TEXT - Philippians 4:13.
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
These words of encouragement that apply to us all in our lives, our spiritual labour, our family raising, our school lives, our troubles and life generally, were given by the Apostle Paul. He certainly had enough experiences and troubles in his life to give us this teaching with certainty.
I read in a Bush Ballard book recently, the following poem found penned by an unknown bushman. Perhaps he received his inspiration from our text. The poem is:-
Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
but he with a chuckle replied; "Maybe it couldn't,"
but he'd be the one, who wouldn't say so until he tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin,
and if he was worried he hid it;
and he started to sing as he tackled the thing
that couldn't be done and he did it.
Somebody scoffed; "Oh you'll never do that,
for no one had yet ever done it."
But he took off his coat and took of his hat,
and trusting in God he begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
if any doubt rose he forbid it;
and he started to sing as he tackled the thing
that couldn't be done - and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
and thousands just waiting to fail you;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
the dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin,
and take off your coat and to to it;
God will give you the strength to tackle the thing
that cannot be done - and you'll do it!
As we go into the Lenten period, let us all keep this poem in our thoughts as we go through
life, especially in our commitment to work for the Lord in overcoming the temptations of the world, always remembering Apostle Pauls other great message from Christ in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
APOSTLE CLIFF FLOR
NORTH QUEENSLAND
TEXT - 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."
We are living in a time of purposelessness and confusion, which can take every hope away. Purposelessness is a perspective which does not admit Hope. It calls for indifference. Many people
fail to see the sense for living anymore. They judge many things according to what they hear from the
media. The spirit of time forms the opinion of people so that God's order and His promises don't seem
to have any more room in their heart or mind. But in spite of this lack, they think that they see the
truth and sadly don't realize that they have lost the connection to the Fountain of Life. The writer of the Hebrew epistle conveys following advice to God's children. “Let us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised.)” Heb. 10:23. This summons gives sense to life and goal, and advises us to live our lives according to God's will
and let Him be in the centre of all our decisions. Our way of faith surely contains not only peace, joy and bliss, but also trouble and temptation . From
experiences, the Hebrew epistle reports of the security of faith in the midst of all afflictions in chapter
2, but not only points the Old Covenant to the great cloud who witnessed of God's presence, without
doubt we find the continuation also in the New Covenant.
The Apostle Peter (2 Peter 1 :16-18) and John (1 John 1 :1-4) report about their experience with God
and His Son. Out of these experiences developed the belief to have communion with Him who was
promised. And as they acknowledged Him as God's Son, they also accepted His summons to go out
and preach (Matt. 10:7-8,20). In this belief, that God would acknowledge Himself to them, they did go
out and preached His word! Many instances of their received authority we find reported in the Acts
of the Apostles.
We can recognize right into our time how God's direction of blessings extended over us Christians.
Through deliverance by word or writings by those who through their work and authority witnessed,
transferred and strengthened this faith, this belief in God did reach also to us. In Hebrew 12:1-2 it
further states ‘Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about 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, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.’
Let us ever look in this direction, so that we don't lose sight of this lively goal. And may we confess our experiences of faith with our God as a witness to our fellow men and woman, so that God will also confess us.
APOSTLE MATTHIAS KNAUTH
GERMANY.
TEXT - Isaiah 34:16-17.
"Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein."
APOSTLE CLIFF FLOR
NORTH QUEENSLAND
TEXT - Matthew 6:30-34
"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
The yardstick that each one in this life uses, differs from person to person. In some cases one measures himself against the other, especially regarding money and position. There seems to be a race even amongst the people of God, whereby one is always trying to outdo the other. This should not be an Apostolic characteristic. The yardstick that all should use is the way of Christ on this earth. His pertinent answers and comparisons. We should always keep in mind that where Jesus taught with parables, He brought the spiritual side into all His teachings. We can never thank God enough for a Shepherd like this, who sealed us with the Holy Spirit of God and shared with us, His wisdom and gifts of grace. Reading about these things is not sufficient, putting them into practice is necessary.
A beautiful example is found in the discussion between Jesus and the centurion of Capernaum: "I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it." Jesus answered "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel". (Matt. 8:8-10) The centurion was regarded by his contemporaries as rich, but in his own eyes he had nothing, others claimed they had faith, but he proved his faith in that he acknowledged the superiority of Christ, who possessed far less than him materially. How do we measure ourselves against our Lord? Let us use the yardstick of our text to find the answer.
We are told by our Saviour not to mind what we shall eat or drink, "For after all, these things do the Gentiles seek." His promises have always been constant and truthful. Inspite of our infidelity, God has always remained loyal. Thank God that even if everyone should become disloyal, God shall be loyal and shall never forsake those who keep His ordinances.
Elijah stood all alone for the righteousness of God. Our wisdom is not to be compared with God's. The yardstick of righteousness is totally different to self-righteousness and excuses. We try to appear righteous by using a yardstick that suits us, but is this right? Self-righteousness certainly is wrong. The Lord says each day has sufficient of its own evil. To fight against this evil there is but one prescription, the righteousness of Christ. If we ask ourselves how righteous we are, immediately the excuses appear one by one. What is right in God's sight? Are we deluded into thinking that He always acted in a very mild spirit by forgiving and pleading? He also acted, when necessary, in a firm and righteous manner. When Nicodemus asked Him what to do to inherit the Kingdom of God, self-righteousness did not play a part in His answer: "Verily I say unto you, if you are not born again of water and spirit, you shall not enter the kingdom of God." Nicodemus was answered in righteousness.
The rich young man turned sadly away from Jesus and Jesus did not give him a second chance. Use this yardstick to measure ourselves and to come nearer to our textword. Its name is righteousness. "And all these things shall be added unto you".
APOSTLE J. P. ERASMUS
SOUTH AFRICA.
TEXT - Ezekiel 30:2,3,4 & 7.
"Son of Man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Howl ye, Woe worth the day! For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down". and continuing in verse 7 " And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted".
The country of Ethiopia and its neighbours have been in our news over the past years, and more recently, hardly a week goes by and we see on television starvation, war ravish, destruction etc. When the Prophet Ezekiel, approximately 600 years before Christ came to earth, spoke these words to the people of that day, how they must have mocked and laughed at him, for history shows that the then Ethiopia, was a most powerful, rich and wealthy nation. Some history books refer to it as the then "food bowl" of the earth. So powerful was it that it even for many years ruled Egypt. History shows that after Christ, it was one of the first countries to openly persecute the Christian Church, and right up to the middle of the 6th Century, they enjoyed being in the position of being envied by the world for their profitable relations, both cultural and commercial. We can only imagine how many times over all those years, how the people must have laughed at the words of the Prophet in our text. But it was not the man's word, but God's word, and we know that God's word is sure. Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1- 25 "But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever." And alas for the people of those countries because they defied and doubted God. These words have now, almost 2600 years later, been fulfilled before our eyes. We do see however, a strange, but necessary turn of events. This country that turned against God and persecuted His Church, when calling on the world for help, the first people of the earth to send forth help in their need, was the various Christian organizations from around the world, who see them hungry, thirsty, naked etc., and responded to Christs call to help them. We in this land and other lands, being islands, have also had prophecy directed at us long before the world realized there were even islands around the world, that would one day become populated nations. One of these prophecies is found in Isaiah 41:1-6, spoken 700 years before Christ:-
"Keep silence before me, 0 Islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near: then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment. Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, as a driven stubble to his bow. He persued them and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet. Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I am the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he. The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near and came. They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.”
We also see from this, and wonder, how many times in recent years has these words been laughed at, ignored and scorned. We must take example from what has happened in our text, and set our hearts to meditate on these Words of God, give God the Glory through His Son, and ask ourselves, who through God's eyes, not our own, is our neighbour. Treat them as brothers, and be prepared to say, not only by our words, but also our deeds, in these times of disaster "Be of Good Courage". When we do this, we will find what the Lord promised in Luke 11:28 "But he said, Yae rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”
APOSTLE CLIFF FLOR
NORTH QUEENSLAND
TEXT – 2 Corinthians 5:15.
“And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.”
The entry into Jerusalem is over. The rejoicing and shouts of HOSANNA are over.
It is Monday and Jesus goes into town again. In the temple He throws out the merchants and the money changers but He also helps the blind and incapacitated.
On Tuesday the Lord goes to the temple again, now for the last time and He says: Luke 21:6 “As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
After that He leaves, the day in Jerusalem is over. On His way, Matthew 26:2 “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.”
By now it is Wednesday. Judas goes to the high priest and betrays his Master for 30 pieces of silver.
On Thursday Jesus enters the supper room where He wants to hold the Passover with His Apostles and He says to them: “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:15). Then the very first ‘Holy Communion’ takes place.
"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples and said: Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matt. 26:26-28).
His Apostles know that He will have to die but they have also heard him say repeatedly that He would return.
Around midnight Jesus leaves His Apostles in the supper room and goes into the garden of Gethsemane where - all alone - He wrestles in prayer: "Not my will be done but yours. "
He is taken prisoner which is followed by the interrogation by Hannas and Caiaphas. And Jesus is silent. Only to the question if He is Christ the Son of God He answers: "Thou sayest it. "
In the meantime the new day dawned and Jesus is taken to Pilate. But the Roman Governor could find no fault in Him and would like to release Him, but of no avail!
He passes the accused to Herod, who mocked Jesus and sent Him back to Pilate. A decision is made and Barabbas is set free in place of Jesus. Then Jesus is led to Golgotha, the place of execution. After having all the penalties of the laws cruelly imposed upon him although He was innocent.
But there is no indication that this Friday was meant to be a Good Friday!
God revealed to the first man that death was not part of human life but the consequence of disobedience against God in Genesis 2:16-17: "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. "
These words also indicate that man was created to live forever. That was his original intended purpose for being.
Gradually it was believed in Israel that the soul of man, the spiritual core of our being, would retain its self-consciousness after death and would congregate with kindred spirits. There was also the hope for salvation and resurrection. The Messiah, the anointed King of God, the Redeemer and Saviour of all men would come from among them.
During the time of Jesus there were different opinions about this. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection while the Sadducees did not. By the resurrection of Lazarus as well as the daughter of Jairus and the man from Nain, Jesus proved that death could be overcome. It was this hope that Jesus wanted to plant in the hearts of His twelve Apostles and all the men and women who followed Him. Jesus always
tried to emphasise that His death was not to be a singular event. His violent death and the execution as a male-factor was the sole possibility for all mankind to be reconciled with God, and to be resurrected to eternal life. He proved it with His own body because He was born of a woman the same as all other people (Galatians 4:4).
In His Revelation to Apostle John He said: "I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. " (Rev. 1: 18).
What appeared to have been impossible was made possible through Jesus Christ.
This is the good tiding of Good Friday for all mankind!
Late APOSTLE J.F KROENER Jnr.
NETHERLANDS.
TEXT - Matthew 7:13-15.
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
To understand what our Lord was teaching at that time, we must first take ourselves back to that period of time. Christ was teaching to the Jewish nation, and they had come from all parts of the world to hear Him explain the kingdom of God and how the commandments of God transfigured themselves into this world, and to hear Him explain of the way that would get them to eternal life. The things that He used to describe this way were things that they understood.
Now in those days every Jewish city had a wall around it for security reasons and to make those inside feel safe. All the roads that linked these cities all travelled past these walls, and at the various places in these walls there were gates, and that is why He said to enter into the gates, they knew what He was speaking about. Now these gates fulfilled not only a role of security, but they fulfilled a means of testifying to the travellers who went by, on what they could find in those cities and that is why Christ linked that instruction with the warning to beware of false prophets. If we read the scriptures we will find that the prophets ordained by God, had to go to the gates of the cities to bring their prophecies, they did not prophesy in the temples or in the streets, they went to the gates of the cities and they gave the people God's words, God's warnings, God's instructions. God spoke to them at the gates of the city and we will find if we read the scriptures, that all of these prophets always urged the people to come into the gates of righteousness. He told them of the things they were doing wrong and then urged them to come and enter the gate of righteousness, which was the gate that entered into the temple where they would go and make a sacrifice unto the Almighty God and repent for their sins.
It was the foretelling that there would be a gate of righteousness placed in our spiritual temple that we could have access to at all times. Many false prophets went to the gates of those cities and they tried to turn the people away from God. All the traders of the cities went to the gates of those cities and tried to encourage the travellers to come in and they would find goods and wealth and good times beyond their understanding, and they tried to encourage them to go through these gates.
That is why Christ gave the warning that there is now to be put in place a strait gate. Now a strait gate means confined, it means that there will be a gate placed into the world and for those that go in they have to be prepared to walk a confined trail, confined only to the teachings of the Almighty God given unto us through the door, and the door of that gate we know our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ said, "I am the door, he that entereth in can pass and come in and out." This way is strait or confined to the blessings and teachings of the Almighty God, and Christ said that few there be that will find it.
Therein is the crux of our Mission labour, for although this gate is placed there by the Almighty God, few will find their way into this gate without being drawn to it. One of Gods greatest workers Apostle Paul, after his conversion, was drawn by God to Ananias to a house on a street called "Strait", which led to the gate which led to the temple. He was drawn there to be sealed and baptised, and he then saw clearly and became an Apostle, upholding this gate and strait way that takes us through the gate of righteousness onto the kingdom of God.
APOSTLE CLIFF FLOR
NORTH QUEENSLAND
TEXT – Revelations 2:1-7.
“Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works. and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except
thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear: let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Wesee there that the church was warned that although they were continuing to work they were departing from their first true love. The first true love of the Christian Church is the grace of Christ. The first true love is to accept the call of Christ. We are all called and we should value that as our first love. To think that God has called upon us to help labour for the final destiny of His plan for mankind. We have not chosen to do it, he has called us. That should be our great treasure in life. We then ask ourselves - What is this call? We know that the Scriptures tells us that the Lord told us what the call was for the church. Firstly He said that we must deny ourselves, secondly He said that we must take up our cross daily, and thirdly He said we must follow Him. That is the call that is going out as we visualise the Lord hanging on the cross saying, 'I thirst.' Return to that first true love. Return to accept the grace of Christ. Return to deny ourselves and look sincerely at our lives and make sure that we are not elevating ourselves above Christ and His grace . To acknowledge that we are dependant on this higher power in our life. That is the meaning of meekness and remember our lord promised in Matt 5:5 “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” (The coming Kingdom of God.) To take up His cross daily and follow Him has a double meaning. We know that He sacrificed Himself and we must also sacrifice ourselves, our natural lives and our habits, and make them converted to be as Christ. But it also has another meaning which means that we must look and treat everyone as equal. The mark of a cross on a document from a person illiterate has the same meaning as the most eloquent signature of the educated person. All mankind is equal in the site of God and we must renew that within our heart daily. Then to follow Christ means that we must know of His ways, His teachings, and those things that He has left for us, so that we through the power of the Holy Spirit can then within our lives walk in a way that would have been Christ like. If we fall of course we have that first love to the Church, the Grace of Christ, but it must be sought out and accepted. Romans 5:15 “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” We see clearly the justice of God and why we must preserve this first love at all times. If we can return to that we can have that great promise that He has given us and that is that He will allow us to partake of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God, which means very simply when we pass from this life we go to this place of Paradise where we are given the tree of life to prepare us for the Kingdom and then eternal life. There should be no fear or worry about passing from this life if we can return to that first true love. If we can offer unto Christ this righteousness, He yearns for it, for it has a purpose in God's plan. Firstly it will become the oil in our lamps that will take us through the dark period of life that stands before us. Secondly it will be used to give unto the angels in heaven as extra weapons to be able to overcome Satan and his followers, and have them cast out of heaven where they will not be able to accuse man ever again. Thirdly it will be used to make a chain that when our Lord returns, an angel will bring this chain and bind Satan in his chain of righteousness so that he will not be able to come out into the kingdom period time until God destines. We can see that we need to play our part at giving to the Lord that righteousness that He is yearning for, to overcome the temptations in this world, to do good deeds for others without seeking a reward and most importantly obtained by partaking of Holy Communion that He left for us in His will. Let us pray we can answer the call.
APOSTLE CLIFF FLOR
NORTH QUEENSLAND.