Tommy Downs

Tommy Downs

A Servant of Jesus Christ

Africa Update Yeah...

Ministering in Nsongwe: Every Sunday I organize a group and we go out and minister in the nearby village by the base. It’s refreshing to go out, pray for people (see them healed), talk with them, preach to them, and share God’s love. It’s typically me, Joy, Hopper, and a Cambodian who go. (The first time we took Theara (Cambodian Hopper); the next time we took Samrach. (a nice Cambodian woman) We go to Nsongwe and we seek out Trevor (because he invited us) and either he goes out with us as our translator, or he gives us someone else, like his cousin Ellefa.

It was great to hear the testimonies of the people we had visited before and how they were healed, walking in Christ’s identity, and that they were blessed by our visit. They’re a close community.

However, this week when we went we couldn’t find any one to join us, so it was just the trinity as they call us. We were supposed to get a ride, but I mismanaged that, so we walked to the village. Everyone was saying it was hot, even the Zambians, but I thought it was fine, if that’s all that hot weather has for me, then it’s weak. I don’t let my circumstances determine my comfort, because the comforter (the holy spirit) is inside of me, it’s not dependent on my circumstances.

We preached the gospel to some children, and they received Christ. But we let them know all that they have as sons of God, which is the next section.

Gospel of Identity

This week for our classes we’ve gone back into the spiritual classes, and it’s glorious. Nothing refreshes my heart more than to hear our whole group of 23 students discussing Christian Character (By Dr. Leon van Rooyen) in the morning, and the Gospel of Identity (By Mike Petzer) in the afternoon.

Christ came to restore our identity. He came to make us holy, perfect, righteous, filled with the fullness of the Godhead, which is Jesus. (Colossians 2:9-10) God made the world by speaking it into being. (Genesis 1) “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7) So from this verse we see that God paid particular attention to man, he didn’t create him by speaking, but actually formed him out of the ground and then breathed the same breath that made the world into man. We are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and the very same power that made the world dwells in us.

“But man fell,” you might say, but Jesus has redeemed us back to original fellowship with God through his work on the cross. Jesus is greater than Satan, and his redemption is greater than the fall. We have this now, we may be waiting for resurrected bodies (Romans 8:23), but “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4;17) As Jesus is now, we are now (in this world even). So what we say and speak has great power; so are we going to say negative things that are contrary to the word of God? Or are we going to speak the Word, by which the universe was formed?

People will often say stuff based off their experiences or how they feel, but the word of God is truer, it doesn’t change. So instead of saying we’re sick, we should speak the truth, and the truth is that Jesus paid for our sickness when he was beaten. “By his wounds you have been healed.” (2 Peter 2:24)

We’re no longer sinners (even saved by Grace), but we are the righteousness of God. When we understand our identity by reading the word, by speaking it, by meditating on it, we act in accordance to our identity. James relates it to looking in a mirror and knowing who we are.

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:23-25)

The devil tries to make us forgetful so that we forget who we really are and thus be ineffective and living in defeat instead of Christ’s victory.

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17:22-23)

Bible Study

Every morning I go to the gate at 6am and me and the security guards hold a bible study. We read the word, talk about it, talk about our lives, ask questions, and we point everything to our identity in Christ. Hopper and Joy show up most days too, Hopper likes to preach, he’s enthusiastic and knowledgable.

The Zambians enjoy our company and it’s great to encourage them and learn from them.

National Day of Prayer

On Friday, October 18th, Zambia celebrated their national day of prayer and fasting. I fasted for two days with no hyponatremia this time. (I did drink a little juice and did eat one ant though) Jake Schwertfiger got to pray/preach on national television and talked about the provision of God. Lots of people prayed and turned to Jesus. The focus was to pray for the country, pray for the rain to come, and to pray for a move of God.

I broke the fast the next day by eating eight muffins, 4 eggs, a couple servings of yogurt and some fruit. (Most of it was stuff leftover on other people’s plates, such providence) I’m starting to think that maybe my mentality of finishing food so that there’s no leftovers is harmful and I should cut back. At home my mother always encouraged me to eat the last of the food, but here there is often too much to do so. Joy and Hopper eat a lot also, between the three of us we’re a force to be reckoned with, lol.

Sustain Paper

Finally got the results back from my paper I wrote for Sustain class. I did well, and Sherrill (my teacher) was amused by my satire and twisting of Scripture where I argued that Farming is Unbiblical among other things. People twist Scripture to say all sorts of wrong unbiblical things, we need to watch out for that, we need to reassess that the things we understand when we read the word isn’t corrupted by tradition and experience that contradicts or seeks to nullify the word. You can read it here.

Euchre

We played Euchre on Saturday night, it was fun and great to play a game from home among other people who knew it because they were also from the midwest. I taught them pepper (which is a step crazier than Euchre), and next I’ll show them 500 (which is a couple steps crazier than pepper).