Sudan reflections: Adventure in South Sudan

Over the next few weeks, we'll be sharing stories from out Sudan team.  Not only will these stories help you know how to pray for the Lewis family in their ministry, but it will also display the joys of faithful Gospel proclamation.

Well the adventure continues in Sudan!

Because the roads are so wet Shannon took us to a different village today. Knowing the roads would be bad we drove only part of the way and hiked it the rest of the way with Shannon serving as our guide pointing out the African countryside, the unique Toposa culture, and the truck that someone got stuck over four months ago because the river suddenly rose without warning.

We made it to the village and began singing and dancing with the women and kids which brought the men in from their houses only to find some young Toposa men had been drinking homemade brew for three days. They were a real distraction to the teaching time as they acted like fools and displayed aggressive behavior. One of the few Toposa Christian women stood up to them and tried to run them off. Things got a little heated so we decided it best to leave. Shannon tells us that women who stood up for us will probably be slapped around or even beaten that night for taking a stand. Please pray for her as she must live there and face the persecution as we leave the village for our safety.

We do believe the Lord used their wicked behavior for our good because as we left we discovered the streets were flooding and the river was rising rapidly from the rain in the mountains. As the Toposa people were running home away from the river we are running toward the river trying to get to our truck before the river became impossible to cross. When we get to the river it is rushing fast with rapids growing stronger. After asking some Toposa where the best place to cross, we lock hands and waded through the rushing rapids being sure to drag our feet as we had been taught. The current was strong and moving fast so when we arrived safely to the other side we all cheered and shouted praises to the Lord! It was awesome!! Even better than the rapids at Disney :)

What an amazing adventure with emotions ranging from tears over the unbelief and sin of the drunken young men, heartbreak for the suffering the young lady will likely endure with such courage, to the thrill of wading through the rushing waters. No words can ever express what we have experienced and what the Lewis’ are living every day. I can’t wait for you to meet them next year!!

TG

jn

Before and After

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, "You also are not one of his disciples are you?" He denied it and said, "I am not." One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, "Did  I not see you in the garden with him?" Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. John 18:25-27

This is how we often think of Peter.  He is cowering and afraid.  He is overcome with the fear of man.  He's so overcome that he denies the man that he correctly identified (via the revelation of the Father) as the Christ.  We condemn Peter for his cowardice, but we do so with fear in our hearts because we can certainly identify with him.  In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, we far too often keep our mouths shut when we out to open them and speak truth to the lost.  Far too often we forget the warning of Matthew 10:32-33.

But just as flesh and blood did not reveal to Peter that Jesus was the Christ, flesh and blood does not empower us to speak the truth of the Gospel in difficult times.  Back up a few verses from Matthew 10:32 to verse 19: When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

The Father has a track record of giving his followers the words to say when they are faithful in their attempts to represent him accurately.  He is our power.  His Spirit is our helper.  In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells us that we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes and that this power will enable us to be His witnesses.

Look at how the Spirit empowered Peter in Acts 2:14-41.

We are faithful in evangelism in the same way we strive for holiness or worship rightly or love our brothers and sisters sacrificially...through the power of the Spirit.

May we faithfully rest in the power of the Spirit for the strength to live as those who've been crucified with Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria

...to Nations

This will be an abbreviated entry.  Check back next week when we will be back in full swing.

This morning, four men from our church left Shreveport and began the trip to Southern Sudan to assist in the ministry work of the Lewis family.  



Pray this week for Mark Pearson, Scott Adams, David Hamm, and Tracy Graham that they would have travel mercies and they would find favor with the Toposa people that they will be witnessing to.  Specifically, pray for the Karkamuge people that we will be working with directly.

Shannon Lewis talks about the Toposa People

Happy Labor Day from N2N!

Soli Deo Gloria

Let Isaac spur us on to prayer

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefor pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Matthew 9:37-38

Can I admit something to you?  I don't pray as I should.  I read and I study and I think, but the ratio of reading/studying/thinking to praying is way out of whack.  This became clear to me this morning as I was getting ready to write this week's blog.  We are in Louisiana and life in Louisiana often involves hurricanes.  I've watched Isaac closely over the last few days and over the last few hours, it seems likely that Isaac is headed for New Orleans.

I was a Louisiana resident 7 years ago and I remember Katrina and the devastation she caused.  Now, it seems very unlikely that Isaac will be a storm of the same magnitude as Katrina, but even "weak" hurricanes can cause major damage.  I've recently began to learn about the work of ministers and church planters in the New Orleans area and how devastated they were by Katrina.  This past week I heard from Dennis Watson of Celebration Church and he spoke of his depression immediately after the storm.  Similar comments were made by Southern Baptist Convention president and New Orleans pastor Fred Luter.  These men have poured themselves out in the the city and for the people.  The morning after Katrina, it appeared as if much of their work had been washed away by the storm.

We know, though, that the work of a pastor and planter is not one of mortar and brick, but of discipleship, prayer, and people.  Katrina may have destroyed buildings, but we know that that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.  Circumstances, however dire and formidable, cannot stop the work of God.  In the days following the storm, Dennis Watson and Fred Luter began to see what the Lord was doing through the storm as the people they had invested in girded them up and encouraged them to get back to the vital work of ministry in a city that was more in need than ever before.

This morning as I looked through facebook and twitter, I saw pastors caring for a people that are likely to evacuate and be dispersed.  Pastors from Vintage Church, Mosaic, and Harbor NOLA are urging their people to keep them updated on where they'll be.  As I read post after post from these men, I began to feel a burden to pray for them.  And I think that we should.  We have some folks who have already moved down in anticipation of the plant and I have been in prayer for them.  I urge you to pray for pastors and planters in the path of the storm.  I also urge you to pray for their congregations and the lost of the city.

What struck me though is that I should already be praying for these folks.  It shouldn't take a hurricane to spur me on to support our brothers and sisters in Christ who have been sent out as laborers into His harvest.

So, as Isaac bears down on New Orleans, let us commit to pray for the people there, but let us not stop on Thursday when Isaac is somewhere in Arkansas.  May we continue to pray for the Lord's will be done in New Orleans and all over the world.  May the Lord send workers into the harvest, and may our prayer be, "Here am I Lord, send me."

Soli Deo Gloria

Our plan

The past two weeks from the pulpit, we've been challenged to personally engage in spreading the Gospel from Neighbors to Nations.  A special emphasis has been placed on intentionality in reaching out to our neighbors.  I would like to share our families plan to engage our neighbors for the Gospel this fall.

Is this plan perfect?  Nope.  I'm sure we'll revisit the plan after a few months and evaluate its effectiveness.  I want to share it with you so that I can give you updates on how it is working and work through some of the things we need to change.

About two months ago, the Lord blessed us with a house in a great neighborhood.  Our neighbors are always outside walking dogs or throwing footballs.  If you want to meet our neighbors, you need only to sit out on the porch and wait for them to pass by.  In addition to the accessibility of our neighbors, there are also a large number of Christians in our neighborhood who are burdened for the lost in our neighborhood.

With this in mind, my wife and I have decided to invite one of our neighbors into our home at least once a month for a meal.  The goal is to open the lines of communication with them so that we may share Gospel with them and very tangibly show them the love of Christ as we seek to love them sacrificially for their good and God's glory.

Our prayer is that we would be faithful at every step of the process.  The Gospel is not lasagna, so we must be faithful beyond the initial invitation and we must be ready to share our faith with them.  Then we must keep in contact with them and share the love of Christ with them regardless of how they initially react to the Gospel.

Please pray that we would be faithful!

So that's our plan.  What's yours?

May we be faithful to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the lost!

Soli Deo Gloria

The Great Commission: The Security

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

My daughter, like Linus, has a security blanket.  It makes her feel secure.  It makes her feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations.  I don't know why, but she feels like everything is going to be alright as long as she has that blanket.  Sure, it's false security, but the comfort is very real.

In the Great Commission, Jesus declares his authority and gives us our marching orders.  His authority is absolute and our marching orders are monumental.  So how does He end?  Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.  Jesus knows the difficulty of the work ahead.  2000 years later we look back and see that most of the men He was addressing died on account of their affiliation with Him.

I confess that when I look back and see the end that came for Paul and Peter and James and John, I feel almost silly discussing our need for comfort in evangelism.  At this point in history, most US Christians don't face the type of persecution that the apostles endured.

Yet, we still experience trials on account of our faith.  2 Timothy 3:12 tells us that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.  We shouldn't get caught up in comparing our trials with the trials of others.  Just as Christ reprimanded Peter when Peter asked what sort of fate John would suffer.  He said, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!"  Jesus is essentially saying, don't worry about everybody else, be faithful to what I've called you to.

And that's just it.  What will our faithfulness result in?  We know that Peter was killed.  We also know that Peter was integral in the spreading of the Gospel of Christ.  We know that Stephen was stoned, but we also know that he stood boldly for Christ in the face of deadly consequences and his faith was "proven" to be true.  Even in the worst cases for our physical well-being, God did miraculous things through the faithfulness of His people.

There is our comfort.  He is with us.  He is for us.  Despite what happens to us as a result of our faithfulness to His call, we know that He holds the keys to life and death and that His purposes are being accomplished.  We don't put our hope in a sentimental piece of cloth, our hope is in the God of the universe.  Our hope is in the omnipotent, omni-benevolent, omniscient God who created everything we see out of nothing, judges justly, and mercifully provided a Way for our salvation.  THAT is security.

May we rest in the goodness and kindness of our Savior as we strive to fulfill the Great Commission.

Soli Deo Gloria

The Great Commission: The Work

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you..."

Last week we discussed the authority behind the Great Commission.  This week we'll talk more in-depth about the actual work of the Great Commission.  As we go, we are to make disciples of all nations.  Baptism is a sign of union with Christ and it is a command of the Scriptures.  Teaching those who are saved to observe all the Christ commanded the disciples is also a natural outgrowth of union with Christ.  As such, I think it's fair to say that those two commands are explanatory of the primary command which is to make disciples.

In our first post, we showed that the local church was the God-ordained vehicle for discipleship.  My favorite Scripture on this is in Hebrews10:19-25: Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

As I've said earlier, instruction and relational investment seem to be biblical pillars for biblical discipleship.  We don't just teach, we invest.  We don't just pray for each other, we hold each other accountable.

Christ's command comes with the understanding that His word does not return void.  When we preach the Gospel faithfully to the lost, the Spirit will convict of sin and grant faith and repentance.  

This is a blog about church planting, but this is the command to all Christians.  Making disciples and preaching the Gospel to the lost is not the work of a select few that God has called to missionary work.  This is the work of every Christian.  May we strive to be faithful to that calling.

Soli Deo Gloria