A Pastor's Thoughts

12-1-08

Our 4 day Men’s Bible Conference began today.  It was to start at 8:30 this morning.  Our team finished breakfast at 8:45 and Worku and I were getting up to go over for the conference.  Dave said, “Let’s pray together for the day.”  45 minutes later we were done praying.  God moved in mighty ways in our midst during that time.  Wow!  Hearts crying out to the Lord in several languages…what a great way to begin a day!  I had the joy of sharing how I came to know Jesus on 3 occasions today.  The words of the song What Would I have Done come to mind.

The Conference started well.  I was nervous and felt inadequate to teach the book of 1 Corinthians to these rural church leaders.  There were 65 men who have traveled far to be here for 4 days.  I wondered what I had to share with these men who suffer and sacrifice so much each day as they follow Jesus.  What can I tell them?  When was the last time I suffered for Him?  The Lord spoke to my heart again and reminded that He has called me for this task.  He has equipped me.  I will rest in Him.  One of the men asked why we were late starting (9:40 instead of 8:30).  He said that they are taught to think more like Ferengis (white-faced foreigners) who value time and pay attention to the clock.  I was unsure how to respond.  I told him we were praying.  I also told him that there are many things we Ferengis do that are not worth imitating.  [Looking back now, I think that exchange set the tone for the conference that I as a white man do not have the answers for the Ethiopian church or the American church, only God does]

We had 4 90-minute sessions today.  At the end of our last session one man said this book addresses exactly where there churches are.  Today we covered the first 4 chapters which deal with unity in the body.  He wanted to know how these problems should be solved and asked if we would find out by the end of the book.  I told him that every church struggles with these issues to some extent or another.  I said there is no quick fix.  The remedy I suggested is 1) Preach and Teach Jesus   2) Keep focused on Christ in everything that you do 3) Be patient & 4) Pray. I said, “this Ferengi doesn’t have the magic answer!”  We were all comforted to know that each of the 27 churches represented have the same troubles.

We closed our time today with prayer.  I love hearing these prayers in Amharic.  They express so much emotion by their diction and voice inflection.  It is a blessing to me, I wonder how special it must be to the Lord.  One last thought on prayer today.  When the conference began we had no electricity.  They have only had it in Soyama for a couple of years, but it is not guaranteed.  It has been out since Saturday afternoon and it is now Monday.  I was having trouble reading my Bible at the start.  I simply asked Jesus to help me read and make it through this time.  He did.  Less than 60 seconds later a man came in and said something to Worku.  Worku then reached up and turned on the light!  I wonder why I don’t pray simple prayers, trusting Jesus like this at home?

I love technology.  I love that I am able to share my sermons online through my blog.  I am not so thrilled that our CD recorder at church decided to malfunction this past Sunday leaving us no copy of this week’s sermon to upload onto this site.

11-30-08

We have been here for one week now and I do miss home, but, there is no other place I’d rather be right now.  I had the thought today that we are leaving in one week and I don’t want to.  I don’t want to think that I may never come back to Burji again.  It is completely in Jesus’ hands.  If He calls me to come back, I will.  If it is not in His desire for me to come back here, that’s ok too.

The worship service in the Soyama Town church was great this morning.  It was not in English (except for my sermon) but I could sense the Spirit of the Lord in mighty ways.  The offering was interesting.  Many of the 300 adults in the congregation are farmers.  They go to the town market every Saturday and sell their items.  Sometimes, nothing sells.  So after the offering was collected the Ushers came up to the front.  Some were holding bags of lemons, bags of coffee beans, bags of Teff (a grain grown in Ethiopia), and some had bags of potatoes.  They basically auctioned them off.  Not in a competing way, but they would hold up the bag and someone in the congregation would make an offer for it and they would deliver to their seat and collect the money.  It was a great picture of giving offerings to the Lord of what He has given you.  What would it be like in America if some said, “I don’t have any money to give this week.”  Maybe we could ask them to bring a pair of shoes that we could sell during church.  We often make excuses for not having something to give at church.  The Burji people truly understand sacrificing to give to the Lord.

This afternoon Matt (a pastor from Roxboro), Worku (pastor of the Soyama Church), and I went into town for a Pepsi.  We three pastors had a great time together encouraging one another and sharing our hearts about ministering to God’s people.  Worku shared that he had been into drugs heavily when he was a young teenager but the Lord got his attention when he was 15 years old.  Worku was sick in bed with Malaria for 7 months!  God used that time in his life to help him see the importance of serving Christ each day.  In the evening, some of us held an impromptu English discipleship class.  It was a great time sharing with these young people from God’s Word.

There was a great reunion tonight when Dave, Jason, and James (here is an article Dave wrote about James) returned from Gujiland.  God is doing great things there.  One lady received Christ when the Jesus film was shown the other night.  Praise the Lord for that!  Cindy, Mary, and I had the privilege again to share “our table” with part of our team.  The Clinic Team was in tonight as was the Guji Team.  The Village Team was here last night.  The 3 of us in Soyama get to share the table with a different part of the team each night as they travel through.  It really is the Lord’s Table we share.  We really have the Lord’s u each night.  No, there is no bread and wine per se, but there is food (goat), beverages (Pepsi and coffee), fellowship, rejoicing, encouraging, and talking about Jesus.  If that isn’t the Lord’s Supper, I don’t know what is!

We ended the night with a great time of prayer together.  It was in 3 different languages.  Jesus was there!  Oh how I love this place.

A couple of nights ago we were putting Katherine to bed.  She is 4.  We were reminding her to stay in her bed all night.  Somehow, a Queen sized bed gets very small when you add a 4 year-old, 2 year-old, and a 5 month-old!  She had done a good job of staying in her bed all night for the 3 previous nights.  I said to her, “Stay in your bed tonight like you’ve done the past few nights.”  She said, “Daddy, I’ve stayed in my bed 3 nights in a row.”  “Yes” I replied.  She went on to say, “I can’t stay in my bed for 4 nights in a row!”  I assured her that it was possible.  I told her that she has to take it one night at a time.  This seemed to satisfy her.

So often in our walk with Jesus we look to discipline ourselves in this manner or that.  We decide to stop certain things and start others.  Most often we are overwhelmed by the prospect of a lifelong change.  We are much like the 4 year-old that cannot stay in their bed for 4 nights!  As believers we use a different perspective.  We have to think in terms of 1 day at a time.  Instead of feeling like it is a mountain too hard to climb, let’s focus on one step at a time.  One day at a time in serving Jesus.

Katherine did manage to stay in her bed that night.  And, actually a total of 6 night in her own bed!  It isn’t so tough when you view it one day at a time.

11-29-08

I got to travel up the mountain to Koro VIllage today.  I went with the village team so that I could distribute more Bibles to those waiting to receive them.  We received such a warm greeting.  The church walked about a half-mile down the road (it wasn’t a road) from the church to meet us as we arrived.  There was singing, dancing, rejoicing, etc.  We got out of the truck and walked with them back to the church.  Every few hundred feet they would stop and break into songs of praise.  They would sing a while, then we would continue walking.  It reminded me of the Israelites bringing the Ark back into Jerusalem and they stopped every six steps to worship the Lord (2 Sam. 6)

I had the joy of meeting some great people in Koro, including this young man.  Notice his sweatshirt.

The ones who received Bibles were so excited and thankful to have their own copies of God’s Word.

I spent time this afternoon back in Soyama with Worku, my translator.  We visited his home in town.

Here is my sermon from this past Sunday, December 28th.  I am continuing in our series through Acts.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy – Acts 16:16-40

Here is my sermon from December 14th.  I have had technical troubles and haven’t been able to upload it until now.  This was the first Sunday back after my trip to Ethiopia.

Eat, Heal, Tell – Luke 10:8-9

11-28-08

I had a “free” day today.  That meant I got to visit the Clinic Team working at the Galana Clinic.  I had the joy of sharing with Molly that the Guji Team was doing well.  Her husband Jason is on the Guji Team.  After lunch I was asked if I wanted to ride in the truck to take a projector to Dave and Jason in Gujiland.  I said, “no”.  I thought about the dangers involved and wasn’t too keen on the idea.  The Lord immediately spoke to my heart and said, “you have been telling everyone the work there is good…why won’t you go?”  So, I said yes.  Emebet went along as well.

There were problems with the generator, and the Lord worked it out for Dave and Jason to have to show the Jesus Film in the center of town instead of up on the hill where the church was!  What a blessing this was!  So many more people can watch the Film.  A church Elder, who “happened” to live in the center of town and “happened” to have electricity (which was scarce in this place), “happened” to be home, and “happened” to have a way to get electricity outside to show the film on the back of his home!  It was amazing seeing this unfold.  We all knew God was doing something we just weren’t sure what.  I cannot wait to hear the report about the film.

As Emebet and I rode with Demisse back to Soyama the sun had begun to set.  When we topped the hill to where we could see Soyama and the Burji area it had already gotten dark.  We could see some lights on the hillside in the Soyama Town.  There weren’t many lights.  And way over on our right, in the midst of the darkness was a bright light shining.  It was coming from the Galana Clinic.  The Solar Project had been a success!  Emebet said, “It looks like a bright start in the darkness!”  I thought of 2 Cor. 4 where Paul says the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, but God has shown in our hearts the light of the glory of God.  That Clinic now can shine the light of Jesus into this dark place!  What an amazing ministry to be a part of!

I was in Barnes and Noble today to enjoy a cup of coffee and read a few pages of a book.  I browsed for a few minutes and found one I have wanted to read.  It is by Christopher Hitchens, the British journalist.  It was called, “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”  The girl at the coffee bar said she would ring up the book along with me coffee.  I told her, “no, I’m not buying the book, just wanting to browse through it without spilling coffee on it.”  I have a rule where I try not to purchase a book if I wouldn’t give the author money (isn’t that what libraries are for?)  She told me how good the book was and that she owned a copy of it.  I told her that I disagree with him in this book but wanted to read it anyway.  It puzzled her that I would read it if I disagreed with him.  I didn’t tell her I was a pastor or anything like that.  But I assume she thinks most Christians are brainwashed and don’t think for ourselves.  I doubt that she was reading any Christian Apologetic book, like this one.

Hitchens’ point is that God does not exist and in fact belief in God and organized religioin has done more harm than good.  I like his title, well part of the title.  If I wrote a book I might use this title myself, “God Is Great: How Religion Poisons Everything“.  I don’t agree with the title of his book, only the subtitle.  let’s look at these words.  First, Poison.  I came across this definition of poison: “a substance with an inherent property that tends to destroy life or impair health.”  Yep.  That is what religion does!  Let’s define religion, “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.”  Living based on religion does poison things.  It does “destory life or impair health”.  Here’s what I mean.  Doing acts because of your beliefs and ritual observances can and will cause problems in your life.  Religion says, “here are the rules, follow them!”  That kind of living poisons people.  If you don’t think so, ask some of the people who would champion Hitchens’ book and others like it.  Many of them (including Hitchens) were scarred early in life by organized religion.   These ritual observances that had little true value in their lives.  They come to reject those beliefs that lead to those rituals.  those rituals destroy life and impair health.

Following Jesus is another matter.  It is a relationship, not a religion.  I serve Christ because of my relationship with Him, not because of ritual.  True, some ritual things happen, but the ritual is not an end in itself.  Here’s an illustration.  I have a relationship with my wife.  I love her.  I talk with her everyday.  I kiss her everyday.  I don’t kiss her as an end in itself, I kiss her to express my love and concern for her.  No one says to a newly married person, “hug your wife, talk to your wife, kiss your wife, buy flowers on her birthday, etc.”  No one would say you are a good husband if you do those things.  But if you are a good husband you will do those things.  You resond to your wife in love because you love her.  You don’t act a certain way out of ritual.  Do you see the difference?  How would it go if I gave my wife roses on her birthday and told her I had to since I am her husband and it is her birthday?  Not very romantic.  But I give her roses and I tell her I love her and she is beautiful and speical to me.  That is a reason for roses!

Far too many things have been done in the name of religion (Hitchens uses some of them to reject the notion of religion being good and thus God existing).  But when we do things for the sake of doing them we have lost focus of Jesus.  Being a follower of Jesus is based upon a relationship with Him.  Yes, there are things that lok like rituals, prayer, Bible Reading, Church Attendance, Witnessing, etc.  But we do those things because we love Jesus, not because it is a ritual.  So religion does poison everything, but a relationship with Jesus changes everything

I heard a great sermon yesterday entitled, “How Not To Raise A Pagan”  It was preached by Al Mohler at Southeastern Seminary.  It can be accessed here.  It was a great sermon from Deuteronomy 6.  In this sermon he talked about how we teach our children about the culturally correct, socially acceptable God.  We use the Bible like a greeting card, dispensing advice in fragments when trouble strikes.  He then made this statement, “Do your children know that God kills people?”  Wow.  It is a provoking question.  My wife and I had a discussion yesterday afternoon about that idea.  Here’s the dilemma, how do we teach the children they are sinners without harming their image of themselves?

The answer we came to was to simply teach them about who God is.  Teach them the truth about the character of God.  Too often we fail to understand the level of grace in the Law of God.  He knows what is best for us, He knows what will make life go the best for us, and He gave us that in the Law.  As parents we know the rules for our children are designed for their good.  They don’t see them that way.  To the child it looks like we’re trying to take away their fun.  As adults, we know better.  Isn’t it the same with God though?  He knows what is best for us as humans and He has standards for us.  Since we aren’t as smart as God, we don’t fully understand why and how these Laws are always for our good.  We are more like the rebellious child than the wise parent.  But God is gracious in telling us how we should live.

Yes, God kills people.  We must be diligent to teach our little ones the truth about God.  We cannot simply share the story of Noah and talk only about the elephants and tigers.  We must tell them why there was a flood…God was destroying all creation.  We cannot tell them of Daniel in the lion’s den if we don’t tell them about the Israelites in Babylon for their disobedience. We cannot tell them about Baby Jesus in the Manger without telling them He had to come to redeem sinful humanity.  Yes, God kills people.  But God is a God of grace in the midst of that.