Heavenhigh

One week of teaching at the Warari Bible School

It has been a busy week but a very good week. The students are working hard to improve their reading and comprehension. I am amazed at the work that is required from the students. They have classes every day from 8:00 t0 2:30 except for Friday to 1:05. They have families and the women go to school until 1:00. Most of them have part time jobs like hauling water or whatever they can find, some have a little business on the side like selling petrol, buying and selling pork, or buying and selling grain. And four, two men, and two women, are the first responders that Gremar trained last year and is continuing to train this year for the school Dispensary. There also is work hour at the school three days a week. Most of the men gathered wood the last couple of days after school for the staff. They get time off for the farming season so that they can feed their families. Four years of this means a high commitment on the part of the students and when they are done they qualify for working as evangelists. If they want to be pastors that means another two years in an English speaking Bible School and four years at Veenstra Seminary.

Click on picture to enlarge.

Gremar’s Healthy Living class.

Case teaching his classes.

Teaching the first responders at the school and now also four other ladies from four different communities takes a good day a week. We hope Gremar will be called less and less as everyone learns diagnoses and treatment.

Keeping things organized at the school dispensary.

The pastors/evangelists and their wives’ continuing education program using TLT material had great attendance (17 men and 11 wives) this week. Stewardship in the morning and Biblical Preaching after lunch on Thursdays. We are glad to be able to do two courses this time because we do one lesson a week and the principles are applied during the next seven days and reported on in the next session. One of the Students (Luka) put the Pastoral Care course into practice in his village last year and with the help of the Holy Spirit 17 more people are attending the church. Praise the Lord!

This week we worked in groups.

Elizabatu, the principal's wife joined the afternoon class.

Market Day

Last week we went to Rigau to shop and to visit the immigration office. We did not see him but we did some shopping. When we got home we also found out that I got a flat tire. We are using Matt and Laura’s vehicle and Matt is prepared because we have two spares and a brand new tube in the pickup. That meant that I could wait till market day to get the tube changed. I never cease to be amazed at Nigerian ingenuity.

We bought exercise books and he also sells cell phones and charges cell phone batteries.

That was last week so on Monday I had my tire repaired, and Gremar bought rice, dried fish, tomatoes and peppers for the meal at the course we do with pastors, evangelists and their wives.

After he puts in the new tube he has the equipment to air up the tire.

The whole procedure is done by hand, this guy knew what to do. It was a good thing I had a new tube the flat tire already had five patches on it.

If you want you can also buy petrol (Gas) right there.

Meanwhile Gremar was buying supplies, she would like to take you along sometime.

It must be a lot of work to grow vegetables in the dry season

The rice is locally grown but shelled and ready to cook

Once dried they last a month unrefrigerated.

The Way of Holiness

14/02/11 Chapel Warari Bible School.

I. The Gospel of Mark is a fast moving account of Jesus’ life probably written for Roman Gentiles. Mark 1: 1-12

A. Of the gospels Mark was written first and most of Mark is found in Mathew and in Luke. Most people think Matthew and Luke copied Mark but revised it to meet their situation. Matthew wrote to the Jews and Luke to Gentiles. Both Mathew and Luke added their own material.

Punishment Isa. 39

The initial prophecy “I will send my messenger to prepare the way” that Mark quotes was written by Isaiah to give comfort to those who would be exiled. Isaiah prophecies the punishment in chapter 39; was Hezekiah too proud of his treasures that he showed it all to the visiting Babylonians? Perhaps he did not give God the glory. More than likely there were many reasons over the years and Hezekiah’s indiscretion was the last straw. Judah was to be exiled.

B. Isa. 40: 1-5

But in the next chapter Isaiah is directed to comfort God’s people by prophesying their release from hard service and that their sin is paid for. Salvation is the tie on point where the passages are connected to Mark’s gospel and connected to God’s provision for his people and for all the people of the world.

II. Prepare the way for the Lord

A. The way back to God

“A voice calling in the wilderness; prepare the way for the Lord, fill in the valleys and level the high places, the rough ground smooth”. This Isaiah passage is a direct reference to John the Baptist and all the authors of the gospels make that connection. But Isaiah also has a more graphic connecting point; coming to Jesus and back to God. Isaiah chapter 35

B. The Highway Isa. 35

1. Not only is the way open for Jesus to come to us, (his incarnation) all the obstacles that prevents us from coming to God are removed as well. Isa. 35 describes the highway: it is called the “way of holiness, only the redeemed walk on it, they enter Zion with singing and everlasting joy, gladness and joy will overtake them and sorrow will flee away.”

The whole chapter is a wonderful description of restoration and redemption.

We are on it and nothing; not Satan and not our confessed sins, will remove us.

2. That highway is here today, many people don’t know how to get onto the highway. Where is the “on ramp”? Isaiah’s prophecy applies to us the church and the people of the church. We are to remove the obstacle of self righteousness, the barrier of condemnation, the deep gully of lack of compassion and the mountain of tradition or whatever it is that keeps people from seeing the “on ramp” to the way of the redeemed. What is it here in this place, here at Acre, that keeps people from seeing the road of righteousness? What is it that keeps people from finding the way? Maybe nothings stands in the way, maybe there are no obstacles. We are on the way of holiness and the only way we can help others find the way is to walk with them, we are to make the path smooth and straight and easy to find. Amen? Isaiah’s prophecy is a two way street, Jesus’ coming to us and all of us coming to Jesus, and Mark begins with Jesus’ baptism.

III. Jesus is Baptized

A. John objects. Matt. 3:13-15

1. Jesus tells John, go ahead and baptize me “in order to fulfill all righteousness”. Baptism is about Jesus. Baptism is not about us.

2. Baptism symbolizes our participation in Jesus’ death and resurrection; the washing away of our sins, baptism therefore is about God.

3. Listen to what God says at Jesus’ baptism; “you are my Son, whom I love; with whom I am well pleased”. When anyone of us is baptized God says to us and he announces to the whole world: this is my son, this is my daughter, I love you, I am pleased with you.

4. God loves you no matter what, baptism or not ,but baptism gives God the opportunity to announce his love for you to the whole world.

CONCLUSION:Jesus’ baptism is the beginning of his public ministry.

In much the same way at our baptism or our profession of faith, if baptized as a child ,we also begin a new phase of service for God; we have a new sense of calling and a new sense of power in the Spirit. Let us thank God for His blessings, and for opening up for us the highway of holiness. Praise be to God!

Sunday and Monday

Sundays are always busy, there is worship at the school and the teachers are also assigned to preach from time to time. One of the teachers Christi, teaches the students’ children for Sunday School. Often there is reason to worship in one of the area churches for preaching requests and or special services. This week we worshiped with the students and due to the teaching load I do not think we will as much opportunity to visit other areas. Besides worship services, Sunday is also a day to greet friends and neighbors, and we had about 8 greeters from different area come to visit. A good time to catch up. We praise God!

Monday is also a busy day, I have two classes and Gremar teaches healthy living to the women students. Monday is also market day in Warari and we can only get there in the afternoon at the hottest time of the day. I wish you could experience the market with us. This time I was able to take some pictures but only with permission from the persons being taken.

I bought a nice piece already cooked and spiced.

Dave, I thought you might appreciate his soldering irons.

God’s Call

I have started the Methods of Preaching class and the first thing we are discussing is God’s call to the preacher. We are looking at four passages one of which is Isaiah 6: 1-10. If only we had that vision and we could see God, feel the temple shaking, smell the smoke and hear: “whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”. I dare say that not anyone of us have seen or heard it and yet we must have heard it; my students heard a call or they would not be in this school. God’s call will become clearer as we go through the other three passages. 1Peter2:9-10 “but you are a chosen people”, belonging to our God. Why choose us? Why these students in my class? Why am I teaching here? Why? So “that you (we) may declare the praises of Him who called you (us)out of darkness into His wonderful light”. God’s call is about His mercy to us. Ephesians 4:10-12: God calls us to “one hope, one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God the Father of us all”and then he equips us to serve Him. He gave apostles, and now gives us prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers, and church leaders. We all are prophets, priests and kings. As in God’s call to Isaiah so God’s call to all of us has a purpose; “so that the body of Christ may be built up”,in “Unity, in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God”. In other words; “maturity, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of God”. That seems to us to be an unattainable goal but in Christ we attain it. Praise God! When God calls and He calls all of us in many different ways and to many different tasks. He calls so that we glorify him. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 gives us the basis for our call and task;God’s Word. “All scripture is God breathed”. We begin with ourselves because the Word is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” for all of us. “So that the man/woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We hear the call of Jesus in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the power of his Word we are “thoroughly equipped for every good work”.

Our abode for the next four months

During our time here we will be staying on the Bible School compound in Matt and Laura’s house. It is much smaller than the Mai Hula house where we stayed last time but it is much more (geselig) cozy. We are really enjoying it. There is lots of foliage that has been planted, thanks to Dave and Jan Dykgraaf who lived here before the Lansers. The porch is a great place to receive guests and we spend a lot of our time there. We have a solar system, along with the school generator, two hours a night, and we pay students to bring us water from the hand pump to a holding tank. This water is then pumped up while the generator is on up to a holding tank that gravity feeds the house. I should build a solar hot water heater but in the dry season, which we are in, cold water washing is preferred for the most part. If not, Gremar heats her water up on the gas stove and uses a bucket.

One wonders how bougainvillea can be so bright and fresh in 100 degree heat.

The porch is a good place to sit and work.

The yard is fenced in to keep out the cows and goats

Here not only the Fulani have cattle — Here many people keep cattle as well as the Fulani tribe.

Thankfully Gremar did not forget how to bake bread.

I started teaching on Monday; I teach two classes a day for two days and one class on Wednesdays and Fridays. Gremar is teaching Healthy Living to the student wives one day a week. Thursdays, will be spent with the pastors and evangelists and Gremar with their wives for continuing education. We will be using the Timothy Leadership Training material, Biblical Preaching and Stewardship recently translated into Hausa.

This well and hand pump profides water for our compound, for the banana plot and for the surounding compounds. — This well and hand pump provides water for our compound, for the banana plot, and for the surrounding compounds.

Dormitory for the students and their families.

I was talking with Pastor James Yarima this morning, every day people are turning to Christ. This fact makes the Bible School indispensable for training leaders. What a privilege to be a part of it, if only for a little while! We thank God.

Travel to Acre

Wow! The time just flies by! Wednesday Case and I arrived in Jos about 1130, having left Abuja at 0630, they put us up in Abuja,in a very nice apt. that a Christian business man rents out to our mission free of charge. No mosquitoes, TV, hot water what else could we wish for. The afternoon we spent getting $ exchanged, copies of passports, hearing where it would not be good area to be in Jos and we settled in the guesthouse. Had supper at Strydhorsts and had a great visit. Thursday we put the Hausa – English manuals together for the two courses that we will teach here, 50 copies of each, and brought it to the AG compound where they could print it, and it would be ready by 4 PM on Fri. Well only part of it was finished and about 5 pages had turned around going from ch 1 to ch 5 then 4 etc.So we took a copy home and went there sat at 0900 to help collate it all, and the young man was terrific, and by noon we had the majority of the copies. The rest will be coming with others on Wed. We packed and shopped and packed again and by Sat nite the pickup was fully loaded. We left this morning at 0630 and we arrived at Acre at the school at 4 PM, We had no hassles, we chose Sun since the people that stop you for all the credentials etc are usually not there. It was a long trip, but went very well, It was 100 degrees when we arrived, and now it’s 930 PM and it’s a comfortable 84. We brought everything in the house, the students wives brought buckets of water to fill up our tank. Case got all the solar stuff working, I cleaned the kitchen a bit, we had trouble getting the fridge working since where the gas goes in was all plugged until we found a needle to clean it out and presto, Case put it together and it is getting cooler. Many students, and of course the principal Jolly and Elizabeth , and the teacher Hezron and his wife Christy and their little boy Joshua all came to greet. It’s good to be here, and we thank God for our good health and the opportunity to serve Him here. Love you all so much, it’s quite nice to have internet in the house, and not have to drive 4 miles and sit in the car! Praise the Lord

God is Good

We thank God that we had great flights from Grand Rapids to Toronto, to Frankfort, to Abuja; we made all our connections, got a little sleep, and the food was good on the airplane. It started out a little rocky for Gremar, you know how she hates to fly. When she saw that 18 passenger Beech turbo prop that was to take us to Toronto she said: No way! She was ready to back out right then and there. All the time she was settling into her seat; “this is the last time” she said. I think she was really scared. For my part, not only was I ready to ride I wish I was flying the thing. The deicing procedure only added to her fear but as we departed and settled into the flight she calmed down. We arrived in Abuja cleared customs and were meet by Christopher. We have a long history; he was my assistant in the hanger at Takum in the seventies. He is now the main driver mechanic for the mission in Jos. We stayed at the Peniel Apartments; very nice, air, power all night, water, and a comfortable bed. We stopped for omelets along side the road on the way to Jos and we arrived safely at about noon. We are now settled in at Mountain View Guest House working on the manuals I will need for the courses I will be teaching; Stewardship, and Biblical Preaching. We hope to leave for Warari Bible School in Niger State on Sunday. Continue to pray for safety and that God prepares the way for us.

New Community Church Commissioning Service

This Sunday the people of New Community Church, Newaygo sent us off with God’s blessings. We thank God for a community that is committed to pray for us, encourage us, and support us as we partner together to serve God in Newaygo, West Africa, and where ever God calls. We are blessed! Praise God!