Jesus is Still News…Good, Good News!

By Kring Leano

71-year-old Silverio presented himself for baptism!

Last week our small team of missionaries here in Malaybalay led a two-day Sacraments seminar for seven adults from Isla Bonita. The participants ranged in age from 19 to 71.

Sammy gave the first talk of the seminar on the love of God the Father. Everyone listened attentively in perfect silence. After the talk, we asked them to share about their own life experiences of God’s love.

They started sharing a lot of wonderful stories. One man had survived multiple near-death accidents. One girl’s infant son had been miraculously healed of a kidney problem after she prayed inside a Catholic church for the first time ever. Another girl who had been orphaned at age 13 had dreamed of her mother for the first time in years after attending Mass the week before, just to observe. They shared their stories with lots of emotion and even tears. As they were sharing, I began to have a realization.

I’ve lived my whole life here in the Philippines, a Christian nation that’s predominantly Catholic, and these people from my own city did not know who Jesus Christ was. They believed that there was a GOD and they had experienced Him in miracles and blessings without knowing that GOD is a PERSON and He has a name: JESUS!

I found myself being the one to tell them for the first time about the Person behind all the miracles and blessings, the One who did all those things for them out of His love for them, even though they did not know Him. It gave me this awesome feeling to tell them that this is the guy who died for you and me, so all of us can be saved because there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves. That’s why we need Jesus! He is our Savior!

Everyone started crying and saying things like, “Even though we are poor, now we know we can smile even though our life is still hard. It’s because of Jesus and the peace and joy that His love and salvation brings to us.”

At the end of the seminar everyone thanked us. They said they learned a lot from us, but I realized that they didn’t really receive anything from me. Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit to be with them all along, working in their hearts and lives and preparing them to learn about Him and come into a relationship with Him. I merely helped to open their eyes to the truth.

It also made me realize the big need for laborers in the Lord’s vineyard. If there are people in a Christian nation like the Philippines who don’t even know Jesus, how much more in other countries, especially in Asia, where there are billions who have never heard.

I want to challenge everyone reading this to think about what it’s like to be the one to introduce Jesus to someone and to see their life completely changed by Him, and to consider letting God use you in this big way!

Please help us to pray for the upcoming wedding of some of these newly baptized Christians and even more couples from Isla Bonita this September 19, that God will continue to supply them the grace they need through the Sacraments to truly live out the Christian life.

By Kring Leano