NEW HORIZONS in the ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
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NEW HORIZONS in the ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 3 Waiting upon the Lord in 6 One Body in Christ // MAY 2016 Karamoja // by Benjamin K. Hopp by David A. Okken FOREIGN MISSIONS TODAY VOLUME 37, NUMBER 5 CONTENTS New Horizons in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church Editor: Danny E. Olinger Managing Editor: James W. Scott FEATURES Editorial Assistant: Patricia E. Clawson Cover Designer: Christopher Tobias 3 Waiting upon the Lord in Karamoja Proofreader: Sarah J. Pederson Editorial Board: The Committee on Christian By David A. Okken Education’s Subcommittee on Serial Publications 6 One Body in Christ © 2016 by The Committee on Christian Education of By Benjamin K. Hopp The Orthodox Presbyterian Church. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations 8 Hurt, Forgiveness, and Healing in the Church are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of By Craig Laurie Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. (We use the 2011 revision.) Articles previously published may be slightly edited. DEPARTMENTS New Horizons (ISSN: 0199-3518) is published monthly except for a combined issue, usually August- 10 September, by the Committee on Christian Education Foreign Missions of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 607 N. Easton Road, Bldg. E, Willow Grove, PA 19090-2539; tel. 215- Ray Call in Uruguay 830-0900; fax 215-830-0350. 12 Letters to the editor are welcome. They should deal Christian Education with an issue the magazine has recently addressed. Summer camps and conferences • ABCs Their language should be temperate, and they may not charge anyone with an offense. They should be brief, of Presbyterianism • Out of the mouth … and they may be condensed by the editor. 14 Send inquiries, letters to the editor, and other Home Missions correspondence to the editor at [email protected]. Royston, Ga. • Tulsa, Okla. Send address changes to [email protected]. 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Pictured here are those present at the meeting of the Presbytery of Southern California (March 4–5). Licentiates and men under care are kneeling with Chaplain Tim Power, under the watchful eye of the moderator, Doug Watson. Standing beside Doug is Joel Ellis (bow tie) of Reformation Bible Church, whose congregation in the suburbs of Phoenix, Ariz., has petitioned to join the Presbytery. Peter Moelker (back row with tie) was examined and received into the Presbytery from the Reformed Church in New Zealand as the pastor-elect at Sovereign Grace OPC in Redlands, Calif. 2 / NEW HORIZONS / MAY 2016 WAITING UPON THE LORD IN KARAMOJA DAVID A. OKKEN // “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:7–8). The call to follow Christ is a call We teach. We scatter the seed of the Waiting upon Our Lord to Return to a life of waiting. We see it in these word in evangelism. We wait for the from Heaven words of James and in so many other Lord to bless. places in Scripture. We work to disciple men who we It is appropriate that we use the These past months, in my times of hope will one day be elders and pas- farming metaphor to speak of the Spirit devotional reading, I have been remind- tors in the church. As Paul instructed blessing our ministries with conver- ed of how much the theme of waiting Timothy, we seek to “reprove, rebuke, sions, sanctification, numerical growth pervades the Psalms. I have often run and exhort, with complete patience and in our churches, the planting of new into words like these words of David: teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). Progress and ones, and so forth. Indeed, our Lord’s “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let spiritual growth can go slowly. Indeed, parable of the sower would have us your heart take courage; wait for the sometimes it feels like it has halted praying for the seed of the word to fall Lord!” (Ps. 27:14). completely. upon good soil and produce good fruit This has encouraged me, particu- James describes the farmer who in the lives of those to whom we minis- larly as our team in Karamoja has been waits patiently for the precious fruit of ter (Matt. 13:23). and continues to be in something of a his labors. Living in a land full of sub- But, returning to James’s words, waiting phase. Last year ended with us sistence farmers, whose crops rarely last when he employs the farming metaphor having to bid farewell to much-loved until the next harvest, we understand and calls us to wait for the Lord, he is friends and teammates. After that, we the longing for that precious fruit. Sim- directing our thoughts to something waited for our new pastor, along with ilarly, as ministers of the gospel, we long beyond the fruit of our labors, wheth- his family. David Robbins and his fam- to see fruit from our labors. In Karamo- er that fruit is born in our lifetime or ily arrived in the middle of February! ja, we often wonder if not we, but the even in subsequent generations. The And now we continue to wait upon the next generation(s), will at last get to see harvest that James has in mind is that Lord to provide a new missionary doc- a firmly established Reformed church world-ending event of “the coming of tor to take up labors at the Clinic. that is self-supporting, self-propagat- the Lord.” Of course, Jesus also speaks In many ways, our ministries are ing, and self-governing. What precious of the end of the age as “the harvest” ministries of waiting. Often they do not fruit that will be! So we wait. Indeed, (Matt. 13:39). bear the fruit we hope to see in the time we are called to ministries and lives of Jesus is coming again! It was that in which we hope to see it. We preach. waiting for the Lord. promise which James offered for the NEW HORIZONS / MAY 2016 / 3 encouragement of a suffering wealthy and corrupt ( James church that was facing “trials of 5:4–6). And it is surely true various kinds” (James 1:2). Yes, when we are called to minis- the saints were to be encour- ter in difficult circumstances aged by knowing that such tri- where progress is slow. als would bring sanctification We may go out to the vil- in this life (1:3–4). But greater lage to share God’s Word and still was the hope that their find people interested only in Lord would soon appear and their gambling card games and that the trials of this life would in sipping bags of gin. We must be no more. “Establish your still deliver that word, even if hearts, for the coming of the only a few are willing to come Lord is at hand” (James 5:8). and listen. We proclaim it, For the believer, waiting for knowing that one day, maybe the Lord is always ultimately David Okken teaching on the Mission compound this day, we shall proclaim it “waiting for our blessed hope, for the last time. “And then the appearing of the glory of they will see the Son of Man our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” We must meditate often on the coming in clouds with great power and (Titus 2:13). hope of Christ appearing in glory and glory” (Mark 13:26). We always need to remind our- the fact that “when he appears we shall Waiting While Laboring Fervently selves of his coming. We must remem- be like him, because we shall see him as ber that it is near. It is near to us as those he is” (1 John 3:2). Then will be revealed Will belief in our Lord’s imminent who are living in the last days ( James to us that glory of which “the sufferings return encourage laziness? Shall we 5:3). It is also near in the sense that it of this present time are not worth com- sit on our hands and wait for Jesus to is at the center of Christian faith. So we paring” (Rom. 8:18). come? Of course, there will always be must always keep it near, at the center of For those who received James’s let- those who distort and misapply pre- our faith. Peter instructed the believers, ter, this was to be the great source of en- cious biblical truths.