Dear Family, Friends, Partners in Ministry,
I am sitting here at my desk this morning and
reflecting on the peace and joy that has filled my heart as I reflect on this
past Sunday and I have felt compelled to write this newsletter update and give
you a chance to rejoice with us knowing that God is using your donations and
your prayers and your partnership with us to truly make an impact on people’s
lives here in Northern Thailand. Not only does your gifts and donations go to
help support us but they also go to support our Thai national staff who serve
the Lord with all their heart.
Most of you know Ja and know of her loving and
caring heart. We just celebrated her serving God with us for the last 20 years
on June 1st.
Ja is more than our finance/accounting person
even though she does that role well. She also serves as one of our key “mentors”
for the first generation of believers that come to know Jesus here and also
serves as an excellent children’s teacher and helps us head up our Thai Children’s
church.
This last Sunday July 16, Ja had around 40
children (grades 1-6) in Thai children’s church. She was teaching on the
subject of the Kingdom of God and how Jesus instructed His disciples to not
forbid the children from coming to Jesus but that the Kingdom of God welcomes
the little children to come to Jesus. It was in this context that Ja felt the
presence of God and felt an urge in her heart to explain the gospel and invite
any of these children that wanted to accept Jesus as Savior and come into the
Kingdom of God. God was truly moving in the hearts of these children and eleven
(11) of the forty (40) children repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus as
their Savior. Wow. The Bible tells us that the angels in heaven rejoice over 1
person who repents and turns to Jesus. Well, it is with great joy that we share
with you that not 1, not 2, not 3, but 11 children repented and turned to Jesus
and had their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life this past Sunday.
God is truly moving in the hearts of people in
Northern Thailand and we here at Baan Athitaan Church in Chiangrai Thailand
have said to our Lord, “Here we are, Lord, use us. We want to join you in what
you are doing in the lives of people.”
As you think about missions, please remember
Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM) and all the Christian organizations that
are connected with NTIM.
Please also remember to pray for me as a Bible
teacher. One of the most important things that I do as the Pastor of Baan
Athitaan Church is to seek God’s counsel about what God wants us to Study
together on Sunday mornings. I have about 30 minutes every week to speak to our
church family. Sometimes we study through a book like we just finished studying
through Proverbs. Sometimes we might take a theme and look at that. About 10
years ago, A Bible teacher went through and counted the different subjects
Jesus taught on and the counted how often Jesus taught on those subjects. Then
he published this information on a post that we are going to use simply to
identify the top 16 topics we are going to look at over the next 16 weeks.
Please pray for us as we started this 16 Topic
series this last Sunday. Here is a link to the message from this last Sunday
which was on the most often taught on subject by Jesus: God.
Here is the youtube link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyqFyo_UGHw
Closing Personal Thoughts from Michael.
“My heart is full today as I have taken some
time to reflect over the last 47 years that I have been a follower of Jesus
Christ and I just want to say to the Lord in this public setting “Great is
thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me. Thank you for letting me be a child of God and
letting me be an ambassador for You to this great country of Thailand for the
last 24 years of my life. I can truly say from my heart along with the writer
of Lamentations that “The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease and
His mercy never fails. They are new every morning and great is His
faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23. I can also affirm what Jeremiah said
in Jeremiah 17:7 that “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose
confidence is in Him.”
Please remember to pray for us as we continue in
obedience to seek to join God in what He is doing and wants to do here in
Northern Thailand.
Thank you for your prayers and for your financial
support as we together join God in His great work of Redemption of the Nations,
especially here in the heart of lostness in Southeast Asia.
May God richly bless you.
Thank you for your generosity and for sending us to Thailand. Any gift you would
like to make to our normal, everyday ministry, no matter how small or how large,
helps us reach and disciple people whom many are the first persons in their
entire families to know Jesus Christ.
Until the
People in and around Northern Thailand know Him,
Michael for the team
“For we
do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants
for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5
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Financial
support can be given through NTIM….
Northern
Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115, Birmingham,
AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org
NTIM is a
non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization based in the USA. We are committed
to connecting people in need with people who care and are focused in the heart
of Southeast Asia where poverty is high, education is low, needs are great,
unreached people groups (UPGs) are all around us, and the love and message of
Jesus is needed to transform lives.