What an amazing night!  We had more than 200 people show up for Regenerate, and we had a great time of ministry!  Dozens of volunteers made the event run wonderfully.  Bobby Bishop spit rhymes and proclaimed the good news of Jesus’ salvation.  Laura shared her testimony of God’s regeneration of her life.  The Patrick Lynch Band led us in worshipping our Savior.  Tom spoke of God’s faithfulness and saving grace through his and Amy’s story.  Eighteen people responded to Tom’s invitation to trust in Jesus!  Thank you, God!

God is always working.  He had been working in the hearts of those eighteen for years leading up to this point.  He will continue working in their hearts, drawing them to Himself and shaping them to look more like Christ.  The Holy Spirit is continuing to work in the hearts of those who did not physically respond to Tom’s invitation.  He is even working in the hearts of those who will attend our next event, Overtime!

As we look forward to whatever project or adventure is next on the horizon, we can go forward with confidence that God is with us and has prepared the way for us.  All of the work we did, all of the hundreds of hours of labor and planning, don’t compare with the miraculous work of salvation from sins that God was working there tonight.  He is on the move, and we are excited to tag along for the ride.

There are a thousand other thoughts and praises that I would love to write of, but I must cut this devo short.  Just let me finally say that we at faith2faith are so honored and privileged and blessed to have been chosen by God to be His adopted children and to join Him in His massive, marvelous work of regeneration in the lives of people.  We are delighted to give God the praise He deserves.  Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God!” (Romans 5:1-2)

Dave White

I’m finally home!  After nine weeks of wonderful ministry in the Adirondacks, it’s good to be back in Willimantic.  I have seen God do some amazing things recently, and I am so excited for what He has in store in the coming week!  For years, I have had the privilege of serving faith2faith in its ministry to teens all over the place; but now, f2fmi is partnering with the people of my community to bring the Good News to our youth!  Did you know that some folks up at the Willimantic Camp Meeting Association have been praying for this for three years?!  This is gonna be great!

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14)

Though I’ve been up in the mountains, our team has been preparing for this event all summer long.  The churches of our region are coming together in unity and prayer.  Our hosts have been praying for us for three years.  Many of you have been praying with us for several weeks.  The Holy Spirit has already begun working in the hearts of everyone who will attend Regenerate this weekend.  He has been planning this and praying for this long before we even thought of the event.  He is with us.  We are with Him.  We are eager to see what He’s going to do.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”  (Romans 8:28)

What could be more good than people coming to know Christ?!  And that is our goal!  We believe that we are called for this purpose.  As in every event, there are still some things to iron out; and everything might not go according to (our) plan; but God will work everything together for the good.  We are so excited to partner with Christ Jesus and His Bride, the Church, in their mission…

“…to proclaim good news to the poor… liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  (Luke 4:18b-19)

Please, please, join us in prayer for this event!  God delights in working through the prayers of His people.  He has proven Himself to be faithful, time and time again.  Please pray for many young people to come.  Pray for the musical artists who will be painting God’s love and holiness through song.  Pray for the staff, those who will make this event logistically possible.  And above all, pray for people to be drawn to Christ and that His Name will be glorified in Northeastern Connecticut!

Dave White

I had a very sobering experience recently.  I’ve been a Christian as long as I can remember, and the Christians I’ve spent time with have been, for the most part, genuine and effective ambassadors of Christ Jesus.  But when I attended a religious service a couple days ago, I was shown an example of why people can be so turned off by “organized religion.”  It broke my heart to see people who proclaimed Christ but did not show His love.

“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.   Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to look after orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:26-27)

It has become popular in some Christian circles to bash religion (or at least to disassociate oneself from it).  Some say things like “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship” or “Jesus did not come to start another religion.”  I somewhat understand what these folks are trying to say –that knowing and loving Jesus is not merely following a bunch of rules- but because of my belief in the above verse, I have often found myself defending “religion.”  I have tried to reclaim the definition of “religion” from those who have made it out to be synonymous with “legalism.”  Religion, as defined by God’s word, is definitely a good thing.

That said, I was very upset –both saddened and angered- by the religiosity of the church I was visiting.  As far as I could tell, the church had its doctrine right.  They had the right beliefs, but they did not communicate God’s great love for people.  Tragically, they communicated judgmentalism and arrogance.  One of the things that broke my heart was that there were a great number of non-Christians at that service, who may have gone away from it with all their former prejudices against Christianity reinforced.  Even if the congregants did truly love their visitors, they did not communicate that love.

This redeeming relationship that God has established with people, this thing we call Christianity, our religion, is nothing if it is not filled with love.  “By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) Love is something that is shown, that is visible.  Love is of no use if it is merely an internal feeling.  That internal feeling must be expressed in some way, if anyone is to know about it.  We are called, as Christians, to express love, not just to feel it.

The most common expression of love is through words.  This is why James draws such attention to one’s tongue in the passage above.  I did not have the privilege of getting to spend a lot of time with the church I was visiting, so the only way of measuring their love was through the words that they spoke.  But their words did not communicate love.

How often do my words not express love?  We need to examine our hearts and our lips for the words we are speaking.  “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks …  I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:34)

True religion, according to God’s Word, is loving people and loving God, through our actions and words and feelings.  Let us strive to be known as Christ’s disciples because we love each other.  Lord, help us to be those who love You and love others.  Help us to communicate Your great love through our words and actions.  Amen.

Dave White

In the woodshop up here at camp, I have a plaque with Ephesians 2:10 inscribed in it.  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” I really appreciate this verse because I am a builder.  I love to create things.  I like to invest in and create a good project.  I love the thought of God as the craftsman who is investing in me, making me into something good.

We are His.  God is King over all creation, and we are especially His if we have put our trust in Christ.  As a master craftsman, God is working on us.  With patience and precision, He is making us into who He has designed us to be.  We are being transformed into better representatives of Jesus.  As Titus chapter two says, the grace of God is “training us to renounce all ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives…”

In Christ, we are new creations. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We are created in Christ for good works.  Now, the context of Ephesians chapter two is talking about the great works that God has done to reconcile us to Himself, but we also get to participate in the good works that He is up to.  First of all, He has paid the price to redeem mankind to Himself.  He is rescuing people from every tribe and nation.  Also, as a part of this redemption, He calls us to do good in our lives: to hold doors open for folk, to give to those in need, to keep our word, to love.

Before you or I took our first breath, God had a plan for you.  He has written every one of your days in a book.  Your whole life is spread before Him like a map, and He has prepared a way for you to walk.  As you walk, He has designed special, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for you to do good works and to tell of the good works our Lord has done.

Our lifestyle, our way of doing things, should be saturated with the good works prepared and produced by the Holy Spirit.  By His leading and enabling, we should walk in good works.  God has called us to a holy life, which is a call to be noticeably different.  The difference people see in us should be seen through the good works we are doing.  They will know that we are His as we show love for each other. (John 13:35)

Remember that you are God’s precious workmanship, and remember that you are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand; and walk in them.  May our lives stand out so that we are able to preach with both our lives and our words of the good things God has done in Jesus Christ.  May the Holy Spirit continue to shape us and train us through the mighty grace of God.

Dave White

This week, Northern Frontier Camp (where I’m working this summer) has a special treat.  Our cabins are full of young men from the Bronx and from Bridgeport, CT.  Usually, the kids we serve do not come from urban environments, and most of our staff are suburban folk, so this week is a neat challenge for us.

I love the diversity of God’s creation.  I rejoice in the uniqueness of each plant and animal subspecies, and I especially enjoy the myriad cultures of our human race.  God is King and Lord over all of His creation -over every people group- and He calls us to declare His glory to every nation.

“Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!” (1 Chronicles 16:24)

We get to join with God in His mission of revealing Himself to all peoples.  He declares that this will be accomplished, so we can go forward with confidence in our quest to make Him known.

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10)

This is what we happily strive for at f2fmi.  Our one organization cannot reach every nation by itself, but we love being used by God to reach the various subcultures that we have the privilege of interacting with.  By engaging the emerging cultures of today, we are able to reach this generation for Christ.

We (you and I) are called to be missionaries to the subcultures, to the nations in which we find ourselves.  A large part of what we get to do at f2fmi is equip young Christians to be these missionaries.  We put together marvelous programs, but it’s the kids who invite their friends to our events.  We simply provide a context that God uses to multiply the effect of youths’ relationships with their friends for the expansion of His Kingdom.

Your support of f2fmi is a great contribution to the glorifying of God’s Name among the nations.  We certainly could not succeed in our mission without prayers being lifted up for us.  Thank you to those of you who pray for us and to those who help provide for our financial and manpower needs.  As you partner with us in our labors, we earnestly desire that your labors will also be blessed as you declare God’s greatness among the nations.

Psalm 67
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, (Selah)
2 that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You!
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. (Selah)
5 Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You!
6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear Him!

Dave White

“…I consider all Your precepts to be right; I hate every false way.”

The theme of hating evil continues to be important in my life.  I am presently living and working at a Christian camp, a blessed place where there is not a lot of evil going on.  However, even here there is sin and worldliness.  But because of the general godliness here, I tend to overlook the wickedness that finds its way into this holy place.  This should not be.

“Righteous are You, O LORD, and righteous are Your rules.”

“The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever.”

God is completely good and completely holy.  He cannot stand any sin.  His laws are perfect and deserve to be fully obeyed, not just partially obeyed.  Jesus Christ has given Himself for us, and if we are His, the Spirit of God lives in us.  We must not grieve the Holy Spirit by participating in -or giving approval to- the least bit of sin.  Rather, our character should mirror our Father’s, and we should hate every false way, as He does.

“Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is Your way with those who love Your Name.”

We should hate every false way, but we do not.  And God knows that; that’s why He sent Jesus!  Jesus was the only one who could truly declare all the lofty praises of Psalm 119, from which all the verses in this essay are drawn.  Through Jesus, we are offered the free gift of imputed righteousness and salvation and life eternal.  And God is overjoyed to extend to us His grace.  Such generosity is His “way.”  It is His generous grace that makes it a delight to serve Him and to be like Him by hating what He hates and loving what He loves.

“The earth, O LORD, is full of Your steadfast love; teach me Your statutes!”

Dave White

“Oh, no,” I thought.  “I’ve become that guy.”  Mowing the lawn had given me an opportunity to think.  As I reflected on my life, I realized that I had just updated my facebook status to “mowing.”  What a waste of keystokes!  Of course, there is no commandment that says, “Thou shalt not post silly updates on facebook [or twitter],” and this is not a rant against social networking, but there is a burning passion in me not to waste my life.  I don’t want to be the guy who wastes time idling on the internet and posting empty status updates like “mowing” or “watching TV” on my facebook account.  I want to make the most of everything I do.  I only have a little bit of time on this earth, and then I will stand before God and have to give an account for how I’ve lived the life He’s given me.

Furthermore, God is interested in every part of your life.  Because of love, God cares about what you do.  His plans for you are for the good and are articulated in Scripture.  There is more joy in living a life for the glory of God than in the futile pursuit of trifles and vanity.  God knows this and wants you to be happy in Him, so He gives us standards for how we are to live our lives.

“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor… So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:23-24,31)

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and prefect will. (Romans 12:2)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

The entire book of Ecclesiastes resounds with the reminder of the vanities and futilities of life.  After examining all of life, looking for happiness and pleasure, the writer of the book concludes: “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

I don’t want my life to be a “chasing after the wind.”  I want my life to count for something.  Therefore, my aim is to answer Jesus’ invitation: “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:34b-36)

Will you respond to His call, too?  Or will you waste your life?  To help you answer that, I’ll leave you with a little rhyme that I’ve seen in some old cemeteries.

“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Think about it.

Dave White

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”        - Galatians 2:20-21

The Christian life begins, in a very real way, with death.  Sin kills our relationship with God.  Jesus dies on our behalf for our sin, so that we can be made right with God.  The Christian must die to his or her own flesh, in order to live in Jesus Christ.  But the Christian life does not end with death.  Quite the opposite of our mortal experience, our life with God begins with death and continues and finds fulfillment in life… everlasting and abundant life.

Paul wrote the above passage to the Galatians, who had seemingly forgotten that the Christian life is one of faith and not dependant on our good deeds.  I can empathize with the Galatians, though.  You see, I’ve got the same problem as them.  I sin.  A lot.  And I’m a Christian!  Now, even though I know that I was saved by Jesus (not by myself), I am tempted to “stay saved” by being good.  The problem is, we can never consistently maintain good behavior.  We inevitable end up breaking the rules.  So, then we’re tempted to solve the sin problem by adding more rules, which doesn’t work very well, either.

The solution that Paul articulates for this dilemma is much more difficult than just keeping a bunch of rules.  You must die.  “I have been crucified with Christ.”  The Christian must kill the flesh, which wars against the Spirit of God.  The flesh says, “I am going to save myself.”  The Spirit says, “Trust Me.”  As a Christian, we must kill our stubborn and futile attempts to save ourselves.  We are to place our sacrificed lives in the hands of God, trusting in the work of Jesus the Messiah for our salvation, even when we sin… especially when we sin.

When we are dead, then Christ lives in us.  Our flesh has no more authority.  We will not be pulled down to hell along with our sinful nature, because we have crucified the flesh through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.  We have also been raised with Christ, so that sin and death have no more dominion over us.  We can walk in Jesus’ new life.

I’ve touched on a few things in attempting to articulate this glorious paradox, but I want to leave you with two things.  First, no one is saved or continues to be saved by good deeds alone.  It is solely by the grace of God through one’s faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross.  Second, I encourage you to live out the first truth by dying to self and to flesh.  Do not try to save yourself, but allow Jesus to save you.  “Live by faith in the Son of God.”

Dave White

“I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?  My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”  -Psalm 121:1-2

I just returned from a hiking trip with some of my good buddies.  We’re pretty serious hikers, and some of the mountains we climb are quite challenging.  There are plenty of times when we, in an exhausted and desperate state, lift our eyes “to the hills.”  As a Christian, I am reminded of who made those hills: the One in whom my ultimate help resides.  “He will not let [my] foot slip.”  “He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on my high places.”

In life, I am often tired and desperate for help.  Who can strengthen and help me?  God can.  And God does.  Lifting one’s eyes up to the hills, both figuratively and literally, can serve well to take our sights off of our immediate troubles and to remind us of our Creator.  He made the mountains.  He can surely handle whatever the little things are that may be bothering us.

When you are up against a wall or at the end of your strength, lift up your eyes.  Focus your attention on the One who is bigger than your difficulties.  Focus your attention on Him, because He can help you out of your mess.  He can save you from your sins and your struggles.  Focus your attention on Him, because He is so much more worthy of your attention and energy than anything or anyone else.  Delighting in the Lord is the very best thing you can do.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?  My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”  -Psalm 121:1-2

Dave White

God is generous.  Generosity is at the heart of who God is and everything God does.  “God so loved the world that He GAVE His only Son.” (Jn 3:16)

I encourage you: reflect on all the generosity God has shown you.  An easy place to begin is your wealth and prosperity.  You are, right now, looking at a computer screen.  That is a generous gift from God.  But please do not stop there.  Move on to thinking about the greater gifts of salvation and forgiveness.

He “gave Himself as a ransom for all.” (1 Tim 2:6) “Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father… loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace.” (2 Thes 2:16) “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” (Eph 5:25)  “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (1 Jn 5:11)

God’s generosity is not just a thing of the past, either.  Because of God’s consistent character, we can trust in His continued joy in giving. “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32)

How, then, shall we live in light of His generosity?  We are to behave like our Father and like our Savior.  We, too, are to be generous.  Jesus “gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Tit 2:14)  We are to “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Eph 5:2), because Jesus “gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” (Gal 1:4)  “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (1 Tim 1:7)

Let’s be thankful!  Our generous God has given us exceedingly and abundantly more than we could deserve or imagine!  Let’s also be like Him!  Let us be generous in giving of our time and our abilities and our resources!  Let’s live in such a way that the world will know that our highest value is not in our things or our talents, but in our generous God.  And let us do so with joy!  We know that “God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9:7)

What’s more, God will take care of us as we are joyously generous.  We are assured that “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.” (2 Cor 9:10-12)

Wow!  God is generous.  Let’s be generous, too.