• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

The Gospel digs deeper no matter where we are

Posted on September 12, 2014 by wtdavid

This week finds Rebecca and I on ‘the other side of the world’. Perusing some literature at the Bible College where we are staying, I ran across this quote by the Principal:?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

“This grace (Ephesians 2:7) has reconciled us to God and to each other. It is not anything we have done or could do, but all the work of God. We must be aware that it can be easy when we inhabit the fields of grace to think that what we do does not matter as much as what we believe.  We rightly say that nothing we do will make God love us more and nothing we do will make God love us less.  That is true.  We do not bring anything to the table of salvation except our own sin. But while our works are not essential they are inevitable!  We were created in Christ Jesus to do good works (Ephesians 2:10).”

Though ‘our works are not essential they are inevitable’. I loved that line in Stuart’s article. It demonstrated afresh that the Gospel runs deep and produces change.  The Gospel cannot be active in a person’s life and not create transformation.

We lift up the Gospel as one, or rather the core value of World Team.  If that is true, then our lives should be in regular change, constant transformation.

Filed under: Godly living, Gospel | 2 Comments »

The Gospel digs deeper … again

Posted on September 4, 2014 by wtdavid

Last week, Rebecca and I participated in the Mission14: Vision Forward Europe Area Conference.  Two things caught my attention and reminded me of how the Gospel ‘must go somewhere’ when it floods into a person’s or a community’s heart.mission14-logo

First, the theme for the week was personal and leader development.  As Albert spoke on leader development, he emphasized that the foremost characteristic a leader needs to develop in his/her life is humility.  Of all the elements he could have chosen, he chose an element that only the Gospel could produce in a leader’s life. The antithesis of humility is pride which can only be rooted out by the Spirit’s work to drive us to faith and repentance.

Albert used John the Baptist as his primary example, pointing out the fact that at a given moment in his ministry John began pointing people away from himself to Jesus. A good leader, a gospel centred leader points people not to himself or herself, but back to Jesus.

Second, as I looked around the room, I was amazed by the large number of cultures represented. Yes, there were some struggles in communication, but we were all joined together in a common cause, a shared vision.  We experienced in a small way what the Church is and should be.  The only way that such a disparate group of people could fellowship and serve together would be as a result of God’s Spirit transforming hearts and breaking down barriers which would normally exist between people.

What I felt during that week was something I’m hoping will grow into a much larger reality across World Team as the Gospel continues to drive us back to Him, and asking that He will add more workers to His harvest from everywhere.

Filed under: Community, Gospel, Humility | 4 Comments »

The Gospel digs deeper

Posted on August 19, 2014 by wtdavid

Last week, we had a flood in our basement. It came from the aeration ducts on our patio.  Each duct has a pretty deep hole, but when there is more water than space in the hole it overflows through a vent into our basement.

That’s not a bad image for the Gospel being ‘poured out into our hearts’.  It fills the spaces in our hearts so much that it overflows and has to go somewhere.

However, ‘the Gospel’ can easily become a cliché in WT speak and lose its ‘capacity’ to disturb our regular habits or practices.  If it starts to dig deeper though; if we make way for it to overflow into and search our hearts to see what hurtful ways there might be (Psalm 139), we would be ‘flooded’ in good and godly ways, causing us to change displeasing ways.

Here’s one place that the Gospel should ‘flood’ and change.  It’s in our conversations about one another, sharing their “stories”. Sometimes the sentence starts out innocently, but ends with: “I can’t understand why they …” I’m sure most of us could fill in the rest of that sentence as someone immediately comes to mind.

Maybe we should call this for what it really is: gossip. women-gossiping

I’m sometimes amazed when I hear from someone a distorted version of something I shared in confidence with another and that has now been passed down through several parties.  I’m even more amazed that no one along the path questioned the further sharing of that story or thought to go back to the original source of the story to verify its authenticity.  I’m surprised when I hear someone sharing details about another person’s struggle in the form of a prayer request.

Obviously, I’m just scratching the surface of this whole issue.  However, the Gospel should ‘flood’ gossip out of our lives.  How that works, is another story.

Filed under: Community, Gospel | Leave a comment »

A bunch of saints

Posted on May 23, 2014 by wtdavid

‘Saint’ is an interesting word.  We often throw it around in conversation to describe those who rise above the crowd; who have a stellar life and character.  “They’re a real saint,” we might say.saints

Sitting in a meeting with leaders from WT Cameroon, Dan led us through a short study of 1 Peter 1:1-2.  He put the emphasis on how we as believers, how we as ‘saints’, are described in this short opening section.  One of the very first descriptors we settled on was: chosen ones; those who had been set apart by God.  In other words, ‘saints’ are those in whose hearts God has first worked, not because of any strength of merit they may bring to the table, but wholly because of His love and grace.

‘Saints’ are those who are in process; those who are learning to grow in grace and be sanctified by grace.  They are not perfect by any means, but their hearts have been changed by grace “so that they might obey Jesus Christ.”

Jessie (WT Irian Jaya/Papua alum) went to her homecoming with Jesus earlier this month.  Jessie was a ‘saint’.  She seemed to always be quick to share her ongoing needs for greater growth in Jesus, but her heart had been transformed by Christ and it led her to life of service to her Lord and others.  She was one who was still in process, she was a ‘saint’ because she knew, above all, that she had been first claimed by Christ.

May we stake our claim on the One who bought us back, so that our lives as ‘saints’ would be a natural outworking of that truth taking root deeply in our  hearts.

 

Filed under: Character, Gospel | Leave a comment »

Learning what it means to pray to our Father

Posted on May 5, 2014 by wtdavid

The Lord’s Prayer begins in such a simple way that many of us can miss the thrust of what Jesus was teaching us by this prayer: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9).  That small statement: “Our Father”, speaks volumes as to the place where our prayers should begin and end.  The truth expressed in that one statement forms the context of all our prayers and has to be driven home to our hearts each day.our father

Knowing God as my Father means that I understand, I have taken deep into my heart the truth that when God turns His eyes from all His creative activity in the world and he looks at me, He cries out: “Here is one of my beloved children!”

Praying the Gospel begins when I choose to rehearse the Gospel to my heart as I begin my prayers.  Praying the Gospel begins when I choose at times not to move further in my prayers until my heart is settled in the assurance that God is my Father, that I am His beloved, and that as I start, continue or end my day, He is faithful and just to forgive me of all my sins and apply the righteousness of Christ to my life again.

I find for myself that I too quickly move away from “praying the Gospel” to all that weighs on my heart that day.  Certainly, I acknowledge God as the centre of my life, but I don’t always allow that truth to become the context in which I share all that is on my heart with my Father.  We encourage one another by praying that the Gospel will go deep in each of our hearts.

Obviously, I have primarily focused on how “praying the Gospel” impacts my own personal life. However, it should impact our community prayer life as well.  What might that look like?

 

Filed under: Gospel, Prayer | 6 Comments »

Praying the Gospel

Posted on April 30, 2014 by wtdavid

Prayer is fundamental and foundational to the work of calling people into relationship with Jesus, growing them up in Him, and uniting them to transformational communities.  We all know that truth.  We all believe that truth.praying the gospel

However, just looking at the overall time I commit to prayer – actually praying, sharing requests with others, meeting with others for prayer – you might argue that prayer is more an aspirational value than a worked out value in my life.  I’m probably not alone in this.

At least two reasons come quickly to mind for this dissonance between what I say and what I actually do as a worker.

First, I live more as an independent worker than as a dependent worker.  Honestly, I often act as if the ministry actually does depend on me.  Praying the Gospel reminds me that everything flows from the Father’s active work and investment in this world.

Second, when I do pray, it’s a lot about “my stuff” more than it is about God’s desires and His interests.  Praying the Gospel refocuses my heart on what is most important.

So, what do I mean by “praying the Gospel”?  What does that look like for me on a day to day basis?  In other words, how can I move prayer from an aspirational value to one that is part and parcel of my daily walk with Him?

Filed under: Gospel, Prayer | Leave a comment »

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