God knows exactly how to bring us back to intimacy with him, and it all starts with the lamb.

You won’t want to miss this powerful drama presented by the Frontline Youth of GHCC.

Come see the mystery, the truth and the revelation of the Perfect Lamb of God unfold right before your eyes!

The converse is that outside of the boundaries set in place by authority is a place of danger.   “The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” (Romans 13:1-2)  Therefore, as parents, putting boundaries in place and applying discipline and course correction is like a rescue mission for the hearts of sons and daughters.

“Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord… “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters…” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)  For me to train up my child in the specific way he or she should go, I need to think differently and I need to teach my children to think differently.

It takes courage to separate them, but hey, we’re on a mission from God.

Because it seems everyone else has such great freedom to roam about, at first glance that’s good, right?  The truth is, lack of boundaries and unrestrained direction is equivalent to having no purpose.  You see, by definition, to have a purpose we must have a direction, an objective, an aim.  But no aim or no direction = no purpose = no vision.  No vision creates only random motion and results in statements like “I’m bored.”  That’s code for “I don’t have vision” or “I don’t have a purpose.”  Hearing a statement like that grieves a father’s heart.

The Lord is seeking godly offspring.  He says my son or daughter must be “singled out” – be separated – heart aimed toward Him – set apart, for he or she is “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for them to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

THAT… not only gives my son and daughters a purpose and a destiny, that gives ME purpose and destiny and joy as a father.  My purpose is to discover the gifts and calling of my son and my daughters and to finish the work He gave me to do!

I teach them discipline with words of instruction and through the “exercise” of training, and by developing the habits of obedience and self-control.  Discipline channels and directs their attention, their efforts and their gifts toward a purpose.  Disciplined people finish strong!

• My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. (Proverbs 3:11-12)
• Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death. (Proverbs 19:18)
• No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

In discipline there is love, there is hope, there is righteousness and there is peace.  Wow.

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. (Deuteronomy 8:5)  Discipline creates a disciple.  A disciple has purpose.  A disciple is in fellowship with the one giving instruction.  As God has said:  “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”  (2 Corinthians 6:16)  “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord… “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters...” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)

I’m glad to report that I am home safely and the workshop ended well. I think we all agree the workshop was a success. All three teams went home with booklets of two chapters of Luke (each language a different two chs.). Praise God!

Thank you for your prayers.

My trip home went well, extremely well considering the distance, number of flights and so forth. I was grateful to find Becky and the kids doing well, although I now have to try to fix a somewhat serious computer problem on the girls’ laptop J.

Please continue to pray for Enike, one of the Mundari translators. She had to face a number of challenges during our time in Juba, including a sister who has some serious problems and a close relative whom she helped care for in hospital. On the final day of the workshop that close relative (uncle’s son, i.e. cousin) passed away.

Jim & Becky

Note: This was originally written a couple days ago but is just getting out.

PS We just got word that the Bongo and ‘Beli have made it home safely.

Join the Young Adults on Tuesday and the Youth Service on Wednesday.

He will also be teaching during Generational Leadership class time during the week of  March 29, from his book Christian Set Yourself Free. If you are interested in participating in this teaching, please contact the GL office.

Date:  Sunday, March 14 @ 8:30 am | 10:30 am | 6 pm

Syvelle Phillips is the founder and president of Evangel Bible Translators. He has dedicated his life to reaching the world with God’s love and His Word.

Lovie has been helping some of the world’s most needy children in Africa and India since 1973 and just recently in Nepal. What started out as an attempt to help a few children has ministered to thousands in 14 different homes and schools in Africa, India & Nepal.

Location:  GHCC

Cost: $30.00

This is a two day getaway for encouragement, fellowship, the word, ministry and relationship building.  Our meeting and fellowship times will be Friday evening and Saturday late morning here at GHCC. Please plan to attend this fun marriage event and make sure you call the church office to sign up. Also, you can contact Jeff & Keri Nelson if you have any specific questions.

Speakers: Tom and Suzie Brock are the Directors of Wave Of Life Ministries International. They have two children, Amy and Michael. Tom and Suzie have been serving in full time ministry for over thirty years. They have founded and directed ministries which have sent missionaries to four continents. They have also served as pastors for two congregations. When they share and bring forth the Word of God, they challenge their listeners to totally commit themselves to the Lord and to find their place in the body of Christ. As they have traveled throughout the United States, Great Britain, Europe, Africa, and New Zealand, their message has ministered life to those who have heard it.

He says so in Deuteronomy 6:5-8 “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

He says so in Ephesians 6:4  “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

These commands mean when I am shepherding my child’s heart, I am assured I am actually following orders.  When applying correction and discipline, I have to remember He’s the one who gave the order:  “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  ‘Honor your father and mother’ – which is the first commandment with a promise – ‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’”  (Ephesians 6:1-3)

I can talk this concept through with my children, even when the dialog goes like this:

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

“Why?”

“Because He said so… so it will go well with you and you will enjoy long life on the earth.”

It may seem strange to constrain an 18-month old to obey our commands, but she needs our direction and protection.  A three-year-old needs to learn how to trust the wisdom of his parents and not trust his own ideas.  When a nine-year-old has learned how to submit to the patient and loving instruction of her parents, she will have learned to live under God-ordained authority.

I’m the “subcontractor” and the Lord is the general contractor.  Together we’re building a foundation for a godly life.  Take a look at the finished product of our efforts in Titus 2.  These are the things we are teaching our children.

Blessings.

Greetings from southern Sudan!

We are two weeks into our workshop, one to go. The teams are making good progress. The pace of the checking is going a bit slower than we might have hoped, but the quality of the results is probably a bit higher. One praise is that the Bongo, whom I work most closely with,  now have approximately 80% of Luke drafted! (The ‘Beli have completed a similar amount and the Mundari have now drafted all of Luke.)

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for us as we finish this week. Pray that afterwards the teams will all get home safely. There has been some insecurity in the ‘Beli and Bongo areas, which is also near where Sapana (our Sudanese co-leader) is from. Pray for all our families whom we have left behind.

Jim & Becky