Short update tonight.  Just got back from the Thursday night ‘Yeni Yasam’ (New Life) meeting for college students and young adults.  TJ rapped and peformed some of his (Decipha) songs.  13 Turks that had no previous experience with meeting other Christians or hearing about Jesus came.  It was very cool to see some of the people we met actually come and be willing to sit through 15 minutes of worship, a 30 minute message, a group ice-breaker, just to get to hear TJ do his thing and rap the scriptures.  Anna and I were amazed that people stuck around but a lot did.  Some stayed after to take pictures, fantasize about becoming a Turkish rap star, and to have some hang out time with the church.  It was a great night for relationship building and people really enjoyed the time.

K and I (from yesterdays post) continue to talk and we will be hoping he can come to Ephesus with us on Saturday.  Pray for him and the 70-80 others that our team has spoken with.  Pray for some of them to connect into the church for relationships they can trust.  Pray for tomorrow, as we meet to discuss current issues for church leaders and spouses, and how we can more faithfully develop new leaders in the church to multiply out (without needing to send everyone back to the US for seminary!).  Pray for our evening with Dave and Vicki Frazier (20 yrs in Izmir) and them to encourage our team how to truly engage the mission that God has for us.  They are such practical thinkers about how to continue Jesus’ mission to reach all cultures- starting in the US and beyond.

The kids had a long day of visiting some old friends of Anna and I.  More ferry boats, taxis, and buses!  They are troopers for sure.  Bruce, Trevor, Jessica, and TJ have all been such a great team to work with.  Anna and I have been able to spend some family time and allow the others the freedom now to travel throughout the city since they have learned some basic bus routes, and basic Turkish phrases to ask for help.  Bruce had a great conversation with a cafe owner (suffered a stroke and is partially paralyzed).  He will update you more detailed, but was able to encourage the man to learn more about Jesus as God’s Son, not simply as prophet.   Tomorrow we will have a final day to invite all these new friends to Ephesus with us, to see firsthand evidence of the New Testament!

Take care all, and be encouraged that the small church here in Izmir is making great impacts into this culture.  Young Turkish men and women (just me another tonight by the name of Ibrahim) are leading and growing to become the next generation of ministers.  Let’s all be more committed to building up these young adults and training them in character, passion, and giftedness.  It has really encouraged me to look to our own young adults and students who are called to be leaders and develop them as well.  If we fail at this task, what future do we really have to expand the kingdom of Jesus Christ?  Instead of young people and families checking out by the thousands, what if we could see thousands be impacted by the true gospel, and become ministers of God’s Word (no matter if they are ‘professional’ pastors or not)?

Thanks for praying that these next few days before we leave would tie things up for us, and establish these long-term relationship between our churches and the church here. Love to all our supporters and fans!

As we went up the ‘asansor’, I thought K wouldn’t really be interested in why Trevor and I wanted to take him out for a cay (Turkish tea).  Usually Turks are very friendly and want to talk about American movies, cars, women, etc.  I didn’t expect him to say ‘I’ve always wanted to check out a church, but I work a lot on Sundays’.  K had an ex-girlfriend who left the catholic church, and evidently he had heard of her visiting her priest and doing some confession.  Trevor and I just quoted 1 Timothy 2:5, ‘there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.’  K was confused, but now was wondering why we confessed to Jesus.

“Is sin kind of like breaking the law?” asked K.  I almost spit out my cay in disbelief.  Here is a completely agnostic (expecting him to say “who cares if there is a a god, because no one can ever know for sure”  just explaining what sin is in plain english.  “Absolutely, but worse.  When we chose to break God’s laws, we are then guilty of the largest sin, rejecting God from our lives.  We deserve the largest punishment.  Have you ever heard of a term called ‘mercy’?  When you were a kid, did you ever twist your brothers arm and ask him to beg for mercy?”  K replies “Absolutely.” (with a few more expletives than needed here).  “Jesus, died for our sin and rose from the dead, in order to show us mercy- he payed for our penalty and the Father proved he accepted it by raising Him from the dead three days later.”  K confessed earlier to us that he continues to go after other girls and doesnt like to.  At this point Trevor and I are shocked that our hotel bell-boy who we just met four days ago was now talking to us about some very personal matters.  “May we tell you about our own past with old girlfriends?”  asked Trevor and I.  After another hour of Turkish tea, K was asking about what difference Jesus made in our lives.  “When we confess to Jesus and receive His payment for our sin, we are truly forgiven and given a new heart to follow Him.” And on the conversation went.

As we went back down the asansor, we spoke about a million other things.  American slang, cuss words he had heard in movies, his travels to Seattle and DC, his goals for the future, how we could keep up with one another on facebook, etc.  We ended the conversation about Jesus making sure he knew that our job wasnt to force or convince him to become a Christian.  We asked him to simply learn more through the Incil (New Testament), the local church in Alsancak (Pastor Fikret), and truly listen to the Holy Spirit showing him the seriousness of his sin, just as the Holy Spirit does in Trevor and I.  He agreed to read the Incil and said he would come to the Thursday rap concert in Bornova.  Pray he would be thinking hard about his own life and gap between his own heart and the heart of God the Father.  Pray that the necessity of Jesus’ death and resurrection becomes clear to him.  Pray he would come to the concert and want to hang out some more to continue our friendship.

Tomorrow is our last day of university outreach to invite students and young adults to the concert.  We are visiting with some old friends in the morning and then renting a car in the afternoon for a day.  We plan on cruising around with our team and showing them some of the Izmir-area sites and places we love.  Smyrna ruins here we come!   The boys had a great day playing at a park, going on a ferryboat ride, and eating ice cream for a bed time snack.  It is so much fun to see how much joy they bring to the believers here, as well as the random people on the public transport (buses, trains, ferries, taxis, etc.)  We’ve had tons of help from random people when Jason is slumping over in the ‘baby pack’ on my back, or when Justus’ stroller gets stuck on a curb.  And all of it has led to so many conversations with people we wouldn’t normally have gotten to talk with.

Anna had a great conversation with an old friend today who struggles with her identity as a young single Turkish-Christian woman.  It is very difficult for women to continue living for Christ in a culture that still values men above women in a number of ways.  Since it is more personal info, I will let Anna share that with some of you ladies if you facebook her about it.  Very cool conversation though.

Friday will be shopping day, interviewing the pastors/wives of Izmir, leadership development conversations, and night with David and Vicki Frazier for ‘american night’.  Sasturday will be all-day trip to Ephesus, and afterwards our final night with the Boceks.  Sunday will be church and fellowship (in Turkey this lasts until mid-afternoon), and then packing at the hotel before one last tea in a Turkish home where one spouse is a believer passionately trying to help his wife and children see the truth and grace of Jesus Christ.  Monday morning we fly out and head back to the states!  Continue to pray for our last conversations with the church here, the friendships we have made with Turks, and even our team relationships as we any group starts to get sick of each other.  Especially when they smell as bad as I do in the back of a Turkish taxi.

Love to all of our friends and family

We apologize for the delay, but these last two days have been a frenzy of activity.  Let’s just say we are getting much more familiar with our Turkish phrases, Izmir public transportation (including a great running path around our district), and all the best donerciler (doner and kebab chefs).  Actually, the biggest reason we havent update you sooner is because these last two days we have been exhausted reaching out to college students at Ege University here in the heart of Bornova, Izmir’s center district.

We wont be able to share all the stories, but between the six adults and our two kids, we have been able to share the gospel with over 60-70 students and some adults.  Again, that wasnt our primary goal.  Our goal is to simply work with the Turkish believers in what they normally do (although that is impossible when trying to cater to guests).  It was great to be partnered up with some Turks and other gospel workers, go out with some simple Turkish phrases, and get into conversations somewhere between english and turkish.  It is amazing how much you can say with little language proficiency! 

One young man I met yesterday, named Burak, is a english language student and was very excited to see Bruce Jaspersen and I greet him.  I typically ask the question “Inglizce biliyor musun?” (Do you know english?) and Burak lit up and started practicing the little english he felt comfortable with.  Bruce and I explained that we would like to talk with him about Isa “Jesus” and he described, ‘Oh yes, I know Jesus Christ.’  For nominally Muslim Turks, Jesus is a good prophet, but not God in the flesh who died and rose again.  Burak had to get to class, so I asked him to our Thursday rap concert with TJ, and he said he will come so we can ‘inglizce praktik’.  Bruce prayed for him and we were off to the next conversation.  Many went like this, so pray Thursday night we could continue with them.  A young adult, named Kaan, spoke with us about his upcoming trip to America, andwhen we asked him about his knowledge of Jesus, he said he had some friends that were explaining things to him as well.  He is bringing his girlfriend and other friends Thur.  Trevor was able to connect with a group of 12 devout Muslim students and even spent time in their home in friendly debate.  Pray!

Anna and the kids have continued to be so amazing on this trip.  People still stop us all the time to just stare at them and smile.  Anna has been having some great conversations with moms and even a young woman we went to school with while we were here in 2004-5.  She has been an incredible mom and very patient with me as a team leader.  Last night we went out with Darlene and Fikret, while the team watched the kids.  It was so good to hear what exactly is going on in their lives, without distraction or other pressing needs disrupting the conversation.  They expressed the larger learning curve having teenagers now, and only five years of raising their oldest girls hasnt seemed like enough time to teach and train them adequately.  Pray for wisdom as parents of teens…i am sure some of our families in LCC’s student ministry can relate!

Please continue praying for Corey (we are going to spend time with him today), Sinem, a friend of Anna’s who she will be with today, and all of the group of young people and few adults that we have invited to tomorrow evening’s rap concert and outreach.  Pray that our 2nd half of the trip would continue to be interrupted by the Holy Spirit, and God would do what He wants to do through us and in us.  Tonight we will be praying with IPK church at 7pm.  Please join us 12pm noon central time!  Pray that the mission of the church in Turkey would continue to energize these believers here, and they would be encouraged to continue to reach out and serve the Turkish people with the mercy and grace of Jesus.

 In a city of 3.5 million, there are roughly 200-300 followers of Jesus Christ.  Any way you slice it, we all sense the need for the true gospel of Jesus Christ to inform people of God’s plan of rescuing people from sin and death.  Even you reading this, do we understand the tragic end result of our rejection of Jesus Christ?  Bulut, a Turkish believer, shared his testimony today after Sunday worship.  He shared, “I just realized that I am a sinner.  I have always assumed I did not need Jesus, because I had my own life planned.  What I didn’t know was that when I rejected Jesus with my self-centered life, I rejected Life itself.  What is left for me?  Only death.”

Bulut realized that the only Life that lasts and truly satisfies, is to find peace and forgiveness by trusting in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Paul in Colossians 1 writes, the mystery of Christ in you.  Jesus living in and through us, is the deepest mystery of the gospel.  Jesus didn’t die and rise again simply to earn us a place in heaven, but to have us die to our own selfish life and to truly live through us.  Bulut is now being daily used by God, as a representative for Jesus Christ, doing what He would want with his life.  This isn’t the same as being moral or good.  Bulut confesses he is a new child of God who daily battles with the sin of this world, learning to get rid of his own self-centeredness, and daily asking Jesus to live His life through him.

It was a great day for testimonies, fellowship, solid teaching at the churches, and really good conversation with new and old friends.  We were able to fellowship with Bornova Protestant Church, led by Pastor Cetin, a single younger Turkish guy and his ministry team.  It was very good to introduce our team and meet the believers there.  Turkish music, preaching, and sharing prayer requests with the whole church were all very cool.  TJ (Decipha) was able to perform two songs and rapped for an audience of believers at Izmir Protestant Church, after we were done at BPC.  It was very cool to see the expressions on peoples faces as he was performing because most probably wouldnt have thought about preaching the Word of God through rap lyrics.  After, we planned the week of outreach and beginning tomorrow we will be at Izmir universities and building conversations with students and young adults who would like to hear more about Jesus and following Him.  There was a small group of Turkish university students who shared how they came to know Jesus, and advised us on how to partner with Turkish believers as we go out with the gospel.  We will simply be there to work with Turks, and add to the conversation any way God wants.  We hope to see many friendships spring up and continue on after we leave with the Turkish church and long distance with us.

Please pray for our conversations tomorrow, and that God would lead us to the people we should speak with.  When you are talking about the assurance of forgiveness, the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the daily relationship with the Father Jesus came to give us…these are all very foreign concepts and can take a long time to understand even the basics.  It is a good thing that the Holy Spirit has the job of convicting the heart and bringing people to acknowledging Jesus as the true Son of God.  We simply are putting ourselves out there as ‘foreign dorks’ and hoping people will talk and express how they truly feel about spiritual things.  Why is it so difficult to bring up spiritual conversations and let people say what they think?  Maybe because I like to talk too much?  I think so.

Anna and the boys are all great.  The boys are crashed and Anna is on her droid (as usual at this time of night) on her facebook through the hotel’s wifi.  I think weve established a good balance of family vs ministry team activities, and weve been able to keep the boys engaged and everyone loves to be with them…again, more and more Turks ALL the time stop us and want to pinch, touch, hold, cuddle, and play with our boys.  We think we could maybe start charging some Turkish Lira for all the people that want to hold them…sounds like a solid fundraiser for the ministry here.

Last but definitely not least, please pray for Corey (Koray in Turkish, but he like the english Corey better).  He is our otelci (the dude that waits on you in the hotel lobby).  Weve struck up some cool conversations and we are going to share the gospel with him one of these next two nights so we can invite him to our Yeni Yasam (New Life) outreach on Thur night.  Corey has been very friendly, and he, TJ, and Trevor (the guys around his own age) have been talking and getting to know each other.  I am going to challenge the guys to find out when we could  grab a tea with him and some of Corey’s friends.  Just pray for the open window to even open more.

Pray for the boys that they would continue to get the rest and energy they need to keep up their ‘childrens ministry’.  Today Justus saw a group of students smoking cigarettes standing in a circle and he simply walked right in the middle of them and started pretending that he was smoking.  All the  guys laughed and we were able to talk with them a bit and explain that my son is a little crazy.  They got a kick out of how bold he was to get in there and mimic them.  Our little comedian.  I actually think it was a humbling moment for some of them because they were ‘too cool for school’ and Justus was basically making fun of them.  I love my kids!  Pray that Anna and I would continue to stay focused on each other as well so we can serve eachother well and our parenting.

More tomorrow after our first day of university outreach.  Pray!

Orientation with the team today included everything in Turkish culture youd ever want to know.  Eating, traveling, speaking, new friends, old friends, and a ferry boat ride to boot.  The first half of the day was spent being oriented by the church about things to do and not to do, and the importance of supporting and building up the long-term ministry already here.  We have some basic things in the plans, but ultimately all we do is follow Fikret and Caleb (IPK church leaders) directions.  If they give us freedom to improvise, we take it.  During orientation in kemeralti (look it up) in Konak, we ran into students who needed to actually film english speakers for a project and we ended up inviting them all to our Thursday outreach called Yeni Yasam (new life).  It was a cool God-thing that we saw Turks pursue getting to know us when most of the team is still a bit gun-shy of initiating with Turks they meet.  A great way to break the ice, and our first real exposure to Turks and inviting them to consider the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our Turkish friends filled in the blanks and lets pray they actually come to Yeni Yasam or contact one of the church members.

After some great doner kebab, we headed back to the hotel for a little break before heading on our first ferry boat trip across the bay to Bostanli to connect with Vicki Frazier, long-term worker and wife of the Turkish translator to the Gospel of John film.  Our team was able to ask a lot of questions and talk with her about being American and still being long-term in bringing the gospel to Turks.  Especially interesting from a womans perspective, and how to relate with other Turkish moms and wives.  Anna loves to spend time with her and when her husband Dave returns from Jordan on Tuesday, we will be seeing them again and thinking about ways to translate some leadership development books for Turkish church leaders.

Today the team was able to finally have our first times of prayer and sharing some of our backgrounds.  We are still just getting to know one another, but the team is having so much fun being around each other.  The taxis, ferry boats, and bus rides have all been great places to share and just hear stories about things that you just need to know- family backgrounds, personal passions, gifts and talents…we are excited to support one another and our giftedness as we continue to minister in the days ahead.  Pray for tomorrow as we worship and fellowship with Bornova Protestant Church and hope to encourage the believers there.  We will be working with many of them to bring the gospel to the campuses Monday and Tuesday, and also with the Thursday Yeni Yasam meeting.

Anna and the kids are doing great.  The kids crashed a little tonight because they didnt get normal naps (still a bit jet lagged) so just pray that when mom and dad need sleep, that they would also be sleeping!  We’ve already had so many conversations with Turks about the kids and they continue to be conversation magnets.  Pray that some of these conversations would turn into gospel opportunities as we simply share why we are here.

Thanks for all your support and encouragement from so far away.  We will be in a home tomorrow night of a Turkish man and his unbelieving family.  Please pray for that man and his family.  We are hoping to see God move powerfully through our evening to show them the truth and grace of Jesus Christ.  We will update after we return tomorrow night.

With love,

The Pankratz’

Anna, Justus, and I are sitting in our hotel bed at 3:30am Izmir time (7:30PM MN time).  Justus leans on my shoulder as I type in the dark and Anna is feeding Jason.  We think Jason is the only one actually doing what he should be doing…sleeping.  Besides the jet lag, we and all of our team are doing great after a long journey here to Izmir, Turkey.  The boys did great on the airplane-  Anna not so much. She got motion sickness on the overseas flight and had to spend extra time in the airplane bathroom with the help of some very friendly stewardesses.  The boys and I just kept focused on the airplane movies, toys and books while praying for mommy.  Thankfully, she felt better today and likes being on solid ground!  Justus summarized his trip to me last night on the airplane and said “Dada, I love this airplane.”  World traveler in training.

The flight to Izmir got in about 3:30pm Izmir time yesterday.  A ‘God-thing’ happened as we unloaded and noticed a group of about 200 traditionally clothed Muslims returning from their Muslim pilgrimage or Haj.  Our team was warmly greeted by a few of them, and Trevor Mueller (college student at Multnomah Bible College) was asked to take a photo of some of them since they look at it as a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Hundreds more people were at the international arrival gate to welcome their relatives home from the pilgrimage, and it had a feeling of celebrity red carpet status when we walked through the gates ourselves.  People were very surprised to see some Americans walk right in the middle of the people returning from their pilgrimage.  Anna could tell some were really trying to guess what we were doing in Turkey, by picking up some Turkish from the people behind her. 

The thought that kept coming to my mind was in the middle of all the God-fearing people returning, there we were representing Jesus and I wondered how many of these God-fearing people from traditional upbringings really knew the true Jesus and true righteousness He offers.  Sounds a lot like Minnesota!  We exchanged some smiles and a couple of Turkish greetings and met up with Fikret and Caleb to take us to the hotel.  Our team is great!  Tyrell Morrissette, Jessica Runnels (engaged couple from Chicago), Trevor Mueller, Bruce Jaspersen, and our family.  We’ve been having some great time just to meet one another face to face (not skype) and spend some time learning more about one another and our excitement to support the church here in Izmir.

We spent the evening getting to know each other and Fikret, Darlene and the kids invited us over for some truly Turkish food- “Pizza Hut”!  They are very sensitive to the fact that even a simple thing like Pizza Hut can give a first-time ‘America to Turkey’ traveler something to be culturally comforted by (even though Anna and I are starving for some good Isekender Kebab).  We all visited around their dinner table and then went for a walk with Fiko, Anya, and Ela on the Sahil (oceanside walkway) and it felt so good to be there again in a place we love.  On our walk we were greeted by a new believer in Christ, Sait (Saw-eet).  He is an older gentleman with grown kids, and some good English wanting to practice- so we talked the whole way in Turkish-English, him helping me to acclimate to working Turkish.  I asked him if Fikret was a good pastor and he replied,’O, yes.  The Lord speaks to Him.’  I thought that was very cool.

Anna was able to visit with Darlene after dinner and the kids played with Selen and Han.  Her and Dar got caught up together and a had a good time just meeting Jason for the first time, and talking about how goes life with kids.  Anna and I are very thankful that Justus played so well with Selen and Han, and now has officially made his first friends in Izmir!  He is even learning some basic Turkish phrases like ‘Merhaba (hello)’ and ‘Gule gule (bye bye)’.  After the evening we headed back to the hotel, kids passing out in exhaustion in the van ride, and the team basically falling into their rooms, wiped out from the first day.

Please continue praying for our team- we are doing our first team breakfast tomorrow morning and beginning to ask God the reasons we all are there and how we can focus on encouraging the Turkish believers, greeting and showing love to the Turks we visit with, and continually asking Him to use our day as He wants us to.  We will spending day 2 in the city, just orienting our team to Izmir and being in the Turkish culture.  Pray for continued wisdom and direction for our time, and we would make the most of every opportunity.  Simply pray Colossians 4:5- Wisdom toward those we interact with that are outside the Christian faith, and making the most out of every moment- whether thats with our team, our Turkish friends, or with people we randomly encounter.

Thanks so much for checking in, and we will update this a little sooner next time, in about 13-14 hours (about 2-3pm Saturday MN time).  Love to all of our family and friends.  Feel free to comment below and well keep up with you as best we can in the evenings.

The Pankratz’

Greetings!  Just wanted to let you know were leaving tomorrow. For me, its been an anxious feeling like Paul in Acts 16 and 17, speaking the gospel before audiences who desire to know and follow the True God.  Pray for us as we embark on a journey of working with the Turkish church, and encouraging the long-term families like the Boceks and their kids.  We simply want to be about the future of reaching into Muslim cultures with the truth and compassion of Jesus through the local church (Eph 3).

Family notes- Pray for Anna especially as the wonderful mom she is.  She is especially feeling nervous about the kids going and not knowing how the traveling will go with them.  Pray that I would first be the husband and dad I need to be, and secondary is my role to be our team leader with the three other adults with us.  Pray for our culture and time adjustment, free from illness, and full of strength and energy for the days ahead.

If you would like to send us out in personal prayer, feel free to join us at 9am Central Time tomorrow morning, either here at LCC in person, or in your personal time with the Lord.

Here’s to a journey that only God knows!

Sincerely
JP

Days until Izmir = 3.  On Thursday you will see kids updates from Justus and Jason, as well as our team updates daily. Stay tuned!

“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.  You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.  He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.  He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” -Peter to Cornelius’ Family in Acts 10:34-43

If you look at the rest of Acts 10, Peter is a Jewish young man who Jesus expected to continue His mission after  His resurrection.  What it seems Peter didn’t get yet, was that God was actually serious.  Serious that Peter and the other apostles were to actually bring the story of a Jewish Jesus, crucified and risen again, to even a Gentile (non-Jewish) family here in Cornelius’ home.  I love how he finally gets it and says ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’

Anna and I leave for Izmir, Turkey in three days…with our 3 yr old Justus and 1 yr old Jason!  Yikes.  We are suckers for punishment indeed.  Actually we cant wait to see the look on Turks faces when they see our two little boys who came all the way from Podunk Minnesota, simply to let them know that Jesus Christ isn’t partial to Americans or any other nation.  We are stoked to let them know that God our Father looks at the tragically deceived Turkish people, who are caught in the powerlessness of Islam, and longs to set them free through the death and resurrection of His Only Son.  God is a person, He wants to know Turks, and loves it when they simply show reverence (fear) for Him and long to obey Him through faith.  Peters message is a simple one- He wants to be with us!

In the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book, Allah made Jesus speak.  He said, which are verses 30-33 in the chapter of Mariam in the Qur’an: “Peace was on me the day I was born. Peace will be on me on the day I will die and on the day I am raised alive again.”  Even though the Qur’an is suspicious on many levels, it is surprising Islam misses this text and still denies Jesus was crucified and rose again.  I love Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:17 “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.”  We hope to spend time with Turks, sincerely and compassionately explaining that there needs to be a sacrifice to pay for our sin.  Pray for us.

How awesome it is that God accepts men and women from every culture who fear Him and practice righteousness?  He’s not simply sitting inside his house and waiting for the world to go to hell.  He is canvasing the entire globe and passionately explaining His gospel to every nation and culture.  Peter got so excited about this that he couldnt help but explain further what Cornelius’ family (and all of our MN relatives) need to do;  ”… everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

A simple message, but a profound act of absolute holiness and sacrifical love.  Let’s trust in Jesus’ payment for our sin, and follow Him today with a new passion.  A passion for all people…even people not like us.

Greetings friends!  Youre here because youre interested in my random blog, and/or because you want to hear about our plans for our trip to Izmir, March 10-21.  Well update more as we go along, but simply pray for the gospel to go out through the church in Izmir, Turkey…so many are tragically deceived and we as Jesus-followers have the answer!  Read Stephens testimony in Acts 6-8 and you tell me if we can be confident about the truth of Jesus Christ.

On a specific note about our team, one of our adults is still lacking the funding.  If you have a heart to give, he is about $500 short of his total goal.  We are confident God will provide, but Wed is our deadline (Mar 2).  Thanks for praying for him and the unity, peace, and togetherness of our team.

More updates very soon!  Come back often!

living for Jesus isnt simply a good option or suggestion.  It is the only option when you consider the alternative…receiving the full wrath of God because you rejected the offer of His Son Jesus on the cross.

In Colossians 3, Paul reminds his friends in Colossae that if they truly have been ‘raised with Christ’ (which refers to these people now living their lives to follow the way of Jesus), then they now are called to ‘put to death’ the life of sin that we all have lived…sexual sin, impure passions, evil desires, worshiping our own version of God, or idolatry.

So in my life and for my wife and kids, we ask ourselves, “What does it practically look like to put to death these kinds of lifestyles in our daily lives.”  When I want to lust, or cheat the system, or take advantage of someone, or be rude to someone…what will keep me from plunging into sin?  Again, Paul affirms in v2-3, ‘Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.’

What?  I have died?  What does Paul mean here?  Because I have responded to Jesus Christ, bent my knee in acknowledging my own sin and trusting in Jesus’ death and resurrection to forgive and free me from sin…I have now died to my own personal and selfish life agenda.  It is truly and practically no longer Jeff Pankratz living.  Jesus lives through me (or desires to) and sometimes…no MOST of the time…I get in the way of what Jesus really wants to do.

This is a freeing truth in multiple ways.  Verse 6 confirms that if I dont submit to Jesus and trust in His death and resurrection, I have the full and unbridled wrath of God waiting for me, and it is coming for us all- make no mistake, God is a fair, good, and just judge…every sinful act and thought of disobedience will be accounted for and punished.  Or else God isnt a good judge…he lets people go who deserve to be punished.

Through Jesus, our punishment, God’s wrath is fully carried out by killing His only Son.  When we trust Jesus to take that punishment, acknowledge our sinfulness and the fact we deserved to die (not Jesus), we experience a ‘resurrection’ of our souls and we are now ‘resurrected with Christ’ when we repent and believe (Mark 1:15).  This isnt being religious or trying to live by a moral code…it is simply acknowledging we deserved to die for our sin, and trusing in Jesus to pay the punishment for us.  How many of our religious Minnesotans would know, love, and follow Jesus if this simple message would be taught and preached…instead of the message ‘Strive to be more moral’.  The majority of all ‘Christian’ churches never teach the real gospel, but instead teach people how to be good and moral.

If you look carefully at Colossians 3, Paul assumes people are ‘risen with Christ’- a truth that informs us of who we ARE, our identity now hidden in Christ.  Paul is saying that true followers of Jesus have no personal rights to their own agendas for their lives.  True Jesus-followers will be living out the purpose and plans of Jesus in practical daily events, conversations, and relationships.  It is here that the secret of being ‘good and moral’ truly lies.  If we believe the facts we are now hidden in Christ, and He is living through us, then we will begin to desire to be like Jesus and we will become better people- empowered from within to live it out, serve God, our neighbors, and our families.

In verses 12-17 (check it out on your own) Paul lists several ways we will see Jesus lived through us.  It is still our choice to allow Jesus to move and work through us.  Paul says to ‘put on’ those things, and to ‘put to death’ those things that don’t belong in our lives.  However, with the facts of Jesus living through us, and empowering us with His Holy Spirit, and being with us on a moment-by-moment basis…we will naturally carry out out love for Jesus in practical ways in our daily lives.

Let’s beging to let the ‘Word of Christ dwell in us richly’ (V16)  Friends, please investigate the life, teachings, actions, relationships, ministry priorities, family dealings of Jesus Christ.  His truth and the truth He taught us is the ONLY truth that will motivate us to live out the life that honors Him.  Let’s stop trying to simply be moral and good, and let’s commit to a deeper desire to be like Jesus as he reveals His Father and our helper the Holy Spirit.

Let’s trust in His death on the cross to help us die to our own selfish and sinful lives.

Let’s trust in His resurrection from the dead to empower us to fully be controlled by His plans for us.

There are no other options… unless you enjoy the wrath of God and go that route.