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The biggest joy and privilege that we have is to interact with our Thai church and to encourage our Thai friends. It’s a great honor to be just 27 years old and be able to share God’s Word with our church! This Sunday I shared James 1:1-5, in particular about where to find wisdom and what God promises He will do if we ask for it. Afterward I asked several people for their feedback and got some helpful responses and I hope to improve for next time. The important thing is that in getting outside my comfort zone I’ve opened doors for people to speak into my life and that it’s another opportunity to learn more about myself.
I fear God never showed mercy to one so vile as I. David Brainerd
Have you ever been shown mercy?
We find ourselves again in an area where the love of God is magnified to the greatest. Because God loved us He lavished upon us His mercy. He withholds what we as sinners deserve. God has not dealt with us according to our sins.
Photo made by us.
By the cross we know the gravity of sin and the greatness of God’s love toward us. John Chrysostom
Is there a limit to what love is willing to give?
God again present us with the most outstanding demonstration of love. God amazes us with His love. God did not gave just a little of what He had, He didn’t just give something common or of no value to Him, and He didn’t gave under compulsion somehow force to do so.
Video courtesy of Desiring God Foundation.
The road to freedom is via the cross. Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli
Would you be willing to die for someone?
When we think about dying for someone, we might consider a kind person, you know, someone who treat us nicely. And so, if there was a need to die for a friend we would like to be willing to do so. Even more, if it was a family member, the question will probably not arise.
On the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him. C.S. Lewis
Love, love, love…
You could talk about it for a long time and not get tired about this subject. On the other hand, how do we know what’s real love is? Since, we all search for true love.
Image made by us.
“You shall be holy, because I am holy.” What comes to your mind when you think of “being holy?” Often, we think of holiness according to the phrase “set apart.” I recently had the opportunity to preach the last half of 1 Thessalonians 3 at our sending church, Silverton First Baptist, where Paul speaks of the goal for believers of being holy at the return of Jesus. Using a story, we looked at 3 common misconceptions of holiness.
First was encompassed in a person we called “The Grumpy Puritan.” This view of holiness wraps it up in red tape and self-made rules. There are rules about the rules, and then more rules for how to keep the rules. It is a holiness completely void of happiness, full of judgment and legalism. The set-apart Grumpy Puritan is our source for the phrase “holier-than-thou” and the reason the word “piety” now has a negative connotation to most Americans.
We then looked at “The Radioactive Saint.” He gets his name from the unnatural, halo-like glow about his head. He lives is life in a rapturous mind-lock with God, completely oblivious to what is going on around him. He is our source for the phrase “so heavenly-minded he’s of no earthly good.” He uses his communion with God as an excuse to avoid people and will not break his heavenward gaze even for a second to reflect God’s grace to desperately needy people.
We can say that holiness is living by a standard…but it’s God’s standard. It is not our own ideas and rules and pride molded into a façade that makes us look good before God. It is living for God’s purposes and glory. Holiness is living in a state of constant communion with God and setting our hearts and minds on things above…but in a way that makes us more sensitive to the needs of those around us. Being holy means that we “weep with those who weep” and “rejoice with those who rejoice.” God’s holiness is his majestic purity; it is wrapped up in the fact that He is unapproachable. But, we must remember that, when He was unapproachable, He approached us! When we were still sinners, God demonstrated His love for us in the life and death of Christ.
When Paul looks at our goal of holiness in 1 Thessalonians 3, he is doing so through this lens. “…may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all…so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness…” If we look to approach and attain holiness without being permeated with a God-built love for others, we will have missed a vital ingredient. We will ourselves become both unapproachable and unapproaching, like the Grumpy Puritan and the Radioactive Saint. When we define holiness as “set apart,” we cannot forget to add the second half of the meaning “for God’s purposes.” God’s purpose for us is that we would love “one another” (other believers) and “all” (those yet without Christ) with His love demonstrated in Jesus.
To dowload the sermon, check out “Silverton First Baptist Church” on iTunes, or visit http://silvertonfirstbaptist.org/podcast/index.htm.
We’ve gotten some incredible postcards, letters and emails from home but Madaline’s letter is one of our all-time favorites. Sharon visited Madaline and her third grade classmates a few weeks before we left for Thailand bringing along some hand-made artifacts from our first trip. Later, Madaline remembered a lot of the things Sharon talked about and showed off her computer skills in this excellent letter:
Madaline's Letter