Despite waiting 5+ hours in line to cross the border on Sunday, we had a wonderful time of ministry in Tijuana!
Bill Yarbrough is a great friend and champion of ours. Did I mention he’s also our boss. Bill along with his wife, Sue and daughter, Elle spent the weekend with us. On Sunday Bill accompanied my son, Jon and me down to Tijuana.
Last year Bill came down and led a Living in Grace conference with Daniel Nuñez and Lo Mejor Del Trigo. The church loved it. Unfortunately, many Mexican Christians struggle with living a moralistic, legalistic Christianity. Of course, this is not a problem in the U.S., ha ha ;).
The Lord used the themes of grace to encourage and strengthen the faith of our Mexican friends. I remember the people laughing as Bill shared some of the things we do in the church to act like we are “good” christians. The focus tends to be on the outward appearance rather than on our heart. The church resonated with this, but Daniel admitted it takes time for people to change.
Good things happened after the conference. Those in the church extended grace to him and his family when they experienced a family crisis. Wow! God’s timing is amazing. I may share more specifics about this testimony of God’s grace in a future post. The fact is we are all growing in grace, and we all desperately need to know and experience the love of God and his redeeming grace.
Here’s one of my favorite quotes that Bill shared that I’ve heard from others as well.
“The good news is that you are worse off than you can ever imagine. The greater good news is you are more loved than you ever dared to imagine.”
God’s grace is greater than all our sin. Live and grow deeply in this truth.
On Sunday Bill followed up on these truths. The Lord is using events like this to strengthen our relationship with Daniel Nuñez and the people in his movement. I’m so encouraged by how the Lord is moving on the border. The gospel does change everything.
In His Grip, Dave
DiasoLifeOnTheBorder.org
6 Comments
By Naphtali
“Unfortunately, many Mexican Christians struggle with living a moralistic, legalistic Christianity. Of course, this is not a problem in the U.S., ha ha 😉 ” YEAH GOOD LINE! IT GOT ME LAUGHING!
By diasolifeontheborder
yeah, at first I was wondering how to communicate that struggle. This is a world wide issue, although it is true that many churches in Mexico preach moralism instead of grace. That is our human tendency to trust in the flesh, even though we shouldn’t. I think that’s why Martin Luther said we must daily beat the gospel into our heads.
By Mannyr
I agree with Naphtali. That sort of stuff never happens here in the U.S. It has to be very hard for the people of Mexico to comprehend the fact that Jesus said “It is finished” because of all the Crosses with Jesus still hanging there. It is all about grace, blessed grace!
By diasolifeontheborder
daily we must remember it is finished and look to Jesus, not to ourselves.
By Larry Who
“…The good news is that you are worse off than you can ever imagine. The greater good news is you are more loved than you ever dared to imagine…”
What a great truth, but yet, one that many Christians do not believe, even those who supposedly are grace-loving Christians. Thanks.
By diasolifeontheborder
Luther used to say we have to beat the gospel into our heads. The idea being that we are prone to forget the gospel of grace and focus on works
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