Author: Rick

Ruth

Ruth is a total delight to have in class. Sharp mind and open heart. Sadly, I was told, she was abused by a man in the recent past and is healing from that trauma. I see her flowering like the flowers behind her. She gets exited as we study through Romans together since what God has spoken there becomes so clearly seen.
 
Yesterday in class she said, “Now I know what you mean when you say present your heart as a blank canvass before the Lord”. That was a statement I’ve been making in the context of this class of “hermeneutics” which is “how to study the Bible”. I keep saying, “When you come to the scriptures, you have to empty your mind from your own ideas that you’ve learned in Christian culture, or modern day life. We have to always go to the origin to see what was meant then and allow that to shape our thinking and make our conclusions of the truth. I said, what if an artist wanted to paint a painting but where ever his brush strokes were, you also added your own brush strokes? The end result would probably not be what the artist had in mind. The same goes for studying the Bible. We have concepts in our minds that don’t exist in the mind of the Author.”
 
Today was my final class. It was a bit of a sad moment for all, but it’s truly been a great privilege to teach these hungry and respectful people. I hope to get a video of each of the rest of them. I will be around the school still as I eat lunch with them every day in the cafeteria.
 
Here’s Ruth’s video from this morning:
 

Marisela

Marisela’s husband left her some years ago for a younger woman. She shares in the video that there are many prayer requests and longings in her heart which only the Lord knows and that she can’t explain. I wondered if they had to do with the loneliness and pain caused by that. She says above all she would appreciate your prayer for love and humility in her life. I thought those were amazing desires to have.

Thanks for praying for her. You can watch the video here:

Updates on several items

Just a quick note to say:
 
  1. Thank you for praying for Elias. It was SO rewarding to listen to him in class today. I’ve never heard him speak with such clarity and conviction in response to the study in Romans. Today we had 3 hours of class and we studied, Romans 5-6. It was a delight to see the lights come on in Elias particularly at one point as we were comparing Romans 1:16 “the gospel… is the power of God” with Romans 5:20 “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.” We could see so clearly what Paul was teaching. The good news unlocks us and makes us free – full of the fruit of the Spirit. But the law makes us freeze up and operate out of fear and it ends up fueling the sinful nature all the more. He just started to shake his head with those big eyes wide open in astonishment and said, “Why do so many churches keep threatening us with law based teaching over and over. We don’t hear this in church! Why don’t we hear the gospel and it’s power?” What was beautiful to me was that all this work was done by simply looking at what the scriptures say and the Spirit opened his eyes and taught him. I though, “that’s no coincidence that his is happening today, just after the video to pray for Elias.”
  2. My MRI is scheduled for Friday. I will update you as soon as I know more.
  3. Pray for the P’s. Just think about how many thousands of them are reading their Bibles. Pray for this same work which the Spirit did in Elias to be done in their hearts too. According to Russell, there is a great revival happening in Venezuela. May God raise up an army of P’s to join in and spread the power of the gospel throughout their country.
  4. Just like that, we ran out of P Bibles and need more! What great news. We are collecting more donations now for a second printing. I am still waiting for E to get out of the jungle back to wifi to get an exact number. Last I spoke with him, he figured 15,000 more. We just received a donation for $10,000 towards this second printing. I will update you again later with more details once I know them but, before then, if you want to send more donations, you can send just the same as before to SOM. I can provide details if needed.
  5. The studio is almost done!!! I ran into an electrical grounding issue and so had to install an earth ground rod. Wow, that dry desert dirt is hard packed! I got the rod installed and will connect it to the electrical system, Lord willing tomorrow, and continue setting up equipment. I hope to send you a little video once it’s all done.
  6. We’ve been swamped but in that totally good and rewarding way, full of tears of joy and life. On Sunday, I preached at Agape (the English speaking church), then got invited out with people from the church. One of them invited us afterward to a Mexican church since he was giving a message there and needed me to interpret. Its was lovely. It really was… but after a full day of meetings and Spanish I was bushed… but in a good way. Today was similar after the three hour class, the same man had another meeting with the pastor of that church. It was again rich and full of life, tears and love. I hope to share more about the great work going on in that church too, maybe in the weeks ahead. It was FULL of young people.
  7. If anyone would like to follow the Sunday messages at Agape in English, you can find them here. Just look for the date to find the latest. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1v_577VYe5MQQItIiL2jmS9RYa4pN075r
I have tons more to say, but I don’t want this to go on too long. There is so much going on. So many good things! Jesus promised to build His church and said that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it! I will share more later on topics like Jorge, E, P Bible recording project and new translation projects pending.
 
Thanks for your prayers and your words of encouragement. Just to think… that you can speak from your heart to God about these things and He accomplishes them. That’s amazing. Your prayers are not in vain.
 
Thank you.
 
t.

Elias

Elias is the most humble man that I think I’ve ever had in my class. Howard told me that he had never learned how to read until recently and now he’s in Bible School. I understand he came out of drug rehab and now works to help others in the same addiction. After our interview today he asked me “Is it normal to feel afraid when you have to speak in front of a lot of people?” He said, “Whenever I have to stand in front of people to speak this great terror comes over me and I can’t think.” I said, “Yes, it’s normal. Used to happen to me and still does at times, but usually once you have thoughts from the Lord in your heart to share that nervousness goes away. Besides, it’s good that we are not self confident. It makes us cry out to God in all we do.”

Elias can now read and does a good job reading out loud the sections I give him to read in class. He doesn’t know some Bible words. Like today in class he asked what “transgressions” meant.

Elias is a pleasant person. He asked me today who I was sending the video to. I said to about 150 people who were interested in his life and wanted to pray for him. His eyes lit up real big and he said, “thank you”.

Here’s his interview from this morning:

“God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;  and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.” 
1 Corinthians 1:27-29

Juan David

I’d like to share a little more with you from my students. In the following video clips, I asked Juan to share a little about himself and what he is learning here at CEC. Juan’s Spanish is poor. Can you imagine the academic setting of a Bible School and then not being able to study in your heart language? I’ve seen this dilemma first hand with the P’s. It’s just SO hard to really learn things in a second language, and in Juan’s case, he doesn’t speak Spanish very well.
 
In my class, I am constantly asking questions as it reveals what people are understanding and it also forces them to think for themselves. I don’t think we will ever learn anything from God if we don’t think for ourselves. Jesus quoted the OT scripture “…and they shall all be taught by God.” He then said,  “Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” (John 6:45)
 
As I have been contemplating Juan in my class, his answers often reveal that he’s not really tracking or getting the concepts. I wonder though what God’s purpose for him is through this time in his life here. He is learning things even though they may not be the central focus of a given class. I see that he has a genuine hunger to know God and to serve God and his own people. He told me today that when he’s in his village, he speaks pure Guarijío. He also told me that he wants to be able to serve his people through prayer. I think he goes around to those who are hurting among his people and prays for them. He came here to CEC in order to learn more of God in the hopes of serving God there in his village. I asked him if there is a Bible in his language. He said, “yes, there is but you can’t understand it”.
 
So, may God fulfill his purpose for Juan in his time here and may we be aware of what God is doing in Juan’s life so that we may work along with God. Some plant, and some water, but God gives the increase.
 
Click the videos below to watch this morning’s interview with Juan.
I appreciate your prayers for Juan,
 
t.