{"id":4320,"date":"2014-09-01T16:24:15","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T13:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?p=4320"},"modified":"2014-09-10T18:48:22","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T15:48:22","slug":"not-even-war-will-stop-the-church-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/not-even-war-will-stop-the-church-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Even War Will Stop the Church in Ukraine!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve never lived in a country that was at war with-in its own borders! Knowing that I could get in my car and be in a war zone in just a few hours somehow changes your perspective. Knowing that a foreign army is moving your direction causes certain priorities to change!<\/p>\n

\"Women

Women run from shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine. (AP Photo\/Mstislav Chernov)<\/p><\/div>\n

A change in perspective<\/h4>\n

Let’s just put it this way, no one here is complaining because there’s nothing good to watch on the 173 channels they get with their cable package! No one is throwing a fit because the car in front of them in the drive-through can’t get their order right! No one is whining because they can’t get a real person on the phone to answer their banking question!<\/p>\n

People here are wondering if their brother or son or father will come back alive from Eastern Ukraine. People are watching the news to see if mortars have flattened their home town, not knowing if they will have a home to return to! People are anxiously waiting for the day when troops will come marching into our city and everything will change.<\/p>\n

People are one edge and it shows in their faces! Smoke rising in the distance could just be someone burning garbage, or it could be a provocation, the beginning of something ugly! A distance boom makes you wonder, “Was that a car backfiring or was it something much more ominous?”<\/p>\n

How does the church handle this?<\/h4>\n

When this kind of gloom is hanging over your city and your country it would be easy to think that it would infiltrate the church. It would be easy to assume that the atmosphere of disappointment, anxiety and despair would prohibit the church from fulfilling her calling.<\/p>\n

Hardship doesn’t prevent the church from doing her mission, rather it enables her!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God designed the church with these kinds of situations in mind. Jesus gave the church a foundation that can not and will not bend or break, no matter how tragic or hopeless the situation!<\/p>\n

Being built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone,
\n(Eph 2:20)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Church continues on!<\/h4>\n

These are painful times for the church in Ukraine, they are difficult times, they are trying times! Yet, the church marches on! The church marches on because she understands that only her Savior provides hope in hopeless times! She marches on because she understands the deep need to preach the gospel and bring the healing power of Jesus Christ to the hearts of Ukrainians!<\/p>\n

Here is the proof<\/h4>\n

I saw it with my own eyes yesterday!<\/p>\n

It was hope!<\/p>\n

It was new life!<\/p>\n

It was hearts full of worship, ready to follow their Teacher, their Savior, their God, their Jesus!<\/p>\n

Take two minutes to watch the video of our baptism yesterday right here in Odessa, Ukraine on the Black Sea and I think you will see the hope and joy in their eyes!
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