Meeting the Father

About a month ago I met the father of one of my co-workers.  My co-worker was heading off to school for the semester and her dad stopped by work to say goodbye.  He gave her a hug and kissed her on the forehead, looked her in the eye and said, “I love you.”  I watched this whole interaction then he came and introduced himself to me.  The thing is though; he already knew who I was.  See I had known is older daughter since high school.  She was around when I was going through my lowest point in life.  When I was arrested she was right there with me.  I had attributed directly to her delinquency and arrest.  I had influenced her far from anything good.  And now I was meeting her father.  A huge wave of emotions hit me when I shook his hand.  Seeing his love for his daughter and then knowing that I had taken advantage and sinned against him with my interactions with his other daughter led to a very sobering moment.

I think this interaction reflects in a lot of way what it will be like when we meet Christ.   We have been given a stewardship of life and a specific role to play in the lives of others.  We know that God is a just God and has made His will completely clear and we know that we are responsible for the decisions we make here on earth.  I think the regret and the meekness that I felt when I met the father of my friend will be just a small foreshadowing of the initial introduction that we will have with are heavenly Father.  That sinking back feeling of “man I could have done better”.

We affect those around us and have a responsibility to affect those people in a way that brings glory to God.  Our work will be brought before God and we will give an account for our lives.

See you at the Bema baby!

Decision Making and the Will of God

A book review of sorts

I just finished reading the book “Decision Making and the Will of God” by Gary Friesen and I must say it is an excellent book that everyone needs to read. It covers one of the most if not the most popular topic discussed in Christian circles today; God’s Will.

This is an extremely important subject that needs to be understood. Virtually every Christian has their views on God’s will whether they have formulated them or not (many times not) but based on the amount of decision made by Christians, the level of significance of a subject rates extremely high. We often accept the popular view without any consideration that it might actually be false simply because everyone seems to believe that way. A subject that carries the paramount weight such as God’s will must be carefully considered as the consequences of such thought are vital.

Gary Friesen does an excellent job in his book “Decision Making and the Will of God”; of presenting an honest argument of what he calls the ‘Traditional View’. This view is very popular in Christianity today. It is the belief that God has not only a moral will, a sovereign will but also an individual will often called a ‘perfect will’ for a person’s life.

Later in the book he presents another view which he calls “the way of wisdom”. This view holds that God has a moral will, a sovereign will but NOT an individual will. Essentially we are not to be looking for God’s perfect will for our lives but rather God has given us freedom to make decision where we then must apply wisdom.

The latter view goes against what many Christians presuppose is true. I think Gary makes a good argument in his book and I definitely recommend you to read it.

Also check out Greg Koukl’s sermon on Decision making and the will of God

And please tell me what are your thoughts on God’s will?

It’s All Over Now

So I am sitting in the fishbowl, the dorm room that I have lived for the last two years and it is completely empty other than myself and a couple random items I have yet to pack. The halls are at NTBI are empty. Every once in a while when I am wandering around trying to figure what to do with myself I catch a glimpse of another student with the same solemn, confused look on their face. Nostalgia is building as I look back over the last two years and think of this community that I was immersed in and all that came with it. And I’m beginning to realize that these last two year were incredibly unique. I will never have another experience like I did during my time at NTBI. And so it goes…. I would have thought that moving on would have been much easier for me considering that for a few years before I came I was constantly on the move. But maybe that is just it. I have not been in one spot for as long as I have here. I remember one of the first big challenges to me was simply waking up in the same spot. After traveling around and sleeping in different places, every day was different. But then I came to school and every day was the same routine. It drove me crazy. Now I can’t imagine not being here.

Going into this whole thing, my intentions were basically to write off Christianity. I felt that church made it too easy to write off but as I was challenged to take an honest look at what the Bible said I was crushed that it was not going to be as easy to shake. But really I wasn’t crushed but simply my former desires, passions and life was being stripped away and was being replaced with something much more valuable than any experience that I could have: A desire for God, a Desire to know Him and Christ’s life. And as I hesitated to come to Bible School considering that in every aspect of our culture it is seen as a waste of time. Even in the Christian context it falls way out of the norm. But this hesitation was falsely found – I have not an ounce of regret in my decision to come to NTBI. But that is not to say that I don’t have regret from my time here. A sobriety in learning and building intentional relationships remain in my scope of regret as I look back. But from this I can learn and move forward in grace. I will miss my friends and those who I have lived with for the past two years – who I have fought with and fallen with and grown with. I will miss all those quirky bible school jokes and the late night discussions. I might even miss the eight alarms of my roommates going off in the early hours of the morning. Grapefruit – I will miss the grape fruit that I had every morning, Clint’s coffee, Butch’s outrageous one liners Chris Darland’s jokes, Rich Bruce – whaaaaaaat…, and dish crew – yeah dish crew wasn’t so bad after all.

 

I think there has been some growth in me since I’ve been here. I hope there has. I feel like there has been. I at least I have much different desires than when I first step foot in these doors. Time will tell all that has gone on here and the impact that the NTBI faculty and staff have had on my life. And to them, I am forever indebted for that impact, for their time and investment – Thanks you.

Spring Break 2011

Spring Break

Road Trip! Last week was spring break and I had the opportunity to go on a road trip with a couple friends. We spent time in our nation’s capitol visiting all the sights. It was my first time on the east coast so this was a huge milestone for me. It was interesting to note the apparent difference in thinking our founding fathers had as they referenced God in so many of their writings.

We also went up to Maryland and spent time with a former student who lives on a dairy farm. That was definitely a culture shock to me but a great experience. We also stopped by Gettysburg and took a look at the battlefields.

And here is my run in with a calf…

http://www.facebook.com/v/1606931584737

From Maryland we headed south to Virginia Beach where we camped for a couple days. And there another milestone was broken as I swam in the Atlantic for my first time.

Overall spring break was a lot of fun. It was the perfect mixture of rest and relaxation with fun and activities.

School

This morning I delivered my first speech in our Oral Communications course. Our assignment was to speak on an experience from Bible School that resulted in a change of thinking. I spoke on absolute truthand how it is found in the Word of God which then should dictate how we live.

Future

Only five more weeks of school till graduation and one of those is our senior trip to Wayumi. The summer is coming up real soon.

After graduation, I plan to spend about a year or so in Arizona building relationships and serving at Highlands church and raising support for the next phase of training.

Senior Servant Auction

So this morning we are holding the annual Senior Servant Auction. This is an event where select (elect) seniors are auctioned off as “servants” to the rest of the student body and staff. The money raised goes to the senior project.

This years senior project we are raising money to support Ben and Missy Hatton who were formerly on staff here at NTBI.  The money raised will be used to buy the Hatton family solar panels for their house that they will be building this summer.   The Hatton’s recently moved to Papua New Guinea to take part a in tribal church plant. Check out Ben and Missy’s website: http://www.ntm.org/wp/benjamin_hatton/

Here is the commercial of my friend Kyle and I who are being sold as a two for one deal…

 

March Update

About a week ago we had a brief moment of nice weather here in Jackson Michigan. I was able to sneak in a few long-board runs before the rain picked up again so that was nice. Classes have been great. We’ve been studying through Eschatology and Christian life principles which have been both incredible rewarding.

On Monday we had our special emphasis day where we have a change from our routine classes and focus on something a little different for the whole day. This year we had a group from the Missionary Training Center down in Missouri come and share with us what the next part of training looks like. It such a privilege to see what kind of courses I will have to take during the next phase as it really puts things into perspective. Basically the next phase is a lot of hands on practical training all in preparation for full time missionary service. Courses include Culture and Language study, phonetics, practical skills, medial training and much more.

Check out this video summary of what New Tribes Mission does.  See if you can recognize anyone in the video

Senior Semester and Beyond…

Three semesters down, three more months to go, thinking about the past year and a half, I’m greeted with a strange combination of nostalgia and excitement.  Looking back where I was when I first walked through these doors to the present moment I’m excited to see the contrast between the two characters.  One who came in the way of a transient and was just as much a spiritual vagabond, who by no work of His own but through grace has grown to one who has burning passion to know Christ more, to see himself become less as Christ’s life is lived out through him.

Why I am Here

My burden is for the unreached people groups of the world.  Of the 6,500 people groups there are 2,500 that are considered unreached.  That means they have never heard the Gospel of God’s grace.   I have spent the last year and a half studying scripture at New Tribes Bible Institute.  This is the most important part of the training as it builds the foundation necessary to become an effective part of a tribal church plant.

Who Are The Unreached?

These are people who live in the deepest darkest jungles in areas like Papua New Guinea, South America, Indonesia etc… They live in complete darkness, many of whom have never had contact with modernized civilization.  They are completely indigenous and have no hope of salvation.  They are real people with real faces, lives, dreams, desires, and families.  They are just like you and I and they deserve a chance to hear.

It is my life’s aspiration to serve God and take part in what He is doing in these far off places.  I would like to live directly in a tribe where I will spend time learning the language and culture.  Once I have adapted and understood the culture evangelism will take place, but the job is not finished there.  Discipleship is the next step and is what God has commanded in Matthew 28:19-20.

This is not a short-term mission.  This is a lifelong commitment.  I am not going because I feel called there or because I heard God speak to me, but it is an obedient response to the command in Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:19-20.

What’s Next?

After I graduate in May from New Tribes Bible Institute, I plan to spend a year in Arizona with my home church where I will be saving up and raising support for the next year and a half of training at New Tribes’ Missionary Training Center.  There I will be guided through language and culture studies, preparing for the mission field.

Your prayers are incredible valuable to me.  If you would like to partner with me in ministry please contact me at matthewtmoran@gmail.com or 480-294-7753.

For more information about New Tribes Mission visit: http://www.ntm.org/