From Kumanovo to Velles, Gevgelija, and Negotino

After preaching in Kumanovo on Sunday, we drove to the city of Velles to meet Pastor Philip & his wife Maria, who is translating my book, For the One, for the Macedonian people to read.

From Kumanovo to Velles, Gevgelija, and Negotino

"And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them."

(Acts 16:9-10)

Dr. Saso, the pastor of the Evangelical Church in Kumanovo, shared a touching story with me about his father, Blagoja, who recently passed away at 80 years of age. Saso had shared the Gospel with his dad many times, but his father would not repent and surrender his life to Christ. Saso visited his dad in the hospital, but at one point, he stepped away and asked his sister, Maria, if she would watch over their dad while Saso was away. Maria shared the Gospel with her dad and asked if he would like to pray a prayer of repentance and surrender his life to Jesus. Blagoja said yes. He gave his life to Christ, and within four hours, he died and went to heaven.

Saso's dad coming to Christ at the very end of his life reminded me of the thief on the cross. This man repented, believed in Jesus, and entered paradise just as Jesus told him he would. I played for our group the following sermon excerpt of Alister Begg preaching on the conversion of the criminal on the cross. If you have not seen it, take a couple minutes and watch this powerful, and at times comical, description by Begg. You will love it!

After preaching in Kumanovo on Sunday, we drove to the city of Velles to meet Pastor Philip, his wife Maria, and their son Nathan. Philip has a powerful testimony of coming to faith in Jesus. Maria is translating my book, For the One, and the goal is to get the book to as many people as we can in Macedonia.

We stayed at a hotel called Glorious, and it was true to its name, a beautiful place on the lake.

I slept well and got up at 6:00 a.m. to get on the road to visit the ruins of Stobi. This city had impressive structures like the massive theater (below) and library constructed in the 2nd century BC and the Christian church (left) built in the 4th century AD. The Church at Stobi sent representatives to the Council of Nicea in AD 325, a critical event in church history. During this Council and subsequent ones, the Early Church determined that Jesus Christ was fully man and fully God (just as the Word of God proclaims!).

We then drove to Gevgelija to visit Zorin, a man in his 60s who is both a pastor, builder, and leader of a Christian camp for kids that he built. This guy was impressive. He is the general contractor for a state-of-the-art dental clinic that his wife Hilda and their son Mile lead. Hilda told us that 95% of their dental patients are from Greece. They drive from the south into Macedonia to have their dental work done much cheaper.

Next, we drove to Negotino to meet with Pastor Gorin, his wife Daniella, and their two daughters. What a delightful family. One of the joys of going on mission trips is getting to meet God's people all over the world. They took us to a pizza restaurant, and it was very tasty! Food is much cheaper in Macedonia than in the USA. Our pizza dinner for eight of us costs about $30 US dollars total. The same meal in America would be about $150.

More about my Macedonian mission trip tomorrow.

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Podcast of the Week

Victory Over the Lies of the Enemy, with Cindy Asmussen

Pastor Danny welcomes to the show his good friend Cindy Asmussen for a 2-part discussion. Cindy and her husband Jeff are active members of GHBC, and she works for the SBTC as Public Policy Advisor as well as the SBC as a board of trustee member of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. In this episode, Cindy shares her testimony, including how God gave her victory over an eating disorder when she was a young lady. This is a great episode, and we pray it will be a help and an encouragement to many.

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