This month, we have the opportunity to invest in one of the greatest missions efforts in North America.  The Annie Armstrong Easter offering will be collected during the month of March, and every penny of every dollar given will be spent on mission efforts in North America.

You may not be aware that the North American Mission Board (NAMB) has recently undergone a restructuring.  The United States and Canada have been allocated into five regions (click here for more information).  This restructuring is a response to the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force recommendations approved at last year’s SBC Annual Meeting.    To summarize a very lengthy report and recommendations, NAMB will be intentionally spending more money and devoting more resources to less evangelized parts of the United States and Canada.  Oklahoma will receive less funding from NAMB in the years to come, but other areas will be receiving a significant increase in funding.

While it is yet uncertain the exact picture of missions efforts in North America in the coming years, one thing is certain: Southern Baptists will make every effort to reach the unreached and underserved populations.  We must remember that our nation, while it claims to be Christian, is lost.  Our cities are lost, and most major metropolitan centers have a “post-Christian” worldview.  The time has come when we must view major population centers in the United States as true mission fields.  We must, give, go, and pray for these areas as much as we would international locations.

To that end, Morning Star will be embarking on a mission trip to the greater Denver metroplex in June of this year.  We will be working with Genesis church in Castle Rock, CO.  I will be meeting the pastor later this month and be able to bring a full report of the opportunities we will have to serve and partner with God’s work in this area.  The greater Denver metroplex hosts a population of over 3,000,000 people, and a vast majority of them are lost, and irreligious.  Please be prayerful about how you might invest in greater Kingdom work through giving to the Annie Armstrong Mission offering.  Also be prayerful about your role in the upcoming mission trip to Castle Rock, CO.

Blessings!

Bryan

 The 1689 London Baptist Confession says this about God: God is all-sufficient, and all life, glory, goodness and blessedness are found in Him and in Him alone.  He does not stand in need of any of the creatures that He has made, nor does He derive any part of His glory from them.  On the contrary, He manifests His own glory in and by them.   While we would confess this as good and true, the question that comes to us is: Does our life point to the glory of God or to our own “imagined” glory?

The book of Judges is a good study in demonstrating how quickly God’s children can turn away from a good an glorious God to pursue their own desires.  Perhaps the most well known passage from the book is repeated twice: “In those days there was no king in Israel.  Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (17:6, 21:25).  Some interpret these verses as setting the stage for the need of a king in the nation of Israel, but this seems out of place when one considers that God rebukes the nation of Israel for desiring a king (see 1 Samuel 8:4-18, esp. v. 7).  A better interpretation of these verses is to understand that the nation of Israel did not need a corrupt king to lead them away from the LORD, they were fully capable of doing that themselves.

One tribe in particular stands out in the book of Judges as a people who followed after their own desires; they were hungry for their own glory rather than the glory of God.  The first chapter of Judges is an introduction describing how the tribes took possession of the land after the death of Joshua.  In verses 22-26, we read about Ephraim’s conquest of Luz/Bethel (take some time to read those verses).  Maybe you don’t notice this at first, but the Ephraimites are trying to recreate a Jericho moment here in order to make their name great.  Notice the parallels: each sends spies into the land (Joshua 2:1, Judges 1:23); each received aid from a resident of the city (Joshua 2:1-7, Judges 1:25a); each offered protection to an individual (Joshua 2:14, Judges 1:24).  But notice the differences:  Rahab acknowledged the work of the LORD to the spies (Joshua 2:8-13) while the man outside of Luz offered no indication of faith or belief in the LORD (Judges 1:25); Rahab was assimilated into the Israelite community and became a part of the lineage of Jesus Christ (see Matt 1:5) while the man from Luz continued his pagan life (Judges 1:26a); the city of Jericho was destroyed and a curse from the LORD was placed upon anyone who would rebuild the city (Joshua 6:26) while the city of Luz was rebuilt among the Hittites (Judges 1:26).  The Ephraimites had an appearance of godliness to those who would observe their actions, but it was empty and meaningless because they were merely trying to establish their own reputation rather than magnify the name of the LORD through their actions.

I am confident that the Ephraimites were obsessed with their glory because of how the book of Judges depicts them.  Notice in Judges 8:1 and again in 12:1 that the tribe of Ephraim became angry with the Gideon and Jephthah because these men did not include the Ephraimites in defeating the Midianites and the Ammonites.  Instead of rejoicing that the enemy of the LORD had been defeated in a way that demonstrated the glory of God, the Ephraimites were angry that they didn’t get to share in the glory of the victory.  Notice also when Barak (from the tribe of Ephraim) is summoned to lead the nation of Israel against the king of Canaan, he is warned that “the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory,” (Judges 4:9).  Barak walks in obedience, but pursued his glory in victory over Sisera until it was clear that the glory would not belong to him (see Judges 4:17-22).

I am afraid that too often our lives look like the Ephraimites.  We are too quick to defend our name and reputation, rather than to be wronged for the sake of Christ (see Matt 5:11, 1 Cor 6:7).  We are willing to serve in places of prominence, but not willing to serve in places that receive little recognition.  We must always guard our hearts to live in such a way that our actions and service points to God, to whom belongs all the glory.

Blessings!

Bryan