Biems respond to God's Word
“It's been over a week after the Gospel presentation and we are still in awe of what God has done,” wrote missionary Wayne Chen concerning the transformation of those Biem people who trusted Christ last week.
“This obscure language spoken by only 3,000 people is forever preserved and praises will be sung to His Name in heaven. We are witnessing this new reality on a daily basis as folks are still grappling and processing that … Jesus, did it all.”
The Biem believers are experiencing a joy and happiness they had never known before. One of them said to missionary Brandon Buser, “This is a whole new kind of happy. I've never felt like this before. … I can't stop feeling this happiness.”
While they are thrilled with the Gospel truths they have heard through the Firm Foundation Bible lessons, many have a hunger that cannot be satisfied. They want more of the Word. One of them said, “Wayne, we can find food for our body on this ground. I can eat tuna, breadfruit, yam, bananas but my new spirit needs food. Where can I find food for my spirit?”
The missionaries are gearing up to begin teaching and discipling the young believers. First they will review the Old Testament salvation story as it relates to Jesus, then they will teach through the book of Acts to help the Biems understand how they should meet together to fellowship together and worship the Lord.
The missionary team will continue teaching and discipling the believers so that they will have the tools and knowledge they need to become a mature, functioning group of believers.
The chief of the Biem people testified that the Lord had grabbed his heart and changed him. He said, “Today though, I know that my sins are paid for, and it's only by belief in Jesus. It's so clear. I've never understood this before, but today it's all so clear.” The message reached him and he went home and began sharing with his family what he had heard.
"I'm a politician, but last night I was a preacher!" he told Brandon Buser, one of Wayne’s co-workers.
“The family thought there must be something wrong and folks started gathering,” wrote Wayne, “but it was just the Chief putting it all out in the open about how he's now been made alive. He said, ‘I'm going to be writing yesterday's date, Sept. 28, on the inside wall of my house. This is the day my dead spirit was made alive.’”
Praise God with us that the Biem people heard the message of salvation and many have trusted Christ. Pray for the missionaries as they prepare to disciple these young believers. Pray also that the Biem people will grow in their knowledge of the Lord and will function as mature believers.