He still sends His Son!

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  John 3:16-17

In the rich narrative of Nicodemus’ night time encounter with Jesus we are treated to the Gospel in its distilled essence.  Easily the most well known verse in the Bible, Jesus proclaims God’s love and our access to eternal life through John 3:16.  Continuing on to the next verse, Jesus helps us understand even further His purpose in coming.  Namely that He came not to condemn but that through Him the world might be saved.  We give thanks to God for this wonderful love through which He sent His Son.

The beauty of seeing a new church planted lies in part with the reality that God is once again sending His Son so that the world might be saved.  Every time a new church is planted the Body of Christ is placed in the midst of people who need salvation.  Whenever and wherever a church is planted it is the Body of Christ, the physical presence of Christ in our world.  That might be within a geographical context or even just within a network of relationships.  A new church is formed in a neighborhood or a village and there the Body of Christ is available to all who live in that place.  A new church is formed among factory workers or university students and there the Body of Christ is available to the network of relationships among those people.

The Oslin group is a number of Believers you have been praying for as they have received training in Obedience Based Discipleship (OBD).  As you have been praying God has been at work.  This group has continued to be faithful in putting into practice what they have learned.  They are growing in how they follow God and actively sharing His love with others.  Reports have come in as to how they have shared the Gospel first in one new area where 25 new people have placed their faith in Jesus Christ and come together as a new church in that place.  In a second area about 30 people have come to salvation in Him and also formed a new church.  As these new churches have been started God is once again sending His Son to those places that the Vietnamese peoples there might be saved through Him.

Please continue to pray for the Oslin group that they will remain faithful to God in winning the lost, discipling new Believers and starting new churches.  Pray specifically:

–For two additional areas where the Oslin group has been sharing the Gospel.  They have seen one or two new Believers in each of these areas.  Pray that God will multiply that fruit and those two areas will also have a new Body of Christ emerge.

–Pray that God will give the Oslin group continued boldness in the face of persecution and opposition from authorities they have experienced.  This opposition has increased in recent months since the start of their OBD training.

–Pray for more training times to be held with this group of committed followers.  The opposition from authorities has made it difficult for several of these servants to gather together for additional training.  Pray that God will provide protection for them and the means for them to receive further training to encourage and equip them as they pass the same along to others.

–Pray that God will multiply these new churches to see many successive generations of churches planted that will spread among all the peoples of Vietnam.  Pray that multiplying churches will result in every city, every village, every district, every group of people so that the Body of Christ might be within reach of the millions of lost in Vietnam.