the gate

There are more than 100,000 slaves
held captive in America today.*
There are 27 million slaves worldwide.*

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click here to read about sex trafficking in America today

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the Lord does not call us all to be theologians and apologists.  but He expects every believer to share their faith.  so if seminary level knowledge was necessary to effectively share your faith, why would he have told us all to do it?

sometimes my conversations about faith with people take shape as philosophical discussions;  is there truth?  that fundamental question is directly related to the existence of a perfect God.  this is a stepping stone to sharing the Gospel.  sometimes it becomes a time of clearing up misconceptions; does it really say in the Bible that “God helps those who help themselves” etc.?  but often my conversations of faith are simply a painting of the big picture.  the basics, if you will.  people cannot move on to the meat and potatoes of the Bible before they understand the basics.

i don’t believe that one can become a follower of Jesus without a basic level of understanding of who He is and what He did.  you feel me? and sometimes, this is exactly what people need to hear.  the basics.  the big picture.  so every Christian has something that they can share, and it can be shared in a very basic way.

the Gospel message of Jesus is incredibly simple in content.  but it is ferociously deep though in its implications.

the more you learn about the Scriptures, the better.  you will understand more and be able to communicate the truth more effectively.  but don’t wait for your MDiv before sharing your faith.  we all have a story to tell.  it is about the saving grace of God that we all need.  it is about a loving God that sacrificed His Son on our behalf.  it is about a faith that passes from generation to generation through the mouths of ordinary people like you and me.

do you realize that the leaders of the early Church were uneducated and untrained?  see for yourself.  but what they had has courage and conviction, as well as the truth of the resurrected Messiah. 

romans 10:13-15 - “for, ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ how, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? and how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? and how can they hear without someone preaching to them? and how can they preach unless they are sent? as it is written, ‘how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’“

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Ever seen that Ovaltine commercial (“More Ovaltine please”)?

When we gather for worship, we should all be saying, “More gospel please!”

Sadly, it is common for people to want something different. As Michael Horton says, “When people ask for more practical preaching, for a more relevant message than Christ and him crucified, what they are falling back on is law rather than gospel.” (Christless Christianity, p. 146)

Reflecting on T. David Gordon’s book Why Johnny Can’t Preach, pastor, author, and blogger Kevin DeYoung says:

Gordon sees four alternatives to this type of gospel preaching: Moralism, How-To, Introspection, and Social Gospel/Culture War. That is, instead of preaching Christ crucified and the grace of God, we end up preaching “be better” or “here are three steps to being better” or “are you really a Christian?” or “we need to do more to fight the bad guys out there.” It’s not that we can’t do any of this as preachers — Gordon says there is a place for three of the four (everything but the how-to) — but “the pulpit is almost never the place to do this” (p 91). What must predominate in our preaching is the person, character, and work of Christ. And everything else should manifestly flow from these things. Don’t leave the congregation wondering where grace comes in to play. Don’t make them assume you are rooting this application in the person and work of Christ. Connect the glorious dots for them.

So if you gather with Gateway on Sundays, with your arm extended, glass in hand, saying, “More gospel please,” I want you to know I’m doing the best I can to give you a refill. If you want something else in your glass, you’ll have to go elsewhere.

(Here’s a classic version of the “O” commercial.)

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials estimate that sex trafficking is a $9.5 billion a year industry in the U.S. Most cases involve persons trafficked to the United States from other countries who are generally less aware of their rights, probably do not speak English and are frightened to go to the authorities.

But not all sex slaves are brought here from other countries — runaways are often forced to become sex slaves. Yet more shocking is the fact that thousands of kids from stable, healthy families are at risk, as the following story illustrates.

ABC Primetime
Teen Girls’ Stories of Sex Trafficking in U.S.
International Sex Trafficking Is a Well-Known Problem, But It Happens Here as Well

Fifteen-year-old “Debbie” is the middle child in a close-knit Air Force family from suburban Phoenix, and a straight-A student — the last person most of us would expect to be forced into the seamy world of sex trafficking.

But Debbie, which is not her real name, is one of thousands of young American girls who authorities say have been abducted or lured from their normal lives and made into sex slaves. While many Americans have heard of human trafficking in other parts of the world — Thailand, Cambodia, Latin America and eastern Europe, for example — few people know it happens here in the United States.

The FBI estimates that well over 100,000 children and young women are trafficked in America today. They range in age from 9 to 19, with the average age being 11.

And many victims are no longer just runaways, or kids who’ve been abandoned. Many of them are from what would be considered “good” families, who are lured or coerced by clever predators, say experts.

. . . .

Debbie’s story is particularly chilling. One evening Debbie said she got a call from a casual friend, Bianca, who asked to stop by Debbie’s house. Wearing a pair of Sponge Bob pajamas, Debbie went outside to meet Bianca, who drove up in a Cadillac with two older men, Mark and Matthew. After a few minutes of visiting, Bianca said they were going to leave.

“So I went and I started to go give her a hug,” Debbie told Primetime. “And that’s when she pushed me in the car.” (click here to continue reading)

“You may choose to look the other way but you can
never again say you did not know.”
– William Wilberforce, 1789

_______________________________

“And what does the Lord require of you? To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

_______________________________

The Campaign To End Slavery
In Our Lifetime
Click here to find out how you can
take action to stop the slave trade
BECOME AN ABOLITIONIST!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Related post: Human Trafficking

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I should have posted these sooner. Samuel was born on February 26, 2009 at 1:29pm (Indian Standard Time), and weighed 7.5 lbs.

Greg, Daizy, and Samuel

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there was a great famine in samaria america; and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver dollars, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver dollars. as the king president of israel america was passing by on the wall a woman cried out to him, saying, “help, my lord, O king president!” he said, “if the Lord does not help you, from where shall I help you? from the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” and the king president said to her, “what is the matter with you?” and she answered, ”this woman said to me, ‘give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ”so we boiled my son and ate him; and i said to her on the next day, ‘give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”  (2 kings 6:25-29)

america’s famine is so harsh, i ate my son yesterday.  now i’m angry at steve because i let him eat G’s leg because he promised that today he’d be cooking ben up for dinner.  but i heard he stashed ben up in seattle somewhere.  what a jerk!

** tongue WAAAY in cheek **

the famine in samaria was so harsh that they had resorted to eating their own children.  how horrible is that?  somehow, our economic situation seems trivial at best.  perhaps our descent will take us very deep, but we’re a long way from this level of desperation.  we need a bit of a perspective realignment.

now, i’m trying to remember a time where i have had a conversation about the economic status of the U.S.A. that has involved a concerted effort on my part to offer hope.  i share my faith regularly, but with this particular topic i get caught up in policy and whatevers.  i have even had times to share about real need from my experiences in india.  but i am becoming convinced that the Church (capital “C”) needs to take this opportunity to present hope.  these are hopeless times.  people need hope, not a stable stock market.

will you join me in reminding people that amidst the trials that israel faced, God remained faithful to His people?

psalm 23, although it is about a different topic, seems very applicable to me right now. 

even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (psalm 23:4)

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William Lobdell covered the religion beat for The Los Angeles Times for eight years. His book, Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America—and Found Unexpected Peace, came out last month. He attributes his loss of faith primarily to investigating the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals and TBN. He saw no evidence of God in these people and places, and came to the conclusion that God does not exist. And as he states here, “One of the contributing factors to my loss of faith was the unwavering devotion of Catholics to their molesting priests.”

In a statement more biblical than perhaps he realizes, he argues, “Clearly, I saw now that belief in God, no matter how grounded, requires at some point a leap of faith. Either you have the gift of faith or you don’t. It’s not a choice. It can’t be willed into existence.”

I really appreciate Mr. Lobdell’s honesty and transparency, and sincerely hope no one thinks I am attacking him. But he illustrates a huge misunderstanding regarding Christianity. Our sinfulness doesn’t disprove the existence of God. We are not the center, or foundation, of Christianity — Christ is.

As Michael Horton writes in his book, Christless Christianity,

The best examples and instructions—even the best doctrines—will not relieve me of the battle with indwelling sin until I draw my last breath. Find me on my best day—especially if you have access to my hidden motives, thoughts, and attitudes—and I will always provide fodder for the hypocrisy charge and will let down those who would become Christians because they think I and my fellow Christians are the gospel. I am a Christian not because I think I can walk in Jesus’ footsteps but because he is the only one who can carry me.

. . . .

We do not preach ourselves but Christ. The good news—not only for ourselves, but for a world (and church) in desperate need of good news—is that what we say preaches better than our lives, at least if what we are saying is Christ’s person and work rather than our own.

. . . .

Maybe non-Christians would have less relish in pointing out our failures if we testified in word and deed to our need and God’s gift for sinners like us. If we identified the visibility of the church with the scene of sinners gathered by grace to confess their sins and their faith in Christ, receiving him with open hands, instead of with our busy efforts to be the gospel, we would at least beat non-Christian critics to the punch…. We know we fall short of God’s glory. That’s exactly why we need Christ.

. . . .

The good news is that Christ’s righteousness is greater than my sin. (pp. 117-121)

This does not give sexual perverts and greedy prosperity preachers a pass. God is clear — some sins clearly identify individuals as unconverted sinners. Fakes and impostors—even if they are priests and preachers—should not cause anyone to lose faith in Christ.

I pray William Lobdell will experience salvation that is not of human choice, but of God. (John 1:13)

If this story interests you, here’s a pretty interesting interview with Mr. Lobdell.

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i read a cool posting on an RSS feed that i receive called “evidence for God from science”.  the title “atheism doesn’t lead to immoral behavior” is not exactly normal for that feed as you can imagine, so i immediately read it.

it begins with a quote from “online atheists” (whoever that is): 

“I can be a good person and not believe in God.”

i think that many atheists believe this.  in fact, many people of different faiths believe this, even christians.  to some degree, it may ring true.  some people live beter or more moral lives than others.  we can cite the mother teresas of the world as evidence of that fact.  however, good is a loaded term and well as ill-defined.  what is good and who gets to define it?  i believe that it’s God that defines right and wrong as well as good and bad.  unfortunately for “online atheists”, He already has.

romans 3:12 - “all have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one that does good, not even one.”

so the article puts this mentality to the test:

his conclusion is that, based on these behaviors, atheists are 5 times more likely to engage in them.

let’s remind ourselves of the elepehant in the room.  there is a presence of evangelicals that are also doing these things.  there is dirty laundry among us as well.  but Lord willing, we are trying daily to change that and not deeming it acceptable.

at the end of the day, this article does not give us any proof that christians are better people than atheists.  perhaps that was his aim, but it does not accomplish that at all.  however, what it does do is support the Biblical position that left to ourselves, we will all choose depravity.

humanity is not on a natural course towards morality, we are on fast track to the gutter.  the sooner we acknowledge that, the sooner we will realize that we are in desperate need of mercy from God.

romans 7:24-25a - what a wretched man i am! who will rescue me from this body of death? thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!

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In the fourth chapter of his book Christless Christianity, Michael Horton illustrates how so much of the American church has replaced the good news with good advice. We focus more on what we must do and what we have done rather than on what Jesus has done.

He gives this penetrating quote by J. Gresham Machen, an early 20^th century professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary who battled modernist liberal theology, which can rightly be addressed to evangelicals today:

“What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but a knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you. I know your exhortations will not help me. But if anything has been done to save me, will you not tell me the facts?”

Rather than hearing a gospel of self-improvement (which is no gospel at all), Horton makes clear our real need:

“We must be stripped of our fig leaves in order to be clothed with Christ’s righteousness so we can stand in the judgment of a holy God. The question is whether the aim of ministry today is to tear off our fig leaves so we can be clothed with Christ or to help us add a few more.” (emphasis mine)

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Over on the LifeTogether blog, they posted this very helpful plan for family devotions. If you aren’t already doing family devotions, take this ball and run with it.

Mark Driscoll gives a realistic approach to doing family devotions at dinnertime:

Step 1. Eat dinner with your entire family regularly.
Step 2. Mom and Dad sit next to one another to lead the family discussion.
Step 3. Open the meal by asking if there is anyone or anything to pray for.
Step 4. Someone opens in prayer and covers any requests. This task should be rotated among family members so that different people take turns learning to pray aloud.
Step 5. Start eating and discuss how everyone’s day went.
Step 6. Have a Bible in front of the parents in a translation that is age-appropriate for the kids’ reading level. Have someone (parent or child) open the Bible, and assign a portion to read aloud while everyone is eating and listening.
Step 7. Parents should note key words and themes in the passage and explain them to the kids on an age-appropriate level.
Step 8. Ask questions about the passage.  You may want to begin with having your children summarize what was read—retelling the story or passage outline.  Then, ask the following questions:  What does this passage teach us about God?  What does it say about us or about how God sees us?  What does it teach us about our relationships with others?
Step 9. Let the conversation happen naturally, listen carefully to the kids, let them answer the questions, and fill in whatever they miss or lovingly and gently correct whatever they get wrong so as to help them.
Step 10. If the Scriptures convict you of sin, repent as you need to your family, and share appropriately honest parts of your life story so the kids can see Jesus’ work in your life and your need for him too.  This demonstrates gospel humility to them.
Step 11. At the end of dinner, ask the kids if they have any questions for you.
Step 12. If you miss a night, or if conversation gets off track, or if your family occasionally just wants to talk about something else, don’t stress—it’s inevitable.

Adapted from “Family Dinner Bible Studies” by Mark Driscoll in Trial: 8 Witnesses from 1 & 2 Peter, a study guide. (Mars Hill Church, 2009), pages 69-70.

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