I read recently of a piece of advice left by a well-respected wealthy woman to be handed to her children at the same time as her will was read after her passing.

It Read

Man is unreasonable, illogical, and egocentric.

Matters not – LOVE HIM.

When you do good; it will be said you do it for selfish reasons.

Matters not – DO GOOD.

The good that you do, will perhaps be forgotten tomorrow.

Matters Not – DO GOOD.

Truth and honesty make you vulnerable.

Matters Not – BE HONEST AND SINCERE.

What you have constructed, can be destroyed.

Matters Not – CONSTRUCT.

The people, whom you help, perhaps may not be thankful!

Matters Not – HELP THEM.

Give the world your best; it may tread you underfoot.

Matters Not – GIVE YOUR BEST.

And always remember what is written in the Bible, Job 33:12 and 1 Peter 2:21 “GOD IS GREATER THAN MAN.” “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.”

Good advice for us all.

It is in man’s nature to measure his abilities and strength against others. Already from a child onward it is in him to compete, who is the strongest, the cleverest or the best. Sport and Science gives us many examples. As long as this serves for the wellbeing and for positive development, no one can dispute such a healthy zeal. In Genesis we read that God created man after His own image. (Genesis 1:26) The man lived in the Garden of Eden in closest and heartfelt fellowship with his Creator. But the adversary understood, by his subtlety, to bring the first people out of balance. He seized them at their weakest point, that is: wanting to be like God. This they could not resist.

Through disobedience, God’s planned harmony with them destroyed. Man was torn out and separated from God’s closeness and suddenly forced to stand on his own feet, after enjoying life in Eden. But God gave him the promise on his way to send someone who would remove this separation into all eternity. Although God gave man laws and through authorized messengers, (judges, kings, prophets) guiding principles and directions to help their lives, they lost more and more of the Godly standard. They did not heed what God said anymore. In the true sense of the word, they became presumptuous and put themselves in the place of God and made themselves the standard of all things. Many examples prove this in the Old Testament. The time of Noah (Genesis 6:5) or the Tower of Babel. (Genesis 11:1-9) Even Godly punishment could not bring the majority of the people to change their way and return to God.

Even when God made His promise come to fulfilment, in that He sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world, when He became man, reachable for the people, to be felt and experienced, even then He was not known nor accepted. He became for many people inconvenient and a thorn in the eye because He made it distinctly clear, that the measuring line, which they laid on their lives, was a completely wrong measure. Self-conceit, hypocrisy, lust of power made them blind to discern the true measure, the standard and healing plan of God. Jesus’ preaching in love, His call to turn and repent, His words of Truth were classed as infamous and God slandering. They sought after His life and lastly succeeded to condemn and crucify Him. So, they hoped to have silenced Him for ever, but their plan went wrong. This Christ remained not in death. This measuring line could not be broken.

God has highly exalted His Son and given Him a name above every name. (Philippians 2:9) In Him shall all find and their direction and before Him every knee shall bow. Since then, nearly 2000 years have passed and when we view the world and the people, we realize that since then very little has changed. Ethical and moral worth’s are getting more and more undermined and thrown overboard. One’s opinion is that God’s orders are outdated, and anti-godliness is raised to normality. Also, for us as Christians, face the danger to submit ourselves to these wrong rules and standards, after the motto: what thousands are doing, cannot be wrong!

Therefore, it is always most important for us to keep the standard of Jesus Christ before our eyes, of which the Apostle Paul wrote. As the cabinet maker constantly uses the ruler for his work that it will measure to size, so should we measure our lives constantly on the standard of Jesus Christ. This is the STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED BUT WHO HAS BECOME THE HEAD OF THE CORNER. NEITHER IS THERE SALVATION IN ANY OTHER, FOR THERE IS NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN  GIVEN AMONG MEN, WHEREBY WE MUST BE SAVED. (Acts 4:11-12)

No one must say that this standard may be too high or too weak. Even for the cabinet maker’s apprentice, the ruler is most important, though he is not able to perform faultless. The piece of work will only turn out to the satisfaction of the master and the customer if the right measure was used. We won’t get far in our life to reach our goal if we don’t start to use this measure line of Jesus Christ ourselves.

After disobeying God’s command, Adam and Eve realized that they had sinned. Their guilt led to fear and anxiety at the thought of being punished. They tried to calm themselves by covering their nakedness with fig leaves and then tried to hide from God’s sight. When God spoke to them later, they did not humbly acknowledge but tried to justify themselves. Adam even had the audacity to blame God indirectly, for God had given him the woman who led him astray. Eve too tried to defend herself in a similar manner by saying that the serpent had deceived her.

Not only Adam and Eve have sinned and then, instead of admitting it and being repentant, tried to blame others. Even today the number of those disobeying God’s commands is ever increasing. Guilt is suppressed by the majority and instead of confessing their sins self-justification is the order of the day.

Evil deeds can sometimes escape the law; but nobody can hide from God, who sees all. It is better to acknowledge our misdeeds to ourselves and God, then we shall have peace and no need to fear punishment. We should not permit ourselves to be falsely convinced that we can do evil deeds and escape retribution. Adam and Eve, who behaved so disgracefully towards their benefactor, had to suffer death because they had sinned, but God also promised to send Jesus Christ, the Son of God and man, who would save them from eternal death and who would bruise the head of the serpent.

Envy and jealousy had once driven Cain to fratricide. After his frightful deed he was well aware that he had committed a terrible sin, and when God asked him: “What hast thou done?” He answered “My punishment is greater than I can bear…. from the face of the earth and from Thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that everyone that findeth me shall slay me.” After his evil deed, Cain was filled with fear at the thought of the awful consequences of his shameful act, that he could see no way of escape. Nevertheless, God made a mark on Cain so that nobody would kill him when they found him. God protected this great sinner from those seeking revenge. In spite of this Cain did not change inwardly nor pray for God’s help and mercy.

Whether a sinner finds grace with God and escapes the second death, depends on whether he accepts or rejects the grace God has given in Jesus, the Saviour and Redeemer. The two sinners crucified with the Lord Jesus, reacted in different ways. One scoffed and mocked the Lord and thereby committed himself into eternal damnation at the last judgement. The other accused the wicked scoffer of being shameless and having no fear of God. He also acknowledged that he deserved to die on the cross and realized that Jesus had atoned for his sins and the sins of all those who believed in Him, by giving up His life. He begged the Lord “Remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” This sinner, who acknowledged his faults and repented must have been filled with great joy and divine peace when he heard Jesus say: “Verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:39-43.

We all recognize this text as the text for the first marriage created by God on this earth. God’s word is sure and cannot be broken and so we see today, many still trying under the blessings of God, to live to that word, “and they shall be one flesh.” As God, after He dispensed this first blessing, Genesis 1:31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good”, we see that for all those married couples from that day, begin also their married life feeling the love that is also very good.

In these troublesome times for families, it is good to read advice from those that have learned from experience. Recently, a copy was handed to me of an article printed by a long married Christian couple, on how they interpreted texts from the Bible, and used them throughout their married lives, to keep that love. The article was headed Keeping Love Alive.

By Respect.  Ephesians 4:29. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”

Be as polite to each other and to your children as you would be to your friends and guests. Talk as politely in the home as you do outside the home. No put downs. We always remembered the high respect God has for His people and were constantly aware of the text so we always tried to measure our words. Often one party seemed to be paying more attention to things like the car or the house, and it was always very easy to flare up, but we soon realized that it was better to ask each other “Could we please talk?” and adjust these things to then suit our marriage. Over the years, handling our children without put-downs, challenged our pride, but by relying on the Holy Spirit to remind us of the words of the text. We learned to be as polite to our children as to our friends, yet we were firm when necessary.

Romance.  Ecclesiastes 4:12. “And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Never let romance go out of your marriage. Say “I love you” every day. Go on dates. Whatever adds sparkle to your way of showing romance, do it all the years of your life together. Dining by candle light, walking hand in hand, notes in lunch boxes, under pillows or on the mirrors. Staying at the table to talk. Praying at all times together. Embracing, always remembering it is a three-way embrace, the Lord Jesus and us. As we grew older, we were often reminded by our children “Mum and Dad, it’s been a long time since you had a date.” This is proof that romance was still showing.

Forgiveness. Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you”.

Never go to bed unhappy with each other. Be the first to say sorry. Suggest early “Let us pray about it.” The old saying “Love is never having to say I’m sorry”, is O.K. but it is worthless. If we recognize we will offend, even though we don’t want to and that we can ask and give forgiveness, then our relationship becomes more relaxed. We did spend a few sleepless nights coming to grips with our differences, but came to the conclusion, it is better to have a few sleepless nights, then many nights with no mate to sleep with years later. To have the rule of forgiveness along side the rule of respect: for us, has resulted in a very satisfying marriage. By now it will be easy to see our happiness is based on our faith in Jesus Christ. Through His forgiveness and love, we are set free to really love each other. He is our example. He then becomes the Head of your home and the secret to keeping love alive in your marriage.

It is hoped this will be some help to ALL families.

Harvest Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day is also called the crop, but should also be a “day of thanksgiving for the gift of life.” A day of thanksgiving for life, to reflect on what we are and not fixated on what we have or have not. Thanksgiving for life, as a day of thanksgiving to God, thanks to the light of the sun, the air we breathe, the water, the bread, the roof over our head, the job      we have. Thanksgiving, precisely because we know that there are thousands and millions that are without a roof, without daily bread, no job, no husband or wife, no children. It reminds us of the song ‘Thank you for this new morning.’

Thank you for this new morning, thank you for each new day. Every morning when we open our eyes, we should be grateful for the new day that awaits us. We ask God to be with us this day to close. Our weather revitalize.

Thank you that I may come to you with all my worries. Because you make your word true, where you said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” What a richness to have such a God Father and a loving Jesus.

Thank You for all good friends, thank You, 0 God of all flesh. Grateful for all that lives, we still enjoy? Whether we like it all but obvious?

Thank you for what I did not deserve, that you forgive me. That is grace, a Father who paved the way of forgiveness through His Son. Undeserved grace for everything we did wrong and have thought.

Thank You for all floral scents, thank you for every little happiness, thank you for all the brilliant colors, thank You for music. So many to thank for all that originates creation. It is becoming broader in your heart when you sing this song. Thank You in trouble, thank You in pain and struggle, thank You for always being with us at all times. Who has not experienced difficulty in your life, you may feel that if it were worn. You can experience the tranquillity and peace that God gives you.

Thank You that You want to talk, thank You, You will hear everyone’s call.  Thank You for wanting to break bread with us. Thank you, Father, that we may hear your word even every Sunday, read your words that you gave all of us, wherever we need to encouragement. And you invite us to your meal as a sign that the forgiveness and remission of sins, a reminder of the sacrifice that your Son has made for us.

Thank You for keeping your word to us, thank You for what Your Spirit gives us. Let it always be only Your Spirit, who shows us the way we should go. Which allows us to understand Your words and puts us in mind when we need them.

Thank you that every human being on earth of your love. Every man known by you, whether we are rich or poor, of whatever nature, our skin colour does not matter, all You love.

Thank You, Your love knows no boundaries, thank You and I know them now. Thank You, O God, I want to thank that I can thank.  Harvest Thanksgiving, a day to give thanks for all the good that God has given us.  Let’s not keep it to ourselves, but also for others who bring thanks.  Thank You, O God, I want to thank You, I can thank!

Psalm 26:7 “That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.”

We are reminded in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes which is a book written as we know by King Solomon. It was a very important book to the children of Israel, for it was put into a scroll and every year at the Festival of Tabernacles that book, particularly that last chapter would be read by the priests day in and day out, so that all the people could hear this final message as they left that place, a message that reminded them of the frailty of life and the necessity to depend on God’s blessings through this life, because at the end of it as they wrote there the body will go to dust, but the spirit returns unto God. It was important that they be reminded to have their faith in God and trust in Him absolutely, particularly in His commandments.
We today live in the period of grace and we have a greater hope than those people in those days. We have the blessings of grace where we can become reconciled unto God, but that reconciliation will be meaningless if we depart from the commandments of God without understanding that the end result is still the same. We do not get judged as we go through life as they did, but there will be a day of judgment when the Lord returns, when He will separate the sheep from the goats, and we need to prepare for that. The very first words are very important for us today when we see what is happening in the world and we view statistics. The message was – Remember thy Creator in thy youth. It did not say to remember God as the Creator of the world and everything therein. Specifically it reminded the people to remember their Creator, the creation of man and out of man woman, this remembrance that this must always be the foundation or the beginning of following our faith. If we cannot accept that God has created us, then all the rest can easily be argued against. It specifically left its message to the youth, that they should at all times remember their Creator in their youth, for after that will come times of distress and darkness, and times of evil within the world. We see that happening in the world today. We see a move to have them forget their Creator, to look to other philosophies on how they came about and more importantly to look to what their rights are, and that can be without referring back to their Creator. Statistically, this sadly shows that young people who enter university studies, that many of them as they register for university studies believe in the Creator and they believe in Christian morals. Sadly out of those ones who exit from university the percentage has dropped. They are taught that they have to forget this business of a Creator, that they have to forget this business of obeying God’s commandments, that they are now of the age where they can make their own mind up. Many claim to be agnostic or even atheist. The link is that they have forgotten the Creator from the days of their youth. At a Youth Camp we saw a video presentation of a doctor who is now going around the world, and he is teaching and talking at universities to urge them to not forget the Creator in their lives. He relates his own story. He was brought up in a Christian family, he went to the university believing all this, but within three years he did not believe in God as the Creator anymore because of the influences. He became a doctor and he was travelling out to see a patient and was involved in a horrific motor vehicle accident that left him in the hospital for over two years. All the parts of his body had to be re-built. They were giving him these bone transplants, and after many of them he said to the surgeon – “Why are you always opening me up and taking the bones from my ribs?, it’s becoming quite sore.” They told him it is the only bone in your body that will re-grow under its own efforts. He was lying in bed thinking – I have heard that before. His mind was taken back to when he was a young person and he learnt of the Scriptures, and he learnt of the creation – the Book of Genesis, where he remembered that God opened man, took a bone from the rib and closed it, and it re-grew again, and out of that He cloned a woman. Because he had that seed implanted to remember his Creator in his youth, he then suddenly realized the truth, and he made a commitment from that time, that if God spared him and got him back into mobility again he would commit his life to warn young people to never forget their Creator that they learnt of in their youth. We see therein the necessity particularly for parents, grandparents and the church to plant deeply into the hearts of our children and young people this wonderful doctrine that we find in the Book of Genesis of the creation of the world, but most importantly the creation of mankind, made from the dust of the earth with the breath of God placed in and man became a living soul. Hebrews 11:3 “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of thing’s which do appear.”

The Lord is near! This is the message for this Advent. How do we react on this?
Indifferent? – “What of it, it does not change my daily routine. It is for my life insignificant.”
Negative? – “These are the usual promises of the church throughout the ages. The reality looks to me quite different.”
Questioning? – “Is this not the belief of the saints which is long passed?”

It is wished that all, who are indifferent, negative and questioning would be able to be spoken to through the word. Because all are invited to turn and look away from themselves and pay attention to the Lord. The Advent-time should also be used for a “Quite-time”. There is a saying: “When Kings speak, the people are silent and when God speaks, the world holds it’s breath.” Yes, so it should be, but the world does the opposite and is astounded that they can’t understand God anymore.
What is the reason for this appeal? It points to an event, which not only mankind but also heaven and earth will be concerned with. Influence upon the earthly is the matter. We sing a hymn: “See this miracle, how the highest is bowing himself!” This seems so unbelievable to the worldly man, that first of all heaven is called upon to glorify. When the shepherds heard the heavenly message: “See I bring you tidings of great joy”, there were angels who said Amen. The earth was silent, the shepherds were dumbfounded, but heaven started to sing the songs of praise. Later on, when the shepherds saw the miracle themselves, then did they honour and glorify God.
Yes, our Word will also call us to rejoicing and glorifying. Are we still able to do this from our heart? A Christmas celebration was held in an office. The boss, a devout Christian requested a well known Christmas song to be sung. Hardly anyone sang. The “modern” man does hardly sing and if by all means it has to be, there is the radio or the good CD. It is a pity that people don’t sing anymore like they used to and the songs of praise to honour God is hardly known. In one of the youth songs it says: “Always will I praise you Father, what your love has given me, never shall my song of praise be silent till I come home to you.” Do in our houses sound the songs to honour God? The creature, as well, shall glorify His intervention.
But, but, ….. we would like to hesitate, can we really await this? Day after day we hear about the so called destructions of the environment and indeed we cannot ignore their harm. Would it not be corrector to point to the “complaining” and “sighing” of nature, than to request it’s praise and glory? But this calling has a qualified reason. This reason is the merciful intervention of God, which leads to the turn for the good. God’s mercy is the cause which creates a complete new situation for man and creature. God wants to keep what He has created.
Advent: We are waiting for Christ’s return and for the completion of the New Heaven and New Earth. Only then will the sighing of the creature end. May the precious promises for the future be a comfort to us, but not put us off. In this time of Advent let us be let away from complaints and accusations through the Word and be fastened into the living hope: God is faithful and what He promises He certainly will keep.

We see the very first instruction – the women were chosen to go to His disciples and tell them the wonderful news that our Lord had risen from the grave, and the scripture says, they ran. So it must be with the Mission labour. We should have an urgency to go and tell the world that our Lord has risen from the grave, He has overcome sin, hell and death, and a new way is now available for mankind, the way of grace that can be given to each and every one who calls upon Him. There is no exemption now. Everyone can partake of this wonderful blessing. We see in that urgency the women ran. We should have that same desire that each time we are blessed we should feel that we would like to tell somebody else about this.
The English Apostles from which this church has become re-established said that the first Apostles anointed by God had a mission to go into the world and tell the world of the resurrection of Christ. The world knows that now. There are very few who do not know the story that was taken by those women on that day. They taught the churches that in the latter days the role of the Apostles is to go and tell the world of the coming resurrection of the church. Many in the world do not understand God’s plan yet: How the church will resurrect when our Lord returns and be able to live in the Kingdom of God. That is why the Mission labour is so important within this church. Many others are taking the Gospel of Christ, but we are entrusted to take the Gospel of the resurrection of the church and the return of Christ into all parts of the world so that all can have this hope, and to know that the Grace of Christ can save everyone, and the blessings that stand before them.
For this to be done also requires a sacrifice. The greatest example of this sacrifice occurred when our Lord was on the earth where He and His disciples were followed by thousands of people, and it came to the time when they should be fed, Our Lord asked His disciples – How shall they be fed? One of His Apostles said that we only have a small amount of money, how can we do it? The Scripture records that our Lord did that to test them. The answer should have been – With thee all things are possible. They then said there is a small boy here who has a few barley loaves and a few fishes, and he is prepared to offer them to you so that the multitude can be fed. Imagine that, thousands of people and a small boy with 5 small loaves and fishes in his hand. He had the faith and the trust. He had heard Christ’s teaching. He was prepared to offer that unto our Lord so that He could use it to fulfil a great miracle. Our Lord took the loaves and fishes, and we might say the first Church Service took place. It was in order. He told the disciples to have everyone sit down in lines in order. There was not the disorder that we see in many of the churches today. They sat in lines and waited patiently. Our Lord blest these loaves and fishes unto His Father. He then gave the result of that unto His disciples. They then took it and fed it to the people who were hungering for His word in an orderly manner. They were all fed to abundance, 5000 men without women and children it is recorded. Our Lord then said – Go and take up the fragments so nothing will be lost. They gathered the fragments and there were twelve basketfuls left over, signifying that even the smallest mission offering, there will be given unto the Apostle Ministry basketfuls of food to go forth and orderly distribute this to all of those who are hungering. Without that sacrifice that would not have been possible on that day. Without the mission sacrifices it is not possible today.
Let us always be thankful, truly thankful for the blessings of grace that have been dispensed unto us and in that thankfulness ask the Lord to allow that grace to be distributed through our efforts into every corner of the world.