We are now over half way through the teaching week. After 15 hours over three days I am finished teaching the book of Mark. All day Thursday and Friday morning each of my 13 students will preach the 15 minute sermon they have prepared and then be evaluated by the class on particular principles of interpreting a bible passage and preaching it. Training Leaders International (TLI) has been teaching and practicing these principles with these students in the last 6 courses taken over the last two years. In the next year the students will complete their 3 year program by taking the books of John, Galatians and 2 Timothy and preaching more sermons.
On Tuesday it was my turn to preach my 15 minute sermon from a passage in Mark in the morning opening and demonstrate to the students how I interpreted the passage, formed a main idea, outlined the message and applied it. I preached from the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple in Mark 11.11-26.
I am very much enjoying this trip and seeing the impact of repetitively teaching the same principles of bible interpretation and preaching to these students and their finally catching on. Thank you for making this trip which I never anticipated going on possible.
We are posting trip updates every second day this week at this link <http://trainingleadersinternational.org/trips/183/philippines-may-2017>
And now to bed as the time zone change, the hours of teaching, the humidity and heat, take their cumulative toll on my body. Because of the time change my roommate and I wake up anywhere from 2 to 4 am and make coffee and then study our notes. When we get back to the hotel at 4:30 in the afternoon we have a nap until 6:30 and then go down for supper, staying up after that as long as we can, preparing for the next day. We are certainly not starving as Pastor Levi (in picture) our national host feeds us at lunch each day.
See you guys soon. May the love of God compel you.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for our flights. My 15 1/2 hour flight to Hong Kong from Toronto went quickly and I actually enjoyed the flight and then the beautiful flowers inside the Hong Kong terminal.
My flight to Manila was also pleasant and uneventful. The team was able to get a few hours sleep in Manila and then after a good breakfast on Sunday we made our flight South to Davao city and then the long and bumpy and daredevil ride to Digos City. With a twelve hour time change and all the traveling I was very tired but managed to stay up until about 9pm, having napped on the plane. My roommate and I were up at 2:30 am this morning no longer able to sleep so we drank coffee, had devotions, studied our notes and read until breakfast at 7. Then we went to the training center for a long day of teaching until 4 pm. When I got to our hotel at 4:30 I went straight to bed until 6. I was very tired but thankful to God that I did not get tired until the teaching was finished. I sensed a sustaining energy while in the classroom. It is now almost 10 pm and I have reviewed my sermon for chapel tomorrow and some of my class notes and will get to bed around 11 and hopefully sleep until later in the morning.
Here is a picture of my class. I have the same students as last year. The first day of teaching was strenuous but went well.
We are eating well, mostly Chinese style dishes and water is plentiful.
I have a long day on Tuesday so please pray for me. I preach in chapel and then teach for five hours and the material tomorrow is an important part of the book of Mark.
Philippines Trip Update: I am leaving on Friday at 3:30 am to make my way to Toronto for a 10:00 am flight to Hong Kong. This is a 15 1/2 hour flight arriving Saturday afternoon. I have a layover in Hong Kong for 3 hours and then catch a 2 1/2 hour flight to Manila arriving there on Saturday evening at 7. We will stay overnight in Manila and then Sunday morning fly to Davao city and then travel by car for about 2 hours to Digos city to our hotel. We will begin teaching on Monday morning at the training center. I hope to update you as I go along. You can also check this link <http://trainingleadersinternational.org/trips/183/philippines-may-2017> for team updates beginning on Monday. Please pray for our travel, the four of us on the team, and the Pastors traveling to Digos for the week and the teaching times. President Duterte just declared Marshal Law in Mindanao and cut his Russian trip short to return home because of Muslim conflicts with the military in the South but our country host has told us that this should not effect those coming to the training center or our own travel. God is working so I encourage you to join in His purposes through prayer.
I was reading about the priestly garments in Exodus 28 and was impressed by Aaron's Ephod and Breastpiece. "You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. As
a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with
the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of
gold filigree. And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance." [9-12] And then “You
shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work....You shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row; and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree. 21 There
shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the
sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name,
for the twelve tribes. ...So
Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of
judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them
to regular remembrance before the Lord." [15-29]
What a beautiful picture of intercession. In prayer, as priests of God [1 Peter 2.9-10], we carry the burdens of others before God with them, and hold them dear in our hearts because of God's grace and mercy and love to us.
As Galatians 6.2 exhorts us, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ".
Philippines Update: Less than two weeks to go before I leave on Friday, May 26th. I am looking for an early-riser who can give me a ride to the Burlington GO station to catch the 5:09 am train which means leaving Welland at 4:00 am with a quick stop at Timmy's before we hit the road. Coffee and bagel or breakfast sandwich on me. I am feeling the pressure and daily fighting for study time as life keeps moving forward.
Warm days will soon be upon us and that means lighter clothing and less clothing, shorts and spring dresses and bikinis. I am making an appeal today on the basis of 1 Timothy 2.9, "...woman should adorn themselves in respectful apparel, with modesty and self-control...". Now I know you can say that I am taking this verse out of its context when I apply it to the way you saintly sisters dress, for this passage is speaking about costly outward adornment and jewelry and contrasting that with the godly adornment of good works and that itself sisters is an important message, but sisters let me make my appeal to you as a godly brother.
I want to start by confessing that I am not completely holy and perfect. I would like to be completely holy and perfect and expect to be completely holy and perfect but for now that is a future hope. I strive to be holy and perfect and sisters I need your help with that. You see my eyes still wander and my mind still lusts and you add to my temptation when you dress for the world and not with a biblical worldview and your christian brother in mind. Woman's outerwear and underwear today are made to expose cleavage, tightly stretch over the body, entice the eyes, and sexually stimulate. I understand that women want to be attractive but there is a biblical attractive and a wordly attractive as stated in such verses as 1 Timothy 2.9-10 and 1 Peter 3.1-6.
I have seen christian women dressed fashionably in modern stylish clothes, attractive to the eyes and mind, who have not stirred those senses in me which I work on so hard to put to death each day. They are beautiful on the outside and very often humbly and godly beautiful on the inside as well. So I am not advocating Amish clothes without buttons, or nun's habits, or a burka but the activation of a biblical godly mind in the practical area of how I am going to dress to honor God and encourage my brother in the Lord.
A female friend of mine a few years back posted a warning on Facebook to her christian sisters to remind them that summer was here and to be aware of how they dressed. I was encouraged by her post but was shocked by the abuse she received from her christian sisters claiming rights to dress as they pleased, not to judge them, and that they were not responsible to anyone about how they dressed. She was thoroughly "dressed down" by them. The lack of humble and godly response was grievous to me but I must also sadly say not surprising in these days when biblical truth is so neglected in everyday life.
Sisters, have you ever thought of shopping for clothes as a godly activity? I don't mean praying to find the right purse or shoes to match your new skirt but applying modesty and purity to how you dress yourself with God, and your brothers, and your testimony for Christ in mind.
Anyways, I had this on my heart this week and wanted to share it with you and ask that some of you sisters out there help your brothers by glorifying God in your daily attire.
Philippines Update: Nothing new to report this week. Studying continues on the book of Mark and I have prepared evaluation forms for the students to encourage and help their peers improve in their preaching.
Have you ever asked yourself why we attend church? Answers could vary from the age and social status of others who attend, or worship style, or safety and cleanness of the nursery, or available children's programs, length and time of service, or even parking. Others answers may focus on denominational background, or millennium views, or views on the Sovereignty of God in salvation, or views on Israel, or any number of theological issues. These reasons all have a place in choosing what church we attend. But why should we go to church? Here is one important reason.
The first verses that come to mind are from 1 Corinthians 14, "On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church."(3-4) "...so that the church may be built up." (v5). "...how will I benefit you..." (v6). "...strive to excel in building up the church." (v12). "...not being built up."(v17) "...in order to instruct others..." (v19). "What then brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up." (v26). It seems obvious to me that we are to go to church with the intention of building up others in the body of Christ and in turn expect to be built up as well. Our goal for Sunday morning should be to go and build others up in whatever way we can. Hebrews exhorts us to "exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (3.13) And also "let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (10.23-24)
The goal of seeking to build others up as we meet together for church is also taught in Ephesians 4.11-16, "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." Pastors are to equip the congregation to minister to build itself up. You as a believer have a part to play in this building up process. This is not only a reason why we should go to church but how we should go to church. Come out on Sunday morning and build someone else up and be built up. Ask God to show you this week how you can be a "body builder" this week in your local church.
Philippines Trip Update: Lesson preparations and other trip details are on schedule. It is not too early to start praying for physical and mental health, airline connections, and especially for the Pastors who will be attending this teaching session on the book of Mark and developing their expository preaching skills. Thank you for your participation in this work of equipping third world Pastors.
When I graduated from Bible College in 1983 our theme verse for the class was a phrase from 2 Corinthians 5.9, "we make it our goal to please him". Since that time I have adopted this as my life verse. In my reading of Mark this week I came across this phrase in 15.15, "So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified." Pilot knew that Jesus was not guilty of treason or any other crime and that the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus because of envy of the crowds that followed Jesus and fear that he might lead a revolt that would take away their power and status. But Pilate was driven by a higher motive than truth. Pilate was driven by a desire to please the crowd. Some would even call this a fear of man which Proverbs tells us becomes a trap. "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." (29.25). Pilate was already on shaky ground with the Roman emperor and could not afford any negative criticism from the leaders in Jerusalem and so chose not to follow truth but rather to be a crowd pleaser.
I confess to having acted for the eyes of the crowd as my first priority and not the eyes of my Lord Jesus, out of fear and more often than not out of pride. Peter was guilty of this sin when Jesus was betrayed and in Antioch and was rebuked for it by Paul (Galatians 2.11-14). Paul uses the desire to please God over people as the standard for a servant of Christ in Galatians 1.10, "Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ."
Wrapped up in this choice to please God and not men is the willingness to stand for the name of Christ at anytime and before anyone and in any circumstances. In Paul's case it was a willingness to rebuke the Galatians for following a false gospel. To please Christ is to choose physical pain, shame, bullying, abuse, marginalization, isolation, being regarded as intolerant, archaic, behind the times, willing to be isolated from the cool crowd, be the brunt of jokes, being willing to defend your beliefs, and giving up comfort and security. But I have also found that an open and honest and true belief that seeks to please Christ and is accompanied by love and integrity earns a hearing (usually privately), attracts people when a crisis comes into their life, is respected (though not necessarily openly and publicly) and is even supported by others when the abuse exceeds a certain level, at least in our modern context.
It is easy to be a Chameleon Christian and just blend in with the world and live a double life but this double life is also discouraging, erodes assurance, and produces guilt. Good works, kindness, and genuine loving concern make a good bridge to open confession of our faith in the public space and that is pleasing to God.
If you are prone to pleasing others in order to save yourself from pain and hardship, God can help you to trust him and to be the open and honest witness for Christ he wants you to be, one step at a time.
