That seems to have a negative connotation, doesn't it? "The Calm Before The Storm" - sounds like something bad is about to come, I feel. I suppose since the storms we hear about wreak havoc and cause such destruction it does make sense, but what about those storms that we enjoy? The storms that cause us to want to drop whatever we are doing to run outside in whatever we are wearing just so we can experience all that is going on with all of our senses. We don't care that we are getting drenched from head to toe, getting a bit chilly from the fierce wind, having to keep our eyes squinted so that it doesn't get pierced by the rain while we still try to see the lightning, and screaming all at the same time with pure joy because it's all we can think of doing with our voices in the midst of the fury of the weather. All we care about in these moments is doing all we can, as fast as we can, for as long as we can to experience them to the fullest so we don't miss out and so we may take part in what is laid before us. While others may think it crazy to take part in such a bizarre activity because they don't want to have the hassle of drying off or warming up or being tired afterwards, we don't care about that either in these storms. It isn't that we are ignorant of what will happen afterwards, no, it is much better than that. We take advantage of what is happening now, knowing that whatever may happen afterwards pales in comparison to what is happening in that storm. It is storms like these that we never want to end, that we never want to stop experiencing, that we want to live in. That kind of storm doesn't sound very negative to me at all, in fact, it sounds rather positive and exciting I think.
It's this kind of storm I'm trying to think of when I think about my outreach to Kenya. When was that again? Oh yeah, two days from now. It's hard for me to really grasp that it's happening and for me to put to words what I'm feeling, because I'm not sure what I'm really feeling either. One thing I think I'm able to consistently feel regarding the outreach is that it will be something that I will want to experience with all of my senses and something that I will be wanting to spend as much time doing all I can to make it the best experience it can be. It is something that I will be wanting to take advantage of because it really is an opportunity laid before me by God.
Well since we're on this defining topic, what shall we say then is this "Calm" before the storm? You could probably guess - it would be this Christmas break back home in Wenatchee, Washington. It has been marvelous being home and seeing so many friends and family and spending so much time with them, and I am so grateful I have been able to see them all before I head out again, this time on a global scale. Everybody back here at home as been so supportive of everything I've been going through this year and are all excited to hear about what's been going on and what's going to be happening in the near future, and I've enjoyed talking about it all to them. This week has been full of pretty much that - relaxing and quality time with loved ones and catching up on how things have been, and not much else. This has been very enjoyable, but it also has been very different - giving consideration to how for the past 13 weeks I've been living according to a pretty packed schedule and doing a lot of things in that packed schedule, I would say this week may have been quite a drastic change in comparison. I almost didn't really know how to act without the schedule, and I feel that I somewhat floundered in response to the change in habitat. The lack of things going on was a bit overwhelming I now realize.
Before I arrived home for the break, I had been thinking a bit about what it was going to be like when I went home and how I was scared of what I was going to be like when I returned to familiar places and how I might return to old habits and fall back into the motions - a place I did not want to return to. I type this onto the document right now with sorrow as I realize that I did indeed return to old habits and I did have a very difficult time maintaining what I had going on throughout all of DTS. I never set up any time for me to have devotions, I never had deliberate prayer, I never really gave God any time. I can't believe how easy it had been this past week to basically drop so many good things that I had been doing for several weeks. I have asked for forgiveness and I do believe I have received it and I have forgiven myself as well, but I still am wanting to learn from this past week's mistakes and have it in the back of my head for future reference. By no means do I think being with my friends and family attributed to my personal mistakes and failures (and I don't think spending time with them was a waste of time either), I do believe that they were caused by my own weaknesses, and I also believe that I'm not beating myself up - just being honest.
I view this past week as "The Calm Before The Storm," and I realize that I don't want to live as I have personally this past week as far as habits and spare time goes; I don't want to live in The Calm anymore. I want to live in The Storm. I want this Calm to be the last one I experience, and I want the Storm that will be starting very soon to never end. Even when I come home after DTS is said and done, I want to still be living in The Storm and I want to be experiencing all God is having for me to experience. I don't want to view foreign third world countries to be the only places for missions; I want to view the whole world as a mission field, and I want to treat it as a mission field as well. I was talking with a couple of very good friends the other night about DTS and whatnot, and one of them asked something along the lines of if I was afraid that this whole DTS would be a simple mountain-top experience. He asked if I was afraid that, given enough time, I would eventually slip back into the norm and the fire I once had would fade away. I replied that I didn't think DTS was a mountain-top experience for me to eventually descend and return to normalcy. I viewed DTS instead as a "new" norm. I myself didn't even know that that's how I viewed DTS, and I hadn't ever thought of it like that before; I'm convinced that God put those words in my mouth, both for my friends and myself to hear. I have been given a new norm, a Storm, to live in, and anything else I do besides that will be irregular and simply wrong. I ask for prayer as I leave in a couple days to re-enter the Storm so that I do indeed re-enter it and experience it to the fullest, but, more importantly, so I may never leave it again.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Week 12: God is the End, not the Means
And just like that, Week 12 has ended and therefore so has
Lecture Phase of Discipleship Training School here at YWAM Ozarks. It’s hard to
think that I’ve been here for only 12 weeks; it truly feels like it’s been a
year or two. So many things we’ve learned, so many experiences we’ve had, so
many blessings been poured upon us, it is bittersweet to think about it all.
Bitter in that DTS is half way over, sweet in that it is now only a matter of a couple weeks until I am on a plane headed to Kenya! Now is the time when I begin asking myself if I made the most of those 12 weeks. I think back to the few times I might have zoned out in a teaching, the times I may have let distractions take over, the times I didn't what to give my 100%, and it gets very easy very fast to think more and more that I failed this experience. But that's not right at all. No matter what I do, there is always something better than I could have done, so what's the point of beating myself up for not being perfect? Sure, it's awesome and great to give 100% and to really make the most of everything, and it is ideal to live that way, but I've been learning what DTS really is. Even though it may have the word "School" in it's title, a DTS is not like a normal school where you simply pass or fail. It's a time to experience God in ways you haven't yet, to learn about the privileges and responsibilities we have as Disciples, and a time to make mistakes. If you're expected to make mistakes in DTS, then how does one fail? As long as effort is put forth and motives are correct, you'll never fail. Turns out the same things apply to Christianity as I talked about in a previous post. God asks us to love Him, trust Him, and follow Him, and if we do that sincerely, we will never fail. We will make many mistakes along the way, and we will learn from them, but because we follow God, we never fail. So the question as to whether I made the most of Lecture Phase or not is a silly question. I experienced it, and that was the goal. This makes me excited to make more mistakes in Outreach Phase, because I know that God will work through them all, and will refine me more and more as I live and learn.
It was a very relaxed
week which was nice – we didn’t have a one set speaker for the week so the
topics varied; we had a local woman from Ozark come up and talk about her experiences on the mission field (she was 70 years old and had been doing missions for the majority of her life, she had some cool stories) on Monday and Tuesday, one of the staff members talked to us on Wednesday, on Thursday we watched a Christian documentary on sex trafficking titled "Nefarious: Merchant of Souls," and on Friday we listened to a sermon called "Ten Shekels and a Shirt" preached by Paris Reidhead. The week as a whole was great, but the last two days of classes really stuck out to me.
You may have heard of "Nefarious: Merchant of Souls," and if you have, you'll know why this film was a significant part of this week. As I said earlier, it is a Christian documentary on sex trafficking, and it is a movie that will get you to experience all possible emotions, except happiness perhaps. How's that for a sales pitch? Then again, I don't know how you could experience happiness on a topic like trafficking in the first place. I don't know what else I could say about the film, other than it was very well put together and gives a great presentation of the current scenario. A forewarning, the film is a bit extreme and not for all audiences, for those of you who feel you can handle it, I highly recommend spending a couple hours watching it.
You may also have heard about "Ten Shekels and a Shirt" by Paris Reidhead. It was preached by him over 50 years ago, and praise God that it was recorded. He starts the sermon in Judges 17 and reads the story of a man named Micah who hired a Levite to be his priest with ten shekels of silver a year as well as clothing and food; the Levite accepted because he would acquire things that made him happy. Later on, some Danites came and attacked the village Micah and the Levite lived in. When the Danites came to Micah's house, the Levite was there and was convinced to join the Danites because it would be better living with more benefits; more happiness. He fed off this passage by talking about how the Levite's highest value in life, his prime goal, was to be happy. That was it. He became a priest to Micah for ten shekels and a shirt because it insured him happiness, and then he was sold out again because it insured him even more happiness. He didn't become a priest for any other reason. Paris went on to talk about how that lifestyle is a humanist lifestyle, not a Christian lifestyle. He talked about how Christianity has taken on two forms of humanistic beliefs: liberal and fundamentalist. Liberal meaning that the goal of Christianity is to attain happiness while living and fundamentalist meaning that the goal is happiness when you die. To make a long sermon short: according to Paris, humanism is the most deadly philosophy ever and is in direct contrast with Christianity. Most of us Christians live this humanistic lifestyle.
Think about it: why did you become a Christian? Paris asked the question, and I realized that I accepted Christianity because eternal life in Heaven with God sounded pretty freaking awesome. I imagined that I would be pretty happy up there, to say the least. It sounded better than the alternative, so why wouldn't I choose it? According to Paris, this view is humanistic and is not what Christianity is about. The point Paris made towards the end of the sermon was exactly what the title of this post is: God is the End, not the Means. We are to view God as the reason we choose Christianity. We are not to view God as the means to attain happiness. What does that mean exactly? It means that our one purpose to choose God is because he deserves it; glorifying God is the one reason we choose to follow Him. Because of what He's done, because of His suffering, He deserves all the praise and all the glory. Paris put this into terms that really shook my world:
"But I believe that the only ones who God actually witnesses by His Spirit and are born of Him, are the people, whether they say it or not, that come to Jesus Christ and say something like this, 'Lord Jesus, I'm going to obey you, and love you, and serve you, and do what you want me to do, as long as I live even if I go to Hell at the end of the road, simply because you are worthy to be loved, and obeyed, and served, and I'm not trying to make a deal with you!'" - Paris Reidhead
When I heard that underlined portion, I was struck to my very core with conviction. If I knew I was going to Hell, would I still give God the glory? Before I heard this sermon, I would have downright said absolutely not. I'm not saying that now all of a sudden I'm so easily convinced to say that I would, but I am most definitely leaning that way. Now, I am aware that what is being said can raise many questions, and I'm not saying that God will send to Hell those who sincerely believe in Him with correct motive and everything (since that is in direct contradiction with the Bible), but that is besides the point. We are to live in a way that we don't care what happens to us, all we care about is glorifying God because He demands it and He is righteous to demand such a task. Another question would be, "Doesn't God value humans and their happiness though?" and the answer would be of course! When we value God as the highest, then we take on his values as well, and since he values humans and their happiness, we do too, but we need to realize that in this value system, we need to keep these values in check and keep God the highest value. I cannot express all of these thoughts as well as Paris did, so I highly recommend - to everyone - to listen to this recording or read the sermon, it's relatively easy enough to find, but much harder for most everybody, myself included, to accept. I pray that God works through you as you read/listen to this sermon and gives you new revelation. Believe it or not, this revelation has given me much happiness (so incredibly ironic) and peace, as I realize that all I need to do in this life is do what God tells me to do and glorify Him all the while I do it.
It's sad to think that there are no more classes or speakers for me to experience in this DTS, but it is very exciting to think that my classes and speakers will not be in an actual classroom or taught by actual people, but in a couple weeks will be on African soil and taught by experiences and mistakes. I thank you all for your prayers and support and look forward to seeing some of you in a week as I come home for Christmas break! God bless you all and all you bless God!
You may have heard of "Nefarious: Merchant of Souls," and if you have, you'll know why this film was a significant part of this week. As I said earlier, it is a Christian documentary on sex trafficking, and it is a movie that will get you to experience all possible emotions, except happiness perhaps. How's that for a sales pitch? Then again, I don't know how you could experience happiness on a topic like trafficking in the first place. I don't know what else I could say about the film, other than it was very well put together and gives a great presentation of the current scenario. A forewarning, the film is a bit extreme and not for all audiences, for those of you who feel you can handle it, I highly recommend spending a couple hours watching it.
You may also have heard about "Ten Shekels and a Shirt" by Paris Reidhead. It was preached by him over 50 years ago, and praise God that it was recorded. He starts the sermon in Judges 17 and reads the story of a man named Micah who hired a Levite to be his priest with ten shekels of silver a year as well as clothing and food; the Levite accepted because he would acquire things that made him happy. Later on, some Danites came and attacked the village Micah and the Levite lived in. When the Danites came to Micah's house, the Levite was there and was convinced to join the Danites because it would be better living with more benefits; more happiness. He fed off this passage by talking about how the Levite's highest value in life, his prime goal, was to be happy. That was it. He became a priest to Micah for ten shekels and a shirt because it insured him happiness, and then he was sold out again because it insured him even more happiness. He didn't become a priest for any other reason. Paris went on to talk about how that lifestyle is a humanist lifestyle, not a Christian lifestyle. He talked about how Christianity has taken on two forms of humanistic beliefs: liberal and fundamentalist. Liberal meaning that the goal of Christianity is to attain happiness while living and fundamentalist meaning that the goal is happiness when you die. To make a long sermon short: according to Paris, humanism is the most deadly philosophy ever and is in direct contrast with Christianity. Most of us Christians live this humanistic lifestyle.
Think about it: why did you become a Christian? Paris asked the question, and I realized that I accepted Christianity because eternal life in Heaven with God sounded pretty freaking awesome. I imagined that I would be pretty happy up there, to say the least. It sounded better than the alternative, so why wouldn't I choose it? According to Paris, this view is humanistic and is not what Christianity is about. The point Paris made towards the end of the sermon was exactly what the title of this post is: God is the End, not the Means. We are to view God as the reason we choose Christianity. We are not to view God as the means to attain happiness. What does that mean exactly? It means that our one purpose to choose God is because he deserves it; glorifying God is the one reason we choose to follow Him. Because of what He's done, because of His suffering, He deserves all the praise and all the glory. Paris put this into terms that really shook my world:
"But I believe that the only ones who God actually witnesses by His Spirit and are born of Him, are the people, whether they say it or not, that come to Jesus Christ and say something like this, 'Lord Jesus, I'm going to obey you, and love you, and serve you, and do what you want me to do, as long as I live even if I go to Hell at the end of the road, simply because you are worthy to be loved, and obeyed, and served, and I'm not trying to make a deal with you!'" - Paris Reidhead
When I heard that underlined portion, I was struck to my very core with conviction. If I knew I was going to Hell, would I still give God the glory? Before I heard this sermon, I would have downright said absolutely not. I'm not saying that now all of a sudden I'm so easily convinced to say that I would, but I am most definitely leaning that way. Now, I am aware that what is being said can raise many questions, and I'm not saying that God will send to Hell those who sincerely believe in Him with correct motive and everything (since that is in direct contradiction with the Bible), but that is besides the point. We are to live in a way that we don't care what happens to us, all we care about is glorifying God because He demands it and He is righteous to demand such a task. Another question would be, "Doesn't God value humans and their happiness though?" and the answer would be of course! When we value God as the highest, then we take on his values as well, and since he values humans and their happiness, we do too, but we need to realize that in this value system, we need to keep these values in check and keep God the highest value. I cannot express all of these thoughts as well as Paris did, so I highly recommend - to everyone - to listen to this recording or read the sermon, it's relatively easy enough to find, but much harder for most everybody, myself included, to accept. I pray that God works through you as you read/listen to this sermon and gives you new revelation. Believe it or not, this revelation has given me much happiness (so incredibly ironic) and peace, as I realize that all I need to do in this life is do what God tells me to do and glorify Him all the while I do it.
It's sad to think that there are no more classes or speakers for me to experience in this DTS, but it is very exciting to think that my classes and speakers will not be in an actual classroom or taught by actual people, but in a couple weeks will be on African soil and taught by experiences and mistakes. I thank you all for your prayers and support and look forward to seeing some of you in a week as I come home for Christmas break! God bless you all and all you bless God!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Week 11: The Father Heart of God
Week 11 has come and gone here at YWAM Ozarks in the blink of an eye. The topic of the week was "The Father Heart of God" taught by a man by the name of Dick Schroeder. The purpose of this week was to bring to light the false images of God the Father that have been popularly accepted and to reveal who God really is as the Father. Along with this primary focus, Dick also spent some time talking about Forgiveness and Bitterness. He read Matthew 18:21-35, The Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor, to make the point that if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven in return. He went on to talk more about forgiveness and how it is a choice, not a feeling, how it means to "tear up the debt," and how it is a response to what Jesus has done for us. He followed up that to talk about bitterness. He talked about how a root of bitterness can affect many around us (Hebrews 12:14,15), it leads to broken relationships, and it binds us to the past. We spent some time on Thursday night to forgive those who we had been harboring bitterness towards, and though I did find a few I needed to forgive, I thought for the most part that I did not have very many at all. I realized how many blessings God had given me (and is still giving me) throughout my life with the people he had surrounded me with; it was a good and refreshing realization.
More topics that Dick covered with us are shown below:
- We are to base our lives on the word of God and not our emotions
- Sonship is found in learning to be led by the Spirit
- Shame is a sense of being uniquely and hopelessly flawed. Shame leaves a person feeling different from and less valuable than other human beings
- Parents are the first scope through which we see God the Father
A bit of expanding on the last thing mentioned in that list. Before classes even started Dick had us fill out a packet about how we viewed our parents and the relationship we had with them. As far as negative things go, I had a really difficult time filling out the packet and finding things that I thought were negative about my parents. I'm not saying this to talk my parents up or anything like that, but I'm saying it because that's really how it was. Truth be told, I feel like not a lot of information presented this week regarding God the Father was new news or mind-boggling to me, and when Dick told us how our first views of God are originated from our views of our parents, I understood why. God blessed me with wonderful parents who loved God and loved their family, and because of that, I got an appropriate view of God because of the great view I got of my parents because of how truly great they were. Even though I think I may not have learned very much from this week, I was able to find out how blessed I am with my parents specifically. I know that I will never be able to repay them as they deserve, and I know that they love me unconditionally. For that, I thank them and I thank Dick for being able to show this to me.
A passing comment Dick made this week was that he thought that Christianity in the Western world focused too much on head knowledge, and not heart knowledge. What he meant by that was that people are too focused on learning a lot of facts and attaining knowledge about the Bible and God, instead of actually applying what they learned to their life and attaining the heart and character of God. Now, knowledge of God and the Bible is NOT a bad thing to have or strive for, in fact it is extremely good to reach and strive for. The point Dick was making was that people are becoming too consumed with merely knowing things and not living those things out. When he pointed that out, I felt very convicted that he was talking to me. God had been giving me a deeper love for studying the Bible ever since I started the DTS and it had been growing ever since. The problem arose when I became so consumed with finding answers in my studying that I forgot the part about applying those answers to my life. What's more is that this week we were going to do a 40-hour fast, where we choose what we each individually fast. From this conviction I decided to fast studying the Bible so I could focus more on talking to God through prayer and simply "being" with Him. Through that time, I didn't really receive any words from Him, but I did receive an overwhelming peace and satisfaction of devoting time to just being with Him. I'm sure that to many, what I am saying doesn't make much sense, maybe because the whole concept is strange or foreign or because I'm just poor at explaining it. Either way.
I am about to enter my 12th and last week of classes here at YWAM Ozarks, followed by a local Christmas outreach here in Ozark, Arkansas, and I can't believe how rapidly my time here is diminishing. I pray that I remain open to things God has for me and I keep my eye on the prize as I grow more and more excited to come home and visit family and friends. I appreciate all of your prayers as well and thank you all for your support and love. God bless!
More topics that Dick covered with us are shown below:
- We are to base our lives on the word of God and not our emotions
- Sonship is found in learning to be led by the Spirit
- Shame is a sense of being uniquely and hopelessly flawed. Shame leaves a person feeling different from and less valuable than other human beings
- Parents are the first scope through which we see God the Father
A bit of expanding on the last thing mentioned in that list. Before classes even started Dick had us fill out a packet about how we viewed our parents and the relationship we had with them. As far as negative things go, I had a really difficult time filling out the packet and finding things that I thought were negative about my parents. I'm not saying this to talk my parents up or anything like that, but I'm saying it because that's really how it was. Truth be told, I feel like not a lot of information presented this week regarding God the Father was new news or mind-boggling to me, and when Dick told us how our first views of God are originated from our views of our parents, I understood why. God blessed me with wonderful parents who loved God and loved their family, and because of that, I got an appropriate view of God because of the great view I got of my parents because of how truly great they were. Even though I think I may not have learned very much from this week, I was able to find out how blessed I am with my parents specifically. I know that I will never be able to repay them as they deserve, and I know that they love me unconditionally. For that, I thank them and I thank Dick for being able to show this to me.
A passing comment Dick made this week was that he thought that Christianity in the Western world focused too much on head knowledge, and not heart knowledge. What he meant by that was that people are too focused on learning a lot of facts and attaining knowledge about the Bible and God, instead of actually applying what they learned to their life and attaining the heart and character of God. Now, knowledge of God and the Bible is NOT a bad thing to have or strive for, in fact it is extremely good to reach and strive for. The point Dick was making was that people are becoming too consumed with merely knowing things and not living those things out. When he pointed that out, I felt very convicted that he was talking to me. God had been giving me a deeper love for studying the Bible ever since I started the DTS and it had been growing ever since. The problem arose when I became so consumed with finding answers in my studying that I forgot the part about applying those answers to my life. What's more is that this week we were going to do a 40-hour fast, where we choose what we each individually fast. From this conviction I decided to fast studying the Bible so I could focus more on talking to God through prayer and simply "being" with Him. Through that time, I didn't really receive any words from Him, but I did receive an overwhelming peace and satisfaction of devoting time to just being with Him. I'm sure that to many, what I am saying doesn't make much sense, maybe because the whole concept is strange or foreign or because I'm just poor at explaining it. Either way.
I am about to enter my 12th and last week of classes here at YWAM Ozarks, followed by a local Christmas outreach here in Ozark, Arkansas, and I can't believe how rapidly my time here is diminishing. I pray that I remain open to things God has for me and I keep my eye on the prize as I grow more and more excited to come home and visit family and friends. I appreciate all of your prayers as well and thank you all for your support and love. God bless!
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Week 10: Cross-Cultural Ministry
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28:19,20 (NIV) (emphasis mine)
Imagine you are a missionary in Western Africa and have been serving to a tribe in a village for several months, when during one conversation with the chief, he makes it known to you that he wants to become a Christian. You get very excited that your work is finally beginning to produce fruits such as this, but you are reminded of one thing, one obstacle. The chief has three wives and has had children with each of them. You think back to your lessons taught at church about polygamy being a sin and are frantic to make a decision as to what on earth you should do. So, what do you do?
The above scenario was one of the case studies given to us this week by our speaker, Graeme Hackworth, from Australia. Graeme's story is that after being a science teacher for several years, he took part in a DTS in his early 30's, went on an outreach to India, and simply didn't come back for 20 years. There he met his wife, has had 3 kids, and lives in Australia currently. With 20 years spent on the mission field, Graeme had lots of experiences, stories, knowledge, and wisdom to share with us regarding cross-cultural ministry and missions. One style of teaching Graeme had with us was giving us real-life case studies that missionaries had faced on the mission field and asked us what we would do in the scenario, along with what the missionaries did and why they did it. I'm not going to tell you in this blog what the missionary did in the scenario I gave you, it is just there for you to think and dwell on. Things to keep in mind is what controversies would you face in doing certain actions, and which controversies affect the salvation of the people of the tribe as well as their potential relationship's with God? Fruit for thought.
I greatly appreciated how Graeme's teaching style and material he presented to us this week, because although this week was about missions and cross-cultural ministry, I found it still very applicable to someone like myself who is not feeling called to the mission fields in foreign countries. The concepts he taught and informed us of were ones that are not only true for foreign countries, but for our culture as well. Examples would be styles of worship, styles of fellowship, styles of church services, and so on and so forth. A statement we heard many times regarding these various styles was that they were "different, not one of them is better than the other, they're just different." Which spoke volumes to me. Another key concept Graeme taught was one that was taught by a previous speaker, John Ray (who I was not able to hear this from because of my pneumonia, thankfully some fellow students filled me in a bit on his teaching), and that was the idea that Christianity is not meant to be viewed as a box to live in. By this I mean that Christianity cannot be thought of as a simple set of rules or a simple prayer prayed, and people cannot be determined as Christian or non-Christian on the basis of this "box." Christianity is to be viewed as what direction you are going in life; whether you are walking towards Jesus or not. Now with this new definition, it becomes much more difficult to judge people as to whether or not they are Christ followers, and frankly I find that to be a good thing. God has told us not to judge, not only because we have no right to judge, but because we are simply not capable whatsoever of such a serious and difficult job.
Other thoughts and teachings I got from Graeme this week:
- Should we keep on asking God for blessings? Have we not been blessed enough with the country we live in, the family we have, the freedom we have? Maybe it's about time we start blessing God by using these blessings he gave us to bless others.
- Take time to understand the history of countries you go to or are helping take the gospel to so that you understand more of how to serve and share those people. Especially if those people are hostile towards Christianity, it is crucial to discover why that is.
- You are the only one who knows who, what, and if you are worshiping. This ties in with the statement about judgment.
One more thing we learned this week from Graeme this week is one that is too important to be a mere bullet point. It is the concept of going on the mission field to disciple people into being true Christians rather than merely going to the mission field to get people to conform to your personal Christian culture or make them pray the "Sinner's Prayer." This goes along with Christians being those walking towards Jesus rather than those living in the "box." Now, I don't want you to think that I'm contradicting myself by saying that by making the people disciples is the same as fitting them into the "box," because it is not. The simplest illustration I can give towards the purpose of making disciples is the whole idea of "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for the rest of his life." Making disciples is how you show the people what being a Christian is all about and continuing their teaching. If you look at the verse I posted at the top, I emphasized on the words "make disciples." Jesus commanded in the Great Commission not to simply "save" the people, but to disciple them as well. Now, the truth of the matter is, you will see a far fewer amount of people "discipled" on your mission trip than you would see people "saved" if you focused on saving people rather than making them disciples, but the Great Commission still stands, and for a good reason too. In the course of making disciples, you also will teach them that they are to make disciples as well, and who better to make disciples in a foreign country than a native? That person would see much more success than you, a foreigner, quite honestly.
In other news, I've started my study of I Peter and am happy to announce I've been able to make it through the first five verses! Ever since Steve taught us last week on studying the Bible inductively, I've felt convicted to understand the entire context, specific words used, patterns, reason for particular emphasis, and whatever else there is to know about the passage I'm studying, and it can be exhaustive, but I know after the study I do have a much deeper understanding and a firmer foundation. Anyway, already from the get-go of studying I Peter I was faced with questions I had had for a long time, and felt I should really look more into them and find out what I could, so my studies have been filled with finding answers or at least learning lessons God has wanted me to learn from the questions He's presented me with. I've already gotten a bit frustrated and stressed with the questions as they seem unanswerable, but as the days go by of me searching for answers in the Bible with friends, a peace slowly but surely has come over me, and I know it's from God.
God also has a way of presenting many possible answers to me, and I find it very humbling knowing that I can not understand everything. An example of this is when I felt like watching a video I had watched in the past of a sermon given by Rob Bell called "Everything is Spiritual" (I highly recommend it, whatever your opinion of Rob Bell may be, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2rklwkm_dQ). Half-way through the message, Rob presented the following scenario: Say there is a 2-dimensional world, and in this world there is a circle and a rectangle. The circle could never in it's wildest dreams be a rectangle and vice versa. Now let us say a 3-dimensional cylinder comes along into this 2-dimensional world. The cylinder can be viewed as both a circle (if it is viewed from top) and a rectangle (if from the side). So in this 2-dimensional world, if you were to ask if this cylinder were a rectangle or a circle, the answer would simply be, "Yes." Now bring this idea to our world. Change the circle and the rectangle to two completely opposing ideas in Christian theology, say for example free will and predestination (we'll just jump into the deep end of this pool). What if God, being outside of the dimension we live in, when asked about free will or predestination could simply say, "Yes"? More fruit for thought.
I know my studies from this point on will be difficult and at times quite frustrating, but I also know that it is what God has for me, and that He will bring the peace to me even if I don't find the answer to the countless questions I will gather. I'm excited for what God has to teach me, and I pray that I remain willing to be an eager student.
Imagine you are a missionary in Western Africa and have been serving to a tribe in a village for several months, when during one conversation with the chief, he makes it known to you that he wants to become a Christian. You get very excited that your work is finally beginning to produce fruits such as this, but you are reminded of one thing, one obstacle. The chief has three wives and has had children with each of them. You think back to your lessons taught at church about polygamy being a sin and are frantic to make a decision as to what on earth you should do. So, what do you do?
The above scenario was one of the case studies given to us this week by our speaker, Graeme Hackworth, from Australia. Graeme's story is that after being a science teacher for several years, he took part in a DTS in his early 30's, went on an outreach to India, and simply didn't come back for 20 years. There he met his wife, has had 3 kids, and lives in Australia currently. With 20 years spent on the mission field, Graeme had lots of experiences, stories, knowledge, and wisdom to share with us regarding cross-cultural ministry and missions. One style of teaching Graeme had with us was giving us real-life case studies that missionaries had faced on the mission field and asked us what we would do in the scenario, along with what the missionaries did and why they did it. I'm not going to tell you in this blog what the missionary did in the scenario I gave you, it is just there for you to think and dwell on. Things to keep in mind is what controversies would you face in doing certain actions, and which controversies affect the salvation of the people of the tribe as well as their potential relationship's with God? Fruit for thought.
I greatly appreciated how Graeme's teaching style and material he presented to us this week, because although this week was about missions and cross-cultural ministry, I found it still very applicable to someone like myself who is not feeling called to the mission fields in foreign countries. The concepts he taught and informed us of were ones that are not only true for foreign countries, but for our culture as well. Examples would be styles of worship, styles of fellowship, styles of church services, and so on and so forth. A statement we heard many times regarding these various styles was that they were "different, not one of them is better than the other, they're just different." Which spoke volumes to me. Another key concept Graeme taught was one that was taught by a previous speaker, John Ray (who I was not able to hear this from because of my pneumonia, thankfully some fellow students filled me in a bit on his teaching), and that was the idea that Christianity is not meant to be viewed as a box to live in. By this I mean that Christianity cannot be thought of as a simple set of rules or a simple prayer prayed, and people cannot be determined as Christian or non-Christian on the basis of this "box." Christianity is to be viewed as what direction you are going in life; whether you are walking towards Jesus or not. Now with this new definition, it becomes much more difficult to judge people as to whether or not they are Christ followers, and frankly I find that to be a good thing. God has told us not to judge, not only because we have no right to judge, but because we are simply not capable whatsoever of such a serious and difficult job.
Other thoughts and teachings I got from Graeme this week:
- Should we keep on asking God for blessings? Have we not been blessed enough with the country we live in, the family we have, the freedom we have? Maybe it's about time we start blessing God by using these blessings he gave us to bless others.
- Take time to understand the history of countries you go to or are helping take the gospel to so that you understand more of how to serve and share those people. Especially if those people are hostile towards Christianity, it is crucial to discover why that is.
- You are the only one who knows who, what, and if you are worshiping. This ties in with the statement about judgment.
One more thing we learned this week from Graeme this week is one that is too important to be a mere bullet point. It is the concept of going on the mission field to disciple people into being true Christians rather than merely going to the mission field to get people to conform to your personal Christian culture or make them pray the "Sinner's Prayer." This goes along with Christians being those walking towards Jesus rather than those living in the "box." Now, I don't want you to think that I'm contradicting myself by saying that by making the people disciples is the same as fitting them into the "box," because it is not. The simplest illustration I can give towards the purpose of making disciples is the whole idea of "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for the rest of his life." Making disciples is how you show the people what being a Christian is all about and continuing their teaching. If you look at the verse I posted at the top, I emphasized on the words "make disciples." Jesus commanded in the Great Commission not to simply "save" the people, but to disciple them as well. Now, the truth of the matter is, you will see a far fewer amount of people "discipled" on your mission trip than you would see people "saved" if you focused on saving people rather than making them disciples, but the Great Commission still stands, and for a good reason too. In the course of making disciples, you also will teach them that they are to make disciples as well, and who better to make disciples in a foreign country than a native? That person would see much more success than you, a foreigner, quite honestly.
In other news, I've started my study of I Peter and am happy to announce I've been able to make it through the first five verses! Ever since Steve taught us last week on studying the Bible inductively, I've felt convicted to understand the entire context, specific words used, patterns, reason for particular emphasis, and whatever else there is to know about the passage I'm studying, and it can be exhaustive, but I know after the study I do have a much deeper understanding and a firmer foundation. Anyway, already from the get-go of studying I Peter I was faced with questions I had had for a long time, and felt I should really look more into them and find out what I could, so my studies have been filled with finding answers or at least learning lessons God has wanted me to learn from the questions He's presented me with. I've already gotten a bit frustrated and stressed with the questions as they seem unanswerable, but as the days go by of me searching for answers in the Bible with friends, a peace slowly but surely has come over me, and I know it's from God.
God also has a way of presenting many possible answers to me, and I find it very humbling knowing that I can not understand everything. An example of this is when I felt like watching a video I had watched in the past of a sermon given by Rob Bell called "Everything is Spiritual" (I highly recommend it, whatever your opinion of Rob Bell may be, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2rklwkm_dQ). Half-way through the message, Rob presented the following scenario: Say there is a 2-dimensional world, and in this world there is a circle and a rectangle. The circle could never in it's wildest dreams be a rectangle and vice versa. Now let us say a 3-dimensional cylinder comes along into this 2-dimensional world. The cylinder can be viewed as both a circle (if it is viewed from top) and a rectangle (if from the side). So in this 2-dimensional world, if you were to ask if this cylinder were a rectangle or a circle, the answer would simply be, "Yes." Now bring this idea to our world. Change the circle and the rectangle to two completely opposing ideas in Christian theology, say for example free will and predestination (we'll just jump into the deep end of this pool). What if God, being outside of the dimension we live in, when asked about free will or predestination could simply say, "Yes"? More fruit for thought.
I know my studies from this point on will be difficult and at times quite frustrating, but I also know that it is what God has for me, and that He will bring the peace to me even if I don't find the answer to the countless questions I will gather. I'm excited for what God has to teach me, and I pray that I remain willing to be an eager student.
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