Imperishable Grace

(Click any Picture for Larger View)

This message will serve as a short update on my recent trip to Kenya.

A big thanks is due to the many who helped with the finances of this trip. You are a blessing!! Special thanks to Gus Doering for providing all the money to feed the group of pastors and ministry leaders I was helping to train in Kitale - they ate very well and were sooo grateful!

This was a relatively short trip. I left Texas on Nov 1 and arrived in Nairobi Kenya on the morning of Nov 3. This was not my final destination but I had several hours until my next flight so I met with a group of pastors in Muthuri North, on the outskirts of Nairobi. Pastor Dolla was a wonderful host and allowed me to speak freely with the pastors about being diligent in preaching a message of grace. I was also able to bring Pastor Dolla a set of five puppets for use in his ministry to children. I then flew to Eldoret and was driven to Kitale in the western portion of Kenya.

On Sunday morning I preached a dedication service at a church we built last year for a group Turkana people who have been displaced from their homeland because of fighting in northern Kenya near Sudan. The funds for this church were provided by Eric Uresti. They were extremely thankful for having been provided a place for worship. I preached a message about giving glory to God in all things - that each time they saw the church they ought to be reminded of the greatness of God. I also called for each individual life to be dedicated to the glory of God. After the service I had lots of fun playing with the many children.

The main portion of my trip was dedicated to teaching a group of pastors and ministry leaders from the Mt Elgon area. The men were brought to Kitale because recent fighting on the mountain, due to the upcoming elections, had forced them out of their homes. These were mainly men from the Sabot tribe, but there was also a young Masi man and a few other tribes represented. I helped Brian Jamison, a missionary with East-West ministries, teach on the meaning and function of the church.

The way God directed this class was awesome to see. Through helping with the teaching of this class I have been challenged and refocused with how God has called me to serve in His Kingdom.

We began with the definition of the church as a gathering of believers. This is from the Greek term ekklesia as used in the New Testament. This definition seems simple enough, but it forced us to spend nearly a full two days on what it meant to be a believer. The missions movement in Kenya has stressed a system of works to receive and then maintain salvation. The concept of grace is difficult to understand and has largely been lost in most of the Kenyan churches.

Ephesians 2:8-9
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast."

This trip has solidified my understanding of the gospel of grace like never before. Working through this issue hour after hour as presented all through the Bible, and after having just prepared and preached on the glory of God, has caused me to have a much firmer belief in grace and the implications for His church.

But even churches who preach that you are saved by grace through faith, quickly begin to preach that you must then follow a certain list in order to keep what God has freely given. This teaching is scattered all through church history but is not supported in the Word of God. I believe this teaching has grown, and continues to grow in most all of our churches today, out of a need to maintain some kind of control.

1 Peter 1:23
"For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God."

When we believe that Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sin, we are born again, a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and have been clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27). Being clothed with Christ means we receive His perfection, His righteousness. This is the perfection required to enter the eternal presence of God. To think we can add or subtract to the perfection of Christ is to not understand the magnitude of His perfection. We are made secure in Christ and NOTHING can snatch us out of His hands (John 10:28).

Now to maintain a balanced message, we need to teach the balance of Scripture. For though the message of salvation by grace and the security by grace are clear, the Bible also has much to say about what it means to live as one who is saved. And you can rest assured that I spoke forcefully about this important subject. Much of the New Testament is best understood through the general message, You are saved and kept by grace - now once you are saved, live like someone who is saved! Salvation is about what you believe, not about what you do.

On my last day in Kitale I was able to speak at length with a group made up of many of my email friends from the area. I spoke for about an hour and a half with a summary message of all God placed on my heart through the week.

There is much more I would like to say about the functioning of the church once this message of grace is understood, but I will end here. It's difficult to tell how much impact I had on this short trip, but I know one person who was deeply impacted - me! There are many doctrines I believe are important, but only one to which I'm willing to give my life. Jesus Christ died for the forgiveness of our sin and eternal life is given to all who believe. On this I forever take my stand. We are saved and kept by His imperishable grace.

Blessings in Christ,
Steve T.