Yikkkeesss!

My wife, my beautitful wife is in Peru, where the plan crash just occured... and while, thankfully, she was not aboard this one, it was the same airline she is using. I saw this on the news this morning, and it didn't make me feel very good!
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/08/24/peru.crash/index.html

From her emails, it does sound like she is doing very well, and Peru sounds like an amazing place to be! I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures when she comes home on monday.

I'm praying that God will protect her, and that she will be able to share with others the value of Christ with those she is able to meet. Abby is an amazing example of God's love to me, and thinking of her I am in awe of the grace and mercy of God that He would bring us together. I trust in the goodness of ALL that God does in my life... and I hope that means I will be with Abby for as long I'm here on earth! God is always good, and to His plan ALWAYS works for the best for those who love Him.
I can't wait to have my wife back!

Purpose of the Church

What is the purpose of the church? Sometimes we need to look back to the basics of our purpose to make sure we are still ontrack and that our forward looking decisions and belief and actions are faithful to our purpose.

There seems to be a lot of differing optinions on the purpose of the church these days. My seminary class is called "Church for the 21st Century". Unless we know the purpose of the church, we cannot begin to decide what it should look like in our time.

In my studies this week on this topic, I came across Ephesians 3:1-12

1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

It is verse 10 that struck me. The purpose of the church, according to Paul, is to show the wisdom of God to the "rulers and authoritys in the heavenly realms". Our ultimate job as a church is to show all the beings in the heavenly realms, angels and Satan and all his host that God is wise and as Piper puts it, His plan WORKS.

This is really saying that the primary point of the church is worship. Worship is treasureing, showing suprime value in Christ. This is what this means. Worship needs to permiate all that we do. When we preach, it is to show and treasure the words of God, because they "WORK" and they are worth knowing, loving, and savoring. When we desciple, it is ultimately to show others, again, that God's plan WORKS! Descipleship show's and demonastrates this in a very personal way. This is worship to God because it lifts Him up as supremely valuable in desciplers life. If they desciple simply to invest information in another, or if their primary purpose, the end of their desire, is to make someones life better, this is not worship to God. Worship of God is not a secondary or insidental part of what we do, it is THE CORE of what we do. It is THE PURPOSE.

The church needs to teach, equip, fellowship, evangelize, pray... all these things are extreemly important, but if they are not done out of worship and admiration to God, it is not just sad, but it is simply sin. It is not simply that worship is intertwined with these "other purposes", these purposes must BE worship in ESSENSE.

Lets show all the heavely beings how great our God is, and that His wisedom. Let us show how great God is in our church.

"The church is the cosmic showcase of God's mercy and if we fail to live as joyful beneficiaries of his mercy and fail to maintain the unity of the Spirit, we bring a cosmic reproach upon the wisdom of God." - Piper

Betting on climate change

Wow, now we're getting somewhere! It can be hard for me to listen to people to argue so loudly about climate change when it seems to become so political. I have to admit, though, that when they put $10,000 of their own money on the line, it helps me to trust that they at least believe it themselves.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1552092,00.html

Abby's off!!

My wife, Abby, just left for Pittsburgh to visit our new nephew, and then sunday, will travel on to Peru for a week of language study. It's strange to see her go without me, but I'm excited for her, and glad it is only a week;-) She returns next monday.
I hope and pray that God will give her opportunities to show His grace there and share the gospel. God is so good to us!

I Hate My Pride!!

While I was driving home from seminary class this past saterday, I was overwhelmed by how invasive pride is in my life, and how much I HATE it! It ruins everything, especially my relationship with God, which is the foundation for anything that is good in my life.
It really is like those invasive plants and weeds... that sick around in places you would never expect them. If your not looking for them, you might never notice they are there untill they have grown and completely taken over every part of your life.
God has been teaching me about my sin these last 6 months, and pride is at the heart of my trouble. I've realized that so many behaviors and feelings, which I have previously chalked up to shyness or insecurity, is really just plan ol' pride. For example, I'm in class, and I'm afraid to engage something the teacher says... there is a knot in my stomach. The fear I feel is just my pride. It stops me from engaging in the discussion, it HARMS me. How many of my behaviors and issues in my life have I excused for some reason or another, but is just my stuped pride getting in the way!
We see throughout the scriptures that God uses people who have been broken... who see their sinfulness and brokeness. God then fills them with His spirit, and power, and works through them. The problem with pride, is that it try's to straighten you out by itself. It is like a patient who goes to the doctor with a formerly broken leg that has not healed properly, leaving it deformed and un-usable. That is us in our sin. God needs us to be broken so that He can remake us into His own image, but our pride try's to keep the leg from being broken... try's to keep us from feeling how sinful and needy we really are. This, to me, is the biggest difference between myself now, and myself 6 months ago. I have for a long time "KNOWN" that I was sinful, but I did not feel broken over it. Now, I have begun to feel broken... and the strange thing is, the more broken I feel, the more joy I feel. When I'm broken, I run to God... I don't feel anxious, becuase I have nothing to protect, there is nothing left to protect, only hope that God can take this sinful, dead, fleshly body and transform it into a child of His.
That is such an AMAZING THING! I am His child! He is SO big, that He can even cover my increadible sinfulness... the pride that has seeped into every area of my life... the increadible arrigence that I show every day when I rely on myself, or question Him. God is truely awsome, loving, and merciful!