PACKING, sorting and packing some more!!! We have less than 2 weeks before boarding an airplane to YWAM in Kona, Hawaii! Our hearts are bubbling with excitement and we can hardly contain it! Yet, we are leaving behind so many valuables and favorites from movies and toys to Mimi's handmade quilts and our treasured photo albums. Most of all, its hard to leave behind our families. We love you all so dearly, yet we know God is caring for each of you in a way only He can.
The next steps are crucial as we will meet up with our destiny and purpose in missions over the next few months.
With caring for a baby and 3 children, my line of duty is sure upon child-training and guiding my little ones no matter where we are. Of course, my heart will always be with my husband in ministry, yet my first ministry is to my children.
In the next 3 months, the training phase, I will have Banner as my primary focus. I don't want to miss a single thing as his Mama. We have such a tight bond.The 3 older children will have their classes to attend. And that is very different for me, as I have taught my kids at home since they were babies. This will be their first time in a "school - classroom setting" and I know it will be an adjustment for us all. It will be uncharted waters to be separated from them. But as they are older now, I know and trust they will do good. I think I will just miss being with them. I don't know the schedule we'll have yet but I am sure we are all going to enjoy this new adventure!
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Banner Isaac is Born
Sorry we are a few weeks late to post about Banner's birth.
Banner came on his own September 26th, 2016. He weighed 7lbs11oz, and was 20.5inches long.
Thankfulness producing Joy
A happy person is an encouraging person, offering hope to those around them. Is your gratefulness and your smile catchy? When we live in such a state of contentment, no matter our circumstances, we can represent Christ and the joy of His heart, a people thankful and full of His joy!
Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Joy is not a byproduct of our success or a good cup of coffee! Joy comes from Jesus and being secure in Him alone. Sometimes taking a deep breath and quick look around us and even a lighthearted smelling of the roses is necessary to regain our joy! If I look around me I can easily find a few things that bring me a reminder that joy is eternal! The playful laughter of my kids telling "knock knock" jokes, the treasure I have in good friends, the love of my husband, and the faithful acts of a loving heavenly Father!
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
YWAM in our Hearts...
I feel like I have missed so many blogging opportunities!! What can I say? Busy seasons, babies born, moving a half a dozen times, traveling in missions..Life happened! ... and one day all these stories and blogs can probably be compiled, Lord willing, into a book of our life in missions and how good God has been in the process of the journey!
It was about 3-4 years ago that we first started making contact with the base in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. We hadn't decided on which DTS to join, as there are dozens to choose from. Although, there are only a few that accommodate families, because most are geared for young people. That made it easier for us to decide. After connecting with the leader of the Crossroads DTS, we felt a pull and peace with that particular school. It was for a more mature crowd, singles 25 and older, and families. The leaders have stayed in touch with us and have been there to pray for us and give us all the details we needed to make our decision plus encouraged us with their testimony of raising 5 kids in YWAM.
Waiting on the Lord to show us the path to take was a process. We had debt! We couldn't just up and leave with that hanging over our heads! There would be no rest on the mission field, serving full-time if we had that to worry about. We knew that working hard to get the debts paid off would have to come first. Sometimes following your dreams means doing the hard stuff first and getting it out of the way! So, that's exactly what we did! We also worked missions into our schedule and lived within a means to make that possible. It took several years of focus and prayer and trusting God to move on our behalf. He has been ever so faithful. The hard stuff doesn't just disappear when we give our lives over to Jesus. Sometimes the hard stuff becomes even more magnified as God wants to prune those unpleasant things from our lives. We then can be more free to be a blessing in God's Kingdom and give a better representation of Him.
We hope to encourage others to do the same! Start with writing down your dreams and goals! Habakkuk 2:2-4
Then the Lord answered me and said:
It was about 3-4 years ago that we first started making contact with the base in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. We hadn't decided on which DTS to join, as there are dozens to choose from. Although, there are only a few that accommodate families, because most are geared for young people. That made it easier for us to decide. After connecting with the leader of the Crossroads DTS, we felt a pull and peace with that particular school. It was for a more mature crowd, singles 25 and older, and families. The leaders have stayed in touch with us and have been there to pray for us and give us all the details we needed to make our decision plus encouraged us with their testimony of raising 5 kids in YWAM.
Waiting on the Lord to show us the path to take was a process. We had debt! We couldn't just up and leave with that hanging over our heads! There would be no rest on the mission field, serving full-time if we had that to worry about. We knew that working hard to get the debts paid off would have to come first. Sometimes following your dreams means doing the hard stuff first and getting it out of the way! So, that's exactly what we did! We also worked missions into our schedule and lived within a means to make that possible. It took several years of focus and prayer and trusting God to move on our behalf. He has been ever so faithful. The hard stuff doesn't just disappear when we give our lives over to Jesus. Sometimes the hard stuff becomes even more magnified as God wants to prune those unpleasant things from our lives. We then can be more free to be a blessing in God's Kingdom and give a better representation of Him.
We hope to encourage others to do the same! Start with writing down your dreams and goals! Habakkuk 2:2-4
Then the Lord answered me and said:
“Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
4 “Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.
Journal, post it on the fridge, proclaim it, pray over it! Write down that vision! It will give you purpose in work, in prayer, in relating to those with like-mindedness. God will stretch you to fulfill it, He will grow your faith! Endurance will be your mainstay. Keep your eye on that goal!
Without a vision the people perish. Proverbs 29:18
And Paul writes in Philippians 3:12-14...
I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
These verses encourage me that as long as I am keeping Jesus as my final and daily prize, I will no fail but I will soar on wings of faith!
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
So How Are We Getting to YWAM ?
Many people may be wondering why we are choosing to join YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and how we are able to do it financially. A little background may be necessary if you have not known us for very long but I will do my best to make this short! For most of the 11 years we have been married we have been in ministry somehow, either in church or missions. Missions has been our passion together and we have traveled to and from Mexico serving others in many ways. We have felt God pulling us in a different direction for many years and have not had the means to follow what had become a dream a few years ago. This dream seemed to lead us to a family oriented, group of missionaries, with similar passions and values. That is exactly what joining YWAM will allow us to do. Plus, so much more! The options and adventures in missions and serving others are almost endless with this organization. Since its world-wide, in over 180 countries and work in 1,100 locations. Read more about YWAM here... http://www.ywam.org/about-us/
One last note about where we will be with YWAM concerning the kids... They will have an awesome opportunity to be in their own mini-mission training school during our lecture phase of training in YWAM. Its called Foundation School, check out this link to read more about it!
http://www.uofnkona.edu/ministries/foundation-school/
So, during our last 5 years of coming and going into Mexico, Israel has worked the temporary work of outages at the nuclear plant, STP. We rented a house for a year and knew that with the cost of rent just going up, we would need to buy a house to help us get into a lower payment and out of debt eventually! Thus, freeing us up to do missions more full-time. And, we knew the house would be a special price and special place to meet our needs. With the market down here around the Bay City area being rather difficult on buyers, we knew we would need God's intervention! A large mortgage was out of the question! But we didn't need to have many repairs and put lots of money into it either. It sounded impossible to find such a deal! BUT GOD came through! As I did my research online shopping for this impossible house, up popped a foreclosure. I found I was the first to view it on the website and that it didn't even have an MLS number. I thought that was strange but the fact it was in the 25-30k price range, I called immediately about the double-wide manufactured home in Blessing, Tx. (right outside Bay City) that day! It was on 1/3 of an acre, at the end of a street with no through traffic, without a busy street nearby, which was also a prayer of mine!
Little did we know how much trouble it would be to buy this house, but we found it had title troubles and took us 8 long months and 2 contracts to finalize the sale! God worked much patience in us that year! I am so glad we didn't give up! This was the house we were looking for, as it was the perfect size and only needed some cosmetics. We put in carpet and some flooring and repaired some walls. Throughout the 3 years we lived there, Israel build a front porch and improved the looks of the land greatly! It had been a wonderful house for our children to make memories in and we were so blessed to have it for that short time. All along living there, I called it our "launching pad" - a place that would help launch us into the great unknown! It really allowed us to travel more freely to Mexico and do missions and we thank God He allowed us that time to grow together better as a family.
While we were there the value of the house doubled! God provided us the means to YWAM through selling it and making the profit that would pay for the training we desired. We hope to sow into other young people who have missions in their hearts and of course our own children in what God has for them and their future. To God be the glory for His ever-present hand throughout this journey into full-time missions. As a family of (soon to be) 6, this seems like a huge feat, but then again, we have seen God provide for many larger families who are making an impact in the foreign field!
For with God nothing is impossible! Luke 1:37
One last note about where we will be with YWAM concerning the kids... They will have an awesome opportunity to be in their own mini-mission training school during our lecture phase of training in YWAM. Its called Foundation School, check out this link to read more about it!
http://www.uofnkona.edu/ministries/foundation-school/
So, during our last 5 years of coming and going into Mexico, Israel has worked the temporary work of outages at the nuclear plant, STP. We rented a house for a year and knew that with the cost of rent just going up, we would need to buy a house to help us get into a lower payment and out of debt eventually! Thus, freeing us up to do missions more full-time. And, we knew the house would be a special price and special place to meet our needs. With the market down here around the Bay City area being rather difficult on buyers, we knew we would need God's intervention! A large mortgage was out of the question! But we didn't need to have many repairs and put lots of money into it either. It sounded impossible to find such a deal! BUT GOD came through! As I did my research online shopping for this impossible house, up popped a foreclosure. I found I was the first to view it on the website and that it didn't even have an MLS number. I thought that was strange but the fact it was in the 25-30k price range, I called immediately about the double-wide manufactured home in Blessing, Tx. (right outside Bay City) that day! It was on 1/3 of an acre, at the end of a street with no through traffic, without a busy street nearby, which was also a prayer of mine!
Little did we know how much trouble it would be to buy this house, but we found it had title troubles and took us 8 long months and 2 contracts to finalize the sale! God worked much patience in us that year! I am so glad we didn't give up! This was the house we were looking for, as it was the perfect size and only needed some cosmetics. We put in carpet and some flooring and repaired some walls. Throughout the 3 years we lived there, Israel build a front porch and improved the looks of the land greatly! It had been a wonderful house for our children to make memories in and we were so blessed to have it for that short time. All along living there, I called it our "launching pad" - a place that would help launch us into the great unknown! It really allowed us to travel more freely to Mexico and do missions and we thank God He allowed us that time to grow together better as a family.
While we were there the value of the house doubled! God provided us the means to YWAM through selling it and making the profit that would pay for the training we desired. We hope to sow into other young people who have missions in their hearts and of course our own children in what God has for them and their future. To God be the glory for His ever-present hand throughout this journey into full-time missions. As a family of (soon to be) 6, this seems like a huge feat, but then again, we have seen God provide for many larger families who are making an impact in the foreign field!
For with God nothing is impossible! Luke 1:37
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Independence Day: We Are So Free..But Are We?
Happy Independence and 4th of July!
It is something we just say but I know most of us really do feel blessed for our freedoms in our independent country. But do we take all of them and apply them to our lives? Our freedom to worship God? or freedom of speech? That could preach! What are we doing with our spare time? The time that God has given us is like a gift. Will we either waste away our lives with things that wont count in eternity, or let our lives count and try to take every chance we can to let our lives shine with the light of Jesus?
Are we truly free? Or are we bound by our own chains? Our fear of man? Fear of the unknown? Or just plain laziness and complacency? We are free to be lazy, free to never leave our houses, free to stay bound to our religion or routine and not think twice about using our resources to bless others. Because lets face it, it takes effort and time and lots of thought and maybe even some time to pray about how or who we can reach with those extra few dollars in our pockets or extra few hours we have in our week...its so much easier to let someone else do it and we are free to sit idly by and do that.
But then are we TRULY FREE? Free in Christ? Some things I have been pondering lately are about the life of Paul. The part where he states He is a slave of Christ...Wait! I thought we lived in a free country? I thought we were free to live how we wanted in this great nation! But of course Paul didn't live in our country so maybe our freedoms make us more free than Paul was? Or was Paul or his partners in the faith not talking about freedom in the natural sense? Nearly every one in the letters of the New Testament were called slaves of Christ. Some translations like to soften this word with using "bondservant" but... Paul, Peter, Epaphras, James, Timothy, Jude, and Tychicus all likened themselves as slaves. {And if you do see the word "servant" instead of "slave" in your bible, its the exact same Greek word in the original language.} Also, in Revelation 1:1 We are all addressed as Christ's slaves. Paul says that he doesnt even own his own life but belongs to Christ. That we were bought with a price - the precious blood of Christ that was shed at Calvary.
I copied a part of a sermon that I could have just re-typed in my own words, but that would take a bit of time so please read and understand more fully what it means to be a "slave of Christ."
From John MacArthur and this website: https://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/80-321/slaves-for-christ
..."Now let’s go into the Greek and Roman world of the New Testament. When we say slave, we have a rather distant somewhat detached historical revulsion to the word slave. If you think that’s a hard word for us to swallow, imagine how hard it was for those living in the midst of slavery to swallow that idea. When a pastor says to me, “How can I talk to my people about being slaves to Christ when they have in their past history the abuses of slavery?” Well if you think that’s hard, how can Jesus and the apostles of the New Testament talk to people living in the midst of a slave-dominated society, ten to twelve million slaves at that very time, about the fact that being a Christian was being a slave to Jesus Christ? There wouldn’t be any distant foggy idea of what that meant, they would know exactly what that meant, precisely what it meant.
Now remember, for Greeks, elevated people, the citizenry, freedom was the pinnacle of life. Personal dignity was attached to freedom, being a douloswas the worst, it was the opposite. Let me tell you about slaves in the Greek/Roman world. They had no freedom. They had no rights. They had no ownership of anything. They had no legal recourse in the courts. They could not give testimony as a witness in a law case. They had no citizenship. They had no possibility of doing what they wanted to do. They weren’t asked, “Say there, Mr. Slave, what would you like to do to be fulfilled?” They weren’t asked, “What do you think your purpose is? Can you dream your dream so I, your master, can fulfill it?” Bizarre. They had no choice about anything. They owned nothing. They couldn’t be citizens and they couldn’t be a part of the army, the military. They were totally dependent on whoever owned them. It doesn’t mean that it didn’t have some benefits. They were provided for, cared for, protected. In many cases, treated kindly, compassionately, loved within families. But to the Greek and the Roman philosophically and socially, freedom was the pinnacle of life. So free men had only scorn for slaves and slaves longed to be free.
By the way, we cannot find in Greek literature, and there’s a lot of religious Greek literature cause they were very religious, they had many gods as we know. Remember Mars Hill, Athens. They had statutes to gods that they didn’t even know, as well as the ones t hey thought they knew. Very, very religious, never in the religious language of that world can there be found the use of the word doulos to describe the relationship between a worshiper and his God. They used philos, friends. They were friends of God, they were not slaves of their deities. That was repugnant to them. That was repulsive to them. They loved freedom.
So the idea of coming along in that world and announcing to people that you must become a slave of Jesus Christ, was just another way to present the message to make it impossible to believe. Nobody is going to line up to become anybody’s slave. Slaves already had enough of slavery. Free men had nothing but disdain for slavery. And yet the New Testament holds back absolutely nothing. We’re called to be slaves. Now the difference between a slave and a servant is obvious...obvious. Servants were hired to work for wages. Servants were hired to work for wages and they could quit. They were paid a wage for a job. Slaves were owned and they could not quit. If they ran away, they were found, arrested, flogged and there’s all kinds of ancient writings about the flogging of slaves and worse, and sometimes...sometimes...many times, crucified publically as a demonstration to the rest of the slaves of what could happen to them if they ran away. One of the great stories of a runaway slave is the book of Philemon in the New Testament, right? In fact, the Apostle Paul encouraged Philemon when...encouraged Onesimus, the runaway slave when he met him, to go back home because that was the right thing to do and he encouraged Philemon to treat him with love, compassion, forgiveness and embrace him.
In spite of this reality of slavery, and because it is so distasteful and has been for so long, the translators of the New Testament have done everything they can to edit it out. I could only wish that if you get the opportunity, find a copy of Goodspeed’s translation. You might find one in a library, it’s not a very popular translation and obviously a translation done by one man lacks some of the richness of one that’s done by a collection of men who can kind of bounce off each other. But you’ll find it very interesting. The Apostle Paul, for example, did not see himself, as one writer puts it, as the great founder of Christianity. He did not see himself that way. He saw himself as the slave of God and he slave of Christ. Let me just help you to see this the best I can, and we’re limited because of the translation of the NAS, but look at Romans 1:1. It’s almost as if the translators choke on the word slave and they just do anything to replace it. So in Romans 1:1 it’s Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus. It’s actually the word doulos, a slave of Christ Jesus. That was his formal introduction, a slave of Christ Jesus. Happily so, Philippians chapter 1 verse 1, he includes Timothy, “Paul and Timothy,” and again the NAS is bondservants, the Greek is slaves of Christ Jesus. Back in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 10, Paul says it again, the end of the verse, he says, “If I was trying to please men, I would not be a slave of Christ.” Now he understood what slavery meant. “I only do what pleases my master.” This is the singular focus of being a slave. You don’t have to please a lot of people, you just please one. That metaphor is critical to understanding our relationship to the Lord. If we’re going to talk about a personal relationship to Christ and to God, then our personal relationship is we are slaves. That’s the best way to define that relationship. And Paul here tells us it means that we only please Him. He says to the Corinthians, “I have as my ambition to be pleasing to Him.”
It came down to this, do what He says and do what pleases Him. It’s that simple. That’s what a slave did. Really only two possibilities, where there was a direct command, you obeyed it. Where there was not a direct command, you found a way to do what would please the master. You obeyed him and you pleased him. In his letter to Titus, again introducing himself in Titus chapter 1, he says, “Paul, a slave of God.” He is a slave of God, he is a slave of Christ. He’s not alone, look at James...James, a slave of God...and I love this...and of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is James, the half brother of Jesus. He’s not trying to elevate himself, he doesn’t say, “I’m James the half-brother of Jesus.” He says, “I am James, a slave of God and a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
That, of course, is why over in chapter 4 and verse 13 he says these familiar words, “Come now, you who say today or tomorrow we’ll go in to such-a-such a city, spend a year there, engage in business, make a prophet, yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow, you’re just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills we shall live and do this, or that.” That’s slave talk. That’s what it means to be subject to an alien will. Jude, the same thing. “Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ.”
Now, when you’re coming to James and Jude and the Apostle Paul and we could include our beloved Peter, 2 Peter 1, Simon Peter, a slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ, you’re talking about the elite. You’re talking about those at the top of the spiritual list and they happily and gladly and joyfully identified themselves as slaves of Christ and slaves of God.
Just a couple of other illustrations. Colossians 1:7 mentions Epaphras and then the NAS says, “Our beloved fellow bondservant.” It is in the Greek our sundoulos, our fellow slave, Epaphras. Further in chapter 4 verse 12, “Epaphras who is one of your number, a slave of Jesus Christ.” They not only were willing to take to themselves the title of being a slave, but they conferred it upon the most noble of other believers.
In 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 24, Paul is writing to Timothy and he’s writing about how pastors ought to conduct themselves and how they ought to minister in the church and serve in the church. And he says, in 2 timothy 2:24, “The Lord’s slave must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition that perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth.” Here those who teach and lead the church are identified as slaves. This is not some reference to the low-level of believers. What I’m trying to tell you is, the Apostles took this identification to themselves. The most noble authors of the New Testament took this signification to themselves. They conferred it upon the noblest of their brotherhood and they so labeled those who following them would be the leaders of the church. We are slaves of God and slaves of Jesus Christ."....
This sermon goes on to talk about how we are called slaves as well in Revelation 1:1...
He also goes in to describe why its so wonderful to be Christ's slave! We look to Him as Lord of all we are and everything we do! We do nothing without His orders or the intent to please Him! And in this He calls us His sons and daughters, His heirs. He promises an eternal life with Him where there is no more sorrow or pain - where we get to be with Him forever.
But are we willing to set aside our own wills, plans, and hopes for this life on earth? Are we willing to put away our citizenship here and trust that God has a bigger plan for us as our Master? Is He truly the Lord of your life today? We are free, but we are, at the same time, slaves of Christ.
Blessings to you my {sundoulos} fellow slaves...
LB
It is something we just say but I know most of us really do feel blessed for our freedoms in our independent country. But do we take all of them and apply them to our lives? Our freedom to worship God? or freedom of speech? That could preach! What are we doing with our spare time? The time that God has given us is like a gift. Will we either waste away our lives with things that wont count in eternity, or let our lives count and try to take every chance we can to let our lives shine with the light of Jesus?
Are we truly free? Or are we bound by our own chains? Our fear of man? Fear of the unknown? Or just plain laziness and complacency? We are free to be lazy, free to never leave our houses, free to stay bound to our religion or routine and not think twice about using our resources to bless others. Because lets face it, it takes effort and time and lots of thought and maybe even some time to pray about how or who we can reach with those extra few dollars in our pockets or extra few hours we have in our week...its so much easier to let someone else do it and we are free to sit idly by and do that.
But then are we TRULY FREE? Free in Christ? Some things I have been pondering lately are about the life of Paul. The part where he states He is a slave of Christ...Wait! I thought we lived in a free country? I thought we were free to live how we wanted in this great nation! But of course Paul didn't live in our country so maybe our freedoms make us more free than Paul was? Or was Paul or his partners in the faith not talking about freedom in the natural sense? Nearly every one in the letters of the New Testament were called slaves of Christ. Some translations like to soften this word with using "bondservant" but... Paul, Peter, Epaphras, James, Timothy, Jude, and Tychicus all likened themselves as slaves. {And if you do see the word "servant" instead of "slave" in your bible, its the exact same Greek word in the original language.} Also, in Revelation 1:1 We are all addressed as Christ's slaves. Paul says that he doesnt even own his own life but belongs to Christ. That we were bought with a price - the precious blood of Christ that was shed at Calvary.
I copied a part of a sermon that I could have just re-typed in my own words, but that would take a bit of time so please read and understand more fully what it means to be a "slave of Christ."
From John MacArthur and this website: https://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/80-321/slaves-for-christ
..."Now let’s go into the Greek and Roman world of the New Testament. When we say slave, we have a rather distant somewhat detached historical revulsion to the word slave. If you think that’s a hard word for us to swallow, imagine how hard it was for those living in the midst of slavery to swallow that idea. When a pastor says to me, “How can I talk to my people about being slaves to Christ when they have in their past history the abuses of slavery?” Well if you think that’s hard, how can Jesus and the apostles of the New Testament talk to people living in the midst of a slave-dominated society, ten to twelve million slaves at that very time, about the fact that being a Christian was being a slave to Jesus Christ? There wouldn’t be any distant foggy idea of what that meant, they would know exactly what that meant, precisely what it meant.
Now remember, for Greeks, elevated people, the citizenry, freedom was the pinnacle of life. Personal dignity was attached to freedom, being a douloswas the worst, it was the opposite. Let me tell you about slaves in the Greek/Roman world. They had no freedom. They had no rights. They had no ownership of anything. They had no legal recourse in the courts. They could not give testimony as a witness in a law case. They had no citizenship. They had no possibility of doing what they wanted to do. They weren’t asked, “Say there, Mr. Slave, what would you like to do to be fulfilled?” They weren’t asked, “What do you think your purpose is? Can you dream your dream so I, your master, can fulfill it?” Bizarre. They had no choice about anything. They owned nothing. They couldn’t be citizens and they couldn’t be a part of the army, the military. They were totally dependent on whoever owned them. It doesn’t mean that it didn’t have some benefits. They were provided for, cared for, protected. In many cases, treated kindly, compassionately, loved within families. But to the Greek and the Roman philosophically and socially, freedom was the pinnacle of life. So free men had only scorn for slaves and slaves longed to be free.
By the way, we cannot find in Greek literature, and there’s a lot of religious Greek literature cause they were very religious, they had many gods as we know. Remember Mars Hill, Athens. They had statutes to gods that they didn’t even know, as well as the ones t hey thought they knew. Very, very religious, never in the religious language of that world can there be found the use of the word doulos to describe the relationship between a worshiper and his God. They used philos, friends. They were friends of God, they were not slaves of their deities. That was repugnant to them. That was repulsive to them. They loved freedom.
So the idea of coming along in that world and announcing to people that you must become a slave of Jesus Christ, was just another way to present the message to make it impossible to believe. Nobody is going to line up to become anybody’s slave. Slaves already had enough of slavery. Free men had nothing but disdain for slavery. And yet the New Testament holds back absolutely nothing. We’re called to be slaves. Now the difference between a slave and a servant is obvious...obvious. Servants were hired to work for wages. Servants were hired to work for wages and they could quit. They were paid a wage for a job. Slaves were owned and they could not quit. If they ran away, they were found, arrested, flogged and there’s all kinds of ancient writings about the flogging of slaves and worse, and sometimes...sometimes...many times, crucified publically as a demonstration to the rest of the slaves of what could happen to them if they ran away. One of the great stories of a runaway slave is the book of Philemon in the New Testament, right? In fact, the Apostle Paul encouraged Philemon when...encouraged Onesimus, the runaway slave when he met him, to go back home because that was the right thing to do and he encouraged Philemon to treat him with love, compassion, forgiveness and embrace him.
In spite of this reality of slavery, and because it is so distasteful and has been for so long, the translators of the New Testament have done everything they can to edit it out. I could only wish that if you get the opportunity, find a copy of Goodspeed’s translation. You might find one in a library, it’s not a very popular translation and obviously a translation done by one man lacks some of the richness of one that’s done by a collection of men who can kind of bounce off each other. But you’ll find it very interesting. The Apostle Paul, for example, did not see himself, as one writer puts it, as the great founder of Christianity. He did not see himself that way. He saw himself as the slave of God and he slave of Christ. Let me just help you to see this the best I can, and we’re limited because of the translation of the NAS, but look at Romans 1:1. It’s almost as if the translators choke on the word slave and they just do anything to replace it. So in Romans 1:1 it’s Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus. It’s actually the word doulos, a slave of Christ Jesus. That was his formal introduction, a slave of Christ Jesus. Happily so, Philippians chapter 1 verse 1, he includes Timothy, “Paul and Timothy,” and again the NAS is bondservants, the Greek is slaves of Christ Jesus. Back in Galatians chapter 1 and verse 10, Paul says it again, the end of the verse, he says, “If I was trying to please men, I would not be a slave of Christ.” Now he understood what slavery meant. “I only do what pleases my master.” This is the singular focus of being a slave. You don’t have to please a lot of people, you just please one. That metaphor is critical to understanding our relationship to the Lord. If we’re going to talk about a personal relationship to Christ and to God, then our personal relationship is we are slaves. That’s the best way to define that relationship. And Paul here tells us it means that we only please Him. He says to the Corinthians, “I have as my ambition to be pleasing to Him.”
It came down to this, do what He says and do what pleases Him. It’s that simple. That’s what a slave did. Really only two possibilities, where there was a direct command, you obeyed it. Where there was not a direct command, you found a way to do what would please the master. You obeyed him and you pleased him. In his letter to Titus, again introducing himself in Titus chapter 1, he says, “Paul, a slave of God.” He is a slave of God, he is a slave of Christ. He’s not alone, look at James...James, a slave of God...and I love this...and of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is James, the half brother of Jesus. He’s not trying to elevate himself, he doesn’t say, “I’m James the half-brother of Jesus.” He says, “I am James, a slave of God and a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
That, of course, is why over in chapter 4 and verse 13 he says these familiar words, “Come now, you who say today or tomorrow we’ll go in to such-a-such a city, spend a year there, engage in business, make a prophet, yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow, you’re just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills we shall live and do this, or that.” That’s slave talk. That’s what it means to be subject to an alien will. Jude, the same thing. “Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ.”
Now, when you’re coming to James and Jude and the Apostle Paul and we could include our beloved Peter, 2 Peter 1, Simon Peter, a slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ, you’re talking about the elite. You’re talking about those at the top of the spiritual list and they happily and gladly and joyfully identified themselves as slaves of Christ and slaves of God.
Just a couple of other illustrations. Colossians 1:7 mentions Epaphras and then the NAS says, “Our beloved fellow bondservant.” It is in the Greek our sundoulos, our fellow slave, Epaphras. Further in chapter 4 verse 12, “Epaphras who is one of your number, a slave of Jesus Christ.” They not only were willing to take to themselves the title of being a slave, but they conferred it upon the most noble of other believers.
In 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 24, Paul is writing to Timothy and he’s writing about how pastors ought to conduct themselves and how they ought to minister in the church and serve in the church. And he says, in 2 timothy 2:24, “The Lord’s slave must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition that perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth.” Here those who teach and lead the church are identified as slaves. This is not some reference to the low-level of believers. What I’m trying to tell you is, the Apostles took this identification to themselves. The most noble authors of the New Testament took this signification to themselves. They conferred it upon the noblest of their brotherhood and they so labeled those who following them would be the leaders of the church. We are slaves of God and slaves of Jesus Christ."....
This sermon goes on to talk about how we are called slaves as well in Revelation 1:1...
He also goes in to describe why its so wonderful to be Christ's slave! We look to Him as Lord of all we are and everything we do! We do nothing without His orders or the intent to please Him! And in this He calls us His sons and daughters, His heirs. He promises an eternal life with Him where there is no more sorrow or pain - where we get to be with Him forever.
But are we willing to set aside our own wills, plans, and hopes for this life on earth? Are we willing to put away our citizenship here and trust that God has a bigger plan for us as our Master? Is He truly the Lord of your life today? We are free, but we are, at the same time, slaves of Christ.
Blessings to you my {sundoulos} fellow slaves...
LB
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
The Dorm in Diez
It has been so long since a post! So much has happened in the last year! Id love to post a summary but if you have kept up with us on Facebook you are pretty well caught up!
That dorm went up and its as cute as a gingerbread house! We have showed the kids movies in it with our movie equipment and also it now has electricity and has been painted! It will be a great ministry tool for sure!
That dorm went up and its as cute as a gingerbread house! We have showed the kids movies in it with our movie equipment and also it now has electricity and has been painted! It will be a great ministry tool for sure!
We are now working on a website that this blog will be linked to! It has taken many long hours but its up! Check it out at: www.go4missions.com
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