B.A.S.I.C. NEWSLETTER #176
I Cor.. 16:9 ‘For a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.’
With the Lord
Pastor U.S. Ukpong of the NCLC in Nigeria was called home earlier this year. After he retired from teaching school, he attended the NCLC Bible Institute in the 5 year course and became a pastor. He served the Lord in that capacity until he passed away.
I had the opportunity recently to visit with the Denis Mulumba family in Johannesburg. Although we had hoped that he would be able to start a gathering of French-speaking souls around the Word here, it has not come about yet. In our fellowship relationship we have prayed for him when he got into a serious car accident last March. He lost his job during the recuperation time after the accident, although now the Lord Has given him a new job, 14 hours a day at six days a week. This has hampered outreach, but we wait on the Lord. John, who Denis had hoped would be a partner in outreach in Johannesburg, has moved to Capetown and then back to Congo. Now Denis prays that he can in January move back to the area he lived in previously before the riots against foreigners in the Yeoville and Hillbrow sections of the city. He still prays he can get a website up to use as an outreach tool. Commit him to the Lord in prayer that Denis will be again an instrument to gather people about the Word.
THE WILL OF GOD
(part 5)
Conclusion
We conclude this study of the will of God by remembering how we should pray. Some might think that since His will will be done, why pray? The answer is, He tells us to. And when that question is posed it reminds us of the secret will of God. We are to go by His will revealed in Scripture and that includes that we pray with all our heart. We pray as if it depends on us, yet He will accomplish His will regardless. This is again a paradox, beyond our understanding. We just must go by the simple, clear Word.
We pray with full faith in whatever the outcome will be that He will accomplish His will. Of course depending on His will is so superior to depending on my weak, human will that bends like the willow. The last hymn reminds us that whatever God’s will is it is always best.
How should we pray then? Truly, knock, seek and ask in no wise doubting. And remember the Lord Himself in Gethsemane showing us, “Not my will be done, but Thine.”
Lord Jesus, this I ask of Thee, Deny me not this favor:
When Satan sorely troubles me, Then do not let me waver.
Keep watch and ward, O gracious Lord, Fulfill Thy faithful saying:
Who doth believe He shall receive An answer to His praying.
When life’s brief course on earth is run And I this world am leaving,
Grant me to say: “Thy will be done,” By faith to Thee still cleaving.
My heavenly Friend, I now commend My soul into Thy keeping,
O’er sin and hell, And death as well, Through Thee the victory reaping. TLH 517 st. 3-4
(This hymn is based on Mt. 6:10…Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Apples of Gold in a Setting of Silver(6)
“The mission of the church is missions” — Oswald J. Smith
“We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first.” — Oswald J. Smith
“This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls on the earth!” — Keith Green
“There is nothing in the world or the Church — except the church’s disobedience — to render the evangelization of the world in this generation an impossibility.” — Robert Speer, leader in Student Volunteer Movement
“If God calls you to be a missionary, don’t stoop to be a king” — Jordan Grooms (variations of this also credited to G. K. Chesterson, Thomas Carlyle and Charles Haddon Spurgeon)
“If you found a cure for cancer, wouldn’t it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much more inconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death.” — Dave Davidson
“World missions was on God’s mind from the beginning.” — Dave Davidson
“In our lifetime, wouldn’t it be sad if we spent more time washing dishes or swatting flies or mowing the yard or watching television than praying for world missions?” — Dave Davidson
“Let my heart be broken with the things that break God’s heart” — Bob Pierce, World Vision founder
“No reserves. No retreats. No regrets” — William Borden
“If ten men are carrying a log — nine of them on the little end and one at the heavy end — and you want to help, which end will you lift on?” — William Borden, as he reflected on the numbers of Christian workers in the U.S. as compared to those among unreached peoples in China
“The reason some folks don’t believe in missions is that the brand of religion they have isn’t worth propagating.” — unknown
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A PASSAGE EXPLAINED = MATTHEW 24:34
Matthew 24:34 “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place.” In Matthew 24-25 we have the Mt. of Olives address where Jesus spoke of immediate things that would happen and of the final judgment. In this broad picture some of these things would not take place until the end. The verb for ‘take place’ is in a special tense of the Greek called the aorist, which can be a picture of the beginning of an action, the whole action, or the end of the action. The context has to interpret the meaning. Since Judgment Day has not yet come as he described it in some verses, the context tells us that it should be understood as, “this generation will not pass away till all these things begin to take place.”
Pastor Koenig