It’s been about six weeks since I posted an update- my apologies. I’ve been busier than a one-handed piano player, as have the other members of Haus Martin. Except for Motte:
Motte has been hiding out in the Catcave. Which doubles as my office chair. We have two office chairs, which means, when Motte isn’t in this one, Mizuki is. Which means I never get to use my office chair. Except through judicious use of to force displace cats.
Since it has been a while since our last blog update, here goes:
The Prayer Room is Live
After 11+ years of intermittent online streaming (special occasions, national prayer events, the MEHR Conference, etc.) the Gebetshaus Augsburg finally has its very own livestream. You can view it here:
Gebetshaus Augsburg 24/7 Livestream
You can pray with us (prayer is in German, the auto-subtitle function is not active…yet) and enjoy worship, often in English, 24/7. Now, the Donnerstag Abend (Thursday Evening) worship and teaching times, like this one, do have subtitles and can even be switched to English in the settings on YouTube. And, if you are particularly ambitious and eager to improve your German, you can turn on the English subtitles and the “Transkript” at the same time and follow along. Here’s a brand-new sample now, featuring a young intercessor and teacher, Elias Glaeser:
Donnerstag Abend with Elias Glaeser
Note that Donnerstag Abend is bi-weekly, and that there is an extensive archive on the YouTube channel.
Another good development from the Gebetshaus is that the founder, Johannes Hartl, has an English Channel now, which you can access with this link:
Johannes Hartl’s very useful English Channel
Susan and I are part of the morning shift (usually 8:30 to 11:00) and Israel Prayer on Friday afternoons (pre-Sabbath). One of the types of prayer we practice is “Worship with the Word”. Essentially, this means we take a Bible passage, usually just a few verses, and meditate on it, reading it to music, asking the Holy Spirit to deepen our understanding, for one or two hours. This can be a very powerful way to draw life from the Word.
Particularly reflecting on the passages in John 14. “I am the way and the truth and the life”, Jesus tells us in verse 6, and, when I consider that statement in light of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, what the Spirit has put on my heart lately is that Jesus gave us the way to true life through his teaching there. If you are gentle in spirit, are merciful, seek righteousness and are ready to suffer for it, foster purity of heart, if you allow yourself to mourn, in short, when you really do the things he commands, really walk that way, true life, not just existence. The Holy Spirit gives us the power live without vengeance in our hearts, resist the temptation to reduce others to objects we use for our own purposes and pleasures, and even love (desire the true good) those who hate us. “Believing Jesus” is, I think, much more important than “believing in Jesus” (which demons also do, as James points out). He tells us how to live real life, and gives us the power to do it in defiance of our own venality, greed, vindictiveness, depravity, moral weakness, and corruption. Not that it should have taken me fifty-four years to realize this, but… it did and patience, one of those Fruits of the Holy Spirit, is also a characteristic of the triune God himself.
On the 28th of March…
We will finally get the decision about our residence permits for Germany. That will determine whether and how long we can stay in ministry here. This is quite an important matter. Please pray about it. It comes at time when our ministry commitments are greater than ever.
Which commitments? The Gebetshaus, for starters. We continue to be part of the Leadership Circle of Toward Jerusalem Council II Germany, for which I also serve as the webmaster. I am also working now for both CrossExamined.org and Reasons to Believe, ministries in the field of apologetics. That work is translating their blog entries into German and/or Dutch, as well as providing subtitles to video presentations. There are long term plans for these ministries, and being allowed to stay a bit longer would be of great benefit for these purposes. We also continue to be part of the Koinonia Community, though no longer involved with the scouting group here.
As soon as we know the decision on our residency permits, I will post that news here.
Thank you for your support!
We appreicate your support for our continued ministry involvment here in Augsburg, and would also welcome your prayers.
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