Engage the Nations

Sometimes it seems like He is too slow.  Other times it seems as if He doesn't care or He is disinterested in our affairs.  But is He?  Not so according to His Word and His interaction with the faithful.  In His time He makes all things beautiful. Imagine Mary and Martha in the Gospel of John (John 11).  Their brother Lazarus, a great JC fan and friend falls ill.  All the while Martha and Mary wait, pray, peer out the window hoping against hope to catch a glimpse of Jesus.   They imagine Him strutting toward their home with an urgency in his step.  A cloud of dust rises behind Him as the twelve disciples travelling with him try to keep pace.  Surely, Lazarus the loyal friend deserves this kind of attention from Jesus, doesn't he?  But wait a minute, it is all just a dream.  Jesus is no where to be seen. Eventually Lazarus succumbs to the sickness and dies.  Maybe now Jesus will sh...

Early in the summer, Sunday June 14th, I spoke to 1st through 4th grade kids at Westwood community Church. Their teachers had told me the kids wanted to give their summer offerings to support our mission to Burundi and wanted to know more about it. During my sharing I highlighted to them Jesus' love for the world and for Burundi in particular. I told them with the help of pictures about our work and about the many kids in Africa who come to hear the message of Jesus at our Festivals of Hope. I challenged them to realize that they can make a difference in the lives of fellow kids across the world. "In our case," I said, "it takes just a $ 1.50 to sponsor a kid in Burundi to come and hear the Good News of Jesus at the Festival of Hope." When I asked them who had a $ 1.50 in their piggy bank, all of them raised their hands. During question and answer time one cute kid asked if he can give all his piggy-bank savings to sponsor other kids to hear the good news ...

Yesterday I spoke in the Sunday service at Grace Church of Forest Lake. I chose as my text Joshua 2:1-22, which tells us the story of the harlot Rahab and Joshua's two spies to Jericho. At the end of the message, I saw something that is becoming more and more rare in our American churches; penitent souls crying out to God at the altar in earnest desire for personal transformation. In the story, Joshua sends two spies to check out the city of Jericho. The courageous young men find their way into the city and are welcomed into the harlot Rahab's residence. Being a woman, unmarried, and engaged in harlotry, Rahab lives on the fringe of society. Her house is literally on the edge of town (v. 15), the most vulnerable place one could live in ancient times. She is vulnerable to marauding gangs of enemy invaders. Her trade places her on the fringes of the social hierachy. Her gender and marital status place her on the fringes of political and economic influence and power. Yet in ...