ЛБК 2010: Жизненное свидетельство Иосифа (Иоанна 21:15)

Key verse John: 21:15

"When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter. Simon son of John. Do you truly love me more than these? Yes, Lord, he said. you know that I love love you. Jesus said, Feed my lambs."

I thank Lord Jesus Christ, for his mercy and salvation in my life. As I look back, I can only thank God for his providence and blessings. Every day I am stunned, and wonder at the fact that God has not left such a sinner but instead he cared, loved and embraced for me. I have fallen many times I and disappointed God, but despite my sins and lawlessness, God was always there pouring out his love. Finally, the day came when God has decided to bless me with the best gift, which is: to use me for his glory in Cyprus. Although this is a privilege, such realization was quite recent. For me mission work and the word missionary were quite distant. I had a stereotypical view that missionary is someone who lags behind in life, career, studies, and relationships in order to save several souls. Because of my worldly desires, I didn’t want to dedicate my time for ministry and for serving others, but to use the time for my own interests and o my advantage. But God helped me to repent of such narrow-minded and selfish thinking, and helped me to realize that a true missionary is someone who knows and accepts God’s calling upon his life. I came to a conclusion that nothing can be better than to fulfill God’s desire and his command. I thought that life with mission is burdensome and stressful, but the truth is, everything is burdensome and stressful. But the work done for God’s kingdom is eternal, and therefore it is a the best work of all. Jesus has told his disciples to first seek his kingdom and his righteousness. Therefore, if I am his true disciple I must do what tells me to do. Man is truly happy, when he accomplishes the will of God.

When I lived without mission, I had no peace, meaning, or happiness, but instead sin and condemnation ruled in my heart. While many dedicated servants of God were sweating from trying to rescue others, I was getting exhausted from my sins. Here I need to make a clear distinction. Those who suffer for mission will in the end receive the fruits and eternal salvation. But those who live merely for themselves drown in sin and in the end they live in eternal misery. These people will consider all their achievements meaningless in the end. In the end, everything we do for God will stay , but things we do for career and studies will disappear. One can easily get lost in life, without the right priorities and mission. Without such essential things, one becomes confused in his life, and looses the control of his life. He flies into different directions, always trying to grab on to something but everything slips away from his hands, He flies in the wrong direction until his life is finally crashed. When I make Christ and his mission my top priority, I can walk strait with joy, confidence and security knowing that I will see the face of God one day. I thank God for allowing me to understand this truth. I thank God for allowing me to enter the Middle East Technical University. Although I thought I wasn’t qualified for this department, God allowed me to enter this university. The fact that I entered, means that God has a great plan for me at this university. I thank God for gaining hunger for God’s work, and for opening my spiritual eyes. All my life, I thought that I loved Jesus, but today I see that I loved him only with my lips. Just as Jesus told Peter to substantiate Peter’s love for Jesus by feeding his sheep, Jesus asks me the same if I truly love him. May God help me to love the Turkish and Cypriot students with the love of Christ and share the beautiful message of salvation and forgiveness of sins with them. Through my prayer for Turkey and Cyprus, may God raise these nations as nations that honor Christ and live for him.

PRAYER TOPICS:

– To love the Turks and Cypriots with the love of Christ
– To keep Daily Bread
– To study the word of God
– To witness the Gospel to students
– To overcome all temptations

One word: Feed my sheeps