This summer the Husted’s will be moving. Therefore, the necessary purging that accompanies packing has begun. And, as my wife reminded me, this task must also include my bookshelves.  However, the task was small and quickly done, as years ago, on a previous move, I had disposed of a number of books for a variety of reasons.

I commend to you two great resources that I reflected on while packing away my library.

First, this article entitled Old Books, New Books, and Trends That Fade Away: Lessons Learned from a Book Sale by Luke Holmes, where he offers the following book-buying recommendations:

– Beware of writing a man’s legacy before his ministry is over.
– Beware of books that promise a quick fix.
– Beware the crashing waves of trends.

Second, a recent sermon by Pastor John MacArthur entitled Leaving the World to Reach the World from Colossians 3:1-4 resonated with me, as I reflected on all the pragmatic ministry books that had I purged in recent years.

The church has been taken captive by a kind of pragmatism that it seems it cannot shake, and I think that pragmatism is dealt with in the simple statements that I just pointed out to you in verses 1 and 2: “Keep seeking the things above, and set your mind on things above.” Rather than doing that, rather than setting its mind on heaven, rather than seeking what is above, believers today, and even church leaders today, seem to be preoccupied with seeking things that are below. The actual purpose seems to be to best assess the world around us and do the most we can to make some kind of superficial alterations in our economics or in our social structure or in our cultural definitions. The church seems to be earthbound. And, of course, that would be satanic strategy, wouldn’t it. If we’re called to heavenly things, then Satan would want to make sure we got trapped in earthly things. And that has been the death of churches throughout church history. But it seems to be that even today, a kind of evangelical pragmatism where we understand the mission, we even understand the message, but we really are confused about the method…

Pragmatism basically says we do what works, we do what attracts people, we give people what they want, we talk the way they like to talk, we play the way they like to play, we act the way they like to act, we like the things that they like. And the more common ground we can find with the world, the more effectively we build a bridge to them to give them the gospel. That’s essentially what pragmatism is. It seems to work, it draws a crowd, they like it; this has to be right. That’s what pragmatism says…

Are we supposed to find as many things as possible that are exactly what unconverted people want in a given culture and make sure we give them all of those? And that is what builds the bridge. Well, in reality that is the opposite of what the Bible says. That is absolutely opposite what God has called us to by way of methodology.

According to God’s Word, we have to leave the world to reach the world. We have to leave the world to reach the world.

This may, or may not, come as a surprise to you; however, the first followers of Jesus didn’t call themselves “Christians.”  It was, in fact, a derogatory term used by people outside the Jesus community.

Acts 11:26 reads,  “In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians” (ESV).

They were called by others. It was not the name they chose for themselves.

What then did they call themselves?

The answer is right there in the verse: disciples.

The word “Christian” is only used 3 times in the whole Bible; whereas, the term “disciple” is used 281 times in NT.  And yet today, we normally describe ourselves and others as Christians rather than disciples.  

Sadly, altering the term that we use to describe ourselves, believers have lost the clarity the word “disciple” conveyed.

In fact, as Steve Lawson notes in his book The Cost, our use of “Christian” today obscures the fact that a lot of people who call themselves Christians are not actually disciples,

“…large numbers of people, who either attend church or who are morally good people, wrongly presume that they have a right relationship with God. Tragically, though, they have never actually committed their lives to Him. Surely, they know about Jesus. They have a degree of knowledge about Him in their heads, but they do not truly know Him in their hearts. They have been lulled into a false sense of assurance about salvation that they do not possess. Churches are full of such people…In many pulpits, the message of salvation has been obscured, if not altered. As a result, many people pull up short of what it truly is to be an authentic believer in Jesus. I fear that many think they are trusting in Him, but, in reality, have not yet done so. Instead, they have believed in a sugar-coated message with a shallow imitation of the real truth. The result is a synthetic salvation.”

Scriptures speaks directly of this:

– Matthew 7:22 – On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?”
– 2 Corinthians 13:5 – “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
– 1 John is an excellent test of salvation.

When we read The Parable of the Wheat and Tares, we see that in opposition to Jesus Christ, the devil tries to destroy Christ’s work by placing false believers and teachers in the world who lead many astray.

Matthew 13:37-39 reads, He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.”

The Church in America is increasingly questioning historical, orthodox beliefs on homosexuality, gender roles, sufficiency of Scripture/Christ’s death, and this may be, in large part, due to the result of tares amongst the wheat.

So let’s pray and work towards “Disciples,” a terrifyingly clear term of what an individual becomes when they truly place their faith in Christ.

As I prepared to lead a bible study on The Cost of Discipleship, I ran across two great resources, which shed light on:

– The relative newness of Western persecution
– The personal experience of God…in persecution

Christianity Promises Suffering and Persecution: Here’s How to Prepare by Zane Pratt

“The comfortable experience of Christians in the West has actually been an anomaly in this regard. Because of the Christian heritage of Western civilization, combined with democratic freedoms and historic rule of law, Western Christians have largely been left alone for their faith. Even today, as Western nations become increasingly post-Christian (and even anti-Christian), the opposition experienced by most Christians goes little beyond mockery. However, there are signs that this protected status may be changing. If it continues to do so, it will simply put Western Christians in the same boat as their brothers and sisters all over the world.”

5 Reasons to Rejoice in Persecution by Tim Challies

God is near to you in your persecution. 1 Peter 4:14 says, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” This is a promise that God does not abandon you in your persecution, but is right there with you in the middle of it. This is one very good reason to read church history. What you find as you read about people who are being persecuted is that they have a supernatural joy and that they so often speak about God’s nearness in their suffering. When it seems that everyone else has abandoned them, they have a much deeper awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit living within them, blessing them, and comforting them. While they do not love being persecuted, they would not trade away their personal experience of God in that persecution. As C.S. Lewis so aptly said, God whispers to us in our pleasures but shouts to us in our pain. Rejoice, because God is with you.

Robert J. Morgan, one of my favorite authors, writes in his book, The Strength You Need: The Twelve Great Strength Passages of the Bible,

“God hasn’t given us a book simply filled with miscellaneous quotations or motivational mottos. He has given us a book rich in history, with riveting plots, unforgettable characters, and enriching stories. Every great quotation has a great context.”

Recently, I emerged from the Desert of Leviticus in my Bible reading plan to the book of Numbers and Deuteronomy, books awash with leadership lessons. So, as I jot down a few insights in the next few weeks I thought I would share some “Wilderness Wisdom” from the nation of Israel.

Chapter 11 – Rebellion in the Camp

Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. 3 So he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.

Despite all that God had done for them, it’s startling how ready the people are to complain against God. 

William MacDonald notes, “A clue to the discontent is found in verse 1 – ‘consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.’ The malcontents were at a distance from the ark.”

And Spurgeon commented on this passage,

“Observe how the mischief began in the outskirts among the mixed multitude, and how the fire of the Lord burned in the uttermost parts of the camp. The great danger of the church lies in her camp-followers or hangers-on: they infect the true Israel. Hence the need of guarding the entrance of the church, and keeping up discipline within it. Grumbling, discontent, ungrateful complaining — these are grievous offences against our gracious God.”

Practical application: A church that does not call believers to baptism and then to church membership can be, unknowingly, creating its own “outskirts of the camp” from which discontent and disobedience will arise.

This week I had the opportunity to reach out to church members in my community to encourage them to participate in two new bible studies. Below is the content of the email, which should be motivating to all believers, regarding the importance of faithful study of the Word of God:

D.L. Moody stated in his book How to Study the Bible,

“I believe the reason there are so many Christians who do not show much evidence of walking with God, with whom you only see the Christian graces coming out every now and then, is that they do not take the Bible for doctrine, reproof, and instruction.”

I’m excited to inform you of two new opportunities within our community to help us “Grow in our walk with God by studying the Word of God.”

Moody went on to write,

“In Psalm 119, David prayed nine times that God would quicken or strengthen him according to His Word. For example:

– ‘Quicken me according to thy word.’ (Psalm 119:25)
– ‘Strengthen me according to thy word.’ (Psalm 119:28)
– ‘Cause me to live, O LORD, according to thy word.’ (Psalm 119:107)
– ‘Uphold me according unto thy word.’ (Psalm 119:116)

If I could say something that would motivate Christians to have a deeper love for the Word of God, I think I would be doing them the most important service that could be done for them.”

So please prayerfully consider joining us for one of these studies, as,

“God speaks through His Word. The Word of God does the work of God through the Spirit of God in the people of God.” – Alistair Begg

Earlier this month Mike and I experienced an annual highlight of our year: the EA Christmas party at our offices in Santo Domingo.

Joined by 25 of our staff and key volunteers we engaged in a number of activities:

1. Worshiping together

2. Praising God for Christmas, by praying through Joel Beeke’s Why Christ Came: 31 Reasons for the Incarnation

3. Celebrating 5 years of service by Jose Lorenzo, noting 2 Benefits of Longevity in Ministry from the life of Paul: You can see God’s Work over time (Acts 13:15-26) and God can increase the effectiveness of your work (1 Thess. 2:10-11)

4. Studying together 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, noting what Paul prayed for the Church of Thessalonica: Worthiness, Fulfillment and Power, and motivated by Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s admonition that “what the people in our lives need most from us is our personal holiness.”

5. And finally thanking God for what He had graciously accomplished within and through EA in the past year, and Asking for His continued provision in the year to come.

I got quite a chuckle when I shared this picture above, explaining that the End-of-Year Feeding Frenzy in the states, at times, felt to me like a battle for survival, as non-profits, churches and charities fight for limited resources, capitalizing on charitable holiday spirit and strategic tax deductions.

I explained that, beginning with Giving Tuesday and culminating with 11:59pm New Year’s Eve, citizens are besieged constantly with requests for year-end donations, as December alone can account for 30% of annual giving, and the last three days of December on average accounts for 10% of a non-profits income.

They laughed at my attempt at humor, which doesn’t always translate into Spanish well.

But I went on to explain that, while I joke about feeling that way, there were a few core beliefs that determine my perspective on year-end giving:

1. God owns a cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10) and does not have a limited budget

2. The Lord says, “He who honors me, I will honor…” (1 Samuel 2:30), so our focus needs to remain seeking first the advancement of the Kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33) and trusting God to “supply all our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19)

3. However, we want to encourage the spiritual discipline of charitable stewardship, as “Generosity is God’s gift to all of us, rich or poor, and participating in God’s work is a gift that shouldn’t be denied to anybody.”*

4. When Jesus stated in Matthew 6:21, “Where your heart is, there your treasure will be also,” he was not merely offering us a thermometer to measure the temperature of our hearts, but also a thermostat to change the temperature of our hearts. Therefore, anything we can do to foster a biblical worldview of possessions and giving should be encouraged. *

So we ended our time praising God for our current year-end Matching Campaign and…praying the same scripture passages we have prayed for the past 6 years:

– “Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” (Prov. 30:8-9)

– “Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Psalm 90:16-17)

* Source:Practicing the King’s Economy: Honoring Jesus in How We Work, Earn, Spend, Save, and Give

The Apostle Paul states in Colossians 2:6-7,

 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

Consider for a moment that last phrase “overflowing with thankfulness.”

An attitude of ingratitude hardens our hearts and destroys our relationship with God and others. Nothing turns us into bitter, selfish, dissatisfied people more quickly than an ungrateful heart. One of the Bible’s indictments against humanity, which is as true when it was written 2000 years ago as it is today) is “although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him.” (Romans 1:21)

And nothing will restore contentment and the joy of our salvation than a true spirit of thanksgiving, so below are…

5 Ways to Thank God this Thanksgiving

 1. Thank God for the Material Blessings That He Gives You

-“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (Philippians 4:12)

-“Give me neither poverty nor riches — feed me with the food allotted to me.” (Proverbs 30:8b)

-Pray that God would bless you with just the right amount – not too much that you forget to acknowledge God as the source, and not too little that you might be tempted to dishonoringly acquire more.

 2. Thank God for the People in Your Life

-“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times;” (Romans 1:8-10)

 3. Thank God in the Midst of Trials and Even Persecution

-Why? Our view of God’s sovereignty

-“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:2-3)

-“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18)

4.Thank God Especially for His Salvation in Jesus Christ

-Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

-He did for us what we could not do for ourselves

 5. Thank God for His Continued Presence and Power in Your Life

-When we come to Christ, it is not the end but the beginning of a whole new life! He is with us, and He wants to help us follow Him and His Word.

-“…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13)

“First things…first!”

If your childhood was anything like mine, that saying was ingrained in your mind, and for good reason.

In Christian transformational development we too must be constantly reminded to keep “First things…first.”

C.S. Lewis wisely noted,

“We must try by every medical, educational, economic and political means in our power to produce a world where all have plenty to eat. But we must not suppose that even if we succeeded in making everyone nice we should not have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world – and might even be more difficult to save.”

Our first priority in Christian transformational development must be the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:11-21). Beyond that, we are to encourage and instruct, as to the benefits and contentment in a comprehensive, God-honoring life.

As Ron Rhodes points out in his book The Key Ideas Bible Handbook, our lives should reflect our Creator in three overarching areas,

“You and I are made in the image of God. Live accordingly! Genesis 1:27 tells us, ‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’ Elsewhere in Scripture, we learn man was created in God’s image in the sense that he is a finite reflection of God in his rational nature (Colossians 3:10), in his moral nature (Ephesians 4:24), and in his dominion over creation (Genesis 1:27-28). In the same way the moon reflects the brilliant light of the sun, so finite man—as created in God’s image—is a reflection of God in these aspects.”

The basic necessities of food, water, shelter and even gainful employment can actually become hindrances to an individual’s all-important spiritual need of reconciliation with God through Christ Jesus, unless we remember to “Keep first things…first.”