A fresh vision of God's sovereignty from his Word

Greetings,

We are all well at the moment. Matthew's high temperatures only lasted for two days and he is healthy again now. Glen's mother is still with us and is helping out a great deal. We also celebrated Rachael's birthday last week and it was nice to have company for that.

** This weeks email is fairly long. If you don't have time to read it please skip to the prayer points which are short. **
** That is what this email is really for!!! **

Every now and then the same biblical idea turns up in many different places to challenge you afresh. In my classes this week it has been like that with the sovereignty and power of God. In "Knowledge of God" we have just finished reflecting on God as the ruler of the world, who provides what we need and is at work in all things. In "Pentateuch" we are continuing to work through Exodus and it has really struck me how Exodus 5-11 is hardly about the rescue of the Israelites at all! God had power to destroy Pharaoh in an instant and lead the people quickly out of Egypt, but he didn't. Instead, he deliberately hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he could demonstrate his power and show to both the Israelites and the Egyptians who he is. In these chapters the rescue of his people is clearly secondary to that primary aim of glorifying himself, although clearly he brings glory to himself by the way he rescues his people. So Exodus 5-11 is firstly about God showing his power and glory. Then in "Hebrews to Revelation" we have reached chapters 4 and 5 which are a majestic vision of God the King who is worthy of all honour and glory and power, and of the Lamb who was slain now sitting on the throne and who is worthy of all honour and glory and power. Finally, last night we listened to a sermon by John Piper on Romans 15:14-18 about how we glory in Christ Jesus because it is he who is working through us to prepare a people who are holy and obedient. This has been a wonderful reminder of how God is all powerful and is at work in all things. He is greater than we can ever comprehend and is worthy of all glory and honour.

Talua Open Day will be held this week so it is a busy time. On Friday and Saturday there will be a football and volleyball competition to raise money for Talua. This normally attracts quite a few people from the surrounding areas. Then on Sunday there will be a music festival with lots of different styles of music, centred around a Christian theme. The students are spending all of their free time this week getting organised.

Mentoring went well last Friday night. Glen read through Ephesians 2:1-10 with the men. When they were asked what they would say if they died and were standing before God and whether they thought that he would accept them, most of them were very uncertain. The answer most gave was that God knows how they have lived their lives, including both the good and bad things, and that he is the one who will make the decision based on that. They couldn't really be sure what he would say. One of them talked about how he believes in Christ and Christ has taken away his sin. We are finding this to be a big issue, probably like it is in most places in the world! People find it hard to understand and accept God's grace or that our salvation is secured by the work of Christ rather than by our own works. Please continue to pray that students at Talua would clearly understand the Good News of Jesus Christ so that they can proclaim it faithfully throughout Vanuatu.

Rachael met with five of the women on Saturday night, mostly wives of diploma 1 students. (This is a different group to the women she met with last time because a change has been made.) They were all very keen to talk about things and were more open than she has previously experienced. It was very encouraging for her and she will try to meet with the women individually, but will wait until after open day when they have some free time again. In class next week we'll be talking about King Solomon and how although he was the son of David and the King who ruled wisely, in the end he turned from God. We'll see how Jesus is wiser and greater King, the son of David who rules forever.

Yours in Christ,
Glen and Rachael Connor

P.S. The phones have been down for a few days so you may receive this email late. We are also sorry that we have not been very quick in replying to your emails. We are finding it difficult with the poor internet access. We receive no emails for a long time, and then suddenly the inbox has a huge number of unread emails that take us days to get through.

PRAYER POINTS:
• Praise and glorify God for his greatness, and for the work that he has done through us (i.e. through all of you there and all of us here) to make his Son known and to create a holy and obedient people.
• Pray that God would use open day to spread the knowledge of Christ in the areas around Talua, through the words and actions of the Talua staff.
• Pray that God would give the students a deep understanding of the love and mercy and grace of God, and that they would depend fully on Christ for their salvation. Pray that God would give Glen further opportunities to talk through this issue with the students.
• Pray for the women Rachael will meet with; Julie, Susan, Esther, Kajiri and Delly.
• Pray for the preparations for the degree program next year. Andy Williamson is doing most of this work and is finding it quite demanding. Over the next few months we are trying to finalise staff allocations and subject outlines, order books, make sure the right people are encouraged to apply, etc etc. Glen will probably teach some subjects in this program next year but details are still being finalised.