What do sewage, chicken, freeways, and hunger all have in common? They are all a part of my regular breakfast experience in Bangkok!
Mike Flinchum - my fearless leader!
At 6:30 this morning, I walked down to the sidewalk food stand to pick out a couple pieces of deep fried chicken and some sticky rice for breakfast. Along with that, a wonderful high-octane coffee (they serve it with tea so you can better handle the strength of the coffee — Is this Heaven?), a sewage river only a few feet away, freeways above with city streets below, and you get the idea of how my mornings start each day in Thailand. Halfway through my breakfast, leader Mike joined me. We had fantastic conversation as we talked about family, ministry, theology, missions, and our churches.
My paradise in Bankok from above
I’ve been fed both physical food and spiritual food already. Yes–in the hub-bub of Bangkok, we found our own little paradise where we meet God each day. You can’t beat that!
Today is preparation day. In a couple of days, I will be speaking twice to a crowd of 25,000 in Assam, India. I want to challenge and encourage the believers to give Jesus everything they’ve got. Even today, as I prepare, I want God to clearly speak to me — to give me insight that comes from Him for the Boro people.
My day started great. I have a feeling it’s just going to get better.
There we were — all twelve of us. Pressed between the chaos, buildings, endless traffic and innumerable pedestrians passing by, we met as believers in the belly of Bangkok to worship and encourage one another. A pastor, traveling missionary, two missionaries on site (long-time friends of mine, Steve and Nopaluk Cable), a couple of short-term missionaries from Michigan with two teenage daughters in tow, and some Thai twenty something ladies. In a simple home that doubles as a schoolroom during the week, we worshiped, prayed, shared our lives, and digested biblical truth. Some couldn’t speak a word of Thai (like me) and others not a word of English. And we bonded. And we experienced God.
Something supernatural happens when brothers and sisters gather together. A oneness of the Spirit fuses us together in a common bond with our Heavenly Father and His grand purposes for His believers. As Jesus said, “Where two or more are gathered together, there I am in the midst of them.”
We all experienced that blessing in Bangkok today. Thank you, Lord!
I’ve arrived at my first destination along the way! After 21 hours of travel, I captured about three hours of sleep last night, took a good hot shower this morning, and ate chicken, spicy bread balls, and turbo-charged coffee for breakfast…right on the busy street-side. I feel great.
In just a few minutes, I will be leaving with my leader on this trip, Mike Flinchum, to attend a Sunday morning cell-group. The whole church worships together on Fridays and then meets in small groups on Sunday mornings. Watch out Edinbrook–I’m getting ideas! It should be interesting…
OK church–I plan to worship with all of you on Sunday morning (it will be Sunday evening here). Right now I’m really happy about the live-link, both video and audio, that I can tap into way on the other side of the world. So if you read this, pray not only for me, but for Chris and the worship team as they lead our congregation in worship tomorrow, for Tom Gildow as he preaches up a storm, and for me to be an encouragement to the Bangkok believers.
I leave today for India. There two main purposes for my trip:
To teach, train, and encourage Christians and church leaders in the states of Assam, Arunachal Prudesh, and Nagaland.
To consider how Edinbrook and other churches might be a link to helping India Christians reach several unreached people groups surrounding them in this part of the world.
I get excited about this last purpose especially. Jesus said, “First this gospel shall be preached to every “ethnic group” (i.e. people group), and then the end shall come.” Jesus wants every person to have an opportunity to receive Him as Lord and Savior! We have the opportunity to be a direct link to the fulfillment of Christ’s promised return.
My trip already has surprises involved. My Saturday flight from Los Angeles to Bangkok was canceled, so I am leaving today (Friday). That’s no big deal, except it was the one day Susan and I had together before I leave. I am presently packed and ready to leave the hotel in LA. Susan’s not taking it too hard, though. She’s sleeping beauty in our pillow bed as I make final preparations to leave. The picture of peace…
Your prayers mean so much to me. So every blogger — every time you think of me, just pray that God will:
Fill me with wisdom from above
Fill me with the Spirit to minister to others in power
Enable me to be the presence of Jesus everywhere I go and to every person I meet.
The blog may be a little sporadic in the days ahead. Hang in there and keep watching. Some great adventures lie ahead!
Jesus-style love reaches its clearest expression while Jesus was being crucified. With arms stretched wide, arms and hands held firmly in place, the large imposing nails are directed at the most durable section of the hand. With painful cruelty, the hammer explodes on the nail driving it through layers of flesh and tendons into the course wood of the Roman cross. In that moment, fighting their way through seizures of pain, the words of Jesus escape for the sake of his own demented executioners: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” He continues to express this prayer as he hangs on the cross, the recipient of insidious rage, mockery and injustice.
This is impossible love! Notice the prayer…”forgive them”. Blame is absent.
On one particular winter evening near Christmas, my wife, Susan and I were enjoying a nice meal together at a well-known restaurant in town. In the course of the evening, I noticed that a young professional man was dining with a handicapped person at a the table right next to us. It was an unlikely pair – an educated, well-dressed, businessman indulging a contorted man struggling to sit upright in the wheelchair, laboring diligently to form words for conversation. I was gripped by the scene. This was too good to miss. Carefully alerting Susan to the situation nearby, I continued to occasionally listen and watch. And then it happened—the statement that I will never forget. With intense difficulty, struggling to form his words, the disabled man formed a single sentence: “Thaaank yeuu fffor car-ing ennnough — to tttake me oowwt to ddinn-er.”
I had just witnessed Jesus-style love.
God-followers have been commissioned to be the presence of Jesus in their world — and there, just a table away, I saw the Spirit of Jesus at work to touch a life deeply.
I am convinced that, since you and I are called to be the presence of Christ in our world, we are designed to be conduits of Jesus love. When we learn to love people Jesus-style, we will have similar effects in the lives of people that Jesus had on those in His day. It’s that simple.
Jesus-style love is what we see when the forgotten lepers are not only noticed by Jesus, but valued, touched, and healed. He made outcasts feel like winners!
Jesus-style love was clearly demonstrated when the Galilean hillside was filled with over 5,000 people. (Scripture tells us there were 5000 men alone!) What we often overlook in this story is that Jesus was deeply grieved over the stunning news, only hours earlier, that His friend and for-runner, John the Baptist, was cruelly beheaded. In His pain, Jesus wanted to find a quiet place to reflect, mourn, and pray. However, the crowds found and followed Him. The gospel of Mark tells us that, upon seeing the multitude, Jesus was moved with compassion because He saw so many who were sick and needy. In the midst of His own pain, being driven by this uncommon love for people, Jesus invested Himself in the lives of these thousands of strangers. Against the bidding of his disciples, Jesus then chose to feed them! And so we see the amazing miracle of turning five loaves and two fish into a miraculous hillside banquet that netted a total of 12 baskets of food left over! What selfless love—what amazing compassion! In his deepest pain He still cared for hurting and hungry people.
Jesus-style love is seen when the woman was caught in the very act of adultery (John 8). Of course, there is more happening here than meets the eye. Holding this woman hostage is a covey of holy hell-raisers–religious leaders elegantly robed in their fancy garb with noses held high. Oh—they had a point. The Old Testament states that a woman could be stoned to death for committing the sin of adultery (Deuteronomy 22:20-21). What is overlooked, however, is that there is another person involved. Where is the man who should be subjected to the similar biblical mandate requiring the man to be stoned as well?
It seems apparent that the hypocritical scene taking place is not unfolding because the Spirit is leading, but because these loved to cast judgment on others.
Jesus intervenes. He sees the injustice of the scene and takes a stand to stop it. Even though the woman has sinned, this is not the way that God’s directives were ever meant to be played out. Besides, what the religious elite never understood is that grace is always more powerful than law. Jesus literally draws a line in the sand (as he writes things on the ground). The pompous leaders standing in judgment, stones in hand, are quickly convicted. One by one, they drop their case and quietly walk away. Every one of them knew that they too were sinners unworthy of condemning this woman to death for sin that they too have tasted. Jesus words written in the soil of the city gate convicted each one of the sin they too were guilty of committing. Jesus not only saved a life…he saved a soul through incredible grace-filled love lived out in the most tentative of circumstances. This is true Jesus-style love.
“If you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Matthew 5:46-48.
Jesus was a great teacher, as the above statement affirms. But of even greater impact was the life He lived. He demonstrated such a winsome way of relating to people. He had a unique way of drawing people in, affirming them, and giving them a purpose in life. Jesus made the most out of ordinary people. He made them extraordinary. Who Jesus was and the way that He loved people planted the seeds of profound transformation in their lives.
There is nothing unique or divine about the affection that we generally live out on an everyday basis. God wired the human race to enjoy one another’s company—to relate socially with others that we are drawn to. The most common form of relations we have with others is described in scripture as “phileo” – brotherly affection. It’s the kind of friendship, commitment, and attraction that brothers have for one another. Don’t get me wrong—that’s a wonderful sort of love. But compare that with a completely, selfless, ready-to-die-for-you kind of love, and it pales in comparison. The extreme love that Jesus calls His followers to live out is “agape” – the kind of love the denies self, overlooks the cost, embraces another’s need, and goes to all lengths to express itself. This is what I call Jesus-style love. Yes–beyond an easy affection, Jesus-style love embraces those that are difficult to embrace, reaches out to those that are inconvenient to befriend, and loves those that are humanly impossible to love. Jesus-style love is only possible when God fills you with a passion and purpose to live at another level of loving people.
The dreaded happened. Our Vikings’ dream season came to a crashing halt. We had some long-time friends over to spend a fun evening together. You know — sitting on the edge of our seats, going crazy when a great play was made, booing the referees when a penalty was called. We sat with our tummies churning and jaws set when the game was on the line. It was not the most relaxing time we’ve ever spent with our friends, that’s for sure.
It all might have been worth it if the purple and gold emerged as the victors. Not so. Our dreams were dashed, excitement exterminated, and spirits drained. It just stinks!
And that’s life. We just need to sleep on it, get up the next day and start all over again. We make the best of tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
Guess what — tomorrow is here.
So hang in there. It might be the Twins or Wild or Vikings (most likely not the Timberwolves) that put us on a good run again soon. It was fun while it lasted. Have a great day anyway…
This morning at church, we had an amazing time of worship. I then did a little teaching on the restoration God wants to bring to each of our lives. Jesus did it for Peter when he provided an opportunity for the remorseful coward to proclaim his love for Jesus…three times–the same number of times Peter denied Jesus during His mock trial.
One person spoke to me before I taught this morning and told me about the radical transformation that has happened in his life. He is the perfect example of a person who was Christian, but living in bondage. As he stated to me — he had no idea “what it meant to foll0w Jesus.” He was living a form of Christianity, but lacking the real substance of it.
The turning point for this person was a previous testimony by a well-known Christian who came to our church and shared about his conversion long after the rest of the world, including him, thought he was already re-born. The visiting friend planted a seed two years ago that bore fruit still today in as her this morning’s testimonial. Pretty cool.
Your testimony can make a difference too. Plant the seeds. My newly transformed brother is doing just that…and God is using Him in marvelous ways already.
The Pharisees and teachers of religious law had every opportunity to know God intimately. Instead, they lived by tradition more than by authentic trust in God. In fact, Jesus clearly urged His own disciples to “ignore them” since they were not “planted by my Heavenly Father.” They were “blind guides leading the blind,” Matthew 15:13-14.
In the referenced situation above, they had promoted the giving of money to God that should have been used to care for elderly parents. In that tradition, they disobeyed the command to “honor their fathers and mothers.”
We live by so many traditions. We actually think, so often, that our own particular style of worship is more spiritual or biblical than another. Instead, it’s tradition we want, not really doing what is right or best. Churches have actually split over whether they should have hymns or newer songs, chairs or pews, Sunday School or small groups, choirs or gospel teams. How biblical is that? And it is all done in the name of Jesus.
In the face of these kinds of things, Jesus declares,
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. Their worship is a farce, for they replace God’s commands with their own man-made teachings.” (Matthew 15:8-9)
What traditions are you holding on to that have become idols in your life?
In what ways are you honoring tradition more than glorifying God?
Is your heart set on the righteousness of God or a religion of tradition?
