PRAYER NEEDS FOR THE PEOPLE

Without your prayer, nothing will move as the Lord, our God (the one and only one) want to hear our voices therefore let pray together as Blessing will come upon you. God Bless!

This column is for the people who are in need of prayer and do pray for them (It will change occasionally)

- Pray for a revival for Thailand as Thai Christians is getting less each day (1998 is 1.7%, 2006 is 0.7% and now less than 0.5%).

- Pray for the Philippines, Indonesia and Samoa on recent disasters as many Christians walked away. Seek the Lord to bring more truth missionaries to touched their heart and guide them back to the Lord.
- Pray for Bro. Adam Hitchcock (USA) seeking for accountability on his job.

- Pray for Bro. Charles Myo Tint (Myanmar) is having kidney stone, high blood sugar and etc. He needs prayer on the healing as well financial needs for his family.
- Pray for Pastor Maurice Ledwicky (ICA Bangkok) whom will be going throat surgery in New York this month.
- Pray for Sister Wicca (USA) on her revival and salvation as she is practice idoltary.
- Pray for Sis. Maria for wisdom on getting a business and good health.

- Pray for Sis. Bay Alexander (USA) is facing the financial crisis and recently her daughter met an accident.
- Pray for Bro. Kamjorn and his family (Thailand) been protected under the Lord's Name and good health.

- Pray for Bro. Somdech (Thailand) for calming and relax personality as allow the Holy Spirit to move him.

- Pray for the Jaisamarn Bang-Pa In Church, Jaisamarn Vibravadi and Church of Jesus Christ on the upcoming church camp in October 2009.
- Pray for Bro. Sun Jian (China) on the spirit of wisdom and knowledge.
- Pray for Bryon Li and his family (China) to strengthen the family ties.
- Pray for us as we are making decision to join the missionary organisations or Thai Church.

If you have prayer request, do send it to me at faithwithyou@gmail.com.

SERVE GOD WITH TRUTH HEART

Shalom All,

Greeting in the Lord’s Name!

When I read the Romans 1 verse 18 - 20, “The wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them”. Some people wonder why we need missionaries such like us if people can know about through nature. Although people know that God exists, they suppress that truth by their wickedness and thus refuse a relationship with Him. We sensitively expose their error and point them to a new beginning. People may believe there is God, they also refuse to commit themselves to Him. We help persuade them, both through loving words and caring actions. Moreover, we try to convince people who reject God of the dangerous consequences of their actions and helping the church obey the Great Commission. The most important, through nature reveals God, people need to be told about Jesus and how, through Him, they can have a personal relationship with God. By knowing God exists is not enough, people must learn that God is loving. They must understand what he did to demonstrate his love for us. They must be show how to accept God’s forgiveness of their sins.

In the 1 Corinthians 9 verse 1, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?” Our changed lives were the evidence that God was using us. Does our faith have an impact to you? We can be a life-charger, helping others grow spiritually, if I dedicate ourselves to being used by God and letting him make us effective. At the verse 4, “Don’t we have the right to food and drink?”. We gave up our everything with the right hospitality to win people to Christ. When we focus is on living for Christ, our rights become comparative unimportant.

The purpose of the God’s Work in Luke 10 verse 7, “Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves their wages”. When Jesus told his disciples to accept hospitality graciously because their work entitled them to it. We, as a ministers of Gospel deserve to be supported and your responsibility is to make we have what we need. There is the way to encourage the people who serve God’s Work. First, see that the serving God have an adequate salary and supported emotionally. It is also to lift our spirits with special surprises from time to time and giving it cheerfully. Everyone have the responsibility to care for spiritual leaders and missionaries. It is also everyone duty to see that people serving full time for God in the ministry are fairly and adequately.

We must always alert ourselves. In the James 5 verses 1 - 6, “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you”. When James proclaims the worthlessness of riches, not the worthlessness if the rich. Today’s money will be worthless when Christ returns, so we should spend our time accumulating the kind of treasures that will be worthwhile in God’s Eternal Kingdom. Money is not the problem. Christians leaders need money to live and to support the families,, missionaries need money to help on spread the Gospel of Christ. It is the love of money that leads to evil and cause some people to oppress others in order to get more. This is warning to all Christians who are tempted to adopted worldly standards rather than God’s standards as well as an encouragement to all those who are oppressed by the rich.

Paul gave the some guidelines to follow in 1 Timothy 6 verse 10. We must realize that one day riches will all be gone, be content with what we have, monitor what you are willing to do to get money, love people more than money, love God’s work more than money and freely share what you have with others.

Almighty God has good, pleasing and perfect plans for his children. He wants us to be transformed people with renewed minds, living to honor and obey Him. Because He wants only what is best for us, and because He gave His Son to make our new lives possible, we should joyfully give ourselves as living sacrifices for His Service. Amen!

God Bless!

Blessing,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

COMMUNITIES IN THE FARM

Shalom All,

Shanah Tovah (in the Hebrew Language) also called as Happy New Year!

This week, Jenny and I will be taking AirAsia flight to Guangzhou. We will stay there for two days before leaving for Kunming to work in the farm and serve the local community for at least one year.

“Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you (John 20 v 21).

It is not going to be easy for us, as our background and upbringing is urban and now we are going to live in a remote part of a mountainous village!

When I told this to my friends, they were incredulous.…”Are you sure that Jenny and you will adapt to life in the farm? ... yes, we can see that it is beautiful place but can you survive there without shopping malls, or even a 7 Eleven convenience store?”

Reading Isaiah 40 v 29 - 31 gives us the strength to say yes. . we shall overcome obstacles in our way, however difficult it might be, even with much testing when we might feel life crushing upon us, uncertain of our next step...yes, we are certain we can always call upon our God to renew our strength and hope. It is hard for us as human beings to completely understand God and His ways, yet we must obey Him if we want to serve Him...to seek His wisdom to know God's purpose better, 1 Chronicles 15 v 13 - 15.

Let me now talk a little about the Olive farm.

The farm was started with a vision from a man of God who implemented this vision in 2003. It is now run under a mission-company. Currently, the company is not making any profit as last month was its first harvest of olive oil fruits.

In due course, when the company turns profitable, it will use the profits to expand the Kingdom of God by sending local people to do mission works. All the first fruits harvests, whether vegetables or other crops will be celebrated with the local farmers in a thanksgiving celebration in a free sharing of such harvests. Todate, there are over 10,000 olive trees (most from seedlings of trees is from Israel, some from Australia and others from Europe) in this farm ,besides the growing of some wheat, barley, fig trees, pomegranates and honey.

The farm, over 100 acres, is on a land elevation of 2,200 ft. above sea level.

All praise to our God for His mighty work and blessings!

We will be helping in administration work and promote the farm as a camp retreat, also as a farm tour and visit venue, with our own handicraft works for sale and added attraction. In addition, we will help out in the teaching of English and Thai in the schools, make home visitation to different villages in the vicinity and train new believers in the Word of God. There are so many opportunities waiting for willing and helping hands in the ministry of God in this neglected area.

The farm does not provide us any salary or allowance, except free accommodation. We help out on a volunteer basis.

There is always a problem in transport and we are praying about it. From the farm to the nearest small town is 20km just to get some necessary groceries. If we plan to go to Kunming city, it is 80km away...to get there by public transport is about 20km away from the farm. It is also difficult for us to go to the nearby villages for visitation as we need to walk uphill and downhill in this mountainous area. The only thing we can depend on are the farmer’s vehicle to bring us to more accessible roads, but we should not be imposing on them too often. We are seeking the Lord for a second hand car and will convert our license to Driving License for convenience.

We now have a 2-year multiple entry tourist visa that gives us a maximum stay of 60 days per entry. Therefore, we have to exit from China every 58 - 60 days to make our continued stay possible. That will require us to leave Yunnan to a border town nearest us in Vietnam…From Kunming by bus to the border will take us 12 - 14 hours on a single trip and it will cost USD 35 - 40 per person per trip.

Due to political and religious sensitivity, I will not be able to update you with the usual mission report. Instead, I will update you with a coverage of the social or community activities. As some of you may be aware, many websites have already been blocked by the government including Facebook, blogs and others. All emails sent out, will be scanned by the cyber police through Internet Service Protocol (ISP), as the government is very cautious about security threats to the country. Hence, we need to be more circumspect in what we send out. I hope you will understand

Finally, allow me to quote in closing verses from Philippians 4 v10 - 19;

“How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me….Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty…so you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this…I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness…I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus…And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus”.

Mission Contribution

We also want to invite you to visit the first and biggest olive farm in East Asia where you can do short ministry, retreats or relaxation.

Should you have this interest, do send me an email and I will be most happy to send you an itinerary and estimated cost. You are also most welcomes to Skype me (Username: macgyversteve) or any chat messengers so that I can bring you around the farm by video conference.

Thank you for your time, your prayers and your support in our ministry.

To God be the glory!

Blessing,

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