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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 31 & February 1, 2009 in the Westbury assembly.written by Br. Samuel Damus
A lot is made of the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. There are tons of literature, documentations and movies that attest to this fact. There is one thing that is somehow overlooked in all this and it is His purpose. He “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God” (Galatians 1:4). We are currently living in a world where men prefer to keep their evil ways than believe and turn to Christ (John 3:20). “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). This god of the world is the Devil who wants to keep everyone living in sin. His mission is to keep as many people as possible from doing God’s will. “He that committeth (practices) sin is of the Devil; for the Devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the Devil” (1 John 3:8). The Devil is working against the church to try to overthrow it, so we must be wary.
“Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are” (1 Peter 5:8, 9 – Living Bible). Our adversary can even work in our church services. He will take any opening you will give him to disrupt the service (annoying cell phone ring). If you are angry with someone he will use that to cause you to hold a grudge during the entire service thus making your sacrifice to God worthless (Matthew 6:23, 24). He can send a spirit into you to cause you to disrupt the word of God from being preached (Acts 16:16-18). We even make it easy for him to cause us to sleep during the sermon when we stay up until the morning hours the night before watching movies. Do not give an opening to the Devil (Ephesians 4:27).
We must “put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil” (Ephesians 6:11). If we walk in the truth as the Lord has commanded us to we will be protected from the Devil’s tricks for “the highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul” (Proverbs 16:17). We must not forget that in all this we must ask the Lord for His help in prayer (Ephesians 6:18) and we know He will help us if we keep His commandments (John 15:7).
In this evil world that we reside in, we must be as “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). We must realize that the Devil was deceiving people since the beginning of time and that we need the Lord’s help to overcome him. Let us guard our hearts and minds from the corrupting influences of this world and continue to pray that the “Lord’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10); that He may continue to preserve our souls from all evil (Psalms 121:7).
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written by Br. Jean Leonidas
During the weekend we were being made aware by the man of God about the spirit that is currently working in this world. He was showing us why this world was so evil and he explained that it is not easy for us to realize evil at work on our own. He said only by the help of the Lord can we determine the darkness that’s around us.
Br. Antoine quoted Galatians 1:4 that says, “Who gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father". Br. Antoine was focusing on three words from that scripture when he quoted it, "present evil world". He said this world is evil and this is why so many people are doing so much that is wrong. The people have no mercy and live in such a way as the Devil when they are able to kill. He continued in saying that we shouldn't hope in this world because there is nothing good in this world. He quoted John 3:19-20, where it says that "all that is in this world is darkness and man love darkness more than light". This scripture shows us that our fallen nature is a benefit to the Devil. It doesn't take the Devil much to deceive us or tempt us into doing wrong. This present world is continually evil because the Devil is around seeking who he may devourer (1 Peter 5:8). Paul also mentions to the church at Ephesus that there is a "spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2). This shows us that there is a spirit out there that we cannot see with the naked eye or under a microscope; this spirit we cannot fight with physical strength or weapon. But what I appreciate most is that God as He did with the church at Ephesus by giving them a Paul has given us Br. Antoine to show us the evil world we are living in and how to fight the good fight of faith.
Br. Antoine showed us to fight this fight we need the weapons and the armor of God. He quoted 2 Corinthians 10:4-8, that shows us that our weapons are not carnal, they are not manly or of this earth. Our weapons are directly from God because we are not able to see our enemy who is the Devil in order to fight him. God has giving us His precious word in order to defend our mind from the Devil when he comes to put evil thoughts in. Paul describes this best in Ephesians 6:11-20. The armor of God shows us how we can defend ourselves from the temptations of the Devil. After Christ fasted for forty days and night, the Devil came to try to tempt Him. Christ was using His sword left and right to defend the temptations that were coming at Him from the Devil. This is what we should do when evil thoughts come to our mind, we should use the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. This is why the word of God is so important to a child of God. The word of God must mold our spirit so that we are “able to discern good and evil" as Paul says in Hebrews 5:14. Br. Antoine said, "many times we fail because we have not conserved the word of God in our heart, we have not kept ourselves busy praying and meditating on the word of God". It is amazing that the same words that was preached to the saints back then is being preached to us today. This means our enemy has not changed and our defense also has not been changed. In other words we still need the church, we still need the man of God, we still need the word of God and we still need God.
May God help us to know that we are living in a present evil word and that we are not fighting with flesh and blood.
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written by Br. Samuel Philogene
The present world is led by the Devil (Job 9:24) and more and more the day of the Lord comes nearer more and more the enemy will use his entire deceitful arsenal to take us away from the Church of God. It is important to understand that the present world is under the domination of Satan (1 John 5:19) with all his demons to try to stop God’s plan, to stop us from serving God the right way, from giving God all. He started in the garden with Adam and Eve by giving them a lying statement: “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5), that is why Jesus said that the Devil is a murderer from the beginning; he killed Adam not only physically but spiritually and we inherited the sin of Adam our father (Romans 5:12, I Corinthians 15:22). So by his treachery he causes Adam and Eve to draw away from the face of God. Adam lost the divine relationship with God.
It can be the same for us today if we let the Devil have his way with us so instead of building the church we will try to destroy it. Br. Antoine was instructing us last weekend to be careful because the world today is being lead by evil. We can be possessed by an evil spirit even inside of the church. If we are not careful of what we are doing and who we associate with we can be a vessel of the Devil to do his will. The Lord didn’t call us to be instruments of the Devil but vessels of God. Jesus shed His blood only to save us from this evil world (Galatians 1:4), so we can’t let the Devil have authority over us but we have to overcome the Devil by applying the word of God. We are called to be a habitation of God not of the Devil (Ephesians 2:21-22). So we have to live in a way to not give any chance to the Devil to use us as an instrument of destruction, destruction of ourselves and everything (good) around us. The Devil knows our weaknesses and will attack us there. So we have to work quickly to fill all our empty spaces with good things. We also have to stop living according the principles of this world because the Devil overrules the world. The religious world also is lead by the Devil and his evil spirits are there; they may have a form of Christianity but they are under Satan’s rule. In Revelation 18:2 we read, “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird”.
If we leave space for the Devil he will take all and cause us to serve him instead of God. The Devil pollutes the world and try to corrupt even the church (2 Peter 2:20-21). There is a contaminating spirit in the world that let us know that sin is nothing (o.k.), if we let it go we will not be caught in the snare of the Devil to do his will (Ephesians 4:26-29).
Thank God we are not helpless in this battle with the Devil we have Jesus on our side. Br. Antoine told us how we can overcome the Devil in the name of Jesus. God assures us of our victory if we live according to the word of God we will overcome the Devil (James 4:7). Since Genesis the prophecy was made: “it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15), in Revelation 12v7-11 we have confidence to overcome. Let us be a vessel of honor, an instrument that God uses and a habitation of the Holy Spirit.
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