Lord's Supper, Evangelism, Open-Air

What a great day with the Church today.  Joe Martinez preached the main service and then we celebrated the Lord's Supper for the first time in our church.  It was fitting since it was Easter.  Things went well and we had several visitors.  After services, we had fellowship with the church and everyone brought good food.  Then the whole church went to a park to evangelize.  Wehrenr preached in the open-air, we gave out a lot of tracts and had some very good conversations.  Praise God that we have such a glorious name to proclaim and that He gives us the immense privilege to even say His name.  Here are a few pictures:



Wehrner getting ready to preach

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singing the Scriptures

At our church here in Cusco we love to sing the Scriptures.  Not only do we sing Psalms but also from other parts of the Scriptures like Romans, 1 John, James, Isaiah and other books.  I love singing the Scriptures, well, because the words are biblical.  You can never sing an un'biblical song from the Bible.  Another great advantage of singing the Scriptures is that the congregation memorizes large blocks of the Bible through song.  The church seems to be so alive singing the Scriptures as well.  Just by clapping to keep the beat or using a guitar, and a Bible, we can really worship God in Spirit and Truth.  No need for hymnals because we all have a Bible.  I´m really surprised that more churches don´t sing the Scriptures.  I wonder why?  Feel free to comment if you have some insight on this.  Here is a link to our church web site in Cuzco where you can listen to our church sing from Romans chapter 5, which is my favorite song to sing.

A History of the Change of Roman Catholic Doctrine

In light of the election of the new Pope, I wanted to post this to show the development and change of the Roman Catholic Doctrine over the years.  The countless Roman Catholic doctrines that are in direct opposition to the Bible, especially their denial of the doctrine of Justification by faith alone in Christ alone, prove the Roman Catholic church to be a false religious system.  Not only is their doctrine heretical, their practice is an abomination.  In Latin America, and especially here in Cuzco, the gross idolatry, church sponsored fiestas where all the people get wasted, syncretism with the pagan Andean religion and the horrendous hypocrisy bring out the true colors of Rome and it's false anti-christian religion.

AD

607 Boniface III made first Pope

709 Kissing the Pope’s foot

786 Worshiping images and relics (this is breaking the 2^nd commandment)

850 Use of “holy water” begun

995 Canonization of dead saints

998 Fasting on Fridays and during Lent

1079 Celibacy of the priesthood

1090 Prayer beads

1184 The Inquisition

1190 Sale of Indulgences

1215 Transubstantiation (The conversion of the substance of the Eucharistic elements into that of Christ’s body and blood; a doctrine of the Greek and Roman churches).

1220 Adoration of the wafer (Host) (the worshiping of a piece of bread that on has become convinced is the Lord Jesus Christ)

1229 Bible forbidden to laymen

1414 Cup forbidden to people at communion

1439 Doctrine of purgatory decreed

1508 The Ave Maria approved

1534 Jesuit Order founded

1545 Tradition granted equal authority with the Bible

1562 Changed the 10 commandments (Exodus 20) by removing the 2^nd commandment, which is, “do not make for yourself graven images”, and splitting the 10^th into two to keep 10 commandments.

1854 Immaculate Conception of Mary

1864 Syllabus of Errors proclaimed

1870 INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE DECLARED

1950 Assumption of the Virgin Mary (the belief that the Virgin Mary ascended bodily into heaven without dying)

1965 Mary proclaimed “Mother of the Church” Since the above, changes and additions have been made as sustained by history.

 

The Bible does not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.  Hebrews 13:8. Nevertheless, throughout history, the Roman Catholic Church and its doctrines have continued to change and can be expected to continue to change.

Visa update

Good news.  We are off to Lima next Tuesday to get visas for the kids.  We have been approved.  Now, just a long day of waiting in line, more administrative fees and after over 7 months, we will have visas for the whole family.  This means that we do not have to leave the country, unless the laws change again.  We must pay taxes twice a year for our visas and then after 5 years, we must start the whole process over again, but for now, we are safe.  Also it seems that the new law that was supposed to go into affect that would prevent us from getting visas, will be dissolved.  This is great news for us.  God is good and sovereign over all things.  Thank you so much for your prayers for our situation.  Please pray that the process goes smooth and that there are no more hangups.  

Video of Church Service

 

For anyone who can speak Spanish or is just curious about what our church service is like in Cusco, here is Wehrner preaching.   He is starting a series on 1 Peter and this sermon was the first 2 verses.  You can see more on our website.  Iglesia Bautista Reformada

The Sovereignty of God

He is the possessor of heaven and earth.¹ He is the God of all things. He is not partial and can´t be bribed.² He kills and brings to life; The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and he exalts.³ He rules over all nations. None is able to withstand Him.⁴ He preserves all that exists; and all of heaven worships Him.⁵ In His hand is the life of every living thing.⁶ He makes nations great, and he destroys them.⁷ What He desires, He does and no one can change Him.⁸ He reigns and rules the nations.⁹ His counsel stands forever, and the plans of His heart to all generations.¹⁰ He is the great King, he subdues people, He chose our heritage and reigns over the nations.¹¹ The world and it´s fullness belongs to Him.¹² His kingdom rules over all.¹³ He does all that He pleases.¹⁴ Whatever He pleases, He does.¹⁵ He made everything for its purpose.¹⁶ Every decision is from Him.¹⁷ He turns kings hearts where He will.¹⁸ No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against Him.¹⁹ No one can reverse His work.²⁰ He forms light and create darkness, He makes well-being and create calamity.²¹ He declares all things and will accomplish all that He purposes.²² His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures forever.²³ Salvation belongs to Him.²⁴ He made everything, He needs nothing, He sustains everything, and determines where each man will dwell and how long he will live.²⁵ He has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.²⁶ He works all things according to the counsel of his will.²⁷ By His will all things have existed and were created.²⁸ The Lord God Almighty reigns.²⁹

This one attribute of God, His Sovereignty, gives us so much motivation to kill sin in our lives. This is the Sovereign God that we were saved by, that we are preserved by, that we serve and sadly that we sin against daily. Understanding God's Sovereign power should make us understand that every time we sin against Him, we are declaring war against the Almighty, All-powerful Sovereign God. This understanding makes sin seem exceedingly sinful, and like the most insane thing that a person could do. Sin is illogical. When we understand what sin is and who we sin against, it should make the Christian fear God and mortify the sin in his life.

1Genesis 14:19 2Deuteronomy 10:14,1731 Samuel 2:6-742 Chronicles 20:65Nehemiah 9:6 6Job 12:10 7Job 12:238Job 23:139Psalm 22:2810Psalm 33:11 11Psalm 47:2-8 12Psalm 50:10-1213Psalm 103:19 14Psalm 115:3 15Psalm 135:6 16Proverbs 16:4 17Proverbs 16:3318Proverbs 21:1 19Proverbs 21:3020Isaiah 43:13 21Isaiah 45:7 22Isaiah 46:9-11 23Daniel 4:34 24Jonah 2:925Acts 17:24-26 26Romans 9:18 27Ephesians 1:1128Revelation 4:1129Revelation 19:6