As believers, our purpose is to bring the most glory we can to God, to strive to do all we can for Jesus, to live our lives for Jesus, to give Jesus 100%.  Do you agree?  The problem I think we have is that we allow things in our lives to become distractions.  What is a distraction that would get in the way of your pursuit of living for Jesus?  EVERYTHING IS A DISTRACTION!  We allow all kinds of things in our lives that we then allow to distract us from our purpose.  Their are bad things that are distractions.  That is what we like to emphasize.  I know that people like to point at the TV, music, movies, etc as bad things that become distractions.  But lately, I have been thinking about other things that are distractions.  Good things, actually they are great things.  I want to address one of them in this post.

In the Bible, Paul speaks of a spouse as a distraction.  1st Corinthians 7:32-33 says, “But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:  But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.”  Do you realize what he is saying?  He is saying that you cannot give your full attention to the Lord because you must give some attention to pleasing your wife (spouse).  Your spouse can be a distraction.  Actually, your spouse is naturally a distraction, as are you to her.

But, there is a great example of a married couple, that were not distractions to each other from the Lord, but rather a team that brought more glory to God than they might have alone.  Aquila is found 6 different times in the Bible, and is not found without being joined with his wife, Priscilla.  They were a team that worked together to glorify God, and bringing others along.  Because their names are ALWAYS mentioned together, it shows that it wasn’t just Aquila as the “gospel laborer” and Priscilla being the supporting wife at home.  No, she was very much involved in the ministry with Aquila.  They were not just husband and wife, but co-laborers in the furtherance of the Gospel!  My wife and I are natural distractions, but it doesn’t have to be that way.  We must strive to be co-laborers, always working and bringing each other as well as others closer to Jesus.

Are you married?  If you are, are you a distraction to your spouse?  As married couples, we must strive to be like Aquila and Priscilla, co-laborers in the Gospel!

I highlighted a few different posts on different cities in Argentina.  For this post, we are going to take just a few moments to look at San Justo and La Matanza.

San Justo is a city and the seat of government of La Matanza Partido.  It is located in the greater Buenos Aires area.  I was reading about this city and partido a few days ago.  La Matanza is on the southwest border of Buenos Aires proper.  The partido is made up of over 1,775,272 people.  It is the most populated Partido in the Province of Buenos Aires and the biggest municipality in the country.

San Justo is just another example of the great need in Argentina.  There are so many places with multitudes of souls that need Jesus with very little Gospel light!  Please pray for San Justo and La Matanza.  Pray that every single person in that partido would be engaged with the Gospel of Jesus!

 

 

Being Thankful!

Looking back on eight months of deputation, I must say we have a lot to be thankful for!  November was an incredible month for us, as were in 13 meetings that were spread across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia!  We have travelled over 4500 miles!  In all of this, God protected us, keeping us safe all along the way and we had churches partner with us this month as well!  There is so much in all of this to be thankful for!  On top of that our 2015 calendar is continuing to fill up!  God is leading the way as we continue deputation.

I would like to thank all of our supporting churches.  We are so blessed to partner with you in the challenge of spreading the Gospel of Jesus to millions who have never heard!  While we are thankful for God’s blessings, we are burdened for the masses who just don’t know the Truth!

Merry Christmas!

 I have a missionary friend who recently lost his father.  This was a big surprise, as his father was only in his 50s.  This Christmas season, I hope that you make the most of the time you have with your family!  As we are always traveling on deputation, we don’t get to see our families as much as we did before.  I look forward to the different family Christmas parties  that will be going on all this month!  Most of all, I look forward to the conversations and testimonies about our Savior with loved ones we do not have the opportunity so see that often.  We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!     ~ the Henrys

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, and Ivy Henry

We have been looking at characteristics (or attributes) that key missionaries in the Bible had in common.  Each of these men were different.  Each of them had different backgrounds, different “mission fields”, different results.  At the same time, each of these missionaries had things in common.  Today we are going to be looking at love.  Love should be the driving force of every missionary.  It is not the love for people (although that is important), but love for God that should propel the believer to the mission field to proclaim salvation in Jesus!  Although I think that most don’t need examples of this, here are a few…

•  Paul
  • Paul spoke of love in 1 Corinthians 13.  The word in the KJV is charity, it simply means “love”.  The  Greek word “agape” (in one form or another) is used 258 times in the New Testament.  The word means “a sacrificial love in action”.  This is best exemplified in Jesus (more on that later).
  • “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
  • Paul speaks to the Corinthian church about love.  He explains that if he had all sorts of spiritual gifts, but did not have agape love, he was nothing more than a “tinkling cymbal”.  Spiritual gifts are wonderful, but do not take the place of love.  Paul went on to explain that good works and great acts of sacrifice is worth nothing apart from love.
  • Paul showed the love of Christ to people who believed, to people who would turn on him, to people who rejected the Gospel, to people who maliciously sought to kill him!
• Jesus
  • Jesus spoke of love many times.  In fact, the “agape” word was used by or about Jesus in the Gospel records 49 times!
  • Here are a few examples…
    • “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
    • “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35
    • “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  John 15:13
    • “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” Luke 6:35
  • One of the first attributes of God that comes to mind is love.  Jesus has great love for the Father and great love for the world!

Again, there are many different examples of this, these are just examples.  How can we be missionaries, ambassadors on the behalf or our God is we are not filled with, motivated by, and driven by love?  Our God is love.  God loves His children.  God loves the lost!  We should be filled with this same love!