It is so good to see you, brothers and sisters, from various places. Welcome to the nineteenth Northeast Christian Conference.
I was asked to share a word, and I have been waiting before the Lord about just what to say. After all those beautiful hymns and prayers, what is there left for me to say but simply to echo the songs we have sung and the prayers we have offered?
I just want to remind you, brothers and sisters: it is not a small thing to be blessed by the Lord. It is a tremendous thing, and it is a tremendous responsibility.
This meeting, this conference weekend, is the Lord Himself drawing us to Himself. He is the One who called, and we respond. It is His doing that we are here for this weekend.
As you look back over these past nineteen years, you will notice that the theme for each of the nineteen conferences begins with “spiritual.” If you look carefully, you will notice there is a real progression.
Those who were here for the very first conference in 1988 remember that evening. We almost called it quits, didn’t we? We faced tremendous challenges. The whole island, the whole area, was darkened by a terrible windstorm. I would say it was not really Katrina, but it was pretty close to it.
In those early days, we had no Bayview. We only had the hotel, the motel, the Captain’s Deck, and the gymnasium. The wind was so strong that we did not know what to do. We had brothers and sisters out there trying to direct people to the conference site, because that was our first conference.
Many of the people were coming for the first time, and many of them got lost. They drove around the island for almost an hour—half an hour—and finally they found it.
That was a very challenging first experience that we faced. Yet we were not discouraged. Nothing could deter us. You know why? Because God called us to come, and we came. It is what He says that matters.
Brothers and sisters, it costs something to come to the Lord. It costs something to truly follow Him all the way. So we are very thankful that we are able to gather here this weekend.
The first conference, I am sure you remember, was about spiritual vision. That is how we began, and there has been a progression. Throughout the years, we have had difficult times in considering what the theme for the next year should be. How high can we reach? How high can we go? What is the ultimate goal toward which we are reaching?
I believe the theme the Lord has given us for this year is spiritual readiness: Be ye ready. That is the theme for this weekend.
I want to share some very encouraging and challenging words tonight. Would you turn with me to Matthew 13?
First, we will read verses 16 and 17: Matthew 13:16-17. These are the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples.
If you look through Matthew 13, He spoke first to the multitudes, and then later He spoke privately with His followers, His disciples. To the disciples He said:
Blessed are your eyes, for they see;
and your ears, for they hear.
For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which ye see, and saw them not;
and to hear the things which ye hear, and heard them not.
Then let us read Matthew 13:11:
Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Brothers and sisters, do you see the import of this statement by the Lord? Blessed are you: you see and you hear. Many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, but they did not see it. They longed to hear what you hear, but they did not hear it. But blessed are you, because you were given this privilege—to know the mysteries of the kingdom. To them it was not given, but to you it is given.
Now, what is given and what is really possessed are quite two different things, right? What is given means that you have the privilege, the opportunity. The time is now.
The Lord said, “He that hath ears, let him hear.” You have been given that privilege. We have been given the ability. Use it. Use it.
This weekend, as I exercise my heart before the Lord, I want to modify my way of hearing from this moment onward. In the past, we came to listen to a good message; we wanted to accumulate some knowledge and understand the truth.
But we have been given this privilege to know the mysteries of the kingdom. Brothers and sisters, why was this privilege given?
If He is the King, why was this privilege given? It is to really embrace Him as King. Knowing Him as King is one thing, but actively embracing Him as King is quite another thing. That is why we are given this privilege to know the mysteries of the kingdom.
All the brothers will share about the coming Lord Jesus. This theme has been in our hearts for quite a long time, for quite a few months. These past few weeks, as I quietly meditated before the Lord, I came to a conclusion, and I think it is the right conclusion.
Why do we read our Bibles? Why pray? Why grow spiritually? Why meet the way we meet? Why seek the Lord? What is the ultimate purpose? What is the ultimate aim for doing all these things? For what?
What is the ultimate objective? There is always a goal, and we are getting there. It is the preparation of the bride.
He is coming for a mature bride, prepared and ready for His coming.
Brothers and sisters, when the Lord uttered those words in Matthew 24:44:
Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Be ready.
As you read this passage, do you sense the longing of His heart? Think about it. Do you sense the longing of His heart? “Be ye also ready.” That is the longing of His heart.
Why do you think the Lord delays His coming? Why is He waiting? What is He waiting for? Because we are not ready.
We do not seem to care whether He comes or does not come. We carry on anyway. We still have our usual meetings, our usual prayer meetings, and all our usual activities. Without that in view, we miss everything.
When you read that verse, Matthew 24:44—“Therefore be ye also ready”—I say, it is the longing of His heart.
If we love Him, that also should be our longing. What is it? The Bridegroom longs to be united to His bride.
How about the bride? If her heart is right, she will also be longing to be united with the Bridegroom, the One she loves. That is the ultimate expression of true love: our union with Him, not just in time, but through eternity.
Honestly, I feel this conference is very special. To me, it is very special. I attended all the past eighteen conferences, but this conference is very special to me.
Because through this verse—“Be ready”—I sense the longing of the Lord’s heart. Don’t you think we should sense the same way?
I think, as our three brothers share, this will come through. He is waiting and waiting, yet we do not seem to care how long He waits. We carry on with the usual things, and we hurt His heart deeply.
May the Lord have mercy on us.
This conference is very unique. I have never encountered some of the things that have transpired these past two weeks.
One brother said, “If the Lord is there and He is calling us to be with Him, if I had to crawl, I would crawl to be there.” Do we have that longing? Is the gathering of the Lord’s people that important to us? Is the Lord’s calling of us to Himself that important to us?
Is it important? Yet we take divine things very casually, to our great loss.
Two weeks ago, late one evening, totally unexpectedly, I received a long-distance call from South Korea.
The brother on the other side of the telephone said, “Brother Joseph, I heard there is a conference. We want to come.”
We tried to talk them out of it. Such a long way, just for such a short time—is it worth it?
I tell you, they were determined to come. In fact, they wanted to come earlier. You know why? “We want to meet brothers and sisters. We want to have fellowship with them. We long for fellowship.”
I told them, “Brother, it is not possible for us to receive people. We are all very busy getting this conference ready. There is no way.”
So I secretly talked to my wife and said, “You know who can always put people up? Jack and Ruth.” That is right. If no one will do it, they will do it.
So I called Ruth. I said, “You know, there are two brothers in Korea. They need a place.” And Ruth said, “No problem. But don’t talk to Jack yet. Don’t talk to him yet.”
Then they called back and said, “How about Dana? Is Dana available?” Then they went to Dana. You know what Dana did? “Dennis, you talk to Joseph. He knows how to arrange for you.”
Finally, I called Ina Chao. These two brothers were so determined. They said, “We will come on the fourth of October. We want to have some fellowship, at least two or three days, with some saints before we come to the conference.”
They made it to New York on the fourth of this week. I tell you, I looked forward to meeting these two brothers. They were so determined to come.
Brothers and sisters, we need to have a real hunger. We need to cultivate a real hunger.
The Lord is saying, “I want you to be prepared. Be ready. Be ready.” That is what My heart is after.
“I have been ready for two thousand years. Are you, Christian church, still lingering? You do not sense that urgency, but I am very urgent.”
Brothers and sisters, when you look at the world events that have taken place in these last few days and weeks, do you not think we should have an urgency for His return? Think about that. Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, all the disasters going on, all the recent events that have taken place—what do you think?
The Lord is hinting, as He said, “Be prepared. Be serious about it, because I am coming. I want to come. Be ready.”
This weekend is for this purpose. If we miss that, we miss everything.
God is love. Of course, you know He loved the world; He saved us. But the weight of love, the issue of His love, is to bring us to Himself so that we can join with Him in glory throughout eternity. That is the greater love.
I sense that we still have a few more minutes. I plead with you, brothers and sisters: can we spend another five or ten minutes—not long—in short prayer? Let a few brothers pray for this conference, for the speakers, and for our own hearts.
By the way, there are still those who are on the way. Pray for the Toronto saints—twenty-some of them. They are traveling all night tonight. They are not driving; they are coming on a school bus. They will be traveling all night from Toronto and may arrive tomorrow morning at six or seven o’clock. They need our prayer.
Brothers and sisters, if saints will come all the way from Korea, if saints will come from Toronto all night, riding on that school bus—do you think a school bus is very comfortable? You know what I am saying, especially with all those things. I tell you, those old bones cannot take it.
What is behind it? What is driving them? What is propelling them to say, “I have to be there”?
Because there is a timing. God has His timing. Everything He does has a timing. There is a certain time when He will speak a certain word. We miss it, we miss it.
So we are very thankful. Tonight, we still have about five or ten minutes. Can we just have a few brothers and sisters really turn our hearts to the Lord?
This weekend, through our three brothers, through what will be shared, through the messages and all the fellowship groups, the important thing is that something will register in our hearts: that this preparation for His coming will not be just words, but will change our lives individually and corporately.
There is a temptation just to be comfortable down here spiritually, without sensing the longing of His heart. There is a big temptation. We have fellowship, we have a good time together, we have good ministry, and we see the Lord’s working in our midst. It seems everything is doing just right.
But without this readiness, something is missing. Something is missing. His longing is that we should be ready.
Can we just have two or three brothers—not so many—hold this weekend again before the Lord, and ask Him to come through with that mighty word and change us from the inside out, to be a people willing to be prepared for His coming?
Just two or three brothers, please. Thank you.
Father, we thank You for gathering us together unto You for this weekend, because You have a work You want to accomplish in Your people.
We thank You for the three brothers whom You will use to do Your work. We pray that You will speak through them mightily. Lord, get hold of us for Yourself.
Lord, bring us to that sense of Your heart—that You long for a people prepared for that day. We pray that we also will be sympathetic toward Your heart. Lord, we will rise up and be willing to be prepared, willing to be ready.
We thank You, Lord Jesus. In ourselves, we can never be ready. But by the Holy Spirit, by our faith in Him, by obedience to His word, and by our submission to the cross, You can prepare a people ready for Your coming.
Lord, we thank You that Your word prepares us. We know there is a way to be prepared, so we surrender to Your way. Make a way possible with Your people tonight for this weekend conference.
We pray for each heart, young and old. Lord, get hold of us, that we may be found in that group prepared for Your soon coming.
We pray for the conference. Speak mightily through the messages and to each hearer, young and old. Lord, get hold of us, not just for ourselves, but for Your glory and for Your soon coming.
We give all the praise and all the glory in Your precious and mighty name.