The chief Priests and Scribes tried to rebuke Christ for allowing the children who were worshiping in the temple, when they saw the healing that he did, from shouting and crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David.” These learned men of the law could not see that Christ was fulfilling the law before their very eyes, as part of the festival was to acknowledge God by walking around the Altar and shouting Hosanna and Glory to God. The children in their childlike faith and innocence, could see this clearly and recognized the presence of God in Jesus Christ. Christ pointed out to them that they were witnessing the fulfilment of the prophecy contained in the book of Psalm. Perfect praise and wisdom only can come from childlike trust. Recently, I was reminded of this text from an article sent to me by a Sister, and was headed up as:

 SIGN OF THE TIMES.

 The Sunday School teacher told her class of seven-year-olds

 how Jesus loved each one of them, then asked, “If Jesus came

 in here to-day, what would you say to Him?”

 A little girl stood up and answered, “I’d take my Bible to Him

 and say, ‘Jesus, This is Your Life’.”

 We compare this to the events described in our text word and see how it fulfils itself even today. The world is full of learned people, many claim to have the answers for all things and can in their own minds do great things, but cannot see the great benefits and love that can flow to mankind from the love of Jesus Christ. The little girl in this story certainly showed a trust and childlike faith in the Bible as the written word of God, teaching us of the living Word of God, who is Christ. Of course, she was perfectly correct.

 The Psalmist in Psalm 40:7 wrote, “Then said I, Lo. I come in the volume of the book, is it written of me”, and Christ confirmed this while on earth when He taught in John 5:39. “Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” If we take heed of the wisdom taught by the young girl, we should be able to approach the reading of the Bible in a different way. No! We do not need the worldly wisdom to understand what it is all about, but we need only give ourselves to God’s spirit, and look on the various writings as teaching of Jesus Christ’s life and mission foretold in the very first chapter of Genesis verse 26, “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Every page we turn over with this simple request in mind, we find more and more of Christ prefigured, page upon page, until the last chapter of Revelations verse 20, “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.”

This text tells us of the first community of Christians coming together, all the then known Christians numbering approximately 120. We see they had no trouble to be in one accord or united in prayer and supplication to the Almighty God. We must also remember at this time they had not yet been imbued with the power of the Holy Ghost, for the day of Pentecost had not yet come. Even without this guiding Spirit, they were still able to be of one accord in prayer, because they knew that, that was the key that would bring all God-fearing people the blessings of God.

What a pity this lesson in many cases, has been lost down through the ages, despite the fact that mankind prides itself on the many advancements it has made in the way we live our lives, compared to that community almost 2 000 years ago. One can only imagine the great power we would see if we could achieve today, to be able to bring all Christians in one accord in prayer and supplication. We find it near impossible to even achieve this with a community of even 120 members.

A classic example is in a farming area, some farmers pray for general rain, others do not want it yet, as the field is not ready for planting. Some are harvesting and would regard it a nuisance, others with irrigation do not require it, and also if it came it might increase supply and the price of the crop will drop and so it goes. There is certainly not one accord in those prayers.

If there is no unity, it is very difficult to see the fulfilment of the Lord’s promise as contained in Isaiah 65:24, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear.” The Bible is so full of testimony that these words are true and have come to pass through united prayers and supplications being offered. We can read how the children of Israel had no water, only a contaminated stream, but God answered the united prayer and showed Moses a tree which, when he had cast into the water, the waters were made sweet.

How Hezekiah and his people were delivered from their enemies by united prayer. The many times the early Church, when they were oppressed received great strength as written in Acts 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” There is no doubt there are many times down through the ages, that this has been experienced by those at the time and not passed on.

Because of this, many look back but do not see the same can happen today. A recent example we should all take note of and be prepared to quote, is the recent Bush Fires in Australia. We all witnessed the terrible destruction and how out of control they were despite the use of facilities from Australia wide. We know our leader, on the Saturday, made a public appeal to all Christians on the Sunday, to come together in one accord in prayer and supplication, to ask the Lord for help. Because it touched all hearts, this was achieved Nationwide, and although the weather forecasts showed no rain at hand, on Sunday evening, rain fell so that the danger was averted.

This modern-day miracle in answer to united prayer should be an example to us all in our various communities, to strive to be as that first Apostolic Community mentioned in our text “To continue at all times with one accord in prayer and supplication.”

This teaching of Christ was bought back to me in a recent conversation with a retired farmer who had
been a pioneer in his field. He was commenting on the changes he had noticed over the many years, not
only in the methods and technology, but in the attitudes of other farmers, neighbours etc. He noted that as
a young boy on the land with his father, they started with nothing but a will to make it, and all their
neighbours for miles around, were in the same boat. All were equal, had nothing in material things, and
because of this, each were prepared to lend to each other the things that they did have and to help each
other, and more importantly, to ask each other for help. Because of this, a close relationship developed
and they seemed to all be blessed and benefited by this attitude. These blessings were granted them
because they were obeying Christ’s commandments. Rev. 22:14. “Blessed are they that do his
commandments.” As these blessings multiplied, he said everyone became more independent and acquired
many farm products, even to the extent of keeping up with the Jone’s attitude. Slowly came the attitude
that “I don’t need any help”, and as a result no one fulfilled the first part of our text. No one asked
anymore and even worse, even though there were times when things could have been lent, for fear of
being turned away, people forgot how to ask. Because of this simple break down to Christ’s
commandments, attitudes changed and it was only in extreme hardships of drought, fire, flood, dear times,
and calamities, that neighbours were drawn together.
When we reflect on this, no matter what our station in life is, we probably can all relate to this. We can all
remember some time in our life when we really needed something, but because of pride, we would not ask
to borrow it from someone else. Or perhaps we had made up our mind before asking, that we would be
refused and we were not going to give anyone the satisfaction of refusing us. We also begin to think of our
possessions as ours, and not something we were allowed to obtain or more correctly on loan from God,
and anyway, what if the borrower does not return it? Of course, God will have the final say in such
matters as in Psalm 37:21-22. “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth
mercy, and giveth. For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth and they that be cursed of him
shall be cut off.” This independent attitude in our natural life, can also lead us to adopt the same attitude in
our Spiritual life. We begin to also break other commandments of our Lord. Matt. 7:7. “Ask and it shall be
given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” We begin to forget to even ask
of the Lord His blessings. Matt. 11:28. “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will
give you rest.” We think we can go it alone.
In the world we live to-day, there is one possession or blessing that we have that we should consider in
light of our text, and be prepared to ask, to borrow from others, and be prepared to lend to others, and that
is TIME. As married couples, we must lend and be prepared to ask for time one to another; as parents, we
must be prepared to give this time to our children; as teenagers, we must share our time with our parents
and friends. We see many lonely people in the world, we must all be prepared to lend some of our time to
those, and if we feel alone, we must be prepared to ask for time. We can lend time to the sick, the
sorrowing, those that are distressed in any way. If we become more conscious in our lives and start with
time on loan, we will soon find other things follow and before long, we will be once again living by the
text, and once again experiencing that better feeling as the old farmer remembered in days gone, by, and
most importantly, we will find we are giving more time to our Lord and this will not go unblessed.

When we consider these words of our Lord to us, we see He used the word joy, in two contexts, His joy and our joy. His wish was that His joy would always be with us, and our joy would not be half, but at all times in a full measure. We therefore examine this word joy and find it has 3 distinct different meanings in the bible. 1. Natural Joy 2. Moral Joy 3. Spiritual Joy.

Natural Joy according to the dictionary means: “Joy is a delight of the mind arising from the consideration of a present or assured possession of a future good”. These natural joys are usually associated with a natural possession and build up in various degrees, and we openly display them in our lives in the show of gladness, exultation, contentment, satisfaction, triumph and cheerfulness.

Moral Joy. This is the joy which arises from the performance of any good actions. It shows itself within us, and sometimes spills openly in the form of peace, serenity of conscience or when it reaches its peak, if honorable, it is called glory.

Both of these joys are those which our Lord referred to as “your joy”. These joys can be good or bad depending on the circumstances. To keep this joy good, we must have within us Christ’s joy or the Spiritual Joy.

Spiritual Joy. As its name implies is a gift of the Holy Spirit or one of the Fruits of the Spirit. Gal. 5.22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace etc. It has its place within our hearts and shows itself outward by our actions, according to the Bible in the following ways.

A) As a joy of faith Phil 1:25 “I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and JOY of faith.”

B) As a rejoicing of hope Heb. 3:6 “But Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.”

C) Our Joy is God Himself. Psa. 43:4 “Then will I go unto the Altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.”

D) In His promises. 1 Peter 1:8 “Whom having not seen, ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable”.

E) Joy in the Gospel Psalm 89:15 “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall walk 0 Lord in the light of thy countenance.”

F) The joy that Christ will one day receive the Glory He is due Rev 11:15 “The kingdom of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

G) Joy of our future Rom. 15.13 “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost”.

H) And the most important aspect, and that is, spiritual joy is permanent. John 16:22 “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”

For this measure we see that the gift of joy is freely available to all, and as we go through life, we should easily be able to see those that have achieved and retained this joy of the Lord, by the open display of their own joys. A person who is not content in their faith, not content with hope, not content with God in His promises in the Bible, self-centered as to a reward, is not ready to receive the joy, and will show by their lives, the lack of joy in their life.

Over thousands of years now the bible reports to us about waiting for change, hope of promises coming to pass. Believers, with their eyes on God, felt oftentimes certain tension in their hearts. An inward expectation is demanding but also very beneficial. God’s announcements, for the purpose of man’s future, have always produced diverse perceptions. Our busy lives, as well as community activities, are by all means capable of overlooking the essence of the great coming advent. The waiting for Christ’s return is the most important point of the still outstanding Godly promises. The visible, repeated intervention of God for world deliverance, the completion of God’s realm, the drawing to an end of all world powers. There are unmistakable signs of hope:

Patience and Trust.
Waiting can become quite tiring. Time passes without seemingly anything happening, like standing still. Impatience wells up. One really would like to turn the clock! Questions arise: is it worthwhile – this holding fast to the promises of His return? Is this “Return” at all still asked for?
God’s time dimension is not ours. But His Word is in force, that rather heaven and earth vanish away, than His promises remain unfulfilled. We love to be reminded of this: “When the time was fulfilled, He sent His Son once more”. So will it be said and experienced.

Hope and Promise.
To wait one needs strength. Hope and promise contain both. Often it may be hidden ­one must search for it sometimes. In the congregation of the hopeful is God’s Spirit and His Word. Hope is contagious. In the promise is He who gives it, and all promises of God and Yes in Him and Amen in Him. God Himself is the guarantor.

Longing.
Where my treasure is, there will my heart be also. When will I attain unto, that I can see God’s face?
Paul says that we, with the creation, groan within ourselves for the redemption by the coming of Christ.
Does this longing still burn in us? Is this the motive for our living? The goal of all spiritual development is the renewing of an everlasting union with God. FOR GOD’S LONGING – IS MAN.
The above mentioned verse in Proverbs is also a promise. It also will be fulfilled and experienced. It is truth and will be manifested in the future.
At the end of waiting, both will be fulfilled.
The receiving of joy or to be condemned.

When Paul was in Athens, he found himself in the midst of a non-Christian and superstitious populace. He therefore decided to turn their superstitions to his own advantage making use of this characteristic as a means for giving testimony. “For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” Acts 17:23. In this case the Apostle Paul turned the superstitions of these people to a good purpose. You see, dear brethren, it is all a matter of faith. The Athenians believed in many Gods, but being superstitious they believed in many, many silly things. Happily, this led then to fear they might have missed some God out, so they even put up an altar to the Unknown God, just to make sure they got all the Gods in. Of course, this is ridiculous for we know there is only one God.

During my childhood I was brought up in London and I remember how superstitious the Cockneys were. If salt was spilt, some had to be thrown over the shoulder to avoid bad luck. Walking under a ladder, brought bad luck. If a black cat crossed your path – bad luck. Looking at the moon through glass was unlucky. Spiders were lucky. Treading accidently in dog droppings was very lucky etc. etc. I never believed it all, even as a child, but many people did and of course, they always found reasons to prove that this or that portent bad indeed brought them good or bad luck.

How often did Jesus say to the people after a miracle, “Thy faith hath healed thee.” Having faith in the words of Jesus is wonderful, it made it possible for Him to work miracles. When Jesus visited Nazareth, He was not able to work many miracles because people only remembered Him as Joseph the carpenter’s son. There was not much faith there. Indeed, they became very angry with Him and wanted to throw Him out. Luke 4:16-29. How did the sorcerers work their black magic? Because people believed them. How do witch-doctors work? They can only work if people believe them. It is very, very, important what we believe and in whom we believe. It can make or break us.

Do not believe in rubbish, my beloved! Superstition has no part in the doctrine of the United Apostolic Church. 1 Timothy 4:7 “But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.” If we believe in those superstitions, we place ourselves under the power of such misguided beliefs.

Our faith is in the Son of God, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit and none other. Cast away superstitions! They are unwanted and dangerous junk in our lives and have no place nor part in the faithful child of God.

In the above-mentioned text the Apostle Paul warns the children of God that they should not themselves take revenge in all kinds of ways but should leave this to God. The “mills” of God may grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small! Vengeance is a characteristic that marks both the spirit of God and also the spirit of man; but in the way this vengeance is wrought we find a vast difference. When a man plans vengeance, in order to “pay back”, so to speak, a wrong he has suffered, he usually does it in a way that is even worse than the behaviour of the man on whom he wants to be avenged for this, that, and the other. Instead of having the matter settled and the differences balanced, the result is that the evil is rendered even worse. God, on the other hand, will settle the affair perfectly, and He says: “Vengeance is mine!” In other words, when men take revenge, the chaos is inevitably rendered greater. The Apostle Paul’s advice is addressed primarily to the children of God, to the “loved ones” of the Lord; for the worldly man, who tends to hate not only his neighbour but also God, is not capable of following the wise, divine counsel. But we, too, still find ourselves in this world full of hatred, revenge, and manslaughter, and we therefore run the risk of imitating the “world” and growing to resemble it.

Throughout all the centuries there have always been upright Christians and men who have trusted in God, who have suffered all the injuries inflicted on them and the wrongs done them, without planning revenge in the manner of man. Even Jesus had to suffer disappointments within the circle of His disciples. Peter, who was very near and dear to Him, denied Jesus and said: “I do not know the man!” In spite of this, Jesus never ceased to pray for him! He could have said. “That’s the end of our friendship; you deserted me in the most difficult moments; now I don’t want to know you anymore,”

When brethren and sisters whom we have loved deceive us, do us injury, or speak ill of us and disappoint us, then let us not scold, let us not repay in the same coin, and let us not be angry with them, but let us pray for them, that their eyes may be opened, that they may see that they have acted wrongly. It is not difficult to scold and be angry; but to be able to forgive and forget – that requires strength of mind. The enemies of Jesus had to recognize, in spite of everything, that in all His subjugation and seeming weakness, Jesus was in every way the strongest, and this aroused their utmost hatred and rage.

The Apostle James wrote to the twelve tribes living in dispersion: “For the wrath of man, worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save -your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”. (James 1:20-22) The Word is the “Word of the Cross”: “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” This word is engrafted or planted in us; and this word shall become flesh in us, i.e., it must take shape, must be transformed into deeds. The practical Christianity that the Apostle James had in mind is not only concerned with what we must do to others, but specially with what we must do TO OURSELVES.

When the love of Christ, His grace, His mercy, His truth, become “flesh” in us, in other words, when Christ takes on a form within us, then we shall no longer be overcome by evil, but we shall overcame evil with good.

The year draws to an end. Again, we are celebrating the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Many people yearned to experience this year, of which they had specific expectations. Will this Christmas-fest be really different than all the others before?

Alone the heading can give us courage and hope: Everything Granted – nothing will be amiss – the Joy will be complete! This would be a wonderful celebration; no-one would come short! There, I am reminded;

This can only happen, if I invite also Jesus to this festival! Of course, not the Christ child, the “poor Baby”, that lays in the manger, no, but the grown-up Jesus, who leads His people for 2000 years and wants to be at home with His own, and this the whole year through, not only on the evening of Christmas!

I would like to feel the joy within me, like Solomon at that time in Psalm 72, when he announced the Prince of Peace for the world. God had acknowledged this prayer, when He let His Son appear on this earth: “Give the king thy judgements, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son. He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and the poor with judgement …. They shall fear thee as long as the sun and the moon endure, throughout all generations …. Yea, all the kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.

He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy… prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised. His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen and Amen.”

Have we now realised that everything has been granted us?

Now if Jesus was our guest on the holy Christmas eve. Could we imagine, that He might put some questions to us? What are you celebrating? Who do you celebrate and How do you do it? What are we celebrating, O Lord?

We are celebrating the BIRTH of the FIRST NEW man since the fall of man, the Incarnation of God! And we celebrate the heavenly GIFTS, which YOU, with your birth brought to mankind. The most precious of them are: The Assurance, that we through you are saved for evermore: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life”. (John 3:36)

The Lust, the Hunger for God’s Word, the bread from Heaven, which You have brought to Bethlehem – the house of bread. How many of your words have become FOOD for the lost humanity: “I am the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine: (John 10:14) and “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:27-28) The Love of the Father and the Son, which has been revealed to the repenting sinner: “And He said unto her: Thy sins are forgiven.” (Luke 7:48)

Who do we celebrate?

We celebrate YOU. OUR SAVIOUR! Through you are we reconciled with God; we may come close to Him, after we were so far away from Him. Because of our sin. We celebrate YOU, the PRESENT REDEEMER, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD, through whom we will become joint heirs in Your Kingdom!

How will we celebrate?

We celebrate with true and willing hearts, to serve You, our Lord, like the first disciples did (John 1:35-51) and that with Humble Hearts: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts” (Peter 3:15) In the Love for the brothers and sisters and in striving after joint brotherly and sisterly communion, we celebrate our LORD.