How Good is the Good News? Pt 1

How good is the Good News?

That's what the word Gospel literally means, Good News. It comes from the Greek word evangelion and it's meaning is "a reward for good tidings". It's an interesting translation, especially when you consider how we always use it today. Just the word Gospel indicates a reward, and a good one at that, but how good is it?

What is our reward?

What are we being rewarded for?

These are all questions that when I quickly think about it, I think we all should be able to answer them very quickly and easily, but when I think a little deeper and dig a little deeper, I wonder, can we really?

How many of us really know the reward we have in Christ?

How many of us actually have looked to see what exactly the Bible tells us that reward is?

How many of us have just accepted what we've been told the Good News is, and have been content with that?

Don't get me wrong, I don't want it to sound like I'm bashing people who haven't studied the Bible for themselves, not a lot of people get the gift of being able to set aside a large amount of time to study the Word in depth, I just think that this is something that we don't ever look closely enough at and just sit back and accept what we're told about it. I know I did for many years. But an amazing thing happened when I started to look a little closer. I realized that I didn't have it all figured out (who woulda thought eh? lol), and I realized that I may have missed a huge part of what the Gospel really is.

So what is the Gospel? Most would probably say that it is the Truth that Jesus came down from heaven and became a man and died for our sins so that we could go to heaven when we die. That's probably what I would have said in the past, it's a pretty basic belief that most Christians have. The problem is, that's not the full Gospel. That's just what we've been using to tell people why they should believe in Jesus, so that they can go to heaven instead of hell. Essentially, fire insurance for when we die. But that's not the real point. If that's the whole point and we're saved by grace through believing that Jesus died for our sins, then what is the point of our entire lives?

If it's all about getting out of here and getting to heaven, then why do we have to spend so many years here?

We know that we don't earn our salvation, so if our salvation is just about going and being in heaven, then why can't we just drop dead once we start to believe? It'd be a lot easier and a lot less painful.

Some may say our purpose is so that we can convince others to believe too so that they can escape with us, but is that all there is? Can't God just save them all without us? There's gotta be more to life than just that or else we're just God's mere workers getting him more workers so that He can fill up His house, and that doesn't sound like abundant life to me.

I don't want this post to go too long, since I actually want people to want to read this, so I'll just end here and leave you with this "primer" I guess we could call it.

I must say, I don't want anybody to think that I have it all figured out, because even I don't think that, and I don't want you to think that I'm trying to take anything away from the Gospel, because that's the opposite of what I'm doing. I just want to spend some time looking at what the Gospel is, according to the Bible, not according to what I've been told growing up. It's something that I've been wrestling with for the last couple years, and I'm hoping that by reading my posts you'll spend some time wrestling with it too. Sometimes we need to step back, forget what we think we know, and look at the Word with fresh eyes, the eyes of a child, so that we can really see what it says rather than only seeing what we think it says.

So please, bear with me. I don't know how many posts this will comprise of, or how long it will take, but I hope and pray that you will journey with me and I hope that it will challenge you and encourage you and excite you, because I know that that is what's been happening to me as I've journeyed through this so far.

Blessings

Welcome to Kingdom Thinking

Write a blog post....

I don't want to

Write a blog post....

I don't know what to write

Write a blog post....

What if nobody likes it

Write a blog post....

FINE.

This is a glimpse of what has been going on in my head for the last little while. I've been thinking of writing blog posts and have even felt God give me some good things to write, but haven't actually stepped out and written one. I guess it feels like one thing to write about what's happening in my life and a completely different thing to write about what's going on in my head and/or in my heart. Part of me is excited to share some of my thoughts and revelations, but the other part of me is dreading it and wishing I didn't say that I was going to repurpose this blog and had just let it die. But I guess that's one of the reasons why I made that last post, so that it would force me to finally start sharing some of my thoughts rather than just updating people on what's going on in my life.

The idea of starting a blog to share about what God had been speaking to me came to me even before I decided to leave Canada and join YWAM. I still remember sitting in my car driving home from my job in Woodstock, having a great time just hanging out with God and reflecting on things with him, when I got the idea of creating a blog to share some of these reflections with others. At first I thought it was an awesome idea; what a great way to share with people some of the things God is teaching me, who knows, it may end up helping or encouraging some people, but after I thought about it for a while I let my cynical side kick in and started thinking, who's gonna care what you think? what kind of great things are you really going to be able to share with people? and things like that. So I quickly threw away that idea and decided that because I don't think I'm a very good writer and I tend to struggle getting my thoughts down on paper (or computer in this case), that it would be a stupid idea to try and share them with others. What do I know anyways?

Now, I've realized that as a son of God and someone who He's decided to use as a teacher of His Word, He has given me some good things to share with others. Anytime we spend time walking with Him, He brings revelation to us, and although sometimes that revelation is only meaningful for us, other times that revelation could be exactly what someone needed to hear. So I've decided that I'm done listening to the lies that the devil has been whispering into my ear and instead I'll listen to the Truth that Father has been speaking clearly to me for some time, but that I've just been too afraid and self conscious to listen to.

So I've decided to fully embrace this idea of blogging and if I lose all my followers and nobody wants to read what I have to say and think, then that's fine, I'm not gonna do this for all of you, I'm gonna do this for me and for my Father who wants to hear what I have to say and wants me to share it with whoever wants to read it. That is why I've decided to rebrand my blog under a different name and new look and to use it to share what I believe is on Father's heart. I'm not sure how often I will post, but I'm gonna try and do it regularly, and I plan on posting my first real post in the next week or so.

Thanks for following my blog, and I hope you enjoy the shift of focus. If you don't, you can always go to my and Grace's blog at wokandpan.wordpress.com.

Blessings

Changes

Well in case you don't know, I've moved into a very new chapter in my life of being a married man, and as we all know, when you get married, things change. Like a lot. Big time. lol. Thankfully, they are good changes and although some of them can be tough, they've been amazing and a blessing and I am so thankful to God for bringing those changes into my life.

One of these changes is that I am now changing how I blog from now on. Grace and I have created a new blog at wokandpan.wordpress.com (notice the east meets west kinda vibe there....we're clever), which is where we'll be posting short updates on what we're doing and how we're doing and such. Rather than be redundant and post updates on both this blog and our new one, I've decided that I would repurpose this blog to focus more on things that I'm learning or things that God's been showing me or just random things that I think about when I'm lying in bed and can't sleep and am trying not to wake up my wife. lol

So ya, go on over to our new website (again it's wokandpan.wordpress.com) and sign up to follow our blog via email, but still keep an eye on this blog if you want to get a glimpse of what's going on inside of my head.....if you dare....haha.

Hope you're all doing well. Grace and I are doing great. Just got back to Malaysia 2 weeks ago, and if ya want to hear more, then head over to our new blog.

Bless you!

A brief update from my hotel room in Thailand

Kata Noi - One of the beaches near where we are staying.

Well it has been quite some time since I have posted anything on here, and quite a lot has happened since then.

For those of you who haven't heard from or about me for a while, I am sorry (yet again). It has been a very eventful start to the year to say the least. I have gone from my home in Oxford, NZ to spend time in Queenstown, NZ, then to finally meet back up with Grace in Melbourne, Australia for a few weeks before we travelled to Malaysia and then Singapore while doing everything we could to try and get Grace's Canadian visa settled before we flew out. Unfortunately we weren't able to so I had to fly to Canada without her (but with her father), but thankfully God came through in the nick of time (as we knew He would) and got her over to Canada with a week to spare before our wedding. We then spent 2 months in Ontario visiting family and friends before flying back to Malaysia for a few days and then on to Thailand for 3 weeks.

And that is where you catch up with me now as I sit in my hotel room in Phuket, Thailand looking out at the Andaman Sea. It has been quite a journey for Grace and I these last 5-6 months (not to mention the previous 11 months, of which we were separated for 9), but it has been an amazing time of discovering each other and what it means to be together as well as discovering more about God and His faithfulness to us and of His plan for us.

We originally came to Thailand a little over 2 weeks ago and spent 9 days in Chiang Mai in the northern part of the country to attend the call2all congress and the YWAM Asia Pacific gathering. This time was an amazing gift from God and He really refined more of our vision for the future as well as giving us things to think about for the present and for when we return to Oxford in September. I feel very privileged to have been able to attend these gatherings and to be able to hear about what God is doing in Asia and beyond to reach the unreached as well as to use those who know Him. I've come away from this week just amazed at how good God is and amazed at how He wants to use me and Grace (and everybody really) to make His name known to all nations and to show people how loving and caring and awesome their true Father is. God is so good and as I think over these last couple weeks here and over the last year or two or three even, my heart just continues to overflow with love and joy and appreciation for the amazing Father that I have in Him.

So now we are down in Phuket relaxing and having a great time being on our own (we had been staying with my parents for the 2 months in Canada and will stay with Grace's parents for the next 3 months) and enjoying God's beautiful creation; continually being amazed with how good He is to us to give us this time to relax and recharge before another busy time planning for another wedding celebration as well as planning for a teaching that I will be doing in August, which will be the first time I've been invited to speak at a base other than my own.

We have been very blessed in these last few months and we know that God will continue to bless us and grow us as we prepare to start our new life in New Zealand. I will try to be more diligent in my communication in the future (with the help of my darling wife, who is WAY more organized and better at these things with me), and we will be sending out our first combined newsletter as the new Mr and Mrs Matt and Grace Stelpstra soon.

Blessings to all of you.

Merry Christmas and I'm sorry

It's like I'm a little kid again. I'm sitting here, wide awake at 5:30 am on Christmas morning, unable to sleep. Unfortunately, it isn't a feeling of anticipation or excitement that is keeping me awake, this time it's very different feelings that keep me awake and alert.

I need to apologize to my friends and family who read this blog, and those who don't as well. Outside of my immediate family, and inside somewhat too, I have done a piss poor job of keeping in contact these last few months. Really, I haven't done a great job keeping people updated and staying connected to everybody back home in general since I left, but prior to these last few months there was more of a reason for it because I was incredibly busy. Unfortunately, these last few months, I don't have any reason for it other than I haven't had the motivation to do it and haven't really felt like I've had anything to say, which is kinda stupid because I've had multiple blog post ideas come into my mind, but I just haven't been able to pull the trigger.

These past few months have been some of the most difficult months for me since I left Canada in September, 2010 to leave it all behind and journey with God to the ends of the earth. See, during my first two years away I was busy; super busy. I was doing things. Learning more about God, going to help the unloved and underprivileged, studying His Word, teaching His Word. I was busier than I ever have been in my life, and I absolutely loved it and didn't feel tired or worn out at all, no matter how many late nights and early mornings I put in. These last few months have been very different, and I never would have imagined that they would be as difficult as they have been.

These last few months, all of that busyness was taken away. My school was over, and other than teaching on the Discipleship Training School at the beginning of this new "season", I didn't have any real commitments or responsibilities for my time. I had no idea what God wanted me to do with these 3-4 months that I had ahead of me, other than the two simple, yet difficult words He gave me of "Be still." Although this may sound like an easy and carefree season that someone coming off of an intense and busy last year and a half of bible study and teaching should love, it has been anything other than that for me.

Learning to be still and to still feel useful and valuable even though I wasn't doing a whole lot has been difficult and foreign and even, dare I say it, depressing. I have been spending my days in prayer, seeking God and reading His Word, while struggling to feel motivated and focused. I have had some amazing prayer times and have been given some awesome dreams and vision for future possibilities, but I've also had some times of feeling like I just want to hide in my office not doing much of anything. I am a hardworking man who loves to be busy, but here I have been for the last 3 months, sitting, doing what feels like nothing, while my fiancé is working her butt off all day every day helping feed over 300 people 5000 miles away at YWAM Perth. It has been a real attack on my identity and value, but deep down, I know that it's good and that He knows why it's happening.

So I'm sorry I haven't written, whether it be via email or Skype or Facebook or this blog. I knew I should have. I even wanted to sometimes. But I just haven't. It hasn't been that I've been too busy "doing God's work" or anything like that. I just haven't felt up to it. I haven't felt like I've had anything to say. I may have feared that people would be disappointed because I wasn't doing very much in the physical sense of things.

I believe that I've been struggling with depression these last few months. Not being busy, being away from my beautiful fiancé and having to deal with the difficulties that come from a long distance relationship, being away from my family and friends back home, and wanting to do things to help others or to just do something but feeling the conviction in my spirit that by doing those things I was actually being disobedient to my Father, has all come together to make me feel beaten down emotionally.

There is hope though and there is life because as difficult as this time has been, I know that it's for a reason. I know that He is moving and stirring. I know that this is one of the most important seasons of my life and that He is using this time to move in me to prepare me for the future. As much as I hate this, I know I need this. As much as I wish I could be studying the Bible every waking hour with deadlines looming over my head, I know that He wants me to have my identity rooted in Him and in being His son, not in what I'm doing for Him. Even in this hour that I've been writing this, I've felt Him moving and teaching me and reminding me that He's the one who has chosen for me to go through this and that it's for my good because He is my good Father and everything He does is for our good and is the best thing for me.

So, although nothing's really changed; it still doesn't feel like Christmas, I'm still apart from my family and friends and, most importantly, my fiancé, I still have the same money problems I had before, and I still don't know if I'm actually going to be able to really do anything before I leave New Zealand to be with Grace on January 22; it's starting to feel a little different. I'm starting to remember the Hope that I have, not just in the future, but even in the here and now and in the being still. It's amazing what happens when you invite the Father into how you're feeling. Maybe it is going to be a great Christmas after all!

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and happy new year. Sorry this wasn't your usual happy holiday cheer post, but I needed to share with you all what was really going on, and sometimes that isn't always cheerful and happy. Thank you for reading and sharing with me what's happening, especially if you actually read the whole thing (I didn't plan for it to be this long. lol). And most of all, thank you for being my family and my friend, and I hope you too feel the warmth of the Father's embrace, no matter what your circumstance is this Christmas. He is so good, all the time!

God bless

Time for a bit of a break!

Wharariki Beach on our BCC weekend away.

Well it has been a crazy couple of months since I last posted on here. The school is now finished and I have finished all of my marking and gotten everything wrapped up, so this week has been a bit of a recovery week for me before heading off to Perth on Monday to visit Grace for a couple weeks.

For those of you who don't know what I'm doing, here's a quick update. I'm now living in Oxford, New Zealand, which is a small town of about 1500-2000 people in the south island of NZ about 45 minutes from Christchurch. I moved here to take over the Bible Core Course, which is a 12 week inductive bible study course where we studied 16 books of the bible from June 25-Sept 13.

The school was an amazing success and God really helped both me and my students through it. I really saw God's providence and His guidance throughout the school. It definitely was one of the busiest times of my life, but it was absolutely amazing and God was with me every step of the way reassuring me, pushing me, comforting me, teaching me, guiding me and really giving me His peace and reminding me that He was in control and that He was the one who really was leading the school, so all I had to do was accept His leadership and allow Him to move through me.

I ended up teaching a lot more than I had originally planned because of not being able to find teachers for all of the books, which made it even busier than it would have been, but God was so good in helping me formulate my teachings and also helping me to stay energized and healthy and able to do what He was telling me to do. I ended up teaching the Gospel of Mark, Proverbs, Small Group Bible Study, Ezra and Revelation, as well as teaching for a couple days on the Snowboarders DTS when they had a teacher have to cancel one week. For someone who had only ever taught twice in my life for only one day each, this was quite the amazing task, especially since all of my teachings had to be made from scratch, but the more that God told me to do, the more I saw His favour and His blessing on my preparation and my teaching. Revelation was an especially hard book since it's a pretty crazy book anyways and because I was teaching it only 1 week after I taught Ezra. I thought I had a teacher lined up for Ezra, but that ended up falling through, so while I was praying about what to do, God said something crazy and told me to teach it myself. After laughing and thinking it was insane for a bit, I was able to switch around the schedule a little bit to give me at least 6 days between my teachings, and trusted God to make it work, and He definitely did. Although it wasn't my most prepared teaching (both Ezra and Revelation), God was amazing through it and taught me immensely while I was preparing, and my students came away with a greater understanding of the book of Revelation and came away feeling encouraged by it instead of discouraged by how confusing it can be. Some of them even said that it was their favourite teaching in the school, which just shows how good God is when you trust Him and let Him work.

As I look back I am amazed by how this school has gone and how much God blessed us with a great school. I had some awesome students who were able to push through different obstacles and difficulties to be able to finish this very busy and demanding course. They definitely were a huge blessing to me, and I don't know if I could've done it if I would have had a different class because they were just so easy to work with. Everybody was able to pass with good marks and they all were able to show that they were able to interpret for the original readers or hearers effectively, which is the main goal of the course. I was able to see God move in awesome ways in their work and in their lives, and I know that they all have come out with a greater appreciation for the Word and a greater understanding of it. Although this is a busy school, it is amazing how much it opens up your understanding of the scriptures on a much deeper level. The more I study, the more excited I get about the Bible and the greater depth of understanding I get of the amazing God that we have and the stories that He has given us.

Although I was incredibly busy this school and was in my office or the classroom all day every day (and night), this was an amazingly rewarding and refreshing season. God has really been showing me more and more that I understand His heart and His love that He has for me and for all of us. It is only through that understanding that I've been able to allow Him to carry my through any trials or tasks that He has given me. It amazes me how fresh I feel even though I have gone through an intense last year and a half where I have basically been studying or teaching the bible day and night pretty much every day. Without God I should be feeling run down and ragged and burnt out, but because He has been driving me and because He has been there with me telling me that it will be alright and reminding me that I just need to be obedient and He'll take care of the rest, I am able to come out of this crazy time feeling fantastic and excited to continue to develop the Bible Core Course here as well as continue to study more and grow deeper and deeper in my knowledge of God's Word and of Him. He really has shown me the Father Heart that He has for all of us, and it's amazing how much He loves and cares for us and wants what is absolutely best for us! He's shown me that I was right on when I said when I was first heading out to join YWAM, that as long as I keep doing what He tells me to do, I can't lose! That definitely is 100% the truth; not only can I not lose, but I'm thriving living for my Daddy and living in His love. He is such an amazing God and Father and Friend and I'm so thankful that I've decided to live fully for Him, it's the best thing I've ever done and ever will do!

Life as a bible teacher.....Lovin' it

Our Class and the Former Leaders

Well, it has been far too long since I've posted on my blog, so sorry if you've been waiting to hear from me. Things have been pretty insane since I've been here in New Zealand, but it is going amazing and I'm loving it.

We're now into week 3 of the Bible Core Course here, and I just finished teaching the book of Mark this week. I taught about 15 hours over the last 4 days, so it's been pretty full on. We have only 5 students, but I don't have any staff, so I stay really busy with helping the students and organizing everything for running the school. We've got a great group and the students are all very hungry to study the Word.

God has been really faithful in helping me prepare for the school and for my teaching. Roger and Julie, the former leaders, were there to help me with some of the preparations and to answer some of my questions, and they also taught the first two weeks, so they have been a huge blessing to me and to the class. It's been amazing how God has really set my heart on fire for teaching, both in helping the students and also in teaching the Word. Teaching Mark was something that I was a little bit intimidated by since I had only taught single day teachings before, but it went really well and it really showed me how much I love what God has me doing!

When God first sent me here to lead the BCC, I didn't expect it and had never really thought of it as a long term thing since I didn't feel like much of a teacher and had never really felt called to be a teacher, but now He's really set my heart on fire for teaching His Word, and I'm definitely willing to do this for as long as He wants me to. It is an amazing privilege to be able to spend my time studying the Word and helping teach others how to effectively study it themselves. God has really been speaking through me as I've been teaching and really gave me peace about my preparations, even though I wasn't able to prepare as much as I'd like because of the busyness of setting up the school. It has been an amazing time, and God's been surprising me in how smoothly it's been going and how well it's been going. It makes me excited to see what else He has planned for me and the BCC here in the future!

Other than being very busy, things have been great. I'm absolutely loving being back in New Zealand, and the base here is awesome. We have an amazing family here and it is definitely my kind of place; nice and laid back and homey feeling in a very small little town (~1500-2000 people) right near the mountains. It tends to get pretty cold, but I do pretty well since I've always enjoyed the cold anyways. Overall, I'm overjoyed that God has brought me here for at least the next 3 years, and I can't wait to get more and more connected with the people and the community here in Oxford. It has felt like home from the minute I got here, and the more time I spend here and the more I pray about the base here and Oxford, the more I feel like God may have more planned for me in this place than I thought He did when He first called me here last year. We'll have to see what happens, no matter what, I'm excited for whatever He has, wherever He has it!

Things are going great with Grace and I. This week was a little tough because I was so busy, so I wasn't able to write her as much, but other than that, we just hit the 5 month mark today, and we're still going strong. There definitely have been some difficulties with being apart, but in the end, we both thank God for it since it's because of the distance that we've been able to work through some issues and strengthen our communication in incredible ways. God has been very faithful in leading us in our relationship and in our communication and He has really led us into a deeper level of love and commitment to each other. It's gonna be still another 2.5 months before I see her, but I can't wait to go and visit her in Perth after the school!

God is so so good to me, and I'm so thankful that He's given me the privilege to spend my life serving Him and sharing what He's done for me and for all of us with others! We serve an amazing God and He really does love us and wants to give us the desires of our hearts, He's definitely giving me mine and more than I ever dreamed of!!

Hope you are all well. I promise I won't take as long to write my next post. Thanks so much for reading and for your prayers!

God bless!!!!

Prayer Points

That God will continue to help my students as they learn the inductive method and study the Word

That God will be giving me wisdom and strength as I lead this school

That God will continue to lead and bless my and Grace's relationship

That God will continue to provide for me

That God will provide our base with a way to get more accommodation for staff and students

That God will be leading our base in His vision for our future