Sent: Mon 10/19/09 4:45 AM
Grace to you from the Czech Republic.
We write to you with an ever increasing gratitude for the power of God manifest here in response to your prayers.
Yesterday morning we had the highest joy of learning about the doctrine of Reconciliation; that truth whereby God takes those who are His hostile enemies and makes them His friends (Rom 5:10). This is a radical doctrine. That God would take sinners and justify them, pronounce them righteous is one thing—but that He would take hostile, ungodly combatants, and make them His friends, seat them at His table, anoint their heads with oil so that goodness and lovingkindness follow them all the days of their lives—this is astounding.
And if indeed reconciliation is taking God haters and making them His lovers—then no place is more ripe for the power of Reconciliation that Czech Republic. All are hostile here. All hate God here, and thus there is a field ripe with enemies who can become God’s friends through the outpouring of His Spirit.
We beg of you to pray to this end with us. As our grasp of how hostile this nation is to Christ grows, our faith in the truths of the Gospel abound all the more. God does not save acquaintances, He does not save the good man and he does not save the religious. He saves His enemies.
We ask you not only to pray that His enemies would be reconciled, but that those who have been reconciled, those in the church here would come to understand more fully the surpassing greatness of what it means to be reconciled, to be friends with the God of the universe.
A few updates/praises/prayer requests:
- We have a men’s meeting every Wednesday morning at 5am! These guys are nuts to meet this early, but it’s incredibly encouraging to see their willingness and desire to seek the Lord together. They are growing in serving and leading their families and also in ministering to all the saints. One of our greatest needs is for God to raise up elders who will humbly and faithfully shepherd and lead this church.
- Please pray for our Czech teacher. Her mother has serious, life threatening cancer. Our teacher is holding to empty hope, but we trust the Lord will clearly open the doors not simply to share the Gospel, but to minister the Gospel to her life.
- Daniel Adamovsky preached for the first time three Sundays ago from Colossians 1:13-14. The Lord has granted this brother a double portion, as he has a huge hunger to study God’s word and more importantly has a humble, teachable heart. Pray that he would grow daily and deeply dependent upon God and that his understanding of the Gospel would flourish.
- The women’s meetings started up a couple weeks back. They’re studying The Excellent Wife, which one of the women at church here has translated into Czech. Thanks for your prayers as Donna and Amie serve and care for the women.
- We started a group, but I don’t know what to call it! It began as a singles/young adult/college/Highschool/Junior High group, but now it’s more of a Singles/College group. Whatever you want to call it, pray that God would really use this time. Its one of the few times we minister only in English, which allows us to move more quickly and to get to the heart.
- We’ve begun our first ever Apollos Institute to help men be ‘mighty in the Scriptures’. Right now, its only Daniel and me, but it’s a good start. We’re going to slowly work our way through Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology and other Gospel centered articles.
Thank you again for bowing before our Lord on our behalf. We look forward to sharing about those enemies who will become not only the friends of God, but our friends as well.
In Him,
Marcus, Amie, Lydia, Sophia & Chloe Denny
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