District Apostle Edy Isnugroho, accompanied by Apostles Samuel Tansahtikno and Freddie Nuyad visited Leyte, Bohol and Cebu, the working area of Apostle Freddie Nuyad. From Saturday, 20th July to Sunday, 28th Jul 2024, District Apostle led a series of divine services in Almeira and Bobonon, Leyte; in Taguihon, Garcia and Vallehermoso, Bohol; and in Lantawan, Cebu. Notably, this visit marked the first time a District Apostle had visited the congregation in Garcia and Vallehermoso, underscoring the importance of the journey.

On Thursday, 25th July 2024 he conducted a dedication service for the newly renovated church in Garcia. The Bible Text was out of  Luke 6:38: “…Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

This is the preaching of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of Matthew it is called the Sermon on the Mount. While in the Gospel of Luke, it is called the Sermon on the Field. What matters is the content. His sermon fits our time. People are often dissatisfied. They complain to God that God should do this and do that, or that the government should do this and do that, that their fellow human beings should do this and do that, that is wrong, that should be done differently. But here Jesus speaks very directly and tells us: This is what you should do. Don’t look at others, but start with yourself and live My sermon. Start following My example!

• Be merciful. At the beginning of this paragraph, He said: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36). Be merciful because God is merciful to you. Do for your neighbour what God does for you.
• Forgive your neighbour. Then He quickly becomes very specific. He says: “You should forgive your neighbour because God forgives you. Do for your neighbour what God does for you. Forgive your neighbour because God forgives you.”
• Do not judge, or the Father will judge you. What does God do for us, what does Jesus Christ do? He loves us, all of us, without exception. He loves us exactly as we are. And for heaven’s sake: We are all fundamentally different! But He loves us all with exactly the same love, everyone, whoever they are, whatever they have done. God loves them unconditionally. God accepts us as we are. God expects us not to judge our neighbour and that we can overcome these differences, this otherness, and accept each other, even love each other, and that we hold on to what unites us: Jesus Christ. That is much more important than any differences of opinion. Yes, we are different. There are different opinions and different ways of being, thinking and living – but: Jesus Christ loves us all, and we all want to be with Him forever; and that unites us. That should actually be much more important to us than anything else, than anything that divides us.
• “Give and it will be given to you.” It’s not about money, not about material help, that’s the easy way. If we have a guilty conscience we reach into our pocket – we have money. And then we give something to our neighbour, then we have a clear conscience. But that’s really not the point! It’s about our attitude towards our neighbour. Make sure that we give as much importance to the needs of our neighbouras you do to your own needs. Or, as Jesus said: Do unto your neighbour as you would have him do unto you (Luke 6:31). That is the parallel. What are our own needs? What is really important to me? I want to be respected; I want to be taken seriously; that people understand my weaknesses; that I am given a second chance; that I am forgiven; that I am accepted and understood, that I am loved. These are very specific examples: Forgiving – not judging – accepting the other person, and giving. We can really do this in concrete terms, with the help of God.

The promise: an abundance blessing

Then Jesus says: If you do this, you will receive a full, pressed-down, shaken and overflowing measure, because with the measure with which you measure, it will be measured to you. What does that mean? It means that if our desire is to become like Jesus Christ, to follow His example and to grow into the image of Jesus Christ, then we will also receive the glory of Jesus Christ, then we will receive the reward that Jesus Christ received and share in His glory. This surpasses everything we can think of as human beings.