“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:3-6 ESV).
Like Paul, I am thankful for our gospel partners too. It took many of them to send our team to Uganda. Partners that prayed, gave financially and commissioned us to go. Without them, we would not have been able to answer God’s call to go to Uganda.
I am also thankful for the growing partnership that we see developing between our church and the churches in Kisoro, Uganda that Pastor George Mbonye has planted. Of course, this partnership would not be possible without partnering with Donnas and Johnny Kinton of Amazing Grace Adoptions and Orphan Care. The Kintons and Steve “Woody” Woodard of AGA really did all of the heavy-lifting to make this trip possible.
It is with thanksgiving in my heart that I offer this video to report on our Uganda mission trip to our church and to our many partners. As Paul did, I pray with joy and thanksgiving as I consider what God has done and will do through our gospel partnership.
Please join me in joyful thanksgiving and praise as you watch this video report!
Pastor George Mbonye and Gary preaching at Kisoro, Uganda
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, notmywill, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42 ESV).
Today began with dark rooms and cold showers as the electricity was knocked out yesterday by a storm that left our hotel without power for nearly a day. It also began with much activity because many of us had to surrender our rooms in the new part of the hotel, pack our things and move to the old section, so that the hotel could accommodate visiting dignitaries. We could have refused, but we are working to build a relationship with the hotel manager that allows us to further share the gospel with him and his staff. The manager was in a bind. He had overbooked the hotel, so we offered to help. We are learning that surrendering to Jesus, or as the Ugandans say, “Yesu,” sometimes means surrendering your new room for an old one.
At breakfast we laughed about the cold showers and using flashlights to find our things. I heard no grumbling, just the flexible adjustment to changing circumstances that we are learning together here. We did discover that two of our team members weren’t feeling well, so we prayed for them and encouraged them to stay at the hotel and rest, while the other members went out for another day of training and teaching. They would rather have been teaching with us, but sometimes surrender means we have to rest when we’d rather be working.
After breakfast, we loaded up the vehicles and traveled to Kashinge Baptist Church and Child Development Center. It was a short, but bumpy ride as the road is barely passable. As we arrived on the Kashinge campus, and the children gathered on the lawn to greet us. They brought out plastic chairs for our team to sit while facing the children who sat on the ground. The children welcomed us with poems and songs. One poem was about the terrible scourge of AIDS, while the songs were songs of welcome.
They sang, “We welcome you visitor. We are so very happy you are here. Thank you for coming. We love you very much.”
After introductions were made, we gathered in the church for hymns and instruction from Pastor George Mbonye for the day. The team scattered to teach the children, while Monte and I taught the adults in the church. Monte preached from Luke 19 on Zacchaeus and the importance of a life transformed by salvation. I preached from Exodus on Moses and how God overcame his five excuses. Monte had 7 people raise their hands indicating that they had prayed with him to surrender their lives to Jesus.
In my sermon on Moses I used five words from their own language that all started with the letter “K.” I had taught the pastors the previous week at the Pastor’s Conference that their sermon points should be accurate, simple and memorable, so I didn’t want them to think I didn’t practice what I had taught them. I had bought a English-Rufumbira Dictionary here, so I wanted to surprise them by using their language in my sermon.
When I began using their language for my sermon points, they laughed at my feeble efforts to pronounce their tribal tongue. But it was good natured laughter. I think they really appreciated my attempt.
Their favorite sermon point was number five, “kurekura,” which means “surrender” in Rufumbira. After my closing prayer, Pastor George further explained the time of decision to them. Pastor George has been my interpreter at every session. When he was finished talking, I was surprised and overwhelmed to see everyone in the room raise both hands in surrender and shout “kurekura!” and “Yesu!” which meant that they were surrendering their whole lives to Jesus.
After this, George had the men go to another room for prayer and the women stayed in the church to pray together. Robin and Pastor George’s wife, Robinah, prayed for the women. I went with our team of men to pray for the Ugandan men. We had each man sit in a chair in the center of the room as our team prayed for each of them individually. This was a powerful time.
Afterwards the church served us a hardy lunch of rice, beans, goat and matoke (made from plantain). During lunch, Pastor Joseph (George’s brother, who pastors this church) was very gracious. He wanted all our emails and promised to keep in contact with us and pray for us.
We returned to the hotel and headed to the local Kisoro coffee shop called “The Coffee Pot.” I ordered a cappuccino and internet. Of course, the internet was down again.
Apparently, surrendering to Jesus sometimes means unpredictable internet service too.
“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.'” (Acts 16:9 ESV).
We’re leaving for Uganda tomorrow. Robin and I are joining several WCCers and members from other churches to respond to Ugandan Pastor George Mbonye’s call to “Come over and help us.” We’re doing this in partnership with Amazing Grace Adoptions and Orphan Care, a non profit based out of Raleigh, North Carolina that has been working with Pastor George for several years.
We’ve had our shots, taken our malaria meds, sprayed our clothes with insect repellent and packed our bags. We’ve prayed and prepared our Bible lessons and prayed some more. Now it’s time to go.
So, please keep us in your prayers as we promise to pray for you too. Pray for the 50 African pastors that I’ve been asked to train in leadership and preaching. Pray for the pastor’s wives that Robin has been asked to teach. Pray for the teachers and students that our team will be teaching. Pray for our health and effectiveness.
We’re thankful to our church and to our many partners who have made it possible for us to answer Pastor George’s call for help. And we’re especially thankful to God who has made it possible for us to obey Christ’s command to “go and make disciples of all nations.”
One other thing, I hear that Pastor George has a “bota-bota” (motorcycle) too. Maybe he’ll let me take it for a spin.
“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11-13 NIV).
Webster defines contentment as “the state of being happy and satisfied.” Everyone wants to live in this state. But unfortunately, this kind of contentment is based on favorable circumstances. Happiness is based on something good “happening.” And as we all know, sometimes bad stuff happens. But what if there were a higher level of contentment? One that wasn’t based on happenings?
The apostle Paul spoke of such a higher level of contentment. In his letter to the Philippians he wrote of having “learned the secret of being content” no matter the circumstance. This contentment that Paul had learned was not dependent on the external world of constantly changing circumstances, but on an inner spiritual relationship and dependence on the eternal One, Jesus Christ.
So, how do we learn Paul’s “secret,” especially in this crazy and chaotic world today that constantly seeks to steal our joy and peace? In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he offered…
… three keys to unlocking the secret to true contentment.
Learn to turn your worries into prayers. Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). Worry is self-talk. Prayer is talking to God. Why not take the same energy you’re using to worry and turn it into prayer?
Learn to refocus your thinking from stressings to blessings. Paul said, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8). This is more than positive thinking. This is moving your state of mind from the temporal things of this world to the eternal things of God. As Paul wrote to the Colossians, “Set your minds on things above” (Col.3:2). Decide to rejoice in the Lord. Say, “I’m too blessed to be stressed!” Focus on your blessings in Christ and set your mind on them.
Learn the practice of depending on God’s power and provision. Paul wrote, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:9). Paul had learned to depend on Christ for strength. In Christ, he learned that he could “accept all things” (Phil. 4:11), “do all things” (Phil. 4:13), and “have all things” (Phil. 4:18). Therefore, everything he needed, he found in Christ.
Christ was the secret of Paul’s contentment.
Christ was the one who lay sleeping in the bow of the boat while the storm on the Sea of Galilee threatened to sink the disciples. He was the one whom the “winds and the waves” obeyed. Paul learned that when you have Christ in your life, no matter the storms, you can find rest and contentment in him.
“I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5 NIV).
The church of my youth had annual revival services. We would often have an evangelist come and share how God had miraculously saved him from a life of sin. He would preach with fiery enthusiasm and through tears about how God had taken a former drunkard, (or addict, thief, murderer, etc.) and saved him.
These “Damascus Road” testimonies were amazing to me. I was envious of their certainty and passion. As a boy, I often doubted my salvation because I hadn’t had such an awesome conversion. I had no flash of light, no voice of God. At age eight, I had just decided to give my life to Jesus the way my mother and grandmother had taught me.
As I grew in my faith, I no longer doubted my salvation, but I still sometimes wished that my testimony was more exciting. Why couldn’t I have a testimony more like the apostle Paul’s?
Maybe that’s what Timothy was feeling when Paul wrote him that second letter. Paul was so fearless and certain when he testified of his faith, but Timothy was a little timid. When he compared himself to his mentor he just didn’t feel like he measured up.
Paul would have none of that. He reminded Timothy of the spiritual legacy that his mother and grandmother had given him. Timothy had been spared the suffering and sorrow of Paul’s many mistakes before coming to Christ. Paul reminded Timothy that the “sincere faith” which had “lived” in his mother and grandmother, now “lived” in him.
As a grown man, I’m glad that I have a “Timothy testimony.” The two most influential people in my spiritual development were women. They were my grandmother Ettie and my mother Wilda. They didn’t have the same names as “Eunice and Lois”, but they did have the same “sincere faith” living in them.
Sincere faith. The kind that is more than religion, more than rules and ritual. These women loved and lived for their Lord in such a sincere way that what they passed on to me was more caught than taught.
My mother and her mother are with Jesus now, but their sincere faith still lives here in me.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV).
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 ESV).
As a pastor, I spend many hours each week studying God’s Word in preparation for the task of preaching. Yet, this practice of regular study doesn’t always meet my own spiritual needs. Being so focused on the preaching task sometimes causes me to read the Bible looking for information over inspiration. I see sermon points to preach rather than spiritual food to eat.
Don’t misunderstand. I’m not diminishing the importance of exegesis. The Bible is a written text, inspired by God and written in human language. It deserves close literary study. Words need to be defined, sentences diagrammed, parts of speech identified, context and setting in life determined. Careful study leads to better understanding. And as my preaching professor at seminary used to say, “Fuzzy thinking leads to fuzzy preaching.” You’re not ready to preach until you understand the text.
But the Bible is more than a book to study, it’s spiritual food to eat. As Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Reading the Bible just for information is akin to dissecting your dinner meal just to determine its recipe. You might better understand how your quiche was cooked, but your stomach will still be left growling.
In my early years as a pastor I began to recognize this deficiency in my spiritual diet. I was growing in knowledge of the Bible, but I was feeling more and more dry in my spirit. So I turned to some old classical devotional authors to try and find some help. It was in these readings that I came across the Latin phrase lectio divina, which means “divine reading.” I was a little put off by its origin among the Benedictine monks in the 6th century. I wasn’t interested in shaving a circle in the top of my head and wearing sackcloth with a rope belt. But after examining the four step practice I was intrigued and decided to try it.
And the practice has changed my devotional life.
Here are the four movements of Lectio Divina (as I practice it):
Lectio. Read the Scripture aloud and slowly. The idea of silent reading was unheard (no pun intended) of in the 1st Century. Reading it aloud means you get it twice, once through the eyes and again through the ears. If this practice is likened to “Feasting on the Word,” then lectio is like “taking a bite.”
Meditatio. Meditate on the words by repeating them over and over. Pause on those words that seem to stir your soul. If lectio is “taking a bite,” then meditatio is “chewing on it.”
Oratio. Begin to turn the reading into prayer. For instance the reading and meditation of Psalm 23 might become, “Oh Lord, You are my shepherd. I am learning not to want for anything but You…” Praying the Word back to God you are “savoring the essence of it” as you would a tasty feast.
Contemplatio. Finally, you contemplate how the Word is doing, or wants to do, its work in you. Not just understanding that the Lord was David’s shepherd, but that you are receiving Him as your Shepherd. Not just thinking about the “still waters,” but drinking from them. Feasting on the Word, contemplatio is “digesting the food” of God’s Word and making it part of your life.
Lectio Divina is a helpful practice for approaching God’s Word. It recognizes the living aspect of the Word and seeks to hear God speak afresh. It isn’t the only way to handle the Word. Intense study, memorization, hearing the teaching and preaching of the Word, and other approaches are all important. The Word should affect our whole selves, the mind, the soul and the heart. Perhaps adding this practice to your Bible reading will help balance your spiritual diet as it has mine.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV).
“My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name” (Edward Mote).
In the dictionary’s definition of the word “hope,” it describes three aspects (I have put this into my own words):
Its basis. That which makes up the foundation for our expectation that our great desire will be satisfied.
Its nature. That which describes the quality and strength of our future longing and its affect on us in the present.
Its object. That which is the focus of our expectation. This is the future something or someone that we focus our desire upon obtaining.
I think Edward Mote (1797-1874), the founding pastor of Rehoboth Baptist Church in Horsham, West Sussex, England must have been contemplating these three aspects of hope when he penned the words to that great hymn, “My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less.” Published in 1837, this hymn became an instant classic.
Mote declared, “My hope is built” on Christ! Mote sees Christ’s work on the cross, his “blood and righteousness” as the foundation, the basis of our hope. I agree. But I would further add that which the apostle Peter proclaimed, that our hope is built on Christ’s resurrection. In other words, the basis for Christian hope is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our hope is built on the historical reality of Christ’s work.
Mote says that this hope is not mere “trust” in a sweet “frame” of mind. No, it is based on the firm foundation of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. This also speaks to its nature. Christian hope is a “living hope” as Peter described it. Its quality lies in its connection to the living Lord Jesus, who abides in those who believe on him. This hope is not merely an optimistic or positive “frame” of mind, but a strong conviction that all is well and that all will be well because of the living Christ. As Mote wrote in verse three of his hymn, “When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my Hope and Stay.”
Christ’s resurrection is the basis of our hope. Christ’s abiding Spirit within us is the nature of our hope. And Christ’s return is the object of our hope. As Mote wrote in his final verse and chorus:
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
“And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer'” (Luke 22:15 ESV).
This coming Sunday begins what many Christians call Holy Week or Passion Week. It is called “Passion” week because of its connection to the Greek word πάσχω (pas’-kho) which is usually translated to “suffer” in the New Testament. This is the word that Jesus used to describe His crucifixion.
I’ve found that reading the Scriptures that describe the Lord’s final week leading up to the Cross, the Tomb and the Resurrection to be very moving and beneficial to my spiritual life. With this in mind, I offer this daily reading plan for Passion Week for your edification.
Palm Sunday – The Triumphal Entry. Read Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, or John 12:12-19.
Monday – Clearing the Temple. Read Matthew 21:10-17; Mark 11:15-18, or Luke 19:45-48.
Tuesday – Teaching in the Temple. Read Matthew 21:23-24:51; Mark 11:27-13:37, or Luke 20:1-21:36.
Wednesday – Anointed in Bethany. Read Mark 14:1-11.
Maundy Thursday – Last Supper & Garden of Gethsemane. Read Matthew 26:17-30; Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-23, or John 13:1-30.
Good Friday – Crucifixion and Death. Matthew 27:1-56; Mark 15:1-41, Luke 22:66-23:50, or John 18:28-19:37.
Saturday – In the Tomb. Read Matthew 27:57-66; Mark 15:42-47, Luke 23:50-56, or John 19:38-42.
Easter Sunday – The Resurrection. Read Matthew 28:1-13; Mark 16:1-20, Luke 24:1-49, or John 20:1-31.
There are two weeks in the Bible that the Lord inspired its writers to make daily diary entries. They are the seven days of creation and Passion Week. In the first week, He made the world and in the second, He brought its redemption. God must have thought these two weeks important enough to keep a journal…
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26 ESV).
I love watching birds. We have a bird feeder hanging just outside our breakfast nook window. And I’ve developed a habit of drinking my morning coffee at our breakfast table while reading the Bible, praying and bird watching.
We spend so much time worrying about what we will eat, drink or what we will wear. We’re bombarded with constant commercials for things we didn’t even know we needed, but now we’re sure that we do. So, we worry about how to get those things too. We place so much value on material things that we forget to enjoy what really matters.
Often my morning concerns are more for temporary material things, than for eternal spiritual ones. Yet, reading and meditating on God’s Word moves me to stop my worry and to turn that same internal self-talk into God-talk, into prayer. This morning, as I read and prayed, I noticed the great variety of birds appearing outside my window. And I thought of what Jesus said about the Heavenly Father feeding them.
Of course, one of the ways that God feeds them is through me. I buy the seed and keep the feeder full for the sheer joy of seeing the birds that God has created.
If God loves and values birds so much, just consider how much He loves and values us. I recommend a morning combination of Bible reading and bird watching. It really helps me remember how much God values me. And how much I can trust and value (worship) Him.
“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10 ESV).
The Bible teaches us to honor God and to honor one another. This is an expression of the kind of love that God both commands and instills. We cannot keep the command to love and honor one another without God’s empowerment. When we receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, this empowerment is available to us. The Church, as the Body of Christ, is to model this kind of love and mutual honor.
The Greek word translated “honor” in the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans is: τιμάω, timaó (tim-ah’-o), which means to fix the value, price, reverence, esteem, to honor. It means to pay people their due. We get the name “Timothy” from this Greek word (Τιμόθεος (Timotheos) meaning “honoring God”). The apostle Paul taught that we are to “outdo one another” in esteeming and honoring God and others.
One of the ways that the English speaking world has expressed mutual honor is through the use of polite language and appropriate “honorifics” when addressing others. However, in recent years this practice appears to be waning. What is an honorific? The dictionary defines it as:
hon•or•if•ic adj. 1. doing or conferring honor. 2. conveying honor, as a title or a grammatical form used in speaking to or about a superior, elder, etc. n. 3. (in certain languages, as Chinese and Japanese) a class of forms used to show respect, esp. in direct address. 4. a title or term of respect.
Here is a list of English “honorifics” that we have traditionally used (You can probably think of others):
Common Titles:
Mr. (Mister) – for men, regardless of marital status.
Master – for young men and boys (I used to receive letters addressed “Master Gary Combs” when I was younger).
Ms. – for women, regardless of marital status.
Miss – for unmarried women.
Mrs. – for married women.
Formal Titles:
Sir – for men, a term of general respect.
Ma’am (Madam) – for women, a term of general respect.
Professional Titles:
Dr. (Doctor) – a person who has obtained an academic or professional degree.
Prof. (Professor) – a person teaching at the college level with a Ph.D. or equivalent.
Religious Titles:
Br. or Bro. (Brother) – for men generally in some churches (The Baptist church I grew up in used “Bro.” to address the pastor).
Sr. (Sister) – a Catholic nun; for women generally in some churches
Fr. (Father) for priests in Catholic and Eastern Christianity
Rev. (Reverend) used generally for members of the Christian clergy
Pr. (Pastor) used generally for Christian clergy, especially in Protestant denominations.
Preacher – used primarily in the South for Christian pastors.
Ev. (Evangelist) – used for a traveling revivalist preacher
People in the South seem to be among the last holdouts in the use of honorifics. They are especially well known for their use of “Yessir,” “Yessum,” and “Ma’am” (Not to mention “Y’all,” “Hon,” “Shug,” and “Sweetie Pie.”). When I first moved to North Carolina I noticed that young people often called an older family friend by their first name, plus an appropriate honorific, as in “Mr. Bobby,” or Ms. Mary.” I loved this practice and we taught our kids to follow it.
I encourage the use of honorifics. I use them. I think it helps to put some of the honor back into our increasingly rough and disrespectful world. I appreciate being addressed as “Mr. Gary,” or “Mr. Combs” by a younger person. I feel respected when a church member calls me “Pastor Gary,” or “Preacher” (I don’t care much for the “Rev.” title, but that’s just me).
What do you think? Do you use honorifics? Do you teach your children to use them?
What’s in an honorific? Honor and respect, that’s what. And I think that’s a good thing.
“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.'” (Acts 16:9 ESV).
“And he said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer'” (Luke 22:15 ESV).
