The Humility of Christ

This past week Christopher Hitchens, a prominent atheist, died of cancer at the age of 62. Many people prayed for him but he told them to not waste their time. He stated there would be no death bed conversion at least while he was conscious.

In an article in the Christian Post, Sep 07, 2010, it reported:

With less than two weeks before “Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day,” cancer-stricken Christopher Hitchens is encouraging believers to hold off on praying for him.

“I don’t mean to be churlish about any kind intentions, but when September 20 comes, please do not trouble deaf heaven with your bootless cries,” the atheist author wrote in a first-person article for Vanity Fair’s October 2010 issue.

“Unless, of course, it makes you feel better,” he added, echoing a past comment.

For Hitchens there was not enough proof to convince him that God exits and that Jesus was anything more than a mere man.

It is sad to read about his death but even more tragic that he never knew the love of God that was demonstrated in sending of His Son Jesus to the earth. I am sure that Hitchens heard more about God than the average person as he debated many people and wrote many books against belief in God. He died in unbelief having had many opportunities to hear the truth of the gospel. God has given man a free will because he does not want to force us to love him but make a choice to love Him. There is no freedom if we have no choices. Though Hitchens made the wrong choices about his beliefs in God, he was free to make them and was willing to accept the consequences of his beliefs.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, I cannot help but think of the humility of Christ, who left the glory and splendor of heaven to come to earth. Nothing we could ever do to change our living conditions could ever compare to what Christ did in humbling himself to come to earth. As bad as slums of India or Haiti are to live in after you have lived in a beautiful home cannot compare to the change in conditions that Jesus was willing to accept in becoming a human being. No other religion has a god who humbles himself to become a man like Jesus did.

His birthing room was a far cry from what most people experienced even during the time of his birth. A dirty manger filled with animal excrement and strong unpleasant odors was not a place for a King to be born. When Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to her son who would become King James, she gave birth to him in a room that had gold all over the ceiling. There were security guards in the room to ensure that the baby would not be taken and exchanged for another baby. The royal lineage had to be preserved and given special treatment. Yet Christ who was destined to the King Eternal was not afforded anything more than a filthy manger for his birth.

His first visitors were not people of royalty or of any importance in the eyes of the world. They were lowly shepherds, people who were despised for their occupation and would probably have been an embarrassment for anyone if they appeared unannounced and uninvited to visit. Yet God valued them and sent the angel to them to be the first to hear of the birth of the Savior of the world. They were thrilled to be visited by an angel and have the opportunity to see the long awaited Messiah. Can you image how they must have felt when they came to the manger and no one but them was there to celebrate the birth. Perhaps it may have seemed odd to them but also what an honor it was for them to be invited to see the King. God exalts the humble and humbles those who want to be exalted and are full of pride. We have to come to God in humility just as he humbled himself. We come to him on his terms, not demanding that he meet our terms before we will accept him. Those who are proud and will not humble themselves will never know God. The humble shepherds believed the message of the angel, they did not ask for more proof before they would believe. They were rewarded for their faith and obedience by being the first to see Jesus. God honors humility, faith and obedience. The proud will never be able to know and enjoy a relationship with God because they are demanding something of him that he is not obligated to give. God has already revealed himself in creation, He has revealed himself in Christ and now we have his written word that also reveals his nature, character, his works, his ways and his plan of salvation for all who will believe. Christ is alive today, seated at the right hand of God and he is alive in his people who have accepted his sacrifice for sins and given him Lordship of their lives. We who believe are now his ambassadors because Christ now dwells in us. We also are God’s messengers to the world.

The humble God after his birth had to flee with his parents to Egypt to spare his life. He was an exile and immigrant and was forced to live in a foreign country for two years before it was safe for him to return. Though he was just a toddler, he was still God in the flesh. How odd for God to flee for his life. The Creator of the Universe and all of life to have to be running for safety! Again we see the humility of God. He could have zapped Herod and taken him out to spare his Son but he chose to allow him to become an immigrant. I am not sure how they were received as extranjeros in Egypt but there were thousands of Jews living in the country and they must have found people to live with and help them make the adjustments to life in another country.

The humble God grew up in a humble home with his earthly father working as a carpenter. No one would ever suspect him of being anything or anyone important based on the status of his father Joseph. One would think that a future King and Messiah would have at least been born into a family whose father was a priest of religious leader of the Jews. God humbled himself by being raised in a common and ordinary family so as to not draw attention to himself.

When Jesus embarked on his ministry, his own family did not understand him. Neither did the public recognize him as anything other than the “son of Mary” which was a term given to a child who did not know who his father was. How humiliating it must have been for Jesus to be labeled in this way. Jesus humbled himself and submitted to his Father in everything he did. His teaching were not his own but what his Father had revealed to him. He lived a very humble life, not even having a place to lay his head. He endured the mocking of the religious leaders, was falsely accused and unfairly tried and sentenced to death. He was beaten beyond recognition and stripped naked as he hung on a cross that was a form of punishment reserved for the worst criminals. How much more could one be humbled than what Jesus experienced?

Why did God chose to come to earth in great humility? I believe he came this way to show us the depth of his love for us and his willingness to stoop to the lowest level to reach every person of every social and economic status. No one can accuse God of being a respecter of persons, one who is prejudiced against one group or another, one who is not concerned about all people. He came in humility to show us as well how we also must come to him. His humility is the example we must be willing to follow if we want to come to him on his terms. Pride is the sin that caused Lucifer to rebel against God and be thrown out of heaven. Pride is the sin that will keep us from receiving Christ as Lord and Savior. Those who reject him do so in pride, believing that they know more or are too proud to submit themselves to the truth that God has revealed to them. They will be without excuse on judgment day, there will be ample evidence against them but the greatest evidence will be the appearing of Christ himself. Every knee will bow before him but for many it will be too late.

No one but God knows the eternal destiny of Christopher Hitchens. We would hope that before he died he had an opportunity to repent and be forgiven. God’s desire is that today be the day of salvation for all who are willing to humble themselves and confess that Jesus is Lord. He does not want any to perish to eternal hell but has given man the freedom to accept or reject his Son.

God will not always strive with an unbelieving person. There will come a day when there will be no more opportunity for repentance. A friend of mine is a pastor and one night he received a call from a lady who needed prayer. It was 11 p.m. but he and his wife traveled for 25 minutes in their car to visit and pray for her. The husband of the lady was a witch doctor and had caused many problems in the family. As the pastor was praying for the lady, the Lord spoke to him in his native language and told him to tell her husband that today was the day he needed to repent and reconcile his relationship with God. The pastor communicated this message to the witch doctor but it did not faze him. He refused to surrender his life to Christ and be reconciled to God. The pastor and his wife continued to pray for him and his wife for a while longer. The Lord again spoke to the pastor and told him that this would be his last opportunity to reconcile with God. If he did not do it, he would die that night. The pastor again told the husband this message and told him that he needed to prepare his family for his death if he refused to repent of his sin. This man again refused to humble himself and repent. The pastor prayed some more for him and then the Lord told him he had done what he asked him to do and he could return home with his wife. On his way home he received a phone call from the wife and she told him that her husband was dead.

God will not be mocked. Those who defiantly reject him and side with the devil as this witch doctor had done will be judged. Yet God in his mercy sent the pastor to share the gospel and give the warnings. He did not have to do this but because of his love he sent the pastor to share the message. If you are one who has constantly rejected the gospel message, please take note of this story and realize that you too are on a road that will lead to death and judgment which will result in eternally living in a place that was created for Satan and the fallen angels. It will not be a pleasant place but will be one of torment. Jesus spoke very clearly about hell and what it will be like. You may not want to believe that such a place exists but it does not negate the fact that it does exist and it will be your final destination.

We have been created by God for the purpose of bringing glory to him. He is a holy God and sin cannot be in his presence. Sin entered the world through the decision of Adam and Eve to believe a lie of the devil and every human being has made the same decision and is guilty of sinning against God. But God in his great love for us, sent Jesus to take care of the sin problem and make possible a way for us to be reconciled to him and be able to enjoy an intimate and eternal relationship with God. If we reject what God has done for us, how he humbled himself to become a man to die for us and be the sacrifice for our sin, the only just judgment against us is to be rejected by God because we have rejected Him. This is not God’s desire but it is the consequence that we will face if we reject him because of our pride.

Don’t waste another minute of your life living for yourself, rejecting Jesus because of your pride. Humble yourself under the hand of God and he will exalt you. He will save you from your sin and give you a life that will be filled with his presence, his joy, his love, his mercy and his grace. What will you gain by holding on to your beliefs? What benefit will you receive that can compare to what God has prepared for those who love him? Rejecting God is your choice but when you realize what you are accepting and what you will not be receiving, to me it is a very foolish and selfish choice. Jesus said this, “What will a man gain if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul.” What will you give in exchange for your soul? Money, fame, success, drugs, sex, position, power? These will all pass away and all you will have left after you leave this earth is your soul that you exchanged for temporal things rather than eternal things. In the end, the truth will be revealed to those who rejected it and they will go to the place of their choosing to spend eternity living as they lived life on earth, separated from a God who loved them and desired only the best for them.

The Jesus I never knew

Phillip Yancey has written a book entitled, “The Jesus I never knew.”

There are many people who have a wrong understanding of who Jesus is and as a result have rejected him or are not surrendering their lives to him but are following after their own desires. I was reading the Revelation of Jesus Christ written by the Apostle John who was banished to the island of Patmos because of his testimony of Jesus. John got caught up in the Spirit and was given a revelation of Jesus whom he knew in the flesh while he lived on earth but in his vision had a different view of Christ in all of his glory.

John had the privilege of living with Jesus for 3 years. He saw Jesus in his humanity, how he hungered, was thirsty, got tired from walking, wept at Lazarus’ death and was called the son of Mary which described him as an illegitimate child whose father was unknown. John saw Jesus as fully human but he also saw how he yielded himself in obedience to his heavenly father and broke the laws of nature bringing healing to the blind, deaf, lame, sick, demon possessed and raising people from the dead. Jesus set aside his divinity to take on flesh and live in obedience to his heavenly Father. John was an eye witness to the miracles of Jesus, his death and resurrection. He left everything to be a follower of Jesus and spent his life proclaiming the gospel message and conveying the messages that Jesus taught.

The last image John had of Jesus was when he ascended into heaven. But now as he was banished to Patmos, he had a revelation of a glorified Jesus he had never seen or known before. John saw Jesus as he is today.

We need to see Jesus as John saw him, especially during this time of year when we focus on his birth. For some people Jesus was simply a human being, no different than you or I. He was a baby in a manger, lived as a human being and did many good things. To others he is viewed as one sent from God as a prophet or teacher but not a Messiah or Savior of the world.

When John was caught up in the Spirit, he saw and heard Jesus in a completely different realm than he had ever known before. .

John describes Jesus initially in terms of how he knew him during his ministry and after his resurrection. He called him, “the faithful witness, the first born of the dead, the ruler of the kings on earth.” Rev. 1:5

Then he describes what Christ has done for us.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Rev 1:6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Then he describes what will happen when he returns as he had promised.

Rev 1:7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

A day is coming when there will be great celebration of his return for those who have recognized Jesus as Messiah but it will also be a day when those from every tribe of people who rejected him will wail and beat their chest when they realize they were wrong in their beliefs about him.

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet

Rev 1:11 saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."

Rev 1:12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,

Rev 1:13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

Rev 1:14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,

Rev 1:15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

Rev 1:16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

Rev 1:17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

John saw Jesus in his glorified body that I am sure was difficult for him to describe. He saw a powerful being and his only response was to fall to the ground in worship. This is the reaction we all must have toward Jesus. He alone is worthy to be worshipped. He is the Holy One, the Righteous One, the only one worthy of praise.

I was listening to a message called “Ten shekels and a shirt” by Paris Reidhead which is a classic message that I recommend to each of you. The message included stories of the evangelists George Whitefield and John Wesley. These men had a tremendous respect for the holiness of God and the horribleness of our sinful state. They cried out against sin because they saw how much God hated it because of what it has done to the relationship he originally intended and still desires to have with his creation. They did not take sin lightly but preached with great passion to stir the hearts of men to see themselves in their sinful state and turn to God for salvation. I don’t know how well their message would be received today in a culture that is afraid of the word sin and views it as a hate crime when it is used against certain sinful behaviors.

Whitefield preached to a crowd of 20 thousand people at Boston Commons. He told the people “you are monsters, monsters of iniquity, you deserve hell. The worst of your crimes as criminal as you have been is that you have not had the good grace to see it. If you will not weep for your sins and your crimes against a holy God, George Whitefield will weep for you.” He would put his head in his arms and weep like a baby not because they were in danger of hell but because they were monsters of iniquity that did not see their crime.

John Wesley was a preacher of the righteousness and holiness of God, and when he would stand and preach for 2 to 3 hours as he was accustomed to in the open air and he would exalt the holiness of God and the law of God and the justice of God and the wisdom of his requirements and the justice of his wrath and his anger. Then he would turn to sinners and tell them about the enormity of their crimes and open rebellion, their treason and their anarchy, the power of God would so descend the company that on one occasion that has been reliably reported that when the crowd dispersed, 1800 people were lying on the ground utterly unconscious because they had a revelation of the holiness of God and they had seen the enormity of their sin. God had so penetrated their minds and hearts that they had fallen to the ground.

I think at times we are guilty of presenting a Santa Claus God who gives people what they need and we do not emphasize the holiness of God and our rebellion against Him. God deserves to be glorified and only a redeemed person who has truly repented from their sin can bring glory to Him. Our passion must be to bring God glory and honor that He alone deserves. His true character and nature must be proclaimed to a world that does not know him or His Son, Jesus.

The Moravians sent hundreds of missionaries to unreached parts of the world. When they sent them out they stated, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering.” The reward is worshippers who will bring glory to God through their repentance and lives that honor his holiness and righteousness.

John had a revelation of Jesus that caused him to bow before his holiness.

This is the Jesus I believe that all will see when he returns and every knee will bow before him and acknowledge that he is Lord. This is the Jesus we need to proclaim to the world. A Jesus who is alive, who is all powerful, who is full of love, who conquered death and is in control of the destiny of the world. He is actively involved in the lives of those who have surrendered to his Lordship and he is coming again.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ we need to remember that there are 2 billion people who have never heard of Jesus nor had the opportunity to hear the gospel message proclaimed. They need a revelation of Jesus in his holiness and righteousness in order that they too can repent and surrender their lives to God and bring glory to His name.

The Joshua Project has compiled these statistics regarding the people who have yet to hear the gospel.

A Church for every People Group

Global Total 16,600

Unreached / Least Reached 6,900

The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

True Believers 10%

Nominal Adherents 20%

Heard, no response 40%

Virtually no exposure 30%

God is using all forms of technology to reach the unreached world. He is revealing Jesus to a world that is losing hope and is mired in sin. Christ is the only hope; he is the only answer to the sin problem of all of mankind. This Christmas let us be proclaimers of the holiness and righteousness of God that will give people the true motivation for repentance and surrendering their lives to Christ.

We serve a Christ who gave his blood for our sins and now reigns in heaven. He is coming again and His desire is that all the nations have an opportunity to hear the gospel message. We have been entrusted with the gospel and we must make every effort to reach every nation for the glory and honor of the Lamb. It must always be our number one priority because the eternal destiny of every soul depends on whether they have accepted or rejected the gospel. The church must make the necessary resources available so that the unreached can hear. Less than one penny of every dollar given to all Christian causes goes to financing pioneer church planting among unreached people groups. This must change. Our job is to proclaim it to all the world and as we do our part, the Holy Spirit will call them to repentance.

This Christmas, may we boldly and unashamedly proclaim the reason Christ came to earth. May we seek for opportunities to share the message and never shy away from clearly announcing the wonderful message of God becoming man to redeem him from his sin.

Haiti Outreach

Currently I in Haiti with our 11 DTS students. We are working with YWAM Haiti in St. Marc doing a lot of evangelism in schools, parks and in the local prison. We have shared the gospel with over 1000 people during our first 5 days of ministry and look forward to our next 2 weeks here before we move on to our next destination in Haiti. The people have been receptive to our presentations which feature several dramas and testimonies of the students. We end each presentation with a call for salvation but we have not seen many people come forward which may be in part to a cultural attitude of not wanting to stand out in the crowd. We know that the word will not return void and we trust God to be planting it in the hearts of the people in spite of what we can or cannot see.
Next week we will be working with Pastor Beau who works in a poor area that is known for witches and voodoo. I met him last week and he shared that the witchdoctors came to his house one day with a pistol and machette and threatened to kill him if he continued to preach the gospel. He told them that they did not control his life and has continued to preach the gospel and seen many come to Christ. We look forward to partnering with him.
Please keep our team in prayer as we minister in the days to come.

Motorcyclist Discipleship Training School

Our YWAM base in Antigua, Guatemala will be offering a new Discipleship Training School designed for motorcyclists. The MC DTS will be conducted in both Guatemala and in the USA. The classroom phase will begin on February 19, 2012 at our base in Antigua. This is a beautiful time of year to be in Guatemala, the weather will be 75-80 degrees each day with lots of sunshine. Participants will also get to experience the huge celebration in Antigua during the Holy Week where thousands of people come to Antigua. But most importantly it will be a time of drawing near to God, seeking Him and learning from him what it means to be a believer.
The outreach phase will be conducted in the USA at the conclusion of the classroom phase. We are planning on visiting several areas of the USA on motorcycle to work with a variety of people groups. Our focus will be evangelism, discipleship and mercy ministries.
Class size will be extremely limited due to the nature of the DTS. You can get more information as well as an application at our YWAM Antigua website: www.ywamantigua.org

Spiritual Growth=Change

One day while I was a church attending a class one of the members who had known Christ for many years remarked, “I don’t think I have grown spiritually at all during the past year.” He stated this with regret and concern that maybe he was not doing something right to facilitate growth.

I think all of us at times feel the same way, perhaps frustrated that we are not growing in the areas we need to or not growing as quickly as we want to grow. Spiritual growth is measured by change. If we are not changing it means we are not growing. Tonight I want to share some things that I pray will help you in your pursuit of God and growth in your relationship with him.

The first thing that is essential to growth is knowledge of the truth. Joh 8:31, 32 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

The word “know” in Greek is ginowsko which has the understanding of experiential knowledge, absolute knowledge, and certainty. When you know the truth in this way, it is embedded in your heart and there is no doubt because it is proven by your experiences as well.

Truth has to be the foundation of what we believe. Your beliefs will determine what you value and your values will be reflected in your behavior. Truth must be at the very core of our being. God has given us truth through His Word and through His Son, Jesus. Jesus is the Word and apart from knowing the Word intimately and experientially we will not grow spiritually and see change in our lives. The Word of God contains the truth about the character and nature of God, about ourselves, about the world we live in and the opposition that we face and how we can overcome and be changed. If we are not exposed to the Word of God and not allowing it to be our standard we will not have the foundation established to change and grow spiritually. We have to filter everything in life through the Word of God. We give meaning to events through our understanding of the Word of God not vice versa in which we give meaning to the Word of God through our experiences. We interpret our experiences through the truth of the Word but we do not interpret the Bible through our experiences.

Jesus claimed to be the Truth (Jn 14.6). He did not have an identity problem, he knew who he was, where he came from, why he was sent to the earth and where he was going after he died. He was absolutely convinced of this and lived his life accordingly.

On Saturday night I talked with a young man named Rene. He was carrying a huge trophy that he won in a wrestling contest. He had only been wrestling for a month and he had beaten another competitor who had years of experience. He was proud of his accomplishment. He told me that the reason he started wrestling was because he wanted to have an identity that he could be successful at something. He had experienced many failures in his life and needed to do something that would validate his worth as a person. His identity and purpose in life was centered in himself and not in Christ. His understanding of Truth affected his beliefs, values and behaviors.

When we are born again and receive Christ as Lord and Savior the Word of God is planted in our hearts as a seed.

1Pe_1:23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Seeds contain all the information that is needed to grow into the plant or tree it is destined to become. All the potential is locked up in the seed. This is exactly what happens to us when we receive the Word at salvation. The incorruptible seed of the Word is planted in us and we have the potential to become everything God has placed within the seed. To know our potential we only need to study the life of Christ. Everything that he was and did are the same things we can become and do. In fact he said that we would do even greater things than he did (Jn 14.12). When we know who we are that will determine what we can do. The seed planted in us is the Truth and as we come to understand the Truth we will become the people God has destined us to be.

We have to know the Truth in our mind and in our heart. Truth that is only theory will not produce change, it will just give us a big head. But Truth that is in our hearts is put into practice through our daily experiences to bring the changes that God desires in us.

When we are born again we are given a new nature but we still battle against the old nature of fallen Adam that we inherited. We would like to just see it disappear but it does not work that way. It seems that we never fully escape from the presence of the old nature but what we do experience is seeing the new nature taking control of our lives. Our old nature has to be put to death so the new nature can take control.

Col_3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

This is a process in which the Holy Spirit reveals truth about ourselves and we make decisions to put it to death. We recognize that this is not the nature of God and we put it to death.

Bob Mumford told the story of a man who got saved in his church. He was the owner of a strip club and Bob thought he would immediately shut it down. He said the Lord told him not to talk to him about it but let him take care of it. A couple weeks after his salvation experience Bob talked with the man and asked him if the Lord had been speaking to him about anything. The man said yes that he felt convicted of mixing water with the whisky he was selling to his customers!

God has given us his Holy Spirit to lead us into the Truth (Jn 14.26). He is our Teacher who reveals truth to us in a variety of ways but I believe primarily it is as we study the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word work together to bring change in our life. If we are not dedicating time to study the Word and being taught the Word we will not see change. We have so many resources available to us today to help us study the Word that we are without excuse. We have the 12 DTS students with us for 5 months and they have set aside this time in their lives to focus on understanding the Truth and applying it to their lives. It is a rich and rewarding experience that they may never have like it during the rest of their lives. It is an opportunity to change and grow spiritually if it is used properly.

In Jesus’ prayer for his disciples as well as for us he prayed: Joh 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Sanctification is separation for holy service. The thing that separates us for holy service is the truth. We understand truth through the Word.

The Apostle Paul writing to Timothy emphasized the importance of the study of the Scriptures.

2Ti 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

2Ti 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it

2Ti 3:15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

2Ti 3:17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

If we do not know the Truth we will not be competent to carry out the work of God. A person who sets out to build a home must have the right knowledge of what is needed to build the house or it will be a disaster. When we were in Haiti we saw hundreds of buildings that were poorly built and collapsed in the earthquake. The builders were obviously incompetent in their knowledge of how to build a home that would withstand an earthquake.

We have to be solidly grounded and competent in our knowledge of the Truth of God’s word if we want to do His work in a way that will endure.

Billy Graham has done a great work for the Lord through his years of ministry. Yet he regretted that he did not spend more time in preparation, sharpening the ax so to speak. If your ax is not sharp you can still cut down trees but it takes a lot more time and effort.

Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the ax.” I encourage you to take the time needed to sharpen the ax spiritually and continue to keep is sharpened. Don’t think that it won’t get dull while you are working. You must constantly be sharpening it to be able to do the work competently for the Lord.

Take advantage of the opportunities God gives you to be grounded in his Word. Study daily on your own as well to keep yourself sharp with the Truth.

The prophet Hosea said of the nation of Israel, “my people are destroyed by lack of knowledge” Hos 4.6 The same thing will happen to us if we do not know the Word of God and let it be the Truth we live by.

The second thing needed for spiritual growth is testing or trials. This is where theory is put into practice and your character is defined and refined. We find out what we are made of during our tests and trials and at times we find out that we are not living the truth we believe. When we are confronted with situations that we may or may not have asked for, we have a choice to make as to how we will respond that will reveal the level of truth we have embedded and lived out in our heart.

We can fail the test and find out that we really are not the person we thought we were.

We can respond correctly but not with the right attitude, we grudgingly do it and do not enjoy it.

Or we can respond as Peter and James said knowing that it is producing in us the nature of God or perhaps revealing the truth of the nature of God that is in us.

1Pe 1:6-7 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Jas 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

One test that seems to come up frequently is whether we will delay gratification or impulsively or by choice satisfy our desires. One of the marks of maturity as a believer is the ability to wait, to delay gratification until it is the right time. Many people are suffering from bad economic decisions today because they did not wait until they had the money to purchase things and gave into their impulse to buy now pay later. Saving for the future and delaying purchases until you have the cash to buy it is a foreign concept to many people and it has gotten them into great debt. Sexual gratification is also another area that many people both young and old struggle with. The world has no problem with instant gratification but God’s standards require self-control and waiting until you are married before uniting yourself with the opposite sex in a life time committed relationship. When we feel we have certain rights over our bodies and our lives we have not matured in our faith where we understand that our bodies are not our own but have been bought with the price of the blood of Christ who is our new owner.

Another test we often face is how we will react to accusations or offenses against us. Spiritually we can look at a person who is attacked, falsely accused or maligned and see if they respond with maturity in their reaction which is in the opposite spirit or immaturity by instantly responding in the same spirit of the accusers. Our response will reveal our level of maturity. Willow Creek church’s leader Bill Hybels experienced this recently when one of the speakers, the head of Starbucks withdrew from the leadership conference after a homosexual group accused Willow Creek of being anti-homosexual which was not a true statement. Bill Hybels responded to the false accusations with grace and also regret that the accusers did not contact him before hand to find out the church’s position on homosexuality. He then encouraged Christians to go to Starbucks and purchase coffee from them. There was no malice or unkind words spoken against the accusing group nor the leader of Starbucks.

We are tested daily in our thoughts, attitudes, words and actions through the circumstances we face. God in his mercy allows us to see ourselves as we are so that the process of change can begin. This can be a difficult process as we allow the Holy Spirit to dig deep into our past to expose the roots of our problems. His goal is to bring liberty and freedom by revealing the lies and replacing them with the truth.

Test and trials are part of God’s plan of spiritual growth. We can learn from them or ignore them resulting in growth or stagnation. We can submit to God in the trial and allow the HS to teach us or we can reject the trial and miss out on the opportunity to see change effected in us.

God brings these things to us in his perfect timing so we can receive the healing he desires for us. We have to welcome the tests and trials because they have the potential to lead us to permanent change and Christ likeness.

The final aspect of bringing change in our lives is our willingness and desire to allow God continual access to our lives and allow other believers to help us change. We are in need of constant change because of our depth of sin and struggles we face as God peels off the layers of our sin to get at the core. We are going to be in the change process throughout our lives and God is his great love for us will be revealing areas to us that he wants to change. Our growth will be determined by how much access we give him to our lives and how we respond to his working in us. We must make the decision that we truly want to change and we are willing to go through the process to be changed. Often God uses people to help us identify the areas that need to be changed and uses them to impart truth to us that can transform our lives.

I am reminded of the story of Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-15) who was a Syrian military commander with leprosy. A little Israelite girl who was carried off in captivity, revealed to him that there was a prophet of God who could heal him of his leprosy. Leprosy is a horrible disease and anyone who has it wants to be healed from it because it progressively gets worse. Naaman desired to be changed. He believed change was possible and was willing follow the advice of this little girl. He was willing to travel 150 miles to see the prophet Elisha because he wanted to be set free from his leprosy. But when he arrived he went to the King of Israel instead of the prophet but the King could not help him. He had to go to the right person to receive the help he needed. God gives us the Holy Spirit and his Word to help us but he also uses people in his body to help bring the change we desire. We too must go to the right people to receive the help we need for change.

There is a clip from the Bob Newhart show that demonstrates how some people think you should deal with your problems.

His advice is very simple “Just stop it.” Obviously he was not the right person for this lady to go to and receive the help she needed. Make sure you go to people who can truly help you change.

Naaman went to the prophet and was given advice on what he needed to do but it was not what he wanted to hear. He wanted the prophet to simply wave his hand over him and instantly be healed. Instead he was told to go to the dirty Jordan River and dunk himself in it seven times. It did not make sense to him and his pride initially kept him from receiving the counsel and acting on it. We too will need to deal with our pride when we are given counsel regarding what we must do to change. If we truly desire to change then we will take the medicine and do what we are instructed to do by the Lord. Naaman finally humbled himself and realized that he would not be healed if he did not follow the instructions given to him. When he obeyed he was healed completely. God’s desire is to change our lives into the image of his Son. He has a plan and we need to be obedient to whatever he asks us to do.

Perhaps tonight the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart about areas that he wants you to surrender to him and allow God to bring the changes that he desires. God wants us to walk in the truth, he desires to conform us to the image of his son but we must desire the same. God does not force us to change but he empowers us to change when we recognize the areas that we need his help to change. David prayed
“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” Ps 139:23. He wanted to change and he invited God to show him what needed to be changed. I pray tonight that you will take time this week and ask God to show you any area of your life that he wants to change and then in obedience to him do exactly what he asks you to do.

God loves us as we are but he also loves us so much that he does not want us to stay as we are. He wants us to become like Him and he lovingly reveals to heal and change us.

The Road Less Traveled...August 2011

Compassion DTS
Our Compassion Discipleship Training School is now in its third week. All 12 of our students arrived and God is working in their hearts to bring the changes that he desires. It is a special time for each of them to focus on their relationship with God, learn to live in community and minister to others. Please keep them in your prayers that God will keep them healthy and that each day will be a day of learning and drawing near to Him.

Outreach Plans
The classroom phase will end on October 14th and our plans for the 8 weeks of outreach are to minister in Haiti for 5 weeks and Guatemala for 3 weeks. Last year we spent the entire outreach in Haiti and saw many people Outreach Plans
The classroom phase will end on October 14th and our plans for the 8 weeks of outreach are to minister in Haiti for 5 weeks and Guatemala for 3 weeks. Last year we spent the entire outreach in Haiti and saw many people come to Christ. Haiti is still recovering from the earthquake of January 2010 and only 6 % of the rubble has been removed. People continue to live in the tent cities as they wait for homes to be built so they can relocate. We are planning to partner with YWAM in St. Marc for part of our time in Haiti. They have been greatly used of God after the earthquake to bring relief to the people and they continue to minister to many people in need. We will also be teaming up with a couple of other ministries during our 5 weeks there. It will be a challenging yet fruitful time for our students as they minister to one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere. We are also planning to work in Guatemala with children who have a rare form of cancer caused by the sun. They live very isolated lives and we want to spend time with them to share the love and compassion of Christ.
The students and staff will need to raise $2000 each for the outreach. If you would like to help support them with a donation I know it will be a great encouragement. Our goal is to raise the funds needed in the next 4 weeks. Please designate your donation as “DTS Outreach”. Thank you for your participation in the lives of the students and staff as well as the people we will reach during the outreach.

On-going Ministry
While our focus is now on the DTS we continue to conduct our weekly ministries to the children in our neighborhood, the homeless, the lost and the English speaking community. We have also been working with some of the local women to teach hygiene and food preparation to help them and their families live healthier lives. We will be doing some evangelistic outreaches in the next couple of months using the movies that have been donated by Billy Graham. Last week during our weekly “Soul Patrol” I talked with a young man named Giovanni. He was 20 years old and shined shoes for a living. His father was murdered 8 years ago. Giovanni attended school for only one year and has been working ever since to help support his mom who lives a couple of hours away. I had the opportunity to share the gospel with him as well as help him with some food and money for his rent. He was renting a small room but when he could not pay the rent the owner locked his room with the few possessions he had stored in it. Life is hard for so many people in Guatemala and I thank God for the people we have been able to help and give them hope for a better life
Elections
In about one month Guatemala will have its elections for President and representatives. Please pray that there will be peace during this time and that the right people will be placed in office. The needs of Guatemala are great and so much can be done with the right people in office.
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Thank you for your continued support of the ministry in Guatemala. In these difficult financial times I am so grateful for the sacrifices you have made to financially help keep everything going and allow me to be here. Please continue to pray for our work and pray for the processing of my paperwork for Permanent Residency which I hope will be approved shortly

Contribution address

YWAM Chico
15850 Richardson Springs Rd
Chico, CA 95973
(Please attach a note to designate your donation)

Correspondence address
Bruce Ahlberg
3ra Av 1-30 Zona 6
Ciudad Vieja, Guatemala

www.ywamantigua.org