On the way...

We are on the way to Pforzheim right now. Tonight I will be proclaiming the Gospel to a group of youth!!

Please do be praying for salvation and an outpouring of His Spirit!

Thanks!

Endlich. Sommer

So we are finally entering into the summer season here in Deutschland. Hahaha. This is in celcius, so it should be in the mid 70's to the low 80's. I know that is not much, but hey, I will take it!

Last Night & Looking Ahead

Thank you Jesus for last night! What an honor it was to be able to teach God's Word to His precious people! We finished the book of Micah. What a great message to finish off this book. What a great message to finish with on Wednesday nights. It was truly a gospel message. I would encourage you to listen to this message here. It will take a few a day or two to get on the website, but look for Micha 6-7. I do not say this because I taught the message. I say this because of what the message was.

LOOKING AHEAD

There was a verse that we briefly looked at last night that really challenged me. In fact, when I spent time in the Word and in prayer this morning, it was really in the back of my mind. So here is the verse:

"Therefore I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me."

Micah 7:7

Here, Micah boldly declares his trust in his God! He lived in a time when no one could be trusted, the faithful man had perished from the earth (Micah 7:2), and you could not even trust your own wife (Micah 7:5). The wickedness and the moral decay that had taken place with God's people was unfathomable. And yet, Micah declared, "I will look to the LORD..."

As I think about this personally, with the situation that we are currently in, I so desire to join in with Micah and say, "Lord, I look to You! I trust in You! I will wait for You! You will hear my prayers!" I believe that the Lord is looking for people who will fully trust Him. In fact, it says in 2 Chronicles 16:9,

"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him." 

As you and I look ahead into our lives, we need to remember something. There is a really BIG GOD who is completely in control of all things. Do you really trust Him? Are you looking to Him?

This Week

Hello Everyone!
So I wanted to let you know what is going on this week so that you can please keep us in your prayers.

MICAH

Tomorrow night we will be finishing the book of Micah. We will be looking at Micah 6 & 7. There are a lot of verses to go over, but I do pray that the Lord uses these verses to really speak into our lives. In the book of Micah, there are essentially 3 messages that Micah declares to the people. This will be his last message that we will be looking at.
It will also by our last message in the book of Micah and it will also be my last message that I will be teaching at CC Herborn on a Wednesday night! :(
I have been so extremely blessed and honored to be able to teach through God's Word on these Wednesday nights this past year, going through many of the Minor Prophets, teaching His word to His precious people.  I do pray that the Lord is glorified in all that will go on tomorrow night!

FRIDAY NIGHT & SATURDAY MORNING

The Lord has opened up an opportunity for me once again to travel down to Pforzheim, Germany, to go teach some youth His Word. As far as I know, there may be a couple of youth groups there, so I will be proclaiming a Gospel message. Please do pray for the Lord to prepare these youth, myself as I prepare the message, and that He would bring forth salvation on Friday night!
On Saturday morning, I will have another opportunity to share with a small group of people and challenge them in their walks with the Lord!

I am really looking forward to this weekend and I really do covet your prayers!

SUNDAY - ERNTEDANK-GOTTESDIENST

On Sunday morning and evening we are going to be having a "Thanksgiving Service" here at the church. I don't want to give away some of the details that will be going on in this service, but I am looking forward to spending time with the saints here at CCH and enjoying our time with them. I can honestly say that I am so thankful for the brothers and sisters here in Herborn. My family and I have been so extremely blessed by all of them. Words cannot express our gratitude and thanksgiving for them!

So, it is going to be a busy week! Please keep us in your prayers!

Thank you

Love the Roper Family!

A Little Road Trip

Today we had the opportunity to take a little road trip. Since Katie got out of school early and it was my day off, we decided to take the chance, on such a beautiful day, and have a little adventure in a city  that the kids have never been to yet. Rebecca and I have been there before, but not the kids.  So they were super excited to go to a new city. Here are a few pics of our day! As you can see....We had a blast!  So this is obviously going to be for our German followers, but can you name the city by looking at the pictures?                                             

Katie & Aliyah enjoying the ride

Noah - our little police man

The cuttest kids in the world!

Ride #2

facepainting!

Aliyah and Noah joined in the action as well

Quote. Grace

God expects more failure from you than you expect from yourself. If you are in Christ, relax. Enjoy grace.

-Britt Merrick-

Church. What should it look like?

Vertical Church from Harvest Bible Fellowship on Vimeo.

Change?

Our Testimony?

So I am currently reading through 2 Kings in the Old Testament and Hebrews in the New Testament. I am also slowly reading through a book entitled "50 People every Christian should Know" by Warren Wiersbe (I encourage you to get this book and read it). One thing that all of these have in common, at least where I am at right now currently, is the fact that I am reading about the lives of men and women who left a testimony. As I read through the kings in 2 Kings, there is a common theme taking place.

"He did evil in the sight of the Lord..."

OR

"He did what was right in the sight of the Lord..."

As I will be reading through Hebrews 11(Really Slow), this is what it says in vs.2

"And by it (faith) the elders obtained a good testimony."

Obviously in the book by Warren Wiersbe, I am reading a 2-5 page history lesson about a man or woman believer from the past.

As I stop and think about this, I begin to think... What testimony will I leave behind? If someone was to write a 2-5 page write up on my life, what would they write? If someone would read a brief overview of my life, would it say, "Joey did what was right in the sight of the Lord?" You see, I think we really need to stop and think and even ask ourselves... "What am I doing with the life that the Lord has given to me?" So often we can get consumed into things, that in the end, will not even matter. We can invest all of our time, energy, effort, strength, resources, money, etc. into this thing, but is it what is pleasing to the LORD?

I want to encourage you today to really take stock on your life. Examine yourself. Let the Lord speak to you regarding the area(s) that need to change so that you are living that life unto Him, fully pleasing Him.

As I already mentioned, I am going to be reading through Hebrews 11, but this time really slow. With it, I am going to be reading through Britt Merrick's book entitled, BIG GOD. This is a book that I have already read before, but I am going to do it once again. As most of you may know, Hebrews 11 is a chapter about faith. This has been a subject that the Lord has really been challenging me on and speaking to me on. So this is why I am going to be reading through Hebrews 11 really slow and allow the Lord to do the deep work that is needed in my heart as it pertains to faith and trusting in Him. I can already say that the Lord is really 'nailing' me on some things. He is so good and gracious to do that, isn't He?

If you are stuck at a place where you do not know what you should be reading, I would invite you to join me to read through Hebrews 11, get Big God, and let the Lord speak to you!

May we be those who leave a testimony of FAITH!

Roper Family Update

Erntedank-Gottesdienst

On Sunday, October 2nd, CC Herborn will be having a Erntedank-Gottesdienst (Thanksgiving Service). This does not have anything to do with Thanksgiving like in the States, but the church will be pausing the study in 1 John to have a family service to thank the Lord for all that He has done.

In Psalm 92:1, it says, "It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High"
In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, it say, "in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

I could share tons of verses that have to do with thanking the Lord for who He is and what He has done! I do believe that the Lord will do a great work of His Spirit in the lives of the people. I look forward to the service!

I believe that it is important to stop and give thanks to the Lord! Why? So often we are complainers! That's right! Complainers! We become like little children, whining and complaining about.... well.... you name it and we have probably complained about it! And yet when we really stop and think about all that the LORD has done for us, we have so much to be thankful for!

To those of you who are reading this and you attend CC Herborn, I want to encourage you to go to the church's website and to look for this same graphic. Right below it you can click the little plus (+) sign. You can fill in your name and then write (in 30 words or less) what you are thankful for!
Go do it right now!

Continuing through Micah

Tomorrow night we will continue through the book of Micah. There are only two more studies in this book and then we will be finished. I cannot believe how fast we are going through this book! Tomorrow night we will be focusing on chapter 5 and will be looking at "The Coming Ruler." I do encourage you to read through this chapter and then come prepared to hear what it is the Lord would desire to speak to us.
For those of you who cannot come to the service, I ask of you to please be praying for this teaching. Please do pray for the preparation time and as well, the time of declaration. Pray that the LORD would really speak to us as we look at Jesus in the Old Testament!

Quote from Spurgeon

How blessed to feel assured that the Lord is with us in all our ways, and condescends to go down into our humiliations and banishments with us! Even beyond the ocean our Father's love beams like the sun in its strength. We cannot hesitate to go where Jehovah promises his presence. "Fear not" is the Lord's command and his divine encouragement to those who at his bidding are launching upon new seas; the divine presence and preservation forbid so much as one unbelieving fear. Without our God we should fear to move; but when he bids us go it would be dangerous to tarry. Reader, go forward, and fear not.

Internet and Phones

So we wanted to let all of our friends and family know that our phones and Internet are both working again. Praise the Lord!
You never realize how much this stuff is important until you cannot use it.

Last Weekend - Jon Bauer

Last Sunday evening, we were super blessed to have Jon Bauer out once again. This is his 3rd year here in Germany and we have had the opportunity to have him here at CC Herborn all 3 years! This year we did it a little different. Instead of having him and his band on a Sunday morning for a service, we did more of a family concert. At the beginning of the night, he led the kids in a few songs where he pulled them up onto the stage and had them do the hand motions. He also pulled up Pastor Edmund and myself to be a part of it! It was pretty funny. I picked Noah up and danced with him as we sang these different worship songs to the Lord! The kids were then dismissed to the children's ministry where they watched a movie and had some popcorn! The adults were then led in worship, songs by Jon Bauer, and testimonies throughout the night! Many people were blessed!

It was a special treat to have Jon's parents with him this year! For the past 3 years, Jon's mom has been faithfully following our blog and so it was so great to meet her! It was so funny to talk with her, because she knew everything about us! It was great as well to have them go up onto the stage and have them share with the congregation IN GERMAN! I believe that many people were shocked when Jon's dad began to speak in German, because he didn't have an accent at all.

We are so thankful for Jon and his band and all that the LORD is doing in and through them! We do look forward to stay in contact with them and, Lord willing, continue to connect in the future!

If you have never heard of Jon Bauer, check him out here!

Something to think About

3 years in Deutschland

Yesterday marked 3 years for us living in Deutschland. I cannot believe it has already been three years. When I stop and think about it, I still remember the first day that we arrived. We had sold almost everything, packed all that we had in luggage bags, Rebecca was 4 months pregnant, we were dressed for weather in So Cal, and we were completely open for what the Lord would do in our lives in Germany. I even remember how Rebecca only had sandals and we had to wait a few days until the mission team from CC Chino Hills would be arriving in Düsseldorf, so that we could pick up the rest of our luggage that they brought for us. She was so thankful to get some shoes on so that her feet wouldn't be so cold! Oh the memories!

Now it is 3 years later. Katie is speaking alot of German and is in Grundschule (Elementary School). Aliyah is also speaking more and more German and is growing up so fast. Noah is now 2 1/2, and many of his first words are in German. Rebecca and I have changed many things in our lives, meaning, the way we live our lives. We will always be Americans, but we have really been influenced by the culture here. Although so many things are different between the two cultures, so many things are good and have been very helpful. Rebecca and I too are speaking the language, although we know we still have a lot to learn.

The church here in Herborn has been a complete blessing to us, more than we could even imagine! We are so thankful for each of them. I remember our first Sunday at the church. We didn't know anyone, the worship was in a foreign language, and everything was different. Now it is like home here. We are able to fully engage into the worship, communicate with the people, and so much more.

The Lord has done so much in our lives these past three years! I am so thankful for His grace, mercy, patience, faithfulness, goodness, love, etc.

We are completely humbled that the Lord has allowed us to be a part of His work in Europe!

Thank You JESUS!

Internet and phones

Hello friends and family,
We just want to let you know that we have not been ignoring you if you have tried to call us or send an email. Our Internet and phones are not working at the moment. I guess this is one of those times that it is good to have an iPhone, huh. If you do need to get a hold of us, please do send an email, and then we will check them periodically at the church. Obviously I still do receive emails, but Rebecca will have to be checking her's once in a while.

Please pray that this can be resolved soon.

Thanks!

Technology is great when it works, and it stinks when it doesn't.

A weekend on FAITH

Well, as I shared in a previous post, I wanted to share with all of you what took place this past weekend. The topic was definitely FAITH. The amazing thing about it is, we didn't really plan it at all, that is just how it worked out. So let me start with Caroline Gass...

Carol has been a really good friend of ours over these past few years. She has been one of our faithful babysitters, and has as well helped us out a few times in a few of our visits to the hospital. She is a registered nurse and used to work at a local hospital. For the past year, she has been attending the Bible College at CC Siegen and is now taking the step of faith towards California. It has been her heart's desire for years to go to the School of Worship at CC Costa Mesa, and it looks as though the door has finally opened. She actually left this past Wednesday for CA and will be spending the next semester there in Costa Mesa. She is praying to be able to stay for the whole year, but one step at a time. It was really encouraging to see her take this step of faith, as she has already made her way to CA and is looking to see what God is going to do. We look forward to all that the Lord wants to do in Carol's life as well. God bless you Carol!


And now we move onto the Nullmeier family...

The Nullmeier family has been serving the Lord in Kenya for the past five years. They are currently serving with a ministry called DIGUNA. They have been sent out by DIGUNA and are also supported through CC Herborn. We have had a few opportunities to speak with the Nullmeier family, but are looking to get to know them a little bit more as they will be spending the next year here in Germany. Rudiger (the father) is now in England, where he will be for the next 6 months going to a seminary there. The kids have already registered into school here and are already connecting with the kids in their classes. We do pray that this next year for them will be a great time of refreshment, encouragement, and so much more! Please do be praying for Karin as she will be taking care of their 4 kids over these next six months.

Lastly, we will share about the youth in Burbach, Germany...

This past Monday I had the opportunity, with Markus Ermert (my translator), to go and minister to a bunch of young men from the YMCA group in Burbach, Germany. The ages of these young men were from about 14-early 20's. One of the leaders of the group, Benny Ginsberg, goes to our church and had asked me if I would be able to share God's Word with these young men!
So Markus and I showed up a little early, to eat dinner with them, to kick the soccer ball around a little bit, and to spend a little time with them before we did the bible study. My mind was constantly thinking and praying about what the LORD would want to share with these young men. I had a few ideas on my mind, but since it took a while to get the fire going, by the time we started it was pretty dark, so we were no longer able to see our bibles. So I believed that the Lord wanted me to challenge these young men in a few areas. One of them was on the topic of FAITH! It is currently an area that I am being challenged to walk in and so I figured I would stay in this topic!
I do pray that the young men were challenged and that they would really consider what the LORD wants to do in their lives! I do ask that you would please pray for this young men's group in Burbach. The Lord is doing a great work there, but they could always use your prayers!

Now, I am looking forward to this weekend! Jon Bauer is going to be here in Sunday Night for a concert! It should be good! If you can, come on out, you won't want to miss it!

Powerful, Important Message

This is a message that you NEED to listen to!