“to think on death often”

I am sitting here in Starbucks, my usual activity on Wednesday evenings, while I wait for my wife to finish a bible study that she does for young girls on Wednesdays. As I take this time to finish up the sermon for Sundays and enjoy a little personal reading if time permits. The text for this week is Ephesians 2:6-7 “and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Not only is this an extremely rich text, but I cannot help but allow my mind to be carried into eternity. God slaughtered his own Son underneath the great weight of his wrath to raise us up and seat us in the heavenlies so that he can show us the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness in Christ! If Christ truly dwells in your heart that should move you!

As I sit here I see so many people occupied with life. Some seem like business people in a hurry to get home, some couples on a date, and others just coming to enjoy the atmosphere of Starbucks, but all so wrapped up in living. I can’t help but wonder for what? What would drive a person to work so hard at life? Why do they wake up? I think I could surely say that for most is the preservation in this life. A great effort for temporal pleasures. How sad! That, that is simply it! When they finish their cup it is gone! As we say here in Spanish “se acabo”! So much time spent on such little value. Are we guilty of the same? So many of us waste our time on trivial things under the umbrella that we have something greater, and that somehow that gives us more freedom with our time. Not so!

I think I read it from Edwards, not sure, but it said “I resolve to think on death often and the circumstances therein.” At first glance I thought “how morbid!”, but after pondering for a few minutes, which can be very usual when reading Edwards, I saw the great value of such a thought! That my life would be spent thinking of the day He calls me up to that door! That no longer will I be looking into the mirror, but then I will see Him face to face! Faith will be no more only true fullness of delight! For all eternity God will show us, as the text says “the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” That is what should occupy our time! There is nothing apart from that worth living for, nothing! It is my desire that I would live in such a way to “think on death often and the circumstances therein.” I encourage you to the same! That when he says “beloved, come up here” and our works are burned away, we will hear “well done”. That our time of brewing for eternity will last and its value seen and enjoyed! I hope this finds you well and that you are encouraged!

Solus Christus,

jonathan

Be so careful!

Today in my reading I read Luke 17 where we find the parable of the unworthy servant. The story is that they are working in the field and after a long days work come in the house to eat and the question is asked by our Savior, that after a long day will the master ask the servant to come to the table and eat? No, he will require him to change his clothes and serve the master a meal for that is his work. Then he asks if the master will thank the servant for doing what is commanded? Once again it is a resounding “NO”. This is where we find verse ten which speaks greatly to what is on my heart, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”

So many times we find ourselves, especially this time of year, thinking that we are deserving of rewards or blessings because of our service to Christ and his church. That somehow we have won the favor of God by our works and we want our payment. Whether it come from the praise of men, or some physical thing that we see ourselves worthy of, but that it should be rewarded to us because of our faithfulness. Yet we find here in this parable by Christ that after all the work is done, work that was given to us by our master, work that is not earning points or winning God’s favor, but simply what we were set apart to do, that the condition of our position before God does not change based on our performance, but on the work of His Son on the cross.

The other day I was watching one of those nature shows on netflix. It was about jungles or something. I really enjoy those type of shows, I always have. They were showing so many different kinds of birds that are found in the jungles all over the world. But specifically they were showing all kinds of crazy things these birds do to win the favor of their mate. Basically the male who performs the best wins the female. It was quite humorous to watch as these birds danced and sang and all different sorts of things so that they would be found worthy of fathering the chicks. This type of mentality is so instilled in our society that we see everything as a competition, and in the christian world the thing we are striving to gain is acceptance by the King. This way of thinking is absolutely absurd! When the work day is over we in and of ourselves will be found as unworthy servants, and the only hope we have is in the perfect One, Christ, whose work is worthy of praise from the Father, but more so his person.

I warn you, do not make common holy things! Do not take holy work that God has given us, of which can only be completed by Christ working in us, and make it as though it is yours, or as if you have some claim to it. It can only be owed by Christ. It is a great danger to humanize the things of God. To take what he has given us through grace in Christ and try to present them to him as though it were all ours and that we are now deserving of his approval and gifts. In the end, we are unworthy servants. None has done as he should. None has served wholeheartedly. This is our great need for Christ! I encourage you, this holiday season celebrate Christ, his humiliation in being born of a woman, his perfect life, his sacrificial death, his powerful resurrection, his great ascension and presentation to his Father, and his blessed intercession on behalf of his people, of which we are in dire need!

It has truly been an amazing week here in San Cristobal! I am sitting here in a little coffee shop that served this past week as a place of great communion with the saints and wishing we had a few more days with the dear brothers and sisters who are now on their way home.

We arrived here on Tuesday November first from Mexico city to have a conference at “Iglesia Biblia Bautista Emanuel” and to preach the gospel on the streets. Brother Randall and his daughter Samantha arrived late Tuesday night and the group from Louisiana (Brad Bunting, Charlie and Marissa Franklin, Craig and Tammy James, Robyn Smith, Cameron Durham, and Daniel Breithaupt) in the middle of the day on Wednesday. We attended the prayer meeting that evening at the church and literally while we were singing Pastor Miguel, the pastor of the church here in San Cristobal, ask if I would preach that night. I guess we should always be ready to give an account of the hope we have in us. I preached from Titus 2:11-12 and was unsure of how it was accepted. After church that night we went to preach at the town square hoping to encounter some of the day of the dead festival. After a couple of the guys preached a parade of people dressed and painted like the dead came to the square to celebrate. Mike Stockwell grabbed the microphone and Abimael to translate and started preaching. This was met with great opposition and they tried to cast a spell on Mike. A lot of people gathered to watch, three young men in particular were watching as the gospel was preached in the face of wickedness and Christ was shown as King. After Mike finished I approached the young men and asked what they thought, and they responded that they had come to participate in the festival of the dead, but that they had realized the foolishness of their way and that they were “on the wrong side”. The gospel was preached, Christ was honored and iniquity was shown stupid!

Thursday after breakfast we took the group to Chamula, one of the last few places in the western hemisphere where they still kill christians for their faith. The group got the chance to see the wickedness of ancestral worship, killing chickens and getting drunk in the church trying to cleanse themselves from evil. We started the conference that evening and we had a fairly good showing of the people from the church. The theme of the conference was “The Glory of God in The Gospel”. Brother Randall preached the first sermon and I followed. I felt that we preached what God had us preach and that the things that were preached may have been new to the people of the church. After the conference we returned to the town square to preach and had some good conversations. Some of the guys in the group preached their first open-air sermon which was very encouraging! I don’t think it will be there last.

On Friday after breakfast we headed back to the square to preach before the conference in the evening. Mike started us off and attracted a couple of Catholic priests by addressing idol worship. They left and came back with their leader to have a debate. Brother Randall and I began debating them on the issue of the origin of the church and on wether sacraments can save (I have to insert here that my wife, Ivonne, got really excited and gave great testimony of Christ). This drew a great crowd and we had the opportunity to bear witness of the evil of the catholic church and of the glorious gospel of Christ. Something of about 100 people gathered to hear and Christ was preached. Many made comments to us of their faith that they had placed in the catholic church and that they now saw the error of their way. Christ was truly exalted this day and a young man who was so affected by what he heard came to the conference that evening! I preached first that evening at the conference on the depravity of man and Bro. Craig followed preaching on the wrath of God. Once again I felt like these things were new to these people, but at the same time that they were absorbing them.

Saturday was a long day! We started at 7:00 a.m. having a prayer meeting at the church where Charlie gave a very exhorting devotional laying out the sovereignty of God and our service to Him. I think the people were encouraged and challenged! Then after breakfast we started the conference at 9:30 with a sermon from Bro. Brad on the purpose of the cross. Great way to start the day! Bro. Daniel preached a sermon this morning on the love of God that was edifying to everyone! Through out the whole day we heard good sermons and I was very pleased to see the people so attentive and eager to learn! Charlie lead a session for the students, then they broke them into two groups, guys and girls, and Samantha taught the girls on serving the Lord, and Charlie the guys on evangelism. We received good feedback from the students and it seemed that they retained what was taught. The group was tired and with good reason we had worked hard! The women on this trip were so faithful in handing out tracts and folding them so that we would be ready for the times of evangelism. After dinner we went back to the town square where Bro. Randall started us off and a man from the church, Enrique, translated as he preached to a large crowd! The town square is such a great place to preach! Bro. Mike preached for over an hour on the street, and some of the students from the church showed up to take part in evangelism. It was the right way to end the night.

Sunday morning Bro. Brad taught Sunday school and Bro. Randall preached the morning service both great messages! The place was packed! I was amazed at how many people came to the church. Things were taught that once again were so new to these people. There has not been much doctrine taught to them, and this just confirms the need for more conferences like the one we did. After the service the conference continued in the afternoon with more great preaching! The people were challenged so profoundly. Bro. Randall preached the last sermon of the conference on the sovereignty of God and it was the best sermon that I had heard him preach! I think the people were in shock but had no where to go from the truth that was taught! We, the group of pastors, were all wrestling with wether or not the people were understanding the things being taught, but after the conference the church came together and cooked us a great feast and purchased gifts for each one of us. It was very humbling! I think that some of them really struggled with things they heard, but they were so grateful for the opportunity to learn. This was one week that I will never forget!

I want to thank all of you who came! You were truly a blessing to our ministry and bore great testimony of the love of Christ! I also want to thank all of you who were so gracious to support this trip, wether by faithfully praying, by giving, or by allowing your pastor to partake in this trip. We were greatly encouraged here by the testimony that was shown from your churches there! We truly are grateful! Please continue to hold the rope as we are here still! The prayers of the saints for those who have gone into the well are so important! Also please pray for us as we are planning a trip for mid-January to take a few young men to mission churches from the church in San Cristobal to preach throughout a weekend. I was greatly reminded of this quote this past week:

"Oh, it is the least one can do, to interpose ourselves and all that is dear to us, betwixt Christ and the wrath of men, when he (as you hear) interposed himself betwixt you and the eternal wrath of God!"

-John Flavel

Solus Christus,

Jonathan and Ivonne Murdock

A Quick Update From The Journey

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth."

Things seem to be going well here on the south side of the border, as we continue t plant the good seeds of the gospel! I was telling my wife this past Monday how tired i was and we

began to retrace my steps over the past week and realized that I had spent fourteen and a half hours just in teaching time last week! It is truly a blessing to be given the grace of God and be entrusted with His Word! We have truly been called to a great task! I want to share with you quickly some things that are going on here:

I continue on Mondays to meet with Marco, and Ivonne meets with his wife. We have been leading them thorough a study on the attributes of God. I have learned so much simply from teaching the Word of God to Marco! So many people want to hear things that are practical, but i find that the most practical of them all is simply Theology! I have seen great change in Marco and his wife Karen simply from learning who God is. I ask that you continue to pray for Marco and Karen as they continue their journey to the celestial city! Also, she is two months pregnant, and already have had some problems.

We at Solus Christus, our church plant, have meet four weeks, and we feel that the Lord has great things for us! On Sunday mornings i have been preaching through the book of Titus and have been so encouraged at the effect it has taken on all of us. We also have been meeting on Tuesday nights for our new membership class. This also has served as an extortion to us. We are learning what a church should look like and how it should function. There are seven of us as of right now, and i feel that these seven will set a great foundation that God will use to eventually send laborers all over the world!

I also continue to meet with a group of young men a couple times a week. Once on Wednesday's at what we call "Confessions". It is a time that we get real with each other, and look into the deep things of God. This is a very intense meeting every week and one that I long for all week long! God is going to do great things through this group of young men! Then on Friday we meet also going through the study on the attributes of God. In the past three weeks this group has grown to about 25 young men! I ask that you pray for this group as i feel most of this grow believes themselves to be saved, but they bear no fruit of that salvation.

When we hosted the pastor's conference in Autlan, we invited a bookstore to come named "Faro De Gracia". Little did we know the relationship that the Father would form there! These men have become such an encouragement to me! The bookstore also is a church that was started by a dear brother in Christ from the states several years ago, but has had some problems getting to come back. So the church has been without a pastor for over two years, and when he left there were only a handful of people at the church, but now they pack out their little building! They ask preachers to come and preach from different parts of the city and each has a different Sunday of the month that he goes to preach there. They asked me to take the second Sunday of the month which i have done, and have been preaching through Hebrews. The relation that we have formed between Faro De Gracia and our church is also been of great help and encouragement! They share with us in reformed doctrine and practice! Please pray for Faro De Gracia, that the Lord would send them a pastor!

Please continue also to pray for my dear wife and I. The Lord has been so good to us! We are reminded of the love and true spiritual bond we have as brothers and sisters in Christ through the faithfulness of each of you! God has been so gracious to us and continues to shape and mold us so that we no longer look like us, but rather His Son. Please continue to hold the rope! We live in a season when it can be so easy to forget about those who have gone in, but i ask, plead, with the Father, that you would be reminded often of us, and that you would be convoked to lift us up! Thank you all who are reminded to pray for us, and that you all who are so faithful in supporting us in a monetary way as well! Continue to content for the faith that is in you!! Blessings!

" If the depravity and corruption of the heart is the only ground of the necessity of regeneration, then regeneration consists in removing this depravity, and introducing opposite principles, and so laying a foundation for holy exercises." Samuel Hopkins

Sola Deo Gloria,
jonathan & Ivonne murdock