The Best Time...
Message of
Rev. T. J. de Ruiter at his resignation service of the
Pentecostal Church Elim in Hilversum. The Netherlands
“For everything there is a
season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1
"I
know that whatever God
does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken
from it.”
Ecclesiastes
3:14
Introduction
According to chapter 1:1 the book of
Ecclesiastes contains the wisdom of
king Solomon. But many doubt whether these saying of wisdom originally
come
from Solomon. Many scholars find many similarities with wisdom sayings
of Greek
philosophers. They think therefore that the book received her final
edition in the fourth or century B.C. and Solomon
lived in
the tenth century B.C. I will of course not enlarge on this discussion
in this
sermon.
When the preacher of wisdom had determined that
there is for everything
under the sun a certain time, he gives a number of instances out off
the
normal, daily life. He says e.g.:”There is a time to break down, and a
time to
build up”, (verse 3). In verse 6: “There is a time to seek, and a time
to lose.
A time to keep, and a time to cast away.” The list goes on and I could
add to
it today: “There is a time to be ordained and a time to resign. A time
to be
consecrated as a minister and a time to receive a blessing to resign.”
Today...
It is
today, the 26th of June 2011, exact twenty years and eleven months ago
that I
was ordained as minister of this Pentecostal Church Elim. If I was a
member of one
of those groups that always searches for deeper and mystical
significations of
numbers I would make a study on the number 2011. But because I am not
interested in these religious, mystical meanings, I will not look for
such a mystical,
religious meaning behind 2011.
I think
we can be sure of it, that not all that happens under the sun has
eternal
value. Much is done and much is happening that has little or no value
and of
which we must say: “That is absolutely worthless.” Whether our work in
those
twenty years that we served in Elim has been of worth or of no value,
God will
make that clear. In any case I know that something I - and we together
as a
ministerial couple - have done that has a real eternal value; It is the
sowing
of the word of God in lives and hearts.
We have sown the word of God in preaching, teaching and in pastoral
counselling. On the ground of Isaiah 55:11 we are sure that God’s word
shall
not return empty to him but it shall accomplish all that He purposed. I
quote
here verse 14 of Ecclesiastes 3: “I know that whatever God
does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken
from it.”
But
what we have done in our own
strength and on which
the seal of God is not put, will perish. Jesus spoke about
the sowing of God’s word in
well-known parables in
Matthew 13. Whether it grows and brings forth fruit to eternal life or
not depends
on the ground on which it is sown. The ground in this parable of the
sower is the
hearts of people in which the word is sown. It depends on the ground
whether it
will brings forth fruit or not, but the farmer must of course sow with
wisdom.
Sometimes the ground is like hard like rock and sometimes like ground
which is
full of thorns and some hearts allow birds to pick the seed away. But
in good
soil it will grow and bear fruit On the
basis of personal counselling we know that we sown in Elim in hearts of
which
we are sure that they were good soil and that the Word of God grew and
is
already bearing fruit. If that is the case in your heart the word of
God will
bear eternal fruit in your life. For this we praise the Lord and give
Him all
the glory.
God’s
time
to resign
Today it is the time to resign.
We
know that this is happening in the
will of God. To know this is giving us rest and faith in Him for the
future.
Three
truths about the time of God.
a. God’s
time is the eternally appointed time.
All that God is doing is
determined through Him for eternity. I have not found it easy to find
Gods time
to resign. It was when the Spirit of the Lord spoke clearly to me last
year
that I knew: This is the time of God. I quote again verse 14 of Ecclesiastes
3: “I know that
whatever God does endures for
ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it.”
b. God’s
time is the confirmed time. If we live
and act within the will
of God, we will receive His confirmation of it. Then we know beyond a
doubt that
our steps are ordered by the LORD. We have indeed already received some
confirmations that we are in His will to resign today.
c. Gods’
time is the best time. In 1 Chronicles 12:32 we read that the men of
Issachar understood de right time for Israel to act. God's time is the
right time. So it is now God's time to finish our ministry in Elim.
After our conversion
in1959 we learned the
chorus: “God’s way is the best, the best always.” I would like today to
add to
it: “God’s time is the best, the best always.”
In closing
Psalm 31:15 says:
“My Times are in Thy hand.”
Also this day, on which we
resign is, we – my dear wife Tessa and I – are very conscious of it, is
in the will of God.
Therefore we
resign with gratitude, trust and with joy in our hears to the Lord and
His
people, gathered here today. It is today the best time for it is God’s
time.
Amen and amen.
The Netherlands,
26 June 2011
~~~~~~~~
Questions?
E-mail.... Pastor
T. J. de Ruiter
For support of the ministry of Pastor Teun and Tessa de
Ruiter, go to the site: www.supportchristianministries.nl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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