Jay and Briana Stokes taking the Gospel to the "unreached" of Indonesia Preparing to leave for Indonesia…
All the stuff we took with us...
All of the family, minus J's dad, together after our commissioning service
Packing…that was a chore for me and man, am I glad we are done that part! It was so hard to know what to take, what to get rid of and what to put in storage. I really struggled with wanting to hold on to my belongings that I knew I could use. We brought everything on the plane in extra luggage, so I was recommended to bring clothes and certain items you cannot get here, but to pretty much buy all new here. There was so much unknown. And it took me a lot longer than I had anticipated! I mean how long can it take to pack some suitcases, right? Well, it took us over a week, but we were also working on other preparations.
I also was dreading the goodbyes to our families. I knew this would be the hardest part of “going” for me, especially w/ little Eden now. I was praying so hard for so long about this ( and I THANK those of you who were also praying about this!!) and I think the Lord really answered our prayers. It was some of the saddest moments in my life, especially to look back and see our whole family lined up waving at us, while Eden had no idea what was going on, knowing that she and her grandparents and uncles wouldn’t see each other for a very long time…it was heartbreaking. Like I said, I think the Lord was really with us that day…things went as well as they could. We all had a real peace and excitement about what God was doing with us. I was able to hold myself together once the families weren’t in sight any longer, which was a surprise to me:) So you can see why I am so glad these things are over, glad to be on the other side of them!
Boys checking the baggage in at the airport
Will God really send the “unreached” to hell??
We are often asked our thoughts about why a loving, merciful God would send tribal people with NO access to the Gospel to hell. The fact is we are not God and His word says in Romans 1- “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
We are not God and we can not assume that because it seems unfair or unjust to US, that it is wrong for God to do so. Thus the urgency for missions in today’s church.
In the book “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan (Which I HIGHLY recommend) he addresses the idea of God being fair and just and I love the way he puts it. He says, “God is the ONLY Being who is good, and the standards are set by HIM. Because God hates sin, He has to punish those guilty of sin. Maybe that’s not an appealing standard. But to put it bluntly, when you get your own universe, you can make your own standards. When we disagree, let’s not assume it’s HIS reasoning that needs correction.”
Just some thoughts I’d thought I share.
Lets be Christians because of what God gives us…
Something that has challenged me for a while now is this thought of a “Prosperity Gospel.” This idea that Christians should be wealthy and have lots of things because we are”christians” just sickens us. Yes God does bless us more than we can ever imagine but what about the millions of believers in other countries that do not have 5 dollars to their name, and might live on the street and have no earthly valuables? These fellow brothers and sisters know what it’s like to have nothing, but they do know something that we may never know in our Christian walk…and that is that Jesus Christ is EVERYTHING to them.
I sometimes wonder what it would be like if we lost everything! If we became modern day Job’s and lost everything, if we would stand there, having just lost our family, our wealth, our homes, etc… and if we would say “the Lord gives & the Lord takes away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” We know nothing of suffering for the name Christ. And I pray that we would not focus on what God can give us or what we “deserve” because we are believers. We deserve death, we deserve to be tortured for Christ.
Here is a short video from John Piper about this idea of “the prosperity Gospel.” The Prosperity Gospel
Change in plans….
Hello everyone,
Well as most of you know we were planning to leave for Indonesia this January, but God has a different plan. We were contacted by New Tribes Leadership in Indonesia asking us to either come to Indonesia in November or wait until April. Financially there is no way we can leave for ministry in Indonesia in 2 months due to us only being at 30% of our recommended support. So it looks like we will not be leaving for Indonesia until April of 2010.
We know that God is n control but please pray for our attitudes and wisdom with decisions we have to make with this change in plans. We are so excited to go to Indonesia and and be part of the ministry that is going on over there but we value our time here with our church and relationships we have made and will make. Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers and being a part of our ministry.
Welcome partner…
New Tribes has changed the layout of our website and we are in the process of updating and fixing things. Thank you so much for visiting our site and being interested in our ministry.
God is Good!
The past 3 months have been a stretching but great 3 months. Learning how to become parents, learning to trust God for things that are out of our hands, and just learning to adjust to this whole new aspect of our life that envolves relationships and presentations.
Prasie God He has provided some partners that want to join our ministry and help further the spread of the Gospel. As of rite now we are about 30% and trusting that God will provide the remaining amount needed to go to Indonesia in January.
We covet your prayers and encouragement and are so thankful for your intrest in what God is doing in us and with us.
Partnership Development…
Please pray as we try and make plans to speak in churches and just share with the body what the Lord is doing in our lives. What He has challenged us to do with our lives, and what is going on around the world in missions. Please pray that the Lord would calm our sprits and give us peace as speaking in front of a church is not the most comfortable thing to do.Thanks so much
Friends have passed away…
We are back in missouri and back to classes and things are great. Last week we went back to the nursing home for the first time since we left for summer and we saddened by some news. 3 of our buddies had passed away over the summer. We knew leaving for the summer that there was a good chance some would not be there when we got back, but it still was hard hearing that they were gone.
We go to the nursing home every week for a few hours and do crafts and just hang out. Please pray that we would seek oppurtunities harder to share the Gospel as most of the residents have a knowledge of God and Jesus but have not made a decision to put their trust and faith in our Savior.
Please pray for the residents at Windsor Estates.
Jay & Briana News
Thats rite lady’s and gents, we are expecting our first child. Briana’s due date is January 20th. She is doing good and praise the Lord she has been feeling well. Praise the Lord for this blessing He has allowed us to take part of. (Being parents)Praise the Lord for a healthy baby thus far.
Is Missions a Sacrifice?/
I hear it said so often when talking about going to the mission field, "Thats so great your doing that, I could never sacrifice everything and do that." My question with this is, "is missions really a sacrifice?"
In Mark 10:28-30 we see an interesting thought brought before Christ by Peter. Peter states in verse 28, "we have given up everything to follow you" shortly after Christ had just told a rich young man in verse 21 to "go sell everything you have…and then follow me." It’s a clever question in statement form.
At first glance you may think it is a selfish question or one not worth being asked. But i think if we think about it, we’ve all wondered this same question in some form or another. The question underneath Peter’s statement is simply… "We’ve given up everything to follow you Lord, now what will we get out of it.?" We all want to know that our life is counting for something worth while don’t we? I do and would dare to say that deep down inside, you do to!
When a man reaches old age, he wants to be able to look back on his life and know that it counted for something. I think that this was the same desire that could be found in Peter underneath this question. He simply wanted to know would it be worth it all? Even more interesting than Peter’s question itself is the reply that Jesus gave to him. Note that Jesus never rebukes Peter for his question, he simply answers it by saying in verses 29-30, "...I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers or children or property for my sake and the Gospels sake will receive now in return a hundred times over… and in the world to come, eternal life." Jesus says to Peter that because he lived for "the Christ and the Gospels sake," he would get back 100 times what he left behind in this life, plus eternal life to come. Not only would he end up with way more than he ever left behind, he would have the joy of knowing that his life had counted for an eternal purpose that outlasts life itself.!
Does this sound like a sacrifice? to get back 100 times what you left behind and to know that your life is counting for all eternity.!?!
David Livingstone said, "People talk of the sacrifice i have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings it’s own blest reward in healthful activity, the conscienceness of doing good, peace of mind and a bright hope of a glorious destiny afterwards? Away with the word sacrifice in such a view and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice! Say rather that it is a privilege! … I never made a sacrifice."
Not only does Jesus mention living for "Christ and the Gospels sake" in Mark 10, he also mentions in chapter 8, "if any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your own selfish ambitions, take up your cross and follow me, for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses himself "for MY sake and for the Gospels sake" will save it. -
So in light of these passages we can conclude that living "for Christ and the Gospel’s sake," is
NO SACRIFICE.
But living "for Christ and the gospels sake," is our ultimate goal in life, not Missions…