Hey Everyone,
Just a quick note to let you know the volcano I wrote about a month back had quieted down and they said it was no longer an issue. However, over the weekend it became active again and it's erupted like 6 times since, spewing ash over 10 miles up. The wind is blowing away from us, so we won't get hit by the ash, but several other towns will be, so if you could pray for them that'd be great!
Hope you're all well!
God bless,
Josiah
Praises:
Volcano has missed us!
A huge chunk of need for one of the students who needs money has been met!!! Praise the Lord!
Prayers:
Pray for the people who will get hit by the ash
Pray for the remaining financial need our team has - about $2000 total
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Winding up
Lecture phase is winding up! Only two weeks until we leave for the island! Our team is doing excellently, keeping busy and really building unity and trust amongst ourselves.
Two weeks ago, our speaker was Bevin Ginder, a worship pastor from the Denver YWAM base. His teaching on missions was very inspiring because he approached it in a way that was exciting and attainable. Most people (including myself up to this point) view missions as a task. The "Great Comission" or "Our marching orders." But Bevin's focus was on the story of the gospel. The bible and our lives are part of an amazing epic that is being written. An epic, full of battle and heroics as well as the most incredible romantic plotline is unfolding around us and our call is to step into our role in the story. The Gospel is a two-part message.
Part one says "God is going to bless your socks off!" In other words, He's going to save you, give you eternal life, and give you abundant life on the earth. Part two says "Go and use that blessing to be a blessing to others." This was first declared to Abraham when God makes the covenant with him. God says in Genesis 12: "I will bless you... and all nations shall be blessed through you." Bevin's takeaway was that you can't preach one without the other. So our mission is to take that two-fold gospel, apply it to our lives and in doing so take the gospel to others.
This past week we've learned about Islam and the Jehovah's Witnesses and why their teachings don't make sense, and about God's plans and purposes in our lives, and about our identity as cleansed sons of God. The identity in Christ teaching was something that I really needed, because I, like a lot of other people think that God must be angry at me when I sin and that He wants to punish me. That's wrong thinking however, because to think that is to deny the finished work of the cross. Saying that God is still going to be angry and condemning when I sin is the same thing as saying "The cross wasn't good enough." So that was incredibly freeing to me, since it means that I don't have to fall on my face and feel miserable in order for God to forgive me :)
So yeah :) Life's been really good!! We've had some awesome times of prayer and intercession, and a good amount of time just marveling at the beauty of God's creation around us! The mountains and the oceans are spectacular and everything here is just so beautiful. Oh and we had a moose in our front yard today :) It was a really little one, probably only one or two so it was only as tall as a minivan. But it hung around for a while, ate some grass the ambled off :)
Friday night we had a masquerade party as an opportunity to just have some fun and get to know people better and fellowship with the community of friends YWAM has built in and around town :) so that was a lot of fun! Chad, the other guy student and I dressed up in matching robes and facemasks and had a lot of fun entering the costume contest. We would have definitely won had not Scott, our base leader shown up as an outhouse :P Good times :)
Anyway, I hope you're all doing well! I really appreciate your prayers and support! God bless! I miss you guys!
Josiah
Praises:
God is totally answering our prayers right and left, little things are getting straightened out and He's been so faithful to us and kept our path smooth!
Our team is really bonding even closer together and learning to work together.
We're all excited and looking forward to our outreach!
Prayers:
Some of our team members are still in need of finances for the trip, so your prayers for them are really appreciated!
Two weeks ago, our speaker was Bevin Ginder, a worship pastor from the Denver YWAM base. His teaching on missions was very inspiring because he approached it in a way that was exciting and attainable. Most people (including myself up to this point) view missions as a task. The "Great Comission" or "Our marching orders." But Bevin's focus was on the story of the gospel. The bible and our lives are part of an amazing epic that is being written. An epic, full of battle and heroics as well as the most incredible romantic plotline is unfolding around us and our call is to step into our role in the story. The Gospel is a two-part message.
Part one says "God is going to bless your socks off!" In other words, He's going to save you, give you eternal life, and give you abundant life on the earth. Part two says "Go and use that blessing to be a blessing to others." This was first declared to Abraham when God makes the covenant with him. God says in Genesis 12: "I will bless you... and all nations shall be blessed through you." Bevin's takeaway was that you can't preach one without the other. So our mission is to take that two-fold gospel, apply it to our lives and in doing so take the gospel to others.
This past week we've learned about Islam and the Jehovah's Witnesses and why their teachings don't make sense, and about God's plans and purposes in our lives, and about our identity as cleansed sons of God. The identity in Christ teaching was something that I really needed, because I, like a lot of other people think that God must be angry at me when I sin and that He wants to punish me. That's wrong thinking however, because to think that is to deny the finished work of the cross. Saying that God is still going to be angry and condemning when I sin is the same thing as saying "The cross wasn't good enough." So that was incredibly freeing to me, since it means that I don't have to fall on my face and feel miserable in order for God to forgive me :)
So yeah :) Life's been really good!! We've had some awesome times of prayer and intercession, and a good amount of time just marveling at the beauty of God's creation around us! The mountains and the oceans are spectacular and everything here is just so beautiful. Oh and we had a moose in our front yard today :) It was a really little one, probably only one or two so it was only as tall as a minivan. But it hung around for a while, ate some grass the ambled off :)
Friday night we had a masquerade party as an opportunity to just have some fun and get to know people better and fellowship with the community of friends YWAM has built in and around town :) so that was a lot of fun! Chad, the other guy student and I dressed up in matching robes and facemasks and had a lot of fun entering the costume contest. We would have definitely won had not Scott, our base leader shown up as an outhouse :P Good times :)
Anyway, I hope you're all doing well! I really appreciate your prayers and support! God bless! I miss you guys!
Josiah
Praises:
God is totally answering our prayers right and left, little things are getting straightened out and He's been so faithful to us and kept our path smooth!
Our team is really bonding even closer together and learning to work together.
We're all excited and looking forward to our outreach!
Prayers:
Some of our team members are still in need of finances for the trip, so your prayers for them are really appreciated!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
We're in a battle of ideas
Hey everyone :)
We had a really fascinating speaker this week; Tom Osterhus. His subject was the differing worldviews that are competing to take over the minds of the world's population.
He talked about the seven "mind-molders" which are the ways in which worldviews are spread:
Family - Clan/tribe/people group
Religion
Education
Government
Celebration - arts/entertaiment/sports
Media
Economics
One of his main points was the Christians have really dropped the ball in almost all of these areas. But the other worldviews (secular humanist and eastern) have flooded into that gap and taken over these areas with their ideas. We as Christians have a responsibility to teach the truth in all of these areas, but we have failed to and become "tolerant" and wishy washy.
The following table gives the basic summary of the info he gave us about the different worldviews. The table shows the basic questions of life and the answers each worldview gives:
It's been a pretty academic week of teaching, but really enjoyable :)
On other matters, we've had a quiet, enjoyable week of living in community together :) We would appreciate your prayers for support as four of the outreach team members still have hefty financial needs that need to be met before we leave at the end of the month. So your prayers would be greatly appreciated :) Also, if you'd like to contribute, write me an email and I'll get back to you about how you can do so :)
Thank you and God bless!!
Josiah
Praises:
It's been an awesome week, praise God!
Our team is continually bonding even tighter together and we're making excellent progress in preparing to go to the island
I'm in excellent health and thriving despite the cold :)
Prayers:
Financial support for our team members
Good health (almost everyone on base has colds)
We had a really fascinating speaker this week; Tom Osterhus. His subject was the differing worldviews that are competing to take over the minds of the world's population.
He talked about the seven "mind-molders" which are the ways in which worldviews are spread:
Family - Clan/tribe/people group
Religion
Education
Government
Celebration - arts/entertaiment/sports
Media
Economics
One of his main points was the Christians have really dropped the ball in almost all of these areas. But the other worldviews (secular humanist and eastern) have flooded into that gap and taken over these areas with their ideas. We as Christians have a responsibility to teach the truth in all of these areas, but we have failed to and become "tolerant" and wishy washy.
The following table gives the basic summary of the info he gave us about the different worldviews. The table shows the basic questions of life and the answers each worldview gives:
Basic Questions | Biblical Christian WV | Secular WV | Eastern WV |
TruthEpistomologyHow do we know that we know? | Rational RevelationDivine Revelation that comes through the biblical scriptures.The Bible is Truth | Rationalism"Man by taking thought"Means thought and logic is "god" So truth comes from logical reasoning | IntuitionFaith in faith, faith in mystical experiences.Truth comes through "feeling" |
OrginWhere did the universe and man come from?"Ontology" -Study of where everything came from | The infinite and personal God of the Bible created the universe and man | The result of an as yet undiscovered naturalistic causation. In other words we don't have a clue, but we DEFINITELY know it's not Intelligent Design Universe comes from the big bang, man comes from evolution. These are the predominant theories | We can't really know for sure where everything came from. Brahman is infinite, but impersonal. Like the force in star wars. No mind, no conciousness. Man is god in a temporary state of self-forgetfullness. Somehow, Brahman forgot he doesn't have a personality, and is dreaming that he's 6 billion people with personality |
ConditionMetaphysics - "What is the nature of what exists?" | Finite and Fallen BUT! Man is made in the Image of God. Every person has dignity, value, and worth. Both the natural and the supernatural exist | Everything is a product of "Chance+Time+Matter" No supernatural, only the material world exists. All a human is is recycled matter. Man is a sack of guts with hair. Man is ultimately an accident. But somehow, man is inherently good | No natural, only the supernatural exists. Everything is an illusion, a dream. Called "Maya" Brahman is the only thing that exists. |
MoralityAxiology"How should we life?" "What is right and wrong?" Ethics Also: "what has ultimate value?" | Based on the Bible. Moral absolutes as revealed by God | Truth is relative. So moral values are completely subjective. Morality is based on society, or on the individual. Because man is an accident, he has no value. Man is nothing but an animal so why not treat him like one? In fact, we should kill off all the weak ones, like we do with animals. All morality is based on what is "workable" If it works for society, it must be right | Do anything that allows you to gain good Karma. Things aren't good or bad, you just do what works to get you off the karmic wheel. It's amoral |
DestinyTeleology"Where are we going?" Destiny of universe and of man | Towards the Kingdom Of God | Utopia in the kingdom of man The final destiny of the universe is heat death, when the universe becomes devoid of energy | Destiny is to escape the Maya. The goal is to drop the water of "you" out of the syringe of "maya" and drop back into the ocean of brahman. In other words, there is NO destiny. The ultimate goal is to disappear and vanish. |
It's been a pretty academic week of teaching, but really enjoyable :)
On other matters, we've had a quiet, enjoyable week of living in community together :) We would appreciate your prayers for support as four of the outreach team members still have hefty financial needs that need to be met before we leave at the end of the month. So your prayers would be greatly appreciated :) Also, if you'd like to contribute, write me an email and I'll get back to you about how you can do so :)
Thank you and God bless!!
Josiah
Praises:
It's been an awesome week, praise God!
Our team is continually bonding even tighter together and we're making excellent progress in preparing to go to the island
I'm in excellent health and thriving despite the cold :)
Prayers:
Financial support for our team members
Good health (almost everyone on base has colds)
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