Edified and Multiplied

“And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, ‘Why stand ye here all the day idle?’ They say unto him, ‘Because no man hath hired us.’ He saith unto them, ‘Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.’” Matthew 20:6-7

Our family is only three weeks into the labor God has called us to do. Yet, those three weeks have only continued to prove to us we can trust the Lord who promised, “Whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.” We can trust Jesus—entirely and without negotiation. He doesn’t need our opinion or counsel on what our job duties should entail or how our compensation should be delivered. He knows His servants well, and they can trust Him in all things.

As I look back on the past three weeks, three confirmations of God’s faithfulness stand out.

First, the churches here in Honduras are growing in grace. It is impossible to work alongside the local ministers without being blessed by their callings and humbled by their labor. Where we might be tempted to pass by on the other side of the road, these dear brothers rush in to provide help in time of need. As we become more familiar with each of the churches, the impact of these men of God who have embraced the message of the gospel of the Body of Christ is undeniable. On the human side of things, what happens here over the next several decades will be the story of these local ministers more than anyone else. It is our pleasure to come and hold up their hands.

Through their leadership, the young people here are also growing, with young couples receiving a vision of Godly homes, overcoming, and restoration. In each location, we can see young men who are providing important strength to the assembly and are preparing to guide their families into generational transformation. There is no greater joy than watching people become new creatures in Christ, and we get to be eyewitnesses to the metamorphosis.

Second, we have seen God’s faithfulness in our children’s transition to living in a new country. As parents of seven with ages ranging from five to fifteen, we were prepared for a wide range of possible reactions. But God is already working among them in ways we could never deserve. We have watched the young ones quickly cope with practical changes like no longer having a bathtub or getting a high-and-tight haircut from a barber with a straight razor. And we have watched each of the children developing and renewing friendships that cross potential barriers of language and culture. As they dance together in the Holy Ghost, they already have more in common than the world could ever imagine.

Finally, we were blessed to host a couple of angels from Jacksonville, Florida, only a few days after our arrival. Bro. Leland and Sis. Andrea Anderson sacrificed their time to come to Honduras to assist in our relocation. Little did we know how important their help would be. They had asked us to prepare a “to do” list for them, but God had bigger help in mind. As they arrived, our entire water system was malfunctioning, with minimal hot water, significant pressure problems, and unexpected water use that nearly burned up our pump. Within just a few hours, Bro. Leland diagnosed a problem we didn’t know we had. He located an external water leak, and, by fixing it, simultaneously solved the pressure, temperature, and volume issues we had been experiencing. Thank you, Lord, for the Body of Christ!

So, like the truck in the picture at the top of the page, we find ourselves feeling a little overwhelmed. God is truly good all the time, and His mercy endures forever. “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.” (Psalms 68:19)

God Has Ways He Loves to Work

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24

“I would thou wert cold or hot.” Revelation 3:15

The impossible belongs to our God. While reading through the Biblical history of God’s interactions with His people, it appears God has a flair for the dramatic. He splits the Red Sea at the exact moment that He can simultaneously deliver the Israelites and destroy the armies of Egypt. He sends David to check on his brothers just as Goliath is in the middle of his tauntings. He surrounds the crucifixion of Christ with the confessions of a dying thief and an awestruck centurion, while also rending the veil, opening tombs, and blotting out the sun. He knows how He wants to bring Himself glory.

A death that produces life is just one of His stylistic miracles. We are so accustomed to seeds producing fruit that the miraculous is lost in familiarity. Plants producing seeds that die, and yet still produce new plants, are so prolific they become commonplace. But the Word of God does not ignore the miracle. God specifically claims to be the cause of every blade of grass, every edible herb, every grape, olive, and ear of wheat. (Psalm 104:14-15). It is God who “maketh grass to grow upon the mountains” and “satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” (Psalm 147:8 and 145:16). He breathes life into the dead seed, untold millions of times each day.

In contrast, we cannot bring a single seed to life. Death producing life is always impossible for man. It is always a miracle. Humans cannot produce the supernatural. Carnality cannot produce spirituality. Blindness cannot produce sight. Dead bones do not get up and start marching in rank. 

But God. He does all these things and rejoices in doing them. And God has ways He loves to work. Like an artist, He has scenes He loves to paint. Like a master musician, He has favorite songs to play. 

According to Jesus in Revelation 3, God "would" we be hot or cold. One of His favorite ways or conditions in which to work His miracle is in the heat of a well-tilled field of a Godly home. He spends many scriptures celebrating this method. I have written elsewhere on how God glorifies Himself through a Godly home.

Another way He loves to work is in the spectacle of turning a barren wilderness into a fruitful field. (Psalm 107:35; Isaiah 32:15-16; Isaiah 35:1-7). God’s work in the barren wilderness of the spiritually cold has the expected result that “they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.” (Isaiah 35:2).

All this leads to a sobering conclusion. The place or condition where God "would not" or prefers not to do the miraculous is among the lukewarm. He is repulsed by the home or church or soul that knows to do good, and nonchalantly doeth it not. Those who have previously seen the miraculous but are unmoved to glorify God should not expect to see the supernatural happening in their midst. 

In conclusion, the miraculous belongs to He “who only hath immortality.” (1 Tim 6:16) And He loves to work in places like vibrant Godly homes and Spirit-ignited assemblies. He also loves to work in spiritually impoverished and cold places, where voodoo priests or pagan Catholics hold sway over the hearts of the people. But He is sickened by working with apathetic, well-fed but unthankful so-called Christians. All too often, I find myself being exactly that.

If He Sends, They Will Go.

“After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” Luke 10:1-2 KJV

There is no substitute for the calling of God in missions. All the preparation we could anticipate, all the well-laid plans we could conceive, and all the empathy we could muster mean nothing unless the Lord builds the house and watches the city. As our family of nine transitions to full-time missions in Honduras, the verses above stand out to me as never before.

First, I notice with fresh importance the implied promise in verse one. Jesus is sending His seventy ambassadors specifically to the cities and places where “He Himself would come.” They will not be asked to serve as a second-hand substitute for the presence of Jesus. The opposite is true. In sending these seventy men across Judea, Jesus is promising His presence to His disciples and those who hear them. These men will go in power, working miracles, subduing spirits, and declaring the words they have received from the Master; yet all of this would be worse than vanity for both preacher and flock without the assured presence of the Saviour.

For ourselves, we do not begin this journey with hopes that Jesus will catch up to us in the villages and cities of Honduras. Our confidence in the risen and glorified Christ is even greater than the seventy’s confidence in the incarnated Christ. Wherever Jesus sends us, He is there already, working to build His kingdom and claim His inheritance among the nations. On Mt. Carmel, Elijah prays before the first flame sparks upon his sacrifice, “Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” (1 Kings 18:37) So in Luke, Jesus sees a harvest that already “is great.” He does not call the seventy to make the harvest great; He calls them to bring His harvest to the garner. In the spirit of Elisha following Elijah, we ask the Lord to reveal to the Body of Christ in Honduras those things He has already been turning toward His perfect plan.

Going back to our original text, the second thing that stands out to me is the remedy Jesus provides for the need for laborers. He does not challenge the seventy to begin a crusade to recruit more missionaries. He does not bemoan the lack of applicants or even emphasize the urgency of the opportunity. Instead, He places all the attention on the Father. If more missionaries are needed, the only solution with guaranteed success is to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers. As I watch the sun setting in the darkening skies of a relatively cool Honduras night, the implication of this command falls upon me like a hammer. If He sends them, they will go.

Jesus does not see His Father idly sitting in Heaven, pulling out His hair over whether His saints will wake up to the need for laborers. Nor does He ask his disciples to fret over the need for more boots on the ground. Rather, He turns His happy band of servants to the prayer closet with the promise that if the Father calls more laborers, more laborers will answer that call.

This confidence is Scripturally sound. When God first wanted a man to till the soil for His harvest, He created one from the dust of the ground. When God wanted a father of faith, He formed and fashioned Abraham until he was transformed from a deceiver who would abandon both his wife and his vision of God’s plan into a faithful patriarch who would sacrifice everything for the Lord. When God wanted Joseph to lead His people into Egypt and Moses to lead them out, He moved heaven and earth to make it happen. When God wants a prophet to guide Judah and write some of the most beautiful prophecies in all Scripture, He picks a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips and He purges that man until He cries out, “Here am I, send me!” When God wants a prophet to make straight paths for His arrival, He strikes aged Zacharias mute to convince him that John will be born to barren Elizabeth. When God wants a group of men to turn the world upside down, He seeks them out in fishing docks, under fig trees, and among tax booths and calls them to do the impossible. In Ephesians 4, He does not ask us to give Him apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers as volunteers for His service. No, He gives all these as gifts from God to man. The Apostle Paul referenced God’s calling on his life as a “necessity […] laid upon” him ”against [his] will” as a “dispensation of the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:16-17)

We do not know why the Lord of the harvest chose our family to make this transition, nor do we know the harvest He has prepared for Himself, but we do know this: When the Lord of the harvest sends laborers, the laborers go where He leads. And as I listen to a midnight rain fall upon our metal roof while our children sleep below, that knowledge is enough.