Discipleship

Picture: Sergej and Brenten at the cafe where we meet for Inductive Bible Study.

Praise the LORD for bringing Sergej to Calvary Riga. He is a relatively new believer who I am spending extra time with for discipleship. I am really blessed by fellowship with him and seeing how he desires to serve the Lord. He has been enjoying pastor Chuck Smith MP3s in Russian, he consumed a new believers study guide, and now I am teaching him how to study the Bible Inductively. We usually meet Thursdays mornings at a cafe in Riga's central train station. Please pray for him and his family as he seeks the Lords will for work during Latvia's severe economic crisis.

Jesus in Genesis

This past Sunday, I finished teaching through the book of Genesis in Riga and Ogre and now the recordings are posted here. For those of you who have been reading along, you can listen and leave coments below. Sorry I didn't post them sooner, I will try to post our next series of studies in Exodus within 3 days after the Sunday it was recorded on. I haven't had as much time to keep up with the blogging as much as I inteded to, but God gave me much to say as I prepared for these messages. I hope you are blessed as you listen.

Here are the links to each MP3 (left click to listen, right click to save):

• Jesus in Genesis Intro
  
• Jesus in Genesis 1-12
  
• Jesus in Genesis 12-29
• Jesus in Genesis 30-50
  

Listen to all the messages together here: streaming audio or download all MP3s

In Genesis we discovered Jesus in many Messianic prophecies, appearances of Christ, types and shadows of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. Our faith in the Word of God was strengthened and we have come to Jesus who is the Eternal the Word, God the Son, the Creator of all things, the second Adam, the Seed of the woman, the Lamb of God, the Ark of our salvation, the Seed of Abraham, Like Isaac obedient to the point of death, Jacob's ladder to Heaven, Lion of the tribe of Judah, the exalted Savior like Joseph, the Beginning and the End, YHVH, El Shadai, Shiloh and Yeshua. Our Jesus has fulfilled gospel preached to Abraham by giving his life for us, blessing every nation by turning us from our sin and justifying us by grace through faith.

Now we look forward to discovering Jesus in Exodus! But don't forget to leave your comments about Jesus in Genesis here.

Watch and Pray

"With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints" Ephesians 6:18

1. Pray for our home fellowship in Ogre as we finish teaching Acts and Mark this month that we'd all be built up.
2. Pray for the lost that we may be reaching them with the gospel on our Friday afternoon evangelism in Riga.
3. Pray for more laborers to be called to the harvest, as Brenten goes to speakers week at the Bible college in Hungary November 10-14.
4. Pray for our families heath, as it gets coooold in Latvia, the kids are starting to get sick again. Healing.
5. Pray for our furlough November 25-December 29, that God prepare us to be used at CCMB and CC Santa Cruz and with our families.

Turning to Jesus

Here are two guys I witnessed to in Riga one Thursday night. They were walking by my and I asked, "Can I ask you some questions?" They said, "About what?" and I said "About eternity" Then they said, "Sure, let's go sit at a park bench" After sharing the gospel with them, one of them, named Roma, was ready to turn to Jesus, and wanted me to lead him in a prayer of repentance, he didn't want to forget it so he wrote it down on a map he had with him. I was so excited that he was ready to turn from sin and trust the Lord to save him and set him free from his addictions. Here is a video from that night...





Yesterday I got back from a youth camp where I helped with worship leading and a couple Bible studies. Wednesday night about 20 kids came forward to receive Christ. I was able to connect with a few and encourage them. I hope to continue influencing three who live in Ogre, one in Ikskile and four in Jaunjelgava. Pray for those who were sincere about following Christ, that they would continue to become disciples and overcome worldly influences in their lives after camp.

Cultural Bonding and Witnessing in Riga

Besides hockey fanaticism, one of the cultural highlights of Latvia is the Latvian Song festival where a choir of 50,000 people is formed. Tickets sold out a few minutes after they went on sale but I was able to see a qualifier performance of a couple top choirs, thanks to our Latvian teacher, Zane, who sings in a group called "Balsis" (voices). Here are 2 of the songs I filmed last Friday.



Since I was in Riga on Friday evening, after the performance, I went out to share the gospel in the central park and train station. Our friend Agnese was there to pray and translate for me, but it turned out most the people we talked to either spoke Russian or English so she didn't translate too much. Many were open to talking with us until we brought up Jesus. One homeless woman we walked up to told us she was planning to commit suicide, she didn't ask for money so I think she was serious, however when I offered to share about eternity and how to be saved, she didn't want to hear it anymore! On the other extreme, there was drunk man we stopped in the park who wanted to hear how to be saved and thanked us for the gospel tract. But most were just out to have a "good time" and did not want Jesus to interfere with that. On our train trip back to Ogre, I had an interesting talk with Agnese about culture and faith in Latvia. There is much to learn about this culture, but one thing that is true of every culture is that we all need Jesus to save us from the corrupting influences of the world. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16-17) and there is power in the name of Jesus (Philippians 2).

Correction about Invitations

I also had an encourageing informative conversation about invitation letters with the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) couple who took the Pittsburg team to the airport. I said "I heard only the Jews, Orthodox, Catholic, Lutherns or Baptist Union are able to invite long term foreign missionaries. " They answered, "You have been misinformed. Accually any 'registered religous entity' [a church or organisation registered in Latvia] may write invitation letters. We have done it." YWAM Latvia usually only does it for other YWAM missionaries. But, they advised, develop a good trusting relationship with an existing church that may write the invitation letter. I asked, "Would it be better if it was in the same town we would live in?" Answer: Yes because you might run into problems if you ministered in a city that was different then the one you were invited to. However, we will be asked, "Why Riga?" Is it because it's more comfortable than the villages? What about many towns and villages in Latvia where there is just an old Baptist church or Orthodox church, if they want a another kind of church, it's too far and expensive to travel to Riga." They challenged us, "Pray about going outside of Riga". I told her, "we will pray and look into other places, but in the end we have to go where God leads us." So far we are drawn to Riga because there are a million people here out of the 2.5 Million in the whole country of Latvia.

Calvary connections

More devine appointments today, I met with a team from Calvary Chapel Pittsburg and Fredricktown at the end of their 10 day mission trip and was encouraged by the YWAM missionaries that hosted them.

Background: When I first researched Latvia last year, I searched online for "Calvary Chapel" and "Latvia" and found this page about a couple Calvarys who teamed up and took a couple short trips and through YWAM to a Russian Baptist church in the city of Liepia (about 3 hour drive from Riga). So I emailed the pastor and called a couple team members, told them about our plans and found out they were planning to go about the same time. So we said, "Maybe we can meet in Riga on our last day".

This morning the Lord reminded me - Today is their last day! So, I called YWAM to find out where the team from CC Pitsburg and Fredricktown were, I found out they were on their way to the airport. So I jumped in a taxi hoping to see them there (it's a small airport). Timing couldn't have been better, I helped them bring their luggage from their van to the check in counter and spent almost an hour talking with them about what we were doing in Latvia. They had helped a small Russian church with outreach and a Vacation Bible School. Pastor John had done an Inductive Bible Study training with Sergei the Russian pastor, trying to help him to feed the sheep better, not just talking about current events and opinions but digging into the word of God. To those who had been their on previous trips, they seemed a little discouraged at the lack of progress and growth compared with 3 years ago.

They suggested I visit Liepia and encourage pastor Sergei, which I was already interested in doing, but now I see the Lord opening the door. Also seeing them off at the airport was a Russian girl (I'm sorry I forgot her name) who helped translate for the team and has been living in Liepia as a missionary sent from Calvary Chapel Smolensk, Russia. She got my email address and will, talk with Sergei about what day I could come. By the way, her pastor back in CC Smolensk Russia is praying about leading his family to Riga, Latvia to plant a church here too. Perhaps the Lord is preparing a team???

I started a photo collection at http://www.trekearth.com/members/brentenlena/photos/ (I can only upload one a day).

Ministry Beginnings in Riga, Latvia

Friday Morning I was wide awake at 3 am so I decided to have devotions. It was a good time in the word, I read about the temptation of Christ in the desert and the beginning of His ministry in Galilee. Comparing all the gospel accounts it was interesting to see how Jesus did not sin against the word of God as he answered each temptation with “it is written”, and when He went to Galilee he fulfilled Scripture “A light will shine in Galilee…” As we are just beginning here, I want to be obedient to the word of God, like Jesus was. I want to fulfill God’s plan for me by letting my light so shine before men and lead my family where he has foreordained that we should walk.
Later, we all had breakfast together and after Lily’s morning nap, we went out for a walk together to town (about a 30 minute walk), I took Lena to the center and we had lunch at TGIF and watched people walking by. And were getting familiar with where things were. After the kid’s napped, We found a good grocery store called Rimi, I felt like we were in an American grocery store because of the variety, abundance and organization of all the food, they even had cream cheese for Caleb.
The phone situation was kind of disappointing. We have a phone jack in our apartment but no phone, and the landlord said it will be impossible for us to have a working line there because we are foreigners. I was able to make a call from the landlords office but Dagnia was not home so I left a message inviting her to come over at 8pm for prayer and fellowship. Around 8, I went out to find a pay phone and call Dagnia to invite them out to lunch the next day, She informed me that she couldn’t come but her room-mate Ilza was on her way over to our apartment to meet us.
Ilza is Latvian-American (she grew up in the States and learned Latvian from her parents). It was good to hear her share her perspective about what is going on spiritually here, and how there is not really a church that she feels comfortable inviting people to. She was really interested to hear how God lead us here and what our vision was for church planting. It is good to have another friend who speaks English and Latvian and we are glad the Lord led her to come over to our house without even knowing us. She is a good contact and continues to show us around, help us find important things, answer questions and if she doesn’t know, she can connect us with people who do.

Saturday, we went out to lunch with Dagnia, William and Ilza at Chili Pizza, it was Latvian style pizza, but not bad. We got to know them a little more and decided to get together in the evening for our first home fellowship. It was a special worship and prayer time. I led worship, we interceded for Latvia and at the end they prayed specifically for Lena and me. God gave them each an encouraging word concerning our mission in Latvia, which they later wrote down for us to keep. Here is what they wrote:

Dagnia – Prayer and Exhortation

Do not dispise the day of small beginnings. Not only does this mean that you are
starting our here but also your children. They have been called here; watch them
as the Lord uses them. They are anointed.

William - Prophecy for Brenten and Lena

You are like a tank; strong, powerful, going into enemy territory, taking ground,
possessing the land. God is your protection – he is your Shield, when you go
through the rough ground (enemy fire) It will not harm you, you think it might
but it won’t. Trust Him. It is “not by might nor by power but by My Spirit” says
the Lord.

Ilsa - Heb 3:17-19 Amplified version

Though th fig tree does not blossom and there is not fruit on the vines [though] the product of the olive fails and the field yield not food, though the flock is cut off from
the fold and there are no cattle in the stable, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hind feet and will make me to walk [not stand still in terror but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering or responsibility]

God is putting you into turbo gear to get “up the mountain” You are (on) an all terrain vehicle. He’s called you to go on rough terrain (barren lava like, lifeless) but you are WELL EQUIPPED. The 4 wheels = all the members of your family.
Worship is the key! He makes your feet like hinds feet on high places. Meditate on the “lava terrain” I think there’s more there…

Now in Riga, Latvia

We have arived in Latvia and are getting over jet lag, getting aquainted with where things are and meeting with a few Latvian-Americans who are being a huge help as far as orientation. We don't have a telephone or internet in our apartment, so I will try to update you from internet cafes. For those of you who are praying, keep it up, God is giving us firm steps to take as we step out in faith. Hopefully I will learn how to post pictures from here soon.