Sunday today! Before I tell you all about my day today I really want to share some things about what I've learned about God. I read a book recently called God is the Gospel and man alive did it put a whole new spin on how we as Christians, true Christians, should view salvation as. Christianity is not first theology, it is news. Great news! Urgent news! Saving news! So what good is this "news"? Is it ultimately that you will live forever? Is it that you won't go to hell? Is it that you will get to see loved ones that have previously died? Is it so your conscience won't feel guilt from my sin? None of these answers are wrong! Some if not all of these things happen to Christians when they are saved! But the ultimate good of the "good news" is God himself. Everything leads to Him. Every word of the Gospel leads to Him. As John Piper says "It doesn't take a new heart to want the psychological relief of forgiveness, or the removal of God's wrath, or the inheritance of God's world. All of these things are understandable without any spiritual change. You don't need to be born again to want these things. The devils want them." We should want these things because they bring us enjoyment in God himself. Do not value gifts over the Giver. Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:18). Christ's blood is the only way to God. If you believe in Him, He died for you! Come to Christ! I don't want to take away anything from the previous paragraph so I'll keep this part short. I'll just note some things that I didn't think that would be difficult before I came but have learned that they will be challenging. First, I do not know a lick of Portuguese. All sermons will be preached in Portuguese while I am down here. So it will be tough to get fed the word in person for the duration of my time in Brazil. Fortunately, I have sermons on my computer to listen to. But it is still not the same as worshiping with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. So please pray for my faith. That it grows and is fed and encouraged in ways I can't imagine! Next, please pray for my experience after the missions teams from the U.S. leave. Currently I have interaction with English speaking folks and have a sense of companionship. That will be gone when they depart. I have made a friend named Jonie and he volunteered to pray for me during my time in Brazil in church today. Tonight at dinner we decided to teach each other English and Portuguese. Pray that that friendship grows. I am also not getting as much time as I would have hoped to communicate with my girlfriend, family and friends. Most noteworthy is my girlfriend Becky. Please pray for her and our relationship to sustain us and help us grow together during my time here with God's love and power. I still love you family and friends though! You also mean a great deal to me! Please feel free to contact me anytime! The food is so good here! I hear the best is yet to come! I really need to start running to keep my weight at a good number otherwise I'll be coming home a new man! The music team from Kansas has turned out to be a real treat! Wonderful, God loving group! Packer fans though... God's grace might be needed to get over that issue!! :) Long day tomorrow. We will be traveling to 3 different schools to perform and gospel musical drama as well as our first day of wrestling practice! LONG day! It will be great though! God bless!
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| Pastor Tom s church |
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| Inside |
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| Chip Herbert giving his testimony |
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