Operation Andrew Continues

On January 24th Pilgrims joined in mission outreach through Operation Andrew. Adults and children made their way down the aisle to place their Commitment Cards at the foot of the cross. By doing so they committed to pray for people they had listed who don’t know Jesus. All of the names submitted have been placed in the Operation Andrew fish net in the Fellowship Hall. If you were unable to attend on January 24th, you can join us at any time. Simply write the first names only of those people you will pray for on a Commitment Card located by the fish net in the Fellowship Hall. Then place your signed Commitment Card in the offering plate. We will add your names to the others being prayed for.

Having identified those in our mission field, we need to pray for them regularly. Pastor and I are also praying for all the names that were submitted on the Commitment Cards. May I encourage you to be persistent in prayer and not to become discouraged. Sometimes we may never see the results of our efforts. But we leave them in God’s hands.

I was asked if I would submit the talk I shared during the Worship service on January 17th. Following are the highlights of what I said on that day:

I would like to share a true story with you, about a young man named Dee. Dee was a factory worker. He had a wife and 2 small children. Dee was an alcoholic, and was known as the town drunk. He often lost money playing cards, and the family struggled to put food on the table. Sometimes Dee beat his wife and son. Dee’s wife and children went to church, and they tried to get Dee to go to church too. When he finally went to church with his family, the church leaders told him that he had to give up alcohol before he could come back to church. And try as hard as he wanted, Dee was unable to stop drinking. Dee’s family prayed for him, but he never returned to church.

Many, many years went by and Dee was an old man. Dee had a stroke that left him unable to speak and unable to write. He lived this way the rest of his life. But he never drank alcohol again.

Now Dee had a granddaughter who loved the Lord. About the time that the granddaughter was to graduate from high school, she became burdened in her spirit concerning her grandfather. She knew about his past. She knew that he wanted nothing to do with church or the hypocrites there. She knew that Christians had turned Dee away from the Lord. But she could not bear the thought of her grandfather spending eternity in hell. The Lord burdened her with such concern for her grandfather that she had a hard time eating and difficulty sleeping. She knew that she had to do something, and that the time was now. She met her Pastor and told him of her grandfather. She asked what she could do. The Pastor said, “First, tell me what you believe about Jesus.” After telling him what she believed, he said, “That is what you need to say to your grandfather.”

Driving home, she felt even more burdened and an urgency to see her grandfather. She drove to his home and asked to speak with him. Despite incredible fear and trembling, she began to tell him about Jesus. Tears streamed down her face as she shared what the Lord gave her to say to her grandfather. When she finished, she began to ask simple yes or no questions so he could communicate to her. Yes, he was sorry for his sins. Yes, he believed in Jesus. Yes, he received Jesus as his Lord and Savior. They prayed together and thanked the Lord for the gift of salvation. Immediately the burden was lifted from the granddaughter and a new peace and extreme joy filled the room. Together they cried, hugged, and rejoiced in the Lord.
Dee was my grandfather, and I was an instrument the Lord used to tell him about Jesus. May all praise and glory be given to God alone!

The reason I told you that story was not to receive credit for some good deed. It was not to draw attention to myself, but quite the contrary. You see if God can take someone like me—someone of few words, who is slow in speech, and is of limited education—and if He can use someone like me to reach out to another with the Good News of Jesus, then I know that He can use someone like you!

God has placed you where you are for a reason. There are people all around you who do not know the Lord. They will spend eternity in hell unless they accept Christ. Pastor can not reach them. I can not reach them. You may be their only chance to hear about Jesus. We read in Proverbs 24:11, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.”

Will you join me in looking around to see who God has placed in your life that doesn’t know Him? Will you commit to praying for them? Will you allow God to work through you to reach them?

In closing, let me quote from Charles Spurgeon. He said, “…if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”

May God use us to advance His kingdom, and may all praise and glory be given to Him alone!

— by Cindy Kreft