THE WORD THAT PRODUCES GOLDEN APPLES!
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is always a pleasure to connect with you through this means. I pray that you and your beloved ones are safe and well, by God’s grace.
I felt impressed to share with you a personal experience of mine. My first association with the Seventh-day Adventist Church was through a weeklong Vacation Bible School in Brazil when I was nine years old. My heart was softened by the Bible stories that I heard and enjoyed during that time. A few years later my siblings and I experienced a very hurtful divorce process involving my parents that the enemy used to “push” me away from God. That is a story in itself. Even through that painful situation, God was paving the way for not only comforting me but also preparing me for His plan in my life. That was materialized when I went to an Adventist boarding academy and had an amazing encounter with God. He already was there waiting for me!
When I joined our church as a teenager, one of the things that really touched my heart was that the Seventh-day Adventist Church members in Brazil were known to be the “People of the Word”. They were identified in the community as true and committed people for knowing the Scriptures and living by them faithfully. I had always valued sincerity, transparency, integrity, and commitment as part of one’s character. As I joined the church, the fact that I belonged to a group of believers that had such respect from the society brought much joy to my heart. Now I pray daily that my life be filled with that kind of passion, love, commitment, and faithfulness to His Word. My prayer is also that each of you, beloved leaders and all our church members, have that same desire in your minds and hearts as you serve the Lord.
As people who know the Word, it is our responsibility to put that knowledge into practice in our daily lives. Nonetheless, we need to consider that that there are three classes of people who will never be happy and satisfied as they “deal” with the Word.
1. Those who do not know the Word and do not search for it.
2. Those who know the Word and do not share or teach it to others.
3. Those who teach the Word to others but do not practice it themselves.
There is another important aspect to consider as we share the Word with others. The way we use our words to communicate has a tremendous influence on those transformed lives. Also, the Scriptures identify the Word as Jesus Himself! (John 1:1)
I fully believe the statement that we are living in the final moments of this sinful world! The enemy has created enough confusion amongst God’s people with topics that seem to be relevant or are of personal conviction or even one’s interpretation of a situation. This pandemic has caused much suffering already — death, high depression levels, socio-economic effects, family and sometimes even church division, et cetera. It is time to press together! (EGW, 2 SM, 374) Whenever one offends a brother or a sister with his/her words, he/she is ultimately offending the Lord! We should at least respect each other’s opinion and use words that affirm we are a part of the “People of the Word!”The Psalmist, inspired by God, wrote: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” Psalm 25:11 (ESV) God’s people will cause a greater impact in the world if we simply abide by this wise counsel.
I pray that every time we open our mouth to speak or use our hands to write our words, others will see or hear Jesus. Let them be a blessing to everyone who hears or reads them. We ought to make this a practical application of the Word in our lives!
Please find below the link to the latest edition of our REACH Magazine. Also, the newest BC Conference video that we envisioned to release today had to postponed to next Sabbath for some technical issues. It will be an amazing one and worth of waiting for!
https://online.fliphtml5.com/ujuw/vgfo/
Please, let us pray for:
- The Word to continue to shape us, daily!
- The Lord to use us as His mouthpiece with words of encouragement to others.
- Evangelism meetings and those who are making their decisions for baptism this year.
- 10 Days of Prayer – January 5 -15, 2022.
- The people who were affected by the wildfires and flooding in BC this year.
- The Lord to use us to be His hands and feet as we serve others in His Name.
- A generous offering to be collected next Sabbath, December 11, for the Ministry of Compassion.
- Our BC Conference Board of Directors Meeting on Thursday, December 9.
Thank you for serving God’s people faithfully to the best of your abilities, by His grace!
Happy Sabbath!
In His Service,
Wesley Torres
President