LESS TALK, MORE ACTION

PRAY WITH ME FOR AFRICA: Nigeria is a wealthy country represented by the green bars on its flag. The white bar represents peace in a country with much division and persecution of Christians by Boko-Haram and Hausa-Fulani herdsman (16,000 killed since 2015). Nigeria also has one of the largest prayer movements in the world with dynamic church growth. Pray for maturity and continued growth for these persecuted Christians.

NIGERIAN FLAG

I hope it is your common experience that as your read your Bible certain verses stick in your brain and then bounce around in your head for days, sometimes weeks, and help you grow in your relationship with God and in your daily living. 1 John 3.18 is vibrating in my mind these days, "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." This verse exhorts me to put my confession of love into action. As one commentator writes, "Love is not sentiment, but deeds".
I find this same teaching in James 2.14-17, "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." We can also find this teaching in 1 Corinthians 13, Matthew 25.31-46, Ephesians 2.10 and a number of other places.

When reading about the final judgement one would expect that the standard of acceptance would be faith in Jesus Christ but Revelation 20.12 teaches us, "And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done." (see also Matthew 16.27; Romans 2.6; 2 Corinthians 5.10; Revelation 22.12) True love and faith is expressed in actions and truth. Works and deeds cannot earn salvation, but works and deeds that reflect true faith and love will be rewarded with salvation. Words and Talk are great but the proof is in the doing.

Good articles this week:
You'll never wish you did less
Joshua Project: Least Reach in the World
[Pray each day for a different people group. Download link to your computer or phone. Also access by clicking banner at top of page]
Long Term Christian Prisoners in Pakistan

PLEASING GOD

PRAY WITH ME FOR AFRICA: The Federal Republic of Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa with 186 million people, 41% of which are under 15 years of age, with a life expectancy of under 48 years. The country is evenly divided at 49% Christian and 49% Muslim, with most Muslims living in the North of the country where Christians are often persecuted and killed. Corruption is a massive evil at every level of society and undermines economic stability. Pray for the church in Nigeria.

Our graduating class at Bible College chose 2 Corinthians 5.9 "...we make it our aim to please him" as our class verse. Since that day I have made this my life verse. In chapter 5 Paul is writing about how our earthly body will be clothed one day with our heavenly body. For now we walk by faith but one day we will be with the Lord Jesus. So Paul writes, "so whether we are at home (in heaven with Jesus) or away (still here on earth), we make it our aim to please him." Ephesians 5.10 exhorts us to "try and discern what is pleasing to the Lord." When Paul prays for the Colossian church (1.9-10) he writes, "And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him..." And then in 1 Thessalonians 4.1 Paul writes, "that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more." From these verses we understand that it was Paul's passion to please Jesus and God and that he prayed and taught others to make this their aim as well. From the above verses it is also evident that knowing and doing the will of God with willingness and joy is what pleases the Lord.

 I find the fact that I can please Jesus encouraging. The reality is that I am nothing and have nothing with which to please God with in myself but I can please the Lord with what He has done in me and with what He has given me. I have all I need to be able to joyfully and passionately please Jesus and my Father. Many of you will relate to the young child who asks for money to buy their mother or father a present and having made the purchase with joy and pride gives the precious gift. The parent receives the gift with great pleasure even though they have actually paid for it. It is not the value of the gift but the joy of the parent in seeing the willingness and desire of the child to give the gift, and the joy that the child has in giving the gift that pleases the parent. It is not the burden of a rule kept but the desire and joy of a willing heart that pleases most of all. And so, though I have nothing to give to God in myself, I can willingly give of what God has given to me and please Him and be fulfilled and pleased myself in the giving.

Good articles this week:
Pray for Andrew Brunson in jail in Turkey
Leviticus supports homosexuality - modern text is wrong

THE NO AND YES OF GRACE

PRAY WITH ME FOR AFRICA: Many Pastors and missionaries work in Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, but few are working in the interior. Much work is focused on the nominal Christian minority and little on the Muslim majority. Pray that the indigenous church might be set free by the Holy Spirit from the restraints of fear and lack of confidence; pray that Christians might minister powerfully and effectively to their fellow Gambians.

The Gambia flag. Blue for the Gambia river. Red for equator and Savannah. Green for forest and agriculture. White lines symbolizing peace and unity

Titus 2.11-14 has always been a favorite. Verse 11 reminds us that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. This reminds me of John 1.14-17 "...from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Verses 13-14 remind us that Jesus Christ is returning in glory and that he gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. The salvation mentioned in verse 11 is from sin, and unto holiness and good works as those who belong to Jesus Christ. As believers we should have no doubt regarding the goal of our salvation. We are not called to compromise with sin or to live as close to the world as possible and bend the holiness of God to appease man, we are called to be holy as God is holy.

 

Verse 12 teaches us what the grace of God does in the believer. The grace of God trains us to live in this present evil age and to wait for the return of Jesus by denying certain things and by pursuing other things. We are to deny ungodliness. Ungodliness is all impiety, irreverence and wickedness, a dishonoring of God's glory and majesty. This is the main sin that calls the wrath of God to be poured out in Romans 1.18f and leads to unrighteous behavior. Then the grace of God trains us to deny worldly passions whether they come from our own inflamed self-focused desires or as temptations from this sinful world. Romans 6 teaches us what God has done for the believer in our union with the death and resurrection of Christ and how we are to respond in denying the worldly passions of the body and to serve God in holiness. While denying ungodliness and worldly passions we are to pursue a sound mind trained by the Word of God as Romans 12.1-2 commands. We are also to pursue righteousness through upright actions and attitudes and good works in loving service to God and others. Finally we are to pursue godly lives which exalt the glory and majesty of God in all we think, say and do.
If you belong to Jesus, he is coming back for you. Until he comes live in expectancy of his coming saying NO to ungodliness and worldly passions, and YES to a sound mind, righteousness and a godly life. The rewards of God's grace are waiting for you, 1 Peter 1.3-9.

Good articles this week:
Pornography is Morally Acceptable
What is Wrong With a Little Porn When You are Married

A SONG REMINDER OF GOD

PRAY WITH ME FOR AFRICA: Over the next few weeks we will be praying for a country you may not have heard of before - The Republic of The Gambia or The Gambia. This worm shaped country straddles the Gambia River and is embedded in the country of Senegal. The Gambia is 90% Muslim and 8% Christian, mostly Catholic with less than 1% being evangelical. There is a large degree of religious freedom. Pray for the Holy Spirit to convict The Gambia of sin, righteousness and judgement to come so that many will come to Christ for salvation. Pray also for spiritual maturity in the few evangelical believers.

 God told Moses to write a song, not to lead a worship concert, but to remind the people of Israel after they entered the promised land of God's faithfulness, of God's wrath against their disobedience, and of God's final mercy after judgment. This terrifying "national anthem" is found in Deuteronomy 32 and calls to our attention both the love and mercy of God and His wrath against sin.

Verses 1-18 Reviews the faithful fatherly love of God in choosing and providing for Israel and points out that Israel has still foolishly turned against Him. dealt corruptly with him; crooked and twisted generation; foolish and senseless people; grew fat, stout, and sleek and then forsook God and scoffed; sacrificed to demons; unmindful; forgot the God who gave you birth.
Verses 19-27 Graphically express the wrath of God on Israel. This wrath was direct through natural disasters and animals, and also through the cruelty of invading nations. God would have completely removed Israel from human memory if it were not for the boast of the nations that the Lord did not do all this (v27).
Verses 28-42 Describe the ignorance of the activity of God in Israel  among these invading nations and the judgment of God that is coming on these nations as well, and Israel's realization that the idols they worship are powerless to help them under God's judgment, with the hope that Israel will forsake their idols and return to their faithful God and father.
Verse 43 There is no other god but God and He will avenge His enemies and cleanse (atone for) his people (LXX).
It would be a sobering exercise to meditate on God's wrath expressed in v23-27 and to make sure we do not fall into the presumption of v15.

Good articles this week:
Doctrines of Graciousness
Dara City in Syria (the picture alone is worth this article)
 

STANDING ON GUARD FOR THEE

PRAY WITH ME FOR AFRICA: Leadership and theological training must become the top priority in the church in Tanzania. Many Pastors have multiple congregations to care for. Training Leaders International is working to establish a Bible school, TEE, and other training programs are available but are dwarfed by the need. Pray for leadership development. Pray also for unity in the church and also in this country of mixed people and religion.

Part of our great national anthem (I love to sing it and hear it and am emotionally moved every time, knowing that I am so privileged to be a Canadian, knowing also my responsibility to God to serve others because of this privilege, knowing that we still honor God in our anthem) says, "we stand on guard for thee".
While reading the book of Numbers this week (ESV) I was surprised to read that the ministry of the Levites (Gershon, Kohath, Merari, Aaron) in their care of the Tabernacle was described as "guard duty" Numbers 3.25,30,36,38; 4.28; 8.26; 18.3,4,5,7; 31.47. Other translations use service, charge, duties, responsible for the care of, to describe the ministry of the Levites. The Levites were to properly handle the holy things of the Tabernacle and offer the sacrifices as God commanded. Their duty was also to keep unauthorized people from the Tabernacle lest they encounter the wrath of God. The Levites surrounded the Tabernacle when Israel camped to prevent an unholy approach to the Tabernacle. They were standing on guard for God's glory.
As believers were are a nation of priests standing on guard for the glory of God. We are to know and defend the truth of God's Word and the glorious Gospel of Grace in this new covenant age. Approach to God can only be through Jesus Christ and His cross.
1 Corinthians 10.4-6 teaches, "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete." Ephesians 6.10-20 views believers as soldiers standing against the schemes of the devil.

 Let me close this week by quoting Martyn Lloyd Jones. "The main trouble with the Christian Church today is that she is too much like a clinic, too much like a hospital; that is why the great world is going to hell outside! 'We are all suffering' - to quote Charles Lamb,'with the mumps and measles of the soul' and feeling our own pulses and talking about ourselves, and our moods and subjective states. We have lost the concept of the army of God, and the King of righteousness in this fight against the kingdom of evil.... Forget yourself and your temporary troubles and ills for the moment: fight in the army. It is not a clinic you need; you must realize that we in a barracks and that we are involved in a mighty campaign."
"We stand on guard for THEE in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Word. Amen".

God articles this week:
Jordan Peterson on Christians Standing UP
Work of Training Leaders International

OBEY, BE CAREFUL

PRAY WITH ME FOR AFRICA: Tanzania is about 20% Evangelical and growing, over 30% Muslim and about 13% Ethnoreligionist (tribal religious practices). There is a strong focus on planting new churches and reaching the lost. The maturity of the church has been limited by a lack of biblical teaching and a focus on choirs rather than discipleship. Please pray for both the expansion and maturity of the church in Tanzania.

Sometimes you have to dig deep to find a diamond. I have been reading through the mountain of civil and ceremonial and moral laws in Leviticus and found these verses:
The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.'"
As God's chosen people Israel was to reflect the image of God to the surrounding nations. That was the purpose of all the rules and laws given to them. They were to be a holy people, not bearing the  image of Egypt from which they were delivered, nor the image of Canaan to which they were going, but bearing the image of the Lord, their God. As God's people they were not to do as the Canaanites did, nor to follow their practices. They were to obey God's laws and be careful to follow all of God's decrees and display the glory of God. Why? Two reasons - I am the Lord your God; You will live by following these laws and decrees.
As a believer, God and His Word are the authority over all of your life and mine. By humbly submitting in obedience to the Holy Spirit to the clear teaching of the Word of God we acknowledge that the Lord is God and we display the glory of God to those around us, and we find the fullness of life we were created for. May we be most careful in our study of God's Word and in prayer, in our living and obedience, in all the choices that we make, to display the glory of God and to enjoy the fullness of God.

Good Articles This Week:
You Do Not Have Much Time

PHILIPPINES 2018 TRIP REVIEW - CANADIAN STUDENTS

PRAY WITH ME FOR AFRICA: This week we begin a prayer focus on the country of Tanzania, one of the more populated countries on the continent of Africa with 55 1/2 million people and growing more quickly than other African countries. Swahili and English are the two official languages. TLI is teaching courses in Tanzania. This is a very poor country but has a stable democratic government. Find Tanzania on a map and pray for the growth of the church in Tanzania.

One of the great privileges and a great joy on my last few trips has been to connect with Calvary Christian School in St Catharines, where my grandkids attend, and to share emails and videos with a particular class, and for the class to interact with my TLI students. Here are a couple of videos from my trip to the Philippines. The last video is the video the class sent to Liberia in December.

Video from my class in the Philippines to class in St Catharines. (click on link)
My Philippines class really enjoyed this interaction.

Video from St Catharines to Philippine class.

My Philippines class responded with a long video to answer their questions and I learned a few things myself about the Philippine culture.

Video from St Catharines to Liberia December 2017.

 The snow amazed my students in Liberia.
I am praying that through these videos some of these students will have a heart for worldwide missions.

Good articles this week:
US Christian Baker wins Supreme Court case

Yemen war: Saudi-backed forces begin threatened attack on key port of Hodeidah

  

Some thoughts from a missionary friend who has served in the middle east for over 25 years

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the fellowship. I enjoyed your insights on your blog. (June 12). The tragedy of Africa where so many call themselves Christians and yet there is so much obvious bondage to Satan and his ways. This has challenged me a lot over the past few years.

I think it is somewhat the mistake of missionaries who sought to see tribal leaders come to Christ as a way to lead whole tribes to Christ. The end result is Christian tribes who are not transformed by Jesus. I don’t want to do the same thing in the Arabic Muslim world. No discipleship probably is a contributing factor.

I asked one African church leader and he said that we foreigners who brought the gospel didn’t understand the culture when we discipled them. He said that Africans were oral and that all the discipleship material was written; with written Biblical truths and then questions to be answered. He says the nationals learned the correct answers to the questions but never understood the truths because they didn’t have an oral story to illustrate the truth from their own context.

The disaster for missions in Africa I don’t think is being taken into consideration as we teach the new generation of missionaries how to reach new communities with the Gospel. Maybe the closed countries will have a more authentic church than Africa which was wide open to missionary involvement.

The stranglehold of tribalism on people’s lives was never broken in Africa. People never entered the tribe of Jesus because missionaries never told them that Jesus had a tribe. (Jesus introducing His Kingdom in the Gospels indicates that Jesus was talking tribal truths to people living in a tribal culture.)

Thanks again Ron for being a faithful brother