Drug war in our back yard

See here.

Blog change

Just a "heads-up" -- we are in the process of switching over to our new domain name (ajgibson.org) and blog (Gratia et Veritas). That site is still under construction but is functional. For the next few weeks we will be cross-posting both here and on the new blog, but at some point you'll want to update your blogroll or link to our new site: http://ajgibson.org/blog/.

Conference on Creation, Science, and the Bible

Tonight we finished up a great three-day conference on creationism with Dr. Bill Lovegrove. Dr. Lovegrove is chairman of the Department of Physics and Engineering at BJU and a frequent speaker on creationism. Seminar topics included the following:

• Intelligent Design
• Evolution
• The age of the earth
• Fossils and the flood
• The Christian and the Environment

We were excited to be able to offer to our students this array of important, world-view-shaping topics.

It was also a great treat to host Dr. Lovegrove and his wife, Jocelyn, in our home this week. We attended Mount Calvary Baptist Church together for a number of years while we were in Greenville, but never really had the opportunity to get to know them well. Almost two years ago while we were visiting MCBC, Dr. Lovegrove approached me and offered to come down to UCLA to do these workshops. We are so grateful to Dr. and Mrs. Lovegrove for their love for missions and their willingness to use their gifts and knowledge to serve the Lord in this way.

A Blog is born

Here.

Life at the Gibson household

Who says a 5-year-old can't do chores around the house?

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.