Highland Lakes church of Christ

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved…” (Jeremiah 8:20). These were the words of Jeremiah to the people of Judea in a time of crisis. The nation’s disregard of God and His word had brought them to the edge of oblivion. On the horizon, the Babylonian war machine was set for a savage thrust against Jerusalem. Yet the people refused to turn to God. They still hoped against hope that deliverance would come from elsewhere. The summer months dragged slowly by and no deliverer appeared. Poignantly, Jeremiah dramatized the desperate hopelessness of their situation: “summer is ended and we are not saved…”

What words could be more fitting for us? Summer is gone…harvest is past and autumn is upon us. What happened to the long, golden days of summer? The words of Jeremiah seem urgently appropriate to our situation:

Summer is At An End. Another season has come and gone. This year is three-fourths over! The fleeting seasons remind us how brief life really is! The Bible describes its brevity in a number of powerful images: a fleeting cloud (Job 7:9), a fading flower (Job 14:2), a flickering candle (Job 18:6). In answer to the question, “What is life?” James answers, “Just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). Given the fragile and frantic nature of life, it is crucially important that we use the time we have to make ready for eternity!

Summer Maybe At An End For Us Nationally. Modern America has made the same basic mistake as the people of Jeremiah’s day. We sought such deliverance where there was none…We have vainly looked for Science to usher in a new millennium; we have expected Education to eradicate poverty and crime; we have hoped that Medicine and Psychiatry would eliminate disease, and guilt and fear. But our hoped-for saviors have failed us. Thoughtful people are alarmed at the growing evidence of the precipitous decline of our national condition. Our culture seems driven toward dissolution and chaos. We have forgotten that, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). There is not much time left. If our nation is to be saved, it is vital important that we repent and turn to God.

Summer Must Be At An End For You Spiritually. It may be that you have squandered countless opportunities without giving serious thought to the needs of your soul. You may have long promised yourself that you will commit you life to God and begin living for Him! But the golden days of opportunity are slipping away and still many are not saved! “Behold, now is the acceptable time: behold now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Good intentions are not enough! God demands obedience! (Hebrews 5:8-9; Acts 2:38; John 8:35). What a perilous and dangerous moment to come to the end of summer without God and His salvation!

— Bobby Dockery, Fayetteville, Arkansas

The trip with the collected disaster relief supplies to the Aransas Pass church of Christ also gave us first-hand knowledge of area damage and what was needed. Corpus Christi (on the west side of the storm, having seawall protection from water surge) had outside wind damage to trees, light fixtures/poles, with minimal scattered roof structure. Businesses were open as usual.

As we were crossing the bridge to Gregory-Portland, there was more noticeable wind damage, but mainly outside affecting trees, poles and roofs. Businesses were open and busy.

Arriving in Aransas Pass and closer to Rockport: both with wind and water damage, similar to scenes of Puerto Rico and the islands. There was a lot of outside damage with partial to total structure destruction and the roadsides were piled high with debris. Some 2-lane roads are now only 1-lane wide. Wal Mart and Lowe’s were open for business, despite the structure repairs being in progress.

We were met at the church building by Nancy L’Herde, wife of minister Donny L’Herde. Nancy is also a locally raised girl and husband Doug is from Port Aransas. The church has two separate buildings like our facility. Most of the windows of the old auditorium were sealed closed years ago and now houses the minister’s study, classrooms, and fellowship hall. It only received roof damage in one classroom and therefore there is floor damage in other classrooms, otherwise okay. Three of the classrooms are set-up like a grocery store. Since most of the area churches suffered severe to total destruction, supplies are distributed on request. They had just delivered a trailer load to the Tivoli congregation.

The new auditorium doors were blown open with severe water damage throughout. Repairs were in progress. Everything in this building was damaged and had to be thrown out. Nancy stated that they were amazed at the response of help from the brotherhood. Tennessee Relief Center had arrived right after the storm with 18 wheeler truckload of supplies. Church members from Texas and several states had come to assist with clean-up and repairs. We met a couple from Knoxville, Tennessee, who were there with their 5th wheel camper to help. He had been stationed at the Corpus Naval Air Base in the 70’s. A couple from New York had flown in to help on the weekend. Cherokee Home for Children house parents and some of the older boys and girls had been down, but I’m not sure exactly where or what they did to help.

The specific needs at this time, are people with building knowledge and skills, since a lot of houses that belong to members of the church are damaged. Most are elderly and retired on mixed income. Again similar to our congregation. Gift cards to Lowe’s, Home Depot and Walmart are very useful, so that groceries, gasoline, medicine, and home repair supplies can be bought.

If you give a gift card, please put the money amount on the front of the card with magic marker, so they will know how much they are giving out. Please put gift cards in the collection plate so we can keep track of the amounts received. We will send them by registered mail due to the theft problems.

Thank you for your response to the needs of our fellow brothers and sisters! Like a lot of people, they do not have insurance, no flood insurance and the fixed income is reality to those in the storm area. This is going to be an on-going situation for several years!

Henry & Mary Kattner

In Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus said the two greatest commandments were to: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.” It is easy to see that “love” is the greatest command. But you might think — because Jesus says loving God is the greatest and loving neighbor is the second greatest – that our relationship with people should take a backseat to our relationship with God. But is that true? Should things like worship take precedence over relationships with people? Here is what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:23-24): “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

Offering a gift at the altar was important, but repairing a broken relationship was more important. The relationship took precedence over worship. Jesus also taught that there were more important and less important parts of the Law. All of it should be kept, but things like “justice and mercy and faithfulness” were the “weightier matters” (Matthew 23:23). Loving God first and loving our neighbor second doesn’t mean our religious practices should trump our relationships with people. It means we love people because we love God. Our love for God informs and invigorates our love for our neighbor.

Faith and Service without Love. As it pertains to this subject, 1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most profound passages in the New Testament. Paul wrote: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Do you see what he said? Your religious understanding, your religious knowledge, your faith, and your service are absolutely WORTHLESS if you don’t have love. All of the things Paul listed are important, but love is the most important, because without love none of the rest of it even matters. You’re probably familiar with Paul’s description of what love looks like. He wrote: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” You don’t get to be impatient, unkind, and rude to your neighbor and say you actually love them, because the Bible says that is no loving. Your faith, understanding, knowledge, and service are all incredibly important, but they are meaningless if you treat people poorly.

Why It Matters. Some might be asking, “Why do we have to determine what is most important? Why do we have to rank things? Isn’t it all equally important?” But as we’ve already seen, Jesus and His apostles say it is NOT all equally important. Every biblical issue is important, but love is the most important. And it matters because if we don’t love our brethren, our neighbors, and even our enemies, then it doesn’t matter how right we are about doctrine or worship practices. And as a group, a church can believe right, worship right, teach right, and be organized right, but if they are not loving then they are not Christ’s church (see 1 John 4:7-21).

Isn’t it interesting how we get things backwards so often? We tend to care more about a brother’s view on worship than we do his view on war. We care more about what he believes about God than about how he treats the poor, the immigrant, and the widow. We all prioritize things. The question is, do we have the same priorities as God?

Again, every biblical issue matters. What you believe about God matters. How you worship matters. But in the end, love matters most. We all need to meditate on that truth for a while and then go out and show Christ’s love to the world. – Wes McAdams

Recently I was asked the following question: “We are in a different time, yes, we serve the same God. However if our worship is sincere, yet strays from the old days, is that somehow less pleasing before God? I think not!” How would you answer this question? We do live in “a different time,” but couldn’t that be said of every generation? The people of David’s generation lived “in a different time” than Moses. And the people of Jesus’ day lived in “a different time” than David. Sincerity in worship is no doubt required of all generations (Joshua 24:14). So that leaves us with the question, what about those who stray from God’s prescribed form of worship?

Stray. The word sounds almost innocent, doesn’t it? “He went astray…he didn’t intend to, he just strayed!” But why do men stray? “Stop listening to instruction… and you will stray from the words of knowledge” (Proverbs 19:27). Israel stopped listening to the word of God, strayed into idol worship, and was “destroyed for a lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). And Psalm 119:118 says, “You (God) reject all who stray from your decrees…” Does “all” include people of modern times or was that just for David’s generation? God’s word is “eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” and will “judge [us] according to what [we] have done…” on the Judgment Day (Psalm 119:89; Revelation 20:12).

Be sincere and don’t stray, for God desires that men “serve Him in sincerity and in truth” (Joshua 24:14). And God will reject those who stray from the truth even though they are sincere. – Alton Norman, Owingsville, KY

DINNER TOGETHER

We will be eating out on Thursday, October 12th, at the River City Grill in Marble Falls. Meet around 5 to 5:30 PM. The sign-up sheet is on the table in the back of the auditorium.

ARE YOU READY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

R e c e n t l y, o u r congregation has been blessed with several new faces in attendance….and some are children. This, of course, creates a need for age-appropriate classes and teachers who are willing to teach them! Being part of our Children’s Ministry on Sunday or Wednesday night is a great way for you to bless the next generation with God’s Word. If you would be willing to teach a children’s class or perhaps just serve as a helper for one of our current teachers, please talk with Joe about this opportunity!

BEAUTIFUL FOOTNOTES

“for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” – Galatians 3:26-27 (ESV)

Remember to keep the Ministry of World Bible School and the efforts in Nigeria in your thoughts and prayers. Thank God for saving and adding these four souls into His kingdom. For the elders, Ken D

WBS Follow-up report from Nigeria

On Wednesday, September 20th, Chidi and I went to the school [after phone arrangements have been made with the Coordinating Teacher [Mr Akinyemi]. I also contacted Ogidan Augustus from the Uneme-Nekhua church of Christ to be present.

Students who requested WBS follow-up were Owolabi Sarah, Yakubu Fali and Arije Emmanuel. A fourth girl came with them. Her name is Sandra. They were students of KEN SNETHEN. Mr Akinyemi invited them to the Staff Room for us to have a brief discussion with them. Things of note happened:

(1) The girls had questions about baptism. Two main ones related to the mode and necessity of baptism. And I took time to show from scriptures how that Bible baptism is an immersion and NOT a pouring or sprinkling or any other type. I took them through the baptism of Jesus [Matt.3. 15-16] the Baptism of John [John 3.23] and the baptism of the Ethiopian Nobleman [Act 8. 34-39]. Mr Akinyemi and two other teachers paid full attention while I taught the Bible. And he was the first to respond. And it became clear that this is the first time he had fully, completely grasped the importance and the mode for Bible baptism. And as a result, he has assured Chidi and I that he is going to plan and invite us to his home to teach and possibly baptize his family.

(2) At the end of the discussion, the four girls were ready to obey the gospel in water baptism, and we asked further permission and took them straight to the river and baptized them. I am so happy to inform you all that four new converts have been added to God’s Kingdom as a result of your all’s efforts in teaching the Bible through the mail in Nigeria.

I want you to know two things:

1. That the WBS continues to be an effective way of sending the gospel of Christ to lost souls in remote parts of the world.
2. I am happy to be associated with you all in this good work!

Thank You for all your efforts.

In Christian Love, Sylvester A. Imogoh

As you know, one of Jesus‘ favorite teaching tools were parables. I have heard parables defined as earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. I like that definition, and I think it perfectly describes the short parable we will discuss which is found in Matthew 13:44.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

It is one of the shortest parables you will find, but it may be one of my favorites. It captures the sense of awe and excitement we should have when it comes to our faith. Jesus makes the assumption that if you were to find a great treasure somewhere, you would sell your things in order to get that field so the treasure could be rightfully yours. Why would we do that? Because the treasure is way more valuable then what we own now. It just makes sense to do this. This is the physical meaning of the parable, so what is the spiritual meaning?

The New Testament makes some amazing claims about what God has made available to us. It talks about the glory waiting to be revealed in us in heaven. It discusses us being seated with Christ in the heavenly realms, to reign and rule with him. Scripture over and over points to the unfathomable splendor of what eternity with God will be like. Even with the little bit we know, it is obvious this is a treasure far more valuable than anything this earth has to offer.

I don’t think this passage is necessarily saying to sell everything we have to obtain the treasure of heaven. However, I think it is saying there is nothing here on earth that we should allow to come between us and heaven. Our ambitions and desires should be squarely focused on the treasure God is offering us, and we should be willing to cut out anything that might stand in our way. Not out of a sense of obligation, but out of joy! We should be thrilled when we consider what is to come. We may not have hold of it now, but it is as good as done because God has promised it. We are wealthy beyond measure! Steve McFadden — Rector, AR