Pastor’s Letter (November 29, 2019)

 

WHY Were You Born?

So basic … So fundamental … still virtually No One knows why he or she was born.

This week the entire subscription list within a 25 mile drive of where Ocala meets for services has been invited to attend Sabbath services to hear the answer to this critical question – critical in that answering why we were born defines man’s reason to exist.

As we should know, mankind was created to be in God’s ever-expanding family, living up to his spiritual potential with God’s Holy Spirit. I wish to address this understanding to explain why God is so interested in the affairs of mankind. According to a master time table, God will eventually call and convert a large segment of human beings who ultimately will work closely with God and supervise members of the human race. (Revelation 5: 10; 20: 4, 6; Isaiah 30:20)

People in society who ridicule the notion that there is a God have absolutely no idea that God is actively assembling His team of future leaders among those who today understand His plan for humanity. I Corinthians 14:33, 40 shows that God is systematic and organized in His thinking. He wants mankind to literally be part of His intimate family forever yet few other churches understand and teach these truths. 

God thoroughly understands that the way of man is incomplete without Him. Current chaos within Washington D.C. as well as governments abroad such as Venezuela, Colombia, Ukraine, Somalia, Zimbabwe, etc. remind us of the prophet Jeremiah’s observation that “the way  is not in himself, it is not in man that walks to direct his steps”(Jeremiah 10:23). For those who may remain unconvinced, just revisit the photo on page 1. The good news is that this all changes after Christ’s return. Hopefully we reflect that optimism. Hopefully we cherish God’s solutions to man’s deficiencies.

This is NOT  .. THE ULTIMATE ACHIEVEMENT OF MAN

BEING IN GOD’S FAMILY IS!

Revelation 5: 10         “And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of Priests for our

                                        God and they shall reign on the earth  

Revelation 20: 6         “They will be priests of God and will reign with him a thousand years

Revelation 2: 26         “To all that are victorious, who obey Me to the very end, to them I will 

                                         give authority to rule over the nations”

Revelation 3: 21         “Those who are victorious will sit with Me on my throne, just as I was

                                         victorious and sat with my Father on His throne” (NLT)                                                                                                                                             

One of the blessings of inviting the public is that it challenges us to get out of our ‘comfort zone’ to reach out to help humanity, albeit in a small way. The danger of comfort zones is that they can unknowingly rob us of the spiritual growth we need to make while we have the relative peace and freedom to do so. After that, our future spiritual growth could come primarily through “trial by fire” as Peter writes about. The public needs what we have to offer and we need to supply that as part of our Christian development.

It may seem odd to reach out to the public now during Thanksgiving time and Xmas when many people may be preoccupied with other activities. Actually I had had to postpone these presentations that were currently slated for last spring. The summer months are not ideal because many people are on vacation. September and October are not ideal because we are focusing on the fall holy days. April or March may be out because we have Passover and Unleavened Bread and then we are back to Thanksgiving and Xmas not being ideal times. I am reminded of a statement that a salesman once told me, “If you wait for the perfect time to sell you will go broke.”  And so we will do what we can, when we can.

It could be that some subscribers are already convinced that Xmas and New Years are insignificant and that they need something more meaningful in their lives.  We don’t know for sure and may never know unless we try to contact them while we are able. Ezekiel 33 reminds us that God will hold us accountable to do what we reasonably can do with the public.

This week I emailed the 4 congregations with an explanation of our strategy with these invitations. Realistically it is the minority that will respond (unless we have a 9/11 event in the country). However, it is not unrealistic to think that we can cultivate a positive relationship with our subscribers over time. If they do not come to an initial presentation, they may remember the invitation letter and respond to a later one. I could see us generating invitations periodically throughout the year as long as they are cost effective. That may mean that we can only invite by mail only those that live within 10-15 miles away from our meeting halls.

Please pray for the success of these efforts .In this midst of our changing society, this public seminar may prove to be an interesting barometer of where the minds of our subscribers are right now.

We cannot escape the fact that God wants us as congregations as well as individuals to spiritually grow.  I Peter 4: 17 states that judgment is on us now.

This Sabbath, I will do the “Why Were You Born” presentation in Ocala. Jeff Lockhart will speak in Ft. Myers and Jonathan Hendricks will speak in Vero Beach. Tallahassee will meet next week for the public presentation. (Services will be canceled this week since most brethren will be out of town).

BV