Date Posted: August 5, 2015
Date Posted: July 8, 2015
Wisdom from the Jungle
by Mark Robinette
While staying with my family recently, Pastor Naing Thang, of Myanmar, told us a story I’ve been telling everyone I can.
One of the pastors of his village in the remote mountains of Chin State, was a man who taught everyone the importance of a Bible truth. “In everything gives thanks, for this is the will of God, in Christ Jesus, concerning you.”
He stressed God’s sovereignty and how we should pray before we set out to do anything. If we did this, he taught, we could then give thanks for whatever happened, it was in the hands of God.
One day before he and one of the young men of the village left to go deeper still into the mountains to a favorite fishing spot, they stopped to give thanks and prayed for God’s protection and provision.
After their first day’s catch they needed to preserve their many fish by smoking them.
While cutting wood for the fire, the good elder accidentally swung wild with his machete and cut off his own finger.
Bleeding and in a great deal of pain, the old man thought to himself, “what a poor lesson this is for the young man. We prayed for God’s protection and this tragedy has befallen us.”
His finger was lost, and if he didn’t get back to the village soon, maybe his life would be too.
In these mountains there are a great many dangers. Giant pythons, Bengal tigers, wild boar, cobras and elephants who trample men when they can.
But there is one predator far more menacing. The head-hunting cannibals. They often slither quietly though the forest in search of human sacrifice. When the two men saw them, they knew who they were and what they wanted.
Terror stuck the hearts of the elder and his companion and they both ran in separate directions as fast as they could. The old elder was an easy catch for the cannibals. As they lead him back to their village where preparations for a ceremonial offering and meal were already under way, the man of God felt abandoned by his maker.
He watched as they built a fire for him and danced in the darkness. His heart darkened with thoughts of hopelessness, loneliness and doubt.
As his time came to face what they had planned for him, their priest came to see who and what the hunting party had brought to them.
He began inspecting him everywhere. Feet, legs, under his clothes and then noticed the wrapped hand and bloody stump where his finger had been.
The priest was very upset. Motioning to the others, the pastor could see he was not what they wanted. They wanted a man who was whole. His missing finger was some sort of bad omen.
They released him and motioned for him to leave.
As he made his way home in a sort of shock, at what should have been his fate, he remembered how he had felt toward God in his time of weakness.
He now understood, God had taken his finger to save his life.
Thanks be to God for his faithfulness to this man and the lessons it provides us today. May we indeed be thankful in all things, for this is the will of God, in Christ Jesus, concerning us.
Date Posted: September 3, 2014
by Mark Robinette
Rich people like us are so busy taking care of all our many blessings we forget the God who gave them to us. When we give to our brothers and sisters in need, we remember the giver of all things.
We have a catechism question here at Foundation Church that developed from one of my sermons years ago. I ask the church, “Why do we forget?” and they respond, “Because we don’t remember.”
Simple enough? We are a forgetful people and we need to be intentional about remembering or we will forget. From Joshua’s stones of remembrance on either side of the Jordan to sacrifices, feasts, Sabbaths, washings and even their every meal, God built a life of constant remembrance for His elect people, lest they forget.
God’s imperatives of Deuteronomy chapter 6 almost seem ridiculous as they hammer this point home.
It could have said, “teach your children my commands.”
But as we well know, God told them to do this as they sat in their houses, when they walked by the way, when they laid down to sleep and when they rose up in the morning. Then he told them to bind them for a sign upon their hands, make them as frontlets between their eyes and write them upon the posts of their houses, and on their gates.
The imagery here reminds me of the ever forgetful man who ties a green string around the pinky finger of his left hand, to remind him of the red one around the forefinger of his right hand, that reminds him of the blue one around his thumb telling him he’s supposed to remember something, but he can’t remember what it was.
That’s us. The more we have, it seems, the more forgetful we are. God told them and he is telling us to “beware lest we forget the Lord.”
Giving is a constant reminder God is the source of everything we have.
Jay Leno reminded people for Doritos to “eat all you want, we’ll make more” and I’d like to remind you and me to “Give all we want, God will make more.”
Every time we give away what God has given us it is an intentional way of remembering the one who gave the gift as well as faith that he’ll give us more tomorrow.
God taught this when he would not allow the Children of Israel to collect more manna than they needed for each day and later after they had come to the Promised Land not to harvest the corners of their fields but to leave them for the needy among them.
At our home, we know we are forgetful too. We have to work at remembering.
On our kitchen table we have a jar with a picture we made of our brothers and sisters in Myanmar. They are very poor. We put the jar on our table for several reasons. First to remember to pray, then to remember to put money in the jar for them and next to remember we have so very much at every meal. We also eat rice one meal each week to remember rice is sometimes all they have to eat. This has been good for me and my family.
God’s ways are so wise. Not only has it been good for us, it has been good for them. Yes they are blessed by the gift for it’s actual value in what they can buy, but they are blessed with several much needed reminders too. God answers prayer, they have brothers and sister in Christ who love them and pray for them and that all they have comes from God. This is truly a gift that keeps on giving.
It’s like the washer and dryer someone gave a young couple in our church. The rear entrance of their home goes through the laundry room and every time they walk by them they became much more than appliances. Not only do they wash and dry clothing, they hum a sweet tune. The words of this song testify of the truth God cares for them like he does for the lilies of the field and he does this through the church.
Have you remembered to give lately? Don’t be afraid you don’t have enough to give. When you don’t because of this you are saying God will not provide.
Trying to remember this years ago, my sweet wife spent many hours stitching these words into what is called a “sampler,” framing it, and hanging it on our wall. It says “The Lord Provides.”
Date Posted: June 13, 2014
(I was asked to write an article for Every Thought Captive magazine about the dangers of Vanity Fair. It was due just a few days before Pastor Naing Thang came to my visit my home for the first time. It was published during my visit. Admittedly I am still struggling with this issue, but I found some resolution in the word of God you may find enlightening)
Should We Feel Guilty Because We Are Rich?
In nine days a man from 8500 miles away, who lives in a third-world county and cooks his meals over a fire in his back yard, is coming to stay at my house.
Knowing this has done strange things to me. I’ve found it hard to live with how live. Suddenly, I see myself through the eyes of a man whose people are daily on the verge of starvation.
Through my own eyes, I have come to see myself as a somewhat poor, thrifty, father and pastor, making do with what I have. Since I heard my visitor was coming, I think I am beginning to see more clearly in some ways and tempted to be unthankful in others. I, unlike Bunyan’s good pilgrim, have been guilty of shopping at the Vanity Fair.
For the past few weeks I’ll be going about my regular business and I’ll open up my refrigerator and “BAM,” I see it through the eyes of my good brother from Burma.
“There’s no way he can look in here,” I call out to my wife. “No way. We’ll have to move some of this to the refrigerator in the basement.”
Then it happens again when we stop at a gas station, put $75 of gasoline in our 15-passenger van and then go to Dairy Queen.
The whole time I’m doing it, I feel the presence of a little, smiling, black-eyed pastor sitting beside me. Sitting there, watching all of this, I know he must be wondering where all this money comes from and when this fat guy will stop eating.
My wife’s been worried too. We’ve talked about it a lot.
“He just doesn’t understand our way of life,” I tell her, trying to comfort her, and myself, all the while wondering if I’m a waster and a glutton.
As the words come out of my mouth I hear other words in my head.
“The problem is not that he doesn’t understand,” the voice says. “The problem is, he understands better than you.”
Maybe I’m not what I have come to see myself as; I’m more like this new disturbing image. Have I been deceived? Does God have more work to do in me than I thought He did? Certainly.
Is it wrong to be rich? Should I feel guilty eating my Reese’s Cup Blizzard with my long red plastic spoon? Should I feel sorry for my brothers in Burma?
I don’t feel so go, I’m almost motion sick just thinking about it. I have to go to the Word to find my bearings.
I don’t think the Bible teaches wealth is a sin or me being wealthy. So what’s wrong? What’s causing me so much difficulty?
In Pilgrim’s progress, Vanity is a city on the road to the Celestial City. It is not off the path like the Slough of Despond. We all must travel the streets of Vanity and pass by the wares offered to us at the Fair, this is part of our journey. This is not a city we can bypass, God has made us “subject to vanity.”
My visitor is traveling though Vanity Fair back home in Yangon and I’m traveling though it here in Ohio. Both of us are tempted to compare ourselves and our circumstances with one another. We are both tempted to feel pride and shame. We are both tempted to be discontent and unthankful. But this is not our calling. Our calling is to deny ourselves, take up “OUR” cross and follow Jesus, whatever or wherever that cross is.
I could be proud of my wealth or ashamed of it, he could be proud of his poverty or ashamed of it. These are not the fruits of a Spirit-filled life. Both of us should be thankful for what God has given us and content our provider has given us what we need.
From the moment I met my friend I admired him and wanted to be part of what God was doing in his life. I didn’t feel sorry for him.
God’s gift to me was that he needed help, I could be part of what God was doing through him. His gift was that he needed the help, he could be part of what God was doing through me.
I’ve learned that this is where the gold really is. Depending on the body of Christ for your needs is an inestimable wealth.
This is where the rich become camels and the Kingdom the eye of the needle. For the most part, the poor are not tempted to think God needs their wealth. When they give their mite, they do it because they know it isn’t enough. When we do it, we are tempted to believe God needs it.
Date Posted: May 26, 2014
Would you be willing to host a car wash? Maybe your family or church would like to donate a Saturday to help feed the hungry orphans of Burma.
This could be a fun day of playing in the water, a good memory and would do so much good it’s hard to believe.
Pastor Naing Thang and his family are by faith providing food, a home, medical care and even school tuition for 30 children besides their own.
School is not free there and those who do not attend are not permitted to get work permits. Those children who do not attend school are relegated to a life of poverty and hunger. Pastor Naing is praying God will supply him with the funds to build a school so he does not have to continue to send the children to the public school. This is a big dream. Mission To Myanmar is working hard to raise the money to build the school for the 15 children in his orphanage in Rakhine State. Starting this summer, July 2014, we are going to be building the school in stages. The school will not only serve these children but many of the Buddhist children in the area who cannot afford to pay for school. The building will also serve as a Church on the Lord’s Day and other special service times. It is our goal to build a boys’ dorm on the end of the school to provide much needed living space at the Rakhine Orphange Center.
We are praying God will move on your heart to take part in this work. Please consider it today.
Imagine trying to care for the needs of 35 people in one city and the needs of 16 more in a city 200 miles away. Every trip you needed to take you had to either walk or take a taxi. Imagine trying to do this while being a pastor, church planter, Bible school teacher and father. Hard to imagine isn’t it?
Now try to imagine it without a vehicle.
This is and has been the reality of Pastor Naing Thang for many years. It was only recently, just last year, we were able to help them get three motorcycles for use deep in-country in Myanmar. These motorcycles have been an incredible blessing for them, however, Pastor Naing Thang, their leader, is not able to use a motorcycle in the city of Yangon due to strict regulations. He could however have a car or truck if he was able to afford one. When I traveled to Yangon the first time I thought it would be one of the first things we could help him with. This was based on what getting a car is like back here in the United States. I was surprised to learn that getting a car in Myanmar is not at all like what most of us are used to. Continue reading →
The Lion is on the move in Myanmar. As the Son of God breaths on the snow-covered hills of what was once called Burma, we can now begin to see lush green meadows crowned with the flowers of faith.
Shut off from the rest of the world for many years by a repressive military junta, the work our forefathers began has continued to grow beneath the fertile soils of persecution. Like the beleaguered soldiers of Valley Forge, they have survived the winter and they are ready for battle. With a little help from their friends across the sea, they will emerge victorious. Continue reading →
Date Posted: March 31, 2014
The first missionary to come to Burma and stay was also the first Protestant missionary sent from America to any foreign field. His name was Adonriam Judson. Pastor Naing Thang of Yangon is building on what Judson started.
In the summer of 1788 in a small colonial town, a minister and his wife were blessed with their firstborn son. Here, from this city of firsts, Malden Massachusetts, the Kingdom of God would boast a greater first for the expansion of the Gospel on the golden shores of an exotic land. Continue reading →
Burma Missionary Work – History
The first missionary to come to Burma and stay was also the first Protestant missionary sent from America to any foreign field. His name was Adonriam Judson. Pastor Naing Thang of Yangon is building on what Judson started.
In the summer of 1788 in a small colonial town, a minister and his wife were blessed with their firstborn son. Here, from this city of firsts, Malden Massachusetts, the Kingdom of God would boast a greater first for the expansion of the Gospel on the golden shores of an exotic land.
By the grace of God, the supporters of this ministry are working in the Gospel field prepared by the toil and suffering this good man of God and being continued by Pastor Naing Thang. With your help, we can continue lending a hand to those bringing in the harvest.
Malden was the first city among the colonies to print a code of law among the colonies, first to refuse to drink the British-taxed tea and yet again first to petition the colonial government to withdraw from the British Empire. These Puritans, living on the banks of the Malden River would boast yet another first from this burgeoning family.
The Judson family named their son Adonriam.
This boy, whose name means, “My Lord is exhalted,” would glorify the name of the Lord by being the first protestant missionary sent from the New World and first to translate the Bible into the Burmese Langauage. His Bible is the same Bible still in use today.
The agonizing story of this man’s suffering in his work in Burma can only be endured knowing the glory of what his work accomplished. Sewing the lives of two wives and six children into the soil of this endeavor, he fulfilled the words of a passionate vow. A vow he made in a letter when questioned by those who sent him on his mission.
By the end of his first six years, only one man had turned from idols to Christ. The people back home were beginning to wonder.
When Judson received a letter from the Mission Board in America questioning the fruit of his ministry, he answered, “The prospects are as bright as the promise of God.” By this time he had lost two sons, one still born in a storm during the five month journey to Rangoon and another to a fever at age two. “I will not leave Burma,” he declared, “until the cross is planted here forever!”
Soon after this declaration was made, Judson was imprisoned by the Burmese government who was now at war with England. He was tortured nearly two years and almost lost many years of translation work he had written on dried palm leaves.
God preserved his life and work through his wife as she worked to free him, sneak provisions to his cell and continue his translation work.
His agonizing story stands as one of the most trying stories of a missionary for the cause of Christ.
In the end, he died at sea and was buried at sea in the Bay of Bengal like his firstborn but not until he had done what he had set out to do.
When he left the world, Judson left behind more than 70 established churches and many trained pastors and translators to continue his work.
Pastor Naing Thang is a fruit of Judson’s work. The Gospel reached his small village in Mindat Township in Chin State years before he was born. He was raised by his parents with the knowledge of Christ.
Living in one of the most remote places on earth, Pastor Naing Thang said he was quickened by the power of God even as a child.
“I looked up one day while taking a walk one day at the ripe fields ready to harvest and I felt God speak to my heart, “ he said, remembering that day. “The words of Matthew came to me, ‘The harvest is plenteous and the laborers are few.’”
Barely out of grade school, Pastor Thang fleeced God to see if he had indeed called him to preach His word.
There was a place he would go, about three miles away from his village, to pray and mediate on God’s word. His fleece would be a very hard thing.
“I wanted my people to start new with the things of God. I wanted all of us to leave our village and move to the beautiful place where I prayed and spent time with God.”
Pastor Thang’s fleece was that when he shared this with the villagers, they would agree to leave their homes and all work together to build a new village where they could live for the glory of God.
He knew this was a very hard thing to ask and that he was just a boy, but believed if God was with him, He could cause them to listen to him and make the move. At first, when he shared his dream with them, they laughed and told him his idea was crazy. But he kept asking.
“Finally, when they didn’t listen, I became discouraged and began to wonder myself if God had spoken,” he said. “But then, something amazing began to happen. The people began to pack up their things and move to the new village site.”
Hearing his story brings to mind the words God spoke to Jeremiah at his calling.
“Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”
From that day forward Pastor Thang’s story is filled with evidence of the strong hand of God. God provided for his needs and gave him people willing to hear the message of Christ in many places far from his home. Like Adoniram Judson before him, Pastor Thang first traveled hundreds of miles from his village to the big city of Rangoon (now called Yangon). From there he traveled each year to Rakhine State, back home to Chin State and up to Kachin State each year. Many received his message and he began forming them into churches.
At one point as he taught in a home in Yangon, government officials told him that would kill him if he did not stop preaching. They also said they would bring a great deal of trouble to those who came to listen, if he did.
Loving the people, Pastor Thang said he did not want the people he had been teaching to suffer, he agreed to quit.
“As I lay in my bed,” Pastor Thang remembered, “I felt like I was smothering, like I would die if I laid there. I thought to myself, ‘if I am going to die if I stay here and not preach and die if I preach, I’d rather die preaching.’”
When Pastor Thang told the authorities he would be preaching again they warned him that they would kill him. He told them he understood and if they wanted to kill him they could do so now, before he started preaching again. They thought he had gone mad and drove him from their office.
But, when he began teaching again, they sent a man to stop him. While he was teaching one evening a man stood up and stabbed him with a spike and drove it into his chest.
Pulling open the collar of his shirt and leaning down he showed the triangle shaped scar in his chest.
He also showed the two-foot long spike used by the man which one of the men there that day saved.
This and many other stories fill the pages of Pastor Thang’s life of ministry. He is thankful for the work of Judson and how his hard work has made his work easier.
When Adoniram Judson died at age 61, after giving nearly four decades to Burma, his son Edward summed up a great truth as he spoke about his father.
“Suffering and success go together. If you are succeeding without suffering, it is because others before you have suffered; if you are suffering without succeeding, it is that others after you may succeed.”
Judson probably illustrated this truth as much as any man who ever lived. May we help him continue his work In Myanmar by helping Pastor Naing Thang in his work in the fertile soils of Myanmar.
– See more at: http://foundationfellowshipchurch.org/burma-missionary-work-history/#sthash.dHi5nmYL.dpuf
Burma Missionary Work – History
The first missionary to come to Burma and stay was also the first Protestant missionary sent from America to any foreign field. His name was Adonriam Judson. Pastor Naing Thang of Yangon is building on what Judson started.
In the summer of 1788 in a small colonial town, a minister and his wife were blessed with their firstborn son. Here, from this city of firsts, Malden Massachusetts, the Kingdom of God would boast a greater first for the expansion of the Gospel on the golden shores of an exotic land.
By the grace of God, the supporters of this ministry are working in the Gospel field prepared by the toil and suffering this good man of God and being continued by Pastor Naing Thang. With your help, we can continue lending a hand to those bringing in the harvest.
Malden was the first city among the colonies to print a code of law among the colonies, first to refuse to drink the British-taxed tea and yet again first to petition the colonial government to withdraw from the British Empire. These Puritans, living on the banks of the Malden River would boast yet another first from this burgeoning family.
The Judson family named their son Adonriam.
This boy, whose name means, “My Lord is exhalted,” would glorify the name of the Lord by being the first protestant missionary sent from the New World and first to translate the Bible into the Burmese Langauage. His Bible is the same Bible still in use today.
The agonizing story of this man’s suffering in his work in Burma can only be endured knowing the glory of what his work accomplished. Sewing the lives of two wives and six children into the soil of this endeavor, he fulfilled the words of a passionate vow. A vow he made in a letter when questioned by those who sent him on his mission.
By the end of his first six years, only one man had turned from idols to Christ. The people back home were beginning to wonder.
When Judson received a letter from the Mission Board in America questioning the fruit of his ministry, he answered, “The prospects are as bright as the promise of God.” By this time he had lost two sons, one still born in a storm during the five month journey to Rangoon and another to a fever at age two. “I will not leave Burma,” he declared, “until the cross is planted here forever!”
Soon after this declaration was made, Judson was imprisoned by the Burmese government who was now at war with England. He was tortured nearly two years and almost lost many years of translation work he had written on dried palm leaves.
God preserved his life and work through his wife as she worked to free him, sneak provisions to his cell and continue his translation work.
His agonizing story stands as one of the most trying stories of a missionary for the cause of Christ.
In the end, he died at sea and was buried at sea in the Bay of Bengal like his firstborn but not until he had done what he had set out to do.
When he left the world, Judson left behind more than 70 established churches and many trained pastors and translators to continue his work.
Pastor Naing Thang is a fruit of Judson’s work. The Gospel reached his small village in Mindat Township in Chin State years before he was born. He was raised by his parents with the knowledge of Christ.
Living in one of the most remote places on earth, Pastor Naing Thang said he was quickened by the power of God even as a child.
“I looked up one day while taking a walk one day at the ripe fields ready to harvest and I felt God speak to my heart, “ he said, remembering that day. “The words of Matthew came to me, ‘The harvest is plenteous and the laborers are few.’”
Barely out of grade school, Pastor Thang fleeced God to see if he had indeed called him to preach His word.
There was a place he would go, about three miles away from his village, to pray and mediate on God’s word. His fleece would be a very hard thing.
“I wanted my people to start new with the things of God. I wanted all of us to leave our village and move to the beautiful place where I prayed and spent time with God.”
Pastor Thang’s fleece was that when he shared this with the villagers, they would agree to leave their homes and all work together to build a new village where they could live for the glory of God.
He knew this was a very hard thing to ask and that he was just a boy, but believed if God was with him, He could cause them to listen to him and make the move. At first, when he shared his dream with them, they laughed and told him his idea was crazy. But he kept asking.
“Finally, when they didn’t listen, I became discouraged and began to wonder myself if God had spoken,” he said. “But then, something amazing began to happen. The people began to pack up their things and move to the new village site.”
Hearing his story brings to mind the words God spoke to Jeremiah at his calling.
“Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”
From that day forward Pastor Thang’s story is filled with evidence of the strong hand of God. God provided for his needs and gave him people willing to hear the message of Christ in many places far from his home. Like Adoniram Judson before him, Pastor Thang first traveled hundreds of miles from his village to the big city of Rangoon (now called Yangon). From there he traveled each year to Rakhine State, back home to Chin State and up to Kachin State each year. Many received his message and he began forming them into churches.
At one point as he taught in a home in Yangon, government officials told him that would kill him if he did not stop preaching. They also said they would bring a great deal of trouble to those who came to listen, if he did.
Loving the people, Pastor Thang said he did not want the people he had been teaching to suffer, he agreed to quit.
“As I lay in my bed,” Pastor Thang remembered, “I felt like I was smothering, like I would die if I laid there. I thought to myself, ‘if I am going to die if I stay here and not preach and die if I preach, I’d rather die preaching.’”
When Pastor Thang told the authorities he would be preaching again they warned him that they would kill him. He told them he understood and if they wanted to kill him they could do so now, before he started preaching again. They thought he had gone mad and drove him from their office.
But, when he began teaching again, they sent a man to stop him. While he was teaching one evening a man stood up and stabbed him with a spike and drove it into his chest.
Pulling open the collar of his shirt and leaning down he showed the triangle shaped scar in his chest.
He also showed the two-foot long spike used by the man which one of the men there that day saved.
This and many other stories fill the pages of Pastor Thang’s life of ministry. He is thankful for the work of Judson and how his hard work has made his work easier.
When Adoniram Judson died at age 61, after giving nearly four decades to Burma, his son Edward summed up a great truth as he spoke about his father.
“Suffering and success go together. If you are succeeding without suffering, it is because others before you have suffered; if you are suffering without succeeding, it is that others after you may succeed.”
Judson probably illustrated this truth as much as any man who ever lived. May we help him continue his work In Myanmar by helping Pastor Naing Thang in his work in the fertile soils of Myanmar.
– See more at: http://foundationfellowshipchurch.org/burma-missionary-work-history/#sthash.dHi5nmYL.dpuf
