Tomorrow we were supposed to be expecting the arrival of a short term team to help with the ministry here. But – no team.
We’re not exactly sure of all the reasons why the team cancelled, but as you might imagine we’re pretty disappointed. But, God has His own good plan for us.
So, we’re moving ahead with other things. This Sunday we’re starting a four week Christmas series at church, and I’m preparing my part – a message on the Prologue of the Gospel of John. Where to begin? This is such an important passage regarding the nature of Christ and the incarnation. And there is so much confusion on that topic.
We’re also getting ready for next year’s ministry. And tonight I’ll be in our regular leadership Bible study.
And we’re hoping that we’ll be able to get a bit of a break for some family time over Christmas! It’s coming, you know.
We did have an unexpected surprise this week – a visit from our friend and fellow missionary Guillermo Reddekopp. It was unexpected for him too – after complications with a stop-over in Mexico City, he ended up having to spend the night. And thankfully, he chose Hotel Cottrill.
So his loss was our gain, and we enjoyed a time of fellowship. The Reddekops are serving here in Mexico, and are preparing for some exciting changes in ministry. But they live very far from us, so we’ve never seen them on Mexican soil.
All right, not quite a year. But it was in 2019 that Rod and I began planning a new study for Sunday School called “Biblical Anthropology”.
Original promo poster for Biblical Anthropology series.
It was put on hold in 2020, and then revived in 2021, but Rod wasn’t in Mexico for the majority of the year, so I ended up teaching it – one lesson per month, starting in February. And ending – this Sunday!
It has been a fascinating opportunity at a fascinating time in history to look at some of the things that are going on in our world, and to see what the Bible has to say about them. I read lots of books I otherwise would not have read, studied history I would not have studied, listened to other people’s sermons I would not otherwise have listened to, and read articles I would not have otherwise read. And all that in two languages from multiple countries!
This Sunday will actually be a review/overview/opportunity for discussion, questions and comments from all of the topics we covered this year. Here’s a brief look at what we studied, while I have it all fresh in my mind:
“The Beginning” – why the first few words and phrases of Genesis are completely revolutionary, and how the Bible explains humanity, and in fact reality itself.
“Christ or Chaos” – The horror of sin, the “Great Universal Project of Humanity”, and what happens when God’s truth is rejected.
“The Image” – What does it mean to be created in the image of God? How have we tried to destroy the image, and how did “Christmas” restore it?
“The Family” – What does the Bible say about family, gender, and sexuality?
“The Borders of Life” – What the Bible says about euthanasia, suicide, abortion, and various types of murder and homicide. Suffering and death from a biblical perspective.
“The Authorities” – This wasn’t originally meant to be a part of the series, but it was part of our study through Romans. But it’s such an important part of being human, in the future I would definitely include it. It will be in the review on Sunday.
“Technology” – Science and technology, evaluating technology in our lives, transhumanism, posthumanism, antihumanism, etc.
“Justice” – Biblical teaching on truth and justice, and justice as seen by many in the world today.
“Partiality” – Race and racism from a biblical standpoint, more on justice and the rule of law in the Bible. How Christians should promote justice.
“Creativity and Communication” – A focus on art, and touching on communication, social media, etc. Can it be evaluated? How can it be used? How does the world twist even this good gift of God?
“The Environment” – Principles of caring for creation from the Bible, and the clash of the Christian worldview and the worldview of secular humanism in this area.
“Everything Together” – a review of it all!
I’m considering posting some of this study here at Finding direction, because it would be a good review for me and maybe be helpful for some of you as well. But in the meantime, I’ve started posting it in Spanish at En la Biblia (lessons 1, 2, and 6 (in two parts) can be found there, and in fact, I did post the study “The Authorities” here as “The Christian and the Government” in English.
If you would like to pray for our review on Sunday, that would be great. This series has certainly gotten to some of the most important things in life, and some of the biggest issues in our world today, though of course in a very brief introductory format. But I look forward to hearing more from our congregation about what they’ve learned – or what they’re completely confused about! 🙂
Last Sunday we celebrated the 5th anniversary of the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas (Iglesia Bíblica Sendero de Vida Las Palmas)!
Don’t look too carefully, because 2 or 3 people were missing from the photo… but over 50 of us went out to “Emerald Forest” (about a 45-minute drive away, toward the volcanoes) for a special service. Most were regular attendees, although we had some visitors, which was fun. It was really a great time. Here’s the banner which we had for the day. Since we’re going through Exodus in our sermons now, we used Exodus 6:7a as a theme: “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God” (see also 2 Corinthians 6:16):
(Click image for a larger photo)
We heard three testimonies from people in the church during the service, which was very encouraging. And we took a break for (a gorgeous) cake (which a friend made)…
Ezequiel led the service. We had a worship time when people chose their favourite songs (all good, except that no one wanted to stop singing! Wait – I guess that’s not a bad thing…). And Rod preached a challenging message on Psalm 90. (Yes, it was Rod and Mayra’s first Sunday back! Welcome back!)
After the service we had a BBQ – grilling of all kinds of meats, green onions, cactus… and someone was walking around selling grasshoppers in a chilli sauce, so I had some of those too. We had lots of time to talk, play soccer/fútbol, ride a horse, or generally enjoy the outdoors. Here’s a shot of some of the youth playing bottle bash:
It was a wonderful Sunday, glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ and celebrating His faithfulness! Please continue to pray for this young church, that we would all grow in our love for the Lord in the year ahead. Who knows what He has in store? All I know is, He will still be faithful!
I haven’t stopped by for a while, and the common excuse is that things have been very busy. And it’s true!
Part of the reason is that we’re preparing for some big events. One of them is the 5th Anniversary of the Path of Life Bible Church Las Palmas! Pretty exciting!
Biblical Doctrine Class Promo
Lord willing we’ll be celebrating on the 7th of November. We’re going to get out of Ixtapaluca and go to a park/ranch/forest out near our two famous volcanoes. We’ll have our Sunday service out there, some yummy food, some games, and who knows what. Which is why we still have work to do – to make sure we can get everyone there, make sure everyone is fed, make sure there are people to lead activities, and so on.
But most of all, we’ll be celebrating God’s faithfulness over the past 5 years!
Also very exciting is the fact that, Lord willing, Rod and Mayra Fry will be there! Our coworkers have been in the USA for over a year, so we’re looking forward to seeing them. And Rod will be speaking for our anniversary celebration.
I probably haven’t specifically mentioned that Nathanael had two of his wisdom teeth out. 🙂 Well, he did! He’s mostly recovered now, but we still have one dentist appointment yet to check things out.
Now he has a lot of catching up to do with school, so you could pray for him if you think of it.
Also coming up the day before the anniversary service is the last Bible Doctrine class of the semester. We’re ending on a light, non-controversial note, talking about the end-times. I’m sure that we’ll all agree that Jesus is coming back soon, and then they’ll hand out our diplomas, and we’ll be done.
I’m also getting ready for the next Biblical Anthropology study, which will be the week after the anniversary service. It will be especially relevant to current news, focusing on the environment. It’s the last topic (lesson #10), and then in December we’ll be pulling everything together in our last study.
As my friend Ezequiel mentioned once, it’s often been a surprise what we end up talking about, even when we know the topic beforehand. It’s a surprise to the teacher as well (well, I mean, as I prepare)! And it looks like this one is going to be no exception. I think we have a common bland evangelical response to environmentalism sometimes, and I’ve been learning a lot about what the Bible actually says. It’s all the more interesting because this follows 9 other studies, and a lot of other topics and issues seem to converge around this one. No doubt partly just because we’re covering it last.
But anyway, let’s just say I have special reason to keep my eyes on COP26. 🙂
And on the homefront, we’ve been gutting pumpkins to make purée. Buying canned pumpkin is a rarity here, so we buy pumpkins and freeze the purée to use all year long. But especially in December for pumpkin pies. Just sayin’. Anyway, Shari’s been doing most of the work on that, but Nathanael and I helped a bit and I roasted up some seeds on Monday. It is a lot of work, but it pays off all year in pies, cheesecake, muffins………
It was a busy weekend, but a great weekend, enjoying lots of fellowship, our institute class focusing on the Lord Jesus, and then of course our Sunday service!
Two people were baptized on Sunday, and as is tradition I’m sharing a video of the baptisms (and a couple of pictures). Praise the Lord with us!
