Be found in Christ

SCEI along with the woman's basketball team from Oral Roberts University has recently finished a ministry in the Dominican Republic. There the team used their gift to do basketball clinics for children and women in prisons. They also held a coaches clinic and played a few games with the best women basketball players in the country. It was a pleasure to serve along side with them as the good news of Jesus Christ was proclaimed to the nation. I was not able to spend a lot of time with the group and this I regret, but God has a purpose much greater for me this month. I have been living with Gerson and Karina Arvelo who have taken me in as family. They have been trying to teach me Spanish and I have been trying not to teach them English. That last part is futile, but God doesn't just want me to learn the language. It has been obvious that there is something of much greater value to be learned and this is what God has been showing me through his word.
Job 42:1-2 Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” Job spoke these words in his confession to God. He then said in vs. 5-6, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” I have not seen God with my eyes, but I think I can share Job’s sentiment. What I have seen and am continually seeing has challenged my perspective. I can see God in his ministry and in the believers I have met here in the Dominican Republic and it has opened my eyes to a glimpse of God’s glory.
In Luke 8 Jesus tells the parable of the sower. The sower spreads seed and it fell on the path, rock, thorns, and good soil. The seed is the word of God. Vs. 12-15 says, “The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Often we see those who hear the word of God, but they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. They miss out on God. Even here in the Dominican there are the richest of the rich living among the poorest. Possessions choke the life out of us and were too busy enjoying the pleasures to realize that we are dead inside. John Piper said, “No sane person on his deathbed ever comforted his heart with his possessions that his life was well spent.” Like Job said, “I know you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” God will finish his work, but if we don’t stand by him we are at loss. I want the mentality that only what we do for God has any significance and true purpose. Here I have seen sacrifice of personal gain for the ministry of God. It’s about being found not in ourselves, but rather being consumed by God in such a way that every aspect of our lives is centered on Christ. Upon seeing God, Job despised himself. We need to live our lives looking through the lens of Job’s eyes. I know this is just the tip of what God wants to show me, but I know he brought me here for this purpose.

The fields are white for harvest...

John 4:35
Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.
Prior to this statement, Jesus had spoke with the woman at the well telling her all that she had done. With her faith placed in Christ as the promised Messiah, she went back to her town telling others about him. Meanwhile, Jesus disciples came back from buying food and wondered why he had been speaking with a Samaritan woman, but questioned him not. Now having food, Jesus used the opportunity to teach by example the importance of doing the work of the Father. Jesus makes the statement that he has food that they don’t know of: to do the work of his Father. The don’t understand his statement and think he is speaking of literal food. Then Jesus says, “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” I imagine that as he says this they look out and see a crowd approaching Jesus.
John 4:39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” Vs 41-42 And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
The fields are white for harvest. I just returned from Veracruz, Mexico along with SCEI and when I look back on the time we spent there all I can think about is how many people there are just waiting to hear the good news of salvation. We use sports as a platform for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, but it’s the Father that draws people to the Son. John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. There are people ready to hear if only there was someone to tell them. We were traveling from Poza Rica to Veracruz on a bus we rented for the 4 hour trip. The owner asked us to pick her up before we left the city. She said she wanted to hear about Jesus Christ. She spoke with the pastor’s wife and accepted Christ. We were just trying to get from point A to point B and God simply used our need of transport to accomplish His work.
I was given the opportunity to share my testimony in between basketball games to a high school team before our evangelist, Steven Arce, shared the salvation plan. Six accepted Christ.
The day of our last game in Veracruz, we were walking to a bus stop to visit the local church we were working with. As we passed through the streets Willie Weiler was passing out our team tracts and he gave one to a woman. She stopped us before crossing the street because she urgently needed to know who we were, what we were doing, and where we were doing it at. Most of the time people accept the tract out of courtesy and go on with their lives, but it seemed as if God planned our paths to cross that day. It is encouraging when our best efforts produce results, but it is humbling when God shows His glory in times when our efforts are at their least. Many more came to know Jesus as their Savior as a result of our program, but it was very apparent that God was at work and we were accompanying Him.
Romans 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? Matthew 9:38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

It begins with us...

1 Peter 4:17-18
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And "If the righteous are scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
Sports and Cultural Exchange, along with the women's tennis team from Indianan Wesleyan University took the gospel to Ensanada, Mexico. There we used tennis as a bridge to build relationships and make new friends.
Sometimes we do not immediately see the big picture of how God is using us. Because of this, it is important to trust Him and do what we know we should do in our present circumstance. I imagined we would have had a larger group to minister to, and I imagined that we would have more control of the day to day. What I couldn’t imagine was a smaller more intimate setting where we allowed a trainer, Miguel Angel, to run a tennis clinic while we simply participated. Aside from that we were able to share the gospel through evangelistic movies such as Facing the Giants and Fireproof, and a few of the girls also had the opportunity to share a brief testimony of how Christ is working in their life, but this didn’t seem like the “mission trip” I had imagined, but God is teaching me and showing me a lot about missions. By the end of the trip I finally had realized why we were there. Miguel Angel addressed us at the end and even though he was proficient at English he chose to speak to us in Spanish as Jayson Hernandez translated. What he said I will never forget. He made the statement, “It is clear that your group has been touched by God.” To hear those words was all I needed to understand why we were there. It wasn’t the testimonies and the video that we watched that showed them who we were, but the love we showed in the time that the girls spent on the tennis court. It was an honor to have served with the women of IWU. I confidently say that if judgment begins with them, then there is hope for those who don’t believe.
It begins with us…

2010 Masters Summary

To download this video go to
http://www.sceionline.org/media/videos/2010masters/2010MastersSummary.flv

Beautiful are the feet....

I have recently returned with SCEI from our Master’s Ministry to Panama humbled to have been used by such a great and merciful God. Every year SCEI takes a men’s fast pitch softball team somewhere in Latin America. This year we went to Panama which is an area we were not familiar with. We had no solid connections with any churches or missionaries, but God went before us and prepared the way. We challenged teams in four different cities playing double headers every day. In between games one of our players shared his testimony and Steven Arce, a full time missionary with SCEI, translated and gave a presentation of the gospel. Our team had the opportunity to play against Panama’s national team. Many accepted Christ as their Savior and after our last game with them both teams gathered on the field for prayer before they left for a tournament in Columbia.

Every day we had group devotions and the topic one evening was ‘beautiful are the feet of him who brings good news’. What an honor it was to be apart of God’s work bringing the good news of Jesus our Savior. I overheard one of our players saying how he had heard one of the men praying for salvation and how he had to hold back tears because of the joy that comes from seeing one sinner come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. It is at that point that we realize that it’s not about our win record, or our ability to play ball, but in Christ’s win record over death and the grave which brings life to the lost. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” Isaiah 52:7