“We just had another 45 graduates from GPHC in Kogon River, Nigeria! It is one of the poorest places, yet the people are rich in the Lord. They hunger for Him and His Word. It was a great day! Now I am in Abuja where I have my final training before flying out Tuesday evening. It has been a very full trip!” (Randy)
Please continue to pray for Brother “M” from Rakhine state in Myanmar. No one has heard anything from him since he left our training. The conflict that is impacting many in Myanmar relates to the IDP, which stands for "Internally Displaced People". IDP’s have not crossed a border to find safety. Unlike refugees, they are on the run at home. IDPs and villagers lack access to food because they cannot forage in nearby forests. This gives us a little understanding of the circumstances and helps us pray for these people and Brother “M” and his family. For those of us in the West, it is very difficult for us to grasp these conditions or the pain that families go through when loved ones are impacted by conflict and persecution. At the same time, Hebrews 13:3 is a good reminder to think of ourselves “as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” We do not have our hands tied with ropes, or know the pain of mistreatment, but we can ask the Spirit to give us divine feelings of care for them. When Peter was put in prison (Acts 12), “many gathered together and were praying” (12:12). There was nothing unusual about this prayer time except that they ignored Peter when he came to the door and knocked. Is this the way we pray for those who are suffering?
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We looked yesterday at Paul’s bio and saw how he thought nothing of his past accomplishments, and actually considered them rubbish (worthless and unwanted material). As some have said, was Paul ‘out of his mind,’ irrational, or just crazy. The world today would say, ‘yes, he was.’
As we check the words of Jesus on this subject, we find something very similar. “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). The word “renounce” means to “part with one’s possessions.” Jesus had nothing that he claimed as His own! “And Jesus said to him [a scribe], “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”” (Matthew 8:20). This question comes down to what we really value and how everything else stands in contrast to the value we place on Jesus Christ. Will we give up everything that stands between us and Christ, really having the first and only place of preeminence in our lives? Would we rather have more of Christ and be under His control that anything this world could offer? Several weeks ago, I was asked to send a church a short biography of my life. This got me thinking about what we put into our bio’s that make us look good to others. We try to pick out the best parts of our careers and those accomplishments that make us look good to others. If we are honest, it is an ‘ego trip’ for us to tell others about our past.
That is not the way it worked for Paul. Here is one of his bio’s; “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7–8). This is not how to get a job today. Imagine telling a potential employer that you consider all your past accomplishments as rubbish! But Paul was not seeking employment. He was exposing his heart and inner being to the believers in churches he planted as a model for them to follow. He was very serious about this attitude and says later in this chapter, “Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you” (3:15). Especially for those of us in leadership in the Church, we need to squarely face what goes on in our hearts and how we look at our past and present status. What model are we living before others? Paul did not take on this attitude because it was a nice thing to do. He meant every word because he desired to “know and gain Christ” above any other pursuit in life, work and ministry. He wanted the Philippians to follow his example. We are constantly amazed how God is opening doors for training through this ministry in places and with people we never expected to work with. Some weeks ago, we shared the news of children at an orphanage in Myanmar being trained by going through God’s Plan for His Disciples. The goal is that they will eventually return to villages of their original birth and share from the Bible what they have learn. Unexpectedly, we have the same thing happening in Nicaragua, Central America. Every Saturday morning for 3 hours, a church there went through GPHD with the children (ages 5-15). If they could not read, they would draw the principle from Scripture on the board and have the kids color in the diagrams on a piece of paper. The ones who could read and write actually filled out the questions in the book. This is more than we can often get adults to do. This reminds us of Jesus’ words; “At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children” (Matthew 11:25). He followed this up later with this startling statement; “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (18:3). How grateful we are to find this kind of hunger and appetite with children in other places. Our prayer is that what we discovered in Nicaragua will happen right where you live! It is hard to imagine that the Apostle Paul was very prejudiced against Gentiles at one time. We read his letters where he clearly believes God’s grace set him apart to “preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). This was a huge departure from his former life that made him proud of being “of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the laws, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church” (Philippians 3:5).
This all changed because of “the heavenly vision”! That one encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road turned this man who was full of prejudice into a man who loved the Gentiles. I think one of the greatest expressions of this is found in his second letter to Corinth. “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:18–20). There is not one speck of prejudice in that statement! Paul is appealing to each of us, based on our own reconciliation with God, which we do not deserve, that we must in turn be ambassadors for Christ across every ethnic boundary around the world. God will not leave out one tribe from His plan. Will you? Let us rejoice and continue to pray for Randy’s Nigerian Timothy. Joshua is taking on more of the teaching, as he did in Jalingo. Now we are set up in Kaltungo, waiting for the missionaries to come out of the mountains where they serve our Lord. Some of them walk for hours to get here through difficult terrain filled with poisonous snakes. Pray for their safety and inspiration through the training. Their devotion to Jesus and His mission humbles and challenges me greatly. Pray God’s Plan for His Church & Disciples (GPHD and GPHC) will go forward in the power of the Spirit!
We should all learn from situations like this. What are we more concerned about? Danger of our devotion to Jesus and His Word? The devotion and hunger for God's Word here are both humbling and challenging. We see in Myanmar where they are willing to die for their Savior, like the Rakhine brother. For example, we asked the young people at Hope Orphanage to do two lessons in preparation for our training, and all of them had done 6 lessons and some had almost completed the entire book, God's Plan for His Disciples. Of course, those brothers in Nigeria, Africa (above) are such a GREAT example of dedication in very difficult circumstances. What a joy to be around hungry disciples! I praise our Lord for Randy and his work in Africa. It is a hard place, especially north where terrorism exists.
Also, I just got word from Myanmar that one of the brothers from Rakhine state who was in our training, is still missing. His wife and child have not heard from him since our meeting ended on October 17. The price these pay because they hunger for Christ and His Word! Please keep praying for his release and protection. Often when we look at the needs of people and nations around the world, we immediately think of poverty, disease, conflicts and starvation. These are real and cannot be ignored. At the same time, Paul saw an immeasurable need and describes it in Romans 1.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (1:18–23). “The need of the nations who do not know the name of Jesus is an immeasurable need. It is an infinite need. The greatest need that can be imagined is the need of the nations to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and believe. Because the gospel of Jesus “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (1:16), no one is saved without it.” (John Piper, A Holy Ambition to Preach where Christ has not been Named, Desiring God, 2011, page 18). We can only see needs in this way if we have walked close to the heart of God as Paul did. It is absolutely possible and will change our passion for getting the gospel out to the nations quickly. There are so many times the Lord brings me back to Ephesians 3:7-12 and reminds me of a special purpose for God’s call and gift of grace on my life. In these verses there are principles that most Christians have never been taught, or, at least rarely emphasized. I will point out a few.
The challenge we have today is helping the Church understand the word “everyone.” Sadly, most evangelism and missionary efforts go to those who have already heard. We must be more concerned about those who have never heard and where there is no witness to the gospel of grace. Anyone who shares the joy of expecting Jesus to return the second time for His Bride also anticipates what will happen among all the nations of the earth. As Isaiah closes out his prophecy, the Lord gives him one last look into the future.
““The time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see My glory, and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare My glory among the nations” (Isaiah 66:18–19). I believe “the time” that is spoken of here is very near. Without getting into a debate whether this event will fall in the final chapter of history, one thing that is clear from the context is that Israel and Jerusalem will have been restored in view of this final event for the nations (66:7-14). That is not the point I want to make though. Nations that have rejected the Savior and Israel’s Messiah will see His glory. They will suddenly realize what they missed and rejected. If this event is going to close out human history just before God introduces the new heavens and earth, can you imagine how important His glory is in the face of Jesus. Paul understood the single importance of His glory when he said; “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Has the light of this glory filled your heart so that you will live to make that glory known to the nations? Do people see His glory in your face? |
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