Deja Vu!

So, have you ever had times in your life when things just seem to repeat themselves? I'm getting that Frenchy feeling these days that some call "Deja Vu" (to see again). Let me see if I can help you enter into my relapses:

1) I've got a new job! About a month ago I applied to become a missions intern at Bethlehem Baptist Church, the church that houses my seminary. There was an opening and after waiting for others to have the opportunity to apply I decided to enter myself in the runnings when I heard no one took the bait. We'll it looks like I'm their man! I'll be starting in three weeks after we return from Kentucky and the Together for the Gospel conference. That also means I'll be quitting my job as Starbucks for the foreseeable future. Yep, I'm hanging up the green apron again, sorry to those of you who have benefited from all my free coffee perks! Now, this whole pattern happened just two and a half years ago when Rachel and I were married. I was working the espresso bar and was asked to take a missions internship at First Baptist of Geneva. - So, now you understand part of my double-vision.

2) Pastor John is taking a total leave of absence! This past week in worship our pastor for preaching and vision, the chancellor of our seminary, announced that he was taking an 8 month leave of absence to give greater attention to his ministry to his wife and family and as a sort of fasting from public ministry to combat pride. While we're all saddened by this news he sounds very eager to be back with us in 2011 and hopes to continue his ministry of preaching and teaching for at least 5 more years here at Bethlehem. So, pray for this man and his family, that God would bless and use the months to accomplish His mysterious and wonderful purposes. As we reflected on this in class today it was our consensus that this bold and humble act is an object lesson to all of us seminarians that no lecture could ever convey. It's a lesson in humility. It's a lesson in priorities. It's a lesson in love: love to God over ministry, love to wife and family over ministry, love of ministry enough to put it aside when it becomes controlling. (Read More)

Pray for all the staff at Bethlehem (which now includes me) as we seek to press on in the vision God has given us to "spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ."

Prophets as Preachers (pt.2)

Writing yesterday I tried to give means for reading the prophets without being confused and bored! Today reading the account of Balaam in Numbers has caused me to challenge that thought a bit, but not much. Some prophecy is this situational message bearing prompted by the Lord. It takes on both the unique personality of that prophet and the unique message of YHWH to the audience. But even Balaam spoke Bible and perhaps didn’t know it, “Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you” (Num. 24:9). This is a direct echo of God’s promise to Abraham, father of the people of Israel. So, while there certainly is a situational and experiential aspect to many of these prophecies (i.e.-Acts 21:10-11, Is. 44:28, I Kings 19:9-18), I still hold to the fact that the majority of written biblical prophecy is “sermonic”. May God be pleased to bless our reading of ALL His Holy Word.

Prophets as Preachers

Can I share with you some of the fruit of my day in class? Good, because this was powerfully encouraging to me today. It can be hard to sit in class all day, but today was riveting, so buckle your seatbelt, here we go!

Ever wonder what to do with that huge section of the Old Testament we reverently call the prophets? Ever wonder how to interpret all their strange imagery and calls of condemnation? Well I sure did and hoped that my time here at seminary would help me develop my thought instead of indulge an "avoidance ethic". (You know what that is, its skipping tough chapters and avoiding Leviticus entirely! :-) But we don't have to indulge, we just need some solid understanding.

So, the prophets, who were these guys? Radical spiritual ascetics out in the wilderness who came into town with a message and great need for a bath? Did everything they said come as a result of a vision or a divine voice? These were at least the images I had in mind as the semester began here at Bethlehem. But no longer! The prophets were primarily preachers of the Pentateuch. Oh, they were men of God filled with the Spirit and a message, for sure! But their message was already decided for them in one sense. They were preaching a text that Israel already had and yet was living in ignorance it. They were called by God to come shine the light of certain truths already written in Deuteronomy into the darkness of people's lives. They knew their Bibles, were filled with the Spirit, and then preached the truth God's people needed to hear - calls to repentance, promises of comfort, hymns of praise, prayers of intercession.

So, next time you run into Jeremiah or Nahum or Haggai don't consider just flipping over to Matthew again. Read it as a sermon that a godly man is preaching with power and tears to a people he loves and doesn't want to see the curses of Deuteronomy 28 fall upon but hopes that God might stir repentance in them so that they live holy lives and the blessings of D-28 rain upon their heads.

Baby-Blizzard

So, we were in Michigan this past weekend for a baby shower. Turned out though this it was more like a baby-blizzard and we were overwhelmed by the generosity of so many friends and family members. Upon returning home to our Minneapolis apartment we had quite a job squeezing everything in! Whew! Check out so pictures below, and thank you to all who have shown us such great generosity in these days.

A Vision of Fear Leading to Holiness

What follows is a devotional thought that I wrote for class, may it bless you in the reading:

Exodus 20:20 - And Moses said to the people, "Take Courage! for God has come down in order to test you, in order that the fear of Him might be in you, in order that you might not sin."

A little context might help us here. Exodus 20 is the famous chapter in which God gives the 10 Words, the 10 Commandments, to Moses and the people of Israel. He speaks these 10 Words in the hearing of all the people because at this point in the narrative Moses is at the bottom of Mt. Sinai speaking with the people as well. But to the people the voice of YHWH was like peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, shakings of the earth, and loud trumpet blasts. And quite naturally they feared for their lives! They say to Moses in v.19 - "You speak to us and we'll listen; but don't let God speak to us or else we'll die!" So when we arrive at v.20 this is Moses' attempt to comfort the people in their terror.

Moses' injunction, "Take Courage!" is followed by a string of purpose clauses which serve as the ground or reason why the people can obey Moses' command.

1) "God has come to you in order to test you" - This awesome display of power before your eyes it a test for you, Israel, to see where your trust lies. The Septuagint translator is so set on communicating this point that he uses both a purpose conjunction and a purpose infinitive to make the point. But this purpose is not God's ultimate aim in this encounter.

2) "in order that the fear of God might be in you" - This reverent fear Yahweh is aiming at must be "in you". It is an external test with inward aims. God will not settle for externally submissive worship if their hearts are "far off". Pharaoh showed this kind of reverence at times when he acknowledged the greatness of Yahweh but the fear of Yahweh was not in him. God came to test Israel to produce inward fear, but this purpose is still not ultimate.

3) "in order that you might not sin." - Here we land on God's ultimate purpose in this fiery ordeal, holiness! Sin is a powerful adversary and it has a death grip on all of humanity. Only something more powerful can combat this evil foe, only something that penetrates our hearts deeper, only something that fills us to overflowing. The people of Yahweh needed a reverent fear of Yahweh produced by a magnificent vision of Yahweh if they were to follow the ways of Yahweh, His 10 Words. This is the ultimate end of this verse, a fearful vision producing holiness.

Did this happen? Sadly, no; v.21 tells us the people stood "far off" and the fear was not courageously in them. Not many chapters later the people of God learned how to completely ignore the thunders and thick darkness while they worshipped images made in the likeness of creation. But it need not be so with us! Everytime we sit before the sacred and terrible Word of God, take courage! God is there to reveal Himself in all His glorious majesty so that we fear ("believe") and live holy lives. What mercy it is to know Jesus Christ! In Him we can take courage and in Him have eyes to see this fearful vision leading to hoilness!

Picture as seen on: http://people.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/RelS369/Pics/LXX.jpg

Reporting in from sunny Minneapolis...

What a joy it is to see the sun today, to feel it's warm rays, to breathe deeply of the cool air. God's gifts abound all around, let us give thanks!

By word of update, we're resuming life as usual. What's that like you say? Well, I'm glad you asked. I've begun tutoring in ESL again. Every monday we have about 20-30 graduate students from the U of M who assemble at our church building to talk with their tutors about that week's assigned subject. I've been getting to know two guys very well, both are from Mainland China and here to study. Besides this I am in class Mondays and Thursdays, at Starbucks Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and studying every spare moment I get. But this is just great because I told Rachel today, "this kind of studying is what I want to do for the rest of my life!" (but in order to teach!) On the weekends I usually come to work with Rachel and study in the hotel lobby, she likes the company :-)

Rachel is doing quite well too. She takes lots of naps and works hard everyday. Last night at church she tried about 10 different sitting positions because Baby was kicking up a storm. They must have wanted to make their presence known with the sermon being about "spiritual parenting" and all that! But when Rachel's not managing the waterpark or teaching little kids how to swim, you can usually find her stretched out on the couch with a good book or talking on the phone or doing her bible study workbook.

We're so thankful to the Lord for every element in our lives right now, even with all the busyness that it brings. We'll that's about all from sunny Minnesota for this week.

Learning from Dead Guys

So, I'm back in class and that means we're digging deeper into the book of Ephesians. As I read it through and through again over the winter break one phrase caused considerable contemplation, "being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone" (Eph. 2:20). There are at least two senses in which this is true: 1) these men have gone before us in the faith, 2) these men have laid down inspired, life-giving texts for us to be built upon. But what about other men of God throughout history? How much stock should we put in their teaching?

This last question came up again and again at the recent Desiring God Pastor's Conference we attended here in Minneapolis because of how much influence various Puritans and C.S. Lewis seemed to be having on the theme. It came up in my mind too because for three semesters of my time here at Bethlehem Seminary I'll be devoting myself to the study of Jonathan Edwards' works and theology. Why? Why not just study the Bible? It's a worthwhile question to consider.

Just like the first apostles and prophets God chose to use for laying the foundation of the Church, so I believe he uses other believers throughout time for similar building purposes. Granted, these men are not inspired in their writings and often time reveals many glaring errors in their life, ministry, etc... But should we simply skip over their titanic thought and insights of interpretation because of these pitfalls? The answer at the conference was "Yes" and "No"!! YES, we should always be as the Bereans of Acts 17 and search the Scriptures to see if these things are so. But, NO, NO, NO we must not neglect the gift of these human teachers.

Just as we don't despise bridges built by past generations because we must find our own way across the river, so we must not neglect the great wisdom of the past. Certainly, let us test the soundness of the bridge before crossing. Let us examine the infrastructure and undergirding but when this is done, let us joyfully cross over!! Thus, as we spend three semesters studying the works of Jonathan Edwards we are not idolizing a man, we're not deviating from the Bible, we're not building little religious kingdoms on earth. What we are doing is joyfully yet attentively crossing a bridge to greater glory than we have yet seen on our own.

May the Lord bless you with godly and wise teachers, even dead ones, as you seek hard after Him in the Scriptures. Soli Deo Gloria

Goin' Wild!

I must confess that we've lived in Minnesota for 6 months now and I'm

only just getting to my first hockey game! I had a great excuse though, take my beautiful wife out for her

23 birthday...a month and a half late. But it was worth it!

Minnesota Wild vs. Detroit Red-Wing...final score 5-2

Wild, woohoo! Quite a game.

Pictures::

Rachel seated on her ice throne in St. Paul.

Rachel with her Rodeo bull.

Just us at the Arena.

Sacredness of Human Life

Hold up your hand and pretend like you're

holding a peanut between your thumb and

forefinger. Now, imagine in that span of your fingers is a fully formed baby with all it's bodily organs and appendages. That's the size and structure of almost every baby that is aborted in America on a daily basis. (3,000/day) I'm still trying to grasp these silent, unreported realities!

Our pastor compared it to the Haitian earthquake happening everyday among the unborn, because as many babies are aborted daily in this world as people have died in Haiti!! That's staggering...that's horrifying!!

This is all the more real because of two things going on in our lives. Firstly, just this week Rachel and I had a sneak peek into our baby's world. Spread your fingers a little farther apart and that's the size of our baby. As we watched on the monitor for almost an hour my mind raced back to Psalm 139 which we memorized this fall, "You formed my inward parts, you

knitted me together in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works, my soul knows them very well!"

As the Psalmist meditated on the darkest places on earth he thought of two places: 1) his inner parts, 2) his mother's womb. Yahweh God made our inner parts, Yahweh God mak

es every baby, and he does these

incredible works of creation in absolute darkness. If He can see well enough in those places to do those creative works, we should never have to fear darkness in our lives,

Yahweh sees and Yahweh knows and Yahweh does wonderful things in the dark. Wonderful, fearful, sacred, holy creations of God...and we do terrible things in that same dark place! God have mercy on us and our nation. Pray too that God would continue to bless and strengthen Rachel through this pregnancy, she's doing great!

The second thing that gets me thinking about sanctity of human life this weekend is because God has opened an opportunity for a fellow apprentice and myself to lead a worship servic

e at our church for those among us with mental handicaps. Often corporate worship is far too difficult, too distant, and too long for them to glean much spiritual fruit. As a strong symbol that our church values human life inside and outside the womb we're hoping to offer this service every Sunday for these dear people and their caretakers. Pray for us as we step into new territory for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom. 90% of all children who are projected to have a physical handicap are aborted! 90%...they don't stand a chance! (If you want Jesus' perspective on this reflect on John 9:1-7, Ex. 4:11) Yet has not

God made them as well, isn't he the one knitting them together too!? Yet, even with the mental capacity of 3 year olds we want to preach the gospel to them in a way that they might understand. Who knows what God will do in the dark places of their minds, perhaps he will create faith and joy and love for Jesus!

So, I end my reflection on the sacredness of human life for now. Please pray for our unborn child who is a work of God in progress. Please pray for this ministry opportunity with our mentally disabled friends. Please pray for eyes to be opened to the glory of God displayed all around us through people made in His image and likeness. AMEN

P.S.-We closed our eyes when we could have found out our baby's gender so guess you'll just have to wait another 4 1/2 months with us :-)

A Freeing Thought

I've been thinking, praying, wrestling more and more lately about what it means when Jesus says, "you will be my witnesses..." (Acts 1:8). There's nothing terribly complex about it. He sent the Holy Spirit not just to comfort and encourage us but also to empower us in being witnesses! Everywhere we go we are witnesses for Jesus Christ, those telling the good news.

Now, here's where I've been wrestling - "telling". I hear a lot about lifestyle evangelism and friendship evangelism but not about preaching evangelism! Isn't that what evangelism is? Isn't that what it means to be a witness, to attest to some truth before others? Isn't that what the Holy Spirit was given to empower us to do? And yet I find myself tongue tied, lip locked, and just plain cowardly.

"You will be my witnesses..." It's called arrogant by our culture. It's called imposing our wills on other people. It's called rude and politically incorrect. -- We call it love of neighbor. We call it good news. We call it telling the truth.

So, here's the freeing thought. We serve a Great King, his name is Jesus. He's coming back and will demand total allegiance from all people everywhere in every-age. By a work of grace we heard about this Great King, his blood, his mercy, and something changed in us! Now, this King calls us to be his "witnesses" in the world telling others that He's coming, He demands allegiance, He made a way by the cross... Witnesses don't get measured by their response rate but by being witnesses! We must speak this truth in love, call for joyful response, and _________ (what?). That's where we pray and wait for the Spirit to move; we're witnesses not miracle workers. So, would you join me in not being afraid of ________ anymore. Let's be witnesses of the King and not neglect our calling because we're not able to control the result. God grant us joy and boldness for this work, AMEN.

[more to come on this subject]

A New Year, A New Blog

Greetings faithful blog readers, this post is for you. Most of you read because you want to check in on Rachel and me. Some of you read because you are helped by the occasional thoughts from scripture we provide. This is good, because up until now we've had the hope that those who read will both encounter us and through us encounter God.

So, we are head into the new year I've been thinking about what purpose this blog should serve: informational, devotional, conversational? We're hoping all three! Every other Sunday we'll be posting a brief update on our lives, schooling & ministry, and any news on the baby. The alternate Sunday we hope to post something that we've been studying in God's word or encountered while serving here at Bethlehem. Our hope is that out of those two types of posts will spring conversation. May the Lord bless our endeavor.

The Frigid Bite of 14

The weather outside hasn't quite been "frightful" but certainly "frigid". I would say "biting" best describes the feeling when I walk out the door at 600am to go to work. The slow numbness that comes over your ears and fingers. The nip of every gust of wind. Welcome to Minnesota! But I love to walk to work so early in the morning because no one else is outside yet and sometimes I'll sing as I walk.

"There's not a plant or flower below but makes Thy glories known,

And clouds arise and tempests blow by order from Thy throne..."

-Isaac Watts

Every change in the seasons is to point us to God and His mercy as renewing the world day by day. As I feel the frigid bite of 14 degrees on my walks to work I thank him for this truly "alive" feeling! Sometimes in life when it is dark and cold and we are utterly helpless is when we're most alive to God. That's because Christ is the light! Sometimes when we feel the bite of life's circumstances is when we most long for heaven. That's because Christ is the life!

"In Christ was the life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

-John 1:4-5

Thankful with you,

Marcus & Rachel

Ah, the Smell of Spruce

Don't you just love the smells of the season! I sure do, it's one of my favorite parts. Christmas tea, cinnamon & clove candles, all kinds of baked goodies, and of course, the tree. I didn't know that when I got married I was marrying a spruce lover, blue spruce to be exact. But that'

s been our tree for three years running! (they're really prickly though-ouch) But they sure do look good and smell even better. So, I guess that's just one of those marriage things you find out later and love even more. Check out the video tour by Rachel - Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Hymn

By: Marcus Leman

26 November 2009

(You can sing it to Ellacombe - "I Sing the Mighty Power of God")

Lord of the heavens, Lord of earth, thank you for making us;

Made in your image and likeness but formed from lowly dust.

Thank you for labors to attend whereby you sustain us;

We are your vessels to command, you give our lives purpose.

God of salvation, God of grace, thank you for saving me;

When I was lost and hard of heart You displayed great mercy!

Thank you for Christ, our pascal lamb, offered upon the tree;

He did not seek His rightful place but suffered willingly.

King of your people, King of love, thank you for giving life;

Born of your free and sov’reign will, born of the Spirit’s light.

Thank you for eyes and ears anew by which to taste the Christ;

Make us to treasure Him within even in darkest night.

Ruler of nations, Risen One! Thank you for being hope

To ev’ry people, tribe and tongue, let everyone rejoice!

Thank you for life beyond the grave, Jesus, the Great Firstborn;

Shepherd your sheep to pastures green until we reach our home!

Why Study Biblical Greek and Hebrew

Since coming to Bethlehem Seminary I've often received the question from friends and family, "Why do you need to study Greek/Hebrew?" My simplistic answer has always been that it allows me to go deeper into the text and be more confident when teaching from it. But last week our Old Testament professor, Dr. Jason DeRouchie, gave a special lecture for the whole church body regarding why it is important for some Christians (especially leaders) in every generation to learn the Biblical Languages. For the curious, here are his main points:

"The good hand of his God was on him, because Ezra set his heart to study and to practice the Torah of Yahweh

and to teach both statute and rule in Israel." (Ezra 7:9b-10)

1) Using these languages exalts Jesus and affirms the wisdom of God in giving us his Word in a book. (i.e.-God gave His Word in these languages)

2) Using the biblical languages enables one to observe more accurately and thoroughly, evaluate more fairly, understand more clearly, and interpret more confidently the inspired details of the biblical text.

3) Using the Biblical Languages allows one to use more efficiently and evaluate more fairly the best secondary tools for biblical interpretation.

4) Using the Biblical languages fosters a depth of character, commitment, conviction, and satisfaction in life and ministry that results in a validated witness in the world.

5) Using the Biblical Languages provides a warranted boldness, a sustaining freshness, and a more articulated, sure, and helpful witness to the Truth in preaching and teaching.

6) Using the Biblical Languages equips us to defend the gospel and to hold others accountable more confidently.

7) Using the Biblical Languages helps preserve the purity of the gospel and a joyful glorifying of God by his Church into the next generation.

Conclusion: Hebrew and Greek are morally neutral realities that can be used for good or ill, yet they are fixed and do not change with time thereby help us to have a steady place to stand in the ever shifting cultures and times.

(All of this was said in an great attitude of humility recognizing the great and powerful value of having the Bible in every heart-language of all peoples. Yet he did not shy away from the call to church leaders - especially future pastors/teachers - to know and use these God given tools!)

Fully Formed

So, everyday Rachel gets these little electronic updates on her homepage concerning "the little one". Just the other day she happily announced that our baby it fully formed. Wow! In just three short months and weighing in at only 2 1/2 inches long the baby is fully formed. How is such a thing possible!

"If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be as night,'

Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." (Ps. 139:11-14)

Our church memorized this whole psalm a few months ago but these verses have taken on new meaning recently. As the Psalmist meditates on struggling through darkness he thinks about the darkest place imaginable, the womb. And in that place of utter darkness God does some of his greatest work of creation. If it only take 3 months for Him to form a child in absolute darkness how much more can He do right now as we walk in the light!

On the Way...6/12/10

So, the strangest things have been happening lately. First, we start getting these unique packages in the mail (like the one on the right). Then Rachel starts waking up in the morning and feeling all queasy. So, finally we go to the doctor and they send her home with some pre-natal vitamins. And today she tells me that she wants to go shopping for some new pants because hers are feeling a little to tight! What's going on!?!

OK, that's not how it actually happened but it can feel that confusing at times. That's right, come June 12, 2010 there's gonna be another Leman joining us in the world!! And there's gonna be a new mommy, a new daddy, new grandparents, great-grandparents, and lots of new aunts and uncles. All from one little baby, wow!

So, needless to say, we're pretty excited and are learning a lot as we wait expectantly for that day to arrive. It's so much fun to see Rachel get excited as one of her dreams is about to come true. And me, well I'm trying to adjust to the idea of being a dad! Whew! Lot's gonna be changing but we're trusting our Father to watch over us. Just last week in class we were studying the name of God, Yahweh, "He who causes to be". We are confident that this little gift is directly from Him and by His grace we'll grow into our new roles with much joy.

Quick Q's -

-No, we're not going to find out the gender (mommy's preference)

-Yes, we have names picked out already

-No, you can't know!

-Yes, I think it's a boy

-Yes, she thinks it's a girl

-Yes, I think I'm right...

OK, we'll stop there. More stories to come. Hopefully we'll be able to use this space to keep you up to date and I'm also planning to post more about my insights from learning in this church-based setting. Thanks for your prayer, we need them!

Stirred Up!

Don't you love to be stirred up! The Spirit of God taking something and moving your spirit to worship, to wonder, to action; moving you such that the ashes of this life are shaken off and you feel the weight of eternity. So often I feel the sluggishness of the world weighing on my soul and then the Spirit comes in conjunction with the Word and stirs me up. I've been experiencing that a lot lately and it's no wonder. Lots of friends have asked us why we're here at Bethlehem Seminary, why we're putting ourselves through another 4 years of school and training. Simple Answer: so that we might be prepared to stir up God's people by the Word as the Spirit is pleased to bless it! We don't know where, we don't know how, we don't know the context, we don't know the roles...but we know that this is His purpose in bringing us here.

Here's a reading from my textbook that stirred me up today:

"Proclaiming the Word must be restored, because all the evidence shows that the churches are filled with people who so not know doctrine or Scripture - and many of them are hungry for teaching! No matter how the ministry of the Word is developed in the life of the worshipping community, when the people assemble for a full worship service with Holy Communion, the risen Christ must be lifted up in the eyes of the people and glorified through it...And the Spirit of God will burn the Word of God into the hearts and minds of the devout so that their loyalties will be renewed and the worship enriched.” (Ross. Recalling the Hope of Glory, p.430)

Life-Guard II

Wow! In two days, two jobs! Rachel just had two phenomenal interviews for jobs as aquatics instructors/lifeguards at a YMCA and Foss Swim-School. Both asked her to come teach with them and we are glad. Like the pouring rain outside my classroom come down the mercies of the Lord at this time. Thank you for your prayers!

Desiring God Conference

This past weekend I was able to attend the DG National Conference called Calvin in the Theater of God as we celebrated the Biblical vision of God cast through the life of John Calvin. But the conference wasn't about Calvin at all, it was all about God. Any doubts you can just listen to the last message Pastor John gave on Sunday morning. Check it out, all the video and downloads are free! And may you be blessed with a greater and more glorious vision of Jesus Christ!

http://www.theaterofgod.com/summary