Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
To start out with, I should make a quick disclaimer that this will inevitably be a long email as our lives have changed drastically over the last week. So bear with me if you will.
We made it safely to our destination. Our layovers and flights lasted about 30 hours (with a 12 hour time zone change). We flew out on Tuesday, August 5th and got in on Thursday. Our plane landed in J------ where our American friend picked us up and drove us two hours to our new city. The driving here is off the wall. It makes Chicago and New York City look like a child’s playground. We were whipping past cars, swerving in and out of lanes, horns honking all the time, and nearly hitting the hundreds of motorcyclists on the road.
When we finally got to B------, and we realized that it is not a city that is as ‘Westernized’ as we had thought. They have roads and fast food restaurants (McDonalds is considered a ‘nice’ restaurant), but any feel of Western America was defiantly left on the plane. B------ is a very crowded city with people everywhere. There is a large wealthy and poor division among the people and many rundown shanties lined the streets, garbage is thrown everywhere, and the open culverts to help with water displacement are used for garbage disposal and usually stink.
We arrived at some people who are working as M. in the city and we are staying with them until we can get our work visas. Due to new laws issued by the government, a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate is necessary and so I’ve been taking online courses to get certified. Hopefully it shouldn’t take too long to get or visas, then I’ll be able to start teaching fulltime.
We made our first trip to the school on Friday. It was more than we were hoping for. There is an enrollment of 450 students this year, more in the younger aged classes then the upper school age children I’ll be teaching. It was great to get out and begin meeting the teachers and students. My classes are currently being taught by other teachers until the work visa can get through. The school is on about 13 acres of land and has been growing exponentially since its start 4 years ago. We spent an hour or so at the school and then headed home to recover from our jet leg.
On Saturday we took our first trip out into the heart of the northwest part of the city. It was great to get out and see where we’re living. Little vendors are on every street corner trying to sell their products (everything from fireworks to day old fried foods), at every stoplight there are beggars asking for money, playing guitar, or having their pet monkeys perform tricks. Quite a site to behold!
Sunday saw us attending C. with the family we are staying with. We had a good time of fellowship with many of the native people afterwards and we were treated to a real native meal at a local restaurant. It was wonderful getting to know some of the locals.
This week has been busy thus far preparing for my online courses, visiting the school again and sitting in on my classes. Rachel and I picked up a couple of dictionaries and we are attempting to learn the language. The M. family we are staying with has been here for 20+ years and have been helping us out with basic statements. We met with some Southern Baptist M. who live down the street from where we’re staying and had a good conversation with them. We went on a walk and got in a brief dialogue with a local, but to our dismay, she only spoke the native tongue, no English.
Our time here has been good. We are anxious to get our feet more in the water with each passing day. We ask that you would continually pray for our encounters with people and that we would have wisdom as we seek the Lord’s will. Proselytizing is illegal here and we pray that we would have wisdom to know when to speak openly and boldly and when to hold our words. We have been told that relationships are the best means of reaching out, and we pray that in the midst of our soon-to-be busy schedules and jobs, that we will have time to form relationships with those around us. The city is in need of the Gospel. The Muslim population is very evident here and we hear the call to prayer five times a day; it would be our hope that the call of the Gospel would radiate throughout our lives and those around us. We would also covet your prayers as we begin a ministry with the Christians. We pray that they and us might be mutually edified for the glory of God.
Words to leave you with come from Psalm 28:9, ‘Oh save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever.’ We pray that God would save His people, not only here but in America and the world as well. That the true seed of Abraham, drawn from the four corners of the world, would gather together under our head Jesus Christ. We rejoice that Christ is the Good Shepherd and we are entrusting all of you into His grace. May we all have a boldness of speech, as Isaiah says, ‘Let those who know YHWH not keep silent’; and may the Shepherd of our souls carry us all now and forever. Amen.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Faith in Future Grace
The Scriptures are rampant with many verses concerning the state of the wicked and the righteous. Even from the protoevangelium (the Covenant of Grace) in Genesis 3:15 we see the beginning of promises and curses, namely, 'I shall put enmity between your seed and the woman's seed.' Here we see the bi-fold promise of blessing and curse. The curse being the enmity that is between the woman's seed and the serpent's seed; the blessing being that it is God who initiates the enmity, not leaving humanity to their sin sickened estate. The consummation of these verses is found in Revelation when the New Jerusalem comes, the Kingdom of God is fulfilled, and eternity is ushered in, in splendor and glory. Here the enmity will be forever set, to those who are clothed in the righteousness of Christ (Jehovah Tsidkenu), everlasting bliss, love, happiness, and joy; to those who belong to the serpent's seed, everlasting destruction, wrath, and hopelessness.
Now this theme of 'blessings and curses' are a poignant principal throughout the whole Scriptural context. Simplistically, the polar definitions are blessings ushering to eternal life for the covenant keepers, and condemnation ushering to eternal death, for the covenant breakers. Though this takes shape throughout the Scriptures using various similes as blessing and curses; it is imperative that we understand these in the context of faith.
Faith is the essential key in understanding with David, as he laments in Psalm 73 for the 'success' of the unrighteous and the 'failure' of the righteous. It takes faith to say, 'But when I stepped in the sanctuary of YHWH, I perceived their end. For you shall place them in a slippery place and their foot shall slide in due time.' In understanding this, it is quintessential to understand it through the lens of faith. Faith says, 'I believe it because You O God have said it.' Not, 'I believe it because I understand it or have seen it.'
It takes faith to trust in the future grace and condemnation of saints and sinners. It takes faith to trust Christ when He speaks in His Sermon on the Mount. It takes faith to understand that following the precepts of the Lord will lead to a life of joy. It takes faith to understand that 'Yes' the Lord is angry with the wicked everyday. It takes faith to understand that, 'The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.' Faith is the essence of the Christian life.
And yet this faith far transcends merely believing in future grace and condemnation, it also includes having faith that Christ will return. If there is no return of Christ than our faith in future grace and condemnation will be pointless. It was Peter who said, 'Set your hope fully on the grace to be revealed to you at the coming of Jesus.' It is the coming of Jesus, His person and work, that allows us to understand that every wrong will be made right, every sin will be punished, every tear will be wiped from our eyes, and that God will be All in all. Our faith rests in Christ, and Christ is the rock on which we can declare and hope the promises of the Scriptures. If we are want to doubt the reality of the Scriptures (which goes beyond my temporal sense of reality), then all we must do is look to the cross of Christ and hope for the return of Christ.
Well much more can, and probably will be said concerning this at a later date. But I hope and trust that all who read this will be encouraged to take the blessings and curses of Scripture for what they are-- Truth. Our experience must be shaped by the reality of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are not to be shaped by the reality of our experiences.
Blessings
(I'm not sure where the following came from, nor how it fits into this post, but I didn't have time to edit it... so here it is...)
One doesn't have to think long on the Bible to realize how verdant this structure is. In the Old Testament, there are the curses and blessings for covenant obedience to YHWH (Duet. 27-32), blessing the people of the Lord (Gen. 15), adhering to the basic principles of the Proverbs, of the righteous (Psalm 1), etc. In the New Testament, Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount with, 'Blessed...' and speaks of being 'Blessed by the My Father.' Likewise, Christ Himself speaks of many of the curses (think of the Pharisees), as do many of the other New Testament writers.
Another adjacent and somewhat similar system of thought are the many promises made throughout Scripture. One only needs to read the beginning chapters of Genesis to realize that YHWH is a promise (or covenant) making God. Read through the Psalms and one will see the many 'cause and effect' promises of the Gospel and allusions to a promised blessings, 'He shall be as a tree planted beside rivers of water...' 'I was once young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the children of God begging for bread.' 'The man of integrity walks securely but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.' And there are countless allusions to this in the Prophets, the covenant executers of the Law.
What this has led me to understand is the immense life of faith that the Christian walk truly is. We live, not by sight, but by faith. Therefore when I come to a passage in Scripture that speaks of the promise to the elect or the condemnation to the reprobate, I am left needing to have faith that God will do as God has said. My experience will never bring me to the point where I acknowledge the weeping man as the blessed man, and yet Scripture has declared, 'Blessed are those who weep and mourn,' and 'Cursed be the man who laughs in this life.'
Now this theme of 'blessings and curses' are a poignant principal throughout the whole Scriptural context. Simplistically, the polar definitions are blessings ushering to eternal life for the covenant keepers, and condemnation ushering to eternal death, for the covenant breakers. Though this takes shape throughout the Scriptures using various similes as blessing and curses; it is imperative that we understand these in the context of faith.
Faith is the essential key in understanding with David, as he laments in Psalm 73 for the 'success' of the unrighteous and the 'failure' of the righteous. It takes faith to say, 'But when I stepped in the sanctuary of YHWH, I perceived their end. For you shall place them in a slippery place and their foot shall slide in due time.' In understanding this, it is quintessential to understand it through the lens of faith. Faith says, 'I believe it because You O God have said it.' Not, 'I believe it because I understand it or have seen it.'
It takes faith to trust in the future grace and condemnation of saints and sinners. It takes faith to trust Christ when He speaks in His Sermon on the Mount. It takes faith to understand that following the precepts of the Lord will lead to a life of joy. It takes faith to understand that 'Yes' the Lord is angry with the wicked everyday. It takes faith to understand that, 'The fool hath said in his heart there is no God.' Faith is the essence of the Christian life.
And yet this faith far transcends merely believing in future grace and condemnation, it also includes having faith that Christ will return. If there is no return of Christ than our faith in future grace and condemnation will be pointless. It was Peter who said, 'Set your hope fully on the grace to be revealed to you at the coming of Jesus.' It is the coming of Jesus, His person and work, that allows us to understand that every wrong will be made right, every sin will be punished, every tear will be wiped from our eyes, and that God will be All in all. Our faith rests in Christ, and Christ is the rock on which we can declare and hope the promises of the Scriptures. If we are want to doubt the reality of the Scriptures (which goes beyond my temporal sense of reality), then all we must do is look to the cross of Christ and hope for the return of Christ.
Well much more can, and probably will be said concerning this at a later date. But I hope and trust that all who read this will be encouraged to take the blessings and curses of Scripture for what they are-- Truth. Our experience must be shaped by the reality of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are not to be shaped by the reality of our experiences.
Blessings
(I'm not sure where the following came from, nor how it fits into this post, but I didn't have time to edit it... so here it is...)
One doesn't have to think long on the Bible to realize how verdant this structure is. In the Old Testament, there are the curses and blessings for covenant obedience to YHWH (Duet. 27-32), blessing the people of the Lord (Gen. 15), adhering to the basic principles of the Proverbs, of the righteous (Psalm 1), etc. In the New Testament, Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount with, 'Blessed...' and speaks of being 'Blessed by the My Father.' Likewise, Christ Himself speaks of many of the curses (think of the Pharisees), as do many of the other New Testament writers.
Another adjacent and somewhat similar system of thought are the many promises made throughout Scripture. One only needs to read the beginning chapters of Genesis to realize that YHWH is a promise (or covenant) making God. Read through the Psalms and one will see the many 'cause and effect' promises of the Gospel and allusions to a promised blessings, 'He shall be as a tree planted beside rivers of water...' 'I was once young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the children of God begging for bread.' 'The man of integrity walks securely but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.' And there are countless allusions to this in the Prophets, the covenant executers of the Law.
What this has led me to understand is the immense life of faith that the Christian walk truly is. We live, not by sight, but by faith. Therefore when I come to a passage in Scripture that speaks of the promise to the elect or the condemnation to the reprobate, I am left needing to have faith that God will do as God has said. My experience will never bring me to the point where I acknowledge the weeping man as the blessed man, and yet Scripture has declared, 'Blessed are those who weep and mourn,' and 'Cursed be the man who laughs in this life.'
Monday, June 30, 2008
Indo Here We Come
Greetings! We are kicking off the first blog entry for our journey to Indo. We are sitting at my folks house; we leave in a little over a month and already the Lord is preparing us for this endeavor.
For those of you who haven't visited our blog, let us introduce it. The title of our blog is 'Jehovah Tsidkenu' which means, 'The LORD our RIGHTEOUSNESS' in the Hebrew and is taken from Jeremiah 23:6. This is nothing less than the great and glorious Gospel that was fully revealed to us in Christ. As the saints of old remind us, 'He lived the life we could not live, and died the death we should have died.' In the words of Martin Luther, it was 'The Great Exchange.'
As we venture off to a foreign land and places unknown, we can have a sure and steadfast confidence in the Lord that He is our Rock and the One in whom we trust. The Gospel call, on all of our lives, is a call that bids us to come and die beside Christ that we might truly find life. We often sing it in our Churches (e.g. Marvelous Light, When I Survey, etc.), read about it in our Bibles (e.g. 'Whoever desires to come after me...), and talk often about the deaths of saints; and yet we so often fail to acknowledge it in our lives. Instead we get greedy and want to retain the best of both worlds. Either we'll share in the suffering of Christ, but not His life; or we'll share in His life, but not in His death.
The Gospel demands our lives, and this great love with which we are loved, is a love that is fully exemplified in our becoming more like Jesus. I'm not sure where this ego-centric idea came that God wants us to be ourselves, be unique, or special-- when the Bible clearly states that we are to be conformed into the image of Christ, and this IS love! A love that bids us to die that we might find abundant life.
We pray that our journey is a Gospel-exalting journey. That we might seek to greater depths and levels what this beckoning call is that demands our life. We pray that Christ is the banner that we march under and our coat of arms, faith in Christ. We are not home yet, but the day is coming when we shall all wax cold and be ushered into eternity. May the words of this blog not merely be to update people on our life, but may it be a time of encouragement and sharpening. We don't want this blog to primarily be about us, but the Lamb who is worthy of all glory.
The poem by Robert Murry M'Cheyne sums up greatly the live which is lived declaring 'Jehovah Tsidkenu.' http://www.btinternet.com/~gracegospel/jehovah.htm
For those of you who haven't visited our blog, let us introduce it. The title of our blog is 'Jehovah Tsidkenu' which means, 'The LORD our RIGHTEOUSNESS' in the Hebrew and is taken from Jeremiah 23:6. This is nothing less than the great and glorious Gospel that was fully revealed to us in Christ. As the saints of old remind us, 'He lived the life we could not live, and died the death we should have died.' In the words of Martin Luther, it was 'The Great Exchange.'
As we venture off to a foreign land and places unknown, we can have a sure and steadfast confidence in the Lord that He is our Rock and the One in whom we trust. The Gospel call, on all of our lives, is a call that bids us to come and die beside Christ that we might truly find life. We often sing it in our Churches (e.g. Marvelous Light, When I Survey, etc.), read about it in our Bibles (e.g. 'Whoever desires to come after me...), and talk often about the deaths of saints; and yet we so often fail to acknowledge it in our lives. Instead we get greedy and want to retain the best of both worlds. Either we'll share in the suffering of Christ, but not His life; or we'll share in His life, but not in His death.
The Gospel demands our lives, and this great love with which we are loved, is a love that is fully exemplified in our becoming more like Jesus. I'm not sure where this ego-centric idea came that God wants us to be ourselves, be unique, or special-- when the Bible clearly states that we are to be conformed into the image of Christ, and this IS love! A love that bids us to die that we might find abundant life.
We pray that our journey is a Gospel-exalting journey. That we might seek to greater depths and levels what this beckoning call is that demands our life. We pray that Christ is the banner that we march under and our coat of arms, faith in Christ. We are not home yet, but the day is coming when we shall all wax cold and be ushered into eternity. May the words of this blog not merely be to update people on our life, but may it be a time of encouragement and sharpening. We don't want this blog to primarily be about us, but the Lamb who is worthy of all glory.
The poem by Robert Murry M'Cheyne sums up greatly the live which is lived declaring 'Jehovah Tsidkenu.' http://www.btinternet.com/~gracegospel/jehovah.htm
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