Jack gave a PowerPoint Presentation sermon on the Parable of the Wheat and Tares in several of the places we visited.  We received many requests for a copy of the quotes from that sermon.  A PDF file of the Scripture and Spirit of Prophecy quotes is available by accessing the link below.

The Parable of the Wheat and Tares handout

Wheat Tares Chart

We will be working on making the quotes for the Ten Virgin Parable, along with its chart, available as soon as possible.

We left northeast Washington in late October and arrived home 19,552 miles later on Tuesday, May 11 .

Jesus says in John 14 that He’s preparing a home for us and we can’t wait to go Home.  Though we have enjoyed our travels and meeting everyone, it’s good to settle down for a few months and start working on clearing our land.  Our church family is glad to have us back home as well.

We appreciated the hospitality of everyone, especially those who allowed us to park on their property.  We also appreciated the support we received from various ones as we conducted our meetings as well as those of you who have faithfully supported us through the years even though we didn’t get to see you.  We made many new friends as well as renewing old friendships.  Everywhere we went, we were requested to come again next year.  We hope we will be able to do that.

A very special reason of getting home as quickly as we could was the new grandbaby born about a week before we got home.  Wednesday, May 12, we visited our daughter and her family, anxious to see the grandchildren, especially the newest one.

Allen and Makenzie were not expecting us until June so they were especially surprised to see us.

I apologize for not keeping up with the daily posting.  When we’re on the road all the time I find it’s not as easy as I thought it would be to keep up the posts.  So let me catch you up a little here with some brief posts of what we have been up to.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010, we took the metro into D.C. getting off at the “mall” — the area where everything happens, the area where all the crowds are during major events such as an inauguration.  We looked around the saw the Washington monument right away.

Making an 180 degree turn, we saw the nation’s capital–

We walked all around the mall checking out the various museums.  We went into the original Smithsonian and looked around.

There are many other buildings that belong to the Smithsonian.  We spent quite a bit of time in the Air and Space Museum.

After leaving the Air and Space Museum we walked up to where we could a closer look at the capital building.  We didn’t get as close as to walk up the steps, but we close enough to get a better picture.

If we wanted to see anything we walked and the next thing we wanted to see was the White House. 

Not only did we walk everywhere, but it was cool and windy a good share of the day.  We did get some periods of sun that really, really helped.

We wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial, but didn’t want to ask anyone, so we started walking some more and it was a long walk getting there.

And then we had to walk back.  Had we worn a pedometer we think we would have clocked 10 miles.  Our feet were most happy to get back on the train for the ride back to the car.

Sunday, April 25, we took a sight-seeing trip to Gettysburg, PA.  That town is FULL of history. 

 It was just as foggy Sunday as it was during the 3-day battle there in 1863.

We took a 2-hour historic bus tour of the battlefields.

After the tour we drove back to the cemetary and walked around.

Sunday we left Sneedville for a couple days of R & R with my cousins in Knoxville – sisters to the cousin we saw in Arkansas the week before.

Janet has an old family album that belonged to our grandmother, the mother of her father and my mother, who died before my mom or my uncle ever got married.  So we’re still trying to learn more about her side of the family.

We scanned every picture in this album so we can share these pictures with our siblings and try to do some research into the family ancestry.

We were in Knoxville at the time of the Dogwood Arts Festival, so Janet took us around the city on one of the Dogwood trails.  By the time we took the ride, most of th dogwoods were well done blooming, but the azaleas were in full bloom.

Sunday afternoon we arrived at my cousin’s house in the Ozark mountains.  These mountains, at their highest, are about as high as we were in the valley up in Priest River, Idaho.  Linda lives on a small farm. Her husband is away periodically for tree-planting and he left Sunday morning for his next job in Minnesota, so we missed him.  They have about 4 cows and they milk them cows by hand (two are milking at present). They have a horse, about 40-50 chickens, a dog, and 4 or 5 barn cats (Linda said they have no mice in the barn).  They also raise a goodly garden.

The last time I saw Linda was when she was pregnant with Sara, who is 16.  While Linda milked the cows Monday morning, Sara fixed a delicious breakfast.

In heaven we won’t ever have to say good-bye.  Family reunions will last for eternity.

Thursday was departure day.  We have been here for a week and it was a wonderful week, a windy week, a week of visiting with some study sessions thrown in, too.  We couldn’t leave without one last picture–

Shirley and her daughter Terri, have taken in Earl, a young man just released from prison.  He found the Lord while incarcerated due to Bible studies through Terri’s prison ministry, and was baptized about four years ago.  He has a very strong faith in the Lord and a good understanding of the Scriptures.  Shirley and Terri are helping him get all his necessary paperwork done so he will be able to become gainfully employed.

Sunday afternoon we took an hours’ journey to Jay, Oklahoma to spend a couple days with my aunt.  We had not seen her since my uncle passed away eight years ago.

Jack raked many a bag of leaves, mowed the lawn, & repaired an outdoor water faucet.

Aunt Alyce has always been a studier and at 85 her mind is still very sharp. We had some good discussions on several erroneous teachings being taught within Adventism today.

Alyce

Jesus, during His ministry on earth, presented old truths in a new light.  Through the promise and power of the Holy Spirit, His disciples would also be able to present “old” truth in a fresh new perspective. 

Thus God’s word is a treasure house of knowledge never to be exhausted.  The truths to be found in His word will continually be unfolded to us as we search, search, search.

“Ever since the first promise of redemption was spoken in Eden, the life, the character, and the mediatorial work of Christ have been the study of human minds. Yet every mind through whom the Holy Spirit has worked has presented these themes in a light that is fresh and new. The truths of redemption are capable of constant development and expansion. Though old, they are ever new, constantly revealing to the seeker for truth a greater glory and a mightier power.

“In every age there is a new development of truth, a message of God to the people of that generation. The old truths are all essential; new truth is not independent of the old, but an unfolding of it. It is only as the old truths are understood that we can comprehend the new. When Christ desired to open to His disciples the truth of His resurrection, He began ‘at Moses and all the prophets’ and ‘expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.’ Luke 24:27. But it is the light which shines in the fresh unfolding of truth that glorifies the old. He who rejects or neglects the new does not really possess the old. For him it loses its vital power and becomes but a lifeless form.” COL 127-128

May old treasure be seen in a new light today!

We learned in Matt. 13:44 that hidden treasure needs to be sought out (see “Search for Hidden Treasure”).

In Matt. 13:52 Jesus says the things concerning the kingdom of heaven are “like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”  What does that mean?

An “old” treasure would be something like John 3:16.  We all know that God loved the world so much that He gave us His only Son, the whoever believes on Him might have eternal life.  That’s an “old” truth that never gets old.

A “new” treasure from God’s word might be something you just read that caused a light bulb to come on in your head as you say, “So that’s what that means! Praise the Lord!” 

God’s holy word is His treasure house of truth for us to explore and it’s filled with unsearchable riches.  We can never exhaust our study of His word.

Another definition for “treasures new and old” would be the New and Old Testaments of the Bible.  Consider this from Christ’s Object Lessons, pg. 126:

“The word of God includes the Scriptures of the Old Testament as well as of the New. One is not complete without the other. Christ declared that the truths of the Old Testament are as valuable as those of the New. Christ was as much man’s Redeemer in the beginning of the world as He is today. . .

“Christ as manifested to the patriarchs, as symbolized in the sacrificial service, as portrayed in the law, and as revealed by the prophets, is the riches of the Old Testament. Christ in His life, His death, and His resurrection, Christ as He is manifested by the Holy Spirit, is the treasure of the New Testament. Our Saviour, the outshining of the Father’s glory, is both the Old and the New.”

Have you gone into God’s storehouse of knowledge today?  There are many treasures awaiting you!