I’ll try to blog regularly (and often) during Equip Onsite to share what I’m learning. Today, we spent most of the day sharing our personal stories with the rest of the group about how we were called to missions and why we chose to join Wycliffe. Although the primary purpose is to get acquainted, I suspect that this is also our first opportunity to practice “partnership development” which constitutes a large part of the course. Since most Wycliffe members depend on voluntary gifts of family, friends, and churches for financial support, partnership development is necessary. By virtue of my retirement funds accumulated during my 35 years in academia, I am fortunate to be a “partially self-supporting member” but I intend to raise financial support for special pilot projects in social media and other parts of my portfolio.

Needless to say, the variety of stories exhibits God’s leading as well as his provision which has led each of us to begin our common journey as Wycliffe members. In addition to sharing my own story today, I was also further encouraged in one of my major motivations for joining Wycliffe in order to tell the story of Bible translation through the stories of those who devote their lives to this task. Their stories are indeed compelling as well as worthy to be distributed widely so I am convinced of the contribution which social media can make to this goal.

The confession of our mouth is the attestation to our faith and belief in Jesus as Lord of our lives. As God’s people, the offering up to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His Name has replaced the unregenerate lip that curse and swear that do the bidding of Satan. Our regeneration in Christ has pulled us out of the slimy pit of sin and darkness and planted our feet on Christ, the Solid Rock to now given a new song to sing to Him, our Lord and Savior. Our life will now be a new life song, one that confesses His Name that will be sung daily to Him.

Music made from the harp, lyre, cymbal and ram horn was first introduced by King David together with the band of people he appointed to be in charge of praise and worship music in the temple when the ark of the LORD was brought back to Jerusalem. That occasion of jubilation and elation was celebrated with music and dancing, one that brought pleasure to the Lord when David on that day committed to Asaph and his associates a Psalm of thanks to the LORD. (1 Chronicles chapters 15 & 16)

‘Christian songs’ of today needs to be filtered with the discernment of the Word of God.  Good music no doubt with the lack of well-thought through lyrics, many written from moments of randomness and casualness. Most songs are self-focused and not God-focused, tending toward introspection, focusing on personal frailties and failures with the lack of focusing on Christ and His Blood for our victories. Lacking truth and depth is descriptive of  cultural christianity most christian songs of today promotes, which may be ‘better’ songs on the surface compared to songs that cussed.  But, is it really if it distorts what true, biblical christianity and new believers in Christ are not yet able to make good discernment? K-love is a big culprit and Moody Radio of late have not been selective in their choices of songs either. Even though I am a music-lover, I am no musician myself and am resorting to writing my own songs to God. What I hope for the Church of America, is a sound christian radio station that plays good christian songs whose priority is not to entertain the soul with good music but that uses good music to focus on worshiping God and edify with good sound teachings from the Word. I have grown to enjoy Sovereign Grace Music and pray that more song-writers will aspire to write similar praise and worship songs of that calibre and even better. I still find myself going back to the hymns of yester-years which by far outweighs the songs of our days.

While I have felt very confident that mechanisms such as streaming of local radio programs have been extremely helpful in our orientation to central Florida living, other mechanisms such as virtual tours of prospective properties haven’t been nearly so helpful as we quickly learned after visiting a property which looked very good online, but whose physical condition left much to be desired.

Accordingly, we have now turned our attention to buying a new house directly from one of the few builders who is currently building in this distressed market. We had not anticipated this option so it has required some flexibility to which we are still reacting. Nevertheless, we are now in the second phase of this new option as we are intending to determine IF we can afford “a bit more house” after concluding that our initial choice which we could have clearly afforded is just a bit too small. In this regard, we are applying a lesson learned from our central Indiana experience where we moved to a larger home only five years after moving to Indianapolis. I’ve been saying this central Florida house is the “last house I intend to buy” (Laura has warned me to be careful or I’ll “eat my words”) so I’m glad we caught ourselves after revisiting the house on which we had put a refundable deposit on Friday.

Let’s see how it goes today!

1. Gather a team of like-minded believers with a passion for International ministry to pray.

2. Research the demographic of the targeted area or university campus.

3. Evaluate from the largest to smallest people group to decide which targeted group to reach.

4. If team is big enough with multiple interests, divide team up into interest groups.

5. Research the country, religious and cultural background of people groups.

6. Pray for the Lord’s help for ways to meet and befriend people group and identify ways to reach them. College students will have different needs to refugees.  Unlike refugees, college students will most likely speak some English whereas refugees will need a lot more help with language and assimilation to their new country.

7. As relationships with people group develop with a good understanding of their cultural and religious mentality, bridges can then be built to contextualize the Gospel.

8. Teams need to meet together on a consistent basis for prayer and evaluation purposes to stay on target, to report and for encouragement.

9. If teams focus on remaining faithful in sowing seeds in the hearts of people group no matter how soft or harden the soil is, rest assured that God will be the one who gives the increase in His own time., who do not measure success like we do.

10. As we labor to see nations reached with the Gospel in our own backyard of America, the Sovereign Lord does His sanctification work in our own lives according to His Providence.

Had I follow the above guideline, I would not be so drained from energy after 10 years, doing most of the work all by myself. I would still be in this ministry only getting better and more effective in communicating the Gospel message, reaching many more if only I had a like-minded team. However, these 10 years was not a total loss as I saw and experienced how God gifted and empowered me to do all I did in my ministry to Internationals in the area of organization which I was not aware existed before. Those 10 years of experience made me confident to say that in the Lord, I am a capable and efficient servant of Christ but what I lack is the physical and social energy to keep up with my giftedness in the Lord. My conclusion with 10 years of International ministry is not one of success but one of learning more of how great God is and a discovery of who I am and what I am capable of in the Lord. God has gifted all His servants of the Gospel to serve His purpose and will in the most isolated and lonely situation anywhere in the world even in the heart of America where the Church of Jesus Christ exists and the wealth and treasure of the knowledge of God is easily accessible. Advancing the Gospel and building His Church is the sovereign and independent work of God alone who according to His mercy and grace uses His people as His instruments to carry out His purpose and will, for our sanctification and for His glory so no one can boasts. To God alone be the glory!

Some time ago, I attended a regional conference of the Finishers Project which encouraged me to seek a ‘second career’ in Christian missions. It has been my intention to do so since I was motivated by a conversation with George Verwer of Operation Mobilization (OM), a missions agency with which my wife Laura served. At least a decade ago, George was intrigued by the Internet cafes in north Africa which offered a means to share the Gospel with people in that part of the world which has always been difficult to reach with the Gospel. Subsequently, I wrote him an email suggesting other ways by which the Internet could be harnessed for missions and even suggesting that OM “needed” an Internet strategist. Thereafter, I had a few conversations with OM, but nothing happened because neither of us was ready yet to create and fill such a position.

Over a year ago, I became aware of a similar position at another Christian organization so I visited them to discuss the position, but it wasn’t a good fit because I was no longer willing to manage staff after stepping down as department chair of CIT@IUPUI.edu three years ago. That organization needed someone to manage a new Internet initiative and when I last checked, that position is STILL open!

In late August, Laura was on the OM-USA Web site so I looked around and discovered a job posting for a Web strategist so of course, I was encouraged because Laura has always hoped to serve with OM again. By September 11, we were in Tyrone, Georgia (south suburban Atlanta) with our daughter Tabitha to explore this opportunity. As a result, we applied to join OM-USA and virtually completed that process (short of being approved) by November, but for a number of reasons, it wasn’t God’s will for us to join OM.

I spent the month of December “mourning” but at the end of December, I did another of my social media aggregations for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s triennial Urbana missions conference because IVCF really doesn’t “get” social media. During Urbana, Wycliffe Bible Translators caught my attention with its social media activity so I figured Wycliffe “gets” it and in January, I called Ruth Hubbard, a Wycliffe Senior Vice President, who I’ve known for many years because we attended the same church here in Indianapolis. As a matter of fact, Ruth’s social media lifestream during Urbana especially caught my attention because she used so much media (she originally joined Wycliffe as a graphics designer) and this was my first aggregation in which I “got” audio and video myself!

Ruth told me she’d “ask around” Wycliffe to see if anyone might be interested in me joining Wycliffe and in March, I heard from Joe Snyder, Wycliffe’s Vice President of Information Technology. Spring break was coming so I decided to go to Florida (something I NEVER did as a student ;-) to visit Wycliffe and as a result, we were encouraged and applied for membership in order to make the move so Tabby could start high school in Florida since she was going to change schools anyway after middle school. I was especially encouraged because Joe agreed to create a position for my “dream job” and he allowed me to play a major role in crafting my job description although Joe got it right by himself anyway!

Well, we got it done with God paving the way and we were notified recently that we have been approved for membership and that our financial resources which God has provided are sufficient for us to be partially self-supporting so I can be on the job by September less than six months after initiating the process! Missionaries will tell you that many of them have had to wait years to go to the mission field while they raise financial support and that can be very discouraging. As a matter of fact, partnership development (raising financial and prayer support) is much of the Wycliffe training course Equip in which we are now enrolled because our membership approval came in time for enrollment in the current training class.

So we ask for YOUR prayer support and we will be posting our prayer requests to a social media resource which I’d started and stopped (didn’t want to count my chickens before they hatched ;-) so it isn’t ready yet. Of course, I wouldn’t refuse any financial support to fund experiments with premium versions of social media services and for incidentals like domain name registrations. On a more serious note, I don’t qualify for Medicare YET (I’m NOT “that old” :-) and I do still have to put Tabby through college (she’s sad she probably won’t get to go to Purdue now unless she does go to vet school) I’ll figure out how to do that after Wycliffe gives me my ministry account numbers.

The adventure has just begun and we’re certainly looking forward to it! Isn’t God good?

Paul’s opening words in his letter to the churches in Galatia was, “Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead – and all the brothers with me…” Galatians 1:1-2a

Paul thought it necessary to defend his apostleship because the Gospel message given by God to him to preach to the Gentiles was under attack. It was very clear to Paul that his apostleship was one from God and clear endorsements from the pillars of the first century church at Jerusalem. The Galatians were turning to a different gospel which Paul said was really no gospel at all. It was a clear rejection of the Gospel he preached to them from the beginning when they first believed, received the Holy Spirit and experienced works of miracles amongst them. (Galatians 3:5) For any person, even an angel from heaven who preached a distorted and different gospel other than what Paul preached is to be eternally condemned. Unless we take the time to understand Paul’s confidence and conviction, it is very easy to question Paul’s authority and conclude that he was being arrogant and self-confident.  Paul was clear with the Galatians about his motive which was to be a servant of Christ faithful to God’s calling and not to please men to gain their approval. (Galatians 1:6-10)

Here’s the beef….

In Galatians 1:11-17, Paul related his call to salvation by God’s grace and the Gospel he received directly from God by revelation from Jesus Christ to preach to the Gentiles. He specified it very clearly that it was not something that was made up by man neither did he receive it from any man nor was he taught it. In Acts 9:1-31 Paul’s conversion experience, an encounter with Jesus and receiving the Holy Spirit was explained along with his calling to take the Gospel to the Gentiles being confirmed through Ananias, a disciple. It also recorded Paul’s movements after his conversion where Paul was said to be in Damascus before he went to Jerusalem. Paul in Galatians 1:17 mentioned about being in Arabia (not recorded in Acts) and Damascus for 3 years before he made his first post-conversion visit to Jerusalem. He did not go to Jerusalem immediately after his conversion to consult any of the other Apostles before him. It took him 3 years before he made his first post-conversion visit to Jerusalem, a time which Paul, I believed, spent significant time immersing himself in the Scriptures which he possessed back then with the revelation of Jesus and the Holy Spirit as His Personal Teacher. Paul’s heavy usage and quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures in all his epistles pointed to his knowledge and understanding of Scriptures and the ability to connect the dots between the Old Testament and his new found faith in Jesus Christ aided by the Holy Spirit.  The Gospel message was personally and directly given by God to Paul to preach to the Gentiles. Paul specifically said that he received the Gospel by revelation from Jesus through the light He saw and the voice of Jesus that spoke to him on the road to Damascus in his conversion experience and being filled with the Holy Spirit and God’s revealed Word.

Paul’s conversion experience along with his call to take the Gospel to the Gentiles was consistent with the new covenant that God made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, a prophecy from Jeremiah 31:31-34 quoted by the author of Hebrews in Hebrews 8:8-13. With Jesus as the Mediator, the Great High Priest, the perfect, sinless sacrifice of atonement of the new covenant, the law of God will be put in their minds and written on their hearts by the Holy Spirit with God as their God and they will be the people of God. When that happens, no longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother to know the Lord because with the Holy Spirit who put and wrote God’s law in hearts and minds will personally teach them to know God from Scriptures from the least of them to the greatest.  The promised new covenant fulfilled through Jesus Christ as Mediator with the impartation of the Holy Spirit during Pentecost is reflected in Paul’s personal conversion experience and encounter with Christ along with being filled with the Holy Spirit who became His personal coach and Teacher through whom the the Gospel message was then given to take to the Gentiles, the ministry Paul was called to do. That was how Paul knew God through Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Old Testament Scriptures from where it was imparted to him the Gospel message for the Gentiles. It took Paul 3 years before he made his first post-conversion visit to Jerusalem all pointed to Paul knowing God through the revelation of Jesus both in his conversion and call to apostleship without the influence of  Jerusalem nor any of the other apostles whose criterion was having been with Jesus and witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection. The revelation from Jesus led Paul to know God and to receive the Gospel, the way he received salvation to be used to lead Gentiles to know God through Christ. Paul had already started preaching that Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus is the Christ in Damascus shortly after his conversion before his debut visit to Jerusalem.

II. The Gospel Paul Preached – Galatians chapters 2 to 4; Romans 3:21-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21

After having defended his authority and apostleship, Paul saw the need to defend the Gospel he received by revelation from Jesus Christ. The Galatians have been thrown into confusion when they were misled into believing a different and distorted gospel by perverts of the Gospel of Christ. Perverts of the Gospel which Paul preached were trying to tell them they need to become Jews in order to be believers in Christ. Perpetrators of this distortion of the Gospel were Jews whom Paul called ‘false brothers’  (Galatians 2:4) who though being failures themselves in observing and keeping the law, seek to lure the Galatians into the same bondage of the law they were enslaved. They were demanding that Gentile believers in Christ must be circumcised in order to be saved.

Paul in Galatians 2:1-10 addressed how this issue had already been resolved when he made his second trip to Jerusalem in response to a revelation he received from God to defend the Gospel he preached to the Gentiles. It was during the Council at Jerusalem in Acts 15:1-19 when the issue brought about by these ‘false brothers’: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved” which brought Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to defend the Gospel Paul preached. It was established and decided then that both Gentiles like the Jews are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, not by circumcision and the law and have received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 15:8-11) Therefore, Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles and the Gospel he preached was affirmed by the council. James, Peter and John, those who were reputed to be pillars of the first century church gave Paul and Barnabas the recognition of God’s grace given to Paul to take the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Justified By Faith Not By the Law

The Gospel Paul brought to the Gentiles is that through grace they have been justified by faith in Jesus alone. To be justified by faith was not a new idea or concept invented by Paul but goes way back to Abraham who believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. The prophet Habakkuk was quoted by Paul who said, “The righteous will live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4) God according to His sovereign will and purpose has planned to save not only the Jews but the Gentiles as well when He promised Abraham that He will make him into a great nation and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through him. (Genesis 12:2-3) God’s covenant was made with Israel, the descendants of  Isaac, who was known as the son of promise bore during Abraham’s and Sarah’s old age while Sarah was still barren. The law was given during the first covenant made with Israel to show them man’s sinfulness and inability to keep it. The rule for those who keep and observe the law for their own righteousness according to Leviticus 18:5 was, “The man who does these things will live by them.” On the contrary to faith, those depending on the law for their own righteousness have the obligation of keeping the entire law. Keeping most of the law, breaking even just one law would make him guilty of being a lawbreaker disqualifying him from receiving the reward of life. That was what was descriptive of the Jews who were depending on the law for their own righteousness  – they have, due to man’s sinful nature came under the curse of the law whose righteous requirements they could not achieve by themselves. The whole world, both Jews and Gentiles included according to Paul are a ‘prisoner of sin’. We are all enslaved by inherent sin and as a result, those depending on the law for their own righteousness are failures as the law only bring about  the consciousness of our sinfulness and sinner’s inability to keep it.

Abraham was justified and declared righteous by God through his faith when he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6) This happened before the covenant of circumcision was made with Abraham in Genesis 17 and before the law was given to Israel a few hundred years after Abraham. The law was given to bring about the consciousness of sin, man’s inability to keep it pointing them to a righteousness from God that have been revealed apart from the law. The law was given to lead people to Christ, who knew no sin but was made sin for us that we may become the righteousness of God by faith in Christ alone. Jesus became the sacrifice of atonement when He died on the cross to pay the debt of sin sinners owed to God with no way of paying. The death Christ died on the cross is the death of a criminal punished by the Just God in the place of sinners, the one and only way to atone for sins, the Righteous for the unrighteous. It is an act of God’s grace alone and by faith in Jesus alone, the sinner will be justified before the Holy God and credited with the righteousness of Christ in order to know, experience and see the Holy God.

Those who are justified by faith in Jesus Christ are all the sons of God and belonging to Christ they are Abraham’s seed and heirs to God’s promise to Abraham. As the children of God, in Christ God has given to us the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of His Son who aids us to call God our Father, making us an heir of God and co-heirs with Christ. The believer’s justification by faith in Christ is the act of God’s grace showing love, mercy and kindness, in not giving us what we deserve:  eternal separation from God,  giving us instead what we do not deserve, eternity with God that began at the point of faith.

III. Conclusion:

Paul did not preach a Gospel which began in the New Testament but the Old Testament Scriptures that prophesied about Jesus’ coming as the Messiah and Savior of the world. Paul connected the Gospel dots for us beginning with God’s promise to Abraham that culminated with the atoning death and resurrection of Christ. That was the Gospel Paul preached which we as recipients of that same justification by faith alone through grace alone in Jesus Christ alone ought to also preach and teach to others.

One need to study all the epistles Paul wrote to get a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of Paul’s Gospel. The intention of this post is merely to show the Source, scope and expanse of Paul’s Gospel.

Lying lips, deeds of darkness my companions

Life of the party was more of the same

Troubles and the lack of peace my trail

Guilt, worry, fear my only friends

Wandered around in my youth with the stink of death only worthy of the sting of death

Total worthlessness, fit only for hell

To be most pitied for the ignorance of God

Satan my idol twisted my mind to do his bidding

Gravitated me down the black hole of pitch darkness

I could not see, I could not tell right from left,

So lost in darkness with no inkling of what is to really see and know

God took pity, showed mercy, when I heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ

The Cross that shed the Light I needed

To replace the ignorance of God for the knowledge of God

Jesus, the stone God laid in Zion, a tested stone

A precious cornerstone who became my sure foundation

O the wonder of the knowledge of God

God through Jesus Christ had wrought to me

With the sinful nature crucified with Christ

No longer living for worldly pleasures and for self

Christ my Lord and Savior trampled Satan the enemy

Put him under my feet

As I fight the winning battle over sin daily

By the blood of Jesus Christ my confidence

That cleanses all my sins together with its guilt

His victory song, my song of triumph I shall sing

Giving all glory to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!

For He had triumph on the cross

And through His resurrection made Satan a defeated foe!!!

Now having spiritual sight for more than three decades and looking back

I am in awe: O what a God, O what a Savior!

The more I recall that year when I first ran, the more it made me not want to run alongside 15,000 more people for 2010. My greatest fear was tripping and falling over people and getting hurt. Besides, I would not be in a very good frame of mind to run since I would be trapped in such a massive crowd and loud distracting noises.  Thinking about it makes me feel claustrophobic and 13.1 miles becomes that much longer a distance to run.

So, my plan B was to run the race anyway but not downtown where all the action was. I picked my location right in the neighborhood where I live using a 1 mile loop just down the street. At 8:01 am on Saturday May 8th, 2010, wearing my Indy 500 mini-marathon shirt and registration no. 41897 which Tom helped me picked up the day before, I ran my half marathon and finished at 10:14 am. I had 14 rubber-bands strapped around my left wrist, tossing each rubber-band as I made it around the loop in order to make sure that I ran all the distance without miscounting.  A 25 mph wind was blowing from the west directly against me about .2 miles each time around the loop. There was also a teeny-weeny hill which bothered me along the way. I like running on plains and strongly dislike elevation. I prayed along the way and the Lord would carried me through the strong wind which was felt most strongly and intently during my last few steps across the finish line. As for the teeny-weeny hill, the Lord taught me to run slowly over it instead of hurrying so that instead of  a bother, I would enjoy it.

Time-wise, it was not as good but I am just happy that I ran all the way without stopping and finished the race. It turned out after measuring the distance yesterday, I had run 13.5 miles. On my 14th time around, I ran .5 mile  instead of the required .1 to make a half marathon.  An adjective to describe my frame of mind after the race yesterday was AWESOME. I felt awesome – at God’s faithfulness and my own physical abilities which He enabled.  My prayer and hope is that I can continue to run races for as long as He allow me to live. I will glory in my Redeemer !

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:10-18

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweeps us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.” Isaiah 64:6-7

Good Advice: Please turn to Jesus Christ for the Good News. He came to save!

Highly Recommended: Read the Bible for the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Holiness and righteousness are His trains

Love, mercy, faithfulness follow all His promises

Ever faithful and ready to bless

Those who will walk in all His ways and keep His commands

He will never leave them nor forsake them,

Whose love endures forever,

And follow those who love Him and many generations after them,

His servants shall see success and prosperity

In all endeavors to make known the LORD’s renown,

To spread the fame of the Name of the LORD,

Through His mighty works and deeds,

To promote His cause, the cause of Christ,

So that all the peoples of the earth may know,

That the LORD is God and that there is no other.

Such is the temple of the LORD,

The people of God His remnant,

He has put His laws in their hearts and minds

Their bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit

They will know the LORD,

No longer will a man need to teach his neighbor,

The Holy spirit shall be His Teacher

So intertwined is Temple of the LORD

And His covenant relationship with His people,

From days of old to the present, looking forward to the future

Arise O people of God and let the glory of the Lord shine!

Announce the LORD’s  fame and renown

Advance the cause of Christ, whose shed blood

The blood of the New Covenant,

That the all the peoples of the earth may know

That the LORD is God and there is no other!

Inspired by Scripture reading: 1 Kings 8:1-21.

I have been feeling lonely all these 15 years of my life in America and have been discouraged and somewhat depressed by what I witnessed in the spiritual arena of the Church in America of those among the evangelicals who have deviated from the truth of the Gospel. God encouraged my heart through the attendance of this conference when He led me to see as many as 7,000 more like-minded people who remained faithful to Him and have not adjusted the Gospel and bowed the knee to post-modern and pragmatic trajectories that is happening to many churches in our country today.  What I have witnessed and heard from people who called themselves believers in Christ, even from among ‘teachers’ of  Scriptures, the sense of defeatism and the lack of victory over the power of sin, a total contradiction to the Good News of the Gospel, the message of hope and victory. Too much self- introspection and lacking in dwelling on the implications of the Cross. Being at the conference has brought surges of clean fresh air while breathing stale air has been my only experience through what I have heard from church bible-teachings. The lack of the knowledge of God is my conclusion of many churches in America which I am confident that the powerhouse which I saw at the conference and pray that God is going to use it to counter-act and reverse future generations of the ignorance of God in our country. For that to happen, there has to be a massive turn around by the Church on our knees back to God and reading nothing else except God’s raw data for us, the very spoken Word of God, the Bible.

Together For The Gospel Conference 2010

However, the life of Saul’s actions and behavior as king recorded in 1 Samuel chapters 9-15 was one of rejection of the LORD God, the God of Israel as God of his own life. The choices he made while in and outside the battlefield as king was not one of following instructions given by the LORD according to His law and decrees but was guided all the way by the deceitfulness of his own heart, following his own wisdom and heart desires. Saul was the god of his own life which was highlighted when:

1). He took matters into his own hands when his army was driven by despair and desperation against the Philistines and God’s prophet and priest Samuel was late in arrival to seek the LORD on their behalf. (1 Samuel 13:5-14) Instead of remaining steadfast and unwavering in trusting God, Saul disobeyed Him when he took matters into his own hands by making offerings and sacrifices that only a consecrated priest of God was appointed to do. That which was sacred and holy was treated with contempt by Saul’s lack of reverence for God. Samuel told Saul His kingdom was to be replaced by a man after God’s own heart. (1 Samuel 13:13-14)

2). With specific instructions according to the law, Saul was asked by Samuel through the LORD Almighty to take down the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belong to them not sparing anyone neither people nor livestock. God’s instruction to totally destroy was crucial for the Israelites less what was spared would become a snare in leading them astray. It was the test on the Israelites’ devotion to the LORD Almighty. Throughout Israel’s battle against their pagan enemies from the time of Moses to Joshua and the Judges, that was God’s instruction for Israel. Instead of obeying, Saul and his army ‘spared Agag (king of the Amalekites) and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs – everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.’ (1 Samuel 15:8-11) When confronted by Samuel, Saul rationalized and claimed the best of sheep was spared to be sacrificed to the LORD. To this Samuel replied to Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22-23, “…To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” ….”For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry” …. “Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” Instead being careful to obey all that God instructed him, Saul based his obeying and lack thereof on his own wisdom and understanding.

Therefore, God rejected Saul as king on these two counts:

1. Saul have rejected the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel,  as God of his life. Time and again, he had rejected God and His law and decree and chose to go his own way by listening to his own heart.  Saul’s sin of rebellion is compared to the sin of divination because as diviners turned their lives to Satan for his powers,  Saul in his rebellion had turned his life over to Satan.

2. Arrogant Saul had made himself the god of his own life. He followed his own heart’s desires and chose when to and when not to obey God. He continued in arrogance and followed the deceitfulness of his own heart despite reprimands and corrections from Samuel. Saul rejected God and put himself in God’s place and have become his own idol and that arrogance is like the evil of idolatry.

Saul completely rejected the LORD who had a covenant relationship with Israel and had become his own god. Thus his kingship and kingdom was removed from him and God was going to replace him with a man who is after God’s own heart. Subsequently in 1 Samuel chapters 16-31, Saul fought against God and God’s will to replace him as king resorting to all wickedness and evil to protect and preserve himself and his own kingdom.  He was hot in pursuit to kill David whom God had anointed to be king in his place. During his wild pursuit of David, he killed all the priests of God in Nob together with their families, including the entire town of the priests with its men, women, children, infants and livestock. That day, Saul committed a great evil against the people of the LORD and did to them what he was supposed to do only to God’s enemies,’ to totally destroy’. (1Samuel 22:6-23) He treated David, God’s anointed king of Israel as an arch enemy, drove David into enemies’ territory that forced David to serve the other gods. (1 Samuel chapter 26 especially verses 18-20) Saul in desperation also resorted to sorcery seeking out the help of a medium when God was silent to his inquiries of Him. (1 Samuel chapter 28; Leviticus 19:31)

I am not proposing that those of us in Christ have the potential to become like Saul but that we will be treading on very dangerous ground if we do not daily fix our minds on Christ and guard our hearts against temptations being hurled daily at us from the world, sinful flesh and Satan.  God in Christ has built an insulation for us against these external temptation to sin, that protect and aid us to guard our hearts and fix our minds steadfastly on Christ. God’s internal work of redemption through the finished work of Christ in our lives is our insulation against the sin of rebellion and arrogance. Protected and shielded by God’s keeping power, we guard our hearts and fix our minds on Christ in the face of temptation. Christ is our Victor who will help us to triumph as with His help we get rid of any seed of temptation to seduce and lure us into sin. With our minds fixed on exalting Christ, it will dissipate the seduction to put self in God’s rightful place thus displacing the seed of rebellion with submission to His Lordship. This is what God in Christ, our redemption have accomplished. So, let us remain in this confidence in Christ when we face the next temptation to sin against God. The insulation we have in Christ is to be nurtured daily in the study and meditation of God’s Word where the fixing of our mind, being steadfast in Christ and the guarding of our heart takes place. This is to be done on a daily basis with the Word of God leaving no crack or crevice to allow the seed of temptation to take root and grow.

“My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Proverbs 4:20-23

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Proverbs 26:3

While I’m talking about story-telling, I’d also like to say that I have been inspired by the stories of missionaries who have been serving and the impact of their work on the lives of those who they have been sharing, but that will be the subject of another blog post.

Inspired by Psalm 40:2-3

“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a humn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.”

This is reconciliation with God: Christ is now our righteousness, our new life in Christ as His new creation entrusted with the message of reconciliation as ambassadors for Christ.

After having been reconciled with God:

1. Christ is now our righteousness

Christ’s substitutionary death and atoning sacrifice for sin in verse 21 canceled our debt of sin with His righteousness credited to our account. Based on the merits of Christ, we who are in Christ are now declared righteous before God. When God look at us now hidden in Christ, sees only Christ and His righteousness. Christ’s merits earned us our justification from sin, good as though we have never committed sin, the reparation and restoration nothing except the blood of Christ had bought.  Christ who had no sin was made sin for us that we may become the righteousness of God.  Through Christ’s righteousness, we have now gain direct access into the presence of the  Most Holy God.

2. Christ our righteousness, now our new life in Christ as His new creation.

Christ’s death and resurrection has transformed and recreated sinners to become like Christ.  After having our sinful nature crucified together with Christ,  we are also raised together with Him in His resurrection to new life. Christ, now being Lord of our lives, lives His righteous life in and through us His new creation. The resurrection power and the life of the Risen Christ now indwell believers through the Holy Spirit to empower and enable us to live out Christ’s holiness and righteousness.  This is what pleases God and makes us an aroma of Christ to God among those who does not know Christ.

3. Entrusted with the message of reconciliation as ambassadors of Christ

Having been reconciled to God through Christ, God have made us ambassadors of Christ and committed to us the message of reconciliation. As ambassadors of Christ, we are His representatives to reflect Christ’s likeness to show and tell the world in sin how to be reconciled to God through Christ. To be in sin is to be at enmity with God. Christ who made peace with God on behalf of sinners, is our peace with God that breaks down the barrier of sin to unite us to the Most Holy God. He is the only Hope for sinners and the world in sin.

From our morning devotion with Tabitha Ho on Good Friday, April 2, 2010

….If we have been united with him like this in death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection……

…..For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”  Romans 6:1-7

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

The resurrection power of Christ will be the daily experience of a believer  after the sinful nature have been crucified and died together with Christ on the cross.  A daily walk with God involves taking up the cross of Christ and daily dying to the desire to sin. To continue living a lifestyle of sin means remaining in the state of being dead in sin which cannot be the experience of a true believer in Christ who is quickened to the life of Christ through crucifying the sinful nature that had wrought death and destruction. The resurrection power that brought about the resurrection of Christ,  all present in the resurrected life of Christ in the believer is the overcoming power for believers to the the desire to sin when the tempted by the sinful flesh, the world and Satan. The new life of Christ quicken the believer from the deadness of the past through the enabling and empowering work of the Holy Spirit to become His instruments of righteousness, to do God’s will. The resurrected life of Christ that destroyed the power of sin, Satan and death, indwelling the life of the believer imparts God’s great power to break all fetters of sin bringing victory over all bondages that enslaves.

Hallelujah! Praise God for the Risen Christ!

Indwelling hearts of believers, overcoming sin’s power,

To fight a winning battle over Satan the defeated foe!

Where O death is your sting?

Christ and the empty grave is our Hope and Surety,

The resurrection of the dead in Christ to eternal life,

Forever in the Presence of the God of our salvation,

Eternal, Unchanging and Faithful.

In the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:8 said, “The LORD’s portion is  His people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.”The elect is considered God’s portion, consistent with God’s promise to Abraham that God was going to make him into a great nation through his offspring, Isaac through whom Jacob was born, and known as the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. It is through this great nation that all the peoples on earth will be blessed with the blessing of salvation through the Messiah and Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. Abraham believed the LORD and God credited it to him as righteousness. It is on the basis of faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone for the elect, chosen by God’s mercy to receive His salvation through Christ they become God’s people,  the LORD’s portion and allotted inheritance. It for God’s holiness, in pursuit of His holiness for which the elect have been chosen by His mercy to receive salvation through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Way of Holiness who leads us to holiness and enables and empowers us to walk in the way of holiness. The blood of Christ, the blood of the new covenant,  leads us to the way of holiness and keeps us on the way of holiness. God’s faithfulness remains on His people who are His beloved, whom He guard as the apple of His eyes for His own namesake  -  His honor and His holiness.

The generation who came out of the Egyptian slavery and captivity was led to wander in the wilderness for forty years and denied entry into the land of Canaan due to their rebellion and unbelief, dishonored God and trampled underfoot God’s holiness. At God’s instruction to provide water for the thirsty, angry and rebellious Israelites, Moses and Aaron did not trust God enough to honor God as holy before the Israelites by striking the rock instead of speaking to it as instructed by God. For that, Moses and Aaron faced the consequence of not going to be used by God to lead the Israelites into the land of Canaan, God’s promised land to Israel.

God cares for the honor of His Name in the holiness of His people, who represents Him to the largely non-believing world. In Christ as God’s people, we ought to be encouraging one another towards personal holiness and holy living by being instruments of God to lead one another to reflect Him to the world of darkness. How God’s people live ought not to be synonymous with those who are living in darkness. Honoring God and His holiness is the obligation of all God’s people whom He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light. God’s portion is the elect, the people of God and God is the inheritance of God’s chosen people who is a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God who have received God’s mercy to declare the praises of God who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:4-10)

Deuteronomy 32 – The Song of Moses: Deuteronomy 32:8-9 “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.

Joshua 13:14 – “But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the offerings made by fire to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them.

Joshua 13:33 – “But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance; the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he promised them.”

Summary of Isaiah 35:1-10:  The joy of the redeemed and those ransomed as we look forward to see and experience the glory of the LORD both now and in eternity through Jesus, the Highway called the Way of Holiness.

1 Peter 2:4-10 – especially verses 9-10 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Romans 8:12-17 “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation – but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it…..Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Romans chapter 4 especially verses 23-25 “The words “it was credited to him” were not written for him (Abraham) alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

The elect, God’s chosen people are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. We shall be God’s portion and His inheritance, a people holy unto Him.