Yesu-The Savior

In church here, we had been looking at the prophets, and specifically as of the past 2 weeks, we have been looking at their prophecies. It has shed new light on Jesus and made me think about Him in a different way than before.

The Bible is big; and long. There are  a lot of words and I have never read them all. But, in going through some of these prophets and their role in the Bible, I have seen and read scripture that I have never even thought about reading. Who reads Malachi? or Zephaniah? In all my overlooking them, I thought I was missing out on dusty words of ancient prophets. BUT what I was missing, was Jesus in all of this. He is the one the prophets all spoke of, and He is the one that all of scripture is directing us to... even the "boring stuff"... it points to Jesus.

From Genesis 3:15 on, every word in the Bible seems to scream, "Jesus! The Savior!" It either says, He is coming, He is here, or He tells it Himself, that He is the One. I knew the Gospels, and some of Isaiah's prophecies were about Jesus, but Jesus is everywhere. I cannot believe that I lived all these years as a believer and did not realize the magnitude and significance of the life of our savior. Literally thousands of years before Christ actually came, the stage was being set for Jesus to come. From the Garden of Eden, Jesus was on the way. Then, through thousands of years God orchestrates the events and circumstances that needed to transpire for Jesus to be born the way that it was told.... And He did it because He loved a sinner like me. He used Abraham, Isaac, and David, and even King Herod to fulfill the prophecies in order that Jesus would come in all of His glory to redeem that which was lost. 

Praise God for His faithfulness throughout the ages. He did everything because He loved us from the beginning with a love that is above everything we can know. It is truly a beautiful story. I am amazed more and more at how big God is and how big His story is. Outside of the faith that God has given me, I would say it is unbelievable.

Peace

#4

So as of now, I have had a lot of free time here in Dar. Because of this, I have been able to do a lot of thinking and praying. All this thinking led to a question I asked myself. The question is, "What is it about the gospel that I am ashamed of?"...

This took me back for a moment . I thought to myself, "surely I am not ashamed of the message of Jesus; I am on a semester long mission trip in East Africa for crying out loud." But, then I think of all the times that I do not speak up, or become really withdrawn in conversation, can I call it anything but being ashamed? I think I can sugar coat it enough and tell myself it just wasn't a good opportunity, but why hide it? Apparently sometimes I am ashamed of the gospel. But why?

Paul addresses this issue more than once in the New Testament. So it has been a problem before... Good news for me, I am not the only one.... but bad news, because while I might not be the only one, I still am one. So what is it that I am embarrassed of? Is it the fact that Christianity just isn't popular today? Maybe it is my own shortcomings in my walk with the Lord, and I don't feel the right to pry into other people's lives. Perhaps is a more specific issue in scripture... like debates over alcohol or speaking in tongues that I sometimes would rather not deal with... But the more I think about it, the more I realize that it is none of these things. I think, more than anything, I am choked up sometimes by the controversial figure that Jesus was.

Jesus is hard to deal with, honestly. For the believer, it is hard to grasp that He gave us commands rather than suggestions. Even harder to admit that we are slaves to Christ, indebted to Him everything we are and hope to be, rather than servants who come and go... and are rewarded for it. For the nonbeliever, it is hard to accept the pivotal truth that Jesus is THE ONLY WAY. There is no other. There are times when I can preach the gospel with passion and a boldness that can only come from the power of God, but there are also times when that passion is no where to be found. So for me, I think the fact of the matter is, that sometimes I just do not want to present Jesus. That must change. I know that I am not responsible for what people do with Jesus, nor would I want to be. That is for God to do. However, I am very much responsible for giving an account of who Jesus is, what He has done in my life, and what He wants for all people. This is much easier said than done. Sometimes it like God is asking a lot, especially while I am in a foreign country, but Jesus gave us fair warning as to what it is to follow after Christ. (Luke 14:26-33 among others) But is our reward not so much greater?

It is my prayer, for me as well as all of you, that our love for the Lord may become greater each day; Hoping that we would all begin to carry the message of reconciliation that God has entrusted to us, with more passion than ever before.

 I need a drastic change of pace from the way I so casually and sometimes carelessly carry it now. Jesus is who all scripture points to, He is the one who all creation praises, and He is the one I am forever indebted to because of His supreme love that is the basis of my salvation.

Peace,

JOel

 

Sick in Africa

So, I have been here for 15 days so far. 13 of them were spent at a hostel type conference center. All of the hands on missionaries were there for an orientation. We definitely had a lot to be taught about living and working in Africa. There were around 10 different teams represented here in Dar es Salaam for orientation. This past Thursday all of the different teams left for their fields: Our team stayed in Dar, there were teams sent to Uganda, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa, and a few more secure countries. 

Friday, I was really sick. Apparently I had a small colony of amoebas in my stomach and they caused an infection; all this led to a fever of over 104... apparently that could kill someone who is not as tough as I am. So, I had a miserable first day in our new house. I spent the day in the hospital here in Dar, and got some good medicine. I am pretty sure I saw God in 4 yellow pills.

Speaking of God, He is doing some amazing things throughout Africa. Obviously bringing 37 college kids out here for a semester is quite indicative of some of His goings on, but as we listened to stories at orientation, and met some of the national partners, it is evident that God is here. 

Long story short, here is where I am at in all of this: On day 2 of orientation, I was scared. Very scared. Scared that God would call me here forever, and I honestly didn't want that. I have plans and goals and things that I want to do in life, but they are all centered around my desire and passion for leading worship and making music. I was scared that God would strip me of those goals and call me here if I get too involved here and what not. But then I heard a quote, and I believe it is a partial quote by John Piper. It was something along these lines, 

"... missions is not the goal of the church [christians]

worship is; missions exists  where worship

does not."

This radically changed my thinking. It is not about me not wanting to be a worship pastor, more than a missionary; it is about the fact that God has equipped me to do both. By the fact that I am a worshipper of God, living in a place that does not worship God, missions exists. This is in Americus, Georgia or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Although this does not take away my flesh, which screams that I am not in a safe or comfortable place. It does not take all of the homesickness away, nor the desire to see the familiar faces of loved ones. It does, however, free me to rest in the fact that God, from whom all blessings flow, is good. And He has placed me here. And He is what this life is about. It is hard. 

But He is good. It is one thing to know that He is good, but I have found it to be a completely different thing to believe it at all times. It is my prayer that I will believe this simple truth in my heart and in my actions the same way that I know it in my head. That when I am sick, in a hospital, in East Africa, missing friends, wanting to be comfortable at home, but torn because of the lostness all around this world, I can say God is enough... Apparently I am not there yet... still a little selfish... but working on it. It is a slow process and sometimes it sucks. But He IS good.

Peace,

JOel