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Oh, praise the Lord, all
ye nations; praise Him, all ye people. For His merciful
kindness is great toward us; and the truth of the Lord endureth
forever. Praise ye the Lord.
--Psalm 117 |
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I will offer to Thee the
sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the
Lord.
--Psalm 116:17 |
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Oh, give thanks
unto the Lord, for He is good; because His mercy endureth
forever.
--Psalm 118:1 |
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November 2005
Dear Family and
Friends,
Thanksgiving—A
special time of the year when we focus our hearts and minds on God’s
wonderful blessing to us, this past year.
Before writing this
letter we thumbed through several copies of the Ideals
magazine, looking for a Thanksgiving poem that we could share with
you; something that would adequately express our thankfulness to God
for who He is and what He has done. We read poems that expressed
thankfulness for family and friends who are dear to us, for our warm
and comfortable homes, for God’s provision to us of food, clothes,
for our daily work, for our health, and for the country in which we
enjoy so much liberty and freedom.
Yes, God has truly
blessed us all; as individuals, as families, and as a nation. The
Bible reminds us in Ephesians 5:20, “Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” We have much to be thankful for! However, there is a
Bible verse that really “hits the mark” in expressing our
thankfulness to God, for His greatest provision to us:
“Thanks be unto God
for His unspeakable gift.”
2 Cor 9:15
Jesus
is God’s
“unspeakable gift” to us. Our reconciliation to God is secured by
three divine acts: atonement, justification and regeneration.
Atonement is the objective work of Christ; what Jesus did on the
Cross for us. Justification is God declaring us “righteous.”
Regeneration is the “new birth” –our becoming “partakers of the
divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). It is with gratefulness to God that
we thank Him for Jesus, our wonderful Savior, during this
Thanksgiving Season.
Some exciting news!
The Gospel is being shared with the Mengen tribal people of Papua
New Guinea for the very first time, even as we are writing this
letter to you. Please read the enclosed story entitled “What’s
In the Pot” and please pray for the salvation of the Mengen
people.
We are truly
thankful that we can continue doing missionary work with New Tribes
Mission. What a blessing! We are very thankful for those who pray
for us and for those who send us gifts of support. You are greatly
appreciated and we thank the Lord for you.
Reminder: Our
updated website
www.GoYeMcGhee.com
Have a wonderful
Thanksgiving!
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Thankfully
in Christ,
John & Linda (McGhee) |
 What’s In the Pot?
November 2, 2005
HOSKINS, Papua New Guinea:
The shiny, clean saucepan, with its secret contents, was a curiosity to
the Mengens tribe who gathered last week for evangelistic Bible
teaching.
"What does he have in that pot?" they kept asking.
Missionary Tim E. made a good show of polishing the outside of the pot.
He then took off the lid and walked around showing everyone what was
inside -- an assortment of rotten, stinky, disgusting things. The
various reactions were hilarious as people quickly looked away and made
strange faces.
"When I looked at the inside of the pot I just wanted to throw up," Teli
said. "The stench was so bad. That is just like our sin. When God looks
at our sin, He sees our sin like what’s in the pot.”
Teli got the point of the illustration. No matter how nice the outside
looks, God sees the rotten, disgusting sin within.
Next week, the Mengens will hear how only Christ can take away
their sin and make them clean inside. Tim will be giving the final
lessons about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
But some Mengens are already choosing not to hear that message. They
attended the teaching every day for 13 weeks, but pressure by cult
members has derailed them. Those who have opposed the teaching have
threatened to destroy the meeting house and even do bodily harm to the
missionaries.
Pray for the people of Lele village who are being coerced, that their
hunger to hear the whole message will overcome their fears, and that
they will clearly see that salvation comes by faith in Christ alone
-- the Savior Jesus Christ that the missionary has been faithfully
preaching.
Sent to you by John & Linda
McGhee
Missionaries with New Tribes
Mission
(Tribal update adapted from
NTM.org)
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