December 14, 2009 SWAT REPORT # 136

SWAT REPORT # 136 12-14-09

Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES
The good Lord is so good in that He renews His mercies every morning. If we abide in Him we have new joys, answers to prayer, and OPPORTUNITIES to minister and serve the Master. As all ministries have experienced we too have had ministry attempts start and fizzle…begin to grow and suddenly wither…but thank the good Lord He is the One who said, "In the beginning…" as well as the verse above about "opportunity.

In photo 136.01 you see a bunch of kids having fun…even the big kids. The good Lord gave us a new opportunity to serve Him in an orphanage. A German lady started the Merciful Samaritan Orphanage 15 years ago. Through an association with one of the staff members we now have the opportunity to minister to them weekly. These kids are having fun singing motion songs about the Lord and the Lord Jesus. This opportunity serves us double…we get to minister to the kids and we get valuable experience for the young preachers in our church.

GOOD DUTY
I think I have done nearly every duty in the ministry except head-up the women's missionary society. Just like any army some duty is great and some is not so great but just stuff you must do to be faithful. In photo 136.02 you can see that I am very delighted…why is that? Well, I am teaching young men publick ministry from the Bible…a duty I enjoy above all others. In photo 136.03 you can view my audience which includes six strong young men eager to learn how to become men and servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the a most rare opportunity since coming to Romania (5 + years now) to teach publick ministry to a new church. This was my specialized duty in the states for 17 years. There is just something about PM that ignites fire in young men if their wood is dry. I brought with me some of our own spark plugs for PM, Adrian, Danutz and Cornel and in photo 136.04 these new young men on the left gather around to ask ?s and desire to rub shoulders with the pros. One of these young men preached publickly for the first time under very tough conditions…look at photo 136.05. The village we preached in was painfully small with one "major" intersection where a car passed about once a minute. This is the hometown village of these young men. They literally have known everyone there by their first name since birth. It was snowing and the mud was slick and deep. There were cowardly mockers at the bar across the street (photo 136.07) which all these men knew well…and yet another man of about 20 years preached for his premier performance under the same conditions…see photo 136.06. Finally, Adrian was the last to preach and as he began with hardly anyone in sight, a wedding party of about 50 (all are not in the photo) left the city hall and walked up the street directly in front of him headed to the bar for the reception. They all got the truth about the Lord and themselves in a small capsule of time…photo 136.08 (see Adrian in foreground on the left. What a wonderful opportunity.

CLASS OF 2009
Photo 136.09 shows the graduating class of 2009 from the Eastern European Institute of the Bible. They are framed by the staff…Bro. Logan on left and yours truly on the right. They are a good looking group of guys that we have poured ourselves into for several years in hopes of fruit that will remain. They are, from L to R Cornel, Adrian, Danutz, and Yanutz. They would covet your prayers. They were treated to a graduation/fellowship dinner at a nice restaurant in town and a good time was had by all…photo 136.10…and I do mean all photo 136.11…when I say all, I truly mean ALL…photo 136.12.

Are you taking the opportunities the good Lord has given you? Are you enjoying them? Are you looking, praying and longing for more to serve Him?

All of us are in wonderful health. It is below freezing and snowing as I write this. We would love to be warmed by either a quick email reply or a phone call…from the states just dial 011-40-374-003-953…but remember that we are 7 hours AHEAD of New York time.

Our latest ministry video can be viewed by simply clicking on the link below
http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=74da600889554fdd51ed

Preaching the gospel at every OPPORTUNITY
Gerald Sutek and the SWAT TEAM for Christ
2 Tim. 1:8, Amos 5:10