The World in Our Backyard

If current trends prove true, over 2 million people from foreign countries will come to the shores of the United States this year. By those same trends, the vast majority of them will not leave but will make this country their permanent home. It is a statistical fact that immigration is at an all time high, counting for 37% of the population growth of our land in recent years. The topic has become a political hot button among so many Americans, and it brings out passionate feelings on all ends of the spectrum. Today the call for immigration reform has increased. Anti-immigration rhetoric, that used to be found only in obscure circles, has become much more prevalent. The New York Times recently ran an article reviewing an anti-immigration book in which the author asserted: “There is no precedent for a sovereign country undergoing such a rapid and radical transformation of its ethnic character in the entire history of the world.” The author goes on to assert that the possible result will be the ‘snuffing out of the American nation – like a candle in a gale.”

As we read this, we too will undoubtedly have our own opinion of the wave of immigrants into our country. But, for my purposes today I want to ask one question as a follower of Jesus Christ: Does God have an opinion on immigration?

Now immediately we may be inclined to think God doesn’t care where people live. But I would take exception to that thought based on Scripture. First, I believe that the word of God teaches us that God is Sovereign – the absolute ruler over all creation - and has total control and determination over all that happens. Daniel 4:34-35 is one of many passages of scripture that teaches us about God’s ‘everlasting dominion’ over the earth. But someone may point out that He does give us free will. This is also a true statement, however, the free will granted to the human race can never trump God’s sovereignty (Proverbs 19:21) or God would cease to be sovereign. Even still, would we really choose to believe that God controls where people live or choose to move? Look at this most interesting verse from Acts 17:26-27: “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him…”

My response is Wow. The Word is teaching us that it is God who chooses the place where people should live. Does God have an opinion on immigration? It appears that indeed He does; and what is His purpose? His purpose would be that those people would seek Him and find Him. Perhaps this assertion is ringing true or perhaps it seems quite radical. In case of the latter, let’s take a look at one more picture from the biblical book of Acts. Actually if we go back to the end of Luke we find that Jesus tells His disciples that the ‘promise of my Father’ is coming to them, but they are not to leave the city ‘until they are clothed with power from on high’. Now Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit who arrived at the Jewish feast of Pentecost. Why did God choose Pentecost to be the day he poured His Spirit out onto the disciples? Why did He choose this time to give the ‘promised gift?’ Well, the answer appears in Acts 2:5, which speaks of this particular feast and says: “Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven”. God had gathered people from every nation in this one place and this one time, and He had done so for a Holy purpose. When He poured His spirit out on the disciples the result on that day was thousands of new believers in Christ. God, as one friend of mine has put it, is in the business of creating an audience for Himself that He might display His glory and bring people to His presence. And if He would choose to do this in the First Century AD, there is no reason to believe He is not still doing this today.

In His sovereignty, I believe God is bringing millions of people from all different backgrounds, cultures, and nations to the shores of the United States. Too many times our first response upon seeing immigrants of any nation may be questions like: ‘I wonder if they are legal or illegal, are they here to hurt us, or why can’t they stay home?’ We may react in anger based on economic concerns because after all, how fair is if for immigrants to take our jobs, right? I believe the Bible to be a book of justice and I am not in anyway promoting a disregard for our country’s laws or our patriotism. We must be careful, though, that our patriotism never trumps our dedication to Christ and His word. Let me say clearly, that our personal prejudices will put us at odds with our God. Why should our first thought not be: ‘I wonder if they know Jesus’? Do we not understand that God desires for people to worship Him and that He has chosen where everyone should live that they might seek him and find Him? Do we believe that He is bringing people of all cultures and countries to us, at least in part, to give us an opportunity to show them who Jesus really is and how they can be worshippers of the one and only living God? And if we do believe God is bringing immigrants here, are we willing to throw down the rags of politics and prejudice to take a hold of the riches of the call of God to bring Glory to His name and to make disciples of all people?

Let us not be blind to the reality that in this day, God is bringing the nations to our communities; the world to our neighborhoods. They are coming to live, work, and learn right beside of us. They may think they are motivated by a myriad of economic, social or circumstantial reasons, yet God purposes where people live so that they might seek Him and find Him. And we have an opening, should we decide to seize it, to help make disciples of all nations in our own backyard. I pray that on the day we stand before Him we will be found faithful not to our own ideals, politics, or patriotism, but to the call and to the opportunities that He so clearly gave us.

Grace and Peace

David 

Agape Newsletter - January 22, 2009 - Special Scottish Preaching edition.

Hello all, and welcome in to another info packed Agape newsletter.

Am I saved, or am I being saved? Talking Theology via email…(with several guest authors)

I’m kind of hopeful that this kind of post will take off and be a staple of the blog. I composed an email this week (copied below), and sent it out to a few people that I thought might be interested in a nice, deep Biblical discussion. The response back has been great, and I’ve copied most of it below. First up, my original question: 

Hello all, Consider this: 

1 Peter 1 3-9

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I find that verse 9 to be quite striking. In fact, I have always found the NT teaching of salvation to be very interesting when compared/contrasted to what the modern church teaches about salvation. For us, we always emphasize the instant aspects of salvation - the one time thing that happens suddenly. I certainly believe that is an aspect of salvation, but verse 9 above seems to also see salvation as a continual thing that is ongoing. 

In the ESV, it says: 

Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

This thinking goes along with these verses also: 
 

Philippians 2:12 

 12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

Phil 3:12-13

 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
 

Romans 5:10 

10For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

(Note the future tense, “shall be saved”) 

1 Timothy 4:16

16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

(Again, note the future tense: “you will save”) 

I wonder about the practical aspects of this teaching in scripture. Perhaps we have all heard the thought that the Bible teaches we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. I think the Bible certainly uses verbiage consistent with that idea, but we rarely teach it, and only emphasis the instantaneous transformation. What we we missing when we do so? Or am I barking up the wrong tree? Again, I am interested more in the practical aspects of this understanding, rather than the theological ones. How should this impact our evangelism and counseling? How does it impact our discipleship? I might turn some of our discussion (if we have any) into a blog post. 

I close with a solemn warning and a promise: 

Philippians 1:6 (the promise) 

6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Romans 11:22 (New International Version) (the warning) 

 22Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

thanks for reading…..Chase

That was the original email. For ease of reading below, I have put each persons response in bold typeface, and left my own comments and linking sentences in regular print. Verses are in italics. Here are some responses:  (CLICK THE READ MORE LINK TO READ THE ENTIRE POST):

Read more

Julio Jones in the hospital story (somewhat off-topic)

Alabama wr Julio Jones

In fairness, if David wants to post a Kodi Burns in the hospital story, he can! ;) This week my aunt was at St. Vincent’s hospital to have a complete knee reconstruction done. Being a nice sister, my mom has been at the hospital the last couple of days to support her. Mom just called to share an interesting story with me:

She said that while she was outside my Aunt’s room earlier in the week, a young African American man was wheeled out of surgery, and into the room next to my aunt. Mom tells me that she struck up a conversation with the mom of the young man who had just had surgery. His mom mentioned that her son was a football player, and my mom asked where, and lo and behold, he played at the University of Alabama. My mom perked up a bit then, and asked who he was, instantly recognizing Julio Jones’ name when told, though my mom still calls him “Julio” with a hard “j” sound.

According to Julio’s mom, he had surgery on his shoulder and left wrist. Julio’s mom said that he played the entire season with a broken left wrist, an injury that he apparently received in high school. Julio’s mom said that he initially didn’t tell the coaches because he wanted to play so bad, so he just played with a bulky wrist wrap, to protect his wrist.

The next day, mom walked by the room, and Julio was sitting up, waiting to go home. So, my mom knocks on the door, and goes in to talk to Julio’s mom. (my mom isn’t a very shy person, I guess you might say). She ends up talking with Julio for several minutes. At first she said that she was going to ask him for an autograph, but that Julio’s writing hand was the one that just had surgery (according to my mom), and his other hand had an IV in it. So my mom said, I was going to ask you for an autograph for my 10 year old son, but I see that you can’t write.” Julio told her that he’d try anyway, and sure enough, he gave her an autograph for my little brother. Julio mentioned that he was headed back to Tuscaloosa because class started back today. My mom asked him if he’d be okay going to class so soon, and he said, “Oh yes ma’am, I don’t hurt at all - I haven’t even had any pain medicine.” Tough guy!

Mom asked him about playing with a broken wrist all year, wondering whether it bothered him, and he said that it hurt every time he got hit. (It sure didn’t show). My mom walked away very impressed with Julio, calling him soft-spoken, humble, and very nice. He seems like a really good guy. She said that Julio also mentioned four other players that had surgery that week, but she didn’t remember the names, except for a T.J., or A.J. (”B.J., I asked?” “Yes, that was it” she said).

Disclaimer: My mom is not a journalist, so some facts may be not be airtight, but she’s usually pretty reliable.

I’ll try to get a scan of his autograph later on and post it.

Chase

Agape Newsletter, 12-29-2008, Special Atheist says Send More Christian Missionaries Edition!

Hello all,

I know we didn’t have an e-newsletter last week, so this week you should get a special bonus - one extra issue. Wow! What a bargain!

I’m writing early in the week to let you know about a few things:

Of primary importance is the fact that this Wednesday night, at 7:00pm we will be ending 2008/beginning 2009 by having a worship and prayer gathering at Agape. We will worship and pray together for about ninety minutes or so, and be led by several different worship and prayer leaders. This should be a great time to put a powerful ending on 2008, and prepare us for all that God is calling us to do in 2009. We must seek first His Kingdom!

When we come together to worship and pray, we are imitating one of the chief activities of heaven. Check out Revelation 5:He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: ”You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (verses 7-9)

As Howard a. Johnston has said, “When the prayer-life of the people of God comes to be the dominant feature of Christian experience, the power of God will sweep the earth with the victories of grace.” Come and Pray!!!

Also, some have wondered about year end giving to Agape. My understanding is that your gifts can count towards 2008 as long as they are brought to the church or postmarked in the mail by this Wednesday, December 31st. Our mailing address (should you need it) is: p.o. box 746, Pinson, Alabama 35126.

I’ll give you a few links to check out here, so nobody feels too shortchanged:

*****     In this month’s Pastor’s Thoughts section on our website, David McConnell shares about how he cried and cried at a recent movie that he and Alyson attended. (I think it was Conan the Barbarian). You should read about it on our website:  http://agapepinson.com/pastors_corner.htm (Warning, I may not be portraying David’s article in as accurate a light as possible, in fact, I’m probably embellishing just to get you to read the article…….my wife made me add this disclaimer)

*****     As goes the family, so goes the church: http://www.crosswalk.com/marriage/11597516/

*****     Me and my dirty mouth! http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2008/novdec/6.22.html

*****     Atheist says, Africa needs God!” (I’m not actually joking here): http://online.worldmag.com/2008/12/29/atheist-says-africa-needs-god/

*****     In other news of the unexpected, a famous lesbian couple in California (Melissa Etheridge and Tammy Lynn Michaels) are defending Barack Obama’s choice of Rick Warren to lead the inaugural invocation prayer: http://christianpost.com/article/20081229/melissa-etheridge-lesbian-spouse-defend-pastor-rick-warren.htm

*****     This is… curious, Satan’s Ministers Await Satan’s Arrival: http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/johnshore/11597524/

I look forward to seeing you Wednesday night at 7 - be sure and invite a friend!

Chase