A Brother Full of Grace

A dear brother went to be with the Lord as I was on my way to USA to attend the semi-annual training. It caught me by surprise when I first received the message. Initially, I could not believe it and was waiting for an official confirmation. Later, the matter was confirmed. He, being one of my coordinating brothers in the literature service, brothers felt good to atleast attend his memorial day service, but I could not make it as the visa processing for Cananda from USA was about a month or so. Nevertheless, the brothers suggested that I write my testimony concerning him. I considered before the Lord and wrote:

"Grace" is the one unique word that I can use to describe my personal experience with brother Robin Fenwick.  

My first meeting with brother was in 2003 when I was a trainee. When he asked me what I learned most in the training, my reply was "coordination," besides the truths. The fellowship that followed was, words full of life and grace from his experience of Christ. From day one, my impression about him was, "a brother full of grace."

A Shepherd Full of Grace

Brother Robin and sister Diwani were like a "parent" to my family. In 2006, I just got married and began to serve in the literature service. It was brother who shepherded us practically by arranging a house for us to stay, part of which was also used for the literature service. Later, he and sister moved in to stay together with us, and he took care of most of the financial burden. It was such a cherishing to us. Even when we shifted to a new house, till he moved back to Canada, we always stayed together in the same house for years. He did this to take of our family when house rent was beyond our capacity to bear. He always shared the bigger portion of the rent saying that "those who have more pay more; all that we have are from the Lord and always share with the needy saints." Because of his shepherding, now my family is doing the same to the brothers who live with us, in the same principle. 

Besides, when my younger brother and cousin brothers needed a help, he had a view of shepherding them and received all of them into the same house, because of which, all my brothers were gained into the church life through such practical shepherding. And till today, they remember his shepherding love and care. 

A Shepherd Who Taught in Grace

When I was brought into the literature service under his overseeing, he always encouraged me and trusted me. I had no experience then, but he showed me from his personal experience of how to take care of the official matter in the literature office. From dealing with the government on legal matters, accounting, banking, printing, marketing and distribution, to the day to day office file works, he trained me in almost every aspect of running a "business" for which the literature service was registered to the government of India. Till his very last breath, he had been serving with us. I have been graced to learn from him directly, especially in complicated accounting matter of the literature "company." 

As a novice, when I made mistakes I was expecting a rebuke from him, or at least a chastisement, but never once he did. Instead, he fellowshipped with me the proper way to do things. I learned from such a gracious shepherd. 

He is a brother in the Lord who is senior and mature, and my adviser in official matters; I will miss him. He is such a shepherd full of grace to me. 

A Word of Love to the Family

Except sister Diwani, I have never met any of brother Robin's family members and children. Their daddy was my "daddy" in India. I will miss him as much as they all would do. My words to all brother Robin's children: follow the footstep of your father; He is a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ and the church in the Lord's recovery, and a brother full of grace, shepherding the saints as much as he could. 

The Lord will definitely remember his labor of love and work of faith in India. 

Praise the Lord for such a wonderful shepherd and pattern the Lord has set before me!

A Bible Verse That Reminds Me of Brother Robin Fenwick

1 Corinthians 15:58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Shepherding: Restitution

Three weeks ago, I sent the following message to a sister as I felt it was timely to fellowship with her on that line. The experience that she went through at that time was related to the sin in human nature. It was not a random nor coincidental matter, but timely and sovereignly of the Lord, that the ministry speaking in that week matched her situation. 

In Leviticus 5:11 fine flour, signifying the humanity of Jesus, is used for a sin offering, signifying that we commit sins because we are short of the humanity of Jesus. This indicates that we commit sins not only because we have sin in our nature and not only because we are not absolute for God but also because we do not have the humanity of Jesus; in His humanity Jesus has no sin in Him and is absolute for God. The tenth part of an ephah of fine flour offered for a sin offering signifies that only a small portion of the humanity of Jesus is needed to kill the negative things within us and to supply our need.

It was because of the sinful nature within us that we commit sin knowingly or unknowingly. Therefore, we need to make restitution with the concerned person if that sin committed involved another person. However, I mentioned that restitution should be done only if she enjoyed the Lord's supply of grace to do so. It must not be an imposed religious duty, but must be out of her own will and conviction in the light of the holy word. 

Making restitution and adding to it one-fifth more signifies that the one who offers the trespass offering should be righteous in material things according to the divine scale, standard, and measurement (vv. 15-16; cf. Luke 19:8).

“David begot Solomon of her who had been the wife of Uriah” (Matt. 1:6). Psalm 51 was composed after David’s great sin in murdering Uriah and robbing him of his wife and then being rebuked by Nathan:

“Against You and You alone have I sinned, And I have done what is evil in Your sight”(v. 4).“Hide Your face from my sins, / And blot out all my iniquities” (v. 9).“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (v. 17).“Do good in Your good pleasure unto Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem” (v. 18).

The issue of the “marriage” of David’s transgressing and repentance with God’s forgiveness was Solomon (“peaceful”), the one who built the temple of God (2 Sam. 7:12-14a; 2 Chron. 3:1). The church is always built up by this kind of person—a Solomon—one who is the issue of man’s transgression and repentance plus God’s forgiveness.

When we experience the marriage of our transgression and repentance with God’s forgiveness, we become very useful in the building up of the church.

A week later I fellowshipped with her that if she could go through such dealing from the Lord in a way of restitution, she would be very useful to the Lord and Satan’s subtle plan would be thwart. But she must pray and that I offered to help her, if need be. Her reply was that she would pray and would like to fellowship with me personally when I would be back to India as all these transpired while I was in a family visit to Taiwan. Besides, I also sent the following message. 

Praise the Lord sister!
Besides pray-reading the following Bible verses, please also study the book of Philemon with the footnotes from the Recovery Version. 

Colossians 3:12-15Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering; Bearing one another and forgiving one another, if anyone should have a complaint against anyone; even as the Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive. And over all these things put on love, which is the uniting bond of perfectness.  And let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, to which also you were called in one Body; and be thankful.

Subject of Philemon:An Illustration of the Believers' Equal Status in the New Man

Jesus is Lord! Christ is Victor!

After another week when I came back to India she came for a time of fellowship as a follow up on what I fellowshipped with her; to pray that she would experience the Lord’s grace to be able to forgive any offense she had against another sister. Since the matter involved another sister, it was proper to set things right in line with what the Lord has told us.

Matthew 5:23-24Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, Leave your gift there before the altar, and first go and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

After an hour long fellowship and prayer, we both went to meet the other sister who offended her and of whom she spoke her feeling against, to reconcile and apologise. The Lord led us all to read the same Bible verses and pray together. After that meeting the matter was settled. It was a good experience of shepherding the saints in the church life.

This experience proved that the Lord is working deeply in the lives of the saints in the church. He would not allow any hindrances in His move within the saint and through the saints. He did His spiritual diagnosis to solve any blockade within the being of the saints. That His life may flow richly through the saints for His testimony. I felt graced and blessed to be able to shepherd the saints in the way of restitution. It reminds me of the following verse:

1 Peter 5:2-3Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God;not by seeking gain through base means but eagerly; nor as lording it over your allotments but by becoming patterns of the flock. 

Lord, shepherd Your flock!

Faithfulness in the Lord’s Service

After a three weeks visit to our beloved family at Taipei, as we flew back home, as usual, I read my Bible on the flight. The scheduled reading was  on the book of Chronicles. It was very tempting to skip over the multitude of names that hardly made any sense unless delved into deeply. But one thing that caught my attention was this verse:

1 Chronicles 9:22 All these who were chosen to be gatekeepers in the thresholds were two hundred twelve. These were enrolled by genealogy in their villages; David and Samuel the seer appointed them because of their faithfulness.

I kept reading, and another verse confirmed the point further:

1 Chronicles 9:26 For the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were faithful and were over the chambers and over the treasuries in the house of God.

This brought my attention back to the negative aspect of not being faithful.

1 Chronicles 9:1 So all Israel was enrolled by genealogy, and they are now written in the book of the kings of Israel; and Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their unfaithfulness.

1 Chronicles 10:13-14 So Saul died on account of his unfaithfulness which he committed against Jehovah, because of the word of Jehovah which he did not keep, and also because he asked the counsel of a medium, inquiring of it. And he did not inquire of Jehovah; therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.  

I re-read the chapter and discovered to my amazement that to serve in the house of God, one key point is faithfulness. It did not talk about skill or any other virtues, but for service it simply mentioned about faithfulness. This was such an eye opening to me. 

As I considered this matter of faithfulness, the Lord enlightened me further with the following verses in the New Testament. 

Matthew 24:45-46 Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

Matthew 25:21 His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.

Matthew 25:23 His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.

In serving the Lord, the main virtue required is faithfulness, in matters big or small. This is the same point I have been mentioning to the serving ones in the literature service. That they be faithful in their service. I would not want "to rule over them" like a secular company manager would do to their subordinates. But I would rather that every one serves faithfully. Fruitfulness is simply the result of serving faithfully. This is also the main characteristic I would look for in a person who would be enrolled into the literature service, apart from their skills. And this is the reason why I used to pray for all the serving ones to be faithful and fruitful; to take the Lord as their faithfulness and be blessed by the Lord to be fruitful.

As I reconsidered my life, by the Lord's mercy, the faithful God has gradually become my faithfulness. I am so glad, my wife gave me a name in Chinese which has the word faithfulness in it, or at least, it is implied. The same applies to all walks of life, in service life, in marriage life, in any matter, faithfulness is the key word that stands out. The Lord is faithful! And I must take His faithfulness to be my faithfulness.

Lord, be my faithfulness and make me fruitful, in my life and in my service. 

The Lord's Shepherding

Psalms 23:1

Jehovah is my Shepherd; I will lack nothing. 

The Lord has been my good Shepherd indeed. He has been shepherding me since time immemorial. Be it when I was single, when I got married, when I became a father, and now even as a father of three children, wherever I was, wherever I am, the Lord is still my good Shepherd. Even the past few weeks as my family had gone to visit our family in Taiwan, the Lord's shepherding still followed us through.

This time especially, the Lord's Shepherding was very practical and real. It can be easily gauged and quantified. Before we took off from New Delhi, the flight delay gave us a pass to enjoy a family buffet meal at a restaurant in the airport. I hardly took my family for a treat and I just got one for free for all.

When we visited Hong Kong on our transit, the brothers shepherded us so well. They took us to places and supplied us richly, much to the satisfaction and enjoyment of my children especially. I personally would not be able to do such to my family, but the Lord knows how to shepherd all of us. 

In Taiwan, wherever we went, whomever we met, the Lord's Shepherding hand followed us all through. Besides the spiritual supply, the Lord supplied us richly through many saints in the form of gifts and offerings. Ranging from food items to clothing, from toys to books, the Lord's love and care was so sweet and cherishing.

The gifts and offerings were so abundant that my wife had to work on it quite a while, packing them to bring them back to India. To me, the physical things were immaterial. What matters to me most was the Lord's presence, His blessings and shepherding. All these gifts and offerings were all from the Lord, they were His blessing us and shepherding us in practical way.

Every time, when the supply came, I told my children to pray and thank the Lord for His shepherding. And I also joined with them in thanksgiving. Praise the Lord for He is the wonderful Shepherd!

Psalms 23:6Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Jehovah for the length of my days.  

Besides all the gifts, the love of the saints in sweet fellowship over lovefeast was beyond mention. I could not keep count how many. The physical food too were so rich, I found it hard to resist the taste of Taiwanese palate; we simply enjoyed the saints' love to the brim.

Above all, I was glad that my children could learn to experience the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who is real and living. On many occasions, my children would pray for "weather control" as we were scheduled for outings at various theme parks. The season being rainy, unstable, and unpredictable, weather control was definitely a must. Only God could do that, and we could only pray to Him. That's what we did. The outdoor parks need a fine weather without rain. In three occasions, the Lord controlled the rain as my children prayed, so that it did not hinder their enjoyment of the facilities, and rain came only when we were indoor for lunch, after which, it stoped for the enjoyment to continue. I took those experiences to let my children know that God does care and answers the simple and pure prayer as theirs. This, I did to inculcate and develop the faith in Christ in them. The Lord indeed shepherded us so well; inwardly and outwardly, spiritually and physically too. Praise the Lord, our good and wonderful Shepherd!

A Glorious Gospel Meeting

It was my last day in Taipei during our three weeks family visit. It came to my notice in one of the church meetings that there would be a big gospel meeting which used to be held twice a year and that testimonies would be shared by business men from China who loved the Lord dearly amidst their busy schedules. And it was for this gospel meeting that the saints had been preparing and praying for. I was graced to be able attend this meeting on my last day in Taipei. My mom, in-law but in the Lord, and I attended the meeting. In fact, we also enjoyed the lovefeast hosted by the church, Hall 6, prior to the meeting. 

Saints' Prayer and Coordination 

About one thousand people gathered at Xinyi building basement auditorium. Eighty percent of them were saints in the church life, and the other twenty percent were gospel friends. It was a good percentage. Thirty minutes before the scheduled time, saints started praying and singing gospel hymns. The ambience of the meeting was high in spirit and I could easily sense the move of the Spirit. Another very impressive point was the coordination among the saints. Each group of saints were taking care of their own new ones so effectively, I believe all the new ones were taken care.

Saints' Testimonies

In two groups of seven and five saints respectively, there were sharing of testimonies from mainland China. These ones were business men of various background; some from Buddhism, some from Christianity, and some were simply unbelievers. All of them had one thing in common; they were not satisfied in their lives despite earning enough worldly riches. Each one of them also testified that they were running after money, worldly success and entertainment, and ultimately ended up in emptiness. Some even went to the extend of extreme gambling, drinking, smuggling; two of them met with fatal car accident and miraculously survived to be saved by the Lord Jesus later; two of them were researching on Buddhism to find the meaning of life and sought for God, but to no avail; and all of them, after being saved, decided to join the middle age training in Taiwan. That's how they could testify during the gospel meeting. 

Short, Simple, and Strong Gospel Message

After the two groups gave testimonies, two brothers shared a heart touching gospel message based on their testimonies. The gospel message first was on "Anxiety" and then on "Consider Your Ways." A handout with two gospel hymns and two short messages with  outlines and Bible verses were handed to all attendees. Each gospel message ended with the call for coming to the Lord Jesus Christ to believe and receive Him as their Saviour, and an out-loud calling on the name of the Lord, "O Chu Yesu! O Chu Yesu!" 

Calling to Come to the Lord and Baptism

After the gospel messages, a brother ministered the truth concerning baptism, followed by another brother calling out for those who would be willing to receive the Lord and take baptism. A stage full of gospel friends whom the Lord touched came up with an astounding homecoming welcome from the saints. This finally was followed by baptisms of those who believed and decided to get baptised. The entire meeting lasted for barely an hour and a half. As I also witnessed the baptisms, I was very impressed by the well preparedness of the saints. There was a counter for a record of those who believed and got baptised; and there was also a baptism kit counter where full-sleeve shirts and long pants, head cover, sandal, towel, hairdryers and comb were placed neatly in order. No wonder, the Lord blessed the gospel meeting. In fact, God has to bless such prayer, preparedness, and coordination of the saints.

Later, I was informed that out of the many who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, seventeen of them also took baptism. I was so impressed by the entire arrangement of the gospel meeting. To me, it was indeed a glorious gospel meeting. What I have seen and learned, I must now carry it out wherever the Lord has placed me in His service. That my service to Him may also witness a glorious gospel meeting; not once, not twice, nor thrice only, but again and again, throughout my entire lifetime. For 1 Timothy 2:4 says, God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth. 

Indian Connection

Throughout the past decades, many brothers and sisters from Taiwan have had served in India for a couple of years and gone back. With many of them I have had the grace to coordinate and serve together. This time, when we visited Taiwan, we got to fellowship with whoever were available during our sojourn. Be it in Taipei, or in Tainan, or in Hsinchu, the saints who used to serve in India continue to serve with the same vitality. To my observation, they seem to be more functioning and useful in the Lord’s move. Praise the Lord for such serving ones from whom I can learn.

While with them at different localities, I had a time of fellowship with them about my experiences, the Lord's move and blessings in India, the Lord's work through the literature service, the testimonies of propagation, and also fellowship about the saints whom the brothers wanted to learn about. I have a very good feeling about these brothers. I believe their experiences in India were a good perfecting training the Lord had done on them, as much as it does to me too. I always consider my serving the Lord in India, especially in the literature service and in the church in Gurugram, as a perennial live training class. I believe the brothers who used to serve and who are serving in India will agree with me and testify of the same. India, indeed, is a good training ground for serving the Lord.

One evening, there was meeting at Hall 5 of the church in Taipei, where a lovefeast was specially held for the outgoing and incoming brothers, both happened to serve in India before. And there I was with my family, from India too, attending the same meeting. What a coincidence! Or, perhaps, the Lord’s sovereignty? Though translation was provided as the meeting was in Chinese, I could hardly grasp what were all shared, but what I do learned and confirmed was, the Lord has blessed the outgoing brother in his service in this hall as many saints have openly testified. I worshiped the Lord for such testimonies. Inwardly, I felt very happy that brother had been perfected while serving in India and truly had brought back the blessings to where he served. I do believe, the same will be with the incoming brother who would serve in the same locality.

Similarly, I also met with another brother who testified to me of his service in Taipei; he is as aggressive in Taipei as he was in India. I am deeply impressed by his heart and attitude in serving the Lord. The same goes with another brother who used to serve in the training center in India and now serving the training center in Taipei. As we enjoyed a lovefeast together and fellowshipped, his constitution of the truth and maturity in life impressed me a lot. One thing I learned was the need for me to be more reconciled to God in the second step reconciliation, from the holy place to the holy of holies. The same brother, with much exercise of his spirit, with a strong spirit, ministered the truth concerning baptism in a large gospel meeting and many believed into the Lord and got baptised.

I really felt blessed to be able to coordinate, or, at least, serve together at some point of time while they were in India. This "Indian connection," not in a natural way, but because of the Lord's sovereignty, is indeed a blessing in disguise, especially to me. Praise the Lord!

Though there are a few more who meant very much to me, I could not meet all of them due to lack of time and space. Nevertheless, I believe they all are continuing to serve with much blessings from the Lord. In time, one day I will get to meet them too and fellowship on all what the Lord has done and blessed. And continue to enjoy this "Indian connection." 

Forebearance: My Birthday Gift

Time and tide waits for none, so my aging too. Though I prefer to stay young I cannot go against time, and now I have come of age, and join the "forty club." Sometimes, I really hate to see myself aging, and I always feel young except for my age. I have no choice, but face the reality; I am a father of three children now with a double score years young on the longest day of the year, a solar solstice, the 21st of June. 

Since my twenty first birthday I never celebrated my physical birthday, nor do I want anybody to wish me as such, though I do treasure my spiritual birthday on which I was born anew at the age of nineteen. This time when I physically turned forty, I simply reconsecrated my life to the Lord again. On that day, the Lord gave me a special message: Forbearance. It also was the very virtue I needed at the moment as I am considering to deal with some serving ones and some saints whom the Lord has been gracing me to shepherd. The Lord's gift of His speaking is very timely. The message is here: 

FORBEARANCE

Philippians 4:5

Let your forbearance be known to all men. The Lord is near. 

What is Forbearance?

Forbearance is reasonableness, considerateness, and consideration in dealing with others, without being strict in claiming one’s legal rights; forbearance means that we are easily satisfied, even with less than our due. According to Christian experience, forbearance is all-inclusive, for it includes all Christian virtues.

What Comprises Forbearance?

Forbearance includes love, patience, kindness, humility, compassion, considerateness, and submissiveness, a willingness to yield; if we have such an all-inclusive virtue, we shall also have righteousness and holiness. Forbearance also includes self-control, moderation, gentleness, understanding, sympathy, wisdom, mercy, peacefulness, looking to the Lord, and even the virtue of admitting that the Lord is sovereign in all things.

The Virtues of a Forbearing Person

A forbearing person is one who always fits in, whose behavior is always suitable (cf. 2 Cor. 6:1a; 10:1; Phil. 1:19; Isa.11:2). If we are forbearing, we shall have the wisdom and the ability to supply others with what they need; we shall also have the full knowledge of what to say to them and when to say it (50:4-5; Col. 1:28). To be forbearing is to consider how others will be affected by what we do or say (2 Chron. 1:10).

Christ is Forbearance

As an all-inclusive virtue, forbearance is Christ Himself; since Christ is forbearance, for Paul to live was forbearance (Phil. 1:21a).

To Live Christ is to be Forbearing

To let our forbearance be known to all men is to let the Christ whom we live and magnify, whom we take as our pattern and pursue as our goal, be known to all men. Only the Lord Jesus lived a life full of forbearance, and only Christ can be our perfect forbearance today. To make known our forbearance is to live a life that expresses Christ as the totality of all human virtues. Immediately after speaking about forbearance, Paul says that the Lord is near.

The Lord is Near

With respect to space, the Lord is near us, ready to help; with regard to time, the Lord is at hand, coming soon (cf. Rom. 10:8-13). The Lord’s being near refers primarily to His presence with us (Matt.1:23).

Excerpt from The Crystallization-Study of Leviticus, Message 10, Outline II, 3.