BRAY FOR THE BRAYS DAY 2

Why? Why do we want to move our family overseas, far from family, friends, and Chik-fil-a sandwiches? Is it a sense of obligation, the right thing to do…did we lose a bet?

For one, we don’t want to say “No” when Jesus has clearly said “Go, make disciples of all nations.” Since the “ends of the earth” have not been reached yet followers of Christ still have a job to do. BUT the reason that we want to go, and we want to go to unreached areas is much richer than that…

“Our obedience to the Great Commission of Christ is incomplete if we just make disciples. Our commission is to make disciples of all the nations, of all the peoples.

Particular atonement drives global missions. So if we believe Revelation 5:9 (if we believe that Jesus died to purchase people from every tribe and tongue and nation), then let us go to every tribe and tongue and nation.

Why? Because we feel guilty that we’re reached, that we have all these resources? Aren’t we just “guilting people” into going overseas to the unreached? We feel bad so we go?

No.

What drives passion for unreached peoples is not guilt, it’s glory—glory for a King.

It’s people who know that our sovereign God deserves the praise of not just 10,000 people groups on the planet, but all 16,000 of them. And we’re not going to stop until every single people group purchased by Christ is exalting His Name. (David Platt)”

Please pray (1) no matter what is in store for us in the next few weeks that we do not lose focus of leading a God glorifying life. (2) Pray for those that will be interviewing us that they are faithful in their task to select qualified missionaries.

Maddie the Coonhound Standing on Things ⇢

Brilliant.

Church Bombings in Nigeria

BAUCHI CITY, Nigeria, January 24 (CDN) — Early morning attacks in Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi state on Sunday (Jan. 22) left at least seven Christians dead and a church building destroyed.

The attack on the Evangelical Church Winning All Church 2, residents of Tafawa Balewa said, was carried out by area Islamic extremists alongside members of the Boko Haram sect, with the church building and surrounding houses bombed.

Bukata Zhadi, secretary of the Christian elders council in Tafawa Balewa, said attacks on Christian communities in the area have been incessant, with Sundays attack  bringing to 10 the number of Christians killed in the last two weeks in Tafawa Balewa”

For the full article go to CompassDirect.org.

Pray:

  1. For local church leaders as they attempt to provide both physical and spiritual support for the damaged, injured, and anxious community
  2. For local believers to be bold in the face of growing persecution.
  3. For government leaders as Islamic extremist seek to impose strict Islamic law on all of Nigeria

In Defense of Systematic Theology…

God certainly sees the truth as a whole, and it is the duty of the theologian to think the truths of God after Him. There should be a constant endeavor to see the truth as God sees it, even though it is perfectly evident that the ideal is beyond the grasp of man in his present condition.

—Louis Berkhof, Introductory Volume to Systematic Theology [orig., 1932], in Systematic Theology: New Combined Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), p. 15.

A To Do list from Johnny Cash

A To Do list from Johnny Cash

Spurgeon’s One Qualm with Pilgrim’s Progress – Justin Taylor ⇢

Charles Spurgeon loved John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. He first read the book as a young boy, and he began his commentary on the classic with these words: “Next to the Bible, the book I value most is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. I believe I have read it through at least a hundred times. It is a volume of which I never seem to tire; and the secret of its freshness is that it is so largely compiled from the Scriptures.” As Spurgeon said elsewhere, he loved Bunyan because Bunyan bled Bible.

But he did have one qualm with the great book:

Painting by Mike Wimmer

I am a great lover of John Bunyan, but I do not believe him infallible; and the other day I met with a story about him which I think a very good one.

There was a young man, in Edinburgh, who wished to be a missionary. He was a wise young man; he thought—”If I am to be a missionary, there is no need for me to transport myself far away from home; I may as well be a missionary in Edinburgh.” …

Well, this young man started, and determined to speak to the first person he met. He met one of those oldfishwives; those of us who have seen them can never forget them, they are extraordinary women indeed. So, stepping up to her, he said, “Here you are, coming along with your burden on your back; let me ask you if you have got another burden, a spiritual burden.”

“What!” she asked; “do you mean that burden in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress? Because, if you do, young man, I got rid of that many years ago, probably before you were born. But I went a better way to work than the pilgrim did. The evangelist that John Bunyan talks about was one of your parsons that do not preach the gospel; for he said, ‘Keep that light in thine eye, and run to the wicket-gate.’ Why—man alive!—that was not the place for him to run to. He should have said, ‘Do you see that cross? Run there at once!’ But, instead of that, he sent the poor pilgrim to the wicket-gate first; and much good he got by going there! He got tumbling into the slough, and was like to have been killed by it.”

“But did not you,” the young man asked, “go through any Slough of Despond?”

“Yes, I did; but I found it a great deal easier going through with my burden off than with it on my back.”

The old woman was quite right. John Bunyan put the getting rid of the burden too far off from the commencement of the pilgrimage. If he meant to show what usually happens, he was right; but if he meant to show what ought to have happened, he was wrong.

We must not say to the sinner, “Now, sinner, if thou wilt be saved, go to the baptismal pool; go to the wicket-gate; go to the church; do this or that.”

No, the cross should be right in front of the wicket-gate; and we should say to the sinner, “Throw thyself down there, and thou art safe; but thou are not safe till thou canst cast off thy burden, and lie at the foot of the cross, and find peace in Jesus.”

Guy On A Buffalo - Episode 2 (Orphans, Cougars & What Not) (by ThePossumPosse)

Source: youtube.com

I’ve only got a handful of these so far.

I’ve only got a handful of these so far.

Ending Poverty

Ending Poverty

No Scar? - Amy Carmichael

No Scar?

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land;
I hear them hail thy bright, ascendant star.
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers; spent,
Leaned Me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned.
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yet, as the Master shall the servant be,
And piercèd are the feet that follow Me.
But thine are whole; can he have followed far
Who hast no wound or scar?

BY Amy Carmichael

Missionary to orphans in India.

She suffered much — and bore much eternal fruit.

Back in the 1920s, Amy rescued hundreds of orphaned children — especially little girls that would be dedicated to Hindu gods for use in sexual temple rituals. By God’s wonderful grace, some had miraculously escaped from such pagan slavery and were led to the Irish “mother” who lovingly cared for each child God sent her.  In 1931 she prayed, “God, please do with me whatever you want. Do anything that will help me to serve you better.” That same day, she fell, suffering fractures that would cripple her for the rest of her life.  Not one to be discouraged or bitter when faced with pain or persecution, Amy now had the opportunity to demonstrate God’s faithfulness before a much larger “host” of witnesses. While her growing children had continual freedom to enter her bedroom and share their hearts with their beloved “mother,” she now had the quiet times that allowed her to write books, poems, and letters that were translated and shared around the world.

“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ,

not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” 

Philippians 1:29

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About

Daniel Bray*

*sinner saved by grace.
soon to be dad.
married to the love of my life.
Traveler. Mountaineer. Student.


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