First, thank you to all of you who are reading these updates and praying for the needs that are brought forward.  The only major update since the last newsletter is that I have no completed my coursework and final exam for my last class for my Bachelor's of Science in Mathematics.  I'm still awaiting the final grade, but this degree should offer additional opportunities for me in my vocational ministry.  I don't plan on changing jobs or anything of that nature, but I just may get chances to do things at work that they wouldn't allow me to do before.  Hopefully I can be of even more assistance to my supervisor and the students that come to see me for help.

We are still studying the book of Nehemiah in the Monday night Bible study that is part of the 99-1 Discipleship Discord server, and I am going to be helping facilitate for a men's Bible study on Wednesday nights that will be studying at least the first eleven chapters of Genesis.  At church I'll be helping as an assistant Sunday School teacher as we study Ray Ortlund's book The Gospel:  How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ.  We just finished studying Gregg Gilbert's book What Is the Gospel?.  That may seem like a strange title for a book for church members, but it was a great study as we affirmed that what we believed was the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  We also talked about many of the watered-down or false gospels that are out there that don't measure up to the genuine article, and only the real gospel has the power to transform and save us and gives us the certainty and hope of Jesus' finished work on the cross that allows us to be presented as holy and blameless one day.  Heaven is part of the "good news" of the gospel but any message that tries to get to heaven without going through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is not the real gospel.

Spring Break is approaching for me soon, and as I mentioned previously, I hope to use that time to finish the rest of my Gospel Foundations recordings.  As a reminder, these are available to anyone who joins the 99-1 Discipleship Discord.  It is a 40-lesson study of the gospel hitting many of the major milestones along the way.

As for my evangelistic efforts, I think it is safe to say that there are six people right now that I am actively seeking to share the gospel with.  Most are relationships that have formed through Discord.  I'm not going to name anyone right now, but I think every single one of these people knows if they are one of these people and that I have a desire to see them come to Christ.  God is also opening up doors at work that I won't get too specific about either.  Jesus did promise that He would make us fishers of men, but it is great when we can experience a miraculous catch sometimes where the fish are swimming into the net and jumping into the boat.  I have been encouraged with some situations like that recently.

A couple of other issues that I would as prayer for.  I have friends and family coming to visit next month.  I hope for the visit with my friends to be a time of refreshing and encouragement for both of us as we are not just friends because we have a common interest, but because we both love Jesus and want to serve Him.  God's calling on our lives has been different, but this friend has been called to a very special ministry.  I hope that my family can be a blessing to him and his family as they visit.  Next would be that my sister and her kids from out-of-state will be visiting shortly after my friend.  Continue to pray that my sister and her kids will repent and believe the true gospel and not the false gospel that they are relying on.  It makes for an interesting time for sure as these things that are most important to me that I share with you are things that are likely of no value to her, or more likely are foolishness to her.  It is much more challenging to share the gospel with family members when their rejection of the gospel could tear the family apart.  Please pray that all of us would let God's words be put in our mouth and that God would give them eyes to see and ears to hear and minds to understand and hearts to repent and believe.

Additional updates may be posted from time to time in the Discord server.  Please join there if you are interested in seeing the smaller updates.

From time to time, I think I am going to provide updates to what's going on in the ministry and give some prayer requests for things that are going on in my life.  This will be a way to record how God is working and to see how God has answered our prayers as prayer is another discipline that I want to encourage those coming to the site to engage in and that I want to model for those coming to visit the site.  I'll try to provide these updates no more often than once a month and probably no less often than quarterly.  We'll see how that goes. for now.

I first want to talk about the items directly connected to this website and its connected communities.  The Bible study that I lead on ZOOM for the 99-1 Discipleship Discord members is not studying the book of Nehemiah.  This is going to be an adventure jumping into the middle of the Old Testament without a lot of context as to why the people are in Exile or what God has been doing to prepare His people for their return back to the Promised Land or the promise of a coming Messiah.  As we study this book, we are looking for how we can find the gospel and things that point forward to the person and ministry of Jesus.  Please pray for these men that God will give them eyes to see the gospel of Jesus and the pattern of God restoring more than the city and the walls, but rebuilding His people and delivering them from captivity once again.  This is part of the gospel story all of us tell if we have been saved by Jesus.  We have two men who come regularly to participate in these studies and right now it's great to have these two show up weekly to want to learn more about the Bible and to be challenged to study it for themselves so they can learn God's truth and apply it to their lives.  This is an opportunity open to everyone that is a member of our 99-1 Discipleship Discord.

I'm also working on a set of video lessons that will be available for members of the 99-1 Discipleship Discord that they can view in an asynchronous format (members can watch them or re-watch them at any time and don't have to meet with me at a specific time on a specific day of the week).  These videos will follow the Gospel Foundations curriculum that is part of The Gospel Project and is a set of 42 lessons (six volumes of seven lessons) that will take members through the Bible to see the gospel of Jesus Christ from Genesis to Revelation.  We will not look at every verse or chapter, but will instead look at specific passages that show us the gospel and that point forward to the person and work of Jesus (much like I said I am doing with our study in the book of Nehemiah).  It is probably fair to say that these lessons would be many of the things that those who grew up in church would have learned in Sunday School, but they help shape the member's view of the Bible as a single story and that story being the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There is some material cost to this as I purchase lesson materials for each member that wants access to the video lessons and there is a license agreement that I have purchased from the publisher for each volume of the series to be able to post the lesson videos on Discord so that everything is legal and above board (we're not breaking any copyright laws and the publisher is getting their money for every person that participates in the course).  I hope that these videos eventually reach all the current and future members of the 99-1 Discipleship Discord community--especially those that are unable to attend our weekly studies because of work or other reasons.

Those of you reading this probably already know about my website at danielwestfall.com where I post my journal articles from my daily devotions as I aim to try to study the entire Bible no matter how long it takes and journal my study so that others may learn along with me.  I won't say that I always get everything right, but this journaling is a window into what God is teaching me through His Word.  While I may vary my study to cover a mixture of Old Testament and New Testament texts, I do not skip any portions of the text.  Please pray for the people that get to see these articles that the would see the Word of God and not simply my opinion for it is only the Word of God that we are promised will not return void.

There are many other things that I desire to tell you, but I will save those for other updates, Lord willing.  in short though, please pray for my ministry at the college where I work (I see my job as vocational ministry), the church that I'm a member of and its leaders, and the opportunities that God has given me to minister both to the members of the church I attend and many opportunities outside the church.  It's fair to say that some of the ministry that I'm doing is in places where it can be challenging to preach the gospel and that many people don't want to hear it (that's true for all of us, I think), yet I don't face the risk right now like my brothers and sisters around the world who are being arrested or killed because of their faith.  While I don't know them well, there is a sister church that we have in Eastern Europe that is in danger because of the instability in the region with the possibility of war in Ukraine.  I can't get more specific than that.  Please be in prayer for that congregation (not everyone who attends is a Christian) and specifically their pastor as the seek to remain faithful to God in these perilous times, pray for boldness in the face of danger and that they would continue to love God more than they love even their own lives, because it may very well come down to that kind of a choice for them here very soon.  One day that kind of persecution and tribulation will come our way and it will help separate the wheat from the chaff and that will also be a part of God's good plan.  May we be ready to make the choice to love God supremely no matter the cost because Jesus loved us so much that He gave His own life for us while we were still at enmity with Him.  Your prayers for me and for those I serve with, those I worship with, and our fellow brothers and sisters around the world giving their lives to ministry and those that they are trying to minister to are much appreciated.  I also want to encourage you to join us in whatever corner of the world you are in--God is calling you to go and make disciples of all nations wherever you are, whatever your talents are.  You may not be able to travel, but you may be able to reach people all over the world through the internet, but make sure that your words that you use to reach people are full of Scripture and are gospel-centered, both showing and telling them the gospel and all that you say and all that you do.

Grace and Peace,
Daniel Westfall