bakerblog.eastviewchurch.net

I'm no longer posting blogs at this location. Please go to bakerblog.eastviewchurch.net for weekly postings. Thanks for following my mental meanderings through life with a "Jesus follower" world view.

Been missing you

What can I say, I haven't blogged in a month because our tech guys at Eastview have been working on bringing my blog "in house" on our website at eastviewchurch.net I sure have missed writing to all of the faithful baker blog readers. Well, it took longer than expected, but I'm happy to tell you that by tomorrow afternoon my new blog location should be up and running and I will have written a new post. I hope you will move to this new location as we continue to dialogue about all the stuff that pops into this brain of mine. God bless

What made Solomon so wise?

So, I'm reading I Kings right now for my daily time with God. Really cool to see how God worked in the lives of imperfect kings and how He redeemed their greatest failures and used them to advance his salvation. Of course, one of those kings was Solomon - the guy who is reportedly the wisest man that ever lived. Kings and queens from all over the world came to hear him. His people marveled at how smart he was. He wrote over 3,000 proverbs and 1,000 songs in his life about everything in nature, culture and daily living. Three thousand years later we can still read his wisdom sayings...and they are smart. Can you imagine this guy on twitter? Now of course, God promised and gave him wisdom so it was remarkable, but in my opinion his wisest moment came before God made him wise. In I Kings 3, God appeared to him in a dream and said, "Ask what I shall give you." Essentially, God was giving him a chance to have one prayer guaranteed answered immediately by God. If you're like me, you may have asked for success, a long reign or life, riches, fame, etc... But (and this is the really wise part), Solomon asked for God to give him wisdom (give your servant therefore an understanding mind...I Kings 3:9). This is the smartest thing he ever said and it's because in wisdom he understood two things that can also make us wise: 1) I do not know... First, Solomon's wisdom is about humility. He understood how incapable he was in light of his age and inexperience. He says in this passage that he doesn't even "know how to come in or go out". Of course, this is an exaggeration, but his point is that compared to God's great wisdom, he doesn't know anything. You know, we often get in trouble when we think we do know, we don't need His help, we have all the answers, or we are qualified. In fact all of us would do well to ask God to direct us, because comparatively speaking (He knows everything) I don't know a thing. 2) I am governing a great people... Second, Solomon's wisdom is about awareness. He understood just how big the job that he inherited from his father David actually was. How do you lead a nation, especially one that is the "nation of God"? Well, you ask for help - from God. You ask God to do through you what you know you can not do in your own strength. Personally, I'm reminded often that I have no idea how to lead a church. It is the kingdom of God you know? What do I know about that? Well, I'm learning that real wisdom comes from asking God to help me do what he has called me to, but I cannot do on my own. Solomon had many wise moments - some great decisions - and some memorable words, but it was this original prayer request that marks him as a wise man to me. So I pray (along with you I hope) that we live the words from James 1:5 - "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God..."

Back to the fields

It's Friday morning in Damoh and the two-day preaching conference is over. I got to preach twice to this group of pastors before we sent them back to the fields. I use that terminology because in the final sermon I preached from Matthew 13 and the three stories about seed planting in the kingdom of God. My simple charge was to sow as many seeds of the word of God through preaching as they possibly can. Don't worry about what kind of soil it may fall on - just plant seeds. Don't worry about the weeds the enemy (Satan) may sow along side - just plant seeds. Don't worry about how big the harvest may be in your particular field (the kingdom is designed to grow and only God can make that happen) - just plant seeds. It was interesting yet again to sense the connection between preachers even though my field is central Illinois and theirs is all over India and surrounding countries. When I mentioned that sometimes as a preacher I feel as though my sermons aren't that good, every face in the crowd acknowledged by expression that they felt that way too sometimes. After the sermon, we closed the conference out by celebrating communion together - another emotional kinship with these brothers and prayed over them as they went back to their places of ministry. Many of them were heading immediately to the train station and several days of travel back to their home churches. My prayers are with these men and the fields in which they plant. I pray that this Sunday's sermon is filled with passion and energy from our time together. I also hope that if heaven is like this, someday we'll stand side by side in front of the King and speak the same eternal language AND recall our time together here.

yatra

"Yatra" is the Hindi translation of the book and study "Walk" we did at Eastview two years ago and God has now expanded it to over 600 pastors from five different nations for this leadership conference with CICM. To say that I'm overwhelmed is completely understated. Sara and I arrived yesterday for the afternoon sessions taught by J.K. and Jim - by the grace of God I was able to stay awake through both (no, they were not boring - my body clock was on 1:00-5:00 a.m. CST and I was tired after 37 hours of travel). Now it's 2:30 a.m. and I can't sleep..so I'm praying some, looking over my notes for today some, and answering e-mails some. My pastor's heart is so full even though I don't know what time zone I'm in. I met some brothers yesterday from the mountains of NEPAL (Katmandu is the capital - just go check a world map) who travelled 40+ hours by train to sit in 8 hours of daily teaching for two days and then return home to preach in their churches on Sunday!!!! Are you kidding me? How many American Christians would sacrifice so much to sit for the privilege of listening to sermons all day??? This may be the hungriest congregation I've ever had the privilege of preaching to (and I think Eastview is a church of great listeners!!) and I can't wait to preach to them twice today. The other countries represented are of course, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar. I can't tell you how humbling it is to be with these great men of faith and yatra with them as we follow Jesus. I pray that I can inspire and encourage them today with two sermons from Jude 24&25 and Matthew 13. Hope you'll pray with me.

Abujheet and Delhi Pastors

Once again, I'm overwhelmed by the Christian brotherly love I feel from the hospitality of my Indian family. We get off the plane at the Indira Ghandi airport and three pastors along with Ajai's son and daughter-in-law (Abujheet and Katie) at midnight and they are there to greet us in typical Indian style with lei's of fresh flowers. Think about it, willing to get up in the middle of the night and make sure we are welcomed and transported to a hotel for a couple of hours! The love of God's family amazes me and the love of these family members reminds me that I am here to serve...even if it means lack of sleep. Father, make me a servant like your Son Jesus and like I have seen in your children here today. In half an hour (5 a.m. here on Wednesday) we'll head to the airport for a domestic flight to Jabalpur and then a two hour drive to Damoh and the leadership conference. J.K., Tyler, Jim, Jason, and Mark are already there and the conference begins at 8:00 a.m. Praying for these preachers and pastors to be encouraged and inspired!!!

encourage and inspire

Sitting in Chicago's Ohare airport getting ready for a trip to New Delhi via Tokyo, Japan (go figure - taking that route - this made me study the world map again!) By the time Sara and I arrive, we will have lost Tuesday altogether in flights and airports, but we are excited to reunite with Drs. Ajai and Indu Lall and their family and ministry in Central India. My soul has just begun to refuel from yesterday's sermon and my mind turns to this incredible opportunity to preach (along with J.K., Jim, Jason, Mark, and Tyler - our pastoral leadership team) to over 500 preachers and church planters from all over the country. I'm completely humbled and excited for this open door for the gospel - four or five sermons in the next five days to: preachers, youth, village churches, and Ajai's home church. Two words come to mind: encourage and inspire. I know that I will be encouraged by the passion of these preachers who will ride trains for days and sit in teaching sessions for 10 hours at a time to grow in their faith. I know that I will be encouraged by the fact that many of them literally put their life on the line daily to preach the gospel. I know that I will be inspired by their love for Christ and their preaching. I will be inspired by seeing the world wide church in action again! The church of Jesus is prevailing and we get to be a part of that. My prayer is that somehow I can inspire the CICM workers, the preachers, and even Ajai and Indu. My prayer is that by preaching the word, hundreds will be encouraged to keep going in this work for the gospel. This is again how the church works. I'm flying to the other side of the world to encourage and inspire and I'm sure these brothers and sisters will inspire me more than I will them.