ITEM or International Theological Education Ministries

09/20/2016

"Now, cut that out." That's usually what we say when we've had enough and we want something to stop. I think that's what Jesus is saying in Matthew 5:27-30. He's serious about sin and we should be too. Sin often starts in the senses like seeing or touching. We all need to take sin more seriously because it has eternal consequences. Here Jesus is saying that the spiritual should take precedence over the sensual because the spiritual is eternal. I wonder if I'm serious enough about the sin in my life to ask Jesus to cut it out and to help me to work with him to cut it out?

09/20/2016

A great picture of Eugene Oldham. He's our latest instructor teaching this week at Kiev Regional Bible College. Eugene is in the middle and Vitali Tkachuk, the dean of the college, is on Eugene's right.

09/13/2016

This looks like a triangle to me, I thought, as I read Matthew 5:14-16. God, us, and others God gives us His light. We give out that light to others through good works. As others benefit from our good works, they give God glory. I remember from Geometry class way back in high school that the triangle is the strongest shape we know, This pattern seems eternally strong to me. So how do I give light, how do I do good works? The same way a city on a hill or a candle on a candlestick. A city on a high hill offered protection to all the people around to flee to whenever enemies approach; so I should protect people's reputations and names when they're falsely attacked. I should be someone that people come to when they feel in danger. Secondly whenever danger approached, the guards on the city walls would sound the alarm that danger was near; so I need to alert people around me to the spiritual dangers they might be flirting with. God brought a couple of instances of that to my mind that I'm trying to follow up on now. Third, and this is one that I don't like, but it still is true, a city on a hill often acted like a lightning rod because it drew the attention of enemy forces in the area. If I'm trying to do and say what's right, there will always be people who don't like it and they'll attack. But that's being light that helps people see what's good and right. Fourth, the candle in the room helps put everything in perspective; I can do that when I show how the stuff of life connects or doesn't connect. And fifth, another way I can be light like that candle in a room is to help bring a sense of comfort and security in the midst of darkness and chaos and uncertainty by showing how Jesus is there too. It's really saying that I've got to be different; as different as day and night. I remember the challenge from II Cor. 6:14 "what fellowship does light have with darkness...?" I have to be in the world so it can see Christ's light in and through me but I can't be like the world or I'm really not any different. What a challenge! I realize I can't and I can do that. I can't do it by myself and my effort; but I can do it by staying connected to Jesus, the true light of the world.

09/08/2016

As I was reading Matthew 5:13 yesterday about being salt, I couldn't help but think about salties and sweeties. I maintain that there are 2 basic food groups - salties and sweeties. Matthew 5:13 at least talks about salties - that we should be salties that make people thirsty to know more about Jesus and to know Jesus better and better. That's because by how we live and speak, we make them thirsty for more and only Jesus can satisfy that thirst. But I think the Bible also talks about sweeties - that God's Word is like honey. God's Word can sweeten our sour dispositions, the sour situations in our lives, and can also sweeten the bitterness that's bound to come in many of our relationships at times. Proverbs 16:24 says, "Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the body." So, I guess our words should be "salties and sweeties?"

09/07/2016

I've been reading and thinking about Matthew 5:1-12. "Looking for happiness in all the right places?" Did you ever stop to realize that there are at least two great documents that talk about the pursuit of happiness? Of course there's the Declaration of Independence but how about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in the Beatitudes. Jesus was addressing a desire that we all have, maybe actually a universal longing for heaven built into us by God. There joy is lasting; here we get frustrated because we look for happiness in all the wrong places - in stuff, in events, in relationships that don't last long. So, do we just put happiness on hold? I don't think so. After all, our Westminster Shorter Catechism says that our chief end or pursuit should be to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That's talking about happiness. Jesus is saying that it's possible to experience happiness - blessedness, a sense of peace and contentment and true well-being, even in the most difficult of situations. 1. Happiness can be here and now. Look at some of the difficult situations listed in the beatitudes and ponder how those could lead to happiness. But they will lead to happiness only because 2. happiness comes if we have heaven. I find it interesting that the first and the last beatitude focus on heaven, the kingdom of heaven. Having heaven does affect the here and now. But the only way to have heaven is if 3. we have hope in Jesus. We hear and believe through His Word. Jesus opens up true happiness in Himself. He is "the Desire of Nations.

09/01/2016

I was just reading in Matthew 3:1-12 and it seems that this is really about change and R-E-P-E-N-T is the way to spell change. Real repentance precedes and proceeds from the kingdom of heaven. Real repentance is proven by and produces good actions. And real repentance is only possible through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

09/01/2016

This is Fritz and Brenda Harms at the closing ceremonies in Andhra Pradesh. They both taught there recently.

09/01/2016

We're getting ready to send out new instructors to Latvia, Romania, Ukraine, and Croatia this month. Would you pray for their safe travel?

08/07/2016

08/07/2016

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