Pastor Joseph has a new website up and running. You can find information about his ministry in Myanmar including the orphan, seminary, and church planting missions. Please take a few minutes to visit this site from time to time and pray for Pastor Joseph, his ministry, and for the Gospel to sound forth throughout Myanmar!
www.emmanuelmission.ning.com
If you were anywhere near a TV this past Friday at 11am, you witnessed Tiger Woods’ apology. As I watched and listened with keen interest, it was encouraging to hear Woods own up to his faults as well as stand up for his wife. However, it was just as discouraging to hear his determination to return to his Buddhist background for help and recovery.
Woods said, “Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught.”
Woods was clearly referring to his numerous marital affairs. By returning to his Buddhist roots, Woods is convinced that any impulse for happiness outside of ourselves in pointless and ultimately harmful. We must rid ourselves of all external desire. Then, according to Buddhism, we will find peace.
As Christianity teaches, ridding ourselves of all desire is an endless, hopeless quest because God has created us to desire Him! Buddhism has diagnosed the problem, but offered the wrong, the tragically wrong, solution. Trying to fill our desire for happiness in marital affair after marital affair will never fill the void in our souls! However, denying we have a void in our souls will never fill it either! Refusing to seek fulfillment beyond ourselves will never satisfy us because the Fountain of Life is beyond us until by faith He dwells within us!
Craving for happiness outside of ourselves is not the problem. Trying to fill that craving with sin instead of with the Savior is the problem. Tiger Woods’ embrace of Buddhism may save his marriage, may restrain his adultery, but it will never satisfy his soul! His soul was not created to be denied. It was created to be filled, filled with the joy and glory of God!
As C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Tiger Woods will not find what he’s looking for in himself. He will only find it in the Lord Jesus Christ! Pray for Tiger Woods.
Yesterday during our worship we studied Jesus’ parables on the lamp and the measurements. We observed three ways that Jesus would have us apply these parables today.
"Shine!" "Listen to me!" "Live big for my glory!"
He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Yesterday I had the privilege to preach one of those “hard texts” in the Bible! In Mark 4:10-12, Jesus explains to his disciples that one of the reasons he teaches in parables is “so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.” (Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 6 here!)
The discomfort arises around the little word “lest.” “Lest” changes everything, doesn’t it? Does Jesus really say “lest?” Yes, Jesus really says “lest!” That is exactly what the Greek says and is an accurate representation of Isaiah 6:9-10. So not only do we have this in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament as well. It is clear, then, that this is God’s truth concerning one aspect or perspective of salvation. What are we to glean from this truth?
First, it becomes clear that “ears to hear” are a gift from God! Everyone has ears, but only the followers of Christ have ears to hear. In other words, disciples get it! They believe Christ and embrace Christ and follow Christ because they hear Christ! They have these things because “to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God” (v11). Did you see that Christ tells his disciples the secret has been “given” to them? “Ears to hear” are a gift of grace!
Second, is this fair for God to give some people ears to hear and not everyone ears to hear? If you think deeply about this question you realize that our notion of fairness and justice and rights is based upon the presumption that we “deserve” these things. What exactly do we deserve from God when we are born sinners, live in the lust of our flesh, and serve ourself instead of Christ? Fairness and justice would be for God to leave us all in our sin because that is what we deserve! Grace is when God does not leave you in your sin! His action of gracing you with ears to hear can never be deserved or it would not be grace! We deserve Hell! By grace, we have been given ears to hear!
Third, how does this mesh with John 3:16? The truth that God so loves the world... and that God has given his followers “ears to hear” are not contradictory or at odds. They are two separate aspects of the multi-faceted biblical picture of salvation. John 3:16 represents God’s call and demonstration to the world that salvation is available in Christ. However, as dead sinners, we are not going to respond to that call. Therefore, God, in grace, gives us “ears to hear!” This is how these two truths work together.
Fourth, what are we to do with this? There are two possible responses based on what type of ears you have. If you have “ears to hear” then bless the name of the Lord for being so gracious to you! If you just do not get it. If you just do not believe. If you just can’t understand what the big fuss is about Christ, then beg God to give you ears to hear!
If you ask, it will be given! If you seek, you will find! If you knock, the door will be opened to you!
Simply go to www.sermonaudio.com/searchandsee on your IPhone or IPod Touch! There you will find the iPhone edition of sermon audio. You will have access to all our sermons and other resources!
*This is also available for any mobile phones with Kinoma!
Enjoy!
We praise the Lord for another year of ministry! The Lord has blessed us with many opportunities and many faithful friends and supporters. The following is a look at the year in terms of numbers.
Total Receipts = 25,285.86
Orphan and Student Support = 5,797.95
Kenya Church and Pastor John Support = 14,280.00
Global Ark Support = 100.00
Internet Sermon Ministry = 385.98
Office Related Expenses (Postage, Computer, Supplies) = 680.42
Travel Related Expenses (Mileage, Meals, Lodging, and Auto) = 2037.79
Compensation for President = 500.00
Fed and State Taxes = 1258.54
Thank you for your prayers and support. We are looking with great expectation to 2010 as we have hired an Executive Administrator, will be leading a team to Kenya in October, and plan to develop our internet ministry significantly.
To God be the Glory!
It was one year ago that First Baptist Church, Paintsville, KY invited me to be their Senior Pastor. It was an honor and privilege then to receive their invitation, and it is an honor still today to be their pastor.
In light of this occasion, I delivered to the church my “State of the Church” address. I believe this to be a very healthy, pastoral, and profitable time for the local church. Also, I believe this to be a biblical practice. What are Paul’s letters to the churches? What are the seven letters to the churches in Revelation? These are biblical examples of something like a “State of the Church” address. These churches are commended for their good works, provided with doctrinal instruction, and given correction for where they are spiritually lacking. Therefore, along those lines, we looked at where the Lord had brought us over the past year, we did some honest reflection on where we are as a church, and we set forth some pursuits for our future.
It is always beneficial to stop and look back at how God has graced you over the previous year. The hindsight of faith is really 20/20, and even the hills of trial appear as mountains of blessing on the far side! First, The Lord carried us over a vast range of biblical territory in one year. We studied through Philippians, Philemon, Titus, the Armor of God, the doctrine of Sanctification, and began the Gospel of Mark! Second, the Lord has moved us to pray regularly and faithfully. Third, the Lord launched us on a lifetime journey to be and become more and more like the New Testament church for the glory of God. Fourth, the Lord has added to our number in membership and baptisms.
We praise the Lord for what He has done, but we dare not grow satisfied.
II. An Honest Look In.
There were three main items we discussed as taking an honest look at ourselves. First, we are still in a time of transition. Every church naturally moves through a period of transition with the coming of a new pastor. Things will change, and so will the makeup of the congregation. That’s ok. That’s normal. Second and third, there are some real glaring issues for our church that we simply must be willing to make changes and examine our hearts in order to address.
These obstacles are opportunities for us. Every church has problems. We are not going to ignore our problems, we are going to face them in faith. These are our opportunities to grow!
III. A Look Forward.
There are a few fundamentals we are committing to. First, we are going to pursue as many ways as possible to pour the Word of God into our lives. We will do so because we believe the Word is truth, it is our sanctification, and it is life! Second, we are going to continue becoming more like the NT church. We believe that any issue we face will fall under one of these two categories. Third, we are going to target families with biblical truth and help. Fourth, we are going to reach out to every segment of our community, and when we are finished, we are going to do it again!
Our prayer is simply this: “Dear Lord, this is your church. Do with it as You will! May we grow in the likeness of Christ and glorify You in all we do!”
The Trellis and the Vine. By Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2009.
Marshall and Payne argue in Trellis and Vine that churches often function more like a trellis, but the biblical model is more like vine work. Trellis work for churches are things like programs, structures, large groups, and organizations. The real work of producing disciples is much more relational.
Marshall and Payne therefore call for a mind-shift in our approach to ministry. Instead of continuing to build a nice looking trellis, we should be devoting our time and energy into individuals, helping them discover their gifts and training them to use those gifts.
Part of this plan is for leaders to pour themselves into a small group of men who will then minister to others by identifying where they are spiritually and presenting the Gospel to them accordingly.
The foundation for their presentation is that disciples are to be disciple-makers. Real Gospel growth is not solely a concern for our specific church but a concern for kingdom growth. As disciples make disciples, the gospel will go forth and grow in many ways and in many places.
Trellis and Vine is a great contribution to the present day. The call to concentrate on gifts and relationship and disciple-making as opposed to program and organization is a timely, essential call for the church today. It is a total transformation for a church to move from plugging people into slots to fill positions to finding how God has gifted his people and nurturing those gifts for Gospel ministry. It is a completely different approach to ministry, and I believe, a very needed one.
On January 31, Emmanuel Ministries, Myanmar, celebrated their first graduation ceremony! The theme for this year’s graduation was “For Me to Live is Christ!” They had 8 graduates: Hanna, Saw Rem, Josiah, Thomas, Van, Nei Khup, Tum Bik, and Cung. These students will move to one of the following fields: continued study, missionary to the unreached Buddhists, teaching SS or at a boarding school, evangelist, and ready to go where the Lord leads!
What a beautiful sight to see these young people trained and ready to go into the harvest fields! Please pray for these students, Pastor Joseph (who is seen preaching), and all the ministries of Emmanuel as they spread the Gospel through Myanmar!
We hope to visit them soon! Begin praying now about going with us.
