Report on trip to Chalchocoyo

Thanks to those of you who prayed for my trip to Chalchocoyo, San Luis Potosí. My dad and I had a great time. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was there with my family when I was a child (4 years old) and my dad preached in one of the first annual conferences held there. Now, 31 years later, I was privileged to preach at the conference. It was a tremendous blessing to meet several people who attended the conference 31 years ago, including the current pastor of the church (who was also 4 years old when I first visited!).

The theme of the conference was "Faith in action in a materialistic world." I preached three messages on living the life of faith, primarily from Hebrews 11. What a joy it was to call God's people to a single minded focus on him and to a life self-sacrificial obedience and service!

Here are some photos of our trip (with commentary). Click on the photos to enlarge.

The church where the conference was held:





To give you an idea of the humble circumstances in which the people of this church live, here's the church kitchen where the (amazingly delicious) meals were prepared (notice the "stove" in the second photo):


The village of Chalchocoyo is situated on the side of a mountain. Most of people in the village still speak the local indigenous dialect, Náhuatl, although the majority now speak Spanish as well (the pastor still preaches in this dialect). From the road, most of the houses belonging to the 7,000+ residents of the village are hidden by the thick forest. It is common to see people carrying water and wood to their homes.


The area is simply beautiful. Here's some shots taken from the road going up the mountain to the village.

What does it mean to be converted?

I was greatly edified by this powerful video by Kirk Cameron and John MacArthur on what it means to be born again. I was especially moved by the strong testimony to Christ's lordship and God's sovereignty in salvation. Cameron says:

You didn't find Jesus. Jesus wasn't lost--you were, and he found you! ... I wasn't seeking after the Jesus of the Bible. His demands are far too high. What God wants from me is total and complete surrender and a dying to myself. I wasn't looking for that!... I was lost and God found me and he drew me in to the truth of Scripture and caused me to embrace it with all of my heart. And that's the beauty of the power of God--to take a guy who's not seeking God and all and to seek him out to find him and to make him a new creature in Christ.

On theology, conscience, faith and humility

A great quote from J.I. Packer (one of the most quotable fellows out there):

"If our theology does not quicken the conscience and soften the heart, it actually hardens both; if it does not encourage the commitment of faith, it reinforces the detachment of unbelief; if it fails to promote humility, it inevitably feeds pride." (A Quest for Godliness, 15.)

HT: Ray Ortlund.

Chalchocoyo, San Luis Potosí

Lord willing, next week I will be traveling with my dad down to a little mountain village of Chalchocoyo in the state of San Luis Potosí. About 30 years ago I visited this little village with my parents (shown in this photo).

Each year the church there hosts a conference and when we visited 30 years ago my dad spoke at that conference. This year, I will be privileged to speak at the same conference. Please pray for me this week as I prepare my messages. I will be speaking on Hebrews 11.

The latest from the Gibson household

HOT!

It's February 27 and it's 100 104 degrees here in Monterrey. Looks like it's going to be a long summer......

Good question

A while back Jonathan (7 years old) asked me, "Daddy, why did God make Adam and Eve if he knew they were going to sin?" Hmm. It's easier to answer that question from one of my 20-something college students than from my seven-year-old.

Are you meek?

What does it mean to be meek and why did this particular characteristic make it to #3 of Jesus' "Top 8" list of the characteristics of kingdom citizens? Today, while preparing my message for Sunday on the third beatitude, I came across the following helpful quotes:

D.A. Carson says,

"Poverty in spirit has to do with a person's assessment of himself, especially with respect to God, while meekness has more to do with his relationship with God and with men." (Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World, p. 20)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones agrees.

"Meekness is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in attitude and conduct with respect to others. . . . The man who is truly meek is the one who is amazed that God and man can think of him as well as they do and treat him as well as they do." (quoted by John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, p. 43).

So how will this affect our relationship with other people?

We are to leave everything—our rights, our cause, our whole future—in the hands of God, and especially if we feel we are suffering unjustly." (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, quoted by Carson, p. 21)

According to Stott, "this makes him [the meek man] gentle, humble, sensitive, patient in all his dealings with others."

So Sinclair Ferguson defines meekness as follows:

"It is humble strength that belongs to the man who has learned to submit to difficulties (difficult experiences and difficult people), knowing that in everything God is working for his Good. The meek man is the one who as stood before God's judgment and abdicated all his supposed 'rights'. He has learned, in gratitude for God's grace, to submit himself to the Lord and to be gentle with others." (The Sermon on the Mount, p. 21)

So how does one become meek? It seems that meekness grows out of the first two beatitudes: those who recognize their absolute spiritual poverty and bankruptcy before God ("blessed are the poor in spirit", v. 3) and who are characterized by a humble, broken repentance because of their own sinfulness ("blessed are those who mourn", v. 4) will, in turn, be characterized by a humble, patient, gentle, sensitive meekness in their dealings with other people. So if this third beatitude is missing, it is likely that we need to grow in the first two. I don't make myself meek. Rather, as I am exposed to the white-hot holiness of God in his Word and to the gospel's assessment of my own sinfulness and depravity, the Holy Spirit will form in me poverty in spirit and repentance and, as a consequence, meekness in my attitudes and dealings with others.

Church Inauguration

Thanks to those of you who prayed for the inauguration of Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida! God blessed, and by his grace we had a wonderful day. We were blessed to have a good number of guests from Iglesia Bautista Genesaret, our church's "mother church," as well as our missionary colleagues and several students from the university with us. The services and activities were very uplifting and joyful as we celebrated God's grace in bringing us to this special day. Here are some photos of the services and the meal afterward.




















Thanks to our friend and colleague, Russell Raymer for the photos.

Prayer request

This Sunday, the 22nd of February, our church plant will be formally organized as a local church under the name "Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida." We appreciate your prayers for Sunday.

A Mexican used car parts shop

Ok, one more video from our day on the town. This totally cracked me up. If you ever need a part for any kind of vehicle, this is the place to look--but good luck finding what you want! This can't be described, you have to see it....

A day on the town

A couple weeks ago during our Christmas break our family took a day trip down-town Monterrey. First we took the metro (the city’s public transportation train) to a large park called “Fundidora” near the center of town. In the park we took a 45 minute boat ride down-town through the “Paseo Santa Lucia,” Monterrey’s version of San Antonio’s River Walk (although I personally think the Paseo is even nicer than the River Walk). Upon arriving at the central Plaza by boat we ate some tacos at a taco stand and then returned home via the boat and the Metro.

We wanted to share with you some photos and videos our excellent family adventure in the beautiful city of Monterrey. If you've never visited Monterrey, here's your chance.

Beginning our journey at the entrance to the metro station

On the metro

Disembarking the metro at "La estación Fundidora"

After leaving the metro, we walked past the "Arena Monterrey," a multi-purpose arena located in Fundidora

The "Fundidora" park is one of our favorite places to visit as a family in Monterrey. Part of our walk across the park to the river.

Now we're at the head of the river, the "Paseo Santa Lucia," where we will board the boat to take the ride down-town.

On the boat...

Arrival down-town at the "Macro-plaza," the central plaza in Monterrey

The taco stand we ate at (not exactly Monterrey's finest, but....)

The rest of the pictures are of our return trip on the boat down the Paseo Santa Lucia

A great view from the river of our famous mountain, El Cerro de la Silla

One final video of our return trip

Video on Jim Elliot

Jim Elliot is one of my heroes. As you probably already heard, January 8 marked the 53rd anniversary of the death of Jim and his four companions in Ecuador. The following video is an inspiring record of their mission.



May we all be willing to give what we cannot keep to gain that which we cannot lose! Laying down one's life for Christ and others is not just for missionaries. It is part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you." (John 15:12-14)

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." (1 John 3:16)

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ... 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:25-27, 33)

Video of our newly finished auditorium

The other evening I recorded a brief video clip of our new church auditorium to give you a better idea of what it looks like. Take a look.



The majority of the funds to build this building came from the generous giving of the members of the church. Praise God for his goodness!

"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you." (1 Chron 29:14)