Hey there! So I finished up my first year at New Tribes Bible Institute and man it flew by! I absolutely love it, and it's a great place for me to grow in the grace and knowledge of God through knowing His Word. We finished up with classes on the Bible Basis for Missions which, though I already am convinced that missions is something every believer needs to be involved in, was so good to revisit the biblical basis for the Church. We also had a class on 1st Corinthians which was really challenging and humbling to see in the lives of these Corinthian believers the incredible tendency that we have to walk in the flesh if we're not walking with the Lord.
For the summer, I'm back in Arizona with my mom and stepdad and I'm super excited for what the Lord has in store this summer. I'm working full time here, 40 hours a week for a contractor friend of my that goes to my church. I'm working with all Mexican men which is pretty sweet because if you know me you know I love Mexico and speaking Spanish and so it's been cool working with these guys and having to communicate with these guys in another language. It's been challenging though because I desire to share the gospel with these men because they need to know Jesus, but the Mexican culture is a lot different than here in America. They are a lot more respect oriented and therefore as an gringo trying to learn how to build houses, I need to earn their respect and prove myself or else they won't listen to anything I have to say. So that's been humbling, realizing I need to work my butt off for the gospel's sake so that I have the credibility to speak Truth to them. I'm also planning to join an adult small group from my church this week, so I could use prayer for that. I'm desiring to branch out and network to get to know more people, specifically adults in my church and build partnerships with them as I continue on to overseas church planting among unreached people groups. I'm also wanting to join a college aged small group this summer and be poured into spiritually both from them and from the adults in my adult small group. I have a meeting in July with my missions pastor and am looking to meet with both my senior pastor and with the man in charge of the small groups at my church, in order to get to know as many people in leadership at my church as I can. So there is a lot I need pray for this summer as I seek to walk by faith with the Lord and trust him to make this a fruitful summer.
Next semester I'm taking over the prison ministry at school, where we go in every Thursday night and have a Bible study with the believers in jail. We're going to be teaching through the book of Ephesians, Lord willing, and so I'm studying through it this summer and it's been really encouraging. Paul spends the first 3 chapters discussing the position of these Ephesian believer in Christ before he exhorts them and that's what has been so encouraging to me. In Ephesian 1:3-14, this is what Paul says we are and what we have in Christ: every spiritual blessing, adoption as sons, redemption the forgiveness of sins, the riches of grace lavished on us, a glorious inheritance, we're the praise of his glory, and we have the Holy Spirit, the guarantee of our salvation and eternal life. He goes on to say that although we were dead, in Christ we are now alive and are seated in the heavenlies with Christ. How gracious is the love of God, just look at what he has made us in Christ! Paul makes a lengthy discussion of all that is true of believers in Christ even before he makes any exhortation to these believers in chapters 4-6. In 4:1 he says "therefore". He harkens back to all that he just said and he says, because of your new position in Christ and in the Church and because of all God's done for you out of the abundance of his grace, walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Let me just encourage you in how the Lord has been encouraging me: That a walk of faith, a walk worthy of the Lord is always first and foremost grounded in what God has done and who we are Christ, not by what we do. Christ's work has made us righteous and has made us new and on that basis Paul consistently urges us to walk as Christ walked. Take some time to study and understood the depths of God's grace in Christ, only there can we walk in a worthy way with the Lord.
Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray Ephesians 1:17-19 and 3:16-19
2. Pray for my time in smalls groups this summer, that the Lord would help me build strong initial partnerships with people in my church.
3. Meetings with leadership within my church, for fruitful relationships to continue to grow with them.
4. That the Lord would continue to humble me and teach me that I need him every single day, and every moment of every day.
5. For opportunities to come about to share with the men I work with every day. That they would see that I work my butt off for more then money, but for the Lord.
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