Broken Yet Sent

Acts 14:15 says, "'Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.'"

Let me put this into context. Paul and Baranbas are preaching the Gospel in Lystra when they saw a man who had been lame from birth. They made eye contact and Paul told him to stand on his feet. The man did so and everyone was amazed. However, they thought that they were the greek gods Zeus and Hermes. The people went to go get the priest of Zeus and that's when Paul made this statement after ripping his clothes.

Being in Burundi has been a blast and I love every second of it. Yesterday, I got to teach a song to the worship team at the church and they were more than grateful. When the worship leader, David, introduced me to the team, he said words that were more than kind. I do want to point out that he didn't say anything that compared me to a god, but I wanted to make sure that we were all on the same understanding that I really was not "that great."

I don't want this to seem like a post full of self pity, but I do want there to be a right understanding of who we are. The only way to see ourselves clearly is to be able to see the revealed God. I say revealed because there is infinitely more to God than we know and ever could know. We know that He is perfect yet He is ever more so. Our understanding of His love is great but could increase daily for eternity. His faithfulness is felt every second, but in all of these things, we have barely scratched the surface.

In return, we have fallen from fellowship only to be brought back by the blood of the lamb. Hallelujah! There we should be categorized as tools used in accordance by God's will, still straying from time to time, but we have been brought close (Ephesians 2:13). Like David, it's important to understand our humanness and the separation between the nature of man and God. Only when we understand and comprehend this will we be able to receive the fullness of what the Gospel has to offer.

With this understanding, those who are in a place of ministry or missionaries who travel across the world can say, "We too are only human." We are broken people just like everyone else. What we must boast in is that we have a hope and a joy. We, unlike everyone else, have a peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7). While others search for a purpose to this life, we can, with complete confidence, say that we were created to glorify our God and love Him with all that we are.

Once born again, there becomes a false and sinful idea of spiritual levels. We may look at the pastor of our church and say, "Wow, I want to be on his level some day." We wish that we were like the missionary and envy the faith to do God's will. I implore you that these people may be closer to God, but they still deal with sin and are broken and are desperate need to God. Paul talks about a race; a marathon. We can get caught with mile-markers and covet the ability to be at their levels, but the closer we get to finishing the race, the closer we get to God, the more we understand how much we are in desperate need of Him. Read Jon Owens or A.W. Tozer or any of the greats and they will tell you the same thing.

I pray that none of you have an issue with this, but I know that I do. So if anything, walk away from this post and pray that God would do a work in me to draw me closer to Him, not to some level like someone else. Don't get me wrong, one of the initial reasons I took Christianity seriously is because I saw someone else do it and have joy, but I don't put him on an altar and worship him, for he was broken and made mistakes. The only reason I think highly of him is because God used him and he was willing to be used for the furtherance of the Gospel.

Being broken is a beautiful thing when you realize that there is Savior. - Forsake All

A Compelling Love

Acts 2:36-38 says, "'Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah' When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"

Our team touched down in Burundi last night and we spent all day today just getting familiar with the country and the people that we will be working with. We went to a place where women can learn to sew and also grow closer to Christ. It's a year program, so every year that we go we get to see new faces and hear new stories. This year, one really touched my heart.

I was talking with a lady name Christine who was actually a partner with the program and we were exchanging our testimonies. If we would've voted, hers was better than mine. She was raised Catholic but one of her Christian friends kept bugging her to come to church with her. Finally, an opportunity came up to go and Christine thought to herself, "I go with her, she'll stop bugging me." (Might I add, these are the famous last words of many nonbelievers.) They went together and Christine heard and responded to the name of Jesus. She said, "I knew who Jesus was, so when the pastor asked if anyone wanted to trust in Him, I already knew that I had, so I raised my hand."

Something was different about this Jesus than what she had previously learned through her own Catholic beliefs. She decided to go the next Sunday to learn more about Him. She finally got to the point in the service where she started reading the words that they were singing. Her words were beautiful and still resound with me...

I heard and read about the love of God and I just... repented of all my sin.

I was reading in Acts before we left the hotel today because I knew that if we were going to start a revival in people's hearts, we had to do it the Biblical way. After doing a study for about for a few years and looking into the original Greek and talking to Peter personally about his strategy, I have come to a conclusion. The Gospel is sufficient. I get so caught up in the different ways to share Christ and to win hearts that would be set on fire for Christ that I spend the time I should be sharing the Gospel on analytical experimentation of Peter and his message.

Truly the love of God is so compelling that when one hears it, it is prone to make a decision. When someone hears that the Creator of the universe is perfect and that he or she isn't, it has to be dealt with. When they hear that God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us, they must react. That's our part in the great commission. It's really not a bad gig. I'm just thankful that I am not responsible for the eternal future of the person I share the Gospel with.

The proclamation of the love of God is so sufficient when it comes to telling people about who God is. To truly understand the love of God, there must be a common and revealed understanding of Who He is, but once that is breached, His love is compelling. Just like Christine, thousands have been saved because of the realization of God's love for them.

Don't pass this up or look over it. We didn't pass Jesus Loves Me 101 in Sunday school, in fact, by God's grace, I'm still enrolled. I pray that we have the opportunity to find a piece of God's love. If each man and woman ever created found out ten new things about the love of God every day, with all of our life times put together and squared, a large portion of God's love would remain hidden. Some look at this and ooh and aww but never jump into the dark pit with no floor that is the love of God. I'd rather jump in fully pledged to find what I can.

Will you jump in with me? - Forsake All