Prayer Partners

I've been preparing for a few upcoming events next week, and in my preparation I was reminded of Paul's words to the Philippians about the importance of their prayers for him. He said, "For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance" (Phi. 1:19). Paul had a deep love for the Philippian church. They supported him spiritually and physically. And he was quick to relate how God uses the prayers of the Philippians in his own life. Paul did this in other places as well, like in Ephesians when he asked the church to "pray also for me" (Eph. 6:18).

I was also reminded of a quote from the Dutch pastors, which is difficult to translate, but goes something like "You pray me full, and I'll preach you full" (taken from Azurdia's Spirit Empowered Preaching). When someone asked Spurgeon the secret of his power in preaching he said, "That's easy. My people pray for me."

All who preach need others to pray them full.

I have been stirred up in this regard not just in light of this preparation, but in light of my recent weakness. I feel like a got hit with a crowbar and my throat is extremely sore. I need your prayers for Sunday.

But even more, I was informed by my mother that one of my most faithful prayer partners died last week. Mrs. Cleo Click was known by few people around the world, but I treasure this lady. She prayed for over 40 years that a minister would come out of my home church. When I surrendered to ministry, she said I was the answer to her prayers. She then prayed for the next 5 years that I would find a wife! I love this lady.

Some plant, some water, but God gives the growth. The speaker is no more important than the prayer warrior. Both are essential for spirit-empowered proclamation.

The link below includes a list of some of my upcoming engagements. I covet your prayers.

SpeakingSchedule.pdf

A Book for Sports Freaks

March Madness definately brings out the fanatics - unless you are a Kentucky fan. We aren't saying much this year, except, "wake me up when the nightmare is over" or "Go Louisville!"

For all who enjoy, play, or have an interest in sports, and wonder how it all relates to God - above is an excellent little book. It is small enough and easy enough to read that even I could have read it when in college, setting my record of most base on balls in a career. I could have learned how to take four balls to the glory of God.

Seriously, if I were a coach and wanted to take my players through a study; or if I were a parent of players, I would consider studying Gameday For the Glory of God.

One of the blurbs from Crossway reads: Biblical guidance on playing, watching, and discussing sports in a God-glorifying manner, helping believers grow in both their love for God and their passion for holiness.

Church Planting in the Former Soviet Union

Classes here at Kiev Theological Seminary go from Monday-Saturday; and Monday-Thursday. The students take classes for 8 hours a day for two weeks before returning home. These are some dedicated men. All of them have to work jobs to supply income. One friend, whom we are sending a team to this summer, Joseph, has to ride a train for over 14 hours to get to school here. He lives west of the Carpathian mountains in Western Ukraine. He is planting a church among the Gypsies, the largest people group in the world without a home country.

KTS is the only school of its kind, in regard to church planting. The school, led by my friend and contact, Joel Ragains, requires that every church planting graduate plant a church or be on a church planting team within 5 years of graduation. In about 5 years since his arrival, Joel has seen 22 new churches started in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union (we have students from Georgia, Belarus, and other surrounding countries).

The school is adding on to a the small facility that they have. They need all kinds of things. There is no heat in the chapel, the rooms are ... let's just say, need some love. They are trying to finish the project that they are in, and have, by God's grace, been able to raise some significant money. More than these physical needs, is the need for curriculum. You can only do so much with The Purpose Driven Life! There are few tools in Russian or Ukrainian. I have contacted Ed Stetzer in hopes that we can get Planting Missional Churches in the tongue of this area.

Despite these challenges, this is an amazing school, with some of the most genuine and gracious faculty members. The students are sacrificial and steadfast. Last Friday night we had a pizza party after a long week, and it was sweet. I have a deep love for these students and this country. It needs awakening. The Reformation never made it here. They have not had an "awakening" as such.

Today I gave a testimony and a mini-sermon on "letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly." I challenged Sergay's church (the pastor who is also my translator in class) to (1) read, (2) hear, and (3) memorize Scripture. I told them that Scripture memory is needed for (1) purity; (2) prosperity; (3) power over Satan; (4) prayer; and (5) proclamation. Of course, the "P's" don't work. You don't need a sermon you can "P" on in Ukraine.

So this afternoon, I completed my listening guide for next Sunday night's theology study on the person of Christ, who is the hope of Hattiesburg and Ukraine. I also worked on the AM sermon, which will be on the 7 cries of Jesus on the cross. I pray that Christ would continue to call out many to himself as His sufficient Son is proclaimed around the world.

I miss our faith family at Temple, and I miss my wife so badly that I have been drinking tomato juice and quoting country music songs. We hope to hear some good news on Monday. Hopefully, Lord willing, our stuff will be submitted for adoption, and we will receive word in a few weeks about when we may travel to pick up some of these cute kids. And maybe, James Sergay or Anna Soffia will like to drink tomato juice with mommy and daddy.

Until next time friend,

Pastor Bourice

ESV Study Bible - Online

The ESV Study Bible is tremendous, and now it has been made available online. So here is a very handy and helpful resource for your study. I've benefited from it here in Ukraine this week.

Kyiv Theological Seminary

Today I am leaving to go teach in Ukraine, a country that I have truly grown to love. This will be my second time to teach at KTS. The last time, it was extremely cold; this week it is going to be much warmer; it may even reach 40!

I will have about 12 students in class, and our subject is evangelism. I enjoy this subject because of the amount of topics one can cover, and of course, it's extremely important.

Philip Slusher, our missions pastor, is teaching as I write. Pray for him. He has the first two days of teaching on his own. I will join him for our Wednesday class. The classes go from Monday-Sat; and Mon-Thurs. Philip will be there through Thursday, after which, he will go to London to talk about how we can help a church plant in that area. I will then be there until the following Thursday teaching by myself. We teach for 4 hours per day. The students take two 4 hour classes every day in this program.

In addition, I will be spending some time with our dear friends Joel and Mary Ellen, who help train the pastors. It is always a joy to drink cofee and catch up and listen to Joel tell me about these young guys who are planting churches all over the country. His joy is contagious.

So thanks for your prayers. I just bought some heavy duty earplugs yesterday, knowing that I am rooming with Slusher. I hope they work.

Below is our tentative course outline in case you are interested. This series may come to a church near you, in the near future.... "Evangelism for the Average Dude?"

KTS%20Schedule.doc

Motivations for Preaching

As I traveled today, I talked to one of my best friends, Benjie Loyd. Benjie is a pastor in Dry Creek, LA. Yes. That's the name of the place. Benjie is a tremendous Bible preacher and wonderful pastor of a flock of about 350. We talked, as usual, about preaching... and books about preaching and lectures on preaching. Benjie recently listened to an audio file by Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Pres. in NY. Keller is an amazing Gospel-centered preacher in the heart of a tough city. According to Benjie, Keller said something that riveted me....

Keller said that when he started preaching, he wanted to preach well so that "he would look good." The next motivation, as he matured, was that he wanted "the church to look good," since he was the pastor of it.

The next motivation that he experienced, in this growth process, was for "the Scriptures to look good." He moved from personal glory and the glory of his church, to having a deep burden to rightly expound the Scriptures. This is a good motivation. This is a great motivation. Every faithful preacher should desire to be faithful to the inspired text.

But then Keller says that we should seek yet another motive: "to make Jesus look good." Indeed, this third and fourth motivation are related. But ultimately, the goal of preaching is to glorify Christ who is the center of the Bible and the center of life.

I can honestly admit that I have experienced all of these motivations in my growth as a preacher. Sadly, at times, I have longed to be admired and praised for my preaching. I have also deisred to preach well so that our church at Temple would be admired and highly esteemed - which is not a bad thing. And I have desired to magnify the truth of Scripture. This is my prayer every week, that when I lay down to go to sleep on Sunday nights, I should be able to lay down and say, "your truth was made known through this clay pot." But what I really want to want more than anything is that Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, the Savior of my sinful soul, the Alpha and Omega, would shine forth like the dawn and be made much of in my preaching. In the words of the Apostle, I desire to preach nothing but "Christ and Him crucified."

This was a good word for me this week, with all of my preaching responsibilities. What people need week in and week out is to know that Christ is mighty to save; that He is sufficient for all our needs. Tomorrow I am preaching on the pursuit of holiness, which is nothing more than the pursuit of Christ-likeness, which is made possible through the power of Christ himself, the True Vine. Then on Sunday morning, we will look at Jesus agonizing in the Garden, as the one who would go to the cross to satisfy God's justice and save sinners (Mark 14). And finally, my hope on Sunday night will be to unpack the doctrine of sin, and to do it in such a way that we realize the astonishing grace of Jesus who became our sin-bearing substitute. May Christ be magnified through the preaching of His Word.

Longing to Long for Christ's glory more and more with you,

Pastor Tony