March 8, 2009

November 2, 2008

Morning Meeting

• Hymn 188 – ‘Twas on that night of deepest woe
• Scripture: Psalm 22:1 – 21a —We just sang “the depth of all thy suffering no heart could e’er conceive ”  In Psalm 22 we get the sufferings of Christ. Sometimes I wonder whether it was my sins or His being separated from His Father that hurt Him more
• Hymn 213 – On Calvary we’ve adoring stood
• Prayer
• Hymn 137 – O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head
• 1 Corinthians 11:23 – 26 — That night on which He was betrayed : the night of deepest woe.
• Breaking of Bread
• Hymn 35 – Rise my soul! behold ‘tis Jesus

• Prayer 

  Children’s Meeting — Norman Burgess

Hymn 333 - Come to the Saviour

Prayer

Last time that I spoke we talked about the animals that went into the ark; we saw two kinds of animals: clean and unclean. Today, I’d like to speak about another feature of the ark. Read Genesis 6:15 & 16. The door was to be in the side of the ark. Doors have two sides; an inside and an outside. If it was a cold winter night, you would want to be on the inside, where there would be light, warmth, and safety. You would also want the door to be shut. But suppose you were outside and a bull came along. If you wanted to get to safety, it wouldn’t be very pleasant if you ran to the door only to find it closed and locked. However, the door on Noah’s ark is still open. In ch. 7:1, we find that God was in the ark; from there, He called Noah and his family to come inside as well. Read Vv. 13-15. Once Noah and his family were in, God brought in all the animals. We were saying several weeks ago how that a good name for the ark would be ‘Salvation.’ The ark was God’s salvation during a time of judgment. V.16. God shut the door; and it started to rain. Suppose that then one of Noah’s neighbours said, “I think that I’d like to get inside Noah’s ark.” Would he be able to get in? No. It would be too late. There are many people today who are going to want to accept the Lord when it’s too late. This is why we preach the gospel, to tell people to come, before it’s too late.

Reading Meeting — Ezra 9:1 – 15

We have noticed that there are two groups of people who return to Jerusalem in the book of Ezra: Zerubbabel’s group and Ezra’s group. The first group built the temple, but when Ezra arrived, he found them in a sad state. The unfaithfulness we have read about is what caused them to lose the land in the first place. When Joshua came into the land, there were seven nations that needed to be exterminated (Joshua 3:10). Here in Ezra, we find that there are eight nations also inhabiting the land, six of which were there in Joshua’s time. Instead of getting rid of these people, the Jews had mingled with them. There was a reason God wanted them to destroy these people: they had sinned greatly. The meanings of their names may give us a clue to their typical meanings, and how this applies to us:

• Canaanites : “traffickers” : how many today use Christianity as a way to make money or personal gain!
• Hittites : the sons of Heth, “terror” : This aptly describes our enemy, Satan—a terrorist who intimidates. 
• Amorites : “a sayer” : speaking words without power; God speaks against boasting and gossip.
• Perezites : “squatter” : In Joshua 17:15, “giants,” human power, not subject to God. 
• Hivites : “peasants” : Perhaps the “laity” vs. “clergy” as found Christendom, a division that God is not pleased with.
• Jebuzite : the sons of Jabez, “trampling” : how many today trample on and destroy the sacred truths of the Bible?
• Girgashite : “a stranger drawing near” : Professors, but not possessors of eternal life, but active in the Church.  These dangers certainly seem familiar to us: we have real enemies today as well,; may we conquer and press on.

Read Deuteronomy 7:1 – 4. This is the very sin that the Jews committed in v. 2, and we find that it is the leaders setting the example. This is how Ezra found the group that returned with Zerubbabel; they had had a good  start and a right heart, but two generations later, they had fallen away. If we read the beginning of the book of Judges, we find that Israel didn’t get rid of all of the peoples around them. They let a few live with them. But soon, they were living with their enemies, and before long they were being driven out. 

All this was a shock to Ezra; he seems to be devastated. But he doesn’t give up; he doesn’t say, “What can you do about it?” He prayed; he turned to God when he needed Him most. And, he took part of the responsibility  for the sin; this is important for us as well. When people fall away, or other things go wrong in the assembly, we should not condemn, but ask ourselves if we could have done anything to prevent it.

Hymn 191 – Saviour through the desert lead us

Prayer