Vicente is working with baloons for the children
one service, if you see no power right there, but they are very happy, they are mayans also, they speak Chortí
My wife is working in the pharmacy
The shampoo and soap that you gave, God provide for them, praise The Lord!!!
Our suite, in one hotel five stars right there
the path to the houses
the houses in the mountains
Showing, sharing, serving in the mountians with my family.
Immer Saul Ramirez
Visit this website [article here] to see the interview below with Dr. David Platt from The Church at Brook Hills. This interview was done over 8 months ago. Dr. Platt has taught me so much about understanding the Bible and "The Word Does the Work". Thank you Jesus for allowing me to be at Brook Hills during this era!
THEOLOGY IN THE NEWS
'The Word Does the Work'
David Platt discusses how he raises the bar for biblical understanding and practice.
Interview by Collin Hansen | posted 8/10/2009 10:12AM
David Platt has preached for seven hours straight. He can recite Romans 1-8 on the spot. He delivered the most powerful sermon in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors' Conference. People brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that his shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.
Okay, so the last item was Peter, not Platt. But enthused congregations are raving about the pastor of the Church at Brooks Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. Three years into his pastorate, David Platt is still only 30 years old. He earned his M.Div. and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where he served as assistant professor of expository preaching and apologetics. Christianity Todayeditor at large Collin Hansen spoke with Platt to learn about the man behind the mythology and ask about how to build biblical understanding in the local church.
How did you develop such a deep understanding and passion for Scripture?
God by his grace provided men in my life who poured the Word into me and taught me the supremacy of his Word, that any power in walking with Christ, even more so leading a church, is dependent on understanding God in his Word.
Coming into this role, I have nothing to bring to the table apart from his Word. This is the first church I've pastored. I don't have a lot of wisdom that life experience would bring. We're going to trust that his Word is sufficient and that any authority I have to lead in the church is dependent on the authority of God's Word and my attachment to it. There's no question that anything good is completely attributed to, dependent on, and accredited to the power of his Word. The Word does the work.
All good evangelicals affirm the centrality of the Word. Still, we have a severe problem of biblical illiteracy. How do we go from knowing the Word is important to knowing what the Word actually says?
We have severely dumbed down the Word, and shown a lack of trust in the sufficiency of the Word in the way we preach. We find it necessary to supplement it with entertaining stories and quips or good practical advice for living the Christian life that are not based in the Word. This deficiency transfers into people content with a little "Word for the Day," in a devotional book at best, as opposed to deep knowledge of Scripture.
We're trying to hit at the problem from a variety of angles at Brook Hills. First of all, in worship we're quoting the Word, singing the Word, and engaging in intensive study. We'll study 55 minutes to an hour. We try to really saturate the community of faith with the Word when we gather together.
I go to other places, such as house churches in Asia, and they study for 11 or 12 hours, knowing they risk their lives. They'll dive in deep. We came back and tried to do something similar here. We call it secret church and do it a couple times a year. We gather together for intensive study with no frills, nothing flashy, no entertainment value. The first time, about 1,000 showed up. We studied Old Testament overview from 6 p.m. to midnight, but usually it goes longer, supplemented by times in prayer for the persecuted church. It's all ages, but the predominant demographic is college students and young singles. It's grown to the point where we need to offer tickets at $5 for reservations and the cost of a study guide. We'll do it again in October with 2,500 folks. It's theological in nature. We've done a night on the Atonement, another on the doctrine of God. This time we're doing spiritual warfare. It's one of my favorite sights as a pastor to look out at 12:30 a.m. and see a room full of 2,500 people, their Bibles open, soaking it in.
We have so lowered the bar for biblical/theological literacy in the church, that if you really want solid training, you go to seminary. As a result, the bar is really low even for those going into seminary. I want to raise the bar on both levels. Much of what we get in seminary should be prevalent in the local church. We're starting a training center here. The goal is to provide seminary education in the context of this local church, accessible to the entire church, equipping them to make disciples of all the nations.
How does this program differ from adult education and Sunday school?
It's more academic in nature. It involves reading, buying books, assignments. There's no grading. It's pass/fail. We encourage small-group leaders to get training, along with elders and those who lead in musical worship. This spring, we're starting a church-planting component on two different tracks, vocational or bivocational. We're doing the "best of seminary" over one year, and at the end of the year we'll send church planters out with support. We're not presuming to do in a year what seminaries can do in three or four years. But we want to make biblical/theological training accessible to as many people as possible. Then we're taking all the teaching and translating it into multiple languages.
I imagine some churches would see these plans as unrealistic, or the overly ambitious plans of a 30-year-old pastor with a Ph.D.
There's no question that our size and resources make the breadth of what Brook Hills can do greater than what an average 50- or 100-member church can do. But while the breadth certainly changes, the foundational truths here are reproducible. The New Testament pattern is churches raising up leaders and missionaries. Maybe the small-church pastor brings one or two guys alongside as he preaches the Word. As he platforms the Word in the community of faith, then people's hunger grows. We have people begging for this here. The more they taste the Word, the more they want it, the more they want to minister. We've had about 1,000 each year go overseas doing disciple-making. The more they go, they more they realize they need to be equipped to be a part of what God's doing around the world.
While it's encouraging to see so many people hungry for God's Word, how do they deal with the implications of what they're reading?
A year ago this time, I hit a crisis of belief. I started looking at what the gospel teaches and the Word teaches about the poor. All throughout Scripture, God measures the integrity of his people's faith by their concern for the poor. And he has strong words on this subject. I asked myself, Do I really believe the Word? I preach it, I love it, I memorize it, and I study it, but am I really willing to submit my life to it in such a way that I reorient how I live my life in Birmingham to have deep compassion for the poor?This process overflowed into my preaching. As we studied the Rich Young Ruler or Luke 16 and saw concern for the poor all over Scripture, I said, "We are ignoring the poor with the way we're living in Birmingham. If we believe the gospel, then our opulent living compared to the rest of the world does not make sense. We need to make major changes, individually, in our families, with our houses, cars, and stuff." People would not say they wanted to resist the Word, but that message created all sorts of stirring. That's where the Word is attacking a core issue in our culture. I'm not advocating legalistic standards, but what we've seen in the Word is that if Christ is in us, then our lives do not make a lot of sense in this area. There are 16,000 children who will die today due to starvation or preventable disease. We need to answer for why we're spending so much on our homes and stuff. My wife and I put our house on the market and began making adjustments. Others have been doing the same. One wealthy member in our faith family, while we were studying the Rich Young Ruler, told me I'm nuts. But then he said, "I think you're right. This is exactly what the Word teaches." With tears in his eyes, he said, "I have reached the conclusion that I'm never going to stand before God and hear him tell me, 'I wish you had kept more for yourself.'" Now he's selling his house to invest in needs around the world.
When you talk about increasing biblical and theological knowledge, you're not just talking about making people smarter. You're helping them to conform to the image of Christ.
The purpose of God's Word is to transform us into the image of Christ. The Word radically changes the way we live. This is why it's more important for me to preach Leviticus than to give them tips on parenting. The reality is that Scripture is not a guidebook for a lot of the things folks are going through. It's given to us for one purpose: to make us look more like Christ. When we look more like Christ, then when we're walking through grief or a parenting challenge, we find ourselves in touch with Holy Spirit of God, who is able to walk us through those things we're battling day in and day out. No other book in the Christian bookstore can get them in touch with the Holy Spirit of God.
Benjamin Franklin once said,
“When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water.”
For millions of children around the world, they have already learned this difficult lesson.
In Africa, children are walking one to three miles, carrying back 40 pounds of water four times a day. The constant need for water is time consuming and exhausting.
Around the world, 376 million children must walk more than 15 minutes to access water. Studies show that in sub-Saharan Africa and many other areas around the world women and young girls must walk an average of four miles every day just to provide water for their families.
Each year in Africa, 40 billion working hours are spent just on fetching water. The consequences are tragic. Children have no time for school and the adults, especially the women, have little time left to pursue opportunities that would financially benefit their families. The long-term damage and ripple effects of this loss of time are too great to measure.
The world’s poorest 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day. Many of these same people lack a basic education. And it should be no surprise that a large part of this number—1.1 billion—lack access to clean water.
In addition, communities without water do not thrive and there is usually no infrastructure for schools. Without water, communities literally dry up, and as always, it is the children who suffer the most.
There is an African proverb, “Filthy water cannot be washed.” It is a simple statement but it reveals the helplessness of those who have no way of reaching clean water. It is said by those who know water’s true worth.
Good Morning:
I pray this morning that God may open a door for the Word, and that Janet, Laura and the rest of the group in South Africa may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which they are in chains. (Col 4:3).
This week began by being able to witness the ministry of the Spirit of God in the lives of Andrew and Bullen as they testified of the goodness of God and led Bethel Baptist Church in worship on Sunday. On Monday I carried all four guys to new student orientation and began the process of registering for classes. As I sit back and observe where God has brought us from and the work that he has already accomplished I rejoice recognizing that it is not by coincidence or happenstance that the events have happened as they have but rather it is by the sovereign hand of God. From our time in Honduras, to Avondale, to Mexico, to studying the Word and fellowshipping at Fox and Marcia's home, God has used each one of you to form this ministry and for that I thank Him.
The rooms are ready, the guys have attended orientation this week and began registering for classes, Andrew and Bullen will take their final exam for English 101 tonight and based on the manner in which God has used each one of you to shape this ministry I believe it is only fitting that our small group will be there Sunday night to welcome the members of ThreeSixty. We will meet at 6:00 pm at 144 Thornberry Drive. When you turn off of Valleydale onto Thornberry there are a couple of office buildings immediately on your left. Please park in this parking lot so we minimize our disruption on the neighborhood.
I look forward to seeing everyone Sunday.
Chad G - Threesixty
Rick and I are so excited as weeks of preparation and anticipation are coming to a true life picture on Sunday. God has orchestrated His plan and we will start a new chapter in our journey as we follow Christ. Thanks you Father that you have chosen us to be part of Your plan to share Christ with the Nations! Lisa
This camping experience was set up by ThreeSixty as a way for the new students to meet one another before the start of their new college adventure. At a state park in Alabama a site was selected and a tent was erected. This overnight camping excursion was short-lived. It was inclement weather from the start, but a big fire was started and hot dogs and burgers were grilled. Just as we were beginning to eat. Lighting bolts, thunder, and strong winds begin to whip through the trees. I [lisa] headed for the car as fast as possible. I arrived home almost an hour later only to find out that we were in the middle of straight line winds and strong storms. About 1/2 of an hour later - my husband showed up. The camp out was over when a tree fell beside the camp site. Our Sudanese students were not alarmed at all “Andrew stated - Oh more firewood!”
MEDICINE - Antibiotic was provided for our Mission Trip June 2009.
It was distributed in Solola and Guatemala City.
His name is Mynor Figueroa,
He is another doctor here in Guatemala, you bless him and the people trough medicine.
He said Thank you very much and God bless you,
And also God provide trough you new testaments for the people,
Blessings,Immer [our brother in Christ / Translator]
Good morning,
My dear family in Alabama, is a beautiful to know how God is working trough your lives, Praise The Lord for you!!!!!!!!!!!
I am sending some pictures from my church, I took the pictures yesterday in our serice. In the first picture We were praying for you and your minister, because you bless us a lot All the members send to you greetings, blessings, hugs and they said thank you very much for everything, and also I said I blessed the day when I met with you, and now we are working in God´s kingdom. And also I an sending pictures from our sunday school classes.
Have a good week in God,
Psalm 37:4,
Immer Mitchell Roberts Houston
A handwritten card containing a Bible verse that Buzz Aldrin planned to broadcast back to Earth during a lunar Holy Communion service
Communion on the Moon I love this!
How many of you knew? Too bad this type news doesn't travel as fast as bad news. Communion on the Moon: July 20, 1969 (This is an article by Eric Metaxas)
Forty years ago two human beings changed history by walking on the surface of the moon. But what happened before Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong exited the Lunar Module is perhaps even more amazing, if only because so few people know about it. "I'm talking about the fact that Buzz Aldrin took communion on the surface of the moon. Some months after his return, he wrote about it in Guideposts magazine. And a few years ago I had the privilege of meeting him myself. I asked him about it and he confirmed the story to me, and I wrote about it in my book "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask)". The background to the story is that Aldrin was an elder at his Presbyterian Church in Texas during this period in his life, and knowing that he would soon be doing something unprecedented in human history, he felt he should mark the occasion somehow, and he asked his minister to help him. And so the minister consecrated a communion wafer and a small vial of communion wine. Buzz Aldrin took them with him out of the Earth's orbit and on to the surface of the moon. He and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when Aldrin made the following public statement: "This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way." He then ended radio communication and there, on the silent surface of the moon, 250,000 miles from home, he read a verse from the Gospel of John, and he took communion. Here is his own account of what happened: "In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the scripture, ' I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing. ' I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: The very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements. And of course, it's interesting to think that some of the first words spoken on the moon were the words of Jesus Christ, who made the Heavens and Earth and the moon.
EMAIL Sent: Sun, Jul 5, 2009 10:30 pm
Subject: BRAXTON TAYLOR F
J and Lisa, Hey. It's me Darlene. I wanted to get in contact with you and let you see how fast Braxton is growing. He is making sentences now and he is adorable. He has his final surgery scheduled for September, just a few months away. I also want to say that I am sorry for everything in the past. I am attaching some pictures of Braxton and I would love to meet you and have lunch or something. I really would like to talk to you and your sister if possible. When I look at things right now, I see how childish I was in the past. I am ashamed of my ways in the past and I would like you to know that I am a different person now. Larry and I have married and I am finishing up my degree in Criminal Justice. My dad past away in March of this year, and My little boy July 9th of last year.
Sincerely, Larry, Darlene, and Braxton
Sent: Mon, Jul 6, 2009 12:25 pm
RETURN RESPONSE
Darlene,
Oh my gosh! What an answer to prayer. I have been thinking about you so much and wondering how ya’ll have been. I wondered how the baby was doing (I thought it was a girl)? I am SO sorry to hear that the baby went to be with Jesus. I am also so sorry to hear about your dad.? WOW.? rough year.? We too have had a rough year. Little Lee had brain surgery last September and the GM business is terrible, but all happens for a reason. I just read a weekly wisdom before I opened your email that said "Do you believe GOD even when you can't believe what happened"? We also had a setback with my brother who had to go to rehab for a couple of months and we are trying to help him get his life back in order. His wife has divorced him and not really sure about his kids. He has 2 kids that he adores and he is trying to make amends with them.
I Love the pictures of Braxton. You will have to fill me in on his progress, if he had to have any more surgeries. What is his surgery for in September? And do ya’ll go to Nashville to have it? He is sooo big. I can't believe it. He certainly hasn't missed a meal... He is adorable and his smile is contagious.
I would love to catch up--go to lunch or whatever.? Lisa and I both have not stopped thinking of you and often ask each other what is Darlene, Larry and Braxton up to!! I want to hear what happened to your baby. Would love to hear about Martha. Where you are living, working, etc.
I totally appreciate your apology. I forgive you and know that I still really care about you and your family. I am sorry for abandoning you. I felt like I got too involved and was trying to hard to control the situation. For that I am sorry. I am so glad you got back in touch. I am not sure if I will be at church on Sunday because we go to the lake on the weekends but I would love to get together with you sometime this week. I will pray for you as I know this will be a hard week for you.
Thanks again for sending the precious pictures.
Sent: Mon, Jul 6, 2009 1:25 pm
We have been doing okay. Larry finally got his disability. His child support was reduced. I had a little boy his name was Bridger Ty. He was truly God sent. He only weighed 3lbs. I delivered the umbilical cord first and it cut the blood flow off to him. His kidneys were bad and his chest did not grow big enough to house his lungs. God knew what he was doing. I tell myself that Bridger was just for God and me. He was a pleasure to carry. Yeah, it's been a rough year. Why did Lil Lee have to have surgery, not related to TEF was it? I hate to hear about Lee's business to. On a different note,,,,,,,I got a GMC Yukon. It is not a brand new one, but it makes me feel good as a person when I am bumping those BOSE...lol. Braxton has had a total of 28 surgeries. His last surgery in April was to remove a penny from his neck.We all laughed and thought that was humor from God...You know on a penny it says "in God we trust". Braxton wasn't hurt or anything but he had a problem putting change in his mouth. He had his esophagus removed last year and they made an opening in his neck for saliva to drain, which is caught by a washcloth. The daily Mountain Eagle did a big write up on him just this year...It was awesome. The surgery in September will be to take six inches of his small intestines and rebuild his esophagus. We are praying this is his last surgery. I know that Braxton is chunky but he is not able to eat anything by mouth and it touch his stomach. He eats from a Mic-key button in his stomach. You thought he was something back then....o' boy he is saying things, that I know I did not teach him. He loves to talk on the phone so if you ever want to call you can. He will talk your ears off...
oh. Almost forgot, I am a full time student and I don't work right now. I almost thought about working at one of those Bingo Halls down the road...Looks fun. I don't know...
Without Christ I am nothing, Without me Christ is still God. It is because of Christ I am able to stand!!!