Travel light: Dirty, rotten scoundrels

“And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.’” 

1 Samuel 8:8, ESV

Imagine this missionary assignment: a small town in the middle of nowhere. Whiskey flows freely, and gambling and prostitution are rampant. The legal system is corrupt, violence is common and most people die before age 40, many from violent deaths. It is a town that has rejected God.

Sound familiar?

William Carpenter ministered in this kind of town. His unreached people group included miners, ranchers and prostitutes.  Little is known about this Baptist minister who died in 1881 from nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys. In fact, all I managed to find about him traces to the same source — Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona.

Carpenter is buried alongside many of Tombstone’s famous residents, including Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury, who were killed by the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday in the infamous Shootout at the O.K. Corral. Carpenter died the year of the shootout.

1881 was a volatile year in Tombstone, and gravestones in Boot Hill tell a story of the hardships. Murders, stabbings, illnesses and mining accidents took the lives of residents at much too young an age.

As I walked through the O.K. Corral and read the histories of the town, I realized not much has changed. Sure, technology, transportation and communication have evolved. We can now jet around the globe in a matter of hours and chat face-to-face over a wireless network from the most remote locations.

But at our core, human beings are no different than we’ve ever been. Put a whiskey bottle, a deck of cards and a scantily clad woman in front of a bunch of men and you’ll be sure to draw a crowd — and soon someone will get hurt.

The walk through Tombstone reminded me of this: We are all dirty, rotten scoundrels in need of a Savior.

That’s why, in Old Testament times, God sent prophets like Samuel to call His people to live differently. That’s why He sent a little known minister like William Carpenter to Tombstone. That’s why He sends men and women today to hard places where whiskey flows freely, gambling and prostitution are rampant and the legal systems are corrupt — because we are dirty, rotten scoundrels in need of a Savior.

Most importantly, that’s why He sent Jesus — because God is worthy of our worship and we are too messed up in our depravity to notice. We are broken, messed up sinners, but God loved us enough to die for us, to heal the rift between us and to reconcile us to Him.

Yes, we are all dirty, rotten scoundrels. The Good News is we have a Savior, and His name is Jesus.

This week’s reading: 1 Samuel 4-24, Psalm 7, 11, 27, 31, 34, 52, 59 
Post #15: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God’s Word.

#travel light

Travel light: Audacious prayers

“But if you don’t drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become thorns in your eyes and in your sides; they will harass you in the land where you live.” Numbers 33:55, HCSB

As we move into the places God has for us, we must deal with the sins and issues before us. Otherwise, they will continue to enslave.

I stood on the top of a mountain in the city where we lived in northern Thailand. We’d been there a few months, and colleagues and I had come to the top of this mountain to pray over the city. I’d not yet found a ministry, but on that mountain, I prayed an audacious prayer: “Lord, shut down the sex industry in my city.”

God took that prayer and grew it into an entire ministry to exploited women and children in that city — a ministry that continues to this day. Some women and men have come to faith in Jesus Christ. Some have been baptized. Some are no longer involved in prostitution. Through the faithfulness of Christian workers, the gospel has been shared with countless women and men in the city's red light districts. Light is penetrating darkness in some of the city’s ickiest areas.

Finding the place God has for us involves confronting the issues and sins before us. Christian workers who move into a new area often spend time “mapping” the area — understanding the culture, the language and the sins that enslave. These often differ from people group to people group. If Christian workers fail to help a people group confront and drive out their “cultural sins" as they are growing in their faith, those sins will maintain a foothold and may resurface later to enslave them again.

The same is true in our own lives. Instead of “cultural sins” we sometimes call them “pet sins.” What sins are such a part of your life that you fail to recognize their power over you? Gossip? Gluttony?  Selfish ambition? Materialism? Greed? The list goes on.

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” Jesus said in John 8:32 (HCSB). With the help of the Holy Spirit, take some time to “map out” your own heart and examine the sins you take for granted. Then, ask God to help you drive them out so that you can be free to be all that He created you to be. Remember, He wants the best for you, so that through your life you can make Him known.

This week’s reading: Numbers 23 – Deuteronomy 2

Post #10: Discovering how to live missionally through a chronological reading of God’s Word.

#travellight