The King and His messenger

There once was King, who sent his messenger out, to all the lands, to take a message. The messenger, before reading it to everyone, read it for himself. He noticed that there was bad news about a plague, that people would die from it and good news that the king had the cure for this plague. He decided that he would not share the bad news, for the reasons that the people would not listen to him or they might not like him for bringing such news or they might even kill him. So instead of reading the whole message, to them, he told everyone only about the good news, the cure. When the King heard of this, he was very sad. No one came to Him for the cure; they did not see a need for it. They did not see the danger of the plague and death. Many of them died without knowing that they were sick with the plague, all because the messenger did not tell them about the plague.

Friends, is this how we treat the gospel? Do we as messengers only share part of the gospel, the part that will make us liked by people, that will not get us killed, that will get us listened to? Or do we share the whole gospel both the bad news and the good news? Do we fear man more than God?  How can anyone come to know Christ if they do not know the reason which He died? How can they come to know the extent of His sacrifice if they do not know they are sinners, that they are sick and need a cure? If you just give someone the cure, they are going to think you are crazy and say “why do I need this?” But if you tell them about their disease and show them what will happen if they do not take this cure, then they will take it. People may not like you for sharing the gospel, because they do not want to give up their “fun” (sins). If you really care about people show them about their sin and that they will die and go to hell unless they believe in Jesus Christ and turn away from the world and their sins. They may not like what you have to say, you may die or they may not listen to you. They may not believe that they have a disease, but that does not mean that you stop telling them about it and showing them.

We serve the King of Kings and He has given us a message to give to all the nations. We are God’s messengers.  The Gospel is our message; let us give the whole message of the gospel, so that all may know of their disease and the cure of it. Are we going to be like the messenger in the story or are we going to do as our King commanded us?  Let us go and preach the gospel.

*Note: The gospel consists of both bad news and good news, but in reality it is all good news. We now know we are sick and there is a cure. That is good news!

180 the Movie Please take 33 minutes and watch it.

The Maker

John 1:3,10 - V 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. V 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

1Corinthians 8:6- V6“Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”

 Colossians 1:16-17- V 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.

V 17  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

 Hebrews 1:2, 10- V2-3 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

V10-And, "YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;

Revelation 4:11-"Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."

We see in these passages that Jesus Christ, the one who made everything. We see the maker of the universe, who made the stars and planets and galaxies billions of light years away and beyond. He created all things. What, I ask would make Him want to come to this earth in the form of a baby and then a man. Why would He want to come to one small blue planet and live among people that hate Him and want to kill Him? The Mighty Maker would come in a humble state, not flaunting and saying look at me, which He had every right to do, because He made us. Instead He came as a baby because there was something every important that He wanted to do for us. He wanted to show us His love for all of us who had rebelled against Him. So He willing died as the perfect sacrifice for His own creations sins. There is no greater example of love in all of the History of mankind. There is no greater gift given to mankind. For on that day that the mighty maker was beaten, bruised, blood poured out from his back and head, with the crown of thorns that has been shoved there. He was mocked spit upon, cursed and beaten. The wood splinters from the cross were pushed into His back as He stumbled up to the cross. Then He was nailed to the cross and left to die. This is how the Mighty Maker was treated, and yet He went through it all, because He loved us. I am amazed at such love. I am worthless, I am just one person in the billions of people who have lived on this earth and yet He died for me. He died for the whole worlds sins and He died for me. The Mighty Maker died for me. Oh what love, How can we describe it? How can we understand it? And yet we don’t need to describe it or understand it fully to know that we are loved by God. We have been saved from sin and Hell, because of Christ amazing love and sacrifice for us. Christ the Mighty Maker died for man His creature’s sins. Praise the Lord that He did not stay in the grave, but that He has risen from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God interceding for us. What an amazing God we have.

What Are You Living For?

I went to Courageous the movie recently. It was great, well worth the money I spent on it! What I was not expecting was what was in the previews. As one was about pastor’s daughter disobeying her father and going into the secular world and hooking up with a street dancer who wanted to express himself by secular dancing. One that, I was even ashamed to be seated there listening to the preview. The next one was about a church choir and how two people were fighting and competing to be the choir director at the church and trying to make the choir better. With several inappropriate comments thrown into the preview I was absolutely appalled at the message it was portraying. When some of the Christians around us started laughing at it I was disappointed and saddened that that was what the world portrayed as Christianity. I asked myself why? Why would the world look at Christianity like this? The only reason can be because we have been a poor reflection of Christ. We have been not been imitators of Christ. Friends why? Why have we been a poor reflection? Do we think we have a license to sin? Do we think we are good enough? What are we thinking? We cannot let sin continue to be a part of our lives. We cannot allow it to become a plant with a deep root, that is very hard to pull out. Friends God is calling you to a life that is honoring to Him. Let me ask you something. Why do we watch something that is not honoring to God?

What is a good definition of sin? Many times we think of it as what we think, say or do that is not pleasing to God. Brothers and sisters why is it not also what we listen to, or what we watch that is not pleasing to God. Do you think that listening to a movie that takes God’s name in vain is pleasing to God? I don’t think so. How about the cussing and swearing in a movie is that pleasing to God? Think of what you can do other then watch a movie? Share the gospel with someone, have a coworker over for dinner. We always want to be entertained instead of bring glory to God by sharing the gospel.  Do we really want to bring glory to God or do we want to satisfy our selfish desires. Think of the money you spend on one movie. Anywhere from $7.75- $11 for that amount you can buy 70 -100 gospel tracts. You could plant that many seeds in the hearts of men for the price it is to go to a movie. Friends, for a fee we satisfy our temporary selfish desires by going to a movie that is most likely not pleasing to God. Hmm something seems wrong here. I am saddened to see these things.

Friends it is time to become more like Christ, to hate evil and to love what is good. Why do we not stand up for this? Why do sit back and want to be entertained by sights of evil and ungodliness. Why do we fill our brains with such things? Why do we not fill them with the things of God? We need to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and pursue righteousness, holiness, godliness. Movies are only one example. What we put into our minds is what we imitate, what we reflect. That is why we are such a poor reflection of Christ. We do not want to reflect Christ, we would rather be doing something else rather than spending our time telling others about Christ, or getting to know our Savior more, and taking time to talk to him. What if you spent the time you watch the movies in prayer with your family or reading the Bible together. Can we ever get to much of Christ? No! we cannot. Friends, we cannot stand idly by waiting for a “great person” to come and start a revival. It must happen first in our hearts. We are the ones who must stand firm against the forces of evil. We need to live lives that are pleasing to our Savior. If we do not then why are we Christians, why are we followers of Christ. If our goal is not to live for Christ then what are we living for? We are living for ourselves. Friends, I plead with you to live a life that is for Christ and not for yourself.  We do not have time to waste on our selfish desires. Let us desire to do what God wants us to do and devote our whole beings to Him to do His will.

TERRORISM COME HOME? A RECENT INCIDENT ON THE IKA MISSION STATION

Foreword: Dear friends, I want you all to understand the new challenges that are on the horizon for the missionaries in Nigeria. This article will help you gain a better understanding as it has been written by one of the missionaries over there. Please, keep Tom and his family in your prayers as they are serving in Nigeria. There is a great need for missionaries in Africa. If we do not go and preach the gospel, then soon Islam will grab a hold of all of Africa. Please, keep that in mind, for there is only hope Christ and in nothing else. There are so few Christians who are willing to give up their lives for Christ's sake, why are we not all willing to? What do we have to fear? death? NO. We have eternal life so there is no need to fear death. Let us pray for God's will to be done in Nigeria.  - TJ

"In Nigeria a stage is set... trouble is brewing. An Islamist sect called BOKO HARAM and a terrorist Christian counterpart MEND, both complacent about bombing and destroying innocent people’s lives are preparing to step-up their nefarious activities. Just days ago MEND issued notice to Boko Haram - they will retaliate in defence of Christian lives lost in Boko Haram bombings.  Looking on, and down on the mayhem in the making, is a government ill prepared but apparently doing their best, while clamouring to know what to do and to find solutions to this crisis. In the middle, innocent people are dying, and lives are being destroyed.  For those who escaped the bombs and bullets so far, Boko Haram is a household word instilling fear and terror! Even here at Ika, hundreds of miles away from the scenes of destruction, a taste of that fear visited our hearts and minds just last week.

So was it a man or a woman wearing that burqa?  People say it was a woman, and they remind me that Muslim extremist have successfully indoctrinated their women to take up their evil work. So we have many questions, like, "Why would a young lady dressed so modestly be here, all alone here at Ika?"  And while others insist that it was a man, the big question is, “Was he or she scoping our compound?  "Are we being checked out, maybe targeted for an attack? "  Maybe if we knew what was in the black vinyl bag we'd have answers.  It is told that the woman was carrying a large stash of cash, but more people are saying and believing that it was a man in the burqa and he was carrying explosives - a bomb. Now that's about all I was told, and of course, I was very sincerely cautioned, ...to be careful, be ready! 

When all the talking was done, when imaginations ran tired from running wild, and when the tools had been checked and rechecked; the hour, the time for the generator to go off and the lights out finally came. In the eerie quiet and dark night, lightning streaked across the black horizon. Only an occasional low rumble of thunder could be felt more than heard. "So how do we find ourselves I asked myself?" "Are we, can we, and is it possible to be ready?"

Hours of waiting and listening to every sound wore on our patience, and then with the passing cover of darkness and the droning sound of the night’s falling rain, crickets announced the beginning of our new day.  Then a roster crowed, and then another.  Soon the sun's warm rays of life and light peeked through the clouds and glistened on the wet leaves in the trees. The roosters kept stretching their necks and crowing their heads off in their strange bird brain way to make themselves known for awhile. These were warming welcoming sounds, and signs and thoughts that made me smile along with relief and appreciation, and my prayer of thanksgiving during the dawning of that new day.  Once again prayers are answered, just as our Lord Jesus promised, "and be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Mat. 28:20b.  

With no one to trust more than themselves, and no one to put their hope in - like their government for protection, in the quiet and solitude of their homes people pray. Please join us in asking our Almighty Loving Heavenly Father for peace, for healing, for our leaders to find lasting solutions, and pray for those who minister, that we will be walking, talking, living examples of God's love and the hope we have in Christ Jesus. Pray... "May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Mat. 6:10.  

Tom Wheeler

Ika Mission Station

October 1, 2011