Hey everybody! I truly hope that you had an incredible time with family and friends during the Thanksgiving Holiday! I also hope that you took time to reflect on The Saviors love and what He did on Mt. Calvary, so that we might have life and become righteous through Him. For He is truly The ONLY WAY! I am so grateful for the place God has strategically placed me in my life right now! To be in the midst of people that Love God and devote themselves to the reading of His word is such a HUGE blessing! I am also very grateful for the atmosphere that I work amongst, where co-workers are working hard to reveal the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ!
God works in such mysterious ways! For those that do not know, I work for Southern Seminary as one of the videographers and also as Dr. Mohler's Podcast Engineer. Because of the way the economy is, they were only able to give me part time work hours and so, I have been on the hunt for extra work around the Louisville area to help with bills. It is so easy to look at something as to why only part time rather full time would be offer, when we need more in order to sufficiently supply all the funds per month. I got that answer 2 weeks ago! About 3 weeks ago I found a job opening at a warehouse here in Louisville, which opened quickly! I still found myself questioning why there were only part time hours when I needed more to support me in what I need to pay in bills but like I said, God is at work in EVERYTHING in our lives! Two weeks ago, I began a conversation with a girl named, Nadhal Gabreel, which is a Muslim believer. The following Monday, I found myself with an incredible opportunity to share the gospel! She received it better than I expected and agreed that she had fallen short of God's Commandments. Then, last night I found myself talking to a young guy that is in college. His name is Waseem. He is from India. I asked him what his religion was and he responded Muslim. After that he asked me what I was studying to be, because I mentioned that I was going to school as well. I shared with him that I am studying to be an evangelist/preacher to high school students. He identified with the term pastor and when I asked him if he had ever heard of the gospel, he responded yes. I then asked him, "Waseem, do you know what the gospel is?" He said no. I then asked, "Would you like to here the gospel?" He answered with a very confident, "YES!"
This is what Matthew 28:19-20 says:
[19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I feel as if God has given me a renewed heart for this passage and placing it into the depths of my heart! As the church we can no longer fall into the deception and lie of excuses. The Devil has done an incredible job in convincing Christians into the deception of excuses.
Excuses:
1. I would love to go make disciples of nations but I don't have the money to go...
2. I am afraid that I won't know what to say...
3. What if the one that I am sharing the gospel with, asks a tough Theological question?...
4. I don't know enough about the gospel to share...
5. I don't know where to start...
6. I need to know as much as I can about other religions, before sharing the gospel with a person that believes in anything other than the gospel...
So many excuses that we share. But here is reality! We have been created to Know Him and Make Him Known! And if that is not our goal then why are we here? The very thing that stands as one of the ultimate conflicts for Christians today is also The Most crucial! Sharing the gospel with The Lost. The one's under the Judgment of God. The one's that are making their way to the gate that is Wide! We can no longer preach the excuse that we cannot go to the Nations! Because God has brought the Nations to us! The warehouse that I work in, holds at least 12 to 15 Muslim believers. The rest are carnal sinners that are living for the American Dream! The Nations have come to us! And yet we still make this excuse as if, we that are still in the States, working, have no access to the Nations! Please understand that I am preaching to myself as much as to anyone else!
Hear the words of Romans 10:14-17
[14] How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? [15] And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” [16] But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” [17] So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
We are the ones to tell them! I wanted to write this blog to encourage you as the church to take the gospel boldly and courageously to the lost! Believe that the Spirit will relay the gospel accordingly to those that find themselves standing against God! And use the free time that God blesses you with, to look through the gospel and find ways to make it most simple and concise to those that you encounter. Don't be content with only knowing the gospel but also to reveal it to others as well! We serve a Savior that has conquered death!
Romans 8:35-39 says
35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:32 also says
[32] He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Believe that just as God rose in victory, defeating death, that we as Christians, also share in that victory and that He will always be with us to help aid us unto telling His story to others! We are told that as long as we delight ourselves in the Lord, then He will give us the desires of our hearts! Our True desire should be to see the nations come to know the saving knowledge of the Lord, Jesus Christ! So be BOLD and be Courageous! Don't allow excuses to stand in the way. Instead, stand up and be an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Be a Light to the Darkness and don't just sit back and spectate! We are called to take the Good News to The Nations! And Praise the Lord, He has given the opportunity to be a part of His glory as we share the Good News with the Nations!
Seeking after His heart,
Twiga
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
A Time of Thanksgiving
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I wanted to share a testimony that is priceless to me. I have shared this story with many people and I look forward to sharing it with several others when the opportunity arises.
It all began on Valentines Day, February 14, 2004. I was a Freshman in college attending at the time North Greenville College, which would become North Greenville University a few years later. I got a call from my father with very depressing news. My grandmother had passed away. I mean, who would want to lose a loved one on such a day as Valentines Day! I have never made Valentines Day a big deal because, well, I have never really had a serious relationship with a girl. But, losing my grandmother on such a day was very tragic and hard to deal with. I was very thankful to have my older brother and close friends that attended the college to surround me in such a time of hardship! This was only the beginning of what would proceed to be an incredible testimony of God's faithfulness and overwhelming grace!
Me and my brother left for Kentucky the very next day on Friday for the funeral. On the way in, we stopped by my parents house in Tennessee to pick up one of their cell phones to call and let them know that we were safely on our way. After stopping at our parent's house, 10 minutes later my brother called my father's cell phone and Brent, my father's brother answered. Jason asked Brent for my father and Brent then told him that everything was okay and that our father, mother, two brothers and grandfather were all in the hospital. Not exactly the type of news you want to hear on your way to attend your grandmother's funeral. It turned out that my grandparents house was filled with carbon monoxide, while my family was asleep in the house. My grandparents owned an old furnace, that apparently had a leak and filled the house with carbon monoxide! My Father, Mother, two twin brothers and grandfather all slept in a dangerous gas all night long! Carbon Monoxide has claimed thousands of lives! Now the very event that happened within the time my family found themselves asleep amidst this killing machine called carbon monoxide, God performed an incredible miracle! This is stuff that can only be of a mighty and Loving God!
This particular grandmother was my father's mother. While my family slept amidst this poison, my mom's mother had a vivid dream that same night! She dreamed that my mother walked into her house with a brown grocery bag. She asked my mother to be careful with the bag and gently lay it on the counter because there were eggs in the bag and if the eggs were rotten, then it would release an awful smell! Well... my mother missed the counter and dropped the bag on the ground and sure enough the eggs were rotten. Right after the dream my grandmother awoke with an incredible burden on her heart for my mother and the rest of the family! She proceeded to get up and frantically paced the floors of her house while praying vigorously for them!
Now.... taking you back to my family at the house consumed with poisonous gas, something my mother told me send jolts of chills through my body! During that night my mother woke up with a migraine. Now its not the migraine in itself that would give me chills but the very fact that she claimed that she smelled bad eggs when she woke up! I would also like to add that carbon monoxide does not have a distinct smell and thus the reason it has claimed so many lives! My mother proceeded to the rest room to douce her face into some cold water and find a way to decrease the pain of her migraine. Right after she entered the bathroom, one of my brothers walked in and claimed that he had an immense headache! My mother placed a cold wet rag on his head and sent him back to bed. As my mother left the bathroom, she then claimed that she felt like something grabbed her and put her against the wall just hard enough to wake my father. She claims it was an angel! And I believe her! My father then went into the hallway finding my mom's eyes rolling back and forth in her head. After my mom finally came to, my father contacted the neighbors and then were helped to the hospital.
The doctors were completely stunned that my family survived such a deadly substance. The carbon monoxide consumed 17 % and higher in each of their bodies! When my older brother and I arrived to the hospital, seeing my family all hooked up to gas masks and being treated for the poison that consumed their bodies, I couldn't help but weep because of the saving hand of my Savior! I also found out that my brother, Kyle, after the event, realized that he was not authentic in his surrender to Christ and went before the church proclaiming his repentance and faith in The Lord, Jesus Christ! Knowing that my brother would have spent eternity in Hell if he weren't to survive that tragedy brought me to even more tears, because God saved him from much more than a separation from his fleshly body but also an eternal separation from God! I cannot get over that!
I am so thankful to have my family alive and with me today! The whole experience was a reminder and eye-opening revelation of God's incredible Grace in our lives! Just as He guarded my family from assured death, God saves us from eternal death! I pray that if anyone makes their way to this blog and doesn't know the Lord; that they are deeply touched by this testimony! It's an incredible reminder and reality of our state without Christ! Without Christ, SIN, just like that carbon monoxide is killing us and we are on our way to certain destruction (death)! But its much worse than leaving our fleshly state! Its a spiritual death, that leads to an eternal state, separated from God! But there is Good News! God sent His son, Jesus, to die in our place, so that we might not spend eternity, separated from Him! If we confess with our mouth, that Jesus is Lord, believe in our hearts that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the grave, conquering death and repent of our sins. We will then be saved! I pray that it would be true in your life if you have not done so!
His Grace Still Amazes Me,
Twiga
It all began on Valentines Day, February 14, 2004. I was a Freshman in college attending at the time North Greenville College, which would become North Greenville University a few years later. I got a call from my father with very depressing news. My grandmother had passed away. I mean, who would want to lose a loved one on such a day as Valentines Day! I have never made Valentines Day a big deal because, well, I have never really had a serious relationship with a girl. But, losing my grandmother on such a day was very tragic and hard to deal with. I was very thankful to have my older brother and close friends that attended the college to surround me in such a time of hardship! This was only the beginning of what would proceed to be an incredible testimony of God's faithfulness and overwhelming grace!
Me and my brother left for Kentucky the very next day on Friday for the funeral. On the way in, we stopped by my parents house in Tennessee to pick up one of their cell phones to call and let them know that we were safely on our way. After stopping at our parent's house, 10 minutes later my brother called my father's cell phone and Brent, my father's brother answered. Jason asked Brent for my father and Brent then told him that everything was okay and that our father, mother, two brothers and grandfather were all in the hospital. Not exactly the type of news you want to hear on your way to attend your grandmother's funeral. It turned out that my grandparents house was filled with carbon monoxide, while my family was asleep in the house. My grandparents owned an old furnace, that apparently had a leak and filled the house with carbon monoxide! My Father, Mother, two twin brothers and grandfather all slept in a dangerous gas all night long! Carbon Monoxide has claimed thousands of lives! Now the very event that happened within the time my family found themselves asleep amidst this killing machine called carbon monoxide, God performed an incredible miracle! This is stuff that can only be of a mighty and Loving God!
This particular grandmother was my father's mother. While my family slept amidst this poison, my mom's mother had a vivid dream that same night! She dreamed that my mother walked into her house with a brown grocery bag. She asked my mother to be careful with the bag and gently lay it on the counter because there were eggs in the bag and if the eggs were rotten, then it would release an awful smell! Well... my mother missed the counter and dropped the bag on the ground and sure enough the eggs were rotten. Right after the dream my grandmother awoke with an incredible burden on her heart for my mother and the rest of the family! She proceeded to get up and frantically paced the floors of her house while praying vigorously for them!
Now.... taking you back to my family at the house consumed with poisonous gas, something my mother told me send jolts of chills through my body! During that night my mother woke up with a migraine. Now its not the migraine in itself that would give me chills but the very fact that she claimed that she smelled bad eggs when she woke up! I would also like to add that carbon monoxide does not have a distinct smell and thus the reason it has claimed so many lives! My mother proceeded to the rest room to douce her face into some cold water and find a way to decrease the pain of her migraine. Right after she entered the bathroom, one of my brothers walked in and claimed that he had an immense headache! My mother placed a cold wet rag on his head and sent him back to bed. As my mother left the bathroom, she then claimed that she felt like something grabbed her and put her against the wall just hard enough to wake my father. She claims it was an angel! And I believe her! My father then went into the hallway finding my mom's eyes rolling back and forth in her head. After my mom finally came to, my father contacted the neighbors and then were helped to the hospital.
The doctors were completely stunned that my family survived such a deadly substance. The carbon monoxide consumed 17 % and higher in each of their bodies! When my older brother and I arrived to the hospital, seeing my family all hooked up to gas masks and being treated for the poison that consumed their bodies, I couldn't help but weep because of the saving hand of my Savior! I also found out that my brother, Kyle, after the event, realized that he was not authentic in his surrender to Christ and went before the church proclaiming his repentance and faith in The Lord, Jesus Christ! Knowing that my brother would have spent eternity in Hell if he weren't to survive that tragedy brought me to even more tears, because God saved him from much more than a separation from his fleshly body but also an eternal separation from God! I cannot get over that!
I am so thankful to have my family alive and with me today! The whole experience was a reminder and eye-opening revelation of God's incredible Grace in our lives! Just as He guarded my family from assured death, God saves us from eternal death! I pray that if anyone makes their way to this blog and doesn't know the Lord; that they are deeply touched by this testimony! It's an incredible reminder and reality of our state without Christ! Without Christ, SIN, just like that carbon monoxide is killing us and we are on our way to certain destruction (death)! But its much worse than leaving our fleshly state! Its a spiritual death, that leads to an eternal state, separated from God! But there is Good News! God sent His son, Jesus, to die in our place, so that we might not spend eternity, separated from Him! If we confess with our mouth, that Jesus is Lord, believe in our hearts that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the grave, conquering death and repent of our sins. We will then be saved! I pray that it would be true in your life if you have not done so!
His Grace Still Amazes Me,
Twiga
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
A look at Genesis 10
I was asked a few weeks back to speak on this particular passage to my 7th grade class at church a few weeks back. The idea was to present Ancestry and our similarities. Well, you can imagine that this specific passage can very well present its challenges, knowing that it would be imparted to 7th graders. My first initial thought after reviewing this passage was, "How in the world am I going to make application of this scripture to a bunch of 7th grade guys!" And in all honesty, "How would one find a way to effectively apply this particular scripture to a bunch of adults?" So I am going to let you read the passage first, and then I will share what I realized, which is crucial to our understanding of our analysis of God's word! So here is the passage:
[Nations Descended from Noah]
[10:1] These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
[2] The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. [3] The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. [4] The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. [5] From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.
[6] The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. [7] The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. [8] Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. [9] He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” [10] The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. [11] From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and [12] Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. [13] Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, [14] Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.
[15] Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, [16] and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, [17] the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, [18] the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. [19] And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. [20] These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
[21] To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. [22] The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. [23] The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. [24] Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. [25] To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan. [26] Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, [27] Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, [28] Obal, Abimael, Sheba, [29] Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. [30] The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. [31] These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
[32] These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.
(Genesis 10 ESV)
Now. As a student leader my goal is to find creative ways to share spiritual and theological truths to my students. Therefore, automatically I know that I must think on terms as a middle schooler! Obviously, this is not a privilege that gives me the right to dumb things down so that I can help them understand what the scripture says. I worry a lot about so many leaders in the church today because I see a lack of challenge to their youth and very little theological truth in what they teach. First of all, the youth that fill up our churches are NOT DUMB! They are very intelligent. The only difference between teaching adults and teaching youth is how we apply essential truths from the Bible. Okay. So, let me get off my soap box and share what I took away from this passage.
While I read this particular passage, I automatically thought about my analysis of a passage such as this when I was in middle school. My reaction then was, "What in the world is this about and why is it important for me to know about scripture with a bunch of names in it that I can't even pronounce?" So that is where I started with my 7th grade guys. And as I shared my analysis that I took away for passages such as this one, it seemed as the majority of the guys knew exactly what I was talking about. But this issue isn't just present in our youth today, it is very much a problem for us as adults! We read specific passages and just don't understand why its even there; so we move on. But as Christians, we must understand that everything that fills the pages in the Bible are important and essential to our lives! Even the hard ones that make us scratch our heads and leaves us confused. A few years back, I began challenging myself to engage such passages in the Bible. I did research and meditated on it. Even if it meant building camp and sitting on it for a little while. Maybe I would have to camp for 2 - 3 days or a week. Maybe even several weeks! So, what did I learn from this passage? Here it is:
If you go back and read chapter nine, we see that Noah, gets drunk and is found naked and passed out in his tent by his son Ham, which then went and told his brothers about what he saw. Now the scripture doesn't read this but based on what we read a few verses later, I would assume that Ham made a big spectacle of his father to his brother! After Ham shares this news with his brothers, the two brothers walk backwards and covers their father with some type of material. Noah finds out what his son, Ham did and then puts a curse on Canaan, which we know is the son of Ham.
[24] When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, [25] he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
[26] He also said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
[27] May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
(Genesis 9:24-27 ESV)
Now, why is all this important for what we will read in chapter 10? Well, as you read through chapter 10, you will notice some of the different geographical areas that are given through Canaan. Before I give these away, I would encourage you to read through chapter 10 one more time and see if you notice any of the areas that seems familiar to what you might have found throughout the Bible.
OKay. If you haven't figured these geographical areas let me give them to you: First you have Ninevah which we all know as a city that was incredibly evil! Of course we recognize this city most from the story of Jonah and his journey to Ninevah to give the good news to the people. Then we also have Calsuhim, which is the city from which the Philistines came. And we all know about the Philistines. If not look it up. It would be good for you to understand the roll of the Philistines. Here's a hint: It has something to do with a giant. Then we move to Sodom and Gomorrah. Which were both destroyed by fire.
So here is my initial thought and I might not be right on target with this but if Canaan is cursed through what Ham did to his father then there have got to be some consequences to Ham's sin against his father. I think that it is no coincidence that under Canaan these lands developed. This also reminds us that sin is not a small thing! Sin is serious and its effects are scary! I wanted my students to realize the seriousness of sin! We all need to realize the seriousness of sin. And I am not making the statement that if you disobey your parents that you will find yourself in the middle of a burning city. But, our sin does have consequences and one of those being shame that leads us away from God! When we sin, our shame is so heavy that we find ways to distance ourselves from God. This is a natural, fleshly trait. Now, I am not saying that we won't eventually come to repentance and long for a restoration in our relationship with God. That is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, praise the Lord, but our sin brings brokenness and hinders our pursuit in evangelism and even more importantly our walk with Christ!
Now, this isn't the main point of passage. I also talked with my students about how God called Adam to go forth and multiply and fill the earth. God is all about establishing His glory upon the earth and He has called us to do the same. We bring glory to His name when we go forth and multiply and raise our children up in the admonition of the Lord! I also explained to my students that they should never assume that lost people know who Jesus Christ is! I would say that a good number of people don't refuse to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ because they knew who He was but because they have never known! Now in Romans it talks about how the invisible attributes of God is known to all men and that we have all been given a moral compass of what is right and wrong but that does not mean that all men know about Jesus! We are called to take the good news to the nations!
I pray that we would fulfill the calling God has given! To fill the earth and tell of His glory and splendor! So keep reading and meditate on the passages throughout the Bible that seems difficult. And it never hurts to ask others if it comes to it. Just don't settle for, "I Just don't understand what it means!"
Seeking Him First,
Twiga
[Nations Descended from Noah]
[10:1] These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
[2] The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. [3] The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. [4] The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. [5] From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.
[6] The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. [7] The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. [8] Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. [9] He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” [10] The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. [11] From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and [12] Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. [13] Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, [14] Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.
[15] Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, [16] and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, [17] the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, [18] the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. [19] And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. [20] These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
[21] To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. [22] The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. [23] The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. [24] Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. [25] To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan. [26] Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, [27] Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, [28] Obal, Abimael, Sheba, [29] Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. [30] The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. [31] These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.
[32] These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.
(Genesis 10 ESV)
Now. As a student leader my goal is to find creative ways to share spiritual and theological truths to my students. Therefore, automatically I know that I must think on terms as a middle schooler! Obviously, this is not a privilege that gives me the right to dumb things down so that I can help them understand what the scripture says. I worry a lot about so many leaders in the church today because I see a lack of challenge to their youth and very little theological truth in what they teach. First of all, the youth that fill up our churches are NOT DUMB! They are very intelligent. The only difference between teaching adults and teaching youth is how we apply essential truths from the Bible. Okay. So, let me get off my soap box and share what I took away from this passage.
While I read this particular passage, I automatically thought about my analysis of a passage such as this when I was in middle school. My reaction then was, "What in the world is this about and why is it important for me to know about scripture with a bunch of names in it that I can't even pronounce?" So that is where I started with my 7th grade guys. And as I shared my analysis that I took away for passages such as this one, it seemed as the majority of the guys knew exactly what I was talking about. But this issue isn't just present in our youth today, it is very much a problem for us as adults! We read specific passages and just don't understand why its even there; so we move on. But as Christians, we must understand that everything that fills the pages in the Bible are important and essential to our lives! Even the hard ones that make us scratch our heads and leaves us confused. A few years back, I began challenging myself to engage such passages in the Bible. I did research and meditated on it. Even if it meant building camp and sitting on it for a little while. Maybe I would have to camp for 2 - 3 days or a week. Maybe even several weeks! So, what did I learn from this passage? Here it is:
If you go back and read chapter nine, we see that Noah, gets drunk and is found naked and passed out in his tent by his son Ham, which then went and told his brothers about what he saw. Now the scripture doesn't read this but based on what we read a few verses later, I would assume that Ham made a big spectacle of his father to his brother! After Ham shares this news with his brothers, the two brothers walk backwards and covers their father with some type of material. Noah finds out what his son, Ham did and then puts a curse on Canaan, which we know is the son of Ham.
[24] When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, [25] he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
[26] He also said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
[27] May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
(Genesis 9:24-27 ESV)
Now, why is all this important for what we will read in chapter 10? Well, as you read through chapter 10, you will notice some of the different geographical areas that are given through Canaan. Before I give these away, I would encourage you to read through chapter 10 one more time and see if you notice any of the areas that seems familiar to what you might have found throughout the Bible.
OKay. If you haven't figured these geographical areas let me give them to you: First you have Ninevah which we all know as a city that was incredibly evil! Of course we recognize this city most from the story of Jonah and his journey to Ninevah to give the good news to the people. Then we also have Calsuhim, which is the city from which the Philistines came. And we all know about the Philistines. If not look it up. It would be good for you to understand the roll of the Philistines. Here's a hint: It has something to do with a giant. Then we move to Sodom and Gomorrah. Which were both destroyed by fire.
So here is my initial thought and I might not be right on target with this but if Canaan is cursed through what Ham did to his father then there have got to be some consequences to Ham's sin against his father. I think that it is no coincidence that under Canaan these lands developed. This also reminds us that sin is not a small thing! Sin is serious and its effects are scary! I wanted my students to realize the seriousness of sin! We all need to realize the seriousness of sin. And I am not making the statement that if you disobey your parents that you will find yourself in the middle of a burning city. But, our sin does have consequences and one of those being shame that leads us away from God! When we sin, our shame is so heavy that we find ways to distance ourselves from God. This is a natural, fleshly trait. Now, I am not saying that we won't eventually come to repentance and long for a restoration in our relationship with God. That is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, praise the Lord, but our sin brings brokenness and hinders our pursuit in evangelism and even more importantly our walk with Christ!
Now, this isn't the main point of passage. I also talked with my students about how God called Adam to go forth and multiply and fill the earth. God is all about establishing His glory upon the earth and He has called us to do the same. We bring glory to His name when we go forth and multiply and raise our children up in the admonition of the Lord! I also explained to my students that they should never assume that lost people know who Jesus Christ is! I would say that a good number of people don't refuse to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ because they knew who He was but because they have never known! Now in Romans it talks about how the invisible attributes of God is known to all men and that we have all been given a moral compass of what is right and wrong but that does not mean that all men know about Jesus! We are called to take the good news to the nations!
I pray that we would fulfill the calling God has given! To fill the earth and tell of His glory and splendor! So keep reading and meditate on the passages throughout the Bible that seems difficult. And it never hurts to ask others if it comes to it. Just don't settle for, "I Just don't understand what it means!"
Seeking Him First,
Twiga
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