FREEDOM IN CHRIST

These past two months have had us close to home. As a result I have had the blessing of being involved with two ladies Bible studies. We are going through the book of Galatians inductively verse by verse. The main theme of Galatians is the comparison of Grace and The Law. Paul is passionate and even righteously angry about the men who have come in and are trying to draw these new believers into or back under the law. He wants them to understand that the freedom they have received through Christ’s death is true freedom; freedom from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2).

   He even goes as far as to say that if anyone perverts the gospel of grace they are cursed! This is strong language which reflects the seriousness of this issue. God wants us to be free to find our own way in Him. Free to live each day by grace and not by acts. The law says I must do certain things but God just wants me to be with Him and learn to obey Him. This is grace; not what I do but who I am in Christ!

   What I love about studying inductively is that we must always bring the Scriptures down to personal, daily application. This is where real, long term life change comes in. So, as I am looking into this epistle, I see time and again how I too set up a law for myself. I bring myself back under my own law. One that God never intended for me. I think that I must perform a certain way in order to keep God’s favor or attention. I then want to place others under my law, asking them to perform in certain ways as well.

   So I must take inventory regularly and ask myself, “Have I set up any laws that God did not intend? Am I trying to please God in my flesh? Am I looking to please others?” I believe we set up boundaries, a fence line, in our own lives as a way of feeling safe. Then we think we are free because we have rules to keep us safe. However, what I am beginning to understand is that if I build a fence then I remove the daily need to cling to Christ for safety and wisdom. I might feel comfortable but I will miss the depth of a relationship founded upon need. So I am determined to tear the fence down and keep it down. To abide in and cling to my one and only safe place; Jesus Christ!

Free because of Jesus!

 Brooke

2012 in Review

  

   Thank you for your prayers & support over this past year! We have been blessed to serve in many parts of the world this past year.

January we started out at the Missions Conference in California, spoke at supporting churches & met with many friends in California & Arizona.

  
February & March we were blessed to teach at CC Bible College in Peru. I taught the Pastoral Epistles & the Life of Christ while Brooke led a Women’s Bible Study.

  April I spent with Moses Ouni in Uganda helping with IBS seminar, discipling the church, surveying the property in Paidha & teaching how to make rocket stoves. Brooke hosted a Women’s Conference in Ames, Iowa.

  May we were in Honduras working at Rancho Oasis & teaching IBS.

  June Brooke took off for Uganda & Rwanda with 13 women to lead 2 Women’s Conferences & Children’s Outreach. I stayed in Iowa to begin prepping the house to paint.

  July we visited supporting churches in Kansas & West Virginia; ending the month back in Honduras with a small team from Britt Free Church.

  August I traveled to Guatemala to work along side CC Guatemala & Servants 4 Him teaching IBS.

  September we traveled back to Uganda with a group from our home church in Des Moines, IA. After returning to the USA I headed to Costa Rica to work once again with the YWAM base in Guanacaste. Brooke taught a Women’s Retreat in Wisconsin.

  October began with Brooke teaching a Women’s Retreat in Minnesota. We  were blessed with the arrival of our 4th grand-child, Poema Aliza Beard, who was born in our home on the 14th. We had the family with us until the first of November. What a blessing to have the grand-kids running around awakening the home with life & joy!

Also the house was painted!

  November we taught an IBS seminar in Colorado Springs & spent most of the month packing up my father’s house in Lake Mills, Iowa. The last week I was off to CC Bible College Mexico in Ensenada to teach IBS for 2 weeks. What a blessing to be able to teach hungry hearts!

  December was used to move my father to Britt to live closer to us. We ended the month and year with a short trip to Mexico for some R&R.

   2013

  We are blessed & excited to see how this New Year unfolds! We continue to covet your prayers for God’s direction. There are many good things to do and  many requests for us to come along side to serve, so we are willing, available & ready to go where He says go! We are booked through March with many tentative plans thereafter.

   Please pray that the Lord will raise up 8 people to come along side us this year to serve in the GAP Discipleship ministry. We desire to see more people catch a vision for serving as missionaries to a lost and dying world in the USA, Central America, Mexico, Africa and beyond.

Enjoying His grace,

Wayne & Brooke