Major Updates

Wow! A lot has gone on since my last update. This necessitates some context before I jump into prayer requests and then more details.

I have been promoted to co-leader of the intern team this summer. I will be leading alongside Bonnie Boyd who is going to the Czech for two years. This means I will be a part of the training and decision making and spiritual care of our team in a greater capacity and with more responsibility. This is an opportunity I am extremely excited about. Bonnie is a great young woman of God, and to have the opportunity to learn from her and lead alongside her is such a blessing.

Also, we now know who is on our team. Currently, there are four of us: Bonnie, my friend Cory Dimler, Katherine Robertson (from Arkansas and goes to Baylor), and myself. The Josiah Venture staff is also looking for one or two Czech interns to join our team. What a great team. I am also incredibly grateful and excited to serve, serve with, and be a part of leading this team.

On to prayer requests and answers to previous prayer requests after. "The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results" (James 5:16b), and your prayers are doing just that. Thank you!:
1. That God would continue to prepare me for this new leadership and that I would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading
2. That God would do the same for Bonnie and fill her with supernatural wisdom as the summer approaches.
3. Support: I, Cory, Katherine, Bonnie, Dan (another intern), and Amanda (another intern) are all raising support, and all of us need more. I currently have $2,015, and I need $4,500 by May 1st. All the other interns are at about the same level or less, and we all have the same deadline. Please pray that God will provide for all of us to go to the Czech and minister this summer, that His name may be praised and many would come to salvation.
4. I will likely be making phone calls to potential donors this coming week. Please pray those conversations would go well, and at the very least I would be able to have a good time of prayer with those I call.

Answers to prayer:
1. I am nearly completely better from my cold. Thank you!
2. More support has come in.
3. Junior/Senior banquet was wonderful, and everything was great.
4. I have been praying more and being more sensitive to the Spirit's leading in this area, and I am seeking out intentional time in the World. Thank you.

Stories and such:
Life has been quite a ride lately. It is increasingly difficult to make time for the important small things - prayer and reading scripture, fellowship, phone calls, and letter writing. The stuff that may only take an hour or less, but there are no due dates or grades, and those things that do have due dates and grades at least are much bigger and seem more important (papers, reading assignments, meetings, etc).

Junior/Senior Banquet (JSB) was great. The guys looked sharp, and all the girls were absolutely beautiful. Dinner was nice, and Dr. Dyer's message was good. It was about suffering and how it produces sanctification and wisdom. He used the illustration of block of steel. Just as it was, it would probably be worth a few dollars, but if it was melted and hammered into horse shoes, it would be worth about $30. However, if it was melted down and made into needles, it would be worth about $350. However, if it was melted and made into high tension springs for Swiss watches, it would be worth about $2,000. This upward value produced by blast furnace after blast furnace and shaping after shaping. What a good picture of sanctification and wisdom through suffering.

Our group at JSB went bowling and to IHOP afterward. It was a ton of fun.

I have been taking Romans with Dr. Zuber this semester, and it has been incredible. I have learned so much and the Spirit has spoken to me in many ways through His word and the wisdom of Dr. Zuber. We just finished Romans 6 (No, we won't finish the book, but his depth is worth it.). I wish I could give you all of it, but I can't. I will give you what will hopefully carry into some good study of the book for yourself.

It comes down to indicative and imperative. The indicative is reality. It is what is true. It is what you ARE. The imperative is what ought to be. It is the implications and commands. Too often, are Christian walk puts imperative before indicative, which is completely wrong. Doing this builds our foundation not on Christ but on what we can or can't do, which we all know is no foundation at all.

Romans 1-6:14 is indicative. Read that again. Romans 1-6:14 is all about what IS. What Jesus has done. Who we are as Christians. Paul makes sure this foundation is firmly laid before any imperative is brought up. In short, here is the indicative: if you are a believer, Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose again three days later. Through this He righteoussified (justified) you. This means you are justified by grace through faith ALONE. This means you stand in the righteousness of Christ. This means you died with him, were buried with him, and were raised with him, and God views you as such. Thus, you are united with Christ in His death and resurrection, and thus, His righteousness. Christ died to sin, and you ARE dead to sin. This means you do not need to die to sin or you are dying to sin. It means you ARE dead to it. This is a fact, it is reality. This means you DO NOT have to sin anymore. We were once not able to not sin, but now through Christ's work, we are now able to not sin. Living out of this truth, out of who you ARE produces sanctification.

Now, the imperative: Stop sinning! Just stop it! Christ has brought you to new life. Don't hang the dead corpse around you and drag it around. Christ has given you sight. Don't cover up your eyes and claim to be blind. Christ has given you hearing. Don't cover your ears and claim to be deaf. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SIN ANYMORE! You have been broken free from sin and death's chains.

In addition, do not struggle with sin. This will only frustrate you. You are DEAD to sin. Instead, struggle with walking by the Spirit (Romans 8), and by doing so, you will sin less, you will gain moral discernment. Live as who you really are (Romans 1-6:14). Don't try to defeat sin with the law, with a list of do's and don'ts (Romans 7), but instead learn to walk by the Spirit (Romans 8).

What a message, the message we are called to preach and teach, the message I will be bringing to the Czech, the message I am called to tell my friends, the message you are called to tell your friends. May we step out in trust of the Spirit, empowered by Him to reach the world. This is THE message. No other way of salvation for this life and the next exists. May we live boldy as the Spirit has empowered us to do. You are Saints my brothers and sisters. You do not have two natures. You are no Jekyll and Hyde. You are alive to Christ, united with Him, and dead to sin. Thank you Jesus. Amen.