Why do Bad things Happen to Good People?

Voddie Baucham answers this question beautifully...

Open Airing at Noho

Here's a clip of me preaching the Gospel in Spanish at the North Hollywood Metro Station. This is our usual fishing hole. It usually gets crowed with people who after exiting the subway wait for their connecting buses to arrive. Half of the people there are latinos.



(1 Cor.1:25-29)

I'm Back...

Leaving for Mexico in a few weeks...

I definately need to pick this blog up again and update it more frequently. From now on, hopefully, I'll be posting at least once a week.

Well, I'll kick it off by re-posting something I put on this blog a couple years ago; it's from one of my favorite biographies of all time. It literally wrecked me, and deeply encouraged me to live a life of constant prayer and nearness to the Lord. I really need to re-read this book:

John Hyde was a missionary to India in around the early 20th Century. His life, like the prophet Elijah, can be summed up in two words: "He prayed."
He spent days and nights in agonizing intercession, weeping, sighing, and groaning in the Spirit for souls and for the Church, sometimes going without food or sleep for days. His travail of soul increased to such a degree that his heart-cry became, "O God, give me souls or I die!" He was used of God to bring down many outpourings of the Spirit in North-West India, beginning in 1904 in Sialkot. Shortly before he died at the age of 47, a medical examination discovered his heart had moved to the right side of his body, worn out by years of intense intercession.
Hyde's life serves as an example of a believer absolutely surrendered to God, who has drawn near enough to Christ to feel His heart, and through whom we may have a glimpse of the very prayer-life of our Lord.


The following is from the book Praying Hyde: Apostle of Prayer, edited by Captain E.G. Carre:

"Let me introduce here a gem from the pen of Paterson: 'What was the secret of that prayer-life of John Hyde's?' he asks. 'This, that it was a life of prayer. Who is the source of all life? The glorified Jesus. How do I get this life from Him? Just as I received His righteousness to begin with. I own that I have no righteousness of my own--only filthy rags, and I in faith claim His righteousness. Now, a twofold result follows: As to our Father in Heaven, He sees Christ's righteousness--not my unrighteousness. A second result as to ourselves: Christ's righteousness not merely clothes us outwardly, but enters into our very being, by His Spirit, received in faith as with the disciples (see John 20:22), and works out sanctification in us.'
"Why not the same with our prayer life? Let us remember the word 'for.' 'Christ died for us,' and 'he ever liveth to make intercession 'for' us,' that is, in our room and stead. So I confess my ever-failing prayers (it dare not be called a life), and plead His never failing intercession. Then it affects our Father, for He looks upon Christ's prayer-life in us, and answers accordingly. So that the answer is far 'above all we can ask or think.' Another great result follows: it affects us. Christ's prayer life enters into us, and He prays in us. This is prayer in the Holy Spirit. Only thus can we pray without ceasing. This is the life more abundant which our Lord gives. Oh, what peace, what comfort? No more working up a life of prayer and failing constantly. Jesus enters the boat, and the toiling ceases, and we are at the land whither we would be. Now, we need to be still before Him, so as to hear his voice and allow Him to pray in us--nay, allow Him to pour into our souls His overflowing life of intercession, which means literally: FACE TO FACE meeting with God--real UNION and COMMUNION."

THIS IS WAR!

Another video from the CBC evangelism team. Paul Washer preaching in the background.

The Exam

My good friend Dave, who heads up the CBC Evangelism team, made this video. It's really good. Check it out...

An Unexpected Change in Direction

It's been almost a year since I've been back in the States. My physical health has seen a little improvement, though it still hasn't been possible to get much funds to treat my ailments. I've been making do with what I've had, working some gigs here and there to make money (hasn't been possible to get a full-time job yet due to my condition), and praying and waiting on the Lord. He has had mercy on me, though, and has brought me to a good local church and allowed me to meet many like-minded believers with a passion for evangelism. So ever since last August, much of the free time that I've had has been spent out on the streets handing out tracts, witnessing to people, and open-air preaching with my brethren. Praise the Lord!

Still, however--despite this glimmer of sunlight in the midst of the storm--one night several months ago I found myself on my knees, fighting sadness, confusion, and despair. My heart was in Peru; I missed my country of brith and my dear family in the Lord. I desperately wanted to return. In utter frustration, I cried out to God, asking Him why He hadn't opened the doors for me to go back. I wrestled with God, and finally He gave me the grace to lay on the altar several things in my life I had been holding on to, Lima being one of them. Humbled and broken, I let these things go and sought for His will and not my own. It was immediately afterward that I remembered a missionary couple I knew who lived in Mexico, and the thought entered my mind that I could possibly join them...in Mexico! This was followed by a joy and peace that I had not experienced in a long time, and a couple verses of Scripture that popped into my mind, which exhorted and encouraged me to look to Christ and trust in Him.

I continued to pray about this, and eventually contacted my missionary brethren to let them know, and they prayed about it as well. We trusted that if God was calling me to go He would provide and allow me to visit them to discover if this call to Mexico was really from Him.

And so He did...and about a week ago I flew down to Guadalajara to spend six days with them. It was a real blessing to say the least. I followed them around the city as they ministered in the streets, plazas and markets through evangelism, in house Bible studies, and with their local congregation. I had a blessed time of fellowship with them.

Josef and Lina Urban have been in Mexico for more than two years, planting seeds of the Gospel all throughout the country. They have recently moved to this big, bustling city in the state of Jalisco. There the Lord led them to a local church that not too long ago experienced an awakening to the true, biblical Gospel. They're solid in their doctrine, and the pastor and elders are godly men with a desire to radically conform their lives to the Word and be led of the Holy Spirit. It's amazing to see how passionate many of the brethren are for the Lord and for evangelism. God is clearly working in the hearts if this congregation.

If I could sum up my time in Guadalajara in one word, it would be, "unexpected". It turned out to be an unexpected blessing--I honestly didn't expect to have such an enjoyable time with my missionary brethren, to be so like-minded with them in doctrine and vision, to meet so many wonderful brothers and sisters in the Lord, and to see so many doors for evangelism and ministry open up right before my eyes. And even though, prior to my visit, I was still in my heart holding on to my dream of immediately returning to Peru, I have felt an unexpected peace about staying in this city instead, as long as God wants. He's given me a burden for the people there, especially for God's elect. On top of this, I may even be able to receive the necessary treatments for my condition there, as alternative treatments are more numerous and less expensive in Mexico than in the States.

So, God willing, I will be going back real soon, hopefully in a month or so. I'm praying that God would continue to prepare me spiritually and provide the financial means for me to get there. The cost of living is relatively cheap, and I've already looked at a couple possible rooms for me to stay in. I trust that He will make a way for me to live there.

Please pray for me, and for Guadalajara. It's in one of the most Catholic areas in all of Latin America, and there is little to no Gospel witness in this great city; most people have not even heard or understood the Good News of the Savior. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few! Please pray for laborers, and consider going! And if you can't go, please consider giving. Your generous gifts will help fulfill the Great Comission. The Lord bless you and keep you.

--------------------------------------------

For more info about the ministry I'll be working with, please visit:

http://www.puregospeltruth.com

or
http://www.cristianismobiblico.com (Spanish)


Here are some pics of the trip:

...

Wow...haven't updated this blog for a while. Facebook and email just seem to be more practical and accesible means for posting updates.

Anyway...back in California for now, due to health reasons. It's been three long months since I've been here. My stay so far has had its negative and positive aspects.

Downsides: no job, car, cell phone, or way to pay for the treatment I need at the moment. Not to mention chronic pain and missing my brothers and sisters in Christ in Lima.

Upsides: getting to help around the house by cooking and cleaning, taking care of my little brother and helping him much (especially spiritually), learning to trust in the Lord in very difficult circumstances.

I don't know how long I'll be here for. My desire is to get back to Peru ASAP. But I must resign myself to the will of God.

Soli Deo Gloria.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:6-7