Volume #1 | Issue #3 | City With Foundations

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LOJ Ministries

City With Foundations

Peru & Empowering Quechuas President's Thoughts

938 Coffee Co.

The Double Edge's upcoming series The Path of DeathPrayer requests and upcoming events

Lion Of Judah LOJ Ministries seeks to strengthen Christians & churches around the world to infuse their communities with the transformative Gospel of Christ. We do this through the two arms of our organization: Hebrews4 & the Ozie Lee Project.

Hebrews4 equips & builds up Christians through the Word that is Christ: For the word of God is living & active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul & of spirit…”

The Ozie Lee Project facilitates global & domestic missions. In this we empower churches here & abroad to suffuse the Gospel throughout cities & villages in a holistic way. Our faith is not relegated to a specific area of life, rather it permeates all of life calling us into a particular kind of life, that is a Christ-centered one.

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Featured Article: Sewn Into God

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Peru 2019

Volume #1 | Issue #3 | City With Foundations

Over the past several months, LOJ Ministries has been in the process of building a partnership with missionaries in Peru. Miguel and Faithe Saccsara live in the hills of Chosica and have ministry called Empowering Quechuas.

This ministry focuses on building relationships through the platform of sports outreach and they spend time teaching workshops, organizing soccer clinics, and presenting the gospel to communities. Watch this video to find out more about the work they are doing: www.youtube.com/EmpoweringQuechuas

This April the Ozie Lee Project will be sending Aaron and Katy Weber to Peru to learn more about the ministries of Empowering Quechuas and exploring how LOJ Ministries can get involved in supporting and engaging in their programs and ministries.

LOJ Ministries is also working to develop a 48 part devotional series for Empowering Quechuas' Fùtbol Clubs that will be used to help teenagers better understand the scriptures and how to apply God's word to their lives.

We talk about death being undone and its sting being nonexistent, yet we rarely think on what that really means. Death is the cessation of life, the complete removal of one’s vitality, the demise of one’s very existence. But what we find in Christ is a complete reversal, death takes hold of Him and His life has ended. Then after three days we see that His life has not ceased, His vitality is not removed, He does not cease to exist. We have to recognize the reversal that takes place, Christ does not simply overcome and conquer death, He changes our whole understanding of death and shows that the nature of death, for the Christian, is substantially different. Jesus says that a person must lose their life, must journey through death, must die daily in order to gain their life. For the Christian death is not the cessation of life, rather it is the gateway to life and Christ Himself is the door of the gate.

We carry Christ’s death in our flesh as Paul says because it is only through our participation in His death that we can enter into His life, the life eternal in the Kingdom of Heaven. This life sprung forth from death, so how can His life be manifested in us if we do not allow ourselves to take on His death as well? Or are we not called to daily pick up our cross? That is not a nice little metaphor meant to inspire us persevere through trials and troubles. It is a direct command to walk into death that we might walk out of the other side clothed in life.

We talk about death being undone and its sting being nonexistent, yet we rarely think on what that really means. Death is the cessation of life, the complete removal of one’s vitality, the demise of one’s very existence. But what we find in Christ is a complete reversal, death takes hold of Him and His life has ended. Then after three days we see that His life has not ceased, His vitality is not removed, He does not cease to exist. We have to recognize the reversal that takes place, Christ does not simply overcome and conquer death, He changes our whole understanding of death and shows that the nature of death, for the Christian, is substantially different. Jesus says that a person must lose their life, must journey through death, must die daily in order to gain their life. For the Christian death is not the cessation of life, rather it is the gateway to life and Christ Himself is the door of the gate.

We carry Christ’s death in our flesh as Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:10 because it is only through our participation in His death that we can enter into His life, the life eternal in the Kingdom of Heaven. This life sprung forth from death, so how can His life be manifested in us if we do not allow ourselves to take on His death as well? Or are we not called to daily pick up our cross? That is not a nice little metaphor meant to inspire us persevere through trials and troubles. It is a direct command to walk into death that we might walk out of the other side clothed in life.

Death once brought an end to life, but now, in Christ, death is simply a passageway into life. Death’s effects are no longer active, its power over life has been drained. The fact that through Christ life flows out of death is a protest against what death attempts to take from us. By carrying in us the death of Christ we live out the resurrection because we look ahead to that time when these mortal bodies will be consigned to the grave yet our souls will be joined to glorified bodies. The crucifix that hangs from my rosary is a constant reminder that I carry Christ’s death in me, and like Him will be raised to life with Him. We live unto Christ who undid the power of the grave… So death can die.

President’s Thoughts

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938 Coffee Co.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Matt. 9:37–38

LOJ Ministries & The Ozie Lee Project started 938 Coffee Co. to invest in those who literally harvest fruit from their fields. That harvested fruit eventually becomes the fresh brewed coffee in your mug. Here’s the thing, the coffee farmers and processors we work with are thinking bigger than business and beyond profit. They are not so much concerned with changing their financial state, but rather they want to see their villages, communities, and nations transformed by the Gospel of Christ that is the power of God unto salvation.The farmers are using their profits to invest back into their communities, to employ others, to send kids to school, to provide suitable shelter, and to put food on tables. Our coffee processors are using their profits to train farmers in better farming techniques, to provide fair wages to farmers who are otherwise cheated by some of the coffee co-ops, and to employ and train locals so that they have a skill set and trade.Our ministry partners who assist in packaging, shipping, and distributing the coffee are using profits to fund missions initiatives in the countries where the coffee is grown. They are funding anti sex-trafficking and anti sex-slavery programs, safe-homes for rescued women, pastoral and leadership training programs around the world. They are carrying the Gospel into hostile nations and being the hands and feet of Christ to the lost and the least.We are using business to send out laborers who work to build up communities and gain access to difficult to reach places. Injustice and oppression are present throughout global businesses and industries. So, we utilize business-as-missions with an emphasis on ethical and fair-trade business practices, connecting skilled peoples in various countries to a global market that allows for them to provide for their families. We leverage these businesses as a means to support churches and Christian ministry in those communities. These businesses go beyond the bottom-line, they reach into the soul of a community with the transformational love of Christ.

How You Can Contribute

If you are interested in supporting this project while enjoying wonderful coffee products, please visit our website at: www.938Coffee.com

Your purchase will help make an impact in communities around the world and assist in our missions and ministry efforts around the world. All proceeds go to LOJ Ministries and our partner organizations in the country where the coffee originated.

We currently have Nepali coffee available: This coffee was grown in the village of Gimdi, Nepal at an elevation of 4,200ft. and processed by Manjari Coffee, our partners in Kathmandu, Nepal.

In the next few weeks we will have Peruvian coffee available.

Churches, schools, or others interested in bulk purchases please contact us at: sales@938coffee.org

This is one of the coffee companies we work with in NepalAll of their profits go to funding safe homes for women

rescued out of sex-trafficking

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Featured Article: Sewn Into God

By Dave Lenehan

If you’ve ever studied either of the apostle Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, you know they are PACKED with incredible theology, encouragement, insight and tools equipping us as followers of Christ. As I’ve been reading them again recently, I encountered some incredible passages from a fresh perspective.2 Corinthians 5:4-7 is one of those sets of verses. Read what Paul pens to his beloved church…remembering that this is actually Paul’s third letter to Christians in Corinth…his actual second one having been lost in history:

“For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight.” (NIV)

I think that phrase “but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling” is intriguing. It reminds me of Psalm 139:5 where King David notes that God, “hems me in behind and before…” To be clothed in Jesus is a pretty amazing thing. But we are not just putting on a Christian outfit or uniform per se, but our very being, who we truly are is becoming – more and more each day – like Jesus. Think of a hem in a pair of jeans. It’s solid, it takes a bit of work to tear it out; it’s not going to fall off as easily as, say, a button. God in essence sews us into Himself – we become a permanent part of Him…not easily tossed aside, not temporary. And what is the clothing Paul talks about? HEAVEN – in other words…our hope is heaven, our ‘goal’ is heaven, our home is heaven…we are to put that mindset on more and more each day. This earthly ‘tent’ that Paul writes about is only temporary…and yes, I think you would agree, it’s often full of burdens, worries, problems, etc.

But the beautiful thing is that we are not stuck in our earthly tent or earthly outfit. Nope. God has made an eternal deposit on the bank of our life…the Holy Spirit ‘guaranteeing what is to come.’ I love what Paul writes in chapter 4:16-18:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”(NIV)

So if this week you are getting hit in the face or racked in the brain with some of the troubles of this earthly tent…as the Christians in Corinth were….remember that not only are those things temporary…but as a Christian you have the guarantee of heaven…it’s a confident guarantee, nothing doubtful about it. God guaranteed it already. What an amazing hope that bring us. Live in THAT, clothe yourself daily in THAT knowledge. Enjoy your day and may I encourage you to read 1 & 2 Corinthians soon.

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The Path of DeathFor the Lenten season, Hebrews4's The Double Edge will be publishing a devotional series crafted from the very real and deep experiences of 26 of our favorite writers.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of what is called the Lenten Season, this season stretches from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday. During the season of Lent we “give up” certain things, in a sense we put them to death. The forty days (not counting Sundays) from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday are representative of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness. During this forty days we, in a sense, journey to the cross with Christ preparing to die with Him and then be raised to life with Him on Easter Sunday. So from Ash Wednesday until Good Friday we are dying to self and the world as we learn and practice complete surrender unto Christ.

Over the course of the 40 days of Lent we will be featuring a different writer sharing their reflections on Lent. These writers are walking a "Path of Death" that calls them to look within and contemplate how they are to die to self so that they may live the life that Christ has called each of them to. Please join us as a community as we gaze into the thoughts and lives of each of these writers; As they share with us their killing off of the flesh and looking ahead to the things of Christ during this peregrination.

If you would like to support us through giving please visit: www.OLPMissions.org and click "Give"

Mail checks to: LOJ Ministries P.O. Box 4261 Lynchburg, VA 24502

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a

stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the

wisdom of God.1 Corinthians 1:22-24

Please continue to pray for us as we journey ahead in the work God has prepared for us.Pray for Aaron & Katy as they prepare for their trip to Peru.Pray for Miguel & Faithe Saccsara and the work they are doing through Empowering Quechuas.

We are looking ahead to our trip to Kenya this coming July. We will provide medical care, Bible teaching, and helping hands to the workers at the Happy Life Children's Home and the Jesse Kay Children's Hospital. We would like to thank our partner The Jesse Kay Foundation for providing us with this opportunity.

We would like to highlight Mark Stengler Jr. who has been an invaluable resource and servant of Christ to LOJ Ministries. Mark leads our discipleship group Upper Room on Tuesday evenings, and he heads up our writing team for our Quechua FC devotional series. Mark, Thanks so much for your commitment and all you do for us. God bless you and Christ be with you brother.

Prayer Requests & Special Thanks