Helpers of Their Joy

Many of you know my wife and I already, for a while. We have been here a number of times. Obviously, we've got three children here, so you really know us. So that's good. But today I want to tell you a little bit more about ourselves and what our plans are, what our goals are for the future. Because what is George and Kathy coming out, and what is in their mind, what are they thinking about?

And obviously, what are we going to do is being impacted by our training and our life experiences and experiences that we have done in the past and things we've done in the past. So I want to briefly give you a little bit of background about Kathy and I. I was born in Mozambique, and I can think of many times that we, myself, members of my family have been miraculously protected through various situations. We really can think of that. I could have died a number of times, I remember once, in what was called then Lorenzo Marx, now it's called Maputo, where I was born.

That is a huge play, and I remember walking out into the sea, intending to go to the next island, absolutely mad, and I'm not a good swimmer, and they were sharks, and I walked for about an hour, and then when I looked back, the water was up to ya, because it was shallow, but then suddenly in front of us was pitch black, and I looked back, and the land where I'd walked from for about an hour was a lot nearer than the island, and I realized this is impossible, and there's kind of a few sharks lying around ya, and the water is gonna go deep, and I'm not a good swimmer, so I better walk back.

Now, the areas was deserted, nobody knew I was there, and as something happened, nobody would have known what had happened to me. Gone. So, that's the real case of being cancelled. But anyway, I'm just joking there. But I got intervened, and then for the next half an hour, I kept walking with the water up to ya, because the tide was going up. So, it just shows it was a big area, but got intervened. Then in 1965, at the age of 16, I immigrated to South Africa.

So, I went to a boys' hostel. That's what they call that in South Africa. It's like a boys' residence. They're a school, a technical high school. I did not speak English. I did not speak a free-class, and so it was a little challenge at school, when you're the only one that speaks a different language, and nobody else can understand you.

And as a teenager, at that age, you know how they tease people. So, that was an interesting time. But I learned English pretty quickly. You know, within three months, I knew English. And, you know, you think or swim. So, even though I couldn't swim, I had to swim learning English. So, anyway, on the other side, my wife was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Kathy. She was born six months after I was born, and graduated as an elementary school teacher.

So, she is graduated as a teacher. Then, once in South Africa, and once having learned English, God then could call me. And so, I can see God working in my life right from when I was small. I'm sure my wife can say exactly the same thing. And probably most of you can say the same thing when you really look back at it. I was baptized in January, early January 1970. And this feast coming up, therefore, will be my 54th feast. So, it is a blessing. And it is good. I met my wife at the feast in 1973 in a small little feast site.

A joke. It wasn't small. It had over 10,000 people in Pennsylvania poking us. And we met there because God brought in a matchmaker that brought us together. So, we got married a year later, 1974. And we have five children all born in South Africa. And they all married now, and they all have children. I was ordained on the first day of the feast in 2002 as an elder. So, I'm now an elder for some 20 plus years. I started giving sermons in Portuguese from home. Soon after I was ordained as an elder by permission from the then regional director of the Spanish work, because the Portuguese, the working Portuguese, was under the Spanish.

So, he gave me that specific permission. In 2005, I immigrated for a second time to the States, because I immigrated the first time from Mozambique, where I was born, to South Africa. As I mentioned, I went to school there. And so, in 2005, Kathy and I immigrated from South Africa, meaning that I lived in South Africa for 40 years. Exactly. Probably not exactly to the day, but about 40 years, a couple of days extra.

And my wife lived in South Africa for 30 years. So, if Kathy and I have a strange accident, that's partly why. You know, South African and Portuguese and I don't know what else. So, it's all hybrid data. So, I hope you can understand me. So, we attended ABC in 2005.

And also in 2005, we had the first Portuguese booklet printed, produced. And also in 2005, we held the first feast of tabernacles in Portugal, if I'm not mistaken. I stand to be corrected in case I'm incorrect there, but I think that was in 2005. And we conducted eight feasts as a festival coordinator, eight feasts in Portugal. In 2010, the work in Portuguese officially became a separate language work from the Spanish. And in 2011, Kathy and I started being pastors in Louisville, Lexington, where we have been serving until last week. Currently, we have 11 grandchildren. The 12th is on the way. The one is on the way is very closely warm inside one of my daughter's wombs. She's sitting right there. And she's due run about the time of the feast this year. So, my wife will be assisting her during that period, God willing. So, that is a little bit of a background about us, a bit of historical background. A lot more details could be told in, but that just gives you a bit of an idea. We believe, Kathy and I believe, God has asked us, obviously, through human beings. God works through human beings and inspires things through human beings. But we believe that God, through whatever means He's inspired, He inspired us to come here and serve in Dallas. In the Dallas, Fort Worth and Lawton area with assistance also to Waco and Coleman. We believe that came from God. We take it very seriously, very responsibly, but we are indeed very honored, very honored to serve you. The key word is to serve you.

We surely expect challenges. Why? Because we have an adversary. The challenges want to come through you, will come from Satan. He's our adversary. He wants to trip you and I. He wants to utterly destroy us. He's that, not just castle, but God.

You know, there is the statement that it says, you know, divide and conquer. Well, that is an incomplete statement. Divide and conquer and destroy. That is his goal. He starts with the vision. And then when people become independent and they own little independent ideas, they start deviating ever so microscopically, slightly from the truth. But then it's one little thing and two little things and then ten little things, and then they own a different planet. And then you'll wipe us out. Because, I don't know if you ever watched a lion hunt or rather should I say a lioness hunt. It really is the lioness that does the hunting. The lion just sits there and waits. I guess, anyway, that's why it was created. So, but they hunt, they go for the one that is lame or the one that is struggling or the young ones by themselves or those that have broken away from the flock. Those that are divided and by themselves, easy target to do what? Destroy.

Now, when the lion hunts, he's not roaring, he's quiet on a prowl. Quiet prowling. And I've watched a lioness hunt and it teases if the lioness talk to one another. You know, I was in an area on top of a small hill and I was watching the lioness strategizing as if they were communicating with Wi-Fi or something like that. But they were working as a team to get that buck, the top of a deer in Africa, a buck, to get that buck separated so they could actually go for the kill. See, the vied conquer the kill. That is the aim. And Satan is like a roaring lion. He uses the same tactics for you and I. So, what is our goal? You see, we are honored to serve you.

And as I said, we expect challenges. But the challenges will come from this master architect of division, of hatred, of absolute hatred against anything that is God's.

And because we are God's children, as we heard in the sermon, we said, he wants to go at you and at me, at us. So, our first goal for Kathy and I is basically summarized in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 24. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 24. And there Paul is saying, we don't have dominion over you. You see, we are Kathy and I are not here to have dominion over you.

We are to serve you. We are here to hold hands with you, to shoulder with shoulder, and as all to be fellow workers for your joy. That's what we are for. Not to boss you, not to be dictators, but to guide and lead as God guides and leads us through His Spirit.

You remember the story of Moses in Exodus 17, where Moses and Israelites were fighting the Amalekites. And then in Exodus 17 verse 12, Exodus 17 verse 12, we see that Moses got tired and then he had to sit down on a rock and brethren, we are on a rock, which is Christ. And in verse 12, it says, and Moses' hands became heavy because he was holding the hands up and winning the hand, holding the hands up in prayer, in backing up, in supporting. These are lights. One, the wall. They were winning. And when his hands got tired, they started losing.

And it says, and Aaron and her supported his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until going down of the sun. And so Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the analogy is our enemy, which is Satan, and the Bible talks about you will prevail against the saints at the end of time. At the time of the end, you read that in Daniel 12. But he can only prevail as much as God allows.

And the same thing, we have to hold each other's hands up to help us achieve the end result, the expected outcome, which is to finally be the children of God. So we need to be ready to help one another. And you, brethren, are an example of that. And I want to encourage you to keep doing that, to help one another, to serve one another. And yes, you know, none of us is perfect. Yes, none of us is, quote unquote, an angel. Obviously, we're not angels, but you know what I mean. And so there will be rough edges. But we have to work through these gently and lovingly, and bearing with one another, and keep going.

We need to walk together, hands in hands, arms in arms, through this last lap of the rice.

This is the last lap.

You ever watched runners doing the marathon? The marathon, and then there's that last lap, they're coming to the spider, and they're pushing that last bird. This is the last lap, brethren. Revelation 12 describes a time, starting from verse 7 through 9, when there's a war in heaven, which I believe is still to come.

Revelation 12, verse 7 through 9. And it says, In war broke up with heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and dragon and his angels fought.

Against the... and today the dragon and his angels, Satan and the demons, did not prevail. And it was a place found for them in heaven no longer, no more. They're now out, out! Now today they're still allowed in. As you know, the time of Job, this... Satan will go there, and... and... and Satan and the demons are still in heaven. What? Yes, that's what it says! But the time will come, they'll be kicked out!

And then he knows. That's it. Time is short. Probably that will be the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

Brethren, that is imminent to happen. That is imminent to happen.

I'm not setting days or times or years, but brethren, it will not be 20 years. It will be less.

It's never been like this, ever been like this, and it's going to get worse. And you and I, brethren, need to love one another and hold one another's hands in brotherly love, notwithstanding our little shop edges, and help one another climb this hill that is ahead for us.

This is serious, brethren.

This is serious, because we read in verse 12, says, Yes, heavens rejoice, but wow, to the inhabitants of the earth, because Satan is coming down furious, put it mildly, with great wrath. And he knows, and he knows that he knows, his hours are counted. So, where do we stand?

We stand as a family.

We stand as God's family. And the strength of the family is the love, the bond, the unconditional care and love, one for another in the family, that if your child goes wrong, you'll still love him or her, and you always have arms open to welcome them and to love them.

Psalm 127 is a beautiful short psalm. Psalm 127.

And lest the Lord build the house, brethren, this is God's house. Now, granted, the psalm is thinking about a physical home, physical about a dad with his children, but isn't the principle even more so spiritually? That this is God's house.

And you and I have to do our part in God's house, in his family, putting God first. Otherwise, all our labor is in vain, because we need God to guard the city.

Because if not, then you can be a watchman and will be in vain. In vain.

Get up early in the morning, go to work, you go to bed late at night. It's in vain, unless God is in the center of your life. Unless your life is God-centered.

And yes, through Christ.

But it's got to be God-centered first, through Christ.

And then he says, he gives his beloved sleep.

When we put God first, you will have peace that you can sleep. You will have peace that you can rest.

And so, our goal, brethren, as helpers of your joy, is to be there as helpers of your joy, so that we have love and peace and calm in church. That we come to church to say, well, I want to go to church because I need that fellowship, that brotherly love.

I need to talk to so-and-so. I need to give a hug to so-and-so. My wife and I are huggers, so don't be afraid of giving us a hug. My wife at ABC every morning would hug, be there in the morning early before every ABC student would come in and hug every single one in the morning as they came in. For whatever number of years, like 10 years or whatever, she did that. In fact, as she left ABC, they gave a little album, and she's going to say, George, why are you mentioning that? I don't like you to talk about me, but anyway, I am. They gave her a little album that says, so many students on average, so many hugs every day, so many days of ABC, therefore, a total number of whatever number of thousands of hugs that you've given over the last 10 years. I mean, that's… we are huggers.

But basically, what we want is we want us all to be a family.

And that's what we'll endeavor. As I said, there'll be challenges, because we got an enemy. But please, brethren, let us all do our part in it. Let us all do our part in it.

Look at John 16, verse 24. John 16, verse 24.

Christ, on that night that He was betrayed, because this was just after the foot washing that night He was betrayed, He says, until now you've asked nothing in my name. In other words, until then, nobody prayed at the end of the prayer in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

You see, the Jews never did that before Christ, before this.

But now, He says here, ask and you'll receive. Why? So what? What is the outcome? The outcome is that your joy may be full.

As brothers and sisters in this family of God, He wants our joy to be full, because we are in loving one another in peace with one another.

But you know what robs you and I of joy?

It's a simple three-letter word.

Sin. Well, I know for the translators in Portuguese it's not a three-letter word, but anyway, it's a six-letter word. But sin is what robs us from joy, and joy comes from fellowship with one another by putting God first, by having God as the center of our fellowship through Christ and then with one another.

So fellowship is very important.

This is one of the reasons why we come to church, is not just to listen to the messages. Because sometimes we come to church and we get very encouraged from coming to church because of the fellowship we have. And so I want to encourage us all, after services, to stay around and fellowship, bring a few what I call little finger snacks, something simple that we can just chat and have fellowship. Let's do that. You're probably doing it most of the time, but I want to encourage you to keep doing it. In Hebrews chapter 10, in Hebrews chapter 10, starting in verse 19, and it ties in a way again with the sermonette, it says, we need to be bold. In other words, we can't be afraid and shy to come before God's throne. Do you know? Do you really grasp it? That you as a physical being in your prayers today, you can be before God's very throne because that's the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That's what it says in verse 19. And this bravery is a new and moving way because in Old Testament times, the high, only the high priest could go to the holiest of holies to the high place and that only once a year on the day of atonement. But now, in a new and living way, you and I can go to God's very throne any moment you get on your knees or any moment you pray and ask God for help.

I've been in situations where it was basically a car accident and I had to avoid and my car actually went over and flew. And at that moment, I did not have time to get on my knees. But God answered.

I had another situation going down a hill in Cincinnati with a teacher on both sides and it was raining and the car lost control and it started spinning. Down the zigzag. I don't know what happened because my mind went blank. All I know that I was past the zigzag on the other side, the car slowly reversing down the hill and then I put on the brakes and stopped. And then I made a U-turn and continued. At that moment, you can only say one word, oh my God, oh God help me, or whatever you say.

As I mentioned, there's been many times God has intervened miraculously in our lives and you probably can enumerate times God has intervened in your life. Well, last year I was in Brazil. I had a huge car accident, some of you know.

I don't remember, I think, zilch as they say in German, you know, zero. So, from before, kind of a couple of seconds before the accident, to whatever after the accident, complete blank in the mind, blank. The next thing, people there say, get out.

And I got out and I walked and I was fine.

You and I have access to God's throne.

But we have to be pleasing God.

You see, we need to pray and it says we'll receive. Why? Because we are doing the things that are pleasing in His sight.

1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 verse 22. 1 John chapter 3 verse 22.

And whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments full stop. No, no, no, there's no full stop. You see, keeping the commandments is not enough.

Because He continued, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

I remember when my children told me that if I said something that I hurt you, what made your heart sad, forgive me. I didn't mean to.

That's what God wants from us. Does not just keep His commandments. Yes, we gotta keep His commandments. But it goes over and beyond that, we gotta do what is pleasing in His sight.

So, brethren, that's the same thing as in a marriage. The husband is to love his wife like Christ, love the church, and gave his life for the church.

And Paul describes that in Ephesians chapter 5, which I'm not going to turn there, but basically says this is a mystery for the church. You see, because a husband is to give his life, sacrifice his life for the wife. That is marriage. And you and I have Christ as our spiritually speaking, between inverted comments, our husband to be, has given and is giving his life for us. But what is our role? Our role is to do the same thing for one another.

You see, as a family, one thing that hurts mom and dad is when the kids are squabbling and squabbling and squabbling and squabbling and they say, stop it! And they go on and they go on and they go on. Oh, I'm sure you never experienced that. Well, I am. And I'm sure you have too.

You see, mom and dad don't want, doesn't want the kids to squabble.

Now, elevate that to the spiritual level. Does God want us, as Easter over, to squabble about little things which have no value in the end? Oh yeah, they're very important today.

But God hates that attitude of accusing the brethren of the vision, as we heard in the sermon, that God hates that. We're going to be loving. And so that is our second main goal. Look back to Psalms 127, where we were there a moment ago. Psalm 127. And we're now going to read verse 3 through 5. Psalm 127.

It says, Behold, children are the heritage of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. You see, your children, you love them. They're precious to you. You will do anything for the well-being of your children, won't you? God will do everything for your well-being and my well-being.

And it says in verse 5, Happy is the man who has his quiver full of children. Well, God is going to have his quiver with billions and billions of children. So, as we were reading in Hebrews 10 a little while ago about a new and living way, as you go on reading there, it says, Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. To squabble? Of course not. To learn how to have godly love for one another and brotherly love. That's why. So, our second goal as we come here to Dallas is to make sure that our little ones are welcome.

We want to make sure that our little ones feel at home. We want to make sure that our little ones feel this is their church rather than this is daddy's church or mommy's church. It's their church.

Because they are God's children. God only lent them to us temporarily.

So, quite often we think, and I'm not saying we're thinking incorrectly, but I'm just saying prime mind is preach the gospel to get more people to come to church. Well, I think it's a little different that way. Yes, we got to preach the gospel. But you know what? Are we neglecting what I call organic growth? Are we neglecting our own children and allowing them to go?

Are we saying to these quote-unquote rebellious teenagers, if they don't want to do it, let them go!

Maybe you and I on God's side are little rebellious teenagers. Would you want God to treat you and I that way?

You see, it's not that it's just God's family. Yes, it is God's family, but it's not just God's family. It's His family and it's our family because we're part of the family.

And so God gives us His Spirit as a binding glue to help us keep His commandments because we are the first fruits of the Spirit.

Turn with me to Romans chapter 3 verse 23. Romans chapter 8 verse 23. Romans 8 verse 23.

Not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit. Brethren, we've just come out of Pentecost. Pentecost symbolizes the giving of God's Holy Spirit. Pentecost symbolizes the giving of God's law. God's Holy Spirit was given on Pentecost. God's law was given to the Israelites on Pentecost. God's law, beg your pardon, God's Spirit writes God's law in our hearts and our minds.

That is the meaning of Pentecost.

We are today the first fruits of God's Holy Spirit.

Yes, later on we will be like first fruits when we'll be resurrected. But that is a different symbolism. That is the symbolism of trumpets.

But we now have God's Holy Spirit. Why? Because it's a spirit of sanctification to help us to be transformed and changed and become like God in his family. The whole creation awaits for that. As you read from verse 18 through verse 22, the whole creation awaits for that.

And you know what? The bride will be ready.

The bride will be ready. Because in Revelation 19 verse 7 it says, the bride has made herself ready. So you and I are in the process of reading ourselves.

The question is, number one, will you be ready? Because if you're not ready, when the hour strikes and no man knows the day or the hour of his coming, the symbolism of trumpets, symbolism of the resurrection, when the clock strikes, will you and I be ready?

So the question is, will you and I be part of the bride? You see, five virgins were ready, five virgins were not. So which of the virgins are we?

So what are our goals, Kathis and I, mine? We are to help you for full this great purpose of hope and joy to be in the kingdom of God, to help our children to be and to feel at home so that we can have organic growth and to prepare the bride. We are honored to serve you. But we all, you as well and I, we all have a part in this preparation.