Category: Musings

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When the Crop Permits

When the Crop Permits
By Francis Frangipane (www.frangipane.org)
(En Español)

Certainly, the period prior to Christ’s return will be both difficult and perilous. Scripture warns that God’s voice will shake all things, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. Everything that can be shaken, will be shaken and removed (Heb. 12:27).

Yet, there is more on the calendar of God than increasing judgments and the rapture. There will also be the advance and establishing of God’s kingdom (Dan.2:44; Matt. 24:14; Matt. 13). A spiritually mature people will serve as the vanguard of His kingdom. Before the Lord is glorified in the earth, He shall be glorified in the church (see Isa. 60:1-3; Eph. 5:27). Indeed, the attainment of Christlike maturity in those who pursue the Lord shall not be a mere sidebar on the scroll of end-time events; it will be the main attraction. Continue reading “When the Crop Permits”

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From Generation to Generation

On the 29th of last month (July, 2011), we returned from Puebla, Mexico. We were there as a small team for about a week, and overall we spent eight days in Mexico. As many, many before, it was a great trip. So very good to see friends and brothers continuing on with Jesus.

I was combing thru some photos that I have saved over the years and came across this one, and I felt prompted to share a little about what is going on in the photo with you. This scene, as many similar ones that have been before it, is very significant. I know, it looks pretty normal, maybe even mundane, especially in the large version on the front page of the blog with the Charmin in the foreground, right side, right? I decided to leave that in instead of crop it out. Hey, we're real people, aren't we?

This photo embodies one of my favorite occasions when I have brought teams to Puebla. Continue reading “From Generation to Generation”

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Moving Target

In 2005 I made my second trip to Mexico City, where I was helping to conduct a conference in a small church in the north part of the city.  It was really good to be back, as I had been deeply impacted by the Lord's heart on my first trip.  The team was different, and me and the Nicaraguan pastor who had led the previous trip were the only repeats from the previous team earlier that year.

One of the daily routines was to travel from our hotel, which was in the city proper, out to the north part near the border of Mexico City and the state of Mexico.  In this daily movement we were seeing all kinds of sites and people, impressions that were still fairly new to me, and my senses were heightened on this basis.

I was traveling with a friend from Texas named Keith, and he and I had a running conversation that we seemed to take up on the drive, as it took about an hour to cover a fairly short distance, based purely on the fact that tons of other people were on the move too.  We got into some interesting territory conversationally, and it was a surreal time, I think for both of us. Continue reading “Moving Target”

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Don’t Complicate the Missionary Call

 

 

 

(This article was published on John Piper's blog, and I have put a snippet here to encourage people to read the article in it's entirety.  To read this entire article – only one page – click on the link at the bottom of the post, or on the photo above.)

I was never called to be a missionary, nor was I drafted. I volunteered. No special call was needed. I chose to go; I wanted to go; I was compelled to go. And where I go is always determined by an open Bible and a stretched-out map of the regions where Christ is still unknown and un-praised!

I chuckle when I hear missionaries and pastors talk about “surrendering to the call” of ministry. I always want to ask, “After you surrendered, were you water-boarded, or just hauled off in handcuffs and leg irons.” Was it really necessary for you to be abducted by a heavenly vision before you would go into the work of the gospel?

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/dont-complicate-the-missionary-call