We just had the circuit assembly this weekend and what an awesome pair of days it was! We got to meet our new district overseer and his wife, brothers Melendez. And got to see our circuit overseer and his wife once again, brothers Ortiz. What awesome speakers they are! Brother Ortiz is very enthusiastic and uplifting and brother Melendez is very “animated”, that talks with conviction and seriousness. He then softens up with a big smile from time to time.
Whenever a new traveling overseer is assigned, we get a chance to know a little about them through an interview. They explained what influenced them to enter the traveling work. But first of all, they both had to have been full time pioneers first. That prepared them and enabled them to then enter into the circuit and ultimately into the district. They expressed so genuinely how they love what they do, and how much they treasure the ministry. Even though having studies is more difficult to maintain in the service that they do, for they don’t pertain to a specific congregation, the brother shared how he does telephone witnessing and how he conducts Bible studies that way. That shows a lot of these traveling brothers, that even though they don’t have much time to preach, they do all they can to participate in it.
What a difference from other religions. You probably wouldn’t see leaders of other religions go out and preach to people. Much less teach them valuable things rather than "Jesus loves you". You most certainly won’t see the Pope do such a thing. No way. These brothers, including the anointed brothers of Christ, go and preach. They don’t make themselves to be gods or someone above the rest. They are humble, and that is beautiful about Jehovah’s people.
Anyway, resuming course. The sessions were so great that I would like to share some of my and others’ notes. Besides it’ll help me to remember and retain the information.
The first talk was given by Brother Melendez. It was called Why is our spirituality so valuable? At least three reasons:
1) It helps us to endure tough times. James 1:2,3 admonishes to “consider it all joy” when we are met with difficulties, because those times will test our faith and make us stronger.
2) Spirituality produces true joy and peace forever. Romans 8:6 says that being spiritual, in the true sense (Romans 8:5; Matthew 7:21-23) leads to joy, life and peace.
3) And most importantly, our spirituality pleases Jehovah God.
The talk Pioneering elevates our spirituality was given by brother Arredondo. He gave a most encouraging talk saying that not being pioneers doesn’t mean that we are not spiritual people. BUT, the HUGE advantage of serving as a pioneer elevates our spirituality and opens doors to other privileges. Sometimes circumstances don’t allow one to pioneer, but the question we have to ask ourselves is, “Can we change our circumstances?”
Brother Noriega, had the Baptism Talk. The talk brought out how it’s Jehovah who qualifies and prepares us to be ministers, not a man or organization (2 Corinthians 3:5,6); and the main work we have to do as witnesses of Jehovah, to preach the good news, for His “will is that all sorts of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth”.
The first symposium was entitled Beware of the threats against our spirituality.
1st talk: Why be alert? Brother Pérez answered with 1 Peter 5:8: “Keep your senses, be watchful. your adversary, the Devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour [someone].” But we are not ignorant of his methods (2 Corinthians 10:12). The information encouraged keeping a simple eye and avoiding distractions and overconfidence, which leads to permissiveness. The more we liken ourselves to Christ’s mind, the more spiritual we will be, resulting in happiness and peace (Acts 20:35).
2nd talk: Avoid distractions that consume time. Brother Cavazos spoke logically to us. He said that if one goes toward one point, he obviously moves away from the opposite point. The more we draw closer to Jehovah, the farther away we will go from distractions the world throws our way. He spoke of the importance of our time, that if we are not careful, it will seep out of our hands, as sand from a closed fist. Philippians 1:10 says, “Make sure of the most important things.” He interviewed brother Chapa on doing just that. He said that every night, he and his family sing Kingdom songs before going to bed and how his three year-old daughter knows song #29 “Forward, You Witnesses!”. So cute. The brother continued saying that some things are not bad to do, such as watching appropriate television or navigating the Internet for example, but the time that is spent on them is. Besides, what do they contribute to our spirituality? Hebrews 9:14 talks of dead works, that do not produce the fruitage of the spirit. He then concluded saying ‘the more we have, the easier it is to lose balance.
3rd talk: Protect your spirituality from erosion. Erosion – A gradual decline of something. Brother Rufinelli described symptoms of spiritual erosion:
1) neglecting personal study
2) envying the supposed “good life” of others.
Isaiah 5:12 describes the condition of the Israelites when unfaithful. They have allowed their spirituality to erode. In contrast, we want to have our spirituality strong as when King David wrote the 23rd Psalm.
4th talk: Fight to counteract permissiveness. Brother Castillo’s information cautioned that permissiveness leads to errors and immorality. Hebrews 3:13 talks about the “deceptive power of sin”. One might say, “Oh, this won’t affect me.” “So and so is not THAT bad of a person.” The “deceptive power” of sin led permissiveness, and that led to the death of some 24,000 Israelites (Numbers 25:1-9). Wearing all of the Christian armor, as described in Ephesians 6:13, will help us to counteract permissiveness.
Ok, that is it for now. In a couple days or so, whenever I get a chance, I’ll put up some of the points we took from the last two super-encouraging talks on Saturday: Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and What characterizes a spiritual person? given by our circuit and district overseers... SO TUNE IN NEXT TIME!
2 comments:
Thank you for the info, it will help me prepare for the assembly, finally taking place in Ohio!
we are a privileged lot, unfortunately in this abundance , the hand may sometimes become too lazy to put the food in the mouth and unless we make use of the food and exercise our bodies, as time passes we can drift back to the old personality which decays with time.Such programs as this prove Jehovah realy cares and he is very loving.May all glory and praise move to him, thanks
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