Hang on for dear life.

Here two of our Pal women read through scripture portions and the main points of the day’s lesson. We are seeing lots of ladies with a real desire to understand God’s Word.

For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.  But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
(Gal 3:21-22 NIV)

The Law

This week we spent lots of time talking about the law and about how there is no way to do something good according to the law. Our friends were a bit shocked that there was no balance scale for them, that God judges the heart, and that each sin – even only one – deserves one penalty; death.

We spent lots of time talking about the false thinking that, as long as you are doing better than your neighbor, you are doing fine. Many of our pal friends began to take things especially seriously when we talked about how ‘sorry talk’ doesn’t pay our sin debt. There were quite a few of our friends who spoke to us after the teaching on Friday saying, ‘we have sores in our stomachs over this.’ (which by the way, is a very good thing.)

We use the analogy of grabbing a rope in our teaching. We actually hung up a rope with pictures of creation and the labels ‘God’s strength’ and ‘God’s good understanding’. We hung up another string , broken and ragged conveniently calling it ‘man’s strength’.  Over and over this week we’ve talked about not trying to hang from man’s strength but solely depending on God’s strength and understanding to be made right.

We don’t say much about our kids’ involvement in the teaching, but they are helping out in lots of ways. Here Noah reads to the other kids while the moms and dads take time to reinforce the day’s lesson. (He’s not technically babysitting – there is always an adult in the house – he is just helping to take the load.)

This week

Monday: We talk about the children of Israel getting to the promised land and the spying out of the land. They reject God’s strength and are condemned to die in the wilderness. We will emphasize that God’s promises have a time limit and that this is their time to hear and accept the truth.

Tuesday: We will be talking about the bronze snake that looking at the snake in faith was God’s way of healing the people. We’ll also be talking about Moses striking the rock rather than speaking to it. We’ll emphasize that there is no one who can do their own thing and hope that it is acceptable to God.

Wednesday: We’ll be talking about the possession of the land of Canaan by the Israelites. We’ll be covering the whole book of Judges as well, ending with the story of the appointment of Saul as king of Israel. “They have rejected me as king,” said God.

Thursday – Tuesday – We will be taking a break from the teaching schedule to allow our friends to do a major portion of their garden work for the next couple of months. They’ll be clearing new gardens and planting  food that will keep body and soul together for January through March.

Pray for us as we use that time to finalize a few of the last lessons for the teaching. I’ve got 5 more to write and Chris has 6. Please pray for our families as well as this intense time has been very stretching.

Well, that is about it for this week, thanks so much for praying.

Nate for us.