(Message from District General Superintendent of IAFB Australia, Rev. Denward Estrada)
Today, I greatly acknowledge every men and women who were called by God the Father to Christ through this visible body of Christ, the International Assemblies of the First Born Australia.
We were once a seed planted for the first time. But that plant has grown and propagated its territory. Like any growing plant, we were cultivated regularly by our hardworking Gardener to nurture and care for us in all seasons of every year, and year on years until this day.
We are also, at some point, have been pruned, to remove the destructive part and branches that do not bear fruit and give opportunity for the fruit of the Holy Spirit to manifest. This occasion is mostly painful, but the result is bloom and healthy relationships within the fellow brethren and with our Triune God!
Eighteenth (18th) year is the year in which most of the countries in the world declared a child or a teenager, as a full grown adult. In Australia. If you are 18 years of age, your parents are no longer obligated of any custodial responsibilities to you. Though you are free from their legal responsibilities as carers, you are not free from all things that they have taught you in those 18 years. I am pretty sure, in this very age, we still remember their words of advice, words of teaching, words of trainings, words of rebuke and corrections; and we still not get over it.
By extension and application in this assembly as we mature to this age, we are to start to bear our own responsibility as mature Christian organisation, always ready to exercise everything what our God The Father has taught us through His Divine Revelation delivered to us by the Word of God (or the Logos - A Message With Reason or Wisdom)
The author of Hebrew said Hebrews 1:1-2
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Maturity is bearing responsibility in every action we take no matter what circumstances are. But we also based our actions to the Truth in Christ.
No bad words! No blaming game! No self-pity!
Instead, our words must be filled with truth, our tongues are life giving encouragement, our self-weaknesses are strengthened by faithful obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can be angry but do not sin. We can rebuke and correct without hurting! We preach plainly without biases in mysticism and scientism. We teach truthful doctrines without forcing human traditions in replacements to the laws, decrees, and precepts of God.
As maturing assembly, we have to leave in elementary doctrines and start dealing with heavy solid meals. We must be grinding and chewing the nutritions of the foods for our souls. Like a great chef, a single taste of the food will know its content without a doubt. The mature Christian can know the sour to the sweet, the bitter to the bland, the spicy to the salty.
Did Hebrews 6:1-6 tells us something about maturity when it says ...
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
I hope and can only hope, that none among us will be referred as one who keeps falling away and being restored again and again in Hebrew 6:6. Because if we are this person, we are not a true Christian.
Why did I say that?
For the Bible say in Hebrew 6:4 which is the conditions given to who a true Christian is when it says - “FOR IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, in the case of those who have once enlightened (Who are the enlightened? - the Christians), who have tasted the heavenly gift (Are these not the Christians?), and have shared in the Holy Spirit (Are these explicitly the Christians?),… AND THEN have fallen away?” (A question we should raise).
A true Christian is not falling away again and again. Enough of Israelites' Cyclical Attitude of sinning, suffering, repenting, begging for mercy which until now is so evident in the pages of history, much more, of the pages of the Bible.
I want to share this apostolic instruction of the Apostle Peter in his 2nd epistle for the Christian churches. I am strongly encouraged by this word of encouragement as fitting for any maturing bible-centred, bible-believing and bible-moving churches in all generations.
2 Peter 2:3-11
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Today is the beginning of serious exposition of the truth in Christ as we truly as true commissioned Mature Christian church. Let us pursue and live in the truth claims of the Bible.
Pray in Spirit (1) for the illumination of our minds to the understanding of the Holiness of God, (2) for the conformity of our hearts to Christ to know and approve His pleasing and perfect will, and (3) for the glory of the Body Christ to the preservation of every soul that was grafted to form the visible and invisible church of Christ!
Enjoy the rest of celebration. God bless you all!
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