Last night (5/13/08):
So I walked down to get quesadillas and our two neighbor boys went with me. They're the two that we're praying for and trying to get to church. OK, so on the way back, we stopped at this "abarrotes" (that's a small convenience store) and I bought the boys these little snack cakes or something and my Coke for my quesadillas. So while I was paying for it, the lady at the store had another lady there with her. She said to the lady, "This guy comes in here about every night and he's always just so polite and he's always got a smile on his face." So the other lady says to me, "Is that true? Are you always happy?" I said, "Yes, ma'am. Always," wishing SO badly that I had a tract with me. But I didn't. And with the other two boys with me, I really couldn't stick around and talk long. So we left...
Then I'm sitting here finishing up my quesadillas, when I remember about listening to God. I'm sitting here thinking what an opportunity that was and how I don't wanna miss a SINGLE opportunity I have here. So I grabbed a few tracts and left.
I walked back to the store and got scared (I'm such a fraidy-cat). So I sat at the corner near the store to pray. There were several people inside, so that was my excuse to wait. I started to review what I was going to say and pray through the sinner's prayer on my own in Spanish to practice. I started thinking, maybe I'll just give this to her tonight and then talk to her about it tomorrow. But I knew that was just my excuse for being too scared. So I was like, no I'm gonna talk to her now. So as the store kinda calmed down in like 10 minutes I went up to her - her son was there with her.I said, "Good evening, ma'am." "Good evening." "I have something for you. You asked me why I'm always so happy, right?" "Yes! I was telling my friend that you come in every night with a smile on your face and you're always happy." "Well, this is why," I said, handing her the tract. "This is?" "Yes, ma'am. I'm a Christian. I have Jesus Christ living in my heart. And I have a purpose for living my life. See, I'm a pastor from the United States and I've come here to work with Iglesia Bautista La Fe over on 8th Street and Bustamante y Tagle. Well this little tract here just has a bunch of Bible verses that explain about Jesus. Do you know who Jesus is?" "Oh, yes. He is the Son of God." So we went on talking a little bit and she was very open and agreeable. Then she said, "Well thank you and I will read all through this tomorrow." It's a pretty thick tract with all kinds of different Bible verses and topics other than salvation, too. So I said, "OK, ma'am. Well hey, I'll probably be back by here tomorrow or another night, so if you want, I'll stop by here and we can talk about that some more." She said, "Ok, great. I'll read through this before then."
So now I've got the chance to go back. Next time I'm gonna start right off with so after reading that tract, do you know where you would go if you were to die? So it'll be cool to see where that goes...
-----------------------
This afternoon (5/14/08):
It is so cool to listen to God! It's even more cool, when you come to the end of your day/trip/whatever and KNOW that you heard exactly what He said because of some way that He confirms it.
I was hungry (big surprise, huh?). So I decided instead of hot dogs and fries today, I wanted the giNORmous burrito from El Guero. So I was gonna take the bike, but it wasn't here. Come on, Adrian! What did you take the bike for? Now I've gotta walk all the way into town and back! Ah, but THAT was what God wanted...It is probably about 1.5 to 2 miles into the "centro commercial" from here, so I grabbed some tracts and went out the door. I didn't take very many with me - maybe 7 or 8. So I got stepping. First of all, I put on Pastor Steve's Mother's Day message that I just downloaded onto my iPod and started listening to that. I passed by many people, but I only had a few tracts. So it was practice in listening: "OK, God, where are these people I'm supposed to give these to?"
I found the first one. It was an older man, just sitting outside of his house. People around here do that all the time. They'll just sit here all day and watch people go by. Who else would have more time to read a gospel tract? " Good afternoon, sir. I have something for you. This is the Word of God." "Oh thank you, sir." "This little tract here has a lot of verses from the Bible that tell us about Jesus Christ and God's plan for salvation, for all of us. It's very important, so you read it, ok?" "OK, thank you and God bless you!"
When I got into town, I found the second person. He was also an older man and this guy had a shoe-shine business. He didn't look very busy and these people also just sit there all day waiting for business. So I gave him the same little message. Just as I was leaving a man came up to have his shoes shined, so he says to me, "Hey I'll share it with this guy, too. He's really lost!" "OK, brother, you do that."
Then I got to the restaurant and ordered my burritos. As I was walking up to the restaurant, I saw my last 5 people. "Hey, guero! How have you been?!?" It was one of the teens that Adrian and I have been spending time with and trying to witness to. Adrian knows him from the streets. They grew up together as the gangsters of the town before Adrian got saved and became a pastor. Well, our two teens prayer projects were there with two more of their gang friends and a girl who worked at the store that they were talking to. It would take a few minutes to make the burritos so I stayed there and talked with them for a while. As I did, I pulled out one of the tracts and started to read it. I kept two of them in my other hand. Just as my burritos were finished and ready to go, I start saying goodbye to the guys. "Hey what's that you've got there?" "This?" I said, handing him the tract, "This is the Word of God." "Oh! Are you like giving these to people in town?" "Yeah." "Well can we have these?" "Of course you can!" I said, giving them all out to them. "These are really important, so y'all make sure you read them, ok? God bless you guys!"
It was so cool. On the way back, I wasn't sure how many tracts I had. I just kept reaching in my back pocket til they were gone. And I realized those were the last 5 I had. I mean God told me to give tracts to 7 people and I only had 7 tracts in my pocket. He's so awesome!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Time Has Come... Please Pray!
What an amazing change God has made in me over the last 10 months. It was last July, just after I got back from our youth group trip to Mexico, that I began to pray about coming back here to Mexico to serve God full-time. It was last July that I started seriously working on my Spanish. It was last July that I talked to Brother Randy about coming here to serve with him. At that time I told him that I wanted to come back as soon as I knew Spanish well enough to preach without an interpreter. Well that time has come, so I need all of your prayers!
Yesterday afternoon, Pastor Jose Luis came up to me just before the evening service. At first, he scared me to death! He came bouncing up 5 minutes before the service, as if he'd been looking for me, and says, "Ready?" "Am I ready for what?" "To preach tonight." "What? I'm preaching tonight?" "Yeah!" "Right now?!?" "Yes. Don't you remember we talked about it two weeks ago?" I got really worried. We HAD talked about it two weeks ago, but I'd tried to tell him I need some more time to prepare my sermon in Spanish. Maybe he didn't understand me! At first, I thought he was joking - he's always messing around with people like that. But then Pepo and Keko were there saying the same thing. "Are you serious? I didn't know I was preaching tonight." Keko says, "Yeah, you said you were going to." Pepo says, "Just preach what you did in Sunday School this morning." They were all just staring at me, wondering why I didn't remember. "Well, I guess I could preach that again." Then he got his big ole' smile again and said, "Ah, don't believe that! I'm just kidding!" I was like, "Oh, Brother, you scared me!" He just cracked up laughing!
Then he asked me if I can preach in two weeks for the afternoon service. Next week, Brother Randy is preaching in the morning and Brother Mike in the afternoon. Then the week after, somebody will be preaching in the morning and then I preach in the afternoon. That is the next to last Sunday before I head home to Illinois. God's timing is perfect. So, this is it...
This is what I've been preparing for during the last 10 months. Of course, I'm really nervous, but not as nervous as I would be if I hadn't been able to teach the youth in Spanish for the past 6 weeks. God has constantly been reminding me that it is HIS message and I am just His messenger. He has spoken through me to the teens. He spoke through me to Marina. So I know He will speak through me again. But I did want to write this to all of you to update you and ask for your prayers. I will be preaching on "The Ministry of Reconciliation" from II Corinthians 5:18-21.
I miss you all and can't wait to catch up with you again! Dios les bendiga!
Yesterday afternoon, Pastor Jose Luis came up to me just before the evening service. At first, he scared me to death! He came bouncing up 5 minutes before the service, as if he'd been looking for me, and says, "Ready?" "Am I ready for what?" "To preach tonight." "What? I'm preaching tonight?" "Yeah!" "Right now?!?" "Yes. Don't you remember we talked about it two weeks ago?" I got really worried. We HAD talked about it two weeks ago, but I'd tried to tell him I need some more time to prepare my sermon in Spanish. Maybe he didn't understand me! At first, I thought he was joking - he's always messing around with people like that. But then Pepo and Keko were there saying the same thing. "Are you serious? I didn't know I was preaching tonight." Keko says, "Yeah, you said you were going to." Pepo says, "Just preach what you did in Sunday School this morning." They were all just staring at me, wondering why I didn't remember. "Well, I guess I could preach that again." Then he got his big ole' smile again and said, "Ah, don't believe that! I'm just kidding!" I was like, "Oh, Brother, you scared me!" He just cracked up laughing!
Then he asked me if I can preach in two weeks for the afternoon service. Next week, Brother Randy is preaching in the morning and Brother Mike in the afternoon. Then the week after, somebody will be preaching in the morning and then I preach in the afternoon. That is the next to last Sunday before I head home to Illinois. God's timing is perfect. So, this is it...
This is what I've been preparing for during the last 10 months. Of course, I'm really nervous, but not as nervous as I would be if I hadn't been able to teach the youth in Spanish for the past 6 weeks. God has constantly been reminding me that it is HIS message and I am just His messenger. He has spoken through me to the teens. He spoke through me to Marina. So I know He will speak through me again. But I did want to write this to all of you to update you and ask for your prayers. I will be preaching on "The Ministry of Reconciliation" from II Corinthians 5:18-21.
I miss you all and can't wait to catch up with you again! Dios les bendiga!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Sunday School Message #6
I was having a really hard time speaking Spanish today. I mean I kept messing up my words and I couldn't really think straight when trying to go away from my notes. I prolly sounded like a little kid trying to talk. You know how they always say things really simply and pronounce them wrong and everything? That was me today.
But then we got to the important part - and that REALLY connected. You'll see the part where I was like, "Young people, listen to me. I'm going to tell you something that is not very popular..." And I told them that I have noticed that it is very common for women to have children outside of marriage down here, but that does not change the truths of God's Word; it is still a sin against God and our own bodies. Man, were they all listening! I don't think they were expecting for a foreigner to speak out against the sin in their country, especially as specifically as to say, "To have sex outside of marriage is a sin against God." I felt like God really confronted them with that.
It was weird to be convicted by my own sermon. Like in the main sermon, some of the things that Pastor Jose Luis convicted me, but I kept hearing my own words convicting me. "I can't make this choice for you...your parents can't make the choice for you...your church can't make the choice for you...if you are going to live a pure life, you must make that decision and take the action and obey the Scriptures for yourself...to have an impure mind is just as serious to God as having an impure body..." It was so strange! I had just said these things and now God was saying them to me in my own voice, as if I were up there actually in the pulpit, preaching to me sitting in my seat.
Anyway, here's the message:
Introduction: Let’s begin. This morning we’re looking at the fifth area in our study of “How to Think Like Jesus”. So far we’ve seen that in order to think like Jesus, we must have “A Heart for the Lost”, “A Heart for Prayer”, “A Heart for God’s Will”, and “A Heart for Others”. Today we’re going to talk about a subject that is sometimes difficult to discuss, but is incredibly important in our lives. So let’s pray that God will give us wisdom and open our eyes to the importance of this topic…
2. A Heart for Purity
a. Psalm 24:3-5
In this study, as with our others, we need to begin with a passage our motivation for living pure lives. Psalm 24 is a passage that God has used at many times in my life to challenge my walk with Him and remind me of my need for purity. Notice what the Bible says in verse 4. This passage teaches that the Lord dwells with him “who has clean hands and a pure heart”. If we want to dwell with God on a daily basis, which we learned last week is the key to thinking like Jesus, then we must constantly work to keep our hearts pure. And verse 5 adds, “He will receive…”
b. Matthew 5:8
Now look at a passage in Matthew 5. In this chapter, which is the beginning of what we call “The Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus lists of 8 different types of people who are blessed in God’s eyes. Verse 8 tells us, “Blessed…” Imagine that – to see God face to face! Jesus Himself teaches us that those who are pure in heart shall see God. What a motivation to live a pure life!
c. Phil.1:8-10
In this next passage, the apostle Paul is writing a letter to a church that he had started in Philippi. In these verses he expresses his urgent desire to see them again and his prayer for them that they should grow more and more. Listen to what Paul prays for this group of believers who were very dear to him. “For God is my witness…” The primary desire of Paul’s prayer for them was at the end of verse 10, and everything before that was an explanation of how they would achieve that end. He prays that they would be “pure and blameless.” And he says that they will do that by having a love that abounds “more and more…” So those three steps are very important for us if we want to be pure and blameless. 1. A love that abounds more and more 2. With knowledge and discernment 3. Approve what is excellent.
d. Phil.4:8; Mat.5:27-30
Let me ask you this? Is God only interested on what you do on the outside? Is God only interested in what you do physically with your body? Absolutely not! Remember that Jesus always rebuked the Pharisees because they were only pure on the outside. This next passage shows us that the same principle is true with purity. This passage talks not about what we do, but how we think.
This is why the battle for purity is so difficult, and as a man, I’m speaking mostly to you men. You know, it is relatively easy to be pure physically with our bodies. It is relatively easy to keep yourself pure and not give your body to a woman who is not your wife. All we really have to do is avoid situations with a woman where we could be tempted to commit adultery. But this battle of the mind is a daily battle, is it not? It is a struggle EVERY day to guard what you think about. But listen, this battle of the mind is just as serious as the battle of the body. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-30, “You have heard it said…” Jesus Christ says that it is just as bad to look at a woman sinfully as it is to commit adultery physically. So how can we keep our minds pure? We will see what God says about that in Psalms 119 in a few minutes.
e. I Tim.1:5
I want all of us to look at this next passage in your Bibles. The book is I Timothy. Can anybody tell me who Timothy was? Timothy was a young man who was saved under Paul’s ministry in his missionary journeys. Look at verse 2 of I Timothy chapter 1: “To Timothy…” Paul calls him “my true son in the faith”. Timothy was also a young man that God called and Paul trained to be the pastor of a local church in Ephesus. So in this letter, the Apostle Paul is writing a letter to this young pastor. He is bringing his advice, based on many years of experience, to this young pastor, to equip him for the work of the ministry. Now with that background, let’s read what the teacher says to the student in this passage: “The aim of our charge…” That means that Paul is about to sum up in one statement the complete goal of his ministry and his life. “Love…” Everything in our life is about love; and we will be talking about that in 3 weeks as the last point of our study. Now listen, “…love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.” What is the very first thing that Paul mentions as a need in the life of a Christian? A pure heart. If we are to live a faithful Christian life, one that God can use, we must fight to keep our hearts pure. There is nothing that will bring a man of God down faster than moral impurity.
f. I Pet.1:22-23
Look now at I Pet.1:22-23. This passage tells us how we can purify our hearts. “…by your obedience to the truth.” This study on purity will not purify your hearts. Memorizing these verses on purity will not purify your heart. Confessing your struggles to another person will not purify your heart. The only thing that will purify your heart is “obedience to the truth”. These passages will give you the truth. They will warn you against impurity. They will tell you how to avoid impurity. But the only thing that will purify your heart is action! You must make the choice! You must fight the fight! You must say no to impurity. Only you can make that decision for yourself. I cannot make it for you, the church cannot make it for you, and your parents cannot make it for you. If you are to live a pure life, you must choose it for yourself.
g. Psalm 119:9-11
So how can we do this? We see from these passages the importance of keeping our hearts, our minds, and our lives pure, but how can we really do this in a practical way? Do we just lock ourselves in our rooms and avoid all contact with the world, so that we are not tempted with moral impurity? We have a few more passages of Scripture to look at today and all of these tell us exactly HOW to fight the battle for purity. Look together at Psalm 119:9-11 to see what we must do to keep our lives pure? Somebody read that passage please. What did verse 9 say? It asks us this same question: “How shall a young man…” And then it gives us the answer: “by taking heed…” And it continues on: “With my whole heart…” In order to stay pure, we must be seeking God with our WHOLE heart. It speaks of prayer: “…let me not wander.” We need God’s help in order to stay pure. And it gives us a weapon: “Your Word have I hid…” There is a reason that the Bible calls itself “the Sword of the Spirit” in Ephesians 6. It is because we are to use the Bible to fight against the lies of the enemy and the temptations of the world. We need to have memorized, stored up in our hearts, an arsenal of verses to throw at the enemy when he tries to tempt us with sin. Isn’t that what Jesus did when He was tempted by Satan in the desert? He was tempted three times that we know of in Matthew, and every time, He answered the temptation with a verse from God’s Word. If we are to win the battle for purity, we need to stop being on the defense all the time; we need to go on the offense and attack the lies of Satan with the truth of God’s Word.
h. II Tim.2:22; I Cor.6:18-20; Prov.2,7;Gen.39 – How to Battle Temptation
Now I want us to look at 4 different passages of Scripture that speak of fighting moral impurity and see if we can find a common pattern in them.
II Timothy 2:22 is a very helpful passage because it tells us not only what we shouldn’t do; it tells us what we should to. “Flee… but follow…” Remember how I said that we should not be on the defense all the time? This verse teaches the same thing. Offensively, follow righteousness, faith, charity, and peace. If you are busy seeking these things, you will not be so easily distracted by moral temptations. In addition, this verse gives us more advice: “with them…” If you are going to live a life of purity, you must surround yourself with other Christians who are also committed to purity. Then you can be a help and support to each other in your daily battles for purity.
Listen now to the powerful truths from I Corinthians 6:18-20: “Flee fornication…” Is that a choice or a command? That verse is a command. But it doesn’t give us this command without explanation. Listen to the explanation: “Every sin…” Did you hear all of those reasons? To commit adultery is to sin against your own body. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You have been bought with a price. You are not your own! What a statement! You don’t have the option as a Christian to decide if you want to be pure or not; you are commanded! “Therefore glorify…”
We won’t read all of these passages, but I want you to notice a few verses from Proverbs. 2:1,16-19. To receive the words of God and keep His commandments within us will keep us away from an immoral woman. Notice also a few verses from Proverbs 7:7,8,21-27. A man sees a youth walking and describes him as simple, void of understanding. He passes her street corner and takes the way to her house. She tempts him and with her many words, she entices him. Then listen, he follows her “as an ox to the slaughter”. He does not know that it will cost his life. She has brought down many strong men. Her house is the way to hell.
Look finally at a passage in Genesis 39:7-12. Joseph points out first of all what we often forget - that immorality is a great sin against God. There is really one thing I want us to notice in this passage. What was Joseph’s response? First he refused. Second he refused and spoke out as to why he refused. Third, he fled. He didn’t try to stay around and face the temptation. He ran.
What does Paul tell Timothy? Flee. What does Paul tell the Corinthians? Flee. What do the Proverbs teach? Flee. What did Joseph do when tempted by Potiphar’s wife? Flee.
Young people, hear me. I want to tell you something now that is not very popular. I want to tell you something very serious. The Bible teaches that adultery is sin. The truths of the Bible do not change from culture to culture. I have noticed here in Mexico that it is very common for women to have children outside of marriage. In fact, I have noticed that it is actually difficult to find a woman over the age of 18 or 20 who does not have children. But hear me – the fact that it is common does not make it any less of a sin. Young people, this is not my opinion; these are not my thoughts. This is the unchanging truth of God’s Word. To commit adultery is a sin against God. To have sex outside of marriage is a sin against God! I want you all to understand the seriousness of this. God cares deeply about the purity of your heart. God commands us to be pure. God enables us to be pure. But it is our choice and our responsibility to take action and fight for moral purity.
Conclusion: In closing, if we want to think like Christ, we must constantly fight to have a pure heart. There is nothing that will more quickly destroy the character of a man or woman than moral impurity. God dwells with him who has a pure heart. And dwelling with God is the key to thinking like Christ. Let us take warning from God’s Word, beg for his help in this area, and fight for purity in our lives.
But then we got to the important part - and that REALLY connected. You'll see the part where I was like, "Young people, listen to me. I'm going to tell you something that is not very popular..." And I told them that I have noticed that it is very common for women to have children outside of marriage down here, but that does not change the truths of God's Word; it is still a sin against God and our own bodies. Man, were they all listening! I don't think they were expecting for a foreigner to speak out against the sin in their country, especially as specifically as to say, "To have sex outside of marriage is a sin against God." I felt like God really confronted them with that.
It was weird to be convicted by my own sermon. Like in the main sermon, some of the things that Pastor Jose Luis convicted me, but I kept hearing my own words convicting me. "I can't make this choice for you...your parents can't make the choice for you...your church can't make the choice for you...if you are going to live a pure life, you must make that decision and take the action and obey the Scriptures for yourself...to have an impure mind is just as serious to God as having an impure body..." It was so strange! I had just said these things and now God was saying them to me in my own voice, as if I were up there actually in the pulpit, preaching to me sitting in my seat.
Anyway, here's the message:
Introduction: Let’s begin. This morning we’re looking at the fifth area in our study of “How to Think Like Jesus”. So far we’ve seen that in order to think like Jesus, we must have “A Heart for the Lost”, “A Heart for Prayer”, “A Heart for God’s Will”, and “A Heart for Others”. Today we’re going to talk about a subject that is sometimes difficult to discuss, but is incredibly important in our lives. So let’s pray that God will give us wisdom and open our eyes to the importance of this topic…
2. A Heart for Purity
a. Psalm 24:3-5
In this study, as with our others, we need to begin with a passage our motivation for living pure lives. Psalm 24 is a passage that God has used at many times in my life to challenge my walk with Him and remind me of my need for purity. Notice what the Bible says in verse 4. This passage teaches that the Lord dwells with him “who has clean hands and a pure heart”. If we want to dwell with God on a daily basis, which we learned last week is the key to thinking like Jesus, then we must constantly work to keep our hearts pure. And verse 5 adds, “He will receive…”
b. Matthew 5:8
Now look at a passage in Matthew 5. In this chapter, which is the beginning of what we call “The Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus lists of 8 different types of people who are blessed in God’s eyes. Verse 8 tells us, “Blessed…” Imagine that – to see God face to face! Jesus Himself teaches us that those who are pure in heart shall see God. What a motivation to live a pure life!
c. Phil.1:8-10
In this next passage, the apostle Paul is writing a letter to a church that he had started in Philippi. In these verses he expresses his urgent desire to see them again and his prayer for them that they should grow more and more. Listen to what Paul prays for this group of believers who were very dear to him. “For God is my witness…” The primary desire of Paul’s prayer for them was at the end of verse 10, and everything before that was an explanation of how they would achieve that end. He prays that they would be “pure and blameless.” And he says that they will do that by having a love that abounds “more and more…” So those three steps are very important for us if we want to be pure and blameless. 1. A love that abounds more and more 2. With knowledge and discernment 3. Approve what is excellent.
d. Phil.4:8; Mat.5:27-30
Let me ask you this? Is God only interested on what you do on the outside? Is God only interested in what you do physically with your body? Absolutely not! Remember that Jesus always rebuked the Pharisees because they were only pure on the outside. This next passage shows us that the same principle is true with purity. This passage talks not about what we do, but how we think.
This is why the battle for purity is so difficult, and as a man, I’m speaking mostly to you men. You know, it is relatively easy to be pure physically with our bodies. It is relatively easy to keep yourself pure and not give your body to a woman who is not your wife. All we really have to do is avoid situations with a woman where we could be tempted to commit adultery. But this battle of the mind is a daily battle, is it not? It is a struggle EVERY day to guard what you think about. But listen, this battle of the mind is just as serious as the battle of the body. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-30, “You have heard it said…” Jesus Christ says that it is just as bad to look at a woman sinfully as it is to commit adultery physically. So how can we keep our minds pure? We will see what God says about that in Psalms 119 in a few minutes.
e. I Tim.1:5
I want all of us to look at this next passage in your Bibles. The book is I Timothy. Can anybody tell me who Timothy was? Timothy was a young man who was saved under Paul’s ministry in his missionary journeys. Look at verse 2 of I Timothy chapter 1: “To Timothy…” Paul calls him “my true son in the faith”. Timothy was also a young man that God called and Paul trained to be the pastor of a local church in Ephesus. So in this letter, the Apostle Paul is writing a letter to this young pastor. He is bringing his advice, based on many years of experience, to this young pastor, to equip him for the work of the ministry. Now with that background, let’s read what the teacher says to the student in this passage: “The aim of our charge…” That means that Paul is about to sum up in one statement the complete goal of his ministry and his life. “Love…” Everything in our life is about love; and we will be talking about that in 3 weeks as the last point of our study. Now listen, “…love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.” What is the very first thing that Paul mentions as a need in the life of a Christian? A pure heart. If we are to live a faithful Christian life, one that God can use, we must fight to keep our hearts pure. There is nothing that will bring a man of God down faster than moral impurity.
f. I Pet.1:22-23
Look now at I Pet.1:22-23. This passage tells us how we can purify our hearts. “…by your obedience to the truth.” This study on purity will not purify your hearts. Memorizing these verses on purity will not purify your heart. Confessing your struggles to another person will not purify your heart. The only thing that will purify your heart is “obedience to the truth”. These passages will give you the truth. They will warn you against impurity. They will tell you how to avoid impurity. But the only thing that will purify your heart is action! You must make the choice! You must fight the fight! You must say no to impurity. Only you can make that decision for yourself. I cannot make it for you, the church cannot make it for you, and your parents cannot make it for you. If you are to live a pure life, you must choose it for yourself.
g. Psalm 119:9-11
So how can we do this? We see from these passages the importance of keeping our hearts, our minds, and our lives pure, but how can we really do this in a practical way? Do we just lock ourselves in our rooms and avoid all contact with the world, so that we are not tempted with moral impurity? We have a few more passages of Scripture to look at today and all of these tell us exactly HOW to fight the battle for purity. Look together at Psalm 119:9-11 to see what we must do to keep our lives pure? Somebody read that passage please. What did verse 9 say? It asks us this same question: “How shall a young man…” And then it gives us the answer: “by taking heed…” And it continues on: “With my whole heart…” In order to stay pure, we must be seeking God with our WHOLE heart. It speaks of prayer: “…let me not wander.” We need God’s help in order to stay pure. And it gives us a weapon: “Your Word have I hid…” There is a reason that the Bible calls itself “the Sword of the Spirit” in Ephesians 6. It is because we are to use the Bible to fight against the lies of the enemy and the temptations of the world. We need to have memorized, stored up in our hearts, an arsenal of verses to throw at the enemy when he tries to tempt us with sin. Isn’t that what Jesus did when He was tempted by Satan in the desert? He was tempted three times that we know of in Matthew, and every time, He answered the temptation with a verse from God’s Word. If we are to win the battle for purity, we need to stop being on the defense all the time; we need to go on the offense and attack the lies of Satan with the truth of God’s Word.
h. II Tim.2:22; I Cor.6:18-20; Prov.2,7;Gen.39 – How to Battle Temptation
Now I want us to look at 4 different passages of Scripture that speak of fighting moral impurity and see if we can find a common pattern in them.
II Timothy 2:22 is a very helpful passage because it tells us not only what we shouldn’t do; it tells us what we should to. “Flee… but follow…” Remember how I said that we should not be on the defense all the time? This verse teaches the same thing. Offensively, follow righteousness, faith, charity, and peace. If you are busy seeking these things, you will not be so easily distracted by moral temptations. In addition, this verse gives us more advice: “with them…” If you are going to live a life of purity, you must surround yourself with other Christians who are also committed to purity. Then you can be a help and support to each other in your daily battles for purity.
Listen now to the powerful truths from I Corinthians 6:18-20: “Flee fornication…” Is that a choice or a command? That verse is a command. But it doesn’t give us this command without explanation. Listen to the explanation: “Every sin…” Did you hear all of those reasons? To commit adultery is to sin against your own body. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You have been bought with a price. You are not your own! What a statement! You don’t have the option as a Christian to decide if you want to be pure or not; you are commanded! “Therefore glorify…”
We won’t read all of these passages, but I want you to notice a few verses from Proverbs. 2:1,16-19. To receive the words of God and keep His commandments within us will keep us away from an immoral woman. Notice also a few verses from Proverbs 7:7,8,21-27. A man sees a youth walking and describes him as simple, void of understanding. He passes her street corner and takes the way to her house. She tempts him and with her many words, she entices him. Then listen, he follows her “as an ox to the slaughter”. He does not know that it will cost his life. She has brought down many strong men. Her house is the way to hell.
Look finally at a passage in Genesis 39:7-12. Joseph points out first of all what we often forget - that immorality is a great sin against God. There is really one thing I want us to notice in this passage. What was Joseph’s response? First he refused. Second he refused and spoke out as to why he refused. Third, he fled. He didn’t try to stay around and face the temptation. He ran.
What does Paul tell Timothy? Flee. What does Paul tell the Corinthians? Flee. What do the Proverbs teach? Flee. What did Joseph do when tempted by Potiphar’s wife? Flee.
Young people, hear me. I want to tell you something now that is not very popular. I want to tell you something very serious. The Bible teaches that adultery is sin. The truths of the Bible do not change from culture to culture. I have noticed here in Mexico that it is very common for women to have children outside of marriage. In fact, I have noticed that it is actually difficult to find a woman over the age of 18 or 20 who does not have children. But hear me – the fact that it is common does not make it any less of a sin. Young people, this is not my opinion; these are not my thoughts. This is the unchanging truth of God’s Word. To commit adultery is a sin against God. To have sex outside of marriage is a sin against God! I want you all to understand the seriousness of this. God cares deeply about the purity of your heart. God commands us to be pure. God enables us to be pure. But it is our choice and our responsibility to take action and fight for moral purity.
Conclusion: In closing, if we want to think like Christ, we must constantly fight to have a pure heart. There is nothing that will more quickly destroy the character of a man or woman than moral impurity. God dwells with him who has a pure heart. And dwelling with God is the key to thinking like Christ. Let us take warning from God’s Word, beg for his help in this area, and fight for purity in our lives.
Friday, May 9, 2008
"And Thy House..."
Tonight, I have a story to share with you all. I'm not fully informed on all the details, so forgive me, but I write of what I witnessed tonight during visitation.
The part of the story I do not know began 8 months ago. A young Mexican man got saved in Denver, Colorado. He was originally from here in Jimenez. Somehow over the past 8 months, he's gotten in touch with our church and asked us to pray for his family who lives here in Jimenez. So we've been praying for them for several months. Well, finally we found out where they live. And tonight we went to visit them. The following is a true story, a firsthand account of the work of God...
So we get to the address and their little shop on the corner is open. We go inside and meet a young man, Marco Antonio Hernandez. He appears around 18 and not too excited to see us. I can't figure out if he just woke up from a siesta or if he's just had a really boring day. Pastor Jose Luis walks up and pulls a Pepsi out of the fridge to buy. As he is paying, he tells him that we've heard from his relative in Colorado (I'm not sure if this guy was his brother or cousin or what). He says that his brother has met Jesus Christ as His personal Savior and that he wanted us at Iglesia Bautista La Fe to come and tell his family about his new Lord. Boy did that open the doors. So we stand there as Pastor Jose Luis explains to him the gospel and his need for this same Savior who saved his relative. I watched and listened as this young man's face changed from one of disinterest to one of great hope and understanding. When Pastor Jose Luis asked him if he wanted to receive Jesus as his Savior, there was no hesitation and an excited, "Si!" So he prayed a prayer of salvation right there in his family's little store. Praise the Lord! One down...
We then walked out of the store and around to the house side of the building. After knocking and waiting for a few minutes, a man came out of the house. Pastor Jose Luis told him why we were here and as soon as he mentioned his son's name, the man lit up and invited us in saying, "Mi casa es tu casa!" So we began to talk once again. This man was much more familiar with the Bible than his relative in the store. He would quote some of the verses along with Pastor Jose Luis. Pastor was happy to hear his familiarity with the Bible and began to question him whether he believed everything the Bible teaches. The man answered, "Yes, of course." "So then you believe that when you die, you will go to one of two places - to heaven, in the presence of our Lord, or to hell, a place prepared for Satan and his demons. Let me ask you then, if you were to die tonight, which of those places do you think you would go?" The man's expression changed to an embarrassed look, like a child who had just been caught in a lie: "Well, I have really sinned a lot. 'For all have sinned...', right? So I guess that I would have to go to hell." "Oh, but you don't!" Pastor said, with hope. He went on to share the reason for which Jesus died on the cross. Moments later, he asked the man, "Would you like to receive Jesus as your Savior?" "Well, yes I would." So he prayed the prayer of salvation right there in his own living room. Praise the Lord! Two down...
Pastor Jose Luis stood up from the couch, looking to me like an enthusiastic child ready to "go outside and play" again, and said, "Well then, let's go find your wife!" So the man gave him directions to another store where she was working. We arrived at that store to find a very hard woman with an irritated look on her face. "Oh boy," I thought, "This one's not gonna be so easy..." Pastor Jose Luis began to explain to her that we had heard from her son in Colorado and his desire for his family to receive Jesus the way he had done. She eyed him carefully, like a salesman trying to sell a phony product: "Well, I don't have time right now, I'm really busy..." So Pastor says, "OK, well what he wanted us to tell you is very simple. Basically, it's about our Savior Jesus Christ..." He went on, undeterred. I stood a few feet behiind him, praying that God would soften this lady's heart and give her an understanding of her need. When somebody would come in, he would stop talking and move out of the way, so that she could go on with her work. It didn't take long for him to explain things to her. Her answer was, "Well, I'm a Catholic, so I already know about Jesus." "Oh good," Pastor went on, "the only thing we're here to do is to tell you about Jesus. We're not trying to change your religion and make you a Baptist or anything, we just want you to know that Jesus wants to save you from your sin and be your personal Savior." So he made things quite simple. It was masterful how he led her using things she already believed in to an understanding that she needed to act on what Christ had done for her. He said, "Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?" "Well, yes," she said, really thinking through her answer. "Do you believe that He died on the cross for your sins and rose again the third day?" "Yes." "Do you believe that you are a sinner and cannot make it to heaven through your own efforts?" "Yes." "Do you believe that God is holy and must judge sins?" "Yes." "Then the Bible says this: 'If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.' Do you want to do that right now and receive Jesus as your Savior?" She paused. I could see her thinking logically through these truths of Scripture and considering her answer carefully: "Well... yes I do." She prayed the sinner's prayer with Pastor Jose Luis and we left the store with a lady with a smile and a pleasant expression on her face. Praise the Lord! One more family won for His kingdom...
At the end of this day, I had one verse ringing in my head: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house..." I had never seen this before. I have seen a whole family saved at once (on a previous trip to Mexico, in fact), but never like this - at three different times, all unaware that their other family members had also accepted. There was no way that their decisions could have affected each other's. I can only imagine the conversation going on tonight, as each one of them realizes that the other's had also received the same Savior, the same day. Praise God for His promises and His mighty power...
The part of the story I do not know began 8 months ago. A young Mexican man got saved in Denver, Colorado. He was originally from here in Jimenez. Somehow over the past 8 months, he's gotten in touch with our church and asked us to pray for his family who lives here in Jimenez. So we've been praying for them for several months. Well, finally we found out where they live. And tonight we went to visit them. The following is a true story, a firsthand account of the work of God...
So we get to the address and their little shop on the corner is open. We go inside and meet a young man, Marco Antonio Hernandez. He appears around 18 and not too excited to see us. I can't figure out if he just woke up from a siesta or if he's just had a really boring day. Pastor Jose Luis walks up and pulls a Pepsi out of the fridge to buy. As he is paying, he tells him that we've heard from his relative in Colorado (I'm not sure if this guy was his brother or cousin or what). He says that his brother has met Jesus Christ as His personal Savior and that he wanted us at Iglesia Bautista La Fe to come and tell his family about his new Lord. Boy did that open the doors. So we stand there as Pastor Jose Luis explains to him the gospel and his need for this same Savior who saved his relative. I watched and listened as this young man's face changed from one of disinterest to one of great hope and understanding. When Pastor Jose Luis asked him if he wanted to receive Jesus as his Savior, there was no hesitation and an excited, "Si!" So he prayed a prayer of salvation right there in his family's little store. Praise the Lord! One down...
We then walked out of the store and around to the house side of the building. After knocking and waiting for a few minutes, a man came out of the house. Pastor Jose Luis told him why we were here and as soon as he mentioned his son's name, the man lit up and invited us in saying, "Mi casa es tu casa!" So we began to talk once again. This man was much more familiar with the Bible than his relative in the store. He would quote some of the verses along with Pastor Jose Luis. Pastor was happy to hear his familiarity with the Bible and began to question him whether he believed everything the Bible teaches. The man answered, "Yes, of course." "So then you believe that when you die, you will go to one of two places - to heaven, in the presence of our Lord, or to hell, a place prepared for Satan and his demons. Let me ask you then, if you were to die tonight, which of those places do you think you would go?" The man's expression changed to an embarrassed look, like a child who had just been caught in a lie: "Well, I have really sinned a lot. 'For all have sinned...', right? So I guess that I would have to go to hell." "Oh, but you don't!" Pastor said, with hope. He went on to share the reason for which Jesus died on the cross. Moments later, he asked the man, "Would you like to receive Jesus as your Savior?" "Well, yes I would." So he prayed the prayer of salvation right there in his own living room. Praise the Lord! Two down...
Pastor Jose Luis stood up from the couch, looking to me like an enthusiastic child ready to "go outside and play" again, and said, "Well then, let's go find your wife!" So the man gave him directions to another store where she was working. We arrived at that store to find a very hard woman with an irritated look on her face. "Oh boy," I thought, "This one's not gonna be so easy..." Pastor Jose Luis began to explain to her that we had heard from her son in Colorado and his desire for his family to receive Jesus the way he had done. She eyed him carefully, like a salesman trying to sell a phony product: "Well, I don't have time right now, I'm really busy..." So Pastor says, "OK, well what he wanted us to tell you is very simple. Basically, it's about our Savior Jesus Christ..." He went on, undeterred. I stood a few feet behiind him, praying that God would soften this lady's heart and give her an understanding of her need. When somebody would come in, he would stop talking and move out of the way, so that she could go on with her work. It didn't take long for him to explain things to her. Her answer was, "Well, I'm a Catholic, so I already know about Jesus." "Oh good," Pastor went on, "the only thing we're here to do is to tell you about Jesus. We're not trying to change your religion and make you a Baptist or anything, we just want you to know that Jesus wants to save you from your sin and be your personal Savior." So he made things quite simple. It was masterful how he led her using things she already believed in to an understanding that she needed to act on what Christ had done for her. He said, "Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?" "Well, yes," she said, really thinking through her answer. "Do you believe that He died on the cross for your sins and rose again the third day?" "Yes." "Do you believe that you are a sinner and cannot make it to heaven through your own efforts?" "Yes." "Do you believe that God is holy and must judge sins?" "Yes." "Then the Bible says this: 'If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.' Do you want to do that right now and receive Jesus as your Savior?" She paused. I could see her thinking logically through these truths of Scripture and considering her answer carefully: "Well... yes I do." She prayed the sinner's prayer with Pastor Jose Luis and we left the store with a lady with a smile and a pleasant expression on her face. Praise the Lord! One more family won for His kingdom...
At the end of this day, I had one verse ringing in my head: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house..." I had never seen this before. I have seen a whole family saved at once (on a previous trip to Mexico, in fact), but never like this - at three different times, all unaware that their other family members had also accepted. There was no way that their decisions could have affected each other's. I can only imagine the conversation going on tonight, as each one of them realizes that the other's had also received the same Savior, the same day. Praise God for His promises and His mighty power...
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Gloria al Señor!!! Praise the Lord!!!
Today I saw the power of God in a more real way than I have during my entire trip here to Mexico. Today I saw God cross the language barrier with the power of His great salvation. Today I saw God use an American man to bring a Mexican woman to an understanding of the gospel. Today I saw God save another of His lost sheep.
This week and next, we have a team of doctors here from the United States, led by Brother Lanny Ashcraft, to perform free cataract surgeries on the many under-privileged people here in Jimenez who cannot afford medical expenses. So we're working together with the hospital and the Lion's Club here in town. The people go to the Lion's Club to register and get an examination. Then they come over to the church to wait for the surgeries at the hospital.
So we meet at the church like usual on Saturdays at 10:00 AM for visitation and witnessing in town. So Pastor Jose Luis asks where we should go today and says we could either hand out tracts in town like normal or stay here and talk to people waiting on their surgeries. Most of the guys wanted to hand out tracts (isn't it always easier to just hand somebody a tract and walk away?), but I said, "Pastor, I think we have an opportunity here that we don't have on other weeks. We don't need to go out to the people because they're coming to us today." He said, "That's right, they're already here! Let's go talk to them." So some of the guys went to hand out tracts and Jose Luis and Jesus and I (that's Jesus Chaparro, not Jesus Christ, although He was there too) stayed at the church to talk to people." Today I saw the benefits of my training day of witnessing on the south side of Peoria - to listen to God.
I'm going to tell you something for all of you who have never been on a missions trip and/or can't speak another language. It is very easy to be a Christian missionary when you are with national believers who have been trained in witnessing. All you do is stand there with your smile, your Bible, and your tracts, drawing people in by your "Americanism", and listen intently while the nationals explain the plan of salvation and lead sinners in a prayer of repentance. That is very easy. It is also very powerful. If you haven't seen it, I tell you it will change your life. But listen, it is not enough to use them (the nationals) as a crutch. It's the same way that I used to tell the teens at Cornerstone, "Don't use your tracts as a crutch. Leave them on the tables at a restaurant, if you must, but don't use that as an excuse not to talk to somebody." Do you want to see God use you? I mean YOU! Then you have to step out in faith and put yourself at risk, in a vulnerable position, and see what God will do through you. This is a lesson I am learning.
So we are at the church with lost people flooding in to have their needs met. They come for their physical needs; we seek to meet their spiritual needs. We have New Testaments and tracts placed all over the seats at the church. Nearly everyone is reading something. So now I stand there, listening to God, asking Him where to go, and whom to talk to. Pastor Jose Luis starts up a conversation with a couple who claim to be Catholic. Everyone else seems occupied with their crying children or their friends, so I sit in and listen. Pastor Jose Luis begins explaining sin and our need for salvation. He never mentions church. He never mentions religion. He talks about Jesus Christ, us, and sin. The man and wife listen. The man understands. The woman says, "But he's a Catholic." Jose Luis doesn't mention the church. He says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." He explains the plan of salvation and the need to receive Christ as his personal Savior. And the man, understanding, says he wants to pray. So Pastor Jose Luis leads him in a prayer of repentance right there.
So that group leaves for the hospital. It's about noon now and Pastor Jose Luis asks if I can stay at the church and be in charge until Brother Martin arrives at 2:00 PM. So I agreed and he left for lunch. So it's just Jesus and I. The next group of people comes in and I'm kinda walking around the church listening for God to tell me whom to talk to. Meanwhile, Jesus walks across the street. There were about 4 or 5 men who had gathered across the road, just to watch what was going on with all this activity at the church. Oh, just so you all know, Jesus is one of our boys from the ranch who is 17 years old. About 20 minutes later, Jesus walks back across the road and says to me, with a smile on his face, "Dos." What a coward I am! A 17 year-old just went and talked with 4 or 5 guys twice his age and returns having won two of them for the Lord!
So I went back inside and that's when I saw her. She was sitting all alone on the left side of the church, flipping through the Bible in the seat. God said, "There she is. Go talk to her..." So I walked up near her and waited. I watched her as she quickly read through some of the tract. I was trying to see where she was, following along in my own tract, to determine when to jump in and say something. I hesitate, "God, I can't do this. I can't talk to somebody in Spanish about salvation. This is something that they HAVE to understand. What if I can't explain it to her clearly?" I waited. She picks up the Bible and starts to read it. I could see as she read that she was lost - lost in the pages and lost in sin. She starts to read at the beginning (that's what you do with a book, right?); she skips to the end (that's what you do when you don't understand a book, right?); she starts to flip through pages in the middle (maybe looking for pictures or something that would help her understand). Then she kinda sets the Bible in her lap and looks around. She didn't say anything, but I could sense the attitude: "Does anybody know what this is all about?" God commands me again, "Go and talk to her. She's ready." "But God, what if I can't explain it to her? I don't even have my own Bible with me with my notes and memory verses." He rebukes me, "Listen, you little scaredy-cat, it is my message and you are just my messenger. Now go..." I don't mean to make this over-dramatic, but this is just the way everything was happening in my head.
As I look back on this, I think of Moses. God says to him, "Come, I will send you to Pharaoh..." "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh..." And God replies in Exodus 4:12, "Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak."
So the Lord bought to my mind Acts chapter 8 with Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch: "Do you understand what you are reading?" "How can I, unless someone guides me?" That was my cue. I walked up and sat in the chair next to the lady: "Good afternoon, ma'am. Do you understand what you're reading?" She smiled and said, "Well..." wanting to say yes, but then honestly says, "No, I don't." "Well would you like me to explain it to you?" She nodded. So I took the tract that we had and began to explain to her that every one of us has a problem - sin. We walked through the Romans Road as I told her that our sin separates us from God. I watched her face very carefully to see if she was understanding. Over and over I asked her, "Do you understand me?" She did. So I told her that Jesus Christ has paid the price for her sin. "Do you know who Jesus Christ is?" "Yes, He is the Son of God." So I read to her Romans 10:9 and said that all she has to do to repent is to believe this message in her heart and confess with her mouth that Jesus is her Lord. I asked her, "Do you believe that this is the truth?" "Yes," she said. "And would you like to make this decision right now?" "Yes." So I told her that I would lead her in a prayer, but that the prayer wouldn't save her - because I am not God and I do not save anybody - but her faith in God's Word and in Jesus Christ would save her. So I led her in a simple prayer of repentance of sin and faith in Jesus and she asked Jesus to come into her heart and save her! It was the most beautiful thing I have seen! I felt as if I were watching somebody lead her to the Lord, rather than doing it myself.
So then I told her that now we are a family. I told her how God was writing her name down in the Book of Life. I told her that now when she reads the Bible, the Holy Spirit inside of her will show her things and make her to understand it. Then I left her alone and went for walk to try to take in everything that had just happened. I was praising and thanking God for using a weak, fragile vessel like me to shed his light into the darkness of a sinful heart. Then I returned to the church. I wondered what she would be doing. The Bible says, "...by their fruits you shall know them." When I got back to the church, Marina was sitting there still with her Bible open. She was no longer skimming through it; she was reading it. The surgeries go relatively slow with so many people to operate on. So Marina and her group were there for about 2 1/2 hours waiting. I never saw her put her Bible down once. She sat there and read it the whole time. At 2:00 PM, Brother Martin arrived and decided to get up in front of everyone and preach the gospel, instead of just going one on one. As he did, I watched Marina. Martin says, "How many of you know that if you died tonight, you would go to heaven?" All of the church members raised their hands - and so did Marina. The patients/visitors did not. As he preached, He would say things like, "How many of you believe that hell is a real place?" Marina raised her hand. "Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?" Marina raised her hand.
It was beautiful. She had understood. And now I understood as well. When I am weak, He is strong. When I cannot speak, He will speak. When I take the risk, He takes the action. What a wonderful God we serve! And what a privilege to be a part of His work in this world!
"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!"
- Psalm 107:1
This week and next, we have a team of doctors here from the United States, led by Brother Lanny Ashcraft, to perform free cataract surgeries on the many under-privileged people here in Jimenez who cannot afford medical expenses. So we're working together with the hospital and the Lion's Club here in town. The people go to the Lion's Club to register and get an examination. Then they come over to the church to wait for the surgeries at the hospital.
So we meet at the church like usual on Saturdays at 10:00 AM for visitation and witnessing in town. So Pastor Jose Luis asks where we should go today and says we could either hand out tracts in town like normal or stay here and talk to people waiting on their surgeries. Most of the guys wanted to hand out tracts (isn't it always easier to just hand somebody a tract and walk away?), but I said, "Pastor, I think we have an opportunity here that we don't have on other weeks. We don't need to go out to the people because they're coming to us today." He said, "That's right, they're already here! Let's go talk to them." So some of the guys went to hand out tracts and Jose Luis and Jesus and I (that's Jesus Chaparro, not Jesus Christ, although He was there too) stayed at the church to talk to people." Today I saw the benefits of my training day of witnessing on the south side of Peoria - to listen to God.
I'm going to tell you something for all of you who have never been on a missions trip and/or can't speak another language. It is very easy to be a Christian missionary when you are with national believers who have been trained in witnessing. All you do is stand there with your smile, your Bible, and your tracts, drawing people in by your "Americanism", and listen intently while the nationals explain the plan of salvation and lead sinners in a prayer of repentance. That is very easy. It is also very powerful. If you haven't seen it, I tell you it will change your life. But listen, it is not enough to use them (the nationals) as a crutch. It's the same way that I used to tell the teens at Cornerstone, "Don't use your tracts as a crutch. Leave them on the tables at a restaurant, if you must, but don't use that as an excuse not to talk to somebody." Do you want to see God use you? I mean YOU! Then you have to step out in faith and put yourself at risk, in a vulnerable position, and see what God will do through you. This is a lesson I am learning.
So we are at the church with lost people flooding in to have their needs met. They come for their physical needs; we seek to meet their spiritual needs. We have New Testaments and tracts placed all over the seats at the church. Nearly everyone is reading something. So now I stand there, listening to God, asking Him where to go, and whom to talk to. Pastor Jose Luis starts up a conversation with a couple who claim to be Catholic. Everyone else seems occupied with their crying children or their friends, so I sit in and listen. Pastor Jose Luis begins explaining sin and our need for salvation. He never mentions church. He never mentions religion. He talks about Jesus Christ, us, and sin. The man and wife listen. The man understands. The woman says, "But he's a Catholic." Jose Luis doesn't mention the church. He says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." He explains the plan of salvation and the need to receive Christ as his personal Savior. And the man, understanding, says he wants to pray. So Pastor Jose Luis leads him in a prayer of repentance right there.
So that group leaves for the hospital. It's about noon now and Pastor Jose Luis asks if I can stay at the church and be in charge until Brother Martin arrives at 2:00 PM. So I agreed and he left for lunch. So it's just Jesus and I. The next group of people comes in and I'm kinda walking around the church listening for God to tell me whom to talk to. Meanwhile, Jesus walks across the street. There were about 4 or 5 men who had gathered across the road, just to watch what was going on with all this activity at the church. Oh, just so you all know, Jesus is one of our boys from the ranch who is 17 years old. About 20 minutes later, Jesus walks back across the road and says to me, with a smile on his face, "Dos." What a coward I am! A 17 year-old just went and talked with 4 or 5 guys twice his age and returns having won two of them for the Lord!
So I went back inside and that's when I saw her. She was sitting all alone on the left side of the church, flipping through the Bible in the seat. God said, "There she is. Go talk to her..." So I walked up near her and waited. I watched her as she quickly read through some of the tract. I was trying to see where she was, following along in my own tract, to determine when to jump in and say something. I hesitate, "God, I can't do this. I can't talk to somebody in Spanish about salvation. This is something that they HAVE to understand. What if I can't explain it to her clearly?" I waited. She picks up the Bible and starts to read it. I could see as she read that she was lost - lost in the pages and lost in sin. She starts to read at the beginning (that's what you do with a book, right?); she skips to the end (that's what you do when you don't understand a book, right?); she starts to flip through pages in the middle (maybe looking for pictures or something that would help her understand). Then she kinda sets the Bible in her lap and looks around. She didn't say anything, but I could sense the attitude: "Does anybody know what this is all about?" God commands me again, "Go and talk to her. She's ready." "But God, what if I can't explain it to her? I don't even have my own Bible with me with my notes and memory verses." He rebukes me, "Listen, you little scaredy-cat, it is my message and you are just my messenger. Now go..." I don't mean to make this over-dramatic, but this is just the way everything was happening in my head.
As I look back on this, I think of Moses. God says to him, "Come, I will send you to Pharaoh..." "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh..." And God replies in Exodus 4:12, "Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak."
So the Lord bought to my mind Acts chapter 8 with Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch: "Do you understand what you are reading?" "How can I, unless someone guides me?" That was my cue. I walked up and sat in the chair next to the lady: "Good afternoon, ma'am. Do you understand what you're reading?" She smiled and said, "Well..." wanting to say yes, but then honestly says, "No, I don't." "Well would you like me to explain it to you?" She nodded. So I took the tract that we had and began to explain to her that every one of us has a problem - sin. We walked through the Romans Road as I told her that our sin separates us from God. I watched her face very carefully to see if she was understanding. Over and over I asked her, "Do you understand me?" She did. So I told her that Jesus Christ has paid the price for her sin. "Do you know who Jesus Christ is?" "Yes, He is the Son of God." So I read to her Romans 10:9 and said that all she has to do to repent is to believe this message in her heart and confess with her mouth that Jesus is her Lord. I asked her, "Do you believe that this is the truth?" "Yes," she said. "And would you like to make this decision right now?" "Yes." So I told her that I would lead her in a prayer, but that the prayer wouldn't save her - because I am not God and I do not save anybody - but her faith in God's Word and in Jesus Christ would save her. So I led her in a simple prayer of repentance of sin and faith in Jesus and she asked Jesus to come into her heart and save her! It was the most beautiful thing I have seen! I felt as if I were watching somebody lead her to the Lord, rather than doing it myself.
So then I told her that now we are a family. I told her how God was writing her name down in the Book of Life. I told her that now when she reads the Bible, the Holy Spirit inside of her will show her things and make her to understand it. Then I left her alone and went for walk to try to take in everything that had just happened. I was praising and thanking God for using a weak, fragile vessel like me to shed his light into the darkness of a sinful heart. Then I returned to the church. I wondered what she would be doing. The Bible says, "...by their fruits you shall know them." When I got back to the church, Marina was sitting there still with her Bible open. She was no longer skimming through it; she was reading it. The surgeries go relatively slow with so many people to operate on. So Marina and her group were there for about 2 1/2 hours waiting. I never saw her put her Bible down once. She sat there and read it the whole time. At 2:00 PM, Brother Martin arrived and decided to get up in front of everyone and preach the gospel, instead of just going one on one. As he did, I watched Marina. Martin says, "How many of you know that if you died tonight, you would go to heaven?" All of the church members raised their hands - and so did Marina. The patients/visitors did not. As he preached, He would say things like, "How many of you believe that hell is a real place?" Marina raised her hand. "Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?" Marina raised her hand.
It was beautiful. She had understood. And now I understood as well. When I am weak, He is strong. When I cannot speak, He will speak. When I take the risk, He takes the action. What a wonderful God we serve! And what a privilege to be a part of His work in this world!
"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!"
- Psalm 107:1
Friday, May 2, 2008
Sunday School Message #5
Introduction: Ok, let’s get started. We are studying together in this class “How to Think Like Jesus”. And we’ve already studied the first three points of this topic. The first was “A Heart for the Lost”. The second thing we need was “A Heart for Prayer”. And last week, we talked about “A Heart for God’s Will.” This week we’re going to study the fourth thing that we need to have in order to think like Jesus. That is “A Heart for Others”, a heart of humility. Let’s pray together and we’ll get started.
2. A Heart for Others – Humility
a. Matthew 22:35-40
I would like us to begin with this passage from Matthew this morning, because in this passage, Jesus tells us in one statement the importance of how we treat others around us. Note that in verse 35 one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, asked Jesus a question trying to test Him. This was a common thing that the Pharisees would do to Jesus. He lived His life so perfectly and blamelessly that they were constantly trying to make Him say something wrong that they could use to accuse Him. This Pharisee asks Jesus, “Master, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Let’s read Jesus response in verses 37-40: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” What Jesus meant in verse 40 is this: That every law written in the Scriptures is concerning your relationship with God or your relationship with others. Jesus says that if we will love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind, AND if we will love our neighbor as ourselves, we will be obeying every law of God in the Scriptures. Think about that. Of all the laws in the Scripture, which we couldn’t even remember if we tried, we will obey them all if we love God and love others. It’s simple. So this matter of having a heart for others is indeed a very important aspect of our Christian lives. To think like Jesus, we must have a heart for others – a heart of humility.
b. Isaiah 57:15
Look now, in this next passage, at another motivation for keeping a spirit of humility. Somebody read for us Isaiah 57:15. What an amazing thought! God says that He dwells “in the high holy place, with him who is of a humble and contrite spirit”. When you live together with somebody, you learn who they really are, you learn how they think, you learn how they respond to different circumstances, and you learn how to be like them. This could be the key to our whole study! What better way is there to learn to think like Jesus than to live with him daily? And that can only be done, according to this verse, when we have a humble spirit.
c. Prov.6:16-19(17)
Now, I want us to take a quick look through the book of Proverbs and see a number of different passages that talk about humility. The book of Proverbs is all about wisdom. And God will only give wisdom to those people who walk humbly with Him. This first passage gives us a list of things that God hates. Notice – what was the very first thing that God hates? It is a proud look. Pride is something that God hates to see in our lives. We’ll talk a little bit more about what pride actually is in a few minutes.
d. Prov.8:13
This passage teaches us again that if we fear the Lord, we will hate pride, the pride that is in our own hearts.
e. Prov.11:2
These verses teach us that pride brings shame. When we have pride in our hearts, we will bring shame upon ourselves. But with the lowly, that is, with the humble is wisdom.
f. Prov.15:25,33
“The Lord will destroy the house of the proud… the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility.” We saw in the last passage that pride brings shame and now in this passage that humility brings honor. God hates pride, but loves humility.
g. Prov.16:5,18-19
This passage teaches us that people with proud hearts are an abomination to God – that is the strongest word in the Scriptures for something that God hates – it is an abomination. And then in verses 18 and 19 we see that pride will lead us to destruction and the Lord says it is better to have nothing, with a humble spirit, than to be very rich with other proud people.
h. Prov.22:4
In this passage, we learn that the Lord will reward the humble. He says “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life.”
i. Prov.29:23
And our final passage in Proverbs speak again about the honor that God will place upon the humble – “Honor shall uphold the humble in Spirit.
j. Matthew 23:1-12
OK, now everyone turn to Matthew chapter 23 and we’re going to see something very familiar that we have seen in almost every aspect of this study. Jesus teaches the people not to behave like the Pharisees. Listen to how Jesus describes the religious leaders: “Do not after their works… they say and do not… all their works they do to be seen of men… they love the uppermost rooms… and the chief seats… and being called Rabbi... he that is greatest among you shall be your servant… whoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled… whoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.” This was the one thing that Jesus kept returning to when He confronted the Pharisees – that they were clean and righteous on the outside, but dirty and sinful on the inside. The Pharisees knew the Law. They had it memorized. They went to the temple every day. They gave tithes of everything that they had. They would pray many times throughout the day. But the Son of God, who knows their hearts, saw that they were full of pride. In fact, the rest of the chapter is Jesus’ strong rebuke to the Pharisees for their hypocrisy.
Our battle with pride is one of the most difficult battles to fight. Pride is not an action; it is an attitude. We can have pride in about anything. We can be proud of our accomplishments. We can be proud of our abilities or talents. We can be proud of our intelligence. We can even be proud of our Christianity. If pride were an action, like many other sins, we could just say, “Don’t do that.” But since it is an attitude, we must always ask ourselves, “Am I doing this because of my pride?” Because of that, every person struggles with pride, some just handle it better than others.
k. James 4:6-10
Look next at James chapter 4. This passage tells us that God resists the proud people but give grace to the humble people. Now listen, when God resists a proud Christian, that doesn’t mean that we lose our salvation. Think of it this way. Our earthly father is a picture of our Heavenly Father. With my earthly father, it is possible for me to hurt, disobey or disrespect him. But when I do, that doesn’t mean I am not his son anymore. However, when that happens, we don’t have the close fellowship that we had before. This is the same with our Heavenly Father. When we as Christians have proud hearts, God resists us. We are still His sons, but He refuses to have fellowship with us unless we have humble hearts. And then listen to these verses: “Submit yourselves to God…resist the devil…draw nigh to God… cleanse your hands… purify your hearts… humble yourselves… He will lift you up.” That is the attitude of the humble. We must do nothing to promote ourselves. We must do nothing to make ourselves look better.
l. I Peter 5:5-6
The attitude of humility is one of submission. To submit yourself to another is to acknowledge their leadership over you, to voluntarily place yourself under their control. Peter encourages us to “be subject one to another, and clothed with humility”. And again we see that if we humble ourselves under the hand of God, He will exalt us in His timing.
m. Phil.2:2-11
And finally, I want to look at the most powerful passage on humility in all of God’s Word. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. As with every aspect of our study until now, we always finish by looking to our Savior and seeing a perfect example of how we should live. This topic is no different. Jesus Christ was the perfect example of humility. There is nobody who could begin with a higher position than He had and nobody who could take upon themselves a lower position than He took. Listen to this beautiful and powerful passage. “Fulfill ye my joy…” And we all say, “Amen” to that passage. Let’s think for a few moments about this. Jesus Christ is the Creator of the world. But He then became a human, one of us whom He created, in order to save us from our sins. But even in that, He did not come as a king, or a rich person, or even a normal person; He came as a poor carpenter’s son, a virgin’s son, and was born in a manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn. So then He went throughout His life and what did He do? He served EVERY person he met. He taught them. He healed them. He cast demons out of them. He fed them. He washed their feet. He loved them. He blessed their children. He raised them from the dead. And then, in the end, He gave His own life for them. He died for the very people who killed Him. His last words to His Father for them were, “Father, forgive them…” Until the moment that He died, our Savior Jesus Christ was our perfect example of humility. And what did God promise towards the humble. He said that in His timing He would exalt them. Verses 9-11 show us that God was faithful to that promise. “Wherefore…” That word means, “Because of all of that, God did all of this…” God raised up His humble Son to the most high position possible.
Conclusion: Therefore, if we are going to think like Jesus, we must have a Heart for Others. Jesus always considered others before Himself. Jesus always put the needs and desires of others before his own. Jesus was the most humble man who ever lived. If we are going to think like Jesus, we must think of others before ourselves. Let’s pray…
2. A Heart for Others – Humility
a. Matthew 22:35-40
I would like us to begin with this passage from Matthew this morning, because in this passage, Jesus tells us in one statement the importance of how we treat others around us. Note that in verse 35 one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, asked Jesus a question trying to test Him. This was a common thing that the Pharisees would do to Jesus. He lived His life so perfectly and blamelessly that they were constantly trying to make Him say something wrong that they could use to accuse Him. This Pharisee asks Jesus, “Master, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Let’s read Jesus response in verses 37-40: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” What Jesus meant in verse 40 is this: That every law written in the Scriptures is concerning your relationship with God or your relationship with others. Jesus says that if we will love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind, AND if we will love our neighbor as ourselves, we will be obeying every law of God in the Scriptures. Think about that. Of all the laws in the Scripture, which we couldn’t even remember if we tried, we will obey them all if we love God and love others. It’s simple. So this matter of having a heart for others is indeed a very important aspect of our Christian lives. To think like Jesus, we must have a heart for others – a heart of humility.
b. Isaiah 57:15
Look now, in this next passage, at another motivation for keeping a spirit of humility. Somebody read for us Isaiah 57:15. What an amazing thought! God says that He dwells “in the high holy place, with him who is of a humble and contrite spirit”. When you live together with somebody, you learn who they really are, you learn how they think, you learn how they respond to different circumstances, and you learn how to be like them. This could be the key to our whole study! What better way is there to learn to think like Jesus than to live with him daily? And that can only be done, according to this verse, when we have a humble spirit.
c. Prov.6:16-19(17)
Now, I want us to take a quick look through the book of Proverbs and see a number of different passages that talk about humility. The book of Proverbs is all about wisdom. And God will only give wisdom to those people who walk humbly with Him. This first passage gives us a list of things that God hates. Notice – what was the very first thing that God hates? It is a proud look. Pride is something that God hates to see in our lives. We’ll talk a little bit more about what pride actually is in a few minutes.
d. Prov.8:13
This passage teaches us again that if we fear the Lord, we will hate pride, the pride that is in our own hearts.
e. Prov.11:2
These verses teach us that pride brings shame. When we have pride in our hearts, we will bring shame upon ourselves. But with the lowly, that is, with the humble is wisdom.
f. Prov.15:25,33
“The Lord will destroy the house of the proud… the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility.” We saw in the last passage that pride brings shame and now in this passage that humility brings honor. God hates pride, but loves humility.
g. Prov.16:5,18-19
This passage teaches us that people with proud hearts are an abomination to God – that is the strongest word in the Scriptures for something that God hates – it is an abomination. And then in verses 18 and 19 we see that pride will lead us to destruction and the Lord says it is better to have nothing, with a humble spirit, than to be very rich with other proud people.
h. Prov.22:4
In this passage, we learn that the Lord will reward the humble. He says “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life.”
i. Prov.29:23
And our final passage in Proverbs speak again about the honor that God will place upon the humble – “Honor shall uphold the humble in Spirit.
j. Matthew 23:1-12
OK, now everyone turn to Matthew chapter 23 and we’re going to see something very familiar that we have seen in almost every aspect of this study. Jesus teaches the people not to behave like the Pharisees. Listen to how Jesus describes the religious leaders: “Do not after their works… they say and do not… all their works they do to be seen of men… they love the uppermost rooms… and the chief seats… and being called Rabbi... he that is greatest among you shall be your servant… whoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled… whoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.” This was the one thing that Jesus kept returning to when He confronted the Pharisees – that they were clean and righteous on the outside, but dirty and sinful on the inside. The Pharisees knew the Law. They had it memorized. They went to the temple every day. They gave tithes of everything that they had. They would pray many times throughout the day. But the Son of God, who knows their hearts, saw that they were full of pride. In fact, the rest of the chapter is Jesus’ strong rebuke to the Pharisees for their hypocrisy.
Our battle with pride is one of the most difficult battles to fight. Pride is not an action; it is an attitude. We can have pride in about anything. We can be proud of our accomplishments. We can be proud of our abilities or talents. We can be proud of our intelligence. We can even be proud of our Christianity. If pride were an action, like many other sins, we could just say, “Don’t do that.” But since it is an attitude, we must always ask ourselves, “Am I doing this because of my pride?” Because of that, every person struggles with pride, some just handle it better than others.
k. James 4:6-10
Look next at James chapter 4. This passage tells us that God resists the proud people but give grace to the humble people. Now listen, when God resists a proud Christian, that doesn’t mean that we lose our salvation. Think of it this way. Our earthly father is a picture of our Heavenly Father. With my earthly father, it is possible for me to hurt, disobey or disrespect him. But when I do, that doesn’t mean I am not his son anymore. However, when that happens, we don’t have the close fellowship that we had before. This is the same with our Heavenly Father. When we as Christians have proud hearts, God resists us. We are still His sons, but He refuses to have fellowship with us unless we have humble hearts. And then listen to these verses: “Submit yourselves to God…resist the devil…draw nigh to God… cleanse your hands… purify your hearts… humble yourselves… He will lift you up.” That is the attitude of the humble. We must do nothing to promote ourselves. We must do nothing to make ourselves look better.
l. I Peter 5:5-6
The attitude of humility is one of submission. To submit yourself to another is to acknowledge their leadership over you, to voluntarily place yourself under their control. Peter encourages us to “be subject one to another, and clothed with humility”. And again we see that if we humble ourselves under the hand of God, He will exalt us in His timing.
m. Phil.2:2-11
And finally, I want to look at the most powerful passage on humility in all of God’s Word. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. As with every aspect of our study until now, we always finish by looking to our Savior and seeing a perfect example of how we should live. This topic is no different. Jesus Christ was the perfect example of humility. There is nobody who could begin with a higher position than He had and nobody who could take upon themselves a lower position than He took. Listen to this beautiful and powerful passage. “Fulfill ye my joy…” And we all say, “Amen” to that passage. Let’s think for a few moments about this. Jesus Christ is the Creator of the world. But He then became a human, one of us whom He created, in order to save us from our sins. But even in that, He did not come as a king, or a rich person, or even a normal person; He came as a poor carpenter’s son, a virgin’s son, and was born in a manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn. So then He went throughout His life and what did He do? He served EVERY person he met. He taught them. He healed them. He cast demons out of them. He fed them. He washed their feet. He loved them. He blessed their children. He raised them from the dead. And then, in the end, He gave His own life for them. He died for the very people who killed Him. His last words to His Father for them were, “Father, forgive them…” Until the moment that He died, our Savior Jesus Christ was our perfect example of humility. And what did God promise towards the humble. He said that in His timing He would exalt them. Verses 9-11 show us that God was faithful to that promise. “Wherefore…” That word means, “Because of all of that, God did all of this…” God raised up His humble Son to the most high position possible.
Conclusion: Therefore, if we are going to think like Jesus, we must have a Heart for Others. Jesus always considered others before Himself. Jesus always put the needs and desires of others before his own. Jesus was the most humble man who ever lived. If we are going to think like Jesus, we must think of others before ourselves. Let’s pray…
Excelencias de la Sabiduría - The Excellence of Wisdom
This Tuesday, Adrian and I drove to Ojinaga, Mexico in the state of Camargo, right on the border of Presidio, Texas to pick up Brother Lanny Ashcraft and some supplies for a medical team that is here for this coming week.
On the trip home, as Brother Lanny was driving, I was reading in Proverbs 2 and the Lord was speaking to me through His Word. Something about the beauty of the Spanish language, or maybe my own interpretation of it, made these verses stand out to me in a more clear understanding than I'd had before.
Listen:
“Hijo mío, si recibieres mis palabras, y mis mandamientos guardares dentro de ti, Haciendo estar atento tu oído a la sabiduría; Si inclinares tu corazón a la prudencia, si clamares a la inteligencia, y a la prudencia dieres tu voz; Si como a la plata la buscares, y la escudriñares como a tesoros, Entonces entenderás el temor de Jehová, Y hallarás el conocimiento de Dios. Porque Jehová da la sabiduría, y de su boca viene el conocimiento y la inteligencia. El provee de sana sabiduría a los rectos; es escudo a los que caminan rectamente. Es el que guarda las veredas del juicio, y preserva el camino de sus santos. Entonces entenderás justicia, juicio, y equidad, y todo buen camino. Cuando la sabiduría entrare en tu corazón, y la ciencia fuere grata a tu alma, la discreción te guardará; te preservará le inteligencia, Para librarte del mal camino…”
On the trip home, as Brother Lanny was driving, I was reading in Proverbs 2 and the Lord was speaking to me through His Word. Something about the beauty of the Spanish language, or maybe my own interpretation of it, made these verses stand out to me in a more clear understanding than I'd had before.
Listen:
“Hijo mío, si recibieres mis palabras, y mis mandamientos guardares dentro de ti, Haciendo estar atento tu oído a la sabiduría; Si inclinares tu corazón a la prudencia, si clamares a la inteligencia, y a la prudencia dieres tu voz; Si como a la plata la buscares, y la escudriñares como a tesoros, Entonces entenderás el temor de Jehová, Y hallarás el conocimiento de Dios. Porque Jehová da la sabiduría, y de su boca viene el conocimiento y la inteligencia. El provee de sana sabiduría a los rectos; es escudo a los que caminan rectamente. Es el que guarda las veredas del juicio, y preserva el camino de sus santos. Entonces entenderás justicia, juicio, y equidad, y todo buen camino. Cuando la sabiduría entrare en tu corazón, y la ciencia fuere grata a tu alma, la discreción te guardará; te preservará le inteligencia, Para librarte del mal camino…”
Here is my interpretation of this awesome passage:
"My son, if you will receive my words, and keep my commandments inside of you, they will make your ear attentive to wisdom; If you will bow your heart to prudence, if you will call out to understanding and will raise your voice to prudence; If you will seek it like silver, and will search for it like treasures, Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and you will find the knowledge of God. Because the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He provides sound wisdom to the righteous; He is a shield to them that walk righteously. It is He who keeps the paths of judgment, and perserves the way of his saints. Then you will understand justice, judgment, and equity, and every good way. When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge becomes pleasure to your soul, discretion will guard you; knowledge will preserve you, to free you from the wicked way..."
This passage was just an incredible reminder and challenge to me when I read it. I was reminded of my need to seek wisdom, to ask it of God, who gives liberally to all men, and it will be given to me. And the area that I most need wisdom in now is in relation to missions, the work on the field, the support-raising process, the decision on mission boards, and other questions. So the Lord pointed out to me that I was sitting even then next to a man of God who has been serving Him on the field here in Mexico for more than 30 years. So I put down my Bible and began to shoot questions to Brother Lanny regarding the different areas in which I had questions. It was a very neat thing to hear him tell stories of what had happened in his life, stories from the mission field, and advice concerning the process.
So I am grateful to God for His wisdom and ask that He will give me more each day...
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