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A Generous Life
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The following is an e-mail I received from Rachel Robb after this Sunday’s message, “The Poor and Needy.” Thanks, Rachel, for honoring your dad and pointing to God’s grace in his life! (Pictured: Frank and Rachel, sharing a hat moment)
Hi Josh,
First of all, thank you SO much for the message that you preached today. It was very convicting and an excellent reminder. Personally, I was convicted of a few specific opportunities that God has given me to be supporting the poor. I also just wanted to share with you the amazing example that my father has set as someone who cares for the poor, the fatherless and the alien.
When he was first converted in South Africa, my dad would go out into the poor townships with a church group and teach the impoverished population how to grow vegetables. This was in a time when it was extremely dangerous for any white people to go into those areas.
Also, our home has always been a shelter for those who are needy. From visiting scientists from around the world, to PC families and people coming to conferences, my dad has led our family heroically and opened up our home generously and without hesitation. I literally cannot count how many people have stayed with us since I have been alive… Almost my entire life there has been at LEAST one visitor staying in our house. Many times, these people are from another country and in desperate need of friends and family. My dad has shown me what it means to love others selflessly.
Right now a missionary family from Israel is staying in our basement. They have been in Israel for the past six years, and when they were called to come back to the U.S. for a sabbatical-type-thing, my father graciously offered them our basement. He is generous to a ridiculous degree sometimes. When a charity is calling and they reach my mom, I will hear her telling them that Dad has already donated to their cause recently.
What’s even more amazing is that, when I encouraged Dad after the message and told him that he was the most generous and giving person that I knew, he was amazed and said that during the message he had been very convicted of his shortcomings in this area. That blew me away. He is the most humble man that I know.
I don’t really know why I wanted to share all that with you so badly, but I was so overwhelmed in the message at the amazing example of my dad in this area. I guess I just wanted to encourage you with the grace of God that is at work in our church!
May God bless you richly, Josh!
Rachel Robb
P.S. Also, thank you so much for honoring my mom. I love the fact that I, as her daughter, can heartily agree with everything you said about her being a faithful servant, and that I know that she is even more amazing and godly and self-sacrificing than anyone else (other than our family) will ever know.
October 27 2009 at 4:57 pm
Unique Opportunity To Serve
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This coming spring over 5,000 pastors from all over the world will gather in Louisville, Ky., for “Together for the Gospel,” a bi-annual conference that encourages pastors from a multitude of denominations and backgrounds to take their stand together for the gospel.
The theme for T4G 2010 is “The (Unadjusted) Gospel”—how Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, proclaims a message that’s the same yesterday, today, and forever—and why we should do likewise.
Main session speakers for the event include R.C. Sproul, John Piper, Al Mohler, C.J. Mahaney, John MacArthur, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever and Thabiti Anyabwile. The event will be held April 13-15 at the Kentucky International Convention Center.
Sovereign Grace Ministries has the privilege of organizing and running the conference. If you would like to volunteer to serve not only all the pastors of our churches, but the diverse body of believers that will be gathered to celebrate the gospel, contact Paul Medler for more information.
October 26 2009 at 4:00 am
Proverbs, Part 16: Application
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Yesterday I preached from Proverbs 14:31: “Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.” The sermon highlighted Proverbs’ teaching that the way we relate to those in need reveals how we relate to God himself.
You can listen online or download an mp3 of the message, and use the following questions prepared by pastor Don DeVries to reflect on how to apply it to your life:
1. Why does Scripture tell us that the way we relate to those in need reveals how we relate to God, himself?
2. Are there any specific ways—in your family, at work or within the church—you have disregarded the needs of the poor? What would repentance and change look like?
3. Josh taught us that oppression of the poor can also be an attitude of the heart. Do you harbor any attitudes of superiority toward the poor or needy? Have you withheld friendship or fellowship from someone because of their financial status? How can you grow and change?
4. Are you aware of any in need (in your family, within or outside the church) for whom you could show compassion by giving of your time and/or resources?
5. How should the gospel envision and motivate us to demonstrate love and care to the poor and needy?
Also, feel the freedom to download a summary (PDF, 68kb) of the message.
October 20 2009 at 10:58 am
Reaching Out to Expectant Mothers
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Recently, Covenant Life began an outreach to expectant mothers who are on bed rest at an area hospital because of complications in pregnancy. Below is a report by volunteer Mary Hungerford on her recent visits with some of the moms. If you are interested in serving in this ministry, contact Drew Garfield, or call the church office.
The hospital visits have been amazing! Last week, I asked the Lord to give me opportunities to pray with the women I encountered. The first room I entered had a young girl who was extremely nauseous. I asked if I could pray with her, and she could only nod yes. Even with the nurse clanging noisily around in the room, the Spirit helped me focus and not be disturbed.
The second patient said, “Please, could you pray with me?” She had visited Covenant Life and wanted to know more about the school. I left her my e-mail address so she could get more information after she has her twins.
The third lady was from Ghana. She recently returned to her home country for her father’s funeral and caught malaria. This put her into preterm labor. I asked to pray with her and for the first time during our visit, a big smile lit up her face. I was not expecting to speak about spiritual matters so quickly and so often during my visits with these women, but that just seems to be where the conversations go. God is good!
Earlier this week, I had the most amazing visit yet. A young lady prayed with me to receive Christ! This mother of three was desperate for comfort. Her husband recently left her, and she is planning on giving up her baby for adoption. Initially, she was considering abortion. She actually went to a clinic and paid the money, but by God’s grace, she simply walked out. Remarkably, she had also visited Covenant Life a few times and even attended some of our Starting Point classes. She told me that she does not pray because she does not know how. At the end of our time together, she asked me to come see her again!
One of the greatest blessings of this ministry that I never expected has been its impact on my family. I am able to come home and share stories like the one above with my kids, and they are learning how to minister, submit to God’s plan, and love strangers! What a gift!
October 19 2009 at 4:00 am
Proverbs, Part 15: Application
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Braden Greer preached yesterday from Proverbs 12:18: “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” He considered the power of both “rash, destructive words” and “wise, constructive words.”
You can listen to the message online or download an mp3, and use the following questions prepared by pastor Don DeVries to help apply the sermon to your life:
1. Consider those in your relational network; e.g., spouse, children, friends, co-workers, etc. Who can you specifically and intentionally encourage today and each day this week?
2. If someone recorded a week’s worth of your words, what would they hear—words of praise, encouagement and faith? Or rash, selfish and angry words? Or both?
3. In Luke 6:45, Jesus said, “out of the abundance of the heart [the] mouth speaks.” What desires are waging war in your heart such that you speak rash words to people?
4. How should Proverbs 12:18 inform the way you bring correction to a spouse, a child or a friend? How can you grow in bringing correction with gentleness and mercy (see 2 Tim. 2:24-26)?
5. If you have a pattern of using rash words, how can you find the joy of forgiveness in the cross of Christ and the hope for change in the power of the Holy Spirit? What brothers or sisters can you enlist to help you in this process of change?
Lastly, feel the freedom to download this PDF containing a summary outline of the message combined with the application questions above.
October 13 2009 at 11:49 am
God Is at Work Through OneU
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Here’s a great report from Kate McMahon and Chavia Groveman!
Kate: Our God is mighty to save and continues to show His mercy through loving and saving sinners!
Sometime in the spring a friend asked me to start meeting with a girl from her home church who had grown up in a Christian family but did not know the Lord. I met Esther soon thereafter, and we got together all through the spring. She even invited a friend of hers to join our Bible study in April.
We continued through the summer and this fall started going through How Good Is Good Enough?
together. Chavia was able to join us a few times, and the girls really enjoyed getting to know her. Our last two Bible studies [late September] felt particularly led by the Lord and empowered by His Spirit. Everyone came away excited about what we were learning, even though the conversations were very weighty and revealing.
The girls acknowledged that they did not yet know the Lord, but were aware of their need for a Savior. We talked through the barriers holding them back, and I encouraged them to take a sheet and put it by their bed. On the sheet I asked them to write out any evidences of God showing up in their lives. Chavia and I committed to pray for them and specifically that God would reveal Himself to them in an undeniable way. He did.
Chavia: After I met Esther, we pretty much hit it off right away. She loves sports, and so I was able to connect with her through softball.
Recently, Kate was having lunch with Esther, and so I asked her if she would want to hang out and go to The Gathering that night. [The Gathering is a Christian campus outreach affiliated with McLean Bible Church.] She agreed, and so that night we hung out just talking and talking for several hours in the STAMP [the Student Union at the University of Maryland] while we were waiting for the meeting to start. She ended up pouring out her heart, and told me that the thing that was keeping her from trusting Jesus as her Lord and Savior was her past sins. I reminded her of how when you put your trust in Jesus, He covers you with His righteousness, and forgives you of your sin. I really felt the Spirit the whole time we were talking.
When we got to The Gathering, there was a verse that they put on the screen from Ezekiel 36:25-27. It talks about how the Lord cleanses us from all our sins, and gives us a new heart of flesh taking out our heart of stone. I felt the Lord wanted me to read it to Esther after the service. The message that night was all about the Lord’s specific love for each of us, and the pastor spoke to people who were holding back from accepting Jesus because of their sins. At the end he took communion, and gave the explanation of how only people who are Christians could partake. I leaned over and asked Esther what she was thinking. She said she thought we should go up there, and asked me if I could pray with her. As I led her through the sinner’s prayer, she cried and cried!
Afterward, she was so happy, and kept talking about the new peace in her heart. I shared Ezekiel 36 with her again, and she told me that verse had really spoken to her when she saw it on the screen. All in all, it was an awesome night, and I really wish that Kate could have been there, since she’s been investing in Esther’s life since last spring. :)
But, as Kate and I were talking this morning, we were able to rejoice in the truth that it is not the sower or the reaper who gets the glory, but the Lord who is mighty to save! He is truly in the midst of this campus, and we are excited to see what else He is going to do!