SISTERS I NEED YOUR HELP

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.

WHY SHOULD WE GO TO CHURCH?

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.

WHO ARE YOU PLEASING?

 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.

EMPTIED TO BE FILLED

Philippines Trip Update: Here are some reports from the last trip to Digos City to teach this Pastor group. Reading these reports will help you to get a flavor of what I will be doing there and what the Training Leaders International mission is all about. I will send you the link for reports from our trip when we begin to post them.

http://trainingleadersinternational.org/trips/166/philippines-january-2017 

I continue to pray for this trip and to prepare.

Last Sunday in the Foundations class we listened to an overview of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. One point that was made is that we are often too full of other things to receive the Christ life described in these Beatitudes which then prevents us from expressing this life to others. I have been thinking about that point in relation to the command given to us in Ephesians 5.18, "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit".

The Beatitudes begin by saying "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God". The whole process of receiving what we have been given by God in Christ begins with recognizing our own spiritual poverty. Often this poverty is recognizing the bankruptcy of our own "fullness" - living by our own strength, serving our own goals, focused on our purposes, using the world's methods, pursuing the world's treasures, conforming to the secular worldview and its cultural agenda. When the Holy Spirit exposes this "fullness" it leads us to spiritual poverty which leads to repentance, mourning over our emptiness. True repentance leads to a teachable spirit which grows in knowledge in Christ and then expresses the life of Christ in us to others, receiving from some the adverse reaction of the world. This is a process that must continue to be repeated as we grow in grace and in the fullness of the Spirit.
This is the process taught in Ephesians 5.18. We can be full of the world (be drunk on its wine), or we can say no to the world and be full of Christ in the filling of the Spirit. This command is a continuous present tense. We are to "be being filled" with the Holy Spirit. This command is given to the local church community even though it must be obeyed individually. The results can be found in verses Ephesians 5.19 to 6.9 - rejoicing, thanksgiving and submission to one another. This Christ-like attitude and activity which expresses Christ will be reacted to by the world and we need to be prepared for this as Ephesians 6.10 -20 teaches us.

Is this a metaphor for your life? Luke 10.38-42

 God our Father is at work to reveal to us where our hands are too full and need to be emptied to receive more of what we have been given in Christ. God has a blessed purpose of showing us our spiritual poverty in trials and circumstances. That is what Hebrews 12 is about and what James means when he encourages us to "count it all joy" when we face trials. God's purpose is our fullness in Christ.

 

THANKSGIVERS

Philippines Trip Update: I have purchased my tickets to fly to Manila and back, and also to fly to Davao on the island of Mindanao from which we drive 3 hours to our teaching site. I have began to study my curriculum on Interpreting and Preaching the Gospel of Mark. Just over 50% of those who pledged funds to this trip have contacted me that they have sent in those pledges. Let me know if you have done this so I can update my files. At the end of April I will get a financial summary from Reach Beyond Canada. For information on how to send funds see last blog entry Decision Made.

I am slowly reading True Spirituality by Francis Schaeffer, an old classic. I mean slowly in the sense of reading and rereading in order to follow Schaeffer's logic, savoring the biblical truths he presents like a tasty seasoned tender steak that melts in your mouth (I have not had any of those steaks but I have heard stories), letting the simple but profound truths sink deeply into my soul. Not that Schaeffer's logic is difficult to follow. Rather it is that he presents so clearly the essence of the Gospel - the depth of our sinful condition, the primary sin of coveting that is so deeply rooted in our being by the fall, and the fact that apart from a supernatural new birth the process of spiritual change cannot even begin. That spiritual change is rooted in the cross of Christ, not only because of what the cross allowed God to do in us, but how we are to allow the cross to change our coveting nature to a nature of love patterned on God's love.

Finally I rejoice afresh in how Schaeffer emphasizes one of my favorite themes, the thanksgiving of the Christian. Schaeffer shows how often thanksgiving is included in God's commands to us (Ephesians 5.20; Philippians 4.6; Colossians 2.7, 3.15, 17; 1 Thessalonians 5.18) culminating in Romans 1.21 were the reason for the wrath of God on mankind is that they did glorify God nor give thanks to God. He points out from Ephesians 5.3-4 how "but giving of thanks" at the end of the verse is a contrast to the list of sins mentioned there.
Genuine thanksgiving to God is not compatible with sin for genuine thanksgiving to God is nothing less than worship. God has called us as worshipers and workers until the day when our work will be fully eclipsed by worship.

DECISION MADE

On Friday, March 31st, I had no thought or desire of going on a Training Leaders International trip to the Philippines. Then came the email inviting me to return again to the Philippines for a trip at the end of May. They needed one more teacher. Since my last trip to Tanzania was not well supported I was reluctant to take another trip so soon and so left the decision in your hands by asking who might support this trip and deciding that I would go only if 80% of the funds were pledged. As of Sunday morning exactly 80% of the funds were pledged.
Here is how the pledges came in: By Monday night after my blog was sent 57% was pledged. I was very encouraged. By Tuesday night 58% was pledged. I was starting to doubt that this trip would happen. By Wednesday night 63%. This trip may be possible??!! By Thursday night 67.5%. I began to feel in my heart that I wanted to make this trip so what would I do if less than 80% came in? By Friday night no change 67.5%. Now I was starting to worry that I would no be able to go if I stayed true to my 80% goal. By Saturday night 73% was pledged. Oh so close. Sunday morning I received a pledge that took me to 80%. After church I emailed TLI to confirm that I would join the team and since that time have received pledges to meet the rest of the cost of the trip.

I want to thank all of you who have generously pledged donations for this trip to the Philippines and most of all I praise God for His goodness to me and to the Pastors we will be teaching in the Philippines. I am now looking forward to this trip and especially since I have reviewed the curriculum. We are teaching "Interpreting and Preaching the Book of Mark". The students have now taken Hermeneutics, Biblical Theology, The Attributes of God and the book of Ruth and Jonah. We will be reviewing and then taking what they have learned in all these courses as we study the book of Mark, helping them to put all the components together to form and preach a sermon. Each student will be preaching their sermon from various passages in Mark to the class. In this course we will be seeking to mesh the theoretical aspects of how to study and interpret a Bible passage, recognize its theology, see its place in the canon of scripture, and its application to our present culture and then form that into a preachable sermon. This course will be a challenge to teach so please pray for me and the other three teachers. There is much content to cover and practice to take place.

I would now ask you to please send your pledged donations in:
1) By mailing a check to Reach Beyond Canada, Unit 3- 44 Saltsman Dr, Cambridge, ON, N3H 4R7. Include a note which says for Ron Latulippe Philippines May 2017 trip.
2) Online at <http://reachbeyond.ca/> then click DONATE button, and then from the drop down menu select - "Donate to a missionary and indicate name below in message", then enter "Ron Latulippe - Philippines May 2017" in the "Message for Reach Beyond" box below, then fill out remaining credit card information.
3) Please send me an email <rtulip231@gmail.com> when you have sent in your donation so I can keep track of my budget for this trip. If you have any questions please email me.

Again I praise God for your fellowship (working as partners) in the training of Pastors and the increase of the Gospel. ron 

SHALL I GO?

I have not written a blog entry in a few weeks because I have been busy and also uninspired, but I did not expect to write to you today about what is below.

I received an email on the weekend from the team leader for the Philippines whom I served under last May on my trip to the Philippines with Training Leaders International (TLI). Here is the email:

Ron,

How are things going for you? It's been a while since we last communicated.

I just wanted you to be aware that we have a need for an additional teacher going to the Philippines (Mindanao) on May 26th to June 4th.  We are teaching the Gospel of Mark.  I know it's short notice but I thought I would check with you. 

There are three of us on the team and we need one more. Dick Albright from TLI is willing to go but he would have to fly directly from a trip to Ethiopia to the Philippine to join us and THEN fly back to Ethiopia for another week of teaching.

Let me know if you're interested in joining us.

Weymann

My last trip with TLI was not long ago to Tanzania in February and that trip was not very well supported by donors so I have taken this unusual step of asking you if you would support this trip to the Philippines if I was to say yes. I am willing to go on this trip if the support is evident. I am not asking you to send any funds for now. What I am asking you to do is to send me an email at <rtulip231@gmail.com> letting me know if you would support this trip and what your donation might be. If I receive commitments for 80% of the cost of this trip by next Sunday I will commit to go. TLI has said that I would not have to send in all the funds for my trip by departure date so your commitment would not need to be paid until the end of July.

I know these are difficult financial times for everyone and many organizations are asking for donations so I ask you to make a commitment to donate to this trip without feeling obliged in any way and only if you want to get involved. If you have a sense that God is leading you to support this trip to the Philippines that would be great. I will let everyone know next Monday if I shall go on this trip or not. ron