August 3, 2008

Morning Meeting

• Hymn 40 – O Thou great all-gracious Shepherd

• Scripture:

  • Ezekiel 34:1 – 6
  • John 10:9 – 18, 27 – 29
  • Psalm 23:1
• Hymn 103 – We’ll sing of the shepherd that died
• Prayer
• Luke 15:3 – 6 — This passage is often referred to as the Lord looking for sinners to come to salvation. But if you had a hundred sheep and lost one, would you say, “O well, I’ve got ninety-nine sheep, it’s too bad about that one that got lost.”? Not this shepherd. He went after the one lost sheep until He found it. I think of this as the Lord coming and looking for us. It was love that made the Lord do this. And what love it was! When the shepherd found the sheep, He put it on His shoulders. Shoulders in Scripture are a symbol of strength. He didn’t throw it over one shoulder like a sack of flour. He put it on both of His shoulders, with the legs coming down on either side of His neck, and then He held it like that. It was doubly secure. No one can take us out of the Father’s hand; we are secure. The Good Shepherd will carry us all the way to the Father’s home; where there will be great rejoicing. May we think of the Lord as our Shepherd, but may we also think of the love that made Him come to find us, and then carry us safely to the Father’s home.
• Hymn 238 – Our Shepherd is the Lord
• Breaking of Bread
• Hymn 20 –Lord Jesus! we worship and bow at Thy feet

• Ministry:

  • I Samuel 17:28
  • Zachariah 13:7
• Prayer

Ministry — Norman Burgess

1 Samuel 17. This is a familiar passage; we usually call it David and Goliath. David comes to check on his brothers and we read in v. 28a “And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?” That is the question that I was thinking of. David was a shepherd, but had been specially commissioned by the father to check how his brothers were. Like the Israelites when Jesus came, they weren’t too happy to see him. But the question remains. What happened to those sheep? Turn to Zechariah13. This is a prophetic word, but the connection that came to me is still interesting. V. 7 *“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.” * It’s almost as if God declared that it was time for His Beloved’s work to be done, and it’s as though He says “I’ll turn my hand over upon the little ones.” How precious are the sheep in God’s sight.

Children’s Meeting — Norman Burgess

Hymn 306 – Like a little wandering lamb

Prayer

last time we finished talking about the creation story. Let’s look at what happens in the Garden of Eden after God put Adam and Eve in it. It was an amazing garden: it had no weeds at all. in Genesis 2:8 – 9, we read that the garden was full of beautiful trees that were full of good fruit. There were two trees that were special: the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. In vv. 16 & 17, we read that they were not allowed to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That was their only rule; and what was the penalty? If they broke the rule, it was death. That sounds severe; but, after all, it shouldn’t be hard to keep only one rule.

Our story starts in ch. 3. In v. 1, we find that Satan, in the form of a serpent, came to the garden and asks if God had said that they could not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He tried to make them question what God had said. Eve answers him in v. 2 & 3, saying that God said that they could eat from every tree except that one, but she adds a bit to what God really said. Then, v. 4, Satan tells a lie: he said they wouldn’t die if they ate the fruit. Why would he want them to sin? Remember, there is a war going on between God and Satan; and since God had just created this perfect universe, Satan wants to take over and run it. He wants to ruin it. In v. 5, he promises them that they will be like God and know the difference between good and evil. So, v. 6, Eve ate the fruit, and gave some to Adam, who ate it as well. As soon as they did, v. 7, they realized what good and evil was; they realized that they were now evil. Immediately, they were ashamed, and tried to hide themselves from God by making aprons out of fig leaves. What is going to happen to them now? They have disobeyed God’s rule and will now have to suffer the consequences. Unfortunately, we are out of time, so we will have to leave Adam and Eve until next time, Lord willing.

Reading Meeting

Chapter 2 gives us some warnings; Peter talks about what the condition of the church will be like after he dies. We talked about the false teachers in v. 1. In v. 2, we find that many will follow their teachings; why? It is because they like what the teachers say. For example, many today say there is no real truth; everything is relative to the context. Many don’t think Christians should uphold the values in the Bible, because they are no longer relevant. People think they should be allowed to do what they want; that’s similar to what Satan told Eve. Because of this, we must be sure to follow the truth even more closely, so we do not get led astray. If truth was relative, why would we want to put our faith in it? Truth must be our first priority; if we put our faith in the facts, our feelings will follow in the right place. Too many today put their feelings first. We must buy the truth and sell it not; we must follow the way of the truth.

V. 3 — In Revelation, we read about the woman, typifying the Roman Catholic Church, who make merchandise of the souls of men. Today, Catholicism—as well as many other religions—use principles like this to deceive their followers for their own lucrative gain. These people are not concerned about the truth; they simply want to profit themselves. We see that in this verse: we have their motive, covetousness; their method, feigned words; and their merchandise, men’s souls.

Hymn 324 – Into the tent where a gypsy boy lay

Prayer