nodaknate

Let’s go to Chiapas!

Posted on November 11, 2014 by nodaknate

It’s 4am, my alarm is going off and my bed feels so comfy but I need to go I have a flight to catch. I stirred a little and prayed a short prayer, in that moment God spoke a word to me. It was a call to get ready to be prepared for everything that he has in store for me. To not be distracted but focused on what is at hand and to put a strong effort into it. God woke me to his voice and I knew I needed to remember this word. I got ready and found the car Berkeley and I were taking to the airport with Edwin driving. That morning someone else needed to go to the airport also, so we picked him up and took him as well. This man was building a house over the weekend with the ministry Homes of Hope. Making small talk we asked him a few questions about his life, hometown, school, etc. when we were talking I remembered the word that I needed to share with Berkeley. I realized that this man might not be a Christian and I didn’t want to freak him out by dropping this story on him, that God spoke to me this morning. I just asked him if he was Christian. His answer was that he grew up in the church but he didn’t get confirmed after a while he stopped praying to Jesus. All he ever saw with his “Christian” friends where that they went to church for the women, they partied and lived lives that where morally backwards. He saw the hypocrisy in his friends lives and it turned him from God. He stated that he lived a good life giving to people who needed it having a good positive attitude about life and etc. I told him I was sorry his experience with Christianity is the experience of it through his friends and that it’s different when it’s lived out it’s actually blessed. That its a good thing you want to live your life in a positive way and with Jesus our lives are different because he gives us a sense of mission in life and that he speaks to us so I explained that God had spoken to me this morning that he was telling me to prepare for this time in Chiapas and that he is a God that speaks to us. I don’t know how much I made sense but I pray God does a work in his life and that he sees his life could have much more meaning and purpose when he has Jesus. I see that God woke me up and gave me instructions for the day and it’s something that gives me direction and purpose. He is such a good God doing good things all the time! Now as you might have put it together I’m heading to a place called Chiapas this is a state in Mexico that boarders Guatemala. Our flight took us from Tijuana to Mexico City to Tuxtla the capital city of Chiapas. Once we landed in Chiapas we immediately realize we were in a place that is beyond beautiful. It’s very lush and fertile, there are impressive mountains all around you. We got a taxi from the airport to San Cristobal De Las Casas which is about an hours drive apart. The whole time you are climbing out of the valley where Tuxtla is located and into the mountains to San Cristobal D.L.C. Its a beautiful drive as you climb above the clouds and into the city which is very amazing I hope to put some pictures up soon. Our Taxi driver had difficulties finding our address but after making a couple circles and phone calls he got us to the right spot! We will be here for the next three weeks. Teaching, preaching, and helping out where we can. Please be praying for us and the people of Chiapas! Be praying that the truth of God would bring freedom to the hearts and minds of the people here!Many blessings from our Titus team in the city which is nestled in the mountains of south Mexico!

-Nate Longlet

Josiah Who? Josiah a Hero

Posted on November 7, 2014 by nodaknate

Last weekend I was getting ready to prepare a teaching to give in Zona Norte at the church, La Rocca. This is an amazing church they focus on serving the poor, homeless, and deported people in downtown Tijuana. They are a light in the darkness, they selflessly serve the suffering and sore hearts of these people who simply want to have hope. Now as I was getting prepared to teach I came across the story of king Josiah, in 2 Kings chapter 23. If you have ever read it you would know that it is a fascinating story and a good read. The King Josiah grew up in a time where his grandfather and his fathers legacy would have caste a dark shadow into his childhood and early years of life. Manasseh was a fallen and disobedient king who caused the nation of Judah to sin and chase after other gods in their own lives. He set up altars to Baal, he made Asherah poles, he bowed down to the starry hosts, he built altars in the temple of the Lord, he sacrificed his own son, practiced sorcery, practiced divination and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a lot of things wrong and the Lord was not pleased with his actions. Manassehs son, Amon, did the same things his father had done. However Amon was murdered and the people chose Amon’s son to become king, he was Josiah. At the age of eight Josiah became king of the nation Judah. We see that he truly inherited a mess, he inherited the disobedient people that his father had reigned over. They sacrificed their children to gods with no power, or ability to do anything. We see that their lives where catastrophes and very immoral. The new king Josiah at eight years of life was fixed fast into a front seat view, facing the felony, fault, fornication, and fallible fidelity for father, within the frail formation of a flawed nation,…Judah. Josiah however even as a young king had something different about him. He wasn’t like his fathers. The story of Josiah’s heroism starts when he tells the high priest of the temple to take the money, collected by the doorkeepers which they placed in the temple, and give it to artisans to buy new stones and lumber to work on fixing the temple. As the high priest was shuffling around he ran into the Book of the Law and read it. They had lost it, misplaced it, forgotten it or something. This was the bible the very word of God and they had lost it, completely forgotten it, this just continues to show the situation in Judah was so bad the the priest of the temple had lost the bible! The High Priest Hilkiah then takes it and reads it to the king. Josiah was instantly humbled by what he had heard. He ripped his robes which was a symbolic action of removing authority and it shows the state of his distress. Josiah for the first time learns of the truth from the word of God. This is crazy he is learning of the love of God, how he want’s to use them and bless them so they can be a blessing to others. He is learning the character of his God, that he is a loving, holy, righteous God. As the priest read the words fell of the pages and totally overwhelmed him, completely defeated him, and Josiah surrendered his will. He realizes immediately the sin that is happening in his nation the horrific tragedies that people are sacrificing their own kids to god’s who cannot move or even speak to them, let alone love them. Josiah realizes he cannot go on without changing. So he makes a promise, he gathers the nation together and reads the Book of the Law (the first five books of our Bible) to them. It’s not some of the nation but it is the whole nation the least to the greatest. After he read the people pledged themselves to the covenant. With the story of Josiah we see that the people learn about the truth of who God is, they are humbled by God, then they make a commitment to following the lord. This is all good, actually very good! Many of us today can really relate to this story as the church teaches the truth, we are humbled sometimes, and we make a commitment to be a “Christian” or change or whatever. I know this was true for me I knew, I was humbled, and I made a commitment to follow Christ. However many of us (me included) struggle to do what Josiah does next. He followed through with his promise to change, he took radical action to turn to the Lord. He did everything in his power to follow the Lord and be obedient to him. He went and tore down all the altars to different gods and got rid of the spiritists and priests to Baal. He took radical action and cleansed his country from the daunting shadows of his grandfather and father. [ 2 Kings 23:25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did-with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses. ] The nation was flipped on it’s head with Josiah as their king. His action not only changed his own life but it changed the lives of their nation. We see that when God shows us his truth we cannot remain unchanged, or prideful, we need to realize we cannot continue living as we have. We need to do something about it. I would say that most everyone knows the truths of the bible about the character of our God and who he is. [John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.] God desires for us to recognize the love he has for us, recognize his want for relationship, recognize that he desires us to live as an example, and to be a blessing. So my question to you is this have you let the truths of God change your life? …I once heard a quote that stuck in my head [anything in life worth doing is worth overdoing, moderation is for cowards.] I think Josiah would have liked this quote because he didn’t change in moderation. His life and the life of his nation was changed and it was drastic. When it comes to God I know I don’t give 100% to follow him and this story of Josiah is challenging me to live committed and devoted to God with all of my heart, with all of my soul, and with all of my strength. I don’t want to go through life half hearted and be known as a half hearted person. I want to be known as someone who went for it, who went after God with my heart, soul, and strength. Do you want to be known as this person also?

a post by    - N A T H A N     L O N G L E T

A Time of Application

Posted on October 30, 2014 by nodaknate

As my lecture phase carries on I have been learning so much. I’ve already gotten to teach in a couple churches. These first 3 weeks are fairly busy as we are having lots of class in the morning and evening each day. Some topics we have covered include the heart of teaching, prepping a teaching, illustrating a lecture, presenting and style of a lecture, reaching oral communicators, learning styles, giving a sermon vs. teaching, importance of application, cross-cultural communication. As we cover these topics I’m seeing the importance of the content covered but I’m seeing that teaching goes far beyond being able to systematically and eloquently present your content in an allotted time. While these are important skills I see that being able to share something that will impact my students lives seems far more noble and worth focusing on. I’m grateful I get to teach about the bible and help people understand it in ways that are practical and respectful to the bible. One major thing that we are teaching is how to inductively study the bible. We do a fun overview, then we break it down and do a seminar studying the book of Philemon. This time has been immensely satisfying I felt that in my bible school I was receiving a lot and I wasn’t meant to just keep it to myself. So now I have been able to share with others and give back to people who really need this! It’s the bible in action and it’s practically good. As you read this I hope you would be encouraged because peoples lives are being changed here, God is working. What I’m doing isn’t anything new or special but it’s something that we are meant to be doing everyday and this is living out the bible. Living out the bible is more than just teaching other people but it’s loving others and being willing to spend time even money to help and love on others. We have opportunities all around us to spread the love of Christ. We need to stop discussing who should do it, who will go to the poor, who will go to the elderly, who will teach the younger we need to see the need around us and lovingly meet this need. These are a few things that God has placed on my heart lately I encourage you to think about them and make a change in your own life if need be. Thanks for taking time to read this.

Titus Project 2014

Teaching at La Rocca a church in Zona Norte Tijuana Mexico

Titus class in session

a post by   -N A T H A N     L O N G L E T

Back to Mexico!

Posted on October 30, 2014 by nodaknate

As you may or may not know I moved back to Mexico for 3 months. What I’m doing now is Titus project with Youth with a Mission in Tijuana Mexico. Last year I lived here for 9 months studying the bible in the Chronological School of Biblical Studies. In a nutshell we used an inductive method to interpret the bible for life change. In the school we studied every book of the bible verse for verse using the historical context as the key to understand the bible. Now after the bible school I felt that what I had been learning should be spread to others and not just kept to myself. After some time I made my mind that a practical way to share with others and learn about teaching was to do the Titus project. The Titus project is a 3 month seminar which will take 3 weeks of intensive lecture to prepare you for a little over 2 months of teaching. So I’m excited to be back and I’m excited to be challenged in this new chapter of my life God is certainly stretching my comfort zone as I get ready to actual teach others. Now I have never really taught a whole class by myself before so I’m a little anxious to see how it will go. So as you read this I could use your prayers for the upcoming months to be a teacher that is humble yet confident to teach and preach. Thanks so much for your support I’m excited to be starting this blog I hope to be updating it semi frequently on the things I’m learning, doing and seeing.

 a post by -N A T E    L O N G L E T