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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 January 10 & 11, 2009 in the Westbury assembly.written by Br. Samuel Philogene
Last weekend God was reminding us on our mission as a church. God did not establish the church in the world to compromise with it but to make a difference. This is the reason why when Jesus came to the world He did not associate Himself with any religious activity but distanced Himself from all of them to build His church; it must be something different with a different mission. Br. Antoine quoted scriptures to show the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ: to preserve and defend the truth. We saw in 1Timothy 3:14-16 that the church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. How now can we fulfill this mission? Paul in the same verse answers the question: “that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God”. So we can understand here there’s a way to behave, to conduct ourselves, a way to live to preserve the word of God. Some, even though they claim to be Christian, do not understand this huge responsibility which is ours, to preserve the truth in this perverse world.
We can be in the church and help the world to destroy the Truth by the way we act. Sometimes we don’t need to say to someone in the world that they are O.K. outside of the church but our lifestyle can tell people that there is no necessity to come to church or they can come once in a while and go back to the world. But we learned that it doesn’t work like that. As a church there’s a life that we are suppose to live to make a difference in this world and when we do not, instead of building the church we destroy the church. Br. Antoine told us through the Word of God how we have to build a strong church so the truth can be preserve, we can’t give up on our mission. In our day the truth is rejected: “and judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter” (Isaiah 59:14). We have been called to stand for the truth no matter what it cost. We must stand and defend the truth if it is not so we are not the church. In 1 John 3:18-24, we saw a way to do that, when we love one another with a sincere heart, Paul says then we know we are in the truth. He goes on to say how we should always have a clear conscience, don’t let our heart condemn us. So everything is done to preserve the Gospel, so precious in our midst. We have to build a Church that stand for the truth and is built on the truth (Acts 20:32).
Br. Antoine also quoted Ephesians 2:20-22, a very well known scripture, but we have been taught to make it a much applied scripture. “We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone”. The early church stood for the truth; they were murdered for their belief, for the Gospel and never, ever was it compromised. This is the foundation that we have to build on today, a church different from the rest, standing for what is right, standing for the truth, for righteousness, still believing in a perfect man. This is a good foundation that we can’t leave out if we want to build something for God. In Acts 4:29, 30, even when persecuted they still held on to the truth and their prayers were just to ask God more strength to go on: “and grant unto Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak Thy word,: by stretching forth Thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Thy holy child Jesus”. This is a church build on a strong foundation this is the church we have to build today. May God help us to never compromise but to stand for the truth (Psalms 45:1-4, I Peter 2:4-5).
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written by Br. Samuel Damus
Everyone should realize how great the mystery of godliness is; to know that Jesus came to earth in the form of man, manifested Himself as a living epistle of God’s words and died on the cross for our sins, then resurrected to prepare a place for those that will follow in His footsteps (1 Timothy 3:16). To walk in Jesus’ footsteps we must prepare ourselves and the church of the “living God” is the venue where this is done; a church that is built on a solid foundation, Jesus Christ.
Br. Antoine was telling us that the church of the living God was “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). The church that he was talking about is not the temple but the people, the saints. We ought to be built upon the words of the apostles and prophets, Jesus being the main focus. To have Jesus as our foundation means all that He has taught us (in words and in action) must be what we govern our lives by. The Lord, whose throne is the heavens and whose footstool is the earth asks, “Where is the house that ye build unto Me?” (Isaiah 6:1). The Lord will not abide in any house but a house that is sanctified and purified for Himself.
The temple must not be defiled. The only way that we are cleansed and maintain our purity is by practicing God’s words (Psalms 119:9; John 15:3). “He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him” (1 John 3:24). This cannot be faked! Br. Antoine said the reason why we are not feeling the presence of God the way we should is because we have not completely yielded ourselves to letting God in. We hold on to grudges, we are jealous, we cause strife and are not delighted to do good or see anyone that do good; these things and many more are what corrupts us. We say we love God but we refuse to be established upon the gospel. Let your good conscience judge your actions. Will the Lord abide in a place that is filthy? No! (Deuteronomy 23:14). The will of God for us is that we all “should know how to possess our vessel (bodies) in sanctification and in honor” (1 Thessalonians 4:4).
Behold, the Lord is at the door and He is knocking! We need to examine ourselves and make the necessary changes to draw closer to God. If we can take what we have learned from the word of God and measure it to our lives we will see where we fall short. Let us stop coming to the Lord in words only but let our faith be shown in our actions. The Lord was at our door last weekend; will we cleanse our ways that He might abide with us?
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written by Br. Jean Leonidas
It was another blessed weekend at the house of God. We were able to feel the presence of God and hear words of encouragement. Br. Antoine showed thru the scriptures what the purpose of the church is and how the church has a strong foundation. He quoted Ephesians 4:20 where the apostle Paul said "the church is founded on the prophets and apostles and Jesus Christ the chief corner stone". This foundation has never changed and over the weekend we were being reminded that we are the church and as long as we are seeking God thru the teachings of the word of God, we are being build up.
Br. Antoine gave a scripture in Acts 20:32 where it sates “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified". We are being built up while we are in the church and the word of God is that utensil building us up. I like that scripture because it states that the word of His grace is building us up and this is the reason why the man of God is continuing weekend after weekend to preach to us. By preaching of the word of God we can be saved (1 Corinthians 1:21). I found out over the weekend In Ephesians 4:21, we are built on the prophets, apostles and Christ the chief Corner Stone. The prophets are the Old Testament, the apostles are the New Testament and Christ being the chief corner stone means when we are not able to comprehend the new and the Old Testament, we are able to pray to Christ for direction. All these examples go back to the word of God or Christ. When it comes to every operation of the church we must always go back to the foundation that God has set up for the church. I thank God for having a man of God who is working in that foundation as the apostle Paul was. Br. Antoine is continually working hard on building us on the foundation because God has touched his heart in these last days to help us. Br. Antoine gave the scripture in 1Timothy 3:14, where the apostle Paul was admonishing Timothy but he was able to do that thru the word of God. Paul was also building that church on the same foundation as he said in 1Timothy 3:15, Timothy was to know how to behave himself in the house of God (paraphrase). Br. Antoine always tells us we should know what we come to church to do. Everywhere we go, we go to accomplish something and it is the same thing with the church. THE CHURCH HAS A PURPOSE.
In 1Timothy 3:15, the scripture says the purpose of the church is to lift up the truth. It says "the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth". The world is not going to get the truth from anything out there because everything in the world is moving thru darkness. Mathew 4:16 says "The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up". When Christ came to this world He was that Light but in these last days He has given the church power to continue in that same light as He was walking in. As long as the church is settled and grounded on the foundation we are upholding the truth for the world to see. I remember recently Br. Antoine gave us the scripture in Mathew 5:14 telling us that we are to be a light unto this world. Our conduct can really help someone come to the light. We are not learning God’s words just to have knowledge but after we get the knowledge we ought to walk within the confines of God's word.
May God help us to sanctify the Lord in our hearts that we may have an answer to every man that ask a reason for this hope we have!
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