) Study 1: Joy is a Choice joy by Deborah Jefferson Romans 8:28 John 16:33 When we eft States to move to Brazi in 1995, I had no doubt that God had caed my husband and me to career missions. Joy was in my heart, because He had confirmed many times that this was His pan for our ives. We foowed Great Commission as stated in Matw 28:19 and Mark 16:15. However, joy I was feeing in States woud become a day-by-day choice in Brazi. of mission awaken Before I eft America, ony country I had ever known, I remembered hearing song, I Choose Joy, sung by Larnee Harris. The yrics were about choosing joy and not etting probems keep you down, knowing that Lord woud work things out for good. My favorite verse in this transitiona time was Romans 8:28. Read Romans 8:28. We knew our purpose was to share Good News, which brought joy to our hearts. But I was faced with my circumstances controing my joy in daiy huste and buste of ife. I had to ask mysef, What do I do about that? God had an answer. Read John 16:33. In some Bibe transations, we are encouraged to take heart or courage. In King James Version, it says to be of good cheer. Cheer in this verse is certainy joy. And ony way I was going to be joyfu during trias in a new ministry direction was through His peace and knowing that He has everything under contro. After being in Brazi for about a year, our toiet, refrigerator and our new, American washing machine didn t work. These breakdowns happened in a week s time. I thought, Ain t nobody got time for that I am here to te peope about Jesus! God reminded me of Romans 8:28. So, I chose joy. Whie toiet wasn t working, joking phrase around house was, Where is bucket so we can fush toiet? Our four daughters woud augh every time somebody caed for bucket! We chose joy! The pumber and repairmen did not come very quicky, as I anticipated. I chose to accept that things take a itte onger to get done on mission fied. We kept caing for bucket and washing cos by hand. Deborah Jefferson served as an IMB missionary in Brazi for 16 years. Currenty, she and her husband, Keith, ive in Richmond, Virginia.
Finay, repairman came but was unabe to determine root of probem. He eft, assuring me he woud return. A coupe of days ater, he returned and attempted to repair washing machine again. Whie he was working on my washer, I noticed that refrigerator wasn t working. I thought, Oh my goodness. When wi this a end? Of course, as it aways happens, my husband was out of town assisting anor missionary and a short-term mission team. I was beginning to fee overwhemed with just maintaining househod. The repairmen took a ook at refrigerator and said motor had burned out. When I asked him if he coud find a motor for an American refrigerator, he said he knew of one pace in anor Braziian state in city of Aracaju. We, that s exacty where my husband was! I coud not beieve my ears! I was abe to contact my husband to buy new motor. The Lord had it under contro! By time my husband arrived home with motor, pumber had come. He fixed toiet. As for washing machine, repairman had a used machine that he et us use unti I coud get a new motor from States when I attended my bror s wedding foowing month. Famiy members and even some of empoyees where I purchased washing-machine motor in States joked about how I had brought a broken motor a way from Brazi. I am so gad I chose joy! God understood that I needed to earn how to hod on to joy daiy, sometimes every moment, whie facing chaenges of being a missionary. This simpe but crucia esson prepared me to minister to an isoated peope group that did not have a toiet or refrigerator in ir homes. They used a rock at creek as a scrubbing board to wash cos. Choosing joy gave me priviege of sharing Gospe with m. Group discussion questions 1. What are things that get in your way of maintaining a joyfu spirit? 2. What did you earn from Scripture about joy? 3. What are some things you can do that wi hep you maintain a joyfu spirit? 4. Why do you think joy makes a difference in sharing Gospe with ors? 5. What steps can you make now to prepare yoursef for future trias? 6. Write out a prayer to God concerning joy. (Optiona) Digging deeper Read book of Phiippians, and make a ist of everything you earn about joy.
) Study 2: Unexpected Surprises of Joy joy of mission by Deborah Jefferson Luke 2:8 Luke 2:9-11 Matw 28:19 Luke 2:10-14 Luke 2:15 Luke 2:16 Acts 16:13-14 Luke 2:20 My husband and I are just ordinary peope whom God caed to serve as missionaries in Brazi. We never imagined that He woud use my husband to identify an unreached peope group. What a joy it was to see birth of a new ministry among peope virtuay unreached by Gospe. awaken It a started when a nationa pastor guided my husband, Keith, to a viage about 45 minutes off a highway into interior, a pace tucked away from civiization. Keith came home and began to research peope and found out that anthropoogists were conducting ir own research as we. To make a ong story short, Keith was abe to earn peope group s name and information about ir origin and cuture. They are known as Quiomboas, descendents of runaway saves. Like United States, Brazi has a history of save trade. Athough savery ended in 1888 in Brazi, this peope group continues to ive isoated from major cities and in viages. We refer to m as forgotten Africa of Brazi. Honesty, y reminded me of a group of peope I had read about in Scripture. Read Luke 2:8. Who were peope in this passage? In those days, shepherds were ranked ow in socio-economic status. Randy Acorn states, Pharaoh s cean-shaven court ooked down on rugged shepherd sons of Jacob. Joseph matter-of-facty informed his brors, Every shepherd is detestabe to Egyptians (Genesis 46:34). (Acorn, 2010) Just ike shepherds during time of Jesus birth, Quiomboas have been discriminated against for we over a century. God was giving Keith and me surprising opportunity to reach out to m, and I was excited! As shepherds were surprised, we figured Quiomboas woud be too when y heard about Jesus. Read Luke 2:9-11; Matw 28:19. Who is God using to share Good News of great joy in Luke 2:9-11? Okay. That was easy. Who is Lord taking about in Matw 28:19? As my husband woud say, God is speaking to everybody, Lottie and Dottie. In 2 Peter 3:9, we read, The Lord is not sow to fufi his promise as some count sowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any shoud perish, but that a shoud reach repentance (ESV). The thing is, God is concerned about a
peope, and He wants everyone to experience joy that He is so eager to give word a joy that can ony be born in ives of those who choose to foow Christ as Savior and Lord. How coud we not take Good News to Quiomboas! Read Luke 2:10-14. The first time shepherds heard about Jesus, y were pretty scared. But not scared enough to find out more! Even teing ors about Jesus can be scary! I don t know how many times we had to te ourseves not to be afraid when peope in viages woud spread ies about us. Many accused us of bringing American teams to viages to take ir body organs to se on medica back market! They were afraid of us and what we preached in beginning. Those who practiced witchcraft constanty tried to put a curse on us when informed about our upcoming visits. We thank God that we aways had churches praying for us. When we arrived at se viages, it was evident that God had preceded us and had begun to work in some of Quiomboas. Read Luke 2:15. We wanted Quiomboas to desire to hear more. We invited our friend, Pastor Edson, to partner with us since his church was ess than an hour away from a custer of se viages. He had never heard of Quiomboas. Romans 10:14 asks, How n wi y ca on him in whom y have not beieved? And how are y to beieve in him of whom y have never heard? And how are y to hear without someone preaching? (ESV). Pastor Edson asked county government if y knew anything about Quiomboas. They were fuy aware of m, yet it was obvious to us once we arrived in se viages that county had made no effort to service m. Athough we were given vague directions and encountered deep, muddy roads, we were abe to reach more viages with Lord s hep. Read Luke 2:16. What did shepherds find when y arrived in Behem? What does a person find when we share Gospe? Read Acts 16:13-14. Who opened Lydia s heart to hear Good News? We were abe to take a team of short-term mission partners into one of viages where we discovered ony beiever, Ivan, who was one of two schoo teachers in viage. I coud not hep but notice sparke in young man s eyes and excitement in his voice when he shared with us that he had been praying that God woud send Christians to hep his peope. Previousy, he had eft his viage to teach in nearest city. He had no intention of returning to his owy beginnings, yet regiona schoo superintendent specificay requested that he return to region where he grew up. The conditions were difficut with no eectricity, no running water and few schoo suppies. Needess to say, short-term mission team was an answer to Ivan s prayer. The team went door to door sharing Good News. Read Luke 2:20. What did shepherds do when y returned home?
When shepherds returned to ir homes, y praised God for a that y had heard and seen. As new beievers, we can t hep but do same! The Quiomboas began to respond to God s Spirit and efforts of many partners. Peope beieved in Jesus, and n y were teing ir friends. Churches now have been started in severa viages. Short-term mission partners in Georgia continue to partner in work that is fourishing. The Lord started a joyfu new work, much to our surprise at first. He has surprises waiting for you as we as you remain watchfu for opportunities to share Good News of Jesus. Group discussion questions 1. How has God surprised you with ministry opportunities? Discuss with group. 2. Have you ever shared Gospe with someone who had never heard name of Jesus, wher in your home country or overseas? If so, what was that ike? 3. Discuss ways in which your church might reach out to internationas iving in your community. 4. Discuss possibe opportunities to pray for an unreached peope group. 5. Discuss possibe opportunities for your church to go on a short-term mission trip. (Optiona) Digging deeper Read Acts 17:16-34. How did Pau share Gospe with an unreached peope group? Permission given for quoted materia: Acorn, R. (2010, March 11). Shepherd s Status. Retrieved from http:www.epm.orgresources2010 Mar11shepherds-status.
) Study 3: The Joy of Sharing Christ joy of mission by Deborah Jefferson Luke 15:3-7 Romans 3:21-24 John 16:7-11 Romans 5:8 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 John 1:12, 14:6 Ephesians 2:8-9 Athough ife on fied can be somewhat adventurous, we were aways reminded how it s a joy to share Christ with ors. We were on our way to buid a dorm for an orphanage when our truck hit a huge pot hoe. The impact damaged both of tires on right side of vehice. One of passengers in our truck was a Braziian young man named Jeter. Jeter mentioned that we had passed a gas station ess than a mie back and offered to wak re to get hep. awaken Whie Jeter was gone, my famiy and I noticed a nearby stand where three men were seing coconuts. We decided to tak to m and during our conversation, an 18-wheeer truck pued up. Two of men uncovered arge containers of diese y had hidden behind ir stand and proceeded to fi gas tank of truck. After truck drove off, I said to men that I thought y sod coconut water, not diese! They aughed and said that s what government thought too! They knew what y were doing was wrong. This discovery gave us an open door to share Christ with m. One man took off as soon as we mentioned Jesus, but or two remained to isten. The oder man rejected Gospe, but young man chose to beieve in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Read Luke 15:3-7. If ony one beieves in a group, woud you sti be abe to rejoice? On anor occasion, Wiie and Marva Simmons, an oder coupe who served in a short-term capacity, accompanied us to a city in anor Braziian state to prepare for a mission team due to arrive. After a ong day of trave, we decided to wak down street from hote to find a pace to eat supper. That s when we saw two prostitutes standing on a corner. We decided to share Gospe with one of m. As we introduced ourseves to woman, or waked over to see what was going on. The accent of our Portuguese et m know that we were not native to ir country. After we shared Gospe, we asked m if y wanted to foow Jesus. To our surprise, y both answered, Yes. Right re, we ed m in prayer as y asked Jesus to be Lord of ir ives. Keith asked if y had eaten and when we earned that y hadn t, we invited m to eat with us.
Over supper, we earned that one of young women had been a prostitute for a year and was deepy ashamed. She, in fact, had come from anor Braziian state so that no one woud recognize her. The or woman had been working streets for six months, and she aso regretted it. She had stopped for a few weeks but coudn t pay her monthy bis, which forced her to return to work she dreaded. Her new boyfriend had ost his job as a computer anayst. She expressed grief and exhaustion of having to ie to her 5-year-od daughter concerning reason her mommy was out a night. Read Romans 3:21-24. Many times when we share Gospe with ors, y are very aware of sin in ir ives. Romans 6:23 is cear that we are a sinners. These two women, before y were saved, had been convinced that sacrificing ir bodies woud save m when Christ had aready been sacrificed for sins of whoe word (Hebrews 10:12). Read John 16:7-11; Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; John 1:12, 14:6; Ephesians 2:8-9. Who convicts peope of sin? How is Jesus Savior of word? What did Jesus do with our sins? How is a person saved from eterna separation from God? It was our priviege that night to give a Bibe to woman who didn t have one. We invited m to attend a oca church service with us coming Sunday so that y coud pubicy share ir decision to foow Christ. Before eaving m, we took m to ir homes since y no onger had desire to be on streets. After dropping off first woman, we took or home. She wanted us to meet her daughter and boyfriend. Her boyfriend had been waiting nervousy for her return and was reieved when he saw her. He tod us of his fear for her safety. We shared Gospe with him as we, athough he did not make a decision to foow Him that night. We were thried to see boyfriend attend church on Sunday with one of newy beieving women. He made a decision to foow Jesus that day, and she made a pubic confession of her new faith. A year ater when we were back in this city working with a short-term mission team, we heard that this woman was growing in her faith and testifying of Lord s goodness. There is nothing ike joy of sharing Christ with an unbeiever and seeing that person decide to foow Him. Jesus died to set peope free from chains of sin and to have a persona reationship with Him. It is our great priviege as beievers to ead ors to Him.
Group discussion questions 1. Why is it important for peope to understand that y are sinners and repent as a part of ir decision to foow Christ? 2. Share experiences with group of eading anor to Lord. 3. If we truy grasp why it is a matter between ife and death for a person to choose faith in Christ, why do you think many Christians are not activey seeking opportunities to ead someone to Lord? 4. Who woud you ike to share Christ with this week? 5. How do you think you can become more sensitive to peope s spiritua condition? (Optiona) Digging deeper Read Acts 8:26-39. List chronoogica events in this witnessing experience of Phiip with Ethiopian.
) Study 4: Joy When It Seems Impossibe joy of mission by Deborah Jefferson James 1:2 2 Chronices 20:1-12 1 Samue 1:1-11, 20 Athough sharing Christ and being a fu-time missionary are things to rejoice about, work and iving conditions are not aways easy, as mentioned in first esson. We have traveed on a ot of itera and figurative bumpy, muddy roads that coud give one a crick in neck. The key to keeping ife and ministry positive is joy. In fact, we were so convinced that we needed a constant reminder to remain joyfu that we named our odest daughter Joy! Keith and I aways joked that wherever we went, we took Joy with us! awaken We woud eave home in a Vokswagen van, asking Lord to go before us. I woud te my four daughters that we are going on an adventure with a song of joy in our hearts. Seriousy, we d practice Christian songs we knew in Portuguese on our trips, giving testimony to Psam 30:4, Sing praises to LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his hoy name (ESV). Read James 1:2. What do you think it means to count it a joy? We, how do we get to road of pure joy when it ooks ike it is paved with many kinds of trias? I am reminded of testimonies of two new Quiomboa Christians in one of first unreached viages where we shared Gospe. Marriage ceremonies were not cutura with se viagers, and Chica and Neia both had common-aw mates. When I first met Chica and her man, she had three chidren, but Neia did not have any chidren. On a ater visit, I asked women how y had been doing, and both beamed with gadness but did not eaborate. Then I asked m what God had been doing in ir ives. Chica gave a powerfu testimony: If it had not been for Lord, I woud not have se two itte miraces, nodding toward infant twins on her ap. Chica tod story of how one day she noticed that she was not feeing we but didn t know why. When her man found out, he became very upset. He said, We aready have three chidren that we can t take care of, so if you re pregnant, you need to get an abortion. She was very sad and didn t know what to do. Her mor offered no rea hep for a soution and even agreed on option of abortion. Just ike Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronices, Chica n decided to take her situation to Lord in prayer.
Read 2 Chronices 20:1-12. What did Jehoshaphat do when he didn t know what to do? What do you do in desperate times when you need direction in a difficut situation? On Chica s way to church to pray, she saw a man herding a few cows. He tod Chica to get out of way. He commented, Your stomach ooks ike you have twins! By time she got to church, she began to weep and cry out to Lord that she did not have even one diaper for one baby, certainy not for two! When her church famiy found out her need, y prayed for her. Her need became known by our church in capita city, church that had adopted Quiomboa peope group. They took care of Chica and her famiy for rest of pregnancy, showering her with baby cothing for both a gir and a boy. Surprisingy, Chica did give birth to twins a boy and a gir! After seeing care shown by church, her common-aw partner soon committed his ife to Christ. Neia s story was different from Chica s. She and her common-aw partner had no chidren. When she heard Od Testament story about Hannah whie at a church in a nearby viage, she coud reate. Read 1 Samue 1:1-11, 20. Neia thought, If God coud answer Hannah s prayer, why coudn t He do same for me? A short-term mission team came to Neia s viage to hep buid a church. Neia was thried when her man decided to work with Americans to buid it. During that week, her man decided to foow Christ. With Word being preached in her new viage church, coupe grew spirituay toger. One of first things y did was to get married officiay, knowing that it was right thing to do in God s eyes. They earned that marriage is a covenant that y needed to make before God. My husband and Braziian pastor officiated wedding. It was first wedding to take pace in this custer of viages, and ir marriage infuenced many or new beievers to wed in Christian ceremonies. Before Neia became a Christian, she had visited witch doctor, hoping he coud give her a remedy for her barrenness. Now she and her husband turned to God. After even being tod by a medica doctor that she coud not get pregnant and shoud have a hysterectomy, she and her church famiy continued to pray. In due time, God chose to honor Neia and her husband s decision to get married, and He opened her womb. She gave birth to a boy. I te you this story about difficuties of se new beievers because y had a ot to overcome since ir cuture traditionay did not foow principes of Word. In ir young faith and imited understanding, y prayed. God answered ir prayers and began to teach m His ways. It wasn t easy for m, but God proved Himsef faithfu.
We a have trias and difficuties in ife. And we may not be as far aong in faith as ors. Sometimes it s just norma stuff we dea with; or times, we dea with very serious probems. Difficuties and circumstances have a way of getting our eyes off our main mission as a beiever oving God with every fiber of our being and foowing hard after Him so that we can share His ove and story with ors. We may not be abe to contro our circumstances, but we can pray and aow God to contro m. We can aso choose to have joy, no matter what. What Jesus has done for us is good news of great joy that wi be for a peope (Luke 2:10, ESV). Let s spread that joy with ors! Group discussion questions 1. What did you take away from this esson? 2. Have you aowed your circumstances to contro your ministry to ors? If so, how? What do you want to change and how might that be accompished? 3. Since starting se four essons, who have you shared Christ with? Te about experience. 4. Give exampes of how you chose joy this week and how it made a difference. 5. Why is it important for ors who are ost to see evidence of pure joy in a beiever? (Optiona) Digging deeper Read Romans 15:13; 2 Corinthians 8:1-2; Gaatians 5:22; Coossians 1:11; 1 Thessaonians 1:6, 2:20, 3:9; 2 Timothy 1:4; Hebrews 10:34, 12:2. What do you earn about joy in se verses? What did you earn about how a spiritua mentor fees about his spiritua chidren? Scripture quotations are from The Hoy Bibe, Engish Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a pubishing ministry of Good News Pubishers. Used by permission. A rights reserved.