The Foundation of Many Generations

posted by Navigators on October 26th, 2023 in Evangelism | Generations

By Doug Utley, Melbourne Labouring Community

We escaped to Hamilton Island in August for a week. Glorious sun and warm water, beaches and coral reef. One night, I got up for a drink and was stopped in my tracks by the night sky entering through the balcony doors. It was a moonless night and with no city light the stars were blazing over the Whitsunday Passage. I sat down and stared, thinking, ‘These are virtually the same stars God showed to Abraham about 4,000 years ago.’ The context was God promising childless Abram (in his nineties with a barren wife) that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. And Abram believed God. I was reminded of Galatians 3:29, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, and heirs according to the promise.” We are not only the answer to the promise, but we inherit the promise … to be part of growing God’s forever family in all the world.

Then I thought of Q. He brought his wife K and daughter N to a meeting for women at our home just before Covid. My friend Bruce and I met him and said, “We can’t stay here; this is secret women’s business.” So, we went for coffee and shared our stories. Q was a Buddhist engineer from Thailand who was here working on the metro underground railway. Since his wife went to church, he was interested to find out about Jesus and Christianity. So, he and I met in a coffee shop for lunch in Southern Cross City Rail Station. We looked at what Buddha found out and what Jesus’ ‘best mate’ John wrote about him. After six months I asked what he thought, and Q said he believed Jesus was the Son of God who died for our sins. Then we talked about ‘believing in your head’ and ‘believing in your heart’ and Q said he was ready to pray. He thought we should find a church, but I said God was already here in the coffee shop. So we prayed.

On Hamilton Island I considered: would I believe God could make Q the foundation of many generations?

Doug and Geneve Utley are longtime labourers with Australian Navigators and are actively ministering in their local community. To find out more, visit: https://navigators.org.au/staff/utleydg/. Doug also has a series of studies for Christian growth available for free download called ‘People of Passion’. Find out more here: https://navigators.org.au/lead-others/help-others-grow/people-of-passion/