(My goal this week is to publish a series of blog posts that look back and chronicle our time at http://www.sosmemphis.org each post will begin with the theme verse for the week: Psalm 102:18-22.)
Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise YHWH: “YHWH looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.” So the name of YHWH will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the people and the kingdoms assemble to worship YHWH. — Psalm 102:18-2
Friday.
Last workday at SOS.
Last devotion day at SOS.
Last evening chapel at SOS.
Workday
We wrapped up the main work on Ms. Hanh’s house. It was emotional from the standpoint that we were done with our week, and that SOS was done with their eight weeks. Ms. Hanh was emotional all day. We were to. God had moved in our lives through the example of Ms. Hanh.
We learned how to work like it wasn’t about us.
Devos
In Friday’s devotions we talked about doing the work of God at all costs. We explored the example of Brother Yun. He’s a believer in China who has on multiple occasions been arrested only to have God miraculously open the door of the prison. He walked out.
We also talked about Jim Elliot. Jim Elliot once wrote in his journal: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot loose.” We talked about giving our all. Total surrender of our lives to the work of God. It’s not about us.
Philippians 3:7-10 (NIV) states: “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ–the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.“
It’s not about us.
It’s about relationship with God.
Chapel
In Chapel, Kyle Storey talked to us about our response to God’s promises. How do we respond to a relational God?
Kyle presented us with two responses.
First, “The Nation’s Mandate”. Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV): “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.“
Second, “The Social Mandate”. Isaiah 58:6-8 (NIV): “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter–when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of YHWH will be your rear guard.“
It’s not about you.
It’s not about me.
It’s about making the name of YHWH known in the world, so that a generation yet to be created might praise the name of YHWH.
