Vicar Paul Flo
[email protected]
The Dominican Republic
PAUL FLO June | 2017 | “Una Palabrita”
PHOTO: With some of the pre-seminary guys at our “Amigos de Cristo” congregation in Las Américas. They convinced me to play a little soccer after church. Not exactly the best soccer clothes…sweaty! The little guy was in the wrong place at the right time (twice!) and got hit with the ball, but that didn’t keep him out of the game!
Una Palabrita… …or, in English, “one little word,” that makes one BIG difference: After some reflecting on a conversation I recently had with a brother in Christ, I wanted to correct something in last month’s newsletter. We are NOT saved BECAUSE of our faith in Christ; we are saved THROUGH or BY our faith in Christ. “Well, what does that matter?” you’re probably asking. Let me explain: About 4 years ago, I was having a spiritual crisis of sorts, struggling with major doubts (usually where Satan likes to go after me), and I confided in a Pastor: “I know we’re saved because of our faith rather than our works, but that’s the problem! My faith is June 2017
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Vicar Paul Flo
Prayer Requests (1) For one of our members, Cruz-Ana, as she searches for work and handles the stresses of caring for her 3 nephews and nieces. (2) For Bob, the father of one of our missionaries, who is battling cancer and searching for other treatment options (3) For opportunities to connect with the community here in Ensanche Ozama. That continues to be a struggle. (4) For the young men in the pictures above (Jerry, Orlando, Miguel, Carlos, Enzo, Estanli). That they would continue to grow in faith and conformity to God’s will in spite of the social pressures that come with their community AND adolescence. (5) A prayer of thanksgiving for and continued guidance in the progress our church has made/is making in preparing to open the doors of our seminary this fall!
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The Dominican Republic
terrible! So weak! If I’m really honest, I don’t even think I have faith sometimes!” He listened patiently with a slight smile (“what’s the deal with the smirk?” I thought. “I’m having a crisis here!”). At the end of my venting, he said, “So you have major doubts? You don’t feel like you have much faith at times? What does that matter?” (“What?!” I thought, “but I’m saved because of my faith! My salvation is at stake here!”). He continued, “Your lack of faith right now (or even your absence of faith right now!) doesn’t change anything! Jesus still lived perfectly for you; he still died for you; he still rose again for you; you are still baptized, and still a forgiven, justified, member of God’s family because of what Christ has done and continues doing for you. Your doubts and weak faith don’t change any of that!” Wow! That made all the difference in the world! Finally, my eyes weren’t fixated on me and my faith, but on Christ! My faith doesn’t save me, Christ has saved me! The key here is that faith always has an object. Faith is always connected to something. In this case, Christ and his promises. Christians like us have certainly been blessed with the pure Gospel —the “good news” that we are saved by grace through faith, and even that faith is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). But Satan doesn’t stop searching for clever ways to get to us focus on what we must do for Christ rather than on what Christ has done for us. “Okay, faith, faith, faith…but look at your faith!” he likes to tell us, “It’s terrible! You can’t really be a Christian when you have faith like that! If you were really a Christian, you would be more x, y, and z…and so on.” And during these sorts of spiritual attacks, we can do what Luther advised, and have a little dialogue with Señor Satanás: “Well Satan, here you are once again. Thanks for the reminder of how weak my faith is. It’s true. And really, the situation is far worse than you (or I) know. My sin goes waaayyyy deeper than my weak faith; but my Savior is waaayyy bigger than any of that. And there's more: I have been clothed in Christ’s righteousness through my Baptism (Gal. 3:27), and my faith in the promises of Christ, which is also a gift from Him, connects me to Christ, my salvation! And neither your temptations nor my sins can undo any of that! Okay, I’m going back to sleep now. Good talk” 😉 So once again, we are saved because of Christ, NOT because of our faith. Faith always has an object, and so our faith in Christ simply connects us to the object of our faith…CHRIST! If anything depends
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Vicar Paul Flo
[email protected]
The Dominican Republic
on us, nothing is dependable; but because everything depends on Christ, everything is certain. We are forgiven. We are saved. Christ has done it all. As he said from the cross, “It is finished.” Period. And WE are blessed with the opportunity to share that “buena noticia”—“good news”—with others! —————————————————————————————————————————————
ABOVE: Leading one of our Deaconess classes. We’ve just started a new study on the Augsburg Confession, and they are loving it! It’s amazing to see these women growing in their theological understanding, and ultimately, faith in their Savior! Many times, I learn more from them than vice versa! We should never think, “Oh, the people don’t care about all that ‘doctrine stuff ’…it’s over their heads!” Two thoughts: (1) What is “doctrine”? It’s the teachings of Scripture! What is Scripture? God’s Word! So that “doctrine stuff ” is God’s Word…and yes, God’s people like to learn more about their God! And (2) if it’s over anyone’s head, that means WE (pastors, vicars, and teachers) and not teaching it well enough! If we can’t make it simple, we don’t understand it ourselves!
RIGHT: Sunday school after service. In this photo, they were learning about “Caín y Abel”….can you guess?…Cain and Abel. Sometimes Spanish isn’t too hard :)
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Vicar Paul Flo
[email protected]
The Dominican Republic
LEFT: Well, that doesn’t look too safe. But it’s one way to change a lightbulb. Thank you, Jerry, for your bravery!
BELOW: Wasp problems? Forget the Raid…make a torch with a stick, newspaper, and kerosene. Good work Julio!
LEFT: Exploring the “Colonial Zone” of Santo Domingo with the dudes. They had never been to this extraordinary place just 25 minutes down the road, and they loved it! So much so that backflips were necessary!
That's it for now! Until next month, God's blessings to each and every one of you through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
--Vicar Paul Flo-June 2017
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