Brother Desmond R. Singh speaking at the funeral of Walt Johnson, Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, September 1, 2022

On Saturday evenings, our elders encourage the saints. Last night, Brother Vid’s exhortation was profound yet so illuminating. When we sing choruses like YOU ARE ALL I NEED LORD, we can sing it as a declaration of our faith and dependence upon God, or we can sing a lie. We do lie to God often because there is a gap between the life we are meant to experience and our actual existence as believers. Sometimes it takes a life-altering circumstance to jar us into our total dependence upon God. Our Lord used Brother Vid to convey that only the power of God in us will give us the strength to break the yoke of sin.

Following Sister Pam Goodwin's funeral (des Moines, Iowa), Brother Singh reflected on her many admirable qualities. She was Brother Glenn Goodwin's helpmeet; an example of all a minister's wife should be. Especially commendable was her modesty, deportment, sobriety, femineity, and steadfast support of the work of God. Brother Glenn will struggle mightily without her. 

No woman in the Bible better displayed those qualities than Hannah. 

During his ministry, Paul wrote many epistles (or letters) to Body of Christ assemblies. We hold these writings as sacred scriptures. Yet, just as any sermon delivered under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is God's spoken word, so are inspired letters penned by the man of God to his congregation. What follows are excerpts from a letter written by Brother Singh to the Mississauga saints on December 5th, 1996. About five months earlier, a profound man of God, Lloyd L. Goodwin, had died unexpectedly. He was Brother Singh's pastor, teacher, and mentor–as Paul was to Timothy.

God blessed Canada with four distinct seasons. As daylight hours shorten, leaves shed their many shades of green for a transition to the oranges, reds, and browns of autumn. This glorious fall color palette brings joy to souls. Brother Singh draws a parallel between the progression of nature and a well-worn Christian life! Just as nature prepares for the long winter sleep by displaying a brief spectacle of color, so too does a victorious Christian life show its best witness as it prepares for the long sleep of death. God said through His prophet: "those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Daniel 12:2).

The judgment of God is falling on the earth to punish evildoers and chasten the elect. What we have witnessed since March 2020 is but a trumpet sounding—a warning—that saints need to heed. Worse judgment will soon follow. John wrote, "I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, 'Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!" (Revelation 8:13)

Since the garden of Eden, the devil has tirelessly counterfeited God's work on the earth.

Jesus told the Samarian woman he met at the well, "True worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23-24). Moreover, Jesus told the woman, "You know not what you worship" (v. 22). If there are true worshippers, there are also false worshippers! Jesus stated, "In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9). Brother Singh asks, "Do we know what we worship?" 

Spiritual immaturity was a concern for the Apostle Paul because, in his absence, the Corinthian church slid into apostasy. And so, it is equally a concern for Brother Singh, for every work of God is a target to be undermined by the devil. For, if someone preaches "another Jesus" than the one he proclaims, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received in our assembly or you hear a gospel different from the one you accepted, you will readily submit to it. (See 2 Corinthians 11:4) Shepherds jealously guard their flock because our heavenly Father is a jealous God!

Brother Sam expresses his gratitude to the Lord for our assembly's countless blessings. God inhabits the praises of His people! If we fail to express our appreciation for how He intervenes in our lives, then we are not who we claim to be. "But unto {those} that fear His name, shall the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in his wings. (Malachi 4:2) Although we live in perilous times, we can have confidence in God's plan and purpose for our lives.

Both Apollos and Timothy figured prominently in the ministry of the Apostle Paul. When the Apostle Paul arrived in Ephesus (Acts 19:2-3), he found that Apollos had established the church on the wrong foundation. Although well-intentioned, it is an example of an uncalled man undermining the genuine work of God. Unfortunately, it happened in the 1st Century and continues unabated today. So, Paul rebaptized the believers in Ephesus, and they received the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 19:4-6).