19 Jun Summer LINK Prague Update – 6.17.16
As our third week in Prague comes to a close, it truly feels like we just got here yesterday. In the past three weeks, we have had the privilege of working alongside a team from Louisiana called the Refuge. Our basic ministry is meeting students on two campuses in Prague and sharing the gospel with them. This can look different each day, but one main strategy the Refuge team has found to be successful is going to the cafeteria (the “menza”) each day and sitting down to eat lunch with any English speakers that will let us join them. By no means are we limited to the menza, but they have been successful with that in the past. After a few days, we began to extend our reach to coffee shops, cafes, and other areas around or near campus. Through this experience, I?m learning that making friends with random strangers in a different country that don’t speak your language is kind of terrifying. However, our gracious Father has faithfully shown us God-prepared people with whom we can share life-changing good news.
While the days are busy and exhausting, it has been so rewarding to see the Lord grow and stretch our team as He moves in the hearts of those we meet in the city. Every time we step out of our comfort zone, we do so in faith knowing that the Spirit is guiding our every step. In these past three weeks, the Lord has been revealing to me more and more each day just how much we truly need Him. Not only do we need Him to speak through us as we evangelize to the students that we meet, we need Him every moment of everyday. Let?s face it, apart from Him, we are wretched sinners, dead in our trespasses, and condemned to hell.
As a team, we have been studying through Romans and the Lord has really been revealing to me the weight of the sin in my life that I constantly battle but seem to always fall into. Maybe you guys are much better at fighting your flesh, but somehow I feel like this is something we can all relate to.
Romans 3:10-14 says,??None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.?
Romans 3:23 says, ?For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23 says,??For the wages of sin is death, but the FREE gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.?
These verses tell us that God’s holiness is far beyond anything we could ever fathom. No one is worthy of knowing Him. We are all sinners deserving death. ALL are condemned before God.
We fight sin daily, but because we are human, our flesh seeps through the cracks and raises its ugly head no matter how hard we fight. Jesus? life, death, and resurrection has freed us from the penalty of sin and the power of sin, but until the day of His return, we will always be in the presence of sin. Romans 5:6-10 tells us that “while we were still weak, Christ died for the ungodly? while we were still sinners, Christ died for us? while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.?
What baffles me even more is that I still fall short of deserving this everyday. There will never be a day where I am good enough to deserve this. The more I think about that, the more in awe I am of God? the more I desire to worship my Creator rather than His creation. He is a good, good Father that is worthy of unending praise from every nation, tribe, and tongue (and even that falls short of his glory).
Every day, whether I?m in Prague or Clemson, I will fight the desire to worship the world and fall into temptation, but praise be to God that He is a gracious Father that has made a way for His children to be redeemed and reconciled to Him.
Please pray for us as we continue to meet new friends, share the gospel, and build relationships with God-prepared people.
For the Kingdom,
Emma Schearer