(Williamson Update) Understanding God's big talk

 

 

On Monday morning Nisae and I and some of the Tobo believers gathered at 6:30 and left for Dabiliu village to begin the chronological Bible teaching.  Unex (my good friend and language helper) and his family, along with two other families have come to listen.  This is not as big of a crowd as we had hoped for but we are still very thankful for the chance that God has given us and are still praying that more will come as the teaching continues to unfold.     Before the teaching began, Welsin and Ambox (two Tobo Bible teachers) did a short drama to show the importance of coming to all the meetings and hearing God’s big story from the beginning to the end and not missing any of it. First, Welsin got up and began to cut a big piece of firewood with just an ax head. As he began cutting it the people began to laugh at how silly he looked trying to cut such a big piece of firewood with just one little ax head. Then Ambox came up to him and said “hey, what are you doing?  You’ll never be able to cut that with that ax head, you need to sharpen a new handle and join it together then it will make good work for you.” Welsin then said, “I know, but it’s just too much work to do all of that and I don’t feeling like doing it.” Ambox told him, “Here, I have a handle.  Let me help you and then your work will come up good like it’s supposed to.” Then the two of them joined the ax with the handle and chopped the firewood.   After their skit, I got up and asked “does the ax head alone have any use?” they replied “no of course not. You have to join the pieces together for its work to come up good and right.”  I explained, “In the same way this talk is so important to all of us it surpasses all other talks and all other work.  If you don’t come all the time to hear this talk- if you miss the beginning of the talk and only come in the middle to one part of it, it will not do the work in your thinking and in your life like God wants it to and you will be confused. It’s like the crazy man who tried to cut the firewood with only one piece of the ax.  It didn’t work.  He needed the whole ax for it to do its right work. If you come over and over again to learn God’s talk and join all the parts from the beginning to the end then you can understand the meaning of God’s big talk for us.”   Before we leave for the teaching every morning many of the Tobo believers have shown up at our house to pray with us and to come along with us to support the teaching and help. This has been super encouraging, to see Christ’s Body here recognizing the importance of this work and coming together to encourage one another.  It’s great to see them take ownership of this ministry and run with it!   Please continue to pray with us that God would reveal himself to these 3 families that have been coming.  One of the men that has been coming is a big leader of one of the religious groups here so we would love to see him stay and hear the teaching all the way through to the end. There are so many things here that can pull people away; garden work, going to town, community work.  But we hope and pray that God would show these people that learning what His Word says is the most important thing they can do right now. Also pray that as the teaching unfolds that they would see their lost state before God and their need for a savior, and that they would come to a saving knowledge of what Christ has done for them.   Thank you for your faithful prayers and support!   Your hands & feet, Jason, Nisae, Kadynn, Judah & Eden     Please delete the body of this email and respond to: jason_williamson@ntm.org Send mail to: Jason & Nisae Williamson New Tribes Mission PMB Madang, MP 511  Papua New Guinea www.handsandfeet.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Williamson Update) what road can we stand on?

 

 

We will be teaching Jan 17th to Unex and his family    We are all gearing up and getting excited for the chronological teaching coming up here on Jan 17th at Dabiliu village. Last week we had a meeting with the Tobo believers to show them that as the body of Christ we all have a part to play in the teaching.  Whether it’s praying, actually attending to read scripture or help with dramas, or supporting the teachers by helping them in their gardens or cutting firewood- everyone can participate in the outreach. The believers here are getting excited and God has been faithful to give us many chances to share and hopefully generate interest in this huge event.   Last week I had the chance to go to a meeting in Dabiliu and share about the importance of coming to this teaching.  “What is this?” I asked. “A camera” they replied. “Who here can tell us how this thing works?” There was a long pause then a couple of people in the front shouted out, “we have no idea how it works”.  “Neither do I,” I responded.  “And since we don’t know how it works we all have our own ideas and thoughts about how it works, but are they right? What road could we stand on and know the truth about how it works?”  No one answered.  I explained, “We could ask the one who made it and he could tell us and we would know the truth about how it works,”  In the same way, where we live in Tobo there are all kinds of different thinking about God and people do many different things to try to appease him, but is it really the truth? Since you do not have God’s Word in your language, there are many different talks and thinking here on this ground, is that right?”   “Yes it is, they replied”  “Then what road can we stand on and know the truth of God’s big story? How can we know why Jesus came and know why sin is in our lives?  How can we know what talk is false and what talk is true? What road can we stand on and discern and know these things?”  I continued, “when I was young I heard God’s big story and it was so important to me that everyone else hears this story too.  So I left my family, my friends, and my home to come and tell you this message. God has given us His story for us to know and understand all of these things. In the same way you need to ask the camera maker how the camera works, God wants all of us to come to Him and find out how His story unfolds.”   We ask that you would pray together with us, that these people would see their lost state and their need to understand God’s big story. That they would make these daily meetings a priority in their lives and be there every day to hear how the story unfolds.   We ask specifically that you would pray for my language helper (Unex) and his wife.  They are excited about hearing and have allowed us to “host” the teaching right in front of their house, he even said that he would make benches for everyone so they could come and sit comfortably and hear.  “This is a big deal, this is why you came!” Unex told me. “I was asked to go out to town with some of my family members, but I told them that I was going to stay so I could hear this talk that surpasses all other talk and every other work.”   Also please pray for me and two of the Tobo believing men (Welsin and Ambox) as we teach Monday through Thursday. This will be a new experience for them and it will require much on the job discipleship and teaching. We are trusting the Lord to do a mighty work in their lives as well. It’s exciting to think about the potential for growth this teaching may have in their lives over the next few months.   We also wanted to thank you all for praying for the situation with our land owner we had last month. Praise the Lord that we were able to sit down and work things out with him.  We believe God has used this whole situation to open up the door for a better relationship with this man and his family.     Thank you for your faithful prayers and support!   Your hands & feet, Jason, Nisae, Kadynn, Judah & Eden   PS. We apologize if you have received these emails twice, if you have been could you please let us know? Thanks.     Please respond to: jason_williamson@ntm.org Send mail to: Jason & Nisae Williamson New Tribes Mission PMB Madang, MP 511  Papua New Guinea www.handsandfeet.net