Hello Church,
Wanted to take a few minutes of your time and write a quick update on what has been going on, what is going on, and what will go on over the next few weeks. God continues to prove faithful in the ministry here!! Over the past couple of weeks I have felt as if our groups, discipleship groups, have grown intensely!! With Marco, a guy I meet with on Mondays, every week he longs to know more of who God is. It is almost as a deer panting for the water. It truly is my joy to see his face every time we unpack part of the mystery that is God!! Last week we started a new group, not knowing exactly what to call it, nor even what our purpose would be, just knowing that we all longed for more fellowship with the brethren, so we started. After last week it has taken the name “Confessions”. Last week we sat in my house, drank coffee and ate lime pie that my wife made, consumed a little bit of the Word, chewed on a couple things from some dead guys, and opened our hearts to one another. It was such great communion!!! We cannot imagine what heaven will be like, but I do draw from Scripture that something of that type of communion will occur. Last week in tepito with Sebastian also went well. We are continuing through the gospel of John with him, verse by verse, and although I do not see that the Father has shed that grace on him yet, it is always a prayerful concern of mine. I am very excited about time with him tomorrow!! We will be talking about Jesus being the Lamb of God!! Please join me in praying the grace would be effectual to him!!
As I write this I am consumed with anticipation of our “Confessions” meeting tonight!! I think one of the true marks of a believer is their desire to commune with the saints!! Oh, how I do long for that!! The banana pudding that my wife and I made will also be a delightful part of our communion tonight and for that I am not sad!! This Friday we will be looking at the will of God. A very interesting subject and will lead to great conversations I think. Quickly I want to brag or share with you whats going on in a couple guys that we are discipleing: First Jorge. Jorge is 19 years old and has a great desire to preach Christ. Right now he is preparing to go to the College at Southwestern, if God allows, to study missions. He is also reading “Don’t waste Your Life” by John Piper and seems to be grasping so much!! Second Abimiel. Some of you were blessed by the opportunity to meet Abi at my wedding. Abi is also preparing to go to Southwestern, maybe a little later than Jorge. Abi as of late has caught such a huge vision for the glory of God, and as it had an effect on Isaiah so it has on Abi. He is reading “The End For Which God Created The World” by Jonathan Edwards right now, and in my opinion that is healthy for anyone!! Please join me in praying for these two young men specifically!!
The next couple of weeks will be packed!! In about a week and a half we will be hosting our first pastors conference!! This has been part of my vision from the start, and God has seen fit for it to happen. We will be meeting in Autlan Jalisco teaching men to preach espositionally!! There are a group of pastors from Louisiana, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas coming to preach!! This will take place the 8th – 11th of November, then the following week we will be returning to Veracruz!! I am so ready for this!! Once again we will be proclaiming the truths of Christ to the unreached peoples of the world!! There are a couple of brothers coming from Quitman Tx. That will accompany us on that trip. Please pray specifically for these things!!
I know I said that this would be quick, but it is so hard to be quick with the things of the King!! I hope that each of you are having a great week, and that the Lord is continuing to shape and mold you to look more like Him!! As always I ask that you continue to hold the rope!! Thank you for all your fathfulness in pray and support!! Blessings my Brothers!!
" If the depravity and corruption of the heart is the only ground of the necessity of regeneration, then regeneration consists in removing this depravity, and introducing opposite principles, and so laying a foundation for holy exercises." Samuel Hopkins
Solus Christus,
jonathan murdock
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Two Years!!
Brothers and Sisters, grace and peace to you,
As I am sitting here I am thinking, contemplating, reflecting, and praising God for His great abundance of grace in my life! Two years ago this day I got on a plane leaving family, friends, church, security, and comfort to answer the great call God has on my life. When we set out on this journey, you holding and me jumping, I had no idea we would see such magnificent acts of grace such as we have seen. You may not feel the same because you simply sit in front of a computer and read about them while we get the experience, my heart goes out to you for it is amazing. I truly feel as if I have the greatest life in the world!! It is my job to preach the gospel to people who have never heard, and walk along side brothers and sisters leading them into deeper communion with the Father. That’s my life!! Its great! I really wish you could all sit down with Marco and I as we meet on Mondays and walk through the great Text, and watch his eyes get so big when God reveals a truth to him and he says things like “I don’t want the time to end.” Or have a cup of coffee with a group of young men who in the last year have through the Spirit been killing the flesh and nothing is more exciting to them than to gain an understanding of a text. To experience the joy, pure joy, of being entrusted by the Father to preach to his people explaining His love of which they have never had the opportunity to hear. Sometimes I feel like I have been graced with a fairy tale life, grace alone.
Also as I am sitting here I can’t help but think of the changes this journey has brought about, changes that I don’t even know how to express. Two years ago I got here not knowing five words of Spanish, and even the few I did know I couldn’t say right. After being here a month I preached my first sermon in Spanish and now preach on a regular basis and lead Bible studies each week all in Spanish. I arrived here a single man, and as of tomorrow will have been married four months to the most beautiful girl in the world!! Definitely an example of God giving a man the desires of his heart.
I also cannot but help thinking of all of you. There have been so many times that I have entered a place that may not be the safest place in the world and had an incredible opportunity to preach in a way that has not happened in those places, then talking to you all and hearing stories how in those exact moments you were being so faithful in praying. Times when we have had absolutely no money to carry out ministry nor even for food, and simply asking the Father to place that need in your hearts, and we have yet to go without!! Not one time has He failed!! You have heard the voice of our Father and been faithful in responding to that voice and for that I am so grateful!! There are no words to express such gratitude!!
In thinking of all that God has done over the past two years I also cannot but look to the things to come. Next month we will have our first pastor’s conference teaching men to preach expositionally and teaching them the great doctrines of our faith!! Then the week after that conference we will be going back to Veracruz one of many of the places that God has opened our eyes to that the Gospel has not yet gone, and possibly another in the spring. The need is so great here, and every day God’s call for me here is reaffirmed.
With all of this said I also cannot help but think of me. How weak, faithless and frail I am. Paul writes in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians “By the grace of God I am what I am.” God has been so faithful in continuing His work of sanctification in my life, yet at times I feel as though He has left. He has been so faithful in His provisions for us and yet so many times I doubt. He has never once backed out of a promise and yet I fear. I also see the need to look to the future of the work of the Fathers work in my life. He is a great savior and will not fail. When I am faithless He is faithful!!! We should cling so tightly to that!!
I want to thank all of you for being so faithful in praying for us and when God calls being so faithful in supporting financially our ministry here. The work is not done!! For that we must press on, fighting the good fight, contending for the faith!! I ask that all of you continue to hold the rope while we remain here in the well. I long to come to you soon, but if that is not possible I pray that you too continue in the great fight!!
As I am sitting here I am thinking, contemplating, reflecting, and praising God for His great abundance of grace in my life! Two years ago this day I got on a plane leaving family, friends, church, security, and comfort to answer the great call God has on my life. When we set out on this journey, you holding and me jumping, I had no idea we would see such magnificent acts of grace such as we have seen. You may not feel the same because you simply sit in front of a computer and read about them while we get the experience, my heart goes out to you for it is amazing. I truly feel as if I have the greatest life in the world!! It is my job to preach the gospel to people who have never heard, and walk along side brothers and sisters leading them into deeper communion with the Father. That’s my life!! Its great! I really wish you could all sit down with Marco and I as we meet on Mondays and walk through the great Text, and watch his eyes get so big when God reveals a truth to him and he says things like “I don’t want the time to end.” Or have a cup of coffee with a group of young men who in the last year have through the Spirit been killing the flesh and nothing is more exciting to them than to gain an understanding of a text. To experience the joy, pure joy, of being entrusted by the Father to preach to his people explaining His love of which they have never had the opportunity to hear. Sometimes I feel like I have been graced with a fairy tale life, grace alone.
Also as I am sitting here I can’t help but think of the changes this journey has brought about, changes that I don’t even know how to express. Two years ago I got here not knowing five words of Spanish, and even the few I did know I couldn’t say right. After being here a month I preached my first sermon in Spanish and now preach on a regular basis and lead Bible studies each week all in Spanish. I arrived here a single man, and as of tomorrow will have been married four months to the most beautiful girl in the world!! Definitely an example of God giving a man the desires of his heart.
I also cannot but help thinking of all of you. There have been so many times that I have entered a place that may not be the safest place in the world and had an incredible opportunity to preach in a way that has not happened in those places, then talking to you all and hearing stories how in those exact moments you were being so faithful in praying. Times when we have had absolutely no money to carry out ministry nor even for food, and simply asking the Father to place that need in your hearts, and we have yet to go without!! Not one time has He failed!! You have heard the voice of our Father and been faithful in responding to that voice and for that I am so grateful!! There are no words to express such gratitude!!
In thinking of all that God has done over the past two years I also cannot but look to the things to come. Next month we will have our first pastor’s conference teaching men to preach expositionally and teaching them the great doctrines of our faith!! Then the week after that conference we will be going back to Veracruz one of many of the places that God has opened our eyes to that the Gospel has not yet gone, and possibly another in the spring. The need is so great here, and every day God’s call for me here is reaffirmed.
With all of this said I also cannot help but think of me. How weak, faithless and frail I am. Paul writes in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians “By the grace of God I am what I am.” God has been so faithful in continuing His work of sanctification in my life, yet at times I feel as though He has left. He has been so faithful in His provisions for us and yet so many times I doubt. He has never once backed out of a promise and yet I fear. I also see the need to look to the future of the work of the Fathers work in my life. He is a great savior and will not fail. When I am faithless He is faithful!!! We should cling so tightly to that!!
I want to thank all of you for being so faithful in praying for us and when God calls being so faithful in supporting financially our ministry here. The work is not done!! For that we must press on, fighting the good fight, contending for the faith!! I ask that all of you continue to hold the rope while we remain here in the well. I long to come to you soon, but if that is not possible I pray that you too continue in the great fight!!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Veracruz
Paul writes in the fifteenth chapter of Romans “20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation,”. This has, since the day Christ saved me, also been my desire, to proclaim the glories of Christ to those who have never heard, and to those whom no one will go. Once again through the grace of God this past week we have reached yet another group of people that have never heard the gospel.
About two weeks ago a huge hurricane hit the state of Veracruz and left countless people homeless, foodless, cloth less, and some lifeless. It has always been that in times of great tragedy God sends the church to preach the gospel to those affected. We can see this in “The City of God” by Augustine. For it is in these difficult times that people’s hearts are opened to see the reality of life and begin to search for something of value. There was nothing short of this in the state of Veracruz!!
This past Sunday a group of seven of us (Ivonne and I, along with some folks involved in our ministry here), left to go to Veracruz to take some physical aid, but more importantly to preach Christ crucified and resurrected! Towns were completely in ruins from damaging wind and floods of water. Literally people lost everything. It was truly tragic to see, but more than the physical tragedy was that of the spiritual. After a long drive on Sunday we were up early and left for a small town call Tamarindo that was hit pretty hard by the storm. One of the brothers that went with us has family that lives in this town and he wanted to go there, so we did. When we arrived with cloths and a little food to leave for the people we were informed that many in this town had lost their houses because of flooding, so we began to pass out food and clothes and I began to talk with the people about Christ and found out that Christian missionaries had not reached this little town!! There is a Jehovah witness church and a catholic Church but no evangelical influence!! The true gospel was preached for the first time in Tamarindo!!
After leaving Tamarindo we went to another small town called Buenavista. We were immediately greeted by about forty people seeking aid. Before we began to hand out things we (Abimiel, Fortunato, and I) got to preach for almost an hour!! This was also the first time that the true gospel had been preached there as well. I really felt like we connected with the people in Buenavista, and feel as if we will have opportunity to return. Both of these little towns are off the beaten path and somewhat difficult to get to, but there is no price to put on the joy of being part of a people hearing the Good News for the very first time. I wish I could write to you all and say that God opened the eyes of these people and made the blind to see, and that we are rejoicing at the salvation of this town, but tis not the case. This is a town that has been influenced by the Catholic church for ages and is very hard, but we were invited back to teach more of Christ by a man named Manuel. He said that is was great that we came to help, but to understand these teachings someone would have to come and teach more! O! How the fields are white with harvest!!!!
We then spent the next two days helping people in a town called Paseo De Los Ovejas, or where the sheep pass. We came in contact with a man named Pasqual who is 86 years old and raises crops to sell. His house was flooded with over six feet of water and was left with about 2 ½ to three feet of mud inside. We helped him shovel out mud and clean his house for two days, and we also shared the story of Christ with him. I think this was probably the saddest part of the whole trip, to see a man so close to his end and no fear of the judgment that will come upon him. Please pray for Pasqual!!
Although some would say that we saw no fruit, I would argue and say that they don’t trust the gospel!! We are promised that His word will NOT return void, and I believe that!! God continues to open our eyes to pockets of people here in Mexico that are unreached!! People that have never heard of the love of Christ!! O, how I pray that God would continue to raise up His children to go!! To give everything and go to the Tamarindos or the Buenavistas, and that they would go with a passion for His name!!
I want to thank every one of you who helped financially and prayerfully with this trip!!! Thank you for being faithful in holding the rope!! We will be leading a group in November to return to these two places and spending a week teaching them the truths of Christ. I ask that you continue holding the rope and join me in beginning to pray for God to open their eyes and hearts for we know that unless He does they cannot hear nor understand. Thank you so very much!!
Solus Christus,
jonathan and ivonne murdock
About two weeks ago a huge hurricane hit the state of Veracruz and left countless people homeless, foodless, cloth less, and some lifeless. It has always been that in times of great tragedy God sends the church to preach the gospel to those affected. We can see this in “The City of God” by Augustine. For it is in these difficult times that people’s hearts are opened to see the reality of life and begin to search for something of value. There was nothing short of this in the state of Veracruz!!
This past Sunday a group of seven of us (Ivonne and I, along with some folks involved in our ministry here), left to go to Veracruz to take some physical aid, but more importantly to preach Christ crucified and resurrected! Towns were completely in ruins from damaging wind and floods of water. Literally people lost everything. It was truly tragic to see, but more than the physical tragedy was that of the spiritual. After a long drive on Sunday we were up early and left for a small town call Tamarindo that was hit pretty hard by the storm. One of the brothers that went with us has family that lives in this town and he wanted to go there, so we did. When we arrived with cloths and a little food to leave for the people we were informed that many in this town had lost their houses because of flooding, so we began to pass out food and clothes and I began to talk with the people about Christ and found out that Christian missionaries had not reached this little town!! There is a Jehovah witness church and a catholic Church but no evangelical influence!! The true gospel was preached for the first time in Tamarindo!!
After leaving Tamarindo we went to another small town called Buenavista. We were immediately greeted by about forty people seeking aid. Before we began to hand out things we (Abimiel, Fortunato, and I) got to preach for almost an hour!! This was also the first time that the true gospel had been preached there as well. I really felt like we connected with the people in Buenavista, and feel as if we will have opportunity to return. Both of these little towns are off the beaten path and somewhat difficult to get to, but there is no price to put on the joy of being part of a people hearing the Good News for the very first time. I wish I could write to you all and say that God opened the eyes of these people and made the blind to see, and that we are rejoicing at the salvation of this town, but tis not the case. This is a town that has been influenced by the Catholic church for ages and is very hard, but we were invited back to teach more of Christ by a man named Manuel. He said that is was great that we came to help, but to understand these teachings someone would have to come and teach more! O! How the fields are white with harvest!!!!
We then spent the next two days helping people in a town called Paseo De Los Ovejas, or where the sheep pass. We came in contact with a man named Pasqual who is 86 years old and raises crops to sell. His house was flooded with over six feet of water and was left with about 2 ½ to three feet of mud inside. We helped him shovel out mud and clean his house for two days, and we also shared the story of Christ with him. I think this was probably the saddest part of the whole trip, to see a man so close to his end and no fear of the judgment that will come upon him. Please pray for Pasqual!!
Although some would say that we saw no fruit, I would argue and say that they don’t trust the gospel!! We are promised that His word will NOT return void, and I believe that!! God continues to open our eyes to pockets of people here in Mexico that are unreached!! People that have never heard of the love of Christ!! O, how I pray that God would continue to raise up His children to go!! To give everything and go to the Tamarindos or the Buenavistas, and that they would go with a passion for His name!!
I want to thank every one of you who helped financially and prayerfully with this trip!!! Thank you for being faithful in holding the rope!! We will be leading a group in November to return to these two places and spending a week teaching them the truths of Christ. I ask that you continue holding the rope and join me in beginning to pray for God to open their eyes and hearts for we know that unless He does they cannot hear nor understand. Thank you so very much!!
Solus Christus,
jonathan and ivonne murdock
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