September 20th, 2009
Nothing can separate you from the love of God
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers
nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth,
nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!”
Romans 8:31-32 & 38-39
“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren”
I John 3:16
Dear Friends,
Greetings to you in the wonderful name of our mutual Savior & Lord--Jesus Christ. Emie and I pray that the Lord will fill you with His love and reward and uniquely bless you these final months of this year and decade. Thank-you so very much for your Holy Spirit led prayers, encouragement, & financial investments in helping us reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves & transforms the lives of people all over the world.
“May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.” Jude 2 NLT
Who is my neighbor?
About 3 weeks ago Emie and I were at downtown Tacloban by the post office and as we were getting in the van and about to drive off, a teen-age street kid began knocking on the van window begging for money. We help people in various ways but we also use wisdom in when and how we help. In this young boy’s case, he was dirty, he had terrible looking open sores on his neck and appeared to be very weak. He needed more than just some pesos given to him. I asked Emie to tell him to stay in that area and that we would go to the Pharmacy and get some medicine for him and come back and also get him a good meal, etc.
When we came back and asked him to walk across the street he was not even in good enough shape to do so by himself. Emie walked across the street to give him medicine but when she saw more clearly his condition she came to the same conclusion that had just entered my mind---and she helped him across the street and we put him in the van and we took him to our home. We both had the feeling that he perhaps would not live if unattended.
His back was bent over some as he walked and we learned later it was due to an injury after being kicked in the small of his back by a police officer when he had been sleeping on the streets. The young boy’s name is Randy and he is 15 years old. It is hard to talk with him as he can hardly hear, but we found out that he came from a village in Samar, his mother had left for Manila for work and he had not heard from her anymore---and his father was in prison.
Randy has been with us since that time three weeks ago. He has had 3 good meals a day,
medical treatment, and been living here and sleeping here in safety. He has improved a lot but is still weak and needs total healing. He is able to read in Filipino and has been reading the Bible quite often. Please pray for God’s complete healing and that the Lord will one day use him in a special way in ministry. {None of us can help everybody, but all of us can help somebody, and as a team together--- as led by the Lord, we can help many neighbors such as Randy.}
I John 3:17-18 “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”
In our Sunday morning radio broadcasts (8:30-9:00) we are continuing to see salvations,
and are hearing from many Christians who are encouraged and helped by the messages that we share. That broadcast reaches thousands of people throughout Region 8, the islands of Biliran, Leyte, and Samar. Each week we are receiving text messages from people who say their lives are being touched in positive ways by the broadcast messages. We have people attending the church here in Tacloban who were saved as a result of the radio ministry. Please continue to pray for God’s blessing and anointing on these important broadcasts.
We had our monthly pastors meeting last week and when the reports were turned in and the average weekly attendance was totaled for all the churches it exceeded more than 900 men, women, and children in attendance. As we have shared in the past, 90% of these people are people who have come to know Jesus as their Savior & Lord though our various evangelistic outreaches. Region 8 remains the least evangelized region in the Philippines where statistically only 1 to 2 percent are born again Christians, yet we continue to see God touching the hearts of people here and lives being transformed.
Last Saturday at the Children’s feeding & ministry outreach in a small village, over 80 children attended. The children in this poor country village are very attentive to the sharing of God’s word, and they are learning many praise & worship songs to sing to the Lord. / Our Tacloban youth often have 35-50 youth attending the evening service at our ministry rooms at the downtown Astrodome and are excited to serve the Lord. / We have 4 young people attending a 5 month Bible School and 3 youth who are attending Bible college. We also have discipleship classes for 13 men and women at the Tacloban Church and they are being more and more helpful to us in the ministry outreaches. Please pray for the children, teen-agers, and young adults, and adults---to all become increasingly solid in their faith---and faithful & fruitful in their service to the Lord.
On the family front we just celebrated the triplets (Faith, Hope and Joy) 4th birthday party on Sept. 18th and they were excited,--- my 62nd birthday on the 15th, and Hugh’s 8th birthday last August on the 28th. The kids are doing well over all and are very energetic. Gracia will be 10 next month and then no more birthdays for us for the rest of the year. Psalm 127:3 “Son’s are a heritage from the Lord, Children a reward from Him.”
We pray the Lord continues to be with you in incredible ways and truly grants you the desires of your heart. May He strengthen you and encourage you and use you to help advance the Kingdom of God.
Thanks again for your kindness and faithfulness in helping us to reach new people for Jesus. God bless you greatly.
In Christ’s love,
Gordon & Emies
P.S. Please pray for Emie and me, for the Lord to renew our strength and bless our health and assign for us some rest and short vacation time. We both are somewhat tired and desire to be filled with fresh wisdom, insight, restoration, and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Also please pray for all the pastors and other ministry workers who are with us. We still need your prayers for us to have a fresh anointing, powerful protection, grace, and all else needed for all areas of our lives and ministries.
Financial: We could use some help. Please pay for the Lord to open the windows of heaven and supply all our monthly need according to His Riches in Glory---by Christ Jesus. We are helping 17 churches and in many other good areas. Thanks and God bless you always.
