Week in Review-The Good and Bad

24 November 2013

Dear Phyllis,

Franklin Graham is the biggest news in Chiang Mai today. With his famous father Billy Graham well into the declining years of life, Franklin Graham has stepped forward to be a surprising successor. This is his first major evangelistic crusade in Thailand and it is going well. The first night the stadium was filled and over 700 that went forward at the invitation to accept Christ. Last night there were over 27,000 attending and over a 1,000 went forward. The churches in Chiang Mai seem to be very involved.

The crusade organization printed up a huge number of tickets to pass out as invitations for the meetings. Paul and Marisa's daughter, Benjuan, is one outstanding young lady. She started a Christian Club in her high school with over 240 kids regularly attending. The other day she was called out over the intercom of the school to come to the principals office. This usually has only one meaning – severe discipline. She wondered what she had done wrong. But when she got there the principal had two tickets for the meetings and asked her if he could get some more. She replied, “I will have to call my mother”. Marisa called the headquarters to see if she could get some and was told that they were slam out – but come anyway. That is a really great problem.

Three months ago, I mentioned that Nick Vujcic was here and had what was probably the best dendo (evangelism) meeting ever held in Thailand. Coming in simply as a neutral motivational speaker, he packed the auditorium and held 12,000 people spell bound talking about how Jesus gave him the purpose to live. He had a message that no evangelist could possible give. But Franklin Graham has come with the flavor of a Christian message billing his meetings as the Abundant Life Festival. Again he had a very good response.

Paul thinks Thailand may be in for a revival. After hearing the steady drum beat of this message for 50 years in Japan, and seeing virtually no results, I am naturally skeptical; but coming from Paul, this puts a different spin on it. Paul is not ecclesiastically advanced enough to know that religious jargon. The basis his remarks, his recent personal experience, and what he believes the Holy Spirit is saying to him; he might be right. At least in his corner of the world, and the recent Christian events here in town, are very encouraging.

On the less joyous side, he had a serious blow last week when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. In my letter last week I shared how they had had some amazing confirmation for healing, but the bottom dropped out when they got the lab report last week that the biopsy was indeed positive that it is cancer. Marisa has been superb in being highly victorious, thanking God for this experience, and the opportunity it has opened up for a powerful testimony. But Paul was devastated. Since then we have had some extremely valuable discussions, and Paul is doing much better now. I told him, “Welcome back to the world.” For two years they have had such an amazing series of miracles, that it began to look like they were exempt from serous trials. They have had tons of problems, all of which were soon miraculously solved. This time it looks like they are going to have to walk through this trial of faith with Jesus, just like the rest of us. I have no doubt that eventually the Lord will heal Marisa, and she will be okay, but for a brief period the Lord has turned the lights off for Paul, giving him the opportunity to sit in horrible darkness with the prospect of losing his wife. Amy Carmichael said, “A test is not a test until it is a test.” There are times in the life of some of God's greatest servants where “faith” is stripped from them, and they can see no light. Even the Apostle Paul spoke of times when he “despaired of life”, and Luke wrote “all hope that we should be saved was taken away” (2 Cor 1:8; Act 27:20). It has been sanguinely said, “Never doubt in the dark what you have heard in the light”. That is nice, but when you are in the dark, the doubts come, “is what I heard in the light correct?” Paul has been so high for so long he naturally began to think he was exempt from the sorrows of life. I told him that there was One who was exempt from the lumps and bumps, the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows of life, but chose to suffer everything just like the rest of us. Jesus knew hunger, fatigue, failure (few people believed, many turned back), pain, and death. Not every event has a smiley face on it, but all things do work together for good (Rom. 8:28); even the bad ones.

Andrew Murray – oh my goodness, what can I say? Last week I read the chapter on “His Words abiding in us”, for the second or third time. He is so right, but I have never heard it expressed so clearly. He said there is a clear connection with Jesus' promise, “ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you”, and the preceding condition, “if ye abide in Me and My Word abide in you' (Jn. 15:7). AM said, “The entrance His Words find in me will be the measure of the power of my words with Him”. The degree that His Voice is heard in my heart, will determine the degree that my voice will he heard in His heart. If I listen to Him, He will listen to me.

It is significant that Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you”, and then four verses later He repeated, “If you abide in me and My Words abide in you...” By this, Jesus is equating that His Words abiding in us is the same as He Himself abiding in us. A man reveals himself to others by his words. It is the means of communication from one human spirit to another. A man of honor binds himself to the person to whom he makes a promise. In giving commands he is extending his will. A commander in the army, when he says to a soldier to shoot, it is as if the commander himself does the shooting. In a much deeper and mystical way – as Jesus is the Word of God – when His living Word is in us, it is Jesus in us.

Andrew Murray is very clear that without the Holy Spirit the Bible can be read and studied simply as any other book of literature. It takes the Holy Spirit to make it come alive. In Acts 13:27 Paul said, “Because they knew Him not, nor yet the Voice of the prophets which are read every sabbath day”. There is a Voice in the Scripture and it is this Voice that we must hear.

It is a known medical fact that there is a definite connection with hearing and speech. For children who lose their hearing, they also grow to where they can't speak either. In linguistics this is particular evident, that no one can speak properly that doesn't get it by hearing. Children born in New York, but later move to Alabama, in time will develop a southern accent. A person can learn prayers by reading them, but it is only those who ears are accustomed to listening to the Voice of the Lord that can pray in the Spirit. The preparation of the tongue is done through the ear. This is why it is so important that in order to pray properly we must first become good listeners. If we want God to listen to us we must first learn to listen to Him.

Andrew Murray points out that prayer is not a monologue but a dialogue. In prayer it is more important that I listen to what the Lord has to say to me than what I want to say to Him. It is as the Voice of the Spirit is heard in our hearts that we know what is the will of God in various matters. AW Tozer wrote a helpful booklet on the testimony of Tom Haire, “The Praying Plumber of Lisbon. Tozer pointed out that Tom Haire was a man of tenacious prayer and faith, but he was as helpless as any man until her was sure of the will of God. There was a case where a missionary had returned home from Africa sick. A friend contacted Tom asking prayer for him. After three weeks Tom replied, “I have no idea why, only that I feel the Father must have some strong reason why He wants that man in heaven. He died.

It is impossible to pray in faith unless there is that inward assurance that what we are asking is the will of God. This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us: and if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him (1 Jn. 5:14,15). Faith cometh by hearing (Rom. 10:17). Without that, faith will be just so much of subjective reasoning or wishful thinking. By the Word of God the Holy Spirit prepares our hearts to know how to pray and what to pray for. It is as we listen that we hear, then our hearts are prepared to speak those things back to God. God has unequivocally committed Himself to answer that prayer.

In the Bible we have both the logos and the rhema of the Word of God. The logos is the printed Word and the rhema is the spoken Word. In the spiritual life it takes both. There is no question what God thinks about His Word. He has magnified His Word above His Name (Ps. 138:2).. This is the water shed, the dividing line, between those who are the Lord's and those who aren't. The first thing the devil ever did was to attack the Word of God – “Hath God said...? “ (Gen. 3:1); and he hasn't changed his tactics in 6,000 years. Anyone who questions the Word of God, clearly identifies himself, whose side he is on. To set aside the written Word of God and go too heavily into subjective spiritual impression is dangerous business. In listening, it takes both. When the Lord said, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly “ (Col 3:16), He meant be saturated with the Word of Christ. It was said of Spurgeon that you could pick him with a pin and the only thing that would come out of his veins was the Word of God. We should be so saturated with the Word of Christ that when we get poked, the only thing that comes out of our heart is the Word of Christ. If that is true, then the breath we breathe will be the Spirit of Christ, which is the Word of Christ. If our hearts are so filled of the logos of Christ, by the Spirit of Christ, then our ears will be prepared to hear the rhema of God by His Spirit. I know this issue of hearing God is a controversial subject – and not without reason. There are so many that say, “God told me” that is utter nonsense. And no one is exempt from making mistakes.

There are times when the Holy Spirit has clearly spoken to me suddenly. One time I said something foolish about the Lord, and instantly I heard in my heart, “What have I done to you to justify that attitude?” That could only be the Holy Spirit. But I believe to walk with the Lord where we daily are listening to His Voice requires two things – time and quietness. We must shut ourselves up to the Lord to be alone with Him. This takes time. The Bible says, “In quietness and in confidence shall be thy strength” (Isa. 30:15). It is in that time of quietness that we hear His Voice. This is the atmosphere of prayer. It is as we listen to God speaking to our heart that we can speak words that register in His heart. Oh my goodness, you talk about something that makes sense; this has been a major lesson for me this past week.

Oh, the Lord is good. He is so real. What a privilege to know Jesus,

bill

PS: It was pointed out to me that last week I said Pammy was suffering from typhoid. What I meant was thyroid. One is glandular, and the other is from drinking bad water. She has a thyroid problem.

PS #2: I am sorry that I am late this week, but we were to the Franklin Graham meeting last night and I couldn't get this letter done. It was a good meeting, but intensely American. This was probably historic as I doubt that there has ever been a Christian meeting of this magnitude in Thailand before. It was billed as the Abundant Life Festival, and it seemed like a county fair or a festival. I didn't see any tears, but time will tell what was accomplished by the Holy Spirit.

Pammy and Singha

17 November 2013

Dear Phyllis,

Not much has happened last week. There was one fairly big negative that turned out to be a significant positive. As I mentioned last week, Pammy has been suffering with a serious case of typhoid and related eye problems. She went with her sister back to Lampan to see a doctor, and was gone for most of the week. I was really looking forward to her return Friday night, but that event turned depressingly sour. Pammy was in a bad mood when she got home, and the atmosphere in the house that night was terrible. One of the biggest things in her life is “dust” (dirt). She is ultra ultra sensitive about any dist in the house, and I had made no attempt to keep the house aseptically clean in her absence. I didn't see it, but she complained about dust being on everything. Finally after an hour or more I had my fill and said, “Why don't you go back to Lampan? You are obviously very unhappy here.”; and went up stairs. Before I lost myself on my computer looking at Fox News I decided I would at least make a token appearance at prayer. I hadn't been praying long telling the Lord how bad everything was, when the Holy Spirit said a very clear word to me. “You sound just like your wife.” Oh oh! I couldn't miss that one. I was genuinely surprised at that word, but as I thought about it I had to admit it was true. I could see very little difference between what I was saying to the Lord and what Pammy had been saying to me.

There was an incident in the life of Praying Hyde of India where he was praying for a back-slidden pastor. He was telling the Lord all about how bad the man was when the Lord spoke to him a similar word. The Lord said, “I am not interested in hearing how bad he is. I want you to thank Me for every good thing you see in him.” I have known about that principle for many years, but it hasn't had much effect on my prayer life. But when the Lord told me that I sounded just like my wife; that was something I could take hold of. Negative speech is not helpful or productive, and that may apply spiritual as well as in human relations.

Later that night I saw I had been more used of the devil in destroying harmony in the house than Pammy, and went to apologize. But she was asleep. The next morning I knew I had two very important things to talk to her about, but was at a loss how to handle it. I prayed very much that the Lord would enable me to say truth to Pammy in a way that would be helpful and she could take. As she was fixing breakfast I asked, “Could we talk?” “No. Later.” After breakfast the time seemed to be better and I asked again if we could talk now. “Okay.” Firstly I apologized for my part in the failure the night before. Then I cautiously said I would like to talk about negative speech. I was surprised at the way the Lord helped me discuss the subject. What came out of my mouth was different than the way I had been thinking. I told her how terribly destructive negative speech is, and how intensely counter-productive it is. It doesn't produce a thing in correcting a problem, but only highly exasperates the situation. I was amazed how well she took what I wanted to say and thanked me for it. Since then complaining has greatly diminished in the house. A couple times I have tenderly indicated what was going on, that has been effective in turning it off.

Where I was going out of my mind with an insufferable nagging wife, the Lord was able to say something to me about myself, and then enabled me to say something constructive that has brought more of the Spirit of Christ into our home.

Singha continues to be a major blessing. It grieves me that the Lord is unable to use me more in bringing people to Christ but I do thank Him for the privilege of being a by-stander watching what the Holy Spirit is doing. If anyone asked Singha how he got saved, he would probably say, “Bill Cook”. Reality is that I have had very little to do with it. But I do enjoy watching what the Holy Spirit is teaching him daily. Along with teaching the little children English at the kindergarten, I hope to be able to teach them about Jesus soon. That could be a major issue. That has the potential of causing a major tsunami with the parents. But for the past two weeks I have been teaching them Christian songs. The school has a marching band with the children playing on their melodians. The song they have been practicing is When the Saints Go Marching In. No one had the faintest idea what that was all about. Friday I explained to Singha that that was a Christian song; the saints were saved believers; where they were marching in was into heaven; and the last part of that is a prayer – “Lord, I want to be in that number...”. No one had ever thought about that. As I explained that to Singha I asked, “Are you going to be in that number?” He joyously replied, “I certainly am!” Then I asked, “Is your wife going to be in that number?” He thoughtfully replied, “I am working on that. I want her to be with me.” Then I asked, “Will there be any unbelievers in that number?” Amazingly he responded, “No, only those who believe in Jesus.” How he came up with that is beyond me. There is only one explanation. He got that from the Holy Spirit. That is very surprising coming from a man who has been saved for only a few months, and has yet to establish a background in Bible study. Many American pastors and professors in seminaries aren't that clear.

In a perverse way there is another thing about Singha that is an encouragement. Every Sunday something has been coming up that keeps him from church. I am not endorsing a schedule where church gets 2^nd palace to other activities. I hope the day soon comes where he says no to anything that challenges church on Sunday. But he clearly has taken hold of Christ without going through religion. I didn't get saved in a church. I had been saved and serving the Lord for a year and a half before I got baptized. I had been a missionary for six years before I joined a church. My roots have never been in a church. I have acquired 90% of what the Lord has given me personally from the Lord, rather than being fed through a church. I hope Singha gets baptized and becomes a faithful member of a church soon, but I am greatly encouraged that he has laid hold of Christ directly and has established a personal walk with the Lord on his own.

Andrew Murray continues to dominate my morning devotions. I have laid aside the Covenants at the moment, and gone back to With Christ in the School of Prayer. Amazing! Fantastic! Incredible! I don't know how a man got so much material for talking about prayer. The other day I read the chapter on Whose is this image? AM said with that remark Jesus foiled His enemies who had set a trap for Him over the issue of tribute money (Mt. 22:20). Then he went on to say that this principle has universal application that is nowhere seen more clearly than in creation when God said, “Let Us make man in our image (Gen. 1:26). The image he bears decides his destiny. Bearing God's image, establishes the fact that he belongs to God.

Sin has so degraded man, that, from what he is now, we can form no conception of what he was originally intended to be. To understand God's purpose, we must turn back to the record of what God said at creation. It was to fill, to subdue, and to have dominion over the earth and all in it. All three expression show us that man was intended to be Gods representative to have rule over the earth. As God's viceroy he was to take God's place; himself subject to God, and to keep all things in subjection to Him. Prayer was the means of communication where God's viceroy had access to His heavenly King for all that he needed to accomplish his assigned task. Any viceroy has unlimited access to the resources of the government that has sent him to a distant land. If he needs troops to quell rebellion, they will be sent to him. If he needs supplies, the government is under obligation to see that he gets those supplies. We saw this in Benghazi – except God is more faithful than Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. Man was, of course, expected to do his assigned task, and it is safe to say God would be faithful is supporting His representative.

This puts prayer in its proper position and light. Prayer isn't some means where I have access to a well-stocked warehouse and I have an unlimited expense account. Prayer is not an open-ended ATM card. Prayer isn't some party card so I can have a million dollar home, drive a Lexus, and a new pair of cowboy boots each week. Prayer is the means where we stay connected with heaven and have access to Deity to asked for such things as we need to accomplish what he has asked us to do. The whole thing is a vertical structure where we have our place in the Kingdom of God to see that the will of God is being accomplished on our area of responsibility.

Man being created in the image of God, refers not only to some external appearance, but, more importantly, with the corresponding inner likeness. Being in the image of God does not mean that someone has blue eyes, but that his heart bears the image of the One who created him. In order for there to be that harmony between God and His created man there must be that sameness of inner character that both have the same image. Without that there never could have been the unity, love, and fellowship that man was destined to enjoy.

When sin came in, that image was destroyed. Instead of man representing the image of God, he became more like the devil; and the earth, that was supposed to be under man's dominion, became the territory of satan. It was no idle boast that the devil made to Jesus when he offered Him the world and all its glory if He would fall down and worship him (Mt. 4:8,9). The Lord acknowledged it was his to give. It appears that the devil has been trying to transform man into his image ever since the fall in the Garden. And with the open nakedness, the horrible tattoos, the body piercing, an all that decorates people today we must give the devil credit for doing a good job in his sculpturing. Not only is the outward appearance of people today weird, but his inner character is becoming more like satan than anyone thought possible. The butchery of millions of babies and the most disgusting forms of sexual perversion are now accepted as normal.

Fortunately, the story didn't end with the sad event in the Garden, or what we see on CNN today. Man lost his position as the bearer of the image of God, but what the first Adam lost the Second Adam more than recovered. In numerous places the Scripture tells us that Jesus is the expressed image of God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15, Heb. 1:3). By this we understand that this wasn't referring to how tall Jesus was, but what He was inside. This is the image God intended with His first man in the Garden. Four thousand years past before this planet saw the Second Adam who again bore that intended image. And the wonderful thing is that His work today is conforming us to that same image (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18). Oh my goodness, that means He is making us just like Jesus inside.

And with the restoration of that image we are brought back to the place where prayer has given us an open access to heaven. Oh the assurance we have that the Father will honor those request that are made in Jesus Name to enable us to accomplish His will here today. Can you see why I get a little excited every morning as the Holy Spirit continues to open my eyes to see the unfathomable riches Jesus has made available to us. Oh to spend more time in the treasure house – not to examine the bracelets and ear rings that might be there – but to be with the One who has created us that we should bear His image.

Oh my goodness God is good. I haven't told the 1,000th part.

See you next week,

bill

Still More on the New Covenant

10 November 2013

Dear Phyllis,

I cannot express how grateful I am to the Lord for what he has done for me. It is a fact that I am in a rare category of highly privileged people. I must be in the upper .01%. Joni Erickson Tada feels she is privileged in what the Lord has done for her in giving her such an unusual ministry, and Nick Vujicic must feel he is privileged. He has one of the most unusual ministries on earth. The Lord has not privileged me in giving me an unusual ministry, but he has privileged me by what he has done for me in my heart.

There is no doubt that I am the most privileged one in my high school class. No one can come close to the unusual life I have enjoyed, and very few are saved. But the three things for which am the most grateful are; #1, the Holy Spirit in my heart, #2, the Bible, #3, what the Lord has done in my heart over the years.

The great blessings for which I am the most grateful is the horrible hammering I have had for many years. Joni didn't enjoy breaking her neck. Nick didn't enjoy being born a stump without arms or legs, and I never enjoyed the painful loss I have repeatedly taken; but what that has produced is of unspeakable value.

Andrew Murray wrote his book, Absolute Surrender, on the phrase “ I am thine and all that I have”. He said, “If our heart will make this absolute surrender there is no end to the blessing which God will bestow upon us.” That is true – but to come to that point is no easy task.

I cannot recall a time since I have been saved where I got crossed-wire with the Lord; where I was determined to be, or to have, something the Lord did not want for me. But there have been many things where I could not honestly say, “I really don't care”. When I was in pilot training, I really wanted to be a pilot. It would be like death if the Lord would close that door. When I was flying, I really didn't want to give it up. I never wanted to leave Karuizawa. There has never been anything I desired more than my home on the hill in Karuizawa. I would rather die than leave. When I did leave, I would have preferred death. I never wanted to give up my house in Ikoma. That was the best house I ever had. Little can I express the anguish of losing my family. You might say you are holding something lightly in your hand, but when it comes to losing it, the pain is terrible. Now many many dusty miles down the road I can honestly say there is nothing I desire more intensely than the prayer, “I am Thine and all that I have.” I say this not out of a sense of deep dedication but as a simple selfish fact, there could be nothing in this world more wonderful than to be totally owned by Jesus, and to honestly say everything I have is His .

Gomen nasai about the New Covenant. I apologize for last weeks letter. I did so poorly, and was so embarrassed after writing it, I couldn't bring myself to reread it to see if it could be improved. What I had to say was good. But I utterly failed to get the point across that was burning in my heart. Let me try one more time.

I see as never before that the Covenant – both the Old and the New – are fundamentally the commitment to be God's people, and to have God as our God. I have said many times, this is marriage. God lost humanity in the Garden. He wanted it back. The only way He could get it back was by a marriage commitment. This is not a forced marriage, but a genuine desire to give ones-self to the other. God made a promise to Abraham that He would make his seed a great nation, but it was 400 years later that Israel had become a full blown nation of several million. He brought them out of Egypt, and took them to Sinai to make His marriage commitment with them. The Covenant was simply, “I will be your God and you will be My people” (Ex. 6:7; Heb. 8:10). You can't get it simpler than that. That was all anyone needed. What could you add to it? If God was their God, and He promised to love, provide, protect and bless; what more could you want? All He was asking of them was that they be good. Is it unreasonable that a man ask his wife not to run around?

By definition, a covenant is an agreement between two parties that is dependent upon both parties keeping their side of the deal. A failure on either side voids the agreement. The Old Covenant was wonderful. The only thing wrong with it was that there was no provision for Israel to keep their side of the agreement. And Israel didn't know their own heart. The Jewish history for the next 1,500 years proves what a dismal failure that covenant was. If there was to be a New Covenant the fundamental fact is that the New one must correct that which was lacking in the Old. You can make as many agreements as you want, but if that basic weakness is not fixed, there is no way that any amount of sincere promises will stand. The purpose of the New Covenant is not to trash the Old one but to make it work. This is the glory of the New Covenant (New Testament). Apart from Andrew Murray, I have never heard it expressed that way. But he is right! This is why I get so burned at this fire insurance religion. And there are very few people that see it this way.

Before I was saved I thought I could never be a Christian. I didn't want to get locked into some vow that would frustrate the daylights out of me. Who wants that? Who wants to make a promise to not do something that they crave to do? That's no fun. The thing that amazed me so much after Jesus took up residence in my heart was that, suddenly, the power of sin was broken. For the first time in my life I could comfortably be clean. I had a lot to learn about myself after that, but the blessing of the new-birth was demonstrably mine.

Singha, of the school, continues to be a huge blessing to me. I have no idea how he got saved, but there is little doubt but what he is the Lord's now. I have mentioned him to you almost every week. He is just like watching a new baby come to life. One of the first things that turned him on was when I prayed for him, and the Lord healed his shoulder. He said, “That is a miracle!” After that was when he discovered the Bible. It is a huge blessing to see him take hold of the Word. He loves the Bible. Without anyone telling him what to do he has naturally established a walk with the Lord where he is growing by himself apart from religious props. He doesn't know the word devotions, but effectively what he is doing is having devotions every night. Everyday he is all excited and anxious to talk with me about what he read the night before. I have been more or less giving him assignment on what to read next. He is devouring the Word biting off 5 or 6 chapters a night. He loved Mathew, John, Acts, Genesis. He read the first 6 chapters of Daniel.

The other day I told him to read 1^st John. The next morning was terrible. He said, “Oh it was awful. I don't understand it. I got a headache and couldn't sleep”. I asked, “What didn't you understand?” “Why does the Bible say, 'Love not the world'?” Then I thought, “Oh, now I know.” I told him, “Your problem is vocabulary. There is a lot of new vocabulary that you must learn. You don't know about the world, the flesh, and the devil.” Then I began to explain to him what the Bible means when it says the world. We went over to 1^st John 2:16 and read what the world was. Man howdy, it was fun to watch the lights come on. His face lite up and he exclaimed, “I see! I see!” I had him go back to John 16 and read how the Holy Spirit would teach him. He was really on board. He said, “Yes! I know lots of things now that I didn't know last year.” He sees how the Holy Spirit has revealed things to him that he can't explain to others. Then he joyously said, “I have the Holy Spirit.” He held out his arms; they were covered with goose bumps again. I almost got goose bumps talking to him.

The Lord has been especially good to us. Over a week ago I went to the ATM machine to get some money and was greeted with the words that my ATM card was expired. It could be as much as a month before we will be able to get any money out of our account in Japan. The biggest immediate problem I had was a leaking hose in our house. The Thais have the best toilet paper system in the world. Like many nations, they don't use toilet paper. I many places in SEA they have a bottle beside the toilet and you have to pour water on your rear and wash yourself off with your left hand. (You never hand anyone anything with your left hand.) But in Thailand they have a hose beside the toilet that sprays a strong jet of water on your rear. This is very sanitary. But our washer hose was leaking badly. I needed to buy a new hose; but now we had no money. I thought all I could do was turn the water off to the house everyday, and only turn it on when we needed it. It looked like a long grim month in front of us. But that night a dear brother, who didn't know I couldn't buy a hose, showed up with new one and fixed it. I couldn't tell him what a miracle he was to us.

The next thing was the first day we had no money for food, Pammy's sister came to stay with us, and bought all our food for five days. She was just saved three months ago and is doing extremely well with the Lord. It was a blessing to have her with us, and we were especially grateful that she paid for all our food.

The third miracle was that Singha gave me 3,500 baht ($117) for our house rent. That was a miracle. I teach for free and he knew nothing about our furnaces. I was conflicted as to what to do with the money. There were several things we needed more than rent. Rent could wait but these other things couldn't. Should I use the money for emergencies or use it for what it was designated? Finally I determinedly I would not use it for anything other than rent. I told Pammy to pay the rent and not use it for food. Pammy has a serious thyroid problem. The doctor told her it is a wonder she hasn't had a heart attack or some other related problem. But it is bad. She went to the hospital and came back to tell me she had to use some of the rent money for the hospital and medicine. I gave her a C. She did the wrong thing in not obeying me, but did the right thing in being honest about what she did. I still don't know the answer to that problem. I'm sure it would be 50-50 among Christians as to what to do, and I am sure Singha would have no problem if I told him where some of the rent money went.

But I purposed that I would not eat anything that was purchased with that money. I thought I would go without supper that night – and quite a few meals after that. But at 4:00 that afternoon a brother came by and gave me $100. Supper was especially good.

But then the capper. Right now when we couldn't get more broke, another brother came by to give me an I Pad. It is not an Apple. It is a Thai version, but it does everything an Apple does. I was reduced to silence and tears. At a time of extremely tight finances the Lord gives me such a luxurious gift. Man howdy, do we love that I Pad! Here we are, we have no source money, the rent is paid, we are eating every day, and the Lord spoils us with expensive things that I wouldn't buy for myself, even if I had the money.

Pammy is doing commendably well. She seems like a new person. It appears the Lord has done something in her heart. I don't know what her game plan was, but for two years it seemed that she had no intention of being a scriptural wife. She was doing everything totally on her own, and was worse than a single girl. But now she is conducting herself very much as the Bible says. She has not had a major failure since being back. She has more of a servant heart and it is a blessing to have her home.

Our Father has made a covenant with us and Jesus is fulfilling it in us daily. Praise God!                                                            bill

More on the New Covenant

3 November 2013

Dear Phyllis,

You will have to forgive me for harping on one note too long, or riding one pony to death, but the subject of the New Covenant is something that I can't get away from. It is like the man who bought a chainsaw and never knew you were supposed to put gasoline in it. He didn't know that the chain saw would do the work and you didn't have to push it back and forth. There are so many different angles to look at that I am at a loss to know which one to pick up.

Perhaps the most basic difference can be expressed with the two words – EXTERNAL and INTERNAL. Fundamentally the issue is where the the law was written. In the Old Covenant the law was written on stones, and in the New Covenant the law is written on the heart. The Covenant is the same; the law is the same; but in one it was written externally on stone and in the other it is written internally in the heart. This may look simple but it is profound beyond our understanding. This influences everything in our relationship with God and our conduct as men on the earth. This is also connected to the difference between the soul and the spirit.

The soul consists of he intellect emotions and the will. It is also by our souls that we live in the this world. Our connection with the material world is exclusively through our five senses – touch, taste, sound, sight, smell. It is by our five senses that we are related to the material world. But God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must do so through totally different means – by spirit and truth (Jn. 4:24). There is only one way to know God; it must be through the Spirit. The soul is involved in the external but the spirit is essentially internal.

It is not surprising that the world has such a deep revulsion against the Ten Commandments. They are fundamentally in opposition to human nature. Since the Fall man has been been at odds with God and, of necessity, man has created his own god. There are untold millions of gods, but the one thing they all have in common is that they are man made. In many cases this maybe what the devil has devised, but he uses mans imagination to create the myriads of gods. Unregenerate man would like to live in a world where there simply were NO restraints. He would like to be free of parental supervision, he would like to kill those he dislikes, he would like to have no restriction on his sexual conduct, he would like to steal anything he wants, he hates being held responsible for anything and would like to lie , and he is covetous of the things of others.

Obviously this won't work. The chaos of this would be an impossible society. Like it or not, God has written His law on the hearts of all men and man has learned that in order to have any sort of a sane society there must be some semblance of law. Humanity has learned that there must be some respect to parental guidance, you can't have lawless murder, there must be some limitation on sexual conduct – a man can't rape any woman he wants- there must be some respect for the property of others, there must be some acknowledgement of truth and lies, and there must be little self-discipline or everything would come untangled. To keep society from coming unglued, all countries have policemen to enforced laws. Without them you would have a total breakdown.

There is nothing wrong with God's law – the Ten Commandments. But even Christians speak against the law. They do so, by confusing the Levitical and the Moral Law. The Moral Law has never changed. The Levitical law was given to teach spiritual truth. Everyone knows that the law not to muzzle an ox means that a worker should be paid for his labor. They know that not eating dead, torn, or creepy things refers to what you feed on in your heart. They know that plowing with an ox and an ass refers to compromise of conservatives working with liberals. And spiritual people know that the Levitical sacrifices are to teaches about what Christ has done for us. They know that Jesus was the Passover Lamb. All those OT restrictions and obligations are external ordinances to teach internal spiritual truth. All Christians are grateful that we are no longer under the law and we can eat what we want.

But they have a struggle with the Moral Law also. Even after they are saved they are disappointed and frustrated that their carnal nature hasn't changed, and now they find themselves locked into a system of trying to be good by avoiding bad habits. By doing so they are attempting to regulate their outward conduct by prayer and self-discipline. They think that he 1^st promise of the New Covenant, of the law being written on the heart, means that now they have memorized the Ten Commandment or by going to church they hear from the pulpit what is right and wrong But knowledge of right and wrong is all in thew realm of the soul and is still in the realm of the external.

Reading Andrew Murray has been a real eye-opener when he has explained the 1^st promise of the NT by the promise of the law written on the heart as being the new nature. This is nothing less that Jesus living in our hearts by His Spirit. This is an internal transformation that is not included in the OT. One of the best illustrations of this was the experience of a friend of mine. He said the preacher was very sneaky when he led him to Christ. Les asked him if it was necessary to give up smoking to get saved The preacher told him, no, that had nothing to do with salvation. Then Les added, “But what he didn't tell me was that after I got saved I wouldn't want to smoke any more”. Quiting smoking is something external but to be free from the habit is internal. That is the Holy Spirit. This is the internal written on the heart. This is Jesus. This is how He has saved me from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).

I wonder if there is anything more encompassing than the 2^nd provision of the New Covenant – “I will be their God ad they shall be My people”. Oh my goodness that is loaded! There are so many ways of illustrating that and benefits of it, it is difficult to know what to say. As I have said so many times before, this is the same as the marriage relationship. The problem today is that the marriage covenant has been so horribly distorted that it doesn't register with the same power. But being married means you belong to the other person. In that, there are two aspects – possession and provision. It is safe to say that a god is the most dominant thing in a persons life. We say a person has made a god out of their job. Or a person has made a god out of football. Their god is the most dominant thing in their life. It is the thing that possesses them. How can we say that Jesus is our God when we keep Him on a dusty shelf and take Him out only when it is convenient or there something we want? If Jesus is our God then let Him possess us like our passion for football or some lesser attraction.

On the provision side we might suggest two women with radically different husbands. One is an abusive, unfaithful, drunk. He is a monster to live with. The other woman is married to the finest, most considerate husband, that helps her in every way possible, and provides for her like a queen. You couldn't blame the poor abused woman being envious of the blessed lady. Who wouldn't want a husband like that? I will never forget the night I was standing in a dark parking lot at the hospital in Syracuse, NY sharing Christ with the husband of Rosemary's hospital room mate. I thought nothing of the stories I was telling him of what the Lord had done for me. Then with the deepest look of envy and desire in his eyes he said to me, “If I had a God like that I wouldn't have a worry in the world.” Amen! He was right. In a new way like I had never thought of before it struck me how fortunate I was the Jesus was my God.

And the fact that I was His, put new emphasis on His concern and care for His own property. Jesus told us about the 100^th sheep to tell us how much the shepherd thinks of one sheep. I don't know which is more important; that I belong to Him or that He belongs to me. Whichever way it is, this is the crowning blessing of the New Covenant.

The 3^rd blessing of the New Covenant is that “all will know Me” We have knowledge of God in the most intimate way. We are family members. You can't get closer than that. Paul and Marisa just adopted a new son. He is 2 years old. His mother is a prostitute who works at the bus station. His father was one of the many men with whom she had had sex. A neighbor told Paul and Marisa about this little boy being raised at the bus station by a mother who didn't want him. Would they take him? Man howdy! Marisa said she was surprised when they went to the government office to finalize the papers for adoption. Marisa though the mother would be sad at giving up her son. On the contrary, she was delighted. You can imagine what it must be like inside little Joseph now that he has a mom and dad who love him. Paul says every time he comes home Joseph starts to chime, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” Paul said two or three time is nice but he won't turn it off. He has a dad that he personally knows. The poor neglected lad knew hundreds of people milling through the bus station, but now he belongs to a family and has a mom and dad that he has an intimate relationship with. The Lord has done this for us by sending the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). Romans 8 talks extensively about that.

As I have written before the 4^th point of the New Covenant is forgiveness of sin (Heb. 8:10-12). This is what I was talking about last week. This is virtually the only selling point we discuss in soul winning and the hope of 95% of all Christians. Basically all this is, is acquittal. They are flat guilty, but because Jesus has paid the fine they walk free. For most Christians their hope of deliverance from sin is the grave. We preach a religion that is a promise to get people into heaven, but the whole purpose of the New Covenant is to get heaven into us right now! The main purpose of the New Covenant is not to exempt people from obeying the law but to enable them to live a righteous, clean, life right now. Thank God He will forgive our sin, but, please, God, open my eyes to see how You have provided for me to live like a child born of Your Spirit today.

This morning I was thinking that there are three external Jesus floating around today. I am not sure there are only three, but this is what I came up with. There is the historical Jesus. He was the man who was here 2,000 years ago. He was a good man and left a lot of good things with us. He inaccurately got tagged with starting a new religion. He was pacifistic and told us that God loved us.

The second Jesus is the literary Jesus. He is the Jesus of the Bible. We know about Him by reading and studying the Bible. This is the dispensation Jesus. He did a lot of miracles and allowed His disciple to do miracles for several decades. But after He gave us the complete cannon of the Scripture we have the Bible now and that is all we need. We learn about the literary Jesus from the Bible, books, and messages. He tell us how we should live and promises us eternal life – mostly after we die.

The third Jesus is the happy Jesus. He is the good guy in heaven tossing down endless blessings. He want us to be happy and prosperous. He want us to have a good time and be exempt from problems. With a great God like that who would desire more?

But the real Jesus is the internal One who lives in our heart giving us a desire to know God and fulfilling it as He has begotten us as Sons of His Father in heaven. We are in the family of God and heaven has come to live in us right now.

Oh praise God!

bill