To the College Students at Faith Baptist Church

I want to start by saying that I miss you all very much. I miss hanging out countless hours and enjoying the fellowship of friends that love you like a brother and sister. In all four Gospels we see a story of Jesus´s mother and brothers calling Him from outside a building. The crowd which was sitting around told Jesus that His mother and brothers are looking for Him. "Who are my brothers and sisters," he asked. Then He looked at those seated in a circle around Him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God´s will is my brother and sister and mother." You all are my brothers and sisters and I miss you very much. I have been praying for all of you this summer and for the work that you are doing. I have been hearing good things. I want to thank you all for your prayers and encouraging words, they have come at the times I needed them most. This Monday I am leaving for the village where I will spend the next 5 months of my life serving Jesus. In the village, I will have very little contact with the world outside of Corrego do Ouro (the village in which I am living). Before I left, I wanted to extend a few things to you that I have learned thus far here in Brazil.
I have spent the majority of my Bible studies concentrated on the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In these four books of the Bible we see countless miracles done by Christ on a helpless and dying world. In many stories we see Jesus telling those in which He has healed not to let anyone know what He has done. I have spent a lot of time pondering on why Jesus wouldn´t want anyone to know what He has done. Didn´t He come for the lost and the sinners. Didn´t He come to offer forgiveness unto the unrighteous. So why wouldn´t He want people to know the miracles He is performing. I think I know why, but that´s not what I want to talk about. I want to concentrate on how the healed reacted after Jesus told them not to tell anyone. He very clearly demanded them not to say a word, but the majority of the time they disobeyed Him and told everyone about what He had done. Why would they disobey someone who has just saved their life. I know if someone saved my life and then they gave me one request, I would do whatever they asked. But these people in the Bible could not keep this one simple request. In one particular story in Mark 7, we see the healing of a deaf and mute man. The man couldn´t hear or talk before Christ healed him. Once he was healed, Jesus commanded him and the onlooking crowd not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. (v. 36-37) People were so amazed at what Jesus had done that they just had to tell someone. Now that is a faith that can´t be kept quiet. These people chose to disobey Jesus and tell others about Him, rather than obey Him and do the easy thing by keeping quiet. That is more striking to me than Jesus telling them not to say anything. Jesus changed these peoples lives and they just had to tell many about it.
Now finally in Matthew 28 we see The Great Commission. In The Great Commission, Jesus finally gives us permission to tell others about Him. We finally will be able to tell others about how He has changed our lives and obey Him all at the same time. Now we get to our stories of how Jesus Christ has changed our lives. But now we get to the most striking thing about all of this. The consistency that we are looking for between the stories in the Gospels and our stories, is the incapability of keeping quiet. Sadly the consistency that we find true between the stories is the disobedience towards Christ. Christ has given us a command to tell our stories and often we choose not to. Why is that? Why do we choose the easy thing and keep our mouths shut? Is our story not worth telling? Is the reason that we don´t share our faith because maybe our faith hasnt´t changed our lives enough that we can´t help but share it? It brings up a striking question about our faith. The question that I ask you is, "Has your faith changed your life? And if so, then how can you keep quiet?" I challenge you all to own your faith. Own it to the point that your are like the seed that landed on good soil. You hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop- thirty, sixty, or a hundred times what was sown. (Mark 4:20) Live a faith that can´t be kept quiet. If Christ has changed your life then tell many and many about it without cease. You shouldn´t be able to keep quiet. If you can, then ask yourself if your faith has changed your life. And if not, then why not!
I can finally say that I truly own my faith. Because for the first time in my life, I can´t keep Jesus off my lips. He has saved my life and given me eternal life with Him in glory. That is worth telling others about. In this letter I don´t condemn anyone in the college, but only use something I have learned about my faith to challenge you in yours. Like I said in the begining, you are my brothers and sisters, so I only want to challenge your faith so that it might be tested and grow. Fear Christ and walk in love. I love you all and can´t wait to see you. Just a short time away.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14

Until He Returns!