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FacebookReflections on Nicaragua and Here
May 26
It was great to have Monday as a holiday. Our team arrived back in Rogers at 2 am, Sunday morning. I know everyone has their own air travel horror stories, so I will not bore you with the details of ours in attempt to build sympathy. That said, I was committed to preaching all three Sunday morning services. I wanted to do it and knew that I had Sunday and Monday to rest up. So here we are on Tuesday. Here are few lessons from the trip that I have gleaned.
The purpose of God to bring glory to Himself is inseparably connected to the Gospel being shared, people being saved, and resulting in more worshipers of Our King. Worship that does not enlist workers who are passionate for the King and sharing the King’s message of redemption, forgiveness, salvation, and security is not really biblical worship.
The purpose of God requires His people to be inconvenienced, persecuted, challenged, suffering, tired, stretched, sacrificing, humbled, bold, empowered, anointed, filled, dependent, etc. God’s invitation to join Him is often an invitation into danger rather than safety, into difficulty rather than comfort, into impossibility instead of routine, into selflessness instead of self-gratification, into significance and suffering rather than success.
The Gospel is powerful to save and to transcend cultural barriers. One of the challenges that confronts the Western church is that the Gospel is not the priority. Other things which may be good and even some necessary for biblical growth sometimes begin to crowd out the priority of the Gospel. I have just taught pastors that the Great Commission is not completed until the “baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” has taken place. But we cannot baptize and teach unless people hear and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
While traveling, I almost finished reading the book, “The Convergent Church: Missional Worshiper in an Emerging Culture.” by Alvin Reid and Mark Liederbach. These guys are both professors at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Reid spoke for me at our state convention last year and will be preaching in January at FBC Rogers and doing a youth worker workshop. My intent here is not to do an extensive book review. The book is good and balanced. They get beyond style and form to the heart of the matter of the Gospel, God’s people living missionally, and connecting with lost people so they can hear the Gospel. Unfortunately, we preach the Gospel in the church but the lost are not there. We do not live the Gospel missionally outside the church where the people are. Many people my generation and older have grown up with the view that God’s kingdom and His work takes place within the four walls of a building where saints gather each Sunday. I would venture to say that 90% of those who made POF last week did so outside the walls of a building with “church” on a sign out front. Now I do believe that people will come to church if a friend invites them and there they can hear the Gospel. Two key words in that previous sentence are “friend” and “invite.” We must have friends who need Christ. We must invite them to come with us to church.
There is also an observation of the openness of people to the Gospel. My great fear is that the US is following the pattern of Europe. Our views on morality have certainly slipped to European lows. Our culture here is becoming more and more anti-Christ and anti-Church. We shared the Gospel in schools in Nicaragua and hundreds of children and teenagers trusted in Christ. I remember learning the books of the Bible in my 3rd grade public school class. I remember beginning the day with prayer, Bible reading, and the pledge of allegiance in my 3rd grade public school class. I am not advocating that the schools and the government are the keys to spiritual awakening or revival. They are just indicators of where our culture is today. The same opposition and animosity that is overwhelming on all the major media outlets on TV and in print can be seen in many of the people in our communities.
I contrast that with what I just experienced in Nicaragua and I come to some conclusions. First, America desperately needs revival. Individual believers must assume responsibility for living for Christ and missionally in their life. Your purpose is to glorify God and introduce others to Him where you live and work whether it is in government, schools, business, etc. Value your purpose for God supremely. Second, there are definite harvest fields in the world today where people are readily responding to the Gospel. Jesus spoke of fields being white unto harvest. Growing up in an agricultural community, I have learned the importance of the harvest. If you don’t bring the harvest in, then everything that you have done all year, the planting, fertilizing, spraying, irrigating, etc. does not matter and was for nothing. The harvest is the most important thing. People put aside everything else for the harvest knowing that rest comes after the harvest is in. Third, while the harvest is hard, it is also the most exciting part of farming. Hopes and dreams are realized in a harvest. So when we eliminate the harvest from our life journey, we have lost the fun part of the journey where our hopes and dreams lie and are fulfilled. These are just a few thoughts and reflections from Nicaragua. Until next time. . .Wes