What do we know about our condition when the Lord Jesus comes for us? “We know that when He [Jesus] appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). Paul makes a similar declaration in Philippians 3:20-21. “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.” This makes our expectation glorious!
Often, I receive questions about heaven and what will things be like when we get there. There are many speculations about heaven, but they are human ideas and not what God says about what will be. The best way to gain appreciation for heaven and our condition there is to let Scripture inform our thinking and understanding. One thing is certain; the presence of Jesus will be our delight. I close with one more reference from John’s words in Rev. 21:4-5 that “the former things have passed away…Behold I make ALL THINGS NEW!” Since everything is going to be “new,” we really cannot imagine what heaven will be like apart from what the Bible tells us.
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In yesterday’s blog I referred to “knowing” God through “knowing” Jesus Christ. Let me just add a very important difference between the word to “know” in 1 John 2:1-2.
Verse 1 = ginoskei” means to come to an understanding, be familiar with, and forms the foundation of faith. This kind of “knowing” requires “receiving.” “But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Verse 2 = “oidamen” means to know “about” something as we would gain information, but there is no personal relationship involved in this knowledge. John says in his gospel, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him” (John 1:10). Why do I attempt to make this clarification? This should be on the mind and heart of every person who desires to proclaim the gospel to the unsaved: those who have never heard in every unreached people group. We must have a passion in our preaching that the Holy Spirit will impart knowledge of Jesus Christ that becomes a saving relationship. They will also gain a living relationship with God as Father. In 1 John 3:1, we see the evidence that God loves us. We are called the “children of God.” According to John 1:12-13, there are three things are essential to becoming a child of God?).
Part of know knowing that we are “children of God” is that the world will hate us. It does not know the Father. (See John 15:18-25). Part of its hatred toward us is that it hates Jesus.
How important is it that you know God the Father? In a converse way, Jesus answers this question in John 14:8-11. Part of knowing the Father is believing the ‘oneness’ of the Father and the Son. It is impossible to “know” one without “knowing” the other. My fellowship with Divine Persons is absolutely essential for spiritual life and godly living. Without this we lower ourselves to mere religion and miss the special relationship God want us to have. We are humbled by the growing opportunities God has given us to train pastors, church leaders, and believers in so many parts of the world. Just over the last few days we have printed more of our training books in several countries.
BOOKS God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) God’s Plan for His Church (GPHC) God’s Plan for Young Disciples (GPYD) TEACHER’S EDITION and YOUNG DISCIPLES WORKBOOK CURRENT PRINTING NEEDS
FUTURE PRINTING NEEDS IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS More printing needs are coming to us in Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, and India for all three books. It is thrilling to see how these resources are helping followers of Jesus become well established in their faith so they can disciple others. This becomes an indigenous movement of God. By November we will be printing GPHD in Arabic for the Middle East and North Africa. We invite you to be part of what God is doing. Perhaps you could sponsor a language or country. If you need more information or want to send a gift, go to our “Support” page. J. D. Payne makes a very startling statement, but sadly it is very true. “I hear many church planters refer to Paul as the “greatest church planter,” yet few are willing to learn from him. They want his theology and results but not his principles.” (Apostolic Church Planting – Birthing New Churches From New Believers, IVP Books, 2015, page 40).
Back in the late 1980’s when Tim Bunn first developed his church planting manual entitled, God’s Plan for His Church, he gave it the subtitle, Using Biblical Principles that Transcend Cultures and Time. This grew out of carefully examining Acts and Paul’s letters, he saw in them principles that can be applied in any culture and in any generation. As Payne points out, they are not being applied by those who pour time, energy, and resources into church planting. Why do we struggle with the current application of biblical principles in Paul’s writings? In a recent analysis from Arizona Christian University, it was discovered that only “37% of Christian pastors held a biblical worldview, and the number is only slightly better among pastors of evangelicals (51%). The principles are not the problem, but how we see them and put them into practice. Failure to evangelize the unreached is not because God has withheld the means of reaching them, but that most refuse to do God’s work with the principles He provided. Is there a solution to this problem? YES! RETURN TO THE AUTHORITY AND SUFFICIENCY OF SCRIPTURE! Are these two functions one and the same? Paul makes a clear distinction between himself and Apollos when he wrote to Corinth, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Notice the three functions by two different “servants” and God’s oversight of both. Paul planted churches during his three missionary journeys while Apollos, Timothy, Titus, and others came behind him to make sure disciples were strong in faith and leaders established.
For that reason, Paul left Timothy at Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3) and Titus at Crete (Titus 1:5) Part of their responsibility, among many other functions, was to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5). The gospel must continue to be preached with accuracy and boldness as it was at Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 1:5-8). No compromise was allowed! Missions work is the ground-breaking task of presenting the gospel where it has never been heard in view of those who hear, believing, being justified by faith in Christ, and confessing Jesus as their Lord (Romans 10:8-13). This includes the establishing of an indigenous church as Barnabas, Paul, and Silas did from Acts 13 and following. These distinctions are important as local churches put their emphasis on both missions and evangelism. One cannot be given attention to a point that the other is ignored. As I have pondered how our work in Africa has developed, particularly in recent years, I have wondered how this expansion of NFI ministry is fulfilling Matthew 28:19-20; 24:14. Some areas of the world where we trained and discipled leaders we no longer visit except to encourage those indigenous believers who are doing the work. In one sense, our work there is finished.
Paul had similar feelings. “But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while” (Romans 15:23–24). What does he mean, “no longer have any room for work in these regions?” The gospel had been preached, disciples were made, baptized, and they were established (see also Acts 14:21-23). In essence, there was an indigenous church planted and left in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Paul then moved on. He had Spain as the next “unreached” people group that needed the gospel. I can see that the movement of our work in Africa is heading north, disciples are being made and taking leadership in central Africa. We have our eyes on the “unreached people groups” in the north! We mentioned in our last newsletter an amazing opportunity that came to us through a connection with this ministry. It resulted in a meeting yesterday with a missionary who works in North Africa and the Middle East, planting churches and spreading the gospel through radio stations. This dear brother was given our resources to look at some time ago. After reviewing them, he was ready to meet yesterday and wants to move forward with plans to introduce this training in these areas; some by the end of this year and other areas in the new year. Another dear brother in CT did the translation of God’s Plan for His Disciples and God’s Plan for His Churchinto Arabic. While this has been a two-year project, it was completed last year. Now he will see his labors bearing fruit in parts of the world where Arabic is spoken. Now he is translating God’s Plan for Young Disciples. You can imagine how exciting this is for us as we are receiving answers to many years of prayer and work! It is always a joy to hear about leaders who were trained in the past, step forward and do the planning and training on their own. These are the kind of persons that Paul wanted Timothy to develop in his ministry. The principle was that Paul had taught Timothy “in the presence of many witnesses” (Acts 16:1-4 and beyond; 2 Timothy 2:2; 3:10). Timothy’s training was not a secret. The key to this principle was passing on what Paul had given to Timothy to others, but not just anyone. They had to be “faithful…who will be able to teach others also.” It is our obligation to discover if persons we disciple are “faithful…able to teach others also.” This step is critical. If we fail to find such persons who are “faithful,” the multiplication will stop, and God will do His work through someone else. This is our goal and prayer for Kenya, Africa. These pictures give some idea of the fruit that is being born in this country. Join us in praying for continual growth through effective discipling. “For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate” (2 Thessalonians 3:7–9).
That last phrase has often been a challenge to me. Are we providing the right “example to imitate”? Paul had a strong conviction that being an example in his life and ministry was very important so others could imitate him and in doing so, they would follow Christ (2 Timothy 3:10; 1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1). I am afraid that too many in ministry and missions mentally separate private and personal life. The whole person must be devoted to modeling our Savior and Master. Our effectiveness in the Lord’s work depends on this! |
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