Scripture: Luke 10:1-3, 17-20

1. After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2  He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3  Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

17  The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."  18  He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

19  I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20  However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

INTRODUCTION

A.  We have just returned from two intense weeks of mission work.  We have stories to tell of the miracles God did and is doing.

B.  It’s not that God is working more in other places than here.  But we took off work and invested intensely in Kingdom work purposefully desiring to participate in what God was doing, and we have.

1.   Our awareness was heightened by the fact that we were fully available to God.  But also because nothing was routine to us. 

2.   But the people in the remote places of Guatemala have little else to look to but God.  And God rewards their faith.

God Moments:

A.  Fidencio told of the schools and churches he has had the government help build – nearly 195 last year and approval for 300 more this year.   He shared that because he was fatherless and did not have the privilege of an education, it has been his dream to make education available to the poor in remote areas of Guatemala.

B.  Violent crime has become a problem due to the increased drug traffic. 

1.   Before the congress, Fidencio suggested that they needed God’s help with the matter.  He offered to call the clergy together in the troubled area and have a meeting of the police and the army officials with the clergy of all Christian denominations.  The Vice president was there for that meeting the day we arrived.  By then they had already apprehended three of the biggest drug dealers.

C.  Fidencio shared that the Governess of Alta Verapaz, while well educated, held to the Mayan religion.  But recently she had shared that she had decided the God of the Bible is real and has chosen to believe in Him.  She has not yet made a commitment to Christ, but seems to be getting close.

D.  Artemio shared that his Municipality had donated concrete block to 45 churches last year and hopes to do so with 50 more this year.

He reported that he has been able to do the two things he promised God he would do when he knelt last year: Live uprightly and help his people.

His request is that people will help him buy sacks of cement at $10 a bag.

I shared with several the secret of getting the beans and corn to grow in unfertile soil.  My 93 year old father had experience unfertile soil on a homestead in 1931.  Surfing the net he found the name of the bacterial (Ryzobium) wrote a simple brochure explaining the process of inoculating the bean seed.  Fidencio took that information and shared it on the floor of the congress two days later.  The information was handed to a special committee that had just been formed to help with issues like this. 

We learned that the church in Nuevo Horizonte had dropped in size from previous days.  During the Gurilla warfare in that area a pastor had back-slidden and the people felt even God had abandoned them. Fidencio realized what God’s assignment was for the congregation and the team.  He challenge them to go house to house two by two and invite the people back to church.  The endeavor produced wonderful success.  Francisco’s son was one who held a grudge from past hurts.  But he came to church, was reconciled and immediately went to work with us.

Arcadio invited me to a home to pray for a daughter who had a birthday.  I included pastor Ryo and together we prayed for both daughters who had birthdays two days apart.  The whole family was in church on Sunday morning.

The electricians on our team had done a wonderful job of installing lights, switches and outlets.  They put in a nice breaker box and re-routed the electrical service with sub-feeds to the previous sanctuary and the parsonage.  At a critical point they found that the screw had fallen out of a breaker.  We had already lost and replaced a missing screw on the main breaker.  But this was a ‘show stopper.’  Looking around in dirt and rubble seemed impossible, but a young man bent over and picked something out of a crack and asked “could this be it?”  It was the missing screw.

We had sent down a box of screws to each of two projects with a vehicle and other equipment.  The project the Lakeside church had done three weeks earlier had roofing screws left over.  Our supply proved to be insufficient.  But getting the others was impossible.  I went to town and purchased 160 self tapping screws that were larger.  The team found a way to load a socket in the screw guns and continue.  We came out with exactly enough. 

We had purchased a cheap cell phone for communication.  It worked well and I had been loaning it to the team members to call home.  Some guys can’t tell their wife they love them in less than 40 minutes.  So it wasn’t long before someone ran the cell phone out of minutes.  The problem was that I had made arrangements with a van driver who was coming in late that night to be ready to take the team out early the next morning.  We had agreed that he would simply drive to the rivers edge on the other side and then call.  I was to send a canoe over to pick him up.  But now I wouldn’t be able to take the call.    About then the community leaders began announcing something over their loud speakers in Keckchi.  At about 10 p.m. the noise was a bit irritating, but I asked Arcadio what they were saying.   He said he didn’t know but would listen.  In a bit he said, “they are selling cell phone cards next door.”   I ran over with him and we bought all they could sell at the bargain offer of 3 for 1.  And got the phone loaded with the newly purchased minutes just in time for the driver’s call that he had arrived and needed to be picked up. 

I sat by a lady on the airplane who was from San Francisco.  She asked where I had been and why.  As soon as I was allowed to do so, I got my computer out and began making a PowerPoint slide show for a report we would give in my church on Sunday morning.  As I looked for the right pictures and imported them and titled the slides, this lady continued to ask questions.  She wanted to know what church we were with and what was the Church of the Nazarne anyway.  I was trying to hurry before my battery died because I didn’t think I would get another chance to do this before Sunday morning.   The lady wanted to know what I had preached on and she would not let me work.  So I opened a Spanish PowerPoint massage and shared it with her.  She really liked that and commented on how clear the message was.  Then she wanted to see another.  So I preached her another message before my battery gave out.  Then she asked if the church believed in dancing.  I carefully explained the problem of sensuality and the trouble it has created in marriages.  She said she objected to the way dance was used in her own church and felt it was too sensual.  Then she asked if we believed in prophecy.  So I explained that the biblical concept of prophecy had more to do with “forth telling the word of God” than with “foretelling the future.”  She was fascinated.  Then she shared with me that her youngest child has a special medical problem.  I listened to her speak in Spanish at 220 miles per hour with gusts up to 310.  I had to look intently at her to understand all she was saying.  I told her that she need a divine touch of healing.  She said, “Yes, we need to give it to God.”    I pulled out my trusty Palm Treo and opened the Spanish Bible and showed her God’s promise in Romans 8 about the “redemption of our bodies.”  We talked about our hope in the risen Christ who is the ‘first fruits of the resurrection.’   Then I said, “I want you to know that your son’s illness is not due to some sin you may have committed.”  At that she broke into sobs and confessed, “I thought this was because I had sinned and God was punishing me.”  I told her that she would need to share with her husband that it’s not his fault either and that he doesn’t need to “fix” it.  I talked about how we men want to “fix” things and if we can’t, it’s easy to feel like a failure.   I mentioned that I thought she was a good mother and had a heart full of love.  I told her that her job was to fix good meals for her family, wash clothes and keep the home in a way that provides a heaven for her family.  And then she is to love her son.  Again she sobbed and said, “I can do that!”  I assured her that is was no accident that we had been assigned seats together – it was because God loves her and needed to say some things to her.  She asked me for my email address.  We prayed together and thanked God for what He was doing and would do.