Grand Cane Baptist Church (3/9/2014) - Sermon Notes

We were recently so blessed and encouraged to be welcomed by the great folks at Grand Cane Baptist Church in Shreveport, LA (Grand Cane, LA). I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to present my heart to them. Below are my sermon notes from our presentation on "Brokenness in Mission." 

Blessings, 

Seth 

"Brokenness in Mission"

I. Why do we go to Bolivia? Simple Answer - We are broken for that nation and its people. 

     A. Dry ground can’t be permeated until it becomes broken. Our hearts cannot hold and absorb the love of Christ for the lost until they’ve been broken. 

     B. We have been given a burden for Bolivia and brokenness has become our heart’s theme in this season of transition. So, I’d like to share with you some thoughts on Brokenness using David’s 51 Psalm. 

II. Psalm 51 - Background, David and Bathsheeba… There is a parallel between David’s situation with Bathsheeba and ourselves in our walk of salvation. 

     A. David saw Bathsheeba and lusted after her. Likewise, we see the pleasure of sin and lust after it. “The fruit was desirable…” Genesis says regarding Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden. 

     B. David acted on his lust. “Eve took of the fruit and ate, she and her husband.” 

     C. David then tried to cover his sin by making Uriah drunk and then having him killed in battle. “They made for themselves coverings of fig leaves.” 

     D. Then David’s heart was broken in anguish over his sin. “Woe is me” Isaiah said when he beheld God’s glory. 

III. Brokenness and Action in the context of Psalm 51

     A. Psalm 51:1-9 

          1. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgement. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than know. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.” 

          2. The Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin and reveals our great need for salvation. This is paramount to the believer in his mission. We must be a people who begin at conviction and repentance so that humility is present in every missions endeavor, whether across the street or across continents and oceans. 

          3. Before we could ever go to Bolivia, we must first have been broken in our sin. “Regard no one according to the flesh.” “In humility, consider others above yourselves.” I cannot truthfully extend grace to sinners until I realize that I am no better. I must see my sin as clearly as I see theirs. My salvation does not delete my sin - it forgives it. It does not change the fact that I am still guilty. This is why grace is so amazingly great. 

     B. Psalm 51:10-12

          1. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and up hold me with a willing Spirit.” 

          2. In our need for salvation, we cannot forget the joy of our salvation which is kept with a seal of guarantee by the Holy Spirit until the day of Christ. We have joy that our gift is perfect and eternal and not dependent on us, but on Him who is faithful. I love the verse that says “It is God who works in man both to will and to do good works.” I can trust my heart to a faithful savior who will grant me the desire and will to do his work.

          3. As we work in Bolivia to plant and establish churches, we must know and communicate the joy of salvation. We must have a “willing spirit” to walk and be led by the Spirit. Bolivians are very religious, but they do not know Christ. We must go with renewed spirits and clean hearts so that we can faithfully lead. Jesus said, “if the blind lead the blind, they both fall into a pit.” We must have our eyes opened so that we can be effective in our mission. 

     C. Psalm 51:13-15

          1. “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” 

          2. It is our brokenness of sin, humility of heart, and joy of salvation that will prompt us to action in declaring the goodness of our God and his mercy in Christ Jesus. “He who is forgiven much loves much.” We have surely been forgiven much, so we in turn love much, with the heart that is molded within us to conformity to Christ. Your choices will always be the result of your heart. Your actions reveal your intentions and your desires. The church labors in it’s mission because her desire is for Christ and her intention is his mission to “make disciples in all the world baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey what He has taught.” And the best part of the commission is the promise, “ye, I will be with you to the end of the age.” It is His mission not ours, so it cannot fail. We simply must be willing, in response to the grace we have received, to walk in obedience to the commission of Christ (both locally and abroad). 

          3. Our mission in Bolivia - and your mission wherever God has positioned you - is to make disciples. The Great Commission is not a mild suggestion. It is our purpose as a church, and will remain that way until the day of judgement. We are all on mission and all hold obligation to the grace we have received to labor earnestly for Jesus. In Bolivia, we will be planting churches through discipleship that teaches what Christ has commanded. And, just as important, teach them to teach others. 

     D. Psalm 51:16-17

          1. “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” 

          2. We see in the old testament and then again in reference in the new testament that our “righteous acts are like filthy rags.” There are many missionaries, pastors, and congregants who are doing lots of things - yet if their heart is not broken, submitted, and humbly dependent on Jesus, everything they do is filth. The Word of God tells us that God looks at our hearts - this is why God was so angry with his people in Isaiah, when He said, “you honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me.” God desires our hearts to be in close proximity to his, yet this cannot happen without brokenness. God gives grace to the humble but stand in opposition to the proud. We must act with humility, from a place of brokenness if we are to be successful in our obedience. 

          3. People tell us all the time, “It takes a special person to do what you guys are doing…You are so great to do that…I could never do something like that, your faith must be really strong.” But those statements just aren’t true. We are all called to mission and all have different places to serve. Our’s just happens to be in Bolivia. But we’ve been equipped for this. Will it be hard? Absolutely and painfully so. But obedience is often hard. In the words of Tom Hanks in the movie, A League of their Own, “It’s the hard that makes it great! If it were easy, everyone would do it!” 

     E. Psalm 51:18-19

          1. “Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offering and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.” 

          2. Our prayer for the church today is likewise, “do good to your church, build up her walls, delight in her sacrifice and her worship.” Our job as Christians is to labor for Christ. We don’t just do… we submit to Him and do what is asked. We operate in a spirit of brokenness, so that we can be soft clay in his hands. An unbroken horse is pretty to look at but also pretty useless. Do we want to be unbroken horse that just serve to be seen? Or trained and equipped for mission? Action is pleasing when it is from a heart that is fully submitted to Christ and broken for his sin and for the lost. It is in brokenness and anguish that we know true joy in our salvation. Joy that brings confidence and spurs us to mission with Jesus. 

          3. The last thing I want to point out is God will build the walls of Jerusalem. He will build his church. “Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain.” What joy in our duty to know that the building is not dependent on us. He will build it, and our labor will be successful. You cannot fail when you are broken to his mission.

Baggage Claim

Ashley, the kids, and I are getting ready for our big move. We have 39 days (or 5 1/2 weeks) until we board that plane on April 8th. But, before we can board we have to do a little something called "packing." Yeah, seems simple. Throw your stuff in a suitcase, zip it up. But the problem is that it isn't that simple. It really isn't even easy. Our last move took 3 trucks and 3 trips. The move before that one took a big moving truck and 2 trips (and we only had 1 kid at the time). This move, however, will be done in 10 suitcases and 5 carry-ons. How do you decide what to pack? Which mementos you want to bring? What things you'll need?

As we are going through our things and selling, donating, and trashing our plethora of stuff, we are learning some deeper truths than what it takes to move to Bolivia. Chances are good that we will have to pay extra for our extra bags. Things we also have to consider is that each bag must be less than 50 lbs. There are size criteria, weight limits, quantity limitations. If it doesn't comply with all the policies, it doesn't go. Then there are all those hold ups, like weeding your undies in front of the world as you try to make your suitcase lighter... As we prepare and organize and sift through our things, I have been thinking about how much this process reminds me of our lives as believers.

We spend so much time in life accumulating lots of stuff. We are really bad about this in America. We like stuff. Stuff for fun, stuff for practicality, stuff for efficiency. We have stuff we may need in the future, stuff we needed in the past, stuff that reminds of the past, stuff that we dream about getting in the future. We are stuff hoarders. Our apartment, right now, literally looks bare. There is nothing on the walls and we have been weeding our things down to the basics - what we need and what we use. Visitors even comment about its barrenness. But, as we are getting things ready for packing - we are yet still overwhelmed at all the stuff (just stuff - say that word with disgust and you'll hear how we say it). Most of it we can't take or don't want (which if we don't want it now - I have no clue why we wanted it when we obtained it..).

Here's the deal, our move to Bolivia is similar to our move, as believers, into heaven. We will have spent a life-time accumulating stuff. The question for pondering is whether or not the stuff we accumulate is within the policy of what we can bring. According to scripture, that list isn't very big. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus tells us not to store up treasures that are destructible and temporal, but to collect things that are eternal and indestructible. He says the reason is because our stuff is our treasure. The word treasure simply means "things that hold personal or economical value that are carefully kept." The things we store up are our treasures and Jesus was warning us that our heart will always be with our treasure. It's how we were made. And for good reason.

If I make a priority to always keep a larger storehouse in heaven (of treasures earned from service to the Lord), my heart will learn to long for this place, rather than our earthly, and temporary, home. The  Apostle Paul demonstrates this concept in his statement to the Philippians (Phil. 3:14), "I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." His goal was Christ and the treasures that were being laid up for him in heaven through his service. He understood that those treasures called his heart heavenward. How many of you love to receive gifts from those whom you love dearly? It's the same thing. My love for Christ longs to earn the treasures he has in store for me as I serve him in this life.

Stuff has gravity, and as the old saying goes, "the more stuff you have, the more your stuff has you." Don't misunderstand me though - I'm not saying that Christians aren't really Christians if they aren't über minimalists or that keeping that neat set of spoons from each state in the great USA is a sin. What I'm saying is that we must be conscientious and intentional in the things we choose to accumulate. Our focus should be on directing our hearts toward Christ in heaven. I like the way Randy Alcorn put it in his book, The Treasure Principle, "your heart will always follow your treasure." If you want more of a heart for ministry, the lost, the world, missions, etc - then give of your resources to support those things and your heart will surely follow. Don't let your stuff weigh you down or delay your flight, or even make you resent the journey. Prepare for your journey - travel light.

Blessings,

Seth

Early March Newsletter!

If you are not receiving our newsletters via email - please email me at sethspanol@gmail.com and I'll add you to the list. Thanks and God bless! 

Relief Effort Giving: 

Tony Murrin (Missionary Pilot - Cochabamba)

Gifts can be sent to ITM (International Tribal Ministries) and should be designated to "Flood Relief for the Securé, Bolivia" in the memo live of the check. Checks can be mailed to:

Community Foundation of South Georgia

PO BOX 2654

Thomasville, GA 31799

Click Here to give online towards the relief efforts. 

*Designation of funds can be made in the "Comment" box.

February Newsletter!

**Current Financial Supporters will receive a newsletter in the mail soon with a "Pray for the Powells" fridge magnet. Thank you for your continued support! We are so very blessed to have the team we do! Please continue to pray for our transition in the coming weeks. God bless!**

Tick Tock

So many times we say, "Man, I wish I had more time!"  Well, the past two days, we had just that thanks to Leon, the winter storm.  If I could go back a few days, I would have prepared better in terms of meals and snacks (we are now officially out of bread, milk, eggs, fruit, and lettuce.)  But, other than having to scrounge up creative meals and snacks, we have not suffered.  (We are also fortunate to have good neighbors to share meals with, making the circumstances much more fun.)  All this "extra time" has caused me to really think about the ways I use my time, since as Seth pointed out Sunday to me, "We only have about 10 more Sunday's here in the states." Ten.  That is not very many, folks!

With time slipping away from us, there are things we want to do before we leave.  Seth and I both need more time with our families.  The kids are letting us know what restaurant they want to visit before the move, and Seth and I are narrowing down our choices. I have to figure out what to do with the stuff we have...to sell, to donate, or to store?  I also wanted to lose a few pounds (...or twenty) before the move, but with all the good American delicacies I need to enjoy before the move, who has time for that?! 

In the midst of all of this, the Lord keeps asking me, am I dying to self?  Is my time about honoring Him or myself? What is really my desire?  Not one of those things are bad, but my heart needs to be set on Him. I have been very focused on spending my last few weeks enjoying the comforts of America, when I really need to focus on the comfort I can have in Christ, whether here, in Bolivia, or wherever else I may one day be.  I need to be intentional in my time with others and with God, both now in these last 2 months and always.  I have written more letters in the past few months than I ever have in my life!  But, I made that a priority to write friends and family to share with them my heart and what is ahead for us. I'm trying to invest in those around me with the encouragement of this testimony of God's direction in our lives, instead of investing in cultural gluttony these last 10 weeks - trying to manage my time for his glory rather than relishing in the desires of my flesh. 

Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek."  This world, especially in America, has a LOT to offer us, but none of it compares to the "immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe." (Eph. 1:19)  And that power is in the gospel.  So, why do we not study God's word more in our "down time" and seek to know Him more when we feel time is pressing for other things?  Why don't we share his word and our satisfaction in him with those around us more often? We have to be careful that we are dependent on the gospel - not our culture - for our joy and peace and fulfillment. 

Romans 12:2, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. " A lot of testing, as I'm seeing now, comes in how I manage my time for the Lord. Am I conformed to this world in my weekly schedule, watching House Hunters International, playing Candy Crush, and daydreaming of chicken parmesan from Olive Garden, while designating no time to honor him with reading the word, praying, and learning to trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit? In these last few weeks in the states and for ever in my life, my prayer is that I would die to self when it comes to my time, and seek first HIS kingdom, not My cultural comforts. Let's encourage each other to glorify God with our time and to use this tiny portion of eternity that we live in to spur one another on towards a deeper relationship with our creator and sustainer, our wonderfully good, heavenly Father - who deserves all of us, including our time. 

Happy New Year!

Last night, we had a blast at our Peña Boliviana at Immanuel Baptist Church (Thank you for hosting)! We were so blessed to have so many friends and family there! We wanted to take moment to tell you about how we ended our 2013! Click all the links for videos, more pics, and recipes!

Upon arrival, everyone was greeted with a gift (Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan), a program, and pictures of Bolivia on the entrance door. Melanie, Ashley's sister (left), made an excellent greeter. As guests signed in, they placed their names in a drawing for some excellent Bolivian door prizes: llama pens, alpaca wool hat, llama wool handmade duffle bag, and more. We even gave out some great canvas totes, thanks to Julie May of Menu Musings food blog.

Julie was kind enough, along with her great family, to cook all the food for our event. Our delicious Bolivian Silpancho over rice and caramelized potatoes with an egg over easy and salsa was a complete hit. Everyone LOVED it! You can even get the recipe at Julie's food blog, just type "silpancho" in the search box. We capped the meal off with an amazing Bananas Foster, which is also on Julie's site.

Along with our terrific meal, we had a great performance from Bridge, the worship band from The Grove Church. Guests learned a bit about Bolivian culture through some clips from Bizzare Foods and House Hunters International. Seth shared about our Peña experience in La Paz and helped everyone to understand what a Peña is (click the program link above for more info). And, we also watched a hilarious music video featuring Bolivian pan flutes.  Joe Holman (missionary to Bolivia) also provided a great video welcoming us to their ministry team in Bolivia and endorsing us for sponsorship (watch it). We were truly blessed by the evening. Here are some more pics of our Peña Boliviana Missions Dinner! Have an amazing 2014! We can't wait to see where God takes us on this journey this year in Cochabamba! Pray for us!

Merry Christmas!

This is the last Christmas we'll get to spend with family and friends in the U.S. before our move to Bolivia. Every year during the Christmas season, we do our best to teach our kids that the reason we celebrate is that Christ came to the earth, clothed in humanity, to redeem us unto himself. This year, more-so than ever, we hope to teach our kids that because Christ came to us, "though He was rich, he became poor," we now, in obedience to Him, carry the gospel message to Bolivia. Are there people doing this already? Yes. Is there need here in the states for people to hear and receive the gospel? Yes. However, obedience goes much further than this.

We go because we want to be obedient to Christ, and also because we desire Christ. We long for our savior. We are joined with Him in our obedience to His word. That word to us, was and is: go. Submission to Jesus and suffering in the burdens that He lays upon us in our endeavors is how we will share in the suffering of Christ. It is in this sharing that we walk with intimacy with Jesus. Closeness with Him is our priority. We live "not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Life is in the word because Christ is life. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." When we hear and do His word, we unite ourselves to Him.

Isn't it amazing, that if we simply seek Christ, "all these things" are added to us. This has everything to do with ministry too. We don't have to seek Bolivia, or seek missions, or seek preaching, or seek people. We seek Christ, and those things come about as God's sovereign hand orchestrates it. In this season of Christmas, we take great joy and delight that our God is sovereign and is "working in us to will and to do good works" for His glory. The major component of that plan is to adopt sons and daughters. What joy we have knowing that we get to participate in births of sons and daughters of the kingdom.

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." - Gal. 4:4-5

So, remember to seek "first His kingdom and righteousness and ALL these things will be added unto you." Want to be effective in ministry? In work? In life? Seek first Christ Jesus, and watch God use you effectively for the kingdom. Grace and Peace to you! Selah!