Author: mikejentes

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This Sunday we had neat discussion in the INSTITUTE about the Old Testament Prophets who told about what the Messiah would be like. Sometimes we get so familiar with the story that we forget how amazing it is.

We looked at 9 different prophecies and they are in the chart below. Check them out:

Isaiah 7:14

Born of a Virgin

Matthew 1:22-23

Isaiah 7:14

Called “Immanuel”

Matthew 1:23

Micah 5:2

The Messiah King will be born in Bethlehem

Matthew 2:4-6

Psalm 72:10, Isaiah 60: 3, 6, 9

Kings will worship and bring gifts

Matthew 2:11

Hosea 11:1

The Messiah will go to Egypt…and be called out

Matthew 2:15

Jeremiah 31:15

The killing of the innocent children around the Messiah’s birth

Matthew 2:17-18

2 Sam 7:11-12, Ps 132:11, Isaiah 9:6, 16:5; Jeremiah 23:5

The Throne of David will be served by the Messiah

Luke 1:31-32

Daniel 2:44, 7:13-14; Micah 4:7

Forever rule of the Messiah

Luke 1:33

Isaiah 11:1

From David’s line a “branch”– a Nazarene

Matthew 2:23

Frankly, it is quite amazing that the prophets hit the nail on the head over the course of so many years. So amazing that to put it in perspective, we talked about an illustration found in Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell:

The following probabilities are taken from Peter Stoner in Science Speaks…Stoner says that by using the modern science of probability in reference to eight prophecies…”we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 1017.” That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.

In order to help us comprehend this staggering probability Stoner illustrates it by supposing that we take 1017 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.

This means these prophecies were either given by inspiration of God or the prophets just wrote them as they thought they should be. In such a case the prophets had just one chance in 1017 of hav­ing them come true in any man, but they all came true in Christ.

Wow does that ramp up my faith! I hope it does yours. I hope it encourages you to talk to others about our Jesus this amazing season!

Press on,

Mike

What a neat time we had in Communion together on Sunday. I was overwhelmed again by Jesus’ great love for us. It certainly caused my heart to be THANKFUL. That’s the right thing for this season!

Sometimes we people are talking about Communion, the word “Eucharist” comes up. Eucharist became the word the early church used for the bread and the cup. One of the neat things I’ve learned in the last year of is that the word “Eucharist” means “give thanks” or “thankful.” more here

It’s obvious that we have alot to be thankful for from Jesus…who gave his BODY and his BLOOD so that we could have a relationship with God. I trust that you will take time to remember…and be THANKFUL to Jesus for what He has done and for who He is this weekend.

And I have to leave you with a song. This song is one that the Israelites sang about our God when they were very Thankful. Its actually called a song of Thanksgiving:

A psalm of thanksgiving.

Shout with joy to the LORD, O earth!

2

Worship the LORD with gladness.

Come before him, singing with joy.

3

Acknowledge that the LORD is God!

He made us, and we are his.

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4

Enter his gates with thanksgiving;

go into his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and bless his name.

5

For the LORD is good.

His unfailing love continues forever,

and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

(Psalm 100 NLT)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

I’ve been reading Revelation for my Life Transformation Group. Wild stuff going on in that book. The thing that continues to jump off at me is the war between the Evil One and God. There is this battle raging…it hasn’t just started…but has been ongoing for millennia.

I guess it is coming off the pages at me because I’m seeing the war in my own life too. The battle is raging on me and all around me. There are physical things happening and spiritual things happening. They are connected you know! We’ve been discussing this in the INSTITUTE and this battle is the reality. The Bible makes it pretty clear:

A final word: Be strong with the Lord’s mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. Use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. (Ephesians 6:10-13 NLT)

My encouragement comes as the Bible tells me what will happen “after the battle.” I’m in the middle of it…and you are too. But stare into these promises which will happen in the future:

“The whole world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” (11:15 NLT)

“Fear God,” he [the angel] shouted. “Give glory to him. For the time has come when he will sit as judge. Worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all the springs of water.” (14:7 NLT)

“They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord over all lords and King over all kings, and his people are the called and chosen and faithful ones.” (17:14 NLT)

And don’t miss this one…

And from the throne came a voice that said, “Praise our God, all his servants, from the least to the greatest, all who fear him.” Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a huge crowd, or the roar of mighty ocean waves, or the crash of loud thunder: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and honor him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She is permitted to wear the finest white linen.” (Fine linen represents the good deeds done by the people of God.) And the angel said, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.” (19:5-9 NLT)

I look forward to that feast. When God is the Victor and we sit down to eat with Him! What an unbelievable moment that will be. I long for it….

That’s why I enjoy the way we celebrate communion so much–> we eat together to celebrate that feast–The Wedding Feast of Jesus. We know the battles aren’t over, but we sure need the encouragement to keep fighting. So we sorta eat a victory meal…even before the war is over. And we do so because of our confidence in the King. We know the WAR WILL BE WON!

I hope you’ll join us this Sunday morning as we celebrate our Jesus and communion together. I need the encouragement…and I bet you do to.

Sorry that I have been out of touch for quite some time. Mindi and I have had significant computer challenges over the last month. I’m actually typing this on Mindi’s machine because mine is still at the shop.

Lot’s has happened in the last month for us as well as for you. As I was looking back to last year I realized that it would be a good idea to re-send something I sent this week last year. So here you go:

“You guys are so busy!” they say as they stand in our dining room when the doorbell rings again. When people make that comment, I have often replied, “Yes, we have people in our home everyday—people from thequest, from the neighborhood, new people, whoever. We have someone in our home everyday.” Then the reply is normally, “I don’t know how you can do that…”

For more click here:

On Sunday night, Mindi’s cousin and I were walking down to Donatos to pick up some pizza for supper together with him, his wife and their baby. As we were walking a group of four teenagers crossed our path and they jumped us. They physically punched both of us. Just a facial cut and black eye for me and a sore jaw for him. No other damage really…except the intimidation factor.

As I was processing through the event, I believe that it was a scare tactic of the enemy. We were talking about seeing the world holistically…spiritual and physical together. I saw it manifest on Sunday night. No matter what the rationale of that group of kids was, I believe that it was a spiritual attack as well. The evil one and his band see me and our community as a threat. We are the enemy.

I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that you have been attacked in ways also over the last two days. It could be apathy, your pet sin issue or something even physical like mine.

Since I’m into the “old,” I figured that I better go back to a story that has been told and in print for nearly 2000 years. It’s a compelling story. It’s ramifications on what it is to be Jesus’ ambassador are great. So here goes:

In the ancient city of Colossae (in present day Turkey), there was a well to do person who was known as a man full of love and full of faith. As was customary in those days, a person of means had slaves. As you can imagine, slaves often didn’t want to be enslaved. So one day, this man realized that one of his slaves by the name of Onesimus (Oh-nes-i-mus) had run away.

This slave ran off to the big city to get lost in the crowd. He ran far, far away (approx 900 miles) to the city of Rome. As only God could have it, Onesimus ran into Paul. Maybe the guilt of running away had gotten to Onesimus or maybe a friend of Paul’s suggested that Onesimus go see him in prison. The story doesn’t say, but what it does tell us is that Onesimus came to know the forgiveness of Jesus and he became a follower of Jesus through conversation with Paul.

Then the beauty of following Jesus became evident. Paul realized that even though Onesimus had been reconciled with God, there was still reconciliation with his master to be pursued. Paul and Timothy worked together on composing a letter to be sent to the master–the man full of love and full of faith. This letter was to be carried by hand and delivered to the master. The letter was not the only thing being sent. Onesimus would also be sent at the same time.

The master’s name was Philemon and so we the letter in our Bible today that was penned by Paul and Timothy. Paul wrote this letter to Philemon to pave the way for forgiveness and reconciliation. Paul knew about reconciliation. He knew intimately about being reconciled with God. Jesus spoke to him, forgave his past, and set him on the right path. Paul also new that God had given him “the task of reconciling people to him.” (2 Cor 5:19) That reconciliation is connected to being Ambassadors. (see the context in 2 Cor 5:19-21)

This amazing story has drawn me in. It has helped me to think about being in Onesimus’ shoes. To ponder what that long journey from Rome back to his master Philemon might have been like. To think about the joy Philemon must have had to embrace Onesimus as a brother.

As I’ve mused about this, I’ve meandered through some things that Paul said explicitly about Onesimus…and I think they connect to being an ambassador for Jesus.

Onesimus was sent by Paul (vs 12)

Onesimus was called USEFUL, even though prior he was USELESS (vs 11)

Onesimus was sent as Paul’s “very heart” (vs 12)

Onesimus was sent with financial support (vs 19)

Onesimus was sent as FAMILY (vs 16)

Wow…what implications for us as Ambassadors of Jesus who are reconciled with Jesus. After our reconciliation with Jesus:

We are sent by Jesus (John 17:18)

We are USEFUL, even though prior we were USELESS (Rom 3:10-12 then Eph 2:10, 2 Pet 1:8)

We are sent as Jesus’ “very heart” (John 15:9-17)

We are sent with Jesus’ financial support (Matt 6:19-34)

We are sent as part of Jesus’ FAMILY (John 1:12, Gal 4:7)

What a privilege it is to be reconciled to God and to be an Ambassador for Jesus.

Since blogging is so cool…and I started and never kept it up…I thought I’d renew it. So I’ll at least begin to post my ramblings from the email I write each week to keep thequest family connected. You can always check out the latest at www.thequestcolumbus.com/email.html

I’m kinda into the “old,” rather than the “new” right now. I mentioned a quote from Bonhoeffer last week (because I have been reading stuff older than 2 or 3 decades lately). This quote was passed on to me a week or so ago and I thought it was worth sharing.

Benjamin Franklin was impressed by the Dunkers (early name for Brethren) because of their continual search for a better understanding of the Scriptures. He wrote, “This modesty in a sect is perhaps a singular instance in the history of mankind, every other sect supposing itself in possession of all truth . . .” (The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin)

I think that does typify our community more than 2 centuries later. We are on a search. A quest. We are trying to understand the Bible better. We are working hard to have a humble and simple approach. We are following Jesus and the Bible. We certainly don’t think we have possession of ALL truth.

Since we believe what Jesus says, we do believe we know the TRUTH. Truth is a person. At least that’s Jesus’ assertion:

Jesus told him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6 NLT

We must continue to have “such modesty” as Ben Franklin described. We don’t have the corner on all truth…but what a great thing to know The Truth. Since we know Him, we don’t have to know it all…only He does!

One last thing as we talk about searching the Scriptures, we had a good time in the Institute this past Sunday. We are learning to look, look, look at the Bible. We are studying a little letter written by Paul to Philemon…the forgiveness exhibited in this letter is astounding. I’m sure you’ll hear more about it in upcoming emails and discussions.

Press on,

Mike

Totzke Prayer Communique

Friday, August 29, 2003 11:30 AM

Dear Praying Friends,

We want to thank you for praying for us this summer while we

were in the Czech Republic. Answers to prayer were very

evident and came in all forms – Sylvia’s sister

Linda’s slow but steady recovery from the perforated

colon, safety for the teams coming from the US to do the

English camps, safety while traveling by metro, bus, and

trains to distribute Jesus film brochures, a good working

relationship with the Swains, and joy in our ministry were

all answers to your prayers.

Here are some of the highlights of what was accomplished

this summer:

· Helped to distribute over 7,500 Jesus film flyers in 10

towns surrounding Prague.

· 63 response cards have already been returned by people

requesting the Jesus film. In addition to the Jesus film,

they receive the book More Than a Carpenter, a Gospel of

John and a survey to complete after they view the film.

· Hosted three teams with a total of 30 people who came

from Wooster OH, Ashland OH, and Martinsburg PA Grace

Brethren Churches to teach the English camps.

· About 75 Czechs came to the English camps. We helped

teach the English camp with the Wooster team.

· Saw God answer prayer for Petr Masny whose wife divorced

him and didn’t permit him to see his two young sons for 15

months. The judge gave him visitation rights every other

weekend. He is grateful for your prayers. He is also

attending services at Swains.

· Sylvia was able to communicate in German and has a

desire to become more proficient in her second language.

· Our total expenses were $500 less than what we budgeted,

so we donated that $500 to the literature fund so that the

Swains can buy more Jesus film brochures, Jesus films, Four

Spiritual Laws booklets, and have the postage required to

send them.

To see more of the ministry in pictures, please view our

photo album on line at

http://groups.msn.com/TeamTotzke/pictures.

You may be wondering what’s in store for us now. As we

continued to pray and wait on God for His answers, we came

home energized to the ministry God has given us in urban

Columbus. Being involved in ministry here in the Short North

is very similar to ministry in the Czech Republic. All

people need to hear the gospel and to learn about Jesus. We

plan to continue making contacts, building relationships,

and sharing the good news that we have a Savior. The summer

confirmed that our ministry and life in Columbus is right

where God wants us to be now. To be involved in church

planting in the Czech Republic would require language skills

that would take us a minimum of four years to acquire. We

couldn’t possibly share Christ through an interpreter in a

meaningful way, but we can right here in our own culture.

Teammates are desperately needed for the Swains so that the

people who are connected to them through the Jesus film will

have more follow up and discipleship. Our role in their

ministry is to help them find potential teammates to reach

the Czech people for Christ.

Thank you for being a part of the ministry we had this

summer. You are all very important to us.

Love you all,

Larry and Sylvia

Totzke Prayer Communique

Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 6:55 PM

Subject: We’re Home!

Dear Praying Friends,

Thanks for praying for us. The trip home was uneventful —

we and our luggage got home safely. Several members of our

church were waiting for us at the airport. It’s good to be

home. We’ll write more soon wrapping up our ministry time in

Prague. Thank you for being part of our support/prayer team.

We love you all.

God bless you,

Larry and Sylvia

Totzke Prayer Communique

From: syltotzke@wideopenwest.com

Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2003 7:32 AM

Dear Praying Friends,

We’ve been in Prague for almost seven weeks now. It’s

hard to believe that the time has gone so fast. The teams

have kept us busy and we’ve had little time to catch our

breath between teams. The second team arrived at the place

where we are staying on Saturday, July 12 before the first

team left for the airport.

Besides doing the hosting activities, our role with each

team is different. On the first team we led the literature

distribution team of seven people delivering the Jesus film

brochure to mailboxes in communities surrounding Prague.

We’d board the bus at the metro station and travel 20-30

minutes to our destination. We distributed brochures for two

days in Pruhonice and four days in Ricany. We distributed

about 3700 brochures with the first team. When the

recipients opened their mailboxes and saw the brochures,

they had the opportunity to order the Jesus film for free.

Their responses go to the Campus Crusade for Christ office

in Prague and then are forwarded to George and Cindy Swain,

our hosts and the full time missionaries here. Last week we

were encouraged that already four people from Pruhonice and

18 from Ricany have requested the film. More people will

respond – maybe even months later, so we are still praying

for the people of these communities.

The second team is seven members and we are helping them

teach in the English camp – Larry in the beginners class

and Sylvia in the intermediate class. The ages of the

students in each class range from very young to retirees. We

had very little contact with the Czech students in the first

English camp, so we are enjoying this opportunity to

interact with them. Some of the intermediate and advanced

students attended the first camp as well, so they knew who

we were and now we can talk to them more. We had a very

good talk today after church with Petr, a student from the

first camp. He is going through a difficult divorce and had

not been permitted to see his two children for over 15

months. Today he told us that he will get to see them next

weekend, and he credited our prayers for that. Petr is

moving closer to God, and we are encouraged that he may

become more involved in the house church that meets at the

Swain’s.

Thanks for praying for Sylvia’s sister Linda. The update

is that she is feeling better. She still has fluid in her

stomach, and the doctors can’t figure out why it’s

there. The pain has lessened and she is driving her Miata

again. She too credits the prayers of many people in the

States and here in Prague for helping her through this

difficult time of recovery from emergency surgery.

After this second team leaves next Saturday, July 26, we

will have one week “off” before the third team arrives.

They will only be here one week, and, since there are only

eight of them, we will also help them with teaching English.

This has been an excellent experience for us in many ways,

and we are grateful for your prayers and financial support

that have helped make it possible. We continue to pray for

you. Please join us in continuing to pray for the growth of

the Church throughout the Czech Republic.

In His love,

Larry and Sylvia

Totzke Prayer Communique

From: syltotzke@wideopenwest.com

Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 12:46 PM

Dear Praying Friends,

Ahoj! That’s the informal Czech greeting for hello and

goodbye. Just think of the Beatles song, “You say hello

and I say goodbye.” It’s all ahoj to the Czechs.

Sylvia got here last Wednesday trouble free. It took a bus

ride and two metro changes to get to our pension where we

stay that is owned and operated by a Czech widow named

Yarka. She is very helpful and speaks English. The pension

has a beautiful garden with many varieties of shrubs and

flowers. That’s where we eat breakfast and just relax

after the day is over. All of the team members will stay in

this pension when they arrive beginning in a few weeks. It

will be very convenient for us to be involved with them

because of this arrangement.

We are settled into a routine that we will have until the

teams arrive. After breakfast at the pension we walk the

mile to George and Cindy Swain’s home for a morning

meeting. At that time we do some administrative stuff, pray,

learn some Czech words and phrases, and plan the ministry

activity of the day. Last Friday we went with George to

Beroun, a village that is a 30 minute train ride southwest

of Prague where we distributed 700 Jesus film flyers. George

states that within the first two weeks of a flyer

distribution, they get a 2.5% return which is higher than

the normal return for a similar distributions. George has

10,000 flyers to distribute, so we’ll be busy seeing the

countryside surrounding Prague distributing these flyers all

the while praying for the recipients’ response. The

Ashland team will be helping with this project when they

come, too. Yesterday, Monday, we went to a village a short

bus ride away and visited people who responded to the flyer

awhile ago, got the Jesus film and viewed it. One woman was

a young mother who was interested in Bible studies; another

older couple was very hospitable and invited us back for

another visit but didn’t have any interest in spiritual

things. They do know some of the Czech people in the work

here, so that it an opening.

We’ve been learning our way around Prague. On Saturday we

were on our own and found our way to the castle, old town

and many other attractions. It’s an easy city to navigate

since it’s quite compact and visitor friendly. You can

hear many languages spoken wherever you go. We still have

lots more downtown time in the future so that we can become

comfortable knowing where the important things are located

– bank, post office, restaurants, major sightseeing

venues. We do walk a lot and when we go to bed at night,

we’re tired.

Thanks for your partnership with us and thanks for praying

for Sylvia’s sister Lin. She went home from the hospital

on Thursday and is feeling stronger each day. After having

only an IV drip for almost 10 days, she’s being careful as

to what she decides to eat. She has four cats and has found

that bending over to feed them and then to change their

litter pans is something that she won’t be able to do for

a awhile. She wants to thank all of you for praying for her

while she was in the hospital. Please continue to pray for

her full recovery.

Larry and Sylvia