Over the last few years, GES has been sending Kathryn and I to do various conferences or lectures at Bible schools and seminaries overseas. For example, there is a school in Zambia where we’ve taught courses on soteriology and the Book of Romans.

One of the exciting aspects of our mission work is keeping in touch with our students, especially in regards to their follow up questions. We receive emails from them on a weekly basis, and it’s always an encouragement to see how they are applying the truths we taught, especially eternal security and the doctrine of rewards.

This week Kathryn received the following message from a student in Zambia in reference to 1 John 5:16-17:

“I am being told that the sin that leads unto death in this verse was eternal death. But looking at the audience of John, I don’t think the passage supports that idea.”

What is exciting about this question is that it shows the student’s ability to study the passage in context. He was able to identify the audience as believers and discern that the explanation he was hearing didn’t fit into the context. He also was able to see that the conversation was dealing with a “brother” who was in sin.

After a brief discussion with Kathryn, the student then said he had been reading some of the material we had left for their library. Among the books we had left for them was Zane Hodges’s commentary on the Epistles of John. The student had studied the book to see the different views. He left our discussion with a clearer understanding of the passage, but it all started from his original study.

Unfortunately, due to Covid19, we were not able to go to Zambia this year. This means our students have been without a free grace teacher for over a year. What is exciting about this email and many more exchanges online, is that we are seeing our students taking these truths and using them beyond our time together.

Lord willing, and if He doesn’t return first, we plan to return in May of 2021. But even during this time apart, we are thankful to see our students growing in their knowledge of free grace. This is all because of the Lord’s goodness and our GES family supporting us in our overseas work.

Thank you to everyone that has participated, prayed, sent books, and supported us in our work. We could not do this without you all.