Heritage Presbyterian Church

Today we worshiped at Heritage Presbyterian Church, 2262 Rochester Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237, 412.366.1338, www.heritagepcusa.org, Rev. Brian Janssen, Pastor.

Scripture

Isaiah 40:6-11

"A voice says, “Cry out.”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.

You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”

See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.

See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young."

Revelation 7:9-10

"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”"

Bob’s thoughts:

I got to hold grandchildren for a good portion of the service so was unable to take many notes. I enjoyed how the service progressed and had forgotten what an asset an Order of Worship was. It was wonderful to sing familiar worship songs and reconnect with friends.

A point from the Stegemans’ message stuck with me as they told us of their efforts to bring the Bible to Papua New Guineans in their language. I believe they said there are 8,000 languages in New Guinea, making this an even more phenomenal undertaking, compounded by New Guinea’s pay-back culture and the inroads the devil has there.

It all brought to mind a dear old friend who was stationed in Papua New Guinea during World War II. While exploring upriver from where they drew their water, he discovered a village of cannibals. He managed to communicate with them and they accepted him. Later in life he was sure the Paget’s Disease from which he suffered was caused by that water supply.

I had a similar experience in Vietnam at an orphanage with an old carpenter who took care of the place. We came in to build new desks for them, but we came as ugly Americans, ignoring him and his work and place in the orphanage. I wandered around back and met him; he was slicing a log with a primitive bow saw cutting towards his bare feet as he stood atop the log. With our shared abilities in carpentry we were able to communicate and come to an understanding, he was able to save face, and the children got new desks.

I thought about these two encounters and what it would take to communicate Christ…a perspective of the awesome accomplishments of the Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Jan’s thoughts:

It was a joy to worship with many friends today, as well as family.

Heritage supports Wycliffe Bible Translators through its mission budget and Dee and Ray Stegeman were there to present the message and update the congregation on their work.

The Stegemans joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1994 and in 1995 they took their one-year-old daughter to Guyana, South America to begin their Bible translation work. Their son was born in Guyana, and both of their children are now out of high school. The Stegemans currently serve in Papua New Guinea, an island country north of Australia, as their work in South America was completed after 15 years there.

The statistics were fascinating: there are 6,919 languages in the world; only 513 have the entire Bible translated; 2,312 have part of the Bible translated. A total of 4,096 languages have no published Scripture, and Wycliffe works to remedy that.

We got to watch two videos that clearly demonstrated the joy and celebration of two groups of people upon receiving copies of the Bible translated into “the language that speaks best to their hearts.”

Ray and Dee stressed that many various and unexpected skill sets are needed to assist in this work and anyone with a heart to become involved can begin by checking out the website at www.wycliffe.org.

I have heard the Stegemans’ names for years and find their work intriguing. It is hard to imagine not having access to the Word of God in my own language, and I must believe God smiles when His Word is born in a culture and then in human hearts. What an amazing ministry.

Our prayer for this church:

Lord, we pray You continue to encourage and guide Heritage Church and Wycliffe Bible Translators as they fight the spiritual warfare they encounter. Amen.