March 2025 Australia, Russia, Ukraine, UK
AUSTRALIA Brother Mark reports another two baptisms in Western Australia:
"The spirit of Jesus' sacrifice resonated into the hearts of ALISTAIR and SUE and as a result, they were today baptised into the death and resurrection of Jesus; believing in his sacrifice for sin and a resurrection to new life that will go on eternally when he returns. They sense a massive grace from God in Christ Jesus; a sense that grew as they grew older; an awareness that demanded a response; a compelling response to grace. It just so happened that they saw our ad on YouTube. It was just the right message at just the right time; an invitation that coincided with the spirit of Jesus working in their hearts. And so, they travelled from country Western Australia to Perth city and our little home and pool for the baptism. We read and reflected on many appropriate Bible passages and by the grace of God, they were baptised into Gods only begotten son, Jesus our Lord".
RUSSIA
YouTube is now effectively blocked in Russia. This is a big negative for our online work, both pastorally and in fresh preaching. Our Russian brethren are now all reporting this is the case... at least, our videos can't be accessed. This had been official Russian Government policy since 2024 but it's only now being felt by users.
UKRAINE
With the prospect of a ceasefire, both sides are hitting the other as hard as they can. This leads to constant fear for so many civilians, including many of our brothers and sisters and their families. This includes not only those in Ukraine, but now also our brethren in Moscow and southern Russia who are also under attack. The constant wailing of sirens and going to bomb shelters is going to be a cause of PTSD for so many especially the children. Let's pray for them all.
UK
Please pray for the spiritual success of our away retreat next weekend, God willing. It is now fully booked for residential places, although we can still accommodate any last-minute day visitors. It's amazing how people eagerly invite their relatives and friends; this is how the good news of the Gospel spreads. We may have some baptisms too.
It was great to get down to the Kent coast to baptize CHRIS, another of our online followers. He has been reading the Bible a long time and wanting to come to an authentic personal relationship with God and the Lord Jesus. Such a joy to be led to connect with such sincere searching people like this. We did the baptism in the sea, and it was really cold. It was snowing that morning, we [or more particularly, Chris] decided to go ahead whatever, but the sun and blue skies appeared just for the baptism. Quite the 'little' miracle.
Video at https://youtu.be/15Us19XLZTw
Hearing of the baptism of Chris in cold water off the Kent coast inspired another man in Kent to drop all his doubts and fears and also decide to be baptized in the cold water. CHARLIE was really so brave to do this. The wind was icey, the beach utterly deserted. It was just so cold and miserable. We did hope that just as the Lord moved away the heavy winds and rain for Chris's baptism, and gave us a brief sunny, windless few minutes for the baptism- so it would be for Charlie. But it wasn't. The wind and rain were awful, with thick clouds above us. He bravely continued to go for it, and we did the baptism in extremely cold and windy conditions. But right afterwards, the sun came out strongly and drove away those thick clouds. We had spoken before in our baptism chat of the passage of Israel through the Red Sea being like baptism... and it did rather seem like that. We can of course over interpret things like the sun and clouds, but it did seem some kind of acted parable. We rejoice with the Angels in the quiet bravery of Charlie, all motivated by the Lord's suffering for him. The before and after photos are wonderful testimony- nervous, cold, thick grey clouds above; and then joyful, confident, even colder, with sun and blue skies.
Video at https://youtu.be/3CYbOAE2DeY
PRAYER POINTS
- For those recently baptized
- For our upcoming retreat next weekend
- For those under bombardment in both Ukraine and Russia
- For the issues being caused by Russia blocking access to some of our online resources
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks
