You may remember that Tim was in New Delhi, India at the beginning of this month
Date Posted: 10/ /23 introducing God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) in the Oriya language to about 100 pastors from Odisha, India. The three days caused these brothers to hunger for more indepth training in Scripture. As a result, they are translating God’s Plan for His Church (GPHC) and God’s Plan for Young Disciples (GPYD) into this same language. We just received the following invitation: “Pastor Tim and team, will you please consider training our leaders with your the new GPHC and GPYD updated curriculum as we have discussed? God willing, we are planning to invite our 100+ key leaders in Delhi in February 2024. Please consider coming and training them from the 25th to the 27th. We need the training manuals to be translated and printed 10,000 copies of each book. Half to be in Hindi and half in Oriya languages. We are expecting all leaders who attend the Delhi training to train return home and train their 2nd and 3rd level leaders in this month itself for exponential growth. We are taking care of the food expenses of this field training to encourage them. In anticipation of this event, we are in prayer for resources, God's guidance, and related logistics.” Josh. Please join them and us in prayer for the translation, printing, and training!! This is the biggest opportunity we have ever had
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Tim will be traveling to North and South Vietnam October 22 - November 1 to follow-up and participate in graduations of those who completed God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD). He will also be involved in Introductions of the new tool, the Vietnamese God's Plan for Young Disciples. God is doing a mighty work throughout Vietnam especially among the minority groups and young people. Please keep Tim in your prayers during this trip. There are special concerns related to this trip which cannot be spoken of through this form of media. We always lean on the Lord during these testing moments and prove that His grace is sufficient for whatever we face. As we gathered via Zoom and listed the prayer needs in many countries around the world, I was again impressed with the scope and variety of work being done. In some countries we have trained “Timothy’s” who are far more effective than we could ever be. This is true because of several factors:
In some places, the outlook is not as promising. Where tradition, money, and education have steeped persons in ways that have their roots in a long history of habits that are not biblical, it is very difficult to get them excited with following a biblical model. For the first set of people, we simply follow Paul’s method of encouraging and building up what God has already done. For the second group, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to convict hearts of a “more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31). I was reminded tonight that Paul did “not cease to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” (Colossians 1:9). Are you praying? “It is more than comforting to realize that it is those who have plumbed the depth of failure to whom invariably God gives the call to shepherd others. This is not a call given to the gifted, the highly trained or the polished, as such.
Without a bitter experience of their own inadequacy and poverty, they are quite unfitted to bear the burden of spiritual ministry. It takes a man who had discovered something of the measures of his own weakness to be patient with the foibles of others. Such a man also has a firsthand knowledge of the loving care of the Chief Shepherd and His ability to heal one who has come humbly to trust in Him and Him alone.” Miles J. Stanford, Principles of Spiritual Growth,” (Lincoln: Back to the Bible, 1977, page 27). “God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:28–29). For many reasons I have been concerned lately about the need of accountability with leaders in the Church. There is no space in this blog to deal with that subject, but the Scripture used in last night’s blog gave us a key example of accountability and where it starts.
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The section begins with Paul telling Timothy to “Remind them of these things” (14) which gives a sense of importance to these words. “Do your best” (spoudazõ – meaning, “eager, devoted, or do quickly) gives urgency to this point. How do we do this? We must realize that we are accountable to God for everything, particularly when doing His work. The structure of this sentence conveys the idea that we are being tested by God. With the Spirit working in us, we should feel either approval or correction. It does not matter what others say if we pass the divine test. Others who have the same accountability to God will also confirm our words and actions. How different and rewarding our work will be if this was always true with us. Are we diligent to make sure our words and actions are in full agreement with God’s Word and standard? When this is true of us, there is no reason to be ashamed. If we have no reason to prepare for something, we will not put the time or effort into the work of preparing and do it well. Yesterday I wrote about the marriage of the Lamb of God to His Bride the Church. There is nothing greater to prepare for than this.
Between now and then, there are many other valuable and very important things we should be spending time getting ready to do with faithfulness and excellence. One that quickly comes to mind is what Paul calls a “worker.” Here is the context: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Notice the importance that Paul puts on this function of a disciple; “Do your best”! As a follower of Jesus, our calling by Him requires that we give Him our best, not the leftovers of our energy, our time, or our resources. Between now and tomorrow, I ask you to take a few minutes to evaluate the quality of your “work” for the Lord. Notice that I said “quality,” not quantity. Often, we confuse the amount of work we do with whether it is producing fruit and bringing Him glory. There is an eternal difference! I could hardly wait! It was almost 55 years ago that I was making final preparations to travel almost 3,000 miles to where my bride lived and be joined together in marriage. Many said that my face was a constant smile from ear to ear.
I am also looking forward to another marriage event when the Church, the Bride of Christ, will finally be united to Christ as His bride. Many times, I reflect on our ministry as this exciting time of preparation that builds biblical truth in those we serve, helping them become well established and strong in the faith through the Word of God. It should make “us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb [is coming], and His Bride [is making] herself ready!” (Revelation 19:7). John was given a vision of the moment when the Church, the Bride of Christ, has finished all the preparation and is ready to be finally given to her Bridegroom. There is another aspect of this preparation that thrills my heart. It is thinking about all who will make up the Bride, many of whom we are working with now! “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BRIDE! This title may seem to be a strange question, but it is intended to draw a clear distinction between the world’s idea of an ‘organization’ and God’s plan and design for the Church. Paul calls the Church “His [Christ’s] body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:23). He further describes the Church as one “body” with “many members…Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit”(1 Corinthians 12:12-13). The term “Greeks” in Paul’s mind refers to any people group that is not a Jew.
Paul is very careful to explain in Ephesians how the formation of the Church took place. Though the Church is made up of those from many people groups, Christ “is our peace who has made us both one…that He might create in Himself one new man…and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (2:14-16). Looking down a few verses, Paul makes the point that we are “no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (19). Notice that our status has changed from what we were (“strangers and aliens”) to what we are, “members of the household of God.” When conflict erupts in the world, we must keep in mind that God may have “members of [HIS] household”in those places. We must pray for them in the light of this truth and not through any political or cultural lens. Tomorrow I will continue to look at the Church from God’s perspective to inform our hearts, thoughts, and words in these troubling times. Here is a further update on the GPHD training in New Delhi, India. One hundred ten (110) leaders from Orissa (Odisha) joined Tim and Josh to go through God’s Plan for His Disciples for the first time in their own language. They were given a supply of books and a banner (see picture) to carry back with them. This will equip their future ministry to accomplish greater things for the glory of God. If you can, print this picture and keep it in a place that will remind you to pray for them. Persecution is very real, and they need our prayerful support. They are also eager to translate and print God’s Plan for His Church and God’s Plan for Young Disciples. Now that they have tasted the benefits of personal study of God’s Word, they see the importance of equipping leaders to be more effective and preparing the next generation to stand strong in the faith so they can impact their peers. With a goal of reaching 40,000 believers, this is no small task before us. Someone I know very well asked me via text message to give them a call. When I did, I discovered they were very distraught over the war between Israel and Hamas. Questions about Bible prophecy and End Times came faster than I could begin to answer them which caused me to quietly ask the Lord for how I should answer my friend.
He led me to remember some of the Lord’s last words to the disciples just before His trial and crucifixion. “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). As I read this verse to my friend with emphasis on the words, “in Me you may have peace,” I could hear a distinct change in his voice. The horrendous character of evil in this world does not change the Author of peace. Our focus must remain on the Author of peace! Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:14, “He Himself [Christ] is our peace.” Then again in Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” All of man’s systems and military power can never provide meaningful and lasting peace. It is only found in Jesus! |
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