High notes of thanksgiving and praise are in order for the ministry of the No-Walls Church of Hope in the Farrington. Tuesday May 27th will mark the church’s seventh anniversary, and this will be commemorated by a special time of reflection and thanksgiving during the morning service on Sunday, May 25th, at 11:00 a.m.
The above caption, “Hither to Has the Lord Helped Us”, is a profound expression of gratitude to the Lord God Almighty for showing His might, power and provision in causing the House of Israel to triumph in battle over their vicious Philistine enemies.
As the story goes, the prophet Samuel had implored the Israelis to return to God after they had roamed away from His precepts and followed after strange idols. While they camped out in a place called Mizpah, rending their hearts in prayers of repentance and offering burnt sacrifices of penance, the Philistine army decided to ambush them and slaughter them all. But God caused a great disarray among the Philistines by sending a heavy clap of thunder as they engaged the Israelites to fight. The shocking thunderbolt caused the enemy to be stricken with fear and bewildering panic. With that, the Israelites pursued them, slaughtering them instead.
As a token of thanksgiving and gratitude to the Lord for His marvelous act of deliverance, Samuel erected a special symbolic stone between the cities of Mizpah and Shen, and this stone he named Ebenezer, meaning “thus far the Lord has helped us”.
Today, as pastor of the No-Walls ministry, I can sanction this noble expression of thanksgiving and credit to the Lord, with Samuel: Thus far, the Lord has truly helped us. It is because of Him that we stand, for through many subtle conflicts and snares we have already come.
When my wife, Pat, and I initiated this ministry on Pentacost Sunday, May 27th, 2007, we looked forward to the fulfillment of rich promises. Just as God had promised Israel, He had promised us. And, for the most part, those promises were fulfilled in time. The church was flourishing and growing from strength to strength. But, as reality has it, even as Israel was on occasion attacked and plundered by other enemies like the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites, we too were attacked; we too were plundered. Throughout the years we had experienced remarkable victories, but we have also succumbed to disheartening defeat.
We are persuaded, nonetheless, that just as the warring Philistines could not stand to see the Israelis prospering in their faith and progressing at Mizpah, our arch enemy, the devil, finds it hard to tolerate us progressing as the body of Christ. We are thankful, however, that we serve that same God who confused the Philistines thousands of years ago, and He still confuses the enemies of His church today. I am convinced that, like the Israelites, by faith we shall be ultimately victorious over all of Satan’s plots and schemes. Like the Israelis, the church is destined to prevail, for it was Christ Jesus, Himself, who once promised, not even the gates of hell shall prevail against it.
So as we come to the point of commemorating our seventh year, the year of completion, we as a body of believers realize, beyond any reasonable doubt, that one day soon we shall flourish and thrive again as in past years. And while we do not look back to our past to determine our future, the past has had a way of teaching us many virtuous lessons, thanks to God.
We, at the No-Walls Church of Hope has built our hopes “on nothing less than than Jesus blood and (His) righteousness.” And because our hope is on Christ, we can safely say that, like the proverbial phoenix rising from ashes of dreary despair, we too are on the rise to higher heights in this Christ in whom our hopes are cast. Yes, He is the one who has helped us “hither to”, and He’s the one who will lead us on.
To all our faithful friends and well-wishers, we say thanks for your fervent prayers, words of encouraging support, and your gestures of goodwill throughout the years. And to all my fellow-members, I say have a blessed and happy 7th anniversary, and may the love and peace of God continue to flourish and abound among us.
