Foster Kids, Joseph, and Jesus

Before I was a pastoral intern at my church, I worked for the Department of Health and Human Services in Omaha. Though the work was not always a delight, God grew my heart for abused and neglected children. He grew my heart to help these kids–not to help them overcome past hurts with therapy or rehab–but to help them overcome through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is a huge mission field, even in Nebraska. To give you an idea, there are usually well over 6,000 calls a month to the abuse and neglect hotline…in Omaha. Not all of those are “substantiated” abuse/neglect cases, mind you, but it is alarming nonetheless. A foster child battles emotional, psychological, physical, and, above all, spiritual issues (and I would add those spiritual issues are often magnified by demonic influence). A foster child’s road is arduous, burdensome, and confusing.

But there is hope for the foster child (or “orphan” or “fatherless” as the Bible calls them).  The Jesus we see in Scriptures who reveals the perfect heavenly Father  is the only solution for these kids. Despite all the obstacles for one of these precious ones coming to Jesus, God overcomes. I know a foster boy at my church who was baptized this year.  He declared that he has a new life in Jesus: he’s been forgiven of the sin he’s committed against God and that he’s been cleansed of all the sin committed against him. He still has fits of rage and sadness. But God is in the process of changing this boy.

I believe Jesus wants to do this very thing in the lives of thousands of other foster kids in Nebraska, and around the country.

One small way for me to be a part of God’s work with foster kids is that this summer I will be the camp speaker at Teen Reach Adventure Camp for the boys camp.  This camp provides an alternative, Christ-centered setting for foster kids who might not thrive at other summer camps.

I will be speaking on the life of Joseph. What a privilege to preach the gospel through this story! Joseph was a man who was abused and abandoned by his brothers, was falsely convicted and sent to prison, practically saved the region when famine came, and eventually had mercy on his abusive brothers.

Ultimately, this story finds fulfillment in Jesus, the true and better Joseph. Jesus was abused and abandoned by a nation, his family, and closest friends; he was falsely accused, unjustly condemned, and crucified despite being sinless; he saved the world through his death on the cross; and he had mercy and grace on his worst enemies when he made them friends by purchasing their lives with his blood. He came on the ultimate rescue mission, sent by the Father, to bring unworthy orphans into his family by grace through faith. This is the good news, and oh what news it is for foster children who are in desperate need of a true family.

Would you begin to pray with me that God would soften hearts, break down barriers to resistance, and anoint me to preach the gospel so it is truly embraced. O Lord, would you change these young lives by your resurrecting power? Bring into existence the things that do not exist and raise dead hearts up to life. Preach your gospel, make Jesus plain, and draw these boys to yourself. 

A Colloquy on Rejoicing

What drew me to post this whole prayer was the single line: “For whatever a man trusts in, from that he expects happiness.” (By the way, a “colloquy” is a conversation or discussion.)

Remember, O My Soul,
It is thy duty and privilege to rejoice in God:
He requires it of thee for all his favours of grace.
Rejoice then in the Giver and his goodness,
Be happy in him, O my heart, and in nothing but God,
for whatever a man trusts in,
from that he expects happiness.

He who is the ground of thy faith
should be the substance of thy joy.
Whence then come heaviness and dejection,
when joy is sown in thee,
promised by the Father,
bestowed by the Son,
inwrought by the Holy Spirit,
thine by grace,
thy birthright in believing?

Art thou seeking to rejoice in thyself
from an evil motive of pride and self-reputation?
Thou hast nothing of thine own but sin,
nothing to move God to be gracious,
or to continue his grace towards thee.
If thou forget this thou wilt lose thy joy.
Art thou grieving under a sense of indwelling sin?
Let godly sorrow work repentance,
as the true spirit which the Lord blesses,
and which creates fullest joy;
Sorrow for self opens rejoicing in God,
Self-loathing draws down divine delights.
Hast thou sought joys in some creature comfort?
Look not below God for happiness;
fall not asleep in Delilah’s lap.
Let God be all in all to thee,
and joy in the fountain that is always full.

- The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Android App Created to Hide Calls and Texts

An Android app called CATE (call and text eraser) was created by Phillip Immler, a cop and law student, to hide what you don’t want your spouse to see on your phone.  No joke. In the online story, the author quotes Immler:

“I had a good friend of mine who went through a divorce because his wife was finding things on his phone. It intercepts call and text messages from people on your lists and stores it within the app,” says Immler.

The author continues:

Only the app owner has the passcode to unlock the contacts he or she decides should be hidden from view. There’s already buzz over the app online.

Divorce attorney Robin Roshkind says while the app may promise to hide your infidelity, it won’t stop a determined woman or man wanting to know the truth.

The story ends by quoting Immler again, when he says that he doesn’t condone cheating. Really, Immler? Yet you help adulterous people hide their sin from their spouse?  This is not surprising–this is the way the world works.  God has spoken of actions such as these–listen to Paul’s words:

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them (Romans 1:28-32; my emphasis).

The good news of Jesus is that even adulterers and those who approve of adultery can be saved: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom. 10:9).

Charles Spurgeon on Preaching Christ from the Whole Bible

Don’t you know, young man, that from every town, and every village, and every hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London…So from every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis, Christ. And my dear brother, your business is when you get to a text, to say, now what is the road to Christ?…I have never yet found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if I ever do find one…I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a savour of Christ in it.

-Charles Spurgeon

Psalm 96 and Jesus

I don’t often share my journal entries from my times in the word, but I am compelled to today. Here are my thoughts/notes on Psalm 96.

This Psalm is a celebration and proclamation of how great God is.  He is worthy to be sang to and worshiped and praised and adored.  The Israelites–and we–are told to sing three times in the first 2 verses and we are told to declare his glory and works among the nations and peoples.  Why do we sing and declare? For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods (v. 4).  All other gods are idols but the LORD made the heavens (v. 5).  Unlike other gods who are surrounded by sinful and fragile men who made them, the LORD is surrounded by splendor and majesty…strength and beauty (v. 6).  Man can only create what he knows, which is why idols are always something that has already been created. Man never worships an original idol. The Israelites worshiped a golden calf.  Americans worship money and nice cars.  There is nothing new under the sun.

The psalmist then bursts out into exclamatory praise/exhortation to the people of God: Ascribe…to the LORD glory and strength…the glory due his name (vv. 7-8).  The word “ascribe” in Hebrew means “to acknowledge or give what is due.”  Acknowledge God, with my being, not just my mind, that he is worthy of praise for his glory, strength, and name.  He is worthy, because he has created the heavens and because he is holy (v. 9).  And because of this picture of who God is, the nations are called to tremble before him (v. 9), not out of paralyzing fear, but in humble reverence and awe.

The LORD, Yahweh, is also due praise and worship because the world has been founded on his unchanging character (v. 10).  Because of this, he is able to judge with equity. A God who could change and did not stand for righteousness would not be worthy of glory, strength, and honor, for he would not be holy. If God could change, then what he is tomorrow could be better than today (or vice versa), and therefore, he might not be “the best” thing in the universe. He would be at the whim of his emotions or desires.  But our God is not changeable, and because of this truth–that God has founded the earth and will judge it according to his unchanging character–there is a worshipful response in creation. Let the heavens be glad…let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar…let the field exult…all the trees of the forest sing for joy (v. 11-12).  The reason for this singing and praise is that the Lord judges the world in righteousness and faithfulness (v. 13).  If inanimate nature is called to sing and be glad, how much more God’s people, who wait with anticipation and expectation for his coming!

Now we ask, “How will God judge the world?”  Ultimately, he will judge the world through Jesus.  Paul writes in Acts 17:30-31, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (my emphasis). And lest I think this is a Pauline construction, Jesus himself says in John 5:25-29:

Truly,  truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now where, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (my emphasis).

But what about what Jesus said in John 3 to Nicodemus?  ”For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (v. 17). If Jesus were to judge, wouldn’t he be obligated to condemn, too? But look at what Jesus does. He puts the correct framework on “judgment.”  He says, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil” (vv. 18-19, my emphasis).

Jesus judges, not as a cruel, unjust, bloodthirsty dictator, but as one who identifies what is already in the heart of man. Jesus doesn’t make up a judgment on a whim on that “fixed day” Paul describes. No, he already knows the judgment. The judgment is the answer to: “Do you believe?  Do you believe that Jesus is King, Lord, Savior, Treasure, Judge, Creator?  Do you believe Jesus’ name is due glory, strength, and honor and have you worshiped him–not other gods of your own making–as your supreme delight because of who he is and what he has done?”

God will judge the world in righteousness and faithfulness someday. I will die, and I will rise again and give an account to a Man, the only one who fully and completely gave God’s name the glory he deserved. He is the only one who perfectly embodied righteous and faithful living. And it is he who took all of my unrighteousness and unfaithfulness to the cross, becoming my substitute, absorbing the wrath of God in judgment, reconciling me to God, and making me his friend, not an foe.

I ask myself, and you the reader: Will you have Jesus today?

Some Things I’m Learning Right Now

I work full-time as a privately supported pastoral intern at my church.  I am coaching small group leaders and have duties with our small group ministry, but most of my days are consumed with learning.  Seminary will “officially” start on August 22 when I begin my first online class through Liberty Theological Seminary. But in reality, “seminary” has already begin.  Here are a few things God is teaching me right now:

• Make prayer integral and central to my life and ministry.
• Treasure Jesus, and when you don’t feel it, beg for it.
• Be organized.
• Soak up knowledge, but index it (whether book, article, video, etc) in a way that can be remembered and not just.
• God desires that his Church be shepherded in a certain way as laid out in Scripture.
• I am easily distracted.
• I don’t know everything (even though I can pretend I do).
• A life-long lesson: information should lead to transformation (and that should be the framework for my input).

And here’s what I’m reading:

• The Valley of Vision by Arthur Bennett
• A Call for Spiritual Reformation by Don Carson
• The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter
• Church Planter by Darrin Patrick

What is Jesus teaching you?

Some Comments Are Worthy of Their Own Post

From last week’s post on multi-site churches, Andrew gives his take on whether or not pastors of those churches are simply trying to feed their ego by having their preaching streamlined across the church’s campuses:

I think these multi-site churches particularly the ones that use live video feeds are effective and if the gospel is being faithfully communicated then why not…I think its an easy argument to make and one used too often to assume that a pastor needs to feed his ego or gain validation by having his face on the screens of several churches…If Mark Driscoll did this for ego or prideful reasons then he should stop writing books, stop recording his sermons for download, sign off of Facebook and Twitter, and stick to Seattle only.  I think when someone becomes big and successful at what they do its human tendency to vilify their way and prescribe our judgments on their motives.

Acts 29 by the way is an organization with Driscoll’s print all over it and it’s an organization to equip pastors to plant churches, not promote the Driscoll brand.  Mars Hill does have several campuses with Driscoll’s face on the screen, but they also allow plenty of preaching time for the campus pastor and promote very heavily the idea of missional communities.   I watch Driscoll videos each week for his solid biblical teaching and not his superstar pastor status…If you are multi-site you are simply being good stewards of technology, space, and money.

Join the conversation.