glackey's Blog

Dear Brethren and Friends,

Next Monday I will be making my third preaching trip to India along with
my companions Dan Torres (Bellingham, WA) and Mark Mayberry (Alvin, TX).
The following is a brief overview of what we hope to accomplish.

We are set to leave January 19 and return February 16, and during that
time we will be conducting classes for two weeks with approximately 160
gospel preachers in Kurnool, followed by a gospel meeting with the
church in Bangalore.

The students have either renounced liberalism in the local churches of
Christ or they have been studied with and shown a willingness to study
the issues, and thus have been invited to the classes. One week of
classes will contain new students and will be devoted to BASIC lessons
on Bible authority, the organization and work of the local church,
fellowship issues and the work of the evangelist. The second week will
consist of last year's BASICS class students and will be the ADVANCED
class, designed to build on the basics of the previous year. Mark will
be teaching 1 and 2 Timothy to both classes and brother Torres has
planned lessons on personal responsibility, the wise use of time and
other matters relating to personal devotion and character. Each student
will be given study booklets containing charts and lessons, and they
will also be given Bibles to share with other brethren.

This work is possible due to the gospel work started in 2004 by brother
Bobby Holmes. This is the first year since then that he will not be
making the trip, and we will greatly miss him. He has been a tremendous
help in many ways as we have planned this present work.

Due to the generosity of brethren we have been able to purchase $5,000
worth of Bibles (that means at least 2,000 Bibles will be distributed,
hopefully more). This will have a dramatic impact on the spread of the
gospel since most of the Indian brethren do not have personal Bibles.

The last two years we have posted online photos and daily updates of the
work being done. This year we have decided to send out daily email
updates instead. You have received this post because of the previous
interest you have shown in the spread of the gospel in America and
beyond. If for some reason you prefer not to receive these daily email
reports, please reply asap and I will remove your name from the email list.

We solicit your prayers for this work and for the Indian brethren who
are standing for the truth against the errors of liberalism as they also
spread the gospel among Hindus and Muslims. Thank you and may the Lord
bless each of you as you continue your faithful service to Him.

In Christian love,
Joe Price

Thanks for posting about this Amy. It seems that it is one of the many issues that some Christians fail to acknowledge that we need to address. Sometimes you wonder about those who seem to get too close to the line of modesty and even those who try to dress modestly but don't really make sure that what they are wearing is going to be modest in all situations like low cut jeans and a shirt that just comes below the jeans when standing will not be the same when you bend over or squat down. And shorts that are just barely long enough or almost or 'slightly' short will not be when you sit down. We need to be careful even if we are being modest.

I would also point out the passage from 1 Timothy 5:1-2

1Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;

2The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.

If we treat our fellow Christian brethren the same as our own fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers why would we think it is ok to dress inappropriately around our family and not Christians. There just is no consistency. It is just as wrong to drink around our family as it is to drink in public. The same thing applies here. The only issue is that people may say well my family would think about wrong things about me like they would if it was someone else...but they could. That is not an excuse. Amy, you are correct, there is no distinction between public and home life with regards to modesty. Makes you wonder if they use foul language at home as well. Where do you draw the line?

This is from Missy Stevens...you might have seen it on pleo. You might know Wyatt but if you don't I would share that he is 5.

Over the last several years, we've been trying to correct Wyatt's strabismus/exotropia by having him wear eye patches certain amounts of time during the day. The last several times he's visited the ophthalmologist, we've seen a decline in his depth perception.

So, the time has come for surgery. He'll have his outpatient surgery Friday the 19th, in Austin. It's an outpatient surgery, and he won't even have to wear a patch afterwards.

We'll know more specifics before next week, but please keep him (and us) in your prayers!

Yes, what I like is that we don't always think about 'Things to pray about'. Now some ideas they give like mission work, etc are not right but preaching in other countries is something we can pray for. It gets the mind thinking. The idea of putting scriptures on your walls/fridge/etc isn't just for show it is so that you can have something to trigger your mind to think about spiritual things.

Actually I just ordered that one. I prefer KJV first and then NKJV or NASB but this is more of a reading bible (more for reading through than using to look up scriptures for sermons or during bible class). I think it should work out but thanks for the recommendation (well the recommendation you gave several weeks back on the same topic) :D.

I am thinking about getting a bible to read at work. Unfortunately I have my main bible (which is a little big) and then some other bibles which are hard to read out of because of the binding, print size, etc. But I figured that once I found one I could read a little bit on my lunch break and is probably something everyone aught to try if they can do so. Listening to sermons and the bible on cds is also a great idea when you're on a trip. Even if you just listen for a little while at a time.

I have subscribed to this. Every now and then there are some ideas that aren't quite right but overall it has some good thoughts that we should consider and gets your mind thinking of spiritual things.

This was a sermon I got a chance to preach in Lake Charles this past Sunday. I think the idea for it came during a bible class when I noticed the passage and thought it sounded like a message we could use. The passage is 1 Corinthians 15:34.

Light & Darkness
-------------------
God is Light (1 John 1:5-7; John 1:1-5)
Same as Obeying/Disobeying God's commandments (1 John 2:1-17)
Cannot be yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)
Christ warned against (John 12:35-36)

Living in Darkness (John 3:19-21)
-------------------
At one point we all were living in darkness
Living in the world (1 John 2:15-17)
Once in darkness (Ephesians 5:1-11)
We can be corrupted even if we walk in light (1 Corinthians 15:33)
It starts with a thought (Luke 11:33-36)

We are called into light
------------------------
Out of darkness (1 Peter 2:9)
We are children of Light (1 Thess. 5:1-6)
We are delivered from darkness into light (Colossians 1:12-13)
Our mission to others is to call them into the light (Acts 26:12-18)

Night is far spent...it is high time to AWAKE (Romans 13:11-14)

And pray for Congress as well as they will pass/not pass the laws put forth by Obama. Let's also pray that they will make good decisions.

Great news. Always good to hear about a new convert.

To Amy's question about elders...

Although it was God's design that elders be set up in every church...

If there are no men qualified to be elders you are faced with 2 situations:
Appoint men who are not qualified (not a good idea and probably not what God intended)
or try to work together to make decisions (the better choice)

The second option gets complicated when you have a large congregation that still has no men qualified to be elders. If the congregation is like that there is PROBABLY something wrong...but not necessarily.

Only my opinions.

You (Amy) are right about the can of worms. In this case you have people that want to hold to traditions and will twist the scriptures are think irrationally if you try to convince them otherwise. I understand the idea that since the man is the head of the household...and congregations can be huge...AND having the whole congregation together where everyone is trying to voice their opinion can be very difficult and then NOTHING would be accomplished. Thus, I can see why it is done. I don't think that men are the only ones that can make decisions for the church however, the elders rule over the church and the whole congregation works together. The women usurping the men idea only applies to worship....not to anything done in the church building. So if you get together for bible class or for a business meeting...it is NOT worship. I am not saying that those who have a MEN ONLY meeting are wrong because, like I said, it makes things easier. They should however realize that it is not the ONLY way it has to be done and that anything else is wrong, or that women are not allowed at all. What might be an alternative is to have everyone who wants to be present be there and if a husband and his wife are there and the wife wants to say something that she speaks to her husband and let him bring it up...mostly because he is the head of the household and might make the meeting less hectic than if 50 people (or however many) were trying to speak at once.

This should not be filed under 'Spiritual Discussions' it should be filed under 'Extremely Difficult Spiritual Discussions'. In the realm of Divorce and Remarriage it seems that a lot of people have difficulty determining what is right and wrong because there are so many things to consider and personal feelings are so involved. I think I've heard some say that those who get divorced for the wrong reason and sit and play the waiting game (to see who is unfaithful first) then neither has a right to get married. I think we sometimes try to over analyze this and really get a way from the point. However, IF a spouse really was unfaithful but they FILED the divorce as an 'irreconcilable differences" and the government recognized the divorce then does that mean that God only sees the divorce the same way..??? I do not believe that is the case. However, this is a thing that really needs all the facts and someone who has studied it more than us probably.

Good thoughts. Sometimes we shutdown once they say they go somewhere else but if we would be less afraid of being judged we might be able to get them to open up a little more and make a connection that we might be able to use to get them to study with you.

Yes, the "already go to church" response is hard to come back against. You can however, still let them know that you want to study and maybe get some discussions that way. Or make a note of them and get someone more experience to come back with you and try to get a personal bible study going with them.

I am a maverick.

They do not need to understand their faith in order to act on it. They are not afraid to stand out and apart from others in their relationship with God. They are ready to follow what they believe to be God’s direction even when they do not know what consequences may ensue. They seek to relate to the Holy One through their bold and ready action. They tend to be more impulsive in their prayer and action. If they were to meet God face to face, they would be eager to do whatever was asked of them without requiring a carefully laid-out plan.

A person in Scripture that manifested maverick qualities is Peter. So often, Peter responded to Jesus with an independence and impulsiveness that seemed foolhardy. He had little concern about the opinion of the other disciples, of the religious establishment, or his own lack of knowledge and understanding. He was able to act independently of others even when he was being led in a direction that had no certain outcome.

I do not believe that he is asking for his death to come sooner. It is ??possible?? but I think that is assuming where the bible does not give precise details. We could also assume that Christ knows that they will give him vinegar mixed with gall and that he wants God to let the cup (literally) pass from him and that they won't give it to him. That obviously also sounds silly. It is reading too much into the scriptures and trying to assume something that isn't there. Asking that his death comes sooner than later may somewhat factor into it because He knows the agony that it is to be crucified but I think that we should keep from trying to say what God was thinking and stick to the fact that Christ was praying that the suffering would pass (either completely or in part...it doesn't matter). I don't think we need to dig any deeper because it doesn't affect our faith any more than speculating whether the loaves and fishes were wheat bread and bass or white bread and catfish....it doesn't bear on our faith.

Those who can make it at 6pm can practice until the others get here. With it getting dark sooner if we wait too much longer than that it's too dark to play.

My favorite has always been the KJV. Sometimes when I'm bringing a lesson or sermon I also look up passages in the NASB (also my NT ASB which is no longer printed) and the NKJV. Most translations have their own problems. The KJV might mistranslate a few passages but it doesn't change the meaning. I also like the language that it uses.