“So that God’s people can know for sure that what they believe is the whole truth…”

For me, one of the most important assignments I have as one of God’s team of equippers in His Body is to equip Jesus’ followers so that they can know that what they believe is truly the truth.

Out there, we are in a war. This is what the Lord Jesus warned us about, and what God’s Spirit tells us through Scriptures like Ephesians 6:12 when it says:

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this present world, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly realms.”

In that same passage in Ephesians 6, the Lord also reminds us of the armor we must have on (= what must be in place) to ensure that we will come out of this war alive.

This is why TRUTH must always be our test and search, which, like a belt around our body, will ensure that everything will be nicely together and in place.

This is also why the only weapon that will be effective and “our sword” in this battle is God’s Word.

Need I remind you that…

• The Bible is in every sense of the word “WORD OF GOD”, of which you can know for sure that the Only, true God, speaks to us in it word for word!

• As Hebrews 1 rightly tells us: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at many times and in various ways, but now, in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.” In other words, God speaks to us, of course, through Creation, through events around us, but above all through the Old Testament books, through what is written in the Law, the Prophets, and the other Old Testament books. But, above all, He speaks to us through Jesus, God the Son, the Messiah, who became man and came to live among us for 33 years. So God speaks to us especially through Jesus, God the Son, who, through God the Spirit, in His life, words, crucifixion, and resurrection, but also through everything that is written about Him in the rest of the books of the New Testament.

Come sit here with me, and I will show you and your children why we can be so sure of what we believe as followers of Jesus!

I have made a short video for you about how I show you and your children, with an A4 page, the 4 most important reasons why you and I can be so sure of what we believe about Jesus.

Because I am completely convinced that the Bible, as you and I know it, with its 66 books, is the complete and inspired Word of God, and therefore is the foundation of the truth that we believe, I am going to briefly talk to you about why I am so sure of it.

Then I'm going to give you 4 reasons why 57 years ago, on October 10, 1969, I already chose to believe what I believe, and why I'm still so sure today of what I believe that I'm willing to give my life for it if necessary!

Did you hear? I'm so sure of what I chose to believe that I'm willing TO DIE FOR IT!

Are you so sure of what you believe that you would die for it today?

Let me help you make sure again of what you really believe.

The Lord is so faithful in so many ways!

One of the remarkable ways in which the Lord sometimes speaks to us is by pulling the curtains a little open to the future so that we can see something of it in advance.

Thus, in 2010, the Lord showed me the following in a prophetic word about “shalom” in 2026 and the following years:

During His ministry on earth, Jesus used stories of real events and things so many times to tell us something prophetic about His Father and His will. So today I want to tell such a story to tell what the Lord is busy with in His Ekklesia and in the world.

Wolfgang Simson tells in his book, THE STARFISH MANIFESTO, of the following real events. He was busy talking with world leaders about what was happening in the Body of Jesus. How thousands of people say “yes” to Jesus Christ anew or for the first time, but “no” to many existing parts of the visible church around them.

While he was talking about this, someone gave him a note that the Lord told him to tell about what happened one day on a beach on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. He then began to tell about this little boy who was playing with a mosquito net in the water.

Then something almost supernatural happened unexpectedly. Thousands of small fish suddenly became entangled in the mosquito net, the same kind that the Filipinos on that island usually fried and ate with garlic rice for dinner.

People rushed over and started scooping up the fish with buckets. Later, every available container and crate was full of fish! They then started to throw some of the fish into a fishing boat of almost eight meters that was lying there on the beach. Later, this was also full to overflowing! The villagers ran up and down the streets in jubilation as they took buckets of the fish home.

After Wolfgang told his story, a woman stood up and tearfully told of a dream she had had repeatedly lately. She told how in the dream she was distributing mosquito nets to women in Tanzania. In the dream, she heard God’s Spirit say to her: A man from Germany (Wolfgang Simson is German) will tell you a story that will help you understand the dream.

Suddenly, everyone in the meeting experienced how God’s Spirit was showing them what was happening all over the world. How God is busy with a spiritual awakening and conversions that are turning thousands of lives around.

What is touching is that most of the time it happens half-unexpectedly, in the strangest ways and places, and that He usually uses people you wouldn’t expect.

The Lord then reminded them of Jesus’ words in Luke 10:2: “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord, to whom the harvest belongs, to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Someone then stood up in the assembly and said that the Lord reminded him of a fable by the Brothers Grimm that told of a dragon that made life hell for the inhabitants of a certain country. The king of the country then announced that he would give half of his kingdom to the man or woman who would get rid of this dragon.

The person telling the story then turned to a man behind him in the audience and said to him: You have promised the Lord so many times that you are willing to give half of your business profits if only it would let His kingdom come. It is now time for you and others around you to start doing what you promised. Let God show you who the people are to whom you need to give financially, so that they can go and distribute mosquito nets of all kinds that God wants to use to catch fish.

The man to whom the prophetic word was given then began to cry and said that he was a businessman and chairman of his country's Christian business action.

Can I make a few closing remarks? I don't know if you know, but currently, it is calculated that almost 75 percent of all new conversions worldwide take place outside the normal, structured church and congregational meetings and programs. This is currently happening in the "strangest" places and among people where we would never have expected it years ago.

God's Spirit is working through what I like to call the "ekklesia in simplicity". It is ordinary where believers in all humility do their everyday work and things because they have experienced that this is what God has told them to do. In the process, they then experience how the Lord uses it to touch and turn around the lives around them.

I want to challenge you: If you truly believe and seek how God's kingdom and will can come where you are, then just do what God asks you to do!

Perhaps you are also one of those who, as part of this, must choose to give a portion of all that you have, and all that God gives you through the business or through farming, so that His kingdom may come.

Remember 2 Cor. 9:6 to 11: “Remember this: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

And God can make all things abundantly available to you, so that in all things, always having all that you need, you may have all you need for every good work. As it is written, ‘He has distributed to the poor and has given generously.’

And God, who supplies seed for sowing and bread for eating, will also supply and increase your seed for sowing and increase your generosity. He makes you rich in everything, always making you generous in all things, so that you may have all you need for every good work.”

I want to be very practical today.

Let me tell you what is happening practically in my life because I have chosen to allow the Lord to minister to me every day, early in the morning, with His Shalom, His peace.

You remember what is written in Phil. 4:19, right? If not, let me quickly quote it for you:

“And my God will supply all your need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

How many times have I cried out to the Lord: “Lord, I don’t know what to do anymore! I am in debt and using up my last money here. Please help, Lord!”

That’s how I told one of my sons-in-law about this the other day.

It has been more than 30 years now that we as a family have trusted the Lord as our Total Provider! And every time I called, He “showed up” and rescued us and provided what we needed!

Yes, sometimes it wasn’t exactly how and when I wanted it! But He has never let us down! As that one TV commercial rightly says: If He doesn’t come to help today, it will truly be the first time!

Therefore, I praise the Lord for His faithfulness to His promises. But, please, can I ask you nicely: Don’t wait until you are deeply in debt before you grasp His promise there in Phil. 4:19 in faith!

Have you read what Paul really says to me and you in Philippians 4?

He is not just talking here about God who provides! He is talking about: “My God will …”!

See, this is the language of someone who has seen and experienced in his own life who and how his God is! That is why he also knows that it will come true in your life as His child!

You therefore do not have to wait until you are “rock bottom” before you can experience the full impact of the “shalom” side of this word of promise in your life!

I can tell you from my own shame and damage from so many times that I was so busy making plans and working my arms stumps to find a solution to my crisis or need myself. Yes, in the process, without always realizing it, I “forgot” about Phil. 4:19 as part of God’s “shalom” promise to my loved ones and me, because hear what it really says:

“And my God will supply all your need richly according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

So this word is not only meant for those “rock bottom” times! It is meant for every day! It is meant to be part of my everyday “reset” where I remind myself that the Lord is also with me and in me today and that His promises also apply to this day!

Therefore, since I started my day, every morning disciplined by deliberately grasping this promise, I discovered how this “peace”, peace of mind, calmness, began to envelop and change my heart, and how even the “rock bottom” times began to become less and less in my life!

I began to discover something of that contentment that Paul also speaks of here in Phil. 4, where one begins to discover that in the midst of those short-lived times of too little and not enough, one no longer becomes so anxious and can also experience God’s presence in and around you in those times.

Start building these kinds of faith disciplines into your life today.

If you don’t know exactly how, please ask! I would like to help you with that!

If God Himself, through the working of His Spirit, has literally wrapped you in His peace and you feel wrapped in that peace and love, He also says to you there in Luke 10:

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go now! But remember: I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

“Do not carry a purse or a bag or sandals, and do not waste time on the road in greeting.

Whenever you enter a house, your first words should be, ‘Peace be to this house.’

If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.

Do not go from house to house, but stay in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer is worthy of his wages.

Whatever town you enter, and they welcome you, eat what is set before you.

Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

But whatever town you enter and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off as a sign against you. But know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’

I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon that were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, do you think that you will be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades!

“He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Can I just try to summarize for you again what Jesus is saying to us as His followers here about what it means to be His witnesses and ambassadors of the Kingdom of God here on earth every day?

1. Begin to bless the people whom the Lord has placed on your heart where you are, with God’s peace in Jesus’ Name. Pray that God will bless them from their shoes with His blessing (the blessing of Deut 28), which through the death and resurrection of Jesus is part of “the life” and “that in abundance” that He has come to work for each of us. (John 10:10b)

2. Just be there among them, eat and drink with them, visit with them, to give them time so that they can get to know you and your heart. And hopefully, in the process, begin to notice and experience something of Jesus, His love, and His life in you.

3. Be constantly sensitive to the voice of God’s Spirit in you, which may, at this time, show you a particular need in those people’s lives that only God can serve. Then pray that God will come and do a God-sized miracle in that person’s life; whether it is a healing that needs to happen, or that God can intervene somewhere in their life, marriage, business, or finances, and do a miracle there.

4. And when God’s Spirit creates the opportunity for you, then testify to them about the hope and life that is possible in Jesus. Yes, God’s kingdom has also come to change them and everyone around them.

“Let your kingdom come, and your will be done, as it is in heaven, also here on earth!”