This week we went to a city four hours away to meet with Joe*, a man who had been waiting four years to talk with someone about the NT he has been reading.  After professing to be a follower of Jesus he began asking some questions such as;  If Jesus died for everyone’s sin is everyone saved? And of course how do you explain the Father, Son, and HS to others?  After a few hours together we prayed and left him with his first complete Old Testament & New Testament and hit the road onto the next town.  Fifteen minutes down the road the phone rings and it is Joe saying, “I’ve already read the first 3 chapters of Genesis, where should I start  reading in the NT.  Thanks for coming to see me.  When are you coming again?”

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During the month of March, God allowed me to continue sharing spiritual truth with the storying group which meets in our home on Monday nights. This is a group of nationals who are coming to hear about spiritual truth found in Jesus Christ.  While we have been talking consistently about repeating patterns of God’s grace, mercy and judgment from the Old Testament, we have also seen what it really means to trust God and experience His deliverance. In particular, the time we shared around the Ten Commandments was extra special.

Our discussion from the Word that night revolved around the holiness of God and His perfect standard. After looking at the law; how it shows us the sin within (like a mirror) we took the Commandments one by one. After a short explanation of them and their NT interpretation by Jesus, we simply asked if anyone had broken any of them. Of course we all had. The James 2:10 verses really hit home with our friends. I could see the Law producing conviction in them. They were seeing themselves as guilty before a holy God. It was amazing. I was blown away at what God was doing in them. Well they did not become followers of Jesus that night but the Lord is working in them. They needed the bad news first. In fact, the lady who attends the group said “I am not going home until you give me some good news.” I love it when God produces conviction in the lost. Praise His name. We did give them a little good news that night; a sneak peek to the beautiful gospel. They took a Jesus-film home that night. My wife and I finished in prayer that night rejoicing.

April 18 will be the International Day of Prayer for the country and peoples of Turkey.  Please download the attached PDF to see a prayer guide.

18 April, 2009- Prayer Topics

Welcome to the Central Asian Republics blog site. Here you will hear stories from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. While we are at it we may throw in a few stories from Western China and the Uigurs. The Central Asian Republics are mostly unknown to people living in the West but they are not unknown to God. He has been working with them from the beginning and in these last days He has poured out His grace and love on them like never before. Many are calling on the name of Jesus for the first time and His Kingdom is growing in tangible and intangible ways. On this blog we will relate how God is moving and how you can be a part of what He is doing here among the Central Asian Republics.

A Tajik poet wrote:

O Tajik People, O people of grief
Tears in their eyes like orphans
Anger on their lips like captives
In a Forgotten Land they wept alone

Wont you join us in prayer and labor for the peoples of Central Asia that they may not weep alone anymore, but rather they will:

Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 12:6

The feared anti-religion law in Kazakhstan has been dismissed as unconstitutional.  However, many church leaders still fear that the government will try to impose harsh restrictions on religious meetings.

Source:  Forum 18

Pray for Christians in Kazakhstan to be faithful no matter what legal measures be taken against them.

Pray that they will be rooted and established in Christ and in love for each other, the lost around them, and those in power over them.