Two years since we met

[Brent "Moose" Lough]Wow, looking at the date it's been approximately two years since the day we all met, crazy how time flies. I haven't been to this blog much but i just read a bunch of the latest ones and its cool to see what you all are up to, new leadership roles and new freedoms, and I pray for the ones struggling they would find the overwhelming love of Jesus in a new way or revelation, because it makes all the difference!!

Well, where to start.. I miss our times together, hanging out on the sailboat, camping, hiking, surfing! Great memories with great people! And since leaving there at Christmas, I then went to a missionary school in Africa last summer for 3 months, got totally wrecked by the love of Jesus and joined a group of dreamers that were planning a missionary trip to every country in Central and South America, including the Caribbean. The trip was estimated at one year in length, and was starting right after the missionary school in Africa ended. I decided this is where I wanted to be, and thought God wanted me there as well, so I came home from Africa and a couple weeks later was off to Mexico.

Well, its now almost a whole year later, and here I am in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The trip has been a huge blessing, living in community like Kaleo but a little closer quarters, sometimes camping at gas stations or sleeping on the beach, or under the stars in an empty parking lot. Being led by the Spirit as much as we can as we travel, being of one spirit, and living in love is awesome. It's not always comfortable or makes the flesh feel good but you always have peace and joy in your heart, so not much else matters anyway!

It comes with sacrifices though, and after one year of being away from home, keeping relationships gets tough, as facebook and email is nothing close to just talking and being with people. And even harder when internet connection is limited, slow, and we just don't have it a lot.

I've been learning a lot, though, and recently God has been teaching me about Identity. If you don't know who you are, your self worth, and if you don't know how much God loves you, it's hard to love others and tell them how much God cares about them. First you get secure, then you can speak into others lives. And your self worth is huge! No one pays $100,000 for a $20,000 car, because its not worth it! But Jesus died for you. He said you were worth it. He saw past your sin and looked at your value, made in the image of Him, and said you were worth His blood! Know that and you will have the heart of God for people.

So anyways I been learning a lot, and I have until approximately April or May until this trip is done, and then will be returning to Canada, and I'm dreaming of taking a trip to BC to visit some of you! Well see what God has in store for me... I'm sure itll be good!

Love you all!

Brent 

A Sermon and a half

Hey guys! It's Logan here, and I hope that everyone has been having a growing summer. I forget what I last wrote, so sorry if some of this repeats what I've said before. My summer has felt busy at times, and unproductive at others, but generally speaking, it's been alright. I took up my old job working for 2K Construction, and we've been doing roofing as usual, and also building a large shop with living quarters for the last 3 months. It's been good, and I've learned some new skills (which I will probably promptly forget once I am not practicing them anymore *cough* Greek *cough*). But maybe I'll remember something that's useful for the future. I finished  this last Friday, however, because I hurt where I had my hernia last year. The idea of having to have surgery again isn't a big deal to me, though I would rather not. My biggest fear is possibly not being able to join RU, which I have been excited for all summer (I've even been practicing, pretending that I know how to dance!)

I've also been doing an internship at my church back home, under my youth pastor. He is a great guy, and I continue to learn lots from him, both by listening, asking, and by watching what he is doing. He has been a great mentor to me, and I pray that God continues to use this man in the same way that he has used him in my life. Or in a different way. I just hope that he is used. Anyways, my internship has been great so far, and I have had the opportunity to work alongside the staff at my church, teach bible studies, attend Elders meetings (even funner than eating wool socks!), and consider camp as part of "work". And coming up this Sunday, I will be preaching on Ecclesiastes, on how everything is meaningless! Yeah, I stole this sermon idea from Eric Ortland if you Briercresters are wondering, and for everyone else, it was a fantastically moving sermon, about how things can only gain meaning with God involved. I think it's a powerful message, and easy to preach on, so if I mess this up, then I really messed up... I would appreciate prayer for it. I have invited a few friends who will be coming, who typically don't attend church. So I'm leaving a lot to the Holy Spirit, because I might not give it much to work with :P.

As for the lessons that I've been learning this summer, God has been teaching me about humility and about surrendering my thoughts to Christ. Humility has come from my internship. One of my struggles as a biblical studies student is converting what I've learned into what I live out, and if that doesn't happen, then my knowledge simply becomes a source for pride (though I know there's lots that I don't know). Anyways, I have felt pride in several circumstances in my internship because of it, either because I knew something, or because of my "position" in the church. Anyways, in this God has shown me that I am not the all knowing, all powerful intern. Typically senses of pride are followed by me getting embarrassed.

As for the surrendering my thoughts to Christ, this has been from something one of the staff said at a guys talk that we had with all the boys cabins one night. The Scripture is:

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵ We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ⁶ being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (1Cor.10:3-6).

I had heard this before, but it struck me this time that I should actually SURRENDER my thoughts when I had thoughts enter my head that were not honorable to God. anything that did not fit into the Philippians list of "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" should not be on my mind. James says that temptation gives birth to sin, and sin spawns death, so what good is it to be dwelling on the very things that bring me death, when I have life? I am no longer a captive to sin, but I am a slave to righteousness, and my reward is eternal life instead of death. Now I don't claim to have this perfect; I am still being taught this, and as Cal said, we will always be beginners at this. But I have found that in those moments of temptation, that when I do take captive my thoughts and surrender them to Christ, I find that I no longer seemingly have to dwell on these things, and temptation does not lead into sin. This being said, in terms of lust, ladies, it is immeasurably helpful when you are considerate of guys and watch how you dress. Low cut or tight shirts and short shorts/ yoga pants make it so much harder to treat you as sister's in Christ, and I, along with most brothers that I've talked with, find it much easier to transform you into an object instead of a person when you dress this way. It isn't what we want, but it's how our bodies react. (I am not writing this to anyone in particular, just as a general message).  I understand that summer is hot, and it's fashionable, or maybe it's nice to get attention, but it makes it much harder for those who are trying to pursue godliness to succeed. Something to consider anyways.

Ecclesiastes has also been a good thing to be studying this summer, though I am having a hard time changing this from a good thought to a real life application. Basically my sermon goes like this:

-talk about my life, my experiences, friends, family, etc.

-All of this is meaningless

-Alexander the Great (idea stolen from Prof. Ortland), conquered land, dies, and nothing that he conquered stays the same: What was the point of his life?
-Rockefeller (my idea), Capitalist, monopoly on oil. Comparatively probably one of the richest men to have ever lived. Person asks him "when's enough?" and he says "just a little bit more"

-What gives you fulfillment? Money? Experiences? Conquering vast amounts of land? Sex or popularity or good looks or clothes? Your Job? Your friends? Your family? Wisdom? Love? At what point does our striving for fulfilment fill us to Rockefeller's "just a little bit more"?

- "All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing" (Eccl. 1:8)

-rich or poor, wise or foolish, popular or reject, you die. And everything that you stood and strived for will be forgotten. "What does man gain by all the toil, at which he toils under the sun." (1:3) So why bother? What point is there to life?

-Read Ecclesiastes 3:9-14

-Some of our desires gain meaning, because they are God's gift to man

-Gifts only carry meaning when they come from someone important to you (there is no significance in a gift if it doesn't come from someone) and it is meant to build relationship.

-This specific gift gains meaning because of God's nature. He's eternal, where we are temporary. Anything we accomplish contains no meaning "under the sun", because under the sun, on earth, things are temporary. However, God is eternal, and he watches what we do, and it is there that our actions are able to gain real meaning.

-Jesus says not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

-Why do we then try to set our hearts on that which is fleeting? Why do we try to find peace in things that are going to fade or change?

-I don't think we can find meaning in life w/o God, and Eccl. ends with that: "The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement, with every secret thing, whether good or evil."

-If we have been created with the sole duty to fear God and keep his commandments, would we not best find fulfillment in the very thing we were created to do? And to do good in the eyes of God, this is where we will find true purpose.

-Don't believe me? Then I challenge you; Try and prove me wrong. See if you can find lasting meaning in this life w/o God. Because frankly, I don't think you can.

Well, that's my sermon. That was pretty much all of it, I didn't do very good at making it point form for you guys. Sorry I talk so much, hopefully you enjoyed reading, if you made it this far. Tell me what you thought of the sermon if you'd like! I would definitely like feedback on things that are good, or could use improvement. And I hope to hear more from you guys in the future! We had a little surge of blog posting, and it was great!!

Grace and peace, everybody!

Your friend,
Logan