–Paul, Ephesians 3:10

Just as the team members who were overseeing the crafts were about to really get worried I was handed about 50+ coloring books and crayons. It was a reminder that God gives us just exactly what we need exactly when we need it. His plans are higher than our plans and he knows exactly when to provide what we need. God’s timing is good.

The other time I was reminded of God’s Sovereign power was at the church service. We again attended the church that meets on the property of Promise Home. I was able to preach on Matthew 5:13-16. But at the end of the service the local pastor led the church in the Spanish version of “How Great Thou Art.” Us North Americans were able to sing along with our Central American armanos y armanas (brothers and sisters) in praise of God.

Even though we separated by a great distance, culture, and language we serve the same God. It was a refreshing reminder that the church is indeed one body.

Today we visited a village school to love on kids. One of the main things we did was put on a VBS-style outreach with about 85 elementary aged kids. What a blessing to serve. I can’t say enough about how great our group is. Everyone has been ready to jump in, get awkward and foolish for Jesus, and serve.

In our group time tonight there were some great insights shared. First, one of our members talked about how you can tell a big difference between the kids who don’t have a parent and those who do. At the orphanage, as soon as we walked in the kids were wanting us to hold them, hold their hands, sit in our laps, and just be loved. At the school, the kids were happy to have us there, but they were more interested in the activities. A big thing that was different was the craft time. The kids were all excited to bring their project home to show it off. That didn’t happen yesterday.

Overall, we’re sensing how much of what we are doing this week is more than just about this week. We are partnering with Promise Home to establish a foundation of relationships that will have an impact for both eternity and the long-range future of the country of Honduras. Who knows which kids might grow up and become advocates in their government for the 200,000 orphans in this country?

God has a plan to change lives and it’s an awesome privilege to be a small part of that plan.

Zach Clowning Around With an Orphan

What initially surprised me was the conditions of the orphanage. We had seen videos and photos from Promise Home about the terrible conditions these children live in. What we experienced didn’t match how bad I had expected things to be. I’m not saying these children have it easy, but things have improved there over the few years Promise Home has been working with them. They have a director who has been there a year who has improved the conditions considerably. There was some fighting that broke out between the children, but it never got too out of hand.

Real Men Love Orphans

What was great about today was the chance our group from BridgeWay Church had to love on these kids. I shared with the group tonight the words Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, “As you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” What’s awesome for us, as Christians, is when we reach out to people who are in situations like we saw today at the orphanage we get to physically love Jesus. Those kids today represent a calling that all believers in Christ have to love everyone and to anything to reach people with God’s love. What an awesome privilege to serve.

One of the hardest moments for me today happened right after the kids were finger painting. When I’m at home with my girls, coloring is a big deal. We marvel at the works of art that Emory creates and she LOVES to run and put everything she makes onto the refrigerator for her mommy and daddy to see. She does this because she knows we love her and want to enjoy everything she does.

At the orphanage, those kids don’t know that love. They don’t know what it feels like to be valued. To be someone’s prized possession so much so that even a simple piece of paper they color on would be something someone would want to keep. I know this because when they got done drawing they picked up their paper and brought it over to be put in the trash.

I wish these children knew the love of a mom and dad. I’m glad I was able to give them

I spoke briefly during the worship time and decided to talk a little about Galatians 2:20, since that’s the passage Frank Nichols preached from back home at BridgeWay. It was cool picturing the Body of Christ spread out worldwide preaching the same message.

After lunch we were able to tour part of the property of Promise Home…in the rain! Sometimes having to walk through the rain would not be fun, but we haven’t had rain back home in so long that it was awesome to do it today.

The main thing they have been working on at the site so far is the tilapia ponds that will fund the orphanage in the future. Our group was able to feed the fish, so it was cool to physically take part in a process that will literally rescue orphans from a world of loneliness and despair.

We also got to see where the first home will be built. Hopefully the next trip we take the house will be constructed and the first orphans will be living on the property.

Overall it was a great day. Tomorrow we visit a state-run orphanage, which will take an emotional toll on us all.

We made it to our hotel!!!

I’m traveling this week with a group of 21 people from my church with Promise Home Orphanage in Honduras. Today we traveled from DFW to El Progreso. The original plan was to travel on Continental through Houston, but God had other plans.

Instead of arriving in Honduars in under five hours of travel, we ended up on American Airlines going through New Orleans, Miami, and finally to San Pedro Sula in over 12 hours of travel. The great thing about it all was that everyone made it at the same time and all of our baggage arrived, too! I can honestly say there were at least three times today that I didn’t think I would be able to say that.

There were so many things that had to line up perfectly for us to get here. I have no doubt that God worked it all out. When I’m less tired I’ll elaborate more.

I’ll be updating every night on my blog, so you can keep up with how the trip is going. Thank you to everyone who has supported us both in prayer and financial support.

Image by CarzyInSane

One of the most interesting quotes that I’ve read coming out of the failed prediction/calculation of Harold Camping that Judgment Day would by May 21, 2011 came from the USA Today. Dennis Cauchon writes:

Some Family Radio staff members said last week that most employees planned to be at work today and that most workers were skeptical about the doomsday prediction.

What does it say about a leader when the people closest to him, at least in physical proximity, didn’t even believe him?

What could have happened if these staff members would have spoken up? How could have the lives of the hundreds(?) of people who gave away their life savings, quit their jobs, and will likely emerge from this fiasco with their faith tarnished been kept from being negatively impacted?

Thoughts?

Image by Flickr User mementosis

It’s Saturday, May 21, 2011 at about 5:00 central time, and if I finish writing this article, Harold Camping‘s prediction of the rapture taking place right about now will prove to be wrong. I have a really good feeling that this article will be posted and if you’re reading it then obviously the time has passed with no rapture.

I’m not really too concerned about writing about why his prediction was wrong. There have been plenty of others who have predicted a date for the end of the world that have come and gone and there no doubt will be plenty more will set future dates. The reason I don’t put too much stock in these predictions is because Jesus told us no one would know when he will return.

But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. –Mark 13:32

But there are two things that concern me more about his teaching that I think Christians should be aware of, because they’re easy to miss and it’s more likely that others would teach the same thing.

First, he believes that all of the Bible is allegorical, meaning that everything has a hidden spiritual meaning. This is why he feels like he can make predictions about specific dates for the end of the world and say that “the Bible guarantees it.” What’s even worse with his beliefs is that he only interprets Scripture with Scripture. Normally this is a good thing, but when your understanding of what Scripture is is fundamentally flawed you can get it into real trouble as evidenced by his predictions.

Second, he believes that we are no longer in the “church age” and that true Christians should not associate themselves with any church. Again, this is an extreme view, but I see it in a lot of people today. They may not have the same theological reasonings as Mr. Camping, but there’s a growing belief that churches are no longer necessary. The other problem with this view is that it’s a slippery slope to go down, and it’s one that Joseph Smith traveled as he began the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints. Being connected to a church allows others to refine your view and help correct you if you’re out of line.

Those are just a couple things that come to mind. What do you think? Share in the comments below!

Some good reads on this from others:

Jesus is Coming Soon by Ed Stetzer

Second Coming of Jesus Christ, Tomorrow . . . by Rick Smith

In somewhat related news, this week Brea and I are fasting from television. We started Sunday and won’t watch anything until the Super Bowl.
We’ve both been watching way too much TV recently, which has been distracting us from spending time reading, studying the Bible, and doing other non-TV type things. We want to spend less time on unimportant things to devote more time to what’s really important.

Tonight, instead of watching tv, we started a Bible Study from Max Lucado on Acts. There was a quote in it that jumped out at me:

God gave manna in limited portions.

God sends spiritual food the same way. He opens the heavens with just enough nutrients for today’s hunger. He provides, a command here, a command there. A rule here, a rule there. A little lesson here, a little lesson there (Isa. 28:10).

Don’t be discouraged if your reading reaps a small harvest. Some days a lesser portion is all that is needed. What is important is to search every day for that day’s message. A steady diet of God’s Word over a lifetime builds a healthy soul and mind.

To be honest, this is something that I really needed to read today. I’ve been evaluating my daily Bible reading plan over the past few months and wanting to make a change. For the last few years, my reading involved simply reading a large chunk of Scripture everyday. Which meant that at least a few times a month I ended up reading 2-3 days worth of readings to get caught up.

It’s been a good discipline for me to get through the whole Bible, but had become too much a rote process that I’ve gone through. It was more a religious obligation than an attempt to improve my relationship with God.

So what’s next? I’m not entirely sure, but I know I’m going to slow down and savor smaller morsels of the delicacy of God’s Holy Word. One thing I’ve considered is focusing on one book of the Bible at a time, possibly per month, and diving deeper into understanding and applying that book’s truths to my life.

How are you applying the power of less principle in your life?

[image by joiseyshowaa]

I mentioned in my sermon today I’d be posting my notes, and here they are. If you’d like to download the slides you can do so here. Audio from the sermon is embedded below.

My first part-time job when I was 15 years old was working at Chick-fil-A. I worked there for about 2.5 years, and loved it. I still eat the food. One thing I’m really glad about the time that I worked there, outside of the fact that I earned a $1,000 college scholarship, was that I worked there before the era of what I like to refer to as the “my pleasure” era.

If you haven’t eaten at Chick-fil-A lately, you may not be familiar with this. What I’m referring to is simply the fact that at every Chick-fil-A, every employee is required to respond to a customer who says “Thank you” by saying “My Pleasure.” And I mean every time.

And let me apologize in advance to those of you who are fellow Chick-fil-A addicts that you will be craving it today, even though they’re closed on Sundays.

Gratitude and thankfulness can be hard to internalize.

I had a difficult time learning to say Thank You. I had a misunderstanding of what it meant to be grateful. What I somehow learned was that Christians were supposed to deflect any sort of praise or compliment that we received back to God or someone else. So, what would happen would be I would end up having a sort of “Gee shucks” response when I got a compliment.

For example, if someone told me I had a good game in baseball, I would say something like “Well, the other hitters just didn’t have it today.” Or I would try to say something spiritual, like “God really blessed me today.” Usually it just ended up feeling awkward for me, and probably a lot of others, too.

My wife, Brea, was very instrumental in helping me with this. I distinctly remember going on a walk with her one day in college and she complimented me about something. I don’t remember specifically what it was or what my response was, but she said “Just say thank you.” That was a freeing moment for me. I realized that I wasn’t being arrogant by accepting the praise, nor was I forcing the conversation into some awkward semi-spiritual moment. I was simply expressing gratitude to the other person for the compliment.
What I’ve discovered is that I’m not alone in this quest for learning to say thanks.
Researchers have proven what most parents probably knew instinctively: gratitude doesn’t come naturally. In her book entitled The Gift of Thanks, Margaret Visser cites a study which observed how parents teach their children to say “hi,” “thanks,” and good-bye.” The children in the study spontaneously said “hi” 27 percent of the time, “good-bye” 25 percent of the time, and “thanks” 7 percent of the time. Parents had to prompt their children to say “hi” 28 percent of the time, “good-bye” 33 percent of the time, and “thanks” 51 percent of the time.

In conclusion, children had a much more difficult time learning to say “thanks.” Most children have to learn to say “thank you” even before they know what it means. Visser states, “Eventually, when [children] have matured and been further educated, they will come to be able to feel the emotion that the words express. The words come first, the feelings later.” Perhaps this applies to adults too!

Based on this research Visser concludes that learning to be thankful involves a steep learning curve. She writes, “In our culture thanksgiving is believed to be, for most children, the very last of basic social graces they acquire.”

We celebrated Thanksgiving this week, but I think sometimes we have difficulty finding reasons to be grateful. This morning, we’re going to take a look at Scripture and discover that, as Christians, we have lots of reasons to be Thankful. Let’s focus this morning on 7 Reasons to be Thankful.

1. God, His Eternal Goodness

Psalm 100:4–5 (ESV) — 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Probably one of the most important reasons for us to be thankful as Christians is simply because of who God is. He is a good God, worthy of our praise and thanksgiving. David recognized this and setup some Levites to minister. Their task was simply to stand before the the Lord to thank and praise him.

1 Chron 16:34 – Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
Ps 30:4 – Give thanks to his holy name.
Ps 107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

When you look at the whole of the Bible, you’ll discover that it’s not people-centric. It’s God-centric. Everything points back to who God is. And our reasons for being thankful begin, and could end, with God.

In God we have more than enough reason to be thankful, but let’s look at more reasons.

2. Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.

Colossians 3:15–17 (ESV) — 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Right alongside of being thankful for God’s goodness is being thankful for Jesus Christ. We should be thankful for who he is and what he’s done for us. Paul here wrote that we should do everything in the name of Christ, which should flow out of a grateful heart.

There are two hundred and fifty-six names given in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I suppose this was because He was infinitely beyond all that any one name could express.

(IMAGE OF CROSS)
Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8)
Author of Life (Acts 3:15)
Bright and Morning Star (Rev. 22:16)
Christ (Matt. 1:16)
Good Shepherd (John 10:14)
Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3:14)
I Am (John 8:58)
King of Kings (Rev. 19:16)
Lion of Judah (Rev. 5:5)
Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16)
Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6)
Rabbi (John 1:38)
True Vine (John 15:1)
Wonderful Counselor (Isa. 9:6)
Word of God (Rev. 19:13)

If you’re lacking reasons in life to be grateful, maybe you’ve taken your focus off of Jesus and placed it on yourself.

3. God’s Deliverance From Adversity

Psalm 31:7–8 (ESV) — 7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, 8 and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.

Have you faced adversity in life? Has God delivered you from it? You should give thanks to God. Are you currently facing adversitry? Do you have a co-worker who opposes your beliefs in Christ? God will deliver you from this adversity. Just stay faithful to him.

John Paton was a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands. One night hostile natives surrounded the mission station, intent on burning out the Patons and killing them. Paton and his wife prayed during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see their attackers leave.

A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ. Remembering what had happened, Paton asked the chief what had kept him from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, “Who were all those men with you there?” Paton knew no men were present—but the chief said he was afraid to attack because he had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords circling the mission station.

4. God’s Ultimate Deliverance in Salvation

1 Corinthians 15:55–57 (ESV) — 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:4 (ESV) — 4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,

Something that should not exist is a grumpy Christian. But sadly many of us walk around with an ungrateful attitude. Now, I’m not suggesting for a second that any of us should be fake. If your personality isn’t bubbly, don’t act bubbly. But you shouldn’t always look at things and only see the negative. Our salvation transforms our hearts and minds into a grateful container of God’s grace and forgiveness.

5. God’s Provision
Psalm 147:7–9 (ESV) — 7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre! 8 He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills. 9 He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry.

From Stephen Sorenson in Mar/Apr 1991 Discipleship Journal
“Most American Christians don’t need God.”

Gertrude, a missionary on an island in Haiti, startled me with this answer to my question about how American Christians differed from Haitian Christians.

“American Christians have everything they need,” Gertrude continued. “If they don’t pray or read the Bible for weeks, it makes little difference in their daily lives. They still have food to eat, a place to sleep, regular income. They don’t need to practice their faith every day.”

For many Christians in the United States, that’s true, I thought. Gertrude lives among impoverished people. That seems to give her a deeper understanding of how God provides. She impressed me with her firm trust in God to supply what she and the islanders need for daily living. Maybe there were some lessons here that those of us in a more comfortable culture needed to learn.

6. Answered Prayers

Psalm 66:16–20 (ESV) — 16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. 17 I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. 18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19 But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!

When I was around 12 years old, a boy from my church was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Our church rallied around the family in prayer. We asked God to heal Matt and to allow him to completely recover. God answered that prayer and Matt just a few months ago celebrated a major milestone in his life by getting married. It’s a tremendous moment in life that our family is still grateful to God for.

The leaders of the Clapham Sect, such as William Wilberforce, who initiated enormous social reforms in England, habitually gave themselves to three hours of prayer each day. They organized Christians throughout the country to unite in special prayer before critical debates in Parliament. They knew, and persistently proved, the power of prayer. William Temple replied to his critics who regarded answered prayer as no more than coincidences, ‘When I pray, coincidences happen; when I don’t, they don’t.” Our Lord’s disciples’ request is probably our most needed prayer: “Lord, teach us to pray.

7. Troubles in Life

Job 1:21 (ESV) — 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV) — 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

This would also include what the great theologian Garth Brooks described as “Unanswered Prayers.” We all face trials in life, some more than others, and how we respond to them will show the true condition of our hearts.

Billy Graham comments: “Nowhere does the Bible teach that Christians are exempt from the tribulations and natural disasters that come upon the world. Scripture does teach that the Christian can face tribulation, crisis, calamity, and personal suffering with a supernatural power that is not available to the person outside of Christ.”

Some of the most pathetic people in the world are those who, in the midst of adversity, indulge themselves by wallowing in self-pity and bitterness, all the while taking a sort of delight in blaming God for their problems.

Job’s attitude is an inspiration: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15).
The sufferer will be blessed if, in the midst of great agony and despair, he can look into the face of his Heavenly Father and, because of His eternal love and presence, be grateful. Our response to suffering should lead us to look beyond it in the attempt to see God’s higher purposes and what He wants to teach us.

Matt Chandler, the pastor of the Village Church just down the road from here, has faced severe troubles in life this past year. Last Thanksgiving he was rushed to the ER when his wife discovered him having a seizure on the living room floor. He was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor that needed to be removed. He’s battled the cancer aggressively and in a recent MRI it appears as if the cancer is gone.

But what people have seen in him, more than a potential healing, is his attitude through it all. He was quoted this week in a Dallas Morning News article: “At the end of the day, I don’t believe God gave me this cancer, but I do believe he could have stopped it and didn’t. … God is not punishing me, but somehow, for my joy and his glory, he’s let me endure this and walked me through.”

By giving thanks to God in both good times and bad, Christians can show the world an attitude that is foreign to them. It’s normal to be thankful in good times, but it’s unheard of to praise God for cancer.

1. God and His Goodness
2. Jesus Christ,Our Lord and Savior.
3. God’s Deliverance From Adversity.
4. God’s Ultimate Deliverance through Salvation
5. God’s Provision
6. Answered Prayers
7. Troubles in Life

So, where are you this morning on the gratitude scale? Do you have a deep sense of gratitude to God for all he’s done and will do in and through you, or do you tend to find the reasons to be skeptical or negative in life?

If you’re here this morning and you have never accepted Christ as your savior I want to encourage to not leave before making Jesus the Lord of your life. You can do that today! Just stick around and talk to either myself or another one of our leaders, we’d love to help you start the journey of faith.

The world is needing more people to be thankful. In fact, we need to become more known as being people of thanksgiving than what we’re thought of now. If you type in the words “Why are Christians” into Google, you’ll get some interesting suggested searches. What suggested searches is are popular searches based on the words you’ve typed in so far. Here’s what people are searching for to complete the phrase Why are Christians…judgemental, mean, republican, ignorant, intolerant, and more. We need to change this. We need to be people who are marked by grace and thanksgiving. We need to be a church without walls that goes out to where people are and draws in people whoever they are to allow God’s transforming power to change them into the people he wants them to be.