Greece 2012: Confidence and Trust
Our team is slowly waking up and getting ready to head to the airport for the long trip to Europe. Before leaving I wanted to share one item of prayer with you so that you can join me in presenting this before God.
Please pray that we can quickly gain the confidence and trust of those leaders who will be studying. This is critical to good teaching.
There are at least three crucial things we need to gain our students’s confidence and trust:
First, we need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Spirit-filled people respond to Spirit-empowered teaching. We have great curriculum, but we must proclaim it with His power rather than depending on our own feeble abilities.
Second, we must be well studied and knowledgable. Pray that God will give us time and that he will bless our preparation for this class.
Third, pray for a humble attitude among these students. There are no superstars on our team and no PhDs. Pray that these students will be willing to learn from a bunch of normal guys who are speaking God’s word with God’s power.
Greece Trip Journal
Tomorrow morning I leave for Minneapolis and then for Athens on Friday. One way you can keep up with the happenings of this trip and pray for our team is by reading our trip journal on the Training Leaders International website. I will do my best to also keep my website, Facebook, and Twitter up to date, but, even if I am not able, you can keep track from this site.
Thank You: Goal Met for Greece Trip 2012
Thank you to everyone who contributed to my upcoming trip to Greece. My goal has been met, and now I am working to pack everything for when that plane takes off on Wednesday, January 5th.
I also want to say a special thank you to everyone from Hardin Baptist Church for you generous gift.
Whether now or while in Moldova, it has always been amazing to witness God providing for his mission through his people. Please continue to pray that God will be glorified through this trip.
Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp’d town to’another due,
Labor to’admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv’d, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly’I love you, and would be lov’d fain,
But am betroth’d unto your enemy;
Divorce me,’untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you’enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Christmas Means Theological Training Is Important
At Christmas, we take the time to remember the amazing truth about the person of Jesus. “Remaining what he was, he became what he was not.” When he was born in Bethlehem, Jesus remained fully God, but he also, in a mysterious way, became fully man.
By becoming fully man, the eternal Son of God gained the ability to experience every temptation and trial that we face while also gaining the ability to suffer and die. If Jesus was not fully human then he could not have been the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. By remaining fully God, Jesus was able to bear the penalty for the sins of the whole world and able to be the mediator between God and man.
To misunderstand who Jesus is is to misunderstand the Gospel of salvation. Jesus could not be our Savior if he was only half God and half man. He could not be our Savior if he was created, as some heretical groups teach. Our salvation depends on this important yet difficult Gospel truth.
Please lift me up to the throne of grace in preparation for my trip to Athens, Greece from January 5-14. I will be partnering with Training Leaders International to teach the leaders of the Romanian-speaking churches there. Although some of the older pastors have received training in Romania, many of the younger leaders are unable to receive training in their own language.
It is vitally important for these churches to have men who know how to study and proclaim the Bible. Without training, churches easily fall into errors that can keep them from reaching people for Jesus. As we are reminded every Christmas, what we believe that the Bible teaches has eternal significance!
Please partner with me in prayer as I prepare for this trip. I have raised about half of the $2500 that I need for my portion of the trip. Please pray that God will provide the remaining amount. Also, pray that God will provide a skillful translator for the teaching time. Pray that God will prepare all of our hearts as we study about God’s attributes, and pray that God will strengthen the Romanian-speaking churches in Athens and that many people will meet Jesus through their ministry.
If God impresses on your heart a desire to support my trip financially, then you can do so online by following this link.
I hope that all who read this have merry Christmas that draws you closer to your family, to your church, and most importantly to the God-man we worship! What a privilege it is to proclaim the same good news that angels sang about to those bewildered shepherds all those years ago!
