Matthew 16:21-23: Sin, the belief God really doesn't know what is best for us.

But Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. You are not setting your mind on God’s interests but man’s.” Matthew 16:23

“Religious ‘flesh’ always wants to work for God (rather than humbling itself to realize God must work for it in free grace). That is why our very lives hang on not working for God. Then shall we not serve Christ? It is commanded, ‘Serve the Lord!’ (Romans 12:11) Yes, we must serve Him. But we will beware of serving in a way that implies a deficiency on His part or exalts our indispensability.”
John Piper from his book Desiring God.

This rebuke to Peter directly from Jesus in Matthew 16 must have come as quite a shock to Peter. Moments before Jesus 1) praised Peter and 2) called him a rock and 3) said his words were inspired directly from God (Matthew 16:17-18). Now Jesus reverses those three compliments and rebukes Peters, calls him a stumbling block and says his words are inspired by Satan. The color must have drained from Peter’s face and his jaw must have dropped.

After all, Peter was only defending his beloved Master. For Jesus had just told Peter and the other disciples that the time had come to go to Jerusalem where Jesus must suffer, be killed and rise again on the third day (Matthew 16:21). Peter was selective in his hearing and only heard the words about suffering and dying, not about His resurrection. So Peter, perhaps cocky from the blessing of Jesus, leaped up and exclaimed, “God forbid it, Lord!” That is when Jesus brought the hammer down.

God’s will is set; Jesus’ decision to go to Jerusalem was not an “open” one. The Word of God says Jesus MUST go to Jerusalem and be killed (v. 19). However Jesus’ crucifixion is neither sadistic punishment nor because things spiraled out of God’s control. On the contrary. It is the Father’s loving will that Jesus is crucified and raised. It is no wonder Jesus rebuked Peter so forcefully.

Jesus’ rebuke serves as a warning at several levels. First, this warning speaks to those of us in Christian service. Second, this warning speaks to all people everywhere.

I think those of us in any sort of Christian service can learn from Jesus’ rebuke of Peter. Just as Peter was blessed by Jesus (Matthew 16:17), often times in our ministries we see the hand of His blessing. Then, if not checked, our pride can grow and we begin to think we know better than God what God’s will should be! To varying degrees, we are all guilty of this. But in its extreme, our ministry can become a cult of personality; a ministry or church becomes more about making an individual, a ministry or a church look good rather than making the Lord Jesus Christ look good.

Perhaps even more important is that Jesus’ rebuke of Peter is a warning to all men, everywhere. Peter, probably without realizing the full weight of his comment, was attempting to usurp the very will of God. Sin is the belief that God really doesn’t know what is best for us. We are all guilty of sin (Romans 3:23) and the penalty of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Our sin is the reason Jesus went to Jerusalem.

God’s will will be done. Will we futility fight against it? Or will we join Him in the battle? Evil’s best effort was to crucify Jesus. Yet what was meant for evil, God meant for good (Genesis 50:20). For by the crucifixion of Jesus, our sins were paid for! And three days later, just as Jesus promised, He was raised! Because Jesus went to Jerusalem, died on a cross and was raised, all of mankind has hope – hope that is stronger than death! And, most importantly, God receives the glory due Him! Hallelujah! Praise God!

Don’t fight against His will; rather trust in Him, rest in Him, glory in Him.

"You shall be my witnesses...even to the remotest ends of the earth." Jesus in Acts 1:8

Earlier in September I traveled to Orlando to help train a new class of missionaries in how to raise their financial support teams. This is exactly what I did during the 90s when we lived in the States. The training was divided into 4 classes or workshops so the training could be easily individualized.

The workshop that I assisted had a very unique quality. Many of these missionaries pictured above are going to HARD SOIL PLACES: French-speaking Africa, East Asia, Paris (spiritually speaking, Paris is very hard soil)and Islamic parts of Asia.. Many of these have returned for additional training from one year assignments at these tough locations and are going back full-time.

It thrilled me to be part of the equation in getting these missionaries to their remote locations.

It has been my growing conviction that here in Eastern Europe, our staff need standardize training and coaching in the area of fund-development. Each country has developed their own methods; some are successful, many are not. Therefore I brought with me 3 of our Campus Crusade missionaries to learn this training and to help me begin to implement it throughout Eastern Europe.



Here are the three staff from Eastern Europe that were with me in Orlando. They are from Albania, Romania and Moldova. Pictured here is my old boss and friend Ellis Goldstein (2nd from right) who directs all of Campus Crusade's fund developmnet training.



Edi from Albania and Elvis from Romania both try on football helmets for the first time during some time off in Orlando.



I traveled to Kansas a few days before the Orlando training so I could visit our two kids at college. It was also Liz's 20th birthday. No longer a teenager! We had a brief visit with family. Here is Liz along with her grandma (left, Charlotte Biays) and her aunt Sherla (EB's sister).



While in Orlando, I visited Campus Crusade's world-wide headquarters.



When I got back to Budapest, I learned that EB and the kids "rescued" a cat that was abandoned at our veternarian's clinic. Our dog Regan took an instant liking to the yet-unnamed cat and the two are now inseperable. Here they are cuddling on our porch.

Thank you for standing with us in ministry; together we are playing a fruitful part in taking the gospel to the nations.

"Upon this rock I willl build My church and the gates of hell will not overpower it."

Peter says to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” To which Jesus responds, “Blessed are you, Peter…and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not overcome it.” Matthew 16:16-18

John Piper is one of my favorite authors. He opens his book, God is the Gospel, with this compelling question:

If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?

I wish this question was merely rhetorical. But the sad fact is, many people alive today envision a Christ-less heaven, whether by accident or purposely. There was even a best-selling book by Mitch Albom, Five People You Will Meet in Heaven where God is regulated to a very small insignificant role, if even present at all, in His heaven.

Yet Jesus Himself gives us a different picture, from His reign in heaven (Revelation chapter 4 and 5) to His church on earth (Matthew 16:18). The Christian church is His church and not man’s church. The Christian church is the church where Jesus Christ is central. It is the church where Jesus Christ is honored, worshiped, adored, studied and proclaimed. The sad thing is that ironically many churches today, like Albom’s heaven, give very little credence to God.

It has always baffled me why churches exist where Christ is not proclaimed, or perhaps not even believed. Christ may exist in these churches as more of a water-downed self-help guru; certainly not as “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” These churches are nothing more than man-centered, feel-good, houses of self worship. Jesus is regulated to a role akin to a cosmic "ShamWow!" salesman. These kinds of churches settle for much less than best because they fail to proclaim a Person much more beautiful, much more just, much more powerful, much more worthy than mere man. And that Person is Jesus Christ Himself.

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who emptied Himself in the greatest act of humility our world has ever seen. He took on a human body, lived on planet earth, was delivered up to Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried for our sins. Yet 3 days later Jesus came back to life with a new resurrected body and by it proved that He was God! He invites wayward man into completeness through fellowship with the Father through Him. There is no other like Him; He alone is worthy of our worship and adoration.

If your church is not centered on the teachings of the Bible and on the person of Jesus Christ, then you are not in the church of the Living God; rather you are in a dead church. Leave that “church.” And find one where Jesus Christ is exalted. And it is Christ’s church that the gates of hell shall not overcome!

Throughout history, there have been those who have tried to destroy the Christian church. From Nero to the Communists, enemies of God have risen up, and will continue to rise up, in a futile attempt to exterminate the church.

In an interview I saw recently with Timothy Keller, he said that the “New Atheists” have declared that religion is “the worst thing that has happened to humankind” and these atheists have declared that religion “must be wiped out.” However, they will fail in their goals, just like Nero and just like the Communists. Because a church built upon the Rock, even when the mighty storms come and slam against it, WILL NOT FALL (Matthew 7:25) and the very gates of hell shall not overcome Christ’s church.

Worship, adore, proclaim and enjoy Jesus Christ. For that is His purpose for His church, which is His bride. Christ is central to the universe; from His church on earth to His eternal heaven, the universe exists for the glory of God. To be central on anything else except the Christ, the Son of the Living God is foolish. Hallelujah! Come Lord Jesus, come!

A Summer in Ethiopia: "Heart-breaking injustice, unspeakable poverty."

Our three oldest children (Liz, Ben and Savannah) spent their summer in Ethiopia on a missions project with a Campus Crusade ministry called MK2MK (Missionary Kid to Missionary Kid). Below you will find their words and their pictures describing their experience. A hearty THANK YOU to those who prayed and gave to make their summer mission possible.

LIZ: "Heart-breaking injustice, unspeakable poverty."

I couldn’t put words behind the things I was seeing as I climbed up the pile of trash. The worst stench I had ever smelled entered my nose as the two girls holding my hands helped me find my footing. I tried not to gag. My shoes and pants were covered in mud and filth. I was walking through a dump, and surrounding me were pieces of glass, AIDS tests from a hospital, feces, streams of urine, and much other grime and waste. Also surrounding me were at least a hundred dark faces, young children and frail elderly, digging through it all persistently. This was their existence.

I was walking through the Korah dump. Korah is a slum of over 130,000 people in Addis Ababa. A former leper colony, it attracted the beggars, prostitutes, HIV positive people, and society’s rejects for 75 years, growing into the huge community it is today.

God did many things in my heart this summer. Seeing the poverty, I really began to reflect on the brokenness of the world. However, God has provided the Answer, Jesus Christ. Christ brings hope, and I want to share that hope with the nations.





BEN: "The harvest is plentiful in Ethiopia!"

The ministry I was a part of did initiative evangelism at major Ethiopian
colleges. Because of my evangelism background of Europe, I was skeptical
going into it. But the second we began, I knew that that was right for me. One day I talked to three little boys and within ten minutes they were asking the money question: “How can I have a personal relationship with Jesus?”

I loved my conversations I had with students about the Gospel and God used me and my Ethiopian translator to bring 11 people to Him! Praise the Lord! Ethiopians are so willing and so open about the Gospel. The harvest is plentiful in Ethiopia!





SAVANNAH: "I am more blessed than I ever could imagine!"

When I walked into the nursery at the Ethiopian orphanage, the first thing that caught my eye was a cockroach crawling from the bed sheets into the pillowcase. The filth in the orphanage was overwhelming. It smelled like a mixture of urine and rotting food...I just wanted to go back outside and play with the older kids.

Despite my inner complaints, I was handed a small Ethiopian child, who couldn’t have been more than three years old. My heart broke for the girl whose life was rapidly coming to an end. She had growths on her face that looked like warts, but were caused by her illness—she was HIV positive.

Spending time with the orphans who had nothing but were filled with hope was so heart‐warming. The joy of knowing Jesus was one of the few joys they knew. It was moving to see how content they were, their home being a filthy orphanage with no personal possessions except for the clothes on their backs. It made me realize that I am blessed—way, way more than I could’ve ever imagined.