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06 Mar 2013

Teaching the Teachers

By Way of The Cross - Thailand

2 Week Bible Training for Thai CCC Ministers of the Gospel.  Some of the books used are only available in English.  So, guess who gets to “help the staff with their homework” each day…?

I’m not qualified by any standard of graduating from this and that place, so my job was not officially, “teaching,” but technically reading the English books before class, and then teaching, I mean, telling the staff what the books said.  There you have it.

The first week we discussed the basis of systematic theology and the doctrine of the Word of God.

The second week was all about the Gospel and the foundations of it, and the response to it.  The character of God, God’s standard for all mankind, our sinful rejection of our Maker, our sinful nature, and God’s righteous judgment and wrath towards us, the love of God at the cross of Christ, atonement, repentance, faith, new birth/regeneration, Biblical assurance of salvation based on the promises of God, the witness of the Holy Spirit, and the witness of new-creation life in us.

Basically, all the stuff that I teach all the time, and all the stuff I will spend a lifetime teaching – (as I spend a lifetime learning).

Praise God for the continued opportunities I have all the time to teach and preach Jesus.  May  these two weeks bring about life and ministry change – not just head knowledge.

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20 Feb 2013

Training for Trainers

By Way of The Cross - Thailand

T4T – Training for Trainers.  In a day with a million different programs and strategies that are mostly a bunch of garbage – it’s sure refreshing to be a part of a training that is Biblical, simple, and practical – and simply follows Jesus example.

Sharing the Gospel with words and actions as a lifestyle.  Following up on those whom God has prepared to listen, and learn – teaching them until God brings them to repentance and faith.  Because of regeneration, knowing that true believers will be changed by God and have a heart to know Him, and make Him known.  Therefore, training those who will be trainers of others.  Teaching those who will be teaching others.  Simple spiritual multiplication following Jesus’ exampe.

Glad to be a part of it as I translated from English to Thai to assist some of our foreign teachers.

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03 Oct 2012

Platt: Are We Designing Church for Comfort or the Cause?

By Way of The Cross - Thailand
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We need to explore different ways to multiply the Gospel more effectively that are not dependent on large budgets, staff, and buildings.

From Churchleaders.com…

David Platt admits that his own congregation is “wrestling” with the way they look at what the Gospel demands of them. “We certainly have a long way to go, but this is a journey worth taking for the sake of God’s people accomplishing God’s purpose for God’s glory,” Platt, senior pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, AL, says.

He shares his hopes and misgivings for ministry in Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream(Multnomah Books/Random House, 2010). Church Executive asked him a few questions, and he responded with some provocative answers:

More is being said recently by pastors that we have converts but not disciples, that too many Christians are nominal in their faith, that they love the label of being Christian but don’t want to live out the life of being a Christian. Does any of this resonate with your concerns?

Sure. The commands of Christ that we deem “radical” are in reality normal for any follower of his.

What does it mean to be radical about our faith and replace it with what is comfortable?

We have a tendency to design our Christian lives and our churches around what appeals to personal comfort and preference when the Gospel actually beckons us to die to these things. Our lives and our churches are never intended to be designed for more pleasure and ease in this world, but for the sake of treasure in eternity.

Given that, how then should it play out in our crowds, buildings, and budgets?

We stop designing church to appeal to our comforts, spending our millions of dollars on buildings that can house crowds and support programs designed around ourselves. This is not Christianity. We have come up with strange methods for following a Savior who didn’t even have a roof over his head. We need to explore different ways to multiply the Gospel more effectively and efficiently, in ways that aren’t depending on large budgets, staffs, and buildings.

Continue reading on Churchleaders.com…

27 Sep 2012

Preachin’ in the Boondocks – Part 2

By Way of The Cross - Thailand

The reason for my trip to the Boondocks was simple – to preach the Gospel of Christ.  In Thailand especially however, there needs to be a proper foundation laid before one can arrive at the Good News of the Gospel.  Here, there is no foundational knowledge of who God is, His character, His nature, sin, justice, etc. – all needed before arriving at the cross.  So, I seek to lay the foundation of the Scriptures as I teach and wherever i go.

Here, we’re in Nong Khai for 3 days of Bible teaching, and meeting the local community for encouraging believers and sharing the Gospel with those outside the church (and inside).

Here I am on Sunday morning talking about BOTH the bad news of our sickness, and the good news of Dr. Jesus.

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Here is my partner for the teaching – P Nong.  P Nong visits this church almost monthly and his teaching through the Foundations of the Gospel Bible study series I wrote, “The Road of Life.”  Notice the dog getting in on our studies too.  (Practically a requirement for any country church in Thailand).

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And a great way to end the weekend with the after church meal with all sorts of unidentified things that made everyone’s day for me to eat until I was stuffed.  It’s incredibly easy to be a foreign missionary here, really.  If you (1) smile, (2) try to speak Thai, and (3) enjoy eating their food – you are loved forever.  Praise God – I pass on all three counts!

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08 Sep 2012

Why Jesus Had to Die

By Way of The Cross - Thailand

All credit to Resurgence.com

Can you remember the most painful moment of your life?

There are different types of pain. There is physical pain. Perhaps you’ve had a horrible fall and broke an arm or a leg, or worse. It’s an interesting thing how the human body will sort of “shut down” temporarily when it’s in a state of shock, so that it doesn’t feel the pain as severely.

But there are other kinds of pain that can actually be worse than physical pain: the pain of rejection, betrayal, or abandonment, for example. When a husband says to his wife, “I’ve been unfaithful to you.” When a wife says to her husband, “I want a divorce!” When the child says to the parent, “I don’t want to live the Christian life.” Or when you are betrayed by a friend, perhaps someone you’ve done so much for. It cuts like a knife.

Hebrews 12:3 says, “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” To consider means “to think over, ponder, or compare.” So let’s consider what the cross was to Jesus himself. For Jesus, the cross was a fate worse than death. Indeed it was death, and a very cruel one at that. It can’t get much worse than that, but for Jesus…

continue reading on Resurgence.com

05 Sep 2012

Multiplying Discipleship

By Way of The Cross - Thailand

10:45 at night, I go home &, one of my guys from Bible study is passing on what he’s learned in ch. 1 about our Great Creator God.  So awesome!

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03 Jul 2012

Get a (New) Life

By Way of The Cross - Thailand
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All credit to Mars Hill.com

Get A (New) Life

You need to get a life. And so do I. Not so much a better and improved life, but an entirely new life altogether.

When the Bible talks about the life of a Christian in contrast to that of a non-Christian, it never uses adjectives like “reforming,” “improving,” or even “recovering.” Instead, Scripture draws a bigger contrast: new versus old, light versus darkness, friends versus enemies, and, most poignantly of all: life versus death.

A most basic definition of a Christian is one who has been given new life by God through Jesus. We need a new life.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:1–5

The big idea from this passage in Ephesians is that, without a new life from God, we are dead. And dead people are powerless—to do anything, much less to change their status…

Continue Reading on Mars Hill.com

08 Mar 2012

The Identity of a Biblical Man

By Way of The Cross - Thailand

The following – all credit to Mars Hill Church.

We’re going to take a look at biblical manhood over the next few weeks on the blog, beginning with this article from Pastor Mark.

Men are prone toward chauvinism or cowardice: too much or too little.

The key is to understand the Gospel. The perfect man is Jesus. The man who we were supposed to be like is Jesus. Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, comes into human history to live life as the perfect man—God-man to be sure, but perfect man nonetheless.

Men, you and I need to take our cue for masculinity from Jesus. The key to masculinity is this: Jesus takes responsibility for himself (he works a job), and he also takes responsibility for me. The cross is where Jesus substituted himself and died in my place for my sins. My sins are my fault—not Jesus’ fault—but Jesus has made them his responsibility.

This is the essence of the Gospel. If you understand this, it will change how you view masculinity…

Continue reading on Mars Hill.com

16 Feb 2012

The World is Filled With Boys Who Can Shave

By Way of The Cross - Thailand

the following all credit to Mars Hill Church.  Visit them here:

“WE ARE LEFT WITH INDEFINITE ADOLESCENCE AND A PETER PAN SYNDROME EPIDEMIC WHERE MEN WANT TO REMAIN BOYS FOREVER.”

The world today is filled with boys who can shave.

Historically, a guy would go through two life phases: boy, then man. The transition from boy to man was comprised of five sociological variables that happened almost simultaneously or in very close succession: Leave your parents’ home (Gen. 2:24); finish your education or vocational training; start a career-track job, not a dead-end-Joe one; meet a woman, love her, honor her, court her, and marry her; have children with her.

But here’s what’s happened. Rather than moving from boy to man by this succession of sociological transitions, we’ve created something called adolescence. It’s a third life stage in the middle between boy and man. We don’t know what to call them so we just call them “guys.” These are boys who can shave.

Today, adolescence starts somewhere in the teen years and continues indefinitely. There is no foreseeable end. The problem with adolescence is guys don’t know when they’re ever going to grow up and be men, and no pressure is exerted on them to do so.

Is it when you’re 16 and you can drive? Or 18, when you can vote and join the military? Or 21, when you can drink? Is it when you graduate from college after you’ve worked on your undergrad degree for seven or eight years? Is it when you get married? Is it when you have kids? Is it when you buy a house? No one knows. So, we are left with indefinite adolescence and a Peter Pan Syndrome epidemic where men want to remain boys forever.

“YOU MEN ARE THE GLORY OF GOD, AND GOD WANTS HIS GLORY TO SHINE THROUGH YOU.”

So where do you go? Go to Scripture. Go to Scripture. …

Continue reading on Mars Hill.com

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