Letter to the Brethren: August 23, 2023

Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:

Greetings from the Five Cities region of California.

While there was a hurricane in Mexico that affected California, as well as a 5.1 earthquake (see ‘Flooding, mudslides, water rescues − and Hilary’s destruction not done yet’), other than having higher temperatures and muggy weather for a few days, we did not notice either here, even though some did feel the earthquake in the Five Cities.

On other matters, my family and I are scheduled to fly to Puerto Rico today. We are to meet Carlos Aponte this Sabbath as well as to work on other aspects of Matthew 24:14, Romans 11:25, and Matthew 28:19-20.

As far as Matthew 24:14 goes, we received another 43 translations of our English language booklet, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Please understand that this is a historic accomplishment as we now have that booklet translated into over 600 languages and dialects (cf. Revelation 7:9-10; Romans 11:25).

Going Thru the Bible

The recommended sermon for this week is the seventh and last of our series covering the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. Here is a listing of all the sermons in that series for you to watch,, review, and/or repeat:

1.  2 Corinthians 1-2: Church of God Suffering and Open Door
2.  2 Corinthians 3: The New Covenant, Jews, & Gentiles
3.  2 Corinthians 4-5: Guaranteed Immortality
4.  2 Corinthians 6: Salvation and Persecutions
5.  2 Corinthians 2:7-9: Be a Philadelphian Giver
6. 2 Corinthians 10-11: Faithfulness, Speaking, and Fables
7. 2 Corinthians 12-13: Problems and Philadelphian Proofs

It is my plan to one day cover each and every verse of the entire New Testament and completing 2 Corinthians was part of that plan.

The Apostle Paul told the prophetic evangelist Timothy to:

2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2)

By intentionally covering whole books of the Bible, we have been doing that. And yes, that does include trying to convince, rebuke, and exhort, which those of you who watched the sermon series on 2 Corinthians 2 would have noticed.

As far as covering the Bible, in addition to numerous sermons covering doctrine, prophecy, and other matters from the Bible, we have put out the following sermons as part of our intent to “go through the Bible”:

GENESIS Questions and Answers from Genesis Many wonder about certain early events that this article discusses. While we have not yet covered all of the Book of Genesis, here is a sermon related to part of Genesis: Gap Theory: Doctrine or Modern Heresy?
EXODUS Exodus sermons, which it total cover each and every verse of that book, include Exodus 1-4: Jewish Myths or Lessons for Christians Today?, Exodus 5-7: Serpents, Blood, and Revelation, Exodus 8-9: Plagues and Prophecy, Exodus 10-12: The Last Plagues & 21st Century Prophecies, and Exodus 13-15: Passover Protection and Armageddon. Another article is Exodus 16-19 which covers all of those verses–here is a link to a related sermon: Exodus 16-19: Manna, Governance, and End Time Protection. Another article is Exodus 20 which covers all of the verses in that chapter–here is a link to a related sermon: Exodus 20: The Ten Commandments. Another article covers the verses in those chapters Exodus 21-24: These are the Judgments–here is a link to a related sermon: Exodus 21-24: Judgments. Here is a link to the article Exodus 25: Ark of the Covenant and Mercy Seat–here is a link to a related sermon: Exodus 25: Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. Here is a link to the article Exodus 26-32 Tabernacle, Sacrifices, & the Book of Life–here is a link to a related sermon:Exodus 26-32: Tabernacle, Golden Calf, and Book of Life. A final article is: Exodus 33-40, The Final Chapters.Here are links to two related video sermons: Exodus 33-36: Moses Shown and You Should Too and Exodus 37-40: Finishing the Work.There is also more, such as the article: When was the Exodus? Did it Happen? Some deny the biblical account of the Exodus. Was Ramses II the pharaoh then? When did the Exodus occur?  Is there proof outside of the Bible that there was an Exodus? Here is a related article in the Spanish language: ¿Cuándo fue el Éxodo? ¿Ocurrió realmente? Also: Reasons, Proofs, and Ramifications of the Ten Plagues of Exodus What do you know about these plagues? What happened to the ‘gods of Egypt’? Is there any confirmation outside the Bible? Might something worse be coming? A related two-part sermon is available: Egypt and the Plagues (Part 1) and Exodus Plagues and Prophecy (Part 2). Also: Exodus and the Days of Unleavened Bread. This article discusses parts of the Book of Exodus with some connections to the Days of Unleavened Bread. Also Exodus 4:24, Why would God have sought to kill Moses? What did Moses do wrong? Do you have a similar problem?
DEUTERONOMY. Here are links to sermons covering Deuteronomy: Deuteronomy 1-4, Deuteronomy 5-12, Deuteronomy 13-17, Deuteronomy 18 – 24, Deuteronomy 25-30, and Deuteronomy 31-34.
ESTHER This is a sermon that covers the entire book: Book of Esther.
PROVERBS Here are links to ten sermons covering the all the chapters of the Book of Proverbs: Proverbs 1-7: Practical advice for those who wish to follow God and Proverbs 7-12: Wisdom, Knowledge, Righteousness, and Diligence and Proverbs 13-15: Following God’s Advice and Proverbs 16-17: Accept God’s Instructions and Proverbs 18-19: It is dangerous to trust self and Proverbs 20-21: Modern Christian Living and Proverbs 22-23: Certainty of the Bible and How to Live and Proverbs 24-25: What to do and what not to do and Proverbs 26-28: Giving Answers, Making Right Decisions (a related article is also available: Proverbs 26-28) and Proverbs 29-31: Are You Willing to Learn From God’s Word? (a related article is also available: Proverbs 29-31).
ECCLESIASTES Here is a link to an article covering: the Book of Ecclesiastes. Links to related sermons are available: Ecclesiastes 1-3: Vanity or Biblical Focus?, Ecclesiastes 4-6: Christian Living Makes a Difference, Ecclesiastes 7-8: Reputation, Anger Management and Walking God’s Way, and Ecclesiastes 9-12: Joyful Living, Youth, Aging, and the Commandments.
MATTHEW Here are links to twelve sermons covering the 28 chapters of Matthew: Matthew 1-2: Greek or Aramaic, Jesus, and the Star?, Matthew 3-5: John the Baptist, Temptations, and the Beatitudes, Matthew 6-7: Charitable Deeds, the Rosary, Prayer, the Golden Rule, and Faith, Matthew 8-10: Married Clergy, Faith, Coming Persecution, and the Ecumenical Agenda, Matthew 11-12: John the Elijah, Sodom, Unpardonable Sin, & 3 Days and 3 Nights, -14: Parables, Mustard Seeds, Birthdays, and Faith, Matthew 15-16: Tradition, Signs of the Times, and The Rock & Peter, Matthew 17-18: Transfiguration, Elijah to Come, Taxes, and Forgiveness, Matthew 19-20: Transgender? Divorce? Purgatory? The first shall be last?, Matthew 21-23: ‘Palm Sunday,’ Come as You Are?, and the Greatest Commandments, Matthew 24: Temple Destruction, Sorrows, Tribulation, and the Return of Jesus, and Matthew 25-28: Midnight Cry, False Christians, Resurrection, & Teaching what Jesus Taught.
MARK Here is a link to a sermon covering all of Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Mark: What did Jesus teach in the Book of Mark? Here is a link to six sermons covering all the verses in the Gospel of Mark: Mark 1-2: Author, Prophecy, & Miracles, Mark 3-5: Healing, Demons, and Parables, Mark 6-9: Tradition, John’s beheading, Elijah, and Restoration, Mark 10-12: Marriage, Divorce, Needle Eye, Greatest Command, & Taxes, Mark 13: Temple, Four Horsemen, Troubles, Great Tribulation, and Gospel Proclamation, and Mark 14-16: Jesus’ Priorities & Betrayal, the Resurrection, Signs, and Reaching the World.
LUKE Here are links to eight sermons covering the entire ‘Gospel of Luke’: Luke 1-2: John the Baptist, Mary, and the Census, Luke 3-6: John the Baptist, Jesus’ genealogy, Satan’s Influence, and the Sermon on the Mount, Luke 7-9: Miracles, Purpose of Parables, Kingdom of God, and Women Supporting the Ministry, Luke 10-11: The 70, Doing the Work, the Good Samaritan, Prayer, and Signs, Luke 12-13: Priorities, Delayed Fruit Bearing, Little Flock, Prophecy, and the Narrow Way, Luke 14-16: The Lost Sheep, the Prodigal Son, the Rich Man and Lazarus, Luke 17-20: Faith, the Kingdom, Gathering, Prayer, & Rewards, and Luke 21-22: Giving, Sorrows, Persecution, Tribulation, Fig Tree, and Violence. The last sermon also covers Jesus’ words in the Book of Acts.
JOHN Here are links to a seven-part sermon series covering the entire ‘Gospel of John’: John 1-3: Anti-unitarian, Wine, Being Born Again, & Heaven, John 4-6: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman, Miracles and the Bread of Life, John 10-12: Sheep, Hirelings, Lazarus/Soul Sleep and ‘Palm Day’, John 13-15: Footwashing and the Words of Jesus, John 16-18: Truth, Trinity, and Pontius Pilate, and John 19-21: Do not only try, do what God wants.
ACTS Here is an article: The Book of Acts. Here is a link to related sermons: Book of Acts 1-2: Jesus Left, New Testament Church Began, Acts 3-5: Miracles, Trials, Proclamation, and Persecution, Acts 6-9: Widows, Stephen, Saul, and Simon Magus, Acts 10-12: Visions, Dreams, and Gentiles, Acts 13-16: Prophets, Poisoning, and Proclamation,Acts 17-19: Travels, Anointed Cloths, & the Gospel of the Kingdom, Acts 20-22: James, Sunday, and Prejudice, and Acts 23-25: Vows, Secrets, Cults, & Criticisms, and Acts 26-28: Shipwreck, the Kingdom of God, & Amen.
ROMANS Comments on the Book of Romans. Here are links to six related sermons: Romans 1-2: Believe the Truth of God, Romans 3:-6: Sin, Law, Grace, Salvation, Romans 7-8: God’s Spirit and Guarantee, Romans 9-10: Grace, Mercy, Salvation, Romans 11-12: Gentiles, Jews, and the Fulness, and Romans 13-16: Obedience, Gentiles, Love, and Women.
1 CORINTHIANS Comments on the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians. Here are links to  related sermons: 1 Corinthians 1-2: God’s Spirit & the Ways of the World, 1 Corinthians 3-4: Christianity Requires Repentance, 1 Corinthians 5-6: The Church and Bad Apples, 1 Corinthians 7-8: Sex, Remarriage, and Christian Love, 1 Corinthians 9-10: Authority, Idols, and Love, 1 Corinthians 11-12: Hair, Veils, & Spiritual Gifts, 1 Corinthians 13-14: Love, Prophecy, and Tongues, and 1 Corinthians 15-16: Resurrection Hope, Collections, and Love.
2 CORINTHIANS Comments on the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians. Here is a links to related sermons: 2 Corinthians 1-2: Church of God Suffering and Open Door; 2 Corinthians 3: The New Covenant, Jews, & Gentiles; 2 Corinthians 4-5: Guaranteed Immortality; 2 Corinthians 6: Salvation and Persecutions; 2 Corinthians 2:7-9: Be a Philadelphian Giver; 2 Corinthians 10-11: Faithfulness, Speaking, and Fables; and 2 Corinthians 12-13: Problems and Philadelphian Proofs.
GALATIANS Comments on Galatians Did the Apostle Paul do away with God’s law as some claim the Book of Galatians teaches? What is the false gospel? Related sermon videos related to Galatians are available: Galatians 1 and the False Gospel and Galatians 2 & 3: What Law was Added? What was Abolished? and Galatians 4 & 5: Who Does Not Inherit the Kingdom? and Galatians 5 & 6: The Gifts of the Spirit.
EPHESIANS Comments on Ephesians. Here is a link three related sermons: Ephesians 1-2: Predestination, Mysteries, & Grace. Ephesians 3 -4: Godhead, Immortality, Your Purpose, and Ephesians 5-6: Put on the Whole Armor of God, Marriage, Child Rearing.
1 PETER Here is a link to an article: 1 Peter: Scriptures and Commentary. Here is a link to a related sermon covering 1 Peter: 1 Peter: Humbly love, God’s plan is eternal.
2 PETER & JUDE Here is a link to an article: Second Peter & Jude: Scriptures and Commentary. Here is a link to a related sermon covering those books: 2 Peter & Jude: Lusts, Prophecy, & 144,000?
JAMES Here are links to sermons covering James: Strong Meat: James 1-2 and Strong Meat: James 3-5.
REVELATION This is a link to a sermon covering words Jesus spoke as recorded in the Book of Revelation and in first and second Corinthians: Revelation: Jesus’ Final Words.

Yes, as the above shows, we in the Continuing Church of God are serious about preaching the Word of God!

Rwanda

Evangelist Evans Ochieng has been in Rwanda to meet with the the leaders and the brethren there. He sent the following photo and email:

Pastor Dr Bob,

Greetings from Rwanda.

I had a wonderful and fruitful meeting today with leaders. We discussed so many things concerning church growth and the differences between church of God and the protestants. Why we are different, God’s ordained feasts and God’s family. The importance of marriage and why people shouldn’t not divorce. The establishment of the kingdom of God on earth and What’s the work of a Minister. We departed when people are very happy. We shall meet tomorrow again  to learn more. I’m tired now and I need to rest.

Evans

Yes, we strive to teach all that we can to those around the world as Jesus said to do in Matthew 28:19-20.

Here is another, later, report:

Pastor Dr Bob,

Greetings from Rwanda.

It was a long distance from Town where we kept Sabbath. We had a wonderful service with our brethren from all parts of Congregations in Rwanda and Congo. The brethren from Congo arrived safe in Rwanda. There was just a small confusion at the border since there is misunderstanding between Congo and Rwanda. But at Long last there were set Free and come. Other brethren came from far end of Rwanda near Burundi. Near Uganda and near Tanzania. I took a picture with all leaders in Rwanda and Congo. The only Big problem in Rwanda is that for the church to be registered nationally, they must built a good meeting hall. The area chief called Moise and asked him why he put a meeting in the House which doesn’t belong to the church as the known church hall. I noticed that every country has got its own rules which govern the churches in that particular country. But Moise talked with a senior Chief. So we were not disturbed. The meeting went very well. We covered the topic about a true church of God and those whose names are written in the book of life. People paid much attention and they didn’t want the topic to end. We also touched about God’s ordained feasts, the true gospel. After that we learnt something about Azal. Zakaria 14:5. People were very happy.

After the meeting we went to see where Rwandans and Congo will keep the feast this year. It’s a fine place even though they will rent it for one week. They will also need to buy a mattresses. One of the people who was fighting Moise  for a long, who is a member of seventh day church of God also accepted the gospel and asserted he will join CCOG.

Let’s continue to pray for the work in Rwanda because people of Rwanda are very disciplined and like the truth. I was moved spiritually with their choir which combined elderly people and youths. They made the service so wonderful.

Since there is war in Congo, the people from Congo will need support for their way to the feast site in Rwanda. Both Rwanda and Congo will have one feast site this year. Many topics we covered with leaders since I entered Rwanda made Rwanda to move some steps forward.

Evans.

Here are two photos we took.

Despite struggles, we continue to move forward where we can and reach those that are interested and being called by God (cf. Matthew 28:19-20).

Suggested Sabbath Day Service

5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, (1 Timothy 1:5-6)