Just to give you a little window into our lives:

The Fear of the Lord is a frequent concept in Scripture. It is hard to describe because we often think, "Wait, I thought we were supposed to trust God, or love God, or adore God, but where does Fear come into view.

Well, fear, I have heard really means respect. But, I am not sure I buy that. I mean was that the message that we are supposed to take from Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal. Fire comes down from heaven and utterly consumes Elijah's offering after he has mocked the prophets of Baal and suggested that maybe their "god" is on the toilet and thats why he can't show up for them. Then they slaughter the prophets. But what is the response of the people immediately- they fall on their faces- not in respect only- but in fear and worship because they had been following and worshiping that Baal that had just been thoroughly mocked and destroyed in front of them. Now, if you keep reading, this does not cause full-scale repentance throughout Israel, because they quickly forget this fear and run to other things and not to the Lord. I bring this up because I want to show that fear for sure includes the idea of respect but not that alone- it includes well... fear.

Now what do we do with this fear? Do we run from the Lord and hide somewhere? No. We run to the Lord and hide in him. We fear because he is Holy and we are not, we fear because he is greater and has the power to condemn us because of our sin. But, the fear of the Lord means we take that fear and run to the Lord himself and make Him, through Jesus' death on the cross our new hiding place.

But, back to my original question: how is this created?

Well, this morning I read Isaiah 29:13 which says:

13 And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

I was hit with this verse and particularly that the Lord is accusing Israel of where they are getting their "Fear of the Lord." They are being told and taught by men, "Fear the Lord." But they have no experience of that, they have never apprehended his holiness and measured themselves by it. They think all is good because they are listening to the words of these teachers but never really engaging with the Lord of Hosts. I think we do this often. We go to church, we read the bible, read books, we do all of this, fearing the Lord because men tell us to without really taking a look at the Lord himself and truly fearing him.

So what is God's response in Isaiah. Is it a repeat of the prophets of Baal incident? Is that what we are to look to and hope for?

14 therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden."

He promises to do wonder upon wonder in their midst and something that will confound the wise and destroy the powers. What could this be?

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1st Corinthians 1: 18-25

The foolishness of the cross is wiser than the wisest philosophy or professor, the smartest author, the craftiest preacher, or any commandment of men. The weakness of the cross is stronger than any world power, nuclear missile, technology, or brute strength. And the cross is wonder upon wonder that God has done, revealing himself, his justice and his mercy. Do you want to know who to fear when it comes to your sin- look at the cross for that is what sin deserves. And when you do you will also see the only place you can run for mercy and forgiveness.

It just so happened that today in my reading I also read Ephesians 2. Do you want to see wonder upon wonder and gain the fear of the Lord? Read it. Study it. Fear Him. Love Him. Trust Him. Adore Him.

A senior Ball State Student, close friend, and a guy that I discipled for a few years made this video series for his senior animation project. Its the same concept for his upcoming music album about letters to and from God. Check it out and be refreshed in the gospel.

Matt will be interning with Cru next year at IU, Lord willing. Please pray for him as he raises his financial support and prepares to be sent from Ball State to IU. Let me know if you know anyone who would be interested in hearing about his ministry.

Does your view of God's sovereignty affect your participation in global missions?

It should.

Last week at Together for the Gospel, David Platt gave one of the most powerful messages I have heard on the topic of global missions. He taught from Revelation 5 that when we have a high view of God's absolute sovereign control over all things for all time, we will willingly lay down our lives for the sake of all nations coming to know Jesus. When we understand that God has a plan for the completion of the great commission and that the people in that plan were purchased by the blood of Jesus, then we will pray, give, and go differently. We will sacrifice what we want for the sake of Jesus' plan for the nations. We will pray with confidence that God will use our prayers to bring about the salvation of unreached people groups. We will give generously and sacrificially so that the gospel can be proclaimed to the ends of the earth. And we will go with zeal to bring the gospel even at the cost of our lives. Jesus is worthy! Let us as the church of Jesus Christ take seriously his call to go to the nations.



In Christ alone,
Josh

How does Eternity affect our daily life?

This is the question that was posed to the students at Ball State Cru when Whitney and I took a vision trip to our weekly meeting last week. We got in our car and drove for about 5 minutes to get to campus and get to our first weekly meeting of the year. We wanted to go and be refreshed with what God is doing at Ball State to encourage us to continue to persevere in support raising, get to 100% and get back to the job we love so much!
It was refreshing to say the least. Connecting with students, worshiping the Lord together and seeing the great work that God is doing definitely has propelled us forward to finish this season of support raising and get back to campus.

A good friend of mine gave the talk that night on eternity- what does that mean, what are the options for where we spend eternity, and how does that affect our lives today? Its a weighty topic with massive implications for our daily living. If life is simply 70 or maybe 80 years and then we will spend the rest of infinite time either with the Lord of glory or away from his presence suffering for our sins, than there could not be a more important topic. During the meeting a sort of "holy anxiety" overwhelmed me with the knowledge that there were students in that room who don't know Jesus and that their eternities are hanging in the balance. It renewed my passion to plead with the Lord to have mercy and to pour out his Spirit upon our movement in saving men and women from their sin and giving them eternal life through the death and resurrection of his son Jesus. Will you pray with us for these students and the countless others who were not at this meeting who do not know Jesus. That God would use us, this movement of students and the other staff to answer the call of God to proclaim the mercy of God in Jesus to this campus and that he would save many.

It also renewed in us a desire to answer the call of God on our life to reach the lost here at Ball State. Please pray with us that God will complete our support team so that we can answer the call of God on our life for His glory.
Thank you so much to our supporters, friends, and family who are behind us in this journey to get back to Ball State. You have taken eternity seriously and sacrificed time, energy and money to allow us to be here and serve the Lord. Thank you! It is significant and wonderful!