Adventure on the Journey

I have uploaded my paper here which was submitted to PTS for the class "The Church Amidst Secularization". It was a great trip and if folks have questions or would like to see a presentation, please contact me. Thank you all for following my journey. Peace to you, Ryan

Prayer: Psalm 27:4-5 4   One thing I asked of the LORD,          that will I seek after:     to live in the house of the LORD          all the days of my life,     to behold the beauty of the LORD,          and to inquire in his temple. 5   For he will hide me in his shelter          in the day of trouble;     he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;          he will set me high on a rock. Devotion: Deuteronomy 9:27-29 27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; pay no attention to the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin, 28 otherwise the land from which you have brought us might say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to let them die in the wilderness.’ 29 For they are the people of your very own possession, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.” Journal: Today was our l

Prayer: Psalm 5:7-8 7   But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,          will enter your house,     I will bow down toward your holy temple          in awe of you. 8   Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness          because of my enemies;          make your way straight before me. Devotional: Hebrews 3:12-19 12Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. Journal: We woke in the wonderful town of Mantgum and were greeted by our host at the B&B and we all had breakfast together. After gathering ourselves for the day, Hinne returned with others in different cars so we all had a ride to the church in Jorwert that is only the next vill

Prayer: Psalm 25:4-5 4   Make me to know your ways, O LORD;          teach me your paths. 5   Lead me in your truth, and teach me,          for you are the God of my salvation;          for you I wait all day long. Devotion: Hebrews 3:1-6 1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, holy partners in a heavenly calling, consider that Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses also “was faithful in all God’s house.“ 3 Yet Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later. 6 Christ, however, was faithful over God’s house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope. Journal: Our group decided that with

Prayer: Psalm 119:73-76 73  Your hands have made and fashioned me;          give me understanding that I may learn your commandments. 74  Those who revere you shall see me and rejoice,          because I have hoped in your word. 75  I know, O LORD, that your judgments are right,          and that in faithfulness you have humbled me. 76  Let your steadfast love become my comfort          according to your promise to your servant. Devotion: Deuteronomy 8:6-12 6 Therefore keep the commandments of the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and by revering him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine c

Prayer: Psalm 32:1-5 1   Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,          whose sin is covered. 2   Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity,          and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3   While I kept silence, my body wasted away          through my groaning all day long. 4   For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;          my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah 5   Then I acknowledged my sin to you,          and I did not hide my iniquity;     I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”          and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah Devotion: Romans 5:15-19 “15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.16And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnati

Prayer: Psalm 84:1-4 1   How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! 2   My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. 3   Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. 4   Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. Selah Devotion: Psalm 84:10-12 10  For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness. 11  For the LORD God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the LORD withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12  O LORD of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you. Journal: Yesterday was interesting to say the least. A few of us ventured off in the morning for our free time and did a little shopping in the flea market district

Prayer: Psalm 43:3-5 “O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.” Devotion: Deuteronomy 7:17-19 “If you say to yourself, “These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?” do not be afraid of them. Just remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.” Journal: Yesterday was hard and great. The morning started off with a fantastic meeting with a pioneer pastor in the Betondorp neighborhood in western A