Missions Conference

On Sunday we started our Missions Conference. Our conference runs Sunday - Wednesday. Monday-Wednesday we meet in the evening at 7:00 PM. This year we have been blessed with three missionary families. They are featured below. Please take the time to read the short bio. I will add some pictures to this post in a day or two.

Greg and Chris Miller (CrossWorld)
have served for over 30 years in Brazil. Their ministries varied from Third Culture Kid education and care to theological education to leadership development. Now they are part of the Source of Light Ministries International Ministries team developing and producing quality educational and discipleship material in 23 languages and in 90 different countries. They have a website: gregandchris.org.

Chris and Joy Konop (Missionary Aviation Fellowship)
Due to the Missions Conference
this week, there is no choir practice this evening.Chris, originally from Maryland, prepared to serve the Lord at Moody Bible Institute. While training in their aviation program in Spokane, WA, he met Joy who was a nursing student at Whitworth College. They married in 2006 and plan to serve the Lord in the Congo using their aviation and nursing skills.

Thom and Carolyn Cunningham (New Tribes Mission)
served in evangelism, discipleship and church planting for 23 years in Austria, England and Scotland. Later their ministry expanded to teaching in Papua New Guinea at NTM’s Interface Program. Thom specializes in partnering with local churches through teaching seminars – “Each One REACH One – Each One TEACH One” and “Opening the Scriptures”. Their burden and passion is to assist churches in mobilizing believers to make disciples at home and to the ends of the earth. The Cunninghams now serve as NTM representatives in New England.

Obama or Not Obama? - That is not the Question

Over the past number of elections, evangelical believers have increasingly become engaged in the political arena. This increase has propelled the evangelical church to a place where the media tracks its voting habits and its positions on various ballet issues. Candidates of every stripe then court this vote, emphasizing positions, and even quietly changing positions to win the evangelical endorsement. I, too, am political. I enjoy watching conventions and debates, and I strive to understand a candidate's position on a number of issues. However, in the pulpit and in my Bible teaching I maintain an apolitical stance. It matters not to me whether a person is a Democrat, a Republican, or some other stripe. What matters to me is whether a person has placed their trust in Jesus Christ.
Just prior to Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus warns His disciples that if they live the life of the Kingdom a result will be persecution. Then, before they can catch their breath and head to the hills to hide, Jesus implores them to be salt and light. Believers are to stay engaged with society. We are to make movies, write books, teach in schools (yes, even public schools), lead scout troops, coach ball teams, and of course vote and hold political office. All of this is important. Society is affected not when believers hide, but when they become engaged. That said, whether we write a bestseller or become a senator will have limited impact on our culture. What does make the difference? What activity or office will make a change for the better, a change that will last generations? None of the above. The only lasting difference that can be made is made with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
When the local church loses its way, focusing its efforts on things other than the life-changing gospel, then society is affected for the negative. Ministries lose workers, various peoples of different persuasions are offended, and those that we should have shared Christ with go without a witness. By all means, go and vote. Pull the lever for your candidate. But after you do, put an even greater energy and focus on sharing Jesus with your neighbor. Only the good news of Jesus Christ can make an eternal difference in our society.
-Mark
For a good article on this matter read John MacArthur's post on Politics, Activism, and the Gospel.

I delight in your deliverance

Well we have finished chapter one of The Song of Songs. I can tell a few things as I look out at the group: They are not a group who easily understands poetry. They are uncomfortable with all this sensual language. They would like a bit more spiritual application. This week I thought I would share some of the applications that we gleaned from the first chapter of the Song.

In 1:2-4 we found that the young woman desired the man physically. This kind of raw attraction is somewhat troubling to some of us because we are aware of Christ's words in Matthew 5:27-30. From those verses we assume that all desire toward physical romance is sin. I feel this would be a wrong assumption. God has placed in us a natural desire toward the opposite sex. Our lack of discipline in the matter leads us into sin, both in the mind and in our actions. Where God-created natural instinct turns into sin is more difficult for me to determine. Where is the line we cross? I will give it some thought and comment later in a future post. However, since the Song makes no moral statements, I too will avoid in so doing.

In addition to her physical attraction, she is attracted to his good character. This can be understood in verse 3 where she praises his name. Like many a smitten person, she probably repeated his name over and over. But it is more that just the sound of his name that moved upon her. In oriental thought, the name of a person speaks of his character. She then is attracted to his character, the person he is on the inside.

Another application we arrived at is found in verses 5-17. Initially we find that the young woman is confident in her physical form. In verse five she refers to herself as "comely" or "desirable." Desirability needs more than self - or to be desirable, you need to be appealing to others. She is confident that her lover will find her physically desirable. We, the reader should be drawn to her confidence. However, this confidence begins to waver as she compares herself to the women of the court. They are probably pale and soft. She is dark and hardened. She begins to lose her confidence when she says in the end of verse 6, "my own vineyard have I not kept." For the remainder of the chapter, as she dialogues with her lover, he focuses his words on her beauty, restoring her confidence. This is a great lesson - A lover should build the other person up. A lover should focus his efforts on lifting his beloved up. The young man in the song does just that.

Craving for spiritual application we took this last idea, of the lover who purposes to build the other up, and applied it to our Savior. When we find ourselves in the presence of our God, we quickly realize that we are not as appealing as first thought. We quickly see our spiritual "figure flaws." However, our Savior is not one to attack and degrade. He does not point at our faults in order to demean and diminish. Rather He lifts us up. As we find ourselves more in His presence we find words of praise similar to the prayer in 1 Samuel 2, where Hannah praises her Lord. Like Hannah we should find our delight and purpose in the fact that God delivers us and raises us up.

-Mark

Watch Yourself

The last two Sunday mornings we have taken a slight turn to the south in order to examine the sinfulness of sin. I believe it has been a productive study, for we are often unaware of the depth of our sin and the height of God's Grace. As we examined the Scripture yesterday, I asked the church to keep focused on God, His Grace, and His Love. In the end I feel we did so.
If there is one thing I thought I would share from the message in this post, it is the idea of how man was originally tempted and how today we are tempted in the same way. I must confess that this teaching comes from a former professor, Dr. Fowler. A few months back, he went to be with Christ. His enthusiasm is missed on this side of heaven.

Mankind was tempted in three areas:
1. Self-Preservation. When Eve (and Adam) looked at the fruit, she first saw that it was good for food(Genesis 3:6). Man has built into him a desire to survive. Like all desires, this can take a person beyond the norm and into sin. Although Adam and Eve had all of the garden in which to eat, they now felt that this plant was necessary for survival. Satan is a creature of habit, or one that returns to what has worked in the past. For that reason we see over in Luke 4:2-4, Satan attempting to tempt Christ in the same manner. Satan appeals to the hunger that Christ must have been suffering and the desire for survival, self-preservation. Jesus did not bite but stated that man's survival is due to every word of God, not just food. Today, we too are tempted in the same manner. You can see this taught in 1 John 2:16 where we see that the world tempts us with the lust of the flesh.
2. Self-Gratification. Returning to Genesis 3:6, Adam and Eve are next tempted with self-gratification. This is broader than self-preservation, for it speaks to the idea of satisfying your own desires, whatever they may be. Satan returned to this approach with Jesus in Luke 4:5-8 when he showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. In so many words, Satan was saying, "worship me and I will give you the desires of your heart." Again Christ rebukes him by using Scripture. Jesus reminds Satan that only God is worthy of worship and it is Him we should serve. Look at 1 John 2:16 and you will see the world tempting you in the same way by offering you "the lust of the eyes."
3. Self-Exaltation. Finally Adam and Eve bought into the idea that the tree would make them wise. In Genesis 3:5 Satan told Eve that the fruit of the tree would make her "like God." She fell for it. Satan in Luke 4:9-12 makes the same pass at Jesus. He wants Christ to demonstrate His deity. Again Jesus refuses and responds to Satan's temptation with Scripture. Look over at 1 John 2:16 and you will see the world following the same pattern of temptation where it says, "the pride of life."
So the world tempts us just like Adam and Eve were tempted and just like the temptation of Jesus. Now that we are aware of such, we need to daily evaluate what is placed before us. Is it appealing to my desires of self-preservation, self-gratification, and self-exaltation? If so, there is only one response, obey the Word of God. When Jesus was tempted in the same three areas he rebuked Satan (the temptation) with Scripture and obedience. Let us do the same.
-Mark

I am my beloveds, and my beloved is mine...

I have enjoyed preparing for our evening series on the Song of Songs. I must admit that although I have read through the book, I never engaged my mind in the text and attempted to understand what this love poem is about. I thought in this post that I would tell you about three sources that I am using for preparation.

First, I am reading Tommy Nelson's The Book of Romance. This book does not attempt to be a line-by-line verse-by-verse analysis of the poem, however, it does develop good applications for the reader. I use Pastor Nelson's applications to help the members of the congregation move the text into their daily lives. I would recommend this book for high school or better yet adult singles. There are great insights into dating, courtship and early marriage.

The second text that I use is Solomon's Song of Love by Dr. Craig Glickman. It is like that of Nelson's, in that it works in the land of application. However, I would say its purpose is different. Whereas Nelson has great application for the adult single, Glickman appears to target the married couple that has lost the spark of romance. Married adults could use this book for devotions or joint study. (Hmmm, Maybe I should suggest such to Debbie?)

Finally I am using Song of Songs by Richard Hess. This is a part of the Baker Commentary on the Old Testament. This book dives into the language and meaning of the Song. I have truly benefited from Dr. Hess' work. It keeps the study honest.

In the weeks to come, I will give you some of my thoughts concerning the Song. However, as I close I will offer this teaser. I do not think Solomon wrote the Song. I think that it was written by a woman.

-Mark