Matthew: A History of Y’shua the Messiah (Matthew 1:1-17)

Although our ministry is centered around hospitality, much of the spiritual growth has come through teaching the Word on a regular basis.  Since many of our readers have shared in this ministry through  giving and prayer, we have decided to share some of the benefits here.

We have completed a two year journey through Matthew and have decided to publish, on a weekly basis, the teaching handouts that Eric prepared.  (You may freely share them with others but they are not to be used in any form for sale without contacting us first.)

Matthew: A History of Y’shua the Messiah (Matthew 1:1-17)

 One way to look at the Old Testament is to see that, beginning in Genesis, mankind is in a serious predicament because of sin.  We need redemption.  Then beginning in Genesis 12 we follow God’s program of providing a channel of redemption.  Through the means of a specially chosen people, God would interact with them in their long history to be the people out of whom would arise a Redeemer.

In Matthew 1:1-17, the writer recounts the genealogy of this Redeemer through which he goes on to explain His birth, His teaching, His death, and His resurrection.  This Redeemer was Jesus.

Matthew refers to Him as “Jesus Christ” meaning literally “anointed savior.”  To get background on this anointed one (Messiah in Hebrew), we must study the Old Testament—a library of sacred books written in Hebrew and Aramaic over a period of 1500 years by Hebrew prophets.  200 years before Matthew’s day, this collection of writings was translated into everyday Greek—the language used throughout the Roman Empire from England to India and the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.  Thus, these sacred books became accessible to those who could read or could understand the reading of this common language.  (Not long after Jesus’ death, an ex-Jewish general turned historian named Josephus wrote a popularization of the history contained in these books for the enlightenment of the empire.)  While the theme of the Old Testament mostly concerns God’s working and teaching in and through Israel, there is a larger purpose that repeats itself over and over.  God desires Israel to be a light to the entire world.  But Israel fails in this task most miserably.  She even fails to live up to the light in her own national boundaries.  Lest we read with smugness we must understand that the history of the rest of the world—even the so-called “Christian” nations—have not fared much better.  A quick read through of the Cambridge Shorter History of the Western World sounds every bit as sordid as that of Israel and Judah.  Have God’s purposes been thwarted?

Matthew will show us that this Messiah, Jesus, would be the One who will successfully fulfill God’s mandate to call out and energize a people that share the light of the glorious gospel to the whole world.  This book is the story of what that means and how it came about.  As various technical terms are mentioned in the text we will discuss them with special application to the way Matthew is using the term.  He doesn’t always give us a complete understanding of the term when it is first mentioned but saves the full explanation as the opportunity arises to illustrate the meaning in Jesus’ actions and teaching.  We will attempt to follow Matthew’s cues in this although we recognize that we are now armchair explorers who have some idea how this story goes.

As we open Matthew and read through his genealogy of Jesus, there are several peculiar features that should stand out.  It is as if Matthew deliberately provided little surveyor flags with their brightly colored streamers to point out to the reader, “Hey, what do you think this is about?”  (This method is also used in helping us to understand Jesus’ words and works throughout the book.)  In this case, note that most ancient genealogies contained only the names of men!  Who, then, are the five women named here?  Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba) and even Mary are all surprise interjections of suspicious character.  The first four are not even Israelites – they are Gentiles!  And Mary has gotten pregnant before the wedding—and not by the husband!  All but Ruth and Mary had a history of immorality and Mary was suspected of it!  Jesus is not just born into a family of mortals but of sinners!

Speaking of men, four of the men named here are listed in the great “faith chapter” in Hebrews 11: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David.  Were these four always faithful men?  Eight of the men named here are called “evil” in Scripture: Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Joram (also called Jehoram in Scripture), Ahaz, Manasseh, Amos (also called Amon and not to be confused with a prophet Amos), and Jeconiah.  There are seven men named here who are called “good” in Scripture: David, Asaph (also called Asa), Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah.

With all these kings and the royal line, the question that naturally arises is, why isn’t the redeemer born in a palace?  The story of the Babylonian exile and the resulting loss of the control of their own nation is the subject of much of the Old Testament.  The royal line still lives – but as obscure peasants.

So, Matthew begins with a seemingly hopeless situation to present the Author of hope—Jesus Christ—who comes exactly as prophesied through this unlikely channel.

An honest look at the human legacy of our own family will have its own stains amidst the glories of the past.  But the Redeemer is coming into the world in no better circumstances.

-- © 2017 Eric H Thimell

Encouragement on the Way

Recently, I received a terse email from a long time missionary friend in another country. There was shocking news about destruction and death and divine protection and a warning not to re-post on the internet but a request to just pray. Even here in peaceful Mountain Home where we minister to the military community we can't share everything that is happening due to confidentiality and security needs but we still need prayer coverage and we still want our team members to be as informed as possible. We still have our regular meetings and events but we are also spending more one-on-one time than ever before—and the Lord is enabling us.


At the same time we have seen our Friday night attendance really growing. We had 47 this last Friday. This was a record. (How many will your living room hold?) We had (barely) enough schweinebraten, spätzli and rotkohl so we need to make appropriate adjustments in our future meal planning! Kudos to Suzie and her German-Swiss cuisine. Her Swiss or German made Betty Bossi spätzli-machine is on life support so we are trying to find a replacement.

Last year we were astonished at the bumper crop of babies born to families in the fellowship. This year we may have even more than last! I suggested that Ed bottle the house water! At the same time there are some families here desperately praying they could be in on this blessing also. This is quite distressing for some. Please pray!

We are continuing the Andy Stanley "Balanced" video series on personal finances. A lot of our folks were genuinely impacted by Andy's plea to pray "Lord, show me how to honor You with my wealth." There is a life-changing lesson in this for all of us.

This past weekend the men and the women separately conducted a half-day of prayer. Okay, it was only 3-1/2 hours but it was life-changing for all of us who participated. God is working!
Sunday, the base chapel highlighted the ministry of En Gedi to the Mountain Home military community. Some of our folks ushered, took up the offering, and read Scripture. We had a very good chapel response as our En Gedi team members were interviewed by Chaplain Schrader and I gave both the children's sermon and preached from 1 John 2:15-17 (Heart Attack).

Our Wednesday night men's study has been ramping up for a new accountability group as well as beginning our new study series with Men's Fraternity soon. Attendance has been temporarily affected by required career training and short-term deployments but we are seeing solid personal growth in spite of these obstacles.

Janet is home and back in the saddle and hard at work even as I write. And I need to get groceries for the fellowship meals this week but you keep praying for us and I will keep you informed as best I can.

One last note of praise. It looks like our work account debit was cut in half due to additional gifts that came in December. Praise the Lord and thank you to our extended ministry team around the world.

Are we there yet? Any time now!

January is nearly half over and we have had quite a bit of snow (and rain) – for Mountain Home. Thank you, Lord! Our high desert valley at the feet of the mountains is usually dry and windy so we are enjoying the moisture. 
 
We are seeing a good response to the ministry of the Word also. Hearts are changing as they take up the challenge to 'go deeper' as Ed Buri has put it. 
 

On January 2^nd we discussed godly contentment in our Friday night study and had an excellent response. Then on January 9^th we picked up the first obstacle to godly contentment: an out of balance financial lifestyle. We began watching the six part Andy Stanley series on Financial Balance.


Meanwhile our men's study continued the study in the attributes of God and they are all committed to our next study called 'The Quest for Authentic Manhood' with Dr. Robert Lewis. This is the original series that began the Men's Fraternity. We are also going to be starting our men's accountability group as an optional add-on after the study time. We had the group up and running until about this same time last year when we lost everyone who was part of the group to transfers and deployments. So we are really encouraged to be able to be re-starting even though there will be some job disruption ahead.



On New Year's Day, Janet left on a two week trip to visit with her ailing step-mom who is in hospice with late-stage Alzheimer's. She stopped in Denver to take Ben with her to Tucson. When she gets home, she will have driven 3400 miles! The Lord helped Ben to get excused from scheduled jury duty so he could go and they have safely returned to Denver so far. Janet will be home this next Thursday night. Irene has trusted the Lord and we pray she will see her Savior soon. She will have her mind again and know as she is known. We are praying for Matt as he sees her slipping away.




The ladies have missed Janet dearly but her Knit-Wits night will kick off again next Tuesday along with her energetic care for these women. She has also been teaching the Bible Study for PWOC on Thursday mornings while I have volunteered to be grandpa in the nursery. Last week we had twice our usual number of kids in what we call 'Wee Joy' due to the 2015 Kick-Off event.

This coming Sunday, our ministry with the Buris at En Gedi Hospitality House will be highlighted at the base chapel and I have been asked to preach. I will be speaking on three things that can attack our heart for the Lord from 1 John 2:15-17.




As we look ahead, we are excited to be able to continue to serve the Lord in this way. We have three scheduled trips ahead that will make it difficult to do very much more out of state travelling. Ben and Megan are planning on a wedding sometime this year in Denver and Elizabeth will be graduating with her PhD from Ohio State. And we have a weeklong mission-wide conference to attend in Wisconsin. (The last one was five years ago. Many of you participated in helping us get there financially.) 
 
By the way, many of you have also helped us pay down our work account debt as well as being regular donors. We're getting there! The Lord will repay your sacrifice but we also wish to thank you on behalf of the men and women in the Mountain Home military community who have benefited by your generosity.


One final note: Cadence International is celebrating over 60 years of service to the military this year. Janet and I have now been serving with Cadence for more than half of that time as well as thirty-seven years of marriage! Wow! Some of you have partnered with us for all these years! Thank you!

The Way Home in 2015

Christmas Eve dinner was a huge success. We had a good turnout in spite of all the squadron parties that competed for attendance. We had a delicious smörgåsbord of lasagna and pasta dishes for dinner! We also had a competition between the gentlemen and the ladies with their own renditions of the 12 Days of Mountain Home Christmas. Here's a group shot. The letters spell out 'Happy Birthday Jesus!'

Well, we had a white Christmas due to a Christmas Eve blizzard – anyway what passes for a blizzard here in Mountain Home, Idaho. (You can stop that snickering you 'Lake Effect States!'  This is our 'Snake Effect!') It was pretty treacherous driving home the 12 miles from the Christmas Eve candlelight service at Liberty chapel. The wind was howling and the snow was horizontal and we could only see a few car lengths ahead on the dark sagebrush lined highway. Fortunately, very few other cars were out. The wind toppled a 100+ year old tree in Railroad Park.

On Christmas I went with an Airman to see 'Unbroken' and, in spite of all the controversy, I can recommend it (for older kids and most adults). It does have some rather tense concentration camp and survival at sea segments that can be quite unsettling but essential to the true story of Louis Zamperini's survival (and what would prove to be just the beginning of his awesome spiritual journey). 
 
Then, as the wind continued to blow, as it does all the time here, the snow began to evaporate rather than melt for the next two days. On Friday evening we had our usual dinner and Bible study but the weather and continuing squadron events kept the attendance down to about six families. 
 
But this morning, the Lord's Day, the dawn greeted us with another four inches of snow. Janet is usually up early and she went out and began shoveling without waking me. But, after I had some coffee I noticed and soon joined her. Hopefully we will have forestalled the formation of ice on the driveway and sidewalks tonight!

It was a great Sunday service although sparsely attended. I think the snow held some back while others are still gone on Christmas leave. Chaplain Schrader challenged us to examine our personal response to false accusations the way that David did in Psalm 7.

This coming Wednesday we will have our final En Gedi event of the year: our New Year's Eve fellowship. We will be having finger foods, board games, and a prayer countdown to the New Year. We are going to use East Coast time so the littlest ones can get home as they need to. We nearly always have 3-6 toddlers and infants.

New Year's Day Janet will be leaving to visit her ailing stepmother in Tucson who is in the last stages of Alzheimer's but still trusting Christ. She has been busily preparing freezer meals for while she is gone.

I plan to teach a series called 'Roadblocks to Godliness.' Our first two related roadblocks are the enemy of contentment and godliness. They will be examined this coming Friday night: 'Love of Strife' and 'Love of Money' from 1 Timothy 6:2-10. We then look at these in some practical ways in the following weeks.

Here's to a contented New Year!

(Lands Sakes!) Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!

Tomorrow, the En Gedi Hospitality House here in Mountain Home, Idaho will be celebrating our annual Christmas Eve Fellowship with dinner at 2 PM followed by a white elephant gift exchange, inspirational carol humming (well some of us actually remember the words!), and sharing Christmas memories from the past. 




 Then at 7 PM we are heading out to Liberty Chapel for the Candlelight service complete with bell choir, carols, and inspirational readings and encouragement from the Word of God. We will have to be seated early because this service is usually packed. 
 

Christmas day we have not scheduled anything at En Gedi because we are encouraging them to share the true meaning of Christmas with their little ones at home and enjoy the day with their families. Some of us are planning to go see "Unbroken" – the new biopic about Louis Zamperini. This will provide an opportunity to talk about the rest of the story that Angelina Jolie left out!



This Friday will be the last regular Bible study of the year. We will have supper at 6 PM followed by our evening fellowship and a look back at 2014 with an eye on making 2015 even better.

Thimell’s Catchup Blog Post

I once thought that putting out a blog every couple of weeks would be quite simple. Yeah, right. That was BEFORE I discovered that Microsoft Word© does not play well with Blogger©. "Use LiveWriter©," they said! Really! It's like going back to Notepad©! Meanwhile, we have sent out about six snail mail newsletters since January 2013 but have not done any blogging. So once again it is time for the Thimells to do some serious catch up reporting on the ministry to the military here in Idaho!
Picking up in February 2013, the snowfall wasn't so bad but stayed on the ground for weeks at a time with below freezing temperatures continuing for even longer. But the fellowship inside was warm although we began to see the first of many of our airmen and their families being moved to new assignments as well as others being temporarily deployed to Afghanistan and other places in the Middle East. By the fall over 2/3 of our people would be gone!
Since our financial support still needed a lot of shoring up, we made a trip back to Colorado in March where we have a lot of praying friends. The Lord has continually stretched our faith over the years but this past year was particularly eventful on this trip and the months following.
While in Colorado Springs I developed severe lower leg pain, cramping, and numbness. After visiting a chiropractor there I experienced some relief but during follow up treatment back in Boise an MRI revealed that I had a bulging disc.
My neurosurgeon operated on May 1 and found a bone fragment had migrated downward pinching the nerve bundle leading to my leg. He performed a hemilaminectomy (http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-hemilaminectomy.htm) and removed the bone chip but my post operation activity was then drastically reduced. Fortunately, our health insurance covered everything but I would not be able to travel for the long periods necessary for visiting our support team – people who have had our back with their prayers and financial support – some for thirty years or more.
Two weeks later Janet left Mountain Home on what would prove to be two and a half months of visiting the team without me. But the hand of the Lord was with her (and with me!) during that time as she drove over 10,000 miles and visited over fifty families in over 30 states! The old Blazer visited several repair shops along the way but the Lord used our weakness to prove His strength. We began to see our monthly financial support rising although Janet's knees were beginning to plague her quite severely.
Those years of training Navy recruits on the Florida parade ground with women's uniform shoes designed for their uniformity rather than utility had taken their toll.
Meanwhile, in Mountain Home, Eric continued his weekly teaching schedule at three different venues as well as continuing to meet with various airmen for discipleship and mentoring. By the time Janet returned in late July, our needed support was at the 75% level.
So on Labor Day weekend, Eric went camping with some of our Air Force families at Yellowstone. As soon as he returned, Janet left on another two weeks visit to California and Arizona.
Meanwhile, new people started coming to En Gedi Hospitality House but Janet was out of commission with her first knee replacement on October 8. Oh the pain. Eric was able to go to the November men's retreat where he did most of the teaching after we learned that our hoped for speaker could not come.

A few days later, Ed Buri, our co-worker was activated with the Idaho Air National Guard and deployed to Qatar for seven months of active duty as an Air Force Chaplain's Assistant.
Then on December 3 Janet had her second knee replacement! Each procedure took about three days in the hospital and a month of rehab. But the most difficult part was not the living with an icepack around her knees or going about with a walker, it was being unable to see her twin sister when her husband of over twenty years suddenly went home to be with the Lord. Dick Bonner passed away of a sudden heart attack on December 1, 2013. He had previously been a part of our ministry at the Osan Hospitality House where he retired as a Major. Then he had retired from Compassion International after serving there twenty years as a Systems Analyst. He had also been a faithful part of our support team all those years. Eric flew out for the funeral and witnessed the outpouring of support for Joanne and her family.
About the time Eric returned from the funeral, Suzie Buri left for Texas to assist her daughter with her third grandbaby. The Lord was gracious and we continued to minister during the Christmas season to the military families that call Mountain Home Air Force Base their home.
In mid-January, Eric began experimenting with having a men's Bible study meet at the Thimell home on Wednesday nights to replace the PMOC men's study which had been meeting at the chapel at noon. With the ever increasing workload following the deep cuts in manpower, fewer and fewer men were able to meet at noon since their lunch times had become totally dependent on the workload. But the new time and place seemed to meet the need quite nicely.
After a long cold winter we had an even longer wet spring that extended through March. Our normally dry mountain valley began to green up very nicely.
By April, En Gedi was bulging with new people. Janet's legs were doing very nicely and she and Suzie were able to coordinate the Friday evening fellowship suppers very well while Eric did the teaching.

On Memorial Day, we had a large crowd over to the Thimell patio for a picnic.
And all this time the Lord worked on our behalf and in June Cadence headquarters released us from our "Home Assignment" status so we no longer needed to make "fundraising" our top priority. We still had a very large debit where our work fund owed Cadence for paying our salary during those lean months but we are seeing that debit slowly decrease each month.
In July 2014, Ed returned from deployment to Qatar and were we excited to see him. With the increase in attendance at En Gedi we began to pray about a larger facility. Ed was able to use some of his Air Guard savings to renovate the En Gedi patio so that it could be used for the kids to play in during the Bible study time. With the eventual return of inclement weather this has not really worked out as well as we had hoped. We still need a solution for someone to actually watch and minister to the kids while the Bible study is going on.
In August, the Thimell guest room was used three times for visiting Cadence missionaries including Dick Patty one of our Cadence mission founders who also kindly encouraged the fellowship with some words from the Word.

For the weekend after Labor Day 2014 we  had an En Gedi camp out at Three Island Crossing near Glenns Ferry.  What a blessed time of fellowship and fun!


In November, Eric visited our first sending church in the Dallas area for their annual Missions Conference.
During that time, Mike Coleman, a Navigator Associate Missionary and Air Force Captain, took over the teaching for three weeks. Then in mid-December he taught another two weeks. These have been foundational studies and crucial for believers to get these concepts in their lives.

These last three months working together through the Christmas season with all four of us has been really good. We have been meeting together every Monday to pray and plan our week and we have experimented with some vision casting as well. We are attempting to be more proactive with developing our core group and to include them in our ministry plans. We believe the Lord will raise some of them up to serve Him vocationally in the future but we need to inculcate in every believer the purpose of God in using each one to minister to those they are around.

Catching Up with the Thimells

So much has happened since our last posting and it is past time for the Thimells to do some serious catch up!

First Truck Load!

800 Miles from Denver to Mountain Home

In September 2012, Cadence International approved our choice of ministry at Mountain Home Air Force Base serving with Ed and Suzie Buri.  (See the About Us link above).  Eric drove the first truckload of household goods while pulling a trailer with one of our cars to our new home and unloaded with the help of the Buris and Andrew Keating.  After returning the rental truck, he flew back to Denver in time to pick up the second truckload with Janet following in the other car.  This time Mike and Colby Coleman helped us unload.  We soon got most of the furniture in place but there is no room for the books or tools so the garage is currently a storage shed.  We got acclimated and introduced to more folks in the community and began to forge relationships with some great people.  We also switched our driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations, and voter registrations so we are now officially documented Idaho immigrants!



The last week of September we drove back to Denver to say official goodbyes to our church family, Grace Chapel in Englewood, and to Janet’s sister’s family, the Bonners, in Colorado Springs. 

In October we drove to Monument, Colorado for a much enjoyed member care retreat at the Hideaway with several other Cadence missionary families who are transitioning between ministry locations.  We drove straight from Monument to Dallas for a 10 day mission conference at our original sending church, Lake Ridge Bible Church in Mesquite.  How great it was to renew friendships spanning some 27 years.   Then we drove to Tucson to visit Janet’s step-mother, Irene, and her husband Matt.  Next stop was a home meeting back in Denver where we shared the Mountain Home ministry with a great group of Denver area friends at the home of Dave Bidwell who has been the lead teacher for our adult Sunday school class at Grace Chapel.  Then Eric drove our third and final (but smaller!) truckload of household goods with Janet caravanning along behind all the way back to Mountain Home. This time the 800 mile trip from Denver to Mountain Home included an early but heavy snowstorm in the mountains between Wyoming and Idaho.  For some 150 miles we drove on in spite of very limited road visibility. But, Mountain Home was completely clear.   We managed to cram this final load into our garage.  By the last week of October we were back in Mountain Home getting revved up for the Thanksgiving – Christmas – New Year holiday season. 



We were back in time for the November elections so we used our newly minted Idaho credentials to participate. 

In late November, Eric began teaching a series of lessons on the Holy Spirit at the En Gedi Hospitality House on Friday nights after an open dinner.  The attendance runs between 20 and 35 depending on work and holiday leave schedules. 

Eric Leading Workshop

Men's Retreat at Cascade Pines

At the PMOC (AKA Straight Shooters) men’s retreat in Cascade, Idaho Eric led one of the workshop’s with help from Mick McNaughton .  Mike Coleman was the chief planner, leader and speaker.  He is an associate Navigator missionary (see About Us link above) as well as an active duty Air Force officer. Dan Kephart led another workshop.  He is enrolled at Southern Seminary Louisville’s online MDiv program.  We know many of you have been praying and the Spirit was in evidence that weekend.  26 men went and well over half of them made some serious spiritual commitments.  We continue to see fruit from that time together. 



Janet at PWOCI in Nashville with other Cadence Missionaries

Janet went on a PWOC leadership retreat in Nashville.  The base chapel graciously funded this event in which hundreds of PWOC leaders from around the world converged at this conference to worship, study, and network. Janet got to reconnect with numerous other Cadence missionaries and long-time PWOC acquaintances from over the years.  She is currently serving as the Prayer leader on the local PWOC board.  To get an idea of the range of ministry events we are involved in (and to better understand this alphabet soup) see the Ministry link above.

Living Christmas Tree

In December we had several well-attended seasonal events requiring travel to Boise.  The Living Christmas Tree program was held at a church in Nampa and Handel’s Messiah was performed by the Boise Philharmonic.  There were numerous food and fellowship events, as well, especially on Christmas Day.  Our son, Ben, visited us from Camp Pendleton for nearly four days over Christmas and caught a glimpse of the ministry.  He had fun jamming with Chris on their guitars at the hospitality house. 



Roaring Twenties Party

On New Years’ Eve the Velocity chapel congregation sponsored a Roaring Twenties’ themed party.  Nearly everyone came in appropriately themed attire.  (Although most of us were born at least thirty years too late to really know, it certainly looked authentic!)

Now January is upon us and little weekly snowstorms have begun in earnest.  (I say ‘little’ because we have yet to see more than a couple of inches come at any one time.)  The temperatures are currently staying in the twenties and thirties in the daytime and ten to fifteen degrees colder at night.  But, Lord willing, we are not slowing down in the New Year.  We have events and strategies partially planned out through the summer.  We will keep you posted.