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It’s very good to see you all. I’ve been feeling a bit like it says in Acts about Paul as he moved through different areas and saw the friends and it says he took courage. I am thankful for that feeling in my heart that God’s people have continued and have a love for the gospel.

Today my thoughts have been with thoughts – our thoughts and God’s thoughts.

First of all, I would like to read a verse in the book of Genesis: ‘when God created man in his own image ……male and female created he them’. So here we read God made man after his image. When we think about God and think about ourselves, there are things that are very different to God, our thoughts and our abilities, many things, but I like to think it says God made man in his own image. We all have a head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, feelings. In the scripture we also read that God has these things, God has feelings, God has got a mind, mouth, ears. God has given us a body which is a very temporary dwelling for us. And it is to prepare us for an eternal future with him, he hopes. God is in eternity and our little human minds cannot comprehend eternity – from everlasting to everlasting. We are limited compared to God, but God has given us this human body that we can use. This body has got the potential to take our soul into a place that is infinite, eternal.

Every single one of us in this room has a little piece of property – we have a heart and soul. It says if you should ‘gain the whole world and lose your own soul what would it profit?’ That lets us know that we have a possession inside our bodies that is greater than the whole universe. It’s our heart that makes us either right or wrong in God’s eyes. That’s how God wants to work through the Gospel, he wants to give to us a new heart, and when we get a new heart, we get a new mind and new thoughts.

We know our hand is very small, but the scripture tells us that God can hold the waters of the earth in the hollow of his hand. That’s how much greater he is than us. Our eyes – we can just see so far. I can just look down here and see bodies, people, but God can see right into your heart and he knows everything in your heart. We can hear sounds, but God’s ear can hear further and hear the very thoughts and sighs of our heart. So, God is so much greater. In Isaiah 55 it says, ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts………’ That’s the difference between God’s thoughts and our thoughts. Our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. God wants to help us with this. Thoughts are powerful. From when we get up in the morning until we go to bed at night our thoughts never stop, they just go and go. Someone said we sow a thought and we reap an action, sow an action and reap a character, it all starts with a thought.

I remember being in a huge big factory one time and the owner was showing us around the factory and then he told us how it all started, and you know how it all started? Something that seemed so great just started with a simple thought. They worked on it and built on it and it grew into something great. God wants to change our thoughts, so he can change us, change our ways of living, change our outlook and change our eternity.

I was reading in Jeremiah 21 – this is God speaking – ‘for I know the thoughts I think toward you, thoughts of peace…’ These are God’s thoughts towards us – thoughts of peace and not of evil. I love the scriptures that Richard spoke on tonight about the goodness of God, and I also loved the next scriptures he tied in with that about the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man in eternity, he still had his thoughts: he thought, there is someone left to tell and if they went to the earth and told people what it’s like here that people would repent. This wasn’t God’s thoughts – God sent his son Jesus. That was his thought. Jesus came to earth not to tell us about hell, he came to the earth to tell us about Heaven, he came to earth to tell us about the love of God. The love of God and the goodness of God, when we see that it leads us to repentance, in other words it leads us to change our thoughts and embrace God’s thoughts. If somebody came from hell and told us how terrible hell is and we really understood what they said, we would repent because of fear, but God doesn’t want people in Heaven because of fear, but he wants people in heaven because they have learned of his love. It’s a completely different way. In many false religions it is a gospel of fear, but the gospel that Jesus brought is not a gospel of fear. It’s the love of God that wins our hearts. Our purpose is to tell people about Jesus, and the love that Jesus has for us. When Jesus came to this earth he had a human heart and mind just like we do. His heart was completely submitted to the will of God and resigned to that. As a result, because his heart was right, his mind was right. And because his mind was right, then his actions were right. That’s the order. Jesus said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength – we can’t do it the other way round. All God wants is for us to open our hearts to his will. Here he says, ‘thoughts of peace’. When our heart is centered in the way of God, the result of that is peace, the result of that brings joy and then we start to have a love for things we wouldn’t naturally love.

We meet many people that talk about religion and debate religion, that doesn’t mean to say they love God. There is nobody born with the love to do the will of God, but the more we seek God and his love and righteousness and his greatness, the more we love him.

I enjoyed today just walking in the countryside and seeing the little lambs running around in the fields, the sunshine and the beauty of nature. I often marvel, this is our God, this is the God we believe and worship and love, this is what he has done. Why do I ever question his work in my life? In this verse it says, ‘to give you an expected end’. If we understood the end product of what God wants to do, we would be willing for anything to allow that to happen. I was also thinking about God creating the earth: there was nothing, it was empty, cold, dark, nothing, and God started his work. That’s just how it is in our hearts – nothing, cold, dark, and God starts and he sends light, and the light separates the darkness. The heavens were separated from the earth and on day three there was light, and that is just like the order of God working in our hearts. And there are lots of separations, our thoughts and God’s thoughts, God’s ways and our ways. When we start to allow the life and the word of God to work in our hearts here on earth, things start to change in our hearts. After the first day God looked back at his work, right up to day six and then he said it was very good. God was very modest about what he had accomplished. If man could create anything that’s got life, he would think it’s amazing, or out of this world. Man can do amazing things, but the difference between what man makes and what God makes, as one of our brothers said once in a meeting, you never see an airplane giving birth to an airplane or a car giving birth to a car. It doesn’t happen because everything man has made is amazing but it doesn’t have life. Everything God has created, God signed his signature with life. That’s what God wants to do in your heart and my heart, he wants to put in new life, new life that changes our thoughts.

There’s another verse in Psalm 139 I often enjoy, about David, a man that God was able to say, ‘a man after my own heart’. David’s heart had changed, he learned to repent and then David could say, ‘how precious are your thoughts unto me‘. David was talking about God’s thoughts toward him, he said they were precious.

Sometimes people ask us, ‘What does God’s voice sound like?’, and we find it very hard to answer that. I have never heard God’s voice as an audible voice, but God’s voice can be like a little thought voice. When God speaks to you, you will know it is real because it does something to your heart.

In Sunday morning meetings and bible studies, before I made my choice, I had a great fear in my heart – how could I speak in the meetings Sunday after Sunday. It was just a fear because I didn’t understand God. Now, I am very thankful it is not just standing up and preaching a sermon, but everybody telling what God has put into their heart that week. Those of us that have this experience, we all know what it feels like to go and prepare for a meeting and feel we don’t have anything or we read a chapter, read it twice, three times and we feel we don’t have anything, and then we pray and ask God for help. Maybe you read a little verse and something touches your heart, and it’s real, just a simple thought, but it’s real: that’s getting thoughts from God.

This morning when I saw the little lambs, I love when they are born and the first thing they want is to find milk. When they find milk, the shepherds see the little tails wagging and they can relax; it is going to be ok as long as long as they get milk. That’s how it is when people receive life in their soul, they find fellowship and a family and a way. That’s just the beginning – serving God is not just making this decision once in your life and then going on about your own thing. When we begin to serve God, this is changing our whole life, our whole direction and its part of something living and we have to keep it alive, and how we keep it alive is feeding on the word of God. We read it, we meditate on it and God brings life and understanding and everything changes. As we experience that, we will experience a response. Here David says God’s thoughts towards him are many, and that’s the way it is. I believe that every day God wants to put a thought in all of our minds. That’s why Jesus said to pray, ‘give us this day our daily bread’. That’s not the bread for this body, but bread for the soul.

Somebody said about our heart and mind, they likened it to the old-style grinding mill. There is a flat stone and on top of that stone there is a round stone like a wheel and sometimes you can use a horse, or a mule and as it walks around it turns it. A hard stone upon the top of a hard surface and it rolls the grain and it turns into flour. It’s like our mind and our hearts. The things we let into our hearts, there are two avenues. One is our ears and the other is our eyes, the things we hear and the things we look at will affect our heart. We need to let the right things into our heart, the word of God. But we need security guards on our eyes and ears. In the computer world they have a saying, ‘garbage in, garbage out’, and it’s the same for our soul. If we feed our heart with garbage don’t expect good thoughts and good actions. And that’s the order. If we try to control our mouth and our actions naturally, we are going to get exhausted because we are just human. If we start with feeding the heart and mind with the right things, then what comes out of it will be pure and it’s going to be what comes from God. That’s how God works in our hearts. That’s why we emphasize the importance of reading the word of God.

There’s one verse in Philippians 4 v 7, ‘the peace of God which passeth understanding….’ In the previous verse I read in Jeremiah about an ‘expected end’. Here we read about the peace of God which passeth understanding shall keep your heart and your body. So, as we feed our hearts and minds on the right things, the result of that is peace. People that make it to Heaven and be with God, in some ways it’s going to be something they have already tasted of, the joy, they have already tasted the peace, they have already tasted the love. God said I will give them an expected end. These are things that God wants us to prove here in our lifetime and as we allow God to work in our lives, that happens.

In verse 8, Paul says, ‘whatsoever things are true…… think on these things and the God of peace shall be with you’. That’s what comes from God – it’s just beautiful to think that everything that comes from God is true and Holy and right and fair and comes from the heart of God, and through his goodness it leads us to repentance. When we see his goodness, it just makes us want to turn. I want to turn away from my thoughts – it often scares me the thoughts that come into my heart, but that is just the human heart. We are so thankful there is a solution, and it is in the word of God. The same word that made this universe is the very same word that God wants to speak to our heart.

My thoughts begin in 2 Kings 6, verse 24 tells us that the king of Assyria, they go to Samaria and besiege it, surround it.

Verse 25 tells us there is a great famine in Samaria.

They besieged it until an ass’s head, a donkey’s head, was sold for between four and six hundred dollars.

And a handful of seeds, the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver, 40 dollars.

And a woman in verse 26, cries unto the king, Help, my lord, O king.

He says, in verse 27, out of the barn floor or out of the winepress he said, I can’t help you.

The barn floor is empty, the wine press is dry.

So, the king after visiting with this woman, he declares that verse 31 concerning Elisha: Then said the king, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha shall stand on him this day.

So, in verse 32 Elisha’s sitting in his house, visiting with the elders.

The king sends a man to get Elisha to slay him, to bring him and slay him.

Elisha knows it.

But verse 33 is what I’m thinking about: And while Elisha yet talked with them behold the messenger came down unto him, to Elisha, and says, Behold this evil is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any longer?

Should we wait for God, any longer?

I think we should.

We wait for God, don’t we?

That’s the question.

It’s a question.

It has a question mark.

Should we wait for God?

Does God have a timeline or a deadline?

Is waiting for God like a project?

A start date and a finishing date?

Should we wait for God any longer?

We should.

Wait for God.

You give God a timeline, and then you give him a deadline.

And then you just say to yourself, should I wait any longer for God?

Do we wait for Him?

Did you know that waiting is not a skill or a talent you were born with?

It’s not your oh so logical left brain.

And it’s not your passionate right brain.

Waiting is one of trust’s greatest works.

It’s trust at its most powerful.

It’s believing at its most costly.

It’s timing at its most critical.

And it’s you at your most vulnerable.

It is not easy to wait, to wait on God.

So, this man says, I think we’ve waited long enough for the Lord, the Lord almighty.

Should we wait any longer?

So, he’s saying, I think I can do a miracle.

And I think I can take this into my own hands.

I think it’s time that we take over.

Do you know what happens in chapter 7?

Chapter 7, verse one, Elisha says Hear ye the word of the Lord.

Tomorrow about this time.

A measure of fine flour of a shekel, pennies.

Two measures of barley for a shekel, pennies.

So much.

Abundance.

Affordable.

Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?

And Elisha said, Behold, you will see it. But you won’t eat of it.

Can you wait 24 hours for God to do a miracle?

That’s what Elisha said—tomorrow at this time, 24 hours.

Waiting is believing that when one door shuts, another door opens.

That’s what waiting is.

It’s just believing that.

It’s believing that while you’re waiting, God is working.

While you’re praying, God is planning.

That’s what waiting is.

Wait 24 hours.

Might be different in 24 hours, because while you’re waiting, God is working.

It’s amazing!

Waiting is having the courage to put the brakes on your decision-making at this moment.

Just put the brakes on.

That’s what waiting’s all about.

It’s like bearing uncertainty on your shoulders and maybe sometimes carrying perplexity in your heart.

It’s having the courage to do that; and wait.

It’s you at your most vulnerable, your most uncomfortable because you’re waiting while God is working and you want to fix everything.

But can you wait 24 hours?

What can we wait?

24 hours?

Can you wait 24 days?

Could you wait 24 weeks?

That’s half a year.

Can you give something a half a year before you make your decision?

What; should we wait for God?

We should.

Did you know that this man that said we’ve waited long enough, he lost his life the next chapter?

Because, it may be so hasty—decisions can be so tragic.

Waiting is believing that the windows of heaven can be opened; that God understands windows in heaven.

He knows how to open them.

That’s what waiting is.

This man lost his life the next day, 24 hours later, because he couldn’t wait for God.

He gave God a timeline and then a deadline.

I checked this story last night.

About a man who wanted to photograph, or take some videos of skydivers in formation.

So he’s fiddling, they’re in the plane, he’s fiddling with his cameras.

Depths and light and sun.

But the skydivers jumped before he was ready.

So he’s over there fiddling and there they’ve jumped and he needs to jump.

So he fiddles a little more and jumped… but he forgot his parachute.

So, you hastily try to get everything together, and everything just right in your fussing with details, when you just need to wait.

And be sure you get it right.

That’s what waiting is.

I’m almost panicking talking about it.

It is serious and I hope to prove that this year, that waiting on God might be decision-making at its finest.

And it may be you at your most vulnerable.

But it may be also your finest hour that it could be said that we waited on God.

And what?

Should we wait for the Lord any longer?

That’s what that question is.

And we just say, we do wait for God.

We wait for Him.

When our old mom was, I think she was 92 and anxious one day, and wondering what more she needed to do.

Donna was in Mom’s room, and Mom was anxious and wondering what more to do, And should she do anymore and what more?

Bonnie and her co-worker came to see Mom.

And Donna says ”Bonnie, well, Mom’s anxious today, she’s wondering what more she needs to do and what she should do and how to do it and what to do.”

And Bonnie says “Well, Evelyn, what were those five wise virgins doing?”

And Donna and Mom, they both say “What? Tell us quick because Mom is anxious.”

And Bonnie says, “They were just waiting.”

And Mom says “Waiting? Waiting? Is that enough?”

It’s enough.

It’s enough for an old woman to wait.

Wait on God.

Can Mom wait 24 more hours?

Should we wait 24 more hours on God?

We wait on Him.

It’s us at our most vulnerable and most uncomfortable.

And it’s God at His best.

For while we wait, He works.

While we pray, He plans.

That is God.

I like what it says—I like what happens in Habakkuk.

Because there are some questions Habakkuk has.

Chapter one verse 2: How long?

So how long?

We do puzzle that, don’t we?

How long?

Verse three: Why?

How long?

Why?

Verse 13 is the sense of Wherefore?

So now we have How long?

we have Why?

we have wherefore?

The end of verse 17 is the sense of When?

Why?

How long?

Wherefore?

and When?

And then in chapter 2, Habakkuk says, you know, I’m just going to stand here and just see what God says to me.

Because I’ve presented all these questions:

How long?

and Why?

and Wherefore?

and When?

and we say that, don’t we?

And so, the answer is Chapter 2. And so Habakkuk says: So that I will know what to answer when I am reproved.

So he does feel like maybe he shouldn’t be so impatient, I’m not sure.

But the Lord says, in verse 3, For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end, it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it.

Do you believe that appointed times belong to God?

That’s part of our waiting.

That’s what an old woman does at the nursing home, named Evelyn.

Should you wait any longer, Evelyn?

You should wait.

Because appointed times, we don’t always have answers for how long and when and where and why, but God does, because while we’re praying, He is planning, while we’re waiting, He is working, and you’re at your most vulnerable and most uncomfortable, but it is God at His finest moment, it is God at His best who has answers and you carry perplexity sometimes in you, and don’t we all?

But we wait on God.

Because we don’t give Him timelines, or deadlines, a time frame.

We don’t give that to God.

That’s Him at His finest, and us at our most uncomfortable.

But should we wait for Him?

I think we should.

We should wait.

I like what happens in Isaiah 25. This is what you’ll say someday—this will be your testimony.

Isaiah 25 verse 8 and he (Christ) will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces. Verse 9 and it shall be said, in that day, Lo, This is our God; we have waited for Him and He will save us: this is the Lord; We have waited for Him.

You will say that someday.

Because you didn’t do anything hastily and without Him, you didn’t believe that waiting is God being indecisive.

You waited for Him.

You trusted in your waiting, even though it is uncomfortable.

But you put the brakes on your decision-making, you let God throw a wrench into your planning.

And while all that is happening, you cling to God.

For the outcomes, you let Him be the decider of your outcome.

That is waiting—and the day will come when everything will be wrapped up.

And tears will be dried.

And, all rebuke gone.

And you will say to each other, we have waited for Him.

Lo, this is our God.

Oh, who is this?

This is God.

We waited for Him.

Someone else will ask you, Who’s this?

This is God.

In our perplexity, at our most vulnerable; we said we would wait for this one called God Almighty.

And the one called the Lord Jesus, who would swallow up death?

We said we would wait for Them.

We said, in our darkest hour, we said, when storm clouds hang low; we said, when we could not see the end from the beginning; we said, when we didn’t have all the answers; we said, when we were unsure of tomorrow when we said, okay, we’ve got 24 more hours.

When all of that is said and done, we will say The best thing we ever did is wait for God.

Morning Meeting

182,  322

Sharon Lammas

James 1:17 Every good gift is from above…

1st Peter 1:15-16 God being Holy.

With Him there is no variableness.

He doesn’t change and we can rely on God and there is no shadow of turning.

He is Holy.

Think of the sun at its zenith, there is no shadow.

There is no shadow with God.

When the sun turns there is shadow, when it is half way up.

I never used to like the term Holy and we used to think of people who were Holy as a cut above others.

We want to be Holy, not so that we can be better than, but so we can be Holy before God.

Help me to be Holy.

Reign without rival supreme and alone.

That is a beautiful prayer that we would have God ruling.

In 1995 when I was a teenager, that is when God started to speak to me.

I sat on the fence and had to decide whether I was going to serve God or not.

There was the school ball coming up and I had a feeling that God didn’t want me to go.

No one had told me not to go, my parents didn’t say anything, but it was made known to me by God.

The feeling I had after I gave my life to God, that I am God’s now.

When people asked me after this why I did things, I could say that it is because of God’s conviction.

One of my good friends I told that I was not going to the ball and she was a Christian too.

She asked me to come over to stay at her house for the night.

When we went to bed, I quickly prayed while my friend was in the bathroom.

When she came back I felt silly jumping up, so I stayed there and then when I looked I saw her praying on her knees too.

I was glad for that trip down memory lane and those revelations that I had.

Remember your first love.

Lord help me to be Holy.

That feeling when we are fully devoted to God and that knowing that he will take care of us.

360

Jennifer Eggers

I have been enjoying some thoughts from Math 25 Five wise and five foolish virgins.

A number of thoughts I have enjoyed from this parable.

Just one hymn came forcibly to mind. 361 “When first we heard the message and yielded up our all…”

This is when we will be yielded up to Him in heaven.

That destination is to be in complete peace with Him in eternity.

Among the wise and foolish, oh where will we be found?

The difference between the foolish and the wise.

They were all equipped with a lamp and the lamps all had a wick.

They all went forth and trimmed their lamps.

We all have been given human life and a body.

Some from birth have different levels of health.

We have the breath of life and a measure of health.

All of these virgins were equipped with that as they went forth to meet the bridegroom.

Not all of them had oil in their lamps.

The time and the difference it does make to our lives.

It spoke to me that this oil speaks of the life of Jesus.

It was olive oil that was used in the burning of lamps.

When we consider how we get to have olive oil, it is a whole process to get it before we can use it.

The tree has to grow and then grow olives.

There is a fork with many prongs that goes into the tree and the farmer shakes the tree.

There is a washing and soaking process and the stone is removed.

Jesus’ human body that is of no use to us today had to be crushed.

His was a really cruel way that Jesus had to be crushed in Gethsemane.

What weakness Jesus must have felt as he was being thrown around by them.

Some of them weren’t willing for the cost of buying the oil.

In the present we face these real experiences of life.

This process of having oil for our lamps, the world is dark, I don’t want to say always.

No oil, meant no navigation through the experience.

V5 we read of the bridegroom tarrying while they slept.

Enduring the length of the journey, because the bridegroom isn’t coming early.

Light definitely keeps us awake.

For those wise virgins it was a matter of keeping awake and a soft spirit really.

The wise virgins would have been proving the costs of the oil and they would have been wanting the light.

They would have been wanting to know who would be their future bridegroom because of their walk.

The reason that some people stop walking with the Lord is because they do not have a true revelation in their life and they haven’t experienced the beautiful spirit that Jesus had in his life.

The final message is to watch because the bridegroom is coming.

I hope that we will never get to the experience where we have nothing left.

May God help our soul.

186

Desiree Watchorn

I have been very thankful to God to sense again as we often do, about the need for praying and the purpose of praying.

Again and again we have loved the outcome of prayer and I am sure in the experience of us all, prayer can be a mighty source of power.

I can recall when I was young at 14 and I had just made my choice to serve God.

I knew instinctively that now I must pray and read my bible and that it had to be a daily thing.

That is life a foundation and the knowledge that God has given, otherwise we die spiritually.

It is easy to die in that respect.

We don’t have to worry about the power of prayer, it is a powerhouse and we cannot estimate its power.

We can wonder, but have we fully understood the power of it?

Someone spoke of a woman who had lost her life in a spiritual sense and she had gone far out into the world.

It spoke of a prayer warrior.

Another lady had compassion in her heart and she decided that she would pray every day thinking of this prodigal.

This lady had taken her own way and was far away in a spiritual sense.

This lady was unaware that someone was praying for her.

Five years went by and ten years, then fifteen years and seventeen years and then there was news of the prodigal returning.

Don’t ever stop praying and giving up thinking of others’ needs and being kind and reaching out and having the goods to cheer someone and encourage someone to keep on track.

So often things crop up and we take the wrong track.

The prodigal and his desire to take his own way.

I am sure that in the background there was some prayer.

The father was watching and I am sure that he was praying in the background.

The prodigal came to the place where he thought I need God.

The prayer warrior in the background decided that she was never going to give up and then one day the prodigal returned.

When you count that up, it is about six thousand days.

You can hardly comprehend that.

Prayer is a mighty source of power and you can do much.

Aaron up in the mountain.

The hands had to be held up.

Some things come up and they seem like impossibilities.

Prayer is the mighty source of power.

Even during the day our heart wells up and we have a little word.

Or even please give me the answer, I need the answer.

We think of those that are there to help us and help us to hold up our hands.

Mark 11:12-25 When Jesus and those with him had gone past the fig tree and found nothing.

The fig tree had died to the roots.

Jesus answered them saying “have faith in God”.

Never lose faith in what God can do.

That is a strong indication of what Jesus could do.

Those ones would be totally encouraged that prayer is good and Jesus knows how to pray.

If we have anything against someone it can be dealt with right there.

That lady felt so clean and so forgiven after that experience.

Her experience of prayer indicates that we can have that portion too, as we seek God too.

203

Jill Reeve

Our weakness we are conscious of.

Maybe things around us, experiences, things within us, our flesh, human nature.

We want to be aware of He who can help us.

He can give us liberty.

We can bring everything to him.

The potter can only work with the clay that is in his hand.

It is not easy to admit weakness or sin.

Any weakness we feed it will overcome us in the end.

One lady said “Satan knows when I am weak”.

Another man said “I professed when I was young but it took me forty years to humble myself and realise that I needed the power of God to walk.”

When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren.

Jesus understood the experience he was going to go through and he prayed.

Peter said “I am ready to go with thee even unto death” It is a very dangerous thing to rely on our own strength.

Strengthening ourselves is not only for others but for our brethren.

Paul, he said “I can do all things in thee”.

He was strong naturally to suffer shipwreck and all those things.

In the garden Jesus prayed and also when he was tempted.

It wasn’t his own power.

The Lord will give strength unto his people.

The Lord will give strength for everything we face and he will give peace.

We need to bring our helplessness before God and He is the one who can help us and we can go forward in his strength.

281

Wayne Dean

Weakness, that is often how we feel standing here, with what we have to say, but it is the strength of God.

So often we feel so weak and wonder how we can even take the next step.

But our strength is in God.

We don’t ever want to lose sight of our foundation.

Our strength is when we feel weak in ourselves.

Many things can shake us.

But when we are settled on that foundation of Christ, it will be firm.

Ps 1 He shall be like the tree who stands by the river of water and whatsoever he doth he shall prosper.

In listening to the word of God we can prosper.

Do we fully comprehend the revelation that God has given and can we comprehend it?

The Psalmist is saying “blessed is he that walks in the ….”

You wouldn’t want to be sitting with those who are scornful.

Blessed are those people who listen to Godly advice.

We are all sinners, but we have been given this opportunity of having that sin forgiven.

Blessed are those who have their sin forgiven.

Are we sitting by those who are respectful of God?

Standing, sitting, how are you walking, where are you sitting, what are you standing for?

Sharon mentioned she was “sitting on the fence”.

You have made an allegiance with  God.

We want to stay faithful to that.

We are blessed because of what we have and also because of what we are saved from.

By nature we would all be in the counsel of the ungodly.

The counsel of the ungodly could just be those and those things that surround us in our daily lives.

We have been saved from so much when we listen to the counsel of the Godly.

We have been saved from so much and I want to realise that more.

The words of Jesus are Godly and true.

He himself said “I don’t speak of myself.”

He was so honest.

It is such wise counsel.

Mary, she gave wise counsel at the wedding: “Whatever Jesus says just do it.”

It is your soul’s welfare and mine, when we do it.

“In his law doth he meditate day and night.”

The words of  Jesus and to delight in it.

It is one thing to do something, but it is another level to delight in it.

We don’t just read the bible for the sake of it, it is for something to do, not just something to say in the meeting.

It is a great joy for us to do what Jesus says.

To be thinking about the word of God and how it pertains to my life.

Another, thinking about it all day and night but at any time day or night we can think of it.

I find it increasingly hard to concentrate in my reading as I get older, also in praying.

Also in meditating, it is hard to get quiet and allow God to draw near.

In many cases we are forced into it because we are getting ready for meetings.

But to delight in it and God can share something that is a help to us and others.

That’s what gives us strength, to be meditating in the word of God.

You will walk, sit and stand in places with others that are like minded.

I would like to have an increased appetite for the word of God.

Many foods are not good for us, but the word of God is always good for us.

Jer 18:7-8 “This man shall be planted by…”

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord…

God gave Jeremiah the picture of a blessed person.

We will be trusting in the Lord for things that we can’t do.

Our hope is in Him.

He is like a tree planted by water, they do well because there is water.

Those roots are going down and when the heat comes, there is water.

I am glad for what we have heard about prayer this morning.

Prayer has meant so much to me.

The roots of a tree are unseen and they hold the tree in place and feed the tree.

This is like us meditating on the word God.

I have told you about Steve who I went to school with and he came to meetings and professed.

We shared a room and he hit me with a pillow when I knelt to pray after the light went out.

He thought I was sneaking out of bed to leap on him.

Then we turned on the light and talked about praying.

He didn’t know about praying.

He had been praying standing up, because that is how the sister workers prayed in the meeting.

If we let this root system spread out and go down.

Our roots can spread further so that others can know the help of God.

It is the same spirit that the psalmist had.

The leaf also shall not wither, like an evergreen.

In Australia most of our trees are evergreen.

We can be like a tree with this root system going down and these root systems making food for the tree.

Jesus came to the fig tree looking for fruit.

Jerimiah.

He bringeth forth fruit in season.

The fruit of the spirit is never out of season.

There is something about people whose spirit is always the same.

Aside from that there must be fruit.

It is good to be evergreen and to be the same in every situation.

People are different, some up, some down, but that is just like the leaves.

I wonder if it would be expected of us that whatever the experience we go through that there will be fruit.

What about the light that is going through the leaves?

It is expected that we would have the fruit of the spirit.

Eph 3:17 Being rooted and grounded in love.

To know the love of God… thinking of the love of God.

This person is rooted and grounded and settled.

Thinking of the winds that come, but this person is rooted and grounded in love.

This person, this is the highest level of love.

The old law taught that you love your neighbour as yourself.

Jesus loved his neighbour more than himself.

Jesus lifted the bar.

The love of Christ which passes all knowledge.

When we are rooted and grounded in his love, it helps us to show that same love to others.

The ungodly are not so… the way of the ungodly shall perish.

The chaff, it has no substance and the wind just blows it away.

To listen to counsel of the ungodly is like chaff.

If we live for the things of this life, there is no substance to it.

It is the work of the spirit in our life, so he can work with us and in us.

If we live for this life only, one day it will be gone.

It is just like chaff.

If we are going to be accepted by God in the judgment, we need to be right with him now and here.

God knows that we often come short and fail.

In the same way he knows the way of the ungodly.

There is eternal life with the Godly.

Those men who had a close relationship with God so that I can have the true blessings of God.

Ephesians 2:2, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”

Are you aware of what the original Greek says about this verse? Part of the verse that is referring to, “according to the power of the prince of the air”, in the original Greek it says, “the evil spirits between heaven and earth”.

These evil spirits are everywhere. From the beginning of time, these evil spirits have been in existence, and they are everywhere.

I know that some of us have erred in the past that we thought that these spirits were only a problem on the continent of Africa, in India and in ex-Soviet countries where they denied the existence of God, that these spirits weren’t here.

So, we actually put ourselves into a situation where we deceived ourselves and we became blind. These spirits are everywhere.

When we think of our present situation in this crisis, our tendency might be to point a finger at certain individuals and feel that we’re in this now because of whoever or whatever.

But I wonder if we’ve ever stopped to think this thing through.

Are we aware that all of us are playing a part in this current situation?

Some of us have been enablers when we shouldn’t have been.

Some of us were supporting when we shouldn’t have been supporting.

Others maybe were being neglectful.

Others of us should have been examples, better examples.

Some of us should have been living closer to God.

Others of us shouldn’t have been leaning but had backbone and with the help of God standing on our own two feet.

All of us are to blame. To some degree, we’re guilty of our present situation.

So, I hope no one feels that it’s the responsibility of a group of men to come up with a new law that is going to solve this problem. It won’t happen that way.

It’s going to take us as long as it will take, till God can help us, with the word of God, to see ourselves in the scriptures and to be willing for the necessary changes, so that every one of us can be a strength in the kingdom. When we are, the problem will be solved.

There was a man at an earlier convention this summer. He’s a man from the world, now professing. A young father with two young children, and he stood at the convention. This is what he said, “Our present crisis is many, many times worse out in the world, so then leaving God’s way is not the answer. It’s not an option.”

So then, what do we do?

I’m going to read to you, bring to your attention four verses, four portions of scripture. I’d like you to read them for yourself and read them slowly and thoroughly and ask God how these verses apply to the way that I’ve been living. And we’re going to find some astounding answers, some shocking answers.

You know in I Samuel 8:10, we read of the time that the children of Israel were wanting a king. Under the leadership of Samuel, they did well. Samuel was a good leader. But you know what? After a number of years, it bred some weakness.  You know what the weakness was? These people wanted to become like the nations around them and they wanted to have a king who could go out and fight their battles. They lost their desire to fight. That is very dangerous.

In Philippians 1:27, we read this verse, “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ.” Notice the word that this verse starts: “only”.

You know, if we disciplined ourselves and actually practiced this verse, we’d find out that there would be a lot less conversations amongst us; there would be a lot more quietness.

Are you aware that in this matter of what we call communication – verbal communication – that 7% of it is only verbal? There’s 38% of it that has to do with tone, and I think 55% of it is nonverbal. That has to do with body language, gestures and eye contact, etc.

Just imagine that 7% of communication is verbal, and it’s that 7% that has caused so much problem in the kingdom.

Oh, if we could just get a healthy appetite for the word of God, and our conversations would change. We have something living, something to build up one another’s faith.

Our thoughts. Philippians 4:8 tells us what our thoughts should be. That can be a real battle, being disciplined with our thoughts. But our thoughts will become actions.

Then there is II Timothy 3:1-5, These verses for me are very sobering. When we first heard about this crisis, these are the first verses that came to my mind. “In the last days there shall be perilous times.”

In all of these verses, they’re just full of a list of words.

Then verse 5 says, “Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.”

What I like about these verses is that these verses are teaching each of us to take personal responsibility.

When we have our eyes open to something that we sense is not right, these verses tell us what to do. They give instruction of what to do.

It says, “From such turn away.” It doesn’t say kick them out. It doesn’t say talk about them. It just says, “from such turn away.”

It takes a lot of courage and strength, but we can create a safe environment for ourselves if we do that.

Then in Revelation 17:13-14. It’s talking about all these kings and all these powers, and they are going to unite and fight against the Lamb. The Lamb is going to overcome.

How do you think that works? These are mighty powers. A lamb can’t fight. It’s helpless.

If you wanted to hear the latest gossip, would you go to someone with the nature of a lamb?

If you wanted a good argument or to have a good fight, would you go to someone with the nature of a lamb?

No. That’s the protection of the lamb. It just avoids it. The problem is solved.

May we know what it is in the future to work on having the nature of a lamb.

1 Samuel 17 – David came to the battlefield where Goliath was. Everyone was afraid, including King Saul, who had been in many battles along the way.

Fear spread like wildfire, from one heart to the next heart. We have to be careful that we’re not any part of something like that. We can promote faith, or we can promote fear.

When this epidemic came to the heart of a young man called David, everything stopped. David wasn’t afraid. His older brother was angry with him for coming to the battlefield and for asking the questions he did. His judgment was in haste and so it was harsh. He accused David falsely. David said in verse 29 – “Is there not a cause?” Is it not a matter of importance? David asked a good question and he asked with understanding. There are things that are important and things that are not important. Things that are worth fighting for and things not worth fighting for.

Such wisdom in such a young heart. Young people who are full of faith and wisdom, making very good, Spirit-led decisions in life, you have an opportunity that the rest of us don’t have, an especially impressive light that shines forth from young lives.

David asked what he had done. It’s a hard thing to be misunderstood. If anything provokes us to be a little self-centered, it’s when we’re being misunderstood in a negative way. David wasn’t motivated to fight the less-important battle of defending himself. He saw the real battle. There was a great big 9-ft. tall enemy who was a threat to the kingdom. He was defying the name of the living God. There are a lot of causes that are way more important than fighting for ourselves or defending ourselves.

David went and found five smooth stones and put them in his bag. Five stones and a sling and most importantly, faith in the living God. Goliath didn’t stand a chance. He was on the wrong side. “You have to know how to choose your battles.” There are all kinds of battles that you could get stirred up about, but some aren’t worth fighting. If we choose too many battles, we miss the most important cause. What John shared this morning, there are a lot of people protesting, but not a lot of people praying. What is the most important cause you could ever involve your heart in? Fighting the battle on our knees, accessing all the power of the living God. That is the battle that produces real results. When we find the most important cause and we put our heart into that and set ourselves aside, that is where our efforts result in the sweetest victories. The God of heaven is anxious to be a part of those battles.

There are a lot of unfair things happening in the world. It could seem so legitimate to get involved. When we find the kingdom’s cause and carry the blessing of God into the battlefield, that’s where the purpose of life becomes so rich. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 – “(for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

I appreciate Paul’s very definite, confident language. Spiritual weapons. The kind of weapon we choose has everything to do with our strategy for fighting the battle. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. The Spirit of God, the word of God, they are such powerful weapons. They can cast down imaginations and bring thoughts into captivity to the will of God. When we involve God in the battle, He chooses the weapons that we go forth to fight with. Weapons that we pick up in the place of prayer. The battle becomes so effective.

Goliath never had a chance. David fought the battle with the presence of God, with faith in the living God. The devil himself doesn’t have an answer to a weapon so powerful as the word and the Spirit of God. Carnal weapons – I suppose the list could go on and on forever, but some of the words that come to my mind the quickest when I think about a carnal weapon – impatience, unkindness, anger – that little tiny weapon we pick up, sometimes called anger. There’s a little voice that says to me sometimes, “Whatever do you hope to accomplish by fighting the battle like you’re fighting? What will your anger produce?” Things like anger and impatience and unkindness and sharp words, we just know they’re there. They’re not a weapon that God would ever put into our hearts.

We know by our experience that they never make worthwhile contributions to the cause of seeking real victory. A mind can be a very difficult thing to change. Opinions are set like cement sometimes. Sometimes they’re set by centuries of traditions, cemented by deceitful influences, very difficult experiences.

The word of God has an incredible capacity to change our thoughts. We thank God for every way we’ve experienced that. There is nothing that affects my mind like just thinking about Jesus. The incredible effect that his quiet, patient spirit had on the lives of people. “Now I see again, I’m refreshed, concerning what really is important and what real victory is about.”

There are people who have never thought to use anything but a carnal weapon. They feel victorious because they have squelched people. Aren’t we thankful that we can look at Jesus and know that is not what real victory is about? Fighting the battle on our knees. Ephesians 6:12 – the armor we need if we’re going to fight the battle like we need to. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” It really helps when we just settle it that the enemy is never people. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. The battle we’re fighting is against a much greater enemy than people, than our brother. We’re fighting against the devil himself. David didn’t decide to start a battle with his brother. He looked out on the battlefield and saw a much bigger enemy, and that’s the battle he chose to fight. On a completely different level.

There is an enemy, an adversary who is responsible for every wrong choice people have made, for every heart that is hardened, every sin that is committed. That is who the real culprit is. That’s the enemy we have to be concerned with. When it becomes clear who the real enemy is, then it becomes clear that these little carnal weapons we are so quick to pick up sometimes will never be effective. What we need to fight this battle is the Spirit of God, the grace and wisdom of the living God. The armor that we need to put on to fight this kind of battle are our loins girt with truth, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit – these are all things that God provides. No one finds these things in himself. We’re fighting this battle against spiritual wickedness in high places. It could almost sound like an impossible battle, but there are weapons that are more powerful.

We know it’s true by what we see in Jesus. Jesus being tempted. Three times he responded, “It is written…” He resisted three times and the enemy departed from him. He knew he was no match for faith in the living God. We do have access to that kind of power, but it’s not carnal. It’s spiritual. The last piece of armor, the sword of the Spirit – is the word of God. The first weapon that the Spirit thinks to pick up is the word of God. The word of God is what gives people life and changes minds, softens hearts. John 14, 15, 16 – those wonderful promises Jesus gives us concerning what the Comforter will do for us when He comes – Jesus told His disciples when the Comforter comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will remind you of everything that I’ve taught you. He won’t speak of Himself, He’ll be a humble influence that glorifies me. That’s how you’ll know the voice of the Spirit when you hear it, it will always be the voice that says that everything Jesus said is right and true and important. The voice that discounts the word of God is not the Spirit of God. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. I like how Paul presents that to us. It’s the Spirit.

Jesus said, the Comforter will glorify me. He won’t speak for himself. It won’t come to you in the form of a proud man that’s seeking his own glory or behaving in a way that lifts himself up. That’s not what the Spirit of God ever produces in a life. But the Spirit recognizes that the greatest cause we could ever live for is glorifying God. Sometimes I get frustrated with just how automatic it is to pick up a carnal weapon in the heat of the moment, having never once in my life proved that a carnal weapon produces anything called real victory. And you wonder, why does that happen? I think I’m just kind of speaking for myself now, one problem is that I have too much training using carnal weapons. It’s such an instinctive thing. That is the adversary. I’m trying to be careful this afternoon to use the word adversary and not enemy so much because sometimes the adversary is our brother, isn’t he, and most certainly our brother isn’t our enemy. It’s so easy when the adversary is using a carnal weapon to decide that that strategy has to be responded to in kind, but that’s just a basic human instinct. There’s nothing like anger to inflame anger, and we don’t want to be on either side of that equation.

We can’t ever afford to let the adversary dictate the terms, the way we fight the battle. Goliath had a great big sword and he had armor. Saul offered David his armor. David said, I haven’t proved that, and he set it aside. I don’t have any experience proving that that is the way you get victory. He knew that he could trust God and he didn’t let Goliath dictate how he fought the battle. We don’t have to fight anger with anger or impatience with impatience, and so on.

Peter, just before he went to the garden where Jesus gathered that last night of His life with His disciples, picked up a sword and he strapped it on his side. Of all the things to take with you to the place of prayer, take the sword. It didn’t express, obviously, to God that he was there because he needed the help of heaven and he knew that God was his only hope. I have nothing carnal to contribute, I only need the help of heaven.

Maybe Peter didn’t give it much thought. He must have had the passing thought that he might need that sword. Someone else might have one and he might need it. When he cut off the servant’s ear, he must have felt that what he was doing was so legitimate. He was defending Jesus, the Son of God, but he didn’t choose the right weapon. Peter would tell us, if he was speaking in the meeting this afternoon, remembering Jesus praying in the garden three times, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.” that the time he had spent strapping on the sword, he would have spent praying if he could do it over. Jesus never responded by picking up a carnal weapon. His spirit was perfect, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He knew that the Spirit of God had tremendous power to soften their hearts.

Maybe the moment when we’re tempted the most to pick up a carnal weapon is when we’ve tried to use the Spirit of God and the word of God. Not even the perfect Jesus succeeded in changing every heart. He never let the adversary dictate the weapon He would use in the battle. He knew that the most powerful weapon He could ever pick up was a right spirit. Mocked and spit on, completely misunderstood and disrespected. How could anyone ever find the capacity to respond so opposite? But Jesus never lost sight of the fact that the greatest cause we could ever live for is a love of souls. He couldn’t bear the thought that what they were doing would cost them a lost eternity.

May God help us to keep our hearts fixed on the most important cause.

When something is planned and we are included in it, it means more to us. Good for us to think of what God has planned for us in Christ. Your influence is negative or positive, never neutral. A man who walks with God always gets to his destination. The purposes of God are sometimes delayed, but never abandoned. The Kingdom of God is the only Kingdom the world has ever known where the King has made Himself servant of all. Matth. 20; 25-28. Phil. 2: 5-11. It is the only Kingdom where the King is willing to impartially share His wealth with every citizen. 2.Cor.8:9. Rev.3:18. It is the only Kingdom where the King is willing to share His life and power with His subjects. John.10:10, Ephes. 1:18-20. It is the only Kingdom where the King Himself is willing to share His home and His throne with His subjects. John. 1:1-3, Rev. 3:20-21. Mal. 3:3. Malachi uses the word “sit” because he knows this work of purifying a life, takes a full span of that life. It is not the work of a moment. To purify silver it is heated and the dross shimmering with beautiful colours rises to the top. But the refiner knows that in spite of the beauty, it is only dross and throws it away. Sometimes it takes the heat of being misunderstood, or frustrated, or wrongly treated or falsely accused etc. to bring the dross to the surface. But such an experience is all for the betterment of a life submitted to His will.

2 Sam.22 and Ps.18. A time of victory in David’s life. Victory over Saul and his own human nature. Only when we are under God’s control we can have victory. 2 Cor. 6:4-10. Marks that prove if we are God’s servants or not. It takes faith to believe God hears our prayers. It takes faith to fall into the ground and die, that fruit may abound. To die before there is any evidence of any fruit seen. The Psalmist said; “Thy Word have I hid in my heart! A good place for it. It will always be with us to guide and control. Those of the world will not value it, but to us it is a priceless treasure. None of us are in the family of God without the fulfilment of John.3. Which speaks of the need of being born again. The one in John 12 about the corn of wheat having to fall into the ground and die is so important in our experience too. Being born again is only the beginning and just as we had to obey God’s voice to receive that new life in the beginning, we have to obey His voice and die to ourselves every day that the divine life might grow and increase. John 5:1 Jesus was doing this Himself and manifesting that new life as He just completely obeyed His Father’s Will. II Cor.II:3. Paul feared that as the serpent beguiled Eve, so also could their minds be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The serpent has poison in his head, and he has a split tongue. He speaks some truth, but he mixes it with lies, he mixes good with evil. Some say there is good in T.V. gives news etc., but it also sows wrong seeds, false doctrine, wrong thoughts etc., that poison people’s minds. The serpent can kill with his tongue. Surely makes one long to have more of the true simplicity of Christ in our lives; more of that pure doctrine, keeping humble, simple and sincere in our daily living, that satan would have nothing in us. We need to keep the door of our heart. Watching that nothing of envy, jealousy, strife, pride or any of those things would enter in and rob us of the treasures God gives us.

Correction is the avenue to perfection. One inventor said he owed his success to those who had criticized and corrected him. We need to make a list of our weights. Many of these weights are not bad things at all, just things that take up our time. Martha was careful and troubled about many things. Cumbered is carrying a burden more than we should have to. Was letting things come into her life that took too much time and kept her from the best. Fear lest we would get so taken up with serving the Lord, what we do for Him, that we don’t have time for Him to do a work in us.. One thing that won’t be taken from us is what we get when we sit at Chrits’s feet. When the children of Israel were travelling from Egypt to the promised land, they always had to look to the cloud to see if it was lifted or if it had settled on the Tabernacle and to act accordingly. This speaks of the constancy that is required of us and a readiness to do just what-ever the Lord would ask of us. If long in any place, they would have to bear in mind that what they made or gathered around them that they couldn’t take it on the journey with them and they would have to leave it behind. Is not this how we should live from day to day? Always keeping in mind that we are not here to stay and that the things of this life that we gather around us cannot be taken with us. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Sometimes we may feel the “red lights” are against us, but they are for our safety. Our safety depends on waiting for God’s counsel.

We heard in testimony about being a prayer warrior and it brought to mind someone I know and love dearly, who is a prayer warrior. This lady heard about a prodigal and it touched her, so she started praying for the prodigal and she prayed unceasingly. The prodigal didn’t know about those prayers because she was out in the world doing her own thing, but someone was praying for her. Five years went by and there was still somebody praying for her, but she didn’t know it. Ten years went by. The prodigal was still outside the fold, but this prayer warrior was still praying. Fifteen years went by, seventeen years went by and this lady was still praying. Then word came through that the prodigal had returned, and she said to me at the meeting at my parents’ place, “Gail, I have prayed for you every day by name.” I worked out that this lady had prayed for me for 6205 days. She started praying when she was in her 60s and finished that prayer in her early 80s. She prayed for me by name. She was a prayer warrior. Matthew 21:22 – “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” This prayer warrior also said, “My prayers have been answered.” She prayed for 6205 days, believing that I would come back. It is a long time. When she told me that her prayers had been answered in her early 80s, I don’t know if she could pray on her knees, but I do know the absolute thankfulness she had when I came back. I will touch on a few points that had happened. I had been a worker, but my health had gone, so I couldn’t continue doing what I loved doing. I would break down in every mission, so I stopped going. When I couldn’t do what I had been called to do and loved to do, I lived the life of one who had nothing more to lose, because I had lost it all. I became one with the world. There is a certain type of peace when you are one with the world because you don’t have the flesh and the devil and the world all in conflict with the Spirit, but do you know what happens? Through the process of time, and it doesn’t take long, you lose the Holy Spirit. When that happens, an emptiness and darkness comes into your life. You try and fill that emptiness up with everything you can, but it doesn’t fill it up. I went out a lot and I dated a lot, but it didn’t work. I wanted to commit myself to something and when a man asked the question, “Will you marry me?” I said, “Yes.” Then I thought, “There’s something not quite right here,” and I changed my mind. The third time this happened, I thought there was something wrong with me, because I could not commit. I wasn’t praying for myself because I had already lost everything. I didn’t know it, but this woman was praying for me, and my decisions were being affected because of her prayers. After the third time of saying, “No,” I decided to just get dogs because it was easier. Time passed, and I felt God was drawing near. In 2019, I was sitting in Booyong Convention and God spoke to me: “Tonight, the meeting will be tested – but it’s not for you.” Then the pandemic hit, one of the best things that ever happened to me. The meetings got smaller and I could have a one-on-one talk with the brothers. I let them know what was in my heart, that I had felt God drawing near and I had joy and peace, because that comes from God. I made my choice, and I knew that when I made my choice it was also a call to labour in the harvest field. I talked to one of the brothers, who said to me, “Is there anything you can’t undo?” My list was really big, so I said, “Can you clarify that?” He said, “Have you married?” I answered, “No. Is that it? With everything I have done, that’s it?” So, I offered my life for the harvest field. In 2020 I made my choice and in 2022 I was back in the harvest field. Don’t stop praying, because your prayers for someone who is outside the fold may be the only thing that brings them back. If you stop praying for someone you love and know, who else will pray for them? God listens to your prayers and they move the heart of God. You don’t know what the end result of those prayers will be. Whenever I see this lady, I give her a really big hug because she helped to bring me back. Your prayer may be the only prayer of intercession for a prodigal. If you keep their name before the God of heaven, you can affect His Kingdom. There were some, I’m sure, who were discouraged by the amount of time I had been outside the fold and perhaps they thought, “It’s not working.” Maybe they stopped praying for a day, or two days, but the day you stop praying for a prodigal by name may be the one day they need your prayer the most. Don’t give up. I’m sure we all know someone outside the fold, and God knows them. When you intercede for those who cannot intercede for themselves, it touches the heart of God. In the hymn we sang, “From every stain made clean,” and I am truly grateful that through the blood of Christ I stand on a cleansed, forgiven past and I stand on a very hopeful future. May God help us as we go forward to be very consistent in our prayer life. Be steadfast, don’t let go, commit yourself to it. You have everything in front of you, because what we put into our service determines our salvation. Be strong, for Jesus’ sake.

Job 36:5 “Behold, God is mighty and despiseth not any: He is mighty in strength and wisdom (heart).”

Job 23:6 “Will He plead against me with His great power? No; but He would put strength in me.”

We, who are so weak and inclined to foolishness, can find ourselves so easily despising ourselves and others – thinking of or treating as worthless.

A dictionary definition of “to despise,” is “to regard with contempt, distaste, disgust, disdain; to scorn; to loathe.”

When I read the first verse above, I had to read it again, and found great comfort and direction in it. The One who is mighty in strength and wisdom, Who has every right and opportunity to despise us for and in our weakness and foolishness, despiseth not ANY. We have that assurance and comfort in His word.

Heb 11:34 ‘…out of weakness were made strong.’ We’re made to feel our need for Him, of His strength and of His wisdom. We have no strength or wisdom spiritually in or of ourselves.

“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” I used to wonder at that verse, as flesh can be so strong in making its desires known and in getting its own way, but then realised that it is weak in that it can’t say ‘No’ to itself. The spirit wants to do what is right, but the flesh is too weak.

Rom 7:14-25. “…in my flesh dwelleth no good thing…how to perform that which is good I find not. Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?…” Paul realised that he had no power in himself to deliver himself – he had need of God and of His power and salvation to help him.

Little children, babies in particular, are so, so dependent. They can do nothing for themselves, except to cry. They are weak and powerless. Parents don’t despise them for that, but rather, their hearts go out to them because of the greatness of their need. God’s heart is reaching out to us, to all of mankind, because of our need for Him.

As children get bigger, we hear them say ‘Me do it!’ ‘I do it myself!’ They begin to feel able and want to be independent, to do for themselves. That feeling brings a distance between them and their parents, as they seek to prove their own power and strength and ability.  In God, our Heavenly Father’s sight, no matter how strong or knowledgeable we become naturally, we’re always little children to Him, and have a great need of His strength and help and direction, guidance, judgment and wisdom. We need to feel and acknowledge it ourselves- our great need for Him – to access from Him what we need.

“From lips of babes…then make of me a little child…”

“Behold, God is mighty and despiseth not any: He is mighty in strength and wisdom.” He despiseth not ANY, not the weakest or the most foolish. Rather, He has respect for our need and is longing that we would acknowledge our need of Him, so that He can help us.

James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” He doesn’t despise us for our lack, but wants to provide what we need, and He can, as we ask of Him.

Luke 15. The prodigal son was foolish, seeking in the far country for what he felt that he was lacking. He then realised that the lack was there, in that place, away from his father’s house. “No man gave unto him.” v.17 “And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I will arise and go to my father…” All that he needed was with his father and in his father’s house. He came, repentant and acknowledging his sin and his need for his father. He wasn’t despised for his foolishness but was accepted and acknowledged and received as a son again.

When we admit and acknowledge our lack of strength and wisdom, then the mighty God can help us, and give us of His strength and wisdom. God, in His greatness, despiseth not any, rather He loves us all.

Jesus is the same as His Father. So often we read of those that came to Him, with all manner of disease and sickness, and He healed them all. None were beyond His love and regard, or His power to help. He knew the background and circumstances behind each one that had need of His help; the sin and situation that led to their sickness and need of healing, yet He despised not any, but loved them all and helped them all.

I am thankful for the truth of that verse “Behold, God is mighty and despiseth not any; He is mighty in strength and wisdom (heart).” It is because He has such great love for us that enables Him not to despise us, but rather desire to help us. I want to appreciate His love more and to know His help to show more of His same love to others.

There is no greater work in this world than being like Jesus.

Jesus treasured faith as small as a mustard seed.

Prayer becomes the life of Jesus. He did it with great wailing and tears.

Like the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob… He delighted in being the God of anyone.

The elderly are weak in body, but strong in love, gratitude, and faith.

The older son hated iniquity, but he didn’t learn how to love others.

Dove eyes/sounds are recorded in the Song of Songs, but I hope to see them through the eyes/sounds of pigeons.

Grateful for the privilege of bearing the yoke with Jesus.

Jesus was not shaken by people’s reactions if it was something that pleased God.

John 6. When God’s glory is displayed, it becomes a better meeting, and God’s glory is Christ in us.

It was difficult to find the Titanic at sea. God threw the repentant sins into the sea. According to the book of Revelation, there is no sea later. It is so difficult to find our sins.

The same spirit that guided Jesus leads us.

2 Chronicles 16:9 -God is not only looking at people’s present condition but also looking at the beautiful possibilities of the future.

People come first; offerings come second.

Because He lived a perfect life before He died, He was accepted as a sacrifice on the cross. The death of the people next to him on the cross was not enough to redeem us.

Ezekiel 16:63. There is no record that the blood of Jesus erases the memory of our sins. The reminder of sin makes it difficult to talk about other people’s sins. The memory of sin will last until death, but there will be no guilt.

If we do not learn to wait on God, then God waits for us if He wants us to.

Reading the Bible – until we understand how much God loves us.

It is said that the new owner pays a large price for a well-trained sheepdog. However, the sheepdog does not even know the price paid by the new owner and often goes away to the comfortable and familiar former owner. Be faithful to the new owner.

Ex 21:5 “And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out free”.

A threefold cord is not quickly broken. There were three loves binding this servant.

One of those was the love for those that depended upon him and relied on him, the children. When the tempting thought of freedom would come, he would think of his children and ponder what would happen to them? What would their future be? Children are not so able and need help with many things.

Another was his love for his wife and companion. The one he shared life with, walked together with, went through experiences with, encouraged and confided in. When considering his freedom he would lose so much fellowship.

The most important one however was the love of the Master. The one he served, obeyed and learned to please. The thought of freedom would mean separation from the one in whose employ he had known such great blessing.

Love for children is nearly automatic, love for a partner in life develops naturally, but perhaps more slowly a love for the master comes.

Because of these three loves this servant felt he would lose more than his own freedom was worth.

Love was more effective than any contract, and more binding than any chain.

Jesus had a wonderful love for those that depended on him. Those that were needy and would not find help anywhere else.

Jesus also had a wonderful love for those He shared with and walked with and had fellowship with.

Most of all, He had tremendous love for His Father, always doing what pleased Him.

At every turn, He felt, “I will not go out free,” because He valued those He loved more than His own life.

Isaiah 12:3 “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

Thinking of the wells of salvation that God has provided through His Son for us.

Jesus speaking with the woman in John 4 v 10 & 14. If she knew it was Jesus she was talking to, she would ask of Him and He would give her living water, and it would be a well of water springing up into everlasting life. He was telling of the abundance of provision available if we would ask of Him. It’s like going and drawing water that will satisfy our souls.

Joy, it is more than just happiness, it’s with contentment and satisfaction. “With joy shall ye draw” because it fills our soul, because it is our hope, it is our salvation. “With joy” because we have known refreshing before, and regardless of natural limitations and situations, we can through prayer and meditation, time and time again, go and receive life-giving water we need for our soul. “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

John 17:3-5, “And this is eternal life that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”  Jesus always sought the glory of his Father. If we follow Jesus‘ teachings, we will glorify God. Drink whatever is in the cup God has given to us, as Jesus did.

Some advice an old worker once gave; In all your dealings with your fellow man, remember that God is Love. His Love first for us inspires our love. Nothing more powerful than love to motivate sacrifice.

To glorify God, we must first be humble, realising God owes us nothing. We cannot force Him to draw near. He has given dust, the opportunity of eternal life; that on the last day of our life, we have no ability of ourselves to get more life; that we cannot go back in time and take away our sins. They are a blot against us forever without the covering of Jesus’ Sacrifice.

In Dan. 3, we read of 3 men, who stood upright and refused to bow to the idol the king ordered them to worship. In the eyes of God, the idol was an abomination. When we give the first place to our relationship with our flesh, it is an abomination to God. We then get a picture of these men in the furnace, their faces lit up by the fire, triumphant over death – untouched, God glorified in their actions of self-sacrifice for Him.

Faith, the substance of things hoped for. If we follow Jesus and believe in Him and God as much as a substance we’d hold in our hand, His Spirit will come and dwell with us. This is life eternal.

Hymn 325

I have been hearing about the BC and Glen Valley convention, and it’s good to be here.

We sang, “Lord, may my steps be ordered by Thine indwelling love.”

I labored for many years in West Africa.

One thing about Africa is that the countries have vastly different cultures.

I spent many years in Ghana where tradition is strong.

If someone dies, everybody knows what to do.

On the other hand, in Liberia where I also spent many years, they are not so steeped in tradition.

It was founded by slaves which weren’t given their freedom like on this side of the Atlantic but were granted a charter in their own right in 1840.

The result seems to be that when some situations come along, very often they don’t really know how to behave or deal with it.

Once, in Ghana we had a whole family of six children whom we thought were doing well, but something went wrong, and the father informed us that they weren’t coming to any more meetings.

We were never really able to find out to our own satisfaction what the reason was.

Most of the rest of our friends were quite shocked.

Even worse than that was a short time afterward, the father died very, very, suddenly.

The funeral came along, and the question arose with our friends: do we attend this funeral or do we not?

According to African custom, because of what the family had done, one would not attend that funeral.

One or two of our older friends became guardians of preserving the custom and because they had separated themselves from us, they wouldn’t attend the funeral.

Some of the younger ones weren’t so sure about that.

What did I say about it?

That hymn says, “Lord, may my steps be ordered by Thine indwelling love.” I found it a wonderful guideline.

We sang a similar hymn, “The love of God within my heart, will teach me how to do my part.”

I drew attention to what those words said. I didn’t do anything more than that.

It turned out that enough of our friends attended to show a visible presence there. They didn’t all go.

I think for many situations we can be ordered by God’s indwelling love. That’s a safe course.

An early companion of mine was an army man, who had spent 8 years in the British army, and he talked about a certain plan for direct lines of defense.

They always had the first line of defense; in fact, they had two more lines of defense.

If the first line failed, you had a second one.

If the second one failed, you had a third line of defense.

Our brother used to say the first line of defense is: 1) Word of God.

Next one is 2) Fear of the Lord,

3) is our conscience.

I don’t remember what he said after that.

From time to time, I enjoyed thinking of it.

We understand well that the first line is the Word of God.

The enemy is strong and has a purpose.

John 10 says his purpose is to steal, to kill and to destroy.

Our first line of defense is the Word of God.

You remember when Jesus was tempted that His first line of defense was the Word of God.

Every time, He used this expression, Every time!

“Men shall not live by bread alone”.

“Thou shalt worship the Lord Thy God and Him only shalt thou serve.”

Every time, the word of God was his first defense.

I do believe it is important that we bring our Bibles to meeting.

It’s very important because they are helping us to get to know what is in the word of God.

Studying the Bible helps us to know what is in the word of God.

We are promised that the Holy Spirit will bring things to remembrance.

We need to have the Christ work done so there is something for Him to work with, or there’s nothing for Him to bring to our remembrance.

It’s a wonderful thing that just as we need it, the Holy Spirit can bring just the right verse from the word of God to our remembrance.

That can be like our first line of defense.

I will spend a little time now talking about our third line of defense.

That’s our conscience.

We read about our conscience quite a lot in Acts.

Paul wrote about always endeavoring to walk with a good conscience.

When he was writing to Timothy and Titus, he also mentioned this matter of having a good conscience.

He warned it could become seared!

He also mentioned it in 1 Corinthians 4:4

It’s not always easy to see what he is saying: “For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.”

I pondered over that verse in some of the translations.

One says, “My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t mean I am right. I have to wait for what the Lord says.”

Now that’s a serious consideration.

There’s a possibility our conscience could be clear but that doesn’t mean we are right.

I’d say first of all, our conscience can never contradict if it tells us one thing, but the word of God tells us something else.

The word of God MUST be right.

Some say they don’t have any conviction about this, so “I am going to go ahead.”

Well, I know what can happen when the word of God is made CLEAR.

That’s just a matter that our conscience is clear, but is it right?

This situation just hasn’t seemed to have happened recently.

In the past I have been working on the computer and maybe a little ‘pop up’ comes about some problem and there are two options.

One option is, ‘fix it’ and the other option is, ‘continue anyway’.

You click on ‘continue anyway.’

You go on for a little while and the problem comes up again with a warning that something is the matter and there are instructions on how to fix it.

There is also the option you can click, ‘continue anyway’.

Have you ever done it?

We can be on a course in this life and a little voice can tell us, ‘There is something the matter’, but then a little voice will tell us, ‘continue anyway’.

We go on and continue anyway.

You know what happens?

Very quickly that little voice stops.

It doesn’t bother us anymore.

What it simply means is our conscience is seared.

Our conscience is not working.

We might just wonder, how can we keep a pure conscience?

There is a place in the letter to Titus and one thing I have noticed that in some of the places Paul mentions a conscience that he connects it with faith…’a pure conscience and faith unfeigned’.

Really, we’re very thankful to have heard so much about faith in this convention.

Our faith is not shaken.

This verse will help us to have a pure conscience.

It comes in the letter.

Here’s what it says Titus 1:15 “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled”.

From that verse I draw this conclusion that if we keep our minds pure and our heart pure, our conscience will also be pure.

Some were talking to our friends and one man was skeptical when it came to believing the scripture.

This man was a surgeon and said, “I have been conducting surgery for many, many years and I know all the organs of the body, but I have never yet found what you call a soul.”

The reply was given that, “You find the soul beside the conscience.”

I think the fact is we all recognize that God has given all of us a conscience and it is like one of the lines of defense against this enemy that is so strong.

The second line of defense is the fear of the Lord.

We can turn to many places in the scripture and read about the fear of the Lord.

I have noticed that is one of the themes that seems to go all of the way through Acts.

The early church was God-fearing.

In the first chapter the eleven apostles were in a situation they had never been in before.

Remember what Judas had done.

It was a terrible blow to them.

What was in his heart?

There were still 11 of them in the ministry.

What will they do?

Verse 24 Three words, “And they prayed.”

We sang, “The fear that sends me to Thyself.”

I don’t think Jesus told them about this situation before He left.

We find ourselves in situations and we are thankful that there is something that sends us to Thyself.

A lot happened to the apostles when they made their choice.

At the end of chapter 2 they all continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread and prayers.

I stopped there, but that’s not the place to stop.

“And fear came on every soul”.

It was in control and was their vital defense.

Starting in chapter one and chapter after chapter you read about the fear of the Lord and we can see the early church was a God-fearing church.

In the first chapter you might say they were in a situation they had never been in before.

They had remembered what Jesus had done and had restored the place of Judas by transgression.

It must have been a terrible blow to them.

I don’t think they had known what was in the heart of Judas.

They were still the anointed ministry that Jesus had appointed.

What were they going to do?

We come as far as verse 24 and there are just three words: ‘and they prayed’.

We sang in the meeting, “The fear that sends me to Thyself.”

I believe that was what was happening…the fear that sends me to Thyself.

They were God fearing and in a situation in which I don’t think Jesus had told them what to do about it before He left, but they prayed.

Again and again and again, it seems we find ourselves in situations and we’re thankful that there is something that sends us to the place of prayer…the fear that sends me to Thyself.

We read about all the people who made their choice and in the next chapter there is a verse that’s quoted quite often.

It says that they all continued steadfastly in doctrine, fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers.

I used to always stop there, but more recently I have discovered that’s not the place to stop, because the very next line says, “And fear came upon every soul.”

In other words, they continued in the apostles’ doctrine and in breaking of bread and prayer and the fear of the Lord was also in control.

There was going to be a lot of trials and difficulty and struggles, but their line of defense was going to be the fear of the Lord.

Just going on in Acts 5 is the story of Ananias and Sapphira.

In that story, once again the apostles and believers would be feeling fear.

Once again, we might feel that Peter dealt with the situation because his name appears three times in the story.

It wasn’t Peter who dealt with the situation, it was God.

He dealt with it in an infamous way.

We come to the end of the story, and it tells us that ‘great fear came upon all the church.’

Great fear!

In the next chapter at the end is the story, I appreciated very much this doctor Gamaliel who also taught the apostle Paul.

He wasn’t one who was seeking salvation, but as far as the people of the world are concerned, he was a sensible man with a measure of discretion.

He gave some outstanding advice to those who were speaking against the apostles.

The council was trying to overthrow these people, but Gamaliel gave examples about those who had a following and it came to nothing.

He said be careful what you do with these men, because if it’s only of men, it will quickly come to nothing.

If it’s of God be careful in case you will be fighting against God.

Here was a man of the world, one who did not have the teaching of Jesus, but did have the fear of the Lord.

We are thankful we can still find people like that in the world today and we can be thankful that there are those who govern who have the fear of the Lord.

Just coming back to this story, Gamaliel made the point that it will be finished if it’s of man.

I saw a little of this in my own country of Ireland.

There are lots of organizations, lots of societies that are formed of man and yet they have lasted for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Well, I think it’s like this: when you consider societies that I am referring to, how do they do it?

They have a president, a treasurer, a secretary, and a constitution and providing all these people fill their office properly, and have all the rules of the constitution, they can go on and on.

But Gamaliel looked at these men and he could see that they had nothing like that, and they can’t last.

They had lost their leader, they had no president, no treasurer, no constitution!

Something like this can’t last except it is of God, and you can’t fight against God.

What we have is built on the foundation laid by Jesus.

We have something that goes right back to the beginning and when we look to Jesus, we see in Him everything we treasure.

That being so, we can have full confidence that this is still the Lord’s pathway, and we are still the Lord’s people, the most precious thing that He has here on earth.

Every single one of us is priceless in His sight.

We are thankful over and over again for the time the gospel crossed our pathway, and we received that revelation that this is the Lord’s pathway, and we were willing to follow Jesus day by day.

I talked a lot about the fear of the Lord and our conscience, but I only mentioned a little about ‘love’ except for that one line of hymn, “Lord, may our steps be ordered by Thine indwelling love.”

I was helping to sow a wheat crop. It was something I had never done before, but I didn’t have to do it on my own, because the farmer was helping me. He had done this many times before, it wasn’t new to him. Along one stretch there was a tree in the way, but I was told I didn’t need to worry because he would take the wheel and steer around it. When we came to it, I took the wheel back, thinking I needed to help. His hand was strong enough to keep control.

It is safe to let the wheel go into more capable hands.

Jesus never took control of the wheel, but He left the control fully in the hands of His Heavenly Father. With Jesus, nothing ever disturbed the peace of a perfect trust or spoiled the perfect fruit that was produced in His life. God didn’t steer Jesus around the crucifixion, but He gave Him the strength to keep on course, that He could be the Sacrifice for us and open up the way to His eternal rest.

Genesis 37:2. When Joseph left his father to seek his brethren, it was in his plan to return to the father that day. He was taken from the place he loved because God had a greater work for him to do. God plans ahead, and He plans for eternity. His brethren could separate him from his natural father, but not from his Father in Heaven.

Joseph let God set the course and in Potiphar’s house Joseph had the assurance that: ‘God knows where I am, and I can commit all to Him.’ God’s blessing on Joseph was also extended to Potiphar because he could be trusted.

In that field he sowed in faith with contentment (peace) and thankfulness. He didn’t sow any seeds of discontent.

There was an obstacle that was getting bigger every day, but he let God steer around that, and as a result God took him out and put him in another field.

In the prison he continued to let God control, and it led to being in favour with the keeper of the prison. He sowed gentleness, goodness and loving kindness. He cared for the other prisoners when they were sad, and God took control to answer their dreams and tell them their future. He sowed long-suffering when he was forgotten, but he knew he wasn’t forgotten by God.

In God’s time, he was taken out of that field into a very large field, with a very big responsibility. Joseph sowed meekness and temperance in the palace, and it never went to his head. He sowed joy when he saw his father’s face again. When he saw his brethren, he didn’t sow revenge or hatred, but love, that enabled him to draw them close to his heart.

“Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We sing in a hymn: “I will travel on with Jesus”. We all have the privilege to travel with Jesus and we can have no better traveling companion than Jesus.

There is nowhere God will ask us to travel, that Jesus hasn’t already traveled.

When we travel with Jesus, we travel with someone who knows and understands the journey and the traveling surrounds are not foreign to Him.

Different experiences come, that cause us to travel different paths. Maybe paths we wouldn’t choose to travel, but as we travel those paths with Jesus, there will be treasures we gain that we wouldn’t want to lose.

Traveling with Jesus will help us to see the beauty of the journey we are traveling.

Where and how did Jesus travel? Jesus traveled from Heaven to earth and He traveled to Gethsemane and on to Calvary.

It wasn’t an easy path Jesus traveled, but how He traveled was in His Fathers strength.

Luke 9. 51-56. “And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him. And they did not receive Him, because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.“

We read here a little of the path Jesus traveled. Jesus wasn’t doing this for pleasure. It wasn’t going to be easy, but He was willing to go.

Maybe when we know something is going to be difficult, it is in us to shrink back from it, but we read Jesus steadfastly set His face. This stopped Him wavering and getting distracted as He traveled, and the purpose of His travel remained the same.

It was said once: determination will take us some of the way, but submission will take us all of the way.

We see Jesus’ submission in the garden, when He prayed.

Matthew 26. 39, “And He went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

Jesus’ perfect submission enabled Him to know of victory in this struggle, and to keep on traveling the path God had chosen.

When Jesus was on the cross He said: “It is finished”. Jesus had accomplished what He had set out to do on His travels.

Where Jesus traveled and what He did as He traveled was for me personally.

Want to keep a thankful heart for the path Jesus was willing to travel.

When we travel with Jesus, we will be safe travelers and we won’t hinder others in their travels.

May we travel all the way with Jesus, that we would safely reach the homeland.

Job 36:29 “Can any understand the spreading of the clouds…”, 37:16 “Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him which is perfect in knowledge?”

I was thinking of the International Space Station flying 350 km above the earth. Sometimes they get amazing photos of earth but that depends whether there are clouds between them & us.

So, I was thinking about spiritual clouds & no, we mostly can’t understand the spreading of them or the balancing of them, but our Heavenly Father uses clouds of experiences to test us or allows Satan to bring certain clouds across our pathway. Satan brings the clouds to try to tempt us & also to try to obscure our vision of the sun, the Sun of righteousness. He doesn’t want us to feel the healing & comfort, purpose & power, understanding & enlightenment which trusting in Jesus brings.

Some of the different clouds that come across our pathway…

CLOUDS of grief. Grief is defined in the dictionary as intense sorrow, trouble or annoyance. We feel grief naturally when someone we love passes away, but there’s a grief worse than that. That’s the grief of knowing we are sinful & powerless to bring pleasure to God, or the grief of having disappointed Him & ourselves & perhaps others by our failures. That is what causes us to reach out to Him…so we see these clouds of grief are a blessing in disguise because they make us feel our need, as do the following clouds…

CLOUDS of pressure. Sometimes others put us under pressure, at school, in the workplace, in other situations; sometimes we put ourselves under pressure. Allow that pressure to drive us closer to God like Hannah did & David did when he was being pursued by Saul.

There are CLOUDS of temptation. I don’t believe Joseph would have been tempted at all by Potiphar’s wife because he had a clear understanding of the sanctity of marriage & knew that it was a great wickedness & sin in God’s eyes. However, she was an agent of Satan & sometimes such can appear very attractive to us, especially if we are lonely.

Eve looked at the forbidden tree & saw the fruit, that it was good for food, pleasant to the eyes & to be desired to make one wise & she reached out for it with disastrous consequences.

CLOUDS of tribulation. Acts 14:22 the latter part of the verse says: “we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God.”

Through tribulation, patience is born. Tribulation tests our love for God & His Son.

Naturally there are snow clouds which bring a bitter cold wind…experiences or even people who come across that pathway can have that effect on us…deaden our senses, make us feel numb.

Job 38:22. “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?”

Hail, naturally, can be stinging, painful, damaging. But there are treasures in these kinds of experiences when we humble ourselves & cry out to God for His help.

Thunder clouds & lightning…crashing, flashing, frightening. However, they have a purpose. The earth is recharged by thunderstorms.  The earth is charged negatively & the atmosphere charged positively. There are 16 million thunderstorms worldwide per year. Lightning helps nitrogen to be added to the soil.

We can look at these clouds & fear them, but as they have a purpose naturally, so do the storms of life.

I saw a photo once of a hurricane taken from the International Space Station. It was quite beautiful. You could clearly see the eye of the storm from above. Below it was wreaking havoc, damaging, killing, flooding.

The message in this that I got for myself was, that in the storms of life, we need to nestle right into the heart of our Saviour, where there is a perfect calm & where there is peace.

Jonah created a storm by his unwillingness. He admitted it to the men he was journeying with (latter part of Jonah 1:12). However, God was able to turn that negative situation into a positive one. v.14, the men prayed, v. 16, they feared God exceedingly & offered a sacrifice & made vows.

Be very careful to avoid storms of our own making because the outcome may not be as good for our fellow travelers as this was for Jonah’s.

There are CLOUDS of busy-ness or business which have been blown away worldwide by something God allowed or even arranged. It has helped us to pause & consider.

There are CLOUDS of uncertainty over our future, but maybe God wants us to learn better, how to live from day to day, how to be faithful just for this day.

When we fly in a plane, we rise up above the clouds. New Zealand is known as the Aoteoroa, “the land of the long white cloud.” Being islands, they are often cloud-covered. I always enjoy the experience of rising above them & being brightened by the rays of the sun. There is a hymn that says “Back of the clouds, the sun is always shining.”

You need clouds to have a beautiful sunset. ‘Tis then you see the richness of the colours God has created. A favourite thing of mine is to watch the sun rise. Because I am often in different locations, I am not always sure exactly where East is. But just before the sun rises there is a vivid colour in the sky & you can see where the sun will arise. It is part of God’s order & arrives at exactly the minute it is predicted. One day there will be the bright & morning star, the day star which will arise and there will be no more clouds on the horizon for us.

May we use these cloudy experiences to come closer to God that we would be unmoved & unperturbed by them.

“Holding on to anger is like drinking poison  and expecting the other person to die.” – Buddha

WOW. WHAT A THOUGHT!

It started me thinking about what we need to let go of.

Many things I came up with were “negative.”

It hit me for the first time today that it was truly amazing what Joseph DID NOT DO once he was catapulted to absolute power by Pharoah!

Any normal person would’ve drawn up a ” hit list”..or a “pay back list”.. NOT JOSEPH.

We never read of him wreaking vengeance upon  Potiphar or his wife for the wrong done to him..the lost years in prison.

We never read of him telling ANYONE about what his brothers had done to him..the closest he came was telling his fellow prisoners that he was “stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews.”

We never read that the accusation which landed him in prison was ever stricken from the record.

What we do read is like a little “window” into his years of pain, loss and anguish.

When his children were born and he named them..he tells us what GOD helped him to do. GOD HELPED HIM TO LET GO.

Genesis 41: 51, 52 God helped him to forget all his toil ( hard labour) and all his father’s house  (his family).

God caused him to be fruitful in ” the land of my affliction.” .. the land of his suffering.

Incredible as it may seem..God helped Joseph to forgive from the heart.

He had the wisdom and discernment to WAIT.

He could’ve sent an army to fetch his family to Egypt but he waited for God to bring them.

I have no patience.

I can only shake my head in wonder at his willingness to leave the whole mess to work itself out in God’s time.

Once Jacob died the brothers were terrified that Joseph would finally take his revenge.

Joseph had forgiven from the heart and when he saw their terror…he wept.

He knew much pain, much loneliness and many tears in his life..but God kept him free of malice, hate, implacable resentment..no wonder he’s spoken of as ” the Christ in the Old Testament.”

How did this make me feel?

Even MORE determined to face my last day of life free from any bitterness, hard thoughts about anyone, unforgiveness.

In the light of Eternity, WHAT. DOES. ANY. OF. IT. MATTER?

1 John 1:3 “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” The experiences of the last months have caused me to think of this verse many times and especially the words, “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” That is a fellowship that cannot be taken away from us; it is true spiritual fellowship. It is the fellowship that John knew from the time he began to walk with Jesus and right through his life and when he was on the Isle of Patmos.

We can know many social gatherings here on the earth and maybe even enjoy ourselves at them, but they come to an end. The fellowship we know with our Father and with His Son Jesus Christ will know no end, it is eternal. The days we have spent in isolation have confirmed that to us. John saw it there on the Isle and it was a wonderful revelation he received. He sent it to those seven churches in Asia and they would have understood how much John cared for them and more than that how much the Father cared for them. That message was sent to them because God had said ‘send it.’ We have known days of isolation, but in those days, our Father has cared for us and maybe, if we have drawn closer to Him in those days, we have come to understand that He cares for us even more than we realised before.

Our Father in heaven wants us to understand the fellowship we have with Him and His Son is like the fellowship we have one with another. In Genesis 22 we read of Abraham and Isaac. A father and a son on earth having fellowship like God in heaven was having with His Son. Abraham was God’s friend and God wanted Abraham to understand about the fellowship He had with His Son. We read of God asking Abraham to offer his son; He was showing Abraham this is what I will do, my Son will be offered. Abraham didn’t question, he obeyed God. As a result, there were wonderful blessings that came. There is still blessing in obedience to God today more than we can ever comprehend, and more than we can receive. As Abraham and Isaac climbed that mountain that day Abraham was walking in fellowship with God. As they came down from that mountain, they were both walking in fellowship with God and with His Son. Abraham knew, as he came down from that mountain: ‘God knows I love Him.’ Isaac knew, as he came down, God has made wonderful provision for me, the lamb has died for me. Is our relationship with God such that we know God knows we love Him? Do we understand that Jesus, the Lamb of God has died for us and is risen and intercedes for us?

Parents want to give the best to their children and that is very good. Abraham would have been no different in seeking the best for Isaac and God showed him what was the best. It doesn’t seem that way to our human thinking, but we do not do children any favours if we hold them back from sacrifice. God did not hold back His Son, Jesus Christ from sacrifice and if He had done so, we would not have the hope of the resurrection today. Abraham did not hold back Isaac from sacrifice and in that experience, he learned of the wonderful provision of God. It was seen on the mount (the highest place). The highest place we can take our children to is the place of sacrifice. It is the best we can do for the children.

The sacrifice Abraham made that day did not begin on the mountain, it had begun many years before, Isaac already understood there needed to be a lamb. How did he know that because Abraham had been sacrificing lambs every time he worshipped, Isaac had seen it. All the preparation that day was about sacrifice. There would have been other things planned, they were put aside, today God has called and we are going to worship. Those things that were put aside, may have been very important to Abraham, maybe even to Isaac, but God had spoken, that was more important.

The things of this life are never more important than the things of God.

Abraham never said God doesn’t understand. God well understood and still understands today. He wants us to share in fellowship with Him and that means going through the same experiences and going through them together.

Hebrews 11:19. “Accounting God was able to raise him up.” Tells us of the wonderful faith Abraham had in that experience. Just as God would raise His Son, Abraham trusted God, and Isaac was in better care in the hand and will of God, than he was in Abraham’s care. God had a friend in Abraham, but Abraham had a better friend in God!

We don’t know how old Isaac was at this time, old enough to carry wood, old enough to ask about the lamb. To see the lamb and understand the provision of God we don’t have to be very old. The emblems in the meeting we see, and do we know what they mean? Why are they there? Why do we partake of them? Do children ever ask those questions? Isaac asked where is the lamb? He and Abraham were going to worship: where is the lamb? Isaac knew the lamb was part of worship. In Revelation, we read of worship and the Lamb is there, it is part of worship.

The angels, the elders, the beasts, they worshipped the Lamb because the Lamb had been sacrificed and had risen and lives forever. ‘Worthy is the Lamb’ and God wants us to have a part in singing that song. It has to come from our heart, it has to be part of our experience here on earth, if we are going to be able to sing that song in eternity.

The seven churches in Revelation were not perfect, some of them were far from it, but the Lord had a message for them. It was an individual message. They were all given a little glimpse of the Son of God or the Lamb of God and then they were shown themselves. For some of them the picture of themselves was not a very pleasing picture but there was hope for them, if they would repent. As they came to the place of repentance, they would know forgiveness and could enter into worship. We see ourselves sometimes and wonder if there is any hope and there is hope. Our Lord stands ready to forgive, to wash us, to cleanse us so that we can see His Son again and worship. We come like that knowing His forgiveness and cleansing, then we have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

John was alone there on that island, and leaving the servants, Abraham and Isaac journeyed alone, to the place God had chosen. God has blessing to pour out on those that come apart alone with Him. Jesus said, “Your Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” To get that reward we need to get into the secret place. Our experiences of the last months may have helped us to value this even more. Jesus gave us an example of it and we read of Him going apart to pray. We can shun the lonely experiences, but if we have a relationship with God that is strong, if it is a father to son relationship where God could even look on us as His friend, we will find blessing in the lonely experiences. Maybe to us, those experiences won’t even seem lonely. We have Fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

As we come to know a deeper fellowship with God, we understand just how much God has to give to us, how much He is able to do for us. There is no limit to the power of God and there is no lack of bread for our soul in the storehouse of God. We wonder how can we get there, how can we become partakers of such a bountiful provision? Jesus said, “No man cometh to the Father but by me.” God saw to it that we have access to this provision through His Son Jesus Christ. It is there for us and Jesus came so that we could have it for ourselves. In this fellowship with the Father and with His Son we get to partake of that provision. It would be very sad for us if we were to think of all the provision God has made and it is out of my reach. If we don’t receive the Son, it is out of our reach because there is no other way to the Father.

When we think of those seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 some of them could almost have felt that way, some of them may have even been deceiving themselves, like the church at Laodicea. The very thing they thought they had, they didn’t have. They were not lacking in self-confidence, but they were lacking in humility, they failed the test of self-examination, they had not stood in the Light of the Lord and all that they thought they had and didn’t have. They could have had it if they were in true fellowship with God. We can get like that and God is still the same kind merciful God that He was to those Laodicean people and calls us to repentance. The Lord stands at the door and knocks, Jesus the Son of God came, that we may have access to the provision of heaven and His forgiveness.

We think of these messages and wonder would any not repent? Would any not want to come and partake with the Father and His Son of this sweet fellowship? When we look to ourselves, maybe the answer is not so clear, maybe there comes a little self-justification. The question ‘Why?’ comes into it. That question ‘Why’ was never mentioned in the story of Abraham going to offer Isaac. Why should I? Why me? does not bring us into the blessing of God.

Those questions don’t bring us into fellowship with God. They are questions that leave the Son standing outside, like we read He was there outside at Laodicea. Sometimes, sadly it may have been that way with us, but we are glad for the mercy of God and the Lord knocks at the door of our heart. We read there in that 3rd chapter of Revelation of the invitation “If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and sup with him and he with me.” That was fellowship and if we open the door to Jesus, we have fellowship with Him and with His Father. All that was lacking before would be provided. We rob ourselves of so much, when we do not receive Jesus, when we feel something in His Word doesn’t or shouldn’t apply to us, when we feel we are sufficient of ourselves or that we know better than He knows. No one can afford to miss the blessings of fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. That is the place of great blessing and we can know it here on the earth.

The fellowship we have with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ begins here on the earth. It begins, when we receive the message of the Gospel, as John wrote of “what we have seen and heard.” We can never expect to have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ in eternity if we do not have it on earth. That would be like trying to have fellowship with a complete stranger. When Jesus spoke of His return in Matt. 25, He spoke of the wise and the foolish. The foolish heard the words “I know you not”. They were not in fellowship with the bridegroom, so the door was shut. They had kept the door of their heart shut while they lived. They had made themselves appear to others that they were ready, but the Lord didn’t know them. Sadly, they would have known that if the bridegroom comes at night, I will be found wanting, I will be in the darkness. We can’t afford to leave to chance our salvation. It is foolish to neglect the wonderful provision of God for us. The foolish would never have fitted into that gathering that day, because they did not know the bridegroom and the bridegroom did not know them.

A little later in that chapter, Matt. 25 we read of the shepherd dividing the sheep from the goats. The sheep would hear the shepherd’s voice and they would know that voice because they had been with the shepherd and they trusted the shepherd. When we have fellowship with God and with His Son we know His voice, when we are His friend we know His voice and when He speaks, we know He is speaking for our benefit. This fellowship prepares us for the fellowship we will have in eternity, it is with the same Father, the same Son. We would not feel very comfortable if we came there and did not know Him and if He did not know us. The foolish had lived that way and found they had no place with Him.

In Revelation we read of worship and of those that worshipped. Abraham spoke of worship that day as he went to offer his son. Worship belongs to God and to His Son, they alone are worthy to receive it. It is robbery to be found worshipping anything here on the earth or anyone here on the earth except God and His Son. We will never be able to enter into the Spirit of worship to God in eternity, if we have never entered into it here on the earth. It will be a wonderful thing though to have a part with the throng that John saw worshipping in Revelation 5. Heaven saw the Lamb alone was worthy, and on earth, we need to see the Lamb alone is worthy.

Abraham told Isaac: “God will provide himself a lamb.” As Isaac came down from that mountain, from that wonderful experience, he would have known: ‘Today that ram died for me, he took my place.’ We consider the Son, the Lamb of God and remember. He took my place. He died for me. Could we have a friend who has done more for us? If we could only think of this more, we would look forward to fellowship with Him, we would never let the things of earth and time, or the things that appeal to our human nature rob us of that fellowship. We would be looking and waiting for His return, so that we could have this fellowship for eternity without having to be cumbered with the needs of life here on the earth. In that day we would hear the voice of the one we know, and He will find us walking in the light. We won’t be asked ‘How did we come here?’ because it will be clear that we are His friend even as Abraham was God’s friend.

From the creation, God had intended man would have fellowship with Him, that is why man was created in the image of God. Man was without sin and God had fellowship with him, but sin came and it separated man from that fellowship, he was ashamed and there was nothing he could do to hide that shame. God made provision when man, in his shame came, and confessed to Him. God still wants to have fellowship with us and to do that He has made provision to take away our sin, if we will come to Him, confess and forsake our sin. This fellowship we enter into on earth continues to eternity it is the fellowship of the forgiven with the forgiver, the redeemed with their redeemer.

May we value it, and may we seek a deeper, sweeter fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Mention was made recently, from [1 Samuel 17] about the burden of all the armour and weapons that Goliath had.

David’s older brother, Eliab tried to put the burden of guilt on David, but that didn’t fit this humble lad. Saul tried to put the burden of his armour on David, but that didn’t fit either. David had the freedom of coming to that battle ‘in the name of the Lord’! That thought led to the freedom of being in the yoke with Jesus. Hymn 329 v4, says “Bind me in Thy yoke Lord Jesus; Other yoke would heavy be. Selfish freedoms are but bondage, In Thy truth is liberty.” So, it led me to think about some people with burdens that are mentioned in the bible. Burdens like the ones we find ourselves carrying. Peter’s advice was, 1 Peter 5:7. ”Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

Some of Joseph’s brothers had the terrible burden of envy and hatred in their hearts. While Joseph, even in that environment, had love and respect for, and obedience to his father, a love for truth, and a relationship with God.

What freedom! A freedom that helped him accept whatever came his way, as he always chose the will of God.

Hannah came to the place of prayer with the burden of great sorrow, caused by her adversary, but she left that place with the freedom obtained by sacrifice. I am glad we can remember that kind of freedom and peace, when we gave to God what He asked of us.

Naaman’s wife’s maid lived with the burden of captivity, caused by the choice of others, but she was feeding her heart on the greatness of God and all that He could do. She could have been thinking that this great God could or should get me out of this place, and back to where I have a right to be. But no, the freedom of her heart caused an overflow of the things she had been feeding on. She spoke of the greatness of God, and it brought cleansing to Naaman and heavenly fellowship to her in that place. Someone else knew of the greatness of God.

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah all shared in the burden of captivity and persecution, but Daniel’s purpose to keep himself undefiled brought him, and maybe ‘them’, closer to God. Daniel and his three friends had a freedom, even from the fear of death, and the fear of what others would think or say. This caused Jesus to be revealed in the furnace, and God to be glorified at the lion’s den.

Jesus, we know, had the burden of sin. My sin. Your sin. Our brothers’ sin. The sins of all the world. There was no freedom from that burden for Jesus, even through the time when His Father had forsaken Him, even to the death on the cross. God planned it that way. What else would move our heart to love Him so deeply, that we would lay down our lives for Him, as He has done for us. What else would help me to understand what He has done for me! The very thing I needed. The very thing I need yet. I could not do it for myself. I cannot do it for another. No one else can do the same for me. Jesus bore that burden of my sin even to the death of the cross, that I could have such freedom and cleansing from all that would separate me from God. Jesus rose from the grave with the freedom and joy of God’s approval – Jesus’ sacrifice was accepted!

Jude 1:24. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.“

Hymn 384 speaks of “Cleansing for Me”. So many things to be cleansed from; Guilt, doubts, fears, the care of what men think or say, fearing to speak, sing or pray. What a wonderful song we can sing to our redeemer! “Cleansed by Thee, Cleansed by Thee”.

“My freedom is Thy grand control!”

The word “forgiveness”, in our recent Wednesday night study has remained with me. Jesus is our perfect example of forgiveness. “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” If Jesus had said Father don’t forgive them, then those in the first chapters of Acts would have no hope, but as it was, they were given opportunity to repent when they realised their sin.

The little captive maid is a good example of forgiveness. There could have been a lot of bitterness and hatred in her heart toward the enemy that took her away from her parents, home, friends and earthly prospects but there is evidence that God had put something in her heart that helped her to be different. She could give a message of hope to her master which was really her enemy when she could have said: I hope he dies soon! Matthew 5:43 “Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you.” This little maid was still under the old law, but she was living out what Jesus taught.

She had great faith in God when she said: “If my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! For he would recover him of his leprosy.” Jesus confirmed that this little maid had never seen the prophet heal anyone of leprosy. Luke 4:27 “Many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet, and none of them was cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian.” The life that this maid lived in that household must have left a good impression.

If she had been dishonest in her work and telling lies, then Naaman would not have believed. Her upright, honest life had left a good impression that led Naaman to get to know there is a God that is above all, but he had to humble himself to receive the cleansing that he needed. A testimony at convention: “Pride comes as standard equipment! It is there naturally; we don’t have to look for it. It’s a hard thing to deal with but we must.“ We can learn that from Jesus, “He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.”

You can tell the size of a person by the size of the things that upset him.

Nothing so dangerous as to want our own way.

Submission is the greatest lesson to learn.

The greatest danger is setting our course by the standards of others.

Let us not be upset by little things.

One resolution I have made is to rise above little things.

We must keep our words within the bounds of our example so the Lord can bless them and make them effective.

Joy is the echo of God’s life within.

Death will only separate us from what we must leave behind.

God is grieved when things are allowed into our lives, our spirit, our relationship with each other that mars fellowship, hinders progress, impoverishes us eternally.

The unguarded moments bring Eternal loss.

Because of giving up something of earth, we get something of worth.

Get in touch with God by Knee Mail.

True greatness is made manifest by our willingness to serve.

Ask yourself often how I can do better today.

One step does not take us far, but it sets us in a direction.

The “Spirit” of God is like oil (in machinery) it stops the squeaks, stops friction, stops breakdowns and reduces wear and tear.

The reason there are so many churches is; it is easier to build a temple than to be one.

God can not work on material that is not in his hands.

The business of fault finding needs no capital, no brains and no character.

I’d like to read from Acts 9:3.

As Paul journeyed, vs. 4, He fell down and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Vs. 5 Who are you, Lord? The Lord said, I am Jesus. Vs. 6, He, trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do, And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what to do. V8, Saul arose from the earth and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. Vs. 9, And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. Vs. 10, the Lord asked Ananias to go to him. Vs. 11, And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.”

When does bitter become sweet?

Behold, he prayeth.

When does night become day and dark become light?

Behold, he prayeth.

When does fear become courage?

When does restless become restful?

Behold, he prayeth.

When does perplexity become simplicity?

Behold, he prayeth.

It’s quite a thing when a man prays like that.

It wasn’t in the list of things to do.

In Vs. 6, Jesus didn’t say, you need to pray.

But when we face a fact about ourselves, and we face our own reality, there’s no other communication besides praying that we really want.

We crave to pray when we face a fact about ourselves.

There’s no one else we really want to talk to at that instant.

New frontiers are not north and south and east or west, but new frontiers are when a man faces a fact about himself.

There’s really no other communication when we’re looking at our own selves.

Praying is just an invitation from God to empty our heart so he can fill our soul.

When we’re hunkered over our bed; our feet are turned up; we show God where we’ve been.

Our hearts are tipped over and everything comes out and our eyes are shut.

Did you know you can see further when your eyes are shut?

You can see the hereafter when you’re praying.

You can see the very throne of God when you’re praying.

You can see beyond this earth when you’re praying.

You can see the Almighty and the help of angels when you’re praying.

I like what is happening with Paul.

A lion is becoming a lamb.

And a man is becoming a child.

Behold, he prayeth.

Bold is becoming begging, and proud is becoming praise.

Behold, he prayeth.

There’s no greater communication.

It’s how we face ourselves the best, with God.

There’s no other communication I crave like to pray.

It is my best communication.

When does hard become soft?

When does an agenda become, thou sweet beloved will of God?

Behold, he prayeth.

God knows what no other man knows.

No other person knows that Paul is praying.

For three days God has been listening.

God knows what no other person on this earth knows.

He knows a man is unburdening his heart and soul before God.

Behold, he prayeth.

It makes all the difference in the world.

It is my best time; it is my finest moment when I’m alone with God.

There’s nothing like that.

We were out to dinner at a busy restaurant in Denver with two little girls on a Friday night.

It was time to give thanks for the food.

I kind of bowed my head to give quiet thanks.

Oh, no, oh, no.

Those little girls want to sing!

I’m thinking, Sing!

Oh, they want to sing.

We’re in a booth so they hop up on the seat.

They want to sing “Day by Day.”

I wanted to whisper, “day by day”, but oh no, those little girls start singing in a busy restaurant on a Friday night.

Day by day thy children.

They’re singing it.

Was I humiliated?

No, I was humbled by these children who were not afraid to give thanks to God.

In Denver on a Friday night, in a busy restaurant, these children singing “Day by day thy children.”

Behold people who pray.

Behold a woman who prays.

Behold men who pray.

Behold, he prayeth – all the difference in the world.

An agenda is being changed.

A man’s nature is being changed.

Attitudes are being changed, and direction is being changed.

He is being changed.

His change will now change others.

It is incredible the effect of a simple little statement.

Behold, he prayeth.

The world will be different because this man is praying.

The people he affects will be different because this man is praying.

Behold, he prayeth.

Nothing like it.

When do mountains become molehills?

When do obstacles become opportunities?

Behold, he prayeth.

It’s not just the new news; it’s not just the bad news.

It’s just the whole story.

It’s just the opportunity to empty your heart.

It’s marvelous to be able to do that.

I don’t know so much about it.

I do know that I crave it and there’s no communication like that.

That I know.

And I do know what it’s like to empty my heart out and have my soul filled.

I do know what that’s like.

It’s not in some instruction posted somewhere.

I just yearn for it.

I’m at my best when I’ve emptied my soul to God.

I like me better when I have prayed.

I’m not great, but it’s me at my best when I have prayed.

I like what happens in Acts 10:9, “On the morrow as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray. He becomes very hungry, would have eaten. He falls into a trance and saw Heaven opened.”

See, I like that.

I would like to know how to pray that way, that deeply, so oblivious of my surroundings that I could pray as if in a trance.

When you pray like that Heaven can teach you and earth can’t touch you.

That’s what I like about it when I’m just oblivious to what’s going on around me.

Heaven can teach me, and earth can’t touch me.

That’s how he was praying that day.

He gets a credible vision that will change the outcome for the Gentiles, and that’s you and I.

Heaven is teaching, and earth isn’t touching and a man is praying.

I like what happens in Acts 16:8. ”And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, come over into Macedonia, and help us.”

I like just an uncluttered prayer.

It’s just, “Come over and help us.”

It’s so uncluttered.

It’s void of defensiveness.

What he’s really saying is we’re teachable, our heart is open, our house is ready.

We don’t want band aids.

We want the help of God.

We pray, come over and help us.

Just come.

Come in our direction.

Come visit us.

It’s a cry.

We’re over the Aegean Sea 110 miles away.

We pray you come and help us.

It’s so uncluttered.

It doesn’t say, we have our boundaries; we have our limits; you can only address certain issues.

But it’s just come and help us.

We’re wide open asking for help, so uncluttered.

He doesn’t wade off into things he can’t solve.

It’s like he’s saying, my skillfulness cannot solve the question of my sin.

My creativity cannot solve the feeling of condemnation.

I cannot solve the household.

I cannot solve myself.

We pray you, just come and help, so uncluttered.

It sets loose an unfettered ministry.

It’s an uncharted course, but it’s all about prayer and answering a prayer.

When we cannot solve our own needs, it’s just an uncluttered prayer.

Don’t want a Band-Aid; I want help.

I want help for my soul.

I need help for my heart.

I cannot solve this.

I discovered a man named Manasseh last year.

He’s one of the kings in the Old Testament.

He’s really a poster boy for sin.

He’s a train wreck of a king.

He’s a shoo-in for a lost eternity.

It says of him he made Jerusalem run with the blood of innocent people.

He ruled for over 40 years.

He is a poster boy for iniquity.

They don’t come any worse.

It says there was no king as evil as he.

That’s how bad he is.

He gets carted off to Babylon and thrown in a dungeon.

It says they put a hook in his nose and pulled him to Babylon over 500 miles and threw him in a dungeon.

Nobody worse.

He begins to pray.

Isn’t that incredible!

It’s amazing to me when authority becomes humility.

A trainwreck begins to pray.

This is what it says in II Chronicles 33:12, “And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And prayed unto him: and God was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.”

Then later, as it sums up his life in Vs. 19, “His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sins, and his trespasses.”

God forgave him when he was humbled.

God forgave that, because a man begins to pray and he’s in the dungeon and he was at his weakest, and death is just a breath away.

He’s far from hearts that pray and lips that preach.

He’s over there in a hole; and he begins to pray, and God heard him.

God forgave him and brought him back to Jerusalem.

It’s incalculable what prayer can really do.

No one knew about Manasseh because he was in a hole 500 miles away, but God knew.

God heard a man pray.

Behold, he prayeth.

Behold, a woman who prays.

Behold, you who pray and bow your knee to God.

One more.

I do like what happens in Genesis 47.

It doesn’t use the word pray, but it’s the continually coming to the bread giver to a man named Joseph, and they come over and over.

Year after year they come to the bread giver Joseph.

Then they finally say to him, “we cannot hide it from you.”

So that’s what prayer does.

It keeps us from hiding things from God.

It moves us to not hide.

In Vs. 13, there’s a famine in the land that’s terrible.

Vs. 15, when money fails – it always does.

You may not run out of money, but it does fail you.

They come unto Joseph and say give us bread.

We don’t want to die.

Money fails.

They learn to let go.

Joseph says, give me your cattle if money fails.

They have food but they don’t have bread.

That’s why we go back and back again.

Vs. 17, they brought their cattle in exchange for bread.

He fed them with bread all year.

Vs. 18, when that year ended, they come the second year.

They say, “we will not hide it from my lord.

Money is spent, herds are gone.

Why should we die?

We don’t want to die before thine eyes.

Buy us and our lands for bread.”

Joseph does that.

In Vs. 25, “thou hast saved our lives.”

That’s how we feel about this coming to the bread giver.

Over and over.

We don’t want to die.

We don’t want to lose our soul.

Give us bread.

We say to him, nothing else is working.

It’s failing.

I spoke at a funeral of a teenaged girl.

She turned 16 on Wednesday, got her driver’s license.

She was dead on Friday, car accident.

The funeral was in Austin, Texas.

I just needed a little quiet moment, so I asked the director for just a room, can I just sit in a room a little bit before the service started.

So, he flings open a door and flips on the light.

There’s the father of the girl, on his knees, praying.

Praying!

He found a room and was just praying.

Behold, parents that pray on their knees at a funeral for their girl.

I like what it says of Revelation 8, ascending, an angel goes up to God and it takes a censer with incense, and with that incense are the prayers of the saints.

What is greater than a dark world?

Prayers of the saints.

What is greater than nations that rise and fall?

Prayers of the saints.

What’s greater than a devil that circulates to every corner of this round earth?

Prayers of the saints.

This hymn was dedicated to the Friends in the Ukraine, circa 2022.

Performed by Braden Pihrag and Jocelyn Radom, brother and sister from Saskatchewan.

Braden is in the work (Latvia, etc).

Everything you’d like to know about the Friendly Hymnbook can be found at this site.

I want to tell you about an experience I had here in Durban many years ago.

At that time, we still had the convention at Clairwood Racecourse and at that convention, my job was to see to the transport – to fetch people at the station and to bring them to the grounds, or to do the shopping. The convention was already on and the kitchen staff realised that they still needed something so they asked me if I would go to town and get this for them. Well I bought this and started on my journey back.

Clairwood is a few Kilometres out of the city and soon I realised that there was a car in front of me, I think it was a minibus, but I could plainly see that a few nuns were in this car. I was following this car and it just so happened that where I turned left that they turned left and also when I turned right, they did and so we continued until eventually we left the city and I was still behind them. Then I started thinking about them. There was such a resemblance to what I was doing and what they were doing. I knew that they too made a sacrifice and they left all the possibilities of making a career, having a home and a family. They have made this sacrifice and given their lives and feel that they are doing it for God’s Kingdom, the same as I did. They were living with a hope in their hearts that God would take notice of this and that God would eventually accept them into His Kingdom and give them a place at His right hand. I knew that they were sincere and sure that what they were busy with was the right thing and I wondered, “Am I being very proud of myself to think that MY sacrifice would be accepted and theirs not?” I wondered, “Would God not take notice of that?” They were doing it in all sincerity and would He not take notice of that? It worried me.

Well, we continued and eventually, they continued and I had to turn off but my rest was gone. I didn’t feel so free inside any more and there was this something that worried me a bit. I delivered my goods to the kitchen and I went into the meeting, which was still on. The last speaker, one of our visiting workers, was already speaking and when I sat down he was just at this portion where he read these verses in Matthew 23. Verse 16, “Woe unto you ye blind guides…” I will just jump to verse 18, “Whosoever shall swear by the altar it is nothing but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it he is guilty. Ye fools and blind for whether is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?” He continued to speak about that and to say that one could bring a very costly gift, very precious, but if you would put this on the wrong altar, it would not be accepted but even a lesser gift that is brought to the right altar, it will be accepted because it is not the gift that sanctifies the altar but it is the altar that sanctifies the gift. I was in awe that God, so directly, immediately jumped in. He could see that there was something that was worrying me, something that I could not handle and He IMMEDIATELY gave me the message that helped to bring peace back into my heart. That I could understand that this is what God expects of us, to honour the altar. One could be too inclined to look at the gift, that which goes on the altar as if that is the most important thing. He wanted me to realise that it is the altar that sanctifies the gift.

I looked up in Exodus where it speaks about the first altar that was made. It says there in Exodus 29:36, “Thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement and thou shalt cleanse the altar when thou hast made atonement for it and thou shalt anoint it to sanctify it. Seven days thou shalt make atonement for the altar and sanctify it and it shall be an altar most holy. Whatsoever touches the altar shall be holy.” God said this had to be done. This altar was there, it was made out of stone and it was only a stone structure, until it was sanctified, until everything was done that God commanded should be done to it. There was a sacrifice brought unto it for seven days, a bullock, and eventually it was anointed, atonement was made for it and it was sanctified and declared holy, MOST holy. So holy that everything that would touch the altar would be holy.

We read in Hebrews 13:9, “Be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace and not with meats which have not profited them which have been occupied therein. We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle.” We have an altar, a different altar. Not an altar built of stone but an altar which God approved of. So much so that He could lay His Son upon that altar. The greatest sacrifice that ever was brought and that altar was the altar of obedience. His Son was obedient.

It says there in Philippians, and I often think of that part, where Paul says, “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself the form of a servant,” and it says, “He became obedient, humbled Himself and became obedient, even the death of the cross, wherefore God hath also highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Things in heaven, things on the earth and even things under the earth.” He became obedient, obedient unto death. This was the altar on which this supreme sacrifice was laid, this altar of obedience. He was obedient although it cost Him so much, He had such a high position in heaven, He could have had a glory equal to what God had and yet He was willing to give that all up because God asked Him to do so and because of the love in His heart, He came down to this world to be humbled, humiliated, hated, scorned, and eventually, to be nailed to a cross to die for our sins. God saw that sacrifice and it was a sacrifice so great, so holy, so noble, so that no other sacrifice could ever equal it. God thought that this was so great a sacrifice that no other sacrifice could ever be laid upon this altar, this altar of obedience.

It says here in this verse in Hebrews that we have this altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve in the tabernacle. It also says not to be carried about with diverse and strange doctrines because it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace and not with meats which hath not profited them. It is a good thing that the heart be established. It is a good thing that the heart finds its comfort, be steadied, be assured because of grace, because of this grace, which has been bestowed upon us, because of what the Lord Jesus did. Let us find our strength there, find our comforts there and not in meats, not in the gifts.

Sometimes, we can make so much of it and we think of all that we have done. We could almost call it what we have sacrificed. We shouldn’t even use that word because what we do is so very little and God is not impressed at all by what I bring and what you bring. Our sacrifice doesn’t count at all, it is just that which the Lord Jesus brought that impresses God. The only thing that we can do, what we may do, we may come forward and we may touch this altar. Not with our hands but touch it with our hearts. With this feeling of gratitude that He gave this sacrifice and God’s heart was moved to forgive the sins of all the world, because of that sacrifice. The only thing that we can do is to humbly come forward with reverence, and touch this altar because they that touch this altar would be holy.

I hope that God would help us not to be carried away, as it says here, by strange doctrines, “Be not carried away with diverse and strange doctrines.” There is this inclination amongst some and they have their eyes fixed upon other strange doctrines. It appears that they give so much, they do so much, they bring greater sacrifices. They can heal the sick and they do so much for the poor and they have their eyes fixed on some kind of a gift and think that God could be impressed by that, but God is not impressed by that. He is impressed by that which the Lord Jesus did and the only thing that we can do is humbly come forward and touch that altar. May God help us that this morning too, that this would be our purpose and that we would see the beauty of this altar and come forward in such a way and touch it that we may receive this holiness.

On Friday, somebody brought a newspaper into our room so I decided to take a look as I had not looked at a paper for a while. There on the front page was an article about an earthquake that shook part of Italy. 207 people were killed at that time and they expected more. 1500 people injured and many homeless. Then there were a few photos, too, and there was a church, a cathedral that was built in the 13th century and that building was badly damaged. In the photo, you could look right into it and you could see that it was a beautiful old building. It had paintings inside and a domed ceiling and there were paintings on there but now all around it was just ruined. Everything had tumbled under this terrible force. There were people walking around in this wilderness not knowing where to go.

A devastating thing took place and after that I took up my Bible and I read this chapter in Matthew 24 where the Lord Jesus spoke about the last days. As He went out of the temple, His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple and Jesus said unto them “See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” They continued to ask Him, ”When will these things happen? How will it be?” He tried to tell them. He told them that they had to be careful. He answered and said unto them, “Take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in My name and say, ‘I am Christ,’ and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that ye be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake. And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold, but they that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.” Then He spoke of the great affliction that will come upon the earth and He said, “Let them which be in Judea flee unto the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house.” “Woe unto them which are with child”….“Pray that your flight be not in winter”….“For then shall be a great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened. Then if any man say unto you, “Lo here is Christ, or there; believe it not.” You know that portion of scripture. He said that the coming of Christ will be like the lightning that shines from the east to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be. For wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

We sometimes read where it tells us about the future, things that we can go on to and things that are far better than what we have now, and we love that. But here is a prophecy that came from the mouth of the Lord Jesus when He prophesied about the times that are coming, terrible times. It will be aimed chiefly against the church, against His followers, against the Christians. This thing will be so powerful and it will affect many – cause them to lose their faith, to betray one another, and hate one another. A terrible time, and it was just as if the whole thing was going to collapse, just like an earthquake. So much will happen here on the earth in that time. When it will come, it says that these things that will happen will be like earthquakes, but yet it is not the time. It is yet coming and we can think that it is still ages away but it can be very near, this time when there will be such confusion and so much damage will be done. Here we sit today and we all have a good feeling in our hearts and purpose to continue and to serve God faithfully. Even the very elect shall have a problem that day to continue with what they purpose to do. It is going to be a very, very difficult time on the earth.

He says, “Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” I have often thought about that verse and I have spoken about it at times, different from what my thoughts were yesterday when I read it again. After having read about this earthquake and about this church that was damaged so badly, I looked in different Bibles in different languages and different versions. I also looked at that word ‘carcass’ in the dictionary and it says that it originates from the thought of a ruin, a ruined building, just a carcasa. Whatever church building stood there, there is just a ruin, just a carcass. Wherever the ruin is, there will the eagles be gathered together. It seems as if this church, this that now seems so firm on its foundation, that this earthquake will come and shake it to its foundation. Much will be damaged and all that will be left will be a ruin, a carcass.

It then says that there will the eagles be gathered together. Some translations speak about the vultures. One would think this of the false churches but here the Lord Jesus spoke about the true church collapsing, becoming a ruin, bereft of its former glory – just a ruin and there will the eagles gather. The Lord Jesus continued to speak about that day of His return. The angels will be sent out and they will have to look amongst the ruins where the true souls are, those who continued to the end, they shall be saved. These angels will come and they will know where to look and they will find them. The people were working in these ruins hoping to find either bodies or living people. They may have missed them while they were still alive but maybe an hour later they may be dead. But these angels will know where to look and they will take them to be with Christ forever. A perilous time for those who were not wholehearted and a wonderful time for those who continued, in spite of all, unto the end. It will cost a great deal of self discipline and the spirit of God’s presence, to help us in those days. Anyone who would still be standing on his or her feet just because of a background, just because of having had parents who professed, not whole-hearted, they will not stand, they will tumble down on that day. They will not continue to stand. Only the sturdy souls depending only on Christ, will stand and the rest will fall.

I thought of that time when Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem after Jerusalem was destroyed. He went there with the intention to help the people and they started with this work but then it says that the enemy said, “What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they raise the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish?” The enemy asked the question, “What are these people doing? They are attempting to rebuild this wall but will they fortify themselves? If they work together they may succeed but will they fortify themselves?” The thing we need to do is to make sure that this thing is not just on the surface, that my service towards God is a whole-hearted service. One must look to find this inward strength which will enable one to stand no matter what comes. Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will the spirit be in them to sacrifice because it is going to cost a lot? Will they sacrifice their own thoughts and ideas, their own human rights and whatever they could have had, are they willing to sacrifice so that this wall can be built? Will they continue until they finish? Will they raise the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish? Those that are still there and useful, will they revive them?

The secret of success is if we will be able to revive that which has been destroyed. This faith, this hope, this love and all those qualities that are so essential, will they still be there? Will we be able to revive them, make them alive again? If there is a possibility that they could do that then there is a possibility that they could finish this work. If that is not there, they would not be able to repair this. It is like what the Lord Jesus said, “Have you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner? This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes.”

This stone that was rejected. Those people that were there at the time when the Lord Jesus lived, important people, they rejected Him. He didn’t fit into the ways they were thinking. His shape was such that they just couldn’t get it to fit into their way of doing things. He became a stumbling stone and they rejected that stone. That stone which was so important, so vital in this building, which could have kept it together, it was rejected. But the day will come when He will become the head of the corner, the chief stone, and the stone which will keep it together. We know that this is our only hope, that the Lord Jesus will help us and He has helped us hitherto and He will help us in the future. He is the one that can do the repairs.

A little verse came into my mind that I knew years ago and I don’t know whether I can still get it back. It says about Him, “He came to mend earth’s broken things, that compass of old, God’s broken law. Men’s broken hearts and broken dreams untold. He came to mend earth’s broken things, to heal the wounded soul. His body broken on the cross, broken to make you whole.” This is what He came down to earth for, He came to mend earth’s broken things. This building was broken, lying there just a carcass.

 Wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. This chief corner stone will not be damaged but can it be revived?

I remember what Reg Schlemmer told me once that there in New Zealand there is a museum there and it is called, ‘Awesome forces.’ They have pictures there of volcanic eruptions and great powerful things that happened. Awesome forces. He said there were two stones there, huge big rocks actually and each of them weighed a few tons. They found these two stones, one lying on the northern island and the other on the southern island. I don’t know how they discovered that but these two stones belonged together. They fitted into each other like a glove as if it was machine made. There was no mistake, this used to be one huge rock. Some force, some awesome force, shot this rock into the air. It could have happened in Malaysia or Indonesia or wherever. It is not just as if the one left the other but the whole thing went up into the air by some awesome force. Some volcanic eruption must have flung this into the air, sent it hundreds of kilometres, split it and one landed up in the northern island and one on the southern island. Two pieces that belonged to each other. An awesome force. This stone that was rejected by mankind and they couldn’t get it to fit into their ways of thinking. Eventually this rock, this chief corner stone will repair everything. He will come back to repair everything which belongs to this building. It will be there and it will be there forever.

I can’t get my thoughts as I feel it in my heart but I think you will understand that this thing is going to happen. We are going to be tested and tried. It may even come down to a ruin but these eagles will be there and the stone will be there. May it encourage us to keep true and not just on the surface but deep in our hearts so that when that day does come, we will be able to stand.

One day I stood and keenly watched

Within a quiet room –

A weaver as he sat and worked

In silence at his loom.

The shuttle passing to and fro

Propelled by skilful hands –

Was weaving to a pattern sure

A multitude of strands.

I stood behind the simple loom

But there I could not see –

The pattern of those blended strands

In perfect harmony.

No picture slowly forming there

The work of patient hands –

A coloured blur, a disarray,

A mass of tangled strands.

But then I went and stood beside

The silent weaver’s chair –

And, oh, how different was the sight

That I beheld from there!

Each thread was placed with tender care

Where only it should go –

And every thread from gold to black

With brightness seemed to glow.

And so, as days and years go by,

How oft we too are blind –

And fail to see the pattern worked

By loving hands and kind.

And yet sometimes in silent prayer

In spirit we can stand –

And watch the skilful weaver as

He weaves each single strand.

A work still uncompleted yet

‘Tis there that we can see –

A little portion of the joy

And glory that shall be.

As slowly, slowly, thread by thread,

The pattern clearly shows –

A pattern hidden oft to us

But one the Weaver knows.

We see the gold and silver threads

Have gained a brighter hue –

Because the black and sombre threads

Are interwoven, too.

No single thread could ever show

The pattern that is planned –

‘Tis only as they’re woven in

Beneath a loving hand.

So may we let Him weave our days

Until we clearly see

The pattern finished to His plan

For all Eternity.

The first altar mentioned in the Bible is the altar that Noah built when he came out of the ark. There was a lot that went on before Noah came to that altar. God spoke to him about things not seen as yet, and Noah believed God and went on to do what God told him.

We have heard about the Lord’s coming and the Day of Judgment, and they are things that are “not seen as yet, but they are coming. Noah carried out the plan God had given him, and then he came to this altar. When he put the animals on the altar, it tells us that the Lord smelled a sweet savour. When the animal was slain and put on the altar, it would not have been very sweet then; it was the fire that released the sweet savour from the yielded life. The consuming fire of the love of God releases the sweet savour from a yielded life, not just when we first yielded our life.

Dear Lord, we humbly thank Thee,

As nears life’s evening hour,

For all Thy grace and mercy,

Thy love and keeping power.

Upon the shadowed skyline

The clouds which now unfold

Are, by the dying sunlight,

Shot through with shafts of gold.

Life’s little day, now ending,

Has quickly passed away,

Yet sun that shone at dawning

Still gilds the closing day.

Thy promises unfailing,

In days of joy or tear,

Have been our hope and comfort

Throughout the passing years.

And now on life’s horizon,

As twilight turns to night,

The Morning Star is rising,

Eternal hope shines bright.

To God be all the glory,

To Him who gave His Son;

Through Christ, all death is conquered,

The final victory won.

**Sung to the tune of Old & New Hymn 305

**This was Ken Paginton’s last hymn. He passed away January 12, 1997.

FELLOWSHIP

(I thank thee, Lord…..)

For those who seek to help me on my way,

Who speak my name whene’re they pray,

Who have for me a love that’s pure and true,

Who seek to show me what is right to do.

For those who seek my daily load to share,

Who have for me a true and tender care,

Whose hearts are glad when my own joy is deep.

Whose tears have flowed when I had cause to weep.

For those who sit with me at Jesus’ feet,

With whom my fellowship is pure and sweet,

Who seek to share may hopes and joys and fears,

Who spur me on to face the coming years.

For those who in the secret place, alone,

Surrender all each day before Thy throne,

Striving to lift the standard up on high,

Knowing the corn of wheat must fall and die.

For all the love that has its source in Thee,

For ties more strong that human ties could be,

For every heart in harmony with Thine,

And that can beat in sympathy with mine.

Let me be true, My Saviour, unto Thee,

And unto those who mean so much to me.

Cleansed by Thy blood, united by Thy grace,

Grant us, one day, to see Thee face to face.

by Ken Paginton

Three confessed their sin but did not forsake it, and it led to their ruin. If we confess our sin, and forsake it, we can go on to find mercy and prosperity.  

Pharaoh – Exodus 9:27, “Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, ‘I have sinned this time; the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.’” This was just the cry of a frightened man; white chunks of ice fell, lightning running on the ground. He feared, but his heart was as hard as ever. He said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?” It says the Lord hardened his heart. The Lord just sends His word and our response is either to harden our hearts or soften them. Pharoah could have had a place beside Aaron and Moses, but he hardened his heart. A frightened man cried, “I have sinned.”

Salvation means to get rid of the rocks or hardness. Ten plagues were sent to try and soften Pharaoh’s heart; that is just like ten experiences or ten gospel meetings. There were thunder and lightning and he said, “I have sinned.”

An un-professing son dove into shallow water, broke his neck – was in hospital, paralyzed from below the chest. He did not know if he would live or die. He asked for the workers to come and pray and read to him. Then slowly the feeling came back into his body, first he could move his big toe, then the leg. Movement came back, and now he did not want the workers any more. A cry born in the storm, died in the calm. The sailors say, “When they reached the shore, they prayed no more!”

All of God’s work starts with a soft heart. The potter needs soft clay, the farmer needs soft soil to weed out and sow, the blacksmith needs soft metal to unite it, God needs a soft heart.

King Saul – I Samuel 15:24, “Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned:for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words; because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.’” He said, “I have transgressed – feared the people and obeyed.” It came from a rebellious heart, and he made excuses. It was a mixed confession, with excuses. We should not say, “If I have hurt you, or if I have offended you, I am sorry.” We should say, “I have offended you, I have hurt you.” His cry did not mean anything because of a rebellious heart and excuses. He said, “I obeyed the voice of God.” Next he confessed with excuses. The oxen lowing, and things still alive need to be fed; they were not taken care of. “When you were little in your eyes you were made King. Why did you not obey?” Partial obedience is not obedience. Selective obedience is not obedience. It’s like cafeteria style where you pick what you like – partial obedience is not obedience.

At one convention it was said, “Obedience, Obedience, Obedience!” There are three kinds of obedience – unwilling obedience, willing obedience, and selective obedience – which is for convenience. Saul thought partial obedience is obedience. When I was a teacher, I asked my students to do their homework in ink, with double spaces – available for correction, and their name in the upper right hand corner. I said I would not accept it if they didn’t do that. I wanted obedience. I didn’t expect the right answers, but they had to obey. God does want His people to obey. The Author of eternal salvation wants His people to obey.

Jesus is the author of salvation to those who obey. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Faith is the sacrifice of our understanding. And obedience is the sacrifice of our own will. It is the sacrifice of our will that God wants. To hearken means to listen with the intent to do; it is better than the fat of lambs. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. We know witchcraft is wrong. Rebellion is just the same.

Saul wouldn’t obey, and was slain on the high slopes of Gilboa by an Amalekite, that he had spared. His “I have sinned” didn’t mean anything to the Lord.

David – II Samuel 12:13, “And David said unto Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said unto David, ‘The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.’” When David said, “I have sinned,” the confession came from the heart of a genuinely repentant man. David put away the sin. God also put away his sin, because he forsook and confessed it, and he went on to prosperity and blessing. David put away sin so the Lord did not have to put him away. He did not sin when he was a boy, but when he was in the height of glory, in luxury, and prosperity and ease – ­not as a shepherd, or in adversity, or fleeing from Saul. He became self-indulgent. This is written for our learning. He that standeth let him take heed lest he fall. David fell, sinned.

Judas – Matthew 27:24, “Judas said, ‘I have sinned and betrayed innocent blood.’” His repentance to the priests meant nothing to them. They said, “That is your business!” The Pharisees continually found fault. A hard-hearted person can find fault even with perfection. Judas cried out of remorse and regret – that is not repentance. Judas was with Jesus from the beginning – saw miracles – heard and saw the same as the other disciples did, but his heart was still hard.

Matthew 27:2, Satan put it into Judas’ heart, then, it says, “Satan entered his heart.” His heart hardened, their heart softened. John 13, Satan put it into Judas’ heart to betray Jesus. He entered in because of his hard heart. Satan uses a hard heart for the foundation of his work. God uses a soft heart for the foundation of His work. The prince of the world came to Jesus and found nothing in Him to work on because His heart was always soft. Jesus was always meek and lowly and the devil found nothing in Jesus’ heart he could use, (capitalize use). The devil uses hard hearts. Satan can build on greed, selfishness, etc. The prince of this world comes to look for something to work on.

John 13, Jesus was with his disciples. He took the towel to do what none other would do. Peter felt condemned, he said, “You will never wash my feet,” and Jesus said, “Then you have no part with Me.” He wanted a part with Jesus. Jesus also washed Judas’ feet, but the water never reached Judas’ heart, He could not wash the dust off Judas’ heart. In Matthew 26, Judas said “Is it I?” The Lord said, “Thou hast said.”

The captain of the Titanic received many warnings about the icebergs ahead and that they were on a destruction course. But he would not listen or change. It takes a soft heart to take instruction and warning. Judas did not change. Jesus gave Judas the sop to show He still loved him. Jesus kept a soft heart towards Judas even when Judas was gone. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, with a demonstration of love but a terribly hard heart. Next day there was no comfort for him, and he said, “I have sinned.”

The purpose of sin is to bring us to the feet of Jesus. But Judas, when he had sinned, went to the priests and not to Jesus. If our heart is soft and humbled, and we come to the feet of Jesus, provision is made for our sin. Judas could have had forgiveness at Jesus’ feet; he could have found mercy. But he went to the hard-hearted priests. There had to be a Judas, but it did not have to be that Judas. Three confessed their sin but did not forsake it, and it led to their ruin. If we confess our sin, and forsake it, we can go on to find mercy and prosperity.

When I was home in Canada, someone asked me what was the biggest change I had noticed since coming back after five years. I thought about it for quite a while and I decided that the biggest change I noticed was a diminished desire in people at large to work at human relationships, to make relationships what they ought to be.

People entering relationships thinking, “What is this going to give me?” but without thinking, “What can I contribute to this relationship to make it what it ought to be?” As God’s people, a great responsibility rests upon us that we might make our relationships what they ought to be in the eyes of God. Some time ago, a young person came to me with a burden on her heart. She said, “In the place where I work, there is a young man who has been interested in me. First of all, our relationship was just a working one, then it became a friendship, then there were emotions in the heart, now I feel I am bound. What should I do? I know this is not helping my relationship with God.” Because the things he was interested in were not the things she was interested in spiritually. So all I could do was to help her to put her relationship with God first, and anything that helps your relationship with God, feed that, and anything that would hinder your relationship with God, starve that. She took that course.

Mark 3:31, “There came then His brethren and His mother .. calling Him. And He answered them saying, “Who is My mother, or My brethren?” And He looked round about on them which sat about Him, and said, “Behold My mother and My brethren …” Jesus wasn’t slighting His mother in any way, but just teaching the people that there are natural relationships and spiritual relationships. Mary, the mother of Jesus had a special natural relationship with the Lord Jesus’ as His mother, but she also had a spiritual relationship with Him because of doing the will of God.

A young lady once heard the gospel. She was the first one in her family and she responded. It meant so much to her that she wanted other members of her family to hear this gospel and she wrote to workers in the area where her mother lived and those workers went to visit her mother and gave her an invitation to gospel meetings and she came. After a period of time, she also accepted this wonderful gospel. That daughter, having heard the news that her mother had received this gospel with a purpose to do the will of God, phoned her. When she hung up, she said to the workers, “It was so different talking to my mother now, it was just like I was talking to a sister.” Her mother had become her sister. Her mother, in a natural relationship, but her sister in Christ through the spiritual relationship.

Those are the relationships that we want to establish and strengthen and keep firm, spiritual relationships one with the other. The reason, mainly, for the lack of working relationships is that, first of all, people don’t really understand what proper relationships are in the light of the Word of God, and secondly, they have no real purpose to develop and strengthen those relationships. That’s why the present attitude is – well, if it doesn’t work, we can break that relationship off and establish another kind of relationship. But in Christ, we first of all have a pattern for the kind of relationships we want to make and establish, and secondly, we have a purpose in making and maintaining these relationships.

John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples if ye have love one to another.” You are My disciples – a master/learner relationship -between Jesus and the disciples. You have love one to the other – brother/brother relationship. This will be the evident sign that your relationship with God is what it ought to be, because you are maintaining relationships with each other as they ought to be.

Jesus in His teaching has told us what those brother/brother relationships ought to be and we have a purpose in maintaining those relationships because, if they are not right, then our relationship with God, the Master, cannot be right. If we should have something against a brother or sister, that affects our relationship with God. We cannot be in a close relationship with God if we haven’t the right relationship with our brethren. For example, I know a couple in a city where we labored some years ago and, as the custom is in our country in the East, when a son would marry he would bring his wife into his parents’ home. Sometimes on very rare occasions when a daughter would marry, she and her husband would make their home with her parents. This is what happened on a certain occasion.

This daughter was married and her husband came into the home with her parents, all living together. Things were fine for some years and then something happened (long before we ever met them) and relationships between father and daughter deteriorated to the place where they were not even speaking to each other. They lived in the same house and ate the same food and went to the same denominational church together and sat together in those worship services and came home together from the services, but they had absolutely no communication one with the other. This continued not only for a day or a week but for years, and here were these people trying to maintain, what they said, was a relationship with God without working at relationships with each other.

We are grateful that in the gospel of Jesus Christ we can learn what our relationships ought to be one with the other and, through the grace of God, we can establish and maintain those relationships and then, through that, we can also be right with God. Right relationships must be consciously fed and strengthened. We must make a conscious effort, whether between brothers and sisters in a family, or between children and parents, or between man and wife, or between members in the church, or between workers as companions, or between friends and workers, or between us and the world. All different relationships that we must build, and we must make a conscious effort to feed those relationships that are right and starve those relationships that are wrong so that God’s blessing can be upon our lives.

I would like to tell you about someone who established and maintained one of these good relationships. I was in a home some years ago and on the counter in the kitchen was a small bouquet of wild roses. I asked the lady of the home where these had come from, because I thought it was far too early in the season for wild roses to be showing themselves. She said, “I am happy to tell you where they came from. Over 30 years ago, when my husband was courting me, he always brought me the first wild roses that he ever found in the springtime of the year and he would break them from the bush where he found them and bring them to me.

For over 30 years, every year without fail, he has brought to me the first wild roses that he ever found in springtime.” So I knew that they had a good relationship one with the other and here was somebody who was working at it, a man who was doing something, showing a little kindness, not afraid to express his love for his wife, and making a conscious effort to maintain and strengthen that relationship he had established with her. It’s those little kindnesses, that probably would go unnoticed in the world, that we can do for each other that will help to strengthen and maintain those relationships. Every right relationship needs nurturing.

Psalm 119:19, “I am a stranger in the world” – that’s our relationship with the world. I remember the testimony of a young man. He said, “I am conscious of my failures and my sin, but one thing I have proved in this past year is that I don’t belong out in the world, I belong here among these people.” We are strangers in the world because of the things that we like to do in our spare time and because of the language that we use, some words we wouldn’t speak that people out in the world would speak. We are strangers in the world because of the things we count as humorous. You can think of many ways in your personal experience when you have found that you are a stranger in the world, and we want to maintain that relationship with the world.

Psalm 119:63, “I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy precepts.” Those are the kind of friends we want to seek out. The basis for that friendship is two-fold, fearing God and keeping His commandments. Can you enjoy fellowship with a person who doesn’t like to do what the other friends like to do? We can’t. Never feel that the will of God, keeping His precepts, restricts you.

How many times have we sung that wonderful hymn in our book that says about the will of God “Thine empire is so sweet.” Do you think of an empire as something limited and restrictive and that limits possibilities for you? There are vast things that we can do together, with our companions in the will of God. We just have to look round about us. There are things that children can do with companions in this fellowship and the number of those is like an empire. There are things that young people can do together within the will of God. When we get old, maybe there are not so many things we can do any more, but there is an empire of things that we can be.

I heard of a young couple, God-fearing, walking in God’s way, and they made a friendship with another young couple and brought them to gospel meetings. The second young couple professed and now their relationship was not only friends to friends, but they were brothers and sisters in Christ. These two young couples chose to have a holiday together for two weeks. The day they were to leave on their holiday together, the sister worker in the field went to see them away and she gave them a little bit of advice, very sound and wonderful. She said, “You are going to have two weeks together. Remember what it was that brought you together and made your fellowship possible, and keep that first in everything you do.” What she was telling those young couples was just this: be a companion of all those that fear God and keep His precepts. Remember what it is that enables us to know each other. It’s not some light, worldly entertainment. It’s not great oratory. It’s not some sports event. It was Christ and the gospel that brought us together and we want to make that the foundation of our relationship one with the other.

Psalm 119:125, “I am Thy servant.” That’s our relationship with God. It has been a very outstanding experience for me, living where many households have servants, to realize that if a servant wants to leave his mark or impression, there is only one way to do it, and that is through faithfulness. Just simply doing what he is told. Think of our God in heaven and we His servants, our desire is to be faithful.

Paul talked about relationships when he wrote the first letter to the Corinthians. In chapter 12:12, he gives the illustration of a body. The foot is feeling inferior when it looks at the hand and says, “I can’t do what the hand can, I don’t belong to the body.” The ear looks upon what it can do and then looks at what the eye is doing and says, “I can’t do what the eye is doing, therefore I am not of the body.” Is it justified in feeling inferior? Paul says definitely not. Any member in the body that is filling its place, will never make another member feel inferior, and the other member shouldn’t feel inferior but Paul said to serve in the place and with the grace and ability that God has given to us. Verse 21, “The eye says, ‘I don’t need the hand, my place is superior.’ The head says, ‘I have no need of the foot.’” Any kind of feeling of superiority is just as un-Christlike as a feeling of inferiority, and the person who is the hand or the head or the foot will plead for grace from God to do the very thing God has asked him to do.

The whole secret of this is found in Verse 18, “But now has God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him.” The attitude that is Christlike is: I am thankful for my place in the body, I pray for grace to fill it as God would have me to fill it, and if I can help another member and cooperate with another member in the body, that is what I want to do. That is a wonderful relationship. These relationships are established and maintained at a cost and that cost we want to meet.

Revelation 21:2, the bride adorned for her husband – the relationship that exists between Christ and the Church, a husband/wife relationship. The church was adorned as a bride. In the East, marriages are arranged by parents and the day is set by the parents with the consent of all. But there is also something else that happens in that arrangement that would seem very strange to you and it did to me also – the bride’s adorning. All that she would wear on her wedding day when she presents herself to her bridegroom, possibly the first time they have ever seen each other, is provided for her by her bridegroom and his family.

I remember attending a wedding, as an invited guest, and we wondered why the delay. Hour after hour was going by and we finally learned that the bridegroom and his party were coming from a great distance and for some reason they had been delayed. But even when they arrived, still there was a great delay and they said because they have come from such a great distance he has brought all the bride’s adorning with him and she has to get herself ready now before she can present herself before him for the wedding ceremony. Can you imagine what kind of relationship would be established between those two young people if, when he has provided everything, she would present herself and come adorned in something different? The very fact that that young bride would come before her husband adorned in what he has provided for her, says something about her spirit and the relationship that she wants to establish with him. What it says in big bold letters is “submission” – I want what you have chosen for me.

That’s what Paul says, “That we might be found in Him, not having our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” He has provided that. When we are satisfied with that, that is the beginning of a wonderful relationship with the Bridegroom, and the foundation of it is submission.

Jesus talked about the shepherd/sheep relationship. The foundation of that relationship must be submission. John 10, the shepherd’s voice speaking and He will protect them and care for them. Psalm 23 is the testimony of a sheep that knew that close relationship with the shepherd and the first thing the sheep says is, “I shall not want, I have no fear of anything that would befall me, no fear of hunger or thirst or the enemy or of death or what awaits me beyond death, as I follow and submit to what the shepherd has arranged for me.”

Grace is very necessary in maintaining relationships one with the other. In the little church where I grew up, over the years from the time I was a child, there have been very few added to that church. When I go home, for the most part, it is the same people in that little meeting that have been meeting together for almost 40 years, going to meetings together and often having business relations and meeting together through the weeks and they know each other so well that they could predict how they would react even to certain situations. Yet they still enjoy coming together. That tells us that there is something more than just human relationships at work there. You couldn’t do it for 40 years and maintain a sweetness in your meeting without the grace of God. When we meet together week after week and month after month and year after year and get to know each other so well, that needs the grace of God.

One of our sisters always had a lot to say and a worldly person said, “How do you get on with that person? I hear she is part of your church, she always seems to have so much to say and we find it hard to live with her.” They said, “We don’t think about it too much – she is our sister in Christ.” A wonderful attitude. Just able to overlook some of these little things that could spoil our relationship, because of the grace of God.

Then there are relationships between employer and employee. Some of you have brothers or sisters in Christ working for you. It’s wonderful to work at that relationship. In the land of Pakistan, we have some who are in that situation and it takes a certain measure of grace to maintain the brother/brother relationship that is first and foremost, and then to keep the employer/employee relationship based on honesty. You have to work at it. No relationship just happens, they have to be maintained with conscious effort.

There are parent/children relationships. I remember some little children in a meeting and I felt that the words they were hearing in the meeting went far over their heads. About a week later I asked them, “Do you remember that meeting last Friday night?” They said, “Yes, we remember it was said, ‘Children obey your parents in the Lord’ and we went home and found that verse and memorized it.” From the child’s point of view, that is what a child can do to maintain a right relationship with the parents. Then there is a lot that the parent can do as well. I heard something that taught me a great lesson because it applies to what I am doing also. It went something like this: “Dad, Andrew says that one and one make two.. Why?” And Dad said, “Don’t bother me just now, son, I’m busy.” “Dad, where is God?” “Don’t bother me just now, son, I’m busy.” “Dad, why did Grandpa die?” “Don’t bother me just now, son, I’m busy.” “Dad, will you take us out hiking?” “Don’t bother me just now, son, I’m busy.” “Dad, can I have the car?” “Don’t bother me just now, son, I’m busy.” “Sir, this is Constable Weatherby calling from the Police Station, we have your son here, we wonder if you could spare us…” “Don’t bother me now, I’m busy.” I think the point is clear. Children obey, but one of the gifts that you can give your children is just a little bit of your precious time, just to let them know that there is somebody who cares for them and understands them, and that helps to maintain relationships.

Then there are husband/wife relationships. I was in a home once and looked out the window and there were two birds building a nest inside a birdhouse. One little bird came along and had a stick in its beak and the hole in the little birdhouse was just about that big and the first little bird put the stick crossways in its mouth and tried to get into the hole and of course it couldn’t get in. It pushed and backed up and went ahead and pushed again and couldn’t get in. Its mate saw what was happening and it came along and it didn’t waste any time in telling it that it should have been finished by now or that that was the wrong way to go about it. It just took hold of the end of the stick and took it out of the other bird’s mouth and put the stick alongside its body and went in and the other one followed and just as quickly as I could snap my fingers both of them came out, no time wasted on discussion once they got in there. It just turned around and both of them came out and carried on with the business. That’s a wonderful relationship, working together.

One other relationship relates to what Jesus said when He was teaching the people about what would happen on the Judgment Day. Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven … thy name … then will I profess unto them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me ye that work iniquity.’” When they began to say, “Lord, Lord” they had become aware of God’s judgment concerning them and they were also aware that God’s judgment was not what they expected to hear and then they began to protest against what God had said, saying, “There must be some mistake, we have prophesied in Thy name and have cast out devils in Thy name and done many wonderful works in Thy name. There must be some mistake in this judgment that You have rendered.” But God would say, “I never knew you; though you have done all these things I never, in lifetime, had a relationship with you.” Why was there never a relationship established? Isn’t it evident that a person who would protest against the judgment of God that day was someone who had not submitted to the judgment of God in lifetime? This relationship between ourselves and God is established through submission to His will, and the person who knows that relationship established through submission, will not hear on that day, “Depart from Me, I never knew you,” but those wonderful words “Enter into the kingdom prepared for you.”

Let us make Christ the foundation of our relationships. No relationship just happens, we must work at them. We must contribute as well as gain.

Apopka, Florida – 2013

We have been singing about one little hour, and I’ve been thinking about an expression they have about something being a golden hour. Have you ever heard of that? They call it the golden hour and that’s following the minutes, or hours following a traumatic injury, and casualty and the prompt medical care that is given at that time prevents death if it can take place. Well, I’ve been thinking of that in a Spiritual way. Sometimes there are things that happen and maybe it might not seem like much, it could seem like a little splinter, but unless prompt care is given, even spiritually there could be casualties, and there could be death. We’d like to prevent Spiritual death if we can. They say if help is given within the first hour there is only a 10 fatality rate, in the second hour it’s 11, in the third hour it’s 12, the fourth hour is 33, the fifth hour is 36, the sixth hour is 44. If you want to go to 8 or 10, it’s 75 fatality rate. So the sooner something is cared, for the better it will be for us.

I’ve been trying to think of some examples spiritually. First of all, I thought about Mary and Martha. Sometimes, family things can run deep. But I thought of Mary and Martha – they were both sitting at Jesus feet and they were both hearing the words, but since Martha was cumbered about with much serving, and all went well and nothing was said by Jesus until Martha said, “Lord, dost thou not care?” Don’t you care? I don’t know if you have ever had that thought creep in because of surrounding circumstances, you wonder if God is there and if He cares. But Jesus … I believe that this is followed by a golden hour, golden minutes, because Jesus said, “She has chosen the big part and it won’t be taken from her.” So that was quick spiritual attention given. Because that thought, given enough time enough feeding, could mean spiritual death.

I thought of that woman in Luke 8. We heard about the women in Luke 13, but Luke 8 it tells about the woman that wasn’t well for 12 years and spent all of her living with physicians. She knew the burden of pain and suffering and health issues. She felt within herself, “If I could just touch the hem of His garment, then I’ll get help.” We know that she did. Even though there was the whole multitude, Jesus stopped everyone and said, “I perceive that virtue or help or strength has gone out from Me.” Now that woman, her situation would never have been completed, we know that she could have gotten physical help that day, but she would never have heard those words, “Daughter be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace.” She would have perpetually gone on thinking, “Well I’m not as good as others. I had to slither in to get help from Jesus, and it’s not fair any other way.” But no, her breath meant as much as anyone else’s there that day. That God granted her to breathe in breath as well as anyone else and it was her right to get help because of her spirit. I’m grateful for those golden moments that she could have and carry in her heart, “Daughter be of good comfort; you’re whole,” but it never would have ended like that and it would have been problematic.

I thought also of that mountain of transfiguration in Luke 9:30-33 when Peter, James, and John went up there on that mountain that day. Peter in his zeal said, “Let us make a tabernacle for Elijah and Moses.” That was good in one sense, but then Jesus knew that it would come to no good in the end. “Even Moses,” Jesus said, “Moses spoke of Me,” and even though there are others that kept true to the end that we respect and we remember, yet unless we hear Him for ourselves, it was a golden moment, “This is my beloved Son; I want you to hear Him.” No matter what we are surrounded by, unless we hear Him and keep close to Him, and be rooted in Him, there can be casualty.

I thought about Peter in Luke 22:31-33 when he didn’t know the power of his flesh and the weakness of it. Peter, in his zeal, said, “Lord, I’ll face death, I will go to prison for Thee.” We know that he failed. I’m sure all of us know and have had the shock at the weakness of our own flesh when it hits us, but yet, think of the golden moments when he could remember when Jesus said to him, “I have prayed for Thee that Thy faith fail not, and when Thou art converted, strengthen your brethren.” So that made a healthy situation even though there was some injury in him in his failure, and the attention was given spiritually.

I thought about Elijah, I Kings 19:18, when he was depressed, and he felt within himself that he just wanted his own life to be gone but the message was given to him, “You’re not alone. There’s seven thousand others that haven’t bowed their knee to Baal.” Sometimes in our temptations and in our experiences, we get to feel like we are soloists and no one has ever had some of our thoughts or some of our feelings, or our situation. Yet it was a golden hour or a golden thought for him to be given that message that there are others that have kept true no matter what. I think of immediately following that, that mantle was placed on Elisha, and what encouragement that would have been for him.

I was also thinking about David and Bathsheba. I like that illustration that was given to David in II Samuel 12 where the message was given to him, an illustration about a little lamb. There was a rich man and a poor man and the poor man had one little lamb in his household. He nurtured it with his family, it was with him, and it ate with him, lived with him; it was the only thing that they had. Yet that rich man had lots of lambs and sheep. Yet the rich man offered the man’s lamb; the man that just had one little lamb, he gave his. And when that illustration was told to David through Nathan from God, David said readily, “That man’s worthy to die.” He calculated it in his judgement and then Nathan said, “Thou art the man, it was you.” The strength that was in him, the hardness that was in him, it was evident that it was broken and he became soft. That was a golden moment, a golden hour.

I will mention just one more, and we have been studying in Exodus 32 where Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights up on that mount. He said the people were straying and that they had corrupted themselves and Moses interceded. But then I thought about Moses later, when he came down the mountain and when the impact hit him of what God saw long before him, and he threw down those tables of stone and he broke them. I can just remember for myself that God is awake, He is aware, He sees everything and I want that to be my golden thought, golden hour in these days.

In 1967, our doorbell rang and the message was given of the death in the war of Vietnam of my brother-in-law. It was in Operation Korea and the higher navy headquarters had given the order to remove all the river monitors. Those that were on the scene didn’t want that to happen, and yet it did, and there were casualties. I’m grateful that God on every level oversees all of us and we honour Him and we know that He is in control and will give us the golden moments and golden hour that we need.

Morning Meeting, May 10, 2004

Recently we were hearing at one of the other Special Meetings about those whose hearts God had touched, and I felt we are here today because God has touched our hearts and He is wanting to touch our hearts further. He has gathered us to encourage us, to reveal to us things He is wanting to tell us and touch our hearts and a little thought that came into my thoughts this morning. Someone once mentioned about a ship and it was just mentioned that a captain didn’t condemn the ship because it was off course; he just corrected it. He simply corrected its course.

We know that correction isn’t punishment, and we are grateful that we can be here in the Spirit to be corrected, because that is what God is wanting to do for all of us. He is wanting to touch our hearts and make us more alive unto Him and then He can correct us. There is another little thought that has been in my mind.

October 2009

Psalms 117:1-2, “O, praise the Lord all ye nations; praise Him, all ye people for His merciful kindness is great toward us and the truth of the Lord endureth forever.” Praise ye the Lord.

After spending the whole night on the mountain in prayer, Jesus chose the first twelve apostles. Luke 6:20, He lifted up His eyes and taught them, and so many of His teachings in this chapter speak of relationships. He didn’t tell them what someone else should be to them, but what they should be to others.

Verse 31, “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” Jesus was kind to the unkind, and kindness leaves no scars. No scars were left on Peter’s life, because Jesus treated him kindly, even after he betrayed Jesus.

On our tour, we were graced by a sister worker from Germany; Karen Weatphal is her name. She had a way and manner that captivated the listeners. The children sat in front of the platform in some conventions. The one in mind had about fifty. She started her message by speaking directly to the children by the following story.

“There once was a canary who sang a beautiful song. This was so because he lived in a beautiful cage. His master brought him fresh water to drink and bathe in every morning. On top of this, he was fed the finest food. His cage was placed by the window and had the best possible view. When the weather was pleasant, the window was opened and fresh, fragrant breezes refreshed him. On a certain sunny day, a stray sparrow flew up to the windowsill. He heard the song of the canary and then listened for a time. After a while he spoke and said, ‘Why are you singing so cheerfully, since you are such a poor bird?’ ‘What do you mean?’ demanded the singer. ‘You live a confined life,’ answered the sparrow. ‘Your world is so small and you have no freedom. Your cage is restricted and you can’t even try out your wings. Why, look at me for instance!’ and then the sparrow flew up to the top of the neighbor’s house. Looking down in scorn he added, ‘You surely are a poor bird.’ After such was said, he flew off without looking back. The canary watched him go and then looked at the bars on his cage. They wouldn’t move and he yearned to see a little more of the world around him. He started thinking more and more about his limited life. The more he thought, the sadder he became. Before long, he lost his song. His master brought him fresh, clean water to drink and to take a bath in the next morning, but the bright yellow canary paid no attention. Furthermore, he wouldn’t eat any of the delicious food prepared just for him. With the passing of time, his head hung down lower and lower and not one word was said. Days continued to pass and the once-happy bird became sadder and not better. He truly was a poor bird.

Then one bright morning, the sparrow reappeared as suddenly as he disappeared. He stopped and looked at the canary for a while. However, the yellow bird took no notice but continued to droop his shoulders and look sad. The sparrow finally broke the silence and said, ‘What is wrong with you?’ The canary would not answer. The sparrow now spoke with contempt and slurred, ‘You are even a poorer bird then I first thought.’ He was about to say something else to insult the canary, but instead at that very moment, a cat jumped up on the windowsill and caught the sparrow. He could only cry out for a moment but there was no one to help him. Then right before the canary’s eyes, the cat dined on the sparrow for lunch. When he was finished, the cat tried to get the canary also, but the bright, gold bars on his cage wouldn’t let him through. His master then heard the commotion and chased the cruel cat away. After everything settled down and peace was restored again, the canary began to consider what had happened! His cage protected him from his enemies and the sparrow had no protection. Furthermore, he was now dead. The canary had a master who cared for his welfare and was greater than his needs. The canary looked at the bars around him. He viewed the clean water to drink and bathe in and beheld the most delicious food for him to eat. After thinking a long time, he decided he wasn’t poor anymore but rather the richest and happiest of all birds. Understanding such a great truth, he raised his most beautiful, yellow head and began to sing the most beautiful song!”

Karen then looked down at the fifty pair of young wide-opened eyes looking up at her. Then she said, “Children, there will come a day when you will be a little older. You will look at the loving care of your parents in a different way than you think of it today. Your friends will say you are confined and restricted because of your mom and dad’s guidelines for your young lives. You will want to be as the sparrow and fly away as the sparrow…but remember this – every sparrow is caught by the devil. The devil will not be content until you are completely destroyed and your lives are ruined. You just try to remember when Satan says, ‘You are truly the poorest person in your school because you have no freedom, etc.,’ that he is a liar. You just keep obeying your parents and singing your song because you are the richest of all children because God is our Father and will bless us forever.”

When Karen was telling this story, I looked around the meeting tent and the ones who were writing the most earnestly were the doctors and professional men. Later on, I asked a number of them what they enjoyed the most in the afternoon meeting. “Oh,” they all said, “the story of the canary and the sparrow!” Here were educated, wise men who are honored and appreciated even by worldly standards, who now had become little children in the light of this simple story. They knew the story applied most of all to them and wanted to make sure not one word was missed. To me, this was one of the best pictures of God’s handiwork.

For several weeks, I’ve appreciated thinking about a little remark that was made among us at Ponchatoula convention. It was this, that “unity amongst us was so much more important than so many other things that we could have.” It caused my thoughts to go to that Psalm 133 which is very familiar to us, “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.”

It’s meant a lot to me to think of that precious ointment that is mentioned here. It seems that it was speaking of the holy anointing oil that the Israelites were instructed to make for the anointing of the priests, to consecrate them to the service of God in the Tabernacle. I turned back to the book of Exodus to the 25th chapter where it tells about the things that were going to go into that oil. It was to have a base of olive oil, then there was to be blended into it cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. I felt that I wanted to know more about those ingredients, those spices that went into the oil. I didn’t find out a whole lot, except that the cinnamon and cassia are made from the bark of trees. The calamus is similar; it comes from a plant, like a cane or a grass.

The thought that was so outstanding to me was that none of those ingredients would be useful in that ointment in their natural state. Each one had to be crushed. They couldn’t just put the olives and pieces of bark and the grass into a pot and have ointment. It all had to be crushed and to lose its identity, in order to make a soothing sweet smelling ointment. That’s a picture of the unity of God’s people. It speaks about it being so good and so pleasant, to be in unity like that ointment. I thought of what a soothing comforting thing it is to us when there’s unity in this family. It is soothing and comforting to the saints when they see God’s servants in unity and it is soothing and encouraging to God’s servants when they see the people of God in unity. It is also a pleasant and comforting thing to the heart of God to see both in unity together.

Unity comes at this expense, of the members, the individuals of this kingdom giving up their identity. When one looked at that ointment they wouldn’t see individual pieces of cinnamon bark and almonds and so forth, but just a wonderfully blended sweet smelling ointment.

I believe I’ve seen as never before the emphasis that Jesus put on unity in His teaching to those who were so close to Him, to those disciples. In the 17th chapter of John, I appreciated just spending some time with those verses where He was praying for His disciples. We know this was the night that He was taken and the following morning He was crucified. I felt that it would be good for me to really spend some time looking at this prayer of His. To see the things that were so heavy on His heart at this time, things that were so important on His mind before He was to leave His disciples. It stood out to me so very much how He prayed for them to be one, to be knitted together even as He and His Father had been one. Jesus and His Father were not one being, as some seem to believe in this world, but they were one in heart and mind, also in purpose, as the Holy Spirit was also with them. He was praying that among His disciples there would be this same unity of heart, of mind and of purpose.

We might just look at that 11th verse in John 17, “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee, Holy Father, keep through Thine own name, those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as we are.” Praying for those men that He was leaving behind in the world at that time, but later in the chapter it is clear that He was praying for us….for all those who had believed on Him since that time.

Verse 20, “Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word, that they all may be one.” That even in our day, there may be that unity that Jesus desired so much to see. Thinking of Him leaving those disciples He was leaving behind I wondered if the thing He was most concerned about was that they would be united in their efforts. There was a lot of human ability represented in those men. They weren’t called into the ministry because they didn’t have anything else going for them in life. They did have human abilities. They had strength, they had intelligence. They were people that had abilities and so forth but perhaps Jesus was trying to tell them that none of that would be of any value in His kingdom, if they weren’t united in their efforts. It caused me to feel that I need to be seeking more to be at one in this work and among God’s people.

One of the illustrations that I liked best is that of the body that Paul used in the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians. He says a lot there about the different members of the body, what they can do and that they need to be content with their place and to do what is their part to do. It’s meant a lot to me to think of the members working in harmony. And that they cannot work together in harmony unless there is the proper communication with the brain. The nervous system in our body is a marvelous thing and it’s all a matter of the hand communicating with the brain, the foot communicating with the brain and so forth throughout the whole body. It wouldn’t matter how beautifully formed the members of the body might be or what strength they might be capable of, if they’re not communicating with the brain then they just can’t work together.

I wondered if the thing that would be the most threatening to this unity in God’s family would be if the individuals don’t have the proper communication with Christ, the head. But when the body is united, there is a co-ordination that is beautiful. I thought of Jesus trying to teach them, trying to help them see the importance of that. He said to them that the kings of the gentiles exercise lordship over them but “it shall not be so among you.” That they would be the best united when they would be serving one another. He tried to teach them to serve, to take care of one another and to love one another. He then told them, ”By this, shall all men know that you are My disciples. If you have love, one to another”…..that brings unity.

I don’t know that we can really just explain what unity is but I thought of a couple of things that unity is NOT. It’s not human closeness. It’s easy to become close to individuals in a human way when you find that you have a lot in common. That can be a nice thing but it’s not unity. There is a danger that it could become a hindrance to unity when we get too close to one another in a human way. Another thing that unity is NOT, is just seeing everything exactly the same. As long as we’re in a human body and have human minds there are going to be some differences of opinion about certain things.

I appreciated remembering something that an older brother said at one time. He said, “In essentials have unity, in non-essentials have liberality but in all things have charity.” I thought that would be a good guideline for unity in general. I felt that it was being able to be bound together in love in spite of the little differences we might have. There are so many things that can threaten and destroy unity. I thought of the root of bitterness, when it springs up, it can defile many. When that happens, when others around us are affected by bitterness it might be that in us, that destroys unity. It can also be destroyed by a spirit of envy, competition. But I felt that I could do better by contributing to the unity of this family if I knew how to rejoice when others rejoice. To rejoice when they do well and get credit for it. Even if they get the credit that I feel belongs to me. Also, if I could learn to weep when others weep. Times of weeping can bring our spirits closer together. I’d like to know how to value and to work towards unity in my small area because Jesus valued it and wanted it so much for those He loved.

Carsonville, Michigan – Tuesday Night Meeting, 2007

Carsonville is special to me because it was here that I settled it in my heart to offer my life to God for a foreign field, and learned to say, “Not my will but Thine.” I talked to the overseer and he said, “I wish you had told me two weeks ago.” John Tuft had been there and there was a need in Argentina. I went to Marion, Wisconsin and had a chance to talk with John Tuft. That is when I offered to go to Argentina. Then there was a need in Bolivia. I went there for 7 years, then Paraguay. It was said that they needed someone with ganas and canas, enthusiasm, and gray hair. So, I went. 

The work has gone very slowly in Paraguay. There is a one-day convention. There are 5 million people in the country. There are 15 to 20 friends in the whole country. Two couples professed during the past 5 years. I was in the area where one of the couples lived for 3 years. It’s a 6 or 7 hour bus ride to convention. There is not much money, and sometimes people have to go a couple days and then stay home to let others in the family come. Good to see their roots have gone down, and it’s wonderful to see that they are having a relationship with their Father.

Thankful for the privilege we have of praying for others. Thankful that everyone can have a part in this ministry of prayer…avenue of prayer. Sometimes we feel ours is very narrow, good if we could widen out our prayer-life and reach out to others. 

In James, we read that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. We can go in our prayer life where it is not possible for us to go personally. Pray for laborers so they can reach out to those who are still searching. Thankful we can intercede and remember others in the place of prayer.

Hymn 171, Break Thou the bread of life

I must say that I did have some thoughts for this meeting but by Friday, they were all eaten up by worms; later I got some new thoughts and I hope these thoughts God will turn into bread.

I am thankful that we have the Old Testament because it helps me many times to understand why things are like they are and why I experience things like I do. The Old Testament helps me understand the manna that God’s people received out there in the desert. Moses told them to gather and leave naught till next morning, but some did, and the worms went into it. The people gathered it every morning and when the sun waxed hot, it all melted. On the sixth day, they gathered for two days and it didn’t melt and no worms were in it. Moses spoke to Aaron to take a pot and place an homer full of manna in it then place it in the ark before the Lord, for all generations. We have no laws in the New Testament on how to get the bread or when to get it for our souls or for others, but we get some good counsel and are glad for the hymn we just sang of Jesus being our law. We long to follow His example. We don’t want to worry and think something strange is happening, or something has gone wrong when we feel worms in the bread, or if the bread has melted away, because God has planned it that way. Perhaps it is to drive us closer to Him. It teaches us why we need to be closer to Him and it helps us learn dependency on Him.

There was a young brother in Germany who was last on the list to speak at a convention. Two days before, he started collecting some thoughts and had his little message to share, but how was he going to keep it fresh for the last meeting. The day before convention started, he was asked if he could speak in the first meeting because the older brother was sick and unable, and he did, and his bread was fresh. It was in God’s timing. The other brother spoke in the last meeting and his bread was also fresh. It was so suitable and it was all in God’s planning.

Sometimes we must do like Elijah did. When there was a famine in the land and it had not rained for a long time, he spoke to Ahab and said, “Now the rain will come.” Elijah went to the top of Mount Carmel and cast himself down on the earth, putting his face between his knees and sending his servant out to look up, and when he looked he said, “There is nothing.” That servant was told to go again, and he went seven times. Many times I feel we need to go to God seven times, or more, before we get the living water and the living bread.

I was also very glad to see that the pot of manna was kept for the future generations; it was kept a long, long time. We read that we have a part in the Promised Land today, and that milk and honey is in it, a land flowing with milk and honey. Milk must be fresh to be good, but honey can be very, very old for it lasts forever. We have Jesus; we also have the emblems of the bread and the wine. The bread is to be kept fresh but the wine gets better the older it gets. Here at convention, we can have the fresh and the old sacrifices. We have the young sacrifices among us, but we also see the old sacrifices. Jesus is from eternity to eternity and we can barely grasp it. He stretches from the beginning foundation of the world to now, and His life and His sacrifice is as fresh amongst us today as if it had been given in our day. One day is as a thousand years with God, so it’s only a couple of days since Jesus died on the cross for us. It’s as fresh in our minds and hearts and thoughts as if it happened today.

If we have seen our loved ones suffer and die a couple of days ago, we have no other thought in our mind or heart but them today. That is how Christ’s death should be to us. His sacrifice is as fresh today as if it were given a few days ago, and God will help us keep His death fresh. Every Sunday, we have the privilege of taking part in that little piece of bread that represents His broken body and partaking of the cup of wine that represents His shed blood, and it helps us to remember the price that was paid for us on Calvary. How we get our bread is all different from one another, as our God is a God of variety. We see it in nature. There is a big variety in our body and immense differences in the members of our body, immense varieties of feelings and natures and ages, but God has made us all one in Christ. We are not identical but He has made us one in Christ.

I Corinthians 12:12, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.” Verse 14, “For the body is not one member, but many.” Verses 19-20, “And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body.” Everyone here is not twenty-five years old, but many ages, and we all have had a lot to learn in lifetime. There are always new sacrifices to bring, new and fresh sacrifices to receive, and much fresher bread to get. We should not feel sorry if a little of our old nature dies when a newer, fresher sacrifice is received. God will give us fresh bread that can be brought to Him, a newer, fresher sacrifice.

We have an old friend in Finland who is very hearty. She once said that getting bread was very interesting for her, because she has much to learn, much bread to receive, with many new thoughts and new views on how to get to know Jesus better. She is a very hearty old soul. We have every reason to be positive, for God is a positive God; there is nothing negative about Him or in His kingdom; there is no darkness, no unrighteousness, nothing negative.

I have a little water bottle in my room which has written on it, “Think positive, and drink positive.” We can drink much that is positive; we can live a positive life and be positive in our fellowship with others. “And if the ear shall say, ‘Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?’” I think the ear should say to the eye, “You are such a nice colour and shape and can see so many wonderful things, you can turn from side to side and close off so much that you don’t want to see.” Then the ear would say, “I am really nothing, I can’t turn, I can’t close off anything that I don’t want to close off and I haven’t any special colour, but I’m still a member of the body.” And the foot could say to the hand, “You draw so nicely and can make such pretty pictures and write letters and even make sculptures, etc. that men can see; you are so useful.” The feet could say, “Here I am just carrying around a big load of weight that no one sees.”

We see many divisions in the world and there is a lot of strife between people because of these things. So many have expressed their thankfulness for their church and for the fellowship and for the workers in this convention, and it just shows me that you are one in Christ – and there are no divisions. These thoughts could come easily into our mind, but are they needed? We are different because we’ve learned to love the one that was different, the one that isn’t so easy to love yet we appreciate them, instead of envying them – we have learned that all members are needful for us. Whether someone gives me difficulty or whether they give me help, it is just to help us get to know Jesus better. We can think of Judas so close to Jesus and how Jesus loved him, but Jesus knew it had to be like that.

I also think of my mother and how she always felt different and unable to do things well. She had a younger sister that studied medicine and became a doctor. My mother’s parents always wanted her to study and get a good education but my mother didn’t. She just went to school and then left school and went to Sweden; in fact, she wanted only to help out an old neighbouring couple on their farm. That is what she liked to do. She felt so different because her parents weren’t satisfied with her. She came back to Denmark and we are glad, because it was there that she found our father. He was a very good father. Our mother felt she was never good enough, yet she knew she could be an example in the church she attended. When she became older, my mother always had room for guests. My brothers and I would give up our room for the visitors; we had room for many guests because mother and father had a very open home. Our mother wasn’t so exact about things, but that didn’t much matter. Our home wasn’t always so clean and the meals she served were often quite simple, and it was that old feeling of not being good enough that lingered. In that little church, there was a couple who had a big home that was just perfect. Sometimes mother went to meetings there and she would say to us afterward, “I feel so ashamed to go, because my home is so different; they have everything in order and it’s perfect and I feel unable.” There were many things we could comfort our mother with.

I think of our God as a God of variety. It does not matter to Him if our home is big and perfect, or whether it is small and not so perfect. I heard a sister worker from Pakistan speak of our friends living in mud huts there and she referred to them as palaces, so it does not matter. God is a God of variety; it matters to Him what is in our hearts, whether our heart is a place He can live and dwell in. It matters if the bread is kept for future generations, like the manna, kept because it’s in the presence of God.

That’s why old bread gets fresher and newer, because it’s kept in a clean heart; it is bread kept in a heart that stays in the presence of God. May God help us appreciate each other continually and value as we should the wonderful place we have as a member in the body of Christ.

First Oaklodge – 2007

Revelations 4, it starts with these words, “After this I looked, and behold a door was opened in Heaven, and the first voice I heard was like a trumpet talking with me, and it said, ‘Come up hither and I will show thee things which must be hereafter,’ and immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was set in Heaven and One sat upon the throne.”

“After this”… I noticed that this chapter begins with “After this,” so something must have happened before that. The thought came to me that in Revelations 2-3, we read about the incompleteness of man; we read about those messages to the seven churches; we read about the failures, the faults and the weaknesses in man; but now, after this – it seems that God wanted John to experience the completeness that was in Heaven. This is the purpose of convention, and perhaps we have been looking on the weaknesses and the failures of others; the weakness and failures that are in one’s own life, but I do believe that God has now brought us together so that we can see a little of the completeness that is in Heaven; the perfection that is in Heaven.

This chapter begins and then we read about the open door in Heaven. In the previous chapter we read about the door that was shut, and no man can open it, and to me, that speaks about the door to the past. This door in Revelations 4 speaks to us about the door into the future. I like to think that God in His heart of mercy and kindness today wants to shut the door to the past and it says, “No man openeth it.” No man has the right to open that door again, this door to the past.

We sometimes say that the devil wants us to regret the past; he wants us to waste the present and he wants us to fear the future, but I like to think of God, that He wants us to forget the past, He wants us to redeem the present and He wants us to have hope for the future. I sometimes say that the devil works on our past, but God works on the future; God has the future in His mind; God has the future in His heart. The devil, he comes with his accusations, and it tells us in this book, that he accuses us day and night, and he keeps us busy, and he tells us that the past has been a failure, even in this convention, but I like this thought, “No man openeth it,” not even God in His kindness, so we wouldn’t like to open it again. It is shut.

There is something about the open Heaven, and it’s wonderful if we can sit here and we are conscious of an open Heaven. Not only here, but even in our failures we can see an open heaven. We have all experienced it in the past that Heaven was shut; Heaven wasn’t open. It is a dreadful thing; it is terrible to walk under a Heaven that’s closed, but this was a wonderful experience for this man, for John. There was an open door into Heaven.

One of our parents, she used to say, “Before I listened to the Gospel I only saw an open grave before me, but when I got in touch with the Gospel and I listened to the Gospel and I accepted the Gospel, God gave me a vision of an open Heaven.” God’s people can see further than an open grave, we see into an open Heaven. An open Heaven gives us a vision of the perfection in Heaven and this is what God is anxious to make known unto us. “Behold a door was opened in heaven,” and then there was that voice coming out of Heaven, and I like it that there was an invitation given in that voice. The invitation was “come.” Somebody once said that the acrostic; the meaning of the word come is “Christ Offers Me Everything.” 

This is convention; this is now God; this is in the heart of God, that God is here and He’s able to offer us everything in Christ, only in Christ. There is an invitation, but what is the invitation? That invitation was, “Come up a little higher,” and this is now the invitation to you and to me. The voice from an open Heaven is to “Come up a little higher.” It then says, “And I’ll show you.” You know, what we see – the eye is a quicker pupil than what we hear. I may forget what I heard in the past, but what I see; that which we have seen in the beginning; that which we have seen in this convention, is going to help us.

 God is not anxious to show us things of this world and we know that God wants to show us things from an open Heaven. He wants to show us many things; and the perception is completeness, but John had to come up a little higher. That’s now, the invitation. A little higher, because up to now we have been on a lower level, in our standard; in our way of living in this past year. We’ve been at a lower level so often, but “Come up a little higher.”

There was a brother from Ireland, Willie Smiley I believe, and he was on his death-bed and there were some of his fellow workers around that death-bed and he was speaking some of his last words. He says to them, “Come up a little higher, a little higher.” That was some of his last words, “Come up a little higher,” above the level of this world; the level of the flesh; the level of this human nature. “Come up a little higher and I will show you.” I will show you right into an open heaven; I will show you wonderful things; I will show you unusual things. This is to God’s people and this is our privilege. I don’t believe in a sort of a vision or things like that, but I do believe that God shows us unusual things; wonderful things in an open Heaven. The future, and God is now working on the future. Each one of us has got a past, and we can’t change our past anymore, but we also have a future.

There was a little boy, and he had a butterfly in his hands, and he wanted to trick a fortune teller, and you know what that means. A fortune teller is one of those people who say they can predict the future, and that little boy had a butterfly in his hands and he was going to ask that fortune teller to tell him if that butterfly was dead or alive. He thought that he could see through his hands, and he thought to himself, “If he says that this is alive then I’m just going to crush it and it will be dead, but if he says it is dead, I’m going to open my hands and it will fly away. You know, that fortune teller says to him, he said, “Whether it is alive or dead I don’t know,” but he says, “It’s in your hands.” This is a message to me; it’s in my hands, thinking about my future. We know that it is in God’s hands, but somehow it is in my hands too, my future. It’s your responsibility to “Come up a little higher,” and God will show you wonderful things that are going to help you in the future to keep on going.

The very first thing that God showed John, and I like this because this has been a great help to me in the past. The very first thing he saw in Heaven; in an open Heaven was a throne. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing at this convention as God says to us, “Come up a little higher” – Christ offers me everything, and I’ll show you this throne? This throne in Heaven. You know,

I sometimes think that the greatest thing in God’s creation is to me the throne in Heaven. This is a wonderful thing to think now, that we can see the throne in an open Heaven. I like this thought in Revelations 4, John tells us that it’s situated in heaven; it’s not on earth. God is in Heaven and this throne is in Heaven and that which is in Heaven is immovable; it cannot be changed; it is in Heaven in the presence of God. Revelation 4 tells us it is in Heaven and in Hebrews 4 it tells us that it is God who sits on this throne; it says, “Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we can obtain mercy.” In Revelations 4, the throne, it is in Heaven and in Hebrews 4 is that which we can receive from this throne, wonderful mercy and grace. Mercy covers the past, and the grace of God helps us to do a little better in the future.

Somebody once said that the greatest word on earth is “Mother,” but the greatest word in Heaven is “Mercy.” It’s wonderful, but there in Hebrews 4: and it tells us to “Come up a little higher” and we can receive mercy and grace from this throne. That’s Hebrews 4 and now in James 4 that tells us how to qualify for this mercy, and that is quite a statement to make, and I’ll read you this verse, verse 6, “But He giveth more grace, wherefore He saith, ‘God resisteth the proud but He giveth grace unto the humble.’” That is clear, this doesn’t come from a worker; this comes not from a Christian, the qualification is – if we want to qualify for this grace and this mercy, it says, “He giveth grace unto the humble.” The Spirit of God will reject the proud because God does not like proud people.

You know, pride isolates people. People who think they are above others, even above people in this fellowship, they are lonely people because the Spirit rejects them; the Spirit can’t have fellowship with such. That is what the Bible tells us; it’s not what I tell you, the Spirit rejects pride. If there is repentance; if there is forgiveness; if there is brokenness then that is wonderful in the sight of God, and the Spirit of God feels at home in one’s heart. It is a wonderful thing to be in the presence of humble people, but you know, the thought has come to me that I could be showing a false humbleness, or whatever you call it. That is possible, and humility, it is something that must be genuine; something that can be felt, this humbleness in the life of people. They are such, who receive grace and mercy from the throne that is in Heaven.

“Come up a little higher.” This is Revelations 4. I sometimes say that Revelations 4 tells us of a heavenward vision, “I’ll show you now in Heaven.” Matthew 4, we read there about Jesus, and the devil; the enemy is taking Jesus up on a mountain and he showed Him the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. That is Matthew 4 and that was an earthly vision, but Revelations 4 that was an heavenward vision, then in John 4, Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes and behold the fields that they are ripe unto harvest.” That’s a field of usefulness and of privileges.

Revelations 4, a heavenward vision. Matthew 4, an earthly vision and in John 4, a vision of usefulness and privileges. Lift up your eyes, “Come up a little higher,” lift up your eyes and see the fields. There are fields in the home life, wherever we go; wherever we have been placed there is a field, just lift up your eyes. You know, when I was a young man of twenty one, and the first time I attended Gospel meetings. God was speaking to me, God was working in my heart, and even through that mission I was conscious of something else in my heart and never before had I that feeling, “Lift up your eyes and behold the fields.” I was lifting up my eyes and I was beholding fields, trying to be useful and trying to be a little help. That drawing power in my heart to give my life in this work.

We sometimes say we were raised in a divided home and never had privileges like this: conventions, meetings in the home, but lift up your eyes, and I’m so thankful today for that experience in my life. Many years ago, more than fifty years ago on the morning when I left home to go and preach the Gospel and to meet my older companion, I was a young man and my older companion was eighty four. I didn’t know what to expect; I didn’t know what was awaiting me, but early that morning I was on my knees and lifting up my eyes to behold the fields. The constraining power, the urge in my heart was just to go.

We were sitting at the breakfast table, my mother and I, we were sitting there. It was quiet; it wasn’t a light thing and we realized the solemnity of this; we realized the seriousness of this, and my father, he didn’t want to join us at the breakfast table. We were sitting there at the table and it was quiet and then my mother, she just said to me; after many years of hardship in the marriage life, she just said to me, “This is the day, our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary,” and I didn’t even know it, and she said, “My son, God could never have given me a greater gift than to see you leave to go into the work, because when you were born, you were a premature child, and the doctor said that you might die, and we never thought that you would make it.” Lift up your eyes. I went from that table and went to my room and I had to pass my father’s bedroom, and for the first time in my life I saw him down on his knees, and I’m sure he was praying for me.

The time had come when we had to say goodbye and I lifted up my eyes and I saw the fields, and to give my life in this ministry. My father, he just came to me and he said to me, “My son, you’re going to take a suitcase, and you are going to accept others to be your father and mother, but just remember that we are still your parents, and you are still our son, the door is still open.” It’s a wonderful thing when I realized that it wasn’t easy for my dad to say a thing like that because I was the oldest of the children and I had came out of the church and that was a great thing for him, but – “Lift up your eyes and behold the fields,” and I’m so thankful today for this wonderful Revelations 4, for Matthew 4, and for John 4, lift up your eyes and “Come a little higher.”

God showed John the throne in heaven; it is immovable and there was another thing that He showed him there. There was a rainbow around about the throne. I like that, because it was around about the throne and it could be seen from every angle. This rainbow represents the promises of God. We know it and we understand it, but it’s wonderful to think, that we can “Come up a little higher,” and He will show us His promises. They have been unchangeable and unmovable throughout all the centuries since the creation of this world, and those promises will remain the same until the very end of this world. “Come up a little higher.”

One day when I was there in Holland and it was just after the death of my father down in South Africa, and one day I was walking there, and the thoughts of my heart were back there in my homeland, and I was wondering how they were getting on after the death of my father; that feeling of loneliness; that feeling of homesickness. I think we all understand what it is, and one day I was walking there in the fields. It was a dull day; it was a dark day that we have there in Holland and I was walking along. I had been walking and walking and the clouds were there, and they just sort of disappeared and I saw a rainbow, I saw a rainbow coming out of those dark clouds. I just felt a wonderful feeling of closeness with God, and that God, He just wanted to give me the assurance “I am with you, and I will be with you.” Isn’t that a wonderful thing? “Come up a little higher.”

There was something else that he saw, and it says in one of the chapters in Revelations where it speaks about the river of pure water of life proceeding from the throne of God, and it was as clear as crystal. I like that, “Come up a little higher, and I’ll show you this river that comes from the throne of God.” It tells us a few things about this water; a few things about this river. It says it is the water of life, and it is as clear as crystal. This water that comes from the throne of God has a life-giving effect on the lives of men and women. When we listen to the Gospel it is that which comes from the heart of Heaven.

In Holland one day some years ago, some of us we had the opportunity to see through the parliament building in The Hague. Sometimes it’s open for tourists and there was a group together and we had a guide and she took us there through that building. From one room to another room and eventually we came to a huge hall there in that building, and there in that hall is the throne of our queen. Once a year she would come and she sits on that throne and speaks to the Dutch nation, but the guide she said to us, “This place where this throne is, is the heart of Holland.” This is where the heart of Holland is, and you know, I was thinking of the throne in Heaven, and isn’t it a wonderful thing that this river; this water proceeding from the throne it comes from the heart of Heaven. This is wonderful and it comes from the heart of God, and that which comes from the heart of Heaven is life; it has a life-giving aspect and it is pure, like crystal. This is truth, this is no mystery; it is the doctrine of Christ, and it is as clear as crystal.

We read in one of the Psalms about the children of this world, sitting by the rivers of Babylon. The rivers of Babylon, you know what that means. It means Babel; it means confusion and the source; or origin of the rivers of Babylon is from this world, but the source of this river of Life, is from God. “Come a little higher, and I will show you the source of this river that is in the heart of heaven.” It is in the heart of God and it is in Heaven. If we drink from the source of the rivers of Babylon; the source that is of this world, it is going to confuse people. It is a terrible thing if we sit in a meeting and we listen to testimonies and you think that there is something there that is confusing us, because the source which that person has got that from, was from the rivers of Babylon; from something that is of this world, something that is out of any other literature; any other Scriptures, but this thing; this Truth has its source in Heaven. It is a wonderful thing when you can feel that this is as clear as crystal.

We have there in Europe the River Rhine and it starts somewhere I think in Switzerland and it flows through the countries. It flows through Germany and flows through our country; in Holland, and in Holland they have this problem that this water is polluted. You can’t drink it. It is salty, it is filthy, it is not clean, it’s polluted, and the only way we could drink that water is to go back to the source; to go back to the origin where it is clean. This Truth, some people believe it started here, but this thing; this wonderful doctrine; this wonderful truth of God, it comes from the heart of Heaven it flows out of the throne of Heaven, and throughout the ages it has been polluted by the minds of man; the thoughts of man; the ideas of man, and it is something that confuses the minds and hearts of people.

I am so thankful of the time when I was sitting there under the sound of the Gospel, and it wasn’t any educated preachers, intellectual preachers, but it was just simple preachers with a simple message. I saw that this was from the heart of Heaven and these people, they were in touch with the source in Heaven, and they were able to fill my heart with something that was not going to confuse me. It was something that was as clear as crystal. “Come up a little higher” and I’ll show you the angels. We read about the angels there, and it shows us what angels really are. We read in the Bible that they are ministering Spirits. I can’t see it, but I can feel it, and we read in the Bible of men and women, people who have been willing to go to the uttermost and then they stop and can’t go any further, then God in His kindness and in His mercy sends them help of the angels and they got victory again, and they could go up a little higher.

I was thinking of Jesus in Gethsemane and the struggle He had to get that victory, when He said, “If it is possible let this cup pass from Me.” He knew it was impossible, and there was no possibility. He just had to drink it; He just had to take it, but I like what we read on further after that. It was the human being in Him, of that which was human in Him, when He said, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me,” but then He said, “Not My will, but Thy will be done,” and that was the voice of the Spirit, the voice of the Divine in Him. He was willing for the will of God, and we read after this that – (it is interesting to make a study of the number three in the Bible. I don’t want to speak about it, but the number three in the Bible speaks of God’s strength) and after that first time, and I like this, and it says, “There came an angel from heaven.” There was no help from earth anymore, and the only thing that could help Him was the strength which came from Heaven, and it says that the angel gave Jesus strength. “Come up a little higher” to have this wonderful provision that God has made in Heaven. Round about the throne and in front of the throne is all the help we can receive, when we feel we can’t go any further.

There was something else that he saw. We read there that he saw the Lamb. That’s wonderful to me, and it says that he saw the Lamb that was slain. That was different, he saw the slain Lamb that was in the midst of the throne. “Come up a little higher” now at this convention and I will show you this wonderful thing, “The Lamb that was slain for the sin of the world.”

In Genesis 22, we read about that well known and familiar chapter, Abraham and Isaac going to the place of sacrifice, but Isaac, he says, “Here is the knife and here is the fire.” Isaac was thinking about something; there was something going on in his mind, and he had a question in his heart, and he said, “Where is the Lamb?” He realized and understood that this sacrifice was incomplete without the lamb. I believe that this convention would be incomplete without the Lamb, but this is Genesis 22 “Where is the Lamb?” Then in Luke 22: Jesus was partaking of the bread and wine and He says, “This is My body,” you understand what I mean when He says, “This is My body,” and He says, “This is My blood.” Genesis 22 is “Where is the lamb?” and in Luke 22, Jesus is the Lamb. Jesus the Lamb of God; the slain Lamb; the One who was willing to die for the sin of the world. “Come up a little higher and I’ll show you the Lamb.”

When John the Baptist was with his disciples, there was a little of Jesus there, and John says, “Behold the Lamb,” but then he says something else, “That taketh away the sin of the world.” I like that; that is now in the past; the door is shut and no one has the right to open it again. He has taken sin away. I have underlined it in my Bible that word “Taketh away” and Stan was speaking about the High Priest; the Priest that was standing there in the presence of the angels and in the presence of God, and he was clothed in filthy garments. I like what the message was, “Take away that filthy garment.” It doesn’t say, “Just fold it up and put it in the corner,” so that he could see it again, but he said “Put it away.” This is God, “Come up a little higher, and I will show you this wonderful Lamb that was slain.” The blood doesn’t only just cover us, but it takes it away for all eternity. I believe it with all my heart that this is in the heart and mind of God at this convention now that it is to take it away.

I once read about a man who was in prison and he was to be executed for something that he had done in the past, and he was facing death. While he was in prison he committed suicide; he took his life. He left a little note behind and these words were written on that note. “The world knows the many times I’ve failed, but only God knows the many times I’ve tried.” We feel like that I’m sure. People know the many times we’ve failed; I’ve failed and others know about it, and maybe they speak about it, but it’s wonderful to think that in the heart of God today, that God knows the many times I’ve tried; I’ve tried to get the victory, and even as we leave here, I believe that even in this convention that only God understands and God knows the many times I’m going to try to get the victory over that something which can hinder this connection between Heaven and earth.

John, he was conscious of the fellowship between Heaven and earth in the Spirit, because he was “in the Spirit,” and he also had fellowship with the Spirit of God, and I pray that God will help us to just try to do our best so that we could get victory over that thing that could hinder our spirit from having fellowship with the Spirit of God in Heaven. If I’m going to try, I’m sure that God is there and willing to help me to get the victory, because I do believe that God in His heart would like to have fellowship with you and me. Not only that we would have fellowship with God, but He is anxious to have fellowship with His children even in these days at convention. I’m glad for this. “Come up a little higher” and I’ll show you these wonderful things in an open Heaven, and may this be our portion in these coming days at this convention, which we have one with another before the God of Heaven.

Genesis 49:24, “But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob…” Joseph’s bow abode in strength. It is the hand on the bow that determines the thrust of the arrow. I am ashamed at the lack of thrust in my service, the lack of willingness to bend. There was much bending in Joseph’s experience, and there was a powerful thrust going forth.

Chapter 41:49, “And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering: for it was without number.” It takes bending to gather by the handfuls. The thrust of his influence went out to all the countries of the earth. It would be impossible to measure the thrust of influence in lives that are willing daily to gather handfuls of heavenly seed. Joseph knew that experience of being falsely misrepresented and misunderstood—the supreme test for many of us. In chapter 39, there was a beautiful bending in his spirit. He kept himself from the hardness of bitterness. The thrust of influence that went forth from his spirit could not even be contained by prison walls. The keeper of the prison committed all authority into his hand. The thrust of that influence has reached even into our hearts today, and it is an example to us of bending in our own spirit. Unwillingness to bend existed in the hearts of his brethren and it created their problem. They brought an evil report to their father. They could not bow to speak peaceably to their younger brother. They could not tolerate the message of his dream that resulted in sorrow, suffering, pain, and famine. This involved their little brother and grief-stricken father, until finally they were brought to the place where they said, “We are guilty.” The thrust of their influence started reaching out and their father could bless them and see the possibility of them becoming the patriarchs of the Old Testament. There is a tendency within us to be afraid to bend because of the experiences of pain and suffering that might be required.

Psalm 78:9, “The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.” They turned aside as a deceitful bow. It is possible to have the outward appearance of bending and not the reality of it within, and as a result, there is no thrust, no accomplishment in the day of battle.

I thought of Jesus who felt His need of an additional thrust that last evening before He faced Calvary. It was accomplished by Him bending both inwardly in the struggle in the Garden and also outwardly bowing as He bent to wash His disciples’ feet. In the light of accomplishing cleansing for the sins of the whole world, this matter of washing the feet of twelve men would seem very minimal, but we see the result of that tremendous thrust. Those armed officers came to Jesus with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus said to them, “Whom seek ye?” and they answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said, “I am He.” They stepped backward and fell to the ground in John 18. His bow abode in strength because of His willing spirit to bend. The momentous thrust that went forth from that bowed figure on Calvary we cannot find words to describe, that cleansing that still reaches and cleanses us from every stain of sin. In light of such bending we should live in appreciation of it, so the effect could prevail upon our hearts and help each be willing for what it means to bend each day. Jesus was willing to completely bow so cleansing could be brought to others.

I would like to speak the words of Job, “My bow is renewed in my hand.” May we enter more fully into the effect of such a thrust.

Psalms 45:2, “You are the most excellent of men and Your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed You forever.” The writer to the Hebrews quotes from this psalm in Hebrews 1:8-9 and makes it clear that it speaks of the Lord Jesus. Yet even if the verses in Hebrews were not kept on record for us, we would understand that Jesus is the theme of the psalm, since it is written about the king, and to God’s people, there is no other king except the Lord Jesus.

Isaiah 53:2-3 provides an interesting contrast of Jesus as seen from another viewpoint, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”

The beauty that we see in the Lord Jesus is proof of a work of love that has been done, a relationship that has been established. When I am with my elderly mother, I do not tire of simply sitting and watching her. Her hair is mostly grey, her face is wrinkled, her back is stooped, her skin is spotted with age. Many would not give her a second glance, just one more old lady. But to me, she is the most beautiful woman there ever could be. I understand that she has given herself so completely for me in love, in long hours of prayer, in sleepless nights of concern, in many years of faithful, sacrificial service without any regard for her own comfort and well-being. She has suffered for me in ways that even now I cannot begin to comprehend, but my awareness of her love for me and the love I feel in return all combine to make her beautiful to me.

So it is with our vision of our Lord. Human vision, the viewpoint of the verses in Isaiah 53, sees little about Him that would be attractive, but because we understand how He loved us and gave Himself for us, and because our hearts have been won to love Him in return, He has become to us the most excellent, the most beautiful of all.

Some translations say, “You are fairer than the sons of men,” giving the thought that we see the Lord Jesus not just as one among many men, but set apart from men in a very special way. When we have spiritual vision to see Jesus as not just another man, though as a man He took upon Himself all of the nature of mankind, but the divine, eternal Son of God, we begin to truly appreciate what He has done for us. Those who see Him simply as a man cannot begin to understand the sacrifice involved in Him coming to earth to give Himself for sinners, and therefore they can never see and appreciate His excellent beauty that His people see.

Verse 2, “Your lips have been anointed with grace.” Luke 4:22, “All… were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips.” The message of grace is one of the great Christian realities that words cannot fully express, one at which we continually stand in awe. He was not sent to call righteous people, but sinners. His message of salvation was always directed to unworthy, needy souls: the poor, the prisoners, the blind, the oppressed. When He speaks to us today, He still communicates the same message of grace to all who will come to Him in faith. Because through the grace of the Lord Jesus we understand that God in His perfection loves us in our imperfection, our experience is one of hope.

Verse 2, “God has blessed You forever.” In contrast to everything that is only of the flesh, the Father’s favour toward the Lord Jesus is eternal. I have noticed that often when the word ‘eternity’ is used in casual conversation, it is used in a negative sense. People speak of some painful experience, some sorrow, some worry, and say, “It seemed like an eternity.” In Christ, however, there is no negative aspect to eternity. All that we experience of the world here and now, both positive and negative, is illusory, while, if we are in tune with the Spirit of Christ, all we experience in Him, whether in the present or in the eternal future, is the reality of His blessing.

The heading of this psalm calls it a wedding song or a love song. A love song doesn’t just deal with one person, but with a loving union, a partnership of two souls. After speaking so effectively about the King and His beauty, in verse 10 the focus shifts to His chosen bride: “Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father’s house.” The bride was advised to forget her past and where she’d come from.

We all have a past that is very different from the future that can be ours in Christ. The best thing we can do with our past is to leave it behind. Listening to the message about the King is one of the best ways to forget the past. The more we get taken up with who He is and what He has prepared in love for His people, the easier it is to leave behind the past that has no meaning or value. Verse 11, “The king is enthralled by your beauty.” Not only is the King beautiful, but His bride is beautiful as well. The Song of Solomon several times refers to the bride as the “most beautiful of women,” and her Lover finds many ways of telling her how beautiful she is in His eyes.

We need to understand that our Lord sees His people just as beautiful as they see Him, not because of the beauty of their flesh, but because of the spiritual rebirth they have experienced that makes them like Him. When God first created Eve as a suitable helper for Adam, he fashioned her from a rib taken out of Adam’s side. Their compatibility was assured because she was made of the same material, possessed of the same nature.

The inhabitants of ancient Peru believed that their king, the Inca, was a direct descendant of the sun. In order to assure the ‘divine’ purity of the royal bloodline, the king was only permitted to marry his full sister. We may not believe the myths that they believed, but we do understand the principle: our Lord can only be united in fellowship with those who are of the same nature as He. By the work of regeneration He has done, He sees us and accepts us not for what we are in the flesh, but what we are as born-again partakers of the divine nature.

Verse 12, “All glorious is the princess within her chamber.” Ephesians 5:27, “… to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Can we take it in that these beautiful words: glorious, radiant, holy, blameless, are God’s thoughts toward us when He looks at us through the provision of the Lord Jesus? I once read a story about another culture where men purchased their brides from their parents by trading cows for them. One young man approached his prospective father-in-law with the offer of ten cows for his daughter, a price that had never been heard of before; three cows would have been considered an ample price for the most desirable bride, and some were sold for only one cow.This particular young lady hadn’t been known for her exceptional beauty, but the young man was deeply in love with her and did not consider ten cows to be too much to pay that she would be his bride. After they were married, a visitor to their home found that the young bride was indeed strikingly beautiful, glowing with a remarkable radiance.

Her awareness of the high price that had been paid for her, understanding how great her husband’s love for her was, created a poise and assurance that made her increasingly beautiful. Likewise the great price that has been paid for our salvation makes us aware of how very special we are to Him, and that awareness enhances the glory of God that is reflected in His purchased people.

Verse 16, “Your sons will take the place of your fathers.” Already instructed to forget her father’s house, now the bride is told about her future. Whatever it is that you’ve left behind in your past, it’s not worthy to be compared to what’s ahead.

I Corinthians 2:9-10, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.” Because of responding to the loving favour of our Lord, we can look forward to a future of fruitfulness, both in this life as His nature and image are recreated in us, and on into eternity as we share in His great eternal inheritance.

Psalms 45:2, “You are the most excellent of men and Your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed You forever.” The writer to the Hebrews quotes from this psalm in Hebrews 1:8-9 and makes it clear that it speaks of the Lord Jesus. Yet even if the verses in Hebrews were not kept on record for us, we would understand that Jesus is the theme of the psalm, since it is written about the king, and to God’s people, there is no other king except the Lord Jesus.

Isaiah 53:2-3 provides an interesting contrast of Jesus as seen from another viewpoint, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”

The beauty that we see in the Lord Jesus is proof of a work of love that has been done, a relationship that has been established. When I am with my elderly mother, I do not tire of simply sitting and watching her. Her hair is mostly grey, her face is wrinkled, her back is stooped, her skin is spotted with age. Many would not give her a second glance, just one more old lady. But to me, she is the most beautiful woman there ever could be. I understand that she has given herself so completely for me in love, in long hours of prayer, in sleepless nights of concern, in many years of faithful, sacrificial service without any regard for her own comfort and well-being. She has suffered for me in ways that even now I cannot begin to comprehend, but my awareness of her love for me and the love I feel in return all combine to make her beautiful to me.

So it is with our vision of our Lord. Human vision, the viewpoint of the verses in Isaiah 53, sees little about Him that would be attractive, but because we understand how He loved us and gave Himself for us, and because our hearts have been won to love Him in return, He has become to us the most excellent, the most beautiful of all.

Some translations say, “You are fairer than the sons of men,” giving the thought that we see the Lord Jesus not just as one among many men, but set apart from men in a very special way. When we have spiritual vision to see Jesus as not just another man, though as a man He took upon Himself all of the nature of mankind, but the divine, eternal Son of God, we begin to truly appreciate what He has done for us. Those who see Him simply as a man cannot begin to understand the sacrifice involved in Him coming to earth to give Himself for sinners, and therefore they can never see and appreciate His excellent beauty that His people see.

Verse 2, “Your lips have been anointed with grace.” Luke 4:22, “All… were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips.” The message of grace is one of the great Christian realities that words cannot fully express, one at which we continually stand in awe. He was not sent to call righteous people, but sinners. His message of salvation was always directed to unworthy, needy souls: the poor, the prisoners, the blind, the oppressed. When He speaks to us today, He still communicates the same message of grace to all who will come to Him in faith. Because through the grace of the Lord Jesus we understand that God in His perfection loves us in our imperfection, our experience is one of hope.

Verse 2, “God has blessed You forever.” In contrast to everything that is only of the flesh, the Father’s favour toward the Lord Jesus is eternal. I have noticed that often when the word ‘eternity’ is used in casual conversation, it is used in a negative sense. People speak of some painful experience, some sorrow, some worry, and say, “It seemed like an eternity.” In Christ, however, there is no negative aspect to eternity. All that we experience of the world here and now, both positive and negative, is illusory, while, if we are in tune with the Spirit of Christ, all we experience in Him, whether in the present or in the eternal future, is the reality of His blessing.

The heading of this psalm calls it a wedding song or a love song. A love song doesn’t just deal with one person, but with a loving union, a partnership of two souls. After speaking so effectively about the King and His beauty, in verse 10 the focus shifts to His chosen bride: “Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father’s house.” The bride was advised to forget her past and where she’d come from.

We all have a past that is very different from the future that can be ours in Christ. The best thing we can do with our past is to leave it behind. Listening to the message about the King is one of the best ways to forget the past. The more we get taken up with who He is and what He has prepared in love for His people, the easier it is to leave behind the past that has no meaning or value. Verse 11, “The king is enthralled by your beauty.” Not only is the King beautiful, but His bride is beautiful as well. The Song of Solomon several times refers to the bride as the “most beautiful of women,” and her Lover finds many ways of telling her how beautiful she is in His eyes.

We need to understand that our Lord sees His people just as beautiful as they see Him, not because of the beauty of their flesh, but because of the spiritual rebirth they have experienced that makes them like Him. When God first created Eve as a suitable helper for Adam, he fashioned her from a rib taken out of Adam’s side. Their compatibility was assured because she was made of the same material, possessed of the same nature.

The inhabitants of ancient Peru believed that their king, the Inca, was a direct descendant of the sun. In order to assure the ‘divine’ purity of the royal bloodline, the king was only permitted to marry his full sister. We may not believe the myths that they believed, but we do understand the principle: our Lord can only be united in fellowship with those who are of the same nature as He. By the work of regeneration He has done, He sees us and accepts us not for what we are in the flesh, but what we are as born-again partakers of the divine nature.

Verse 12, “All glorious is the princess within her chamber.” Ephesians 5:27, “… to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” Can we take it in that these beautiful words: glorious, radiant, holy, blameless, are God’s thoughts toward us when He looks at us through the provision of the Lord Jesus? I once read a story about another culture where men purchased their brides from their parents by trading cows for them. One young man approached his prospective father-in-law with the offer of ten cows for his daughter, a price that had never been heard of before; three cows would have been considered an ample price for the most desirable bride, and some were sold for only one cow.This particular young lady hadn’t been known for her exceptional beauty, but the young man was deeply in love with her and did not consider ten cows to be too much to pay that she would be his bride. After they were married, a visitor to their home found that the young bride was indeed strikingly beautiful, glowing with a remarkable radiance.

Her awareness of the high price that had been paid for her, understanding how great her husband’s love for her was, created a poise and assurance that made her increasingly beautiful. Likewise the great price that has been paid for our salvation makes us aware of how very special we are to Him, and that awareness enhances the glory of God that is reflected in His purchased people.

Verse 16, “Your sons will take the place of your fathers.” Already instructed to forget her father’s house, now the bride is told about her future. Whatever it is that you’ve left behind in your past, it’s not worthy to be compared to what’s ahead.

I Corinthians 2:9-10, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.” Because of responding to the loving favour of our Lord, we can look forward to a future of fruitfulness, both in this life as His nature and image are recreated in us, and on into eternity as we share in His great eternal inheritance.

Galatians 6:1-2, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently… Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” It becomes more and more clear to me that what God asks of His children is a reflection of what is in His own heart. He does not ask us to do anything that He Himself is not doing. Therefore if we are asked to be instrumental in the restoration of those who are caught in sin, obviously our God is Himself a God of restoration, keenly interested in seeing each of His children lifted up when they have fallen, cheered when they have been saddened, encouraged when they have lost heart.

Our God is the perfect Creator. From the time His Spirit moved and His voice spoke and His hand formed the world and all that is therein, His work has been “very good” (Genesis 1:31), a reflection of His own perfection. However, there is also a force called entropy at work in the natural creation. Individual objects and entire systems are inclined to move from a more orderly state to a less orderly one. When left to themselves, things that are hot tend to cool off; things that are traveling fast tend to slow down. Flesh eventually corrupts and breaks down, returning to the dust from which it was taken. There is also a tendency toward spiritual entropy that can be observed at times; the initial zeal and joy that accompanies a relationship with God seems to wane, and flesh tends to return to its old familiar ways of thinking, doing, and being.

However, throughout Scripture and in our own present experience, we see the grace of God working to reverse the trend of the flesh. In Luke 4:18-19, when our Lord Jesus stood to read in Nazareth’s synagogue, He proclaimed His mission, “to preach good news to the poor… to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Those whose lives had taken a wrong direction could find restoration in His presence and through His ministry. Instead of being castoffs on humanity’s trash heap, their lives could be redeemed and made acceptable again. Often an object that has been restored by a master craftsman can actually have greater value than it did when it was brand new. And so it is when our Lord works by His grace and power in the lives of His children.

Just as sin entered the picture early in mankind’s experience, so sin enters our lives, exerting its corrupting and defiling influence. The innocence and purity of childhood doesn’t last very long, replaced by guilt and shame. Honest-hearted people cannot be comfortable with the consequences of sin, and cry out desperately for some way to be clean again, to be what God intended for them to be when He created them in His own likeness. How we thank God for the way that we have found in Jesus, not only for the guilt of sin to be taken away, but for His righteousness and perfection to be credited to us as we receive faith in Him and surrender our lives to His lordship and control.

The Lord Jesus is able to restore our souls so perfectly because He is perfectly spiritual. Sometimes we might wrongly define what it means to be spiritual. It does not necessarily mean to act religious, as some might think of religion, but rather to be filled with the work and fruit of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord was not spiritual because of the way He preached and prayed, but because of the way He lived and loved. When love, joy, and peace are at work in any life, a person doesn’t necessarily need to say a prayer, quote a verse, or preach a sermon in order to have a restoring effect on those around them. He could bring God’s power near by His very presence as He reached out in love to needy souls.

The restoration that Christ effects is a restoration of gentleness and meekness. Human nature loves to be right and to have the last word; often well-intentioned individuals, trying to help another only in the power of human reasoning, end up doing more harm than good. They are perceived as arrogant, holier-than-thou know-it-alls, to which a natural reaction is one of resistance and resentment. The Lord Jesus was always right, and yet it was the rightness of His spirit and attitude toward the individuals He touched that was of greater influence than the rightness of His words and teachings. His refusal to condemn guilty sinners, though He Himself was without sin, drew them to Him in a way the religious authorities had never achieved and could not understand. The only ones who heard words of condemnation from His lips were those who persisted in the hypocrisy of self-righteousness and self-congratulation.

What is the law of Christ that we fulfill as we reach out to others who need restoration? Psalm 19:7, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul.” Christ is not known primarily as a lawgiver, but rather a law-liver. His law was not a rigid moral code engraved on tables of stone, but rather a fervent love for perishing souls that was overriding every fleshly consideration, dictating a life of selflessness and service. The way He lived in love, the spirit of His relationship with others, looking always for needy people whose burdens He could bear, is a higher law than any other. Indeed, if His law were universally practised, there would be no need for any of the multitude of laws that have been formulated to regulate human behavior, since His law produces a change in the depths of the soul, a new nature and character that do not need exterior regulation.

II Kings 4:34 gives a picture of life and health being restored, an apt parallel for the restoration of spiritual health also: “He got on the bed and lay upon the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out upon him, the boy’s body grew warm.” While the heart is not mentioned, in our spiritual restoration, it is the heart-to-heart contact that affects us so deeply. God covers us with Himself, affecting us His own nature and character, and sharing with us, in our deadness, the life that is in Him.

Years ago, a mountaineer who had climbed Mount Everest visited our school. He told of narrow escapes he and his team had had, and how some nearly died of exposure on the mountain. When one person was nearly frozen to death, another got into the sleeping bag with him and, much like the Old Testament prophet, warmed the man with his own body until he was out of danger. The pervasive coldness of the world around can subtly sap our life force. Surrounded by spiritual apathy, it could seem easy to slow down, sit down, fall asleep, and die. In fact, those who are dying of cold are often so dulled in their senses that they are totally unaware of the danger of their situation, and actually resist the attempts of those who would try to stir them to life again. Our Lord, however, continues to touch our heart with His heart, exposing us to all that He is and reviving us again to walk in abundance of life with Him.

At a recent graduation ceremony, a speaker gave some advice I will long remember, “Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts.” The opposite of recklessness is carefulness. It’s easy to forget at times that our actions and attitudes are having a direct effect on others for better or for worse. Just as God has affected our heart in such a positive way, committing Himself to us in love and constant care, so we need to commit ourselves from our heart to share His love and power with others. In this way, we can share the joy of participating in His work of restoration and, by His grace, thus fulfill the law of Christ.

John 15:4-7, “Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” I continue to study and appreciate the sayings of our Lord Jesus that we could classify as ‘essential doctrine,’ things that we must do if we are to live in a relationship with God.

These verses in John 15 make it clear that a one-time experience of hearing the Lord’s voice and responding to Him does not constitute a living relationship; our connection with Him must be constant and committed, like that between branches and vine. In previous generations, the term ‘continuing disciples’ was commonly used by some servants of God to refer to those who are daily experiencing this type of bond with the Saviour, in contrast to those who have been deceived into thinking that an isolated happening in their past, such as being sprinkled as an infant or going through some other ritual at some point in their life, has made them a Christian and a partaker of God’s promises. I’ve enjoyed finding many things in the Scriptures in which we must continue if our life with Christ is to be fruitful and fulfill the purpose for which we’ve been called.

Colossians 1:23,“Continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” Faith is not just an understanding that God exists, but an awareness of His character and His interest in the intimate details of our life. This is part of the revelation we received when we listened to His voice in the beginning and responded to Him. Retaining this awareness of Him is essential to a daily walk with Him. True faith enables us to live without fretting and worry, knowing that a loving Father is more concerned for each of our needs than we could ever be.

Acts 13:43, “Paul and Barnabas … urged them to continue in the grace of God.” It is so essential that as Christians we retain our awareness of God’s grace, that is, that we were, are, and shall be saved, not through our works or our merit, but by His favour and kindness to us. This understanding, or lack or it, is manifested in very practical ways in the Christian outlook.

Those who do not fully grasp the truth of God’s grace often live in extreme situations, either feeling continually defeated and unworthy because they are not being ‘good enough’ to be God’s child, or else they live in smug, ugly self-righteousness, comparing themselves with others and congratulating themselves because they are so much better than others around them, feeling that they are earning their own way to Heaven by their goodness. The only way to continue with Jesus is to continue in His grace. In Acts 15:11, Peter summed up the understanding of all the apostles: “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” Even after years of knowing Christ, they understood that their salvation was only by grace.

John 8:31-32, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Simply having heard the words of Jesus was not enough to be His disciples, but retaining them and allowing the words to live in their heart was what would bring understanding and freedom. How grateful we are that His teachings have been left on record for us, and we can daily feed our heart on His words. Regarding reading the scriptures, In I Timothy 4:15, Timothy was instructed to “give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” Answers to every kind of question can be ours when we continue in His Word. If we find ourselves plagued by doubts about life, our own direction, or God’s plan for us, giving ourselves continually to the Word will bring freedom and confidence.

Acts 1:14, “They all joined together constantly in prayer.” Continual prayer is essential for every follower of the Lord Jesus. True prayer is impossible without humbling ourselves before God. While prayer depends on the condition of the heart, not the position of the body, even the bent knees and bowed head that are characteristic positions for prayer encourage humility, helping us present ourselves before God with total dependence on Him and a minimum of trust in ourselves. When we pray for others we are acknowledging that there is hope for them, that undesirable situations don’t have to be permanent, that every soul is salvageable. Praying for those around us puts us in the position to be instruments that God can use to reach out to them in love.

I John 2:6, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” Just last night, Friends were telling me about a young girl who admired an older one so much that she imitated her in every way possible, including the way she walked. If we are in a continuing relationship with our Saviour, we will walk like Him also. One outstanding feature of His walk was His detachment from the world around Him. Mark 10, Matthew 19, and Luke 18 all tell of Jesus’ interaction with the rich young man who wished to walk with Him, but was unable to do so because of being too attached to his material possessions. Our attitude toward worldly goods can be quite a reliable indicator of our spiritual condition. Both Zacchaeus’s cheerful eagerness to part with his goods and this young man’s refusal to do so made the state of their heart obvious to the Lord.

A dear friend wrote to me a while back and shared some precious thoughts about the relationship between spirituality and materialism, and so some of the thoughts I’m sharing here are what she first brought to my attention. Jesus didn’t ask the young man to give ten percent of his wealth, or to deposit it in a trust fund and donate the interest, but to give it all. While He certainly doesn’t require all His followers to liquidate their holdings, He seemed to understand that in the case of this young man, money was his god. The true God can never be enthroned until every idol is dethroned. If Christ is not Lord over our money and possessions, He simply is not Lord at all. Regardless of the age in which we live, there is a powerful connection between the health of our soul and our attitude toward worldly goods.

In Luke 3, John the Baptist’s response every time that someone asked, “What should we do?” had to do with money and possessions. Acts 19 records the case of the Ephesian sorcerers who believed the Gospel and burned their scrolls, a value of fifty thousand days’ wages, yet treated it like common trash in comparison with the treasure they had found in Christ. The Christians in Acts 2 and 4 gladly sold their property in order to feed the needy among them. Examples continue to our day of true believers who find deepest joy in living unselfishly, preferring to store their treasure in an eternal habitation rather than to accumulate riches that will so soon decay and vanish.

I’ll quote a few sentences directly from my friend’s letter which have become engraved in my mind from re-reading them often: “It takes time to hover over our things, and that time must come from elsewhere, for instance, from time spent cultivating intimacy with God, from time spent in His Word and prayer, time spent visiting and helping the needy, and time spent developing relationships with people who need Christ.

Every item I add to my possessions is one more thing to think about, talk about, clean, repair, display, rearrange, and replace when it goes bad so I must ask myself if the benefits for God’s kingdom outweigh the liabilities ownership always brings. Will this commitment of my resources, which are God’s resources, contribute to or detract from my devotion to and service for my Lord?”

Romans 2:7, “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, He will give eternal life.” Continuing to do good to others around us should be part of the daily Christian experience. I love the thought expressed in the hymn 183, “… that Thou, through us, mayest love the world…” We also sing about having, “hearts for needy ever searching,” that is, continually looking for people around us who need help that we can offer. While we know that the greatest help we can ever give consists of sharing our hope in Christ, often we pave the way for sharing salvation by the natural ways we find in which we can serve others around us, just as our Lord did.

Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another: and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” The pace of life in the 21st century continues to accelerate, and the demands of society continue to increase. In the face of such pressures at work, at school, and in the community, some are finding it easy, as evidently some first century Christians did, to treat times of Christian fellowship as expendable. The apostle’s remedy, however, to the pressures of the day was just the opposite: meet together “all the more.” Remember that every increase in stress and turmoil is only one more indicator that the day is hastening when He will call His people to His side. Understanding this, can we afford to miss out on fellowship that will keep our thoughts turned toward eternity and away from the earthly pursuits which are so temporary?

Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” This simple, concise record of the lives of Christians in the early days of the church is a beautiful example of what the Christian life should be at all times. They continued to be taught and none of us ever comes to the place that we don’t need more teaching, and God has not neglected to provide teachers anointed by His Spirit.

They continued to seek out fellowship with each other. They continued to remember the Lord Jesus and the price He paid on Calvary as they broke bread together. They continued to pray, trusting God in each need. When these same things are the basic elements of our daily living, we can live a life of praise and gladness just as they did.

Acts 26:22, “I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike.” The apostle was appearing before the governor and the king to tell of his experience of hearing God’s voice and being converted from dead religion to know the living God. While the story of his initial encounter was still remarkable and spellbinding after many years, it would have mattered little except for the fact that through the years since, he had continued to hear the same voice and receive the same type of direction he had first received on the Damascus road.

The God who first called us has never wavered in His desire to live with us and walk with us, to be our God and we His people. May we likewise be purposed that in all things we will continue with Him, preserving the life-giving relationship so that there may fruit now and eternally.

Job 1:6, “One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them.” Often we recognize that this scripture is still reality; when God’s own meet together with Him, there is frequently an uninvited presence in the meeting also: the enemy of our soul! From the beginning he has been an expert at intruding where he is not wanted and sowing seeds of deceit and destruction. A few years ago I read 2 Corinthians 2:11 and asked myself, “Can I really say that this verse is true for me?”

It says in part, “For we are not unaware of (Satan’s) schemes.” I had to answer truthfully that day, that many times in my experience I have been unaware even of his presence, let alone of his schemes. Yet we as God’s people cannot afford to be blissfully ignorant of our enemy. Because of his hatred for God and all that God loves, he has declared war on the human race, as we read in Revelation 12:12, “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

One of the devil’s most successful schemes is to convince people that he doesn’t exist. While the majority in our society would yet confess their belief in God, it is quite unfashionable to admit that we believe in Satan’s existence. One of the ways he goes about concealing his existence from us is by trying to undermine our faith in the Bible itself. Two of the books of scripture most commonly attacked by so-called scholars are Genesis and Revelation, the history of the earth’s creation and the prophecy of its eventual destruction at God’s hands. The world would have us believe these are nothing more than allegorical myths and fairy tales, and Satan eagerly tries to make us adopt such a viewpoint, since these books speak so clearly of him, his evil nature, and his eventual downfall at the hands of a righteous God. The apostle wrote and warned the Hebrew Christians of the need of constant exhortation “so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:13) Satan would like nothing better than to harden God’s people and make them insensitive to sin. Constant exposure in the media contributes to his efforts. Every form of sin is being presented to the world as commonplace, normal, and acceptable. Those whose consciences are outraged by the moral decay around us are considered prudish, narrow-minded, and hopelessly outdated. Yet we cannot afford to feel otherwise. The scene portrayed in Ezekiel’s prophecy is a vivid one, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark.” (Ezekiel 9:4-6) I believe the Lord yet looks down on the earth today and considers our attitude toward prevailing sin. As one brother has often reminded us, “In God’s sight, Jesus is normal.” All that deviates from Him grieves the heart of God. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5) The clutter and busyness of modern living fit in very well with Satan’s schemes. Life becomes increasingly full of activity that would crowd out our vital times of personal fellowship with God. We feel pressed to cram more and more into our schedules in order to meet our obligations, yet many of those “obligations” may be nothing more than Satan’s manipulation of our human greed. Instead of asking ourselves, “How can I fit this into my life?” Perhaps we should ask more, “Can I do without this?” The beauty of simplicity is outstanding in the life of the Lord Jesus. One item that comes to mind in connection with a life that is increasingly complicated is the modern dependence on computers. I use a computer often and appreciate its many applications; it is a helpful tool that has facilitated many aspects of our life. Yet at the same time I readily recognize its ability to enslave our minds. Its addictive powers are every bit as great to some individuals as other things that we have long since recognized as harmful vices. Even when using the computer solely in wholesome activities such as communication with the Lord’s people, we can find time slipping away from us to the extent that we’ve spent more time on email than we have on Bible reading and prayer. How Satan must delight in using “good” activities to rob us of the greater treasures we could have in God’s presence!

All of us seem to be born with a predisposition to certain types of thinking. Some are inclined to fret and worry, others to react hastily to outside provocations, still others to quickly despair in the face of adverse situations. At times we lump all of these tendencies together and call them “nerves.” How often we have excused un-Christlike reactions, words, and attitudes, justifying it all by saying, “I’m just a nervous person; I was born that way.” Satan loves to take our natural tendencies and magnify them into sin; we play right into his hands when we pass it off as something insignificant. Yes, we were born that way, but we weren’t born again that way! When we recognize him at work, we can take our lacks and weaknesses to the Lord in prayer and find His divine help to correct our thought patterns that would tend to lead us into sin. He can help us “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:5) thus thwarting Satan’s schemes.

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12) Somehow Satan has succeeded in sowing the thought in many people’s minds that the Christian life should be free of problems. When opposition or criticism arises because of our faith, he makes us feel something must be wrong; perhaps we’ve been deceived all along and God really isn’t with us after all. On the contrary! The Lord Jesus made it very clear that the blessings of heaven’s kingdom would be accompanied by persecutions. To choose the narrow way of Christ is to invite the same misunderstanding of which He Himself was partaker. Rather than shun the scorning of those around us, we should welcome it as a sign of His word being fulfilled again in us. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22) Satan loves to sow suspicion among the brethren, causing us to question each other’s actions and motives. If we feed on our human thinking about each other, differences will be accentuated and divisions will be magnified. When we become aware of him sowing suspicion, we can counter his schemes by practicing what Malachi taught about communication between brothers in the faith. “Those who feared the LORD talked with each other.” (Malachi 3:16)

When we keep the lines of communication open and listen to one another with patience and understanding instead of jumping to our own conclusions, we can avoid falling into the enemy’s trap. At times there are genuine grievances among brothers and sisters in the faith. We recognize the truth of James’s observation, “We all stumble in many ways.” (James 3:2) When this does occur and we become aware of a fault in a brother or sister, especially when it affects us, or those close to us, Satan loves to step in and create a hard spirit of unforgiveness. Few things give him an advantage like bitter resentment among brothers in the faith.

We realize so well that our standing with God has nothing to do with our own righteousness, everything to do with the mercy He has chosen to lavish on us. Yet, “if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:15) A spirit of unforgiveness will quickly affect our relationship with the Father, and if it is not dealt with, it will separate us from Him. Some who once walked so close to the Lord with such joy have found themselves far from Him because of allowing Satan to sow such a seed in their heart.

From the beginning of creation, God planned marriage as a beautiful picture of the relationship between Christ and His people, a unity so complete that the two think as one, act as one, live as one. Yet we see marriages being dissolved at an alarming and ever-increasing rate. From my own standpoint, few actions cause as much personal suffering to God’s people as divorce among those who bear the name of the Lord Jesus. Surely Satan is behind the ever-increasing tendency to look upon marriage as a temporary arrangement that can be easily dissolved “if things don’t work out.” A major contributing factor in most divorces seems to be the insistence on personal independence at the expense of the common interest. People no longer consider themselves “one flesh” with their spouse, according to biblical teaching; in their misguided thinking, they feel they can hurt or neglect their partner without being affected themselves. When Satan succeeds in undermining the sanctity of the marriage vows that God has established, he has gained a great victory. I fear when I see people getting too taken up with the human aspects of this wonderful fellowship God has called us into.

We greatly appreciate the privilege of meeting together for prayer, Bible study, and special fellowship. We love gospel meetings, special meetings, and conventions. We thrive on hospitality and value the social interaction between those with whom we share a common faith, both those dedicated to the itinerant ministry and the saints in their homes. Yet Satan is subtle enough to take these very things we cherish and turn them into stumbling blocks for us when we begin to value the “structure” of our fellowship with each other more than the foundation of a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Himself. Indeed, many may be deceived into thinking they possess salvation through association with the body of believers (“church membership,” if you will) instead of coming to Christ through faith, repentance, and obedience. At all costs we must remain focused on Him instead of allowing Satan to divert our attention to secondary considerations. He alone is God’s final message to the world. A beloved hymn directs our thoughts to the glory due to Christ alone: “Gracious Redeemer, Thou art my salvation; Naught but Thy blood could for my sins atone.” Each of us has a very special calling from God Himself, a place He has given us in His infinite wisdom, and one for which He Himself prepares us through the work of His Holy Spirit. Satan would often tell people that they can still be useful to God in a different place from the one to which God has called them. He especially attacks the ministry in this way, knowing that the condition of the sheep depends in great part on the shepherds. I once visited with an old man in the mountains of northern New Mexico who told me that in his childhood that whole area had been dedicated to sheep raising. At the time he and I visited, however, there were no sheep to be seen for miles around. “What caused the change?” I asked him. The answer was simple, “No one today is willing for the sacrifices that being a shepherd calls for.” Satan would like nothing better than to see the sheep of God’s pasture dispersed for lack of shepherds!

From earliest days, the Lord Jesus taught people to pray for the coming of God’s eternal kingdom. Yet Satan manages to persuade some that they cannot pray according to the Lord’s will because they are not “ready.” I believe he is instrumental in convincing many people that “ready” means “perfect.” This basic misunderstanding regarding the Bible’s teaching about salvation is one we must continually combat. We are never citizens of the kingdom of heaven because of our perfection, but rather because the Lord Jesus paid redemption’s price completely when He went to the cross, the just man taking the place of the unjust. We will never be prepared to stand unashamed before the judgment seat because of any perfection on our part, but because of our faith in Him and our submission to His lordship. At the same time that Satan tries to convince people who have been justified through faith in Christ that they are not saved, not ready for His appearing, he tries to convince those who have never come to Christ through faith that they are good enough by their own merits. Both are typical of the “father of lies.” If – and only if – we have been born again by the Holy Spirit through obeying the gospel – repent, believe, confess – we can confidently lift up our heads and look forward to Christ’s return with joy and hope. “The devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur (He) will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10) Whenever this great deceiver and tempter comes to us with his lies and schemes, we can confront him boldly, knowing that in God’s great plan his fate is already determined. He is fighting a lost cause. While he would like nothing better than for us to share his fate, we can be aware of his tactics and live in the sure victory that God has promised to those who are His own.

“The LORD is my light and salvation — whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.” (Psalm 27:1-3) It is good for me to contemplate the psalmist’s attitude: challenged but confident. He is not living in a world of illusion. He fully recognizes the threats, the enemies, the possibility of future difficulties, and yet rests in the complete preparation that comes from having a covenant relationship with God through the Lord Jesus. Let the enemies arise! Let them threaten all they will! Because of divine power, provision, and protection, there is nothing to fear. Victory is the only possible outlook for the child of God!

“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble, He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.” (Psalm 27:4-5) The psalmist realized that the only way to retain this condition of godly confidence was by dwelling continually in God’s presence, as close as he could be to his Lord. The children of Israel in Exodus 20:18 chose to stay at a distance when God spoke, and actually requested that God speak only to Moses, and not to them. These are the same ones of whom it was later written, “God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.” (I Corinthians 10:5) Keeping our distance from God will never enable us to live in confidence and security.

We fear lest people would be deceived into thinking, like so many of the Jews apparently did, that there is salvation by association or by affiliation, in other words, that we can depend on our relationship with other people who are walking close to God. Regardless of how wonderful the group or fellowship that we may be a part of, salvation never comes by group membership! Having friends or family who walk in a living relationship with Christ can give us some marvelous advantages in life, but it will never save our soul! The psalmist understood that his source of security, hope, and joy was in dwelling deep within the temple — an Old Testament symbol of the Lord Jesus — instead of being content to go along with the shallow crowds who chose to keep their distance from God, yet trusted that by being “part of the group” they would somehow be kept safe in the day of trouble.

“My heart says of You, ‘Seek His face!’ Your face, LORD, I will seek.” (Psalm 27:8) We’re glad when our heart incites us often to seek His face, causing us to feel our need of an intimate approach into God’s presence. Yet at times, even when our heart is urging us to seek the Lord, the rest of our being is slow to respond, having other things to do, or feeling like later will be more convenient. It’s always rewarding when there is an immediate response of “Yes!” when our heart prompts us to pray. These times when we feel driven to prayer may often be the times when naturally we might hesitate to approach God, feeling unworthy or undone because of our sin, or because the enemy has gotten an advantage over us is some way, yet in such times we need more than ever what can be found only in His presence. Because of our Lord Jesus who opened the way through His sacrifice, we need never fear to approach God in our moment of need.

“Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Saviour. Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.” (Psalm 27:9-10) What an assurance we have through Jesus that in the most extreme circumstances, our God will not fail. We need not fear being abandoned! Though all others reject us, cast us out as renegades, reprobates, or hopeless cases, He will at that point claim custody of us! What love! What patience and care! There’s room for one more orphan in His household!

“Teach me Your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.” (Psalm 27:11-12) It’s a beautiful thing to watch abandoned children who finally have been adopted into a loving home, and to see their eagerness to become like their new parents; in so many ways, great and small, they imitate the ones who rescued them from their plight. Yes, there are still challenges in life, but each difficulty can be met head-on, knowing all will be well and the future is secure because we are learning from the one who has loved us and given Himself for us.

“I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” (Psalm 27:13-14) The hope we have in Christ is not only for the life to come, but a here-and-now present reality. We aren’t defeatists, only waiting for death to resolve things. He delights in showering us with His blessings on a daily basis and proving by His gracious care that we are indeed His children. The secret of enjoying this provision is in learning to wait on Him. How often we’re tempted to take action by ourselves, yet our human weakness reacts in ways that are unlike God and incompatible with His will. True godly strength would often prompt us to do nothing on our own, but rather to trust with courage that holds fasts and waits until God gives clear answers, leaving the way open for Him to work in His perfect time and way. Waiting and trusting with patient confidence in divine strength and guidance will always enable us to glory in His triumph and share His victory.

Matthew 6:14-15: “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” A couple of years ago we were encouraged to make a study of the words of Jesus that could be called “essential doctrine,” verses that outline definite conditions for living in a relationship with God. Since that time I have found many scriptures that fit this description, words that must become our reality—not just a list to memorize—if we are to be God’s children in this world. It was suggested that when we are asked what we believe, we should refer to these teachings of Jesus instead of telling people about the outward structure of our fellowship; in a society where fewer people devote themselves to reading the Bible, most can no longer identify at all with the scriptural pattern of worship and ministry. These simple, basic teachings of our Lord, however, often strike a chord in the heart of needy individuals, giving them the desire to know more about the One we love and serve.

This teaching about forgiveness is certainly an essential one in our walk with the Lord. The whole topic of forgiveness is so vital to God’s people because Spirit-led people are so conscious of sin. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) and “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way,” (Isaiah 53:6) are teachings the Holy Spirit gives us early in our experience with Him. The Spirit is not the only one who convicts us of sin; Satan is also constantly accusing God’s people. The difference between the Spirit’s voice and Satan’s, however, is that Satan never tells the complete story: “…and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24) “The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) The gospel assures us that there is a remedy for sin; we don’t have to continue living in guilt and defeat.

Understanding our own need of forgiveness for sins, the Lord’s teaching about forgiving others takes on a great deal of urgency. The conditions are clear: If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. As I’ve studied different scriptures about our responsibility to forgive, it’s become clear that there are different cases where forgiveness is called for, with different examples and instructions given according to the circumstances. At times we find ourselves in the place of needing to forgive unbelievers. In the example of our Lord Jesus in Luke 23:34—“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”—and that of Stephen in Acts 7:60—“Lord, do not hold this sin against them”—we see them forgiving people who showed no sign of repentance. While still acting with hatred and ugly self-righteousness, they were totally forgiven. Because of practicing this total forgiveness, both our Lord and Stephen could face death with perfect peace: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) After Stephen had spoken his words of forgiveness, he simply “fell asleep.”

If we think forgiveness is something easy to practice, we likely haven’t done it very much. Sometimes people ask how they can know without a doubt that they have indeed forgiven others, since the memory of past offenses comes back to mind, sometimes after many years. One indication that we have indeed forgiven others is when we desire that they would share in God’s richest blessings. If we can honestly pray for others—not about them—we can be assured that we have truly forgiven them.

Our relationship with fellow-believers is different than our relationship with unbelievers, and there are clear instructions for both. The familiar teaching of Matthew 5:39-44 is primarily regarding our relationship with unbelievers, “Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’” We’ve learned these teachings well, and rightly so. However, there is a different prescription given when we find ourselves in difficulties with a brother in the faith: “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” (Luke 17:3-4) Hearing this teaching, the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” We can certainly enter into their feelings; it’s not an easy course to follow!

The relationship of Christian believers is a family relationship. Because of the closeness of the bonds we have with each other, there is great potential for blessing. However, close relationships also have great potential for abuse when one family member takes advantage of another, counting on automatic tolerance and forgiveness because of their status in the family. The Lord Jesus left His disciples empowered in their dealings with one another. Because of the deep care that exists between believers, we are commanded to bring a brother or sister’s sin against us to their attention. We do them a favor, we do the whole church a favor, when we go to our brother or sister in the Spirit of Christ and tell them, “You’re not allowed to treat me that way. You’re not allowed to talk to/about me that way.” Sometimes what we might think of as kindness in overlooking a brother or sister’s offenses is actually laziness or unwillingness to take responsibility for helping them correct something that is possibly hurting their own soul more than it’s hurting us. I recognize that at times I have been more inclined to rebuke unbelievers for their sins against me while being very tolerant with a believer, when actually the scripture teaches just the opposite!

There are some conditions attached to our approach to a brother or sister in error. First, we are empowered to rebuke them when the sin is against us personally. We are not authorized to investigate their entire life for evidence of wrongdoing about which we can confront them. Many things must be left between an individual and their conscience before God. Nor do we dare rebuke a brother or sister in anger, but in the spirit of meekness. It is not up to us to reveal the wrath of God, punish our brothers and sisters, or otherwise make life difficult for them. “Man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” (James 1:20) Our human wrath is not a tool God would choose to use. In fact, it may be better to do nothing at all about a situation than to act in the human spirit of wrath. One brother told us that it’s likely safest to go to correct a situation with a brother or sister when we find it hard to do so. If we find it easy to speak our mind, we may be doing exactly that: telling them our own thoughts instead of God’s thoughts. When we have to pray for strength, wisdom, grace, and courage to go to a brother or sister, we are more likely to go in the Spirit of Christ that will help bring resolution to the situation.

Our forgiveness for our brother or sister is based on their word. “If he … says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” It is not up to us to set conditions for future behavior, nor to specify ways in which they must atone for past wrongs. I am so grateful for the words of a wise old sister one time when I found myself quite upset about the apparent wrong conduct of some who were quite close to me. “We simply have to believe our people,” she told me, and that’s been good advice in many situations. When we forgive others based on their word, we set them free from any bondage in the relationship between us, and we are ourselves free. They have no need to be looking over their shoulder and wondering if we are still scrutinizing their behavior, and we don’t need to continue gathering evidence for a possible future “case” against them.

One time after trying to speak on this subject, I was questioned about our alternatives if a brother or sister doesn’t repent when we speak to them about their sin. In another passage, the Lord Jesus gave instructions for such a case: “Treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:17) Whatever else that may involve, we cannot ignore the example of the Lord Himself in His outreach to pagans and tax collectors: He loved them and forgave them! So an unrepentant brother or sister receives our forgiveness also, though at the moment they may fail to get the benefit of the lesson we’ve tried to help them with. On rare occasions, there may also be a situation where the Spirit explicitly sends a messenger to warn another of dangers in the path they have chosen, as when Nathan was sent to David in 2 Samuel 12. Most of us will never find ourselves in such a setting, and this falls outside of the situations the Lord Jesus spoke of in Luke 17 and Matthew 18, where there may be no personal trespass involved against another individual. In such a case, the messenger of the Lord is not in a position to forgive, since there is no trespass against him or her in the first place. Their mission is only to deliver the message of the Lord with clarity, making sure it’s the Lord’s message and not their own. Nathan gives us a wonderful example of the spirit in which such a message should be delivered, without vindictiveness or anger, but in kindness and hope, holding out the Lord’s mercy in spite of wrong.

The account our Lord gave regarding forgiveness between servants in the same household is a powerful one. One servant had an enormous debt canceled by the king himself, a debt that amounted to sixty million days’ wages! Regardless of how I do the math, I come up with a figure of more than two thousand lifetimes, truly an impossible debt to ever repay. His fellow-servant owed him one hundred days’ wages, not a small sum, but neither an impossible one to eventually repay. However, the very man whose impossible debt had been canceled refused to be patient with his repentant fellow-servant. The consequences were drastic: “In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:34-35) Perhaps the servant never truly grasped just how great a sum he had owed in the first place. Unforgiveness toward a brother or sister may be evidence that we’ve never really understood our own status as sinners before God. We do not dare allow unforgiveness to rule in our heart even for a moment. As we follow the scripture’s guidelines in our affairs with both unbelievers and believers, we find great peace and liberty regarding our own guilty past, and we set each other free to serve in love and harmony.

Ps. 51:10 A very well known verse to Bible reading people. These are the words of David. He was a mighty king, a conquering general, a poet and musician; but his heart was not clean and his spirit was not right. So, all of his greatness, power and talent left him empty before God. We call these evening meetings at convention, “Gospel Meetings” . “Good news” more specifically, good news that we have found in Jesus. We are very glad tonight that people who realize they are not clean and not right, that all of us can be. All of us can be clean and all of us can be right. Verse 17 speaks of our heart and our spirit. The condition of heart and spirit that is mentioned in this verse is part of the key that can make our heart clean and our spirit right. Repentance. Matt. 4: His message was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus preached this message. John the Baptist spoke this before. After Jesus was crucified and resurrected, His servants continued to preach the message of repentance. There is no Gospel meeting that will make us right unless it includes repentance. Sometimes we use these Bible words over and over and become so familiar that we fail to grasp just what they mean to us. When I first went to another country and we were working with a people who were barely literate, couldn’t grasp some of these words. Some of the workers who had been there before, got a little book just of the Gospels that was very basic specifically for these people. I appreciated what it said about repentance. “Change your attitude.” It was that simple. WE feel a large part of our coming together can do just that very thing — that we could leave here with a different attitude than we had before. That we would have an attitude more like the Lord Jesus. We want to look at the attitude in the teachings of our Lord, because that is what is going to make us right. Look first at the attitude of our Lord towards His Father. That is an attitude we need to have — God is near. God is looking down — God is keenly interested in every soul and He wants to help us recognize that.

Serving God is not learning some theory about religion. Serving God is recognizing He is looking at “ME” and wants to share with “ME”. Not only that He is near, but that His nearness has to do with His love and care for us. John 17 God loves His people just like He loves His own Son. Can we grasp that? Can we take it in? He doesn’t have it in for us. Regardless of all the wrong in our past and every mistake we have made — He loves us like He loves His only Son. People in the world are afraid of God. There is no reason to hide from Him. He is so great. It does us no good to think God doesn’t know me and doesn’t understand me. When we learn more about Jesus, we learn God is unlimited, He is all powerful — there is nothing He can’t understand and there is nothing He is not willing to help us. Repentance involves us changing our attitude about ourselves. Jesus said, “I didn’t come to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” We learn that our will is not going to be profitable or pleasurable in the main scheme of things. We need to recognize God’s will is better than my will. A young man that came to Jesus and asked a question — “Good Master, what can I do to inherit the kingdom of God?” He was looking at Jesus as nothing more than man who was earning his way to heaven just by being good. And he thought he could win his way to heaven just by being good. “If I can just be good enough, God will accept me.” No person has lived good enough to inherit eternal life. And the wages of sin is death. That is the only thing that will ever open the doors of eternal life to us — being born again in the same spirit Jesus had and that we receive a new nature that is eternal. If we think we are good enough to inherit the kingdom of God, there are two outcomes. 1. Self righteousness – God abhors it and so do we when we see it in others.

2. They lose all hope for themselves and rightly so. “there is no sense even trying to serve God because I am not good enough”. We are thankful God shares with us His nature so that we can inherit eternal life. Repentance involves changing our attitudes about sin. John 8:34 –

In our modern language we would substitute the word “servant” for slave. Whoever commits sin is a slave. WE can feel our human weakness is trivial. God says sin makes you a slave and a slave doesn’t have a place in the house of God — ever. When we hear and believe this message of Jesus, we not only understand that “I am a sinner”; but that”my sin is serious and is separating me from Jesus.” When we believe in Jesus and exercise faith in Him, God wants to treat us as if this had never happened. Sometimes when we speak about repentance, one of the reactions for it is not good news — we don’t like change and we certainly don’t like to hear that there are consequences if we don’t. But the joy we have in having a clean heart and a right spirit — then we want to change over and over and over again. Something peculiar about little boys is they don’t like soap and water. Sometimes a bath sounds like the ultimate punishment. But somehow something happens and you parents of teenage boys find it hard to get them out of the shower — they learn somehow that being clean is wonderful. The time comes when repentance is very, very good news to us. It isn’t something we do once and then are clean forever. A brother made the comment about a broken and a contrite heart is a temporary inconvenience, but I have learned it is a daily necessity. No matter who we are, the message of repentance is always a current, applicable experience. We need to repent and change so that we can have an attitude like Jesus.

[John Sullivan was one of the workers who came from Ireland to Australia in the very early 1900s.]

My Dear Sister,

In answer to your letter, which I appreciate, I might say that owing to the importance of the subject, I didn’t have time to say much, that I’d like to explain as I see it. It seems to me that the Lord will come suddenly with power and great glory and that glory will light up the sky with the reflection of its brilliancy. He will, I understand, send angels before Him to sound trumpets calling the saints who are alive, away from the earth to meet the Lord in the air. The Lord will bring with Him from Heaven all the saints who have gone there. He will give them a resurrection body to appear in and at the same time will give a similar body to the saints that are alive on the earth. All will meet and greet in the air away from the inquisitive eyes of those who despised and rejected the Lord and His riches in glory. Then the marriage supper of the Lamb will take place, when those who are worthy are wedded to Him never again to be separated from Him. Gifts will be distributed in proportion to the faithfulness of those who during their life on earth had manifested varying degrees of Love and loyalty to God’s claim. I believe He will put His approved servants into position of authority during the Millennium in proportion to the ability they have developed during their time on earth when entrusted with talents. Having been given Resurrection bodies, similar to the Resurrection body of Jesus, I don’t believe they would again part with these bodies, and would live in them during the Millennium in much the same way Jesus did with His resurrection body after He rose from the dead, and held converse with the different ones who were privileged to see Him.

After the wedding supper has taken place, and the Lord has distributed His rewards and appointed His servants to their posts of privilege, I believe all will then return to the earth and begin to restore order and administer a reign of righteousness. During which time all rulers who have failed to rule righteously will have to resign and give place to Christ and His servants who constitute His bride. I don’t know whether the Lord will set up His headquarters in any particular place or whether He will appear and disappear – guiding and helping His servants as they may have need of His superior knowledge. At the end of the 1,000 years things should be so put in order, that there will be a readiness for the final wind up or balance sheet of the world, and then God’s own people will go to live with Him, after the Great White throne has been set up and sinners commanded to part from His presence. Referring to your question as to whether the Lord will be seen by the natural eye when He comes again, I’m sure His saints will see Him and will be able to recognize Him by the prints of the nails which will help us to remember the great love He had for us in giving His life. When the saints are called away from the earth to meet Him, there must be a feeling of awe and dismay among the sinners who are left behind in suspense. Trust we may be able to live in the spirit of watching and waiting until He comes.

Your Bro in Him,

John Sullivan

Just before I left the bay area to go into the ministry in Oregon, I was with my aunt and we were going to go see Auntie May Carroll, who was in an apartment and was old and sick and being taken care of. We went over to see her, not knowing that she died en route. When we got there, my two nieces that were taking care of her told us Auntie May was dead. The coroners were slow in getting there, so my niece said, “Let’s open her Bible. Maybe she can’t talk to us, but maybe she can speak to us from her Bible.” Maybe by something she had marked or underlined. One of them started going through her Bible, and out fell a newspaper clipping. It was yellow with age. The headline was, “Don’t Drop the Baton.” It told about the 1948 Olympics and a relay race that was being run. As always, the Americans were favored, but for some reason the Italian team had strong runners that year, and when the first runner took off, he gave the Italians the lead. And the second runner held the lead. The third runner increased the lead with each stride. Then he handed off to the anchor runner, and he dropped the baton and the race was lost.

The baton is that 17″ cylinder they hand to each other. Spiritually speaking, the baton is faith. “The righteousness of God is from faith to faith.” Faith is handed to another. When Jesus came into the world, He brought into the world the baton of faith and committed it to faithful men who passed it onto others. We don’t know what happened in history since that time, but we found in our experience and in our day that the baton of faith is still in the world, and I believe God is, and will help under any circumstance. Our responsibility now is not only to hang onto it carefully and firmly, but it is our privilege to be able to pass it on to other people, to commit it unto faithful men and women.

Some of you who are young in school and haven’t served God very long, and you don’t know God very well, and you feel like you are weak and barely toddling along in faith, remember there is no one else even taking a step in it. Under no circumstance, even though you are young, don’t drop the baton. Those of you out there, probably the majority, who are in your middle years, trying to keep body and soul together, and your family, and you have many cares, and you have business and lots of work to do and many distractions, and you’re probably tired more than you aren’t tired, don’t drop the baton. What about your children? Then there are those of you who are old, and you’re running out of time, and it’s just an effort to put one foot in front of the other and it takes a lot of energy to even read the Bible, let alone come to a meeting, and sometimes you can’t, and the finish line isn’t very far away, don’t drop the baton.

Uncle Willie told me one time, “Johnny, I’m 91 years old, and when I walk down the street of a big city, the devil is still telling me to turn into this place or that place, and ruin my life and testimony.” He was old and he was tired, and we are thankful that he didn’t drop the baton. When a faithful person finishes this life, particularly the old, it is such a wonderful encouragement to us that are younger, and to those that are younger than us, to see that it can be done.

If we hold fast the profession of our faith, it will help us believe to the saving of the soul. Call to remembrance the former days when you suffered, and God delivered you. God will not keep you from being destroyed by one enemy to have you destroyed by another enemy. Don’t cast away your confidence, no matter what anybody says, no matter what anybody does, no matter what the world comes to, don’t cast away your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. And we would say to you all, above everything else, above everything else, don’t drop the baton.

Our studies in Genesis are rich. One of my favorite Gospel subjects is coming up. I think of our young people trying to get something out of Genesis 27, our study for this coming Wednesday. As an older brother put it, we have a chapter concerning an unwise father, an over-anxious mother, and two sons not professing. Both sons were deceitful, which complicates matters.

To me, it is one of the best illustrations of false religion we have in the Bible. Much of false religion is the result of being over anxious to help and save at the expense of truth. This incident happened right in the family God had chosen. All through the Bible from here on we sadly have illustrations of false religion demonstrated dramatically by those who professed to know better.

Any honest person is troubled by the tactics used in Genesis 27. Regardless of man, the will of the Lord prevailed in the end, but there can be innocent victims. It is good to remember this chapter was only about a natural blessing. Esau could have gotten the natural blessing and it would not have changed God’s choice of Jacob, the second born getting and being the spiritual blessing for generations to come. The religious world sadly teaches that natural blessing and wealth are a token of God’s blessing.

Again our questions, “Is God’s will accomplished by deceit, lying, taking advantage of blindness, human appetites? Does the Holy Spirit lie? Did Jesus ever lie or tell a ‘white lie?’”

Genesis 27:1, “And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see… And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.”

This is the first occurrence of the word “love” in the Bible. It was in connection with a human sentiment, and it was causing Isaac to follow in a wrong direction. Jacob, not Esau was God’s choice to be the leader. Human love Genesis 25:28 was clouding what Isaac believed. He knew the elder was to serve the younger (Genesis 25:23). This was something Esau never did and Isaac knew that, but, oh, what he loved (savoury meat and his first born) was what he followed!

These parents were making a serious mistake with their family. Jacob favoured Esau. Sarah favoured Jacob. Genesis 25:28, this is a human mistake that can have serious consequences.

Psalms 69:6, “Let not them that wait on Thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek Thee be confounded (confused) for my sake, O God of Israel.”

Rebekah’s solution caused confusion, hatred, fear, fleeing, and shame. Those who are honest and know God, wait on Him to carry out His promises in His time are not ashamed. Those who are seeking God are not confused by the honest life or issue at hand. Verse 22, “And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, ‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’”

One honestly seeking God and feeling they have found it yet witnessing this 27th chapter would be very confused by what Rebekah did, “This is supposed to be God’s way and people and yet what I see is like false Religion.”

David got his blessing the honourable way. God said, “I’ll put your enemies into your hands and you can do as you like.” What seemed right to David was to leave it in God’s hands. David would not lift up his hand against Saul. God gave him the blessing without human planning, scheming, stealth, lying, or reasoning. David, at one stage was feeling so down he said, “I’ll yet perish at the hand of Saul.” Yet David never stooped to taking things into his own hands.

Isaac had a lack of discernment. Favouring someone affects judgement. He favoured Esau, and Sarah favoured Jacob. This lack of discernment must have been a very large item, or else, why couldn’t his wife go to him and visit concerning the matter? She seemed to understand God was wanting to use Jacob. She maybe understood God’s plan to some extent, and must have felt desperate in such a dilemma. What she chose to do was at a terrible cost to herself. I don’t think she ever saw Jacob again.

It is a tragedy if we are so pressed that we feel we have to use deception with those who have faith (or anyone) in order to accomplish the will of God!? There is something wrong. Maybe there is something wrong with their faith and also our faith? In Jacob’s situation, if God wanted him to get the blessing he could have gotten it in an honourable way. God would have seen to that.

A young girl (later went in the Work) wrote me about a problem her family were involved in as a result of lack of faith in God’s order. She also told me that it seemed they were all losing out (and they did). She said, “They don’t seem to have faith in God. They seem to feel they have to do it all and figure things out on their own.” The result of this situation that she was ashamed of was a confusion to any one seeking God. Psalms 69:6, “Let not them that wait on Thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake…”

False religion says, “The end justifies the means.” A Bingo or dance in the church basement is not so good, but it will raise money for the Church. The dance and entertainment aren’t so good, but it will keep the young folks. As with Abraham and Sarah, human reasoning got ahead of Divine intervention. When we take things into our own hands we confuse the issue. Those professing are ashamed of us and those looking on, seeking to find God’s way are confused. “This person is supposed to be serving God, but I don’t see any difference between them and the religious world.” (Psalms 69:6)

Types of false religion will come when we take our own way even if we are professing to serve God.

False religion is because people do not believe God means what He says. As in Judges 21:25, false region is started by, “every man doing what is right in his own eyes.” Sarah felt she was doing what was right. Korah, in Moses’ day was doing what he felt was right in his own eyes, when he and others were saying to the workers, “You are taking too much on yourselves.” This is typical of false religion.

Genesis 27:12, “My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver.” He was a deceiver, but not worried about that, only that he might get caught! In the world today, the only sin they seem to see is the fear of getting caught. Sarah said the curse be on her. Others can’t take our blame on the judgement day.

False religion takes advantage of human weakness and tendencies:

Verse 1 – Blindness, “His eyes were dim.” People are blind in the world today and false religion prospers.

Verse 8 – Listening and obey the voice of man and not God, “My son, obey my voice.” Jacob was 57 to 77 years old. He was old enough to stand on his own feet. He could have told his mother that he would not be a part of such deception and God would have honoured that and worked it out for him to get the natural blessing if He wanted it for Jacob.

Verse 9 – Human appetite. The flesh desires savoury meat. Esau was dynamic, a hunter with his stories, living from chance and excitement. Jacob loved that and favoured him. Rebekah favoured Jacob.

Verse 13 – Feeling someone else can take the blame for us. As with the religious world in Jesus day, that voice seems to be taking full responsibility. “Upon me be thy curse.” Matthew 27:25, “His blood be upon us and our children.”

Verse 15 – Garments, robes satisfy human minds. The priest puts on the robe and then it is, “Holy Father.” A priest I knew very well told me he asked the housekeeper, “Do you believe in the Devil?” She replied, “I guess I do, I’m looking at him.” But when he puts the covering on it is, “Holy Father.” He realized something was wrong.

Verse 19 – Lying. Jacob told Isaac wrongly that he was the first born son, and then twice lied again about it. Jacob, (as the blind seeking truth today), had doubts about the authenticity of it all. “Are you my very son Esau or not?” Jacob lies again.

Verse 20 – “How is it that thou hast found it so quickly?” Jacob blames the Lord for what he did himself, “The Lord thy God brought it to me.” Ezekiel 13:6, “They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, ‘The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them.’”

The religious world uses God’s name as a cover up. The money for the shingles on the Church roof comes from a Bingo, but the claim is that “God provided.” “Praise the Lord!” A lady said, “God gave us this van.” Her dad said, “Who is making the payments? I think you should thank your husband.”

Verse 21, “And Isaac said unto Jacob, ‘Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son.’” Feels right. Blind people go by their feelings and false religion takes advantage of that. The hands felt right. Feelings can be deceiving. The sons of Aaron offered strange fire. “Feels the same, looks the same.” Later Isaac said the smell was right, ah, but the voice isn’t right. Only going by human senses.

Verse 22, “And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, ‘The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.’” The actions, claims are not in harmony with the voice.

Verse 25, “he brought him wine, and he drank.” Wine brought into it. Affects the human judgement. World knows a deal gets signed more quickly over alcohol.

Verse 26, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.”

Verse 27, “And he came near, and kissed him:” Human senses. Judas’ kiss of betrayal, and then Jacob using a human sense, smell.

Again our questions, “Is God’s will accomplished by deceit, lying, taking advantage of blindness, human appetites? Does the Holy Spirit lie? Did Jesus ever lie or tell a ‘white lie?’”

This makes me question, what kind of copy letter am I of Christ? In the olden days I would get the 13th carbon copy of a letter. II Corinthians 3:3, “For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the letter of Christ…” Is it a letter that is clear to read and will not lead to confusion or embarrassment for any? Is it easy to have around or is it hard to look on and people are repulsed by it? Does it show partiality? Would we hurt someone? “You are least important in my life so get the 13th copy.”

My thoughts have been on Enoch. He is a man that we do not read a lot of in the Bible, is he? I was looking over the verses in the Bible this morning that speak of Enoch and I have only come across five verses in the whole Bible that speak about him and although there is not a lot said about him, just reading about the little we have and thinking about his life has given me some sweet thoughts I have enjoyed and maybe I can share with you this morning.

Maybe I should pass on greetings from the States and California, especially. Several asked me to give greetings to the friends here and in Australia and even though they do not know many of you, their thoughts are with us in these days of convention together.

The first place we read of Enoch is Genesis 5. This chapter is one of those chapters that would be easy to skip in the Bible. It is full of names that are difficult to pronounce and who begat who. Sometimes it is easy to think there is not much there. I was reading it one time and the thought occurred to me, those names of all those people that had their children – really, we do not know much about any of them and the only one in the chapter that it says any more about than that he begat sons and daughters was Enoch. It does mention Noah and we know what kind of a man Noah was, and there are others that were Godly men serving God, but the rest we don’t know what their lives consisted of other than the normal course of events. They got married and had their families and they died. I think it would be sad if that was all there was to their lives or anyone’s life. What they did. What their lives consisted of. There was nothing written about it. It was legitimate to be married. It is legitimate to have children – those are legitimate things. And what we do in our lives, our jobs, our schooling, whatever we do, legitimate things. They are good and right in their place. It would be sad if that was the only thing our lives consisted of. Just the normal things that everyone’s life consists of. It is nice to think of Enoch, not only did he have his sons and daughters, his wife here on earth, but he walked with God. There was something deeper in his life than the normal course of events. Something that was in his heart that made his life more special than the lives of those who just lived the normal course of events.

We are so thankful God has revealed to us something that is greater than life itself. Something that goes beyond the normal course of life’s events. When we think about it, if all we do is live our lives for just the normal things, we are really not much higher than the plants and animals around us, are we? That is what they do. They reproduce after their kind. That is what God has put into them. What is there to the life of the animal and plant – they die, and that is the end. God has placed something in our hearts that we want something more than that. We seek for more meaning than the normal things of life. We are thankful that He is holding out to all of us something that goes beyond life. Something that is greater than life and something that goes on into eternity. We are thankful for the day we were grafted on and we made it ours.

I want to tell you a couple of stories. The first one happened when I was in Hawaii reading the paper one day, and there was an article about a building in Honolulu that was going to be demolished and I read that article and it was a surprise to me. This building that was going to be demolished was only 26 years old. Not all that old as far as a building goes. They were gong to demolish it and bring it down and it was going to be nothing more than rubble. I wondered what the contractor and architect thought about that. All the time they had spent building it. What did the plumbers and drain-layers and electricians and carpet layers think about that? All the time they spent building it and 26 years later it is going to be brought down to nothing and carted away as if it doesn’t exist. It was clear to me, the temporariness of the things of time. Those people that would have worked on that building – they were doing legitimate things, they were making their living and that was good and yet here, such a short time later it was all being brought to nothing.

The other story is at a convention in our home State and a man stood to his feet to give his testimony in one of the meetings and he said, “When I was young, I thought about those words, nothing matters but salvation and I thought to myself that is not true. There are a lot of things in my life that matter. I have a wife and family and business to take care of and there are a lot of things in my life that matter. But life has gone on and I have gotten older and the things that mattered to me so much in the past are mattering less to me now, but the things that I have in God, they still have their own value and they are the things that are going to go on with me.”

It is good that we understand that and keep in proper place and perspective the things that truly have value in life and the things that truly feed our souls and the things that truly give meaning to our lives. It would be sad if at the end of life, even spending our lives doing things that would be legitimate, yet having nothing before God. We want to keep before us what really does matter. We think of Enoch and it says in verse 21, “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years. Enoch walked with God and he was not; for God took him.”

A man who lived his life, did the things that were natural to do, yet walked with God. We are thankful for men and women, boys and girls who fulfill this same thing in their lives today.

It is interesting though, he lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah and he walked with God after he got Methuselah three hundred years. It made me wonder could it have been that before that maybe Enoch didn’t walk with God? But then came along a son, a little boy, and suddenly responsibility is laid upon his shoulders and suddenly he realizes, “I am responsible for this little life and this son of mine is going to be looking to me for an example and I am responsible for giving him something for his soul and I need to do something for my own soul first and I need to walk with God so that I can bring my own son up in the fear of God and teach him to walk with God.” We are thankful for parents that understand this kind of responsibility as they have their children. Sometimes that responsibility drives people to seek for God and seek for His help.

I remember a man telling his testimony and he told about how his mother professed when he was a boy and he grew up going to meetings around the workers and God’s people and then when he got older, he didn’t want it for himself and he went out into the world and he married a young lady who was of the world. It wasn’t long after they were married that she started wanting what his mother had and she wanted it for herself and she went to meetings and professed. That didn’t move him. His wife professed for a while and he didn’t go to meetings with her. And then the time came their first child was born. He said when that little girl was born, something moved in his heart and he felt desperate that he needed God’s help to raise that little girl and that life put into his trust moved him to seek God and make his choice and make the things of God his own.

I Timothy 2:15, “Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.” This verse appeals to me in this way. It isn’t childbearing that will save a woman or man having children doesn’t save people, but that something, that having that responsibility. Having that little life moves in the hearts of people to seek after God. It is wonderful to think your children might even be a help to you in your salvation and your walk with God. Sometimes the little ones come and ask why do we do that. Why do we go to meetings? What is this? How and why do we do this and what does this mean? Maybe things we have known all our life, but these little questions make us start to search and look at what does this mean and it brings us closer to God and it makes us understand so we are able to teach them the same things. It is good when parents understand their responsibility of teaching their children and preparing them to be in the fear and admonition of God.

I have appreciated what we have heard of Manoah and his wife, “Show us how we can bring him up so he would be the man we would want him to be.” As parents come to God in that attitude you are going to find that God is going to help you also and it is going to help your own soul as well.

We heard in one of our other conventions about someone that was visiting with their father and telling that sometimes, it seems like the only time they can read is when they sit down with the children and read the scripture. That father said, “When you were a child, often what I got out of the scripture and the bread I had to share for the meeting was when I sat down with you and read you the scripture.” As you help your children, you are helping yourselves. As you teach your children, you are learning yourselves. God is giving you a wonderful privilege and responsibility to be true to the little lives that he has placed in your care and to teach them the things of God and to help them to love the things of God and to believe it in the place where God can speak to them. It is a great responsibility and privilege. Our children are the hope of the future of God’s children. We want to be those that look for the future and commit what we can so that if you can be tried and the work of God can continue in the earth even in the future.

Deuteronomy 6:6, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. Thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

The Lord was anxious that they would hold up before themselves the Laws of God, the Ways of God, that they would be thinking about these things, that they would be talking about these things in their homes and that they would be practising them. As we have heard, it is the example of parents’ lives before the children that speak volumes. When their children asked them what the Passover meant and what do the stones by the river Jordan mean? They told them – this is what it means – the Lord brought us up out of Egypt and He saved us. The Lord brought us out of this river and helped – you parents are doing this in your homes. Taking time to read from the scripture with your little ones and living the Word of God in your own lives. In this way, your little ones can be taught and brought to the place where God can deal with them and they, too, can come to walk with Him and get to know Him in their own experience.

Enoch walked with God. Walked with God. It says that Enoch walked with God and not that God walked with Enoch. It says the same thing of Noah. Noah walked with God and not that God walked with Noah. In our country, we see bumper stickers and they say, “God is the co-pilot.” That is the way many people want to make God their God. They want to be in control. They want God beside them in case they get into trouble. They want to make the decisions. It doesn’t work like that. God is no one’s co-pilot. The only way it works is when they get out of the driver’s seat and allow God to take that place. God doesn’t walk with us, but we walk with God. It is allowing God to set the pace. We do not want to try to set the pace ourselves. Running ahead when we want to or lagging behind, but keep pace with the God of Heaven. Sometimes the voice of God urges us forward, urges us to go and we need to be ready to go when the voice of God leads us on forward.

I was thinking of Moses and the voice of God to him allowed him to go before Pharaoh and speak the word of God. He said, “I cannot do that. I cannot speak, I cannot go forward with Him, I cannot do that.” He at first tried to lag behind when God was saying come forward. We are thankful that, in the end, they were willing to go forward and ask what God wanted them to do. There are times too, that God is saying, “Wait. Do not go forward, just wait.” Waiting to be obedient to the Voice of God when it says wait. Sometimes, it is easy to feel impatient and want to rush ahead. Until the Voice of God leads us to go forward, we need to wait. King Saul had an experience when he was asked to wait. Samuel told him to wait until he could come and he would offer the sacrifice. Samuel didn’t come at the time he thought he should come – although he had waited. He forced himself and did what was not his place to do. Samuel told him, “You have done foolishly.” If we do not wait while the voice of God is telling us to wait, it will always lead to foolishness. We want to be in tune and step with God. Walking with Him, allowing Him to set the pace. When He comes forward, we come forward, and when He waits, we wait. If we are willing to be sensitive to that, we will never do wrong and we will always be happy and thankful for what it brings into our own experience. Walking with God is also allowing Him to set the direction of our lives and where we go and where we don’t go. It is easy to want to track ourselves. To choose our own directions.

Jonah. The voice of God came to him and asked him to speak at Nineveh, and it was not a direction he was too keen to go in and he went in another direction and he brought a storm in his life and a storm in the lives of those around him because he didn’t go where God wanted him to go. He had that experience of being swallowed up by the whale and being spat out on to dry ground. What happened? The voice of God came again and it was the same message. The same direction. He was willing then to go in the same direction, God had asked him to go in. We need to be careful to go in the direction God wants us to go. That we follow God’s direction and He directs us. God’s message didn’t change for Jonah and He doesn’t change for us either. We want to be faithful in going in the direction that He would choose and keeping pace with the pace He Himself would set. Doing this is walking with God.

We heard yesterday about life being a series of steps and how often we feel we do not know where the next step is and as we ask God, He is trying to show us the next step and He is trying to take us on the next step that is there to take.

Hebrews 11:5, “By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him for before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God.”

I just thought about the testimony that Enoch had. Really, you can say that that testimony summed up his life and it was three words that summed up Enoch’s life. He pleased God. That is a testimony that is worth striving to gain for ourselves. Very little testimony, yet speaking volumes. He pleased God. A life of resignation to the Will of God. A life given completely over to God and the summation of it can be put in those three words. It would be wonderful if those words could be our testimony and could be said about our lives.

I had been thinking of others’ testimonies. The testimony Jesus gave of Mary, “She hath done what she could.” A short testimony and yet, it was wrapped up in those words. What is the summation of what our lives are? What is the testimony? I was thinking of this of testimony, and really our testimony is what we are. Sometimes we think about a reputation and it seems that a reputation is something that is service. Maybe the opinion of ourselves, or the opinions of others. A testimony is something of the heart and what we are in our own hearts and what God sees us as being and it goes deeper. Jesus had no reputation. As far as the world was concerned, He was a nobody. He was what He was before God, what He was in His heart; the approval of His God; He didn’t have at all a reputation, but He had a wonderful testimony.

I thought of that church at Laodicea. Revelations 3, he talks about them being opinionated, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.’”

Their own opinion of themselves, their reputation was wretched. We have a need of knowing. They thought, “We are rich. We are increased with goods,” and that is what things looked like to them. But God saw nakedness and blindness and poverty and the testimony was so different. God’s testimony was so different from what they saw themselves as being.

We want to be those who do not have just a surface appearance, but we want to be those, that in our hearts, we are genuinely right before God and have in our hearts the Spirit of God and the riches of God, the Kingdom of God within. Our testimony – what it is before God in our hearts.

We speak about our testimony being what we say in meetings and that is true that we testify, but our testimony goes far beyond that. What we say in meeting is expressing our purpose. The testimony is what we make real in our life’s experience. That is our testimony.

I appreciated a verse in Revelations 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” They overcome – speaking of the Devil – of the blood of the Lamb of the Word of our testimony. Two things that we can use to overcome the Devil. We are thankful for the blood of Christ that cleanses us from the sins of the past. Our past sins and guilt. Satan has nothing to say against that. He has no power against the blood of the Lamb, or the word of our testimony. So our testimony, what we purpose in our hearts and this is lived out, Satan cannot say anything against that. God gives us a power as we seek His face, as we live out the word of our testimony, to make it real and to accomplish what we have purposed in our hearts and before others. Satan has no power before a good testimony. A testimony is so important. It is something we need to grow. It takes time and it takes faithfulness to build up a testimony and yet it can be wiped away so quickly by foolishness. We want to be careful that we guard our testimony. It is something that is so precious. It is something that we can use to guard against the Devil. Reaching out, having the reliability in our hearts and lives of those things of God.

I was thinking of what it says of Enoch in the book of Jude 14, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.’“

Just understand that the Lord sees all and understands all and will judge righteous judgment. Sometimes when we see events in the world coming upon us and they make us question and they make us fearful and yet just pray that God is in control and God will bring all things into judgment and nothing escapes the eye of the God of Heaven in whom we have to do and there is a day all will be brought before Him in judgment. We can trust in that. We can trust that all things are being done according to His will and are right on schedule. It is a wonderful rest we can have that God sees and knows and He will judge.

Psalm 73, the Psalmist got to thinking about the unrighteous and it started to look to him that they had it good and they came out with whatever they wanted and they could get away with it. As he tried to keep himself clean, he was all in – but then he went into the sanctuary and then, “I saw their end.” He realized in the sanctuary that the unrighteous are not going to get away with their unrighteousness. Our efforts to be right before God and keep ourselves clean, are not in vain. God sees and God knows. When he started the Psalm, he was envious of the foolish but by the end of the Psalm, he realizes, “How foolish I am to be thinking that way.” It was a whole different view-point when he got into the sanctuary. He sees that God sees and God knows.

Psalm 37, do not fret ourselves because of evildoers. God will take care of them. God sees and God knows and judgment is in His hand and He will judge. We are thankful to know the one who sees all and does understand and we want to keep our lives clean and upright before Him and walk as He would have us walk.

I appreciated these little thoughts and hope they will be helpful to you and help us to be true in our place.

One thing about a shut door: it is final. If you haven’t got a key and there is no one around, you realize, “This is final.” Life has many keys to it. The key to childhood is obedience. We have to obey the rules of society. As an older person, we find that the key to success is just as an individual. Each individual has the key to success. Some make success in one matter and some in another. As an older person, we find that the key is being prepared for the future of eternity. If we don’t have a key to that situation, then we find ourselves in a lot of confusion and needless trouble. If we come to the end of life and haven’t got the key for eternity, then we find ourselves not only in confusion, but hopelessness. It is good to have the key to eternal life and this is something that God is holding out to us. It is a possibility for anyone on this earth. It doesn’t matter about the background or where you come from or what you have done, but it matters about what you are going to do right now.                                                      

I was looking at some happenings in the world many years ago. I was thinking about Noah in Genesis 6. God looked on the earth and God saw what was going on in the earth, and all flesh had to die. God is also looking on the earth today and God has concluded that men have defiled His way on this earth. God asked Noah to build an ark. We read about a door and a window and the length and breadth and height. These were dimensions given to Noah, and this is what he did. There were certain things that were not mentioned. There was no sail, no rudder, nor oars. These were things that were natural happenings in the life of Noah, and we have been given a place in the things of God as we accept what God has given in the life of His Son. There are dimensions and provisions in that life. Some people think that you can do whatever you like with the life of Jesus and that it doesn’t matter.                                    

It says that the ark would be 300 cubits long, maybe 450 ft. long. If someone was walking on that boat and they thought they could do whatever they liked, if they thought that they could walk out over the end of the boat and remain alive, what would happen? There are dimensions to keep, and if anybody was going beyond the dimensions of Christ and say, “It doesn’t matter what I do with the life of Christ,” you end up in danger, spiritual danger. The people here knew the safety within the ship. There is safety within the life of Christ, safety within the dimensions. If anybody goes outside of the dimensions, that is danger. If you are in a ship, you have to be disciplined if you want to stay alive.

Then there was only one door into the ark. Some people say there are many doors that lead to heaven, but I have never read of it at all. There is only one door and only one way. This is still the same today, only one door. When Jesus was speaking about the sheepfold in John’s gospel, He said that there would be many that would strive to climb in another way, but none will get in. When the flood came, many would be running around trying to get into the ark, but they didn’t have the key. Picture the agony of those people going around and around that ark and there was no way to get in. Why couldn’t they have got an axe or a saw and tried to get in? It was pitched within and without. Try to cut into pitch with a saw or an axe! It was thick enough to protect the people within, to protect from illegal entry.                                                      

When we think of the ark and having no sail, I believe there would have been wind at that time; the boat was going from one place to another, and it was moved by currents. The way that people conquer wind is by a sail. There was nothing like that in the ark; it was left to the mercy of the elements, and it was under the power of God.

There was no rudder in the ark. The rudder requires the strength of man. Sometimes men have got a lot of strength about trying to direct the things of God, but there was nothing on the ark to direct it according to the will of man. In Acts 4, we see a little bit of this. The disciples didn’t have Jesus as their visible head and they were speaking about the things of God, and people caught them and said, “Why are you doing this?” And when they had set them in the midst, they asked “By what power or by what name, have ye done this?” Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, “Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus…doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Peter was saying, “This is the fellowship of God, it is the power God has given to you, you are looking at evidences of the power of God at work.” Verse 13, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” They wanted to know what power is this, what authority are you under? That is the same thing we have today. It may seem weak in the eyes of men, but there are evidences today that this is the power that comes down from Heaven. God is directing. It is not human strength.

There were no oars on the ark, nothing to propel it about. They went into the ark because it represented salvation. Someone had tried to estimate how many people were alive at the time, how big Noah built the ark. How many people are in the world today? Jesus wants to take our minds away from the fact of are there few or many, and He said. “Strive yourself to enter into the strait gate.” It wasn’t a question of how big he built the ark, but the question was how many were willing to go through the door. There were only 8 people. Noah didn’t have to worry about making it big enough for 100,000 people. God left the door open, and as many as wanted to could enter.

1) Sin is not serious.

– We live in a world where sin is taken very lightly. But remember – we also live in a world where God is taken very lightly. Sin will keep us out of heaven. So yes, it’s that serious.

– The things we feed in our lives are the things that will become strong. If you are feeding on something you know to be wrong, it will become stronger and stronger, and you will fail.  

2) There’s no harm in it!

– Not everything in the world is wrong or bad. There’s also nothing wrong with white bread – but we all know whole wheat is better. People who are concerned with what goes into their bodies usually choose whole wheat. Be concerned about what goes into your soul, and choose what is more spiritually edifying.

– Oftentimes, sports, activities, clubs, and such are ok! But, to make it work, be committed to making sure God comes first, 100% of the time. If anything infringes on this – you know it’s time to back out of that activity. The people you associate with at school will only be with you for a few years – probably only until you graduate. God is with you forever – who do you care more about pleasing?  

3) Go ahead and do it… after all, God will forgive you!

– How can God forgive if there’s no repentance? And how can we truly repent if we know that we did it on purpose?

– Many people assume that repentance is something that we decide to do – it’s not. Repentance is a gift from God. When God sees that we have an honest heart, he will grant us repentance. Can we truly, honestly be sorry for doing something we were fine with doing – knowing full well it was a sin?

– Why do we think that forgiveness is easier to get than permission? If we know we would never get permission – why do we assume that we will automatically get forgiveness?

– We can’t manipulate God to forgive us. How can an honest heart have manipulation?

– When we take deliberate steps to exit God’s will, we enter a road that is no longer of our timing. It could take years to get repentance – deliberate sin costs years.

– Yes, God will forgive us. But, deliberate sin has a very high price on it. Satan is right in saying that God will forgive – but he neglects to tell us the price.  

The Price for Deliberate Sin

1) Our secret life with God is nothing. When we’re not right with God, He doesn’t speak to us.

2) We can no longer feed our soul. Maybe we look to other things to fill that void? (More intentional sin?)

3) We begin to feel alienated and out of place with God’s people. We feel like an inward hypocrite.  

        – Can we now see why people who choose their own way often lose out?  

4) This might not even be the right way!

– Don’t be deceived about what is the truth. Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

– Christianity is right – don’t throw it away for anything else.  

5) You have lots of time!

– Don’t be deceived. We have absolutely no idea about how much time we have left. If we have anything in our life that isn’t right with God, now is the time to make it right. If we haven’t yet been granted the gift of repentance, now is the time we need to beg for it.

– On our gravestone, two numbers will be seen, indicating our birth and our death. The only thing that we control is that little dash between them.  

6) You won’t reap what you sow.

– Nope. We will reap exactly what we sow. Where we are right now, is from the choices we have made thus far.

– Sowing doesn’t take much time – but we will reap the harvest from it for all eternity.  

7) The Judgement isn’t as serious as it sounds.

– At the Judgement, we will have no excuses. The only ones present, will be God, Jesus, Satan, and (fill in your name here).

– God is the Judge, Jesus is our Defender, and Satan uses what we’ve done against us as ammunition. Don’t give him any more ammunition for that day – he already has enough.

– But – this day needn’t be feared!

– On Judgement Day, “Well Done” will mean much more than “Well Said.”

You can learn about people very quickly as you go into their homes,when you hear them talk, when you see who their friends are, by all that is on display, by what they value. Let us speak this afternoon about what God values.

Psalm 4:3, “But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself; the Lord will hear when I call unto Him.” The people that will be found in heaven will be those who are godly while on this earth. In my own mind, I had the thought that godliness was far beyond me. It is as far as the flesh goes, but when we let the Lord come in, He can work in us godliness.

II Timothy 3:1-5, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God – having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.”

Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.  

What are some of the characters of Godliness? We express our love for God by doing His will, for His will is always best. But self-love and we all have it and if we are not careful, it will just put us into a form of godliness. Oh, we may look like the others, but it is only a form of godliness.

What is it that would rob me from being overcomers? Cheryl told us. She told us of being in a home where several teenagers lived with their parents. She asked them, “What are you going to do today?” One of them had the whole day planned out, she was going to go shopping at the mall, where she would meet her friends, go to the beach to swim and on and on. Then her dad spoke up and all he said was, “ARE YOU?” That young lady then turned to her Dad and said, “Daddy, what am I going to do today?” Such a wonderful response. Godliness is just laying aside our own plans, not my will but Thine be done, lay aside our own will.

There were problems out in one of the outermost parts of our field and we were sent there to see what could be done. The meetings had been stopped for several months because of the problem in the church. If you wanted to go to meeting, it was three hours one way to a meeting, and three hours the other way. When we talked to the man who was causing all the problems he said, “Well, I was born this way.” He had very abrasive ways, always mumbling and complaining and finding fault with others. We told him,”Yes, you were born that way, but you were not born again that way!” I think that was the turning point for that man – he soon began to show that newborn nature. People who find fault and criticize others, that is not of the newborn nature. Godliness gives us a power to change our actions and our reactions.

How do you react when someone steps on your toes? Hit back? II Timothy 3:12, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” But godly people will have the victory through the help of the spirit within. Persecution – we don’t go around the world with a sign on our back saying, “Kick me,” but persecution will come, it is just a part of the package of serving God.  

We had one of our saint girls come to us in tears, she didn’t want to go back to school because of the peer pressure. Now we all know that schools, young people, can surely be real pressure cookers. We assured her that she would come through fine if she just trusted God and kept that supply line open to God each day.  

There was a young girl who professed in Hanoi all because of two of our friends in that school, they had been friends together and now this young girl saw what they had, such peace in their lives and desired to have that for herself. Now the three are good friends, sharing fellowship together.  

Daniel 3:15-16, “‘Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made well, but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?’ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.’” We know what happened, don’t we. They were thrown into that heated furnace, only to have their bindings taken away and have Jesus himself walk with them in the experience. They did just what God expected them to do, to face the test, they were true men.  

So often we worry about the earthly results, but every problem that we face is about the soul, because life is all about the soul. Let us just look ahead to the final results. How many times in life have we spent so much time trying to get the results to fit our own thinking? The root of all our problems is really just self-love. Our appetites are often fed by self-love.  

One of our sisters told us, my problem is that I love my temptations, but I hate the after effects. Two years went by and she and her husband found themselves outside the truth, found them divorced. Ten years went by before she found her way back. She told us now that she didn’t love her temptations any more because they cost her too much.  

There can be persecution, both outside the kingdom and inside the kingdom. When it comes from inside, it is much harder to handle. When we make it hard for others to keep true, it is not to our glory. When I was young, I was in Vancouver, British Columbia. There were three groups of young people in that city. One group we called the FW club or future workers club, young men and women who were living godly lives. Then one group we called the UF club or the un-future workers club. This was a group you would never think of being part of the ministry. Then there was the middle group, somewhere between the two extremes. We are so grateful for those of you who keep the standard high and make yourselves available to fit in wherever you are needed. There were those among the lowest class who were found finding fault with the workers, and making fun of our friends.  

Psalms 32:5-6, “I acknowledge my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great waters, they shall not come nigh unto Him. Thou art my hiding place, Thou shalt preserve me from trouble, Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.” Godly people will have sin, this is the part that surprised me, that the people that God considers godly to have sinned.  

II Corinthians 7:9-11, “Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”  

Genesis 4:3-9, “and in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering, He had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, ‘Where is Abel thy brother?’ And he said, ‘I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?’” Cain had no sorrow for his brother, he was only feeling sorry for himself, self-pity, and no repentance.  

Seven things that Godly sorrow produces (II Corinthians 7:11):

1 – Carefulness. If we have true repentance, we are going to be very careful about the very next step we take. Godly people walk through this world very carefully. Where your feet take you your heart goes, too. Sometimes our feet come back and our heart stays behind.

2 – What clearing of yourselves. When we have fallen, it will be made public, for all to see. We want to make it clear to God and to our brethren that this was in the past. One thing lacking in this Corinthian church was a clear stand being made. Let us make our testimony sure, yes this was what I was in the past, but now I have left those things behind. When we move, we go to the post office and make an address change, and a forwarding address. But when we leave these things behind, let us not leave a forwarding address so these things don’t follow us. I once was brought up short by a young man, a friend of mine and I knew that I had it coming and needed it but, oh how it hurt. And I’m not very proud of this, he had every right to chastise me. Now this man was known all over the US and Canada by a certain nickname. He had a bad reputation but ended up married to one of my good friends, what a shock. One day, after not seeing him for years, I used his nickname and he said to me, “Don’t ever use that name again, that was my past and I want to forget it.” One of the hardest things for us to do is to let go of the wrongs of the others, to face our brethren when we know that they know our past mistakes. Well, we need a new address and not leave a forwarding address.

There were a couple of problems in the little church at Corinth, sexual problems. If we have been involved in things like this we need to clear ourselves. Then there were problems where friends were taking friends to court. Then of course there were those who felt they could speak better then so and so, or had a better prayer, pride!

3 – Indignation. This is a wonderful quality of Godly sorrow. We would be asking ourselves, “Why on earth did I ever get involved in this?” One of our young ladies feeling that she had had a pretty good year wanted to be baptized. She was going Sunday after Sunday to see her professing brother race his motorcycle, she felt she was standing by her brother. Then she began to realize this was all wrong and was pretty disgusted with herself.

4 – What fear. There are two kinds of fear – the fear of God, the respect and honor for God that moves us to worship him. The fear of losing it all because of my sin.

Hymn 244

Glory to Thee for strength withheld

For want and weakness known,

And the fear that sends me to Thyself

For what is most mine own.

I have a heritage of joy

That yet I must not see,

But the hand that bled to make it mine

Is keeping it for me.

5 – What vehement desire. – This is a great active desire, an active desire and I am going to do different. When Peter failed Jesus told him, “When you get to the place where you care enough, you will be a strength to your brethren.” Beware – for discouragement just drives us away.

6 – What Zeal. – We are saying, “I am going forward from here on. Zeal would lift us to go to a new address, to repentance and godly sorrow.

7 – Revenge is just getting ahead, take revenge on this old human nature, on Satan and getting ahead of this old self. This is a culmination of these first six things. Godly people are not perfect, but know how and where to go for help.

Ephesians 2:1-7, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sin; Wherein time past ye walked according to the course of this world, …. But God, who is rich in mercy, …. hath quickened us together with Christ, And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

This is a two part story. The first part tells us what we once were, and then it says “but God.” The picture changes and we’re now told what we can become. In Mark 5:1-6, we read of the man who lived in the tombs. No one could bind him in chains, yet when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him.” There is no one who can’t be helped by God. He does not see any of us as impossible or hopeless. Although we read of a time when we were “without hope,” it does not mean we are hopeless. We didn’t see the whole picture then as we were too bound with our own troubles, doings and desires and we didn’t have hope.

I want to encourage and make you understand today that we have every reason to be patient with others. Don’t ever think someone’s impossible! Let God decide who can be helped and who will not be helped. It’s so easy to think we know. We look at some and say they are hopeless, while others could say “That person can be helped!”

A sister worker, on a home visit from Scandinavia, visited some of the Friends she knew well, and told them how difficult the work was in that county. Her friend said, “I have some wonderful neighbours I wish I could get out to the meetings; they’re good people, but I can’t get them to come.” The sister worker said, “Wait a minute! Let me tell you about some good people in Scandinavia. I labour in the land of good people and it’s not all that difficult to get them to come.” Sometimes we make judgements about people and say this or that person will surely be helped, but then we look at others and say they will never be helped. Don’t do that! Let God make the decision, as He knows the heart; we don’t. Our duty is to have hope. We can have hope for the good people but we can also have hope for the hopeless! If we cannot have hope for the impossible people, then I wouldn’t be standing here tonight. A high school classmate of mine invited me out to my first meeting and he was so patient with me. I don’t say this lightly – he ranks up there with the patience of Job! He was that kind of person; he had hope for everyone except me! But he stayed with me and something kept me going to the meeting. I feel so grateful and indebted for his persistence today..

We read in Mark 5 of that man with the unclean spirit. He might seem hopeless to us.. Can you imagine anyone more hopeless than he? Luke says that he lived in the tombs and wore no clothes. In other words, he had no shame. He couldn’t settle down and be quiet. What kind of person was that? Let us take a look at what happened when God looked in his heart and let Him decide. Was he that far down? This story teaches us a spiritual lesson.

If I were to put myself in that man’s place, my skin would crawl. Are we really any different? No! The majority of us here have already made our heart-surrender to God, but I’m sure there are others who haven’t. Was Legion all that queer, living in the tombs? The tombs are where dead people go.. If it happened in America, I wouldn’t understand it but if it happened in the Philippines, I could. People are buried without headstones there. If they have money, they will build a monument or a building, something deluxe over the tomb, and there are some who just love to live in that building. It has everything inside it – a kitchen, and all the facilities. People who have money will do that to honour their dead. Those with no place to live will go and live in the cemeteries.

The Ephesians says “Even when we were dead …… dead in trespasses and sin”. God did something for us. If we are dead, our companions are also dead. Legion had many unclean spirits – his dead companions all lived in the cemetery. They were dead to God and dead in sin. So Legion wasn’t that odd in that sense. Although we say we live, our companions might be dead to God. We would be no different than Legion before the Gospel came.

“But God…” – God is what makes the difference. God can and God will do. If we refuse the gospel, we will have nothing. We will stay dead and our companions will be from the dead. So it wasn’t so strange that Legion was living in a place of tombs. Spiritually, we were just the same. Everyone around us was dead till the Gospel came and we received that new life! So God doesn’t care if we were good or bad; we were once all the same! People tried to bind Legion and help him, but he couldn’t stop crying out in the mountains and living down in the tombs. Those people were good people with good intentions, who tried to help. That is a picture of what goes on in the religious world today by using laws and rules, yet nothing happens to the inside of a person. No one is watching so nothing is controlled. Legion was bound but broke from his chains because nothing happened to the inside. The inside needed changing too, not just the outside.

If a person gets acquainted with the people and Way of God and come to the meetings without receiving new life, they only end up copying or repeating what another person has said. Nothing has happened to the inside. It just doesn’t work. Something must happen to the inside, as sooner or later it will show on the outside. If this has happened to someone here, it’s not a hopeless situation; it requires more humbling, more crying out for God’s help, and then His power will help change the inside.

Legion was naked, he wore no clothes. You might say “That’s not me!” but wait a minute….. !! In Ephesians, we’re told that we all are moved by the lusts of the flesh and do shameful things. Don’t look at Legion that way! Before the Gospel came and we had a clear picture of our Master, we have done many shameful things that we are ashamed of. We had no conscience back then and did the same things as others did. One couple I knew moved in a circle that did some pretty wild things with their friends. Then they met some of God’s people who were not like that; they were clean living people who lived under the control of God. It was God’s Power that made them different. That couple attended some meetings, and they changed, but after they made their choice to walk with God, they felt so ashamed of even making mention of those things they did before. Once, my friends, you felt no shame either.

Legion was on the move day and night; first he was up in the mountains and then back down in the tombs. He was only harming himself. Can you get a little clearer picture now? If we won’t receive Jesus and what He wants to give through the gospel, we will be like that too, never satisfied with anything. We will first try this and then that and if something new comes up well, we’ll try that too! First we are up in the mountains and then we are back down in the tombs again; we cannot rest, we cannot stop till God gives us His peace and contentment. We must make a change, a change in the inside. Until that change came to Legion on the inside, he just couldn’t stop. He had to try to keep going till Jesus came and the picture changed! He wasn’t so strange after all, was he?! In the truest sense, that is how the Gospel finds all of us.

Mark 5:7 says, “And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.” I don’t know if anyone here feels like that today, that if we serve God it would be torment and no fun. What do you want in life? Fun is so short lived; you have to keep going back and trying it again and again. Or perhaps you want a deep peace, like the river that keeps flowing on and you never have to keep running back for? That is what gives us the true source of contentment inside. Isn’t that wonderful? Legion’s thought was that by serving God it would be torment, so he said, “Torment me not.” He was a tormented man who didn’t know the control of Jesus in his life. That’s how reversed things can get. Jesus wanted him to know that peace and joy, and he finally got it. The evil spirit was cast out. Verse 15, “And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.” What an absolute change! You would say, “It’s impossible”! How could you help a man like that? But here was Legion, sitting quietly, clothed, and in his right mind. Something had happened on the inside of him..

People love loud noise day and night where I labour. The louder the noise, the better they like it. It’s very disturbing to us, but they don’t want it any other way. They don’t want to stop and think about where they are going a few years down the road, so they fill their waking hours with lots of noise. But Legion had finally found peace in his heart and he was fully clothed.

There’s a big difference between the right and the wrong. Some like to tell us that it doesn’t matter as long as the right thing is in your heart. But it does matter, and Legion knew it mattered. He felt a sense of shame he never felt before. He knew his life was shameful. His standard had been set by the world. It wasn’t the law, but something was working in his heart that told him that he was not a child of God and that he must stop doing those things that others are doing because God is watching him. He wanted to please God and be the right kind of person in His Family. His conscience knew the difference between the right and the wrong. Legion was now in his right mind when he said, “This isn’t a torment, it’s a joy; I have peace and contentment and everything a person could want.” Things were all straightened up and turned around. Remember, we were once impossible too, but I’m so glad our God doesn’t see us that way. He sees us as possible. He can change us just as surely as He changed Legion and He can give us new life.

Do you realise when you go out from this convention that someone is watching you very, very closely and it may not be the person you think? But you still have a chance to be the right example before them and show them something new has happened in your life. Everyone here is a miracle, and it was the “but God” that has done the impossible. We can rejoice in that..

One brother Worker, past sixty years, told us that as long as his mother lived, he was her little boy. Whenever he would go home to spend a few days with her and would go into the city, he would tell her and she would say, “Do you want me to go with you?” When he’d get home, the first thing she asked was “Did you see anyone you know?” Then she would say, “Peter, remember lots of people saw you today.”

Many people will see you, so give God a chance to call anyone whose heart He sees is right. Don’t limit God! Give Him every opportunity He wants. I hope there will be others at the next convention who don’t limit Him either.. May we go out useful into this next year.

Isaiah 41:14, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob.” How would you feel if someone called you a worm? In one sense, you could accept that as a compliment. A worm is one of the most insignificant things in the earth, but also one of the most useful. It lives in the earth, yet there is no earth clinging to it. We also live and work in the earth, whatever our occupation. Are we like the worm? Is there no earth clinging to us? This is what God meant and intended for His people to be. Abraham walked through the land but he did not take any of the land with him. He was just as clean when he got through the land as when he entered it. That is kind of a testimony the Lord desires of His people. If we have it, He is satisfied. If not, He is disappointed.

There are other good things about the worm. It keeps itself out of sight. It goes into sour land and makes it sweet; it works until it has sweetened it. The sour land does not make the worm sour! We are constantly in contact with sour people. Does our contact make us sour? During my first year in the work, in the North of England, a young couple came to our meetings. The young man professed, but his wife did not. She made it very hard for him. She would hide his clothes, and do everything she could to hinder him from getting to the meetings. He never got aggravated. He kept up the sweetness while she kept up the bitterness. Finally she broke down and said, “I can’t hold out any longer.” He had sweetened the sour land.

We may say that some people are cranky and we cannot do a thing with them. The worm isn’t like that. The worm gets into the land that is very poor, and he keeps working until it has enriched that land. It is our responsibility and privilege to sweeten the sour land around us. You may contact some people and say that they are poor material. How do you know? Maybe all they need is for someone to be doing for them what the worm does. Someone to put into them something that will enrich them.

What is it that makes it possible for the worm to live in the earth without the earth clinging to it? The worm has something in it that rejects the earth. It is what we have in us, also, that counts. If we have that something in us, we will be able to do something with the world that is around us, without the world affecting us. Sometimes we look on people, and we see the earth sticking to them. It worries us, because we know that there is something lacking within them.

Supposing you step on a worm by accident. Would it bite or sting you? No, it would try to get out of your way as fast as possible. There are times when people might step on you. What effect does this have on you? Do you give them a stinging reply? If you do, you are not qualified to be a worm. If we are not qualified in this sense of the word, we are failing in the purpose God has intended for us. We are failing to fulfill the mission as planned for us. Our Master, when He was reviled, reviled no again. To revile is to speak in a cutting way to a person. He did not give a cutting reply. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, but He opened not His mouth.

Jacob did not always have the testimony of being a worm. His name suggests that he was a supplanter. He wanted to get the best of everything, and of everyone. There was a time when a definite change came into his life. Genesis 32:24-32 tells us of the time when Jacob wrestled this thing out. You may think you have a hard nature. Perhaps so. If you had no other battle to fight, only with that which is within you, you have enough. Wherever we go we have to battle against our own nature. Jacob gained a real victory here.

“My soul cleaveth unto the dust,” Psalms 119:25. The word cleave means to cling; to stick like glue. “Ye that did cleave unto the Lord are alive every one of you this day,” Deuteronomy 4:4. By nature we all have a tendency to cleave unto the dust, and there is a tendency for the dust to stick to us. How nice when God can change this, as He did in Jacob’s case, and that a person can from then on cleave unto the Lord.

Jacob’s name also changed at this time, to Israel, which means a prince of God. A person who belongs to the ruling class. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city,” Proverbs 16:32. You consider a man to be a great general when he has the wisdom and might to take a city, but he that ruleth his own spirit is greater than that. This one thing is necessary, if we are to be counted in with the ruling class. You read of the time when Abraham returned from the slaughter of the kings. He ruled over the things that otherwise would have destroyed him. If we don’t face some things up, those things will face us up. It is always nice to look on those who have returned from the “slaughter of the kings.” They faced the issue and gained the victory.

Jacob’s name was changed, but you read of something else being changed also. His walk. The angel touched the hollow of his thigh and it was out of joint. The children of Israel were not to eat of the sinew that shrank. There is a tendency to feed on the things that would cause us to shrink from the touch of God upon our lives. We look back upon some times when we almost failed. What were they? The times that we had fed on the things that caused us to shrink. After Jacob’s walk had changed, the world became a better place because of his being in it. He was then like the worm. Perhaps it would be wise to ask ourselves the question, is the world a better place because we are in it? This is what God is anxious to see. He wants us to enrich the world around us, instead of the world influencing us.

Young people have to watch the world. It is a constant enemy. It could easily influence a young life into doing something that would spoil their entire future. Old people have to watch the world, also. It could easily influence them into doing something that would wreck their past. That would spoil a good testimony that we have been years in building up. A brother once said, “I am an old man, but not so old that I could still do something that would wreck my testimony.” We all want to leave a good testimony. We would not want to be found hating ourselves at the setting of life’s sun. We want to leave behind a testimony that would be a good influence after we are gone.

Just wanted to share with you our visit with Cory Stewart in prison this past Saturday in Oklahoma. I have been corresponding with him the last 2 years. So it was just great to finally meet him.

Perhaps you know some of his story, but I’ll just kind of briefly outline it. Cory had started drinking when he was 9 years old. (You can imagine that his family life was awful.) When he was 19 or 20, he tried to end his life. In the attempt to end his own life, he was very drunk and shot at some squad cars, which resulted in a police chase. He didn’t kill anyone or hurt anyone, but they gave him 86 years in jail. He said he understands why he got the sentence.

He heard about the Truth after he was in prison when a professing girl he had gone to school with (in Wisconsin) got in touch with him by letter. He is 25 years old now. To me, the most amazing thing about him is that obviously God has been working with him and has given him of His Spirit. Prison is quite an unusual place to have such wonderful fellowship, but Kevin and I did experience it. It was quite humbling for me to realize that SO much I have taken for granted and been lax in.

When we left, I couldn’t help but think as Paul said, “Thanks be for God for His unspeakable gift.” I am thankful to God for experiences that make us love the new creature more and more. The “old man” doesn’t seem so appealing or attractive anymore. Long to see further than the moment.     

Just wanted to share the following poem with you that Cory wrote that is quite something to me.

Hope all is well with you.

Yours,

John

Some words in Psalm 36 seemed to take on a new meaning to me this week. In verse 10, it says, “Be still and know that I am God.” In verse 11 it says, “The Lord of Hosts is with us.”

There are certain sounds that we can only hear when it is quiet, still. There are certain voices that we can only hear when we are truly quiet. Our hearts are bombarded from so many angles, there is so much that is trying to seep in from the outside, worldly influences, and as was said, so much is rubbing off on us from outside. If we can truly get quiet within and if we can truly hear God’s voice within speaking to our own hearts, if we can feel His touch in our roots of sound, then the outward circumstances won’t matter so much.

This Psalm speaks about a river and the streams thereof make glad the city of God. There was no natural river running through Jerusalem and it was only by faith that the Psalmist could speak about a river. A river of water running through the midst of a town was a very great treasure in those days because it was during a siege when the enemy would usually cut off the water supply to the city and that was usually the end of it. No matter how strong the army or how well developed their weapons were but if the water supply could be cut off during a siege, that would be the end of it. We have a ruthless enemy, too, and with all the noise and all the other influences of life, it is so easy to get away from the fountain of living waters.

It says there in the 2nd chapter of Jeremiah that the Lord said, “You have committed two evils. You have turned away from Me, the fountain of living water and you have hewed out unto yourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (You have done other ways to sustain yourselves, away from Me.) There are times that we can carry on in this way, being sustained by cisterns along the way but if we don’t know the living fountain within, there is going to come a day when we will be cut off from those cisterns and their waters will fail us and disappoint us. In faith, the Psalmist could speak of a river running through the city and the streams thereof making glad the city of God.

Uncle Arthur Roberts once pointed out that those little streams were not flowing into the river, adding to the water in the river but they were furrows running down to the low lying areas that needed irrigation. I remember Uncle Arthur saying that if we want the benefit of the water that is in that river, then we need to keep small, we need to be low, then that water can reach us. It is possible that where there is a strongly flowing river, that there could be higher ground that is not irrigated, ground that is parched right next to a strong flowing river but if we are small enough and lowly enough in ourselves then we can know of living streams coming from that river that can keep us alive even in the worst of times.

We know one thing, and that is that it is going to get a lot darker before daybreak. It is going to get a lot darker and it is going to get a lot more difficult to find quietness. To really hear the still small voice speaking to our hearts is going to get more difficult because the devil is trying to cut off that supply. If that is cut off, even if we still continue going to meetings, even if we are still going to carry on with the outward form, we have denied the secret of this power that has helped others in days gone by.

When the workers first came to this country and started preaching the Gospel, there were great odds against them. If this thing wasn’t of God, how else could we declare, that against those odds, this would have continued to this day? Now it is our day and the picture is different and the onslaught of the enemy is different. A different tactic of bringing noise into our lives, even into the areas where we should have a sanctuary where we could communicate with God in heaven above. With technology as it is today, you don’t have to sneak out to a drive-in theatre any more, you can have the latest and the greatest in your own homes, just by the flick of a switch. If we don’t understand that noise and worldly entertainment, all that is going on in this world that people seek after, if we can’t get beyond that then we are going to be cut off from that living stream of living water.

When we were up in Kenya recently, we had a little Bible reading very high up on a mountain, in the foothills of Mount Kenya. Just a few people gathered for the meeting and we read Matthew 13 that day. It speaks about the sower and then about the wheat and then about the tares. I just noticed that day that the Lord said that the good seed are the children of the Kingdom, planted by God. The tares are those that cause stumbling and offence in the Kingdom. He said to let them grow together till the harvest and then the angels will separate from the Kingdom all those who cause offence and stumbling. It is a very serious thought that there are tares and there are tares even in the Kingdom. No worker can separate the tares from the wheat and nothing that we can do in our efforts can accomplish that. Just this one thought, whether we are going to end up among the tares or among the wheat one day depends on what is germinating and what is growing in our own hearts.

The saying used to be, “We are what we eat,” but these days, the saying is, “We are what we digest.” It is what we digest today and what we digest every day that is going to make the difference between being among the tares or among the wheat at the end of the day. God has gathered us to help us but He is sending us out with a purpose and that is to help those outside.

Dear friends,

My correspondence has been sadly neglected. Please pardon me for being so slow in replying to your most welcome letters received in past days. I can assure you, they were very highly valued. Thank you for your patience with me in spite of being so tardy.

We have been having gospel meetings in two different places with a few people attending. One young man actually made his choice known in one of the recent meetings that we tested. He is married to Geraldine, one of the young professing ladies, and they are expecting their first little child. He has come a long way as an outsider and we have been glad to watch the Lord’s work unfold in his life. Geraldine and her parents met the truth some years ago through Daphne Martin, the sister worker through whom I also professed. Daphne and Erica Phaal were having meetings at Potchefstroom at that time and Erica one day went to buy something at Clicks. Geraldine’s mother, Sharon, was working at the checkout point and she was searching for the right thing. When she saw Erica entering the shop, she wondered if this could be what she was looking for? She prayed in her heart that the Lord would send that lady to her checkout point if she was one of His children. Wonderful that Erica was led by the spirit of God, even to go to the right till that morning. Who would have thought that we needed the Lord’s guidance when going into Clicks to buy something? When Daphne introduced Sharon to me at convention she said, “Now this is your very own sister.” Geraldine has been working in the city for a few years and we have admired the steadfastness in the truth. We trust that they will be very useful in the future as a couple serving God together.

There’s also an older lady attending the meetings together with Austin and Susie Gouws, two of our friends. She is the very religious person, and it may take a while for her to see the light. We had a pleasant visit with her the other day and we were glad to get to know her a little better. As long as she attends, there is certainly hope that one day the light will shine through and she will see the mystery of Godliness and be delivered from the darkness of organised religion.

We also enjoyed our Little Bible studies on Wednesday mornings, were the ones of the other hopeful contacts that we have. Christel grew up in a professing home but she is not professing herself. She is married to a lawyer who specialises in the labour law and that means a fair amount of travelling to different towns for him. He doesn’t seem to be interested in the meetings himself at this stage but certainly doesn’t hinder her, for which we are very glad. We have been reading the Gospel of Mark, chapter for chapter, and have been glad for the discussions it led to.

We are hoping to have our special meetings soon. That will mean that our gospel meetings will have to come to a close pretty soon. There hasn’t been a great deal of interest from outside, but we have been glad for the support of our friends. They always make us feel that they also value the meetings. These days with security regulations in our country as they are, especially in a city like this, it is very hard to do house-to-house visiting like in former days. At most homes, one wouldn’t be able to gain entrance unless the people inside gave their consent. People in our country now are very suspicious of strangers coming to their door. People have unfortunately come under many false pretences, and then robbed or attacked people. We are therefore very glad for the contact we still have through our friends and they certainly do their best to try and invite others.

Our first special meeting will be the one for the Zulu friends here at Pretoria held on the 21st of August. Our own special meetings for the rest of the people here in Gauteng will be on the 4th and 11th of September. After that, we hope to attend the ones at Bloemfontein, East London and Durban as well before returning to our field.

This morning Uncle Louis van Dyk and his companion together with Andy Robijn, Laurie Edwards, Maureen Spies and Patricia Rafferty, left for Zimbabwe. We trust that they will have a safe journey and not too much trouble at the border today. That country has been in a sad state for quite a while now. Most things are in short supply, so they had to take petrol and many other things along with them. The friends in that country have been wonderful in the way they have coped with the situation. We certainly admire their courage. It is also not an easy task for the workers in that field now, but they have proved the Lord in a very real way and the work is steadily continuing. There’s always been good interest among the Shona people in that country.

I worked in that country for a number of years and they were good years. The Shona people in that country have been very receptive to the Truth. Neddie Mahwehwe’s father, Baba Dick, was the first black man to profess in that country. He was working for Mrs. Olsen at the time. There was a Sunday night meeting in that home and he used to listen from the kitchen through the keyhole. One night, a lady had to leave the room on account of her child crying and when she went out, she noticed Dick running away. This lady told Mrs. Olsen about the incident and the next Sunday evening, Mrs. Olsen herself went to investigate.

Mrs. Olsen herself then found Dick listening at the keyhole. She asked him to come in and sit inside the meeting room. After listening for a little while, the workers came and had some gospel meetings. Dick didn’t take long to understand the truth. Shortly after he made his choice known, he wanted to be baptised. The workers explain to him that it was necessary to wait a little while and prove himself first. The next week he was back, asking them again about this matter of baptism. They again explain to him that it was necessary for him to wait a little longer. The next week, he came back with the same request. The older worker then agreed. He told him that after he brought their tea in the morning, they could go down to the Little River and he would then be baptised. At two o’clock the next morning, there was a knock at the door. They asked him to return to bed and come back with the tea at about five o’clock, which he then did. They went down to the river and baptised him. If they were to explain to him from Scripture why he had to wait longer, they would have had a difficult task.

Not very long after this, he went to Mrs Olsen and asked to be released from his job so that he could take these good tidings back to his own people in the reserve. She tried to reason with him and explained to him that while it was a good desire on his part, he still wasn’t established enough in the truth himself. He should wait a little while and become more experienced and then he could go after that. However, Dick could not be persuaded and took his leave.

But things didn’t just open up as quickly as he thought they might. He had a few people in mind whom he was sure would also embrace the truth just the same as he did. This took time. For a while, he had to have his meetings all by himself under a tree. Many of the people in the district made fun of him. The elders of the Dutch Reformed Church came to him and asked him what he thought he was doing, teaching the people that they were wrong. They argued that they were after all the church that printed the first Shona Bible. This meant that they actually claimed to be the modern day scribes of our time. Dick told them what the Lord Jesus advised us concerning the scribes. We ought to do what they tell us to do but not to do as they do. This was indeed a very good answer. One has no doubt that God was teaching him step by step.

Neddie’s mother told us about a time when the five of them walked from Serima to Harare to attend the convention. In those days, Convention was always held over Easter weekend. It was easy enough for them to determine when convention would be. It took them about two weeks to get there because it is approximately a distance of 200 km that they walked. They arrived at Harare on the day before the convention started. Dick was the only one who could speak a little bit of English. He went and announced their arrival. When the workers came out to greet them, they got a fright and ran away. The next day, five of them, the only five black faces in the tent, sat and listened to the truth for the first time. This was a very touching story the old lady told us that day at convention. In front of us was a sea of black faces, a whole tent full of them and among them about five black workers at that stage. God’s work is surely amazing.

After convention, they undertook the long journey back home again. She got very ill, and in a state of delirium, she saw a funeral in progress. She realised that this must be her own funeral because her husband and two children were standing there weeping. For a moment, she wondered where she was going, and then she saw a gathering of people that resembled the gathering she saw in the tent. She felt that she would be perfectly safe if she could just make it to that gathering. She didn’t understand the language but she understood the spirit of those people and she knew that those were God’s people.

I really enjoyed the years I worked in Zimbabwe among those humble, sincere people. They are amazing folks, not complaining, just taking life in their stride and making the best of it. We could learn a lot from them. Our thoughts certainly go with them and we wish them well for the coming conventions.

I Chronicles 29:29-30, “Now the acts of David the King, first and last, behold they are written in the book of Samuel the seer and in the book of Nathan the prophet and in the book of Gad the seer, with all his reign and his might, and the times that went over him and over Israel, and over all the kingdoms of the countries.”

My thoughts have been going to some of the times we read about in the scriptures and what they have to say about these times. I don’t know what kind of time you may have been having, and certainly none of us know what kind of time awaits us on the journey, but we would desire, as David said in Psalm 34:1, to bless the Lord at all times.

How do we bless the Lord? We bless the Lord the same way the old man, Simeon, blessed the Lord in Luke 2. He perceived that this was the Christ that he had looked for and he took that child in his arms and embraced Him. Bless means “to make happy” and we make God happy when He sees we are falling in love with His Son. We please God by embracing the Christ. Be careful what you embrace. We read in Ecclesiastes 3:5 there is “a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.” A vulture clutched a small animal very closely and began to fly away. Up and up it went, then suddenly it started down and quickly fell to the ground. Those who had been watching went over to it and found a small weasel that had sucked the vulture’s blood and it was dead. We could hold on to something that would destroy our spiritual life. We can safely embrace everything that pertains to the life of Christ.

In Psalm 31:15, David said, “My times are in Thy hand; deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me.” The purpose of David’s heart was that all the times that went over him, above all that God’s name would be honoured and blessed.

I have been thinking about seven times we read about in the scriptures and I want to speak a little about them. There are many other times mentioned, but I will speak of seven.

1st – TIME PAST: 1 Peter 4:3, “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles,” etc. This is the time in our life before we got to know God. We were out of Christ, without a Saviour. No one is born a child of God. We all have to be born again. We all wrought the will of the Gentiles, every one of us, just going along with the crowd. People say, “Why don’t you do this, or why don’t you do that?” We ought to say, “Why do you do it?” They are slaves to the will of the Gentiles – just doing what others are doing and no power to be different.

2nd – TIME OF OUR VISITATION: David knew this experience in his life. Jesus told those Pharisees in Luke 19:44 they did not know the time of their visitation. That opportunity had passed from them. In Psalm 8:4, David said, “What is man that Thou art mindful of him and the son of man that Thou visitest him?” Is it not a strange and wondrous thing to think that God would condescend to visit the worms of the dust like you and me? How grateful we are for the time of our visitation by the glorious gospel. That meek and lowly Man walked up and down amongst them and they did not know Him and could not believe that He was the Christ. We thank God today that He visited us, even though we cannot fully understand it or explain it.

3rd – TIME OF REFRESHING: Acts 3:19, Peter said, “The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” How glad we are that God in mercy saw our plight, and He sent into our experience the time of visitation. Then He sent the time of refreshing and renewing. The Lord knows how prone we are to grow weary along the way. Getting into the presence of the Lord is where our refreshing comes from. I Chronicles 12:22, “For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God.” Those who bring things they have received while in the presence of God, it brings refreshing to us. There are times when we will have much encouragement, but other times when we will have to encourage ourselves in the Lord. I Samuel 30:6, “David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” David was greatly distressed and wept. We can do a lot to encourage ourselves by the thoughts we feed upon. Keep right thoughts in your heart. Keep the love of God, and the love for the people of God.

4th – TIME OF TROUBLE: Psalm 27:5, “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock.” This is a time that will come over all of us. It is possible to make the mistake of thinking, when I make my choice that will be the end of my trouble. Sometimes, troubles increase! Read Psalm 73. David said in verse 3, “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” He felt he had cleansed his heart in vain, until he went into the sanctuary of God, then he understood their end. He ended that Psalm by saying, “It is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Thy works.”

The man who built his house on the solid foundation faced the same storm and the same wind as the man who built his house on the sand, but when trouble came he had safety. His house stood and the other one fell. When trouble comes, it makes our hiding place all the more precious and we are thankful for the security we have in Christ. How foolish it would be for us to run away from the hiding place when the storm is raging. We knew a man who spent 20 years outside, and when he returned to the fold he told us he jumped overboard when a storm came up and he should have stayed with the ship. Remember Paul’s worlds in Acts 27:31, “Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.” The ship won’t sink and those who stay in the ship will know the power and deliverance of God.

5th – TIME OF FEAR: Psalm 56:3, David said, “What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee.” This time will come over all who seek to walk with God. There is a wholesome fear that God wants us to have as His people. He expects us to be afraid of certain things, just as parents expect their children to be afraid of certain things. A little child is supposed to be afraid of the dark. Jesus said men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil, but little children are afraid of the darkness. May we never get away from the spirit of a little child. We were in a home once when the father took his little son for “piggyback rides” around the house, and one room was dark. Every time he went into that room, the little boy would cry out. The mother finally asked her husband why he kept taking him in that room, knowing he was afraid. He said he like to feel him squeeze his neck tighter when he went in there! I am afraid of the darkness of this world. I am afraid of the devil. I am a man and he is an angel and I am no match for him. I am glad I know One who can put him in his place and keep him there, and what time I am afraid I will trust in Him.

6th – TIME OF OLD AGE: Psalm 71:9, David said, “Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.” He said in Psalm 37:25, “I have been young and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread.” Old age is not an easy time. The adversary will say, “You are no good and no one cares.” He will dog your steps to the journey’s end. When David was young (1 Samuel 17), he fought one giant, but when he was old (2 Samuel 21), he fought four giants, and he proved the power and deliverance of God. In 2 Samuel he had a song that is an encouragement and inspiration for present and future tests. Young people have giants to fight and old people have giants to fight also. I wish I knew how to tell all of you just how much we appreciate you and what an inspiration it is to me just to look at you. You are never too old to love and praise God. You can love Him more and more the older you get.

An old man who couldn’t remember much of what went on from day to day could always speak so clearly about God’s true way and loved to tell of the time God sent His true servants to show him the right way to serve the Lord. Someone asked him why it was he could remember so much about his religion but couldn’t remember anything else. He said, “All that other stuff was in my head and my head isn’t working anymore, but my religion is in my heart and my heart is as strong as ever.” Some of our friends visited an old lady and she said she wished she could prepare a meal for them and do other things for them like she used to do. They assured her that her love for the truth of God had refreshed their hearts and just being with her was the best meal they could have received. He is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which you have showed towards His name.

7th — TIMES OF RESTITUTION: Acts 3:20-21, “And He shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” He has entered into heaven. When the time is right, He is coming back again. Truth and right will prevail. Habakkuk 2:14, “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” Righteousness will cover the earth. James 5:7-8, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it, until He receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” The Judge stands at the door. Judgment will be administered. We are going to receive a new body, a body perfectly fitted to live in forever. There is going to be restitution and that is our hope. We are grateful He did not leave us where we were, but He sent into our experience a time of visitation. Many times He sends refreshing as we journey on, and we will know more and more of this. May we be firmly purposed in our hearts, as we go forth today, that we will bless the Lord at ALL TIMES by embracing that beautiful Christ life.

(Joe Ames is from Scotland, Labours in Norway)

When people ask me where I am from, I’d say: “I am from Scotland, but I couldn’t help it!”

I will just mention a little of my testimony before I go over to Norway. We were brought up Presbyterians, at least my mother and father were. Father played the organ in the church and Mother was a choir singer; she loved to sing. She used to sing in concerts, and local functions, but especially in the church. There was a group of young people, my father included, who, once a week, would come together and read the Bible. They used to get into some real scriptures in the New Testament which they couldn’t explain, because they couldn’t see anyone fulfilling these scriptures. One day they asked the clergyman if he could help them. He just said it was foolishness to think along those lines, they were faithful to the church and they shouldn’t worry any more than that. “These are not things first to worry about,” he said. But they weren’t satisfied.

My father showed me one day where he prayed earnestly, alone, that the Lord would guide him and help him to understand what they were reading. Five weeks later two workers came and had meetings at the local hall. Father in the first meeting said to mother, “That’s it; that is what we were reading about.” She didn’t see it to start with; she was in a different condition to him in some ways, but after a few meetings she said, “I began to realize there is something wrong with me, then I began to listen with other ears.” They both professed the same night, and another girl did too.

My father had a sidecar at that time, and it was just the right size to take those 3 to the morning meetings 12 miles away. The other girl who professed was only 17, and her father was one of the main men in the village, a well-to-do grocer and baker. One time when they came back from the morning meeting and stopped outside her door, who should come out the door but the clergyman. He walked over to the motorbike. He looked at my father and said, “We are missing you folks in the church.” My father said, “Do you remember the conversation we had some months ago when I asked you to help us understand the scriptures?” “No, I cannot remember that,” he said.

“Well, I sought the right source, and I got the right answers.” That was the words he used. Then he looked at my mother and said, “I suppose you are of the same mind.” “Yes,” she said, “quite that.” Then he turned to the little girl, shivering on the pavement; he had just come out of her father’s house. “What goes on in those meetings anyway?” “Oh,” she said, clearing her throat a few times, and shifting from one foot to the other, “It says in my Bible you are not to cast your pearls before swine,” she said. Those three kept faithful until the end of their days.

My father went on for 17 years, after that fell ill and died suddenly from a blood clot, after an appendix operation. It took that to get me to my senses. I lost three of my best friends in one year; a school boy friend was knocked down by a lorry [truck] and killed. His mother could hardly look at me after that because every time she saw me she thought of her boy. Another was a mother of another good friend to me, also killed in a road accident, and I saw her killed. Shortly after this my own father died, suddenly. I was taking clothes to him in the hospital because he was coming home the next day, and there was an empty bed. You can picture the scene at home, my mother and four little girls weeping. Anyway I felt, I am strong enough, I can work for them but to give them that which my father could have given them, I didn’t have it.

That is when I began, and I could tell people what it means to seek the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and you will find Him. Two of the workers came; they have understood the situation, and they came and they were a good help. After nine years at home the way was free for me to do that what was in my heart for a long time, to give back my life to Him in service. It was a struggle to leave home; all the girls had found work and mother was independent. The man who had offered to take over my place, at the last minute drew back and said, “I can’t take it this year.” That meant an extra burden for mother and the girls and I was in two minds, “What shall I do?” Two men used to work for us, dependable men, and we found that they were willing to take on the heavy work, and I was free to go. Unknown to me, afterwards, my mother’s sister had said, “What a shame, him going away now and leaving them all like this.” My sister was very quick with her replies, “Ai, and if he had met a nice girl and left us to get married, would you have said anything ‘bout it?” End of story.

Later on that same year, mother had an operation; she had lifted something too heavy. And again I began to wonder if I had done the right thing. My companion and I were visiting her in hospital, “We’re getting on fine, we’ll manage fine,” she said. That meant I was not to worry, everything would be all right. We had a good year.

After nine years in the work in Scotland, and three of those years was spent with John Martin. Maybe I should mention a little bit about John Martin. John has written several of our hymns; he wrote many hymns. He wrote 14 hymns in those three years we were together. John died before our time was up. He wrote that hymn, “Oh, blessed Lord, we plead again, before Thy mercy seat.” Another one was, “Oh, don’t be led captive from Zion to roam, away from that city that God calls His own.” He wrote it down at the graveyard after one who had decided at the same time that he did, and had lost out and loved the world. Led an empty, vain life and just went down, and down. John was so moved to think of what that man could have enjoyed.

The last hymn John wrote was, “Nothing matters but salvation.” That was his final exhortation. This hymn, John was so weak in body that he couldn’t lift a pen to write the words. But every word was John’s. He used to call us through the night, “Will you sing a couple of strophes [stanzas] of that hymn?” And he would say, “Strike out those words and put in this.” Those three weeks it took, but he finally got there. He died before the last few words were written down. Nothing matters but salvation was his final exhortation. John didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him. He said, “Martin,” (he always addressed himself by his surname,) “Martin, knows what he lived for, I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for Martin.” He was Irish, you know!

Maybe I should mention just a little of my first year in the work. That was in Aberdeen. A couple of weeks after I left home, I had a very, very strange experience. We were called to a funeral service of a 22 year old girl. We saw her lying in her coffin. I had never seen a dead person before. There she lay, oh just a skeleton, her mother weeping her heart out and her father with a face like a rock, stony. It transpired that the father had encouraged that girl to go out, away from meetings, and enjoy life while she was young. What happened? She met bad company, she was misusing herself and she was misused of others and the poor little soul couldn’t take it, and now here she was, lying in her coffin. It made a terrible impression on me.

Seven years later, Joe Twamley and I were called to another funeral, first to the bed of a young woman that was dying; she was just 26 years old. She was married and had given birth to a little boy five months before this. A cancer had begun to work in her spine, and now she was departing this life and she wanted to speak to us before she left. She shook hands with my companion and thanked him for all he had meant to her in life. She was very sensible and peaceful. We spoke about the step that she was taking, which we all must take one day and she was just going on ahead. She spoke so sensibly and humbly about this. Then she greeted everyone, also her husband’s sister that is in the work, then kissed her husband and then took one long look at her baby lying on the bed and fell asleep. And shortly after she was in eternity.

That morning before we came, she said to the young ones present, a boy of 18 and a girl of 16, members of the family that worked on the farm, “Children, when it comes to this, there is nothing else that has more meaning than to have the right connection, the right relationship with God. It is the only thing that matters.” When we came that morning, she quoted the words of that hymn to us, “It pays to serve Jesus, I speak from my heart. He’ll always be with us as we do our part. There’s nought in this wide world can pleasure afford. There’s peace and contentment in serving the Lord.” She quoted it very slowly, but said every word.

Now let’s go to Norway. If I had to tell you of all our experiences, we will be singing praises here at midnight. Let’s tell you a little about the Laplanders.

In 1700, it is on record that a group of nomads came from Northern Russia and inhabited the most northerly islands in Norway. They were Laplanders. They weren’t the first Laplanders to come over by any means, but this group came over in 1700. Two sister workers were working in a town about 300 – 400 kms north of the Arctic Circle; they were from the States. Their name was Sylvason. They had a mission in this place. There was an old lady interested. She received the message well. She had been waiting for it, for the gospel. She said, “I have a friend who lives on an island, a bit further north from here, and I know that she will be very glad to meet you.” The girls got on a freight boat at 9 o’clock at night, and they arrived on the island at 9 in the morning. There was nothing between them and the North Pole. The island was covered with snow, really deep, several metres deep. When they arrived at the harbour that morning, some men had cleared a path and they could walk alongside the boat.

They met a man and he asked them, “Who are you looking for?” They said, “A lady called Heldora. (Laplanders names all finish with a.) Do you know where she stays?” “I should do, that is my mother. If you wait a half hour till the tide goes out, you can walk along the strand. She stays just along there.” The girls set off and Heldora received them with open arms. She was just waiting for their coming. She decided and her 2 daughters decided, and just a few years ago those two daughters travelled 2000 kms to a convention to be baptized. It wasn’t possible to do it up there, and they had already been professing a few years. They were hearty people and Heldora was like a queen amongst them all. She was a stocky little woman.

One time I was travelling up there on a little boat to visit them. There was a terrible wind blowing. I met a man. “Where do you come from?” “Scotland.” “Where are you going?” “The island.” “Who do you know there?” “Heldora.” He was full of respect right away. Everyone knew Heldora. She lived to be nearly 100 years.

Hymn 239 was sung, “Lord, our heart o’erflows with praise to God always”

This morning I will share a few thoughts from the last meeting Jesus had with His disciples as recorded in John 13 to John 18.

 There were many things that Jesus was concerned about in that meeting, things that He wanted to share with His disciples, things that would be a strength and a help and an encouragement to them after He left them. The things that He was concerned about are the same things that concern us here today.

I am very grateful that whenever Jesus gathered His disciples together it was to teach them, to encourage them, and to strengthen them. He never brought them together to criticize them or to discourage them. He never brought them together for a negative reason. The Lord doesn’t gather us here for a negative reason either; it is always for a positive reason.

The Lord moved John to write to the seven churches in Revelation. He wrote to those churches and mentioned different things but first of all, He mentioned the positive things. The things He saw they were doing that brought joy to His heart. He also mentioned a few things where there was a need and a lack. The reason He wrote to them wasn’t to put out the little candle or put out the light, but it was so that they could trim the wick and trim the lamp so that the little light could shine a little brighter where they were. That is why God speaks to us, it is never to put out the light, never to put out our little candle but it is that we could, in a sense, trim the wick so that our light would be a little brighter where we are. I am glad for the things shared with us even in the convention meetings that help us in that way.

I think about the letters that Paul wrote to the different ones. It meant a lot to him when he could see the work of God being accomplished in their lives. He wrote to those folk at Corinth. They had their struggles and there were things that they didn’t see very clearly and there were things that he had to deal with in that letter. One of the very first things that he mentioned to them and it was the thing that gave him the courage to write that letter. He said, “I see that the testimony of Christ has been confirmed in your lives.” That is a wonderful thing and it would be wonderful if God could say that concerning us, that He would see that the testimony of Christ has been confirmed in our lives, or that He could see that there is a work there and that He could see that we are bearing in our bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus. That gave him the courage to write to them and deal with some of the things he did because he realized there was life there. That was the root of the matter. He could see that there was a work done in their lives and because of that, they would receive the instruction that he wanted to send them and it would be a help to them and a strength to them. We find that that was true because, in the second letter, we see there had been a favourable response to the first letter. Then thinking about when he wrote to the folks at Thessalonica and others he could just tell them, “What you are doing, you just keep doing that. Just increase in it, abound in it.” It would be wonderful if when we come to Convention and look over the past year, the Lord could tell us that. What you have been doing this past year, is good. Just increase in that, keep at it, and abound in that.

I might mention what he told them there in Thessalonica. In the 4th chapter, he told them, “As touching brotherly love you need not that I write unto you for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” Then he mentioned to them in the 10th verse, “Indeed you do it toward all the brethren in all Macedonia and we beseech you that you increase more and more.” Then in the 11th verse, he says, “Comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as you are doing.” So he could write to them and encourage them to love one another, to edify one another, and to continue in that, abound in that, and keep on doing it. Those are some of the things that we appreciate amongst our brethren. We benefit from that but don’t want to stop doing that but we want to keep doing that, abound in it more and more. Paul was writing too, especially to the folks at Corinth, and he talked about the power that God had given him. He said, “He gave it to me for your edification, not destruction.” So Paul, even though he had to say a few things in correction, it wasn’t the purpose for which God had called him. It is good for me to remember that the power that God has given us, the grace, knowledge, and understanding that God has given us, is for the edification of the brethren, for the edification of one another.

He mentioned that also in 1st Corinthians about living for the edification of others. Jesus did that. He lived for the edification of others. Paul himself said that he didn’t live for his own profit but for the profit of others. That is a wonderful way to go through life. Not speaking of our own but living for the edification of others. That is what made Jesus’ life what it was and also Paul, those men weren’t living for themselves. Living for others and to the edification and profit of others.

A few things were on Jesus’ mind when He met with His disciples. It is not often that we see into the heart of someone else and it is not often that someone opens their heart to you. But in that little meeting, we see what was in the heart of Jesus, and Jesus was opening His heart to them, revealing some of His innermost feelings, thoughts, concerns, and maybe, even His worries. I don’t know if Jesus ever worried or fretted but I do think there were some things He was preoccupied with and some things He was concerned about.

In a Sunday morning meeting some months ago, one of our friends gave his testimony and said, “I think of those I live with, those I work with, and those that live around me, and it is interesting to me to see so many people that are so unconcerned about the things that really should concern them. I would like to know how to go through life with a real concern for the things that concern my soul.” It could be true that we could be unconcerned about things that should concern us. One of our sisters told us about the things that don’t concern us or are of no value and rob us of the things that matter. That is easy, too, to do as we go through life. The cares of life and the things that don’t matter can rob us of the things that matter. So we should keep the things that matter before us and focus on that.

One of the main things that Jesus was concerned about, but one can’t even say that because they were all main things. He stressed their love for one another, their love for Him, and their love for the Father. That was one of the things that He was concerned about – their love for God and their love for Him and their love for the commandments, the will of God, and that would not grow cold. He told them once that because that iniquity will abound, the love of many will grow cold. Maybe that is something that destroys our love more than anything else. The things that are going on around us, the things that others are doing, giving themselves to. We could get our eyes on that and in so doing, get our minds off the things that do matter. It happened even in the Old Testament and has been a struggle through the ages.

In the 73rd Psalm, that man said he was envious of the wicked when he saw how things were going for them. They were prospering even though they were against God and their fellow man and it seemed as though they had nothing against them. Everything seemed to be going in their favour, for a while, until he went into the sanctuary. Then he saw the end of the matter and his foolishness. So it is good for us to come into the sanctuary, into the presence of God, to see things as God sees them, and to see things from God’s standpoint. It helps us to appreciate and to love what we have.

John 13: Having loved His own He loved them to the end. Before Jesus encouraged them to love one another, He first loved them. One thing I appreciate about Jesus is that everything He taught them, He first did Himself. Luke wrote: “I am going to write to you about the things that Jesus did and taught.” Everything that Jesus taught, He first did. When He told others to forgive, He had already forgiven. When He taught others to be merciful, He had already been merciful. When He taught others to be kind, He had already been kind. That applied to everything He taught.

Sometimes people ask us what Jesus did between the ages of twelve and thirty. I also used to wonder. At the age of twelve, He said, “I must be about My Father’s business.” He made His choice known to others but we don’t know much about what He did between twelve and thirty but when you read Matthew 5, 6, and 7 you find that is what Jesus was doing. Before He began to teach, He first did it. When He encouraged them to be the salt of the earth, He had already done that. When He encouraged them to be the light of the world, He had already done that himself. He was teaching them things that would bring blessing to them and He had already proved that. He knew what it was to be at peace with God, to be a peacemaker. He knew what it was like to hunger and thirst after righteousness. So as you read through that it will give you a little idea of what Jesus was doing between those years.

He mentions several times about their love in the 13th chapter. “A new commandment I give you, that ye love one another. Even as I have loved you, ye also love one another.” It was a new commandment but the old commandment in a sense. Jesus said that the whole Old Testament could be wrapped up in two verses. All that the Old Testament and the Prophets taught can be summed up in two verses. That is to love the Lord with our whole heart, mind, spirit, and strength and our neighbour as yourself. Yet He said, “I give you a NEW commandment,” and that was that they would love one another even as He had loved them. He was willing to lay down His life for them so that they might have life. He gave His life for them, that is what He did. So that is the kind of love: to lay down our lives, to be willing to die so that others may have life. That is not easy to do, to say, “Not my own will but Thine be done.” To allow the will of God to be accomplished in our lives so that our lives can be a light to others and a help to others. That is what Jesus did and that is the kind of life He lived because of the love in His heart.

Then He said, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples because you have love one toward another.” I thought about that. We can’t say too much about a play on words but it says, “By the love that you have one TO another.” Not the love you have one FOR another. There is a difference between having love for someone and showing love toward someone. You could have a love for someone and they might never know it. You may love someone and they don’t know it, but when you show that love, they will know that you love them. God had a love for all the world and He made that known and He came and gave His love, that we might have love. The disciples had a love for one another, and that was shown in their care for one another. We read about those folks in Corinth, that they addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. They had a love for their brethren that was manifested in their actions. When he was trying to help those in Judea, Paul encouraged those in Asia to send a gift to them. To show them that they appreciated what had been done for them, they did that to show it to them. We are glad for every evidence of the love of God working in them.

We read a little later in Revelation about the church at Ephesus. One concern for them was that they had left their first love. Jesus realized that could and would happen. So that is a concern and we want to be careful that nothing would come between us and our first love. They hadn’t lost it yet but they had left it. But if you leave something then pretty soon you will probably lose it. If you leave your watch somewhere and return in a few hours, it may still be there. But if you leave it long enough, it will probably disappear. That goes for many things: if you leave it long enough, you will probably lose it. So we want to be careful that it would not happen to us. They let something come between them and their first love. I don’t know what it was but I liked a thought that one of our brothers shared. Even in a family, between a husband and wife and when they first get married, nothing can come between them and their love. They show that, express that, and manifest that but then as the years go by, one can be taken up with work or taking care of the children and the house. Then there are little things that can come between you and you don’t express that love like you did in the beginning. Not that you have left them but there is a possibility of losing the fire that was there in the beginning. So we can let little things come between us and rob us of the place that our first love should have, for God and one another.

Another thing that He talked to them about was their peace. He wanted to share with them His peace. He said, “My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth.” More than once in that meeting, He talked to them about peace. That was one of the things that Jesus came to share. Even when He was born, there was peace and goodwill towards men. As He walked through life and met with men and women, talked with men and women and He said, “Your sins are forgiven, go in peace.” That was a lasting peace, it wasn’t here today and gone tomorrow. So in this meeting, He wanted to leave His peace with them, a peace that will remain, an eternal peace. Then when He came back, after He rose from the dead, that was one of the first things He told them, “Peace be unto you.” He didn’t tell them of the things in life that they were going to face but He knew that if they can realize, “I am with you and I am thinking about you and My thoughts are towards you,” then that would keep them in the experiences that would come.

One thing that brings peace and maybe we don’t think about it but that is correction. In the letter to the Hebrews, we read that those who are exercised about correction. It brings about the peaceable fruit of righteousness. I thought about Saul and I thought about David. Saul erred and the Lord sent a message to him and correction was given but he wasn’t exercised by it. It didn’t bring the peaceable fruit of righteousness and he died without it. He died without the peace of God because he didn’t accept correction. David also erred and correction was sent and he accepted it and he knew of peace, so the peaceable fruit of righteousness – the peace that comes when things are made right with God, so that is part of what belongs to peace. Jesus mentioned to those people in His day that because they didn’t receive Him, they didn’t receive the things that belonged to their peace. So there is a lot that comes to us that enables us to understand what we can do to be right with God and make things right with God. Those are things that make for our peace. There is a lot that if we give ourselves to it and are exercised by it, then it can bring about the peaceable fruit of righteousness, things that would prove in our own lives what it is to be right with God and keep us right with God.

Another thing that He talked to them about was their joy and He mentioned that more than once, too. He mentioned in the 15th chapter, He said, “These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.” In the 28th verse of the 14th chapter, He said, “If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I go to My Father and My Father is greater than I.” Different things bring joy. He said, “There is rejoicing in heaven when one repents or when one returns.” Like when the sheep was found or the coin was found. So we find joy and we rejoice when we see men and women who hear the voice of God, yield their life to God and turn to Him. We give thanks for that and we rejoice for that. Wonderful when we know that type of joy and that is a joy to God. There is rejoicing in heaven, rejoicing with the angels, and joy to God. So He said, “You would rejoice, too, when I go to My Father.”

Sometimes we don’t see joy when some are taken into eternity but Jesus said that if they could see where He was going to, they would be happy. It tells us that it is a joy to God with the death of His saints, it is a pleasure to Him and if that is a joy to Him, it should be a joy to us, also. Anyway, He wanted them to have their faith in Him, their hope in Him, and their confidence in Him and that this could mean a joy to them. He said, “You are going to sorrow now because I am going to be taken from you. I am going to be killed and you are going to sorrow but I am going to come back to you and you will rejoice.” So there was that joy because of the victory that they saw in His life, the power that they saw in His life. So there are a lot of things we can rejoice in and there are a lot of things we see around us that can rob us of joy and that could bring sadness or sorrow. When Jesus came back and He found the two walking and they were sorrowful and He saw the women and they were sorrowful and He found the disciples and they were sorrowful and they had allowed that to rob them of the joy. Then when He came and made Himself known to them in a fuller, realer measure, they had a joy that was never taken away from them. Maybe our eyes have become a little dim and we have lost our joy but even here, if we could have a little clearer vision of Christ then that joy could be renewed and strengthened.

Another thing that Jesus was concerned about was pride, humility, and the need of walking in humility in life. He saw that that was a pitfall and He saw that it was something that could destroy even what He had tried to share with them. They came to that meeting and they were wondering who would be the greatest. So there was a little bit of contention there, a little bit of strife. Jesus, because of the spirit of humility that He brought to that meeting, took care of that strife. Pride is in all of us and there is no getting around that and it is only by the grace of God and the strength of God that a person can know a little victory over that. Pride is probably the thing that will keep people out of heaven more than anything else. Satan was one of the angels and was created perfect in wisdom and perfect in beauty and yet, it was pride that cost him his place. It was pride that almost kept Naaman back from getting helped. It was pride that got Haman into trouble. It was pride that kept most of the Pharisees and Sadducees out of the Kingdom in Jesus’ day. They came to Jesus and said, “We know who you are, You’re the carpenter’s son. Why should we even listen to you?” Because of pride, feeling that they knew more and understood more, they wouldn’t even give themselves a chance to hear. Even today, people feel that they know what is best for their life, simple pride. “I am as wise as you are,” and as a result, they don’t even give themselves a chance to listen to the Gospel and hear the voice of God. It was pride that caused Sodom and Gomorrah to be destroyed. When we think about Sodom and Gomorrah, we think about what sinners they were but it says that the iniquity of Sodom was pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness and because of that, she wouldn’t strengthen the hand of the needy. Pride manifests itself in so many ways and we like to think that we don’t have any of that. Yet often when there is a decision to be made, we think, “Well, my thought is better than yours.” That is pride. Somebody gives an answer and it doesn’t matter because we think our view is better. Proverbs tell us that contention does not come unless there is pride. So if there is contention, whether we admit it or not, somewhere deep down there is a bit of pride. We kind of hold out for our will, for our pride. So that was one of the things that Jesus was concerned about, pride.

Another thing that He was concerned about was their willingness to serve. That is what He did from the very beginning to the very end of His ministry. When He was there at the supper of the Lamb, He was there taking the lower place. And here, too, He laid aside His garments and He washed their feet. He served them. Then in the 3rd verse in the 15th chapter, it says, “Knowing that He came from God, He rose and girded Himself with a towel and washed their feet.” Jesus knew that He had come from His Father and that He was returning to His Father, what did He do? He laid aside His garments and served them. People have a lot of ideas of where they have come from and where they are going. Sometimes great vocations and destinations but to Jesus, it was a very simple thing. He had come from God and He was returning to God. If we understand that we have come from God and that we are going to return to God, what does that make us do? Does that move us to serve one another? Does that move us to love one another? Does that move us to live for one another? That is what it made Jesus do. To lay down His life so that His servants might have life. So we would like to do that. There is nothing lost in serving.

A couple of years ago, there was one of our visitors and she was talking about Rebecca. Talking about the time the servant came and asked Rebecca for a drink. She brought him water and then she brought water for the camels. She mentioned this little thought about the spirit of service and little did Rebecca realize that day when she served that servant, that she was serving the one that would carry her back to her bridegroom. That has been a serious thought to me. That is  what we learned from what Jesus taught, that when we learn to serve one another, love one another, and do for one another with no thought for reward and no thought of return, that is one of the things that will open the door on that day. There were those who when He was hungry, fed Him, when He was naked, they clothed Him, and when He was in prison, they visited Him. There was that spirit of willingness to serve without any thought of reward and the Lord took notice of that and He considered that. So that was one of the things that Jesus was concerned about. He wanted them to be willing to serve one another.

Probably the main thing that He was concerned about was that they would be sensitive to the Spirit of God and He talked to them quite a bit about that in those chapters. He told them that He was going to be taken from them but that He wouldn’t leave them orphans, that He would not leave them without a Comforter and that He would send them a Comforter. He told them a little about what that Comforter would do and bring to their minds and it wouldn’t speak of Himself but would point them to Him, that He would bring back to their minds the words that He had spoken to them, that He would convict them of wrong and convince them of right and give them the judgement to choose between right and wrong. So that is something that He was very concerned about and that was that they would be open to the leading of the Spirit of God and sensitive to the Spirit of God. That was something that they attended to and gave serious heed to and we can see that later in the book of Acts, we can see them attending to that. Even with Paul, it was very real to Paul. When we think of those men and the different places where they tried to preach the Gospel, they had places where they thought to go to but the Spirit wouldn’t allow that. Then they were attentive to that and wherever the Spirit directed them then they went there. We see that there was profit to that in that the way was opened up to them and what they entered into because of that. So that was another thing that He was concerned about in those chapters and that is that they would be attentive to the Spirit of God.

Another thing, too, that He was concerned about was that they would not take offense, that they wouldn’t be offended. In the 16th chapter, He said, “These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. The time is going to come when they will put you out of the synagogues and they would kill you in thinking that they are doing God a service. These things they will do unto you because they have not known the Father and they have not known Me.” The point is to lose out and to lose hold. It is more than just having our feelings hurt, there is a deeper meaning than that. Jesus said that it is impossible to go through life but that offenses will come. Things will come that could discourage us and to lose hold of what God has committed to our trust. He said to be careful through who they would come because it would have been better for them if they hadn’t been born. So that is why I believe that this word “offend” has a deeper meaning. If that was the case it would be better if they had not been born but all of us have done something that hurt somebody else but this is far deeper than that. I thought that maybe He thought of Eli’s sons, the priests. They were behaving in such a way that they discouraged the children of Israel from bringing an offering. They were so discouraged that they lost heart. We could do something or say something that would cause others to lose heart and to become unwilling to continue to serve the Lord. The warning in it is, that it is a serious thing to offend others but even more serious to take offense. Because if I take offense, what I am saying is that I don’t love God or the word of God as I should.

The Psalmist said, “Great peace have they that love Thy law and nothing shall offend them.” It tells me that if I have the right love nothing is not to keep me back from doing what I ought to do. Jesus proved that in His life. A lot of things came in Jesus’ life that could have discouraged Him from doing the will of God or not finishing what God sent Him to this earth to do. When He came to His own, they said they would not have this man to rule over them. They mocked Him and didn’t want to have anything to do with Him. The devil would have said, “Why live for these people? Why die for these people? They don’t appreciate you,” and He could have been discouraged or offended and in a sense, He could have even taken offense from His own disciples. When He told them what was going to befall Him and that He was going to be taken and put to death, when they said, “Be that far from Thee. You don’t deserve that.” He could have listened to them but He didn’t. Then He went onto the garden and even though His flesh was crying out, He still said “Not My will, but Thine be done.” So those were things that could have offended Him or kept Him back from accomplishing that for which He came to do. But His love, His love for the will of God and to accomplish that was greater than all of that and so He went through with all that God sent Him to accomplish. So we could have that right love, that true love that would keep us from being offended. So that was another thing that He was concerned about when He talked to them that day.

There were other things we could think about. He wanted them to be a good example, He had been a good example to them. He wanted them to have pure motives and be pure of heart. He wanted them to be fruitful and He talked to them about that and the true vine and that they would be branches abiding in that vine and that in bearing fruit, they would be glorifying God. When you think about wanting to sum it all up, what He was concerned about was that they would have the Spirit of God and that the Spirit of God would be ruling there and reigning there and if it was, then they would bring forth this fruit. The fruit of the Spirit, love, peace and joy, longsuffering, gentleness and goodness and so on and that is  what He was talking about. He talked to them about Love. He talked to them about peace. He talked to them about joy. He talked to them about being long-suffering. He talked to them about walking in meekness and gentleness, in goodness and their faith being strengthened. Those were some of the things that He was concerned about. Above all He wanted them to appreciate the one that He was going to send to them, the Comforter, that they would be open to that voice, listen to that voice and be attuned to that voice. As life went on, and as they walked. From what we read in Acts and the letters that were written, we see that these things were a reality in their own lives. So for myself, I have appreciated the things that He was concerned with that day and the things that He tried to share with them. I would like the same things to be a concern to myself.

The things that He shared with them were such a strength to them and an encouragement to them. If I give myself to that and think about that and meditate on that it will also be a strength and encouragement to me in my day.

There are things that count in our living

Not the things that we sell or buy

Not found in the veins of treasure

Not hidden afar in the sky;

Like the pearls that we put to the testing

Like the diamonds that hold in the fire

There are things that live thru a lighting blast

Faith, hope, and a true desire.

‘Tis not in the wake of pleasure

Nor high on the height of fame

That the lasting things are brought us

And we find our eternal name;

More oft thru the shades of sorrow

When anguish has claimed us her own,

We learn to cling with a trembling hope

To God, who can help us alone.

More strong are the ties of trueness

When forged in the fire of pain

And the dying life, like the falling seed

Shall perish to live again;

So we bury our hearts in weakness

With the strength of our life near fled

But the God of hope shall revive us

And life shall spring from the dead.

Men rise on the tide of talent

And wealth can procure a praise

But seas fall back and the pride of life

Shall sink at the close of days

There are things that count in our dying

That endure and defy the grave.

And the highest good is a life of love,

Poured out a sad world to save.

Matthew 20:20. “Then came to Him the Mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping Him, and desiring a certain thing of Him. And He said unto her, “What wilt thou?” And she said unto Him, “Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other on the left in thy Kingdom.” The influence that a good father and mother have on their children is a very precious thing, to put the right things before them, the things that a child will value more and more. The home-life is the base of this Kingdom. If Christianity does not begin at home, it has not begun at all. God’s approval in the home-life is the light to the world. God is concerned with our private life, men are concerned about what others see and think. God sees and knows all, and is very concerned with the home-life. Here we have a mother who had a true love for her sons, she had a real vision. Here was a mother who was precious to the Kingdom, she had a true love for her children. She had a vision where true values lie. So she took her two sons and brought them to the feet of Jesus, different to what we see in our country, and we are thankful that the Lord is raising up mothers and fathers like this mother. A Mother has a very strong influence on her children, and if the right influence prevails in the home, we do not need to be afraid of the influence in the world.

In Japan, from the time that the little ones are brought up, they are thinking that they should have the best kindergarten as they get older. They should have the best school, and then as they are nearing high school, they must have the best high school. If they can send them to the top school in the country, this is their greatest ambition. This is all outside the Kingdom of God. It makes the children so proud and arrogant, and they can never be touched by the Gospel. Here was a mother who had a vision of true values – I want them to be in your Kingdom. I don’t care if they’re a nothing or nobody in this world, but so long as they are in your Kingdom. We are thankful today that these mothers are still in the Kingdom, who have a love for their children, and this is a love that God wants to put in the heart of every mother and father. People who realise the great riches of the eternal Kingdom. Jesus answered and said, “Are ye able to drink the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?” They say unto Him, “We are able.” I have often wondered where did the sons get this confidence from – we are able. I am able to answer that from my own experience, because this confidence is what I saw in my own mother, We are able – there is nothing impossible with God, Jesus spoke of the suffering in the Will of God, it is not an easy path, and He spoke to them and said, “Are you able to share in these experiences and pass through them?” They said, “We are able.” They had a confidence because of what they had seen in their mother.

The baptism is just for our cleansing, it is the provision of God for us. Jesus was baptised, but then there were other baptisms we read of. There are three baptisms in the Scriptures. The baptism of repentance is the first one, which washes away our past and brings us into newness of life, into a new future. When we sincerely repent we do not need to carry the burden of the past into the future but all the past is forgiven, and this will not be remembered again. Then there is the second baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the baptism of fire, and these are all for cleansing. There are two baptisms that will continue right to the end of the journey. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is when we submit to what God speaks to us, when we die to ourselves and submit to all the Will of God. In one part, Paul says to quench not the Spirit. This Spirit will lead us, will teach us, will tell us how we should act. It will guide us, it will comfort us, and as we submit to the Spirit, it will cleanse us. Will keep us clean. Then there is the baptism of fire, this is a different experience. We have the example of gold tried in the fire, and we go through these tests, too. There are some things that you cannot clean with water, some things cling to our human nature, and we need the experience of fire so these things can be removed, and we can see the image of God in the gold, all the dross is skimmed off.

Peter said, “Don’t be amazed when you go through the fiery trial, one day you will be thankful for all these experiences. God wants a clean people, and the blood of Christ will cleanse us from all sin.” (Matthew 20:25) “But Jesus called them unto Him and said, ‘Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your servant.’” Living in the world we see men like this that think they are something, think they are great, but this means nothing to God. We can see that men like to exercise authority, but this only feeds the pride in the heart of man, and this is seen everywhere in the world.

Jesus said, “You will see these things in the world, but they are not to be so among you, that is not the standard in God’s kingdom, but he that wants to be great, let him be your servant.” There is something nice about a servant. This teaches us service. Here I notice that you have a “server’s board.” In Japan we call it a “privilege list,” and it’s nice to see the youngest amongst us go up to see if their name is on the list. They love to serve, and when I was young, it was the thrill of my life to have my name on there. When I was young, I was cleaning pots, and then later washing dishes. I never got any further than that, but others were water carriers and some were chopping wood, and the old men all have their place too, enjoying their little place of service. There is joy in service, God’s blessing is upon the spirit of service. We are living in a different Kingdom, we have a different Master, we have the spirit of service. This breaks down all pride, all the lofty thoughts.

We can read together of Jacob, his life is just an example of service, he was serving Laban for 20 years, and it tells us in Genesis of what happened. Genesis 31, verse 6, he gives his testimony and says, “And ye know that with all my power I have served your father, and your father hath deceived me and changed my wages 10 times but God suffered him not to hurt me.” Jacob had come down with just his staff in his hand, but now after 20 years of just serving he had become two bands, and we read of all the possessions that he had, in spite of his wages being changed ten times. God suffered Laban not to hurt him, he had a difficult master. Sometimes we have difficult masters. In the New Testament, we are taught to serve all masters as though we are serving God. We have opportunity to serve wherever we are, and this is acceptable to God. This invites God’s blessing. After 20 years, he was able to say that God had blessed him, he lost nothing. He was rich in all the treasures of the kingdom.

Joseph is another one who also had the spirit of service, and he learned that from his father. Joseph had a good influence of his father and mother. Joseph was told by his father how God had dealt with him when he was serving Laban, and he was able to tell Joseph that nothing had hurt him, and now it was Joseph’s time. Jacob’s experience helped Joseph. First he was learning to serve his father, then he was learning to serve his brethren, and we know how he took the provision to his brethren, and he was sold into Egypt. But the underlying thought to his success was this: that I fear God. Where did he get this? I know where I got it – it was, in my father and mother’s home. Joseph had seen this in his home, and he said, “I fear God.” He was brought into Potiphar’s house and he served in that house, and God caused all that he did to prosper. He was serving Potiphar just as though he was serving God. Then in prison, whatever was done was done by Joseph and God caused all that he did to prosper. He did not lose heart, and he did not say, “I don’t want to serve the Jailer.” No, he felt that by serving the Jailer he was serving God, he was keeping the spirit of service, that of a servant. Then we know that God’s time came, and he was raised up to become next to Pharoah. We know how he was united with his brethren, and the reason why he had such forgiveness is because of what had gone before. That meeting he had with his brethren was a memorable occasion. In his past life, he had served God and he had learned to fear God, and he was able to say those words, “My service is not unto men.” His service was unto the Lord. We need to remember that our service is unto God, and if we realise this, we can’t hold a grudge, we can’t hold an unforgiving spirit, because we know this will only get us out of the Way of God quicker than anything we know. Joseph wept aloud, and if there is any way we can approach a brother or sister it is with a soft spirit. He said, “Come near to me.”

Sometimes people forgive and they said, “I’ll forgive but I don’t want to see you again, get away from me.” But the salvation of life is willing to go the second mile, “I will nourish you and your children too.” He did not go halfway, he went the second mile, the third mile. Later Joseph was so grieved that his brethren did not believe in him, he had forgiven them so completely. In Luke, chapter 10, we have the right order of service. Mary had the spirit of service. This matter of coming to the Master each day – what do you want me to do today? This is the spirit that Mary had, and she was able to have the spirit that Jesus praised. This is a lesson that I learned early in life. When I was 11, before I went to school I had a cow to milk. When I got up to milk the cow, there was someone who had been up a long time before me. My mother was there, listening for the Master’s voice. She had six children, and always there was somebody staying with us. If it was not the servants of God, it was some of the friends, and she did everything herself. She had the right order to service – she was getting bread for her soul, and she was getting power to be able to serve. This is the order of service – first listening to the Master’s voice, and then serving with a meek and quiet spirit. When this is done, we are not so easily riled when things disturb us. Mary taught how to serve.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read of Priscilla and Aquila. They were servants to the Church, they were helpers. They served the church in the Kingdom. They were having a home where God’s servants could rest – it’s a wonderful privilege to have a worthy home. Abraham sat at the door during the heat of the day, he was making sure that nothing could come into that home that would disturb. Good when we realise the order and control of the home, it is not an easy thing, but it is a great benefit to the Kingdom to have a worthy home, to not see or hear anything there that would bring a wrong influence. We all have the privilege to be servants. We think of the little maid in Naaman’s home – she was a nobody, she had a position that not many would choose, but she was chosen by God to be a princess in that home. We think of Anna, she was another princess. At the age of 80, she was serving in the temple, day and night. She was serving in the Kingdom there, praying for others. We read of Solomon, that in his Kingdom he had many princes there. When the Queen of Sheba came, she said the half had never been told, that the servants were so happy, those who were standing there, those who were doing nothing – just waiting. Sometimes to wait is harder than to serve. It is sometimes so easy to get busy with other things while we are waiting, and we think that when we are busy we are serving our Master, but we may not be serving Him at all. We need to learn to serve in the Kingdom of God. Jesus gave the example. He knew what was in the heart of Judas. Jesus could have humiliated Judas in front of the others but He told his Disciples afterwards that “I did not come to be served, but to serve.” He humbled Himself, He took upon Himself the form of a servant and He said to them, “Ye call me Lord and Master. I have washed your feet.” We have so many opportunities to serve all the members of the Church, the body of Christ, and what we do to another member we do to ourselves. If we cut our finger off, we do hurt to ourselves, and this is so in the Kingdom: whatever we do for others, we do for ourselves. This is the standard in God’s Kingdom: “I came not to be served, but to serve.” The spirit of service brings the blessing of God.

II Corinthians 3:2, Paul said, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men — YOU are the letters for Christ.” We leave here tomorrow and that is what we will be — letters for Christ.

We’ve already heard that the world doesn’t read the Bible but they do read our lives, and we are leaving to be letters for Christ. We have the privilege of conveying what a letter should be. A letter doesn’t speak, but it conveys a message that the writer wants others to know. That’s the kind of people we need to be. We want others to know the love of God and His purpose for them — we want others to know the fellowship we enjoy and the confidence we have in the Truth.

What do others read from our lives? A letter must have a clear meaning. Sometimes we hardly understand what some writers try to say or what their meaning is in the letter. We’ve heard about compromising, but compromising isn’t victory. It’s easy to compromise because it makes it easier for us, but I’m grateful for the teachings of Christ that clearly point out what must be a part of our lives.

We can be a letter that is read and is interesting and an encouragement to others. I’ve often received letters throughout the years that I find myself unconsciously reading over again because in it is something that warms my heart. It’s not just a family letter. Unfortunately, this art of writing letters is diminishing today and is being taken over by modern technology and devices. The outcome is that there are many more questions asked then answered. But still, the Lord’s people are a living testimony and we don’t want to fall into the pit of formality but take a real interest in people who have a warm message to share.

A letter must be sent, and we sometimes wonder why we are in the place we are in. It’s good to go from convention with the feeling that God has sent me out to be a witness — a letter. I can tell you the experience of my family and one of the many reasons why they enjoy a place in the Kingdom today. Many years ago, a young married woman in Auckland made her choice to serve God and her husband was not pleased. He knew if he didn’t get his wife away from this fellowship, he would never get her back to the woman she was. He sold the family home and they shifted more than 40 miles away and she remained true. For nearly 19 years, she got very little fellowship but she had the Truth, this proof, and she lived faithfully as a lighthouse in that district. That same year, my people came from Scotland and looked upon the life of that young woman and read her for many years, in sorrow and in death. Her husband’s death was the last blow and my people knew that woman had something they didn’t.

One time, a large earthquake struck that area and caused terrific destruction. My mother thought it was the end of the world, but she said, “If Mrs. Hopcroft is alive, I’ll hear her voice again.” It led to the gospel finally coming to our area. Our neighbour’s house was a few miles away but because Mrs. Hopcroft stood true, she was a letter read — and there was no compromising. She conveyed the truth and stood true. During those years, I can’t tell you now how many, many people still enjoy the Truth because of her. From that day on, that woman looked upon us as her children. It was a huge comfort to us to have her standing true in spite of her loneliness and opposition.

In that same city of Auckland, another family moved from South Africa and that mother had been brought up in the Truth but had gotten away from it. She started feeling her need again and began looking and looking for Truth. She saw one of our sisters in the city one day and watched her for two years before finally approaching her and asking her about her faith. She told us that if she had seen anything different in that woman, even in her dress, from what she had known in South Africa, she would have stopped looking. That woman was a true letter, a true witness. The outcome was she has professed, both she and her daughters. Living for others brings them and us great joy. That woman was oftentimes tempted to change her dress and other things but said, “I’m glad now that I didn’t compromise.” The outcome is now others can enjoy salvation too.

Verse 5, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.” I received a lesson from that verse. Paul didn’t have any confidence in himself but God helped him to be a letter, and an example.

Verse 6 says, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” This is what I want to be, an able minister of the letter and preach manifesting the spirit of Christ.

I’d like to tell you about another family in Japan who are true letters. This was an experience we had a little part in. It goes back 9 or 10 years now to another friend of ours, a very faithful man and a teacher at the university there. He had some surgery for cancer. One day, we went to see him and he had just gone home from the hospital. He caught a taxi home from the hospital and got to all the meetings, and afterwards would go back to the hospital again. His zeal was such an inspiration to us. Then the time came when he couldn’t teach anymore and thought, “What can I do to help the workers? I’ll try and make friends in the neighbourhood and maybe they will come and listen.” He was an English teacher so he invited a little group to his home and he spoke a few words of Truth to them at every opportunity. One lady in that group was very, very religious, and very, very zealous in her church, but she continued to come and listen. Later, we had a little part and I must say, I was happy when she didn’t come because every chance she had, she told us of her good works. This continued for some time until our friend died. His wife, also a teacher, continued to come and listen.

Then the time came when we were sent into that area and continued to teach English to that little group of people. We sowed a few seeds of the gospel and a lady who always attended started listening to our message more than to the English taught. After a while her husband said, “We would like you to come to our home.” He told us he was the secretary/treasurer of his church for 25 years and we began to encourage him to come to the gospel meetings and listen with his wife, and he did. He asked “Do you preach the gospel anywhere else?” We were using our little batch at that time, and said “We preach the gospel anywhere within this allotted area.”

The next time he came to the meeting he said, “My wife and I are 60 years of age and our family want to give us a big birthday party. We have no children but all our relations will be there. Alcohol will be served but will you come and preach the gospel to them?” Well, I had already said we would go anywhere and we had to go! The party was held in a big hotel in Osaka with lots of people coming. He gave his own testimony first of his experience and then said, “Now we are going to listen to these men. I believe they preach the gospel as it was from the beginning – and I believe they are true men teaching the gospel of Christ. I want you to listen to them.” I knew from his testimony that day that he was not far from the Kingdom. That day, he heard the gospel in his own language for the first time. I spoke quietly to the waiter and asked her for a Chinese tea as I didn’t touch the alcohol, and then I noticed that sometime during that evening that man had his drink exchanged, too. We had said nothing. This went on for some time but a few months later, that couple made their choice and were such a wonderful encouragement to us. What they had seen first in the life of one of our friends, who was really dying from a disease and who never gave up hope, inspired them. He just continued sowing little seeds for the gospel.

That couple went to the home of that man and his wife now (there was only the wife now) and were so thankful that that man remained true to his dying day, sowing little seeds along the journey. Another couple later asked us “Will you have meetings in our home?” That outcome has been that now there are over 30 people listening to the gospel because of one faithful person being a letter of Christ. Some of those people now are drawing near to the Kingdom. Some belong to a church group that are taken up with only good works but they’re getting over that now. Our responsibility is what Paul says, “Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament: not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”

I will tell you also what one man told us. He said, “Many times our minister told us things that I couldn’t say, “Amen” to. His spirit and his life just seemed to cancel it out.” That is a warning to me. Is it the spirit or the minister? Paul said quite clearly, “The letter killeth.” They had been listening to the letter but they didn’t have the love! Now they have that love and that man said, “I count it a wonderful privilege to have a part in what we have heard from the beginning. Finally, after all these years I have peace.”

Paul spoke of the ministration of death in verse 7, “But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away.” There was a glory and a beauty, something so wonderful about the law and the commandments that Moses received on the mountain. But there is something even far more glorious, and it’s the ministration of the spirit. Why? Because we go out to be a letter for Christ. It’s not what we are going to tell people, but it’s what we feel and see.

Verse 9, “For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.” That woman in John 8, if anybody should have been condemned it was her, but those people brought her to Jesus and wanted to stone her. But Jesus waited, then kneeled down and wrote on the ground. He wanted to speak to her in a right spirit. That’s how we are. We can be too quick to condemn people and leave them without hope. Jesus had a message from God, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” Are there any of us here that can cast a stone? That woman could have left too, as they all went out one-by-one, but she saw the power of Jesus and felt, “I’m sure there is hope for me.” That’s what the gospel should always be, not because of what we say but what we are. Jesus wasn’t disturbed or upset but said, “Everybody examine yourselves.” He asked, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?” She said, “No man, Lord.” And Jesus said unto her, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” He gave her another chance — and that’s the gospel we want to preach. We don’t want to preach condemnation and harden people but I would like to learn better to have the spirit that Jesus had, the spirit of a lamb, who didn’t condemn her nor justify her either. That is all we have when we leave this convention – just another chance.

We want to be a letter that God can send. We might wonder sometimes, “Why are we sent where we are?” It’s to be a letter, to be a witness, to bring hope to a people. When the children of Israel went into the Promised Land and Joshua was guiding them, the whole land was divided by lot. They didn’t choose; some areas were fruitful, other places mountainous, and so on. I have had a lot of encouragement in this Work for we don’t choose where we are sent.

I’ll tell you my testimony about going to Japan. It wasn’t my choice and in all the years I have been in the ministry, not once have I ever chosen the field or the companion that I’ve wanted to be with. I can honestly say that. I can also tell you that not once have I ever wanted to leave this field for there are opportunities everywhere. As David said in Psalm 84:6, “Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.” That verse has encouraged me many times. The valley of Baca is a dry valley, a valley of tears. That’s the time for us to put our roots down, and our heart into the Truth and work to deepen our faith to prove that the Lord is with us. It takes work to put your own roots down in the difficult times, but it says the rain filleth the pools. Isn’t that what sustains us in our fellowship with the Father and His Son. It shouldn’t be changed or interfered with because of our surroundings – it’s our surrenderings! Whatever the experience, it’s good if we can learn to surrender and be satisfied, getting something into our experience from God so the rain will fill the pools. That’s the blessing, and if we work at our salvation and on our human connections, it’s doing our part. Rain is a blessing from heaven and it will be ours in abundance. This dry country here needs lots of rain before it could fill a pool, but that blessing became a pool.

Paul went on to say that even when Moses’ law was read and read correctly and effectively, it didn’t open their eyes because a veil was over their faces. They had been listening to the law but they still were blind. When you turn to Christ and what He has taught, you see things clearly. That’s what it tells us in the latter part of this chapter. Their minds were blinded. Verse 16, “Nevertheless when it (Israel) shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away”—the bandage or veil shall be taken away. The spirit of the Lord is with those who do the things that Paul did with the same spirit he had — it brings vision.

You read that story of Philip and the eunuch in Acts 8 and what a clear picture it is of what we want to be, a servant in the spirit. The Lord spoke to Philip and said, “’Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.’ And he arose and went…” He could have asked why or even feel, “There are easier places where I can look,” but he didn’t doubt. He went, and what an encouraging experience! He found that eunuch, a man looking for salvation — and the Lord had heard his prayer. He was returning to Ethiopia from Jerusalem where he had come to worship, and Philip found him in the chariot still reading. The spirit said to Philip, “Draw near to that man.” It’s possible to get so set in our ways and want things so orderly that we leave no room for the spirit of God to lead us. Looking back, it’s been the leading of the Lord’s spirit that has led His people to salvation. Philip drew near and he heard him reading, and asked “Understandest thou what thou readest?” and the eunuch replied, “How can I, except some man should guide me?” Or, “How can I unless I meet someone who’s going to show me?” He had been up there in Jerusalem and had a Bible and knew they were talking about the Bible and Jesus. But what happened? He saw it as the Truth and he knew he wasn’t baptised. He felt, “If baptism is part of Jesus, I want it.” “See, here is water; what, doth hinder me to be baptized?” And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” At the end of that story it says he went on his way rejoicing. He never saw Philip again — Philip was only the messenger and the letter God used who was willing to go anywhere at any time and preach the gospel as it was in the beginning. He kept the right spirit.

This is the privilege we all have as we leave this place. I could tell you of so many others too, who have been letters proclaiming His way and truth to other people. It’s a joy to read a letter and to be a letter. May the Lord help us to be letters that Christ can send to others, so they too can enjoy salvation.

In Genesis 16, we read about a problem in Abraham’s home. In fact, the tension or contention became so distressful that Hagar, Sarai’s maid, felt that she needed to, or she had to, flee. She didn’t feel that she could take it any longer, and we find her in the 7th verse where it says, “And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And He said, ‘Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? And whither wilt thou go?’ And she said, ‘I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarai.’ And the angel of the Lord said unto her, ‘Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.’ And the angel of the Lord said unto her, ‘I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.’”

Hagar felt that the solution to her problem was to flee, but the angel of the Lord told her that the solution to her situation, to her problem, was to return and submit, and then the Lord would bless her exceedingly. Well, if I was going to sum up my message for today, it would just be this: return, submit, and the Lord will bless you exceedingly.

In James 4:7 it says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” It seems like by our human nature, like we heard last night, we have a tendency to resist God and submit to the devil. We’re thankful for the gospel that came into our lives, that gave us a power by the spirit of God that we can resist the devil, and can submit to God.

We’re thankful for these meetings like we’ve heard, that there’s something in us that has responded to the messages. Something alive that God has placed there, that wants to submit to God. Now sometimes, we feel that we’ve been stretched, that we just cannot take it anymore. We’ve been stretched beyond our capability, our capacity, like a string on a violin that’s being tuned, that’s being stretched, and we just feel that we’re right at the breaking point, but the Lord is bringing us into tune with heaven above. If we can submit, then we can have a part in the blessing that He would like to be to us as His people, and to this world. Maybe the part that I need to stress in speaking today is this blessing that He has promised to those who submit.

There is a verse there in Deuteronomy 7:9 that says, “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.” That’s a blessing from God, and not just for today, but His blessings stretch out and on. If we can be those who submit to God’s dealings and His leadings, His blessing will continue on to others. It’s like a pebble that drops, just a small little pebble. If you drop it into a basin of water, you’ll watch those ripples, how they go out and stretch out hundreds of times, maybe thousands of times bigger than that little pebble that was dropped. When the Lord deals with us and we submit, the influence of that is great and it goes out and stretches on and on. That is why it’s so important that when the Lord speaks to us we respond. You know the Lord sees the future ahead, and when He warns us, He sees the influence. We might feel it’s just a little thing, it doesn’t amount to anything, but He sees the future, what these things that we’ve allowed in our lives, the influence that could have in the days ahead, and He is trying to save us from that so that we won’t have regrets, for they go on and on and on. When He speaks to us about things that we could do, little things that we could practice and do, it is because He sees the future, and He knows the effect that can have stretching out, on and on, and like it says here, “to a thousand generations.” For we realize even what a little invitation could mean, and what a little invitation has meant to us. There was someone way back there, someone who felt moved to give an invitation to someone that we knew, someone perhaps in our family, and the change and the influence that has had, something so small. Now, when the Lord moves us to do something as we heard, we want to do that, lest we miss the wonderful blessing that comes with being submitted to His will, submitted to His dealings.

I was thinking of 3 small pebbles that could have a great influence in our lives. Pebbles that are small things are often overlooked that could have a tremendous influence in our lives and in the lives of others. One is in Hebrews 13:17, which speaks about submission there, it says, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.” “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves.” Well, let’s speak about the workers, perhaps elders, too.

Let me tell you about my grandfather, this was many years ago. He heard the gospel, I suppose it would have been in the 30s (early 30s, late 20s) and he recognized that it was the truth of God, and he made his choice. After some time because of the situation in the home, in the meetings even, there was some correction given. The workers spoke to him about his children, that they needed to be disciplined – they were disorderly in the meeting, so much so that it was a concern. So they spoke to him and my grandfather – he was a proud man, became offended. No one was going to tell him how to raise his children. They did not believe in disciplining their children, and they were not going to start now, so he chose to just finish with the meetings, and he went outside taking his whole family with him. Out into the wilderness and there he stayed wandering where there was no blessing – there was NO blessing to that family. He watched his sons grow up to become helpless, hopeless alcoholics and it was years later when my grandfather finally – thankfully for cancer – began to feel his need. He felt he was dying. It is one thing to live without God, but it is another thing to die without God, that humbled my grandfather, that humbled him to the point where he called the workers again, and asked them to come. They did come and now he was ready to submit – he was ready for anything. The pride had been broken down and now he was just willing to fit in with anything – with everything – to have a part in this kingdom of God again. His question was, “Could God forgive someone who had been so negligent, who had rebelled, who had been so proud?” and the workers told him, “Yes there is still hope.” He was willing to submit. He was ready to submit. He found his peace again. He found his joy again, and then he was so anxious for my parents to attend. Well, he was anxious for all his children to attend the meetings, but only my parents did, and that was the beginning of the gospel for my family. I was just a little fellow at the time, but that was the beginning. I realize that all the blessing that I enjoy today, all my parents enjoy today, is because of that submission that came into my grandfather’s life in his last few months. How much more had he responded 20, 30 years before when those workers, in concern for him and his four little children and their future, gave him some godly advice? Think of the blessing that would have come through the years of submission, for one of those uncles could have been on the platform. Nothing is impossible with God! As it was, his days were lost, wasted in the wilderness and only regret at the close of his life.

I was thinking of another small pebble. In I Peter 5:5 it says, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” The thought there is, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.” That’s the order, it’s not always easy, but that’s God’s order and that’s when blessing comes. This blessing that He has promised, comes from submitting.

Now, I shall tell you of a little struggle that I had: what if the younger one doesn’t submit to the older one? What is the solution? Submit! I had a companion once who didn’t fit in, and didn’t submit, and I was not about to submit, either! And you know that mission just dwindled to nothing, we couldn’t even go to bible study, we couldn’t, we could hardly continue with our gospel meetings. There was just no blessing in that relationship.

I am still just learning about submitting and humbling myself, and I appreciated a little picture we have over in Numbers 13:23, which says, “And they came.” This was the time when the spies were sent out, to search out the land, twelve were sent. Now they came to this place, it says, “And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff, and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.” Now this land, this land that they had found was so fruitful that there was a cluster of grapes that was so large, so great, that it took two men to carry it. Well, you may think, why not just cut the cluster in two and then each man could carry half, but that would not have had the same effect. When they came back there to the Lord’s people, they wanted to be an encouragement and wanted to be an inspiration to those people to go in to enter into that land, this land of promise, and so they wanted that cluster to be whole, entire so that those people could see the fruit of that land. So now these two (I like to think of them as Joshua and Caleb), it doesn’t say who they were, but they had that attitude of encouraging the Lord’s people; but anyway the two took this huge cluster of grapes on a pole, and you can kind of see them now, they’re going to be journeying, but they’re going to be walking together (up and down, over hill and through valleys) and making their way back to present this to the Lord’s people, so it would be necessary for them to be in step. If you’ve ever tried to carry something heavy and be out of step, it is almost impossible, it’s easier to just divide the load in two and each one go their separate way, but it doesn’t have the same effect. So these men would be walking together, in step, so that it’s not working against them or making it difficult for them – if the one behind wouldn’t be in step with the one before, it would be wise for the one before to just adjust his step to the step of the one behind, so that when they arrived that this that they were carrying. This that was so important, this that would inspire and help God’s people, would be whole, would be entire. Well, I realize that is very true with this that we carry, this wonderful gospel message, this wonderful fruit that one can find in God’s kingdom, and we present this to others, but we need to be in step, and if I need to humble myself and just adjust my step so that I could be in step with my companion, in communion with my companion, then we can present the gospel and we can inspire God’s people about what can be found in this wonderful kingdom of God. I realize that that is something that I need to do.

When I look back at some of my companions, when I was young, jumping at the bit and anxious to go, all these ideas that I had, then I can think of some of my dear companions, who would have adjusted their step for me. I did not even realize it at the time, but I can look back now and they were trying to encourage me, and trying to be a help to me, and it was a joy, such a joy to present the gospel. I realize now that is something I need to apply to myself. And you can see the blessing that comes when the gospel is presented – it just goes on and on and on! That’s the blessing that God has promised when we submit; if I think of myself, if I submit and humble myself, then this influence can go forth and others can enjoy what we’ve enjoyed.

Now we are going to go over to Ephesians 5:22, this is another small pebble that has a great influence, it says there in verses 21 and 22, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” And you dear women here who have happy marriages, you know what it means, you know the blessing that comes from submitting to your husbands. We are only seeing a portion of it, a measure of it, this is something that is going to extend to your family, to your children, your grandchildren, the effect of that goes out. It’s great, and you are only enjoying a measure of it, but the influence of it is vast and it goes on and it affects others. It speaks to others, inspires others, and if it isn’t there, it can take the joy right out of a marriage. It can destroy a marriage! And that destruction goes on too, it goes on and on, it affects the children, it affects others; but God has His order, it’s not easy to submit I know I struggle with it, but this order, if we submit, it brings blessing and that is what we long for – blessing, eternal blessing. There’s a little clue in this that has been a help to me, it’s in this little verse here, that says, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord,” and that’s the secret: do it, “as unto the Lord.”

In Colossians is the same thought, it’s Colossians 3:23, says, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done and there is no respect of persons.” It’s like this is a spiritual law, and there is no respecter of persons; those who submit, get the blessing, and those who don’t submit, have regrets. There is no respecter of persons. It says here, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men,” knowing that we’ll receive the reward from Him; and that’s the key: submitting as unto the Lord. I’ve been, well, we’ve all been in situations – we all know them – that we feel, “I’m not going to do it, I’m not going to submit, I won’t, I won’t.” That has not brought blessing, but we just feel like we can’t. Maybe you’re working for someone and you don’t respect them, and you’re just blocked. You feel, “I just can’t do it, and I won’t;” but when we think of doing it as unto the Lord, then it makes it altogether different.

I remember the time I’d offered for the work actually and I was waiting to go. One time I was driving down the freeway and thinking about things and the thought came to me, “Maybe Jay, this is all in your head, that the Lord hasn’t really called you, that you don’t have to give up everything, you could live a life that you’ve wanted to and this is all just something that’s just been fabricated in your imagination.” I remember that day. I relaxed in the car and was just enjoying the good weather and then it was just as if the Lord was sitting beside me in the car and He turned toward me and said, “Jay, would you do it for My sake; would you do it for Me?” Oh well, that just melted my heart! After what the Lord had saved me from, after all the Lord had delivered me from, and given me peace again. Well, that just melted me, it just melted my heart, and now it was settled. After that I never had another question, I never had another doubt. But what more is a person to sacrifice like that? Well, it is just because we love the Lord that we sacrifice, we are only limited in submitting, we are only limited by our love for the Lord. If we are doing it as unto the Lord, we can do anything. Isn’t that what Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” [Phillipians 4:13] because of his love for Jesus, he could do anything? We find ourselves in situations where the only blessing is going to come if we’re willing to submit, but if we do it for Jesus’ sake, we’ll find the power that we need, the power of love that we need to just submit. You folks, you apply that and you’ll be the best employees working! I remember working on a job and I just took that lesson I learned in the car, I took it with me to work and certain jobs needed to be done and no one was willing to do it, but I just felt that I wanted to serve as unto the Lord, and well, it works! And you’ll find yourself a treasured employee and whether it be at work or school, or wherever it is, if you can do all things as unto the Lord, you will find that there is a wonderful blessing that comes as a reward of it and the Lord’s promised that there would be a reward for doing it as unto Him.

Well let’s go back to this thought of Hagar sitting at the well, and here we’re sitting and it’s been restful, and it’s been good, we feel refreshed. But the message for this meeting anyway is that we need to return and submit and the Lord will bless us for doing so and that blessing is greater than we can comprehend, if we can just be faithful in that. The Lord will always be faithful in doing His part, but we need to be faithful in what He asks of us, and then He will bless us. We see the blessing in this chapter, we’ve heard of the measure of blessing that we can have in days passed when we’ve been willing to submit, and if we could just return and submit, the Lord will be faithful in blessing us again.

Luke 14:12-14, Jesus was speaking. “When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. When thou makest a feast call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” I don’t know that Jesus ever had the privilege of having a dinner like this, in the sense that He had no home of His own to invite people, but in a very real sense He opened up the home of His heavenly Father to us who were maimed, lame, blind and poor. He invited us in to partake of the things that are divine. Here we sit today and we are enjoying things that this world doesn’t understand and cannot appreciate – things that come from God Himself. Those of us who felt so poor feel rich and some who were blind have had our eyes opened to see things that we didn’t see before. Some were lame and are strengthened now and some who were wounded felt healed. It is not because we are worthy or that we could ever repay but it is because our Lord is good and our Lord is compassionate and our Lord is kind.

Maybe I could tell you a little story of a family I met in Montana a few years ago. This family had a VERY expensive cat. These folks have paid thousands of dollars for this cat. This cat started out as just an ordinary farm cat and there was nothing special about it, just like any other cat on the farm. One day the dogs were chasing the cats and a dog got hold of this one and crushed its leg in his jaws. The children rescued this cat and the poor little thing had his leg crushed. The father wasn’t home and the children were crying and the mother hardly knew what to do but they put the cat in the car and rushed it off to the vet.

The vet cleaned it all up and they went to work on that cat. They put the bones back together; it was a very expensive operation. When dad got home he wasn’t very happy because he said that cat wasn’t worth a bullet that would have taken care of it. This little cat now had a cast on his leg and was hobbling around on the farm. Well the time came when the cast had to come off and they took the cat back to the vet and he removed the cast. They found that the bone hadn’t set right and infection had set in and they were going to have to amputate the leg – another very costly operation. So now this three legged cat comes home and one time the cat was outside and the wild dogs came and were after some animals on the farm and this cat hurried to get away on its three little legs but this dog got hold of the cat and tore it open. The children came out and found this poor little cat all ripped apart.

It was still living but in a terrible condition. So they took it back to the vet and he worked on it and they saved that cat’s life but it was another very costly operation. So now the cat came home and the poor little thing is in the house there. Interestingly enough, because of the price that was paid for that cat, that cat became very special in that house. All the little children and even the man of the home, that cat became dear to them. It wasn’t because of its pedigree but it was because of the cost that had been paid to save it.

So now that cat had a special place in the hearts of everyone in that home. I saw that cat running around on its three little legs and everyone just loved it. Isn’t that just a wonderful picture of our place in this house of God? We’re not in this house because of anything in ourselves; we’re not so different from the others in this world, but because of the price that was paid to save us, because of our response to that operation of the gospel, we have a very, very special place in this family of God, we’re precious to Him, we’re the apple of His eye.

If you were in that house and that cat got in your way and you gave it a kick, it would be just like kicking the man of the home. It is precious in that house and so it is with God’s children, each and every one of them that has responded to the gospel. Such a great price has been paid for each and every one of them; each one belongs to the Lord and we must be careful how we respond and how we treat one another. That cat, when outside the house, has absolutely no value, but inside the house there is blessing because of the price that was paid for it. Outside the household of God we have absolutely no value. I know that I have a nature just like all the other cats; I’d be chasing mice and running over here and over there, but I know that I am vulnerable, I know that I am weak and therefore I choose to stay within the house where all the provision is, where all the care is and where all the food for my soul is. It is a wonderful place to be, in the household of God, not because we’re worthy and not because of anything in ourselves, but only because of the goodness of the One that saved us.

Back to these verses that we read – about these that were invited. I believe that the Lord ever realised that there was a time that we were not well and we are not like we are today. I believe that the Lord amongst us would like us to go from this convention like He was teaching His disciples here – that we could go from here and treat others like the Lord has treated us – because there are still people out there that are feeling poor and maimed, lame and blind and we would like to help them too. We are just like that with our human nature – even in a wonderful fellowship like we have – that there are sometimes those that are left out – maybe the unfortunate ones who are alone, often the elderly, maybe single through no cause of their own. Maybe we don’t have so much in common and the more fortunate ones are the ones we visit and the others are often left out, but the Lord still loves them. Oh, everyone that has taken up their cross, denied themselves and are following Him, it is easy to have cliques, easy to include those who have things in common with us, but here He says, “Now if you’ll reach out to those unfortunate ones and include them, invite them in, the Lord takes note of that and there is a reward for that, there is a recompense for that.” May we have that little extra to reach out to those, and the Lord will make it right; there is a recompense for that.

I remember, when we were in the army and away from home, those open homes that took us young immature soldiers in; they just made so much of us! It was wonderful and was such an encouragement to us; we never forgot that kindness. People appreciate the kindness that is shown to them; it just strengthens this Kingdom and strengthens this unity between brethren. Jesus said that would be the mark that folks will see, the love we have one for another.

I love what it says in Matthew 25:31, where it says, “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory:” — you know how it goes – “Before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: Naked, and you clothed me: I was sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came unto me.’ Then shall the righteous answer Him, and say, ‘Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? When saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee?’ And the King shall answer and say unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.’” He said unto the LEAST of these my brethren; it was as if they were doing it unto the Lord Himself. The kindness and the love that was shown was just as if it was done to Jesus Himself. That was how it was weighed up; they were so precious to Him, even the least. Treat EVERY ONE of God’s children, every one of your brothers and sisters, treat everyone as if they were Jesus!

What I have found in my experience is that when I treat others with respect, they respond to me with respect. In that way we will be promoting Jesus. On the other hand, if I treat you like you are the devil then you’ll respond to me like I’m the devil. That way we will just be promoting the devil. If only we could treat each one as if he or she were Jesus! We might say that they don’t behave like one, but NO! EACH and EVERY child of God who has been born again has a little bit of the life of Jesus in them, a little measure of Christ in them, and if we respect that, we are respecting Christ. It’s that that we honour. Maybe there is a lot that is not like Jesus but if we respect that little bit of the Christ life that each and every child of God has, we’ll be promoting Christ in this world and that is pleasing to Him.

There’s a verse in Deuteronomy, back in the Old Testament, that says. For the Lord’s portion is His people. That’s right, even today the Lord’s portion in this world is His people. That is all that God is going to take out of this world. All the gold and all the diamonds, all that this world values and esteems as great and whatever, it will all be destroyed one day. All that He is going to take away from this earth is His people. That’s His portion and that’s what is precious to Him.

There is another verse in Psalm 16 where David was speaking. In verses 5 and 6 he said very nicely there, “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea I have a goodly heritage.” It talks about the Lord’s portion being His people but here David was saying that my portion is the Lord; that’s all I want out of this life, that’s my inheritance, that’s what interests me. He had lots of money, he was a rich man, he was a king but his portion was not in what he had; he said, “The Lord is my portion.” That was his inheritance.

Then in the 17th Psalm it tells about people that have their portion in this world. There are many who have their portion in this world but David wasn’t amongst them. “My portion is the Lord.” Whatever the Lord decided was good, as Job said, The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Whatever the Lord decides, whatever the Lord’s will is, that will be my portion. Isn’t that wonderful? Imagine what that means to the Lord when there are those that are willing to put Him first. In this life that is what they’re living for. Oh, that is so precious to Him!

There is a man in the Old Testament that I admire very much – a very unfortunate man. When he was five years old his nurse dropped him and he was crippled in both his legs – no fault of his own, and that is how he grew up. Anyway, he was the grandson of King Saul; his father was Jonathan. When David was now king, he was looking for someone to show kindness to for Jonathan’s sake, and he asked, “Is there anyone of the household of Jonathan that I can show kindness to?” He loved Jonathan so much, and they said, “Well there is Mephibosheth, but he is crippled.” So David invites him to come and David gave him a place at his table.

There he thought, as days passed, that he had fellowship with the king and he had fellowship with the princes and it was wonderful. Oh, he loved that! There he was, year after year, and mealtime after mealtime. Oh, that meant so much to Mephibosheth. That was a wonderful privilege – just like us; in spite of our weakness, here we are enjoying fellowship week after week with the princes and the princesses of this world, and we have a part at His table and are welcome.

Then, for Mephibosheth, things changed. Absalom rose up against the king and the king had to leave the house. He fled from the palace, and the faithful ones fled with him, and Absalom took over the power. However, this one that was crippled couldn’t follow David. He asked his servant to bring an animal that he could ride and get away but the servant took the animal and loaded it up and he left his master and went to David. When David asked him where Mephibosheth was, he said that he had stayed behind, so David gave all Saul’s land to the servant. What could Mephibosheth do?

He was back in that palace and the new king and everybody was rejoicing, partying and carrying on. Something that touched me very much is what it says in 2nd Samuel 24th verse of chapter 19 it says, “Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king,” this was when David came back. There had been a battle and David was now returning and coming back to the palace and “Mephibosheth, the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace. And it came to pass, when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said unto him, ‘Wherefore wentest thou not with me, Mephibosheth?’ And he answered, ‘My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for I told my servant to saddle me an ass and I will ride thereon and go to the king; because thy servant is lame. And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes.’”

What he did was he went into mourning; no one told him to do this and, when this change-over came, he just decided, “I’m not going to change, and I’m not going to wash, until my king comes again.” He was vile to all the others. I just thought of what Sheila told us the other day about being a young woman in London and being different from all the others, because she wasn’t serving the king of this world, she was waiting for another king; she was looking for another king and she was waiting for that king to come.

I thought of this man; he wasn’t going to change even if the others would have thought he must trim his beard and change his appearance. He wouldn’t, because he knew his king was coming again and he was prepared to be different from all the others. When the king heard this and he could see what Mephibosheth was saying was true, he said that he and his servant must divide the land, and Mephibosheth said, “Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace.”

What Mephibosheth wanted was just to be there with the king, in fellowship with the king just like old times – to sit at his table and be in fellowship with his wonderful family. He wasn’t interested in anything of his inheritance; he let his servant have everything, it was not as important to him as to be with his king. Oh, what a wonderful spirit, when the Lord looks down and sees His children that have the same attitude: that they would let go of anything that would rob them of their peace, anything that would rob them of their fellowship with the Lord, let them have it, but we want this that is so precious to us. Nothing matters to us but this salvation; nothing matters but this that we have experienced in the Lord’s presence.

There is something about Americans – I’m an American, and despite all our lack and our ways, we are loyal to our country. I’m sure, and I hope you are too, that we feel this loyalty to our country. There was to be a veterans’ parade; I had served in the army and I wanted to go to this veterans’ parade, so I went and there were thousands of people on the side of the road. They had really put on a parade for the veterans and I joined the thousands of others standing by the road there.

The parade started and here comes the first great men that served their country there – great men in this parade, and it was something to see them. Then along comes the bands playing those patriotic songs that do something for you; the bands came marching along playing these songs, and it was just wonderful. Then came the tanks and the artillery; oh, the display of power that made you realise the power of this nation! Then a vast number of men marched past, and a number of things came by and it was just such a thrill.

Then at last it dropped off and there was no more, yet everyone stayed and waited for the next one to come. They looked and looked; was there anymore? Then in the distance we saw him coming. There was a man that had lost both his legs in the Vietnam war, and he was walking on artificial legs. He had started from the beginning of that parade and he went all that distance; every step was a painful step and he had a flag, and he was holding that up and his wife was walking behind him. On he came, throwing the one leg forward and then the other and you could see on his face that it was just all he could do to continue and to finish. Step by painful step and there was a hush in the crowd.

Here was a man that had given his life and his legs for his country. There wasn’t one of us that could help him; there was not one of us that had given a sacrifice like that. Oh, that touched me and oh, I wept to see that man. To think that all we enjoyed in that country, all the freedom and things that mean so much to us, that we value so highly, was because of those that were willing, like that man was willing, to pay the price – giving his limbs, his life, so that we could have freedom.

I just thought of this convention. Oh! It is wonderful to be here, such a thrill, and it makes one so proud to be a Christian. We see these brothers and sisters, these Godly men and women and it is just wonderful to see them, and then we see the younger ones coming on, all in step and all singing the same song; it is wonderful. Then we hear about the power of this Kingdom and we hear about the great things of this Kingdom, all that we have and all that we can appreciate in this Kingdom, but behind it all….behind it all there was One, like that man, that gave His all and lived on the front line, taking step after step to the last painful step after step, holding the standard high, to finish this course, with the blood running down His back and the nails in His hands and feet and no one could help Him, but they stood by.

This was all done so that we could have this wonderful access to God, this wonderful liberty. We enjoy it all because of this One who gave His all. That is why on Sunday morning we partake of the emblems because He asked us to do that. He said “Do this in remembrance of me.” Remember My body; remember My blood that was shed for you. If we ever take that out of the picture – all that other was inspiring but it was when I saw that man marching, that is what moved me to tears; that is what touched me and that was what made me walk away from there a different man.

It was all because of those that had given their life for their country. That is why we can enjoy what we do today. He wants us to remember that He gave His life, and that is what is going to change us. Because He loved us and because of all He’s given us, that is what makes us go out and die to ourselves, because we want to be like Him. We love Him and we appreciate what He has done. When we take the bread we say, “I mean that, I will do that, I want to do that with my life, I want to be faithful in my little way.” Then we take the cup; that is for the forgiveness, for the times that we have failed and come short and that encourages us just to keep on going. It is that that is going to help us in spite of ourselves, to deny ourselves and to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

There is one thing quite noticeable in the Bible. Very often you will find together, one of God’s very best, and one of Satan’s very, very worst…like the case of Cain and Abel. Abel was one of God’s best, and his brother was one of the worst. He was a murderer. Then in the case of Jacob and Esau, Jacob turned out at the last to be one of God’s very best, and his own brother, his twin, one of the worst. He had a great influence on others, and because of him there are many people who are outside of the Kingdom of God today.

I would like to speak a little about these twins. These two brothers grew up together in one home, under the very same influence – everything the same, and still one ended with God, and the other ended far from God, and both had an influence. Jacob loved and lived for the things that God loved. Esau loved and lived for the things that God hated. There are people in the world tonight, friends, who are loving and living for things that God hates, while others have turned from their own way and have begun to live for the things that God loves. You have studied many times the story of these two boys, Jacob and Esau; how they grew up together, worked together, ate together, maybe even fought together. Then the time came when they chose. Isn’t it a marvelous thing that in life we can choose? Little by little, that choice is going to send us in one direction or another. Jacob chose the things that are eternal. He loved the things that God loved.

There certainly were many good marks about Esau. He was not lazy. He was a good provider. His Father loved him. It doesn’t say that his Father loved Jacob. Esau made some mistakes at the beginning of life. He married into the world, and he saw that his wives were a continual grief to his Father and Mother. So, he tried to correct that, and took a wife of the daughters of Ishmael, which was a little closer, anyhow, than his former wives. I think that in some ways, Esau tried to please his Father and Mother. The trouble with Esau was that he never came to an end of himself. He never came to the end of his own way; never made a covenant with God. Some people depend so much on their own goodness. We were talking to a woman some time ago in the city of Manila. We were having meetings and quite a few children were coming. We went to visit a certain home because the children had been coming, but their Mother, a widow, had never come to the meetings. So, we asked her to come to the meetings. She said, “Why should I go to the meetings? I never do anything wrong. I am always at home, cooking and taking care of the home. I am not doing anything wrong.” That is not why people go to heaven, just because they are not doing anything wrong.

The reason why people go to heaven is because God has put something in them already, from heaven. John 3:13 “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. You could say it like this: Nothing can go to heaven, only what has come from heaven.” Nobody can go to be with God unless there is something from heaven in them already. That is what it means to be a child of God. It is more than being good. It means that God gives a portion of His Spirit that enables us to understand and enjoy the things of God. If a person claims to be a Christian, and they enjoy the things that God hates, there is something wrong with that person’ profession. A true Christian receives a portion of the nature of heaven, and when they pass from earth to heaven, they only go to a fuller enjoyment of that Spirit and nature. Nobody can go to heaven unless they have something from heaven in them now.

Esau, while he may have had some good marks as far as man is concerned, still he never, never came to the realization of his own need of God, and of making a surrender to God, and of letting God do something in his heart and life. But Jacob was different. Jacob was a crooked supplanter, and he knew how to get the better, and how to take advantage of his brother and others. Jacob had some marks in him that were not very nice. But, the time came later on in life when Jacob got down on his knees and surrendered his life to God, and he vowed, “If you will be with me, and keep me in the way that I go, I will serve you all my lifetime.” God showed Jacob, there is a way for you. There is a way like a ladder. There is a way that reaches all the way from where you are to God in heaven. There is nothing lacking, there is everything you need to help along the way. Jacob is not the only one who has seen that ladder. This is the way for everyone. You can take one step, however small and

feeble that step may be, but it separates you a little from the world. You can continue taking steps, so that the things of the world will lose their value to you, and you value more the things that are eternal. Jacob saw the ladder, and he walked on that ladder, and God helped him. Nobody can walk on that ladder; nobody can walk in the way of God without the help of God.

Esau was a great hunter. Jacob was in the house and he was cooking something. Esau came in from the field and he was hungry. Some people have just never been able to say “No” to themselves in hardly anything. They have no control. Esau came in from the field, and he had control over himself. Maybe he was used to having his own way. Jacob said to him, “Sell me this day thy birthright.” Esau had the right to the birthright. They were twins, but he was the oldest, and he had a right to the largest part of the inheritance. Jacob knew that Esau didn’t really prize this very much. So, Esau sold it, right there, just for a mess of pottage, just for something to satisfy his fleshly appetite, just for something for himself. When Esau sold his birthright, he was no longer the firstborn. Jacob got the big portion because he valued it. Then Jacob had a right to the blessing and the inheritance, and everything. Later on Esau tried to get that, but he couldn’t get it. God saw to it that he couldn’t get it because he had sold it. Later, when it came time to get the blessing, Esau thought he would get the blessing, but he couldn’t get it. He wept with exceeding bitter tears, but he couldn’t get it. It was sold. Many people are selling their birthright to the Kingdom of Heaven just for foolish things. You would wonder if people really believe that God is looking on.

It may not be for silver, it may not be for gold,

But still by tens of thousands, the price of life is sold.

Sold for a Godless friendship, sold for a selfish aim,

Sold for a fleeting trifle, sold for an empty name.

Sold in the mart of science, sold in the seat of power,

Sold at the shrine of fortune, sold at pleasure’s bower.

Sold where the awful bargain, none but God can see;

Ponder my soul the question, “Shall He be sold by me?”

I think it is easier to sell this birthright than most people realize. Esau sold the birthright and thought he could still have the blessing, but he couldn’t. This is what a lot of people think too. They choose the things of the world, the things that God hates, and someday they will want the blessing. They will weep and wail and gnash their teeth, but no, they have sold their birthright. Jacob prized that birthright, and he got it. Esau found no place of repentance, although he sought it carefully and with tears.

I have pondered quite a little over this man Esau, and some things that we see even in our own experience. Sometimes we will see people who live for things that displease God, and they justify themselves in doing it. They use verses in the Bible to prove what they are doing is right in the sight of God. Some of you people have been studying the Epistles of the Thessalonians, and in 2nd Thess. 2:4 it tells us of Satan setting himself in the place of God. He tries to get people to believe that his way is God’s way; his interpretation is God’s interpretation, and that the way he wants you to go is the way God wants you to go. He sets himself in the place of God, shewing himself that he is God, and putting forth ideas to make you believe that that is God’s way.

Another thing you notice about people. When they get a wrong spirit in them, they are like Esau. He sought for a place of repentance and found no place. If a person is not honest, and they continue to justify themselves in wrongdoing, in things that are a bad example to other people, and are not according to the teachings of Christ, and they continue to justify themselves in wrongdoing, even though some day they might want to repent, they won’t be able to. We blind our eyes by our willful justification of our wrong doing, and destroy our own conscience. Then we can’t repent. We do not know how to repent. I have heard people trying to repent, to say, “I am a sinner.” When a person really feels that they have done wrong, they feel like a dead dog. When a person knows that they have sinned that they have done wrong, and they have really sinned, and they are willing to turn from their sin, when there is true repentance, there is forgiveness, absolute forgiveness from God and from God’s people too. But when a person accuses others – “Yes, I have done wrong alright, but it is not my fault. Others have done wrong too, and I am not as bad as they are.” That is not true repentance. Repentance is a gift of God, just like salvation. It is a gift when God can make us see we are wrong and what to do about it. God pity the people that don’t see that there is anything wrong with them, and just go and believe they are right, to the destruction of themselves and other people.

I was talking to a young man not long ago about yielding his life to God, and he said, “You know, the biggest trouble is unbelief.” I said, “What do you mean by unbelief?” Do you have any doubt that there is a God? “Oh, no,” he said, “I know there is a God.” “Do you have any doubt but that this is God’s way and God’s Truth?” “I have no doubt about that.” “What kind of doubt, then do you have?” “Well, I have doubts like this: I have questions many times about things that I am doing. Are they really wrong? These habits that I have: are they really wrong? What is wrong with them?” Did you ever hear that voice? That has been the voice of the adversary, from the Garden of Eden until now. “Hath God said?” “Will I go to hell if I continue doing as I am doing now?” If Satan can make you believe that wrong things are not so bad, and will not destroy you, then it is very hard for God to help you. It is a wonderful thing if God can show us the things that are wrong and we know that they are wrong and we are willing to do something about it. There’s a ladder that reaches from where you are, to God. You can save yourself and others. But unless your salvation means more to you than anything or anybody on earth; unless it is more precious to you than anything or anybody on earth, you will never get to heaven.

The birthright meant more to Jacob than anything else, and he got it. In the book of Romans Paul uses Jacob and Esau to show that the Jews were like Esau. They had the birthright, the promise, the Bible. They had everything, but didn’t value it. They depended a lot on their self-righteousness, and what they were naturally, just like Esau did. But the Gentiles came by choice. In the 9th chapter it tells us that it is not what you are naturally that counts. The Jews had everything. Even Christ came to the Jewish people, but they were setting up their own righteousness, and did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. God has a right to choose whom He is going to give the birthright to. He is not a Jew who is a Jew naturally, but one who is a Jew spiritually. God has a right to choose. He doesn’t have to cast his pearls before swine, nor to give that which is Holy to dogs. “Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardeneth.” Doesn’t the Potter have power over the clay? Here is a piece of clay, and you make it into two lumps. Of the same lump you can make a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor. Certainly God doesn’t have to submit to men and women who have no love for clean, pure holy things.

It doesn’t make any difference what you do, how much money you might give, or anything along that line. The Pharisees were those who were teaching people the Bible, but they themselves were not born again. They were not God’s children, even though they believed the Bible and believed in God. It was pretty hard for Paul. He was a Pharisee himself. But God saw that Saul, as he was called then, was a good man, even though he was blind. God had mercy on Saul, opened his eyes, and Saul did something about it too. He turned away from man’s way and walked in the way of God.

Many years ago when I was a little boy, God’s servants came to our home. My Mother never thought that maybe the way she was worshipping was the will of God. But my Father sometimes used to ask, “Why are the preachers here in the Bible different from our preachers?” He had an opportunity, and went to a meeting, and later on God’s servants came to our home, and my Father and Mother went to the meetings. Sometimes they would say, “I know that it is not in the Bible that way.” But when they would go home they would find it. By and by they could see that if ever God had a people and a way upon earth, these are God’s people, and this is God’s way. But when they were children and worshipping in a false way they had taken a vow: “I will never, never leave the church as long as I live.” But now what about this?” Here are God’s people and here is God’s way. Surely God will not hold us responsible for a vow that we made in ignorance. I am glad that they had the courage to make their choice to walk in God’s way. The reason I am preaching the Gospel is because I knew there were others in the world who would be just as grateful as I am, if only they knew God’s way. What if nobody had left their home, left their country, and come to our place to show us God’s way? Where would I be?

In this matter of salvation, there were three plans I was thinking about. The first was when Noah and his family were saved from the water, the second was in Moses’ day when God delivered His people from Egypt and the third was in the New Testament day, when Jesus came to this earth to save His people from their sins. For Noah, it was so vital that he obeyed God. God didn’t leave it up to any man to decide what to do for salvation. He made all the plans for Noah and Moses and He made the plans for Jesus to save people from their sins.

Maybe now we could go on to Noah’s day. Wickedness was in the world, and they had some giants in that time. I don’t know if they were giant men or just giants by way of being popular. That was the picture, and God was very disappointed, so He was going to destroy the earth by water and He told Noah to build the ark of gopher wood. Gopher wood doesn’t swell when it gets wet and it doesn’t shrink when it gets dry. That is what the Gospel is like; it doesn’t make any difference what the circumstances are, the Gospel is always the same. The ark was to be made 300 cubits long. The ancient cubit was 25.19 inches and the Roman cubit was 18 inches. The ark was no small thing. It would have been some 150 feet long if it was a Roman cubit they used, but if it was the ancient cubit, it would have been over 600 feet long and 100 feet wide and 60 feet high. It was a huge project. It had to have three floors, one door, and one window at the top. I don’t understand all that but I saw that this is just what the Gospel teaches people. There is only one salvation in this world, in believing in Jesus. If we believe God, we will be following Jesus. I don’t follow Jesus just because someone else is but because I choose to do so myself. Noah never turned around to someone else and said. “Do you think that is right?” There was no one else but his own family, and possibly his own father who died five years before the flood, and Methuselah, who died the year of the flood. Noah’s father seemed to understand the wisdom of Noah doing what God asked him to do. When Noah was born, he said, “This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.” Lamech was testifying that this would be possible for a change. So there was a change.

Noah was not a young man when the flood came; he was 600 years old, and it doesn’t make any difference when it comes to serving God. I am glad that I appreciated those older fathers in our fellowship when I was young. Sunday after Sunday they would meet together and always have thankfulness in their hearts for God being so merciful to them in opening the scriptures. That is how I looked at it when I was young, and now I feel the way they did – so very thankful that in all these years of life I have had a chance to see that God is faithful to His people, and He expects us to be faithful, too. Noah had a great responsibility of getting the animals and birds into the ark and to get what they needed to eat for over a year. How could he do that? He could only do it by the help of God.

Noah had three married boys, and he had to take care of all the natural side of things, but he had found time to fulfill all that God asked him to do, as big as the project was. You might wonder how he got all those animals into the ark. They came to him because they weren’t afraid of him. Some of those animals are very timid now, but, at that time, they weren’t. There was no fear of man in them. Genesis 6:20, “two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.” Everything that was supposed to be in the ark came to Noah. That reveals something about us in regard to the Lord’s coming. When the Lord comes back, He won’t have to go looking over everybody to see if they are serving Him or not. There is something in us because we have believed Jesus that when He comes back again, we will awaken and be with Him. Those that are dead in Christ shall rise first and we that are alive shall be caught up to meet Him. So when that trumpet sounds and the voice of the Lord is made known, His own would arise. That was the truth of the matter for these animals – the day they were supposed to be there, they were there. Then God shut the door.

I am always glad that it is up to God to pass judgement. He has the last word. He set the date and He shut the door. In the human side of living, there are many weaknesses, but with God there was no weakness. So they were in the ark, with no motor or rudder and it was all left in the hands of God. Seven months they were on top of that water and the ark came down on Mount Ararat. Noah didn’t go out until God asked him to. We heard about the raven and the dove yesterday and I am so thankful that we have the nature of the dove. We don’t want to be out in this world until there is life. The first evidence that the dove got of life was the leaf, and the next week when Noah sent her out, she never came back because there was life. We are not living amongst the dead, we are living amongst the living, and we try to live to the things that are right and true.

There were four things that changed after the flood. There was rain, when there had been no rain before. A mist would come up from the earth to water it, so you can understand why those people found it impossible to believe Noah when he said it would rain. Then there was the rainbow, God’s covenant. There was no fear of man in the animals before the flood but now, God had put the fear of man into them. And the curse that God had cursed the earth when Adam and Eve disobeyed was taken away. When Noah took the clean animals and birds and made sacrifice, God said He would never again curse the earth and there would always be winter and summer, seedtime and harvest.

Lamentations 4:1, “How is the gold become dim? How is the most fine gold changed?” I wondered why it said “Grow or become dim.” It never occurred to me that gold could tarnish. I thought, “Well, nothing was written in the Bible carelessly or without preparation.” At once a little incident came to my mind that took place forty years ago.

My mother was looking through my father’s purse one day and came across a peculiar looking coin, and upon asking what it was he replied that it was given him a few days before as a nickel, in making change. He said when he noticed how queer it was, the man was very profuse in his assurance that it would pass as a nickel. It looked like an old brown penny, only a little larger and heavier. My mother didn’t feel satisfied, so she took some scouring brick and an old woolen cloth and began scrubbing it. As a result, a five dollar gold piece came to light! Father took it to the bank and exchanged it for silver. After telling the banker about it, he was told that gold very quickly accumulates a film of the metal of other coins it rubs against, if carried with them in the same pocket or purse.

Gold is the only real dollar; silver and paper are only substitutes, representing for convenience, the gold in the U.S. Treasury. The Government had put five dollars worth of gold into that coin, but its buying power had diminished to five cents by associating with imitation money, until its identity was hidden and it had acquired the color of one of the least valuable coins in the realm. So the person who has received the stamp of God, may find himself in the same condition, if the rigid scouring process is not applied daily, as we are constantly coming in contact with that which defiles. When a bright new coin in God’s Kingdom is first put into circulation, the devil’s coins usually give it wide berth, as they do not enjoy the contrast. When the little coins get unwary and neglect to shine up, often rubs with its neighbors, the contrast does not seem so great to them and they rub a little oftener till by and by when God has need of His little gold coin, He can buy nothing of value with it. Then if ever it is to be used again, there must be the usual brick and wool scouring, which is sure to leave its scratches and worst of all, if accurate scales were used, it would be found to have lost some of its weight. Of course we must meet and have dealings with the world, but becoming tarnished can be avoided by avoiding the rubbing, which is intimacy and fellowship.

To the person lying on a sick bed and living apart as I am, the human craving for fellowship makes it hard to keep aloof, as one should. Then when those we love dearest, humanly, are all of the world and in daily touch with us and our human family interests are mutual, one is apt to become careless. But in all these lonely years, God has stood by me and not one day of all that time has passed but I have not been reminded of my spiritual grooming. That it would be good to take a dip in the living water and rest at His footstool. I thank God that I still agree with Him, “It is good.”

I am very grateful to be here in South Africa again, I appreciate the fellowship here, hearing your

testimonies, the same expressions, going through the same trials as we have been in the United States, we
all can share together in the struggle and in our hope and in our thankfulness and our looking forward to our Lord’s return.

Revelations 1: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants’ things
which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.”
We know that that message went to the 7 churches, and now it is coming to us. I think about those 7
churches, if you just think of the chain, they were like the 6th one in line. The message started with God
and it went to Jesus Christ by revelation, it went from Jesus to his Angel, the Angel gave it to John, John
gave it to the Angel of each church and they gave it to the Church, so they were about 6th in line, but I
don’t think there is anything lost in the message, because these were faithful witnesses and they were
speaking by revelation. We are very thankful for our revelation from God, it’s very very precious, for a lot of
reasons, one is because it comes from God to us personally.
Revelation does not come in a group form, it comes to an individual, like when Jesus asked, “who do men
say that I am?” they mentioned different ones that people were saying that Jesus was, and then he said “who do you say that I am?” and then Peter spoke up and said “we believe and are sure thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Living God,” and then he said “blessed art thou Simon son of Barjona ” It was a personal
revelation, and Jesus knew that, it came from his father.
So, I think about all the individuals here, young and old, that the Lord has been able to reveal his truth to.
You are, we are in a very small number in this earth, and that’s not to puff us up, that is to humble us, to
understand that God could look upon sinners like us and give us that precious revelation. We want to guard
it; we want to hold it as precious. Someone said to us one time “how do you guard your revelation; how did
you retain it?” Well, we just told them that “how did he get the revelation,” well just from the words of
Jesus, he thanked his father that he hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto
babes, that’s what we know about Peter, he was willing to humble himself to be like a little child. A child is
always learning, and a child trusts his parents to tell them the truth. That’s where Peter was, that’s where
we were.
I wasn’t raised in the truth, and I remember the time, it was between the Gospel meetings, I hadn’t
attended very many, but I was very very desperate, I was in those college years, and the generation that I
was from, they questioned what they called the Establishment, they questioned everything, and even
though I was appreciating, and I was getting an understanding that this was God’s way, but it was just kind
of a habit of questioning, and criticizing almost, and saying “well does it have to be like they are saying,”
and one day I was at home, it was in the afternoon, and I was just sitting on my bed, and well I don’t know

another way to express it, the Lord just had a little conversation with me, and he said “how old are you?”
and I said well I’m 21, and he said “are you happy, in all your reference in life, are you happy?” and I said
no, I’m really not. And then he said, “what do you think about these people that are coming to these
meetings, do they look happy to you?” yes, they do. Then he said “would you like to be happy like they
are?” and I said yes, I would. And then he said “then why don’t you do what the workers are asking you to
do and humble yourself like a little child and obey?” and I remember that struggle, remember my face
blushing and getting red, and I remember just saying “alright, I will do that.” And I don’t know when God
gives the Holy Spirit, that’s his business, but I can tell you that I knew that that pleased the Lord. I knew that
the Lord was pleased with me, and that put joy in my own heart, that I had said the right thing.
I remember this man, he was quite educated, and that can be a trap and a mistake amongst us, that we get
this revelation because we are like babes and then somehow, we think that by education that improves the
revelation. You might have a greater knowledge of the Word, you might be able to put verses together, but
education has never improved a revelation. This man Dennis, got to thinking that because he was educated,
he was going to enlighten others with his new understanding. Then after the Wednesday night bible study,
he had his own bible study by phone with all these friends, he was raving about that and eventually he just
faded away. It wasn’t too long after that, we were in the home of another man, he was a doctor, he was in
a very high position in the hospital, he hired and fired, his name was probably renowned throughout the
world, for his work with babies and so forth. This subject of this other man came up, and this doctor said
about this other man Dennis, “now there is an example of a man that fought himself right out of the truth,
he ceased to be like a little child.” We really should be giving thanks to God for every time he humbles us
back to that little place of a little child, so everything can be clear and simple, pure and true. As he said to
the prince, “who has beguiled you from the simplicity that is in the truth.”
We want to hold on to our revelation. I like this little expression, in the latter part of the fifth verse, “unto
him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” what a wonderful setting, because as you
know, in those seven churches, five of the seven really got a lot of correction, some worse than others, the
Laodiceans to me was about the worse, just to think of the Lord saying “I will spew you out of my mouth,
you are disgusting to me.” And yet we read about this that he loved us and he washed us from our sins in
his own blood, and he can do it again and again, and he must. We hope that in these couple of days that we
are together, that that will happen, and that we can understand that God loves us.
I repeated this last time I was here, and maybe it won’t hurt to say it again. We were in a very unusual
circumstance about 10 years ago. One of our friends has a sister that was in a mental jail, I don’t know how
else to describe it, she apparently killed her father, thinking he was someone else, she was mentally
deranged. Anyhow she died and her professing sister wanted us to come with her to the funeral. It was
held right there in the prison, in the cafeteria, I remember the strange setting, we had to be searched and
fill out forms and everything had to be checked. I believe there were as many or more guards as there were
inmates, I believe they were all murders, all deranged. There were guards all around the room. They had
their own Chaplain, he wouldn’t let us do very much, he let me read a verse, that was about it, but he
couldn’t stop the sister, and I wondered what the sister would say to these criminals, deranged in their
minds all murderers. I will never forget that message, she just kept saying over and over and over again,
“God loves you, God loves you, no matter what you have done, God loves you.” she didn’t say they are
saved or anything along that line, but she could safely say, “God loves you.” And God loves us here. I
remember this man after the first meeting of a convention, everyone was leaving after the meeting and he

was bowed down, and crying, this huge man, just weeping and saying “he does love me, he does love me.”
And he does love you.
It mentions when he comes back, in the 7th verse, he comes with clouds. I think the clouds are witnesses,
he is coming with those people. They are all witnessing, just as John was witnessing here, he is just, he is
true, all he has done is right, even in the way of punishment, and they are witnessing that this indeed is the
Christ. Then he says “every eye will see him, and they also which pierced him.” From what I read, there was
only one man that pierced him with the spear, and he was already dead. But he says “even they that
pierced him,” that would just speak to me that these were they that pierced his heart, with their mockery,
rejection and hardness, and he says, “they are all going to weep.”
We are going over to John now, that is what the world is going to do when he comes back with his people,
they are going to mourn, because now it is going to dawn on them what they have done. Then John in the
10th verse, it says “I was in the Spirit, on the Lord’s Day,” that is a very important part of this book. This rest
of this book would not be written, if it wasn’t for that verse. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day,” The Lord
had a lot to say to John. We just get the impression that John was going through a little something that you
went through the last couple of years, and you don’t read about him really being with anyone there. He
was alone, but he wasn’t alone, was he? just like you people, the Lord was with you, and like these last two
years, did you ever think of it this way? I think you have, did you ever think of it this way, that this was like
God’s quality time with his children, taking each one individually and having a special time with you, that
you get to know him better as an individual. You were deprived of your meetings for a while, and oh we
enjoy one another, but your dearest friend wanted to have a little special visit with you again and again, to
prove himself to you.
To be in the Spirit, I think we can say this much that John no doubt prayed for that Spirit. I had a companion
that would say to me again and again, “you pray for God’s Spirit every day.” We can’t walk in God’s way
without his Spirit. It’s not like God will take his Spirit away from us if we forget and don’t ask him, but we
want that fresh anointing of his Spirit. When John was there and he was quiet and waiting, he was in a
place of obedience, submission, and under the control of the Spirit. If you are in the Spirit, you are under
the control of the Spirit, and then look what opened up to him. I just wonder how much God would have
liked to have said to me in some meetings, and it just went right over my head, because I was not in the
Spirit. It is worth the effort to be in the Spirit.
So, John hears this voice behind him and he was willing to turn, and is he ever glad that he turned to the
sound of that voice? and he remained turned, and then he gets this vision that we are going to talk about.
In the 12th verse, “I saw seven golden candlesticks,” you all know that that is the seven churches. Then it
says “In the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment, down to
the foot.” That was this word, he was right there in the midst of the seven candlesticks, he had pretty
severe correction for five of those churches, but he was right there in their midst, he wanted to be close to
them regardless. Someone said the caretaker of the vineyard is never so close to the vine as when he is
pruning it. I’ve never been at a convention yet, when he wasn’t pruning me. Just remember the purpose is
to make us more fruitful. He’s in the midst of it.
John saw Jesus, I think in more forms than almost anyone else I can think of. He didn’t get to see him like
we enjoyed hearing in the beginning of the meeting when he came as a babe. But he did see him as a

homeless stranger.It could have very well been John that was with was it, Andrew? and they saw how it
didn’t matter where he was, but it was a condition he was dwelling in, all lowliness and meekness and John
saw him that way, he saw him as the miracle worker, saw him walking on the sea. He saw him in the mount
of transfiguration, and got a glimpse of how he was seeing him in more detail now. He saw him in the
garden of Gethsemane, and the struggle and the pain. John is the only disciple mentioned of the 12 that
was standing by the cross with Jesus’ mother and the other Mary’s. There was John, he was seeing his Lord
and now he is seeing Jesus there clothed. All he was seeing now is the glory. Before he did see the glory,
but he was seeing also the human that suffered. He was not seeing that now, he was just seeing the glory
of Heaven. This clothing, in this spiritual sense, that in his lifetime, he knew Jesus had a human nature,
Jesus was tired, he was hungry, he was weary, he had needs. But he never saw Jesus sin, and no one yet
has been able to tell me what Jesus personality was like. His likes and dislikes, we don’t know if they had
coffee back then, and if he liked that, what kind? It doesn’t matter to Jesus. We don’t know if he was
aggressive or passive, introvert or extrovert, none of that, because he was just so clothed with this divine
garment.
In John’s first letter Chapter 3, he mentions about the love of God bestowed on us, that we should be called
the sons of God. Verse 2: “it doesn’t yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, and every man that has this hope in him, purifieth
himself, even as he is pure.” John when he saw Jesus there as he had seen him in his lifetime, he was seeing
him as his example. And he said one day I am going to be like him, in a body like that, I want to purify
myself to be as much like him as I can. So, he was clothed in this pure white garment, I just wonder if John
would have remembered an appearance of Jesus, maybe 60 years before this, he was hanging on the cross,
and he was naked. I think it was seared into his memory. Jesus wasn’t clothed; he was naked and why?
Because he was accepting the shame of the nakedness of our sin. It was all exposed in Jesus. Naked,
humiliated, shameful. He did that so that we wouldn’t have to appear naked before God.
Of all the things you want to put on in the morning, put on the garments of salvation, the robes of
righteousness, the garments of humility, the garments of praise. Everything that is divine we want to clothe
ourselves, so that the nakedness of our sin does not appear. Because he did that for us on Calvary, and
John would never have forgotten that. Then it says, he was gird about the paps (the chest area) with a
golden girdle, another translation says it was like a golden sash. That was the area that was covering his
heart, and what a wonderful heart he had, and to me that gold, you’ve got a lot of it here in South Africa,
oftentimes it just speaks to us of something that is divine. When I think of it covering his heart, I think of
that love that he had that never died. That was a divine love that enables him to love the unlovable, to love
the sinner before the sinner ever loved him. A love that would not let them go, when Jesus washed their
feet at that last supper that we heard about. It says that he loved them, and he loved them unto the end.
Because of that he washed their feet, it wasn’t because he was disgusted with them, it was because he
loved them, he was leaving them, he didn’t want to leave a bunch of kings, he wanted to leave a group of
servants. He wanted his love to be in them. It was there, if you said to James, “do you love Peter?” if you
said to them at that last supper, “James do you love Peter?” he would have said “yes I love Peter, we were
fishermen together, we shared in many things together,” but it wasn’t enough to wash his feet. John spoke
at least twice in his letter about this love of God being perfected in them.
That is the process we are in; I would hope that you could say honestly in front of everyone here that you
love one another, I believe you do, but we want that love to grow. Paul was thankful when he wrote that

2nd letter to the Thessalonians, that that love that he spoke of in the first letter was growing, and there
deep appreciation for one another and they would do anything for one another, and one of the hardest
things to do for one another is to forgive one another, and to keep on forgiving and not to keep count. I just
wondered if John could have thought back to 60 years ago, I formed that number out, because it seems
that John was an old man when he wrote the book of Revelations, and when he saw the heart of Jesus
breaking, because he was so rejected and hated. Man did not know that they were crucifying the Prince of
Glory and their Redeemer, and then his own Father had to turn his face from him, don’t you think his heart
was breaking with pain and agony? I think it was. John was so close to Jesus; he could have felt that heart
breaking in front of him. What Jesus was doing, was dying for all the filthiness that comes out of our human
hearts. In Mark 6 it says “it is the things that come out of the heart that defile a man.” It mentions a list of
fornications, adulteries, murders, blaspheming and an evil eye, it goes on and on. That is what is coming
out of our human heart. His heart was breaking, because that’s who he was suffering for. The purpose of it
is so that he could put his love in our heart and heal it. Nothing is more healing than the love of God. His
love can heal a broken heart. If we let it in. Then he can put that love in us towards others, by his Holy
Spirit, when he comes into our heart, he comes with the Love of God, spreads it all abroad. As that hymn
says “love pervading all your soul,” wants to get into every part, and in every occasion that we would be
showing love. That is the one thing that Jesus said that all men would know we are his disciples, by the love
we have one for another.
That was the detail that Jesus mentioned, it seemed to me, that was like the chief thing he kept stressing at
that last supper, the last time that he would meet with them before he died. He wanted them to get that
lesson now, that they need to love one another like he was loving them. The 14th verse: “his head and his
hairs were white like wool, as white as snow.” Well that just speaks to me of his thoughts, they were pure,
they were always pure. Satan was able to tempt him, so that had to come through a thought, “make this
stone bread,” the thought was there, but he never fed on it. It never had a place in his mind where it could
rest, because he was so full of the mind of God. I think of the thoughts that he would have had on Calvary,
the hopeless thoughts, the thoughts a person would have in a lost eternity. John when he thought back 60
years, he could have thought about what he saw, the hairs of Jesus matted with blood and dripping down
his face from the crown of thorns. That was so that we could be purified in our mind, and that we could
have the mind of Christ, the mind of the Spirit.
We had an older brother, he has gone on into eternity, he oftentimes would say to us when a problem
arose, he would tell us, get the mind of the Spirit, it’s not like that comes by flipping a switch.It just meant
he wanted us to get quieted to seek the help of God’s Holy Spirit and get his mind on it. When a person gets
the mind of the Spirit on a matter, that means that we have to separate our own human feelings, our
thoughts on it and just wait till God gives us his thought on it, because his thought is going to be right. He
died so that we could have a pure mind. We are working on it, aren’t we? that is a big struggle for all of us,
is our thoughts. But keep up the struggle, I want to keep it up. The devil, if he could put those thoughts in
Jesus mind about turning the stones to bread, how much garbage could he put in our minds and
advertisements and the thoughts of men being expressed, hard thoughts, immoral thoughts, deceiving
thoughts and proud thoughts.
We are combating that all the time, there is grace to help us to have the mind of Christ. Then it goes on to
say about his eyes, there is a flame of fire, and to me that’s like a burning of love, “see the Saviour in
compassion,” John was seeing Jesus, he saw how he looked at the multitudes with eyes of love and

compassion. It says in the Song of Solomon that he had the eyes of a dove. The eyes of a dove to me are
like tender eyes and soft eyes, sometimes mourning eyes. God help our vision, how we look on others, how
you look on the feeble ones in your meeting, and do you see them with compassion, or do you see them in
a different way. The Pharisees had eyes, and I think we could say that their eyes were more like an eagle’s
eyes, the reason why I say that, is because they were very good at seeing a fault. They would test Jesus,
they were all looking at Jesus, seeing if they could find something, like lawyers, some little thing that they
could go after him with.
Some years ago, we were at a convention in New York, where the cabins were where the visitors stayed, on
a little bluff, there was a tree, and in that tree was a family of eagles. One day for lunch they had lamb and
after lunch one of the visiting brothers took a big plate of lamb and he put it out there in the field near the
tree. Five of six of us were standing there watching, waiting for the eagles to devour that lamb. But they did
not do anything. One of the fellows seemed to know what he was talking about, he said it might be days
before those eagles go after that lamb, because they are a very very suspicious bird. They want to make
sure it is truly dead and they are just suspicious, they will wait. That’s how the eyes were on Jesus, those
pharisees. We don’t want those kinds of eyes on our brethren, because if we have that kind of an eye, then
God could look on us that way too. I would rather have him look on me with doves’ eyes in my struggle to
please him, and I think he will if I can look upon my brother with those kinds of tender compassionate eyes.
The way I look upon my co-worker and people in the field. The weak ones as well as the strong. But I think
John would have thought back, maybe 60 years, and he would have saw those eyes of Jesus, and they were
crying, they were hurting and crying and crying and crying, because of the pain that he was facing, you
could say because all the things that people have done, and how we have looked on things that were not
Godlike. So that we could get a new set of eyes if you want to use that expression, and get a Heavenly
vision, to see things how God sees them from above. That’s how I want to see you, and that’s how we want
you to see us, how God sees us, because he sees with eyes of a dove towards his people, even when they
fail.
Then it mentions his feet like unto fine brass, as if it was burned in a furnace. Brass in the bible, especially
when the greatest example is that brazen serpent that Moses had to raise up, it was speaking of
judgement. Those that looked upon that brazen serpent, they did so with repentant eyes, they were being
judged and I think about the feet of Jesus, and I think about the judgements that Jesus gave, he said “all the
judgements of heaven is given to me,” because his purpose was to do the Lords will. And that’s how we will
have right judgement, man is full of terrible judgements, and it is usually what benefits me. My bias is
towards what’s going to suit me, and it can influence my judgement on matters. Jesus had the exact
judgement of heaven, because he was always seeking the will of God. Those feet on Calvary’s cross, they
were bleeding, with the nails put in them and suffering for all the wrong judgements that man has made.
Then it mentions his voice like the sound of many waters, it was powerful in eternity. Powerful, how
powerful was the words of Jesus, it seems that God made everything by his word and his word is
synonymous with Jesus. Like an old co-worker would say, that Jesus was like God’s spokesperson. He spoke
the world into existence. God is the greatest delegator that ever will be. Like even this message was
delegated through others. Jesus was that way, or the ministry wouldn’t be needed. Do you remember the
time when he raised Lazarus from the dead, do you remember what he said to the people nearby? He said
“unloose his grave clothes, and the napkin over him.” If Jesus gave the man life, couldn’t he have done that
simple little thing? of course he could, but he wanted them to have a little part in this, and they would be

close eye witnesses of that miracle. God was very kind to let them have a little part, he is very kind to let
you and his servants have a little part in another person’s salvation.
God does the drawing, he does the speaking to the heart, he does the revealing, he gives the Holy Spirit, he
gives forgiveness of sins, he gives enlightenment of the revelation, he gives peace, he gives the joy, and
then the workers can say they have a convert. All we did was just deliver a little message, and God did all
the rest, and he gave us the message to give. Isn’t it wonderful that he would let us have a little part in this?
He is going to let us have a little part with him in eternity. When he saw all this, it says in the 17th verse,
John said he fell at his feet as dead. Like an old brother said that John was just feeling that there was
nothing in him compared to Jesus. It does not sound really much different, does it? from those that will see
him that are not right with him, when he comes with the clouds. It says they were mourning, and it looks to
me like Johnwas kind of in that position then, but there was a voice that came to John that said “fear not.”
And that voice won’t be coming to those that are not ready. And so yes, we feel undone when we see
Jesus, but God wants to also give us the message, fear not,because I gave my son for you, and he has
washed you and loves you and washed you in his blood.
Hymn 385

Hymn 369 – Where Others Conquered

Wish I had something warm and fuzzy for this meeting, but I don’t. 

2 Timothy 3:1 – “perilous times shall come”

Verse 12 – “all that shall live godly shall suffer persecution” 

Talking about the future, not going to be easy times. Last couple of years, turn our thoughts to perilous times or dangerous times. So much uncertainty. Feeling like we are in perilous times and in danger of losing things that are valuable, and it takes us out of our comfort zone. Basically, expect it – not an unusual thing. 

Little by little this world changes and we hardly realize it has changed until we take time to look back. I grew up in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s – thought it was normal, simple. At school we would often stand up and sing “Oh Canada”, sometimes “God Save the Queen” and often repeat the Lord’s prayer…that was normal but is not allowed now. Not one child in my classroom was from a broken home. Saturday night the town shut down and nothing was open on Sunday. Nothing like that now. Illustration – put a frog in scalding water, it immediately jumps out; put it in cool water and warm it up slowly and you can roast him to death. 

Saying: “Hard times make strong people; strong people make good times; good times make weak people; weak people make hard times”. I started in the work in Moosomin – a lot of the friends there had experienced the dirty 30’s – valued what they had and content with what they had. There are perilous times coming, what do we expect? How do we prepare? 

Isaiah 28:16 – This chapter speaks about Jesus as the chief corner stone. Jesus, Paul, and Peter all talk about it as well. Says in this verse “he that believeth shall not make haste”. Another version says, “People won’t be running”. Back in Isaiah’s day, not good either. Looking for Jesus’ coming, and people would not be running scared. Only thing secure now is the chief corner stone. World is becoming more perilous because people are moving away from God. Back in the 60’s, God fearing people, Christian values and laws of land based on it. Looking back, we have moved away from that – will become perilous times, during our times. 

Have been studying about Jesus being born. Galatians 4:4 “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son…” That fulness of time – perilous and very low time in history, the exact time when God brought Jesus into the world – religiously, economically, socially, and politically. Reason for that- on the Judgement day we will stand alone before God and we can’t say “things were too perilous, I couldn’t do it” but He will say that He brought Jesus in at perilous time – no excuse not to get the power to do it. Wise men – perilous time and King said, “You go find baby Jesus and come back to me” and God warned them not to do that. Peter and John said in Acts 4: 19 “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye”. The main point today is that you are going to have to make some decisions going into the future, decisions with regards to children. All of us will have some choices and decisions that will not be easy to make – ARE WE GOING TO LISTEN TO MAN OR TO GOD? Get this balance right. If listened to the King, would have put baby’s life in danger. They listened to God. Joseph and Mary also got messages from God. Joseph was getting message through dreams. We dream when quiet and sleeping. Devil wants us to have no time for God, even in the night. Glad in the night when a thought comes from God. Joseph was a great man and got a message “you have a difficult decision here, I’m going to take you out of your comfort zone – go to Nazareth”. Going into perilous times – be sensitive and quiet and must get it right, and from God, and what is at stake? The life of Christ! Get message at the right time like Mary and Joseph.  

Things to expect: 

Luke 21:26 “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” Expect it, don’t be surprised. There is going to be a lot of fear. Guess what? No more fear than now – for the last 2 years. Media has a way of feeding that fear. When this fear goes away, next will be the environment. Don’t listen to all the news (both sides), it’s all disturbing – pitting one person against another, all mixed up in politics and in money.  

Revelation 21 lists those going to a lost eternity and first one mentioned is the “fearful” … wonder why? If our confidence is in God and following Jesus and we’re confident that Jesus is on the throne, no need to be fearful. Some of this threat and fear over us has to do with death. If our reaction to all this is fear and paranoia – not a good sign. “To depart and be with Christ is far better” – way better than what we have now. Isaiah said people are running – running scared because death is a threat. Seeing Reid sitting here – his Grandpa Hugh went to see doctor and doctor said, “Your health is in trouble, you need to go home and get house in order”. He replied to doctor “My house is in order”. His wife, Florence, asked him if he should have said that. Hugh replied “what will we change? “What will we do different?” 

Luke 17:26, 27 – Jesus cited 2 times when perilous times come and God shuts things down. Jesus said you expect that time to come again; level of sin is going to creep right back up. There are going to be scoffers but don’t ever kid yourself – it happened in Noah’s day. Our God is practical – looking down on His creation and when He sees nothing fruitful coming out of earth to Him, He will shut it down.  

Verse 28 – Days of Lot – another time in history – foreshadowing that He will do it big scale – shut world down. Children are being taught now Sodom and Gomorrah – okay with gender stuff etc. Always happened in history. When we get to a certain level, God will shut it down. Kind of exciting to think that in my lifetime that it has moved that far.  

“Dare to be a Daniel; Dare to stand alone; Dare to have a purpose; Dare to make it known” Our Bible is full of inspirational people. Dare to be a Shiphrah and Puah; Dare to be an Esther; Dare to be a Paul; Dare to be a follower of Jesus.

Exodus 1:15 – Shiphrah & Puah – these were professional midwives, delivering babies and had instruction from top down to do harm to baby boys, and they wouldn’t do it – had to deal with it like Peter and John i.e., “do we hearken to voice of man or voice of God”. Would have cost them their head. Professional friends put in hard places, being asked to do something from above, morally wrong, hard decision, hope God’s people can dare to be a Daniel, Shiphrah and Puah. If you do the right thing for God, God is no man’s debtor – BIG ACT OF FAITH TO ACT ON THIS! It is going to get worse – people in different professions being asked to do something morally wrong and have worked hard for their careers. Hope you can dare to be a Shiphrah and Puah and not bend to what is being asked. Society now has an attack on children and was currently too. Admire people who are not afraid to bring children into this world. Daughter of Levi – had this little boy and hid him because he needed protection. Little ark was made of reeds and slime, typifying discipline and love – just the right mixture. Put something in that child – refused all the riches of Egypt, suffered affliction and became a leader. 

Daniel – 1st Sunday a.m. of 2022, 3 of them in the little meeting all spoke of Daniel – not coincidence – in the mind of a lot of us – these are perilous times and world is uncertain. How did Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego get through it? Inspired by this – if they could do it, so can we. Daniel 1: 8– King’s diet put before Daniel, he said “no”. Times when we will be put under a lot of pressure (may not seem like it is such a bad thing and even a little appealing) but know the answer is “no”. That was an enemy King, didn’t let him decide what He will put in his body. Powers are going to say, “You do what we say even with your own bodies, we know better than you”. Realize where that is coming from, like Peter and John – “DO I LISTEN TO MAN OR TO GOD?” 

Daniel 3 – everyone bowing down to monstrosity – “Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it and right is right even when nobody is doing it”. Dare to be a Daniel – easy to join in when everyone is doing it, get emotion into it – what was happening in chapter 3. If you don’t bow to this, we will turn up the heat to you = coercion! (the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats) Will make it very hot for you – world is going to tell you – “if you don’t do what we ask you to do, we will turn heat up – even lose your job, career, wages – we’re going to make it hot”. In all these cases, when they did what was right, they always prospered. God is no man’s debtor. 

Prayer of Jesus in John 17:14 “…the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15, I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil”. Jesus doesn’t expect us to escape this, but all Heaven is behind God’s people with the decision they have to make. 

Go into the future with courage! 

By dead reckoning, the Mariana Trench is located in the Pacific Ocean at 11 degrees 22′ N. by 142 degrees 36′ E., south of Guam heading towards Yap. In 1960 the U.S. Naval bathyscaph “Trieste” guided by Lieutenant Don Walsh and Oceanographer, Jacques Piccard submerged to a record depth of 35,310 feet or 10,900 meters. The location in the trench known as “Challenger Deep” is almost 7 miles deep. You could place Mount Everest in that trench and cover it with over a mile of water above. From the Ocean’s surface, you can release a 12 pound Cannonball, which dropping at 10 feet per second, would take just over an hour to reach the ocean floor. The pressure at the floor is 18,000 pounds per square inch! That is the combined weight of 50 U.S. Sherman army tanks all stacked up and distributed over it’s footprint. Immense pressure! Yet when the bathyscaph settled on the bottom, and these men turned on the lights and peered out of it’s thick plexiglass bubble window, to their utter amazement they saw living creatures; strange fish and worm-like creatures.

How could life possibly exist in that seemingly impossible habitat without it being crushed? The answer is rather simple. There is inside of those creatures a pressure that is greater than the pressure on the outside.

It reminds me of what is written in 1 John 4:4, “And ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world”.

In the world there is tremendous pressure. In society today there is immense pressure placed on everyone. Economical pressure, Political Pressure, Family pressure, Peer pressure, and each type brings stress and even distress. The Lord’s people, that is, God’s children, are not exempt from such. However, God puts into their lives something special from Himself that the world cannot give. When the Holy Spirit of God dwells within you, your perspective on life itself changes and you begin to value eternal things more than the earthly, temporal things.

Uncle Howard Mooney as an old Brother Worker used to tell us that when he was a boy, there was little crime. Illegal Drugs were never heard of. The temptations to sin were few. But at the same time, the privileges of Fellowship were few and far between. If his family was able to attend one convention every 2 or 3 years, they were fortunate. If the Workers came to see them once in a year, that was very special. Sometimes there were no Gospel meetings to go to. But nowadays, there is much crime, many drugs, much temptation, immorality in society. But, our Friends have many privileges; of Fellowship Meetings, Bible studies, Gospel Meetings, and often several Conventions in a year. Above the pressure of evil without, is the greater pressure of good within. Romans 5:20, “Where sin did abounded, grace did much more abound.”

Matthew 10:36 – Family pressure – Noah’s 3 Daughter In Laws waiting inside the door of the Ark wondering, “Where are my mother and father, brothers and sisters? Why aren’t they coming inside the Ark? Don’t they realize this is the only way of salvation? They would have felt pressure from their natural family to step outside and leave the safety of the Ark. But the pressure to remain inside was greater than the pressure to go outside.

Song of Solomon 4:16 The North and South winds are Invisible high pressure systems. The winds would have carried the fragrance of the flowers inside of the garden up and over the walls and would have been enjoyed by the neighbors. God allows His people to face pressure for the purpose of revealing to others the sweet spiritual fragrance inside their heart.

Daniel 6:7,10 Daniel was pressured to not pray to God for 30 days or else be cast into a den of lions. But the daily desire in his soul for fellowship with God was greater than the pressure to adhere to man’s favor. He felt it was safer to be in a den of Lions with God, than in a palace without God. Therefore, he still prayed every day.

Joshua Heifetz was the world’s greatest violinist. He acknowledged, “If I don’t practice my violin today, I sense the loss of quality. If I don’t practice my violin for two days, my wife can tell the loss of quality. If I don’t play for 3 days, everyone around me knows”. That seems to hold true for my prayer life as well.

Acts 12:6 The peace within Peter’s heart was greater than all the outward stress of Herod’s purpose to slay him in the morning. Thus he could peaceably sleep like a baby, though tightly guarded by 16 soldiers. How is that possible? He was tapping into the Lord’s promise. John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”.

Our God allows His children to pass through tough experiences of “pressure” so that His work can be purified and perfected within us, just as Gold is purified in the fire. We are thankful the Baptism of fire is never greater than the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, which enables you and I to be an overcomer. God allows His people to be tested and tried for the purpose of revealing our quality of character, and to increase our strength of faith, and to demonstrate its very existence. The strength of our faith is measured by how much we are willing to suffer for it. The testing of one’s faith drives believers to deeper communion and greater trust in Christ.

Proverbs 30:18, “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not – The way of an eagle in the air……” and Isaiah 40:28, “Hast thou not know, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.” Hebrews 4:10, “ For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any fall after the same example of unbelief.”

I want to paint a little picture for your mind. On the ranch where I grew up, there is often, because there’s livestock, once in a while an animal dies. It is just a normal thing that happens. You don’t like it to happen, you do your best to keep it from happening, but it does happen. In a certain valley, there is a spot where those animals went, it was called the bone pile. That animal was carried there and dumped there. The gators and the bears and certain birds would come and feed on that carcass. One particular day, we were driving up that valley and we saw the latest death. We were approaching it and as we got closer, we noticed that there were two bald eagles feeding on that carcass. As we got closer, those bald eagles decided we are a danger, and they got out of there. One would assume that those eagles would have flown from there, but that wasn’t what they did. In a sense, it was not very beautiful. Not like what Solomon saw; they had been gorging themselves on that meat and they were full and they waddled out of there, they walked. One went up the valley on the side of the valley to the right, and the other went to the side of the valley to the left. There was not much grace there, there was no grace, anything but grace.

It wasn’t very appealing, there was a bit of a waddle, a bit of a walk, a hop, gangly, they had their wings outstretched and they were walking up the valley. Then the one on the right, the one on the left did the same thing a little later, but the one on the right had turned around and faced down the side of the valley, and took a few mighty hops and jumps and a number of flaps with the wings, and then all of a sudden, a picture that wasn’t very graceful turned into a picture that was a beauty. All the effort because I noticed that one of those bald eagles, the one closest to us, was puffing as it was going up the hill. It went from exertion to rest. That eagle stopped moving, other than maybe the tail feathers were moving just ever so slightly, and the feathers on the wings were moving a bit, but it had its wings outstretched. It began to soar in a circle, glide and it went up and up and up, until it disappeared from our view, and we saw it no more. That was beautiful, and that was rest, that eagle entered into a rest. It was a beautiful sight. That’s what Solomon said about the eagle that are too wonderful. The way of the eagle in the air, it’s a wonderful thing to see, it’s a beautiful thing to see. The eagle in the air.

Have you ever seen it? It’s amazing to see, they have tapped a source of strength that is far greater than them, a power that is far greater than them. We cannot see, but that power lifts the heavier-than-air bird high into the sky. They know that power and they know how to use it. Do you know what’s more beautiful than an eagle in the air? It’s to see men and women overcome the downward gravitational pulls of their human flesh and human desires. The sense to soar with the eagles, getting victory over this human flesh to leave it behind. To live at a higher level than living at the level of the flesh. To soar above that to overcome the downward pull of our human nature. To see people that have overcome this world, and all that it holds out, all its promises, empty promises. All those promises of glory and honour and praise and glitter and glamour. But a people that overcome that downward pull and have lived at a higher level in this world. The sense to soar with the eagles. To see a people, it’s a beautiful sight to see, a people that have been tempted by Satan, and all his lies, and all his deceit, and yet to overcome that downward pull. To not let it pull them down, but to go up and up, closer to the things of heaven, it’s a beautiful sight, it’s a wonderful thing to see.

We have just been through some wonderful days here at convention, wonderful days of encouragement and feeding. But I hope that the desire of your heart is the same as mine and the same as the desire of God’s heart, and we would want to soar with the eagles. We would want to tap into that unseen power that is far greater than anything we have, but is unlimited. That we would live at a higher level. That we would overcome the downward pulls of the world, the flesh, and the devil. You know one interesting thing, that man went to the moon, they found out that as they left this earth the gravitational pull of the earth became less, until they got to that place with the zero gravity. Then as they got closer to the moon, the greater the pull of the moon. You know, it’s wonderful to see people, it’s a beautiful thing to see people that deserted the pull of this world, the pull of this earth, the pull of the flesh, the pull of Satan, it became less and less and the pull of Heaven is greater and greater. It’s a wonderful thing to see, it’s a beautiful thing to see. We want our days to be like that, we want to overcome the pulls of these things, and let the pull of Heaven be greater, that’s what we want.

Solomon said about the eagles, “…that I know not, I know it not..” I don’t know if I have it right, but I wondered if what he meant by “I know it not,” is that I don’t understand how those eagles, heavier than air, can lift above this earth without even flapping their wings. A little bit to get started but after that, stillness, and they have tapped a source of power. He probably didn’t understand that power. Because of flight, we maybe understand just the tip of the iceberg about that power, just a little bit of that power, we understand just a little of that power, today, because we know flight. But I am sure that there is a lot about the eagles, that we still don’t even know to this day. We understand that the sun beats down on the earth and heats the earth up, and then the earth releases its heat and warms the air around it. Warm air is lighter than cold air and therefore warm air starts to rise up, and you get that updraft, that heated updraft that the eagle has learned to tap into.

A power far greater than us all, to lift us up from this earth. I am sure that eagle doesn’t even know the theory that we have put out about it, but the eagle knows how to use it and that’s all that matters. You know this Holy Spirit, the power from Heaven to lift us above the earth, above these things that hold us down. That is a power, we don’t know how it works, I don’t know how it works, but that doesn’t matter, all that matters is that we know it works and that we tap into it, that’s what matters. Don’t waste time to figure out how it works, just get into it. Put yourself into the Spirit. Get yourself there and use it, tap it. Use the power, don’t try to figure it out, just use it. I wondered how that eagle, and I don’t know if I know for sure, but I do know the spiritual side. I wondered how that eagle knows when it’s in the thermal. Maybe it feels the warmth, maybe it feels a little air moving through its feathers, I don’t know. But I do know, that when we know we are in the Spirit. It’s a feeling I can’t explain it, but it’s something we feel and we know we’re there, and we just need to tap into it and use it.

You know, it would have been a foolish thing if that eagle had found that thermal, and just kept on walking and walked to the top of the hill, and looked around and said, “Oh, there is a higher hill,” and climbed to the top of that hill; it would have been a foolish thing. I would probably say to the eagle,, “Why don’t you use your wings? Why don’t you use the thermal? Why walk and use your own strength?” But you know it’s like that, there is a word to explain that, “self-righteousness.” Using just your own strength to get to a higher level, not relying on God, just using my own abilities, my own strength. I know that eagle can’t climb to the top of Everest, but if it did – the highest point on this earth, as high above the ground it might be – it will be right on the ground, it will still be earthbound, even if it’s on the top of Everest. You know if we rely on our own strength and our own self-righteousness, and we try to climb as high as we can go, we are still just world bound, flesh bound and devil bound. We haven’t got above it, our feet are still firmly planted on the earth. Remember that, don’t do it in your own strength.

I can mention those verses, “….Let’s labour to enter into that rest….” There is a labour. We have to labour to get into the Spirit. There is a labour. I was getting ready for a meeting on Friday, there was a labour at the beginning of this week. I was trying to get into the Spirit. I thought, “Well, it should be easier for the next meeting.” But there was a labour again to get into the Spirit. I am so thankful for that verse that says, “…..wait on the Lord..” patiently, and He will give you strength to do it, He will give you a message. I love those words of Jesus in Luke 11:13, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” You know, it’s a labour to ask God for the Spirit, we have to humble ourselves in prayer and ask for the Spirit, but if we do, He will give it to us. I have learnt that to get a message for the meeting is just a small part, the greater part is to get myself in the Spirit, that’s a greater labour. I can have a message that’s right, a message that’s true, doctrinally right and true, maybe even think I know what the needs are, but if I am not in the Spirit, that message will be dead. There won’t be bread, there won’t be life to it. But if I make sure that I labour to get into the Spirit, the message will be given me, and even if it’s a tiny little message and it seems insignificant, God can bless it and feed the five thousand.

That’s just getting ready for a meeting – what about getting ready for a day? You know I don’t want these just to be words from my mouth, I want it to be actual in the days that are ahead. That I would put a lot of labour into entering into that rest of Spirit, a calmness, that eagle found itself in that thermal, to find that place in the Spirit. I want to labour everyday to get there. We are going to face things in the days ahead. There are going to be tests, trials, and difficulties. God never promised us to have a perfect life, an easy life, we are going to have tribulation in the days ahead. But if I have been diligent every day to labour to enter into that perfect rest, that calmness, that stillness in the Spirit. He will lift me and lift you above the tendencies of your human nature, above the temptations of Satan, above the downward pull of this world. He will lift you above that. You know there is still a labour, a greater labour, that eagle there is a great labour to get into the Spirit and that rest, and being in the Spirit, the Will of God, there is great labour. There is still labour, the eagle still had to move those feathers a little bit to stay within the thermal, but there was a lot less of a labour, than the labour to get there. You know there is a labour to stay in the Spirit of God. But God’s grace and God’s power is far greater than anything that we are ever going to put into it. But we just have to stay within His will, stay within the thermal, stay within the Will of God, that upward power. If we stay there, He will lift us up. If that eagle went out of that thermal, it would just mean going down. But as long as he stayed there, he went up. If we labour every day to just get into the Spirit, and we labour to stay there, God will lift us up.

It says there in that verse in Hebrews, “….He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His…” Six days it took God to create this earth, and the seventh day He rested from the natural creation, and He has yet to pick up a hand, even to grease the axle that this earth rotates on. It is still going as He has planned. He is laboring, He is laboring for souls, He is working 24/7 for souls, but He is resting from the natural works. We need to cease from our works, you know that there are some of our works, that are not bad works, you have a job, you have a family, you have a home. We in the ministry have a field, we have a co-worker, we have contacts, who we need to labour for. We have to cease from our own works. So how do we do that? Well, we labour in prayer as to the Lord. “Lord, what must I do today? What do You want me to do?” He knows that we have our natural things that we have to deal with, but He will help us to deal with them properly. You know we could get up in the morning, and start our list. Brush our teeth, make breakfast, go to work, do whatever we have to do, get groceries, come home and “Oh!,” make some time for God. That is not what God wants, just our spare time. No, we start the day getting into His Spirit, “….Lord help me today to be what I should be, help me do what I should do….” When we have done that, we have got that feeling that we are in the Spirit, and we can face the day. The Lord will help us face it better than we have ever done. Things will come up, and we will have the right Spirit.

I was thinking of Jesus and how Jesus soared with the eagles. Far better than any of us ever will, but He did it. A wonderful, beautiful picture, to see Jesus soaring with the eagles, our perfect example. On the cross, the hardest time of His life, most people were mocking Him saying, “….if thou be the Christ, take Thyself off the cross….” His flesh was crying out, “….Yes do it…” but Jesus didn’t do it, because He was diligent in prayer the night before. “Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless not My will but Thine be done.” He got into the Spirit, and the Angels came and strengthened Him, and He soared with the eagles. He got above His human desires, He got victory. You know it could have been so easy to give in to the world, they said, “Come off,” but that’s not what He did, He got the victory over the world. If you think of them and how they hurt Him, what they did to Him, cruel things. But what did He say, His last words, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He soared with the eagles, He got the victory over His human nature. You think of Jesus between those two thieves on the cross, the one mocking Him, saying, “….take us off, and yourself off…” He could easily have said some harsh words to him, but He didn’t, He said, “Father, forgive them.” He got the victory over His human nature.

If you think of the other thief on the other side, who said unto Him, “…remember me when Thou hast entered into thy Kingdom.” Jesus gave him words of hope, “….today, you will be with Me in paradise….” It would have been so easy to say by His human pain and suffering, “You get what you deserve.” No, He gave him hope, He gave him hope. That’s not human, that’s soaring with the eagles. I think of Jesus, when He looked down upon His mother, and He saw the need of His mother and He forgot His own pain, and His own suffering, and His own needs. He saw that disciple who He loved, and He said to him, “…..your mother…” and He said to His mother, “….your son…” He gave comfort when He could have so easily complained about the pain. He rose above His human pain, His human suffering in the power of the spirit. You know Jesus’ human strength was finished. He had to get someone else to bear the cross for Him to get to Calvary. His human strength was exhausted, but He was going on in the unseen strength of God. That’s what was lifting above His human nature. The world and the temptation to come off the cross. That’s what was giving Him the strength, the Holy Spirit.

That verse in Isaiah 40:28, “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding.” The strength of God, you can’t measure it, it’s infinite, it’s unmeasurable, we cannot measure the strength of God. I just had this little thought today, about this; when we are desiring something that is unmeasurable, and there is unlimited amount of it, we can never be greedy. You know we get greedy when we desire gold and silver, because there is only so much of it, but with the Holy Spirit, we can’t be greedy, because if we are all like Jesus, and we all had the Holy Spirit without measure, there would still be much left over to help anybody else that wanted it. Unlimited amount of it. To think of that power of God, that that could be ours. All we have to do is ask for it, and get within the level of God, and He will lift us up. Unlimited, unmeasurable, and no one will ever lack. Maybe the only one that lacks, maybe the only thing that makes a lack, is us, by limiting how much He gives us. We limit Him, He doesn’t limit us.

It says there, well you young men, “…even they will faint…” even they will get weak. The young men will faint, that is the strength of man, even the young men, those that are at their peak, those that are at their best, at their strongest. You can still measure their strength, how much they can collect, how fast they can run, how long they can run, but eventually they will faint and their strength will fail. Once they reach that peak, well then it’s all downhill from there. Some, most of us in this room, are looking back at our peak, some of you are looking towards it. Once you cross that peak, once you reach it, it’s downhill. But to think of our elderly in the care home. The elderly amongst us, it’s not easy growing old. You lose your dignity. But if you get into the Spirit, you will soar with the eagles. It’s not easy being in the care home, and people looking after you, and doing things that you would normally do yourself, that you can’t do now. But to be gracious about it, that’s getting into the Spirit, and that’s soaring with the eagles. That’s living at a higher level, and you can’t do that yourself.

You know that eagle has nothing to glory about the heights he gets to, because it’s not him lifting himself that high, it’s the thermal lifting him. You know, we have nothing to glory in ourselves about the heights that we can get to in the grace and Spirit of God. We have nothing to glory about that, we have to give the glory to God, because He is the one lifting us on high, He is the one getting us there. If we start taking the glory for ourselves, that’s getting out of the Will of God, it is a downhill slope from there. There is no pride in the Spirit of God, no room for pride.

One last little thought – I had a companion; he often said this saying in humour, maybe when we are teasing one another a little bit. He would say this in humour, but it has a ring of truth to it; he would say, “How can I soar with the eagles, when all my friends are turkeys?” Well, the truth of that is, that we better be careful who our friends are. We want to soar with the eagles. We want to pick friends, that love to soar, who love to be in the Spirit. Pick your friends that way. I am talking to the young people; when you have the most decisions to make in your youth, the most important decisions, choose people who love to get into the Spirit, because then you can soar with the eagles, you can go to heights unimaginable with your friends and with the power of God. Choose your friends wisely. It doesn’t mean you can’t be friendly to this world, but they are not your friends. In one of the letters it says, it’s not the exact quote, “….be not a friend of the world, because a friend of the world, is not a friend of God…” We still have to be friendly, though it’s two different things, because how else are we going to win souls to the will of God if we are not friendly to the world, but they are not our friends. Our most important friend is Jesus and keep Him our friend because He will help us to soar to heights unimaginable.

So ahead, we will face tests, if we can just wait upon the Lord in prayer at the start of the day, and at the end of the day, we wait upon the Lord in prayer. We say sorry for the little mistakes that we have made and it will make it easier for the next day. If the next day, God sees fit to grant us another day, it will make it easier for that day to get into His presence again, so that we can access His Spirit to get above. We are going to face tests in the days ahead; spend time to get into the presence of God, so that in the year ahead you can soar with the eagles, you can go to heights that you have never done before. Be diligent in getting into the Spirit, at the start of the day, and you will have wonderful victorious days, and you can come back if God sees fit, in a year’s time and you can praise the Lord for the heights He has taken you to.

I Corinthians 13:4-8 gives the characteristics of charity, which is divine love that is only possible with the help of the Spirit. Thinking about these characteristics, which are all found in Jesus, they are the things which make someone a pleasure to be around. When I think about those people with whom I look forward to spending time, I notice that at least one if not many of these characteristics tend to be present:

· Longsuffering while being kind – more than just enduring and also being kind, but being kind while you suffer because the suffering does not change your spirit or attitude.

· Not envious of what others have/are – content with what is your lot while also desiring the best for others.

· Not boasting self to be more or greater than another.

· Always acting in a manner that shows the Lord’s love.

· Not looking out for #1 at another’s expense.

· Not short-tempered or getting upset over little things.

· Thinking on good things as mentioned in Philemon 4:8.

· Not finding joy in getting your own way if it is in opposition to what is true and like Jesus.

· Willing to endure even if it means suffering because you believe the Lord and every word He said or taught.

This kind of love is of God and is eternal but it is not natural instinct to mankind and goes against the flesh. Therefore, when we find these characteristics in another, we rejoice to see a piece of the Lord in a life.

The first three verses of this chapter mention many things that the world would prize as good works or profitable endeavors to be praised but without charity, even all of that is empty and vain in the eyes of the Lord. It is letting the Lord lead, guide, and inspire us that makes our lives savor of heavenly things and brings us nearer to the Father and our Savior, which in the long run is more rewarding than a little recognition or praise from people who may not even remember you in a few years and definitely will not even be around when this life and the natural creation have finished their purpose. Let us strive to allow the Spirit to dwell within us and to guide every aspect of our lives so that charity and the likeness of Jesus may be the savor that comes forth from our lives.

Continuing in Joshua, I noticed it spoke about Manasseh that he had Gilead and Bashan for his inheritance because he was a man of war. I think we could say any of God’s children that would have an inheritance in this kingdom would be because they fought the good fight of faith and laid hold upon eternal life. I think of those that I know who have been faithful in the harvest field, and they have been men and women of war, they fought the battle to gain the victory not only for themselves but for God’s children.

I noticed they couldn’t entirely drive out the Canaanites in Joshua 17:12 but when they “were waxen strong,” they put them under tribute. Reminds us of our human side, and we will always have to deal with that, but we never want it to be our master, we want to be strong with the help of God and keep it as a servant.

I noticed also when the children of Joseph were wanting a larger inheritance, Joshua told them to cut down the wood and use that land for fruitfulness. I remember a pasture that had actually grown up into trees that could be harvested, and the people didn’t even realize they had timber because they were old, etc.! We could have a lot of wood, hay, and stubble in our lives that could take up a lot of territory that if we cut out would let us be more fruitful and give God the place He really deserves. It’s always the path to blessing!

We studied Proverbs 9 the other day. It speaks of Wisdom calling to the simple to come in to her, forsake the foolish, and live. Later on in the chapter, it talks about a foolish woman also calling the simple to come in to her. But in the last verse, it says, “Her guests are in the depths of Hell.” Certainly not a place we want to be.

I wondered for a while what would keep the good, simple people who would want to turn in to Wisdom from going to the foolish woman as they were both calling for the simple. Then the thought came that God cares for His own.

There are many different definitions for simple. The first was: free from guile, innocent. Another was: lacking in intelligence, stupid.

We want to make sure we are the right kind of simple, the kind the Lord can work with.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Thankful again for Jesus’s kind invitation to come to Him. Wherever we are, whoever we are, we can seek to be close to Jesus.

Matthew 11:29-30, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” First, we come to Jesus. We feel some separation from the world, maybe from some friends and family, perhaps from our own thoughts and feelings. After coming into His presence, we find willingness to submit to the yoke. Instead of feeling burdened, we feel the weights become lighter as we are able to take feeble steps with our Savior. In the yoke, we learn more about His voice, His touch, His correction, His love, His forgiveness, His strength. In learning about Jesus and His power to keep us, we find rest. Rest from fear, anxiety, and pain.

I have loved looking at Hymn 223, “Lord, I Would Take Thy Yoke.” We see Jesus in a lowly manger and in comparison, our vain, proud accomplishments become very empty. We then look at Jesus washing the feet of His disciples, a king bending low, and we learn about being meek and lowly in heart and finding strength in gentleness. Next, we see Jesus in Gethsemane, praying that God’s will would be done and we learn deeper submission and a deeper love for God’s will and the souls of others. Lastly, we take the yoke and hear a whisper coming from Calvary, “Father, forgive, they know not what they do,” and we learn about real forgiveness.

I wonder if each day the Lord waits for us to ask for the yoke – maybe not using that word specifically, but praying for help and being willing to submit. We have a choice and Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you.” In my heart, I feel like Jesus was pleading, “Please take it; it will make all the difference for you.” Maybe some days, we resist the yoke because we are afraid, proud, or unwilling. I want to be willing for the yoke because it brings the privilege of being near Jesus and brings rest for my soul.

Some thoughts about Jesus teaching His disciples, and some “lessons” He needed to teach more than once.

Matthew 18:1, the disciples saying, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” The answer was verse 4, “Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child.” In chapter 19:13, when little children were brought unto Jesus “that He should put His hands on them, and pray,” the disciples seemingly had failed to learn how much Jesus admired the characteristics in little children.

Mark 10:13, “And they brought young children to Him, that He should touch them…His disciples rebuked those that brought them.”

Verse 14, “But when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased, and said unto them, ‘Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of God.”

Verse 16, “And He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them.”

Luke 18:15, “And they brought unto Him also infants, that He would touch them,” but the disciples rebuked them.

Verse 16, “But Jesus called them unto Him, and said, ‘Suffer little children to come unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of God.”

Luke 22:24, the thought again of who among them was greatest! Jesus was so patient with them, but the standard never changed, and it seems that most of the disciples did continue to learn and to follow the teachings of Jesus. I’ve often been glad that some things have been repeated over and over to me so that I can finally get the lesson!

This of “being like a little child” seems to be what will open the door to more vital lessons that we can learn from Jesus’ example.

Paul wrote in II Corinthians 11:3, about the simplicity that is in Christ. To be willing “to be a disciple” keeps us “in the school” of Jesus, our example and teacher — and I want to be a good student and to keep learning from this greatest of all teachers!

James 5:14, “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

“Is any sick?” I think of spiritual sickness. We all need help at times, most of the time. I’m glad we’re a praying people, and we can pray for one another. We can all have the spirit of an elder, caring for one another and praying for others, for those closest to us whom we might know a bit of their struggle, like our little meeting. Doing so is like anointing them with oil, maybe like helping them have the Lord’s Spirit and blessing.

Verse 15, “the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” Our prayers can and are being a help to others.

Verse 16, “Confess your faults one to another.” That’s kind of what we do in fellowship meetings sometimes. Confess your faults, not your sins. We don’t express every time we’ve sinned, but sometimes we do express our weaknesses, our tendencies to shortcomings, and those we know in our little meeting and maybe know a bit of their struggle. We can pray for them in secret and our prayers will be effectual.

Verses 16-18 talks about Elijah caring for those people.

Enjoyed reading some in Hebrews 12 again. There are quite a few things we can do as we run the race that is set before us. The most important one is to keep focused on Jesus – the Author and Finisher of our faith. We don’t have to look behind us while we run if we look at Jesus because He is ahead and has finished the course we are running now. He made it in spite of great obstacles and we realize we won’t have to face what He faced while we run the race. There are some parts of the race that don’t require speed but rather endurance! Jesus endured the cross, He endured a contradiction of sinners against Himself and we are asked to endure the chastening of God. There is a good bit said about receiving correction. One thing that helps us to endure chastening is that we realize it is given because God loves and cares for us as sons. No chastening seems joyous to us but it is what it brings afterwards that makes it worthwhile – the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

Other things that will help us run the race:

(1) Make straight paths for your feet. If we follow the same course Jesus took, that will be a straight path! If there is any lameness in us, that will heal us.

(2) Keep the Lord in view always. We do that by following peace with all men. Otherwise, the Lord is hidden from our view.

(3) Be careful of roots that could trip us and make us fall – the root of bitterness can spring up and not only trip us up but others, too!

(4) Don’t be so sure of victory that we wake up too late and realize we have lost the prize. Esau would have inherited the blessing but lost it because he trusted too much in the birthright that was his as the first-born. He felt that entitled him to the prize simply because of his place but he lost his place because he began to value what fed his flesh more than what fed his spirit. No amount of tears could restore what he had lost.

We need to endure to the very end that all that has been promised can be ours in eternity.

We will read from I Peter 1:2, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ; Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” So the thing that stood out to me, reading this letter, something we have been hearing about this convention, and hope you don’t mind, hearing about it again, and that’s obedience. It’s a very necessary part of our salvation…can’t go to heaven without it, and sometimes, not just easy to hear. I was thinking before the meeting, several years ago, this Cuban man was telling me about the time, he was visiting his sister and her family, and they had a little boy about five or six years old. Think it was a Saturday morning, the little boy was sitting on the couch, reading his Bible, so Uncle sat next to him, and had his Bible, and they were going to read together. So he thought he would pick out an appropriate verse for his little nephew, so he went to Ephesians 6, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” The little boy heard that and just said: “Uncle, how about you read your Bible, and I’ll read mine.” Not easy to take at any age, is it?

Obedience, it’s something that pleases the Lord. You notice there it said “Elect.” God chose us, He saw us before we saw Him. Foreknowledge! When He chose us, it was through the separation, sanctification; it’s just like a separation from the world, to the Lord, and it was with this purpose, that we would obey. That was His plan, He did not predestinate a people, but He did predestinate a way in His Son, and He wanted a family like His Son. You can’t be like His son, unless you obey. We were telling some folk the other night, about how we heard the truth, and this young man at school, he never told me he was religious, he just lived it. I remember wanting to be like him, and I tried to imitate him. But you know, I could not capture the thing I wanted most. That was this peace and contentment and joy, and you know why? Because I was not yet a child of God, and I was not obeying God, that was a secret thing that was in his heart towards God, and God gave him this peace that we read here too, and he gives us the grace to obey. There is just no way around it.

I’ll tell you this story. A few years ago, we were at a convention in England, and someone told me that there was a lady there, that had professed, that was in the same religion as I was. She was a nun, and I wanted to meet her, and hear her testimony. So they arranged after lunch one day, that we would visit, at the back of the dining tent, so we introduced each other. She was like a kind of melancholy person, kind of sad in a sense, and I said, “I hear you have a interesting testimony.” She said, “My testimony is a sad testimony,” and that really surprised me, because my testimony is not a sad testimony, but a very, very happy one. She said, “My testimony is a sad testimony, because I professed before I became a nun.” I had never heard that before, and so she went on to tell us the story, that she was about 18, 19, or so, and she became a teacher, maybe she was 20. She couldn’t teach there, because there weren’t any openings, but there was one in Spain, but it was in this religious school. So she was with these nuns, and she said, “I just admired them so much that I wanted to become one, too.” So she had to go through a three year schooling, and then she was a nun for 10 years. So we asked her, “So whatever turned you back?” She said, “Well, it all had to do with this one nun, they called her Mother Superior, she was over the others, and she was dying of cancer, she was in her early 50s. I loved her with all my heart, I adored her. Before she died, she gathered all us young nuns by her bedside.” She was really telling them, like a last message, and she said, “I should be telling you, that I am looking forward to seeing my Heavenly Father, but I am sorry to tell you, that I don’t even know the God I have been serving all these years – that was like a dagger in my heart.”

But she was so involved, and well, she went to Peru, and she was there a little while, and she decided that she will just give her life there in Peru, helping the poor. But she had to come back, and take some courses, and there was quite an involved process that she didn’t realise in getting a visa to teach down there. So she had some free time. Her mother was professing in England, so she went back to where her mother was, and she had a little place there, she had to wait some months. So her mother invited her to a Gospel Meeting, so she went to the Gospel Meeting and after the Gospel Meeting, she went up to the workers and she said to them, “I have been sacrificing my life on the wrong altar, all these years.” Then she said: “There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t know that I was doing the wrong thing, but I just thought I could make up for it with sacrifice.” You can’t do it. That sometimes gets into our mind, we make some great sacrifice, and the Lord has to accept that. But there is no sacrifice that He will accept, aside from obedience, it’s a must.

You know, I could tell you about King Saul, it’s a story you know in I Samuel 15. Samuel was sent by the Lord to tell King Saul, this is a very nice chapter, we studied at preps last year, “Samuel also said unto Saul, ‘The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord.’” That was very, very kind of the Lord, because two chapters later, He told him, “Your kingdom will not continue.” But He sent to give him another chance, because our God is a God of another chance, isn’t He? So He said, “You go out and destroy these Amalekites, destroy them all, and everything that they have.” So he gets about 200,000 footmen and 10,000 men of Judah, and goes after those Amalekites, and as you know, he destroys all of them, but he saves the King and he saves some sheep and oxen and so forth. Here comes Samuel, and King Saul saluted him, and says, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” So Samuel the Prophet says, “What does this mean, ‘The bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen?’” An old brother worker said one time, “You know the thing about our flesh, and the things that we don’t put to death, is going to be crying out to be fed.” These were crying out to be fed. And Saul said, “…I did, I did, but I just saved this King alive, and the people were the ones that forced me to save them, but they were just going to sacrifice it to the Lord….”

It all sounded so good, and oftentimes our excuses for not obeying sound so very good to us. But as far as the Lord was concerned, partial obedience, was disobedience. Samuel told him, “When you were small in your sight, God put you over the tribes of Israel, but now He is going to take the Kingdom from you.” You know what the problem was with King Saul? The description of King Saul was that from the shoulders upward, he was higher or taller than any man. The problem with King Saul was that there was just too much of King Saul. When he was like a servant, he did well but this thought of a King went to his head, and he stopped thinking like a servant, which is to obey your master, and he started thinking like a King, which is to do the ordering, and, “If I get something from Samuel, well, I’m the King, I can change that if I want to.” You know, we can all think like Kings at times and, “….Well, I know the workers said this but you know…I’ve got my excuses, and then you know, it is so and so’s fault that I didn’t do what was right.” Blame others like King Saul. But wonderful if we can be like David and say, “I have sinned.” Saul eventually had to say that, because there was no way out, but he lost his Kingship. There is no way around obedience, and partial obedience is disobedience.

I will say one other thing about this, before we move on to another verse. I am going to go to I Chronicles 28, and I will just tell you the setting. David now is about to die, and he had all the important leaders of Israel there. Captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, all the valiant men, princes, they were all there, and he is giving like a little charge to his son Solomon, who he is told in front of them all, that he was going to build the temple. But then he said in the 7th Verse; it was the Lord speaking through David to Solomon, “….Moreover, I will establish his Kingdom forever, if he be constant to do My commandments and My judgements, as at this day.” So that was the command, everyone heard it. They could relate to anyone that did not hear it, they could have told them, “This is what he told Solomon: if you be constant to keep My commandments, I’m going to establish your Kingdom.” You notice who did the establishing, didn’t you? It was God. You don’t establish yourself in the Way, we don’t establish ourselves in the work. I appreciated what we heard about getting settled, and it’s God that does that, and He does that if we are constant to obey.

King Solomon prayed for wisdom, and he got that, and the Lord added riches, and it seemed like this thought of obedience, got onto the back burner, didn’t it? I have got to be careful what I say about King Solomon, because I can almost hear my older companion talking to me right now and saying, “… Don’t be too hard on King Solomon. He was given a task, that hardly any other man was given. His task was to portray the glorious coming of Jesus, and David for much of his life, was portraying or representing the rejected Christ. Man can deal with rejection, better than what they can deal with prosperity.” We heard that already, so we don’t want to be too hard on Solomon, but it is a little bit of a lesson to us, about not letting anything interfere with obedience. Obedience needs to be up on the front burners, we call it (don’t know if you use that expression here) but it needs to be foremost on our minds. Because that’s what is always very important, we are never above the law, we can never be an exception to the law, like some are, and think they can do. From the oldest worker, to the youngest saint, we are all here to obey God.

So the next verse we will talk about, is in I Peter 1:13, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Now these people that he was writing to, already had a revelation of truth, but I think this revelation that Peter was referring to, is the same one that Paul referred to in the 2nd Letter, when he spoke about, “…You who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels.” It’s the Lord’s return, so how do we want to be found at the Lord’s return? We want to be found as obedient children, that’s how we want Him to find us. Simple! There’s nothing difficult to understand about this, it doesn’t take intelligence, it doesn’t take talent to obey, it just takes willingness to submit. We heard this morning, to obey, and it’s in range of all of us to obey.

I want to tell you a personal story, if you don’t mind? When we were children, there were six of us, and it was very rare that my parents would leave us alone, for good reason. But there was a time or two, that we were on our honor, you might say. One of those times was when dad and mom had to go to the school, and have a conference with our teachers. So they would tell us to behave and all that, and then they would go off. I was thinking of two times, they took off, and it was just my older brother and myself there, and when they left, the thought was, “They’re gone!” That brought about a behavior, and we started jumping on the couch, and getting the cushions off, and jumping on them, and hitting each other with the cushions, and we just lost track of time and we were having a great time. The next thing you know, we hear that key going into the door, and there is no time, and we are just caught on the cushions, off the couch, and it did not matter what kind of the report the teacher gave us, we got punished. Then there was after that, maybe the next time, they went, same kind of scenario, my older brother and I. This time when they left, the thought was, “They’re coming back!” They are coming back with our report card, and we weren’t too sure, how that was going to turn out. When they came back, we were just sitting on that couch, like a couple of angels, and then we were just as obedient children. I can’t remember how we did on the report card, but I remember my parents being very, very pleased, because we were found as obedient children.

That again is how we want the Lord to find us, aside from anything else that we could be doing. We want to be found as obedient children. In the 22nd verse, “Seeing ye have purified yours souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.” So a person could be sitting here, and not have that happen. So I’ll give you a case. When those 12 disciples were having their feet washed by Jesus, and He also gave them a little talking to. We read in Luke 22, and it didn’t benefit Judas, in fact it wasn’t the first time Jesus talked to them that Judas would have heard Jesus, when He first sent them out to preach, and He told them about trusting the Lord. He told them how the lilies of the field were more beautiful than Solomon in all his glory. The birds of the air, they are not starving, and told them to trust Him. Then He told them about the time, about that rich man, whose ground brought forth plentifully, “What shall I do but tear down and build greater?” His thoughts were just toward this life. Judas heard all that, and it wasn’t purifying his soul, you know why, because he was not submitting to it. You can sit in all these meetings, I can sit in all these meetings, and it could be like a lovely song, and we could even go home and say what a wonderful convention we had, but it might not have the effect of purifying our souls, if we are not obeying that voice that is speaking to us.

Not only does it purify our souls, but did you notice it said, “Unto this unfeigned love.” This love we did not produce, it was not something we produced by our human nature. You know when Jesus told Peter that He was going to be delivered to the hands of wicked men, and that they were going to kill Him, and that He would rise on the third day. Do you remember what Peter said? “Lord, this be far from You, this won’t happen to You.” You know what? I think Peter loved Jesus, but at that time it was not a divine spiritual love, it was just a human love for Jesus. A divine love is submitted to the Will of God, it loves the Will of God, it would accept the Will of God, whatever it was. It comes to us, like it says in Romans 5, “….that this love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit.” That’s when we submit to the Holy Spirit. We can’t even get the Holy Spirit, unless we obey Him. In doing so, He puts this Love of God in us, and we come to love. As one line in a poem says, “Love is divine love, hurts love (that’s that human love), to meet its higher need. Love leaves love, though the heart may bleed. Love loses love (family and friends), yet keeps on giving, unto the end.” That’s this love of God, that the Holy Spirit puts within our hearts. We get that from our Master by obeying.

Some years ago before I was even in the work (I have never heard this expressed since), but I like the thought very much. The worker was mentioning the time when Jesus blessed the five loaves and the two fishes, and He made them sit down in companies of 50 and 100. Then He gave that bread and fishes to His disciples, and they gave it to those people.It wasn’t Jesus, it was His disciples. Every one of them would have touched that miracle, every one of them would have had more than five loaves and two fishes in their hands to give to the people, there in 50s and in 100’s. This worker said, “Those workers, those disciples, those apostles, were learning compassion, because it says Jesus looked on these people with compassion. They were learning compassion by submitting to Jesus. His compassion was coming into their hearts, as they took part of that miracle. As we submit to the Lord, His love, we learn compassion towards others.”

So then let’s go to Chapter 2:7, “Unto you therefore which believe He is precious but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling….” You notice there, that he interchanged those two words. He didn’t say, “To those that believe, He is precious, and those who don’t believe.” He didn’t say that. He said, “..To those who believe He’s precious but unto them that disobedient…” In Peter’s mind and in God’s mind and in our mind that they are equated. So a person can say, “I believe in God’s way, I am just not doing it…” Well, the term that they are using, believing, is not what this verse is talking about. This verse is talking about, what it mentions I think four times in the Scriptures, about, “Just shall live by faith.” You might believe and in a sense acknowledge this is the right Way, but that is not living by faith. Living by faith is being obedient to that voice, and faith like love is not something we conjured up, it is not something we produced, it was a response to the voice of God. When we were listening to the Gospel, and those promptings and troublings in our conscience, and we were wrestling with this, and we finally submit.We are obeying that voice, and that’s what puts faith in our heart. We are a people that are just led by His voice, and we must be constant, we must be constant with this till the day we die. It doesn’t matter if you are 90-something years old, you still have to be obedient, that’s just a mark of all God’s children. So those things were like being obedient to the Lord.

Now these next one’s mentioned briefly in chapter 2:13, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king, as supreme, or unto governors…..” Now these next three are dealing with man. The first was talking about kings, or even lesser one’s, governors. Just to get the setting, he was talking to these people that were scattered. There were Jews, and they were under the Roman government, and there was not any great love affair, between the Jews and the Roman government. You may or may not like the present government in South Africa, that has nothing to do with it. This was a mark of a child of God, that they would submit unto the leaders of the government. Whether it be the king or just somebody in the precinct or the municipality, just a mark that identifies God’s children, you could be a good citizen, and not be a child of God. But it is very hard to be a child of God and not be a good citizen. Pay your taxes and whatever, and be obedient. This just marks us as lights that shows to others, that they can be trusted. I remember this lady that was over in Ukraine, a very faithful lady, she worked at one of these big grain bins, that the government ran. The convention was in July. It was the first convention in Ukraine in 1996. She had not been paid since January, and here it was July, and they would not let her go, because she was the only one they could trust. The other people that were working there, they knew that they will steal the grain. But they knew that this lady could be trusted. That was her reputation, because she was submitting to the laws of the land and she was trustworthy.

Then it says in the 3rdchapter, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives.” Powerful! Sometimes you think about submission like that, that the world looks on that as weakness. Like the powerful one is dominating over the weak one, and the weak one just has to submit to the powerful one, because they are weak. But that’s not what this is talking about. This is actually the strength of God and the power of God, that enables a godly woman to submit even to an ungodly husband. We were hearing about Abigail and Nabal, and I think that that’s the kind of woman she was. You could tell by the Spirit she showed David. She was submissive to Nabal, but it didn’t help Nabal, but it brought condemnation to him because he just would not submit, but it did win the heart of the King. Some of you woman or men, maybe even you’re the best example to your husbands that don’t profess, and maybe they won’t, but you will win the heart of the King, and that’s the one that we’re the most interested in impressing. Then in the chapter 5:5, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility…..” Humility goes with submission, it’s the manifestation of humility.

I will just tell this one little story. A brother worker, we were at preps and we were studying the Bible around the table in the morning. The overseer had just died, and another man, actually a little bit younger than him, was designated to make the plans in the state, and he was good friends with that fellow. Maybe he thought he should have been, I don’t know, but I think it might have been this verse we were studying. Anyhow he mentioned that verse in I John 4, “If you don’t love your brother whom you do see, how can you say that you love God that you don’t see?” He just turned it around and said, “I do believe, if you don’t submit to those that you do see, that God puts over you, how can you say that you submit to Him that you don’t see?” It was like a little test, and he passed that test wonderfully. So, it says in the 4:17, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” So that just lets you know how it’s going to be judged, it will be. Did we obey the Gospel, or did we not?

Matthew 25:1-13, the five wise and the five “otherwise.” Main lesson is to watch and be ready.

One day, Jesus is coming, ready or not. He desires that we’ll hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.” Tremendous provision has been made for us. There are two kingdoms of heaven – one on earth and one in heaven. On earth, there’s good and bad, wise and foolish, wheat and tares, sheep and goats. In heaven there will only be the good, the wise, wheat, and sheep.

The work of Satan is at cross purposes with God. God wants to sift out the chaff, but Satan wants to sift out the wheat. The five foolish, at one time, had light and oil but lost it. We’ve been asked the question, “Do we have life?” The five foolish were in fellowship with the five wise, but the time came when they’d be left at the door. The experience of being brought TO the door, but not THROUGH the door. It’s so important to have experiences to take us THROUGH the door.

1st Kings 9: there was nothing else in the ark save the tables of stone Moses put there.

In Hebrews, it says there were the stone, pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded. Did the pot of manna and rod get robbed? The pot of manna represented life. The children of Israel that journeyed through the desert, like, nothing to feed on, manna was their source of life. When the children of Israel were delivered, it was the high point of their experience, it was downhill from then. They all passed through the Red Sea, and their clothes waxed not old, and all that, they experienced so much. But they never went into the promised land.

Joshua and Caleb partook of the manna but partook of the hidden manna – fellowship with God. Important that we take heed to make our calling and election sure. How shall we escape if we neglect our salvation?

Sadly, we’ve seen some who have rejected salvation. Not them, but we could neglect salvation. HOW shall we escape if we neglect salvation? All those who never went into the promised land. Every provision has been made that every one of us would be found ready.

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto….so, when’s the THEN? It’s like a little snapshot of when Jesus comes again. How would the God of heaven view us today?

Revelations 2:3, letters to the seven churches. Lukewarm church – “I’ll spew you out of my mouth” – spew out of someone’s mouth, the most awful thing that could happen in front of us, imagine it. Someone said, “I’m envious of Ngaire Woods (her funeral last week) – the power of Satan can’t test her any more, flesh can’t test her any more.” Envious because they’ve MADE IT.

Here in Matthew 25, it’s five. We’d think eight or nine, or even ten?

Jesus never spoke anything randomly – but (as an older worker once said), “ALL the wise will go in and ALL the foolish will stay out.” We all have “default” settings, and we tend to be complacent. I hope 5/5 won’t be it, but there’s this tendency to complacency. I don’t know exactly how God sees it when He looks down on His people. Some dead churches – but others sleepwalking and sleep talking. We’ve been told – if someone’s sleepwalking, don’t try and wake them up! It’s the same spiritually. Only the God of heaven, by His grace, could wake them up.

Midnight – the end of one day and the beginning of a new day. THIS midnight marked the end of the day of preparation, and the beginning of the day of realisation.

So – these letters to the seven churches are like a “stocktake.” A day like today is like a stocktake. Stocktaking nowadays is all on computers – keeping a tally. Once a year though, they count everything manually, to compare it with what the computer says. Staff purloining, robberies, mistakes – comparing what they HAVE with what they THOUGHT they had. Quite searching. Some had a name they were living but they were dead. Rich and increased with goods and have no need……….poor, wretched, blind and naked. What a discrepancy. They thought things were going pretty nicely, and not like that at all. Buy of me gold tried in the fire. Ephesians had LEFT their first love. Lukewarm hearts God cannot cherish.

What is the one thing God wants of you and me? Our TIME. We can say nice things in meetings, but if we give Him our time or not, He knows how much we love Him.

Boyfriends and girlfriends – it’s not hard to give time if love is there. There are a lot of things that will accompany them. I talked to a lady looking forward to her wedding day (she was so excited). Are we? The uppermost thing in our conversation? The time we’re looking forward to, being united with our heavenly bridegroom? If not, it’s time to look into our lives. May God help us.

Graham passed away suddenly at the end of the Cape convention 2020.

This was Graham Adams’ last message at Cape Town convention

A kind sister typed these notes and passed them on recently ……..

Not verbatim.

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Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

It tells us about, profiting, gaining and losing in this verse. I appreciated very much of the hymn that we sang, it says in the second verse;

Help me to know that in Thy will

I shall but gain, not lose.

I long that the Lord would be able to show us that again at this convention. A few months ago we had the subject of Spiritual investments, and I thought about that a great deal the last months. Since convention started, these words have been very, very much in my mind. Spiritual investment

I think when people make a natural investment, the thing that is most important to them or the thing that they worry about the most and that they are concerned about the most, that they want to make very sure about, is that they don’t lose. We don’t want to make an investment with that thought in mind that we are going to lose; we all want to gain, when we make a natural investment. And you know when we make a spiritual investment, may it be in our hearts as well, that we don’t want to lose, we want to gain. That is why I love the words of that hymn, in the Will of God we will never lose, but we will only gain. Isn’t that wonderful? You know that there are so many avenues in life, there are so many things of life, so many choices that we can make and it is going to lead you to eternal loss. As we were hearing about the main event in eternity, we want to consider eternity; we don’t want to lose for eternity. It doesn’t matter if we lose for this life and it doesn’t matter if we don’t gain all the things of this life concerned, but we don’t want to lose for eternity.

I felt so grateful again as I thought about our Lord Jesus; and what it tells us about our Lord Jesus praying in the garden, it was a very, very desperate prayer of our Lord Jesus, He prayed take this cup from me, nevertheless not My will but Thine be done. Our Lord Jesus understood that, in the will of His heavenly Father He will not lose but He will gain.

And He wanted to at any cost; our Lord Jesus was going to be willing for His Father’s will.

As it appealed to me this past year and I often speaking in the mission, I may have mentioned it at December special meetings here in Cape Town, this is the first time that we read of our Lord Jesus, saying these words, not my will but Thine be done. Our Lord Jesus conducted His whole life with that, with those words, with that message, not My will but Thine be done. There was never a time in our Lord Jesus life, that that wasn’t the conduct of His life. It was in the Spirit that He showed, not My will but Thine be done. Because our Lord Jesus had lived with this assurance, in the will of My Heavenly Father I am not going to lose, I am going to gain.

Abraham and Sarah they tried to help God with His plan, we often hear that, they tried to help God with His plan, with their human reasoning. We want to remember with our human reasoning we are going to lose. We are never going to gain in the Kingdom, there is never going to be the joy of God, never going to be the peace of God, never going to be the blessing of God, with our human reasoning. But our Lord Jesus taught us and showed us the way to the blessing of God and the way to the joy of God and the way to the peace of God is simply but saying, not my will but Thine be done. Even today, we worry about different things, we have to think of so many things, much human reasoning is going into our daily lives, but we have to remember it is not the best. We want the blessing of God, so we have to say not my will but Thine be done. In His will we will not lose, wonderful if we can go through life remembering that that we will not lose in the will of God. There was a time when Abraham was asked by God to offer up his son. Abraham could’ve used his human reasoning as well, but we read of Abraham not using his human reasoning, it was in the heart of Abraham not my will but the will of my heavenly Father be done. Maybe Abraham felt in this situation there is going to be a loss for me, but Abraham was willing for the will of God and he took every step in the will of God, he found rich blessings of God. As we often hear Abraham could’ve died a miserable old man, if he said no to God, but wonderful that Abraham could die a man blessed by God, a man who knew of the rich blessing of God, because he was willing to obey God, in Thy will I shall not lose but gain.

We heard yesterday about Job, and I appreciated that very much indeed. I also thought in respects of Job, as far as his spiritual investments were concerned, Job understood so well, I am only going to gain in the will of God. It is not what my wife says, it is not what my friends say not what anybody else would say, but the will of God is going to bring victory in my life, I am going to gain in the will of God. I loved the thought this past year as well in the beginning of Job’s life, we can read that he was a man who was blessed by God, very, very blessed by God, but as we were hearing yesterday, God wanted to continue His work in his life, and God wanted to enrich his life even more. At the end of Job’s life we read that the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, Job understood well that in the will of God I am not going to lose but gain. It is very sad that Job’s wife didn’t understand that, and you know she said to Job now when that experience came out, you curse God and die. But Job did not do that. Job understood that in the will of God, we must be willing for evil as well, wonderful that he had that kind of spirit. Wonderful when the Lord sees it in our lives that we understand in the will of God we are not going to lose, we are only going to gain. There are many things that we can do in this life. We were hearing this morning of having the mind of Christ, we will not lose when we have the mind of Christ. Often we lose it and often we lose badly if we have our own mind, our own strength and our own reasoning, but not when we are in the mind of Christ. I appreciate what Dickson was telling us as well about the brotherly love, we never lose when we have brotherly love in our hearts. We can be taught of God about brotherly love, we always lose when we don’t have brotherly love. I appreciated what Estelle told us about being willing to die; we never lose when we are willing to die in the Will of God. I appreciated thinking as well of certain ones who prayed to God, and we want to understand a little better in these days we are never lose when we learn to pray and when we are praying to God. There was a time in the book of Joshua, when God’s people went out to fight a certain battle and it was a very minor enemy, and maybe they thought that as they were going out to fight that they were guaranteed to win, but you know they failed against that minor enemy, and then it tells that the Lord spoke to Joshua, and Joshua understood the reason why they failed, why they didn’t have a victory, why they lost the battle that day, because they didn’t consult God, because they did not pray to God.

We want to look at our Lord Jesus, look at the example of our Lord Jesus if we want to have victory. For our spiritual investment we don’t want to lose; we want to gain. It is wonderful that God can help us in our spiritual investment that we are going to gain and not lose. I wonder if we measure our spiritual investment, maybe last convention of this life and we know what it is like at convention, to be honest with ourselves, just to apply, it will be wonderful if we can make just a little profit, just a little gain, maybe a loss. Maybe we have found that we have lost, but it is wonderful that God wants to show us how we can gain. I appreciated thinking of those who submitted to God in life. And we want to remember again that we never lose when we submit to God. We always lose when we don’t submit to God. Adam and Eve, they were there in the garden, and God gave them a very definite message of what God expected of them, just simply obey him and to submit to what He has asked of them, but they didn’t obey God, they didn’t submit to God and we know that they lost their place in the garden and they lost their liberty with God. None of us would like to leave from this convention having lost our place in God’s family and none of us would like to go from here and lose our liberty with God and all that God asks of us, simply to submit to Him and simply obey Him. Is it so hard for us, is it so impossible for us to just simply submit and simply obey God.

I appreciated thinking as well that we never lose when we are humble. We never ever lose when we are willing to be the least, when we are willing to take the lowly place. Abraham and Lot there was a time in their lives when they had to separate from each other and someone had to be the least, someone had to take the lowly place, Abraham was the one who was willing to be the least, Abraham was the one who was willing to take the lowly place and maybe with the human reasoning, Lot thought, if I choose first, I will be the winner, I will gain, I will profit if I choose first. But you know Lot found because he was not willing to be the least when he wasn’t willing to let Abraham choose first, he was the loser. It is wonderful that Abraham allowed God choose for him. Lot chose with human reasoning, it tells us that he lifted up his eyes and as we often hear, he lifted them not high enough. But Abraham was willing to be the least and Abraham was the one who was abundantly blessed by God. It is wonderful that he invested in being the least. Can we invest in being the least? I know it is not easy, I don’t like to be the least and I don’t like to take the lowest place, I don’t like to take the humble place, but we know there is blessing there. We want to choose the place of blessing, this place of joy and this place of peace. I felt so grateful as I thought of our Lord Jesus again that He chose the humble place. And our Lord Jesus all his life understood that in the will of His heavenly Father He wouldn’t lose. So He chose the humble place. Delia was already telling us this morning that our Lord Jesus took the lowest place, He took the lowest place in all, making the disciples know what wonderful blessing could have been their portion if they had been willing to take the lowest place. Could we go from this convention and just be willing to take the lowest place. Maybe with our human reasoning we think we are going to lose if we take the lowest place, we think we are going to lose if we are going to be humble, but the blessing is there. It tells us of Moses when his brother and sister spoke against him, and Moses just kept quiet, he didn’t defend himself. I love the thought that Moses was so close to God, that he didn’t need to defend himself. The woman when she anointed our Lord Jesus, there were many who found fault with her, but because she was so close to our Lord Jesus she didn’t have to defend herself, Jesus defended her and God defended Moses. I love the thought and I often mention it; that whenever I find myself in the place that I feel the need for self justification, if ever I feel myself in the place where I have to defend myself, it just shows that I am too far from God, too far from Jesus. Just get a little closer and we leave the justification to Him, He can do a far better work than what we can do. So, Moses’ brother and sister spoke against him. Moses trusted God, and God defended Moses. I just enjoyed as we read a few weeks ago in our Bible study about Moses, the Lord said to Moses you can go see the land but you cannot enter into the promised land, it was beautiful to see Moses wonderful acceptance. He could’ve said, but Lord this and Lord that, but Moses accepted that from God. I have enjoyed just this little thought, well I remember as a little boy we grew up in the truth and the wonderful privilege always going to the meetings, I often heard as a little boy, that meekness is submitting to the will of God. So later on in life I often measured my meekness by that. An elder once said that meekness is submitting to the Will of God, but he added two words without resentment. I understood that day, that my prestige idea of meekness itself for me really is little. Can we accept the will of God, can we fit into the will of God and can we submit to the will of God without resentment? That is what Moses did and he was one of the meekest men. We never lose when we are meek. We often hear about meekness, and it is something in the world that is seen as weakness, but meekness is power under the control of God, we would like to know a little more of just simply following in the footsteps of the great men and women of the Bible, but more so follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus, we know in that we can never lose, but we can gain in all eternity.

This thought as well, that we never lose when we forgive. Sometimes when there is a big problem with yourself and someone else and maybe you find in your heart, I can’t forgive, you are going to lose and you actually going to lose for all eternity. When we do forgive, we are not going to lose, we are going to gain, we profit so much by just being willing to forgive. One of the reasons why we should forgive is simply because our Lord Jesus forgave. We think of Him as we heard in this convention already of our Lord Jesus on the cross, this morning we heard about it, He could say Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. We heard about Joseph and his brotherly love this morning, that wonderful brotherly love and that aspect of that brotherly love as we were hearing as well is forgiveness. His brothers that came to him, they said now forgive us. An old brother worker told us once; it wasn’t a problem for Joseph to forgive his brothers he didn’t have to think about forgiving his brothers, because he had forgiven them long ago. If Joseph hadn’t forgiven his brothers, even though they haven’t come to ask him for forgiveness, he would have lost his liberty with God, but Joseph knew, Joseph thrived in his liberty with God because he could forgive his brothers in his heart, even though they never came to him, even those people who never came to Jesus they didn’t ask him for forgiveness, but our Lord Jesus forgave them. Our Lord Jesus understood, I want to retain my liberty with God and die to forgive these people. We want to remember we never lose when we forgive.

When we have compassion we never lose when we have compassion. It tells us our Lord Jesus said to His disciples that the people have been with them all the time and they had nothing to eat, He said, I have compassion on the multitude, but the disciples, their attitude, their feeling was; just send the people away. We have nothing for them in anyway, just sent them away, but our Lord Jesus said to them, no, you give them something to eat. Our Lord Jesus understood that when we have compassion, we just never lose we only gain. We experience that it is not only ourselves that lose but the Kingdom suffers loss, when we don’t forgive, when we don’t have compassion, when we don’t pray, when we don’t submit to the will of God, when we don’t obey God, when we can’t understand His will and we are not willing for His will we lose, but it is a loss for the Kingdom as well. But when we have the victory, when we do pray, when we are meek, when we are humble it is a wonderful victory for ourselves, blessings for ourselves, joy for ourselves and peace and it helps so much in the Kingdom as well. We want to remember that God wants to help all of us today and God wants to speak to all of our hearts at this convention and wants every one of us to go from here and to profit. He wants every one of us to go from here that we are gaining in our lives spiritually; he doesn’t want anyone of us to lose out spiritually. All we can do is we can think of our Lord Jesus and think of all that He was and all that our Lord Jesus did for us I appreciate it so much. As we sang in that first hymn this morning Lord an offering I would bring, as I remember, when I go away from this convention as well that we will not lose when we offer the best to God. We are going to lose when we don’t offer the best to God, when we don’t give to God our all, but we will never lose if we offer the best to God. Ananias and Sapphira they lost out badly, because they withheld from God, they probably didn’t think much of God himself, thought nothing of the offering that they brought. But what I bring to God is a very serious thing to God, could I remember in days to come that if I withhold from God, it maybe doesn’t seem a very big thing for me, maybe my time in just having quietness with God, spending time with God, if I don’t think very much about it that I withhold time from God, it is a very, very serious thing to God.

Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus it tells us that they came and there was our Lord Jesus and they came for the burial of our Lord Jesus and there were those others too, because of the message of the gospel, because of the seed that was sown in their hearts, because what was working in their lives, they understood we are not going to lose if we give the best to God. They provided for the burial of the body of our Lord Jesus, and they found blessing and joy and peace.

I have been reading in Luke 22:7-13, “Then came the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat.’ And they said unto him, ‘Where wilt Thou that we prepare?’ And he said unto them, ‘Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, “The Master saith unto thee, ‘Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples?’” And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished. There make ready.’ And they went, and found as he had said unto them and they made ready the Passover.”

First off, it’s in order to thank all that made it possible for us to be here. I appreciated the invitation and it is a great privilege to be with the Lord’s people. Sometimes people ask, “So what did you see when you went to South Africa?” I would tell them that when I got off the plane and I already saw the best that South Africa had to offer; I saw God’s servants and His people. That is the best of any land on this earth. We are very thankful to be amongst you, and each one is a miracle of God’s work. So these verses that we read; there are four of them that either said, “Prepare,” or “Make ready” – speaking of the same thing. The Passover, as you know, is one of three feasts that are celebrated in Israel. Three times a year the males went, I think oftentimes the families went with them, to attend these feasts. We liken our convention to these feasts; this is a feast for our souls. The Passover was like the beginning of days for the children of Israel, celebrating the time when they left Egypt and started like a new life, leaving Egypt behind. Kind of like when we professed and the focus on that was the Lamb that was sacrificed, that was Jesus.

So this feast and this last supper would be the last time they would celebrate the feast that represented Jesus because He was about to fulfill that feast when He would die on the cross. Fulfill all that it symbolized and represented. It would have meant more to Jesus than any of those disciples that night, because He knew the fullest extent that He was going to fulfill it. There is a lot to do to prepare for that feast. You can just look around here. Sometimes, people that don’t go to convention preps, they don’t realise how much work goes in. How much planning, how much thinking, even in as far as getting the food, setting up the chairs, lots of cleaning that goes on, a lot of sacrifice, and we appreciate every bit of it. Last year, I was going to another country to what I call a big event, convention to me is the biggest event of the year. For you people and for us, and I was thinking, “It’s a big event, but it is not the main event.” The main event is in Eternity, that’s the main event, it’s Eternity. Most people in life, they treat life as the main event. Their planning, their aspirations, their hope, the strength that they put in, what they talk about. They treat life as the main event. Life is not the main event. We found that out when we made our choice to serve God. All of our life is really preparation for the main event, Eternity.

If you want to just get Heaven’s view of life, look at Matthew 25 – that parable about the 10 virgins, five wise and five foolish. That’s how God looks at our lives here. We don’t really know much more about the virgins. It didn’t say anything more. They all had lives to live, they all had families – parents, brothers, sisters. Probably, they had other work to do, but the way the Lord was looking at it; it was just the preparation. That was the only thing He was looking at, when looking at these 10 virgins – it was the preparation time. When it comes down to when we go on to the main event, it really won’t matter what we did in life, as far as physical work, or who we were connected to family wise. It will just be: were you and I prepared for the main event? This convention coming up is just another help, the big event to help us prepare for the main event, Eternity.

So He had five wise and five foolish. One of our fellow workers once said, “It’s a good thing it didn’t say, ‘Nine foolish and one wise,’ because then we would say, ‘Well we’re probably one of the foolish.’ (I would say that anyhow.) It’s maybe a good thing he didn’t say, ‘One foolish and nine wise,’ because we would think, ‘Well, I am probably one of the wise.’ But it was five foolish and five wise, so it could go either way.” You know the last verses, there in Malachi is talking about preparing and it says, Malachi 4:6, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Now we know that that was fulfilled, when John the Baptist came preaching the message, the baptism of repentance, and his words were, “….Prepare you the way of the Lord, make His paths straight….” His disciples, when they were coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration, they asked Jesus, “..Why does Elijah have to come first? What does that mean that Elijah must come first…” and Jesus said to them, “…Elijah has already come, and they did to him whatever they wished….” Somehow it connected to His disciples, that He was speaking about John the Baptist and that John the Baptist came in the Spirit of Elijah.

You know in the Jewish feast of the Passover, there is always an empty plate at the table, and that plate is for Elijah, because there in their mind, Elijah has to come before Jesus. They don’t realise that Elijah has already come, and Jesus has already come. He first came as a Lamb, and you might say when He comes again, He will be coming more like a Lion with vengeance against this earth. So here is this wonderful event of Jesus coming to the earth and He sent a man to prepare them so that His entrance into this earth would not be in vain. He didn’t come to curse the earth, He says, “…I came to save you, I didn’t come to curse you and condemn you, I came to save you.” But He said that we are condemned already, if we choose darkness over light, if we love darkness. But if we want to serve the Lord, He didn’t come to curse us, He didn’t come to condemn us, He came to bless us, if we’re prepared. So that’s why I think about this life, I think about this event coming up in a few days; we can gain a lot from it.

We think about all the preparation that went in here, but there is a whole lot more preparation that went on up in Heaven. Could you imagine this that the Lord has been preparing a message for each one of you, me included, and we could miss it if we are not prepared? You know those five wise and five foolish virgins, they had the oil, that’s what made the difference, wasn’t it? The five foolish said, “….Our lamps are going out.” They knew what produced it, and said to the wise, “….Give us of your oil…” I have heard a lot of things and I am not going to say what the oil is. I used to think of it as the Holy Spirit, but some have felt maybe it’s more like willingness, because when they came to the door, apparently the foolish went and got the oil, and when they came there, they weren’t let in, they had the willingness, but it was too late. Some feel that the oil is submission, you can think of it as submission, or faith; you can think of it as a lot of things. But one thing we can say this much – that if there is light in our vessels, if we are the light of the world, just mark it down, we have the Holy Spirit, because that is what produces the light. If we don’t have the Holy Spirit, we are not the light.

I had an old companion, we just buried him, I was with him five different times in the work. He used to say to us, “….Everyday, pray for the Holy Spirit…” He must have said it 100 times to us. It’s not like the Lord is going to take the Holy Spirit from you if you don’t pray for it that day, but I think the Lord would like for us to be praying for the Holy Spirit, like a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit to be conscious of the Holy Spirit, because that’s our life line, that is what makes us a child of God. That’s what will make us ready for His return, if we have the Holy Spirit. That makes it easy for the Lord; He knows exactly who to raise from the dead, He knows exactly who to translate to a new body, it’s those that have His Holy Spirit. He is the giver of that Holy Spirit. When we do exactly what we have been hearing, believe the Gospel and truly repent, having that Holy Spirit, it does seem that there was a way of thinking in the foolish. One of the things they were probably thinking, “Say we are serving the Lord and the oil is running out of our lamps, it’s not being replenished,” there is likely two things going on in our minds. One is this feeling that we have enough. When we think that, “I have enough,” well, then we are not going to be feeling our need of getting more. As long as we think, “I have enough, I go to the Sunday Morning Meeting, and try to read a bit in my Bible every day, I have enough.” But you know, I don’t think the wise were thinking that way at all, because when the foolish said, “Give us of your oil,” they said, “We don’t have enough to share with you.” That’s how God’s people generally think, “I don’t have enough, and that’s why I am here at convention, because I don’t have enough.”

That’s like the description of a person that’s poverty of spirit, poor in spirit. A poor person thinks, “I don’t have enough, I want more of God’s Spirit.” When we come here and see a picture of Jesus, I want more of His love, I want a closer walk with the Lord, I don’t have enough, I don’t have enough wisdom. The list just goes on and on of what we see; I don’t have enough. So it just makes us feel our need to draw near to the Lord, that’s like preparing for the convention, really. I don’t have enough. We come poor and needy. The other thought; I think that prevails in a person, that would end up as a foolish virgin is, “I can get it tomorrow. If I don’t have enough, I’ll get it tomorrow.” The old saying is, “Tomorrow never comes.” We want to live in the present, and we want to get it now. If the Lord lays something on our hearts, we want to deal with that now. Live in the present before the Lord.

I was thinking of Luke 22 now, preparing for the feast. What did they have to do to get ready for the feast? There was one very obvious thing they had to do to get ready for the feast and that is they had to get a lamb. They couldn’t have the Passover feast without the lamb and we can’t either. If the Lamb is missing in our midst when we have convention, it will mostly just be a social event. Will be nice to see everyone, but if we are missing the Lamb, we are not going to be fed, our needs won’t be met. We need the Lamb. In a sense, it’s everyone’s responsibility to bring the Lamb to convention. I am sure they have enough to eat, but we are talking about the Spirit of the Lamb. That’s how the Lamb is going to be brought into our midst, if each one does their part. Each family in Israel had to get a lamb, they had to bring a lamb, each one had to do their part. It’s the same with us; it is everyone’s part to bring the Lamb, the Spirit of the Lamb into the convention. That’s the best thing you could do for any meeting, like in the Sunday morning meeting. If you feel you can’t speak or you think, “…I sure wish, I could speak like so and so….” Just bring the Spirit of the Lamb. If you bring the Spirit of the Lamb, you will have a good meeting. You want to focus on the Lamb.

You know that lamb was to be brought in, I think it was the 10th day of the First Month, and it was to be kept till the 14th day before it was killed. The Lamb I think had to be of the first year, without blemish, and without spot, a perfect little Lamb. You can imagine the shepherd, he is going out to his flock, and he gets a lamb that he thinks is going to fill those requirements, and he brings it to the house. I think those four days in the house, he would be watching that little lamb to make sure that this is the lamb without blemish. I don’t know if they can prove it or not, but it would seem like it was the last days of Jesus’ life when those scribes, pharisees, and lawyers came to Jesus. They were examining Him. Remember those questions about whether it’s lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not, and the question about the resurrection, the man that had a wife, and he died and then seven of his brothers had her, who’s would she be in the resurrection? They were just astonished at his answers. I think it was at that time that a lawyer asked him about what are the greatest commandment. It was like he was being examined by some very critical men.

I was thinking about this yesterday. It came to mind, an old friend of ours in one of the States where we labored years ago, this man turned blind when he was 58 years old. He had three wives, each died.. The second wife, I think he had met her when he could see, but the third wife he had never laid eyes on her. So he told us he had asked this one worker that he thought would be the most critical in their judgment about this lady. When he gave her his approval, he knew it was safe to marry her. The most critical people on earth were examining the Lamb, and they could find no fault in Him. Jesus was crucified by His own words, admitted that He was the Son of God, which were true words. But they could not find any fault with the Lamb. As far as His own disciples upon examination, they just loved Him more. Remember John, he said, “…that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, we have seen, and looked upon…” More close examination that they watched Him, and then they reached forth and handled the word of life. They loved Him, they fell in love with the Lamb, because of examining Him with an honest heart. Those with a dishonest heart, when they examined the Lamb, they really couldn’t find any fault with Him. They could find fault with His followers. A lot of people found fault with His disciples, like we heard, we are a work in progress, an unfinished work, but they couldn’t find fault with Jesus. They tried, but they couldn’t. So now we can focus on the Lamb, without any fear, any worry, any doubt that we are going to find fault with the Lamb. We know that, but we want to focus on Him.

Hebrews 2:9, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” But we see Jesus, we see Him suffering. You know sometimes, we come to convention and we have a focus, but it’s not on the Lamb. Sometimes it’s focused on our past, and sometimes when we look on our past, it’s not a very pretty picture. It affects our countenance, and it affects our spirit, and we are discouraged. Because we are focusing on our past, but you know if we look on our past, we can get discouraged. Focusing on the Lamb will not discourage us, because we are going to see the Lamb who died for us. Those sins that the devil keeps bringing up – the devil means “malicious accuser” – and if we can say anything good about the devil, he is very good at what he does. He accuses us in our spirit, about our past, he just keeps bringing it up. We could come to convention just focusing on our faults and on our past. But if we are focusing on the Lamb, even though we would look at our past, it won’t be with gloom and with darkness.

Who would have a worse past than Paul? He was a righteous man by many standards, as far as the law was concerned, the outward part of the law; he was blameless. But like we heard in Romans 7 – inwardly, he was fighting a terrible battle, and he was losing the battle and he knew it because he was an honest man and he was condemned for it. You know he said, “..I have lived in all good conscience before God and Man…” and when he said that in Acts 23:1, and Ananias the High Priest was standing there, he [Ananias] commanded one of his men to smite him on the mouth. He probably figured in his mind that that was a false statement, because Paul was a follower of Jesus. We might think that Paul did not have a good conscience, because he persecuted the Lord’s people, but I believe Paul was speaking the truth when he said, “..I have lived in all good conscience.” Because in Romans 7, it was his conscience that came up with the answer, “…Oh wretched man that I am…” A good conscience, as my older companion used to often say, is a conscience that can feel condemnation. That’s a good conscience. He had that in him, he had an honest conscience, he just didn’t know what to do about it. Then he found the answer in Jesus. He said, “…I have lived in all good conscience..,” and he said, “…I have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man.” That’s where we want our conscience exercised, to be void of offence towards God and towards man. We know what it is like before God, even maybe sitting here, our conscience could be smiting us. That’s like before God. No one sees that, and it might be just something there between us and God, something in the quietness of our heart that He reveals, and a good conscience will respond, “Yes, Lord, I am guilty.” Or it could be a conscience that gives us peace. Void of offence towards man, that is a wonderful thing, to have a conscience void of offence towards man.

I will just give you an example how Paul’s conscience was working. He said at one time, “….I will not eat meat as long as the world stands, if it is going to offend my brother.” That’s a conscience void of offence towards man. Another person can say that there is nothing wrong with eating meat, that means offered to idols. He knows there is nothing wrong with that, because there are no idols, they are not real, and the person with that knowledge could eat the meat without any thought towards their brethren. Sometimes maybe at convention, our heart could be pricked, because we might do things, and we might just say, “Well you know, there is nothing wrong with that, but how does it affect our brethren?” We want to have a conscience void of offence towards our fellow man.

We could think about our future, we could be focused on our future. There are things that loom up in the future, that we are unsettled about, we are afraid about, we are not sure about. Decisions. I think about the youth amongst us. You know some of the most important decisions that are going to affect the rest of your life are made in your youth. You say, “Well, I don’t have the wisdom, I don’t have the experience.” No, but you can have the Lamb with you. Like someone said one time, “When Jesus spoke about the strait gate and the narrow way, and the wide gate and the broad way, just let the Lord stand with you at the gates, and He can help you see down the future, and see the results of your choice.” Like one lady said one time after she professed, “You know when I made my choice, the Lord showed me the end from the beginning, but He didn’t show me all the steps in between.” But He did show her the end from the beginning, the end of that choice. That’s what should concern us. Let the Lamb help us, focus on the Lamb, and if we’re looking toward the future, let the Lamb help us make the right choice.

Then sometimes, it’s just our present condition. Just who we are. Like John, no one was worthy to open up the seven seals, not even to look upon them, and he wept much. The elder said to John, “…Weep not, for the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, hath prevailed to open up the seven seals…,” to look upon them and to open them up. Then the rest of Revelation is Him opening up each seal, and I am convinced that those seals, mostly are in the future, and soon to come upon us. But when he looked up, do you remember what he saw? It wasn’t the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, he saw the Lamb that was slain, from the foundation of the world. That would have encouraged John, and that should encourage us to see the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. We don’t want to have a vision of others in the meeting that look upon their faults. You know what that does for us, it brings into us a spirit of criticism, a spirit of condemnation, it just does not have a good effect. You meet with people every week, and you become acquainted with their weaknesses and faults, but if we look at them with our focus on the Lamb, and we see them through the eyes of the Lamb, we will look at them differently. We will still see the faults, but it won’t be with a critical spirit. As we have heard often, “We will be looking at them as needs, more as needs.” So focus on the Lamb. We want to bring the Lamb to the feast.

Another thing they had to do for preparation. That feast had to be eaten with unleavened bread. The first time that they celebrated the Passover, they had to do it with a staff in hand, and with their sandals on, because they had to eat it in haste. But in the future feasts of the Passover, I don’t think that that was mandatory, but one thing that I have read of throughout the scriptures – every time it mentions about the Passover, is that it must be eaten with unleavened bread. The soul that eats the Passover with leavened bread, it is a very serious offence. It says that that soul will be cut off from the congregation of Israel. That’s how serious it was. So what does that mean for us? In I Corinthians 5:7, it says, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” The old leaven is something that is working in us, in darkness, and it can produce a hypocrisy in us. It says about Nathaniel, when he came to Jesus, Jesus said, “….Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile…” I was at a convention one time, and the older brother worker said, “To be without guile, that means without hypocrisy, is to be most coveted amongst us.” When he said that, I was very surprised, because I was just thinking, “Well we often hear, that love is most important, and faith is most important, but he said to be without guile is to be most coveted amongst us.” When I got to thinking about it, I believe he was right, because if we have guile in our hearts, we don’t even get started in the right way. Our love will not be pure, our faith will not be an unfeigned faith, it just taints all the virtues of Jesus in our hearts, if we have guile.

To me, the most basic illustration that Jesus used about Himself was, “I am the true light.” There is nothing more encompassing our life than light and darkness. He used bread, He used water, He used seed, that those people all were familiar with. But nothing affects our life more, or touches us, and we experience more, than light and darkness. Even from before birth, and He spoke about it a lot. When you see things like mold growing, it grows in darkness. I don’t know if you have termites here? They do their work in darkness, and the devil does his work in darkness. There is a wonderful value in just being open and honest. You’re getting ready for the Passover and you’re getting rid of the leaven, you have to turn the light on to see if there is any little bit of leaven left in the cupboards. They had this leaven, and did they get it all? No leaven was to be found in the house. So you could just let the Holy Spirit help us to examine all the crevices and corners of our hearts to see if there is any leaven there, any hypocrisy, any grudges that we are holding. Let the light expose it and deal with it. Because if we come to this feast that is coming up at convention and we have this leaven, we’re holding onto some unforgiveness, some grudge, and our motive isn’t pure. We have just come to convention like that. You know a person could excel, but down the road, they are looking at something that is not right, and it will affect the way you hear the Word of God.

That hymn says, “My heart has one desire today, to do the Heavenly Father’s Will.” We have heard that helpfully today, that is how we want to come to convention, “My heart has one desire today, to do the Heavenly Father’s Will.” So these men came together, did a lot of preparation work, a lot of details, some very important details they did not take care of. You know what it was? It was the details of their spirit. Those men, they were dutiful, they were obedient men, and they came there, but their spirit really wasn’t right. Their spirit had competition, pride, and that’s what kept them from washing one another’s feet. It wasn’t that they didn’t love each other. Like if He said to John, “John, do you love Andrew?” John would say, “I love Andrew.” (I think he would tell the truth.) But not enough to wash his feet. We might love one another, but maybe not as much as we should. This love is being perfected in our hearts. We know that a lot of work gets done at convention, but the sooner He can get our spirits right and our hearts softened, we are going to listen so much better. We pray that this may be our portion.

For some time I have contemplated putting my testimony in writing, but things higher on the priority list have always prevented me. But during this Covid-19 experience with time on my hands, quarantining at Lake Mayfield on a wet and windy day, having maté primed and ready, I will begin. The setting is perfect: the weather acting very ‘Kodiakish,’ in a home that reminds me of a modern version of the cabin I had in Onion Bay on Raspberry Island….

I was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin in September of 1955 to Cal and Loretta Skalitzky. Shortly afterwards my parents and I moved in with my grandmother, who was living in Shawano (population 6,000 more or less), about thirty-five miles northwest of Green Bay. My grandfather had already passed away; we lived with Grandma Helen for thirteen more years before she died. I have many fond childhood memories of her.

Following me in birth order are my sister Ellen, brothers Matt, Cal, Bob, another sister Peg, and lastly my brother Bill – seven of us born within nine years. Three of my married uncles and one married aunt lived in the same city, so there were lots of cousins; I can’t recall how many. Needless to say, our household was very busy. Years later while I was helping out with Dad’s cancer care, I asked Mom how she ever managed. She just shrugged her shoulders and said, “I had a lot more energy in those days.”

Mom never worked outside the home until long after my youngest brother had graduated from high school. For many years Dad worked at the Badger Breeders milk processing plant located kitty-corner across the intersection from us. He also had a small private garbage collection business serving some local merchants, which amounted to about two hours of work every workday evening. When I was in eighth grade he bought a route around the resort area of Shawano Lake (6,215 acres), and shortly after that he added yet another route just west of town. He quit his job at Badger Breeders, working those routes around what he lived to do: hunt, trap and fish. Many of you have heard me say that Dad hunted, trapped, and fished for a living, and to pay the bills he had his own private garbage collection business.

After Grandma died, Dad and Mom inherited the house and property free and clear. So ‘all’ Dad did was raise seven children, put five through university, one through tech school, bailed another out of jail more than once, owned 80 acres a few miles north of town, and retired at 52.5 years old. Hmmm… and we kids were going to do better than that!

We were a Catholic family; the church was three blocks away, with the parochial school attached that we all attended through the eighth grade. I remember well the catechism classes and daily mass.

I have extremely poor eyesight. My first pair of glasses came when I was in kindergarten. In those days, no kids wore glasses. It was about the fifth grade before another classmate had glasses. I hated them. My prescription was changing every eight months or so, and they seemed to be breaking every couple months, neither of which made my parents very happy, as money was tight. Along about third grade I got it in my head that God could do anything, so… I made a deal with God. I knew he could fix my eyes so I would not have to wear glasses all the time. I gave him plenty of advance notice, something like six weeks, as I had a feeling this was a major deal even for God. I promised to be good and all that went with that. I never said anything to anyone, and when the evening before the appointed day arrived, I knew I had done my part. That evening, with full confidence I took off my glasses and looked at them for a moment, knowing I would never have to put them on again. I’m not sure why I didn’t toss them across the room instead of putting them on my little nightstand – force of habit, I guess.

I remember waking up and holding my eyes closed for a few moments, savoring the anticipation of seeing clearly when I opened them. And when I did, I was very glad I hadn’t just tossed my glasses away the night before!

As disappointing as that was, I know that was the beginning of my walk with God and his Son. He heard that prayer. In hindsight I now understand that God began maneuvering the events of my life so as to keep me, and to lead me to be commercially fishing salmon out of Kodiak, Alaska during the summer of 1980. I was crewing on the Lisa Dawn, a forty-nine foot salmon seiner/crab boat.

By then I was a practicing atheist. In those days the anti-God sentiment ran high in the university scene and by the time I graduated from college, I could hold my own with anyone regarding the subject. Which was a good thing, because one of my crew members that summer was a born-again Christian who was an ‘in your face’ type person. He would do things like sit down at the galley table while we were drinking and playing cards, open his Bible, and read out loud, saying, “I have just as much right to be here as you.” So another crew member named Bunky and I teamed up. Our goal was to see if we could get Carl to fight us. I could argue scripture and philosophy all day long, and Bunky knew just what to say at just the right time to finish pushing Carl’s buttons. It never ended in a scrap, though it came close a couple times.

Then one fine day Carl caught me alone. He admitted what I was saying was true, that it is impossible to prove the Bible is true — it is a book of faith, not logic. However, he pointed out what I was saying regarding science could not be proven either. “They are theories which from time to time change, Fred. And you know that!” Yes, I knew that. Then he reasoned as follows: “Let’s suppose what you are saying is true and there is no God. So we part ways and live our lives and finally die. Then what happens? According to you, nothing. So what have I missed? A few things you feel are pleasurable, that’s all. But now let’s suppose there is a God and we part from here and then die. Then what?” There was a long silence which seemed about five minutes but likely wasn’t more than thirty seconds. “Do you think it is worth the chance? I don’t. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing!”

That visit was a real turning point for me. There was nothing to reply. His simple reasoning that day never left me; I knew he was right….if there was any chance of God’s existence, it was not worth the risk of spending eternity in hell. All my arguments for doing just what I wanted to do were based on what other people had said or written; I had never searched it out for myself.

At that time my old college roomie Tim and I were partners in ten acres of land with a cabin in Onion Bay on Raspberry Island, located about fifty miles by water from the city of Kodiak. I decided to forgo crab fishing that fall, go to the cabin, trap fox and otter, hunt deer, watch the elk, avoid accidentally running into a brown bear, catch a halibut or two, and read the Bible. I took along some other religious material, but I could not make heads or tails out of that stuff. And it wasn’t like I gleaned a lot out of the Bible, but it did refresh my knowledge of the scripture.

During those three months, I tried to think of anyone I knew who might be serving God. I could only come up with one person, who happened to live near my home town of Shawano. So early December of 1980 I flew back home under the pretense of going beaver trapping with Dad, but the real reason was to see my friend Bob. I called him and he was thrilled, immediately inviting me to one of his church services. When he came to get me, Mom asked which church we were going to. When he said the Lutheran church just north of town, Mom clouded over like a thunderstorm. I went with him, but it was nothing more than a different twist on Catholicism, which I was absolutely convinced was not right! He dropped me off back home and Mom didn’t talk to me for two days. I realized this was never going to work, so after New Year’s I returned to Kodiak, saying the price of fur just wasn’t worth it. Which was true, but it was far from the real reason.

Rather than go crab fishing, I found a little apartment, stayed in the city, and worked odd cannery jobs, with the intent to check out the churches. Those were the heydays of crab fishing. A lot of money flowed through town, which meant lots of bars….and even more churches! All the major denominations were represented. I didn’t visit them all, but I did check out a good many of them; however, it wasn’t getting me anywhere. Nothing felt right, and I began to wonder…

The more I became convinced that I wasn’t going to find God in the church world, my feeling that God did exist became stronger. And I felt more and more pressed about it with every passing day. It became a monkey on my back, screeching in my ear and refusing to let go despite all my efforts to shake it off. Though I never contemplated it, I realized why people commit suicide: they have ‘a monkey on their back’ and cannot live with the thought that this is how it will be for the rest of their lives. Outwardly I was a typical cannery rat, but inside all was turmoil.

One day it came to me that maybe I was going about this all wrong. I was looking for God under my own terms, and perhaps that is not how it works. I don’t remember how many days I contemplated this, but finally one night I lay prostrate on my mattress (I didn’t have a bed), and tried to imagine the throne of God. It seems to me I began like this: “I don’t even know if you exist, but I feel like you do. You know I have searched for you, but with my own set of standards, and now I am taking them off.” My conditions were mostly the who, what, when, how, and why type. I don’t remember the order in which I confessed them except for the last one, where. This part I do remember word for word, “…and even if it means I have to live in a god-forsaken place like Seattle, Washington, I’m willing even for that.” And that was when I knew there is a living God, because the monkey on my back jumped off and I felt peace like I had never known before. That night I slept like I hadn’t since my search began. The next day as I reflected on what had happened the night before, I had peace with going back to fishing. Somehow I knew God was going to open up the way.

I found a seining job on the Salty, a thirty-nine foot fiberglass boat, and we journeyed four days from the port of Kodiak to the north end of Bristol Bay in the Bering Sea. We were going for the roe fishery for herring which is done by setting the seine around a school of herring about to spawn. The Salty was part of a four-boat combine that had a spotter plane to set us upon the fish. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game determined the time and duration of the fishing periods; the longest I recall was two days and the shortest was one hour.

Most of our three weeks in the Togiak area were spent waiting for these openings; I think there were three that year. So we had lots of time on our hands. One day I was on another boat of our four-boat group playing cards. I was sitting at the galley table facing the stove. Dave, the cook on that boat, was explaining in no uncertain terms to another crew member just what a sorry job he was doing cleaning up the galley. I looked up from my hand and suddenly it was as if time stood still. I saw a tunnel of light with the cook’s face on the other end. A voice said to me, “Dave has the keys. You and he will become good friends. There is nothing you can do about it.” And just like that it was gone and someone mentioned that it was my turn to play a card. I never said a word to anyone, and waited to see what would happen. After returning to Kodiak, Dave and I were fishing on two different boats in two different areas, but as the summer progressed we were running into each other more and more. We were mostly drinking buddies, as nearly everyone we knew was, and never, ever talked about religion.

When salmon season ended and king crab began, I switched back to the Lisa Dawn. About two weeks into the season my skipper fired the other crew member, and asked me if I knew where my friend lived. We jumped into his pickup and caught Dave just as he was putting on his jacket to go to the harbor to look for a fishing job. We threw his sea bag in the back of the truck and soon we were pulling out of the harbor heading for Kiliuda Bay along the east side of Kodiak.

The fishing was excellent, the weather seemed to be in our favor, and we got along royally. One fine afternoon as we were working the gear, Dave asked me if I thought there was a God. I don’t remember what I replied but when I finished, Dave stopped coiling the line, straightened up, and looking me straight in the eye said, “If you’re into checking out strange religions, you should talk to my mom. She has the strangest religion in all the earth.” End of conversation. I will add that to stop coiling the line when a crab pot is being pulled in is a cardinal sin. Line was snaking all over the deck. I was running the hydraulic controls and was so astounded Dave stopped coiling that I froze. Jimmy stepped out of the wheelhouse and screamed at us like I didn’t know he could. It took us more than a few minutes to get everything back in order. And I knew something out of the ordinary had just happened. I wasn’t quite sure what, but it was a game changer. It wasn’t so much what Dave said but how he said it, and then refused to talk about the subject anymore. I knew his parents and siblings; I’d been in their apartment several times that summer. I remember sleeping off a hangover on their couch one morning when one of their lady ministers came by. I figured them to be some sort of Pentecostal folk, a type I had already checked out and rejected.

So after the king crab season ended I went to talk to Dave’s mom. That evening Dave’s little sister was there, but quickly disappeared when I said I wanted to talk about their faith. Amerilis appeared, invited me to sit down, and I was immediately on the attack. She was very patient with me, and I was impressed that she didn’t pretend to know the answers to questions like, What about the dinosaurs? The questions I was asking had no answers and I knew that; I also knew religious folk always tried to give an answer. Amerilis would just shake her head and say, “I don’t know.” Finally, not knowing what else to do with me, she invited me to attend one of her ‘meetings.’ “Come and see” was about all I remember her telling me about it.

So that next very rainy Sunday morning I was standing in front of the Harbormaster building dressed in my rain gear, wondering what I was getting myself into. About the appointed time I saw a car turn the corner and head towards the harbor. Somehow I knew that was my ride, even though it was not Amerilis’ car. Sure enough it stopped, the lady inside cranked the window down and asked if I was Fred. She explained that Amerilis’ father had died that week and she had flown to Montana for the funeral. I was living on the Lisa Dawn in the boat harbor in the days before cell phones. Women seldom were seen in the harbor, and almost never ladies; it was man’s territory. There was no way for Amerilis to let me know someone else would meet me. I thought, well this is getting off on the wrong foot, but it can’t be any worse than what I’ve experienced anywhere else, so into the car, rain gear and all, and off we went.

It wasn’t far, about three blocks; a little house on the hillside overlooking the harbor and most of the city of Kodiak. There was a long stairway leading to the front door, and once inside I was seated in the living room. That room was 20’x16’, maybe. It did have a wonderful view facing the city. June and her teenage son were seated with their backs to the window. On the couch were Eunice and her husband Henry; she was 75, he was 85. Henry was not professing and soon fell asleep. I recalled Amerilis saying there weren’t too many of them, but only four?! Suddenly Eunice asked if anyone had a hymn to sing and the meeting began.

Today I know the order of the meeting because I’ve been in thousands of meetings since, but all I remember of that first one was how it started. However, when it was over and I was going down the steps back to June’s car, I had this feeling – and about halfway down it hit me that I had felt like this the night I had prayed to God about taking off my conditions and the monkey jumped off my back. This was it!!

The next Sunday found me back in that same room, but quite a few more were gathered. No one was saying a word. As we sat there in silence before the meeting began, I suddenly remembered I was no longer wearing glasses. The day before, the optometrist from Anchorage had his clinic in town, and I was now wearing contact lenses. My childhood prayer came to mind and I thought, this cannot be pure coincidence. After the meeting someone explained to me that the Sunday before they had been in Anchorage attending something called special meeting, whatever that was.

So I began to attend Sunday morning fellowship meetings on a regular basis. Well, sort of. It was mid-November, and I had plans to go fox trapping on the west side of Kodiak that winter. So I went out to my cabin for two weeks to make preparations. During that time I came down with a cold that left me weak as a kitten and unable to care for myself. A howling northwest wind was blowing through Onion Bay that dark, rainy night. I had neighbors living about a mile away, but no way to contact them, or anyone else for that matter. And I knew I needed help now. As I lay in my bunk shaking like a leaf, cold as ice, I understood this could very possibly be it, and there was no doubt in my mind where I was going afterwards. If there ever was a time to pray to God for a second chance, it was now.

So I did, and totally unplanned as I finished my petition, I promised I would be honest in my efforts this time. No sooner had that prayer passed through my mind and the horrible shaking stopped and I began to feel warm. Truthfully, the first thought through my mind was, What have I just done??!! And then there was a loud, audible voice, “Fred, no more dope.” Soon afterwards I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until late the following afternoon. I was still sick, but no longer in danger. I had a week to study on all this until the float plane came to return me to Kodiak. I knew nothing else to do except attend that little Sunday morning meeting.

That Sunday I sensed the dynamics had changed. There were even more people in meeting, including that woman minister I had met before. And sitting next to her was this other older lady who somehow seemed to be connected with her. Moreover, the older of the two led the meeting. Afterwards they were all smiles and friendly-like, inviting me to this gospel meeting, whatever that was, that they were having in a room at the junior high school on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. The older one, Helen, made quite a point of letting me know she thought it would a very, very good idea if I attended those meetings as well as the Sunday morning fellowship meetings.

There wasn’t a whole lot else to do in Kodiak if a person wasn’t doing the bar scene, so I made it a point to go. Except about a week afterwards, 7.5” king crab season opened and the Lisa Dawn was again fishing out of Kiliuda Bay, about an eight-hour run from Kodiak. Dave and I were the crew, so off we went. The amazing thing is, as far as I or anyone else remembers, I never missed one of those gospel meetings, despite the eight-hour run, December weather in the North Pacific Ocean, and the uncertainties of crab fishing. The combination of those three things puts my attendance at those meetings in the category of the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea; in other words, a true miracle that could only be performed by God’s hand.

Later that summer I learned why our skipper was so insistent on being back at those times. He was having a new boat built in Seattle and the company was calling him every Monday and Thursday morning at 6:00 a.m. (In those days there was a two-hour time difference between Alaska and Seattle.) It was very important that progress be made as quickly as possible on the boat. Even with incentive like that, the weather in the North Pacific Ocean in December makes keeping such a schedule an impossibility that only an experienced crab fisherman can fully grasp. But it happened.

The season ended about the first of the year and it was a month or so before tanner crab season was to start. By that time I was a regular. I don’t remember anything that was said in any of those meetings, but my heart was drawing closer every day. I would meet Helen and Judy for visits from time to time in Dairy Queen. All I knew was my heart was getting warmer and warmer with each meeting.

I will add that in that first meeting with the workers, there were some other folks I hadn’t seen before, including a young lady about my age. It wasn’t long and we were seeing each other quite regularly. She had told me she was divorced, but I just put that out of my mind. Up to this point my only conviction, if you could call it that, about divorce and remarriage came from something that happened when I was about 12 years old. My parents were going through a rough stretch. My sister Ellen, a year younger than me, quite innocently said to Mom, “Why don’t you just divorce Dad and marry someone else? Uncle Ben does it all the time.” Mom hauled off and slapped Ellen across the face (which was totally out of character for Mom), knocking her to the floor. Standing over her, Mom yelled, “You don’t ever talk like that again. People who do that go to hell!” That made quite an impression.

My friend was living with her folks, and one evening I went to see her and lo and behold, the workers were staying there. Well, I had been wondering how the workers got around, and for a while that dominated the conversation. But when the subject died out, her folks excused themselves, and suddenly it was just us and them. There was a bit of an awkward silence and then I very innocently told them I really liked the meetings and wondered what I could do to draw closer.

The conversation that followed was one I will never forget. About halfway through, my friend got up and went into the kitchen where I could hear her sobbing. Finally the workers said about all they could say and went to their room. I think they were waiting for me to leave, but there was no way I was going without seeing my friend. When I went into the kitchen she was still sobbing. I hugged her and asked what she thought of it all. She told me everything they said was true. She said she knew she could go elsewhere in the USA and marry again and ‘take part.’ “I know it isn’t right, but I’m going to do it anyway, and if it isn’t you, it is going to be someone else.” So obviously I had some things to think about. I continued to attend the meetings, but as far as I know my friend never came again. But somehow I felt much freer in my spirit.

The visits at the Dairy Queen continued until finally I asked the workers if I could make my choice. They felt I was ready and said they would give me an opportunity that coming Sunday. Sunday arrived, and as I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes on the Lisa Dawn, I looked out the galley window and saw my old college roomie Tim walking the dock headed my way. I remember thinking, I wonder what he wants. It’s not hunting, fishing or trapping season. Hmmm… Sure enough, he hopped on board and was delighted to see me up and dressed. “Come on, let’s head for the Office Bar. Sue is holding a table and drinks are on me. I have $500 on the game.” It was Super Bowl Sunday and I didn’t even know it! I hesitated, and suddenly I knew he was the one person in the entire world I would not be able to brush off. If I refused I would have to tell him why, and I wasn’t quite ready for that yet. So instead of going to Sunday morning meeting, I went and sat in front of the bar’s big screen and watched my friend’s team lose the game. It was one of the most miserable experiences of my life to that date.

When it was all over, I went back down to the boat and thought, if this is how Judas felt, no wonder he hung himself. However, since the game was played in the afternoon somewhere on the east coast, there was yet time to make the gospel meeting. When I entered the room, I called the workers out and let them know I wasn’t ready. Afterwards we went down to the boat and I explained what happened. I was totally undone and told them they held my spiritual life in their hands. They were very understanding and assuring. They gave me an opportunity the following Wednesday, and I made it during the last stanza of the last chorus of the hymn. I never dreamed that raising my hand could be so difficult, but then I could have never imagined the peace and comfort that followed.

That was January of 1982. In the weeks that followed, I was so happy, and invited lots of my friends. I remember telling Helen and Judy they would need a bigger room; they just smiled. There was one person though, that never attended anymore. Kodiak isn’t a very big place and I had lots of ‘ears’ around. So one evening when my friend was babysitting for some folks who were off to Anchorage for the weekend, I went to see her. We had gotten along fabulously up to that disastrous visit, and I felt like, well I really don’t know what I felt, except I needed some sort of closure. She, however, could read between the lines. “Fred, you have just started in this thing. You have no idea where it is taking you. I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but I have made my choice. I don’t ever want to see you again. I have enough problems without your blood on my soul. No hard feelings, but that is the way it has to be. We can never be together anymore. Do you understand?” The message was loud and clear to me. I never did see her again.

I was able to go to Juneau convention that spring of 1982. It was a wonderful experience, especially since I was baptized there. I’m not sure what I expected when I went, but I remember being on the plane returning to Kodiak and reflecting that somehow it was everything it should be.

I was fully committed to being a commercial fisherman. I loved the life of the sea, especially around Kodiak. I had crewed on several boats, and felt the time to purchase a permit, lease a boat and skipper it myself was within my reach. I fantasized about having a ‘professing’ crew. However, that summer turned out to be the strangest summer of my commercial fishing experience. In a three-month period, the Salty only spent ten days in Kodiak, and those ten days were in a row. I realized that if I had a boat of my own, I would have to do whatever it took to meet the payments, even if it meant staying away from home port for an extended period of time. Was it worth the risk of missing so many meetings?

As it turned out, the salmon season ended early, so before the start of preparations for 7” king crab season, I was able to fly home to Wisconsin for two weeks. My family couldn’t seem to grasp what I had found, and I was sure if I spent some time with them, they would all want it, too. It didn’t turn out that way at all, and other than a few meetings attended, up to this current day my family has shown little or no interest in what I have. However, the last evening before my return flight to Kodiak, when it was just the two of us, Dad turned off the tv (which he never did while watching the late movie), took his pipe out of his mouth, and said something like the following: “I’m not sure what you’ve got yourself into. But I’ve seen some changes in your life these last two weeks that I always wanted to make in my life, but never had the strength to do. I can’t say very much, but know that I approve and am behind you in what you’re doing.” That has always been a comfort to me.

To my surprise, the Sunday morning meeting was a scant six blocks from my parents’ home. In fact, I had known these people most of my growing up life, as they were customers of my dad’s garbage collection business. The elder there, Marion, was absolutely delighted and did his best to befriend me. He was a retired butcher who had his own business. It was convention prep time in Wisconsin, and he invited me to go with him for a day of preps. On the way he told me his life story and how he wished he could have spent his days in the work. A few days later he asked me to accompany him as he transported Gilbert (an old brother worker who labored for years in Brazil and was on his home visit) from one part of the state to another. Shortly after we picked up Gilbert, Marion asked him if he thought there was anything better for a young man to do than give his life in this great work.

I didn’t need a college degree to figure out where this was all going. Up to that point, the life of the workers fascinated me, but little else. Now however, a voice in my mind said, “This could be your portion.” I screamed back, “No, not me!” However, as much as I tried to put it out of my mind, I couldn’t, and when I returned to Kodiak, the monkey was back louder than ever. Fortunately, by then I was rooming with Ben, a professing man who had spent some time in the work. One evening we went for a walk and he asked me what was eating at me, telling me I had not been the same since returning from Wisconsin. It took some prodding but before long I admitted it was the work. He advised me to go to Anchorage and see Truitt, who was working on a project at the Wasilla convention site. The coming Sunday there would be some sort of special meeting, as three workers new to Alaska were arriving, and all would be speaking.

On the way to Anchorage a question was going over and over in my mind: How ever was I going to have this visit with Truitt? I knew who he was, as I had met him at Juneau convention. But phone number to reach him? Where he would be? Suddenly it came to me that if I just happened to run into him, and couldn’t shake him in conversation, that would be my sign that I should offer for the work. I know that sounds a bit vague, and it was even to me at the time, but with that thought I had peace.

So I found myself in the Anchorage airport that Friday evening when the plane carrying those workers arrived. I remember stepping into the waiting area and being amazed at how many people were gathered there quietly chatting amongst themselves as they waited. And there was Truitt dressed like he just walked off the project. The instant he spotted me, he came right over. Honestly, I was glad to see him and didn’t think anything about it until I noted how many people came up to say hi to him and then would politely move on to someone else. Suddenly I had this nagging suspicion, and decided I needed to make a move, so I excused myself to use the restroom. I spent way more time in there than was necessary, giving him plenty of opportunity to become engaged in conversation with someone else. When I finally walked out, there he was, leaning against the wall looking at the ceiling deep in thought, but spotted me instantly and came right over. It seemed to me the time between then and when the plane actually landed stretched on for an eternity. I knew this was the sign that had come to me and I wanted no part in offering. Finally the plane landed (it was about twenty minutes late) and I managed to lose him in the rush of the reception of the workers stepping off the plane. I lay as low as possible the next day, hardly going out of the apartment where I was staying. I suppose the fellas living there wondered about me, but I didn’t care. I had made up my mind that Truitt needed to find me, and I would take no chance of just running into him.

Sunday arrived, I went to the meeting and it was wonderful until he spoke. Of all verses, he chose 1 Cor 13:11, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Yikes. To make it even worse, right after the meeting he sought me out and offered to give me a ride to the airport for the flight back to Kodiak. “I really don’t need a ride, we’ll just take a cab.” “No need for that, I can do it, as there will be plenty of time before my next appointment.” “Oh thanks, but it’s not necessary at all.” “No worries, I’m glad to do it.” I’m not sure how long we went back and forth before I realized he did not understand the meaning of the word no in this matter. So I reminded him there were two of us needing to catch that plane, feeling secure it wouldn’t be right to bring up the subject with someone else present. “Lots of room,” he said.

When the final details of cleaning up the hall were done, I looked around for my traveling buddy who was nowhere to be seen. Then I looked out the door and to my horror saw my friend getting into a car with some other workers! So, Truitt and I were alone in the car when it pulled out of the parking lot heading for the airport. My heart was racing, my head pounding, and I thought I might throw up lunch. I asked him some question about what he spoke on, because I knew if I talked it was all over. So he expounded on and on and on and the traffic was crawling and suddenly I just blurted out, “I’m called to the work.”

I’ll never forget the look of surprise on his face. He pulled over to a side street and we chatted until I thought I’d miss the plane. (As it turned out, the weather was bad in Kodiak and the plane was delayed several hours.) He suggested I leave Kodiak and live somewhere else, as it would give me a much better idea of what life in the work would be like compared to the more isolated situation of Kodiak Island. I mentioned I had thought of changing careers and becoming a teacher; I already had my degree in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, and I could get my teaching certificate in about a year at the university in Fairbanks. When I assured him I had the finances to do that, he was sold on the idea.

He said he’d do some calling to put me in touch with some of the friends (at that time Fairbanks had four large Sunday morning meetings). Then he quoted 2 Peter 1:10, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” He explained the most important thing in the coming months would not be getting my certificate, but seeking that assurance from God, which would not only affirm His will for my life, but also keep me during my days in the work when not all was going well.

That visit was the beginning of September, 1982. I went to Fairbanks, obtained my certificate, and taught for a year in Kodiak. Most importantly, I found the assurance I so badly needed. In late July of 1985 I arrived at Olympia convention as part of the prep crew. My first companion was Truitt and our field was the Kenai Peninsula which included Kodiak. I came to Washington in 1992, spent 1996-97 in Wisconsin, returned to Washington until December of 2006 when I went to Argentina for three years, and have been laboring in Washington since.

June 6, 2020

Fred Skalitzky

II Timothy 2:21, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and met for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” The question I would ask myself is how would it be possible that a piece of clay would have been made into a vessel of honour?

I don’t know a lot of you people here, and there is one thing I do not know, and that is how much it cost you to be here, to be here again. How many suffered in silence, and just hung on? Another thing that you don’t know, and how much it cost me to be here. When things were going wrong and you kept it to yourself. Being in a divided home and just hanging on. I will never know how much it cost you folk to be here. But we do know that someday we will be glad for what it has cost us, just to hang on and stay in our place.

Maybe there are some people here not walking in the way of God yet. When we go preaching the gospel, I am glad for one thing. The message that God gave us, is a God-given message. When he calls us, we are not here because we want to be, but because we were called and we just said, “Yes.” God gave us a message that was before this world began, and that was the beginning. When this message began and it began way out there in eternity, when He decided to send His Son with this wonderful message. That was the real beginning. I am very glad as we go out and preach the Gospel, and the message that we take is not a message of condemnation. It would be the saddest thing if the message we preach to the sinner, would be a message of condemnation. Our joy as we go preaching the gospel, and we can tell the people this is a message of hope, and if there is anyone in this meeting that is still not in the fold, we would like them to know that the gospel is not a message of condemnation. The gospel never came to destroy us, it came to save us from the thing that would destroy us and can destroy us.

I was glad when I was a young person, and I had committed many sins, and I knew that sooner or later there was something that was going to destroy me. It was not going to be anyone else, it was going to be me. I knew I had no power over that. I needed someone that was stronger than me, and someone that cared about me. We can get to the stage where we can think, “No one cares about me.” There is one that is stronger. When I was a young person, I realised I needed someone stronger than myself to help me overcome that which was going to destroy me sooner or later.

I was thinking about being a vessel of honour in the house. How can a piece of clay like we are ever get to that? Sometimes, you look in the mirror. What do we see, but a piece of clay? Something in a few years that will go back to where it came from, and be just a little bit of dust. Through the gospel, we have received the hope that someday we could become a vessel of honour. Humanly, we are a vessel of dishonour. When we look in the mirror, we think, “Oh, just a piece of clay,” and that is a good thing. Sometimes, we dress ourselves up and we may look pretty good but in the end, it is only clay. I am very thankful for the times when the Lord reminds me I am only clay. At the same time, the Lord reminds me there is hope for that piece of clay.

We know the story about Jeremiah being sent down to the potter’s house, and what he saw. He saw the potter working with a piece of clay. We can say, “What will become of that piece, as there is clay everywhere?” Clay is only dirt mixed with water after all. That is all we are.

This potter took a piece of clay and he began to work, and worked with the piece of clay that it would be amongst a vessel of honour. We read that the vessel was marred in his hands. It was on the wheel, but it was marred in the potter’s hand. We heard about this matter of forgiveness, something that has marred the work in my life is the fact I have not been willing to forgive. It would be a great thing when the Lord takes this piece of clay that it would cleanse us from anything, that would mar or hinder that work so that someday that we don’t find ourselves outside.

Carelessness is another thing, our human nature gets careless. We can become careless with the things that will mar the work of the potter. Just be the piece of clay in the hand of the potter.

When the potter gets a piece of clay in his hand, he has a plan in his mind. The great potter has a plan for our lives, also. The plan is to be made like Jesus himself, so when we go to Jesus, we will be like Him. So much like Him that the Lord would be able to say, “You are one of Ours.” Satan has a plan also as he puts people on his wheel and they go round and round. It is an awful thing to think that the world has got a wheel, also. It is not good to see people who put their lives in the hands of one who wants to make them like himself, and that is vessels of dishonour.

It says it was marred in his hands. I like also it says he took the same piece, the same piece of clay and he began again. Even though we feel we are marred in the hand of the potter, he wants to take the same piece of clay and make it again. He could have thrown it to one side and got a better piece of clay. If he had done that, what would have happened? That piece of clay would have dried up, and turned into dust and been blown away forever. The potter will not do that. If he ever did leave us, we would be like the rest and we would be lost forever and no hope.

I was thinking of David, and David got a man killed and took his wife. He was condemned, and he knew himself he was, and that he was worthy of death. When he repented, the Lord took the same piece of clay and made it again into a useful vessel. That is what the potter wants to do for us. He could have disregarded David and looked for a better man, but he took the same piece of clay and began again. That is our hope after these meetings or during those meetings and the Lord will be able to work with this piece of clay again and make it into a vessel of honour.

I also think about the prodigal son, and he had plenty in his father’s house, and he looked out the window, and not only looked out the window, but he went out the door. He went into the far country and you know what he got up to. When he came to himself, he came home. His father never shut the door, and he took the same son again, and he opened the same door and he said, “Come in.” That is what Jeremiah saw when he went down to the potter’s house, the same piece of clay being picked up again and he began again. I am glad this is the hope we have. The Lord gives us and puts us on the wheel again and works with us, and saves us from being lost.

In our house where we were brought up, my mother never had a lot, but my mother had a real treasure, and we were not allowed to touch it. It was in the cupboard and we could look at it, and it was a set of china. It was only bought out on special occasions, when the sister workers came and it was a prize set. That set, at one time, was only clay and someone that knew clay and made something of that clay. It was turned into a prized possession and that is a little picture of how it is going to be. Out there in eternity when the work is done, the hand of the potter has finished its work. It will bring Him joy, but we are only a piece of clay, it will be something that is worthwhile. It will be a prize possession in the showcase in eternity.

It is our privilege having heard the gospel, and having put our lives on that wheel, and in spite of the things that have marred our life, and our own disobedience, and He can make something that is very useful. I would not like to despise the hand of the One who had taken my life again and again, it gives me hope that someday that I will be like Him, that is His plan and purpose for us. Out there in eternity there will be nothing else and there will be nothing of the earth, and the happiest ones are the ones that are going to be most like Jesus. God is transforming our lives so we may be like Him and we might have a place for all eternity. It is quite a thing to think we can be transformed, from that little piece of clay to something of eternal value.

Sometimes, it is very hard to know what it has cost others to get on the wheel. I don’t know how many times you people have prayed earnestly like Paul did, “Take that thorn from my flesh and deliver me from it,” and has anyone ever prayed that. He prayed three times and nothing happened. Praying three times is not a lot, I have heard of people praying for something 100 times. We don’t know how much it has cost you to keep on the wheel, but we know the grace of God is sufficient for us if we stay on the wheel.

I have been back to the place where I was born, and there are some that are not on the wheel anymore. I remember a young man and he was at work and they offered him a cigarette. If it was his first and last, it would not have mattered but it was his first and it was not his last. That poor boy was trying to serve God and that marred his life completely. I saw him going out into eternity with nothing. He got involved with something he tried a few times and he could not get rid of it, so he could not get free. He took his life off the wheel and he was never able to get back on.

I would not know how to use a washing machine but where I labour, we wash our clothes by hand. Sometimes our clothes have a spot on them, and sometimes you feel spotted, and we feel we are not as clean as we should be. Sometimes, I wash my clothes and the spot is still there. If we keep our lives on the wheel, even though we can’t overcome the spots today, if we keep ourselves on the wheel, eventually that spot will be gone forever. Some of the things we have worry us, and the reason we go to Sunday morning meetings is that little spots can be cleansed a bit more. Sometimes we are a total mess and we wonder if we can be of any use but if we remain on the wheel, eventually we can become a vessel of honour.

This is a story that I don’t share very often. I was at a convention once and when the speaking list came out, I noticed I was to speak on Sunday morning. I wanted to speak about that time that Jesus was on the cross and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” I had a friend whom I could not totally forgive and felt I cannot speak on this until this matter is settled. We went to our tent and all my mates were sleeping and I was wide awake. I was out of my mind. I thought, “I cannot speak about that tomorrow and if I am honest, I can’t speak about the One who gave forgiveness.” These things can mar the work of God on the wheel. I thought, “I will forgive the person who has done this to me.” I thought I could go to sleep and that was not enough either, that is not forgiveness. There was no forgiveness until I came to the place where I desired that person could be closer to the great White Throne than myself. That person would have a greater reward than I would have. Then I realised that is forgiveness. That could have marred the work of the potter in my life, and it did too. When I really felt like that, I could then get off my knees and go to sleep. I could get up next morning and tell them about the One who forgave on the cross.

We have this hope even if we do fail and we do fall that God wants to pick us up again and put us on the wheel. Clay is everywhere and it is an awful thing, but when it is taken in the hand of God, and when He begins to work, we can become a very useful vessel. I am very glad there is a potter and He works in our lives. Satan has got a wheel, and he has got a plan, also. Satan wanted to sit on the throne, and that would have been a terrible thing, if he had got what he wanted. He was put out and came down here on this earth. I am so glad that God wants to work in our lives and by keeping our lives on that wheel. I was speaking about the spots when I was washing my clothes but in eternity, there will be no spots on our garments. We will be as clean and pure as the Son of God Himself. It won’t be because of what we have done, it will be what God has done for us. I hope these meetings could let the potter work in our lives, and it doesn’t matter how much it will cost, and just to stay on the wheel. We do know one day we will be a useful and honourable vessel. Amen

Matthew 26:30 “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.” I am so glad that hymn is included when Jesus went out with his disciples for the last time before he went to the cross. Not all the gospels included this, but Matthew felt it needed including. Sometimes we have wondered what hymn they sang, and what number they sang that day. It seems very likely it could have been one of the psalms, and there is a good chance it could have been the 22nd Psalm in reality we don’t know. One thing we do know those that were singing that day, not only singing hymns and singing songs they had learnt to sing the Lords song. 

There is something about singing the Lord’s song that is more beautiful, and it has nothing to do with the notes. One of the nicest pictures of hearing the Lords song, and you are at convention and you are outside the tent, and from a distance you hear the singing, there is something lovely about that. It is God’s people singing the Lords song. Singing like no professional orchestra in the world could sing it, there is a quality there. Once we heard our hymns sung by a professional orchestra, and someone had hired them to sing them, just to hear what they sounded like. I don’t think I have heard our hymns sung so perfectly, but it was empty. But when we hear God’s people singing them, and not every one on key as we know, and there is a beauty that is in no other people. It is not in how it is being sung, or why it is being sung, it is because it is being sung.

The most important thing about learning to sing the Lords song to go through the process so we could learn to sing, and because of one thing we know about heaven, if we are going to be there, first of all we must learn how to sing. It tells us in Revelation it is not a matter of getting our masters in singing or practicing every day, it is not what goes into learning the song it is through the Lord’s work in our life, and we will learn that song. It speaks about a day coming for those who have learned those songs, and day is today we are learning to sing the Lord’s song.

We like to do something at our preps, we normally have a Bible study or a Gospel meeting. A few years ago, we asked all the staff if they would attempt this year to write a hymn for the next year. Some were very alarmed at that, and felt they could not. This one fellow who was just starting in the work, and he could not carry a tune, and he has learnt to carry a tune since then, and he said I would rather be excluded from this because I cannot sing. We said sometimes people write a song, and other people put a tune to it, and he said I will try that. He wrote the nicest poem, and it found its way into one of the collections they have. It is good to think of the Lord song. It would be good if we could have that confidence I can learn to sing. 

There are several parts in the scripture where it speaks about singing the new song, in the Psalms there are about 5 or 6 places it says about singing the new song. The song was not new, as a fact it was older than any song on the earth, this song never gets old, it is always new. Hundreds of years later Isaiah speaks in the 42 Chapter and it is still a new song. And in Revelation 5 and 14 and 15 they are going to be singing a new song, by that time many things will be old, but that song will be new. Are we ready to sing that song or are we singing already? Sing to me the songs of Zion. 

Psalm 33 v 3 “Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.” How loudly do we sing when we are singing the Lord’s song? As we look at the hymns we see it shares some of the verses from the Psalms in it. Great and marvellous are thy works, and if we think we have done a lot we may sing that loudly. It is not the song I did it my way, like praising ourselves, it is the song of our soul. We like to be singing that song louder and louder. Anything in my life it is because of what God has done in my life. Praise to the Lamb, and praise to the redemption that made it possible that we could sing the song. 

In Psalm 40 it tells us a little of how to learn the song. Perhaps you have sung some of Kenneth Dissmore’s hymns, and one time a young brother worker, he felt he would like to write hymns also. This young worker wrote to Kenneth and said I would like to write hymns; how do I go about that? And Kenneth said how do you answer that question? How do you instruct someone to write a hymn, and maybe that younger brother was thinking there would be some technical pointers?

David was a hymn writer, and when you write a hymn where do you start? David could answer that Psalm 40 v 1 – 3 “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined onto my and heard my cry. He bought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath and put a new song in my mouth even praise until our God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” It was not a study or ear for music, it was an experience that he had. I was reading that Psalm one time and tried to figure out what time of David’s life that was, that he was in the pit. He was a model child and at 17 years of age had a wonderful testimony. We never see that he departed from that. 

We read later on in the Psalm where he said I delight to do thy will O my Lord, that is not David talking it is Jesus talking. It tells us in Hebrews 10 that was Jesus talking. It was Jesus talking and it was a time he was in the pit. Why was Jesus in the pit, so he could keep our soul out. It was at that moment in his life when God turned his face from him, And Jesus said “My God, My God why hast though forsaken me?” He went through that experience so you and I would never have to go through that experience. Hell was not created for mankind, and do you remember what Jesus said, He created hell for the devil and his angels, it was never for God’s people. He has done everything to keep us from that pit, but we are on that course for that pit until Jesus comes, until Jesus redeems us from that. That is what the Psalm came from and that is why he had such a beautiful song. Jesus is the only one that ever came to this earth that always sang that song. He never had a sour note in there, he never lost that joy of salvation, he kept the song alive, he was willing to go to death for you and I. 

It says he opened up my ear, and we have to hear the song to know what it is about. We know about an ear for music, some are born with that and some are not. It is wonderful when we are born again and we are given an ear for his song, and he gives us a love for that new song, and we love to hear others singing it. It says he has put a new song in my mouth, and many will hear it, and many will trust in it. It was getting a picture of Jesus singing the song. It was not only getting a picture of Jesus in the pit, but we need to get the picture that he went there for us.

The disciple’s the day after Jesus was crucified, and even the first day of the week, and they had no comfort and they had no joy. They knew that Jesus had died on the cross, they had a picture of Jesus’ physical suffering that we will never have. It took the resurrected Christ sing the song in order for them to have peace. Jesus came in amongst them and said peace be unto you. We are very tankful today when we can get fresh pictures of Jesus singing the song, and we in our part try to sing

It says in the Psalm later I will sing in the great congregation, that is something we need to understand this is not a solo act. This thing of singing a song is not how well I sing, how well do I sing with my brothers and sisters. One time there was a group of musicians they sang in harmony together, and there was a singer who became available, so they hired him, and he was much better than the singer they had before. They found out he was only good when he was singing by himself. It is something we got to be aware of. Not so much singing individually, but it is the way we sing together. 

There was a time when this lady sang very well, and she sang in a group of people. She sang in such a way that once she was singing hardly anyone could here her, and when she didn’t sing, they missed her. She added something as she was singing in parts. They said how do you do that? She said when I sing, I try and sing so I get lost in the music. It would be good if we could be singing in harmony with our brothers and sisters, and sometimes we find we get a little off tune. We have to keep looking to our Master, and giving an ear for him, and watching Him.

In Psalm 144 v 9 “I will sing a new song unto thee, O God; upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.” The psaltery was one of the instruments that David made. He also made harps, also a instrument of 10 strings, and we are not really sure what those instruments were like. One thing about this psaltery and it is outstanding, because it was a psaltery it was specially made to play songs. A psaltery doesn’t sing. It backs up the singer. 

I like thinking of a picture and someone having an instrument and playing it in the back ground. Maybe you have had the experience of someone playing in a very nice voice. There is one string out of tune on the guitar and you would like to lean over and fix it. What is the instrument in our lives? What is the thing that adds quality to our singing? Is it not the testimony or the life behind it, our life needs a lot of work before it can tribute to the song. Then the changes take place. The Lord is the Master and he will work with our lives. 

There is one part of making an instrument that I have appreciated; it is the matter of the sound board. It is the top of an instrument and you have to take wood away from it, and then you start tapping it, and for a while it just goes thud. You take a little more wood away and it opens up, and it sings. You got to be careful you do not take to much wood away. As God looks there and he sees there is potential there and we could respond. We can be in harmony with the sound that comes from heaven. We have to get a lot of the wood taken away, and only God can do that, he knows what to take away, and he knows what to leave, and he knows just how much to take away. I would like to have more of a testimony that would back up the song, and not only words from my mouth. 

Jesus as one who had authority. Some may think he had a loud voice, but that was not it, there was the authority in his words, everything was in harmony, and everything backing that up, and adding to the song. 

Sometimes this matter of making instruments, and we get a sour note, and in Psalm 144 it says there would be no complaining. The thing is how do you get rid of complaints? I never think the Lord meant never to have a complaint in our hearts, the Lord knows that when we see something that grieves us, we would also be grieved, and he is grieved. What do we do about it? Don’t take it out into the streets and don’t make it part of your song. Psalm 142 v 2 “I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.” That is a wonderful place to get rid of sour notes in the secret place with our Father. Do we have that confidence when we are alone with our Father that we can completely to talk to him about anything that we feel we need to? You parents, it is like when your children come home from school and they have some complaints and they are pouring their hearts to you may not agree with it all, but you are happy that, that child is happy to pour out to you. If we spent more time pouring out the sour notes before our Father in the secret place, we are less likely to pour out sour notes in our song, and in our street. 

There are different things that will put sour notes in to our song. We will go back to when Jesus and the disciplines were singing the hymn. Judas did not sing that hymn, neither did Judas have the right song in his heart, and he had sour notes. If you are sitting beside someone who is singing off tune it is so hard to keep in tune. When Jesus faced all those experiences, he did not let his brothers off tune affect his tune, because Jesus always continued to sing a song. When you think of Jesus, and you think of the one who was one of the twelve, and what a wonderful privilege he had, and Jesus loved him as much as he loved the others, and for Judas to do something like that, and to go behind his back and to betray him for 30 pieces of silver to sell his Master. If you had a real good friend, and he did that to you, what would you do, and I think I would lose my song, and I am sure there would be a few sour notes there especially when I was talking about him. Judas came with a band of soldiers to the garden, and Jesus came up to him and called him friend. Jesus never allowed the spirit of another to affect his spirit. We are thankful the Lord can give us help to keep our song. 

Isaiah 42 v 10, 11 “Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voices… let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountain.” I love the pictures of those who go down to the sea, that is the workers, the inhabitants and that is the listeners. If we expect as we go forth to peach the gospel the best thing, we can do is to just sing the song. It is not a matter of telling them what they have to change or whatever. It is just singing the song ourselves. There is something about singing this song that encourages others.  

One time we were in a place and it was my first year in the work. There were a newly married couple who wanted to buy a piano, in that area there were pianos made, and there were a lot of people with grand looking pianos. They found this piano and they wanted us to go with them as they could not play a piano. We went in and it was a beautiful piano, just like it was brand new. As you know a piano would have a better tone a few years after it was made. We took the front off and it was very clean, we played a few notes and it was still in tune. We said to our friends that this piano was good and it was worth the money. The owners were looking at us and chatting between themselves, the lady came up and said we are very sorry, we have decided not to sell the piano. If you are singing your song well, it may encourage your brother or sister to buy the truth and sell it not. They had forgotten the value of what they had in the home; we can sometimes forget that. 

Paul and Silas in the prison, and it became midnight, it could be a pleasant time as you would be asleep and forget for a about why where you are. Paul and Silas were not sleeping, they were singing at midnight, aren’t we thankful today for those who sang at midnight. When we were walking in darkness, and when we were in the prison, and before we got delivered, and we would have a time when we would but it out of our minds. Then there were our parents and some of the workers were singing songs at midnight keeping us awake. That is another part of this, that we would grieve that they would not be part of this, the very best thing we can do is to just to sing the song ourselves.

In Revelation 5 it speaks about the book. On the back of the book there were some things written there. So, it was written in the book, and on the back of the book. You know what is written on the back of the book, it is the end of the story. When you read the end of a story, and especially the end of this story, and you want to know what is in the book, as you want to know what lead up the end of the story. It was said there was no one worthy to open that Book. When you know there is something in the Book and you can’t get into it. John felt bad about it. It says he wept, because there was no one worthy to open the Book. Then those wonderful words “Weep not, behold the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the Book.” They turned and saw a Lamb as it had been slain. 

It says they sang a new song; it was the same with David singing a new song. They sang “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. And hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.” Is that part of our song today, that we have been redeemed and we are thankful for it, that God had a plan for us to make us into kings and priests? Can we really sing that work is taking place, and we know the work is not finished yet. It was priests to bring the cares of the people to God. It was the kings that bought the needs of the people to God. Good kings and priests in the Kingdom helping to keep the connection strong between God’s people and God.

Revelation 14 v 2 “And I heard the voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, as the voice of a great thunder; and I heard the voice of harper’s harping with their harps.” It is speaking about harping in a very positive thing. In Revelation 5,14 and 15 everyone there had harps. Everyone there had, had a work done in their life, they were not only there with a song or a belief, they were there that there was evident that there had been a work done in their lives, and they had a testimony that backed up the song they were singing. They were singing a new song, and no one can learn that song unless they were redeemed.

Chapter 15 v 2 “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” That is something we need to do, before we can sing the new song, to learn to stand where we could not stand before. Peter will be there as he stood on water as no man had done that before. As we go through life’s experiences the Lord will enable us to stand where we have not stood before, where we would not be able to stand on our own power. All praise will be to him, who enabled us to stand there, to stand with a good spirit, to stand with forgiveness, to stand with respect for our brother and sister. There are so many things that can cause us to fall, there are so many things that can take away out heart. It speaks of these people that got victory over the beast, there is so much that can take away our testimony, they were standing there having harps. The Lord would like us to understand there is no reason that we all can’t be there singing that song. It says they would sing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb.

Great and marvelous are thy works, it is nothing about what we have done. I am just so thankful for what Jesus has done. Have you ever seen two songs you can sing together in harmony? You can sing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb together in harmony, put them together and sing them and it is the Lord’s song. When Peter, John and James went up the mountain of transfiguration they were all singing the same song, all in harmony with one another. We are very thankful today we have this privilege today learning how to sing. We stood before and sang, we sing better when we are standing, it is the way the body is made. Singing the new song sounds better when we are standing. As long as we keep our head lifted, and as long as we are standing it will help us to sing that song, may it be so for us all. Amen 

Matthew 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.”

Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

The Standard has been raised before us without question! There’s been a very vivid picture of Christ. We get a picture of where we’re at in comparison, “You have a long ways to go but you are the light of the world!”

Genesis 23:4, “I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” Sarah, his wife, had died. Abraham didn’t worship their gods, or get involved in things that they were involved with. He said, “I am a stranger and sojourner with you.”

Genesis 23:6, they said, “Hear us, my lord; thou art a mighty prince among us.” Abraham probably didn’t know that they felt that way! Maybe some of the things Abraham had done wrong were heavy on his heart, but now he finds out he’s a light! We feel like we don’t even begin to fit in with the standard of Christ, but we know we don’t fit into the world!

Genesis 30:27, “And Laban said unto him, ‘I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake.” The way Laban treated Jacob – cheating him, etc. – I don’t think Jacob knew Laban felt that way about him!

Matthew 25:3, “They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them but the wise took oil in their lamps.”

Matthew 25:8, “And the foolish said unto the wise, ‘Give us of your oil for our lamps are gone out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.’”

It’s always true about a light – it is a greater blessing to those in its presence, than it is to the stranger afar off outside that gets a glimpse through the window. This light brings us peace, and life is growing – such a blessing to us! The wise didn’t just go one day and buy oil, and be done! Those lamps were small vessels. They would constantly be going to the source to buy oil! I don’t think it was the first time the foolish asked the wise to give them oil. The wise were saying to the foolish, “Not so.” They’d be telling the foolish ways to do things so they didn’t compromise! The wise would have set aside a specific time to read and pray. Then the day came, when it was so important that the light was burning bright! I hope we’d understand the value of being the light of the world! We may never know that there are those in the world that see it.