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Ministry glimpses

All About Water

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We’ve been thinking a lot about water lately. Frankly, it’s hard to avoid.

black water
Black water – but not as bad as it has been sometimes…

As many of you know, we’ve gone from having very little water pressure, and having to resort to buckets to get clean – to now having wildly unpredictable moments in which we have more water pressure than we’ve had in years (no exaggeration), to water that is black, to not even a drop anywhere.

Our water was off all night – but did come on this morning. A little black, but certainly better than no water at all.

But really, that’s not the water that’s most important at the moment. The important water is in a rectangular tank up in the community of Jesús María. I imagine it’s filled by now, ready for a special service tomorrow, in which many believers will be baptized!

We have enjoyed spending a little time with some of the people who will be baptized, hearing how God has worked and is working in their lives. So we’ve been able to have an extended “time of rejoicing”, which will continue with the celebration tomorrow morning.

Please pray for these people, who may be in front of a bigger crowd than ever in their lives, 🙂 but who will be making a public confession of the inward reality of faith from the Holy Spirit!

I don’t know if the water will be clear or black – but it doesn’t matter much, because it’s only a symbol of the reality. The cleansing that God has done in hearts is perfect – and purifies us completely. And it is done with blood – imagine! But a blood so pure it cleans our souls.

I’ve been studying for an upcoming sermon in Hebrews, and these words seem very appropriate…

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:19-25

Amen!

I Came to the Garden (but not alone)

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Today was our first Sunday in the “Party Garden” in Las Palmas. It was a good service….. getting everything working was…. interesting.

Let’s just say we still have some things to work out before everything functions smoothly. We don’t really have a place for the kids’ Sunday School class, so we’ll have to rig something up for that. They have a lovely fountain in the front of the property, but that made hearing one another a bit of a challenge. I guess if you’re used to events with a band or huge speakers, it works. But we’re a church and we want to talk to each other!

But anyway, it was still a good service. I just wanted to stop by to give you a few pictures. I wanted to give you more of a view of what the place is like, but it was just too hectic – being our first time there,

So – here is just a glimpse!

Cuco leads at the Path of Life Bible Church in Las Palmas
Cuco leads the service
Shari's annoucnement
Shari explains our new Sunday School Material
Front view of service
A view from the front (notice the dog) 🙂
Rod preaching in the garden
Rod preaches on Hebrews 9

So next week is a BIG week, but not in the garden – it will be at the Path of Life Bible Church in Jesús María, where, Lord willing, 5 people from our church will be baptized, as well as others from other churches. Stay tuned! 🙂

Church Move

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Yes, our Sunday morning services are finally moving…

As many of you remember, it was our first Sunday back from Canada when we found out that the party hall we rent for Sunday services was being converted into squash courts. But this began weeks and weeks of not knowing how long we would have.

Jim preaching on Hebrews 9.
My last time preaching in the party hall in Las Palmas (on Hebrews 9).

Six weeks – one more week – how about after Christmas? Maybe February. Basically, the owners were waiting for the paperwork to come through so they could start construction.

But, finally, we find ourselves having to move. We’re not moving far away – it’s a “party garden”, in the same community. There are pros and cons to this place, and we haven’t actually met there yet, so we’ll have to see how it goes. It is a little more expensive, but attainable at this point. The good news is that it should give us some room to grow.

Andasadi Party Gardens
Andasadi Party Gardens

I’ll try to give you more details after we’ve actually had a service there.

However, it is definitely another temporary place. I don’t just mean temporary as everything in this world is temporary, I mean that we’re not sure how long it will work for us. And we’re only renting it for a set time Sunday mornings. AND even those mornings won’t always be guaranteed, if other events take precedent.

So we would certainly appreciate your prayers that this place will work for us (this Sunday, the 10th of March, will be our first Sunday there), and that the Lord would provide a more permanent place that we could use to reach out to this community, and provide more services during the week.

I’ll try to take some pictures and/or video on Sunday so you can see what it’s like!

The old place – “El Rincón Feliz” (the happy corner)
(with Nathanael running our music PowerPoint)

To make things more confusing, we’re there for a week, and then we’ll take a Sunday “off” to meet with the other two churches in Jesús María (the only building that can hold all of us!), where we will be having a special joint baptism service this St. Patrick’s Day.

No matter where we are – we’re thankful that the Lord is building the Church – the people that are coming to Him!

A Week With Camp Bighorn

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The team from Camp Bighorn’s Journey program is here for one more night, before leaving for other parts of central Mexico. We’ve had some good times with them – hopefully it was useful for them too!

Some of the highlights of their visit included going up to the pass between the volcanoes, some “cultural challenges” such as eating some very strange tacos (you probably don’t want to know), and learning to get around on public transportation, a trip downtown, serving here in Ixtapaluca (getting to know some of the people here, helping with some construction-related stuff), and a visit to a public high school in a nearby town.

The school put on a “Mexican Traditional Fair”, a carnival with various stations where the team members played different games along with the students. In this case, it was an excuse for the students to practise their English.

Mexican Traditional Fair
Photo shoot with the superstars from the USA!

Here’s one of the girls trying out a trompo, a traditional spinning top. Mexicans grow up with these, as did our kids here in Mexico. For the newbie, though, it’s not so easy! But these guys learn fast.

Sonya and the trompo challenge

A visit from a team like this brings new opportunities to share God’s Word, and to demonstrate a Christian character to the community. And its a chance for us to see things through new eyes! Especially in the case of the teams from Camp Bighorn, it’s a chance to continue discipleship in a (very) different context, and learn about the joys and challenges of serving in that culture.

Thanks, team, for visiting! Many more pics and videos from Rod here – Camp Bighorn 2019.

The Oaths of God

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Yesterday, after much Sunday morning anticipation, we reached Hebrews 7 and the discussion of the King-Priest Melchizedek. Fascinating chapter.

Some writers seem to suggest that the author of Hebrews grabbed an obscure verse from the Bible (Psalm 110:4) in order to teach a somewhat novel theology. And, in some ways, the verse is obscure – Melchizedek is mentioned only twice in the Old Testament – in Genesis 14 (the historical description), and then a thousand years later in Psalm 110.

Another 1000 years later, the author of Hebrews blows the dust of the story and gives it another go.

Hebrews has been making a big deal of the oaths that God made, so I did a quick study of God’s oaths in the OT – places where God specifically swears about the truth of something, or He swears that He will keep a promise.

In short, here’s what I discovered – but you might like to do a more in-depth study. There are two main streams of oaths that God makes.

First, an Oath of Judgement. He swears to punish Israel when she is unfaithful. He also swears to punish the nations who are against Israel – actually a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abram – “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Those are the two main types of judgement oaths.

Second, an Oath of Blessing. First, and probably most commonly mentioned in the Bible, His oath to Abraham. To make Abraham a great nation, and to give his descendants the Promised Land. Take for example the classic from Genesis 22:

By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord … I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies…

From Genesis 22:15-18

Of course, the greatest blessing comes not from Abraham’s descendants, but from his Descendant, Jesus (Galatians 3:16).

The second main oath of blessing is for David. The classic passage is actually 2 Samuel 7, but the actual reference to God swearing an oath comes up in other passages – such as Psalm 89:

Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.

Psalm 89:35-36

Psalm 110 falls directly into this second important stream. It’s a promise to the royal Descendant of David Himself, King Jesus.

The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Psalm 110:1

So all of a sudden this verse about Melchizedek isn’t as obscure as I thought, but part of the second great stream of oaths of blessing. But, of course, it still appears out of nowhere in some ways. The most surprising thing is that the Messiah-King would not just be a king like David, He would also be a king-priest, like Melchizedek:

The LORD has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 110:4

There are hints of this in other places in the Old Testament, but this verse really does explain how it would be possible for a king to be a priest, something forbidden under the Mosaic Law. Jesus’ role would come from an earlier tradition, something outside of, and greater than, the laws about Levites and descendants of Aaron.

And so, prophetically, David pulls together various hints in the Scriptures in Psalm 110 (read more about this Psalm in Promises of a Messiah).

One other interesting note – at least three of the main types of oaths are directly mentioned in the Psalms, a book that the author of Hebrews quotes from frequently, including a lengthy discussion of God’s judgement on the unbelieving Israelites (Psalm 95:7-11). Psalm 110 also mentions judgement of the nations (Psalm 110:6). And of course the promises to Abraham and David are very important in various Psalms.

The author of Hebrews – ultimately the Holy Spirit – knew what he was doing when he pointed us to the oaths of God – kind, precious confirmations that He would do as He promised – bring us salvation and finally bring peace to the earth under His Son.

The Bible Translation Museum

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In the midst of no water pressure for showers, no gas for cars, and other adventures here in Mexico, it’s time for a more positive note.

Bible translation timeline

This past Sunday we continued our Sunday school series, Where did the Bible Come From?, with the Bible Translation Museum. Using some floor mats, I was able to cover over (some of) the Disney characters on the wall to create the timeline of Spanish translations. With the help of the rest of the congregation we had samples of many different translations in physical form, and even showcased Bible software.

Sample Bibles and Bible software

The history of Spanish translations is fascinating, especially when compared with the timeline of English Bibles. The determination to see the Bible in Spanish was in some ways stronger, while the persecution was often fiercer.

At a unique moment in history a new version of a historic translation hit the market – the Reina Valera 1960. The Reina Valera has a similar history to our Authorized (or King James) Version, but in many ways because of timing this version became so popular it’s often just known as “The 60”.

But in modern days, various sects have multiplied in Latin America, many clinging to their own version of the Bible. A splintering has taken place, leading to many, many “Reina Valeras” (between us, in our small group, we have many RV versions), and also to several strange and occasionally heretical versions (which we also talked about).

The common claim here that various sects try to deceive you with “their own Bible version” has led us to put very little emphasis on which version should be used – “bring your own Bible” – because the gospel is there! But we also try to balance that with information about how the Bible is translated and what the strengths of various specific versions/translations are.

One newer couple in our church shared with us that they had had some major questions about the Bible – its origin and transmission. Then they started attending our Sunday service – and guess what started the week after? “Where did the Bible Come From?”!

God has His timings that we know nothing about. It’s been an encouragement to hear people’s responses to the series. We have two weeks to go in this series. But, bottom line – we can trust God’s Word – we have it in our hands – now what will we do with it?

La Biblia de Vence
Right: The first Mexican translation of the Bible, La Biblia de Vence, created soon after Mexican Independence. Shown is the title page for one of 25 volumes parallel Spanish and Latin.
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