Missions

Hello everyone, I've been back in Cambodia for three months now. A lot has changed for the team, as well as for me personally. The Elephant English School has been temporarily closed due to lack of resources. It is our goal to have it back up and running as soon as possible, but at the moment we don't have a time frame. Currently our team is focusing on strengthening the core. In other words, we are focusing our time and energy into laying a strong Godly foundation at Heritage House as well as discipling local church leadership. My role in all of this is mostly that of an enabler. I spend most of my time, tutoring math and science (I also guest lecture in literature and social studies classes), cutting grass, running errands, teaching English at Heritage House, as well as teaching a martial arts class to some of the older christian boys in the city. I have found that the best way for me to serve orphans, and to reveal Jesus to this city, is as through humble service to the team with enthusiasm and compassion.

I have spoken to so many people who have the idea that the mission field is one gigantic church planting party, where church all-stars go to really serve Jesus. And ultimately, churches do get planted, and Jesus is glorified. However, the majority of the day to day life of a person on the mission field wont look that much different than a day to day life of a christian in the United States. In fact, I have found that I need to spend more time on the day to day life things here than I had to in the states. We have to grind beef with a butcher knife since there is no meat processor, we have to constantly chase rats out of the house. We have to dust and dust and dust from the dirty air in the dry season. And the HEAT! Oh, words cannot describe. It wears you down, and runs you ragged. By the time that all is said and done, the ministry opportunities that a person has here are the same ones you would have in the states. If I go out to eat, do I ask my waiter if he knows about Jesus? If I make a new friend in the city, do I give him a gospel track and follow up with him about it? Ultimately missions work is simply living a christian life, becoming formed into the likeness of Christ and sharing Him with all you meet.

If you are a Christian, no matter where you live, then it means that Jesus is important to you, that you are unashamed of Him, and that you recognize that without Him, each person that you meet could find themselves in hell before the sun rises again. So here is a challenge from a "missionary in the field" to the Christians at home. Love your God, and Love your neighbor. You don't have to live in a foreign country to share Jesus with someone. In fact, I have more of an excuse because I don't even speak the language!

In John Chapter 4 Jesus spoke to his disciples saying:

"I have food to eat that you do not know about."

So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?"

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

Here we find Jesus speaking about the how important the will of the Father was to him. It was His very means of substance. It was the food that satisfied his hunger. Do you have a hunger for the will of God in your life? Our flesh so often tries to fill the hunger, but it never satisfies. What really strikes me out of this passage is that Jesus asked His followers to stop trying to reason things out and to lift up their eyes. Right then and right there! He did not say, go to such and such a place and look upon the fields, and He made a very clear point of the timing not being far off but that the time is now. Church, lift up your eyes! Look around you! Do not say that the harvest is four months away during your annual out-reach-athon. Lift up your eyes and SEE! See that the fields are white for the harvest!

One last thing, Jesus says, one sows and another reaps. There are two roles here. How often do you find yourself driving by fields of crops and see lines of workers on the sidelines, watching a few workers do it all? One sows and another reaps, there isn't one who watches. The only people watching is the world, and they are on the outside looking in. Don't think they aren't watching you. The world watches the Church closely. Let's get to work! Let's get our hands dirty! Let's serve one another, so that we too can join in the rejoicing of the harvest, as the sower and the reaper united by a glorious celebration.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

-1 Thessalonians 5:12-24

Your Grace is Enough

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Your Grace, your sweet sweet, beautiful grace that courses through me has no end. There is no bottom to the depths; there is no cap to its height. The rivers of grace through my life do not find themselves poured into a stagnant pool, but rather into great seas and oceans that rise and rise with the tides of your revelation that surge through me. What did I do to deserve this? Nothing! Not one thing! You did it all! Your grace knows no bounds, when I look upon the innumerable sins that rightfully should have convicted me to death upon death, I find the magnitude of them dwarfed by your infinite grace. When I look to the heavens, your pure, glorious, magnificent heavens, I see your grace reaching past the farthest reaches of my eye. I am risen up to great heights upon the wings of your grace. Should I try to flap my arms, I’d only slow us down. I will hold still and let you move me. Let you push me, let you pull me, let you carry me to the highest height and past the furthest horizon. Your outstretched arm holds me delicately yet firmly. What in life is there except You? Riches? They don’t compare to your splendor! Fame? What fame satisfies like the glory of my King? Respect? I have found nothing truly good apart from you! I am abundantly satisfied with your grace. It truly is sufficient for me! Bring all that you would have come my way, for the glory of your Name I will press through them in your unfailing strength. I am enabled, empowered, and encouraged through your unconditional grace that has been poured out upon me at such great a price as I will never be able to begin to repay.

Let everything that has breath....

Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!

Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

-Psalm 150:3-6

Oh my King, do you hear it? Sweet music…I hear the wellsprings of music rising from the streets, from the market places, even from the homes of this city. Oh this city placed upon a hill, for all to see. The sweet undulating sounds of tunes and rhythms bounding over the hills and passing across the vast fields where the farmers backs bend over a harvest that has come to it’s great day of reaping. Let these tunes remind them of the hot dry days spent sowing and watering, where no green could be seen, and the days of slowly moving down one row after another pulling weeds out from their deep roots. Their long toil has paid off, may they rejoice with a dance, and a song of victory, for they have overcome the heat, the labor, and even the time that held them back from their long hoped for harvest. There will be a celebration tonight, and You, my King and my God, will be the guest of honor! May your Spirit fill the streets with the rhythm of your heart, and may you put a tune in the hearts of the people, and a rhythm in the very gut of the youngest all they way to the oldest. There will be a great rejoicing, For you are WORTHY!!!!

Guard your heart

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23

My Lord, My King, You have graciously laid the foundations of this city. You have instructed me in how to construct walls to defend against the Enemy. You have given me a law by which to guide the daily actions, and the future of this city. But the enemy is clever and persistent, and he has encroached upon this city where I have allowed the guards to become lax. Oh Lord, open my eyes to see the gateways into this city of my life. Lord help me to keep those gates shut, and teach me how to stand watch along the walls of my heart that I may not fall victim to the enemy. Help my heart stand watch for where the enemy has set up shop, where he has even placed himself on the high council of my heart. Let your angels banish him and his darkness from every corner and crack of my life. Send your angels through every alley of my mind with the name of Jesus on their lips. Oh that the darkness would flee from within me, Oh Lord teach me to stand as a sentry at every gate that enters into me. The enemy is afoot. He is strong, he is clever, he has sacked many lives. Even men stronger much stronger than myself have fallen victim to his wicked schemes. Oh lord, no gate is too small to keep an ever watchful eye upon. Quick let us double the guards. The enemy will surely strike soon, now that he has been driven from within. Satan is a cheapskate. He swaps the fine linen you have clothed me with for filthy rags and rotten wool. The stench is unbearable. He swaps my water source for used oil and pond scum, he sells me these things in the market of my heart, and I pay a high price for these foreign commodities. Oh lord, I have been a fool. Let not these things continue to foul up my life. Let your banner of Love once more fly high above my city. I desire once again to see your foot prints in the streets of my life. To hear your voice in the market place, and in the galley. To hear your laughter in the fields, and to hear your counsel and truth in the high court of my life. Teach my army how to stand guard, how to keep watch, how to sound the alarm. Teach them how to shoot their arrows at the enemy far off. Teach them how to hold him off with long spears. Lord teach my army how to wield the sword that they may hold the lines and not allow the enemy to advance into this city. Lord teach them the dagger for when the enemy attempts to surprise us at the gates as a poor and weak beggar that seems to pose no threat. Lord, sharpen their eyes and senses, that they will be able to pierce through deception. Oh Lord, teach them hand to hand combat so they will fight tooth and nail to protect that which you have so graciously delivered. Oh lord, I stand in faith and claim this city as something worthy of saving, worthy of protecting, and worthy of enlarging. Not because of what it is, but because of the blood that was shed atop this city. It is Your blood, Jesus that flows in these streets. A great price was paid for this city, Oh my God, let it not go to waste. Redeem this life from the pit. Oh lord, I render this throne to the true King. I am no king, the world around me calls me king, and I have done nothing to correct them. Lord, show me my place in this life. If it is crawling on the ground in rags, then Lord help me to do that with faithfulness. If it is at your right hand, then teach me what I need to know, for folly is bound up deeply within me and longs horribly to be poured out in all that I do. So lord, reveal to me your truth, your wisdom, your Love! Lord teach me how to honor YOU. Strengthen me, teach me, love me. I am in need of your grace! This message is in earnest. Come quickly to deliver your servant.

Forgotten flood gates, buried deep beneath this city have long been thought to have run dry. Much of this city has even forgotten of their very existence. Their only mention are in musings and stories of lore and myth. Oh my God, release the flow of that precious water once again. The lands of this city have run dry. There are cracks and dry stones that have become ever present landmarks in the river beds of my soul. Let the waters rise up, let them retake the land that they once ruled over. Let the tides once again ebb and flow with the beat of your living heart. Let the current keep flowing, pushing the soot into the far reaches of this land. Oh lord, bring your fertile touch to the vegetation of this land. Teach the farmers to once again learn the tools of their trade. Reclaim this barren land. Let you touch bring fruit to the branches of these trees. Lord, enter into your temple. Break the hinges that have been rusted shut. Let a fresh breeze once again flow into the inner chambers of its rooms. Go into the scroll rooms, and break the seals on a fresh revelation. Speak it into my life, may your words echo through the streets. May the understanding of the revelation be applied to the men of every trade within this city. Thank you for your truth, for your life, for you ways. Thank you for the blood cleans and protects this city. Thank you for you Love and your Grace.

A city upon a hill

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14

Truly my life is like a city set upon a hill. The paths of my heart and my mind intertwine throughout. It's beauty is majestic and it's foundations are deep and wide. The Great Founder himself christened this city and called it a gift from his very self. This city is where I dwell. In fact, this city is has been placed under my care, by the High King. This city, once was but a shack of timbers and trash, and a wretch of a fool sat upon a pretend throne and claimed himself to be the supreme ruler of these lands.... I was that fool...That shack was once my heart, but one day, a True king came and made himself known to me. His father was the true Landlord of all the world, but I refused to recognize him. So a great wrath was turned against me because of my folly. The price to be paid was death. And a great fear came upon me as I realized the truth of my situation. But what was there to be done? The Great Ruler was not only powerful, but He was Just. The truth had brought a holy fear into my life, and that fear drove my folly away. Humility began to arise, as my pride was stripped away. But still, nothing I could think to do would have removed the great and righteous wrath that set upon me. Then the greatest, most beautiful, and most scandalous event known to man took place. The True King, at the command of His father, stepped down from his great throne in the heavens and set his foot upon my land. What was I to do, wouldn't the very soil of this corrupt land defile the smallest toe of this High King? I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He came to me and simply asked if he could join me for dinner. Despite being shocked at these turn of events I managed to answer him with a yes, and ran to my castle, though really it was but a shack, and ran around wildly to prepare for this guest. I began throwing things this way and that, boxing up junk and throwing it in the corners, and I even found one and a half clean plates on which to eat. When the King came to the door, I feared what he would see. I quickly pushed all the unsightly things into the back room, with the plan to keep my guest in the front. As He came in, He simply smiled. As I think back upon that day, find myself in wonder as to how he had not walked out in disgust. I was but a wallowing fool in a sorry excuse for a shack. After we ate the King began to talk of the workings of His Kingdom. All that he said amazed me with its beauty and simplicity. Things were not complicated here, and the more I began to see that, I was at even more at a loss because it became more and more clear that there was no hope for a stubborn and foolish wretch as myself.

Then the King began to speak of himself, and His purpose in meeting with me on that day. He spoke in depth of my disobedience, and the price it would cost me as the offender. Then he proposed the most shocking and glorious news I have ever heard. He said His Father had asked Him to pay for my offence on my behalf. I found myself not happy to be set free, but drowned in sorrow, for I had come to love this man who had joined me for dinner. My heart was being tugged in many directions, but the King said he would pay the price as the offender whether or not I was willing to accept. It was not my decision to kill him, but it was my decision whether or not to make his death meaningful to me and to all who knew me. I accepted....I was set free, and He was killed

But death could not keep my King. He has risen, and He came knocking upon my door. This time, not to join me as a guest, but to reside within the very walls of my city, my home. Within the very bones of my body, within the walls of my heart. To walk through the paths of my mind, and to fellowship with those who I engage. He is my hope, my salvation, my King. King Jesus