Welcome to the personal website of Josef M. Urban. Here you will find updates on current missions projects. Please bookmark this site and check back regularly for updates.

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"A Well-grounded Assurance of Faith"
Romans 5:1-5 - 4/11/2021
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"John Bunyan's Experiential Exposition of the Doctrine of Justification" (30 pages)
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PRAYER UPDATE / August 2021

Dear Brethren and Friends, 
 
I feel like Hezekiah, who was given a death sentence in Isaiah 38 but was spared by the Lord and given another season of life. Many of you are aware of my recent battle with Lyme Disease. This infection nearly took my life last year during the height of the “COVID pandemic.” It was the most difficult season of my life, and the Lord used it to teach me many things that I, otherwise, would not have learned the same way. 
 
Martin Luther talked about the role of prayer, meditation, and—of all things--temptation, in the spiritual formation of godly character. The knowledge of God is not a matter of theory only but encompasses experience. It is one thing to watch a documentary about a major war, but it’s another thing altogether to fight oversees as a soldier and come back with the vivid sights and sounds and shrieks and screams permanently impressed upon one’s mind. I have heard from soldiers that it is impossible for them to adequately convey what they went through. Words are insufficient to capture the trauma of it all.  
 
Yet in spiritual warfare, the grace of God sustains every “good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3). Battles test our strength and expose our weakness; they make us feel impotent and helpless and insufficient, but all this has a way of breaking our carnal pride and weaning us from this world, that we would submit readily under God’s mighty hand and hope entirely in the world to come. Paul spoke of the “experience” or “proven character” (δοκιμήν) that tribulation and perseverance produce by the grace of the Spirit (Rom. 5:3-4) and said that the proven character that ensues from tribulation crescendos in “hope” that “does not disappoint” (Rom. 5:5).
 
Battling with temptation has a way of stripping us of all confidence in the flesh and causing us to see that solely in Christ, only by Christ, exclusively through Christ, can grace and strength and victory be found, and that, to the praise of Christ. I feel like a battle-hardened warrior that has come back from the frontlines scathed through Satan’s sifting, now permanently sporting a broken heart, scars, and a limp (quite literally). My face has been marred, my bones and joints have been through agony, and I have battled incessantly with the most severe restlessness, insomnia, fatigue, physiological anxiety, and borderline delirium for such a prolonged season that I daily longed for death. I never had a suicidal thought, but I did much resonate with Elijah, who “prayed that he might die” (1 Kings 19:4). It is impossible to communicate what I experienced. If you have never gone through something similar, you cannot possibly relate. 
 
In the book of Job, I find it interesting to read what he blurts out at the end of his trials. Did he learn to praise God no matter his circumstances? I suppose so, but the text doesn’t say as much. But notice what it specifically says. When the Lord appears to Job and confronts him, Job exclaims, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You?” (Job 40:4). Finally, Job’s great confession concerning the lesson he learned comes in 42:5-6 when he says to God: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job got a revelation of the holiness of God and of the dark depths of own depravity. That’s what trials teach us: that we are vile in ourselves, and that all our righteousness and the entirety of our sufficiency is found only in the Lord. With ourselves, there must ever be a holy dissatisfaction; with Christ, there must always be a holy complacency and delight. Oh Lord, save me from myself! Hide my in Your Son, who is my invincible refuge and unassailable fortress and unscalable strong tower. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Prov. 3:13-14).
 
To the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I still “stand” by grace (Eph. 6:13). I confess that my mind was not untouched by the doubts and struggles that buffeted Christian’s mind in the Pilgrim’s Progress when he was crossing the river of death and sinking into its depths. But God’s grace has been sufficient. Having a greater sense of my own weakness, I have a more insightful sense of the power of the gospel (2 Cor. 12:9). Now, I can say with Hezekiah, “The LORD was ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of the LORD” (Isa. 38:20).
 
Sincere thanks from the bottom of my heart to all my brethren and friends who prayed for me and supported my family through last years’ trials. I feel like we’re on the other side of things, looking back in retrospect upon the season of fiery trial. After the treatments I received, my energy is consistently improving (pretty much back to normal), my pains have diminished, I’ve been getting deeper rest at night, my mind is clear, and my will is resolved; we are pressing on, dear brethren, “toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13). I believe the treatments were truly effective. Now, if there ever comes a relapse of symptoms in the future, we know what to do to deal with the dastardly infirmity.
 
Now I feel like I need work fast and hard to see our ministry and missions projects through. Time spent in bedrest was time lost when it comes to our labors for the sake of the gospel. If you are minded to pray for us and continue to support us, we’d be most grateful. 
 
Lina and the kids are doing well. She is working on a project that will soon be launched, D.V. Stay tuned for news! 
 
I’ve all but finished my MDiv studies—just have one straggling to course to finish this semester in Hebrew exegesis of the Poets and Prophets. I have already begun studies for a Doctor of Ministry degree, which I plan to study on the side, part-time, as I work on mission projects. This doctoral program is not just so I can keep learning—it is strategic—because the goal is to further our mission projects if the Lord wills. By the training I receive, the tools provided, and the network of relationships facilitated through this program, it will help us, D.V., to provide better theological and practical pastoral training than we could otherwise for needy believers in Latin America and around the world. It will also enable me to be formally qualified to teach in institutions around the world, thus opening more doors for the sake of the gospel as we promote sound doctrine according to the measure of God’s grace. My doctoral advisor, Dr. Adriaan Neele, is an experienced missionary who has been involved in helping to train hundreds of men around the world to preach the Word of God in all its glorious fullness, combining the profundity of rigorous instruction with the practicality of experiential application. He is also one the world’s foremost academic experts in the theology of Jonathan Edwards (no small feat!). If you like John Piper’s God-centered and affectional emphases, you are probably aware of Jonathan Edwards’ profound influence on him. There is much that can be learned from diving deep into the thought of history’s most pious and gifted pastor-theologians as we imitate them insofar as they imitate Christ. That is not to denigrate the matchlessness of Scripture, for Scripture alone is full of the majesty of God and is absolutely divine and perfect in every way. But being historically informed helps us to correct our own myopia when it comes to our limited understanding of the depths of Scripture’s teaching.
 
I am overjoyed with having Dr. Neele as my mentor, as we are likeminded in our appreciation of the profundities of Reformed theology and in our burden to reach the world with the Good News of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Son of God, and King of nations.
 
Please pray for us:
  • For my full recovery from the damages done to my body by Lyme and attendant afflictions.
  • For open doors for the sake of the gospel in Latin America and around the world.
  • That the Lord would continue to give grace to our family—for a healthy marriage, obedient and happy children, and most of all, that our children would be soundly converted and soundly assured.
  • For wisdom and energy to engage in serious and deep study of the Word of God and the intricacies of Reformed Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and for grace to grow not just in head knowledge but in heart knowledge of the Savior.
  • For help and grace to prepare sermons and lectures, for illumination and unction to preach in churches and conferences, and that the Lord would use this time to awaken an interest in the advance of the gospel in Latin America among the churches and groups in which I’m ministering.
  • For necessary contacts to come together and be willing to help us in our project to offer theological and practical training to men—and church leaders—in Latin America. We are looking to establish strategic alliances with other ministries that can help us provide this training and with churches and individuals to support it.
 
More news is forthcoming…D.V.

If you would like to support financially, you can do so at this link. Thank you!

In the love of Jesus Christ, the Truth, the Way, and the Life,

​Josef Urban

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Some photos of our work in Latin America: