June 10, 2012

Morning Meeting

Hymn 98 - Gazing on the Lord in glory.
Scripture:
- Isaiah 52:13 &14
- Isaiah 53:3 - 5
- John 19:1- 3
- Hebrews 1:3
- Psalm 40:1
Hymn 134 - Lord of glory, we adore Thee.
Prayer
Hymn 8 - O Lord, we adore Thee.
Scripture: Hebrews 2:9 & 2: We see Him crowned with glory and honour.
Breaking of Bread
Scripture: Acts 7:55
Hymn 132 - The person of the Christ
Prayer

Ministry

I was thinking of the verse that says, “And sitting down they watched him there” (editor’s note: Matthew 27:26). They were not in glory, but they were looking at One from glory, whom they had abused.

In contrast, let’s turn to Acts 7, where we have the story of Stephen. Read vv. 55 & 56. Here is a man gazing on the Lord in glory. When the Lord first came, His people did not receive Him. Now, Stephen came, full of the Holy Spirit, and they stoned him. They totally turned their backs on what God had offered them.

If we look carefully we can find seven important things about Stephen:

He looked up. That is where the source of blessing is.
He looked steadfastly. He didn’t just look up briefly. His eyes were riveted on Someone.
He looked into Heaven. That is the only place of blessing.
He saw the Glory of God. Can you imagine the Glory of God in all fullness? How this must have affected Stephen’s heart!
He saw Jesus. The people who were sitting down and watching Him saw a rejected Man with thorns. Stephen saw Him glorified. May we by faith look up and see Jesus as well. It will change us.
Jesus was standing on the right hand of God. This is a position of power. He is no longer on the cross, or in the grave. He has been victorious and is in Heaven, at God’s right hand.
He saw the Heavens opened. When Jesus went back to heaven, He didn’t close the door behind Him, He left it open.

By faith, we can see a Man crowned in glory and honour, a Man who is able to shower down peace and blessings. We can enjoy all the blessings down here, everyday. He deserves our adoration. Oh, praise His name.

Children’s Meeting: Philip Burgess

Hymn 338 - I love my Saviour, my precious Saviour

Prayer

1 Kings 6

Last time, we talked about different people who built things in the Bible. Today, we are going to look at the building of Solomon’s temple.

Interestingly, it had been 480 years since the children of Israel had come out of bondage in Egypt. In Exodus 15:2, the children of Israel sang about building a habitation, or house, for the Lord. At this certain time in history, the Lord had never dwelt with his people. He had visited some, but never dwelt with them. The Lord never dwelt with his people until Moses built the tabernacle.

Now, Solomon had been given this privilege of building the temple for God to dwell in. Because God is a God of order, He gave Solomon directions for building the temple, just like he gave Moses directions for the tabernacle.

There are many different ideas on how the temple was built. This is a very simple drawing of the Temple.

The temple had a main middle portion, and on either side of that were chambers; on the front, there was a porch. As we read in chapter 5, there was a lot of stone used in the temple; that made up most of the outside. Each of these pieces was cut to the exact size off-site so that when they came to the Temple, they slid in without the need of a hammer.

Each of the stone that was used in the temple was quarried from under the ground. This is a picture of how the Lord Jesus can take us from the darkness of sin and bring us into the light of Salvation. Then, the Lord fits us together with other believers to make Him a temple down here.

Another material that was used in the temple was wood. Do you remember how the logs from Tyre were floated to Israel by the sea? After all the wood was in place, it was all covered with gold.

In order for the Lord to be able to dwell in it, the temple had to be built just the way the Lord wanted it to be made. It took them seven years to make the temple just right. Then, the Lord came and dwelt in it. Unfortunately there came a time when Israel got away from the Lord and the Lord left the temple. This is a warning to us to be sure we are living in the way the Lord wants us to.

Reading Meeting

Luke 12:31-59

Matthew uses the words: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” He puts priority on it. When we are born again, we are born into the kingdom of God. There will be a real, physical, kingdom; but it hasn’t come yet. Right now we need to seek to have the morality and righteousness that the kingdom will be characterized by, and seek the things that pertain to it. If we do, God promises us physical provision and safety.

The physical kingdom that the disciples were looking for hasn’t come yet, but we have been brought into the heavenly kingdom by faith in Jesus Christ. Now it’s one thing to be in; but it’s another thing to bring our lives in line with the principles required by the kingdom.

What is our object in life? We read before about the man whose object was to hoard his bumper crop. We need to have the kingdom of God as our object, and then we will be added unto. We need to have the right purse; a treasure in heaven. We mustn’t seek the things of this earth. Verse 34, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” is so true. What do we covet? What do we desire? What do we look for? If it’s riches, then our hearts will follow that route. We should seek our net worth in heaven. Seeking shows effort; that you’re actually doing something. We shouldn’t seek the things of this world, but rather the things of glory.

How do we do this? Well, do you make time to build this kind of wealth? Do you take time to search the Scriptures? Do you seek the Lord? Do you seek to gather truth? Everything in this world will try to hinder you and take your time. All around us are things that take our interest and draw our curiosity. It is so easy to become distracted; we must make time to seek the kingdom.

What do the things of the Lord mean to us? The Lord came down here to seek a Bride. He found us, the pearl of great price, and He sold all that He had to buy us. Each of us is part of His treasure. He gives us His love and concern and desire, and He’s never distracted. When we are young there is much work to do and excitement to be found, but we need to make the time to get real wealth. We need to spend time on our school and our work, but we must have time with the Lord. Once someone said to Harold St.John, “I’d give the world to know the Bible like you do.” He replied, “That’s just what it costs.” The world can certainly sap us. We need to have the Lord’s help to keep our minds on Him each day.

This heavenly focus was new for the Jews, because their thinking was mostly earthly. Even the sacrifices and such concentrated on earth, so this focus was novel. Our heavenly treasure - partly what we have in our heart for the Lord - can never be stolen or break. Those are the really important things.

Some of us have been reading through the Book of Job recently. It’s amazing what Job knew about good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness, considering that he might have lived in Abraham’s time. Job 26:14 says, in the Darby Translation: “Lo, these are the borders of his ways; but what a whisper of a word do we hear of him! And the thunder of his power, who can understand?” Sometimes God whispers and sometimes He thunders. We might miss it when God whispers, but we’ll jump out of bed in fright when He thunders. Job had been gathering up God’s whispers, but when He looked at nature, He saw God’s thunders. God thunders through His word; it’s amazing what has been revealed through both the written word and the Living Word. The fringes of His ways are more clear now, and it’s so important to treasure these things and store them in our hearts and in heaven. Our hearts will follow our treasure.

Verse 35 says, “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.” Loins girded up speaks of work. We can’t just coast in this seeking; it’s going to be work. The light burning is the light of hope. Without hope we give up. Before Christ we were hopeless and helpless. Not now. There are many stories where it is hope that kept people alive. We need to watch, wait, and look for our kingdom. The disciples were watching, waiting, and looking for a physical kingdom, but ours will be above in glory in the presence of the Lord. We should walk down here as if our Lord is on His way. His coming should be a living hope to us, not a distant possibility. May these things encourage us.

Hymn 366 - We are little children, very young indeed

Prayer

Hymn 166 - In hope we lift our wishful, longing eyes