Moses; God’s Deliverer Part 3

Exodus 3:4-6 (NKJV) ⁴  So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵  Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” ⁶  Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father–the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

We have been examining Moses’ experience in the wilderness to determine how God changed his thinking to make him qualified to be God’s deliver.  As an Egyptian nobleman and general, he was highly qualified to do the job in the natural.  Nevertheless, when he tried, he failed miserably.  He thought that the Israelites would accept him as their leader and deliverer, but he was wrong.  In the wilderness God worked in Moses to change his way of thinking.  Isaiah 55 tells us that the way God thinks is different than the way we think and as a result his ways are higher than our ways.  Moses could not be God’s deliverer and think like an Egyptian. 

In Exodus chapter three we see the results of God’s 40 years of dealing with Moses.  The first thing we see is that Moses was still taking care of his father-in-law’s sheep.  He was faithfully embracing what God had asked him to do.  We must be willing to embrace the dealings of God and be faithful to follow through with what he asks us if we are going to be ready for whatever he has for us next.

In today’s verse we see another key point that opened the way for Moses to step into his destiny.  As Moses is faithfully caring for the sheep, he notices something strange in the desert.  He sees a bush that is burning, but not consumed by the fire.  We need to realize that as we continue in faithfulness, we can come to the point that we begin to assume nothing will ever change.  However, the day of visitation will usually look like every other day.  In Moses’ case he noticed something that caught his attention. 

There will come a time when God lets us know that the time of change has come.  The question is will we stop and listen to what God has to say or will we just continue in our routine.  It is very important for us to keep listening to God in relationship even when he does not seem to be saying anything.  We must continue in the study and meditation of the Word of God, because it is in his Word we learn to recognize his voice. We must also keep our hearts in tune with him by continuing in prayer, worship, obedience and fellowship with him.  When God speaks we must be ready to hear and obey.

We read in verse 4 that Moses made the choice to “turn aside” and find out what was going on with this “burning bush.”  We must be ready to turn aside when God wants to speak to us.  What did Moses turn aside from?  He turned aside from the daily routine he had come to know for forty years.  He turned aside from his assumption that nothing would ever change and what he was doing now had become what he would always be.  Forty years is a long time, but now God needed Moses to see something different and Moses’ made the choice to see what that might be. 

When our time comes, we must do the same.  In Moses life this was the time when everything would change, and he would be launched into the ministry as God’s deliverer.  For us, there will be many turning aside moments in life.  At some point we may face a moment like Moses did, but every time we come to a burning bush experience it will be a contributing factor to get us to where and who God wants us to be.

In verse five we note that it was when God saw that Moses had turned aside that God spoke to him.  There are certainly times in life when God will intrude on our minds and hearts to speak something to us.  There are other times when he wants to be sure he has our attention before he begins to speak to us.  This was such a time in Moses’ life. 

The first thing God says to Moses is that he must take off his shoes because the place on which he was standing was holy ground.  When we have an encounter with God, that place, wherever it may be, becomes holy ground.  Moses had to understand that something holy was happening at that moment.  When God calls us aside at any time to speak with us or to deal with us, that place is holy.  If we do not respect his dealing as holy, we will not take it as seriously as God needs us to.  Every dealing of God, including times of correction and chastening, is a holy time and we must treat it with respect and obedience.  If we do not, we will miss something that God considers important. 

In verse sixth God reveals who he really is to Moses.  He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He is the God of the covenant of Israel.  He is the God who set them apart from all other nations.  He is not the God of Egypt.  This is important because Moses cannot be what God needs him to be if there is any confusion here.  He can serve the God of Israel and no other.  There can be no mixture with any other worship, philosophy or culture.  Whenever we allow mixture to come into our relationship with God it will effect our thinking.  We will not think as God thinks and we will try to do things that are not God’s ways.

If you are a Christian, you serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He is the God of the Old covenant.  However, you also serve the God of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.  There can be no misunderstanding.  There can be no mixture.  Jesus said you cannot serve both God and Mammon.  He said although you are called to be in the world, you cannot be of the world.  Paul tells us to “come out from among them and be separate.”  He adds that we are not to even touch the unclean things of the world.  The New Testament is full of statements that make it clear that we cannot mix the thinking and ways of the world and follow God as perfectly as possible.

In Mark chapter 4, Jesus makes it clear.

Mark 4:24 (NKJV)  Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.

The Amplified Bible says it this way.

Mark 4:24 (AMP)  And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you—and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.

We must recognize that the place of God’s dealing is holy and sacred.  We must respond to it as such.  We must recognize that we serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as well as the God of the New Covenant, Jesus the Lord of the church.  This also requires that we be careful what we hear and give our attention to.  Jesus words are true about whatever you hear.  The measure of thought and study you give to the truth of God’s word and his dealing in your life will determine what measure of virtue or power you get out of it. 

Conversely, the measure of thought, study and attention you give to the thing and thinking of the world will determine how much that influences your life as well.  One will enhance your relationship with God and help you walk in his ways.  The other will hinder your relationship with God and keep you from walking in his ways.

What are you hearing at this point in your life?  How far do you want to go with God.  The choice is in your hands.

For Audio Messages Visit: https://anchor.fm/bill-kiefer or search Practical Wisdom from the Word of God or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or where you listen to podcasts.

Moses: God’s Deliverer Part 2

Exodus 3:1-3 (NKJV): ¹Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ³then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.

In our last post we looked at Moses’ first 40 years of life.  We discovered that Moses was more prepared to be the deliverer of Israel in the natural than any man alive.  He was mature at 40 years of age when he went to see the plight of his people.  He was an Egyptian nobleman, so he had the ear of Pharoah.  He was well educated in the most advanced knowledge of his day.  He was mighty in both word and deed.  According to some historical accounts he was a successful general in the Egyptian army.  He checked every box in terms of what someone would be looking for in a person who might be able to lead Israel out of Egypt. 

According to Acts 7, he assumed that Israel would accept him as deliverer.  When he tried to act like one, it went terribly wrong.  He made the mistake of thinking he could deliver God’s people by Egyptian methods and ended up a fugitive living in Midian.  We find out why from Isaiah 55:8.  God does not think like an Egyptian.  His ways are higher than any man’s ways, even when that man is as highly educated and capable as Moses was.  Moses’ last Egyptian act was driving some male shepherds away from the well of Midian so that the priest of Midian’s daughters could water their sheep.  After that act Moses began a 40-year journey of change that finally brought him to the place where he was qualified to be God’s deliverer.

After he helped the Priest of Midian’s daughters, he was invited to their home.  One thing led to another, and Moses married the oldest daughter.  For the next 40 years, Moses is no longer a nobleman or a general.  He has nothing to do with the affairs of state.  He enters a life that not only all of his education did not prepare him for, but it was also useless to help him in what he would do now.  Moses became nothing more than a husband, a father and the shepherd of another man’s sheep.  There is no record that Moses ever owned any of the sheep in Midian.  As the husband of the oldest daughter, he might have inherited something, but for his whole time in Midian he was only a shepherd of a flock he did not own.

Other than the fact that he was married and eventually had a son, we know nothing about that period in Moses’ life.  Moses did nothing worth noting for 40 years.  He simply lived a normal life.  No one bowed down to him.  No one treated him as an important person.  The only creatures taking orders from him were the sheep.  For 40 years Moses was nothing special and did nothing special.  Yet it was in those 40 years that he finally became qualified to be God’s deliverer of Israel.  What happened in those years?  We begin to get an idea when we read chapter 3 of Exodus.

In verse one we see that Moses is still doing the same thing he had for 40 years.  He is in the wilderness tending to his father-in-law’s sheep.  One of the things that we find about Moses is that he is doing what God gave him to do and he is doing it faithfully.  If God is going to accomplish in us what is necessary to prepare us for what is next, we must embrace where we are and be faithful.  Where we are in life will often seem unimportant to us, but do not underestimate faithfulness in what God has placed in your hands.  Moses was a husband.  That is important.  He was a father.  That is important.  He was the shepherd of another man’s sheep.  That was far more important a lesson than he could have imagined.

When I was 33 years old the Lord took my wife and me from a city of some fifty thousand people to a small town of fifteen hundred.  We left a church of eighty to one hundred in order to start a new church with eleven people.  We left a new building of our own for rented spaces.  It seemed to outward eyes that we must have done something wrong to be demoted that way.  However, we knew we were in the will of God.  One of the things that God told me is not to look at the people he gave me as a steppingstone to something greater.  A stepping stone is something you step on to get to a higher level.  I knew God had something different for me.  I knew he had called me to travel to foreign lands.  My understanding of what that meant was very immature. 

There were things that needed to change in my life.  My thinking was formed by many things including a stream of ministry I had become involved with.  There was nothing wrong with that stream, but there was something wrong with the view of ministry I had developed.  That was due to how I thought because of my family culture, my education and the experiences of my life.  I needed to change how I thought if I was going to be ready for what was next.  The first step to that change was much like Moses’ first step.  I had to embrace what God was doing at that point in my life.

God said some important things to me at that time.  The first was that I could not look at these eleven people as only a step to greater things.  He told me to give myself to those people.  I had to forget about what was next and learn to love what God was doing in my life at that time.  As I obeyed God, something changed in me.  I accepted that I had to do things I did not like.  I was challenged in areas I did not even know I needed to grow.  I had been a pastor for ten years at this time, but I had always looked past what I was doing, expecting something greater.  I needed to learn how to think differently about where I was at that moment. 

The second thing God did in that period of my life was to introduce me to some senior people that took an interest in me.  They could have been famous preachers, and, in some circles, they were.  However, their view of ministry was very different from what I had seen in others.  They were willing to invest in smaller places and in people who could not help them further their ministry.  They showed me a different way to view success.  They did not care that I was the pastor of a small church in a small place.  They cared about me.  That was part of what changed my whole view of life and ministry. 

Finally, it was in this small town that I met a man from Liberia in West Africa.  He was a minister there and was in the United States for a time to minister here.  Many things happened in my relationship with him and his family.  They were members of our church for a number of years.  He invited me to go with him and see where he came from.  I accepted and that was the first time I went to Africa.  Africa has now become one of the most important focuses of my life and ministry.  None of these things would have happened if I had not embraced what God was doing in my life at that time.  It looked like a demotion, but nothing God is doing in your life is a demotion.  It is preparation for what he has for you in the future.

In Moses’ life, the forty years in the wilderness was the same kind of experience.  He was gifted, talented and prepared in many ways to lead Israel out of captivity.  God knew that Moses could not do what he had called him to do as long as he thought and lived like an Egyptian.  In Exodus 3:1 it seems another day just like all the rest for the last forty years.  It was not.  We never know when the next phase of our life and calling in God will begin.  Faithfulness led Moses to become what God needed him to be. 

In verses two and three Moses saw something supernatural that caught his attention.  In verse three he says, “I will now turn aside and see.”  There comes a time when we must be willing to turn aside from what we know and allow God to start the next phase of life for us.  If he had not turned aside to the burning bush, he would have remained the shepherd of Jethro’s sheep.  Instead, he decided to give his attention to something supernatural and in that moment everything changed.

For Audio Messages Visit: https://anchor.fm/bill-kiefer or search Practical Wisdom from the Word of God or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or where you listen to podcasts.

Moses God’s Deliverer

Acts 7:22-25 (NKJV): 22And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.  23Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.

While we were in Kenya this year, the Lord showed me some things about Moses’ life.  Without what Moses did, much of the history of the world would have been different.  In Exodus 2 we read of his birth and deliverance from Pharoah’s decree of death to all male children born to the Hebrew slaves.  We learn that he was finally put into a basket and set adrift on the Nile.  While his sister watched, he was found by Pharoah’s daughter.  She adopted Moses and raised him as her own.

From this chapter we learn very little about Moses himself.  However, in Acts 7 we learn much more about him from Stephen.  Stephen tells us Moses was 45 years old when he went out to see his people.  Stephen also says that he had been trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.  He says Moses was mighty both in words and in deeds.  In doing some further research I found that there had been an invasion into Egypt from Ethiopia.  According to the historian Josephus, who is respected as giving an accurate account of Hebrew history, it seems that Moses was tasked with leading and army against this invasion.  He successfully stopped it, saving Egypt.

All of this is important because we know that Moses was called by God to be the deliverer of Israel from Egypt.  If you were looking for a deliverer in the natural, it would be hard to find a more qualified candidate.  According to Stephen, Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.  Since he was raised in Pharoah’s house it would be logical to assume that training in affairs of state would have been included.  If Josephus is to be believed, Moses was a warrior and a general experienced in leading armies in battle.  He was a nobleman in Egyptian society.  Again, according to Stephen, he was mighty in words as well as deeds, so he would have been able to eloquently plead the Hebrew’s case.  He had every possible qualification to deliver Israel anyone could want including the fact that he was, indeed, of Hebrew descent. 

According to Acts 7:25, Moses assumed that these qualifications would have caused his people to welcome him as their leader and their deliverer.  He went out among them and found an Egyptian abusing a Hebrew man.  When he saw this injustice, he did what any good Egyptian warrior would do.  He struck the offending Egyptian and, in the process, killed him.  He must have known that this might not have been the best course of action because he buried the man.  Still, it would have made sense to him given his upbringing and training to do what he did.

He still assumed he would be welcomed as a deliverer and went among his people again.  This time he sees two Hebrews fighting so he says to them, “Why are you fighting?  You are supposed to be brothers.”  The one who was in the wrong says something very important.  “Who made you a ruler or judge over us.  Will you kill me like you killed the Egyptian?” 

We learn two things from this statement.  First, that the natural qualifications Moses had did not translate to qualifications in the eyes of the Hebrews.  Second, that it is impossible to do God’s work unless God has anointed the person to do it.  Moses was qualified to be a deliverer according to his Egyptian training.  He was not qualified to be God’s deliver.  What was the reason?  Isaiah 55 tells us. 

Isaiah 55:8 (NKJV)  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.

What kept Moses from being qualified to be “God’s deliverer.”  It seemed he had all he needed from a natural perspective.  Yet his natural preparation and qualifications were the problem.  He thought like an Egyptian.  God’s ways are different because God thinks differently.  In order for Moses to be God’s deliverer, he had to come to the place where he thought like God and not like an Egyptian general. 

I believe we have been in a battle between light and darkness, good and evil since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.  Periodically this battle increases in intensity as our adversary, the devil, tries to take control of God’s children and their destiny.  His eventual defeat was assured by the death burial and resurrection of Jesus, but that does not mean Satan just gave up.  Through history we see him use evil men, such as Adolph Hitler and many others to try to enforce his will upon all mankind.  God always has a counter to his attempts. 

As 2019 was coming to a close, I felt the Lord warning me that 2020, as the beginning of a new decade would bring a major battle in this fight.  We saw it as the rise of the covid 19 pandemic.  This was much more than a disease.  The disease is real and has caused much pain, but there was more to it than that.  The adversary used it to try and divide the Body of Christ.  When we are separated from each other, we are more vulnerable and less powerful.  He used it to promote fear at a very high level.  He used it to bring economic hardship.  He used it to hinder the worldwide preaching of the Gospel.  I believe we won a victory in that battle as we are once again fellowshipping together and my wife and I were able to travel to Kenya and Uganda for ministry with no hindrances.  Praise God for victory!

That said, I believe the war is not over.  As I was sharing with many church leaders in Kenya, I said to them that I felt the same thing I did in 2019.  Something is coming.  I did not know what, but it will be another battle.  Shortly before we were scheduled to return home, Israel was attacked by terrorists sparking a war.  We do not know what the outcome of this war will be.  We do not know how or if it will spread.  It is a dangerous situation that may well have widespread consequences much as the Ukraine war has.  What we can conclude is that the enemy is not done, and we will have many more battles to win.

Moses had won a battle in that he survived when other Hebrew male babies died.  He had won battles by thriving in the midst of Israel’s enemy.  However, when it was time for him to fulfill his destiny in God, he failed because his only way of thinking was as an Egyptian.  He could not win the next battle thinking that way.  He had to learn to think the way God thought.  I believe we have come to a place where we are going to have to learn the same thing.  We must think the way God thinks or we will not be victorious in the coming fight.  We will see that Moses had to spend 40 years in the wilderness being retrained to think in a different way.  What about us.

Isaiah 55 has another insight that we will look at in detail.  In verse 11 God begins to reveal a way to change how we think.

Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV)  So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

God’s Word is not just philosophy, doctrine or theology.  It is a living thing, and it has the power to change not just what we think, but how we think.  I believe it is vital that we learn this truth if we are going to be successful in our Christian walk in the coming days.  Join me as we explore how to learn to think like God thinks as we face the many challenges yet to come.

For written teachings visit our blog at https://wjkiefer.wordpress.com/

Home Again!

Acts 1:8 (NKJV)[8] “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

After a very long journey, we are finally back home.  This was a very blessed trip.  We touched hundreds of pastors, leaders and church members with the Word of God.  I believe this was one of our most effective mission trips to date.  The biggest problem we have now is there are so many people and places asking that we come, that we cannot possibly get to them all.  Pray for us for wisdom, time and funding.  Kenya and Uganda are a ripe field.  Much is changing for the good and we want to be a part of that change.

As I am sure you can understand, we are a bit tired after so much work.  In my time ministering in Africa, God showed me some powerful things that I want to share with you in the next weeks and months.  We will get back to regular blogging as well as the podcast next week. 

In the meantime, pray for the things that are going on in the world.  One of the things that God impressed on me is that Covid and all that happened as a result was not just a disease.  It was a battle in the fight between light and darkness, good and evil.  I shared with those to whom I preached in Africa that, although we won a spiritual battle in that we are back together in the church and my wife and I were able to be in Kenya and Uganda this year, the war is not over.  Just as I knew something was going to happen in 2020, I felt to tell them that there was more to come.

I had no idea that there would be war between HAMAS and Israel.  When these terrible things happened, I knew that God was showing me that this battle is not over.  Thank God he, and we, win in the end!  It is our part to pray and share the gospel in every way possible.  I believe we live in significant times.  I believe God will have his way, but I also believe in 2 Chronicles 7:14.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)[14] “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

I believe God has a plan and all of this is part of that plan.  We also have a part to play but we are going to have to learn to see things God’s way and not our own.  God will heal our lands, but his idea of what healing means and how to accomplish it is often different than ours.  I look forward to sharing some of the things God is sharing with me.  Together we can be a part of the wonderful things God is doing in the world today.

For Audio Messages Visit: https://anchor.fm/bill-kiefer or search Practical Wisdom from the Word of God or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or where you listen to podcasts.

Kenya Ministry Update: On Our Way Home

Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV) ¹⁸  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Once again, we have done our best to fulfill this verse.  It has been a long time since we either posted in this blog or did a podcast, but I hope you will understand why.  We have been in Kenya since August 11.  In that time we have been to 8 cities with week long conferences in each.  I thought I might have time to get to both the podcast and blog, but the schedule turned out to be so tight and tiring I never got to either.  Hopefully when we return next week, I will get back to it! 

This has been one of the best trips we have had to this wonderful nation.  We actually started out in of Uganda where we ministered from Tuesday to Friday 9 AM to 4 PM.  (This is our usual schedule though sometimes there are modifications.)  We had around 100 pastors, leaders and church members out in a village setting.  It was hot and the daily travel a bit long and uncomfortable, but the meeting was very productive.  We taught on a number of things, some of which we will be sharing in this space in the near future.

We went from there to Malaba, Kenya with our good friends Pius and Matilda Idewa.  They have planted some 18 churches, and we have a standing invitation to minister their yearly conference.  There were more than 100 in the day meetings and over 600 in the Sunday Morning celebration.  Again, our method is to teach pastors and leaders as well as church members things that will strengthen and encourage them so they can go back to their churches.  They use what they learn all year to help in their local ministries.

At Malabe our Oldest son Jason joined us.  He was with us through the next conference in Mumias, Kenya.  He had some powerful messages to share, and many are looking forward to his next visit.  Mumias, with our dear friend Eliakim Otieno, was not quite as large but still the largest meeting we have had in that town.  We really felt a significant impact as we met new people and connected with some old friends.

From there it was on to Kericho, Kenya.  This is another annual meeting with the same group we work with in Malaba, Maranatha Faith Outreaches.  Kericho is always a blessing as many pastors from the Kericho region join us for a great time of teaching and fellowship.  The regional overseer for that area is Rev. Peter Katonga.  He is a wonderful man and good friend.  Pray for him as he lost his wife just a couple of weeks after we left.

From there we traveled to Isibania, Kenya.  (You can look these places up on Google maps and see how far we ranged around Kenya and Uganda.)  This was a new place for us, and it turned out to be a powerful meeting with the group asking us to stay another week.  This is another Maranatha group and Pastor Samwel Sabora took wonderful care of us.  We met some new friends, and we look forward to returning next year.

Our next stop was in Bungoma, Kenya.  Once again, we spent a week with pastors this time part of a group called PEFA.  PEFA is an outreach of Elim Bible Institute in Lima, NY.  The Bunboma region is lead by Rev. Celestine Khisa.  Although we have been there before, this was really the first full conference we have done with them.  Many pastors received things they testified spoke to their hearts and circumstances.  Rev. Celestine is facing some real challenges, so please keep him and his family in prayer.

From Bungoma we travelled back to our base in Limuru, Kenya where our host David Cerar lives.  His house is a second home to us and without his work we would not be able to do what we do in Kenya.  He has been a resident of this nation for over 26 years and has worked as a Bible school director, teacher and traveling missionary.  He has given his life to building the body of Christ is foreign nations, first in Mexico and then here in Kenya.  He provides the transportation, contacts and many, many other things to enable us to serve.  He is also a powerful speaker and we actually assist him here in Kenay.  Keep him in prayer as well.

Although Limuru is our home away from home, that did not mean we got much of a break.  We ministered Wednesday through Friday morning in the chapel service of Harvest Fields Bible school.  This is a school started by Pastors Leonard and Rosella Fox of Colton California.  For many years their daughter Sharon Cranford was the director of the school residing in Kenya for 25 years.  The Fox’s, who have long gone to their reward were dear friends and wonderful ministers who had a great impact in our lives.  Sharon keeps tabs on the school and Leonard’s grandson Zach is not overseeing the work from California.

One of Harvest Fields leaders is a friend who we knew before but got to know much better on this trip.  His name is Rev. Sammy Kioko.  Sammy is over the more than 100 harvest field churches as well as the assistant dean of the Bible school.  Sammy actually was with us in Tororo, Uganda and is a tremendous teacher and minister of the Gospel.  He welcomed us to the Bible school where we spent three wonderful mornings with some budding pastors, ministers and leaders for the Kenya’s next generation.

Also in, we were with Christ at Work Ministries, founded by Reverend Lydia Kamau.  We hadr three days of seminar teaching.  Pastor Angela and Assistant Pastor Steven hosted a number of other pastors from the Limuru area.  Once again all in attendance seemed to be blessed and impacted by what God gave us to share with them.  It was a real blessing to us as well.

Finally, we traveled to Mwatate, Kenya toward the east coast of the nation.  This was another place we ministered for the first time.  Pastor Evans and Sophie Kiju were gracious hosts, and we had a good start for ministry there.  We will be praying about returning next year.

We also ministered in churches in each area on Sundays.  Each of us, including David who is always one of the conference speakers, and Jason when he was here, went to different churches so that we could maximize our input to the local churche.  We also did Marriage Seminars in many of the locations on Saturdays. 

As you can see, we were very busy.  Monday was our travel day and almost every other day, with a few exceptions, were spent pouring out to leaders of the Kenyan and Ugandan church.  Due to covid it has been 4 years since we have been able to be with these wonderful people.  Like visiting children you have not seen in a while, we saw some real growth in the churches here.  God is doing something in Kenya and Uganda, and we are glad to be a part of it.  The ministry is growing and there are several places that are asking us to be with them in the future.  Pray for wisdom, finances and strength that we may fulfill our assignment from God in this part of the world.

We will have the rest of this week off from ministry to rest and pack.  We finish with churches next Sunday the 15^th.  We fly home on the 17^th and will finally sleep in our own bed the 18^th.  Thank you all for your prayers and your support.  I believe the eternal impact that God has enabled Elaine and me to have on this trip is credited to all of you as well as us. 

God bless and we will get back to writing etc. as soon as we can.

For Audio Messages Visit: https://anchor.fm/bill-kiefer or search Practical Wisdom from the Word of God or Bill Kiefer on Spotify or where you listen to podcasts.