Article 25 – November 1, 2018 –
We’re Having a Great Time
I’m writing in great anticipation of this coming weekend when we will have gathered over 100 people from all over in central Georgia for our first Advance sponsored by the believers from Atlanta. An Advance is simply a gathering of Christians for the sole purpose of fellowshipping together and hearing God’s Word being taught. In the religious world, it’s often called a retreat, but we call them Advances, because we’re advancing ahead with the greatness of God’s Word, not retreating from our lack of confidence in God. We’ve looked forward to this for a long time: and a lot of people have worked very hard to bring God’s people together. It’s not the first gathering of believer’s in the Atlanta area with lots of help from believers from New Jersey, but it’s the first since the outreach of people that came from New Jersey over 7 years ago.
I am reminded of the section in Acts 2, where it tells us in Verses 46,47 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
I think of how wonderful it is to see believers I haven’t seen for a while – some of them, a long while – and when we get together, we can bless one another with our presence, our words and our manner of life. God’s Word being taught is always the focal point, and being with spiritually like minded people is very comforting. 2 Timothy 1:5 tells us: “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee [Paul is talking to Timothy], which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded in thee also.” This tells us that God’s Word was dominant in the different generations of Timothy’s life, and when there is a large gathering of believers, it’s not unusual to have different generations represented, which makes for a wonderful time. This is how it should be in the Church.
If you have never been to the Mountain Top Inn in Warm Springs, Ga., you should treat yourself. We have just completed a most wonderful Friday, Saturday and Sunday with believers from 12 states, I’m told: even from Washington State. To me, it was the reality of Romans 10:15, “…How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.” To be with a group of people who love God and His Word and just want to speak His Word and hear it taught, it’s just a wonderful thing to my heart. We fellowshipped a lot and the glad tidings of good things were definitely spoken to one another. I was very taken aback at the great ability of the people who shared God’s Word; to be able to share it with such love and confidence.
It was pointed out that two primary things that separate us from other groups of Christians is the Mystery of the Body of Christ, which is taught and unfolded primarily in the 7 Church Epistles of Romans through Thessalonians. Ephesians 3:6 tells us: “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by gospel.” Before the Day of Pentecost, the Jews were God’s people, but after the Day of Pentecost and the giving of the gift of holy spirit, the Gentiles (you and I) are to be fellowheirs of the Body of Christ. That means both Jew and Gentile. The second thing was the manifestations of the spirit, which are erroneously referred to by the organized religions as gifts; and that the “gifts” of the spirit can only be operated by certain ones. That is not true, or God would be a respecter or persons, which His Word declares He is not! The manifestations (workings) of the spirit are for each and every Christian believer to operate according to their believing.
Manifestations were operated this weekend. We had speaking in tongues with interpretation and prophecy which we do when we have gatherings such as this, so that believers will be individually edified. And other manifestations could have been operated as people got together and prayed and believed for needs to be met. This is God’s intent for the Church: for believers to be edified and built up and healed when needed.
The theme for the Advance was “Power and Deliverance” and the theme was focused on by 10 different teachers sharing God’s Word specifically in the area of Power and Deliverance. And don’t we all need to know more about our power as sons of God? The devil spends a lot of time trying to beat us out of our God given power. We learned that what we need to do is to “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil”, as we’re told in Ephesians 6:11. That “putting on” greatly involves the operation of the manifestations of the spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10 which we mentioned earlier. As we stand we will see that great deliverance in our lives that we so want and need and be able to minister it to others.
It was a great time for all involved. I highly recommend getting with the family of God whenever possible, and when we do this again next year, hopefully I’ll see you there.
Funglimpses and all. Thanks for reading. Respectfully submitted. W