Psalm 146:2 "I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live."

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Things Shaken

Hi Everyone,

Some of you have been asking--Yes we did have a 7.6 earthquake on Tuesday at mid-day on the 20th. (I've heard some differing opinions on the Richter Scale measurements of the quake.) And yes, I did feel it. It must have lasted close to two minutes at least. We had finished our prayer time for workers overseas and I went upstairs to pray with someone else about an important matter. And while we were praying and talking the earthquake happened. (Puts a whole new meaning to the statement that prayer moves mountains!) I couldn't help but think of Paul in jail in the book of Acts when they were singing and praying and the earthquake happened---I certainly was not in jail by any means though and the situations don't even begin to compare :) Anyways, we just prayed the house would hold up (it was swaying slightly) while everyone else had long since ran outside--maybe it was silly to stay inside but my prayer partner and I didn't want to ruin the serious moment of prayer that we were having! I kept thinking it would stop any second!

So definitely this was the biggest earthquake I have experienced thus far, with no damage in our area, but some damage, and unfortunately some lost lives in a few other places, but amazing that for its magnitude not more damage or lives were lost. God is good! I was reminded never to take for granted the blessing of coming home to a "standing" house!

I guess the earth wasn't the only thing that was shaken here this week. Lots of changes are going on in my life right now, and sometimes I feel like things are getting "shook up" around me. But the amazing thing is that no matter how much life sometimes hurts or changes, God is still our Solid Rock! He really is the one that we need, and hopefully in the midst of the changes, we come to a deeper place of trust in Him.

We can always trust Him no matter how much things around us are shaken.

Isaiah 26:4 " Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal."

Friday, March 16, 2012

Everything New

Hi Everyone,

Here are some reflections I shared in another devotional that I gave to the three candidates this morning. It was really fun preparing it last night and seeing God bring my thoughts together. I am quite encouraged and filled with deep joy and peace in spite of some challenges going on around me.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Verse 17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

When we give our trust to Christ EVERYTHING is new.

a) We are a new creation
b) We are IN CHRIST-We have union in and with Christ.
c) We are given a new identity (See Ephesians Chapters 1 and 2) It is vitally important that we base our identity in Christ and not in what the world says, what our job is, etc.
d) Also in Colossians 3:3 we read "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." We have died to the old life of sin-we now have the choice to live for God and not sin, and because we are in Christ we have died to the "old man" we used to be and been raised with Him. We have NEW LIFE.

Verse 18-19
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."

a) Because we are in Christ we have been given a new ministry--the ministry of reconciliation.
As the verses first point out all of this is from God. As God reconciled us to himself through Jesus dying on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins upon Himself, conquering death and rising from the grave three days later, and bringing us to the place where we trust in His work on the cross alone for our salvation, we are to share the same message with others-our message is the gospel.
b) This ministry is His---it belongs to Him. The glory from it belongs to Him and not to us. Sometimes it us so easy to think that "results for the gospel" are ours, but that is not so because God does use us but in the end, He is the one who gives the growth. This is the ministry He has given to us--we must be faithful with presenting the gospel wherever we are.

Verse 20
"We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God."
a) As a result of being given this new ministry we are also given a new "title and position." We are Christ's ambassadors. An ambassador is someone from one country that goes to another to represent his or her home country. We have the great honor and privilege of representing Jesus Christ to the world. We must take this opportunity seriously.
b) Our appeal as ambassadors of Christ is only one. It is as if Christ were making his appeal through us and our appeal is that men everywhere be reconciled to God--that they come to trust in Christ--and truly have peace with God.
c) We have a new citizenship. Philippians 3:20-21 says "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Our citizenship is in Heaven and our true home as believers is there with Him.
d) We are ambassadors in Christ's name. There is no other name in Heaven or on earth whereby men can be saved-except through Christ.
e) One day everyone will recognize Christ for who He is. Philippians 2:9-11 "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." As we share the gospel, more people understand who Christ is and put their trust in Christ, as their eyes are unveiled from formerly believing the Enemy's deception and God works in their lives to bring then to the truth now--but one day everyone will understand and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God.

Verse 21
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

a) We are given a new condition. Because Christ who had no sin was made sin for us on our behalf, or better said, in our place in Him we become the righteousness of God. Not only does Christ's death cover our sin so that we are seen as righteous before God, but it is because of Christ that we will one day be as He is---righteous, without sin, and transformed into his likeness.

With Christ it is true-everything is new!

So be encouraged in this day as you who know Christ serve as his ministers of reconciliation and as his ambassadors to the world in need around us wherever you are!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Youth Gathering In Puebla

Hi Everyone,

The pastor of my church was invited to speak at a youth even on Saturday in the state of Puebla, so our youth group went too (about a two and a half hour drive one way). It was neat because there were four or five other youth groups from other churches that came as well. It was fun for a change of pace and the devotional times were good, and o9f course there were all kinds of fun crazy games as well.

It was neat to talk with some others in Mexico---I was the only foreigner there. :)

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Grace and Hope

Hi Everyone,

I don't say much about these two sweet birdies-Grace and Hope, but here they are! They scream at me when I leave for work in the morning, and I can hear them a block down the street as I walk to catch the bus. And when I come home, they do the same---I really think they know when I am about to walk back in the door from being gone all day. I've had them for almost five months now. They are tender companions for me, although at times they struggle to get along with each other. But I must say they are one of the most delightful "investments" I have made while serving here in Mexico.

Monday, March 5, 2012

For The Joy Set Before Him...........

Hi Everyone,

Hebrews 12:1-3 " Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. "

We run the race ahead of us by throwing off every sin that entangles us and fixing our eyes upon Him remembering that for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. As we consider Him, we seek not to grow weary nor lose heart.

He endured the cross for the joy set before Him.

For those of us that have trusted Him, we also will have a great joy ahead of us at the end of our race. We have the joy of knowing that at the end of our lives, or at the moment of His return whichever comes first, we will be with Him forever, death and sin will be done away with and we will have perfect fellowship with Him and things will be restored in the new heaven and the new earth as they were always meant to be.

We must not forget the joy that not only we have in our relationships with Him now, but that we one day will have for all eternity.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Thngs Went Well Yesterday

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to thank those of you that prayed yesterday. Things went well. It was good to have the opportunity to pray with our candidates.

Now I am beginning to prepare a team prayer day for April 18th. I am hoping to do an "Around the World in Prayer" theme.

Have a blessed day everyone! I hope to update you more soon!