Paul and Barnabas are no excuse!

Acts 15:36-41 Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”  Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Have you ever heard anyone say “Well, we considered our issue with so and so (a believer in Christ) to be like a Paul and Barnabas situation, this we have separated ways.” I have heard it several times.

Christians seem to likes this passage of scripture because it gives them an “out” for working things through with their brothers and sisters in Christ.

I want you to take a look at the text though. In no way does the Bible ever condone this. Honestly, I would say that both Paul and Barnabas were in the wrong here. You are supposed to work it out if you are believers. Nowhere else in the Bible can you find a verse that says you don’t have to work your disagreements through with your brothers and sisters in Christ. In fact, it says just the opposite!

Matt 18:15-17 “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. 

Luke 17: 3 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

Matt 5:23-24 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Eph 4:1-3 1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Psalms 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is. For brethren to dwell together in unity!

Romans 12:10-11 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

1 Thes 4:9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;

1 John 2:9
 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.

1 John 3:10-11 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,

1 John 4:21
 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Romans 12:16
 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Philippians 2:2
 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

The Bible stresses being like-minded and in unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Don’t use Paul and Barnabas as your escape goat!

Romans 12:18
 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

Only apart of my heart

I went to YWAM service a couple weeks ago. The guest speaker talked about giving your whole heart to Christ. To not leave a single area in your life that is not given to Christ. He requires and demands our whole live. God showed me many areas in my life that I have kept as "my time". I can't do that though. He has to have all of my time. There is no "me" time.

The speaker equated giving only part of your heart to Christ as him telling his wife that he loved her a whole lot but there was another girl that he kind of liked and would only spend just a week with her every year. His wife would say "No way! It is me or the highway!". It is the same with God. He desires our whole heart, our whole life. It is degrading to not give Him all of it. He is God, He deserves it!

We can trust Him with all of our heart. He desires good for us, not evil. Live for Him 24/7. Don't hold back anything.

Out of the Darkness!

Dear blog readers,

Jody wrote a really good newsletter this month and I want to share it with you. I like bragging about my guy. 

-Elisabeth

I'd like for you to take a moment and consider a strange phenomenon with me. Is there a closet near to you that is dark inside? What happens whenever you open it? Does the darkness inside the closet flood out and make the rest of the room dark? Though that would be a sweet trick, it doesn't work like that, does it? Instead, the light of the room overwhelms and penetrates the darkness that was inside the closet. "Darkness" does not exist. As the young scientist reminds us, "Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present." This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. -- 1 John 1:5-7 Knowing that we have this Light inside of us...this Light that equates life and illuminates the entire universe...this Light that eradicates all darkness...how should we be living? The Word of God says, You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden...Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. -- Matthew 5:14-16 We are called to shine. Bright. To glorify our Father who is in heaven. Darkness is not something we need to fear if we are walking in the Light. Much of this world is walking in darkness. If we don't allow our lights to shine, why should we expect those in darkness to see the light? Shine!

You don't have to care, and neither do I!

I don't have to care what people think about me. I don't have to go buy new clothes. I don't have to go to college and get a money making job. I don't have to buy a big house. I don't have to worry about my future. My confidence doesn't have to be in anything other than Christ. 

Isn't it funny how we work so hard to please the 15 some people who are around us? We make our decisions based on their opinions. They affect our appearance, our careers, our possessions, the movies we watch, the music we listen to, and how we spend out time. We value their opinions more than God's opinion!

We can have a relationship with God. Did you just read that? Read it again. We can have a relationship with GOD. The one who has all power over not just our own lives, but over the lives of everyone around us, and over not only our own world, but over the whole universe! He is! We can talk to Him. We can know His opinion. We can please Him! 

He is amazing. Not only does He make a way for us to be saved from ultimate destruction, but He gives us a new heart with new desires to help us. He changes us so that our desires are His desires. We don't have to worry about pleasing anyone anymore. Instead of having to worry about pleasing our friends, we find joy and fulfillment in pleasing Him. He makes it so easy!

Oh, such freedom! Anytime I start worrying about what people think about me, I just have to remind myself I don't have to please anyone but Jesus.

Matt 11:28-30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

O me of little faith!

Jody and I have been going through a book called "The Pursuit of God" by AW Tozer. That book is a must read, just to let you know. Anyways, a chapter about faith, completely changed my ideas on what faith actually is. 

I don't know about you, but whenever I would try to have faith, it was more like me trying to conjure up a belief inside of me. I would try to have this belief of whatever I wanted to happen. I would put all my focus on the problem in front of me and try to pretend as though I knew God was going to take care of it. I would go around saying to myself that God had already done what I asked for. 

Just in case you were wondering, it never worked for me. Instead I looked like a fool for going around saying "Oh, I have faith and God has already done what I wanted Him to.". 

Here are some things I took out of the book:

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John 3:14-15 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lighted up: that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life"

Our plain man, in reading this would make an important discovery. He would notice that look and believe are synonymous terms. "Looking" on the Old Testament serpent is identical with "Believing" on the New Testament Christ. That is, the  looking and believing are the same thing. 

Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God. 

Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues. It is by its very nature scarcely conscious of its own existence.

While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves---blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing by repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ, the very things he has so long been trying to do wilt be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do. 

Now, if faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest possible thing to do. It would be like God to make the most vital thing easy and place it within the range of possibility for the weakest and poorest of us. 

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The flood gates opened after this. It was true. Faith is looking off of your problems and putting your gaze upon God. You don't even think of your problems because you are too busy looking at Him. 

Remember what happened to Peter when he was walking on the water towards Jesus but then He stopped looking at Him? He started to sink and then Jesus asked him where was his faith. Peter's faith stopped when He stopped gazing upon Jesus. 

It makes so much sense. I had always been focused upon my problems when I should have forgotten my problems and put my eyes upon Jesus instead. It is so simple yet I had always thought it was difficult to have faith. 

What are your thoughts on this?

Wimpy Missionary

Yep that is me! I have been here for a little over a month now and I won't deny that I have days when I just want to come home. At least once a week, I want to throw in the towel with Spanish, hop on a plane, and say goodbye! 

Studying Spanish would take so much of my time and I would use it as an excuse not to serve those around me. I mean, the whole reason God wanted me to come to Guatemala was so I could learn Spanish, right? I was quite wrong in thinking that. 

A week or so ago, God corrected me. He reminded me again today about how He had corrected me about this because I had forgotten and had fallen into the same trap again. 

He said to me, "Elisabeth, you aren't here to learn Spanish". 

I was like, "What God? I don't think I heard you correctly". 

He then said, "You purpose here isn't to learn Spanish. Your purpose is to bring Me glory and to minister to those around you. So, stop focusing on yourself!"

Ouch. That hurt. I had been putting too much stock in learning Spanish and was forgetting the real reason any of us are here on this earth. Just because I am in Guatemala and I am learning Spanish doesn't change the original mission. The mission has always been and will always be to bring God glory. 

Jugglers for Jesus

Mark preaching to the crowd

Don't go thinking that because the title is about jugglers that I can in anyway juggle. I am the worst juggler of all time. So, when you see me don't say "Hey Elisabeth, I saw the title of your last blog post! Can you juggle for me please??". I will refuse. 

So, anyways... I went witnessing this past Saturday night. We ran into a couple there and their two sons were jugglers. They asked if they could draw a crowd for us to be able to preach to. We of course accepted their offer. They drew a crowd of probably 100-150 people!

Mark preached and the majority of the crowd stayed to listen! Then afterwards about 6 people decided they wanted to give their life to Christ. We did it that way twice and both times people came forward to give their life to Christ. It was an amazing night. 

God can even use jugglers to further His kingdom! We were so grateful for them. 

1 Corinthians 1:27 - But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame thethings which are mighty

Church with Drunkards

The homes of the drunkards

The rain started to pour but that didn't stop the church service that was going to happen. About 20 people came to this service. All of them, except the ones from our team, were drunk or high or high and drunk. A few were even sniffing glue during the worship songs. 

We were among the absolute most destitute last night. These people are constantly drunk and high. They all lived under makeshift homes made out of tattered tarps. They were so sold out to their sin, they preferred living in these conditions rather than giving up their lifestyle and surrendering their lives to Jesus. 

Yet, Jesus still loves them and is still trying to reach them. Most would think our team is crazy for even trying to reach these people. Not only was it pouring rain, not only was there human excrement on the floor, but the likelihood of these people even remembering anything from the service in the morning, was slim. 

I was blown away last night by how much Jesus loves and cares for these people. One of the drunkards was only wearing a thin t-shirt and was going to be sleeping outside that night. One of the members of our team gave him the jacket off of his back so he could be warm. Hugs were given all around. People talked and prayed together. It was a blessing to watch Christ's body moving about to reach these people for the gospel. 

Such a great cost!

Mark talking with Johnny

Because my Spanish witnessing vocabulary is pretty rusty, Mark kind enough to translate for me. We went up to a group of about 8 teenagers to share the gospel with them. By the end, only 1 remained. Johnny was his name. Throughout the conversation, Johnny had thrown out objections to the gospel. He would say he didn't believe in Hell. His friends would laugh and also throw out objections. But God was convicting him of his sin and by the end of the conversation, Johnny had tears streaming down his face. He stayed long after all his friends had left him. He also began to confess an addiction to marijuana. 

As we continued to talk with him, he started to realize how much it was going to cost him to give over his life to Christ. He kept repeating "It is a great cost". It was so refreshing to see someone understand the gospel and realize that to follow Jesus is going to cost a lot. He saw his friends had already left him just because he continued to talk to us. He realized that if he was to give his life to Christ that he would become an outcast among them. It was going to cost him a lot. 

Please pray for Johnny that he would come to the revelation of how Christ is worth any cost and that he would repent of his sins and put his trust in Him. 

Matt 16:26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Failure on Day 1

My number one goal for while I am here in Guatemala, other than learning Spanish, is to spend more time alone with God. I am giving my early morning jet-lag a purpose and use it to spend time in prayer and reading the word.

Day 1

I wake up at 5:30am and open my computer. Instantly I was convicted. Instead of starting my day by spending it with Him, I wanted to check my emails. After going through my emails, I shut down my computer and opened up the word.

I couldn't believe that on my very first day that I had failed! While I did have some good quiet time with the Lord afterwards, He mostly was showing me how He needs to be first. I had made a commitment to spend time with Him. By me opening my computer, I was essentially telling the creator of the universe to wait because my emails were more important.

I am determined to put Him first in my life. I am so grateful for second chances. I am looking forward to day 2.

On my way!

I sure do miss him!

It has been a while since I last blogged. God hasn't stopped working in my life though.

I am heading back to Guatemala for another 3 month venture. I am super excited to see what God is going to do during this time. I am hoping to perfect my Spanish while I am there. I also brought lots of tracts with me to hopefully be able to share the gospel with people. People are so much more receptive there towards the gospel.

Please keep me in your prayers while I am in Guatemala. Pray that I would stay focused on learning Spanish and on being able to minister to everyone around me.

Thanks so much!

Oh, and I started this new blog since I am turning 20 in a couple weeks. I wouldn't be able to keep the name "Controversial Teenager" since I will no longer be a teen.