A Church is Born in PNG

Only a few years ago the Busers and Chens were sitting in a phonetics class here at the Missionary Training Center. Now they are working with the Biem people of Papua New Guinea. They recently finished teaching a series of chronological Bible lessons culminating with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Brandon Buser wrote:

We began today's lesson by acting out the crucifixion. From there we taught: Why did Jesus have to die? What did that mean for us? Why had God the Father forsaken Him? What did He mean "it is finished"? What did the torn curtain mean? How in the world did the thief get saved? From there we acted out the resurrection and then taught on the significance of it. Finally the ascension and some more teaching.

Obviously the reactions were as varied as the individuals that were in attendance… Here are some of the things that a few of the folks said:

"Brandon, it's so clear now. I used to go to church, give money, and do good. All those things I thought would make me clean in God's eyes. But when I slept at night, truly I had no idea where I would go when I die. But now I know! Brandon, I'm not scared of dying anymore."

Another fella just kept saying "Really?! Really!?" Everyone beside the guy kept looking at him like he was nuts, but he was just beside himself with amazement at what Jesus had completed on his behalf.

One friend said, "I've been listening to the whole teaching and I understand this. I believe this. I know Jesus ONLY has straightened my sin pay. Now I understand this and the first thing I'm going to do is tell my family. They need to hear this."

Another said, "We've talked about it already. We're going to be going to the next islands to share this talk (15 miles – open ocean). We'll row in our canoes if we have to. They need to hear. They don't understand this talk at all. None of us did. But us, we need to get this talk to others now."

Wayne Chen also wrote:

A young guy sat next to me, with a biggest smile on his face. He didn't say anything so I asked him, "what's on your mind?" He said, "Wayne, I had a big question yesterday. Why didn't God the Father help Jesus on the cross? I thought about it all night and I didn't know.

But after today's lesson, I don't have any more questions. I got it. I understand it. I am just going to sit here and be happy." He smiled on.

And one young Biem man said, "I know I should thank God for you guys but I want to thank your families for bringing God's talk here." Then we told him that, there are literally thousands of people praying for you guys to understand God's talk all over the world. He then said, "Ok, then you go and tell them, ALL OF THEM, THANK YOU. God's talk has come to our island. THANK THEM for praying and sending you guys here." This young man, along with a few others, began to discuss how they need to take this talk to other islands and even different language groups in Papua New Guinea.

This young Biem believer reminds me that it takes a team to plant a church. Brandon and Wayne needed someone in Missouri to teach them phonetics. And I could not teach phonetics without a partnership team supporting and praying for my ministry.

I am truly thankful for all those who have partnered with me through their prayers and through their financial support.

Bob

Thanks for Packing My Chute!

Charles Plumb was a U.S. Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience. 

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!" "How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb. "I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor."

Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know. Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through each day.

In reading this story a couple of things stood out to me.

Before Plumb was shot down his attitude of self-importance demonstrated in thoughts such as: "I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor."

Often we put overseas missionaries on pedestals and discount the role that we have in their lives. We might reason:

"I'm just a fellow in Missouri who teaches missionaries phonetics. My role is insignificant!"

"I'm just a church member who prays for missionaries. My role is insignificant!"

"I'm just a blue-collar worker who supports a missionaries financially. My role is insignificant!"

After Plumb was shot down he realized that this insignificant sailor was "holding in his hands the fate of someone he didn't know." That really put things into perspective.

It has been said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. There are many links to the chain of reaching unreached people groups. And there are no insignificant links.

   

God has a team of people who are packing my parachute every day through their prayers and their financial gifts to my ministry. I am so thankful for each and every one who take the time to pack my chute.

I would be blessed if you would consider being a part of that team packing my parachute. To learn more, please click here or send me an email.

Because of Calvary,

Bob Nyberg

Reach Tribes! Transform Lives!

Muluk said, "Listening to God's Word is so wonderful. My liver (aka heart) is just full. It just feels so good."

A new semester is just beginning here at the NTM Missionary Training Center. Please pray for us as we train the next generation of missionaries to reach tribes and transform lives.

Bob

God Is Building His Church

A new believer from a remote tribal group said, "We are in awe of what we just heard. How He took away our sins and paid for them. That is tremendous. I am just amazed at His love for me."

God is still building His church even in the isolated corners of the world.

Bob

Froggy Research

Leishmaniasis is a disease spread by the bite of the sandfly. It can result in an ulcer that heals very slowly. Dr. Simone, a medical missionary in Brazil, recently treated a patient with this disease. He had a large Leishmaniasis ulcer on his back. He had this sore for a year without going to a doctor. Dr. Simone asked him why he hadn’t gone to a doctor sooner. He responded, “I am doing a very important work in the jungle and I couldn’t leave until now.” He is a biologist and is studying the yellow cane frog. He said that he did not have time to worry about the ulcer, because his work was so important. He had been attacked by jaguars seven times and had many close calls with poisonous snakes. When Dr. Simone sent him to the infirmary, the biologist said, “I hope it doesn’t take long to treat, I have to get back to my work.” This biologist was so dedicated to his task, that he ignored his health so that he could continue researching the yellow cane frog. The dedication of this biologist is remarkable, and yet it seems like there are more noble causes that people can give their lives to. One such cause is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Two thousand years ago, Jesus commissioned the church with a much more important task called The Great Commission. Many have given their lives, faithfully carrying on the work that God has given us to do, because the eternal destiny of countless souls is at stake. What a challenge it is to stay faithful in the face of the difficulties we encounter along the way.

 

As we begin a new semester here at the Missionary Training Center, please pray that we will stay faithful and not waiver in our commitment to the Lord of the Harvest. He is worthy of our dedication and He is the One who will one day say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

 

I doubt very much that the yellow cane frog will laud the dedicated research biologist with such praise!

Bob

• http://www.4himnet.com/bnyberg/Welcome.html

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  Things Which Gracious Souls Discover
by William R. Newell

• To “hope to be better” is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.
• To be disappointed with yourself, is to have believed in yourself.
• To be discouraged is unbelief, -- as to God’s purpose and plan of blessing for you.
• To be proud, is to be blind! For we have no standing before God, in ourselves.
• The lack of Divine blessing, therefore, comes from unbelief, and not from failure of devotion.

Paiye: "We thought we were living well."

Everything that Paiye cared so much about before is nothing now that he heard the Gospel.

This reminds me of something Lance Latham wrote years ago: "The most valuable and sacred commodity, therefore, on the face of the earth is the truth of the gospel. This is a sacred message worth living for, worth sacrificing for, and worth gladly dying for. It is the only real value on earth today; it is the truth of all truths to which the church must be dedicated to propagate and protect."

Because of Calvary,

Bob Nyberg

Disable e-Sword Pop-ups

The latest version of e-Sword now has advertising pop-ups. At best, these can be annoying. At worst, you might live in a country which discourages their residents (by imprisonment or death) from connecting to Christian websites.

To my knowledge there is no way to turn off the pop-ups in the e-Sword program itself. However, you can disable the pop-ups by going to Control Panel / Windows Firewall / Advanced Settings. Create a new "inbound rule" and a new "outbound rule." Select Programs and follow the instructions. You will need to browse to the file named e-Sword.exe which is located one of these folders:

• C:\Program Files\e-Sword
  
• C:\Program Files (86x)\e-Sword
  

One benefit of doing this is that e-Sword loads way faster. I thought that the reason e-Sword loaded so slow was because of all the modules I have installed. But that is not the case. Every time you load e-Sword, it makes a connection to the internet. You might say that it "phones home" to see if it should send you advertising pop-ups today. Once you disable its ability to connect to the internet, it loads much faster.

I was afraid that disabling e-Swords ability to connect to the internet would also block the download feature found on the Main Menu. It does not. You can still download modules just fine from the Main Menu.

The whole issue of e-Sword "phoning home" every time you start the program brings up privacy issues — especially for people living in certain countries that frown upon their residents from connecting to Christian websites. One person on an e-Sword discussion board made the following good points:

Some people don't want their computer and IP address being recorded at e-sword.net anytime they are connected to the internet. What if you live in a country where you could get in trouble for that? What if you downloaded and installed e-sword before you arrived in a country to avoid connections with a Christian website? What if you installed from a cd to avoid an internet connection with a Christian website? This is very bad.

Here's a discussion of the privacy issues related to e-Sword pop-ups:

http://www.biblesupport.com/topic/2114-e-sword-101-released/page__st__40

Here's a Youtube video on how to use Windows firewall settings to block programs from accessing the internet:

http://youtu.be/GaK7edQV2UY

Hope you find this info helpful.

Bob