One of the best things that I can do for the church leaders in the jungles of Peru is provide them with Bibles and study materials. Burt Elliot taught me many years ago that the brothers will value it much more if it costs them something.  So I charge a pretty steep price :)  One brother paid me with a turtle (which Ellia loves). Another traded me a baby chicken for his bible (a second pet for Ellia).  Yet another brother gave me a bag of beans for a systematic theology.... Ellia didn't really care about the beans but the brother sure loves his new book!

Many of us have whole libraries of bibles and commentaries and study materials but most of these jungle preachers have a New Testament and nothing more.  I love to see the look on their face when they get their hands on a whole bible.... complete with study notes, definitions, maps, cross-references and a lengthy concordance.  Yes, the look on their face and sometimes the tears in their eyes .... those are golden moments for me.  

It was great to go from village to village these last few weeks and try to encourage the saints in each of the churches.  Some of the churches were doing really well and others were really struggling.  In my observation the spiritual health of the church is directly tied to the leadership there.  If we can raise up healthy and mature spiritual leaders we will usually end up with healthy and mature church congregations.  Last month was full of invaluable meetings with those church leaders as I tried to encourage them in word and deed and by getting them some helpful study materials.  As we went from village to village doing this we made many lasting memories.  

The following story is one of those unforgettable experiences that left a lasting sense of urgency in my bones:  .... Upon arrival in Ricardo Palma we could hear great wailing and bitter lamentation.... A man had died... He had passed just minutes before we got there. The deceased along with his whole family were know to be vehemently opposed to the gospel but when we came with a financial gift for the burial they listened intently to my message from Psalm 91. As I prayed there were loud and uncontrollable sobs from the many family members that had crowded into the house. What a sobering reminder of the hopelessness of finishing this life without Christ.  This lifeless body whose spirit had just departed served as an urgent reminder that people need the gospel now.... not tomorrow... NOW!

When we stepped outside there was a smoldering fire that was slowly consuming some tripas next to the hut.... Beside the fire stood a little piglet. He was very close to the fire and seemed to be gazing into the flames.  The vivid illustration hit hard.... Jesus said that hell is a place where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched.  So many souls that stand at the precipice of hell and don't even know that they need to be saved from the wrath to come!

C.T Studd famously said: "Put your ear down to your bible and hear God bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire that they ares stepping into. Put your ear down to the burdened agonized heart of humanity and listen to its pitiful wail for help.  Go stand by the gates of hell and hear the damned entreat you to go to their fathers house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there.  Then look Christ in the face whose mercy you profess to obey and tell him weather you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world." 

Filled with a great sense of urgency we took the gospel hut to hut, spent time investing in the leaders, held children's meetings, pleaded with souls and then that night we preached our hearts out in the open air to a pitiful and precious and needy crowd of villagers.  

Micah for the Tuttle's