q Preached anything that would be helpful (v. 20)
q Taught publicly (v. 20)
q Taught in homes (v. 20)
q Did not discriminate racially (v. 21)
q Obeyed the Holy Spirit (v. 22)
q Preached the kingdom (v. 25)
q Proclaimed the whole will of God (v. 27)
q Never stopped warning the people (v. 31)
q Committed people to God’s grace (v. 32)
q Took no money for his service (v. 33)
q Supplied his own needs (v. 34)
q Supplied the needs of those with him (v. 34)
q Modeled that we must work hard to help the needy (v. 35)
Go back to the top of Paul’s list to the Ephesian elders and check off the ones that you have done yourself in your short-term service. No one will have done them all, but you will have probably done some of them.
Good Memories Today
My Story
Bonnie wrote, “Each day as we worked and ate with the Brazilians we became one big family. We laughed at each other as we tried to communicate. Language can be a barrier, but God helped and we all learned from each other.” Our fondest memories were of the people. We had come to love them and wanted to do more with and for them. What fun we had together.
We had come to help build the church, but it was not a little church. They were worshiping in a building that held about 75 people, but they were building a church for 500. The walls were up and the concrete second floor had been poured. We enjoyed actually seeing the second floor walls go up. What great memories we had of their spirited worship, and we imagined how 500 of them would sing in the new building.
We enjoyed trying new food. The coffee was stronger than we imagined coffee could be. Fruit was fresh off the tree and tasted so much better than ours at home. We had never had papaya before, and I loved it. I still buy it when local stores have it, but it just does not taste the same as that ripened on the tree in Brazil.
We developed a lasting friendship with the other couple on the team. We still see them about once a year because they are now on the board of the agency with which we serve. We have good memories of friendships with Brazilian nationals as well, but those are just memories since we did not keep in contact with them. There was no email or skype then.
Not only was the church larger than we expected, so was Iguassu Falls. It was the name of a thriving city which was the place where of one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world was under construction on the Parana River between Brazil and Paraguay. It was also the name of one of the largest and most beautiful waterfalls in the world! We had seen The Mission, a movie about early missionary work in the area, and we realized that the movie was actually filmed right there. What great memories.
Your Story
A few pages back you checked off the good things you did that were like those that Paul told the Ephesian church in Acts 20. Please take time to list below some of the other good things that happened during your short-term service.
· What were some of the most enjoyable things that happened?
· What were some of the most deeply satisfying things that happened? Why were they so satisfying?
· What were your major accomplishments?
· What did you like most about other people on your team?
· What did you like most about the nationals you met?
· If family members were with you, what good things happened in your family?
· What were some things you feared that turned out to be good?
· How do the above fit with the rest of your life story up to this point?
· How do you think God might use these good experiences as stepping stones into the next chapter of your story?