Romans 2:6-10

Two outcomes of judgment are revealed in this text; glory, honor and incorruption, eternal life is compared with wrath, indignation, tribulation and anguish.

Eternal life, et al, is gained by those engaged in “a patient spirit of well doing”.
Anguish, et al, is gained by being “factious” and “obeying not the truth”.

The question is what is “obeying not the truth”? Some might say it is refusing to accept Christ in the waters of baptism or refusing to assemble and the like. Contextually, “obeying not the truth” must mean the opposite of “a patient spirit of well doing”.

In fact, Jesus calls us to live sin free lives that are characterized by works of service to others, not self serving lives. “Obeying the truth” is following Jesus’ example of seeing after the needs of others, whatever those needs might be.

So while it is important to be in a relationship with God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, that relationship calls for us to be a people of action.

Those who are patiently and stedfastly engaged in well doing will reap eternal life. Those who are not will reap eternal anguish.

How To Save the Jews

Mordecai’s plan to save the Jews involved asking Esther “to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people”.

Perhaps not a bad plan but not one that Esther agreed with. Esther, wanted to “cut the snakes head off”… she wanted to dispose of Haman. In her conversations with Mordecai, which were through an intermediary by the way, nothing is mentioned specifically about Haman. Mordecai simply revealed a copy of the edict that was being circulated with King Ahasuerus signet ring imprinted on it. Perhaps Esther did a little investigating to see who the source of the edict was.

It was a different issue if Ahasuerus had a personal grudge against the Jews with perhaps a different solution, but not so, Esther discovered Haman was the problem.

So Esther devised a plan to not only save the Jews but also to destroy Haman.

First of all it was risky to approach the King for any reason at all. With hundreds of wives and children the king had to limit his accessibility otherwise he could kill a whole day (or a whole life) just talking with his wives and dealing with their problems, so he made a law that you could be put to death if you even approached him. I’m sure he had to apply that law every once in awhile to get everyone’s attention. There was risk involved for Esther.

Esther had just one shot at saving the Jews, she did not want to waste it by just pleading with Ahasuerus. She formulated a plan using her strengths and Ahasuerus’ weaknesses to save the Jews.

So she approached the king’s court at the threat of her life and made a simple request… she invited Ahasuerus and Haman to a banquet she had prepared.

A pretty small request compared to her great risk… which was not lost on Ahasuerus. At the banquet, Ahasuerus again asked what Esther wanted… still she won’t tell him but invited him to another banquet the next day. Ahasuerus knew Esther wanted something but he had no idea what it is.

At the second banquet the curious Ahasuerus again asked Esther what she wanted and this is what she said…

“If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.”

Ohhh… Esther was cunning, she would not disturb the king if she was going to be sold into slavery but someone was going to murder her and she asked her husband for protection. She approached the king with temerity and weakness… not anger and bold demands. For a young, politically naïve Jewish girl Esther was very shrewd in her manipulation of Ahasuerus.

The Husband/King responded…

“Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

The real answer to this question would be to have Ahasuerus look in the mirror and Ahasuerus knew that ultimately he was to blame but Esther identified Haman as the culprit and Ahasuerus was off the hook. Ahasuerus had to feel like an idiot for his agreement with Haman to annihilate the Jews and so he allowed Esther carte blanche to correct the problem.

Esther’s plan, well conceived and well executed, worked… the Jews were saved.

Prayer List 4/15/11

From time to time people ask me what I am passing out on Sunday mornings....it is the hard copy of Rob's Church News that I print up for those members who do not have computers! JULIE

(Julie keeps the prayer list updated for me... thanks Sugar)

Prayer List – members

Virginia Lawler (Heart complications, back at home)
Dot Miller (knee replacement, back problems)
Diana & Joe Shaw
Jo Anthony (Vision problems)
Vivian Meeker (Macular degeneration)
Jean Cave (Heart condition)
Syble Peterson (severe arthritis)
Dan Graf (Sarcoidosis)
Dwayne Murphy (Pemphigus vulgaris)

Family and Friends

Jeanne Conway’s grandson, Josh Johnson, is very ill
Frank Dansby’s sister, Edna Fulwood, has had a stroke
Cyndi Garcia’s sister, Cris, kidney cancer complications
Donna Morgan’s brother-in-law, Chuck, Mesothelioma
Glenn Torno (Ray’s father) Alzheimer’s
Darrell Hymel (work in China)
Ruth Lara's niece Francesca... rehab
Donna Morgan’s sister-in-law, Lyda Walker, has Lupus
Ruth Lara’s brother, Rosendo Robledo, Heart problems
Amy Torno's dad - Gene Mabry (liver transplant candidate)
Sandy Case's cousin Logan – recovering from serious snowboarding accident
Donna Morgan's mother in Oklahoma, Elna Walker (Congestive Heart Failure)
Maggie Perez’s mother, Serafina Cruz (Alzheimer’s)
Maggie Perez’s cousin, Leticia Cruz, has been diagnosed with liver cancer
Perkins friend, Craig Clanton (chemo for pre-leukemia and bone marrow transplant)
Joey Vaughan’s father – Jim Vaughan (aortic aneurism)
Graf friend - Randall Chisamore (fell from a 3 story balcony. Massive injuries, therapy)
Arlie’s granddaughters – Serenity & Michaela (family problems)
Rob Perkins’ brother - Scott Perkins (ask God to help him find his faith)
D.L. Hutchins (spiritual - illness)
Elizabeth Robles (Priscilla Guel’s daughter, spiritual weakness)
Mike Garcia (Lucas requests prayers for his dad - spiritual illness)
Tim and Ben Bueno (Patsy requests prayers for her sons - spiritual illness)
Manuel Perez Jr. (parents ask for prayer - spiritual illness)
Ardelle Sumter (Arlie Cooksey's mom, dementia)
Nelda Davila's mother (Alzheimer's)
Cyndi Garcia's dad (breathing problems)
George Stan (Julie's cousin)
Ofelia Guzman
Nora Phillips (Cindy Graf's mom at home on oxygen)

Conflict in a Local Church and the Importance of Leadership

Certainly we’re all familiar with sinful conflict in a local church and how the scriptures instruct us to deal with that, but how about non sinful conduct in a local church and how that is handled?

Things like children running and playing and endangering the older folks. How about babies screaming in the assembly so that you can’t listen to a prayer? Or a message board with a questionable message? How about kids who break a window with a ball?

What about visitors who wear shorts to services on Wednesday nights? How about cell phones that go off during the assembly? What about those who are chronically late to services? What about the teacher who leaves town without finding a substitute teacher to take their place? What about the songleader who leads songs that the congregation cannot sing, either because the congregation does not know the song or it is led in such a way that it is difficult to sing along with? What about the person who trims his nails during the assembly?

In the Veterinary business we deal with a parasite called a “Hookworm”. Left untreated Hookworms can cause death. We sometimes get the question, “How can I eliminate hookworms from my yard?” The answer is, “Spread rock salt over your yard”. The trouble is that even though you destroy all the hookworms, you destroy everything else in the process and end up with a dead yard.

Here’s the deal… conflict in a church is good and is to be expected. It means that people are interacting with each other and annoying each other. Members need to learn how to deal with each other. Sometimes Elders interfere in that process and become so repressive that the congregation becomes like the yard treated with rock salt… a dead place.

There are ways to deal with hookworms and there are ways to deal with conflicts in a local church so that the culture of the church is preserved. Effective leadership finds a way.

Jacob B. Leading Songs with Sunglasses

The power went out Sunday afternoon so we had services in the courtyard. I always like firsts. It was a first for me to see a songleader wearing sunglasses. The sun was pretty bright.

Hadassah (Esther)

When King Ahasuerus decided he needed a new queen he ordered that *every* young beautiful virgin be gathered to Susa the capital and he appointed overseers to identify and gather them up. Young women of every race and language were gathered to become wives of Ahasuerus.

Implicit in this is that the Overseer and the province who supplied the young virgin who was chosen as queen would receive reward. The overseers would leave no stone unturned in their search for the most beautiful virgin in the Empire including consulting with Hegai the Eunuch, who was in charge of the King’s Harem, to see how King Ahasuerus’ tastes in women ran.

Hadassah was “beautiful of form and face”. She might have been as young as fourteen. As a young woman of great beauty she certainly must have commanded the attention of young and old men alike. Attention usually promotes vanity and vanity is not a very appealing characteristic. I suspect Hadassah was not vain. She certainly was not a spoiled head strong girl. She had experienced sorrow in her life when she suffered the loss of her mother and father. The young orphan was taken in and raised by her cousin Mordecai. The scriptures do not reference a wife or other children for Mordecai so Hadassah lacked a maternal influence in her live and no sibling interaction. Her devotion to Mordecai included “obeying Mordecai’s commands… as she had done while under his care”.

King Ahasuerus on the other hand was about 34 years old when he assumed his kingship and probably in his 50s when he married Hadassah. He had countless wives. In his position he was continually being manipulated by his wives and by politicians like Haman. He faced the constant threat of assassination. Certainly paranoia had to be one of his qualities. He compounded his problems by engaging in drinking parties which led to poor decisions in regards to how he treated queen Vashti and his selling of the Jews to Haman for 10,000 talents of silver.

Hadassah was about to be thrust into a situation that she was ill prepared for. Lucky for her she had a parent whom she listened to for advice, she was trained in the scriptures and she had faith in God… and that was enough. That's a pretty good formula to overcome adversity.

Hadassah flourished in her new environment and with the help of Mordecai was able to save her people from annihilation.