How to Give Away a T-shirt

Ok man - so I've seldom been so excited about such an awesome ministry opportunity... I'm really pumped up about it! and I've got a strong feeling right now that we're on to something good here.

It's something that's evolved from our homeless ministry, but to be honest, I was kind of starting to doubt our homeless ministry to begin with (which we've been involved with for more than 2 years now), just because I wasn't seeing loads of people coming to Christ or being added to His church.

...Every once in a while we would see someone decide to leave the streets and ask us to take him or her to a rehab center (like Duvan in the middle of the picture on the right, for instance) which is great - but it's just that I wanted God to do so much more...

I mean yeah, sure - I was really glad that my friends and I were being intentional in meeting together every Friday to go and share the gospel in a holistic and incarnational way (and that in and of itself is commendable) - but I honestly just wasn't seeing tons of results... I was discouraged, and I even went so far as to stop going out to the Center every Friday just so I could save my energy and focus instead on preaching the next day at a rehabilitation center a couple hours outside of Bogota, where at least I had the benefit of preaching to people who weren't high on drugs. 

Sharing from the Word at the Milk and Honey Foundation (2 hours outside of Bogota)

...But then one of my friends who kept going to the Center told me that one night he got to talk to and pray with about 10 Venezuelans who happened to swing by our street ministry the night before... We had talked to and shared the gospel to a few Venezuelans on a couple other occasions, but he told me that this time it was different - that they were really attentive, and that he honestly thought some of them might even make it out to our church gathering that coming Sunday. 

The first time we spoke with various Venezuelans

I believed him. And then I gave him some money so he could go pick them up, and bring his friends over to our meeting the very next day.   

...Sure enough about 10 Venezuelans showed up at 4:30 for our evening service that Sunday, and afterwards a few of us got together and prayed for them, that God would help them find jobs, and that He would be their refuge in this time of uncertainty and doubt... and that God would guide them - as they had immigrated to Colombia in hopes of finding a better future, but were stuck here in a really tough situation with barely no resources, and very few friendly people willing to help them out.  

...Well bright and early the next day my friend Hugo and I (Hugo is the main guy who befriended them originally) - we showed up at their low income residency to sing a couple of songs and share a devotional with them as an encouragement for the day that lied ahead... It was so cool how when we got there they were excited to see us, and then when we started singing - a few people even started tearing up a little as the gospel-centered lyrics just penetrated straight into their hearts.

...I thought about it and felt convicted about my lack of faith in what we were doing in the Center, but at the same time I was so thankful for friends like Hugo who persevered even when I started to doubt, and consequently became the key connection in that precise moment, to catalyze something big - right when God wanted to use us most.

Well, I went back again on Wednesday morning, and then Hugo went back again on Friday morning, and then I picked up our Venezuelan friends again on Sunday afternoon for a special gathering with lunch included, where I spoke from Matthew 22 about the parable of the wedding feast...

The main similarity between this parable and what we were experiencing in real life is that, despite the fact that we had invited a lot of people to our gatherings previously - many of them would just make up lame excuses or assure us that they would go, but then never actually show up (v. 1-5)... Clearly this parable has a lot to do with Israel and how they were the first to both be invited to and also reject the invitation that the prophets gave them to be a part of Jesus' Kingdom - but I also think that it can be applied to us, in challenging that same attitude of indifference that anyone may have now a days when they think they have more important things to do than accept the indispensable invitation to believe in Christ and enjoy the fantastic relationship that God offers us with himself through his Son.
          

...It's the most precious gift in the whole world! And it's completely ridiculous that so many people reject it...

  

Ok, but so what's the right thing to do whenever that happens? Well, the right thing to do is to just go out into the streets and invite absolutely anyone you can find! (including Venezuelans), so that Heaven will be full of appreciative guests! 

...Seriously man - sometimes it's like we get so caught up in being so selective about who we share the gospel with, that we end up wasting a lot of our efforts by practically begging indifferent people who don't even give a care about Jesus, instead of proclaiming and sharing him generously to those who are desperately dying to know him.

...It's crazy. But anyway - back to the parable - and there's something really key about this and it's that surprisingly, of the guests that make it to the banquet - of those who enter, there are both good and bad people (v.10)... this shows that when it comes to salvation, moral performance has nothing to do with anything, and what is truly at stake has everything to do with what comes next... that as we'll see in a second - it's all about our clothing.

Our clothing?

Yeah - and having had a little head start on what was to ensue later on that day - as I was getting dressed that morning I decided to wear my St. Louis Cardinals T-shirt (because I knew that Venezuelans are big baseball fans), and also because I wanted to use that T-shirt as an important illustration in my message... 

Can I tell you why? ...because what happens next in this parable is really shocking. 

...It so happens that in this startling story there's this random guy that manages to sneak into the alleged wedding banquet without wearing the right clothes, and successively the King notices him and calls him out about it, yet the miserable creature is found speechless... Having no defense, he is then tied up and thrown into hell and the story ends right there. Just like that - abruptly.

Wow.

Now, why in the world are clothes in this parable such a big deal? Well the reason I find, comes from Genesis where Adam and Eve are likewise found ashamed - but in this case it's because of their nakedness, and they unsuccessfully try to cover it up, by putting on loincloths that they sew together from fig leaves (Genesis 3:7)... 

But fig leaves will never suffice! and so after explaining their punishments, God is then the first to kill a few innocent animals, and from their skins - create garments for Adam and Eve with which he clothes them (v.21)...   

Those skins, and those animals who had to die for those garments to be produced, imperfectly but so powerfully point to Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that he underwent to save us! ...It's the substitution of our shame as it were, or the outlandish exchange of his innocence for our guilt. And it's the clothing, interestingly enough, of his righteousness that is replaced for our iniquity... You see, it's only by Jesus' death that we are saved! and we're saved, in a sense, only by putting him on! (as it says in Galatians 3:27 or Romans 13:14 for instance).  

...Ok, but to really get my point across, what I did next was to tell my Venezuelan friends about a hypothetical situation where one of them was imprisoned for a terribly atrocious crime he'd committed (and at this point I arbitrarily picked someone at the table who's name happened to be Jose), and so Jose see, he was lying in his prison cell completely terrified about his own execution that was going to happen... mmm, let's just say the following day... and then, mmm, now, supposing Jose and I were twins (and at this point everybody laughed because clearly Jose and I don't look anything alike)... but supposing Jose and I are twins nonetheless haha - let's say I sneak into his cell and take off my civilian shirt (which I actually did, mind you - I took off my really cool bright red St. Louis Cardinals T-shirt and gave it to him, just like that); and then say he takes off his prisoner shirt and we exchange roles and no one is the wiser... Well, what happens is that the free man takes the place of the criminal, and the criminal inversely, takes the place of the free man.

And boom! just like that, Jose goes free, and along with his freedom he also has an awesome T-Shirt to prove it... By the grace of God salvation has come! And by the grace of God I somehow managed to share the gospel in that instance to more than 10 people in such a way that they joyfully understood it, and eagerly wanted to accept it. 

So praise the Lord for that. 

So yeah - I mean anyway - this week I went and visited my Venezuelan friends again on Monday morning, and the idea is to keep meeting on Wednesdays and Fridays as well; so that we can keep digging into Scripture together, and discover more of these types of beautiful truths which are able to save and refresh our souls, as we get to know both God and each other better, and slowly (or quickly! hopefully) start to become our own new church...

...And so the point of all of this is to be relevant, you know? because when you really think about it, that's what the gospel at it's most basic definition is, right? ...That God became relevant to mankind by taking off his garments of glory, and making himself nothing by wearing our flesh and coming into this world to relate to us, and to serve us, and to die on a cross to rescue us so that anyone who puts his trust in him might be saved (Phil 2:6-8) Hallelujah!... Jesus did all this because he loved us, and he gave himself for us, not because we deserved it, but because God considered us that valuable! ...so that all of us who believe in his Son should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). 

...So that said - if by being relevant God decided to save anyone who would believe in his Son - shouldn't we likewise want to be relevant as well, to anyone we can, so that by preaching Christ in various contexts and to various people we might save a few through any and every means possible? (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). 

Yeah - you better believe we should want to.

So please God, help us be better evangelists.

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This blog post is dedicated to Hugo Muñoz who is an awesome evangelist that has encouraged me tremendously, and has been an excellent partner in starting this new ministry for our Venezuelan friends currently living here in Bogota, Colombia. 

Galatians 6:9 says, And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Qualifications for Pastors Vs. Presidents (Part 3)

In the wake of our most recent presidential election, there's been quite a few people that are fairly discouraged with the result.

Disappointment in the air 

Maybe I am too, but my main concern has little to do with national governments. Rather, I'm mostly concerned about the government of the church, and how I can be an exemplary leader within this context instead.

Preaching from a pick-up

I feel like one of the main things that I'm constantly running up against in life, is this notion that national governments are where the real action is at, and churches are like the cute little buildings where well-dressed guys who lean on pulpits talk about irrelevant stuff to their snoozy audiences...

I couldn't disagree more!

The Church of Christ is the hope on Earth (Matthew 16:17-19). In fact, I don't know why else God would keep us here unless we weren't... unless he didn't want us to share his gospel to every nation (Matthew 28:19-20); unless he didn't want us to take care of widows and orphans (James 1:27); and unless he didn't want us to turn this whole world upside down (Acts 17:6).

Fabio praying for a drunk man

...The Church is where guilty sinners can find forgiveness in Christ (Romans 8:1); where ashamed violators can find honor in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-10); and where fearful people affected by the evil forces of this world can find the power in Christ to overcome them (Ephesians 6:10-17).

Brothers in Christ

The Church is where grieving people should find comfort, the broken should find healing, the marginalized should find acceptance, and the addicted should find freedom. It's where people of all tribes, tongues, and nations should find true community (Revelation 7:9; Acts 2:46-47); and where every single Christian should know that he or she is indispensable and that whichever gift(s) the Holy Spirit has given him or her, they are to be used for the glory of God and the building up of His Church (1 Corinthians 12:1-30).

The Church is a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

It's where Jesus' followers should grow in their faith, hope, and love; but primarily in their love (1 Corinthians 13)... Where God's worshipers should worship in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24); and where the Holy Spirit should manifest himself in such a way that whenever an unbeliever or outsider enters into the gathering, that person should be convicted by all, called to account by all, the secrets of his or her heart should be disclosed, and so, falling on his or her face, start to worship God and declare that he is truly among the people of that assembly (1 Corinthians 14:24-25).

...I'll also tell you what the church is not. The church is not a physical building or a denomination, and it's certainly not a lucrative business or a social club. The church is simply and wonderfully the whole population in times present, past, and future; of those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and have decided to follow him irregardless of what may happen to them, or what they may have to leave behind in the process (Matthew 16:24)... It's a group of two or more believers gathered in Jesus' name (Matthew 18:20) who devote themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42); and who are powerful, united, generous, devout, glad, worshipful, esteemed, and propagating (v.43-47).

The first and second churches God let me start (in San Jose and Bogota respectively)

So wouldn't you rather be part of this type of movement, even over and above any other movement currently going on in America or anywhere else?

I certainly would.

The Church is where Christ is the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11), the Chief Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:7), and the Head (Ephesians 1:22); and it's where pastors are those who lead exemplary lives as they watch over the members of the congregation, not because of any money they may earn or out of obligation - but because they are eager to serve (1 Peter 5:2-3).

My exemplary commending elders and I

...And so about that... It was kind of funny because the other day I was playing Ultimate Frisbee and afterwards I started talking with my friends and they asked me what I did. I said I had started a couple churches, and so then a young lady asked me if I was like a pastor? (as though not too many pastors play ultimate)... My response was, "yeah, that's what I try to be," and even though I may not always live up to that calling perfectly, or I may even at times try to shy away from that title - I truly do want to be about this noble task of caring for those within the Church.

But at the same time, I want it to be clear that I don't want to be the only one doing it... I honestly believe that the very second people start putting me or anyone else on a pedestal as 'the' pastor of any given congregation, then by default they are dethroning Christ as the ultimate Head and Chief Shepherd thereof (Eph. 5:23, 1 Peter 5:4)... and so yeah, I may be a pastor, of course, but Jesus is the Pastor. I may be an overseer, yeah sure, but along with me I would hope that there be multiple qualified people overseeing and leading the various lives and ministries of those who have decided to follow Jesus, and thus, by no other rite or paper that they need to sign or anything - they have already become an official member of Christ's Church period. with no other conditions attached...

And so that's the point, right? As Christians we're ultimately disciples of Jesus even though there may be a few other people who God uses to teach us some really important things along the way...

Elkin, one of the first guys I got to disciple

So who are these people? Well, let me tell you that they're a lot different than someone like Donald Trump; and it's in 1 Timothy 3 that God tells us about what they should be like:

The leaders of Parkway Church for whom I would do just about anything

The passage reads, "Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil"(1 Timothy 3:2-7). 

...Man, in looking over those qualifications Donald Trump wouldn't even come close to being eligible for a leadership position within the Church... in fact Trump almost seems to be diametrically opposed to these qualifications on just about every account...  

You see? that's simply another reason why being involved in the Church of Christ is a lot more of a fun and fulfilling and positive experience than politics - because we have leaders with a lot higher standards than that of the president of the United States for instance, who should not lord it over your faith, but work together with you for your joy (2 Corinthians 1:24; 1 Peter 5:3). 

Amen. And I hope I can be one of those.

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Pictures Cited:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/america-thinking-day-election/
http://www.businessinsider.com/celebrities-who-support-trump-2016-10

Running Your Heart Out

My first date with my awesome girlfriend Alejandra was at a 16k mountain trail night run, where she waited for me in the dark and cold while I ran one of the craziest races of my life haha... Who takes a girl on a date like that anyway?

Well I do of course! and having her wait for me there at the finish line was a huge inspiration.

I ran as fast as I could, and whether that was primarily just because I wanted to get back to see her again, or whether I wanted to impress her by being one of the top finishers I don't know (it was probably a little of both) - but what I do know is that having a prize to look forward to helps a whole lot in running one's heart out.

For me, Alejandra was the prize.

...Today is the commencement of the 2016 Summer Olympics, and I'm pretty pumped to watch the games and see records broken, dreams materialized, and heroes recognized... I guess that deep inside every one of us is a longing to be good at something and have the discipline to work hard at it and therefore accomplish something remarkable... The question of "I wonder if I could do that?" is what makes the Olympics so inspiring I think... Because usually the answer is no, but still - there's always someone out there who'll have that same question and then proceed to spend everything they have in sacrificing all kinds of stuff to literally show the whole world that they can... That in the span of a few minutes, seconds, or milliseconds - boom! just like that, they are the fastest/strongest/most agile person ever in a particular sport... The Olympics are filled with stories of glory, which everyone knows only come after a lifetime of dedication and self-control.

...A few months ago I had the awesome privilege to meet a few of the best athletes from Ghana (perhaps the world?), who were training in Bogota for the 2016 Rio Olympics, and we got to invite them over to my parents house for lunch where we had an amazing time eating together and laughing and even singing and talking about Jesus as if we were a family... In fact, we are family because not only did they come over to our house to eat, but they also came to our Sunday evening church service where we broke bread together representing that just like the bread which is one - so also, all who take part in it and believe in Christ are one with him as well (1 Cor.10:17).

Just before this passage - in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul compares the Christian life to that of an athlete training for a really important competition (perhaps he was referring to the original Olympics that started in 776 B.C.)... He says he does not run aimlessly, or box as if he was beating the air, but rather disciplines his body and keeps it under control so that after preaching to others he himself would not be disqualified (v.26-27)...

And verse 25 is perhaps the most interesting one... Paul affirms that every athlete exercises self-control in all things and yet they do it to receive a perishable wreath. We on the other hand - those of us who have believed in Jesus Christ - we exercise control in our lives with the motivation that the prize we receive is actually imperishable.

Amen!

...Now, you might not believe me, but this last Sunday I watched the Bogota Half Marathon and at the end I got to talk to and take a couple pictures with the top place Kenyan woman victor Purity Rionoripio, and the second place Kenyan male champion Marius Kipserem...

And sure enough, Marius gave me his perishable (almost wreath, but actually bouquet of flowers), so that I could then give them to my lovely girlfriend Alejandra...

 Thanks Marius!

Praying for Pathetic Potential Presidents (Part 1)

So with the upcoming 2016 U.S. election, I've got a hunch that Mr. Donald Trump is pretty bad news bears.

Future President?

Nevertheless, despite the very real threat of seeing a racist and sexist bigot become our next president; there's a surprising passage in the Bible that actually has quite a lot to do with how we as Christians are to live our lives in light of a few realities that we would much rather ignore...

I mean, just think about it for a second: say Donald Trump actually does become president? ...for me, that would be like the epitome of a great excuse to want to forget about any notion of government altogether; and rebel against any mandate that such a terrible ruler may impose... "God is my only King!" "Jesus is my only authority!" "I'm not an American, I'm a Christian!" "My only citizenship is in Heaven!" might be some of my natural (and almost legitimate) reactions that I may have in lieu of putting up with such a ridiculous demagogue as Donald Trump.

Yet while my primary citizenship is in Heaven (true statement), and while Jesus does remain being my ultimate authority (true story); Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:1 that "First of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings must be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions." ...It's like despite all the revolutionary implications that come along with the gospel (among which we are now part of another kingdom that is not of this world (John 18:36)); Paul keeps us in check by saying that we should still pray for our politicians. And, well, even if these guys or girls are pretty terrible people - well, our primary goal in life shouldn't be to usurp the worldly governments in which they preside. Rather, I think that we need to pray for such leaders, with the wonderful purpose of being able to lead "peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way"(v.2)...

Why in the world would we want to do that? ...well, verse 4 tells us - and it's because God desires that "all people be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

See, that's the ultimate priority. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is revolutionary enough. We don't need to go nuts in starting political revolutions in hopes of creating better worldly governments - we need to focus on our highest calling, which is namely pointing all men and women everywhere to the only mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all (v.5-6a).

...As of now I would say we need to keep praying for Barack Obama for instance - for his own salvation and for wisdom - as he governs the United States in his last few months in office... Also, we need to get out there and vote for the best president who will enable us to lead peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way... And even if say, my favorite candidate doesn't win (or even if, say, my least favorite one does), I'm still going to pray for whoever that man or woman may be, with the indisputable intention that the gospel of Jesus Christ may go forth into all the world and save every single man and woman alive... including Donald Trump.

And that's my stance.

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Picture Cited: Donald Trump                   

Stuff like Bike Helmets and Salvation

A while back I was riding my bike to church and got stopped by some "bici-policias."

They pointed out that I didn't have a helmet on, but that I should've, because that's what the law says, and that by the way - since they are the enforcers of the law (and since I wasn't obeying it), they had all the right in the world to take my bike away.

I was like, "you gotta be kidding me right now," but they weren't, and so I told them that at least I had lights.

... Big deal. Pedro from Napolean Dynamite has shocks and pegs.

...The cops and I kind of stood around for a while, and I kept trying to tell them that I was a really great person... That I was on my way to church; that I worked with drug addicts and homeless people (which indirectly made their work easier); and that they should be grateful to me that I obviously respected them enough to at least stop for them when they told me to...

They weren't impressed; and they said that "law so-and-so" clearly states that all cyclists transiting the streets of Bogota must wear a helmet while doing so, and that clearly I wasn't (irregardless of all my good works, and despite having partially obeyed the law by carrying both front and back night lights).

...We kept standing around, and eventually they told me that I could go with a warning, but that if they ever caught me again, well, I was going to be in big trouble.

I was like "thanks so much," but in my heart I was like "for nothing," and I kept on my way, thinking about all the tons of other people that never wear helmets and never get caught; and yet here somehow I was the only unlucky one to get picked on by the police probably because I look American...

Juan wearing a helmet like he's supposed to

Ok, just kidding, I actually don't think I pulled that card at all; but I was still pretty frustrated with the whole law and the whole notion of helmets in general... and it was like, come on, am I really going to die for not wearing a helmet?                                                                                    ...It was like the very commandment that promised me life (protection in case of a serious accident), actually proved to be death (because I didn't want to obey it); and at the very moment the law came (the law that is holy, righteous and good); all kinds of rebellion and arrogance and restlessness took hold of me, and instead of wanting to obey the commandment - I rather wished it would cease to exist all-together.

...I wanted to go back to the days when I was blissfully ignorant of such ludicrous mandates, and I wanted to avoid getting caught ever again in my whole life.

In fact, the very next day I rode my bike again, and instead of riding on the bike path which is safer - I actually rode my bike on the right side of the road just so I could more easily elude and avoid the same old law-happy "bici-policias" if I ever saw them again, looming ahead in the distance.

...It was like something that was supposed to prolong my life (namely the helpful helmet law), was actually just producing in me a higher probability of death (because I was rebelling against it). 

I decided I hated the law, and it was right then and there that I remembered Paul's words in Romans 7 where he says, "we know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin" (v.14).

So yeah, I know - wearing helmets or not wearing them in the grand scheme of things is a pretty trite issue, granted. But the example of what took place that day serves as a great illustration of every human being's struggle with sin at a deeper level... And as we see in the next few verses, Paul describes a vicious cycle in which we don't understand what we do... That the very things we want to do we don't, and the very things we hate, those we keep doing (v.15)... That we have the desire to do what is good, but we can't carry it out; and that the evil we do not want to do - this we keep doing (v.19). 

It's a really gnarly situation, and even the band One Republic knows about this very well as they explain it in their song 'Counting Stars' which you can see my friend Juanes and I dancing and singing along to in the video below haha:

       

So how do we escape this terrible tendency to always sin? ...To stop feeling something so right while doing the wrong thing, and to stop feeling something so wrong while doing the right thing? ...Well, in our own strength we can't, and so the only solution is to die to ourselves... We need to die to ourselves, because it is only through death that we may be released from the law... And once we are dead to the law through the body of Christ, we can now be united to another - to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God (v. 4). 

See, I think that Paul says it even better in Romans 5:20-21 when he concludes:

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

...The law had to exist so that we would understand sin, but understanding sin is pointless unless there were such a thing as grace... and let me tell you that there is! It exists in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord, and it reigns through righteousness to bring us eternal life.  

Romans 7:24-25 says, "who will rescue us from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers us through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Yes! 

And as the very next few verses in chapter 8 declare:

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set us free from the law of sin and death (v.1-2).

Kawabunga dude!

...It would be as if the "bici-policias" who stopped me and told me about the law immediately provided a remedy to keep me from breaking that law by just giving me a helmet to wear free of charge. And if they did that, well, the only thing that I would have to do is just put it on, that's all... See, that's what the Holy Spirit does for us! He becomes a law to ourselves, and all we have to do is put him on and let him take control.

And as verses 10-11 say... 

If Christ is in us, then even though our bodies are subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in us, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in us...  

Do you understand that the very same power that rose Christ from the dead is now living in us so that we can have victory over sin?

Well it is, if in fact we have put our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Now, in taking this illustration even further, want to hear something really awesome?

...It's that in Ephesians 6:17 Paul names off the different components of the armor of God, and it's precisely the helmet which we're supposed to put on that stands for salvation! 

So how do you like that?

I hope you like it; because salvation is what gets us into heaven... And I bet you're not even going to believe this - but about a week later I joined a bike-club of about 60 "bici-parceros" (in other words, "bike-buddies"), and they invited me to a bike-club party that they were going to put on, and can you imagine what they said the only requisite was that I needed to fulfill for them to let me into the gig?

... Mmm, if you imagined "wearing a helmet" you nailed it haha... [which is all we need to get into heaven as well (wearing the helmet of salvation that is)]...

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Picture cited "bici-policias": http://goo.gl/ZCgOJR

Sleeping Like I Mean It

One of the things that I really do well man, is sleep. You could practically say that I excel at it. I can sleep like nobody's business, and I can virtually sleep anytime, anywhere, anyhow, and anyway I feel like it... I can sleep in the sun or with a lot of noise; and I'm pretty sure that there's even been a few instances in which I've just barely fallen asleep while standing up on a crowded bus!  

Sleep is cool because it's refreshing and relaxing. And even though there are many times when I'm speaking or hanging out in public that I don't act like an introvert, I definitely am, and being with people can at times be so exhausting that the only real remedy for it is to take a nice, quick, rejuvenating, napperoo. 

Beauty sleep is what some people call it, and even though I don't think it makes me very beautiful by any means, I do think it helps in keeping the rest of the world around me pretty beautiful because when I'm tired boy, it's like nothing has any beauty to it whatsoever... nothing except a soft warm bed.   

There's this kid that I'm discipling, and his name is Juanes, and no joke - where this guy gets all his energy from I have no clue, but he's got tons of it. He's constantly WhatsApping me so we can go hang out or play basketball, or watch basketball, or talk about basketball, or eat basketballs (just kidding), or use basketball as a means of connecting with people and sharing the gospel with them etc... so yeah, I mean he's a wonderful guy to have around for sure, and I really appreciate his friendship a lot, but it's like man alive, sometimes I just wish he would chill out haha.

...It's actually kind of funny because we've come to a point now where he kind of knows that whenever I'm needing some alone time, I tell him that I'm going to go read a bit, and basically that's just become code for: "I'm going to go sleep for a while right now, so please just find something else to do, okay?"

Well, he goes ahead and does that, and he goes ahead and let's me fall asleep, he does. But of course, not without at least taking a couple selfies with me snoozing there in the background.

 ...So that's funny, but anyway, what I really want to get at with this entry, is my theological convictions regarding sleep, and how really, sleep is a wonderful gift from God that should be enjoyed fully.

Granted, Proverbs 6:10-11 says, "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man," so I'm not suggesting we just sleep our whole way through life and expect everything to come to us without the slightest bit of effort; but I do think that when we do what we do, and we do it for the glory of God, and we do it to the best of our ability... well, at the end of the day when everything is said and done, and we gave it our best shot... the best we can do is sleep, and just rest in him who rested himself after he created the whole universe (Hebrews 4:9-11).

In fact, Hebrews 4:10 says, "for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his."

See, Christianity at it's most basic and truly defined essence, is a life of faith. A life of faith that rests completely and unequivocally on Christ's work on the cross for us; both regarding our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), as well as our will and our working for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13)...

Absolutely everything we are in Christ, and everything we do in him, is entirely by grace through faith, and not by works so that no one can boast.

And see, that's really comforting for me because how in the whole world am I supposed to save anyone from hell?

I can't, and yet somehow as a missionary I'm supposed to do that and start churches and stuff.

...In my last blog entry I talked about the 3 essential things that we need in any type of ministry for us to be effective as being: 1. a love for God and a love for people (Mark 12:30-31), 2. the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8), and 3. people to interact with and share the gospel to (Romans 10:14).

So what is the gospel?

Well, the gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom the apostle Paul and I are the worst (1 Timothy 1:15).

Where do we find that gospel?

We find it in the Word of God, and so that's why absolutely everything I preach on has to come directly from the Bible... I can't just come up with cleverly devised myths and eloquently try to convince anyone I can through interesting philosophical arguments that my reasoning is superior... all I can do is point to the living and active Word of God that is sharper than any double edged sword and is the only thing in the whole world that can truly judge and convict us of our thoughts and attitudes of heart and turn us back to the living God (See 1 Peter 1:16-21 and Hebrews 4:12).

I say this, and I do it, and in the middle of it all I sleep.

I sleep, because I know salvation rests in the message of Christ alone, and that this Message is always superior to the messenger (me).

To prove this, just look at the parable of The Growing Seed in Mark 4:26-29...

Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground; and night and day, whether this guy sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how...

Before this parable, in the Parable of the Sower, it is clear that "the seed" represents the Word... and what I love about the meaning of the Parable of The Growing Seed is that as long as we just sow the Word of God in people's lives... someway, somehow, this Word miraculously produces fruit without us even trying. We can sleep all we want, because the promise remains that at the end of the day when the Word has been sown, that Word that comes out of the mouth of God will certainly not return to him empty, but will accomplish what God desires, and it will achieve the purpose for which he sent it (Isaiah 55:11).

And that's really awesome, because it just goes to show that in the middle of sharing the Word to others, there's always ample room for us to take our fair share of naps and let the Holy Spirit do his work in the lives of those who are hearing God's Word.

...And you know all that stuff about snoozing and loosing?... well, in the sense that I've just been talking about - aaaaactually, that's complete nonsense because with God the truth is that we win.

How to Start a Fire

In the first chapter of second Timothy, Paul reminds Tim to fan into flame the gift of God, which was somehow imparted to him through the laying on of Paul’s hands (v.6)... What that spiritual gift was, I don’t exactly know, but the implication is that our passion for the Lord can either diminish or develop depending on whether or not (and depending on how effectively or not), we let this mysterious wind - fan into our lives.

So what is this wind? What is this fire?

Well, we'll get into that in a bit, but first let's talk about the basic definition of what a fire is.

So for starters, for a fire to exist you essentially need 3 things combined in the right mixture for it to happen. Namely, you need: heat, fuel, and oxygen. When these 3 things come together in the appropriate way, this "event" of fire, occurs. 

Ok, now, the way I see it, is that just like fire, the 3 things we similarly need to have in our lives for us to engage in the Lord's service are as follows: we need to have love for the Lord and love for our neighbor (Mark 12:30-31)... (which would kind of be like the heat); we need to have people to interact with and share the gospel to (Romans 10:14)... (which would kind of be like the fuel); and we need the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8)... (which would kind of be like the oxygen).

And it's this last one - the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us, that I especially want to expound on right now. 

A camp that I helped out at a month ago in which the theme was 'And You Shall Receive Power'

Because see, that's what Paul tells Timothy he wants him to do - to fan into flame the gift of God. 

In John 21:22 we read that when Jesus appeared to his disciples after he rose from the dead - the verse says that he "breathed on them and said 'receive the Holy Spirit.'

...Remember that to create a fire you need all 3 of the aforementioned elements present in the equation so that all of a sudden the act of combustion takes place... 

Well, up until this time in the New Testament, the disciples did not have the Holy Spirit. They did not have this one crucial element in the equation of creating gospel fire so that it would explode within them; and so here now, we see these disciples of Christ all huddled together and scared out of their wits in an upper room somewhere in the middle of Jerusalem... they're all huddled together worried about what might happen to them, and all of a sudden Jesus just walks in [and that - without even going through the door, mind you (v. 19)], breathes on them, and BAM! instantly this amazing gospel equation is completed, and BADABOOM!, the disciples start having this amazing Holy Ghost power working through them, and BIMBAZZLEWAMBOOGLE! their story (or our story) is dramatically changed forever [and yes, that took me a while to come up with all the right onomatopoeia to describe those instances, but I think I finally got it (just in case you were wondering)]. 

What's interesting though, is that in this passage when Jesus imparts the Holy Spirit to his disciples - he does so in the same way that I start a fire myself - he does so by breathing on these guys (and I think that there were probably a few girls there too), and in the same way, whenever I start a fire, what I do is that I get down real low on my hands and knees and get as close to a few dimly lit embers as possible; I place some small, nice, dry tinder in the vicinity of some kindling, and I just baaaaarely start to blow man... I just blow and blow. I just blow nice and steady for a while, until all of a sudden boom! the tinder lights up, spreads to the kindling, and suddenly the whole thing bursts aflame!

On a larger scale, this was essentially Jesus' master plan of evangelism. He came into this world (Phil. 2:7), he metaphorically got down on his knees in the sense that he humbled himself (v.8), he got real close to 12 men (Luke 6:12-16) and a few women (Luke 8:2-3), and he slowly and steadily started speaking truth into their lives (John 8:31-32).

A couple years later, he breathes on them to receive the Holy Spirit, and then a few days after that, "a sound like the blowing of a violent wind" came from heaven and filled the whole house where about 120 of them were staying (Acts 1:15)... Here we see that Jesus' small initial breath now turns into a violent wind! The Holy Spirit takes power! and the oxygen necessary for a fire to go wild envelops this relatively small group of ragtag followers of Jesus... Before you know it, people from all over the world are starting to hear the gospel spoken in their own language (Acts 2:5-11), Peter gets up and preaches (Peter! the same one that denied Christ just a few days earlier (v. 14)), and about 3,000 people are added to the church that very day (v. 41).

Awesome.

...Now jump about 34 years later to the time when Paul wrote his second letter to his most beloved disciple Timothy, and we get this interesting charge for him to "fan into flame the gift of God" (1:6)... 

How exactly do we fan into flame the gift of God? 

Well first of all, I think that we can start by constantly praying with other believers, because if we look back to the account of what happened on the day of Pentecost, what we see is that right before the Holy Spirit came down on them, this is precisely what the disciples and the women with them were doing (Acts 1:14)... They were praying.

Secondly, if we understand that what was behind Timothy's gift of God was the very working of the Holy Spirit (the pure oxygen as it were, that rouses the flame of the gospel), then we too should effectively fill ourselves up with this Holy Spirit.

How do we do that?

Well, Ephesians 5 gives us a whole bunch of clues as to how to go about it, and among the definite positive, and proactive things we can do to really let the Holy Spirit take control of us, we can: 

• love one another just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us
• be thankful
• do what is good, righteous, and true 
• expose the deeds of darkness 
• live wisely, making the most of every opportunity
• speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; and sing and make music in our hearts to God.

...And along with this there is also another fairly significant list of other things that we should avoid so as to likewise stay filled with the Holy Spirit such as:

• not getting into sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed
• not being obscene or talking foolishly and joking coarsely
• not having partnerships with disobedient people
• and not being foolish, getting drunk, or getting into debauchery 

...So if we avoid the things mentioned in the second list, and do the things mentioned in the first list, then I think we'll be on a pretty good track to getting ourselves filled with the Holy Spirit.  

I also think that reading and studying the Bible is a pretty important part of being filled with the Spirit because just as 2 Tim. 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."

...There again, we get that word 'breathed'. Scripture is God breathed, it was written by the prophets as they were "carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:20-21)... Jesus breathed on the disciples to give them the Holy Spirit... We receive the Holy Spirit when we put our faith in Christ (Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:3)... And I think we can also become more "filled by the Holy Spirit" when we read and meditate on the very Scripture that God himself breathed into.

Why?...because the very next verse implies that. It says "so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (v. 17).  

Who equips the servant of God other than the Holy Spirit himself?    

...At the beginning of this entry I was talking about the concept of "fanning into the flame of the gospel." I suggested that for this to happen, there needs to be an appropriate mix of 3 things: 1. a love for God and people, 2. people with whom we can share the gospel to, and 3. the power of the Holy Spirit working through us to reach these people. Clearly the power and presence of the Holy Spirit is something that is received, not earned (Acts 1:8; 2:38; 10:45), but apparently we can "fan into flame the gift of God" (2 Tim. 1:6), and we can also "be filled with the Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18).

Interestingly enough, it's that very "filling of the Holy Spirit" (that extra dose of life-giving oxygen) that serves as the crucial conductor to augment the heat of our love in bringing about the flame in the fuel of all the men and women in the whole world so that many of them may come to know Christ.

...Starting fires like this is exactly what we are called to do, and letting the Scripture teach, rebuke, correct, and train us in righteousness along the way, is precisely how we can be thoroughly equipped to better engage in this type of service.

...To be better engaged in this type of service by more fiercely "fanning into flame the gift of God."

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This blog post is dedicated to the Velandia family with whom I've started a few fires, and with whom I'm also trying to start a new church (which, in a way, is kind of like starting a fire).

Camping with the Velandias in Villa de Leyva

Pictures Cited:

Fire Triangle

Wildfire Picture