A Few Thoughts on Sharing God’s Word with Other People

- It is God’s Word that converts people to Christ. It’s not me or you… it is God.

- What you teach depends on who you are teaching. Are you teaching an Atheist? Then you need to teach about the existence of God. Are you teaching a Christian who is following a false system of belief? Then teach New Testament doctrines. Are you teaching someone who is morally bankrupt? Focus on what the Bible teaches about how we should live and what Jesus does for us.

- What is my objective as a teacher? It is not to vanquish or overwhelm someone with biblical superiority. It is not to get them to switch churches. My objective as a teacher should be to teach God’s Word and build faith in God.

- As a teacher I should live a righteous, unselfish life. I should have a comprehensive knowledge of the scriptures. I must be intellectually honest and not be dogmatic and opinionated about questionable things. I must come to understand and know my student and I must be a learner. I must strive to be effective.

- Who can I teach? Those who are looking for spiritual help. Those who have an obvious need for spiritual help but are not looking for it.

- As a planter of God’s Word I am not responsible for the outcome… God is. But still I can learn to be an effective, opportunistic teacher.

- The age of working miracles to get peoples attention is over. We live in an age where the only miracle people will witness is the miracle of a godly life in an increasingly morally bankrupt society. That miracle is an attention getter and will create opportunities to teach.

Building Faith: Prayer

Prayer is one of the activities Christians were engaging in when they assembled. Prayer directed towards God is an admission that “God Is” and reflects our dependence upon him. The scriptures describe prayer as the “sacrifice of our lips”.

In public prayer the primary audience is God and the secondary audience is the assembled congregation.

Prayer is a teaching tool. There are several prayers recorded in the Bible and they are recorded there for a purpose… they teach us. We can also teach with prayer in our assemblies.

Public prayer can be thought provoking and can create an emotional response in the listeners. I’ve had two occasions when I have led a public prayer and have had people come up to me afterwards with something special to say.

One of those was in Houston. My dad was either sick or had just passed away… I don’t remember which and I was leading the closing prayer. I don’t really remember what I said but I do remember that I was trembling and Julie reached down and held my hand during that prayer. Afterwards a friend came up to me with tears in his eyes and said, “That was a powerful prayer”.

To pray well in public we have to have an active prayer life in private. To have an active prayer life in private we need to have a broad understanding of who God is and we need to spend time thinking about God. We need to pray to God when things are troubling us and we need to pray when we’re happy or have been blessed with good things and for every emotion in between.

We need to also break away from the old traditional prayers we often hear in assemblies and pray with our own words and our own thoughts.

Here is a sampling of things we can pray for…

- We can pray for other people than just those in our congregation. Pray when tragedy or suffering happens in the community. For example, a school bus gets in a wreck and children are injured.

- Pray for things that seem impossible. Pray that Osama Ben Laden will hear the truth and become a believer.

- Ask God to tell a loved one that we’re thinking about them.

- Pray for the simple gift of healing… don’t tell God how to heal, “Lord touch them with your healing hand”.

- Confess in prayer whatever short comings you have in your life.

- Ask for blessings but confess that if you don’t receive them that God is still your God.

- Pray for God to take us all to heaven right now as a church family.

- Pray for things that are expressed well in songs… “O Lord our God, when we in awesome wonder, consider all… “

Public prayer is one of the essentials of congregational worship. God is listening and the congregation is listening. Prepare yourself by immersing yourself in the word and by spending much time in quiet personal prayer. When you stand before the congregation try as much as is possible to let it be just you and God and pray from your heart with your own words just as if you are sitting in your own back yard thinking about things and sharing them with God.

Young Adults at Tornos

We have a monthly schedule for people to have our young adults/college students into their homes. Cyndi Garcia had them last month and we are booked up through May. However, I'm sure if you wanted to have them over they wouldn't mind getting together twice a month. A lot of our students are going out of town but we will have several in town over the holidays... I'm just saying.

Shane Torno's Class

Shane's class prepared holiday baskets for some of the members. Not pictured is McKenzie.

Building Faith: The Lord's Supper

When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper he gave his instruction to the 12 disciples who were with him at the time. Some might argue that it was for them and no one else. However, we see the practice of “observing the Lord’s Supper” in the early church when the disciples gathered together.

Obviously, Peter and the Apostles taught early Christians to observe the Lord’s Supper. We practice it today because of the example of early Christians. Also, by example we observe it on Sundays because that’s when they did it… every Sunday.

There is evidence that the Lord’s Supper was the primary reason the Christians assembled on Sundays. That’s interesting because in many modern day churches the Lord’s Supper is not observed every Sunday. They assemble every Sunday but not for the purpose of taking the Lord’s Supper. They assemble for some other purpose. Many church assemblies today gather *apparently* to listen to preaching or for social reasons. That’s a huge departure from God’s plan for the Church.

If God’s purpose for the Church is to help Christians to grow in faith and the Lord’s Supper is one of the tools to accomplish that purpose then many Churches today are failing in their purpose. It would be like trying to build a house without a hammer or without nails.

If you want to find a church so that you can grow in faith then don’t pick a church that under emphasizes the Lord’s Supper.

On the other hand there are churches who offer the Lord’s Supper every single Sunday but it is a mechanical, obligatory, emotionless sort of observance. Leaders, individuals and the congregation are all responsible to not let that happen. Elders need to select men to wait on the table who can offer thought provoking comments in preparation for the Lord’s Supper. One of my favorite guys is Ken Case. There is not a quieter guy in the congregation than Ken, but when he prays or makes comments at the Lord’s Table then I’m “all ears”. I wish I could record the things he says so I could share them with other congregations.

Individuals have the responsibility to focus their thoughts on what the supper means. The congregation has the responsibility to not cause distractions like whispering or fiddling through your things. If your kid starts screaming… take him out. If he is repeatedly a screamer take him out before the Lord’s Supper starts.

The Lord’s Supper is one of God’s greatest tools to build faith. Let’s be responsible and not neglect it.

Effective Christian Singing

Eph 5:19 and Col. 3:16 give information and instruction regarding Christian singing. The verses are not specific to congregational singing alone but apply to individual, group and congregational singing.
Christian singing has two audiences; others and God. When we sing to others, according to the above mentioned verses, we are teaching things from God’s word and correcting non-Christian behaviors (admonishment).
An example of a song that attempts to correct behavior is the song, “Angry Words”. An individual, group or a congregation can sing this song to correct behavior. Imagine that a Christian has inappropriate anger and the recipient of that anger starts singing, humming or whistling the song… message delivered.

The teaching aspect of singing is huge and effective. Remember when we were kids in Bible classes? So many Bible concepts, including learning the books of the Bible, were taught with a song. It’s a shame we relegate those kids songs to small groups in the classrooms, they really are powerful teaching tools.

When we sing in the assembly we must remember that the primary goal of singing is teaching and admonishing. Sounding good is important but not as important as teaching and admonishing. There are at least two areas of responsibility in congregational singing; individual and leadership. Elders in congregations are responsible for overall teaching. They must provide the tools and song leaders who can effectively lead the congregation in teaching and admonishing by song.

Songs are written and set to music to provoke an emotional response. There are songs designed to produce reflection and sadness and songs that are designed to produce happiness and hope. An ineffective song leader can kill those emotions. In general, song leaders need to select songs that the congregation knows and loves. Technical difficulty can render a song useless in teaching and admonishing. That’s not to say we should never learn new songs. At Parkway we learn new songs that are tremendously effective but hopefully we are not learning them for the first time on Sunday mornings.

There are both objective and subjective ways to measure the effectiveness of a song leader. Objectively we can measure things like the ability of a song leader to pitch a song, pay attention to dynamics, lead songs the congregation knows and maintain proper tempo. Subjectively, congregations do tend to respond to the energy, passion and emotions of the song leader. My advice to song leaders is to select songs that affect you emotionally and get lost (emotionally) in the song.

Over the years I have written down the songs that were led at funerals of our church family. Those songs will provoke emotion. I really have a tough time when I lead songs that were sung at my dad’s funeral. Like…

“Seek ye First the Kingdom of God”
“Does Jesus Care”
“He Leadeth Me”
“How Great Thou Art”
“Victory in Jesus”
“Amazing Grace”
“Alleluia”
“Blest Be the Tie”

Let’s work hard to be more effective in our singing.

The Local Church

A local church is a collection of Christians who have committed themselves to the Lord and to each other. They assemble on a regular basis to engage in certain activities revealed in the Bible for the purpose of building a diverse group of people into one unified group of people. Individuals grow by coming to a complete understanding of God’s teachings, by living according to these teachings and by living lives of service to each other and to the world. The local church aids in this process.

When considering what we do when we assemble; Lord’s Supper, Pray, Sing, Offering and Bible teaching, we must consider how these activities relate to the function of the church. These activities (and others) help to build us into one people. Therefore, we ought to take a critical look at how we perform these activities to see if we are effectively employing them for the purpose of growing Christians. In future weeks I want to examine each of our assembly activities for the purpose of increasing our effectiveness.

Rome, Italy

Our trip to Rome was an incredible experience for me especially from a Christian stand point. A lot of the buildings and structures were from the times of ancient Christianity. The churches were incredible from an architectural and ornamental stand point. It took incredible wealth to build those buildings.

I was astounded by the Pantheon but it barely prepared me for Saint Peter’s Cathedral. I had no idea that something so magnificent existed. I recalled that Saint Peter’s was funded at least partially by the sale of indulgences which was one of the stimuli for Martin Luther’s rejection of some of the catholic doctrines. You might say that the building of Saint Peter’s, as magnificent as it is, led at least partially to the Protestant reformation.

Still, for me as I observed the paintings and sculptures of biblical scenes, it was a moving experience. The tour guide said that in the early church, since so many people couldn’t read, the paintings and sculptures were used to reinforce biblical teachings.

In that great building I was surprised to hear the acapela singing of “Alleluia” and I followed the sound to one of the anterooms where about 20 people were singing with voices unadulterated by mechanical instrumentation.

Outside of some of the great cathedrals were buildings that formerly contained great pools of water for the baptism (immersion) of believers. Of course with the advent of sprinkling those buildings are no longer used. One dome shaped building had an open top. They said that was for the collection of rain water, which they preferred, so that people could be baptized with pure water “from heaven”.

A great trip for us. Our goal at Parkway is to build glorious and magnificent people… there is nothing more wonderful than that.

We Need a Tutor

It’s interesting to me that the book of Romans, which was written to Christians from a non-Jewish back ground, contains so many references to Jewish concepts.

I think it infers necessarily, that when Paul wrote Romans he was writing to non-Jews who were well versed in the Jewish scriptures.

So what?

Well, a lot of times when we want to bring people to Christianity we want to start in the New Testament and teach about Jesus. Maybe we should follow Paul’s example and teach about God first, i.e. teach the Old Testament.

Galations 3:24, after all, tells us that the Law is a tutor to bring us to Christ.

So especially with people who come from countries where there is a very limited exposure to the Bible, we need to tutor them on who God is and how he has interacted historically with man kind so that they can understand better who Jesus is.

What Does a Hospitable Congregation Look Like?

Christians are supposed to be hospitable, that is “lovers of strangers”. So when a stranger visits our assembly how should hospitable people act?

Before we answer that question let’s ponder why a stranger might visit our assembly. It might just be that they are sick of their lives and have some need and are looking for God. And they have heard that God’s people are kind and compassionate and are happy because they have been forgiven of their sins.

An inhospitable congregation would simply just ignore a person like that… just flat out ignore them. Jesus weeps.

There are several levels to hospitality.

- Extend a greeting… introduce yourself.
- Extend a greeting and initiate a conversation; where are you from, what kind of work do you do, how did you hear about us, where have you been attending, do you have a prayer request.
- At the conclusion of services greet them again, ask if they have any questions and invite them back.
- When a stranger comes in after services have started help them find a seat. Don’t make them crawl over you. Either scoot down or get up and let them in.
- Help them find the song we are singing or give them your songbook and find another.
- Invite them to lunch either in your home or out to a restaurant.

Reasons given to excuse our inhospitality

- I like to sit at the end of the pew.
- I sit up front and the visitors always leave before I can get to meet them.
- I’m shy.
- I can’t afford to take a visitor out to eat.

All these excuses start with some form of the word “I”… it’s all about me. If being hospitable were truly a concern we could find ways around these excuses. Julie and I started sitting at the back of the building precisely for the purpose of intercepting visitors. Walker and Jo Len have begun getting up and moving to the back during the announcements so they can greet visitors.

If you can’t afford to take a visitor out to eat bring me the receipt and I’ll pay for it.

I don’t want Jesus crying over our inhospitality I want him to be happy and proud of us.

New Baby and Fosters

In this picture you have the oldest members of the congregation and the youngest; Hubert Foster who is 100 years old, Anne Foster who is not far behind and Torie Hickman who was born a few weeks ago. That's her momma next to her... Julie Hickman.

Lessons Last Week

We had a great series of lessons from Berry Kercheville last week-end. As I said before there are three characteristics of preaching that make a lesson great for me.

First, is it relevant or applicable to me? I can’t get too excited about lessons on Evolution or things like Baptism. I’ve already been baptized and I don’t believe in Evolution. These lessons on saving others though, have a great and direct application for me. I love sharing the Word with others and want to do it in as effective a way as possible.

Secondly, I like lessons that reveal things about God’s Word that I have never thought of before. I’m pretty familiar with the Bible so when a preacher can open my mind to see things in the scriptures that I have never thought of before, well… that’s special.

Thirdly, I love a lesson that can evoke an emotional response from me. Kercheville did that. At times I was laughing and at times I was crying.

All preachers that I know of preach the truth but when the truth is preached and it does these three things for me then it’s special.

Marriage 101

Most young people contemplating marriage anticipate a lifetime commitment with a loved one and the blessing of children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always work out.

The recipe for happiness and longevity in marriage is found in the scriptures. It begins with a young woman and a young man who are sexually pure. They respect God’s laws regarding marriage and make iron clad vows to each other and to God. Those vows are witnessed by family and friends who serve to make the young couple accountable to their vows. It’s like a little plant that needs a little watering, a little weeding, a little protection and a little sunshine so that in time it can grow into a strong and beautiful tree.

There is a new method that young couples commonly employ today to reach the goal of successful marriage. They live together for awhile in a relationship that mimics marriage sans vows. The goal, I suppose, is to see if the relationship will work and if it does then take vows or let the relationship evolve into a common law marriage. Like a little sickly plant that someone plants and ignores and says, “let’s see if it grows”.

There are two reasons why this is the wrong approach; a moral one and a practical one. First of all God forbids sex outside the marital relationship. It’s wrong.

Secondly, as a practical matter, there is no accountability in such a relationship. At the first sign of trouble in the “living together” relationship the unhappy mate can conclude this isn’t working and bail out. Let’s face it, all marriages have problems but mates who have vowed vows and are held accountable by their family and friends tend to work through their problems and the marriage grows stronger.

Julie and I never considered living together outside the bounds of marriage. Our families would have thrown a fit. I would have had the combined weight of grandparents, uncles and aunts, and people that I hold the dearest in the world raining down on me.

In addition, if we had “lived together” we would probably not be together now. We have had our share of troubles in our marriage and without vows we might have separated and become entangled in some other relationship destroying any hope of reconciliation.

If you want to have a long happy marriage… trust God and not your ungodly friends.

Jack Pence

In the center is our newest member right after he was baptized. He is pictured with his fiance, Olivia, and Jeff Carr

Why Law?

Romans chapters 4-5 contain a big section on law and the consequences of violating law. The text makes the point that if there were no law then there would also be no penalty.

So the question arises why do we need law especially since the punishment (eternal condemnation) is so harsh? Did God just make some arbitrary laws so he could catch us and punish us when we violated them?

The answer is that man needs law and God gave us laws so we could live better lives. Laws are for our betterment. These laws and our welfare are so important to God that he linked punishment together with violation of law.

I’m afraid that if there were no punishment attached to law then we would still be living lawlessly. Man needs law and he needs law that has consequences.

Sometimes excessive laws seem confining and heavy (like the Mosaic Law) and are like a boss that micromanages at a job. God sent Jesus to abolish the old law and establish a new law of liberty which compared to the Mosaic Law is a greatly simplified law.

Imagine the relief of the Jews when they accepted Christianity and began life without the burden of the Mosaic Law. I think we fail to really appreciate the New Law as a law of liberty because we never had to live under the Old Law with all its features of micromanagement.

Try living under the Old Law for a year or so… you’ll love the New Law.

Baker Move In

I think there were about 11 that helped Saturday morning but total helpers were about 16 in number. I know some are going over this week to help. I remember when we moved to Corpus 29 years ago, Julie was 7 months pregnant. Several helped us. Parkway has been good for a long time.

This picture is of Daniel cooking hamburgers for us after we had everything moved in.

Build or Borrow

I bought an old Troy Bilt tiller at the scrap metal yard the other day. The engine was locked up but I only paid $50 for it. If I can get it running I can sell it for $500. Harbor Freight has Chinese engines modeled after Honda’s engines that can be purchased for around $100 and I considered buying one.

Instead, I decided to try to rebuild the old engine on my own. Buying a new one would be easier and quicker than rebuilding this old engine but sometimes easier and quicker is not the best way to go. You can buy a new engine for $100 but you can’t put a price on experience and what experience does for you.

Coming to know God’s word is like choosing either to buy or build an engine. There are a lot of short cuts to gaining Bible knowledge. You can read commentaries and periodicals or you can attend Bible classes and listen to preaching to get your Bible knowledge. Those things are easier and quicker than devoting yourself to in depth Bible study. The trouble with taking too many shortcuts is that we sometimes fail to develop our ability to think and analyze. We just borrow the opinions of others and make them our own.

We also ought to always restudy the doctrinal differences we have with denominations and restudy the issues that have divided churches of Christ and challenge our thinking.

I may end up buying that Chinese engine but I’m going to do my best to get this old Briggs and Stratton going first and whether I can or not… I’ll be better for it. Study your Bibles first and then read the opinions of men… you’ll be better for it.

Know Your Parkway Members - Glenn Madden

Glenn likes fishing offshore. He trolls in this little boat but can only go as fast as he can paddle. If you look in the background of the picture you can see some buildings way off. Shannon says they have plenty of insurance.

Interacting With Kids

On the subject of child rearing, adults (other than parents) can have a major impact on the development of children. It seems to me that a lot of adults treat kids as if they are either non-existent or minor irritants. Better to be ignored than interacted with.

I love kids, I like joking around with them, picking on them and throwing the football with them after church. It is no coincidence that kids like me. Some have said that “Rob is just a big kid”. OK I’ll take that.

I had a client in the other day who mentioned to me that her adult son commented that his time cleaning cages at Tejas with Walker were some of the most memorable that he had experienced. Interesting… I’m sure Walker doesn’t feel that way.

When Lauren was little I took her on a farm call and pulled a calf. The rancher named the calf, “Lauren”, she’s never forgotten that.

When clients bring their kids into the clinic I always shake their hands and introduce myself to them and ask them things like; What did you get for Christmas, are you ready for school, what are you going to be for Halloween, etc.

I ask them to help me lift their dog up on the table. There’s nothing funnier than a five year old kid trying to pick up an 80 pound dog. Before I vaccinate their dogs I give them a dog treat and tell them to reward their pet after I give the shots. I ask them if they want a shot or if they want their ears checked. If I have time I take them back to the kennel and let them see all the animals.

I give kids empty syringes so they can practice being Veterinarians at home.

Sometimes at church I’ll give things to the kids. I might buy a bunch of fossilized shark teeth on ebay and give them each a shark’s tooth.

Brandon, my 9 year old “little brother” in the Big Brother/Big Sister program spends a lot of his time during the summer hanging out at the clinic with me. I’ve taught him to introduce himself, walk up to a client, look them in the eye and shake their hands. Also, when they ask him how he’s doing to respond in kind. Brandon can give a dog a shot and do lots of things around here.

Create some memories; teach these kids a thing or two… they will grow up one day.

Virginia Lawler's Funeral Service

Hubert and Ann Foster

Hubert and Ann Foster will be celebrating their 77th wedding anniversary this week. Also, Hubert's 100th birthday.

Scatter Shooting...

Scatter shooting while thinking about parenting.

Families are a lot different today, a lot of married couples wait until later in life to have children and then they only have a few kids. In the old days, couples married at a younger age and had more children. Fathers often worked two jobs to support their families. There wasn’t a lot of time to consider “innovative” parenting techniques… a belt/switch was quicker and required less thought.

When my uncle Alton was 12 or 13 he came home from school with a homemade tattoo. My grandfather sat him down and removed it with a pocket knife. I’m sure he didn’t anticipate that when he was getting the thing.

When Walker was a kid I worked two out of three Saturdays. So the Saturday I was off I always had some plan to get something done around the house. Often times I was foiled by Walker having some friend over to spend the night. I made a rule that if a friend was coming over he had to work too. The friends always seemed to enjoy it.

When kids knock on the door selling something I always try to buy it, no matter how worthless it is, because it takes a lot of courage for a kid to knock on a stranger’s door and make a sales pitch. They say that positive reinforcement is a much stronger teaching tool than negative reinforcement.

Parents are supposed to teach children to be good workers. It seems to me that nowadays we’re teaching them to be good beggars. As a business owner we’re always being hit up for “sponsorships” for little league teams or camps or whatever. Frequently it’s not even the kid making the request… it’s the parents. My office manager said the other day, “what’s up with giving money to cheer leaders… don’t they know how to wash cars anymore?”

When my uncle CB was 8 or 9, my grandmother took him to see the Navy dentist for a bad tooth. They waited in line for a long time and when they finally got in to see the dentist CB threw a big fit and grandma told the dentist never mind and took him home. When she got him home she sat on him and pulled out his tooth with a pair of pliers. Never underestimate the power of a Navy wife.

Some kids knocked on my door one day selling candy bars for some school function. I didn’t really need any more candy bars so I told them I would pay them $20 if they weeded my flower bed. Their mom gave them permission and we both received something of value. Selling candy bars is the first cousin of begging.

Every semester I would ask Walker if he wanted to go to school. He would answer in the affirmative and I would pay for it. He never made very many passing grades. So one semester I asked him if he wanted to go to school. He said yes and I told him about the new plan; he would pay for school and I would reimburse him for every passing grade. I don’t think I was out very much money that semester. After he got married he graduated Magna Cum Laude. His wife swung a bigger hammer than I did.

My business partner had three brothers and was one of 9 kids. When his dad would send them to the barber shop in Kingsville, Texas they were always very careful to tell the barber how they wanted their hair cut but they always received the exact same haircut. They found out later that their dad would call the barber ahead of time and say “I don’t care what those boys say, this is how I want you to cut their hair…”

When I was in the fourth grade I had a friend who lived across the street who always picked on me. After several complaints to my mother she finally told me, “I want you to fight that kid and if you don’t I’m going to give you a whipping”. I still remember the fight. Somehow we continued to be friends. Years later I asked the 6.0 version of my mother and she said, “well… that kid was a bully”.

Our dad had rules for me and my two brothers about how to hit each other. We couldn’t hit each other in the face, belly or back. Dad said we could hit each other in the shoulder area. Dad didn’t encourage us to hit each other he just knew the realities of raising three boys and tried to manage it.

Mom and Dad didn’t care too much about grades when we were growing up. As long as we passed we were OK. My report cards were heavy on “C’s” and light on “A’s”. Somehow we did OK; I’m a Veterinarian, Scott is a Dentist and Greg is a Mechanical Engineer. Still, I always pushed my kids to make good grades. I guess the acorn fell off the tree and rolled into a river on that one.

My kids still laugh about Saturday mornings at out house. Sometimes I would line them up and with buckets in one hand and shovels in the other we would scour one acre for grass bur plants. I’m glad I could create such pleasant memories.

Meet Your New Parkway Members - Kaleb Bryan

Kaleb is a Civil Engineering student at TAMU - Kingsville. He is also an owner and managing partner at Texas Television Enterprises. He played one year of college baseball and is active in sports and the outdoors. Kaleb has started playing Volleyball with us on Tuesday and Thursday nights (along with Jeff Carr). Get to know him... not an order... just a suggestion.

Poverty or Plenty

Deuteronomy 8 (in part)

"Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna… to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.
Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God."

There is a concept that is taught in these verses that privation produces humility and plenty produces pride. God withheld physical blessings to produce humility and gratitude among his children. He warned them that when he would make them prosperous that they would become prideful and forget them. That’s exactly what happened.

Note this verse that I cut from the above text…

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

It is not in the best interests of a child for a parent to give them too much. Many think it is a parent’s obligation to give a child the best of everything… not true.

For example, In the Calallen High School parking lot I see a lot of nice new cars that the students are driving.

In 1970 when I was 16 years old I bought my first car with the money I earned throwing newspapers. It was a 1965 Pontiac Lemans and it cost me $400. Dad didn’t help me.

Fast forward to 1998, I told Walker and Lauren that I would help buy them a car. Whatever money they saved up I would match. Walker saved $400 and we bought him a car that cost $800. Lauren saved $3000 and we bought her a car that cost $6,000.

Lauren later bought a new car and sold her old car to Walker… he is still driving it.

God didn’t give Israel everything they wanted during the 40 year wilderness wandering, he gave them just what they needed and no more to teach them humility. He used that lesson to teach future generations a sense of appreciation and thankfulness for a time when he would give them more than they needed.

Teach your kids humility when they are young and when they grow up and are the type of people they need to be… give them plenty.

That’s what God did with his children.

Virginia Lawler and Ann

Virginia and her grand daughter Ann made it to services this morning. Virginia wanted to come to services this morning but was afraid the exertion of getting in and out of the car would be too much. So, Ann told her she would just push her to services in her wheel chair... oxygen bottle and all. That was about a two or three block push.

Respect or Anger?

There is some Bible evidence for the idea that the most important thing you can teach your children is… respect.

Number five of the 10 Commandments commands children to respect their parents. The first four commandments deal with God, the rest of the commandments deal with how we interact with others and of those commandments, respecting one’s parents is numero uno.

How important is the command? Children who violated it were to be put to death.

So, arguably, the most important thing you can do for a child is to teach him respect. Teach a child respect and God will bless him and you. Fail to teach him respect and God will curse that child in life and in death. A rebellious child causes great misery to parents.

Parents have the ability to teach a child respect and also have the ability to teach a child anger and rebellion.

How do you teach a child to be angry? Be a poor example. Make one set of rules for a child and a different set of rules for yourself. Sit in front of the TV every night and drink beer and ignore your family. Be selfish, always think of yourself first. Over punish the kid for minor infractions. Show preferential treatment between your kids… call one smart and the other one stupid. Do what ever you can to always criticize and never praise or encourage your kids.

Do these things and you will have earned for yourself a miserable life and a seat on the front row in Hell and you likely will have driven your child to Hell.

Work at training your child respect and things will be… well.

Socialization

One of the things I see in kids of all ages is the behavior of being uncomfortable or even terrified of social situations.

Let me explain it like this. In our business we deal with all kinds of dog owners. Most of them give great care to their dogs. Some of those dogs when they come into our office are terrified and that terror can be manifested by behaviors as mild as trembling or as severe as aggression (fear biters).

These dogs are not abused, far from it, they get the best of care. The problem is they have received either poor or no socialization training. Those dogs invariably never see anything but their own back yards and when faced with a social situation they have not experienced before they become terrified.

The same thing happens with kids, they are fed well and in every way taken good care of but they are not encouraged to experience social situations. They don’t know how to interact with adults, they haven’t been trained in common basic courtesies such as greeting someone with a hand shake, making eye contact and interactive social conversation.

Parents should encourage, train and seek opportunities for their children to engage in social interaction.

In my office owners not only bring their pet in but also their children. Frequently those kids are playing some hand held video game. That’s disrespectful to me and a disservice to them. Make them put those games away and pay attention. Make them shake my hand and speak to me. Show me some signs of respect.

When I was in the sixth grade my parents encouraged me to walk the neighborhood with our lawnmower, knock on doors and seek lawn mowing jobs… three dollars a yard as I recall. From the time I was in the eight until the eleventh grade, I threw newspapers and at the end of the month had to knock on my customer’s doors to collect my wages.

I had to engage in those activities because my parents did not lavish money or the things money can buy on me or my brothers. They taught us how to work and how to interact with adults.

Dog owners can give great care to their pets; proper food, proper medical care, play time and discipline. And yet these pets can soil a Veterinarian’s office and bite the people who are trying to help it.

Socialize your dogs and your kids. Keep me from getting bit and help your kids excel in life.

From Good to Better

I read an article awhile back about a college basketball coach and his star player. The star player was consistently good and was satisfied with being good but the coach knew he could be even better. The coach in his efforts to motivate his player to greatness reviewed for his player what he had “left on the floor” i.e., scoring opportunities he had missed.

I see some of the same things in families. Parents raise pretty good kids but could better parenting skills result in better kids? Could good kids turn into exceptional kids?

The reality is our kids are going to have a huge impact on our future happiness. Will our children have excellent morals, will they be true to a mate, will they in turn be good parents and create… grand children? Will they excel in life?

So, how do we develop better parenting skills? To be better parents we must go to the author of parenting to get the basic fundamental principles of parenting. In addition, the scriptures authorize another concept… wise counselors. For instance, the scriptures instruct older women to teach the younger women how to love their kids. How interesting.

In future weeks I plan to explore parenting in more detail.

In my opinion, teach a kid respect, how to work and the value of earning things and you won’t have left much “on the floor”.

Victoria Anne Perkins

Here she is, our first grandchild. I've got to tell you, I was not ready for the emotions of seeing this baby for the first time and hearing her cry. Thank God she is healthy and whole. Jo Len had a c-section and some complications but four days later she was at Sunday morning services. Amazing.

Julie and I always said we would not be the kind of grandparents who were always shoving photos around for everyone to look at, but this baby is VERY pretty. Check out the Parkway Facebook page. I've created an album there.

Auditorium Class Summer 2011

The Man’s Role in the Family as a Husband

- Being a husband and loving your wife

- Leadership

- Stresses in Marriage - Finances

- Stresses in Marriage - Infidelity

- Stresses in Marriage – agreeing on how to raise kids

- The unbelieving or denominational mate

- The Loss of a Mate

- How to Disagree with your mate

The Man’s Role in the Family as a Father

- Fatherhood and young children

- Fatherhood and teen children

- Fatherhood and adult children

- Fatherhood and teaching a child "the way he should go"

- Fatherhood and nurturing vs. provoking (Eph 6)

- How to discipline a child

- Being a son to elderly parents

The first half of the summer will deal with husbandry, the second half with fatherhood. Our focus will be on providing speakers who are older and therefore more experienced. We will have younger speakers who will primarily speak about what they have seen in their parents and grandparents in regards to marital and parental relationships. The Elders will take the lead on these classes

Two Become One or Two Remain Two?

In Ephesians 5 the relationship between Christ and the church is compared with the relationship between a husband and a wife.

Ephesians repeats what is stated in Genesis in regards to the husband and the wife. Namely, that the “two shall become one flesh”. This relationship is revealed as a “great mystery”. However, Ephesians states that this “mysterious” relationship also applies to Christ and his people.

In short, husbands and wives become one through a lifetime of sharing life’s troubles and life’s blessings. These experiences, when coupled with two people obeying God’s commands, regarding marriage, result in two people having a deep appreciation for each other and a mate that is highly valued and regarded as irreplaceable.

Too often in the early years of a marriage troubles seem insurmountable and the marriage and its vows are broken and the two remain two. In addition, even when the marriage remains intact, if God’s laws regarding marital responsibilities are not followed the two remain two. However, when the two overcome life’s obstacles and respect God’s laws, the two can become one. There is no greater physical blessing on earth.

Similarly people often give up on Jesus Christ and the process that leads to oneness with him. They give up on the three hallmarks of Christianity; Bible study, living sin free lives and lives of service to one another.

Just as there is no greater physical blessing than being one with a mate, there is no greater spiritual blessing than being one with Jesus Christ. Don’t miss out on the two greatest blessing God has to offer. Pay the price to make it happen.

David Garza... newest baptism.

David's sister, Cecilia, was baptized recently... big month for the Garzas. Congratulations!

Harps In Heaven? (David Smitherman)

When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Rev. 5:8

Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. Rev. 14:1-2

And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. Rev. 15:2

As Bible students are aware, the Revelation was “signified” (ASV) unto John by the use of figurative language and one must be constantly aware of this in their reading and study. Before reaching a firm conclusion about what a text is teaching, we must look closely at the context. Taking figurative terms and making them literal continues to be one of the biggest reasons why so many erroneous conclusions have been reached in regard to what is being taught in Jesus’ message to John.

For example, in an attempt to justify the use of musical instruments in worship to God, it is argued by some that since musical instruments (i.e., harps) are found in heaven it must be appropriate to use them now. But before we conclude that harps have the approval of heaven, let’s make sure they are in heaven in the first place. Let’s look at the contexts in which they are mentioned.

Rev. 5:8 In vs. 1 we read of a book with seven seals, and then a lion in vs. 5. In vs. 6 a throne and a lamb with seven horns and eyes are spoken of. Then, in vs. 7, we have harps and bowls of incense. What is it in the context that would lead anyone to conclude that any of these are literal?

Rev. 14:1-2 In these verses John sees (1) a Lamb standing (2) on Mount Zion along with (3) 144,000 people who have (4) the name of the Lamb and His Father written on their foreheads. All of these are but symbols: Lamb (purity), Mount Zion (heavenly rule), 144,000 (all the redeemed), engraved foreheads (God’s ownership). Why should the harps be literal when everything else is figurative? They are simply symbols of musical praise.

Rev. 15:2 mentions, along with the harps, a sea of glass and those standing upon it. There is as much reason to literalize the sea of glass as there is to make the harps literal.

Chapters 4-5 contain much information about God’s “throne”. We understand (hopefully) that this is not a reference to a large, ornate piece of furniture upon which God sits, but a symbol of God’s rule.

In Rev. 7:9 John sees a “great multitude…clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands.” Do we expect there to be literal white robes and palm branches in heaven, or are these terms symbolic for purity (white robes) and victory (palm branches)?

And, finally, there is that street of pure gold, Rev. 21:21. I trust we all understand that this is not a reference to a literal roadway paved with the most precious of all metals, but to the beauty and grandeur of God’s abode.

We will all become better students of this great book when we recognize figurative language for what it is and reach conclusions about what each figure symbolizes by careful examination of the contexts in which they are found. Inconsistently assigning literal meanings to obviously figurative language will inevitably lead us, at best, into misunderstanding passages intended for our blessing, Rev. 1:3. At the worst, such poor handling of scripture may result in the belief and practice of things which do not have the approval of heaven. And such is the case with instruments of music. There are no harps in heaven and there should be none in our worship to God today.

David Smitherman

Walker's Comments from Lord's Supper

Eve-the first woman-disobeyed and deceived.

Adam-the first man-was inconstant in his obedience.

Cain-the first son-murdered in jealousy.

Noah-God’s steward of a new earth-became drunk.

Father Abraham lied.

Jacob surpassed his grandfather’s lies with great skill.

Jacob’s sons deceived, murdered, and enslaved.

Moses’ anger at his people caused him to disobey God.

We could go on and trace the heritage of sin from Moses’ day to our own. Every one of these people I have mentioned had their reasons. Many of them felt justified in their actions. None among them are irredeemable villains. To the contrary, we would consider most of them to be exemplars of virtue.

But at some point in our lives, just as in theirs, you will be forced to make a choice, and like them, you will choose wrong. Though you act with the best of intentions, you will have deviated from God’s will for your actions. It is for this reason that the Apostle Paul wrote:

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

If you recognize the truth of these words, if you have been justified by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we invite you to share with us this meal of bread and wine.

Zach Graf

Dan and Liz's son Zach with new senior boots at Texas A&M University... whoop!!!

Water Flows Down Hill...

Water flows down hill and so does sin. Judah and Israel sinned by violating the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other God before me”. That rejection of God and the religious practices associated with the worship of false Gods led them to violate the second greatest commandment, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”.

In their worship of false Gods they sacrificed their own children by burning them in fire. Once that line was crossed, human life was devalued and they started killing each other.

In their worship of false Gods they had sex with male and female cult prostitutes. Once that line was crossed their spousal vows were devalued and they started committing adultery with each other.

These two examples of hard core sins led to every other kind of sin.

Once God is devalued and we elevate our wants over God, there is no restraint for what we do but our own self will… and that is not much of a barrier.

God’s Laws build us up and make us better people. The law of self will creates miserable people. Water flows downhill and gathers force and speed… so does sin.

Believe in God and put him first in your life… you won’t be sorry.

Israel and Judah's Sin

So why did God cause Israel and Judah to be slaughtered and sent into captivity?

In large part because they violated the number one commandment,

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God”.

This was the biggy, there was no commandment greater than this one and they not only violated it but they stomped and spit on it. They didn’t just have some nominal belief in another God (which would be bad enough). They did horrible things in service to these so called Gods.

Manasseh, King of Judah, built altars to various gods in Jehovah’s temple, he sacrificed his own son in fire, practiced divination, sought omens and consulted mediums.

Subsequent reform minded Kings tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord.

“They forsook all the commands of the LORD their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, arousing his anger.”

These practices were either invented in the minds of their practitioners or inspired by some demon.

Why forsake the true God and follow after these horrible things? All I can surmise is there must have been some attractive feature or validation of these practices. Perhaps through coincidence or demonic power something they thought was good came from these practices.

Whatever it was, it was wrong, and God sent numerous prophets who used different teaching methods over hundreds of years to get them to turn from their evil behavior. He was not nearly so patient with Sodom and Gomorrah.

Lessons to be learned

- If it is true that punishment fits the crime then disobeying the first commandment must be a horrible crime because its punishment was horrific. After the Jews came back from captivity they never again had a problem with idolatry. Horrible crime, horrible punishment, behavior corrected.

- God is loving and just. In his love he patiently tries to correct our behaviors but eventually if our behavior is not corrected he will give us a just punishment.

- Don’t believe everything you hear… be discriminating. Part of the problem with God’s people was they listened to false prophets and ignored the true prophets. We must compare what people say with the scriptures… that takes a little bit of effort.

testing

Judah and Israel

With the passing of King Solomon the singular nation of Israel divided into two separate nations… Judah and Israel. Over the course of time both nations rejected God and his laws. In spite of repeated warnings, Judah and Israel sank deeper and deeper into sin until finally God empowered foreign nations to decimate them and take them into captivity as a punishment.

First, Israel was conquered with great brutality and taken into captivity by the Assyrians. Assyria took the survivors as slaves and spread them over the Assyrian empire. They would never come back from this captivity. Instead Assyria would re-people the land of Israel with Assyrians. During New Testament times this area included “Galilee of the Gentiles” and Samaria and would be looked down on by the Jews from Judea. Jesus’ home town of Nazareth was in Galilee.

Secondly, several years later Judah would be conquered by the Babylonians, also with great brutality. The Babylonians however kept a remnant of Judeans in the area. In addition, the Jewish slaves they took would not be scattered but kept together in groups. God promised them that their captivity would only last 70 years and encouraged them with prophets to correct the behavior that led to their punishment. Unlike the captivity of Israel, the scriptures identified these great prophets who worked with Judah during their captivity.

Next week I want to begin a more detailed look at the behaviors that led to the punishment of Judah and Israel and how to keep God happy with us.

Cecilia Garza

Great news... Cecilia, the daughter of Jesse and Olga Garza, decided to reject Satan and accept Jesus Christ and was baptized recently.

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.

Two Great Cities

There were two great cities, Nineveh and Jerusalem, with a lot of similarities and one big difference.

One was a gentile city and one was a Jewish city.

They both were large and important cities. One was the capital of Syria… the other the Capital of Judah.

They were both extremely wicked cities.

God sent prophets to both cities, Jonah to Nineveh and 150 years later Jeremiah to Jerusalem, to correct the wickedness. Both cities were given ultimatums and threatened with destruction unless they repented.

One city listened to the prophet and repented and was spared destruction. The other city molested the prophet of God and refused to repent and was destroyed with great misery and violence.

Why Jonah? Why does the Bible contain a book about the salvation of a gentile city? Jonah’s message to Nineveh was written as a message to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, 150 years later, Jerusalem failed to heed it and suffered great destruction at the hands of the Babylonians.

Mordecai the Magnificent

Mordecai was a man of responsibility
- When Esther was orphaned he took her in “as his own daughter”.

Mordecai was a man of advice
- He instructed Esther not to reveal her nationality… she was a Jew.

Mordecai cared about Esther
- He walked “back and forth” every day outside the harem where Esther was kept to learn “how Esther was and how she fared”.
- After Esther was made Queen he sat outside the King’s gate.

Mordecai was loyal to King Ahasuerus and the Persian Empire
- He obeyed the command to bring Esther to become a wife of the King.
- He became aware of a plot to assassinate the King and made it known. The conspirators were hanged and Mordecai’s name was recorded in the “Book of Chronicles”.

Mordecai was loyal to God
- He refused to bow down and pay homage to Haman. Even after Haman devised and implemented a plan to annihilate the Jews Mordecai still refused to pay homage to him.
- Mordecai made a public display in the middle of the city in “sackcloth and ashes… wailing loud and bitterly”, when Haman’s plan to annihilate the Jews was made public. By doing so he announced his loyalty to God as a Jew.

Mordecai planned and made provision to thwart Haman
- He prepared by acquiring a copy of the edict and finding out the “exact amount of money Haman had promised to the King”.
- He equipped Esther with this information.
- He managed Esther’s concerns about approaching King Ahasuerus.

Mordecai’s actions caused many people to convert to Judaism because of the “dread of the Jews”. While Haman was alive no one wanted to be a Jew… with Mordecai’s rise to power it was cool to be a Jew.

Mordecai was politically wise
- Even though King Ahasuerus had authorized the Jews to “annihilate the entire army of any people or province that might attack them” and to “plunder them”. The Jews did not take any “plunder” Why? Because “plundering” was not their motivation and Mordecai did not want it to be charged against them.

Mordecai instituted an annual celebration for the Jews to commemorate their great victory… Purim.

Mordecai was a man of great faith (obviously), that is made abundantly clear in his conversation with the reluctant Queen Esther when he told her,

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish…”

Mordecai placed all his hope not on Esther but on God. Mordecai’s name is recorded 55 times in the book of Esther. Esther’s name is recorded 54 times. They were both important to the story. Esther was not just a pretty face, she was wise and faithful as well. More on her next week.

Chase Finds a Sick Cat

Chase found a sick cat outside his house in the bushes this morning. Cody said it was pretty sick. Chase drew me this picture and a note tonight after church. I don't think he knew the cat died that afternoon. The picture is of a sad cat and a sad boy.

I think the note reads, "Chase cat is dine plees halp rob".

It's good to care about God's creatures.

A Great Hero

Every great hero is born of great necessity and great adversity. Mordecai the Jew faced both; Great necessity... the threat of the annihilation of his people and a great adversary… Haman the Agagite.

Haman was second in command of the great Persian Empire. He carried King Ahasuerus’ signet ring which carried the authority of the king. Haman was informed that Mordecai refused to bow and pay homage as Haman entered through the king’s gate. He was also informed that Mordecai was a Jew.

Instead of reserving punishment for Mordecai alone Haman devised a scheme to punish all the Jews. He schemed and “cast the lot” (astrology) and got King Ahasuerus to agree to issue an edict that all the Jews in the entire kingdom, which stretched from India to Ethiopia, could be “destroyed, killed and annihilated” including “young and old, and women and children” on the 13th day of the month of Adar.

Seems a little excessive doesn’t it? Every word in the Bible means something and the word, ”Agagite”, is huge in the understanding of Haman. An Agagite is a descendant of King Agag who was king of the Amalekites. The Amalekites were a people who, centuries before, God had ordered the Jews to annihilate. Undoubtedly Haman knew this and now he was in a position to do something about it. To do to the Jews what the Jews had done to his people.

In comparison to Haman, Mordecai the Jew appeared to be a nobody, but to God he was a somebody, a simple man of faith selected by God to overcome a great adversary so that God’s people could be preserved.
More on Mordecai next week.

Church Message Board

I had a few members Wednesday night ask me, hey what's up with the Kermit message on the sign? I hadn't seen it but after doing a little investigation I found out that Don puts the messages up. When I called him he said it was a "test message". He puts up a new message every week or so and he wasn't sure anyone noticed so he wanted to run a test to see if anyone actually read the message board. I told Gus that he and I failed the test because we didn't notice it. Gus said we passed it because our spies noticed it.

The Book of Esther

The selection of Esther as queen of the Persian Empire has sometimes been characterized as a “beauty contest”… which in my mind is a complete mischaracterization of the event.

When King Ahasuerus decided he needed a new queen he had young virgins selected from all 127 provinces in his kingdom ranging from Ethiopia to India. If just one young woman from each province was selected that’s 127 young virgin women. At the time of their gathering they were placed in the “first Harem” and were considered to be concubines/wives of the king. Unlike a beauty contest there would be no going home for these young women. One of them would become queen but they would all be concubines/wives.

There was a 12 month education/beautification process involving cosmetics, choice food, oil of myrrh and spices before the selection would be made. The interview for the queenship was a personal one with the king himself. Esther was not an unwilling participant in this process. When it was Esther’s turn, she went to King Ahasuerus palace in the evening and spent the night with him and was taken to a new harem the next morning… the second harem. No longer a virgin she had consummated her marriage to King Ahasuerus and in the process won his favor and become queen of the Persian Empire.

Esther could have been quite young at the time, perhaps as young as 14 years, and now she was the second most important person on the royal side of the Kingdom. Her older cousin Mordecai, who had been her guardian, would become the second most important person on the political side of the Kingdom. For me, the story of Mordecai is more important than the story of Esther. In fact, the book could easily be named the Book of Mordecai. Amazing that God would place two Jews in such high places in a world empire… more on Mordecai next week.

Uncle Rob

Earth and Life

All we have in this world, physically, are dirt and water. When you couple these elements with sunshine you can get color, structure, aromas and everything else that we have in this world. It only requires one thing... a recipe… a recipe for life.

You can find that recipe in a seed. When a seed comes in contact with moist earth a reaction occurs that allows the seed to select and absorb different minerals to initiate a chemical reaction that causes something to grow.

When you look at that old brown dirt you cannot see green, yellow or any of the colors, but the elements are all there waiting to be chemically manipulated so that they can come into existence.

Thank you God for bringing life to a planet that used to be just dirt and water. Thank you for the promise of another life in heaven.

Primogenitus

In Hebrews 1:6, Jesus is called the Primogenitus or firstborn of God.

I’m not sure that in today’s time we fully understand what the “firstborn” meant to the Hebrews. Certainly the firstborn son of a Hebrew family was shown favoritism as far as inheritance went but in addition Hebrew families understood that their firstborn sons belonged not to themselves but to God.

In Exodus 13 we learn that every male, whether human or animal, that “opened the womb” for the first time belonged to God to do with as he pleased.

The firstborn males of clean animals; goats, cattle, sheep were to be killed or sacrificed. In Numbers 18 these firstborn animals are called “holy”. God could require that of the firstborn male children as well but allowed their parents to “redeem” them. The cost of redemption? …five shekels of silver.

The Hebrews constantly had it hammered into their heads that their firstborn male sons belonged to the Lord.

So you have cases like Hannah who so wanted a child that she made a vow to the Lord that if she could have a son she would not redeem him but give the son, Samuel, to the one who already owned him… Jehovah God. God answered her request and she fulfilled her vow.

Imagine the surprise of the Hebrews when God, the owner of all the firstborn sons, took his own firstborn son, Jesus Christ, and used him as the redeeming price for the sins of all humanity. The Hebrews bought their firstborn sons back for 5 shekels of silver. God paid for the sins of humanity with the death of his own Primogenitus. The sacrifice of one life being the equivalent price for the lives of all humanity.

The Old Testament was about humanity’s sacrifice for God. The New Testament is about God’s sacrifice for humanity.

As a side note… what about today? My mother told me my Dad made a promise to the Lord that if he could have a son he would dedicate that son to the Lord. Dad was 18 years old at the time. I don’t take that lightly as a cause for who I am today.

Julie and Virginia Lawler

Julie and I went to go see Virginia at Holmgreen's on Monday. When we got there there were three ladies from King's crossing playing "Skipbo" with her. We had a good visit with her and she is planning to stay there until she gets better. She is suffering from Congestive Heart Failure. I think she said her heart was operating around 30%.

There were a lot of older people at Holmgreens who were in declining health. It's always kind of sad for me to see adult children taking care of their loved ones who are declining in health. I was glad I went it kind of yanked me out of my busy life into the reality of human love and suffering.

When we left we held hands to pray and for the first time I just couldn't do it... Julie bailed me out and prayed for us.

Kids Between Services

I've wanted to have videos on this site for awhile. This is my first and very amateurish attempt. I hope to portray the sense of family and joy at Parkway. I hope this video accomplishes a portion of that. Uncle Rob

Songs and Emotions

This is from Walker Perkins

One of the unique aspects of song worship is that songs often become associated in our minds with very distinct and powerful emotions. Perhaps this would not be construed as strange in other groups, but among our brethren there is a special emphasis on an objective reading and interpretation and application of God's Word in our lives. Often something as subjective and volatile as emotions are unintentionally demeaned. There is one song in particular that holds a whole host of meanings, and memories, and emotions for me. I would like to share that with you.

"You are My All in All" is a newcomer in many congregations, but it has been sung in our local congregation for over ten years. It was introduced at a Thursday night high school and college devotional by Kamron Lloyd, and its contagious melody, harmony, and sincerity has infected us incurably. We would sing it at the beginning of the devotional, and we would sing it at the end of the devotional. Sometimes someone would request to sing it in the *middle* of the devotional. As we continued singing it on Thursday nights, the song became more than its component parts. Notes, words, pitches, and rests gradually blended into something that transcended into something grander.

Unlike many cities, there are not very many non-institutional Churches of Christ in Corpus Christi, and the divide between institutional and non-institutional congregations is typically such that it was not very practical for us to cooperate, coordinate or visit with one another with great frequency or with any deeper spiritual significance. Many of our members drive in from across town twenty, thirty, or even forty minutes, meaning that our young people are seldom in the same neighborhoods--much less school districts. For years we only ever saw each other at service times, most of that being spent silent on pews or in a class where the focus was on other things than fellowship.

But on Thursday nights, we would be together. We would worship and devote ourselves to God's word, and we would also share that most fleeting blessing: fellowship. For us the song nearly became an anthem or a talisman. It meant that we were together in a place where we could be ourselves. We could be brothers and sisters and not mere co-worshipers in a daunting auditorium. And we sang. We sang many many songs, but always there was "You are My All in All"; in the beginning, at the end, and sometimes even the middle.

When it was lead in services, it never sounded as well. If you were the song leader, and you thought to look, you could see people rolling their eyes at this troublesome new song that became emblematic of the supplemental song book. We who knew it would sing it rapturously, and I daresay that you could hear us over the rest of the congregation. Most of us knew (and still know) it by heart. A few of us even--gasp--close our eyes when we sing it.

It doesn't sound the same to me now as it did then. Possibly because I'm not sitting on someone's carpet with a bellyful of Coke. But it always makes me remember one hour devotionals that would end up lasting for two or three. It makes me remember people that were here, but are gone now. It makes me remember what it was like to be young and alone in the world, and what it was like to find a momentary haven with those of kindred faith.

There is no Thursday night devotional now, and the song isn't sung as often in our congregation anymore. There are barely any high school age children in our congregation any longer, and most of our college age students (and there are a growing number) are foreigners from the local university, only one that's been baptized, and at least five different languages among them. But there's a small horde of middle school, elementary, and preschool kids (to which I am about to make a contribution). It makes me wonder what songs will be important to them, and if I will roll my eyes in the pews or if I'll invite them to my house and learn it with them.

Hopefully the latter.

New Semester... New ESLI Students

Jeff had about 22 in this class.

The Old Testament and the Letter to the Romans

The letter to the Romans, inspired by the Holy Spirit and written by the Apostle Paul, has a lot of Old Testament in it. I was looking at the footnotes at the bottom of the pages and there are 57 references to the Old Testament listed. In addition, several Bible characters are mentioned in the letter: Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Adam, Isaiah, Elijah and Jesse.

That’s interesting to me because the letter is written to non-Jews, i.e. “Greeks and Barbarians” (1:14)… people who were not raised with Bibles in their homes. Since these people would have no knowledge of the Old Testament then either they were taught the Old Testament in their conversion process or after becoming Christians the Old Testament was taught in their assemblies. I suspect both occurred.

Regardless, Paul’s repeated use of Old Testament references suggests they had a familiarity with it.

Paul’s purpose in writing this letter was to help them become established. Even though their faith was “proclaimed throughout the whole world” (1:8) they still needed to be established. Paul referenced the Old Testament 57 times in this effort to “establish” them.

Even though we now live under a New Law that doesn’t mean we don’t need the old Law.
If we want to be established like the Roman Christians were, then we need to follow Paul’s example in the use of the Old Testament to build a rich and deep faith.

Know Your New Parkway Members - Kirby Crabtree

Pictured are Kirby and Gabby. Gabby is not a member but attends with Kirby. Gabby was raised in Corpus Christi and Kirby is from Tennessee. Gabby works for a company that sells equipment for power lifters. Kirby is big into Civil War re-enactments.

Know Your New Parkway Members - Pat Jackson

Pat comes to us from Maui. I'll send out her info. via e-mail.