FULFILLMENT

Let me share with you about God's guidance in my life over these last 20 years and why I am going to Chad. God does not lead me with audible voices or visions but He has impressed upon me over my 42 plus years as a Christian 3 significant verses. The first is my life verse which I was impressed with when I graduated from Bible College in 1983. "So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it" 2 Corinthians 5.9.
The second verse came when I was seeking God's direction after spending a year in Chicago studying at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I was sitting in the old Alliance Church (the beehive shaped one) in Nipawin one Sunday morning when God impressed this verse upon me. "I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord" Ezekiel 37.14. That was in 1995. Shortly after receiving that verse we moved to Cambridge Ontario where I began to work as a Millwright. On a mission trip to Tunisia in 1999 I received a very special filling of the Holy Spirit which consisted of 1 1/2 days of waves of God's Spirit coming over me. I consider this as an anointing for the ministry that shortly followed and a fulfillment of Ezekiel 37.14.  During a layoff from work in 2001 I preached at Rosedale and became its full time Pastor. These nearly twelve years at Rosedale fulfilled God's 1995 word to me from Ezekiel.

I have always had a desire to serve overseas. Gloria and I seriously attempted to serve overseas at one point in our lives. I have also always had a desire to teach God's Word. In 2012 a third verse was impressed upon me from Isaiah 42.9 as I began to think it was time to end my pastorate at Rosedale. "Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them". The former Ezekiel verse was fulfilled and a new direction was in store for Gloria and I. Please take the time to read from verses 5 to 8 of Isaiah 42. They outline my new job description and a serious warning to give all the Glory to God. In searching for a mission to work with, by God's guidance He led me to World Evangelization for Christ (WEC) and through WEC working in Chad was suggested. Chad may not be my final destination for overseas work but God has led in that direction for now and I am rejoicing in that calling.

I trust this will give you a fuller background to what may seem to some as a rash and radical decision to go to Chad. My goal is to please God and I am thankful that God is allowing my adventurous spirit, boldness, and inquisitive mind to be satisfied in following His will.

Yesterday I mailed out my application for a visa for Chad to the embassy in Washington DC.
Thank you to those who have sent in support for this 4 month trip to Chad. For information on finances see the blog entry <The Holy Spirit and Means> from July 5th.

This week I purchased my ticket to Chad. I leave on September 2nd on Ethiopian Airlines arriving in Chad on September 3rd via Addis Ababa.
I finalize my vaccinations with a Yellow Fever shot and my second Hepatitis B shot on Friday.
I bought my 220 volt to 110 volt converter/adapter.
I am thrilled to report that 27 people have asked to be on the private weekly prayer email that I will regularly be sending out. This will not be a long email and will have specific prayer requests each week. The first email will be sent this week. If you would like to be included in this mailing send me an email <rtulip231@gmail.com> and I will add your name to the list.
I think I will be returning home from Alberta at the end of July as there is not much work for Packer drivers at this time and there is maintenance needing to be done at home.
I have been reading two "can't put them down" books on the history of Islam and Shari'a and understand much better the present turmoil and some of the conflicts and factions within the movement. Islam has a rich heritage but over the centuries has struggled to determine the true way of Islam and how to interpret and apply the law, a fascinating struggle that all religions go through.

Send up a prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters who love Jesus and are willing to die for that love. How precious is our God and Father, His Son Jesus, and the Word He has left us to treasure.

BEAUTIFUL ALBERTA - AMAZING GOD

Greetings from beautiful Alberta. I count it a privilege and blessing from God to be working in the oilfields in Alberta. Nearly every day while driving to work I have to be careful not run into a deer or two that is crossing the highway. This week I had to brake to let a large geese family cross the highway. This week I saw a fox carrying home his dinner of prairie dog, a wolf crossing the field, and some amazingly colorful birds and ducks. I have seen moose, elk and caribou when I was up north. The scenery here is also breathtaking. Truly God is amazingly creative and loves His creation even more than His creation does. Imagine the intelligence of God who created all this, organized it to function as it does, all the biological systems of each animal, their built in instincts and ability to adapt to their circumstance. Who could be so foolish to believe all this evolved. The greatness of God and the animals and landscape before my eyes brings me to tears. The ungodliness and irrelevance of God in the lives of those around me is also constantly amazing to me and brings a different kind of tears. The blindness and heart-hardening effect of sin is so very real. I am amazed that anyone can truly know God and belong to Him. Only the Grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit can make that possible in anyone. There is no place for a man or woman or young person coming to God on their own apart from the work of God upon them to convict of sin and salvation in Jesus Christ.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Sunrise in Northern Alberta

Two kinds of oil from Alberta: Canola and Crude

Duck nest discovered while I was cutting grass on a lease site

Amazing full rainbow seen during a severe storm while driving to work

Herd of Elk. Alberta is not just raising cattle

No I am not shooting Elk. Guns are part of life in Alberta

This week I am going to apply for my Visa to Chad so please pray with me that all will go smoothly. I also need to get two more vaccines in the next couple of weeks. I am planning to send out my first private prayer letter next week so if you have not yet requested to be on that mailing list send me an email at rtulip231@gmail.com and ask for your name to be put on the list. For financial information and how to support my mission to Chad see the July 5th blog. I hope to be back in Welland around August 11th to do some house repairs before orientation begins on August 18th. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported Gloria while I have been away. Please continue to remember Gloria as she makes my time in Alberta and my time in Chad possible.

My friends take time this week to lay down on the grass and enjoy the sun and to look at the clouds as they wift by and just think and imagine who your God is and all that you have in Christ. May the great peace of God envelope you and lead you to practice this activity more often.

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND MEANS

Greetings,
I love these guys and gal and pray that above all else God will get a hold of their hearts and use their unique personalities and gifts for His Glory.

Vance and Papa in Nipawin

Keegan, Oliver, Jonas and Rael

 To bring unbelievers - who have followed for hundreds of years, and some for over a thousand years, a religious system that brings under its influence all law, culture, family, and work - to receive Christ as their Savior and Lord requires the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. God is working in those kind of all-inclusive religious systems revealing Jesus as the only way to a relationship with God and bringing an understanding of truth. Those converts, our brothers and sisters in Christ, pay a dear price to follow Jesus and confess a new authority in the Bible. We are obliged to pray for and stand with our brothers and sisters in any way we can.

Bringing the Gospel of the Kingdom to these monolithic religious systems takes prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit. But it also requires believers to go and be witnesses and share the message. Witnesses need to be patient, repeating the message again and again, answering a multitude of questions, showing love and integrity, being helpful to meet needs, being content with little fruit over a long period of time with the hope that one day God may bring more fruit even though that fruit may be through someone else.

The missionary also needs a solid home team to pray and to provide for his needs on the field as God directs them. Thank you to those who have signed up to receive my private weekly email of prayer requests. This email will begin this month and will have more specific information for prayer. If you would like to have your name included on this prayer list send me an email at <rtulip231@gmail.com>. I covet your prayers for Chad and my work there.

I want to represent you in Chad. I am willing to pay the price to be your witness in Chad as God gives me a willing heart and grace to stay the course, whatever that course may be. If you would like to partner with me in this mission please commit yourself to prayer. If you would like to financially support my mission to Chad you can do that in two ways. For those who are connected to Rosedale Baptist Church you can donate to the Chad Mission Fund. Rosedale will forward these funds to WEC. Others can send checks directly to WEC Canada at 37 Aberdeen Ave, Hamilton ON, L8P 2N6. Please do not write my name on the check but include a note saying for Ron Latulippe going to Chad. Donations can also be given to WEC by credit-card by calling 905-529-0166.

I am pleased to be working with WEC (World Evangelization for Christ, www.wec-canada.org) because of its focus on prayer and dependence on God`s provision. 100% of money donated to my trip to Chad goes to that purpose, WEC does not charge administrative fees and in my case does not take any deductions off.  Donations will be used to cover my flight costs to Chad and back, numerous vaccinations I need to get before I leave, my visa, costs for living and traveling in Chad, travel insurance and two weeks of orientation at WEC headquarters in Hamilton at the end of August.

Recognition of spiritual need, coming to repentance and confession of faith in Jesus Christ is a supernatural work of God. But God also uses means - the prayers and witness of His people. In some way I am part of God`s means for a small part of His work in Chad. To God I give thanks for that opportunity.

If you have any questions you can send me an email.

**Remember to let me know if you want to be

on my private prayer email list. **