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I’m going to South Africa this summer for three weeks. 94% of the pastors in South Africa have no Biblical training whatsoever. Christ’s Church in Federal Way, WA (my home church) is sending a mission team to South Africa that will help with a conference intending to train local pastors.
To learn more, please download my support letter.
A psalm I composed for class today…
Yours is the hand that passes with us through the chaos
Your arm stretches out to keep us safe.
The enemy uses tornadoes to spin life out of control
He throws down hailstones of doubt
and targets us with lightning bolts of discouragement
But your ark encompassed us;
You picked us up and carried us with the wind.
When the enemy attempted to dash our existence to the ground,
You prepared the gentle landing–
Setting us down below the will of the storm.
You thwarted the enemy’s plan;
You preserved our souls.
One of the Ph.D. students in my Matthew class has this website where he has developed a Bible Map program that allows you to edit the map just about any way that you would like. Today in class the student showed some of the maps where he marked them according to the story of Matthew 21:1-11.
Once you get the map situated the way you like, you can use the image in a Powerpoint slide with a screenshot. On a PC, screenshots can be created by simultaneously pressing the ALT+Print Screen buttons; then paste the image into your document and/or slide. If you scroll the map far enough, you can even get a screen shot of the UK.
Last weekend at Northwest Bible Church’s singles retreat I was challenged by the speaker, Matt Klingler, to take another look at what it means to be filled by the Spirit. In his example he used an empty cup, filled it with liquid until the liquid reached the top of the cup. That’s what we normally think of when we think full. Then he poured some more, the liquid spilled over, and he set this as an example of being “Spirit-filled.”
Spirit-filled, is when we overflow for others. If the Spirit’s filling stopped before it spilled over, then his work would only be benefitial for us.
Yet the Spirit’s filling is more like 1 John 3:16 where it says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
It makes sense then that Spiritual fruit is for other people. Remember Galatians 5:22-23b. It says, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Now within that list, which are a benefit for the “self?”
When the Spirit fills us, it benefits other people.
One thing that impressed me yesterday in the Book of Deuteronomy was God’s command to worship him in the unique way that God commanded through Moses. In 12:4 Moses commands the people not to worship the LORD in the way that other nations worship their gods.
The people of Israel were to be set apart and different than all the other nations since they were worshipers of the one true God, Yahweh. In distinguishing how he wanted to be worshipped, the LORD detailed his law to the people in the books of Leviticus and Numbers.
What was applicable to me was that God used the wilderness as his training ground for his people. He trained his people to worship him in the wilderness so that they would know how to worship him in the land of abundance.
That has significance for us today because God still uses hard times in our lives to cause us to trust and worship him in all circumstances. One of the problems that comes with the good times in our lives is that we begin to shift our trust from God to our trust in ourselves.
One of the things that I learned this summer while taking Hebrew (my wilderness) was to keep my committment to read my Bible and to pray as a way to depend on the LORD to sustain my life.
Now this principle of God using our wilderness experiences for his worship also has an eschatological parallel. You see, God is using our time on earth (the wilderness) to train us to worship him in heaven (the time of abundance).
Where are you at in life? Is this a season in the wilderness or a season in abundance? Are you seeking God in the wilderness to worship him? Are you still worshipping him in a time of abundance?
One of the Seminary’s alum, Jim Beerley, is serving in the wealthy nation of Monaco. He grew up in Haiti, so the article focused on that contrast in his life. I saw and was struck by his quote in the Spring 2007 issue of the Kindred Spirit, Dallas Seminary’s seasonal publication.
“People fear going deep. When it comes to spiritual issues, people are reticent to discuss their faith. ‘Perhaps that’s because if they admit there is a God, it means they aren’t Him. And the consequences of the existence of a Higher Being–especially if He’s a moral being and has been paying attention–is almost too much for them to deal with.’”
