People Stories - Peter

We met Peter about one week after the Lord had saved him in November 2016. Since that time we have spent lots of time together; he has consistently come to our Guys’ Night; and we have connected with his pastor. When I think of how he has grown and changed, I say WOW! God really does transform people and make them new creatures. Although we didn’t know him as a nonchristian, he has shared some about his past. He often tells us about his family life and how the brokenness of his parents’ divorce affects him. When he spends the night with us on Guys’ Night (he lives far away), we always have thoughtful discussions about how to apply biblical principles to his life and problems.

Recently we talked about how, knowingly or not, he will carry attitudes from his current relationships with his parents into a future marriage. We could see that he had never thought about that before. So then how does the gospel change our relationships, or our thinking about relationships, toward our nonchristian family members? Only God can change relationships, but we can use principles from God’s Word to change our thinking about our relationships. God calls us to focus our thinking on thoughts that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable. “If there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:8). We talked about how love is a commitment. Yes, true, but what does that mean toward people who are difficult to love or who treat you like an enemy? How can he show love by committing to do the highest good for his parents? Difficult questions without easy answers.

Please pray for Peter as he navigates difficult relationships and seeks to apply gospel wisdom to them.

He makes all things new

Revelation 21:4-6 (ESV)

⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵ And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

As I pondered what to write at the beginning of this new year 2018, God brought these verses to mind. He reminds us that He makes all things new. The old year is gone. The new year has come. What will this new year hold? How will the blank squares on the new calendar fill up? What life stories will be written this year?

I thank God that He makes all things new. He takes our old ways, our old hearts, and our old desires and transforms them into something that brings Him glory. But what does that look like? Who does He transform?

Of the many things that we do in Beijing, we love spending time with people - getting to know them, hearing their stories, and encouraging them to walk with the Lord. Because so many ex-pats stay in Beijing for a short time, we take the perspective of sowing gospel seeds with the prayer that God will eventually grow a gospel plant in each person’s life. In addition to people who attend Beijing Baptist Church, we seek to plant gospel seeds in the lives of nonchristians that God brings across our paths. As we reflect over the last few years, we think of the people with whom we built friendships in their times of need, walked beside them, shared the good news with them, loved them, and then they moved on.

Will you pray with us that God will transform our non-believing friends with the good news of Jesus? Would you pray that the gospel seeds that we and others sow will bring lasting gospel fruit? For security reasons, I will not name our friends but please pray for S, F, K, J, S, D, L, M, B, F, M, C, A, M, A, Gs, QJ, LR, Fs. Although many of these friends have returned to their home countries, pray that God will remind them of our conversations and bring other Christians to point them to Jesus.


May 2018 be the year that God makes all things new by transforming lives for His glory.