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Genesis 49:2-28, “Gather yourselves together and here, ye are sons of Jacob and the Harken unto Israel your Father. All these are the 12 tribes of Israel and this is it that their father spake unto them and bless them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.” I have enjoyed thinking of God gathering us together and our purpose is to hear and to harken and we need to hear in such a way that we would respond to whatever God would speak. Jacob had such good advice at that time and he was speaking to his sons and wanting to add a blessing to their lives. And that is what God wants to do to us today to bless us and add a blessing. And Jacob spoke to his sons and to some he spoke one verse and to some a little longer and for some it was only one sentence. For all, it was an individual message and to all, the message was very clear. And God knows every one of us here and He knows our individual needs and He knows what message is needed for each one of us and it will be very clear.

There was a lady in the field where we were and she was elderly and lived in her beautiful big home. And her daughter went to see her and she lived a long way from her mother and tried to encourage her to downsize. It was hard for her children to help as they were also far away. And her mother’s answer to downsize was no and her daughter went away not so happy. And a little later, Convention came and we went back to that field after Convention and she told us the story. She said she went to convention and only heard one word the whole convention and that word was submit and she said, “That word was especially for me.” And maybe the message for us today is just one word.

I was thinking about what Mary said in John 2:5, “His mother saith unto the servants, ‘Whatever He saith unto you, do it.’” They were very good words from Mary and she had made them her own. Mary had received the best blessing that anyone could receive and that was the Christ, she received the living Christ and it blessed her life. She knew it was the best advice anyone could be given. And that day Jesus was speaking to the disciples and they were sweet words and He spoke to them after He had done the miracles.

Jesus’ sweet words are like seeds and we heard about the sower and the seed. There is a time when the farmer is preparing the ground and sowing the seed and it is a cost to him and it would seem like it is all cost and yet when the harvest comes it is all gain and it was worth it all. And sometimes the sweet words of Jesus’ may seem very costly, but the sweetness is in the blessing that is added to our lives. There are always blessings that are in the sweet words of Jesus when they come to our lives. And we know Jesus’ words were true right from the beginning of time. And in this world, we often read and what we hear is that true, is it really true and is it really possible, but the sweet words of Jesus are always true and we can trust them and they are eternal.

Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” These words of Jesus we want them deep in our heart and we want to harken unto them. When they are eternal words, fruit is produced and the sweet words of Jesus are very effective.

I liked reading in John 5 about the man who had an infirmity for 38 years and Jesus spoke seven words to him. The seven words Jesus spoke to him was, “Rise, take up thy bed and walk.” And the message was very personal, and the message was just for him and the message was very true. I remember when I was a young girl once and I really didn’t have the right attitude and I wasn’t doing very well at all and a verse came to my mind. Colossians 3:23, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men.” That verse was a great help to me that day. The sweet words of Jesus can change our thinking and it can change our feelings, it can change our attitude, it can change our spirit, it can change our direction and it can change so much and that is what that verse did for me. We are glad for the sweet words of Jesus that come and may be a word or two or a little verse and it has come from heaven and has been very effective.

I love the beautiful story of Naaman and the resistance that there was and the great resistance from the message at first. And I love the change that happened when he hearkened and the great blessing he got and his skin became as a little child and so clean and fresh. Just to think that the words of Jesus can have such an effect on one’s life. The sweet words of Jesus can also make us whole.

And Jesus spoke in John 15:20, “Remember the word that I say unto you, ‘The servant is not greater than his Lord.’ If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.” It encouraged the disciples when they remembered those words and when they remembered these words after the cross and then they started to believe the Scriptures, and they believed what was written. And from that day, they grew more and more. And when Peter remembered the words of Jesus he wept bitterly, he not only wept but he grew. It may have been very hard for him to believe what Jesus said when Jesus said, “You will strengthen your brethren,” and Peter could have wondered how that could be. Peter did believe that and he grew and he became a very useful vessel.

I love what Jesus said in John 17:8, “For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me and they have received them.” He was saying, “I have given them My Father’s words.” They received them and they kept them and they believed them and that was a great work for them. Hearing the words and hearkening, receiving them and believing them and going on. God has not called us to do great things, but little things with great love and with obedience. We just want to hear today what God has to say to us even though it may be just one word and if God would speak to us and it could inspire us to go on. Amen

I was thinking of some pictures of Jesus and sometimes pictures become obsolete, and these pictures of Jesus and what we see here in the Bible will take us right through into eternity and every generation. And I was reading through Hebrews 11 yesterday and today and those pictures will never change and will never grow old and we need to love them. And some of them I think of often and to keep them in my view and in focus.

John 1:45, “Phillip findeth Nathanial and saith unto him, ‘We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did right, Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph.’” This is a Scriptural Lamb, the Lamb of God and it is so special. We read at the end of that verse about Jesus the son of Joseph and they did not see him as a Son of God but they saw him as a carpenter’s son. And they had not learnt the spiritual Lamb was in their midst. Moses recognised him as the Lamb of God and Isaiah said that He would be born to a virgin. And Jesus said at one time have ye not read and we wouldn’t want to be asked have you read. People love to read the scripture and I like what it says in Revelations 3 blessed is he that readeth, and it doesn’t say blessed are those that understand all about Revelations.

We love to read about the Lamb, we have heard a lot about the blood of the Lamb. Many pictures we want to look at often and we want them to be fresh in our mind and we want to know them. We have found him the Scriptural Lamb, the one the Bible teaches us about. There was a lady and she has gone now, and I loved to hear her testimony and she was a lady that was searching and wanting truth, and she was a lady that was searching the Scriptures and she was reading the Scriptures and this is the part I remember most about her testimony. And she said, “When I had found the ministry, I knew I had found the truth,” and she found the Scriptural Lamb and she learned what Jesus taught and how He lived and she found the ones who followed the Scriptural Lamb. We are thankful we have found the Scriptural Lamb, also.

And in verse 36, Andrew found the walking Lamb, “And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’” And the two disciples went with him and found the walking Lamb, and not only did they find the walking Lamb, but they walked with the Lamb. And it is not only our privilege today to see the walking Lamb and how He walked and how we walk and we have the privilege of walking with Him. I was with my co-worker and she knew the area and she looked up and saw a lady walking and she was so far away you could not see who she was or her features and you could not hear her voice. And my co-worker said, “She walks like a lady I know.” And when we got quite close to her, she was who my co-worker thought she was. And she was known by her walk. I like a story a sister worker in the eastern country tells us and a man said to her, “You are an American.” She said, “How do you know?” He said, “I can tell by your walk because you walk free.” I wonder can we walk free in this world if we are not sinners, all because of the walking Lamb and the spiritual Lamb and the Lamb that died for us.

And as they walked with Jesus, Jesus led them up the mount and they heard Matthew 5,6 and 7 and Jesus led them to high ground and to a high thinking and to a place where it not only affected the head but also their heart. And it has been said that you should love thy neighbour and Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for them,” and if we love Jesus, we will walk with a higher standard and higher thinking and higher than this world. And I heard why we should love someone and it is because the walking Lamb showed us how we should love as He had loved and even the love he loved Judas with.

And when they saw Jesus walking on the sea they could see that they can walk and be above experiences and even the rough seas they could walk above it. Jesus never promised to save them from the rough seas or the rough experiences. Jesus taught us because of the Lamb we could rise above them and we can walk above them because we are helped from above.

And we read of the sacrificial lamb in verse 29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, ‘Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.’” And we heard of the Lamb that gave Himself for us. The picture has not changed since Genesis and the Lamb remains the same. I love the thought concerning the blood of Jesus and the cross and the sacrificial lamb. And someone asked a sister worker one time that it must be nice to come to the end of life and having been such a help to others and doing what you have had the privilege of doing and you know what she said, “My only hope is Calvary.” And that is where our hope is.

And in verse 48 we read about the ruling Lamb and Nathanial saw him as King and He must rule and He must reign in us. We have a hymn that says, “Reign over me Lord Jesus and keep Thy Heart my throne and it shall be Thine forevermore and I shall be Thine alone.” And we must have Him reigning in our lives and we must have this sacrificial Lamb.

There is just another little verse in Colossians 1:27 [the end], “which in Christ in you, the hope of glory.” And in Revelations, we see the death of the Lamb and we read of the blood of the Lamb and we must have this Lamb reigning within us and living within us and we are glad for the hope that He has given us today. Amen.

John 14:1, Jesus, speaking to His disciples, sometimes called “the last supper.” He must have seen a troubling in the eleven disciples that were left. They were in their place, they had stayed. Judas had gone out and it was night. Satan had filled his heart. The eleven were troubled, they had kept the door of their heart closed, just allowing the things of God in there. We read of Jesus, several times in the gospel mentioning that He would suffer at the hand of the priests and religious leaders and be slain. He always finished off by saying He would rise again. It seems they didn’t understand what He was speaking about. We read of Jesus rebuking Peter. Jesus had to rebuke Satan working through Peter. They must have been troubled and maybe, human thoughts arising in their minds. He has spoken about this before, but it seems now He is really going to go through with this. We hardly believed what He said, but it seems now His purpose is to go through with it, willing to suffer at the hands of these political and religious people.

Verse 1, it is easy to believe in God. It is within our human nature to believe in a god, to worship something greater than ourselves, the way boys will be worshipping some sports idol or the way girls worship some pop idol. Here, in Australia, aboriginals have this big rock they worship. It is something in our human nature. We want to worship something greater than ourselves.

Psalm 14 and Psalm 53, “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” People all around them will be worshipping something. Paul said (Romans 8: 6-7), “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” People will worship and look up to something. They might even think it is something spiritual. They are only worshipping the work of their own hands. The more beautiful churches and temples are, the more they like them. The basis of false religion is the love of money. The basis of the Kingdom of Heaven is Divine love. We, as the children of God, have need to guard against worshipping our possessions, anything that is taking up our time, the time we should be giving to God and following Jesus. It is such a different thing to believe in Jesus. Jesus, that wee babe born in Bethlehem. God came down: Immanuel, which means “God with us.” He sent His Son, in His humility. Jesus was born in humility and lived a humble life and that shows how God is, a humble God.

As small children, we had the idea our parents were against us, when they were trying to correct us. Sometimes, we get the impression that He is against us and He wants to try and help us be like Jesus. Joseph and Mary, this couple, the angel spoke to Mary and Joseph and they knew this was the Son of God. Such a great privilege, but they would be trembling too, thinking of such a great life. Everything was true, they ended up in the stable. Joseph and Mary were human like ourselves, faithful souls. I am sure the little human thought came creeping into their minds when they saw the situation they were in. We are in the will of God and we never thought it was going to be like this. Christmas scenes show everything nice and clean in the stable, I am sure that wouldn’t be the case. I am sure when the shepherds arrived, it was the most pitiful thing they had ever seen in their lives. Jesus was the rejected king even before He was born, because Joseph and Mary kept knocking on doors, the only place was the stable. Herod sent out his soldiers to slay those little children in the hope that one would be the King of the Jews. I sometimes wonder when Joseph and Mary were looking about, knocking on doors, some of those women could have been in a similar state themselves. They could have said, “We will curtain off a wee corner of the living room,” but they didn’t, but God punished them. These ladies must have been very hard hearted to leave Mary in that state. Jesus was born into discipline from the word “go.” From the minute He was born, He was born into discipline.

John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” “The still, small voice of Jesus speaks to my heart each day, still follow in My footsteps – there is no other way.” The disciples had come quite a way with Jesus. Now they were coming to the crunch. “Still follow in My footsteps – there is no other way.” I thought of Jesus being born, wrapped up in swaddling clothes. The mothers wrapped up their children and put them on their shoulders, just with its head sticking out, all it can do is breathe and cry. It makes me think of a brother, David Olsen. The first thing he saw was “the swaddling clothes.” Where he was working, a friend worked there. This friend didn’t “run with the hares,” separate from the others, and that is the way David put it. “The first thing I saw were the swaddling clothes,” a disciplined life. That was the beginning of days for him, when he saw the swaddling clothes in the life he was living, a pure life, a life separate from what they were doing. That is the way Jesus started. He grew up under the discipline of his parents and then under the discipline of His Father and now He had come to this point and the disciples could see something.

It is easy to believe in God, but the rejected One, the One Whom God sent down with His life, believe it is possible to live His life in the flesh. Matthew 5:48, “Be ye there perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.” Jesus had the same mind and the same temptations, yet He was getting victory in every battle. John 6:66, “ … many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.” That is what sends people away, putting into practise in their lives His teaching and His doctrine. “They walked no more with Him.” “There is no other way.” The world thinks there are a thousand other ways. There is no other way. Jesus would be very thankful … they fled and must have gathered themselves together somehow, because John was at the foot of the cross. Jesus would be very thankful for those who stayed firm. Experiences will come that might even shake us to the very roots, but we want to keep our eyes on Jesus and remember to keep our eyes on Jesus. That is how we get understanding of the word, being willing to go through the experiences. When we were studying at school, working out sums that would prove we understood the subject … we had the Bible, but there is only one way of proving we understand the Bible, that is being willing for it. We don’t understand the Word of God until it is made flesh in our lives. The disciples were getting into deeper waters. Jesus would be very thankful that in all these troubling times, they were staying true, proving they had the life of the Father in them.

II Corinthians 1:15-18, “And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit; and to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea. When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay? But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.” Paul’s desire to go and visit them… “Did I purpose according to the flesh that with me there should be yea yea, and nay, nay?” That is our flesh, totally unstable, takes the easiest path. Whatever way is easiest, the human spirit changes all the time, so it is sometimes yes and sometimes no. Paul wasn’t guided by the flesh.

They could see Jesus going to the cross, was fixed in His purpose. Good if people can see we are fixed to live for Jesus and to live for others. II Corinthians 1:19, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea.” It is all gain. There is no negative side to it. Even with correction we realize: this is all for my good and there is no negative side to it. We realize if we continue in this way we will end up at the side of Jesus in His throne.

II Corinthians 1:19-20, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea. For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”

This was Jesus coming to the cross, to the crunch, but still in Him was, “Yea, amen.” Matthew 26:42, “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.’” Jesus realized, “There is no other way.” The human being thinking of the possibility, but God has given us wisdom to realize there is no other way. The further on we go, the deeper the sacrifice, and the deeper the cost. But there is more grace and the more we are willing to go into the depths of God’s will, there is more depth to do our part. As we are willing to allow God to do a deeper work in our lives, grace will abound to help us and the richer will be the reward.  

Jesus had come to earth to live on a daily basis, with this goal in view: to give His life for us. His life was broken, the ransom price could be paid. The third day, God raised Him up again. We want to go to the “amen” ourselves. The only way to allow God to finish His work in our lives is to say “yes” every day and not say ”no” to His will. Sometimes, we have said, “No, no.”  

This afternoon, I was thinking about the man asking two sons to go, one said, “No,” but the other said, “Yes,” but he didn’t go. I have said “no” too often. Another person says, “Why do you have to do it this way?” OK, she does it. She does what she is asked to do, but it’s not just the same. OK, I don’t think God would be too satisfied with that. We want to have this “yea” in our life, to all the will of God for our lives. Abraham was promised that child, Isaac. Finally, Sarah had this child of promise, then Abraham was asked to offer him up. Abraham had a vision, he believed, “We will come again.” Abraham believed in the resurrection. It was “yea” to the will of God. He got up early in the morning and away he went to the mountain. He really meant to do it. The angel just called in the nick of time. We would like to serve the Lord with that willingness, too, not dragging our feet, not serving God with less than our all, bringing joy to the heart of Jesus and to our companions and colleagues in the work, being used to bring joy to this weary world.

Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” We read about Noah here. It speaks of his faith. The whole chapter tells us of people who had faith and, because of it, they have received a good report from God, and you could say that in every one of their lives it was like a success story because of this simple faith. One time we visited a lady and asked her to some meetings. She knew about this way of God, and when we were there and were asking her about coming to a meeting, she said, “You know, I admire you people very much and I admire your simple faith but as for me, I am far too intelligent.” She said, “I love to read in Revelation and in Ezekiel.” You know, all the natural knowledge, all the learning, all the study, doesn’t compare with simple faith. It never has and it never will and, without this simple faith, we can’t please God. We heard about that this morning. We must have it in our pilgrimage through life.

One time, I started to read an article in the paper. Someone was writing about David in the Old Testament and they said, “It is all a myth; the story about David and Goliath is all a myth.” I thought, “I am not going to continue to read this; this would never feed a person’s faith.” Don’t we need to feed our faith, foster it, and cultivate it? “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God” so every time we hear the word of God or read the word of God, we need to have it mixed with faith, otherwise it is no profit to us. Paul says that. So when I read the word of God and when I hear it, I need to believe it – “It is God’s word; it is right and true; I can have absolute faith in it.” Jesus spoke to Peter and He said, “Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not.” Isn’t that what Satan is doing all the time or trying to do – that power that is working against God all the time – isn’t he trying to sift faith out of us and put doubts into us? Don’t we have to be careful? But Jesus said, “I have prayed for you.” Isn’t it lovely to think about our intercessor? He is going to help us all to keep our faith and to foster faith. Satan is going to try to sift the faith out of us but isn’t it a wonderful thing to think about the power that is on our side to help us to keep faith?

I was thinking about how we can foster our faith. Going through experiences with our Master fosters faith. Remember the time when Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us go to the other side,” and they went on the ship. Then a storm arose and Jesus was sleeping in the hinder part of the ship. They were afraid. We get afraid in the storms, don’t we? They called on the Master and woke Him. You remember the story, how He calmed the sea and brought about a great calm. He said, “Where is your faith?” After that experience they marveled and said, “What manner of man is this! For He commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey Him.” The Master knew exactly what to do in the storm and He had promised, “You just go over to the other side.” He wouldn’t lose us on the way. Wouldn’t it strengthen their faith? You remember about Peter, that time when Jesus told him to let down the net for a draught of fish. Peter had been toiling all night. It would be a struggle for him just to believe that, but he did it. Wouldn’t it strengthen his faith when he saw the multitude of fish that was caught, proving His power, the rightness of His word? His advice, won’t it strengthen our faith? Paul said at the end of his life, “I have kept the faith.” We have heard about not losing our love, our need, and it is vital that we don’t lose our faith – our faith in prayer, our faith in the promises of God, our faith in the planning of God, our faith in the ability of God. Don’t lose it; it is such a valuable possession and without it we can’t please God, we can’t be right with God.

Then there is something else here in this verse. It says that Noah was warned of God. I value the word of God so much and the comfort of His word and the advice of His word and the encouragement of His word and I am learning to value more than ever the warnings of His word because, if we obey them, it keeps us safe within the boundaries of His will. It is an important thing that we take heed to His word. I was counting them, far too many to mention. There are over 40 “Take heeds,” warnings and the “Bewares” of His word. Jesus said to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, or beware of wrong doctrine, any teaching that differs from the teaching of the Master and of the word of God. Beware of it, be warned by it. Paul says in one verse to beware of dogs. We heard at Convention that dogs disturb sheep. Anything that disturbs our rest and disturbs our peace, beware of it. It also said to beware of evil workers. That is what Job did. It says that he eschewed evil. He made a detour, didn’t get involved in anything evil. Warnings are very valuable. Noah was warned of God. He didn’t see the flood that was going to come, didn’t know about it. God knows and sees far more than we do. Noah took the warnings. One time my companion and I were going to have a little bush walk. We had the opportunity to do it. We saw a couple looking at a sign – “Warning.” Then they walked away from it and came towards us. They were foreigners, didn’t know the language but they saw that sign and seemed to recognize that it was a warning. In their broken English they asked us what it was about. It was only about poison that had been laid for possums or something like that but they were not casual about the warning. It is a dangerous thing to be casual about the warnings. I read one time about a tourist; I felt very sad. He took a liberty with the warning and fell to his death. It is easy to do that but we want to take the warnings. They are very valuable to us.

I would like to tell you something I heard David Nightingall say one time. He said, “If you fell into a hole, you knew that hole was there and you had fallen into it, wouldn’t you like to warn people? I would like to warn you about a hole I fell into.” As a young boy he made his choice and he said, “I didn’t read and pray and as a result I fell into the hole and I didn’t go on but then some years passed and I made my choice again.” He said, “I was almost going to fall into the same hole; I wasn’t reading and praying – that is very important – then I prayed to God and I asked God would He give me a love to read and a love to pray and He has.” That is a very valuable warning to take. It is a hole we will fall into and we will lose out if we don’t read and pray.

It says that Noah was moved by fear. Somebody once told us that fear is taking God and His word seriously. It is a very good thing if we are motivated by fear of God, a respect for Him. That is what Noah was moved by – a respect and fear of God and His word – what God says is absolutely right. We could be moved by other things, wrong things. Those brothers of Joseph were moved by envy. We heard what they did to Joseph. They had the wrong motivating power. I was reading about the disciples. One time they were moved with indignation against two other apostles and it caused them to be resentful of them. That is a wrong motive – power. Samson was moved by the Spirit of God. That causes us to get victory. The first time he was moved by the Spirit of God he slew a lion. Later on it tells us that he was moved by the Spirit and he slew 200 men and the next time the Spirit moved him he slew 1,000 men; he was getting victory and greater victory. It made me think of what Teenie Walker said one time: Keep your victories behind iron bars; hold them and add to them. This man Samson, when he was moved by Delilah, the wrong motivating power, it caused him to break his covenant with God. But Noah was moved by fear. It was the right motivating power. It says here that Noah saved himself and saved his house and it says that he condemned the world. How did he do that? Because he has told us all, every one of us, that it can be done – we can have simple faith and we can be warned and take the warnings and we can be moved by fear to do the right thing and have absolute respect for God. It can be done; he did it.

At the end of John’s epistle, his first epistle, he wrote a very short verse, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” I want to tell you about a thief that has robbed me this year. As I stand here today, I feel that there is a leanness in my soul. I have to admit that, because there has been a thief that has robbed me of so much. When I stand here and I tell you about this thief, it is not to condemn anyone, but to myself and it’s a warning to me. This thief is an idol, and I didn’t bring this idol into my life intentionally. It kind of crept in and before I knew it had consumed my life, consumed my thoughts, it had taken my time and brought separation between me and my God. Because of it, I neglected the ones I loved the most. Because of it, I even at times neglected God’s people. It’s not easy to admit that, but I feel I must share it.

Before I tell you what this idol is, I’ll just read a few verses that describe this idol in Isaiah 44:17. In the verses preceding this verse, it speaks of a carpenter. It says, “He heweth him down cedars,and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest; he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn for he will take thereof and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and woshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.”

So this carpenter had a piece of wood. He chops down a tree and he has a piece of wood and the one half of that piece of wood he uses to warm himself. He uses it to bake bread and to roast meat on the fire – something so necessary, something important for his survival. Then he takes the other half of that wood and he makes himself a god, a false god and he worships it, and it’s an abomination to God.

This idol of mine is technology. It’s my phone, it’s my computer, the internet. Really, an idol is anything that we bring into our hearts and lives that takes the place that God deserves, that God wants. It has first place and it becomes our idol. So my idol consumed my life, just like this piece of wood. Technology has become such a necessary part of life, you can hardly survive without it in this modern lifestyle. We use it for work, and for study. We book flights, we work out our taxes. We need it in some ways, but that same technology can become an abomination and it can bring great separation between us and God. It can destroy our faith, and it can rob us of our love, and it can create an appetite for things that are not of eternal value.

I walk around in the world and even in a country like Mozambique where I work, you would think in a poor country like that they wouldn’t have these problems, but they do. You look around you and you see it all over – people staring into glowing screens utterly mesmerised. You can have a home full of people and you can have in that same home one person staring at a smartphone, another one staring at a TV, another one at a computer, the other one with earphones in his ears. It’s a house full of people, but they are separate. They are absolutely alone, and they are so busy with things from faraway lands that they neglect the ones in the room next door, the ones they love the most. It’s a trap and it will destroy you. Sometimes when you stand in a queue, waiting to do something at a shop or wherever, your first impulse is to grab your phone just to kill time. Sometimes we just want to kill time, but you know, killing time it is not murder, it is spiritual suicide. We are killing this life that God has put in us, if we are not careful.

I thought of Jacob. He had many victories: he left Laban’s home, he wrestled with the angel, he met Esau – wonderful victories with the help of God. Only after all those victories, in chapter 35, Jacob had to say to his family, “Get rid of those strange gods among you. Get rid of them.” Through all that time. These strange gods were still there. I believe at that time, he was a godly man and wanted to do what was right. He had victories, but there were still things taking place in his life that brought separation, and he knew he had to get rid of it.

When I was labouring in Brazil, one of the friends in our field, his name was José. José met the truth when he was a young man. He was a devout Catholic, and when he professed, he didn’t immediately get rid of his little figurines – I don’t know what you would call them – I suppose they are idols, and he had pictures on the walls of saints and so on. One of the friends wanted to go to José and say to him, “Look, you’re professing now. You can’t really have these things on the walls and in your house.” He mentioned this to a sister worker, and she said to him, “Just leave José alone.” She said, “When your child grabs a knife and starts playing with it, you don’t immediately grab it from him, because he might hurt himself. What you do is, you offer him something better and then slowly but surely, you take that knife away from him.” That’s how God wants to help us. I’m not saying we need to just throw things out, but God wants to lift up something better for us and He wants to give us something of far greater value, something that gives true joy and satisfaction. As I go from this place, I want to follow John’s advice and keep myself clean of idols, because I know if I can do that, this next year can be the best year of my life. May the Lord help us.

Recently, a lady was admitted to hospital with a liver complaint. A couple days later her, liver had failed completely. Her only hope of survival was to have a liver transplant. Liver transplants today are common and successful.

She had one massive problem and that was she was not a citizen of Australia. You can only receive a liver transplant in Australia if you are a citizen of Australia. This meant that this lady had to be flown back to her home country, which was a 14 hour flight and there was no chance she would survive the trip. She had put in her application to become an Australian citizen, but it had not been processed. She had been living in Australia for a number of years and had not bothered to become a citizen, although she planned to live here forever. Her delaying in becoming an Australian citizen will more than likely cost her her life.

Spiritually speaking, this could happen to a lot of people who have not become a citizen of God’s family. They may once have been in God’s family, and may have lost out, or they may have been listening to the gospel for many years and knew what was right, and about to make their choice, but their life had been taken from them. Sadly to say, they will go to a lost eternity because they had not become a citizen of God’s great family soon enough. They had always intended to make their choice and to become one of God’s children and had hesitated and lost out.

I love a verse of a hymn. “In the valley of hesitation, countless millions have lingered and died. When the costs seem too great for salvation, and to lowly His way for their pride.” Also the hymn, “One Day Too Late.” We will never know maybe this lady’s application would have been processed the day after she needed it, just one day too late. We must pray for my relations and friends that are outside and hope they will not hesitate to become a citizen of God’s family before it is too late.

I Corinthians 11:23-26, “For I have received of the Lord that which I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, ‘Take eat; this is My body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me.’ And after the same manner also, He took the cup, when He had supped saying, ‘This cup is the New Testament in My blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.’” If we weren’t here at convention today, most of us would be in our home sitting in a group with the bread and with the wine in the middle of the meeting room. The last little while I have finally woken up to realise that these things are more than just a custom, they are real. I really like what Paul said, “As often as you do this, eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.” We know the Lord has not come yet. Every time we have our little meeting around those emblems, we are expressing to each other and to the world that we believe in the Lord’s death and the Lord’s resurrection. We believe everything that goes with that.

I would like to speak about our Sunday morning meeting and why we do what we do. I suspect all of you have had the same experiences that I have had. My grandparents professed before my mother was born and my father’s parents professed when he was 15 years old. Basically, both my parents were raised in God-fearing homes. They were professing when they were married, so we children were raised in a God-fearing home. The things we do we have kept them because we believe they are right and that is good but it is not enough. There are many people in the world that do a lot of good things and have a lot of traditions and things they do religiously because they believe they are right.

It has been a wonderful conformation to me and all through the scripture especially the New Testament and what we do in light of what the scripture says. I love it because it proves what we do is what the scripture says and that is what the spirit leads us to do. Especially for you who are younger, I just want you to understand the things we do are not just tradition, they are scriptural of what was established in what Jesus established and what Jesus’ disciples established after Jesus was taken from them. It is very interesting to me that there are things that are doctrine and things that are traditional and just because it is traditional, it does not mean it is wrong. It means it is a comfortable way to comply with what we have been taught. I was interested to find out the other night that you stand to pray because back home we do not do that, and it does not mean that you’re wrong and we are right and it does mean you’re right and we are wrong and that is just a custom and we have traditions so we know what comes next.

There are four parts to a Sunday morning meeting and those four parts are singing, praying, prophesying or taking part, and the communion which is the bread and wine. There is nothing in the scripture that tells us, and there is nothing that tells us we need to sing a hymn to start with and we have to pray immediately after singing and singing another hymn and then have testimonies and then have the bread and wine and sing another hymn. We could think how confusing it would be if every meeting you went to was conducted differently. The way we conduct our meeting is pretty much worldwide and that tells me the spirit has been working with us to do that. The Bible does not say we have to do it that way. The reason I am saying this is because a friend of mine had a letter from a young man, a young man that has spent some time in the work and is not in the work right now. He is struggling spiritually and he questioned many of the things that we do and he doesn’t want to do this. The reason he is struggling, because he is rebelling and maybe it is not doctrine and it does not have to be done this way, but it is the most practical way to do it. Rebels are never happy. Something we don’t understand when we are a rebel, the reason for our unhappiness is very seldom what we are rebelling against. The reason for our unhappiness is what is within us, we don’t rebel because of what we don’t like, and we rebel because we are not willing to submit.

In Luke 22, it possibly was not a Sunday but a Wednesday night meeting that Jesus had with His disciples concerning the breaking of the bread and really we can say that was the first true New Testament fellowship meeting and it was the last true Passover and that night was the point the old Testament Passover and the New Testament fellowship meeting intercepted. Jesus said in that meeting, “This do in remembrance of Me.” Acts 2 and this was the day of Pentecost 50 days after the Sabbath following the Passover. 50 days is seven weeks plus one day this day of Pentecost was roughly our little less than two months. Acts 2:41-42, “Then they that gladly received His word were baptized; and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers.” Acts2:46-47, “And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God and having favour with all people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

I think this would be one of the clearest definitions we have in the New Testament of the difference between a gospel meeting and a fellowship meeting. It says these were recent converts and it says there were 3,000 souls added to the Church in one day. Just think of the job the apostles had even establishing meetings. Homes were not large and may be 20 people in each meeting and that’s 150 homes had to be established and 150 elders to be chosen. It says they continued in the temple daily and that is where the disciples taught and it was not a fellowship meeting and they did not break bread. It says they were breaking bread from house to house and this was about 2½ to 3 months after Jesus had ascended into heaven. It was clearly established that the bread and the cup were broken in the homes. They were having gospel meetings if you could call them that every day in the temple and all the new converts would gather together in the temple to hear the Gospel and they were open-air gospel meetings. We read about two chapters later 5,000 more made their choice and that was 8000 which is 400 homes and 400 elders to choose. They continued the breaking of the bread from house to house.

Acts 20:7, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.” This is about 20 to 30 years after the first chapter of Acts. Have you ever been in a meeting that continued to midnight? This was not the Sunday morning meeting and remember the Jewish day began at sunset and it went through the night into the next sunset. So their meetings would have been what we call Saturday evening; to them, it was the beginning of Sunday. They were not to travel very much on the Sabbath and Sunday came and they got ready for the meeting and depending on the time of the year it would be about 7 or 8 o’clock at night when they had the meeting. So it is not quite so amazing it lasted until midnight, but still it was a long meeting. So it was about 20 or 30 years later that the disciples gathered together to break bread.

I would like to talk about the four parts of the meeting and what they mean and what they can do for us. I Corinthians 11:17, “Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.” Have you ever had that experience? Have you ever been in a Sunday morning meeting and went away feeling, “I am worse off now than when I went to the meeting?” I can say there has only been one time in my life that I have ever had that feeling. In a little town in a state where I laboured and there were only three families that met together in that town. Two of the families were not speaking to each other and one of those families had the Sunday morning meeting in their home. I was in the field and for some reason, I was there by myself and I went to the meeting with the family that was not involved in the dispute and it was terrible. The woman of the house was more or less staring daggers at the people with whom they were having a problem. The people they were having a problem with were not doing much better. The people I went with were kind of like you’re in the middle of the war and you were dodging the bullets. So we got through the meeting and we got back in the car and were driving away and I said, “That is the worst meeting I have been to in my life.” They said, “That is the best one we have had for quite a while.” Even though it was the best, they were still meeting together for the worst because there were unsolved issues in the meeting which made it impossible for them to be in harmony.

Now I will start talking about singing. Why is it that we start all our meetings with a hymn? A few years ago I was thinking about this and suddenly, it became very clear. When we sit down we are very quiet before the meeting starts and that part of the meeting is to be quiet and respectful. You have your thoughts and I have my thoughts and you may be thinking about the things that happened during the week and everyone has their own thoughts. A hymn is chosen and suddenly, all our thoughts are bought together. There is a reason why we do music, music is composed of two things. Time and tone or a time and a pitch. In order to sing in harmony we have to sing in time and in tone.

There is a lot of submission in singing. A person has been asked to lead the singing and we need to submit to the person leading the singing and we sing with them in tune as much as possible and in time. What that does is it brings us more in harmony together. Here we have come from all different walks of life and all different experiences and a hymn is given out and we are all brought into harmony together into one thought. Someone showed me a video recently of a hymn being played with 500 instruments. The conductor was conducting from a screen. The effect on me was the children, because the harmony was just incredible, just beautiful. I could not hear one single instrument out of time or out of tune because they were focusing on the conductor.

I had this beautiful picture in my mind and it is in Revelation 5:9-12, “And they sung a new song, saying, ‘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.’ And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing.’” Can you imagine being part of this group which is tens of tens of thousands? 100% on time and in tune and that is what awaits us in heaven and that is a little view of what awaits us in heaven. We may not be able to sing on earth and the song sung in heaven does not rely on our natural singing ability on earth. It depends on our submission, the more submitted we are the more in harmony we are going to be with that song in heaven. God is wanting to teach us and that is to be willing to submit and be in harmony together while on earth.

Then there is a second part and that is prayer. Prayer in a meeting should not be long. I was reading of some of the prayers we read of in the Bible that were in a meeting or a gathering. Most of them were long and then I realised only one person prayed. In our meetings, brevity is consideration and we do not have to go all the way around the world. One thing about prayer and this is what it should be when we pray, it should be an audible conversation between us and God. We are not praying to impress those around us. Those in the meeting have the privilege of hearing us converse with God and we have the privilege of hearing them converse with God and pour out their heart to God.

The third part is prophesying and that is used mostly in the scripture or we say taking part or testifying. I Corinthians 11-14 are all to do with the Sunday morning meeting and our relationship with the church. Chapter 11 talks about the breaking of the bread and chapter 14 speaks about prophesying or taking part. I Corinthians 14:2-3 “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men but unto God; for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification and exhortation and comfort.” In these two chapters, there are three things that should be uppermost in our mind when we take part in a meeting. Edification simply means to build up. Exhortation simply means to encourage and we know what comfort means. When we speak in the meeting, we could speak to build up another’s faith, we should encourage them to continue and to comfort them in their struggles.

Back in the Old Testament, Samson had a battle with a lion, the lion met him in the way and Sampson killed the lion and Sampson did not say anything. Time went by and one day, he went by the same place and it says there was the carcass of the lion but I would imagine it may have only been the skeleton and a swarm of bees had taken up residence there and there was honey there. So Sampson took the honey and went on his way and met his parents and shared with them the honey. We do not read about him telling them about the battle. If I had had a battle with the lion on the way and had killed the lion with my bare hands, the whole world would have known. But Sampson didn’t. We don’t have to tell our struggle in the Sunday morning meeting, it is better not to tell our struggles and a lot of the times it is not really profitable. If we get victory, we can always share the sweetness of our struggle and that is profitable.

Now the last thing is the bread and the wine. The bread speaks of the life and testimony of Jesus and you can find that in John 6. Jesus said when He gave the bread and the cup, “This is My body which has been given for you.” That incorporates all of His teachings, all of His life, all of His actions, the bread of life. Jesus said in John 6, “I am the bread of life.” When Jesus gave them the cup, He said, “This cup is the New Testament in My blood which is shed for you.” 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.” I think we could say the body of Jesus represents the writing of the covenant, and the blood of Jesus represents the sealing of the covenant.

When Moses gave the law there were probably 2 to 3 million people and God gave them a covenant with the Jewish people which was the Law of Moses. Moses read it and they said, “All that is written in that law, we will do.” They were saying, “We will sign the covenant or the agreement.” The way they signed it was they took and killed lambs and they collected the blood in basins and they went among the people and they sprinkled them with the blood. That was a sign of committing to the covenant. So today, how can we sign the new covenant? We have the new covenant in the life and teaching of Jesus and we sign it by claiming His blood.

When we ask for forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, there is only one way we can have forgiveness through the blood of Jesus and that is, if we have already made the choice to come under the covenant. The world wants to claim the blood of Jesus without the covenant, but they cannot. There was an old brother that used to tell us, “You don’t get the benefits unless you work for the company.” We don’t get the benefits of the blood of Jesus unless we are willing for the covenant. Just remember and especially you young people, because I struggled with this, when we profess we are saying, “I am no longer my own. I have been bought with a price by the blood of Jesus.” That is what it means when we take part in the Emblems and I am accepting, “In order to receive forgiveness in the blood of Jesus, I must accept I am not my own. My own life is not mine to direct.” When we accept that, we come into the richness and the fellowship of Christ. Amen.

I liked reading Psalm 107 and it speaks of 4 different classes of people. The way their dealings with God were and what they did and what God did for them. I will divide these in to sections beginning at:

Ps107:2-9, “Are the Wanderers”

Ps107:10-16, “Are the Rebels”

Ps107:17-22, “Are the Fools”

Ps107:23-31, “Are the Sailors” Crossing the sea of life

It is interesting when a group of us come to a convention like this and very often, we find ourselves in one of those situations and we all find ourselves in the last one as crossing the sea of life. And sometimes we wander, sometimes we rebel, sometimes we make foolish decisions and all those things can have eternal consequences in our lives, and in fact, they all will have eternal consequences in our life. It is beautiful [that] no matter what the situation was or the problem was, the remedy was the same in every case. There is a remedy for every situation and it is very refreshing for me to come to a convention like this for I know no one except the ones I have stayed with the last two days. And yet we have complete confidence that your situations and your problems are exactly the same as we deal with and struggle with on the other side of the globe. The reason we know that is we all have the same nature. Your culture here is a little different and the things you may deal with are a little different and we are people and you are people and if it was a computer we would call it an operating system and the operating system is the same all over the world. And it is called human nature. And it is no different and it has not changed since the day that God placed Adam on the earth.

Beginning with the first group, I will read some verses beginning with Ps107:3, “And gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the West from the North and from the South. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh, that man might praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wondrous works to the children of men! For He satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” I can say in one sense, I have never been in this situation of not knowing where to go. And that is because of faithful grandparents that were in this situation and did exactly what you read here.

I will tell you about my mother’s parents; of how they heard the gospel. About 103 to 104 years ago, they were living in a little town, a “town” doesn’t describe it, it was really a community in the North part of California. They were Norwegian immigrants and they had both come to the United States as adults and spoke very little English and they had both been raised in the Lutheran Church. And yet they were not satisfied with what they had and they had begun to look and they were Wanderers and they had wandered a long way naturally and they were still wandering spiritually. My grandfather one day was in his pear orchard in California and he was so distressed with what they hadn’t found. He was plowing in the pear orchard with his horses and he stopped them and he got down on his knees beside the plow and he prayed just like we read here. And he just prayed if God had a true way on the earth that He would send His servants.

And it was only two weeks later that two servants came into that little community. The first night, my grandfather went alone, because my grandmother did not speak much English and they had six children. Grandfather returned after the meeting that night and he said to Grandma, “Tonight I heard men like Peter and Paul.” The next night, grandma and the children went with him and they never stopped going. And what we read here is exactly what happened and He led them forth by the right way that they might go into the city of habitation. That is a basic need in our human heart, first of all to know what is right and the feeling of wanting fellowship with others who know what is right. It is interesting that later on they found the city to dwell in.

If we go to [Hebrews 11] we read the story of Abraham Heb11:10-14, “For he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received Street to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang even of one and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. These all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.” We have all come from a country and a large majority of you folk here are from Australia and that is your country. And I know the country I am in today is not the same country I grew up in as I moved to labor in a different country six years ago.

Something happened in our country some years ago and it was a great disappointment and it just spoke to me, “This is not your country.” I thought of that hymn that says seeking for a better country pilgrims we are marching on. Do not get me wrong, I do love my country and I understand more and more the country I am looking for and living for has a foundation and a builder and maker who is God. What we are looking for and we have our hope in is something that is founded in heaven and does not ever change, because the foundations are set in heaven. There is a little verse in Psalm 119, “Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.” And that is what we build on and that is not popular today and really it has never been popular. When we build on that we are sure and it doesn’t matter what happens in the world and we will be sure if we build on that solid rock.

The Rebels, Ps107:10-16, “Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the Counsel of the most High: therefore He brought down their heart with labour; they fell down and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of the darkness and the shadow of death and broke their bands asunder. Oh, that man would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He has broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder.” There is a little phrase I tell myself over and over and it is this, “There has never, ever been a happy rebel.” Rebellion and happiness never worked together. Rebellion is in us by nature and at some time in our childhood and in our youth and it just comes out. The most unhappy person in the world is the person that always gets his or her own way and it is the same with an unhappy child it is one that always gets their own way. We look around the world and we look around society and we see so many problems that come from rebelling against the word of God.

I was thinking of a little boy and his grandmother babysitting him and she had to go to the store and get something and put him in a car seat and ran around the driver’s side and he wasn’t there. And she went around and found him outside the car and he said to her [with] a much discussed looking [disgusted look], “I do it myself.” I heard her say that and I thought I have been there myself not when I was one and a half years old and I have been there a lot of times myself. That is the spirit of a rebel, and maybe more of the spirit of a rebel is, “I will not do it.” It tells us where the rebel is found, “Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the Counsel of the most High, therefore He brought down their heart with labour; they fell down and there was none to help.”

Rebellion always leads us to captivity and in society, open rebellion often leads to jail. Hidden rebellion leads to bondage. We think if we can get what we want, we would be free and we find out getting what we want leads us to terrible bondage. We have been studying the book of Romans recently and in Rom6 speaks about being free from sin and being free from righteousness. The thought that was so impressive to me, “We are either servants of sin or we are servants of righteousness, we are never going to be free and that is because we do not have power in our human nature to be free. We are weak and we are easily led and we do not have the power to be free so if we rebel, it will not be long and we will find ourselves in bondage to sin.”

I love what it says, “He brought them out of the darkness and the shadow of death and broke their bands asunder.” Everything they could not do for themselves and God just stepped in and did it. And to me, a beautiful picture of that is the prodigal son. And I think of him walking home and he was thinking, “I just want to be with my dad and I hope dad would just give me a job and everything will be well.” His father saw him coming down the road and his father ran to him and immediately the bondage was broken. The bondage, the poverty, the hunger and the darkness that he had got himself into, because of his rebellion and it just needed to be broken. And it was only the father that could do that.

Now the fools. In America, “fool” is a very strong word and one of the strongest words my Dad could say to us is, “Why are you being such a fool?” Being foolish is not the same as being ignorant, it is not the same as not knowing what to do. Being a fool is more knowing what we should do and not doing it. Back home, we say, “Just do not do dumb things,” that is kind of being a fool. Being a fool is doing senseless things. Ps107:17-22, “Fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and He saveth them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that man would praise the Lord for His goodness and His wondrous works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of Thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing.”

About 30 years ago or more, we went to a convention in the southern parts of California and was close to the city called Santee. We had a real problem there with feral cats and they would make their home under the convention buildings. One of our jobs at preps was to trap the cats. If the cats looked cared for, we would send them on their way and if they were wild looking, we would take care of them. We would use a little tin of tuna and we would put that in the trap and in the morning, very often there would be a cat in the trap. I learned a lesson I will never forget and that was the tuna was never eaten. The thing that lured them into the trap, once they got in the trap, they wanted no part of it. That has been a tremendous lesson to me, the things in life that lure us into a trap and it can be a life changing trap and the things that are tempting to us are the things we cannot have. And we can have them, we find they are nowhere near as good we thought they were. The fool is one who knows what is wrong and still goes ahead. And we have all been there. The beautiful thing is that the trap is not in the spiritual sense and it does need to be fatal. For most of those cats, it was fatal.

“Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and He saveth them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions.” Isn’t that wonderful and we fall into a trap of our own making and our own foolishness and if we beg God, God will send us help. It is not going any other way except by His word. Help comes through the word, and if we are willing to obey His word, He will save us no matter what distress we may be in. Experiences may be life changing and I think about David and David said so grievously, he fell into a trap and he knew better. He was in the trap for around a year and he tells how he felt when he was in the trap. Then God sent His word to him through Nathan and David repented and God brought him out of the trap. It was a life changing experience. David could never say he got out of that experience without any adverse effects, but the Lord saved him. We may make some mistakes that might be some life changing results from that.

Ps107:23-31, “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths, their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and He bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then pave glad because they be quite; so He brings them unto their desired haven. Oh, that man should praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful work to the children of men.”

I was thinking of a group of three people in the Scriptures who found themselves in life threatening storms. The first two groups we read about is in Jonah 1 and the sailors that were with him in the ship. Jonah was in a storm because of his own foolish choice. The storm was the definite result of his choice and he rebelled against God and the sailors were in the same storm not because of their own choosing, they were in the storm because of the choice of another. Then I was thinking of the disciple Mark 6 when Jesus told them to cross the sea and they got into the boat and they began to row and the storm came up and they were in the storm despite being in the will of God. They were doing exactly what they were told and this terrible storm came up. What that tells me is three things. We can be in the storm because of our own choices, and we could be in the storm because of someone else’s choices and we can be in the storm when we are 100% doing what we have been asked to do. The answer is always the same and they cried unto the Lord in their distress. You know there has never been a storm and no matter how severe, there has never been a storm that has never had an end. Sometimes we are in the middle of a situation and we feel it is never going to end, but we know there has never been a storm that has not had an end.

There is one thing that is very interesting to me and when you read the book of Jonah, did you ever think how they got all the information together? They had to have Jonah’s information and no one else could tell what happened down in the belly of the whale. And no one else could tell what happened between Jonah and the Lord and the gourd and they needed Jonah’s information and they must have visited with the sailors. After Jonah was thrown overboard, it says the sailors made vows and sacrificed. And they were headed to Spain when this happened, and so someone came back from Spain with the story of what happened on the boat. I love to think of the possibility of Jonah and those sailors and getting together and talking about the wonderful works of God. They have the same experiences and looked at it from slightly different angles and the end result was they praised the Lord for His goodness. We come from many different backgrounds and experiences have been looking at life from different viewpoints like it says we would come to a desired haven and through the help of God. Amen.

Matthew 5:1-12 – it was a long time after I started in the Work that I used these verses. In the States, forty years ago, people started to say, “Have a good day.” It meant nothing, it was just like a parrot. I wondered if Jesus explained what He meant in that same sermon on the mount. So I began to look at it with that same thought in mind. These qualities Jesus talked about that make us happy. “Blessed” is more than a momentary happiness. It is a deep feeling of contentment, a deep feeling of blessedness.

When I was praying, I got to thinking about my parents. I often feel that words cannot express the gratitude I feel for godly parents. In a lot of ways, my parents are as alive to me today as they were when they were alive. There isn’t a day goes by when I don’t remember what they said and taught us. Nehemiah was a man willing to draw a clear line. It was where very clear lines were drawn. My parents were not afraid to make us unhappy. They were not afraid to make us understand that we children were not as important as what was right and wrong.

At fourteen years, I was very rebellious. My parents called me into the living room. Not once did Dad threaten any of the five of us. Whatever Dad said he would do, he did it. Dad told me calmly, “You are fourteen years old, old enough to make your way in life. If you want to stay home, you can stay home, but you will fit into the rules of the house. If you don’t want to do that, you are free to get established and we will help you get established.” That was not a threat, it was just the way it was. I am so grateful for the blessing of having parents willing to say what they meant and mean what they say.

Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Jesus was talking about poverty of spirit, not natural poverty. Natural poverty does not necessarily bring spiritual blessing. I have worked in Third World countries, and saw poverty is not a blessing unless it moves people to seek something greater. Spiritual poverty is always a blessing. What did Jesus say about being poor?

Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:11, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” The spirit of poverty is just understanding, “I don’t have what I need and I cannot get it in my own strength or with my own labour. I am not worthy.” “Okay, Ed, you are unworthy. Now forget it and get on with doing what needs to be done.” The devil wants us to take that feeling of unworthiness to use as an excuse not to do God’s will. It doesn’t matter what our past has been, whether victorious or not, we can never repay that. We must accept, “I am unworthy, but I can be willing.” That is the spirit of poverty.

We read about prayer in Luke 11, the man that had visitors come to his house late at night and he had nothing to give them. The stores were closed and he went to his neighbour. He must have had a lot of confidence in him. At midnight he pounded on his door. “I am in bed, my family is asleep.” “But I have visitors.” The neighbour gave it to him, not because he was his friend, but because of his insistence. He wouldn’t give way. He wasn’t getting any sleep so he got up to give him what he needed. That is the spirit we want to go into prayer with. We are not worthy, but we are needy. We come before God in our weakness, but we are needy and God respects that. “He that asks, knocks and seeks”(Mat 7:7)… you don’t ask if you already know. Men don’t like to ask directions, but asking makes it clear. You don’t know. He that asketh, receiveth.

You only knock if you don’t have the right to enter. When you get home from school, do you knock? We didn’t, we just walked in. The neighbour kids did knock, because we had a right and they didn’t. We knock because we understand we need what God has and we are at His mercy to receive what He has. You seek because you can’t find it. That is the spirit of being honest enough to accept that we need help and then be willing to ask for it and seek it.

Mat5:4 speaks of mourning. These verses are all with the thought of preparing us for Heaven. I was going to see how many times the word “Heaven” is mentioned in these three chapters. These things are heavenly things. That was because the Jews were expecting to see the Messiah, a natural king, but Jesus said, “I am not a natural king.” What makes you mourn? Spiritually, sin is what makes us mourn. When we do something we know we should not have done, when we are honest enough with ourselves to realize, “I should not have done that,” then we see the effect it has had on someone else, we mourn. That is the mourning Jesus was talking about and the comfort that there is in forgiveness and there is cleansing.

The consequences of sin cannot be taken away. I have got numerous scars on my arm but there is only one scar I can tell you about. When I was five years old, I took most of the skin off my knuckle. The scars are there, but I don’t remember why. When God forgives us, the consequences of our sin remain and we can go on and have peace in our heart and over the years we will forget what caused the scar.

When David sinned he lost his son. That son died, an immediate consequence of his sin, but the long-term consequence was, maybe, greater. “The sword will never depart from your house.” You go down the years and see the tragic consequences of one major mistake. His sons: Amnon, Adonijah, Absalom, all of them died unnecessary, violent deaths. It is a very normal thing, that his sons lost respect. That was the consequence of David’s sin. All sorts of unrighteous things developed. God forgave him and we have those wonderful Psalms, but God didn’t take away the consequences. He mourned, but God comforted him.

Jesus talked about cutting off your hand and plucking out your eyes. I have a very good friend who lost his hand in an accident. There are some things he used to do that he cannot do now. He does what he can. When we are willing to take steps to deny ourselves, there will be things we feel the loss of all the days of our life. But Jesus said, and this is our comfort, “It is profitable for thee that one of thy members perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” We have been hearing a lot about self-denial. There are things in relationships we have to say, “No,” to, but God is faithful and God will comfort and God will bless us.

Mat5:5, “Blessed are the meek.” The world thinks of meekness as like a man that is afraid of his own shadow. That is not meekness at all. That wasn’t Moses. He was the meekest man then. That wasn’t Jesus. He was the meekest. Meekness is the quality of not defending ourselves, being willing to take wrong and not defend ourselves.

I Peter 2:21-23, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps, Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.” When people spoke very unkindly to Jesus, He didn’t respond, and when He suffered, when the mistreatment went beyond words, He didn’t threaten. Jesus could have said, “You just wait until the judgment day.” What He said was, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That is meekness. If a man hits you on the right cheek, give him your left. The beauty about that is the fight stops there.

Mexicans are pretty laid back until you get them mad. There are a lot of people in the graveyard that would be still walking around if they had been a little bit meeker. When you are meek, there is no fight and more than that, Jesus did it because He loved us. If we have the love of God in us, we will take suffering and reproach in the hope that someday things will be different.

Mat5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Mat5:20, “Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.” What it was, was an outward conforming to what is right and wrong. Unless our righteousness is more than that, we don’t have a place in Heaven. He is talking about our hearts. The righteousness of the Pharisees never got beyond the surface, “whited sepulchers, full of dead men’s bones.” Hungering and thirsting after righteousness isn’t hungering for the day when everything would be right in the world.

Hebrews 1:9, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Righteousness is that which is right with God. Iniquity is anything that does not conform to the righteousness Jesus lived.

Mat5:21-24, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, ‘Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment,’ But I say unto you, ‘That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother, “Raca,” shall be in danger of the council but whosoever shall say, “Thou fool,” shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.’”

Righteousness: one of the many facets of being right means being right with our Brother. We cannot be right with God unless we are right with one another. If you come to the altar and remember you are not right with your Brother, don’t take your sacrifice off the altar, leave your gift there at the altar and go and make things right and then come back to your gift. I don’t know anything that is sweeter than true reconciliation. I really don’t know anything else that is sweeter and more enriching than when things have been wrong and are then made right. That comes when we love righteousness, when we are willing to pay the price to be right.

Mat5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” I John 3:2-3, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not 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 hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” If we are not honest with ourselves and honest with God, we cannot even see God.

We don’t even understand why God asks what He does or what He is trying to accomplish in His work. “The pure in heart shall see God.” That is not any quality in my heart, nothing about me is pure. It is a constant struggle to keep our heart right. There are two ways that we cleanse ourselves from our sin: the cleansing from our past sin and the future that keeps us clean.

I John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” There is no cleansing and no fellowship without walking in the light and that speaks of honesty. Being willing for the light, the blood of Christ cleanses us from our sin. Fellowship is a fellowship of forgiven sinners that are willing to walk in the light. As soon as dishonesty enters the picture, fellowship ceases.

The other provision for sin is Psalm 119:9, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.” That is cleansing for the future. If your little boy is ready for meeting and goes out and plays in the mud puddle, all the yelling in the world won’t cleanse him, there has to be cleansing. The deed is done, recrimination has no effect on the mud. You have to take him back and wash him again. That is cleansing for the future, what we get from the Word of God.

“Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” That will keep our steps clean. We have the wonderful opportunity of being pure in heart, “that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I can hardly comprehend that God’s purpose is to present us blameless on that day.

I count it a privilege to be here today and share this meeting with you. We just expect the meeting to go well. I see it is a miracle that we can enjoy something that is the same, no matter where we go and sit down together and enjoy fellowship and it is a small taste of what it will be one day to sit down with those that have come from the four corners of the earth. Sitting down together, never having met before, and enjoying the same things together, not that one would be sitting higher than another and there would be one powerful denominator and that would be love. There are many things that divide, there are many subjects that divide, there are many cultures that divide. There is one thing that unites: the love of God and the spirit of God. I enjoyed the hymns 21 and 26 and they are asking questions. “If we but knew, if we but knew the cost; if we but knew the sorrow, if we but knew the lonely hours and if we knew the joy, we would not resist.” Hymn 26 asks a question, “What have I given, long years were spent for me and have I spent one for Thee? Great gifts Thou broughtest me.”

Ephesians 6:11-12, “Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the ritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand.” This warfare of serving God is not like we go around with a hammer or with a cannon. One thing in this world outside, there is coldness and when we come here, we feel inspired to make promises and say things, and we see things that we need to do and we see things we need to do to be right with God spiritually. Today it is warm outside, but spiritually it is cold. When we come and sit in the meeting and it is quiet and we sing together and we hear each other’s testimonies and we feel warm and we listen and we even feel warmer. When we leave, we feel warm inside and we go out and we feel warm when we think about things we have heard and we may even share them with others who have not been here.

It is so easy to get cold. There was a story I read about climbers who climbed Mount Everest. When they climb Mount Everest, they are putting their lives at great risk and they have to work together, they walk together, watch out for each other and one of their greatest enemies is the cold and storms. Many people have died on the mountain because of storms and because of the cold, because of the wind. The story I read was about a climber from New Zealand and he climbed with another group and with great effort and risk, they made it to the top. A storm hit and the temperature went down and the climber from New Zealand realised he was not going to make it off the mountain, he had got so cold that all desire left him, any feeling of concern left him. Nothing seemed to matter to him anymore and he sat down in the snow and he called with his telephone, his wife in New Zealand. They had just recently given birth to their first child and he said goodbye to them and he was very cold to her and that was not normal. When he got so cold, all concern left him.

Spiritually we live in a cold place and the Lord has put us there may be at work it gets very cold and where ever we are it could be cold and we cannot underestimate how important it is to come to a warm place and to bring even our children to a warm place and that is the meetings, Sunday morning and Wednesday night and also the gospel meetings. In the meeting, there is warmth and life and we are fighting against a bitter enemy who works quietly and we do not even notice we are getting cold. Concern just leaves us, concern about our own soul, concern about our spiritual welfare, concern about others leaves when we get cold. It is a big privilege to be a worker and we so often get into a warm place.

Hebrews 12:1, “Wherefore seeing we are compassed around with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” It is so easy to get beset, it is so easy to get weary. It is in our mind where we get beset. When we get weary, we become confused and we were talking about storms, and it is cold in the world and there are also storms that arise. Sometimes, we are personally affected by storms that happen inside of our heart, and sometimes in the heart of our brothers and sisters and sometimes the church and we can be badly affected by those storms.

We will go back to the armour and helmet is something you put on to save your head from getting a big bang and if you ride a motorcycle, you wear a helmet. In many circumstances, we need a helmet and if you get a big bang on your head, you can’t think straight. Sometimes that happens, big bangs in our lives, so to speak. Our salvation is something that can help us survive a big bang or a big thump. There is a couple I know well and she wrote one time and she said this about her three children, “My husband and I feel sorry and we feel grieved by the choices our children have made that had led them outside the kingdom of heaven. But my husband and I feel that it is not affecting our joy of salvation and the joy of our salvation is continuing to increase,” and I really thought that was so nice. In spite of sadness, not in the absence of sadness, but in spite of sadness, they continue to find joy in their own salvation personally and that helps them to continue to walk and to be protected from enemies.

Another piece of armour and it speaks about the breastplate of righteousness, and a breastplate is something you would wear over your chest. There is also a shield, a shield of faith. A shield is something you would use to defend yourself against something you see is coming. Just because you have a shield there is no reason not to wear any other kind of armour. Sometimes, things come and we do not expect them. We are glad for everything we hear in meetings and reading God’s Word and it is like a protection to us and we come and we feel warm and we feel exposed to the spirit of God and gives us happiness and it gives us strength and really it does protect us against disappointments, and it protects us against coldness and against false doctrines and also against all kind of enemies. That is a kind of war we are fighting.

Back to Hebrews and feeling weary and feeling beset. Sometimes, we get into situations and we can feel overwhelmed. The time 5 thousand people came and Jesus fed them. Jesus said to Philip, “What are we going to do and where will we find enough bread for all these people?” Jesus did not ask that question because He did not know, He just wanted Philip to see what He was going to do. Then we read about the wedding feast and Jesus said to fill the barrels with water as the wine was lacking. There would be nothing that would put a greater need in the heart of those servants, because it seemed so impossible. Jesus did that so the disciples would see better the miracles. We sang that hymn, “If we but knew the cost at which He came.” I believe anything God asks us to do, it is not to make us poor but to give us a way to measure how much more Jesus did for us. The boy came along with two fishes and a few loaves of bread, and it was nowhere near enough and Jesus just asked them to sit and He gave thanks and there was more than enough. The little boy couldn’t take any glory to himself, but at the same time he would have been so happy that he gave them, and he gave them for the others and there is a satisfaction in giving. There is a satisfaction in giving and seeing that someone else is satisfied in being helped and fed.

There is a story you all know in Genesis 22:1-4, “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, ‘Abraham;’ and he said, ‘Behold, here I am.’ And He said, ‘Take now thy son, thy only son Isaac, whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering unto one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.’ And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went into the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.” So we see Abraham got up early, he took some fire, split some wood and he loaded it all up and took two servants with him and they began to walk. And it took them three days to walk and on the third day, they could see the place. What a thing to ask, what a terrible thing to ask. Abraham could have said what a terrible thing to ask and yet there was something in him because of his love for God, because he was warm inside and he just did what God asked him to do. I tried to imagine him splitting that wood and this is what is going to make the offering for my son and taking the fire. Every step he would take along the way and they would have had fire with them, and maybe he could feel the heat of the fire and he would be reminded this is for my son. The anguish in his heart, who could imagine it three days long. Feeling the feelings he would have felt, three whole days and three whole nights.

Verses 10-12, “And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham;’ and he said, ‘Here am I.’ And he said, ‘Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou has not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me.’” Abraham spoke to God and told him not to harm the child, then Abraham turned around and saw the ram caught in the thicket. He had not gone right to there he would never have seen a greater provision and a greater sacrifice that was planned from the beginning of the creation of the world. You cannot imagine the feelings in the heart of God. And even from Moses’ day, there would be sacrifices of lambs and lambs would be slain for the burnt offerings for sin all through those years. Knowing that someday it would be His own Son and all those years God spent preparing.

What God asked Abraham, it lasted three days and it was nothing compared to what God is willing, and what God had planned and had set about to do. Abraham would have come down the mountain with so much gladness in his heart, because he had seen the provision of God. Perhaps there would not be many people in the world that God could ask to do such a thing. He asked someone who was willing and when he was willing and he saw that much more of the provision of God. In that hymn, it says, “If we but knew,” and really the more we are willing for in the way of God, and simply do what God asked us to do, the more we will see the provision of God. The more we will identify with the love of God and when we are willing to sacrifice, we are able to identify much more, and we will be able to measure that much better the magnitude of the sacrifice of God. There is something about reading the Bible and the more we read and live the more the Bible is revealed. It is a very simple principle.

Matthew 18:23-24, “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants. And when he began to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents.” We could feel so focused on our own sacrifice and so focused on ourselves, we would forget the feelings of others and the feelings of God. This servant owed 10,000 talents and it was forgiven. He turned around and found a friend who owed him 100 pence, just a small fraction he himself had owed. This seemed like when we get forgiveness it is so easy to forget that we have been forgiven. It may be so easy to feel the desperation we felt of ourselves who needed forgiving. Sometimes it is so difficult to focus, so easy to focus on some little thing that someone else owes us. You focus on that and forget all we have been forgiven for. When we are willing to forgive and maybe even at a great cost and it may cost us a lot to forgive and it only shows us in a very small measure what Jesus was willing to forgive, those that did Him wrong.

Isaiah 7:15-16, “Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose a good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.” That really talks about abstaining from evil, or putting away evil, or living to avoid evil, avoiding wrong. It says about Jesus eating butter and honey and that’s all He concentrated on. Maybe more among children and they would choose to have an appetite for good things. You think about Jesus when He was 12 years old, He was with His parents and went up to Jerusalem and after the feast, all by himself, He was speaking with the high priest and other people there. You could wonder whatever possessed Him to do that, but there was something in Him, and it says He was seeking to do the will of His Father. We know the more we give ourselves to walking with God, the more sweetness there is. Maybe you could say there is a certain sacrifice to give ourselves and to be faithful. We could even feel we are excluded from other friendships because we are seeking to be faithful. So there is a price to pay, but there is sweetness.

Luke 19:35-37. Verses 41-42, “And they brought him to Jesus; and they cast their garments upon the colt and they sat Jesus thereon. And as He went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when He was come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen. And when He was come near, He beheld the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes.’” I wonder have we ever tasted of disappointment in ourselves or in our brethren. We have meetings and we set out chairs and sometimes the chairs stay empty and in that sense there is disappointment and do we weep for those people? Have we ever felt those kinds of feelings for brethren or for a stranger? Sometimes, strangers get interested in coming to meetings and they come maybe once or twice and then they miss a few times. They do not see how important it is and they come again as though they had not missed. If we have feelings towards those people, it is only a small way to measure how God has feelings towards us and that we would come and taste royal dainties. Any feelings we have had, Jesus has felt more; and any sacrifice we have made, Jesus has made a bigger sacrifice; anything we have felt we wanted to abstain from and avoid, Jesus has done it more. The more we do, the more we can know the love of Jesus.

We heard about doctrine this morning and really the doctrine of the kingdom is simple and it is nothing too hard to understand. John 12:24-25, “Verily, verily I say unto you, except the kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” It is a principle that is true, and people don’t like talking about it as it is talking about death. There would be a lot of people in this world who have hardly ever been to a funeral and would prefer not to go, but death is part of life. Suffering about dying is beautiful, a corn of wheat is beautiful and when you think about a corn of wheat and it dies and a corn of wheat is a little thing and has life in it. After it dies, it will shoot, then it will get green leaves, then it will get a stalk and then it will get seed, kernels of wheat and it is all pre-programmed in that little seed. The only way for it to happen is to go into the ground and to be covered over and let it die. You put it in the ground and you leave it and it starts to grow. If you were to dig it up, you would never find that seed again. It disappears and in its place is something far better and that is a corn of wheat.

Then you think about a young boy and living at home with his parents, and he thinks about himself and no responsibilities and he has his own bedroom and he has his own bicycle and his own sport and he has the things he likes to do and his life is like one seed. As it happens with boys, he may be interested in a girlfriend and then they talk on the phone and his centre of interest changes a bit and he is interested in someone else. Then he learns how to make his bed when she comes over and they mature and they begin to plan a life together and they marry and have children and he has a job and a home and his life changes. I don’t think anyone would say about that boy that as a single seed, he would wish to return to what he was, because his life is so much fuller. In that sense, there is nothing negative about dying to your own self. That is a natural picture.

We can think about receiving the gospel into our heart and we live for ourselves and have our own interests and then the gospel comes and it warms our heart and we hear about Jesus and we hear about all that can be ours in walking with God and accepting Him as our Lord. Even if we have been professing for years, there are changes that come about in our heart and that wonderful seed to grow and continues to grow. We have no desire to return to that initial state because we have received the gospel. If we give ourselves, it is only a little way to measure how much Jesus gave himself for us. May we find joy in giving ourselves more and more. We don’t have to invent the will of God and think of things to do, and all we have to do is look around and see and respond and obey and we will find no greater joy on this earth. For His sake.

Hymn 62, “Sweet Words of Jesus,” sowing. It is like summer time, naturally and spiritually. We still have the privilege to sow in our own hearts, that things would be sown in our hearts, things that are “eternal and true,” things that “make us whole,” and will “breathe life to our soul.” “Precious the message sent from above all of His beauty, cause me to see.” As these words fall from Heaven into our heart over these days, like rain, we want the lid off the top of our heart. That would help us to choose. There are so many choices, things we deal with from day to day. What is sown here will help us. God can bring it back to our memory in the days and weeks after Convention.

Genesis 1:11-13 tells of the third day of creation. “And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.’” Matthew 7:15-20, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits, ye shall know them.”

That was a fundamental principle that God established on the third day when He was creating: that the herb would yield seed and fruit would yield seed and those seeds would produce the very same thing. It is absolutely evident that when you sow an apple seed, you will get nothing else but apples. That is a principle that runs throughout the whole natural kingdom. Whatever you sow, that is what you get and whatever you sow, you get more. Whatever you start a little bit of, the result will be greater, whatever it is. We are here to look at the fruit we really want in our lives and get little pictures of fruit that all of us are desiring. There is nobody here that wants bad spiritual fruit. Nobody wants unhappiness or sorrow.

Matthew 7:17, “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” Jesus was helping them see the difference between good and bad. Sometimes we have many choices and we don’t always understand where our choices will lead. In Belgium there are two languages: French and Flemish. The last couple of years, I have been attending classes to learn Flemish or Dutch. Everyone was asked to make a presentation on the subject of their choice. Whatever can you say that would be feasible, but so there could be a little bit of something in it? “I will talk about seeds.” I found lots of pictures of seeds, from before they go into the ground until they become a plant.

I bought some seed packages of different kinds, put them in little bags and gave them with no names. “Can anybody guess which seed is which?” It is impossible. I had peas, and that is fairly evident. There are some seeds that are very, very small and you don’t know what they will become unless you look on the package. You get a picture of the fruit in the best light, and the flower also, to make it attractive to buy the seed. What the Lord is wanting of us here is that we would see enough here to give us courage to buy the seeds that are really going to produce the something we want, and avoid seeds that will bring misery and unhappiness. There are false prophets and true prophets. You will know them by their fruit.

Galatians 6:7-9, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” This is my first time to come to Australia. We have been eating watermelon and different fruits. I have not tasted watermelon like I have tasted here. It has such a deep, intense taste. In France, you can buy it, probably picked green and put in the stores to ripen. The taste is more shallow. You can taste the difference. That didn’t come from a big bang. God puts so many distinct tastes in fruit and vegetables that come from the ground. All you have to do is plant seed and it grows.

There are so many spiritual seeds we could sow, that would also bring a very distinct result, positive or negative. I am so thankful that we have a God that has pre-programmed all the aspects in the seed: the colour, the size, the taste, the smell is all in the seed, but you don’t see it. When it grows up, it becomes something really nice. The Gospel is, “Speak, speak the message that maketh me whole; the words of Jesus breathe life to my soul.” When something is living, it is so much nicer than a dead thing. No man can create what God first has, naturally or spiritually. We cannot put on happiness, joy or peace; it is not something we can create ourselves.

Children that sit in meetings, things are being planted in their little hearts. There is a new little boy that has come to France, five years old. He is learning to get to know his parents, Friends, meetings, and everything that happens in meetings. He had some little Lego men and drove them somewhere in the living room where he had them in a circle. His mother asked him what were they doing? “They are in meeting.” “What happens in meeting?” “We sing, we pray, speak, but Isaac not speak.” He came in August. Already in a few months, he is absorbing seeds that have life.

Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger.” It is like the seed and the fruit. I was with a companion in Paris, getting to know each other. We were from different cultures and backgrounds, got into some difficulties and misunderstandings. I went quiet, was upset in myself. It went for a day and another day and at the same time, when you are sitting at the table giving thanks, it is like a big cloud. My companion said, “You probably think I’m a pretty mean fellow, don’t you?” In myself, I was ready to fight. It totally disarmed me. He came in the back door when I expected him in the front door. We had two years together and we became the nicest friends and are so to this day. We enjoyed the fruit of friendship, just because of a soft, peaceable answer.

John 12:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” We could perceive the will of God to be difficult and heavy for us. Maybe, it is not our choice, what God is asking us to do but if you don’t die to yourself, if you don’t fall into the ground and let it die, just do His will and we will find out we have far more friends than we thought we had. It doesn’t bring loneliness, it brings friendship with God and with others.

Isaiah 53:1-2, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” A tender plant out of dry ground. All flowers have to grow through dirt. All fruit has to grow through the dirt. That is how God meant it. Jesus, in spite of all the hardness and filthiness around Him, something very, very clean and tender grew. That is a miracle. That is also something that God has put into the seed of the Gospel that makes it resistant to disease, resistant to harsh weather, to harsh things, resistant to hardness and filthiness.

Jesus, His whole life was lived amongst people with hard hearts, trying to find fault with Him. Sometimes people find fault with us, we could feel burdened. It might be true or false. If somebody is finding fault, don’t forget they found fault with perfection in Jesus, yet He stayed tender. As long as the plant’s roots are in the water, it will stay alive, but once it is no longer drawing from the water, it will become hard.

Proverbs 18:24, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly.” It is like the seed and the fruit. It is logical. Seeds are sown in meeting, in our home. I admire parents; my life is like a garden and we are responsible for what happens in that garden, responsible for the weeds and what is planted. I had a companion and he took some avocado seeds and put them in a glass of water. Amazing. After a couple of days, the shell breaks open and a little white root comes down. Later, he transplanted them into the dirt. Every day he would look at his avocados and after a while there were several green shoots from the avocados. Just as soon as the shoots came up, there were weeds. Will you pull them out? Wait and see. It was very deliberate to plant avocado but all by themselves, these other little weeds came.

In our life, we have a garden. My mother, our parents, they have their own garden, their own life. All parents who choose to have children are choosing another garden. They may have another child, then they take on another garden, and really they are responsible for this other little child as well. The things that grow there all by themselves and the things that need to be planted there have to be planted very deliberately and not just leave things to chance. Sometimes, you talk to people about the family and several times we have heard, “We will see how it goes.” They are hoping children will make right choices, but it is very true that sooner or later, everyone is responsible for themselves, but really, there is a big responsibility on the parents, that the right things would be planted deliberately and the weeds pulled out while there is a chance.

I remember conversations around the table: What kind of job? Where would we live? I remember one day it was said, “It is not that children can choose what place in God’s family they would have, they can’t.” We were two boys and two girls and in passing, our mother said, “So none of you would consider the highest calling?” It was just like a seed, that little sentence. That is the one and only time she ever said something like that. She planted a little seed, and in doing so, let us see she would be very pleased if one of her children would carry the Gospel. It is not as if we would consider one calling higher than another but God’s calling for our individual life is the best. She sowed a little seed in our hearts.

When we were taken to meeting as children, there was never a choice about going to meeting on Sundays and Wednesday nights. There was never a choice if we had homework that we wouldn’t go to meeting. It was not even a question. Now, having seen a little more of other children and young people at university with a huge load, so much homework, it becomes a reason to not come to meeting. Good marks and a degree seems just everything, but yet those seeds are producing today, the very thing that those parents, who go along with this reasoning see, that they are distancing themselves from the meetings, and from their relationship with God, because something else has taken the place of God.

We were staying with friends in the country. They’d been away a few weeks, they had a garden. The weeds were so high, we helped them. It is what took over all by themselves. It was because nobody was pulling them out, nobody was looking after it. We heard about taking risks and sometimes there could be pressure at work or school or in other friendships, to give those other sides of our life a lot of pressure. In taking risks for God, for our spiritual welfare, every time we take a risk in favour of God, He is never indebted to us.

We heard about staying at the table, they were the ones who sat with Him. In a more natural sense, what does it mean to stay at the table? When we were children, we would get company. We would get talking. The subjects being talked about you might not understand them, go off on the wrong road. I remember several times asking, “Could you stay a little longer at the table?” An exchange, natural and spiritual, is like a seed being sown, the whole reason that the Workers would come, so that He could give them a gift, so they would be established and mutually encouraged through visits around the table, the fellowship.

We enjoy sitting in meetings, but sometimes a visit with somebody about spiritual things is so enriching, the fruit of fellowship. Children could be encouraged about looking after their own garden and planting nice seeds. The peas in our garden at home rarely made it out of the garden. Sometimes we would help our mother, but not too much. If children have the chance to taste the spiritual fruit, they can make their own garden. When they see the fruit of joy, happiness, and peace, will that also not affect them?

Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.” These fruits come from the Gospel being deliberately sown in our lives. If we are fighting hatred, the opposite is love; the opposite of joy is unhappiness; the opposite of peace is worrying; the opposite of longsuffering, impatience; the opposite of gentleness, roughness; the opposite of gentleness, meanness; the opposite of faith, doubting. If we have the opposite, we have not planted enough in our hearts so we ourselves can enjoy these fruits and it can be a glory to God.

Matthew 26:36-39, “Then cometh Jesus with them until a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, ‘Set ye here, while I go and pray yonder.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith He unto them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death; tarry ye here, and watch with Me.’ And He went a little further 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.’” We know that He went a second time and Jesus prayed the same prayer. I have been sitting here listening to things that are precious, and I have been reading this chapter and we could believe that some prayers are more precious to God than others. I do believe we cannot try to put a value on those words that Jesus uttered and what they cost Him.

We read lower on in the chapter about the time that Peter drew the sword to defend Jesus, and the answer is in the verse 53, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father and He shall presently give Me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it might be?” Those words have really spoken to me. When Jesus spoke to Peter, He said, “Don’t you realise that if I needed someone to defend Me, I could ask My Father and He would presently give Me more than 12 legions of angels.” When Peter tried to defend Jesus, Jesus just told him, “I have all the power of Heaven on My side to defend Me.” Jesus said, “All I have to do is ask.” Then Jesus added, “How would the Scriptures be fulfilled?” They were the words that really caused Jesus to pray in such desperation and Jesus knew He had to die for the Scriptures to be fulfilled.

I sometimes fear that we can hear about Jesus in the garden, and Jesus on the cross and all that Jesus suffered again and again and I fear lest we could get familiar with this. And we know that Jesus said He could have called 12 legions of angels and that His Father would send them, but here His Father was trusting Him that He was going to fulfill the scriptures. That Jesus was going to fill the plan that was made right from the foundation of the world and Jesus knew, “Unless I receive help in prayer, there is absolutely no way I can fulfill the plan of God.”

We sing, “In the garden lies defeat or victory.” I feel we can become familiar with these words and maybe we may not realise there are people in our generation and in previous generations and they have gone through experiences and can understand this in a greater measure. Jesus knew the plan and Jesus told the disciples in a previous chapter that there would be one that would betray Him and then He would be crucified. Earlier on in the chapter before He went into the garden to pray and He called His disciples and said, “You know.” That was not the first time He told them that. Through the gospels on quite a few occasions, He told His disciples, “We are going to Jerusalem and the Son of Man is going to be betrayed and rejected and will be crucified and rise again on the third day.” Now He said, “You know,” and it was only two days away. It appears to me even though He told His disciples, “You know,” it seems they could not really understand it. And there are many things we have heard and heard repeatedly and people could say, “You know that is how it is going to be and how God has a plan.” Just having a knowledge about some things is often not enough.

We read that Jesus chose those three men to go with Him a little further in prayer and I just wondered if those men were with Jesus on a number of times when Jesus was praying. Those three men seemed to have had a place of great privilege and a lot of people in the world would talk about Peter’s failures, but not so much about the failures on the part of James and John. And at one time Jesus called those two sons of Zebedee the sons of thunder. Could you try and imagine someone that you know personally and they would call you a son of thunder? You could think it was someone that was quite loud or unruly, but that is what Jesus called these two men.

We read about Jesus sending these two messengers to a village to make ready for Him and they did not receive Him. Then James and John asked Jesus, “Will you allow that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” It is not that I want to speak about the negatives or the weaknesses of these men. The thing that is wonderful to me is we can read in the Bible about people and their flaws. The part that is lovely, when we see Jesus and when He was in great distress and He said, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death,” and yet He craved the company of those three men. Men we can probably identify with because of our own human nature, you know each one of them in their own way had a human nature that is like our own human nature. Yet because of understanding who Jesus was and understanding what Jesus was willing to do for them and having an appreciation in their hearts for Jesus and even though they didn’t understand the full picture. There was a love and appreciation for Jesus, and so when Jesus was going through this really difficult time, something in Him craved that these men would be with Him in this experience.

To me, it gives me great hope and each one of us knows how our own human nature is and sometimes we remember certain situations in our past and we feel a little bit ashamed. But it is lovely if we allow God’s spirit to work within us and not get offended with what God’s servants say and we read about the occasion when those two men wanted to call down fire. Jesus’ reply was, “Ye know not what manner of spirit you are of.” They didn’t get offended and didn’t say, “We are not going to continue anymore because you spoke to us so harshly.” They could have said, “You misunderstood us and it is because of the care we have for you we want those people to be punished.” Jesus spoke to them and they did not get upset, and because of that mark of being willing to be taught and accept correction, they were very close to Jesus, and again they were very close to Jesus in the time that Jesus was praying in desperation. Jesus spoke to those three and told them, “You are they who have continued with Me in My tribulation.” Jesus really appreciated that.

Sometimes we make mistakes and we have to be spoken to harshly and then we realise it is because He wants us to continue with Him. That is why I believe those men were closer than the others, because of their ability to accept correction. It could be because Jesus called those two men sons of thunder that they may have been outspoken at some times and Peter may have been like that, also. Sometimes, we can think we will not say anything, and inside, we can be quite unacceptable of things. Just because people open their mouth and say something, we may think they are worse than we are, and quite often we may not say anything outwardly and if we are upset in our spirit and it may take longer for us to get over the problem than those that speak out.

I was thinking that Jesus knew that was God’s plan and He knew that He was going to be betrayed. He was very aware, “If I do not pray, I will not be able to fulfill this.” When Peter drew out his sword, Jesus knew that if He was going to allow Peter to protect Him, how would this plan of God be fulfilled? There are times when we find ourselves in the experiences that are too great for us, experiences that we wish we could run 1000 mile. It is good if the spirit of God can be in us and really we would like God to change the situation. All of us have been in that situation or experience that is too great for us and we must ask God for help. Quite often, if we do not pray much more than help, God would get us through the situation easier.

Every time Jesus prayed, He finished up by saying, “Not My will.” It is wonderful when the Spirit of Christ can intervene. I do not know if it is even right to say one prayer is more precious than another. If God can hear prayers from our lips like an echo of the spirit of Christ would want to say and that prayer would be very precious to God. There is nothing more that Jesus wants from us that we would fulfill the will of God.

In chapter 26, we read about Jesus sending two disciples to a home so there could be a Passover. Jesus told them how they would recognise the man that would have the prepared home and the man that would lead them to that home. The disciples went and found everything exactly as Jesus had said and we read about Jesus in that home that He started something new and we read about Jesus for the very first time taking bread and saying, “This is My body and do this in remembrance of Me.” Also, when He took the cup and passed it around, “This do ye in remembrance of Me.” Jesus wanted to show His disciples something new that was going to be a memorial for Him. We can read about the time that was spent in the home and what was spoken in that home and then He went out into the Mount of Olives.

In that home, we read about Jesus and His disciples together and He gave them a very clear picture of the spirit that was guiding them in that home. The disciples were very much subdued. Sometimes when we think about that question that Jesus said, “How will the Scriptures be fulfilled?” We tell people about our faith and how we gather on a Sunday morning meeting and we know that is how it should be. And I sometimes wonder, “Yes, it can be possible that the Scriptures will be fulfilled.” We heard yesterday about marriage and the husband and wife working together like oxen in a yoke. We know that Jesus chose a man’s home and it is written in the Bible that certain conditions have to be right so people can have a Sunday morning meeting. Those words went over and over in my mind this morning, “How shall the Scriptures be fulfilled?” There are times in a home or a family where something comes up and we may feel it is very costly to keep a certain course and it is good to remember if you are at the crossroads and you stop and consider in order so the scripture can be fulfilled. God needs sanctified homes, where people are willing to keep the influence and the ideas of this world out so it can be a pure home. The only thing that has the final say in the home is the spirit of Christ.

We read of Jesus saying, “I have desired to keep the Passover.” The Spirit of Christ has no greater desire than to find a home where He can be totally free and He can speak of things that are very costly and precious and also a sacrifice. As workers, we may be a little guilty of speaking about the sacrifice of workers and then we realise we need people to keep faithful in a home and a home with no strife or anything that would hinder the Spirit of Christ and it can only happen when people are willing to sacrifice and have their will broken. Our human nature rises up and we can think in this situation, “I am right and I’m going to force my way of the truth,” and all we do is force God’s spirit outside.

We had a rather unfortunate situation in our family many years ago and a brother got upset about an inheritance. There was a certain decision made and someone was speaking to his cousin saying, “He got his justice,” and our cousin said, “Yes, but I lost my brother,” and that was very sad and it is still very, very sad. Our human idea of what is just and fair can be a tragedy.

When Jesus was there in the garden, and He knew, “I cannot let My human heart come into this and if I do, the scripture will not be fulfilled.” There was Jesus praying all alone and sometimes people think He would have had superpower and got His way through this. It says, “His sweat was like great drops of blood,” and Jesus said, “His soul was exceedingly sorrowful.”

Sometimes I look at those emblems and I think that some things I had to go through were unfair and unjust and should I really have to put up with that and do I have to be willing for that, then I would start looking at Jesus and how He prayed and then I feel so condemned. I just feel I need to pray with the same kind of spirit as He prayed. Then something comes up and I pray to My Father, “Help me to be willing to give anything to keep the peace and to have my will broken so there can be peace.” Jesus said, “How can the scripture be fulfilled?” It would be a terrible day if it would happen that there would become less and less homes to be able to have a Sunday morning meeting.

I am very glad for this chapter where Jesus sent those two disciples to that man and he had no hesitation to have everything sorted. Jesus did not go there in the beginning, but He sent two disciples to the home and we don’t know how old they were and then they found that home was so in order and Jesus was able to come and sit down there with His disciples. I was thinking of the workers and when Jesus was on the earth and looked at the multitude and He said, “Pray ye that the Lord of the harvest would raise up labourers.” We know that according to the scripture and it was when He was sending out His disciples and He said, “I am with you to the end of the world.”

It is good to ask ourselves, “How will the scripture be fulfilled?” Jesus in His lifetime many, many times we read and He took a certain course of action and then he would say that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. We need to be of the same mind and parents and young people realise besides the matter of having a sanctified home, we need never to forget to pray that Jesus would continue to raise young lives. If we want God’s way to continue on in the earth and for the Scriptures to be fulfilled and people who are looking for God’s way in the world and they would be able to find it, we all can have a part in that and I am very thankful for the little part that had been given to me in doing this. Amen

Some experiences are very deep; to find a special friend it is very good. We know of Job’s three friends and they are mentioned right through the book of Job. They were mentioned at the beginning and they were there listening and they were there with Job. They were there when Job lost so much, when he lost his family, lost all his possessions and his animals, and then lost his health. They gathered with him and they sat with him for a week and they did not speak. There is something that can speak very loudly in quietness. Those three friends were with him for seven days and then they began to speak. There is another friend that I’ve only just discovered and started to understand and he is Elihu. He was not one of the three, but it seems he was very much there with them.

It is not till chapter 32 that we come upon Elihu. Yet, he had been there all the time. We are gathered together trying to find meaning, to understand what has happened in the past year so we can go on with comfort and strength, and we need to find Elihu. I realise one of the reasons that there is not true comfort and not true strength and even meaning here, is because I have not found Elihu and who was he and who is he. He is like the spirit of God and I started to read and try and understand what Elihu did. It was immediately after Elihu had stopped speaking that God Himself was able to speak. Have we a friend like Elihu who brings the spirit of truth, who brings comfort so that God can speak. When God spoke it bought clear meaning to all that was taking place and that is what we need even today. I could say not one here that has not had some kind of deep experiences, it mightn’t be to the extent of losing all you have, your possessions and your business and it may not be to the extent of losing loved ones but there are many kinds of deep experiences. Sometimes we don’t understand what they mean and we put them aside.

A few weeks ago, we were in a shed and there were all these pallets with bits and pieces on them. When I asked what was all that and they said it was a John Deere tractor. They had bought it from an auction from someone who tried to restore it and had pulled it all down. They did not know how and they did not have time and it was all put in boxes and it did not make any sense. They put it aside and there was dust all over it. It can be like us sometimes with experiences and we do not know how to put it together and it does not make sense. That is when we need Elihu and who is able to help us to see. I feel he was there in those seven days of silence. It would appear that he had listened to what Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar had said and he had not spoken a word. That is how it is when we have friends that reason with us from the human viewpoint and it doesn’t put all the parts together, it doesn’t put any meaning. That is often the first thing that happens, we look to our friends, we are thankful for them.

When you hear about the three friends and what they spoke, there were some wise things said. They spoke truth in many parts of what they said, but they did not bring comfort, and they didn’t bring meaning or reassurance that Elihu did so that God could speak. Those three friends spoke with the firstborn nature, they reasoned together and went round and round with their reasoning and the second young born nature did not get a chance to speak. How many times has that happened to us, and we go round and round in that old human nature which was their first? That younger nature that is born into God’s children, and the spirit that is given to anyone that would obey His voice – it did not get a chance until the human voice was quietened.

Then a little voice spoke and it was Elihu in chapter 32. He was quietly in the background and not given much credibility and that is how it is with human reasoning. It doesn’t give much room or credibility for the spirit of Christ to speak. Human nature has lots of reasoning and explanations and it continues to go round and round. That is what was happening, until finally the voice was quietened and Elihu could finally begin speaking, because the human had stopped speaking. The true friend we have is the one who bought the spirit of Christ, and it brings something that breaks the cycle of going round and round and then it allows God to speak. It is all the boxes of parts and broken bits and dismantled bits of our life. We may feel we have been a bit dismantled and we don’t know how to put it back together and we don’t know what it really means, because they are not together the tractor has no power, no power to move on, or to be ready to plough the field and put old things under and allow a new crop to grow because the old tractor is in bits. What those three friends did and when they went round around, they went in the cycle of blame and that is what human nature does. Why did this happen? We feel we could pin the blame on someone else, that would be the answer and it gives no peace and is not the real answer.

Jesus’ disciples in John 9, they said, “Whose fault is it that this man was born blind?” Jesus said, “It was no one’s fault.” Jesus never put blame and He said it was because the work of God can be made real. And it is only the spirit that can help us see that and put that meaning in our life. We need the intercession of the spirit that will break the cycle of blame and that is what Jesus did. He came to break this cycle of blame and that is what the spirit will do and the spirit of comfort will do.

Elihu chapter 32:3 and part of 6, “Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet they condemned Job. Elihu answered and said, ‘I am young and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid and durst not shew you mine opinion.’” Elihu had already spoken to Job and his three friends tried to get meaning to all that had happened and were going round and round in the cycle of blame. Elihu spoke up and he realised he was the younger one and he waited. God’s spirit is often waiting to find a little space to be able to speak and to show us what the meaning of all this is.

There was righteous anger and indignation and then there was a godly anger that came through in Elihu. Righteous anger is something that really belongs to the human nature. It is unfair and it should not be like that and we get angry, and it is not a godly anger. What happens with that kind of righteous anger? We see what it did to the oldest son in Luke 15. It makes us take sides and we see what is not fair and the older son took a side and he ended up on the outside. There was an open door and he would not go in, that was all because he had a righteous anger. When we try to do everything with our own human reasoning, it puts us on a side. It happens every time when we let ourselves be drawn by human reasoning. We get drawn out onto a limb, and what happens when the limb gets broken off? We go with it. Then we find we are outside and that is why we should never take a side in any situation.

There was a feeling a few days before the Passover in John 12 when Mary anointed Jesus’ feet. Judas felt something in him and he spoke up about how it should have been sold for 300 pence and given to the poor. Then in Simon’s home in Bethany, this indignation was amongst the disciples because it says, “they.” It’s amazing how it spread in four days. When this lady anointed Jesus’ head, and for days before, Mary had come and anointed Jesus’ feet and that feeling that Judas had spread in four days. Then all the disciples were saying what Judas had said, this righteous anger affects others and draws them to one side.

We need the help of someone like Elihu to have the right spirit that will break that cycle. Because blood is thicker than water, it is easy to see what is fair from our perspective. It is just a human perspective and if it is human nature, we will go by that law that blood is thicker than water. We will always give the support to the one that is flesh and blood, but the spirit is stronger than both. We need to hear the voice that is interceding and gives us a perspective that makes all the difference so we would not get drawn to a side and find ourselves outside. The deep experiences that hurt us and bring pain to us, we would find meaning because of the spirit and then God would speak Himself. There was no answer but just condemnation and that is what Elihu had seen. There is no answer in going round and round in circles in that cycle of blame and condemnation. It is good if we are here and things we thought had no meaning and makes no sense and then we can understand because we simply allow the spirit to speak, and then we feel God speaking to us individually. It is a spirit that speaks, it will move us towards the support of the Kingdom and not in support of this side or that side, or that person or this person, or what she said or what he said and it will be in support of what is best for the kingdom of heaven. It is going to give us an eternal perspective and that is why when Elihu spoke it did change.

John 16 is very much a picture of Elihu. Verse 13, “Howbeit when He the spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak; and He will shew you things to come.” That is what the spirit of truth is able to do for us, to bring this perspective of eternity into the whole mix. The things we thought were big in the light of eternity, they are only a speck. We do not like going around in a circle that has no solution. Elihu said, “Durst not shew you mine opinion.” It is surprising how many times people ask us for our opinion, and ask for advice. It is not opinions or worldly advice that you and I need in many situations, it is what the spirit can do when it touches us. The more I read about what Elihu had spoken, the more I realised it was what God had spoken to him; it was not his own thoughts or words. To play the blame game it just brings condemnation.

Bildad said, “How long is it before you are going to make an end of words?” Job 18:2, “How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? Mark and afterwards, we will speak.” There was not much encouragement. In the end of the chapter, he said, “Shall his roots dry up beneath? Shall the remembrance perish from the earth? Shall lightness be driven into darkness?” and so forth. He was just going downwards. That cycle of condemnation goes downwards and is not helpful and healthy and it seems to go round and round and we cannot break the cycle. There are many things that go round and round and we cannot break them in our own strength. We need the intercession of the spirit so we can hear God speaking directly to us and it will make all the difference.

Luke 22:34-35,. “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come unto you unawares. For is this there shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.” One of the biggest addictions I find I get into is the addiction of shallowness and things get shallower and go round and round in circles. Just addicted to things that have no depth, it is an addiction because you try to stop it. If you leave here and try to get some depth from your own human thinking, it will not work. We need the spirit like Elihu and that will make all the difference and you can get power then and you can see things differently. And I’m glad for that power that is possible when the spirit begins to speak and then God speaks to us individually.

Jesus had this spiritual anger and it seemed like it was building up in Elihu and caused him to speak the way he did. The spirit was building up and he could not resist it any more. Jesus had that godly anger. Mark 3:5, “And when He looked around about them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts….” And that was godly anger. Jesus was trying to bring healing into the situation and they did not want to let it happen. It was a bit like that godly anger that came through Elihu.

Job 32:19-21, ”Behold my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles. I will speak that I may be refreshed; I will open my lips and answer. Let me not I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man.” John 7:38, “He that believeth on me as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” It was not about how good his parents were or about titles and it is about the spirit that we are of and that is the important thing. We can get side-tracked and lose our spirit sometimes because of experiences.

The things that Elihu spoke in chapter 33 are things that are still happening today and can happen to us. It just gives us a consciousness that God has made us all and it makes us aware we are all dust, and we are all temporary, and we are all on the same level. Elihu was able to convince Job by saying, “I have done nothing wrong,” and trying to justify himself. It did not work and it does not work.

Job 33:24-28, “Then is He gracious unto him and saith, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child, he shall return to the days of his youth. He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable unto him; and he shall see his face with joy; for he will render unto him his righteousness.’ He looketh unto man and if any say, ‘I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not.” He will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light.” He bought the conviction of what was wrong and he doesn’t leave us there but shows us what is wrong and how we can make it right. That is what Elihu had pointed out and that is what the spirit can do for us today. It will bring judgment and the ability to judge and to be able to reason with judgment and justifies and not like the world tries to justify. It justifies us by the life of Jesus and brings us into line and helps us to be in line with Jesus. We are not aware of the conversations in heaven and they were not aware of the conversation that had been going on in Heaven where the devil had spoken up and God had spoken to him. It was very much to do with the conversation that they had never heard and that is why Job went through all he did.

In Luke 13, there was a conversation about the vineyard that the owner owned, the fig tree that had no fruit on it, and the owner said it had to go. He was told to leave it alone and he was going to dig about it and fertilise it. For three years and every time, they had an annual review. He said he would give it another chance – the things we hear are very likely a conversation between the intercessor and owner in heaven and He looks down and sees your life and mine and sees what we are struggling with and things shared and spoken are to do with helping us to have meaning.

In the end of this book of Job, there was a sacrifice of burnt offering that those three friends had to bring. They had to bring it and Job had to pray for those three friends and there was no mention about Elihu. Because God heard Job’s prayer, he was set free, set him free from the captivity and his three friends. He had prayed and they had obeyed in bringing the burnt offering and that is what the spirit of intercession does for us also. Elihu was able to speak and bring them to that place to find intercession and understand a little more clearly what it was all about. There is one that cares so much and is going to put all those parts together, things we may have thrown in the box and putting them together for us so they can have power and can go in a different direction from and the way we were going before.

There is a hymn that says, “The hosts of sin are marching on, and forth to death their captives lead.” There is a town in Romania – we spent a year having a mission there and in the railway station, there is a monument. That monument is to remember a lady who, in 1941, managed to stop a train that was carrying Jews to death. Later, Israel put up that monument to honour her. At that railway station, we saw that monument hundreds of times. It made me a little curious and read a little of what happened. She was in charge of the Red Cross in that town and she knew where those people were bound for. It appears not all those people on that train, they were all Jews and not all those people knew or realised what they were heading for. This came into my mind a couple of days ago and we have just sung those words the hosts of sin marching on and forth to death their captives lead. That is a reality. We are in a very nice peaceful setting here and we are glad it is like that and enjoy feeling close to God here. The reality is the hosts of sin take countless souls to a lost eternity.

II Timothy 2:24-26, “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” We read here about the responsibility of God servants not to strive but in meekness, instructing people and with the hope that people who are captives that they will peradventure if God will give them repentance. That is really the purpose of the gospel and that is why God sends us out and to help people realise the reality of life. Even the people who have been captives of this earth, we have this privilege of instructing people and getting them to realise God has a different plan. It is not like you are captives on a train with no hope of ever getting off and changing your destiny and God’s plan is to give you hope. It speaks about if God peradventure will give them hope. Sometimes we may think to repent is completely in our hands. But it is written here if God peradventure will give them repentance. And we know we need God’s help to repent. And a lot of the time we need God’s help to realise what we have to repent from.

You read here about people who were captives and it made me think of one time when Jesus found some Jews and if they were to abide in His Word and it could make them free. They got upset and said, “We have never been in bondage to anyone.” Jesus said, “If you are living in sin, you are a slave to sin or a captive to sin.” That sometimes happens and people have an opportunity to listen to the Gospel and they don’t really feel there is anything wrong in their life. In the beginning, they may feel they are living a pretty good life and they may feel better than some others, and the purpose of the gospel is to instruct people in meekness. And God through His Spirit can make people realise how they are before Him.

We heard in the last meeting about the time Jesus instructed Peter to cast the net on the opposite side, and Peter said we have toiled all night and caught nothing, and Peter said, “At Thy word, I will let down the net.” Then afterwards, there were so many fish that the nets broke. Later on, Peter’s reaction was, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man.” I enjoyed that Peter offered his boat so Jesus could be a little way from the multitude, and Peter had been in Jesus’ company many times, and why this reaction, “Depart from me?” I often wonder what Peter’s thoughts were when Jesus asked him to let down the nets. Maybe Peter was thinking, “This is a waste of time and there is no point. There is no fish in the night when they could not see the net, so why would there be fish in the day when they could see the net?” And when he caught so many fish, he would’ve felt, “I did not believe Jesus.” Peter said, “At Thy word, I will do it,” and he may have felt there will be no result. I feel that is a sin that we are often guilty of. Our neighbours or people we work with could look upon our lives and say, “We ourselves are doing nothing bad so why should I change?”

I think, on that day, what convicted Peter was he realised, “Jesus asked me to do something and I really saw no point in it.” And that when Peter saw the result, and he realised, “Jesus knew my past,” he did not feel so bad. There are times when God shows us how wrong we are in our thinking, and we have that reaction we want to get away from everyone. Jesus did not condemn him but spoke to him about what he had planned for his future. It says here about people peradventure and coming to repentance and they acknowledge the truth. The next day Peter had to acknowledge, “I was wrong and Jesus was right.” Sometimes it is very difficult for us to come to that point to acknowledge, “I was wrong.”

Jesus was speaking to the Sadducees and He said to them, “You do greatly err not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God.” I have come to realise I have been in that position may times and have been very sure in my own thoughts about something and somehow God in His kindness and maybe by using someone else and I realise I was so wrong in my thinking. We are very glad the Gospel can cause us to realise how far off the mark we are in our thinking. We are thankful there is this door of repentance.

Right in the beginning of the New Testament when John the Baptist began to preach, he said to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is nigh. When his time was fulfilled, Jesus came along and He preached the same message, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is nigh.” Some people felt they had nothing to repent from. Jesus told the parable about the man who had 100 sheep and one was missing and he would leave the 99 in the wilderness and go and look for the one. Jesus said their was more joy over the one that repents than the 99 that felt they had no need to repent. That is how it was when Jesus was here on the earth and a large majority did not feel a need of repentance and could not even see what they needed to repent from. They properly felt they were good people.

In some churches, they have the tradition of going to confession. A few years ago, one of our brothers was coming home with some of his colleagues from work and it happened that two of those colleagues were going to a wedding on the Saturday. They got the idea that they should drop off on the way home and go to confession. They felt they could go as they had done nothing wrong. That is how a lot of people live, “I can’t see anything wrong with their lives.” And we sing those words sometimes, “I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing man of sin.” God Spirit works and convictions us in our own conscience and no one knows except ourselves.

We read of the time people came to Jesus and there was a woman that was in adultery and those people that came to accuse her would have thought the lady was the only sinner there. And Jesus just quietly said, “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” It says Jesus bowed down and did not even look at them and just wrote on the ground. It says they left, one by one, starting at the oldest and they realise that each one had sinned. Each one knew what their own sin was and all Jesus had to say was a few words and then they realised, “I am a sinner.” That is how God’s Spirit works and we can appear rightly and just before others, but then God’s Spirit can show us we are a sinner. We can be very thankful God is not looking down on us.

The devil often has two approaches. He tells us often there is nothing wrong with your life and you have nothing to repent from. Then when a person realises that they have sinned and the devil says, “There is no hope for you.” But Jesus has paid a price so we can be saved. It says here, “If God would give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” It is a wonderful miracle when God convicts us of what is wrong with our life and what needs to be changed in our life and we have enough faith to believe and life would be better, “If I accept what God says is right.”

I remember someone speaking about the parables and as a general rule, it is like a map. When you look at the map, the first thing you want to know is, “Where I am right now, my current location?” If we ever look into any of these parables, the first thing you need to do is try and find yourself and, “Where am I in the picture?” There are times we read about the Pharisees and they thought they were in the picture and what was their reaction, they wanted to kill Jesus and they understood where they were in the picture, but they didn’t accept where they were in the picture. Here it speaks about repentance and they didn’t want to acknowledge the truth. It is wonderful when God speaks to us and we realise it is not a pretty picture and we must acknowledge, “That is me.”

We often hear about David and there was a time when he sinned very grievously and God sent a prophet who told a story and David did not think it was him and then he was told, “You are the man,” and he was man enough to acknowledge it was true. He accepted repentance through the acknowledging of the truth. It is good when God speaks and we acknowledge that it is true, “It is the truth about me.”

I remember someone speaking one time about Jacob calling his sons together before his death and telling them about things that would be in the future. A lot of people on the earth are very curious about what is going to happen in the future. When Jacob called his sons together and he spoke to each one and he spoke about their weakness and he also spoke about their future. He spoke about what was going to be their portion in the future. When we go to a doctor we are not really interested in what the doctor has to say to the person sitting next to us in the waiting room, but we are very interested to know what solution the doctor has for us. We are very privileged to be here in a place where God can speak to us and show us.

I like what John spoke in I John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” If we walk in the light, God shows us how we appear in the picture. Sometimes, people just like to turn off the light and put it out of their mind. If God shows us the picture, where we are wrong we have the opportunity of putting things right. Then it says we have fellowship one with another. It is a wonderful thing when God speaks to someone and they accept the truth or acknowledge the truth and it brings fellowship. It brings fellowship with those who bring the Gospel and it brings fellowship with others. It is only after that do we get the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing us from all sin. People blindly trust that the blood of Christ is going to cover all their sins without walking in the light and having fellowship.

I sometimes think about Cornelius and he was told to send for Peter and he was told where Peter was. Peter and a number of other people went to his house and they found people very eagerly wanting to listen to the Gospel. Then Peter and the disciples went back and the Jews were very concerned, “Is this a mistake? You are a Gentile and you were in his house,” and Peter and the others had told what had taken place and then they realised, “God is working here.” In God’s plan, everything is perfect. When God sends His servants and His servants find people that God has been working with and people wonder about these people. It is like a common denominator to the servant of God and Peter was the one who went there and he was not so sure about it himself and then he saw God’s Spirit at work and Peter was able to tell others of what was happening with Cornelius and his family and Peter had no doubt about it. It was because of what God’s spirit had done in that home and Peter could feel one with them. He said, “Who are we to resist the spirit of God?” We are very thankful when people submit to God’s spirit and it brings unity. That is a privilege we have as workers, sometimes when we travel abroad and we have to be translated for when we speak. We listen to the testimonies and we know it is the same God that is working here.

We go from door to door to find people who would like to listen to the Gospel and sometimes the children are told not to open the door to strangers. Sometimes you knock on the door and a child will ask, “Who is it?” I often thought you could tell the child a lot of things and you could say you are the police or someone who sells milk or whatever and they would not know if you’re telling the truth or not. If you told that child you are their sister or brother and that would not work.

We read of the time when there will be people outside and asking Jesus, “Open unto us, open unto us,” and Jesus will tell them, “I do not know you,” because they had never had the privilege of knowing and acknowledging the truth. There are a lot of people who have thought they were Christians and were good people and then they are outside the door and they are going to try and convince Jesus to let them in. If I was to try and convince a 5 year child I was his brother, even a 5 year old child knows I am not his brother. We are very thankful God brings us into a family and have fellowship in His family.

These were a few thoughts that spoke to me today and we can be very thankful. We know the hosts of sin is very powerful today and it is dragging a long many people and we have the privilege of praying for those people and they could have the privilege of getting off the train, as it were.

The spirit of God is an amazing thing and it comes from the God above, the one spirit that Jesus taught about and it came with His life, the one way, the one baptism and it is just one.

It is a beautiful thing this one spirit and all over the world it produces the same fruit and teaches us about Jesus.

It guides us into the truth, the narrow way.

The spirit of the world is very different.

Man of many minds will make many ways.

Salvation without sacrifice is a doctrine.

Some disregard the ministry and disregard the teaching of Jesus.

It is a wonderful thing when we bow our heads in prayer to God and we thank Him for our eternal benefits.

We fully believe in the way that God has planned through Jesus, and we will find eternal salvation and deliverance from this cruel nature.

I have been thankful for the many readings through the gospel where Jesus said ‘I will’.

He said “I will” to the need of one person in Matthew 8.

I will come and heal him verse 7.

In the Philippines some years ago there was major flooding.

People were being swept away and being drowned by the force of the current.

There was a young man that was helping those that were in distress, and he saved quite a number from drowning in the floodwaters.

He rested after helping quite a number of people.

Then he looked up and saw a mother with a baby and she was doing her very best to save that child and herself, but she could not do it anymore and he saw that.

So he went in again to do what he could for the mother and little child.

He had enough strength to get the mother and little child to safety.

Later his body was found and he had drowned.

He had helped others live and that is the story of the gospel.

Jesus said I will come and I will go, and in the beginning Jesus was with His Father and He said I will go.

The perfect One coming into an imperfect world and knowing He would face rejection, but He said I will go.

I am very thankful for the willingness of our Saviour and for His life.

The woman that was saved in those floodwaters just longed to say thank you to that young man.

Thank you for helping me and my little baby.

It is a lovely word, the word thank you.

In the English language it is one of the nicest words.

I feel I need to thank God over and over again for His mercy to me.

I was reading again about the lady that came and anointed Jesus with that precious ointment.

It cost a lot of money and she could have gained in a natural sense, but she went to Jesus and anointed Jesus and Jesus knew what was in her heart.

Jesus knew that day her motivation was for the kingdom of heaven, and it helped Jesus and it encouraged Jesus.

There is a story about a man in the Old Testament.

We read a story about a man called Phinehas [Numbers 25] .

This man had courage to stand and stop the awful influence that was coming into the children of Israel and weakening them, because it was a doctrine of Balaam.

The children of Israel were a strong group of people because of their separation by God.

But the influence of Balaam weakened them and he got them to join the world little by little and the plague was spreading.

This man Phinehas stood up, took a javelin and put an end to it, to the terrible influence that was causing death.

He had a heart full of courage and may God help us in our day to be strong when we need to be strong, to do anything that may bring a good influence into the kingdom.

When we are with infectious people we need to keep washing our hands and have to be isolated and be careful that it would not spread and be careful of the influence, little by little, that could creep in.

I hope in our hearts we say ‘I will’ and we keep thanking God for His mercy and for His deliverance and we will give our very best to Him in the days that we have left, because time is running out.

The gospel is being preached in all the world and the end then will come; we are thankful that the gospel is still being preached.

And there is such a great need for the lost to be found and I want to be one that is willing to help those and to feed those that have been found and I would feed my soul so it would be a help to others.

For Jesus’ sake.

It’s the dry season here. Beautiful clear blue skies, but it’s also dry and dusty. We did have one day of rain in February, but nothing really since the middle of December. It seems to have been particularly harsh this year. But it’s not the first time for rivers to dry up and the Masai travel miles with their herds to try and find some bits of grass to help their cows survive. Zebras never seem to have a problem. I’ve not seen a thin one yet.

I am into my 35th year in East Africa now. In that time Kenya’s population has grown from 16 to 45 million and Tanzania in a similar manner. That means we really should have three times as many workers! Currently we are 6. There is some new interest in Uganda. Daudi and I spent a few weeks there in January and hope to go back again when we return from South African conventions. There is a family from South Africa there managing a sunflower farm. Uganda, like 34 other African countries, has never really been worked. This continent is vast. This is just a small corner. I’ll share the trip back from Uganda to give you some idea.

We managed the trip from Kigumba to Kakamega in Western Kenya in one day. A bit of a marathon, but quite usual for this part of the world. It’s something like 500 Kms (300 miles). Took us 14 hours. Willem and Bea Botha took us from the farm they are managing to Kigumba at 04.30 and a bus DID come as we were told, just after 05.00. So we boarded the ‘Bismarken’ (kept thinking about ‘sink the Bismark’) and had a ‘comfortable’ seat and were in Kampala about 09.00. The window beside me would not quite shut so I got an air conditioned ride that I didn’t really want at that time of day as it’s cool. Then we had to find our way around the various bus stands in a very busy part of Old Kampala. Masses of people and motorbikes coming at you from every angle. Didn’t feel unsafe, though.

We grabbed a quick cup of chai and a chapati in a street café and managed to find transport to the border at Busia. We got a 14 seater matatu (they also call them taxi’s in Uganda) and left just after 10.00. Four of us squeezed across three seats so 21 instead of 14 and our bags on our laps. Four hours like that. It’s getting up to near 40oC in some parts of Uganda at this time. You open windows for the A.C. and the wind is hot also. It’s hotter than most of Kenya. Most of the country at about 1,000 metres above sea level only. No real highland areas like Kenya. We jumped off just before Busia to visit Joseph Masiga at his hardware shop. He had cooked some rice and beans for us which was welcome. Then we took Boda-Boda (motorbike taxi) to the border post. No problems and we were soon through. Then another similar matatu experience two hours to Mumias. Another change there and another matatu to Kakamega. We were in the batch just before 7p.m. So it is do-able in a day. But not for the fussy, or faint-hearted!! It’s another 10 hours from there to Nairobi. 14 hours from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam.

All the East African staff. All six of us! Ermina, Gladys, Devota, Heidi, Daudi and myself will be in South Africa for conventions until April 13th. I am at Cape #2, Pretoria #3, and Bloemfontein. The first time we have all gone together. It means leaving the friends and the ones listening to the Gospel alone for over a month. A little different to most places where workers are still in the country although they are at convention. We will be three countries away.

Abraham Felicite has been on the islands of Seychelles and Mauritius/Rodrigues with Josia Rabemila from Madagascar for almost a year now. He needed some surgery to remove a lump (benign) on his neck so is at home on Rodrigues mending. He is slated to go to Madagascar for conventions next month. We miss him from our staff.

In connection with the last meeting, I’d like to start with some verses in Matthew 8:11-12:

“And I say unto you, ‘That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

This is speaking about those who lived in the Old Testament times and they were regarding Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the children of God. Those three would be counted in and the rest would be cast out. They were counted in as God’s children. These verses in John 1:11-12 tells us why:

“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”

The next verse really explains what it means to be counted in:

“which were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

What does that mean? We know we must be born again and be obedient and receive the spirit in our hearts to be counted in.

“Not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man.” What does that mean?

We have a good explanation in the first verse we read. Those who were determined to be God’s children were simply in the bloodline. They trusted in that bloodline and didn’t feel they had to have the reverence for God as Abraham had. They didn’t think they needed to believe it.

In a part of Missouri, you would find people with my last name ‘Wilhoit’ and they are in the family. Likewise in southeast Wyoming, you will find the ‘Lerwicks.’ It would have been tempting for me to believe, since I was part of the family name, that I was automatically counted in. My parents have been gone for 10 years and I have no close relatives nearby. It helps me to realize that this has nothing to do with it. It’s a personal thing. Jesus said, “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” (Matthew 3:9). He was speaking of Abraham and telling them this had nothing to do with salvation.

Another thing to look at is the phrase – “nor of the will of man.” What of Ishmael? How was he born? Abraham and Sarah contrived and used their own will to do this. A son was born to a union outside of their union. He was not included in those who will be counted as God’s children where it says, “Many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.” It shows it’s not of our own self determination that we are found in a place of God’s kingdom.

Another one is mentioned – “nor of the will of the flesh.” Jacob and Esau come to mind. Esau sold his birthright. Jacob came by it legally and lawfully by the will of the flesh.

We have examples how to be counted in doesn’t happen and we have examples of how it is to be counted in. Peter said speak of the Holy Spirit to give to those who obey Him. Jacob was obedient to his parents and he obeyed the vision of the ladder. That’s the Old Testament being counted in, how about now?

Something’s meant a lot to me. We just finished the Philippians’ letter. A verse in the third chapter and I want to read it: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20)

I cannot remember his name but there was a senior worker in Greece, perhaps his name was Anton Cotsarelis? He was on a visit to the U.S. and passed away at Milltown. He and others were discussing how true the King James Version is compared to the original Greek version. He noticed no difference. I’m not here to say either way. If you have an Oxford press King James Version, you’ll notice for this verse Philippians 3:20, in the reference that conversation also shows “citizenship.” I’ll back that up with some more statements. In the Strong’s Concordance, you’ll find the word citizenship. What is Paul talking about here? I think it is the theme of the whole letter. He said your citizenship is in heaven.

We had a visit with Earnest Nelson. He had a niece laboring in the work in Hong Kong. He was saying just as Hong Kong is a colony of the British Isles, Philippi was a colony of Rome (from the chapter of Philippians). They were born in Macedonia but their citizenship was still Rome. Paul said he was a Roman citizen. A man marveled that Paul was free born and that he could say that. It was because he was born a Roman citizen. He was writing from Rome and was saying your real citizenship is in heaven. To have this you have to have been born again and obey and receive the gospel. In chapter 2:12 of Philippians it says, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

This verse helps us understand obedience and helps [us] to become citizens of heaven. The Holy Spirit is fundamental to that citizenship. That is what makes us citizens because we have obeyed and received the spirit. Having faith and courage to prove it is what holds people back. That’s what our work is about, helping people understand that.

I had an experience in China. I went back to Hong Kong for Special Meetings then I traveled back to China for meetings and went back and forth between the two places. It is hard to take in the contrast between the two. They were like day and night in the 1980s. In 1992, I had my first visit to England. What was outstanding was the English spoken in England was the same spoken in Hong Kong. That was the norm. After 80-90 years of British rule in Hong Kong, it was just like England and had democracy. It’s not that way now. In 1997, the 100 year lease ended and Hong Kong was handed back to Beijing, China with freedoms guaranteed but that eroded. Hardly anyone speaks English there now. That’s how much it has changed. It brings to mind the fact that Jesus said He told the people to be in this world but not be of this world (a part of).

In that hymn it says, “Have you any room for Jesus?” The year 1997 was approaching and for Hong Kong, we didn’t know what would happen. On June 30 at midnight, they knew things would change and their things would be worthless in Hong Kong. People quietly sent all their assets to England. All they had to do after that was to go to England. All we have to do if we are truly children of God is to receive, obey…it should not be a huge struggle to deal with the business and pleasures of the world. Those people in Hong Kong had no interest in Hong Kong. Their thoughts were where their treasure was. How much do I understand where mine is? Hope we’ll have a chance to speak more about that.

*[Speaker of this sermon has requested anonymity]

Hymn #34 (Teach Us, Lord)

Matthew 18:7-9:

“Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh! Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.”

Dennis mentioned different words and meanings behind them. Offense means to stumble or a snare; something that causes us to stumble. It says to not offend or be made an offense, this is spiritual. He was talking about things that could cause us to stumble in our walk, or something we might see or handle spiritually speaking. Things we would do, see or walk. Jesus wasn’t asking us to physically cut off our hand. Stumbling is a dangerous thing. If you keep stumbling, eventually you will fall. That is how things get broken. It would be wonderful to remove things that cause us to stumble.

There was a man in Wyoming who has cancer in his leg. It was a fast growing cancer. The doctor looked at it and said, “We’ll try and remove it and get it all out.” He said, “I’m into saving lives first and limbs second.” I am thankful that it is the same spirit God has and He cares more about our soul than anything else.

It says if there are things that offend thee, cast it from thee. Don’t keep them around as it will cause you to fall but get them out of sight and mind.

I’ll read in the 2nd verse through the 4th of this same chapter, “And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as a little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” Jesus went from speaking about this to things that offend. The best way to face offense is as a little child, with a tender heart. Children don’t cause offense or take offense.

I was thinking of the eye and things we might look at and desire. There are times I wish I could go back to being a little boy. Maybe you have had that wish. A wish to be blind so that I do not find things appealing to my eye…thinking if I get things right there would not be that struggle. It would be wonderful if we could have a childlike eye and not desire flesh and the world. We are born with an earthly perspective on life. We tend to see just this earth and natural things. Hopefully we’ll see with the eye of faith and have a heavenly perspective. To see the earth is just dust and see with a heavenly perspective. That’s the way Jesus saw. He looked through God’s eyes. He saw the people and looked upon them with compassion and as sheep without a shepherd. He had the right heart, eye, and perspective. We are thankful that we can see as Jesus saw and not be critical and have a good heart.

Next I was thinking about our hands, what we might be grasping onto. Little children when they are born they come out with a fist, with their hands clenched. That is how we came into the world. We want to grab onto and keep things but we die with our hands open. Whatever we have gathered here on earth we will not take with us. It would be wonderful if the things we have gathered won’t get in the way of our spiritual goal and we don’t get too busy for the things of God.

In I John 1:1, it says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.” He’s speaking here about heaven. When Jesus was resurrected, He had them touch him and do wonderful things. Spiritually speaking when we get to know Jesus, we get to handle precious stones where before we were handing temporary things like hay, rubble, and earthly things. Jesus’ hands healed, He broke bread and drew them near and comforted people. I am thankful for the kindness in His hands.

At my cousin’s wedding, there was a little boy who was the ring bearer. The ring didn’t mean as much to him as it did to the people getting married. He was playing with it and he dropped it. So he picked it up and continued to play with it. He dropped it two more times and the final time it rolled into a crack and it as gone! What to do? There was someone nearby took off his ring and gave the little boy the ring and he held onto so tight as to not lose it ever again. When he realized it could be gone, he wasn’t going to let it go. It is wonderful if we could have that desire.

Sometimes we do not know the worth of what we have…the worth of the Bible, fellowship with the children of God and with God. We want to handle these things with love and treasure them and realize how precious it is. We don’t want to let it go. So often we let go of precious things and grab onto the baser things in life; if we would only hold onto these precious things tighter.

I then thought of the feet. What is wrote of Jesus in Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation that saith unto Zion, ‘Thy God reigneth!’”

It is a wonderful picture of Jesus coming. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet.” Also His footsteps led to heaven. I am so thankful His feet have brought good tidings and showed us where and how to walk.

Isaiah 11, is speaking of Jesus’ coming; “and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him.” In verse 6, it tells us of the effects of the spirit – “the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” I like that. I am thankful for the leading of Jesus. He had the spirit of a child. Where a child can go, anyone can follow. Any soul can follow Jesus, if they are willing to be a child.

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet.” We attempted the highest peak in Wyoming and one thing I found up high was the steps can be very dangerous. Every step following Jesus we want to be very sure. To stumble or fall could mean your life. Spiritually it could cost our life if things get in the way.

In the workshop, if I trip over something it gets put out of the way immediately. I’d like to be that way spiritually to get it out of the way. I am thankful He knows our hearts, our eyes, our feet, and our hands. He was willing to have a nature like ours. He’s gone before us and He can help us follow and cast out those things that harm.

I hope we all would be sensitive to His leading.

Hymn #372 (May the Lord Depend on You?)

James 4:4, “ Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” One of the greatest dangers for us is to be friends of those who aren’t friends of God, because we come to be like those we accompany.

Many in Chile chose to skip the last day of convention when it fell on New Year’s Day, although it was a day off from work. Their overseer wrote them to consider that the people we prefer to spend time with here, are those with whom we’ll spend eternity, whether in light or darkness.

We could also imitate the world in dress or speech even without one worldly friend.

If we spend time with the friends and workers, that will affect us, too. We want to act and dress and speak in a way that will effect others for good. Spending time with God will affect us, too. God made us that way. It will help us avoid a feigned faith.

Hebrews 10:20, “By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh…” Jesus is the veil. His death opened the way into God’s very presence. That’s why the religious leaders saw Him as a hindrance – He blocked them from doing what they wanted. God’s Spirit is like a magnet drawing us to Christ, and what happened to Him, will happen to us also.

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21) What happens to your treasure will happen to your heart, also.

He was a friend of all, but not everyone was friends with Him. Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but He that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” That’s why it’s so serious…to be counted in with the world or be like them.

The way to the Holiest is open to those willing to identify with Christ. The Jews patched the veil and kept going as if nothing had happened.

Hebrews 10:26, “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins…” Remember that He was writing to the Hebrews, who felt offerings could cleanse sin. There is only one offering for sin – nothing else we could offer. Even a whole lifetime of good works cannot cleanse us from one sin, but if we become His friend, He cleanses us.

Revelations 3:21, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” We can be in His presence eternally if we are now.

If we won’t forgive, we’re friends with the world. That’s what it does – to hold on to grudges for generations. Jesus was attacked more than anyone, but He was never offended, though He felt the attacks.

Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such there is no law.”

Temperance is the love of God controlling. God isn’t in control if we excuse ourselves, “God will understand” or “He knows I’m weak.”

We knew a blacksmith in the mountains of Sinaloa, Mexico, an expert in tempering tools. The ‘temper’ is the condition of the metal. Going through afflictions, we can trust that God, like an expert smith, knows exactly how hot the oil needs to be and how long to leave the metal in to temper it. Too long or hot and it will be brittle, and break when struck; too short a time and it won’t hold an edge.

Any life submitted to God will accept His tempering, which helps us be firm without being hard and be useful without being proud. We get it daily on our knees.

1 Peter 2:21-23, “For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously…” He suffered more contradiction than anyone, His gaze on His Father, trusting God would not let Him be destroyed or lose.

Hebrews 5:7-8, “Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered…” even though He had never disobeyed.

John 5:30, “I can of Mine Own Self do nothing; as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just because I seek not Mine Own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me.” He was approved because He submitted to that tempering. This tempering is controlled by God. God doesn’t put out the fire, but gives peace.

I would like to share some verses with you from John 15:1-15, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein, is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is My commandment: that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.”

The first thing we learn about this vine is that it’s a true vine, and perhaps the first thing we begin to appreciate more as we go on in this Way is that we have found something that’s true. As we sing in that hymn, “In Jesus we have found the way that leads to God and eternal day.” We’ve found The Way. It’s a way that becomes increasingly more valuable as we walk in The Way and enjoy the benefits of The Way, and the goal and the result gets clearer and the things of eternity become more real to us than the things of time. We begin to invest our lives in a way that is preparing us for eternity. It’s wonderful that we have the true ministry to look to, because it’s a great comfort and joy to know that the ministry today is the same as what Jesus called His disciples into. It speaks of the unchanged way of God, the unchanged ministry, a simple ministry of leaving all and laying down our life and serving God. It’s God’s true and living way and we are thankful for the standard that’s the same today as when Jesus walked on the earth. Perhaps we don’t understand it all now but in future days we will be thankful for this unchanged way of God. In my first days of this work in New South Wales, I went to Silverdale Convention and took a visiting worker with me. When we arrived, a group of people were waiting and in that gathering were two elderly ladies. One was in the work and the other was accompanying her. I wasn’t feeling very special that day but I remember meeting those two elderly women and saying to the one who was in the work, “It’s nice you could be with us at this Convention.” She turned and said, “My sister, who is in the work, just told me (she was 85) that if she had her life to live all over again she would give it in the work.” That really helped me—to think that on my very first day and in my very first hours I had met an old lady, who was probably in the work some 55 or 60 years who would do it all over again. Without saying a word, she had spoken a very powerful message to me of the true ministry and true joy. I am thankful today, even after just a few years, that we belong to and have this true ministry that will always be the same.

The next thing we read about here is a true relationship. “My Father is the husbandman…” Jesus was the vine and God was the husbandman and we are the branches. It shows us the relationship we have with God through Jesus. We have been brought into a true fellowship and a true relationship with God and it has become sweeter because we have come in through the way that God Himself ordained. There is nothing of men or self to cloud the glory of our relationship with God—it is based on the time when we through Jesus, have entered this family. We are joined to the vine and through Jesus we have a relationship with the God of Heaven. It’s a living relationship. Isn’t it a joy to see people who are alive in Christ? There’s nothing worse than to see people who are lukewarm, who don’t really get any joy out of serving God. It’s like that church John wrote about—lukewarm, neither here nor there! Nothing is worse than trying to understand if a person is with us or against us. The thing that makes good fellowship is when people have a living, true relationship with God and are alive to Him, as Paul wrote to the Ephesian church, which were once dead in sin. But the thing that makes our fellowship so real is when we are alive to God. Some people never understand if it’s God’s voice speaking or if it’s the devil’s, but if we know His voice and have had a living relationship with Him, a real relationship from the very beginning, then we will know His voice. If God speaks in correction to us we will accept it, even if it’s through a brother or sister younger or older than us. We will understand and we won’t get offended. It’s for our benefit to enlarge us in the truth and we are thankful for that living relationship through the living Christ. Once upon a time, we heard this living gospel and it brought us into living fellowship with God. It’s so nice to be amongst a people who are alive and who are not dead. There’s always a tendency to compromise when we’re at work or school, but isn’t it a joy to see people willing to stand for the truth, who have been convicted of the truth. So in those first three verses we have a living God, a living vine and a living relationship with the God of Heaven.

Some of the parables emphasize the seed, but the parable of the sower and the seed refers to the soil. They, on the good ground, have a good and honest heart and bring forth fruit with patience. So they are of the good ground–they which have an honest and good heart. It speaks of the ground, the soil. There’s no better soil where this word will take root and grow then when the heart is honest. Honesty is the foundation of any friendship and any relationship—it’s the foundation of society itself! Jesus said, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no.” It is the foundation principle of countries or there wouldn’t be stability—that’s honesty! In marriage, it’s the very core of the relationship—honesty. Even in friendships and in businesses. We go back to that basic truth that nothing grows where there is no honesty. When the prodigal son went down to that far country he was empty, desperate, and lonely, and the next step would have led to further confusion in his life. Sometimes the hardest words to say are, “I have sinned.” But these are the words that show repentance—words that brought the fruits of repentance into his life. They were the words that started him back on the journey to his father, because deep in his heart there was an honesty that God required. In all these parables where it speaks of growth and seeds and bearing fruit, the basis is that there would be honesty before God. We sing in that hymn, “My way is wrong, God’s way is right,”—that’s honesty! So in these few thoughts we have the parables of Jesus bringing us into a living relationship with a living God and the foundation is honesty. If there’s one thing I desire, it’s to be more honest before God. If there’s one thing that will bring forth more fruit, it’s honesty. It matches with truth and runs hand-in-hand with truth. There are some key words mentioned here: one is abide, which simply means to remain or to dwell. “Abide in me,” Jesus said. Later, it was a step further, “Abide in my life.” We can think of abiding in the life of Jesus. There was no life that was greater or carried more weight or touched more hearts than the life of Jesus. There’s a tendency to abide in self pity, but it’s helpful to think about Calvary. One of the things that keep our relationship alive with God is to think on His Word, to meditate on it, and to feed on it, and keep our spiritual life alive. It’s so easy to abide in wrong thoughts which lead to wrong actions and then we have a problem. Wrong thoughts lead to imaginations and it’s easy to feed the imagination that grows bigger and before you know it, all kinds of things begin to happen. Nothing adjusts our thoughts more than to think upon Jesus. Think upon His faithfulness, think on when He gave His life, think of when He was baptised and when He was tempted of the devil; think of when He went into the ministry and when He went up into the mountain and taught those wonderful parables. He gave us the foundation of Christianity and it’s something we should do more and more—abide more in His love. One life I thought of was Joseph’s. If ever there was a man who could have abode in self pity and felt sorry for himself, it was Joseph. He was able to abide in right things all his life and it was the word that keeps representing itself throughout his life—that is how he prospered. He encountered difficult situations in prison, in loneliness, before the king and before his brothers, but he prospered because he was abiding in the secret place. In Genesis 49, we read of Joseph being a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. The well shows his secret relationship with God. Joseph had a very deep well that was life-giving and he was drawing from it. In the well we see his relationship between his brethren. While Joseph was drawing from the well, his brethren were building a wall, and they added materials to that wall: envy, jealousy, and accusations. The materials were so effective and strong that the wall separated him from his brethren for 20 years. While they were building that wall, Joseph was digging that well, and while they were building, he was drawing from the well: growing, climbing, and covering until eventually it held the true vine, the type of Christ whose branches went over the wall. In Genesis 45:1, we read that when the branches went over the wall, Joseph wept and asked those with him to go out, and then he revealed himself to them. “I am your brother.” He could have said, “I am Joseph, your enemy,” but he didn’t. Maybe the reason he said that was because during those years of loneliness and separation while his brethren were building the wall, he was digging the well and feeding on the right things that fed his soul. He showed the same kind of love that Jesus showed toward Judas when Judas came to Him and kissed Him and said, “Friend, you are My brother.” When they hated him, he was abiding in the true vine. Aren’t we thankful today for those we have known in our fellowship meetings who draw from the well? Many people have problems in their relationships, but this is one true and helpful source that if our relationship is right with God, then our relationship will be right with one another. If we are drawing from that well of living water and abiding in His love, then we will have a living relationship with the God of Heaven and those we have fellowship with.

Genesis 41 speaks of the two sons Joseph had. He called the name of the first born Manasseh, meaning “God has made me forget.” The name of the second son he called Ephraim, for “God has caused me to be fruitful.” The first offspring child meant forgetting, the second born meant fruitful—a picture of the offspring being fruitful because he had forgotten in the first place: “Made me forget all my toil. I have forgotten all the hatred, the envy, the jealousy and the strife, all the false accusations.” I don’t know of any other way of forgiving, but Joseph had it because he had a well when his brothers were building a wall of separation. It was his secret, living relationship with God because he dug the well. Aren’t we grateful for a people who have seen Christ and are abiding in the true vine and that makes for unity? “Open all the store houses.” Famine walks free in the land of Egypt. At the time when his brethren were suffering back at home, Joseph had bread and opened the store houses. When his brethren came to him in their need, Joseph could have so easily retaliated and said, “No, I won’t give my enemy bread.” Isn’t that like Christ Himself? They were the very words Jesus lived out in His life as a life of love, “Give them bread to eat.” In giving them bread, he would be feeding their soul instead of feeding their imaginations. Haven’t we been hearing from our youth in these meetings to keep our affections, our vision on Christ? Nothing gives us more strength to overcome some of the trivial problems that the devil will blow up into our minds. Joseph could have sent his brethren home, but there is an interesting thing to note that his brethren said, “We are guilty concerning our brother. We have sold him, we have betrayed him, and we have had envy towards him.” When they were building the wall, they said, “We are very guilty concerning our brother.” Joseph was drawing from the well that gave him strength to overcome and grow in a way that could never have happened otherwise. Joseph said unto his brothers, “This do and live because I fear God.” Why? Because he knew God was an Almighty God and there was no substitute. There’s one thing we see lacking more-and-more of in this world and it’s the fear of God. Joseph carried that fear of God through his life. His brethren said they were very guilty but they went right on building, while Joseph was climbing over the wall of separation and growing spiritually.

I am thankful for these thoughts of being a part of the true vine, the true and living way, and that we have found Jesus. I am thankful for the ministry, for the true fellowship and for one another. I’m thankful that we have been found in this Way and at the end of life we will go on proving it to be true. There’s everything in life that will disappoint you; whatever you put your time and natural energy into will disappoint, but this truth is an investment of a lifetime that, at the end of the day, we’ll have comfort in knowing that what we have believed in will prove true throughout all eternity. May we have a true and living relationship with the God of Heaven.

2-day convention for workers, 93 workers present.

There were three meetings on Saturday and two meetings on Sunday. These were all just like convention meetings, the only difference being that all present were workers. There was a Speakers List (see below) which had the names of the visiting workers and some of the more senior local brothers. In every meeting, there was a time for the remainder of the workers to take part. In the course of the five meetings, all the 93 workers present spoke.

Saturday, 10:30 AM

Andrew Robijn

Juliet Harper

Judy McIntyre

Ian Rowe

Saturday 15:00

Pieter van Heerden

Hildred Henry

Connie Combe

Barry Longhurst

Saturday 19:00

Graham Adams

Tim Hamilton

Sunday 10:00

Jim Chafee

Beverley Walker

Alan Cooke

Sunday 14:00

Johan Kotze

Anita Forsberg

Dan Henry

Ephesians 2 verses 4 to 10 “But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love where with he loved us. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ [by grace ye are saved] And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come in might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus His Son.

I have enjoyed thinking of everyone here the last couple days. Even by the outward most of us can tell everyone here is at some different stage in the will of God. There are some the work has not begun yet, that would be the case with the children. That is what Paul was reminding the Ephesians that we are His workmanship. God wants to do a work in us. We are the most valuable natural resource on the face of the earth.

You Australians would be aware that your country has many natural resources in the mines, but that is a natural resource. It is there, and it is not useful until someone does some work with it. That is what God meant for us and as we stand we are only a natural resource and there has to be more work done for us to become more than that. I am aware that some sitting here today, are almost a finished product, it will not be long before the work is done. And some of the work is not begun, and the rest of the people are somewhere between those two. I do not know how far the progress is in your life, you do not know how far the progress has gone in my life, but I know when I am tempted to condemn, I have to stop and think that is a working progress, it is not done yet. And sometimes work takes a big change in a very short while.

There were many different things I did before I went into this work, before I went into the ministry. One job I really enjoyed, I worked falling timber and worked in a sawmill, one of our friends owned it. I would go there in the winter time and fall the trees. Sometimes I would wonder as I tipped over a big Douglas fir, I wonder where this tree will go. I did not have to wonder that, before I cut that tree down. If I never cut the tree down, it was not going to go anywhere, no wood was ever going to be produced. I found a satisfaction you could say to be the first one to begin the work in that tree, to be the one that cut it off from the ground and started the process. I would never ever see the finish of it.

I read some books that you folk had in your homes, about the early workers coming to this land. They were like me they could not comprehend what is here today. What they began and by the will of God and by the power of God, not by their works, but by the will of God He used them. Today we see the beginning and we have no idea where it will be 1000 years from today, or even to the beginning of eternity. We do not know the greatness, of the Word of God. We do not want to under estimate what God might do individually in our lives and collectively in the fellowship of His people. We do not know, we are a working progress, it is happening today and if the world stands it will happen tomorrow.

The first work to begin, we must be cut off from the earth. The part of the world that I come from, the trees are one of the greatest natural resources there is in that country. I lived surrounded by hundreds of square miles of timber. It is the most abundant resource known in that country. And even today it may be still one of the main natural resources. The harvesting of that was one of the greatest works going on in my young life. I knew when I stepped up to a big fir tree, if I do not cut this tree off from the ground, I knew its end without question. But if I do cut it off from the ground, then I cannot comprehend where it might go. I knew certain parts of those trees were decimated for other parts of the world, it is quite an export business in Douglas firs, most of it went to Japan in those days, and various other parts.

When I was in the sawmill stacking wood, it was a pretty plain piece of wood, but it could become a part of a mansion somewhere. Someone’s mansion is going to be built out of this very same wood. Some may have gone for firewood, some for a mansion, all wood was going somewhere to be used, but if not separated from the earth, it would rot off, then it would fall over, then the bugs would start eating it, and it eventually would disappear back into the earth from which it came and it would never be seen again. I don’t know if it was because of that, or just my nature, I enjoyed working with wood. When I still get the chance to make something once in a while, it still brings joy to me.

A lot of you people would have wood in your homes, but when I look around this hall, the only wood I see is on the back wall and I do not know if it is fake or not. I know a home and really it is pretty much only a shack, it is old and it has not been kept up well, but they put a new door on it a few years ago. A friend of theirs said let me put a new door on your shack, that is his specialty he makes doors for very expensive houses. Now in this old shack there is a beautiful Cyprus door, it costs thousands of dollars, I wouldn’t be surprised if the door is worth more than the shack. You know what the difference is the man that specialises in these doors gets the old logs out of a swamp. They are dying and sometimes he catches them when they’re just about gone, then he turns it into a beautiful door. There are many beautiful things you can do with wood.

What is the difference between the beautiful Cyprus door and an old log in the swamp? It is just one thing, it is workmanship that is all it is, and they took this and changed it to this. What is the difference between a child of God and just a human being? It is just workmanship, the work of God. Paul reminds us twice in this chapter that this is not of yourself, by grace are we saved and not by ourselves. He mentions that with other letters also, he was assuring those people that he bought the gospel to it was of God. Paul also wrote except God continue this work it would be in vain. He who started this work in you is able to continue it. We need to be reminded of that over and over again. The one who began the work, is the only one that can finish it.

There are a lot of steps in this workmanship and there are a lot of changes to change this life that is destined to go back into the ground and to become part of the dust. We are the most valuable natural resource on the earth today, and God has made it that way, and it will always be that way. God cannot wait for a soul to submit to His work. My hope is not in this world, it is in the journey in the hands of the workman our God and that is where our hope is.

I used to tip over the big trees and then I would walk down the top of them, taking off the branches, everything that would identify that tree as a fir tree had to be removed. They are not a pretty tree and a lot of people love trees and they have a great purpose, and millions of fir trees and the only purpose they will serve will be a little shade for some animal, for a little protection when the snow is falling, a place for a bird to build a nest, and may be for three weeks, until a young ones are gone, and as important as they may sound, they will end up as dust. When that tree is cut down and all the branches are cut off, and it loses its identity, it is not called a tree any more, it is called a log. That is a rough term for something that used to be a tree. Have you ever looked at a log lying on the ground, you can tell it was a tree, but it is not a tree any more, it is a log, because it is a working progress.

Then it will go on to the carriage into the sawmill. You put it on a little device and dog it down so it will not move and it is put through the saw, you start turning it and cutting it, turning it and cutting it. Pieces are coming off, and if the tree was able to talk, it would say what are you doing to me? Why are you taking so much off? Look at all this that is going to waste? But with every step of the process, what is left is a lot more valuable than it used to be. I don’t remember all the statistics, but this will give you some idea. We called it stumpage, when you sold the trees in the forests that were still standing, I can remember this, about the time I was getting out of high school and a tree was worth about $100.00 as it stood. The time you got one good beam out of it, it would be worth a lot more than a $100.00. The value just kept increasing, why was that, because the usefulness of it kept increasing. The smaller it got, the more valuable it got. It really sounds backwards in our mind doesn’t it? You would think if something got bigger it would be worth more. We are worth more when we get smaller.

You know what John the Baptist said John 3 v 30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” When I am decreasing, self-love is ceasing Christ is increasing. That is the way of God, when I am decreasing, Christ is increasing. If a tree could talk be made to understand the smaller it gets the more valuable it is, it would never resent decreasing. It would never resent being made smaller, it would never resent all that seemed waste, it was adding to its value. The further the work goes, the more the identity goes.

I have been in a few homes here, and I have very interested in Australian wood, because most of it I have never seen before. I see these big gum trees and a man has promised to bring me some spotted gum in a few days, so I can see what it looks like, he showed me the tree, I want to see the wood. The tree is no representative of the wood, he tells me what the spotted gum is used for, I am not sure about that, when he shows me the wood I will be able to tell. I am anxious to see that. There are a lot of trees in the forest, there are a lot of people in the world, until they lose their identity, it will never be seen what they could be.

Ephesians 4 verses 12,13. “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the Ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, the end result of the workmanship of God. I suppose every soul would have the right to ask what are you going to make of me? If I surrender my life to God, what is He going to do with me? That is a scary prospect to most of us, especially in the young lives as we have all life ahead of us, maybe 50, 60, 80 years ahead of us and we could do big things in this natural life. Even if you did big things it would all end in dust. If I surrender to God all my dreams, all my plans, all my hopes, I am nothing. The most a tree can hope for is that some deer will rest in the shade of it someday, the most tree can hope for naturally, that some bird will build a nest in it. If it is lucky it may even end up as firewood, if not it will just go back to dust. All your hopes and all your dreams and all your desires that are connected to this earth will go back to dust one day.

We have such a hard time having faith in the workman, believing He can build something with my life, better than I can even dream of, if I submit to this work of God, what will He do to me. It will change my identity, it will change who I am, what others think about me, it will change all that. Who would we be then? You would be a child of God, you could be just like Jesus. The only desire we should have is that the workman would make us like Jesus. God sent Jesus down-to-earth so we could get a visual picture of what He wants to make of you and me. God will reveal things to our heart, and it will be seen in Jesus. It may not have much value on the earth, but it has a divine value in heaven. It so supersedes anything on this earth. Your life is a natural re-source and once a work begins, there is no way to compare it with what it was. It goes from something natural to something divine. Something God wants to keep in His own home, not just do live on the earth and go back to the dust, God has made our life to fulfil a useful place in His house. That they would all be like Jesus.

I have a friend who has mastered a certain art, and that is wood carving with a chainsaw. We had a lot in common one time and now he has become this artist, I had heard about it and he even sent me pictures of it. His specialty is carving out bears. He carves out bears of every size. He takes a log, stands it on its end, and then he takes this chainsaw and next thing it is a bear. Then a tourist comes along and pays him hundreds of dollars for it. He is a lot smarter than I thought he was.

I wondered how he could do that so quickly. He has made so many of them, he doesn’t have to draw a picture and cut to the line, right there in his mind and in his eye he knows what to do, he cuts out a big chunk and the chips are just flying, and he has made a bear very quickly. He knows what he wants to make, he has in his mind what this is going to be, and he has done it so many times. When we think about turning our lives over to God and He wants to make another child for Himself, just like Jesus, and we sometimes act like He does not know what He is doing. We sometimes want to tell Him where to cut, and what to leave and we can become very opinionated. We forget God has done this thousands of times. God has done this more times than you and I would ever know. God started back with Adam, we have no idea how many people He has made something out of people, and we do not have a clue. It will work, it will come out exactly like He wants it.

I remember a story about a famous Italian sculpture, he worked in stone, and this is hundreds of years ago. He could take a block of stone, he can make a life size, live looking man out of it. Every muscle and almost a twinkling in his eye. And even the skin looks like real. Someone said to him one time, how can you do that? It was really beyond comprehension, he said it is very easy, he said the man is in there all the time, I just take away what doesn’t belong to the man. That is what God is doing, the first thing God does is put Christ into our life, He puts His own Son, the spirit of His own Son in us, then God starts to do His work. Start moving the man, so that Christ can be seen. Sometimes an awful lot of flesh has to go.

John the Baptist told that so well, I must decrease, I have to get rid of more flesh. The only way that Christ will increase, is when I decrease. It is no different today, things have not changed in 2000 years, not changed since Adam, Abraham, Noah and Moses and Joseph and all the ones we heard about, and He wants you and He wants me and He wants to do a work and He wants progress. I hope we will be willing for the separation, for the process, for the progress so that we can be something divine in the will of God.

Walking with Jesus on the trail, mile after mile of it. If you want to know your companion well, then just take the trail with him. I liked what one worker said when he wrote me a letter. He had been with us on the island of Martinique. He said that people had asked if we had been to the seminary of St Mary or somewhere to learn to preach and we said, “No.” But the fact is that the answer is, “Yes.” We read of Jesus walking with His disciples from here to there. Walking, walking, walking. So if they ask us again we can answer, “Yes,” mile after mile of it. That’s what we can say for this year isn’t it? Walking with Jesus and learning from Him.

Down in that country in South America, French Guyana there is this little capital on the sea, Cayenne. There were two poor little churches. When I was there, both my companion and I were very young. We didn’t know very much, I had just turned 24 and he was 25. After those gospel meetings we’d be walking home through that hot, steaming , tropical jungle. And walking through the streets of Cayenne.

All those little children who were at the meeting wanted to walk with us. So they’d be walking with us and chattering and holding our hands. Pouring out their little problems and we’d walk across the city and arrive at the batch. Then when we had reached the batch they said, “A drink of water. Drink of water, drink of water.” So we gave them water and said, “Okay, good bye, go home now. “No, worker (They used a French word for it). Walk back with us to the first corner.” So we’d get to the first corner. “Can’t we go another corner?” We’d get to another corner and they wanted yet another corner, so there was another corner and another and they would chat and talk. A beautiful time and then we would tell them to go ho­me and turn around and go back to the batch, and they would walk back with us. But that is the beauty of walking together. There is no ministry in this whole wide world where servants of God walk with people.

Anyway, this is what was on my mind, taking part in this last meeting, before we go home and walking with the Lord. The workers walking on with Jesus in this great school. I was thinking about Jesus walking, the times that He walked and we realize that He walked on water. That is in John chapter 6. But before He walked on water, what did He do? He spent the night on the mountain in prayer. Praying helps us to walk on water.

In the night, there was a storm and He had sent His disciples ahead and they were in this canoe and they were rowing and having a tough time facing the waves and the sea. Then here comes Jesus walking on the waves. Walking to them and saying, “Peace,” and there was peace. He entered into the boat with them and immediately they were at the other side. Do you realize that when Jesus is with us that this voyage is going to be short? Because it is so sweet. If Jesus is in the boat with us, no matter what comes our way, we’ll soon be at the other side.

But anyway, He walked on the waves. A wave is a mighty thing, it is a powerful thing. I have seen waves take away work that men did. The best French engineers, and it just took it away. Took it back and the sea took its place. This is the power of the waves. When you study waves, there is the crest, that is the top. Then they talk about a trough, that’s the bottom. Sometimes it can be a mighty, mighty wave standing up just like a wall. But in the Caribbean sea, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to play in the sea, but I have been out in the sea. When a wave hits you, sometimes it just bowls you over and in the wave, you really don’t know up from down. You have lost all sense of where you are or where you’re going. It’s the power of the wave and in life, there are waves like that.

When you are young, there are waves and they just hit us and they just seem to bowl us over and sometimes we hardly know up from down. How to get out of this and how to find our footing again. It’s a powerful thing, these waves. I’ve seen fishermen on the island of Martinique. Life-long fishermen, hardened. You watch them go down to the beach and everything is ready, their boats, motor and all. They stand there and they look out to sea and it all looks the same to me. I have watched them just turn their head and go home. They go home because they understand, “No, it’s not for me today.” They know so well the power of the sea and the waves.

So here we are, leaving convention and what we will actually be doing is walking on the waves. When people look at this ministry today, they say that this is impossible for men and women to live like that. They say that this is an impossible ministry and I just have to agree. It is absolutely true. It is impossible for men and women to go into the work, just as much as it is impossible for a man to walk on water.

Today, the God of heaven who caused His Son to have grace and strength and power over natural things, to walk on water, is enabling this ministry to live. It is like living in a fishbowl with everybody watching. We’re living like that because Jesus is still with us, holding our hand and walking these waves with us. He promised that. He said, “I’ll be with you till the end of the world.” For that reason, these workers can leave convention and go to their field and live this life.

It is just like Nicodemus said, he was a godly man, a spiritual man. Looking at Jesus, there is one thing he realized about this man. First of all, he realized that he was a teacher, he called him teacher and he respected Him as a teacher. Then he said, “You cannot do what You are doing unless God is with You.” That is why God is with this ministry. If this ministry was ordained in some other way, we’d have a list of workers to send to all the countries in Africa that don’t have workers yet. Because it is ordained the way it is, there are few, but at the same time it is living, infallible proof that God is doing it.

If it were some other way, that is the work of man. Men can do it, money can supply it, administration can guide it. But this ministry, every day that these workers are living the way they are living, is absolute proof that God is with them. They are walking on the water and God is with them until the end of the world.

It hasn’t gone, it hasn’t disappeared, it hasn’t faded for only one reason and that is that Jesus’ promises are true, because He said, “I will be with you until the end of the world.” That is all, but here we are, on this night, Jesus was walking on the water and came to His disciples. Where did He come from? He came from the mountain of prayer. And that is the important part.

When He got to the other side what happened? People, a crowd of people. A multitude of people were waiting and they were all chanting this slogan, “We are going to make You a king.” Why not? Why not have a government that just goes around and gives everybody bread. Here’s your bread, here’s your bread for today. That is all they saw. That Jesus had fed them and that He gave it so graciously, so completely, so nicely, so why not make Him king? Jesus realized that is what they had in mind, just to put Him on a pedestal, to make Him their king, that was their reason.

Was that a temptation for Jesus? No, that was not a temptation for Jesus to be their king. To have place and power. What was that wave really? Jesus showed us how to walk on the wave of popularity. The wave of popularity has destroyed more than one man and more than one woman. How did He conquer the wave of popularity? That is easy for us to see. From the mountain of prayer. Being alone with God. Tasting of the true love of God feeding His soul. God loved His Son. Basking in that eternal pure love, the false love of popularity seemed a very, very low thing. It would be easy to turn from it.

You know, for you and I, no matter what life offers, you might be at school, or college or a job or wherever it is. If men would like to sway you and bring you away from Christ by making you feel important, popular, lifting you up, if we pray, just pray. If you taste the pure love of God then nothing this world could offer, could ever compare. It just cannot compare. It is like looking down from Table Mountain to down below, it is just nothing if we grasp it and understand it. That is the way He conquered that wave and wouldn’t it be nice, if we could also.

There are other things that are like waves and we would ask, “How to walk on this? How to tread it and not to sink? Not to let it bowl me over. Not to let it destroy me?” If I could learn to walk with Jesus hand in hand.

You are leaving convention and maybe some of you know good and well what it is…loneliness. Have you ever had a wave of loneliness? I know what that is! Christ has helped me to this day to survive, to walk and to rise above that loneliness that would have caused me to make other choices so that I could have lost a real treasure in my life. Loneliness can be just like a wave and I think Jesus knew those moments. He prayed. He prayed. He was lonely for His Heavenly Father. He prayed and that strengthened Him.

Maybe some of you folks have special times and I know that some of you here are older and know about losing spouses. When I was young in the work and in these homes of our friends, where we were dwelling with older saints. Our grandparents too, we used to look at them and I remember, as a young person, feeling for them. How would I survive if I lost someone I loved so much? Walking the wave with Jesus, hand in hand, continuing, keeping on and the heart full of what we love together.

One time when I was young and in French Guyana, my mom always used to write to me, and my mom’s handwriting was the most beautiful handwriting I have ever seen to this day. I was so proud of it when I was a kid in school. She’d write a note to the teacher asking that I could be excused from school Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, and Friday, for the convention. That was at the end of the year and I was always so proud to take this note and show it to my teacher. My mom had nicer handwriting than any teacher.

Anyway that is beside the point. She always wrote to me, my dad never wrote to me. He was just 100% behind me in this, all the way in the work and wanting to know what I was doing. But it was mom that wrote the letters. So here down in French Guyana, so far away. I would go to the post office. The mail would come once in a week on a jet out of Miami. (A silence!) But this was Dad’s writing and I saw that he was writing from room 238! I couldn’t figure this out. Room 238. There were three letters and I read them backwards because they didn’t have the dates on them.

What spilled out of the letters was that my mother had cancer. She had already been through an operation and was in chemotherapy and radiation. (Another silence!) I went down to the ocean and there was a rock right where I used to go and sit and study French. I sat on that rock and I looked across the Atlantic. I could have looked straight across the Atlantic, just as straight as an arrow, to a little village in the heartland of America, to a little village (name missed) and I knew what it was to have a wave of loneliness.

When you look on these workers, all of them have been through those days when they walked it, and they walked it with Jesus. Jesus will walk with you and that is the promise and He will NEVER let you go, but will hold you, hand in hand.

There is the teaching in the Bible when you read about the veil. People, when approaching that veil in the tabernacle, and just beyond is eternity, the presence of God. On that veil, there were woven cherubims. They were woven in. So let me just say that from either side, from the inside or the outside, as you approached it, were images of angels. That is teaching us that on either side, it is just the same on this side as on that side. It loses none of its power whether on this side or that side.

The ministry of angels. We have seen it and have known it. What happened to the poor man Lazarus when he died? It says that angels bore him to Abraham’s bosom. Angels carried him through the veil into eternity, so he was never alone.

We had a sister on the island of Guadeloupe. She listened to the gospel when she was in her forties, she and her husband made a start and we saw so much progress in them. Growing and growing. Thirsty and hungering and now she didn’t have long to live and the night, it came to the middle of the night, and she asked for hymns to be sung by her bedside.

Her husband, an ex-alcoholic, was singing by her bedside and they sang this hymn and when they reached the third verse, she slipped away. The angels came and bore her soul into eternity. They finished the hymn on this side and then they chose another hymn. As far as I’m concerned, the angels finished the hymn on the other side.

That is the promise we have, that walking with Jesus over the waves of life you will NEVER, NEVER, EVER be alone. Not for one second will you ever be alone, and the one we need most of all will be with us on that day. When we approach that veil and as it says in the last verse in Hebrews 9, “So much as we see the day approaching.” It doesn’t finish it, but it probably means that so much as we see the day approaching, when we too shall pass through the veil, they will be ready and the angels will carry us to the other side. I just love to think of that.

There’s other things too, like doubt. Have you ever had a wave of doubt? When you really believed and you knew that this is true and knew that this was the Christ, but somehow there just comes this wave of doubt. This awful doubt that you couldn’t do it, you couldn’t walk. I think Peter had it on that wave. You remember when they were in the boat and Jesus came walking to them through the storm, through the night and the waves were rolling. The pounding, the froth, and the spume. All these waves on the ocean and the boat lifting and dropping. Lifting and dropping and all the waves and Jesus walking on the water. Peter said, “Bid me come.” That is how I felt about the work. I could see something and I felt something and I felt that if this is Jesus calling me to the work, just bid me come, and a voice said, “Come!” That’s what happened to Peter. Come, and Peter stepped out of the boat and he began to walk on the water. Walking on water! Then his eyes strayed and he looked at the waves and the winds that were boisterous and he began to sink. He cried out, “Lord save me!” That hand shot out and saved him. Jesus said, “Oh, thou of little faith.”

It is a tremendous faith to take a step like that, but it was little in this sense, “Just keep your eyes from looking around, keep looking at me. You can do it. You CAN do it!” Just doubting, doubting. Maybe it could be some personal impediment that would be perfectly legitimate. But then there was doubt and you know, sometimes we think it is doubt but really it is just unwillingness.

Sometimes deep down we know, it is just a matter of not wanting to hear. Unwillingness and maybe just a bit of dishonesty, saying, “I don’t hear this. I don’t see it,” and we just go on. I will tell you a little story about this. Like I was saying, I have these two older brothers. One is John and one is Fred, and I was the third one. After that we had one little sister, so really it was us three musketeers all the time and we were together all the time. Of course John was the oldest so he was the boss, and he still is. Well, John and Fred and myself. I was the little guy. Near where we were, there was this schoolhouse and when dad didn’t have us working, that was our dreamland. Behind the schoolhouse we’d be playing cowboys and Indians and all other kinds of things.

My dad had a whistle, I have never heard anyone who could whistle like him. He could whistle through his teeth and it could be heard all over town. That whistle meant, “Come home NOW!” Anyway we were behind the schoolhouse, and we were playing, and having a great day playing cowboys and Indians. We were having a great time and that whistle came. So my brother got us together and said, “We didn’t hear that!” So we went back playing and here it comes again, and John said again, “We didn’t hear that!” So we carried on, and then there was a third time and this time there was no pow wow, it was just one run for home.

Because I was the little guy, I was the last one, and Dad was standing in the doorway and he had a stick in his hand. We knew what that meant. John slipped by and Fred slipped by, and I said, “Dad we didn’t hear you the first two times!” (laughter) That is child’s play, but how would it be if we were playing with God? If we were saying we were doubting and we didn’t hear, we didn’t hear, and Jesus is calling you. Calling you and He will be with you and you can do it, you can walk on water. You can walk on every wave, because He will be with you and He will hold your hand. If you were to say, “I didn’t hear.” I couldn’t think of anything sadder than that, before God.

There are other waves in life. Waves of sorrow, waves of pride. Like Saul. One wave of pride when they began to sing different things about David and held him up. He forgot who he was, forgot who Samuel really was. Just a wave of pride and he was completely bowled over and he didn’t know up from down and the nightmare. He was a good man, there wasn’t a better man in Israel. God chose the best and it was just a wave of pride that led to rebellion and it led to God forsaking him. It’s a lesson to me and I pray God to help me to despise my own pride. I can tell you this. Do you know what helps me with my pride more than anything else? My pride! Why? Because it is so foolish. Nothing scares me more in life than my own pride.

It could be a wave of fear, do you know a wave of fear? One could get so afraid of this wave of fear. But at the same time, fear can be constructive and it can also be destructive. It can be very constructive, it can save us. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. But fear, the fear of man. Yes, that is one of the most destructive. If you are studying at school and here you are, you know your lessons and then with the final exams you just seem to freeze. That is a destructive fear, a paralyzing fear. That is like Satan, he would just like to freeze you, paralyze you with fear to do God’s will. Then there is a constructive fear. The man that broke the sound barrier the first time, he was a famous American test pilot. He broke more records in the beginning than any other person. They asked him, “How did you do so well?” His answer was, “I was so afraid to die.” That is constructive fear, to be afraid to die with your soul being lost. I think I can say this again and again and again, realizing how close we can be to death and not lose our soul.

There is a fear we have to conquer, we have to walk on it. What can help us to rise above it and to walk on it? There is something. There IS something. Take the example of a man in the New Testament whose name was Joseph. He came from the town called Arimathea. Joseph of Arimathea. It says that he was a disciple of Jesus. He believed and he was learning from Him. He was following but in secret. But why was it in secret? It was for the fear of his own countrymen, the fear of man. He was afraid of losing place, he was afraid of losing prestige and he was afraid of being excommunicated from his own church. The leaders of his church had already had an assembly and in their council they had passed a law that anybody who was seen with Jesus, following Jesus, would be excommunicated. It says, “Put out of the synagogue.” They would be put out, that would be the same as being excommunicated.

So Joseph had every reason to take this seriously. So it says that he was a disciple of Jesus but in secret, for the fear of the Jews. What helped him to rise above it and walk on the water? Do you know what helped him? What was his victory? It was when he saw Jesus dying. He saw Jesus dying on the cross before him and he saw perfect love. He saw in Jesus’ eyes perfect love for his soul. Dying for me, dying in my place. Ridiculed, beaten, spat on, spoken against, people shaking their heads, putting out their tongues, mimicking Jesus when He was in agony. This whole crowd of people. In John’s first letter, he says, “Perfect love casteth out fear.” There is no fear in perfect love.

Here it was, the fear of losing place, the fear of losing prestige, honor of men, was gone forever. Gone, it just disappeared. Perfect love cast out his fear. If you’re sitting in the meeting today and you have a nagging fear of losing something. We have known men and women that have had to make a choice between Christ and a spouse and that is huge. Christ and a career. Christ and a whole family. Christ and death and they had to choose.

Men and women who had a clear revelation of Jesus dying for them. Of Calvary. It was when Joseph of Arimathea stood at the foot of the cross and hearing His words and feeling His spirit, something flowed from the cross into his soul and he had the grace to walk on the wave, to walk on water. Before all these men, his colleagues. He was part of this prestigious council and he was apparently a member of that and he knew that, “Tomorrow I am out of a job. Tomorrow I am no longer a councilor and tomorrow I cannot even put my foot in the synagogue nor the temple. I am separated forever. I’m scorned. I am out of it. Lost everything, all my life, my career, all my honor.” He just laid it down and he went over to the foot of the cross and begged for permission to take Jesus down.

Making a clear declaration before everyone. “He is my master, He is my first love. I believe in Him. He is the truth, the way and the life.” He wrapped Him up with a man beside him who was helping him and who was that? Nicodemus.

Nicodemus sat on the same council, if you read in John chapter 7. He tried to defend Jesus one time. It is like we have heard, that the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven. Jesus said that it rises till it affects the whole lump. That leaven was rising in Nicodemus and he was understanding and feeling and seeing more and more.

He was in that council and they were speaking against Jesus and he finished it with, “Do we judge a man before we have heard him?” He had to go to Jesus by night, not to be seen perhaps, but in that visit he heard. Now he was in the council just as before and they said, “Go and look at the scripture and see if any prophet cometh from Galilee.” Jesus was born in Bethlehem like the scripture foretold but he grew up partly in Galilee. They couldn’t even go and ask the question, “Where were you born?” He would have answered that so easily but instead they preferred darkness instead of the light. They chose that. So here is Nicodemus and coming to the foot of the cross and begging, “Let me help you.” Those two men, before all who were looking on, walking on water. They left everything, they lost everything. Perfect love cast out every fear. With joy and gladness and tenderness in their hearts they were doing what they were doing.

There is another wave and the time is up. There is a wave of Passion. You would say, “Now Dan, you are going too far, you are a worker, what do you know about that?” I am a man and I was also young. I don’t forget my teen years, my early years and it is very natural and it is very real. A wave of passion and passion is not all wrong if it is spent in the right way. If we could have more passion for our Lord Jesus Christ, for this truth, for this family, for this ministry, for this way, for this Gospel. If we could have passion for this love that could burn every other foolish thing because this love will dwell forever, throughout all eternity.

I am not good at quoting poetry but I will just finish this meeting with this little poem. I don’t believe that it was someone professing that wrote it but there are powerful words in it that can say something I can’t say when it comes to love and love being manifested even among God’s servants and God’s people. This is what it says:

It takes great love to stir the human heart,

To lift beyond the others and part;

A love that is not shallow, is not small,

Is not for one or two, but for them all.

Love that can wound love for its higher need,

Love that can leave love, though the heart may bleed;

Love that can lose love of family and friend,

Yet steadfastly live, loving to the end.

Love that knows no answer, that can live,

Moved by one deathless force to live.

Our convention is over.

We could sing a hymn.

Number 403, “Impelled by Love”

They are very nice words in that hymn, but are you really living for others every day? It is a searching question and how many of us could put up our hand and say we are living for others every day? So easy to get in a rut and just live for ourselves for living for things, maybe we could say we are living for our children, or living for our grandchildren. That hymn makes the circle a lot bigger living for others. There is a lot we could think about and we could expand our little circle.

I would like to speak from Isaiah 5 about a three letter word that is mentioned six times. The word is woe. We heard this morning not to come here expecting only good news and I’m not here to give you bad news and these things in Isaiah’s day lead people outside the relationship of God and into destruction and they are real things that we are living in a world over 2700 years later. And they are still a danger to God’s people. Have you ever stopped to think what that word woe means? How would you say woe in another way? In the Bible we use in Sri Lanka woe comes at the end of the verse. And in their Bible they have two words for woe and that is sadness or sorrow will come.

Verses 8 to 10 “Woe unto them that join house-to-house that lay field to field till there be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth. In mine ears said the Lord of hosts of a truth many houses shall be desolate even great and fair without inhabitant. Yea 10 acres of vineyard shall yield one bath and the seed of and homer shall yield an ephah.” Woe unto them that join house-to-house and sadness and sorrow will come. What is this person talking about and a lot of what Isaiah writes are like riddles. I don’t profess to understand it all and I like thinking about these things sometimes. What is Isaiah really talking about in that verse? If we were to put this verse in a nutshell what is the message in this verse. He is talking about the thing called covetousness. He saw people that were given land when they went into the Promised Land and they wanted to increase their holdings. They wanted to get the neighbour’s house and more and more and more. We can say we are not covetousness. What was their ambition what were they coveting? They were coveting the things of this world.

It reminded me of Luke 12 where a man came to Jesus and wanted him to sort out a family problem Jesus did not want to get involved He said to the whole company of people “Take heed, and beware of covetousness for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” I wondered do we have that realisation that the main thing in life is not how much I process of the world’s goods. The main thing in life is how much I process of the Spirit of God. In trying to get more of the earthly goods I could be missing the whole purpose of life, and worse than that I could be leading myself like this verse says sadness will come. Woe is the end result of that kind of thing.

Talks about houses being empty and it talks about the production of the land. It says the vineyard shall yield one bath. I believe one bath is about 22 litres. 10 acres of vineyard shall yield 22 litres and if you had 10 acres and you were looking after it and remember they had no roundup for the weeds and no tractors to plough between the rows, it was all done by hand and just think of the work to cultivate just one acre of vineyard and all the work they had put into maintaining 10 acres and they only got 22 litres of wine. Do you think you’d be satisfied with that?

I’d like to give you this little thought about contentment, we read a lot about contentment in the Bible. There is a big difference to saying contentment and saying satisfaction. 1 Timothy 6 verse 6 “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” It would not quite sound the same if you said godliness with satisfaction. Satisfaction is something you think of when you have an abundance, contentment is something you can have in the absence of an abundance. I got out my Sri Lankan Bible and I couldn’t think of a word for contentment and I don’t think there is a word for contentment and maybe that is why they fight a lot. It puts it like this “A mind that thinks I have enough.” Do you have a mind like that, that your mind is saying alright now you have got enough. Be content with what you have. Contentment comes when we can learn to say that to ourselves I have got enough now. Contentment does not come when we obtain what we covet. Contentment does not come through covetousness. You may covet something and you think if only I had that extra thing, that extra car, extra property, that extra whatever I would be content. Contentment comes by learning not to covet. It is a wonderful thing if we can learn that early in life.

Covetousness was a problem right from the beginning we learn from Eve, mother of us all, the first woman God created. God told Adam very clearly not to touch that tree and the old devil came along and Adam had told Eve what God had said and she understood it and had it clear in her mind and she looked on something and then she desired it. Genesis 3 v 6 “And the woman saw that the tree was good for food” she did not see it was necessary for food and I do not think she was short of food and other things she could have eaten. “And that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” I do not know if she told him where the fruit came from or if he recognized it and you know the rest of the story. It all started from looking at something she did not need and it was not only something she did not need, but something she should not have had. We could covet things in this world that are not wrong for us to have, but do we need it and seeking that thing is it going to be profitable to our spiritual life? It is very common in this world people wanting more and more things and in the process of wanting that thing they go into debt.

I saw a cartoon strip of a man that was dreaming of having a nice big house. He went off to the bank officer and the bank manager opened the door of course and sat him down and he was dreaming about this thing. And a little further down the strip we see this man running on a treadmill in the bank manager’s office. The treadmill is working a fan and he is looking fatter and the fan is blowing him nicely. The poor man on the treadmill is running, running and he has this picture of what he is dreaming of. Friends let us not fall into a trap like that. What I am coveting for and wearing myself out for. You find you are running on the treadmill of life and getting nowhere. Next thing you find you have not got time to go to the meetings and I am so tired I have not got time to read my Bible, have not got time to pray and then you start to miss one or two then three meetings. Then you think I have not been for three weeks so they will not miss me if I do not go this week and it goes on and on. What is the outcome and as we say sorrow will come. Woe is the outcome. Woe is the outcome of seeking anything covetously.

I think of the story of Achan a very good example of this. We read about Achan in the seventh of Joshua. Joshua 7 v 21 “When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment and 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it.” They coveted something that belonged to Babylon and something that should have been given to God. That is what happens in covetousness, God is the loser too. Because of Achan’s covetousness and a number of other souls perished, but not only that his own family did. It all started with one little thought I want that little thing I do not need it and it does not belong to me and it is not mine to have. God doesn’t tolerate being robbed of things we have promised to give to Him.

Verses 11 & 12. “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.” It’s a good thing to get up early in the morning for the right purpose to have a little read and a little prayer before the pressure of the day begins and to give the first time of the day to God and it is a good thing. Woe will not come if we do that but these people were up early to go to a party so they can start drinking in the morning and continue drinking all day and what were they thinking? Here they were going in for all the musical entertainment they could find and the pipe and the wine and maybe the pipe was used for smoking something and the wine was used to put them out of their senses and the result was they regarded not the work of the Lord. To think about what God wanted them to be doing, nor did they consider the operation of God’s hand and think about what God’s hand could do for them.

We could say I go to the meeting and don’t get involved in that sort of thing, but Satan has subtle ways of drawing people innocently to clubs and associations and may look harmless for a start and it draws you into a social circle and they are not people that have the same value as God’s people have. And then you go a little further and you get involved in activities with those people and the end result is woe and sadness and sorrow will come. Let us be amongst those that regard the work of the Lord and consider the operation of His hand. When we go to our fellowship meetings and gospel meetings and that is what it is all about it is the work of the Lord, the work the Lord want to do in us and through us. Let’s make God’s work our focus, joy will come then and not woe.

Verses 18 & 19 “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!” When I was learning the language in Sri Lanka we would read a sentence and sometimes it was so confusing and the teacher would say don’t get confused. Just tell me which words in this sentence that you know. Pull out the words that you know and let us do that with this verse also. We will pick out three words iniquity, vanity and sin. And there are two kinds of ropes mentioned there. One is a cord maybe that is what you tie up your pajamas with and if you pull on it hard enough it could break and the other is a cart rope and if you’ve tied up your pajamas with a cart rope you would have a job breaking it. It is a stronger rope. First of all taking cords of vanity and drawing them into iniquity. What is vanity? Vanity is anything that does not have an eternal focus and it is useless to us for our eternal future. We could bind ourselves up with things that are just vanity and the result of that is that we would eventually get bound into iniquity. How are you using each day God gives you? Are you tied up in activities that are really just vanity and then we are drawn into iniquity and that is something that is wrong in the eyes of God.

Then the next step the thicker rope and we may think oh well this is what we are working with is all vanity and what is binding you to it is only a small rope and it is something I can break any time, something I can cast aside any time, and do we keep getting further and deeper into it and this vanity leads us onto an iniquity, and then iniquity leads on to sin.

If you took verse 19 completely out of the context and if you were to say let God make speed and hasten His work that we may see it and let the counsel of the holy one of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it. You may think that is a nice verse but in this context these people just got involved in vanity and that turned into iniquity and that turned to sin, and a sin they could not get away from and tied with a very strong tie, a cart rope and then they began to mock. Verse 19 is like mocking God we will see if God will do anything about this that we are involved in now. Let Him hasten His work and let’s see what God’s responsive is going to be, and let the counsel of the holy draw nigh.

The old devil is saying you’re sinning you’re in it and what you’re doing is wrong and God is not doing anything about it He is letting you keep going there may be no retribution. That is one of the devil’s smoothest ways of deceiving people. Telling people if God is not stopping you from doing it now it must be okay to keep doing it. The judgment day is not now friends, the judgment day is yet ahead of us, today is a day of mercy and the day of mercy is the day God gives us time to set wrong right. To cut the cart rope and the cords of vanity that is drawing us into iniquity, because God’s purpose is that we would be saved. It all started off with vanity and vanity developed into an iniquity and then iniquity developed into worse sin, mocking, despising, not fearing God and what did the verse begin with woe. Another way that woe comes is with sorrow and sadness and it begins with the pursuit of vanity. Let us think about how we are using these precious lives that God has given us for things that do have an eternal value and do have an eternal purpose.

Verse 20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” What are these people really doing? These people are denying reality and contradicting God, if you think this will lead you to blessing, happiness and contentment and denying God’s truth and taking it a step further and saying evil is okay and it is good. And I am sure you all have read pages and pages of the Old Testament, and you see things that were such an abomination and they stoned people that were doing those things in those days. We have the mercy and grace of God through Christ and God gives us the opportunity to turn away from those ugly sins that we would be immediately stoned for if we lived in the days of the Old Testament. They glorified those things that were such an abomination in the sight of God. Friends sorrow and sadness will come if we deny the truth of God and if we say bitter is sweet, and darkness is light, and evil is good and we begin to contradict what the Bible teaches us. The outcome is sorrow will come, sadness will come.

Verse 21 “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” Proverbs 26 v 12 “seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.” Proverbs 3 Verses 5 to 7 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil.” A man that is wise in his own eyes what is the real problem? The real problem is pride. I know, I already know you do not have to tell me.

We met a dear soul like that last year and we went to his house and he said I can go to any church and give my testimony and this and that. And we listened to him and after a while we said we would like to share something with him we had been reading from the Bible. We asked him if he had a Bible and he went into his bedroom and found this dusty old Bible. Can you find Isaiah such and such and he went through the Bible and didn’t have a clue where to find Isaiah. And this was the man who was telling us how much he knows about the Bible, did not even know where to find some of the books in the Bible. We are glad that that man had the humility to come to some gospel meetings and still comes occasionally. There are many changes in him.

Confidence in yourself, and confidence in your own knowledge, what is the outcome? Woe. Sorrow and sadness will come. Lean not on your own understanding, but lean on what God teaches you, what this book teaches you it is God’s word.

Verse 22 “Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” The Sri Lankan Bible puts it very clear for a reward is a bribe, to justify the wicked for a bribe. To take away righteousness from those that deserve righteousness. People think there is a blessing in it for me if I am a little corrupt, a little bit dishonest even if I give a bribe. It may not lead to woe, but lead to being better off. Do you think like that? This verse makes it clear to us to glory in your own strength and liberty and the way you can use and manipulate other people, influence of your money, get what you want. Where will it lead, sorrow and sadness will come? Honesty is not the best policy, it is the only policy. May we be those that will pursue the righteousness of God.

1 Timothy 6 verses 7 to 9 “For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be there with content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and in too many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown man in destruction and perdition.” It is not a very good thing to drown. Every year some of our friends drown in a spiritual sense. Drowning is where you cannot get air into your lungs, water goes in instead. Air to the body is like prayers to our spiritual existence and it is a sad thing to see people drowning and they are in floods of iniquity, things that flood this world and they get in a position where they cannot pray. They have not time to pray and they drown spiritually. They go to destruction.

Verse 10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Sir Lankan Bible it does not say the love of money, but the lust for more treasures. Not talking about spiritual treasures, but natural treasures. Where is it going to lead? Erring from the faith and piercing one’s self with more sorrows. That little word woe means sorrow.

These are the verses I want to leave you with verses 11 & 12 “But thou O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith lay hold on the eternal life, where unto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” These things that we have been talking about the woes and the start of a pathway to sadness, disappointment, sorrow and flee those things and follow after righteousness. May the God of heaven help us in these matters.

Every message of God is personal. Do not lose it, thinking it is for someone else. There is power, life, blessing, and fruit in a seed, but only if it is planted.

Malachi 1:2-3, “‘I have loved you,’ saith the Lord, ‘And ye say, “Wherein hast Thou loved us?” Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ saith the Lord. ‘And I loved Jacob and I hated Esau, and (made) his mountains a desolation and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.’” It was not unfair, or that God had favorites, but because of the qualities in their lives. God looks for certain qualities in our lives, and an attitude that allows God to work, and Esau was not willing for God to guide him, and didn’t care about pleasing God.

Genesis 25: 21-23, “And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her and said, ‘If so, why am I?’ And she went to inquire of the Lord and the LORD said unto her, ‘Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels; And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. “

Now this was written before their births (not as Malachi, hundreds of years after their lives). This is God’s plan for each of us: that the older (human nature) will serve the younger, a new life that God gives us as we believe and obey the gospel. What comes from God cannot be produced by our nature. But we still have the old life and thoughts that are contrary to the new life. It is worth the struggle to follow the Spirit, because then we have peace, which we lose if human nature gets control.

Genesis 25:27, “And the boys grew and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.” Marks of the two natures. Esau liked his freedom, always going out even though there was enough in the home. Jacob was content. He was also quiet, which enables communion with God.

Genesis 25:29-34, “And Jacob made pottage and Esau came from the field, tired. Esau said, ‘Please let me have some of that red stew, for I am very tired.’ Therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, ‘Sell me this day thy birthright.’ And Esau said, ‘Behold, I am going to die. Why, then, is the birthright to me?’ And Jacob said, ‘Swear to me this day.’ And he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils and he ate and drank, and rose and went. So Esau despised his birthright. “

Jacob understood the value of the birthright. Esau, like the flesh, chose for the present. The flesh would be willing to sell what God has given us to get what we want. Jacob gave perhaps his own lunch – willing to sacrifice the present for a future blessing.

Genesis 26:34-35, “And Esau was forty years old, took to wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemat, daughter of Elon the Hittite; and were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.” Genesis 27:46, “And Rebekah said to Isaac, ‘I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life?’”

Look for someone who can help you serve God, not be a snare. The unity of the home is so important. Genesis 28:1-2, “And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, ‘Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother’s father, and take a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.’” Isaac knew that in that home they feared God, and Jacob obeyed.

Amos 1:11, “Thus saith the Lord, ‘For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; Because he pursued his brother with the sword, and violated all pity; and in his anger he has always stolen, and perpetually has kept the grudge.” 1,000 years later, the descendants of Esau still resented it. How would it be for us if God held a grudge? So we need to forgive.

Genesis 32-33. Jacob feared and prayed. There was a struggle, and Jacob met Esau a changed man, willing to lose to have peace. God loves that attitude.

Psalm 78:2, “I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done.” I was thinking of our responsibility as the present generation, but it doesn’t terminate with us. The things that God has told us should be preserved in our own lives and commended to others. God blessed Abraham so that, through him, blessing might go out to others. It spoke to me how much the home life is important in the sight of God. A few years ago, the United Nations had the International Year of the Family. In the family of God, it should always be an International Year of the Family.

“In the home life, His approval makes poor cot a palace fair.” It doesn’t matter how humble the home is if God’s presence is there. That hymn was written by an old worker [Tom Turner, the old overseer] in Queensland who took me into the work in 1955, and it is a beautiful hymn because it concentrates on what we can be in the home life. A family that prays together will stay together. I had a companion once who said, “We go into a place, give out invitations for gospel meetings. We might have six weeks of meetings and then move on, and the children of the friends will be in those meetings, but really, the mission is worked in the home.” There is no substitute for that.

Acts 2:40, “And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this untoward generation.’” Or, “Save yourselves from a generation that is not towards God.” We live in a time when people are not Godly. Noah was perfect in his generation and he walked with God; he was perfect in his obedience and his faith, and we should have that perfection in our lives, too, so that the generations following might be able to understand how vital it is for us to walk with God and have His approval.

Psalm 78:6, “That the generation to come might know them.” Know what? Know the Truth of God, know His words and be familiar with what is written. Children are like cameras, taking pictures all the time, observing what we put first in our lives as elders amongst them. They know when we are taking shortcuts and they know also when we are honest.

A few years ago, a mother was told by her doctor that she needed total bed rest for a time. She said to her little girl, “You can stay home with me while your father and brother go to the meeting.” But the little girl said, “I want to go to the meeting so I can sing, and God can hear me and take me to Heaven.” She couldn’t even read, but I am sure it was the faith of her parents that made her say those words. Parents have so much to put before their children. Another little girl asked her mother how she could serve God, and her mother said, “Just do what Jesus said.” She said, “Well, I can’t read, so I can just do what you do.” Children are like the cameras that used film, where the film would be developed later. It is later on that children’s character will be developed and on display.

I met a mother in South Africa who was concerned about bringing up her children and how to make them respect the meetings. She said, “I am all new to this.” The older sister said, “Let your children see you reading and praying; they will get respect if you do that daily, and when it comes to the meetings, they will have some respect.” Another person asked a worker when to begin to discipline his child and the worker said, “Twenty years before he is born.” You know what that means, that discipline must first be in our own lives. Moses gave lovely instructions to the people.

Deuteronomy is a going over of all they had learned before, and repetition is a good teacher. Deuteronomy 5:29, “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever.” I noticed a verse in I Chronicles 6:33 also that tells about some people, “And these are they that waited with their children.” I like that. A few years ago in India, a couple made their choice. They had been worldly people but when they decided, they included their children in their sacrifice. One boy said to his parents, “It is all right for you to stop going to the cinema, you have seen it all, but I haven’t.” Nevertheless, he obeyed them and today he is preaching the Gospel.

Matthew 11:16, “Whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows . . We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.” He was saying that it was a generation that couldn’t be satisfied. Nothing pleased them, and isn’t that the generation we are living in? We are living in a generation that is sick and do you know what the sickness is? It is “emptiness neurosis.” We are made with a vacancy that only God can fill. Colossians 2:10, “And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.” The truth is, we are not complete without Him.

People try to fill their lives with so many things, with worldliness, with prayerlessness and carelessness, but God can fill us as we come to Him. I often like to read about individuals and the home life, and the change that came into the homes of some of God’s children. Think of Manoah and his wife, think of Hannah and her husband. Samuel had a praying mother and a sacrificing father. It was no wonder he was able to fill his place in the Kingdom like he did. We need praying mothers and sacrificing fathers.

II Kings 4:1, “Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, ‘Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.’” Sadness had come into this home. The father had died and the widow said to the servant of God, “He was a good man.” We see the crisis: here was a widow with two sons and the creditor was coming to take them into bondage.

Verse 2, “And Elisha said unto her, ‘What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house?’ And she said, ‘Thine handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil.’ Then he said, ‘Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels.’” She was told to borrow from her neighbors and they only had empty vessels. “Emptiness neurosis.” You will find your neighbors cannot give you anything to satisfy you.

Verse 4, “And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.” People don’t like separation. The world would say that you shouldn’t deny your children, that you owe it to your children to have something of the world. The creditor wants to take the children into bondage but we must be like this woman, have nothing in your house apart from that which will soothe and give light. God brought His children out of Egypt, and Joseph and Mary went to Egypt so that what was written could be fulfilled. Matthew 2:15, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” Moses thought he could improve things in Egypt but God wanted him out, and that is true with us, too.

II Corinthians 6:17, “’Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate,’ saith the Lord, ‘And touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.’” Ezekiel 44:23, “And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” God wants to teach us. He doesn’t want us to be ignorant of the devil’s devices. Don’t go into the grey areas where it might be right or it might be wrong; know the difference between right and wrong. It is essential, because the devil is very deceptive and will tell us we are right when we are wrong.

God called Moses out and showed him the difference. When there was darkness in all the homes of Egypt, there was light in all the homes of God’s people and we can say that is happening in the world today. If there is no oil, we won’t have that light. But I like to think of this woman, that after things came right she talked to the servant of God. Sometimes people make their own plans and avoid the servants of God, but this woman was in true fellowship and she took his advice.

A teacher friend told us about her parent-teacher interviews. A couple came with their 6 year-old boy who wasn’t doing well at school. She said, “How much time do you spend with your little boy?” The father said, “You must remember, I am a busy man.” “Yes, I understand that, but you will never have a 6 year-old boy again, and my advice is that you give him a little time. You don’t need to teach him, just give him time.”

They took her advice and it wasn’t long before that little boy began to improve, because they took the time to talk to him, show him that he was part of their family. Ephesians 6:4, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” An old brother in New Zealand said, “Fathers, bring your children up; don’t leave it all for the little woman to do.”

Judges 2:10, “And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel.” Maybe they hadn’t been told? My father heard the Gospel in 1917 when the first workers came to Mackay. He was seventeen years old and later he used to tell us what was spoken. My aunt had been searching, and she knew it was the end of the search. It was like the parable of the man seeking goodly pearls and she knew, “There is nothing better than this.”

My dad never became a preacher but he helped them in their mission. Proverbs 30:11, “There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.” How sad if the generation coming would ever say, “You didn’t tell me; you didn’t advise me; you didn’t keep me separate.” God wants us to be a blessing so that, through us, He can bless others.

When we buried that little handful of ash (mother’s ashes), I just realized how nothing we are.

The thought came to my mind of when Abraham stood before God pleading for Sodom. As humbly as he could he said to God, “Behold now I have taken it upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes.” I thought also of what it tells us there in the beginning of Genesis about man being created, being formed. There is another translation of that which I liked very much. It says the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. This other translation says the Lord God took a handful of soil and made a man and God breathed life into that man. When life departs, we just realize how little we are, how powerless we are.

Maybe I should use an expression of myself of what I want to say. We, who are nothing, so often question what God is doing. The Bible is full of that. There are different examples of that like; shall the pot say to the potter, “Potter what are you doing? Have you got any hands? Do you know what you are doing?” I’m just putting it into my own words. Often in our life’s experience, when we can’t see and we don’t understand we, I, am inclined to question God, ask God why. Why is this happening? The wonderful thing is that, even as Job knew, I often think about Job, in all that unexplainable experience that he went through. He said, “I know that God is behind this and I know that He knows the way that I am taking.” I also often think of what it tells us in Jeremiah. It is such a well-known chapter, about how God said to Jeremiah, “Get up, arise, and go down to the potter’s house.” In our experiences, it is only when God can get us to change our position that He can speak to us. It was in this thing that the Lord said to him, “Now you get up from where you are and you walk down to this place that I want you to go to, and I will show you something. I will explain something to you.” How often one is not willing to be moved out of your situation in the experience? To be changed from where you are to where God wants you to be.

That hymn is often in my mind too. Number 314 says, “In Thy strong hand I lay me down, so shall Thy work be done. For who can work so wondrously as Thou, Almighty One.” This little bit of earth that we are, this handful of dust, if we just know how to rest in the hand of Him, the Almighty One. I have found, in my own experience, when I have struggled and questioned and fought against things that happened. When I finally allow myself to come into the hands of the one who has formed us that such peace can descend on one. Knowing that He knows what He is doing. Sometimes it is not very pleasant for us and the experience that we have to face. But it is wonderful when we can look back and see that God has meant it unto good, as Joseph said. This little handful of dust that we are, we really are nothing. We are nothing but we can have the privilege, as Abraham said, ”I am just dust and ashes and Lord I am daring to speak to you.” The wonderful thing is that Christ has opened the way for us to have the liberty to come unto the throne of Grace and that when we are in the time of need that we can speak to Him. He can teach us what His mind and will is for us. He can reveal to us what we can become.

I also thought of that hymn 88 that says, “Impress Thine image on me, fulfill Thy blest design till others see upon me that beauteous face of Thine.” That is really all God is wanting to do with this little handful of dust, this little lump of clay that we are.

The only thing that separates us from the rest of creation is that He has breathed into us part of Himself. That just makes us something different and what He wants to do is, on this spirit, this spirit soul of ours, He wants to leave that impression of His Beloved Son, which will make us more acceptable in His sight one day in eternity and to be able to give to us the realization that even though we are really nothing, that we can become something spiritually, if we will just put ourselves in His hands.

* Estelle is from South Africa and was in Washington for some of the conventions 2013

I have thought a great deal, probably about two weeks now, of that last chapter of John. Isn’t it the most beautiful and precious account of an interview between Jesus and Peter? There is a hymn that is no longer in our books and the first verse came into my mind, “Oh love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee. I give Thee back the life I owe, that in thy ocean depths, it’s flow might richer fuller be.”

I thought about Peter and it tells us at the beginning of this chapter that he decided to go fishing. For the first time, it just appealed to me in this way. This poor man, although he’d already seen the Lord a few times, I think, yet he had a terrible storm in his heart and there was something that he had to settle. Being a fisherman, he knew what it was like to be out on that sea at night. In the stillness of that lake and maybe he just had a tremendous desire to get out there alone to think and sort out a few things, settle some things in his heart and his mind. When he said, “I’m going fishing,” he suddenly found that he had company. I don’t think there was too much talking on that little vessel that night.

I also don’t think that it bothered Peter too much that they had caught no fish because his mind was on deeper and eternal things. No doubt there was a desperate yearning in him to just cross the gap between himself and his beloved Master. Then early that morning, just about a hundred metres from the shore, they saw Him there. Jesus was waiting for him. When Peter realised who He was, he just flung himself into the sea, trying to close the gap between himself and his Master.

Jesus had food prepared for them. I was also picturing that scene. I think, if I’m right, that there were seven disciples there and I pictured them sitting there in a circle around this fire with the Lord. Maybe there wasn’t too much said there, either. Then Jesus, Himself, closed the gap. He reached out to His unworthy disciple and Peter was still writhing in the humiliation of what had happened and just longing to get some peace inside himself.

Jesus looked at him and spoke to him and He asked him a question. We all know this chapter so well but it’s just got so much more meaning to me because I happened to look up the meaning of the words that Jesus used. I wondered if when Jesus asked him the first question, if Peter didn’t even look up. He knew the Lord was searching his heart. That’s what brought that hymn to my mind. He was probing the depths of that man. He was reaching out with that same amazing, eternal love that brought Him to this earth and wanting to lift this poor fallible human being onto a higher plane. He was wanting him to realise that there is a difference between “Peter I know you really do love Me. You love Me very much, as a friend.”

That is what Peter said to Him, “Lord you know that I love you,” but Jesus kept asking him a different question, “Do you love me with the same kind of love, that’s not only in your heart, in your mind, in your will? It’s something that lifts you up and helps you to walk as my Father would have you walk. To walk as I have walked. To follow Me and to have a love in your heart, not just that emotional love of a friend and somebody that you feel greatly for, but something that is much higher, much greater, more perfect and a discipline in your life that helps you to love the un-lovable,” as Jesus did.

That day a change took place in Peter. He became a different man, strong, courageous, loving, with a tremendous humility in him which was brought about by that experience. Realising what he really was made of and it made him into the wonderful disciple that he became that could help him to write the things that he wrote in his letters. That makes him for us, still today, a tremendous inspiration. There’s hope for us all because of God, who loves us, who sent His Son to this earth – to bring to us something greater than we have ever known before and if we can close this gap, if we can allow the Lord to close the gap between Him and us, draw us into a deeper circle of His love and grace, we can fill a place that we can only do by the grace of God and may He help us.

I have thought quite a lot about the return of Christ, these last few days and reading those few parables that Jesus told in Matthew 22 and 25, about the wedding garment and also about the virgins that were waiting for the return, or the coming of the bridegroom.

I have also been reading in Revelation. It is something that I like to do. I cannot expound on it, in fact I don’t like to, but my thoughts stood still at the 16th of Revelation. It says there, “Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” Jesus spoke often about His return and He issued warnings constantly. He kept on saying, “You must be ready and you must be watching and you must have on the garment of salvation” because it is very possible that we could be caught unawares and as He put it, “We could be found naked.”

Also, He spoke about His return and He said, “I don’t know when it will be, nor do the angels in heaven know when it will be, but you must just be ready.” As I say, I was reading in Matthew, and just going back a little bit, in the 24th of Matthew, Jesus spoke a few times about His return and one of the things He mentioned was, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.” He spoke about how people were so relaxed and going on, as we say now, “Business as usual.” Everything was just Normal. Marrying and giving in marriage; eating and drinking and knew not, until the flood came and took them all away. And so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

He said, “Watch therefore for you know not what hour the Lord doth come.” His coming was also likened to a lightning flash. When Jesus returns, He said, “Don’t listen to these people that say ‘Lo here He is’ or ‘There He is.’” He said, “Don’t believe them because nobody will know and when I return it is going to be something that will be universally visible.” Right across the globe, everybody will immediately know that Christ has returned.

Something just passed through my mind that I heard when I was a child and my mom and I have often discussed this. My granny, my mother’s mother, and her sister met the Truth in 1926, not too far from here, down on the south coast in Winkelspruit, Warner beach area. The workers came there and two women, my granny and her sister, had become very worried about their salvation. Anyway, the mission was worked and they professed and my grandfather professed later and my mother professed as a little girl of eight years old. She was the one that triggered my granny’s thoughts about salvation because she had said that if God had never brought her to her knees she would NEVER have served Him. I quite believe that too because I know what lies inside me.

Well, my granny had two brothers and these two met another faith, I don’t need to mention what it is. They believed in it with all their heart and many of their descendants are serving God in this particular way of serving Him. One day, my great uncle John was visiting my mother. He was very, very deeply involved in his church and they believe a lot in the prophecies but he just said to my mother, “Where is your radio?” She said, “I don’t have one uncle John.” He said to her, “My dear girl, how will you ever know when Christ has returned?” Well, my mother said that she doesn’t know where she got the answer but she answered him, “Uncle John, if it is announced over the radio, it is already too late.”

Well, this just got my thoughts as to this instantaneous and instant revelation. This instant perception of the fact that Jesus has returned and if we are not ready, we are going to be left out of it. This has been a very serious thought to me because it is very possible that we can be professing to serve God. (I am talking about myself and I am just sharing it with you.) We believe that we are serving God and we are seeking to do our best but it is very possible also that we can, like the virgins, start nodding off till we fall asleep. This is what’s been on my mind.

Another thing was, about this man with the wedding garment. I have thought a lot about him and is it just possible, just a thought, that he was provided with that garment by the king? A privilege. A wonderful thing to have the access because he had the garment given to him as a gift from the king. Like we do today too, they did also in those days. When you go to sleep, you don’t go to sleep in your special garment. You put on a nightgown or whatever, your pyjamas, or you take off your outer covering so that you don’t spoil it, and you lay it aside. So you turn over and you go to sleep. This was just in my mind. Did this man have the garment of salvation? Did he have the wedding garment?

With the passing of time, as the one parable says, “The lord delayeth his coming.” It says that he started beating his fellow servants and things were getting a bit out of hand. So we could reach a point where things are just ticking over as usual. Day after day after day and our Lord is delaying His coming. We’ve been given this garment of salvation but are we spiritually nodding off to sleep and reached the point where we have laid aside our garment of salvation? Okay, we know the Lord is coming and we know there is going to be a sudden cry, “Here He is!” Like the bridegroom, and in the pandemonium and in that midnight hour, we don’t have on this garment that we should. It just passed my mind.

Did that man, in that hurry and flurry when they were called to that wedding feast, did he leave that garment behind and there he stood naked before his Lord? What a terrible thought. I just felt for myself that I need to be desperate about this thing. Jesus said, “Be alert, be awake, be clothed because you don’t know when the cry is going to come. He has arrived and are you ready?” I am asking myself this question all the time because it is so easy to get lethargic, spiritually. It is so easy to say, “I know the truth, I know what’s right. I have the garment of salvation,” but slowly, it is slipping away from us and slowly, we are going to sleep spiritually and we might just miss it all. That, to me, is a terrible, terrible thing.

Just thinking about that midnight cry. It wasn’t a soft gentle voice, it was a loud yell! A loud cry that could not be mistaken. We know what happens when we have been asleep and been fast asleep and somebody shouts at you, you are, as they say in Afrikaans ’deurmekaar!’ You just can’t understand, everything is not just as it should be and you don’t know what you ought to be doing. Our God in heaven hears the cry of our hearts. I just looked quickly in Exodus where it says that the cry of the children of Israel came up to God by the reason of the bondage. God heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant and God looked on them and God had respect to them. God hears the cry of our hearts. It can be a gentle cry. It can be a soft cry. It can be a cry for help, and urgent shout to God for help and He will hear it because we are His and He will respect it.

I thought of another cry and that was when Jesus was hanging on the cross. There is a wonderful little poem. I am so stupid about quoting but I have got it written in my Bible and I am going to read it to you.

Yet once Immanuel’s orphaned cry

This universe hath shaken

It went up single, echoless

My God, I am forsaken

It went up from His holy lips

Amidst His lost creation

Why?

That no man else would ever cry

That cry of desolation.

That was the cry that went up from Calvary.

Then, there is going to be another cry when the bridegroom returns. A cry of warning. A cry that He is coming. That He has arrived. He is here and are you ready?

I just pray that God may help us that because He knows us and He has kept us and He will keep us. He hears the cry of our hearts. He heard the cry of His Son who was dying for the salvation of all mankind. The day is coming when there is going to be a cry that will rend the skies and reveal the coming of His Son again. May He help us that we may be endued with that which will attract us to Christ at His return.

I think that we all feel useless; we all feel small, unworthy, incapable. The last couple of days a few lines of a hymn has been going through my mind each time when I thought of this meeting, “We, a mouthpiece weak, uttering things divine.”

This year, I thought a little about the mouthpiece of wind instruments – it was rather a lovely thought to me. I don’t know too much about it but I understand that the mouthpiece is the personal possession of the player. It’s a small part of the instrument and yet, without it, the instrument is useless. It is also the means by which the breath of the player is transformed into the sound of the instrument. Something came into my mind this afternoon while meditating about it. I remember when we were in England, we went to the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels there. I read through the booklet afterwards and there was just a little comment about the silver trumpets that the Heralds used. They lie in glass showcases with, if I remember correctly, it’s the Lion of England, several rows of lions, on the banner underneath. Beautifully preserved and beautifully presented, but there is something missing. The mouthpiece. Because of this, they cannot be played.

I wonder if we realise just how important we really are? Even though we feel we are useless, unable, incapable. Because God can use us to convey a very special part of Himself to the world around us. I just thought of those trumpets, those heraldic trumpets that I mentioned. As representing the Kingdom of God as well as Salvation and Redemption. But I can tell you this, that all that God has planned, is useless without you and me. We are just a tiny little piece in this great plan of salvation. His plan of salvation would be a museum piece locked up in this book. A voiceless, beautiful story. You could look at it. You could read it. You may even understand it, but without a life that’s in the hands of the Master, and without the breath of the Holy Spirit passing through us, this salvation can remain meaningless to all creation.

I was thinking of a few people or should I say, things, in the Bible, who were a mouthpiece weak. One of them was the little dove that Noah sent out of the ark. She returned with an olive leaf in her beak. Do you know what it meant to Noah? Do you know what it meant to God? That little creature that had no voice, bearing God’s message of peace to all mankind. The same message that the rainbow also conveys to men and women still today. A mouthpiece weak, uttering things divine. God’s message. Used by God.

Another person I thought of was the little captive maid there in Kings. She was someone who was under total control of her captor and she could have had a very hard and bitter spirit and been useless to God. But because of her attitude and because she was receptive, she could be the means of the salvation of her master. A mouthpiece weak, just uttering one, or maybe two sentences. She was the connection between God and a lost soul. The means by which he could enjoy salvation.

Joseph is a similar case. He also could have had a very hard and bitter spirit, a resentful spirit against his brothers. But you know what he said to them there in Genesis? He said, “See, it is I. I speak to you with my mouth,” and his message to them was a message of peace, “God meant it unto good.” A mouthpiece weak uttering things divine. He was under control of the Master, of the great player who understands the instrument and who understands the mouthpiece. Who uses us when we are needed, to convey the right sound.

There is just one other thing I’d like to mention. A number of years ago, I heard someone speaking about the tuning fork, and it came into my mind again. The tuning fork is an instrument that is used to set a standard pitch. It gives an unvarying sound by which the instruments of the orchestra can be set to play together in harmony. To me, it was just a little picture of our Lord Jesus. The sound that comes from His life is an unvarying sound and it sets the standard for all of us. If we are ‘tuned in’ to His life, we can move in harmony as God’s people.

Do you know what a noise is? A noise is just a conglomeration of sounds. They are all making their own sound and they all have a right to make their own sound, but there is no standard and there is no harmony amongst them. So it becomes unintelligible, it is a noise.

I just feel for myself, and this is the message I would like to hand on to you – are you willing to allow God to set the tone in your life by the standard pitch which is set by our Lord Jesus, and are you willing to be taken up by the Lord and used by Him so that He can produce the sounds of the song of the Lamb and the song of redemption, in your life, NOW and for all eternity?

I sure appreciate being here with you this morning, and for your spirit and the bread you shared. Fellowship with brethren is beneficial, but fellowship with God is essential.

In John 20, we read of a meeting Jesus had with His disciples. Verse 19, “Then the same day at the evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, ‘Peace be unto you.’” Verse 20, “And when He had so said, He shewed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.”

The disciples were gathered together, and a great difference came when Jesus came into their midst. As we are gathered here, it is wonderful the great difference that comes when Jesus comes here. Jesus is the essence. I was thinking a little about what Jesus brought to that meeting that day; what made it a wonderful meeting to them that day. So often we wonder what we can bring to a meeting; what will be a help. We can think a little about the four things Jesus brought to this meeting that helped to make it such a wonderful meeting.

The first thing that Jesus brought was peace. Jesus came and “stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, ‘Peace be unto you.’” This is so important that He repeated it again in verse 21 when He said, “Peace be unto you.” Peace is the first and foremost thing we need to bring to a meeting. There had been many fears and apprehensions in their minds; they knew not what the future was holding for them; “the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews.” In spite of their fears and apprehensions, when Jesus came into their midst, He brought peace.

This is true for all of us. Even when we have fears and doubts, it is wonderful if we could still bring peace to the meeting. I don’t know of anyone who could say they had a harder week than Jesus had had. There had been betrayal, denial, false accusations, mocking during the trial; He had been spat upon, flogged, rejected by the crowd, hit in the face; He had nails in His hands and feet, and a wound to His side. After the resurrection, when Jesus appeared in the midst of His disciples, He brought peace. So often, a little something happens during the week and we’re disappointed in ourselves, it is wonderful if we can have peace to share. First and foremost, we need to bring peace.

The second thing Jesus brought to this meeting is victory. Jesus was there in their midst because of victory; and we all are here because of victory or a measure of victory. Jesus showed them His hands, then His side and this must have been touching. First they would take a glimpse at His hands, but later, they would take a good look at His side. These marks of death would be evidence of the risen, living Christ.

So it is today, the marks of death to self that give evidence of being risen with Christ. When we visit someone who had been operated on, they show us the wound that was made to help them. So it was with Jesus. They saw the nail-pierced hands, and His spear-pierced side and they would have realized that Jesus had shed His blood and He had shed it for me. When we consider the hands and side of Jesus and how He was wounded for our sake, we are humbled. We can often relate to the weaknesses and failures of another, but when we bring victory to the meeting, this is what uplifts and inspires. Our weaknesses and failures may inspire our adversary, but when we bring victory, it will inspire the brethren.

The third thing that Jesus brought and shared was an example.

In verse 21, Jesus said, “…as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” This is a very special little message to us who are in the ministry. Jesus had given them an example and then they would follow it. Jesus brought an example to the meeting; a Godly and Christ-like example. Jesus was not asking anything of them, but that He had already done it. Coming to this meeting, Jesus would never ask anyone anything He wasn’t doing or willing to do Himself, and so we appreciate the example of our Lord and our Master.

The fourth thing Jesus brought to this meeting was the Spirit.

Verse 22, “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost.’” His breathing of the Spirit would be unseen, but it would have a definite effect. Although the Spirit is unseen, we feel it. The disciples could leave that meeting with more of the Spirit than what they had when they came there. In verse 25, we read of the testimony of this meeting; the result of this meeting.

Thomas wasn’t at this meeting, and those who were there were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord.” When the meeting was over, I am sure they were rejoicing; they were thrilled with this experience, and their testimony was “We have seen the Lord.” It is wonderful when we can leave a meeting and have this feeling, this testimony that “We have seen the Lord;” we have been in His presence and we believe that He is risen. I am sure they were glad to see each other, but they did not go away from there saying we saw Peter; but they said, “We have seen the Lord.”

If we can try to bring peace in spite of whatever, and if we can bring victory and if we can seek to bring the Spirit, we can see Jesus and we can continue to have this testimony that “We have seen the Lord.” Earlier in this chapter, Jesus was having another little meeting.

In verse 11 at the sepulcher was Mary. She wept. She had found the tomb open, she looked into it and saw two angels sitting there but the Lord wasn’t there. Verse 13, “And they say unto her, ‘Woman, why weepest thou?’ She saith unto them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.’” Verse 14, “And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.”

Verse 15, “Jesus saith unto her, ‘Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?’ She supposing that Him to be the gardener, saith unto Him, ‘Sir, if Thou have borne Him hence, tell me where Thou have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Verse 16, “Jesus saith unto her, ‘Mary.’ She turned herself, and saith unto Him, ‘Rabboni;’ which is to say, ‘Master.’” Or even, my Master.

Here in the garden of the resurrection, we have a weeping soul seeking Jesus. She had this feeling within her that she wanted Jesus. It wasn’t enough that Jesus had been crucified, whom she had followed. Joseph of Aramathea had buried Jesus, and now early the morning of the first day of the week, she found the grave empty. The door [had been] opened and the body was gone. Now, where was Jesus? Jesus spoke to her, but she didn’t recognise Jesus at first. There she was with tears running down her cheeks and eyes stained with tears, asking to have Jesus. Give Him to me, and I will take Him.

I wonder if it didn’t well up in the heart of Jesus that it was all worth it. Because of the love, the desire, and adoration of this weeping soul saying, “I will take Jesus. Even if nobody else wants Jesus, I will take Jesus. The Romans and the Jews did not want Jesus, but I will take Jesus.”

A few days ago, the streets of Jerusalem were echoing when the crowd said, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him.” In the judgment hall, there was mockery and false accusation; and there too those words echoed, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him,” and “Release unto us, Barrabas.” All those words of rejection, but now in the garden of the resurrection a seeking, weeping soul saying, “I will take Jesus.”

Jesus would have felt it was worth it all. It was worth leaving the glory of Heaven; coming down to this earth; growing up as a child; it was worth the experiences of a teenager; the time He was working as a carpenter; leaving home and going into the ministry; telling the gospel; it was worth the rejection; the crucifixion; it was worth it all because one seeking soul was willing to have Him. Because of our love, our adoration and our desire, Jesus could feel today that it was worth it all.

I remember my first year in this ministry, and we were working a mission in a certain place. After some months, my companion gave the opportunity for some to express their desire. A woman did, with tears rolling down her cheeks. I remember this thought welled up within me – it was worth it all. What I left behind wasn’t even in comparison with what Jesus had left behind.

In John 21 was another wonderful meeting with the risen Christ. The disciples were at the sea of Tiberias. Peter went fishing and some others went with him. I don’t condemn what Peter did, as I’m a little less likely now than what I used to be. In Matthew 26:32 Jesus said that “…after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.” In Matthew 28:7, the angel at the grave said unto the women, “And go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead; and behold, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him. Lo, I have told you.”

And verse 10, “Then said Jesus unto them, ‘Be not afraid. Go tell thy brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me.’” They went to Galilee, because they did what Jesus said; and they wanted to see Jesus so they made the journey to Galilee. Most of Jesus’ appearances after the resurrection were around Jerusalem, and now He appeared in Galilee.

It says in I Corinthians 15:6 that Jesus “…was seen of above five hundred brethren at once.” Peter and the other disciples knew the brethren were coming, and they were coming by their hundreds and it was wonderful. But now, how to feed them? In a natural sense, they felt the need to do some preparation for feeding all of them. They went fishing and they weren’t catching anything. It is a beautiful study of the miracles that Jesus repeated. Twice He fed a great multitude by multiplying the bread. Convention is a repeated miracle; the Lord fed them once and He fed them again.

Luke 5:5, “We have toiled all night, and we have nothing to share.” Their obedience to Jesus led to a full net, a full boat that could overflow into a fellow boat and they could share with others. Obedience to Jesus brings a full heart; a full life with an overflow we can share with others. Jesus had done this before, and now He was going to do the same again. John 21:3 “…that night they caught nothing.” Verse 5, “Then said Jesus unto them, ‘Children, have ye any meat?’ They answered him, ‘No.’” In verse 6, Jesus gave them further instruction, and as they followed that “they were not able to draw the net for the multitude of fishes.”

In verse 7, Simon Peter just wanted to be nearer Jesus and he “did cast himself into the sea.” In verse 9 when they had come to land, where Jesus was “…they saw a fire with coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread.” Verse 10, “Jesus said, ‘Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.’” It was already prepared when they got there. Jesus was the first one preparing and prepared for the meeting. He had bread there and fish on the fire. The fire gives light and warmth in the early hours of the morning. They were all gathering there around the fire, and I appreciate that Jesus fed them there.

If you could just try and picture Jesus taking a piece of that bread and then reaching out to Peter, and giving it to Peter. First Peter would see the bread; then he would see the hand; and then he would see the nail prints and he would realize the cost. This bread is precious bread; it cost my Master’s life and my Master’s blood. He would look at the face of Jesus, and into His face and he would see the heart of Jesus and he would be more thankful.

When I went first into the ministry, I received a letter from a woman I didn’t know and have never met. I think she just wanted to encourage this young servant. I responded to it, and received a few more over the years. The years passed, and then I was in another state in the United States, and we were traveling and we came to the town of this old sister. I told the workers with me about these letters and they asked if I would like to see her. ‘Yes,’ I said, so we found her house. I knocked on the door, and then this woman opened the door. She extended a gnarled, withered hand. I looked at the other hand and it was the same. Then this thought shook me: this is the hand that wrote these letters to you; that shared these thoughts of encouragement with you; this is the effort she put forth in giving you that bread.

So this just helps us a little to understand the cost for the Lord to share this bread with us. Jesus was anxious for Peter to share this bread with others. In verse 15, He asked him, “…lovest thou Me more than these?” He saith to him, “Yea Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee.” He saith to him, “Feed My lambs.” Then Jesus asked Peter that question again and again. Such an important question. Peter could prove his love for Jesus by feeding the lambs and feeding the sheep.

First of all, Jesus gave him something to eat and then Jesus gave him something to do. This would give Peter the opportunity to manifest his love for Jesus. Jesus was so concerned about what Peter loved the most. This is such a vital, important question that Jesus asked him that more than once. And this question comes to us again and again. What do we love more than anything, and anyone else?

If a father’s son is to marry a lady, and this father is not sure if this lady loves his son more than anyone else, he wouldn’t be too happy. Our love for the Lord should be above our love for anything and anyone else.

In Acts, we read of another wonderful meeting Jesus was at after the resurrection. He now turned back to Jerusalem. Verse 8, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Verse 9, “And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.”

Verse 10, “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold men stood by them clothed in white apparel;” Verse 11, “Which also said, ‘Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.’” When Jesus left His disciples on the earth, He left them looking up. Their thoughts were heaven–ward. This is what they were looking for; this is what they were waiting for – the return of Christ.

Hymn 110, “Afar From God”, was sung.

John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’” What was interesting to me when I read this chapter some years ago was noticing the mention of days, for there is something odd about this account. It is John who wrote this gospel. That is not John the Baptist but the brother of James, and this was the first day that he mentioned. He begins by writing, “the next day.” It seems like he just picked up somewhere in the middle of John’s ministry and he just says, “The next day,” but it was a significant day. I was looking at our lives, and if we live seventy years that would be over 25,000 days, and a good number here would have surpassed that number. For a child of God there are some very significant days and this is one of them, very significant for in them we have found salvation. John did not really mention what was the first day, and I suppose it was when these Pharisees and priests came to John earlier in the chapter, but it is not so clear. He just does not say, “This is day one,” and maybe that is good for my little part in this meeting, because the beginning is not like a definite time.

Sometimes people ask the question, “When did this way start?” I hope you do not say, “A hundred years ago or so.” I hope you would not say, “Two thousand years ago,” for the answer is in this chapter and I will read you the answer when this way of God that we are teaching started. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God.” This is where it all began, it began with God in the beginning and as far as we know it was before this world and its society started. It was the Word, which we believe is Jesus. It is nice that John referred to Jesus as the Word, because Jesus did everything that God asked Him to do, so He was the living manifestation of His word; the Word was the expression of His will. When we see Jesus walking in this earth, we have a little picture of Him, and getting to know God’s will and His plan, so God and His Son had a plan before man ever came on this world, that there would be a family in Heaven one day that would be bought by the blood of Jesus, and Jesus was willing for that in the eternity that has gone.

So that was the beginning of the way; it was in eternity and it was in God’s heart, then Jesus came and lived it. He just asked people to follow, He did not want people’s ideas, He did not need our improvements, all His salutation was, “Just follow me.” Then was the beginning of our days, and that is another thing.

John held up Jesus as the Lamb of God, and I can remember when that was just like history to me, this whole Bible was a history to me. There did come a day when I realized God sent His servants to me with a very specific message for this man right here. When you are serving God, it is not just God sending His servant John to the world; it was that He sent His servants to me, a very personal message that had my name on it.

There were many days that went on, long before that, that prepared us for that day. It was like the plough that goes through the field and prepares for the seed. I believe God deals with every boy and girl that comes into this world, else how could He judge them on that day, but He will be able to say to each boy and girl, “This was the day that I sent you a message, but there was no response.” I can’t remember really the day this happened to me, but I was very young. David knew that God called him in his mother’s womb but about the earliest that I can remember is when I was about six years old. The religion that I was brought up in consider themselves to be the biggest and the first and greatest and consider themselves to be the ones who are right. They used to have a saying, “You give us a child, and by the time they are six or seven, we will make them a part of our religion for life,” for they were going to indoctrinate them.

What they did not know was that for this little boy, there was someone else getting into my heart besides themselves, and that was God Himself. Now I was six years old and a nun says to me, “God can see you everywhere.” Whether it was her idea or mine I don’t know, but I do remember this day, going into my bedroom and into a closed wardrobe. It had sliding doors. I was inside and closed those doors. I remember it was so dark that I could not see my hand in front of my face and I asked myself, “I wonder if God can see me here?” and He let me know that He saw me there; He spoke to me. I got myself out of that wardrobe pretty quickly, for that was a fearful and wonderful experience, because in a little six year old boy’s heart, I knew God existed and that He saw me and He knew me. He did not preach to me, He did not tell me that He had a way on the earth; He just said, “I see you there and I know your little heart and you cannot hide anything from me,” so that was the beginning that I can remember knowing God’s dealings.

That was not the only time, for I know that God is speaking to everybody by their conscience, trying to develop an honest conscience, this voice showing what is right and wrong and some of my early dealings as a boy with my conscience, some of those are very clear, like your first time of being rewarded for doing what is right and then being made to feel shameful when you have done wrong. One of the times is when I was a little boy. I grew up in the city and I had little friend a couple of blocks away. His name was Billy, and we were allowed to go and play with Billy, but we were never allowed to cross the main highway.

I remember one day playing with Billy and some of these other boys who lived across the highway wanted to play with us and then they said, “We have something going on in our neighborhood,” so we were all going to go over there but it meant crossing the highway, and I remember my mum and dad telling me, “You do not cross over that highway.” I did not know these boys so well, so I said that I cannot cross the street and they said, “Why not?” I was about seven years old, so then they called me a little sissy, but I just said, “No, I am not crossing the street and you cannot make me.” So they all left and went across the highway. I was left alone and I can remember walking back home, but I do remember God was smiling in my little heart. Because I had obeyed Mom and Dad, I felt a little peace in this little heart. Then I remember the other times when I crossed the highway and I cannot tell you all that we did, but I can tell you that I did not enjoy it because I was smitten and I had no peace. That was like God first dealing with this little boy’s conscience, just helping me to understand He is watching and He is rewarding for good and He is punishing for bad and we are accountable to Him.

Then, in my religion, comes the indoctrination process and we are taught, as in Isaiah, and Jesus quoted this verse, “They taught for fear the precepts of men,” and what that means to me is that they are teaching you that if you don’t obey their commandments God will punish you. Now that conscience has been tailored to their commandments and that was how my conscience was developed. Some of the rules were ridiculous but, if I disobeyed them, my conscience would begin to smite me and I would think that I was going to a lost eternity. This had nothing to do with the Bible; it was their commandments, so my conscience began to be twisted. There was this sin that began to enter into my heart like it did in everybody else’s and I began to feel this guilt of sin, a very uncomfortable, unpleasant feeling. I then went to confession to tell my sins to a man, a very terrible, dark experience, then he tells you to go away and say these prayers for your penance, then after you say those prayers, you are still going to burn in purgatory. You are never free from your sins, and they are always praying, always hoping that they will get that time shortened.

So the guilt grows and the fear grows and the fear that you are going to a lost eternity that you never want to mention to anyone and then the guilt of all your sins just keep piling up. When I was very young they would come into the classroom, they would ask the question, “How many of you want to become ministers?” Everybody raised their hand because they taught that if you become a minister you have your best chance of going to Heaven, and what little boy that wants to go to Heaven would not want to become a minister? So that is what I did and was like a little servant to the minister in the service.

Sometimes people ask me, “What started you going in a different path; what started you going in a different direction, which shook you from that religion?” One of the things I would say, when I was about twelve years old, they had this great Council and they introduced a lot of changes in the church. I remember reading a book when I was in the seminary, so thick, with all the changes that would come in, and in my twelve year-old heart I’m thinking, “If I have to read a book this thick with all the changes that are coming now, in ten years’ time I may have to read another book of more changes.” I can remember in religious classes, asking the teacher, “Why are there so many changes from the way that Jesus lived?” To me it seemed so simple, so humble. He said, “Oh, you cannot live like that today, times have changed, but don’t you worry, the leader of our church gets the revelation and we just have to listen to him.”

That was how my understanding was, so then when I was in high school, I went to this seminary, four years of high school seminary, not that we learned so much about theology, though we took it, and everybody that was there had this thought that they were going to be a minister, and if they did not, then they had to leave. I would say that I put my best effort to get close to the God that touched my heart when I was in the wardrobe. I went to service every day, confession every week, I put little notes on my locker telling me when to pray and was very interested in God and yet I could never get the feeling that He was there to speak to me. He seemed so far away.

After four years, I had to make a decision whether to go on to the major seminary or go to a different belief, so I decided to not go on to the seminary. I then went to university and I really did not know what to take up so there was this brochure that I was looking at of all the courses you could take and one mentioned was psychology. These days everyone knows about it, but back then not many people knew about it. It said, “The Study of Life” and this is what I wanted to know about, life, so I said that I was going to take psychology. I did not find it too hard but also I did not find any answers to life in it. It might have some help to people with mental health problems but it did not give me the answers to life.

During that time, it was the Hippie era; it was the time of the Vietnam War, and many people had a bad thought about the hippies. A lot of it they earned but there was something good for me that came from that, what they did; they were willing to question and to challenge what they called the “establishment.” That was the establishment of government, establishment of religion, establishment of their forefathers, and they became a little like the conscience of America. So that was the kind of mode of thinking that I was in and it was very good for me, otherwise I may not have been able to break away from all that had been before me. They challenged, they questioned, but they did not have the answers either. They would just say, “Peace, baby,” but that was not the answer. They could say peace all day long but it did not give you peace. They had some very idealistic views of life but they were not real, and then as the hymn says, “The darkness seemed to deepen,” and that was how it was going in my life.

In my third year of university I lived with five other fellas and one of those men was an atheist and at the end of that year that’s how I was. So I went from the seminary into psychology, and now I am an atheist, so the darkness was deepening. I got to the place where I thought all religions were wrong and even came to the place where I felt there is no God, because I had not seen His evidence; I had long forgotten that experience in the wardrobe. I asked this man who was the atheist, “What happens after you die?” He threw up his hands and got mad saying, “It doesn’t matter, you don’t have anything to do with it, nothing is going to happen.” I learned not to argue with him, because I was going to lose, but I also thought to myself, “I don’t know anything about a God but I know that there must be something after death, because life has no meaning if there isn’t.” I felt that whatever comes after death I have to get it now, and that is going to be my goal, because what else in life is worth going after, when you think how short life is and how long is eternity.

I did not know where to look, but in my mind, that was the most important thing in life, to find this thing that outlasts this life. I looked into some of the eastern religions and I did not care for their viewpoints, their concepts of God, their view of eternity. I then went to a different university, as I was coming to the end of myself, as I had all kinds of questions and no answers, and it was at that time that I met this young man who was a classmate who was walking in God’s way. I saw he was different and I was drawn to him and now I am sitting next to him in class and as far as I’m concerned this man must not be religious because he never said a word about his religion, for a religious person feels that they must talk to everybody about their religion, but he went three months and never breathed a word to me about what he believed, but he sure lived it, he was upright. He was not a steady light on Wednesday and a blinking light on Thursday. He was steady and I could predict after a while what he would say and do. One day a man showed me an article in the paper that was not good and he looked over at my friend Greg and said, “He would not enjoy this, would he?” I said, “No, he would not,” because I knew the standard that Greg had. Some people laugh at this, but I thought that he was taking some kind of vitamins! It is just when you don’t know, you don’t know, because he never told me that he was religious, and there were a lot of religious kids in that school who would try to preach to me. They saw me as some long-haired sinner. I remember in time thinking that whatever this boy has got, I want it. It was just his spirit, his contentment, he knew what was right in life and he did not care what anyone else thought. He was righteous and yet he was humble. So I said to myself that I am going to try to be like him, and I would try in a small measures and I would think that this is how Greg is but the big thing was missing. You cannot imitate peace, or joy; you either have it or you don’t, and I knew that I did not have it. I did not have God’s Spirit and I knew I did not have the main ingredient. After three months, I remember asking him about studying together on a Sunday for we had a big test on Monday, and he just looked at me and said, “I will tell you why I won’t. I usually spend Sundays with the people of our fellowship.” Then I asked him, “What is the name of your religion?”

He looked at me and I really appreciated his answer, “You know that Jesus never gave His disciples any name but that of His own Father,” and when he said that my heart beat with joy, for here is the religion in the goal. I have been reading the Bible and have been asking somebody in my religion, “Where is the name of our religion in the Bible?” They could not tell me because it’s not there, so now here Greg is telling me that what he believes is like they were in the Bible so it was like my dreams were coming true. Is it possible that there is a people on the earth that are like Jesus?

I went and told my older brother, who was going to the same school, and said that Greg has got this religion like the early apostles, and he looked at me with disdain and said, “You could never live like him because that is too strict, too straight.” He just sized him up. I stopped asking questions for a while and then I went through an experience I won’t mention from the platform. It wasn’t pretty bad, but when that experience was over, I was very much convinced that there is a hell and that is where I was going, and unfortunately that was all I knew. I still did not know if there was a God. That night was like the night of nights. I wept, I prayed all night; I was so scared that I would not let my brother turn the lights off, and I was twenty-one years old. I didn’t even know to kneel; I was just lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling and crying with all that is in my being. I could not have been any more hurt if someone had put me on fire. With all the intensity of my being I said, “God, help me.” That is all I could say. I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t say, “Do you have a way on the earth?” I just said, “God, help me.” After a couple of hours of crying and praying and then a little voice said to me, “You don’t believe in God,” so then I said, “If there is a God up there, would You speak to me, would You help me?”

We know now how God speaks but then I didn’t, so I thought He was going to speak to me in an audible voice because I was praying with all my heart, hour after hour. Finally there comes this thought, and I know now where it came from, “You go back to that school and ask Greg about his faith and he will tell you what to do.” That was the only thought that night that had any hope or comfort attached. So the next morning, with zero sleep, I go to that school and start asking Greg questions, and it was from that experience and those questions that led me to my first Gospel meeting, and it was this day that I met a man like John the Baptist, one of God’s true servants. Actually, there were four in that first Gospel meeting. Greg told me, and we agreed that we would greet and meet at the building, and he said, “If you get there first, don’t go in.” I don’t know whether he thought that I might scare anyone, or what anyone would do to me. So I did get there first, and remember being so very nervous, my stomach was in knots, and I remember sitting on that bench outside the building where they were having the Gospel meeting. Greg had told me that these workers are like Peter, James, and John, and these friends are like the early Christians and that is what I had in my head, and I said to myself that if it is anything else then they will never see me again or if this is just some social gathering, I will not go there again. So I am waiting with this anxiety and desperation in my heart and the first ones I see were some of the ladies and I don’t know what I would have done if they had been dressed immodestly, if they were dolled up, but they were Godly women, and I am so thankful because this would have been the worst thing that I could have received at this time. Everything about them, their countenance, their dress, their hair, their spirit, all spoke to me of God, so what a comfort that was to me.

My friend came and we walked into that meeting and there were two brother workers and two sister workers. The older brother worker said to himself, “Who let him in here?” so it did not look too hopeful, but he did not know what was going on in my heart. He told me himself later, that that meeting was nothing short of a chastisement to him. He said that all the time I was preaching to you, God was saying to me, “My Son died for that boy.” The sister worker spoke a simple message, but God used her. She did her part in upholding Jesus and it just broke open my heart and I knew that I was standing in the light of Jesus and in the presence of God and there was no hiding. I had gone to the service of my old religion, who knows, maybe thousands of times and had never had that experience and now in the first Gospel meeting, my heart is all exposed in the presence of God, and that was a wonderful day in my life.

There was another day that happened soon after that. John 1:35, “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, ‘What seek ye?’ They said unto Him, ‘Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest Thou?’ He saith unto them, ‘Come and see,’ and they did.” Now the disciples are not just listening to John, but they are talking to Jesus Himself, and so this was a very important day in their lives as was in mine. My friend told me, “If you want God to speak to you, He will.” He said something that could not have thrilled me more, because that was the whole thing with me that night, that if God spoke, I knew that He existed. Now I am waiting, braced in every meeting for this booming voice that is going to shake the building and is going to speak, and I am really bracing for that voice and it did not happen, because God does not speak unto men but I wanted Him to speak to me. Then in the meeting when I was not expecting it, He speaks and we know now how He speaks, to our conscience with that still small voice, and we cannot explain it but we know without a shadow of a doubt that He is speaking. I remember one time nearly saying something out loud in a Gospel meeting, for wow! When that voice spoke to me, it brought me back about fifteen years when I was a little boy in the wardrobe. He said, “I am the one that spoke to you in the wardrobe. I am the same one,” and I knew that was God and He has been dealing with my heart all these years and now He is saying, “Yes, I exist and I have a son, Jesus Christ and I have servants. These are My true servants, these are My people, this is My way.” Do you think that I could ever doubt that again? He spoke to me and it was a wonderful, wonderful day in my life.

Then there is the third day. John 2:1, “And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto Him, ‘They have no wine.’” She brought the problem to Jesus and then she told the servants, “You do whatever He says for you to do.” You know what that day was? That was the day of miracles and that day has to happen. You do not get into the Kingdom of Heaven unless it does. Sure, you could be very aware that God sent His servants to you and you could even be aware that God is speaking to you, but then there is this day of miracles. All that the servants could do, they could not change the water into wine. You cannot make yourself a child of God, but all you have to do is set your heart to do whatever Jesus asks you to do; that is professing. People ask, “What does it mean to profess?” You just put your life there to do whatever Jesus asks you to do. It is not marking off a bunch of rules, but you set your life to do whatever Jesus asks you to do. You surrender; that is repentance, and that is what begins salvation. The servants did just what Jesus asked them to do; they filled those vessels with water and then they bore to the governor who said that this was the best wine.

I can’t tell you when that miracle exactly happened in my life but I can tell you this one incident, and that was a time between the meetings the Lord is dealing with me and I’m back in the same bedroom where God spoke to me in the wardrobe. I was sitting on my bed and I was thinking about those meetings and I still have this hippie spirit of questioning and challenging and the Lord is having a conversation with me, saying to me now, “How old are you?” “I am 21.” “Are you happy?” “No I am not, I have not been happy for a long time.” He then says, “How do you see these people?” “They are very happy.” “So then why don’t you do what the workers asked you to do, just humble yourself like a little child and become a babe?” and I remember saying, “Yes, I will do that.” I remember a wonderful peace coming into my heart and I can’t say that I was born again at that point, but I do remember that this peace kept increasing. The sisters gave me a chance to make my choice and the elder one said, “If there is anyone that wants to make their choice you can stand to your feet when we sing the last verse of this hymn.” She also said, “Don’t stand up unless you are willing for many, many changes.” I did not know what she was talking about or who she was talking to but I said, “What difference does it make? This is for eternal life and I know that I have found the way to eternal life, a life with Jesus.”

Hymn 276 (Precious Thought)

Joshua Chapter 1:1-2, something I have noticed in recent times. It says “My Servant.” Why is it? Thinking of these great men particularly in the Old Testament, where God said, “My Servant David, My servant Elijah.”

Let it be known that this day there is a God in Israel I am thy servant, a true servant upholding their master and Lord and knowing their place. Thy servant is a lowly place. A servant is often in the background, sometimes despised. Murmured against Like Moses. His brother and sister murmured against him. Just be contented to remain a servant. A servant is someone that is just like our Master.

Jesus took on him the form of a servant. A servant of all, made Himself of no reputation when He stooped to wash His disciple’s feet. Abigail, she was a servant to the servants. The servant is one having a mind of their own but not expressing it. They have a will of their own but don’t exert it. A servant is one that just puts oneself at their master’s disposal. Just faithfully sow their lives as seed.

I am glad for my time these last few weeks with my fellow labourers this side of the world. Their willingness is to serve. I thought of our brother because of ill health, not able to be active in this service like he would like to be.

Only last week we had to do a little preparation and he was right there. The spirit of a servant still remained. He may not have the health but he had the heart. So many today have got their health but they have not got it in the heart. Simon in the last days in the harvest field, it was his best days and the Lord took him at his best.

I found great comfort just to think of that. When the news reached us in Penang, I felt the comfort and the sense of peace that our beloved brother is safely home with God and he has gone home to the other side.

Today we thank God for his years of service. Particularly the last few years in the Lord’s harvest field. Above all we thank God today for the gift of His Son Jesus who came to this earth and for all that it means that we could have His joy and peace within. We also thank the Lord for the glorious gospel story sent from Heaven to this earth and some of us have a little privilege and part in. The life of Jesus that was wholly given in the will of God poured out for our sakes. We thank God for every life that has been willing to take forth this gospel.

There was a happening in the New Testament that was sad. The disciples of Jesus had just laid the body of John the Baptist in the tomb and gathered themselves unto Jesus. That is what we are doing today. We are gathered here unto Jesus as we lay to rest the mortal remains of our brother Simon.

Like what Jesus said to them in Mark 6:31, “Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile.” So while we were there in Penang we were already gathered together, God’s servants and God’s people from different lands. On such an occasion all the family like to be together. Simon’s passing had a sobering and softening effect on the convention.

We thank God for that. We thank God that we could just rest awhile those last two days of convention. We can again focus on Jesus, the Lamb of God and the purpose for which He came and gave us hope of life eternal; a hope that goes beyond the grave.

Now the multitude gathered again and He looked on them and saw them as sheep without a shepherd. Jesus thought, who is going to gather the lost sheep from the multitude? Who is going to care for those sheep? Matthew 9:36 and when He saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion. That was a message to me because I know I have not been doing that praying to the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into the harvest field.

Jesus did not say to pray that this one or that one would go, but pray to the Lord of the harvest and let Him call them and thrust them into the harvest field. Something every one of us can do. Those lost sheep that someone could watch and care over their soul, to help make their calling and election sure, and have a hope of life eternal by preaching Jesus.

Simon was willing but could not continue because of ill health. Let us rise as we pause a little and now go over Jordan, onto the pilgrim journey for we must continue; Let us arise and journey into that Promised Land. There are many in other countries and their thoughts are towards us today. We do extend our condolences to the Dawson family. Pray the Lord of all comfort will be able to draw very near not only to them but to all of us at this time.

Proverbs 11:3, integrity is a strong adherence to a code of moral, ethical and spiritual values. It is connected to our conscience and will guide us! People with integrity live close to God and don’t need rules!! God built it into our lives. Don’t lose it!!

Honesty – we don’t need rules to know if we are honest. Basic honesty is needed for repentance so God can take care of our sin. We won’t allow God to deal with the sin in our lives if we are not honest. It is important ín business, but don’t expect the world to encourage integrity. Integrity will do what is moral as well as legal. People with integrity can sleep at night!

In corruptness – don’t let anything corrupt your standard! Many things can: place, money, friends, etc. If our friends are corrupting us, we need to get new friends! Don’t have a wishbone where a backbone should be!! The love of money corrupted Gehazi and Judas.

Righteousness is doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason! For instance, forgiveness is the right thing! The right time is before the event (Matthew 6:12 is a prayer to begin the day!). The right reason is because we have been forgiven and we love God. Doing the right thing for the praise of men or to be noticed is the wrong reason! Integrity lives for the blessing of God and doesn’t mind not being noticed.

When you see a happy contented person, you are seeing a person who has been serving in secret (Matthew 6). Integrity will be evident in our choices! Perhaps the computer/Internet is the test of integrity in our present generation.

Perfection – integrity doesn’t say that’s good enough, if it is not our best. Our personal best is a personal choice before God. Only we and God know if it IS our best or just what will pass in the eyes of others! In Old Testament days, they were to bring the BEST lamb from the flock for sacrifice. The priest didn’t go checking to see if it really was the best. He offered it as if it was…but was it?? We have a goal to be like Jesus and the best we can do won’t reach it. The gap is what God’s grace will cover for us. But His grace won’t reach if the gap is greater than our best. Our integrity will be tested by this.

Simplicity – life is very simple when we have a singular purpose! How much do we believe in the simple words of Jesus? They will test our integrity! Whenever Jesus uses the words “except,” (for example, “except ye forgive”) it is NOT optional! (Mark 10:11-12) John the Baptist gave his life for this standard! The spirit of a child will accept this; the spirit of a lawyer will contend it! Except ye become little children, are born again, deny self, etc. That’s how God protects His Kingdom! No exceptions! When we don’t deny self we give Satan opportunity to work!

Principles or convictions – these are most often tested from those inside the Kingdom. Can we be true even if our friends are not? The test to our integrity, if we have been untrue, is how do we feel Sunday morning? Like a hypocrite? Choose truth and stand by truth and truth will stand by you!

Sincerity – this is the foundation for commitment. Sincerity cannot be faked before God! Our private prayer life is a test to our integrity. If we want the blessing of God, we will pray. If you are having trouble, try the 15 minute rule. Read a column in your Bible, write down a thought, close your eyes and think about God. Then begin to pray.

Coherence – a double standard doesn’t work. Keep things clear!

Judgment is God’s mind on the matter.

Our God is a God of a second chance.

We reap what we sow – a promise not a threat.

A little from God is a lot.

You can’t get further than a conclusion: “Let’s hear the conclusion of the whole matter ………………..”

There is another conclusion in Micah 6. What does the Lord require of thee? To love mercy, to do justly and to walk humbly.

Planning with God will not fail. If we fail to plan, we’re planning to fail.

This is the day of mercy. We don’t deserve mercy. Mercy has a time factor attached to it. There is no limit to God’s mercy, if it is requested.

Walking is the longest form of movement. You take steps to Heaven. First step – repentance, second step – baptism. It’s not in man to direct his own steps aright.

The just man falls seven times, but he riseth up again. Rising up again makes him just – he doesn’t want to stay there.

The Lord can correct us without embarrassing us. He can correct with His eyes.

Coming to Jesus on behalf of others, Jairus came to Jesus on behalf of his daughter. Woman with the issue of blood came to Jesus with her own need.

Nothing has changed the Gospel message – it’s the only thing we can put our hope in.

The Spirit is like the wind: you can see the effects of it, see the results of it on the outside.

The touch of Jesus on the blind man’s eyes: the blind man couldn’t explain, but those around him couldn’t deny it.

The Son of Righteousness will rise in us when we pray and read in the mornings.

Reduce all your cares to prayers.

The power of restraint is nothing compared to the pain of regret.

Satan doesn’t tell us the end results, only the present temporal benefits.

You’re forever in debt to the one that is kind.

What we surrender to can cause us to fall.

There is no time lost in waiting while we’re waiting on the Lord.

It’s a sad thing to lose our song; fatal to lose our cry.

Encouragement is contagious, and discouragement is contagious.

Showing the right Spirit when we’re wrong is honesty. Showing the right Spirit when we’re right is humility.

Good meditation feeds our hearts. Good conversation feeds others’ hearts.

The victories of others can help us and encourage us but only our own victories can save us.

Love is retained by living, explained by giving.

Good if our attitude is gratitude and our mission, submission.

If we don’t kill the enemy, the enemy will kill us.

True Humility: thinking less of ourselves.

It’s the Spirit that gives the message strength.

Our Heavenly Father has good hearing – He hears our faintest sigh.

Every Child of God is looking towards the Eternal Harvest.

Having the fruits of the Spirit will encourage people to love God more.

If we are obedient to God’s Will, there won’t be any surprises on the Judgment day.

Faith is more real than the best of men’s reasoning.

There are good examples and bad examples; Jesus was the perfect example. We can learn from the bad examples what we don’t want to be; good examples desiring to be what they are….

When we’re young, we can spoil our future. When we’re old, we can spoil our past.

Pray until we are soft, read until we are fed.

Life is full of problems and they started in the garden. We don’t know when they will end.

Sometimes we are attracted to alternatives but there is no alternative to Jesus.

The Devil is the accuser of the Brethren. He tried it with Jesus; he’ll try it with you.

Daniel had the wisdom where to draw the line.

“Thou hast heard, But I say unto you………”

What God asks of us is not to make our lives miserable; we will be richer by it.

When God’s presence is our portion, Satan won’t touch us.

The draw of the Gospel, the wonderful draw, drawing near to God.

We can conquer battles in the place of prayer before anyone else knows about them.

Fellowship is feeling the heartbeat of Christ in our Brethren.

Friendship isn’t Fellowship. It’s an absolute must that we have Fellowship.

The Devil wants to question our identity.

I never want to be numb to the touch of God or deaf to His voice. I’m terrified of being fake.

There was never a baby born that changed the world so much as Jesus did.

When Jesus came to the earth for the first time, it was night/dark. Jesus will return in the dark.

Heart to Heart talk with God and others, “did not our hearts burn within us”…..

Annual feasting is not a substitute for daily feeding.

Jesus never slept spiritually.

God doesn’t argue; He just withholds His peace.

The Lord knows we are very much alive.

There are two different portions of Scripture that I will read this afternoon. Proverbs 24:30, “I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding, and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well, I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.”

The other one is Matthew 21:28, “But what think ye? A certain man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise, and he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, ‘The first.’” I was thinking about this father that had two sons, and this father also has a vineyard and there is work to be done in the vineyard. He has two boys that are strong and able and he wants them to help him in the vineyard.

One morning, he goes to the bedroom of the first boy. He opens the door and the boy is still in bed and the father says, “Son, go work in my vineyard today,” and this boy says, “I will not. I don’t have time, I have other plans, my day is full.” The father is sad and he backs out of the room and closes the door, then goes on down the hall to the bedroom of the second boy, he opens the door, the boy is in bed and the father says, “Son, go work in my vineyard today.” This boy says, “Okay, I will do that.” His father says, “Okay, I will meet you out in the vineyard in two minutes.” “Okay dad,” so dad is happy, he pulls the door shut behind him and the boy turns over in bed and goes back to sleep.

The father goes out to the vineyard and he is waiting for the second boy and he does not come and here comes the first boy, the one who had said “No.” He says, “Sorry, dad, I have changed my mind. I will help you in the vineyard today. Now what is it that you want me to do?” I am thinking of this vineyard, and of course that is where the vine grows. This father says in the morning, “Go work in my vineyard today,” and I am thinking that your life and mine is a little bit like a vineyard and that is where the vine has been planted and we read about Jesus being the vine.

I wonder if our Father comes to us in the morning, every morning and says to us, “You go and work in the vineyard today.” Maybe there are some times when we say, “Yes,” and maybe there are some times when we say, “No.” So what is He going to do in the vineyard? What do we do in the vineyard? I do not know very much about vineyards and the work that needs to be done in them but I was thinking of three things that are in the vineyard. There is the soil, there are the branches, and there is the fruit. Maybe we need to work a bit with the soil, soften the soil up a bit to make it easier for the vine, maybe some work with the branches, or maybe we need to examine the fruit.

Looking into our own lives, the soil, I was thinking of what it says about Jesus. Isaiah 53:2, “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.” He is a root that is growing out of dry ground that is like the vine growing out of ground that is very dry. This vine Jesus has been planted in our life, planted in our heart and have you ever come to the conclusion of how dry the soil of your heart is, how base, how embarrassing it is at times?

Maybe it surprises us, because sometimes we get a little glimpse of it. We are shocked at our reaction, we are shocked at what we have said, we are shocked at what we did and we see that this ground is very, very dry. Maybe it leaves us discouraged at times when we see how dry and how base this ground of our heart is but this verse gives me a lot of comfort because it was out of dry ground that this root, this vine was growing.

God will not turn us away because the ground is dry and that wonderful vine is still able to survive even though this human is so dry. So maybe what we have to do in the vineyard today is work with this dry ground and break it up a little, so today we need to deny it; that is one way that we can break it. Another way we can break this dry ground is we can refuse it, we can resist it, we can restrain it, we can push it back. It is just like breaking up the dry ground, making it a little easier for the vine to survive.

Another thing that we might have to do in the vineyard is to deal with the branches. I do not have to say anything more about that, but this means pruning the things that need to be cut away. This is part of the work today. Then there is the fruit and that is what the vine is all about, the fruit, and maybe what we need to do is to take a look at the fruit and see how it is doing and above all things, we want to encourage the fruit, encourage the fruit to keep developing.

What is the fruit? What is the fruit that is going to be produced by the branches of our vine? The fruit is just the likeness to Jesus, the resemblance to Jesus. That is what it is all about, that is what the Lord is wanting to be produced in your life and mine. We have an excellent chapter in our Bible that helps us when it comes to examining the fruit. I Corinthians 13:4, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind, charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth, but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail, whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”

When it comes to examining the fruit, there is a little exercise you can do and I can do. You get yourself into a quiet environment and give yourself some time and maybe get all alone and pick up your Bible and go through these verses and where the word charity is you put the name “Jesus” there. “Jesus suffered long and is kind,” and you stop and you think about that, you think about each one of those statements and you put Jesus’ name there and you stop and think about it. Jesus envied not, Jesus vaunted not Himself, Jesus was not puffed up, and when you go through this list one at a time very slowly, you may have to get a dictionary out to find what some of those words mean, but you just think about Jesus.

What you will have when you have finished this exercise is a picture of perfect fruit. When you have finished that, go back to the beginning and you go through that list again and now put your own name in there and stop with each one and think about it and go on to the next one. It is an excellent way to examine the fruit in your life. You know what it will probably do when you get to the end, it will probably humble you and you’ll probably see how far you have to go yet, how far the fruit has to develop, but that is okay, that is the purpose of all this, examining the fruit, and I think when we come to the end of it we won’t have any thoughts in our mind of what we need to do in the vineyard today. It will give us plenty of work to do. Now we go over to Proverbs and I get another little picture when I read this story. This time I have a picture of a man that is on a journey. He is walking along the dusty road and he is passing a lot of places where people live, he is passing a lot of paddocks that maybe have cattle feeding or maybe some goats, maybe some sheep and he continues walking along and he sees where grain has been planted. He then goes along and he sees something that stops him in his tracks, he is so shocked and astonished with what he sees and stands there and stares. So what is it that he sees?

Here among all these other fields, other paddocks where they have been well cared for, worked with, in the midst of all of them here is this one and it is one terrible mess. All the weeds are growing wild and he is just standing there and staring at it. It says, “he looked on it and he considered it well and he received instruction.” He is getting some lessons as he stands there and as he looks at this awful mess. So what is he thinking? What thoughts are coming into his mind? Maybe he is thinking about the neighbours. Here is this awful mess. Somebody is living over here, and someone is living over there, so what must they think? It must be awfully embarrassing to them, to have this awful mess right there in the neighbourhood next to them.

Maybe his thoughts go then to his own little paddock back home and he is thinking to himself, “Is that what my field looks like?” Maybe he is thinking to himself that, “When I come home, I have got some cleaning up to do for I wonder what my neighbours are thinking of my property?” Then I wonder if he goes deeper and starts looking into his own heart, not just thinking about that field back home but now thinking of his own heart. That is what this is really all about, what does the field look like that is inside of me?

Maybe we think it is hidden but we have got neighbours. You know who the neighbours are, the ones that live close to us, that live next to us and so your neighbours are right there next to you, maybe right in your house, maybe your husband or your wife or your children or your parents, they are your neighbours. For us in the Work, it is the one, our companion who labours at our side, our co-Worker. I wonder what they think of my field. Are my neighbours embarrassed by what they see in my field? Maybe we have got some work to do.

So I am thinking of the things that he sees as he is standing there and looking at this field, this awful mess. One of the first things that he sees is that it is all grown over with thorns. It wasn’t just weeds. I suppose there were all kinds of weeds growing there, too, but what he noticed in particular were the thorns. Thorns are a special breed of plants and thorns give out a very special message, and the very definite message that a thorn gives off is, “Don’t touch me. Don’t get close to me. Keep your distance.” That is what a thorn will say.

Jesus spoke about thorns. Do you remember when Jesus spoke of the sower and of the seed, that one kind of soil that the seed fell on was the thorny soil, and it says two things about the thorny soil: the seed fell there, then the thorns sprang up and choked the good seed. That word “sprang” is an action word and it just means it grew quickly, it sprang up, came up fast. They grew up thick, so thick that they were able to choke out the good seed. Afterwards Jesus explained what He was talking about and you remember that He mentioned what the thorns represent. Mark 4: 18, “And these are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” So there are three things that Jesus said the thorns were like: the cares of this world. You all have them and I have them, all God’s servants have them. We all have cares, things that we need to care about that have to do with this life. Many of you have the care of making a living, many of you have the care of raising a family, the care of maintaining a home, the care of maintaining a vehicle, maybe the care of your health, maybe the care of someone else’s health. Those are all cares of this world and there is nothing wrong with cares, we all have them.

The thing that is wrong about them is when they start to choke out the word, when they start to choke out the good seed, that is when there is something wrong with cares. Then there is the deceitfulness of riches and that word “deceitful” means that there is a lie attached to it, there is a trick in here and it is going to lead us to something, to a destination or to a direction that we don’t want to go. It is going to deceive us, trick us. Paul wrote to Timothy about those who will be rich falling into temptation and a snare, so what are the temptations of riches?

I thought of four of them, four temptations that rich people are tempted with. One thing that rich people are tempted with is to be lifted up in pride, the thought in their heart, “Look what I was able to accomplish.” The second thing that people could be tempted by is to feel that somehow they are at a higher level than people who are not as well off as they are. The third temptation is the temptation to be exclusive in the kind of company that they keep and that they will only choose to keep company with people who are wealthy like them. Maybe the fourth temptation that rich people face is the temptation to show off or to flaunt their successes.

Any of those things could be a hindrance to the word of God and the seed; they are temptations that rich people need to overcome, especially when the rich people are the wealthy Friends inside the Kingdom of God because it could be a threat to the seed. The other thorn that Jesus mentioned was the lust of other things and that word “lust” just means “strong desire.” Maybe most of all we are prone to associate it with something to do with the flesh that is unclean and hateful to God, and indeed that is part of it but it does not necessarily only mean that. There are other things that we could have a strong desire towards that could be a hindrance to the seed, that our desire, appetite, and craving for things even could choke out the good seed.

Here is this man now and he is standing on the road and looking at the thorns that are growing in this field. Another thing he sees that is growing there are nettles. Some are called stinging nettles and you find them in the bush, you go hiking through the bush and you had better keep your eye out for the stinging nettles. If they brush against your bare skin they will leave an itchy rash. The message of the nettles is, “Don’t rub me the wrong way,” and that is something that could be growing in our field and it just makes it miserable for others, just being extremely sensitive, so that people have to be careful how they rub us.

Another thing he noticed as he is looking on this field is the wall; the stone wall is all broken down and maybe it took him quite a while to see that there even was a wall because all the underbrush had grown over, all the thorns and nettles were covering it up and you could hardly see that there was once a boundary here. There used to be some boundaries here and that wall that had once been in good repair was there for the purpose of keeping what was on the inside, inside and keeping on the outside what belonged to the outside. The wall was there so that the outside would not come into the inside and now here is the wall all broken down and everything from the outside is just pouring into the inside.There is one more thing that he noticed as he looked at the field and it is a little hard, he did not see it at first, but when he looked at that field he saw that it was a vineyard. He is standing there looking at it and in the tangle of all those thorns and nettles there is a vine in here, and here is that poor vine struggling to survive in the midst of all that tangle of other things. So we think of our life, we think of that vine, the vine Jesus, and maybe that is just what it is like for that vine, struggling to survive, and all these other things, the weeds, the thorns and the nettles, they are all crowding in and choking out that vine.

I wonder if this man, as he is looking at this field, thinks to himself, “Whose field is this, anyway?” and he looks over there at the gate, there is little sign by the gate, and the little sign says, “The slothful man.” It has the man’s name on it, and then he says, “Now, I understand.” Do you suppose that this takes you back to that boy, and he is still in bed and says, “Yes, I will go, I will be right out there dad.” Dad closes the door and he turns over and goes back to sleep, and he is thinking to himself, “I am not going to care for the vineyard today. I will do it tomorrow.”

Tomorrow comes and it is a repeat of the same thing, “I don’t feel like working in the vineyard today, the vine will be okay, it will survive,” and he leaves it a second day and a third day and a week and three weeks. That’s how it goes, the field of the slothful, the field of the lazy, and that’s just the people that say, “I do not feel like working with the vine today.” That would be sad if that was the feeling in our heart in the morning, maybe the thought would be in our minds, “I don’t feel like reading this morning, I am kind of late for work, I’ll just leave it till tomorrow.” Tomorrow comes and the same thing, next day the same thing and that is just the way it is and what it really boils down to is this, the field of the slothful, laziness.

So where do you begin? Here the field is an awful mess, so where to begin to clean this up? One of the first things that you need to do is to free the vine and that just means we are going to have to get in there and it is going to be a lot of hard work. We’re just going to start cutting some things back. Some of those thorns, maybe some of those cares that have been pressing in too close, I’ll cut them back.

Did you ever notice when you are running late in the morning and you do not have time to do everything that you would like to do in the morning, did you ever notice what will usually get omitted is your reading and your praying? It is never the other things that get cut back. We have to learn to free the vine and it is some of those other things that we need to cut back so that the vine can prosper, so that the vine can be freed.

Another thing we are going to have to do is to get in there with the spade and you know what that is like, you take a scoop of earth and turn it upside down and that is just like making some very definite drastic changes, turning some things completely upside down in our life. The other day, I had some quiet time and was lying on my bed and I was just thinking of these Conventions that I have been at. This is number nine now. I have heard a lot of things and I have forgotten a lot of what I have heard, but what I was thinking is, “What are you going to do, what changes are there going to be when you get back to Canada, what is going to be different?” It is the same for all of us. We are all here at Convention and we hear a lot of nice things but what is going to happen? What is going to be turned completely upside down? That is where the changes begin. Then there is the wall, that wall that needs to be rebuilt. We need to set the boundaries again and set some limits. I was just thinking of one thing that I remember when I was a boy growing up in a professing home and I had the very wonderful privilege of there being a meeting in the home for as long as I can remember. There was a little boundary that my parents set. It wasn’t a hard and fast rule but it was a guideline, that Sunday morning begins at nine o’clock Saturday night.

Saturday night is the world’s night. That is when the world comes alive, but what about for God’s people? For God’s people it is the time for preparation and for meeting with Him the next morning, and maybe that is where we need to build the wall and make a boundary, set some limits. “Now this is all going to stop for I need to give time for tomorrow.” And maybe not only Saturday night, what about Friday night, Thursday night, all the other nights? I am going to set some limits so that I will have time to read and I can have time to pray.

In one of our fields, we were staying with a young family with three little kids. Dad left to go to work in the morning and one day he was kind of feeling discouraged and he said to me, “I just don’t know what I am going to do. I find it so hard to get time to pray and read in the morning. The kids are cranky and it is busy. We are trying to get the kids up and get them dressed ready for school and trying to get breakfast, just the whole thing, and I am trying to get ready to go off to work. I get in the car and head off to work. I have about a half hour to get to work. I have the radio turned on and get the news going and that is always so depressing, so I hardly have time to read, to meditate.”

I just told him, “You have a golden opportunity, and your golden opportunity is that half hour when you are on your way to work. You do not have to have the radio on, you don’t have to listen to the news. There you are all alone in the quietness of your car so what better opportunity to just meditate and to have thoughts towards the word of God to feed your soul.” You set some limits, you set some boundaries because it is all about protecting the vine, freeing the vine. I hope that we will have a prosperous year as we go out to look after this precious vine.

Today, my thoughts have been in Mark 9. There was a man that was disappointed in the disciples and he came to Jesus and said, “If Thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” If Thou canst do anything? That man said that to Jesus and Jesus answered him, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” There was no if with Jesus, He knew He could help this man without a doubt. The if was with the man. I like the man’s response. He prayed with tears. He was honest, and he was urgent, and he said, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” He looked in his own heart, and he saw both belief and unbelief, and I’m sure if you look in your heart and be honest, you would have both also. This man saw that unbelief stands between me and a miracle. He knew that unbelief was his hindrance and he prayed help my unbelief. Jesus honoured that prayer.

It is wonderful to believe, but first we must recognize what our enemy is. Do we see unbelief as sin, do we see it as the work of Satan? It is very serious. How sad if we let unbelief and doubts rob us of the great things that God has for us, if we just believe in Him and His Son and in the Holy Spirit. We have many reasons to believe.

Those that came to Jesus with great faith, they received help immediately. The Leper said, “If Thou whilst, Thou canst make me clean,” and it happened. There was a woman who said, “If I can just get close enough to touch His garment, I will have hope,” and she did. We are going to have as much help as we have faith to believe. We are going to be led as far as we let Him lead us and we will enjoy as much as we let Him give us. We set the limit and do we realise the seriousness of unbelief and doubt.

I was reading in Revelations the other day where it speaks about the depths of Satan. I love reading about the depths of God and of Jesus and their work. It mentioned the depth of Satan and I thought about depths of confusion, depths of deceit, depths of darkness and where it can lead us to. Have you ever felt any comfort or any joy when you are doubting and unbelieving, has it done any good for you? I thought about Eve and what did it do for her? What did it do for the children of Israel? Many died because of unbelief. Where does it end?

Sometimes I wonder how Satan makes people cherish things of the world and he is a deceiver and that is why and that is how he deceives. How can you make so many people believe what is not true, and make people refuse to believe what is true, because he is a deceiver. He will take us into such depths. The end of unbelief is darkness forever. It speaks about hell as a bottomless pit and there is no end and you just fall and fall and fall. We do not want to be led into the depths of Satan. Everyone here that has a revelation that Jesus is the Son of God is very fortunate. And if you believe to the extent that you live by His teachings you are very fortunate.

Jesus said to Peter when Peter said, “I believe that Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said, “Blessed art thou, the rock of revelation that I will build My church upon and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.” We want something in our lives that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. The gates of hell can prevail against all the doctrines and ideas of man, but they cannot prevail against those who believe in the Son of God. We want to build upon that solid rock, something that is in our lives that is sure and eternal. In Revelations, you read about Satan’s deception. He can deceive all except those that have the mark of the Son of God in their forehead.

I was thinking about some Scripture – were doubts hindering them? One time the Pharisees came to Jesus and John 10 and they said these foolish words to Jesus, “How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and ye believed not. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.” Jesus did not do one thing that would ever make anyone doubt. He always did what pleased the Father, He always spoke the words of the Father, and He always did the works of the Father.

Why were they doubting? They would not let the spirit reveal or open their heart to His word because it was right. And they did not like that. They loved darkness rather than light and they justified themselves by saying Jesus was making them doubt. When they listened to Him, they could see they were wrong and all they were doing was just vanity and just a show. They were talking with their lips but their hearts were very empty and very displeasing to God. Then they said, “Why do you make us doubt?” Sometimes we are unwilling and we do not want to do what the Scripture teaches us, we really do not want to follow Jesus so we justify that by doubting. We are saying we do not believe what Jesus is saying and we have to be very careful about that. These religious Pharisees were left in their darkness, they never moved from the dark miserable world. We need to be careful about the sin of unbelief.

I was thinking about Peter in Matthew 14 and there was a storm and Jesus took those steps to Jesus and that was a wonderful thing. Then the waves and the wind were so strong and he focused on that and he began to sink. Jesus asked him, “Wherefore didst thou doubt?” That is such a wonderful question and when we have doubts and we need to search what is it that makes us doubt and where this unbelief comes from. We do not know how Peter answered, but I believe that he got his focus off Jesus and that was the problem.

It is a frightening thing to be on a sea with the waves and you feel very voluble and you feel very alone and we will be that way also on the sea of life, if we have our eyes off Jesus. There are many fierce waves and winds blowing against our fellowship. If we get our eyes off Jesus and then let the winds and waves affect us, we are on very dangerous waters. We must keep our focus on the Son of God. After that experience, Peter moved on from the steps of doubt into a deeper love and appreciation for Jesus and Jesus wants that for us.

In John 20, we read about Thomas after Jesus was crucified and after the resurrection and the wonderful news came that He was alive. And we know the sad story that Thomas never went to the first meeting the disciples had after the resurrection. Then the disciples came and said to Thomas, “We have seen the Lord.” Then Thomas said some very sad words, “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.” That is a very bold statement, “I will not believe.”

Jesus could have left Thomas there. Jesus had already done so much and there were so many reasons why Thomas should believe. Jesus could have said, “Thomas, you were there when I fed the 5,000. You were there when I calmed the wind and the waves. You have seen so many miracles. We had so many good visits,” and Jesus could have given him a long list of reasons why he should not have unbelief. Jesus didn’t. Jesus wanted him to believe, and Jesus came to him after eight days and Jesus said to Thomas, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing.” Jesus did not want Thomas to enter in to the hopeless future of unbelief. Be not faithless but believing. That is God’s message for all of us, search what causes the doubts and be not faithless, but believing. We all have so many reasons to believe. Thomas touched Jesus’ wounds and was reminded of His spirit and then Thomas believed. We all need to be concerned about doubts and fears because it can stop the work of God in our souls. Jesus invited Thomas, “Touch Me and make sure of this.”

I like what it says in Luke 24, “Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet that it is I myself, handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have.” Handle Me, make it real, take it to yourself and there is every assurance that we should believe and come and see. I love this invitation and John wrote later we have handled this, we have the words of life and we must be sure that we handle this.

I had a friend who was killed in a plane accident. And the daughter told me that they were at the funeral parlour and they were all around the casket and they begged the undertaker to open the casket so they had some assurance it was really their father. The undertaker said, “I cannot do that because the body was not whole.” And after a little while, he said, “I could show you his hand,” and so he showed them their father’s hand and it was wonderful to them to know this really is my father. That is the hand that has touched us and the hand that guided us and the hand that corrected us and the hand that embraced us, that is our father’s hand. We know his hand.

We want to take hold of these things as they are true and they are real and we can make them very real in our lives. So sad to let the sin of unbelief and doubt take us into our hopeless future and to destroy the great work God wants to do in our soul. I hope we will pray, “Help my unbelief, increase my faith,” and we will make a greater effort to make this very true and very real.

I have been thinking about storms and as a sister was saying last night, it is just part of the journey, we encounter storms, we do not ask for them, we don’t want them, we don’t like them but they come. Storms are a part of life whether we are serving the Lord or not, it comes in the way of affliction, tragedies, persecution, adversities, and sickness. A couple of things about storms that make them so unwanted and frightening and discouraging is for one, we often times do not know how long the storm is going to last. Sometimes a storm comes and we feel that it is going to be like this for the rest of our lives. Then the other side that frightens us is that we do not know how intense the storm is going to be before it is done, maybe it is something that is going to destroy me. Storms are often a testing time, a proving time, and maybe some here; we don’t know might be going through a little storm right now. There are different degrees of storms, some are light ones, some heavy ones, and a few years ago I went through a very heavy storm, the worst in my life, very few people knew about it. I had an old coworker who told me that if you ever get up against it, talk to me, and I just happened to be at a convention when the storm hit and he was there. I reminded him of his word, as I thought that he would give me some good encouragement, but he looked at me and said, “It will do either of two things, it is either going to weaken you or strengthen you, “ and he walked away, so I said to myself, “Thanks a lot.” It was okay because I was determined that this storm was not going to beat me, it helped me to pray. I am thinking of a few storms in the Bible and I don’t know if it is going to be a help to you but it has been some to me. The first one I would like to talk about is Job; Job’s storm is unusual because of its intensity. Job bore this testimony, he was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil, he stayed away from evil, and because of this he became a target. I believe that when we begin to serve the Lord, we become a target for Satan. He doesn’t go after anyone but after the Lord’s people. Job became a special target because of the testimony that he bore, he was perfect and upright, we don’t usually use that word perfect in describing one another because in our mind when we think of perfect we think of Jesus the sinless one who never made any mistakes. In this case the word perfect, it seems like the Lord had nothing against Job, he was very pleased how Job was doing. A brother in Canada, before he died, was asked by another brother, that if he could go over life again, would you do anything different, would you have any regrets. He thought for a little while, and he came back and said I would have to say no, the reason why is, I did what I could with the understanding I had at the time. He realized that when he was a young worker he acted in a certain way and perhaps in a way that he would not have 30 years later but at that time the understanding that he had he did what he could to please God. I think of some very fine young workers to my right and to my left and I feel that if they’re anything like me, in 30 years time, if God spares them, they will look back and say, did I say that, but they are doing the best they can with the understanding they have today. If I am spared for another 20 years I will likely say the same thing to where I am now. Job bore a testimony very like Jesus, Jesus is so important, think of this now. Heb 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. That is the testimony that Jesus bore, he loved righteousness, he eschewed evil, he hated evil, you will eschew evil, get away from evil if you hate it, if you learn to hate it. Paul when he was talking to Timothy, said endure hardness as a good soldier, he gave him good advice for a soldier, you think of a soldier and he is strong, and in that very same chapter, he told him, you flee youthful lusts, that’s a good soldier. You would think that that was a very brave soldier, but that is a wise soldier and he will live to fight another day, to flee youthful lusts does not lose the battle, there is nothing you can do about it, the way you gain the battle is just to flee. Our master was the example when he multiplied the loaves and fishes they wanted to make him king and he fled that, he went up the mountain, climbed the mountain to be alone with God, so that is the direction we want to flee, flee to the Lord from iniquity. He feared God, that is a wonderful attribute, we had a very nice searching testimony from one of our saints in the last convention, she said, I was thinking that if I fear God less than I did last year I am going in the wrong direction, because that is the direction of the world. We want to do the opposite, we want to fear God with all our hearts and that would be governing our decisions in life, to please God. Job had this testimony and the book of Job is very unique in many ways, and one of the ways it is unique is that we read more about a conversation with God and Satan than in any other part of the Bible. It was like an exchange, it was not a pleasant one, it never is between God and Satan, but there was Satan appearing before the sons of God, and the Lord asked him, where have you come from? He replied that I have been going to and fro and then God asked him have you considered my servant Job, the Lord knows why Satan was going forth to and fro, he was like a roaring lion, so have you considered my servant Job in all your efforts, and in deed he had, he knew him well. Satan said to the Lord, does Job fear you for naught? And this is what he said about him. Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substances is increased in the land, but put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. So Satan understood, he went after Job and he could not get to him because he saw that there was a hedge. So any temptation that Satan put to Job did not have any effect because he kept running into this hedge. Then imagine Satan, who is so much smarter than we, he did not understand that hedge, he thought that hedge was made up of material, natural blessing, so that is why he said to the Lord, you take away that hedge and he will curse you to your face. That hedge was not made up of material, natural blessing, that hedge was made up of a spiritual relationship that he had with God, it had nothing to do with natural blessing. Satan does the favor of weeding out the loaves and fish disciples, because if that is our hedge, it will prove it every time, if that is why we are serving the Lord, Satan will be able to take that hedge away, a good storm will take that away. You will get offended, or some temptation, if that is our hedge we will not last, but that wasn’t Job’s hedge and God knew it. It would seem as though God took a gamble, we would hardly think of God taking a gamble but he said to Satan, you take away those blessings but don’t touch his life. This would seem to be so abnormal or out of character for God to take a gamble like that, for a man’s soul but I do not believe that there was any gamble in it because Satan did not understand that hedge but God did. There was a relationship between Job and God that Satan did not understand and I do not believe that he understands your relationship; you have with God, nor mine. So it was not a gamble, for God knew how Job was going to come out of this because he knew that the natural blessings were not the hedge, that was not why he was serving God and that is not why you are serving God.

One of our friends faced some very rugged storms in her life, she lost her husband, she lost her son suddenly, he had cancer in the brain, then she was talking to her daughter in her house which was across the field from her house, and there she sees her house burning down, too late to do anything to save the house, she did not save one thing in the house. They showed me a picture of the house, it was all charred metal, ashes but I looked at that picture real close and you know what I saw? I saw a stack of metal chairs, she had the meeting in her home, that was just the one thing that remained, they were charred but they were still standing and that spoke loudly to me. The way she spoke about it, was that this is just another bump in the road, it did not bother her because that was not the hedge, she went on serving the Lord, she said that the people will have to meet somewhere else until I get my house rebuilt and then the meeting would go on in

her home because the material blessings were not the hedge. We know that Satan was allowed to take quite a bit from Job, all his wealth and then he took his 10 children and that really hurt and it is hard perhaps for us to understand all that was going through Job’s mind, the trauma, the mental anguish, the pain in his heart, and maybe not very sure where his children ended up. It says that he would sanctify his children because he knew that they were feasting in their homes and I wonder how he sanctified them? I expect that he told them, you keep God first and don’t be carried away with these feast days, birthdays, keep it simple, keep it small, that is how he sanctified them. Then he offered a burnt offering for them and he looked out for himself too, maybe he was just concerned, where did they go in Eternity. In all that, he did not curse God, he recognized that this is just part of life. So then Satan is before the Lord again and the Lord said to him you have tested him and he has come through, then Satan was not satisfied with that, you would think that he would give in, but he is not fair, he is not honest. Job 2:4 And Satan answered the Lord, and said, skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. So the Lord told him, you can have him but save his life, so we know that Satan smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. This is what would hurt Job the most immediately, that would cause him the most difficult pain, so Job took him a potsherd to scrape himself all over and he sat down among the ashes. Imagine the pain that must have been in him, now there was not just mental anguish, and now he just does not have emotional anguish, but now he has physical pain to add what he had. The storm is intensifying and that is why his wife said to him to curse God and die, the storm is hitting the hedge the leaves are dropping and breaking some of the branches off but the root was there. Job said to his wife, that you speak like the foolish women, we don’t just receive good from the hand of the Lord and shall we not receive evil. Then we do not read about Satan conversing with God anymore, in fact, we do not even read his name in the rest of the book but he was there. Job’s three friends came from different parts and they made an appointment to come and comfort Job, that was their purpose, so they picked a day and they came together and it is good to remember this. When they saw Job afar off they did not even recognize him, it says they wept, they had feelings for him, they rent their garments and then they sat with him for seven days and not saying a word because they saw that his grief was so great. I had a companion one time and maybe he was right, I don’t know, he wondered when they sat there for seven days and said nothing, that Satan wasn’t there sowing thoughts into their heads against Job. The first thing that Job said, he cursed the day that he was born, wishing that he could die and as he went on and finished his little story, you remember it was like in exchange, they turned out like a pack of dogs. One went after Job and then he would answer them and then another one would go after Job and then he would answer them, and what it amounted to is that they all assumed that this was a time of judgment, that this storm amounted to a judgment against Job. Job may have been thinking the same thing, they assumed and they gave a lot of examples how the wicked would be struck down and their children would be destroyed and all their wealth would be taken away in a moment of time. This went on and on, really giving example after example of God’s judgment against the wicked, told him that he had been a comfort to other people, he had strengthened their hands but now it has happened to you. All they would tell Job to do is to repent, because you have done wrong and that is why this storm has come upon you, they had the thing completely wrong. That storm came upon Job not because he was wicked but because he was very, very good, like he was one of God’s best, and he faced the worst storm and so maybe we could remember that when the tests come and you don’t understand why. We need to remember that when we professed we became a target for Satan but we also have one that is looking upon us and that is God. Then because of this Job was forced into a defensive mode and so he is defending and what he is defending is his righteousness, he doesn’t know why God is doing this to him because he was righteous, he never heard the conversation between God and Satan and he did not know that this was a test. There were a couple of things going on here, one was, Satan was saying to God, Job isn’t what you think he is, and even if this was a level playing field, Job would curse you to your face. At the same time Satan is saying to God there is not much to you either because no man will serve you unless there is some natural benefit because you are not fair and you are not good. Satan knew who he was and he knew that God’s judgment is against him, so he set out to prove that God is not fair. This was quite a challenge, when you read the book of Job, there was a lot at stake, it was not a gamble to God because he knew the heart of Job. By the same token he knew the heart of His Son, when he sent Him here to the earth, He was not gambling with His Son. Some have this wrong belief because Jesus never sinned, they say He could not have sinned, and it was not that Jesus could not have sinned, but it was that God knew that He wouldn’t sin, and there is a big difference between the two. Did you ever notice in Isaiah 53, where it says, that he was wounded, it is written in the past tense like it already happened and in a sense it did in the eternity that has gone, because he was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Jesus knew that all this was going to happen and He was saying to His father, I am willing, I’ll go, so when He came from heaven to earth and took on a human body but He still had the heart that He had in heaven and God knew that heart would not betray Him or go against Him. I was thinking about some of the things that came out of the mouth of Job, he said some things that later he regretted in defending his righteousness, it almost seems that he was pushed so hard, we need to remember where he was arguing from, losing all his wealth, losing his children, then in pain and now these three friends only intensified the storm for Job. They did not comfort him and he called them a bunch of miserable comforters they only intensified the storm for Job.

It came down to just a few things that tells us what it was like for Job and he said. Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” That was like his hedge, and even though the branches were breaking, the leaves were falling, that hedge held, this trust and even though Job would make that statement because that is how Job was thinking, that God was against him. Now saying that even if he destroys me I will not stop trusting in him, what a wonderful faith he had. We were hearing about the palm tree that continues to bear fruit till it dies, and that is a wonderful aspect of the palm tree, many of you would know that it has a tap root that goes way, way down into the ground. I labored in this work in Miami, Florida for a number of years and they have hurricanes which they name, and there was the famous hurricane named Andrew in 1992, and it just about destroyed South Miami. In the United States they have categories, one being the least and five being the greatest and this was a number five, several of our friends lost their homes and some of the stories I heard were very traumatic and dramatic for it nearly flattened everything. In a category five hurricane, there is not much that will stand in its path but one of the few things was standing was these palm trees, because their root went right down and they were flexible. Job also said that God maketh my heart soft, and these palm trees would bend, other trees like oak trees, or like your gum trees, they would snap.

This is what is going to enable us to hold in the storm, if we have a root system, and what Job did every day, putting his life on the altar, offering his life is developing a root system, there was a relationship between Job and God that Satan did not know anything about. Even though Satan is clever because he belongs to a kingdom that is higher than ours, he did not understand that hedge. Another thing that Job said, he was begging to his friends, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me, why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh? He was begging them for pity, and they were not giving him any. Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Then Job said to his friends, You should say, why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me? That was Job’s faith, he did not expect anything more in this life, maybe that storm is going to go on for the rest of my life, he was looking forward to meeting his redeemer, and though he did not understand, if he had understood it would have made things so much easier. Many times in life we don’t understand, when we go through storms we don’t know why I am going through this and many people in the world will blame God, they will curse God but God’s people don’t do that, it is a test on them. They say I don’t know why God is letting me go through this, why God took my little baby, why did God take my son, why has he afflicted me, why my health is broken down, there are lots of things that we don’t understand but we can take a wonderful comfort that we have a redeemer that will take our part and will plead our cause and we can trust that God does care for us. At the end when God spoke to him out of the whirlwind and I remember an old brother worker speaking of the 38th chapter, saying that it wasn’t God in the whirlwind, it was Job, that storm had twisted him all around and he was in a whirlwind but then God started dealing with him. The things that the Lord said are very telling as to where Job was. Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? That is where Job was in defending himself he would say that God is wrong and I am right in all of this because he assumed that this was a time of judgment and it wasn’t, it was a time of proving and it was a time of improving. Job said at one time that when I am tried I shall come forth as gold, years ago when I was a younger worker I was studying this with an older coworker, and I said to him that what you read in the first chapter would make you think that Job was gold already, and he replied quickly, yes that is right but now he is purified gold. That is what the storm has for a child of God, it is a proving but it is also an improving so that we come forth as gold. So in those last chapters the Lord began to ask Job a lot of questions, around 80 questions. I remember when I was in school and you had a quiz with maybe 80 questions you could only miss about 10 of those and do all right, you could still come out with a C or something. In these 80 questions, you know how many Job got right, zero, so he flunked the test miserably, God was asking him about things he did not know about, about nature and it had a humbling effect upon Job. Like what someone has said, that life is just one long lesson in humility. God spoke a whole chapter on the leviathan and that is a picture of Satan, he asked Job can you grab him by a hook? Job could not but God could and he was kind of telling Job that’s who you have been facing, it’s not me, it was Satan that has given you this storm but the end of the Lord he was very pitiful and he blessed Job twice as much as he had before. In all this storm Job hung on, as James said to have patience, Job had patience and this hedge protected him against Satan.

The next storm that I would like to mention is Jonah and Jonah had a little different storm, and the reason it is different is that Jonah caused the storm, it did not come because of Jonah’s good testimony, it came because of his disobedience. In the beginning of that book the Lord asked him to go to this city, a principal city of Assyria, the enemies of Israel and preach to them and Jonah did not want to do it. He went down and got a ship going in the opposite direction, paid the fare and did he ever pay, he got into that ship, and the Lord sent the storm because of Jonah’s experience of disobeying the Lord. One thing that we can say about this is, that if we disobey God we can expect a storm, it will come, it may come in the lack of peace, the lack of joy and the Lord will be pushing his hand against us, it will come. Another thing that we need to be careful about in our defiance and our stubborn will, we can cause others to face the storm too for all those men in the ship were in that storm. Later they knew who was causing the storm and it was Jonah, so they said what shall we do, and then we see repentance coming into the heart of Jonah, very Christ like he said, throw me overboard, but they knew that this was certain death, and they didn’t want to do it. Throw me overboard, I am going to die for you and that storm will stop and it did. All those men made vows to the Lord, I don’t know whether it meant their salvation but it saved their lives. God prepared a fish, God prepared the storm and he prepared the fish that could somehow swallow Jonah, and remain alive for three days and nights. There he prayed and did he pray, from the depths of hell have I prayed unto thee, one of the things he said in that desperate prayer, he knew that the Lord was hearing him. Jonah 2:8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Lying vanity to me is like saying that I can disobey God and get away with it, that is a lying vanity, that I will not face these consequences. That I can get away with this and it won’t be so bad and when we practice lying vanity we are forsaking our own mercy and he came right around from that and then he said. Jonah 2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay that that I have vowed. What did he vow? I am sure that he vowed that I will obey you Lord no matter what you ask of me, I will obey you, so the Lord commanded that fish to spit out Jonah and the next thing we read that the word of the Lord came to Jonah and asks him to do the same thing that he asked before and Jonah obeyed this time. He went to Nineveh and said that in 40 days the Lord is going to destroy the city and somehow the King had a fear of God and he commanded everyone to fast and be in sack cloth and ashes, to repent, who knows but the Lord may show us mercy. They believed Jonah, and one old worker said that Jonah walked into the city with whale spit all over him, and maybe he told them what he had been through and it had weight and they repented. Now Jonah is angry, so then the Lord had to deal with Jonah again, he prepared the storm, he prepared the fish and now Jonah is sitting up there to see what is going to happen getting angry and builds him a little booth and God prepares this gourd. Giving Jonah some shade for it was very hot, and he was exceedingly glad for the shade. Then the Lord prepared a worm to eat that that gourd and it was destroyed and so here Jonah is angry again, very angry because he lost that gourd. God spoke to Jonah and said you showed a lot of mercy towards that gourd but you have not shown any mercy towards these people, 60,000 people who do not know their right hand from their left. It just seemed that this experience of the whale taught Jonah obedience, but somehow he still had to learn the lesson of mercy. He told God that this is the reason why he did not want to go and preach to these people because I know that you are a merciful God and they will repent and they were Israel’s enemies. He was giving them a New Testament message way back in the days of the Kings and he just did not like it, the Assyrians were their enemies, that was in his mind to destroy them and you tell me that they need to repent. The Lord was trying to teach him the depth of his mercy and the Lord is still seeking to teach me and to teach you the depth of his mercy, sometimes we go through storms that you could have avoided if only you had shown more mercy.

The last one I want to mention is in acts 27, this is a storm that Paul went through and it was not his fault, he went through this storm because of the disobedience of others and he is at the other end of it. He is going to testify before Caesar and it mentions him getting into a certain ship and they go by Cyprus and the winds were contrary. Acts 27:7 And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, came unto a place which is called The fair havens, nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea. Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, Paul said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul. You can see the mind of the centurion, he said, number one, Paul is a Jew, number two, he is a prisoner, number three, he is a Pharisee so he doesn’t know a thing about sailing ships why would I ever want to obey him but Paul had the message from God. You would think that the ship owner would have been most concerned about the ship rather than the centurion. And because the haven was not convenient to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter, which is an haven of Crete, a place that is more comfortable and convenient. Often the will of God is not very commodious or convenient but it is safe and so it says. When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete. So that south wind is blowing them up to Crete, so they thought well, see Paul, this is just the right kind of wind that we want to get us to the west side of Crete. Beware of the south wind that blows softly, we want to do something and the Lord advises us against it and then there comes this south wind that is blowing softly, the door of opportunity is opening, and we say, see this is going to be okay. Maybe like you young people, you may have someone in school that is interested in you, and that is not surprising, some will not have anything to do with you, but some will admire you because you are a noble young man and you are a wholesome young girl. This would be very appealing to a certain element in this world and they want you, and you don’t know if they want me or if they are drawn to the spirit of Christ in me, so what do you do? You pray about it and you bring them to gospel meetings and keep the romance out of it because Satan will let a south wind blow softly, and they will say, oh yes, these are nice people, say all the right things, but just let the Gospel do its work and don’t trust the south wind that blows softly. When they did that, when they set sail, and they thought that they were going to be right, here by Crete comes this hurricane force wind like a cyclone and blew them way off course and almost destroyed the ship, and they were many days without light. It could be a disastrous result if we just trust that south wind that blows softly, when we feel that we have gained our purpose, it is all going to okay. Then the next two weeks they kept lightening the ship and we need to lighten our ship too in the storm, they lightened the ship about three times, some things they would think were very necessary, but when the storm got bad enough they lightened the ship and we need to lighten the cargo in our life too. Now the two seas met and they got stuck in the sand, the sea broke the back of the ship, and then the soldiers wanted to kill all the prisoners but the centurion kept them from their purpose to save Paul, he loved Paul. He commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land, and the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship and they escaped all safely to land. So sometimes in the storm maybe all that we have left is a piece of board, a piece of the ship, like a little nugget of truth, a verse that will come to us and hold on to that with all that is in you. If you feel that you are not getting through in prayer and the Bible is not opening up to you, hold on to a little piece of a board, hold onto some nugget of truth that will sustain you through the storm, and doing so you will reach safely the shore. Storms will not be there forever, they come to pass, they come to prove us, to prove to Satan that we have a hedge about us that is not material but is our relationship with God and it has come to improve us so that we are not just gold but purified gold.

The thought that we’ve been singing about has been on my mind for quite a while recently, and that is of being ready. There are a few verses in Matthew 24 starting with verse 42 where Jesus says, ‘Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come; 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing’ … but this 44th verse … ‘Therefore be ye also ready’. One of our old brothers – he’s long dead now – used to remind us over and over again that this verse does not say “get ready”, it says, “be ready”. And there is a world of difference between a person that is trying to get ready and a person that is ready. Here Jesus said, “Now you be ready, because you don’t know the day or the hour when the Son of man is coming”.

I was just wondering now, could we honestly say that we are ready? Are we ready? We’re living our lives and we know that there are a lot of things that need to be taken care of. But I remember someone asked one of our friends one time – a lady, “Do you think you’re ready if the Lord were to come back, would you be ready and glad to see Him?” “Well yes”, she said, “I think so, I think I would”. And I think she was right! She said, “I know I’m glad when the workers come, and I’m always glad when some of the friends come, even if they come unexpectedly, I am always glad to see them when they come. My house may not be what I’d like to have it be, but I’m always glad when they come, and I believe that if Jesus comes” she said, “my life is not what I’d like it to be, but I’m working at it. My home isn’t like I’d like it to be, but I’m working at it, and,” she said, “yes, I think I’d be ready” … and I really think so too. I thought that was a very mature answer.

We talk about our unworthiness, and I don’t know whether we really mean that sometimes … I know we don’t mean it. But like Dennis was telling us this morning, Jesus didn’t focus on our unworthiness; that was not what He was focusing on. He said, “You be ready, you be ready”. And I realized long ago that the salvation of our souls depends on people who take seriously what Jesus says … really take it seriously, He said, “Be ready, don’t try to get ready next week or next month”, or think, “I’m going to do better in the future sometime. No, He said, “You be ready, because you don’t know … you don’t know”.

There is something about us that we all understand how far short we come. We understand that we are not what we ought to be, but if we’re working on it, and if we’re striving to have a life that is orderly, then we won’t need to be ashamed at His coming. I think of a lady that I knew many, many years; she’s long dead now. We used to go and visit her sometimes – she was a neighbour of ours. We used to visit before I was in the Work, and we visited her afterward too, a fairly young woman. Her house was always kind of a mess, and I don’t mean it badly; it was disorderly. She had six children under 14 years old, and she didn’t have any conveniences to speak of in the home; but every time we went there, she never apologized for her house, she never apologized for anything, she sat down and we could visit with her … mature! She wasn’t all the time trying to put this or that in order, we could go there any time, and she’d sit down, make a cup of coffee, we would even have a few homemade cookies. She was ready. Although she was not expecting anyone, she was ready. She was not complaining about the looks of her house or trying to put it in order like a lot of people do; she just could sit down and enjoy a little fellowship … I think that is one thing about being ready.

This 24th chapter of Matthew talks about being ready for the Lord’s coming. I was also reading the 25th chapter, and we all know that one very well about the ten virgins … five of them were ready and five were not ready. I then started looking through all the Scriptures, also going through the Concordance to find a lot of things about being ready, and also trying to find different aspects about being ready; why some people are ready, and why sometimes we are not ready. In that 25th chapter where it talks about the ten virgins, they all had their lamps, and they apparently all had a good testimony and all had a good record. But, five of them had oil in their vessels with their lamps, and five did not. Now you know what a lamp would be without any oil! You could polish that lamp all you like and it could be very, very beautiful, but when the sun went down and it got dark, you’d have the same shadows just like any other piece of furniture. But if you had a little oil in that lamp, you could have some light.

Now I don’t know what you think about that oil. I know what the lamp is – that’s like our profession, that’s like this way of God that we love, that’s like this way of God that we talk about, and we appreciate so very much! But what is that oil that is in the vessel? I know you’ll say, “Well, that is the Holy Spirit”. Well, I’m not going to argue that, but I don’t think that is what it is talking about.

You know, those five foolish virgins that day, they had in their pockets the money, they knew where to buy it, they knew where to go, and they knew they needed it. But they were just careless, just negligent, unwilling, a little rebellious maybe? Somebody probably told them, “You need some oil, you’ll have to get oil”. But, “I know what I’m doing, I know, there’s plenty of time”. We’ve heard that all too often; maybe we’ve thought it all too often and practiced it all too often. I think what He’s talking about – that oil in the vessel is willingness and obedience, because that is what made those others ready. They were willing, they were obedient, and when the door was open, those that were ready went in, and those that were not ready did not go in. Now, right at the time to enter in, at midnight, they went to buy oil. They knew where to get it, they had the money in their pockets to buy it with, they knew they needed it, and they knew where to go and they went and found some oil, but when they came back, the door was shut … and that door was shut forever! They never did get in!

So now, to be ready – it is wonderful to have a love for God which is all important. It’s necessary to have some wisdom and some understanding which is very important too, but when it comes to being willing and obedient, it is most important; and they just didn’t have it. I think if they had had the Holy Spirit, and they had gone with the Holy Spirit, He would have let them in, because the Holy Spirit was the porter; that’s what opened the door. I think there was something in their hearts, that maybe for years they were kind of drifting along, just drifting along, just like a lot of us do – just drifting along – satisfied to be in the company, but not really willing in our own hearts and in our own spirits, to cultivate that kind of righteousness. And like we’ve heard so much already, to deny ourselves and to sacrifice our own interests and our own desires – sure! And more than that – our own rights, that we could glorify God. But as for these people, five of them did that, and those five entered in when that shout came, ‘Behold, the Bridegroom cometh’. They all began to trim their lamps; – very good. And when the door was opened, five of them went in, and five of them with no oil in their vessels, no willingness in their hearts, never entered in. Now they were willing, yes sure! Now they were willing, just like every person that stands on the threshold of eternity – they are going to be willing for whatever it costs, but it is all too late.

One man told me one time, “I’m not stubborn, no, I’m not stubborn. If there is a God, I’ll be willing to serve, and if I die and I find out there is a heaven and a God, I’ll be willing to serve; I’m not stubborn, I just don’t believe this story. But, well, when it comes to the day, I’ll be willing to serve”. No, that’s not sufficient. The Lord is looking for men and women that serve by faith, believe the story, and are willing to stand for right and truth in a world of opposition and darkness. We’re looking for people that have faith in their hearts, and that’s what makes us ready. And these people, five of them, were not ready.

We read in that 26th chapter of Matthew about another aspect of being ready. You remember this was when Jesus was in the garden and praying, and He said there in the 41st verse of that chapter, ‘Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak’. Now you remember what happened there? In the previous verse, Jesus went away and He prayed, ‘O my Father, if it could be possible, let this cup pass from me’ … He did not want to suffer, and He did not want to die, but He said, “Only if it is possible, but nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done”. There was something in the heart of Jesus, in His flesh, in His nature, in His humanity, that did not want to go to the cross. He did not want to suffer, He did not want to be spat on, He did not want to be crowned with thorns. Of course He didn’t! But there was something in His spirit that conquered every human thought, and He said, “Not my will but thine be done” … three times … He was praying in the garden, and His disciples were sleeping there.

Now I’ve mentioned this before – you know I think we all criticize Peter, and we find a lot of fault with him because of what he did in denying his Master. Yes, sure he did. I know he did But you know what Jesus said that day? He said to Peter, ‘The spirit indeed is willing’. I wonder if He could say that of us? And then He said, ‘But the flesh is weak’. And we don’t deny that, we’ve proven that all too often. But He said, ‘The spirit is willing’. And I wondered whether God could say of me that every day of my life ‘the spirit is willing’. I don’t think so. You know, many, many of our mistakes and blunders are because the spirit was not willing. But He said, “That’s not true of Peter”. He said, “I know you, Peter, I can depend on you and I trust you”. And even though he made his mistakes, and even though he had his failures, the Lord trusted him. It wasn’t very hard to correct him either. One day He just turned and looked at him, and that is all that it took, and Peter went out and wept bitterly. Sure, criticize Peter all you like! I respect him highly. But you know what? He wasn’t ready! That day, he was not ready, because he had not been praying; when the opportunity was given, he had been sleeping. And just a little while later he drew a sword and cut off a man’s ear. I expect he was trying to cut off his head. But he drew the sword to defend himself and to defend the Lord. But Jesus said, “Put the sword up, you don’t fight spiritual battles with carnal weapons, it just isn’t done”. And then of course he forsook Him and fled; they all did.

He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready because he had not been praying that day. And when he hadn’t been praying he had come to a crisis and he had to meet the emergency, and he wasn’t ready. And you know a lot of times you and I have failed in our service too. No one failed just at the time of the emergency, but we’ve failed in preparing ourselves before the emergency ever came, and the end result of that was, it was a failure. Maybe we have not always failed, we can make some failures, but we’ve not always failed. We’re not excusing them, we’re not justifying them, but they’re not always fatal if we rise up, and can do as Peter did. He went out and he wept bitterly over that mistake and he never made it again. That’s victory in one sense, although it was a pretty bad defeat.

Then there are some others; I thought of a lot of others, in fact. In Mark 9 there was another time when those disciples were not ready. You remember this was the time that Jesus took Peter, James and John and went up the mountain, and was transfigured before them. And when He came down the mountain, there was a man who had his son there that had an evil spirit. He came to Jesus and he said, “If you can do anything to help us, please help us”. He was desperate about his son. Jesus then cast out the devil, and afterward, the disciples came to Him and said in the 28th verse, ‘Why couldn’t we cast him out?’ And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. Now Jesus did not have time to pray, and He surely did not have time to fast at that moment. So how is it that He was ready and able to cast out the devil when the disciples weren’t? It was because He had been praying, and He had been fasting before, and now when the emergency arose and the situation presented itself, He was ready. He was ready! If you and I wait until the emergency comes and the crisis is at hand – well, we won’t be able to meet it either. But if we have been daily preparing ourselves by praying, seeking after God, and fasting, we will be ready.

Fasting. What does that mean? It means denying ourselves, even of things that are legitimate and right, then we can honour and glorify God. Do you know what it is to deny ourselves even by fasting? Fasting wasn’t just denying ourselves of bad things; fasting in the literal sense is going without food. So how long can you do that? But this fasting is denying ourselves of legitimate and correct and right things, so that we might be in a better position before God, and we could be a help to people in their need. So these disciples weren’t ready, but Jesus was. I found it amazing when I thought of this, because here He came down there, as it says from verse 16, ‘And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit. Then the last part of verse 18, ‘and I spake unto thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not’. He said, “What are you discussing?” They said, “Well here’s a need, a desperate need, and the disciples can’t seem to meet that need”. “No”, He said, “this kind goes ‘by prayer and fasting’”. A lot of times there are experiences where we will find things that we’re not able to help, and the Lord could have helped them, maybe. But we can’t seem to. A lot of times it’s because we weren’t prepared, we weren’t ready!

I know that this verse that we read in Matthew 24 is not about being ready for the final day, for the final judgment. But I thought of a lot of times when Jesus wanted people to be ready, just to meet some present need, and sometimes they were ready, and sometimes they were not. Yesterday we heard from 1st Samuel 25 about Abigail. She was ready and she didn’t get ready overnight. She had no idea of what was going to happen. But day by day and week by week she had been preparing, preparing, preparing, and then when an emergency came, and it was a pretty desperate situation – there were 400 angry soldiers, and every one of them skillful with the sword, and every one of them with murder in their heart; everyone wanting to destroy that whole household. Every man at least would have heard this: “Destroy them all”. And Abigail heard that and she had to act and react instantly; she didn’t have time to get ready then. She had no time to get ready … she was ready! And therefore she took all that food and everything and she went out to meet David. And do you know what she had? She had food alright. She had all the food with her that she could assemble quickly, but she had an understanding in her heart, she had compassion in her own soul, and she had a knowledge that the rest of them didn’t seem to have. She knew that David was going to be king. She believed that story! Maybe a whole lot of others didn’t? She believed the story that he was going to be king someday, and when she came in humility … that was another thing she had. And she didn’t just get that overnight either. In humility, she came and bowed down before David, and pleaded with him to accept this gift. And she said, “I’ll take the blame for all of this thing with my ungodly husband. Let the blame fall on me, but,” she said, “Don’t go and avenge yourself with your own hands, don’t do that, because you are only going to put a blot on your testimony that will be a sore spot for the rest of your day”. She pleaded with him not to do it, and he accepted that. She was ready! She was ready to meet an emergency that just fell on her suddenly!

You know emergencies can be tragic sometimes … they can be tragic if we’re not ready. But an emergency may not be such a big crisis if we are ready! She was ready! She had it all in her storehouse. I think of a verse right now in Proverbs 5 verse 15, where it says, ‘Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. It is wonderful to have a well of water that springs up unto everlasting life. But sometimes it’s nice to just have a little water in the cistern. And I think that is what this lady had … what Abigail had that day. She took out of her storehouse, she took out of her ‘cistern’, maybe all the things she’d laid up for months to come for her own household. She took it out of her own storehouse, she had it at hand, and it met a wonderful need and saved David from making an awful blunder – because she was ready, just because she was ready!

I can think of a lot of others too, and maybe we will mention them if we have time – some of the others that were ready when the things came. But in this particular case, the disciples just weren’t ready, they weren’t ready. But then when Jesus came, He was ready, because He had been preparing beforehand … praying and fasting.

I was also looking in that 5th chapter of Luke’s gospel, when Jesus came there. You remember those disciples had come out of their boats and were washing their nets, and Jesus spoke to the multitude. Then He said to Peter in the 4th verse, “Thrust out a little way from the shore and let down your net”. I think He said ‘Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets’. Do you know what Peter answered? He said, ‘Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing’. Do you know what he said next? ‘Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net’. I think I’ve quoted many, many times, ‘Nevertheless at thy word we will let down the net’. No, he didn’t say, “We will”, he said, “We’ve toiled all night long and we’ve taken nothing. And now I’m hungry and I’m tired and I’m discouraged, and I’ve got my nets washed, and I’m going to go home and to bed. But nevertheless, at thy word, I don’t know what the rest of them are going to do, I don’t have any idea, but I will let down the net”. I like that personal conviction. I think every one of us needs to have a personal conviction! I don’t know what you others are going to do; I don’t know what sacrifice they are willing to make; I don’t know how willing they are to go a little further; It doesn’t matter, he said, ‘at thy word, I will let down the net’. And when he let down the net, he had a multitude of fishes. He then called for his friends, and they came, when the fish were already in the net. And they did it because he said, ‘I will let down the net’. “I will obey, I will cooperate though I don’t think it is worth the effort. ‘We have toiled all night’, I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m discouraged, it doesn’t matter – at thy word, I will let down the net’”. I’d like to have that attitude; I’d like to be able to keep that attitude that it doesn’t matter. It does not matter what others think or say or do, “at thy word, as far as I’m concerned, I will obey”. And I’m sure of this, that if we have that attitude and we have that spirit, we’ll find that there is ‘a great multitude of fishes’ to be caught. Or there is a blessing in it, and there will be something that speaks to our own soul, and feeds our brethren. There was ‘a great multitude of fishes’, and he had to call the others to help him to drag them in, just because he had said, ‘at thy word I will let down the net’. I love that, and I’d like to know how to keep that as a goal for my own conduct in my own life.

I thought of another one in that 10th chapter of Luke’s gospel, we heard about that yesterday and we know that story well. Just what it means there we don’t perhaps understand so well. That man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among the thieves. He was beaten, he was robbed and he was left half dead. Beaten and robbed and left half dead. Jesus was trying to explain to a religious Pharisee … who is your neighbour? In the 29th verse the man said, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ He had to justify himself. Jesus said, ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him left half dead’. Along came a priest. I don’t know what that priest had in his mind, I have no idea. He might have been with his fellowman, and he might have felt, “Well I can’t do anything about it, and if I do, I won’t be able to function as a priest, I won’t be able to do my duties today”. I really don’t know what he thought. He might have thought like a lot of other religious people, “If he’s already robbed, there’s nothing in it for me”. I really don’t know. But I do know this: he didn’t do anything; he passed by on the other side.

Then the Levite – and he was supposed to be a religious man. Maybe he had compassion but he didn’t have anything on him to do anything for that poor man, so he went on. And then there came a certain Samaritan, and that certain Samaritan, in his journey – a man despised and rejected by the Jews, also looked down on by the religious Pharisees, but that was a man who was ready. You know, that was an emergency; that was a crisis that he had not been planning on. This came on him suddenly, he hadn’t been planning on this at all, and when he stopped, he had five things with him that enabled him to save that man’s life. Do you know what was the first one he had? Compassion! Compassion! He looked on that man with compassion. He didn’t look on that man saying, “Come on, I’ve gone this road I don’t know how many times, and I’ve never been robbed”. I’ve heard that so many times. We look at people, and they make some blunders and mistakes, and self-righteously we say, “Oh I don’t know why that is such a big temptation to that man, I’ve gone down that road so many times and nobody ever robbed me”. Sure! But the next time you go down that road, you might get robbed too! He didn’t think anything like that; it didn’t enter his mind. He saw that man in his need and he had compassion. And I hope that in my heart, when we see people in their need, instead of being critical, instead of blaming them for where they find themselves, we could have a little compassion. I could tell you about some people I know, who are not where they are today because of their own decisions. I hope we never ever get to the point that we are so critical that we could not hold out a hand to help someone.

He had compassion. That was the first thing he had. When he looked at the man with compassion, he got down off of his animal, and he got his saddlebags, and took out oil and wine and bandages. Now how did he happen to have oil and wine and bandages, when he had no idea that there was going to be that man in need? He had it because he took it with him that morning before he left home. You know, that is a wonderful lesson to me. We don’t know what is coming our way tomorrow, we don’t know, but if we’re ready, we could meet the need. The priest wasn’t ready; the Levite wasn’t ready, but this man was ready. He was ready for an unexpected emergency, an unexpected crisis. So he got down off his animal and poured in the oil – I suppose because it soothed the wounds? He then poured in the wine – probably poured in the wine to disinfect the wounds. He might have put some of it into his mouth to kind of give him a little strength; probably did. And then he put on the bandages. Then he put him on his own beast, and he walked to take him to the inn. And he took care of him all night long. He lost a day’s work and a night’s sleep. Why? Because he saw a man in his need and he had compassion. After that, he had one more thing that day that was necessary, he had the money in his pocket. He said, “I’ll pay the bill, and not only do I pay the bill tonight, but if he owes you anything in the future, I’ll pay that too”.

I know that Jesus, when coming into the world, found you and He found me, and also a lot of other people, beaten and robbed and half dead. Beaten by the experiences of life, beaten by the things all around us. Robbed of our innocence and robbed of our purity; robbed of our hope and robbed of a lot of things that the world would rob us of if we give it a chance. But then He said, “I’ll pay the bill”. And on the middle cross of Calvary, He paid the bill for your sins, for my sins, and the sins of all the world. And you know what He said more than that? We partook of those emblems this morning. Why? Because of saying, “I’ve fallen victim again, and I’ve erred, and I’ve gone astray; but the blood of Jesus Christ will cover that sin too, as long as I’m repentant”. He said, “I’ll pay it again and again and again”. But you know, the story in it for me, is that you must be ready. He was trying to tell the man, “This is the way, this is the way that you treat the neighbour”. And who is the neighbour? That Samaritan never knew that neighbour before, he’d never laid eyes on him before, he didn’t know who he was. But he was willing to lose a night’s sleep and a day’s work, and then he was also willing to pay the bill, because he had compassion in his heart. I’d like to know how to keep that. And I’m sure of this: if we have true compassion in our hearts, and true compassion in our spirit, (there’s a lot of needy and downtrodden and downcast) – if we have compassion in our spirit, we’ll be doing something about having those few bandages and a little wine and a little oil, and maybe enough to pay the bill of the person who can’t pay for themselves. That’s five things the man had, and I admire the man and I appreciate what he did because he had that compassion in his heart and the other things in his saddlebag.

There are others, there are a lot of others; I don’t suppose we can mention many more, but I just think of people that are ready, that are ready. You know, we talk about prayer, we talk about the need to pray. I read a little story that I like. There was a captain on a ship, up on the north coast above Scotland, in an area where the waters are pretty bad, and he had a sturdy boat. And that particular trip he had a bunch of these – they call them artists. They were a bunch of actors and a bunch of entertainers, these artists. But he invited them, as the custom was, to the captain’s table to eat. The captain bowed his head, gave thanks for the meal and they laughed at him. They mocked him, they scorned him and they made quite a show of it! But the captain was alright, he didn’t fuss about it.

A few days later, they ran into a terrible storm; a terrible storm. And finally, this same group of people sent a message to the captain and said, “Are we going to survive this?” The captain sent a message back saying, “I don’t know; this is a good ship and we’re doing all we can, but the sea is very strong. I don’t know”. So after a while when things got worse, they sent another message, saying, “Please, I think you need to come and pray with us”. He sent a message back and said, “I pray in the calm – during the storm, I attend to my ship”. Why could he say that? Because he was ready. “I pray in the calm when there’s no emergency”, and then he said, “I attend to my ship when there comes a storm”. And I think that is a marvelous thing that we could probably take to heart ourselves. That if we were more diligent in prayer when everything is calm and there’s no struggle, when there’s no trouble, there’s no problems, no great problems, then when the storms of life do come, and they do come – we’ll be ready to meet them. You know it is alright to pray in the storm. I’m not criticizing people when they pray in the storm, but I’m saying if we wait until the storm comes, probably we’ve waited too long. But if we learn what it is to pray in the calm, we’ll be ready to meet the storm.

I’d like to just mention another one that was very, very outstanding, and that was Daniel and his three friends. Daniel, in the 8th verse of the 1st chapter of this book, ‘purposed in his heart’ when he was just a lad. I don’t know how old he was, but I have my doubts if he was more than twelve or fourteen years old. Maybe I’m wrong – I shouldn’t be speculating. But he was young anyway. And he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor the wine which the king drank. Now that would have been very, very appealing to young men, and the multitude of those young Jewish captives were partaking of that, but Daniel said, “No, I can’t do that, I just can’t do that; I know that’s not right, I can’t do that”.

I remember a young lad – before I was in the Work – I was a little older than he. I was visiting him one time and he was talking about something … “Well”, he said, “I know what it is to face children that are doing this, doing that”, he said, “but I can’t do that. I’m fifteen years old, but I can’t do that”. He then said, “My father is the elder of the church and we have the meeting in our home, and,” … he wasn’t criticizing the others, but he said, “I can’t do that”. He had purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself, even though others were doing it. I don’t know what they were doing, but they were doing something; they were playing here and there, playing around, and he said, “I can’t do that because my father is the elder of the church and we have the meeting in our home”. It was no wonder to me that that boy grew up to have a meeting in his home, to be the elder of his church. It was no wonder to me that his children have grown up to have meetings in their homes, and also no wonder that some of the grandchildren are in the Work today. It was no wonder to me, because in his early youth, he said, “I can’t do that, I can’t defile myself”. It was the same thing that Daniel said in his day, and it has been said over and over again in our day.

Well, then you know the story. There came a time in his experience when it was, “You do what I say, or it is the lion’s den”. When he heard that, and he knew the thing was signed already – there’s nobody daring to make a request of any god or any man except to the king for thirty days – he went into his house, he opened the windows just like he’d always done, and he prayed three times a day. He didn’t pray any more, he didn’t pray any less, he was just as prepared as when he was a child. And that carried right on through for the rest of his days.

You know sometimes people say, “We have to decide every morning if we’re going to serve God today, or if we’re not going to serve God”. I don’t know what kind of a decision you made in the beginning. You have to decide over and over every day. You might not want to be faithful today, or you might want to serve God. I don’t know what kind of a decision you must have made in the beginning. If a person made this purpose in their heart in the beginning, no matter what it means or what it costs, “I’m here to serve and worship God”, it’ll save us an awful lot of decisions in the future. This doesn’t mean we won’t fail, it doesn’t mean we won’t stumble; but if we purpose this, “I’m going to conquer myself in every way”, and I know what it is to stumble -but that kind of a purpose in the beginning, carried right on through the rest of his days.

In Daniel chapter 3 we read of those three friends of his that his decision influenced. There came a day when the king built that great image of gold, and everybody had to bow down when they heard the music, and “If they don’t dance to our music” he says, “they’re going to the fiery furnace”. And there came that report that these three men are not doing that. And the king was wroth, you will remember, and he then told them “If you are ready to dance to our music, alright, if not, you’re going to the fiery furnace”. I love what they said in verse 16, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer in this matter’. “We’re not even careful!” … ‘If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee O king, we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up’. They were ready to die for this cause. “We’re not even careful to answer in this matter”! They had a lot to lose, they would have had a high position in the country – they had a lot to lose. But they said, “I’d rather lose everything that this king has ever given me than lose my favour with God”. Actually, they didn’t have a lot to lose, they had a lot to gain. And they went into the fiery furnace, and they came out alive.

Do you know what I think was the greatest victory after coming out of that furnace? Verse 27 says, ‘nor the smell of fire had passed on them’. Not even the smell of smoke, not even the smell of fire, was on their garments. You know, sometimes we come through a struggle and we come through with victory, but there’s an awful lot of smoke in our garments. A little bit of pride, a little bit of superiority, a little bit of boasting about the struggle and about the victory. I’m sure, they didn’t have that. Not even the smell of smoke was on their garments, and that is a marvelous victory to me, all because they were ready. They were ready to meet an emergency before the emergency ever came.

I hope that we could take this seriously. In that 24th chapter of Matthew, verse 44, Jesus said, ‘Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh’. We know in that same chapter from verse 46 He said, ‘Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing’. It says he gave him the responsibility to give the bread to the servants, ‘to give them meat in due season’. ‘Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing’. Verse 48, ‘But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite’ or beat ‘his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him’. He’s given him authority, he’s given him a place, and you know, I’ve been beaten more with words than I ever have been with sticks. People can beat us with words, and we need to be careful how we treat one another because we will have to give account on the day of judgment. I’d like to think that we are careful and that we are diligent about what we’re doing so that we are ready for the Lord’s coming. Ready for the emergency, ready for the crisis, ready to serve, and ready to worship. And if needs be, ready to die for this eternal cause of Christ.

In John 8:1, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning, He came again into the temple, and all the people came unto Him, and He sat down, and taught them. “And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery, and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto Him, ‘Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned, but what sayest Thou?’ This they said, tempting Him, that they might have to accuse Him, but Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not.”

A few years ago when I looked at the speaking list at one of the Conventions back home in Canada, I found that I was to be speaking in the last meeting. By the time the last meeting comes along it is easy to feel, “What more can be said? Everything that needs to be said has been said.” Sometimes the last meeting is not the easiest to prepare for, and not the easiest to have a part in. I was in the Brothers’ quarters that day trying to get ready for the meeting, and all the other Brothers had already spoken and they were in another room just on the other side of the wall from where I was and they were laughing and talking and enjoying each other’s company and I wished that I was with them.

You know that there is only one way to get ready for a meeting, isn’t there? Like one of our old brothers in Canada said one time when he stood up in front of the microphone, before an audience, he said, “You know folks, these messages don’t grow on trees.” We understand that. What I realised that afternoon, is that if I was going to have something for the meeting I needed to leave good company and seek better company. Maybe there will be some times this year when you will have a meeting to think about either Sunday morning or a midweek meeting and maybe there are a lot of things going on, a lot of people you want to see, but the wisest thing is going to be for you to leave good company and seek better company, for that is how we get ready for meetings.

Here is Jesus and He is in the temple and He’s got this group of people gathered around Him that want to hear, and I just have a feeling that Jesus had a thrill in His heart because this group of people were not there to trip Him up in His words, they were not there to be healed, they were not there to see Him perform a miracle, they were not there hoping that He would provide some bread and fishes, but they were there to hear. Jesus was sitting down and perhaps the people were also sitting down listening to Him when all of a sudden there is a commotion, and here comes another group, here come the scribes and Pharisees who are bringing this woman and they come right in there where Jesus is, and they interrupted Him.

Jesus stops talking and here they brought this woman to Jesus and they start spilling out the story, and they say, “Moses says she should be stoned, but what do you say?” They asked Him a question so they are standing there and they are looking at Jesus waiting for an answer. There are all these people that He has been talking to and they are just watching all this, watching the scribes and Pharisees, and they are watching this woman and they are watching Jesus to see what is going to happen. Something is going to happen here so everybody is watching Jesus. What is he going to do?

I will just put that on pause for a moment and go back a page in John chapter 7 for there is a background there to this story John 7:22, “Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.” You will remember that the Jews were commanded by God to keep some feasts through the year, feasts that commemorated different things, and this was the time of year when it was the feast of tabernacles. This feast also had a second name, it was called the “feast of in-gathering” and this was a special feast because it was the most joyful of all the feasts that the children of Israel would keep.

There are two things that it commemorated: the feast of in-gathering. First, that it was the time when the harvest was all brought in, the harvest is finished and that is a reason for rejoicing, so they called it the feast of in-gathering. It is also called the “feast of tabernacles,” and if you want to know the details of it to know what the people had to do at this feast of tabernacles, we find it in the Old Testament in Leviticus 23:40, “And ye shall take you on the first day, the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. ‘Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths, that your generations might know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I am the LORD your God.’”

They had to take the branches off the trees to make these booths or tabernacles to dwell in. So they would have to move out of their houses and this feast lasted for eight days and they would have to dwell in these booths and it was to help them to remember that wilderness journey that God brought His people through. I am not really sure what the Lord had in mind, what this feast symbolised, but you know what I think? It reminds me of eternity. I think of the rejoicing that will be in the hearts of God’s people in eternity, as they think back over the wilderness journey, how God has kept them and also as they consider that the harvest has been ail gathered in, the spiritual harvest has been gathered in and, “I am a part of it.”

I think that those two things will give God’s people an incredible amount of joy in eternity, for those were two things that this feast was to commemorate. There were a lot of sacrifices that had to be made during the days of this feast during the eight days that it took place. There was to be a burnt offering every day and there were several animals that were to be slain that made up this burnt offering. During the eight days, there were to be seventy-one bullocks, fifteen rams, a hundred and five lambs and eight goats that were sacrificed during the feast and over and above that, the daily morning and evening sacrifices.

On the first day of the feast, there were to be thirteen bullocks slain plus two rams and fourteen lambs. That was just the burnt offering and then separate from that one goat which was the sin offering. The second day of the feast there was one less bullock: twelve bullocks, two rams fourteen lambs then separate and by itself a goat for the sin offering. It went like that all through the week with one less bullock and every day in the midst of all that rejoicing, separate and by itself, a sin offering of a goat.

I think of the message that is coming from the sin offering that is in the midst of all that rejoicing and all that fresh purpose of the burnt offering, here is the sin offering that was reminding all of their sin. Maybe it was reminding them that there was something they needed to deal with, “to deal with my sin, there is something I need to repent of.” I wonder if there were some that didn’t appreciate how the sin offering spoiled the good times that they were having at the feast, and I wonder if one of the reasons the world is not interested in the Gospel any more is because it spoils the good times that they are having, because it causes them and turns them to their own sin and the change that needs to be made in their experience, so they don’t like the Gospel.

I wonder if there were some who resented the sin offering because it spoiled their fun, because it spoiled the good time. Now if they had dealt with their sin and all their sin had been forgiven and then they saw the sin offering, it would just add to their rejoicing wouldn’t it? All the sins have been taken care of but it is only if the sin offering was condemning them, because they had not dealt with their sin, that it was hard for them to take. In the beginning of John 7, the Jews’ feast of tabernacles is at hand and Jesus is with His brethren. John 7:3, “His brethren therefore said unto Him, ‘Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest, for there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and He Himself seeketh to be known openly. If Thou do these things, shew Thyself to the world, for neither did His brethren believe in Him. The world cannot hate you, but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” Why did the world hate Jesus? It was because He was the sin offering and His very presence and His very words condemned them and reminded them of their sin and spoiled the good time they were having. If you read further, you will see that Jesus went down to that feast of tabernacles secretly, as His brethren did not believe in Him and the people were murmuring among themselves saying that He deceives everybody. There were a group of them that wanted to take Him and there was another group who sent officers to take Him, they wanted to get Him out of the picture because He is spoiling their fun.

John 7:37, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.’” All through the days of that feast, there had been the sin offering giving its message, this message to repent, just reminding them of their sin, condemning them of their sin, showing them things that needed to change and maybe just trying to remind them that, “You will never be a part of that spiritual harvest in eternity if you do not begin with your sin. You will never be gathered in and God will never be able to keep you in the wilderness journey if you don’t look after your sin and deal with that and turn from it and repent,” and that is the message every day of the sin offering that is given.

So now on the last day of the feast, Jesus the sin bearer cries and it says He cried with a loud voice, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.” It is just like Jesus is trying to get the message through to them which they failed to get from the sin offering, and it is like Jesus is saying, “If there anyone that has an inward dryness, if there is anyone here thirsting, anyone that has inward need that needs to be met, the forgiveness of sin, if so, come unto Me for I have got the answer. I have the living water that will quench your thirst and meet your need.”

That was the last day of the feast so they did not need to worry about that feast for another year. We read of Jesus then that night. He went to the Mount of Olives and that is where Jesus spent the night. Then early in the morning, He comes back again to the Temple and here is a group of people that have come to hear Him. These people, maybe they had heard Him say, “If any man thirst, let him come up to Me and drink.” These are not like the Pharisees, these are not like the ones that are wanting to get rid of the sin offering that is just condemning them. We know that they are the ones that want to hear Jesus, “Please give us that water that is going to quench our thirst.” There they are, just wanting pure water. “Pour out more and more of what you have to tell us that is going to quench our thirst.”

So now along come the Pharisees with this woman and they asked this question, “Now Moses said in the Law that she should die,” but they turned to Jesus and said, “What do You say now?” Who are they asking? They are asking the sin bearer this question; they say this woman needs to die and it just helps me to understand why Jesus did not say anything. Jesus stooped down and with His finger, wrote on the ground. I don’t know what He was writing or if He was writing anything. Can you imagine what was going through Jesus’ mind? Can you imagine Jesus’ thoughts when they asked Him this, “Does this woman need to die?” Jesus is saying, “She does not need to die for I am the sin bearer. She does not need to die.” I just wonder if Jesus maybe wasn’t as worried about the woman as He was about the people of God, all these people who had been through the eight days of the feast in the presence of the sin offering and they had not got the message. Here is Jesus now, so what does He do? They keep asking Him and finally Jesus rose up and He says, “Him that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,” and then He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

Then it says they that heard it being convicted by their own conscience and went out one by one beginning at the eldest unto the last and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing in the midst. It seems to me that at last they were getting the message, at last they are beginning to think about their sin and beginning with the eldest they are starting to leave and they are starting to say, “I don’t have any place here. I should not be here.” When they are all gone, Jesus is left alone with the woman. So here is Jesus with the woman and this first group that Jesus was talking to till then and what does Jesus say to the woman? “Where are thine accusers, has no man condemned thee?” She says, “No man, Lord,” and Jesus said unto her, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.”

That is something that the sin bearer and only the sin bearer could say, “I don’t condemn you, just go and sin no more. You have been released from that.” I will just tell you one of my favourite verses in the Bible. It is to me one of the most beautiful pictures that we can find. John 1.29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’” John looks up and sees Jesus and it seems to me that he just blurts this out, “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” It almost seems as though he cannot help himself, he is so thrilled to see Jesus, but the thing that I really like, it says John sees Jesus coming unto him.

He saw the Lamb of God and He is coming right to John, the Lamb of God with all his provision for forgiveness, cleansing, mercy, grace and help, “all coming right to me.” Have you ever seen that picture in your own experience? Have you ever looked up and seen the Lamb of God coming unto you with all His provision, cleansing, forgiveness, and mercy? Have you ever seen that, and if you haven’t, you will not be able to enter into what I am saying, for it is one of the most beautiful pictures I know.

How do you think this woman felt standing before Jesus with all His provision, cleansing and forgiveness and He says, “I am not going to condemn you. You just go and you do not do what you have done before. You go and live differently now and it will go well with you.” Then we have the second time that John looked up. John 1:36, “And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’” The second time, it does not say that Jesus was coming to him, so it sounds to me as though he looked up and he saw Jesus walking past, and He was going to someone else. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have that very same thrill in our hearts to see the Lamb of God with all His provision of cleansing and forgiveness going to someone else, to a Brother or to a Sister. It is just as big a thrill as we see Him coming unto us.

This is what these old scribes and Pharisees failed to see. All they saw was the sin, the sin in someone else. John 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’” Do you know what that woman’s problem was? Do you know why she ran into difficulties? Do you know why she sinned as she did? It was because she was walking in darkness; she wasn’t walking in the light. She was walking in the darkness of loneliness and in the darkness of the weakness of the flesh, and had she been following Jesus in the light, it may not have happened.

It just seems to me, that when Jesus turned back to this group of people, and saying these words, there is still a connection with this woman and now He is just telling this group, “You just walk in the light. You just follow Me. Don’t walk in darkness, you just walk in the light and things will go better for you.” So are we not thankful for this sin bearer and aren’t we thankful for times when we get the message from the sin bearer, and even though it is not very easy to take sometimes when we are reminded of our sin, yet we must deal with our sin. We want to keep short accounts with God. We want to be up to date with our repenting and when our sin is taken care of then, when we see the sin bearer, we see Jesus, and we don’t feel condemned, but we rejoice because of Him.

One of our older brothers used to say that this Gospel story is like one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread, so you could have this picture in your mind, of two beggars meeting each other on the dusty road, and the one beggar tells the other one, you just keep going and you go over that hill and you will find a man that is handing out free bread. That is what it is like isn’t it, we are glad to be together here to be in the presence of the one who is handing out free bread to us.

Luke 5:12 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean, and immediately the leprosy departed from him. And he charged him to tell no man, but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him, and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.

I was thinking that there are possibly four named things that come to people’s mind, people in the world, religious people: four main things that come to their mind when they think of Jesus. They might think of his birth in Bethlehem and they might think of his death on the cross and they might think of his resurrection and the fourth one might be that Jesus had the power to perform miracles and in particular he had the ability to heal. When we read through the books of the four Gospels indeed we find many times that Jesus did heal, performed miracles of healing. You might wonder why there were so many sick people, why there were so many that had diseases, were lame, blind and deaf, why was it? You might remember the Jewish people understood that there is a connection between sin and sickness. If you want to know where that comes from, it came from the Old Testament. Deut 28:58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE Lord THY God. Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. This is what the Lord told his people, so these people understood that there is a connection between sin and sickness and indeed God was true to his promise. So most of the time when Jesus healed in the Gospels, not all of the time, but most of the time, those people whom he healed were sick or had an infirmity because in the background was sin. Because there was sin there was a consequence of a sickness that followed like God had promised, these people of God also understood that there was a connection between healing and forgiveness, so when the sickness or the infirmity went away or was cured and they were healed, they understood that this also represented forgiveness from God.

So Jesus came healing, and maybe there are four reasons why Jesus healed, one reason is that the Scriptures prophesied that he would and even though the Scriptures prophesied that he would heal, actually were more referring to him healing spiritual sicknesses, Jesus did come healing natural sicknesses also to just help to convince them. Another reason why Jesus healed is to prove that he is the Christ, the son of the living God. Another reason why Jesus healed was to forgive sin and maybe one other reason why Jesus healed was to show to the Jews that the blessings of God were now coming outside of the Old Testament, Temple worship system. You remember when Jesus sent forth the apostles, he also gave them the power to heal, those first twelve he sent forth. Matt 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely ye have received, freely give. We sometimes call that the limited commission because Jesus sent those 12 men only to the children of Israel, and he sent them to the children of Israel with the power to heal. One reason why they had the power to heal when they went to the children of Israel is to help those Jewish people see that the blessings of God were coming outside the old temple worship system now. When Jesus sent the apostles forth just before he was to ascend into heaven he gave them what we sometimes call the unlimited commission. Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. The unlimited commission because now they were being sent into all the world and there was no mention of healing made in that commission. However we read on in the book of Acts you will read of some times when the apostles did heal and there were still opportunities for them to show to the Jewish people that the blessings of God were coming outside of the temple system and there were also opportunities for them to show that the blessings of God were now being extended to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews. So why do not God’s servants heal today? God’s servants do not heal today because sickness and sin are no longer connected, that old law connection was finished when Jesus died on the cross which concluded and fulfilled the old law, and that connection of sickness and sin only applied to the Jews anyway. Another reason why God’s servants don’t heal today is because we no longer have to prove that God’s blessings are coming separate and apart from the old temple worship system. Another reason why God’s servants don’t heal today is because we no longer need to prove that God’s blessings are being held out to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews.

One of the worst sicknesses, or diseases and afflictions that anybody could get was leprosy, like this man in Luke that we read, it was a horrible disease. Leprosy seemed to represent uncleanness and all the other infirmities, all the other afflictions a person could get were not connected with uncleanness like leprosy was. You never read of people who were healed of blindness or deafness being cleansed of their blindness or their deafness, or cleansed from their lameness. When someone was healed of their leprosy you read that they were cleansed of their leprosy, it represented uncleanness and it was a horrible and dreaded disease. One of the worst places that you could get leprosy would be in your head, and you can read about that in the Old Testament. Lev 13:43 Then the priest shall look upon it, and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh, he is a leprous man, he is unclean, the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean, his plague is in his head. And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled, he is unclean, he shall dwell alone, without the camp shall his habitation be. Maybe one of the thoughts behind that is, this uncleanness in our thoughts, uncleanness in our thinking, this was considered utterly unclean before the Lord. So leprosy was something that started beneath the skin and then it would break out and begin spreading and if it was left long enough it could cause death. Someone just summarized it this way, leprosy is small in its beginning, spreading in its tendency, and fatal in its consequences. One time I was interested in finding out what the symptoms of leprosy really are and I was trying to read up on it. It seems that when we read about leprosy in the pages of the Bible it could refer to any number of skin or nervous system-related diseases or problems. It would not always refer to something that was extremely contagious, as we would normally think leprosy would be, but there were cases of leprosy that were extremely contagious. So I just read of five stages or five symptoms that a common form of leprosy a person could have. First of all, as the disease was just getting going the skin would become extremely sensitive. Then as the disease progressed there would come numbness. Then following that would come paralysis. Following that would come open sores that would not heal. Following that would be gangrene, which is the death of the living tissue.

So I like to think of those things as much as we are concerned about them here today, as much as they apply to our own lives. Extremely sensitive, touchy, easily hurt, easily offended, easily upset, easily provoked, and if I detect those things in myself it could be a symptom of something going on, on the inside that isn’t right. It could represent the working of uncleanness on the inside. Now it is good to be sensitive but when we’re so extremely sensitive that people have to walk on eggshells around us for fear of upsetting us or of fear of hurting us maybe we ought to look a little deeper, there could be a problem on the inside. The next stage of that disease is numbness, which is almost the opposite of being extremely sensitive, numbness is no feeling, and we would not want to be that way. I think of what Paul told us in his writings about rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who do weep. What kind of a reaction do you have when someone in their testimony is weeping, are you numb to that or is there some sensitivity to that, that brings a softness to your own heart and brings a lump into your own throat? It is maybe a little easier to weep with those who weep than to rejoice with those who rejoice especially if the ones who are rejoicing are rejoicing because of getting privileges you wish that you were getting, hard to rejoice with them in their rejoicing. An old brother said one time, when you see someone getting privileges and they are rejoicing, you just rejoice with them and you just wish in yourself that they would get even more, even more privileges. Then there is paralysis, paralysis is a serious thing, when someone isn’t paralyzed, when the body is healthy it means that the brain is sending signals to the members of the body, to the limbs of the body, the brain sends a signal to the hand and the hand does whatever the brain has said for it to do. When there is paralysis the brain sends a signal to the member and nothing happens, so we understand that God’s people are like a body, the body of Christ, Christ is the head, and we are all like members of the body. When the body is healthy, there are signals coming from the head, commandments coming from Jesus and they are being done by the members of the body but when something is wrong, if there is paralysis there, there is a signal that comes from the head, a signal that comes from Jesus to the member of the body and nothing happens. Maybe that is like disobedience, there is something wrong, it is a sign that there is a problem, a problem on the inside, there is an uncleanness working. Then there are open sores that won’t heal and maybe that has to do with our dealings with others, we have been hurt. This fellowship is a close fellowship, we are close to our brethren and from time to time we might get hurt by things that others say or things that they do, and we are hurt. Well, what if the sore does not heal, it is an open sore that will not heal, the wound will not close, and it is just like this thing of unforgiveness, then we need God’s help with wounds that will not close. I feel very thankful for times when God has helped me with wounds that were having a hard time closing and God has helped the wounds to close and he will help your wounds to close too if you seek his help in desperate prayer. The last thing was gangrene and that is death, life is starting to ebb away, gangrene sets in and it is serious. The man in Luke five, it says he was full of leprosy, maybe he did not have many days left, maybe gangrene had already set in, he was in pain and he looked horrible because the disease had spread so far and yet somehow he made it to Jesus and he fell, fell on his face before Jesus, and Jesus could even help that man that was full of leprosy. If we feel that as we come to Convention that we are full of leprosy, full of uncleanness, if we have the same spirit that this man had and we just humbly, very humbly fall before him. Lord if you will, you can make me clean, that beautiful spirit of humility and we will get the help and he will be able to cleanse us and we will feel different when it is time for us to leave.

I was thinking of some that we read about that had leprosy, we read about Miriam, Moses’ sister. Num 12:1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses, because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? Then there are five words, and the Lord heard it. When I read those five words it sends chills up my spine. So Miriam and Aaron had a problem with Moses because he had married this Ethiopian woman, and that is in verse one. In verse two it tells us what they said about him, they said hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses, has he not also spoken by us. Now verse one and verse two hardly have any connection, these are two separate subjects, or is it? What they are saying is, that we have a problem with this one that Moses has married but when it comes out in what they say, they are saying, really we would like to have a little more input here. The Lord heard it and he called the three of them, you come out to the tabernacle, so the three of them went out to the tabernacle and the cloud came down and the Lord met with them there and the Lord spoke very severely to Miriam and Aaron, reprimanded them. He said to them wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses and the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and he departed and the cloud departed and when they looked Miriam was leprous and as white as snow. So what was it that was working beneath the surface of the skin, remember that this is leprosy that we are talking about, you know what it was, it was envy and maybe jealousy and so that was working away beneath the surface and when it broke out it broke out in the form of murmuring and criticizing and complaining. Do you know the difference between envy and jealousy? They are much the same but there is a slight difference, envy is when you have something and I don’t want you to have it, jealousy is when I have something and I don’t want you to have it so I am going to guard it with my life. Do you see the difference? So if there is a time of murmuring or complaining or criticizing in our experience, when we are the murmurer, you know what you should look at first, look to see if you have envy or jealousy hidden under the surface and you might be surprised that this is what is really working. You know what murmuring is, murmuring is a statement of fact but it is given in the wrong tone, you tell somebody else something that is true, it is a statement of fact but you said it in the wrong tone. Maybe because of the tone with which you say it gets them upset and that makes you feel better because now you have someone on your side. The same with criticizing, the same with complaining it could all go back to envy or jealousy, it is like leprosy.

2 Kings 5:1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria, he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. So Naaman was a leper and then we read of the little maid who was working for them, who made the comment, too bad you could not see the prophet back there in Samaria, so that just started a chain of events working. Soon Naaman finds himself at the door of the prophet’s house in Samaria, the prophet didn’t even come out to see him, he sent his servant out, and told him, you go and dip in the river Jordan seven times and Naaman was furious, went away in a rage and as he is going away he says I can think of two Rivers back home in Syria that are a whole lot better than this old muddy Jordan, he goes away in a rage. He had some wise servants who said if the prophet had bid you do some great thing wouldn’t you have done it? Just go and do what he said, so Naaman humbles himself and goes and dips seven times and the leprosy is gone, his flesh comes again like the flesh of a little child. What was working under the skin, under the surface, was pride. He had a lot of successes, things had gone well for him, a lot of praises kept pouring in, pride was there, and what was working under the surface was self-importance, he had too high an opinion of himself. When it broke out onto the surface in a rage of anger but also unwillingness, and if we are unwilling for something that God is asking us to do, you just look and it could be that pride is working under the surface, this horrible pride of a feeling of self-importance. Then in the same chapter, we read about Gehazi who was the servant of Elisha, and after Naaman was healed he offered some gifts to Elisha, who said I don’t want any of it, you just go on your way. So Naaman heads back home but Gehazi says, boy I would sure like some of those gifts from this man, so Gehazi runs after Naaman, Naaman sees him coming and says is everything okay? Gehazi says, my master has sent me and he has decided that we could use some of your gifts, and that was one big lie. Naaman was glad to hear that and he said sure, and he gave him some silver, gave him some changes of garments. And Gehazi goes home with these gifts and he hides them and then he goes off to Elisha, greets his master, and Elisha says to him, where were you? I wasn’t anywhere, I didn’t go anywhere, he lied again, then Elisha says, is it a time to be receiving these gifts? Because you have done this, the leprosy of Naaman is going to cleave to you and your seed. So what was working under the surface, was a hidden craving or a desire or an appetite, it was hidden, when this leprosy broke out it broke out in dishonesty, he lied. Sometimes there are hidden cravings and desires and appetites that work away beneath the surface that we need to keep our eye on, you know about them in you and I know them in me and we need God’s help to keep them where they ought to be.

We then read about King Uzziah having leprosy. 2 Chron 26:16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men, and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him. It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense, go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. That story makes the shivers go up my spine also, leprosy, so here is pride again working under the surface and it is in a little different form this time. This time it is the pride of self-confidence and Uzziah never felt his need to be in subjection to those who had authority over him, to the priests of the Lord or the Lord himself. That was what was working beneath the surface and when it broke out it broke out in the form, that he stepped out of his place and he disobeyed the commandment of the Lord and he went against the order of the Lord, it was not the order of man, not the commandments of man he went against, it was against the Lord and he became a leper.

Now we can speak about the cleansing of the leper. Lev 14:3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper, then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. The priest told them that they were to take those two living birds and one of those birds was to be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. Then those three things that it mentions, the scarlet, the wood, and the hyssop along with the one remaining living bird were to be dipped in the blood of that bird that was slain. Then you take the living bird that now is stained with the blood of the one that was slain and let it go free out into the open field and it was free to go, do you see the picture in there? One was slain and because of one being slain another could go free, you see the picture don’t you, the one that was slain is like Jesus and then the one is like us, taken and dipped in the blood of Jesus and then free, free to go, a beautiful picture. There are those other three things and I don’t know what they represent, scarlet and the wood and the hyssop, those three things were to be stained with the blood of the one that was slain. One thing I have noticed is that those three things are all mentioned in connection with Jesus. Herod clothed Jesus with a gorgeous robe, that is in Luke’s Gospel, but in Mark and John it says it was a purple robe and in Matthew’s Gospel it was a scarlet robe. In my mind, I wonder if that represents Jesus’ scornful trial. Then there is the wood and I think of the wood of the cross that Jesus was nailed to stained with his blood, and I wonder if this wood represents Jesus’ painful death. Then we read of the hyssop, we read in Matthew right at the end when Jesus is hanging on the cross, he says, I thirst, and one of the soldiers ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and then he took that sponge and he put it on the end of a rod or a reed or a branch of the hyssop bush so that he could reach it up to Jesus as Jesus was hanging on the cross. I don’t know if that piece of hyssop was stained with the blood of Jesus but it was present at the time of Jesus death. When I think of the hyssop I think of Jesus’ bitter rejection, he said I thirst and there was no one there who would even go to get a cup of cold water for Jesus in his need. I don’t want to forget the price at which our cleansing comes and has come and it wasn’t only his death on Calvary but along with it, what it cost him to go through the scornful trial and what it cost him to face that painful death and what it cost him so that we could be cleansed and go free. So thanks be to God that the life of one has been given.

Hymn 106 (The Pages of Life)

Hazel Dixon Prayed

Ian Johnston

Eccelesiastes 12:6, “Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.”

I count it a privilege to share in this meeting. I have known Simon for seven years. Some of you have known him much longer. Over the last year we laboured together in the gospel and it was a good year. I would like to share a little of what I came to know was in Simon’s heart. It had been a joy and privilege to have Simon as a companion.

Simon just loved the reads we have together every morning, we prayed together, talked together, discussed and did things together. I truly appreciated our year together.

The pitcher is a clay/earthen vessel. Man’s body is just a vessel; made from earth. When life ends on this earth, this pitcher is broken. The pitcher has the privilege to go to God, the source of living water, to be filled by God and after that, to be led and directed by God to pour out this living water, the living Word of God, the gospel story, to honest seeking souls, thirsting for the Word of God.

The living water is so much needed in many situations. It is a real privilege to see our bodies as a vessel that can be used to carry His message. The pitcher has to be clean, nothing of self to contaminate the water. No selfish quests/motives, sanctified by God to carry His pure living Word. It’s not about the vessel but about the message God puts within the vessel/pitcher.

Jesus the sinless one, was willing to humble Himself and in love and obedience to His Father’s plan and will, left heaven’s glory to come to the earth to show us how to serve His heavenly Father, to redeem all men back to God, the creator of heaven and earth. Jesus took upon Himself the place of a servant and taught by example. He washed His disciples’ feet. If we want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we too must also wash one another’s feet.

When Jesus called His disciples to come follow Him, He didn’t promise a smooth and easy path and all things nice. If he did, perhaps many would want to follow Him for the wrong reasons. Revelations 1:9, John said, “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation,…” Simon knew the cost to follow Jesus, he knew it was not easy but he was willing and he had a desire to be in the work.

Simon chose to walk the lowly, humble way with God many years ago. Three years ago, Simon made another choice, to respond to God’s call to go out into the harvest field, to carry God’s Word to lost sheep, the way that Jesus had taught and lived, to fit in with God’s plan and will for his life. He was true to this purpose to the very end of his days here.

Jesus had a single purpose from the time He left heaven’s glory to come down to do His Father’s will. His whole life was consumed by this purpose from the beginning to the end. Jesus knew it was not going to be easy but He was willing. He came to call sinners to repent, to turn from their sins so they too can share a place in His Father’s home in heaven.

He was rejected, humiliated, mocked, ridiculed, spat on, betrayed (even by His very own disciple), so cruelly put to death on the cross by men yet he was able to keep His peace and His joy because of His single purpose, His love to do the Father’s will, and knowing it was all part of His Father’s plan for the redemption of all men.

When Simon offered for the work, he knew he would receive the reproach of men. Some even looked for the old Simon but he was no longer there. Simon left a good job, he had a love for cars, a list of other things.

Simon said that his trip through China, Mongolia, and Russia in 2006 was as something that had been ticked off the list. In the end it was just a number, there was still an emptiness to it. He gave his all to God and he received a good measure from God.

Simon not only loved to speak of love and joy in the Father, he was beaming with joy and these last three years were evidently Simon’s happiest. Even with giving thanks, Simon would express his desire to honour and glorify his heavenly Father. Many times I had heard Simon plead in prayer by preceding his petitions with, “Please dear God and heavenly Father.” Such sincere, honest, humble pleading from the heart would have touched the heart of God.

His joy to be a servant of God is evident, his love and care for the flock, especially the young ones. Simon was the elder of the church in Bangsar before he went into the work. He took the eldership seriously. It was not just about giving or asking for hymns. He took a special interest in the young ones, often visiting them and he loved to meet them, have coffee with them, and really desired to know how they were spiritually.

He had an earnest care for their spiritual welfare. Leviticus 1:16-17, “…by the place of the ashes:… and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.” Thought of Abraham taking Isaac to the mountain. Isaac said, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the Lamb?”

Wood is likened to the human, fire as the love of God. God uses the human but we don’t wish to make a big thing of that. When the human is consumed, only ashes are left. Who is able to tell whether one lot of ashes are better than another? It’s the savour of the Lamb that matters. Not here to make a hero out of Simon, of the human, but we do have a deep respect for the Christ/Lamb like savour we found to be in his life.

All these will not be possible if not for God who maketh all things possible. How I long for more of that savour in my life and may we consider the question, “Where is the Lamb” in all we say and do?

There was no question about where Simon stands. He was surprised at seeing his name on the resting list when the workers list came out a week ago. He was assured it was just for a time and we were looking forward to the time when he could be well enough to join us again. He said he would be strong enough to go again in a month’s time.

A bus load of friends and workers left for Penang Convention on Tuesday (December 25, 2012) morning, bade farewell to all, none realising it would be their final farewell to Simon.

Reminded of the frailty of the body but we question not the Master’s skill and will. Simon turned 50 this year. Thankful this is all in God’s hands and are only too happy to leave it there. Glad for a Father who sees and knows all. Long to be faithful in our place.

Hymn 319 (‘Tis Not In Vain to Yield)

Vivien Arulsingam Closed in Prayer

2 Corinthians 5:1, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Most of you have been sleeping in little tents these days. They are adequate and you have had rest and shelter there, but tomorrow all those little tents will be folded up and put away, and it will all be a memory. Even though we love convention, we know we cannot be here forever. You cannot compare your home with your little tent. A tent is very temporary and fragile and our lives are just like that, but we are looking forward to our eternal home. Perhaps those who are nearing the end of their days realize that they have put a lot of things out of their little tent because they don’t mean what they used to mean to them.

I have been away from Australia for five years and I love my countries of labour, but I always have the thought of my homeland; it is a comfort that I am a citizen of Australia and not a foreigner. As the time to come home got nearer, that was all I could think about, “I am going home.” I labour in countries with very few friends, and we have a little convention of maybe twenty people. So it has been wonderful to enjoy this fellowship and everything that I love about my country.

I was thinking of the things that are already in heaven waiting for us. Luke 10:20, “Rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” It is amazing to think that our names are written in heaven. God knows your name and He knows my name. When we made our choice to follow Jesus, our names were written in the book of life. It doesn’t really matter what happens to us, the thing we can rejoice in is that our names are written in heaven, so long as we remain faithful. Some of you will go home to your families, and we have this family that is part on earth and part in heaven. Hebrews 12:1 speaks about a cloud of witnesses, and Hebrews 11 is about faithful lives. It is not that the ones who have gone before us are watching us, but their lives are a witness to us. They were overcomers who clung to the promises of God. In our own families, we have those who have gone on before and their lives are a witness to us.

Our overseer mentioned this cloud of witnesses, and he pointed out that Adam and Eve did not have a cloud of witnesses, but then Abel died and they had a little cloud of witnesses which grew from that time on. It is a comfort to think that there will be a wonderful reunion of those who are in heaven and the faithful here. 1 Thessalonians 4:17, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Peter 1:4, “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” A natural inheritance can sometimes be gotten by illegal means and then it can be frittered away, but this inheritance is incorruptible and fades not away. Something that is reserved is especially for you and nobody else can claim it.

We have the privilege of leaving a heritage to those who are following on. It is not like an inheritance of property, but it is something that is not tangible. 1 Kings 21:1, “Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.” Naboth inherited a vineyard from his parents. As a young boy he would have worked in it and kept it clean and pruned, and he wanted to pass in on to his children. But right next door was a palace of stone and mortar, and a king lived there. The king wanted this vineyard to plant herbs and spices but Naboth would not sell his inheritance. Verse 3, “The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.” Satan doesn’t want the fruit of the spirit. He wants your vineyard, just to produce the fruit of the flesh. We have to remember the beautiful children that are following on, and the best heritage you can give them is to love God, to love the meetings, to love the workers. It is far better than any natural inheritance.

So, it is wonderful that we know part of this inheritance now but there is this wonderful incorruptible inheritance waiting in heaven. 2 Timothy 4:8, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” This crown of righteousness is waiting for those who faithfully endure. I just enjoyed thinking about these things that we can look forward to, and that our names are written in heaven. Hebrews 12:22, “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven.” In the column of my Bible it says “enrolled.” Sometimes, parents want to send their children to a private school so they enroll them when they are very young, and nobody can take that place away. It is waiting for them.

A list of names was mentioned this morning. It reminded me that at our convention overseas, there is a certain place where the visitors can go for lunch. I have already visited that lovely place; it is built up high, overhanging a great river and you can see all the boats on the river. On this particular day, we were told that if we had already been there, we might not be able to go this time so I didn’t expect to hear my name but I was still listening for it. Right at the end, perhaps 10th out of 11 names, I heard my name. It reminds us that when we meet our Saviour, our Lord, our God, we do want to hear Him say, “Welcome, thou good and faithful servant, your name is here, your place is here and you can enter in.” We don’t want to forget what we are aiming for. May we take courage and comfort because there is so much in heaven that has already been prepared for us. Aim for it so that it can one day be our possession.

(The Letter of James Summarized in a Poem)

Chapter 1: Vain Religion and Pure Religion

Vain religion justifies self
In temptation fierce and wild;
Pure religion denies self
And seeks to serve God’s child

Chapter 2: Living Faith and Dead Faith
A living faith will sacrifice
To do what God requests;
A dead faith only speaks of things
It really doesn’t possess

Chapter 3: Heavenly Wisdom and Earthly Wisdom

Heavenly wisdom softens the heart
And plants some living seeds;
Earthly wisdom hardens the heart
And often it deceives

Chapter 4: Godly Desires and Fleshly Desires
Godly desires will fill the heart
With humility and God’s grace;
Fleshly desires will empty the heart
And forsakes the lowly place

Chapter 5: Eternal Riches and Corruptible Riches

(a) Money earned deceitfully
By the unjust, this will only rust!
Money earned by our brow’s own sweat –
This is the best yet!

(b) A garment not worn
Only the closet does adorn.
Remove it and you will shout
When you notice the moths fly out!

(c) Earthly Treasure satisfies not
And it shall surely fail;
Heavenly Treasure makes content
And it reaches beyond the veil!

Hymn 215, “Give Me a Heart”

James 3:13, “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.”

Sometimes when we want to know something and are not sure, what is the wisest thing to do? I am glad that we know what is the wise thing to do. But the question is: where can we find this wisdom? Colossians 2:2, “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” That is where we find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, hidden in Christ.

How can we get hold of this hidden treasure? James 1:5, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” We read in the Bible of people who went to God and asked for advice as to what to do. Sometimes they didn’t ask God’s advice and they suffered. When they spent time in prayer to God, He gave them the right answer and it was wisdom that came from above.

Luke 22:27, “I am among you as He that serveth.” The Lord Jesus told the disciples who would be the greatest. Last year, the son of some of our friends had to go to school dressed up as a Very Important Person. This little boy wanted to dress up as a garbage man. His mother thought it would cause trouble at school and she said, “Are you sure?” He said, “Yes, he is a Very Important Person. If you don’t collect the garbage and don’t clean the streets, diseases will grow and people will get sick. It is very important to keep the city clean.” That is what he chose to do because it was a Very Important Person to him. That is what wisdom is. The wisdom of the world looks for honour and glory, but how many people know the name of the man who keeps the city clean? Anyway, this little boy went to school and the children started to laugh at him and he shed a few tears. When I asked him, “How did you go at school?” he didn’t tell me how they mocked him; he forgot about the past. What an example.

God asked King Solomon what he wanted. 1 Kings 3:7, “I am but a little child . . Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” He asked for wisdom and understanding, and it pleased God that he hadn’t asked for riches or for the lives of his enemies. God gave Solomon wisdom and it is wonderful how he used that wisdom.

Verse 16, two women came to him and one claimed to be the mother of the other woman’s child but Solomon knew who was the right mother. Verse 27, “Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.” It was wisdom from God, and it is nice when people can see that in our lives.

Proverbs 8:17, “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.” Verse 36, “But he that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Me love death.” If we love the Lord Jesus, God will love us. The wisdom that is from above is hidden in the Lord Jesus and we have to spend time at that secret place to find it. Job 28:12, “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” It is found in the Lord Jesus.

Colossians 4:5, “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” Time is something that is so easily wasted. Time is something that you cannot save. You use it or you lose it. Today is my 42nd day at conventions here and in New Zealand. When I started this visit in Western Australia, the end of conventions looked so far away, but now it is almost here. When we think of spending time seeking God in prayer, how much time do we spend? I know I spend far too little time finding that precious gold. This wisdom from above is pure. If you want to preserve something, you won’t put it into a dirty jar. You will clean that jar thoroughly and then put in the thing you want to preserve. God wants to clean us before He can put the purity of His Son into our lives. There was no blemish in Him.

We have a hymn in our Dutch hymn book, “I long to be like Jesus, He hated iniquity and loved righteousness; Alas, I am not like Jesus, but I want to be like Him.” Jesus showed the example when He washed the disciples’ feet. There was no partiality in that. Peter said, “You will never wash my feet,” but then he realized that he needed the cleansing of the Lord Jesus. The pure and spotless Son of God stooped down and washed the feet of His disciples. It is not the easiest thing to bow before someone who would betray you, but I am sure Jesus also washed the feet of Judas, showing mercy to this man because wisdom is full of mercy.

John 1:17, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” We are glad to have received God’s mercy and we should show mercy to one another. If we don’t show mercy to one another, we will not receive mercy. Luke 18, that is what the publican said when he went to the temple to pray, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” The Pharisee felt he was clean; that was his own wisdom. Maybe he learned wisdom at the feet of Gamaliel. Paul learned wisdom there too, but Paul showed no mercy to the people of God until he experienced the wisdom from above that is full of mercy.

Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Wisdom is a peacemaker. The Prince of Peace brought peace to our hearts when we were in turmoil and didn’t know where to go. It is a different kind of peace. People try to make peace, but how do they do it? They fight, and lives are lost. When the war was going on in South Africa, terrorists planted a bomb and 200 people lost their lives. That was on a Friday, and on Monday morning the jets went over and bombed the terrorist places. It was a case of, “You hit me and I will hit you.” The Lord Jesus gave His own life to bring peace; He didn’t give the lives of other people. How much do we value this peace? We can go to the secret place and find peace. There was a time when there was strife among the shepherds of Abraham and Lot, and Abraham said, “You choose; I will take second place.” That is what peace is, giving others first place so we will have true peace in our hearts.

The Lord Jesus was the Prince of Peace and He had the authority to speak about peace. When we go to the house of our friends, just bring peace. When the Lord Jesus came to His disciples after His resurrection, three times He said, “Peace be unto you.” We know that the enemy of our souls wants to take away that peace, but if we can just look on our Master, we will find great peace. We were given good advice so far at this convention and we can follow the advice He gives us. Jesus came to this earth not to do His own will, but the will of His Father. That is the advice we get from God. When God gives us advice, we need the willingness to do it.

This wisdom from above is within our reach in the secret place, and it is hidden to people outside the way of God. People cannot understand why we live a separated life; they ask why we don’t enjoy all the things of the world. The devil offered it all to Jesus, the temptation was there, but the Lord Jesus never partook of it. He didn’t want to lose the love of His Father. Luke 12, Jesus spoke of the man who said, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” He didn’t have enough room so he built bigger barns. We would think he was a wise man according to human reasoning. Verse 20, “But God said unto him, ‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?’” There is only one thing that can feed the soul and that is the bread of life, the Lord Jesus. It doesn’t profit if you lose your soul and that was the mistake this man made.

1 Corinthians 1:19, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of the world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” Verse 26, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” The angel came to Mary, a virgin, with the message of Jesus. That would seem a foolish thing in the eyes of the world. Why didn’t God choose a mother who already had a family and knew how to raise children? That is human reasoning, but God’s wisdom is so different. God was able to use a pure life; that is the wisdom that is from above.

When the Lord Jesus chose His disciples, did He go to the men who knew every letter of the law? No, He went to the sea and called humble fishermen. They were men who were despised but God knew He could use them. Those men knew how it was to go fishing and face storms; how to go out and catch nothing and not get discouraged, because they would go out again the next day. That is God’s wisdom. The first time, it may be a failure but the next time there could be success, so don’t give up. When God called His children, where did He go? To the sinners, to the publicans, to those who were despised by others. God’s wisdom calls people who are in need, people who love Him. I am glad for the wisdom that comes from above and that we know where to find it.

Namibia is a dry country. The people of the country and the animals can dig in the dry river bed and just under sand they will find water. Most of the rivers flow under the surface of the sand, so there is hidden water. If people don’t know about it, they will never find it. We need the Lord Jesus and we know where to find the wisdom that comes from God, so that we will be called amongst the wise people. Matthew 25, the five wise and five foolish virgins were all waiting and outwardly there was no difference. But the difference was that the five foolish never spent time to go and buy the extra oil, and when time was no more, they came back and found that the door was closed. Redeem the time. So much time is spent on things that are really worthless and useless, but time spent in the presence of God is not wasted time.

Hymn 21, “If We But Knew:”

If we but knew the lonely hours the Lord Jesus spent, would we not praise as angels praise His name? Today we have the privilege of partaking of the emblems as we remember His death and His resurrection and I ask myself the question: Do I really know the price whereby the veil was rent in twain?

Luke 1:38, when the angel brought the message to Mary that she was to bring the Son of God into this world, she said, “Be it unto me according to Thy word.” I wondered if she knew what was going to happen to this child when she said that? In child bearing, feeling this life within her, did she know that one day this child would bear the sins of all the world? When she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and put Him in the manger, I wonder if she ever thought that one day He would be stripped of His garments and nailed to the cross, and He would hang there in the sun with no shade, just for our sins? He became the rejected One of God, just for us.

When He cried as a baby, Mary knew He was hungry and she fed Him, but I wonder if she ever thought the time would come when He would be hanging on the cross and He would say, “I thirst,” and she would be unable to comfort Him. As a baby, when He cried because He was not comfortable, she would have picked Him up in her arms and comforted Him. I wonder if she knew the time would come when she would be unable to comfort Him, when He would be on the cross and cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Matthew 26:38, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here, and watch with Me.” He knew what was ahead and there was no one to comfort Him because His disciples were not able to stay awake and comfort Him.

Luke 2:34, when Jesus was a baby and Mary and Joseph went to the temple in Jerusalem, Simeon picked Him up in his arms and said, “This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Mary could not have understood it, but she kept it in her heart. I am sure this is the sword that went through her own heart when she saw Him suffering on the cross and she was unable to comfort Him, but the Lord Jesus spoke to comfort her.

When Joseph and Mary had to go to Egypt, she would have picked Him up in her arms and fled. I wonder if she knew there would be a time when soldiers would take hold of Him and bring Him to Pilate, there would be false accusations and no-one would be able to help Him? Today, we are reminded of what the Lord Jesus did for us, and a question comes to my heart when I partake of these emblems: Do I really know what He went through?

We have heard so much about our Lord Jesus, our great high priest. He was tempted as we are, yet without sin and He is the One who can help us. The high priest of the old covenant couldn’t stay long in that position because of his age, and someone else would take over. He had to make redemption for the sins of the people by the blood of animals, but the Lord Jesus shed His own blood once and for all, and the veil was rent in two after He died. People had to bring their best animal and the blood of that animal was to purify their sins. What would that animal know about how a sinner feels? It wouldn’t know, but God accepted it for the sins of people. Our Lord Jesus faced severe temptations and His blood speaks for us much better than the blood of animals.

Matthew 26:57, “And they that had laid hold on Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest . . But Peter followed Him afar off unto the high priest’s palace.” I noticed these words, “the high priest’s palace.” We think of a palace as the dwelling place of royalty, of kings and queens. So, the high priest lived there like a king. Matthew 8:20, “And Jesus saith unto him, ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.’” Even at His birth, there was no place for Him and He was born in a stable.

John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions.” Heaven is the place that Jesus loved, the dwelling place of His Father. It is the place where He knew no sorrow, where He was not falsely accused. It is a glorious place and He left that place to come to earth where He had no place and was rejected, and suffered pain for our sakes. While He was here, He spoke about heaven and said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” The promise is that He will come back again; we don’t know when. If He can find us ready and there is a place for Him in our hearts and lives, He will take us to Himself and we can enjoy that everlasting home where there is no sorrow, no tears and no pain; only love and joy and peace forever.

Matthew 26:59, “Now the chief priests . . sought false witness against Jesus, to put Him to death; but found none; yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses.” This is a picture of the weakness of the old covenant. The law said they could not judge a person without two witnesses, so they looked for two witnesses to condemn the Lord Jesus and found two false witnesses. This high priest was transgressing the law. Exodus 20:16, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” The high priest was sitting as the judge of the Lord Jesus according to the Old Testament law, but he looked for false witnesses.

I am glad the Lord Jesus doesn’t look for false witnesses. He spoke the truth to Pilate. John 18:37, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice.” I wonder, when the Lord Jesus was born, did Mary know He was going to bear witness of the truth? Many people asked Him false questions to condemn Him or to have something against Him. He was despised, and the same thing will happen to His children. Luke 23:31, “For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” Keep following; that is the encouragement we have today.

I am sure Pilate heard many lies from people who were trying to get out of trouble. Someone said they just had an “emergency lie” but a lie is a lie! The Lord Jesus spoke the truth all the time. If we are in trouble, we can go to Him with confidence. The holiest is open, the veil is taken away and there is help for us. Matthew 26:65, “Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, ‘He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses?’” The high priest said that Jesus’ words were blasphemy, and he rent his clothes. Leviticus 21:10, “And he that is the high priest . . shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes.” That is the old law and the high priest would have known the scriptures; but he rent his clothes and he would have known that he should not do that.

There was a time when Saul was disobedient and Samuel told him that he had sinned against the Lord. I Samuel 15:25, “And Samuel said unto Saul, ‘I will not return with thee for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel . . The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.’” I believe that when the high priest Caiaphas rent his clothes that day, everything would all be taken away from him and given to the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus’ garments were never rent. The soldiers parted His garments at the cross but His coat was still in one piece when they cast lots for it. To me, it is a beautiful picture of the new covenant of the Lord Jesus.

Matthew 26:67, “Then did they spit in His face, and buffeted Him; and others smote Him with the palms of their hands, saying, ‘Prophesy unto us, Thou Christ, who is he that smote Thee?’” They did this to the Lord Jesus and it was contrary to the law. Paul stood before the high priest Ananias. Acts 23:2, “And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by Him to smite Him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, ‘God shall smite thee, thou whited wall for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?’” Paul had studied at the feet of Gamaliel and he knew the Old Testament law and how it should be lived out.

The high priest gave command to smite Paul and he told him that it was contrary to the law. They were trying to hang on to the old covenant, to something that was already dead. When people looked for Jesus at the grave, the message was, “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” Here, the weakness of the law once again revealed it was unable to help. If we but knew what the Lord Jesus went through to establish this new covenant, this new and living way. This is our High Priest and we can go to Him.

Matthew 26:50, “And Jesus said unto him (Judas), ‘Friend, wherefore art thou come?’ Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took Him.” At that moment, the Lord Jesus knew that nobody could help Him any more and it was all in the control of God in Heaven. I believe that helped Him to go through all this. No matter what happens here on earth or what people may do to us, remember that God is still in control. Sometimes we don’t want to give the control out of our own hands, but the Lord Jesus did. He won’t listen to lies; He knows the Truth and there is healing for us in His presence.

I wondered about tithes and why we don’t take tithes. We have no right to it. It was something commanded for the Levites because they had no inheritance among the Children of Israel. But our Lord Jesus was from the tribe of Judah and concerning this tribe, Moses gave no commandment. He had no right to take tithes from people and if our Master had no right to it, how can we? It is not for us. He gave. He didn’t take, and what He requires of us is that we would give our whole lives. I remember a teacher once wrote, “If you give of your best, you give nothing, but if you give your life, you give everything. If you lose your parents, you lose something, but if you lose your name, you lose everything.” We bear the name of our Lord Jesus and we have to bear His name worthily.

We can turn to Hebrews 2:17, “Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” In South Africa, December 16 was seen as a holy day because that was the day when the Boers got victory over the Zulus. For years, they kept this day like a Sunday. Then a new government took over and they didn’t know what to do about this day. It really belonged to the white people, so they called it a Day of Reconciliation. The enmity is finished, there has been reconciliation. That is what the Lord Jesus did when He came to this earth. He came to bring peace. His whole message was about peace. When we remember the emblems, we remember our day of reconciliation to God. He gave His life so we can be reconciled to God.

God requires that we would be faithful in serving Him, faithful in obeying Him. Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin . . Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” There is no temptation that we can go through that we could say, “The Lord Jesus has not been tempted in this.” He can help us. Hebrews 7:26, “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” When we partake of the emblems today, we are reminded of our High Priest, the Lord Jesus. His body was treated as if it was worthless and useless. A crown of thorns was placed on His head, they spat in His face, they treated Him as nothing, the One who was undefiled and harmless. If we but knew. We are reminded of the suffering that He went through so He could become an everlasting High Priest.

Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience . . Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering . . let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.” This is something for us to do. What is a conscience? It is a little voice that God uses to speak to us. We cannot put our finger on it, but it is there and we can train it. Paul wrote to Timothy about some who had their conscience seared there was no feeling. When I was a young boy in Namibia, some of the women used to smoke pipes. Their fingers were so tough that they were able to pick up a hot, glowing coal and put it in the pipe, then take it out again and throw it away. Their fingers had no feeling any more. I always liked to play with fire but my fingers were too sensitive and they got burned, so I never tried it again.

When we can hold on to our conscience, God can speak to us through His word. So we can read our Bibles and God can speak to us. But at times, there is not a mother or father or sister or brother with us. We are alone, but we have this conscience and it can warn us if we do wrong. In the south of the Netherlands, there are a lot of mussel farmers. One man said, “God doesn’t speak to us like He spoke to old people.” His friend said, “God definitely speaks the same way. You were out fishing and took your boat to your neighbour’s property. You looked around, then let the net down. That moment when you looked around, God was speaking to you.” His conscience was warning him that it was not his property, but he let the net down. Verse 22, “Let us draw near . . having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” That is what has happened to us these days. We are washed and our conscience is tender again. When we see the emblems, it causes tenderness in our hearts to think of what the Lord Jesus has done for us.

With these verses I would like to stop, because this is the hope we have for the future. John 20:17, “Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, ‘I ascend unto My Father, and your Father, and to My God, and your God.’” They are very comforting words that the Lord Jesus spoke to Mary when she was so troubled. He knew they would have sorrow because they didn’t understand. This is the message today as we partake of the emblems: He is preparing a place with the Father for you and for me. May we walk worthy of the calling wherewith we have been called.

Mark 10: 13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them, and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 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. 15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” 16 And He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them.

It tells us here about the people bringing children to Jesus. The disciples discouraged them. It tells us the reaction of Jesus. In this bible, it says He was much displeased. I was looking at the meaning, the way it was originally written, the word. It says that the word used for the reaction of Jesus is a word of very strong emotion which comes from the root which means He felt pained. It is commonly taken to mean that He felt great indignation. I love to see the care that Jesus had for the children.

Today I want to speak about the care of children. Amongst the things that we are speaking of is a matter that is referred to often in current terminology as CSA. The first word of these three is child and the last is abuse or assault and the middle one I am not going to voice but it begins with s and refers to a kind of physical mistreatment that is of the cruellest, basest, most defiling, and most damaging kind.

There are some things that we don’t like to speak of and don’t ordinarily speak of so openly and there are some things that are so distasteful that we don’t even like to feel it might be necessary to speak about them so we are not going to voice that word but I must say that if anyone has the slightest doubt about what is going to be referred to, please ask afterwards.

Paul when he wrote to the Ephesians said about things to keep away from. In Ephesians 5:12, he said it is a shame even to speak about those things that are done by them in secret. But there are times when it is necessary to say something because it is not always done by them. There have been times and occasions when things have been done which should not have been done among the fellowship. There have been times when things have been done which should not have been done by members of the ministry.

Today we want to speak about these things as discretely as possible and as clearly as necessary. In the last year or so, there has been quite a lot of discussion about matters in Victoria, Australia. I find it very saddening and have to say that I feel that the response of the ministry has not been adequate. There is no point in trying to make an apology because words can’t deliver. But what is needed is the most profound of all apologies and that is a reform of attitude and beginning to acknowledge where there has been error and the committed purpose and earnestness to ensure that where there has been error there will not be error again.

One thing that needs to be remembered very clearly in this matter of treatment of children is that we are talking about crime, and more than that we are talking about the most heinous kind of crime of all. The various crimes that are committed, some are against property, some against the interests of society or the state, and there are some against the person. Of all crimes, the crime of one person against another person is the worst. The crime of a man against the person of another man is bad.

The crime of a man against the person of a woman is worse. The crime of a man against the person of a child is the worst of all. It has the worst disastrously damaging effect and leads to a legacy of challenge that is mostly carried the life-long through.

So we come to the question of what one does to handle such a thing. I Corinthians 6 there is advice given about not letting matters go to law or to be heard before the court. I have heard people express the view that this applies to the matter to which we are referring today but it does not. This is not a matter of criminal wrongdoing in this chapter that Paul is talking about. He is talking about what we would call in today’s legal proceedings a civil suit. A matter of one person against another person in the matter perhaps of being defrauded or suffering loss or some contest or dispute about property or something of that nature. That is what he is speaking about in this chapter. 

We must never fall into the error of suggesting that because a person is in the fellowship of the children of God that there are things they are sheltered from in terms of not having penalties applied. It must never be thought that the gospel or fellowship presents an umbrella under which people may hide and the law may be broken with impunity or the law-breaker find shelter and not face the consequence of breaking the law and it must never be seen or seem to be that the fellowship of God’s people presents an opportunity or place where there is scope for the breaking of the law.

Think about Jesus and His love and His feelings and His purity and how He valued little children because in them He saw the essence of purity and lack of defilement that He loved because it spoke of what He lived himself and that is why there is a respect toward children in Jesus. Think of Jesus who felt so toward little children and how He would feel if there was anything to which His name was attached which could be used in a way in which children could suffer or in which suffering was allowed.

Scripture which applies to matters of criminal breaking of the law, one of the passages, is found in Romans 13:1, Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For He is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for He beareth not the sword in vain: for He is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

Peter also wrote some words that are relevant to this. I Peter 2: 13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

Those scriptures are those that apply to the attitude toward the criminal breaking of the law. We are very favoured people in this country that we live in and have lived in a society with wonderful liberty because of the rule of law and general orderliness. There are some things that we should give thanks to God for because we read in Revelation about a time when that will be taken away from the earth. We hardly bear to think about what that may be like. 

We in this country are in a favoured and fortunate position that the rule of law and general orderliness are the norm. We are favoured because of that great freedom and great security. We have good government. I’m not speaking about the currently elected members but about the system of government that we have and the rules and protocols, the way the country is ordered, we are a favoured people. There are powers that remain with God and they are under His rule. There are agents appointed by God as the ministry of God to attend to matters of evil doing and wrong doing and it says there the ministry of God is not to be resisted but to be dealt with as necessary according to the mind of God. It is necessary to thank God for this wonderful environment of orderliness in which we live.

So the process of the law is not to be resisted. There is to be cooperation, there is to be acceptance, and there is even to be thankfulness to God for the very same because it is of God.

So there is the question now of what do we do if there should seem to be a risk somewhere to the children. The safety and welfare of the little children must never be compromised by anything. There must never be anything that is allowed that could impact upon it or threaten or give the slightest measure of risk to the children. Where there is a known risk there must be openness so the risk can be avoided. Failure to do so is as much an offense as the offense itself.

Where there is known to be or even thought to be reasonable grounds, a suggestion of risk, in that also there must be advice and counsel given in sufficiently clear terms that all measure of risk is avoided.

I believe that there is a good parallel to this and the attitudes toward this in those that we find toward people who have a problem with alcohol. It is very difficult to get over that. This problem that we are speaking about today is also an extremely difficult one to get over and one that carries with it an extremely high incidence of re-occurrence or re-offense.

In the matter of those who have a problem with alcohol, amongst them, there is sometimes a willingness to acknowledge the problem and to seek help for the problem. It is a very courageous step and one which the community at large applauds strongly, a willingness to accept that there is a problem and to address the problem with the help of others. Furthermore when a person takes steps to address the problem they are supported wholeheartedly by everybody and there is an immense feeling of respect and admiration for the courageousness of those who are able to confront the problem and do something about it. That is the community’s attitude toward that particular thing.

But this particular problem about which we speak today, whilst it has a certain parallel to that, has the much much more serious side to it that the effects of the problem impact on others, very directly and very damagingly and for that reason also, very clear steps must be taken. Where there is willingness for openness and willingness to courageously confront a problem and address it with necessary help that is available to make the effort to overcome it, there is a great fund of goodwill and support for those who will do that, and a great willingness to assist in whatever way is possible.

We are speaking of cooperation. When we speak about the necessity for openness and avoiding risk we are speaking about cooperation. We are not speaking about vindication or vengeance or any such thing. We are speaking about cooperation whereby someone who may have a problem can have the benefit of everybody’s support and help, opportunities are not created or allowed, but encouragement and support are given in every way possible.

So we come to the question then of how do we move forward and work toward an acceptance that there is rehabilitation. There are some guidelines for that in scripture. Let’s look at II Corinthians 7 where Paul refers to problems that were amongst the Corinthians and he has done so in very clear terms: 8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. 9 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. 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 11 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.

In the last verse of that chapter he has these words I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things. There had been a problem. The problem had been addressed. The problem had been dealt with. We see the kind of marks that Paul could see or were evident in those who were moved toward repentance. Very clear marks, very heartfelt things, very sure signs that their attitude of dealing with things, not trivialising matters, not pretending to minimise things but rather the opposite ability, to maximise the application to oneself that it may be treated as it ought to be treated. 

He speaks of these things: indignation, fear, vehement desire, zeal, revenge. We will speak on that word in a minute. The words speak of very very strong feelings and very, very concrete measures taken that there might be a change. Not trivialising matters, but rather the opposite. Indignation is the very same word here that Jesus used in the first verse we read when He said He was much displeased. Strong emotion. Greatly stirred. Jesus when He said that He was telling the people, “That is not Me, that is not My position.” He strongly put His case that “That is not Me.” 

And here it says the same thing: that these people amongst whom there had been a problem now had cleansed themselves, not by denial, but by acceptance and addressing the matter, dealing with the desire for revenge. Looking at the meaning of that word, it is an unfortunate use of that word really although it was no doubt apt when this bible was translated, because we are inclined to think of the word as get back or pay back. It doesn’t mean that at all in this case. It is not used in that way. It means simply, the even-handed and effective application of justice. Even-handed and effective. Just treatment, of everything and everybody.

So Paul was able to say to them, “I have confidence in you.” Steps had been taken which would allow the rebuilding of confidence. It’s not easily done but it can be done.

Repentance is much more than just verbalising a statement that “I am sorry.”

This matter of mistreatment of children, there are three components to it. One is that it is criminally wrong. Another is the mental health aspect as well. The other is that it has an element of spiritual health aspect. Those three things, differing as they do, need to be addressed by those who are competent to do so. We are faced as shepherds and pastors of the flock, with the help of God and with the aid of His spirit, we seek help in matters of the spirit and spiritual welfare of individuals of the flock but we are not equipped for those others and they need to be left where they belong. Matters that relate to the criminal breaking of the law need to be dealt with by the law, and matters that relate to mental health and those sorts of concerns need to be dealt with by those who are competent to deal with them.

Repentance, the thought or suggestion or feeling of repentance will have no value at all unless all those matters have been addressed, and there is a willingness for the law to be followed and the penalties to be faced and accepted without appeal. I don’t understand how anyone who could appeal against a penalty could consider themselves to be fully remorseful. There must be a willingness for the acceptance of the penalty. There must be a willingness to seek help that is necessary and effectively from those who are clinically equipped and enabled to deal with matters of process and proper mind, and there must be very clear and definite and concrete steps that speak of change from the depths of the heart and then, and only then, can there be a feeling that there has been repentance. Then, and only then, can there be the possibility of beginning, to rebuild confidence. It is possible if the process is followed.

We are thankful that we have the example of Jesus, to strengthen us and teach us and guide us in all that is acceptable to peace. May God help us that in all matters and at all times that we are allowing Christ to be our guide and teacher, that He could be dwelling in us, and that He would be stronger than us to make us like Himself, and that He would be manifesting Himself through us, that in this world God’s people may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world and speak of things that belong to Christ.

Matthew 2. Who is Matthew? Matthew was a man who knew Jesus personally; he talked to Him, listened to Him and loved Him. Matthew had a job as a tax collector but, one day, he realized that God wanted him to tell people about Jesus and God used him with his great faith in Jesus to write a book, Matthew’s Gospel. This is the story that he has recorded. Matthew greatly believed in everything he wrote about and he knew it was true for us to pass on. He wrote the book as an older man, and it is possible that Matthew was only a little baby himself at the time of Jesus’ birth.

He wrote about Jesus’ beginning in His country, the land of Israel. A lot of the people there were Jews with different customs and they had a Roman Governor. It is not so much the history that is interesting, but we are looking at people who had their very own experience and who got to know Jesus. The city of Jerusalem is still in Israel and so is Bethlehem, and they are only about 12km apart. Jerusalem was a real religious city; they had the temple, a magnificent building, and it meant a lot to the Jews. There was a lot of learning done there, and they had their esteemed judges. Near it was this other town called Bethlehem and of all the places on earth that Jesus could have been born, that is where God chose for Him to be born.

Jesus was with God from the beginning, in the most wonderful setting where God dwells in His invisible kingdom. Jesus was there, loved by God, His Father, and the mystery to us mortals is that Jesus left that place that is beyond our description, and came to the earth as a helpless little baby. His mother was Mary and people thought that Joseph was His father. But Joseph was a very good step-father really, because God was Jesus’ Father and that is where it needs faith.

Matthew 2, Matthew wrote that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Hundreds of years earlier it was said that God’s Son would be born there. Micah 5:2, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Some shepherds lived very close to Bethlehem and on the very night of Jesus’ birth, an angel told them that Jesus was born that day in Bethlehem. They were so impressed and badly wanted to see this baby, so they left their sheep and went to find this little one-day-old baby. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, little strips of linen like the poor children were dressed in, lying in a manger which the cattle fed from. They saw something that was not very impressive naturally, but God arranged that. He could have had Jesus born in a palace, but that is how He started life on the earth and the shepherds saw it and rejoiced.

Eight days later, Mary and Joseph went up to the temple in Jerusalem where an old man, Simeon, had been waiting to see him. Luke 2:34, he picked Him up and said, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against.” There was also an old lady there, Anna, and it was the highlight of their lives and gave them hope that this little life would grow to be the Saviour of men and women.

Matthew 2:1, “There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, ‘Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.’” We really know nothing about these men. The day Jesus was born was the greatest event in this earth, but most people knew nothing about it. But these men lived a long way from Bethlehem and they used to watch the stars. They saw a star they had never seen before and I marvel at their faith, because they knew that the promised one, Jesus, was born. God let them know that He had fulfilled His promise so they left their country without any doubts and they went to find Jesus, and they could have traveled for months.

The shepherds saw Jesus as a helpless little one-day-old baby, yet they knew He was going to be their hope of eternal life. Now, Matthew records these wise men turning up in Jerusalem. They just missed it by 12 kilometers! As they were getting closer, they could have assumed that such an important birth would have happened in Jerusalem. The interesting thing is, they didn’t go there to sight-see or to learn about anything else, but they came to see this little one that was born. To them, the effort was worth it all. They asked people in Jerusalem, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.” They were so guileless, they had no idea that there would be people that would hate Jesus. They would be amazed when they got to this religious city and nobody knew where Jesus was. The shepherds had seen Him, and Simeon and Anna had seen Him, but God kept His birth from anyone that would be an enemy.

King Herod had been king for a long time and he didn’t want to hear about any other king that would be a threat to him. He was just consumed with jealousy. As the king, he would have a powerful network but he had never heard about this miracle birth, even though it was only 12 kilometers away. So, Herod gathered many of the chief priests and the religious people and said, “Where is this Jesus?” The wise men had seen King Herod in his palace, and I suppose it would be very impressive, but it didn’t impress those men. They were looking for Jesus and wanted to find Him. They were so convinced that God had started them on this journey, but where was He? The point of this story is that we are all the same. We really don’t know anything about it, and God in His great kindness starts leading us to get to know Jesus, and it is a very individual thing.

Verse 8, King Herod said, “Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found Him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship Him also.” So the wise men went to Bethlehem, and the amazing thing is that nobody went with them after all the way they had come. God was working with them and He didn’t want them to be distracted, and He separated them from every other influence that would distract them.

As they were journeying, they saw the star again, and they never took their eyes off it. Verse 10, “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” How can you describe rejoicing with exceeding great joy? It is the anticipation of being with Jesus. And they still hadn’t seen Jesus! They realized that God had got them on track again and they were filled with hope that God was with them and would lead them to Jesus. They weren’t worrying about how far they had come. People make a big effort to come to the Gospel meetings and they are never sad about it; somehow, God makes it up to them. For some of you coming to this convention, just to feel that God has got us on track again is a wonderful thing.

So, these wise men were guided. Verse 11, “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshiped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.” They found Him in a house, not a manger. It could have been months or even a year that they traveled, we don’t know. I suppose that house in Bethlehem looked like any other house. Jesus was not a one-day-old baby any more. He was a little infant and He would look like any other little boy. But what God put in these men’s hearts was, “This is the life that will grow to be your Saviour.” God has a plan that one day, people who love Him and follow Him will be with Him forever. I think the wise men believed in God’s promises and it filled their spirits with hope. It was so humble, and they had just come from the place of pomp and ceremony which didn’t impress them one bit.

They fell down and worshiped Jesus. Imagine the joy it would have given Joseph and Mary. There is no joy like it, to see people come to the Gospel meetings and see that it is meaning something to them. At the beginning, we hardly have any hope for some, but we see the change. These wise men, with all their learning, were such humble people and they saw the sincerity of Jesus; they saw God’s great plan and they never would have been impressed if it had been just an outward show. They saw the real thing.

After they gave Him their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, God warned the wise men that they should not return to King Herod. They got away before Herod could get any of his spies onto them and they went away so happy with the promise of Jesus. The very same night, Joseph and Mary were urged to flee too, and they did it. They loved Jesus and they fitted in with God’s plan. They went to Egypt and stayed there until it was safe to bring Him home again.

So, around the birth of Jesus there were people that God wanted to honour by bringing them in touch with Jesus. You can think of all the people that were so close, yet God never revealed it to them. We feel that God is interested in us personally; He wants to guide us to Jesus, to experience the joy of believing in Him and coming into His presence. The parallel to this story is that the wise men are typical of us on a journey through life, and they got the very essence of what God intended. They got to love Jesus. God led them right to where Jesus was. God will not give you up; He will lead you to where Jesus is, at His right hand. We can relate to these people. The wise men made a great effort and they could have thought the journey was too much, but their faith helped them to keep going until they experienced Jesus for themselves. Those of us in this ministry are soon going out to tell this story over and over again. We are very grateful for people who love the Gospel story and who can tell someone else, “There is a Gospel meeting starting; it means everything to me.” We get a feeling for people that are interested, people like Simeon and Anna, not looking for pomp and show but for the Truth. They are the kind of people that still get helped. We are grateful that God was over the top of all this work and these people were faithful to fit in with it, and I hope we can go with exceeding joy as we experience the presence and comfort of Jesus.

Hymn 368, “Once I Wandered on in Darkness”

Acts 1:3, “To whom also He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” I used to think this was talking about forty consecutive days. John 20:19, you read about the first time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples in a Sunday morning meeting. A week later, He showed Himself to them again and later He showed Himself to them a third time. He was making use of His time in the course of those forty days, consecutive or on other occasions.

The disciples went through a terrible experience and lost their faith until Jesus made Himself alive to them again. Now they had a lively hope in Jesus, their Lord and Saviour, and they were waiting for the Holy Spirit. We trust in the Holy Spirit, we are a Spirit-led people and we follow a Spirit-led ministry. If it weren’t so, we would be no different to anybody else in this world. When Jesus was on the earth, people could reach out and touch Him, they went to Jesus in their distress and trouble to get things settled. Then the time came when Jesus was not there but He promised another Comforter, the Holy Spirit of Truth.

John 14-16, three times Jesus refers to it as the Spirit of Truth. That is the Spirit we seek after. We don’t have Jesus in the flesh, but we have the Holy Spirit and we believe in that influence. Jesus Himself was a sweet influence to His disciples, and the Spirit is that to us in our day. We have been hearing about the ministry. Jesus called twelve men from their occupations and sent them out to preach the Gospel. For a little while they were with Him, and I am sure Jesus taught them a lot of things they needed to learn. Then He sent them out on their own. Just recently, I have been thinking about the Spirit being with these men. Other scriptures tell us that the Spirit was not yet given. Acts 2:16, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass . . I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.”

Jesus said that the Spirit would not come unless He departed from them. John 16:7, “For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” Jesus was on the earth when He sent these men out preaching the Gospel, so what about a Spirit-led ministry? 1 Peter 1:10, “Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” The Spirit of Christ was in those holy men of God, teaching them and showing them about our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who would come.

We have Moses, Isaiah, Zechariah, David, and quite a few more to whom the Spirit showed Christ and the sufferings He would face. Psalm 22 tells us very plainly the thoughts Jesus had as He hung on the cross. Joseph and Mary were righteous people, chosen of God, as were Zacharias and Elisabeth. Luke 2, the Holy Ghost revealed to Simeon that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ, and he came by the Spirit into the temple. The Spirit of the Lord came to Samson’s aid and enabled him to get victory over the enemies of Israel. The Spirit was alive and well in the Old Testament. So, if God could give them the Holy Spirit, how much more so the ministers ordained by Jesus Himself, when they went out to preach the Gospel?

John 14:11, “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me . . he that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father.” Those greater works are the works of the Spirit, because Jesus gave His disciples power when they went out to preach the Gospel. The greater work really is the work of salvation. They did wonderful works but they all ended at the grave. A lot of people who were partakers of those works weren’t always partakers of salvation, just having the natural work done in their lives. He wanted those works to be used as a means to an end, so people could understand there is something more than being here to do good works. Jesus wanted to do works for the soul but so often He was hindered; He couldn’t even enter into some towns because people thronged Him.

Luke 11:5, this was a long time before the resurrection. Jesus was teaching His disciples about prayer, then He told the parable of the man who had a friend who came to Him at midnight for bread. Verse 6, “For a friend of Mine in his journey is come to Me, and I have nothing to set before him . . Though he will not rise and give him . . yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.” Jesus exhorted those who were listening to Him to pray. Importunity just means troublesome persistence. So, it is not just asking one time a week or one time a day. That is being consistent. But if you came and asked on the hour, every hour, you could imagine it would be troublesome. That is what this man was doing. He kept asking and knocking, and finally the door was opened and there was bread for him and his friend. Troublesome persistence.

Jesus didn’t stop there. Verse 11, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone . . How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” This was before the resurrection and before the day of Pentecost. So, Jesus was teaching how to get the Holy Spirit, and I believe it was available to those who wanted it. God gave it to the Old Testament prophets and to the New Testament saints. So, the disciples would not have been sent out without some sort of sustenance.

The Holy Spirit was poured out amongst men on the day of Pentecost; it seems that was the time the Holy Spirit came to stay. They were supposed to wait in Jerusalem until they received this Holy Spirit of Truth. I looked at some of these chapters in Acts with the thought of the Holy Spirit leading and directing His ministry. Some scriptures were becoming very clear to the apostles, even regarding Judas. They seemed to have no concept before, but now Peter was talking about Judas. Acts 1:16, “Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas.” I wondered if that wasn’t the help of God, helping him to understand scriptures that had been closed before. The prophet Joel talked about lots of things too, that were opening up to them. Then we read about the disciples doing an odd thing: they cast lots. It was a way to determine a choice, maybe like taking the short straw. Anyway, it was the means for the Lord to help people to understand His will. We read about that extensively in the Old Testament, but this is the only time we read of it in the book of Acts. After this, the Holy Spirit came and there was no more need to cast lots.

Acts 2:3, “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” A lot of people were in Jerusalem for the feast and they were amazed. These Galilean men couldn’t have known these things. Others mocked, but Peter got up and began to explain to them what was taking place. It seems like this new out-pouring was now at work in Peter; it loosened his tongue and gave him understanding of the scriptures. Verse 15, “’These are not drunken . . But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days,’ saith God, ‘I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall dream dreams.’”

Then in the next verse we read of “my servants and my handmaidens.” A change had taken place. The Spirit gives people an understanding that there is a God in heaven to serve and to worship. So, their sons and daughters did something about it and they professed, as we say. They did as we do; they went to meetings and spoke of what God had revealed, speaking as they were moved by the Spirit of God. But sometimes the Spirit begins to convict and move people to go further than the step of being a saint, and now they become a servant. God says, “This is not your son or daughter any more; it is my servant, it is my handmaiden.” They respond to the call to go into the harvest field. That is the work of the Holy Spirit too. The Spirit works in different ways and speaks in different ways, and you see all of them in the book of the Acts.

So the scripture was opened to Peter and in that Gospel meeting 3000 people professed. An explosion of converts! Jesus never saw that. Multitudes followed Him, but so few responded to the call of the Gospel. The Spirit was being poured out and the apostles were responding with power. Luke 24:49, “But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” They had already received power when Jesus first sent them out. When you read these early chapters of the book of the Acts, you read that they had a very clear revelation about Jesus Christ, convincing people who were unbelievers. Acts 6:10, “And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he (Stephen) spake.” The people Stephen was talking to didn’t want to hear; he was speaking out of season. There is a time in season, and there is a time out of season. It cost Stephen his life, but he had wisdom and they couldn’t refute it.

Acts 2:46, “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Acts 3, a great change came into the life of this man who couldn’t walk. Verse 12, Peter just said, “Why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?” Peter made it very plain that it was the work of the Holy Spirit. So, this is a wonderful testimony and people were hearing and receiving and believing the same power that the apostles had been endowed with.

Acts 4:7, “And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, ‘By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?’” You can be sure that when they were called before the high priest they had no idea what was going to be asked, but when they were asked, Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost and answered them. It wasn’t his own power. We heard already that he had no special learning, but the Holy Ghost gave him the power to answer. It can do the same for you and me. People ask you what you believe. We have the aid of the Holy Spirit and it should enable us to answer of the hope that lies within us. We don’t need to be ashamed of it. Sometimes we feel we do a poor job at answering people’s questions, but we have to trust that we have the Holy Spirit to lead us.

There were times when Jesus spoke and times when Jesus did not speak. So the Holy Spirit can teach us the time to speak and the time to remain silent. Maybe you have enjoyed reading something for the meeting, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, but by doing that you are not leaving much room for the Holy Spirit. We can’t begin to guess what people need, but the Holy Spirit knows and we trust that. We want to be open, even while speaking, because some things we plan to say but do not say; some things we have no intention of saying but we say, and we wonder why we were moved to say that. It is the Holy Spirit leading, even while you are giving your testimony.

Acts 5:1, “But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price . . and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” This is another mark of the Holy Spirit. It is the spirit of discernment. Peter wouldn’t have known what was going on, but he had the Holy Spirit and it helped him to discern. That is the way it is so often for us in the work and for you folks in the home life. Many situations come up and if we didn’t have the discernment of the Holy Spirit, we could be going off in many different ways. That is not to say we are always in tune, but when we are in the Spirit, we can discern right judgment. Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” There is more to it. Jesus Himself used right judgment. The Spirit is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. We can be a discerning people by having the Holy Spirit.

Acts 13:2, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” They began a journey, directed by the Holy Ghost. Some places they wanted to go but the Holy Ghost wouldn’t let them go. The Spirit closes doors and opens doors until we finally get to the place where people are waiting to be found.

Acts 15, they preached circumcision and it caused a lot of dissension among the believers. It was part of the old law. What to do? They got together, elders and apostles, and went to Jerusalem. Verse 6, “And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter . . Peter rose up and said unto them, ‘Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God . . giving them the Holy Ghost . . and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.’” Peter got a revelation about preaching to the Gentiles, but there was much disputing and it doesn’t sound like a very profitable meeting. So Peter spoke about the Holy Ghost and after he finished, Paul and Barnabas told them about the work they were able to do by the Holy Ghost. After them, James got up and spoke to them. It began with disputing but at the end they were all of one accord. It all came about because the Holy Spirit was in the meeting and they were responding to it.

Verse 28, “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” That is the correct order. We listen, the Holy Ghost tells us and it seems good to us, too. That is the consensus and the Holy Ghost will still do that for God’s people. So, if we are responsive and open to the dealings of the Holy Spirit, there will be unity, there is no question about it.

Dear Workers & Friends,

When someone you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure.

Our thoughts today are of overwhelming gratitude for all your prayers, visits, emails, Skype messages, cards, letters, calls, flowers, meals and kindnesses shown to us as we cared for Keith.

Keith described it best when he said we have experienced a tsunami of love!

We are most grateful for the privilege of sharing Keith’s illness and last days.

He was a prince of a man, a Godly, diligent disciple, a patient teacher, a kind shepherd, a loving, caring brother, a dignified and humble servant, a most co-operative and uncomplaining patient and a trusted friend.

For those of you who did not have the privilege of visiting Keith in these last few weeks, we would like to share a little of that experience with you.

Any that did, will well remember Keith’s smile, his ability to engage you in personal, meaningful, spiritual conversations, his stoic, but gentle, demeanor when sitting in his chair to visit, having fellowship meeting or listening to hymns sung around the piano.

He considered each one to be a helper of his joy.

You will recall too, the many stories (daily for us) about Pakistan and his love for the people there. The early morning calls from there were greatly anticipated and brought him much joy. We often joked that he could have a very private conversation with us present, as he loved to chat in Urdu.

He spent a part of each morning and evening on his computer, enjoying the many emails. He read all his letters, and answered many, up to 6 days before he passed away. He then just became too weak to manage the necessary energy required.

Our morning studies were precious and took us through various books and topics as well as following the study in Pakistan and our mid-week study chapters. We read in Genesis and Psalms in the last few weeks.

We looked for the treasure in each day.

We visited about time and eternity, living and dying, relationships and righteousness. We often sat in comfortable silence.

His mother, Dora, has been with us on 3 separate occasions. First for a month in October, then two more times of 3 weeks each, returning home January 15th. They enjoyed precious visits and sweet fellowship. At 90, she was our example of faith and trust in God and His plan. We were thankful that she could be here when he was well enough to enjoy her.

He loved and appreciated our young folks here in Saskatoon and those feelings were mutual. Many would just drop in for a quick hello, a singsong or a little visit. He thoroughly enjoyed the gathering here of about 40 young folks on January 20, 2012. They each shared their thought from special meetings that they could apply to their life.

He sat in his favorite blue chair, visiting until the last ones had left!

That was so “Keith”…he shared of himself beyond his strength, he loved beyond reason.

By the weekend of February 3-5,he was becoming significantly weaker. He really had no appetite and, although very jaundiced, denied any significant pain. He began sitting with his eyes closed and preferred to be in bed. His brother, Victor, and Lenore came Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning he was determined to sit up in our little meeting. There were only 9 of us as our regular meeting went to the union Sunday home. Mike took the meeting and Keith sat with eyes closed but prayed, spoke helpfully from Psalm 99…the righteous judgment of God and prayed for the emblems.

He listened to the gospel meeting from his bed. (He has been getting all the gospel meetings over Rebecca’s cell phone). Mike and Dustin’s messages would get an “Isn’t that amazing!” comment from him each Sunday.

His contact with us became mostly limited to single words of yes, no, please, or thank you. He never once complained or murmured but remained gracious and thankful and extremely peaceful.

As had been their habit, Rebecca asked him every morning about his “hymn of the day”…and she would play and sing it for him before she left for work. On Wednesday, she asked him, “Uncle Keith, do you have a favorite?” “Yes,” came the weak reply. “Just tell me a word or 2 and I will figure out the hymn. Do you know which one?” He softly whispered to her, “I do but you won’t.” At that time she didn’t understand…. but now she realizes that the hymn he had written, “ Just once more,” was being fulfilled!

From Sunday on, we took turns sitting with Keith continually. Mike and Dustin were here as well as my cousin, Minnie Lou Howden, who is a nurse. She did the midnight to dawn shifts, which was tremendous help.

One of the young brother workers had made a compilation of hymns…(piano, violin, and vocal), which we played softly at various times. We held his hand, spoke softly to him, or just sat quietly near, providing him with his precious “alone time” with God.

Mike kept in frequent contact with Dora and the family. We are extremely grateful for our brother workers in our field, Mike Hassett and Dustin Collins. …Companions for Keith and an immeasurable help to us.

Just an hour before Keith passed away, Mike had called Dora to tell her that Jarvis Olsen (Keith’s nephew) had stopped by for lunch and Keith’s condition was really no different than the past few days. He remained at rest, sleeping peacefully.

Then at 2:31 pm on Friday February 10th..there was a next breath that didn’t come. Mike, Minnie Lou, and Lois were with him. He was never restless or anxious or fearful. He did not suffer but just slipped peacefully away from us.

It was 8 months to the day since he came to our home. Precious and special days, all!

So many things could be said about Keith, but he did ask that all the glory go to God.

We do feel the peace he left in our home, the reassurance that the soul of this just man is now perfected, that there has not failed one word of all God promised. God was true and faithful to Keith in this experience and walked with him until he could hang his shield of faith in victory.

In his last weeks, he talked not of what he was leaving behind, but what he was going to, and with awe and wonderment, spoke of seeing the windows of heaven open and anticipating seeing God face to face. He spoke of going ‘home.’

Dick penned it so beautifully yesterday when he replied to a note from an older sister worker.

He wrote this:

It is a great element to our joy, thinking of you faithfully walking and sowing as you go.

We need not be thanked but rejoice together for the great example, the fellowship, the faith and the courage that was here with us.

He was a disciple, a worker, a teacher, an empathizer and in his last days epitomized the lamb before death going softly quietly and without a whimper.

Thanks be to God for the wonder of his works in friends and workers.  

We will each have a turn.

Love in Christ.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We bow our heads & hearts in grateful praise to our God who does all things well.

We have been witness to God’s perfect plan: His mercy, His faithfulness, and, above all, His love.

May the spirit of Christ, so manifested in Keith’s living and dying, continue to inspire each one that has been touched by Keith’s life.

Greetings from grateful hearts and may all be well with you,

Dick, Lois, and Rebecca Stewart

 PS : one of the thoughts we shared with Keith to encourage him on:

Think of:

Stepping on shore, and find it Heaven

Of taking hold of a hand, and finding it’s God’s hand

Of breathing a new air and finding its celestial air.

Of feeling invigorated and finding it immortality.

Of passing from storm and tempest to an unbroken calm.

Of waking up and finding it HOME

…….a hymn we often sang….

Almost Home–A few more wild waves roar

Beyond the trackless waste, and then the homeland shore

Almost Home–A night or two at sea.

And then the lights that wait to welcome me

Almost Home. The storm tossed journey past

And then the love lit fires, dispelling every blast

Almost Home and sunrise on the shore

A Welcome warm and then, a love wide open door

CHORUS:

Home, Sweet Home, Home beyond the tide

Home, Sweet Home, I shall be satisfied..

This was sent to us and was surely our prayer for Keith in his last days:

I will take your name before the Father as I seek His face

And ask Him to enfold you in His arms of warm embrace

There’s no one who can comfort you quite like the Father can

And surely carry you across this dark and frightening span

Although I dearly care for you and want to help so much,

I know that what you really need is in the Father’s touch

So, I will take you to the throne and leave you in His care

I know He will deliver, when I speak your name in prayer.

For Saturday and for Pakistan……

THE HARVEST (an old poem forwarded to us today)

They come from farm and farmland, from vale and distant hill

From busy halls of commerce. and from the forest mill.

And when I saw them coming, that flock of grieving sheep  

I marveled at the harvest a shepherd’s hand can reap.

Yes–as I saw them coming: the sorrowful, the old

The babe with gentle mother, the sheep outside the fold

The brave, old, honest toilers, the children young and fair.

I marveled at the harvest one grain of wheat can bear.

And from the distant mainland,across the rolling seas,

There came a lonely grieving, that stirred the silent trees

And as I heard that echo, from absent mourning sheep

I marveled at the harvest, a gentle hand can reap

And now that hand is resting, that shepherd’s heart is still

No more the grim dark valley, no more the winter chill

No more the long night vigil, on yonder mountain steep

His rod and staff beside him, the shepherd lies asleep.                          

Hymn 221, “Unerring One”

My thoughts have been on human reasoning that can come between God and ourselves and hinder what God wants to do in us. Luke 1, the angel came to Mary and told her that she would have a child and that child would be the Son of God. It was hard for human reasoning to comprehend, but Mary knew it was possible with God. Her cousin Elisabeth was also to have a child in her old age, and that also would have been hard to grasp. But the angel said to Mary, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Mary didn’t think how great she was that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Son of God, but she was humble. Luke 1:46, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

When people are told about the New Testament ministry, they often find it hard to grasp how a homeless ministry can be possible. It goes by faith with no collection, no tithing, and the human mind finds it hard to understand it can be possible. A miracle is something that is not naturally possible. Someone said that God specializes in miracles. When we cannot understand, have faith. Faith has always been important to Jesus; to have the faith to know that God knows. Mark 6:2, “And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, ‘From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto Him?’” They couldn’t understand with human reasoning. God’s servants don’t go to a theological college to learn how to speak of God’s word, and that is another thing people ask us. The disciples didn’t go to a theological college, but people saw that they had been with Jesus.

I have been in the north of Sri Lanka and the work has not been able to go on there for nearly 30 years. One of our brothers was trying to count the various religions that took the name of Jesus, and he counted 58 just in that part alone. There are many organizations taking the name of Christ, all with their own different names, and some of them ask us questions but cannot understand the way God’s servants go in this ministry. When Peter had toiled all night and caught nothing, Jesus asked him to launch out into the deep. He could have used his human reasoning and thought, “What’s the use?” But he just said, “Nevertheless, at Thy word I will let down the net.” The sisters on the east coast of Sri Lanka told us that a man had started his own religion and asked them if they wanted to buy his religion, and told them it would come with the congregation, too. It was just like a business to him. So, it is wonderful that God’s servants can take this Gospel in faith.

I was thinking of the time Jesus fed 5,000. Multitudes were there and the disciples asked Him to send them away so they could go and buy food. Five loaves and two fishes to feed the multitude would have seemed impossible to human reasoning. They could have thought, “What’s the use?” Mark 6:41, “And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves and gave them to His disciples to set before them.” It was like Peter saying, “Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.”

In the north of Sri Lanka, we have been having meetings in a home where there are children. Those children don’t have Mums and Dads, so they are in this home. One little girl lost her father and brothers in the war and she was injured too, and walks with crutches. So we have been telling these children stories from the Bible, and this little girl loves to hear them. It is wonderful when we can trust God and not just depend on our own human intellect. “The brightest intellect of men is dark and fails to see the precious truth, to those so clear, who through the Son are free.” Trust in the guidance of His Spirit, even at times when we cannot understand.

I labour in New Caledonia. It is east from Brisbane approximately 1500km. The main island is 400km long and 50km wide and there are about 250,000 people. 45% of these are Melanesian, 35% are of European descent, and there is a good proportion of Polynesian and other nationalities. Two couples live there, one from Canada and one from France, and there are two young men who come to the fellowship meeting. I have appreciated very much my time here, and am thankful for all that has happened in the background to make this convention possible. A man in testimony said that he has received more than he thought he could take, and I am thankful for the river of goodness and love that flows out of the sanctuary that makes us all feel that we receive so much. How could we pay it back? It is impossible, but it is my desire to have thankfulness in my heart for all the goodness that comes to us because of the love of God, and His Spirit poured out in the lives of His children.

Before this meeting, I was glad for the quietness and I hope I can share a little. Jesus is alive, though we don’t see Him with our eyes today. His church is the body of Christ, and I thought about how precious that body is. Revelation 1:18, “I am He that liveth, and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore.” It is hard for us to grasp that Jesus is alive because we don’t see Him, but He is alive and He is at the side of His Father. Stephen looked up into heaven and saw Jesus standing beside His Father. Matthew 21:22, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” It is really hard to understand how that works, and of course that is when we ask for something that is according to the will of God. Acts 14:3, “Speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” The Lord sent His disciples, and then He gave testimony to their word. It is like He was there supporting them.

Matthew 28:18, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost . . and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Jesus manifested Himself alive after His resurrection. He spoke to Paul after He had been taken into heaven. Acts 9:3, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” John saw Him and fell down in fear. Revelation 1:17, “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, ‘Fear not . . I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore.’” Jesus showed Himself alive to His disciples. God sends men and women in their weakness to take the Gospel, and He stands back and guides them. It seems a mystery. Could not the One who is perfect simply have manifested Himself in His glory? By nature we are attracted by what is amazing; maybe if God sent somebody in a marvellous way, there would be a lot of admiration and also a lot of jealousy. But He chose the humble way.

A man in an Asian country was engaged to a girl, but he had to leave her town and go away to study. A policeman was interested in her, but she didn’t want to marry him because she wanted to keep true to the man she loved. So the policeman put her in prison. A long time later, this man succeeded in his study and came back, disguised himself in poor clothes so the greatness he had achieved didn’t show, and went to the prison to see if the girl truly loved him. Then he was able to get her out of prison. God loves the humble way and loves to use weak instruments. My companion told the story of finding a squirrel in a tank. He wanted to get it out so he went to catch it, but the squirrel tried to bite him. What to do? He put something in the tank that the squirrel could relate to; he put a branch in and stood back to watch. The squirrel went up the branch and was free. God has chosen this humble ministry and sends forth those that are weak. That is the instrument He wants to use.

1 Corinthians 12:14, “For the body is not one member, but many.” The church is the body of Christ and all in that church work together for the edifying of everybody. That is very precious. When I listened to the Gospel I knew it was true and I wanted to hear more. At the time, God was working behind the scenes, bringing experiences into my life that helped me to take steps and change until I came to understand that God was calling me in this way. I had long hair at the time, and another man came to the meeting with long hair, far longer than mine. He listened to the Gospel and was touched, and he came to the next meeting with short hair. I had hardly noticed his long hair, but I noticed his short hair. Then I read, “If a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him” (1 Corinthians 11:14). I had been listening for a while, but he understood that faster than I did and I knew what I had to do.

Jesus is alive in that body, in His church. A man grew up in a place where they read the Bible, but he looked around and saw that nobody lived the way they were reading. He felt a need in his heart to do what Jesus taught and he looked for people who had the strength to do what Jesus taught. That man was from Germany and he spent time in a prison camp in France in World War II. He went back to his country when he was free and stayed in the home of one of our friends. The lady of the home noticed that he read his Bible and she invited the sister workers for a visit. They told him the whole Truth in one evening! The sister thought she had said too much, but he knew, “This is what I need.” That is what he was looking for, Christ in the lives of others.

Every part of that body is precious. If one part of our body is hurt, all the body works to help the part that is hurt. Sometimes I say something and a little hurt can happen and I bring a shadow on that person. Human nature finds a little pleasure in wanting to hurt another person, but everyone in that body of Christ is precious and it is like hurting Jesus. Matthew 26:37, “Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when saw we thee and hungred, and fed thee. . or thirsty?’ . . ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” They had forgotten what they did, but the love in their hearts reached out and they wanted to help others. Feed that love for the body of Christ. I am thankful to be a part of that body, and I long to fill my place and know how to behave towards my brothers and sisters.

Hymn 367 – Hold Fast thy Confidence

Hebrews 2:1, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” Jude 3, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” 2 Timothy 3:1, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.”

We have three parts of scripture here that have a very common thought and the word earnest is used. Paul wrote to Timothy about perilous times coming in the last days, and I feel we can safely say that we are there. We are living in perilous times, the last days. The letter to the Hebrews and the letter that Jude wrote were written in perilous times, when the Truth of God was under attack. The commandments that Jesus brought and taught and lived were under attack and that is why this admonition was given the way it was, to earnestly take heed to the faith that had begun in their hearts. It is good admonition to give today, since we are living in perilous days, to be earnest with what has been delivered to us and to the words we will hear that pertain to the Lord Jesus Christ and His holy word. Earnestly take heed to the Gospel story. When we are earnest about something, we are focused and intent, not distracted.

It was Jude’s intention to write to them about the common salvation. He wasn’t calling it common but it was the thought that it was common amongst them and they shared it. I don’t know what he really had in mind to write about, but it was his original intention to write about this salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. Maybe the Spirit of God changed his direction, because he said, “It was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Verse 4, “For there are certain men crept in unawares . . ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul wrote to Timothy about people who were lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers and a whole lot more. 1 Timothy 3:6, “For of this sort are they which creep into houses.” Creeping in is not boldly dashing in, is it? It is just letting oneself in little by little and that is why these things came to be unseen in the fellowship. Men had crept in with wrong doctrine and exerted a wrong influence. There are pervasive influences in the world and as God’s people we need to be careful that they don’t creep in amongst us.

Jude wrote about three different scenarios. Verse 5, “I will therefore put you in remembrance . . how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.” Verse 6, “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Verse 7, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

I am sure Jude had something in mind in writing these three vastly different scenarios. They have very different backgrounds. Verse 5 speaks of God’s chosen people coming out of Egypt into the Promised Land. Verse 7 is about the people of Sodom and Gomorrah who were not professing. Verse 6 is about another kingdom altogether, the angelic kingdom. So, what did Jude have in mind when he put all these things together? On the surface, they were all disobedient to the will and way of God. That is very clear. But when I thought about it a little more, there was something they all had in common and that is that they were all dwelling in a place that gave them a false sense of security.

Verse 5, Jude reminded them that God’s people came out of the land of Egypt. It is a good thing to be reminded in these meetings about things we already know. It assures our hearts that these things are eternal and still true, and we want to hold fast to them. Galatians 1:8, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Paul talked about this more than once and warned them not to be deceived: “Don’t let your faith fail you, don’t fall for it.”

Verse 5, God delivered His people from Egypt with a mighty hand. They had every reason to be totally confident in their place. They would remember the plagues that God dealt on the land of Egypt that left Egypt desolate. There wasn’t much left. They still had their army but God took care of that, too, and every last one of the army of Pharaoh was destroyed in the waters of the Red Sea. Israel would look back and see all those dead bodies washing up on the shore and know that they wouldn’t plague them any more. They had the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day, the very presence of God. So they had every reason to be confident where they were. But somehow, not too far along the journey, unbelief crept in and they began to doubt God’s power to deliver them and God was very upset with His people, after all He had done for them. He was angry and He swore in His wrath that they would not enter into His rest.

Verse 6, Jude talked about the angels who kept not their first estate. The angels were for the express purpose of ministering unto God. I believe they are still at work and that will be their job for all eternity, to be ministering spirits. They were made by God to minister to God and to His children but, even in that secure place where they were, a few exalted themselves. Satan felt he should have the place of God and others believed him and followed him, and they were cast out of heaven. So, even in that seemingly secure place that God had ordained for them, they lost out. The Lord put them out of it all.

Verse 7, we read of Sodom and Gomorrah. We don’t know a lot about these cities, but we have the record in Genesis of Lot separating himself from Abraham and pitching his tent towards Sodom. Genesis 13:11, “Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan . . and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” It seems as if it was about 21 years from the time Lot left Abraham until Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Lot was a righteous man but he chose to be there and that is why there was vexation in his soul. All around him was wickedness. The men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked but the Lord didn’t do anything about it for a while. It could be very easy for people in that situation, when lightning from heaven didn’t come down and strike people, to think it must be alright and that there would be no consequences. So in a sense they had this false sense of security, doing wicked deeds year after year. But the Lord did understand what was taking place.

So, Jude mentioned these three different things as a warning to those he was writing to. I feel it is good for me because, after all, isn’t the Scripture most effective when we apply it to ourselves? I knew about going to meetings early in life and the time came when I yielded my life to the Lord and began to know God’s voice to my heart. Beyond that, the God of heaven spoke my name again and called me further into this ministry. I could rightly say, of all places on the earth, this is the most secure place I could ever be in, the safest place, because I understand it to be the will of God for my life. I feel I stand securely in the place God has called me but is it possible that I could become so easy in my position that I fail to notice influences creeping into my life?

That is what concerned Jude and you can read what they were like. Verse 8, “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.” Verse 16, “These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words.” This was in the church. How could it be that people in the church were unaware of all these influences? How could it be that these influences were amongst God’s very own people and they were seemingly unaware of it, to the point where they did nothing about it? Is it possible that there could be influences in our very heart that have crept in unawares?

When a lion is hunting its prey, this is how he gets it. The lion creeps and when the prey lifts up its head to survey the surrounding environment, the lion lays low; when the prey begins to feed again the lion creeps a little closer and closer and finally he springs. How did he get so close? By creeping closer and closer. Peter talks about a roaring lion. A lion isn’t roaring when it is hunting. There are two different reasons that a lion roars. One is to claim his own territory. But sometimes another lion comes into a territory that isn’t his and he roars to extend a challenge to the dominant male lion of that territory. He wants to see if he is strong enough to overthrow the dominant male of that territory and he lets his presence be known. Then the dominant male comes out and meets that challenge. Sometimes the sight of the dominant male is enough to scare away the other lion, but sometimes there is a fight. That is what Peter was talking about.

1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” Satan roars like the lion that comes into territory that is not his own. We are God’s, and Satan knows it. We are off limits but he is going to challenge the right that God has on us, and he roars and makes a challenge. What do we do? With the help of God, we can resist. James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” We can resist because the One who is in us is stronger than the strong man. Resist, and the one who is challenging us will back off.

Going back to Jude 9, “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke thee.’” We don’t read of Michael contending with the devil, but Jude knew about it. Michael didn’t feel righteous enough to bring a railing accusation on the devil, but he left it for the Lord to do that. It wasn’t Michael’s place.

Verse 8, “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh.” The Lord uses dreams to speak to people. Many times we read about people who had a revelation in a dream, to go forward. It wasn’t contrary to the moving of the Spirit of God as there was always a spirit of unity when it came from God. That is how we know the difference. These people were being moved by dreams and certainly they were not of God. Their actions proved what they were thinking about. We have heard a lot about our thoughts and maybe the greatest part of the battle is with our thoughts. This battle field is an unseen conflict; it is a raging battle and maybe the person sitting next to you or your best friend, or your husband or your wife doesn’t know about this battle that is in your mind. Two raging sides face off and one tries to get the victory over the other. We all struggle with that.

So often, our thoughts hinder us in the secret place, so we fight to put down every thought that exalts itself against God’s power. We are glad we don’t do this on our own, but we have the help of the Lord by the spirit of Christ that is in us. We can fight the fight and get victory in the place where this battle is so often unseen. Jesus did that. The devil came to Him in His thoughts. When we don’t get victory in our mind it becomes readily apparent, doesn’t it? Matthew 12:34, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” If we don’t take care of it at the door and if we keep meditating on wrong thoughts, they will get down into our hearts.

If we were to deal with it at the door, it would not be so hard. The Lord enables us to do that and gives us power, but it is a battle to make the heart right again. David had to fight the battle but he won the victory. So, we want to make sure that we don’t have this kind of creeping thing come in amongst us because, before we know it, it will take over our lives. Not only will it influence us, but it will also influence others.

I believe this happened to Judas. The problem with Judas was that he loved money more than he loved the Lord. He did things that the love of God would never have allowed. But this influence overpowered him and got to the strength in him, and really, he was powerless to do anything about it. It can happen to us too, if we don’t take care of it at the door.

Verse 11, “Woe unto them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” These are all things to do with people in the past who were living according to the desires of their flesh. We certainly want to be careful of that too; this carnal nature of ours can have control if we let it. So often we are dictated to by what we see and hear. We are prone to make decisions and choices and we do really have to make some judgments based on what we see and hear. But these people who had gotten in amongst the church were acting out things based solely on natural input. We are glad that Jesus, our Saviour, was not moved to do that.

Isaiah 42:19, Isaiah prophesied before Jesus came: “Who is blind, but my servant? Or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.” Jesus didn’t make decisions based solely on what He saw and heard. John 8:7, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” It would have been a totally different outcome if Jesus had judged by what He saw and heard, but mercy rejoiced in His judgment. We need the help of God because it is easy to fall into the trap of making a judgment on what we see. Don’t judge a book by its cover; it may turn out to be totally different to what it seems. Wait on God and have the direction of His Spirit, so the judgment we do make will be right judgment. Weigh the spirits. We want to wait on the Lord and ask Him to help us to understand the truth of the matter so we don’t react as a natural brute beast.

These people really had no stability. Verse 12, “Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds . . raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” Clouds with rain help us and trees are supposed to bear fruit for our good. Stars are supposed to be in their place so that sailors can use them for direction. But Jude said these men were nothing like that. They wouldn’t be a good influence to be associated with. Raging waves stir up the bottom of the sea and make the water murky, and these influences had come in amongst these people.

We heard about Jesus coming to His disciples in experiences when they were troubled, and His desire was that they would know peace. He calmed the storm and there was stillness. Matthew 14:26, the disciples were so afraid and they thought that Jesus was a spirit, but He said, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” God has always had the thought of peace towards His creation. He hasn’t brought us together to whip us, but He wants us to have peace. That is what the Gospel story is all about. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could have that kind of influence amongst others we mix with, rather than an unsettling influence? So many things can unsettle our faith.

Verse 17, “But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Listen to the voices of those who brought peace to you in the beginning; don’t forget that. That is worth considering over and over again. Don’t be associated with things that are going to stir up your spirit. We can get really stirred up with politics, can’t we, but the Lord is in control and it will work as He sees fit. Verse 16, “And their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” That is certainly not the testimony of a child of God; it would be associated with murmurers and complainers. After Mary sacrificed the ointment for Jesus, this time it was the disciples who complained and murmured. Judas was the influence and it rubbed off onto the disciples. If we have joy in our hearts, we won’t do that. There is no room for murmuring and complaining if we have gratitude in our hearts.

Verse 19, “These be they that separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.” It was a terrible influence. It brings about a separation, even as darkness and light cannot abide together. Either you have the Spirit or you don’t have the Spirit. Jesus wanted unity amongst His followers and prayed, “May they all be one.” It is only made possible because the Spirit of Christ is in us; it wouldn’t be possible otherwise. We can have such sweet fellowship together, and I have been enjoying it to the fullest while in your country.

Verse 21, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” You can pull some from the fire, and God can help us to do it.

James 1:2, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” So, where is the joy in being tempted? It is in knowing that this is going to do a perfect and entire work on your faith. That is unreal, and that is what God is giving us. Part of that work has to be done through temptation. There are different types of temptation. Matthew 10:24, “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord . . If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” Jesus told the disciples that they would face persecution as His disciples, and if men persecuted Jesus, what would they do to them? Part of our experience is going to resemble that of Jesus’ experiences.

So, the question is: Do I really want to get to know Jesus? Because if I do, what does that mean? It means that some very serious things are going to happen in life. We really want to know who Jesus is and have an understanding of Him and as we do that, we learn about God. There is so much there. The devil was involved in Job’s experiences quite a bit. God’s testimony of Job was that he was perfect and upright. Sometimes I think I become Job’s fourth friend and don’t help him at all. Job 1:8, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”

Things may happen to us and there is no cause for them, but there is always a purpose. There can always be a purpose because we want to get to know Jesus. If we can learn something about Him in every test and in good times, I think we have the purpose of it. We can rejoice in our purpose to get to know Him and to please God.

Job 29, Job was recounting to his friends the days of old when God was with Him. Verse 2, “Oh that I was as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; When His candle shined upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness . . When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil.” He had a beautiful relationship with God, such a rich experience. Wonderful experiences can teach us about Jesus and we can be motivated to do right and keep right. Jesus sits in heaven, having sweet fellowship with God, and we all have fellowship together on a completely spiritual level.

We can go into every experience and learn about our Redeemer. I think of lives like Job, David, and Abraham: what about our lives? Every week I ask myself, What did I miss this week? It has been a very rich thing to do and I would like to keep focused on not missing His wonderful purpose.

We sang in the hymn that the secret of victory is to let in the Overcomer. It is quite something to let in the Overcomer. Human nature doesn’t want to be conquered but, if we do that, we know peace. We have an elderly brother, Arnie Foss, and one day he asked me where my forefathers came from, before they came to Australia. I told him that they came from Scotland, England, Ireland, and Poland. He said, “Do those nations often fight within you?” I said, “Yes, they do!” It is wonderful to know peace through letting in the Overcomer.

When Adam and Eve sinned, God drove them out of the garden. There was no place in the garden for man any more. We are thankful we can have a place in heaven because Jesus is the Overcomer and He wants to conquer this human nature. The greatest nation is imagination, and it can be a very dangerous thing. It is like being in a dark room where you imagine things and make yourself quite afraid, but when you put on a light there is nothing there. That is what it is like when we accept the Overcomer into our lives. Why were we afraid? Another nation is determination. People get determined not to give in to the claims of God, but when they let in the Overcomer, this determination can be channeled in the right direction. It can be a good thing to have a strong purpose.

I was thinking of the struggle we have within us, and I thought of Jacob and Esau. Rebekah was the bride of Isaac, a godly woman. She was aware of a struggle because of these babies. Before babies are born, mothers are happy to feel movement because it shows there is life, but this must have been a struggle. She didn’t go to Isaac and ask him; she went to the Lord and enquired. Genesis 25:22, “And the children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it be so, why am I thus?’ And she went to enquire of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her, ‘Two nations are in thy womb . . and the elder shall serve the younger.’” When they were born, Jacob had hold of Esau’s heel and it would have been confirmation to Rebekah. The older one wasn’t free because Jacob had him by the heel. Verse 25, I think Esau must have been quite an unattractive baby, as we read that he was red, all over like a hairy garment. It appealed to me this way: there is nothing attractive about human nature. We may think a good human nature will help us reach heaven, but it won’t.

Verse 27, “And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.” That means Jacob was a peaceable, contented man. Their paths took different directions. It was God’s will that Jacob should receive the birthright because the firstborn nature can never receive the blessing of God. We read how Rebekah helped Jacob to attain the blessing. Firstly, Esau sold his birthright; Jacob didn’t take it from him. He sold it for so little, something like soup, just to feed the flesh. He sold so much for so little and didn’t realize what he was doing. God has predestined everyone to accept eternal life, the birthright, but people just sell it for something to feed the flesh for a short while.

So, Jacob got the birthright. Isaac’s vision had become dim in his old age and Rebekah knew that God wanted Jacob to receive the blessing. Genesis 27:28, “Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth . . Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee.” That was the blessing for the firstborn. What a terrible thing if Esau had received that blessing, but it wasn’t meant to be and Jacob received it. Even so, it was difficult for those two natures to live together, and Jacob fled. It was years later before Jacob came back, fearing his brother Esau. Jacob grew spiritually and Esau grew in power. It is beautiful to think of Jacob coming to his brother with his family and flocks and bowing down to his brother. In this respect, the Spirit was moving Jacob to bow down for the sake of peace.

Genesis 49:14, “Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.” The burden was so heavy that the animal was squatting on all fours. It is a picture of these two natures, the human nature and the divine nature. It was a heavy load and he wanted rest. The way to get it was to bow his shoulder in service to that burden. This is how we have rest. We have these two natures, our human nature and the nature God has given us, and one grows at the expense of the other. It is good when we just bow our shoulder and realize that this spiritual nature that God has given us must not be a servant, but human nature is the servant and we must bow ourselves so that there will be peace in our lives.

Mark 3:27, “No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.” Bind the strong man. This strong man, self, has to be bound. When there is a little bit of contention, the strong man soon shows himself. We have to bind the strong man and that is when we know peace. Luke 14:31, “What king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?” The lesser king wanted peace, what to do? He sent an ambassador with conditions of peace and total surrender. We are glad to have proved that. When we surrender to God’s will, this strong man can be bound.

Just a little story from a convention in South Australia, where a father told about his little daughter who was 9 years old. The previous year she came to convention and saw the job list, and she was crying because her job was to collect cutlery again for the third year. She made her choice at the end of that year and said, “Even if I get cutlery again this year, I will do it.” There was a change in her. We will know rest and peace when the divine nature is ruling in our lives, and when there is true surrender.

When we received the news of the death of Brian, I remembered what we read in Ecclesiastes 7:1-2, “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart.”

For whoever doesn’t know the will and purposes of God, it could be a contradiction when we speak that the day of death is better, but for anyone that lived according to the plan of God and His will, as Brian did, filling his life with treasures, then leaving the things of this life for eternity and enjoying the eternal joy in its completeness is better. Being faithful here in this world is what we enjoy in Eternity more than we can imagine. We have experiences of that when we put the effort in to please God. He gives us to understand that his blessings in Eternity are much above what we can imagine in our human capacity. He was a worker in the work of the Gospel and we would ask the question, “Who will fill the empty place that he has left here?”

In Isaiah 6:8, there is a vision of the Kingdom of God, much above the things of this earth. He said, ”Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then said I, ‘Here am I; send me.’” His place is empty and who will fill it? Elijah, a man so near to God and bold; he didn’t have fear of being reprehended by the King of Israel. He had in mind to prepare another for his place.

We read of Elijah passing by Elisha when he was ploughing with 12 yoke of oxen and he cast his mantle upon him. Elisha ran after Elijah, and Elijah said, “What have I done to thee?” Elisha understood that Elijah would leave that mantle and he could use it one day. Elisha went to say good-bye to his family, killed the oxen, roasted them, and ate it together with the others and went out to accompany Elijah. He had said, “Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee.” Elisha understood that he was being called to occupy Elijah’s place. There was great virtue in that mantle. He had seen what Elijah had done and what virtue that mantle had. The good spirit of Elijah passing through the waters, he said, “Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.” And Elisha said, “I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.” (II Kings 2:9-15) Elijah consented and said, “… If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.”

Elijah knew that he would be taken. It was a prophecy for that day. It says, “And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, ‘My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.’ And he saw him no more and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, ‘Where is the LORD God of Elijah?’ And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither, and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, ‘The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.’” This Elisha was willing to accompany and to learn of these privileges to see things that Elijah had done to obtain this and he was a great man before God and not before men, because they mocked him. Today, thinking of the parting of our brother, a great servant of God, a faithful and dedicated worker, there aren’t words that qualify all his life before God. We will pray that there will be others to take his place and the place of others that have also passed on.

He thanked [God] for the privilege of participating in that hour so solemn of saying goodbye. He thanked [God] for the provision of comfort. He thanked [God] for the perfect plan of God and that He could work in our hearts to understand His plan of life for us. He thanked [God] for the work of our brother that he has left behind of sowing and asked for the direction of the Spirit in that hour.

Funeral Service for Brian William Doecke

Born 10 February 1937; Died 23 October 2011

Funeral in São José dos Campos, State of São Paulo, Brazil

24 October 2011, 10am

Last Days of Brian:

Brian came to São José dos Campos on the 8th of August and was having alternative treatment with Graviola (a leaf of a tree of the Amazons) and Tivallec (a multi-vitamin) and he stayed in the home of Maurilio and Dalete.

On Thursday the 13th of October he began to become very weak and spent most of his time lying down.

On Sunday the 16th he didn’t go to the meeting and at night they conversed with him that it would be good to go to hospital and be put on the drip for a bit and he agreed to go. First of all, he was at the hospital called “Holly House” for three days. In this time, he made three contacts within the hospital. One was a psychologist, the other a young lady disappointed in the churches and another married lady whose husband was sick (Fatima).

On the 20th of October he was transferred to the Hospital in Jacarei where he received adequate treatment for his case. He said that Doctor Eduard inspired confidence. This woman, Fatima, visited him at this hospital and was at the funeral parlour and also at the funeral service.

On Sunday the 23rd of October, Brian wasn’t feeling well because he felt a lot of pain in his intestine. His kidneys weren’t functioning well. He said to Dalete (She was with him in the hospital in the morning) that he wanted to die. At about 11 am, he asked for Dalete to open the window of the bedroom because he wanted to see the sun and so he fixed his eyes on the sky and asked to hold Dalete’s hand. He squeezed her hand, opened his eyes wide and they seemed so blue and, still fixing his eyes firmly behind the window, went and little by little let her hand loose.

Elpidio began the funeral service with hymn 74 in Portuguese and said:

“This hymn brings memories of Brian because of the music. The original music wasn’t easy. I got to know other music when I was in Spain, but it also didn’t seem beautiful, so it was Brian’s suggestion to change to this music: “I must have the Saviour with me”.

In Jesus I have a friend

Nothing equals His love

His hand is so secure

There’s no other so loyal.

Chorus

My support is Christ

He will never fail

The one who keeps me is stronger

 Than the hosts of sin.

I have deep joy

I live for his Kingdom.

He has conquered me

And will help me to die.

I’ve true peace in Christ

That this world ignored;

He’s never left me

Or abandoned his people.

I owe everything to Christ,

I can see more and more;

Because the Lamb came

And suffered on a cross

Edivaldo Cassemiro prayed:

He gave thanks for the privilege of participating in that hour so solemn of saying goodbye. He gave thanks for the provision of comfort. He gave thanks for the so-perfect plan of God and that he could work in our hearts to understand his plan of life for us. He gave thanks for the work of our brother that he had left behind of sowing and asked for the direction of the Spirit in that hour.

Elpidio Arruda

When we received the news of the death of Brian, I remembered what we read in Ecclesiastes 7:1-2, “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.” For whoever doesn’t know the will and purposes of God, it could be a contradiction when we speak that the Day of death is better, but for anyone that lived according to the plan of God and His will, as Brian did, filling his life with treasures, then leaving the things of this life for eternity and enjoying the eternal joy in it’s completeness is better. Being faithful here in this world is what we enjoy in Eternity more than we can imagine. We have experiences of that when we put the effort in to please God. He gives us to understand that his blessings in Eternity are much above what we can imagine in our human capacity. He was a worker in the work of the Gospel and we would ask the question, who will fill the empty place that he has left here? In Isaiah 6:8 there is a vision of the Kingdom of God, much above the things of this earth. He said:” Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” His place is empty and who will fill it? Elijah, a man so near to God and bold; he didn’t have fear of being reprehended by the King of Israel. He had in mind to prepare another for his place. We read of Elijah passing by Elisha when he was ploughing with 12 yoke of oxen and he cast his mantle upon him. Elisha ran after Elijah, and Elijah said, “what have I done to thee?” Elisha understood that Elijah would leave that mantle and he could use it one day. Elisha went to say good-bye to his family, killed the oxen, roasted them and ate them together with the others and went out to accompany Elijah. He had said: “Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee.” Elisha understood that he was being called to occupy Elijah’s place. There was great virtue in that mantle. He had seen what Elijah had done and what virtue that mantle had. The good spirit of Elijah passing through the waters he said: “Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.” And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. 2 Kings 2:9-15, Elijah consented and said, “… if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.” Elijah knew that he would be taken. It was a prophecy for that day. It says, And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets who were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. This Elisha was willing to accompany and to learn of these privileges, to see things that Elijah had done to obtain this and he was a great man before God and not before men, because they mocked him. Today, thinking of the parting of our brother, a great servant of God, a faithful and dedicated worker, there aren’t words that qualify of all his life before God. We will pray that there will be others to take his place and the place of others that have also passed on.

Hymn 291

The heart of my Saviour is tender

Colin Sanders

This goodbye for me is very personal. Our lives have been intertwined since we were born. We were born in the same hospital and studied at the same school. Brian professed two years before me and went in the work two years ahead of me also. Brian came to Brazil two years before me and now he has gained on me again; always in front of me.

We had good times as children: climbing trees, hunting rabbits and getting up to mischief together. After, when he professed, I believe that touched me. After, when he went out in the work, it made me think more about this subject. One time talking to him he said to me about going to another land; to Brazil. And this also made me think of this subject of going to another land and when I arrived in São Paulo, Brian was waiting for me and I’ve never had such a strong embrace as that one. It gives me nostalgia. I was with him when he had surgery in Australia and after, when he heard about his heart problem he cried and cried, not because of his health problem, but because he thought he wouldn’t return to Brazil. He loved Brazil and the Brazilians and so I’m sure he’s happy to leave his bones here. We were always friends. He was an optimist; he was never discouraged in seeking the lost sheep and felt that everyone would profess. He had hope for all the youth to go out into the work and this has been an inspiration to us as workers. I thought of when God spoke to Joshua and said: “Joshua…, the servant of the LORD”. Joshua 24:29, This was great praise for men. We can have great praise of men and gain crowns, but as Paul wrote, he was awaiting an eternal crown. We can be servants of many things here in this world that takes our heart here, but there is a crown of glory awaiting in the future. The work of the servants (workers) is the best paid for all Eternity. I liked the testimony of Paul to Timothy: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. His time of departure was near. Philippians 2:17, Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. Paul poured out his life as a sacrifice, as this wine offering on the altar, in the sanctuary, and it gave a better fragrance, that it might be acceptable to God. It’s a good sign when the sacrifice becomes a privilege. The sacrifice of a life is a privilege before God. When we begin, it is a sacrifice. When young people think the way is narrow, they should look forward and not to the sides. And die in the work, not everyone manages to do that, but it is a great privilege. Paul also spoke of fighting the good fight and also about the race. He inspired himself with the athletes of Rome: To start is important, but arriving is what determines if we are victorious. In a marathon, the greatest danger is the middle of the road, but Brian arrived with honour and kept the faith. Soldiers are known for their discipline and discipline is important for the people of God and more still for the servants (workers). No one gains victory without discipline. In Hebrews 12:2, it says:” Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”; and in Psalm 90:9, For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. It speaks of life being like a tale told and in this book the author is Christ. The end of the story and the last chapter are important. The authors like to give a happy ending to their tales and God also wants to give a happy ending to everyone. I believe that the faith of Brian began with his grandparents, then his parents and, after that, his own experience with God. It was his faith that helped him to make the choices to follow Jesus, go in the work, trust, and it’s faith that takes us to the end. Those that finish well will be sitting near the throne. And how Jesus endured the cross, despised the shame and kept the faith. A life spent like that is of much value, also in helping others. A part of our recompense will be because of the people we have managed to help. Brian was more of an evangelist than a shepherd. He never missed an opportunity to transmit this and never lost his hopes. I’m glad to be here at this goodbye. We lost a good friend, a brother. We will feel his loss, but may others be helped.

Hymn 28

Come, Let Us Follow Jesus.

Leslie Doecke

I have appreciated all that we’ve heard already. As Colin said, we were children together, we played together and did mischief together. Our parents suffered quite a bit with 8 children to bring up, but the things of God were always in first place in our home. So we had the privilege of being brought up with much care. We learnt to serve and accompany zealous parents. Ever since the cot, we were listening to the words of God and growing up, started making our choices. Some even say that they heard before they were born. Reading about what is the advantage of being a Jew and Paul making several comments about the advantages of them. I thought of the advantage of being born into homes with the will of God and so that was our privilege when we were young people. I was thinking of the words of God and “Thou hast the words of Life Eternal”. We have listened to the words of life eternal since the cot. We grew and the day in which I accepted the truth, Brian had a cold and wasn’t in that Gospel meeting. (It was a Friday.) He was shocked when, in the meeting on Sunday, I took part. He asked mum what had happened and she told him that I had got up in the Gospel meeting. So he hid for the rest of that Sunday. He was having a struggle and in the Gospel meeting in the afternoon he professed. So he began 3 days after me. He was very zealous with the family and brought the girls in our home into line. I had to be the peacemaker. He had this gift of a preacher and always wanted to bring people into line, whether they wanted to or not. That was his gift. Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Humbling ourselves and making ourselves subject to God with all pleasure; making us see that the will of God is much better. God works to make us more and more humble; willing to obey from the heart. The purpose of God, the plan of God is to give us time for us to prepare for Eternity. I have spoken, that if it was for us not to go into the Kingdom, it would be better to not have been born. The plan of God is that all might enter the Heavenly Kingdom. No-one is going to be able to say that He didn’t make necessary provision to save our soul. God gave his Son, he did everything and if we don’t make the most of it, it won’t be God’s fault. Hebrews 5:9, “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;” This was the provision made by God for Eternal Salvation, so that our living is worthwhile here in this world. A visiting worker spoke that we should give many thanks to God that he awoke us and made us see the way to live to please God and reach the Heavenly home. Brian never looked back. Many years ago I joked that I wanted to retire and they don’t let me and he said, “I want more years in this work to help other young people to learn to evangelize and sow their lives as seed”. After the special meetings, I stayed a few days with him, but I was no good for anything, but we were together and I felt that I lacked, but it was really tiredness. One thing he said very sad, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to be in a field again. I don’t think I’m going to be able to be a pioneer again”. The will of his life was to help others obtain a part in the heavenly Kingdom. 2 Peter 1:3-4, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” All that we have of value we receive of the God; everything that we can use, he has given us. It rests with each one of us to know how to use the gifts he has given us. We remember those that are in Australia at this hour, accompanying us. We were taught to never leave anything, not even the health of our parents to affect the work. Brian never let this happen. We think that he could’ve gone to Australia to consult specialist doctors; take out the stomach, but he chose to not do surgery. He had a little problem in his heart. He chose to finish here in Brazil and to leave a good example. And so when he put something in his head it was difficult to change it: You people know that. Carl said he didn’t want to leave his bones in the States to serve for a testimony. We appreciate everything that was done in his favour here in São José dos Campos by the friends and the fellow-workers. And now we are going to do our part going forward. Hymn 412 When life is ended At the Cemetery – Hymn 258 Lord within my heart doth dwell (Leslie spoke that the only lesson is to be faithful unto death.) 32 Workers Present: Elpidio, Leslie, Colin Sanders, Edivaldo, José Roberto, Peter, Wander, Marciel, Marcos, Laercio, Ricardo C., Ricardo A., Rafael, Josue, Anderson Judith, Tercilia, Evadney, Daizi, Maria, Marta, Elenice, Silvania, Claudia, Andréa, Benia, Dileuza, Solimar, Izabel, Carol, Wanessa, Rosangela There were about 250 friends present.

Hymn 28, “Come, Let Us Follow Jesus”

I have appreciated all that we’ve heard already. As Colin said, we were children together, we played together, and did mischief together. Our parents suffered quite a bit with 8 children to bring up, but the things of God were always in first place in our home. So we had the privilege of being brought up with much care. We learnt to serve and accompany zealous parents. Ever since the cot, we were listening to words of God and growing up, started making our choices. Some even say that they heard before they were born. Reading about what is the advantage of being a Jew and Paul making several comments about the advantages of them. I thought of the advantage of being born into homes with the will of God and so that was our privilege when we were young people.

I was thinking of the words of God and, “Thou hast the words of Life Eternal.” We have listened to the words of life eternal since the cot. We grew, and the day in which I accepted the truth, Brian had a cold and wasn’t in that gospel meeting. (It was a Friday.) He was shocked when in the meeting on Sunday, I took part. He asked Mum what had happened and she told that I had got up in the gospel meeting. So he hid for the rest of that Sunday. He was having a struggle and in the Gospel meeting in the afternoon, he professed. So he began three days after me. He was very zealous with the family and brought the girls in our home into line. I had to be the peacemaker. He had this gift of a preacher and always wanted to bring people into line, whether they wanted to or not. That was his gift.

Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Humbling ourselves and making ourselves subject to God with all pleasure; making us see that the will of God is much better. God works to make us more and more humble, willing to obey from the heart. The purpose of God, the plan of God is to give us time for us to prepare for Eternity. I have spoken, that if it was for us not to go into the Kingdom, it would be better to not have been born. The plan of God is that all might enter the Heavenly Kingdom. No one is going to be able to say that He didn’t make necessary provision to save our soul. God gave His Son, He did everything and if we don’t make the most of it, it won’t be God’s fault.

Hebrews 5:9, “And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.” This was the provision made by God for Eternal Salvation, so that our living is worthwhile here in this world. A visiting worker spoke that we should give many thanks to God that He awoke us and made us see the way to live to please God and reach the Heavenly home. Brian never looked back.

Many years ago, I joked that I wanted to retire and they don’t let me and he said, “I want more years in this work to help other young people to learn to evangelize and sow their lives as seed.” After the special meetings, I stayed a few days with him, but I was no good for anything, but we were together and I felt that I lacked, but it was really tiredness. One thing he said very sad, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to be in a field again. I don’t think I’m going to be able to be a pioneer again.” The will of his life was to help others obtain a part in the heavenly Kingdom.

2 Peter 1:3-4, “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” All that we have of value we receive of the God; everything that we can use, He has given us. It rests with each one of us to know how to use the gifts He has given us. We remember those that are in Australia at this hour, accompanying us. We were taught to never leave anything, not even the health of our parents to affect the work. Brian never let this happen.

We think that he could’ve gone to Australia to consult specialist doctors; take out the stomach, but he chose to not do surgery. He had a little problem in his heart. He chose to finish here in Brazil and to leave a good example. And so when he put something in his head it was difficult to change it; you people know that. Carl said he didn’t want to leave his bones in the States to serve for a testimony. We appreciate everything that was done in his favour here in São José dos Campos by the friends and the fellow workers. And now we are going to do our part going forward.

Hymn 291, “The Heart of My Saviour is Tender”

This goodbye for me is very personal. Our lives have been intertwined since we were born. We were born in the same hospital and studied at the same school. Brian professed two years before me and went in the work two years ahead of me, also. Brian came to Brazil two years before me and now he has gained on me again; always in front of me. We had good times as children: climbing trees, hunting rabbits, and getting up to mischief together. After he professed, I believe that touched me. After he went out in the work, it made me think more about this subject. One time talking to him, he said to me about going to another land – to Brazil. And this also made me think of this subject of going to another land and when I arrived in São Paulo, Brian was waiting for me and I’ve never had such a strong embrace as that one. It gives me nostalgia.

I was with him when he had surgery in Australia and when he heard about his heart problem, he cried and cried, not because of his health problem, but because he thought he wouldn’t return to Brazil. He loved Brazil and the Brazilians and so I’m sure he’s happy to leave his bones here. We were always friends. He was an optimist; he was never discouraged in seeking the lost sheep and felt that everyone would profess. He had hope for all the youth to go out into the work and this has been an inspiration to us as workers.

I thought of when God spoke to Joshua and said, “Joshua…, the servant of the LORD.” (Joshua 24:29) This was great praise for men. We can have great praise of men and gain crowns, but as Paul wrote, he was awaiting an eternal crown. We can be servants of many things here in this world that take our heart here, but there is a crown of glory awaiting in the future. The work of the servants (workers) is the best paid for all Eternity.

I liked the testimony of Paul to Timothy, II Timothy 4:6-8, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” His time of departure was near.

Philippians 2:17, “Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.” Paul poured out his life as a sacrifice, as this wine offering on the altar, in the sanctuary and it gave a better fragrance, that it might be acceptable to God. It’s a good sign when the sacrifice becomes a privilege. The sacrifice of a life is a privilege before God. When we begin, it is a sacrifice. When young people think the way is narrow, they should look forward and not to the sides. And die in the work, not everyone manages to do that, but it is a great privilege.

Paul also spoke of fighting the good fight and also about the race. He inspired himself with the athletes of Rome: to start is important, but arriving is what determines if we are victorious. In a marathon, the greatest danger is the middle of the road, but Brian arrived with honour and kept the faith. The soldiers are known for their discipline and discipline is important for the people of God and more still for the servants (workers). No one gains victory without discipline.

In Hebrews 12:2, it says, ”Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith,” and in Psalm 90:9, “For all our days are passed away in Thy wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told.” It speaks of life being like a tale told and in this book, the author is Christ. The end of the story and the last chapter is important. The authors like to give a happy ending to their tales and God also wants to give a happy ending to everyone.

I believe that the faith of Brian began with his grandparents, then his parents, and after that, his own experience with God. It was his faith that helped to make the choices to follow Jesus, go in the work, trust and faith that takes us to the end. Those that finish well will be sitting near the throne. And how Jesus endured the cross, despised the shame, and kept the faith. A life spent like that is of much value, also in helping others. A part of our recompense will be because of the people we have managed to help.

Brian was more of an evangelist than a shepherd. He never lost an opportunity to transmit this and never lost his hopes. I’m glad to be here at this goodbye. We lose a good friend, a brother. We will feel his loss, but may others be helped.

My meditation has been a little on the depth of our service, of our roots, as we heard yesterday, too. How do we know how deep our roots go? I was so glad for a conversation I had with someone the other day, because it helped me also just to understand about depth. The most important thing when we come to a meeting is to have made contact with God. We should never come to a meeting and try to bring an impressive message. If we can make contact with God, there is a depth because that contact affects our spirit. It affects our attitude and it will influence our words. Depth cannot be seen in words alone but we can see it when it is accompanied by the spirit. Our words accompanied by choices reveals the depth. I’m so glad to see people that I saw five years ago or more, and they’re still continuing. That shows me there is a depth in them. Maybe sometimes you’ve sat in a meeting, too, and listened to words. You’ve realized that those words aren’t just a theory. Those aren’t just words of experience, they’re not just words of philosophy, but those are words that come from the grace of God. The spirit reveals the depth.

In Mark 4, there is that verse that says that some fell on stony ground where it had not much depth of earth. Immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth. When the sun was up, it was scorched. Because it had no root, it withered away. Think about that seed that was sown on stony ground and it says that there was no depth. To me it was a picture again of what was above the ground was more than what was below the ground. What was being seen, the appearance, was more than the substance. When that is so, when the appearance is more than the substance, where the roots are, then it won’t last. When I see people taking steps deeper into the will of God, when I see people that are surrendering to the will of God, when I see people that are continuing in the will of God, it speaks to me of a depth. There is no ways we could have come to this point in time without there having been depth because we have passed through tests, have passed through fire and by the grace of God we are still here. He has given us grace because we have put our roots deeper, that’s why we are still here, but there needs to be more depth. There has been this question in my life – just the last while I have asked myself, “Is there any depth?” So here we read about this depth but it speaks about the stony ground, just little things that were hindering that depth.

We have heard about Abraham and Lot. Something that can hinder our depth is just holding onto our right to choose. Abraham had every right to choose. He was the elder, it was Lot that came with him, he didn’t come with Lot. He had the right to choose, but for the sake of peace he gave up his right to choose. That speaks of death. In any experience where there is a problem and maybe we have the right and we give up the right because of peace, it speaks of death. When each one hangs on to their own rights, we know there is war and there is unpleasantness but Abraham had depth. I just wondered myself, is peace more important to me than my rights?

Thinking also about Joseph. There is something else that can be like a stone that can prevent our roots from going deeper. It can be bitterness and unforgiveness, but in the heart of Joseph there was no bitterness. There was no unforgiveness and that is why his roots could go down. They could go deeper and they could get to the source and there was fruit. Those who don’t forgive will just live on the surface and they will never know of depth. Those that have bitterness will just remain on the surface and they will never know of the depth. If we don’t know of the depth, we will never know the fullness of joy. It says of Joseph that he was like a tree planted by a well and his boughs reached over the wall. His interests were not only for those who were in the same situation as he was, but his influence stretched further. He was a blessing to all those around him, even those outside. That comes from a depth.

Something about Esther as well, as we have heard in meetings prior to this. Something that Mordecai made well known to Esther. He said, when that decree was made and they were going to slay all the people of God, Mordecai said to Esther, “You have the opportunity, you have the privilege, to intercede for the people of God. If you don’t, you’ll lose your place and you’ll lose your life and God will raise up someone else who will.” Sometimes we feel, when we see a crisis in the Kingdom and we think, “Well, others must just sort it out. It’s not our problem. I didn’t contribute to the problem, I didn’t do anything to cause the problem. Someone else must sort it out.” When our own interest is greater than the interest of the Kingdom, there is a lack of depth and it can be like a stone. Self interests, which prevents our roots from going deeper. But here Esther understood that the kingdom was more important and she was willing to lay her life down. Her roots went deeper because there was not that self interest, and may it be so with us too.

I also thought of Saul seeking place. Pride is like a stone that prevents our roots from going deeper. There was no depth in the life of Saul, because he wasn’t willing to get rid of his pride. Those that seek place and those that seek importance, those that seek to be recognized, they have a very, very hard job because God is not in it. It says that God resists the proud and anyone that seeks that, they have a very, very hard job because they are going against God. Then there comes a shallowness and there is never a depth. I have to examine myself, is there a depth? Or have I allowed something to hinder my roots from going down?

Lastly I would like to just give one more example of a depth. I have sometimes heard about the choice that Jonathan made to stay with his father, Saul. I have heard it said that it was a wrong choice and that is why he died. I don’t believe that. Jonathan wasn’t fighting against the enemies of Saul; Jonathan was fighting against the enemies of God. If he was fighting against the enemies of Saul he would have fought against David as well, but he wasn’t. He fought against the enemies of God. There was a depth in Jonathan’s life because he knew the place of God for him. I do believe that if David could have chosen he would have chosen where Jonathan was because David wanted to fight against the enemies of God. Because of Saul’s disobedience, he couldn’t fill that place and he could have been there fighting. God had chosen another place for him and that’s where he was. He was fighting against the enemies of God but he had to do it in another way.

Something I have so appreciated was that there was true love in the heart of Jonathan. Jonathan kept his place, and he helped David to keep his place, too. Anyone seeing Jonathan coming to David when he was in hiding, they might have thought that he was seeking an occasion to slay David. They could have thought that the son of Saul was David’s enemy. Maybe he was coming to seek an opportunity to slay him but that was not his motive. Jonathan’s motive was to encourage David. It was the love of God and he wanted the best for David. Godly love, it goes further than human reasoning. It does not go to the borders of man, it was something deeper. He accepted his place and these were just a few thoughts that have helped me.

Some of you may have heard that on Sunday morning, September 26th, a number of us were able to gather for a little Sunday morning meeting in a conference room in St Paul’s Hospital, in Saskatoon, where Keith Olsen has been. Present as well as Keith were his mother and three brothers, Roy and Elaine, Victor, and Lenore and Ross, niece Candace Stewart and her four children, Tim and Carla (niece) Shultz, niece Wendy Stafford, Clifford Fedirchuck, Dustin Collins and Michael Hassett. You can understand that it was an experience that we will not soon forget.

Some of the ladies took notes and then put them together to make the attachment you will find with this note. Most of the names have been left off as this is not verbatim.

Please feel free to share these with anyone you feel might like to see them.

Before long we hope to send an update on Keith’s condition. Today he is enjoying his visitors and I saw him scanning the 84 emails he received this morning.

The Saskatoon brothers

Non Verbatim

#285 “Wait on the Lord” … Prayer … #24 “From Every Stain Made Clean” ( Uncle Keith’s choice)

Uncle Keith: I know it’s not going to be easy this morning to share. That’s okay. When I woke up early this morning, I found in my heart a Spirit of Worship. So thankful for that. Everyone has something they’ve struggled with in their lifetime. Sometimes in weakness or in vulnerabilities. When we stand where I’m standing and meeting God face to face, these weaknesses and vulnerabilities can be used by the enemy to disturb our peace. Thinking about having the wonderful experience of seeing God whom we love. Thinking of Hymn 24, “From every stain made clean, from every sin set free – O blessed Lord this is the gift that Thou hast promised me.” God put in our heart that from EVERY stain we are made clean… What greater thing could there be? Verse 3, “While in Thy light I stand, My heart I seem to see, Has failed to take from Thine own hand The gift it offers me.” If there’s anything that would trouble me, it would be because I haven’t fully taken the gift that God has given me to be made clean from every stain and free from every sin… and then to stand in God’s presence. Verse 4, “The fire doth surely burn my every selfish claim.” Fire of God’s love burning in our hearts consumes every selfish claim that I would have on my life. God prompted my heart to spend my life how I have … I am thankful for that. It is a selfish claim to have longer on this earth … God’s love can consume the selfish claims that I have on my life. “And while from them to Thee I turn, I trust in Thy great name.” Them refers to the selfish claims. Trust that God does all things well.

Verse that fed my heart so much in this experience: 1 John 3:19, “And hereby we know when we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.” Refers to 18, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” … Because we love, brethren, it assures our hearts before God. It brings assurance that we love the Truth and love Him. I love God’s People, I’ve loved the stranger, the children of our people, and our fellow workers…. It gives me assurance this morning that there could be a place by God for me.

Verse 20, “For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” … If our hearts still condemn us and we don’t feel worthy to have a place … to remember God is greater than all things. God makes the decision whether we spend Eternity with Him. When we made our choice as a child, He knew the sincerity of our heart…. When we started in the work, He knew the commitment of our hearts …. He is going to make the decision according to the mercy and the Blood of Jesus. As we try to share this morning, it is worship when we bow before the will of God. I’m absolutely convinced that blessing will come when we accept God’s will and bow before it and regret will come when we reject it.

My purpose is to finish with peace and thankfulness and Spirit of Worship for all He has given me.

Keith’s Mother: Deuteronomy 6:6, 24; 5:33, “Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in your heart. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.” Thankful these words are in my heart today. It is for our good always that He might preserve us this day. Things are well with us because we love Him and trust Him. It is for our good always to trust Him. In every experience God asks of us … it is good …. Hard to realize that it IS for our good. Deepens our purpose to be true and love Him more…

God’s will … To know God’s will is the greatest knowledge. To find the will of God is the greatest discovery. To do the will of God is the greatest work. A privilege from youth to know and experience the will of God. Romans 1:10, “Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.” Journey can come to an end. When we know and accept the will of God, the journey can become so much greater. There are things that take our eyes off the goal… There is so much ahead and I don’t want to miss it. I don’t want to take God’s way lightly. To give my life and heart and sacrifice more … that my journey might be prosperous and attain the goal.

Thinking about the week’s study… Take Heed to Thyself. 1 Corinthians 10:12, we think we are strong and we are so good… But to take heed that it wouldn’t destroy us.

The Weaver  

My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me.

I cannot choose the colors He worketh steadily.

Oftimes He weaveth sorrow,

And I in foolish pride forget He sees the upper and I, the underside.

Not until the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly

Shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.

The dark Threads are as needful in the Weavers skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.  

Hymn 283, “Strong in the strength of gentleness, of meekness, faith and love, I take Thy hand in weakness and press on t’ward things above; The Morning Star will be my guide: its lustrous rays I see shining along the highway, marking the path for me.”

Enjoyed the strength from others. Hymn 2 and 3, “More of Jesus” and “Tell me again” … Desire to learn more of Thee and to be told again and again. Living water doesn’t get stale. To have a heart like a sponge … we can hold and hold, but no use unless we pour out to others.

Dustin Collins, Hebrews 6:10, with Keith in mind, “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shown toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” 6:11 for me, “And we desire that everyone of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end.” I want to show the same diligence and hope to the end as I’ve seen.

Exodus 6:2, “I am the Lord.” Moses was going to Pharaoh to try and let children of Israel to go. God said, “I am the Lord.” Moses was honest enough and had a deep enough relationship with God to ask, “Why?” Maybe not our place to ask why… but with a deeper relationship we can ask God and He can give us comfort. Thankful that God will guide us and He will be with us.

Ephesians 3: 18-19, speaking of love, “May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” These days we are experiencing a little more about the breadth and length and depth of God’s love. The love that is beyond our knowledge. Thankful for the love of God. We have tears these days, but only because of the work God wants to do in our lives. He has great love and a great plan. I want to know more of God’s love.

Hebrews 11, glad for this week to read this and meditate on this chapter. Faith is the substance – the sub strata … the unseen rock .. the solid foundation on which we build. God formed the world by His word. Verse 3, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made by things that do appear.” We gained a greater appreciation for creation on our trip. The beauty of nature. Those things were just formed by the Word of God. Fruit and likeness of Christ in others can’t be made.. but formed by God. We are witnessing things happening in others lives and ourselves that we have no control over…

Hebrews 11, faith as substance and evidence…. witnessed that in the last few days. Faith helps us to understand why things are happening. Substance that helps us through these experiences. Verse15, “And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.” Want to be mindful of a better country. Heart has been smitten because it seems like instead of being mindful of a better country, I’ve been trying to make this country better. Want to change my focus to the better country ahead.

Mike Hassett, privilege of standing by. Hymn we sang “Be true to Him, to you He will be true. …. Then at the end with Him you will rejoice.” Remembering when told of David Dodd being sick …. The peace that was felt even over the phone as I talked to David and Karen. It’s easy to sit around the table and talk about faith and trust and to get up in meeting and talk about faith and trust …. but when the doctor looks you in the eye and tells you that you have 3 months to live … that’s when you find out if you have faith and trust. I see the evidence of that in Keith and even in his mother through this experience. We might all want to have the choice to live forever …. but when the time comes for me, I would like to have the same peace as I see in others.

Thankful that we have the Bible and it can be made alive because we have a revelation. Everywhere I read last night there was comfort and hope. Hebrews, “For we are made partakers of Christ” .. to be partakers of Christ and the hope we have. Thinking of what Uncle Keith shared in meeting last time I was here with him. Titus 2:12-13, “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worthy lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus;” Verse 12, lifestyle. Verse13, hope. Our lifestyle and hope are connected, to walk in a way that would show to God and others that hope and confidence are in God.

Exodus 6:2, “I am the Lord.” Response God shared with Moses that He was God. Greatest reassurance that we could ever hear. I want to be quiet within and hear the small voice from God in these hard experiences.

Clifford Fedirchuk, 2 Sam 23:15-17, “And David longed, and said, ‘Oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!’ And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. And he said, ‘Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?’ Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men.”

We all have some longings and things we’d like to do… Some are possible and some impossible. David expressed it and others made it possible. Praise and honour pour out to the Lord. There are things that we’d like to change. There are things we haven’t attained to. There are things we’d like to have seen done. To leave them in the hand of God. Confidence in that lasting and permanent …. pouring out before the Lord. We don’t have to convince Him to help us, but he just wants to hear from us. We can offer Praise and Thankfulness for things, but really thanks be to Him … Surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. After this experience, may goodness and mercy follow us.

Hymn #7, “O Tell Me More”

We know that there are a multitude of people wondering how Keith is doing, so we’ve decided that just so everyone knows the facts, we are going to send out some information on a regular basis. This note is going to the Sask-Man-Pakistani staff only, but it will let you know the plans. From this point on, what we send will also be sent mostly only to you. With this new-to-me computer, I don’t have any group mailings set up for friends. However, we are going to write in such a way that you can feel free to forward the letters to anyone you think would be interested. Keith just connected his computer and downloaded 84 letters from yesterday. At this point, he is still well able to scan his mail. If you send him three or four lines, he will likely even ‘read’ it!! He of course won’t be able to answer much of it.

The first things we will be sending out are a copy of the notes from the Sunday morning mtg that we had here in the hospital yesterday. After that, with Dr Lois’ help we are hoping to send out a letter explaining Keith’s exact medical situation so as to avoid some of the confusion that comes from a lack of information.

Keith had an amazing day yesterday. At nightfall he counted over 40 visitors that had passed through his door that day. Twice he went down to the common room where many were gathered so he could be with them all. We are restricting visitors and people are fitting in very well, but Keith has a large family. His ‘niece’ Brenda and family as well as ‘nephew’ Rob, Cory, and family were among those who took advantage of the weekend to come this way. All of his immediate family has been here but some left yesterday and others are leaving today. Grandma Dora and Wendy are staying on. Dora has been a brick. She says, “We always talk about trusting God so how can we not trust Him now.”

I’m sitting beside Keith’s bed as I type this. He continues to read his mail. He doesn’t look or act like a sick man but we know the cancer is very busy inside. He has no pain and no nausea at present. We will enjoy the days together while they last. We are glad that Clifford F is here in the city, also.