At the end of this summer, Bill Verwys and I will be traveling to Turkey to minister to the church there. You may remember that we support Behnan Kenutgan and his work of church planting in Turkey, through the IN Network Behnan has been called the bishop of the evangelical church of Turkey, which essentially means that he is a pastor to pastors. On the trip I’ll be preaching over a period of 6 days to a group of about 200 believers (pastors and families) that Behnan oversees. For these pastors and church leaders, this gathering is so essential. The number of Christians in Turkey is very small so these believers need the support of each other and the encouragement of the Bible to keep their ministry going.
I’m planning on preaching a series of messages from Hebrews 11, the chapter on the heroes of faith. Hebrews was written to Jewish believers who were being persecuted for their faith. Some had been tortured. Many had been ridiculed and mocked. Others had their homes confiscated. A few had died. All of this suffering threatened their faith. They faced the temptation and pressure to return to their old life apart from Jesus, which might seem more comfortable. To these struggling Christians the writer of Hebrews says, “Don’t go back. Persevere. Keep trusting in Jesus. Keep your eyes fixed on him.” One of the ways he encouraged those early Christians to do this was by reminding them of the great cloud of witnesses who went before them and what they did by faith. A few examples tell the story. “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family” (Hebrews 11:7). “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice” (Hebrews 11:17). “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days” (Hebrews 11:30). There are many other heroes listed in the chapter, but I think you get the picture. By faith God’s people have done amazing things. Faith leads to action. I hope that the struggling, persecuted, and lonely believers of Turkey will be encouraged and inspired by these heroes to keep moving forward in the faith.
Would you please pray over then next few months for me as I study and plan for this teaching? You might ask, how can you specifically pray? Please pray for these things:
-Pray for time to study, prepare, and reflect.
-Pray for open eyes to understand the Bible well and the ability to put messages together.
-Pray that I will be able to communicate clearly to these Turkish believers and that cultural differences will not be a barrier.
-Pray for hearts that are ready to listen and learn.
Coveting your prayers,
Pastor Tom