August, 2013
The Lord is good! It seems as it we began deputation yesterday. And, in another sense, it seems as if we have been on deputation all our lives. We have now traveled more than 16,000 miles in our car, and visited thirty-eight churches.
As I think over these last three months, I am reminded of our Lord’s three years of itinerant preaching. “Foxes have holes. The birds of the air have nests. But the Son of Man hath not place to lay His head.” We have had multitudes of places to lay our heads. The Lord’s churches have been so hospitable and gracious to us. You are a constant cause of rejoicing to Susan and me. But also you are a cause of encouragement.
Visiting your churches has motivated me to pray in a new way for America. If Abraham could plead for the Lord’s mercy for Sodom if there were but 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, or maybe only10 righteous in Sodom, and the Lord would do so, then should we not so plead before our God for our beloved land? (Genesis 18:21-31). It is clear to me as well that the clear command for the churches to pray for those in authority is not in order that we might have continued lives of ease, but rather that we might without interference spread the Gospel of the One True God, and the only Mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, in all the earth. For, He will have all men (all nations, tribes, clans, tongues) to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-6).
There is no country that belongs to Buddha, or Mohammed, or any other. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world, and they (all of them) who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1). May the Lord fill all of His churches with holy fire and zeal to fulfill all that He has commanded us in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15). May He prosper His churches, not for our ease, but that each of us may be found faithful unto that which He has called us.
I have said over and over in visiting the churches that our great concern is not for the churches to financially support us. The Lord will take care of all of our needs. He has given us this promise (Matthew 6:33). And He will work through His churches, supplying for them to give to the work we are in as He pleases. The great burden of our hearts is for the Lord’s people to be caught up in the Lord’s work in worldwide missions – for their hearts and prayers to be knit with the missionaries around the world for the glory of our Lord and the advancement of His kingdom. As the Apostle Paul said, “Brethren, pray for us!” That is our desire – to be filled with the Lord’s love, to have wisdom, boldness and patience in doing His will, to be found faithful unto our Lord. “Brethren, pray for us!”
Pray for us as we are seeking to get our visas now. Pray for us as we continue to work on these difficult languages. Pray for us as we continue to visit the churches.
The Lord willing, I will be sending out a monthly prayer letter. As well, I will show the amount of income, the expenditures, and the needs of the work. My pastor, Brother Bill Lee, will upon receiving the support, immediately send a sincere, “Thank you!” for the support with an acknowledgement of the amount. We will have many initial needs in setting up: remodeling, household furniture, vehicle, carport, gate (to keep the children’s home secure), etc. I have been trying to save all of the support and gifts sent to Central Baptist Church that I can for these initial needs. Presently we have about $9,000.00 in our setup fund. Our monthly support is almost $3,000.00 now. We thank all of you for your kindness.
Also I want to inform you about my wife’s two blogs. The first of these is, gracetothailand.com. In this blog she makes you to know what it is like to be there with us. I believe you would be greatly blessed by following along with her short blogs. The second of these is directed toward children. It is, 241thai.wordpress.com. She began these for our grandchildren, writing from the perspective of the stuffed monkey, Linkee, which our grandchildren picked out to take with us. There are many of these already written telling of our adventures on deputation. Each of these are written on a child’s level, and with important life lessons in each. Some Sunday School classes are reading these brief stories each week to their children. We have several more churches to visit, and many more miles to go before we leave October 7. We are looking forward to sharing with you the people and the ministry in Thailand soon.
May the Lord bless you! Paul Brown