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Weekly Reminder...
The Weekly Reminder is an informative tool to help people who read it consider what the man of God has said. This weekend’s articles are based on what was heard on June 6 & 7, 2009 in the Westbury assembly.written by Br. Jean Leonidas
The word of God was expounded to us over the weekend to show the importance of obtaining the wisdom and the spiritual understanding of God. Br. Antoine showed us thru the scriptures how as the people of God, we must know God's thoughts after Him. We must be able to develop that spiritual understanding that can help us make Godly decisions in our daily walk with Christ. He quoted Mathew 5:3-12, to show us the kind of people we can become by applying the wisdom and the knowledge of God in our daily lives.
Br. Antoine quoted Colossians 1:9-10, where the apostle Paul was praying for the church to be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; Br. Antoine said that it is vital that the church come to that phase. He continued in saying that we should not be in the church and be satisfied that Christ has taken us from the world and sit idle in the church but we must be growing in all wisdom and knowledge of God. He said that the knowledge we received from our natural parents will only help us in this world but there is a kingdom to come and the knowledge of God is what we need to help us attain that kingdom.
What got my attention was that the apostle Paul was praying because it was so vital that the people know the will of God. It was a necessity and teaching and preaching was not enough but God needed to come in and touch the minds of the saints. Br. Antoine also quoted Ephesians 1:18 showing that the "eye of our understanding should be enlightened". When we first came to the church, we came with no understanding of God; we were not able to discern both good and evil but it took the grace of God to bring us to the church and send His minister to teach us how to approach God the right way. The scripture plainly states in Malachi 2:7 "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts". The right way to serve God is by being wise and knowing what the will of the Lord is and God appointed men as He did of old to reveal unto us His will for our lives. The scripture says "wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times" (Isaiah 33:6). The apostle Paul knew that and was praying for the people to be filled with Godly wisdom; Isaiah also knew that and spoke to the people about it. In these last days Br. Antoine was reminding us not to be content with the wisdom of this world but to seek after the wisdom that cometh from above (see James 3:17). Br. Antoine went on to say when we get an education from this world, it is only to help us make money and feed our families but the wisdom and understanding of God helps us attain spiritual life.
Br. Antoine showed us the result of knowing God's will and being filled with His knowledge and understanding by quoting Matthew 5:3-12. The people that are to inherit the kingdom are the people that the word of God has completely changed. He emphasized that flesh and blood (the carnal nature) cannot inherit the kingdom of God. These characteristics spoken by Christ in Mathew 5 can only come about when we have obeyed the word of God and the word of God has made a complete change in our hearts." He quoted Ezekiel 36:25-27, where it says God will give us a heart of flesh and remove our hearts of stone and He will also put His spirit in us. What I appreciated so much is that God is the author of it all; He does that by choosing able ministers to help us draw closer to Him. In the end when it is all over, we can see that we all are partakers of what God has in store for us at His appearing.
The last scripture Br. Antoine quoted was so beautiful, it went like this: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever” (Romans 11:33-36).
May God help us that we will be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
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written by Br. Samuel Philogene
Once again it was good to be in the house of God where we always find words able to challenge our lives and cause us to turn in the right direction. Saturday night Br. Antoine went over the scriptures of those who are blessed in Matthew 5:1-12. The verse that captured my attention the most is verse 6 where Jesus says, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled”. God blesses a heart that desires to change, that is willing to live righteously. Having a willingness to be changed makes you blessed by God because if we really hunger for righteousness we will strive for it; just like anyone who is hungry will look for food. I was very happy to hear that because I never saw it like that but now I understand that God is not looking for people who are already changed (anyway we can’t expect any change without God), but people who want to be more like Jesus, who has a great desire to come closer to Him. He will come and help such a spirit to make it through.
Jesus made a statement in Mathew 9:10-13 to the Pharisees who thought that they were just before God. He said unto them, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick”. They were (spiritually) sick but they didn’t know that they were sick or they didn’t want to recognize their sickness, but Jesus told them that they were not going to look for healing because in their own eyes they were not sick. There is no hunger to change in such a heart, but the hunger of righteousness that we saw in Matthew 5:6 will come only when we acknowledge our sinful sate and we cry out to God for mercy and forgiveness. This desire is a spiritual hunger that every child of God should have, a hunger for the word of God, for His spirit. That will come only when we know that we are sinners and that we desperately need God then God will reach down and touch us and fill us. Paul made a statement showing how he acknowledged that he was a sinner but was thankful that Jesus came for him like He came for all sinners. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).
One of the things that can hinder us from receiving the blessings from God is not recognizing our need of God in our own spirit (Galatians 6:3). On Sunday afternoon Br. Antoine made it clear how our own understanding cannot please God. He established the difference between the knowledge of man and God’s knowledge. We lean too much on what we know or possess to the point that we don’t want to give up and let God take over. We think we can serve God in our own righteousness, but in fact nothing in us can please God unless He takes what we have and mold it in His way. Our understanding can’t do anything in the work of God until Christ transforms our thoughts and make us think the way He thinks (1 Corinthians 3:18-23). The Bible says that our thoughts are not God’s thought (Isaiah 55:8); our ways are not God’s ways. Paul is a great example of a man full of the knowledge of the world but when God touched his heart he understood right away he had to get rid of everything and let God use him the way He wants (Philippians 3:4-9, Galatians 1:13-16). I am not saying that God doesn’t use what we have, oh yes! God sometimes uses what we have but He has to put His touch. The problem is when we think that our knowledge alone can please God; no it cannot. Paul had that problem with the Jews, they were holding on to too many things (traditions, religious practices, social standing) so they couldn’t please God. This is exactly why they rejected Jesus as the son of the living God.
In Romans 10, Paul was dealing with this subject; the Jews thought that they could serve God in their own knowledge of righteousness. Paul said in verse 3, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”. Br. Antoine quoted scriptures like James 3:13-17 were James made it clear that the knowledge of men carries with it bitter envying, strife and lie against the Truth; he said that knowledge is not from above but is earthly, sensual and devilish. That is what happens when we don’t allow God to take control of our mind but think we can serve God with what we know. James says that the wisdom from above is pure and peaceable.
We need God’s wisdom to serve Him. That is why Paul was praying for the saints so God can touch their mind and causes them to think God’s way (Colossians 1:9-10, Colossians 2:3). We need God today to touch our heart and to make us know how to please Him because most of the time what we think in our own wisdom can please God might be an abomination unto Him. Let us pray so God can help us to know better everyday what His will for us really is. For it is written, “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 this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:19-21).
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