Seasons Change

"Only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last."
We took this picture for our fall newsletter that we are working on. We will to send it to our supporters soon. They have been very patient because we haven't been sending monthly printed newsletters as we intended. Thank you for being faithful to sacrifice your time and resources in prayer and support as we devote our time and family to winning souls for eternity. May God reward you with eternal rewards!
"He is no fool gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

New Prayer Requests

Thanks to those that pray for us, we need it. Please pray for the following:

1. For our devotion to God's word and prayer. I was convicted of my need to study the Bible for myself (not just in order to teach someone else) so I started in the beginning again, I plan to go through the whole Bible in chronological order this time, God has been renewing my focus in Him through my morning times. Lena continues to have her daily devos during the kids naps.
2. For our family, that the Lord would bless and use us together. We want to walk in the light and be a bright light to this country. Tuesdays we are visiting different cities as a family, It's nice to get out of Ogre sometimes and to get vision for outreaches in other towns. Pray that Lena and I keep connecting on all levels and be supportive companions.
3. For a Latvian/English/Russian translator to help with outreach, bible studies, website. Zane is still unsure if this is for her. Pray that whoever the Lord wants to serve with us in church planting will have a clear call from Him. We are still taking Latvian lessons, but without a translator we are limited in what we can say.
4. For Brenten's ministry. I am teaching through the book of Romans Sunday morning about 30 people are coming, even though the senior pastor is in the States for 6 weeks, I am in charge while he is gone and will continue to teach there until I finish Romans. We hope that our Russian speaking brothers and sisters will grow in the grace of God and be prepared to take over more ministry responsibility when the Lord makes it clear we should start our own Sunday morning services. Our Sunday nights have been pretty quiet, sometimes no one shows up, which is discouraging but we are praying for ways to reach more people.
5. For the people we are ministering to (the Russian church, the English club, youth on the streets, our Latvian friends). Pray for more people to hear the gospel, get saved and discipled and raised up for ministry.
6. For faithfulness in our relationship with supporters. For God to bless those who pray and/or financially support us from the Monterey Bay. For their faithfulness regardless of how often we communicate with them. Also on the other side of the coin, for us to communicate faithfully with them regardless of how much they support us. That all will serve as unto the Lord in view of the eternal rewards. This is important to keep in prayer, because it takes teamwork.

Romans 1:1-17 Summary

We started studying Romans chapter by chapter with the Russian fellowship, and since this is such a revolutionary book, I thought I would share a 5 minute summary / devo for anyone who is interested in following along with us in the Word of God.



romans 1v1-17.wmv

Sveiki! Mani sauc Brentens Pauerss. Šī ir manis veidotā video sadaļa. Šobrīd es sāku mācīt Pāvila vēstuli romiešiem no Bībeles, pantu pēc panta, nodaļu pēc nodaļas. Man šķita, ka būtu noderīgi izveidot četras līdz piecas minūtes garu mācību un Dieva vārda apkopojumu.

1. nodaļa, 1. līdz 17. panti Pāvila vēstulē romiešiem. Mēs redzam, ka Pāvils iepazīstina ar sevi kā ar Jēzus Kristu kalpu, aicinātu apustuli, kas izredzēts sludināt Dieva evaņģēliju. Par to arī ir vēstule romiešiem – par evaņģēliju. Kad tu tam sāc ticēt, tas izmaina tavu dzīvi. Tu saņem taisnumu no Dieva, kas tevi Viņa priekšā attaisno. Tas tev sniedz spēju dzīvot pēc Dieva prāta un Dieva spēkā. Atslēgas pantā Romiešiem 1:16 ir teikts: „Jo es nekaunos Kristu evaņģēlija dēļ: tas ir Dieva spēks par pestīšanu ikvienam, kas tic, jūdam visupirms un arī grieķim.” Amerikānim un arī latvietim, krievam, baltkrievam, igaunim – lai kur tu dzīvotu. Evaņģēlijs ir Dieva vēsts, kas pestī. Tas tiešām ir mainījis arī manu dzīvi, kas es sāku saprast, ko nozīmē dzīvot ticībā. Ticība tevi ne tikai attaisno, Dievs tevi uzskata par taisnu pēc tavas ticības. Viņš tavu ticību uzskata par taisnumu. Bet tu arī dzīvo dienu pēc dienas ticībā. Dievs vēlas, lai mēs dzīvotu ne pēc acīmredzamā, bet pēc ticības. Kad es Viņam ticu, es tam ļauju būt par pamatu saviem lēmumiem, ko pieņemu. Pat šī video sadaļa – es ticu, ka Dievs vēlas, ka es to daru. Es ticu, ka tie vārdi, ko Viņš man ir devis, ir svarīgi ne tikai tiem cilvēkiem, kam es mācu svētdienu rītos; bet varbūt tu šobrīd esi Latvijā un meklē draudzi, kur mācītu Dieva vārdu. Mēs mācām Bībeli pantu pēc panta un cenšamies izprast to galveno nozīmi. Šeit 17. pantā vēstulē romiešiem Pāvils iepazīstina ar evaņģēliju. To Dievs mums apsolījis svētajos rakstos, tas var mūs mainīt, jo tas ir Dieva spēks. Tikai Dieva spēks mūs var mainīt. Vai tu esi mēģinājis mainīt savu dzīvi, bet rezultātā tikai nokritis atkal uz mutes bezcerībā? Kā mēs dzīvojam? Varbūt tu centies ievērot desmit baušļus, bet visu laiku klūpam kādā jomā. Bet Dievs mums ir devis Savu vārdu, lai mēs zinātu, kāpēc baušļi tika doti un kā mēs varam tikt attaisnoti. Es tev gribu pateikt tūlīt, ka tas nenotiek, pateicoties baušļiem. Tu netiksi attaisnots, ja ievērosi baušļus. Tevi attaisnos tikai ticība Jēzum Kristum. Un šī pati ticība ietekmēs tavu ikdienas dzīvi. Redzi, pirmajās vienpadsmit nodaļās Pāvils izskaidro teoloģisko mācību, kāpēc Dieva taisnums dots tiem, kas tic, un kas notiek ar tiem, kas netic. Un pēdējās četrās nodaļās 12. līdz 16. tiek runāts, kā praktiski dzīvot ticībā un arī Dieva spēkā. Tā ir labā evaņģēlija vēsts. Dievam ir vara mainīt tavu dzīvi un dot tev taisnumu, lai Viņš varētu tevi pieņemt un tu varētu dzīvot saskaņā ar Viņa aicinājumu. 7. pantā Pāvils raksta: „Visiem Dieva mīļotiem, aicinātiem Dieva svētajiem Romā: žēlastība jums un miers no Dieva, mūsu Tēva, un Kunga Jēzus Kristus!” Dievs tevi mīl! Tu vari būt Romā, Latvijā, Amerikā vai jebkur. Tu esi aicināts Dieva svētais, ja tu tici. Dievs vēlas tevi izredzēt Sev. Viņš tevi sauc pie Sevis. Viņš saka: „Novērsies no pasaules, nodali sevi no visa pasaulīgā, no miesas iekāres, no acu kārības un dzīves lepnības.” Pasaules labumi nebūs ilgi, bet, kas dara Dieva prātu, pastāvēs mūžīgi, Bībelē teikts. Dievs tevi sauc uz Savu valstību, Viņš aicina tevi pakļauties Viņa prātam, pieņemt Viņu par Kungu un Pestītāju jau šodien, un tu to patiešām nenožēlosi. Kas paļaujas uz To Kungu, nekritīs kaunā, Bībelē teikts. Un taisnie dzīvos ticībā.

Residence permits recieved

We finally received our residency permits as religious workers. That means that we have the freedom to live and minister in Latvia for the next 12 months. We don't have to leave every 3 months like tourists do, and we can easily renew our permits next year. Praise the Lord for this answer to prayer. And thank you all my prayer warriors who have been praying for this to come together since our first exploratory trip to Latvia more than a year ago. Thank you also pastor Roger, Nate, Steve in Monterey for sending us, thanks to pastor Vadim and his church in Ogre that officially invited us and helped with completing the process. We look forward to more open doors for effective ministry! Stay tuned for more updates...

God answers prayer

• Thank God for answering prayers in August
  for residence permits (visas) giving us freedom to live here and preach publicly,
  for continued ministry to the kids that were saved at VBS,
  for good turn out at our English club (an outreach),
  for progression in language acquisition,
  for a new computer,
  
• For September, please pray:
  for Lena and I to have wisdom for raising our children....
  for our weekly ministries (English club, Evangelism, Discipleship of kids, Sunday Bible Studies and worship team...) that all our labors will be fruitful....
  for progress in church planting in this new season (freedom with residence permits yet challenges with the cold half of the year)....
  for Zane, our Latvian teacher, for God's will in her life, if she should join our ministry as a translator and worship leader.