Catalyst for Community

As I sit here this morning I am noticing the sleeve on my coffee cup. Written there are the words, "Kaladi Brother's Coffee, Catalyst for Community." After last night I am really seeing how a mission's trip like this one is such a catalyst for community. We all got together at Dennis & Celesta's house last night and just had some time of testimony and sharing. It was great to see how open and real everyone was about how God is working in them and what he is teaching them on this trip. We were also able to spend some time praying for the Richardson family and thank them for their 20+ years of service in Alaska. It is truly a remarkable and encouraging to be part of a group committed to serving the Lord and one another. I am blessed to have each and every person on this team here in Alaska with us.

Thanks for many of your continued prayers. We have had many close calls, PJ fell off a ladder, Dad almost cut a main power line, and many other minor situations God's hand has been over. We have had great opportunities to encourage and minister to many native people and kids. Today is our last day of work and ministry. Pray that we can wrap up all our projects at the house and church. We are also looking forward to handing out clothes to more people and will probably visit the homeless shelter again. We will also be wrapping up Kids For Christ Club tonight. We have built some great relationships with the kids and many of them have opened up to us. This has been such an awesome week and we are looking forward to a fun day tomorrow as we travel as a group to Whittier to do some sightseeing. I want to encourage you today to be a catalyst for community. We as brothers and sisters in Christ need each other to pray with, laugh with, cry with, minister with, share with, and just live life with.

Alaska 8/11

What a week it has been. I am not even sure what day it is, I think it is Wednesday. We have been working hard and not sleeping much but God is so good and we are having a blast. We have knocked out a lot of work at Dennis and Celesta's house and also at the Church.

Yesterday was a jam packed day. We all started the day by serving at the Church with their Food Pantry ministry. We were able to provide food for 71 families. Some of us helped them pick out their food and others carried food to their cars and homes. Many of these people were homeless. It was great to see them smile and just to talk to them.

We spent yesterday afternoon working hard. We made a lot of progress on our work projects. Last night we started the first of three nights of Kids for Christ club. The girl's did an awesome job putting together the night and we had around 25 kids come out. We look forward to the next two nights working with the kids.

I had a little scare last night. I lost my wallet and for about an hour the whole team was searching the church, parking lot, and yard. I had my driver's license, cash, and credit card all in it so we were praying that it would turn up. When we were about to give up and call and cancel my credit card Elizabeth found my wallet in a garbage bag full of bats and balls that we used when we were playing with the kids. We were all praying that we would find my wallet and praise be to God that I don't have to go through the process. Continue to keep us in prayer. Today and tomorrow we will be handing out clothes to the poor and homeless and continuing on in many of the work projects we are doing. Pray for strength as many of us are tired, pray that God would use us to impact those who come to pick up clothes and for the kids that come out in the evenings.

Alaska 8/9

"Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God."

- Psalm 90:2

Good morning from Anchorage, AK! It is currently 6:30am Monday morning. I have been up since 4am. Don, Dad, and I were up early and are spending the early morning at Kaladi Brothers Coffee shop. As I am looking out the window I am looking at the majesty of God, it is sometimes hard to drive because I find myself gazing at the mountains.

Yesterday was a great first day. Our team was able to serve at both Sunday services. Some of us led worship and sang, others helped prepare food, others were able to be greeters, and Don and I were able to preach. After church many of the people stuck around and I was able to hear many of their stories. It was amazing to hear the struggles and how God has worked in their lives. One truth that hit home was to never put your hope in what God has not promised.

After church when went back to Dennis & Celesta's to debrief with the team. In the afternoon we tried to recover from the jet lag. Many of us were able to see Moose and some of the team had a close encounter. Last night we all gathered at Wendell and Judy's house for the church's prayer meeting which was actually a surprise birthday party for Celesta. It was a great night of fellowship and we were able to continue to build relationships with the people from Mt. View Baptist Church.

Continue to keep us in your prayers this week. Today we have a lot of work to do. Part of the team will be working hard today at Dennis and Celesta's new house while others will be sorting clothes in preparation for the God's Closet ministry Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Keep the food pantry, God's Closet, and Kids for Christ Club ministries in your prayers as we have the opportunity to share Christ with those who come. Keep the team in prayer as we are still adjusting to the time change and our schedule constantly changes. I have not slept much and have been running on some of the best coffee in the world (Kaladi Brothers). Flexibility is our key word this week as we are serving wherever we are needed.

"May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face to shine upon us,

that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations."

- Psalm 67:1-2

Charlotte Airport

After a quick flight from Akron-Canton to Charlotte I am now sitting here waiting to catch a flight to Phoenix which will then take me to Anchorage. Charlotte has free wi-fi so I thought I would take a minute to share with you. On my first flight I really started diving into the book "Let the Nations be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions" by John Piper. I spent an hour just trying to digest the forward which is about 30 pages. I love the heart for God that you see come out in Piper's writing. This book is all about the worship and supremacy of our God. Here are a few highlights from the book, hope they inspire and encourage you today.

• Methods change. But worship, prayer, suffering, unreached peoples, the gospel, faith, heaven, and hell remain.
• Is there a distinct God-magnifying, Christ-exalting mindset in your life?

"All the earth-shaking awesome forces unleashed on the world are released by the Lord Jesus Christ. He reigns today. He is in the control room of the universe. He is the only Ultimate Cause; all the sins of man and machinations of Satan ultimately have to enhance the glory and kingdom of our Saviour. This is true of our world today - in wars, famines, earthquakes, or the evil that apparently has the ascendancy. All God's actions are just and loving. We have become too enemy-conscious, and can over-do the spiritual warfare aspect of intercession. We need to be more God conscious, so that we can laugh the laugh of faith knowing that we have power over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:9). He has already lost control because of Calvary where the Lamb was slain. What confidence and rest of heart this gives us as we face a world in turmoil and such spiritual need." - Patrick Johnstone

machinations: crafty schemes, plots, intrigues

ascendancy: governing or controlling influence

• Worship has always been and will always be the ultimate purpose of God in the universe.
• Suffering is the normal cost of godliness. (2 Tim. 3:12)
• You can't commend what you don't cherish.
• When the flame of worship burns with the heat of God's true worth, the light of missions will shine to the darkest peoples on earth.

I want to leave you with the opening paragraph from chapter 1. This statement is profound and is a truth that we must grasp and live out. May worship be your fuel and your goal!

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever." - John Piper

ALASKA MISSIONS TRIP

Today is the day. The team of 14 is on our way to Alaska. I am so excited to see what the Lord is going to do in us and through us. Most of us will be traveling all day to Alaska, spending about 12-15 hours in planes and airports. Alaska is 4 hrs. time difference from eastern standard time so when I land a little after midnight tonight it will feel like 4am.

I am looking forward to the long flights, it is a really good time for me to get some reading done. My goal is to read 3 books during my two weeks in Alaska. Those books are:

- The Bondage Breaker by Neil T. Anderson

- Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper

- Let's Start with Jesus, A New Way of Doing Theology by Dennis Kinlaw

Don and I will also be preaching at Mt. View Baptist Church tomorrow morning. Don is doing the first service and I am doing the second. I am really excited to share in the second service. It consists of many people who come in off the streets. Mt. View is a very poor urban community in Anchorage. It is extremely diverse and is full of hopelessness. What a privilege and blessing it is to bring the hope of Jesus Christ. Please pray for us as we all travel today. Pray as well for the church services tomorrow that God would be glorified and bring hope to the hopeless.

"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!" - Romans 10:14-15

Cultivating Closeness with God

The past two evenings we have had about 15 people coming together at our house and have had some great "J-Time." The key component of what we have been talking about is this idea of cultivating closeness with God. This implies an individual and a community working hard and working together to draw closer to God. This process requires desire, direction, and determination. Most people would say they would want a deeper relationship with Jesus but the question we need to ask is if we are willing to do the work. If you really want to cultivate closeness with God in your life here are some things to think about.

1. Examine your circle of intimacy.

- Who are the 2-3 people that get closest to your heart and stay there? If you want to be close to God the people in your circle of intimacy must be close to God. You cannot effectively cultivate closeness with God by yourself. You need other people and you need to help each other.

2. Examine your busyness

- In the midst of your busyness where does God fit in? How does your busyness affect your time with God? Where does my time with God fit in my priorities? One of Satan's key tactics is to keep us so busy with meaningless things that we never make time to cultivate closeness with God. Just like any relationship it takes time to grow it and if you aren't making time for God you will never grow closer.

3. Write God's Word upon your heart

- How often do you think about God's truth throughout your day? We need to always be meditating on the truth of Scripture. Put it on your mirror, in your car, on your computer, or somewhere you will see it constantly. As human beings we forget really quickly, we need to constantly be reminded.

Cultivating closeness with God is a process, but it can start right now. What are you going to do today to begin this process? Are you going to be intentional about the people in your circle of intimacy? Are you going to examine your busyness? Will you write God's Word upon your heart today and carry it with you? I pray that you will and that the God of Creation would draw you closer to Himself and far away from sin.

Pray with Action

"Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes;

and I will keep it to the end.

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law

and observe it with my whole heart.

Lead me in the path of your commandments,

for I delight in it.

Incline my heart to your testimonies,

and not to selfish gain!

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;

and give me life in your ways.

Confirm to your servant your promise,

that you may be feared.

Turn away the reproach that I dread,

for your rules are good.

Behold, I long for your precepts;

in your righteousness give me life!"

- Psalm 119:33-40

As I was reading this passage this morning the words that are in bold type are the ones that stuck out to me. When you look at this prayer you see action words. It implies that we need God. We need Him to teach us, give us, lead us, direct us, encourage us, and protect us. How often do we ask for the Lord to do these things in our lives? This Psalm and prayer is a reminder of what our prayers should resemble. A humble spirit who seeks the Lord. So today pray with action words, pray with boldness and confidence, ask God specifically to teach, give, lead, incline, turn, and confirm. Allow God to work in and through you, let God be God today!

We Must Not Bypass the Cross

"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." - Matthew 16:21

"As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." And they were greatly distressed." - Matthew 17:22-23

"And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day." - Matthew 20:17-19

"You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." - Matthew 26:2

When Jesus was being tempted by the Devil in the wilderness he was provided an easy way out. Satan was offering him the world without the cross. Instead, the Lord Jesus resisted the Devil in perfect obedience and choose the way of the Cross. He knew the pain and agony he must face to provide eternal glory for all of his children. We see four times in Matthew were He mentioned His death. He could have taken the easy way out but chose to endure, persevere, and set an example for his children to follow. We must realize that there is a cross involved in our obedience to the will of God. As Dennis Kinlaw said in his devotional, "Before every step of obedience, we will find resistance that must be overcome, temptation that must be fought." We must not bypass the Cross.

Most of us will never have to endure what Christ did, but in our daily obedience to Christ we will face opposition and temptation. How many times have you been invited to church, a retreat, mission trip, or any God centered event that you knew was going to draw you closer to God but the voice in your head told you that you need rest and need to stay home. Or maybe something less important came up at the last minute and you chose to do that. We must understand that the enemy's number one goal for Christians is to make them ineffective and unproductive (2 Peter 1:8). He wants to keep us from the blessings that come from encouragement and growth in Christ. We must not bypass the cross and take the easy way.

"Iron sharpens Iron, and one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17

I have never liked conflict. I don't like hard conversations. I want everyone to get along and just be happy. God has been teaching me the past couple years that I can't have effective ministry by avoiding hard conversations and taking the easy way out. It also hinders my growth in relationships not only with my brothers and sisters in Christ but with my relationship with God. I am beginning to learn that through hard times, through hard conversations, through conflict we can be made stronger through Christ. Jesus knew this, He knew the power over sin and death that would come by not bypassing the cross. If we choose not to bypass the cross in our lives we can experience victory and freedom. We can strengthen and deepen relationships with one another and most importantly our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." - Luke 9:23

Setting the Bar

"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." - 1 Timothy 4:12

In Paul's letter to Timothy we find this verse that is encouraging Timothy to be an example and to set the "bar" so to speak. Various studies conclude that Timothy was anywhere between his late twenties to mid thirties at the time. I love the charge Paul gives to Timothy for two reasons.

First of all it brings conviction. Think about it. Can you think of a time when someone younger than you set a better example of Godliness in a certain situation? Maybe you lost your temper and someone else didn't. Maybe you had bitterness & unforgiveness in your heart and you saw someone younger forgive and reconcile a relationship. How did you feel? Did the Holy Spirit bring conviction in your heart? It doesn't matter how young you are or how old you are, the point is we need to set an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.

Secondly it challenges us to lead. Many of us are afraid to lead because we are afraid to fail. If you are afraid to fail I have news for you, you already have. That is the whole point of why Christ had to come and die. Through Him all things were made new and there is freedom and forgiveness in Christ. We can now rise every time we fall. We don't have to stay down. Through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit we can get back up after our failures, we are forgiven and free and can move forward with what the Lord has for us.

Timothy needed to lead, I need to lead, you need to lead, we all need to lead. We need to set the bar in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. We must not be afraid to fail. We all have people that look up to us in our lives. I truly believe there are many Christians with this intense amount of love, passion, and purpose inside of them and Satan has them bound by fear. The moment you realize that Christ wants you to be alive to shine and you start setting the bar and leading in these areas that bound up passion and desire for Christ will come flowing out. Matthew 6:14-16 sums it up:

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

Banana Pudding

"Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor." - Romans 12:10

I was blessed to spend this week in southeast Oklahoma with 30 high school students ministering to a Native American community. We spent our days cleaning, putting up drywall, building a fire pit, and fixing a water line. In the evenings we put on a VBS for a local Native American church. One evening at VBS Don had the youth from Ohio meet one of the locals and find out something about them. One student met a man named Charles and found out that Charles's favorite desert was banana pudding. The young man continued to build a relationship with Charles throughout the night. Snack time eventually came and as the young man came to the desert line he saw banana pudding. There was only a spoonful left. As he put the last of the banana pudding in his bowl he then proceeded to find Charles. He asked him if he had a chance to have any of the pudding. Charles's said that he hadn't been through the line yet so he gave him the last of the banana pudding. It was neat to see Charles's reaction when he saw that the young man remembered he liked banana pudding and gave him the last of it.

How do you care for people? Are you listening to them? Are you encouraging them? One thing that God taught me this week is that God doesn't forget about anyone. He cares for everyone everywhere no matter how desolate the place. He also cares that we care. Would I have ate the banana pudding or would I have thought to give it to Charles? I guarantee that Charles's will remember the kindness and thoughtfulness of that young man sharing the banana pudding with him. My prayer for myself and for you today is that we would be children of God who outdo one another in love for each other. That we would encourage one another and care for people.