Month: August 2011

Life is like a book. Some books are long. Some are short. Some chapters are long. Some chapters are short.

 “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-9).

The New Living Translation notes this as “Paul’s Final Words.” As I sit here rereading those words I am saddened by the finality of it all. I wonder how many months or years had passed since Paul had written, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). How long was it between, “I press on” and “I am now ready to be offered…the time of my departure is at hand. I have finished…”?

• Fifteen pages (Lord, teach me to number my chapters. That’s how many pages, in my Bible, between the two verses)
• 440 verses (Lord, teach me to number by verses)
• Six years (61 AD – 67 AD) (Lord, teach me to number my years)
• That is 2, 190 days (Lord, teach me to number my days.)

And lest you think Paul had it easier than you, remember that both verses were written while he was in prison.

“An Arabic proverb teaches that the dawn does not come twice to awaken a person. Opportunity knocks but once. An opportunity missed will eventually bring ample repentance. I have one chance to impact my world.” 

Clarence Mac Cartney told a story of an old rabbi. He used to say to his people, “Repent the day before you die.”

“But,” they said, “Rabbi we know not the day of our death.”

“Then,” he answered, “repent today.”

“Are there opportunities you are neglecting today that may soon vanish forever? Today is yours. Tomorrow may be too late.” (With the Word Commentary by Warren Wiersbe)

“We must capture the moment. Take the opportunity when it arises. Do not hesitate. Do not waiver.”

I arrived in Africa one week before my twenty-third birthday. I used to hide under the cover of being young. There, they value age. I would mention to Sister Rodenbush about being young but knowing that one day (when I get old enough) I would accomplish great things for God. She was always kind and encouraging. But when I was about thirty, she told me something like, “Jim, you’ve often said when you are older you will accomplish great things for God. You’re older. You need to stop saying that. Now is the time to start doing it.” It was a major turning point in my life. I think God sends several notable turning points in life. They become God-moments and road-posts in the journey.

Robert K. Rodenbush once said, “Very few people remember how you start your ministry, even less remember what you do in the middle. But, everyone remembers how you end.”

I am beginning to have my aches and pains. But, I don’t want to reach the end of life with the “pain of regret” so I will now suffer the “pain of discipline.” Endure the pain of discipline today so you won’t have to endure the pain of regret tomorrow.

I feel crippled by the unknown. I ponder the next step in God’s plan in the maze of my troubled life. I try to make sense of who is really in charge and to decode their motives. I struggle with being suffocated by frustration and taunted by hopelessness. I deliberate over who owns the controls of my life. Is it me? Is it others? Is it God? Is it a combination of all three? In turbulent times it is essential to allow God’s Word to thunder.

The great coach, Vince Lombardi, of the Green Bay Packers, had an interesting way to approach pre-season training. At the first team meeting the legendary leader wasted no time getting to the point. He delivered one of history’s best one-liners. He held out a football to his players and said, “Gentlemen this is a football.” In those five, simple words, he took his team back to the basics.

Four simple words unfold the Bible in Genesis 1:1 serve as the platform of the basic tenants of Christianity.

“In the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1)

If I don’t believe that then my Christianity shakes on insecure footing. Every decision point on the path I trod becomes questionable. I become captive; chained by apprehension. Without that firm foundation I am tempted to throw in the proverbial towel, sulk under the closest tree, or hang myself out to dry in the nearest desert (not that I’m feeling dramatic or anything).

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).

Ladies and Gentlemen, regardless of what you are going through today, let us return to the basics of Christianity. They provide stability in unsettled time, direction in the fog of your future, and answers to life’s pressing, perturbing questions.

1. The harvest is important to God (Matthew 9:37-38). 

• Scripture refers to Him as “Lord of the Harvest.”

2.  The harvest is precious; it costs something (Psalms 126:6).

• They were weeping, and it was considered precious seed because it was the last seed they had in the house.
• They were going to use it for planting and there would be nothing left.

3. The harvest is promised (John 4:35).

• The time of harvest is now; already (John 4:35).
• But there are times that God asks us to wait on the harvest.
• There is always a time to plant and a time to harvest (Eccl. 3:2).
• Everything has its season (Eccl. 3:1).
• We should not be weary in well doing.
• In due season, we will reap, if we don’t quit (Galatians 6:9).

4. The harvest is by faith (Eccl. 11:1, 4-6).

• We are not moved by what we see.
• We are moved by the Word of God, the will of God, and the work of God.
• We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
• We call those things that are not as if they already are (Romans 4:17).
• If one observes the wind, clouds, or storms he will not sow. Despite the circumstances, sow anyway.
• Our faith is not in the unknown. It is in the unseen.
• I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed (2 Timothy 1:12).

5. The harvest is big (Matthew 9:37-38).

• God has a big harvest in mind.
• Again it is promised.
• Requires harvest-minded workers.

6. The harvest is measurable (Galatians 6:7).

• It is the law of the harvest.
• The same measure is used to measure to us again (Luke 6:38).
• It is considered to be a “good measure.”
• What we sow, is what we reap; whether good or bad.
• It isn’t just about money. It is also about souls.

7. The harvest is celebrated (Acts 2:1).

• The Day of Pentecost was part of the Feast of Pentecost; a harvest celebration.
• God skillfully and strategically selected such a harvest for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and the launching of the New Testament Church.

Read Part 1

Writer A. W. Tozer said, “A man by his sin may waste himself, which is to waste that which on earth is most like God. That is man’s greatest tragedy and God’s heaviest grief.” God grieves when I waste my split second in eternity and fail to attempt to measure up to my fullest potential in accomplishing His divine plan and purpose. An Arabic proverb teaches that the dawn does not come twice to awaken a person. Opportunity knocks but once. An opportunity missed will eventually bring ample repentance. I have one chance to impact my world.

Someone asked, “How will you spend your life?” Life is a currency. Once spent, it can never be recovered. It is gone, forever, unless you invest it in the afterlife. There, stored treasures are more valuable than hand-held red convertibles that will ruin, rust, and ripple away. No wonder, Jesus said: “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or — worse! — stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being” (Matthew 6:19-21, MSG).

Taking a trip to a mission field, supporting partners in missions, sponsoring missionary projects, praying for missionaries are always needed. Making a difference, storing up treasures in heaven—it’s all I ever wanted!

The Nissan Terrano crept, tossing and turning, through the twisting rustic roads. It glided past an Africa village with a dozen or so weather-beaten huts, sporting dried grass covered roofs. The ocean—with rocks protruding and waves crashing—served as its only backdrop. A few scattered sheep scurried for cover at the sound of the approaching vehicle’s engine. A tiny boy, perhaps three or four years old, naked apart from a dirty pair of stained briefs, roused and raced from his perch on a nearby tree trunk. He boldly and briskly ran gleefully towards us. He was all smiles; waving wildly. With his free hand he firmly grasped an unusual, unique treasure; a red convertible car. A real toy; not one fashioned from a discarded tin can. Happily, he extended it toward us; shouting friendly words in his local dialect. He arrested my attention. I longed to understand what he was saying. Interpretation was not a luxury so I imagined. Perhaps, he wanted us, the six foreigners tightly packed in the huge grey machine to know that he had a car too. Or, that he had a dream that one day he would grow up and drive a vehicle similar to ours. I will never really know. Such was my short-lived meeting with a merry miniature visionary. You see, everyone dreams. Everyone wants a better future. This thinking was encapsulated in a billboard I saw today. It pictured a boy playing soccer in his neighborhood. The potent words read, “Twelve-year-old Kofi; nation’s best striker, 2022. Yes, we believe in the future.”

We all believe in the future. Yet, too many meander through life’s twisting roads, tossing and turning, with no direction and—in the end—no enduring legacy. What a tragedy to live and leave without anyone noticing that you ever existed. A Middle Eastern Blessing says, “When you were born, you cried, and the world rejoiced. May you live your life so that when you die, the world will cry, and you will rejoice.”

Dear friends and former leaders in Africa, John Paul and June Hughes sent me these words, in a card, on my 50th birthday: “Just think, you’re here not by chance, but by God’s choosing. His hand formed you and made you the person you are. He compares you to no one else. You are one of a kind. You lack nothing that His grace can’t give you. He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfill His special purpose for this generation” (Roy Lessin). Half a century, and climbing, I still possess a dream to reach our world. My relentless dream is to entrust, empower, and equip the next generation. I still dream of taking God’s Word to the world, touching people, transmitting truth, and transforming nations. I want to teach others so they can reach their own people. It’s all I ever wanted!