Today I graduated from New Tribes Bible Institute. Without hesitation I can say these last two years at Bible School have been some of the best of my life. So much has changed in my thinking, in regard to God's word, i mean, I can hardly recognize the guy who first walked through these doors 24 months ago. It was two years filled with failures, triumphs, foolish decisions, meaningful friendships, and looking back, although most times I did not realize it, the overarching theme was/is God's faithfulness.
I have been asked several times what I would change if I could do it all over again. My answer quite simply is I wouldn't do it all over again, and I probably wouldn't change anything. These failures that some times I want to change is where I saw God work the most. Indeed the most growth I have seen take place in my life is through my failures, and perhaps I am beginning to realize more and more that my own inadequacy is the point, because God alone is adequate. And the beauty is that in steps God's faithfulness to see me through my inadequacy.
When my pride overcomes me, God is faithful. When I stumble yet again as I attempt to carry myself, God is faithful. When time after time I fail to learn my need for dependence, God is faithful.
So I can leave school here confident, not in my own ability or wisdom, but in God's faithfulness. That God will see me through this.
on Tuesday, November 9, 2010
"...His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him..." 2Peter 1:3
Again and again I am reminded that the Christian life centers in almost every way around knowledge. My mind is where the Christian life begins. Last week in a discussion time at my youth group several kids confessed they desired to come closer, to know the Lord better, yet it seemed something held them back. The answer to their dilemma was simple: in order to draw near to God, you first must know who He is, a knowledge ONLY attainable through His Word.
God's word is the only starting point for a relationship with Him because it is the only reliable source of His true knowledge. I have prayed many times that God would give me eyes and wisdom into the revelation of Him, and while prayer is essential, the question must be asked: Am I truly studying the information He has given me? Intentionally sitting down, seeking wisdom, and seeking the applicable knowledge of God that I might draw near to Him. God cares about me, and that's why He communicated. Still it must be said that God is not interested in my academic encounter with the Word, although knowledge is important, but a life changing transformation of the mind. God's word is powerful, life changing, fulfilling, and incorruptible, so why would I look anywhere else. It is so easy for me to sit down through class, learn stuff, and not engage. May I be intentional, and desperately hunger for the awesome truth in His word.
"For my hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being, declares the Lord. But to this one will I look, to him who is humble and contrite of Spirit, and who trembles at my Word." Isa. 66:2
on Tuesday, October 19, 2010
As time progresses, I notice more and more in my own Christian Life how much I trust myself, and how at one point or another, this trust will ultimately bring me to frustration, anger and legalism. In my own blind, pathetic arrogance I attempt to produce, apart from the source, the fruit of the Spirit. In my pride I treat Christ like my sidekick, as if He is only around when I get myself into trouble. Recognizing some importance of Christ in my life I take the wheel and silently and destructively place Him somewhere in the backseat not to take control but just give me a word of advice when I want it.
Galatians 2:2- I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God…”
Col. 3:4, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
Philippians 1:20-21, “… Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Still the utterly heart wrenching part of this is that while knowing Christ is life, I don’t live it out day to day! Man, do I really believe this? That apart from Christ I can do nothing? Do I truly get it? And this right here is the beauty of failing in life; It is but by the grace of God that He brings me to this failure, for it is at the point of failure and despair that I am able to yet again understand: I can’t do this, but God can as He works through Christ in me (Col. 2:19).
Christ is… life.
Immaturity considers the Lord Jesus a Helper. Maturity knows Him to be Life itself.
-Miles J. Stanford
Galatians 2:2- I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God…”
Col. 3:4, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
Philippians 1:20-21, “… Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Still the utterly heart wrenching part of this is that while knowing Christ is life, I don’t live it out day to day! Man, do I really believe this? That apart from Christ I can do nothing? Do I truly get it? And this right here is the beauty of failing in life; It is but by the grace of God that He brings me to this failure, for it is at the point of failure and despair that I am able to yet again understand: I can’t do this, but God can as He works through Christ in me (Col. 2:19).
Though the Christian life is impossible to human strength, it is within the power of God; and He offers to supply all that He requires, even to the measure of a completely victorious life. Since it is necessarily a divine undertaking, the human part can be no more than an attitude of expectation or faith toward God- an attitude which reckon self to be helpless, and God alone to be sufficient.
-Lewis Chafer
Christ is… life.
on Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The more I read the prayers of Paul and of Christ, the more my eyes are opened to my own selfishness and worldly thinking. Walking into any prayer meeting at almost any church the prayer requests center almost exclusively around the physical and the visible. Wealth, health, the circumstances surrounding us are usually sought to be done away with instead of used. Looking at my own prayer requests it would seem I just want to live in a perfect world! Paul almost never prayed for a church's circumstances, for he knew full well the believers lived in a fallen world, with tough situations. Indeed instead of asking for the absence of difficultly a more Biblical prayer may be growth in circumstances and 'Thy will be done.'
Secondly I have noticed within my prayers I am constantly addressing the outside issues of others instead of the heart issue. If a faucet is spewing dirty water I wouldn't paint the outside to make the water clean. So why do I pray for the fruit of growth in others instead of the growth itself which comes as a believer is engaged by the living true God? As Christians we love results and in this pursuit we have many times left inward change and growth for an outward circumstantial conformity. Instead of prayer for inward growth and revelation through God's word I pray that my friend would stop lying. Is lying really the issue or is it deeper?
So what did Paul see that God was concerned about? What needs did God seem to be most concerned about as reflected in Paul's prayer?
Ephesians 1:17-18, "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ... may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe."
Phil. 1:9, "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight..."
Col. 1:9, "...we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
Ephesians 3:18-19, "...I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
God wants fruit, but His method is inward change, He wants us to know Him, not just to do this or that.
My point here is not that prayer or concern about the physical and the visible is wrong, for indeed we must bring those requests to God just as Peter tells us to "casts all your cares upon the Lord for He cares for you." My problem in my own prayer life is the one-sidedness experienced. The lack of concern for spiritual welfare and the overemphasis on physical wellness is detrimental to our understanding of how God works. Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, mocked and ridiculed yet looking to the Lord and trusting His will he found life. A walk of faith looks to an unchangeable Christ instead of our circumstances which are ever changing and so many times uncertain. Just as knowing God and Christ is my ultimate needs, so it should be reflected in my prayers for others. Indeed God cares for both my physical and spiritual needs, but the determiner of my needs is HIM, not me.
Secondly I have noticed within my prayers I am constantly addressing the outside issues of others instead of the heart issue. If a faucet is spewing dirty water I wouldn't paint the outside to make the water clean. So why do I pray for the fruit of growth in others instead of the growth itself which comes as a believer is engaged by the living true God? As Christians we love results and in this pursuit we have many times left inward change and growth for an outward circumstantial conformity. Instead of prayer for inward growth and revelation through God's word I pray that my friend would stop lying. Is lying really the issue or is it deeper?
So what did Paul see that God was concerned about? What needs did God seem to be most concerned about as reflected in Paul's prayer?
Ephesians 1:17-18, "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ... may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe."
Phil. 1:9, "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight..."
Col. 1:9, "...we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
Ephesians 3:18-19, "...I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
God wants fruit, but His method is inward change, He wants us to know Him, not just to do this or that.
My point here is not that prayer or concern about the physical and the visible is wrong, for indeed we must bring those requests to God just as Peter tells us to "casts all your cares upon the Lord for He cares for you." My problem in my own prayer life is the one-sidedness experienced. The lack of concern for spiritual welfare and the overemphasis on physical wellness is detrimental to our understanding of how God works. Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, mocked and ridiculed yet looking to the Lord and trusting His will he found life. A walk of faith looks to an unchangeable Christ instead of our circumstances which are ever changing and so many times uncertain. Just as knowing God and Christ is my ultimate needs, so it should be reflected in my prayers for others. Indeed God cares for both my physical and spiritual needs, but the determiner of my needs is HIM, not me.
on Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Philemon 1:6: ...that the communication of they faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
As I was reading through Colossians the other day, it struck me just how much me God has given a believer by placing him 'in Christ', and how much this should impact my life. So here is a compilation of what exactly is 'in Christ.'
IN CHRIST...
I Believed (Eph. 1:13)
I was baptized (Rom. 6:3)
I died (Rom. 6:4)
I was raised (Rom. 6:5)
My old self was crucified (Rom 6:6)
The body of sin was brought to nothing (Rom. 6:6
I have been set free from sin (Rom. 6:7)
I have died to sin (Rom. 6:11)
I am alive to God (Rom. 6:11)
I have died to the law (Rom. 7:6)
There is no condemnation for me (Rom. 8:1)
Nothing can separate me from the love of God (Rom. 8:39)
I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3)
I was chosen (Eph. 1:13)
I was blessed to the praise of God’s glory (Eph. 1:6)
I have been redeemed (Eph. 1:7)
God’s purpose was set forth (Eph. 1:9)
All things have been united in heaven and on earth (Eph. 1:10)
I have obtained an inheritance (Eph. 1:11)
I was sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13)
God’s great might was worked (Eph. 1:20)
I was shown the immeasurable riches of God’s grace (Eph. 2:7)
I was created for Good work to walk in them (Eph. 2:10)
I have been brought near (Eph. 2:13)
The whole structure is being built into a holy temple (Eph. 2:21)
The body is being built together into a dwelling place for God (Eph. 2:22)
There is unity (Eph. 2:15)
WE have boldness and confident access (Eph. 3:12)
All things hold together (Col. 1:17)
Are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3)
I am to walk (Col. 2:6)
I am being rooted and built up (Col. 2:6)
The whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Col. 1:9)
I have been filled (Col. 2:10)
My body of flesh was circumcised (Col. 2:11)
I will rise bodily (1 Thes. 4:16)
I have a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ (Phil. 3:9)
I am to abide (Jn. 15:4)
We are all members of one body (Rom. 12:5)
I am being sanctified (1 Cor. 1:2)
All shall be made alive (1 Cor. 15:22)
I have been established (2 Cor. 1:21)
The veil has been removed (2 Cor. 3:14)
There is simplicity (2 Cor. 11:3)
I have liberty (Gal. 2:4)
Jew and Greek are one (Gal. 3:28)
Is love (1 Tim. 1:14)
Is the promise of life (2 Tim. 1:1)
Grace was given to a wretch like me (2 Tim. 1:9, 2:1)
Is salvation (2 Tim. 2:10)
There is peace (2 Peter 5:14)
We rejoice with joy unspeakable (1 Peter 1:8)
Are all the promises of God (2 Cor. 1:20)
I am a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 6:15)
My duty as a Christian is not necessarily to seek blessings from God, but simply to to comprehend the blessings He has already given me.
As I was reading through Colossians the other day, it struck me just how much me God has given a believer by placing him 'in Christ', and how much this should impact my life. So here is a compilation of what exactly is 'in Christ.'
IN CHRIST...
I Believed (Eph. 1:13)
I was baptized (Rom. 6:3)
I died (Rom. 6:4)
I was raised (Rom. 6:5)
My old self was crucified (Rom 6:6)
The body of sin was brought to nothing (Rom. 6:6
I have been set free from sin (Rom. 6:7)
I have died to sin (Rom. 6:11)
I am alive to God (Rom. 6:11)
I have died to the law (Rom. 7:6)
There is no condemnation for me (Rom. 8:1)
Nothing can separate me from the love of God (Rom. 8:39)
I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3)
I was chosen (Eph. 1:13)
I was blessed to the praise of God’s glory (Eph. 1:6)
I have been redeemed (Eph. 1:7)
God’s purpose was set forth (Eph. 1:9)
All things have been united in heaven and on earth (Eph. 1:10)
I have obtained an inheritance (Eph. 1:11)
I was sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13)
God’s great might was worked (Eph. 1:20)
I was shown the immeasurable riches of God’s grace (Eph. 2:7)
I was created for Good work to walk in them (Eph. 2:10)
I have been brought near (Eph. 2:13)
The whole structure is being built into a holy temple (Eph. 2:21)
The body is being built together into a dwelling place for God (Eph. 2:22)
There is unity (Eph. 2:15)
WE have boldness and confident access (Eph. 3:12)
All things hold together (Col. 1:17)
Are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3)
I am to walk (Col. 2:6)
I am being rooted and built up (Col. 2:6)
The whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Col. 1:9)
I have been filled (Col. 2:10)
My body of flesh was circumcised (Col. 2:11)
I will rise bodily (1 Thes. 4:16)
I have a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ (Phil. 3:9)
I am to abide (Jn. 15:4)
We are all members of one body (Rom. 12:5)
I am being sanctified (1 Cor. 1:2)
All shall be made alive (1 Cor. 15:22)
I have been established (2 Cor. 1:21)
The veil has been removed (2 Cor. 3:14)
There is simplicity (2 Cor. 11:3)
I have liberty (Gal. 2:4)
Jew and Greek are one (Gal. 3:28)
Is love (1 Tim. 1:14)
Is the promise of life (2 Tim. 1:1)
Grace was given to a wretch like me (2 Tim. 1:9, 2:1)
Is salvation (2 Tim. 2:10)
There is peace (2 Peter 5:14)
We rejoice with joy unspeakable (1 Peter 1:8)
Are all the promises of God (2 Cor. 1:20)
I am a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 6:15)
My duty as a Christian is not necessarily to seek blessings from God, but simply to to comprehend the blessings He has already given me.
on Tuesday, July 20, 2010
After this last semester at school I will have finished with roughly 1,600 hours of study time in God's word, having invested into almost every book in the Bible while memorizing my favorite verses along the way. Yet the question that keeps coming back to me is... so what? Increasingly I am becoming aware of the fact that spending time in God's word is not about spending time in God's word. What I do NOT mean by the title is that we shouldn't be spending time in God's Word. For the Bible it is THE primary means of growth along with prayer and fellowship which God has established. Yet it is just that: a means. I have heard of unbelievers who have memorized enormous sections of scripture, and could perhaps give a more detailed description of Christian doctrine than many Christians themselves.
Doctrinally, I can tell you that no matter how bad I screw up in this life God will still love me, but the point is not that I know this truth, but how this affects my own relationship with God and others. I could tell you that I am saved by grace through faith, but the point is how it impacts the way I treat others on a daily basis, and how it crushes my own pride in approaching God. I could tell you that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, the life, but the point is that the next time I meet a person beaten and broken from this world, I can point them to that very source of life: Jesus Christ. The point is not that I will have spent 1600's hours in the Bible, but that it will carry over into my relationship with God, others, and affect the decisions I make for the rest of my life.
Some of the most doctrinal talks I have ever had were completely and only for myself.
My point is not that talking about doctrine is unimportant, because doctrine is essential for living out every aspect of the Christian life. But more and more I realize my Christian life is not about cracking my Bible open for 10 minutes once a day, but it is about how that ten minutes in God's word affects the rest of my day. The question is not if you have been reading, but if while you were reading, you believe what you read, and reckoned it true in your life as well. God doesn't care about you opening your Bible every morning, what He cares about is relationship, what He cares about is me being conformed into the image of His son. Me reading the Bible must never become in and of itself the means to the end. What the Bible is, however, is the very base means by which my mind may being to change and conform into the image of Christ, and the tool by which I might come to know the all-knowing Creator God of the universe.
I went to youth group last Wednesday. So what? I went to church this Sunday. So what? How will those two hours in confrontation with God's word affect the rest of my life.
God cares about us knowing Him, which is only done through His Word, yet so many times for me, simply reading words on a page became the means to the end instead of engaging with the living God.
hm. I hope this wasn't heretical...
Doctrinally, I can tell you that no matter how bad I screw up in this life God will still love me, but the point is not that I know this truth, but how this affects my own relationship with God and others. I could tell you that I am saved by grace through faith, but the point is how it impacts the way I treat others on a daily basis, and how it crushes my own pride in approaching God. I could tell you that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, the life, but the point is that the next time I meet a person beaten and broken from this world, I can point them to that very source of life: Jesus Christ. The point is not that I will have spent 1600's hours in the Bible, but that it will carry over into my relationship with God, others, and affect the decisions I make for the rest of my life.
Some of the most doctrinal talks I have ever had were completely and only for myself.
My point is not that talking about doctrine is unimportant, because doctrine is essential for living out every aspect of the Christian life. But more and more I realize my Christian life is not about cracking my Bible open for 10 minutes once a day, but it is about how that ten minutes in God's word affects the rest of my day. The question is not if you have been reading, but if while you were reading, you believe what you read, and reckoned it true in your life as well. God doesn't care about you opening your Bible every morning, what He cares about is relationship, what He cares about is me being conformed into the image of His son. Me reading the Bible must never become in and of itself the means to the end. What the Bible is, however, is the very base means by which my mind may being to change and conform into the image of Christ, and the tool by which I might come to know the all-knowing Creator God of the universe.
The Bible is not for our information, but our transformation.
-D.L. Moody
I went to youth group last Wednesday. So what? I went to church this Sunday. So what? How will those two hours in confrontation with God's word affect the rest of my life.
God cares about us knowing Him, which is only done through His Word, yet so many times for me, simply reading words on a page became the means to the end instead of engaging with the living God.
hm. I hope this wasn't heretical...
on Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Well I was reading "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer this after when he said something that really struck me.
"We Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter (26)."
It is so interesting to think that to get to know someone better I usually will spend time with them, talk with them, listen to what they have to say. Yet when it comes to me getting to know God better, I like to adjust charts about how he loves me, and create a list about his omniscience, or create another unworthy comparison about the trinity and then realize it is still really confusing. Looking at my prayers they do not reflect the fact that I am communicating with a personality, but perhaps some calculating robot. My prayers recently have simply been reflecting some cold hard knowledge of Him, and instead of being real with my own struggles and faults I come forward with some analytic confession, with folded hands and a bended knee, yet lacking any heart of repentance. My prayers do not reflect the way I communicate in real life, as if I say someone's name ever 3rd word when I talk to a them, like when I talk to God. I look for growth and an increased love for God without prayer and without listenting to His word. Without communicating...
God is a person, a personality, personal. How could I have forgotten.
If I want to learn more about my parents I don't stand by and analyze them, record how they respond to situations, and the formulate it. I talk, interact with them, listen and respond to what they have to say. My interactions with God must be personal, because he has established a personal relationship with me.
"We Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter (26)."
It is so interesting to think that to get to know someone better I usually will spend time with them, talk with them, listen to what they have to say. Yet when it comes to me getting to know God better, I like to adjust charts about how he loves me, and create a list about his omniscience, or create another unworthy comparison about the trinity and then realize it is still really confusing. Looking at my prayers they do not reflect the fact that I am communicating with a personality, but perhaps some calculating robot. My prayers recently have simply been reflecting some cold hard knowledge of Him, and instead of being real with my own struggles and faults I come forward with some analytic confession, with folded hands and a bended knee, yet lacking any heart of repentance. My prayers do not reflect the way I communicate in real life, as if I say someone's name ever 3rd word when I talk to a them, like when I talk to God. I look for growth and an increased love for God without prayer and without listenting to His word. Without communicating...
God is a person, a personality, personal. How could I have forgotten.
If I want to learn more about my parents I don't stand by and analyze them, record how they respond to situations, and the formulate it. I talk, interact with them, listen and respond to what they have to say. My interactions with God must be personal, because he has established a personal relationship with me.
on Sunday, May 2, 2010
Well as a part of a school trip I was extremely priveleged to go to a New Tribes Mission "Camp" so to speak called Wayumi this previous week. Essentially it is a week long plunge into the world of Tribal Missions and what New Tribes Mission looks like on a very practical level.
At the core of the program is solid biblical teaching and a visit to a 'real' tribal village! The Tribal Village consists of previous New Tribes Missions who dress up in the full tribal attire of the people which they reached with the gospel. The assignment going into the village is to convert a list of words into the tribal language by communicating with the tribal person. It was quite intimidating trying to figure the word for "Machete" from someone with a completely different culture and language!
Indeed while I haven't had more fun in quite a long time, it was awesome to see many longing questions about tribal missions answered. Fear had gripped me that I wouldn't be enough of a super-Christian to be involved with tribal missions. So you can imagine the relief when the teachers there told us that they were not super-Christians. All they did was work diligently and trust the Lord to do something huge.
If there had been any doubt that I wanted to do tribal missions it soon vanished!
Pray for me!
and please visit http://www.ntm.org/missiontrips/wayumi.php if you have any more questions about the program or the mission itself
on Sunday, March 28, 2010
So many times I find myself wondering what the point of doctrine is. Why does the Apostle Paul always talk about some kind of vague concept before he talks about how we are supposed to live?
I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that God cares so much about the thought process behind our actions, not simply the result. In Paul’s books he is constantly establishing doctrine BEFORE he starts talking about Christian living!
Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Doctrine, our thought process, drives our actions. This is why it is so essential to have a strong, sturdy doctrine, because out of this flows what we, I, do. Paul never just tells believers “HEY STOP SINNING!” No, he wishes to change our modes of thinking; he challenges believers by explaining to them what God has done, that they may ACT in accordance with what God has done. If God did not care about the thought process behind a choice, then he would never have given the church doctrine with which to live by. He would have given us a set of rules, some ‘does’ and ‘don’ts’.
A solid understanding, grasp, on God's word is so essential because this is the element by which God begins to transform a Christian's mind, begins to transform a Christian's way of thinking. The Bible is not just a rule book to tell us what to do and what not to do, it is the tool by which God begins to make our thinking closer to His own.
I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that God cares so much about the thought process behind our actions, not simply the result. In Paul’s books he is constantly establishing doctrine BEFORE he starts talking about Christian living!
Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Doctrine, our thought process, drives our actions. This is why it is so essential to have a strong, sturdy doctrine, because out of this flows what we, I, do. Paul never just tells believers “HEY STOP SINNING!” No, he wishes to change our modes of thinking; he challenges believers by explaining to them what God has done, that they may ACT in accordance with what God has done. If God did not care about the thought process behind a choice, then he would never have given the church doctrine with which to live by. He would have given us a set of rules, some ‘does’ and ‘don’ts’.
A solid understanding, grasp, on God's word is so essential because this is the element by which God begins to transform a Christian's mind, begins to transform a Christian's way of thinking. The Bible is not just a rule book to tell us what to do and what not to do, it is the tool by which God begins to make our thinking closer to His own.
on Thursday, March 11, 2010
Well it has truly been crazy as to what God has been showing me here at school. It is a constant reminder that I must conform my thinking to God’s and be objective when I read His Word. So, while I came to New Tribes Bible Institute without any consideration as to continuing on in their mission program, having the Word opened up to me and seeing Jesus Christ’s commandments to his disciples to spread the gospel; I have become truly convinced that a lifelong pursuit to spread the gospel to those who have never heard is truly a life of value and completely in line with Christ’s command to his disciples.
Matthew 28:16:
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
What exactly is New Tribes Mission then? Specifically an organization that specializes in bringing God’s word to tribal groups who have never heard it before. Unlike many mission organizations God’s word is only presented in the tribe’s own specific language, and not in the trade language. However, going on with New Tribes Mission is not a decision to be made lightly, and in many instances one such commitment is life-long. From learning the national’s language to seeing a healthy church established many times takes 20 years. So while so much of me does not want to leave what I find comfortable, such as the American culture, prosperity, Starbucks, it is my earnest desire not to waste my life building up wealth that will only burn in the end. I am by no means condemning the American life do not get me wrong, but I simply see a great need and opportunity to have the gospel brought to those who have never had a chance to hear. So, while I am not worried about being called a ‘missionary,’ a term not even found in the Bible, I am concerned about being a servant of Christ, whether that entails a future with New Tribes Mission or not. So… if you all would pray for me, that’d be sick!
on Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Still hard for me to believe that it was a little more than a year ago that I packed up all my earthly belongings into a 1994 Saturn and drove 36 hours to a bible school with no more than 150 students in forsaken Jackson, Michigan. It is too cold, the town is boring, and I have to keep my room clean, but I have never been more challenged in my walk with the Lord through my time here and through an in-depth study of His word. I suppose the line that ultimately drove me here comes from Ecclesiastes in which Solomon exclaims, “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.” I came to New Tribes Bible Institute because I looked at my own life and the future I was setting up for myself and did not see a life of value. I was looking for purpose in wealth, pleasure, even in human relationships. Indeed, at this school I found a life of meaning, or purpose, although it is not in myself, but meaning is in a relationship with the one true God and his son Jesus Christ, a relationship which is found only through God's word. So with this understanding I can look with a great sense of clarity towards Solomon’s last words in Ecclesiastes, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” So, I will choose to live my life for the utmost glory of God and upon the commandments with which he has left the church.
Philippians 3:7-8
"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ."(NASB)
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