South Africa - Our New Assignment

It seems that our life has been sorted into assignments, and we have a new one. Our new assignment is huge - a move to South Africa.

South Africa has been on our hearts since 1985 when we traveled there to visit our Tulsa friends who had moved there. We had a wonderful visit, and we fell in love with the country, the people, and the work our friends were doing. In the last 15 years, we have desired to move there ourselves to help Ron Kinnear in his mission outreach throughout the southern African continent. (Check out his ministry.) We have served as his US office administrators for many years, but that was only marginally fulfilling to us. Now, the Lord has released us to move there and work in a more hands-on manner.

(I might take just a moment to explain why I use the word assignment. It is my habit to spend an hour in prayer every morning from 6-7 am. During Monday of this week, the Lord began to show me my ministry life in stages, although he used the word assignment. There have been 6 assignments, and now we have just been give assignment number 7.)

So, we are now South Africa bound. You may ask, "When are you leaving, and how long are you staying?" Good question(s). I will try to answer. (We will be living in Pretoria in the northern part of South Africa. See map at the bottom of this blog.)

We have no appointed date for leaving. There is much to do: raise monthly financial support for our And the Lord has been faithful every day in giving directions and supply for the tasks. Stay tuned for an announcement at some time in the near future for our departure date. Judy and I are planning for mid-June. But we have heard nothing from the Lord, so far.

livelihood while there, gather money for the trip there (and shipping a few small items), acquiring volunteer visas, finish up US obligations. Overall, we are daily looking to the Lord for HIS direction as to what to do, when to do it, and how to pay for it.

How long are we staying? I have never entered any assignment with an end-date in mind. To me, that creates an escape hatch, if things aren't going well. I have always begun an assignment with the idea of finishing my life in that given assignment. So I am naturally amazed when the Lord shows up to let me know that it is time to move on. I plan to stay in South Africa until the Lord returns, or I go to meet Him. Of course, we will have occasional visits back home.

The most important thing you can do for us is to pray for us. Pray as the Lord leads you to pray each time you lift us up. And if the Lord speaks to you, impresses upon you, or however you describe it, then please support us financially, either with a one-time or occasional gift, or with monthly support. We are trusting him with our every need, and him alone.

Keep checking back here for updates on our ministry to South Africa. And check this blog for my personal thoughts and stories.

Thanks for your prayers above all (and your good wishes).

A Most Powerful Christmas Story

Each year, as Christmas rolls around, I find new and exciting details about the coming of the Messiah to earth. In other words, Christmas just gets more and more wonderful to me. I have especially been drawn to the account recorded in Matthew chapter one.

It begins, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” It struck me, as I read this sentence, that it was Jesus who was the promised son of David (not Solomon), and the promised son of Abraham (not Isaac). I remembered that Genesis 3:15 was the promise of the coming “seed of the woman” who would totally defeat Satan who had misguided Eve in the garden.

Then I reviewed Acts 2:30, “Therefore, (David) being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne…” It was Jesus, not Solomon, whom God promised would sit on David’s throne.

Further, I returned to Galatians 3:16 to remind myself of the promise to Abraham, “Now to Abraham and his Seed, were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.” So truly, the Holy Spirit speaks through Matthew to inform the whole world that Jesus, born of a virgin in Bethlehem, is the true Son of David, the true Son of Abraham. And this truth begins the whole New Testament, verse one of chapter one of Matthew.

The genealogies, beginning with verse two, are given for many reasons; but one special reason stood out to me in view of the first verse and the eighteenth verse. The coming of Jesus was quite different from the coming of all other people into this world. All people’s lineages are made up of men marrying women, men cohabiting with women – good women, bad women, good men, bad men. But not so, the birth of Jesus. And the Greek language especially points to this fact.

After having identified Jesus as the Promised Seed of Genesis 3:15 (Matthew 1:1), the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, Matthew finishes His genealogy with these words in Matthew 1:18. “Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise.” Or to translate the Greek more literally, “On the contrary, the birth of Jesus was like this.” The Holy Spirit specifically draws attention to the stark difference in the conception/birth of others and the conception/birth of Jesus. He was born of a virgin, before her marriage, and of the Holy Spirit’s impregnation. So verse eighteen becomes the centerpiece of the entire New Testament. Jesus was truly the only begotten Son of God!

People throughout the last 2,000 years have doubted and disbelieved this fact. But the fact still stands true, unwavering, and withstanding all contradiction. Jesus is the Son of God. And remember this truth; the Word of God trumps all other theories, ideas or experiences. It has stood the test of time.

So this Christmas, I pray for you, that you will see in a deeper way the beauty of the coming of the long-awaited Messiah. Christmas is more than the gift we give, it is all about – and only, ever, all about – the gift of Jesus to the world. And His coming the first time assures us that He will surely come again!

“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). “You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

Have a Merry Christmas!!

The New Testament - Jesus' Letters in Red?

One whole shelf in my office library is full of Bibles of many different versions. The one I use the most, the New King James version, has the words of Jesus in red.

One theologian I read said that this is a travesty. By raising the words of Jesus above all other scripture, you naturally lower the value of the other words, he says. All scripture is inspired by God; therefore, all the words are of equal value because they are all God's words.

I don't know how you feel about that. You probably take the more common position that it is nice to separate the words of Jesus for identification purposes.

But here is my personal take on the matter. When I try to follow what Jesus taught, I find that I am woefully inadequate and powerless for the task! I mean, who can truly forgive his enemy, let alone love him? The good news is that through His death and resurrection, he accomplished for me what I could not accomplish for myself - on my best day!

So, His words are in red, because they leave me owing; i.e., in the red.
Then comes his sacrifice for me, and now I have all I need, in Him, to overcome and be successful; i.e., in the black.

In the Gospels, He removed my debt - the red; and in the Epistles, I am on victory ground - in the black.

What do you think about that?

This Tree Is A Testimony

This beautiful tree with its gorgeous limbs and the light through it leaves has a dynamic story. Let me tell you about it, and the man who's confession never wavered and eventually came true.

In April of 1979, 34 years ago, Doyle and Marlene Turley and 13 other families bought a huge tract of land near Lake Tenkiller, outside of Tahlequah, OK. All of these families grew up on the west side of Tulsa, or were family members of someone from the west side. They created the Westside Country Club on this purchased land. As often as they could, they would come from Tulsa for the weekend to this heavenly piece of property, until they eventually were able to retire here. 

At the beginning, the piece of property around this tree was the only open space on the entire tract of land, all the rest was forest. So they would come and camp around this tree and plot out and clear the rest of the land. They sectioned off the land among the 14 families, created roads, and a covenant. 

This tree was somewhat sickly. It was about 10-feet tall, split into two parts, and had an ugly, deep hole about 3-feet long on one side. Everyone would say, "This tree will die." "Let's cut it down." "This tree isn't going to make it.", etc. But Doyle Turley would always say, "This tree won't die. It's going to live."

So Doyle filled the hole with that expandable foam that comes out of spray cans for filling up cracks, etc., in walls and house trim. (It took a lot of the foam.) Then he sealed it over, and sprayed it every year. All the time, the others would say, "This tree won't make it."

The picture at the bottom of this article is the tree 34 years later. It is in the middle of the property, and the pride of the whole Country Club. (My own granddaughters would love to climb it, but are too small.) And never once has Doyle ever said, "I told you so." The picture also includes in it my wife, Judy, so you can see how big it is.

There is something to say about the importance of confession, and sticking with it. It may take months for your life to show the results of the confession, but if you hang in there, it will. I am thankful that God gives us such a powerful tool as confession. I am alive today because of it. I believe what God says about me, and I continually speak it out. My circumstances eventually catch up. 

Paul says, in Hebrews 4:14, "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." And again, in Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."

We have a Better Hope!

"18 For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, 19 for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God." (Hebrews 7:18, 19 NKJV)

People place their hope in others all the time, and often are disappointed. This is especially true with government. With every new leader elected - locally, statewide, nationally - we have hope that things will get better. It is natural to hope, and it almost seems just as natural to have our hope dashed. But it doesn't have to be that way, and here is why.

When we place our hope in men, we set ourselves up for failure for two reasons. First, all men are human and destined for failure. The Apostle Paul says, "They (boasters and those who commend themselves), measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (2 Corinthians 10:12) Eventually, the greatest person with the most commendable record will fail because all men are fallen, since the fall of Adam. They may not mean to, but they will. Second, all men die; and when they do our hope for what they can do for us dies. And we are back to square one, looking for someone else to be our hope.

But Christians have a better hope! Why? Jesus came as a man, and was tempted; but, he did not fall to sin. And, though he did die, he rose again, and now lives forever in heaven. He sits next to God continually making intercession for us. Since he did not fail, and rose from the dead, when we place our hope in him, we have done a great thing. We have a better hope!

And the greatest of all hopes is that one day our Deliverer will come and rescue us from our present situation. He will take us to a better place! Everyone wants that, and all who place their hope in Jesus have it!

Have you placed your hope in Him! It only takes about 30 seconds to do so. Then just begin to walk with your head up, your eyes open, and a big smile on your face - because you have Hope!

Dear reader, if you have Jesus in your heart, then you have the Greater One in you; you can do greater works; you have a greater witness; you have better promises; and you have a better hope. So start living like it!

(Fifth in a 5-day, 5-part blog on Greater and Better Things.)

We have Better Promises!

"But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises." (Hebrews 8:6 NKJV)

There are lots of promises being made all around us every day. We often find ourselves thinking, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." And we have become very skeptical of what government, businesses and people promise us. But there is One Who has made great and precious promises to us, and they are just as good today as when he first made them. Time and wars and cultures and philosophies have not erased them, or made them ineffective. And they never will.

Jesus has given us a better contract (covenant) than anyone else ever could. And it has better promises. There are lots of religions floating around that make promises. But the covenant that Jesus made with you when you asked him into your life is so full of such great promises that it causes all other religious promises to fade - if you check out his promises. He said that he would die for us and rise again on the third day so that all the promises of heaven would become ours. And he did just that. History has tried with all their might to disprove his death, burial, and resurrection. But they have yet to do it. And since no one has - and can't - disprove him and his promises, it would be worthwhile to search out his promises and place our trust in them.

If we trusted him, and received his love and peace and strength, then we should also trust him for his promises. Why not give it a try today? Find his promises to you, and begin to trust him to bring them to pass. 

Here is one: "God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8) Just work on that one for awhile. Believe him and see what happens.

(Fourth in a 5-day, 5-part blog on Greater and Better Things.)

The Greater Witness in us!

"9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son."  (1 John 5:9, 10 NKJV)

There are many people in the world that would tell us there is no God, Jesus doesn't love us, Jesus can't help us, Jesus isn't the Son of God, etc. But God says, "I am living inside of you, and my witness of myself is greater than what men say to you." We have a Greater Witness inside of us. Or as someone said, "We have inside information."

Nowadays, people are saying that God is dead. They say that Christianity is old hat, the truth is we can do what we want to. They tell us we are foolish to trust in Someone Whom we have never seen. But if we have asked Jesus into our hearts (remember? the Greater One is in you?), then we have an inside witness. The noise of this world tries to drown it out, but if we will get quiet for a moment...There it is! That inside witness is telling us that God is real, and he lives inside us. 

Once again, it doesn't say that the witness is around us, or behind us, or in front of us. No! This verse says we have "the witness in us!" We just need to develop our inside ears! We need to practice hearing his voice in us. He knows, he understands, he guides. He won't force you to hear him, or make you acknowledge him inside. But if you will listen, he will guide you. 

Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice." He doesn't lie. So if he said we hear, then we can hear. So every once in a while, just get quiet. Shut out the world, and begin to hear that inside witness - I love you, I'm with you, I can do it through you.

(Third in a 5-day, 5-part blog on Greater and Better Things.)