200 years ago today, a man named Adoniram Judson jumped on a ship with his wife, Ann, and gospel partner, Luther Rice, and headed toward the unknowns of Burma.  Take some time today and get to know this amazing missionary pioneer.  I promise, his life will greatly benefit yours.  Millions of Christians in Burma today (now Myanmar) find their heritage in Judson’s life and ministry to this country.

• Judson’s Wikipage 
• His Great Missionary Biography, To the Golden Shore, by Courtney Anderson.

Have you ever extended a hand to give a homeless man a couple of bucks?  Have you possibly extended a hand to help a family (or even family member) in a tough time?  Or have you ever traveled across the Atlantic to pass out some much-needed items to those in a third world country?  Bread?  Shoes?  Rice?  Medicine?  Or even the gospel?  Many of us have experienced this a time or two.  You have traveled across the world, or even across the street, to extend a hand to those in need.  You have gone down to the homeless shelter and have extended a hand to feed a couple of homeless guys.  This type of work seems honorable.  It seems like Christian service.  It seems like the right, Christian thing to do.  The question, however, of which hand we are extending is crucial to, what I think, true gospel-centered ministry really is.

Pity is defined as contemptuous sorrow for one in misery or distress.

Pity always deals with the unfairness of life.  Why did this happen to me?  Why did this happen to my family?  What did I do to deserve this?  Self-pity is a bad thing and so is the feeling of pity toward others.  The feeling of pity causes us to look down on someone’s station or position in life, which, in turn, ultimately causes us to look down on them.  We develop a smoky relationship at best with that person.  This makes one person the haves and the other person the have-nots.  A hierarchy forms and the relationship never develops past a welfare relationship.  It is very similar to the white knight riding in to save the day.  Here’s your hand out.  Here’s your bread.  Here’s your full better.  This creates dependency and is completely, I think, unhealthy and unbiblical.  This type of mentality, though, makes us feel good to be the hero, which creates a barrier to them knowing the real hero and lover of the soul, Jesus Christ.

Compassion, on the other hand, is a word made up of two Latin words: com — meaning to walk alongside; and passion — meaning to suffer.  The Passion of the Christ or Passion Week both mean suffering.  Compassion, unlike pity, walks with a person, creating community, friendship, understanding, and a shared journey.  When we extend a hand of compassion, we join them in their suffering.  This is what Jesus did for us.  He joined us in our journey.  He, though in the form of God, emptied himself, and became a man (Phil 2:5-6).  This is what is known as true compassion. Christ became our punishment.  He became our suffering.

When we as the church extend a hand of pity, then we are simply only giving handouts.  We are making ourselves the hero.  When we as the church come alongside someone, suffer alongside someone, and feed someone in the name of Jesus, then we are extending a hand of compassion to the least of these (Matt 25:31-46).

Do you see the difference.  It is a careful paradox; a matter of the heart, I think.  Who are you, as a follower of Jesus, extending a hand of compassion to?  Who are you suffering alongside of?

I preached this sermon back at the end of May at Foothills Church.  I pray it is beneficial for you.

I have really enjoyed keeping up with the tweets from the Desiring God National Conference the past couple of days – #dgnc.  Giglio, Platt, and Piper, just to name a few, are headlining the event with the focus of the conference being pointed toward the Great Commission, and more specifically, toward reaching the unreached and unengaged. – RESOURCE: Those who want to further explore religion can find information on courses via accredited online colleges.

Here is a short video of Giglio’s message last night where he took the sounds of stars and whales and combined them with some strings and had everybody with the stars and whales worship the God of the universe together.  It’s kind of hard to hear but it was pretty awesome.

Here is a picture that Ed Stetzer tweeted with the caption, “The Desiring God National Conference: Where Calvinists worship like charismatics.”

Recently a couple of organizational leaders introduced me to Soularium cards. In a planetarium, we would see pictures of the planets; with Soularium cards, however, we use pictures to view into someone’s soul.  From using these cards recently, I’ve noticed that they are an excellent conversation starter for evangelism.  Clearly, if we as Christians are to fulfill the Great Commission given by Jesus Christ, then we must share the gospel with people.  Yet, finding ways to start a conversation with a stranger is often difficult, or at least awkward because we might feel (and look!) like a desperate used-car salesman.  This method, however, allows the other person to do most of the talking; then, once they’re finished answering the questions, I have found they tend to listen to me because I spent time listening to them.   In this YouTube video, notice the ease with which these guys start a conversation with a complete stranger.  My hope in sharing this video is to encourage you to use these cards to start evangelistic conversations.

It was like a story taken straight from the Gospels. It involved supernatural intervention and faith smaller than a mustard seed. It was so true to scripture as to surprise those who experienced it. Seeing God’s mighty hand work in the 21^st century just as it did in the days of the Apostles is incredible—and honestly, a little scary.

After serving two years as a missionary in Suriname, I had the privilege of going back for a ten-day mission trip with First Baptist Church, of Moss Bluff, Louisiana. The trip had the dual purpose of construction and evangelism. My former supervisor, his wife, and I acted as translators in the Aukaan language.

I had firsthand experience with the dark spiritual world. There were no illusions about its existence and activity. But more importantly, I knew Christ was greater and stronger than Satan and his demons. A full intellectual and experiential understanding wasn’t enough.  My human tendency to doubt and marginalize the power of the unseen world had crept in. But last week those notions were stopped dead in their tracks.

During the day, we sent out teams to do evangelism in various villages while others were building houses. On Tuesday, while some of the Americans were preparing to tell a Bible story in English, a woman in the crowd suddenly jerked backwards and began to scream and convulse. Men from our group struggled to hold down this woman who possessed great strength. Two of the Aukaan pastors began to pray and speak with her. She was possessed by a number of spirits as neighbors and family members hadtestified.They continually urged her to received Christ and warned her that if she did not have the Holy Spirit more demons would enter her. She repented that day.

The crowd stood by indifferent to an apparently regular occurrence. Most of the youth from the U.S. somberly returned to the house trying to digest what had happened.

The next day, I and eight others went to Godoholo, a village where I did most my ministry. After setting up our hammocks and eating lunch we began to walk around the village and greet people I hadn’t seen for nearly a year. Flanked on all sides by a host of rowdy kids, we visited a man named Pompei, who had us sit down on his porch to talk. He complained of an injured knee that did not allow him to walk.

One of the men in our group proposed we pray for him to be healed right there. So we prayed for Pompei’s knee. After it was finished, Baa’ Pikin Lodi, an Aukaan believer, boldly told Pompei to get up and walk. He gingerly moved his leg, then put more weight on it and began walking freely. The team couldn’t understand what he was saying, and I didn’t believe what I heard him say. He was like, “Whoa! It’s all better! This is a miracle!” Shivers ran down my spine. I told everyone that he said he was immediately healed. I began to investigate further to see if it was legitimate. It was.

We praised God and stood in awe. We shared the gospel with him and the story from Acts 3 in whichPeter and John heal the lame man. Before you become skeptical realize this: Pompei would have gained nothing by faking being healed by Christians. He didn’t become a believer that day or the next. He said this as we followed up with him the next day, “When you’re young you hear the stories of Jesus (in school) and you believe the miracles but when you get older you doubt the possibility but this was a miracle, the name of Jesus really has power!”

To share the gospel with the power of the Holy Spirit doing wondrous things validating the message strengthens and shapes and stretches your Christianity like nothing else. You realize the words of Jesus and the promises he gives to believers are alive and vibrant today.

Should it surprise us when what happens comes straight from the Word: “Go in to all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” –Mark 16:15-18

We can confidently say as Pompei did, “The name of Jesus really has power!”

“It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way” –Proverbs 19:2.

A wave of violence has erupted across the Muslim world leaving nearly thirty dead. On April 1st, it was revealed to the world that the Quran, the Islamic Holy book, was burned a few days prior. Mob-driven bloodshed ensued. Meanwhile, the most notorious small church pastor in the world, Terry Jones, is in the spotlight. Jones had threatened to burn copies of the Quran last year before being deterred at the urging of the top General in the U.S., Michael Petraeus.

Muslims consider the Quran, the physical book itself (not just the words or message), to be revered and holy. It is not to be tampered with or mistreated in any way. In Muslim homes, it is placed in a prominent location in the house. Disrespect, not to mention desecration of the Quran, is outright blasphemy. The mob violence in Afghanistan is a testament to the deadly consequences wrought by one rogue pastor in Florida.

Jones has become a contemporary favorite in the media for his radical and inflammatory antics. Mass media has made broadcasting any digitally recorded event possible –for better, or in this case, for worse. [...]

People have often asked me if meeting and/or interacting with another American, or even another white person for that matter, is a positive occurrence. One would think, in light of the fact that I live alone in a village in which there have been stretches as long a month-and-a-half with no interaction with someone besides the resident Aukaaners, that I would jump at the chance to converse in my native tongue. The reality, I have learned, is quite the contrary.

There are typically what could be eloquently categorized as three “white people” groups you meet in the interior of Suriname. The more common two: Peace Corps volunteers and European Tourists from France or Holland, who are generally somewhat risky because of their perception of missionaries–which is unfortunately often negative and with Europeans, the whole language guessing game: not knowing exactly where they’re from, both of us being unsure if we might be proficient in the other’s language and to what degree they understand and speak English (which is, more often than not, pretty well). With the Peace Corps, it’s a real grab-bag. You might find a guy like a friend we have who is born-again, evangelistic, and down-to-earth, or you might get a liberal, pluralistic, feminist who sees you as someone destroying the beautiful and harmonious indigenous culture. [...]

Videos like this should serve to awaken the Church from its slumber and spring it into action.  Our mission as Christians is enormous. Islam is rapidly growing. Postmodernism, liberalism, naturalism, hedonism, atheism, agnosticism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and countless other “ism”s are vying for the world’s affections. While all of this is certainly true, and while Christians must actively seek to further the Kingdom of Christ here on this earth, there is no reason to fear. Christ’s Kingdom has already been established. He still reigns. And His Kingdom will come in its consummation. Our mission is large, but the God of this mission is larger, and He will be victorious in the end. Take comfort in verses like these:

God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:23-28)

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18)

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:11-16)