A Note from Haiti

Devastated by the effects of false teaching from cults, peddlers of the prosperity gospel, and Pentecostalism, Haiti is in great need for pastors to be equipped and encouraged as Christ-exalting shepherds who can exposit God’s word. My hope is that men will be raised up and trained, churches will be strengthened, and the Gospel will spread in this spiritually dark and troubled land.

By the Lord’s grace and your faithful support, I received the opportunity to minister God’s Word in Haiti again this Fall. This ministry trip is being coordinated in conjunction with Pastors of the Caribbean, led by Thomas Herrera who was present among us this past Lord’s Day. Additionally, I will be co-teaching and preaching with Pastor Lance Gentry from Austin Bluffs Evangelical Free Church in Colorado Springs, CO. First, I will be preaching for a two-day pastor’s conference at Iglise Evangelique Bethesda de Madeline, near Cap-Haitien (Sept. 27-28). This church is led by Pastor Julio Jean-Gilles, whom I met during my previous trip in 2012 and with whom I have since grown in friendship through the Lord’s doing. I will also be preaching at Pastor Julio’s church on the Lord’s Day, September 29. Afterward, I will be teaching at the Faculty of Theology, a Haitian pastoral training center (Sept. 30 – Oct. 3). I will be posting updates on my Facebook page throughout the duration of my trip, so please feel free to check for posts there.

Meanwhile, please pray for God to use His word to bear much fruit for His glory (Jn. 15:8), encourage Haitian pastors in faithful Gospel ministry (1 Tim. 4:12-16), and bring greater health and strength to Haitian churches (Titus 1:5). Please also pray for both Lance and me to be faithful in the remaining details of our sermon and teaching preparations, and that we would be bold in proclaiming God’s word (Eph. 6:19, 20). Praise God for the provision of approximately $2,100 from your generous donations and the yard sale fundraiser, and please pray for the provision of the remaining $400 needed to meet our $2,500 goal. I appreciate your prayers for safety in all travel details and logistics, and especially for God’s spiritual and physical provision for my family while I am away.

Thankful for your prayers, support, and partnership in the ministry of the gospel,

Greg

 

Suffering with Faith

Beloved, without a doubt, these are challenging, sobering times in which we live as Christians in a wicked world.  It is by God’s mercy in Christ alone that He has delivered any of us from this very wickedness to which we were once enslaved (1 Pet. 2:9-10) .  And in His ongoing kindness, through our study of 1 Peter, our Chief Shepherd is certainly preparing us for the inevitable reality of suffering as His people in this world.

 

One example of this inevitable and intensifying hostility against Christians is highlighted by Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., in a recent blog-post: Can Evangelical Chaplains Serve God and County?-The Crisis Arrives.  The situation Dr. Mohler describes highlights the fact that the lines between right and wrong, truth and error, light and darkness, Christ and Satan, are becoming more and more clearly drawn in our society.  The result is that the price Christians must pay in faithfully following Jesus Christ is, and will become, greater and greater.

 

Such realities ought not to alarm us, nor surprise us.  But we must “arm ourselves” with sober, Christ-centered thinking and living.  We must embrace the reality of suffering in the will of God (1 Pet. 4:1-2).  And we can do this through faith, in the great joy and hope that our glorious Lord and Savior has suffered for us, and is now reigning over us – and over everyone, and everything, everywhere, for all time (1 Pet. 3:18-22).  Our future is certain and secure in Him!  And what a blessing to walk and grow together in Him with you.

 

God is faithful, and His grace is sufficient to sustain us, in all His will ordains for us.

 

Greg

There is Always Cause to Sing

Beloved, amid the many burdens, cares, challenges, uncertainties, pressures, opportunities, responsibilities, weaknesses, disappointments, temptations, sins, and difficulties we often face, let us strive to remember and believe this:  Our God reigns, and there is always cause to joyfully sing to Him a new song!  I’m praying this week that your souls will be strengthened in the steadfast love and salvation of our triune God, particularly as revealed in Psalm 98:

 

1 A Psalm. Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. 3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! 5 Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! 6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord! 7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! 8 Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together 9 before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

 

Growing, trusting, and singing with you,

Greg

As Recipients of Mercy, Be Merciful

It is right and appropriate that believers be grieved over the rank evil and wickedness in this world.  However, as we saw last Lord’s Day from Titus 3:1-8, we should be most shocked that God has been merciful to rank sinners like us.  Paul’s point in this passage is that as believers have received such rich, undeserved mercy, so we must have a merciful disposition toward those yet enslaved in the foolish deceitfulness of sin.

 

R. Kent Hughes, in his Commentary on 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus , observes: “When we recognize that we were rescued from a pit deeper than we could crawl from, that we were saved from a darkness greater than our light could penetrate, that we were delivered from sin greater than our resolve could control – only then are we prepared to lead others…Only when we truly believe that apart from Christ there is no more hope of heaven for us than there is for the worst sinner we meet, can we minister the gospel to that one and others” (p. 360).

 

And John Calvin notes:  “Thus we see that we must be humbled before God, in order that we may be gentle towards brethren; for pride is always cruel and disdainful of others…he bids us remember those vices from which we have been delivered, that we may not pursue too keenly those which, still dwell in others” (Calvin’s Commentary, on Titus 3:3).

 

Beloved, as God in Christ has mercifully rescued helpless sinners such as us, may we humbly, compassionately, and boldly pray and labor for the salvation of those around us who are yet in their sins.

 

Grace upon grace,

Greg