|
West
African
Steve & Patricia Phillips |
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| The Gospel for West Africa
|
October
2005 Dear
Brethren, Greetings
in the love of Christ. This
is Patti writing for the
Phillips. The
Lord is working, and He will finish what He has begun. We are here in What
a wonder, that the Almighty God in unapproachable light, holy and
fearsome, is also meek and lowly so as to reach down to fragile clay
vessels, weak sinful men, and call them to work hand in hand with
Himself. All I can do, because of His grace toward me through faith, is
obey Him who loved me and gave Himself for me, that I might no longer
live for myself, but for Christ. I give Him all the glory for this also,
for in myself I can do nothing. This
is the lesson my loving Father has been teaching me in a very practical
way these past few months. What a lesson it is! And, one I need never to
forget. Like
the children of When
I drift, am distracted, discouraged, or dull, it is then that I find
myself very susceptible to spiritual attacks against truth and my faith
in it. I have learned to be always on guard over my heart from whence
come the issues of life. The many admonitions of the Scriptures have
become very precious to me, things like, “Pray for one another,
encourage one another, confess your sins one to another, build each
other up in your most holy faith, do not neglect the assembling of
yourselves together, and give thanks always.” It is good to remind
ourselves over and over as Peter said. Even the godly ones who live by
faith enter into fiery ordeals which are for eternal good. Though
difficult, I’ve been learning to not despair but allow the Lord to
work out the details of it to the glory of His name. We
have printed over 2,000 tracts
on the subject of purity, with a gospel message at the end. The brethren
are asking for it very much in order to hand out to the people.
Immodesty in dress and immorality in behavior are prevalent here. The
awareness of this prompted us to write this tract, print it and send it
out. We
have printed a few small booklets which we felt would be very helpful to
certain brethren in their spiritual growth, as well as another gospel
tract and The Discipleship
Experience to train faithful men through the study of the
Word of God. We are thankful for this ability and hope in the future to
increase our output of these gospel publications. We
have had contacts with many church groups
from the beginning and have taught and discussed the Scriptures with
them. Many have responded with a hunger for the truth of God’s word.
Yet we have proceeded carefully and watched and listened, finding that
several proved to be wavering back and forth. We pray often for these
young people, that they will commit their lives to the Lord to please
Him only rather than serving, fearing, or trying to please men, which
has proven a snare to many. Some
pastors have even gone so far as to say things about us that are not
true in order to try and discourage or prevent others from coming to
study the Word with us. When men are drawn to Christ through His Word,
the evil one does not like it and opposition can be expected. Those who
are not fully devoted to Christ are being sifted as wheat, yet we still
pray for them that Christ may reach their hearts and bring them into His
perfect way. The
radio broadcast on the gospel of John
is just about finished, and then we will begin the book of Judges. After
some weeks of the broadcast, we gave announcements of a meeting in town
for all the listeners to come and learn more from the Scriptures and ask
questions. It has started out slowly, 10 or so thus far, but more are
showing interest and promising to join us. I went to one of those
meetings and it was such a blessing. But it is not possible for me to
attend every week because of the needs at the home. I
hope the attendance increases and that these times will bring fruit,
save souls, and put us in touch with faithful men who will give their
whole lives to the preaching of the gospel and discipling others. It
seems that the Lord has equipped us to
speak to the extreme variety of Pentecostalism found in We
have just gotten 500 copies of All
Things Loss from the printer, which has helped many of our
African brothers to see clearly what the Scriptures teach about the New
Testament pattern for the church while correcting many of the common
errors of this movement. My husband says we must not use the Scriptures
as the devil does by taking them out of context. Rather, we must learn
from Christ by studying the Word in its God-given context. I
spoke at a seminar for some 20 women
on the subject of “Women in the Church.” It was a great blessing to
me as the Lord granted the boldness and peace of God’s Word coming to
my lips as I spoke for about 2-1/2 hours. At
the end, there resulted a debate among these women over the truth and/or
their willingness to obey what had been taught. As they were arguing
their points, their voices rose and I gently reminded them of the
passage that we are to be gentle and quiet. They tried for a few moments
but had not the exercise of practicing righteousness in this area of
life and fell back into their sharp and loud remarks to one another. A
few of the women were wholly set on following what the Lord teaches
women to do. They were not going to lead in the church, teach or usurp
authority over the men. Their pastor wanted them to, but they refused to
his dismay. We are thankful for their faithfulness, yet pray for their
continued obedience and peace among those who have not come to that
conclusion. Three
men from this same church are now faithfully coming for Bible study and
discipleship training with Steve and Quintin. One especially is devoted
to us, and says that if we move to the Provinces to spread the gospel
across the country, he will pack up and come with us the next day. He
seems to grasp the truths quickly and has a heart to serve with us. His
wife is one of the young women I am teaching in English, math, and
Bible. Now
there are three young women who are learning
to read and write. They are all at different levels and two meet at 3:00
while the other comes earlier at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
But the attendance is sporadic. Sometimes due to sickness, theirs and
mine, and sometimes I cannot figure out why they do not come. I
am praying for the women, for they are not as interested in coming and
learning in any consistent way, which causes me concern for their
spiritual development. I so want them to be godly helpmeets to their
husbands, and the single girls to be suitable marriage partners for the
young men who are seeking discipleship and a deeper walk with the Lord.
Pray with me for this concern, please. We
are seeking to know the mind of Christ
as to reaching out to the whole country with all its needs. There is no
Christian influence to speak of in the Provinces; no schools, no
hospitals. These
people need to hear the gospel, they need to be able to read the
Scriptures and in general to receive true knowledge and wisdom to free
them from the ignorance they are in. Our hearts are full of compassion
and desire to reach these people. The Lord will show us the way and the
time will come. Do
pray for Steven and us as he is in Love,
Steve
and Patti Phillips |