20^th: Taryn and Mirren driving back to PCC for the spring semester

13^th: Boerne Bible Church, Boerne, TX:  A Christian Perspective on Global Warming

11^th: Castle Hills First Baptist School, San Antonio, TX, Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution: 210-377-8485

10-11^th: His Hill Bible College, Comfort, TX: Worldviews, Cults, The Evolving New Age Movement

And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.  And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.  And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court.  And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?  Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?  O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. . .And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

II Chronicles 20:3-7, 12, 15

O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Jeremiah 10:23

Thus saith the Lord; Cursed is the man who trusteth in man,  and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.     

Jeremiah 17:5

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.

II Corinthians 3:5

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

John 15:5

He hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Micah 6:8

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Ephesians 5:15-17

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

I Peter 1:18, 19

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.        

I Corinthians 6:20

No commentary is really needed on these Scriptures.  As true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we must constantly strive, by God’s grace, to live in a fallen world but not be tainted and changed by it, thereby bringing glory to our Lord and not dishonor. A good commitment for this year would be to live in such a way that we will give no cause for offense in anything (II Cor. 6:3) and no opportunity for the watching world to call us HYPOCRITES.  Let us not take advantage of our liberty in Christ so that a weaker brother’s conscience is wounded, and we sin against Christ in so doing (I Corinthians 8:11, 12).  We must imitate our Lord Jesus as we seek to follow Him (Ephesians 5:1).  Desperate dependence, for American Christians, is far more challenging than for our brothers and sisters in other countries who do not have the many choices and options that are available to us on a daily basis.  Unfortunately, we have many options, and so often the choices we make are based more on what pleases us than what would please God.  Jesus came to earth to be our example (I Peter 2:21) and to simply live among us, to serve and to die and show us the love of God (Mark 10:45).  That “love” should be the mark of the Christian as Frances Schaeffer put it so many years ago.  What “mark” do others see in us?  How are we known in our family, our church, the workplace, our friends?  We all know that we “stereotype” others, whether deliberately or just automatically, as a human response.  Let us each examine ourselves in this new year and seek to allow the Lord liberty to change us through His Word and a true RELATIONSHIP with Him rather than the counterfeit allure of the world, the flesh, and the devil (I John 2:16; Ephesians 2:1-6).  Let us “decrease” so that He might  “increase.”  (John 3:30)

                We are doing less travel ministry these next few months to try and achieve some sort of balance with the projects we need to work on in the ministry that cannot be accomplished while we are on the road.  We have revisions on the book addendum, research for a new Animal DVD (without the girl’s help), a backlog of correspondence and catch up that is overwhelming (have we used that word enough over the past years?), AND medical appointments with otolaryngologists, dermatologists, cardiologists, and dentists!  Truly our verse for last year was II Cor. 4:16 (the outer man decaying, but the inner man renewed day by day)!  We would like to challenge each of you to select a  verse for the year. We try to do this as individuals along with having a family verse for the year. We would ask you to pray for special grace and discipline to accomplish much with as few interruptions as possible, especially over these next two months.  The girls will return to school on the 20^th and have been able to get some good study time on their language requirement for their doctoral studies while here at home, in spite of a busy and fun Christmas. This spring semester they will be studying for their upcoming comprehensive exams, language exam, and continuing on with their dissertation research. They would greatly appreciate your prayers. We had a good ministry trip to Los Angeles and were able to marvel anew at the many facets of God’s creation in the western U.S.  Thank you for your partnership with us in ministry! Phil. 1:3-5!!

January/February 2008

9^th: Leave for His Hill Bible College, Comfort, TX: Worldviews, Cults, The Evolving New Age Movement

10-11: Ministry at His Hill

11^th: Castle Hills First Baptist School, San Antonio, TX, Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution: 210-377-8485

13^th: Boerne Bible Church, Boerne, TX:  A Christian Perspective on Global Warming

20^th: Taryn and Mirren driving back to PCC for the spring semester

Feb. 7^th:  Possible ministry in Sylva, NC, university campus (Western Carolina University)

8^th: Tabernacle Christian School, Hickory, NC, Incredible Creatures, Creationism

8-9^th:  Tabernacle Baptist Church, Creation Family Ministries, Hickory, NC, “Secrets of the Sea” Conference on Biblical Creation  

11^th:  Return to Dallas