Seek

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Mat 7:7-8)

In the last post we took up this subject of Jesus’ teaching on prayer and looked at the first part.  Ask.  I trust that you are evaluating your prayer life for this year and I hope as you do that we may be able to encourage you by some of these thoughts.  The second point we want to take up in this study is where Jesus said, Seek. 

The dictionary definition of this word is:  “To try to locate or discover; search for. 2. To endeavor to obtain or reach: seek a college education. 3. To go to or toward: etc.”  Obviously we are seeking something most of the time, some of us all of the time when we pray.  Most NEVER pray until they have some need and are seeking something.  So let us consider what Jesus said when He said, seek. 

“Seekest thou great things for thyself?  Seek them not.”  (Jer 45:5)  Is much of our prayer only seeking to benefit ourselves? First, again think of Who you should be seeking as we mentioned before about asking.  More times than not we are more interested in the gift than the Giver.  Sometimes when we seek something we want so much we have gone right past the very One Who is exactly what we really need.  Often we quote Philippians 4:19 how that God will supply ALL our NEEDS!  We get so excited, but we forget the end of the verse where it says these needs are supplied “by Christ Jesus.”  Not that He is just the Supplier of the need.  He is not just a holy quartermaster.  But many times He, yes HE ALONE is the very and only SUPPLY that we really need.  So we must seek Him!  Seek to locate Him in our lives.  Seek to discover Who He really is to us.   Endeavor to obtain or reach a new level of knowledge and fellowship with Him.  (Phil 3:10)  Go toward Him and His will for our lives.  In prayer also search the Scriptures for they testify of Him.  Seek Him with all of your heart and you will find Him, not just things, but Him.  Seek Him while He is near, while He may be found. 

Every true seeker – finds.  Your life will be absolutely richer for your search if you are seeking Him in your prayer.  May you resolve to ask, seek and in our next post read more from this study.  Knock – coming soon.

GOD WITH US!

The name Immanuel occurs only three times in Scripture.  Isaiah 7:14, 8:8 and Matthew 1:23.  But it is a name with great significance.  As with most names in Bible times, they were given to convey meaning.  The name Issac for example means “laughter”.  Jacob means “supplanter” and so on.  But this name Immanuel we are told was interpreted, “God with us.”  What a great meaning!

In Isaiah, this name was connected with a sign.  ”A sign shall be given unto you.”  The searching and waiting for the fulfillment of this sign made it a MESSAGE OF HOPE!  For seven hundred years they waited, hoping for the virgin born son who would be “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”  He would be “God with us” to fulfill prophecy.  This is still the message of hope for a lost world.

In Matthew 1 we learn he was Immanuel, God with us, our MESSAGE OF GOOD NEWS.  ”He shall save his people from their sins.”  This reveals to us His mission, to seek and save the lost and our mission – “as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”  It is good news because we were lost, separated from God because of our sins (Isaiah 59:1-2) and without hope in this world.  (Ephesians 2:12)  And in this lost condition we could not find any other to save us.  (Acts 4:12)  Christ our Immanuel is the message of Good News that needs to be headlined around our globe.

We know also that by His birth he came to be with us to give us a MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION.  ”God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”  We live in a hopeless world, full of bad news and His disciples have been given a message to carry to ALL in this world.  The Gospel of Matthew begins by telling us that God is with us in Matthew 1:23 and it ends reminding us that as we obey Christ and bear His message of hope, Good News, and reconciliation He will be with us to the end in Matthew 28:20.

John tells us that when he came to his own his own received him not.  Imagine!  Years of waiting, looking and hoping and they rejected him.  Thankfully that wasn’t the end of the story.  He didn’t give up on us, he didn’t leave us comfortless. The Scripture goes on to say, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”  Have you received him?  God with us! HOPE, GOOD NEWS and SALVATION!  And through all this message God wants to make known to us this rich mystery, Christ in us THE HOPE OF GLORY!  (Colossians 1:27)

MERRY CHRISTMAS! GOD WITH US!

Making Disciples (part 3)

Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be seasoned?  Luke 14:34

Here at the end of this lesson on who can and cannot be a disciple Jesus gives the “salt” test.  Who is a real disciple?  As with salt a disciple is either good or is fit only to be cast out.  He does not really give a great deal of latitude.  Most would rather that Jesus would grade us on some kind of cosmic curve.  Jesus said we are the “salt of the earth.”  (Matt 5:13-16)  If one is a real “salty” disciple then he is of great value in the world.  As with the qualities and usages of salt, so Christ desires us as His disciples to keep purity in our world, to save it from corruption, to cause thirstiness for the Water of Life.

There can be no doubt that the health of Christianity and our churches in the world depend upon the ”saltiness” of its disciples.  This has been true in all ages and all regions.  Salty disciples are the saving element for churches and churches are the very means that Christ has chosen to do His work in this world.  The problem is that many of our Christians in these churches today are sadly tasteless and worthless.

What does it mean for salt to loose its savor?  It means the salt would be dull, sluggish, stupid and foolish.  So is a Christian who is not a disciple.  Are you a ”salty” disciple?  Are you making disciples that are seasoned, fit, to bring purity, health and thirstiness into your church and the world we live in?  Let’s use Jesus’ test to examine our own lives and the efforts of our discipleship.  Are they real?  Are they salty?  What are you fit for?  What are those for whom you are responsible fit for?  Let’s make “salty” disciples!  “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Death Of Deputation – Part II

The Death Of Deputation.  Part II

Since the first part of this post went out I have received many excellent responses and contributions of thoughts and ideas about this subject.  This is something that I have been thinking about for some time.  Very obviously by the responses we realize that there is really no quick or easy fix.  unfortunately it is like so many other things in life, we avoid it or ignore it until it is all over us.  I sat down two years ago with a director of a mission group and we talked about some of these very problems.  He and those in his office are probably more aware of the gravity of this situation on behalf of the all missionaries in all areas than we are.  We don’t know all the crisis phone calls and the resignations first hand as they do.   When I spoke to him two years ago he said that stateside pastors were primarily  interested in deputation and church supported missionaries and that they would not react well if their missionaries became “part-timers” working jobs, etc.  His point was very valid.  When a man seeks support the pastor and church  want to know that their mission dollars are going to support a “full-time” missionary.  We have all met pastors who are sensitive about missionary support levels.  This is one of the reasons that missionaries are a bit closed about informing anyone of their level of support.  They realize that even if they have a modest support that it may be larger than the pastor’s salary.  So one thing we may want to do is to began to address some of our concerns and suggestions with our home pastor first and then some of our closer pastor friends. 

Again, speaking of no quick and easy fixes, some recent research done specifically for Independent Baptist churches reveals that we are not starting enough churches.  We knew that didn’t we?  We are planting Independent Baptist churches at a 1% rate per year or about 140-150 churches a year.  This is not enough to even keep up with the population growth in the US, not to mention the need for a stronger base to handle new support for world evangelism growth.  Just to keep up with the population growth we would need to plant 500 churches a year.  But again in our present post modern climate it is difficult to forsee this type of growth to create the “bigger pond” that is needed. 

Historically many of our missionary heros like  Adonirom  Judson, William Cary, David Livingstone and etc. were very entrepreneurial when necessary to be able to continue their work when their sources of support dried up, changed, were dropped or delayed.  They worked as translators, diplomatic mediators, authors, book venders and more so that they could continue and expand their work.  We all know other groups today who make good use of their vocations in missions.  Some fields may tend to be more open to this than others.  But I believe that with good research and opportunity we could really help ourselves and the whole missionary structure.   I would advocate that instead of just seeking a part-time job for our wives or for ourselves that we investigate if there is something that we can enter into that would have strong evangelistic possibilities. 

After studying the Scripture I have come to strongly believe that the Apostle Paul was vocational ( a tent maker ) intentionally.  I believe that he plied his trade in order to interact with the public and to be in the market place so that he could be brought into contact with those who would respond to his testimony and his witness to the Gospel.  In our modern context I believe the possibilities are manifold.  I have friends who have various enterprises on their fields, language schools, consulting businesses, coffee shops, bookstores and many other things.  Many of those are in restricted access fields yet in reality some of these or other ideas would work even better in a less restricted environment. 

On a personal note, seven years ago my wife and I opened a free medical clinic in Jupiter, FL as a ministry of our Spanish church plant there.  This was primarily to help the immigrant population (largely Guatemalan and Mexican migrant workers).  We began small with just a few volunteers and have seen this grow until we have over 100 volunteers and we see over 3000 patients a year.  Since the recent economic problems here in the US with many loosing their jobs and health insurance the demographics of our patients have drastically changed as well.  We now see nearly as many local Florida residents as those of the immigrant population.  This has been a tremendous evangelistic blessing to our ministry.  Our church is full of former patients who we first witnessed to in a clinical setting.  We have also had some other tremendous side blessings through this ministry.  We have a tremendous witness within the medical community.  Many of our volunteer doctors are Jewish.  I spoke to a Jewish Mission board in Chattanooga and they told me I have contact with more Jews than their missionaries who work in our area.  We also have a tremendous outreach to the educational community.  Universities from as far away as Miami  and Fort Lauderdale as well as local institutions send their medical students for their hands on training to our clinic.  This has given us even more evangelistic opportunities.  This endeavor is supported through local private and public (not government) donations.

As a result the missionaries which we have trained and sent out from our church in south Florida are now opening extension clinics in Guatemala and Haiti.  They have seen the good will this has produced in our community and the evangelistic opportunities it has opened up.  As their new churches are able to do so they want to start their own medical ministries.  They know this will evangelistically and financially help to support their ministries too. 

A word of caution:  Ten years ago I would have never considered any kind of ministry or outreach like this.  I felt that I would have the main line denominations do all of that “service evangelism” etc.  I would just preach the Gospel and witness.  But while we were in Cuba we organized Carelink International as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit to use as a platform for our ministry.  We were able to get tons of medicine and medical equipment into the country.  This helped our ministries there.  My mind began to open up to these possibilities.  We all know the dangers that are involved.  We cannot let the tail wag the dog.  We have to continually battle to keep the main thing the main thing, to guard our priorities.  But we have to do that anyway.  Some battle with hobbies – too much time on the links or on the computer.  Some with study – never leaving the office.  And more. 

I am sure of one thing.  We are commissioned to go and teach all nations, baptizing them and teaching them.  We have the promise of the presence of Christ with us and we are to keep doing this until the end.  So we better get our heads out of the sand before it is too late and do whatever we must do to strengthen the things that remain and to be faithful to our calling unto the end.

Poor Copies

Many are wondering how can we reach people in these post modern times.   The masses seem to be completely disinterested and put off by churches.  They seem too far away for us to reach them.  Many are attempting unbelievable things in the name of Christ and His church to try and have a relevant appeal.  I believe that in this attempt to be relevant that they have and continue to merely COPY a myriad of things from building styles, clothing, deportment, music and more.   And sadly, these are all poor copies. 

As an example of our poor copies many began to copy the cathedral builders.  The great world and state religions which built their buildings on the most prominent location.  Their architectural shrines were indeed awesome, but none of that could save a single soul.  From the humble beginnings of the upper rooms and houses we bought into the crazed idea that a building was the only way to have a church.  This has continued until no one even remembers what the church really is and that whether in the open air, in a home, a storefront, a rented office, it is just as much a church as if it were surrounded by the four walls underand impressive ceilings of a cathedral.  Millions are spent on these copies that have little impact in order to reach souls around the world.

Some began to copy the Pentecostals with their wild fire. They saw that with their music and their star quality guests that greater crowds would come.  We felt as long as we could hold to our biblical doctrine it would not be a problem to copy their methods.  But we should have been better students of history to know that it doesn’t take long for our methodology to effect our theology. 

Some began to copy the Liberals with their political correctness.  They began to neutralize their message.  They were afraid they might offend if they were not always positive.  They didn’t want to turn anyone off by preaching agains sin, evil and perversion.  Taking a new PC stance they soon lost their power.

Some kept their eyes on the world and seeing the effectiveness of Hollywood, Nashville and New York’s ability to make a splash, draw a crowd and influence people they began to copy their ways.  They threw out the hymns and hymnals.  They took off their ties and put on blue jeans and sneakers.  They visited the tatoo parlors.  They spiced up their pulpit language.  They put on a show.  They entertained.  All the lights, all the smoke, all the glitz.  The problem is now no one  can really tell where the world’s show ends and the church’s show begins. 

So we have copied and copied until no one remembers what the original looked like.  Can we wonder why so many are confused and disenfranchised?  Is it any wonder people don’t trust the church?  Is it any wonder that our message has become diluted, that we are powerless and we are loosing more with each passing generation?  We must get back to the ORIGINAL!  Stop copying!  Get it straight from the book!  God gave us the plan to reach people and it will work in every generation and in every culture.  Do we believe the Bible?  Then we must put away all the modern textbooks from all the church growth and marketing gurus and preach and teach the Gospel publicly and from house to house.  We must take the risk and suffer persecution if necessary.  Take criticism!  We must be a bit old fashioned.  Dust off the old Bible.  Use it!  The Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation.  The Holy Spirit still convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment!   The preaching the cross will always be foolishness to those who are perishing but it is still the power of God to the saved!  I believe if we spent even a fraction of the time giving the Gospel publicly and privately as we do copying everything that comes down the pike we could see a difference.  Let’s take a new look at  the original plan that God gave.  It will work!  It is backed by His promise!

Rebuked

No one ever likes to be rebuked!  And today people seem to be even more sensitive and resistive to being rebuked than ever before.  That sensitivity begins when we are very young and as we get older it seems our resentment to rebuke grows with us.  But “rebuke” is an important part of the development of our lives both morally, socially and spiritually. 

For preachers God’s Word says we are to preach the word, reprove and REBUKE.   Some of today’s “preachers” argue that they do not want to offend anyone by rebuking them about their sin.  “Your Best Life Now” seems to be only reachable by plastic smiles and pleasant platitudes.  But sometimes to have the best life God intends for us we need to be rebuked.  I trust God’s word on this and I trust the examples of Jesus Christ.  He taught and led his disciples to be men who turned the world upside down and preached the Gospel to every creature under the sun.  For these men to develop into the calibre of men who could do the work of the Great Commission they at times needed to be rebuked.  And we do too! 

When Peter got his eyes off the plan of God and tried to insert his own will into things he was strongly rebuked by the Lord.  When Peter or any of us cannot discern God’s plan and try to push our own way, a rebuke is needed.  We must  pay attention to God’s plan. 

On another occasion when the disciples wanted to call fire down from heaven Jesus rebuked them.  Perhaps all of us at times have felt like we wanted to do the same.  But when we forget about the grace that is needed to work in a sinful, wicked world we need to be rebuked. 

I know if we are not careful we can major on the negatives.  All of us prefer not to be rebuked.  But when needed I hope I will be sensitive to be rebuked through God’s Word, by the Holy Spirit and through the faithful preaching by a man of God who is still preaching the word, reproving, rebuking and exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine.

Lessons In Leaven

In Matthew 16:1-13 we read of the Pharisees and Saducees coming to Jesus to tempt him.  He calls them hypocrites!  He knew their thoughts and intentions and that they only hoped to discredit him - it wasn’t happening. 

But all of that grew into a great teaching lesson.  In the midst of this the disciples had a startling discovery.  They had forgotten bread.  Have you ever done something like this?  Forgotten something important?  Something necessary?  But the worst part and I think the truly notable point was – not that they had forgotten the bread – their food, but that they had forgotten earlier, vital and life changing lessons that they had been taught.  These lessons (the feeding of the multitudes) should have been at the forefront of their thinking and it should have been something that had changed them forever! 

But alas, the disciples both them then and us today, seem to have difficulty discerning what are the most important things.  Case in point:  Remember in John 4 when the disciples had entered the Samaritan village to buy food.  When they returned they found Jesus had been busy dealing with the woman by the well.  He had served up living water that gave life changing and eternal blessing.  But the disciples couldn’t get past their own issues.  They wanted him to eat.  He stated that he had meat to eat that they knew nothing about.  Ok!  They asked “who gave him something to eat?”  They didn’t get it. 

Do you see how we sometimes can’t seem to get off the earth track?  His ways truly are higher than our ways.  Thank goodness he is patient with his disciples, but he does rebuke us.  He calls us down for our faithlessness, forgetfulness and foolishness.  He wants us to grow!  He wants us to learn! 

This discourse was about learning.  We need to learn.  If we don’t learn we will fall for bad doctrine (teaching).  So what are some of the lessons we can learn with these disciples in Matthew 16:

• Don’t forget the great things the Lord has already done for you in your life.
• Don’t get sidetracked from the main, and eternal issues in life.
• The spiritual matters are more important (eternal) than the fleshly needs (temporal).
• The Lord often uses simple examples to teach us vital spiritual lessons.   
• Don’t miss good things from the Lord by jumping to wrong conclusions.   

There was a lesson in the leaven.  Let’s learn and grow!

Looking At Poverty

As we rode from the airport in Port au Prince toward the orphanage in the ravine area of Girardo and then onto Gressier for our Pastor’s family camp I could not shut out the poverty all around me. I struggled with my thoughts. What a poor nation! Poorest in our hemisphere. A sadness closes over me as I think of the great needs here. I want to help. Where can one even begin.

We stop by “My Father’s House” orphanage in Girardo. Most of the 89 children crowd around us and look up to us with their sad, sallow eyes. They are living in inadequate, close conditions. They get only enough food to stay alive, but hardly thrive. We are able to deliver underclothing for all the children, a gift from Word of Life Baptist Church in PA brought by Rick and Mary Kay Paquette. We also deliver and place on the wrists some Gospel bracelets made by the children of Cornerstone Independent Baptist Church in Enola, PA in their VBS. We explain the story of the Gospel that it represents. This church also gave $2000 to help with the home. We and they are so thankful for every gift. It all helps.

Then I look at the budget. We need $2637.00 for school uniforms so the kids can start school next month. We need money for 89 pairs of shoes. We need $2198.00 for the school and kindergarten tuition for the children. We need $2004.00 for books and school supplies. The total is close to $10,000.00. Oh yes, we can’t forget that we also need enough money each month to feed the children and pay for the 13 workers and staff.

We love on the children for awhile. We give out some rare treats. They are having fun, Frances and Mary have especially enjoyed holding the youngest children on their laps, but it is time for us to leave for now. We continue on our trip to Gressier. Bad roads, filth, broken down hovels. We pass a couple of homes where the people have gathered a few sticks to roast themselves an ear of corn. That is their supper. We finally arrive at the camp. By Haitian standards it is wonderful. At least those who join with us this week know they have better prospects of finding something to eat here at the camp. They may sleep on the floor, but that is no different from their home. They will have little or no electricity, normal for them. They are still poor. When I leave they will go home. They will try to eat. They will try to survive.

Looking at poverty.   What can I say to these poor people? How can I help? Will I be able to say anything that will make any difference in their lives? Will I leave them better or worse for my visit? I want you to put yourself in my place and think of what you would say or do. I will leave you to consider your response until my next post.

Job, Jude and Jesus

During this past week I preached from the book of Job, the book of Jude and did all I could to exalt Jesus!  It was fun!  I love preaching!  I am just finishing up a great week in New England preaching in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  A week ago on Monday I flew in from Guatemala, stopped one night at home and then flew to Providence, RI.  Pastor Mike Sokoll and his wife Patti were my super hosts as I enjoyed helping them celebrate the 20th anniversary of Providence Baptist Church.  Frances, Victoria and I moved to Rhode Island to plant this church in 1989.  Ransom came along the next year.  Our years in Providence were wonderful!  With the good help of Mike and Patti (who were with us from the beginning) we not only planted PBC in the inner city but we led a church planting movement in the northeast.  Over our seven plus years in Providence we worked through our Baptist Evangelism ministry to plant many other churches throughout New England, the northeast and even as far away as Arizona and Utah.  Had it not been for the faithfulness of the Sokolls we could not have carried this work on.  I like to think that I taught Brother Mike a few things while we worked together.  He was always my faithful right hand.  Now, even after 20 years he and his wife are still there.  The work is still going, growing and being used of God to win souls.  Several were saved during this anniversary meeting under the big tent on the church property. 

During my time in New England I was also invited to preach for New Hope Baptist in Pascoag, RI and Hillside Baptist in Spencer, MA.  Both of these churches are pastored by good friends of mine.  The pastor of NHBC is Pastor George Warren.  Recently he helped us with a seminary module in Haiti.  This pastor and his church are a real blessing.  Hillside’s pastor is Ralph DiChiara.  They are nearing 20 years in Spencer.  I had the opportunity to help him when he was first starting Hillside.  We recalled going door to door to find some of the first contacts for the church.  They now have an absolutely awesome building and I believe God will bless them as they continue to serve him.  What a joy it is to serve the Lord.

Just Back From Guatemala

Actually I have been back since Monday, but things have been moving so fast that I have not had time to post anything.  I had a great time in Guatemala visiting with our young pastors, preaching in the churches and doing some leadership training.  God is good!

Tzisbaj

I was picked up at the airport by Pastor Salomon and Duglas.  Duglas had just returned to Guatemala after being in our church in Jupiter for the past 8 years.  He had sent a Ford Explorer down so he provided our transportation.  We left the airport and drove about 6 hours north to La Democracia.  It was late so we spent the night there.  The next morning we drove on to Tzisbaj.  It was great to see Edmundo again.  He had been alone since February working to forge out a work in this very hard area.  He has been meeting each week with a handful of people.  I know it had been a discouraging time but he has remained faithful to God.  We visited all day and that night over 30 first time visitors came into the service.  I preached from Acts 17 about the “unknown God”. 

The next day we again visited all day and were blessed with another great crowd.  I believe there is great hope for a wonderful work for the Lord in this place.  Brother Edmundo is a dedicated servant of the Lord. 

Xejeyup and Panacanal Dos

On Thursday we drove to Mazatenango and found a hotel.  The next morning we got up early and returned to the airport to pick up Chris and Andy from Thomas Terrace Baptist.  We traveled through Antigua and back to Mazate.  Early the next morning we traveled up to Xejeyup to begin an 8 AM leadership training.  We were just a few, but we carried on endeavoring to help prepare whoever was present.  God blessed. 

On Saturday we drove on up to Panacanal Dos and held a service in the church there.  This is the rainy season in Guatemala and we were not disappointed.  It was pouring.  Thankfully some braved the downpour and I preached on Colossians chapter 3.  On Sunday we were back in Xejeyup for 4 more hours of leadership training and their regular Sunday afternoon church service.  It poured again.  Chris said he had never seen it rain so hard.  Again some braved the elements and Chris preached on “blind Bartimaus”.  Later after we left a woman named Manuela trusted Christ. 

Please pray for the work in Guatemala and our two faithful men.  Salomon and Edmundo were both trained in our work in Florida – sent out by our church and planting churches. 

Mission Trips To Guatemala

P. S.  Plan to join us for future mission trips to Guatemala.  We have some coming up.  E-mail me at rmaggard@juno.com  Plan to join us also to help us build our first building there January 2, 2010. 

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