Episode 17 - Jerry and Carol

Hello Oak Ridge family and friends. This is David

here with Carol Powell and Jerry Brooks today.

Hello, this is Jerry Brooks and thinking about

Christmas the time of the season I'm taking back

to when I was a kid and when all of the family

used to get together and we had a lot of family

usually on my dad's side that would come together

here in Texas. My mom's part of the family of

course was out of state so they rarely made it.

for Christmas, but we always had all the cousins

and uncles and aunts and my grandparents. We'd

all get together usually on the family farm.

And Christmas Eve usually was for the immediate

family only, just my parents and my siblings

and myself. And then Christmas Day would be all

of the family and had some really good cooks

in my family. My aunts, my grandma and my mom

were all really good cooks. So we always had

good food to eat. But the main thing about it

was that I appreciate was the fact that that

was always a time of being together and we always

remembered the love that Christ had for us and

we always tried to remember the birth of Christ.

On Christmas Eve a lot of times my dad would

read the Christmas story or one of us would read

it but we always stopped to think about the change

in our world that came from Christ and his birth.

I will be reading Ezekiel 47 verses 1 through

Ezekiel 47:1–12

12 and this will come from the NIV, and this

is part of Ezekiel's prophecy that deals with

the river coming from the temple. Starting in

verse 1, the man brought me back to the entrance

to the temple and I saw the water coming out

from under the threshold of the temple toward

the east, for the temple faced east. The water

was coming down from under the south side of

the temple south of the altar. He then brought

me out through the north gate and led me around

the outside to the outer gate facing east. The

water was trickling from the south side. As the

man went eastward with a measuring line in his

hand, he measured off a thousand cubits, then

led me through the water that was ankle deep.

He measured off another thousand cubits and led

me through water that was knee deep. He measured

off another thousand and led me through water

that was up to the waist. He measured off another

thousand, but now it was a river I could not

cross because the water had risen. and was deep

enough to swim in, a river that no one could

cross. He asked me, son of man, do you see this?

Then he led me back to the bank of the river.

When I arrived there, I saw a great number of

trees on each side of the river. He said to me,

this water flows towards Eastern region and goes

down into the Arapah, where it enters the Dead

Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty

water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures

will live wherever the river flows. There will

be large numbers of fish because this water flows

there and makes the salt water fresh. So where

the river flows, everything will live. Fishermen

will stand along the shore from Engedi to Egline

and there will be places for spreading nets.

The fish will be of many kinds like the fish

of the Mediterranean Sea. But the swamps and

the marshes will not become fresh. They will

be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will

grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves

will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every

month they will bear fruit because the water

from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit

will serve for food and their leaves for healing.

I'm reading from Jude, first chapter, 17 through

25. But, dear friends, remember what the apostles

of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold? They said

to you, In the last times, there will be scoffers

who will follow their own ungodly desires. These

are the people who divide you, who follow mere

natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves

up in your most holy faith and praying in the

Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God's love as

you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ

to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to

those who doubt. Save others by snatching them

from the fire. To others, show mercy, mixed with

fear, hating even the clothing stained by corrupted

flesh. To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling

and to present you before His glorious presence

without fault and with great joy. To the only

God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, power and

authority through Jesus Christ our Lord, before

all ages, now and forevermore. Amen.