It is a joy to be here in
Richmond with Bodmin Sisters, when we meet together
in the presence of the Lord, indeed we
are at home with each other.
When Stu was sharing that brief word at
the opening time, it was so wonderful, it
was so precious, and I thought, well, that
short words, really, that's all we need for
today.
There's no further sharing from my part, and
if Stu has part two of that, that
he can continue, I think he should continue.
But we are thankful to the Lord to
be here together this morning.
What I would like to share this morning
is just a few thoughts about what the
Lord's been doing in our fellowship in South
Jersey.
The Lord in recent months has brought us
into some real intense spiritual conflict.
Conflict that we never faced before, and it's
wonderful to see how the Lord brought us
through.
So I also want to share a little
bit what we went through this last few
months with Bodmin Sisters in Richmond.
Maybe we can be mutually encouraged, and to
praise on, and to go on with the
Lord.
So shall we turn to God's words, and
read a few portions.
Let's first turn to 2 Corinthians 10.
Pause, if it's so, to 2 Corinthians 10.
We'll read just two verses, verse 3 and
verse 4.
For though we walk in the flesh, we
do not walk according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling
down of strongholds, casting down arguments in every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God, bringing every thought into captivity to
the obedience of Christ.
Verse 3, Paul says that even though we
walk in the flesh, we live in this
physical body.
In Phillip's translation he says even though we
live a normal human life, but when it
comes to warfare, we do not fight normal
way.
That's man's way.
So Paul says that our weapons are not
carnal.
That means our weapons are spiritual, mighty in
God for the pulling down of strongholds.
Shall we turn to Ephesians 6,
verse 10.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that
you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers
of the darkness of this age, against spiritual
hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Shall we turn to two short passages in
1 John, 1 John chapter 4, verse
4.
You are of God, living and living children,
and have overcome them, because he who is
in you is greater than he who is
in the world.
And chapter 5 of the first epistle of
John, verse 4 and verse 5.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the
world, and this is the victory that has
overcome the world, our faith.
Who is he who overcomes the world, but
he who believes that Jesus is the Son
of God.
And just one verse from John 16, the
Gospel of John 16, the very last verse,
verse 33.
Gospel of John 16, verse 33.
These things I have spoken to you, that
in me you may have peace, in the
world you will have tribulation.
And take note of the last phrase, but
be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world.
Be of good cheer, for I have overcome
the world.
Now brothers and sisters, God's word tells us,
what is real is spiritual.
What is spiritual is real.
Paul says to us, what is visible are
but temporal.
The invisible are the real.
This morning when we worship, we say that
God we don't see, we love, is very
real to us, through the eyes of faith.
We know he is with us.
We don't see, yet it's real.
He is now God real to us.
He is real to us.
We can love him, we can worship him.
So through the scripture, we notice one thing.
What is unseen is real.
What we can see, we can feel is
very deceptive, unreliable.
For example, our new birth in John 3,
we are all born of the spirit.
People can't see it, we can't see it,
but we know it's real.
From your fellowship we know we are all
born of the spirit.
We are certain.
We don't see, but it's very real.
John 6, the Lord say, it's the spirit
that gives life, that we know our life
is in the spirit.
We are quickened by the Holy Spirit, we
are alive before God, and we know it's
real.
Externally, when you walk down the street in
Richmond, we are no different from the rest
of the people of the world, but there
is something real in us.
We have the love of God.
They don't see, but we know it's real.
And the Lord said, the word I speak
to you, it is spirit, it is life.
And for instance, this book to us is
a different book altogether from the unregenerated.
When we read this book, it's God's word
to us.
It's God's breath.
When we read this, we touch life, we
touch spirit.
So we have a spiritual life, cannot be
seen, it's very real.
And we have spiritual food, we partake, which
is just as real, because the light is
Christ, the food is also Christ.
People cannot see, it's very real.
We walk by the spirit, we do not
walk according to the flesh.
Our whole life is governed by a new
law, a spiritual law, the law of life
of the spirit in Christ Jesus.
Everything we do, we exist spiritually, because it's
real.
Individually as well as corporately.
For example, we meet together, we are the
spiritual house.
Indwell by God, by the Holy Spirit.
Together we are the holy priesthood.
We can offer sacrifices acceptable to God in
Christ Jesus.
You know, when we meet this way, people
wonder what we're doing here.
They couldn't figure us out.
We are a mystery to the world.
And yet what we do is 100%
real, because in the spirit.
It's real.
On the other side, the spirit of this
world, the evil spirit, is also just as
real.
So Paul said that when we fight this
spiritual warfare, it is not flesh and blood.
Our adversary has no flesh for us to
wound.
Our adversary has no blood for us to
spill.
I'm seeing it as very real.
When we meet people that live an unclean
life, we know behind that person there's an
unclean spirit.
There's something behind it.
What we see is simply a manifestation of
the unseen.
Rebellion is a spirit.
Pride is a spirit.
Lying is a spirit.
The spirit of Antichrist is everywhere.
Apostle John warned us in his days.
There is a spirit in this world that
will discredit the work and the person of
the Lord Jesus.
That is everywhere.
That is the spirit of Antichrist.
And when Paul wrote his Epistle to the
Ephesians, he shared his whole heart.
He shared what was in his heart.
God's eternal purpose.
The greatness of Christ.
The unsearchable riches of Christ.
And how church fits in, into God's purpose.
And Paul at the end of the Epistle,
he said, be prepared.
Wherever there's a group of people that will
take the ground of Jesus Christ, and take
that ground for the Lord Jesus, on this
earth, Paul said, you'll be assaulted.
You'll be attacked.
And Paul said, therefore, be strong in the
Lord, in the power of his might.
And put on the whole armor, so that
you can stand.
Now, brothers and sisters, wherever the Lord is
building his church, wherever two or three that
are gathered together, in the name of our
risen Lord, and determined in their heart to
give that place of preeminence to God's Son.
To be built up together, and to take
that ground of the Epistle to the Lord
Jesus.
You know, not just a loose fellowship here
and there, but we'll take the ground of
the Lord Jesus, his headship.
Immediately, that signals the attack of the enemy.
Because Satan knows that the spiritual church, the
true church, the invisible church, the true spiritual
church, exists for the bringing in of God's
King.
For the purpose of displaying God's King in
their midst.
For the purpose of bringing everything that's due
to him, that's rightful he is, at his
feet.
That speaks for the undoing of the adversary.
And he will not stand for that.
He has lost his ground.
And he wants to regain that ground in
us.
And that's why Paul says, stand.
Stand on your ground.
You don't have to look for fights.
Fights will come to you.
And when it comes, Paul says, stand and
take your ground.
And after you've won the victory, he says,
you still take your ground and stand still.
And we stand.
Brothers and sisters, if we have something here
that's of the Lord himself, you don't need
to go out and look for fights.
Fights will come to you.
And the word of the Lord to us
is, take that stand.
Take that ground for the Lord.
And defend it.
And won the victory.
And after you've won the victory, you still
hold on to that ground.
You know the Lord Jesus on Matthew 16,
he said, I will build my church and
the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it.
When the Lord is building his church, when
we are being built together as living stones
by the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, you
can be sure, the threat of death is
always there.
The power of darkness is always there.
But thank God, his life overcomes death.
And the light that we receive, his light,
and that light will swallow up, will overcome
the darkness.
So brothers and sisters, the death is always,
the threat of death is always there.
But thank God, his life overcomes death.
The power of darkness is always there.
But light overcomes darkness.
Darkness cannot overcome light.
And death cannot overcome his life.
This is the experience the Lord allows us
to go through in recent months in South
Jersey.
Because it's so easy to take our meetings
casually.
You know, we are so used to meeting
on the Lord's Day, so we just come.
That's not a threat to the enemy.
Our prayer meeting, because Wednesday, we just come
casually.
We are all prepared to fight.
Well, you know, I mean, the devil can
relax, he can take his nap.
When we come to our Bible study, we
all come casually.
We come casually, because the Lord really blessed
us, you know, for so long, for so
good, so we are just so used to,
become so routine.
That's our great danger.
We are just like Brother Johanna said, we
are just programmed.
Somehow on the Lord's Day, automatically we just
come.
On Wednesday, automatically we come, without knowing why
we are here.
And the Lord sometimes, in his gracious way,
he uses something to awaken us.
And the way the Lord does is so
different from what we expect.
He will send something, someone, that is totally
beyond our expectation to wake us up and
to stir us up.
And that means, that way the Lord is
always using our adversary to do it.
You see, the enemy is also a created
being.
And whatever he is doing to us, you
know, God is using that for our good.
We need to see that.
That's one of the reasons why sometimes it's
hard for us to understand why it took
40 years for the Israelites to get out,
when they came out of Egypt, why it
took them 40 years to go into Canaan.
There is a shorter way.
You know, if you look at the map,
they could have gone into Canaan 10 days,
11 days, very direct, very direct.
But somehow it took them 40 years.
And one generation did not enter into.
They perished in the wilderness.
But the Lord said he was using those
40 years to what?
To test them, to try them, to prove
them.
So brother and sister, the bad times we
go through are actually wonderful times for the
Holy Spirit, in depositing something of Christ into
us, educating us, training us, maturing us spiritually.
Those he loved, he tested, he disobeyed.
So in South Jersey we went through and
we are still going through some very tough
times.
But it's easy to see how the Lord
turns things around for good.
I'll just give you a few practical, tangible
examples of the things we went through.
First is in our Bible study time.
For several, how shall I put it, for
many months, our Bible study time seems to
be on an even key.
Not much excitement.
You know, I mean, it's hard.
No waves.
Everybody came more or less unprepared.
And just share what they can at that
moment, without any preparation.
And the brother who is responsible more or
less fit into the usual situation because there's
nothing challenging.
There's nothing that would upset anybody that we
had to really do something.
But in God's sovereignty and his love, he
sent a person to us.
Every time he opened his mouth, it brings
death.
The spirit is very argumentative.
It's always challenging.
So we detect that there is a spirit
of anti-Christ there.
What do you do?
One brother says, if you don't take the
ground of Christ, take that ground, take that
stand, take that ground, you will not discern
the spirit of the adversary.
It's when you take that ground for the
Lord Jesus, then you discern.
So a lot of brothers, they don't discern
that spirit.
Because they do not take that ground for
the Lord, for the attention of the Lord.
So therefore they do not have that discernment.
But few of us who really take the
ground for the Lord, in that locality, we
discern there's something wrong with this person.
There's something wrong in that spirit.
It's always challenging.
And the Bible is challenging the headship of
the Lord.
It was very obvious.
So for the first few months, the brother
who is responsible for that time and his
wife, they both came to me.
He said, Brother Jose, I don't see how
we can do with this.
I don't see how my husband can take
it anymore.
Just can't see how he can take it
anymore.
But you know the amazing thing is that
every time he came to me, his head
shaking, saying no, no, no, despair, discourage.
But somehow he kept sticking into this thing.
He cannot give it up.
And you know, the more the challenge, the
commitment of this brother and his wife, how
shall I put it, there was more commitment
to the things of the Lord than ever
because of the challenge of the adversary.
So their prayer time becomes a real time
of spiritual battle.
A time to exercise their faith.
A time to really claim the victory that's
ours in Christ Jesus.
And the Bible becomes a living book.
Becomes a life source to them individually as
well when at last they come to face
God and sisters.
You know, I tell you, it's amazing how
this sister and her husband, they both grow
in the Lord in the last few months.
When things look so dark, when life is
threatened, the Lord's light came through and his
light came through.
And it's very comforting to read Boris Spock's
book.
He says it's when Solomon's throne was challenged
by Adonijah.
When that throne was challenged, then Solomon was
brought into view.
So the fellowship in South Jersey through this
difficult time we face, we have a deeper
appreciation of who the Lord Jesus Christ really
is.
We come to realize how we have to
hold on to the centrality of Christ.
There's a deeper appreciation of who he is
and his work.
So we thank God for the adversary.
What is he trying to do?
He means evil, but God means good.
Because our God is good.
And more than that, at that moment when
our brother and sister, they were discouraged and
the Lord became more real.
The words is now alive.
It's really living.
It's powerful.
And also the Lord brought in spiritual reinforcement
through other brothers and sisters.
At this very moment, the Lord brought in
two families to us.
And these two families, they love the Lord.
They're very pure.
They just love the Lord.
And so when they came, even though initially
they did not contribute much in the Bible
study, but just their presence there, the Lord
was there in a fuller way, in a
bigger measure.
And they overcame because of life, because of
light.
So the Lord knows what it is.
Isn't that in our experience, when you are
down, down, down, somehow a brother or sister
calls you, a word comes to you, something
happens, that life came, reinforced, spiritual reinforcement reinforced
you, and to make you stand firm in
the Lord.
So we experience, not only inwardly we get
strengthened, but the Lord also strengthened us with
our brothers and sisters.
And it's so beautiful.
Now the other thing that we encounter at
difficult times is our prayer time.
The Lord really teaches us how to pray.
In recent months, some of you call it
executive prayer, praying with authority.
So for many of us, we had to
pray for our prayer time.
We had to take that prayer time by
faith for God's purpose, for God's will to
be done.
Before we come just to pray, but now
we have to pray for our prayer time.
By faith we take the time for the
Lord, because the presence of this person many
times brought our prayer to a very low
level.
And sometimes during our prayer time we had
to, by faith, recover that link with the
throne.
And the spirit that this person brought to
the prayer meeting is so obvious, because even
our brother Christian came from Taiwan.
First evening he was with our prayer time.
He said, hey, that prayer from that person
sounds very strange.
He said, you are all singing one key,
key of C, key of Christ.
And then all of a sudden he sang
a different tune on a different key.
Doesn't fit in?
And all the visitors came to South Jersey,
they all noticed something.
It's not quite normal with this person.
Also in our prayer time we really face
some real challenge.
So we need to pray the Lord will
really come through, and we had to pray
for our prayer time.
And brothers and sisters, what we learn is
that if we bring Christ with us, and
bring his life, we come with a purpose,
and open our heart to the Lord.
And when we put Christ in the center,
he is above all our needs.
You know brothers, when we pray that way,
this person cannot enter into our prayer.
Life swallows death.
Light swallows up darkness.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord allows some of
these negative things to teach us the positive
things.
When I was teaching school, my student teaching
in Minnesota, my supervisor was writing a thesis
on learning, how we learn.
He said sometimes to learn what is right,
we have to learn what is wrong first.
So he will play a tune to the
student, the right tune.
And then he will ask the student to
play that, he will play a tune on
a record or on a tape the right
way, the right tune.
Then the notation in front of the student
for him to play the instrument, the notes
will start off wrong, incorrect.
And it's an amazing thing though, the student
noticed right away, when he plays something wrong,
it's not in line with what he heard,
he knew right away.
So the Lord oftentimes has to teach us
the wrong things to appreciate the right thing,
and to know the right thing.
And we have a deep appreciation of our
prayer time.
It becomes more and more meaningful, because it
really didn't challenge, we had to take it
back to the Lord, and become a very
precious time for us.
And we thank the Lord for the reinforcement
he brought to us through these two new
families.
Since they came to our fellowship, they've been
with us every prayer time.
So we learn, brothers and sisters, individually we
cannot cope with the adversary.
This matter of spiritual warfare is a corporate
matter.
We learn to need to stand together.
We need our brothers and sisters, we need
them.
Our worship time, it's oftentimes also a battle.
But we thank the Lord for hearts that
really loved him, and want to worship him.
We thank the Lord not only for the
two families he brought to us, we also
from Lord's Day to Lord's Day, we have
a group of Chinese brothers and sisters visiting
us from Delaware.
And when they came, they brought the Lord
to us.
And that strengthens our worship time.
So every worship time, if the Lord is
sinful, if worship is what we are here
for, brothers and sisters, we experience the victory.
There is no disruption.
There was a tremendous open heaven for us.
There's a flow of praise and worship.
We are very thankful.
So brothers and sisters, if the Lord has
something here that's of himself, if he has
something, I'm sure he does, we will face
tough times together.
But brothers and sisters, those tough times are
for our good.
They are for our spiritual education.
They are for our spiritual discipline.
God is training us.
He's maturing us.
Now let me just share a couple of
words to encourage our hearts.
You know what the end of his life,
the second thing he said, is he fought
the great battle of faith.
To fight this spiritual battle, brothers and sisters,
we need to have an adequate comprehension of
what the Lord has accomplished for us on
the cross Calvary.
Otherwise there's no ground, no way we can
fight.
That's absolutely essential.
Because our battle is not physical, with flesh
and blood, it's spiritual.
It's in the unseen.
So it's a battle of faith.
We have brethren in our fellowship.
When they look at the condition of our
country, moral, economic, educational, they all become very
depressed.
I don't know about you.
Is there hope in this world?
Is there hope in our educational system?
Is there hope in our economic system?
In our governmental system?
Where lies our hope?
Now in a sense, I don't expect any
good out of this world.
So when there's no good, I'm not disappointed.
But if you expect something good out of
this world system and you don't get it,
you'll be disappointed.
Our hope is in the Lord.
Our hope is a person.
And this person that we hope for, he
has done it all.
So the ground for victory, brothers and sisters,
we have to see, we have to have
adequate understanding, comprehension of what the Lord Jesus
has done for us on the cross Calvary.
That's absolutely essential.
Not only save our souls and forgive our
sins.
Brothers and sisters, on the cross Calvary, the
Lord Jesus, he has won for us a
total and decisive victory over our adversaries.
Sin, self, world and Satan, he won a
total victory.
And Paul stood on that ground.
He said, I fought that faith to the
end.
And he knew something of the victory of
the Lord Jesus.
We need to see that.
We need spiritually to see that.
That's why Paul, when he wrote the sixth
chapter of Ephesians, he said, he talked about
we have to be strong in the Lord,
in the might of his power.
We have to put on the armour, the
whole armour, and put it on.
And later on he said we can take
it up and use it.
But you know, in verse 12 he said,
I'll wrestle, we'll wrestle, not against the flesh
blood, but against principalities, against power, against the
rulers of this age.
One brother said, they are not ordinary demons.
They are the whos and whos of the
underworld.
You and I, we have no way to
cope with those principalities and power, but only
in Christ Jesus.
That's why Paul said, put on, put on
Christ, put on the armour, full armour.
But the interesting part when it comes to
12 verses of that chapter is that we
wrestle.
You see, when you think about armour, it's
a military term.
You have all the armaments, you have all
the shield, the sword, that's military.
But when it comes to actually engaging in
spiritual warfare, Paul said, it's wrestling.
It becomes a sport.
Two people, hand in hand, wrestle each other.
Paul said, that's what we're engaging.
Now when you wrestle with somebody, your intention
is not to kill that person, because it's
not warfare, it's a sport.
The way you win in the wrestle is
to make sure he falls down and you
get on top of him, and that's it.
He said, you won.
Isn't that the wrestle?
You know, when they get down and say,
one, two, three, that's it, you win.
That's what Paul means.
Let me go back just to what I
just shared about the victory the Lord Jesus
won for us on Calvary.
That was totally decisive, but it's spiritual.
Because our adversary is spiritual.
But brother and sister, take heart, the day
will come, what is invisible will be visible
when he comes.
He will display his total victory one day
when he comes.
But today is spiritual, invisible.
And today Paul said that our wrestling is,
in a sense, is a hand-to-hand
struggle.
And Paul is saying that you are not
going to slay your enemy.
Your option is not to kill him, because
God is using your enemy to get you
stronger and stronger.
But get him down and sit on top
of him.
That's what you do.
That's what we do individually, that's what we
do as a church.
You know, bother me in his book on
the map, he said, you know, people wonder
why the Lord allows devils to be around.
I mean, he wouldn't take care of him
just like that if the Lord wants to.
But he allows him so that we can
experience the victories that are ours in Christ
Jesus.
Otherwise, how can we experience victory without engaging
in some kind of fight?
And so brother and sister, our wrestling is
not to kill our adversary, but to sit
on top of him.
And that is the battle of faith.
The Lord Jesus on the cross has already
thrown him down to the ground, and he's
telling the church, he said, sit on top
of him.
That's your testimony.
You know, when we say, he's Lord, what
does it mean?
It means he's on top of the situation.
That's what it means.
We cannot say he's Lord and then somehow
we feel we're under something.
That's not only to him.
It's a battle of faith.
He's Lord, means he's on top of the
situation.
You know, the formation of the man-child
we find in Revelation 12.
It's very interesting.
It's when the red dragon is standing in
front of the woman.
Then we notice there's a man-child in
that woman being formed.
I take great comfort in reading this.
It's when we face that dragon.
Overcomers are formed in the church to overcome
the adversary.
And later on in that chapter it says,
they overcame him because of the testimony of
their word.
What is the testimony of their word?
It's that Jesus Christ is Lord.
He's on top of the situation.
That should be the correction of our individual
life as well as the church.
Last night when we were sitting and just
had a cup of tea and Percy told
me that two of our sisters went to
visit the Mike Manns and Carol Manns.
I was told, if I'm not correct please
correct me.
I was told that when the naval officer
came to give the news about the death
of our young brother, the thought was that
he died accidentally.
And I was told that our brother invited
the naval officer to come in and to
pray.
And I think our brother assured that Chip
did not die accidentally.
The Lord knows about it.
He knew about it.
Now brother and sister, that's on top of
the situation.
Nothing can be real when death is threatened
and something is accidental.
No, the Lord knows about it.
All in his good hand.
Now I know some of you are facing
job situation, employment situation.
Brothers and sisters, who is in charge of
our life?
When I was teaching in school, I tried
to stay neutral because I don't want to
get involved with politics and all kinds of
things.
And every few years they have to sign
renew your contract and always fight for more
pay.
Am I more pay?
And when it comes to that, when they
come to me and ask me to vote,
I always try to be neutral.
Not to discourage, not to vote, but I
try to say, well if you feel you
have to vote, I'm okay.
And they couldn't understand.
Because I feel that my livelihood is not
in the hand of the Board of Education.
They do not determine how I live.
But thank God we belong to him.
And he is the Lord of all.
And brothers and sisters, whatever you face, our
testimony is another that he is Lord.
Because he is on top of every situation.
And the Lord at the end of chapter
16 of John, he said, in the world
you have tribulation, but in me you have
peace.
And he said, be of good cheer, I
have overcome the world.
Because of God, they overcome the world.
How they overcome?
By faith.
By that faith.
Faith that Jesus Christ is what?
Lord of all.
That gets us through.
And as we approach the end time, brothers
and sisters, it will get darker and darker.
Our conflicts will get more intense.
But should we be fearful?
No.
As we go into this final age, getting
darker and darker, but I tell you what,
those who are watchful, you will see the
morning sun, the morning star rises on the
door.
That's our hope.
And may the Lord help us.
Brothers and sisters, we are in this thing
together.
I always thank the Lord for the brothers
and sisters in Richmond and how you have
supported us in South Jersey all this year
in prayer.
And now Harvey's Theatre retreat, Northeast Retreat, how
we are really a few, one.
And brothers and sisters, we are in this
struggle together.
What you face, we all face together.
And we need to be faithful.
We need to fight this battle of faith.
Whatever we face, brothers and sisters, our declaration
must be loud and clear that Jesus Christ
is what?
Lord.
To the glory of God.
When that is declared and believed, then God
is indeed what?
Glorified.
So may the Lord help us.
Shall we bow our heads?
Lord, we confess we are people of little
faith, but you are our great God.
We worship you.
We just commit these feeble words into our
hands, that the Holy Spirit will make it
real in our hearts, in our lives.
Lord, that our confession before ever serve, even
within ourselves, that our Lord Jesus Christ is
Lord of all.
And he is our Lord.
And he is the head of the church.
He is in control.
We worship you.
We pray again for this afternoon, the memorial
service.
We just look to you that you will
get glory.
You will get what you are after.
And Lord, we just commit our time to
you this afternoon.
Use our brother to speak that word from
the throne.
The word of the kingdom of the gospel.
Lord, to deliver men and women from the
kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of your
beloved son, the Lord Jesus.
And we worship you for what you will
do this afternoon.
We give praise and give glory to you.
We ask an appreciation for Lord Jesus.