Oscar Pimentel, General Overseer, The Church of God
Some people may be at a place in their lives where they haven’t yet made their decision for Christ. To them I’d like to say, give your heart to Jesus Christ of Nazareth; if you have tried everything else and have given everything else a chance and have found that there is no peace, happiness, or purpose in those things your life is caught up in today—why don’t you give Christ a chance? You will not regret it. If you will pray to the God of heaven in the name of Jesus Christ, repent of your sins and ask God to forgive you and receive Christ by faith into your heart you shall be saved and begin to experience the greatest forgiveness, joy, peace, and love that a human being can ever experience. You will find your purpose in life as you also begin to make preparations to live in heaven for all eternity while escaping the wrath of God’s judgment that will come upon this earth.
You have all been in our thoughts and prayers. We trust that you have received some strength from God through those prayers, and that you have felt the Lord’s abiding presence and His keeping power around you during these challenging times. We want all our people everywhere to stay encouraged and close to God, “…fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer” (Rom. 12:11, 12).
We want to thank you for your prayers on behalf of all of us here at General Headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee. Thank you for praying for the staff and personnel. I know you are praying for me and my family as well; these prayers are certainly deeply appreciated.
We thank God today for His many blessings. The Bible says, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah” (Psa. 68:19). Don’t you feel that way today, Church, that God DAILY HEAPS His blessings and benefits on us? Seems like He just stacks them on us. Every kind, every which way—physical, material and best of all, spiritual!
MEDIA MATTERS:
The work that has gone on here this week is not possible without His approval and blessings. I have no doubt that Christ has ministered to many of us through the work that has been done here. I felt His presence many times during the week right there in my living room praying with family present and praying with you, though separated. We thank God!
I’d like to thank the men and women who have been here all week working behind and in front of the cameras making “The Times of Refreshing” possible….Thank you to the director, to all technicians, organizers, musicians, and singers. Thank you for your sacrifices. I also want to give a special “Thank You” to all the ministers, male and female, who made a special trip to Cleveland to deliver the Word of God by their preaching….It is our goal to continue using these means of communication to encourage, strengthen and stay connected with the Church around the world.
If this week’s broadcast, “The Times of Refreshing,” has been a blessing to you, please let us know by sending in your comments and testimonies. If this week’s broadcast has been challenging, informative, instructional, uplifting and a source of spiritual reassurance—if it has confirmed to you that The Church of God is alive and well—say praise the Lord! If it has touched your life some way, somehow, in some manner, I wonder if you, as many of you as possible, would consider giving an offering and making a $10000 contribution each that would help our Communications/Media Department to continue putting together this kind of programming. Your contribution will help us purchase needed equipment, to enhance the Church’s media capabilities from right here out of General Headquarters; it will help us in our efforts to have adequate space and the appropriate settings. It will help us with many of the costs associated with keeping the message of Christ and His Church before all the world in a timely fashion and at the highest quality possible.
I know these are financially tough times for all of us, but if we all pull together and contribute our little grain of sand, so to speak, we will be able to do some good in this world that needs to hear the message of salvation through faith in Christ. So again, I ask you, wherever you are, whatever city, state, or nation, would you each kindly consider giving a $10000 offering toward these media efforts. There are several ways you can do this. You may mail in a check or money order earmarked “Media” to the address on the screen. You may give by phone during normal business hours by calling the number on the screen. You may give online at the link below or give in the mobile app. Please make sure you select the appropriate box.
ALL IN HIS HANDS:
Last year at this time, we did not expect or even fathom the type of conditions under which the world would be living in currently. It seems that it was impossible for us to have known what would take place around the world this year. Our lives, to some extent, have been altered in some way in a manner not experienced before. All around the world, people were caught off-guard and did not see present world circumstances with all of its changes in our daily lives coming so swiftly.
But isn’t’ it good to know that in the middle of all the uncertainty one thing is certain, that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has control of every single thing on earth, in the universe—in the visible and invisible world—and that all things in motion are working according to His timetable and His great program?
I hope you do not doubt that God is in control of every single thing. Why, just think of the time Jesus told Peter to go down to the sea and cast a hook so he could take up a fish and pull “a piece of money” from his mouth—who do you think was in control of that fish? (Matt. 17:24-27). Yes, even this little fish was on God’s program and under His control. Think of another occasion when Peter was told he would deny Christ “thrice” before the “cock crew,” Peter denied Christ and the “cock did crow,” right on queue, because he was on God’s program and under His control.
Now if these small creatures, appointed by Divine Providence, fulfilled their part on God’s program and according to God’s timetable, then how much more so shall men and women, both righteous and unrighteous, who are much better than the fish and the fowl, fulfill their part on God’s great program, according to His timetable? Everything going on now in the affairs of man upon this earth is in fulfillment of His Word spoken aforetime, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa. 55:11). Remember Jesus as He spoke of some hard things to come, He said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended” (John 16:1).
When we are fully convinced that all things now in motion in the world are working according to His timetable, our hearts can rejoice, and we can experience the peace of God that passes all understanding right here in this present world.
LOOK UP:
Some who read their Bibles can only see that there will be “wars and rumours of wars,” that “nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places,” “false prophets will rise, and shall deceive many,” that “iniquity shall abound, false Christs shall arise” (Matt. 24), that “fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven” (Luke 21:11), and “ye shall be hated of all men,” for the sake of Christ. That there will be “signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25), and they stop there as they consider the station of today’s frightening world.
While this describes a very grim, but true and on target picture of where the whole of God’s creation is on His timetable, if we stop there and read no further all things appear too pessimistic and give no reason to rejoice. But we need to read a little further and find that Jesus of Nazareth said, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matt. 24:13). “And when these things begin to come to pass, then LOOK UP, and LIFT UP your heads; for your REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH” (Luke 21:28).
There are some things which we must endure, but if we, in patience, possess our souls and are faithful and obedient to Christ the King unto the end, we shall be delivered out of this world to live and reign with Him forevermore. Don’t you want to reign with Him dear saints? Amen, yes, we do! Paul wrote to Timothy about how this must be achieved, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Tim. 2:12).
If there is any fright or fear in our hearts it will vanish away in proportion to our faith in God’s Word and His Son’s promise to go and prepare a better place for us in heaven and to return and receive us unto Himself that where He is, there we may be also. LOOK UP, Church of God, LIFT YOUR HEADS, our redemption draweth nigh! There is reason to be optimistic and rejoice!
Don’t allow anything or anyone to discourage you, dear saint, from looking upward and moving onward in Christ—not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword. If we draw closer to God now more than ever before, submit ourselves under His mighty hand and resist the devil—nothing, “neither death, nor life, angels, principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35, 38, 39).
Brother Peter wrote in his epistle to those who had obtained like precious faith, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Peter 3:3-14).
ASSEMBLY:
Our Church history shows that the 14th Annual Assembly of 1918 was postponed due to what was known as the “Spanish influenza” or “Spanish flu.” C. T. Davidson wrote in Volume 1 of Upon This Rock, that, “Public gatherings of all kinds were prohibited by law, and it was a difficult year for most organizations including the Church…. This was one of the most disastrous epidemics to ever strike the world. It is said that it killed an estimated 20,000,000 throughout the world, and 548,000 in the United States and the armed forces.
“The influenza epidemic was raging and everywhere the nations were fraught with sickness and death,…For as much as a month at a time—some longer—the doors of churches everywhere were being closed. It was difficult to operate efficiently and strengthen and build up the moral and spiritual fiber of mankind in the wake of such severe times.
“Usually, if a church constituency is deprived the liberties of assembling together to worship there is a tendency for some to become weak in faith and fellowship, become discouraged and eventually disappear in sad abandon with the lost. Others become ‘lean’ in their experience with God for lack of soul nourishment so essential in fortifying their spiritual stamina and courage to face a cruel world of unbelief. But, the faithful and God-fearing disciples of the Lord hold together and when the doors are opened again they return to the House of the Lord. The Church of God suffered and sustained like fate in many areas. Nor was it without toll in the ministry…
“When the 14th Annual Assembly scheduled for October 30 – November 5 was postponed indefinitely unquestionably some nonchalance crept in, leaving its mark here and there among the Church constituents…” (Upon This Rock, Vol. 1, pp. 501, 502).
The year 2020 has not been much different than the days of our ancestors 100 years ago with respect to the epidemic, the difficulty to operate efficiently and strengthen and build up the moral and spiritual fiber of man during these trying times. We have had to make some unpleasant decisions and changes concerning our yearly activities and events we enjoy so much. Our regularly scheduled services have been disrupted, sometimes put on hold; we have been deprived of much of the planned visits to members’ homes, local churches, regions and nations at every level of the Church.
Perhaps this experience may serve to teach us something—to not take anything for granted, to not be nonchalant and indifferent about our God-given liberties, duties and obligations. Perhaps we will learn the significance of the urgency that Christ felt when He said, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4).
In the book of Revelation, He that is holy and true tells us that He “…openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Rev. 3:7); and although many doors are shut at present, let us, “Watch…and pray, lest [WE] ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38), obeying Christ’s command to “Occupy til” He comes. Our prayer is that He will open doors; I know that you are praying the same way, and I want to be ready—and stay ready —to get back on the field as soon as doors swing open! In the meanwhile, we want to intently ask God to help us find the eternal and spiritual work He wants us to be employed in now so we may brighten the corner where we are.
Holding and conducting our regular church services and other activities have their very important place in our lives and, in due time, we will get back to what one might refer to as our “regular order of business.” God’s Word continues to call for “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is…” (Heb. 10:25). However, we don’t have to wait for such a time to be able to do service for God. There is such a thing as spending time in prayer, seeking His direction for the here and now and, I believe, we will find that there is always something He wants us to be occupied with that is of eternal importance.
The Scripture says, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might” (Eccl. 9:10). So, let’s find what we can be doing right now for the Lord and then get to doing it with our might.
Somebody has been working. The statistical reports for 2019-2020 that our State and National Overseers have sent to my office show that somebody has been working. We praise God for this good work.
70, 596 sermons have been preached.
3,762 souls have been saved.
9,613 have been sanctified.
7,331 have been filled with the Holy Ghost.
1,210 have been baptized in water.
1,784 members have been added to the Body of
Christ.
33 new churches have been organized.
Somebody is working. May the Lord bless you, Church of God, and strengthen you! I don’t know if you have noticed, but the cry of some people and businesses in the nations is “we must reopen,” and in their efforts to do so they have been very innovative and pioneering in their methods of serving their longtime clients and the public. I’m sure that if we ask the Lord to help us during this time of crisis to do our work that He is able to inspire us to effective methods to tend to the sheep so they don’t become lean in their experiences with God and suffer spiritual malnourishment. God wants His people to remain strong in spiritual stamina and stronger in the faith.
ASSEMBLY CONTINUED:
Brother C. T. Davidson wrote in regards to the postponed Assembly of 1918 that, “Somehow, the Assembly had a way of answering desire and purpose, and provided a healing balm to troubled souls as well as to those entrusted with responsibility and duty” (Upon This Rock, Vol. 1, pp. 501-504).
Brother Davidson’s statement I think really strikes a chord in our hearts today. We have a deep longing to be together in our General Assembly and see the faces of our friends and fellow laborers. Our General Assemblies give us the inspiration necessary for the year’s work. The Assembly is always a desirable place to be—our souls are fed there, and we seem to sit in heavenly places together. We enjoy abundant Christian fellowship and are given the opportunity to sing, cry, pray, and worship the Lord in unison. Even now, our minds can be drawn back to the inspired preaching of God’s Word at our annual meeting which touches our hearts, transforms our lives, and feeds the inner man with spiritual food. This is one of those things that is “better felt than ‘telt’.”
I believe many, if not all of us, feel as John the beloved when he wrote, “…but I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face…” (3 John 14), and “…but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full” (2 John 12). He wrote and stayed in touch with those he called his children, but it brought no fullness of joy, because he desired to be with them and see them in flesh and bone. Lately, many have had to settle for a phone call, video conference, virtual services, a letter or email, maybe some other form of communication. But ever since our conversion, God has put a distinctive desire in us to assemble together with one another and Him in holy communion for worship, praise, instruction and breaking of bread. We long to see each other face to face—and we will! Praise God!
“IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME!” is a slogan I read on a restaurant wall, here in Cleveland, several years ago. It went on to say, “If each of us believes that slogan, and all of us do our very utmost with determination and cheerfulness, we will win this war! —Contribute to the cause of victory.”
This slogan catches the attention, and it makes one think of the good that can be accomplished in the overall work of the Church through the influential contribution of every single person when he or she is fully convinced that, as a member, they count one and that no one can fill their place in the Church. Your personal contribution of faithfulness, self-sacrifice, a prayer life, labor of love, Christian lifestyle, true blue Church of God lifestyle, no doubt, will have a long and lasting eternal effect in the lives of many. At the same time, we must recognize that in the absence of our willingness to personally contribute in these areas, the Church and her work will be that much dwarfed and crippled.
IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME. Say it with me, “It All Depends On Me.” What if each one of us really believed this of ourselves?
◊ The salvation of my siblings, IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME, therefore I will “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [I am] called” (Eph. 4:1).
◊ Winning my parents to the Lord, IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME, therefore I will “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [I am] called.”
◊ My child needs to be saved, IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME, therefore I will “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [I am] called.”
◊ Coworkers at my place of employment need to be saved, IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME, therefore I will “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [I am] called.”
◊ Souls around me need Jesus, IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME, therefore I will “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [I am] called.”
◊ The success of our prayer band and my local church, IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME, therefore I will “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [I am] called.”
◊ Reaching the world with the message of Christ and the Church, IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME, therefore I will “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [I am] called.”
◊ The unity, order and strength of the Church, IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME, therefore I will “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [I am] called.”
◊ The perfection of The Church of God, IT ALL DEPENDS ON ME, therefore I will “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith [I am] called.”
My brother, my sister, listen. The Bible says that “God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him” (1 Cor. 12:18), and while there are “many members in one body,” yet “all members have not the same office” (Rom. 12:4), and each one has his or her special place and function before God.
If we, as members of the Body of Christ, will do our very utmost for the Lord with determination and cheerfulness God will see us through, and we will hear Him say “…Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matt. 25:21).