Tim’s Blog – Page 21 – WALKER HOME SERVICES

Bible School Class of 2022

It is always a joy to have the privilege to teach a class of hungry hearted believers each year as we have been working out of Mexico. It is also always a challenge every single class. The greatest challenge for me always seems to simply abide in Christ and be sensitive to His leading Spirit to guide. Funny how easy it can be at times to teach the class that the most important thing is to abide in Christ through faith and while teaching that very thing you yourself can slip into a disposition of self confidence or control.

At the end of last week, I finished the class on the Bible overview. This class, though it is an “overview” of the Bible, is unique as it relentlessly focuses on the main point of it all, constantly returning to Christ in all things from Genesis to Revelation. At the culmination of the class is the “great work of Christ” through His death, burial, descension, resurrection and ascension being seated on high. It is always exciting to see how students receive the spiritual truths of God’s work not only for them, but with them… “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself”. This means you and I, before we were ever born, God knew us and we were reconciled to Him. What a mystery how timeless God’s work is. “What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did!” What did God do? He baptized you into Christ’s death and you went along with Christ from then all the way into heaven “in Him”. The salvation you received when you first believed was already done and waiting for you the whole time you walked in an aimless dead condition prior to your hearing about it and believing it. What settling news. How finished is your salvation, for it is Christ who died, was buried and rose. How righteous and secure is Christ? The answer to that question answers also the question of how righteous and secure you are.

On Monday, we began the second class I teach which is “How to interpret the Bible”. It’s a lot of fun to relay the basic tools of Bible exegesis which have been my job for the past 27 years or so. After about 5 classes on basic principles of the Bible (i.e. where it came from, original languages, manuscripts and texts, translations, culture, context, etc.), the main point of this class is to exercise your inner senses to above all these things “hear what the Spirit” is saying. After teaching all these tools, it’s fun then to spend the a few weeks actually studying the Bible together with no agenda other than to read what it says and listen to the Lord seeking to put these things into practice.

I took this small video this morning of the class with you in mind.

I’ve been pondering that all this work is meaningless if it is not the Lord who teaches us what He wants to and so, I was hoping you may pray for these people as the Spirit leads you to. Maybe there is one person that stands out to you. It’s is certainly a mystery how that one prayer could completely change a life, which could completely change the world around that life.

Thanks so much. I’ve stayed away from tennis or exercise for now and no more migraines. I want to understand what’s happening in my neck before I continue to do the things which may aggravate it.

“All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

Matthew 11:27

Migraines

Just a quick prayer request if you would be so kind. For some years, I’ve had a degenerating issue in my neck which has been causing headaches. They are very annoying and debilitating, usually for a day or two. However, in this recent year, I have been also getting migraines after certain physical motions like tennis or over head exercises. I love to try to keep fit and also play sports as much as I can but wow, it’s been like clock work 2 hours after tennis, on comes the blind spots, then the headache.

A week ago Saturday, I had the worst migraine I’ve ever had in my life. I typically don’t get them, but with whatever issue is in my neck, the worse it gets. Getting older each year doesn’t seem to help.

So, I went to see the doctor here who is an excellent MD that I trust. He wants me to get an MRI. I just got off the phone with the radiology facility and am booked for an MRI this Friday the 18th.

I would appreciate your prayers that we could find out what is happening in my neck and find a way to correct it. It has been an on going issue for many years, of which the Lord has not healed me. The migraine I had on Saturday was pure pain and misery. The nausea and the pain were so intense my body could only react by crying. I did learn some precious things through that difficult moment and so, I thank the Lord for the trial, but I’m also asking Him to heal me of it whether it be by His hand directly or by His hand through these wonderful doctors and professionals that He has blessed me with.

Thank you,

Photo Album from the P’s

Here is an album of some additional photos that we recently received from the P’s. These photos are from G’s village after the presentation of Bibles to G’s church and the surrounding area churches.

It is touching to see the impact that your gifts had on so many people who otherwise could not have afforded to pay for their own Bible.

Click the play button to scroll through the photos automatically or click the arrows to the right or left of the photos to scroll through them manually. It might take up to 15 seconds to start the automatic scroll.

Question from John

John Howard asked the question, “One part of the story that I haven’t heard is how the P’s learn to read. You say that you think thousands of them are reading their Bibles, so some method must have been used to teach them to read.”

Good question John. The vast majority of the P population between the ages of 10-40 are fairly literate. They all learn how to read in the government schools which are situated in their respective villages. However, the government schools only teach them how to read in Spanish, so this throws a bit of a curve ball at them when it comes to reading in their own language.

However, we are so grateful for the early missionaries, particularly Alli Findley and Mary Lou Yount, who developed readers and syllable charts in the P language and taught literacy before Robin and I ever arrived. This gave a large percentage of the nation the ability to read in their own language. Most can sound out words, but there is a lower percentage of readers that can read well with sight words. So, the majority of these “thousands” of P’s that are now reading their Bibles are also honing their reading skills as there are virtually no reading materials in their language other than the Bible.

This brings us to a great topic and that is the topic of literacy. The Silva brothers have adapted Mary Lou’s reading Primer and desire to have it printed as they desire to launch a reading program across the P nation. Nereo just sent me the final version of the Primer which he worked on for me to proof read it. Once it’s approved by me and Nereo, I will send it to the Print shop in Bogota for a quote to see how much per copy it would be to print 20,000 Primers. At that time, we will be raising the money for that project as well and Nereo wants to launch a nation wide reading program and train teachers to get out to all the villages and teach the children to read first in their own language. This is really exciting news as the better they can read, the better they will be able to read and study the Scriptures.

We are very grateful for Mary Lou’s wisdom in using as much of the Spanish orthography as possible (i.e. the ‘W’ sound she wrote with the Spanish ‘Hu’ so that the reader would not have to learn two symbols for the same sound).

Thanks for the question John. Let me know if you have any more.

“It is the Spirit who gives life” John 6:63

Getting over Covid took a bit of rest, but I’m happy to be back in the saddle and working again. Classes are daily and going well. I see that the well being of the class has more to do with the hunger in the student and the enlightenment which the Spirit gives them than it has to do with my ability to teach, though having ability to teach is greatly appreciated. There’s nothing worse than being in a teaching position, looking down at your notes and drawing a blank. On the flip side, there’s nothing better than being energized with the Spirit of Life in Christ and having your inner most being bubbling over with living water to share. So, it all comes down to the Spirit of Christ in all, both in the teacher and in the student. I wonder what God plans to do in and through each life represented in my class. In the near future, I hope to introduce you to them.

Which brings up the topic of my email updates. For some time, I’ve been realizing that email is not the only way to communicate and in today’s day and age, there are so many simple tools available to use in staying connected. So with Rick’s expertise and great help, I’ve started a blog page on my old work website. When you click on the link (as you have already), it will take you to a private and secure page on my website where you can view videos and photos much easier than by me trying to send them in an email. I also hope to include audio messages from time to time as well. Once on the page, we will likely open up commenting options for you too, if you would like to post a comment there, but you don’t have to and you can also continue to reply privately to this email address.

In summary, there’s tons going on with the P’s right now. The big news obviously being that they now have their own copies of their Bible in hand and it’s making it’s way all over the P world. E is currently transporting a pile of them to various villages. Pray for them now that they read their Bible and that the Spirit opens their understanding to His divine thought and truths. Robin and I wondered the other day, “How many of them are reading their Bible?” I bet you literally thousands of them are diligently reading. Just think of the Lord speaking to their hearts! May He use them to change their world. Russell says there is a major revival going on in Venezuela. I can’t help but wonder how the P’s are meant to be part of that. They have so much to share.

Other news from the P’s is that, just like that, they ran out of Bibles! E estimates the need for at least another 15,000 which could be used immediately. So, Rick will be updating the fund raising website soon at which time I’ll send out an email to raise awareness. If we have the funds, we can print more while we have the open door to transport with Russell’s people.

I’ve started cleaning up the recording studio and want to get it furnished and up and running soon so that I can get back to recording Bible teaching and music. I will keep you posted on that too.

We still are without internet, so I’m using my cell phone to create a mobile hotspot to write this email. Once we get internet, I will be able to keep you more updated.

In the meantime, check out the latest videos below.

Thank you for your prayers and all the encouraging notes. Much appreciated.