Albert Martin Interview of Achille Blaize

Biblical Framework for Inter-Church Fellowship

0:01 This adult Sunday school class was held on October 31st, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:11 I thought it would be appropriate, particularly for the sake of visitors and those who are relatively new amongst us, to give just a little bit of a biblical polemic or framework for what we are doing this morning. Those of you who frequent this place as a place of worship and instruction know that we hold very deeply the conviction that the gathered Church of God should be characterized by serious and yet joyfully solemn worship, solid biblical instruction, and to that end, this class is usually given to the examination of the Word of God in a class format in which there is interaction with one another, but a framework in which the Word of God is taught, expounded, applied, and this morning we're doing something radically different from the normal format, and we're doing so because of some deep and, we trust, biblically held convictions. As you have heard us say on many occasions, this is not a preaching and teaching station. We hope it is a place where the preaching and teaching of the Word of God is central to our life, but we are more than a preaching and a teaching station.

1:31 We are seeking to be a biblical church, and being a biblical church involves many, many things, and one of them is in the whole area that will regulate what we're doing this morning. A biblical church is a church that seeks to be true to the mandate of our Lord Jesus to make disciples of all the nations, to be sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit in marking out those who should take the gospel, to other places, and be useful in the establishment of churches. And it's vital when God in His providence establishes an intimate relationship between churches and between men who are proven in one church and sent to establish churches in other places, that those relationships be nurtured. And you have an example of this in the book of Acts, in which we read in Acts 13, that from the church at Antioch there went out, two of the brethren, to take the gospel to other places, and after they had fulfilled the ministry to which they were sent, they returned to Antioch, the very place from which they were sent, and we read in Acts chapter 14, and when they were come, verse 27, and had gathered the church together, they, that is Barnabas and Paul, when they had gathered the church together,

3:00 they rehearsed all things, things that God had done with them, and that He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. But then this very significant word in verse 28, and they tarried no little time with the disciples. And so they spent time with the very people out of whose midst they had been sent, and no doubt instructed the people of God, but also had opportunity to become acquainted with those who had been added to that church since they had left. And it's most likely that in the church at Antioch, there were many people who had heard Paul and Barnabas often in the prayers of the people of God, but to whom Paul and Barnabas were only names until they returned.

3:45 And then in that time of return, they got to know them in a personal way, and I'm confident that the fruit of that was a greater intensity in their prayers, as well as more intelligent, prayerful commitment. And then there is the whole doctrine in the word of God, of what we would call the intimacy of interchurch fellowship, the way these letters could be sent amongst the churches and personal greetings addressed to so many individuals. It is evident that New Testament church life is marked by a conscious effort to cultivate intimate relationships with those whom God in his providence brings into the life of any given congregation. And so it is that framework of biblical thinking that lies behind the manner in which we're going to conduct the adult class this morning. Approximately ten years ago, God brought into our lives one of his dear servants who has become known and beloved to many of us, Pastor Ashiel Blaze, presently ministering in East London in England. And for many of you, he is a friend known and beloved, and yet for probably equally as many, he is just a name. And you've heard, perhaps, some humorous things, some very sobering things, some encouraging things about him, but here he is this morning, the real man.

Introduction of Pastor Achille Blaize and Interview Format

5:12 And we trust that as a result of our time together, you will feel a deeper sense of personal acquaintance with him. And what we've decided to do is to conduct our time together in the form of sort of an interview in which I will be the interviewer and he the interviewee, and I will be the interviewer and he the interviewee, and I will ask certain questions, which will direct then the remarks and information that Pastor Blaze will convey to us. Now, this is a new thing for both of us, and we haven't rehearsed it, so at any point that either of us gets too far from the mic or doesn't raise his voice, though the elders said they doubted either of us would have any problem with that, in terms of past reputation, any of you who can't hear, just raise a hand and we'll try to crank up the volume a bit. All right? Pastor Blaze, it's a great joy to have you back amongst us. Perhaps you want to say just an initial word of greeting?

6:10 Well, it is a joy to be among you, and there are so many eyes on me.

6:20 And you have grown to be a very big family. And you have given birth to us in East London, for those of you who may not know that. And then I was charged by my fellow elder, to bring greetings to you, who gave birth to us in our Lord Jesus Christ. All right?

Achille Blaize's Early Life and Upbringing in Dominica

6:42 Well, we thought we would start with the question, asking Pastor Blaze to give us just a little bit of the history of his birth and upbringing in an island in the south and a bit south and east of us. We often pronounce it Dominica, but it's Dominica. And if you want to, if you want to, if you want to, if you want to keep in his good graces, you never pronounce it Dominica. You pronounce it Dominica.

7:07 I think I've said it properly. And so Pastor Blaze will give us then, if you will, a little bit of your background and upbringing in that country in the West Indies. I was born and brought up on my island.

7:24 My family, my immediate family, we were not extremely poor, nor were we rich. There was enough food on the table for all of us. And as boys and girls, if you were given your portion and you were a little cheeky, by the time you open your eyes, your food would have gone.

7:52 My parents were, we all belonged then to the Roman church, and it was the desire of my father, he imbibed the colonial mentality, namely, the son, number one should be a priest and son, number two would be a doctor. That is all Anglicanism. What do you call that over here?

8:20 Episcopalianism. And my brother succeeded in being a doctor. He was practicing in California. He was extracting a tooth.

8:32 He fainted. He gave it up.

8:49 As for me,

8:56 I am a real priest.

9:01 And when God was pleased to bring me to a saving knowledge of himself, I wrote to my father and mentioned to him what had happened, and he was not pleased. Nevertheless, God was good in bringing me out of the darkness of Romanism into the glorious light of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were six in the family, three boys and three girls. Mother died when we were quite young.

9:39 We had a good home, where, in West Indian culture, the man is the man. And when he is the man of his house, he is a man. And sometimes, that manhood is a bit too stiff. Nevertheless, it is good breeding in order to establish good homes where male leadership is established.

10:09 And when mother died, father had to become mother and father. And it was good to see my father functioning in both capacities. And God was pleased to implant into us and in me those principles looking back in God's good providence, preparing me for the work of the gospel of God. I think an incident that would be interesting to our people, just to underscore the manner in which your father, though at that time we had no reason to believe he would be a Christian, was a Christian, in which he imbibed the matter of faithfulness in prayer.

Father's Discipline in Prayer and Religious Observance

10:51 You remember the incident? He would come in, and if you were sleeping, That's right. No, the one I'm referring to. I think this would be of interest to the folk.

11:01 Now, which one? There are several. They'll tell you. They're not pilgrims, and they ask you if you've said your prayers.

11:09 Oh, I see. Yeah. Okay. As a very strong religious family, for instance, on Sundays, it was mandatory that you go to Mass prior to breakfast.

11:24 No Mass, no breakfast. It was as simple as that. In the evenings, it was not a question of going to bed. It was a question of praying before bed.

11:38 And Father would be there to make sure that you pray. And sometimes as boys, you would run about and become tired, and then you would go to bed. Very well. He would come into the room and wake you up, hold you by the scruff of your neck as it were, and say, have you said your prayers?

11:57 And you may be dozy. You say, no. He said, well, up and down. That is, up and kneel down.

12:04 And he would oversee and supervise, making sure that you said your prayers. And the prayers then, sort of pirate fashion repertoire. But even in that discipline, God was very gracious to us in training us and in keeping us in good order, in order that as we developed, He was inculcating into us those principles that would affect us for life. Now, I know this will be a difficult thing for you to do, but would you want to put in capsule form for our people the basic things God used to bring you to the knowledge of Himself?

Conversion from Romanism to Christ in England

12:46 How did you get from Dominica over to England and into a state of grace? What were the major factors that tied those events together? Good. Now, being a preacher, for a reputation in defiance of clocks, I must be disciplined in keeping to the time.

13:11 In the 60s, there was a great exodus from the islands to Britain, because, as you know, being colonial, the government then thought it would be the best way to show a measure of kindness to young men and young women to open the British Isles for the citizens, the British citizens of the Commonwealth. And therefore, all the young men and women were making their way. It was like a El Dorado. So we made our way to Britain, and I was one of them, and arrived in England in 1962.

13:55 I can remember driving from a friend of mine. He flew. We couldn't afford flying, so I took the boat. And he said, when he was coming down on London Airport, he was so thrilled.

14:08 He said, Boy, the whole city is full of churches. What he meant were the chimney stacks. And he thought every chimney stack was a church pillar or something. So we came, settled down, and my whole purpose was to pursue my father's wish, as well as to continue in studying engineering, because then, in the Roman church, the idea was coming, not only you should be a priest, but a practical priest, to be effective in training others.

14:42 And for two years, I lived in London, until one Sunday, I visited a friend of mine. He lived in a little room, and after a little chat, he said to me, I have a present for you. Will you promise that you will read it? Now, I said, well, I cannot promise, for I know not the present.

15:04 He said, it's a good one. So then, back home, a man's word is his bomb. So you put your hand out, you shake it, and it's confirmed. But before you draw that, you say, well, if it's not good, then I'll break that.

15:20 He said, okay. So he shook hand, and he gave me a beautifully bound Bible, to my shock and amazement. But I took that Bible home, I placed that on the mantelpiece. I never bothered with it too much.

15:34 And I'll never forget, one Sunday night, I came home, being religious, everybody wanted me to be a godfather. You ask me what that means, I don't know what they wanted me to be. And I came home, there was an emptiness, a real emptiness. I went to church in the morning, I went to Mass, and I went to Vespers, that sort of evening incense thing, the thing gets you sick the more you smell it.

16:02 And I went there, but there was a real emptiness. But there were some people preaching outside, on the second coming, the hymn we sang, similar to that. Jesus is coming again, are you ready? And that got me.

16:16 Although extremely religious, I knew within my heart of hearts, that I was not ready. And I remember, I went to bed with all the lights on, just in case it happened. And my eyes caught the Bible on the mantelpiece. And I said, oh, perhaps I'll read it.

16:34 That might make me ready. And as a good Roman Catholic, I looked for a saint in the Bible. To my surprise, the first half of the Bible, there were no saints there.

16:46 So I looked for the table of contents, and the first saint I saw was Saint Matthew. I said, that's good enough for me.

16:55 So I turned to Saint Matthew, and chapter 1, and I was discouraged. The list of names, I said, what on earth is he talking about? And I came to the conclusion, because catechism, Roman dogma says, the Pope finds what he teaches us in the Holy Bible and in tradition. And he's the only infallible interpreter of the Scriptures.

17:25 Now I regarded myself not as a dunce, but I said to myself, as a young man, surely I could make head and tail out of what Saint Matthew is saying. Well, I cannot. And I was convinced in my mind, only the Pope can interpret the Scriptures, because I just couldn't understand the first 17 verses. But as I was about to close the book in God's good providence, my eyes caught on the first word in verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ is on this wife.

17:58 I said, boy, there's a logic there. But whatever the logic was, I couldn't understand, so I continued reading. And for the first time, reading the word of God and the narrative of the birth of Jesus Christ, I read on and on until I came to chapter 6. And in verse 24, I read these words.

18:22 You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot have two masters at a time. And it was through reading of the Scriptures, God met with me. He blistered my conscience, and showed me that I was not His.

18:39 I fell down on my bed and cried unto God, not to make me a Christian, but to become my master. Because that was what the text said, you cannot serve two masters. You see, and I said, well, although I call myself a Christian, but I said, no, for Him to be my master, it means I must be a slave, and cry unto God to be my master, and to deliver me from my former master. Nothing happened.

19:09 I got up. But I'll remember that. I went to bed with a measure of peace. And next day, I took my Bible to work, and my friends thought I was going bananas.

19:23 And they would ask me, what is it all about? I say, I don't know. And they would say, and they bring many arguments. I couldn't understand their arguments.

19:32 And I would read the Bible to myself, and they would ask me to read to them. I would read it to them, but they say, what does it mean? I say, I don't know. But I would simply read it, and God was pleased to bring me to a saving knowledge of Himself for the reading of the Scriptures of God.

Providential Connection with Trinity Baptist Church

19:50 Well, you've done admirably well to condense that into the few minutes. I'm sure that took great discipline, my brother. Now, to leap over a number of years, perhaps I could just summarize briefly that the Lord in His providence began to give to our brother as he was faithful in witness, where he had been placed, opportunities of ministry, until there was recognition by others of that gift to minister. And then the Lord in His providence began to cause our paths to intersect.

20:23 So perhaps you'd like to, if you would, Pastor Blaise, tell the people how it was in the providence of God that you came into the life of Trinity Church and Trinity Church came into your life and some of the major factors that led to that relationship that has been sustained now over these many years. Very good. You all know and are familiar with the Banner of Truth conference. Let me start in this way.

20:54 And the first year Pastor Martin came over, I think it was 67? That's right. Sixty-seven. I was brought to a saving knowledge of the grace of God about 64 and began reading my Bible.

21:12 The church where I was was a good church. The preacher, Pastor Paul Tucker, was a good preacher. But I was disillusioned when we went to conferences and the men opened a word and they left it. We were in a state of limbo.

21:29 And there was no application of the Scriptures. You've got to find it out for yourself. And my friend went to Leicester Ministers Conference. The first year, he was Pastor Stuart Olliot.

21:42 And he came back. And he came back with glorying reports. And he said, You must come. You must come.

21:49 I said, Oh, no. Because prior to that, in 1966, we had...

21:54 I hope you'll understand what I'm saying. It's no way of criticism. Prior to that, in 1966, we had Dr. Billy Graham over.

22:03 And the whole thing was such a fiasco that it turned me off and turned many off because of the man-made or man-centered religion. So I concluded that the only preachers that can come across the puddle to us are men like that. You see, that was my conclusion. He said, No.

22:27 That young man, that young preacher, he's really a preacher. And he'll open the book. You'll like him. He's like you.

22:37 Of course, I thought he didn't have any notion of biology anyway to say he was like me. After much persuasion, he got Mr. Ian Murray at me. And okay, I said, All right, I'll go.

23:00 I'll come to Leicester for the first time to hear this preacher from United States of America. And I made sure I sat at the front. They had some cozy armchairs. So I plunked myself down first row next to the preacher.

23:15 So I wanted a perfect view of that preacher, so well recommended. And I sat. He sat to my left and there was a spare seat. And then, whilst we were having a little chat, somebody sat to my left.

23:29 And they said to me, What is your name? I said, My name is...

23:37 And I gave him my name. And I said to the preacher, to the person, What is your name? He said, My name is Al Martin. I said, Oh, you are Pastor Martin.

23:46 And the first impression... Now get that very carefully.

23:51 In England, preachers do not sit with their people. And for that big preacher, I mean that, to sit on the front row next to the congregation, that was a revelation. And I said to myself, Huh.

24:16 So I didn't say too much.

24:23 Because I was a very cautious man. After, I think it was Professor John Murray then, who chaired the meeting that night. Professor John Murray chaired. And he gave a good introduction.

24:36 And then Pastor Martin stood and he preached on Psalm 44. That was in 1968, 69. The dealings of God in the past is the encouragement for the present and an incentive for the future. There were a little group of us ministers, not as big as it became now.

24:59 And I said, Let me see how Mr. Preacher is going to deal with that text. And he laid his foundation. And for one hour and a half, he preached.

25:11 And I've never heard anything like that. And I was so overwhelmed. Then he was sweating like an ox.

25:20 Then he came to me and I sat down there. I was so taken up with God's dealings and turning those things over my mind. He looked at me and he said, Do you want to pray? I said, Would you pray with me?

25:38 Or something to that effect. He said, Let's go to my room. And it was there on our knees we created our friendship from that day to this. And a few years later, Trinity Church met then, meeting then in your seat, Essex Feld in that little cracker box, invited me to come over to preach.

26:01 At Trinity Church and others. So I came. I think it was about 1972. And after I preached, the impression I got, the congregation was a quarter of the size perhaps.

26:17 Yes, small little congregation. But the first impression was, here was Biblical religion and a Biblical people. Everything about the worship, the people reflected the word of God. And that was new to me.

26:34 Preachers would preach and that's it. You live as you like. And so I was very impressed with that. And later, some months later, Trinity Church then called me to come over to be associate pastor with Pastor Martin.

26:53 And of course I was in assistant minister back in East London. There's a difference between the two. So the elders here wrote to the church back in East London to release me to come over to Trinity Church. And I came about 73 or so.

27:14 And there being co-workers together. But as I said, I regarded that, and I can remember mentioning that, as the last phase, as it were, of my training for the ministry. That's how I regarded it. Because to see virile Biblical religion and the Bible lived out and counsel given according to the scriptures, however painful.

27:44 And one thing I thank God, that although in many ways my theological development was not perhaps what it is now, but the elders had tremendous patience with me. And these men loved me. And the people of God loved me. I felt so safe that if I departed from the scriptures, they would bring me back.

Call to Church Planting in East London

28:08 You see, they were good enough and bold enough and loved me enough. After two years, God began, even prior to that, began to work upon our hearts and particularly upon my heart, trying to turn towards this London and so on. And the superfluous amount of letters coming to help us and coming because lack of teaching and so on. But the thing that really broke our hearts, as elders was, a young couple came, Matthew and Marcel.

28:42 And they came all the way for counsel. And the young man was given up for crazy by his school, by his doctor, and his parents believed that he was crazy. So he came to the house. We were living then at Cliff Street, past Nicholl's house.

29:04 And when they arrived, I said, I just want you to sit in the home. Be in the home. We come for five weeks. We'll be generous for the first three weeks.

29:12 Keep your problems to yourself. Be among the people of God. The fourth week we'll deal with it and the fifth week we'll send you away. And then during the third week when we dealt with the problem, his problem was a matter of body chemistry.

29:28 And just give him a layman's teaching on biology in the light of Psalm 139. We have fearfully and wonderfully made and then said to him, now I want you to go upstairs and flush all those tablets down the drain. And he did that. And they broke down.

29:49 They said, please come back to aid us, to help us. And there is a little group in England who would like to constitute themselves as a church. As elders we wrestled with the theological, historical. We brought that to the church.

30:03 And then in 1975 the church then sent me in the spring of 75 for tuition for myself to see whether there was a little group of people who would be willing to throw in their lot with us. I returned, reported to the church and then we called a congregational meeting and then the elders laid hand on me and I was sent by the church back to East London in the ministry of church planting. And on several occasions to this day I have had cause to look back or causes to look back and to thank God that I was sent by the church. When moments of depression and discouragement would come my only argument would be when the book was sealed the only thing I could see was black and white in my Bible. And I couldn't see anything else. The problems were tremendous. My only argument with God was Lord, the elders laid hand on me.

31:05 The church sent me. The church has the mind of Christ. The church cannot be round. You placed me in it.

Founding and Growth of Grace Baptist Church, East London

31:13 You must deliver me. And year after year and the elders gave us oversight and to this day our relationship with you and us had been such. And to this day there is a little group of brethren called the Grace Baptist Church that was planted. We met in a little shack for a number of years.

31:39 It was really a little tin shack in the shed. You won't even put your car in there. In the winter it was like the Antarctic. In the summer it was like the Arabian desert.

31:51 But God kept us there for five years. No windows, no heating, no bathroom, no nothing. It was monkey. I mean that.

32:05 It was... What term do you use over here?

32:11 Anyway. Downstairs. I've got three or four pictures of the tin shed on the bulletin board. So we met and we began negotiating and so on and so forth.

32:23 After five years we were negotiating four premises an old defunct building for two long, 24 months and the red tape and the bureaucracy. One day Pastor Kurt, he was a minister, he phoned me. He said, look brother, how far are you in your negotiation? I said, well if I must tell you how far I've been down all the red tapes and I've been up again and I'm up to my eyebrow.

33:02 He said, have you signed anything? I said, sign? There's nothing to sign, man. Because there is no way.

33:12 He said, all right, I have a proposition. We have a building. We have building, but we have no congregation. Why not we two churches, we believe the same thing, meet together?

33:28 I thought, perhaps I'm dreaming. And you have a lovely little phrase over here. You say you had the goose bumps. No, I had the goose bumps.

33:41 I said, do you mean business? He said, yes. I said, well, I'll call the elders, let them wrestle, and they will come back to us. So immediately I telephoned the elders, telephoned Pastor Martin, they discussed it, and sent back two principles.

34:01 One, in the light of the interest of the kingdom of God, it is good that we should court one another. Two, if God is about to bring the marriage, it would be more effective. So we went courting. For two months.

34:17 But during those months, we were peculiarly conscious that God was bringing about a marriage. So I decided, for the new people, because they were elderly and older, I must expose myself to them and to the kind of preaching. Because I wasn't going to give them any impression because we wanted a building, so we'll do anything to get a building. So I opened up the scriptures of what a church is, and I said to the people, well, that's the kind of preacher you're going to have.

34:51 No compromise. We must stand by the book and the book alone. If you want this marriage, I am prepared for marriage. If you don't, we go back to our shack.

35:06 And so the congregation met. We met. We discussed it thoroughly as a congregation. We were very close.

35:14 I'll never forget, we were sitting in my living room, or sitting room, or whatever room you call it. Pastor Martin was there, Mr. John Spence, and Mr. Don Ritter.

35:29 They had the congregational meeting, and we were all tense, waiting. But there were one or two persons in the congregation who did not like the idea of a marriage. We would rather see the thing finished and boarded up and done with. They did not like the idea.

35:45 And she was determined to come to break that little group. And you know what God did? Hours before that took place, God smote her husband with a stroke. And she had to be in hospital.

36:00 But she had influenced others to say, no, we are not going to have that. We have been here long enough, and if we die, let us die in the buildings, die with us. So Pastor Kurt, when he came, he said, our sister so and so, her husband has been smitten by God. We better be careful what we do tonight.

36:25 And the fear of God got into the people and they voted unanimously. So about 10, 10.15, the telephone went. And I ran to the kitchen, and it was Pastor Kurt, well brother, I hear great news that the church has voted unanimously that they won the marriage.

36:46 And then, oh, we met, thanks and praise. And this day there is a little Grace Baptist Church in East London there in Gurney Road. And our relationship, one to another, you and us, and us and you have been so precious. Now that sort of brings us up to date on the matter of the church life and God's dealings with Pastor Blaise personally.

Courtship, Marriage, and Family Life

37:13 But there's another whole dimension of his life, and that takes in his dear wife, Esalyn, and his two children, Glynwyn and Anastasia. Now those of you who know a little Greek, you'll recognize Anastasia, Resurrection. He can tell you why they named their first daughter Anastasia. And then he can explain Glynwyn if he wants to. That's a little more complicated.

37:37 But I think it would be well if you just tell us a little bit, I think it would be of interest to the people, of how the Lord led you and Esalyn together. I think that will give some principles to some of our young men and young women who are interested in ultimately standing before a clergyman and saying, I do. And then I have a question or two to ask you about the family life after you just give us a little synopsis of the romantic life. Well, I'll never forget.

38:09 And you cannot forget that. As a young man, I was a little conscious that the Lord God would be calling me, or is or was calling me to the ministry. But there didn't seem to be any young lady about that you know, where you can really love not simply somebody you want to get married for convenience, but somebody you could really love as Christ loved the church. And there was one young girl, particularly in the congregation and I scrutinized her over a year and turned her over and stewed her a little, all to myself.

38:53 All secretly. And begin to pray and I begin to bring all kinds of arguments. And I'll never forget one day I was reading through the scriptures and through that whole week the language of scripture coming. Abraham went when God called him not knowing where he went.

39:11 And the whole idea of trusting God and faith and relying upon Him. That this was the girl that the Lord God would have you and examining her life in the light of the scriptures and all the biblical principles I could see. So I decided well after a year the time has come to make my thought known to her. Little did I know she herself was scrutinizing me and then you had a reciprocal relationship.

39:42 But it was very romantic. The day I went to the house that evening something was wrong with the electricity. There was a blackout in the city of London. And they had candles.

39:58 What a romantic way. To propose. So but when I got to the house her parents were not in. Oh and I got scared.

40:11 Because remember the house is in darkness. She's a young lady and here is a young man. And I sat round the door, round the kitchen and in West Indian terms I said now dear the reason for my coming is simply this. I have been thinking and praying and it seems to me that you have been thinking and praying.

40:33 Nevertheless in order that our prayers be more intelligent I would like you to consider becoming my baby. That's a term we use back home. Sort of over here you say honey and some people say sugar and some people So God was very gracious and I gave her a little kiss on the cheek and off I went. Because the house was in darkness and I didn't want to stay for long.

41:02 But God began to deal with us and when we became serious then we began wrestling with the scriptures to find out biblical principles to guide us in our courtship. We had no one to lead us, no one to guide us. It meant sitting in mother's living room with the door open so she could hear what you were saying and discussing and going through the scriptures to find out principles to govern us and to direct us because we wanted God's best. And God was pleased to lead us and of course the whole question in training and at college and what have you we had to wait and the future seems bleak. But it pleased God after a long period of courtship that in 1974 God was pleased to bring us together as husband and wife and we were married. But when we were engaged it was very interesting. We went around, we bought the little engagement ring and we came back to the home and mother had high ideas. We said to mother no no no it's very simple and we took the principle in Genesis 24 we read it we prayed the family together and then slip in the little ring that means you are booked for life. And that

42:29 is the first part of the contract and that was serious business and then the mercy of God until the day when he was pleased and we stood together we took our vows before God and God has been pleased to give us a rich and blessed relationship. Now tell us about Anastasia and Glenn just a word about you two children. Very good. Anastasia as Pastor Martin indicated the reason for giving Anastasia that name as the first child are two. Scripture commands us in all that we do we must seek God's glory so we decided in the midst of all the past years of death and of burial in courtship we would give her a name that would reflect God's kindness to us as it were in bringing us back to life. So and then secondly Anastasia is a family name. My great grandmother my grandmother and so on and up to my sister. So we decided it weren't too bad we'll adopt a little bit of traditionalism so we'll give her the family name Anastasia Beatrice. Beatrice

43:39 is the Latin form of the beatitude blessed happy and so on. Glenwyn the reason for Glenwyn is G-L-Y-N-W-Y-N no vowels. The reason for Glenwyn is during my single, when I was a single man I spent most of my Christmases and holidays in a quaint little village in South Wales on the border and I had a peculiar love and liking for the Welsh. So I decided if ever I have a son I'm going to give him a Welsh name but a made up name. I would make that up myself. It would be pronounced in Welsh but it will have enough of I shall blaze in it. So therefore okay so when Anastasia was born we had the name we made it up Glen means valley Wyn beautiful and his middle name is Nathaniel gift from God. So we decided we'll call him Glenwyn the first name and of course so when our son was born spot on time we called him accordingly Glenwyn.

Biblical Gender Roles in the Home: The Children's Play

44:53 He's a boy. He's full of life I think. Let me give you a little One incident that Pastor Blaise shared with me yesterday that was both humorous and yet at the same time underscores in a very profound way how our children if they are surrounded with biblical perspectives in the church and in the home how quickly they can absorb to the point of felt conviction some of these perspectives and I prepared him for this. I said please share that specific incident about playing church in the home so that you kids especially you listen to this one now and you'll hear how Anastasia and Glenwyn play church in the home. The church often and of course we leave them they have the sitting room and they have their pews they put their chairs and what have you. Alright when church commences there's no problem. They both sing on top of their voices we let them sing because whatever they say that's left to them. Let them get it over

46:00 because that's a form of their mental emotional development and they're in the home they're not disturbing us they're not disturbing any we just shut the door and they play church because they are God has been pleased to give them good voices I expect they got it from their good friend they got it from their father but there is a problem whenever they play church Anastasia must play the organ and we must sing together but when it comes to preaching only Glenwyn must preach he makes that plain to her so one day they were playing church Anastasia said well you always you are always preaching let me preach. No you must not preach the bible says ladies must not preach only men must preach Anastasia was determined to preach and he began to cry and he ran up the stairs and came to the study daddy daddy I said what's wrong Anastasia wants to preach so I said well what's wrong with that what's wrong with that the bible says ladies must preach I said I must do the preaching not her ok I said ok my boy

47:29 you call Anastasia and you would rush downstairs Anna Anna daddy wants you and they will be coming I could hear I told you women mustn't preach I told you I told you so they would come I would sit here in my desk and they would stand I said now Glenwyn what is your complaint well Anastasia wants to be the preacher I said well why can't she the preacher no daddy she cannot be the preacher women must not preach because the bible says it and I said Anastasia why do you want to be a preacher I'm only teasing him dad so they would go back and she would sit down she is the congregation he would stand on his box with his bible and he would preach to her and then church would conclude and that is it but it's important when you preach and the principle of the distinct roles in the bible is important especially we are living in a matriarchal age in unisex mentality and what have you but as

48:55 Christians we must be very careful that we do not imbibe the philosophies of the world we must be controlled by the scriptures of God in every aspect and therefore the bible says suffer not a woman to preach nor to usurp authority over the man and give the reason in spite of what society says we must go by the book and the book alone and to implement that in our children and sometimes when you go into the garden daddy we men must go to work the ladies must work in the garden so he has that clear anesthesia you stay with mother to prepare our meal and then we would work in the garden for a little while and then my wife would bring some refreshment ahh and we sit on the grass and he said dad it's nice to be the man

Husband's Sensitivity and Biblical Manhood in Marriage

49:58 now another incident that I think will be most helpful because again there are some of you who perhaps because of your background and your past wonder if indeed if those perspectives are embraced in the church and in the home whether that will not create a demeaning role for the woman and a hard hearted approach of a man to a woman's needs and unless you feel pastor blade it would be too personal I think just generally about the incident ahh some of you know we've been praying for Mrs. Blade she had not been well for some months it was just this chronic weakness and unable to fulfill many of her tasks and feeling keenly her responsibility ahh you may feel maybe I'm unwise in expecting you I don't know how much of the old reserve is out of your system yet you see a little bit a little bit okay I think that's right well for our men to hear that okay the sermons we've heard on first Timothy first Peter chapter three yes dwell with them according to knowledge yes we couldn't understand what was happening to my wife

51:27 she would get up in the morning she couldn't get out of bed she was exhausted and all the kind of tests and all the medical examination until the doctor got a little tired and thought well who am abused using the national health because we have a social system sometimes you wonder anyway that's a different thing and ahh so it means I had to go preaching here then everywhere but I had to curtail because the children were and my wife being sick not knowing what is happening so we began to give ourselves to prayer and then to seek the face of God seeking to find out what exactly was wrong we came to many conclusions it might be body chemistry or what have you nevertheless one on many occasions we it seems that some of the problem was because of my wife's background and upbringing where you have the home where the man is the man in that wrong sense not in the biblical sense we're talking about and then it seemed I'm not too sure about that that trying to find her way or trying to find herself

52:55 and ahh so I would come home and she would be weak we just sit down and she would just cry I said well baby just cry God has given you a big broad shoulder and she would just cry and cry and cry and then she and the cure was she said I'm beginning to see my way I said how are you seeing it there I'm beginning to see light through the tunnel how I'm beginning to see it in my husband you are my strength and my stay and in this little sensitive nature where when the biblical principles are implemented it does not mean the man becomes such a bull in a china house that is insensitive to the need of his wife every husband must aim at being a psychologist domestically and if you do not aim in becoming a domestic psychologist to live with them according to knowledge brother you've got problems well it hardly seems possible that the 50 minutes have gone but they have

Prayer Requests and Concluding Prayer

54:22 and I trust now that many of you do feel that you know our beloved brother and esteemed servant of Christ much better you have a little feel and insight for the family we should mention the ages of the children Anna will be seven in January and Glenwyn is five five so that gives you some idea of their ages the picture that's on the bulletin board downstairs was taken about two years ago so it's a little outdated but they haven't changed that much in general appearance so you will get some idea of what they look like now is there any one pressing request that you would want to leave with us you'll be preaching in the next hour and and you'll not have this opportunity again to direct directly address us on any one specific prayer concern as you leave would you want to just address yourself to this we're usually done here at this time so just in one minute alright well one pressing request or two I would like to leave with you is two things that God would be pleased to raise as well as send men to our assembly when we first started we had men but due to apostasy discipline and many other reasons we

55:51 haven't got the number of men we would have liked because the scriptures command us to commit the same to faithful men who in turn will teach others also and no work of the kingdom can continue without male leadership where you have elders and deacons who reflect the scriptures and secondly that God would be pleased to send us homes in East London and in British Isle home life is really at rock bottom and there are no families in the church there are one or two but not enough where young couples and young families can see models models to pattern their lives and to pattern their families accordingly so these two requests would be that God would be pleased to raise and send men to us and secondly that he would be pleased to raise and send families to us in other that we may see a biblically virile church growing to the kings honor thank you we will be able to unite our hearts together as we thank God for this time and commit these concerns to our God in prayer our Father we give you our heartfelt thanks

57:19 for the privilege we have had of meeting in this way this morning we thank you for those bonds which in Christ leap over all man-made barriers and constitute us one new humanity in the Lord Jesus And we thank you for your kind providence that years ago brought this, your servant, into our lives. And we thank you for all the mutual strength and encouragement and enrichment that has come as the fruit of that relationship. And we now earnestly pray that in the days to come you will lay hold of men and raise up men in that congregation. And, oh, God, save and establish and raise up families to the end that young people growing up in that assembly may have true models of godly family life. We pray that you will be with Mrs. Blaze and the children in the absence of husband and father. We pray that you will take our brother safely to them when he flies back on Tuesday night.

58:29 And may they have a blessed reunion. May their lives be enriched as a result of this time of separation. We lovingly commend him, the family, the flock of God, Pastor Kurt, to you. And pray that in the days to come our hearts will be made glad as news filters back to us of that which you are doing to glorify yourself and to establish for your dear son a true and vigorous church.

59:01 Amen. We pray that you will hear our cry and receive our praise as we draw near in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

59:12 Amen.