Gracious Response

Sunder Krishnan a man whose whole ministry is surrounded by prayer – a church built on the prayer soaked ground of faithful service.

“History belongs to the intercessors who thus believe the future into being” Walter Wink

 

People pray as though God is ignorant of our lives.  How do we pray differently?  Turning to Acts 4 to hear the prayer of the church. Peter and John have healed the man at the beautiful gate, been dragged before the council and told not to preach Jesus

Acts 4:23-26

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.

Prayer ONLY makes sense if God is totally sovereign – totally able to do and to act.  A sense of humility arises out of God’s sovereignty.

You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "`Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.'

These words from Acts 2 underline that any opposition to God’s purpose is totally futile!

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.  They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 

God is in charge – God is the one who crushes the negative and defeatist ideation of the situation.  God is Sovereign in his totality.

Now,  Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

Rather than ask for protection, rather than ask for removal of the situation – they ask for boldness to make Jesus known in defiance of the authorities and the outcome…

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

God’s power breaks in and the people of the Church are emboldened.

Applying this:

Praying for an imprisoned pastor of a church -

- The Sovereign God rules

- The Creator God is present

- examples from scripture

Joseph: faithfulness and success in service, opportunities to have access to the influential men and women of his day which led to his eventual release.

Paul: to sing in persecution and lead jailers to Christ, that he would be a more powerful preacher, that he would have great boldness and resiliance to withstand any mental strain.

How might we pray for the unemployed?

• that they might know that God organises the economy
• that there might be an unleashing of creativity and in the time of slowness there might be an unfolding of creative joy.
• that john would be helped to do the applications well
• that in the unemployment there might be a release of grace in John growing to know the word better.
• Pray that they will have a clarity of sovereignty as they go for interviews – they would be clear and comfortable not seeking to prove themselves.

Prayer is not about getting answers! If you bring God the creator, God the sovereign saviour, into the heart and mind of every situation circumstances will change BUT you would be unrecognisable.

What SORT of people will we be?  Would we not be totally transformed!? OH YES WE WOULD!

The pastor who Sunder had pray for was transformed in jail and what is more preached the gospel through the air ducts of the prison! He is now pastoring in Seattle.

HISTORY BELONGS TO THE INTERCESSORS!

Recreated Order

Denise Margaret Thompson spoke on her commitment to see Trinidad and Tobago to become a developed nation without destroying the earth.  The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.

The US receives 80% of its gas from Trinidad and Tobago.  Every citizen in the US is complicit in the destruction of the Caribbean.

What has environmental impact to do with us?  This generation is amazingly placed to take up the claims of Jesus and apply them into each and every area of life.  God calls us into relationship with Himself and then calls us to joy-filled obedience.

Denise teaches engineering entrepreneurship: turning research into businesses.  Students in her courses study engineering sustainability.  She is involved in developing technologies which will lessen the impact of environmental pollution.

The government have asked her to teach the government’s highest officials in environmental management.  God has opened huge opportunities.  There will come an environmental and nature study centre: it is still a dream – still under the power of God in the unseen provision of what is hoped for but not yet seen.

God is at work – here tonight birthing new dreams: opening new hearts.  The study centre will come about when people, God’s people, respond. 

Education arises out of the latin “E duco” ‘I lead out’ – this is the heart of Christians in education.  Leading, under the Spirit’s power and grace, in response to the questions of our world and the prompting of God.

People enter the issues of the environment in different guises and through different paths.   Will we joyfully obey Him where he leads?

Pausing to breathe

Sat on the third floor of the Convention centre the noise of students chatting and laughing down below is a lot like that of a running stream.

Tonight their voices will be raised in praise and then will be whispering promises of faithfulness to the ends of the earth.

Many North Americans speak of Urbana as the point where they ‘heard’ or ‘found’ their calling to mission – be that domestic here in the US or international in the unfamiliar context of other continents.

I’ve just been asked what I will be taking away from Urbana – a little premature with over 24 hours left BUT I have a real sense of God confirming in my heart a sense of commitment to his work among students.  Nothing dramatic, nothing earth shattering, BUT a clear sense that me and my family belong in New Zealand.

Light and Life…

York Moore spoke from John 3. In the third morning plenary.

God’s light invades life, gives life.  The light pierces the darkness and into that darkness brings life.

The start of all things – God’s speaks light and so life comes.

The end of all things – God’s light will shine into the darkness: the Son of God will come to shed light into all of creation to judge and to save.

In Christ Himself – eternal life is brought only through the light of Christ.  Jesus shines as light in the darkness – incomprehensible, undefeatable light.

The light of Christ splits the world into two – introducing a new way, other than the lost darkness of sin.  There is no other way – no human devised or demonically inspired system offers anything but darkness.

In a light invaded world we see every tribe, tongue and nation transformed into His People. We are saved into His People and not simply from His condemnation.  Jesus is personally and globally relevant.

The gospel IS the message of God’s power which saves us from the hell to come.  We have at times lost the urgency of this message of eternal salvation in the business of providing relief to the poor and the lowly.  The death of Jesus SAVES us from God’s wrath at our sin.  It saves the poor and the rich.  It saves us from the wickedness and evil of the human heart and the goodness of God’s holiness. 

The gospel brings light into the reality of the filth of people’s wickedness.  And as life invades through the light of the gospel the power of the resurrection destroys the very heart of injustice and wickedness and enlivens the Enlivened to fight the filth, to invert injustice and to upright the wrongs of the behaviours of the people who walk in darkness.

All history revolves around Jesus – God calls people to come to Jesus, confess him as Lord, to know His Love, to come to know Christ as Lord and God, to know the gift of eternal life from the eternally Living One.

The call for those who do not know Christ (here at Urbana) is to know Him through an act of submission and acknowledgement.  In this darkened auditorium the opportunity is not to move forward to the stage but to respond in breaking open and raise a glowstick before being invited to go to a room where they will receive a Bible, have a conversation with a member of InterVarsity staff and be prayed for and encouraged in their new found relationship with Jesus.

Lights spread across the auditorium as men and women turn their hearts to Christ. Students respond in an applause of support. Hundreds step from darkness into light – from condemnation to reconciliation, from death to life, from loss to gain: from themselves to Jesus Christ and His glorious Kingdom of Light and Life. The visual prompt of darkness in light is a powerful illustration.  This is holy ground: lives are transformed by the obedience of faith.

No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven - the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

John 3:12-15

Photo Collage of the story so far at Urbana 09

not my photo’s but a great summary of the feel of Urbana 09 thus far.

Photo Impressions of day #3 at Urbana 09

One of the really encouraging thing has been to see the high profile of the Bible as students and staff have been reflecting on what God is saying about world mission today.

There is a full on programme from 8.30am till 9.30pm but students are using what little free time they have outside of the formal sessions to meet with others and to take time themselves to work through what they are learning.

This woman was pausing before entering the morning plenary session to go over her Bible study notes.  IMMD! (it made my day)

 

This morning’s session began with a fun game of Nintendo Wii tennis – students verse the worship band members. Students were humiliated by bad play BUT it was a nice touch that helped to build a real sense of community in the crowd of 18 thousand!

The missions hall and the book stall have both been full of students seeking out input and working through what they’ve been learning about in the plenary sessions. It is incredibly encouraging to think that there are 18000 people here interested in and exploring the possibilities of mission around the world.  The potential for life changing decisions in this group of people is HUGE.

I ended the day in the company of one old friend and three new ones. Maria and Kevin Kumer from InterVarsity USA and Marcel Morneau from Pioneers Canada chatted and laughed together.  Meeting people from around the world who share a passion for gospel work and gospel people has been a source of much joy and real challenge this week.

 

The biggest challenge of my day came from a woman who is both remarkable and easily overlooked.  She came on stage to talk about her life in a dangerous situation. She and her husband have spent decades pouring out their lives – risking everything and losing many things, including friends, for the sake of Jesus.  She was not ‘dynamic’ but as she spoke I felt my heart getting an overhaul and I was moved to tears and repentance and a deep sense of gratitude to God for people like this dear sister in Christ.  One thing she said is hitting me powerfully!

“God is not asking for a little of your time, he is asking for the whole of your life”.

Contextualized Worship

Mark Charles of the Navajo nation – introduced himself through his 4 clans. Navajo are matrilineal – identity arises out of your mother’s mother.

Charles’ story was of a mixed heritage – Dutch American and Navajo parents. V. interesting experience of mixed sense of self.

Contextualised worship is how the vast majority of the world experience their life of relationship with God. Sunday for example is one such experience – our worship is ‘made to fit’ our cultures: an out working of our experience as en-culturated people. 

At a conference for Christian indigenous people the first night of the worship was lead by Maori men who performed a Haka reflecting on the armour of God (Eph 6). The next evening was lead by Hawaiians in a hula – expressing Aloha.  Each evening Charles felt uncomfortable but experienced an unexpected insight. The indigenous peoples of the world have a unique voice and contribution to make in a global context.

Often ‘worship’ is made to be as comfortable as possible – but should it be? God is, in all His fullness, the very uncomfortable reality of the God of all Holiness, Truth, Light and Power.  Sitting before God should be an experience of His goodness in the context of the danger that we otherwise might feel if were not for Jesus.

Contextualising worship is but easy and complex.  It is the process of doing what is most ‘natural’ in a cultural context in honouring God.

eg Time

• Western culture is lineal – starting and ending points are vital.
• Navajo culture is about task completion – experiencing the whole event: being there for the completion – taking time together (not focussed on the starting time).

When the earliest missionaries tried to reach the Navajo the Navajo were confused by the limitations of the church services. If God is so important why would the meetings be so short?

It is when we tie into our understanding of gospel and church a cultural perception as absolute truth that we build a barrier of communication against the gospel.

Each of the cultures of the world have inherent perspectives and wisdom which speaks of the glory of God.  The West needs the Navajo church. The Navajo church needs the church(es) of the West.

So – contextualised worship is about space and time to spend together in God’s presence: to offer worship to Him: Meeting, cooking, eating, singing, listening to God’s Word, praying and serving together.

The ‘problem’ is that there are aspects of each and every culture that are have to be wrestled with from within rather than critiqued from without.  Navajo have issues around ‘chanting’ and other traditional religious forms.  Non-Navajo can not contribute to this discussion unbidden and half-informed.

The denial of culture is not the way to communicate Christ.  The smoothing over of cultural distinctiveness is not a way to build the church or to truly engage people of any and every culture.

Water, Wine and Whips

This morning in Bible study groups we looked at the wedding at Cana and then Ramez Attallah spoke from John 2.

John moves us between two remarkable scenes.

The wedding feat at Cana which has been so long and full that the wine had come to an end.  Jesus is provoked by his mother into action.  He makes his first veiled move as God in the world – he changes water into wine.  Fulfilling Isaiah 25:6-8

On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine - the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death for ever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.

He moves us quickly to the Temple. Jesus displaces the traders who had taken up residence in the first open court of the temple: the place where Gentiles and women could pray.  Jesus decries their defiling of the place of worship with the soil of human religion and economic commerce: in decrying it he drives it out – clearing space for God’s own intention with a well aimed whip and faithfully declared words of Scripture.

Jesus foreshadows his own death – he speaks of replacing the temple in the destruction of his body at the cross.

Ramez gave two warnings in application:

1. Jesus’ mission teaches us that the reasonable endeavours of Godly work (changing money and selling animals) can become the very means of robbing God of His place and the provocation of His anger and judgement.  35 years ago this reality began to be expressed at the first Lausanne conference.  The Lausanne statement expressed the reality of the power of the gospel in a broken world.  Lausanne set the bar and opened the way for the gospel to be reaching into the poorest and lowliest parts of the world in the commercial/technological era.

“If we truly love our neighbour we shall undoubtedly tell them the good news about Jesus, but again if we TRULY love our neighbour we will not stop there.”

Will the next Lausanne conference be as prophetic as the ones in the past – pray that the conference next October will reach out and transform the world.

2. When money becomes the means of measuring success and motivating the support of ministry it becomes the beginning of prostituting the gospel (my words not his). We must take care to tell the truth about ministry – those who support us for the gospel will honour God in supporting us, those who withhold money and prayer on the basis of not hearing what they want are not the people who should be supporting us.

Our job is stewardship and not ownership. We own nothing – we steward everything we have.

Principles of long term stewardship:

1. When you buy something ask is it a tool or a toy. If it is a toy then think carefully before you get it.
2. Live below your income: distance yourself from wealth and choose to live generously.
3. Commit yourself to a ‘graduated tithe’ – as your income increases reserve an increasing percentage of your income for giving to the work of God.
4. When you become parents and grandparents teach the next generation stewardship over ownership.

Photo Impressions of Day#2 at Urbana

 

So today I bought a new camera: (Kodak M340 for the knowledgeable or the nosey!). My other camera is too large for snapping and this is a slip in your pocket for quick and easy access.

My first snap was of Nigel Pollock.  It’s nearly 20 years since we met. I’m very glad for his influence in my life.  I honour God for all that He has done in me through Nigel’s encouragement.  Good that he’s my boss too!

 

Here’s the queue (line?!?!) for dinner. Feeding 17000 people is no mean feat but it happened tonight albeit more slowly than the conference planners had scheduled for.  People were on the whole good tempered with the hour long wait it took rather than the anticipated 10-15 minutes that had been planned for.

It meant that we all had the opportunity to exercise patience, take time to chat to new people around us and to work off some calories as we stood and shuffled forward.  In the end (as is often the case in such moments of inconvenience) camaraderie was built which meant that when we did sit down for dinner we were more able and willing to chat together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The venue of the evening meetings is DARK and my new wee camera can’t quite cope with the darkness (no flash photo’s allowed) but the two snaps above give you a sense, a hint, of what the plenary meetings are like.

You can also catch some video clips of sessions through the week click HERE

Moving People

Tonight’s plenary session opened with a presentation of the work among the first nations of North America.

One woman spoke of how she and her family are visiting every First Nation community in Canada to tell the story of Jesus.  This was followed by a story/dance that I didn’t understand but really appreciated – it was great to have cross cultural presentation at the heart of a large mission conference.

Patrick Fung – leader of OMF was then interviewed.  He spoke of his story of moving from a medical practice to Christian mission.  He said it had been hard to break with the expectations of his parents. He and his wife thought and prayed about how to honour their parents and honour God in a way that was culturally appropriate.  He and his wife gave all their savings to their parents as to honour them and provide for them in old age before heading into the missions field. 20 years later God is still providing for them.

Patrick has written a booklet live to be forgotten. Library archivist - “each file represents a person who gave themselves, for the sake of the gospel and for the people of China”. Some of the most important workers for the gospel in the 21century are those who will be forgotten.  This is a HUGE challenge in a culture obsessed with celebrity.

Ruth Padilla Deborst then spoke powerfully about the displaced peoples of the world.  People forced to move from their homes and countries.  Where is God in the midst of these lives? (notes from Ruth’s talk below)

Widows fleeing armies.  12 year old girls migrating from poverty to work as little more than slaves.  Whole families trying to sneak past law enforcement over dangerous barriers which make up the US border.  14 year old girls forced into the sex trade through deception and coercion. Even executives who spend more time on the road than in their homes.

Where is God in these lives? Where is he as people traverse the globe?

Adam and Eve were the first migrants: travel and movement, deception and coercion, slavery and sin are all part of the Biblical story from the first instance and God has been the moving God among moving people.  Foreigners and immigrants move among the people and are used of God and indwelt by Him.

Jesus comes from an insignificant place, is born in dubious circumstances, a thrice moved immigrant in infancy – he moves through life: walks from place to place and welcomes into the core of his disciples the displaced and the marginal.  Jesus is in their midst – not simply recipients of God’s grace but transformed into active agents of Gospel ministry among their own people.

The Church quickly becomes a community of the displaced among the distressed people of the Roman empire: and those people who come to Christ are the ones who accept their ‘exile’ status.

Incarnation is not about throwing money from afar. It does not mean just writing letters to the powerful about the powerless: incarnation demands and requires presence.  Only God’s love given through God’s people can manifest the good news about Jesus.

“God break my hard heart and love others through me”

Our illusions of self-importance and comfort can lead to self-centeredness and superiority.  Where this is true we must repent.  Where we apriori make the gospel about exclusion of the less powerful we must turn away from that and turn again to God.

John 1! How did Jesus respond to Nathaniel’s rejection of him on socio-ethnic grounds?  Jesus responds in grace and truth – treating Nathaniel with grace, not as he deserves but as Jesus makes possible!

York Moore then spoke of his story about how, at Urbana 2000, he was transformed by God’s power and the reality of the modern slave trade.  Struck by the depressingly huge statistics of men and women and children enslaved in various ways around the world and impacted by the story of his own great-grandfather’s slavery in Kentucky his heart broke and was remodelled – reconverted – to a story of fighting modern day slavery.

It was a moving evening. It’s tempting to say there were too many challenges, too much to take in.  The reality is that when we think of our abilities and capabilities the challenges of the evening session are too great and too numerous. When we think of ourselves as individuals in the face of so many and such great injustice it is overwhelming. BUT God’s people together under God’s gracious hand motivated by God’s greater glory in confronting the core issues of moral degradation that are so evident in modern slavery and exploitation – therein by God’s power can God’s people do that which is barely imaginable today.

Beyond Belief – Nathaniel and Jesus

Ramez Attalah speaking at the Bible teaching sessions:

Nathaniel is brought to Jesus by Philip with the invite, “come and see”

Nathaniel goes through several stages

1. Scepticism – unsure that the claims which are made could be true. Like so many on our campuses today.

2. Startled – confronted by Jesus he is taken aback by His knowledge and insight.

A Christian worker in the middle east received a phone call.  The caller said that God had spoken to him whilst he asked God to heal his ill wife.  The phone number had been given to the caller.  The Christian worker went and prayed for the woman and she was healed.  It lead to the whole of the family coming to Christ. 

Christ is still startling in His knowledge and insight.

4. Exposed – the knowledge of Jesus is so complete that Nathaniel is laid bare

5. Convinced – the exposure is not to leave Nathaniel vulernable and at a disadvantage but he comes to a point of going beyond believing in the possibility of a Messiah to acknowledging that only Jesus is the King of Israel (Messiah) that they had been waiting for and more than that, Jesus the Messiah IS the Son of God.

Jesus promises that there is a greater thing to be seen – that He is the one who is the access point between heaven and earth.

There are many people around the world whom God is bringing to Himself: people like Nathaniel – who need to move from believing that faith is a possibility to being in relationship with Jesus the saving Son of God!

Come and See

In manuscript study this  morning we looked at John 1:35-41. Jesus is discovered by 3 men on the basis of John the Baptist’s testimony.

The invite is to ‘come and see’ who Jesus is. For the earliest disciples they saw the reality of who Jesus is.

This is the God who steps down into our lives: enters the reality of everyday life. Meeting and eating and sharing and LIVING among us.

He is God-In-Our-Midst and in Him alone is the fullness of life. The heart of the gospel is not simply that God came to visit BUT that He became human in order to rescue men and women.

John introduces Jesus as the ‘lamb of God’ – the sacrifice that God provided to rescue people from their sin.

Jesus – the one who dwells among us, God undercover – THE agent of salvation whose work is still effective and the only way people can be saved.

Every time we look into scripture we are invited to ‘come and see’ today: looking at Jesus and discovering him.

I’m hoping this week that I, and the thousands around me at this conference, will see Jesus in a new way.  A way that transforms individuals for eternity!

2 Sundays in a row

Very brief update. Got here after a long journey which included a smooth ride to the USA with Air New Zealand.

Walking through into arrivals at Los Angeles I was quizzed by a guy from CNN on camera as to what I thought of the heightened security measures.  It was fine and I got to mention Urbana but I don’t know if they used the interview as I was less than coherent after a night’s travel with very little sleep.

The journey from LA seems to have taken forever – the heightened security measures made everything a bit hassle-some but we got here safe and sound.

On the flight between Los Angeles and Kansas City I was sat next to a pilot from one of the domestic USA airlines.  He said that if he was honest the weather is more of a threat to life and safe flights than terrorism.  I was kind of comforted by that.

We flew over the Grand Canyon and on the clear and snowy winter’s day it was today the view was sobering – the scale even from so high up is breathtakingly evident. 

Now I’m here in St Louis and need to sleep.  I’ll try and blog coherently as the sessions happen and will post ASAP as the event unfolds.

changing worlds…

Tomorrow night I’m heading off to Urbana09.

Urbana is a North American conference focussing on challenging Christian students to engage with the call and command of God to reach the whole world with the truth about Jesus.

 

Several of my friends have had their lives changed at Urbana conferences in the past: made commitments to serve anywhere that God would call them, felt called to serve the world in preaching God’s Word and had a sense of the urgency of telling the whole world about Jesus confirmed in a solid way.

There is much that I’m hoping for in attending the conference:

1. to share in the challenge and excitement of a large gathering of God’s people – meeting people from all part of the US and Canada and getting a sense of the temperature of North American Christianity.

2. to participate in conversations with men and women helping them to think further about mission in a fallen world: the privileges, challenges, opportunities and barriers of making Jesus intelligible in this world.

3. to gain a greater grasp of the gospel for myself – looking at Jesus in a different cultural context tightens our focus on him.

4. to meet the people that God would have me serve in encouragement and friendship in years to come

5. to meet new people who will partner with us in the work here in NZ and around the Pacific Rim

I could go on… but these are my top 5.  I’ll also be travelling with Nigel Pollock and Sarah Kwok two people who I value and respect a great deal. So number 6 could be to have fun with them and others.

I’m also aiming to survive the shift from summer temperatures of NZ (as I write this I’m sweating in short and t-shirt) to the deep mid-winter of the US. I’ll keep you posted.

Flesh and Blood and Word

Somebody stole Jesus from the heart of Christmas. They did it over time, with stealth, bit by bit.

He still gets a mention, still has a bit part to play, but we’ve drowned him in celebratory drinks, dulled him with tinsel, crowded him out with gatherings, silenced him in cries of seasonal greetings, edged him out with cards and newsletters, taken him for granted as we’ve taken out mortgages to pay for the presents.

In the midst of our madness the story of child born in obscurity, proclaimed the long awaited saviour and heralded as God in human flesh seems obscure, unreal and fanciful.

THAT is the point! This frail flesh hides within it God Most High – seeing the unseeable – God comes to earth not in chariots of fire or earth shattering thunder but in the mess and risk and indignities of birth. It does all seem a bit beyond belief and so, to undermine our scepticism, it was all borne out in history.

Here he is – newborn Jesus: God’s Word made tangible in flesh and blood and the almost incredible thing is that this is just a small thing to serve a greater story.

I wish you a Christmas full of Jesus – a life transformed by the love and wonder of God!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

John’s Gospel 1:1-4, 14, 16-18