Recent Trip to Jordan, Egypt, & Lebanon

It was a privilege to teach on biblical parenting at Heliopolis Community Church in Cairo. Sermon here. 

It has been a good trip to Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon. I'm on the way home now. Let me tell you about one guy I sat with. I was visiting a school for Syrian refugee kids from Muslim families founded by a wonderful ministry in Lebanon. When I asked the principal if there are any male teachers, she introduced me to the only one. Emad is about 30 yrs old and started teaching the Arabic class 2 weeks ago with no classroom experience. We talked about the difference between discipline and punishment when dealing with the students and looked at Hebrews 12 together. His dad died in the civil war when he was 1 yr old. Though he has been saved for the past 8 years, he says that he has never had a spiritual father in his life. When he told me that he prays in tongues over each classroom every morning, we talked about the gift of tongues while affirming our unity in the gospel. Later I sent him this article about tongues to consider. Though many of the mothers of the Syrian students attend the weekly church service, very few dads do. Emad is praying for a partner to go with him to visit the fathers in their homes. Would you pray with him for such a partner, as well as for a spiritual father in his life?

When I found out that the booklet Help! He Is Struggling With Pornography has been translated into Arabic, I bought a bunch of them while in Egypt and gave one to each of the brothers whom I met with on this trip. Egypt has one of the highest percentages of porn viewers in the world. I explained to my friends how I have asked 3 older Christian men if I may confess to them if I entertain a lustful thought beyond a few seconds. Repenting of the sin of lust immediately makes it much easier to resist the temptation. Pray that these brothers would walk in purity and help other brothers do the same.