this treasure

Earlier this week, on December 15, 2011 to be exact, we sent off an e-mail to Brother Tom Hitz. Attached to it were two applications... one from Grant and one from me. Our goal was to have them turned in by the middle of December, and we managed to do that just in time. That night, God opened the Word to us in I Chronicles 17. It talks about David's plans to build a house unto God and God's command not to do so. Something God has been teaching us is that something may seem like a "good idea" or a "good plan" but something that appears "good" can be outside of His will. In this case, God did have a plan for David; although David was forbidden to build God a house, God promised blessing on David and his seed. Verses 26 - 27 read, "And now, Lord, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for though blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed for ever". God blesses obedience! This is so encouraging to us as we try to obey Him even though it is hard.

Yesterday, Sunday 12/18, Bro. Troy Leyse from Bluffton was in Princeville. His sermon in the afternoon focused on I Kings chapters 18 and 19. I Kings 19 shows several examples of how creation itself cannot help but obey God - not because He is in the wind but because He is the wind! If creation itself obeys at the presence of God... who are we to disobey?

Bro. Troy also talked about the fire that God sent down onto Elijah's altar. He talked about Elijah's despair ("God, I am the only one left who believes...") and God's response to Elijah ("Elijah, what are you doing here?") He talked about praying for the lost, and then asked us, "Are you willing to sacrifice whatever it takes so that God can [answer]?" All of these things caused us to think and evaluate about where we are in life right now. As we prepare for service in Mexico, are we preparing? Or are we too caught up in our house remodel and trying to tie up loose ends that we aren't focusing on relationships and service opportunities as much as we should be here? Are we willing to sacrifice our plans so that God can answer our prayers that the lost be saved? There are lost people everywhere!

Bro. Troy finished his sermon by talking about vessels, with reference to II Corinthians 4.

"Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

We have this ministry. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. This treasure, salvation, is meant to be shared. If we maintain an eternal perspective, we realize that the ways in which God asks us to obey Him on this earth are totally worth it. And we learn to, above all, desire His will... in everything from our immediate circumstances (like our house remodel project) to our future, in Mexico or elsewhere.