What about Israel?

How does God view Jews now? If they don’t believe Jesus was the Messiah & follow Him, can they get in to heaven? They were God’s chosen people in the Old Testament.

No one gets to heaven without Jesus. The Bible is clear about that. Jews, Gentiles, Republicans, Vegans, Grandmothers, Businessmen, Good neighbors... Nobody gets to heaven apart from Jesus Christ.See Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9-10, and John 14:6.

If you turn to Romans 9, 10, 11, you’ll see God’s Word all about the state of Israel. To answer these questions, focus on Romans 11. It says so much, but here’s the summary: There’s always a “remnant”, a population of the Jews with authentic saving faith. Romans 11:1 – there’s a remnant presently (including Paul – all the way up to Jews today who believe Jesus is the Messiah.) In 11:2-5, Paul reminds us that there always has been a remnant in v2-5. And Paul reminds us here, as is prophesied in the OT, there always will be a remnant (v25-27).

And if you read Revelation, you’ll see one of the biggest players in the end times: the nation of Israel. While many Jews do not believe today, the day is coming when there will be mass revival in Israel.

So past, present, future – God is at work in and through Israel. Yet they, too, must come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, their Messiah.

Romania Trip Recap

About

This post is a journal of the mission work that my son Jack and I participated in, along with five other people from Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North. This trip took place during the last week of August, 2015 in Arad, Romania.

Where is Arad, Romania?

When the discussions about missions in Romania began at our church, I knew little about the country. I knew it was in Eastern Europe but probably could not correctly identify it on a map.  Romania is to the east of Hungary, south of Ukraine, west of Moldova and the Black Sea. To the south are the countries of Bulgaria and Serbia. The historic city of Arad is in the Western part of the country, about a half-hours drive from the Hungarian border.

Our Mission

When God calls someone to a task, He gives them the means to do it.

Our church is part of Harvest Bible Fellowship, which plants churches all over the world. Harvest Metanoia in Arad, Romania is also part of this fellowship. In order to expand the influence of the gospel in Eastern Europe, Harvest Metanoia is building a training center outside the city, which will be a ‘home base’ for pastors who will be trained to plant new churches all over Eastern Europe.

We started our week worshiping the Lord on Sunday with Romanian Christians who take their faith seriously. It was a most beautiful service as we sang songs that were familiar to us, but were being sung in a language that we did not know. It gave me a preview of how every tribe and tongue will sing around the throne in heaven. It was an amazing sound that brought tears to my eyes.

Our job on this missions trip was to assist in the building of office space and storage areas within the structure, specifically drywall and insulation.  The expectations for our team of volunteers was to put up two layers of drywall on three to four rooms.  By the end of the week, we were able to exceed the expectations by putting up two layers of drywall on six rooms (with insulation), framing another area for an additional three rooms of storage and partially dry walling those framed areas and part of a hallway.

On the initial tour of the construction site, the director of the project pointed out the new neighborhood across the street where many new houses were built in the last year. He said that the new neighborhood asked the church if they would make enough room in the building to conduct kindergarten classes for their children.

This was especially exciting for me as I envision the church growing in the years to come, simply because they reached out to their neighbors to help educate their children. My mind raced ahead five, ten, twenty years from now and I saw those kindergarten children coming to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. I saw parents attending church and hearing the message of forgiveness. And across the other side of the construction site I looked down into the empty concrete box that would soon be the baptismal pool where many of these new believers would declare their allegiance to Christ, going down into and coming up out of the water: a symbol of new life!

We spent a busy five days putting two layers of drywall in what would soon be the training center offices and storage areas.  Our team worked well together.  Some of us had construction experience and some of us did not, but after screwing a few sheets into the metal framing, we fell into a groove.  We were able to cover the walls in 6 rooms with double layers and also single layers on an additional 3 storage rooms and a partial hallway.

In the grand scheme of the project, spending a week drywalling in a few rooms is not a huge deal on the surface. But as the week wore on, I started to see that more than just a building was being built. New relationships were being built. Our new Romanian friends were greatly encouraged by our church standing with them in this project. The missions team however, received much more encouragement than we were able to give. Someone on the trip adequately summed up this thought by saying, “when you do missions, you take home much more than you brought”.

when you do missions, you take home much more than you brought

Beautiful People. Beautiful Country.

In the evenings we spent some time with our hosts and the members of the church in Arad on various tours of the vibrant city and beautiful countryside. Romania is a country with many stories to tell.  It is said that the Apostle Andrew and his followers from Jerusalem settled there. We saw Corvin’s Castle in Transylvania, where Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) was held prisoner, which dates back to 1446.

We visited the Densus Church which dates back to the 7th century. The paintings on the walls of early church figures had their eyes gouged out by  enemies of Christianity.

We toured Timisoara where the 1989 Romanian revolution against communism was born. You can still see bullet holes in the facades of many of the buildings there. Several of the nights we spent in downtown Arad where an annual street festival was being held. As great as the sightseeing was for us after a hard days work, what I enjoyed most was riding in our minibus, listening to Romanian Christian music and getting to know our hosts. They rolled out the red carpet for us and treated us like royalty.

Our team and our sending church was also profoundly changed.  We grew in our respective faiths as we faced challenging questions like: How are we going to get the funding to go?  How are we going to do construction jobs with no experience?  How are we going to maintain the stamina that we need for such physically exhausting work? How are we going to overcome the language barrier?

We saw God do amazing things: He provided exactly enough funding for each of the participants through generous people who saw this as a worthy missions project. He provided us with expert builders who trained us quickly on what to do all week long. And he provided the energy and strength necessary to do the job with excellence and enthusiasm.  The driver who took us back to Budapest for our flight home said it very well, as I mentioned to him about getting home very late after dropping us off: he said, ‘God called me to this task.  When God calls someone to a task, He gives them the means to do it’.  He is right. That statement speaks about God’s involvement in the whole trip from its conception. He called seven of us to a task, and despite our insecurity and fears, He gave us the means to do it.

Our Mission is not Over

Even though we’re home now, the mission is not over. There will be a “Phase Two” in the summer of 2016 as Harvest Metanoia is planning to move their church services to the new facility. Our church will be in prayer and in discussions on how we want to proceed to help them in this effort.

Check out this 9 minute video which summarizes our fantastic week in Romania:

In Control and In Perspective

Last Sunday, we saw in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 that God’s people are to control their bodies (sexually), unlike the world, who doesn’t know God and lives out of control (again, sexually). We also saw that there are consequences for living “out of control”.

It didn’t take long for the issue to be in the news again, proving the truth of God’s Word. Jared Fogle, the famous Subway spokesman who dropped a ton of weight eating their submarine sandwiches, topped that crazy story by being accused of sexual activity with minors and being in possession of child pornography. Aside from the lives of children that have been ruined, think of the damage Jared has done to himself because he didn’t control his sinful sexual appetites. Worth 15 million dollars and the face of a franchise, he has lost his job, his wife, his 2 children, his reputation, and is heading to prison. Was it worth it? Reeling from that news, we were hit with the Josh Dugger accusation of having two profiles on a website designed to help people cheat on their spouse. Out of control. Destructive.

The church is not exempt from the dangers of sexual immorality, either. We must guard ourselves or else destroy our families, our reputation, or our testimony for Christ.

And I also want to caution on buying into some of the popular church teaching that good sex is the key to a good marriage. Yes, sexual fulfillment is meant to be enjoyed, yes it is meant to be apart of the oneness of marriage, but sometimes the teaching from the church creeps into the territory of “sex is the main event”. The way I have heard some preachers preach on sex, you would think sex is the main reason to get married. That’s not good.

Why the caution? We love to hit the extreme side of the spectrum. I grew up in church and always believed sex was a bad thing by the way it was talked about. That’s a wrong presentation. But if we jump to the other side, the “sex is ultimate”, the side of “good sex = good marriage”, we can end up concluding on that extreme side of the spectrum that “no good sex = no good marriage”. It puts eros (the Greek word for love that means “passion”) over agape (the Greek word for love that means “your needs over my needs”). In other words, physical intimacy becomes the focus instead of self-sacrificing, “lay my life down for you” love. If some physical anomaly resulted in a husband and wife unable to have relations, does that mean the marriage is over? Does that scenario justify marital breakdown and sexual immorality? “If I can’t have sex, what good is the marriage?” Whoa, wait a second, do you truly love your spouse or do you just love what they can do for you?

I’m not being some hyper-prude. Yes, enjoy your spouse. But make sure the physical intimacy is an overflow of the oneness that comes from the highest love. Don’t buy the world’s propaganda that the physical act is the highest priority over everything. Agape over eros.

p.s. - not a hyper-prude, or even a calm prude

How to Tell if Your Pastor is Legit

I recently heard a pastor being described with what was one of the strangest things you can say about a pastor. And the same phrase came from several people. I am not bashing the guy. He’s got a thriving ministry and is an excellent speaker. These people describing him were big fans, anyways. I just thought the way he was described was rather... unusual.

He’s not a people person.

He’s not a people person?!

About the third time I heard it, whoever told me elaborated on it a bit. He doesn’t really do the “people” stuff. He is sort of detached from the people. All he really does is speak.

I don’t really know the guy, and I don’t know if any of this is true. But here is what I do know: I never want anyone to describe me that way.

Many pastors in our day seem to care about the polished sermons, popularity, entertaining people, or being revered. But Biblically, there is one thing the pastor should care about more than just about anything: the church, that is, the people. We see this in the heart of Paul throughout our 1 Thessalonians study. Thankful for you, praying for you, love you like a mother, give ourselves for you, love you like a father, couldn’t wait to see you again, you are our crown of boasting, we feel so alive knowing that you are standing strong... (See chapter 1:3-4, 2:7-12, 17, 19, 3:5-10.) You can’t miss the fact that Paul as Pastor loved the Lord, loved the Gospel... and loved the church.

Not just in 1 Thessalonians, either. Look at 2 Corinthians 11:28-29: And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

This comes on the tail end of Paul describing how he has been shipwrecked, imprisoned, and beaten. And he is saying, “That stuff is the least of my worries! My concern is for the church!”

One chapter later in 2 Corinthians 12:15, he says, I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Notice Paul isn’t complaining about OT (overtime, not Old Testament) or difficult people or not getting his day off. He was glad to pour himself out, to work to exhaustion – for the sake of their souls. That’s the heart of a legit pastor.

Let’s get real. Sermons may flop. Potlucks may be a let down. The Christmas service may not have been to your liking last year. But if you are looking for real criteria to properly evaluate your pastor, here is a great place to start: Does he love his people?