Vol.26 No.1

Brethren, Sisters and Sunday School Children at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp | Malawi

We as preachers of the Gospel are easily discouraged by the apparent rejection of our message. We become accustomed to that rejection, and this can lead us to descend into merely glumly witnessing to God?s truth, as an unavoidable duty we feel we ought to discharge. It can seem that many people are almost inevitably predisposed not to accept the message; their surrounding background and personal history leaves us shaking our heads with the impression that really, they are just hopeless cases. God?s word; it may seem, is simply not for them.

Jan-April 2014

We wonder why the word is so hard for them to understand. And in our own mire of mediocrity, we can assume likewise that there are parts of our own lives which simply will not change; we can only hope in God?s grace to save us. In the worst case, this can descend yet further into a questioning as to whether God?s word is indeed mighty to save men in this world. Yet Isaiah 55:10-13 challenges and shocks us out of this negative attitude: "For as the

rain comes down and the snow from the sky and doesn?t return there but waters the