Open Doors of Opportunity

For the past two months we have been preaching every Saturday in the large village called Moree. On Sunday we had a man who heard us preach in Moree come to visit our services. He promised he would be coming back to visit our church. This is encouraging to see God at work! We also had two college girls who recently moved to Cape Coast visit our services for the second Sunday in a row. Pray that God would continue to work in the hearts of those to whom we have preached the Gospel.

This past Saturday we also preached at the Cape Coast School for the Deaf. The Jehovah's Witnesses have been trying to lead the deaf into their false doctrines. However, most of the deaf refuse to listen to the JW's because of God's blessing upon our labors at the Deaf school. I have been preaching at this deaf school for two years now. This last December when we had our camp meeting at the deaf school, we had 30 deaf students profess Jesus Christ as Saviour. Until our campmeeting we did not have any professions of faith at the school. It takes time for the deaf to come to a clear understanding of the Gospel. Now, with many of them saved and grounded in the Gospel they will not listen to false gospels. In the next few weeks we have an opportunity to bring the JSS3 students to our church on Sundays.

This weekend I will have the opportunity to preach at a deaf woman's funeral. I did not know this woman, but some of our deaf church members knew her. There will be many deaf people coming from different regions of Ghana to the funeral. Pray for this wonderous opportunity to share the Gospel with the deaf in Ghana.

Resurrection Sunday

Yesterday we had 110 in our Sunday morning services, including a good number of first time visitors. In the adult Sunday School class, I taught on the subject "Many Infallible Proofs of the Resurrection of Christ," followed by a message in the morning service on "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ-The Foundation of our Faith." Though we did not have any professions of faith, the presence of the Lord Jesus was with us.

In the evening service, our church members observed the Lord's Supper for the first time. It was a very special service as we remembered our Lord's death for us. Our mission church was started in July 2006, however, we did not establish membership until the middle of 2007. With so many false doctrines and different churches, it is necessary to build a solid foundation before admitting members to the church. Currently, we have 23 baptized members which is not including my family.

This past week we had our land re-surveyed by a government surveyor. When the land was being cleared by a bulldozer, three of the landmarks were removed. We are thankful for this providential work of God because we discovered that the first survey was off by twenty feet. Now we have the landmarks in the right place are are preparing to start the foundation work. But first we must get our building plans finished and approved. Pray for God to give us wisdom and to provide for the needs of the building program.

Muslims Coming to Christ

The deaf girl, third from the left, was raised in a Muslim family. She came to our camp in December and at the end of the week she confessed Jesus Christ as her Saviour. After camp was over she happily took her new KJV Bible home. Later when the Deaf school reopened after the holidays, a deaf boy informed me that her parents took the Bible away from her and threw it out of the house. He had gone and picked up the Bible and took it home. We also had another Muslim girl who also trusted Jesus Christ as her Saviour at camp. What a joy to know that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth!

The past few weeks I have been teaching about Muslim evangelism and challenging our church members to develop a love and burden for Muslims to be saved. In the near future we are going to have a Muslim evangelism day in our area. There are more than 6 mosques in our area. Pray that God will open the eyes and hearts of these people that are blinded by a false religion that offers no hope.

Door of No Return

Ghana has about 32 castles or slave-trading forts that were built during the colonial days. The Elmina Castle, about 5 km from the Cape Coast Castle, is the oldest which was built in 1482 by the Portuguese. It started out as a trading post for timber and gold, but later became one of the main slave-trading forts on the Atlantic slave route. This is a picture of "the door of no return," the last stop for captives before they were stripped and branded, then marched to waiting slave ships. The slaves that entered through this door never returned to their homeland as they boarded ships headed to the Americas or the Caribbean.

There are "doors of no return" in the Christian life as well. When we get saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we enter through a "door of no return." Salvation is eternal! When we surrender to serve the Lord Jesus, it should be a "door of no return," (see Luke 9:62). As the hymn goes, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back." When we die and leave this old world we will be entering a "door of no return."

Pray for us as we labor to train disciples of Jesus Christ. In our services the past few weeks our attendance has been down in the 60's. But in spite of that we are having new visitors come on a regular basis. The past few Saturday's we have done evangelism work in a village called Moree. It is a short distance from our church and is full of precious souls without a Savior. Pray that eyes would be opened to the truth and that many will enter that "door of no return," (see John 10:9). Pray for our church members and regular visitors that they will surrender their lives to serve the Savior as bondslaves entering the "door of no return."