 Dear pastors, missionaries, chaplains and friends, Steve here… Imagine God as a jilted lover or a distraught father. Not the immediate symbols we think of when we think of our Heavenly Father, but we find these illustrated in the Book of Hosea. Years back I read a book by Philip Yancey, called Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud, which dealt with these analogies and found them fascinating. Here are some scattered thoughts. The book of Hosea is about spiritual adultery. My pastor recently did a series on the book. You cannot escape the fact that this Old Testament book is about Israel’s constant love affair with other gods! God gives humanity His gift of love and we constantly throw it back in His face, whoring after other pleasures and distractions. Mysteriously, three quarters through the book we find a remarkable passage about parenting. For ten chapters, God talks about being a spurned and jilted lover, jealous for our affections, and then in chapter eleven (vv. 1-4) God begins to reminisce: “When Israel was a child, I loved him… taught them to walk. But they would not admit that I was the One who had healed them.” Like a doting parent, the Lord remembers when he taught his children to walk. Is there ever a more exciting time for a parent than watching their child take their first steps? But in chapter 11, vv.7-8, God says, “My people are determined to reject me for a god they think is stronger…. I can’t let you go. I can’t give you up.” After ten chapters of an R-rated story of prostitution and betrayal, God now uses the metaphor of a child who thumbs his nose at his dad. His dad just can’t give up on him.  God wants us to feel what he feels when his love is not returned. Two of the most profound relationships humans can experience are marriage and parenthood. When your child turns his back on you and you’re waiting for him to return home but it’s past 3 am; that’s how God feels. Or you spouse cheats on you and it’s the third time despite your forgiveness on each occasion; that’s how God feels.God likens His love, in the book of Hosea, as the love between two lovers or a father and son. So we might understand how God feels when we act like a serial adulterer or a rebellious teen. In these metaphors, God is teaching us about dependence and submission. What defines a child-parent relationship better than dependence? An infant is completely dependent on her mother for her every need. On the other hand, two lovers reverse this relationship dynamic. Two lovers are completely free, but choose to give that freedom away by submitting to one another. A healthy marriage is one of submission to one another, voluntarily, out of love. In an unhealthy marriage, submission really becomes a power struggle.  God uses these two metaphors to underscore the necessary balance we must possess in our relationship with God; it’s a balance of dependence and submission. And when we get unbalanced, the result is pain, distance, and loneliness. The prophet Hosea chased after his sleazy wife, Gomer, because his love was true. Her serial adulteries didn’t stop him. Her shameful behaviour and thoughtless distractions did not convince him to give up. God continues to chase after each of His kids, you and me, despite our waywardness. Thank God for this truth. But God’s experience does (to some degree) depend on me… will the Lord experience joy or pain the relationship? Have a blessed week, Steve Jones 
0 Comments
 Dear pastors, missionaries, chaplains and friends, Steve here… A “paraprosdokian sentence” is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence, phrase, or larger discourse is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader (or listener) to reframe or reinterpret the first part of the sentence. Let me give you some examples: · I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming like the passengers in his car. · Light travels faster than sound; this is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. · If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong! · Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. · The early bird gets the worm, but it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese. · To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research. These figures of speech are often insightful, funny and even instructive. Jesus often used figures of speech that caused the listener to do a double-take. “What did the Rabbi just say?” Jesus said things like: · “The first shall be last”… Whaaaa?! · “Give and you will receive”… Does that make sense?! · “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other side”… That’s awful! · “He who is not with me is against me”… but I just want to be neutral!  WHAT’S MY POINT? In our everyday conversations let’s seek to be winsome in our words: instructive without condemning; pointing the way without poking a sore spot; sharing an insight without being a know-it-all. Winning spiritually-lost people with language is important. We need to think before we open our mouths and “share a word in season”. I wish Bible teachers spent as much time in crafting their study or sermon as they did instudying for their message. People would hear more of the message if it were intentionally crafted to win their hearts, not just their ears. Here are a few more paraprosdokian sentences to tickle your ears and penetrate your heart: · I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted pay cheques. · Always borrow money from a pessimist; he won’t expect it back. · I used to be indecisive, but now I’m not sure. · Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. · You’re never too old to learn something stupid. · Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine. Let’s be intentional about what we say and how we say it—something to think about. Have a blessed week, Steve Jones   P.S. Our Fellowship National Conference (November 10-12) is in Toronto, featuring special speakers Ed Stetzer and Dom Ruso. Check our website for more information.   The Western World sat up and paid attention when two medical missionaries contracted Ebola in Liberia over this past summer. The World Health Organization expects that the death toll from this, the deadliest outbreak since Ebola was first discovered in 1976, will climb above 4,500 in West Africa in the near future. Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the most seriously affected countries, have weak health care systems and lack human and infrastructural resources, having only recently emerged from long periods of conflict and instability.  FAIR’s Response: Seventy percent of health care in Africa has been provided by faith-based groups (Christianity Today, October 2014, pg. 17). This overwhelming epidemic is stretching the resources of these organizations beyond what currently is possible to handle. FAIR (Fellowship Aid and International Relief) is partnering with Serving in Mission (SIM) Canada to help supply medical equipment and supplies to a hospital in Liberia that finds itself on the front lines of the epidemic. Since the first days of the outbreak, SIM's ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) Hospital has been in the vanguard of the fight to treat patients suffering from the disease and to prevent its spread. The response to this epidemic has depleted many of the hospital's supplies and left several areas of the hospital in need of restoration. Personal protective equipment (PPE),medicine, medical supplies, and linens are immediate needs. The Ebola outbreak, as well as rising inflation in Liberia, has placed a tremendous strain on the hospital's finances. Serving In Mission’s goal is to raise $418,115: · $15 per day to supply one patient with additional medication and supplies. · $50 to provide enough personal protective equipment for 4 deliveries or 2 surgeries. · $60 per day to provide the full staff for an outpatient pediatric and chronic disease clinic. · $100 per month to provide an aid to assist with children's vaccinations. · $200 per month to cover utility costs for every 5 beds in the Ebola Treatment Unit. We know that Ebola is not a “West African problem.” It has become a global menace and you can help bring it to an end through FAIR. Financial donations designated, “FAIR Ebola Crisis-3221” can be forwarded to FAIR, Box 457, Guelph ON, NIH 6K9, or they can be given via our secure online website: www.fellowship.ca/Ebolacrisis. from: Van Heaton The Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada PO Box 457 Guelph ON N1H 6K9 www.fellowship.ca
Dear pastors, missionaries, chaplains and friends, Steve here… A man writing at the post office desk was approached by an older fellow who had a post card in his hand. The old man said, “Sir, could you please address this post card for me?” The man gladly did so, and he agreed to write a short message on the post card, and he even signed it for the man too. Finally the man doing the writing said to the older man, “Now, is there anything else I can do for you?” The old fellow thought about it for a minute, and he said, “Yes, at the end could you just put, ‘P.S. Please excuse the sloppy handwriting.’ ” How often do you hear people express sincere gratitude? Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1-2: “But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be…ungrateful.” It is interesting to note that the word “gratitude” comes from the same root word as “grace”. Grateful people are people who understand how gracious God has been to them. The word “thanksgiving” comes from the same root word as “think”, meaning to think about life accurately is to thank God in every way. Paul would write: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” There is an interesting story in Luke 17 that describes this kind of living. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem (v. 11) when he meets ten lepers—nine Jewish lepers and one Samaritan leper—and healed them. This is the largest group of people suffering from leprosy described in the New Testament. All ten share in their suffering, but only one shares in his gratitude for Christ’s mercy and healing power.  There are very few occasions in the Bible where we find Jesus surprised. It’s difficult to surprise an all-knowing being. But, in this instance, Jesus registers surprise, saying: “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” (vs. 17) The irony of this story is in the fact that the nine who did not return to thank Jesus were his own countrymen; only the Samaritan returned to thank Jesus. The nine were chosen people of God who had the most to be thankful for, but expressed no gratitude. Yet, the one who had least to be thankful for—Samaritans were thought of poorly by the Jews, treated as outcasts and half-breeds—expressed the greatest thankfulness. One can easily apply this situation to our own North American culture: we live in an extremely privileged society, and yet we are some of the most thank-less people in the world. There is a myth in our culture that promotes the idea that we’re only happy when we have more, more, more. Wisdom from Ecclesiastes 6:9 states: “Enjoy what you have rather than desire what you don’t have.” Personally, I already have more than I deserve.  I trust you had a very happy Thanksgiving! There are over 140 references in the Bible regarding giving thanks to God. Perhaps God is trying to tell us something through this repetition and emphasis on thanksgiving. Let’s be a content, grateful, and thankful people of God. Have a blessed week, Steve Jones 
 P.S. Our Fellowship National Conference (November 10-12) is in Toronto, featuring special speakers Ed Stetzer and Dom Ruso. Check our website for more information.
Dear pastors, missionaries, chaplains and friends, Steve here… Imagine Christmas in Cambodia. I don’t imagine it will be turkey and mashed potatoes—likely fish and rice. With 95% of Cambodia’s population claiming to be Buddhist, not many Cambodians will celebrate the birth of Christ this Christmas. However, each year that percentage dwindles because the Lord is at work in this country. In fact, there will be more Cambodians celebrating Christmas this year than there were a generation ago. Cambodia is actually an exciting mission’s story! Cambodia is a nation of 14 million people, with 80% of the population in rural areas. Protestant missions started only 40 years ago, but by the 60s there were approximately 1,000 Christians. During the 70s dramatic growth occurred amidst the brutal “killing fields” of the Pol Pot communist regime. It is believed that 80% of Christians and all pastors were martyred between 1975-79. Around 1990, the country opened to other missions agencies and the Cambodian Evangelical Fellowship currently lists 100 denominations with approximately 200,000 evangelical believers, or 1.5% of the population. The growth has been rapid and shows no signs of slowing down.  FAIR Christmas Project FAIR is the humanitarian relief arm of our Fellowship’s international ministry. I am hoping many of you and your local churches will choose to give a “FAIR share” this Christmas to the nation of Cambodia. This year’s FAIR Christmas project is centered on the ministry of Nhep and Oeut Pech (left), who are using the FAIR-funded mobile dental clinic to provide dental care to Cambodians in villages, towns, and prisons where they then share the Gospel with each patient. To date, they have treated over 5,000 patients, most of whom have never heard the Good News of Christ. They have led scores of nominal Buddhists to Christ, designed a discipleship track, and established three church plants; their ministry has been fruitful.   To read more about the Pech’s ministry, please see the attached trip report following my personal visit with the Pechs on the mission field in 2013. It’s quite a story… Nhep was marked to be killed by Khmer soldiers on three separate occasions but the Lord miraculously spared her life each time.. Both Oeut and Nhep lost family members during this horrific time. Read their story and then prayerfully consider participating in the FAIR Christmas appeal in Cambodia. God bless you as you give. Have a blessed week, Steve Jones 
 P.S. Our Fellowship National Conference (November 10-12) is in Toronto, featuring special speakers Ed Stetzer and Dom Ruso. Check our website for more information.
|
|||||||||
