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UBF PANAMA                                                                                                                        04/22/2019

PLEASING GOD

Hebrews 11:6a: “And without faith it is impossible to please God”

On Apr. 19th ~ 21th, we held our very first Disciples’ Conference in Panama entitled: “Pleasing God”. The conference was held in a beautiful house in the gorgeous town of Gamboa in Colon Province, about 45 minutes away from our Bible Center.

We were surrounded by the Soberania National Park, so we had the frequent visits of many animals; the Chagres River, on the shore of which there is an indigenous community; and Gatun Lake, which is part of the Panama Canal. Every night we could hear the railroad loaded with containers heading from Panama City to Colon and we could see the boats transiting the Canal.

We had many difficulties to prepare the conference. Darío and Karen were very busy with their work and studies, so it was very difficult for them to prepare the seminars that they had to present during the conference and their life testimonies. Despite we were in Holy Week, Dario, Karen and Sandra were notified that they must work on Saturday. So the program that we already planned had to be changed. Sandra made decision of faith of not going to work that day, but Dario and Karen worked.

Despite the difficulties, we were able to start our program well on Friday. M. Joshua delivered the opening message entitled: "The Essence of Faith" based on Hebrews 11:1-3. We learned what faith really is. We learned that we must have certainty in the hope that God has placed in our hearts, and have the conviction of God even though we cannot see Him. We must believe and obey the Word of God from its very beginning, believing that God is the Creator of the Universe and everything in it, including us, so we must trust Him and His power. We must submit to his will and sovereignty. 

After the message we had dinner, some delicious sandwiches prepared by Dario and Karen. Then, we had Lecture 1 delivered by M. Maria entitled: "Faith That Pleases God" based on Hebrews 11:4-6. We learned the faith of Abel who pleased God by giving him the best that he had wholeheartedly; and the faith of Enoch who walked with God, obeying divine principles in a sinful society. We also learned that in order to have the faith that pleases God we must believe that He is there and that He will reward those who seek Him and live according to His Word.      

Afterwards, we had time to write our reflections before going to bed. The next morning we had our Daily Bread at 6 am. Dario and Karen could not attend because they had to leave for work at 4:30 am. They returned to the Conference place at 4 pm so they missed the Daily Bread; the first Group Bible Study based on Hebrews 11:7-16, where we learned the faith of Noah, Abraham and Sarah, who believed God and obeyed him in the midst of uncertainty; and the two movies we watched; "Luther (2003)", where we learned the life of Martin Luther and how his faith in God begun Protestant Reformation; and "Chariots of Fire", the story of Eric Liddel, who made decision of faith to observe the Lord's Day instead of running for his dreams at the Olympics.

 Dario and Karen also missed the Seminar presented by Sharon Vera, temporary missionary of Venezuela in Panama, entitled "Susan Wesley, Mother of Faith". Sharon showed us the life of faith of Susan Wesley, mother of John and Charles Wesley, and how she raised her children in faith. Susan was a great example of a woman of faith!

Dario and Karen arrived in time for the second Group Bible Study in Hebrews 11:17-21. In this Bible study we learned the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and how they lived in the promise of God by faith. Then we had a delicious dinner prepared by Aramis and Sandra. They prepared a delicious Colombian food called "sapito", similar to an empanada. Later Dario presented a Seminar entitled: "John Wesley, The Discipline of Faith". We learned the great discipline and faith of John Wesley, and how he was able to please God and serve him, changing England completely and founding a great movement.

Later, we shared our reflections. Everyone received much grace from the message and confessed their sins with tears, praying God to have a faith that pleases him. Our hearts were renewed for the rest of the Conference.

On the next morning, we had our Daily Bread at 6:00 am led by Karen. Later, M. Maria and Sharon prepared breakfast. Afterwards, we had our last Group Bible Study in Hebrews 11:22-29. We learned that living by faith in this world means making decisions of faith looking forward to the reward, eternal life.

Later, we had our Sunday Worship Service with Lecture 2 based on Hebrews 12:1-3 and entitled: "Fix Your Eyes on Jesus." We learned that we are in a race of faith in this world, and there are many things that distract and divert us, so we must fix our eyes on Jesus who is the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Only by fixing our eyes to Jesus we can throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us, and we will reach the goal of the supreme calling of God.

Just before our Sunday Worship Service we had a small inconvenience with the owners of the house. They had rented us until 3:00 p.m., but they were asking us to leave at noon. That displeased me a lot and distracted me because we would not finish SWSp on time, and we still had to perform the Disciples Declaration. However, I prayed that God would help us and we finally agreed to leave at least 2:00 p.m. I fixed my eyes on Jesus, instead of distracting with this difficulty, and Jesus gave us the solution. We had a great SWS and received a grace through the message.

Right after SWS, we had the Disciples Declaration for Dario and Karen. They shared their life testimonies, showing the grace they have received from God so far and how the Lord has forgiven their sins and changed their lives.

Karen's testimony was really heart-wrenching and many of us shed tears while listen to it. We praise God for allowing them to be reconciled to the Lord in our ministry and serve together with us. We pray that they may be faithful disciples of Jesus who make disciples at the University of Panama and good coworkers for our ministry. Amen.

Right after listening their life testimonies, we declared Dario y Karen as disciples of our ministry. They promised to walk in disciple’s way, denying themselves, and taking up their cross every day, and obeying completely the Word of God. Besides, they expressed their desire to participate joyfully in the sufferings of Christ for Biblical Panama and the World Mission.

Prayer Topics:             

1. Panama becomes a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation.
2. Raise an Abraham and a Sara of faith.
3. Msn. John and Susan Baek may be safe and healthy in Venezuela. May their children keep their faith while they live alone in USA.
4. Power and grace for Msn. Joshua to preach Sunday messages on Gospel according John.
5. God be merciful to Venezuela and Nicaragua and help them to overcome their crisis.

Reported by M. Joshua Gutierrez (maikerg@gmail.com)