God is moving

Bonjour! This is Andrew writing from the heart of Paris, France, on how the heart of God is moving in and through our group of students and Cru staff.

Since the moment our team walked off the plane and onto Parisian soil, it was evident that we were not sufficient to accomplish the mission God had set before us. Our general inability to read the directions on the signs all around us and understand the French words being spoken to us by airport security and staff was just a picture of our spiritual neediness. Just as we were in need of help to translate the words all around us, we have increasingly realized our need for the Holy Spirit in sharing the Gospel here in Paris.

As I have met with students from all over the world—France, Brazil, Tunisia, Portugal, and Switzerland to name a few—I have been struck with my dependency on the Holy Spirit. Even my most convincing argument for the sinfulness of Man and Jesus’ restoration of Man’s relationship with God or my most compelling evidence for the existence of God is essentially useless without Him. He, the Holy Spirit, is the only one who can change a man or woman’s heart, bringing them from spiritual death to life or opening their ears to truly hear the message of the Gospel.

This dependency on the Holy Spirit has been a major theme for our team this week and has brought a humble, excited attitude to our evangelism. We continue to see God divinely put us in contact with just the right students in the cafeteria at Sorbonne Nouvelle and at the campuses of Sorbonne Nouvelle and Jussieu. God is at work through our team, reaching atheists, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, those raised up in the Catholic church with no relationship with Christ, and everyone in-between with the love and good news of Jesus Christ.

As we head into this weekend, please pray that God would be at work in the hearts of the students we have met and that the time we spend with them would be Spirit-led toward the Gospel.

sola gratia.

Andrew Axsom