The Italian Memorandum

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle; when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked his students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “yes”.
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. “Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – – GOD, your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions – – and if everything else was lost and only these remained, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.
The sand is everything else – – the small stuff. “If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.” (Mt. 6:33)
“Pay attention to the things that are critical to your soul: Prayer and serving God, playing with your children, taking time to get medical checkups. Taking your spouse out to dinner or just playing another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first – – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

-Copied from the Grimsley Tennessee Church of Christ bulletin (8-19-07)

“…knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord…”

(Ephesians 6:8)

Pyapp (pronounced rapidly: pee’-yap) and Granny were my grandfather and grandmother, respectively. Their real names were James and Apollonia. We knew them as Pyapp and Granny. When I was about four years old, Granny put coffee grinds and apple peelings in Pyapp’s empty carton of Half & Half cream. Then, we waited for him to come into the kitchen and add it to his coffee. It happened just as planned. Granny and I laughed our heads off when Pyapp got the garbage scraps instead of the cream. But, it didn’t end there. Pyapp would chase me—all the while pulling out his false teeth and making them chatter. Quite the mayhem for a four year old. I remember bringing my friends over to look at Pyapp. I’d say, “Do the teeth thing!” He’d do it, and we’d all scatter. Summers were often times for spraying Pyapp with the water hose. The chase was on. One thing is for sure, Pyapp and Granny invested in people, not things.

Are we taking time enough for people? No doubt about it, our days are filled with so many activities. We can’t do everything, but we can do something; and, what we can do, we should do; and what we should do, by the grace of God, we will do. Evaluate how your time is spent. Are you investing in people or in things? Relationships matter. Relationships should take precedence. Jesus told his disciples, “…I have called you friends…” (John 15:15).

Pyapp and Granny no longer sit under the breezes of the cottonwood tree. But, we remember what it was like when they invested their time, not in things, but in people. Ephesians 6:8 (quoted above) still applies. Let’s re-invest in the work.

-Robert M. Housby

Two Special Months: Aug. – Sept.

“…and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective…”

(Philemon 6)

Who may participate?
New Testament Christians (Acts 11:26; 19:1-5).

What would I be doing in this “Evangelistic Emphasis” ?
There will be special August and September Tuesday and Thursday night meetings (6:30 p.m. at church bldg.). These meetings will be opportunities to assess where we are with the contacts. It is not necessary that you attend all such meetings to be involved. Depending on your background, some will actually be conducting Bible studies. Others will not be making actual gospel presentations, but will be doing support ministries. Evangelistic Support Ministries (ESM):

E – Enlisting the names of loved ones who need Christ and have yet to make a commitment toward becoming a New Testament Christian.

S – Specific Supplication prayers for this effort.

M – Manage to attend meetings; make recommendations regarding your submitted names; organize our materials; and go with our new-converts into a New Christians Class.

Jesus said, “If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him” (John 12:26).

– Robert M. Housby

“When a man’s ways please the Lord,

he makes even his enemiesto be at peace with him”

(Proverbs 16:7)

“Now before he [Enoch] was taken he was commended as having pleased God”

(Hebrews 11:5)

Do your ways please God? The Bible is full of instances which depict: land pleasing man; woman pleasing man; man pleasing woman; servants pleasing kings; and, yes, man pleasing God (Gen. 49:15; Neh. 2:7; 1 Cor. 7:33,34; Heb. 11:5). We have noticed that there appears a rather definite theology of pleasing God in the book of Hebrews.

1. 10:6,8,38 – God determines what is pleasing, and what is not.
2. 11:5 – The example of Enoch.
3. 11:6 – The principle of faith as essential to pleasing God.
4. 12:28 – The exhortation to offer acceptable worship as pleasing.
5. 13:16 – The act of praise and doing good pleases God.
6. 13:21 – The clarification that doing his will is God pleasing when done through Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:13 reads: “…for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Do your ways please the Lord?

– Robert M. Housby

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols”

(1 John 5:21)

The New Testament scholar, Dr. Neil Lightfoot, recounts the old line of American liberal theology in 5 general observations (Notes taken September 7, 1989, RMH). Since these observations are still a part of American mentality, we make them available, as follows:

1. God is pure goodness and love. All men are his children. Sin does not separate man from his love. So, let us talk of, and emphasize, brotherhood and the Fatherhood of God.

2. Man, likewise is good; a spark of the divine. Men need only to be encouraged to express their natural goodness.

3. Jesus Christ is man’s savior in the qualified sense that he is a perfect example and teacher; though there is nothing really unique about him. He was not born of a virgin; didn’t work miracles; and, was not raised from the dead.

4. Christianity is different from other religions only in that it is the highest and best that has so far appeared.

5. The Bible is not a record of divine revelation. Bible doctrine is not necessary or normative. The essence of Christianity is ethical, not doctrinal.

The above should be carefully studied and understood, because they are where many Americans live (especially see 1 John chap. 5 and Romans chap. 3).

– Robert M. Housby

“…what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

(1 Peter 4:17)

We have come across some information that, while we have known as much, the impact of the stats are staggering. According to the research of Dr. John Palmer—

19 out of every 20 who become a Christian do so before age 25.

After 25, only 1 in 10,000 respond
After 35, only 1 in 50,000 respond
After 45, only 1 in 200,000 respond
After 55, only 1 in 300,000 respon
After 65, only 1 in 500,000 respond
Afyter 75, only 1 in 700,000 respond
After 85, only 1 in a million.

Dr. Palmer goes on to say, “It is evident that the time to make Christians is when the mind is still plastic, and the habits are not yet fixed, and when sin has not yet fastened its death grip upon that life” (Dictionary of Prophetic Terms, Signs & Symbols, Star Bible Publications, p. 75). This data is based upon a 6 billion world-wide population (2000).

To obey the gospel is to become a Christian at the point of Christian baptism (Romans 6:3-5; 6:17). Do you know of a loved one who has put off this act of submission to the Lord Jesus? Perhaps they will realize that it won’t be long for most, and can’t be very long for any. Have you obeyed the gospel yet?

-Robert M. Housby

“You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”

(Acts 2:28 ESV)

In our experience, the typical preaching emphasis of Acts 2 has been to use 2:28 to get to 2:38. Perhaps, it can be argued that the plan of salvation is so beautifully arranged in that one single verse of 2:38 that 2:28 is something of a stepping stone. However, we have found that Acts 2:28 holds real delight for those who have already been added to the church, according to Acts 2:41.

1. Acts 2:28 comes from Psalm 16, a Psalm of David. As such, Christians are reminded that Jesus is David’s ultimate Messianic subject (2:25). We are, therefore, a people of the Messiah: with a royalty behind us, and a majesty before us (2:30,37).

2. In Psalm 16:11, David speaks in the first person. The life of David was bound up in the coming of Messiah. Christians are people whose lives, also, are bonded to their Lord, inseparable with him—one with Christ, we say.

3. Acts 2:28 (because of the above observations) offers specific benefits:

a. Knowledge –         Cognitive (logos)
b. The paths of life – Moral (ethos)
c. Full of gladness –   Emotional (pathos)
d. Your presence –     Spiritual (theos)

– Robert M. Housby

(The following list has been adapted from the respected scholarship of G.R. Beasley-Murray, in his book, Baptism in the New Testament. “Baptism saves, not because water washes dirt from the body, but as the occasion when a man is met by the risen Christ” (pp. 264-265).

1. The forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).
2. The cleansing from sins (Acts 22:16; 1 Cor. 6:11).
3. Union with Christ (Gal. 3:27).
4. Union in his death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-6; Col. 2:10-12).
5. Release from sins power and guilt (Romans 6:1-11, 17-18).
6. Participation in Christ’s Sonship (Gal. 3:26,27).
7. Consecration to God (1 Cor. 6:11).
8. Membership in the church, the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).
9. Possession of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
10. New life in the Spirit and regeneration (Jn. 3:5; Tit. 3:5).
11. Help to live according to the will of God (Rom. 6:6-7; 11-14).
12. The answer of a good conscience toward God (1 Pet. 3:21).

From time to time, we meet people who have been exposed to a denominational type of Christianity, who reject what the Bible says about baptism. They make up their own little creeds about baptism and recite the doctrines of men rather than what the Scriptures affirm about it. They contend that baptism is an outward expression of an inward grace, and so forth. But, as the above scripture references confirm, Calvinistic–saved at the altar type experiences–are but human substitutes for the Word of God—“Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21).

Would you obey the command to be baptized and become a New Testament Christian today? The benefits are for those who are Scripturally baptized.

– Robert M. Housby

“…they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one”

(Hebrews 11:16)

Growing up in northern Illinois, where fireworks were not legally sold, naturally I was overjoyed when my friend informed me that his family was traveling to Missouri and that he had plans to bring back boxes of fireworks. That summer was spent throwing firecrackers at passing cars from a concealed location across a canal, where the culprits could not be seen. The adrenaline flowed like soda that summer. Many years later (having repented of those deeds) and now living in Missouri, with Boomland so near, I could care less. Isn’t that the way it is with immaturity? We think that we know what we want out of life, and then when it comes our way we have lost interest. Still, the “precious faith” (2 Peter 1:1) is persistently and consistently precious. It does not wane with the years; sag with the tears; or feign with the rain. The Christian faith has a hope that begins in this life and reaches into the next.

Some Christian groups (individuals), in order to pursue their immature need for the pops and cracks of adolescence, must worship with the innovations of musical bands; religious garments; incense; statues of saints; holy water; ad infinitum. But, we did not so learn Christ (see Eph. 4:20). These sensual aspects of church worship are a better reflection of pagan culture, than the Acts of the Apostles (Eph. 4:17-24).

That happy place is neither Missouri nor Boomland, but heaven (Colossians 1:5). May your hope bring you to worship God daily, in the specific splendor of the simplicity which is in Christ (2 Cor. 11:3,4).

– Robert M. Housby

“…they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”

(2 Peter 1:8)

What is meant by Christian development? 2 Peter 1:8 suggests that Christian development may be (and should be) measured along the lines of being effective and fruitful. To lack the qualities that result in this development is a critical problem (see 2 Peter 1:8-11).

1. Christian development means, first, becoming a Christian (2 Peter 1:1,2).
2. Christian development involves aspiring to the divine nature (2 Peter 1:3,4).
3. Christian development necessitates pursuing certain qualities (2 Peter 1:5-15).

a. Faith – virtue (1:5)
b. virtue – knowledge (1:5b)
c. knowledge – self-control (1:6)
d. self-control – steadfastness (1:6b)
e. steadfastness – godliness (1:6c)
f. godliness – brotherly affection (1:7)
g. brotherly affection – love (1:7b)

The apostle’s list of qualities activates an effective and fruitful lifestyle (2 Peter 3:18). The word produces our thinking; our thinking produces our emotions; our emotions produce our decisions; our decisions produce our actions; our actions produce our habits; our habits produce our character; and, our character produces our destiny. Life in the overflow.

– Robert M. Housby