We returned to Prague on April 2 and were taken back to Radek’s house, which will be our main quarters for the remainder of our time in the Prague area. The Tursko fellowship has not been meeting as a whole group on midweek gatherings of late; instead, they have split up into several home meetings that gather on various weeknights. The fellowship members decide which group they wish to become a participant with. We will attend three of these meetings this week. The first, on Tuesday, was at Martin and Kristyna’s home, an easy next-door walk. The second, on Wednesday, was at Martin and Kveta’s home. The third, on Thursday, was at Radek and Gabcha’s home; it was held here instead of the usual setting, because Oliver is still recovering from the influenza, which has been hitting some of the households of late. There was no preset agenda at these assemblies, only discussing the word as it came to the fore.
A special guest in the Tursko community for a few days, is a young brother, Paul, a Nigerian man, who was first encountered in Moscow. He has plans to marry Brother Chijioke’s daughter later this summer. He left on Thursday for Norway.
Friday was a rather quiet day, but in the afternoon, Rita held a special meeting, by their request, with the young sisters who are coming of age. Rita said it was a very productive three-hour meeting, a sharing of experiences of life’s lessons, with questions and answers. In the evening, we attended the usual elder’s meeting at Radek’s house.
But the weekend became quite busy with meetings around the word of God. There were two lengthy meetings on Saturday, with a break in between, where the fellowship gathered around the large tables at the back of the fellowship meeting room. I was asked to share what was on my heart and have it as an open discourse in the word. I decided to begin the long process of going through the outline that I had made several years ago, “Satan’s 13 Weapons” that he uses against the saints. The feedback we were getting was very positive, so we will continue. On Sunday morning, I preached on our coming into the true rest that is offered again by God through Jesus Christ. And there is yet a fullness of rest, coming in the great millennial jubilee. On Sunday afternoon, we were back at the great table and the 13 weapons.
Table Teaching
Monday, April 9, begins our five-day visit into Moravia. Kristyna drove us to the train station, where we boarded a 9:48 coach that will take us the 3 ½ hour ride to Tomas and Magda’s home fellowship, right next to the Polish border.
Cesky Tesin
Tuesday and Wednesday will be our two days of ministry here. Brother Tomas had reserved a room for us at the Pension Mlyn, not far from their home. Our first meeting was at the home of Tomas and Magda. I spoke on the mystery of iniquity and our need to have a Love of the Truth. It was good to see the ones who have been faithful here year after year. The next night we met at the home of Kamil and Teresa and we could see how the Lord is also blessing this family; I brought a word here on the Barren Woman. The brethren said that they very much appreciated the challenge of the word. The next day, Tomas drove us to Sumperk; Sister Pavla rode along with us on the two-hour journey.
Cesky Tesin Fellowship
Sumperk
We landed at the home of Tomas and Veronica, another house much blessed with children. He took us to the central part of the city and got us ensconced at the Pension G., again a very comfortable room. The meetings are scheduled to take place on the ground floor of the same building. On Wednesday night, I spoke on God’s dealing to give us a Hunger for the Hidden Manna. The next day, a couple of the sisters came in the morning and took us on a walking tour of the central part of this small city, which has a wealth of parks, cobblestone paved streets, old medieval style buildings and many statues of saints, kings, emperors and such. I took particular interest in the statue atop a very high pedestal, a woman standing on a golden crescent moon wearing a crown of 12 bright golden stars. Since the city seems to have a strong Catholic presence, I surmised that this woman was meant to represent Mary and not the travailing church as we understand Revelation 12. Historically, this region was under German control (Sudetenland) until after World War 2, when it was returned to the Czechs. After the walk, we had lunch at the home of Libor and Lenka. They reminded me that it was 24 years since I first came to minister here and had meetings at their home. Many of the members of this fellowship are in some way tied in with this extended family.
On Thursday evening (actually late afternoon), the second meeting gathered. I spoke on the path of salvation, looking in particular at the tabernacle as a pattern. There were more of the fellowship members in attendance at this meeting. At both Moravia locations, the brethren said that the spirit and the word was what was needed. Brother Tomas took Rita and I to the train station where we caught the train for the two-hour ride back to Prague. Radek was waiting for us to take us back to his house.
Sumperk Fellowship
Tursko Revisited
On Saturday again, like last weekend, we had two “round table” meetings in the back of the worship hall upstairs. We studied more of the outline of Satan’s 13 weapons, especially paying close heed to the word in the epistles. What was significant about this Saturday’s gathering was that I saw people whom I had not seen for many years. Also, in attendance were those who had been sick last week or who had had sickness in their household, so the attendance was somewhat larger. It seems that the brethren were very blessed with the direction the meeting had been going. We did our final study of this on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday morning I preached, actually following the journey of the Ark of the Covenant from the time of Joshua until the days of David, when he had it installed in the Tabernacle of David, which is prophesied to be rebuilt, and to be followed by times of refreshing in the Lord.
Our time here in the Czech Republic has been a very great blessing to us and we are hearing that the Lord has blessed the brethren as well. A special thanks to all who have been faithfully supporting us in prayer.
Mark and Rita Jantzi
End-Time Kingdom of God 