• 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!

Gospel Growth — Take 2

Posted on July 8, 2024 by wtdavid

The Gospel speaks deeply to our hearts because it daily reminds us of the free grace, forgiveness and honour that is bestowed upon us.  However, the Gospel can often feel “distant” from our day to day existence. We need to see and learn its relevance to our lives and ministry.

The WT Ministry Framework puts it this way: “The Gospel is how any and all spiritual change happens in the lives of individuals, groups, and institutions of people. Therefore, it informs every ministry and is our most fundamental point of reference and principle in every action, plan, and strategy. This principle, before all others, guides us in the decisions we make, the solutions we embrace, the way we conduct our ministries and our relationships with others.”

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to let several WT workers share how the Gospel is changing them, transforming their hearts in different ways and in different contexts.  Here’s a another story from a WT worker’s journey:

“One special moment happened when I finally put my new understanding of God’s grace into a quote that I now often use, “The proportion to which you understand your depravity is the proportion to which you understand grace.” I had never deeply understood how only Jesus’ sacrifice was able to take away my sins and I could do nothing to please Him or have Him love me more.  It was already done. 

Another way to put it is: “Little depravity demands little grace.”  That was one of my most powerful discoveries: that I was totally depraved and without hope!  But the grace of Christ covers all my depravity/lacking/sin, etc.  I think I came to understand very clearly that without the blood of Christ to cover me I am hopelessly lost and condemned.  I think I felt I was okay most of the time because I was doing pretty good.  But I had to scrape every bit of my self-effort as having any value for God to accept me.  That was freedom.” 

A question to consider: What quote might best summarize your current understanding of grace and the Gospel?

Join us on the journey by sharing your story about the Gospel: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=E4rd-dxEeUymdtc3N8hETz_lXY4QRJ5ClTCIuVdURgFUQzFHUDI5U0w4SUFOQjY3QzQ3NUtXQjI0WS4u

Filed under: Gospel, Grace, Love of God | 6 Comments »

Running “into”

Posted on April 30, 2024 by wtdavid

I recently read this short meditation in a study of Proverbs by Tim & Kathy Keller.

It was based on the verses from Proverbs 18:10-11: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.”

Here is what the Kellers wrote: “But the wise person runs into the name of the Lord. In the Bible, God’s name is a way of speaking of his nature and attributes. To run into God’s name is to deliberately rehearse and tell yourself who he is. Jesus asked his fearful disciples in the storm, “Where is your faith?” He chastised them for failing to remember all that they had seen him do (Luke 8:25). If you panic, you are failing to remember (to “run into”) his power, his wisdom, his love for you. Self-control in any situation is the critical ability to both recognize and choose the important thing over the urgent thing. To honor, trust in, and please God is always the most important thing.  What are you facing right now that is difficult? What attribute of God might you be forgetting – and might help greatly if you remembered it?”

So, what are you facing right now that is difficult?  And what attribute of God might you be forgetting – and might help greatly if you remembered it?

Filed under: Attributes of God, Character, Grace | 2 Comments »

Three things

Posted on March 27, 2024 by wtdavid

A shout out to Craig for his reminder a week ago at the WT Spain retreat that the Gospel calls us to remember three theological truths: justification, redemption, and propitiation.

Justification. God chooses, based on the work of Jesus Christ, to declare us not guilty; to credit the righteousness of Christ to our account in exchange for Christ taking on our sins upon Himself.  To put it another way, He restores honour to the creature who had shamed the Creator.  And for the purpose of God being glorified for His work on behalf of His people.

Redemption.  As one writer put it: “The language of redemption is the language of purchase and more specifically of ransomed.”  Sin had enslaved us in spiritual bondage. Jesus went down into the marketplace of sin (see Hosea 3) and bought us back, securing for us liberty and freedom from the power of sin in our lives.

Propitiation.  “Propitiation presupposes the wrath and displeasure of God, and the purpose of propitiation is the removal of this displeasure.”  Jesus Christ became the perfect sacrifice needed, so that when God turns His face from all His creative work in the world and sets His gaze upon us, He sees Christ.

What Craig did in several short teaching sessions was to focus our hearts and minds on the depth of the Gospel.  He pushed us to consider the amazing grace of the Gospel. And to take time to plunge ourselves further into understanding the Gospel and considering the application of the Gospel to what happens in our lives and ministries.

Feeling more the weight of our sin in light of God’s holiness; the damage of the shame we bring to Him by our actions, heightens our appreciation of the wonder of His love toward us (Romans 1-8).

Thanks Craig!  But more importantly, thank you God for your steadfast love and mercy shown to thousands; and for that love and mercy which continues to reach across time from generation to generation to generation!

Filed under: Gospel, Grace, Theology | 2 Comments »

He is sovereign!

Posted on April 14, 2023 by wtdavid

Probably one of the more neglected teachings of Scripture in our current day is that of the sovereignty of God.  It is a truth that even we who are engaged in cross cultural ministry can tend to neglect.  To put it in its most simple form, sovereignty means that God has “absolute authority and rule over his creation[1].”  God is God and we are His creatures. 

However, we can certainly state that God is sovereign all the while living and working as if we, as His creation, are self-governing and independent.

So, what benefits might we gain from a deep dive into the notion of God’s sovereignty?  At least three come quickly to mind.

First, God’s sovereignty provides us with a profound sense of security amid all the troubles, struggles and difficulties of the work to which He has called us.  Nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  That is how the apostle Paul expressed it (Romans 8). No matter what wall or obstacle we may come up against, we know that God is fully aware and works to use everything in our lives for our growth and the furtherance of His missional project for this world.

Next, a trust in God’s sovereignty will lead us to worship Him.  Knowing that He rules over all creation frees us from having to carry that responsibility ourselves. It will cause us to rejoice in knowing that nothing escapes His view (Hebrews 4:13); that He is always at work for the good of His creation; and that one day He will be recognized as Lord over all by all (Philippians 2:10-11). How can our heart not sing in response to this truth?

Finally, God’s sovereignty is a reminder and call to prayer. To whom else can we turn?  In whom else can we put our trust and hope if not the sovereign God?  We can know, through prayer, that He will answer in His way and in His time.  The famous British preacher, Charles Spurgeon, once said: “Prayer assumes the sovereignty of God.” 

There are many ‘walls’ that we as individuals and as a World Team community are facing these days.  To name a few.  We lack 50% of the funds needed to cover the costs of the Global 3C Conference.  The numbers of cross-cultural workers serving with our teams is diminishing.  We are not seeing the fruit, the multiplication we long for in disciples of Jesus and communities of believers among the people we serve.

God’s sovereignty reminds us that this work is not our own.  It is His work. And because it is His work, we can rest in His grace, freed from worry, and inspired to go to Him for each of these ‘walls’; using the strength and grace He provides to give ourselves to work toward seeing these needs, these ‘walls’ addressed.

[1] Our Sovereign God, James M. Boice, page 149

Filed under: Grace, Sovereignty | 6 Comments »

Calling to His mission

Posted on June 6, 2022 by wtdavid

Os Guinness in his book, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life, writes this: “Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service.”

That is a mouthful to say the least. However, I believe Os Guinness was putting his finger on something that is central to a focused life and a life where one finishes well.

In terms of a “focused life”, Os Guinness puts our eyes and heart back on the centre of all that there is: God.  Oftentimes, we as cross-cultural workers try to fit our lives into the world in which we now find ourselves living, rather than allowing ourselves to be adapted, molded to the new context in which God has placed us.  Os Guinness puts it this way: “The truth is not that God is finding us a place for our gifts, but that God has created us and our gifts for a place of his choosing – and we will only be ourselves when we are finally there.”  I love final phrase: “we will only be ourselves when we are finally there.”. In effect, Guinness is reminding us that all the joys and struggles of a calling to cross-cultural church planting are part of God’s means to grow us up into Him; to grow us in holiness.

But Guinness also points to calling as a life where one finishes well.  Oftentimes a life that does not finish well is one of forgetfulness and loss of gratitude for all that God has done in our lives.  Doing a personal ministry timeline is one way of seeing how God has worked in our lives over months and years. Calling is first and foremost a calling to Him, to belong to Him. This we must never forget, for it will lead to a parched soul and a complaining heart. 

Calling is a central piece in the narrative of our journey with God. We are where we are because of His call upon our life.  And it’s the One who called us who will keep us where He has placed us to serve Him!

Filed under: Calling, Grace, Thankfulness | 9 Comments »

Finding a good friend

Posted on January 28, 2022 by wtdavid

The Bible tells us that “a friend loves at all times” (Proverbs 17:17).

For most of us, we read that text as meaning a friend will always be kind to us, never critical.  However, a quick survey of other passages in the book of Proverbs, for example, shows us that a friend is someone who with grace can bring us up short for our own good and growth in Christ.

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.”

“Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.”

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

Finding a good friend involves building a friendship with someone you can trust to remind you of the love of God for you demonstrated at the cross.  But it also involves finding someone you can trust to honestly confront or challenge you when your words and your actions are not aligned.   

Most of us don’t like that element of friendship. I don’t like it.  And yet, it is one of the essential components of how God seeks to sanctify our hearts and deepen us in our communion with Him and others.

We can add another twist to this search for a good friend.  Most of us live in a culture which is not our home passport culture.  Many of us will build friendships in this second culture with those from our home passport culture who happen to live there as well, and there is nothing wrong with that.  However, building a good friendship with someone from the new culture where you live and serve adds another dynamic.

It teaches us dependency upon God (we could call it: humility) in a different way.  It reminds us of the immensity and depth of the body of Christ.  And it offers us a friend who may be able to point out areas of our life that we were able to hide from others in our own home passport culture.

If you haven’t found such a friend in the culture where you serve, I would challenge you to pray that God would lead you to such a friend for His glory, your growth, and the ongoing demonstration of the power of the Gospel to change hearts, beginning with our own.

Filed under: Friendship, Grace, Honesty | 2 Comments »

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