Humphreys E-vents November 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

“What are you most thankful for?” I was asked this challenging question recently at a gathering. I had to set aside the worries and stresses that filled my mind, and reduce it all down to just one thing. For me, one Bible passage came to mind.

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

Regardless of what’s going on in our lives, we are thankful. And it’s all because of the HOPE we have in Jesus Christ. This is truly good news!

Here’s what we’ve been up to recently:

TRAVEL:

We did have plans to go to Alberta as a family for the annual GoodSeed Bible Camp staff retreat, but plans changed at the very last moment when we realized that Titus’ passport had just expired and we couldn’t travel across the border. So instead, we drove to MO to spend some time with Joy’s folks as well as her brother and family. We’re thankful for the special time God gave us together.

Celebration:

Our little Andy turned 3 years old on November 12^th! We thank God every day for entrusting him to us. He is such a happy, healthy, little boy—but he’s sure growing up fast!

Ministry:

Writing projects continue to be a priority as I work on the GoodSeed eNewsletter, correspondence, and content for the website each month. If you are interested in reading what I’ve been working on, go to http://www.goodseed.com/about/enews/ to subscribe to the GoodSeed eNewsletter.

We’re thankful that the Lord continues to give opportunities to build relationships with our neighbors, Joe & Kathy (not their real names), who don’t know the Lord yet. It’s awesome to see them asking some really great questions about God, Jesus, and the Bible. Recently, while hanging out at our place on a Sunday evening, Joe made this comment:

“You know, I really want to understand the Bible. I’ve tried reading it, but it’s just so confusing—it just doesn’t make any sense. What I really need is the ‘Cliff notes to the Bible.’ If only there was a book or something that could explain it to me in simple terms… I think that might help.”

It was a perfect opening to give Joe and Kathy The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus. On the way out the door, they both said they couldn’t wait to read it! Sure enough, it only took Joe 1 ½ days to read the whole thing. Now he is studying through the book on his own for the second time. Meanwhile Kathy is also reading through it for herself. Please pray that in the very near future we will see our dear neighbors begin a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Work Trip:

Looking ahead, we have more potential travel plans in the works. The new office building for GoodSeed in Alberta, Canada is under construction. We are prayerfully exploring the possibility of me (Scott) going up to work on completing some of the interior construction that needs to be done sometime in the next few weeks. For more information about this project: http://www.goodseed.com/donate/building-international/.

Thank you so much for your part in our lives and ministry. Drop us a line if you get a chance—we’d love to hear from you!

Grace & Peace,

Scott & Joy Humphreys, Chad, Titus, Andy.

The Gavel of Grace

For years I knew little

Of God’s history and ways
I thought that the Bible
Was a make-believe maze

But when I checked further
Really studied the book
Its message made me glad
I took the time to look

In its many pages
A story was explained
God was Lord Creator
And in control remained

All His laws were broken
By independent man
But God in his wisdom
Designed a loving plan

A Savior He promised
His own Son it would be
Through a substitute death
Sinful man could go free

The Judge of all judges
Could not look at His Son
Law’s gavel descended
Its work had to be done

When justice was complete
The Substitute lay dead
The Father’s only Son
Had paid man’s sins instead

But death was not the end
God gave to Him new life
The Savior ascended
Up away from earth’s strife

In heaven He now lives
At His Father’s right hand
Law’s gavel is finished
On the cross it did land

The Lord patiently waits
For us all to believe
To place our faith in Him
Christ’s work for us receive

The gavel that condemns
God says I’ll never face
Furthermore he’s lifted
The gavel of his grace

The verdict from His bench
Still echoes in my ear
God declared me RIGHTEOUS!
No basis now to fear

The gavel of God’s grace
Has fallen upon me
Reckoning me righteous
Justified-- pure as He!

So now I understand
The biblical worldview
No more a fairy-tale
For me I know it’s true

Refrain:

The gavel has fallen
Fallen twice by God’s grace
It fell first at the Cross
When Christ died in my place

It fell again later
At faith’s moment in time
When Judge of all judges
Made His righteousness mine

Paul W. Humphreys (July 14, 2009)

Fifty Years in a Pew

“You know, I’ve been just sitting here in the same pew for fifty years…” Thelma declared to me.

The elderly woman was clutching an aluminum cane, her big KJV Bible, and a Stranger book as she shuffled to the front of the classroom after participating in the last session of a TERM seminar. Despite her stooped posture, everything about her demeanor was proper; silver hair, a light blue dress, pearls and thick glasses. I noticed, though, from the quiver in her voice and the welling moisture in her eyes that she had more to say.

Thelma continued, “But I want you to know that before this weekend, I had no idea that all those stories in the Old Testament had anything to do with the New Testament. But now, it’s like after all these years the lights have turned on and I’m reading my Bible for the first time again. What Jesus did was so incredible when you know all the history which led up to it…Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I can’t wait to give this book (The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus) to my grandson!”

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."—John 8:12

Praise the Lord that the light of Christ shone brightly into this elderly woman’s understanding in a way that will certainly reflect on others. From what she shared with me, I think it’s safe to say that Thelma’s days of “just sitting in her pew” are over.

Examine yourself. To find out what?

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith. Prove

your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how

that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

(II Cor. 13:5)

Do we realize what we are being told here? God is telling us

to examine ourselves, NOT to see whether WE are righteous, but

to see whether our faith is in He who is righteous. We are NOT

to examine our works, or our spiritual condition, to see if WE

measure up. No. No. No. We are to examine ourselves to see

whether we are in the faith -- that is -- to see whether we are

putting all of that aside and placing our faith and rest in Jesus

Christ.

The Truth here is fundamental Christianity. But it has been

smothered with religiousity for two-thousand years. God is

telling us that our spiritual condition depends NOT upon what we

do, nor upon what we are. It depends upon foremost upon who

we trust. The self-examination of which Paul speaks is unto that

end: Upon WHAT is my confidence before God based? Upon

my works? Upon my spiritual condition? Or upon Jesus Christ?

Arnold's Story

The destination for the week-long teen mission trip was in a community that some would call a blight on the face of the state’s opulent tourist industry. A failing local economy, increasing drug-related violence, and growing instances of HIV/AIDS had choked the small town with an oppressive air of hopelessness.

One afternoon, the lush grass under the shade of the locust tree was a welcome, though slight, relief from the heat and humidity. Gnats and fire ants competed for the attention of the thirty or so Haitian, Jamaican, and Puerto Rican children who sat listening to the Bible lesson. Earlier that morning, Arnold, the 13 year old lad sitting next to me, had herded a number of his younger siblings and cousins out of the government housing projects to the field where we now sat.

“Hey, how d’ you git that?” interrupted Arnold with a strong Latino accent.

“Get what?” I whispered back, hinting that he lower his voice, which he didn’t.

“’ternal life—I wanna know how t’ git it.” This time he spoke with even more intensity.

I assured him we could talk afterward to avoid distracting the other children. Later, when we dismissed, Arnold shadowed me closely until we had a chance to talk.

I knew we had an hour or two before the kids were allowed to go home, so I decided to take some time to acquaint Arnold with the big picture of the Bible. I didn’t have a study guide, a Stranger book, a Lamb book, or visual aids—nothing apart from my little travel Bible. I had, however, taught a number of creation-to-cross studies, so I had a chronological framework in my mind from which to tell the story. So I began, starting in Genesis. Shortly, I came to the place where I explained that death had three parts, each a separation as a consequence of sin. To illustrate the point, I asked Arnold, who was captivated by this time, “Have you ever been to a funeral and saw someone who had died?” The young man’s face grew solemn as his gaze dropped to the grass where we sat.

“Yes,” he answered quietly, “lots of times.” Then to my growing sadness, he began to list those he had seen die, beginning with his own mother. She had been murdered right outside his bedroom door only the year before. The boy continued: an uncle, a grandmother, a friend’s dad…the list was long and wrought with sickness and violence. Then it struck me. Arnold was urgently concerned about eternal life because he had seen so much death in his short life. And in the face of such grief, he was looking for answers, looking for hope.

After that, it didn’t take much time to finish the rest of the story, arriving at the account of the empty cross and the empty tomb. We then looked together at some verses which included Romans 6:23 and John 3:16:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (ESV)

Arnold had known the sting of death, but now his question about eternal life was satisfied. Tears of joy and relief flowed as he expressed his trust in Jesus as his savior.

Titus and his little froggie.

Titus, our little 4 1/2 year old loves his pet frog--a girl it turns out. He brought it home a couple months ago after catching it in a freind's pond. Flies, worms, in fact anything he can catch is fair game for frog food. We're actually surprised he kept it alive this long.

Relationship -vs- Fellowship

“Chad, Titus, come—pizza’s ready—Time for supper!” I yelled from the second-story porch just off the kitchen. Since arriving in Papua New Guinea as missionaries, we had tried to set aside Fridays as family nights. My wife Joy would use her creative missionary culinary skills to invent wonderful pizza, often substituting local ingredients in place of those items one would typically expect on a pizza. The results were never a disappointment, and, when combined with games or a video, family night became (and still remains) the highlight of our week. This particular Friday it was already getting late and two of our boys, Chad and Titus, were still outside playing.

Running around the corner and up the stairs was Chad, the oldest. “Where’s your little brother?” I inquired.

“I dunno—but I think he’s got a problem!” He hollered over the slamming screen door.

Typically the two would race inside, jockeying for the lead. I figured I ought to go investigate Titus’ whereabouts. No sooner had I reached the bottom of the stairs when from behind the banana trees (where earlier I had told the boys NOT to play) there came the familiar distressing cries of my three-year-old. My ears followed his hysterics until I got close enough for my nose to be clued in to his predicament.

There was my son Titus, shirtless and barefoot, with tears streaming down his distraught little face. The “problem” Chad alluded to was that he had stepped in a massive, fresh, steaming dog pile—with both feet. He stood frozen in the muck of his gross dilemma, but frozen also because he had been caught in his disobedience. Titus had worked himself into such a fit by this time, stomping and crying, that for me to intervene would only get me covered in the same mess. So I stood close by (but upwind) from my son, waiting patiently for him to settle down. Eventually his tantrum slowed. He wiped his tears with one hand, while continuing to plug his nose with the other. Titus opened his eyes, turned, and looked up at me. With a small voice, between sobs he said, “Daddy, I was playin’ over here and stepped in doggy poop… (sniffle)…will you please help me get … (snuff)… cleaned up? I wanna go upstairs with you for pizza.”

So what do you think I did? Of course, I carefully scooped him in my arms, carried him over to the hose and began washing his feet. I removed the consequences of my son’s disobedience so that we could go upstairs and have family night together. Our fellowship was restored, but our relationship was never in question…no matter what he had stepped in.

The illustration was evidently clear to Shirley, as a smile joined her tears. This is truly Good News! I was able to assure her that as we wrap up our study in By This Name, we will look at more examples in the Bible that illustrate our position as children of God.

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”—1 John 5:13

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”—1 John 1:9

“… [nothing] else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”—Romans 8:39

The Heavenly Father sent Jesus to die on the cross not only to deal with our sin and its gross consequences, but also to establish a place for us in his eternal family. Regardless of what we might “step in” on this earth, as His children (relationship) we can be certain that our fellowship with God can be restored.