Visiting Baku is always a great joy.
It's amazing to see that God's hand
continues to bless the Azerbaijanian nation.
Our church here is amazing.
This morning we had an early breakfast in the
boulevard.
It was so encouraging to worship the Lord with
songs as many of the jogging Bakuvites just
stopped by and wanted to hear the Word of God.
We spoke about the danger of following the Lord
with a poor character. Yes, it's possible
to plan to continue in sin knowing that the Lord
will forgive. It's possible, but it's really
showing a very poor character.
Threatening with chastisement is not God's way
of correcting us. A religious bondage could keep
us from sinning outwardly, but is not able to
produce genuine worship in us.
God continues to give us freedom and
prepare a better way.II Pet.2:9
I plan on returning to Istanbul on Thursday.
P.Matti Sirvio
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Thursday, May 31, 2007
grace and salt
So many people seem to be overeducated for an ordinary
church life.
They get their intellectual hunger satisfied from other sources
and they accept the fact that the church can only have a limited
ministry to their soul. That is so sad.
Yes, we could say that they should just humble themselves and
put aside their “much learning” and keep it simple.
But, superficiality should never be accepted in the church.
Just because somebody doesn’t use the same words, body gestures
or clothing doesn’t mean that they challenge your spirituality.
One can be spiritual and intellectual in the same time.
Maybe they just need answers to questions that nobody ever has dared
to ask. Questions don’t destroy churches, hypocrisy does.
I love rap sessions in our church, especially when people really talk
with one another and not just perform to others.
It is so awesome to reach out beyond the standard religious vocabulary
and well polished religious behavior, and listen to people exchange
life beyond the risk less rhetorics.
We need to listen to one another.
We need to talk to one another.
We need to seek the mind of Christ in one another.
“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt…” Col.4:6
Grace and salt bring the best out of every conversation.
church life.
They get their intellectual hunger satisfied from other sources
and they accept the fact that the church can only have a limited
ministry to their soul. That is so sad.
Yes, we could say that they should just humble themselves and
put aside their “much learning” and keep it simple.
But, superficiality should never be accepted in the church.
Just because somebody doesn’t use the same words, body gestures
or clothing doesn’t mean that they challenge your spirituality.
One can be spiritual and intellectual in the same time.
Maybe they just need answers to questions that nobody ever has dared
to ask. Questions don’t destroy churches, hypocrisy does.
I love rap sessions in our church, especially when people really talk
with one another and not just perform to others.
It is so awesome to reach out beyond the standard religious vocabulary
and well polished religious behavior, and listen to people exchange
life beyond the risk less rhetorics.
We need to listen to one another.
We need to talk to one another.
We need to seek the mind of Christ in one another.
“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt…” Col.4:6
Grace and salt bring the best out of every conversation.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
news from Turkmenistan
Hello dear brothers and sisters!
Greetings from already summery, hot Turkmenistan.
Mercury column of thermometer is inexorably climbing up.
Today it made a respite on +45°С, but it’s not a limit!
We have a hot time not only outside, but in the church too: Bible
College exams are coming to an end, there will be Students’
Banquet ahead, church picnic, baptism in Ashgabat & Mary,
Women’s Seminar in Mary in the beginning of June.
Today the group of people from our church and Pentecost church
came back from Baku, they were studying at the Christian Youth
Camp Training Seminar in order to be the instructors.
We prepare the people for the first Interchurch Christian
Youth Camp which we plan to have in the second part of July
(we ask you to pray for this).
Praise God for the new people on the services in Ashgabat & Mary.
God’s faithful and His hand yet hasn’t tired to save!
During the past few weeks God’s really trying to do something in
our life and in the lives of many people through us.
Lately I had conversations with responsible persons from KGB in
Ashgabat and in Mary, and in both cases there was the same request
or question, “What could we do with Jehovah Witnesses?
Could you help us somehow in this question?”
Of course, the question is interesting…
Actually many interesting things are taking place here.
For example, on our last service in Mary there were 4 mullahs,
three of them already made hajj, and therefore they have
an attachment to their names – “khodja”. And well, all these 4 persons
were sitting and hearing the message about Christ, because their
government asked them to. After the sermon one of them decided
to invite me to his house – to talk about this in his family in my next
visit of Mary. The ways of the Lord are inscrutable.
Please pray for us, we need your prayers a lot.
P. Vladimir Tolmachev
Greater Grace
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Greetings from already summery, hot Turkmenistan.
Mercury column of thermometer is inexorably climbing up.
Today it made a respite on +45°С, but it’s not a limit!
We have a hot time not only outside, but in the church too: Bible
College exams are coming to an end, there will be Students’
Banquet ahead, church picnic, baptism in Ashgabat & Mary,
Women’s Seminar in Mary in the beginning of June.
Today the group of people from our church and Pentecost church
came back from Baku, they were studying at the Christian Youth
Camp Training Seminar in order to be the instructors.
We prepare the people for the first Interchurch Christian
Youth Camp which we plan to have in the second part of July
(we ask you to pray for this).
Praise God for the new people on the services in Ashgabat & Mary.
God’s faithful and His hand yet hasn’t tired to save!
During the past few weeks God’s really trying to do something in
our life and in the lives of many people through us.
Lately I had conversations with responsible persons from KGB in
Ashgabat and in Mary, and in both cases there was the same request
or question, “What could we do with Jehovah Witnesses?
Could you help us somehow in this question?”
Of course, the question is interesting…
Actually many interesting things are taking place here.
For example, on our last service in Mary there were 4 mullahs,
three of them already made hajj, and therefore they have
an attachment to their names – “khodja”. And well, all these 4 persons
were sitting and hearing the message about Christ, because their
government asked them to. After the sermon one of them decided
to invite me to his house – to talk about this in his family in my next
visit of Mary. The ways of the Lord are inscrutable.
Please pray for us, we need your prayers a lot.
P. Vladimir Tolmachev
Greater Grace
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)