B.A.S.I.C #265
Volume 12, Issue 10
Click Here to Download PDFThoughts From Nepal
Excerpts from the recent 2014 MHT to Nepal Blog https://2014clcmhtnepal.blogspot.com
One girl in particular was talking away to me and I tried telling her how I only speak English and she did not seem to care because she continued just talking away.
Even though the people of Nepal claim that we are hiking up hills and not mountains I highly disagree. I am so thankful that our programs have drawn in so many kids and even adults, including some who have never heard the gospel before. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us on the rest of the trip!
– Raven Haight
Right now the one word that sums of what this trip has been like for me is “overwhelmed.” Coming here I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I must have expected something, because nothing here is like what I expected!
So far my team has been able to teach 3 different churches. Each church has had similarities but also many differences than the others. One didn’t even have complete walls, but we fit about 100 people in there.
One thing I have learned in Nepal is how to pack people into cars. Once we fit at least 40 people in the back of a truck for a very bumpy 2 hour drive.
– Alyssa Krause
Jaye Meshi – Hail Messiah!!
As we followed a couple kids down, the singing echoed off the hills, drum beats echoed into our chests, and the passion in their voices snatched up our hearts. To think God wanted me, of all people, to escort His word to these precious children.
She ran up behind me and took my hand. She wouldn’t let go all the way up the hill until another little girl grabbed her other hand to help her get food.
It’s hard to hike when I want to look up at all the scenery.
– Michaela Naumann
The views are not what makes these hikes worth it however. The ability to spread the Gospel to the people in these villages is the great blessing that God has given us on this trip. Not only children, but adults also crowd into the church buildings. Not only Christians, but many villagers who have not been exposed to the Gospel sit in to listen.
As we arrived in the Kathmandu area, we drove around a large band of anti-Christian Hindu nationalists.
– Sam Rodebaugh
The Brothers Bhitrakoti are truly warriors of the gospel. The dedication and effort which they put into planning and executing our mission trip is truly unparalleled. They have been faithfully leading us around the country since we’ve arrived and never let us out of their sight. They are our guides, our bodyguards, and our friends. They are an incredible blessing to the CLC and the gospel.
– Tom Naumann
Yesterday when we got to a church, there were about 150-200 kids outside jumping up and down, clapping, and chanting WEL-COME WEL-COME.
We rode elephants the other day . . . Disclaimer: riding an elephant is not a good idea when you are having stomach problems.
Traffic is awesome here. Kind of scary, but very entertaining.
– Erica Wietgrefe
Today prayers have been answered with Erica and I being released from the hospital. Erica had not been feeling well for several days but kept going with us. I am very proud of her as I know it was not easy for.
– Neal Wietgrefe
Imagine being in a cloud in the edge of a cliff, walking past waterfalls in the rain, through cornfields and arriving in a village full of fellow Christian children and adults, now that’s a cool feeling.
– Ashley Elliott
For us, the 2014 CLC Mission Helpers to Nepal, it is going to be a very special day of worship as we gather with likeminded brothers and sisters in Christ of Eternal Life Church of the Himalayan Church of the Lutheran Confession of Nepal (HCLC-Nepal) here in Lalitpur (Kathmandu), Nepal. We will worship our Lord and Savior, rejoice in the absolution of our sins, grow in our understanding of His Word as our faith is strengthened through God’s all powerful word, and receive His body and blood for the remission of all our sins and the strengthening of our faith. Raju and I discussed the specifics of the service yesterday just to make sure we were all on the same page. Here’s the basic order of service we will follow:
10:00-10:45 – Worship, Hymns, prayers, confession and absolution
10:45-11:00 – Mission Helpers sing three hymns
11:00-12:00 – children go to Bible Study
11:00-12:00 – Rob Sauers and I each preach
12:00-12:20 – The Lord’s Supper
12:20-12:30 – Benediction, announcements and dismissal
– Todd Ohlmann
Excerpts from Regeneration in Baptism
Originally written by Dimitri Quast for the Lutheran Free Conference in Germany, August 29-31 2014
Part I – The human being after his birth
– The bible tells us, that because of the fall of Adam, each man becomes a sinner already after him.
– „Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:;“ Romans 5,12
– The sin and the eternal death is inherited to the children from their parents
– „Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.“ Ps. 51,5
– Although the child is bodily alive, it is for God and his Spirit „dead“ and not able to appeal to God.
– „ And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past all of you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. “ Ephesians 2, 1-3
– „By nature“ we are all “children of wrath“
– The bible calls this state „heathenism“ and the human being is called “heathen”
– „ Wherefore remember, that all of you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time all of you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:“ Eph. 2,11-12
– We were all after our birth aliens, without Christ and God, without hope
– The born human has no contact with his creator, but is under his eternal wrath. For God he is born dead.
– It does for God no matter, if the child is born from religious or believing parents.
– „That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.“ John 3,6
Conclusion:
Each human being born into this world, without exception, is born in a lost state, as a sinner and is under the wrath of God.
He is not able to have contact with God, because God is holy and has no communion with a sinner. God calls this state “spiritual death”.