Believe And Be Baptized - Mark 16:16

Today's message might be a hard one for some of you, but I would just ask that you be open to the Holy Spirit's leading and let God's word speak truth to you (John 17:17 "Sanctify them by Your truth.  Your word is truth").

On a personal note, this last week has been a long and tiring one for the Rudys.  Jake has been sick most of the week, I have had 5th grade basketball tryouts/draft all week, and Kay has been running around supporting us just as she always does (and she helped organized running a concession stand at the high school football game Friday night).  And then Saturday, our day of rest, was full from 9am - 9pm with school responsibilities and another church function that had all 3 of us on our feet for 6 hours.  So Sunday morning, Kay took Jake to the doctor, and I decided to watch our church service online.  I praise God for how he is using technology in positive ways, as I was really touched by the time the service ended and I just knew God was calling me to write a devotion on this topic.

The sermon yesterday was titled "Obey Today".  In the previous week's sermon, we read in Genesis 16 how we need to heed the Lord's timing and sometimes continue to "Wait on the Lord".  Well this week in Chapter 17, it is all about action. This week's message was that "delayed obedience is actually disobedience".  The main points of the sermon were to Obey Today: 1) No matter how long it takes 2) no matter how hard it is 3) no matter how crazy it sounds.  And one of the examples the pastor used was baptism.  Every example of baptism in the New Testament has these 2 characteristics: 1) It was a believer being baptized 2) the baptism was done that same day the believer confessed his faith.  Some examples of these baptisms are in: Acts 8:36; 9:17; 10:44,49; 16:14-5; 16:32.  I won't go in to these examples, but please read for yourself from God's word and let His Truth wash over you.

For a demonstration of what Believer Baptism looks like, I have two videos for you.  The first is from this week's service - the one I mentioned above.  Go straight to the 1:10:45 mark in the following link (the baptisms only last about 3 1/2 minutes):   http://livestream.com/PurcellvilleBaptistChurch/events/4423093/videos/102258855

And the second, hits a lot closer to home for most of us.  The clip below is from last Sunday where our own Jake was baptized.  Jake had been baptized with the rest of our family in our backyard pool many years ago when he was quite young.  He had confessed and professed his faith at the time, but over the last year or so, Jake has really made his faith his own and recommitted himself to the Lord.  And as an act of obedience to God and as a way to publicly demonstrate his faith, Jake got baptized again in front of the church and his whole family (the girls were home) last Sunday.  It was a powerful sight to see and I am so proud of my son and the man of God that he is becoming. 

http://livestream.com/PurcellvilleBaptistChurch/events/4409558/videos/101691836 (Jake is at 1:13:00; you can also hear Hannah lead a couple of worship songs at 3:20 and 10:10)

Now let me be clear about what believer baptism is and is not.  Believer baptism is a testimony of our faith and a public declaration that we believe in and follow Jesus Christ.  Baptism is NOT a requirement for salvation, as is clear in many scripture references such as Ephesians 2:8-9 and John 5:24.  So, I challenge you to read all the scripture references in this devotion and let God speak to you through his word.  Don't ever take my (and any other fallible human's) words as "gospel truth", but test what you hear against scripture just as Paul commended the Bereans for doing so (Acts 17:11).  And finally our God is a patient and loving God, and it is never too late while we are still in this world, to be obedient to His will for our lives.  So read, meditate, and pray about baptism, and then be bold for Christ and take action! 

...and don't forget to love God with all your heart, love others as He does, and use every minute for His will and to His glory!

How Many Times Am I Expected To Forgive Someone - Matthew ‬ 18:21-35

Matthew‬ ‭18:21-35‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

"Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. "But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.""
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Another week another parable...and today's parable is a tough one for many of us.  This passage in Matthew is often called The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.  Jesus tells the story of a certain king who wanted to settle the outstanding debts that were owed him.  This king had great compassion on a debtor of his though and forgave him all his debts.  But then this debtor then turned around and had no compassion on someone who owed him a much smaller sum!

Jesus tells us that this parable is representative of the Kingdom of Heaven.  The king, Our Heavenly King, has forgiven all the debt we have built up throughout our lives.  I don't know about you, but I have a huge pile of sin debt that has accumulated over the last 50 years and there is no human way that I could ever pay it off.  Fortunately for you and I, our eternal all-knowing God has structured the perfect debt repayment plan for us.  God in his wisdom and providence provisioned for the repayment of our debts through the ultimate sacrifice of his one and only son on the cross at Calvary.  Praise God for this undeserved act of grace and mercy!

Now given the tremendous debt that we have been forgiven by our heavenly father, how small in comparison are the debts and grievances that we stubbornly hold against our brothers and sisters?  How can we hold these petty debts, when our massive debts have been erased by a loving God? And God in His wisdom cares not only about our eternal well-being but he also cares about our temporal lives on earth.  Many studies (eg Mayo Clinic) have shown that unforgiveness or carrying a grudge causes stress, anxiety and depression.  We need to heed God's call for forgiveness so that we improve the health of our lives now and for eternity.  Add if we are truly repentant believers, we will naturally have that spirit of forgiveness in our hearts that God has planted there. 

So think about anyone you may be holding a grudge against or anyone who you have not fully forgiven.  If we are honest, I am sure each of us is holding back forgiveness from someone in our lives.  Get on your knees now and ask God for his forgiveness for your unforgiveness for your brother or sister. Then pray and ask God to grant you now the ability to have that spirit of forgiveness.  And if a relationship still needs to be healed, reach out to that person and offer genuine forgiveness and express your desire for real healing.

...and don't forget to love God with all your heart, love others as He does, and use every minute for His will and to His glory!

Let Your Light Shine so Your Good Works Glorify God - Matthew‬ ‭5:14-16‬

Matthew‬ ‭5:14-16‬ ‭NKJV‬

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

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As I mentioned in my last devotion, God revealed the power of story to me on our trip to Punjab. So as God leads, I am going to periodically share some more devotions based on the stories and parables of Jesus.

Today's message is based on Matthew 5:14-16 where believers are called the light of the world and that we should let our lights shine before men.  The parable here is that the purpose of lighting a lamp is to provide light.  You would never light a lamp and then hide it under a basket, as you want to give light to all in the house!

As Christ-followers, we are called to do the same.  We need to fellowship with and encourage other believers.  And even more importantly, we need to witness to those who have not heard about Christ or who do not have that personal relationship yet.  So, what is stopping you from being a bold witness for Christ?  What is the root of the fear that is holding you back?  I suggest you meditate and pray about that and ask God to help you overcome this obstacle.

And finally, we are called to do good works.  Good works will not save us but good works are the natural outgrowth of a saving faith.  So, do good works and let your light shine through these good works.  But when people recognize these good works, make sure you point them to Christ and give God all the glory!  Yes, it is important for us to meet the physical needs of our brethren, but it is even more important to point people to Christ for their eternal salvation.  Don't get in the way of God's desire to have all men turn to him and be saved.

And for you President Reagan fans, this passage also reminds me of President Reagan's references to a "Shining City Upon a Hill".  This "city upon a hill" originally came from a sermon by Puritan John Winthrop titled "A Model of Christian Charity".  The message is the same that we should be a model of good works for the world, but always giving God the glory.  Here is a short 2 minute clip to hear President Reagan's reference to this city in his farewell speech in 1989.  You gotta love Ronnie...  Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c32G868tor0

...and don't forget to love God with all your heart, love others as He does, and use every minute for His will and to His glory!

You Don't Need To Run To God - Luke‬ 15:11- 24‬

Luke‬ ‭15:11-24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

"And he said, "There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate."

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In my previous devotion about my mission trip to Punjab with Faith, I listed a few things that God taught and retaught me through this experience. One of the things he showed me was the power of story. We shared Bible stories in our revival meetings, as well as in the dozens of homes we visited, and these stories were such an effective method of reaching these people with the gospel.

Now I am sure many of us reading this devotion have heard these stories since our childhood and I think we take for granted their message and what it tells us about our God. But we have to remember 2 Tim 3:16 that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness."  We cannot ignore any of scripture, as God has a message for us in every single word.

Well one of the stories that I shared in several homes in Punjab was the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The story is well-known to all of us and clearly displays God's infinite forgiveness.  No matter what we do in this life that may be counter to God's plan, He will always forgive us if we just turn, repent, and ask Him.  But one thing I find so powerful about this parable is that it demonstrates that we do not need to run and chase after God pleading for this forgiveness.  In the parable, when the father first saw the son far off in the distance, he immediately ran and embraced and kissed the son.  The son did not need to crawl back to the father and grovel at his feet for forgiveness.  In fact, the father treated the son like royalty by putting a robe, ring, and shoes on him and killing the fattened calf and throwing a party for him.  This son had just wasted away half of the father's wealth and now he was treating him like a King!  How much greater will the Lord's love for us be, when we repent and turn toward him!

So no matter what you have done, or no matter how far you have drifted away from God, know that if you just turn he will be right there next to you with open arms.  James 4:8 says "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you".  This is a promise with a very simple condition - just turn toward Him.  The price has already been paid - while we were yet sinners, God sent his son to die for us (Romans 5:8).  I pray today that you would meditate on this scripture and that you would feel and truly know this amazing love that God has for us.

...and don't forget to love God with all your heart, love others as He does, and use every minute for His will and to His glory!

For the Sake of Punjab

It has been quite a while since my last post, but I wanted to share about a mission trip to Punjab, India that I just returned from.  Below is my trip summary that I hope gives you a glimpse of what we encountered in Punjab.  Also included is a link to a trip video produced by the organization (For All Mankind Movement) that sent us.  The music overlay for the video is a worship song called "For the Sake of the World", so I have titled this blog post "For the Sake of Punjab".  To God be the Glory!  

...and don't forget to love God with all your heart, love others as He does, and use every minute for His will and to His glory!

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Dear Friends and Family,

I am writing this upon our return from Punjab, India.  Although I could not share with you before-hand which country we were traveling to (because of security reasons), I indeed got the chance to go back to one of my favorite countries in the world.  As I shared with you in my initial letter, Faith was called to go on this mission trip through her church in Lynchburg, and she invited me along also!

Let me first say that this trip has impacted me spiritually like no other event in my life so far.  I could write 10 pages of what happened to us in Punjab, but I want you to actually finish reading this letter.  :)  So, I will summarize our trip and then give examples in each category of what I call my four P's of the Punjab trip: Praying, Preaching, Playing, and People-loving.

Our standard day consisted of: waking around 7am, getting ready, team devotion, playing with village kids before school, breakfast at 9am, home visits all day (including lunch at someone's house), compassion kit "gospel revival" parties from about 7-9pm, dinner at the house of compassion kit party, return home around 11pm, lights out at midnight…lather, rinse, repeat….  ;)     We were physically, mentally, and spiritually drained after every day, but God provided everything we needed exactly when we needed it!

Our team included Faith, me, and a guy "Mike" we met from Lynchburg.  We lived in a 3 room, 1 story, 20x20 feet slab "house" with a "hover" toilet and buckets for a shower.  During our trip, the three of us visited 12 villages, held 4 "gospel revival" meetings for 480 people, had 40 decisions for Christ, conducted 44 in-home visits, and individually prayed over and laid hands on about 400 people.  We had a local pastor (Sonu) and local translator (Baljinder) that accompanied us on all visits.  The key part of this effort is that the local pastor then will follow up in the coming weeks with the people we visited.  The pastors love having us here because it creates an exciting event where they can get many more people to attend.

Now to my four P's of the Punjab trip…

Praying: This trip was all about prayer.  I was impacted in a big way by how much the believers in Punjab wove prayer throughout all their activities.  We arose each day with prayer, when we ate we prayed, when we went to bed we prayed, we even prayed over a glass of water or soda we were given in homes.  We never left a home visit without prayer for the needs of that house and that they would know Jesus. Each evening gospel revival meeting was full of prayer, and at the end of the meeting people would line up for us to pray over them.  My most memorable prayer times were over a man trying to overcome alcohol addiction (Sukhwinder), a man separated from his wife, a very sick man who was bed-ridden, and a man who chased and continually yelled at us to come to his house to pray for his family.

Preaching:  The evening gospel revival meetings (called compassion kit parties) were quite the affair. They lasted up to 2 hours and included singing (with drums), a welcoming from our pastor and then speeches from the 3 "Americans".  One of us would give our personal testimony, one would share a Bible story of how Jesus changed a person's life, and the final person would share the gospel story and explain how they can accept Jesus and have their lives changed too!  Then our pastor would wrap up and summarize the messages, give an invitation, and close in prayer.  Then the lines of people with prayer requests would form.  It was a physically and emotionally tiring end of the day, but so amazingly uplifting at the same time!

Playing: The Punjabi people are such a welcoming and fun-loving people.  We sang with kids, played marbles in the dirt, played kickball, and even played a video game (it was literally about 30 year old technology).  Our five-person team also bonded tightly and we joked with each other throughout the week.  The warmness and servant nature of everyone there gave us the energy to keep going when our tanks were running empty.

People-loving:  An important part of our mission was just to love on people wherever they were.  We got to know many people in our host home village, especially the little children who would come around before school.  Faith made a big impact on the kids who showed their love through hugs and pictures and notes they made for her.  On the first day, we met a small girl around 4-5 years old that was screaming at the top of her lungs scared to death of Faith's white skin.  She had never seen a white-skinned person before and she thought Faith was made of cotton (did not think she was human).  But by the second day through the power of God's love shown through us, they were snuggling and hugging for pictures.  We also showed love to the homes we visited by our questions about their lives and always thanking them for their hospitality.  And we tried to love on our local pastor and translator through our words, actions, and gifts.  We have even kept in contact with them to encourage and pray for them through Facebook and WhatsApp (a texting app)!  Technology being used for good!    

As I mentioned above, this trip had a huge impact on my faith walk.  God taught me so many things each day, but here are a few key things I learned and re-learned (and how I will apply them):

• Prayer is powerful:  Don't limit my prayers.  I need to pray for people's needs regardless of whether my human mind believes God can answer them. When I see a prayer need now, I am going to pray over that person right there, and not just put them on my prayer list.
• We are to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ: The Punjabi people were always taking care of and serving us.  By the end of the trip, this servant nature was rubbing off on me.  I need to find ways to cultivate and apply this spirit of serving at home and in my community.
• Story can be an effective tool in any culture:  I really enjoyed telling Bible stories to the Punjabi people and God may have given me a gifting and desire for story-telling.  I am going to read over the gospels and memorize parables and other stories of Jesus' ministry.  I will share those stories with my friends and other people I meet in the US.
• Through Christ's strength, we can handle anything:  Even after just one day, we found ourselves very comfortable without western "necessities", and more confident in an environment where we were being stretched mentally and spiritually.  I think comforts and entertainment distractions keep us from seeking God.  I will try to organize a mission trip with other family members.  I will also consider what God wants me to do after my current income needs decrease (4-5 years).
• Memorized scripture means you always have a Bible in hand: I will continue to expand my memorization of verses that I can use to encourage fellow believers and share the gospel with non-believers.  "The word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword."  (Hebrews 4:12) 

I cannot thank each and every one of you enough for your financial and prayerful support.  We felt completely bathed in prayer and that is what helped to sustain and encourage us through the long days.  Both Faith and I have grown so much from this trip and we are committed to living changed lives back here at home also.  Check out my pictures and videos at the Flickr link below and let me know what you think of our experience!   https://www.flickr.com/photos/therudys/sets/72157651320439906/

Also here is a link to a video of our trip produced by the organization (For All Mankind Movement) that organized the trip.  You will find both Faith and me in here a few times.  https://vimeo.com/123464519

Finally, I would challenge each of you to consider the words of Jesus to his disciples in Matthew 9:37-38 "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."  There are many to be reached around the world and even right here at home.  I urge you to seek and pray that God will convict and direct you to your mission field.   But whatever you do, remember to give God all the glory.  We are all just instruments in the hands of the Master Builder.

Again thanks everyone and blessings to you all,

Kevin Rudy