Not Bragging

“Thus says the LORD, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23-24, NAS.

Ben* was a new believer who could not contain his excitement to share the good news he had discovered about Jesus. After sharing with his wife, one of the first people with whom he shared was his good friend Rad. Rad could tell that something significant had happened in his friend Ben’s life, so he was interested to hear more.

Ben introduced Rad to the two men who had shared the Gospel with him. As Rad listened to these men he became convinced that the message that had transformed his friend’s life was the truth, and he decided to follow Jesus.

After Rad prayed to start his journey with Christ he and Ben started bringing their families and friends to hear the Gospel. Early on, Ben said, “I’m not bragging, but it’s easy for me to tell these stories.” Ben was an accomplished storyteller. For many years he had used traditional puppets to tell cultural stories.

A couple of weeks later, Rad said, “I’m not bragging, but Ben and I know lots of people.” It turns out that these two unassuming men were not kidding. They are so well connected in the province that whenever the political parties wanted to get a message out to the people they would come to Ben and Rad.

And it was no accident that God drew Ben and Rad to faith as two of the first believers among their people group. The believers who shared with them had no way of knowing how influential they were by looking at them. All they saw was a couple of ordinary uneducated men, but God knows how to pick His apostles. He delights in using the unlikely to accomplish His purposes.

Ben and Rad were not bragging. They immediately began using their connections to spread the Gospel and both have led multiple people to faith and started groups of believers. Both have also experienced persecution as a result of their boldness.

*Names changed for security reasons.

Pray that:

God will continue to use Ben and Rad to lead many of their people to faith and to start multiple new groups of believers all over their province.

God will grant courage and boldness to these new believers so Ben and Rad’s witness will be multiplied among their entire people group.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.