Scripture referenced 7 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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1 Corinthians 12:12-20 Read by elder Mike Mayer during the covenant membership ceremony to illustrate the body of Christ having many members
12 For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
15 If the foot would say, “Because I’m not the hand, I’m not part of the body,” it is not therefore not part of the body.
16 If the ear would say, “Because I’m not the eye, I’m not part of the body,” it’s not therefore not part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?
18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.
19 If they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now they are many members, but one body.
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Keep this verse
Romans 12:4-8
Read by Mike Mayer at the close of the covenant ceremony as a second body-of-Christ passage
4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6 Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;
7 or service, let us give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;
8 or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
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Ephesians 1:20-23
Robert Lillo referenced the Father seating Jesus at his right hand in the heavenly places and Jesus being head over all things to the church
20 which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.
22 He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,
23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
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Ephesians 2:1
Robert Lillo quoted 'you were dead in the trespasses and sins' to contrast the mountaintop blessings of chapter one with the valley of human lostness
1 You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,
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Ephesians 2:4
Robert Lillo quoted 'but God, being rich in mercy' as the great turning point after the description of being dead in sins
4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
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Ephesians 2:6
Robert Lillo referenced God raising believers up to be with Christ in the heavenlies, echoing the raising of Jesus in chapter one
6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
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Philippians 4:13
Adrian Lillo described Nigerian children reciting 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' in a remedial reading class
13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Robert and Adrian Lillo, missionaries serving in Nigeria with Global Scholars Mission, visited First B to give an update on their work and to preach. Robert closed the service with a brief look at the connection between Ephesians chapters one and two, focusing on a single word that ties the two chapters together. The congregation also took a special offering for the Lillos' ministry in Nigeria.
What was said
Robert began by explaining that their ministry in Nigeria, which started in 2005 at a college of education in Gindri, had grown in directions they had not planned. What began as training students to teach Christian religious studies in public schools had expanded to include university-level Greek instruction, Bible translation support, children's literacy work, and a scholarship program for graduate students. Adrian's phonics and literacy curriculum, developed in partnership with colleagues, had spread from one school in Jos to teachers and schools they had never visited directly.
Adrian described how the literacy program began out of necessity. There were no books children could enjoy, and the teaching methods in use were harsh. The curriculum grew from handwritten charts to printed materials, teacher manuals, and student workbooks, now published through Africa Christian Textbooks near Jos. Seeing a teacher she had trained now leading a remedial reading class, with children reciting "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," was a highlight of their most recent trip.
Robert then turned to Ephesians one and two, noting that in the original Greek text there are no chapter divisions. He pointed out that the end of chapter one describes Jesus as head over all things to the church, and the church as "the fullness of him who fills all in all." The very next phrase, rather than a contrast, is the word "and": "and you were dead in trespasses and sins."
He asked why Paul used "and" rather than "but" at that point, since a sharp contrast might seem more natural after such an exalted description of the church. His answer was that Paul saves the great contrasting word for verse four: "but God, being rich in mercy." The word "and" connecting the mountaintop of chapter one to the valley of chapter two is deliberate. It puts those two realities side by side without letting readers skip past one to get to the other.
The practical point Robert drew out was about how Christians tend to receive God's blessings. It is easy, he said, to hear about being chosen, adopted, forgiven, redeemed, and sealed by the Holy Spirit and quietly conclude that such gifts make sense, that they fit who we are. The phrase "and you were dead in trespasses and sins" exists to correct that. Whatever veneer of respectability a person has, Paul's point is that every person without Christ was a child of wrath, just as lost as anyone else.
Robert closed by tracing how Paul comes back up to the mountaintop in chapter two, verse six, where God raises believers up with Christ into the heavenlies. The valley of being dead in sin and the height of being filled with every spiritual blessing are both necessary to the argument. It is the valley, he said, that makes the mountaintop worth something. Forgetting where we came from causes us to take grace for granted and grow proud of what was never ours to begin with.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Robert described how God 'morphed' their ministry in Nigeria in ways they never anticipated when they arrived in 2005. Can you think of a time when God redirected something in your own life toward a purpose you hadn't planned for?
- Robert talked about investing in the young man who knocked on their door asking to wash their car, and watching him eventually teach the same courses Robert once taught. What does that kind of long-term investment in a person require from the one doing the investing?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 9,099 words
0:00
And minds, get things aligned right. We're excited to see you today worshiping the Lord with us. Thank you. Amen? Victory in Jesus, three fifty three if you wanna use your hymnal.
0:43
Victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my savior forever. He sought me and bought
3:22
Great words. When they're up there.
3:25
They're great. Yeah.
3:26
No. Just a little dig, Rinsey.
3:29
It's It's
3:30
We're letting that go.
3:30
Yeah.
3:31
We're letting it go.
3:32
Actually, Rob said in between service, he said, we know the the person back there in the back is just on it. They're clicking right along with you. That never happens in our church. I said, oh my goodness. Here we go.
3:44
Perfect. Hymn hymn number seven seventy two. If you want to grab a hymnal, when we all get to heaven.
3:50
This is a happy one. Let's smile while we sing it.
5:21
All see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. Were
5:32
you all happy about that time? I'm looking around the room with somebody. You're just really grinning near to ear. Amen.
5:39
Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements. One of those announcements, the connect hour is still happening. It's happening between services. So around ten ish or whenever we finish, the first service to eleven, we have a connect hour down in the fellowship hall with coffee and donuts and that sort of thing.
5:58
That's still happening. Even though we're in the midst of our kitchen remodel, it is still happening down there. Connect hour happens. Monday nights at first b. It's happening at 06:00.
6:07
It's a soft start. 06:00, meal, music, and a message. Tomorrow night is potluck. So if you come tomorrow night, would you bring something along, a side dish or a dessert or something bring along to share with everybody else? So, it's meal, music, and a message.
6:21
Monday nights at First Bee. Where are we, Carl, in our study? Alright. Luke Fantastic. Trust in Jesus.
6:30
Seniors. This is senior recognition. We will recognize the seniors, but high school seniors in particular next week. So, the high school senior recognition is next week, and Renzi will be doing we're recognizing all seniors. Alright.
6:46
Very good. We have a Vacation Bible School that's coming up June the twenty third and twenty fourth. It's gonna be in the evening. It's a slightly well, completely different format than we have done before. So, Vacation Bible School is happening in the evening but we are doing a decorating day here in the whole church really.
7:06
1PM on Saturday, June 17. So, that is June 17, the week before and everybody's welcome. Even if you can't help for Vacation Bible School, you could still come in and help set up the decorations and so volunteers, if you would like to, Liz Owings is the lady that you need to talk to about that or you can call the church office and talk to Diane and we will direct you on that. And if you'd like to help out in the nursery, same thing. We'll get you in touch with Bailey to do that.
7:37
June 18 is Father's Day and it's a potluck picnic we're gonna have right out here in this green space outside. And it's also a fairly well party for the Renos, Renzi, Kale, Boone, and Ace. They are heading out. Exodus towards Sheridan, Wyoming. The eighteenth is their last day here to say goodbye to everyone.
7:56
They're leaving very soon thereafter. But bring along pies and sides for that. It'll be a potluck. The church will provide meat and macaroni and cheese. But if you wanna bring anything else, please feel free.
8:10
So how was the first day of school? It was fine I guess. I don't know. Do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on inside their head? Did you guys pick up on that?
8:21
Sure did. Something's wrong. We're gonna find out what's happening but we'll need support. Signal the husband.
8:31
Come on. Carry. Carry on. All the way. All the way.
8:36
Uh-oh. She's looking at us. What did she say? What? Oh.
8:40
Oh. Sorry, sir. No one was listening. Is it garbage night? We left the toilet seat up.
8:44
What? What is it woman? What?
8:46
Signal him again.
8:51
So Riley, how was school?
8:54
Riley, you gotta be kidding me. For this, we gave up that Brazilian helicopter pilot.
9:05
Ken Sandy is coming in. He'll be in July 15 here at First B, July 15, 9AM to 03:30PM for a relational wisdom seminar. It'll be, you know, most of the day Saturday, but he's coming for the Thursday night Turning Point Gala. He's the speaker for that. But while he was here, we were gonna take advantage of the opportunity and have him do this.
9:28
This is not just for First B, but for anybody in this valley who'd like to, get along better or help people get along better. So, relational wisdom. There is a place online to sign up for it. The closer we get to the event, we'll be advertising that more, but if you want to, you can go online and sign up for it, register so we'll know how many people will attend. There is an open house this afternoon.
9:50
If y'all have not met the Lilos yet, many of y'all who have been in church here for a long time know Rob and Adrian Lilo. They are serving in Nigeria, and he is gonna bring the met or she also is gonna bring the message for us today. They're gonna give an update of the ministry in Nigeria but also Rob will be preaching this morning too. So, today, at the Steagues House in Wilson, there is a an open house. It's today from two to four and the address is in the bulletin if you don't know how to get there.
10:18
That will be fun. I'll be there. So, for any other announcements, you can check your bulletin. I'm going to invite Mike Mayer, one of our elders up here and we have a covenant ceremony. So, I'll also invite John and Valerie to come up And here you are, Mike.
10:38
Thank you. So, yes, as John and Valerie, come up, I'd like to share a word out of first Corinthian. Paul tells us that God is the one who adds members to the body as it pleases him. He adds them for the common good of the whole body. This is out of first Corinthians in chapter 12 starting at, verse 12.
10:59
For just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. Jews are Greeks, slaves are free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body.
11:24
And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?
11:46
As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. As I think about membership, one of the foremost words that comes to my mind is commitment. So as an elder, we appreciate, the level of commitment that John, Valerie, and Gideon here, are bringing to the church. And it's always, a good thing to to to kinda hear from them as well as to how God has placed them here at first b. So if you would,
12:12
please. That's it. Yeah. So we've been here since about September, and we came and visited in July, and we're just praying that we would find a good church. The big thing that we were looking for is a church that preached through the Bible and that just held to what it said and that loved Jesus and where we had opportunities to serve.
12:36
And we prayed about that and came here, and thankfully, was a review sermon on Romans. And so we got a great view of what it is that you guys believe. And and it's just been a a huge answer to prayer. We're just so grateful to be here. I'm grateful to be a part of this body, and we're looking forward to more opportunities to serve, and that's it.
12:59
Alright. Thank you.
13:02
So as a church body, we'd like to make a covenant to you, again, as an affirmation of God's will. Do you affirm before this congregation that Jesus Christ is your Lord and savior? Do you believe that God is adding you to this body of believers? Will you open your life to allow this congregation to minister to you as we serve Christ together? And congregation, this one's for you.
13:25
From the response of these new members, do you believe that God is adding these people to this church? If so, saying we do.
13:32
We do.
13:33
Will each of you personally open your lives to these people to allow God to work through you to help them to become all that God has purposed them to be? If so, say we will. Pastor, if you'd like to come up, any of the other elders, I'm gonna read, Romans speaking of Romans, Romans twelve four eight. For as in one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. So we, though many, are one body in Christ.
14:03
Let's pray. Lord, we just thank you. We thank you for John, Valerie, and Gideon, that, Lord, you have placed them here, in first b. Lord, we ask that that they would be a blessing to this church, that this church body would come around them, and they would grow spiritually and spiritual maturity. And, Lord, again, we we wanna be a church that is like that city on the hill that shines for this this community as a beacon.
14:31
Help us all to be salt and light as we go forward in this journey. We thank you and we love you in Jesus' name. Amen. Round of applause.
14:43
And if y'all would, you can stand up and greet one another. Maybe if you can reach them, you can greet them and welcome them in. Hymn number seven sixty two if you want to find your part. Seven sixty two.
16:25
For me what a day glorious day that will be what a day that will be when my Jesus I and
17:01
for our next hymn, we're going sing Open Our Eyes Lord. Follow Scott on this one, okay? I'm going to sing bass. If you can sing bass, sing with me but if not, you're going get uncomfortable fast, okay? So, follow Scott
17:12
on this one. Alright. Everybody sing down here on this one.
17:18
It's a great worshipful song. Let your heart connect with Jesus here.
17:22
Open our we want to see Jesus to reach out and touch him and say that we open our ears lord and help us to open our we want to see and say that we open our we want to see
18:52
Would you have a seat? I'm going to invite the frontline team to come forward now and I'm going to explain something before I pray. So, time, four times a year, we invite missionaries that are serving full time around the globe wherever that may be that this church is taken on as our missionaries. Y'all hear us say, please pray for our missionaries all the time. Well, Robin, Adrian, you are one of our missionary units, okay?
19:18
And so, we are gonna take up two offerings today. The first one, the one right now, this is for the general fund for the church, the normal thing. The second one that we take up will be for Robin Adrian's continued ministry and scholarships and all that they'll share with you in Nigeria. So, the first one is for the church, general offering, our witness in this valley, and to the ends of the earth but the second one after they speak will be for Robin Adrian's ministry in Nigeria. I just want to clarify that.
19:49
Now, if you came to church and you have a folded check-in your pocket and you've already written it out and it says First Baptist Church on it already, that's fine. If you just have that one, we'll ask you to give it to them, okay? So, this is for the general fund right now. Would you pray with me? God, I thank you for Robin Adrian and for them coming in and I thank you for that they are one of the missionary units of which this church has a lot.
20:14
We have about 20 different missionary units serving around the world. Lord, full time, all the time and I pray that you would bless all of them lord by the continued ministry of this little local church here in this valley. God, I pray that you would empower this church to do your will here and to every visitor that comes through our doors and to those we meet here in this valley up in the park wherever it is. God, would you continue to go forward with your good gospel through the obedience of your servants. God, would you bless and multiply this offering to do your kingdom's work in Jesus name.
20:52
Amen. Both Rob and Adrian, Lillo up, and thank you very much. Very rarely do you get to meet a couple who ministers to people in education all the way from preschool through doctoral studies but this is exactly what this couple does and we appreciate you and you have a mic right there on you?
25:02
I do.
25:02
Yes. But this red mic is going to be for y'all to
25:05
share. Right.
25:05
Right. Okay. That's right. Thank you. So, thank you pastor Ray and it's a privilege to be once again here at First B in Jackson, Wyoming.
25:14
I'm just thrilled about your Monday night service. We won't be able to be here. We have we're on our way to San Francisco tomorrow But we actually somebody from our church in Wisconsin who is working at the riding stables out at Jackson Lake Park, and they were just thrilled that you guys have a Monday night service. And so she's gonna bring she said, I bet five or six of my, dorm mates here at the ranch are gonna wanna come for supper tomorrow night and hear a message. So you'll see our friends from Wisconsin here tomorrow night, Lord willing.
25:41
So it's just thrilling that you've got that kind of outreach and ministry here. That is terrific. My name is Robert Lillo, and I am with, we are with the Global Scholars Mission. This is my wife, Adrian. And, God has given us, like pastor Ray was saying, a unique ministry.
25:55
We didn't conceive of this when we went to Nigeria twelve years ago in 2005. But God has sort of morphed our ministry to expand from the top down and from the down back up again in ways that we hadn't anticipated through my wife's ability to both write stories and draw and illustrate them for children's books. And this is the ministry that God has given her in the second half of our twelve years with the mission, and that developed when we moved from our first mission post at the College of Education in Gindri, where we were from 2005 to 2011, and then the University of Jos, which is a federal university in the Nigerian educational, higher education system from 2011 through to the present. So just sort of a little encapsulation of what that means in a practical visual sense. This is a picture of us with, Chorbe.
26:50
He's in the green court. That's the husband. And Delta who is right next to him and next to Adrian with the baby with the neat looking little cap on there. Delta Hin was one of my students in the Gindre College of Education, which is a three year teacher's college. Students go there and take any number of courses designed to help them receive a certificate that makes them legally able to be hired in public education system in Nigeria.
27:18
And, because Nigeria is an English based country, that's the national language, although they have four different regional languages and 450 languages and dialects among the 190,000,000 people of that country, English is the overriding language for government, for media, newspapers, education from the bottom up, and the government and military and so on. So so we were able to go there and start teaching in English. Mind you, we had to be careful about that because there are different accents and words that are not common between American and British and Nigerian forms of English. So having learned that, Deltigan was one of my first students, and she graduated and became a teacher in one of the local public schools in Gindri. And we kept up friend, her her dad was a security guard at the college, and so we knew him well.
28:10
And she was one of my students, so she would come over and visit us and got to know my wife. And she became a teacher. And then when we moved to Joss and Adrian started getting involved in children's literacy and phonics reading education in this constant contact we had with Delticans. She again, do you have materials I could use? And so that started a relationship.
28:31
And now from being a student of mine in 2005, Adrian is now her phonics supervisor, and she has become the phonics reading literacy coordinator for all six elementary grades in the public school in which she serves in Gindri. And that just is a little practical example of how our ministry has sort of blossomed from training students to teach others to becoming leaders in public education in the schools in which they teach. So I'm going to present sort of my side of the ministry. We'll get about halfway through the slides and Adrian will tell you more about her. So let's go to the, here's how we do it.
29:09
Okay, we'll go to the next one. And just a little bit of this continuing retrospect and prospect after a year long strike in education in 2010, the University of asked me to come and teach Greek in 2011 with them. And, and then while we were in Jos, the capital city of the state in which we live, Plateau State in Nigeria, Adrian began, working with a, an orphan school called Mashaya School, which has developed into a private Christian school as well as ministering to HIV AIDS widows and their children and other orphans. So as Adrian worked with them, she began developing a chart system and stories that go went along with literacy and phonics learning. And so as she did that, she began sharing it with others that she knew, including our friend, Delphiken.
30:01
And then my goals have shifted as well. Whereas I started in Gindri to teach, students who had become teachers in the public education system. And you have to understand a little bit of Nigeria's British based educational system, which incorporates religious studies into the public school curriculum. So every school that has both Muslim and Christian residents, and that includes most of Nigeria since the country is sort of half Muslim, half Christian. Every every public school that has that kind of representative population in their area offers Islamic studies for Muslim families and Christian studies for Christian families.
30:42
And so in our religious studies department at the college in Gindri, we had Muslim teachers teaching Muslim students how to teach the national Muslim curriculum to Muslim students. And we had our Christian religious studies department, which I was one of the faculty that taught our students how to teach the national Christian religious curriculum to, students who would become teachers for grades one through grade 12 in the public system of Nigeria. So Delsigen was one of those. And that's how we saw our students going out. They would teach what they would learn what we taught them, go out in the public schools, and these teachers would then have anywhere from seventy, eighty to 180, 190 students, which they taught Christian religious studies topics to, which went through the whole Bible, including some theology.
31:28
So we saw that as our first mission. But then as we got to the university, we saw we needed to work on replacing ourselves as the hair gets grayer and a little bit bolder. We realize as time encroaches, God moves us on to wider and broader goals. And so we realized we need to be teaching and mentoring and discipling students who will take our place. And that has been happening.
31:51
We'll show you a picture of them in a minute. But when we moved to Gindri in 2005, the sophomore, high school sophomore boy who lived four doors down in the apartments knocked on our door and said, well, can I wash your car once in a while and earn a little extra money and maybe go to the borehole and pump your drinking water
32:11
and bring it back
32:11
to you? That was about a quarter mile away. So he took our wheelbarrow and our jerry cans and got our water. So when we saw that boy's interest in learning, when we saw his desire to be a good student, we said, this is a young person to invest in. And so we got him through a Christian school.
32:29
God raised up donors to get him into university. God has raised up more donors to help him finish his national service after his four years of college and university. And now he is actually part time teaching in the college that I started teaching in, teaching some of the same Christian religious studies courses that I was teaching when I was there twelve years ago. And now he has gotten entrance and admission into the University of Jos' Master of Arts degree program in Christian religious studies. And he's my student in degree classes.
33:01
So like Delhin, this boy, Chinkin Adimlong is now a student of mine. It's just a thrill to be able to minister him the other way. And when we were in Nigeria in February and March of this year, I went there to start the master of arts postgrad program in New Testament studies and started the Greek courses that these students are required to take in our department. Chinkana was one of them, but I'm here and that course is still going on in Nigeria. And so as we back out a little bit, some health concerns a couple of two, three years ago have forced us to sort of spend more time in The States, less time each year in Nigeria.
33:37
So we, God has given us a talented, linguist, Nigerian young man who is just good at languages. And he's teaching both of my Greek courses for me now while we're here. And so he'll wind those courses up towards the end of August. I'll go back in September and teach the last few weeks of the Ephesians course and the Greek grammar course. And since I'm a faculty member and he's not, remember, he's just a lowly PhD student.
34:03
Right? So so he's winding up the courses for me and I'll finish them up, give the final exam, submit the grades to the faculty and graduate the students into their thesis part of their program. And so it's just been a godsend to be able we see God's hand in what we thought was health problems and retreat from it. It wasn't a retreat from ministry. It was an expansive ministry because, because our having to be back here means that he is starting to take my place and Chincot has taken my place in the college.
34:31
And Adrian is now developing teachers who are taking her place as well, and she'll tell you more about that real soon. So there's Nigeria and West Africa. We fly into, the city of the capital of the country, Abuja, that's sort of like their Washington DC, and drive four or five hours up to Joss where the university is, and we we, stay on campus while we're teaching, there. These are my students from this this year's, MA student course. And, three of them are are pastors.
35:03
Three of them are teachers. Scabia is a is both a Bible translator and a pastor who is one of our students. Dassaro is a is a evangelical church pastor. There's Cinquita, and he is, one of our students. And Saul is from the Eastern part of Nigeria who came to the universe.
35:21
He came to our university because he heard we had a serious Greek program, and he is a gifted linguist. He he he gets an a on every test, and I just think he's gonna be a great teacher. Of course, our vision for teaching Greek is not just so they can graduate and get up and have a job, but our purpose all along is so that the as they get a grasp on the Greek language, they can move into Bible translation work. Juukwe, who's teaching my classes now, is a Bible translator bringing a Bible translation into his own people's dialect in Benue State, about a six hour drive south of us. They've always wanted a Bible translator, but no one who knew their language who could take their language and check it, in the original languages and put it into their language.
36:05
They need someone who speaks their language to do it. They've never had a PhD student who could grasp the original languages and form that bridge between, English and Greek translations and into their own, tribal dialect, and Juukwe is that guy. He's their he's their he speaks their tribal language, and he formed a translation committee, and he's my student teaching Greek. And because we know one day, it's possible that, Western, Greek and Hebrew scholars may not be able to do this language checking for new Bible translations. And so we have sensed the need that in the university and seminary, curriculums, we need to raise up Greek scholars and Hebrew scholars who can do this checking for them.
36:49
You know, every Bible you've got that you brought here to church today, whether it's an NIV or an English Standard Version or New King James Bible or a New Living Translation, every one of the translations we use here in this country has had rigorous checking against the Greek and Hebrew text to make sure you have the very best translation available in what you carry in your hand and are able to buy. Now Nigeria and most countries in Africa do not have that level of, scholarship to be able to do that checking. Some translations into native languages in Africa, all they have all the ability they have to do is check the English against their tribal language. And then you when you start comparing pastors and pastors start preaching from portions of the Bible, you end up contradictions and they wonder why. Why has the Bible got it seems like problems in it.
37:37
It's sometimes because the translations aren't accurately checked like you have in your Bibles here today. So we see that as part of our mission and teaching in the university to find who God is putting your hand on, to raise them up for this future ministry. And it's already happening for which we're thankful. Another great provision, Ladoo is a college of education teacher in Maduguri. Let me go back a slide here.
38:00
See the red area here? This is where the Boko Haram terrorist insurgency, many of you know from news reports of the, over 200 girls who were kidnapped, the Chibat girls. And just a few weeks ago, 82 more of them were returned in a prisoner swap with Boko Haram. But, the recent government has pushed Boko Haram back up into this little corner up here. So Maduguri is now, free for travel on roads.
38:26
But Maduguri, while they were surrounded by Boko Haram, became a center of refugee camps for, both Christians and Muslims whose villages were burnt to the ground, houses destroyed, parents killed, schools destroyed. And so Maduguri, a city of a million people, the population is just burgeoned with all these refugee camps. And some of them are Christians from Christian families. And they're actually, they're Ladu's students. So Ladu right here has sometimes taken out of her meager salary to pay for food, registrations, student fees, even clothing at times to keep these students enrolled in the college of education program, they could be on team.
39:05
When we found out about that, here's another blessing. I think I have a slide right after this. Is it? Yeah. One of the highlights of our trip is we had raised about, $6,500 for our trip, about 4,500 to $5,000 for student scholarships and fees to help since we knew there was an economic downturn.
39:29
But when we got there, our director said, you have come here at just an incredible time. Here, you brought this money for scholarships, and the US dollar has just skyrocketed, meaning that the money that we had brought for student scholarships virtually doubled within a few weeks period of time. So we had far more funds to help these students. So we were planning to help four or five students. You'll see in a little bit, I put big check marks by the students we were planning to help.
39:52
We ended up instead of helping four students, helping 10 students and a number of other projects with the additional funds that that people like yourselves have given towards this kind of, student aid project. So the timing was just remarkable. We were able to print materials for undergrad Greek, and then Eijin's gonna tell you a little bit about her reunion with Deltakin and, the charts that she's used in her ministry there. So let's move on to a little bit. Here's the students that Cinqueda, of course, we've been working with him for eleven years now.
40:21
Anyway, as one of the brightest PhD students I've had, sold his car to pay the registration fee for his PhD registration at the university. And when I saw that level of commitment and and he's already a seminary teacher, he's already been teaching for seven or eight years in the seminary, the Nigerian seminary, two hours from us in Jos, where he teaches. So investing in a guy like that is investing in the future of Christianity in Nigeria. And so some of the others, I've already mentioned to you, Benjamin, who is teaching in my place, Ladu, we were able to give her a generous amount to take back to the city. I even got a thank you note from some of these refugee kids in her class saying, thank you, sir, for the money that you've given to help us finish our education here.
41:07
So just remarkable benefits. But we've been doing this for since we've been sort of pulling back a little bit in our time overseas, we've realized God has expanded our ministry in ways that we can raise these funds to help ministries, help literacy projects, help our help the best students to have, a better chance of finishing their education. So this is a picture of Juukwei, and, we're we're we're continuing to help him finish his thesis work. And here's a little summary of the funds. We've now in the last couple of years, able to contribute over $8,300 to this scholarship program.
41:43
When we found out, it's so funny. We, when we were told that the value of the money we brought over was doubled, some of the students said, well, sir, do you know where we can get some kind of help to complete our tuition? I said, oh, by the way, we just have a new scholarship program. So I went from class back to our guest house and I've got a printer stored there in Nigeria to use when I go back there. So I quickly wrote up the university of Jos, new Testament scholarship program.
42:14
So I printed out a sheet and made them answer a bunch of questions, put their name and their phone number and why they want the scholarship money and what they're gonna do with it, where they come from and all this kind of stuff. So I made it up, printed it out, brought it to class next day and says, oh, we have a new scholarship program at the university that's just for you. So five out of our student five out of our seven students in the program required financial assistance just to get through the current school year. So, God just provided that just incredibly, and we're thankful for it. The agent's gonna tell you about Hosea Gupar Danjuma, who was one again, one of my students in in the college of education in Nigeria in 2005.
42:52
I didn't even know he was. Like, he was in my gospel of John class. I had 325 students in the class. I didn't even know that he was one of them until I realized he was part of my wife's literacy program and her Canadian missionary colleague who are writing this literacy phonics curriculum. And then all of a sudden there's, and so Jose walks up to me, sir, I was one of your students in Kindred.
43:14
I said, oh, tell me more about it. You know, so it was just exciting to see God raising him. And we have already collected the full $12,000 for his ongoing online master of arts program in early childhood education, which we believe he'll become an even more effective teacher trainer, promoter of curriculum, curriculum developer with this degree program under his belt. So he's doing that while he's training teachers. Adrian will tell you more about that.
43:42
So anyway, now it's Adrian's turn to tell you a little bit more about her reunion with Delta hand and I'll turn, I'll hold the mic and she'll go for it.
43:50
Okay. I'll just start with being in Gindri for that six years, we realized that can you hear me? We realized that the literacy was very difficult there. And then getting up to Joss and being trained by a missionary who was running a school with a very effective program was just wonderful. And at the same time that God brought her to me, he also introduced me to this Hosea.
44:20
Hosea hated teaching. He hated beating the children. And he decided to take a phonics course, introduced it into his school before we ever came, and realized it worked, and the children could really understand and learn. And then he loved teaching, the children loved him. And so with another colleague of mine, we decided to all work together and make this curriculum.
44:43
So the original one was just charts, and there was 128 charts, and I would write those all out by hand because it's very difficult to get that very expensive to print that many charts that are all different. So we would write those, see how the children could just it was amazing how they learned to read. And so that's how we started developing the curriculum. So then we would get that material down to Gindri so that Delta can could use it. And when I got to the campus, this is my joy, I got to the campus this year to go down and do some follow-up with the school with Hosea.
45:24
And as soon as I walked into the playground, Delta comes comes running out. She just gives me this big bear hug and wouldn't let go like a long lost friend. It was wonderful to see how God had used us to help her to become that phonics specialist in the school. So anyway, that's the story there. And then two other highlights for me was the director of the school I worked with, and Joss, asked me to go around and visit all of the preschool teacher, children of three, four, and five years old, and then do a little teaching workshop with them.
45:58
And that was wonderful. But the most wonderful thing of all was to walk up this dusty, rocky road to the top of a little hill where they had put two houses they had two houses there they were using to add on to the school by making that the first through sixth grade and to sit in a remedial reader reading class and see the love that teacher had for her students and how she taught them with my the method we had used, how to help these children read. Some some children as old as 14 didn't know how to read. And they just loved her. And she's saying, now how do we know we have the power to do this, to learn this?
46:39
And then they would recite the verse, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me altogether in unition. So to see them in that loving Christian atmosphere with a Christian curriculum was just wonderful. And to know that I had trained the man who trained that young lady when he was a second grade teacher when I had been there a few years before, And now he was the principal of that school, and he did an excellent job training these teachers.
47:07
Yeah. Good. So alright. This is one of Adrian's books, here. And I just wanted to make a comment.
47:14
You know, here in The US, we've got doctor Seuss's in green eggs and ham. Right? Well, Nigeria, we have Sam has a yam. Not green eggs and ham, but Sam has a yam. Yam is a traditional food that's universal in West Africa.
47:29
So that was her story that she both wrote and illustrated, and here's another one. Do you wanna tell them a little bit about the idea of the story?
47:36
Well, this is what about the
47:40
The contextualization.
47:42
Oh, yeah. This is about contextualization. Because I'd been in Nigeria for six years, I really understood how they farmed and how they did everything. And so we just put the pictures that the children were familiar with in their environment, and they loved that. And they didn't have any little books to read.
48:01
So why should they want to learn to read? There was nothing that was enjoyable for them to read. So that's why we started printing the books. And? And this my colleague Marlene decided to add to that curriculum by, making teachers manuals and workbooks.
48:19
And so it's a more well rounded curriculum now. And I got to sit there and show off. It was such a joy to listen to those children read. And then this was the original chart, you can see how rough it was. Some of the words faded out, and so we needed to do something better than that.
48:41
So the Lord provided through donors from my colleague to have the charts printed, although we had to cut it down quite a bit. And this was the original charts. And to go into these poor classrooms, just cinder blocks, see a 180 children there, and to see them using my chart so that they can learn to read, wow, that was just a very, emotional moment. And there I am sitting with one of the teacher I had originally trained. Her name is Happy.
49:15
And doesn't she look happy? And she loves doing the remedial reading in class. And those are the, charts we have now. They're laminated, so they won't be destroyed so easily. They're split up so they can use them in each level of, the classes that the teachers are teaching.
49:33
Yeah. Hey. I wanna tell you something. In the first service, you took an offering. It's paid for.
49:39
Alright. Thank you. Praise the Lord. So the funding needed for video and audio recording for letter sounds, paid for. So that's going into the mission, and we'll take it back with us.
49:48
Yeah. Actually, we're there's a missionary who's we're gonna see at our mission conference in July, the end of July. He'll take that money back with him to Nigeria and pay for the video, recording. And extra funds will go to the second edition of the curriculum. Maybe just a quick explanation.
50:03
Can I go ahead and tell them about yeah? See, Africa Christian Textbooks is a publisher near Joss, in Boukerou, Plateau State near the university where we teach. There's a they're a missionary textbook publisher. And so, you know, most of the projects that they do, they fund through the sales of their books. But in this particular downturn we've had the last couple of years with a drop in price of oil since Nigeria's economy is, 85% supported by oil prices or an OPEC nation, you know, there there haven't been government transfer payments to the states.
50:38
Federal civil servants have not been paid. State servants have not been paid. Teachers have not been paid. Anything related to the government is not paid. Well, when they paid and they don't buy, a lot of other businesses suffer as well.
50:49
So and that goes with publishing too. So what we're trying to do is supplement the publishing efforts to keep the curriculum so that the stocks are shelled with the the the teacher's manuals and the student workbooks and the charts and the pocket charts and, and, the supplementary supplementary materials that the schools need to keep their curriculum going. When a student goes from level three to level four, they need the level four student workbook, and the publisher has got to have those on the shelves so the schools can buy them. So what we're continually trying to do is supplement the cost of that publishing. The schools still have to buy it, but at a reduced rate that they can afford.
51:30
And so as sort of a missionary publisher, we try to underwrite some of those costs so the schools don't have to pay Western prices for the things that are published to support the curriculum and keep it going year by year. So, anyway, did you want to add anything? Is that good? All right. We're set then.
51:49
So, just a little wrap up of the mission thing. I return in September to complete the courses, give the exams, submit the grades. We continue raising funds for student aid and the phonics curriculum. Actually ongoing the last couple of years, whether I'm here or there, I'm always, correcting, thesis, students' thesis work. Their thesis for both MA thesis and PhD thesis writing has to be corrected chapter by chapter.
52:15
And as a faculty member, I'm responsible to look those chapters over. They they they scan them, they write them, they attach them to an email, they send to me where we live in Wisconsin. So I correct those chapters. I can scan articles, journals, books, and stuff that they need to supplement their thesis with to make it a better thesis. And you should read anyway's thesis on Ephesians six and the armor of God.
52:38
It is awesome. You would love it, Ray. So we'll try to get some of those chapters to you with an African context. All right. So anyway, so I correct those things, attach them back, send them to them.
52:49
They do the corrections. They do that if I was living in Nigeria anyway. So it's at the speed of light, not much difference in correcting thesis work as an email attachment so that I'll continue doing that as well. Hey, but thank you for your support as a church. We really appreciate it.
53:04
In a couple of minutes we got left, let me summarize a little bit of what Ray is going through in Ephesians and connect that with chapter two. And, we'll do if you've got your Bibles open to Ephesians chapters one and two, we'll take about five minutes here and just show you the contribution I told pastor Ray I wanted to make to your ongoing studies in Ephesians one and two is one little word in between chapters one and two. Of course, the original text, there were no chapter divisions. So so really, when you look at Ephesians one and and two, you see a thematic development. The theme is is both augmented and development developed from chapter one to chapter two.
53:47
There's no chapter division in the Greek text and sometimes we would since we have these kind of divisions in a text like this is my English standard version, you got this little heading here and you got big chat number two. So you sort of think this is one topic and this is another. Oh, no, it's not a different topic. Paul is just, he just kept writing right along when he wrote this letter to the Ephesians and notice how it develops here in chapter one verse 20, two, he's talking about the father seating him, Jesus, at his right hand in the heavenly places. Then he goes into the spectacular climax of the chapter where he mentions that, having started with talking about raising Jesus up and seating him in his right hand, then he goes, he goes from mountaintop down into the bottom of the valley.
54:37
You folks here in Jackson wouldn't know too much about that kind of terrain because here you've got all the way from Mount Teton to Mount Moran. You've just got mountain peaks, mountain peaks, mountain peaks, mountain peaks all the way through. It's beautiful. I love it. So this is sort of more like the mountains that are out in Oregon, like the three sisters where you got twelve, fourteen thousand peak, and then a big valley in between, you got another snow capped mountain top and then another valley in between another mountain top.
55:01
That's sort of like how Paul's writing these glorious themes. He starts out in Ephesians one, blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. Then he tells you what those blessings are. You're you're chosen, you're elected, you're adopted, you're forgiven, you're redeemed, you're reconciled. Reconciled.
55:17
You're You're part of all God's gathering, everything up in Christ in the fullness of time, and then you're sealed by the Holy Spirit. And then he says this remarkable thing here. Then he says, that Jesus is head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Well, what's he been filling us with? Every spiritual blessing, forgiveness of our sins, adoption in Christ, presented as his son, his chosen son by faith in Christ.
55:47
He makes us his sons, and then he seals with us the spirit and promises an everlasting inheritance that's guaranteed by the Holy Spirit himself. Remarkable remarkable mountaintop of Christian filling and glory in Jesus. And then it goes in one word, in one little couple little words, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins. I always wondered, have we gone from being filled with all the fullness of God in Christ Jesus? And you were dead in sins and trespasses, followers of Satan, followers of the world, children of disobedience, destined for wrath.
56:19
I mean, why don't you up here? We go down here. I would have thought that Paul would have written, but you were dead. You know, fill us a fit. You're you're the body, the fullness of him who fills all in all in every way.
56:32
I but you were dead in sins and trespasses and followed Satan and followed the world and were destined to wrath and all this. Again, why did Paul put and? Now those are two different words. As a matter of fact, he uses the word but, a little bit further on. Let me show you that.
56:49
Here's again just a recap of going from fullness of him to dead and sin. We've mentioned that and and then he mentions and you. My question I'm putting forward to you, why does he go and you were dead when he goes from the mountaintop to the valley below being dead and sinned? When he says just a few verses later, he goes in verse four, but God being rich in mercy. Now that really is the word but in the Greek text, it's the word but like Ray was saying in between the services, one of the more is but gods in all the Bible, you know, here we were dead in sins and lost and destined for wrath, but God who's rich in mercy, he chose us, he adopted us, he forgave us, he redeemed us, He made us part of the fullness of his body.
57:33
He fills us with every spiritual blessing, filled to all in all and then he says, and now I think I know why he says, after this exalted status, he says, and you were dead in sins and trespasses. Here's I think the point. Why doesn't he say, but you were dead in sins and trespasses? Well, he saves that for the great grand but God in mercy. And he says, we we need to realize number one, the adulted status is all of God.
58:02
It's all of Jesus. It's all of being in Christ. It's a marvelous inheritance that God's get. But you know, sometimes you start thinking, yeah, I've been pretty good guy. You know, I go to church, I sing the songs and I give in church and I read my Bible.
58:16
Yeah, I guess that inheritance is pretty fitting. It was pretty nice. I got that inheritance and blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Yeah, that sort of makes sense to me. Wrong.
58:25
Wrong. This is the grace of God for those of us. We were dead in sins. We were destined just like the worst person you can think of. We were, maybe we were, you know, paying our taxes and a little nicer person, but listen, the corruption within, no matter who you are, Paul was right.
58:45
We all were children of wrath. Whether you're a university professor or whoever you are, that's the corruption inside of us, no matter what kind of veneer, civilized veneer we put on. That was our destiny as well. We need to remember. Yes, we've got to keep in mind this solid foundation of being rich in Christ and being blessed with every spiritual blessing and filled to all the fullness of God and completed him But if we forget that we were dead in sins, children of wrath, we're going to start taking these blessings for granted.
59:21
And then we'll start getting a little puffed up and go, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's me. No, no, no, that's not you. And that's not me either. We were children of wrath, but look, but God who is rich in mercy. When we were dead in sins.
59:33
And then in verse four, he recaps it again. But when we were dead in sins with his great love, with he loved us, he raised us up with him. There's that theme in chapter one, the father raised Jesus up. Then he reminds us of where we were. Then he says, and in chapter two, verse six says, and he has raised you up to be with him in the heavenlies in Christ.
59:54
Back up to the mountaintop again. So don't forget your mountaintops and don't forget the valley as well. It's the valley that makes the mountain top and that's how we appreciate these marvelous riches that God has given us. Reminds me of a song. How deep the father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure, That he should give his only son to make you and me to make a wretch his treasure.
1:00:20
What a great song that reminds us of such wonderful theology in Ephesians one and we were dead in sins that we were filled to all the fullness of God. Pastor Ray, thanks so much. And God bless you all. Thanks again for your support.
1:00:33
We love
1:00:34
you. Thank you very much.
1:00:35
Thanks so much.
1:00:37
Come up.
1:00:41
Florina's gonna play for us, and we're gonna sing that song. If you, would stand and join us. Now it's a little bit weird because you're gonna be standing up. Okay? I asked you if you had brought a check and you wanna put it in.
1:00:52
I'm gonna ask the frontline team to come back forward. You can bring the plates back up and we're gonna pass an offering. You're gonna be standing. Don't let it confuse you. As the plates go past, you can sing along with with us.
1:01:05
We are gonna be singing how vast. There it comes. How deep the father's love for us.
1:01:16
How deep the father's sin upon his shoulder ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the Well played.
1:03:26
Thank you.
1:03:28
And now, lord, would you please bless? Would you shine your face upon this crowd and may they in mirror like fashion shine your face toward others this week? As we go out this week, would you empower us with the message of the cross? The good news of your gospel with the valley and the mountain in mind. Jesus, would you go forth and shine your face on this crowd?
1:03:50
Amen.
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