Impactful words from a Puritan

I was reading from the The Valley of Vision this morning, and the prayer my eyes were drawn to was aptly titled “The Nevers of the Gospel”.  As I read it, the stanza that has left an impact was, ” May I never, rest in a system of doctrine, however scriptural, that does not bring or further salvation…” and I think about this and the influences we have today that are ripping us away from the Gospel message.  Our one desire and passion is to know God and seek after Him while so many things interrupt our relationship with Him.  I am struck by these words penned by a Puritan brother that have relevance for us today.  May we, as followers of Jesus Christ not be swayed or thrown out of discord by an insignificant systematic unit, but that our hearts would grow deeper and fonder of the Gospel message found in the pages of the divinely inspired Word of God passed down from the apostles teaching to us now.  If you do not have this book called The Valley of Vision I would highly recommend it to you.  Words are powerful, and the words of brothers who have fought the good fight echo in our ears and can impact us to remember, we are not followers of a certain systematic doctrine, but we are followers of the one true God, the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom we own all reverence and honor to Him for saving us when we were but dead in our sins.  Blessings to you all.

Getting there…

Getting there not only signifies that the support is increasing, but also getting there is referent to arrival within the ministry locale. I continue to contemplate the issue of missions while on this side of the ocean and ask unanswerable questions to myself. Are we really focused on the building of the bride of Christ, the Church?

I find that I am in need of God grace more and more, day by day, which can sound cliched but in the midst of attempting to raise the necessary amount and the encroaching date of departure, I know it will be by the grace of God alone. Getting there…an ever present reality in search of completion, getting to the field, getting the amount necessary to live, getting closer to the Lord, the one who has called us unto His own. Getting there…we are all certainly getting there.

The Official BTS Update

As you can all imagine, this is a very difficult proposition and the struggle grows as all of us are trying to be faithful to Christ in the midst of forming this new institution.  Please keep us in prayer while we continue to press forward.  Plus, at this time we still have a need to be met for the seminary itself.  God has given us a group of people who were able to help us buy the building, and we had close to 30% of renovation finances come in and utilized and we are extremely grateful for this.  We started classes as of September 10th with the help of some missionaries and pastors in the country.  God has provided continually for us.  The need we are experiencing at this point is to pay for the daily needs of the students and the facility.  This is a great financial need, so please pray for us regarding this issue.  Pray that God’s Will will be done and that we will have no doubts as to His provision in the fashion He deems appropriate.

My personal finances have taken a hit.  One church was unable to fulfill the apportioned allotment described to me so my total has fallen from 75% to 56%.  So my departure was also delayed due to this unfortunate event.  Even though I am only at 56% of my total, I will still be headed to Czech on the first week of December.  You all my pray for me to learn the language quickly, to get life situated as well as possible, to serve as well as I am able to, and to continually hold tightly to the Lord seeking wisdom and provision.  I am certainly encouraged by your notes and caring statements you have sent me.  Especially at this time, it is most difficult for a missionary starting out, and sometimes it can look discouraging, but the one sure thing that I was reminded in John Piper’s message on Adoniram Judson was that through it all, GOD IS STILL SOVEREIGN.  That will never change and all of our circumstances do not come as a surprise to God for He is with us, and is watching over us, for it truly is my only comfort, (thanks Dr. Yarbourgh) is that I am not my own, but purchased by HIS blood on the cross.  Until next time…Grace and Peace to you all.

Through Struggle The Lord Refines

Well, I want to thank the men at E Free in Bloomington Normal, for the opportunity to spend some time with them last weekend.  We had a wonderful time and the session listening to Roger Stuber from Tremont IL share stories of his time as a missionary pilot near PNG.  I was so blessed to spend some time with many of the men there.  Conversations were all a blessing and it was great to see old friends and fellowship around the campfire encouraging each other in Christ and enjoying each other’s company.  God certainly blessed this time.

I know it has been a long time since I last posted.  I want to apologize for my tardiness in writing again.  Through the whole summer, I wanted to spend as much time with my fiancee Monika as was possible.  That was achieved though I did not  make time to update you all on what is happening in my life and in the process of getting to the Czech Republic.  You may all pray for her as she is back at the university finishing her masters degree in Economics and Business Administration.

Here is another picture of us in Sheboygan WI after we spent some time with good friends of ours, the Zimmerman family.  This was a few weeks ago, since Monika left the end of September.