Tuesday in Calicut, India

Well, tonight we wrapped up our "mission trip" though the mission is never over until Jesus returns.  Tomorrow morning we meet for a debriefing and then we make the long journey to Cochin to the airport where we will sit all night until about 4 a.m. when we will board our Qatar Airways Flight to Doha.  Then we will travel from Doha to JFK and from JFK to Reagan National in Washington DC where our trip was delayed, we had to buy a hotel room, and 6 new plane tickets to get to India.  Finally, we will fly into Jackson, MS at about 10:30 p.m. Thursday night.  

There were many struggles and hindrances along the way to get to India.  We left Florence, MS on Monday morning at 6:00 headed to India, and we made it to India.  We finally arrived at 4 a.m. on Thursday morning.  We have worked hard at discovering and building relationships.  We have been able to share the Gospel in depth with several Muslims.  We were able to sit down tonight with the Muslim Imam and answer his questions and misconceptions about Christianity.  We were able to present the Gospel to him from several different angles.  As we were presenting the Gospel to him, about 20 Muslim young men had us completed surrounded listening intently and very silently to every word.  They were hungry!  

After the Imam walked away from our hour long debate, we were able to give out six Bibles in Malayalam to the young men who have walked with us all week.  We gave away 2 MP3 players with the New Testament on them.  We also distributed to each one a couple of tracts written to enlighten Muslims about the Truth of Christianity.  J. Shorter and S. Roberson went to another nursing school tonight to share.  They also were able to give a lady they befriended at a local dress shop one of the MP3 players.  

The Word of God has been proclaimed.  The Word of God has been distributed.  The seeds have been planted.  Pray that God will bring someone along to water them.  Pray that the seeds will take root, sprout, and grow to bear much fruit.  We prayed that God would bring out the man of peace.  We believe that it is highly likely that the man of peace is among those guys that we spent the majority of the week with....guys that we did not know Thursday, but guys that we got to know since Thursday.  Pray that God would speak very clearly to their hearts, that they will find the truth, that they will meet Christ, and that they will be the ones who reach the Mapilla people for Christ.  

God is Sovereign.  His Word will not return void.  It has been a challenging, difficult, and sometimes uncomfortable journey, but it is our prayer that it will prove to be the beginning of a harvest among the unreached, unengaged Mapilla people of Calicut, India.  

   

To the left you see the weapons of our warfare tonight:  6 Malayalam Bibles, 2 New Testaments on MP3 players, and about 50 tracts that discuss the validity of the Gospels and the fact that the Word did become flesh and His Name was Jesus.  

To the right you see us with the Muslim Imam

we got to share with for over an hour.  Pray that God will stir in his heart a desire to know the truth about God.   

Monday in Calicut India

Well it is past midnight in Calicut, India...so I guess it is really Tuesday in Calicut, but I haven't been to bed yet so in my mind it is still Monday.

Today we went over an hour away to meet a Muslim who converted to Christianity years ago.  He has a literature distribution ministry and he gave me about 50 tracts that we could look at and hand out to Muslims in Calicut.  I really liked him.  His name was K.K.  We hope to be able to order some of his tracts and literature before returning to India.  

A camel on the Arabian Sea's Coast

This evening me, K. Vance, J. Shorter, and S. Roberson went to a nursing school where J. shared her testimony and K. spoke.  There were about 60 something girls who attended and they both did an excellent job of speaking.  

K. Wade ran into his cricket friends on the beach and, after spending the week building a friendship with them, was able to declare the Gospel to them.  He also asked them some questions about Islam which they did not have answers to.  They decided to call their Muslim Imam and ask him, but K. Wade couldn't understand his english over the phone so he said he would come to meet him on the beach tomorrow night.  I would be surprised if he showed up, but pray that if he does, God's will be done.  These guys are in the photo below so that you can put a face to them as you pray.

Tomorrow morning we are going to the market place to give away a Bible and an MP3 player New Testament to some ladies J. and S. met.  The middle of the day is up for grabs and tomorrow night is our last night out on walkway in front of the beach witnessing.  This will be the time for us to leave Bibles, tracts, and MP3 New Testaments with our new friends.  Pray that God will do a work in their lives and that they will respond rightly.  

Thank you for your prayers.  We have all remained healthy which is hard to believe when you consider what and where we have been eating.  Check out this fish.  

Yes...that is the whole thing.  We didn't eat him.  Our Indian brothers did though.  Tasty huh.  Anyway, we have remained healthy and we have planted many seeds.  Pray that they will take root, grow, and bring forth great fruit in the months and years to come.  

Sunday in Calicut

It is Sunday at 2:15 p.m. in Calicut, India.  I just returned from a church service at a local church. 

In a couple of hours we will be hitting the streets again in Calicut to share the Gospel with more of the Mapilla people.  Things have really picked up overall.  This morning K. Vance and K. Wade went and played cricket with some Muslim guys that we met last night.  They said that they had a really great time.  

This picture is of Fahat.  He seemed to really connect with us and I think things got even better after he spent the morning with K. Wade and K. Vance.  These guys actually said, after the cricket game, "you are the nice people."  He got my email address last night and I am sure he got contact information for the other guys as well.  Pray that God would begin to speak very clearly to Fahat and the other Muslim men we are meeting.

  

We also were blessed to be able to share the Gospel from 3 or 4 different angles with some middle aged Muslims last night.  We knew they believed in creation and the fall of Adam, so we talked about the blood that was shed in the garden in order to provide a covering for the nakedness of Adam and Eve and tied that into how he shed his blood to provide a sin covering for us. We also talked about how God provided a lamb for Abraham to sacrifice in place of Isaac and tied that into how our sin causes us to be under the knife like Isaac, but God provided a lamb...Jesus Christ.  We were able to share with them the Gospel and that is what we were called here to do.  God will use the Gospel to do what He wants to do.

    

Muslims do not generally convert to Christ on the spot.  They have to hear, consider, think and then hear some more.  Usually it takes more than 6 months.  Pray that God would work in the lives of these people and that they would be impacted by the power of Christ.  Pray that they would continue to correspond and ask questions over the next months.  Pray that God would call more individuals from our church and from other churches to come into this city to share the Word of God with the Mapilla people of Calicut.  

Thank everyone for their prayers.  They are really being felt by us.  Pray that they will be felt by the Muslims here.  

Saturday in Calicut

This is Joy.  He looks tougher than he is.  He is taking care of us here, to make sure we don't get mugged or ripped off or food poisoning....nah...he isn't really concerned about the food poisoning part.

Anyway, there is some good news and some bad news today. 

The good news is that finally last night in a very mysterious and sudden way, as we walked onto the beach, we were swarmed by the natives.  That was extremely strange since the day before and even early yesterday evening we were all being looked at like we had leprosy.  

Me and K. Vance went out on the beach at about 5 o'clock or so yesterday evening and had only one young boy speak to us.  We were stared at with glaring eyes or just simply ignored by those we passed.  We went back to the room about 6:30 scratching our heads and wandering, "How are we going to start up a conversation with these people?"  We gathered everyone up, went to eat supper, and walked out of the hole in the wall restaurant we ate at and crossed the road.  As we stepped out of the road and onto the walkway above the beach we were surrounded.  

Me and K. Wade talked with a man from Saudi Arabia who just walked right up and engaged us.  We also talked with some young Muslim men for a long time who we will hopefully see again tonight.  We were caught off guard when they asked, "What do you do?"  Ugggghhhh....we are teachers!  That is what we do....we are teachers.   We just did not tell them that we teach the Bible.  T. Malley and K. Vance had a very long discussion with some more Muslim guys that they are supposed to meet again tonight at 8:30 or 10 a.m. Saturday morning CST.  J. Shorter and S. Roberson are having many ladies, mostly Hindu, approach them with big smiles.  Things definitely turned around abruptly.  Thank you to everyone who is praying.

We also found out that there are some Mapilla believers.  Here comes the bad news. We haven't found any in Calicut.  What we learned this morning is that if a Mapilla converts to Christianity they soon move out of Calicut.  The hostility to the Gospel that is here among the Mapilla was not expected, but we believe that God has a plan and a people among the Mapilla.  We really need to find that person of peace that God will raise up to reach their families, their friends, and their neighbors in the face of persecution.  Pray that God will bring them out and that we will be able to discern their presence when they show up.  

Anyway, things are definitely going better now.  We are going out to the beachfront again in about an hour.  We will have supper and try to spark up more conversations.  It is our hope that we will be able to share the Gospel in its entirety or at the very least be able to start up an email conversation after we are gone.  Muslims do not have a habit of converting on the spot.  They generally have to read, and think, and count the cost for at least several months before they respond.  The likelihood of us coming back with 10 converts is slim.  Our goal is to build some long term relationships that will lead to conversion and church planting among the Mapilla.  Pray that God would work. 

Tomorrow morning we are going to preach and share our testimonies in local churches (made up of converts from Hinduism).  Tomorrow evening will be back on the beach.  Until next time...

Friday in Calicut

Today (Friday) has been long and hot thus far.  It is now 5 pm and we just returned from a local church in Calicut.  We were there doing what the IMB calls T4T training.  It is training local believers to share their testimony with their friends and families as a bridge to the Gospel.  It is something that is reproducible and it feeds a rapidly growing house church planting and multiplying strategy.  In the picture, you can see me teaching my portion of the T4T training.

In a few moments we are going out for an hour or so in hopes of encountering a Mapilla to meet and converse with.  Why aren't the local churches reaching out to the Mapilla?  Why are the Mapilla unengaged if there are churches in this city?  Those are all questions that I asked myself until I met a couple of the local pastors.  The reason the Mapilla people are not being reached by the local churches is fear.  The Mapilla people are afraid of being confronted by believers.  If a Mapilla Muslim converts to Christianity they are immediately disowned by their families and friends.  Their lives are also in jeopardy if they leave the Muslim faith.  Another reason is the pastors and churches are afraid.  If they begin reaching into the Mapilla people group the Muslim leaders and the devout Muslim believers will retaliate.  They will threaten and possibly even inflict physical harm on the pastors, their families, and the church as a whole.  To reach out to the Mapilla people could prove to be dangerous.  There is no doubt if God does a work among the Mapilla people so that they begin converting and planting house churches in Calicut then persecution is inevitable.  This will put the Christians in between a gigantic rock and a hard place.  They will face persecution from the Hindus and the RSS and they will face persecution from the Muslims as well.  So....no one is going to the Mapilla.

 

Well, we are here and we are trying to figure out some way to connect with these people.  It is very difficult when we are the only white people in the city and that is not an exaggeration.  We have not seen one single solitary white person in this city.  The people here act as though they haven't seen a white person before in this city either.  We are stared at without ceasing.  To be honest, we do not feel welcome at all.  We are all as out of place as we have ever been.  It is our prayer that God will choose to connect us somehow, someway with the Mapilla person of peace...a person who will hear and receive the Gospel message with an open heart...a person who will eventually believe the Gospel and follow Christ forsaking all others...a person who will then be willing to go back to his or her friends and family to spread the Gospel and begin a house church movement among the Mapilla people.  

Please continue to pray for us without ceasing.  We need God's protection from the dangers here.  We need God to open doors into the Mapilla people group.  We need that man or woman of peace to rise up so that we can begin building relationships with him or her.  We need to be bold and to be given the words that we should say as well as the wisdom to know when to shut up.  Please pray for us.  The situation is much more "tricky" than we could have ever imagined.  Pray for the team not to get discouraged.  Please continue to forward this blog to everyone that you will.  We really need all of the prayers that we can get.  

I am about to head out and try to find a Mapilla to talk with.  Supper will be at 7 and then we will come back to the hotel to pray, share, and rest.  Until next time...

We are here right on time

Well, we definitely are not home anymore.  We have FINALLY arrived in Calicut India after almost 30 hours in Washington DC.  What an intense few days they have been.  We arrived in DC Monday at about 11 a.m.  We were supposed to fly to JFK in New York City at 1 p.m.  Our flight was delayed until 2....then 2:30.  Finally, at about 3 p.m. on Monday we boarded our plane, taxied out on the runway, sat there 2 and a half hours and then returned to the gate due to bad weather at JFK.  We were rescheduled to leave at 6:30 p.m or so,  but then that flight was canceled.  We were rescheduled to leave at 8:45 p.m.  There would still be time to catch our 11:35 flight to Qatar if we could leave this time.  We boarded the plane, taxied out on the runway, sat there until 10 p.m. and then returned to the gate AGAIN.

Well, we took a cab into Maryland to stay in a hotel for the night.  Our driver's name was Fahat from DiJibuti in Africa.  We were able to give him a Gospel tract and a New Testament.  We awoke Tuesday morning only to find out that in order to reschedule with Qatar Airways, we would have to buy new tickets!  Ouch.  We met, we prayed, we decided that God wanted us to go to India so we were going to get there one way or the other.  We bought the Qatar tickets.  We rescheduled our flight out of DC to JFK with Delta and headed to the airport.  We were able to leave a Gospel tract with the lady at the front desk at our hotel.  

We rode the train to Reagan National, entered the airport, got in line for our tickets and discovered that there were 4 hour delays into JFK.  We had a quick meeting, decided we could drive to JFK in 4 hours, so we decided to rent a car.  We went to rent a car, but there were no cars available.  Ouch.  Let's go to the bus station then.  We walked back by the ticket counter and talked with the lady one more time.  She suggested we try to fly into Laguardia.  I called Delta, got our tickets changed, and we ran like crazy through security and down the corridor to gate number 18 and with only 2 minutes to spare made it to the flight to Laguardia.  I prayed on that plane...God let our luggage make it, let us get it smoothly, and let us get from Laguardia to JFK smoothly.  We were able to leave a tract with the guy sitting next to me on the plane.

We got off of the plane, walked straight to baggage.  The turntable had not even begun turning when we arrived.  No one else was there.  And, to my amazement all six of our bags were sitting there in a line just waiting for us among the silence.  If you have ever flown, you know that is a miracle.  How they made it on the plane in so little time and how they were stacked up by the walkway waiting on us is known only to God.  We went to catch a shuttle to JFK, but the guy who could call it couldn't do so because his radio was broken.  What else could happen to slow us down?  At that moment a man walked in and the bus man pointed him out and informed us that he could carry us to JFK.  He did.  We made it in plenty of time.  We were able to leave him a tract and a New Testament.  

We went into JFK, checked in, wet through security and had a few hours to spare.  We sat down to eat in the food court of terminal four at JFK and out of the blue this guy, from India, sits down with us like he knows us.  He doesn't say anything, but we begin talking with him.  He had very very little knowledge of the Gospel or the Bible.  We were able to share with Him the Gospel, answer many questions, give him a New Testament and a tract.  We were able to spend over half an hour talking with Ritish.  Well we made our flight to Qatar and caught our flight to Cochin.  We drove four hours to Calicut, arrived a day late, and are about to head down to the lobby to have orientation.  It has been a long journey.  Why were we delayed?  

Who said we were delayed?  We were right on time.  We were right on time for Fahat, our taxi driver.  We were on time for the lady at the hotel.  We were on time for the guy on the plane to Laguardia.  We were on time for our driver from Laguardia to JFK and we were definitely on time for Ritish at JFK.  We were on time for others along the way who received tracts, Bibles, and seeds of the Gospel.  

Now we are in Calicut, India.  We are trying to engage the unengaged Mapilla people, a group of 10 million Muslims.  We need your prayers.  We need God to raise up a man of peace from this people group.  We need to be able to sense God's Spirit and discern His will.  Please pray for us and continue to spread the prayer needs broadly.  I will update as often and as soon as possible.  

Thank you for your prayers.

Finally!

We are finally in New York City.  

I am sorry that it has been some time since I last updated my blog, but we have experienced technical difficulties like we never imagined for the past 32 hours.  We were delayed, canceled, changed planes, delayed again, and left in Washington DC all night last night.  We missed our flight out of JFK to Qatar because of the delays yesterday and had to buy new tickets this morning.  We got another flight out of DC only to find out that it was delayed too.  We tried to rent a car to drive to New York....no cars available.  We finally changed our flight to fly into Laguardia in New York.  We finally arrived at New York City by way of Laguardia airport.  We then got a taxi and drove to JFK.  

Finally, here we are!!!  We are waiting on our second flight from JFK to Doha Qatar to leave at 11:35 EST.  We then fly from Qatar to India. We are supposed to arrive in India at about 5 p.m. Wednesday Mississippi time. 

Pray that things go smoother from here on out.  We are whipped and we haven't even made it out of the states yet.  It has been a challenge.  I will update you further whenever we finally get to where we are going.  God must really have a plan and Satan must really be threatened.  Pray for us and we will stay in touch.

1 Day and Counting

One day and counting until we leave for India!

I am getting ready to walk out of my office and into the worship center to attempt to preach God's Word one more time before leaving to preach His Word along the journey. I have been encouraged this weekend to hear from so many people who are forwarding my blogs around to hear from so many who are praying for us and organizing prayer for us. Thank you for your willingness to pray, and as William Carey would say, hold the ropes for us as we go. Our trip will literally be powerless unless the power of God falls, so please continue to pray.

Today will be spent trying to enjoy some more family time and getting packed up to head out. My next blog post will likely come from an airport lobby. Please, if you do not automatically receive my blog updates, check in at kevinivy.com periodically each day for updates. I will try to keep you guys posted all along the way, as much as I can. We will be on airplanes all day tomorrow, tomorrow night, and Tuesday. We should arrive at Kochi at about 4 p.m. Tuesday evening CST (4 a.m. Wednesday in India). We will then drive four hours to Calicut and go straight to work, so be patient if you do not hear from us real regularly for a few days.

Anyway, please continue to pass the word along and continue to pray, pray, pray. Pray for us as we journey. Pray for the Mapilla people. Pray for God to be glorified. Until next time…pray.

2 Days and Counting

Two days and counting until we leave for Calicut, India bright and early Monday morning.

I am trying to post a blog every morning along the way to keep everyone interested and willing to pray updated as we lead up to our departure. I plan to continue updating (hopefully daily) once we arrive their late Tuesday night CST as well as follow up after we return on April 30.

I want to continue to encourage you to forward this blog to as many people as you will and ask them to do the same so that we can have as many people praying as we possibly can. We really, really need your prayers. As we go to these Mapilla people (a group of 10 million Muslims on the Southwest coast of India in the Kerala state) we desperately need you to pray that God would open their eyes to their need of His Gospel.

Over and over again, I am reading accounts of Muslim people groups have visions and dreams. These visions are very consistent. Usually they consist of a man in white, with a white beard, and white hair approaching them and informing them that a foreigner will be coming to them soon to give them His Word, the way of salvation, and or knowledge of God. If you read Revelation, Jesus is described as having a white beard and white hair. This opens the door for missionaries to show Muslims this description of Jesus (Isa) in the New Testament.

These visions and dreams seem to be getting more and more prevalent. There is a video that the International Mission Board put out recently about an unreached people group who had been told or impressed that a foreigner would be bringing them some precious news soon. Though the video does not explicitly say this information came about through a dream, it gets the point across that we desperately need the Mapilla people to be bathed in prayer now, after we arrive there, and long after we are gone. We need them to know that something precious is coming their way…the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you are interested in watching that IMB video, you can paste the following link into your web browser and watch away.

http://www.imb.org/main/downloads/flashvideos.asp?filename=/files/67/6716/6716-37913.flv

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is hard to be focused on preaching when you know you are leaving on Monday to go into uncharted territory. Today I am trying to get some grass cut, wrap up some last minute things, and spend some time with my parents, my wife, and my three boys. Later this evening our good friends, my mentor, and missionaries to the Dominican Republic, Gene and Julie Pickern, will be coming in to spend the evening and the night with us. They are home for Easter and for some doctors appointments. They are going to spend the night with us and attend church at Cleary in the morning. It will be good to see them again.

Pray for us and keep passing the word along. We are at 2 days and counting! Until tomorrow…

2 Days and Counting

Two days and counting until we leave for Calicut, India bright and early Monday morning.

I am trying to post a blog every morning along the way to keep everyone interested and willing to pray updated as we lead up to our departure. I plan to continue updating (hopefully daily) once we arrive their late Tuesday night CST as well as follow up after we return on April 30.

I want to continue to encourage you to forward this blog to as many people as you will and ask them to do the same so that we can have as many people praying as we possibly can. We really, really need your prayers. As we go to these Mapilla people (a group of 10 million Muslims on the Southwest coast of India in the Kerala state) we desperately need you to pray that God would open their eyes to their need of His Gospel.

Over and over again, I am reading accounts of Muslim people groups have visions and dreams. These visions are very consistent. Usually they consist of a man in white, with a white beard, and white hair approaching them and informing them that a foreigner will be coming to them soon to give them His Word, the way of salvation, and or knowledge of God. If you read Revelation, Jesus is described as having a white beard and white hair. This opens the door for missionaries to show Muslims this description of Jesus (Isa) in the New Testament.

These visions and dreams seem to be getting more and more prevalent. There is a video that the International Mission Board put out recently about an unreached people group who had been told or impressed that a foreigner would be bringing them some precious news soon. Though the video does not explicitly say this information came about through a dream, it gets the point across that we desperately need the Mapilla people to be bathed in prayer now, after we arrive there, and long after we are gone. We need them to know that something precious is coming their way…the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you are interested in watching that IMB video, you can paste the following link into your web browser and watch away.

http://www.imb.org/main/downloads/flashvideos.asp?filename=/files/67/6716/6716-37913.flv

Tomorrow is Sunday and it is hard to be focused on preaching when you know you are leaving on Monday to go into uncharted territory. Today I am trying to get some grass cut, wrap up some last minute things, and spend some time with my parents, my wife, and my three boys. Later this evening our good friends, my mentor, and missionaries to the Dominican Republic, Gene and Julie Pickern, will be coming in to spend the evening and the night with us. They are home for Easter and for some doctors appointments. They are going to spend the night with us and attend church at Cleary in the morning. It will be good to see them again.

Pray for us and keep passing the word along. We are at 2 days and counting! Until tomorrow…

3 Days and Counting

Three days and counting until we leave for Calicut India.

If you feel led, I encourage you to forward this blog to EVERYONE in your email inbox and then ask them to forward it to everyone in their inbox and so on until everyone who will pray is praying. Also, if you would like to keep up and pray with us along this journey over the next 2 weeks, subscribe to this blog and encourage your contacts to do the same.

Six of us leave Jackson Monday morning to begin a long journey to Calicut, India. We are going to an unreached people group called the Mapilla. They are a group of over 10 million Muslims who have no missionary, no church, and no Gospel witness. If anything is to be accomplished there, there must be prayer, prayer, prayer. That is why I am asking you to pray.

Today I am trying to spend the day with my wife and 3 boys before being separated from them for 10 days. Hopefully, we can spend the day having fun. Please pray for Luke. He has an extremely sore throat. He has got a contagious throat infection. Pray that his throat is healed and that his mom and brothers won't catch it. Also pray that I wont catch it in India. Satan must be threatened because he is really working hard to hinder the upcoming work. It makes it difficult to think about leaving for 10 days when things are not ideal. That is Satan's way of distracting from the mission.

Again, I want to encourage you to pray for several things.

1. Pray that the Mapilla people will begin to have their eyes opened and their hearts softened so that they will be open and responsive to the Gospel. There are numerous reports of unreached Muslims having dreams and visions of Jesus and of mission teams bringing them the truth. It is my prayer that some of these Muslims have had dreams and visions that prepare them for our arrival with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray that the Mapilla will begin having visions and dreams and that their hearts will be softened and prepared for the Gospel according to God's will.

2. Pray that God will open doors to share the Gospel in its entirety with people whose hearts have been prepared. Pray that we will be able to get the Word of God into the hands of people whose hearts are open to reading it. Pray that we would be able to build relationships with individuals that will turn into long term contacts. Pray that we will find a person of peace that God would use to initiate a biblical church planting movement among the Mapilla people of India. Pray that God would do something miraculous and undeniable among the Mapilla people.

3. Pray for our safety and the safety of our families as we are gone. Pray that we will all walk very closely with God from this point on, and throughout the entire trip. Pray that we will be discerning, wise, and anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit to be used mightily of Him for His glory. Pray that Satan and his demons will be bound and that a hedge of protection will be placed around us and our families during this time.

Would you pray? Would you please forward this blog to other who will pray? Would you sign up to follow this blog so that you can keep up with us along the way? Would you commit to pray and encourage others to as well? Your prayers will be coveted and you will have a part in whatever it is that God chooses to do! Thanks in advance for your eternal investment. Until next time…

Four days and counting...

Four days and counting until we leave for Calicut India.

If you feel led, I encourage you to forward this blog to EVERYONE in your email inbox and then ask them to forward it to everyone in their inbox and so on until everyone who will pray is praying. Also, if you would like to keep up and pray with us along this journey over the next 2 weeks, subscribe to this blog and encourage your contacts to do the same. Six of us leave Jackson Monday morning to begin a long journey to Calicut, India. We are going to an unreached people group called the Mapilla. They are a group of over 10 million Muslims who have no missionary, no church, and no Gospel witness. If anything is to be accomplished there, there must be prayer, prayer, prayer.

Satan must be threatened because he is really working hard to hinder the upcoming work. I have had an extremely stressful week. At home two of my children are sick. Luke has a throat infection and a fever. Jude's eye has swollen shut. It makes it difficult to think about leaving for 10 days when things are not ideal. That is Satan's way of distracting from the mission. One other team member has had a rough two weeks. I talked with 2 other team members today who have had it rough today. That makes at least four of us that are experiencing trials leading up to this mission trip. It should not surprise us however. The Mapilla people have been held hostage to "religion" for years. Satan does not want them to experience the relationship that they can have with God through Christ. Satan is feeling threatened and it is imperative that everyone pray fervently and persistently for us and for this mission.

Again, I want to encourage you to pray for several things.

1. Pray that the Mapilla people will begin to have their eyes opened and their hearts softened so that they will be open and responsive to the Gospel. There are numerous reports of unreached Muslims having dreams and visions of Jesus and of mission teams bringing them the truth. It is my prayer that some of these Muslims have had dreams and visions that prepare them for our arrival with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray that the Mapilla will begin having visions and dreams and that their hearts will be softened and prepared for the Gospel according to God's will.

2. Pray that God will open doors to share the Gospel in its entirety with people whose hearts have been prepared. Pray that we will be able to get the Word of God into the hands of people whose hearts are open to reading it. Pray that we would be able to build relationships with individuals that will turn into long term contacts. Pray that we will find a person of peace that God would use to initiate a biblical church planting movement among the Mapilla people of India. Pray that God would do something miraculous and undeniable among the Mapilla people.

3. Pray for our safety and the safety of our families as we are gone. Pray that we will all walk very closely with God from this point on, and throughout the entire trip. Pray that we will be discerning, wise, and anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit to be used mightily of Him for His glory. Pray that Satan and his demons will be bound and that a hedge of protection will be placed around us and our families during this time. Several people have asked the names of those on the team. Since India is considered a hostile country to the Gospel, we do not believe that it would be wise to list the names of those on the team on the internet. God knows who is going and that will be sufficient.

In short, if anything good is to come out of this first trip to this unreached people, we must MUST have the prayers of godly people behind us. Would you pray? Would you please forward this blog to other who will pray? Would you sign up to follow this blog so that you can keep up with us along the way? Would you commit to pray and encourage others to as well? Your prayers will be coveted and you will have a part in whatever it is that God chooses to do!

Thanks in advance for your eternal investment. Until next time…

The Home Stretch: The Beginning of the Journey to Kozhikode India

This blog entry is one gigantic prayer request. I would ask you to please forward this blog to EVERYONE in your email inbox and then ask them to forward it to everyone in their inbox and so on and so on until it gets into the hands of 10's of 1000's of people who will pray. Also, if you would like to keep up and pray with us along this journey over the next 2 weeks, subscribe to this blog and encourage your contacts to do the same. Here is the deal...

Me and five others leave Jackson Monday morning to begin a long journey to the southern part of India. We are going to an unreached people group called the Mapilla. They are a group of over 10 million muslims who have no missionary, no church, and no Gospel witness. They are lost and without Christ. They are hard to the Gospel. The International Mission Board is having to fly a missionary in to Calicut to meet us. That is how alone and unreached these people are. If anything is to be accomplished there, there must be prayer, prayer, prayer.

I want to encourage you to pray for several things.

1. Pray that the Mapilla people will begin to have their eyes opened and their hearts softened so that they will be open and responsive to the Gospel. There are numerous reports of unreached Muslims having dreams and visions of Jesus and of mission teams bringing them the truth. It is my prayer that some of these Muslims have had dreams and visions that prepare them for our arrival with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray that the Mapilla will begin having visions and dreams and that their hearst will be softened and prepared for the Gospel.

2. Pray for our safety and the safety of our families as we are gone. Pray that we will all walk very closely with God from this point on, and throughout the entire trip. Pray that we will be discerning, wise, and anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit to be used mightily of Him for His glory.

3. Pray for the power of Satan to be bound. I was talking with a church member today who was remembering the week leading up to her mission trip to the Dominican Republic. It was a rough week and it seemed that Satan tried every way he could to crush her spirits. It seems that Satan definitely works hard to disrupt the work of God. He is sticking his ugly head up everywhere I turn lately it seems. He is raking me over the coals as I try to prepare my heart and mind to go.

The mission team met to pray Monday and we prayed that the strongholds that Satan has among this people would begin to fall and that he would begin to open their eyes, soften their hearts, and open their ears so that when we arrive they will be able to hear and receive the Word of God. Little did we know that Satan is not only working among this people group, but he was going to work full force among us here in the U.S.A. This is part of what prompted the blog entry last night. If you didn't read it, go back to the archives and read it. We are too naive to realize when Satan is using us, attacking us, influencing us, and hindering the work of God through us. God, help me...help us NOT be an instrument of Satan to hinder and thwart the work of God. Help us oh God, to guard our hearts and minds against the works and thoughts of the evil one. Help us oh God, to pray, pray, pray. Help us oh God to focus on your mighty works.

Pray that Satan will be bound both here and there.

In short, if anything good is to come out of this first trip to this unreached people, we must MUST have the prayers of godly people behind us. Would you please forward this blog like crazy? Would you please ask those in your inbox to forward it like crazy? Would you sign up to follow us along the way...at least as much as we can have internet access? Would you commit to pray?
I want to ask each of you to pray for us as we leave Jackson, MS Monday morning at 8 a.m. to make our almost 2 day journey to the southern part of India. Pray for our work there. Pray for the people there.

The Highs and Lows of Spiritual Warfare in the Ministry of the Local Church from a pastor's perspective

It is amazing to me as I look back over my 12 years of ministry to see how God works. It is discouraging and depressing for me to look back over my 12 years of ministry to see how Satan works. I cannot explain it, but both God and Satan seem to work along much the same patterns. It seems as though when God starts moving, and lives start changing, and blessings start falling…well they really fall. On the other hand, it seems that when Satan starts working, and dissention stirs up, and problems start forming…well it goes downhill really fast. The most depressing thing about it all is that when I see God moving in mighty ways, I can't hardly enjoy it because I know, it is just a matter of time before Satan begins to disrupt and destroy. And sadly, it seems that with every step forward in victory, there are often two steps back in defeat.

The evil one comes and snatches away much of the seed that is sown in ministry. It is strange, but ministry is the most rewarding and discouraging thing all at the same time. On one hand you see families restored, souls saved, and lives changed. On the other hand, the world, the flesh, and the devil creep in. One moment you are rejoicing with one, the next minute your heart is shattered by a phone call, an email, or an unpleasant encounter.

I know many of you probably think ministry is a cakewalk…you know…you get paid way too much for working only one day a week. Sure, there is the occasional funeral and wedding along the way, but by in large it is golf, buffet bars, and surfing the web until Sunday, right? Well, I can tell you that I don't know of anything more stressful than the ministry. Pleasing God and pleasing man at the same time is impossible, and sadly most pastors opt for pleasing man…you know…job security.

It has been reported that 90% of pastors work more than 46 hours a week. 75% of pastors report a significant stress related crisis at least once in their ministry. 40% report a serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month. Most pastors' sense of adequacy and self-worth suffers greatly because of ministry. 50% of pastors feel unable to meet the demands of the job. 70% of pastors say they have a lower self image now than when they started in the ministry. 50% of pastors go to work each day with the feeling that what they do doesn't count. These are the statistics and the effects of the murderer! Jesus said in John 8:44, "He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." Satan is a murderer and a liar and Satan is at work to steal, kill, and destroy. He is out to destroy our joy, our hope, and our spirit. He is out to hinder everything that we attempt for the kingdom and for the glory of God. Paul wrote in 1 Thess 2:17-18, "We endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us." Satan is out to hinder!

He is out to hinder the church staff. He is out to hinder the church members. And he is out to hinder the church. He will not give up! He will not win. The gates of hell will not prevail against Christ's church. Let us stand fast, immovable, and always be abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain!

I want to plead with you and challenge you to do three things.

1. Be aware that Satan is at work! God has been changing lives and every time God begins changing lives, Satan gets stirred up. It is just a matter of time. Be on the look-out for his schemes and know that he often uses good people. He comes disguised as an angel of light. He comes to deceive. Please do not let him get a foothold in your life or in the church. Guard your eyes! Guard your ears! Guard your tongues! Guard your minds! Do not let your guard down for a moment! Beware.

2. Please pray for the staff and the pastors of the church. The only pastors that I know of who are unaffected by the stress, trials, and troubles of ministry are the ones who are in it for a paycheck rather than for the kingdom. You have no idea the heartache and heartbreak your pastors suffer behind the scenes. When one of us gets a discouraging or critical call it affects us all. We have been called by God to serve together. We pray together, act together, and stand together. One's victory is a victory for us all. One's heartache, is a heartache for us all. We are a close knit team and we desperately desperately need your prayers. Please pray for our protection from the snares of Satan. Please pray for us to be given wisdom, discernment, leadership, guidance, and direction. Please pray for us without ceasing.

3. Be aware that God is at work. There have been so many people born again over the past several months that it is amazing. There have been believers revived and given a hunger and a thirst for righteousness like never before. Lives are being touched in Rankin County, in Columbus Mississippi, in the Dominican Republic, in Vancouver, Canada, in China, and in India because of how God is working in hearts and lives at Cleary. Were you at Cleary this past Sunday? God is working! How easy it is to let Satan re-direct our attention from praising God, to murmuring and complaining about trivial issues that do not positively impact the kingdom of God. How easy it is to go from praising God for parting the Red Sea, to complaining because there is no meat to go with your manna. Keep your eyes on Christ and do all things without complaining or murmuring.

Be on the look-out for Satan's manipulation! Pray, pray, pray! Keep your eyes on the great works of God in our midst! Let us all keep on pressing towards the prize of the upward calling in Christ Jesus. Let us all keep seeking a move of God that is clearly of God. Hang on! Greater things are yet to come.

The Wrath of God: Conclusion

Last time we briefly discussed the wrath of God. Everything we have said about that wrath is an understatement. We cannot express in language the wrath of God. We cannot imagine in our minds the wrath of God. Our minds are too finite to embrace the infinite wrath and judgment of God. But we have done and said what we could. Maybe we have an idea of that wrath.

Imagine 3 hours of the judgment of God being poured out. Imagine 3 hours of heavy darkness; 3 hours of the wrath of God. Imagine the thoughts of those in Jerusalem. The disciples' minds went back to their desertion of Christ in his time of need. Surely the wrath of God was coming for them! Pilate's mind went back to the warning he received from his wife that he should have no part in crucifying this man. Surely the wrath of God was coming for him! Peter's mind went back to the night before when he denied he even knew Christ, who he had just professed as the Christ! He denied him not once, not twice, but three times! Surely the wrath of God was coming for him! Judas' mind goes back to every penny he stole from Jesus' treasury! He remembered every time he criticized Jesus. He remembered foremost, his betrayal. Surely the wrath of God was coming for him! The soldiers minds went immediately to their mocking of this "King of the Jews." They thought about the beating they had given him, how they spit in his face, stripped him of his clothing, gambled for his robe, and crucified him; an innocent man. Surely the wrath of God was coming for him! If I were standing in Jerusalem that day I would be certain that the wrath of God, the judgment of God, was coming for me as well. I deserve his wrath, his judgment, and his indignation.

But here is the twist. Everyone is scattering, trembling, and waiting for the judgment of God that they do not experience. No, it has not come for them. It has come for Jesus. This is the fury of God being poured out against His Son. God unleashed the full extent of His fury on Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah wrote in Isa 53:10 "Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him." The Roman soldiers did not crush him. The nails did not crush him. The whip did not crush him. It was God the Father who crushed him. It was God the Father who poured out his wrath and judgment upon the perfectly holy, sinless, righteous Son of Man. He gives His Son the hell that should have been given to us. Isa 53:6 reminds us that "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Because of that, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus Romans 8:1. Condemnation has already been delivered! And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Heb 9:27-28 The sins of the saved were carried by the Savior. When he returns, he will not deal with their sin! He will save those of us who are eagerly waiting for him.
Calvary is not just negative though…there is a positive as well. And the veil of the temple was torn in two. The veil that separated the holy place from the outside world was torn in two. The place where the manifest presence of God resided, where only the high priest could go on behalf of the people, had been opened up for us all. When God showed up in judgment, He also showed up in salvation, didn’t He? All the fury goes on Christ, the way is open for us to approach, pursue, and know God. Heb 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

And the reason that we can do that today, is because He lives! He conquered death, hell, and the grave. He arose! He arose! Halelujah, Christ arose!

The Wrath of God

To understand Calvary, to understand the crucifixion, we must understand the wrath of God! If you missed the last entry, go back in the archives and read to get the whole story.

Let me share with you a few things about that wrath, all of which are understatements.

First, God's Wrath is Frightful. God's wrath is frightful to say the least. We have not seen or experienced the extent of the frightfulness of His wrath, however God, in his mercy, has given us a glimpse of his wrath. We see the wrath of God in the course of this world. In schools, children and teens are taught that we are evolving. Any fool can see that we are doing no such thing. We are devolving and we are devolving because of our sin and the judgment of God. Romans 8:19-23 states, For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. We see a glimpse of his wrath in the course of this world. We see the wrath of God in the carelessness of the world. Just look at how careless we are about the wrath of God. There was a debate between an atheist and a Christian professor years ago. During the debate, the atheist boldly stood and challenged God, if he existed, to strike him dead within the next five minutes. Five minutes of silence came and passed as the atheist stood on stage untouched. He looked at his opponent, a Christian professor, and said, "What do you have to say about that and your God?" the professor responded, "Did you think that you could exhaust the mercy of God in 5 min?" That sounds good, but it is wrong! That is not the mercy of God. That is the wrath of God. You see, if God struck that atheist dead, every person in that room would have witnessed it and many would have come to believe and be saved! Instead he let him continue his journey to hell, and many of those in that room with him. God hiding himself is judgment! That is wrath! We see the wrath of God in the condition of the world. Consider how dreadful the wrath of God is in this world, only in little tastes. Hurrican Katrina was just a taste of His wrath! The Tsunamai was just a taste of His wrath! The Earthquake in Peru was just a taste of His wrath! The Fires of California were just a taste of His wrath. The Floods, and the famines, and the sicknesses and pains of this world are just tastes of His wrath. Can you imagine how dreadful the full wrath of God must be? Add all of these tastes of his wrath together and they would not stand for a second! God's wrath is here, but it is restrained to a large degree. As frightful as his wrath is in its restrained form, how frightful must his full wrath be! John Owen wrote, When a few drops or little sprinkling of wrath is so distressing and overbearing to the soul, how must it be when God opens the flood-gates, and lets the mighty deluge of his wrath come pouring down upon men's guilty heads, and brings in all his waves and billows upon their souls! God showed up in frightful wrath to Jerusalem this day, and that is an understatement.

God's wrath is not only frightful, but God's Wrath is Full! His wrath shall be poured out upon every part of a sinner. It will be unleashed and felt by every ounce of the being. God's Wrath is full. Jonathan Edwards said, It will be poured out upon the body: The body, which was so tender that it could not bear heat or cold, shall be tormented in the winepress of God's wrath. Those eyes which before could behold beautiful objects, shall be tormented with the sight of devils. The ears, which before were delighted with music, shall be tormented with the hideous shrieks of the damned. The wrath of God shall seize upon the soul, the mind, the will, and emotions of a reprobate. The memory will be tormented to remember what means of grace have been abused. The conscience will be tormented with self-accusations. There is not one part of our being that will be free from the wrath of God! This wrath is total because he totally removes Himself from you. Psalm 16:11 says, "in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." If his presence is fullness of joy, then is his absence fullness of sorrow? If at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore, then apart from his hand there can be nothing but misery forevermore. God brought the fullness of his wrath to Jerusalem that day, and that is an understatement.

God's wrath is not only frightful and full, but God's wrath is Forceful as well. There is no escaping it. Rev 14:19-20 states, "So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia." Ps 2:1-5 states, "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath." There is no escaping the wrath of God. We may oppose God's ways, but not his wrath. After all, what are you going to do? Avoid aging? Avoid sickness? Will you avoid death? No you will die! You will stand before God. And you will face his wrath if you die without Christ. Rev 20:11-13 states, "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them." There was no stopping his wrath in Jerusalem that day.

Finally, we see that the wrath of God is Final. The wrath of God is eternal. It never ever ends. In all the pains of this life we can hope for relief. The sufferings of this life will not continue forever. Either what is tormenting us will cease to exist, or we will cease living. We all know of those who have been so sick and in such suffering that they have longed to die. There will be no such relief under the full wrath of God. His wrath is the final state…no relief. Rev 14:9-11 states, "And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." There is not a minute's rest.

This is what showed up in the darkness at Calvary that day. This is what really made the crucifixion stand out! The wrath of God descended on Jerusalem! The judgment of God showed up. But why? And for who? We will see that next time.

Luke 23:44-45

This week, we are going to step aside from the parables in Luke's Gospel, and look at the death of Christ to help prepare our minds and hearts for Easter.

We need to be reminded that the crucifixion is not what made Calvary, Calvary. Though many pastors will dramatize and focus on the physical suffering of Christ (which was great and terrible) that was not what made Calvary, Calvary. After all, there had been others who were whipped, others who carried their crosses, and others who had been nailed violently to the tree. While the physical pain that Jesus suffered was tremendous, it was not as severe as many others. The thieves had their legs broken to speed up their death. Not one of Christ's bones were broken. Think about it, people would sometimes hang on the cross, suffering helplessly for days! Jesus hung there for six hours. Jesus had power over his own life and his own death, so he was able to give up his spirit when he got good and ready to….and isn't it strange that he did so as soon as the darkness past?

You see the crucifixion is not what made Calvary, Calvary…the darkness is. It was the darkness that set the crucifixion of Christ apart from the other crucifixions. And why? Because God arrived at Calvary in the darkness. He showed up to unleash judgment; to unleash his wrath. The darkness is the presence of the wrath of God. Calvary is more about the wrath of God, and the judgment of God (the darkness) than it is about anything else.

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land . There was darkness over the whole land. We’re not talking about a few clouds rolling across in front of the sun. We’re talking about pitch black darkness: darkness that can be felt, and darkness at the 6th hour. This is mid-day, high noon, the sun at its apex in the middle of the sky, blazing brightness, instantaneously it became pitch blackness.

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Luke tells us that the sun's light failed: literally, its light went out. Some have suggested that this was a natural eclipse. That is not possible since Passover is set by the full moon and you can’t have an eclipse with a full moon. This was a supernatural darkness and they knew that supernatural darkness was associated with divine judgment. It’s been dark for three hours, pitch black. Nobody could see their hand in front of their face. Divine wrath is being poured out! Eternal wrath is being released and the darkness is everywhere. You could say it another way. God brought hell to Jerusalem that day. That is what good Friday is all about: the hell of Calvary, the wrath of God.

Do we understand the wrath of God that arrived that day in this darkness. No we do not, nay we CANNOT. We cannot comprehend the wrath of God, the judgment of God, and the weight of that three hour darkness in Jerusalem, but next time we will attempt to. Until then….

Jesus, has just shook up the man who interrupted him back in verse 13 and has just destroyed the notion that the American dream is consistent with His Word and His will. (See last 2 posts)He knows, how susceptible we are to greed, covetousness, wealth, and material gain, so he concludes his discourse with a warning in verse 21. So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Who is the rich fool? He is everyone who stores up treasure for himself AND is not rich towards God.

Are we laying up treasure for ourselves? Let us all be honest, myself first. For the most part, we are consumers being consumed by our consumption. We have so many possessions, that we are possessed by our possessions. Garages are for storing now days, not for parking. There are storage buildings by the 1000's on Highway 49. What is in there? Stuff! And people are paying monthly for storage buildings that house what they are likely still paying for and that they obviously don't need because they can't even get to it to use it. Eccl 5:10-12 warns, "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep."

It is not about storing up treasure…that is not the major issue. The major issue is being rich towards God. I want to throw a warning at you. Many of you who read this blog will be working through a "Freed up Financial Living Course" on Wednesday nights if you go to Cleary. Others follow financial guru's like Dave Ramsey or Crown Financial ministries. How desperately we need to get out of debt, and stay out of debt. But, beware lest you get out of debt and stay out of debt to become a rich fool who stores up more and more riches on this earth and fails to invest more and more in the Kingdom. You see, this is why we offer financial direction, and this is why we should seek it: not so that we can live more comfortably and enjoy the American dream, but so that we may invest more in the Kingdom of God and if you are not doing that, you are missing the whole point. You are just becoming a rich fool.

Let us be rich towards God…lay up treasure in heaven, where it really matters. What should rise in our lives is not our standard of living, but our standard of giving. John Wesley said, Gain all you can…Save all you can…give all you can. He was one of the wealthiest men in England, yet though he made as much as 1400 pounds a year, he lived on 28-30 pounds a year, the same amount he lived on as a teacher. Wesley was giving away 98% of his income and living on only 2%! When he died he left 6 pound notes, 6 silver spoons, a handful of books, a Geneva gown that he preached in all over England and uh one more thing….the Methodist church! He could have died as rich as a TV preacher…but he built orphanages, printed Bibles, sent missionaries, compiled the Methodist hymn book and he died worth about 30 dollars on earth, but what treasure he had stored up in heaven!

Matt 6:19-21 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

1 Tim 6:6-8 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content

Next time we are going to step away from the parables in Luke to take a look a the crucifixion. Until then...

Is the rich fool a veiled portrait of the American "Christian"? Part 2

ATTENTION: Please pray! Many of you know that April 20, six of us will be leaving for India to begin a work with the unreached and unengaged Mapilla people. They are a people group of 10 million who have no church, no missionary, and no Christian witness. We sent off for our Visas on Monday, which are absolutely necessary for us to have to get into India. Please pray pray pray that our Visas are granted. Also, please pray that God would begin preparing and awakening the Mapilla people so that they will be ready for the Gospel when we arrive. Please pray!

Now, for the rich fool…

Last time, we introduced the situation surrounding the parable of the rich fool. Search the archives and catch up if you haven't read it. It is critical to understanding this parable, that today, we are diving into. The parable is found in verses 16-20 of Luke 12.

And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' 18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'

The land of a rich man produced plentifully. This man was already rich at the beginning of the story. It's not like all of a sudden, his ship came in. It's been in and getting bigger! And he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' He had just reaped a bumper harvest. He had had crops before, but not like this. He didn't have enough room to store it all! What to do? And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. He could just sell it all and make some money. But if you flood the market, prices go down. You need to keep the prices up, so what do you do? You restrict supply by building bigger barns and storing the grain until it is in short supply. Then you put it up for sale and multiply your gains still more. By the way, he didn't just store his grain there, he stored his goods there as well. This guy's got a lot of other stuff he's storing up. He definitely isn't thinking of anyone else. He is clearly self centered and selfish. It's about my barns, my fruits, and my goods. In three verses he uses 6 I's and 6 my's.

And I will say to my soul, Soul…This guy was so greedy, he didn't even have time for family or friends. He is talking to himself. I will say to my soul, soul you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' All you have to do is control the spout at the bottom of the silo and let out only as much as you want and control the price and you are fixed. You are set for life! Take your ease. Your best life is now! You have arrived! He misunderstood the goal! He measured success in terms of what he read in his bankbook and on his balance sheet rather than by what he read in his Bible. And some of us need to be reminded that success is NOT being able to retire comfortably. Success is not living the American dream. Success is pleasing God!

This man that asked Jesus this question and is listening attentively to the story is drooling! How he would love to be that man! And then comes the surprise. But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you. He assured himself that he had many years, but he was going to be dead before daybreak. He was unaware of James 4:13-14, "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." Even as he was gloating over his fortune and his future looking again and again at his bankbook and balance sheet, the voice of God rang forth. God had been looking at the balance sheet that He was keeping of this man's life. He wrote across the whole thing one word—Bankrupt!

Not only would his soul be required of him, but he would be leaving behind everything he so greatly valued, and to who. The things you have prepared, whose will they be? Who will own them now, since it is just you and your stuff?

Eccl 2:18-23 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me,and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

He was rich, but he was a fool. He was a fool because he pursued that which would rust, rot, and be robbed away, rather than what would last for eternity. He put all of his energies and efforts into prosperity, possessions, and material things, and when his life abruptly came to a halt and he stood before his God, he was bankrupt! I wonder how many of us would be in the same shape if we died right now. That's something to ponder until next time.