Praise the Lord! This is Breakthrough's 19th year of service to God. As we look back on the path we¡¯ve walked, we want to give thanks to God and offer up our hearts to Him, in our love for Him and for His people. May we continue to keep our focus on the anti-drug vision and commission He has given to us.
Since the beginning, Breakthrough has held on to the call of God to reach out to more drug-addicts and minister to them. It has always been God¡¯s purpose for us to influence others with our lives and to render help to those who are hurting and in need.
In the course of these 19 years, this vision which the Lord has given us has been shared and passed on from batch to later batch of Breakthrough staff and residents. Through the fruit of our lips and the work of our hands, God has displayed His saving power and His amazing grace upon our lives. ¡°May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us ¨C yes, establish the work of our hands.¡± (Psalms 90:17)
Breakthrough¡¯s motto and the basis of our faith is the gospel: not by medication, nor by one¡¯s own strength, but only through our Lord Jesus Christ. Ever since we started this ministry, we have held steadfastly to this mission statement. Our work of reaching out to drug addicts is a spiritual warfare in itself. Medication alone cannot help solve an addict¡¯s problems nor his struggle against the addiction. It is only through prayer and faith in the word of God can one¡¯s life be totally transformed.
In these last days, when drugs and all kinds of abominations have infiltrated our society, we believe God wants to raise up more people to spread the anti-drug gospel message. This gospel is a message of God¡¯s love and His power to save, so that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ may receive the new life and the transformation they need. Drug-addicts may seem hopeless in the eyes of society, but in Christ Jesus, they will receive deliverance from drugs and experience true freedom to lead a new and meaningful life. Jesus said, ¡°I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.¡± (John 10:10)
OUR CALL TO SHARE THE VISION
As we entered the new millennium, God has placed new challenges upon our shoulders and we believe God has shown us clearly His will and put in place His plans for us in the expansion of His kingdom:
1) Firstly, God has given us a larger place to house more drug-addicts. Here in our new home, we can house 70 residents at any one time. We ask that God will raise up more labourers for His work in this place, so that we may go into deeper waters and bring in a bigger catch.
2) May God enable us to send more staff to go into prisons and government drug-rehabilitation centers to counsel and help those other drug-addicts.
3) We ask that God will send us and our ¡°Mothers¡¯ Fellowship¡± Team into more homes, for the salvation of the whole household. When one is on drugs, the whole family suffers with him. We believe when a person experiences God¡¯s saving grace, his whole family will also be blessed. We pray that more of us will avail ourselves to reach out to the families of our residents and friends.
4) We pray that God will raise up a female staffworker with a vision and the drive to help start Breakthrough¡¯s female anti-drug rehabilitation work; to help ladies struggling with drug-addiction to turn to God¡¯s truth and live a more meaningful and valuable life.
5) In response to the Great commission and the Macedonian call of drug-addicts¡¯ everywhere, we pray that God will send out from among us more missionaries to go into the world and preach the gospel message of God¡¯s love.
OUR RESPONSE TO GOD'S LOVE
This year, we are encouraging more staff and residents to attend training courses in counseling skills. We believe we can give more in our service to God if we are better trained and equipped for His work. We want to be ready to go wherever the Lord is leading us, to spread the anti-drug vision and start anti-drug ministries in countries where the need is greatest.
Praise God for everything He has done! In the beginning of 1994, Pastor Simon was invited for a series of evangelistic meetings over 8 cities in East and West Java, where he shared about his life¡¯s transformation and the anti-drug vision. In 1998, a church in Indonesia wrote back about the problems of drug-addiction among the young people and students of their society. In response to their invitation, Pastor Simon went back to Jakarta for a series of anti-drug campaigns. Since then, we started to help train Indonesian brothers who came to us in Singapore.
We thank God for His divine purpose of sending an Indonesian brother (brother Kurnia) to us in 2000. After his training with us, he returned to Bandung with the anti-drug vision, hoping to share with many more people the peace, joy and transformation one can find in our Lord Jesus Christ.
One thing led to another and in the ensuing period, the churches in Indonesia responded to the vision of reaching out to drug-addicts. A church called ¡°Hok Im Tong¡± rented a place and started the Bandung Breakthrough Missions. In the same year, God brought Mr James Riady, Managing Director of the Lippo Group of Companies, to visit us in Singapore. When he saw how the lives of drug-addicts are being changed by the power of the gospel, he was deeply moved. Meanwhile, as we started work in building Breakthrough Missions Jakarta, Mr Mochtar Riady, Chairman of the Lippo Group, was also moved into offering us a site for the new halfway house. The new place, a big piece of land near mountains and streams, has a capacity of housing 100 residents. Mr Riady himself was also very involved in the whole planning and set-up of the home.
Praise the Lord! The gifts of love to God¡¯s ministry from the Lippo Group and from the brothers and sisters of the churches in Jakarta and Bandung are indeed a fragrant and acceptable offering, pleasing unto God and a great blessing to many; to accomplish God¡¯s redemptive plan for the lost.
Since the beginning of this year, we have started to send our staff and residents out as missionaries to pioneer the ministry work in Jakarta. Glory to God!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we hope you will always keep us in your prayers and render us your support financially. You are a constant source of encouragement to us and we pray that you will partner with us as we progress in this ministry of reaching out to more of the lost and hurting, according to the redemptive purposes of our God.
May all glory, praise, honour and power be given unto God our Father who loves us! Amen!
Servant of God : Brother Simon Neo
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