Pastor John
What a wonderful weekend! How good God has been to us! Fellowship in light and truth, wonderful music that touched the heart. There is so much to be thankful for. We are truly in a land running with milk and honey! We don’t want to forget God who has been so good to us.
I was just standing behind my seat before we started on Saturday night and there was such a sweet feeling in the room and as I stood there enjoying it those feelings just became stronger. Wonderful! I really enjoyed going through Colossians the way you did. One thing that really struck me was how you brought out that false teachers would say much of what Paul would say. I guess at times false teachers have worked by directly taking away from the truth but most of the time I think they did it by adding to the truth, and in that way eventually everything good and true was lost. Addition [to God’s word] brings about a complete subtraction!
I got to wondering how those false teachers got past Paul as they mislead those children of God into ignoring his teaching. One thought I had was maybe they used Paul’s own example of withstanding Peter at Antioch. That could be twisted into an excuse or precedent for correcting Paul (though they didn’t do it to his face.) However they did it, it was evil, and here we are 1900 years later being blessed among the mess that God’s people are in.
At 3 to 4 am Saturday morning I woke up and started praying. I found myself praying for God’s people just as we did that night. When we were praying, it was hard for me to know what my feelings were. Sadness, sorrow. Was there a desperation or a helplessness about ourselves for God’s people in our prayer? I don’t have words, but it was a strong feeling that reached down into me. Unless God does something we cannot help them yet. The food we ate and enjoyed so much this weekend would kill so many of God’s poor children. It’s like a man I knew when I was young who was a prisoner at Changi in Singapore during WWII. Even 25 years later he had to eat several small meals each day. He couldn’t take any more than that as his system was so damaged. God’s people have been treated just like that.
Damien
=========
Thanks, Damien,
When I think about Paul living among those people, in Ephesus, Corinth, etc., sometimes for over a year at a time, and yet, later, they were still deceived and led away into a false way, I marvel that we still are rejoicing in the truth. May God continue to have mercy on us, so that we can continue to do this good work for His precious people.
Pastor John