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.

Stepping out in faith

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me." (Galatians 2:20)

Things in Latvia are changing for our family's mission as the Lord is sending us out from two church groups that we have been serving. Now we feel free to focus to our original calling: preaching the gospel to the lost, making disciples of new believers and planting a new church for the glory of God in Latvia.

And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation; but as it is written, "THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND." (Romans 15:20-21)

First, God answered prayer for a graceful exit from the Russian church in Ogre that we had been helping since May 2008. Pastor Vadim came back from his trip to America and let me share last Sunday about how the Lord is leading us forward in our mission.

And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (Acts 13:2-3)

The other group we are leaving is in Ikskile, consisting mostly of believers who go to a Latvian Baptist church in Ogre. Since January 2008 I had been teaching through Acts on Wednesday and we all hoped that we would see a revival in this city of 7,000 and a new church would be born on Resurrection Sunday. But even though hundreds heard the gospel in Ikskile and a few received it, the church didn't grow.

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 15:58)

We decided to continue offering Sunday services to the city hoping that it would take root as I taught faithfully through the gospel of Mark every Sunday for 6 months. I had 2 faithful translators and 2 faithful Sunday school teachers, but there was no one to teach except for the small group that has been praying for revival for 10 years. I decided I would be committed to feeding them the word of God and equip them to preach the gospel with me. But we were not all on the same page, some resisted my emphasis on teaching and equipping, while others where hungry for it.

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. " (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

So again I sought to clarify our vision for planting a Bible teaching church this time attaching the name "Kalvarijas draudze" or "Calvary church". Now there are a few young people that are committed to studying the Bible with us, but none of them live in Ikskile. Those who live in Ikskile are no longer willing to plant a new church and want to change the emphasis of their home fellowship back to prayer for revival. So since God is leading us in different directions, we will be moving the Bible studies to our house in Ogre for those who are hungry for the Word. It reminds me of the book of Acts when Paul had to leave the synagogue but other effectual doors were opened to him.

"But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus." (Acts 19:19)

So, Sunday September 28 will be our last service at the Culture Hall in Ikskile. For those who want to continue, we plan to finish the book of Acts on Wednesday and finish the gospel of Mark on Sunday from October to November in the warmth of our home. In December, we will be visiting our home church in California but we will be back by January, in order to begin an exciting plan to study through the Bible in 2009. But it is getting late, so I'll tell you about that next time.

"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires" (2 Timothy 4:2-3)

Vacation Bible School

This is our second year doing VBS in Ogre with a team from Tennessee. I have been the music guy as well as overseeing all the translators. The first two days went well, setting a foundation of who Jesus is, we are praying that the kids will continue to be receptive in the last three days as we challenge them with the rest of the gospel, calling them to become disciples of Jesus Christ.

Baptism in Ogre river

Baptism in Ogre river, Latvia

Last Sunday, Kaspars was water baptized by pastor Vadim Kovalev and the members of Ogre Evangelical Church came to witness this event with Kaspars' family. It seems that one member was added to the church and another was sent out. At the end of this slide show are pictures of us praying for Anatoly on his last Sunday here before moving to Scotland. I had raised him up to take over worship ministry but it he believes God is opening the door to find work in the West, learn English and serve with a Russian speaking church in Glasgow, Scotland.

2 saved today

Today, I went out in the center of Ogre to share the gospel with Agnese. She is a good translator with a heart for evangelism who is faithfully serving the Lord. Below is a picture of us on an outreach.

So today we shared the gospel in Ogre with about a dozen different people and two girls received it, turning from sin and putting their faith in Jesus to be saved and begin a Christ-centered life. We prayed that God would lead us to people who were open and give us the words that they need to hear. The two girls are about 16 years old, we walked up to them and introduced ourselves and asked if we could ask them some spiritual questions. They were very open, one didn't believe in God at first and the other believed He exists but didn't know who He is. I can't explain it here exactly as it came out earlier but we shared how God created man good but the problem is that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) but that Jesus came to reconcile us to God by taking the punishment for our sins on the cross (Ephesians 2:16) and He rose from the dead so that God could freely give eternal life to all who believe. We also shared what it means to become a Christian and about the Christ-centered life that begins when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in born again believers. After sharing the gospel, we asked, "Do you believe Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead? They said "yes" Then I asked them, is there was anything keeping you from receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior? No. Do you want to repent and pray now? Yes. So we sat down at a park bench and I shared an example prayer that I could lead them in or they could pray in their own words. They wanted to repeat the prayer after me, so we prayed together. Then I asked if they understood everything they prayed and they said yes. Good. Then I encouraged them to go to a good Bible teaching church in order to grow. I gave them my contact info and told them about our church in Ikskile and they said that they would go Sunday. We rejoiced and said goodbye. So praise the Lord and please keep our new sisters, Jolanta and Sintija in your prayers.



Also praise the Lord for Ieva, our new Latvian teacher and one of our translators, and her sister (above photo) who have been coming to Sunday services and are being blessed by the simple verse by verse studies through the Bible. May the Lord keep these services "real" and deepen our fellowship with these sisters.

Happy Fathers Day

I hope you all enjoyed fathers day. I sure did. Lena and Caleb made me a cake for after lunch and we went out to dinner and ate ceasar salad and barbeque chicken wings. Then after the kids went to bed I finally put together some clips from our weekly family outings.

English Club news

Our English Conversation Club continues to reach out to new people. Tonight, will have our monthly movie tonight, but we will not meet at our house as usual, but we will meet at Trisvieniba Baptist church along with the youth group to watch the film "A venture in faith" about Calvary Chapel's history and philosophy. Here is a clip with the testimony of Lonnie Frisbee, one of the hippies that God saved during the Jesus people movement in Southern California in the late 1960's and 70's.



We started the English Conversation Club last August in order to help young people practice what they are learning in School and to compare world views on different topics. We have discussed many topics from the alphabet and numbers to a Christian hard rock group "Flyleaf" that is popular here.






We will continue to meet Tuesdays at 6:00 PM as long as it is helpful to those coming. Those who come regularly have improved in their communication skills and becoming more fluent. It is also a nice opportunity for us to bond with their culture and share our faith. Praise God for the English Club. For more info go to www.englishconversationclub.blogspot.com or www.angliski.wordpress.com

Palm Sunday

Here is a music video from our Palm Sunday service at the Russian speaking church in Ogre. The words to the song in English are:

"I will praise you, O my redeember, for you are worthy of all praise.
And if I don't praise Your name, even the rocks will cry out.
If I don't praise your name, even the Mountains will shout!"

I taught about the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled on the day He rode triumphantly into Jerusalem as King on a donkey and was proclaimed the messiah. The multitudes breifly recognized him as their King saying,

"Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; even the King of Israel. BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

All four gospels record this event; Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-34. Some OT scriptures that were fulfilled on this day were Daniel 9:25-26, Psalm 118:14-28, Zec 9:9, Unfortunately, the crowds praise was shallow and they changed their tune just a few days later when they realized Jesus did not come to set up a material, political kingdom but a spiritual heavenly kingdom by giving His life for the world.

There is Snow in Latvia

This is the day that Caleb has been waiting for the last 2 years. Finally, a chance to throw snowballs at Daddy. And there was enough snow on the ground to build a snowman and make snow angels.







We also went for a drive to the near by town of Ikskile. We are praying about starting a Bible study there too. There are many private houses in Ikskile (as opposed to apartment buildings).
And we found a nice park for the kids. And don't forget Lily, not as excited to be out in the cold, but she still enjoyed getting out.

October 31 Alternative

What is there for kids to do on October 31 in Latvia?

1. Get dressed as the dead and go out with friends to get candy or do pranks on people.
2. Nothing. Sit at home and be bothered by mobs coming to your door.
3. Or, celebrate good instead of evil at the missionaries house: free food, lots of candy, Christian music, fun and games.
   

The Bible says, "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21) And "Flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart." (2 Timothy 2:2) So, we decided to host an alternative to Halloween for the kids from our childrens ministry, we called it "Reformation Day" and we explained how Martin Luther was a Christian who changed history by challenging evil in his generation and stood up for good. We encouraged the kids to glorify God not the devil and to celebrate life not death and to seek good not evil.



We provided Hot dogs, chips, cola and plenty of candy so that they wouldn't be tempted to go trick or treating. Our games included a pinjata, Uno, guess how many M&M's are in a jar, bobbing for apples and who could make their balloons stick to the ceiling after rubbing it on your head and finally. We connected our camera to a monitor so they could see themselves dance along with the David Crowder Band, singing "Your a Revolutionary Love" and "O Praise Him" and now we have this action packed video to show you:






October 31 Reformation Fun

Sunday Services

We had a full service (about 45 people) at the Russian church at 10 am and I taught from Romans 5:12-21. It was a difficult passage to teach in Russian but they everyone was gracious and said they understood in spite of my many grammatical mistakes and bad pronunciation of the long unusual words in the text. Where mistakes abound, grace abounds much more and I am growing through the whole process - hopefully others are truly growing in their faith too.

Our evening home fellowship went very well, 4 people came this time, praise the Lord. This was a great opportunity to share our vision for church planting from Acts 2:42, Ephesians 4:11ff, 1Peter 2:2, and other verses. I taught in Russian and we had a good time praising the Lord in English. Next time I hope to be prepared to sing in Latvian too.

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."

Vacation Bible School report

Just a quick note to say that vacation Bible school went well, I was the music guy which was the kids favorite part, my favorite part was the last day when they brought their parents and I shared my testimony and the gospel and about 10 kids and 2 parents turned to the Lord. Sunday night we had a handful of kids come to our home fellowship and we started to watch the Gospel of John movie and sing more songs of praise. I will be putting pictures on my blog, so check it out soon. God is working!

Vacation Bible School

This week we are having a VBS right in our front yard! We are working with a missions team from Tennessee and a team from Ogres Evangelical church from July 21 - July 30 in order to reach children and youth with the gospel.

• Every day from 10-4 there will be an outreach for kids: Bible lessons, praise and worship, christian cartoons, crafts and activities, plus a free lunch.
• 5pm The team of 10 people will have dinner at our house, rest a bit.
• Every evening 7-10pm there will be a youth meeting also in our front yard

So we would appreciate your prayer for strength as we help host, cook, teach, translate, sing and build up the kingdom of God!

Got a minute for missions?

Our home church CCMB has approved of the missions fellowship to show a one minute video on a different missionary each month. They asked me to make a one minute video (no longer) on what we are doing in Latvia, perhaps showing why the need is so great there that we moved our family. A tough assignment, but i am up for the challenge for the sake of the great commission! Here is my first attempt - sorry it is 40 seconds over!



in the square.wmv

You are invited! Tu esi ielūgts!

Tu esi ielūgts!

uz Angļu - Latviešu Bībeles Stundām

Kopā ar Amerikas Misionāriem

Katru svētdienu - 18:30

Ogrē, Brīvības ielā 30

Vairāk Informācijas atradīsi:

· http://www.calvarylatvia.com/

· 2 780 3318

„Jo mēs nesludinām paši sevi, bet Kristu Jēzu, To Kungu,

mēs paši esam jūsu kalpi, Jēzus sūtīti.”

2. Kointiešiem 4:5

You are invited to an English and Latvian Bible Study with American missionaries.

Every Sunday at 8:00 pm. Contact us for more information 2 780 3318

"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord;

and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.' 2 Corinthians 4:5

New Prayer requests for July

For those of you who are committed to praying for us monthly or even daily, Thank you! Here are some new prayer requestes:

• For fruitfulness in all of our weekly activities especially Friday evangelism, Sunday Bible studies, Latvian language lessons (mon, wed, fri), Monday night prayer, Thursday fellowship, etc.
• For our family and our continued blessing and balance with ministry. Our wedding anniversary is 7/1/07, Lena's Birthday is 7/16/07.
• 7/7/07 wedding of Elina and Vadislav. This couple is from the Baptist church that we are helping at. Elina sings with me on the worship team, she is the one who is looking to my wife for wise counsel and she may be translating for me in September. Pray for a blessed Christian wedding and for us to be godly encouragement to them in their marriage.
• 7/8/07 Seminar on Evangelism for churches in Ogre. i have been asked by the Evangelical aliance be a speaker along with pastor Rufus (a missionary from Africa) to teach and equip believers from various churches who are interested reaching their city with the gospel. The goal is to show how evangelism is more of a lifestyle than a once a year program. Pray for my teaching in Russian. Pray for a good turn out and that God's word will be received and put into practice for the sake of the gospel.
• For preparations for the annual Bible Reading Marathon 8/4-8/7/07. For four days evangelicals team up to read the whole New Testament and Psalms in the central square. Pray for wisdom as churches are seeking to work together to proclaim the word of God in Ogre.
• 7/20/07 A missions team from America is coming to help us do VBS outside our house for the kids who are out on the streets while their parents work. Pray for kids to come to Christ and for us to be gracious hosts.
• 7/23/07 Steven and Teresa leave for Moldova. Pray that the remainder of their time with us and their church in Moldova to be blessed when they return. I will be street witnessing with Steven as much as possible while we have the chance.

New Sunday night meeting

Tonight, we hosted our first weekly meeting for people who we met when street witnessing. Seven long-haired, 17 year old young men came with questions about what we believe and heard Steven and I share our testimonies from 8pm to 10:30pm. They actually spoke and understood English very well, so we were able to share freely how Jesus called us to himself. They listened intently and asked a lot of the same questions we asked ourselves before committing our lives to Christ. I think we related well to each other since I too was a long haired rocker in my late teens. I let them take turns playing my guitar in the background while we all talked seriously and ate cookies our wives brought out to us. They said they would come next week to begin learning what the Bible has to say and perhaps bring some girls so that our wives could share their testimonies too. Our meetings will start at 8pm after our kids go to bed, and it doesn't get dark until about 10:30 this far north. We might set up a circle of chairs right outside our front door like we did tonight, although we are thinking of buying a couch so that more people can comfortably sit inside where there are no bugs. Anyway, we are trusting the Lord to save some of these guys and to see them begin to live for Christ.

Ministry Opportunities

I'd like to tell you about some of the ways God has given us to serve Him in Ogre.

• Every Monday night we are committed to prayer. Lena and I pray with Steven and Teresa. We have been praying about how God wants us to begin ministering here.
• Thursday evening, Steven and I go to a men's fellowship and discuss discipleship.
• Friday night, the Lord put it on my heart to do evangelism in the center or parks where young people hang out. Many Latvian young people would rather speak English than Russian.
• Sunday morning, the baptist church has invited me to teach the Bible, which I am doing in Russian, verse by verse every week for 30 minutes. I started with 2 John and will go next to 3 John and then Jude. I am also leading worship (also in Russian) while their worship leader is out of town. This is a good experience for ministry while we are still seeking to form a fellowship of our own.
• We are still looking for a Latvian language teacher or beginners class but are learning a lot with books and out of necessity while shopping for food.
• With high speed Internet, I have been able to post more pictures and video on the web. I see this as a possible ministry to future missionaries who want to know what it is like trying to pioneer a new ministry on the mission field. If this ministers to you, please send me an email. We need more missionaries, the harvest is great but the laborers are few!
• Our kids are also important to minister to as we adjust to a new country. We are praying about putting Caleb in preschool so he can learn Latvian and make friends. Lily has been irritable lately, could be sick or just needs extra hugs. Please pray for our kids.

There are so many opportunities that its almost overwhelming, like sharing my testimony on a local TV program, or being a counselor at a Christian camp for 6 days or visiting a Latvian speaking church Sunday afternoon. I have to pray about these and hear from the Lord before getting over committed with various ministries that we neglect our main focus of church planting.