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One world, one true God, one family by Paul Smith

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Paul Smith - Part of'); document.writeln(' The C:Front Alumni tells'); document.writeln(' of his time in Africa during the Summer.

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'); document.writeln(' It'); document.writeln(' was not easy to step on the plane to Zambia, not knowing exactly what to expect,'); document.writeln(' except that I would have to stay there and live with it for 4 weeks.'); document.writeln(' Nevertheless, I did so obediently, trusting that God is good and that'); document.writeln(' whatever circumstances I found myself in, He is always worthy of our praise'); document.writeln(' and worship. As it turned out, I had a great experience, and was able to grow'); document.writeln(' a lot in my relationship with God. There are four main things that I took'); document.writeln(' away from the trip:

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1. God'); document.writeln(' answers prayer
'); document.writeln(' This was something'); document.writeln(' that each of us on the team was able to see. God answered our initial prayers'); document.writeln(' of keeping us safe, and enabling us to grow. He answered the prayer for the'); document.writeln(' provision of water in the village of Mapalo where we were working. He gave us all we'); document.writeln(' needed to complete the tasks set before us. Perhaps most clearly, he gave us'); document.writeln(' a clear passage as we drove to Livingstone towards the end of the trip. On'); document.writeln(' the way, our minibuses were overheating and the police were asking for bribes'); document.writeln(' at checkpoints, so we prayed, and from then on, we had no further problems at'); document.writeln(' all, and we made fast progress to our destination � Praise'); document.writeln(' God! Thank you to all of you who prayed for us while we were in Zambia, and also to those of you who gave money.'); document.writeln(' Without these, the trip could not have happened.

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2. True'); document.writeln(' riches cannot be found on earth
'); document.writeln(' Even though the people'); document.writeln(' in Mapalo had little more than a brick house with a'); document.writeln(' leaky roof and the clothes that they were wearing, they had such great faith.'); document.writeln(' They fully trusted that God would provide their next meal, and the'); document.writeln(' testimonies they gave during church services showed clearly how God was'); document.writeln(' working in their lives as they were fully dependent on Him and devoted to'); document.writeln(' Him. This is a stark contrast with attitudes in the UK. Many people feel that they can do everything'); document.writeln(' for themselves; if they want a faster car or bigger house, they work more or'); document.writeln(' get a new job, so they see no need for God. Yet the Bible suggests that the'); document.writeln(' attitudes in Mapalo are more like what is required'); document.writeln(' of us by God. Passages such as Matthew 6:19-21 highlight the passing nature'); document.writeln(' of earthly riches and that actually it is the state of our heart before God'); document.writeln(' that really counts.

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3. Caring'); document.writeln(' for the poor is not an optional extra
'); document.writeln(' The parable of the'); document.writeln(' good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 tells us that we should be'); document.writeln(' loving our neighbours as ourselves. The priest and the Levite, in'); document.writeln(' failing to help the injured man, were neglecting their duty not to the man,'); document.writeln(' because they were not responsible for him, but to God who had created the man'); document.writeln(' in His image. We should not give money to charity as an extra thing to make'); document.writeln(' us feel good about ourselves, as I have done in the past. Rather we should'); document.writeln(' share Jesus’ compassion for all His people, and seek to act in any way we'); document.writeln(' can to help. The verse for our team was Micah 6:8 ‘And what'); document.writeln(' does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk'); document.writeln(' humbly with your God.’ Let’s all think how we can be working these things'); document.writeln(' out in our own lives.

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4. It is'); document.writeln(' often us who serve that benefit more than those being served
'); document.writeln(' The villagers loved us being there, and they really appreciated our Bible'); document.writeln(' teaching in particular. We were told by the programme coordinator in Zambia, that simply by going into the village and'); document.writeln(' talking to the people, they were given a sense of identity and self-worth,'); document.writeln(' something which they struggle with. Even though these things are true, I'); document.writeln(' think that we as individual team members benefited even more. We were able to'); document.writeln(' grow immensely because we were doing things that we are not naturally gifted'); document.writeln(' at, or confident in. We learnt a bit about what it means to serve God with'); document.writeln(' our whole strength as we did building work in 30�C heat to'); document.writeln(' the point at which we could no longer lift a spade. Personally, I also learnt'); document.writeln(' what it meant to rely on God speaking through me by His Spirit, as I preached'); document.writeln(' in one of the churches one morning. So we all came back changed in many ways,'); document.writeln(' and I pray that we will put these things into practice in our daily lives'); document.writeln(' back at home.

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'); document.writeln(' Not all of us are called by God to become overseas missionaries, but as'); document.writeln(' Christ’s disciples, the great commission of Matthew 28:18-20 is for us'); document.writeln(' all to make disciples of all nations. I really would urge you all to'); document.writeln(' consider short-term overseas mission. It has been a great privilege to serve'); document.writeln(' my brothers and sisters in Christ, to see their faith and to mutually'); document.writeln(' encourage one another. It wasn’t easy, but Jesus tells us that there is a'); document.writeln(' cost to being His disciple. Think of the things that are stopping you from'); document.writeln(' going and see how they fit in with what Jesus prioritises in Luke 14:15-24.'); document.writeln(' Two of our team members were not students, and they took some unpaid leave'); document.writeln(' from work to go to Zambia. One of the other teams had a lady in her 50s'); document.writeln(' join them, so please don’t think that this sort of opportunity is just'); document.writeln(' limited to students. Whatever you do, please pray for and be'); document.writeln(' involved in mission work, at home or abroad.

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For more information'); document.writeln(' on the work of Tearfund, and prayer points see www.tearfund.org'); document.writeln(' or write to Tearfund, 100 Church Road, Teddington, TW11 8QE.

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You\'re self-confident and self'); document.writeln(' reliant.

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But it'); document.writeln(' never hurts to have a back-up.

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You fearlessly push yourself to all kinds of'); document.writeln(' achievements. So why do you find faith such a scary thing? After all, Jesus'); document.writeln(' Christ knows something about extremes himself. Why not check him out at'); document.writeln(' Reload he wants to show you some truly awesome things.

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