Moving

Ok, we have our new ntm blog set up and have made a new post. You can go there by clicking HERE.

Exciting News,

But you will have to wait. We have decided after all these years to do away with this blog page and use the New Tribes Mission missionary website as the place where you can check on us and the work God is doing in PNG. We do actually have a very exciting post to share with you and as soon as our new NTM page is up and running we will publish it. Hopefully in the next couple days we will make the transition and send out some updates to everyone so they know where our new page is.

Thanks for your faithful partnership through this website and we pray we have many more with the new one.

A new source of entertainment.

Most times while shopping in town we find something amusing on the shelves. We have started trying to take pictures of these unusual things so we can share them with you.

Just in case the regular stuff doesn't do the trick.

Feeling a bit unloved, we've got the solution.

We still laugh at this one, the joke hangs on our refrigerator.

No guilt here!

Hopefully these will bring a smile to your face. If not at least you can talk about the Hambs' strange sense of humor.

A melon and the widows mite........

It is funny how little things can be so humbling. I think of Jesus sitting near the treasury watching as many rich people were putting in large amounts of money, then an old widow drops in her last few cents and Jesus makes a statement that seems to make no sense "she has put in more than all the others!" This year as with last we picked out a couple gifts for each of the center workers. We try to find things that they don't normally get, things that would be fun for them. We don't spend a lot of money or time although for them it is a fairly expensive present. But it doesn't even compare to the gift we received back. We don't expect anything from them as they are basically living below poverty level yet God continues to use them to be a blessing to us, and to remind us that it is not the size of the gift that matters but the size of the heart that is giving.
This year, again, one of our workers brought Christmas gifts for us. He saved watermelons from his garden to give out as gifts to a few of us here on the center. Watermelons are highly prized and often stolen from gardens. His wife carved a small note in them personalizing each melon. I couldn't stop smiling after he gave us the gifts and I saw the smile on his face. Below is a picture of the watermelon and the inscription which says "to mr. math (Matt) we wish you all a happy merry christmas God bless you all love from Patrick and family." We bought gifts out of our abundance and they out of their poverty they gave far more. I would love to keep the melon as a reminder but alas we will be eating it so a picture will be all we keep to remember this wonderful gift. You are probably thinking how wonderful it is to hear stories of God working in the hearts of His children but Patrick is not a christian and has never heard the real gospel in a way that makes sense to him. Many religions have taught him that he can somehow work hard enough to appease God so he doesn't understand the Gospel of Grace. The one gift we would love to be able to give him and his family is the gift of life. Whenever you see a watermelon we hope it reminds you to pray that God will open doors of opportunity for Patrick and the other workers to hear the truth of God's word and receive the gift of eternal life.

Manam

We wanted to give an update on our ministry here in PNG. Recently we have been talking about the possibility of reopening a work on Manam island. This last week we had 3 men from Manam come to our center to meet with 3 bible teachers from the Itutang church. The purpose of the meeting was to begin discipling the guys who are currently leading the Manam church. They are needing help and have asked that we do something right away. We feel that we can assist this small church now by providing some good Bible teaching from other mature PNG believers. Christine and I are praying that we can become more and more involved with the Manam church and eventually move into full time ministry amongst this small group of believers. Other religious groups have been influencing the believers and they are struggling to stay true to God's word. They really need some in depth teaching on the function of the church and the life of the believer. This first meeting was to begin teaching on Acts and we just assisted/facilitated the time by providing the place for them to meet and helping make sure they had food and other necessities. It was so encouraging to be able to help out these 2 groups of believers and see our resources used in a more direct way in seeing mature churches established. We want to thank all of you who have sacrificed your time to pray for us and your finances to help support us and we know the Manam church will thank you some day as they grow and mature in the Lord and begin reaching out to others around them who have not heard the Good news.

Here is a picture of the guys who came. From left to right they are; Anton, Markus, Kletus, Jems, Leo, Jems #2  and me (I didn't come, I was already here).

We are excited to be a part of what God is doing here in PNG, especially as we come alongside the local church and assist them. To think that we are assisting a tribal church in reaching out to others and that they are helping us to be better prepared for discipling is amazing and really stirs our hearts. Please continue to pray for us, for the Itutang church that is reaching out to these guys and especially for the Manam church that is crying out for help. 

...a man who is obviously filled with the spirit of God."

As I have been preparing to share a message on the value of a spirit controlled life in our Sunday fellowship time I was really challenged by the life of Joseph. I focused on the early part of his life from Genesis 39:1 - 41:38. With 41:38 being a key verse as it really summed up the character of Joseph. You may be saying "hold on" the Spirit didn't indwell people in the Old Testament, you would be right but God did allow His Holy Spirit to work in and through people even if it was temporary, and if you read Genesis 41:38 you will see that even Pharaoh recognized the Spirit of God in Joseph. "Who could do it better than Joseph? For he is a man who is obviously filled with the spirit of God." (NLT) This wasn't just, God was with Joseph and God was causing everything Joseph did to prosper, I believe Pharaoh saw something inside of Joseph that he had not seen before; a man yielded to the Holy Spirit, a man who had a spirit controlled life. The part that was so challenging to me is that Pharaoh, an unbeliever was able to discern a "spirit-filled" laborer. Do the people I work with and those whom I rub shoulders with every day see something in me as Pharaoh saw in Joseph; a man who is obviously filled with the spirit of God?

We already have all of Him, everything to live a life of godliness is at our disposal if we will just yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit.

Charles Swindoll said this about Joseph; “You see, the Lord God remained first in Joseph’s life; He (God) was the focus of his life. The lens of God’s will stood between Joseph and his circumstances, enabling Joseph to see God in them, to read God in them – enabling God to use him in them.”