Jack Jackson - Putfontein Convention - 1951

I have noticed between the meetings, when out and around that there are a  number of boys and girls there, and when I come in here, I don't seem to see  so many. I think I understand the reason for that. I think they are here but lost.  When I say you are lost, I mean you are more or less shut off by the bigger folks. Well I was asked if I would talk a little to you boys and girls this afternoon. I don't know if you would just wish me to do so or not? You would? Very well. There are several boys I notice by the door, and perhaps you would come and sit near the front, so that I can talk to you.

Well I want to tell you something, you girls and boys. If I can't tell you something that you will understand, you will have to help us. What I mean, you will have to listen very well, because if you don't, I won't be able to make you understand what I want to tell you. When I get stuck, you will have to come to my help. What I think I would like to do -- during the time that we have, we must have two meetings. A two in one. We will have two meetings in one. I'll tell you what I mean. I will try first of all to tell you something in a way that you will be able to understand it, and then after I have done that, we will then for a little while tell the bigger folks a few things. Then possibly I might be able to tell you something that you can understand, and if you can, then the bigger folks should understand it too.  

Over in Port Elizabeth I was telling the people in a meeting there a little I had thought about boats and ships. But do you know what a boat or ship is? Does it run on wheels or go on land? No. Very well, it is something that has no wheels, and does not run on land, but on the water. I was reading in the Bible one day where it tells about a ship. When I read about it, there were several places where it talks about ships and boats. I thought I would find some of these places in the Bible where it talks about ships and boats and read them. I was surprised to find there were many places in the Old and New Testament and I read in a number of  places. I am not going to tell you about the many places I read about, but I'll tell you about one or two that I was reading about these boats.
It occurred to me, I think, that I myself am a little ship. I think when I say, like a  little ship, in a boat or ship, that when people get into the boat or ship, they sail in it. Then I was just like a little boat, and in this boat of mine, ( I think that this  body of mine that you are looking at now like a little boat ), I was sailing in it.  Does anyone ever talked to you about a soul? Yes. Well, my soul is sailing in the little boat. If I have a little boat, have you one? Yes. Is your soul sailing in yours? Yes. Now, do you understand? Now a boat leaves a certain place called a port, and it leaves one port and intends to go to another one. If I am like a little boat, and my soul is sailing in it, what port did I sail from? The port I sailed from, we call the cradle. Do you know what a cradle is? It is where the baby sleeps in. Well I think I will call the port I sailed from, the cradle. What port am I going to? The grave. I am still journeying, still on the way. Is it the same with you? Yes.  What will happen to my boat when I reach the grave? I will leave it. When a boat gets to port, the passengers get off.  I am a passenger, and when I reach the port of the grave, I shall just get off. Will the same thing happen in your case? Yes. When you reach the port called the grave you want to go to heaven when you step out. Now think of yourself as a little boat.

Now I read a few verses of Jesus when He was here. If a boat sails from Durban to London it makes different stops or stops at different ports and then gets to London. It is the same in connection with my little boat.  It sailed from the port, called the cradle, and I have called in a number of ports since then. You know what happens when it calls at a port. Some things are put off and some put on.

There are six different things. The world, flesh and the devil puts things in the boat that should not be there. Even we ourselves. There are three also that are wanting to put things into the boat:  God, Jesus, and the spirit of God. They are wanting to  put things in that should be in the boat. Put too much in the boat it sinks. Too much wrong, it will sink my little boat.  We should be careful and not get things into the boat that should not be in. If I go to the port of bioscope. dance, fashion  shops, place where they sell paint for my nails and lips, the beer shop, will I get  something there that will be good and should be in the boat? No. Listen now, suppose I go to the meeting will I get something there? Yes. Suppose I read my Bible, or ask my mother or father to lend me their Bible, would I get something there? Yes. If we are going to get something that is going to sink our boat, best not to go there. If I went to a meeting I would get something good there. Jesus said, "Let us pass over unto the other side."  If I said, "Go to Johannesburg," you would go along but if I said, "We go," we both go together. Jesus was talking and said, "Let us pass over unto the other side." They were all going.  

I went to a meeting once, but before I was in that meeting, I called in my little boat at other ports and had a lot of the other things there. Where my mother and father were living, they did not know about the Truth. They took me to the church. There was a little boy in a meeting once and they were talking about synagogues, churches. This little boy heard this and on his way home they were passing one of these churches and the boy said to his mother, "There is a sinner's God." He thought that was what they said and he was right, you know. I was going to tell you I went to the church with my father and mother, I did not have the opportunity as you have of hearing and knowing the Truth, so that I had got a lot in the little boat that should not be there at all. I went to a meeting. What happened there that time had happened that day too when Jesus spoke. Let us go together. He said it to me in that meeting. Let us journey together. Take me into your little boat, Jack. I was sailing in this boat and sailing for the port called the grave and when I get there I want to step into Heaven. The Lord wanted me to take Him into my boat with me so that we might journey together. When I reach the grave, step out of the boat with Him and walk to where I particularly want to go. It tells us here that they took Him into the ship (within). They sent the multitude away. I am here and journeying and He wants to journey too.  

Were there many people in that meeting? There was not a crowd. There was a crowd in my mind and thoughts. My companions. If I take Jesus into the boat what would my companions say. What would my relatives say?  The clergyman in the church, what would he say?  A whole lot of people in my head giving me advice. I sent that multitude away. What does it matter what the companions say if I can have Jesus in the boat. I decided to have Him in the boat. I took Him within. He was in the ship to journey with me. In this (myself) my little
boat. Let us journey together. Pass over to the other side. Take Him into your little ship.

When I took Him into the little ship, He began to throw overboard a whole lot of the things that the devil and the world and I had been loading up in the ship previous to that. There were things in there that should not have been there at all. When I took Him in, He cleaned the little ship. He went with me. I am still sailing, I have not reached the port called the grave yet. I am glad that Jesus is still sailing in the ship with me. If He should leave my boat today, can I step out of it with Him? No. I am glad that I have just let Him run the little ship, not as I like and as other like. I trust He stays with me in the ship until the port of the grave so that I can step out with Him.

There arose a great storm and the waves beat into the ship so that it was full.  That happened in my case also. There arose a great storm also when I took Him in. Some companions of mine and the clergyman started a storm. While my companions stormed, a whole lot of relatives stormed and a great storm arose and some of the waves began to beat into my ship that I almost felt it was going down. The Psalmist says, "They that go down to the seas in ships do business in great waters." That is where we are, journeying across the sea.  From the cradle to the grave. The sea of time. We are just going across the sea of time, and we will leave the sea of time. Journeying across the sea of time. Some that go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters. Those who have taken the Lord into the ship with them. You are going to hear the Lord say to you, "Let us go over to the other side." Take Him in your ship. Many of us have heard that. Say to myself and you say to yourself, don't let us be afraid of taking our little boat, but allow the Lord to take our little ship out into great waters.
We would like to hug the shores. Not go out into great waters as the workers do. We as saints can hardly do that. We as workers leave our homes and go out into the deep. Everyone who has taken the Lord into his little boat can go out and do business in great waters. Joseph did business. He was young and he was away down there and did not have the privileges. We sometimes talk and think about and just pass our time thinking about circumstances surrounding us. Joseph surely could have done that if he wanted to. How many meetings did he have in 22 years. He could have thought of his circumstances and everything is against me - there's nothing I could do. He did not do that. He had the Lord in his boat with him.   He was carried down to Egypt, the Lord went with his little boat. Doing business, great business in great waters.
What about the little captive maid carried away prisoner? She did not forget God. She did not forget the Lord with her in her little boat. She said to her mistress that they must let salvation come unto her master. She remembered the prophet in Samaria and that he would recover her master of his leprosy. 
What about Jesus?  When he was 12 years old, he was listening to the educated men and asking questions. He was doing business in great waters also. Others did likewise. Joseph and the little maid and others we read about doing business in great waters. We would see the works and ways of the Lord in the deep. If we hug the shore we won't see it. Go out into the deep and you will see it. Jesus commended it.
 After this a stormy wind arose that lifted the waves thereof.

I talk about taking my little boat out in the deep and it is all nice and smooth sailing and everything is alright, then when I am way out in the sea someone says there is going to be a big storm. No, Lord don't send it, save us from the storm. I would not say send it along. Why does the Lord send a storm? It reminds me of something that happened once on a boat. On this boat were two young men and I was talking to them about God and they laughed at the idea of there being a God. "The fool says in his heart there is no God." However we journeyed on and some days passed and on about the 18th day the same two spoke to me. The conversation finished that day by my saying to them, "Now boys you may tell me now there is no God, but one day, and when that day may be I don't know, but one day you will know right well there is a God." The day will come when they reach the port of the grave and step out of the boat without Jesus. Then they would find out there is a God. We then had dinner and laid down. I met the one young fellow a little later and he said, "The other man is dead. He got into his bed and I got into mine and I spoke to him but there was not a word from him." That is what the other one told me. One afternoon it looked very black in the distance and I said to him it  seems we are going to get a storm. He said, "I hope we do."  What are you saying? You are wishing for a storm and we are in mid-ocean. Why do you wish for a storm when we are here?" "This is the first time I have sailed on this ship, I shall like to see how she behaves in a storm. All ships don't behave the same in a storm."
The Lord commands and sends a storm to see how the boat you call "Jack" behaves in the storm. He sends the wind and the wind raises the waves for the purpose to see how we behave in a storm. Would you like to be a little ship that one can trust? Sending a storm along to see how we behave in that storm? The waves mounted up. My soul almost melted because of the trouble. They rolled to and fro. They staggered to and fro like a drunken man. They were at their wits end. The margin says all their wisdom is swallowed up. They don't know what to do.
We were walking the other evening and saw a house. Looking at this house its name was "Worry's End."  This man must have worried and worried until he got to that corner. When you are at your wit's end you don't know what to do, you will ask who is in the ship with you, and what to do, and that is Jesus. Jesus was asleep in the ship and they woke Him up. When they were at their wits end, "they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distress. He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still, then are they glad because the storm is passed." You cry unto the Lord and the storm becomes a calm and you feel glad. So He bringeth them unto their desired haven. That would be the grave. See the same in Mark's Gospel. They called on the Lord, woke Him up and then He woke up and spoke to the sea and there was a calm and the wind ceased. They got over to the other side. He said to them on this side,  "Let us pass over to the other side." You would like to take Him into the boat with you. The storm rose and calmed but the storm kept on till they got to the other side. I think you understand what I mean.
Our bodies are like a little boat and our souls are sailing in this boat but the devil, the world and we ourselves would like to put in what should not be there. Jesus, God and the spirit of God puts in what should be there. Jesus himself would like to come in and sail with us. When you hear Him say: "Take me into your boat," take Him in. When you have done all you can do to keep the boat sailing, and you get to wit's end, call on God and He will help you. Then He wants to see how we behave in the storm.

I remember in 1910, I was in a boat, and we were in the iceberg region. A very thick fog came on. That meant there was danger. The captain stopped it. He then said there was not much danger now. We drift the same pace as the icebergs drift. I fear there are more collisions now than when I was sailing. He said, "I have been sailing all my life, and when I started sailing, there were not so many accidents then. When we were sailing (and it was with sailing boats), you had to depend on the wind. There is not much wind in a fog, and we could not travel. When the fog lifted, we just went on."

Has your boat been in a fog? What did he teach me? He taught me to lie still in a fog, lay till it lifts and then go on. When there was a fog, and I pushed my boat on, it would collide with another little boat. Then I would have a time! "What did you do that for?" and so forth.

At other times I have not done what he told me, but I learnt a little from it and have been able to do it at times. In a dense fog, let the boat lie still and wait a while. I have never seen a fog that lasted till today. The have all lifted. I have seen storms that have taken buildings away - have wiped trees up, but I have never seen a storm that lasted till today. Every storm I saw passed. Some took longer than others, but everyone passed. That gives me hope that when a storm or fog arises, I will sit still. Don't move. Keep it still. Keep out what is around - that which will sink the ship.
There are many, many ships and certainly millions of tons of water,but this water will never sink one of them - it is the water that gets in If there is a little hole, it will get in. If there is wind blowing, have some way of getting the water out. I remember one time, two others and I wanted to cross a bay, about 3 miles across. We had a little rowing boat. We started in that bay and then saw there was going to be a storm, and we first thought of not going. But the others said we will get over before it, but we did not. It caught us in the middle of the bay. None of us knew about rowing, and the only thing we could do was to keep it facing the wind. So we did that. I was rowing and another one was sitting steering. I could see the water coming in over my head. He was steering at the back with one hand and with the other hand he was teeming out the water with a tin. It was a tomato tin on that boat, and it just kept us going.  Sometimes we can't hinder the waves coming in - jealousy, envy, bad waves. Worldliness comes along, a wave of fashion, a bad wave. There are a multitude of waves around us across life's sea. Have some way of getting it out. Teem it out, or skip it out - don't skip it in the boat.
When they took Jesus in the ship, there were also other ships with them. There is another ship sailing here beside me. Waves of envy get in. You think you will put it in another boat - it will help that boat to sail along. No, be careful when you skip it out, you may skip it into anther boat, that may be sailing alongside you. I don't know if I would have been here today, if it was not for that tomato tin. When I see any empty tins lying around, I feel sorry for them, because I remember that it saved our lives.