Sharing God's heart in Kharkiv...

I was asked to speak at a couple sessions of this year's Pastors' Conference in the Kharkiv region. The shelling of the main city and surrounding region continues but these dear saints are standing strong and deeply committed to their beloved congregations!  There were several couples that were from recently liberated towns who had suffered tremendous deprivations and loss under Russian occupation!  One was in prison and they wouldn't allow anyone to know where he was and the conditions in a large common cell were inhuman!  Another pastor there had been attending these conferences with his son-in-law and fellow pastor Zhenya, who was killed last month in a rocket attack! He talked about all that Zhenya's wife, children and church have suffered since that day!  This father-in-law, Vitali, and  I preached together the following day at the Central Baptist Church in Kharkiv (unbeknownst to me ahead of time his message was about being 'thankful')- there were no few tears that morning... Zhenya's widow was at the Service.  

God has called me on this trip to preach about "Love and Forgiveness", particularly the Russians! The Pastors' Conference is very important because these men lead thousands of believers in the region, so their teachings and modeling are critical for the church!  It was a pretty raw time and not an easy conference but God showed His amazing love and strength throughout the time and two days later we are seeing even more of His mercy and fruit from our time together!  

On Sunday, I preached, actually my partner Dr. Lev. preached while I was speaking in tongues (English), on "You can't be Thankful and Grumble at the Same Time!".  There is a world of difference between someone who can keep their eyes on Jesus and be Thankful (I Thess. 5:18) and one who is full of complaints!  The saints have found great joy in this teaching everywhere I have gone so far!    

I left in the middle of that Service to hurry over to Central Baptist again, as their Service started an hour later, where I talked on the theme of "Love and Fogiveness". There was God's merciful grace in the people's response and much encouragement, but one lady came running up to me at the end of the Service and said, " Jerry, I will never, never, never forgive the Russians!" My eyes started to water up and I said, "Then dear sister you have no hope of being saved!"- Matthew 6:14,15/ Matthew 18:21-35/ James 2:13...  One of the Ukrainian speaking pastors spent time with her afterward and I think by the time she left church God had brought more peace to her heart...    What is going on here is not a polite conversation, it is a daily matter of life and death!  I know that these messages God has given me, for this time, are His Word to address the danger the church is facing from the devil's desire to divide the saints and hijack our faith, unity and Christ's Gospel of love! There have been many meetings and personal conversations about this topic with amazing unity, by God's power and grace!  But it is not an easy time and the greatest loss, above all else, would be the loss of our faith and ability to love like Jesus loves- even in a time of War!!