Day two in Freetown

God is good…at all times!

Multiple times today in our opening session of lessons, someone would say, “God is good.” The response of the audience was, “at all times” -- that summarizes my emotions and what I have experienced today.

We began our work in earnest today with the opening of our classes in Freetown. It was a thrilling day -- full of emotion, full of joy, full of the Lord’s Word. I do not the exact number of participants in our study today, but I know that we had 300 chairs and there weren’t many empty ones. After some opening remarks by Joseph and the head of military chaplains, we began our work of teaching the “un-perverted Gospel of Christ.” The auditorium was full of folks who genuinely seemed to hunger and thirst after righteousness. I base that assessment on the attention given to the lessons and the insightful questions asked by the participants. These were not silly or confrontational questions, but sincere questions of souls hungering for God’s truth. I do not for a moment question the sincerity or zeal of anyone there. I do call their motives into question. It was obvious that they have a zeal, but not according to knowledge. It is our delightful task during our classes to help marry their zeal with a greater and more perfect knowledge of God’s Word.

The concept of an “un-perverted” Gospel was appealing to them. They were excited to study just the Bible without the perversions of man-made doctrine.
I spoke today on Discipleship and the Cross, emphasizing the need to be willing to “take up our cross and follow Jesus”, not some man or group of men, not some man-made creed, not opinions, simply follow Jesus where He leads to do whatever He asks. Steve spoke on the origin and mission of the church established by Jesus. Each of our lessons were followed by a lively q/a session. Among the questions we fielded were: “How can we tell the true Gospel from the false?”; “What is baptism? Can it be by sprinkling or pouring water?”; “Does it make any difference who does the baptizing?”; “How and what can we do to stop the perversion of the Gospel?”among many others. One elderly gentleman didn’t so much ask a question as he made a statement comparing Satan perverting God’s Word in the garden to men who pervert the Gospel today and the certain curse upon those who do so. In the evening session, I preached on what we have to offer the people of Freetown – simple God’s road map to heaven.
All in all it was an exhausting day. I think I speak for all three of us when I say that we have discovered a new degree of exhaustion! But how sweet an exhaustion it is to have spent time with some wonderful people who hungered after God’s Word.

This evening Jimmy foolishly chose to stay in the room while Steve and I went to the Sierra Lighthouse restaurant for supper. Upon arriving at the restaurant, we met a team of Americans from Colorado who were here to re-roof an orphanage. With them was a native of Sierra Leone who now lives in Colorado. Steve and I spoke with them and rehearsed with them how our respective days went. In the process I asked them, what they were eating and they suggested that their Sierra Leonean friend order for us. So, we did as they suggested and ate what he ordered (He ordered in Krio and we did not understand a word that was spoken.) I will not describe all that we ate to avoid being accused of gluttony, but will simply say that I ate lobster for the first time and that was one of four dishes brought to the table. It was an incredible meal. Nice to know that we are so close to such good food!

As we prepare for bed, we do so knowing that finally we get to sleep in tomorrow. Our driver will not come for us until 11:30. I think we will all benefit from a long night’s rest.
Please continue to pray for the success of our labors and the good people of Sierra Leone.