Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Our First Mission Team

The big move is almost here! It's been about 10 months from the time we found out God was calling us to Medicine Hat, and we move this week! It has been a very cold week, with the coldest day being - 50 Celsius (with wind chill), which is about -58 Fahrenheit. All I know is that after -30 it all feels the same. We are supposed to be out of this deep freeze starting tomorrow and am I ever glad that it will be a high of -12 Celsius. Time to bring out the lotion and the flip flops!

Our first mission team will be coming up from Texas on March 15. They are from First Baptist Church Grangerland near Conroe, TX. I got to meet the new pastor, Jay McIntosh, at youth camp last summer and we totally hit it off. He has been to Canada before about 20 years ago and helped build the maintenance building at the seminary which I could be able to see from my office window right now if it wasn't 1:08 in the morning. He told me at youth camp that since his time in Canada, God has given him a heart for the Great White North. Now the ball is rolling and he has locked in the flights for himself and 4 others of his congregation. Please keep the following people in prayer starting today and ending on March 21. Things you can pray for are:

1. Safe flight to Great Falls, MT and back
2. Safe and hassle free border crossing into Canada.
3. God would show them the need for Jesus Christ in Canada.
4. God would help them (and us) see where He is at work in Medicine Hat.
5. They would like to continue to partner with us in reaching Medicine Hat for Jesus Christ

Please pray for these short term missionaries who are paying their own way to Canada to see what God is doing:

Jay McIntosh
Don Gilsdorf
Sarah Gilsdorf
Kevin Marcotte
Pam Marcotte

Please continue to pray for us as we move to Medicine Hat this week. God has proven Himself faithful time and time again, please pray that we have a safe and hassle-free move.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

...And Let The Spiritual Warfare Begin

I was quite honored on Sunday when I gave the sermon at Tapestry. The honor was that I was asked to preach at Tapestry and that I was to preach my own commissioning service at the same time. Wow! Preaching is one thing that I really enjoy doing, and when I preach I like to bring a lot of humor into it. I have realized then when people start to laugh, they are more open to hear what God has to say.

I always get nervous before I preach, but I was even more nervous on Sunday because Dwight Huffman, the head of Church Planting for Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists, was there; Bob Shelton, the Head of Leadership Development for the CCSB and Tim Williams, the Nehemiah Project Director for Canada, was there also. On top of that, I was preaching from a passage that was assigned to me - and that was the first time I had ever done that. God is good and everything went well. Bob Shelton did the commissioning service for Leigh and I, and did an excellent job. It was a sacred, holy moment that will be treasured for a lifetime. Seven people in the church each picked a day of the week to pray specifically for us for the month of February. It is so good to be saturated in prayer.

The sermon I preached was the best sermon I have ever preached according to my wife, but she says that all the time. (I've got the best wife ever) People in the congregation were telling me that it was an amazing sermon.

After that we got back to my parents place to celebrate Sawyer's 2nd birthday. We weren't even there two hours and the whole thing went downhill fast. This is an experience I will never want to relive again. It was so bad that everybody left except for my parents and we all came back to our place to celebrate Sawyer's birthday.

Satan will use the closest people to you to attack you and bring you down, but God is greater, and while everybody was at our house I got to clearly share the Gospel with my brother-in-law. He didn't accept the Lord yet, but he is getting very close, so pray for him. Another thing this did is it bonded my brother, my sister and her husband and my wife and I closer together. Throughout this whole ordeal I am trying to focus on Christ and live His Kingdom principles out in tangible ways. As I said before, being a Christian doesn't make your life easier, but it's definitely worth it.

Monday, January 21, 2008

God's Provision Is Amazing

What a day! On Thursday we had heavy flurries that made it look like blizzard conditions outside and on Friday we had heavy snow (about half a foot). My tires were pretty bald so Saturday morning I put 4 new tires on our van. New all-season tires sure feel good on snowy roads compared to bald tires. This morning I woke up to -20 Celsius with a wind chill factor that brought it down to -40 on the hill this morning. The wind was so strong and bitter that it felt like it was going to rip my face off. My wife noticed that one of our brand new tires was flat, so my neighbour blew it up for me and we took the van back and they fixed the tire by noon.

At 2:00 I went to the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists today to talk with our tax expert about ministerial housing allowance and after I finished with that the lead man for church planting in Canada told me to come back in an hour because my Nehemiah Project Director would be there and he wanted to talk to me. So I went back an hour later and waited, and waited and waited. Then one lady who works there told me that there are 2 Baptist Associations in Wyoming that want to partner with me. There will be 2 DOM's and 3 pastors coming up from Wyoming to see what God is doing up here and will meet with me in March. Then my Nehemiah Director met with me and told me that the head of church planting saw my tires on Friday and that God laid it on his heart to pay for my tires. What else can one say besides, thank you God.

God's grace is exactly that - getting what I don't deserve. I know me, and I know how imperfect I am and that I don't deserve somebody else paying for my tires, but God knows what we need and He loves us. This blog is all about what God is doing with us, not what we are doing for God and I hope that you, the reader, will come to the conclusion that God desires a relationship with you. Christianity is not what we can get from God or what we can manipulate God into giving and doing for us, but it is a love relationship based on mercy and grace. So I am praising God not only for who He is, but also for what He is doing.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

It's Not Easy, But It's Worth It

If anybody has ever told you that following Christ is going to make your life better, and your troubles are all going to go away is a liar. I'm not joking. Following God by faith is probably the hardest thing one will ever do. The reason why it is so hard is because you have to put your faith into somebody else besides yourself, and it's somebody that you don't see, but it is worth it. Read what Moses had said to his father-in-law, Jethro, after they crossed the Red Sea:

Exodus 18
Jethro's Visit

Moses' father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and His people Israel, and how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.

Now Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, along with her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom (because Moses had said, "I have been a stranger in a foreign land")and the other Eliezer (because [he had said,] "The God of my father was my helper and delivered me from Pharaoh's sword").

Moses' father-in-law Jethro, along with Moses' wife and sons, came to him in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God. He sent word to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons."

So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and then kissed him. They asked each other how they had been and went into the tent. Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardships that confronted them on the way, and how the LORD delivered them.

Jethro rejoiced over all the good things the LORD had done for Israel when He rescued them from the Egyptians. "Blessed is the LORD," Jethro exclaimed, "who rescued you from Pharaoh and the power of the Egyptians, and snatched the people from the power of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because He [did wonders] at the time the Egyptians acted arrogantly against Israel."

Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses' father-in-law in God's presence.


You notice that Moses talked about all the hardships and how the LORD delivered them? This was after Moses parted the Red Sea, and right before he gave the 10 Commandments. They had tried to leave Egypt because Israel had been in slavery there for the last 400 years, and Pharaoh would not let them go. Then Pharaoh did let them go and had a change of heart and took his best soldiers and his best chariots and came after them. It was going to be a blood bath. God even let the Egyptians camp right behind the Israelites. Can you imagine how freaked out they were? Anyway, the next day (most likely after a night of no sleep because of their terror) the LORD delivered them.

One thing I have found out the hard way from living by faith is that God will let you see your hardships, have you stare them right in the face, and let you know that there isn't a darn thing you can do about it. He will even let you stress out over them for a while - it may be a night, may be a week, may be a year, but He will show you how impossible your situation is and then He will show up.

God called us to Medicine Hat. It has not been an easy road getting there, but we are still on the journey. We had to postpone our move by 1 month and we were still wondering where the rest of the finances were going to come from. We move on February 2. Now we had enough money to move, but very little to live on, then the other night my wife checked our mail box and in there was a check that came from the most unlikely source for 4 times the amount for our move. I had been stressing out for the past week, not being able to sleep and throwing myself quite the pity party, then God showed up. This life of faith can be the scariest thing I know, but it is the most exciting and definitely the most rewarding. Is being a Christ follower easy? No, but is it worth it? Most definitely. God will make sure this isn't for my glory, it's for His. Jethro realized that God is God, the supreme God, the only God worthy of honour after Moses told him what God had done. So please don't think this is about the Wilks Family, it is about God and His glory. What hardships are you facing right now? Where is your trust? Is it in you or is it God, or is it in somebody else? I have told people time and time again, that Jesus wants to blow your mind. If you want to see the impossible happen, stop "having faith" and start living by faith.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Preteen Camp video

I just checked my email, and my wife asks me if I saw the Preteen Camp video for 2008 put on by the Tryon Evergreen Baptist Association. This is the same camp where I was rec director for a couple of years. When I saw the video, I got so excited, then realized I wasn't going to be at camp this summer and got a little down. It's an excellent video. Click here to see the video. Let me ask you - are you living the dream?

Friday, January 11, 2008

Let My People Go

If you have been keeping up to date with the blog then you know that I didn't have to work last night since I am done with night-shift altogether - Hallelujah, Praise the LORD! So I got in total about 14 hours of sleep last night. My first 3 hours were from 9 pm to 12 am, then from 4 am to 3 pm. I am still working on getting back to a normal sleeping pattern. It will take me about another 3 days to do that. Maybe you are dying to wonder what I did from 12 am to 4 pm, and if you're not I'm going to tell you anyway. I caught a mouse and read the Bible. Actually the mousetrap caught the mouse and I didn't read the whole Bible, just a little bit in Exodus.

As we start Pathway Christian Fellowship in Medicine Hat (we move in 3 weeks baby!)and part of our vision is that we will permeate a lifestyle of worshiping God. I was reading about some of the plagues in Egypt last night and found some really cool things.

1. God brought plagues on Egypt for Pharaoh to "Let my people go so they can worship Me."

2. God killed the firstborn of every family in Egypt (except for those whose door posts were covered in blood) so God's people would be released to worship Him.

3. God says to sin, "Let my people go so they can worship Me."

4. Jesus (God's First Born) died so we could worship God in Spirit and in Truth.

Here's the deal - Adam and Eve walked with God and they could truly experience worshiping God because He was right there with them - then sin came into the picture and that relationship was broken, and it wasn't until 6 generations after that until people started to seek God again.

Sin puts us into horrible slavery and our souls cry out to be free, just like when the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, they cried out to God for generations to be free. The only way we are going to be free from sin is if God does something about it, just like God did something about it with the Israelites. The good news is that God did do something about it. His name is Jesus and He set us free from sin by sacrificing His life on the cross so sin could let go of us and we could worship God and walk with Him. Everybody has this opportunity, and we are looking forward to bringing this opportunity to Medicine Hat so people can worship God by walking with Jesus at Pathway Christian Fellowship.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

My Last Night for Nightshift

I go into work tonight at 10:30 pm for the last night. Working nights goes quickly, but it leaves one feeling extremely tired, and my memory has started to go. Working nights is not healthy for the body, mind, soul or spirit and I have resolved never to work nights again unless I absolutely have to.

The main thing I have learned about working night shift is just how important family is. I have missed my family terribly. Sure, I'm at home during the day, but am in a comatose state and when I'm awake I feel like I have been bitten by some zombie. So tonight I am not going to push myself at work, I am going to come home, have a nice cup of tea with my wife and go to bed at 7:00 am for the last time (hopefully). Now I can enjoy my family and begin to enjoy life much more.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Prayer and a Bike Ride

I took Riley to the seminary bookstore today and let him ride his bike. He loves riding his new bike and he is so good at it. You should see his face as he peddles his little 4 year old heart out. On the way back from the book store he was zig zagging around his daddy and I was telling him how good of a bike rider he was and I could see the sparkle in his eyes and the smile grow on his face every time I would say it. Riley doesn't speak yet and I long in my heart everyday to hear him talk - he will say little words like mom, mama, out, dad, sawyer, and the rest he uses sign language. He can hear every word we say to him, he is not deaf, he just doesn't talk.

God showed me something about Him from that example today. First of all, the God of the universe desires to communicate with us. We need to learn how to listen, and when we do we feel the love of the Father just like Riley did when daddy told him how good of a bike rider he was. Second of all, God longs to hear from us. I'm not talking about a wish list that we call prayer (even though we should present our needs to Him), but He longs to hear us speak to Him. It is part of this amazing relationship He created us for. The God of the universe longs to hear us say, "Daddy, I love you." He longs to be in conversation with us because communication is essential in any relationship. This week, try to focus on your communication with God, I know I am.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

New Years Day

What a great way to start the New Year - enjoying a nice cup of tea and gazing at the snow capped mountains that looked like the horse of many colours from the Wizard of Oz. As the sun rose over the Rocky Mountains this morning the snow was both pink and blue with a touch of orange. God is quite the artist - painting a picture that is changing continually, but each brush stroke seems to bring excitement and take your breath away.

This year in 2008 watch to see how God uses His paintbrush in your life. Some brush strokes may hurt at the time, some might bring excitement, and others boredom, but they are brush strokes that come from The Creative Genius who is changing your life into a priceless piece of artwork. Just remember, no matter what color is on the paintbrush or which direction the Artist strokes His brush, "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28-29