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Cornerstone Communications
USA
May 06, 2006

Dear Friends & Family,

Greetings from Raleigh, North Carolina, USA! I'm so excited to finally be back in the States! I'm going through a "reverse culture shock" learning how to live like an American again! Everything is so modern, and clean, and well.... American! It's so good to be back, and to eat burgers and Mexican food!

Production Updates

Seoul, Korea

Exactly one week ago, I was in Seoul, Korea right in the middle of performances of "Joseph". The show was a tremendous success, and we had packed houses every single night. We actually needed to hold over the run, but I was out of time, and had to come to the U.S. The performances were glorious, and so anointed.

The most exciting part of any production is the results of what the production yields. True to God's nature, He touched so many lives through this production. Not just among the unsaved, but among Christians, who needed a "spiritual boost" to trust God with our dreams. I was blessed to pray with many Koreans, and even the elders of Yoido were so touched that they want an encore performance to be held at Yoido church! Wow! Best of all, invitations came in for China, Taiwan and Japan to do the production! The Lord continues to open doors to the world! Thank You, Lord!

Joseph is thrown in a well while his brothers sell him into slavery in "Joseph", which ran to packed houses last week in Seoul, Korea.

Raleigh, North Carolina

Now, here in Raleigh, I landed on Monday, and have hit the ground running! We had auditions on Monday night for two casts, for an English and a Spanish cast. Tuesday, we began rehearsals, and the rest of the week has been production meetings by day, and staging rehearsals by night. Pastors Lynton and Judy Turkington are a blessing to host me, and I look forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do here at Celebration Family Church. Please keep us in prayer as we begin this new production.

Running the Race

Recently my good friend and accountability partner, Pastor Tim Holland, asked me how I was doing spiritually. I told him that I was doing well. Many Christians, however, are having a tough time keeping their thoughts focused on the things of God. I have found a solution that works for me, and that's to always keep before me a project that I simply couldn't achieve without God's intervention. Suddenly I find myself careful to give God praise, and staying absolutely pure before Him!

Being interviewed for television, I share the correlation between Joseph and Jesus, and how both were betrayed and left for dead, but came back to save their people.

As I've traveled around and spoken in many countries recently, I've seen God mightily at work. I also realize that this is only the beginning. God's going to start doing so much more to bring in the Harvest in these last days. However, before He can give us greater responsibility, there's something we believers must do. We must deal with the sin in our lives. Our society downplays sin. Sadly, the church has done the same. Over the years, we've allowed ourselves to become casual about sin. We've treated it lightly. But now, we must realize that sin is not a trivial thing. Sin is serious. Why? Because it causes death.

Some reading this will probably think, "He's not talking about me. I'm born again and filled with the Holy Spirit." You, my friend, are the very one I'm talking to. I'm not talking about huge sins, such as sexual sins, drugs, murder, etc. I'm talking about our tongue. Our tongue is behind the small lies, or our temper, or compromise. Most Christians don't usually fall into sin in one day. They allow themselves to harden their heart and thus to stagnate in their walk with the Lord. Oh, they still go to church and know the right time to say "amen" or "hallelujah", but inside they've grown cold because of what these little sins have done to their heart. This coldness of heart then opens the door to more sin.

The cast & crew mug for the camera last week after one of the performances of "Joseph".

When you realize how serious sin actually is, you'll see how crucial it is that we stop tolerating it and start ridding ourselves of it completely. How? First of all, by getting honest. By putting away all our excuses and calling sin exactly what it is — "SIN." We don't like to associate that word with our "holy walk". We'll instead substitute the term with "I have this problem." This phrase actually means, "I can't help myself. I'm a victim of circumstance." That's not true! Whenever we sin, we do so by choice. Otherwise it wouldn't be fair of God to require us to repent.

Our flesh is our biggest enemy. It, not the devil, is the only thing that can keep us from experiencing a victorious life in Jesus. Galatians 5:16 tells us how we can conquer this enemy of the flesh, "But I say, walk and live in the Holy Spirit, then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh." Some people think to walk in the spirit means to have some kind of mystical lifestyle and float around in spiritual la-la land. No, rather, to walk in the spirit simply means to yield yourself to and obey the promptings of your heart instead of the pressure of your flesh.

Posing the actors for promotional shots, to be used when "Joseph" travels to Japan, China and Taiwan. Thank You, Lord for opening doors to other countries!

When your spirit tells your flesh to pray for the one who wronged you, your flesh will scream, "Pray? I want to punch his lights out!" That's because our flesh is not born again! It is ungodly. And no matter how many scriptures you can quote or how long you can pray, it is still going to be in conflict with your spirit. So, everyday, you will have to choose which one to yield to: the spirit of the flesh?

One of your greatest allies in helping you make the right decision is Discipline. That's not a very popular topic among Christians! Most of us want to do whatever we want whenever we want to do it. But a large part of being a spiritual person is being a disciplined person. When the Bible says, "Crucify the flesh" (Galatians 5:24) and "Putting to death the evil deeds prompted by the body" (Romans 8:13) , it is saying, "Discipline yourself. Don't let your flesh do what it wants to."

Pastors Tim and Ily Ayers are my friends and hosts. Tim serves as the Minister of Music at Celebration Family Church here in Raleigh. Ily and I have travelled extensively throughout the U.S., Mexico and Central America doing Christian Spanish drama.

There's no lazy way to live in victory over sin. Walking in the spirit is a disciplined lifestyle! Paul likens it to training for athletic competition. In I Corinthians 9:24-27 he says "…. All the runners compete, but only one gets the prize…" There's no doubt about it, this is a strenuous race we're running. Every day we face conflicts, times when our spirit tells us to obey God and our flesh is screaming at us to sin. It doesn't matter how many people are praying for you, or how much you love God…. If you want to win the prize, you'll have to learn to make the right choices. You can turn your back on sin and live a holy life, according to God's Word. You can choose to walk with God every day of your life, by living according to His Holy Spirit. Then, at the end, you will receive an eternal crown of glory that will make your race worth every step. And even better than that, you'll enjoy a life of Victory today!

Adios, Buckaroo!

That's Texas for "Goodbye, my friend!" It's so good to be back in the States, even if it is only for one month. I look forward to seeing my family and my friends, in the short amount of time I have, as I'll be in the midst of rehearsals for THREE shows! Pray for me that I'll have the strength and the organizational skills to keep the three productions on schedule, and to have them all be a success. The best part is that we'll see TRIPLE the Harvest! God bless you!

For the Kingdom,
Richard Montez