Why is the Gospel Good News?

God hit me with something today, thanks to a book I am reading and the godly pastor that wrote the book.  The book is "God is the Gospel" by John Piper. 

God showed me today a huge difference between valuing the gospel message, and valuing the gospel Giver!  If that makes no sense, give me just a few more lines and you will understand. 

For many people that call themselves Christians, they tend to value the gospel message for what it offers.  Let me explain.  Many people value the gospel message because we are told if we believe the message then we will not go to hell.  We are told if we believe the message it will help us with our guilty feelings and it is helpful to believe we are forgiven of our sins.  We are told if we believe the message we will go to heaven. And don't get me wrong, all of these are truths of the Bible and are truths that come from truly believing in the gospel message.

The problem comes when we value the gospel message for its gifts, rather than valuing the gospel message for the Giver to whom is God.  One thing that I have learned over the last 7-8 years is that God is more valuable than anything in life.  This also means that God is more valuable than the gifts that we receive through believing in the gospel message. 

Back in the US and even here in Namibia, many people preach the gospel only to get an immediate reaction to the gifts of the gospel message and to get converts.  The message is preached in a way that people value the gospel and call themselves born again so that they will not go to hell, and so that they can go to a wonderful place called heaven.  They embrace the gospel so that they will feel free from the bad life they have been living and to feel forgiven from the gospel, because the world will not forgive them or forget their past.  They cling to the gospel because it might bring blessings in their life, or new found success, or physical healing.

The problem with this style of preaching is that there is no passionate desire for the Giver of the gospel, no desire for God!  God is not even mentioned in most peoples response to why do you love the gospel message.  Again, the gifts are wonderful and can only come from God, and the death of Jesus, but the gifts are not God!  God MUST be the most valuable gift of the Gospel!

The fact is that if all we cherish from the gospel is forgiveness of sins, free entry into heaven, and safety from going to a place called hell, then we have missed the mark! 

And here is what John Piper wrote in the book, to which God used to shake me up a little this morning:

"If we believe all these things happened to us, but do not embrace them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us.  Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God.  And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there.  The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven;  it is a way to get people to God.  It's a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God.  If we don't want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel."

These are strong words, but truthful words, and it has changed drastically the way I will approach teaching and preaching the gospel in the future.  I hope that this will also help you as much as it did me today.

So why is the gospel good news?  Because God is the gospel!

God Bless!

Come Minister With Us!!

We are already talking with a few groups about coming to work with us on short term mission trips here in Namibia.  There is quite the plethora of jobs to be done and people to serve here in Grootfontein.  This summer we have three young people coming to serve with us from three weeks of service to ten weeks of service.

If you have a heart for missions, reaching the lost for the Kingdom, and want to serve in a third world country, then this is the place to come and serve.  We have anything from working with children and youth, medical teams, evangelism teams, and construction teams that come to Grootfontein to work.

So if you as an individual, a small team of college students, youth group, married couple, or adult team would like to come and minister along side us for a short term here in the field, please contact me at brian.bradsher@sim.org. We will talk with you about your interests and your special gifts that could be used here in Grootfontein.  We are already looking for teams to come starting this winter, next spring and next summer.

This will be an experience that will touch your heart for the rest of your life.  Most of all the Kingdom impact is an eternal one.  God plows the hearts and makes the soil ready for the seeds of the gospel to be planted by people like you!  Come, be a part of the Kingdom work being done in this great land of Africa for the glory of God!

Mayonnaise

OK, so this is a random post about the simple bottle of mayonaise!  You might think why in the world would you write a post about mayonaise?  Well if you ever get the chance to come visit us in Namibia, you will understand completely!

I love to eat sandwiches, make tuna melts, chicken salad, and many other recipes with mayonnaise.  Well, mayonnaise in Namibia is not remotely close to what we have back home.  For one the color of it is yellow.  It has a soupy texture to it, and tastes nothing like home.  It has more of a sour taste to it.  I tried to make my moms favorite potato salad with it and it wasn't good.  We ate it, because we try our very best not to waste food now that we see how hungry the people around us are.

But today as I was shopping in one of our little food stores, what to my surprise was on the shelf???  A nice bottle of Kraft "Real" Mayonnaise!!!  I was sooo happy that I came home and we made some delicious tuna melts!  I can hardly wait to eat a sandwich tomorrow for lunch! :)

Life for more than the average in Grootfontein

Today I had a chance to make a house visit to some people in what is called the "Location". The location is where over half of the population of Grootfontein (our town) live. The average home is built of scrap pieces of tin that they find in order to build a make shift shelter. The size of these tin houses are about seven foot square. Normally anywhere from 5 to seven people live in a house.

The house I went to today had what looked to be around 7 people living there. We went to see a man who is in his mid 40's who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. Because he does not have access to good medical care he is usually just laying in a make shift bed made of various pieces of cushions he has found. Otherwise he just sits around all day.

Today he was in bed, and his room is field with smoke where the 7 year old child was cooking lunch over a fire. I could hardly breathe from the smoke, but this is normal for him.

This man never complained as we tried to help him with some stretches, and to teach him some things he can do each day to strengthen his muscles. He smiled and was so glad that we were just their to see how he was doing. It didn't matter that there was not much that we could do for him, but just the simple fact that we cared enough to come to his house to see him made his day.

It was a very humbling experience for me, yet this is normal for a lot of people in Grootfontein. In the US this man would probably still be walking because of available health care and medications. But this was a reality check for us. Just to be thankful for our blessings that we, many times, take for granted.

Wheel Chair For Erma

Today I had the blessing to deliver a wheel chair to Erma who lives in the "Location" area of Grootfontein.

Erma has diabetes really bad. Two years ago she was given the incorrect medications and they had to amputate both of her legs. For two years she has waited for a wheel chair, but the group who was to supply her with one never came through. My home town church, Olive Grove Baptist, was generous enough to send the funds needed to purchase the wheel chair for Erma.

The physical therapist that has worked with Erma said that today was only the second time that she has ever seen Erma smile. The first time was when I went to meet her and tell her that she was getting a chair.

Now Erma has gained back some of her independence, can make it in to town and make it to her doctors appointments. The main part of our ministry is to work with youth and share the gospel with the people here. But the second part of our ministry is to love people like Jesus. To care for people, listen to people, and to help comfort people where we can. We certainly can not help everyone, but we can help a lot, and thanks to you we are doing just that. And God is getting the glory for it all.

Below is a picture of Erma before she got the chair sitting outside her tin house where she has sat for the past two years. The second picture is from this morning after delivering her wheel chair.

German Hostel

Here in town there is a small population of Germans. So here in Grootfontein there is also a German hostel, or boarding school, for german kids from around the country. This past week the Director asked me and Kristen to come and spend some time with the kids and to give them a childrens lesson.

It was a lot of fun, a little more difficult, but fun. The small kids could not speak or understand English, so we had to have an interpreter help out with the lesson. But we started with some games, one being Chubby Bunny. It is a game where you see who can stuff the most large marshmallows in their mouth at one time without swallowing. This day we had a tie at seven! I have shared some pictures below.

We then sang some songs and had a lesson about Joseph and how God meant it for good.

The kids had a great time and want me and Kristen to come back again. Cameron joined us for the fun as well and had a good time.

Youth Sermon from Saturday April 10th

Here is the youth message from April 10th on Obedience and evidence of a surrendered heart.



Or Here

Garden of Eden

OK, so it is not the Biblical garden of Eden, but these are pictures from our visit to a Farm an hour north of where we live. This is also where we ran into the Elephants! A really neat place. It is a farm all year except for May-July. During these two months it becomes a Safari Hunting lodge.

Hunter from all over the world come here to hunt anything that moves, animals that is, except for the elephants. It is not a cheap place to come to. Depending on what you want to hunt, it could cost you as much as $15,000 USD.

It is a beautiful place, with a very nice lodge. The pictures in the slide show below has pictures of the kids swimming in the pool there and we had a cookout after chasing animals. Luckily it was free for us for the day.

Click on the picture below to see the slide show of pictures of the trip and some other pictures from the weekend as well.

Easter Time in Namibia

Supposedly the World's Largest Meteorite

This past Friday night I built a fire in our back yard and we roasted marsh mallows with the kids, and the big kids had some also! :) As we sat by the fire, Cameron and I were looking at the millions of stars overhead and the milky way crossing the sky. I told him to watch for shooting stars. This led to the questions about how stars fall out of the sky, to the fact that they are really meteorites flying through space.

He said it would be cool to have one fall in the back yard!! I explained why that would not be a good thing to happen. It just so happens that in our bigger back yard, about 5 miles away, is the Hoba Meteorite. It is supposedly the largest known meteorite on earth. So we loaded the van up Saturday morning to show Cameron why it is not good to have these fall in your back yard. There is no telling how many animals were killed when this thing hit.

It is about 7-8 feet in diameter, 4 feet tall and weighs a whopping 50 tons! It is really cool because it looks like a big rock, but it is all metal! 80% iron, which is why it has a brownish red color from the rust. It also has a mixture of other metals as well.

Here are a few pictures from the trip!

Elephant Hunt

This video was taken the Monday after Easter. We were invited up to a farm north of us to which have elephants and all kids of other animals. They told us that it is never easy to find the elephants, and when you do, most of the time you only see them from a distance.

Well we did find some fresh tracks and started to follow them. We followed the tracks and hunted for the elephants for an hour. We were getting ready to just leave and head for lunch when we stumbled across them. It was a family of around 8 or more with 4 babies. The mother was not very happy that we were around. Before I started taking the video she charged at us hard. She chased us for around 10 minutes before we left them alone and listened to her warning to leave. It was a great experience though to be so close to them in the wild.

Etosha Pictures

Here are more pictures from our trip.

Etosha 2010

Etosha Park

This week we went about an hour and a half north to Etosha Pan. It is a huge wild game reserve. They have lots of animals in their natural habitat. On any given day you can find lions, giraffe, elephants, rhinos, zebra, wildebeest, and a huge number of antelope and birds.

The kids had a great time. They really enjoyed being so close to so many different animals that in the past they have only been able to see behind walls and fences at zoo's.

We enjoyed some good rest and stayed at a place that was quite inexpensive considering the service and look of the place. The kids enjoyed getting away for a while also.

Here are a few pictures here, I will put more on another blog post through a slide show.

Jesus Christ is Alive!

Today is good Friday and a day to celebrate the redemption of the sins of many! That Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of those who believe, put their complete faith and trust in Him as their personal Lord and Savior.

It is quite different here in Namibia as we celebrate this day, and this weekend. Churches do not have Easter egg hunts, no Easter eggs hung from trees,and no word of the Easter bunny. The only thing you hear about, or at least that we have in our area is all about Jesus! It is quite wonderful!

For we know that death could not defeat Him. Just as the prophets prophesied, God brought Him out of the grave, alive and well in His new glorified body. Please join us in the celebration this weekend, and every day of the year.

John 6:35-40

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Youth Message 03/27/2010

Attached is the audio of my youth message from this past Saturday afternoon.

Blessings!

Few Updates

I know I have not posted anything recently, but the last week was quite busy. We celebrated Easter this past Sunday at our church and I had a lot to do to prepare for it. We celebrated it a week early because 95% of our congregation are youth and they live in the boarding schools. So they will all be going home this weekend and will not be in town or at church.

We have had a lot of neat things going on though. First of all we are all pretty much over the stomach bugs. Kristen and I got hit worse than the kids. The kids really did not have much of any stomach issues at all, just a low grade fever for a day or so. So thanks to everyone for praying for us.

We are heading north tomorrow for a couple of days to Etosha Pan. This is a nature reserve where you can drive through and see lots of different animals in their natural habitat. We could possibly see any of the following, Giraffe, Zebra, Wildebeest, Ostrich, Emu, lions, elephants, and a vast array of antelope. The kids are excited, so hopefully we will see a lot of animals.

Here are a few cool pictures of some random things that have been happening.

God Bless!!!


I need to explain this picture a little. This little guy flew into our kitchen sliding door and knocked himself out. So I put my gloves on and picked him up until he came to. Well while I was sitting outside with him, not even 2 minutes, two birds collided in mid air right over top of us. They were both knocked out. So while I had one bird out in my one hand, then I had two other birds at my feet. One of the two that collided came to quickly, the other did not. So here I was sitting in our back yard with two unconscious birds in my hands. What are the chances of that. They both eventually came too and flew away.



An Interesting Bug




Easter Family Pictures




Cows Coming up to our yard!

Preaching in School?

Having a Bible study during school may not be acceptable in the US, but here in Namibia it is. This past Tuesday I was invited to go to a Bible Study that meets at one of the high schools here in town. When I accepted I had not yet come down with this terrible stomach bug, but by Tuesday I was hurting pretty bad.

I was not able to contact the person to let them know I could not come, so I prayed, asked God for help, and went to the school. My contact only told me that he wanted me to come join and listen, but when I got there I found out that I was the main speaker. A good pastor friend of mine told me, "If you can sing, have a song in your back pocket. If you can preach, always have a sermon in your back pocket, especially on the mission field.". So I have taken his advise to heart and was glad on Tuesday that I did.

The great thing is that the entire time I spoke God completely took away all of my stomach cramps, nausea, and body aches. I actually felt fine the entire 45 minutes that I spoke. I was astonished at how many kids kept filing in to the class room to which I was speaking. The Bible study is held during their morning break, so the kids have the option to do what they want during this time. By the last 15 minutes of my message the class room was full, kids were standing outside listening and looking in from the windows, the door was clogged with kids and even more standing outside the door trying to listen as well.

It is so encouraging to see how God has prepared the harvest of kids hear to have open minds and hearts. How He has given them a desire to want to hear the Gospel, and to take it to heart. The kids here want to learn, want to know about Jesus, and want to be changed by His grace.

They had asked me to come back this past Thursday, but unfortunately I was in the hospital Wednesday night, and out of commission on Thursday, but hope to go back again next week.

Please continue to pray for the kids as I share the great news of the Gospel with them, that God will plow open their hearts, and as the seeds of the Gospel are sowed, that God will let these seeds take root and make them grow and bring them to repentance of their sin. And by God's grace they will be saved and enter into a personal relationship with God.

Thanks to all of our supporters for allowing us the opportunity to be here to share the Gospel with so many young people in Namibia!

God Bless!

Bringing Two Worlds Closer Together

Before I left the US I had talked with a school in Winston-Salem about partnering with a school here in Grootfontein. Mainly to help the two worlds learn more about each other, about each others cultures, and even find some common ground that they both may share.

The school in Winston-Salem, was Jefferson Middle and the one here in Namibia is the Omulunga Primary. Both groups that talked with one another were from the 6th grades.

Skype actually works fantastically well here, considering how far out in the bush we are. So last week we got the two schools together for the first time to have a video call. It went really great. The kids here in Namibia did not think it would actually happen. "Mr. Brian, how can we see and talk to people in the United States?", is what two of the kids kept asking me. But to there great surprise it did work.

So at 8:15 EST and 4:15 our time, we went live on Skype and talked for an hour. The kids asked questions back and forth, learned a little about each others cultures, and enjoyed making new friends, even if they are thousands of miles away.

I think the kids in the US were blown away at the answer they got to one of their questions. The question to the class here in Namibia was, "What do you do in your free time after school?". The answers were, we clean the house, wash dishes, go out and find wood for cooking, walk a ways to go get water, and cook food for dinner.

We hope to have more skype video calls with the two schools in the future. Here are a few pictures of what it looked like on our end during the call.

If you are a teacher, work in a school, or have a desire to have a skype session with some of our kids here, please let me know and we will certainly arrange it. It is truly a great learning experience for everyone.

God bless!

Youth Message from Saturday Youth Group

I have now began posting my youth messages on our blog for anyone interested in listing. You can find them each week on the right side of our blog listed under Sermon Player, and it will list the date.

Here is the link for this past Saturday's message.

Blessings!

Lunch time at Omalunga Part 3

Lunch Time at Omalunga Part 2