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Cornerstone Communications
Kazakhstan
June 29, 2008

Newsletter Contents

1. Greetings
2. VIDEO
3. Teaching for June…. Disciplined Disciples
4. Text from the Video (for those who’d rather read)
5. Closing

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Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Astana, Kazakhstan! I just arrived here two days ago, after a successful production in Sofia, Bulgaria, but you have GOT to watch the report how that show was almost a huge fiasco! God is good to hear our prayers. Also, because we were doing a story on the life of Jesus, He desired to help us. I look back and marvel how God saved us. Watch the video report.

VIDEO MESSAGE

JUNE TEACHING

Disciplined Disciples

In my walk with the Lord, especially as a missionary, I have found that the challenge in living a Christian life is to let Jesus be Lord. I have seen when I have lived my life without asking for God’s help that everything turns out to be such a mess. I have found that without God’s help, it’s impossible to live a life that is pleasing to God.

God’s wonderful plan of salvation wasn’t just for Jesus to die on the cross for us, but also to give us a power to live as victorious Christians. He gives us the power to love others, to forgive, and to accomplish His will and purpose for us. We don’t have that power on our own. Yet, how do we get it that power? It comes through Discipline.

Paul wrote in I Timothy 4:7,8, “Exercise yourself rather to godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things.” In other words, strength, physique and grace were just as important back then, but Paul emphasized our care for our spiritual man was more important. Why? Because it’s not just for this world that we’re preparing for, but for eternity. Our physical man is only as important as long as we’re on earth.

The objective to spiritual discipline is actually simple. Keep your soul, like your body, fit and well fed, if you want to accomplish great things.

1. Read God’s Word First of all, we must feed our spiritual man. By reading God’s Word, it’s food for our hungry soul. It will cleanse us, keep us from sin, increase our faith and will protect us as a spiritual weapon. Someone asked a friend one day, “How can you prove that the Bible is the Word of God?” She replied by asking a question, “How can you prove that there is a sun in the sky?” He said, “I can feel it’s heat and see it’s light.” She said, “Then in the same way, I know the Bible is true because it warms my soul and gives light to my path.”

2. Pray Working in Korea now, I’ve heard Dr. David Yonggi Cho share this, “The three most important things a Christian can do is 1. Pray, 2. Pray, and finally 3. Pray”. I could write an entire subject on this, so I will leave this alone…. for now.

3. Practice Faith George Mueller gave himself up to God in prayer and in faith (in fact, he’s my inspiration) , and he raised around $7.5 million for orphanages and missions. There are hosts of other stories, all worth telling, but my space here (and your time) is limited.

“What is prayer?” Very simply put, it’s speaking to God. It’s thanking Him, worshiping Him, honoring Him, confessing, asking forgiveness for sin, asking or petitioning, supplication (pleading) in times of desperation, and intercession (asking for help on someone else’s behalf) .

Like George Mueller, I have found that one of the great keys to prayer is faith. I have written other articles on faith, and on prayer. A few months ago I wrote that the most effective prayer is one that starts in heaven. When you learn to hear God’s heart for this earth, for your life, and then begin to pray according to His will, you’ll find your prayers are answered a lot faster.

4. Pray in Jesus’ Name This is a promise from God’s Word, ”Whatever you ask the Father in My Name He will give you.” John 16:23. It’s a good discipline to learn to go before the Father daily. I have a daily quiet time, and I have found the following formula works for me (I suggest it as something that works for me. There is no “formula” to finding the Lord) : I spend 5 minutes in praise and worship, 5 minutes in requests, and 5 minutes listening. Combine that with reading God’s Word daily, and you’ll find yourself in more focused communication with the Lord.

It’s a discipline to devote yourself to time with the Lord, through prayer, through faith and through studying His Word, but once you acquire these disciplines, you’ll truly be a disciple effective in strategic warfare against the enemy, because the Lord can count on you. After all, you’re a “disciplined disciple”!

VIDEO TEXT

After I landed in Bulgaria, I was met by Nikolay Ivanov and Christo Ganchev who would soon become good friends. We went right into auditions and met a wonderful group of actors. Individually, they’re wonderful, but wow, get Bulgarians together, and they’re hard to control. Like a good friend of mine says, “It’s like trying to herd cats”. I started teaching the show to the actors. Bulgarians are very talented, but not very disciplined.

We started working with builders to create the mountain, and the auxiliary sets. This is a huge show, so we had our work cut out for us. Rehearsals were under way, and I spent my days working with the sets and props, lights and sound, and by night, I’d work with the actors to prepare them for the production. There was no time for rest.

I was asked to speak at several different churches including 2nd Pentacostal church, as I went from church to church promoting the show. Not all the churches were united for this production, but there were enough that made the production possible.

The show began to take shape as builders and prop personnel were hard at work. Everyone was pitching in to do whatever it would take to get the show ready. Soon Ken and Marjorie Bell, my dear friends from the U.S. flew in to join me and they brought racks and racks of beautiful costumes. They work so hard to give the show a professional look. The weeks were racing by, and rehearsals continued, and the actors slowly but steadily learned their parts. I continued to promote the show at various churches encouraging all Christians to bring their unsaved loved ones. Tickets were going fast.

The time had come for us to move into the pride of Sofia, the Bulgarian National Theatre. My actors were excited, and were on their best behavior. We started putting up our stage, and we had expert crews working on everything. However, what started out to be a blessing, wound up being a curse. The theatre overruled our schedule, and wouldn’t allow us the time to rehearse. Sets went up, and the theatre would allow their technical rehearsals, but no matter how many objections I raised, they continued to be overruled. In the end, we had NEVER run through the show, even one time, on the stage.

Finally, performance time was here, and we had no idea how to work with the sets, because they had just been put up. The audiences began to come inside the hall, and we were not ready. To the audience, everything looked fine, but backstage, there was a feeling of doom. How could we get through this show with NO rehearsal, and with many actors who’ve never even been on stage. I felt like my hands were tied.

I said a quick prayer, and gave the command for the show to begin. The overture exploded joyously and the audience clapped, unaware of the train wreck they were soon going to witness.

Somehow, somehow, somehow, in God’s amazing grace over our lives, the show managed to work itself out. The dances went well, the lighting, the sound, everything worked out as if we had been practicing all along. We managed to make it through Act I, but I was so emotionally and spiritually drained, I couldn’t get excited.

We prepared for Act II, which is the most technically challenging, and yet, the actors continued on as if they were the consummate professionals. I was never more proud of a group of actors! They were able to put Jesus on the cross, something we had never practiced. The audience cried, I cheered! We had never practiced the resurrection. When Jesus made the very quick, unrehearsed change from cross to resurrection, it was a miracle. The audience cheered, I cried! Had the show actually finished, and it went…. GREAT? It truly was the hand of God that saw us through.

Afterwards, hundreds were touched with the powerful message and visuals of Jesus’ love for us. Praise God! The other performances went well, and we finally posed on our last night for the cast picture. I’m so amazed at God’s help to get us through. I grateful to Spaska Pancheva, the director of the Bible League for her invitation, but mainly to Nikolay and Denitsa Ivanov for their amazing support and friendship.

I would miss many of my actors and new friends. On Thursday, I said goodbye to everyone, and flew on to Moscow, then to Astana. I was met by my new coordinator, Andrey Kirillov. Astana is a bright and very modern city. I was amazed how beautiful it is, but there is a strong Muslim influence here. Even so, I believe that the Lord will bless our efforts as we begin production.

Bydte Blagoslavenie!

That’s Kazakh for “May God bless you”! I still marvel at God’s saving power, not just for our souls, but for shows that are almost stopped by the enemy. Imagine, if God can come through so gloriously like He did with our production in Bulgaria, what can He do for you when you call on His name? Please know that I’m also in prayer for you. God bless you, friend!

For the Kingdom,
Richard Montez