by Marc Buxton | | Uncategorized
Onesimus was a slave and servant of Philemon. He had run away from Philemon and evidentally robbed him in the process. This runaway slave came into contact with the Apostle Paul and through Paul’s witness, trusted in Christ. An incredible divine appointment!
So Paul is writing his letter, which we know as the book of Philemon in the Bible, to address the situation. He is informing Philemon that he is sending Onesimus back to him.
I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus Philemon 4-6
In times of difficulty, we can get distracted from our true priorities. Paul prayed that during this challenging time, Philemon would do some specific things, and they apply to us as well.
How to Live with Purpose in Difficult Times:
1 – Grow in Our Knowledge of Christ
“Acknowledgement” in the verses above means a deep or true understanding.
The more fully we understand the blessings we have in Christ, the more willing we are to share Him with others.
In times of crisis, there is often more “free time” as a result. Whether a natural disaster, social unrest, or health pandemic, crises often create margin for people that they are not accustomed to while waiting for the situation to pass.
So use this extra time to grow closer to the Lord!
2 – Grow in Our Witness for Christ
Even in times of trouble, we should be focused on sharing our faith. Don’t let a crisis distract you from telling others about Christ!
Has salvation become any less important during times of crisis? Of course not! In fact, more people are thinking about life and death, more people are experiencing fear, more people are looking for hope.
Look for divine opportunities to share Christ even during a crisis time.
Doing these two things will give purpose to difficult seasons in life.
by Marc Buxton | | Uncategorized
We are rapidly moving away from a literary society to a visual society. Globally, we would rather watch something than read something. The death of newspapers. The rise of Youtube.
What does this mean for the written Word of God? Well, there’s good news and bad news.
The good news is that there is much healthy discussion on visualization in the church these days. Artists like Makoto Fujimura have written extensively on the subject of visual theology. Visual theology, he says, “happens, when we are engaged with scriptures, with fulness of our imaginations”. I agree. It is a good thing when our minds are creatively engaged with Scripture in such a way that they come to life for us.
Indeed, for centuries Christians have portrayed biblical narratives in creative visual ways (think Medieval stained glass to 1960s flannel graph). Kids like to build Bible scenes out of LEGOS. You get the point. This supplementation of the Bible is good, healthy, and God honoring.
The bad news is that as many people are less and less interested in reading, they are less interested in reading the Bible.
They are more drawn to the latest instagram photo with some overlayed words from a Christian pop song that may or may not be theologically correct.
God has given His Word in literary form precisely to engage with our hearts and minds in that way. Why? I don’t know – but that’s what He chose to do.
Are we so naive to think that the god of this world is not using the expanding availability of visual stimulation to influence us away from God’s written Word? We must find balance in this, our visual world, and as believers hold on to the written Word as our primary influence.
Probably weekly we ask a friend “did you see that video?”
What we should be asking is “have you read that passage?”
Sola Scriptura
by Marc Buxton | | Uncategorized
Below you will find my sermon from this past Sunday, preached at Midpoint Baptist Fellowship in Marikina, Philippines.
The sermon is posted here for anyone to view or download and use it ministry as they see fit.
Verses Used: Ephesians 1:3-14, Romans 8:17
[gview file=”http://www.marcbuxton.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/7-Spiritual-Blessings-for-the-Christian.pdf”]
by Marc Buxton | | Uncategorized
A mirage is false hope. It is only helpful for motivation, not in reality. You can’t eat the sand. A mirage in your work or life will not sustain you. Reaching the destination of a mirage ends in a reality check. In other words, a mirage only prolongs and makes worse the inevitable.
source:http://kids.britannica.com
We all have mirages that appear from time to time in our field of vision. And a mirage is tempting. But the problem is, no matter how much we want it to be true, it just isn’t. And pushing towards it only brings that painful reality into focus quicker.
by Marc Buxton | | Uncategorized
Tol·er·ance noun \ˈtä-lə-rən(t)s, ˈtäl-rən(t)s\
: willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own
The recent media storm surrounding statements made by Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson have sparked many debates around “free speech”. But the real issue here is not Phil Robertson, what he said, how he said it, LGBT rights, or even free speech. A&E has every right to fire Robertson. They are a private company, and they can do whatever they feel is right. The LGBT community has their right to voice their concerns, and Phil Robertson has a right to express his opinion.
The real issue here is absolute truth.
The key phrase in Webster’s definition of tolerance is “willingness to accept”. For decades in this America, tolerance meant that even if I don’t agree with you, I will still “tolerate” your views because we live in a free country, side by side. An “agree to disagree” sort of world.
That world is no more. “Tolerance” is now defined as accepting anyone’s view as long as they do not claim to have absolute truth. I will tolerate you as long as you admit that I’m right too. Absolute truth is the deal breaker, because in our post-modern world, no one can have it (many believe). If you claim to have absolute truth, you are bigoted, intolerant, and should be ostracized from the community.
That’s what is happening to Phil Robertson.
It’s what happened to Jesus.
It’s what happens to Jesus still, and those who follow Him.
Christ’s claim on absolute truth strikes people as intolerant, because it puts them in a position of being wrong. And for them, that is intolerable.
So, Christians, don’t be “surprised” or in “disbelief” about the reaction to this latest firestorm. Jesus predicted, correctly of course, that this would happen.
If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15:18-20
The world hates believers in Christ, because we are holders of absolute truth.
by Marc Buxton | | Uncategorized
[vimeo id=”80766450″]
No water. No electricity. No communications. These were the conditions on Bantayan Island following Typhoon Haiyan. Most of the island was completely destroyed, impacting thousands of families. The family of Pastor Dennis Medosa survived the storm, and thankfully escaped with no physical injuries. But their lives had been completely rearranged.
During the storm, the family was huddled inside their home. The storm began to rip their house apart, and fearing for their lives, they fled to the nearby church building. Next, the storm ripped the roof off of the church building. With nowhere else to go, the family weathered the storm inside the church. The typhoon blasted Bantayan Island for 5 hours, and daylight showed the devastation that it had wrought.
Bantayan Baptist Church has a main church building, operates a Christian school, and has 4 feeding centers for underprivileged families. All of them were utterly destroyed during the typhoon. All of the school supplies and books, the computer center, the church benches, the musical instruments – everything is in ruins. Pastor Dennis says, “basically we are back to zero in our ministry”.
Global Surge is committed to helping Pastor Dennis and Bantayan Baptist Church rebuild. We are partnering with them to strengthen their ministry and expand their influence on the island.
We will be helping in several phases of relief:
Phase 1 ($25,000) – providing immediate relief to the community through food, water, temporary shelter, etc.
Phase 2 ($50,000) – rebuilding Bantayan Baptist Church, the pastor’s home, the Christian school, and feeding centers
Phase 3 continuing support through specific projects to stabilize the church and impact the community
Our initial goal is to give a total of $75,000 in two phases. Phase 1 is completely funded and is now ongoing. We need your help to fund Phase 2 ($50,000) and rebuild this ministry. To date, we have $25,400 committed for Phase 2.
Please consider a gift to help us rebuild the ministries of Bantayan Baptist Church.
