Gospel Haiti

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE: A SHEER IMPOSSIBILITY!
By: Major W. Ian Thomas

“It is not difficult for man to live the Christian life,” somebody once said, it is a sheer impossibility!”

A sheer impossibility, that is, without CHRIST but for all that He says, you have all that He is, and that is all that it takes!

The Christian life can only be explained in terms of Jesus Christ, and if your life as a Christian can still be explained in terms of you your personality, your willpower, your gift, your talent, your money, your courage, your scholarship, your dedication, your sacrifice, or your anything then although you may have the Christian life, you are not yet living it!

If the way you live your life as a Christian can be explained in terms of you, what have you to offer to the man who lives next door? The way he lives his life can be explained in terms of him, and so far as he is concerned, you happen to be “religious” but he is not! “Christianity” may be your hobby, but it is not his, and there is nothing about the way you practice it which strikes him as at all remarkable! There is nothing about you which leaves him guessing, and nothing commendable of which he docs not feel himself equally capable without the inconvenience of becoming a Christian!

It is only when your quality of life baffles the neighbors that you are likely to impress them! It has got to become patently obvious to others that the kind of life you are living is not only commendable, but that it is beyond all human explanation! That it is beyond the consequences of man’s capacity to imitate, and however little they may understand this, clearly the consequence only of God’s capacity to reproduce Himself in you!

In a nutshell, this means that your fellow-men must become convinced that the Lord Jesus Christ of whom you speak, is essentially Himself the ingredient of the Life you live!

From: The Mystery of Godliness

“I am a sojourner on the earth…” (Ps 119:19)

What does the word sojourner mean?  A sojourner is one who is not currently in his/her homeland.  He is in search of his homeland. 

What amazes me in this passage is that the Psalmist comes to the realization that he is a sojourner on the earth whenever he prays, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderous things out of Your law.”  Right after this, he says, “I am a sojourner…”  It is as if beholding wonderous things from the word of God convinces him that this is not his homeland, and fills him with a greater desire to know God through His word: “My soul is consumed with longing for Your rules at all times.” (vs 20). 

So what do we take from this?  I think there are two things in particular:

1.  This world is not our home, so we must not treat it as such.

2.  Only God, through His word, will convince us that this world isn’t our home.

1.  This world is not our home, so we must not treat it as such. 

This really provides a freedom to live radically.  When we, by grace, see that we are sojourners, not residents, it frees us to see clearly that a good career isn’t our end goal, a nice house isn’t our end goal, a good life isn’t our end goal.  What is our end goal?  The glory of God displayed in radical, God-centered, God-led living. 

How is such a life shaped?  By the word of God!

2. Only God, through His word, will convince us that this world is not our home.

I can write on this blog.  You can read books.  We can hear messages, yet only God can convince us that this world is not where our residency is.  The world is in desperate need of Christians who not only understand that we are sojourners on this word, but live like we are sojourners on this world. 

This life is short.  It has been said by Richard Baxter, a pastor back in the 1600’s, that everyone we see today, 100 years from now, will be rotting in the grave.  In light of the fact that we are sojourners, that we have this glorious gospel of grace, that lost sinners are all around us, and that the death rate is still 100%, how ought we to live? 

Question: What does it look like to live like a sojourner? 

Question: When an unbeliever looks at my life, can they see by how I live that I am a sojourner on this world, and that Jesus is more precious to me than all I can gain on this world?

Ohh God, give us hearts that are sojourners’ hearts.  Give us minds, ohh God, that are filled with sojourners’ thoughts.  All of this is beyond us.  So we need Your grace.  We need to be convinced by Your Spirit that we are sojourners.  We know it in our heads.  Help us know it in our hearts and in our lives and in how willing we are to be radical in living for You.  Do a great work in Your people for the glory of Your name in all the earth.  Amen.

Jim

I can easily forget how vital the word of God is in my daily life.  In Ps 119, vs 9-16, we have reminders of the importance of the word in daily life: It helps keep our way pure, storing it up in our hearts keeps us from sinning against God, we are in need of God to teach us His word, we are to delight in His word as much as in all riches and not forget His word. 

In this little section of scripture, we see how the word of God effects our lives.  We see how the intake of the word effects our desire for God.   We see how the intake and memorization of the word can effects the purtiy of our paths.  I want to briefly focus, though, on the statment: “I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” (vs 11)

Charles Spurgeon, a pastor in England in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s, says of this verse:

“His heart would be kept by the word because he kept the word in his heart. All that he had of the word written, and all that had been revealed to him by the voice of God, – all, without exception, he had stored away in his affections, as a treasure to be preserved in a casket, or as a choice seed to be buried in a fruitful soil: what soil more fruitful than a renewed heart, wholly seeking the Lord? The word was God’s own, and therefore precious to God’s servant. He did not wear a text on his heart as a charm, but he hid it in his heart as a rule. He laid it up in the place of love and life, and it filled the chamber with sweetness and light.”

We store up the word of God in our heart by memorization and meditation on it, and we do this so that we may delight in Jesus Christ more than all riches and not sin against Him.  That is why we ought to memorize scripture. 

We do not do it to feel good about ourselves, which I have done.  We do not do it so that we can say, “I’m memorizing scripture” whenever someone asks how we are doing.  We memorize, meditate on the word, and read the word of God because we want Jesus.  We want to delight in Him more than we delight in things of this world.  We store up the word of God in our hearts so that when temptations come to us and tempt us to think lust, money or worldly pleasures are better than Jesus, we can say, “In the way of His word I delight as much as in all riches.” “With my whole heart I seek Him…”

Let us be  people who store up the word of God in our hearts that we might not sin against Him. 

Father, we want to delight in You.  Let us see that the blood of Christ is more precious than all the money the world offers.  Help us to understand that delighting in You is more desirable than all pleasures and riches of this world.  Let us be a people of the word, who store up Your word in our hearts that our daily walk may be a walk that recalls and recites Your word that our desire and delight would be for You! 

Jim

I am going to post a series of blog posts on Ps 119.  Psalm 119 is all about the greatness of the word of God.  My desire and prayer for this blog series is that God would give us a greater longing for Him by the word; that He would increase our hunger for Him and love for Him through our partaking of His word.  I want us to see the importance of the word of God; the greatness of God as He has shown Himself in His word.  I want us to behold Him as our Maker, our Savior, our Treasure, our Love.  I pray that would be the fruit of these coming posts.

This post is on the first 8 verses of Ps. 119.  Here they are:

“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in His ways!  You have commanded Your precepts to be kept diligently.  Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping Your statutes!   Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all Your commandments.  I will praise You with an upright heart, when I learn Your righteous rules.  I will keep Your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!” (Ps 119:1-8)

I believe this section of this Psalm has three major points to it:

1.  Those who are Blessed in this Psalm are those whose way is BLAMELESS!

2. God’s word is to kept diligently

3. I can’t do it!

1.  Those who are Blessed in this Psalm are those whose way is BLAMELESS!

‘Blessed are those whose way is blameless…who seek Him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in His ways’

“So, doesn’t God know that we aren’t perfect?  Why does He say such things?  I mean, I do wrong things, I don’t seek Him with my whole heart.  Am I cursed, then?  If I’m not blessed, what am I?  What does God require?”

What does God require of us?  Perfect Righteousness. 

In order for me and you die and go to heaven, to everlasting joy in His presence instead of eternal hell under His wrath, we need to be perfectly righteous.  I read the above verses and cringe because I am not perfectly righteous.  God requires that we be without sin, that our every motive be without spot and blemish.  Nobody reading this can say, in honesty, that they meet that requirement.  God is Holy, we are not.  He is Righteous, we are not.  This isn’t the end of the story, though!

2.  God’s word is to be kept diligently. 

“You have commanded Your precepts to be kept diligently”

It is His command that we keep His word diligently.  It is his decree that we walk in accordance with His word continually.  This, too, is far beyond us.  I forget His word.  During a busy day at work, keeping His word diligently is hardly on my radar screen. 

So, what do I do?

3.  I can’t do it!

I emphasize the word “I” here.  I can’t do it!  I will not be the one who makes me blameless before God.  I will not be the one who gives strength and sustains me in keeping His word. 

Jesus Christ died on the cross, bearing the wrath of God I should have borne.  His sacrifice for us on the cross was satisfying to God so that now I do not come to God with my own good stuff and say, “God, look at what I did!”  I come to God with a foreign righteousness, Christ’s righteousness.  In Christ’s righteousness, God sees me as blameless.  Through faith in Christ, God sees us as blameless.  Outside of Christ (one who does not have faith in Christ), God sees you as a dirty tampon to be thrown away (Isa. 64:6).  Turn to Christ in faith and receive His rightousness. 

So I close with saying that it is God who gives us the righteousness we need to be blameless.  It is God who gives us the power to seek Him diligently.  It is God who gives us a hunger for His word so that we would cry out with David all the more, “Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping Your statutes.”  All this is because of the Gospel.  Let us be amazed at the Gospel.  Let us be in awe of the Cross.  Let us be overwhemled with marvel.  If I want to grow in a love for His word, I need to remember and cherish the Cross. 

We want to be keepers of His statutes and we need grace to do it.  Oh how great our God is to give us grace to seek Him diligently.  How much He wants to be known by us!  How deeply He desires fellowship with us through His word! 

I will end here.  But I will pray for us:

Father, I ask that those us who read this will be moved by Your Spirit to walk in the path of Your word, to seek You diligently, and to cry out to You for the grace to do these things.  God we are dependant creatures.  We want to know You.  We want to love You more.  We want to seek You.  Be near to us.  Help us remember the Gospel is what makes us blameless and what enables us to diligently seek You.  Help us to praise You with upright hearts every time we hear Your word or read Your word.  God, do this!  Do this for our joy in You, and for Your glory among all peoples and nations. 

Jim

“And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of God.’” (Mark 12:34)

I read the above quote this morning during my quiet time.  What is happening around this sentence is that a scribe came up to Jesus and asked Him, “What is the greatest commandment?”  Jesus, in response, said that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; the second greatest is to love your neighbor as yourself. 

That is where most professing Christians in the United States stop.  “Ok, I gotta love Jesus and love others!  Ok I got that!” 

The scribe in this passage agrees with Jesus, and he even says to Jesus, “You are right, teacher!”  The scribe even says that to love ones neighbor is greater than offering burnt offerings and sacrifices.  This scribe totally agrees with Jesus.  This scribe is totally in sinc with what Jesus in saying.  “Man, this Jesus is good.  He knows what is right and He knows what He’s talkin about.” 

Here’s the shocker: This Scribe, for all his agreeing with Jesus, wasn’t saved. 

Woah!

“Wait.  He agreed with Jesus.  He said ‘Amen’ to all of what Jesus said.  He was talking like he was really saved.  So what’s the beef?” 

Here it is: Agreement with Jesus isn’t the same as faith IN JESUS!

This scribe agreed.  This scribe did not have faith in Christ.  I write this because it is easy to deceive ourselves into thinking that agreement is the same as faith.  It is not. 

The passage does not say how the scribe responded to what Jesus said, but it does say that no one dared to ask Him any more questions. 

Why? 

Maybe it is because they were baffled.  “I thought I agreed with you, Jesus!  What’s up with You saying, ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of God?’”  If this doesn’t baffle us, as well, we are not seeing it rightly. 

How can I not be in the Kingdom, yet agree with Jesus?  I cannot answer in detail, but I can say that agreeing with Jesus is not the same as faith in Jesus. 

So I want to take this moment and ask you all to pray what the Psalmist prayed in Ps. 139.  The deceitfulness of my flesh is greater than I can understand, so I need help that is from beyond me to help me see clearly:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Ps 139: 23-24)

Ohh God, search our hearts.  Our sin deceives us.  Our hearts deceive us.  We need Your grace to search us out and know us that we may see ourselves for how we are.  May we see any falsehood in us and any false faith in us and turn to You and flee to our Maker in genuine love for You.  May we not fall to the notion that just agreeing with You is enough.  You want servants who put their faith in You, their hope in You, their joy in You.  You are our all.  Make us to know that! 

In Him,

Jim

I recently read through the book of Judges.  In the book of Judges there are many wars, there are Judges like Samson and Gideon, and there is blood shed by the people of God.  Some parts of Judges is confusing and suprising, at times.  Yet the thing that stood out to me as I was reading through this part of God’s word to us was the fact that Israel turned away from God and worshipped other gods.  The thing that is intriguing, though, about Israel turning away isn’t just in the fact that they turned away from God.  In a few places in the book of Judges it infers that they turned away from God because they forgot.  They forgot what He had done for them in delivering them from Egypt.  They forgot His constant faithfulness to them since Abraham.  They forgot. 

I believe one of the great battles in my life is a battle to remember.  To remember the Cross.  To remember His grace and glory at the cross.  To remember God became flesh for us.  We have so much more to rejoice in than Israel had because Israel had deliverance from Egypt.  We, through Christ, have deliverance from His eternal wrath. 

 Let us fight to remember His goodness whenever our boss seems to be against us and doesn’t like us.  Let us remember His faithfulness to His word whenever a spouse or child rejects the faith.  Let us remember the Cross of Christ whenever we see a nation suffering as a result of an earthquake.  Let all of this remembering bring about two things:

1.  Rejoicing

2. Wanting to tell others about Him

Our God is great.  Fight to remember Him and His greatness. 

“Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well” (Ps 139:14)

Jim

Hello friends,

We wanted to thank you from the bottom of our heart for the way you have supported and prayed for us during these past few months.  We realize that for many of you, your support in various ways was a sacrifice and we are grateful for it.    The greatest way we can show appreciation is to pray for you so please send us your prayer request.

As many of you know, the long term vision of Gospel Haiti is to equip missionary teachers for the classrooms of Haiti but as a result of the earthquake, we had to take a small detour and do various emergency relief programs.  Through the financial support received, we helped between 30-35 families restart their lives by offering grants to restart their small business.  Our friends (Christian leaders) decided this is the best way to restart local communities.  Looking back at this decision, we thank God for their wisdom because this money is being recycled back into other people.

The second way we assisted was through our project “Boxes of Hope.”  We collected about 500 containers with various goods.  Many churches, businesses, colleges, non-profits and individuals assisted us with this project.  This project was a blessing for us because we have seen God open so many doors to make this a reality.  We partnered with another organization called “Water For Life” to ship all these goods to Haiti.  It is still in route to Haiti.  We decided the best way to distribute these good is to do it one family at a time and to do it quietly over a period of few months.  The reason we are doing it this way is because we wanted to protect the dignity of the receivers.  Many of the leaders know the needs of individuals and families, and they will be able to provide the needed goods quietly and according to the individual needs.  The second reason is because we do not want a riot to break out.

The third thing we did was to visit our friends in Haiti.  Our main purpose in going there was to make sure our decisions and the work we have been doing is going in the right direction.  We also wanted to seek God’s direction for the near future of Gospel Haiti.  After coming back from Haiti, we have decided to stay focused on our vision of equipping missionary teachers.  For the remainder of 2010, we would like to offer scholarships to about 10-20 individuals interested in going to Education School and offer one educational conference during the summer for current teachers.  We will provide more information about this on our website within the next few weeks.

Below are the projects Gospel Haiti will be focusing on for the remainder of 2010.

• Support for the teachers conference during the summer:  We plan on hosting a 3 day conference to equip teachers to be successful educators and Christian missionaries within the classroom.
• Monthly support for the Special Needs girls
• Rebuilding homes of our missionary friends
• Support for the tent city our friend Seige runs in Port-au-Prince

Below are some photos from our visit to Haiti.

http://picasaweb.google.com/arun.mark.pereira/HaitiApr10#

http://picasaweb.google.com/arun.mark.pereira/HaitiApril102#

Thank you for the way you have been a blessing to our friends in Haiti.

May God continue to bless you.

Arun

The object of the Father from first to last is that the Son, the Lord Jesus, shall fill all things, and all things shall be filled with Christ. The value of everything in the eyes of God is according to the measure of the manifestation of Christ in it. –T. Austin-Sparks