Last Post for a Season

     dear readers, I want to thank you for your encouragement over the last few years, with a special thank you for those who have commented. I am especially grateful for the many international readers from countries all over the planet who have logged in. I trust God that some of what I have written has blessed and encouraged you. In this season of my life I believe that God has instructed me to close down the blog for a time. I don't know how long it will be, or whether He will guide me to ever start again.
    Genuinely appreciate your prayers during this time. I am not physically ill but have a strong sense that I need to hear from God. As Jesus said, "the sheep follow him, for they know his voice." (John 10:4 NKJV)
    in Christ, rick

Walking the Tightrope

     God is faithful in my current role as an under shepherd (Jesus is the Chief Shepherd Hebrews 13:20). He is helping me to walk in the admonition of 2 Timothy 2:24-25a). "And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness..." (ESV) I need continual guidance from the Holy Spirit on when to speak and when not to, how far to pursue something and when to let it go for a time, and when to intervene in a situation and when not to. The exterior issue is usually not the most important one. Most of us have deep wounds going back to our childhoods that only God can ultimately heal. As we become adults those wounds are usually still there, lightly bandaged but affecting much of what we say and do. One example of an exterior issue being affected by internal realities is the ongoing gender role debate. Is it truly possible to be equal in worth and value but different in role? I admit that it is male sin that fueled the feminist movement. I also believe that the devil has seized upon a legitimate desire for respect and godly treatment and used it towards his goal of destroying the family, and thus the surrounding society. Biblical truth gets lost in the emotions and the resultant controversy.
     Can there be any greater worth and value given to anyone than God the Father giving what is most precious to Him, His only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins? (1 John 4:9-10) If we are not receiving the revelation of the Word of God through the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:12-13) then it probably means little to us. If we are receiving this, then we begin to recognize that our worth and value in God's eyes is incalculable.
* Fun with Words-  The Portuguese pronunciation of the name of the prophet Habakkuk sounds very similar to the English phrase "have a cookie."

Casual Rebellion

     After having waited for several days to make certain that I should write this, I still believe that I should even though I am shocked by the revelation that I believe the Holy Spirit has shown me. I now believe that virtually all North American Christians, including myself, are in a state of casual rebellion against God. Not the cursing, fist in the air kind of rebellion that we see in the world around us but a casual, unthinking, rebellion. A good friend, and reader of this blog, commented to me recently that he no longer called himself a Bible believing Christian because there were too many things in the Bible that he did not practice. I may have to say the same. The biggest factor is the culture all around us, that we are not to be conformed too (Romans 12:2 but which we are usually too Biblically illiterate to know the difference. I am confronted with situations in the church that I am in, that we can't practice what the Bible says because it goes against the culture. The reasons or explanations that I hear about why we can't follow the Bible distress me. "I don't like that. It's cultural. I don't understand why." Does the God who created the universe (Genesis 1:1), and whose ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9) have to explain Himself to us? Does our ungodly, pagan culture which has produced the largest mass murder (abortion 55 million+) in history have any possible claim to superiority over any other? Or is this just a way to evade New Testament commands? Are we the judges of the eternal Word of God or is it to judge us? "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12NKJV) Should we call Jesus Lord if we are not going to do what He says? (Luke 6:46) 1 Timothy 3:12 states that "all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Is the reason that we don't experience persecution in North America because we are not living godly in Christ Jesus?

The Importance of Context

     For a number of years the Bible was like a language that I really didn't know. I could pick out words and an occasional phrase but really didn't know what was going on. Sadly, many Christians that I meet are in the same situation that I was in. They may say very confidently that "to the pure all things are pure," using that as a justification for whatever it is that they wish to do. But maybe one in a hundred could inform you of where the phrase is located. ( Titus 1:15) or the context, a strong rebuke of false teachers. This example emphasizes the importance of context, the surrounding verses to the one we are using.
     This morning I was with two brothers with whom I get together most Monday mornings and one of them named Sandy spoke about the context of a popular verse that I had never considered. We have probably all heard, "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it," (Psalm 118:24) and applied it to the day at hand. As the Lord has made every day, this is quite appropriate yet this is not the actual context of the verse. It actually begins in verse 22. "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. (23) This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." and then on to verse 24. In context the day that we are to rejoice in is the one in which the chief cornerstone is rejected. Isaiah 53:3 supplies the clue. "He (Jesus) is despised and  rejected by men..."  Psalm 118:22 is the principal OT verse supporting Peter's preaching to the Sanhedrin in Acts 4.  Acts 4:10 says that the name of Jesus heals the man at the temple gate called Beautiful, verse 11 quotes the verse in Psalm 118, and verse 12 is the powerful conclusion. "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. "
   Jesus also speaks about the chief cornerstone verse in His parable about the vineyard in Matthew 21:33-44, and Luke 20: 9-18.

Thoughts about Disciplemaking

     Jesus commands us to make disciples. (Matthew 28:19) Most people that I know have not had the experience of anyone discipling them. We have had to learn to be a disciple the hard way, and then to disciple others by the same long process. Thankfully God is patient and persevering. Currently I have the privilege and joy of working  with six brothers. What is involved in this process? Availability is the first necessity. If a person is unwilling to prioritize getting together on a regular (weekly or biweekly) basis, then they are not ready for discipleship. The second thing is a willingness to learn. The Greek word for disciple is "mathetes," which means a learner. Learning requires a recognition that we don't know everything, an expression of humility. But this is a two way street. I have more Scriptural knowledge than the people whom I mentor yet I need to be humble and allow God to teach me things through them. Third is care and concern for one another. Discipleship is not simply a transfer of knowledge but of one's lives to each other. Fourth is an individual tailoring of the discipleship experience for each person. Although I want to get into the Bible, pray, and counsel together with each brother, this doesn't take the exact same form with each one. Fifth is acting upon or practicing what we are learning. This should, in part, take the form of imparting to someone else. We want to build this into the spiritual DNA of the people whom we are mentoring. Perhaps most important to this whole process is the understanding that they are not my disciples but the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a mistake that has often been made in the past. We want people to "look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2) Typically I don't even say anything like "I am going to disciple you," I just do it. One way to find out how serious someone may be is to ask them to memorize the books of the New Testament, and then the Old Testament, in order. Most Christians that I have ever met don't know them. Finally, you don't want people to become dependent upon you. If anything should happen to us, we want the disciples to continue with Christ.

Brazilian Retreat

     This is the second year that God has given me the opportunity to participate in a retreat with Brazilians. They came from Canada, Virginia, the Boston are and Porto Alegre, a large city in the south of Brazil near the Spanish speaking countries of Uruguay and Argentina, hence their nickname of "gauchos." Samir brought his family, soon to grow again, and three young people who work with him in ministry. One, a man named Calebe, roomed with me. He is an English teacher, played semi-pro rugby, and initially learned English playing video games as a young person. Now he is a disciple of Jesus Christ. Following the usage in the Gospels and Acts, Brazilians often refer to fellow believers as disciples. I wish we did the same in the US.
     Samir spoke several times, the first evening memorably on grace. In the most powerful illustration he asked his little daughter Julia (age 4) to bring him a pencil. She did. Then he asked her to hug him, which she did with a big smile. Samir said, "Bringing me the pencil was an act of obedience, hugging me an act of love. God desires both but which one does He rejoice in? The same thing that I do as a father." He has also recorded a music CD "Decido Por Ti." (Decide or decided for you i.e. God)
     Early one afternoon about a dozen of us did an exercise together. We went into a vacant parking lot, were blindfolded, and then given a thin rope to hold. We could speak with one another but could not let go of the rope. The goal was to make a perfect square. An additional challenge was that we were working in two languages as several other Americans were present. We were allotted thirty minutes. Half the people were talking at the same time. After about twenty minutes of confusion we stopped to pray. Then the Lord gave Calebe an idea and he directed us. When our blindfolds came off we discovered that we were within a couple of feet of the perfect square. (I'm still not sure how Calebe did it.)
     As with most retreats you don't get a lot of sleep. For example, on Sunday night we were theoretically to begin at 7:30, actually began an hour later. We had a time of worship, then I shared a little on the importance of reading the whole Bible, then Marcelo spoke, and finally Samir shared again, along with times of prayer. We finished at midnight but many people stayed up until 3AM.