Canadian Field Conference 2003

On the evening of Friday, August 1, 2003, Br. Kanagarajah, the Canadian Field President, opened the conference by reading Psalm 100 with the congregation, singing hymn 100 “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and a prayer by Br. Henry Dering. The scripture reading was found in John 17:21. He welcomed the unseen guest, Jesus Christ, and the speakers that had come from all over the world and members of the 7 churches from across Canada with the wish that all may come closer to God during this conference.

Br. Ivo Yonov, our Bible worker from Montreal presented to us a sermon entitled “The Best Seat in the House”. Our human nature wants to have the best seat, yet according to Jesus in Mark 10:36,37 and Luke 14:7-11, the best seat in the house is the last seat. If you willingly take the last seat, you will be exalted. But if you seek the first seat, you will be abased. Mark 9:35. We need to let others do the promotion and not ourselves.

We must take the humble seat in the house, as the best seat, because that is the Lord’s seat.
For Sabbath opening, Br. Henry Dering from California, USA spoke to us about “We are almost Home”. It is a wonderful feeling to go home. How many of us are sick and tired of this world and want to go home? We are all on a spiritual journey to the Promised Land. The anticipation and excitement is building up. All roads lead to Rome, to Montreal, to the Bloor St. church but… not all roads lead to heaven – only one leads to heaven. Prov. 14:12. The Scriptures are the best map for us to follow. We need to follow the right map. Matthew 23:24. There are signs telling us that we are nearing the end. Rev. 14:1. Our Heavenly Father loves us. Through His word – in the skies – He sends us the message – Come Home. Today is the day that we need to make our decision.

Sabbath, August 2, 2003

After the Sabbath School, which was lead by Br. Larue Shields, Br. Gary Foster, the General Conference representative for North America, spoke to us about the Sanctuary (Psalm 51:6). We need to go into the sanctuary.
We need Atonement – meaning unity – one with the Father. Jesus experienced everything that there was from the perspective of suffering. Jesus suffered physical abuse. Jesus bore the shame and humiliation on the cross. People seek ways to numb the pain in this life… Jesus cures not only the symptoms, but the problems as well. In the communion
service, the wine represents the blood of Jesus. The bread – His body that was broken. There is a Saviour that can heal and cure. Every problem that exists in the world is because people do not follow God’s word. The sanctuary
represents witnessing for the church, God wants to make us the light of the world. Know what you believe and why you believe it. We need to take the message that we have and bring it to others. Satan is 10 times more powerful than he was 2,000 years ago, but we can be 10 times more powerful then that with God’s help! God has given us something special and we need to share that with others.

After lunch Br. Kanagarajah performed the examination of the baptismal candidates.
Sis. Reyna Conde conducted the Young People’s meeting in which the children presented a program called “They all Sang Jesus” which was about Jesus and His love for us. Many special songs followed and the older youth gave honour and praise to the Lord singing about the many names of Jesus. The specials were a delight and encouragement to all.

The Missionary Experiences was held by Br. Timo Martin. We need to share the experiences that God has given to His faithful servants. We need to tell others what great things God has done for us.

Br. John Thiel from Australia spoke to us first. He told us about his personal experience with the Lord from 14 years old when he was baptized and onwards. He studied Christ our Righteousness and was searching for the right church.

Although there were bitter experiences, the Lord carried him through them all. He encouraged all to have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Next was Br. Henry Dering who spoke to us about his recent trip to Peru, the largest union in our church with over 5,100 members.

The people in Peru are very poor, yet they are rich in spirit. In the smaller cities hundreds of people and in the larger ones thousands came out to the evangelistic meetings. He encouraged us by saying that Missionary work is exciting. It is fun work and extended an invitation to the congregation for individuals to make a missionary journey with him.

Our Br. Joshua Martinez from Orlando, Florida gave an example how a sister was going though hard times. Some of our church members got together to give this sister a surprise birthday party which cheered her very much. We need to have a merry heart for Jesus Christ.

Br. Ivo Yonov read to us from Philippians 4:13. An experience he made while travelling was in meeting a Bulgarian family. This family introduced him to others in the Bulgarian community in Montreal. Now he is studying with this one lady who is very interested in our message. He made friends with her before giving her in depth Bible studies. He spoke to her about the health message – the right hand of the gospel message.

Our worker from Vancouver, Michael Mitov, read from Isaiah 11:1,2. He spoke about a fellow from Ecuador who was a member for almost 30 years in the Adventist church and now was attending our church and asking to be baptized.
Br. Mike Newby spoke of the potential that our Canadian Field website has and about the wealth of information that is contained there. He told us how we can do missionary work via e-mail and about an experience he had with a man in Tenessee who had just gone through a heart attack.

Br. Kanakarajah said that the Lord has blessed the Canadian Field. It now has 5 full-time workers. He spoke of the work in Canada and in particular the success in New Brunswick.

After dinner, Br. John Thiel read from Matthew 13:10-16. Jesus used parables to illustrate his lessons. Parables are for those who cannot understand because they have closed their eyes and ears to the mystery. Then he took us on a journey -the journey of Jesus from heaven to earth and back. The old covenant tells us that we are sinners.

The deep things of God, things in His mind can be transferred to our mind through the Holy Spirit. John 16:13,14. The Spirit of God can come into us – the very mind of Jesus will enter us. Faith in Christ is the work of God on the human mind. The Holy Spirit hears and then shows it to us. Let the Holy Spirit lead you on this journey. Phil 2:6,7.

Jesus bore the sins of the world. All these sins were pressing upon His divine soul. Jesus was bombarded with the evil thoughts and evil feelings of the whole world. Jesus underwent a painful journey, every step of the way. This is what Jesus did for me. Jesus was in agony over the same thing that you enjoy. It is our lack of knowledge of Jesus that keeps us in our sin. We need the Holy Spirit to show us how much Jesus suffered because of our sin.

If you want to have victory over sin, fasten your intelligent mind upon Jesus Christ – victory will come. By beholding you will be healed. II Peter 1:3,4 You can experience the divine nature in your human flesh. Jesus is the source of our unity. Nothing else will do.

For Sabbath Closing Br. Joshua Martinez spoke to us about when we have the word of God in our hearts, we have love. The Lord wants us all to be one in Him. Luke 10: 25-29. Can we inherit eternal life? We are all born with a sinful nature. Jesus loves us. He is interested in our salvation. John 15:13. Satan is the thief, the robber that is trying to destroy us, our homes, our families. He reminded us of the story of the Good Samaritan. God loves us so much that he wants to pour out His blood to disinfect us and His Holy Spirit to heal us. We must learn of Christ. When the character of Christ is perfectly reproduced in us, then He will come. We need to love each other. We need to be like the Good Samaritan. Jesus has not yet come because we are not ready. God not only wants our words but also our actions.

Sunday, August 3, 2003

Early Sunday morning two young souls, Edwin Alfaro and Mabel Urizar dedicated their lives to the Lord through baptism. Although the morning was grey and overcast, Br. Gary Foster performed the baptism as those gathered and all of heaven was watching and singing hymns of glory and praise.

Back at the church Br. Foster welcomed our new brother ands sister officially into church membership.
This was followed by a health meeting which was held by Br. John Thiel. The atonement of Christ with us is a divine remedy – cure for transgression and restoration of spiritual health. Atonement is a Divine Remedy. When you study physiology and anatomy you begin to understand how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. Today people are amazed at how man has created the computer and its capabilities, yet how much more complex is a human being?

Our mind is responsible for our health. Satan caused sin to enter into Eve through her mind. Jer 17:1. Our body is the outer court of the sanctuary. Our brain is the sanctuary – divided into 2 compartments. Fear creates adrenalin in our body. Stress is a constant source of adrenalin injection. Stress is fear!

In Counsels to Teachers on p.424, it says, “Through sin the whole human organism is deranged.” We have to acknowledge that our computer is deranged, has crashed and cannot be relied upon. The atonement is the cure. The external has affected the mind and the mind has affected the body. Through understanding disease we can understand the cure.

The first remedy to deal with every disease, to receive healing, is to go to the Master Healer Ex. 15:26. With today’s medicine the symptoms of the disease can be taken care of but not the disease itself. God says, if you do everything I say, He will bring none of these diseases upon us.

The first step is to exercise of our faith in our mind. True faith receives Christ as a personal Saviour! Jesus’ faith must be inside us – not our faith in Him. Saving faith is a transaction – a covenant relationship with God. God is prepared to heal us if we submit ourselves to Him.

According to the medical profession there is no cure for brain damage. The remedy for every disease is Christ our Righteousness.

The only way you can remain healthy is maintaining that daily relationship with Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the Healing Agency on the mind and body. We need to fill our mind with Jesus and His righteousness continually. We need this message to sweep through our ranks. We need to make this the central theme of our life.

Finally, at the farewell meeting, we heard some parting words from our visiting ministers and workers. We were encouraged words to have the unity and love of the early apostles. Jesus is waiting for us. We need to pray for our faith to continue to grow in the spirit and power of Jesus Christ. If we surrender ourselves fully we will become nothing and Jesus will become everything to us. This is the church of God, not because we are perfect, but because we unitedly hold on to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will finish the work. We need to work together united in love. We need to pray for each other. Let us keep Christ in our lives wherever we go. We need to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and share this message of Jesus with others.

In closing we all sang “God Be With You”. Those that attended this conference can truly say that this was a blessed conference.

Praised be the name of the Lord!

Canadian Field Secretary