Glory be to God and to the Lamb who sits on the throne! 

Recently, we had a baptism and four people took the plunge to confess their faith in Christ publicly. It was a wonderful day in the Lord. We rented a tent and set it up with chairs outside and they invited their friends and family to their baptism. That morning, I expounded on the righteous demands of God's holy Law, God's justice in condemning guilty transgressors, the reality of the judgment to come, and the satisfaction of Christ's perfect work from Romans 3:19-26. Later, they each testified in turn of Christ's glorious saving power, and we gave glory to God for their lives as they were immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Being baptized were the elderly couple who has been congregating with us since the beginning of this year, their son who has been recently converted, and another lady.

The older couple came out of Catholicism at the beginning of the year, and were congregating with us, but seemned to have no assurance of salvation for quite a time. The first to profess faith with assurance was the woman, and for a while later the man still had no assurance. Her life seemed to be radically transformed, and she was lit up with the hope of the Gospel and sharing her newfound hope continually with everyone around her. She would boldly exclaim that she now knew Catholicism was not the way, but that Christ's perfect finished work did for her what religion could never do. However, the man still had no assurance. But one day they came into the church and the man explained how one day as he was praying, the presence of God descended upon him and left him in a holy fear, and he was struck by the holiness of God with a deep sense of his own sin and guilt, and then he saw the cross for the first time, understanding the glory of the cross and having a true repentance birthed in his heart. He was teary eyed as he shared, yet lit up with a glowing joy at the same time, saying that he now knows Jesus Christ had saved him. I could tell something was different. It was a glorious answer to many prayers and the fruit of many sermons and much time spent with them explaining the Gospel. Our God is faithful and His Word doesn't return void. This couple have been continually congregating faithfully, reading the Scriptures, seeking the Lord, and testifying. 

Their son was also baptized, who was converted about 3 months ago. This is the person I wrote about in the last update saying we didn't think he was saved yet. By the grace of God, it appears that our sovereign Lord has done a genuine work of grace in his heart. This man was previously living a life of extreme depravity, drug addiction, and all sorts of debauchery. He was openly antangonistic to the Gospel and hated it, denouncing it with cursing and bitterness. His parents had such a tremendous burden for him and at every prayer meeting, they would request that we pray for his salvation and we would pray. Shortly after the Spirit of God particular pressed us to pray one night after a Bible study, this man showed up on Sunday! He heard the Word and was filled with questions afterward, asking me how he can be free from his addictions and sins. The very next day, he completely stopped smoking and was clean from drugs and alcohol. Yet he still had no assurance of salvation. He would come to the prayer meetings after that, weeping and crying out to God to save him. He lived in fear of death and the wrath of God, knowing he wasn't right. He continually congregated, hearing the Word of God. Then, one night several weeks later as he was reading John 1, he read verse 12 and instantly was flooded with an assurance that God had forgiven his sin and adopted him as His son. He came in the next meeting of the church after that, and told me that he now knew he was saved. His countenance was different -no longer weighed down with an unbearable burden of sin, sorrow and guilt. His manner of dressing soon changed, he cut his long hair off, destroyed his worldly music and movies, and cut off all ties with his old friends. And no one told him to do all that! This was several months ago, and he has been persevering since. Prior to this, he was a devout Catholic (despite his evident life of sin), but now confesses that CHRIST ALONE saves. His testimony is a powerful example of the grace of God and the power of prayer.

Also baptized was a lady who has been congregating for over a year but had never been baptized. For a long time, she seemed to lack a deep rooted conviction that she was Christ's. We met her over a year ago as we were preaching on the streets downtown. She listened and began to congregate with our previous church ever since hearing us on the streets. Then, ever since we started the church plant, she has been congregating with us. She testifies that she was not saved when she first heard us preaching, but has since come to know Jesus Christ.

We are praying that God will save more souls in our midst, believing He is not only able but also willing to do it. Please join your prayers with ours that God would save souls in Guadalajara, Mexico. The church plant is moving forward. Christ will build His church, for His glory.

Brethren, I have been praying not just for a church, but for a church planting movement to be ignited in this desperately needy nation. Is our God not mighty, wonderful, powerful and able to do it? Is He not faithful to keep His promises? Is it not His will to save souls? If He can plant one church, can He not plant 10? And if 10, can He not plant 100?

PRAYER REQUESTS:

- Pray for these new believers to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, to be rooted and grounded in love, to be immersed in the Scriptures with a continual and increasing hunger to know God more, to be kept from all sin and temptation, to be in unity with one another as we fellowship as a church, etc.
- Pray for Lina as the bulk of her ministry now consists in caring for these orphaned children we've taken in.
- Pray for the salvation of these 4 children. We are also attempting to take in 2 more soon. Please pray for this.
- Pray for me to teach and preach the Word faithfully in the church plant. I need much grace in this area and I am very needy.
- Pray for a strong, healthy, Holy Spirit filled and flourishing Christ-exalting biblical church to be planted in Guadalajara that would become a stronghold for the Gospel and an Antioch for sending out laborers to the rest of the nation.
- Pray for souls to get saved, particularly those who are hearing the Gospel and have been coming to our meetings or hearing the Word preached in downtown evangelism. 

On Saturday, June 25 2011 the children arrived. They are 4 boys. The Casa Hogar (Children's Home) has officially begun! Here is a pic of us with the kids, with the van in the background that the Lord provided:

We've been extremely busy with the kids this past week, getting to know them, teaching them, and attempting to train them in obedience. They are behind in schooling and need a lot of work to be able to read and write, among other things. This past week, we've been getting used to the new schedule and a new season in life and ministry. We need lots of grace and wisdom to live out the love of Christ before them and to teach them the Word of God and practical life skills. Please pray for us and for the salvation of these children. This is a mission not to just raise children, but to care for them and be salt and light around them, teaching them the Word constantly with the earnest cry to God in our hearts that He would save them and make them followers of Jesus Christ. We eventually want to take in more children as the Lord leads and makes His will known. Yet our desire is not to run a large institution full of children who are treated as numbers and neglected because of a lack of ability to spend time with them because of large quantity, but our desire is to treat them as we would our own kids, and to manage the Casa Hogar like a big family centered around Christ. We thank God and give Him glory for opening these doors, providing for our needs according to His riches in glory, and showing Himself faithful in our midst. Brethren, pray for us!

The church plant has been progressing and going forward. The membership has grown since the last update. The Lord has been moving and saving. The man I wrote about in the last update a couple months ago, who began to come around but was bound in sin and drugs, seems like he has been radically saved! His life has been transformed. He's been completely free from drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes for about 3 months now. He has a great hunger for the Word of God and congregates every week at every meeting of the church. He demonstrates an obvious sensitivity to sin, a fear of God, humility, and a desire to please God and do His will. He has requested to be baptized along with his parents within the next couple of weeks. His parents are also new converts. If all goes as planned, the family will be baptized then. They all show evident fruit and profess to have assurance that Jesus Christ has saved them. There is also another person who is a fairly recent convert, who has been congregating for over a year now and has expressed interest in baptism. I am exhorting and trying to push the church forward to cry out to God to save more souls in our midst. 

We are very grateful for the grace of God toward unworthy dogs like us. Our teaching ministry in Spanish through the website www.cristianismobiblico.com has been reaching many with the truth of God's Word. According to website statistics, there are between 200 to 400 unique visitors to the site every day. On that site, we are hosting our sermons in audio and video, and putting many different articles and teachings. Our burden is to spread sound doctrine throughout Latin America, and the website has been an excellent tool for working toward this goal. We constantly receive a steady stream of people writing us through the website who express gratitude for the teachings on it. If you know of anyone who speaks Spanish, please pass the website link along to them. 

One thing we desire to do is to begin conducting conferences on the true Gospel and biblical evangelism around Mexico. The ministry through the website has been opening doors for this and numerous pastors have been contacting us. In October, if the Lord wills, we are booked for our first conference in northern Mexico. If we can teach the biblical Gospel, and teach men how to share the biblical Gospel through the means of purposeful and persevering evangelistic outreach, we can make a big step forward in reaching Mexico with the Gospel. We can't do all this alone, but if we can train men and then they can go do it, our efforts can be multiplied.  

There is such a tremendous need for evangelism and for teaching sound doctrine that no words can describe it. 


-Pray for the children (ex-orphans) we've taken in that they will come to know our glorious Lord Jesus.
-Pray that we would have grace and patience to minister to these children effectively.
-Pray that the family that wants to be baptized soon will continue to hold fast to the faith they've professed and to press on faithfully. Being recent converts, they have many battles and struggles, and still don't understand many things. Though they demonstrate that God has done a work in their souls, being babes in the faith they need lots of prayer. 
-Pray that God would save souls and add to the church here. Please cry out to God to save more souls here and add to His church those who are being saved!
-Pray that the church would grow in depth and in number, because the more it grows in number by means of having true disciples of Jesus Christ added to it, the more laborers there are to launch forth with the Gospel and the more resources there are to multiply our outreaches and ministries (and eventually to plant more churches, which is our ultimate burden, desire and vision).
-Pray that Josef, Lina and brother Aaron wouldn't get drained spiritually through everything that is going on. There is so much more happening than is possible to write in this update, and sometimes I feel weary and discouraged. With everything happening around us, it's easy to forget about the "necessary thing", sitting at the Master's feet and admiring His majesty. On top of all the activity, it's easy to become discouraged and saddened that we have not seen more fruit in our midst. Yet our hope is in our God. He will not let us down. 

If you believe the Lord would have you to help us financially, information on how to support us can be found on the “Donate” page of our website: www.puregospeltruth.com. We are able to live, preach the Gospel, plant a church, show hospitality, help other missionaries, distribute Bibles and literature, and care for orphans in Mexico only because of God’s grace and gracious provision by means of His people. We are so grateful for your prayers and support and know it will bear fruit into eternity. May Jesus Christ be glorified in Mexico and made famous among the nations.

by Josef & Lina Urban

Dear brethren and friends,

My heart has been weighed down over the state of the Gospel in Mexico. As I sit here, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, there is a large map of the nation in front of me hanging on the wall. As I ponder the vastness of the nation before us, and the desperate need for the proclamation of the biblical Gospel in all corners of this Gospel-barren and sin-soaked land, a real sense of the immensity of the task at hand grips my soul with a sense of urgency and desperation. Questions begin to flood my mind. How can we most effectively labor in the city of Guadalajara in order to impact not only Guadalajara, but the rest of the nation with the biblical Gospel? How can we, being so few, so weak, so pitiful, so under-trained, so lacking in resources, even begin to make inroads into this nation with the truth of Jesus Christ? How can we make any impact whatsoever? It all appears as if we’re just tossing a pebble into the vast ocean with all our efforts and preaching. We need more brethren to catch a vision, a burden, and a passion for reaching Mexico with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I often compare Mexico to Lazarus, the poor beggar. I know this is not a teaching in the text itself, but suffer me to use it by way of analogy. "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table” (Luke 16:19-21). As the rich man feasted and Lazarus longed to eat just the crumbs of what fell from his table, so it is, spiritually speaking, between the USA and Mexico. The USA is sitting at the banquet table of feasting upon the greatest teaching resources, theological resources, monetary resources, and more in the church, while Mexico is like the poor beggar who longs to just have a crumb of what America is feasting upon.
 
Brethren, the Christian church at large in Mexico is theologically shallow and destitute of the rich fatness of sound biblical doctrine. It is in desperate need of missionaries to come here and to just teach sound doctrine. On top of this, the population at large sits under the yoke of Catholicism, empty religion, idolatry, and religious superstition, ignorant of the true God. We are in the midst of a region where, according to statistics, if indeed such are to be counted as accurate, only 2-3% claims to be Christian (as opposed to Catholic). I do not think this statistic is too far off. Mexico has barely a crumb of the amount of light, Gospel truth, and access to biblical teaching and theological resources that America has had.

This means that we must not back up, let up, or coward out. Our resources are scanty, our number few, and our stature very small. Yet our God is very big. We must press on for the sake of our King who has given us command to herald and proclaim His glorious Gospel. He is mighty to save. He will build His church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it!

God has shown Himself faithful in our midst, brethren. We have some exciting testimonies to share with you in this update. The Lord has opened up the doors for us to take in orphans. Such is an awesome opportunity to not only obey the biblical mandate to do such, but to also invest in the lives of these little ones, to show them the practical love of Jesus Christ, and to, most importantly, teach them the Word of God. We are greatly in need of your prayers at this time. 


CHURCH PLANTING UPDATE

The more we progress in planting a church in Guadalajara, the more I’m convinced that it is only through church planting that we can see a lasting, persevering, Christ-glorifying, fruit-enduring work of God established in this city. We are pressing on by the ability which Christ gives, and by the grace of our mighty God we are seeing some fruit as a result of our labors, praying earnestly that God will save more souls and raise up laborers to preach.

Our Sunday meetings in the church have been averaging somewhere between 12-20 people. Our prayer meetings and Bible studies have also grown some since the last update. God has been blessing our time together with His sweet presence. The believers are growing in grace. God is supernaturally granting our requests as we meet together every week to seek His face and cry out for Him to move in power. Many people come through visiting and hear the exposition of God’s Word.

In reality, so much has been going on with relation to the church plant that there is no time or space here to tell of it all. Yet we are convinced that God is moving and raising up a lasting work in this city. Though we greatly desire to see the church grow numerically (by means of genuine salvation) we also realize that it’s just as important that it grow spiritually (by means of a deeper work of growing in grace and sanctification in each person). It seems like the Lord is doing both in our midst, in His own manner of doing things and in His own timing. Yet He is at work and for that we praise Him!

The older couple I mentioned in the last update is still congregating with us. The husband still does not seem to be saved. Please cry out for his salvation before the throne of grace. However, the wife recently professed to be saved. This happened in a meeting of the Lord’s Supper. After Aaron proclaimed the Gospel, and I explained the meaning of the bread and fruit of the vine, during the partaking of the bread and juice, her heart rose up in prayer to God and she testifies that she trusted in Christ with all her heart. She did not partake of the Lord’s Supper since we explain it’s only for believers who have been baptized. But after the meeting, she was beaming with tears and joy, and enthusiastically told Lina: “Lina, I know I’m saved!” Lina asked her why. She responded: “Because Jesus died for me! I know He saved me!” She said she had a revelation of Christ and of His finished work as the bread and juice were administered and trusted Christ with simple faith like a child. Ever since then, she has testified without wavering that God saved her there, and has been testifying to friends and family about Christ. This was a couple months ago and she still continues strong and congregating faithfully.

Ever since she has professed to be saved, she has been praying relentlessly for her children to get saved. At our prayer meetings every week, we would pray particularly for one of her sons who was in heavy bondage to alcohol and drugs. We prayed continually when we gathered together that God would save him. Recently, that son went into a drug rehab center and came out. Then, the Lord started getting a hold of him. He came to the meeting of the church one Sunday and I preached on the text, “Believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). He has been drug and alcohol free, and crying out to Christ to save him. Over a week ago now, he completely stopped smoking cigarettes (he used to smoke 40 per day). He has been coming to our meetings on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, eager to hear God’s Word and claiming to desperately want to be saved. We are praying that God will save him and confirm his faith by the inward testimony of the Spirit of adoption.

God is answering some of prayers beyond any doubt. We have seen His hand at work. Several people seemed to be deeply moved by the Word of God recently. It seems like the Lord was calling one man in particular who, after the meeting, approached me and said, “I realize I’m a sinner, I’ve committed horrible sins, and I want to follow Jesus and give Him my life. How can I follow Jesus?” We spent a couple hours with him and it seems like the Lord was giving him revelation from Heaven in understanding Scriptures we would show him. He said he felt the Word enter his heart and felt different inside. This is a man who had no prior background in Christianity whatsoever.

Please pray! And keep praying! If you want a more detailed update, with more testimonies, contact us on skype. Contact info is at end of this update.

 
TO LAUNCH AN ORPHANAGE

By the grace of our great God, we are now in the plans of starting a small orphanage in Guadalajara. This has come about by miraculously answered prayers and by God’s miraculous provision for a house. Here’s a few statistics about orphans in Mexico, according to online sources:

► There are 1,600,000+ orphans in Mexico.
► Mexico has the second highest orphan rate among Latin American countries.
► 15% of the minor population (0-17 years) are orphaned children.

In Mexico, domestic violence rages, broken families abound, kidnapping and murders leave many children fatherless, and drug and substance abuse cause many children to be permanently removed from their families by the government. The DIF, a government agency, has a surplus of children that have no real parents (either dead or as good as dead to them), and this agency takes them and puts them into orphanages all over Mexico. The DIF always has a surplus of children with not enough orphanages to care for them. This means there is a dire need for orphanages to be planted. However, all of these orphanages are required to pay their own expenses, as the government does not help them at all.

It has been in our heart to help orphans in Mexico for a long time, though there was scarcely the opportunity to do it. Now, the opportunity has fallen right on into our lap without any major striving or effort of our own! Through a series of events and circumstances, the doors are swung wide open to take in orphans and plant an orphanage. Let me share how it came about.

MIRACULOUS PROVISION FROM A SOVEREIGN GOD

About a year and a half ago, there was a tremendous tugging on my heart to help orphans in Mexico. At that time, we were renting a tiny little house for about $275 per month and were strapped when it came to financial support. We were just scraping by financially and had no means for starting any sort of work with orphans. However, I prayed, and realizing that starting any sort of orphanage was then out of the question, searched diligently for a Christian orphanage to partner with. During that time, at a birthday party, I met a man who is the director of an orphanage in Guadalajara. After talking with him a while, I discovered that he was the man in charge of Keith Green’s orphanage in northern Mexico for many years. He began to tell me about how he knew Leonard Ravenhill and David Wilkerson and the history of the orphanages he works with. We immediately got along very well and realized we had much in common when it came to understanding biblical salvation. It wasn’t long after that we began visiting his orphanage in Guadalajara and spending more time with him and his wife. Since then, we have been helping them.

Now, recently, we were with a group of brethren at our Wednesday evening prayer meeting. That day, our usual borrowed room in a mall was booked and we had nowhere to pray. So we went to a nearby park and were forced to pray in public. We decided to start praying that God would provide a large enough house near downtown Guadalajara for us to have our meetings in as a church, so as to not to continue to have to battle to find places to meet. That day we prayed together specifically that the Lord would provide a house near downtown. Then, two days later, a brother in the Lord (who doesn’t congregate with us) contacted us and said that he knows some Christians who were looking to support a church planting work and he told them about us and they decided to rent a house for us for a year. They decided to pay the rent on our behalf for a year. It was a miraculous answer to prayer! Total strangers wanting to rent the house we need, who had no idea that we had just prayed two days before!

We then realized that the amount they pledged could rent a large enough house for us to have extra space to use for the Lord’s work. Immediately I thought of the orphans. Would it be possible now to take in orphans and use this house for the glory of God by visiting the fatherless in their affliction? We immediately called the director of the already existing orphanage and asked about the possibility.

It turns out that because of a tremendous provision, he told us that we could start an extension of their orphanage. It would technically be considered, for all legal purposes, a part of their institution, but we would be in charge of it in all practical purposes. He and his wife were rejoicing at the possibility and we committed it to prayer and seeking counsel.

TO TAKE A STEP OF FAITH

After praying and receiving counsel from many brethren, we believe it’s the Lord’s will to move forward and take in orphans. We have now rented the house and it has ample space to start this work. The new house is pictured below:

We are now in the process of preparing to take in the children. We have much to prepare, both spiritually and physically. We can desperately use your prayers at this time as we have so much to learn and so little experience in many things.

The house still needs a lot of work; mostly little things here and there. We need to purchase furniture for the children (bunk beds, dressers, etc.) and many other things to prepare before taking in the first children.

Numerous people have asked how we plan to provide for the children. The answer is through prayer and trusting God. In the same way He has provided for our needs on the mission field these 3+ years, God, in answer to prayer, will provide for the least of these little ones. We desire that God would get glory for His name in providing for the needs of these orphans as we commit everything into His hands. He is faithful and He will not let us down. If He has brought us this far, will He not take us all the way?

This is a huge step for us and a huge transition in the ministry God has been pleased to entrust to us. I move forward with much fear and trembling. My only consolation is that God is with us. My great prayer is that God would raise up soldiers for Jesus Christ in Mexico.

Our current plan is to take in the first children in June if the Lord wills. The children we will be taking, at least initially, are already at the other orphanage, and we have been given the privilege of choosing which ones to take. We are not sure yet as to all of the children we will take, but have so far decided to take in two boys who are brothers as the first ones. They are pictured below with Lina:

We’re not yet sure what is the ultimate number of children we should have. It is our prayer that as we step out in faith in this work, that the Lord will raise up faithful brothers and sisters to volunteer and help us care for these children. Our goal is not to just care for the needs of orphans, but to teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all facets of life, that they may serve and glorify the blessed Lord of glory their whole lives.

We praise God for the great things He has done and is doing and we believe that this work with the orphans will not hinder, but actually help, the mission to plant a healthy biblical church in Guadalajara, especially if the Lord is pleased to look down upon us poor pitiful creatures with delight and pour out the blessings of Isaiah 58 upon us.

We earnestly beseech you to pray for us during this time. May God be pleased to demonstrate biblical Christianity in our midst and glorify His beloved Son.
 

EVANGELISM AND OPEN AIR PREACHING

God has chosen to use the foolish things of this world to stand up publicly and proclaim a message that is foolishness to this world and has ordained to use the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe (1 Cor. 1:21, 27). Yet the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. Standing up in a public square and proclaiming the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ may seem foolish and ineffective in the eyes of the carnal mind, but God has commanded His people to preach whether the world wants to hear it or not.

We have not been attracting any large crowds as we preach the Gospel downtown. Yet, almost every time we preach, there are some who stop to listen who otherwise would never hear, because they have never stepped foot in a Christian church and had no plans of doing so. While the majority pass by and refuse to listen, there are some who are detained by the Spirit of God and feel a weight of conviction press down upon their sinful soul at the hearing of the Word of God. By preaching in the open air, we are able to reach those who otherwise would never hear the Gospel.

In the heart of the “Circle of Silence” (the region of Mexico with the least percentage of Christians), Catholicism is a major stronghold and the last thing a devout Catholic is going to do is attend a Christian church. Even though we are working at planting a biblical church in this desperately needy city, the fact remains that without going out into the highways and hedges and compelling men to come into the Kingdom of God, they will never hear the glorious invitation to eternal life in Christ. Only by the public, aggressive proclamation of the living Word of God can we see this city, region, state, and nation adequately reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Inner city evangelism and open air preaching has been our primary means of sowing the precious Gospel seed. We have and are continuing to proclaim the Gospel, and slowly but surely by the grace of God are making inroads into the heart of this city with the truth of God’s Word. The majority of those who visit our Sunday meetings in the church plant are those who heard the proclamation of God’s Word downtown. Also, the majority of those who congregate consistently with us are with us because they initially heard one of us preaching in the open air downtown. So, while such a method may seem foolish to the world, it is bearing fruit. A church’s foundation must be the preaching of the GOSPEL, for the church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth, and the Gospel is the heart and essence of all truth. We refuse to resort to using carnal and man-made methods which compromise biblical principles in order to draw people into the church. By evangelizing people personally, and proclaiming the Gospel publicly, God is building His church. While we have and are seeing some fruit from the evangelism, we greatly long to see our great God save sinners and do a mighty work of outpouring grace in our midst. We are crying out for God to show Himself mighty to save in our midst.

There have been too many conversations and encounters to possibly detail them here. We constantly run into everybody from religious hypocrites and cult members, to drunkards and drug addicts, to nice moral family people, and everything in between as we testify of Christ. Your prayers are greatly longed for, that God would cause more fruit to spring forth from our evangelistic efforts for His glory. Christ is worthy. We must press on.

TRIPS TO THE USA

We are still in the process of coming under the oversight of Grace Community Church of San Antonio, TX. We recently made another trip there and spent a couple weeks in fellowship with the church. Lord willing, we may be taking another trip in several weeks, before taking in the first orphans. We believe that coming under their oversight will help us, provide accountability, help to sharpen our effectiveness on the mission field, and be a great blessing as they pray for us, as well as a source of potential future co-laborers. All of this is extremely important for missionaries, and having such accountability over us will ensure our supporters and friends that we are submitted to biblical leadership and not straying into error. If you are in or around San Antonio and would like to meet up with us while we’re there, contact us. The church’s website is: http://www.gccsatx.com/.
 

NATIONALIZATION IN MEXICO

Some time ago, after a long, debilitating and somewhat stressful series of events, I (Josef) finally obtained immigrant status in Mexico! This means that I will no longer be forced to leave the country in order to renew my permission to stay, and such gives me more rights and protection within the country. After having this immigrant ID card for two years, I may then be eligible to obtain citizenship (dual-citizenship). I greatly appreciate those who prayed for this while we were going through the long process.
 

LABORERS BEING RAISED UP

As we are laboring to plant a church and orphanage in Guadalajara, and reach Mexico with the Gospel, we have a need for more laborers.  As the work expands, so does the need for more laborers. And as we have more laborers, so we likewise have more opportunity to expand our labors.

One Mexican brother from Guadalajara that we have been pouring into for about 2 years now is considering the possibility of entering the ministry to teach God’s Word. He recently left for Peru and is now spending 6 months with the church in Lima that Paul Washer planted in order to study theology. The institute he is studying at is the Heartcry base in Peru where all their Latin American missionaries must study. We’re praying that God will use this time tremendously to equip and raise this brother up. After these 6 months, his plan is to return to Guadalajara.

There are also several others who are praying about the possibility of joining us as missionaries. Please pray that God will have His perfect way, and if He is calling them to come here that He will make His will clear to all. Our Lord told us to pray for the Father to raise up more laborers. We have His Word on it.

If you believe the Lord would have you to help us financially, information on how to support us can be found on the Donate page of our website. We are able to live, labor, preach the Gospel, plant a church, show hospitality, help other missionaries, distribute Bibles and literature, and care for orphans in Mexico only because of God’s grace and gracious provision by means of His people. We are so grateful for your prayers and support and know it will bear fruit into eternity.

We have now changed the location of our meeting place on Sundays. It used to be in our house, but the location was just too far for everybody, being on the edge of this giant city. The Lord has now provided a place right in the middle of downtown Guadalajara just a few blocks away from where we usually preach. It's a hotel conference room high up on the top level of the hotel, with a nice view of the city. 

Here's the room with Aaron preparing to play the guitar for our hymns:
 

Right from the windows on the right of the room, we have a direct view of the city's chief Synogogue of Satan (the central Catholic Cathedral). We're really just a few blocks away from it. The bells go off every time our meeting is starting, reminding us of what we're up against. May the Lord lift up a standard against the lies of empty religious superstitions. May the Gospel of the grace of God and the Good News of Jesus Christ, that His work IS FINISHED be proclaimed and taught in this city boldly, and may the risen, glorified, living and reigning Christ be exalted high above the dead "jesus" who takes on the form of a cracker every Sunday to be a continual propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of those in attendance. Think about it brethren, they are worshiping a cracker and calling it Jesus Christ. We must preach the living Christ! The book of Acts says that the apostles gave testimony to the resurrection with great power (Acts 4:33). Jesus Christ is alive! If they only knew, if they only truly knew, it would change everything. If you are a Catholic and you are reading this know that I have nothing against any Catholic personally, I truly love Catholics, but the religion of Rome contradicts God's written Word in almost every way and has historically been guilty of murdering Christians for preaching the Gospel and translating the Bible. Please visit this page on our website to learn why Catholicism is not biblical Christianity. Here's the view from the window:

The Lord really opened the door for this conference room. Normally, the hotel charges 2,000 pesos per session (about $185 dollars US). But they lowered the price for us. It would have originally cost 8,000 pesos per month to rent, but they are giving it to us for only 2,000 pesos per month! Praise the Lord! It is a great bargain and a perfect location, and a nice room. Yet even still, it is another expense and we are in need of brethren to hold the rope for us. May the Lord provide and may the Lord raise up a biblical church in the center of Guadalajara for His glory. Oh brethren, you have no idea how drastically important, how utterly essential, how drastically strategic this church plant is in the center of this city. It would be a witness right in the middle of this Catholic city. And since this city is a crossroads in Mexico, it would reach the rest of the nation for Jesus Christ if the Lord would raise up a healthy strong church plant here. Please consider coming behind us on this and pray for us, oh, pray for us desperately!

We now have three weeks in the new location. A few new people have already come that would not have come otherwise. One young lady came who is on the verge of divorce and came and sought us out looking for help. After the meeting, she confessed her sin and wept and we all prayed to the Lord for her. We also had a lady return who used to come to our meetings that we had downtown in early 2009. Now that we're back in centro, she can make it to the meetings without too much difficulty (she's an elderly lady). As a result of prayer, the Lord seems to have healed her as she used to walk with so much difficulty, using a walker, but now walks without a walker and with much more ease! This is her testimony brethren, you can believe it or not, it's what she shared and we have seen there's a big difference in her. She came and testified in our meeting for His faithfulness (not only in the healing but in everything) and we all gave glory to God. It had been a long time since we had last seen her. She now went to visit family for a little while in Baja California but she said that when she gets back she is going to fellowship with us as long as we're all there. Here's a picture of us with her:

There is another young lady who we met a long time ago while preaching downtown. She started fellowshipping at our previous church and has been attending there faithfully for about a year. But since our church plant downtown is about half the distance (she used to travel 2 hours each way) she is now attending our meetings. Last Sunday she brought 2 of her unsaved family members and they too heard the Word of God.

Currently, we have two brothers in the Lord who are fellowshipping with us, Artemio and Giancarlo. There are a couple more unconverted men that visit regularly also (one of them is David, the old man who is a former Catholic -he is still unconverted and openly admits he is full of unbelief). With the elderly lady (if it's the Lord's will that she come back soon from B.C.) and the other young lady, that's two sisters in the Lord also. So with Lina and I, Aaron, Giancarlo, Artemio, and the two ladies, that makes 7 believers who are a part of this fellowship. In addition, we constantly get visitors who come and go and hear the Word of God. 

Some of you may be wondering about our Ecclesiology. I hope to write it all out in more detail soon if the Lord wills. This church plant will be based on the 9 Marks model with a slight modification to the "membership" mark. That is, we're not following a traditional model of membership where one joins and writes their signature on a piece of paper making an open covenant with the congregation. However, we are distinguishing between true brethren and the unconverted in attendance, and also between those committed to the assembly as the expression of their local fellowship and those believers who are not committed in such a way. So in essence we are following that model of recognizing membership, just not in the traditional sense. At least we will do this for a time for as long as the fellowship is small enough and the communion between brethren close enough to recognize in all practical aspects the difference between "members" and non-members without a need for anything more "official" or formal. 

For those wondering, the teaching is and shall continue to be expository and also, biblical church discipline will certainly be exercised when necessary. The doctrine shall be firmly grounded upon the doctrines of grace and the cross of Jesus Christ shall always be proclaimed and emphasized and re-emphasized. The goal is to eventually raise up a plurality of elders (from Guadalajara or elsewhere in Mexico) who will govern the flock and lead in such a way that the church is autonomous and not dependent on a missionary or outside support. If necessary because of the size of the fellowship, and if there are qualified individuals, deacons shall also be appointed. If the size of the fellowship grows and the intimate communion of the saints begins to diminish because of the number of members, a visitation program shall be put in place for the leaders of the church to visit the members on a regular rotation basis in order to fellowship with them more closely and inquire into the state of their souls in order to minister to them (as per the models proposed by George Mueller and Richard Baxter). In the event of such growth if it were to occur, small groups would be implemented throughout the week to practice Acts 2:42 in the context of guided teaching with Body participation. Biblical evangelism shall be practiced continually in the city with all members encouraged (but not by using guilt tactics) to participate. As per offerings, none shall be taken up at this time. In the future if the Lord wills and the fellowship grows, eventually a small box will be placed somewhere in the back for members to give anonymously and without pressure. Training believers in evangelism will also be a major focus of the church with a short training school in place eventually. Eventually, it would be ideal to establish a biblical training school as a ministry of the church where others could travel to Guadalajara from around the country of Mexico to study the Word of God and prepare for ministry. This is the vision, the plans, and of course, everything is completely in the Lord's hands since we don't even know what tomorrow holds. This is a goal, a plan, in the event that the Lord brings it about.

Our goal is not just to see a local church established, but to see a training center raised up as a part of its ministry that would raise up and send forth preachers of the Biblical Gospel, church planters, evangelists and missionaries to the rest of Mexico. Planting a local church is the first step in this process. And the process of church planting is being implemented by aggressive evangelism and discipleship -we have no other methods.

The meetings right now start at 11 am and last a few hours. We generally open up in prayer, in hymn singing and worship, and then invite brethren to share something with the congregation (a word, an exhortation, a Scripture, a hymn, a song, etc.). Various always share something, decently and in order. Then we have the teaching, where I am currently expositing on the book of 1 John. Next if the Lord wills we will take on one of the 4 Gospels. Then we end in fellowship which may continue on in another location outside of the meeting place. (We like GCC of San Antonio's practice of fellowshipping all day after their Sunday meetings and eventually that would be ideal). 

Please keep this church plant in your prayers brethren. We desperately need the glorious grace of our great God for this tremendous task before us.

John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. (John 3:27)

Hallelujah! We have not ceased from going to the city to stand up and proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only Way! Every week, at least several times per week, the Lord has enabled us to be there preaching and pleading with souls to repent and believe the Gospel, to flee the wrath to come, to run to Jesus Christ for refuge and salvation. Thousands have heard the Gospel in the past year to the glory of the great name of our God. 

We have had so many conversations, so many seeds have been sown, that it is impossible to write about it all. But a couple of testimonies I would like to share: 

- As we were open air preaching day after day, week after week, there was a man that would always walk by. He always just passed by refusing to listen, figuring we were just crazy or wanted money or something. But one day, as he was passing by again, the Lord got a hold of him and he sat down to listen. He was gripped by conviction and began to sigh and cry over his abominations wondering if God could ever forgive someone so wicked as him. A brother in the Lord on our team was then able to talk with him for a while and minister grace to him and pray with him. We don't know what happened, but the finger of the Lord touched him. This is a testimony to the need of open air proclamation of the Gospel. That would have never happened if we weren't there continually preaching the foolishness of the cross. Brethren, be faithful to God! Stand up and be men! Proclaim the cross! The power of God is in the proclamation of the cross! Don't worry about the results, don't worry about the appearances of things, if we are faithful to proclaim Christ then God will be faithful to move in the hearts of men.

- Another young man, 17 years old, is a testimony to the power of the Gospel. He was a children's minister in his church (a Christian church). One night as we were preaching, he stopped to listen. Lina and I then talked to him. He confessed to us that he was living a secret homosexual lifestyle and that he had not ever told anyone, that we were the first he told. He said he wanted to repent and truly serve the Lord. After a long conversation, after pleading with him to forsake his sin and turn to the Savior and stop being a hypocrite, to fear God, to surrender all to Christ, we prayed with him for deliverance, and he too called upon Christ to forgive him. Well, after a couple of months since this encounter, we ran into him again. This time he was changed! He testified to us that since that night, he never went back to that lifestyle, that he's been delivered. He now said that he's serving the Lord and wants to follow Christ alone. He has a close relationship with his pastor now and is courting a girl in the presence of his pastor. He also wants to evangelize now and has a desire to learn how. Praise God for the power of the Gospel!  

Another testimony: Recently, brother Giancarlo, the young man we have been discipling on a regular basis, open air preached for the first time! Lina and I were on our way to the city to meet up with the team, but were very late getting there (in part because we ran into a gangster on the street and preached to him for a while), so Giancarlo just started preaching without us! He continued to preach even after we arrived. He is considering and praying about dedicating his life to the ministry. Please keep him in your prayers. He still has a lot to learn before taking such a step and needs much more discipling, but he has shown a lot of fruit lately and tremendous growth since we met him. You would rejoice to see what God is doing in him.

OK, just one more testimony: There's another brother who recently began to meet up with us wanting training in evangelism. He met up with us various times, and we showed him the entire Way of the Master DVD training course. Then he left to Chiapas (a state in Mexico in the southeastern part of the state bordering Guatemala) and has been open air preaching and evangelizing there in the capital city. He plans on returning to Guadalajara in January, and then if it's the Lord's will, wants to unite a group of his friends that also want to evangelize so we can train them. 

May God raise up more preachers of the truth to proclaim the glories of the Savior in this land. Don't forget Mexico in your prayers, brethren! We've already received some requests from believers around Mexico wanting training in evangelism through our website, www.cristianismobiblico.com and Lord willing, may travel a bit starting in January to train some of them using the WOTM course if the Lord provides the funds for us to travel. I have another website in the works right now in Spanish that is solely about evangelism and will feature video testimonies (of salvation and of believers getting their feet wet in evangelism), teaching articles, sermons and videos about evangelism and the true Gospel, evangelism resources, and also, it is our intention to distribute tracts, booklets, DVD's, and other evangelism resources through it -all in Spanish of course. May God raise up an army of soldiers of the cross and establish a beachhead for the Gospel right smack dab in the middle of the Circle of Silence!

But speaking of God raising up preachers of truth, we have also seen preachers of lies being raised up by Satan lately. The adversary doesn't just lay down and slumber, he's busy roaming and devouring. Recently, one devoutly Catholic man has now become fed up with us. So he decided to start open air preaching now also. He now has a loud speaker and microphone and spouts off heresies of a superstitious and ritual based, counterfeit way of salvation that promises purgatory but leads to Hell. His goal is to preach Catholicism, to defend the Roman religion, and to discredit us and other Christians as being a "new sect". Many people stop to listen to him, sadly. Where are the real preachers of righteousness??? Oh Lord, raise up an army of preachers of truth in this land, for Your great name's sake! Vindicate your holy name in the sight of this people!

Recently, when Aaron was OA preaching, this man decided to contradict and shout against us like a madman. He is doing everything he can to try to hinder the progress of the Gospel in this city. May the Lord deal with him. If only Christians were as zealous for the living truth of the Gospel as this man is for dead Roman tradition, we would have a revival on our hands. He's in the middle to the left of Aaron in the blue striped shirt:

Mexico has got to be one of the most wicked and violent countries in the world. Decapitated bodies laying in the streets, highway road block robberies, drug cartels with firepower that puts the military to shame, and kidnapping (of adults for ransom) abounds. While Guadalajara isn't in a major hot zone for all this activity, it certainly does happen here. Just within a couple blocks from our house the authorities found out and closed down a kidnapping ring. But recent violence has given us a couple of opportunities to preach the Gospel...

Earlier this month, Lina went to a woman's Bible study near our home with the church we worked with. After the study, she came out and discovered that just down the street, on the very same street where the church meets, 3 men had just been gunned down in broad daylight. 

Lina and another sister in Christ immediately went to the scene where they found a large crowd gathered around the bodies. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Lina stood up and open air preached to the crowd. She shared the Gospel and they gave out tracts. She talked about death and eternity, and Christ as the only way of salvation. Some listened, and one man seemed deeply impacted. What happened was a tragedy, but at least the Gospel was preached. Please pray for Lina as this has affected her, seeing a body laying on the street with the head mutilated by bullet wounds. 

The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. (Psalms 11:5-7)

When you see what violence does, how it destroys and harms, you really understand why the Lord hates it. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, it is not for the children of men to take it into their own hands (Rom. 12:19). The one who takes vengeance into their own hands is robbing from God, and will face His jealous fury if they don't repent.

Several weeks later, as all of us were coming out of our Sunday morning meeting and walking through downtown, Guadalajara, we stumbled right into an open street brawl between two gangs. They had chains and fists swinging furiously, with probably about 10 young men on each side. It was a war zone. They fought and showed no mercy. Several were full of blood, and one was pretty severely wounded.

After a minute or two, the fight stopped and the brawlers ran in opposite directions. So brother Aaron stood up in the middle of the scene with his amp and preached the Gospel, using what had just happened as a springboard. Again, it was tragic to see such violence, and grieving to see all this wickedness, but thanks be to God that the Gospel was preached. Later that day, Lina and I ran into the men from one of the gangs, and were able to preach to them. They were all mockers and laughed at us, with the exception of one, who happened to be the most aggressive fighter. He seemed to get convicted and listened. 

My blessed Lord Jesus was right when He said that in the last days it would be just like the days of Noah (Mat. 24:37). Genesis says that the earth was corrupt in God's sight and that the earth was filled with violence (Gen. 6:11). We are in the midst of it brethren. It's time to get serious about serving the Lord. How I long for the day of entering that blessed Kingdom of my Savior, that land where perfect peace dwells.

We were privileged this month to have a visit from a brother in the Lord from Ecuador (South America) named David. He's an evangelist and works with Open Air Campaigners and came up to minister and stay with a friend of ours named Misael. It was encouraging to fellowship with him and to learn that there's a solid preacher of the biblical Gospel in Ecuador. For a couple weeks, David was preaching the Gospel hot and strong in and around Guadalajara on the streets, in churches, in schools, in a hospital, and anywhere the doors opened up.

Here's a picture of him preaching in downtown Guadalajara using the sketch board technique.  

You can watch a video of this open air meeting here (in Spanish).

He also preached to the patients waiting for service at a hospital that we may go back to if the Lord wills. Here's a pic of inside the hospital:

And outside the hospital...

We met up with David and Misael several times to fellowship and to preach the Gospel in this lost, dark and dying city. I was also able to load brother David up with a bunch of solid literature from Chapel Library and give him a book of Grudem's Teología Sistematica to take back to Ecuador with him. He seemed very eager to read it, and in fact, already had read a portion before he left! He also said the sermon he read by George Whitefield from Chapel Library was the best sermon he's read. May God raise up Whitefield's in Latin America who don't bow down to man but would rather suffer the loss of all things for the sake of the cross, that Christ may be proclaimed! Like Moses:

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26)

We were able to purchase the spot in the street market every Thursday near our house. We started a juice business in it (it's only on Thursdays) in order to try to get some more funds. What we make there on Thursdays is about one seventh of our monthly expenses so it does help but doesn't go too far unfortunately. But the best thing about it is the ministry opportunity it gives us to testify to the vendors around us who see us all day on Thursdays and also to the customers. Numerous of them have noticed the difference between us and the rest of the vendors and have asked us about why we're so joyful or show so much care for people. Of course, since they ask, we tell them about our Lord! One lady who was (or maybe even still is) a devout Catholic, even participating in the idolatrous marches with the idol statues of Guadelupe, has opened up tremendously and even was in tears as Lina talked with her, acknowledging the truth. She had a huge turnaround in her attitude towards us and we're praying that the Lord would convert her to the truth of Christ. 

Also in our 6 meter long booth, apart from the juice stand, we have a Bible table where we give out Bibles, tracts, booklets and more to all the people walking through the market. We've been able to give out a bunch of Gospel literature here to the people of our community. A few sisters from our previous church have been coming every week to occupy the booth and share the Gospel. They are excellent at it and really know how to engage people in meaningful conversation and share the Gospel with them. Last week, a sister was testifying to a blind man for a long time. Eventually, he came inside our booth and listened intently for a long while. I also was able to give a Bible to one lady who was extremely grateful for it, wanting to pay for it. The people can't understand why we give them out for free and they are confounded by it. Many think there's a catch to it and are skeptical. But this lady even came back later thanking us again and saying that she was going to read it and use it to teach others what she read! The sisters have had many more conversations and hopefully will write out their experiences soon so we can share them. They have much more to share but Lina, Aaron and I are mostly busy while they're preaching with the juice business.

We are still in contact with the Christian orphanage here, visiting from time to time. This month the Lord has provided a little bit of support for them, including some money that a stranger who said he's a Christian insisted on giving me after an open air sermon (he seemed to get offended that I didn't want to accept it so I was constrained to accept it, so in the manner of Whitefield, the money given in an open air meeting will go to the orphans). Also, a couple is now helping to support them on a monthly basis. We are grateful that the Lord is providing a little bit for the support of these abandoned children.

November 29th - December 13th we plan on being in the USA. Our current itinerary very likely includes stops in Texas in the following cities: Laredo, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Arlington, and possibly Austin also. We will also be spending the weekend of the 4-5 of December in Springfield, Missouri. If you are in any of those locations and would like to meet up with Lina and I and we have not yet contacted you, please let us know ASAP. I am also available to share in churches and fellowships about our mission in Mexico, or to preach, but let us know immediately so we can plan the trip.

In Christ - Josef Urban
www.puregospeltruth.com

Brethren, if you would like to be a part of our mission you can help by supporting us spiritually in prayer and financially through this website here. We do not currently have the level of monthly support we need so everything certainly makes a difference. We never beg for money and always share the Word of God and all other materials we have free of charge without asking for anything in return. We ask that you only prayerfully consider contributing, if the Lord is leading you to, only after you have already fulfilled your own obligations to your families and churches.

If you are a past or present contributor, we can provide you with a more detailed breakdown of necessary expenses at your request. We give thanks to Jesus Christ for all your prayers and support.


FOR THE GOSPEL IN MEXICO FOR THE GLORY OF JESUS CHRIST!

In this Issue...

- Church Plant Update
- Evangelism Testimonies
- A Baptism
- Propitiation: Satisfying God's Righteous Wrath
- Helping Orphans
- Other Announcements
- Support Information

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