Okay, I'm pretty late on this. May 4th was my oldest son's birthday. I was going to just write something about him, but I am so far behind on blogging that I'm just going to post pictures.
The day was rainy, so we ended up just going by ourselves to the natural history museum. There was free admission that day, and it is Jonathan's favorite museum because he loves the dinosaurs.
We always start off with this:
And here is what they were laying under!
On to the dinosaurs:
This is just gross, but Jonathan insisted we get a picture!
Jonathan had to chase after Jack a few times. I thought this was cute. When Jonathan picked him up, he just started staring at the ceiling and pointing and talking. So much to see!
Jacob and Jack trying out the chewing motions of a dinosaur jaw bone. Some chew up and down and some chew side to side.
And then the animals native to Oklahoma....there were quite a few, so I'll just post some of my favs.
Crawdads (or crayfish or crawfish if you're not from around here)
cotton tail rabbit
Prairie dog
Rattle snake!
Red fox and den of babies below
Buffalo / Bison (They look real, don't they?)
Jacob is bird watching here. At the time it was pretty funny, but I guess you had to be there. :)
Afterward we met Daddy at a pizza place and stuffed ourselves with pizza and played some games.
Later that afternoon Jonathan wanted to make and decorate his own cake from scratch! He did awesome! It was getting late by the time it was done, so he put the icing on it when it was still hot, knowing it would melt. :)
He didn't get any gifts that day, but he said it was the best birthday ever. :) We did have a great time! I can't believe my little baby is already 9 years old! He's half way to adulthood! Oh, where has the time gone?
Jonathan, you sure can be frustrating at times, but you are also a joy to have around, and I wouldn't trade you for the world! We love you and are so proud of who you are and the man God is carving you out to be! :)
Our dryer just went out a couple of days ago, so Jonathan and Jayla came up with another brilliant way to dry our clothes! I guess this could count as an "ism"! :)
This video is so funny, no doubt, but it is also very sad to me. The toddler is obviously doing what he has seen acted out in front of him week after week in the church his family attends. I don't have a point specifically for this video, but it is a good segue into the topic of preaching!
First let me say that "church" is for believers, born-again Christians. It is not meant to be a place to bring the world in, though that is what is happening today. If the Spirit is calling someone, they will come visit a local church without all the bells and whistles.....but that's another post! I just wanted to be clear that THE Church is the group of believers, not a building. We are the people of God, the saved, the redeemed!
Acts 20:7 - (NKJV) Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.
I have heard several pastors in my lifetime jokingly use the example of Paul preaching late into the night to justify their long-windedness. So let's first take a look at this passage.
In the Greek Acts 20:7 translates: And on the first [day] of the week, having been assembled the disciples to break bread, Paul discoursed to them, about to depart on the morrow; and he continued the discourse until midnight.
The word in Greek translates to "discourse", not preach. (It is also translated to reason.) So let's take a look at what discourse means.
The online Webster's dictionary in part defines discourse as "verbal interchange of ideas ; especially : conversation"
So Paul went long into the night and probably talked quite a bit, but he was not preaching to the church, it was a discussion! I'm sure he talked a lot because he had a lot to share about the other churches of God, but the other believers had opportunity to talk as well. It was a conversation; he talked, they talked, back and forth, questions, answers, etc. It went on all evening, so I'm sure there were people getting up to go to the potty, get a drink, get a snack, etc. Paul was an encourager and teacher and missionary and so much more, but it appears here that he was not preaching to the believers.
This same word in the Greek is also used in Acts 17:2; 18:4; 18:19; 19:8, 9; 20:7, 9; and 24:12, 25.
Okay, but we do know there was preaching in the New Testament, so let's just look at other examples.
Acts 8:4-8, Phillip preaches ("proclaimed" in Greek) Christ to the city of Samaria (not the church)
Acts 9:20, Saul was preaching ("proclaiming" again) in the synagogues (Jews, not Christians)
In Acts chapter 13 Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel of Christ to the Jews first and then the Gentiles (non-believers)
There are several other examples of preaching in the New Testament, and they all seem to be pretty clear that preaching was mostly directed toward non-believers. There may have been some new Christians in the mix, but the messages were directed toward the lost.
So how did modern day church preaching begin? It seems, from my study just in these last few days, that the origin of preaching in modern day (protestant) churches began with John Calvin. He is the one who began the modern style of "sit, be quiet and listen to a sermon" in church. Now, it's not that I don't enjoy hearing a good, God-fearing preacher, but preaching was intended for the lost, not believers! Even if we sit there and "amen" everything the preacher is saying, do we really need it for ourselves? Preaching in the New Testament was simply proclaiming the good news of Christ, all the other stuff about loving our neighbors, praying for our enemies, fruit of the Spirit, etc. does not need to be preached from the pulpit, it should be taught in a teaching fashion which allows other believers to interact, answer questions, etc.
I have done a word study on various leadership titles recently, and it can be assumed that pastor, elder, overseer, bishop and shepherd all mean the same thing. This person is to be a teacher, but I have not found anything in the bible about this person preaching. Timothy is an evangelist, a missionary. He traveled around and preached the gospel, so he could not have been a pastor, which makes sense to me too because he was young and elders were usually older.
There is a lot more that could be said on the subject, but I believe I have made my point that preaching in the New Testament was directed toward non-believers, not Christians, and therefore not in the Church meetings! It is very important and does have its place, and it certainly won't hurt us to hear it from time to time, but it is not biblical to preach to believers on a regular basis! There needs to be conversational bible study, fellowship and prayer, and the breaking of bread (which could mean eating together or could literally mean breaking the bread as in the Lord's supper, but the Lord's supper took place during the meal anyway.....but that's another post.)
Have you noticed that today's typical institutional church is not like the New Testament Church? Let's look at the early church and see what it was like, in a nutshell.
Acts 4:32 - (NKJV) Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.
When I was a teen, probably around 14 or 15, I went to Jerry Falwell's church, and they had a very good youth group where I really grew in my faith and walk with the Lord. This verse JUMPED out at me during Sunday School one day. How awesome would it be if there were actually a church like this nowadays that actually was all in unity together and shared everything, and no one was ever in need! I tucked it away in the back of my mind, thinking "it would be nice", but I never thought it could actually exist in our culture.
Well, it does! A real bible-teaching, bible-believing, bible-living church is actually near my house, but we are currently attending a local denominational, institutional church (waiting for Hubby to study the NT church more with me.....he's getting there!).
I say this to encourage anyone out there who is looking for a biblical church not to give up! They are rare, but they do exist! The one I hope to be a part of soon doesn't have a name and does not associate with any denomination, they just call them the little Church that meets at their house, and they study the bible for exactly what it says instead of listening to others' hand-me-down doctrines! They also keep in touch with other like-minded house churches all over the world! It is so refreshing, and it is challenging because I am hearing truth that I have never heard taught before (some of it is new, some my baptist heritage actually got right!), so it makes me study more for myself to confirm what he is teaching (or prove him wrong, but I haven't found that yet).
I have desired this kind of fellowship and bible study for more than half my life now, and it has been about 3 years since Chrysinda and I stumbled upon it (or rather, God led us to these people), so I can wait a little longer for my beloved to understand these things better for himself. :) I just wanted to blog about this topic though because it is so important. I am very passionate about doing what the word of God says, not doing things the way I want or the way everyone else or a denomination or some -ism tells me to do them!
So watch for the "Early Church" blogs/tags. :) I want to write about various topics as I am studying them more. I do hope you are blessed reading and studying this for yourself, and please, if you find Scripture to prove me wrong on any point, I will change the blog to be accurate! It is God's Church done God's way, and I don't want to screw that up!
I'll leave you with a visual image of what the New Testament Church looks like in practice.
Aren't remote controls funny? I mean, think about it. When I was a kid, I was my dad's remote control. ME! And I don't think I minded too much because I was used to it, plus I had three brothers who shared the responsibility.
But the modern day remote control.....they've been around for a while now, but we still use our own kids sometimes. Why? Because we are always LOSING the remotes!!!! It frustrates Myles so much! I just laugh......until I lose it myself! I don't watch as much TV though, so I don't have to keep up with them as much.
Oh, and another funny thing, Myles always blames the kids. Is that just a natural thing for dads to do? It's always the kids making messes, losing his tools, leaving something out to be tripped over......and losing the remote. I just have to laugh. The kids may never have even stepped foot in the room, but SOMEHOW it is there fault. It has to be! (But sometimes it really is.)
And it also cracks me up when the batteries are running low. For some reason we want to push the buttons harder. That will probably only damage it, not help it. But instead of replacing batteries, we mash the buttons harder, move closer, bang it really hard......and for some reason it still doesn't work! "Kids! Come change the channel for me!"
And the codes..... Nowadays there are codes for the VCR, DVDR, satellite/cable.....and if the batteries come out (at least on our remote) you have to re-enter ALL of the codes! Who keeps track of that little paper that comes with it? Not us! But we do keep track of the computer, so I've bookmarked the codes for his remote. :)
I bought Myles this DVDR for his birthday last year. It was just under $300. They are now discontinued, so I am glad I went ahead and got one. Check out the current price!!!!!
But, it is useless without the remote, which Myles decided a few weeks ago must have gotten mixed in with the trash! Seriously, you cannot do anything with this if you do not have the remote, except maybe watch the one channel it is set on, but that can change if you have it set to record, so whatever it recorded last, you can watch that channel. So I had to buy him a new remote, which only ended up costing just over $20 including shipping. Well, he shouldn't have to worry about losing it again because Jayla crawled under the bed today and found the first one! It was hiding very well! So now we have two that both work very well. :)
Okay, I'll stop rambling, but I just think remotes and the men who use them are funny! Please share your own funny remote control stories or feel free to offer suggestions on how to keep up with them! Myles just sits or lays on the bed to watch, so it usually gets lost on or under the bed. :)
This is what we need, but with 4 kids in a two bedroom, 1100 square foot house, we have no room for it!
Oh, I nearly forgot to post about camp a few weeks ago! These pics were in a different folder!
I can't really tell you much about it since I wasn't there, but Myles and Jonathan both had a really great time. Myles said they did a lot of fun activities, and Jonathan had fun with it all and did a great job. Oh, and I have to mention that Myles got a bulls eye on his very first archery experience! He just laughed and said it was an accident though! I don't think he actually aimed. Ha!!
Jonathan's best friend in Cub Scouts is Johnny (isn't that funny?), and Myles said they were inseparable all weekend. He seems like a sweet kid, so I'm glad they get along well.
He got all 10 shots on the paper!!! They had to go through the maze without moving the cans. They learned how to make a gurney.....then they dropped the poor kid! Jonathan and his daddy slept in the red tent. It is just the perfect size for the two of them. Getting set up for archery. The arrow in the middle was from Myles' shot! They really did have fun, I promise! They were waiting on someone here, I think. The group that was hiking together. Click to enlarge.....this was a waterfall! A better picture of Johnny and Jonathan. :)
Myles took a lot more pictures of the surrounding nature. It really is beautiful there, but I don't want to post them all. Besides, it's one of those "you had to be there" type things. It's always much prettier in person! Plus a lot of his pictures are blurry. Haha!
In an effort to catch up a little more quickly, I'll just post the rest of my April pictures together. :)
Daddy and Jayla
Mommy and Jonathan
Park day with Mandie's kids......this is Lilly.
Jacob and Josh love to play together. They were looking for ants and attacking them with sticks.
Jack tried to imitate them. He loves playing with sticks!
The puppies at 1 week old. They were 4 weeks old yesterday!!!
One of my 4 little monkeys :)
I made Jonathan his own baby carrier when Jack was first born. He carried Jack in it a few times, when I was nearby, of course. Why is he still using it now?
For puppies!!!!
And Jack is very curious!
That's all from April! I'm getting close to catching up! Well, I still haven't blogged about Thanksgiving, Christmas and our vacation last fall, but I'll eventually get to that too. (sigh)
And here is what they were laying under!
On to the dinosaurs:
This is just gross, but Jonathan insisted we get a picture!
And then the animals native to Oklahoma....there were quite a few, so I'll just post some of my favs.
cotton tail rabbit
Prairie dog
Rattle snake!
Red fox and den of babies below
Jacob is bird watching here. At the time it was pretty funny, but I guess you had to be there. :)
Afterward we met Daddy at a pizza place and stuffed ourselves with pizza and played some games.
