An Incredible Journey

Many missionary biographies chronicle both the gentle and dramatic ways God proves his faithfulness, love, and presence to his people.  Even as they face persecution and death, they are enabled by the same Spirit who empowered Christ to love people who were, at best, indifferent to him, and, at worst, those who despised his very existence.  Despite being framed, prosecuted, and unjustly sentenced to death, Jesus cried out for God to forgive even his executioners (Luke 23:34).

This same Spirit leads us into a reformation; we are walking away from a self-centered and self-absorbed existence toward a reality defined by worshiping God and loving others.  This Spirit changes us, despite our frequent reminders of the past, into people who act and think more and more like Jesus.

As we walk with the Spirit on this journey of reformation, we see amazing changes in ourselves.  We do and say and think things we had sworn we would never do.  Growing up in a pastor's home, I swore I'd never be a pastor.  However, Jesus gently changed my thinking.  I swore, too, that I'd never be a missionary.

Jesus had different plans for me than I had for me.  He has called me to be a missionary, despite the battles that sometimes rage inside me.  He paired me with a partner who has long had a heart to serve others.  Heather demonstrated this in short-term mission trips in college before we were married, and she demonstrates it every day in serving our children, serving the people of our church, and serving her husband.  The mission Jesus called me to was to share his good news.  Despite our wickedness and rebellion, God made a way for us to dwell with him as his people through Jesus of Nazareth's death, burial, and resurrection.

By our belief in the truth of Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection, and by way of our ongoing dependence on his sacrifice as sufficient to pay the penalty of our sin and make us right with God, God has adopted us into his family.  We have become his children.  God chose to bring us into his family, and most of us don't look like Jesus the Jew.  God decided to love people from all over the world, and God's Spirit moves in us to do the same!

So, my wife and I are missionaries, preparing to share the good news with someone who doesn't speak our language.  We are travelling overseas to a distant, ancient land, and our target people group is made up of one individual!  We are praying that God will adopt the daughter that we are going to adopt.

Of course, we hope that we can influence others as well, but we have been called by God to illustrate his adoption of us by imitating him.  And he has gently and dramatically proven his faithfulness, love, and presence to us.  Please pray for us as we undertake the difficult task of loving and shepherding a little girl who may have serious developmental challenges, who doesn't speak English, and who may be indifferent to us, or even hate us.  Who knows what other challenges we may face?

Well, we know the one who knows, and those unknown challenges are all part of his plan for us to experience reformation.  May we grow in worship of Jesus and love for others.

~ Todd

Following Jesus

Mark 1:35-39 says,

"And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, 'Everyone is looking for you.' And he said to them, 'Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.' And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons."

As I read this passage today in my quiet time, I thought it was interesting that Jesus went outside the town and waited for his disciples to find him. Once they did, he told them it was time for a road trip. He didn't instruct them to go back and pack their bags or kiss their wives good-bye. They just headed out.

Was this normal practice? Did the disciples' wives and families expect them not to come home when they started hanging out with Jesus? Maybe many of his disciples were not married, but they must have seemed irresponsible to leave their normal lives for this Jesus fellow. Who would feed the dog? Who would pay the rent?

Maybe the whole family followed. Maybe they were a whole family of disciples. Probably not, but this passage of Scripture reminds me of the way God brought my family to Louisville, KY in order to go to school. I had encountered some turmoil in my job and we decided it was time to test the waters. We put our house on the market in Knoxville, TN, and two weeks later we had a contract on the house. I remember thinking, "uhhh... God? This seems a bit sudden." I didn't have a job. We didn't have housing arranged in Louisville. What was God doing with us?

Well, God is good, and he provides for our every need. He provided a place to live and a job and we learned to trust God when he leads us. That doesn't mean we didn't wonder what was happening, but like the disciples in Mark 1, we must learn to follow Jesus, ready or not.

Will you follow him?

Todd

Theology at Work

This family celebrated 99 birthdays with 99 balloons. Read more about how they put theology to work in their lives here.

Todd

The Righteousness of Abram

Genesis 15 describes God's covenant with Abram, and as I read this passage this morning, I was struck (again) by this verse:

"Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness" (15:6, HCSB).

Abram didn't understand how God could make a great nation out of a childless family, yet God promised that Abram would have a son, and Abram trusted God.

Do you trust God? Do you choose to believe that what he has spoken is true? Do you live your life in such a way that you affirm the truth of the Bible?

Trust God; believe in his Word; place your faith and trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ and you, to0, will be counted righteous!

todd

Ezra on Repentance

After returning to the Promised Land from captivity in Babylon, Ezra lead the people in the restoration of the sacrificial system. Shortly after this, however, Ezra heard some disappointing news; some of the people, including priests and Levites, had taken wives from the pagan cultures that were living in the land. Even worse, many of the men responsible for governing the people were the ones falling to this temptation.

Here is Ezra's response to this disappointment:

"O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. 7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. 8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. 9 For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

10 "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, 'The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. 12 Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.' 13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, 14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? 15 O LORD, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this."

Not only did Ezra humble himself before the Lord, but he called his people to act upon this repentance! In Ezra 10, the people (except for a select few) all committed to divorce their pagan wives (and even sons) in order that they might be right with God.

Wow... so... in application... what are we ready to divorce ourselves from in order to obey God? What "pagan" influences are standing between us and the Lord? What difficulties are we experiencing in our lives that are a direct result of unresolved sin?

Forgive us, heavenly Father! "We are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you..."

We all thank God for Jesus Christ because he has obeyed perfectly! He has paid for our sins, and now we CAN stand before God, because we no longer have guilt if we trust in Christ!

This is the gospel! This is the good news!

Todd

Ezra on Success

Ezra was the Hebrew scribe and priest whom Artaxerxes, king of Persia, sent back to Jerusalem to restore the sacrificial system and teaching of the Law of God. Interestingly, Ezra 7:6 states, "the king granted him [Ezra] all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him." Further, in verses 9-10, we see why Ezra had success in Persia:

For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

This applies so easily to the seminary students among us; we study--it is required of us to earn our degree. But do we set our hearts to study and do the Law of the Lord? Do we study and do it for a purpose? Do we study and do it so that we may teach faithfully?

Challenged to study and obey,

Todd