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.