News from the Field!

We have heard two encouraging reports from the field this past week.

1. Myanmar - Pastor Joseph, his son, his orphans, and some visiting friends were very sick, but the Lord brought healing to them all. Also, a girl came to study at the seminary. She began to show signs that she had an evil spirit. The students fasted and prayed for her, and she was delivered! News is spreading throughout the region how this ministry is serving the Lord. The Lord is showing Himself great and powerful, and many are coming to faith!
2. India - Sam George in Tenkasi - Brother Sam has seen 60 children make professions of faith in their VBS and 11 adults have been baptized recently. Most of these were from Hindu background. Praise the Lord!

Please remember these two ministries in your prayers. They face physical and spiritual obstacles every single day, but they keep pressing on by faith!

The Gospel of Works - On a Church Sign!

Some of the most wasted space in America is found on church signs! Rare is the sighting of a church sign that broadcasts scripture verses. You may find the occasional John 3:16, which is great, however, it may as well be the only one in the Bible because it’s usually the only one believers know or share with the world! This lack of using good, visible space to present Scripture is astounding to me given the fact that only the Word is alive, active, and able to lead to salvation! (Heb 4:12, 2 Tim 3:15)

More often, church signs boast mushy, feel-good, cliché sayings, which makes our faith appear no different than the theology found on Oprah and Dr. Phil! Not to mention that quaint, catchy sayings are not helpful when life crumbles or to assist in producing healthy, mature growth!

Even more frightening is finding a church sign that actually promotes a dangerous, erring theology of salvation like the one I encountered recently. The church sign read, “For the road to heaven, turn right and straight ahead.” I almost slammed on the brakes! I gasped! I pulled over and took a picture because I was sure no one would believe that a Protestant, evangelical, conservative church right in the middle of the Bible belt would dare say anything of the kind!

Let me be fair. I know this congregation and pastor both mean well. In being charitable towards them, I believe in these words they are affirming the necessity of repentance. They in no way are being intentionally misleading. In fact, I believe they have the very best intentions for everyone who will read their sign.

However, what is an unchurched sinner supposed to conclude from this message? More than likely, he will conclude that he will be “ok” with God if he will simply clean up his act “turn right” and live a decent, morally good life (straight ahead). He is going to conclude that he can get to heaven by “being good.” If he dies in that belief, he will have been eternally, tragically misled!

Maybe a better message on a church sign would read: For the road to heaven, embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior! Love Him and Follow Him! (Jn 14:6)

Or even better - just quote John 14:6! And then quote others like it! Keep putting worthwhile, trustworthy messages on your church sign if you have one. Use the Bible!

Upcoming Preaching Opportunities

For the following two Sundays, the Lord has given me the gracious privilege to preach His precious Word!

Sunday, August 22: I will be preaching at my brother’s church, First Baptist, Bonneau, SC, while he is away celebrating his anniversary! I am thankful for his confidence in me to preach to the church he pastors while he is away, and I am thankful for this congregation. They have been prayer supporters and partners in my ministry from the very beginning! I am looking forward to spending the day with them.

Sunday, August 29: I will be preaching at my friend’s church, Mountain Community Fellowship, Paintsville, KY, while Pastor Jason Hutchinson is preaching at another church. I am honored that Pastor Jason entrusts me with this sacred duty.

Please keep me and these congregations in your prayers during the days ahead. May the saints be equipped, sinners drawn to faith in Christ, the Word upheld, and Christ greatly magnified! To God be the glory!

To the Ends of the Earth

My home church, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Ft. Inn, SC, is sending 12 members with me to Kenya this October. They have requested that I write an article for their September newsletter. I have included it below so that you can learn more about the ministry in Kenya and our upcoming trip.

In 1993, I embarked on an incredible journey with two friends that would prove to be life-changing in result and lifelong in partnership. I went to Kenya, Africa! It wasn't the beautiful countryside, deep blue, unpolluted sky, or the many exotic animals that impressed me most. It was the church I encountered that forever stamped an impression upon me.

My guide drove me to a village known as Tiriki, introduced me to a Pastor John Musiikhu, and drive away for two weeks, leaving me in a place where I was the only white dude. For some of the children, I was the first white person they had ever seen! Some thought I was a ghost. Some thought I had painted my skin white! Imagine that! In Africa, a white dude from SC is the only colored guy around!!!!!

I spent those two weeks in Pastor John's home, sleeping in his bed while he and his wife slept in the floor, getting to know his family, preaching to his congregation, visiting his church members, and praying for everyone who lived anywhere near Tiriki. We walked to over 350 homes in some of the most out-of-the-way places. Some homes were mud huts. Some were stick tents. A few were cinder block. Every home had tremendous need. Mostly, people were just hungry. I witnessed an exorcism, a healing, and people walking more than ten miles, hungry and without shoes, to go to church. I preached a sermon under some shade trees on the rich man and Lazarus. When I returned to Tiriki 14 years later, some of the members shared the outline of my sermon with me. They still remembered every word that I had said!!

I shall never forget Mrs. Musiikhu pulling up her skirt and running as long as she could behind my van as we drove away! That image was seared into my mind and lodged into my heart.

When the Lord allowed me to return 14 years later, I was pleasantly surprised! Tiriki has grown, and so has the church! Pastor John is discipling many young men for the ministry. They have established preaching points all around TIriki, and have worked to plant churches in the neighboring countries of Tanzania and Uganda. Their mission is to take the Gospel to every corner of Africa by planting churches in every country of Africa. They are even willing to enter Muslim countries and face persecution for the sake of Christ! It is a marvelous work!

Pleasant Grove Baptist Church has been a partner to me as I partner with Pastor John in Tiriki from the very beginning. For my first trip, many in the church helped pay for the trip. During the interval of trips to Kenya, several have sponsored Pastor John and prayed for his ministry. For my second trip, the church received a gracious love offering which was used to purchase land for a church building. For the upcoming third trip, 12 church members are traveling with me to experience it for themselves!

We have a team of 19 departing October 2. Our purpose is to encourage the saints and share the Gospel with any unbelievers we encounter. To accomplish this, we will conduct a VBS with the children, hold training classes for the pastors, take part in worship services throughout the area, witness door to door, bless the believers with clothes, medicines, and books, and whatever else the Lord allows. This is going to be a dream come true, an adventure of a lifetime, a tremendous Gospel opportunity. We simply ask that you pray daily for our team, for the church that we desire to bless, and for any unbelievers we may meet. We go as servants to the local Kenyan church. We go as ministers of the glorious Gospel. We go as ambassadors for Christ. We go as vessels and instruments in the hands of God to be used for His glory!

To the ends of the earth - For His name's sake (Isa 49:6)

Wil Owens

Galatians 2:20

Search And See Ministries

Book Review: Radical

Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. By David Platt. Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2010.

What would happen if John MacArthur’s critique of easy-believism in The Gospel According to Jesus collided with John Piper’s passionate, reformed, glory-of-God-centered missiology in Let the Nations Be Glad? Answer: David Platt’s Radical.

The sub-title says it all. Platt is confronting American culture Christianity with the Scripture! In our American context and mentality, many have succumbed to a Christian-like faith that allows profession with no accompanying discipleship and mission-mindset that involves no real mission involvement. This is not the portrait of true, biblical Christianity, and Platt presents scripture after scripture to demonstrate it.

The Bible is radical. Salvation in Christ is a radical life-change and lifestyle. People who take the Bible seriously and literally become radical people. Churches who take the Bible for what it says become radical churches. The truth is that “radical” is the biblical normal!

If Platt’s book could be summed up in a few words, maybe it would be something like this: “When the glory of God becomes the center of your life, existing to spread the Gospel defines your life!” Everything from finances to vocation to retirement revolves around glorifying God by magnifying His Son. In other words, you let go of the American dream of clinging to comfort and security and building your own little world around yourself. You surrender everything to the Lordship of Christ in order to spread His Gospel because you truly believe down deep in your heart that living forever in the presence of God is better than the temporary, fleeting promise of pleasure that is the American Dream. The radical life is one that uses the material and physical blessings of God to store treasure in heaven instead of wasting it on earthly trinkets!

One of the joys of reading Radical is that it becomes clear through the illustrations that Platt is not merely suggesting a radical lifestyle. He actually lives it, examples it, and teaches it. He commends it through personal experience. He has taken Jesus’ words to heart, and he has found it to be the greatest joy on earth. Therefore, he challenges and encourages the reader to join him.

The book concludes with five suggestions for how one can begin the Radical life. The challenge is to commit to the following items over the next year; praying for the entire world (Platt uses operationworld.org to accomplish this), read through the entire Word, sacrifice money for a specific purpose, spend time in another context, and commit to a multiplying community.

The following are some gripping quotes from Radical:

(7) We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.

(10-11) Give up everything you have, carry a cross, and hate your family. This sounds a lot different than “Admit, believe, confess, and pray a prayer after me.”

(29) You might ask, “What happened to ‘God hates the sin and loves the sinner’?” Well, the Bible happened to it.

(29) We are afraid that if we stop and really look at God in His Word, we might discover that He evokes greater awe and demands deeper worship than we are ready to give Him.

(32) We already have a fairly high view of our morality, so when we add a superstitious prayer, a subsequent dose of church attendance, and obedience to some of the Bible, we feel pretty sure that we will be all right in the end.

(37) We have taken the infinitely glorious Son of God, who endured the infinitely terrible wrath of God and who now reigns as the infinitely worthy Lord of all, and we have reduced Him to a poor, puny Savior who is just begging for us to accept Him.

I commend not only Platt’s Radical, but better yet, the biblically-informed, Gospel-saturated, glory of God lifestyle it describes!

Christ is my Everything!

Christ is my Everything! Christ is my great God and Savior (Titus 2:13). Christ is my Lord (Rom 10:9). Christ is my Redeemer (Gal 3:13). Christ is my Propitiation (1 Jn 2:2). Christ is my Life (Jn 14:6). Christ is my Fulfillment and Satisfaction (Jn 4:14). Christ is my Righteousness (2 Cor 5:21). Christ is my Justification (Rom 4:25). Christ is my Sanctification (Heb 13:12). Christ is my Glorification (Phil 3:21). Christ is my Advocate (1 Jn 2:1). Christ is my Mediator (1 Tim 2:5). Christ is my High Priest (Heb 4:15). Christ is my Friend (Jn 15:15). Christ is my Brother (Rom 8:29). Christ is my King (Rev 19:16). Christ is my Cornerstone (Eph 2:20). Christ is my Head (Col 1:18). Christ is my Goal (Phil 3:14). Christ is my Joy (Phil 4:4). Christ is my Strength (Phil 4:13). Christ is my Song (Rev 5:9). Christ is my Hope (Titus 2:13). Christ is my Peace (Eph 2:14).

Christ is my Everything! If I do not have Christ, I have nothing. If Christ does not have me, I am nothing. If I am not in Christ, I can do nothing. If Christ is not in me, my “good” is nothing. If I do not stand upon Christ, I lose my footing. If I do not cling to Christ, I lose my grip. If I do not rest in Christ, I lose my mind. If Christ is not my Righteousness, then I am left with filth. If Christ is not my Substitute, then I am left under wrath. If Christ is not my Salvation, then I am left dead in my trespasses and sins. If Christ is not my Lord, then I am an idolator. It is Christ in all and for all or it is not Christ at all!

Christ is my Everything! He is not my backseat driver, my Monday morning quarterback, my Co-pilot. He is not my Plan B, my last resort, my ticket to heaven, my permission slip to sin. He is not my chum, my bro, my dude. He is not my add-on. He is not one component of my varied-aspect life.

Christ is my Everything!

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain! Phil 1:21

Missionary Update from Myanmar

These are the latest reports I received from Pastor Jospeh.

1. Thomas. He is graduated since January,2010 and He began to work at Boarding school. But he was not satisfied his life and he came to me two times and told me that I am not happy and satisfied without serving the Lord for I can not live without praying and praising God. So now I want to be a missionary like Josiah in the mission field under Emmanuel Missions.

I answered him! We can not support even Josiah properly. But the Lord provide his need because he totally committed his life unto the Lord. What he said that If I die, I die to the Lord, if I live, I live to the Lord. If you are called by God, God is ready to provide your needs in your service.

2. Mr. John Siam is who came to our seminary from Roman Catholic background. But now he totally committed to God and he is also passion for mission. And then some students are interesting the mission and have compassion for the lost souls. It mean they have mission mind.

3. Josiah said! One of my new believer asked me that when another Christian missionary or Buddhist monk brought to their religious Christian or Buddhist , they have build church and temple for their worship. But you do not build church for we, the new Christians. Where we should worship the living God whom you told us for we already left the Buddhist?

August 2010 Update

Dear Friends and Supporters:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! It is a joy to report of the blessings of God in the previous month! I thought about all of our friends who stand by us in ministry during my daily devotions this week. Hebrews 6:10 says, “For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do.” The context is clear, serving the saints is a clear indication of true, sincere, saving faith! It is through the help of our friends that Search And See is able to “serve the saints,” and I am sure Search And See is just one of the many ways that every one of you take part in Gospel ministry! The following is the many ways Search And See is currently involved in serving the saints. These are the ministries that you enable us to continue to pursue!

1. Orphan Sponsorship (orphans of Hopegivers and Global Ark in India)
2. Internet ministry (searchandsee.blogspot.com - sermonaudio.com/searchandsee - wondersintheword.blogspot.com - Search and See Facebook page - twitter @searchandsee)
3. Sermons - (421 downloads in July!)
4. Preaching engagements - (Upcoming opportunity at Mountain Community Fellowship, Paintsville, Sunday Aug 29.)
5. Books - (Unshakable Joy in Uneasy Times due out soon!)
6. Resources - (see “eDocs” and “Store” at sermonaudio.com/searchandsee.)
7. Upcoming mission trip to Kenya in October
8. Partnerships with Hopegivers and Global Ark (India), Emmanuel (Myanmar), and Pastor Decena (Philippines).

It is a joy to “serve the saints” for the expanse of the Gospel and the glory of God!