Soccer

Last night we played the final game in our church league. The dorm students have a team in the league which includes 16 teams from different churches in the area. (I play goalie.) We ended up in fourth place, which is a poor showing for us. We have usually ended up in the top three. We graduated a lot of seniors last year and added a lot of freshman. That is usually not a good mix. I did get a nice swollen eye out of yesterday's game. An opponent came in one-on-one. As I went out to meet him, his shot caromed off my face. For about two seconds I spun around in circles trying to locate the goal! Thanfully, they weren't able to score on that play. We lost the consolation match 4-1. All things considered, I believe we did pretty well, especially since we were missing about half of our starters (due to injuries and ministry responsibilities) for the consolation game . The nice thing was that we lost to the team from our own church, Iglesia Bautista Genesaret. So it all stayed in the family.

I have enjoyed playing for several reasons: 1) I enjoy playing; 2) I love the opportunity to mix with the students on an informal basis, but mostly 3) I enjoy watching the students grow and mature in their self-control. Every season, the league organizers compliment the dormitory team for the attitudes displayed. One of the semi-final matches was suspended and one team ejected from the tournament after one of the players assaulted a referee. To be honest, I must admit that some times we all felt like doing it! Like most amateur refereeing, it leaves a lot to be desired! Unfortunately, confrontations (and even an occasional fight between players--though never with the referee) are all too common with some of the teams. (A contributing factor is that many of the players don't attend the churches for whose team they play. I wish they didn't allow that, but it would be hard to control.) I am thankful that our students make a very concious effort to display attitudes that will glorify the Lord, even in the difficult environs of soccer field, with poor reffing, and opponents who do not control their attitudes and actions.

Prayer

For the past several months, the Lord has been working in my heart about my prayer life. Being frank, I would have to admit that I don’t pray near as much as I should. Perhaps even more disturbing than my little prayer is that I have not even believed in the power of prayer. My failure to pray not just more, but more intensely, stems from a lack of faith in the effectiveness of prayer. As I have thought about this, I also came to realize that my perspective about myself and about God probably has a lot to do with this as well. I must have a very swollen view of my own abilities if I don't feel the need for God’s intervention on my behalf. I must have a pretty small view of the power of God if I don’t request His power and grace on my ministry. I am thankful that the Lord has brought several circumstances into my life that have highlighted my won incapacity to do anything of lasting spiritual impact. Please pray that the Lord will continue to show His grace on my life by highlighting my desperate need of His power.

As you pray for us, here are two things you could pray for.

Jociel (14) and Raúl (15) are cousins of one of our students. On January 2nd, a gas truck rammed the pickup truck they were riding in. Both suffered severe damage to their spine and neck. The doctors offer no hope that Jociel will ever be able to move anything below his neck. Raúl should gain some limited mobility in his hands but will not be able to move his legs. Please pray for these young men, their families, and the significant financial needs that exist in these families.

On Saturday Pastor Julio and I looked at different properties in the Santa Mónica region of the city where we have been ministering. We hope to be able to purchase a piece of property or several houses adjacent to each other (at a cost of $35,000 per house—the dimensions of each lot are tiny: 18 feet by 50 ft.) The property that is in this picture would be ideal for several reasons: it is large (four lots), it is on a corner and spans the whole block, giving access to three streets, and it is right across from the main neighborhood park. We don’t know what the cost would be, but it couldn’t be cheap. These things can seem impossible, but …prayer is powerful.

The Deliberate Church

Over the Christmas break, I read The Deliberate Church, by Dr. Mark Dever, pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. Having had a little bit of exposure to Dr. Dever through his 9 Marks of a Healthly Church, I was excited about reading this book, and I was not disappointed (in spite of the terrible cover design!). This book is the most practical yet theologically sound book on church administration I have ever seen.

There were several things that stood out to me about the book. 1) The careful thought that Dr. Dever puts into every area of the church ministry. While you may not always agree with his conclusion, you can't doubt that he has thought through things carefully. Just reading his book will challenge any pastor to think through areas of ministry that may not have gotten much thought. 2) His wonderful understanding of the church as a living body, the importance of the function of each member of the body, and powerful impact such a body can have upon the world that surrounds us. 3) His position on music may provides some interesting theological arguments which may be more powerful with some people than the "Language of Music" approach. 4) This book is the most practical book on church leadership that I have ever read. Dr. Dever does not take the time to detial all the theology behind his practices (for that you need to read "The 9 Marks of a Healthy Church), his theology clearly dictactes his practice, which is unfortunately all too rare. 5) Many of the practical suggestions made in the book reminded me of my days as a church intern and as Pastor Herbster's administrative assistant at Tri-City. In some ways they are cut out of the same mold. I believe they could get along (too bad Dr. Dever is a Southern Baptist!).

In conclusion, I highly recommend this book to anybody that is in ministry or ministry training.

Willing Spirit Weak Flesh

Tomorrow we begin second semester classes. I will be preaching tomorrow in chapel to kick off our Spiritual Emphasis week. I will be preaching on Christ’s experience in the Garden of Gethsemane. Because Christ’s humanity is so apparent in that narrative, we are given a wonderful example of the thoughts and attitudes that we must have if we are going to be like Christ in the midst of our own struggle against our humanity.

One verse has highlighted for me problems with the types of applications that we usually here (and make) during messages at our churches: Mark 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. As we preach, we look out at the congregation and see many people who we know are carnal in their daily lives. As we seek to apply our preaching to their lives, many times we limit ourselves to what are really exhortations. Some examples could be: be holier, be more fervent in your prayer, have more faith, be more disciplined, love God more, hate the world even more, etc. The main problem is that these applications are directed to the "spirit." Most believers that come to church have sincere desires to be more spiritual. In other words, their spirit truly is ready and willing. Other times we direct our application at their behavior, and we exhort them to change their behavior: don’t sin so much, don’t get angry, don’t gossip, don’t be bitter, etc. Again, most of the congregation doesn’t want to get angry, be bitter, etc., but they don’t know how to stop being bitter, getting angry, etc. The problem is that their flesh is weak and carnal. In our preaching we don’t need content and application that primarily targets their desires and motivations (we need that at times as well—but remember that the spirit is willing). Neither do we need content and application which exhorts believers to behave better (although practical application is good and needy—a balance is needed). What we really need is content and application that helps them counteract the weakness of their flesh. They need the power and grace of God to be victorious and to really be holier, more fervent, etc. They need to be made aware of and to avail themselves of the spiritual resources that God has placed at their disposal in order to gain victory over the flesh.

The question that we must ask ourselves is this: what are those biblical resources and means that God has given us to avail ourselves of His grace and power which will in turn result in true holiness? That is a question to which I would love some feedback (click on Comments below this post).

Here are a few ideas: 1) Divine activity: God has acted on our behalf, in order to solve the problems our human nature does not allow us to solve. 2) Truth. God’s character and God’s activity on our behalf is Truth, which is the biblical foundation upon which true spiritual holiness must be built. People must know and meditate upon Truth in order to have any spiritual basis upon which to construct a truly spiritual life. Too many times we attempt to change without knowing and personalizing the biblical truths concerning our struggles. 3) Grace. God’s grace is more than just favor (in the passive sense of "I used to not like you but now I do but I’m not doing anything about it"). It is the active provision of spiritual resources on our behalf. Of course, I must avail myself of those resources through means of spiritual disciplines: Bible study (provides me with Truth), meditation (personalizes and applies the Truth), unselfish and truly spiritual prayer, fasting, etc. While these things do not of themselves give me God’s grace (make me spiritual), they allow me to see God’s greatness and glory (2 Cor. 3:18) which in turn will bring about true spiritual transformation and biblical spirituality. I realize that there is some overlap between these elements.

This is an issue that I long to fully resolve in my own thinking in order to have truly biblical content and valid application in my preaching. Any thoughts? (Sorry about the length of this post.)