400 Years of Silence

 Some people fret over the 400 year gap between the Old and the New Testament. Why so long they ask. Why wasn't God speaking or active during those years? This is a question only God can answer. Could it be that time had to elapse so that Christ could be born at the right time? For some reason known only to God, it was important for Christ to die exactly when He did.

My question to add to this mystery is, why has God not said anything since the first century CE? The writings of the apostle John are the last words written that are in the Bible. First, second, third John and the Revelation are the last times written words were incorporated into the cannon of scripture. We spend most of our time taking ancient texts and working to make them understandable to a modern audience.

I have said this before, but we get more instruction on how to organize and run a local church from modern church history than we get from the Bible.

I guess that God had said all that He had to say by the end of the first century CE. The Bible, which tells God's story going all the way back to the creation story, has zero to say about AI or high tech or even the printing press.

One thing that this tells me is that people do not change over the centuries. There is no evolution causing people to adapt to our surroundings. But, cultural practices are vastly different today from what they were in ancient times. Abraham may have had the same hopes and fears as us, but his morals were quite different. 

So do not lose sleep over the missing 400 years. We have had 2000 plus years of silence to date.

Sermons On TV? Really?

I remember way back in ancient times how pastor Mitchell would schedule an evangelistic movie to be shown on Sunday night When he was out of town. As the Door Director I often had the job of making that happen. Pastor had no assistants.  It was him or a movie.

Tonight we had a better than normal Sunday night service. Pastor was back from conference and people were glad to have him back. I was surprised when he announced that we would be watching a conference video instead of having one of our three pastors preach.

Oh well. It was good anyway. But it wasn't live. I guess the Holy Spirit can move either way.

I do not like watching a sermon on TV.

Conference Thoughts

 I checked the Prescott church's website to see who was announced out of their conference. For the first time  I did not know anyone who was announced. I recognized two names for changes. This must be a sign of getting older and of not living in Prescott anymore.

Several of the bigger regional conferences plant their own churches out of their own conferences now, so there were not as many churches planted out of the Prescott conference. Seven international and six domestic.

Conference is about more than planting churches. And an aging church does not plant as many churches now as they once did in earlier years. When we were announced pastor Mitchell had a pool of disciples who he was working with and training. As you age that pool gets smaller.

My friend in Prescott was exhausted by serving at conference. I remember those days. The folks in Prescott work their fingers to the bone to serve the conference body.

Conference is an exciting time. Make sure you attend a conference in your area.

Where's The Peace?

 If it bleeds, it leads. So is the motto of most news gathering organizations.

It's never so bad, that it can't get worse. Or so the say.

Peace blows so few bugles in most of us. Or so they say.

King David needs to get saved. He is a whiner.

Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell. Not me. I am happy  living where I am. Save your cliches and dogmas for someone who cares or for some unstable soul who you can manipulate.

If life goes from one catastrophe to another, from one crisis to another, you either live in the middle east, or you are not saved. Jesus gives us peace. Jesus gives us a living hope. 

Two Or Three

"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them." Mat. 18:20

This past Wednesday, because of the weather, our service was smaller than a normal midweek service. But as we started, this verse came to my mind. And I was able to rejoice and to worship no matter who was or wasn't there. Pastor preached like it was a full house. People got saved. It was a good midweek service.

Note that the Lord said where 2 or 3 are gathered. Not 20 or 30. Not 200 or 300. Not 2000 or 3000. Just 2 or 3. God is not put off by a small church or a lowered attendance. God cares about His church. And Jesus makes His presence known even to a small church or a small group. 

You do not have to have a big crowd to get the Lord to take notice. You do not have to have multitudes to attract the Lord's attention. God is interested in even one sparrow that falls in the wilderness. He cares about you and I even if we live alone.

A crowd draws a crowd. But two or three draw the Holy Spirit if they are gathered in Jesus' name. 

Weather As Judgement?

 In the Bible we read how God uses natural disasters as a means of judgement. Rarely is it fire and brimstone like Sodom, or an angel with a sword killing people. As I watch the coverage of the tornado and river flooding and rain hitting our area and as I hear the fear and the frustration in the reporter's voices, I am reminded how terrifying natural disasters can be.  Weather is something you can watch or experience, but you cannot change it. Only Jesus can rebuke the storm and it stops.

It is no wonder how God uses the power of nature to show His mighty power to an unbelieving world. The amazing thing is how people will survive a storm or fire or flood and feel like it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be. They never connect the dots to think that maybe God is trying to get their attention.

Pray for us here in south Texas.

Conference Thoughts 2026

 I remember when pastor Mitchell used to say that the Prescott conference was a "people's conference". I do not fully understand what he meant by that, but we had so few churches out that the bulk of the crowd was just folks, not pastors.

I also remember when I first noticed that the Prescott conference speakers were preaching to their fellow pastors, and not to any regular folk.

One more thing that I noticed was how conference became primarily about planting churches. That the whole reason for existing was based on the number of new works planted, not on the quality of the ministry during the week.

Conference sure has changed over the years.