Seeker-Sensitive Contextualization
"Our Lord attracted sinners because He was different. They drew near to Him because they felt that there was something different about Him. And the world should see us to be different. This idea that you are going to win people to the Christian faith by showing them that after all you are remarkably like them, is theologically and psychologically a profound blunder." - Martyn Lloyd Jones
"The Reason men worship God in a casual way is because they do not see God, in His Glory. If a man has ever had Isaiah's vision of the Holiness of God, he would be changed in an instant. But until men have seen God as He truly is (as 'the High & Lofty One') they will be forever guilty of the very same rebuke God gave to the wicked in Psalms 50:21: 'You thought I was just like you.' - Jeremiah Burroughs
Sunday, December 30, 2007
3 Super Bowls Wins Aren't Enough for the Soul
Founders Blog reports:
He has dated actresses and supermodels and makes millions of dollars a year. He has been called America's most eligible bachelor. By most popular standards, he has it all. That is why I was struck by hearing him make the following statement during the interview:
"Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, 'Hey man, this is what is.' I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, 'God, it's got to be more than this.' I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be."When Kroft asked him, "What's the answer?" Brady responded, "I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I love playing football and I love being quarterback for this team. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of other parts about me that I'm trying to find."
The Founders Blog has a response for him. You can read it here.
(HT: Vit.Z)
Monday, December 24, 2007
Missions and A Meaningful Christmas
(By Lukas)
(By Lukas)
As I was reflecting on the latest DWYL Podcast, featuring Joshua Project and its focus on world evangelization, I was drawn back to read about this unfinished task in the book, Don’t Waste Your Life.
For its own soul the church [and me too] needs to be involved in missions. We will not know God in his full majesty until we know him moving triumphantly among the nations. We will not admire and praise him as we ought until we see him gathering a company of worshipers for himself from every people group on earth—including all the Muslim and Hindu and Buddhist peoples. Nothing enlarges our vision of God’s triumphant grace like the scope of his saving work in history. (pg. 172-3)
Many Christmas celebrations, stories, gatherings, devotionals, etc. seem to focus simply on the baby in the manger, and often they don't leave the manger.
If I never leave the manger in my Christmas meditations, I miss the scope and depth of Christmas. The baby Jesus left the manger, increased in wisdom and stature, showed us true righteousness, and gave his life to ransom a people from the many peoples of the world.
For a meaningful Christmas season—and a meaningful life—it is essential to see that Christ was undertaking a global mission when he became a little baby in a manger.
A Christmas Tale
Click here to read more of the whole story at the Desiring God blog
The moral of John Piper's tale is this:
When things don’t go the way they should
God always makes them turn for good.
When things go better than they should
For people who are bad,
Remember, if they stay that way,
At last they will be sad.
Click here to read more of the whole story at the Desiring God blog
Prayer Needed for Japan
Though Japan in some sense is being evangelized, (as the above map shows) the hearts of the overwhelming majority of Japanese are still very closed to Christianity. Please pray for our friends in Japan. As we share our lives and testimonies, only God can do the surgery of taking out hard hearts and putting in soft hearts that respond to the love of God in Christ. (Ezekiel 11:19) Pray especially for men to see their need for Christ. We are in need of spiritual miracles, not just more information.
Though Japan in some sense is being evangelized, (as the above map shows) the hearts of the overwhelming majority of Japanese are still very closed to Christianity. Please pray for our friends in Japan. As we share our lives and testimonies, only God can do the surgery of taking out hard hearts and putting in soft hearts that respond to the love of God in Christ. (Ezekiel 11:19) Pray especially for men to see their need for Christ. We are in need of spiritual miracles, not just more information.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Distant Starlight and a Young Earth?
One of the biggest arguments I hear from many Christian scientists concerning a young earth is the issue of distant starlight. The logic goes, "If we can see stars that are billions of light-years away, then the universe must be old otherwise we would not see the light from these stars yet." AIG has some very provocative answers to this question. Click here and scroll down to the bottom to view a video over this topic; or click here to read an article over the same topic.
One of the biggest arguments I hear from many Christian scientists concerning a young earth is the issue of distant starlight. The logic goes, "If we can see stars that are billions of light-years away, then the universe must be old otherwise we would not see the light from these stars yet." AIG has some very provocative answers to this question. Click here and scroll down to the bottom to view a video over this topic; or click here to read an article over the same topic.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
For the Glory of it All
Being away from many good friends and family members as well as being away from my native land during Christmas is never a fun thing. However, I am sure that there are many things in all of our lives that aren't necessarily fun!
Tragedies, hard-times, and afflictions of many forms and degrees abound in this imperfect world.
Lately, I have been studying Lazarus from John 11. Jesus loved Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. They were his good friends. However, when word was sent that Lazarus was sick, Jesus stayed two more days where He was. The actual word there is "SO... he stayed two days longer where he was." (v. 6)! Why would a loving God PURPOSEFULLY allow pain into the lives of His beloved? Of course the answer is that He has a good purpose and a plan! Jesus stated that purpose very clearly to his disciples: "This illness does not lead to death. (though death did come at one point) It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified in it." (v. 4)
Most people don't like the sound of God-centered love. We want God to make everything nice right now, or else! Jesus realizes that the greatest blessing is not in receiving material/ physical comfort now, it is in knowing God and in seeing His glory, even if that means hardship. This is exactly the path that Jesus Himself took.
Of course when we get down and discouraged we want to know that God is not standing there coldly saying, "This is for my glory, so deal with it!" The truth is is that Jesus weeps. He mourns in our losses, and He has suffered such that He can understand our deep pain. A little further in ch. 11 is the shortest verse in the Bible. It says, "Jesus wept." Jesus wept with his friends in their great grief. He hated the pain, he despised the cross too and did not want to go there, nor does he wish any to perish. (Ez. 18:23) But above all of that, He has a plan through pain. Jesus wants to bring us into the greatest story and the greatest climax ever imagined: the revelation of God's glory - and the complete and eternal joy of His children in it.
Just like Lazarus we will see the living Christ standing over us saying, "LIVE!" and "Come out of death" again. We will live a full life with Him forever and ever and all our tears will be dried away - if we belong to Him by faith. But if we simply live for today, we will never know the amazing glory of God and the realization of our complete joy in Him.
The David Crowder Band song, "For the Glory of it All" sums all this up very well for me:
All is lost
find him there, find him there
After night
Dawn is there, Dawn is there
Being away from many good friends and family members as well as being away from my native land during Christmas is never a fun thing. However, I am sure that there are many things in all of our lives that aren't necessarily fun!
Tragedies, hard-times, and afflictions of many forms and degrees abound in this imperfect world.
Lately, I have been studying Lazarus from John 11. Jesus loved Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha. They were his good friends. However, when word was sent that Lazarus was sick, Jesus stayed two more days where He was. The actual word there is "SO... he stayed two days longer where he was." (v. 6)! Why would a loving God PURPOSEFULLY allow pain into the lives of His beloved? Of course the answer is that He has a good purpose and a plan! Jesus stated that purpose very clearly to his disciples: "This illness does not lead to death. (though death did come at one point) It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified in it." (v. 4)
Most people don't like the sound of God-centered love. We want God to make everything nice right now, or else! Jesus realizes that the greatest blessing is not in receiving material/ physical comfort now, it is in knowing God and in seeing His glory, even if that means hardship. This is exactly the path that Jesus Himself took.
Of course when we get down and discouraged we want to know that God is not standing there coldly saying, "This is for my glory, so deal with it!" The truth is is that Jesus weeps. He mourns in our losses, and He has suffered such that He can understand our deep pain. A little further in ch. 11 is the shortest verse in the Bible. It says, "Jesus wept." Jesus wept with his friends in their great grief. He hated the pain, he despised the cross too and did not want to go there, nor does he wish any to perish. (Ez. 18:23) But above all of that, He has a plan through pain. Jesus wants to bring us into the greatest story and the greatest climax ever imagined: the revelation of God's glory - and the complete and eternal joy of His children in it.
Just like Lazarus we will see the living Christ standing over us saying, "LIVE!" and "Come out of death" again. We will live a full life with Him forever and ever and all our tears will be dried away - if we belong to Him by faith. But if we simply live for today, we will never know the amazing glory of God and the realization of our complete joy in Him.
The David Crowder Band song, "For the Glory of it All" sums all this up very well for me:
All is lost
find him there, find him there
After night
Dawn is there, Dawn is there
After all falls apart
he repairs he repairs
Oh the Glory of it all is:
he came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
oh he is here
for redemption from the fall
that we may live
for the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all
the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all
After night
comes the light
dawn is here
dawn is here
it’s a new day
it’s a new day
everything will change
things will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
Oh, The glory of it all is
you came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
Oh you are here
with redemption for us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
for the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Saturday, December 01, 2007
The Moravians
"Lo, through ice and snow, one poor lost soul for Christ to gain; Glad we bear want and distress to set forth the Lamb once slain." - Moravian missionary to Greenland
Sixty years before William Carey set out for India, Moravian missionaries landed on the West Indian island of St. Thomas to make known the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Moravians were a group of Protestants that esacaped from anti-Reformation reaction in Bohemia and Moravia (present day Czech Republic) during the 17th century and had taken shelter on an estate at Berthesdorf at the invitation of Nicholas Zinzendorf, an evangelical Lutheran nobleman. "The whole place represented truly a tabernacle of God among men. There was nothing to be seen and heard but joy and gladness." (Grant)
In the first 150 years of this "passionate and glad" community, the Moravian community was to send no less than 2,158 of its members overseas! Stephen Neil said, "This small church was seized by a missionary passion which has never left it."
"I have one passion, and it is Him, only Him," - Zinzendorf
My prayer is that we all find more of a deep love for Christ and for the world He was born to die for this Christmas!
"Lo, through ice and snow, one poor lost soul for Christ to gain; Glad we bear want and distress to set forth the Lamb once slain." - Moravian missionary to Greenland
Sixty years before William Carey set out for India, Moravian missionaries landed on the West Indian island of St. Thomas to make known the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Moravians were a group of Protestants that esacaped from anti-Reformation reaction in Bohemia and Moravia (present day Czech Republic) during the 17th century and had taken shelter on an estate at Berthesdorf at the invitation of Nicholas Zinzendorf, an evangelical Lutheran nobleman. "The whole place represented truly a tabernacle of God among men. There was nothing to be seen and heard but joy and gladness." (Grant)
In the first 150 years of this "passionate and glad" community, the Moravian community was to send no less than 2,158 of its members overseas! Stephen Neil said, "This small church was seized by a missionary passion which has never left it."
"I have one passion, and it is Him, only Him," - Zinzendorf
My prayer is that we all find more of a deep love for Christ and for the world He was born to die for this Christmas!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
What Christmas is All About
One more reason I am living in Japan and not in America. Every year anyone in the U.S. can watch this on live T.V. in the comfort of their own home, in their own language. What a Christmas gift! America, with all of its sins, is still flooded with light. Let's share that light - the light of the gospel - with all the nations this Christmas!
One more reason I am living in Japan and not in America. Every year anyone in the U.S. can watch this on live T.V. in the comfort of their own home, in their own language. What a Christmas gift! America, with all of its sins, is still flooded with light. Let's share that light - the light of the gospel - with all the nations this Christmas!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
CHEA Japan Conference
(Church & Home Educators Association) - Nagano, Japan
Noah braved the 7 -8 hour bus ride to Nagano very well. He is learning to sit up by himself ... and suck on his toes! He loves to smile at everyone.
Green Plaza Hotel - Hakuba. This is the beautiful place we got to stay for two nights.
The snowy mountains (Japanese Alps) were refreshing to see.
The kids were all so well behaved and joyful. We were very impressed with all the people we met.
Joshua Harris' brothers, Alex and Brett were there to give some very important messages for young people and for those who raise them. All of the Harris' were or are being home-schooled. In fact, their dad, Gregg, is one of the leaders of the home-schooling movement in the USA.
Here is Gregg Harris sharing a few words. I was very impressed with Pastor Gregg's insight, love for his family and for others and for his strong Biblical knowledge and stance. I had a great time asking him about his family a couple different times during the weekend. Maki had a good time talking with his wife, Sono, who is a Japanese-American.
All in all, 700 people came for this national event. We are feeling more and more led to homeschooling, at least for the first few years of school. We want to be the main influencers in our children's lives as well as get them off on the right foot towards a thoroughly bi-lingual education. As a teacher, I am excited to spend individual time raising up my child(ren) in the way that he should go. Maki also wants to be able to spend lots of time with her children helping them in many ways. We are very happy for this great support system in Japan.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
(Church & Home Educators Association) - Nagano, Japan
Noah braved the 7 -8 hour bus ride to Nagano very well. He is learning to sit up by himself ... and suck on his toes! He loves to smile at everyone.
Green Plaza Hotel - Hakuba. This is the beautiful place we got to stay for two nights.
The snowy mountains (Japanese Alps) were refreshing to see.
The kids were all so well behaved and joyful. We were very impressed with all the people we met.
Joshua Harris' brothers, Alex and Brett were there to give some very important messages for young people and for those who raise them. All of the Harris' were or are being home-schooled. In fact, their dad, Gregg, is one of the leaders of the home-schooling movement in the USA.
Here is Gregg Harris sharing a few words. I was very impressed with Pastor Gregg's insight, love for his family and for others and for his strong Biblical knowledge and stance. I had a great time asking him about his family a couple different times during the weekend. Maki had a good time talking with his wife, Sono, who is a Japanese-American.
All in all, 700 people came for this national event. We are feeling more and more led to homeschooling, at least for the first few years of school. We want to be the main influencers in our children's lives as well as get them off on the right foot towards a thoroughly bi-lingual education. As a teacher, I am excited to spend individual time raising up my child(ren) in the way that he should go. Maki also wants to be able to spend lots of time with her children helping them in many ways. We are very happy for this great support system in Japan.Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Never Let Go
My brother Doug has a great post for everyone who needs a little encouragement today.
Check it out here.
After that, watch this very inspiring video which encourages us that God will NEVER let go.
"Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of his glory with great joy." - Jude 24,25
My brother Doug has a great post for everyone who needs a little encouragement today.
Check it out here.
After that, watch this very inspiring video which encourages us that God will NEVER let go.
"Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of his glory with great joy." - Jude 24,25
Monday, November 19, 2007
Celebrating Pearl Harbor?
Dec. 7, 1941 - Pearl Harbor - "A day that will live in infamy" - FDR.
This year on Dec. 7, plan to celebrate one of the most amazing stories of inspiration that WW2 affords. - And pass it on to others.
When Japan looked around for a pilot to plan and lead a sneak attack against Pearl Harbor they decided quickly on Mitsuo Fuchida. An experienced pilot and passionate for action, Fuchida was just the man for the plan. Little did the military leaders know that God also had a plan for Fuchida's life; first to become the most famous person in Japan and then to become a radically new man by the gospel of Jesus Christ. His testimony and story would be used of God to lead thousands to Christ!
Read more about the story here and then
listen to Jake DeShazer's testimonies here - The man who led Fuchida to Christ after the war. Please pass these stories on to others on Dec. 7! (Especially listen to #9.)
And for other great stories from DeShazer's life look here.
Dec. 7, 1941 - Pearl Harbor - "A day that will live in infamy" - FDR.
This year on Dec. 7, plan to celebrate one of the most amazing stories of inspiration that WW2 affords. - And pass it on to others.
When Japan looked around for a pilot to plan and lead a sneak attack against Pearl Harbor they decided quickly on Mitsuo Fuchida. An experienced pilot and passionate for action, Fuchida was just the man for the plan. Little did the military leaders know that God also had a plan for Fuchida's life; first to become the most famous person in Japan and then to become a radically new man by the gospel of Jesus Christ. His testimony and story would be used of God to lead thousands to Christ!
Read more about the story here and then
listen to Jake DeShazer's testimonies here - The man who led Fuchida to Christ after the war. Please pass these stories on to others on Dec. 7! (Especially listen to #9.)
And for other great stories from DeShazer's life look here.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The Future of Justification
John Piper's new book is available to purchase or to download for free here.
John Piper's new book is available to purchase or to download for free here.
Monday, November 12, 2007
How did Thanksgiving Day become official?
Several presidents proclaimed individual days of thanksgiving for God's goodness to them, starting with George Washington.
Abraham Lincoln realized the need for Americans to turn back to God with a full heart. He gave this address to announce the new annual American holiday.
Lincoln's Thanksgiving Address
It is the duty of nations as well as of men to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.
We know that by his divine law, nations, like individuals, are subject to punishments and chastisements in this world May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins; to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole of the American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every pad of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
-President Abraham Lincoln
16th president of the USA
Several presidents proclaimed individual days of thanksgiving for God's goodness to them, starting with George Washington.
Abraham Lincoln realized the need for Americans to turn back to God with a full heart. He gave this address to announce the new annual American holiday.
Lincoln's Thanksgiving Address
It is the duty of nations as well as of men to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.
We know that by his divine law, nations, like individuals, are subject to punishments and chastisements in this world May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins; to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole of the American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every pad of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
-President Abraham Lincoln
16th president of the USA
Friday, November 09, 2007
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Japan and Evangelism
YouTube popularity is exploding in Japan, comments the Christian Pacific Rim Media blog:
click here to read more
YouTube popularity is exploding in Japan, comments the Christian Pacific Rim Media blog:
“YouTube’s user base is growing more quickly in Japan than any of the other major websites, including Yahoo Japan, Amazon.co.jp or Wikipedia.org, according to the latest report by Internet research firm NetRatings Japan. Even though it does not have a separate Japanese-language version, YouTube recently achieved its 10 millionth Japanese visitor after just 14 months.Implication: If more and more Japanese are going to YouTube and viewing videos, how could we use this low cost medium to reach Japanese?”
A Manga Bible has been published by New Life League Japan.
click here to read more
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Finding Answers Amid Life's Greatest Losses
Ravi Zacharias with another great message in front of 7,000 at Virginia Tech University.
Ravi Zacharias with another great message in front of 7,000 at Virginia Tech University.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
The Golden Compass
"There will be a new children's movie out in December called "The Golden Compass". The movie has been described as "atheism for kids" and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises C. S. Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia". His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series.
Clearly, Pullman's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."
Click here for more
"There will be a new children's movie out in December called "The Golden Compass". The movie has been described as "atheism for kids" and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises C. S. Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia". His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series.
Clearly, Pullman's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."
Click here for more
Sunday, October 28, 2007
The Anatomy of Faith & the Quest for Reason
Perhaps the best message I have heard in response to the rationalistic, evangelical atheism of today.
Listen to Ravi Zacharias' 20 min. message here.
Perhaps the best message I have heard in response to the rationalistic, evangelical atheism of today.
Listen to Ravi Zacharias' 20 min. message here.
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