John Cook, Guyana Activity Report, March 2010
Greetings to everyone.
May the Lord bless you all this wonderful day.
I see that it is mid April and I am just getting down to doing my report for March. Please forgive my tardiness.
The preaching and teaching ministry of the Edinburgh Bible Church was transferred to me by Pastor John Persaud until his return from the USA, where his family has immigrated. I also began a chronological study using By This Name (GoodSeed, Intl) in the village of Gay Park with a family. We got about half-way through in four sessions, when a sudden death in the family occurred. I hope to resume the study there in the future after they heal from the shock. In the meantime, I have had some others in different villages express interest in a chronological study (Edinburgh Old Scheme, Enfield, Tucber). I have also been doing a weekly counseling / accountability session with one of our men. Please pray for his wife who is pregnant, and has a history of difficulty. Pray that she will go full term.
Easter week was great fun, as we had our services in different homes each afternoon. Sermon preparation kept me quite busy over that period. Pastor John had been coaching some of our young adult men to take more responsibility in conducting our Sunday services. Each Thursday evening, several of our young adult men (Keyon, Gordon, Kevin, Steven and Andrew, when he is able) get together to plan the Sunday service and to determine who will lead the service. I inform them of the passage from which I will be preaching and they select what choruses and hymns will be sung and who will do the Scripture readings, take up the offering, distribute communion, etc. It is encouraging to see the unity this has brought among them as they pray and work together. They are all taking their new responsibilities seriously and their dress and punctuality has improved markedly. Please thank the Lord for their interest. Please pray for purity of mind and actions among our congregation.
Our little church took offerings over 2 1/2 weeks for two year-old Udish Ragubir who needs heart surgery. He is the youngest of the Hindu family whose boys attend our Sunday School. We raised over 24,000 GD ($ 120 USD), which is quite good for our little congregation for such a short period of time. Monday Udish went into surgery in Georgetown at 9 AM and was out by 5 PM. A team of Surgeons from the USA did the surgery. I understand that he will remain in the Hospital about 2 weeks. Please pray the Ragubir family will all trust in Jesus.
I will share just one witnessing opportunity that I had with a hire car driver while traveling to New Amsterdam.
He made the passionate comment that, "Judgment is coming!" Then he said that he had seen the movie 2012 based on the writings of Nostradamus. I replied, "Nostradamus has never been proven to be a reliable prophet. Trusting Nostradamus is like trusting a stranger. On the other hand, Jesus fulfilled at least 30 Biblical prophesies on the day of his death." I then asked, "What do you figure are the odds against that happening just by chance?" He said, "That can't be an accident." I agreed and said, "If you want to know about the future, you need to read the Bible." Knowing a little of his background (which I won't go into), I said, "You know, many people claim to be Christians, but their lives indicate that they really don't take Jesus' warnings or prophesies seriously." He was silent. I said, "Would you like me to tell you about someone from the Bible who took Jesus' words very seriously?" He allowed me, so I opened to Mark 14:3-9 and read it.
I said this was a woman of bold faith who really loved Jesus.
She made a very great _sacrifice of love_. Both the alabaster jar and Spikenard were very costly (5) amounting to nearly a full year's wage (Nard comes only from the Himilaya Mtns of India). It says (3) she broke the jar open and poured the oil onto Jesus head. She obviously knew of Jesus' works and words to make such an expensive sacrifice.
Now this woman's expression of love was not only costly, but it was a _courageous love_ too. Jesus was a wanted man. The Pharisees had warned that "anyone confessing Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the Synagogues". I explained how important the Synagogue was in the lives of these Jewish people. In addition, the text indicates that it was known that the religious leaders desired to have Jesus arrested and killed. But this woman was not afraid to identify herself with Jesus. And, as if the risk were not bad enough, Jesus' own disciples rebuked her for wasting the oil. What would you say if the Apostles criticized you for something? What would you say? She didn't have to answer because Jesus came to her defense saying these remarkable words (9), "wherever the gospel is preached...what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her." This statement leads into the next aspect of her love.
This woman's love was also a _familiar love_. She knew Jesus' words were honorable and trustworthy. He never exaggerated. His miracles were amazing acts of mercy. His teachings were profound and the things the prophets had written about the Christ seemed to all apply to Jesus alone. Jesus identity and history were reliable. He was no stranger to her. Because she knew Jesus to be absolutely reliable, she believed his prophesies to be true. Apparently, Jesus knew that this woman's actions were based upon the gospel- Jesus' predictions that he would be tortured and killed in Jerusalem and rise from the dead on the 3rd day. The Apostles did not even want to talk about that. But this woman believed what Jesus had foretold about his death. So Jesus said (8), "She has done what she could. She has come to anoint my body for burial". Her actions revealed that she took Jesus warnings and prophesies very seriously. She acted the way Christians should act.
By then we had reached our destination, and I handed him a tract that had been written by evangelist Sam Dalton, who had been on our Board of Directors of One-Way Evangelistic Ministries before he died. He thanked me for sharing.
Thank you all for your continued prayer and support.
Bro. John Cook,
One-Way Evangelistic Ministries, Guyana South America
