June 15, 2008

Morning Meeting

• Scripture: Luke 23:44—This is when Christ was on the cross. His Father shrouded Him in darkness, and it was at this time justice and grace met. It was planned before, in eternity past, for Jesus to have a Bride. For this to happen, it was necessary that Jesus go to Calvary and deal with sin, where God’s wrath poured down on Him. That was a unique moment in history, there was never a time like it before or after. And we can see God’s grace shining forth. His purposes were being set forth. We are here as a product of what was accomplished. We should be in awe at the fact that Christ met all justice’s demands, because He loved us. This is something very special, something we should cherish in our hearts.
• Prayer
• Hymn 10 – Grace is the sweetest sound
• Scripture: Romans 3:21 – 31
• Hymn 142 – Glory to God on high
• Breaking of Bread
• Hymn 265 – O God of Grace, our Father
• Ministry – Romans 5:20
• Prayer

Ministry — Norman Burgess

Read Romans 5:20^b^ “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” Notice it’s grace, not justice.“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”  

Children’s Meeting — Norman Burgess

Today we will look at Day 7. Read Genesis 2:1 – 3. Creation was finished in 6 days. What is important about the 7th day? On this day, God rested; He didn’t create anything. Was this because God was tired from creating things on the first six days? No, God does not get tired; He simply stopped creating. If we look about today, we’ll see many wonders of creation; but there is also a lot of death and decay. Was there any of that on day 7? No; when God created the world, there was no sin, and no death. Man was put in a perfect paradise.

You know, many people today believe that everything we see evolved; they say that people evolved from apes. Stuart Watt was a missionary in central Africa over 100 years ago; when he explained to the natives he taught—who knew almost all you could know about the wildlife in Africa—that some people in places like Europe believed that man descended from monkeys, they laughed; they thought it was hilarious, because they knew that monkeys and apes were not the smartest animals in the jungles; who would want to descend from a baboon? We know that this world didn’t evolve; God made everything perfectly. However, today everything is not perfect. We’re not going to look at what happened today. Let’s do a little review of Genesis 1, because it is a perfect pattern of God’s plan for man.

Generally, we can outline Genesis 1 as Creation (v.1), Desolation(v.2a), and New Creation(.vv 2b - 31). We can view this historically, but also as typically, in this way. Man was part of “creation.” He ruined that creation by sin, and “desolation.” God accomplished another work: “new creation.” Looking at each day of creation, we have as follows:

Salvation’s Parallel to Creation

• Day 1 — Illumination: when we are saved, the Light shines into our hearts.
• Day 2 — Separation: we now have two natures: a holy one and an evil one.
• Day 3 — Resurrection: bearing fruit gives us the assurance of salvation.
• Day 4 — Position: As Christians, we should shine in this dark world like stars.
• Day 5 — Progression: We need to be active, swimming against the world, keeping the world out.
• Day 6 — Conformation: We should always be working toward being more like the Lord.
• Day 7 — Satisfaction: We should be completely satisfied with the Lord’s work, as God is. It’s amazing to see God’s plan for man revealed so early in the scriptures!

Reading Meeting — II Peter 1:8 – 11

Last week we looked at “these things” in vv. 5 – 7. We should remember that these qualities should be part of our daily lives; we will be blessed if they are. It is interesting to note that we don’t have to do anything to be fit for Heaven; however, we are responsible for our fitness for earth. While Stuart Watt was in Africa, he and his family worked for many years before anyone was converted;  part of the reason for this was that many natives did not want to give up their violent ways. Only a few of the older men were saved as they died. When Stuart told the others about these few, they replied, “It’s easy to get saved and die; it is not easy to get saved and live.” They realized that being fit for God on earth is not easy.

V. 8 — We are to abound; that’s a challenge, isn’t it? God has given us an abundant life, so we have no excuse to be barren (or idle) or unfruitful. And what should we not be unfruitful in? The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ; it’s interesting how much emphasis Peter puts on this. Paul said, “That I may know Him.” The whole Bible is about the Lord, and we should know Him. However, it should not just be head knowledge; the knowledge should be in our heart as well. Paul wrote, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). It will cost us if we will know the Lord, but it will be worth the investment.

Fruit-bearing is important; that’s what the Lord is looking for, John

15. We can’t be idle and bear fruit at the same time. If we lack “these things,” although we are still saved, we won’t get much of a reward in Heaven. To bear fruit, we must overcome the old nature and feed the new nature’s appetite to grow. Who will win? Who do you want to win?

Hymn 388 – I love my Saviour, my precious Saviour

Prayer