April 18, 2010

Morning Meeting

• Hymn 213 - On Calvary we’ve adoring stood,

• Scripture:

  • Genesis 22: 4a & 9 
  • Luke 23:33 - 49: They were all there: v. 39 - the People; v. 36 - the Soldiers; v. 39 - the Malefactor. v. 40 - 43: two amazing things are brought together in the next verse; v. 44 & 45 The sun was darkened and the veil was rent.
• Hymn 136 - The veil is rent : - our souls draw near
• Scripture: Hebrews 13: 12 & 13 - I would like to the express a thought on what our brother read ‘When they came to the place there they crucified him.’ Was this inside the city wall? V.12 He was separate from the system that he had set up. V. 13 we worship outside the system. Outside the camp where He would set His name. 
• Hymn 232, b2 - Gathered to Thy name, Lord Jesus
• Breaking of Bread
• Hymn 236, book2 - To Calvary, Lord, in Spirit, now
• Ministry: Matthew 18:20

Ministry: Gordon Burgess

Our brother read in Luke that they went to “the place” of crucifixion. There the Lord suffered, bled and died for our sins, and for His Father. Now that He’s risen, we have in Matthew 18:20 a call to a place to remember Him. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”This morning we’ve gathered to remember the Lord’s death and resurrection. We have the privilege of entering the Holiest of all; the place of appointment. Does this not touch us? It should cause our hearts to overflow with joy.

In Genesis 22, Abraham saw the place that God had told him of afar off. Right now, Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us; it’s far away now, but one day He will come and take us there. May this move us deeply.

Children’s Meeting: Gordon Burgess

Hymn 90 - Ere God had built the Mountians

Prayer

Job 40:15-19

Today, I’d like to talk about the Behemoth. Some people think that behemoth was a hippopotamus. Hippo means water, and Potamus means horse; so a hippopotamus is a river horse. However, they not related to horses, but rather to pigs. 

A hippopotamus can spend sixteen hours per day in the water, and can hold it’s breath for up to five minutes. They secrete a red substance that, for a while, people thought was blood; instead they discovered that the red substance was a heat block similar to sunscreen. 

Hippos graze at night, and they can eat about eighty pounds of grass in one night. Their predators are the lion, crocodile and hyena. 

So what can we learn from the hippo?

1. The hippo stays in the water. We need to stay in the water of God’s Word.
2. The hippo eats grass, not junk food. We need the pure word of God.
3. The hippo needs protection from the lion. We need protection from our enemy, who is a roaring lion.
4. The hippo is protected by a red substance. We are protected with the blood of Christ. Some people say, “How can a big God create such a small earth?”; but when you look up in the sky with a telescope, you realize that the universe is much, much bigger than just our solar system. The nearest galaxy is 2.5 million light years away. The universe is huge.

May we see the wonderful things that God has made, and appreciate Him and His word better. Especially the Person that His word tells us about.

Reading Meeting: Nehemiah 11:15 -36

Notice how in the first few verses of this chapter, we have the phrase “dwell in Jerusalem” several times. Jerusalem was not the ideal “Location, location, location.” You’ve probably seen pictures from the recent events in Haiti, China, or Chile; it’s all devastation. Maybe that’s what Jerusalem looked like. 

But now, think of I Kings 10; this was the pinnacle of Solomon’s rule, the peak of Israel as a nation. God wanted to show us this glory, and he does so through the story of the queen of Sheba. We don’t know how she learned about it, but she came to Jerusalem to see Solomon; and, in today’s language, she was blown away. Solomon’s kingdom is a small picture of the Millennial kingdom. 

But now we see Nehemiah’s time; they cast lots to see who would have to live in Jerusalem. It was a day of ruin, and the city was not the chosen place to live. We see in v. 1 that 10% of the people lived in Jerusalem; how many was that? There are about 3000 people mentioned in this chapter; they were the ones who lived in Jerusalem. So this remnant wasn’t a very big group. However, not all the people who lived in Jerusalem did so because they were chosen by lot. There were two other groups: 1) the rulers, and 2) the ones who did so willingly.  

Their position is so similar to our own state: we, too, are so few and so outcast. It was easier for them to live outside Jerusalem, but that was the place where God had set His name. We should want to be where He is. “Them that honour me, I will honour.”

v. 17: Here we see the descendants of Asaph. Read Psalm 137:1 - 4. While in captivity, they could not sing. But now that they are back, they can have joy. The Lord loves to hear his people rejoicing. 

Hymn 104 - Not all the gold of all the world.

Prayer