Made It

OK, we are in Tallinn, Estonia. It was a long trip but we made it. Thanks for all the prayers, God is good. I was awake for about 32 hours with only one and half hour nap on the flight. So, we were tired. We finally got some sleep last night. Today our goal is to get our legs underneath us, do some orientation, planning, praying for all the work that comes next week. We will also get to meet and know the Thompsons and the rest of the team from Houston.

Finland, Bus, to the Ferry

Estonia 11 -- Packing

Gospel Precision

In the tenure of my life in the ministry I have grown accustomed to people being inaccurate in their understanding and articulation of the gospel, and biblical doctrines. Correcting people is the difficult part. The difficulty is not in identifying what's wrong, but the manner in which correction takes place.

So, is precision necessary and if so when?

The gospel is simple. I've sinned, Jesus died and rose again, salvation comes by faith in Christ alone. That is the gospel in a nutshell, and it is fairly simple. It is simple enough for a child to hear, understand and respond. It is not necessary for someone to be able to articulate justification, propitiation, substitutionary atonement and other key related doctrines in order to receive salvation. They don't need to be able to articulate them, but they do need to understand those concepts as part of a sound, evangelistic, gospel presentation.

But, that does not mean understanding those terms and being able to articulate them is not important. I think that it is a vital part of growing as a disciple to learn, and be taught, not only the meaning of those biblical truths, but also how to articulate them. That is where precision is necessary.

It is also necessary in evangelism. This is especially true in the Bible belt. Churched people, who are still lost, have been inoculated to an imprecise version of the gospel, that probably isn't the true gospel. It is disturbing to me to run across people who have a church background and when asked about their relationship with the Lord give a works based answer to describe it. That happens to me all the time! That is where I have to be precise in my evangelistic efforts. This does not mean that I use big words, but that I am precise with the concepts those big words contain.

How do you accomplish that precision and still communicate effectively? That takes effort and work. One of the best ways to hone your precision is to explain the gospel, precisely, to younger people. Practice explaining justification to your kids. They need to hear it, and you need to practice communicating it.

Pastor Youcef Update

It seems to me like the international attention and reports have opened a small window for Christian pastor Youcef. Youcef is the Christ follower set to be executed because he would not convert to Islam in Iran. The supreme court has ordered a re-trial. This looks to me like a "face-saving" maneuver. Whatever it is, I am thankful that God has seen fit to spare His life. Read an article about it HERE.

Read a letter from Pastor Youcef in prison in Iran.

Pastor To Be Executed

I saw a headline that caught my attention. A Christian pastor in Iran has been arrested, tried and is set to be executed. What was his crime? Being a Christian and refusing to renounce Christ. You can read the article in this Fox News Report

Tertullian once said, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." When Christ followers are killed for no other reason than being a Christ follower the end result is the opposite of the murderers' intent. The murderers' intend for this to be a warning to others who might consider Christ and want to follow Him. It seems logical to think that, but history proves otherwise. In 2000 years, where the persecution is most extreme the gospel spreads the fastest.

Thankfully we live in a free country. We face some religious challenges, but nothing like they do in other parts of the world. As people of freedom and followers of Christ we should pray for our brothers and sisters who face serious threats each day simply for their relationship with Jesus. We should also pray for our "enemies". We should ask God to use the life of those persecuted to reach many with the gospel of Christ.

UPG's -- "You Shall Be My Witness..."

Here in the buckle of the bible belt I've often said that you can't throw a bible down the street without hitting at least 2 churches. That is not the case in other parts of our country, but especially the world.

A UPG is an unreached people group. Here is the official definition from the International Mission Board Website (imb.org) "A people group is unreached when the number of Evangelical Christians is less than 2% of its population. "

Let's dissect that. People group - that is a group of people (duh) that share some commonalities. Like location, language (dialects), and other cultural commonalities. You can't just say a country, or nationality because that is too broad. Every country and nationality has within it smaller subsets of culture -- people groups. One country can be comprised of even hundreds of different identifiable people groups. Or, it could have just a few.

Unreached -- this phrase is used to describe "evangelical presence". Evangelical means different things to different people, but in this context it is used to refer to bible believing Christ followers who also believe in evangelism in that particular people group.

So, a UPG is a country/people group that has less than 2% that acknowledge to be bible believing Christians. Statistics vary, but here in America there are anywhere from 25-40% that acknowledge being evangelical(we will save a debate on the validity of those statistics for another time). This means if you are to walk up to a random person in America and ask them if they have heard of Jesus, they will probably say yes. If you do the same thing in an UPG they will probably say no.

In November I am going with a small team on a mission trip to Estonia. Estonia is an unreached people group. Less than 2% of the population acknowledge being evangelical. The overwhelming majority of Estonians are lost, unsaved, don't have Jesus, are heading to hell. God loves them just as much as he loves you and me.

The great commission of Jesus commands us to "go, and make disciples of all nations". It's not the great "suggestion", it is a command. It is important for us to realize that there are lost people right where we are, and that there are lost people all around the world. Doing nothing is not an option. People's eternity is at stake -- will we be obedient to the Lord who rescued us from our sin?

What's In It For Me?

What's in it for me? That question may not be vocalized, but it is the underlying assumption for just about all that we do in this culture that we find ourselves in.

Every time you watch a commercial they are answering that question. Here is what our product has for you. Infomercials are infamous for answering this question. "These ginsu knives are only 19.99. But, wait, there's more..." Just in case you were thinking, "Is that all that is in it for me?" Well, no. You also get a pairing knife, a kitchen chamois, and and seed strainer.

I get junk mail all the time. Some company feels it would help their business to show me their product and tell me "what's in it for me". I also get lots of fliers for churches. Even these churches are telling me what their church offers. They do this because people that are looking for a church home are looking to have that question answered, "what's in it for me?"

That question is probably on a lot of people's minds when it comes to Christianity. "You say I should become a Christian, well, what's in it for me?"

If you listen to some churches, pastors, preachers, the answer seems to be everything. Health, wealth, peace, prosperity, good relationships, a better job, joy, absence of conflict, no difficulties. "What's in it for me?" Some portray the answer as "anything you want."

Now, there are lots of benefits to being a Christian. Some of the things in the list, if properly defined, are true. But, the answer is much shorter, more simple, and more essential. The answer to the question, "what's in it for me?" is JESUS. That's what we get when we become a true, biblical Christian. JESUS.

How come it seems like JESUS is not enough?! After all, He is the eternal God of the universe. He is the Supreme Lord. He is the Savior who gave His life to redeem us from our sin. He shed His blood so we might be forgiven and made right with God. His cross and resurrection was so we could know Him and have a relationship with Him. The answer is JESUS.

Is that enough for you?

Don't Be Good, Be Different: Moralism and the Gospel

I've been thinking a lot lately about being a good person. It seems like a lot people's perception of the Christian message is that the goal is to produce morality. Come to Jesus, go to church, so you can be a better; man, woman, husband, wife, student, employer, employee...fill in the blank.

This culture does have a tendency to view church as another aspect of their overall morality.

The gospel does confront morality but from a very different perspective. In the gospel morality is the indication of our need for a Savior. Let me be more specific. The gospel informs us that our morality is an indication of a deeper seated problem. Sin is not the absence of good morals. The absence of good morals is an indication of a deep, internal heart problem -- we are at heart sinners.
This is not just splitting hairs - it is a fundamental distinction. The gospel also informs us that what we perceive as good morality in our life, really isn't that good. In fact, all of our perceived goodness/morality/behavior is the equivalent of a pile of dirty rags compared to the standard of a Holy God. The Savior does not come to make us better at morality. The Savior comes to eradicate the sin problem of the heart.

This means that the major message of the church should not be "we will make you a better person". Don't get me wrong, the church does have a mandate to address behavior, good deeds and morality. But this must be enveloped in the context of the gospel. Our good deeds, behavior and morality are indications of heart change, but never create heart change. If someone claims to have heart change, but the pattern of the behavior/morality does not reflect that it is legitimate to question that heart change.

A message of morality, void of an emphasis on the gospel of grace, only produces half hearted religiosity. It also leaves people frustrated. It is frustrating because it removes the source of power to truly affect life change -- God's gracious gospel in Jesus Christ.

Jesus didn't die on the cross so we could be better. He died so we could be different, distinct, separated unto God. And, that precedes and leads to the correct motivation for a different morality in our lives.

Took A Break

Do you remember that philosophical question? "If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?"

If no one reads your blog, and you take a break from blogging, does anyone notice? :)

I haven't kept up with my blog for a few months, but I think I am ready to post some more.

I took a break for several reasons. Probably the main reason was a combination of practical/spiritual. I felt like every attempt at having some type of devotional time with God was turning into "what can I share with others". From Bible reading, to praying, to whatever I was doing, it seemed to be drifting away from just being with the Lord, to trying to find a good nugget to share in a sermon, or a bible study, or a blog message.

There is a part of my calling as a preacher that necessitates such a mentality. I do have a responsibility to share a message with various audiences. I am always in "preacher" mode to some extent. When I hear a newsstory, or something going on in the world, my default is to analyze according to scripture and the upcoming message I am preparing to share. That is a good thing, and will never leave me.

The problem for me was that thinking was taking over my devotional time with the Lord. It is a very difficult challenge for me as a pastor/preacher to be intentional in simply spending time with my Lord and not just going through the motions in order to prepare a sermon or lesson. At times in my life I have done better with that than at other times. When i seem to be losing that focus it is important to do whatever is necessary to get things back into balance.

I am thankful for the grace and patience of the Lord. His steadfast love never fails.