Being present and living a Christian life opens doors.   Nothing can replace the power of a good testimony as it develops trust.  In March, I was out and about when I saw a familiar face.  This kind gentleman and I had become friends through my car.  He had owned the same model.  I had shared the gospel with him in passing, but this day he was noticeably busy in his thoughts.  He told me he was on his way to see his doctor about his blood pressure.  I asked him if I could pray with him before he left.  He agreed and I took his hand and brought him before the Lord.  With tears welling up, he gratefully thanked me.  Being present is so important!

I was recently on a group trip where a young person demanded that I agree with “bi” sexuality.  She had become the alpha in the group and was demanding that I subject myself to her viewpoint.  I stated that I can respect her as a person. I can love her as a human being, but I will never agree with her view of sexuality. The conversation ended in her frustration, but I lovingly stood on truth. 

The next day as we embarked on a 7 km hike through the woods, the coolest thing happened. Six young men who had witnessed the previous day’s confrontation walked along side me and began showering me with questions spanning from life and death to faith and salvation, extent of salvation, life after death, who can be saved, are bad "Christians" in heaven, memory of former life and the list went on and on. They saw my biblical stand the day before. They had a hunger for truth!!!  I call miracle!  God is good!

Our family has now all been through Covid.  One of the young men on that hike shared it with me.  I naturally gave it to Chelli and then Sadie tested positive as well.  The timing could not have been better as we had a planned trip that would have had to be cancelled if it had come any later.  Now that I have had it, I am free from any Covid restrictions in our area. Germany is slowly dropping its restrictions.  God’s timing is always best.

Please pray for my eyesight.  During my COVID experience I suffered a tear inside the eye. This caused blood to build up and now I have a permanent ring-shaped floater in my vision. The doctor said the small blood drops will go away with time, but the ring is permanent. Please pray for my eye health that there be no further deterioration.

A special thanks for the support and the special offerings during these uncertain times.

The Sudbrock Family

No one goes to a sporting event with the belief that their team will lose. This is exactly why so many don’t share their faith.   

To be successful, we must be excited about what God has done, knowing He, who has promised, has already won.  We have a book full of His victories.

Every sport fan knows his team’s stats.  We need to know our God was, is and will be!

I have fallen in love with the quest of seeing the gospel in the OT.  The apostles preached Christ’s message of repent (return to agree with God) and believe (trust Him) without the benefit of the NT.   One such text (Isaiah 7), when its power was recognized, propelled me to witness to six people in an afternoon; pumped with the realization that Our God wins.  Two of those six allowed me to lead them in prayer.

Soul winning starts in a heart driven by the power of God.  That power is available through His word; experienced in the heart of the believer.

Isaiah had a son whose name means a residue will return (repent).  God sent him with his infant son to meet the idol worshiping king of Judah, Ahaz.  He was being threated by two kings. Isaiah was to call him to return to God and see his two enemies removed.  He refused.

Prophecy has a short-term fulfillment as proof for the future fulfillment.

God wanted, and despite Ahaz, did share one of the most important prophecies of Christ’s birth and the beautiful message of returning and rest for salvation.  So, we must share, even when the intended will not obey.  The message is more important than one stubborn King.  It is an everlasting message from the Eternal to all men of all times, “Behold, a virgin will conceive…a son” and He “shall be called Immanuel!”

In the context of the prophecy, the two kings after Ahaz would have been removed before Shearjashub was of decerning age.  Salvation was available to a returning Ahaz, but not for a non-repentant one.

The newborn Christ (Salvation) was carried to Egypt to escape Herod. Upon return, He had to go to Nazareth to avoid the second.  The two kings were out of the way before Jesus was of age.  The whole story is that of return to agree with God, trust His salvation, and receive eternal life.

God has been faithful and Sadie’s right knee is healing perfectly.  Her left knee, although better, may need further surgery. Please pray for wisdom and healing.

A special thanks for the support and the special offerings during these uncertain times.

The Sudbrock Family

The conductor of an orchestra commands musicians who flawlessly play instruments of the highest quality.  The Conductor and Orchestra rehearse untold hours to achieve a quality performance.  Yet, such music reaches a limited audience, for orchestra music is not for everyone.

Our first Reformation Festival since the onset of Covid was a success.  We passed out many hundred tracts and had helpers from the Baptist Church that Skyler and Eva are members of. It is always a blessing to share Christ, even more so when people stop and discuss. Many such opportunities availed themselves during the day-long festival commemorating the Reformation. It is a lot of worthwhile labor to be a part of the event that we utilize for evangelism. We even received acknowledgment for the first time from the organizers in the form of a thank you card.

We no sooner put the festival behind us than we were deep in our Christmas outreach. The benefits of this outreach are not only for the kids who receive a gift, or for those who help but it is a witness that Christians don’t just talk the talk, but we walk the walk.

At the school, our outreach has been stifled by corona regulations, but we were blessed to be able to teach a 45 min class about respect to each of the 8th grade classes. Chelli spoke to the girls, and I with the boys. Chelli posed the question to the girls, “Are you a china cup, or a paper cup.”  To the boys the question was, Are you a Maserati or a manure wagon. I started with Christ’s answer about the law: Love God and love others.

I often talk about my coming message with people I have contact with as an invitation to our services and more importantly as an opportunity to evangelize. During the Christmas outreach, I was out and ran into a Lady to whom we have influenced for many years.  I was working through the application of Joshua and Israel’s crossing of the Jordan. I communicated to her that Israel, like so many of us, easily got caught up in the literal and missed out on the spiritual. We quickly become hypocritical rather than truly walking with a full heart with our Lord.

The way that archaeologists found the crossing was the fact that Israel took God so literally that they built the encampment in the shape of a right foot: “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.”

As I told her that people need to see that we are truly walking with God. We don’t need nominal Christians. The world needs practicing Christians. She interrupted me with tear-swollen eyes and stated, “You and your family are exactly that to me.”  What an honor! It is a great blessing to see that God is working through us in the lives of others.

Maybe you have had the chance to read my Joseph post.  Before I posted “The Three Josephs”, I used it as a soul-winning opener for weeks and preached it as a sermon opening the traditional four Sundays of the Christmas Celebration Season.  Everywhere you go, use every opportunity to tell of His loving salvation!  If you missed it, you can read “The Three Josephs” on our Facebook page or newfire4germany.org.

Merry Christmas!

Discovering something new in God’s word is always exhilarating. It occurred to me the other day as I was reading the Gospels that the life of Christ is bookended with two Josephs: His earthly father Joseph and Joseph of Arimathea.

It is so encouraging when someone “gets you” or when you realize you are not the only one.  When the prophet was at his lowest, God said, “…I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal…” I Kings 19:17. We live in a time when satan, the contrary accuser, appears to have the upper hand.  Do not be discouraged, but rather rally unto your local church and go out with the gospel.  It is the only light. It is the point of it all!  It will pierce the darkness and the gates of Hell do not have a chance!

In their zeal, the disciples admitted to reproving one for casting out devils in the Savior’s name.  Christ was clear,”…Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part.” Mk 9:39-40.  In the Hebrew language, “Jesus” can be broken down into two roots; Jehovah and Saves.  It literally means Savior.

An update on Sadie. Her surgery went well.  It took longer than expected as there was extensive scar tissue that needed to be removed; however, it is healing nicely.  She is now in rehabilitation for the next three weeks.  At the end of those three weeks she is scheduled to go without her bionic looking knee brace.  Please continue to pray for healing.  When this knee is at 100%, the right knee is to have the same operation. This is to avoid the damage the left knee sustained through the weakened tendon which should hold the kneecap in the proper position.

The last few weeks of school, before the summer break, I went with two different classes on three different day trips.  Two were with Chelli’s class; one to Berlin and the other was a 6.7-mile hike to Bergwitzsee.  The other class took the same hike.  These class trips are a great way of building relationships.

Please pray that the school chapel service can be restarted in the fall.  Though I have been making videos for the teaches to use at their discretion, “live” is always better.  For the last five years I have been doing the chapel services and the trust that was built was key this year. 

The tenth graders were the first class that I began ministering to through chapel services all those years ago.  They were asked who they wanted to preach their tenth grade commence-ment.  They requested me.  Despite Covid regulations, I was blessed to preach the Gospel to over 200, consisting of students, faculty and family members.

God opens doors when you least expect it. A day when my plate was full of prep, God led me to take a break from the brain work and go take care of some business at the church.  Underway, God let me see a man walking in the rain toward the train station and told me to stop.

I pulled into a driveway along his path and offered him a ride.  He was a bit shocked at first, but happily climbed in out of the downpour.  He immediately noticed the cross embroidered on my shirt and exclaimed that he was a Muslim.  I asked him if he was also a human.  Astounded and humored he answered, “Yes.”  I then shared with him the meaning of “Adam” (one blood) and Acts 17:26-28.  I took his hand and proclaimed that we were created equal.  Blown away by how I disregarded the divisions of skin color and religion, he became an attentive and excited listener as I told of our need and of the only one who can save, Jesus.

As we pulled into the train station, he hurriedly wrote his name and Tel No. on a scrap of paper.  He exclaimed, “I have never experienced anything like this!” Before he exited my car, I took his hand again praying that he would trust Jesus for salvation.   Please pray for David!

Be open to God’s leadership by praying without ceasing.  God has a plan.  Be a part of it!

As Sadie is in her last two years of school and her left knee locked up on her, I took over delivering her paper route.  The contract had already been signed, so… 

Anyway, my knees are improving, and I am enjoying all the opportunity to talk with people while getting in some exercise (the gyms has been closed for a year now due to lockdown).  It is amazing how many soul winning opportunities have arisen.  One man in particular, got a double dose.  Both times were part of my prep for Sunday.  The first time, he closed the conversation with, “Due to our conversation, I am going to go inside and read the 10 Commandments again.”

The next time, I was able to pray with him.  Can’t wait to see him receive Christ!

Another lady always stared at me as I put the paper in the door slot.  The Saturday before Palm Sunday, I met her at her gate and shared with her how the Palm symbolized Jesus as being the victor over sin and the savior of the believer.  She now meets me at the door with a smile.

Horst, stopped me.  I have no Idea how he knew that I am an American.  He had to show me the inground swimming pool he was putting in his garden.  Little did he expect to hear the gospel that day.

R received Christ last Wednesday.  It was 12 years in the coming.  His daughter was in the 1st grade with Sadie.  We planted seed, watered, composted, fertilized.  Serenity and Sadie spent time with their daughters and the girls visited us.  They attended church on special occasions and the girls came to youth meetings.  There was a closedness about Rick.  Some is his personality.  Yet the rest was spiritual.  Contact had waned over the years until his daughter asked about confession and if I could bless a house.  Out of the blue. I received a message from an unknown number. 

It was R.  He had been messing with spiritual darkness and was afraid to sleep in his own bed.  I met with him Wednesday morning at 7:30. He was so repentive and so ready to fall into Jesus’ hands. We then prayed that God would also cleanse his house and bless his family.  We have a new brother and we are going through discipleship in preparation for baptism.  He brought his family to church Sunday.  It took 12 years.

Next week, the lockdown loosens, and the Chapel services start back up at the school!  Another blessing, I have been asked by the graduating class to speak for their Commencement.

Please pray for Sadie’s knee surgery tomorrow and healing.  Her knee problem has been seen by many doctors since she first hurt it in the 2nd grade.  Getting the right doctor is not always a simple thing.  It takes time – God’s time.

A special thanks for the special offerings, especially during these uncertain times.

The Sudbrock Family  

Every time we reorient on a new end date for the lockdown it is extended. There are many adjustments that we have made.  Thankfully, the German court opposed some of the obvious anti-constitutional measures. At one point, we were not allowed to travel more than 15 kilometers from our residence.  That was quickly revised to 15 Km from the city limits and later overruled.

Non-essential businesses have been closed since before Christmas.  Building supply stores are closed to the general population.  They have developed a slight workaround.  You can order via the internet and then pick up your order via appointment only.  If I only had a construction license it would make our many church and school projects so much easier.

We are endeavoring to get the gospel out despite lockdown. Chelli came up with the great idea of a Neighborhood Free Library. So, I set out to build a little weatherproof book box during Covid Lockdown to house a Little Free Library as an outreach.  The adventure took a little while to get it finished and hung on the fence, but it is a success.  We have stocked it with Bibles, children’s Bibles, devotionals, books by Christian authors, and classic literature as well as some of the children’s books that our children have outgrown.  It has been well-accepted in the community and we are beginning to see a rotation of the materials.  If you would like to help us keep this library stocked, please mark your donation: “Bibles”. We are planning to open two more of these little libraries: one at the school and then one at the church as well. 

Our next brainstorm was a postcard with links to several sites such as Bible apps, the series "The Chosen", devotional sites, and our church's digital contact information.  Sadie did the artwork for the front. It includes the phrase, “Be merciful…” from Luke 6:36. We are currently in the process of canvassing our city with these since, here in Germany, we can place materials in mailboxes for free.

Thankfully, we are still permitted to meet in person at our church building for Sunday morning services.  In addition, I am doing a daily 3 min video devotion available over our church’s site.

Our postcard offers further contact to our church with the option of a free Bible, Christian video, and other literature.  Pray that God will use these outreaches.

Pray as the schools begin to open again that our openings there will be effective as well.

A special thanks for the special offerings, especially during these uncertain times.

So thankful for all you do to help us do what we do,

The Sudbrock Family  

Subcategories