Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to a new week in the month of May 2023. And my prayer is that God will fulfil all His good intentions for making you a part of His church and of this particular assembly, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
It is now exactly eleven years that this assembly began to meet in this town as a church. And I give God glory and honour for establishing us in His will and for building us up in His love. I also thank Him for all that He has done for us individually and as a church and also for everything He has done through us in this land and in different parts of the world. His glorious name will be forever praised and honoured by all His creation. Amen.
I equally want to appreciate all of us, especially those who have been with us since the beginning, when we were less than ten people, for believing in the presence of God in our midst and for standing strong all this while, even when it did not look like we were going anywhere. I remember that for some years we did not increase beyond ten in number. And why? Was it because we were walking contrary to the will of God? No! Or was it because the word of God and His Spirit were absent in our midst? No!
To the best of my knowledge of the Scriptures, all along, we have been walking in the will of God. That is because we have been walking in love and in Christ righteousness and in utter dependence on God Himself for everything we need. Then the word of God and His Spirit have always been with us and in us, teaching us, guiding us and strengthening us to do His will.
However, unless God Himself adds to His church, human efforts to add to it can only result in chaos and judgment, when all has been said and done. Therefore, though our number was not increasing significantly for some years, we kept on meeting week after week, praying and learning the word of God. We also kept on sharing His word that has been blessing us with others by word of mouth and through all kinds of publications, as we were enabled by God. Why? Faith! We have faith in God and in the fact that He will surely build us up as His church and also multiply the work He has committed into our hands, if we remain faithful to Him and do not faint.
Now, today, though we know that the world is still before us to conquer for the Lord Jesus, we are grateful to God because He is daily building us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ and also increasing us in number. Not only that, we are thankful to Him for enabling us to now publish His word on the radio and through the internet. And we know that He will carry the good work He is doing in us, among us and through us on to the very end of the times.
I want to encourage you, then, who are reading this never to despise the days of small beginnings. That is because if you remain faithful, God is able to make that which appears to be small and insignificant today great beyond measure (Zech 4:10). And even if it looks like it is going to take an eternity for what you are doing for the Lord to become great in your hand, remain faithful to Him. That is because it is not the largeness or greatness of what you are doing that God is going to reward, since He is the one responsible for it. Rather, it is your faithfulness in handling it that He will reward. And He will reward it according to His generosity not according to how much you think you have done. (Cf. Matt 20; 1Cor 3:5-9).
So, put faith and faithfulness to God above all things in all that you do for Him. He will surely honour you for doing so. And as you join us as an assembly this new year in partnering with God to be all that He wants us to be and also do all that He wants to do, you will also see Him glorified in your life, home and affairs, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Keep walking with God, and you will keep walking without fear.
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