Psalm 31:24

Psalm 31:24

“Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.”

I often communicate the different principles and precepts of the Christian faith through the analogy of fighting a war.  I find it most accurately reflects the practical function of each individual’s role in acting out the Christian life, the nature of our relationship with authority, and especially, the intensity of the struggle, both in the effort required and the danger involved in what is at stake.  It is interesting how many people I discover—Christians themselves—who disagree with or disapprove of considering the nature of the Christian walk in this light though it directly echoes the voices of the apostles who encourage us to ‘put on the whole armor of God’, to ‘prepare our minds for action’, to ‘resist the devil, who seeks whom he may devour’, and ‘to struggle against sin to the shedding of our blood’ (Eph 6:11; 1 Pet 1:13; 5:8; James 4:7; Heb 12:4).  Perhaps we do not like this analogy because it confronts us with the very real dangers of evil when all we wish to think about are the more palatable forms of love and goodness.  We relate war with violence and the gospel with peace. War has to do with death and the gospel new life.  War makes us despair, and the gospel brings hope.  But, for whatever reason we reject this analogy to instruct our faith, it all boils down to one simple reason: the idea of war calls to mind great fear.  The kind of violence we see occur in the depravity of human conflict humiliates us with its capacity to make cowards of us all.  It exploits our frailty and weakness causing us to recoil in defense of our lives, and so we would rather not think the calling of our Lord has anything to do with such a repulsive phenomenon.  But there would be no need for hope if we were not threatened with despair; no need for peace if we were not in the midst of great conflict; no need for life if we were not dying; no better life possible if we did not risk our present lives in search of the next.  In truth, this life has more to do with war than it ever did with our ideas of peace.  God says we have an enemy who wars against us.  Even worse, this enemy is compared to a powerful dragon, a roaring lion, and a slithering snake.  He commands cosmic powers and spiritual forces of evil.  He does not fight with the sword or the spear.  His weapons are subtler: lies, accusations, and temptations.  He is always searching for weakness, grasping for a foothold to find a way to destroy us, and if we are deceived we will be destroyed.  It is true there is much to fear in this world, and it is for this very reason God tells us, ‘fear not’.

            When we hear the phrase ‘fear not’, we might have the tendency to mistake it to mean we have ‘nothing to fear’. This is true in a sense, but not in the sense that what we should fear has disappeared and no longer threatens us.  It is a phrase we use when our fears have the greatest power to overcome us and give us over to despair.  It is what Moses cried when Israel stood between the Red Sea and the advancing Egyptian army.  It is what Joshua cried when the five kings of Canaan joined forces against them.  It is what Elijah said to the poor widow, who, at his command, fed him with the last of her food while the land was in perpetual drought.  We find it is not in the absence of what we fear that requires us to lay aside all conditions of it, but in the very presence of our fear that it is most important to act as though we had none.   The command to ‘fear not’ acknowledges the presence of danger by commanding us to face our fears when we most want to run from them, to stand when we would otherwise shrink.   It is why Paul exhorts us to take up the whole armor of God, not just to stand, but to stand and fight, so we may withstand the evil day.  The way to heaven is not with the current but against it, and so we must be strong and let our hearts take courage else we will shrink in the evil day and be overcome by it.  The Lord Jesus says to the seven churches in Revelation, it is to those who overcome who will not be hurt by the second death.  He will cloth in them in white garments and allow them to rule with Him, but to those who are lukewarm—who abstain from the present conflict—He will vomit from His mouth (Rev 2:7, 11; 3:5, 16).   It is to the end of strengthening our courage to overcome that the Lord Jesus bids us remember, when the evil day comes upon us, He has overcome the world.  Just because Jesus has overcome the world, however, does not make any of us unsusceptible to being overcome by evil.  If Jesus has overcome, He says it is only so that we, too, may overcome (Rev 3:21).

            To say God is our refuge, to say Jesus is our strong fortress, is a way of verbalizing the idea that our strength and protection lay with the Lord Jesus Christ much in the same way as the strength and protection of Israel lay for a time in the hand of King David.  It is a way of saying their fate is aligned with his fate, because their cause was aligned with his cause. To align one’s self with David’s cause—to take refuge in his camps—was not to allow David to fight for them (which he only did by leading them), but to fight for him in the battle he was leading them into.  Before David became king, God led him over and again into the midst of his fears, so that he learned to trust God for his deliverance.  As king—the strength and wisdom of the nation—he was able to inspire those who fought for him to do likewise as they fought with him, and the God who delivered David delivered those who followed David.  How much more, when we respond to the call of the Greater David—Jesus—can we expect to be delivered when we follow Him into battle?  Wisdom from God is not God fighting our battles for us.  Wisdom from God is faith that God is our deliverance when we fight for Him.  This is why Jesus is called wisdom from God.   Like Israel who followed David into battle because David was assured of the deliverance of God, we follow Jesus into battle because Jesus is deliverance from God.  To wait on the Lord means exactly this.  It is not a command to do nothing.  It is a military command given to an army from its leader not to move until he moves. Therefore, if Jesus is advancing into battle and compels us to follow, we either follow or defect.

Like it or not, this world is a conflict between the forces of good and evil, and if a man is not willing to fight then the spoils of heaven are not available to him.  If a man does not exist amidst some expression of this conflict, it is because he has chosen the side of evil, and his flesh—which is evil—comforts him for doing so.  A man cannot abstain from the inevitable conflict of this world, and to think so is to be deceived by the enemy or defeated by the flesh.  This is why we are exhorted, commanded by our King, to take heart—to have courage—because it takes courage to deny the flesh.  It takes courage to surrender our cravings for the indulgences of this world and its riches—the thorns that choke the seed.  It takes courage to rejoice when we are grieved by various trials and to believe the testing of our faith—the war we fight—will produce praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ who is our deliverance from so great a struggle.  It takes courage to resist the devil, not just to flee him, but to fight him.    For the sword in our hands—the word of God—is not for our intellectual amusement or rhetorical speculation, but for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and it takes courage to wield it in this manner—to rest in the defenses of the weapons God has given us for our warfare (2 Cor 10:3-5).  It takes strength to walk against the current of the world.  It takes diligence and discipline to discern between its wisdom and the wisdom of God, and it takes courage to deny its values when the world would compel us—force us—to accept them.  So let weak say I am strong, for we are strong in the Lord and the power of His might if we stand with the Lord who promises us we will not be ashamed. Be strong and let your heart take courage!

When Thomas doubted the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus showed him his hands and feet and said, “You have seen and therefore believe.  Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe.”  It takes courage to believe the word of the one whom we have not seen, that when we lay down our lives at his command, He will return to us what we have given Him.  His commands are not burdensome.  They are the relief of our burdens.  He seeks our surrender of only that which would otherwise destroy us.  But it takes courage to believe that everything we seek lay in the abandonment of all we desire—the mortification of the flesh—the slaying of the essence of self—death and violence—war.  But if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you.  Amen.

Job 33:3, 4

In the previous post from Hosea 6, I attempted to show precedent for the necessity of an active pursuit of righteousness, which by definition includes the progressive abandonment of sinful behavior, to legitimize the forms of our devotion to be sincere.  This, of course, does not imply a life free from failure or a character free from flaw.  Only that there is to be present in us a continual and all-consuming battle against the flesh, not only to do what is good, but to hate what is evil (Amos 5:15; Rom 12:9)—to avoid it, run from it, and to banish it from our minds and our bodies by whatever means possible (Rom 13:14).

            This being to some degree established, it is now necessary to explore the inverse expression of the argument.  Previously, I stated, ‘the desire for intimacy with God is indivisible from the desire—the continual pursuit—of righteousness’.  If we have found the expression of righteousness is necessary to legitimize the sincerity of our devotion, we must now discuss how the presence of devotion is necessary to legitimize the sincerity of our pursuit of righteousness.  Before, I stated, the ‘deeds of righteousness’ are preferential to the ‘forms of our devotion’.  This is true and not true.  It is not true to think that the deeds of righteousness are more important or can be done at the expense of our devotions.  Certainly not!  Only that the deeds of righteousness are preferential to devotion just as the apple is preferable to eat than the roots of an apple tree.  The rose is sweeter to smell than the soil from which it grows.  Righteousness is the consummation of our devotion.  Devotion, however, is so necessary to be present in us, and yet not contrived, that the whole building of Christianity crumbles—and our hope and assurance with it—if it is found to be absent.  What I write is not to judge, but so one may test one’s self to see if one is truly of the faith founded by Jesus Christ and our Father in heaven, who are One.

“My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely.  The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

Job 33:3,4

            Early mankind being closer contemporaries of Adam than of Darwin considered the existence of God to be the unquestionable condition of the universe.  Modern man, through the deceitfulness of sin and the pride of knowledge has inverted the most basic logic of the universe—order established through chaos; something produced from nothing—so he might fool himself into thinking God does not exist.  However, in doing so, he unwittingly undermines man’s ability to perceive the very aspect of life that makes it worthwhile: goodness.  There is no more confused an individual than the one who believes goodness is possible but God is not.  For moral value is found in the intention of a volitional (free) being and not in the action such a being chooses to express an intention.   Therefore, if the world was ‘unintended’—an accident—there can be no good or evil, and life in general becomes worthless and every expression of life within the universe as expendable as it appears to be exceptional.  If a God we cannot see has become imperceptible to modern man, if we are to make an argument that He desires our devotion, we must begin with what we can see.

The evidence of a universe operated by immovable law is self-evident.  We find a physical law maintaining the boundaries of the universe, and a moral law in our conscience maintaining the boundaries of decency and virtue. In ordering the universe to be a certain way, each of these laws imply a lawgiver who, whether He exercises it or not, retains authority over us, not because we choose Him, but because our existence is dependent upon His and is a consequence of His nature.  Man can live in denial of the absolute nature of these laws, but like any ordered kingdom, to transgress the law is to call down judgment according to the law.  We see, to impose upon the moral law brings shame, and to impose upon the physical law brings death.  If, then, we see both death and shame in the world, we can surmise, not only the existence of a lawgiver, but that we have transgressed His law.  However, in searching out the moral law, we find within the virtue of justice, not only the means to punish the wicked, but also, the mercy to reform the penitent.  Therefore, if there is a lawgiver, and it is by His nature our moral law has been established, by being the absolute expression of justice, He is also the flawless arbitrator of mercy.  If it is truly the heart of a man to reform from evil, he will begin to seek what is good, and in recognizing the lawgiver through the law he has transgressed, he knows to seek good means to seek mercy from God.  Any man who seeks to love righteousness apart from submitting to God first, will find in the end it is not goodness he seeks, but some perverse version of self-indulgence.  If we find the mercy to quiet our aching souls in seeking God’s unmerited favor, it can only be in devoting ourselves to God that we remain in His favor. For by the same logic, if a just lawgiver grants mercy, it is only so we may reform to live justly.  To ask for mercy implies the desire to no longer offend, but to receive mercy does not imply we have been reformed.  If we wish to turn from evil we must learn to love righteousness, and if it is by God’s nature righteousness was established, we find we can only learn to love righteousness by learning to love God.

Moral value—righteousness—is found in the intention of an action, not the action itself.  Therefore, moral value is a product of the identity of a moral being.  In judging a man, it is impossible to know whether his actions are good or evil without knowing that man’s intentions, and it is impossible to know a man’s intention without knowing the man himself.  How much more is it impossible to comprehend the righteousness of God apart from seeking the identity of God?  Sin does not keep us from being aware of the existence of God, but only from knowing the ‘person’ of God.  By breaking His law, He has expelled us from His kingdom, and we become ignorant of righteousness by being outside the realm influenced by His goodwill.  If we are to be unbraided from evil and sin, we must re-establish a relationship with God.  Therefore, if God allows us to experience His righteousness, it is only to the end that we may know Him, and only by knowing Him, we understand what it means to be righteous.

Jesus communicates this principle as He taught in the temple at the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7).  Jesus was not a rabbi by Jewish professional standards.  Those who called Him ‘Rabbi’ did so out of reverence.  Not having been officially trained in the scriptures the Jewish leaders were amazed when He explained the Mosaic Law to the people.  When they challenged His authority, Jesus said, “My teaching is not mine, but Him who sent me.  If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.”  God had given the Israelites the law, so in seeing contemporarily relevant expressions of His virtue, they might more clearly apprehend His identity.  The Mosaic Law was a further revelation that God truly did ‘intend’ for their reformation and eventual reconciliation, and through them, the whole world.  It was a means of hope.  For those who truly loved righteousness knew it was not the knowledge of righteousness that could save them, but only if the knowledge of righteousness led them closer to the knowledge of God—the Lord of righteousness—who is mighty to save.  In obeying the law they were able to commune with God in a greater way, and in communing with God, they were able to obey the law—God’s will—in a greater way.  This is why Jesus said the only way a man can know why my teaching has authority is if it is his will to do God’s will.  A heart that truly hungers and thirsts for righteousness will come alive when met with the substance of what it hungers for, not food that perishes, but the Bread of Life.

Jesus says the very nature of righteousness is seeking the kingdom of God, because God alone is righteous (Matt 6:33; Luke 18:19).  God says to Israel who are living under the burden of sin and judgment, “…you will seek me and you will find me if you seek me with all your hearts (Jer 29:13).”  The repentance that begs forgiveness implies the desire to seek righteousness by seeking to know the God who is righteous and to make one’s self completely dependent upon the knowledge only He can reveal. If we have the knowledge that God exists, but forsake the opportunity He has given to know Him, He considers this a great affront to the mercy and grace He has given, and He will judge us apart from any works we proclaim to have done on His behalf.  Thus, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven.  Many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you, depart from me you evil-doers!’”  We find Jesus affirming our logic, or perhaps reminding us of the true nature of the reality He has established, when He correlates the execution of God’s will—righteousness—with the knowledge of God that only comes from intimacy with God. 

            Those who truly seek God because they love righteousness know that Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s revelation by being the reconciliation that facilitates the reformation.  And, of course, this is exactly what Jesus claims when He says, “I am the Light of the World.  Those who follow me will never walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”  Notice the language Jesus uses, ‘follow me’, organically follows the logic we used (because of God’s revelation) to arrive at Jesus.  By existing, we become aware of goodness—by goodness, God—by God, sin—by sin, mercy—by mercy, the knowledge of God—by the knowledge of God, the pursuit of God, and by the pursuit of God, the Son of God, wisdom from God, who beckons us to follow Him to God.  We begin from the relatively static knowledge ‘that’ God exists to the perpetual movement forward into His presence by the grace of Jesus Christ.  If the knowledge of God does not move a man toward God to be closer with God then that man has exchanged the true God for some idol of his own imagination.  To know God is to seek Him and search for Him through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which is not knowledge that leaves us alone or keeps us still.  Quite the opposite, Jesus brings us straight to the Father—into His very throne room.  What we ached for and hungered for is now available to us first hand and closer than ever before.  This does not slow down our search for God or our love for righteousness.  It excites it and intensifies it to an exponential degree, but only if it is God a man was looking for to begin with because it was righteousness he wanted.  If not, then the knowledge of Christ as Savior would probably not change a man’s life one bit.  So the ultimate question is this: If God is not who you are seeking, whom is it you are serving?  I finish in the same place I began in the previous post:  “I desired mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Hosea 6:6

          Being a man of a greatly flawed character, compulsively given to base lusts of the flesh in sensuality and immorality, I have wrestled with the concept of God’s all-abounding grace and my responsibility to pursue righteousness—not because I want to be good—but because it is only in goodness that we are most fluently able to commune with our Father in heaven—to know Him and to glorify Him—by reflecting His holy character back to Him with thanksgiving and praise.  In this sense, righteousness is the highest practical reality that I desire specifically because a relationship with Almighty God is the highest spiritual reality that I desire.  In my judgment, the desire for intimacy with God is indivisible from the desire, which is the continual pursuit, of righteousness.  David says in Psalm 27, “My heart says of you, ‘Seek His face!’ Your face Lord I will seek,” and yet Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”  To divide the desire for the face of God from the desire for the righteousness of God is to invalidate either desire in us.  For, it is only by righteousness that we will be found to be in His presence, and His presence is the purpose of our righteousness.  There is no difference between the power that saves from the power that sanctifies, and it is my belief that, if we are able to lay hold of the concept, of which I will attempt to expound, we may lay hold of the power of God in a way that brings revival to our community.

“For I desired mercy and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings”

Hosea 6:6

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves… rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

2 Timothy 3:1-5

            The word ‘mercy’ in Hosea 4:6 is translated from a Hebrew word that means, ‘piety’, ‘goodness’, ‘sanctity’.  These concepts, when built into our character by the power of the grace that comes only through Jesus Christ, is what the bible means when it uses the term ‘godliness’.  The Greek word translated ‘godliness’, itself, means ‘piety’.  So, when the bible speaks of ‘godliness’ it is speaking of God’s character being expressed in our own character.  And since, true godliness can only be built in us through the power of God, if godliness is found in us, it is evidence of the power of God in us.  We exercise the power of God by expressing his godly character through our character.  This is what I mean when I use the phrase, ‘the power of godliness’, which is not, itself, a phrase found in scripture, but the precedent is foundational in the teaching of scripture.

            God has designed us to function in a manner to which the power of godliness is shaped by the forms of our devotion.  For example, the ceremonial law in the Old Testament, despite its futility to keep Israel from sin, was designed to reveal, in types and shadow, the character of God, so that by using these precepts to order their lives they might be set apart from all other nations, or in a crude way, to sanctify them.  The form of devotion was meant to facilitate the power of godliness.  This has always been the formula, and it is still the formula for us in Christ, though it operates in a more profound way through devotion that is now facilitated by God’s Spirit.  Devotion is the means to bring about the practical expression of godliness.  They are both important, but one is of more preference than the other.  Meaning, the power of godliness is greater than the forms of our devotion.  This is evident, not only when Jesus cites Hosea 4:6 to explain His own actions when He defied the law of the Jewish Talmud (Dining with sinners; healing on the Sabbath), but also, in Paul’s exhortation to Christians in Rome when he says, “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, they are a law for themselves (Rom 2:14).”  This does not mean that the forms of devotion should be abandoned in the pursuit of godliness.  For, Jesus tells the Pharisees, “Those (lawful precepts) you ought to have done without neglecting the others (godliness)(Matt 23:23).”  What this means for us who live in the much desired grace of Jesus Christ, being free from the ceremonial law, is that the forms of our devotion are rendered empty and meaningless if they are not consummated by the deeds of godliness.  Charity is not useful to us or gloritying to God as an abstraction to be contemplated and discussed, but only if it is the principle we use to determine a life lived in the expression of self-sacrifice.  And self-sacrifice, being the practical mode by which we embrace the principle of charity, is not only service to others, but the progressive abandonment of sinful behavior.  Jesus does not heal or forgive without an exhortation to reform.  He says to the man by the Pool of Bethesda, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”  Likewise, He tells the adulterous woman to ‘sin no more’.  

Prayer, praise, fasting, study of the word—these are all forms of devotion.  These were meant to shape the goodness of the nature that God wants to build in us through them, and important as they may be, apart from the deeds of piety these forms were meant to facilitate (obedience can be expressed by any Christian despite maturity), the forms themselves are worthless.  The power of godliness is found in the deeds of godliness and not the forms of our devotion, because it is only the deeds that are an actual expression of faith through obedience to commands that compel us to act contrary to our natural inclinations of right and wrong.  Even prayer itself is fruitless apart from an active will to engage the desires the forms of devotion were meant to shape, because prayer is only communion with God if we are sincere in our desire to pursue God, which Jesus says is only demonstrated in our attempts to obey His commands.  We are obligated to act according to the desires we express in our prayers even if those actions continue to produce failure.  If we do not do this then our prayers are empty like sacrifice without mercy, and our praise is meaningless like burnt offerings apart from the knowledge of God.  We must not believe the lie that we cannot do what God asks of us—for God is our help.  We must stop telling ourselves that we are unable to resist temptation—for the bible says that God has given us a way out of each and every temptation we face.  The power of God is power over sin, and God says that He is always with us.  Any reasoning we give for failing to obey is a rationalization that compounds our sin by keeping us from true repentance.  The exhortation to obedience is the part of the gospel that challenges us, and, being our spiritual act of worship, it is the practical manner by which we are sanctified.  It is only in the attempt to be obedient that we apprehend the absolute necessity of the forms of devotion to help us to do so, and it is only through the effort to obey that we experience the power and the fellowship with God that we pursue in devotion.  The bible identifies the acts of piety as preferential to the forms of devotion because the acts of piety will lead to devotion through exposing our continual need for God’s help, identifying Him as the object of our purpose.  The forms of devotion will never lead to acts of piety apart from the conscious, volitional choice to step out in faith in obedience to God, which is the beginning of piety.

            The power of godliness to do what is good begins with supplication to God, is mediated by God’s word and devotion, but is only consummated by the simple choice to act in obedience even, and especially, in the face of what we are convinced we cannot do, for ‘everything is possible to those who believe’.  Faith is not only the belief that God is who He says He is—for even demons believe this and tremble—but it is the willingness to do what we would otherwise not be willing to do because, by the grace of Jesus Christ, He has made us able to do it.  We spend so much time contriving false humility by reciting the nature of our depravity that we forget that Jesus has said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God,” and so, we cease to try with all of our hearts, souls, mind, body, and strength.  When we give in to this form of deception, the power of godliness that should be ours becomes lost in the forms of our devotion (actions that require significantly less faith in their religion), and we become men who only retain the form of godliness while denying its power. This is how the precious saltiness of God, in Christ, looses its flavor and becomes trampled underfoot.

            God desires us to seek righteousness through action with the same voracity with which He desires to give it by providence.  It is only in this action that the power of God becomes differentiated from the power of man, because it is only in this that our faith in God proves more valuable than man’s faith in anything else.  The question only remains: what kind of faith do you have? 

Advent

Four years ago, North Church wrote and published a booklet of daily readings for the Advent season. It contains short readings for Monday-Friday each week of Advent. A pdf file is available here. I hope you enjoy and feel free to pass this along.

A Bonus Pictoral Update

The Church we are serving

The crew at Sunday's lunch

Two moms from La Puerta Esperanza

Amy and Kelso at lunch

Babies!

The crew leaving lunch

A few of our tools

Juan the master electrician

Mudding

More mudding

Sierra leading our kid's club

More mudding

Juan Carlos (pastor) and Dennis

Still more mudding

Caleb got some on the walls too

Jenimax in her element

Jenimax surrounded by babies

John put up ceiling fans in the new rooms

Caleb is eating with those mudded hands

G and Say with their new friend

Kelso with one of the babies

Jenimax in her element again

Amy too

She actually knows how to use that thing

Rik and Dave putting up a foyer wall

Juan is a master drywall hanger too

I told you she knew how to use it

G and Amy enjoying downtime

Amy and Avery at La Puerta Esperanza

Nap time after a hard day

This is the crew just after church Sunday

Mexico Team Day 4 Update

One of the most important things for our team and the thing that we want to convey most on this update blog is what God is doing and how we see him working as we work.

Kelso is a new friend of most of those on our team. I (Rik) met her last summer during my time teaching at Super Summer. She has connected with our group and it feels like she has been a part of our group for years. Kelso is the author of the post tonight.

I can’t say I’m the best person to be writing this today. I guess it’s because I didn’t spend a ton of time “serving” at the church. I played some rad soccer and Frisbee with the kiddos, snuggled babies and went to the market. But, while spending time with the babies and their moms, I was reminded of one thing: “Love is omnilingual.” Yes, that word is made up, and it may even be a bit foolish, but Rik said that in our first meeting for the trip, and it has stuck with me. (I may even try to fashion a little painting out of it when I get home.) I was reminded of this when I looked into those little babies’ eyes, when I saw Dennis pick them up and quietly speak to them in Spanish and when I observed the mothers. 

There’s something so massively fabulous about love. We don’t deserve it, but we all long for it. We all give, and receive, it in our own special ways. The Lord put on my mind that this little word, love, is why these young girls have these babies in the first place. They sought out the ‘love’ they didn’t receive from their fathers, mothers or other family members. So, they find someone who will show them ‘love.’ This love is satisfying for a moment, or maybe it’s not satisfying at all. And, I wonder if when they gaze upon their babies if they are reminded of their need for love. Do they try to love their daughters and sons greater, so they don’t seek out the same ‘love’ they did? 

I think their babies already know how to love greater. Yesterday, during church I held one of the little girls, well really, she held me. Lately, I have experienced loneliness. For the first time in a while, standing in the back of a church, dancing to praise music that I didn’t know the words to, this little one wrapped her arms around my neck and held on, and I did not feel alone. Maybe she sensed my loneliness, maybe she saw me crying, but either way, she held on. In that moment, she was Jesus to me. Jesus whispered his love to me, and I was so thankful. 

I hope that’s what these mommies feel when their babies hug them. I hope they find the love of Jesus through their children. I also hope, because of their babies, they no longer have to go look for men who are going to use and abuse them, because how glorious it would be to see these situations and the products of the situations redeemed. 

So, I’m not sure this meets the criteria of what I was supposed to write. Nor do I really have the best recap of the day, but I know what they Lord has been teaching me. He’s been teaching me, once again, that his love is available to all, and all need his love. Also, I am never above needing his love, nor am I above being “out-Jesused” by a child.

Mexico Team Day 3 Update

Our team, Dennis (far left), Pastor Juan Carlos and his wife.

Amy Kuntz is the sister of Dave and she is on the trip with us. Amy is a great writer and Dave and I asked her to write the update for today. Here it is, enjoy!

This morning we piled into our fifteen-passenger van and crossed the border from Texas into Mexico just like we have the past two mornings. But today our agenda wasn’t to gather children in preparation for kid’s club or to strap on tool belts to mud and tape drywall. This morning as we walked through the doors of Iglesias Baptista Acuna we were greeted with the sounds of worship music playing and smiling faces extending hands of welcome as locals gathered for their Sunday church service. We took our seats front and center as we waited with much anticipation and some curiosity about what the next couple of hours would bring.  As the praise team took the stage and began singing songs in Spanish a very powerful thing happened. The Spirit of God crossed barriers. Language. Cultural. Comfort level.  There we were smack dab in the middle of a room full of people we couldn’t understand. Singing songs of praise in a language we didn’t speak. The songs lyrics flashed across a screen overhead and every now and then an easily recognizable word like hallelujah, holy, freedom, and Christ is Lord would give us an aha moment. It was just enough insight into the passionate praise we saw demonstrated around us as young girls danced with ribbons at the front of the stage and women gathered in the aisles with tambourines. Voices, hands, hearts and instruments were lifted in sincere adoration to Jesus Christo. Different language. Different culture. Different styles. Same God.

As the praise music ended, Pastor Juan Carlos took the stage and began to preach in Spanish. His text for the sermon appeared on the screen. The only part I could read was the reference. As I turned to 2 Corinthians I was especially thankful for my English Bible and prayed that the Spirit would teach through Pastor Juan and through His Word. Do you ever come across passages of Scripture you know you have read before, but perhaps haven’t seen? I mean like really seen. As the Pastor spoke on being content where you are and living a life of thanks expressed through action, I found myself stuck on this one verse found in Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth.

I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. 2 Corinthians 12:15

We do a lot of spending in the American culture. We spend our money, time, thoughts, attention, energy and on and on. We are in the business of spending and our spending does in fact keep us busy. But I think the really challenge here from Paul is do we “spend” on what matters, ultimately people’s souls? And do we do so “most gladly”? It’s often times easier to gladly spend and be spent for souls when we are on mission trips. I mean isn’t that ultimately why we are here?  Of course we are going to do that. Seven days. Check. Going home. But if we shrink our lives and our mission down to that we are missing it. Jesus came for more, He died for more and the abundant life in Christ offers us more. 

So our mission here reminds us of our ultimate mission at home, to reach beyond the barriers of culture and comfort level. To intentionally spend ourselves on the things that last and to do so gladly for the souls of those the Lord has placed in our path today.

We are so grateful to you for your prayers towards us as we minister in Acuna. Tomorrow we return to kid’s club and construction. We have two full days of ministry left. Please pray for strength, rest and the health of the team and for the gospel to continue to go forth in all of our efforts here.  We are thrilled at the relationships the Lord is allowing us to build this week and we can’t wait to see what future ministry will look like here. 

Blessings to you today.

Amy

  

Mexico Team Day 2 Update

Day two is in the books and there is a lot to let you know about. God has been faithful and showing us favor and answering lots of prayers.

Our construction team is ahead of schedule. Almost all of the drywall is hung and more than half of it has been taped and mudded. The kids team told the story of David from the Jesus Story Book Bible today. We had 16 kids today in the kids club.

The next update is something I am very excited about. The elders of North Church have been praying since we started talking about going to Mexico about finding a church that we can establish a partnership with. We did not want this to be a single trip. We want to have a long-standing partnership that takes several trips each year. In order to do that, we want to have a church to partner with that has a vision for reaching their city. We want that vision to be rooted in reproductive discipleship. We want to partner with a church that disciples its people and sends them out on mission.

To tell you about how that is happening, I need to tell you about two people. Luis is a man I (Rik) met on Wednesday. He works for an organization called Cross Vision. Luis lives in Acuna and his job is to equip churches in Mexico to be on mission and reproduce themselves. Luis and I were spending Wednesday night in the same house and talked about his work and the work that we hoped to accomplish with our trip. His vision, the vision the NC elders have prayed for and the vision of NC are all in sync.

That night, Luis and I prayed that the church we were to work with would be open to the vision that God had given us. We prayed for an opportunity to do more than just do some kids ministry or construction. We prayed for an opportunity to begin to help train leaders for reproductive discipleship. We prayed for opportunities to help this church begin to develop a vision to start new churches. We prayed that we would be received in those things.  We did not want to be arrogant or come off as though we had it all figured out.

The next day, Dennis (our contact and leader of the La Puerta Esperanza), introduced me to Juan Carlos. Juan Carlos is the pastor of the church we are working with. Within a few minutes of meeting Juan Carlos, I knew that God had ordained this relationship. Everything that Luis and I had prayed, and Dave, Mike and I had prayed, was in his heart already. God had paved the way for the conversation to happen. Juan Carlos has two families in his church that will be sent out soon, each to start a new church.

I have written about most of the above already. Last night I began to pray that Juan Carlos and Luis would get a chance to talk. Luis has a big vision for Acuna and is an apostle for the churches there. Prior to today, Luis and Juan Carlos had never met. Today, as we worked, Juan Carlos and Luis talked for more than an hour. Luis was very encouraged with that conversation and Juan Carlos is seeking his help in training his leaders to begin to think about reproduction.

All of this is an answer to prayer. We have begun to establish a partnership with Juan Carlos. We have established a relationship with Luis. This trip is way more than a kids Bible club and four rooms built in a church. This trip is step one in a fulfilled mission and vision.

Tomorrow we will be attending church in Acuna. Chance are we will not understand much of what is happening. But, I have been given an opportunity to share why we came to serve this church during their service. Pray that God would give me words and pray that they would be translated well.

Thanks for reading and thanks for praying.

Rik

Mexico Team :: Day 1 Update

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Well today was the first official day “on the field” serving in Acuna, Mexico.  It was an amazing day full of the Lord’s provision.  After a long 17.5 hr drive and arriving late last night into Del Rio, TX, we were able to get a decent night sleep and an early start this morning.  We anticipated the potential of some issues crossing the border into Mexico with all of our construction tools (nail guns, saws, etc) but by God’s grace we were waved through and the van wasn’t even checked.  Incredible!  Praise God! 

When we arrived at the church in Acuna our teams got after it, getting their jobs rolling—construction folks began framing out walls for classrooms and those working with the kids club started preparing and recruiting kids.  The kid’s club brought in 20-30 kids, who were able to hear the gospel.  Pray for salvation and the hope of Jesus to be firmly planted in this community. 

After the kids club, the girls were able to head over to meet and minister to the single moms, all of which have been taken advantage of and are desperate for hope in their life.  Pray for all these relationships to be established throughout the rest of our time here, as we seek to bring the hope of Christ.

My crew, working construction, had a very productive day.  Our task during our time here is to turn one giant room into 4 rooms, 3 enclosed with doors and 1 open.  Going into today, we were hoping to get all the framing done, which consisted of 84 2x4s.  Not only did we get all the rooms framed but we also got the electrical ran and almost completed dry-walling one of the rooms.  For a crew of 5 people, that’s not bad. 

The team is exhausted after a long day but we were able to wind down with some amazing dinner (thanks to Jen!) and some competitive 4-square.  During dinner we all shared how we saw the Lord today.  Pray that we will continue to be moved by His presence as we seek to bring the hope of His presence everywhere our feet touch the Mexican soil.

My prayer for today and this week comes out of Isaiah 64:1-4.  Would you join me in praying this for our time here:

1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence-- 2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! 3 When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.

Thanks for your prayers!!!

Dave

Psalm 43

Yesterday I preached from Psalm 43. In that sermon, I talked about the need for us to read this Psalm consistently, to preach it to ourselves with repetition. Take a minute to read it. There are some great phrases here. Think on the ones that jump out at you.

By reading this over and over and thinking deeply about the phrasing, you are pressing the very character of God into your soul. This is the gift of the Psalms, cherish them, pray them.

Psalm 43::
 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
        against an ungodly people,
    from the deceitful and unjust man
        deliver me!
    For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
        why have you rejected me?
    Why do I go about mourning
        because of the oppression of the enemy?
    Send out your light and your truth;
        let them lead me;
    let them bring me to your holy hill
        and to your dwelling!
    Then I will go to the altar of God,
        to God my exceeding joy,
    and I will praise you with the lyre,
        O God, my God.
    Why are you cast down, O my soul,
        and why are you in turmoil within me?
    Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
        my salvation and my God.

Psalm 34:15-22

Psalm 34:15-22

B.

“The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.  The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.  When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.  The lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.  He keeps all his bones; not one of them are broken.  Affliction will slay that wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.  The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.”

There are many evils in the world.  So much that it is impossible for a man to live his life without the afflictions that come from the conflict, selfishness, instability, and mischief of his own doing and that of others.  We are threatened to be tricked, cheated, oppressed, and misused everywhere we turn.  Affliction produces sorrow, and everywhere I go, I see men suffering from the sorrow that afflicts them from merely being a participant in this fallen state of affairs.  Every man, whether believer or not, has untold sorrow from the years of suffering that he has endured in this life.  The difference in Jesus Christ is that the righteous have the attention of the Lord in heaven, and His ear is always poised to hear their cries, waiting in anticipation to drench them in an abundance of love, mercy, and deliverance.  The face of the Lord, though, is against those who do evil, and they stand to be cut off by the one who has the power to cut them off—to be salted with fire.

            Now, the mistake I usually make—the manner in which I am most easily deceived—is concerning what differentiates a righteous man from a wicked man.  (Even in the interpretation and application of the word of God we must be diligently sober-minded and accountable to others.  For it is when the truth threatens evil by comforting the righteous that the righteous are most threatened by evil to be deceived in their endeavors to rightly divide the truth.)  The bible says that the ‘redeemed’ of the Lord, His servants, are those who take refuge in Him specifically because they are unrighteous, and God has said that all those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.   Therefore, the righteous are not the strong and the wise but are the ones who look to God for their wisdom and strength.  Righteous men are only characterized by righteous deeds if they have made a habit of crying out to the Lord for their help in the midst of all the wickedness and affliction that causes them sorrow.  It is only the broken-hearted that God draws near to because it is only the broken-hearted who draw near to God.  God only saves the crushed in spirit because it is the crushed in spirit who have no faith in themselves.

            The wicked man, though, refuses God’s help, whether from stubbornness of pride or ignorance of evil, dismissing God’s authority to dictate what is good and His power to save from what is evil.  Either way, if affliction does not break him, it will consume him in the end.  Affliction serves as evidence that the existence of good is only the appearance of good, and where evil exists, no good can exist at all.  In other words, our heart desires what is good, but that desire is frustrated by the evil that exists because the good that has been abandoned.  To be righteous is only to acknowledge this reality and turn to God for help and salvation from a wicked world that will soon be cut off because it is full of evil.  Wicked men are the ones who pretend that the good they find is the only good that exists because it is what they think they want.  However, when they find it is fruitless to defeat evil or stand up to their sorrow, to continue to cling to such shadows prove that they do not love goodness at all, but darkness, because their deeds are evil. 

            The righteous who are ‘being’ saved are not saved from the presence of affliction, only that they will not be consumed by it, just as we are not saved from the presence of sin, but only its power to destroy us.  In all cases for the righteous, sorrow leads us to the Righteous Comforter—The Spirit of the Living God—who identifies us in our hearts, prevailing over our sorrow, to be alive in Christ.  Our joy is our hope, not our righteousness.  Do not mistake righteousness for being infallible.  For, anyone who believes this will not be led to sorrow but overtaken by despair, thinking that God has abandoned him.  We must believe that all our unrighteousness leads us to a righteous God, and we must be led to Him if we are to overcome, so that in our learned hatred for what is evil, we may be a source of refuge and light to those who still live with deep sorrow.