December 9, 2007

Morning Meeting

• Hymn 257 – Himself He could not save
• Scripture – Hebrews 1:1 to 3
• Hymn 213 – On Calvary we’ve adoring stood

• Scripture:

  • Matthew 27:41 to 43
  • John 3:14 & 15
• Prayer
• Scripture – 1 Peter 3:18
• Hymn 302 – O blessed Lord, what hast Thou done?
• Scripture – Luke 22:17 to 20
• Breaking of Bread
• Hymn 139, vv. 2, 5 – 8 – The Lord is Himself gone before

• Ministry:

  • 1 Peter 2:24
  • Matthew 18:20
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:16
  • Hebrews 2:18
• Prayer

Ministry—Luke Fox

Can we turn to a portion in I Peter 2; we have had the thought of “Himself” before us. We have sung “Himself He could not save” and “the Lord is Himself gone before.” Read v. 24: *“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”* We had in Hebrews 1 how God came as His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God—who owns every beast of the forest, the cattle on a thousand hills, and all the fowls of the air—could have sent any one of them; but instead, He sent His own Son. In Luke 22, the Lord desired to meet with His own; He didn’t just tell them to meet by themselves. He wanted to be there. We can read Matthew 18:20 to see how the Lord promises to be here when we gather like this. Read I Thessalonians 4:16. The Lord Himself will come for us; He will not send an angel to get us; the Lord Himself will come and take us to live with him forever. But we are not there yet; read Hebrews 2:18. He has promised that He—and no one else—will never leave or forsake us. Anything we go through He will have gone through and be ready to help us in. What a precious desire to have Him with us, here and for all eternity.

Children’s Meeting—Gordon Burgess

EG Hymn 350 – I will make you fishers of men,

Prayer

Today I want to tell you about a fishing story; we find it in Luke 5:1 –

11. This story takes place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. There were lots of people following the Lord, wanting to hear what He had to say. You know how it is when there are so many people gathered together: it can be hard to see them all. We find in v. 2 that there were two ships at the shore, so the Lord got into one, Peter’s boat, and asked Peter to push out a little way. From the boat, he was able to preach to the people. After He was done, He told Peter to launch out into the lake for a draught of fishes. Peter replied that he had fished all night but hadn’t caught anything; but, since the Lord told him to, he would do it. But notice, at the end of v.4, the Lord told Peter to let down his nets—plural. Peter agreed to let down one net (v. 5). He didn’t really think it was worth it. So they rowed out to the middle of the lake, let down a net, and waited. Before long, the water was jumping with fish, and soon the net was full! They started to pull them in, but they had so many that they needed to call the other boat over to help them. When all the fish were in, the boats were so full they started to sink. They quickly got back to shore. But they did something interesting when they got there: they forsook everything. They left all their fish and followed the Lord. What were they going to do? The end of v. 10 tells us: “from henceforth thou shalt catch men.” They were going to bring people to the Lord. We can do the same thing; we can tell others about the Lord, hoping that they will be “caught” and listen to what we have to tell them.

Reading Meeting

I Peter 3:8–12

Last week we looked at part of v. 9; what we have been looking at is the practical part that started halfway through chapter 2. This comes after the doctrinal truths and it is giving us guidelines that should have an effect on our behaviour. We have looked at the different roles, and now we have a word to everyone. We talked about being of one mind; how important it is to live in unity! We looked at compassion—feeling the hurt enough to help—and love as well. We saw how the Lord would respond to retaliation in v. 9: return good for evil.

Now, starting at v. 10, we have a quote from the Old Testament. This is no surprise, because Peter is writing to the Jews, who would have known the Old Testament well. This quote talks about what the man who loves life will or should do. We said, about v. 8, that the mind is the hardest thing to control; the next hardest thing must be the tongue. There are two things to note whenever we are thinking about speaking: what we say, and how we say it. James reminds us of how the tongue can kindle a fire. It can hinder or help; it can praise or criticize; it can lift up or put down. Next, v. 11, we should avoid (Darby) evil. But we aren’t given something to avoid without something to pursue instead: Peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Yet, we must make sure we are not indifferent, we need to actively seek after peace.

This Old Testament reference reminds us in v. 12 that God has eyes and ears; is that a comfort? It depends on what we are doing. Now, Satan can see what you are doing, and hear what is audible, but God goes beyond that. He can hear what you are thinking. He can see your thoughts. You don’t have to pray out loud to be heard. “His ears are open unto their prayers.” But this verse reminds us that our behaviour affects his hearing. For the righteous, there are things we do that no one knows about—except the Lord. A word or deed for Him He won’t forget. His eyes are over the righteous; He will hear their prayers. The Lord also watches those who do evil, but He will not listen to them. Therefore, we must guard against evil thoughts. Satan will never leave you alone; he will continue to try to make you fall. But how can we keep from them? This passage only tells us what to do, not how to do it. We can take a lesson from Samuel. When Samuel was young and living in the temple, the children of Israel were in a low state. Eli was getting old and his sons were wicked priests. Read I Samuel 3:1–3. Even though Israel had fallen so far, God was still with them; the ark was still there. Samuel slept beside the ark … and God called to him. How do we guard against evil thoughts? If we let the Lord direct our minds, He will choose our thoughts. It is good to know that even though the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, He smiles on the righteous. There is a story about a Chinese man later called Pastor Hsi. He was an intelligent man, going to the fourth degree of schooling. But then he got hooked on opium, and his life spiralled downward. Once He was saved, the Lord broke his addiction completely. He then opened refuges for others who were addicted to opium (many thousands were addicted then, as opium was a large trade) and proved time and time again the power of prayer in breaking these addictions. God will hear the prayer of the righteous and He will answer.

EG Hymn 221 – I am thine, O Lord; I have heard Thy voice,

Prayer