Paths v6n3 2017 Summer

News & Views from Walk Thru the Bible

Walking with Refugees Through Crisis Inside the Genesis of otLIVE Weekly Devotionals for Summer

Summer 2017

Walk Thru the Bible 5550 Triangle Parkway, Suite 250 Peachtree Corners, GA 30092 www.walkthru.org Volume 6, Number 3 Summer 2017 Published quarterly President Phil Tuttle Vice President of Advancement Michael Gunnin Editor Ashley Mosteller Designer Michael Koiner Contributors Chris Tiegreen, Boris Volkov

Walk Thru the Bible ignites passion for God’s Word through innovative live events, inspirational biblical resources, and lasting global impact.

T

he Bible is full of refugees. Jacob sought refuge in his uncle’s home after betraying his brother Esau.

Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery in a strange land. David hid in lonely caves to escape the wrath of Saul.

Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to preserve the life of their newborn son.

As you’ll read in this issue of Pathways, today’s refugee crisis has uprooted millions of people around the world. In their suffering, God is working to redirect their lives for His purposes.

Walk Thru the Bible leaders in countries like Armenia and Ukraine are using resources like Detour and Crucible to address the deep spiritual wounds of those who have been displaced and discarded. As a result, countless refugees are walkin g in the footsteps of Joseph and David. In God’s Word, they find purpos e and restoration. I hope you’re as encouraged as I am by their stories .

If you’re like me, your life looks very different from the life of a refugee living in Armenia or Ukraine. Ultimately, though, we are all refugees. Those who belong to the Kingdom of God are strangers and aliens on this earth. We wait anxiously for the day we can claim our citizenship in heaven. In the difficulty of this waiting period, we find our hope in the only person who ever volunteered to be a refugee .

Only Jesus stepped down from paradise to earth so that He could bring us home. As you read the articles and devotionals in this issue, I pray that you will gain a deeper sense of God’s calling upon your life.

Thank you for your faithful support.

Serving together with you,

© 2017 by Walk Thru the Bible® Ministries, Inc. Contents may not be reproduced in any form unless authorized in writing by the publisher. Printed in the U.S.A. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Copyright © 2011 by Biblica.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Phil Tuttle President

If you are not currently receiving Pathways and would like to, email pathways@walkthru.org or use the attached envelope to let us know.

SUMMER 2017

VOL. 6

NO. 3

FEATURES

6 What’s Next?

Walking with Refugees Through Crisis Worldwide, more people than at any other time in history are fleeing violence and persecution.

Forced to abandon their homes for an indefinite period of time, they seek refuge in an unfamiliar territory. In Armenia, most refugees arrive from Syria. In Ukraine, they come from the eastern part of the country. They come from different religious backgrounds and speak different languages, but they have one thing in common: they desperately need spiritual food and encouragement. In partnership with the local church, Walk Thru the Bible is providing practical biblical resources that help refugees discover and live out God’s Word, and, in doing so, reclaim hope for their future.

Devotionals 22

Relying on God’s Promises Weekly readings excerpted from indeed magazine

4

DEPARTMENTS Regional News Highlights from around the world

14

Country Profile

27

Step Into the Story

29

Leader Profile

30

Donor Profile

Armenia & Ukraine

Inside the Genesis of otLIVE

Moving Forward Dr. Leopold Yambayamba, Country Director for the Democratic Republic of Congo

Three Words Karl & Diane Reuther

Regional News Africa > In Lagos, Nigeria, Walk Thru the Bible leader Francis Olubambi and his wife, Elizabeth, held a training conference for over 200 leaders. They taught Detour, Walk Thru the Bible’s biblical

continue to reach Nigerians with the truth of God’s Word.

Latin America > Walk Thru the Bible in Central America recently hosted three pastors’ training conferences

Bible’s resources to pastors who need them the most.

Recently, our regional leader for South America, Alex Colombo, traveled through Paraguay and Argentina to teach otLIVE events to local pastors and church members. Pray that these events will equip leaders to multiply in their communities.

Eurasia > GEORGIA This spring, Walk Thru the Bible hosted an event for 35 church leaders from five different denominations in Bakuriani, Georgia. The participants focused on Detour but also received a number of other Walk Thru the Bible resources, including Crucible and Story Thru the Bible. They will take these resources and use them in churches, camps, women’s ministries, refugee centers, resource on the life of Joseph to church leaders as well as high school and university leaders.

The response to Detour’s practical lessons on forgiveness, integrity, and leaving a godly legacy was overwhelming. One pastor decided to use Detour to teach over 2000 participants at an upcoming Easter retreat.

A university official expressed interest in inviting his students to a future event. In response to numerous requests for more resources, Walk Thru the Bible ordered 5000 more copies of Detour and 1000 copies of Crucible, Walk Thru the Bible’s resource on the life of David.

Pray that these resources will

4

in Nicaragua. Alejandro Oviedo, our regional leader for Central America, chose to host the events outside of the capital in order to reach pastors in different parts of the country. In total, he trained 152 pastors from rural areas. One of them lived in such a remote location that he walked 12 hours through the mountains of northeast Nicaragua in order to board a bus for another 12 hours so he could attend one of the conferences. His dedication points to the high value of Walk Thru the

Dr. Alejandro Oviedo (left) meets with a Nicaraguan pastor from a remote area.

prison ministries, and in planting new churches. The church leaders who attended expressed deep gratitude that they were able to receive these tools in Georgian, their native language.

Alex Belenko, who leads Walk Thru the Bible’s ministry in Georgia alongside our Ukrainian team, dreams of equipping every church in Georgia with Walk Thru the Bible resources.

RUSSIA At a Christian university in St. Petersburg, Russians experienced otLIVE for the first time. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Pray that God will continue to open doors for Walk Thru the Bible to host live events and provide biblical resources in Russia.

Middle East > Since last summer, Walk Thru the Bible’s partner in the Middle East, MELTI, has developed and implemented a six-month training course for church leaders in Alexandria, Egypt. Participants in the course have the opportunity to study Crucible and a number of other Walk Thru the Bible resources. The course began for the second time in early May after being postponed because of the recent Coptic church bombings. Pray for the safety of the trainers, who travel from Cairo, as well as the participants as they grow in their knowledge of the Bible in a hostile region.

North America > Walk Thru the Bible’s new biblical character study on King Josiah, titled Revolution: How Millennials Can Change the World, goes on sale in North America in early June. Pray that the new resource makes a powerful impact on churches and individuals, especially from younger generations.

programs. These men in particular found great encouragement in Phil’s message about choosing faith over fear.

Praise God that this partnership with the Salvation Army was successful and pray that He continues to work in the lives of everyone who attended the event. .

Walk Thru the Bible President Phil Tuttle recently taught Crucible to 850 men at the Salvation Army’s Central Territory Men’s Conference in Carlinville, Illinois.

Approximately 350 of the men in attendance were former and current participants in the Salvation Army’s rehabilitation Phil Tuttle teaches Crucible at a Salvation Army men’s conference.

5

Yerevan, Armenia 6

What’s Next?

Walking with Refugees Through Crisis

7

I

n the prosperous capital of ancient Egypt, a small band of Hebrew men bowed in fearful supplication before a powerful ruler. The ruler, gleaming and majestic, wept when he listened to the pleas for mercy they flung at his feet. He looked with compassion upon the anxious, weather-lined faces of his older brothers. “You intended to harm me,” he said to the ones who had betrayed him in his youth, “but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” To this day, the people of God tell the story of Joseph and his brothers wherever the gospel is preached, for the story showcases God’s unfailing ability to work good from evil.

Like Joseph, millions of people in today’s world find themselves in a strange land through no choice of their own. More than 65 million people live in a state of forced displacement from their homes, the highest number on record. Their plight has become the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis. While news headlines in the West create the

Pastor Yagop Aro’s church holds an evening service in Yerevan, Armenia.

8

impression that most refugees are destined for the U.S. and Europe, the vast majority remain in the developing world. Christians in these countries, many of whom already lack adequate material and spiritual resources, shoulder the heavy burden of serving new arrivals. Walk Thru the Bible is determined to help them carry the load. By providing biblical resources that address refugees’ deepest needs in a practical way, Walk Thru the Bible is inviting some of the world’s most vulnerable people to discover and live out God’s Word. In countless communities around the globe, displaced people are finding their place in the Kingdom of God, and, in doing so, making the journey from victimhood to redemption.

YEREVAN, ARMENIA On

the second floor of a stucco building in one of Yerevan’s residential neighborhoods, a church of Syrian refugees gathers for an evening service.

As musicians begin to lead the congregation in

contemporary hymns, hands rise in worship. Pink paper hearts hang from the ceiling, fluttering and spinning above the growing crowd. Each lacy heart declares a different characteristic of God’s love in Armenian script.

Pastor Yagop Aro never dreamed of planting a church in his ancestral homeland. Like most Syrian refugees living in Armenia, he and his wife, Victoria, are ethnic Armenians. Their grandparents fled to Aleppo, Syria, one hundred years ago to escape the Armenian genocide. In an ironic turn of events, Syrian Armenians are seeking refuge in Armenia to escape the civil war in Syria, thereby completing the circle Until the Syrian Civil War decimated Aleppo, the Aros lived a happy, full life.

Yagop successfully owned and managed a small business. Victoria worked as a teacher. They speak about their exodus from Syria with the thoughtful refinement of Aleppo’s educated upper-middle class.

“In 2012, the war started in Aleppo and the

gunfire started between the government and the opposition,” Yagop explains. The Aros’ house rested precariously on the edge of governmentcontrolled territory, making it a prime target for opposition gunfire. “A sniper shot my wife four times in the leg and shot me once in the hand,” Yagop says, pointing to the scars that corroborate his sobering account. “After four months, gunfire came more strongly and they started to launch rockets. One afternoon, we left for a relative’s house in a more peaceful part of Aleppo. The next day, I returned and saw a rocket hit my house, and the front of the house was completely ruined.

Doors and windows exploded.” For several more years, they remained in Aleppo for the sake of the church that Yagop pastored. It wasn’t until 2015 that they finally fled their ravaged hometown in search of refuge in Armenia. The 800 miles they traveled from Aleppo to Yerevan would soon seem inconsequential compared to the hardships that awaited them in their new city.

The Armenian Genocide Memorial honors the lives lost between 1915 and 1917.

9

Andranik, a local Baptist pastor in Yerevan, has witnessed firsthand the challenges that Syrian refugees face when they first arrive. “They compare the good lifestyle that they had in Syria to the poor condition of Armenia here,” he says. “‘In Syria we were living in paradise, and we came to hell in Armenia,’ they tell me.” Many refugees like Yagop and Victoria experienced a shocking plunge in their quality of life. They fled prosperity for poverty when they left Syria. The Armenian government lacks the resources to assist the over 20,000 Syrians who have arrived in the past six years, so the local church takes responsibility for their care.

While partnering with other church members to provide incoming families with food, warm clothing, and shelter, Andranik recognized the refugees’ desperate need for spiritual encouragement and transformation. He credits Walk Thru the Bible with equipping him to live a merciful life toward these vulnerable neighbors.

For over 15 years, Andranik has found tremendous value in Walk Thru the Bible’s

10

video resources. Years ago, when his reading level was low, he relied exclusively on video teaching to absorb the truth of God’s Word. In 2015, he attended a local training conference for Armenian pastors. At the conference, Phil Tuttle taught the participants Crucible: The Choices That Change Your Life Forever, Walk Thru the Bible’s biblical resource on the life of King David. Andranik’s serious face breaks into a warm, gap-toothed smile when he describes the impact the event had on his life. “We saw during the training how it’s important to accept difficulty because it brings us closer to God,” he says. “Few people believe that difficulties will form a new character in us. It touched my heart how merciful David was through all these difficulties.” He continues, “I was a very requiring person, especially to my wife and children. During the event, I began to understand the heart of God. I became more tolerant.” As time went on, God developed compassion in Andranik that spilled out into the lives of refugees who desperately needed spiritual

Pastor Andranik has pastored an Armenian Baptist church in Yerevan since 2004.

direction—refugees like Yagop and Victoria.

When Andranik met Yagop he was “really broken emotionally,” Andranik remembers. “His first year he was calling me every day. They didn’t have money to live. They didn’t know where to go. He and many other refugees I met told me they wanted to leave Armenia.” When Yagop arrived in Armenia, he had no plan to pastor a new church.

He desperately wanted to live with relatives in Detroit, but his visa application was denied several times. Despite modest support from local churches, Yagop’s situation was dire. He paints the contrast between his former life and his new life with stark simplicity: “In Aleppo I was a pastor; I had a salary; I had a house. In Armenia, we are living by faith.”

Slowly, Yagop’s heart began to change.

Influenced by Crucible and other Walk Thru the Bible resources, Andranik helped reframe not only

Yagop’s perspective but also the perspective of other refugees in Yagop’s position. “David was a refugee,” Andranik points out, referring to the time when David fled his home to escape Saul’s persecution. “We have to understand that all the refugees go through everything we see in Crucible.

God allowed these circumstances for one reason— so that they can be closer to Him. When I speak to the refugees, I say to them ‘God is faithful to you.’

Because of my love and care, many refugees said to me, ‘We’re not going to leave Armenia. Armenia is our home. God brought us here for a purpose.’”

Through identifying with the characters of David, Joseph, and other displaced people in the Bible, refugees begin to see God’s purpose in their hardship and allow Him to use their lives in an unexpected way.

After five months of applying unsuccessfully for a U.S. visa, Yagop began to settle into his new

11

home. He began to meet regularly with a small number of believers, many of whom had attended his church in Aleppo. Over time, he became more and more invested in the local community. He enrolled in a local seminary to receive further theological education, which committed him to at least three more years in Armenia. Eventually, he followed God’s calling to pastor his own church. “Half of our members came from our Aleppo congregation, but the other half are Syrian Armenians who became Christians in Armenia,” Yagop shares. As a pastor, he’s found his niche as a counselor and teacher in the Syrian Armenian community. “This is a special time for Syrian Armenians,” he says. “People are afraid. People have lost everything. They need somebody to give them real hope and answer the question, ‘What has God planned in this?’’”

Though Yagop dreams of expanding his ministry to Armenian Kurds and eventually to Syrian Muslims, he feels confident in his calling to minister to Syrian Armenian refugees in this season of life. He’s currently studying Crucible before sharing it with his congregation. For his

12

part, Andranik plans to share Walk Thru the Bible resources with as many refugees as he can. If he works to meet refugees’ physical needs without providing biblical resources like Crucible, Andranik considers, “We don’t change their lives. Teaching this book somehow impacts them. It shows them that they’re not the only ones who have experienced these things.”

Asatur Nahapetyan, Walk Thru the Bible’s Country Leader for Armenia, doesn’t sugarcoat the despair that many Syrian Armenian refugees feel when they first arrive. Some have told him that they are living through a second genocide.

During World War I, Turkish butchers marched their Armenian victims into the Syrian desert and left them to fend for themselves. That was the first genocide. Today, the descendants of those who survived to make Syria their home have a bullseye on their backs because of their Armenian heritage and Orthodox religion. Because the Armenian people can empathize deeply with the plight of Syrian Armenians, they welcome them with particular compassion and warmth. Still, the need for spiritual encouragement is desperate. Asatur estimates

that only 5 percent of Syrian Armenian arrivals are Christians; the majority are culturally Orthodox or atheist. When they arrive in a state of utter shock, it can be challenging to speak to them on a spiritual level.

But as church leaders address physical needs and build personal relationships with refugees, lives begin to change. Many turn to Christ and begin to see God’s hand in bringing them to Armenia. As a Baptist pastor himself, Asatur understands the vital role that Armenian pastors play in serving the influx of Syrian refugees into their communities. In most circumstances, the church is the only institution that offers any real support. He can count on one hand the number of international organizations working with refugees in his country.

“NGOs come, do their work, and they’re done,” he says. “But they need friendship. They need prayer.

They need you and me. Walk Thru the Bible is one of the successful ministries for Armenian churches.

You are bringing all these biblical stories to people in the time of life when they are living them.”

Looking back, Asatur thinks that the 2015

Crucible conference could not have taken place at a more opportune time. After that event, 120 pastors from four church denominations returned to their congregations and began to incorporate what they had learned into their ministry. For Andranik, Walk Thru the Bible provided the instruction he needed to reach out to refugees with a heart full of mercy.

Ultimately, this mercy took root in the life of Yagop and grew into a fruitful ministry of its own.

In a country of three million people, Asatur sees endless opportunities to impact the 20,000 Syrian refugees who have made Armenia their home.

By equipping local church leaders with Walk Thru the Bible’s resources, he plays a critical role in leading refugees to the truth of God’s Word—truth that helps them overcome the many obstacles they face.

Though the carnage of the Syrian Civil War shows no sign of subsiding, Asatur knows that the stream of Syrians entering Armenia will eventually slow to a trickle. Walk Thru the Bible has a distinct window of opportunity to engage refugees with God’s Word. “This is the time,” says Asatur emphatically.

“Tomorrow it will be too late. You have to be here.”

Khor Virap, Armenia 13

Country Profile

Armenia Capital: Yerevan

ld) Population: 3 million (#136 in wor 43 in world, Land area: 17,524 sq. miles (#1 slightly smaller than Maryland)

Ethnicity: Armenian >98% Language: Armenian

n Apostolic 92.6%, Evangelical 1%

Religion: Armenia

GDP per capita: $8,900

14

Ukraine Capital: Kiev

Population: 44

.2 million (#32 in world) Land area: 359, 978 sq. miles (#46 in world, slightly smaller t Ethnicity: Ukrai nian 77.8%, Russ ian 17.3%, Other 4.9% Language: Ukr ainian, Russian Religion: Ortho dox 65.4%, Unaffi liated 16.3%, Gre

ek Catholic Protestant 1.9%, Muslim 1.1% GDP per capita : $8,200

than Texas)

c 6.5%,

Russia

Belarus

Poland

Ukraine

Slovakia Hungary

Myanmar

Moldova

Romania Black Sea

Turkey

Georgia

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Iran

T

he Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917 forced thousands of Armenians to resettle in Syria.

Now, a century later, Syrians are fleeing civil war and finding refuge in Armenia. Since the Syrian Civil War broke out in 2011, over 20,000 Syrians, many of whom are ethnically Armenian, have settled in Armenia.

In Ukraine, war broke out between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian Army in early 2014.

Since then, an estimated 1.5 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes. Most flee from East Ukraine to Kiev or other regions in the central or western portion of the country.

Prayer Needs: • Spiritual encouragement. Pray for churches in Armenia and Ukraine as they provide spiritual resources to refugees and displaced people, most of whom are not Christians when they arrive. Pray that Walk Thru the Bible’s resources will continue to make a tangible impact in the lives of the people who need them most.

• Material provision. The influx of refugees is straining the limited resources of local churches. Pray that God would provide the means to supply refugees with food, clothing, housing, and job assistance.

Sources: CIA World Factbook, foreignpolicy.com, Razumov Centre, and Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre

15

Above: Pastor Oleg Larkov preaches a Palm Sunday sermon at God’s Design church. Below: Pastor Oleg Larkov with his wife Alona and their two younger children.

16

“What’s Next?” continued . . .

KIEV, UKRAINE

1300 miles to the east of Yerevan, the Larkov family rests at home in a quiet suburb of Kiev. Oleg and his wife, Alona, drink tea while their young son and daughter toss a beach ball back and forth in the living room.

Their older daughter and her husband keep an eye on the baby, whose squeals and giggles charm her adoring audience. In the tranquility of their Saturday afternoon, the chaos they escaped only three years earlier seems far away.

By the end of 2013, the political and cultural divide between pro- and anti-Russian Ukrainians had grown dangerously wide. That winter, public anger against Ukraine’s pro-Russian president erupted into massive demonstrations in Kiev.

Before long, scenes of bloody conflict captured the world’s attention. Fighting between Russianbacked separatists and the Ukrainian army transformed the eastern provinces of Ukraine into a war zone. Over the next three years, over 1.5 million people abandoned their homes for the safety of Ukraine’s interior.

The Larkov family never planned to leave Brianka, a mid-sized coal-mining town in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. Brianka was where Oleg and Alona were born, where they met and married, and where they planted a church.

But as deep tension between pro- and anti-Russian Ukrainians began to boil over, the Larkovs watched many of their friends, neighbors, and church members turn against them. “That was the first time in my life when I realized I had no idea what to do,” Oleg shares. “For 15 years of my Christian life, I learned how to seek God and reach goals.

I had dreams, and I had a plan. Then suddenly something happened that I couldn’t predict. Some members of my church had a pro-Russian stance, so they considered the militants with machine guns to be their protectors. I couldn’t minister to those people because they considered me their enemy.”

As the front line of fighting moved within 10 miles of the Larkovs’ house, they began to hear

cannons booming and shells exploding. They joined a convoy bound for Kiev. “We expected to leave our home for two weeks,” says Oleg. “But as you can see, we moved away forever.” With meager savings and eight gallons of gas in the car, the Larkovs were forced to abandon everything and everyone they knew in search of safety in the west. Oleg describes that period in 2014 as a crisis in faith. “I was so shocked I couldn’t pray,” he remembers. “I couldn’t read the Bible. I couldn’t hear God’s voice. Sometimes I thought I wasn’t a Christian anymore. It seemed like I had a wall in front of me and I’d never heard the voice of God before.”

Boris Volkov, one of Walk Thru the Bible’s staff members in Ukraine, was one of the people who first welcomed the Larkov family to Kiev.

“Long ago I was acquainted with Oleg in Brianka,” Boris explains. “That was a period when we conducted a number of live events and had deep Walk Thru the Bible ministry involvement. Even before the war began, I was involved in the life of the family.” Boris reflects on his friend’s arrival in Kiev with deep sympathy. “When Oleg first came to Kiev, I remember that his eyes were like the eyes of a lost man. He still understood that God was in control, but it’s much easier to understand that God is in control when you live in your own home and everything’s going well. But when you only have your car, a couple of bags of belongings, and your passport and driver’s license in your jacket, you feel lost. Even though Oleg had been a pastor and church planter for many years, this situation caused very deep conflict within him. But I saw the situation begin to change from despair to hope.”

At every point in his spiritual journey, Oleg has relied on Walk Thru the Bible to grow and thrive. Oleg surrendered his life to Christ at the age of 32, when he and his wife had separated and he was desperate for a new way of life. Not long after he became a Christian, God called him to plant a church. In this new role, Oleg used Walk Thru the Bible’s resources to grow in knowledge and

17

communicate biblical truth to his congregation.

“Walk Thru the Bible resources helped me in my ministry as a pastor. They were a foundation for my spiritual growth and education,” Oleg says.

He cites the central role that one of Walk Thru the Bible’s early video resources played in his family’s eventual reconciliation. “When I watched A Biblical Portrait of Marriage, everything was put in its place. I realized everything I had done wrong. This course showed how family should be. Our family wasn’t reconciled. It was created again out of the ashes.” Two years after Oleg became a Christian, Alona and their daughter, Ksenia, followed. The family was reunited.

After Oleg arrived in Kiev, God used another Walk Thru the Bible resource to shape his life: Crucible. When Boris gave Oleg a copy of Crucible, Oleg recognized its value. Oleg had no lack of theological knowledge or biblical training, but he

Boris Volkov works in Walk Thru the Bible’s Kiev, Ukraine office as the assistant to Regional Director Yuri Shelestun.

18

needed help to apply the things he knew in theory to everyday life, especially in a time of crisis.

He felt betrayed by many people he had served faithfully in Brianka, Boris says. “But he definitely stepped into a new story and I believe that Crucible became one of the tools that helped him.

Something began to change within him. He began to turn from despair to a more clear understanding that God is in control.”

Though Oleg has a dream of pastoring a church that touches thousands of lives, he believes that like David’s plan to build God’s temple, his dream may not be realized in the ways he expects.

Today he pastors a small, tight-knit church in the heart of Kiev called God’s Design. Every Sunday, he ministers to several dozen people from eastern Ukraine—displaced families like his own. “My vision of church planting was not taken away

by God,” Oleg says. “But God changed it and

Ksenia & Evgeniy Larkov with their daughter Agatha

allowed me to see another horizon of my ministry.

We found out that we are here for people like us.

We’ve ministered to more than 200 refugee families and have baptized 37 people.”

Many of the displaced families who arrive are atheists who only visited God’s Design church to receive food packets. “Many people say that they never would have met God if not for the war,” says Oleg. “The Word of God was absorbed by these people like a sponge.” As he mentors new believers, Oleg returns to Walk Thru the Bible’s resources time and again. “People at every level will find spiritual food,” he says. “The resources are clear and easily applied.” Alona agrees, saying, “Crucible is important for every pastor because everyone has periods of difficulty. It’s crucial to teach members of the church to overcome obstacles like David did.”

The Larkovs’ adult daughter Ksenia has

grown in faith alongside her parents. When the rest of her family fled their home in Brianka, she was enrolled in a seminary program in Kiev. She never had the chance to say goodbye to her childhood home. She never returned to the city where her life was, in a word, “fantastic.” In her parents’ church in Brianka, she served as a worship leader and performed gospel-infused musicals with a youth ministry team. She led outreach to teenagers in local schools through English, Chinese, and craft classes. She made a living as an English teacher. Still, she says, “there was something missing. While singing and leading worship, I saw the people and I couldn’t see any unbelievers. And I thought, ‘How can I sing and lead people to God?’” After her parents moved to Kiev and planted God’s Design church, her purpose became clear. Detour: Finding Purpose When Life Doesn’t Make Sense, Walk Thru the Bible’s resource on the life of Joseph,

19

helped Ksenia make sense of the direction her life was taking.

“From the time of my repentance, Joseph was my favorite character because of his heart and his journey,” she says. “In seminary, all my research was about Joseph. When I started to watch Detour, I wondered what I could learn that was new. But from it I understood that my ministry is a little part of a big ministry. In moving to Kiev, everything that I went through was for one purpose that God has for me.” She and her husband, Evgeniy, see their purpose clearly: to lead worship and to serve young families in their church. When young couples and children walk through the doors of God’s Design church, they discover the friendship and spiritual encouragement they need to fulfill God’s call for their own lives.

In his cheerful, unassuming office in a Kiev apartment building, Yuri Shelestun reflects on the ways God has used Walk Thru the Bible to touch the hearts of refugees in Ukraine. In his role as Walk Thru the Bible’s Regional Director for the Former USSR, Yuri has deployed instructors to share resources like Crucible and Detour with the goal of “giving spiritual food and touching the heart.”

He’s watched these resources help refugees overcome seemingly insurmountable barriers to living out God’s Word in the chaos of their lives. “Walk Thru the Bible materials are very practical, not just theoretical,” he says. “The Holy Spirit touches hearts through these resources, especially in the areas of forgiveness and overcoming depression.

Such things only God can heal.”

Yuri flips through a Russian copy of Detour to illustrate his point. Chapter by chapter, he emphasizes the practical relevance of each topic. “In this lesson, they receive hope,” he says animatedly, punching the page with one finger. “With Jesus they learn to build a new family and a new life. In this next lesson, they learn about reflecting Jesus in the workplace. The next topic is about Joseph and the heritage he leaves. Many refugees have children, and children are looking at the reaction of their parents. They can be victims or victors.”

Detour, in particular, has made a strong impact on refugees who have studied the resource, Yuri says.

20

“Joseph experienced a lot of injustice. And that’s why refugees identify with Joseph’s life—because they have a lot of injustice in their own lives, both here and where they came from.”

“Some refugees feel that they are victims, and they wait for people to give them things,” Yuri continues. “They have big expectations.

They expect long-term housing, clothes, and food.” While they receive these provisions from local churches, resources like Detour help them discover something infinitely more valuable and lasting: purpose. “A victim says why and looks at the past,” Yuri says. “A victim asks why they lost everything. But the answers aren’t in Kiev.” Practical resources that examine the lives of Joseph and David start to empower victims. “We tell them to ask, ‘What does God want for me and my family?’”

With a shift in perspective, families begin to move from a state of paralysis to a state of rebuilding.

They begin to believe that God has given them the time, talent, and ability to build His kingdom in their new home. When they are equipped and empowered to live God’s Word, Yuri says, “ordinary people are able to become extraordinary.”

Boris agrees emphatically. “Many people are depressed and go into a downward spiral, but those who receive practical resources have a way to go through the wall of despair. It’s ultimately important for Ukrainian churches to put good resources in their hands to equip new believers for a winning and fruitful life. Many churches are involved in meeting basic needs, but the ultimate goal is to meet the deepest and very often hidden needs of people.” In Ukraine, Armenia, and many other countries around the world, Walk Thru the Bible is providing resources that transform lives. As victims of forced displacement begin to encounter and live out God’s Word, everything changes. They welcome victims who arrive after them with new compassion. They accept that following God may lead them far from where they began. They stop asking why and they start asking “What’s next?” .

Above: Kiev’s Maidan Square, where Ukrainians protested and clashed in the winter of 2014. Below: A tribute to fallen Ukrainian soldiers in Kiev, Ukraine 21

Into the Word w e e k l y

d e v o t i o n a l s

o n

RELYING on GOD’S promises

W

alk Thru the Bible exists to ignite passion for God’s Word wherever we go and to provide the opportunities and resources for eternal truth to work its way into people’s hearts.

One of the best ways for the truth of Scripture to sink in is to meditate on it daily. The following devotionals, adapted from indeed magazine, are a valuable tool to aid that process.

One devotional is provided for each of the next 13 weeks. You can read the weekly reading any day during your week, but you may also want to revisit it every day of the week to make it a regular part of your time with God. If so, many have found this approach helpful: On Monday, read the devotional. Become generally familiar with the Bible verse, its original context, and the insights in the devotional reading. On Tuesday, look upward. How does this verse or passage apply to your relationship with God? What does it teach you about His will and His heart? What aspect of His character is He inviting you to experience and enjoy? On Wednesday, look inward. How does this truth apply to your heart

WEEK 1 July 3-7

1 John 1:8-10

PROMISED FORGIVENESS “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) IN WORD We often take far too passive an approach to the continuing promise of forgiveness. The bountiful nature of God’s pardon frequently raises our comfort level with our sin. Despite Paul’s warning that the blessing of grace must not expand our capacity for disobedience (Romans 6:1), it often does. It’s one of the

22

and your own spiritual growth? What does it teach you about yourself, your needs, or your goals in life? In what aspects of your personal life is God inviting you to grow and mature? On Thursday, look around. How does this truth apply to your relationship with others? What does it teach you about how to relate to them? What is God inviting you to do differently in your relationships? On Friday, look outward. How does this verse or passage apply to your ministry and mission in life—to your role in God’s kingdom, in society, and in the world? What does it teach you about God’s purposes? What part of His mission is He inviting you to participate in? On Saturday, look forward. How does this verse or passage apply to your future, both in this age and in eternity? What does it teach you about God’s plan for your life, now and forever? What aspect of eternity is God inviting you to participate in?

This approach can help you look at God’s Word from every angle and incorporate its implications into your life. As you saturate yourself in Scripture, God will shape your heart to align with His own.

many annoying vagaries of fallen human nature; whatever we have in abundance, we treat casually.

That’s why we need to read a lot into the word “confess.” It means agreeing with God about our sin, and we would do well to take it a step further. Not only must we agree with Him about the fact of our sinfulness, we should agree with Him emotionally about the grief of our sinfulness. If He is angered and grieved over the defacing of creation’s beauty, we should be angered and grieved over our role in it. When sexuality is distorted and abused, it should bother us profoundly. When greed puts mere things in the place of God in our hearts, it should stagger us. When deceitfulness—even in the small things— slanders the pure and true character of our God, it should knock the spiritual

wind out of us. Whatever God thinks about our sin should be what we think about our sin. Whatever grieves Him should grieve us. Whatever vandalizes His purposes should make us outraged.

That’s what it means to “confess.”

IN DEED That kind of confession can never be casual about the offer of forgiveness. The trauma of confession should prompt a traumatic acceptance of mercy. The promise of never-ending grace should prompt never-ending gratitude.

The promise should never be taken for granted. Is 1 John 1:9 a “great and precious promise” to you? If not, consider the sacrifice that made it possible.

Consider the Savior who granted it. And consider the God whose grace is never exhausted. Never forget how precious that grace can be.

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

WEEK 4

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

Philippians 2:12-13

Proverbs 3:3-6

July 10-14

July 17-21

July 24-28

PROMISED ESCAPE

PROMISED PROMPTING

PROMISED GUIDANCE

“He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

“It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

(Philippians 2:13)

“In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:6)

IN WORD In promising us everything related to life and godliness—in other words, everything—God has first taken care of the three biggest issues: salvation, sin, and temptation. We experienced them in reverse order, first being tempted, then sinning, then accepting salvation. But God deals with them by saving us, forgiving our sin, and giving us a way out of temptation. His mercies undo the trouble we got ourselves into.

But while we are quick to embrace the benefits of salvation, and almost as quick to accept the ongoing forgiveness He offers, we are less diligent about the time of temptation. After all, if God has forgiven us and is going to continue to forgive us for everything we have ever done or ever will do, why should we get hung up on temptation? Whether we commit the sin or not, we’re forgiven, right?

We are, but that’s not the point. God has redeemed us for a new life, and temptation wars against that new life. When we give in to it, it threatens the blessings God wants to bestow on us, it undermines our conforming-to-Jesus process, and it slanders the One who allegedly saved us and “cleansed” us of all unrighteousness.

Giving in to temptation makes a statement about the power of the God we serve. It calls into question His ability to keep His people.

God’s power is not insufficient, of course. The fault lies entirely with us. He has given us a way out of temptation every single time. He will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear.

IN DEED Most of us will find a dual reaction to this promise. We will be comforted that we never have to be overwhelmed by temptation. We will also be exposed every time we claim we were overwhelmed by it. God’s promise gives us a way out, and it also holds us accountable. That’s both encouraging and convicting. In either case, it’s a call to a purer, more godly life—with a promise to help us in it.

IN WORD Perhaps the most relaxing of all God’s promises is that He is at work in us. He does not tell us to conform to the image of Jesus and then leave us alone to do it. He does not send us out on a mission and then cross His fingers for our success.

He does not urge us to live godly lives and then blow up when we fail. No, every step of the way He is there. And, as this verse indicates, He is not just working on our behavior from the outside, He is transforming us from within.

That’s what it means for God to work in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. His values shape our will, our inner drives, our ambitions and dreams. And then His Spirit helps us with the follow-through, acting on those inner impulses that He has placed within us. Far from being handed a religion that tells us to shape up, we are handed a Savior who gets inside to shape us. The promise of transformation is that God is busy gutting our temple and renovating it from within.

He’s a master Craftsman at work.

The comforting part of this promise is that when we have deep, internal desires to do something entirely consistent with the stated purpose and plan of God, those desires are probably God-given. And when we are driven to act on those desires with a strategy and a worthwhile agenda, we are likely driven by God Himself. The fact that He is at work in us both to will (desires) and to work (behavior) for His good purpose is a tremendously relaxing fact. Once our prayers have determined that we’re motivated by the Spirit and not by the flesh, we can trust that our work is not just our agenda, but also His. IN DEED That means, of course, that He will see it through. The sovereign God who sees the future doesn’t abandon projects midway through. If He started His work in you, He’s committed to it. Rest in that truth, and trust what He is doing in your heart. There is a holy agenda shaping your life.

IN WORD The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. And usually when it comes to our lives, we want the shortest path. We don’t want to waste time on peripherals; we want to get to where we’re going as soon as we can.

God promises that we can. If we trust in Him with all our heart and refuse to rely on our own understanding—the conditions for this promise—then He will direct us, making our paths straight and getting us where we need to go. The believer who seeks His will in prayer, trusts His wisdom, and is obedient to His instructions will end up on exactly the right path. It’s guaranteed.

The problem with our understanding of this promise is that we and God often have different definitions of “the right path.” We are often diverted from our preferred route by a God who has other purposes for us. We find ourselves taking a roundabout way to where we want to go.

It isn’t actually roundabout, as God has a purpose in it; but it seems that way to us.

We get impatient.

God ignores our impatience. He is directing our steps whether we realize it or not. If we trusted Him, asked His help, sought His wisdom, and acknowledged His authority over our lives, His direction is certain. We may feel awfully lost; God assures us we are not.

IN DEED Do you feel like you’ve gotten off course? You may have gotten off of your course, but that doesn’t mean you’ve gotten off of God’s. You may be like Joseph, wasting away in a pointless prison, not realizing that in the end it will have a point. You may be like David, fleeing from a rabid king, not realizing that faith is being built in you in remarkable ways.

Make sure you are being faithful to God and are trusting His direction. But if you are, do not fear. The course you are on, regardless of what it looks like, is the straight path He has designed specifically for you.

23

WEEK 5

WEEK 6

WEEK 7

Psalm 91

Matthew 6:25-34

Psalm 81

July 31-August 4

August 7-11

August 14-18

PROMISED PROTECTION

PROMISED PROVISION

PROMISED GOODNESS

“If you say, ‘The Lord is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.” (Psalm 91:9-10)

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

“No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” (Psalm 84:11)

IN WORD The sheltering protection of God is a glorious promise, if we can accept it. The problem is that we know people who have presumably been faithful and then have suffered disaster. Following God, from our observation, doesn’t necessarily lead to a pain-free life.

But a pain-free life isn’t the subject of this psalm. Safety is. And our hangups with it come with the difficulty of defining safety. On the one hand, we know it doesn’t mean that we will never have difficulties, even painful ones. On the other hand, this promise must mean something.

Surely it’s not just a spiritual promise that does our bodies no earthly good. God wouldn’t pull a bait-and-switch on us like that, would He? No, He wouldn’t. He is faithful, true to His Word. He means what He says, and He says it clearly enough for us to understand. What God promises here is that we can walk through this life with a guarantee.

If we will trust Him as our Refuge, we can know that we will never experience any catastrophe that is devoid of redemptive purpose. If we have believed in His salvation and trusted in His provision, we will never know the ultimate disaster of eternal death. And in our short lives on this earth, we will never see a trial or difficulty that is not under His sovereign, permissive hand that specifically ordains our steps and redeems our problems. If “harm” falls, we can rest assured: It isn’t ultimately disastrous, and it didn’t slip in under God’s radar. He has a plan.

IN DEED That may be of little comfort to those who are struggling with life’s difficulties right now, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a huge relief. Like Paul’s, our path may be rocky, but it still leads us where we need to go. Like the prophets, our days may be painful, but we are still being conformed to the character of God. Our enemies may threaten, but they have no power over us. Why? Because we have been bought by God. Nothing—not one single thing—can threaten our security within His plan.

24

IN WORD Jesus assured us: God takes care of flowers and birds. By comparison, human beings—we who are made in the very image of God—are much more significant. Why would He not take care of us as well?

The problem is what our eyes see.

We know there are starving people in impoverished countries who are not receiving “all these things” as Jesus promised.

There are millions of people lacking in the basic sustenance that life requires. What does that make of Jesus’ promise? Is He wrong?

Of course not. Scripture is emphatic that God satisfies the needs—even the desires—of every living thing (Psalm 145:16, among others). God is not short on supply. The problem must be elsewhere.

The problem must be in the conditions Jesus laid out. In a world gone wrong, there are billions of people who are not seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. And many of them are starving.

That’s not to lay the blame for hunger entirely at the feet of the hungry.

Though God is able to sustain them, His provision is often thwarted by corruption and misuse. The hearts of those who need Him are often deceived and exploited by those who hate Him. And so we have a needy world, and a call to help meet its needs. The Giver has made us part of the solution. Part of seeking His kingdom and His righteousness is acting it out in this world.

IN DEED Do you worry about your life?

God commands us not to. Why? Because He is the Provider. He withholds no good thing from us, He opens His hand and satisfies, and He clothes us and feeds us better than the lilies and the birds. Though we live in a world infected with sin, we have a God who has promised sustenance in the midst of it. And He has called us to be His ministers of sustenance to those who don’t know Him. Seek first His kingdom, and you—and others—will be filled.

IN WORD What a comforting promise!

God longs to be good to us. Regardless of our impression that He is often waiting to discipline us for our mistakes and purposeful disobedience, the truth is that He is waiting on high to have compassion on us (Isaiah 30:18). Think of that! The God we rightly fear is the God who thoroughly enjoys every opportunity to give us something good.

But what a discouraging condition.

This promise is for those whose walk is “blameless.” We may do our best, but we know we don’t qualify for “blameless.” If this promise is for those who never make mistakes, it’s a meaningless promise—a nice idea, but never to be applied.

But God doesn’t make meaningless promises. “Blameless” can’t mean “perfect.” Perhaps a better way to understand it would be “those whose walk is in God’s direction,” or “those whose walk is inspired by Him and inclined toward Him.” On our best days, we could qualify for that kind of condition. We could reap the benefits of this promise.

There’s still another way to look at it, though. Consider this: Jesus’ walk was, in fact, blameless. It was perfect, completely without sin and error. And here’s the clincher: Jesus lives in us! The One who is most qualified to receive this promise is the One who has become our life. If He dwells within, and if we are resting in Him by faith, by His righteousness we qualify to receive the promise of all good things. If we abide in Him, God delights in us.

IN DEED Do you see God as the cosmic school officer, meting out discipline at every opportunity? He does discipline us, of course, but His good hand is behind it.

And His good hand has lots of other things in it—everything pertaining to life and godliness, every blessing His bounty has to offer, everything our heart truly desires.

There is absolutely no good thing that He will withhold from those who are inclined toward Him and are trusting their lives to His Son.

WEEK 8

WEEK 9

WEEK 10

Psalm 37:1-9

Romans 8:28-39

Jeremiah 29:10-14

August 21-25

August 28-September 1

September 4-8

PROMISED SATISFACTION

A PROMISED PURPOSE

PROMISED DESTINY

“Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

“In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

(Jeremiah 29:11)

IN WORD It’s such an easy verse to abuse, isn’t it? On one hand, we could take it to mean that anything our heart fancies becomes ours, as long as we’re worshiping God. On the other hand, we could define the condition of “delight” so restrictively that the promise doesn’t really mean anything. Yet at some level, we know what the Spirit is getting at here: If our relationship with God is in order, we will somehow be satisfied.

Consider the thrill of this promise.

Think of how you would feel if every one of your desires were fulfilled. What would it be like to have no more unfulfilled longings? No more pipe dreams? No more fantasies that are just too fantastic to come true? That would be amazing, wouldn’t it?

Yes, it would. And, in a sense, that’s what God promises. Whether we take this verse to mean that He will give us what our heart desires or that He will actually put the right desires in there to begin with, the result is the same: satisfaction. A direct correlation between the things we crave and the things God gives us. No more misplaced longings. No more unrequited loves.

There’s a lot to the condition here— delighting in the Lord—and there’s also a lot to the delivery—the desires of your heart. But at the very least, true love of God and a passionate submission to Him will result in the cravings and the blessings matching up. He will work in us the desires He wants us to have, and He will fulfill them.

IN DEED Sounds nice, doesn’t it? And it’s true. God doesn’t guarantee us a pain-free life, and He doesn’t promise us the whims of our heart. He doesn’t say we can name our price and He’ll pay it, and He doesn’t tell us we’ll have no more troubles. He does, however, tell us that the key to being satisfied is in Him—our utter delight in who He is. If that’s in place, He becomes our greatest desire. And that desire will always be fulfilled.

IN WORD It’s a remarkable guarantee from a sovereign God. It would be impossible to back it up if He were not who He says He is. But our God is in charge of history, and He works all things out for His purposes. And one of His purposes is to make all things work out for the people who love Him. That’s good to know when life looks like it has gone haywire. There’s precious little comfort in the midst of chaotic circumstances. When a loved one lies dying, when unemployment hits home, when children are rebelling, when a cancer is diagnosed—all of the things that attack our sense of well-being are on a divine leash.

When everything is falling apart and our peace is being threatened, we can know one rock-solid fact: There’s a purpose.

The purpose isn’t always discernible. It isn’t even clear until decades later, sometimes. But it is there. The God who promised to work all things together for our good has proven that He does. His track record is perfect. A look at Joseph in Genesis, Israel in Egypt, battles against the Philistines, David’s affair with Bathsheba— or ultimately the cross—confirms that some pretty ugly circumstances can be woven seamlessly into His divine plan.

Joseph said it best in Genesis 50:20: What is intended for evil by some can be intended for good by God. The ugliness of the circumstances is never to be our guide.

IN DEED If you are going through a trial, you need to know that. The trial doesn’t define for you who God is, and it doesn’t define His plan for you. Somewhere behind it, or even in it, He is working out His purposes, and His purposes are very, very good. The things that threaten your peace are the things He will use to establish it. You may not see it for a long time, but one day—even if only in eternity—you will see it clearly. All things—every one of them—work together for the good of those who love Him.

IN WORD We look into our future and we fear. We are afraid of catastrophe, of heartache, of trouble and distress. We are afraid of crises in our finances, our families, and whatever else makes us feel secure.

The problem is that we don’t know the future, and we imagine all the bad things that can happen in it. Our fear springs from a lack of knowledge. When we look ahead, we look with ignorance.

God sees our entire future and tells us to relax. No, it may not be easy and pain-free. It may not stroke us in all the places we like to be stroked by fulfilling all of our fantasies and dreams. But it will be good. It will fulfill all of God’s plans for us, and His plans are never bad. He offers us hope and a future.

Those who say that God never promised us prosperity have missed this verse. What they mean is that God has not promised us prosperity as we often define it. But He has promised us prosperity as He defines it. Whether we’ve been held in captivity, as Jeremiah’s audience had, or just gone through the school of hard knocks, we are under the watchful eye of God. He is directing and planning, restoring and forgiving, laying out a destiny that is full of His peace and purpose. The future is bright with the glory of God’s grace.

IN DEED Why would anyone read a horoscope when they could take this promise to heart? No, it doesn’t give specifics, but when the Promiser is God Himself, who needs specifics? We know the details will be good because the One who is ordaining them is good. Instead of clairvoyance, we need clear thinking. We need faith and rest in the character of God. We have been given a destiny by the hand of God, the Giver of all good things. It is a plan for real prosperity and peace. It includes all His fullness and mercy. Cling to it. The only condition for it is turning and looking to Him.

25

WEEK 11

WEEK 12

WEEK 13

Luke 11:5-13

John 15:5-8

Matthew 28:16-20

September 11-15

September 18-22

September 25-29

PROMISED ANSWERS

PROMISED FRUIT

PROMISED PRESENCE

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9)

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7)

“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

IN WORD God clothed Himself in human flesh and visited our planet. He was here all along, of course, but not like this. Jesus was seen and heard, not in a mystical sense, but visibly and audibly.

And what did God incarnate say to us?

“Ask Me, and I will give to you.”

We fail to realize the magnitude of this promise because we often don’t see its results. Oh, we pray. But perhaps not in the spirit Jesus intended, or perhaps with selfish motives, or any number of other conditions that weakens our prayers. Still, the promise is there. Those who persistently, faithfully, humbly come to the Father with a petition are given a guarantee: It will be answered.

We know all the standard ways to place conditions on this promise. He may answer “no,” He may answer “wait,” He may answer “yes, but not in the way you hoped,” or He may actually answer “yes.”

When He does, He may not answer right away. After all, this promise has no deadline; prayers we uttered years ago may be answered years from now. But still, the promise is certain. God will answer. Not to do so would make Him a negligent Father.

And God has proven throughout history that He is never negligent toward those who seek Him and are called by His name.

IN WORD Taken by itself, it’s a sweeping promise. “Whatever you wish,” Jesus tells the disciples. He could have told them to say “not my will but Yours,” but He didn’t. That was for other times and other contexts. Here, He says, “What’s your will?

If you could ask Me anything your heart desires, what would it be?” In this promise, the heart of the disciple matters.

And Jesus could have restricted this promise with a few conditions in His following words, if He had wanted to. But we’re given no hint of any backtracking.

In fact, He emphasizes it again: “whatever you ask” (15:16; 16:23), and “ask and you will receive” (16:24). In His last instructions to His disciples before the crucifixion, Jesus tells His disciples over and over again: Ask, ask, ask.

There’s a heart-warming context to all of these instructions about prayer. It is the result of an intimate relationship with Him. We are to ask “so that the Son may bring glory to the Father” (14:13). We are to ask in order to “bear much fruit” and thereby glorify the Father (15:8). We are to ask so that our “joy will be complete” (16:24). In the context of a relationship with Jesus in which His words fill us and His personality has mixed and melded with ours, we are given perhaps the world’s most extravagant promise outside of the promise of our salvation. We can ask anything in His name, for bearing fruit and glory, and expect Him to answer it.

IN DEED There’s a temptation with this promise to water it down to the point that it means very little. All of those conditions, those varying responses we speculate that He might give, and those disqualifying attitudes with which we come to Him, are legitimate aspects of this promise. The abuses are real. But this promise is more real. Don’t let the conditions and the qualifications water it down to the point that it becomes unreal to you. The God who calls Himself our Father is responsive, and He will never drop your prayers unless you drop them first. Be persistent. Be bold. And be ready. God will honor your request.

26

IN DEED If a Fortune 500 company trained you to think and act in its best interests, and then handed you a pile of signed blank checks, what would you do with them? File them away? No, the temptation to use them would be too great. The CEO of the kingdom of God has signed His name to a stack of checks and handed it to us—to use for advancing His interests.

What will you do with them?

IN WORD We forget that our purpose in this world after we have accepted Christ is to make Him known. That is essential, secondary only to our grateful worship. It doesn’t mean that we all become full-time evangelists, though we all have a responsibility to evangelize. It doesn’t mean that we all must evangelize by means of public proclamation, though we have a responsibility to use words. It does mean, however, that we all are given the mandate to glorify the King of glory by somehow, someway, making our lives point to Him. And the purpose of all our pointing should be to make disciples.

How do we do that? In our weakness, we let Him be seen as our Strength.

In our trials, we let Him be seen as our Refuge. In our victories, we let Him be seen as our Victor. In our humility, we let Him be seen as our Lord. In every circumstance we find ourselves in, no matter how glorious or how painful, there is a way to point to Him. It is our ultimate purpose. In fact, it’s the ultimate purpose of all creation.

On this mission, we are given a great and precious promise: the King of glory is right there with us. We can’t see Him, but we can talk to Him. Others can’t see Him, but they can see that we’re affected by Him. When we feel alone, we aren’t. When we’re in pain, so is He. When we’re joyful, so is He. When we’re tempted to sin, He is right there pointing to a way out. Our problem, despite all His presence, is in not looking for Him. Though the King is right there with us, we often ignore Him. IN DEED Why would we do that? Perhaps we’re just forgetful. Perhaps we want His eyes to turn away sometimes. Perhaps we’ve decided His presence isn’t all that real or very relevant. But Jesus tells all of His disciples, including us, to focus back on Him. Be aware of His presence. Remind yourself daily, hourly, or second by second, that His Spirit is with you and in you.

Never let yourself feel distant or independent. It will make all the difference in your discipleship. His promise is meant to draw you closer to Him. .

Step Into the Story

Inside the Genesis of

otLIVE Spread the Word

W

hen Walk Thru the Bible was founded in 1976, Walk Thru the Old Testament was our first and only live event. The world had never seen anything like it. In seven hours, event participants gained a big-picture overview of the major people, places, and events in the Old Testament using hand signs that enhanced learning and aided memory. For new believers and veteran Bible teachers alike, the unique event format brought thousands of years of history to life in a deeply impactful way. Ultimately, it served as a launching pad for a ministry that today offers a wide variety of events and resources around the world.

Nearly forty years after our first instructors began to teach Walk Thru the Old Testament across North America, we’re deploying our global

network of instructors to teach a new event: otLIVE. For two-and-a-half hours, the new event leads participants through a chronological, storybased journey through the Old Testament. Instead of the original 77 hand signs, otLIVE uses 40, including a handful of new signs. The story is the same, but the storytelling has changed. otLIVE first began to take shape in Kenya, where International Director Wahid Wahba led a global consultation meeting for regional and country leaders in 2015. During the event, a small group of leaders began to discuss an idea that had been percolating in their minds for years.

Independently, they had reached the conclusion that Walk Thru the Bible’s instructors needed an innovative new event to reach a broader audience in today’s world. According to Genny Baxley, Vice President of North American Ministries, the

27

Step Into the Story

(Contd.)

group specifically identified the need for a shorter event that streamlined content without sacrificing substance. “The biggest issue we were facing in North America was that churches were less and less willing to give us a whole day on their calendar for a live event,” says Genny. “Time more than price was the biggest obstacle.”

As the Kenya conference came to a close, an international team formed to construct otLIVE. After 18 months of development, thousands of miles of travel, and pilot courses on four continents, otLIVE came to fruition. At the beginning of 2017, our international leaders learned to teach the new event at a training conference in Atlanta.

Several weeks later, 49 veteran North American instructors learned to teach the new event at their biannual InstructorFest meeting. According to Genny, “The response from all of our instructors has been overwhelmingly positive. On average, this group of instructors has taught Walk Thru the Old Testament for 18 years. It’s really hard to relearn it after teaching for so long, but these men and women are working hard to master the course.

They’re truly enthusiastic about it.”

As instructors around the world begin to introduce otLIVE to a new audience, the response from attendees is “above and beyond anything we

28

expected,” says Genny. “People are getting it more quickly, and more people than usual are signaling that they made a decision in response to the event, whether that decision was trusting in Christ or committing to reading the Bible every day.” otLIVE is already creating new opportunities to reach more people with the truth of God’s Word.

Without diluting the storyline that instructors have taught for 40 years, it makes the Old Testament accessible to an audience that will devote a morning, but not an entire day, to attending an event. In North America, Genny looks forward to reaching greater numbers through otLIVE. “Now we have a way to reach twice as many people,” she says.

“When we tailor the event to the way the world works in 2017, then we can impact more people than ever before.”

HOW YOU CAN HELP • Visit www.walkthru.org/attend-an-event to find an otLIVE event near you.

• Help your church host an otLIVE event. Contact Priscilla Brown at pbrown@walkthru.org to learn more.

• Pray that God will use otLIVE to open new doors to ministry around the world. .

Leader Profile

Moving Forward DR. LEOPOLD YAMBAYAMBA, COUNTRY DIRECTOR FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

“

Our vision is that every city, province, religious denomination, family, church, and person has the spiritual resources of Walk Thru the Bible,” says Dr. Leopold Yambayamba.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), enormous obstacles stand in the way of fulfilling this vision. With an annual per capita GDP of $784, DR Congo is the second poorest country in the world. Violence is widespread as rival ethnic groups compete for control over the country’s vast natural resources. But Dr. Yambayamba and his team of instructors have seen God break down walls that seem impenetrable.

Recently, God has presented an opportunity to reach the country’s aboriginal pygmy population. “Among the pygmies, we have some who are intellectuals, teachers, and pastors,” Dr. Yambayamba explains. “So we resolved to bring them spiritual resources from Walk Thru the Bible.” Not long ago, he ventured deep into the forest region where pygmies live to teach them God’s Grand Story, Walk Thru the Bible’s multi-week Bible campaign. After 40 days of teaching a group of pygmies, Dr. Yambayamba witnessed several people accept Christ as their Savior. At their invitation, he will soon return to teach at a local pygmy school.

In addition to teaching theology at several biblical institutes, Dr. Yambayamba has led Walk Thru the Bible’s ministry in DR Congo for the past 12 years. As the father of 10 children, he accomplishes an impressive balancing act. The sacrifice of time and energy is well worth it, he believes,

because of the wealth of spiritual resources that Walk Thru the Bible provides. One of the resources that most excites Dr. Yambayamba is otLIVE, a new two-and-a-half-hour live event that teaches the big picture of the Old Testament. Earlier this year, he flew 7000 miles to Atlanta to meet with other Walk Thru the Bible leaders and learn to teach otLIVE. “All the spiritual resources produced by Walk Thru the Bible are so rich,” he says, “but otLIVE has brought us to another dimension of biblical knowledge. otLIVE has changed how we teach and transmit the message of God through signs and symbols. We like this method of teaching because Africa is a continent of signs and symbols.” As he begins to receive invitations to teach otLIVE from local churches, he’s watching God open up windows among the believers in areas he has yet to reach. When Dr. Yambayamba became a Christian in 1984, God filled his heart with an unrelenting passion to teach His Word and equip other believers to do the same. “As an African, the challenges are enormous,” he admits. Often he struggles to raise funds to print and translate Walk Thru the Bible resources that he would like to teach. Outside of the capital, pockets of violence have forced some of his ministry partners to flee the country. But Dr. Yambayamba continues to walk with confidence on the path God has set before him. “Not a family without Walk Thru the Bible” is the mantra that keeps him moving ever forward, crossing ethnic boundaries and regional lines to share the Word of God. .

29

Donor Profile

Three Words KARL & DIANE REUTHER

H

ow would you describe Walk Thru the Bible in three words? The first word that Karl and Diane Reuther use is resilient.

“We’ve seen changes of leadership, but Walk Thru the Bible stays faithful to its purpose,” says Diane.

For the past twenty years, Karl and Diane have invested deeply in the mission of Walk Thru the Bible through seasons of growth, challenge, and change. Through reconnecting with Karl’s childhood friend, they first learned about the ministry in 1996 and attended their first Live the Word conference the following year. They felt a strong connection to Walk Thru the Bible’s mission and never looked back. Karl, the owner of a manufacturing business in northeast Ohio, was particularly impressed with the high return on investment and the direction in which the ministry was heading. “We got to know some of the board members and we saw a heart for sharing Christ around the world,” he says. “The underlying direction of the organization was where we wanted to go.” Diane agrees, saying, “I was excited about Walk Thru the Bible’s passion to teach the Word of God not just in the U.S. but around the world. I got more excited about what the Lord is doing in different places outside of my own little world.”

The second word the Reuthers use to describe Walk Thru the Bible is solid. For years, their family has gleaned practical truth from resources like the Daily Walk Bible. Diane

30

particularly benefited from World Religions from a Christian Perspective, Walk Thru the Bible’s summary of five major world religions. She says, “I did the study with my daughter and her daughter, and it was so helpful for teenagers wondering about different faiths—and I myself had no idea what some of these other faiths believed. So it was good for everybody to have a concise source.”

The Reuthers’ appreciation for Walk Thru’s biblical teaching has given them a passion for equipping underresourced pastors to teach the Bible. “I like how Walk Thru the Bible works with pastors and provides materials in regions of the world that don’t come close to having what we have in the U.S.,” says Karl. Diane adds, “When people become believers and then all of a sudden they’re the pastor of a church, they need all the help they can get. Walk Thru the Bible’s biblical teaching is solid.”

The third word that comes to mind is innovative. “Walk Thru the Bible is not afraid to try new products or collaborate with other groups,” Diane notes. In her mind, Walk Thru the Bible strikes an effective balance between innovating and staying true to its core mission of helping people live God’s Word. Looking forward, her dream for the ministry is simple. “What sometimes happens as an organization matures is that it loses focus,” she says. “My dream for Walk Thru the Bible is that it wouldn’t be distracted by the things of this culture, but that it would stay faithful to the Word of God.” .

The Last Word

N

ews of the global refugee crisis has filled our airwaves for years now. If you’re like me, you hear about the problem and wonder how you can make any real contribution to the solution. The wars and conflicts that are forcing millions of people from their homes show no sign of ending.

It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of such immense human suffering.

Often, the names and faces of those who have been affected by the refugee crisis are lost in statistics and political debates. In this issue of Pathways, we read the real stories of refugees who are rebuilding their lives in the wake of tragedy.

Through our international leaders in Armenia and Ukraine, Walk Thru the Bible has arrived at the front line of the spiritu al battle being waged in the hearts of refugees. In the face of extreme discou ragement and confusion, refugees are finding purpose and strength in God’s Word.

Their individual stories are snapshots of hope. If you support Walk Thru the Bible’s global ministry, you provide that hope. You make it possibl e for Walk Thru the Bible to minister to some of the world’s most vulner able people in a deeply meaningful way. It takes only a few dollars to print and distribute a biblical resource like Crucible or Detour. But as you’ve read, these resources can make a huge impact in the lives of refugees when they need it most. We’ve shared only a few stories of life change, but there are countless more.

I hope this issue of Pathways has expanded your vision of what God can accomplish even in the most difficult circumstances. Thanks to your faithful support, prayer, and encouragement, we’ve seen Him bring about incredible life change in the first half of 2017. I hope you’ll continue to partne r with Walk Thru the Bible, because the Bible is changing everything—and we have a front row seat.

Sincerely,

Michael Gunnin Vice President for Advancement

31

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Walk Thru the Bible Ministries

5550 Triangle Parkway, Suite 250 Peachtree Corners, Georgia 30092

Electronic Service Requested

IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF PATHWAYS: This summer, Walk Thru the Bible will host its annual Middle East-North Africa training conference in Amman, Jordan.

Church leaders from some of the most hostile ministry environments in the world will gather for a time of encouragement and training.

Discover more about Walk Thru the Bible at

WWW.WALKTHRU.ORG