B.A.S.I.C. NEWSLETTER #219

B.A.S.I.C. NEWSLETTER #219

 I Cor.. 16:9 ‘For a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.’

On July 8th Mission Helpers from several CLC Congregations will leave for East Africa. Once in Nairobi they will divide into three teams with two teams working in Kenya and one team will head to Tanzania. They will spend the next three and half weeks proclaiming God’s saving word to as many children as the Lord gives them opportunity. The teams heading to Kenya will be working primarily with the children at Holy Cross Lutheran School in Emmaus Millimani and St. David Aids Orphan school in Etago. The Tanzania team will be visiting several congregations, schools, and villages of the CLC-Tanzania with a stop in Southern Kenya to work among the CLC congregations of the Massai tribes. This is another expression of our fellowship together. May God bless this effort.

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Of course one thing not within our power is miraculous healings. He healed, we pray for healing. His healings were a clear manifestation of His love. Do we show love as we teach? Do our words and actions comport with one another as His did or is there a dislocation for us? We are not teachers in some college classroom, a lecturer separate from his students in more ways than one. That was not our Rabbi Jesus.

The record of love in Jesus’ healings is total. Just peruse the Gospels: Mt. 4:23 ‘healing every disease and every infirmity’, 12:15 ‘He healed them all’,14:14 ‘great throng…healed their sick’, 14:34-36 at Gennesaret they ‘brought all that were sick…as many as touched His garments were made well’, 19:1 at Judea beyond the Jordan large crowds came and ‘He healed them’ there, Lk. 6:19 ‘He healed them all’.

Naturally this love reflects to all, just as His death was for all and His forgiveness is for all. For us there must be that expansive love as we teach. These are not inanimate objects that we are teaching, but souls for whom He died. As sinfully human as they are so should be our love for them. This we do in trying to convey to them an understanding and backing it up with words and actions of love. He lived what He taught. He was in truth one with man and could extend the sympathy and empathy. We should know mankind, as we are a part of it.  Reaching out in love

is not a long reach.

Feeding the 4000 and the 5000 are beyond our understanding, except He used His divine power. The winds and the waves obeyed Him. He healed at a distance: the Centurion of Capernaum’s paralyzed servant – Mt. 8:5f., the Syro-Phoenician woman’s daughter possessed – Mk. 7:24f. And think of the man born blind who was given his sight. Jn. 9:1f. The people acknowledged that this had never been done. So His teachings were unmatched. He stands out by His word and works. He is head and shoulders above what others can do and say. What about us? Do we stand out by our words and works of love?

Of course Jesus could read hearts and know what we cannot know. Think of the Samaritan woman’s ‘husbands’. Jn. 4:16f. It is all the more important that we ‘read’ people. We need to be observant enough to ‘read’ people to teach them. We need to plumb as much as we can their understanding so we can add to that. This takes time and experience. To treat people superficially is a shortcoming we all have. We don’t listen enough to them to know them and their thinking. We need to be slow to speak and quick to hear. By misreading people we can so easily miss the mark in trying to teach them.

In connection with this we note He made no retractions and there were no inconsistencies in His teaching. Quite different for us who fall so far short of Him. If we make a mistake, we need to correct it and retract it and not try to protect our proud self by ignoring it. An earthly teacher may also say something at one time that he wouldn’t later. This indicates that we learn and expand our experience to do better.

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1.  The expansion had mature, stable roots.  God “blew” on this young but maturing church like the wind on a dandelion gone to seed. (8:1,4)

2.  The leaders had a deep knowledge of the Old Testament and understood how to build upon its foundations to explain the gospel.  The subordinate leaders were also steeped in the Word of God. (7:1-53; 8:35)

3.  The church looked at external pressure as working to their advantage in producing more opportunities to sow God’s Word.  (8:4)

4.  The person and work of Christ remained the center of their witness.  (8:5,12,35,40)

5.  The leaders (apostles) were sensitive to God’s way of accomplishing His plan. (8:14-25)

6.  As the plan unfolded, the leaders (apostles) exercised their authority, not in a dominant or meddling manner, but in a way that was supportive and helping. (8:14-25)

7.  The leaders did use their authority to protect the church from false leadership – from men who were seeking a name for themselves.  (8:9-24)

8.  Subordinate leadership took initiative, yet did not resent or buck their superiors.  (8:5-25)

9.  God opened the doors for people who were available to share their faith.  (8:26-32)

10.God was at work in men’s hearts preparing them and then shining the light of the knowledge of Himself in their hearts in the person of Christ.  (9:1-18; 26:14;8:26-31; 2 Cor. 4:3-6)

11.It was God’s plan; it couldn’t be thwarted.  (1:8; Psalm 33:11)

Pastor David Koenig