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Cornerstone Communications
Korea
April 12, 2006

Dear Family & Friends,

Jesus is Risen! He is Alive! Happy Easter to you! This Sunday, Pastor Cho will be having his Easter Services at Jamsil Olympic Stadium, where we performed "The Promise" two years ago. It should be wonderful!

Spring is officially in full swing here in Korea. The hills, valleys and dales are all a vibrant green from new growth. The trees are busy budding, the flowers are busy blossoming, and I'm busily directing. It's been a week of rehearsal after rehearsal, but at last, the cast knows the show.

Now that the adults have learned most of their staging, I work with the children to teach them their staging. Next to me is Sang Eun, playing the title role of Joseph, and Dr. Moon in the back is the Musical Director for the production.

Production Update

The production staff and I have been in so many meetings, my head is swimming. Koreans are very, very organized, and have to have 3 meetings to decide what is the proper way to serve tea. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but not by much! So, you can imagine what our meetings are like for the show. The results however, are always amazing, as they have such an incredible standard of excellence, that when we work together, the productions are always beautiful.

This week, my American friend and costumer, Amy Harriss, is flying in to help Mi Ae Park with the costumes for the production. I'm happy to have her here, because she's a professional, but also I just want someone to speak English to!

We're through with designing, and now we've begun earnest building. The costumes are well under way, the sets are busy being built, and the props are being created. It's a busy time! However, we never forget that our purpose is not to do a show, but to use this tool as an evangelistic effort to reach many, many souls here in Korea. Please join us in prayer to reach and impact Seoul and beyond with the message of Jesus Christ through this musical story.

Posters are going up everywhere as we promote the production here in Gunpo city and Seoul. You can see a picture of the South African cast from last month's performance in Durban right in the middle of the poster!

Transferring Your Trust

If I were to ask for a show of hands to the following question, "How many of you trust God with your life?" I suppose I would get a positive response of nearly or exactly 100%. And yet, do we really? Oh, I suppose we want to believe we trust Him. It is the Christian goal for most believers. However, we have been programmed to trust in ourselves. We shouldn't, of course, but we do. We should walk in the spirit, and not after the flesh. Paul speaks about this in Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

Paul is writing about two totally different ways of walking on this earth. One is according to the flesh (the world's system) . The other is according to the spirit (God's way of doing things) . Every decision of life boils down to a choice between these two systems. The challenge for us as believers is to get out of the world's system for our provision and get over into God's system. We've got to transfer our trust for the daily needs of life over into God's kingdom.

In downtown Seoul, a colorful girl's drum corp prepares to hit the streets with a combination of dance, drumming and comedic routines. Very entertaining!

Philippians 3:3, Paul writes, "…worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in the anointed Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Having no confidence in the flesh is not just a reference to your physical body. Paul is talking about having no confidence or trust in the world system. In that system, people are educated in all of the right things to the point that they're confident in themselves. "I'm capable of doing anything. I know I'm in demand." But things can start changing around us at any time. One day we're in great demand; the next, nobody remembers your name!

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." Philippians 3:8 "Did Paul just say what I thought he said?" Paul uses the most graphic language to compare the world's system of thinking to knowledge based on God's system. He said that in comparison to revelation of Christ, everything else was "dung".

That's pretty clear, isn't it? Paul was saying how he was not going back to anything he had trusted in the world. He laid aside any confidence he'd ever had of prospering in the flesh. That was the way the world prospered. No, Paul had found a different way. He listed all the things that the world had taught him to trust in to prosper in life. Then he made it clear none of these things could compare to knowing Christ.

After a rehearsal, some of my actors and I go to a nearby restaurant for some delicious Bulgogi (a grilled thinly sliced beef-placed in a fresh lettuce leaf with a spoonful of spices.... great!)

Get rid of anything that stands in the way of you knowing and living by that anointing power that is in you right now. Cast out those hurts, wrong thinking and misplaced values from the world's system that keep you from walking in God's way of doing things. Get rid of the dung. Haul off the trash. Move the junk standing in the way of your relationship with Jesus Christ. You're going to have to transfer your trust from whatever it is that you've been trusting in, over into trusting Him. And it's not as hard as you think it is! It's this easy: "What you think about all the time is what you trust in the most." That's what becomes "reality" to you.

If you're trusting in God and making decisions based on a system that will not fail you, then nothing will intimidate you. Get in the place where you can honestly say you don't need things that others have to make you happy because you're walking in God's blessings. You are fully content in the Lord! If you will transfer your trust to God's system, then don't be surprised to see God transfer His goods and blessings upon you!

Yesu Buhal!

That's Korean for "Jesus is Risen!" May the beauty of this season and the knowledge of our Lord's victory over the grave bring you into an overwhelming realization of Jesus' love for you. He has conquered death, and by His death He has given us the keys to the Kingdom. Keys of life, health, strength. prosperity, peace and joy. Use those keys to open many new doors to your overcoming life! God bless you!

For the Kingdom,
Richard Montez