“It is Friday but Sunday is Coming!”
Be encouraged by this short video. Jesus died for sinners, like me, and was raised from the dead to give sinners, like me, new life. Oh what a Savior!
Category: Uncategorized
Celebrating Passover In Sudan — Remembering Slavery, Liberation and Freedom
Please continue to remember to pray for South Sudan!
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Celebrating Passover In Sudan — Remembering Slavery, Liberation and Freedom
By Tony Sayegh and Ellen Ratner
Published April 18, 2011
| FoxNews.com
The two of us met while sparring about politics on air during a “Fox News.com Live” political panel. We established common ground in the commercial breaks. Tony is a Republican and Ellen is a Democrat — an honest Democrat.
The unifying issue that brought us together: South Sudan and the need to provide political and humanitarian support to the Christians and Traditionalists taken in the war. Usually, when we are together, our purpose is to analyze and inform based on our diametrically opposite political opinions. On this trip, we gladly checked our partisanship at the airport in Nairobi, Kenya, where our journey together to the South Sudan officially began.
The people of South Sudan have voted by a margin of 99% for a referendum that established their independence from the Arab-Muslim rulers in the capital of Khartoum.
Now, an immense amount of healing and nation building must get underway in earnest. As South Sudan is scheduled to join the community of nations as the world’s newest country on July 9, the vast majority of the country lives in abject poverty, and those are the lucky ones. In one of the grossest demonstrations of human rights violations in this century, tens of thousands of their people remain in captivity in the North.
The efforts to secure freedom for these slaves and the repatriation of those whose release has been achieved commands our attention, especially as many of us prepare to celebrate the ultimate slave liberation story of “Passover.”
On our recent visit to the region, we traveled with Rabbi Joseph Polack, from Hillel House at Boston University. Knowing that we were going to greet and administer aid to hundreds of freed slaves, the rabbi joined us to share the Passover story with these modern day Israelites. It may have been the first time a Seder meal was held for people so recently freed from bondage.
The Passover story is meant to tell the story of freedom from oppression in ancient Egypt so that future generations can remember and celebrate their own freedom. Few people sitting down to a Passover Seder this week will consider that slavery is alive in well in some parts of the world and that it is estimated that at least over 30,000 people remain in slavery in Northern Sudan. These people remain even after Christian Solidarity International facilitated the liberation of almost over hundred thousand slaves over a sixteen year period, much of it in the middle of a war that did not end until 2005.
As the world turns today, much of the focus is on the “democratic” uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, and not on the South Sudan, where we just spent the better part of a week.
As part of a mission led by Christian Solidarity International, we gave survival kits to slaves that had walked fourteen days from the North to the South, with an Arab slave retriever trying to remedy the unjust treatment of Christian people rounded up into slavery. We documented their stories and their wounds and made sure that they were provided rudimentary health care.
After 22 years of bloody civil war, a homeland for the South Sudanese has been secured, and with it strong opportunities for the United States to have a key ally in strategic a part of the world where few friends exist.
It cannot be forgotten that North Sudan served as a breeding ground for Al Qaeda and one time home for Usama bin Laden. Somalia, which also sits strategically in the region wrapping itself on the western coast of the Red Sea, is a contemporary hot bed of nefarious activity, much of which is targeted at the U.S. and our interests.
South Sudan can be both a tactical partner and true friend. It is both a moral and strategic imperative.
Tony Sayegh, is a Republican strategist and communications consultant who appears regularly as a political analyst and commentator on the Fox News Channel and weekly on “Fox News.com Live.” You can e-mail Tony at tony4ny@yahoo.com. Ellen Ratner is Washington Bureau Chief for Talk Radio News Service and a Fox News contributor.
The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards
One of my heroes of the faith is Jonathan Edwards. Through his writings and life I have been inspired to spread the fame of Jesus to the unreached!
I am very grateful to Jacob Abshire for putting together The Resolution Poster. This poster contains the 70 resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. They are great exhortations for me.I have purchased the largest one and will post it at my desk and take it with me to Africa. All profits go to support Ligonier Academy.
“Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.” ~ Jonathan Edwards
“Itchy Ears Want Works”
As one who is passionate about missions it is so easy for me to leave the gospel of grace and move to works oriented motivational techniques to stir peoples hearts about getting the gospel to the unreached. This is short sighted on my part and is something I need reminding of often. Only the gospel of grace motivates rightly and for the long term!
Through the message below the Lord was gracious to me once again…may the gospel be first and foremost in my heart and words. Let us press on together to keep our gaze upon Jesus…the rest will follow!
Thank you Joel Brooks and Gospel Coalition!
I can remember the exact place where I was standing, the music that was playing in the background, and seeing the group still praying and weeping by the side door, when I heard words that knocked me off balance. It was 10 years ago, and I had just finished preaching when a young woman came up to me and asked if we could talk. She was emotionally moved from the sermon, but what she said surprised me. “Joel, these past few weeks I have never felt so challenged and stirred, but after listening to you, I feel that if I don’t go on the mission field or go and do something wild for God, then I must not believe in the gospel. Is that what you’re saying?”
I was devastated. Her words crushed me. I said to her, “No, of course not! We are all saved by grace through faith alone. That is the gospel by which we are saved. God is never impressed with our efforts.”
I reassured her the best I could, but once she left, I quickly went over the message I had just preached. Did I say those things? Where did she get that idea? Yes, I had stepped on a few toes and said some things about not giving in to the American dream and how we all need to get up off our pews and live for the Lord, but I never said that we weren’t saved by faith alone. I thought, Of course we are saved by grace through faith! Of course our works can never justify us! Every Christian knows that! But was I faithfully preaching this? Was this my focus? I couldn’t get this question out of my mind.
Tempted by Apathy
When pastors plead for their congregations to shake off their apathy and finally take action, this attempt to motivate can lead us to abandon the gospel if only for a moment. I have sought the Lord to repent of my own misplaced emphasis on what we need to do to prove ourselves as real Christians. I need to constantly remind myself of the gospel. Daily I struggle to put to death the desires I have to show myself as wild for Jesus and the impulse to do something great for him in order to win his approval. Romans 4:5 is the medicine I take daily—“And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness . . .” (italics mine).
What powerful, life-altering words these are! What lavish grace! Paul is saying that the one who does not go on the mission field, does not give to the homeless, does not tithe, does not throw away his TV, does not tutor at an inner-city school but believes in Christ who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Belief is all that is required for the ungodly. How amazing is that?!
This is the medicine we all need and what I must constantly preach from the pulpit—to Christians and non-Christians alike. Otherwise, no matter how strong my words are, they will only inspire people momentarily, never sustain them. I can guilt people into giving or use inspirational stories to move them, but without the steady drumbeat of the gospel, I am leading people into a works-based righteousness no matter how good my intentions. And sure, good works will follow, but not out of a heart of gratitude and worship to Jesus.
Gospel Foundations
The apostle Paul understood this. Writing his letter to the Romans, he addresses those who were already Christians, yet he still painstakingly walks through the gospel at the front end of the letter—not the end. At the end of his letter in chapter 15, he finally mentions that it is his hope that they help him in his mission to Spain (Rom 15:24). Do you see the flow of Paul’s letter? First, it’s the gospel—we are not saved by works, but by grace through faith alone. This then becomes our fuel for service. Once this gospel has been chewed on, every need to perform has been crucified, and every potential boast has been buried, then the end result will be living a missional life. The foundation of our service must be the gospel. Otherwise we serve with false motives.
The messages that concern me today are often filled with inspirational stories about people exercising extreme faith and enjoying miracle after miracle. But these have almost a propaganda feel and can be terribly misleading on many levels. They lead people into thinking that anyone who wishes to “aspire to live quietly, and to mind you own affairs” (1 Thes 4:11) is living a sinful life. Or to give your life towards being an honest accountant for the glory of God isn’t worthy service for Jesus. These stories can sometimes mislead people into thinking that the greater the act, the more intimacy with Jesus you will feel and the greater glory Jesus receives.
I have known quite a number of missionaries who have returned home defeated and discouraged after serving only a couple of years on the field. Several of them have told me they returned because when they initially decided to do this mission work, they assumed their faith would grow exponentially. They thought they would become spiritual giants and have a closer relationship with God. But after two years of giving up everything and exhausting themselves with service, they realized how mistaken they were. These actions didn’t bring them any closer to Jesus. Yes, they were missionaries, but they had built their lives on the sinking sand of works and not the gospel. They didn’t understand that Jesus loves them fully because of what he did—not because of what they were doing. As a result, after a couple of years, these missionaries had nothing that could sustain them. Service had become their idol, and now it was demanding its sacrifice. They returned home broken and burned out. I fear that some modern preaching is actually pushing people to serve with this type of false motivation.
Yet this is what so much of preaching today aspires to be, and preachers are reluctant to change because it works—at least it temporarily inspires and draws crowds. Perhaps this is what Paul warned Timothy about when he wrote 2 Timothy 4:3: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”
There are many ways to scratch itchy ears. Most usually assume that itchy ears want nothing more than a feel-good easy religion that is soft on sin. Yet this has not been my experience, and it rarely was Paul’s. Paul spent much time and energy fighting anyone that would add a single work to his gospel. He fought the party of circumcision, the legalists, and anyone else who would add anything to his gospel of grace. The itchy ears of his day wanted law. They wanted to be told what works they could perform to make God love them, or what they could give in order to pat themselves on the back and distinguish themselves from nominal Christians. Both Paul and Jesus saved their harshest rebukes for people like the Pharisees, the respected radicals of their day who were so righteous they’d even tithe their herbs!
Beware Results
I confessed earlier that there were times in my past that I preached works while just assuming grace. The results that I saw from this were substantial. People loved it! I first thought that sermons like this would turn people off and drive them away, but how wrong I was. Especially younger Christians cannot get enough of it. It grieves me to look back and think of those times I looked out at the masses, got caught up in the moment, and briefly abandoned the gospel in order to scratch some itchy ears.
I am probably not alone in this. Pastors, do not forget the gospel in your call for discipleship. I know you believe the gospel, but make sure you never stop preaching it. Make sure you never add anything to this gospel no matter how much you want your people to get up off their pews and do something. Make no mistake: I am not saying that you should let your congregation keep on sinning in order that grace may abound. In fact, I hope you passionately stir up you congregation to give to the poor, serve on the mission field, or give up their American dream. I preach this almost every Sunday and will continue to do so. What I am saying is that we must make the gospel of grace central to this message and resist any urge to add a single work in order to stir up our apathetic congregation. We have to work hard to guard the good deposit of the gospel given to us. Remember what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4:
I would remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
Joel Brooks is the pastor of Redeemer Community Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
Let Us Heed Christ’s Call!
Let us heed Christ’s call to take the gospel to the unreached who have no opportunity to hear the good news unless someone goes to them! They are calling like the Macedonian of Acts 16:9, “Come over and help us…” . Will you Pray? Give? Go?
From missionary C.T. Studd (1860-1931):
“Yes, when? When indeed shall we see a real Church Militant here upon the earth? Christs call is to feed the hungry, not the full; to save the lost, not the stiff-necked; not to call the scoffers, but sinners to repentance; not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches, and cathedrals at home in which to rock Christian professors to sleep by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers and artistic musical performances, but to raise living churches of souls among the destitute, to capture men from the devils clutches and snatch them from the very jaws of hell, to enlist and train them for Jesus, and make them into an Almighty Army of God. But this can only be accomplished by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered Holy Ghost religion, where neither Church nor State, neither man nor traditions are worshipped or preached, but only Christ and Him crucified. Not to confess Christ by fancy collars, church steeples or rich embroidered altar-cloths, but by reckless sacrifice and heroism in the foremost trenches…”
Reaching Africa's Unreached 