J.C. Ryle: God's Way of Working In and Through the Church

"Great is the wisdom with which the Lord Jesus Christ builds His Church!  All is done at the right time, and in the right way.  Each stone in its turn is put in its right place.  Sometimes He chooses great stones, and sometimes He chooses small stones.  Sometimes the work goes on fast, and sometimes it goes on slowly.  Man is frequently impatient, and thinks that nothing is doing.  But man's time is not God's time.  A thousand years in His sight are but as a single day.  The great Builder makes no mistakes.  He knows what He is doing.  He sees the end from the beginning.  He works by a perfect, unalterable and certain plan.  The mightiest conceptions of architects, like Michelangelo and Wren, are mere trifling and child's play, in comparison with Christ's wise counsels respecting His Church."

Taking the Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

As happens every year at this time, the group which spent a week at Pine Ridge, SD will be sharing their experiences with the church.  This sharing time, though, is not about sharing photos, though pictures are nice and put faces to people we hear about.  It's not about sharing stories, though it is nice to hear from personal experiences.  What our time in Pine Ridge is all about is about God's work in the midst of hopelessness and His call for us to enter with these people into that same hopelessness.

I have heard many people make comments about the Native Americans and their issues.  They say things like, "They should just learn to adapt to the American culture" or "They are just a bunch of drunks who need to get over it and stop it" or "What they need is . . ."  The Lakota people of Pine Ridge don't need a "thing."  They need a person.  And his name is Jesus Christ.  Only Christ can change their hopelessness into joy and celebration.

When the group shares every year it is out of a hope that someone will heed the call to go next year.  Going on a mission trip once can be helpful to the growth of a disciple of Christ.  But to go to the same place year after year creates relationships that allow the disciple of Christ to share the love of Christ with people they know and see every year.  There are children who know us by name because we have seen them every year for the past five, ten, or fifteen years.

Is God calling you?  Don't hesitate to follow His call.  It will never be something to regret.  Come this Sunday to hear about God's work in the midst of the Lakota people and in the lives of those who heeded His call to go.

The Gospel According to James

If you have been a regular church goer for most of your life you may have heard the following illustration about the Gospel message and the responsibility of the people of God, disciples of Jesus Christ to that message.  To have the truth of the eternal destination of everyone on earth (one either spends eternity in joy in God’s presence or eternity in torment totally separated from God’s presence) and not share that truth with one’s neighbors, family, and friends is like having the cure for cancer and yet holding that cure close to oneself so that those who need it would not be offended by what may be said.

The world is sick.  The world is filled with sin, all stemming from one man’s decision at the beginning of creation to disobey God.  We who are children of God were once in the same predicament.  We were sick.  We were dying.  But someone faithfully spoke the truth of the Gospel message to us.  God opened our hearts to the truth, we repented, and by faith received eternal life through the grace of God.

In James 4:1-6 James explains the problem, the sickness which has infected the world.  But there is a hope.  There is a cure to the sickness.  It is not a hopeless cause.  And there are some in our midst, perhaps even ourselves, who have no idea that we are sick and in need of a cure.  May God prayerfully prepare us to hear of that cure and to share that cure with all around us.

Pine Ridge: Final Day

Today will be our last day of Vacation Bible School with the children in Pine Ridge, SD.  On the first day most of the team was up by this time of the morning (6:30am) and ready to go.  Today, there is very little movement.  We are all tired and some of us are sore from work projects, but we are all ready for one last day (at least for this year).

This is our final day this year to speak the Truth of the Gospel Message into the lives of these kids.  After today, we can only assume that they will not hear the gospel as clearly again until our return.  So, our prayers go out to them.  May the Seed grow and flourish on good soil, changing the hearts and souls of the Lakota people, so that Jesus Christ, who is their only true Hope, will become great among them.

There is much history and animosity in this place.  And frankly, I cannot blame them.  We would feel the same way if our own history followed the path of their people over the last 150 years.  But as great as this wall of history is against the Gospel, our God is greater.  Pray that this wall is broken, the Truth is spread, and people are changed.

God is good!  God is strong!  God is our only hope!  God is our Savior!

For His glory and honor, forever and ever.  Amen.

(Can't wait until next year.)

Pine Ridge: Day Four

Yes, we are organized.  Yes, we have plans today.  Yes, we are all wearing the same t-shirt so that everyone in the world knows that we belong to the same group.  But, yes, we are tired.  Yes, we may be getting on each other's nerves a bit.  Yes, we may be feeling the weakest of all days.

This is normal.  Why?  Because today is the day where the gospel message is spoken the most clearly during Vacation Bible School in Pine Ridge, SD.  The gospel has been spoken every day, but today will be the day we call the kids to make a decision.  Who will they trust?  Will they trust the world and their own efforts to "make things right" or will they trust the only True Savior, Jesus Christ?

There is much spiritual warfare going on right now around us.  Satan is feeling the pressure and is not liking what he sees.  He's fighting us in every way possible.  And that's just the way we like it.  The enemy doesn't just have a foothold here.  He has thrown a whole block-party and is making plans to expand.  But we are here to say, "No more!"

Some may tell us that a week in one place does nothing.  It's not long enough to make any significant spiritual headway.  But I would disagree.  Would it be better to live here 24/7 in order to reach the Lakota people for Christ?  Absolutely!  As of right now we are called to be here for a week in order to once again speak the gospel Truth and to encourage the very small Church (1%-2% of the total population of Pine Ridge confesses to be believers in Christ).  But even in this short amount of time God can do a great work beyond anything we could do on our own.

Pray for us today as we fight an offensive against the enemy.  Pray that we would be united for His cause and that our focus would be directed to speak the Truth to spiritually dead and hardened hearts. Pray that God's kingdom would expand and that His name would go far and wide throughout this place.

Oh, and I am praying for you.  Because you are called to come here next year to fight with us.  Or perhaps you are called to move here and proclaim His Truth, Jesus Christ 24/7.  Do not resist His call to reach others for Christ.  And if that call leads you here, praise His name!

For His glory alone!

Pine Ridge: Day Three

Today is our third day of having Vacation Bible School in Pine Ridge, SD.  The focus today will be on trusting Christ, the pure and greatest Lamb, who sacrificed himself to defeat our sin.  Pray that today the children will hear, catch, and trust the Lamb.

If you have never been to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation I would highly recommend it.  It would be an experience you would never forget.  And it gets into your blood once you've come.  Yesterday we woke up to a man, Douglas, who wanted to have a cup of coffee.  It was obvious that he had been drinking already at 6:00am.  As I write this, he is sitting at the table talking with one of our team members about the past hardships of their people.  Wil, our team member, is African American, and to hear him try to explain how me, a white man, did not kill his people and did not distort the story of the Gospel.  The hopelessness that we find here and the very open wounds that still exist from the past are dramatic.  The church of the past has done a disservice for the work of Christ in the future.  It's a good lesson to learn for us today.

So, don't judge this man because of the still open wounds of his people.  Do not tell his to "get over it."  We all have some wounds that just won't heal.  It just that some are larger and deeper than others.  Now imagine trying to heal those wounds without the power of the Holy Spirit.  He blames me for the hardships of his people.  And in a sense he may be right.  But I hold nothing against him.  I'm just praying for Douglas' salvation and the salvation of his people.  Imagine what God will to through this great people do if He would give them over to the Great Lamb?  Pray for the revival of the hearts of these people.

Pine Ridge: Day Two

Today will be our second day of Vacation Bible School in Pine Ridge, SD.  Our focus yesterday was on how God created the universe and that it was perfect in every way, just like God.  Today we will focus on the sin of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God and how that disobedience brought death into the world.  Not just a physical death, but also spiritual.  We are all in this boat of death before God grabs our heart and saves our souls.

Praise His name today!  For He is good!

Pine Ridge - Day One

Today is the first day of VBS at Pine Ridge, SD.  We have made plans and everything is ready for the day, but as usual it will rarely go as planned.  Schedules will be ruined and plans will be thwarted, but  our first and foremost desire is that the gospel message is clearly spoken and understood by all who are here this morning.  Our God is good and if anyone can get someone to understand His saving grace and mercy it would be Him.

Pray for all of us as a team that we would unified in speaking the truth and loving the kids more than we love ourselves.  Pray that we would see the barriers and walls that have been built up for generations be broken and fall.  Pray that Pine Ridge would experience a revival and fire that only the Spirit can bring.

For His Glory Alone!

J.C. Ryle: What is the Church?

"Upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).

"Now what is this Church?  Few inquiries can be made of more importance than this.  For want of due attention to this subject, the errors that have crept into the world are neither few nor small.

"The Church of our text is no material building.  It is no temple made with hands of wood or brick or stone or marble.  It is a company of men and women.  It is no particular visible Church on earth.  It is not the Eastern Church or the Western Church.  It is not he Church of England or the Church of Scotland.  Above all, it certainly is not the Church of Rome.  The Church of our text is one that makes far less show than any visible Church in the eyes of man, but is of far more importance in the eyes of God.

"The Church of our text is made up of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, of all who are really holy and converted people.  It comprehends all who have repented of sin, and fled to Christ by faith, and been made new creatures in Him.  It comprises all God's elect, all who have received God's grace, all who have been washed in Christ''s blood, all who have been clothed in Christ's righteousness, all who have been born again and sanctified by Christ's Spirit.  All such, of every name and rank and nation and people and tongue, compose the Church of our text.  This is the body of Christ.  This is the flock of Christ.  This is the bride.  This is the Lamb's wife.  This is 'the holy catholic and apostolic Church,' of the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.  This is 'the blessed company of all faithful people; spoken of in the communion service of the Chur
ch of England.  This is the 'the Church on the Rock.'"

(Holiness, Ryle, J.C., p. 185)

J.C. Ryle on the Christian's View of Christ

"I am afraid that many who profess Christ in our day have lost sight of our Lord's person.  They talk more about salvation than about their only Savior, and more about redemption than the one true Redeemer, and more about Christ's work than Christ Himself.  This is a great fault, one that accounts for the dry and shriveled spirit that infuses the religious lives of many who profess faith.

"As ever you would grow in grace, and have joy and peace in believing, beware of falling into this error.  Cease to regard the Gospel as a mere collection of dry doctrines.  Look at it rather as the revelation of a mighty living Being in whose sight you are daily to live.  Cease to regard it as a mere set of abstract propositions and [hard to understand] principles and rules.  Look at it as the introduction to a glorious personal Friend.  This is the kind of Gospel that the apostles preached.  They did not go about the world telling men of love and mercy and pardon in the abstract.  The leading subject of all their sermons was the loving heart of an actual living Christ.  This is the kind of Gospel which is most calculated to promote sanctification and fitness for glory.  Nothing, surely, is so likely to prepare us for that heaven where Christ's personal presence will be all, and that glory where we shall meet Christ face to face, as to realize communion with Christ, as an actual living Person here on earth.  There is all the difference in the world between and idea and a person."

(Holiness, Ryle, J.C., p. 183)

True Wisdom Brings Peace

“Two shopkeepers were bitter rivals.  Their stores were directly across the street from each other, and they would spend each day keeping track of each other’s business.  If one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival.  One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream and said, ‘I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor will receive twice as much.  Would you be rich?  You can be very rich, but he will be twice as wealthy.  Do you wish to live a long and healthy life?  You can, but his life will be longer and healthier.  What is your desire?’  The man frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, ‘Here is my request: Strike me blind in one eye!’”  (Thomas Lindberg)

Jealousy is nothing new to the human race.  Selfish ambition has plagued mankind for generations since that fateful day in the Garden of Eden.  James, the brother of Jesus, takes special care in James 3:13-4:3 to address the problems that were evident in the churches of his time and still afflict the church today.

The opposite of jealousy and selfish ambition is wisdom, but not just any type of wisdom.  What is this wisdom?  How can the true Christian and disciple of Christ live out this wisdom?  What is the root cause of jealousy and selfish ambition?  Where does God’s intervention come into play?

Join us this Sunday as we dig into James’ words of encouragement and conviction.  Prayerfully be prepared for the Holy Spirit’s movement in your own life and in the life of the church as a whole as we look into the Truth of God’s Word.