preach the Word of God to his congregation, with Jenny as my interpreter. This church, established here only less than a year ago, plans to build a brand new church building next to a river nearby, to be called the Ark's Church. It will be the first such new modern church building to appear in Bangkok in many years.

The church hopes to cooperate with existing local churches in as many of its activities as possible. Currently, I serve as a partner/mentor to the senior pastor and we work together on the same vision.

“Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. That is only valid for information sharing. Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes” ... Peter Senge.

On September 11^th, we celebrated the birthday of Bro. Kiert, aged 86, at the Lumpini Park. About 180 people came to celebrate the event. Brother Kiert is one of the founding members of the Lumpini Evangelism Group and Poukey Service Group together with his wife, also a church worker/evangelist originally from Beijing, as well as two other local Thai - Chinese co-founders. He had been unwell and weak after a recent operation. Let us remember him in our prayers for Jesus to strengthen him.

Usually on every Saturday morning, we will be helping out in the Lumpini Park on fellowshipping and sharing the Word of God with the poor to let them know how much God love them. Some of the poor sleep by the road, some in temples, never taking baths for weeks. Many appear to have lost the direction for living and are in deep spiritual emptiness or darkness. So we endeavor to give them hope and light through Jesus Christ, doing whatever we can with gifts of love and encouragement, including verses from the Bible and our frequent prayers and encouraging them to bring their friends to the park as well. We plan to start a pilot "Adopt the poor" project which will mainly focus on giving them simple jobs like polishing shoes, washing cars etc. This will help them to get some income. Let us pray for God's leading in this project.

Early in October 2010, I went on a short trip to Wuhan, China to meet up with Bro. Stone. A year ago, I had baptized him into the faith in Tianjin, China. We have had a good fellowship and reunion.

From October 29^th to 30^th, Jenny and I were invited to attend the Thailand Prayer Conference which was held for the first time in Thailand, when churches came together to pray. Unfortunately, many ministers of God were unable to come to the event due to the 60^th Anniversary Baptist Celebration. During the conference, I was asked to write down what I thought was needed most in Thailand. I wrote on the big board “Change Thailand for the Glory of God”. Many came to ask me explain how to do that. We shared our thoughts sand plans for the coming year. We said a big “Amen” to that dream, hope and trust with God, “anything is possible”.

In early September 2010, a member from The Hymnsmen asked me to invite the Hymnsmen group to come to Bangkok to do some church events. From November 8 to 12, they came to Bangkok to perform. I arranged for them to sing at various churches. At first, we were not too sure of how they would be received in Thailand, singing in English as they do, and whether their CDs would be sought and bought ... so only about 80 CDs were brought in. After their first performance at the Bangkok Christian Hospital, our optimism soared ... all the CDs were sold and we had orders for more! Despite our little faith, God did great things right in front of us, telling us to trust Him more each day. So when I next preached in Mahachon Church about the “Power of Change”. I was emboldened to make an altar call. About nine people came out and accepted Christ ... Praise the Lord!

In Luke 15 verse 7 Jesus says “In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and have strayed away!” Hallelujah!

Preaching in House of Christ Church on “Healing through Christ”, with the Hymnsmen playing the music in the background, I again made an altar call. The whole congregation came out to seek Healing. One lady unable to walk, then walked, one lady unable to hear then could hear ... truly miraculous!

In Matthew 9 verse 35, Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness ... Praise the Name of Jesus ... what a Miraculous God we serve! All glory to Him!

From November 10^th to 13^th, we went to the Province of Surat Thani (South of Thailand) to distribute dried foods to flood victims using own funds. We were also able to fellowship with the local pastors and have had a good time together. We traveled by Airasia paying return ticket at THB 300 (USD 10) for two persons and everyone was surprised how we could travel so cheaply! The Lord provides and takes care of our frugal needs so that we may serve Him joyfully. Hallelujah!

On November 14^th, 2010 a few churches joined hands to organize a prayer walk and concert in Bangkok. About 3,000 people attended the event, mostly youths. This was the first such event held in Thailand.

We are praying to buy a new small car, a Chery QQ this month so that we will be able to get to places more conveniently. Currently we are taking the public transport and it is hard and time consuming. Our schedule of work has also increased; we have more commitments such as starting a community centre, outreach centre, church planting, public events and working with other local churches.

May God bless each of you wherever you are.

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok and Sister Jenny P Kok

GOD'S BLESSING

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Paul wanted his readers to be generous on every occasion. We are reminded that God is the source of everything. In the Book of 2 Corinthians 9 verse 13 says “As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ”. All believers are called to be generous because of the example of the Lord of Life. Generosity proves that a person’s heart has been cleansed of self - interest and filled with the servant spirit of Jesus himself. That is why acts of generosity result in God being praised.

Since last Sunday, I have mild flu and sore throat due to abrupt changes in weather and the workload. Do pray for us, since all servants of the Lord will always be under attack from the Evil One.

From October 1st - 8th, 2010, I will travel to China, first to Guangzhou, and then to Wuhan, Hubei, for a short mission trip. My wife, Jenny, will remain in Bangkok. I will be preaching in various home churches and teaching Bible Study group on equipping the Christians.

The following month, November 2010, I will help set up a Hymn team to share testimonies and sing Hymns at two churches, a hospital, a primary school and in a park. With this event, we hope to reach out to many people around Bangkok. I sense that Thailand will experience a revival and the people will respond positively to a cleansing change. Let us all pray for Thailand to move away from idolatry worship and turn to seek God's true love - and turn to Jesus the SAVIOR who has died for our sins.

Presently, Jenny and I have decided to remain in Bangkok for a year to help out some ministries before planning to go to Mosul, Iraq and finally to Israel. We need to do lots of mission planning before going to Iraq, also to consider our long term visa status as well the security outlook of the country. Moreover, I am thinking of linking up with other missionaries with similar interests and directions.

After the US-Iraq war, there appears to be no permanent missionary teams in Iraq due to various problems. I believe God wants to change the people in the Middle-east countries, the so-called 10/40 window.

About future plans in starting a foundation in Thailand, we didn’t get much feedback from readers and supporters and so we have decided to shelve the idea for the time being. But we have been offered other openings. Two local Thai churches have offered to take me in as their pastor. I am still considering the option. Another has offered a piece of land to build a church. I have passed on this proposal to my home church which is actively considering the matter.

If the home church decides to help start the church in Bangkok, most probably Jenny and I will remain in Bangkok to assist in the work in this church for a year, such as equipping disciples, church planting and recruiting team leaders. Our plan to provide handicraft training for the poor can also continue as part of the ministry.

Let me now introduce our apartment.

We live a very simple life here, with no refrigerator but recently we bought a small TV. We put a blanket on the floor to make a bed to sleep on and also our room is very small. We thank God for this room because this room belongs to Jenny’s uncle who rents to us around USD 48 per month but when we were away, he never asked us to pay the monthly rent. Moreover, the electricity bill is currently free because our tariff usage is always below the average.

From July 8th - 13th, 2010, we were in Hatyai (Southwestern Thailand) and Pattani (Southeastern Thailand) together with Jenny’s father. We spent time with her family and they have not met for years. It was a good family reunion. We have the opportunity to share with Jenny’s cousin sisters about the Good News and they were very keen to find out more. So we propose them to visit the nearby church. We also visited the local AG Thai church and had a fellowship with the pastor and his church members.

Every Saturday morning, we join the Lumpini Fellowship Group where we share the Word of God with the poor and also fellowship with the people around. Since coming back from Kunming, we noticed that there were more people coming to this fellowship. The elders told us that when the red shirt protesters occupied the park from April to May 2010, they continued to hold the fellowship meet and the protesters started joining the fellowship. Amazingly, some were touched by the truth in the Word of God and some repented of their sins. Praise the Lord!

Every Wednesday evening, I made it a point to preach the Word of God in the church at Wireless Road, Bangkok and Jenny was my translator. There normally are three pastors (including me) taking turn to share the message.

On July 24th, 2010, we attended the Thai businessmen fellowship together with Dr. Kamjorn Chaowrat, a former senator. It is interesting to observe how the more affluent Christians share their faith with the less fortunate among them. Praise the Lord for this ministry. One of the brothers shared how he almost became a bankrupt and lost everything but the Lord brought him back. He said the US Coca Cola was trying to penetrate their market into China but the Chinese Government rejected this inroad many times. When this brother was appointed advisor to the Coca Cola of Thailand, he made good relationship with the Chinese Government, then brought the Coca Cola company into the China market. He urges that we need to always seek God’s wisdom rather than our own wisdom, then blessing will pour down from Heaven. God is always amazing!

From July 25th - 28th, 2010, Jaisamarn Full Gospel has invited us to attend the “Encounter through Inner Healing” conference in Pattaya and the guest speaker is from Prachuabkhirikhan (South Thailand). The senior pastor called on each leader of branch churches to attend this conference. Jesus has commanded us to extend his mission on earth. We are to go to all corners of the world serving God, serving each other and serving all people to whom we are called.

Matthew 16 verse 18 says: “Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it”. This is the land I mentioned above where the land owner has decided to give it to build a church. My home church is evaluating the possibility. Praise the Lord for this donor, Hallelujah!

We thought that we could not go for Don Moen’s worship concert as we have limited mission fund. Therefore I said to God, if it is your will, I shall obey and I will not think about the concert again. A week before the concert, I received some funds from an unknown person and so I was able to buy two seats for the concert. Praise the Lord ... our God always works in mysterious ways! When we were at the concert, I could sense that God wanted me to “rest” and have a break for awhile before taking another step of mission work. Jenny also felt peace in her heart. Thank you God for your provision and guidance. Hallelujah!

We need your support in prayer as we hope to get a more convenient means of vehicular transport to enable us to move around in Bangkok more easily.

God Bless!

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

DOCTOR OF MINISTRY (CHRISTIAN STUDIES)

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Lord Jesus Name!

May I first begin by sharing the happy news that I have been offered a chance to study towards a Doctor of Ministry (Christian Studies), that is, D.Min, on a scholarship.

I have 2 - 3 years to complete this correspondence course. Meanwhile, I can still continue my mission work. At the same time, I am also pursuing a Diploma in Healthcare and Social Welfare to further equip myself in counseling. Indeed, God is good all the time!

With regard to my earlier report “Future Mission Plan”, so far I have received little feedback from you all - can I have more feedback from you about this proposed plan I have?

We need to work together in step with God. So let us all work and pray together to reach our common goals in serving the Lord.

Proverbs 16 verse 9 says: “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps”.

Jenny and I might not attend the Don Moen’s Worship Concert on August 3rd, 2010, as we are a bit short on funds, and it is an expensive event too!

The Word of God to remind ourselves, Proverbs 4 verses 23 to 27 said "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil". Our heart, our feelings of love and desire, dictates to a great extent how we live because we always find time to do what we enjoy. Solomon tells us to guard our heart above all else, making sure we concentrate on those desires that will keep us on the right path. Make sure your affections push you in the right direction. Put boundaries on your desires, don't go after everything you see. Look straight ahead, keep your eyes fixed on your goal, and don't get sidetracked on detours that lead to sin.

God bless!

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

Candidate of Doctor of Ministry (Christian Studies)

THE FUTURE VISION MISSION WORK IN THAILAND

Shalom All,

Greetings from Thailand once again, brothers and sisters in Christ!

This is just another brief report from me, to update and share with you about my upcoming work plans for the Lord. I pray that you will have the time to read it.

As you all well know, my initial calling 3 years ago originally was to evangelize to the Jews, but the Jewish Rabbis that you read at mission blog “Concentrate on the Lost Tribes” and “First Mission in Thailand”.. I had contact with did not open this door for me. Even so, I am certain the Lord loves and cares for the Jews, despite their steadfast stubbornness, and that one day, He will find a way for me to serve this community.

Then the Lord directed me to go to India. By faith and without much preparation, the Lord opened this doors for me, helping, equipping and teaching me to evangelize along the way, and even leading and annointing me to cast out demons in His name. (these activities have been covered in earlier reports). Isn't God’s amazing?

I am sure God has a plan for me ahead, as He never fails in His promise. But I am waiting for a clearer direction from Him. After 3 years even up to now, I have a burden and a desire to make contact with one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, to bring them back to the true Jerusalem and into the lasting Kingdom of God.

Yet the time does not appear to be now, as there are too many issues and obstacles for me in this path right now. For one thing, my government still imposes a very strict ban on its citizens from entering the State of Israel.

Then also, living cost in Israel is too high for me to be there.

And thirdly, Jenny is not ready for this journey just yet, even if I am ready. I can't just leave her behind in Bangkok - that would not be the right thing for me to do. No, we must work together for the Lord as a pair, since the Lord has joined us in marriage. Therefore, I am still seeking and praying that the Lord will work out a way, and find us an opening for both of us, if not for the Jews in Israel or elsewhere, then some other place.

The other option for us is to stay put in Thailand. Here, we also have a great desire to serve the Thai people, as there are many needs we can see. One vision we have is to start a "One-Stop-Mission Centre" (OSMC), in a shop house or any suitable place. We are particularly encouraged to have the boldness of this vision after our recent work of one year at the Olive Farm in Kunming.

As we see it, the objectives of such OSMC will be:

1. To provide handicraft training for the poor, such as in cross stitch, knitting etc. This work will help the poor to generate some income to support their family, as well as provide us an opportunity to serve the Lord.
2. We will have a place to sell the handcraft made, as well as to sell Christian books, gifts and music.
3. Once we have established a proper footing, we can and will open this venue to all Christian denominations visiting Bangkok/Thailand, in joint efforts to preach the Gospel and extend the Kingdom of God throughout the land.

We are praying for God's hand to make this come true. One way is to incorporate a company or a foundation, and to find a way to get the company/foundation, exemption from tax. This is not something we can achieve overnight. It will necessarily have to be a longer term plan, but we need to open it up for input of ideas, to deliberate, discuss and pray for God's leading, to bring about a project such as this to bear fruit for God's people.

Just another thought. Initially, we could plan to rent, say a three-storey shophouse in the outskirts of Bangkok … the ground floor to be used as the proposed handicrafts center cum coffee fellowship place ... the second floor to be used for children ministry, Bible studies place, library, prayer room and for worship service … the third floor to be used as guest rooms for missionaries/Christians on their way to or from Thailand, who can also contribute in some way to promote the activities of the center.

Last week, I have had a brief sharing about the above ideas with the pastor and elders of a sizable church in Thailand. They seem to find this vision interesting.

With prayer and the support of everyone, perhaps we can all work together to bring to fruition.

God is always great, Glory to the Name!

Blessing,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok and Sister Jenny P Kok