Daniel's Example

(Dan 10:12) Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.

I read Daniel chapters 9 and 10 for my devotional reading today in the Old Testament. The above verse really grabbed my attention. Two times in the two chapters Daniel is referred to as “beloved” by God. Daniel had a very close relationship to God, and much of this is seen in these two chapters. Many times we miss it because we concentrate on the prophetic aspect of the two chapters. In the verse I gave above, the angel was sent in response to Daniel’s prayer. I want you to notice the two things mentioned that Daniel did which pleased the Lord: 1) He set his heart to understand 2)He chastened himself before God.

Oh, how we need Christians to follow Daniel’s example today. Oh, how I need to follow Daniel’s example. How we need to set our heart on God and to seek to understand. How we need to “chasten” ourselves. Instead of seeking things of this world, we need to be seeking to understand God and what he has given us to do, seeking to draw closer to him, and seeking to understand His Word. Then deny ourselves and submit to God in all things. Perhaps if we had more of these attributes in our lives, we would see God moving more in our prayer life.

Furlough

I know it has been awhile since my last post. I do have a very good reason though. My family andf have started our first furlough.

We left New Ireland on June 13th and we arrived in Alaska on June 16th. I am currently sitting in a library making this update. This is my first oppurtunity to get on the net. It has been great to be reunited with my home church, IBCA.

We are adjusting to life in America again. It has been in the 60's and 70's (tempature) here in Alaska, and we have been freezing, but getting used to it. I am amzaed at how much has changed in the last 4 years. It has also been a challange driving with other cars on the road. Although it is great to drive on real paved roads!

I should be getting my own internet access this week. It will be through my cell phone! WOW!

I will post more later.

Work out, Shut up, Hold forth

This week I will be preaching from Phil 2:12-16. Here are some thoughts from my preparation. Here are the verses first:

Philippians 2:12-16 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (13) For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (14) Do all things without murmurings and disputings: (15) That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; (16) Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.”

We can not remove these verses from the context in which they have been given. To do so we would lose WHY we need to follow verses 12-16. If we lose the WHY, in a short matter of time you will struggle to obey the verses, not realizing why you need to obey the verses. We see the why is the previous 41 verses. Let me summarize them quickly. We see in Chapter one Christ is our life and that in all that we do we are to magnify Christ. In chapter two, we see we are to do this with humbleness, allowing Christ’s mind to be our mind, understanding that one day ALL will bow before him and confess He is Lord of ALL to the glory of God the Father. In light of this we need to do three things. First, work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Secondly, do all things with out murmuring and complaining. Thirdly, we need to hold forth the word of life as walk in this world. As we briefly look at these three areas, remember, following these verses is not an option to the Christian, but a responsibility in light of the purpose of our life and what awaits us in our future.

First, we need to work out or our salvation. This verse does not say to work for our salvation as some would have you believe. You can not work for your salvation as Ephesians 2:8,9 and Titus 3:5 teach us. We are saved by grace through faith. If you are trusting in anything besides or in addition to Jesus Christ you are not saved and need to repent. However, if you are saved, you need to work out what God has worked in. The Lord has given much with our salvation. He has not just saved us from hell and that is all. No sir. He has given us power over the world with our salvation, I John 5:4. He has given us power over sin with our salvation, Romans 6:11-14. He has given us the key to joy with our salvation (I Peter 1:5-8). You have no excuse for living a defeated Christian life. NONE! God has given you everything you need to be successful and glorify Him with your life. You can not blame your pastor, your parents, your husband, or your wife, if you are not serving the Lord as you should. One day you will stand before God, I hope you have not run in vain!

Secondly, we need to serve him without murmuring and complaining. How dare we complain in our service to God as though it is unreasonable! (Romans 12:1,2) Our God has done everything for us and deserves everything we have. People have often told me how they appreciate the sacrifice my family and I are making as missionaries in PNG. I understand what they are saying and appreciate the kindness. However, to say this is a sacrifice is a stretch. No, this is my reasonable service for my Lord and God. How dare I ever complain about what the Lord has asked of me. Dear Christian, do not complain about the circumstances the Lord has you in. He is God and He is in control. Do not complain about the church the Lord has you in. Do not complain about the area of service you have. Maybe you only clean the church, rejoice and be thankful for the area of service God has given you. Then do it with all your might unto the Lord. According to verse 15 we cause great harm by our complaining. I never want a lost person to see me complaining about my Christian life. We need to understand we are to shine as lights in this world! We are to be blameless and harmless. Quit griping about standards you don’t like and love the Lord with all your heart. Trust in Him knowing he does know what is best.

Thirdly, we need to hold forth the word of life (verse 16). Many Christians are doing many things for the Lord, but it is all for nothing. Yes, that is right, all for nothing! It is not just that we work for the Lord and serve Him, but that we work and serve Him according to His Word. It is not just sincerity that pleases God. It is sincerity with truth. All that we do must be according to God’s Word. I don’t care how great or wonderful people think you are, if your work is not based on God’s Word and done His way, it is for nothing. I do not want to stand before Christ and have all my works burned up in the fire because it was nothing more than wood, hay, and stubble (I Cor 3:11-15). Examine yourself now, are you holding forth the word of life in your work for the Lord, or are you doing what is right in your own eyes?

So here we have our responsibility in light of the truths given. We are to work out our own salvation, do so without murmuring or complaining, and hold forth the word of life in our service to God.

Past Few Weeks

The past few weeks have been pretty eventful. Ministry wise, things are going well as one more person has made a profession faith. My wife wrote an email to her Mom, talking about what has been going on for that last few weeks and she said I could post it here. So here is her email to her mother:

Dear Mom,

I am glad you emailed because I have been meaning to sit down and update you on life in PNG for awhile. The last month has been hectic for us. Levi has had malaria twice, and everything we own is just breaking. Except for the new truck which is doing great. We just returned from a supply run to Kokopo, where I had a tooth pulled, and then it became infected. I also contracted some kind of virus at the same time. Beth got cellulitis again, and our air conditioner broke yesterday. Now THAT was the last straw and I just cried. But I have joy that all of the kids are well and healthy, and the Lord knows all about it, so I'll try to please Him and be content.

About a month ago, we had another missionary family here for a special Sunday. Levi played hard in the water and sun, and that night started a fever. By the next day he was having up and down fevers, the up being 105, and the down 103! No other symptoms because the shakes hadn't started yet. Then at bath time he became cold and started shaking and we knew it was malaria. I had already tried to give him the medicine, but it wasn't working and neither was tylenol for his fevers. So, I went to the haus sik, because they treat malaria all the time. They gave me Fansidar, which I didn't want to give him, because it is a strong sulfa drug. So I tried soemthing else, but it didn't work. So, I gave him the Fansidar and the pediatric cloroquine chewables. He threw them up. He was only keeping breast milk down at this point, thank the Lord he wasn't weaned! THEN I was finally able to give him the Fansidar and Artusenate, (a good chinese drug for malaria). That finally stayed down. He also had antibiotic shots and fever reducing suppositories. It finally worked and we were so glad when his fever went down to 101! So, we finished the treatment, only to have it came back two weeks later. Malaria isn't actually cured until you kill the parasite. It is just suppressed and lives in your liver, until you get weakened and it comes out again. (Basically) This time we used the same treatment and went longer and he is doing great today. I am still trying to find out if it is possible to give him the medicine to kill his malaria. It is a radical treatment, so I am not sure if I should. There is a hospital in London that is best in the world for tropical medicine. I looked them up on the internet and they reccommended the treatment that I gave him. So, I feel more confident that I gave him a good treatment. Today he is doing good and back to his old self and playing with his guns. We have a picture of him taken after his second treatment and you can see how worn out he looks. It just broke our hearts. So, there's the Levi story.

We went to Kokopo this week and got some good groceries we can't get here. I also got some new medicine for Levi so we are prepared if he relapses again. They have a good Philippino dentist there right now, so I went to have a tooth pulled. I had a temporary crown that broke and the whole top of my tooth was gone. Just the roots in there! So he pulled them out and did a good job, I thought. When he saw the roots he said wow, big tooth! They were HUGE roots. I was shocked. Well, then I had a humungous hole to heal, and it is just hurting really bad. The next day I went back and he cleaned it out again and I srarted antibiotics. It is getting better, but I can't sleep without pain killers. It's great having the tooth out, I don't miss it, but I wish this spot would heal faster. On top of that I got some kind of flu! So in the middle of this I had to shop for supplies and all that. Terry wanted to let me stay there and go back to the dentis, but I wanted to come home.

The day we got to Kokopo, beth started swelling up huge. Thankfully I already knew what it was. I boughtsome antibiotics right away, and she is all better today.

Well, I better get going, but Terry will be emailing with the thingie you needed.

Talk to you later...
Love
Mariann

The two pictures are of Levi and I on the boat heading to Kokopo for supplies. At the time of the picture he was well into his recovery. The second picture is the one my wife referred too in the email. He looked 10 times worse during the height of his Malaria.
----- Original Message -----

For Me To Live is Christ!

I am currently preaching through Philippians. It is a great book. In chapter one, we see Christ is our life, in chapter two Christ is our mind, in chapter three Christ is our goal, and in chapter four Christ is our strength! Of the 103 verses, Jesus is mentioned over 70 times! He truly is the theme of this epistle.

This last Sunday, I preached in chapter one verses 12-30. (Please read those verses.) Here are some thoughts from the message:

Within our text, we have a very powerful statement, which sums up the entire reading, or even the entire epistle. The statement says, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” The Apostle Paul truly lived this. In the previous verse, verse 20, we see Paul’s purpose for his life, which led to this statement. Paul’s purpose was that in whatever he did, or whatever happened to him, he would magnify Jesus Christ. If we have this same purpose in our life, we too will be able to say “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” The only way you will be able to say this is if the truth of verse 20 is true in your life.

Now, before we look at this purpose in Paul’s life, I would like to ask you, what is the purpose for your life? What is it that you live for? Some live life without purpose and this is a waste. They simply live for whatever the day brings, without any real direction to their life. Many today are hedonistic. They live for pleasure. Their sole purpose is to do whatever pleases them. They live for sex, money, bigger houses, boats, cars, etc… This too is a wasted life, which is vanity (Ecclesiastes). Some live for pride, to build a name for themselves. This too is vanity. For the Christian our purpose is to be that same as the Apostle Paul’s. Even in our text (verses 27-30) we see Paul’s life purpose was to be the purpose for all those who named Christ.

Consider Paul's circumstances. Paul was in prison and more than likely had a guard chained to him 24/7. Other preachers were talking bad about him. Some preachers were trying to elevate themselves, since Paul was in prison (12-18). Yet, Paul shows no bitterness, no anger, no malice, and no disappointment! Within the text, we see he is filled with Joy! Why? How? You see his life’s purpose truly was to magnify/glorify Jesus Christ. As long as this was being accomplished, he had joy. Why? Because magnifying Christ truly was his life’s purpose. Let's look at verses 20,21 and think on these words in relation to Paul’s current situation:

Philippians 1:20,21 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.



That Christ would be magnified was his life’s purpose! (To magnify here means to make bigger, glorify, honor, or to increase.) Thus, as long as Christ was being magnified, as a result of his life, he was willing to endure hardness, to suffer, to endure persecution, etc… What is it that you live for? What is your purpose in life? What are you willing to suffer for? What are you willing to endure for? Many will work 80 hours a week to buy that new car or boat. They will endure the long hours to fulfill their pleasure. What are you willing to endure for Jesus Christ? Is Jesus Christ your purpose in life?

When your purpose in life is to magnify Christ you learn:
1) To have joy in suffering.
2) Christ name means more than your name.
3) Christ’s ministry is more important than “your” ministry.
4) Life is about God!

Today, as we see the purpose in Paul’s life, you need to ask yourself, if Paul’s purpose is your purpose for your life, if this is what you are living for. Magnifying Jesus Christ, is the only purpsoe that matters on this earth. There is no other purpose that can be compared to it. I would like for all of us to determine to make this purpose of glorify Christ our life’s purpose. That we too can say with all boldness, “for me to live Christ and to die is gain.”

Youth meeting - "Sak"

Sorry I have not posted sooner. I should be back now to posting at least one post a week, Lord willing. I have had many things going on the past few weeks. I preached a youth meeting, in which one made a profession of faith. The meeting went pretty good with around 35 youth attending, most of whom have already made a profession of faith. The youth here have a very difficult time making a true commitment to Christ. There are many things pulling them. I preached a series of messages on being resolved to serve Christ.

The last Sunday, I had an interesting event occur. I was dropping off a family at the end of the village. The man asked me to stop at certain location so he could get a “sak.” In the tok pisin language he asked. “Stapim ka, mi laik kisim wanpela sak bilong mi.” I assumed he meant some type of basket, but I was wrong, very wrong. I stopped and let him out, and I could not see where he went, as he went into the bush. A minute or two later he returns with a SHARK! It was not a sak he was going to get; it was a shark! He was trying to say the English word, and I thought he using the village language, when he first told me what he needed to get. The shark was a black-tip reef shark. The man, who caught it, caught it standing of the beach with a fishing line wrapped around his hand. The villagers do not have “fishing poles.” They just wrap the fishing line around their hand, a bottle, or a small plastic device designed for it. The man was simply throwing his line into the ocean from the beach when he caught the shark. Our waters are very plentiful so there are many sharks in the waters.

The shark of course was dead. He had gutted it, and then cooked it whole in the ground. They call this a “mumu.” When they cook here, almost all of their cooking is done in this “mumu” style. They dig a hole; light a fire, then put big rocks on top of the fire, many big rocks (rocks about the size of a softball). They then wrap the food in banana leaves and place it on top of the rocks and then put more rocks on top of the food. A few hours later the food is ready to eat, and it is cooked thoroughly. This shark was going to be the family dinner that night. Since there is no electricity, thus no freezers, everything will be eaten in one sitting with others in the village.

Every week brings something different here. I never know what to expect next.

(The picture is of Levi trying to “help” Heather with her school work.)

Two Tires!

Yesterday, my family I and headed out for literacy class and mid-week service. It ended up being a pretty eventful trip, but none the less normal for PNG. We had to leave a little early as this was the first day of the literacy course for the Christians at Bible Baptist. Many of those who have trusted Christ can not read or write. This is one reason why spiritual growth is some what impeded. They need to be able to read the Bible for themselves. (This is the second time we are going through a literacy course.) However, we would never make it to church for the class or services. As we left, the weather was not good. It had been raining for almost one full day, and I knew the rivers would be high. During rains like this the rivers can become impassable. Two of the rivers have no bridge at all and I have to drive right through the river. I was not to the river yet, and was asking the Lord if we should just turn around and go back. About that time, a tire went flat. I pulled over and as I got out I noticed it was not one tire that was flat, but two tires! Both my back tires took nails. (Many of the youth put old nails in the road as a form of entertainment. I really need to introduce a baseball and glove to the young people!) Now I had a problem, I only have one spare tire and I am 10 kilometers from home and it is pouring rain. As Daniel and I were assessing the situation (by the way this day was Daniel's sixteenth birthday) the villagers began to come over. I was in a village called Namarodu. They all knew I was the missionary and wanted to help if they could. One of the ladies there was a lady whom I had witnessed to a few years ago. I met her and her husband in the haus sik. They were their with there baby who had malaria. I prayed with them and gave the gospel. Daniel and I decided to change the "worst tire." The Lord allowed for one tire to have a little air remaining. I had a gauge with me, and there was not enough air in it to move the gauge, but the rim was not on the ground. Since the rim was not on the ground, that was the better tire.We changed the one tire, and headed back. Daniel and I were soaked and muddy. I prayed the Lord will allow us to make it back. We took it easy, and the bad tire held all the way home. I was amazed. I did no damage to the tire or rim either. The Lord allowed us to return without having to walk back in the rain. The rain still has not stopped and that was 24 hours ago. I was able to get the two tires repaired at one of our “tire shops.” Getting a tire repaired here is an adventure in itself, as there is no real equipment to do it, but they fix tires everyday.

The Lord is good and we rejoice in his care and protection over us. I think the Lord was making sure I did not try and cross any of the rivers!!