Treasured Truth

June 8, 2008

June 8, 2008

Morning Meeting

  • Hymn 222 – Everlasting glory be

  • Scripture:

    • I John 1:5 — Oftentimes we have “God is light” or “God is love” as a Lord’s Day Morning’s theme. But we must remember that God is both light and love at the same time, and these attributes can’t be separated.
    • I John 4:8
  • Hymn 135 – We joy in our God, and we sing of that love

  • Scripture:

    • John 1:17 — Grace: the story of that love. Truth: the shining out of that light.
    • John 3:16 – 24
  • Prayer
  • Hymn 47 app – God in mercy sent His Son
  • Breaking of Bread
  • Hymn 265 – O God of grace, our Father
  • Ministry: John 1:3 – 5
  • Prayer

Ministry — Gordon Burgess

As I’ve been pondering the thoughts that we’ve had here before us this morning, my mind went back to Creation. When God saw the darkness, He said, “Let there be light.” Not only did the light dispel the darkness, but it also made it possible for life to exist. Now the same One came to earth, not to dispel physical darkness, but moral darkness. We’ve been thinking of Him as light and love. In love, He went to Calvary where God laid all our sins on Him; and the Light of the World was shrouded in darkness. In the midst of it all, Jesus had says, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and we can see that light still shining. When He died, they put His body in a dark tomb. But after three days, He rose. And now He can impart that light to us. He said to Mary Magdalene, “I ascend to My Father and your Father; My God and your God.” And now what He was, light and love, we manifest to the world. And soon we will be taken to Heaven where there is no darkness, for Jesus is the light. We have had precious thoughts before us here this morning. The One who is light went to the cross in love for us.  

Children’s Meeting — Philip Burgess

Hymn 332 – Christ the Saviour of sinners came

Prayer

Today we will look at Acts 18; last time, Paul was in Athens. In this chapter, he sails to Corinth, vv. 1 & 2. There he meets Aquila and Priscilla, who had recently come from Rome. They were tent-makers; the apostle Paul was a tent-maker as well, so he joined them and became good friends with them, as we’ll see. They probably had many wonderful conversations about the scriptures. On the Sabbath, as he always did, Paul went to the synagogue to talk to the Jews, v. 4. He tried very hard to convince the Jews that Jesus was Christ, the Messiah, v. 5. They would not listen to him, so, v. 6, he claimed he would no longer preach to them; he turned to the Gentiles. Vv. 7 & 8, many Gentiles believed and were baptized.

V. 9 — Paul had a vision; God spoke to him. How does God speak to us? He does so through His word. Let’s look at a few ways God speaks to us. You may have seen these before, on a little card:

STEPS in Scripture

  • Summons to Action
  • Truth to Treasure
  • Example to Follow
  • Promise to Claim
  • Sin to Avoid So Paul had a vision; what did God tell him? The first thing he said was, “Be not afraid.” God wants us to be confident in Him; for Paul, fear was a sin to avoid. Then, God told him to speak to the Corinthians; this was a summons to action. God also said, “I am with thee”; this is a promise to claim. God had many people to be saved in Corinth, and He wanted Paul to continue there. Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, v. 11. Read v. 18: then he left Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla, and went to Ephesus. We hear about them again in Romans 16:3 & 4; Aquila and Priscilla became good friends of Paul, and helped him a great deal. We can see in our chapter in Acts, vv. 24 – 26, how they helped Apollos understand the gospel better.

I hope these STEPS in Scripture will help you as you read through the Bible; you will see how the Lord talks to you.

Reading Meeting — II Peter 1:5 – 8

 These verses give us a list of things to do. Interestingly, we already have the qualities in this list; they just need to be initiate. We need to strengthen our new nature, while weakening the old nature. We should be thankful that faith has been given to us to start with.

We have said that virtue is spiritual energy with moral courage. Courage is exemplified very well in the many missionaries we know about; they have preached the gospel against hostile odds, putting their lives in danger to bring people the good news.

Knowledge is the next item; here, we are talking about spiritual knowledge, truths to treasure. God is light; He is full of truth. How much we can learn about Him when we consider His many names; how much there is to know about God! Yet, how many in this world do not know God! We must guard against being proud about spiritual knowledge; it is not only general knowledge that puffs up.

This is where we need temperance. Temperance is similar to self-control. In our world today, self is so prevalent. Selfishness is so in-born. Self-control can keep our old nature in check. It has been said that self-control will keep you from saying something harmful about others, and temperance will keep you from being offended when they make harmful comments.Temperance is a fruit of the spirit. It keeps you from trying to get even. The Lord is the perfect example in this.

Patience is not an easy thing to learn; again, the Lord is the best example of patience.

Godliness is next; it could also be said as “God-likeness.” This includes the whole list and more. There are many who have paid a price because they put God and His things first; they certainly won’t be any worse for it when the final score is tallied. Godliness is acting with integrity when no one is watching.

For v. 7, Darby uses “love” twice, instead of “kindness” and “charity.” Brotherly love is love for those around us; love is a divine love for God and His ways. It’s been said, “Don’t let your heart rule your head.” There are times we may want to make a decision that would show love to an erring brother or sister, but we must follow the scriptures. We must show love instead of brotherly love.

Hymn 380 – Standing by a purpose true

Prayer