Laura is doing pretty good and on her way to recovery.

Thank you all so much for your prayers!

In His Grace,
Derek, Laura, Elias, & Jathan

Consider this quote that packs the punch of God’s plan for the ages and our involvement in it:

“The New Testament does not present a come-see religion, but a go-tell religion… (Matt. 18:18-20)… The implications of this are huge for the way we live and the way we think about money and lifestyle. One of the main implications is that we are ‘sojourners and exiles’ (1 Peter 2:11) on the earth. We do not use this world as though it were our primary home. ‘Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Phil. 3:20). This leads to a wartime lifestyle. That means we don’t amass a wealth to show the world how rich our God can make us. We work hard and seek a wartime austerity for the cause of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. We maximize giving to the war effort, not comforts at home. We raise our children with a view to helping them embrace the suffering that it will cost to finish the mission.” (Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper, p. 29)

Piper later writes, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into white-hot enjoyment of God’s glory.” (Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper, p. 35)

The entire storyline of God’s Revealed Word calls His followers to this God-glorifying among the nations purpose… from Exodus where God rescued His people to display His glory to the nations, to the countless Psalms where God’s glory among the nations is extolled, to Isaiah where God created His people for His glory among the nations, to the Gospels in the New Testament where Jesus submitted to the Father’s will to bring His glory to the nations, to Paul’s epistles where the very plan of redemption serves to give God glory throughout the nations, to John’s Revelation where we see the culmination of God’s redeemed gathered from all nations for His glory.

As we peer into Scripture’s story, we see our great, majestic, Redeemer God full of truth and grace sovereignly reigning over the nations. We see this, our great God unfolding HIs plan for the nations. We see this, our great God redeeming a people from every tribe and tongue to Himself through Jesus. We see this, our great God actively setting things back to His original plan before sin. As we see this is fundamentally God’s activity and plan in His Word, we begin to clearly deduce that our existence is fundamentally connected to it as well.

Do you see it? This is so fundamental to our very existence! Think about it for a moment. Why to you exist on this earth? If it is true that we indeed exist for the sole purpose of worshiping our great God and spreading His fame and plan of redemption, how are living up to it? Are we passionate about or worship of God? Are we passionate about missions. I’m not talking about the missions that subdivides a certain aspect of the church to “missions.” While we as the church are to have a missions program, we more deeply drastically need to see our calling to be missional as fundamental to our very existence! This goes far deeper and carries drastically wider implications than just for full-time ministry workers and missionaries. Whatever our calling in life, we are inseparably called to redeemed worship of our great God and the spreading of this through living missionally in this world.

If you’re like me and tracking with all this up to this point, you’d respond with a resounding, “gulp” or “wow!” This is quite the calling! It is something that continues to deeply uproot previous missiological assumptions and those ever present seasons of apathy in my own life. How are we doing living up to our fundamental purpose on this earth?

How are you engaging the nations as part of this calling?

This is the study that I am extremely amped to launch this Sunday in the Koinonia Sunday school. If you’re interested in getting a copy of Piper’s book for yourself, check it out!

Note, I will probably occasionally blog and/or share related resources about it as we go through the study in the coming weeks. Look for more content on the blog and the church app!

For the Spread of His Fame,
Derek

1 Corinthians… an awesome letter highly applicable in our modern church context!

Check out the basic chapter content of 1 Corinthians in this summary handout!

Grace,
Derek

Topics for the weekend include… the imago Dei (image of God) in relation to culture and a missiological focus, Acts 1:8 Confidence of the church, our ministry vision to the villages, and Acts 18 regarding God’s sovereignty in redeeming a people to himself (the backstory of Paul’s involvement in Corinth).

Whew… should be a busy, but awesome weekend! Appreciate the prayers!

Laura too is awaiting baby day sometime soon We are still debating whether she will join Elias and me on this trip.
Either way, prayers for a smooth delivery would be appreciated. Her due date is January 25.

Grace,
Derek

Grace,
Derek

Thank you once again so much for all of your prayers! Below are the links to our latest prayer update.

Christmas 2011 Update

As the backstory unfolds, Longfellow and his family lived amidst early America’s civil war period. During one particularly dry and depressing season, Longfellow’s wife longed to feel the invigorating sea breeze once again (as noted in her diary). The very next day as she was cutting her daughter’s hair, she decided to preserve some of the hair with sealing wax. As a few drops of the burning wax dripped unnoticed on Mrs. Longfellow’s lap, the longed-for sea breeze came through the window, instantly igniting and quickly engulfing her flames. She ran into the next room to her husband (away from the children), where Mr. Longfellow wrapped around his wife with anything he could to dissipate the flames. Tragically, Mrs. Longfellow died the next morning and Mr. Longfellow was so severely burned, he couldn’t even attend her funeral.

The same day of the fire tragedy, the first shots fired that began the civil war. As the civil war ensued, the Longfellows’ oldest son enlisted in the war effort, apparently without the full support of his father. Around two years after Henry lost his wife, he received word that his eldest son was severely wounded in the war.

The next year, after so much tragedy around Christmas, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned the words to what we now know of as “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Whether it was the hope he longed for through the loss of his wife, the continued life of his eldest son, or the prospective hope for the split nation, Longfellow seemed to redirect his attention to the hope Christmas brings.

Now, whether Longfellow was a follower of Jesus, we can’t say. But, his writings, either knowingly or unknowingly, strike a chord that beautifully resonates with Scripture and the Christmas message.

Through each verse of the song, the phrase “peace on earth, good will to men” recurs, building to what we know of as the fourth verse about God being not dead. Imagine with me for a moment all of the national and personal tragedy that Longfellow associated with Christmas and life in general. Now place your own tragedies (or those you know) in place of Longfellow’s life circumstances. Keeping those scenarios in mind, recall verse four of the song, “Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men.”

One could insert the Jewish nation into this scenario as well. Ponder how they struggled living in light of their promised coming Messiah. For several hundred years God was silent. Nothing. No word about His promises being fulfilled, only more oppression by countless pagan nations.

Then, through the simple story of Christmas, Jesus, God’s Salvation (Jesus’ Hebrew name literally means Salvation), broke the silence through His humble birth.

Many of us can also identify with times of seeming hopelessness, where it seems as though God is not present.

This Christmas may we reflect on the truths declared and promised in Isaiah 9:1-7! Amidst times of confusion and seeming silence from God, our God is at work. He declared through Isaiah His plan to bring peace and righteousness through a child, a son… that One being Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Several hundred years later, the fruition of Isaiah’s declaration came in the form of baby Jesus!

I pray God’s grace is upon your life! If you don’t know the Jesus of Christmas as your Savior, will you embrace Him by faith? Believers, may we take comfort this season, that our God is not dead! He has a plan, and is actively working in our lives for His glory!

Glory to God in the highest!
Derek

The topic of sexuality is far too often overlooked in our churches, yet we live in a world bombarded with sexual onslaughts. It doesn’t take long for one to see our world’s obsession with this aspect of humanity. The pornography industry for one example continues to infiltrate and affect scores of people throughout our world. In fact, society’s obsession with sexuality has led many Christians to either moral compromise and apathy or a stance of separation that paints sexuality as being almost gross.

Amidst a world chalked full of sexual images and headstrong sexual depravity, God provides us His purpose for His intentional sexual design. We as creatures fashioned in our God’s very likeness, picture aspects of our Maker. God’s intentional design involves the union of the female and male attributes of His Image in a wonderfully united and God-glorifying way. As husbands apply the truths of Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3, we depict Jesus’ love for the church in the understandingly, grace-infused interaction with our wives. Likewise, as wives apply the truths of Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3, they depict the church’s adoration of Jesus in their lovingly, submissive and honoring interaction with their husbands. These complementing and God-glorifying aspects of marriage and God’s redeemed image pictured in the marriage also relate to the bedroom. In other words, the sexual aspect of our marriages should take on the same forms seen in Ephesians 5, 1 Peter 3, 1 Corinthians 7, etc. Our attitude toward our spouses must be shaped by the Gospel and God’s own gracious treatment of us. Our interaction then in moments of intimacy must also reflect God’s own gracious treatment of us. We are called in marriage to lovingly serve each other out of a hearts of adoration for each other, ultimately stemming from a heart of worship for our God.

I heard a secular love song the other day that quite surprised me. It was actually a call to rekindle the love between a husband and wife. As the blood-bought redeemed adopted children of the Maker of the universe, our marriages should reflect His intentional design and give Him glory. Why does the world look at Christian marriage and think it’s boring? Why are so many marriages stuck in a rut? Why are sexual issues some of the most divisive problems within marriages? Oh, may we apply God’s design in our marriages. May we relish in God’s intentional enjoyment that comes with marital intimacy. May we delight in the “wife of our youth.” Wives, may you delight in the “husband of your youth.” May we continually allow the Gospel and our love for our Redeemer God help shape our marriages! Those of you reading this who are married, seek to apply God’s grace in your marriage! May we seek to make marriage look like a blast! May we seek to make marriage look like a deeply-cherished commitment. Even in those rough spells that come and go in the course of every marriage, may our application of the Gospel in our marriages make marriage look godly. May we simply apply consistently God’s intentional design for marriage.

As we allow God’s intentional design for our sexuality to be redeemed in our own lives and marriages, we will stand out in our sex-saturated world. May we allow Scripture to shape the way we understand, live with, sacrifice for, and serve our spouse. Men, may we realize our calling to adore and honor our wives in ways that sometimes call us to give up our own supposed rights or needs. Women, may you realize your calling to honor and submit to your husbands in ways that call you to shower him with grace. Those of you who are single, may you realize your current calling to live as God has so chosen for you right now. May you truly heed the warning of the woman in the Song of Songs to not rush and awaken love before it’s time. During your time of waiting, may you honor the opposite sex in sexually redeemed ways.

Sexuality must be redeemed in our world today! This is certainly one aspect of culture that stands in desperate need of redemption! We see it in our own area on Alaska’s road system, across Alaska’s villages, and I’m sure you see it in your own area as well. May we strive to courageously deny ourselves and serve our God and the husband or wife he graces us with out of redeemed hearts of worship.

Grace,
Derek

Thank you once again so much for all of your prayers! Below are the links to our latest prayer update.

Fall 2011 Update

The other day I was sitting at an Alaska local coffee shop, Kaladi Brothers. As I sit it any coffee shop, it is quite interesting to observe this cultural epicenter of our society. Culture in general fascinates me and it is likely one of the interests that God gave me for mission work.

As believers we are called to live in this world for the spread of Jesus’ fame. We are called to be in the world, but not to live for the world. Right? Question…How are we to influence this world for the spread of Jesus’ fame? As you look through Scripture, we read about Jesus’ highly relational attention to people. We see Jesus living in the culture of that day and confronting it with the truth of His Father. We also read about Paul’s sensitivity to the differing cultural worlds surrounding him throughout each town he traveled. As we further read and examine the Scriptural letters in the New Testament, we see a redeemed people living in a real world, wrestling with the same issue we wrestle with today: living in our world/culture for the spread of Jesus’ fame in an effective and yet holy way.

One helpful paradigm I stumbled across a couple years ago goes like this: 1. Receive 2. Reject 3. Redeem. As we peer at culture and our responsibility to live in it as redeemed mankind fashioned in God’s now sanctifying image, how do we flesh this out in a Jesus-honoring and balanced way? This 3-point paradigm I believe helps in this process. Like Jesus, Paul, the other apostles, and the early church, we must develop a God-centered lens from which we peer at our cultural world.

There are always aspects of culture that we can receive, enjoy, and adapt. Although apart from God’s provision we are utterly marred in sin, humanity’s God-given expressions of culture have beautiful traces of our Creator. We must learn to develop eyes to see these visible traces of God’s creation reflected in culture.

Likewise, there will inevitably be many aspects of culture that are evidences of humanity’s depravity. These must obviously be rejected. God has chosen, called, and saved us out of this deprave world to live as salt and light. There are many examples of even believers who wrongly contextualize their lives and the Gospel in culturally compromised ways.

Finally, these rejected aspects of fallen culture must ultimately be pointed toward redemption. Every deprave and rejected aspect of culture can be pointed toward redemption in light of Jesus and the Gospel’s implications for us His people, the church.

So my question, How are you looking at our world, our culture? How are you receiving and adapting to some aspects of culture? Are you properly discerning in this area? How are you rejecting aspects of culture? Are you properly discerned in this area? Have you compromised in this area? How are you pointing toward the cross, toward redemption, in our fallen world? Do you recognize this as part of your calling as a Christian?

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As I sit in the coffee shop, I am observing culture. Coffee shops really are incredible epicenters in our cultural world today, at least in Western America (though I think it probably extends beyond just here). By studying in this environment occasionally, I get to see the continual flow of all kinds of people on their morning routine. Another observation, coffee shops are places where people (especially young people) love to hang out to study (like me) and to simply hang out with friends. This is an interesting aspect of culture.

Similarly, many movie theaters would reveal similar observations about culture. We could undoubtedly make many good and bad observations about culture from observing a typical movie theater.

Another obvious aspect to culture and values is observed in dress styles and how people choose to portray themselves in public. What does this tell you about some potentially good or bad observations of our culture?

Take any of these simple examples and apply them to numerous other scenarios…the grocery store, the home improvement store, any random restaurant, the outdoors (fishing, hunting), etc… What aspects of culture do you see from these different places?

Think for a moment about television. There are many aspects, good and bad, that we can observe from television, movies, and media in general. What kind of cultural agenda does today’s television and movies try to push? What are some good and bad observations we could make about our media?

Music is another great example. What type of music does our culture uphold as “accepted?” Why is that? What kind of lyrics are used in today’s music? What topics are referred to in music today? What are some good and bad observations we could draw out from music in our culture?

Maybe somewhat related to some other examples previously listed above, what type of places and times of the day do people gather for fun? Why do cities have such a big focus on nightlife? What age group of people are found hanging out together and when and where do they hang out? Why is that? What observations could we make?

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As we learn to look at culture with attentive lenses filtered by the Gospel, we will begin seeing culture as a gift from our Creator God, but something also in dire need of redemption! How do you look at the culture around you? What are aspects of culture right now that you are enjoying? What are aspects right now that you are rejecting? How then are you seeking to point toward redemption in those rejected aspects of our marred culture?

These are I believe important Biblical principles for us to implement. As I stated, I have found this 3-point paradigm particularly helpful. It’s so easy to roll through life, either living in our own little world, missing opportunities to reach our culture for Jesus, or sometimes even living in culturally compromised ways. May we develop Jesus-centered cultural lenses as we seek to live for the spread of His fame in our world!

Grace,
Derek