As I think about all the people God used in my life to help me, the following come to mind:
First, my wife Jody. She has been the single most consistent source of gospel grace and resurrection life I have ever seen. I see her day in and day out experiencing the powerful love of Jesus in her heart, and then sharing that love with me and our six children, with all the children she teaches in Sunday school, with anybody she runs into at the store and with all the ladies she ministers to here at Setting Captives Free. She’s simply all about Jesus and the gospel, and it has affected me more than anything I’ve ever experienced.
Then there was our Pastor, Will Lohnes, who was willing to minister to me in my weakness and impurity, who loved me like a father and stuck closer than a brother. He means so much to me even today, 20 years later.
Then there was Alistair Begg, a pastor that consistently taught me the gospel every week, and showed me the extreme importance of it.
Then there’s Rob Robertson, my beloved brother from Australia who I’ve had the privilege of knowing for nearly 18 years. He too has some real difficulties in his life, but through God’s grace and the power of the gospel he’s overcoming them all. He is such an example to me.
And Petrus Zijlstra from the Netherlands has walked with me and displayed the wisdom and love of Jesus to me, often. He’s a huge blessing to me.
Erick Hurt and I affectionately call each other "twins" because God has put such love in our hearts for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for each other, and because of similar pasts and age. He has shown me "the all-surpassing power of God" in an "earthen vessel" (2 Corinthians 4:7), as he goes through hardships that life throws at him with such amazing grace and love. And then there’s our son, Pastor Jeremy Cleveland. He has encouraged my heart beyond words. He receives the love of Jesus and then just pours it out to others in his life, always focusing on the gospel and calling others to look at Jesus.
And I can’t forget some students who have affected me so much: Sam and Joce and Kelly and Bill and Pat, Linda and Steve and others. They’ve shown me that the gospel is changing their hearts, that Jesus is becoming precious to them, and that freedom is in finding a love relationship with Jesus. They bless me beyond words!
Why am I telling you this?
It’s to show, what of course you already know, that God uses people in the lives of other people to draw them to the cross, give them a new heart of worship, and help them learn how to walk in a different way than they had before. People helping people.
I want you to know that there is absolutely nothing like watching God change a heart and a life, and to see how “the gift is not like the trespass”, in that a changed heart and life begins to share life and love with all around them. This is what it is like to see the world change, one heart at a time.
And you have the opportunity to now get involved and pray for your students, and witness to them of how the gospel is changing you, and encourage them to come and look at Jesus, walk with Him, follow Him as their Lord.
But it can be difficult, as you’ve no doubt seen. There is opposition, people sometimes start and don’t finish (of course many come back later, so never stop praying for your students), and then there is the burdens of the people that we take on. It feels as though we are being weighed down by their burdens, carrying their burdens on our shoulders and it feels like we might collapse under the weight at times.
But then we remember Jesus, Who carried our burdens and bore our sorrows, carrying our sins in His own body on the tree. We remember that He invites us to come to Him and rest, and take up His yoke which is "easy" and His burden which is "light" (Matthew 11:28-30). What an exchange! He took our sins and sorrows, the weight of the whole world on His shoulders, and we get that which is "light and easy." Oh precious Jesus, how I love you! You have taken my sins but you have captured my heart! Even now Jesus prays for us, interceding for us, speaking comfort to our hearts through the Holy Spirit. So I’ve come up with the conclusion that I’d rather die carrying someone else’s burden, and experience the powerful ministry of Jesus through His Holy Spirit, than to not have the burden to carry.
Are you ready for all this too?
Question 3. Please share why you are wanting to minister with Setting Captives Free? Why are you applying to minister the gospel with us?
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