June 24 Post 4

Thank you to all of you that have been following the blog while we are away. We are so grateful for all of the prayers. Yesterday was an amazing day! We had a wonderful morning of sightseeing. Luxembourg is an extraordinary city. Many of the students had opportunity to tour through the casemates. These are caves that were built in the enormous walls that surrounds the city. Years ago when the armies attacked the people would retreat to the caves and they actually made homes there. There are a series of tunnels and caverns that are filled with dark corridors. It is was incredible!

Because yesterday was the countries’ national day many of the people were off work and the city center was filled with families enjoying their time off. After setting up for our evening concert the guys were also able to join the fun.

Last night was our concert at the Tramshapp. It was an awesome venue. It used to be a train station and it has recently been converted into a modern looking concert venue. We were joined my Portuguese church from Luxembourg. Their youth group was able to open with a couple of songs that they had written. The concert was not as heavily attended as hoped, but the connections that were made with Portuguese church was invaluable. The Lord really used our students to be an encouragement to their people. What started out as an evangelistic opportunity quickly turned into a full on worship service. The presence of the Lord was rich in the room and the people’s response was amazing.

Today is our fun day. We had the opportunity to visit the American Cemetery and a World War II museum. The cemetery was an experience I’m sure that many of the students will never forget. Our tour guide encouraged us to touch the head stones and think about the stories that each of the head stones represented. The price of our freedom was very clearly articulated. At the end of the tour the student gathered on the steps and sang the star spangled banner. It was a very moving moment.

Currently I am sitting in the wood with my laptop out in the woods above Vianden Castle. A group of 50 of us are getting some team building in on a high ropes course. I sort of feel like I’m watching the old movie, “Swiss Family Robinson.” Climing around on cables high above the ground and riding zip-lines to the bottom…it’s been a great afternoon.

Pastor Tyler

June 23 Post 3

I may not speak for the whole group when I say that we have adjusted to the new time zone. Nevertheless, it is getting easier to say, “yep I’m awake.” I believe however, I can speak for the whole group when I say we are having an amazing time! Luxembourg is an overwhelmingly beautiful city with much to see and experience. Our first concert was yesterday in the early afternoon. We sang for a senior center in the middle of city. It’s hard for me to explain how beautiful this building was. To provide some context let me begin by saying, this was the actual headquarters of General Paton when he was stationed in Luxembourg during the war. Unbelievable! If you can imagine walking into a smaller version of Buckingham palace that would very nearly describe the amazing facility that we had the privilege of being in.

The students did a wonderful job singing. While this won’t be our most upbeat and energetic concert of the trip, I still believe that there was a unique peace and presence of the Lord that filled the room. Not all of the guests spoke English, but the ones that did were very engaging. All in all it was a great first concert.

Last night was no exception of extraordinary. Luxembourg is celebrating their countries’ National Day today, and last night was the beginning of today’s celebration. Literally one million people gathered in the city last night to enjoy a parade (that was not much to write home about) and arguably the best fireworks show many of the students had ever seen. We are very fortunate to be here during these days of celebration. It gives us an opportunity to experience this countries’ culture in a unique way.

We have already seen so much and there yet still so much to experience. I look forward sending more stories. God is good!

There are so many things to share and so little time. As you can imagine the group is pretty tired. We traveled for nearly 24 hours before hitting the pillow last night. For many of us that meant only an hour or two of sleep when we could squeeze it in on the plane and on bus trips. Nevertheless, the Rhine River cruise was breathtaking. Please see my facebook page for pictures. The internet connections are very slow in the hostel so I will have to post them in bulk whenever I have the opportunity.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=441119&id=596700622

Pray for us. Today is our first concert at the senior center. God has already been so good to us. Travel was a breeze. No complications in flights or buses. Thank you Jesus! There are many things ahead of us and we are looking forward to the opportunity of making God known.

Love you guys,

Pastor Tyler

Blog Entry 1

June 20, 2010

Last Sunday after my wife and I left the morning services we had opportunity to sit down for lunch with Bill and Cindi Bowen. My eyes started welling up with tears when we started talking about the tremendous blessing of our Westgate Chapel family. Not only did you make the choir feel like they were loved and cherished in their home church, but there was truly a sense that your worship was going to pave the way for our trip to Europe. For so long this trip has been concept and last Sunday it turned into a reality. Thank you for loving Jesus. I am reminded every time that we are together in corporate services of the importance of the community of faith. We rejoice together, we cry together, and we worship our savior together.

We realize that many of you were interested in not only worshiping with with us, but also  praying with us daily for the Lord’s blessing upon this trip. This first blog will include a basic itinerary that will keep you informed of where we are and the events of each day. I hope to write to you often and post as many pictures as I can to keep you engaged in our trip as we are away. Thank you for your prayers we have already felt the Lord’s provision traveling through the airport. Checking in and getting on the airplane could not have been easier.

As the group gathered together today in the commons I reminded them of the purpose of this trip. I explained that it could be summed up with the simple words that my wife Kizzie shared with my daughter Olivia a couple of days ago. Olivia wanted to know where daddy was going. Kizzie told her that daddy was going to Germany. Naturally the following question was, “why?” Kizzie replied in the simplest, yet most profound way that she knew how. “He’s going to tell people about Jesus,” she said. It puts things into perspective really. There are a lot of plans that must be made, many details that must not be missed. But the simple truth is, that is exactly why we are getting on a plane and flying to another country. To make God known. If you pray nothing else, pray to that end…that God would make Himself known. Through every song, in every conversation, in the power behind every testimony God is doing one thing in all the world, He’s building His church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.

June 21

We land in Frankfurt and travel to the Rhine River Valley where we will take a boat cruise and enjoy dinner and more castles than the students have seen in their life!

June 22

Sing at a senior center in Luxembourg

Sing on the streets that evening as well as pass out flyers for following concerts.

Midnight fireworks in celebration of National Day

June 23

Concert for the city of Luxembourg at an old train station turned concert venue

June 24

Sight-seeing day

War memorial

Vianden Castle

World war II museum

June 25

Concert at Catholic church on the other side of town. Opportunity for churches in the area to come together for an encouragement to the body of Christ

June 26

Load and travel to Herrnhut (10 hours)

Settle in at the YWAM base

June 27

Concert at the Jesus Church in Herrhut

Concert outside for the anniversary of the Jesus Church

Tour of the city and gravesite of Count Zinzendorf and historic Moravian church

Skype conversation with Westgate Chapel in morning services

June 28

Leave for Dresden (2 hours)

First concert in Dresden city center

June 29

Concert in city center again

Passing out flyers for concert Wednesday night

Concerts with be 4 hours (30 min on 30 min off)

June 30

Concert in city center

Evening concert at local venue

Pray that flyers are effective in gathering the community to this evening concert

July 1

Travel to Rothenburg.

Tour city

July 2

Fly home

The cross is Beautiful.

The Father looks down upon His only Son and sees that He has been faithful. He sees that He has been obedient and that it has been a knit-together joy between the two. He is aware of the scorn, but He is moved by His Son’s willingness and the fact that Jesus wouldn’t have it any other way. Jesus is always the lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. He has died so that creation may once again be close, held in the Father’s arms. Held in warm wanted Love. The Father knows His Son’s heart and the partnership that They have shared equally in.

The cross is Ugly.

It has stripped away Jesus’ dignity. It has taken everything from Him. It has separated Father from Son and Jesus has been cursed by all men and condemned by His Father. The moment hangs in balance where darkness is at its darkest and death temporarily holds Jesus. Time is gruesome and nothing could be worse. Only tears, pain, and fear are felt by all of mankind. In this time there is no hope. Things could never be worse. The perfect is slayed, but the only thing heard is the voice of Jesus, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

The woman had blood pouring out of her mouth onto the pavement as a nurse, one of my friends and another woman were over her seeing what they could do (which was nothing). I reached toward her and boldly prayed out loud in the name of Jesus for her healing and salvation. The nurse got angry at me, but that’s because she doesn’t know what spirit she is of.

I prayed over the woman until I felt released by the Holy Spirit.

When I got back to my office I heard the Holy Spirit say, “You may not have saved her life, but she could have heard in that moment of her need to call on the Lord.”

We need to be ready in season and out of season to hear His voice and obey Him immediately. Souls are at stake!

“Only where the freedom is understood as the rule of law is there some freedom for the governed. A people are free only to the degree to which the powers of their government are limited by law. There is only one test of political freedom: are the rulers under the law or above the law? If any of the human rulers are above the law, then that is rule of rulers, not the rule of law. Potentially that is a dictatorship, not a free country.

Rule of the human rulers is not freedom. Rule of law is. This raises the fundamental question: is the ultimate source of law human or divine? If the law is entirely human, then those who have the power to make the law have the power to change it too, and thus they are above the law. Genuine freedom is impossible in societies that have only human law.

Only if absolute law comes from beyond man, can it be binding on all men. Only before a transcendent law can there be a genuine equality of all men. Kings and prisoners alike can be equal before the law if the law itself is above the king. Transcendent law presupposes a transcendent Lawgiver. If there is no just Ruler above the kings of the earth, if he has not given his law to men, then political freedom or rule of law is a sheer illusion, a mirage that is impossible to attain. Man is condemned forever to live under the rule of “might is right” (since all law is ultimately backed up by physical or military force), whether the might be of a few or of the majority. The concept of the rule of law becomes a superstition without faith in a just Ruler above the human rulers.

…

Proclaiming Jesus as “the ruler of the kings of the earth” (as Paul did many times), was and is the only genuine way of establishing politically free societies. In this sense, evangelism does not overthrow the existing political kingdoms, but by bringing kings under a transcendental law, it curtails the arbitrary freedom of the kings and thereby increases the political freedom of the ruled.

Political freedom is determined not primarily by whether or not the king himself is Christian, but by whether or not he is under the law of God. Political freedom will increase in proportion to the submission of the rulers to the transcendent law in their public lives.

Was Paul fighting a corrupt political establishment? No, if fighting is generally understood militarily, but yes, if it is understood evangelically. He was witnessing uncompromisingly that Jesus, not Caesar, is Lord. Christ chose Paul precisely for such political evangelism. God said to Ananias, “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings” (Acts 9:15). For Paul evangelism results in socio-political transformation, because it brings the kings of this world under the authority of Christ. Bringing totalitarian human rulers under the authority of a transcendent law is the highest definition of political freedom that history has seen.

…

From this perspective, the doctrines of the second coming and the final judgment do not give us the right to assume that the world will go from bad to worse, making reform impossible. On the contrary, these doctrines demand that our evangelism results in curtailing the oppressive totalitarian powers of the human rulers. The kings, presidents, and prime ministers of the earth should be brought under the rule of Christ. That is evangelism, and that is also political freedom: curtailing and limiting the power of the state over the individual, demanding that the laws of the state be just in light of the justice and righteousness of God.”

I am single-minded in my pursuit of you; don’t let me bypass the help you have already given. Psalm 119:10 (Rephrase)

Over the past several days, God has used these verses in my life and conversation more than once. Now, because of it, He has helped me to understand what it means. We don’t simply memorize verses or try and do the things that they say like not breaking the law, but we encounter God’s truth in our day to day if we are familiar with it, and we come to love it because it keeps us from error, exposes us, and upholds us. It becomes a part of us and while I’m not positive that the Psalmist would go this far, it’s almost as if the heart was used so much because it has depth. You don’t hide something in the open, but you hide it away in depth. It becomes a part of you. You don’t just cover it up in the recesses of your mind, but you bury it internally as you are mended together and live with and by the Holy Spirit. Verse 10 is quick to highlight this in showing that we will be single-minded or of one purpose in seeking God, but yet He is the one that is still holding up our end of that pursuit. He is the pursuer and we are His.

My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:8

My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. (KJV)

Let what our souls are made for be one with the Soul Crafter! Let us cling! Let us chase has He has and is chasing us! Let us recognize our place of security as we abandon our other fortresses as His mighty right hand is power!

Pursue Him by getting into His Word and follow Him where He leads you in that time together. He is always ahead of us!

Not a mystery because it’s hidden in the shadows, but a mystery because it’s so bright and all consuming!

Humility has a backbone, but it doesn’t have a bite.

Humility has a backbone to submit and a backbone not to bite.

Passion without proper direction will cause destruction.

If we aren’t seeking relentless obedience, we are being relentlessly disobedient.

We can’t lead without being led.

If you stay in the flame, you’ll always be on fire.

Ministry is who you are, not what you do. (The do will follow and I might have stolen this line from someone) *raises eyebrow*