We travelled by car from Marabá to Altamira this week. Here are some photos from where we cross the Xingu by boat.

^{Matthew 4:17}From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

We all agree.

Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6:9-10:

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.If this is true, if the Kingdom is really at hand and we are praying God’s will, we should see signs of the Kingdom breaking into our present age. If we are not seeing regular evidence of the Kingdom breaking in to this present age we should be asking the Holy Spirit “What is wrong?”

We choose to spend significant unhurried time with God so that we can be transformed into His image. We become like the people we hang out with. The same is true with God. The more we intentionally spend time with Him, the more we will think and see as He does. Our minds get transformed. Our spiritual senses get tuned in to His channel. A natural outcome is that we experience regular signs that God’s Kingdom is breaking in to this present age. This is attractive to people who are being saved.

Last week I met a lumber-seller who was ready to experience God. I prayed for him on the street and he felt God’s presence. We were both surprised. Sunday I went to his house and we did a Discovery Bible study. Four of us. The lumber-seller. His wife. And a worker. We started with The question “What is going good in your life?”

Blank looks. I repeat the question differently. “What made you smile this week?”

More blank looks. Finally, “Nothing.”

“There must be something. What about mango season? Do you have any grandchildren? What about the air you breathe?” They started to get the picture.

By the time we were done there were large smiles all around. Gods felt presence was among us. They were all so grateful to have done this study. The worker who dropped in shared how he was impressed to come over. He was on his way somewhere else. I told them I would come back in 15 days, and we would see how God was moving on their situations.

I write this as an encouragement from a fellow traveller on the road to heaven.  While I sometimes see signs of God’s Kingdom I long to see it way more often. I realize Apostle Paul felt the same way.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.Philippians 3:12-14I am curious.

Why do you pray?
What changes when you do not pray?
What is your evidence?

Personal Transformation with Group Accountability

Discovery Groups have four very important “dna” identifiers.

1. What does the Bible say?
2. What is the Holy Spirit saying to me about this text?
3. What can I do differently this week to line my life up with God’s Word to me?
4. Who can I tell?

If each individual in a group will commit to following these four “dna” questions, their lives will start to change. They will become known as spiritual people. This is attractive to those who are being saved. If you google “Discovery Bible Studies” you will get some variations of the model. Pray and practice until you find what will work for your specific people.

Personal Transformation through a Personal Quiet Time

The Examen is a prayer model where you reflect on your day with God, giving thanks and asking forgiveness as appropriate. Then you reflect on tomorrow, and prayer about changes you want to make in your life to be more like Christ. Click here to see this model.

Growing in Christian Maturity

We learn to distinguish good and evil by studying more deeper Bible studies by practicing how to obey Jesus. We practice obedience, reflect on our experience, talk about it with like-minded friends, and practice some more. This is the path to Christian maturity.

Spiritually mature Christians are “able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself [these Christians] is [are] subject to weakness (Hebrews 5:2).

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:14).

Pastor John Ortberg “felt frustrated because the people at the church I served were not changing more.” He arranged a meeting with a theologian. “I asked him what I needed to do to help our church experience greater levels of spiritual growth (p. 84).”

The theologian paused, and then said, “You must arrange your days so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy, and confidence in your everyday life with God (p. 85).”

“Huh?” John was confused. He was not asking about how to be a better Christian. He was asking about a course or some program to help his church.

“Yes, Brother John,” he [Dallas Willard] said with great patience and care. “I know you were thinking of those things. But that’s not what they need most. The main thing you will give your congregation — just like the main thing you will give to God — is the person you become (p. 85).

The best way we can help our families, friends, co-workers, and neighbors is to arrange our days so we are experiencing “deep contentment, joy, and confidence in their everyday lives with God.”

The best way we can help people is to become more like Jesus.

 References
Ortberg, J., (2014) Soul Keeping. Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Cesar and Samara care for our house when we are travelling. they were married at the courthouse three years ago, but they always wanted a Christian wedding. Their big day finally arrived.

Location: Our backyard.

Pastor: Deanna.

Note: Deanna brought this dress to Brazil years ago. Different brides get it fitted for their special days.

Click here to see more photos.

Two months ago I was speaking at a conference. As I spoke I realized my time was almost up. I mentally considered skipping to the end of my speech but the Powerpoint slides were all lined up and I couldn’t skip them. I decided to hurry through my next point about margins. I told the following story. “A pastor arranged for a one-hour meeting with Dallas Willard, a theologian who has written books about spiritual formation. ‘My church is growing rapidly. We are in the middle of a huge building project. What do I have to do to care for my spiritual life. As the pastor of this growing group, this is very important to me.'”

Dallas Willard was quiet before he thoughtfully responded. “You need to ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

The pastor quickly jotted that down in his notebook. “OK. Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from my life. Got it. What else do I need to do? I only have one hour with you and I want to learn all I can.”

At this point the whole audience burst out with loud laughter. I was so surprised that I almost got derailed in my speech. Why was everyone laughing? Finally I started laughing too and we carried on.

Fast-forward two months: I was buying a  book on Amazon.com and I get an ad for a different book I might be interested in, “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.” Hey, how did Google know about that startling incident at the conference in Colorado?

John Mark’s church was growing by 1,000 people a year. After several years this got to be too much. Their church grew to six week-end services. John would get wiped out after preaching this many times in a row.

Home now, late dinner. Can’t sleep; that dead-tired-but-wired feeling. . . . On the couch, watching an obscure kung fu movie nobody’s ever heard of. Chinese, with subtitles. Keanu Reeves is the bad guy. Love Keanu. I sigh; lately, I’m ending most nights this way, on the couch, long after the family has gone to bed. Never been remotely into kung fu before; it makes me nervous. Is this the harbinger of mental illness on the horizon? (Comer, J., 2019, p.2).

This book is easy to read, laced with humor, and it has some fun-sounding out-of-the-box ideas. For example, John now loves to celebrate the Sabbath with his wife and young children.

Even if the Sabbath is no longer a binding command, it’s still the grain of the universe. It’s a gift—and one I want to open and enjoy. Nine times out of ten, Sabbath is the best day of my week, no exaggeration. Every Friday night, after Sabbath dinner, we bake a giant cookie in a cast-iron pan, a full square foot of chocolate yumminess. Then we dump a carton of ice cream on the top, let it melt a little, and eat it all straight out of the pan—it’s some kind of symbolic nod to both our unity as a family and our collective love of sugar. As we indulge, we go around the table and share our highlight of the week (p. 173).

Even if you don’t struggle with binging on TV or sugar I am sure you will glean good ideas from this book.

 Reference
Comer, J. M., (2019) The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (p. 2). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.