Is God "Working" in Senegal?

Recently I returned from a 8 day trip to Dakar, Senegal (West Africa).I hope you will take time to read this post and be encouraged how a partnership in the Gospel can be used by God to advance the Great Commission.

The Trip

·    God provided safe travel to/from Dakar even though we returned to the U.S. amidst a multi-day storm front that hit the east coast. We encountered no delays and our flights were unaffected by the weather.

·    We stayed at the IMB guesthouse in Dakar close to the neighborhood (Sacre Coeur Tre) where we worked for seven days.

·    We learned some of the Wolof language so that we could greet the people in their native dialect and learned how to take taxis without being over charged by the drivers. Our language learning brought down many cultural barriers as the people were amazed that “two bobs” (white people) were interested in speaking in their mother tongue. In fact, we were able to witness to the taxi drivers too.

·    Our IMB missionaries (Stan, Gaye, and Rick) encouraged, empowered, and equipped us for our task and prepared us for future trips.

·    Our local Christian brother (Dauuda or David) served as one of our indigenous translators and challenged us with his boldness to share God’s stories with the people. He is studying English at a local university and speaks at least 4 languages.

·    We identified over 1,000 residences and engaged over 200 people in the Sacre Coeur Tre neighborhood. We used an iPhone and APP to take people’s pictures and identify key landmarks with specific notes. At night, we were able to download the data into Google maps for future reference and follow up by our IMB missionaries and future Crabapple FBC “seal teams.”

Our Approach

·    Twice a day (morning and late afternoon/early evening) we split into two teams of three people and entered different areas of the neighborhood.

·    We greeted people in Wolof and engaged them in conversation. When they asked what we were doing in their neighborhood our response was “We are followers of Jesus (Isa in Arabic) and he commands us in the New Testament (Ingil in Arabic) to go and tell others about Him.” Then we would ask, “Do you know anything about Isa.” Most of the time, their response would be “No.” Then we would say, “Would you like to learn about Isa.” If they said “Yes” we would say, “May we share a story from God’s Word.” With their permission, we would share either the Creation to Christ story or the story of the demoniac (Mark 5:1-20).

·    Often times, the people wanted to know more and we would share with them. Again, we took their picture and recorded our interaction and their receptivity to our encounter into the iPhone APP for follow up.

Personal Stories

·    One evening we were walking in the neighborhood and we were very close to the local mosque. I noticed some men gathered across the street and several were building furniture in their outdoor shop. I said, “Let’s go and visit with these men” and so we greeted them and begin talking with them. I noticed one man was wearing a t-shirt that had a silk screen image of a sailfish and Atlantic Beach, NC emblazoned on it. So I asked Rick to ask the man if he had ever been to Atlantic Beach. He smiled and said “No.” Then I asked Rick to tell him that I was from N.C. and my uncle had caught a fish similar to the one on his t-shirt. I continued by saying, “In fact, the fish was bigger than this cabinet (at least 7 feet in length that was lying on the ground). The men’s eyes got big and they laughed. Then, I asked Rick to ask them if they would like to hear a story from God’s Word about the prophet Jonah and the big fish. They said “Yes” and so Rick shared the story of Jonah. Rick concluded by saying, “God loves all people even our enemies. He loved the Ninevites so much that He sent His prophet Jonah to his enemies to learn that everyone must repent of their sins and turn to God for salvation.”

·    The last day we went to the ocean not to swim but to find a place that Rick and a group of local Christians could gather and baptize our new Christian Brother Ousseynou, a Sereer people group believer. He moved from his village in southern Senegal without a job and met Rick. Through Rick’s love and concern for him, they became friends. After sharing the gospel with Ousseynou, he replied “I know this is true. I want to follow Isa.” On Sunday after we departed, he was baptized in the ocean. He is growing in his faith and Rick took him to his village the following week to share about his new life in Christ and the gospel with his family and the people in his village. Rick reported to me recently that Ousseynou is bold in sharing the gospel with almost everyone he meets. Am I doing that in my local community and in my daily activities?   

As I mentioned to you in my letter on March 13, our fellowship, Crabapple First Baptist Church, adopted the Wolof people. We will continue working with IMB missionaries in developing a strategy to reach them with the gospel in a way they can understand, obey and follow as their own. Our goal is to take the gospel to them and equip them to take the gospel to their own people and other near culture peoples.  As they come to faith in Christ, they will be responsible for evangelizing their own people, discipling them, and planting churches within their own cultural context. All of this work is because of our Lord’s command “to go and make disciples.”

There are about 4.5 million Wolof people in the world, most of whom are Sunni Muslims. Of these, less than 0.001% is evangelical Christians meaning there is virtually no indigenous gospel witness among them. They do not have a Bible in their language. We have an enormous opportunity to impact the lives of these people with the gospel.  Our next “seal team” will be going back to Dakar in July. We have another team scheduled to go in November and I will be leading another team in January/February 2012.

I hope you will join with me again in 2012 as we continue our work among a people who are open to know God, but do not know the way to God through the Son. Even in these challenging times, God is still at work advancing His Kingdom in the hearts of those who turn to Him by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ through genuine repentance.  I look forward to sharing about my upcoming trip to Dakar in 2012. I encourage you to continue to pray for the Wolof people brothers and sisters!

That all peoples may know Him,

Mark

"And thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.” (Romans 15:20-21)

Is It Ever O.K. To Be Proud?

Last Sunday, my 25 year old son Austin, delivered his first sermon at his church. His pastor was having some health issues and asked him to be ready to preach for him. Austin asked if his mama and I could come to hear him preach and of course we said "yes." Austin and I got together on Saturday to review his sermon preparation and I gave him a few suggestions to consider and that night he finished up his message.

I awoke during the early morning hours on Sunday and took that as an opportunity to continue to pray for him - wisdom, discernment, and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit's leading as he preached. Austin's message was titled "What is our hope?" His text was based on Romans 8:18-25 in which the Apostle Paul uses the phrase "in hope" or the word "hope" six times. Paul was pointing to the believer's ultimate hope in Christ and the final consummation of the believer's spirit to the resurrected body. This eschatological event will occur when Christ establishes His earthly kingdom during His Second Advent. Austin concluded his message by taking us to Revelation 21 as the Apostle John "saw a new heaven and a new earth" and closed his sermon from Chapter 22:20b with the cry of every Christian who is in his or her right spiritual mind, Amen!Come, Lord Jesus (maranatha, Aramaic)."

Austin's overarching conclusion for the question "What is our hope?" was... "Our hope is that Christ is coming again, defeating Satan, sin, and death, and establishing his everlasting kingdom on earth where we are in intimate fellowship with him."

Now back to my original question... Is It Ever O.K. To Be Proud? I believe that Scripture supports a hearty Amen under the following provision. We can be proud of one another when we attempt to exalt Christ rather than ourselves as we point God's people to Scriptural truth and give one another biblical principles upon which to live out our faith daily. I believe the Holy Spirit empowered His servant Austin to do just that on Sunday.

Yes, I'm proud of you son.

As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians using Christ as the model of humility.

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others (Phil. 2:3-4)."

PEACE: Is it possible?

Everywhere we turn there seems to be "no peace." No peace among husbands and wives, parents and children, neighbor to neighbor, community to community, no peace among nations, and sometimes not even peace between the people of God (the body of Christ). The most relevant question does not seem to be "Where in the world is peace to be found?" but rather "Is peace possible?"

What then is peace? Is peace a lack of conflict, turmoil, or fighting? Is peace sublime tranquility? Or is peace found in a place removed from human culture and society?

Once again, is peace possible? Does the Christmas season represent peace? As I was listening to our Christmas musical celebration and worship service recently, I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to consider the word PEACE. So rather than listening intently to the musical presentation much to my wife's chagrin I began to write the word PEACE on a "scribble card" found in the church pew. And I wrote...

PEACE
Praise (Psa. 135:1)
Exaltation (Psa. 18:46)
Acclamation (Num. 23:21)
Christ (Gal. 3:26)
Eternal (1 John 2:25)

The prophet Isaiah wrote about the coming Messiah and called Him the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). The Gospel writer Dr. Luke wrote "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased" (Luke 2:14). It seems that the Greek rendering of Luke's passage more closely reads "not that divine peace can be bestowed only where human good will is already present, but that at the birth of the Saviour God’s peace rests on those whom he has chosen in accord with his good pleasure.” The beloved Apostle John quoted Jesus as saying "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you, I do not give it as the world does" (John 14:27). It appears that this "peace" that Jesus is speaking about to His disciples is the coming Holy Spirit who will indwell them at Pentecost (Acts 2). Of course,  the implication of this past reality  is that all believers after Pentecost will be indwelt by the same Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the Apostle Paul affirms in his letter to the Roman believers that peace with God is found in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1). Paul continues to teach that Jesus is the source of peace through His shed blood on the cross (Eph. 2:14-16); moreover, he calls this message the "gospel of peace" (Eph. 6:14). In fact, Paul writes to the church in Philippi that through prayer " the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7).

I hope you get the point of these few Scripture passages. Peace is possible, but peace is only possible in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. At Christmas time, we remember the beautiful story of Messiah's birth, but most importantly we are reminded in Scripture that His incarnation was for the sole purpose of bringing peace. The question remains, but peace with whom? The answer is peace with God. Without peace with God there can be no peace with us. Without peace with us there can be no peace with one another. Without peace with one another there can be no peace between family, neighbors, communities, nations or even our enemies. Peace with God through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is our only hope for real peace, lasting peace, eternal peace.

The Psalmist exclaims Praise the LORD! Praise the name of the LORD! Offer praise, you servants of the LORD" (Psa. 135:1). "The God who delivers me is exalted as king" (Psa. 18:46). "The LORD their God is with them; his acclamation as king is among them" (Num. 23:21). "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith" (Gal. 3:26). "Now this is the promise that he himself made to us: eternal life" (1 John 2:25).

My prayer is that we embrace the peace that Jesus Christ offers us through His incarnation, atoning sacrifice, reconciliation with the Triune God, and His faithful promise of abundant life both now and for all eternity.

PEACE
Shalom

Amen (so be it)
Mark

Where Have You Been?

Wow, I've been gone awhile. I don't know why but every time I opened up my blog site I just didn't have the urge to write anything meaningful. Does that mean that I didn't have anything meaningful to say? I'm not sure but I'm trying to learn not to say anything at all if I don't have something important to say. That reminds me of the greatest Teacher who ever lived and is still alive - Jesus of Nazareth. Now there is Someone who always had something important to say, but He chose his words wisely.

Jesus said during his Torah (or teaching) in what is known today as the Sermon on the Mount "Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’ More than this is from the evil one." (Matt. 5:37) How often has someone said to you - Yes, I will do that for you only to never follow through with their commitment. Your thoughts may have varied about their failure to follow through on their "yes." You may have wondered - Did they forget? Have they been delayed? Did they not mean what they said? Did their circumstances change? Do they not love me anymore? Were they trying to appease me and made a commitment that they had no intention to keep?

In this passage in Matthew, Jesus is reminding the Jewish people about certain commitments or promises that were made to them by their Jewish religious leaders. He uses the phrase "You have heard that the ancients were told" or "And it was said" and then he says in contrast "But I say to you." Jesus is using this teaching method to emphasize how the Jewish religious leaders were perverting the Law of Moses with their own interpretation of the Law. Their religious piety was a perversion of the Law and demonstrated their spiritual poverty. Unfortunately, the Jewish citizens were the recipients of their false teaching and were given a yoke that was impossible to carry. They were living under religious oppression from the very people who were supposed to help them grow closer to Yahweh.   Rather than receiving Yahweh's grace,  they were overwhelmed by spiritual bondage placed upon them by man's religious traditions.

Are you living in spiritual bondage? Are you bound by religious traditions that have no basis in the Scriptures? If so, this type of bondage is not from the God of the Bible but is from man who is under the influence of Satan. Today billions of people are under spiritual bondage. They are trying to merit their release from this bondage by "reaching up to God or a god or pantheon of gods" rather than receiving God's grace as "he reaches down to them from heaven."

If you are one of these people or if you suspect that you have these tendencies, I simply ask you to read and meditate on this Scripture.

"For by grace you have been saved by faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

As you meditate on these two verses, simply "Let your word be ‘Yes, yes' and respond to the words of Jesus. All you have to do is repent (turn from the way you're going) for your rebellion against God. Ask Him to save you from spiritual bondage. How? By trusting in Jesus finished work of salvation through the cross of Christ. He will hear your 'yes' and bring you out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light.

Amen (so be it),
Mark, a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, by grace!

Vying for the Truth

I opened my mail this morning and in a nice handwritten envelope with a letter that began with the salutation "Dear Neighbor." It was even signed by the writer with their address located in my small surburban city. At the top of the letter was a colorful picture and a quote from Psalm 37:10-11. Then the writer asked three questions: (1) Does God really care about us?, (2) Will ware (I think she meant "war") and suffering ever end?, (3) How can I find happiness in my life? I thought, "these are all legitimate questions?" Then I was invited to call the writer if I had any questions and she left her cell phone number. Wow, it was very personal and inviting.

Enclosed with the letter was a nice 4 page brochure titled "Would You Like to Know the Truth?" So I read it, and it included the three questions mentioned above plus three additonal questions: (4) What happens to us when we die?, (5) Is there any hope for the dead?, (6) How can I pray and be heard by God?

So I read the answers to all six questions. Although they quoted and referenced the Bible, there was something askew. The verses didn't really address the questions. They were taken out of context and "plugged in" to make their case. Finally, there was no mention of humanity's separation from God by sin. There was no mention of humanity's need to be reconciled to God. There was no mention of a way to be saved from our sin. There was no mention of humanity's need for a Savior who is qualified to redeem us from our sin.

I was even invited to contact the writer of the letter and she could help me get "plugged into" a home Bible study called What Does the Bible Really Teach?

Finally, I looked at the bottom of the very last page to see who published this brochure. Just as I suspected -  it read: "Scripture quotations are from the modern language New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures - With References. Copyright 2008 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.

Some  of you might be asking, "so what?" Well, this is exactly what the Apostle Paul faced during his ministry. Paul would go into a city and begin teaching the gospel - first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles (non-Jews). He would face opposition and be confronted by false teachers who would try and convince the people that Paul was a heretic. Their message of "salvation" was always "works based." In other words. the person always needed to do something (i.e., keep the law, strive for perfection, follow certain rules) in order to earn their redemption. Often times, these false teachers denied either the deity or the humanity of Christ.

Jesus said, "Watch out for false prophets (teachers, italics are mine), They come to you in sheeps clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit (works, italics are mine) you will recognize them" (Matt. 7:15-16a, NIV).

If someone from the Jehovah's Wtinesses comes to your door or you receive some literature from them in the mail, please remember this brief article. You can determine whether they are "wolves" or "sheep" by asking them a few questions:

1. Who do you say that Jesus Christ is? Let them answer and then ask ...
2. Is He fully God and fully man? The Bible teaches that at His incarnation (in the flesh) Jesus was fully God and also became fully Man and forever He is the God-Man.
3. Do you believe in original sin (sin by birth inherited from the first man Adam and passed down to each succeeding generation)? Do you believe in volitional sin (sin by choice)? The Bible clearly teaches this for all humanity. However since Jesus is God He is and always will be sinless.
4. What must I do to be saved from my sin and reconciled to God? The Bible teaches that we must all confess our sin (agree with God), repent (turn from our sin), and trust in Christ as the only means for salvation (i.e., in His sinless life, shedding of His blood for our sins, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead).

The brochure concluded with this quotation from Scripture: "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). However, you must know the whole truth and nothing but the truth before you can be set free. Here is my admonition, vye for the truth and know where real truth comes from . It does not come from a cult that tries to trick people into believing a lie and masks it by having their own corrupted copy of a book that they profess to be the Bible. Vye for the truth and know what the whole of Scripture teaches and then you really "will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Press on brothers and sisters and for those who may not know Christ, I urge you to consider the truth! Your life depends on it.

The "how to the so what"

I was relaxing at home tonight flippin' between the Golf Channel and Fox News when my cell phone rang. When I answered, it was a friend who spent two years with his wife in a restricted country in North Africa. I say "restricted" because this country doesn't allow missionaries to work in their country, but of course, there are not restrictions for people who have a legitimate work or student visa to live there for a specifiic period of time. That is exactly what my friends were doing; however, they were also obeying Christ's command to "go and make disciples and to teach them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:18-19).

Anyway, he called me tonight to share about a new opportunity that God has given him through his local fellowship where he serves as the youth pastor. Recently, he took some students on their first ever out of the country mission trip to Argentina where they worked with other believers to advance the gospel. Before he left, the lead pastor of his church asked him to think about a way that their church could become more intentional in taking the gospel to another culture. While he was there, he thought and prayed about what this might look like in their local church context. Then, he had an idea. Perhaps my family (wife and two small children) and I could go to Argentina next summer and take some of our students, live among the people of a mega unreached city, and faciliate short term mission teams from our church to help us do exactly what Jesus commanded all believers to do - "go and make discipeles." Well, when he returned home and discussed the idea with his pastor the response was not what he expected. His pastor said, "Wow, William (not his real name pseudonym) that is a great idea! That is exactly what we should do." Not only was William surprised at his pastor's affirmation but he even agreed that they should allow him to hire a part time assistant pastor who would help him coordinate this project and serve as the youth pastor while he was in Argentina. Then his wife Elizabeth (pseudonym) also affirmed the idea.

You might be thinking, that's a nice story but so what? The "so what" becomes God's greatest desire for all of His children who are in Christ. When we seek to know God's heart (will) and our desires and passions align with Scripture (Bible), we should not be surprised that God will give us clear direction about "the how to the so what." Besides God's purpose for all peoples is that they may know Him (personally and intimately) and bring glory to to his Name. For all of God's people, His heart's desire is for all people to be reconciled to Him through the cross of Christ (1 Cor. 15:3b-4a). This mystery of the gospel is a historical fact that demonstrates Christ's victory over sin (our rebellion against God) and death (spritual separation from God).

Brothers and sisters in Christ - our life's purpose and task is to take "the message to all peoples cross-culturally." What are you doing to fulfill Christ's mandate?

To read a well-written blog article on reconcilation, I recomend Austin Grigg's blog posting on July 14, 2010. Here is the web link http://artofunnaming.blogspot.com/.

Why did I decide to blog?

I had a conversation with my daughter recently who has a blog site and told her how much I enjoyed reading her blog. She asked me why I enjoyed reading it and I said, "because it allows me to learn more about your heart, your desires, your passions, and besides you're a really talented and creative writer." And then she replied, "dad you ought to have a blog too! It doesn't really matter if anyone reads it, but it gives you an outlet for expressing your thoughts and your passions." I mused for a moment, thought about her words for several days and decided she's right. So I hope my blog will enable me to let my creative juices flow and share topics or should I say the Person that has the most important message for humanity. I believe that if I am faithful with a little (His message) then He will make me faithful with a lot (more of His message). Besides, The Message for All Peoples is the most important message anyone can know and that in itself is reason enough to blog so that perhaps more people may read and know His Message. That is ... the Message of the Kingdom of heaven.