Greetings in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth!
Hebrews 13 verse
21 says: "May He equip you with all you need for doing His Will. May He
produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is
pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen!”
It has never
been easy to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Thailand. The number of
Christians in Thailand is only about 200,000 out of a total population of 68
million. Yet is it not a surprise that the Mormons are faring better than the
Christians in Thailand due to their zeal and persistence in reaching out to the
people they evangelize to. Most of the Christian missionaries are quite
successful in reaching out to the hill tribal people in northern Thailand, as
well as neighboring border areas such as Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia but few
Christians focus on the bulk of the Thais themselves.
Just like what Jesus says “The harvest is great, but the workers are few” - Matthew 9 verse 37. Yes, it is true that Thailand has been a challenging ground for the past 190 years and it still is, but I trust in the power of Jesus Christ that the day has come for changing the mindset and hearts of these dear brothers and sisters of ours, to bring the Gospel of peace, love and salvation to these wonderful people of Thailand! But we need to seek God’s wisdom on how to mold and transform them.
Let us not think
this will be an easy walk of faith. We will certainly encounter many problems
ahead of us, for it is never easy to start a Church in this or any new
community. I can sense that some supporters are expecting short and quick
results. I certainly hope this will be the case, but short of a miracle, a
breakthrough like that is difficult if not impossible. We need to build a
strong base of trust, caring and love, as much as our Lord has shown and taught
us, plus His mercy of healing and bonding and relationships with Him in
spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
With that in
mind, we will begin to teach English and Malay languages every Saturday. The
idea of teaching Malay language was mooted when I met a Thai Christian leader
who shares with me his vision of a longer term vision about the ASEAN Economic
Community (AEC) 2015. In ASEAN, there are 4 countries (Malaysia, Indonesia,
Singapore and Brunei) and Malay is the official language in each of the
country. In addition, it is also a commonly spoken or understood language in
southern Thailand and parts of the Philippines. There is therefore a high
possibility that Malay language will be an official language for ASEAN. Using
this common language is therefore one way we can get close together and spread
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In distributing gospel tracts in multi-languages
learning, it find great interests by some wanting to learn other languages,
including Malay. Praise the Lord!
During the past 2 months, we had some visitors from Vietnam, Macau and Malaysia as well the local Thai Christians. We have started the Sunday Church Service since early January 2013. A friend from Malaysia also came to help the Church. Since last 2 weeks ago, Pakping Christian Cafe from Nonthaburi joined the Sunday Service with us.
On December 16th, 2012, the elder of Jaisamarn Full Gospel Bang-Pa In invited us to join the Christmas event in Nakorn Luang, Ayutthuya. A few hundred from the village turned up for the event. Jenny helped in handling the children ministry.
The team from the Bangkok Christian International Library (BCIL) invited us to join the Christmas party on December 18th, 2012 in fellowship with the Christian brothers and sisters there.
The Mayan prophesy about doomsday on December 21st, 2012 had even spread to this corner of Thailand! A young girl told her mother … ", we are going to dead soon and I am not sure that you can enter Heaven because you have not received water baptism. The mother told us what her daughter has said and she is willing to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior. We did as she wished, giving her the water baptism that day. Hallelujah and thank you Lord!
In early October 2012, the pastor of Manebnoprat AG Church invited me to preach on Christmas Day. We went to Chiang Mai and joined the church members for Christmas caroling on December 22nd, 2012. On the following day, I preached on the topic, " The Meaning of Christmas” and then I made an alter call. One lady stood up. Praise the Lord for opening Heaven doors to receive her. Another two ladies also came forward for healing.
After Chiang Mai, we went to Mae Sot, Chiang Rai on December 26th, 2012 to meet up with Bro. Tee who serves his own Akha Hill Tribe there with his Japanese wife. We had a great fellowship there. Please pray for the wife to know Jesus Christ. Bro. Tee taught us about how to make straw brick and how to remove rice husks and explained to us how bees communicate. We also visited some local pastors and shared with them the Word of God. They are so encouraged that they asked me to return to lead them in Bible Study this year. All Glory to the Lord!
Before returning to Bangkok, we visited the Noah Church in Chiang Rai on December 29th, 2012. This is under the care of the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. Praise the Lord for this church.
As my Thai visa is about to expire, I decided to go to the nearest border town of Aranyaprathet (Thailand) and Poipet (Cambodia) to renew my visa for another 3 months. I travelled there together with Bro. Steven Wong from Malaysia visiting me at the time. I have been invited by the pastor in Poipet to visit their new Church and so we dropped by the Church to fellowship and pray together. May God continue to bless the servant of God there.
I have had some gout pain from November 2012 till December 2012 then fungus on the toe from December 2012. I had surgery on the toe on 18 January 2013. Resting now and trusting the Lord for healing very soon to enable me to be on the go again!
“Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has
given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or
property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a
hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters,
mothers, children, and property - along with persecution. And in the world to
come that person will have eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will
be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the
greatest then - Mark 10 verses 29 - 31. We have surrender everything to the
Lord and follow Jesus Christ to reach out the needs. Do pray along with us for
His provision, protection and spiritual guidance.
In God we
completely place our trust. May the God we love be also with you, in your toil,
in your joys, wherever you are.
God bless you
all.
Blessings,
Blessings,
Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok
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