We kept praying for the Lord to give us His pure words. We always prayed for somebody else to do this work, until around 2019, we realized that nobody was doing this work. Meanwhile, the Lord had raised up a generation of believers that understood sound doctrine and had the skills to take on this work. We made ourselves available and prayed for God to use us for this work if it so pleased Him.

"I feel lonely."

Nearly everyone has thought those words at some point in life. If you haven’t yet, you more than likely will. Personally, each transition in life and ministry has brought some form of loneliness for me. How we deal with our emotions surrounding our loneliness is a gauge on where we are in our spiritual growth.

What is it in men that causes them to feel so insecure in ministry? They love the Lord, and they love the mission, and their desire to lead feels sincere and right. Yet many quietly wrestle with disappointment: Why am I not being used the way I hoped? Why do I feel passed over?

…If you find yourself struggling with these questions, consider these truths:

The pastor said, “Jesus loves you.” Our friend replied, "How come he loves me, even though I persecuted you personally?” The pastor then shared the story of Saul, who later became the apostle Paul.

This is very much a personal narrative, not a guidebook for what all families should do, but the process by which we got there is. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” is a promise we all must utilize (Prov 3:6), to ask God about his views on our decisions, because some things are non-negotiable.

We must acknowledge that Christ is not seeking men and women who are worthy of Him, but rather offering himself to all, and thus receiving worthship from all who accept Him. Christ seeks the labourer, not the thinker. Christ uses the Goat-herder, not the High Priest. God uses both Paul and Apollos to plant and water and spread his seeds.

Matthew 16:24-26 shows us how we can be rich towards God and it is by not saving our lives and hoarding possessions, but instead by losing our lives for His sake. For what do we profit if we gain the whole world, but do not gain Him?

In such a time, our ministries are being tested. If we yield to the philosophies and innovations of this age without question or spiritual discernment, we risk trading costly truth for cheap knowledge, and real power for empty forms.

Two men volunteered and their story is told in this book, “On the Missionary Trail” by Tom Hiney. Pastor Daniel Tyerman and Christian businessman George Bennett were sent out on a boat. They didn't know how long they would be gone to visit all the mission fields. It ended up taking 8 years! That's why this is literally the most important, exciting, and fruitful short term missions trip ever taken.

Through these valleys, God is simply saying to us again and again “Trust Me. Will you trust Me?” Each storm, every valley, every suffering is an opportunity for a deeper level of trust and growth in our God, our Lord and Savior, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and His word!

I would increasingly become curious about what God was doing and who we were like-minded with in Saint Louis, our Samaria. Surely, of all our churches in Kansas City, we are connected with someone in Saint Louis, right? The silence was always louder than I expected. So, I simply began to pray about the city and the many souls that dwell there; I had no interest in being sent.

Putting on Christ, however, is more than just making sure you proudly display an LFBI or Postscript logo on your clothing. Putting on Christ goes deeper; it is manifest in the sum total of our actions and overall countenance. Paul, in the book of Romans 13, clearly associates putting on Christ with the actions of the flesh. (Rom 13:14 - “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”) In this way, our “identity” in Christ is evidenced through outward manifestations.