On Thursday, February 5, 2009… at 8:30 pm, Brazil time, my sweet little girl answered the call of her heart and asked Jesus Christ to be her personal Savior.
For some time now, Lydia has been inquisitive and asking questions about Christ.We have attempted to answer those questions using the vocabulary at her level but with the deep ideas rooted in the scriptures.Over and over, we have attempted to be patient with her questions as she wrestled with the gospel message.We have attempted to live a life that pointed toward the gospel.We have encouraged relationship with Christian adults and children where she could see the gospel lived out.We have spent many nights in prayer for her salvation.However, though we did all this the thing that won the heart of my daughter was the love of her Savior.
For you see, she was not won over by watching perfect parents or by living on the mission field near some of the most godly people I have ever known.She was not persuaded by theological arguments.Lydia Jane was brought into the kingdom of light from the kingdom of darkness because the Creator of the all that is cared enough to speak to the hear of a little girl.
Thank you God for you God for your grace… for loving us even when we deserve your wrath. Thank you for my dear Christian sister and my daughter Lydia.
The Gilpin Family... Matthew, Tara, Lydia, & Samuel are missionaries with the International Mission Board (IMB) in Belém, Pará, Brazil. We are the IMB's lay leadership trainer and coordinator for the Rural Eastern Amazonian People of North Brazil. Our task is to plan, develop, and coordinate, non-residential ministry training for lay leadership throughout North Brazil. We will work in partnership with other missionaries on the field and with the Equatorial Baptist Theological Seminary and other organizations to develop church leadership needed for a church planting movement to take place in rural north Brazil. This non-residential training will be conducted using a combination of remote training centers, correspondance type courses, and "travelling seminary courses". The key is to provide effective, practical training to develop leaders for ministry in remote locations. ____________________________________________
Our calling...
"The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." 2 Timothy 2:2 ____________________________________________
Verses & Quotes...
VERSES
II Timothy 4:17 "But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the proclamation might be fully made through me, and all... might hear..." Exodus 4:12 "Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."
Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”
Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
John 20:21 “Jesus said... "Just as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
2 Thessalonians 3:1 “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you.”
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
QUOTES
John Newton (Composer of hymn Amazing Grace) "When I was young, I was sure of many things now ther are only two things of which I am sure one is, that I am a miserable sinner and the other, that Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour. He is well-taught who learns these two lessons"
Martin Luther (As quoted by Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, pg. 68) "As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray." John Piper (Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, pg.147) "...prayer is a walkie-talkie for warfare, not a domestic intercom for increasing our conveniences."
J. Oswald Sanders “The mind of man is the battleground on which every moral and spiritual battle is fought.”
Jim Elliot “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Bill Hybel (Speaking on his reason for witnessing in Just Walk Across the Room, pg. 27) “I really believe the saving message of Jesus Christ. I don’t only preach it; I believe it! I honestly believe that every wayward person I know would live a vastly better life if God’s love, grace, and redemption were operating in their lives.”
Bill Hybel (Speaking on evangelism in Just Walk Across the Room, pg. 38) “As I put one foot in front of the other to reach out to someone who may be twenty feet away from me but who’s living light-years away from God, I’m part of something immeasurably greater than myself.”
Charles Sheldon (Speaking on the need to grow in knowledge of Christ as we as "What Would Jesus Do" in In His Steps, pg. 135)
“We must know Jesus before we can imitate Him.”
O.S. Hawkins (Speaking on preaching in his book The Pastor Primer, pgs. 32-33)
O.S. Hawkins reads the following three verses so that as he preaches he "might exhibit freedom, fearlessness and faithfulness.”
“…the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed …”
2 Timothy 4:17
“…I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes. “
Jeremiah 5:14
“(pray that the) words may be given (to) me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel”
