God's Sovereignty in Our Weakness

Hey Guys,

Where does our striving and God's power come together in our battling of sin? This is something that I have been wrestling with for a while, how much of our discipline and God's power work together.

Recently I have been working through "power," and God's power in the midst of our shortcomings and total dependency. James 1:2-4 says "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." (The Message) Sanctification is a process, involving our own discipline and God's sovereignty.

We are waging a war with our flesh and the sin of the world daily, and we know we come out victorious in the end. Jesus Christ is our fulfillment and what our eyes are fixed on to battle the evil that is so prevalent in the world today. God's power and our fear of God should bring sin to a halt in our lives. We need to be terrified to face our awesome God on judgement day. We are set apart by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross but we are not sanctified until the day He returns.

Live life in expectancy of His return. Romans 12:1 says "Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship." We need to prepare for the day of Christ return by beating our bodies and making them our slaves (1 Corinthians 9:27), so our flesh is starved and we are presentable to the King of the Universe.

Gracia y Paz

Luke

"Christ"ianity

Hey Guys,

Recently, when examining my walk with the Lord, some things came to the forefront of my mind, some questions that completely define my faith, that are lost in my religion. 

1. Who is this Jesus guy, and what did He do?

The term Christianity has His name in it, but how much of our religion does not revolve around Him. We talk about Him, we believe in Him, but how often do we meditate on the very act that defines our faith. Our beautiful, innocent, loving God, came down to earth and experienced the most brutality of man possible, as well as the wrath of God against all of sin, for us. 

I know for me in my walk, I desire to lead others to Him, to meditate on His Word, to live my life with Him as the example, but I rarely just sit and meditate and break for the very act that gave me life. At times I live in condemnation because of the very sin that He broke for, saying my loving Savior didn't do enough. 

When I kneel at the foot of the Cross and bring everything I have before Him, I should break. When I am going through my day, I should be thanking God for the incredible gift of life that He gave me through His act on the Cross. 

So when going through this individual question, it leaves me with the desire to meditate on the person of Jesus, as well as the act of His death and resurrection. I want to learn to love as He loved. So, my prayer, is that my life, will not be about religion, but completely a "thank-you response" to my Savior for what He did to give me life.

Gracia y Paz

Luke

Freedom from Bondage

Hey guys,

I am now back in the country and have been for about 3 days. This trip was an amazing experience and I am already missing the guys like crazy. It has been culture shock coming back to the States and I really miss Latin America already. 

Today we went to Chapelgate Presbyterian, my families home church. Pastor Mike Khandjian, spoke on Galatians 4:8-20 and the freedom from the bondage of sin through Christ's eternal sacrifice. 

His analogy was that of a dog returning to its vomit, like we return to the bondage of our sin and do not accept the grace that God extends to us through His Son. As human beings we have the idea that we have to work, we have to earn grace and be "religious". We have the tendency to "keep score," and work at our own salvation. 

Its crazy how many times I find myself counting up my sin and "keeping score," to be a "good Christian." That in itself is bondage, I return back to the condemnation I once lived under and do not accept the freedom that Christ's blood brings. After this trip, I have found a spiritual lull, and have seen myself trying to work out of it. How much of a flawed mindset is that? John 10:10b says "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Life to the fullest is joy. Christ came to give us joy and happiness and freedom. How exciting is life with Christ? How amazing are 2nd, 3rd, and 900000th chances? Our God is so good and He rejoices in us living out the freedom He offers us. 

I am just going to leave you guys with a question to ponder. "Are you allowing God to give you life to the fullest, or are you putting yourself back in bondage by trying?" This is what I am praying through right now, "I want to allow the King of Kings to give me life, and life abundantly. 

Thank you guys so much for following my trip and reading my posts and most importantly for the prayers you guys have extended my way. 

Gracia y Paz.

Luke 

Last Day

Hey guys,

So today is our last day in Nicaragua. We are going into Diriamba for a period of time and then we have a game in Managua. In Nicaragua no teams wear a uniform, they all wear whatever and just play. Batting gloves are impossible to get down here and jerseys are rediculously cheap, so, for the whole trip we have been trading players batting gloves for jerseys. Today our whole team is wearing the jerseys that we traded for in our last game. We are going to look like a Nicaraguan team, no matching jerseys, everyone playing in something different.
Today is our last chance to share the Gospel with an opposing team. I am so excited to finish this trip on a high note. Pray for our effectiveness today and that we dont look forward to all our travel arrangements but take advantage of the divine appointments God puts in front of us.
This trip has been amazing. God has changed the lives of so many people including my own. I am so excited to see the work God continues to do in the lives of these players, our own included. This trip has been full of so many miracles and great times. I have seen God do amazing things and cant wait to see what God will do with the players on my team back on their own campuses. I have never seen more guys come together with great leadership qualities and a heart to serve. Being united with these guys has been something that I will remember for the rest of my life. I know a bunch of these guys will be my life long friends.
Thank you guys for following this trip and I will continue to post what God is doing in my life for a long time. Thank you so much for your prayers and support, it has been an amazing journey.
Gracia y Paz

Luke

Market Day

Hey,

So being that there are only a few days left in our trip, today was market day. Market day is the day during the trip where the gringos (us) single-handedly stimulate the Nicaraguan economy. It was a lot of fun being with the guys and talking to people and bargaining down merchandise from $15 to $10 and just being together.
This group of guys has really become family, it will be very hard to leave these guys. We play games tomorrow and wednesday and then we leave early on thursday. After the rest of the team flies out I fly to Costa Rica for some more time. We will have two more days of ministry here and the Father has really blessed this trip and the effectiveness of us sharing the Gospel even through the language barrier.
Yesterday we played Leon, which is about 2.5 hours away. Alfonso, a guy who is from Leon, who has been pitching for our team the last couple weeks, shared his testimony with the team. It was so amazing the way the Spirit was moving and the way the people responded to his story. Jesus used story throughout the Bible and the power of story really influenced the people we played against yesterday. We play the same team again tomorrow and it will give us a chance to follow up conversations with some of the guys.
One of the greatest ministry opportunites we got over this trip was our bus driver. He took the job because he knew he would be driving a bus of Americans, so he would be payed well. He has been involved in our Bible studies and has been a part of all of our conversations. He shared his story last night and the impact this team has had on his life. Since we have been here it has been so cool seing the Lord work in his life.
It is great because of the follow up and discipleship that is in place through Crusade staff here in Nicaragua. I know that through discipleship God is going to raise up some of these men we have shared with to be leaders in their communities here in Nicaragua.
Please pray for the effectiveness now of the Nicaraguan church and there ability to disciple these guys who have surrendered thier lives to Christ. I know that if they get involved in solid Christian communities, which there are many in Nicaragua, that they will stand up and become leaders in the Diriamba, Managua, Mesaya, Leon, Granada, and the other towns that we witnessed in.
Gracia y Paz

Luke

God's work in Nicaragua

Hey guys,

This trip has been amazing. We have been playing and sharing with so many people and we have seen a ton of people come to trust the Lord. Its so good because they have a Campus Crusade staff here who will follow up with all these guys and establish discipleship and continue to pour into these guys lives.
We have had so great opportunites for service inside and outside the facility where we are staying. The other day we stayed here at the sight the entire day. We painted and scraped rust and also built the most amazing prayer area back in the woods. It was a great opportunity to bless Jimmy ( the guys who owns the place and works for Crusade), he only wanted a bench under a tree and we bulit 7 benches and a fire pit ( that we have used the last 2 nights) and lined a trail with bamboo. It was a whole team effort. As an added bonus we all got to use machetes to chop bamboo, and trees, and build a path. It was a great chance to bless him, he came out last night an had worship with us and it was amazing.
The other night there was some uproar in Hondorus (Nicaragua's border country) and Jimmy thought it would be a good idea to play a little joke. So alot of the guys were getting nervous because some violence had spilled over into Nicaragua (no where by us I might add) so at 4:30 am two nights ago while everyone was asleep, Jimmy had the guard unload a clip and set of fireworks right outside of our window. Guys where diving for cover jumping into closets and under beds and Jimmy came through with a camera and took pictures of everybody. I just thought I would add that little bit because it was one of the best practical jokes I have ever seen.
All the guys on the team have really came together as family. These 21 guys have so much passion it is amazing. We have all seen awesome things happen inside our team and in our outreach. We have all become family over a short period of time and its has been such a blessing being able to spend this last month with these guys.
Today we go to Granada because the professional team asked us to come pray with them before their playoff game and watch the game. Be praying for this because we will get the chance to share with around 10,000 at the stadium and more because the game is televised nationally. It is going to be an awesome opportunity to do outreach on a massive level.
I am so excited about what God is doing through these guys here and in the community in Nicaragua. We have built relationships with people and really touched peoples lives. The Spirit has been moving in awesome ways. I can wait to let you guys know what awesome thing God has in store next.
Gracia y Paz

Luke

Managua

Hey guys,

I only have a couple seconds. We went into a town called El Rosario two days ago to play a game. We played a team called the Juniors and I dont think they had a player under 40. This town was so poor we had kids in the dugout, on top of the dugout, on the field, chickens in left, and a pig in center. We got to share with about 200 people. After we gave the Gospel they burst into applause and it was the most beautiful form of worship I have ever seen. It was one of the highlights of the trip. Thats all I have time to tell you guys but it was amazing. Please continue to pray that the hearts of the people we share with are softened and open to the Gospel. I have seen amazing things happen through these guys and the Spirit is doing amazing things. We serve an awesome God and I am excited, as I know you are, to see what He is going to do next.
Gracia y Paz

Luke