They are now doing 'International Students Ministry' to African leaders and future leaders who are coming from all across Africa to study in South Africa.
Greetings and a Merry Christmas from the Stoms family in South Africa! All God’s best to our friends and family this Christmas season. Thank you for your gracious and prayerful partnership with us in the gospel. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all! Please pray for us as we are preparing to return to the states for furlough in January.
With Love,
Jay, Laura, Clara, Katherine and Lauren Stoms
"Carry each other's burdens" (Gal 6:2a)
Please see the comment below from our friend DK Byun about the recent retreat for Internationals. International Gathering at Volmoed, Hermanus www.volmoed.co.za (Nov. 17-19/2017)
23 people from 7 countries participated in this retreat for International students at Volmoed in Hermanus in the Western Cape (SA). Together we got to know God better as we heard and discussed stories from Exodus and from Revelation. We also got to know each other better by sharing conversation, meals, fun, hiking and worshiping God together. We especially enjoyed the Kenyan and the Korean foods which added to the multi-cultural flavour of the retreat. The retreat helped us realize how we long to taste the sweetness of the Kingdom of God in this world. We often live separately due to differences of race, culture, age and economic levels but there is ‘better reason’ to live together. There is one multi-ethnic 'Kingdom of God' which has been established by the conquering king and suffering servant, our Lord Jesus Christ. His sacrificial death and victorious resurrection enables all who have fallen short of God’s glory to join together ‘in Christ’ and enjoy the table together. Our differences need not divide us, but can enable us to form a beautiful harmonious multi-ethnic family! We hope that we can continue to taste this together in this world.
Katherine, Clara and Laruen
DK Byun (Korean Theological Student University of Stellenbosch)
Galatians 3:28–29 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. “
This is one of the most significance stories that anyone could ever hear. (Read Matthew 28).
What I really
like abot this story is
that it is so shocking. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb
fully expecting to find the body of Jesus. What they didn’t expect was an ‘earthquake’.
Then what was even more unexpected was a visitation from an angel from heaven who
had rolled the stone away. His white clothes and lightning like appearance was
so shocking to the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb that they shook with fear
and fell to the ground as though dead. The women were also struck with fear after
all there had been an earthquake and they’re visited by this radiant heavenly visitor.
They see the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb collapse in fear and the dead
body of Jesus is nowhere to be seen. But the most shocking thing of all is the
claim made by the angelic visitor that Jesus is alive from the dead just as he
had said.
This shocking
story is also a bit ‘perplexing’. Jesus had clearly told his own disciples on a number of occasions
that he would rise from the dead but none of them, including these faithful
women, were expecting Jesus to be alive (See John 2:19, Matthew 12:39-40, 16:21,
17:22, 20:17-19, 21:38-39, 26:2, 12). Why were so incapable of hearing what
Jesus had said and alluded to on several occasions? Now having received the
shocking revelation regarding the risen Christ they are told to tell Jesus’ disciples
to meet Jesus in Galilee. They leave filled with this strange combination of
fear and joy. As they run to tell the others they meet the resurrected Jesus
and fall at his feet and worship him. Jesus sends them on to tell his disciples
to meet him in Galilee.
The story has
much to tell us about the character of men. We learn much from the various responses to this shocking revelation
of the empty tomb and the angel’s message of the risen Lord. The soldiers are
also filled with fear but they fall down as though dead. But what is perplexing
is when they tell the high priest then they become part of a plot to cover up
that has happened. The soldiers tell the religious leaders the truth of what
happened but they are offered a bride to say that Jesus’ disciples stole the
body at night while they were sleeping. The soldiers agree and they accept the
bribe and they spread the alternative account. The high priest and the elders are
not moved to repentance but seek to cover it up the truth of Jesus with their
own twisted false account. What a picture of what we are all capable of apart
from God’s grace. Left to ourselves we would rather lie than repent and admit
the errors of our ways!
By contrast
the women respond to the shocking episode by running to tell the disciples the ‘good
news’. On their way they meet the resurrected Jesus and they grasp Jesus’ feet
and worship him. The women tell the eleven disciples who go to a mountain in Galilee
where they see the ‘resurrected Jesus’. Their response is also shocking because
some worship and yet ‘some doubted!’ Perhaps they were just slow of heart to
believe but maybe they were not yet able to grasp that Jesus is the appropriate
object of worship and were not yet able to grasp what we know about the deity
of Christ and triune nature of God.
So what does
the story tell us about God and about Jesus? The resurrection proves that Jesus
really is God’s Messiah. Jesus really does fulfill all that was foretold about
the Messiah who was to come. This shocking story and the varying responses to
the ‘good news’ in Christ tells us that ‘genuine faith’ is the gift of God.
Faith is not something that we can just conjure up in our own strength; it is God’s
gracious gift to man. God must foretell, God must fulfill, God must reveal and
God must grant faith and repentance and apart from his gracious intervention we
simply will not believe. Then we see that God gives the resurrected Jesus (the
divine Messiah) all authority in heaven and on earth so that all authority belongs
to the resurrected Messiah Jesus; who is now revealed as the proper object of
worship.
So what is
the faithful, trusting and appropriate response to the ‘good news’ of the
resurrected Jesus, who has conquered death, and who revealed himself to these
first disciples; the women who grasped his feet and the eleven who meet him on
the mountain? How should we respond to the one who has been given ‘all power
and all authority’ in heaven and on earth? Having one’s eyes opened to the
reality of the resurrected Christ should fill the heart with fear and joy. The resurrected
Jesus has become the proper object of our worship. The true worshiper will
worship Jesus with fear and joy even if others doubt, eve if we struggle with
our own doubts. What is the appropriate response to the resurrected Jesus? We
should respond with fear, with joy, with faith, and having fallen down in
worship we are to get up willing to play our part in the fulfillment of the
‘great commission’. We are to respond by not being content until the nations
are baptized into the name of the Triune God and are taught to obey everything
Jesus has commanded. As these women clung to Jesus’ feet, we are to cling to
the promise that all power and authority belong to Jesus and that Jesus will be
with us even to the end of the age.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once preached at a ‘good
Friday’ service and afterwards a man came up to him and asked, “Why do you call
it ‘Good’ Friday when that horrible thing happened? After a discussion
Lloyd-Jones concluded that the man had misunderstood the cross! Evidently the
man did not think that the cross was actually necessary.
Read Mark
8:27–33 (NIV84)So Jesus and his disciples were moving
through the villages around Caesarea Philippi. Jesus asked his disciples, “Who
do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ. After warning
his disciples not to tell this to people, Jesus told them how the
‘Son of Man’ MUST SUFFER many things and be rejected by the
elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be
killed and after three days rise again. But Peter rebuked Jesus, until
Jesus rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan!
Jesus plainly
told that the ‘Son of Man’ must suffer many things and
that he must be killed (8:31). Jesus’ disciples didn’t
understand this because to them and everyone else at that time, a Messiah who
suffers and dies was a failed Messiah. Peter understood that Jesus was the
Messiah but he didn’t understand the need for the cross. This is why Jesus
warned them not to tell anyone about him. When Peter rebuked Jesus saying,
“this will never happen to you” but Jesus rebukes Peter, saying, “Get behind me,
Satan! In other words, the denial of the cross is a
satanic lie. The cross is absolutely necessary! This is also seen in the story
of Jesus in the ‘garden of Gethsemane’ as well (Mark 14:32-42).
The Story of Gethsemane from Mark 14:32–42
Jesus and his disciples went to Gethsemane, where
they sat while Jesus prayed. Jesus took Peter, James and John and he told
them that he was so sorrowful that he could die. They were to keep watch while
Jesus went a little further and fell down and prayed. Then Jesus prayed, “Abba,
Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not my will,
but your will be done!” Then Jesus returned to his disciples and found them
sleeping. Jesus said, “Peter, couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? Watch and
pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the
body is weak.” Once more Jesus went away and prayed that if possible his Father
might take the cup away from him, but not his will but the Father's will be
done. Again Jesus returned and found his disciples sleeping and they didn’t
know what to say to Jesus. Returning a third time, Jesus told his sleepy
disciples that now the hour had come for him to be turned over into the hands
of sinners. That the Father did not respond tells us that it
was impossible to avoid the cross. Evidently the plan of God to save the world
and redeem sinners required the cross and there was no other way. Almighty God
could not save sinners apart from the cross!
Mark’s Crucifixion Story (Mark 15:16–39).
The whole company of soldiers gathered
around Jesus. These soldiers would have resented the Jewish revolutionaries and
so they must have taken their frustrations out on the powerless Jesus. They
mockingly put a purple robe normally reserved for nobility and a crown of
thorns on Jesus’ head. They fell on their knees saying, “Hail, king of the
Jews!” They spit on him and beat him repeatedly. Then when they were done
mocking him they put his clothes back on him and led Jesus out to be crucified.
They forced Simon of Cyrene, a Jewish pilgrim from North Africa, to help the
battered Jesus to carry the cross on which he would be crucified. They
took Jesus to Golgotha, the ‘Place of the Skull’. At nine in the
morning Jesus was crucified. They offered Jesus a form of drugged wine
but he refused. The soldiers stripped Jesus of his clothes and they cast lots
for them. The charge written on the cross against Jesus said ‘KING OF THE
JEWS’. He was crucified between two rebels, one on his right and one on his
left.
Those who passed by Jesus as he hung naked on the
cross insulted him. They shook their heads claiming that if Jesus was going to
destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days then he should save himself. In
actuality they had misunderstood Jesus’ claims (John 2:19, Mark 13:2). Then the
chief priests and the teachers of the law also insulted Jesus by acknowledging
that he saved others, but that he couldn’t save himself. They claimed that if
Jesus came down from the cross then they would believe that he was Israel’s
king. But as the Christ he had come to conquer sin and death by embracing it on
the cross. Even the thieves crucified beside Jesus hurled their insults at
Jesus.
The story of the crucifixion is a sad story that is
set in a dark place, Golgotha, the place of the skull. Darkness even engulfed
the whole land from noon until 3 in the afternoon (Mark 15:33). The Roman
battalion (600 men) mocked Jesus ‘hailing him as the king of the Jews’ while
beating and spitting on him. Those in the crowd mocked him saying he claimed to
destroy and rebuild the temple but that he was powerless to save himself. For
the religious leaders he would have to come down from the cross and save
himself if he was Israel’s true king. He was treated shamefully, and he looked
like a weak and pathetic character that was ridiculed by those who were
crucified beside him.
It was a ‘sad day’ when Jesus who had been betrayed
by a friend was abandoned by his disciples. Now only the women who followed him
and cared for his needs were there watching from a distance. Ironically, it was
only a Roman centurion who heard Jesus cry, ‘my God, my God, why have you
forsaken me’ and confessed that he was ‘the son of God’. But the worst thing of
all that Jesus faced was being ‘utterly forsaken’ by his own heavenly Father!
Yet, despite all that he faced Jesus clung faithfully to his confession, “My
God, My God”. That Friday was a dark day, it was a sad day, and it was an evil
thing what happened there on that dark day! So why do we call it ‘Good Friday’? The
reason we call Friday good is… SUNDAY!
One of the biggest lessons I learned from Africa and
from Africans began when my daughter Clara was about 4 or 5 years old.My daughter Clara loves stories and she always wanted me to tell her
stories. So I told her all the stories that I felt were appropriate and I ran out of stories but she wanted
me to tell her more stories. Now I could have given her various statements of what the
Bible teaches on a various topics with proof texts and that may
have put her to sleep but I wanted to engage
her with God's word. I wanted her to know God and His will for her
life. So I asked myself, ‘how many Bible stories have I internalized so that I
could tell them accurately and naturally in my own words?’ My answer was maybe the same as your answer to that question might be… practically none!
Now I had been teaching a class on Daniel at a Bible College in Malawi so I started telling Clara stories from the book of Daniel. She loved it so I started telling those same stories to the prisoners at Maula prison in Malawi. I will
never forget what happened when I told the story from Daniel 4 where
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that frightened him. Do you know that that story?
Nebuchadnezzar was the world’s most powerful ruler
but his nightmare scared him. The king called for his council of Babylonian ‘wise
men’ but they failed to interpret the dream. They may have been afraid to bring
the explosive king the ‘bad news’ depicted in the dream (Daniel 2:12, 3:13-15).
The king would need Daniel, the exiled Jewish prophet, to discern his dream. As
a subjugated Jewish exile the king referred to Daniel as Belteshazzar after the
name of Nebuchadnezzar’s god. Yet, Nebuchadnezzar understood Daniel to be indwelt
by the ‘spirit of the holy gods’ and capable of interpreting the dream.
Nebuchadnezzar saw a tree that touched the sky
that was visible throughout the earth. The tree had beautiful leaves, abundant fruit
and the birds and the beasts sheltered in it. A holy one from heaven said
that the tree would be chop down, stripped of its leaves and branches, its fruit
would be scattered and the birds and beasts chased from it. This superior power
commands that the tree be stripped of its authority and its abundance,
but the stump would remain bound with a strap of iron and bronze.The tree is depicted as having a mind that is
to be changed to that of a beast for period of seven times. The
reason for all this is so that all may know that Most High God rules over
the kingdoms of men (4:17).
Daniel was
also upset by the dream, but the king insisted that Daniel interpret the dream.
Daniel was genuinely concerned and told the king and wished that the dream applied to the king’s enemies. Then Daniel freely
tells Nebuchadnezzar that he is the tree that touched the sky; visible
throughout the earth. The decree of the Most High God was that the king, the personalized
tree, would be driven from people to live among the beasts for a period
described as seven times until the king acknowledged that the Most High God
rules over the kingdoms of men.
Nebuchadnezzar had risen to prominence but his
rule was oppressive so he would be stripped of his kingly glory. Evidently, the
king had ignored the hardships of the oppressed and now the king’s authority
and prosperity would be removed from him. Nebuchadnezzar was an inhumane king
who used people like beasts. Now he would be given the mind of a beast and he
would live among the beasts in the bush like a beast. He would remain in this
condition until the time when the king acknowledged that the Most High God rules
over the kingdoms of men. The remaining stump meant that Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom
would be restored when Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that heaven rules. Again, concerned for the king’s welfare, Daniel
exhorts the king to turn from his sins by doing what was right and by being merciful to the oppressed then the king’s prosperity might continue.
A whole year passes but Nebuchadnezzar is
unchanged. We find him walking on the roof of his palace admiring his achievements. The king was boasting of the greatness of Babylon which he evidently built
at the expense of the poor and oppressed. Nebuchadnezzar had urged Daniel to interpret
his dream and having given the king the interpretation Daniel urged the king to
change his ways. Unconcerned and unresponsive we find the boastful king is
interrupted by the voice from heaven announcing the removal of Nebuchadnezzar’s
kingdom. He would be driven from people to live like a beast among the beasts.
This would last for a period of seven times until Nebuchadnezzar learned that
the Most High rules the kingdoms of men. Nebuchadnezzar had failed to
heed Daniel’s warning but now a voice from heaven tells Nebuchadnezzar directly
without any symbolic imagery that his kingdom is removed and that he would be
driven from people to live like a beast among the beasts. Nebuchadnezzar would
remain in that beast-like condition for a period of seven times until
Nebuchadnezzar learned that heaven rules.
Nebuchadnezzar was driven into the bush to live
like a beast among the beasts. He was given the mind of a beast, and his hair
grew as long as eagles’ feathers and his nails grew like the claws of a bird. When
the period of seven times was completed, Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes to
heaven and came to his senses. Now being found in his right mind Nebuchadnezzar
acknowledges that the Most High does what he pleases with the host of heaven
and the inhabitants of the earth. As was promised Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom
was restored the king praised God saying, ‘all God’s ways are just and He is
able to humble the proud’.This Nebuchadnezzar
knew by experience for in his arrogance he had lost his kingdom but then after
confessing that ‘heaven rules’ his kingdom was restored.
Those
prisoners at Maula prison loved that story. We had a great
time following the telling of that story as we discussed how that story depicts the Most High
God of Daniel (Daniel 4:17) as being sovereign over the kingdoms of men. The
discussion was going well when one of those inmates stood up and said, “Guys,
Nebuchadnezzar was the king of all the kings of his time, he had everything but
he had to lose everything before he repented. Then he said this, “guys we have
nothing, who are we not to repent!”
Now that relatively uneducated prison inmate really
understood the implications of the difficult doctrine of the ‘Sovereignty of
God’. When I taught at a Bible College in Malawi I used to tell my students what
I had heard the Theologian John Frame say, ‘you don’t know or understand a
doctrine until you know how that doctrine applies’. That relatively uneducated man
in that Malawian prison understood the practical implications of the doctrine,
the teaching of the ‘word of God’ regarding the Biblical doctrine of the ‘Sovereignty
God’. He responded to that clear and straight
forward story from the Book of Daniel (Daniel 4) about the ‘Sovereignty of God’
by doing what Daniel had urged King Nebuchadnezzar to do, to turn from sins.
This Post is an update regarding the Stoms Family in South Africa and it highlights events surrounding the minister to Internationals student at the University of Stellenbosch at Christ Church in Stellenbosch. On Saturday, April 1st, we’ll be hosting a seminar at Christ Church with Richard Weston. Richard has 30 years of experience in pioneering international student ministry in the UK and around the world. He will discuss the role International students can play in God’s plan for the nations and how a local church can welcome International students. We pray this seminar will encourage local churches here to befriend the numerous international students living in Stellenbosch.
We had a great 2 week visit from Pastor Michael Kelly (GLPC, PNW Church-planting network). Pastor Kelly spoke at our ‘Retreat for Internationals’; where we had over 30 people representing 9 different countries from 4 continents. Everyone really worked together to make it a restful and joy-filled time. We hiked, enjoyed African and Korean meals and spent time together. Pastor Kelly presented four powerful messages on loving the church for a lifetime. The lunch for graduating international postgraduate students and their families and friends also went well. While there was some overlap, this was a different group than those at the retreat. This was a time to celebrate with family and friends of those who graduated where we presented gifts and heard another helpful message from Pastor Kelly.
The day after the luncheon the Kelly’s went on to Malawi. I stayed behind for Clara’s 12th birthday which was nice. Then I flew to Malawi where I first stayed in Lilongwe with our friends the Braseltons and met Reverend Edward Tembo, a former student. I preached at his church, Kafita CCAP, to the over 1000 worshipers there who love to sing and are eager to hear Biblical preaching. Then we visited with our friends, Dr. David and Rebecca Morton from Green Lake Church, who work at Nkhoma Hospital which is about an hour outside Lilongwe. This is the same hospital where our daughter Clara was treated for a corneal ulcer when she was 2 months old. Since then the washboard dirt road has been paved and the drive is a lot smoother and faster than back in those days.
Pastor Kelly and I spent a day teaching the 3rd and 4th year students at JMTI Theological College (CCAP Nkhoma Synod). When these students finish at JMTI they’ll be placed in churches with plenty of people but no pastors. A former student, Rev. Gracious Madimbo, was placed in a rural church with 2000 people immediately after graduating from JMTI. We also met with the Principle of JMTI and the Academic Dean about setting up a workshop on ‘Narrative Preaching and Biblical Storytelling’ for a future visit.
We had a great reunion with the Morton’s and Rebecca Morton took care of us and David who wasn’t feeling well. The lush green foliage surrounding their house nestled just below Nkhoma Mountain was quite a contrast to the dry Western Cape. After a nice stay in Nkhoma we returned to Lilongwe where we caught our flights back to South Africa. Back in Stellenbosch, Michael and Ian stayed below us in a furnished flat owned by the University. We showed them some of the amazing scenery around Cape Town and then they treated us to a wonderful dinner for my 56th birthday. At the end they were feeling a bit homesick and ready to return to the States and their family.
Now with this M-Th in Homiletics and Narrative Preaching behind me, I want to get back to doing Biblical Theology through the Bible's own stories. Our goal is to story through the Bible and this is what most of our posts are all about. Special thanks to those who prayed for us; surely your prayers helped the retreat, the graduations, the luncheon, the Malawi trip, the flights, the meetings and messages during the Kelly's visit go so well.
