Soli Deo Gloria

Praise the Lord we are safely back home.

We enjoyed our time in Kenya, but we are glad to be home with our wives. We made it to Sacramento airport on Thursday night at 8:00PM (Pacific time). Our long journey is finally over, and it is a blessing to have some rest from our journey. It is a blessing to be reunited with our families and we are grateful to find our wives well. We are also eager to be reunited with our Church family and worship together with Grace Bible this upcoming Sunday.

Praise the Lord in the way He provided for us safety and protection from dangers, good health and energy to serve Him. God is faithful. As Lamentations 3:22-23 says, "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

We are so thankful for your prayers and the way God used us for His glory.
We believe that the purpose of our trip came to fruition and God was able to do immeasurably more than what we asked for or imagined. God worked in and through us at the Grace Life Bible College, and we give all glory to Him. God's grace was present and He opened many doors to serve His body. The brothers in Kenya were grateful for the Bibliology course, and according to their testimonies it was life-changing. God also opened doors and we were also able to preach Christ as the all sufficient Savior, Lord and treasure of our souls.

Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters at Grace Life Church in Eldoret, Kenya. Pray that the work that we accomplished will continue to produce fruit and that they will continue to grow in their faith.

Again, thank you so much for your prayers.
Great is the Lord and worthy of our praise!!!

By grace,
Paul and Rick

Day of Transmission and Translation

Dear Church of God,

Well today is the last day of teaching here at Grace Life Bible College. We started our class with singing some songs and then I taught on the last chapter from the Sola Scriptura book. The topic was: “The Transforming power of Scripture.” We discussed how the Bible is powerful and active. As D. L. Moody said: “The Scriptures were not given for our information, but our transformation.” We talked about the sin of neglecting the Word of God. We must be men who treasure the Word of God and ultimately worship the God of the Bible.

Today, Pastor Rick covered the issue of the Transmission and Translation of the Bible. The discussion involved the different translations and versions of the Scriptures in English. The details that were given provided them men an awareness of the care that went into the provision of the Scriptures in English.  

Here are the men taking their final exam. Praise the Lord, they did a great job!

Tonight, we had dinner with pastor Situma and his family.

Please pray as we start our journey home tomorrow morning at 4:00AM. 

We are grateful for your prayers!

In Christ,

Paul and Rick

Day of Sufficiency

Hello Grace Bible Church,

As has become our custom for our mornings in class, we sang some songs and then after our quiz we discussed the chapter from the Sola Scriptura book. The topic was: “Scripture and Tradition.” We discussed how the sacred Scripture must be distinguished from tradition. The more the Scripture is exegeted on its own terms, the more it will become clear that traditions contradict it. For us only Scripture can be regarded as sufficient for the life of the church.

Also, its been our custom to have some brothers share their testimony. Today, brother Dominic (the man who served as Pastor Situma's first mentor after being saved) shared his testimony of God's grace towards him.

Today, Pastor Rick covered the issue of the Sufficiency & Finality of Scripture. First he dealt with the perspicuity (or the clarity) of Scripture. He talked about the Roman Catholic Church that denies this and teaches that only they have the power to explain the Scripture. But for us, the perspicuity of Scripture means that every true believer can understand what is in the Bible. The perspicuity of Scripture is centered on Jesus Christ and every true believer can understand it by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Then pastor Rick talked about the sufficiency and the power of the Word of God. The Scripture is adequate and sufficient to inform us concerning the program of God, and to direct us in the fulfillment of the will of God. The power of the Word of God is seen in changing and transforming lives. He also began the lecture on the transmission and preservation of Scripture.

Tonight, we had dinner with pastor Situma and we talked about the importance of standing firm on the Sola Scriptura. Pastor Rick encouraged pastor Situma to continue building Grace Life Church and its ministries on the foundation of Christ. It was a real blessing for us to fellowship together.

Thank you for your prayers,

In Christ,

Paul and Rick

Day of Worship

Dear beloved,

This morning we enjoyed our second Lord’s Day here in Kenya. Pastor Situma took us to minister in a church that he planted about 10 years ago - also named Grace Life Church at Nzoia, a small village about 2 hours away from Eldoret. Pastor Zacchaeus, one of the students in our class, became this church’s pastor in 2006.

We enjoyed worshiping with our brothers and sisters even though we did not understand most of the songs that they sang, since they were in the Swahili language. After our congregational singing, the men from our class and I sang the song, “Mighty, Mighty Savior.”

I was given the privilege of preaching on Psalm 73, the title of the sermon was “Chief of All My Joy.” First, I pointed out the man centered perspective on life, and then, second, we saw the God centered perspective on life. I encouraged and exhorted the Church not to doubt God’s goodness and envy the wicked, but instead we should focus on the One who is Holy and Just, and the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. Until you realize that Christ is more than enough, you will never have enough. (I had Komeri Bramwel translating for me. He is also part of our class at the Grace Life Bible College, and he serves as a youth pastor and worship leader at this church.)

After we sang a song, pastor Rick preached a message from Revelation 1, “The Vision of the Glorified Christ.” He explained the glories of Christ and the effect it should have in our lives. He shared how that the desire of Jesus Christ was to make Himself known through the church. As He is viewed as standing in the midst of the churches, we can be assured that He is present with us as we gather in His name.  The great joy of the church is to know that Jesus remains attentive to us and sympathetic with us as our High Priest. He also promises that His presence will provide comfort for those who seek His glory, but that He will pursue and prosecute those who embrace sin or bring false teaching into the church. He mentioned Grace Bible Church and our commitment to Sola Scriptura but how there is always a great danger of moving away from the Bible. The message was powerful and Jesus Christ was magnified He exhorted the Church to pursue Christ in all things, since it is all about Him. To those who preach the Word, we must uphold the glories of Jesus Christ before all people and preach Him as the all-satisfying treasure. Pastor Zaccheaus was thrilled by the truth even as he provided translation into Swahili. His passion was as intense as Pastor Rick’s – it was thrilling to see how these men desire to be mentored in everything!

We had a late lunch upon returning to Eldoret and had pizza with Pastor Situma listening to the fascinating story of how he was led out of the local Pentecostal church to plant Grace Life Church. From the time that he was saved, he filled his heart with truth – reading Puritan writers from his days of spiritual infancy. What he encountered in Pentecostalism did not seem right to him. In the evening, His commitment over the years of Bible study is a solid commitment to sola scriptura.  Pastor Rick was thrilled to hear this testimony!

We went back to the Church at 7:00 PM where pastor Rick had a great opportunity to do a workshop with men of the Grace Life Church. He spoke on different issues on how to build men as leaders. He answered many different questions. First, he showed 5 roles of a godly Man, and how we should pursue these things by the grace of God.

1) Men must be saints toward God.

2) Men must be shepherds in their homes.

3) Men must be servants in the church.

4) Men must be stewards at their jobs; and,

5) Men must be soul winners in their community.

The men loved it and ate it up! They were so encouraged and grateful for the wisdom that Pastor Rick shared.

Now we are at our hotel, preparing for tomorrows full day of teaching and fellowship with men.  Thank you so much for your prayers! We are eager to be back to worship at GBC next Sunday to enjoy communion with the saints.

Trusting in Him,

Paul and Rick

Day of Exegesis

Good morning church,

Today we taught the men the song, “Behold Our God.” It was a new song for them as well. Praise God for the opportunity to introduce some of the songs that we sing with our church.

In our class this morning the topic of our reading assignment was: “the Sufficiency of Scripture,” demonstrating that the Sola Scriptura most simply means that Scripture is sufficient.

Today, pastor Rick covered the issue of the exegesis of Scripture. First he dealt with the principles and practice of expositional Bible study. Good exposition presupposes sound exegesis, and exegesis is related to exposition as interpretation is to application. He clearly answered the questions of how to study your Bible with the centrality of Christ, and also dependence on the Spirit of God as He illumines the Word. Before you study the Word of God you need to prepare your heart. You need to be practicing the Word; you need to be a doer of the Word, and it needs to become your life. You also need to have a proper attitude toward the Word. It is the living Word of God. Do not violate it, but hold it in the highest regard because it is God’s Word.  Also you need to have a Spirit-controlled life. A notable quote from the day is: "You cannot expect God to do through you what He has not first done in you." You cannot live in sin and at the same time rightly divide the Word of Truth. You should pray, forsake sin, and ask for God’s blessing on your study and teaching. You will not be fruitful if you are not submitted to the Spirit of God in your study and preaching. And the Holy Spirit’s role is to magnify and promote the glories of Jesus Christ. 

After lunch, pastor Situma and his family took us to see the Webuye waterfall. It was great to see God's creation in Africa. He then took us to see a Sugar Cane Processing factory near Kongoli. Boardering this Sugar Cane Plantation, pastor Situma was born and grew up. He took us to his family farm and home. It was great to see a part of his history. We also had a chance to visit Zacchaeus' home for dinner, he is a lead pastor at the Church were both pastor Rick and I will be preaching tomorrow morning. This church was planted by pastor Situma almost 10 years ago and is going strong today with about 100 people attending. Please pray for God to use us in a mighty way, as we proclaim the glories of Christ.

This is pastor Rick with pastor Situma and part of his family.

This is the house where pastor Situma grew up.

This is pastor Rick with Zacchaeus and his wife Sheila, and their children Innocent, Ian and Happy.

By grace,

Paul and Rick

Day of Interpretation

Hello Grace Bible Church!

This morning, I was able to give the Gospel of John to the young man named Richard who works as a chef. Please pray for his salvation and transformation. Many people in Kenya embrace christianity, but they do not embrace Christ as to give their life to Him. Our passion is to see God do a mighty work in saving many souls in Kenya, as well as in Sacramento and also around the world.

In our class today the topic was: “the Authority of Scripture,” demonstrating that the canon of Scripture is, in a real sense, established by Scripture itself, because the canonical books are self-authenticating. We affirm that the normative authority of Holy Scripture is the authority of God himself, and is attested by Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church. The Bible is authoritative on all matters of faith and practice. The doctrine of Scripture’s absolute and unchallengeable authority is, in the end, is a Christological issue.

At the beginning of our class, we had another opportunity to sing some songs and we decided to record them and share our joy with you. May you rejoice as you watch these men worshiping Christ.

Mighty Mighty Savior

Today, Pastor Rick covered the issue of Interpretation of Scripture. First he dealt with illumination which is the divine ministry of God to us. Then he dealt with the human side of hermeneutics and interpretation. There is a design to approach the Bible at face value and allow it to speak to us. He then demonstrated exegesis for us from Matthew 3 and Revelation 20. The men were so eager to learn and there were tons of questions. Pastor Rick did a great job in addressing each one and pointing out the blessing of sticking to the script of God’s Word. Scripture is the highest and supreme authority on any matter on which it speaks, and we should stand firm upon it. We were exhorted to, "do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" 2 Timothy 2:15

Tonight, we had another privilege of visiting with a family from Grace Life Church. It was a real blessing for us to fellowship together, eat Kenyan food, and get to know the people of God.

Please pray for God to provide teachers and pastors who would be willing to come and help this college. Pastor Situma is really burdened that this college will be led by godly, like-minded, and theologically sound pastors. The Lord is working and changing lives of these men, so please continue to pray for us that we might keep pointing these men to the sufficiency of Jesus of the Sola Scriptura.

We are really grateful for your prayers.

Grace and Peace,

Paul and Rick