The Importance of Knowing Your Context

The video above describes some of the failures that exist sometimes when we say idioms and other common expressions that simply don't translate into other cultures.  This video is hilarious.  I hope you enjoy.  


I'm in the process of renewing my passport, getting needed vaccinations, and memorizing stories for my trip to West Africa in May.  Please continue to pray for me as I gather support and prepare to take the gospel to those who have never heard of the good news of Jesus Christ.  Pray for God to guide us as we memorize stories.  Pray for the team who are going with me...
Joel
John
Derek


Above all, pray that God will be glorified in our mission!

¹⁸ For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, ¹⁹  by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; ²⁰ and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, ²¹ but as it is written,

“Those who have never been told of him will see,
    and those who have never heard will understand.”  -- Romans 15:18-21 ESV

The Mundane Moments

Sheena and I just returned from a marriage conference in Ft. Myers, Florida with Paul Tripp.  It was very refreshing.  One of the things he talked about was glorifying God in the mundane moments of life.
He (Tripp) recounted a moment when he basically told his wife she was making them very late for a church breakfast before Easter.  Love is patient, right?  Well, patience wasn't high on the Tripp 'O Meter that day and it was noticeably obvious to his son.  His son asked him if his behavior was what God would want from him.  He was frustrated, embarrassed, and riddled with guilt.  Soon thereafter, he repented and trusted in Christ.  He reconciled with his wife and family.
During this moment, it occurred to him that God cares about the little moments in life.  He cares about the small conversations in the bathroom as well as the conversations about where our children will go to University or if they should go to a University.  The God who created the world cared that day how Paul Tripp would respond to his wife.  God was in the one bathroom, in that one house, in that one city, and in that state, which is located in one country, in one continent, and one one world.  God who oversees and cares for the afflicted, the poor, the widows, and many others was showing his care for his children in the Tripp household.  In those mundane moments of life, let us not suffer from gospel amnesia.  The gospel has saved us from our past and rescues us for the future but also saves us in the here and now.  When we display patience when the world would rather exhibit sarcasm, we display Jesus Christ and his patience and grace towards us in going to the Cross and bearing the punishment that we rightly deserved.  I pray that I will be more patient not because I have attained the secret to patience but because the root of patience is grace...grace found only at the Cross of Christ.

We could apply this scenario to a dozen different encounters.  How do we treat our waiter/waitress or what does our conversations look like when we get our hair cut/styled or how do we treat family members who are less mature in the faith or might not be believers at all?
The gospel applications abound.  I pray we will glorify God even in the mundane moments.