Author Archives: reveds

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About reveds

Occupation: Pastor, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Lennox, SD Education: BS - Christian Education, Sterling College; MDiv. - Princeton Theological Seminary Family: Married, with Four children. Hobbies: Running (will someday run a marathon), Sci-Fi (especially Doctor Who and Sherlock), Theater, and anything else my kids will let me do.

Haiti Mission 2014

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It’s late for my midweek post, and tonight’s will be brief. We are returning to Haiti, this year for an 8 day mission working with Les and Catherine DeRoos, Laborers with Christ. While there we hope to do some building, painting, farming, whatever is needed, whatever it takes. I will be posting daily updates on our work, so keep reading and keep praying.
In preparation for our trip, I wrote a short devotional booklet for our team, based on the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Each day we will read about the different qualities of Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. With each post here, I will try to incorporate themes from our discussion on Galatians 5, seeing how that ties in with the work we are doing.
As you are reading, I ask one thing: PLEASE PRAY! This is an exciting adventure, but it is also a little terrifying. We’ve been to Haiti before (some of us, anyway), and so there is a little comfort in that familiarity. Still, no one on our team speaks a lick of Haitian Creole – a bit concerning. We are spending a day in Port-au-Prince before we return – a little bit more concerning. There will be the heat, the food, the work, the heart-break, the joy, the triumphs and the set-backs – and without the provision of God’s strength and the shelter of His hand, we will not succeed. Pray for our team – Matt Royster, Bruce and Donna Amundson, Dawn Sickelka, Amy Sarchet, and myself – pray that God’s Spirit will unite us in love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. Pray that God will prosper the work we have before us, that His goodness and mercy may be seen in all we do, and that all glory and honor will be given unto Him.
More tomorrow –
SDG

I Am Debtor

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When I think of all the many ways I have been blessed by God, only then do I begin to see that to Him I owe all praise and thanks.  I am not talking about the worldly provisions that God has given – though by all comparisons, God has been good to me.  What strikes me most, is the richness of His grace and favor shown unto me through His complete and sufficient work to secure my salvation in Jesus Christ.

I was dead – not dying – in sin.  I was unlovable, recalcitrant, petulant, defiant.  And God proved His love in that while I was still a sinner, He sent His Son to die for me.  Christ bore the wrath I had earned, the cross I deserved, and exchanged it all for His righteousness, His peace, that I might be reconciled unto God.

As the hymn sings, “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small; love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

As I’ve been reading the Memoir’s of R.M. M’Cheyne, I came across this poem of his that says so much better what I want to express.

“I AM DEBTOR”
R.M. M’Cheyne
May 1837

When this passing world is done,
When has sunk you glaring sun,
When we stand with Christ in glory,
Looking o’er life’s finished story,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know –
Not till then – how much I owe.

When I hear the wicked call
On the rocks and hills to fall,
When I see them start and shrink
On the fiery deluge brink,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know –
Not till then – how much I owe.

When I stand before the throne
Dressed in beauty not my own,
When I see Thee as Thou art,
Love Thee with unsinning heart,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know –
Not till then – how much I owe.

When the praise of heaven I hear
Loud as thunders to the ear,
Loud as many waters’ noise,
Sweet as harp’s melodious voice,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know –
Not till then – how much I owe.

Even on earth, as through a glass
Darkly, let thy glory pass,
Make forgiveness feel so sweet,
Make thy Spirit’s help so meet,
Even on earth, Lord, make me know
Something of how much I owe.

Chosen not for good in me,
Wakened up from wrath to flee,
Hidden in the Saviour’s side,
By the Spirit sanctified,
Teach me, Lord, on earth to show,
By my love, how much I owe.

Oft I walk beneath the cloud,
Dark as midnight’s gloomy shroud;
But, when fear is at the height,
Jesus comes, and all is light:
Blessed Jesus! bid me show
Doubting saints how much I owe

When in flowery paths I tread,
Oft by sin I’m captive led;
Oft I fall, but still arise;
The Spirit comes – the tempter flies:
Blessed Spirit! bid me show
Weary sinners all I owe.

Oft the nights of sorrow reign –
Weeping, sickness, sighing, pain,
But a night thine anger burns –
Morning comes, and joy returns:
God of comforts! bid me show
To thy poor, how much I owe.

McCheyne, Robert Murray, and Andrew A. Bonar. Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne. Edinburgh; London: Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier, 1894. Print.

SDG