Tokens of Love and Gratitude to Christ | Part 4
Originally posted on www.camelbackbible.com.
Freedom in Jesus Christ
After each talk in Warsaw, brothers and sisters in the Lord have come forward to talk personally about how Christ is working in their hearts.
Good post-session discussions
A young man in his twenties commented to me that he has been very complacent about his faith over the last two years, distracted by the world’s allurements, not giving himself fully to Christ and the work of the eternal kingdom. For several days prior to the conference, he had a strong sense that the Lord was preparing him to receive a radical message during our three days together, in which he would commit his life entirely to becoming an ambassador of Jesus Christ to his fellow-Poles. When I asked him whether the premonition was being fulfilled, his eyes welled up with tears and he said, ‘Oh yes, more than fulfilled. I truly want to live only for the Jesus Christ.’
A pastor, thanking me after the last talk for coming to Poland, commented, ‘This is just what we needed, a full dose of Christ and what he is prepared to do through us for his glory. I only wish the conference had lasted longer, two to three weeks at least with meetings every day all day. I feel like I am just starting to understand what Paul is teaching in 2 Corinthians, that I need more time to digest it and to let it transform my heart.’
Another pastor asked whether I’d be willing to return to Poland and teach again. He said, ‘You not only brought us deeply into what it means to be a Christian, but you were so human.’ Unsure about ‘so human’, I asked him about it. He responded: ‘You didn’t just give us abstract truths, but you showed us how to apply those truths to your own heart and life. We need this.’ I told him, ‘We all need it. I praise God for the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in my own life who model what it means to image Christ.’
A young woman asked me whether I thought her gender should wear veils in church, a practice still observed by some Mennonite churches in Poland. We turned together to Galatians 5, where Paul talks about our liberty in Christ: ‘For freedom Christ has set you free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.’ She was amazed, exhilarated, at the freedom we have in Jesus Christ, that we are no longer bound to submit to sets of rules, that legalism has run its course, that because of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we are free to enjoy our new status as sons and daughters of a loving heavenly Father. We are ‘called to freedom.’ Her eyes glistened and she just smiled and smiled and smiled – trying to take it in, knowing that what she was trying to take in was the grace of a Savior for which her heart had long desired.
CDs of the conference will be heard by 2,000 to 3,000 people throughout Poland
Another church worker wondered: ‘I just hope what I am now feeling in my heart doesn’t evaporate and fade away. I feel so full of Christ and his Holy Spirit as a result of this conference, and I just don’t want to lose it.’ I encouraged him: ‘If the Lord gave you this present fullness, he can certainly sustain it. Everything comes from the Lord. The one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day Christ returns.’ The church worker responded, ‘Amen!’
I love, more than anything, seeing the Lord work in human lives.
Love in Christ,
Tim
Read more posts in the series:
- Tokens of Love and Gratitude to Christ | Part 1
- Tokens of Love | Part 2: History of Poland
- Tokens of Love | Part 3: Through Our Suffering, God Can Work Mightily
- Tokens of Love | Part 5: Poland’s Favorite Sons
- Tokens of Love | Part 6: Peace and Freedom
- Tokens of Love | Part 7: Assurance of Eternal Life
- Tokens of Love | Part 8: Exploring Krakow
- Tokens of Love | Part 9: From Artistry to Depravity
- Tokens of Love | Part 10: The World Slowly Being Transformed into a Wilderness
- Tokens of Love | Part 11: New Life in Christ
- Tokens of Love | Part 12: Reaching Gypsies
- Tokens of Love | Part 13: Grieving the Empty Seats
- Tokens of Love | Part 14: The Greatest Work of All
- Tokens of Love | Part 15: The Kingdom Plans of the Lord
- Tokens of Love | Part 16: Until We Dance at the Foot of God’s Throne
- Tokens of Love | Part 17: Fullness of Life
Add your voice to the conversation: