B.A.S.I.C. NEWSLETTER #153
I Cor.. 16:9 ‘For a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.’
September 28, 2009
Prayers are needed for Pastor V.S. Benjamin, the founder and head of the CLCI in India. He entered the Hospital on September 1st with lung and neurological problems. He is improving. It is expected that he will be in the Hospital yet almost two weeks.
May God grant him recovery that he can return home.
Wall Calendars
(This is the second and last notice.) In past years Pastor Naumann has sent calendars to leaders of CLC sister churches. This year we are doing something different. Pastor Matthew Ude has made up a calendar beginning with the church year in December. Each day has Scripture readings listed and each month features pictures of one of the churches in our fellowship. These are being distributed as gifts as follows:
- Pastor Ude distributed them to our India brothers.
- I gave them out to Johannesburg and Congo men.
- Pastor Ude will give them in Nigeria, Togo and Ghana during his visit..
- Pastor Mayhew will give them out in Tanzania and Kenya during his visit.
- Our brothers in Nepal and Myanmar can let me know how many copies they need for their leaders and I will give them during our Joint Leaders Meeting Oct. 1-2 in Nellore, India.
- Anyone on this mailing list is welcome to send an email requesting a calendar to Mary Koenig dnmkoenig [at] yahoo [dot] com and she will mail out a gift calendar. It doesn’t matter who or where you are, we will be glad to send this to you. Just make sure you let us know the mailing address.
News from South Africa
Denis Mulumba has been trying to register a church with the South African government but to no avail so far. He has found a friend who is willing to go with him in visits to people to try to gather a congregation. Being from Congo the South African government keeps him at arms length until they are sure he is integrating himself in their society. He is taking a university course to help him set up a website where he can post our teachings in essay and publications translated into French. His goal is still to gather a congregation of French speaking people around the Word. His visa problem was solved thanks to the Lord so that now he has a two year visa to be in South Africa. Pray that the website can be up and going and be a means to reach out and that the two men will continue to be zealous in going to people about our wonderful Lord Jesus.
A passage explained = Song of Sol. 2:1
“I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” The Song of Solomon is first of all a teaching of how the love should be between man and woman. Then secondly, in prophetic perspective it is allegorical as to how the love should be between the bride of Christ, the Church and the Bridegroom, the Christ. In this passage the ‘rose’ word could also be translated as ‘crocus.’ It is also in Is.. 35:1-2 “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.” In this world of a desert the Lord’s glory will shine and God will bring forth His church, blossoming like the rose or crocus. Sharon is also in both references too to tie them together. That which is barren, dry and sterile becomes beautiful, glad and joyful. We who were dead in our trespasses and sins are made alive in Him. The rest of Is. 35 also explains the gracious rule of the Messiah.
A passage explained = Col. 1:15
“He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.” This does not mean that Jesus was created. We know clearly that all things were made through Him, not that He was made or created. Jn. 1:1-2 The word for “first-born” in the Greek is prototokos which is more a title. The first-born inherits all. The word is used here to stress the Jesus possesses all creation, not that He was created first. In v. 16 it is clear that all things were created in Him, through Him and for Him, which puts him as the possessor and not one created. God is the Creator and not created. In Jesus the fullness of God dwelt bodily. Col. 2:9 Jesus is God the Creator.
In v. 18 the word prototokos is used in connection with the dead. The sense is that He possesses the dead. He came forth and from Him we all have life. “He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything He might be pre-eminent.”
Pastor Koenig