July 13, 2014

Morning Meeting

• Hymn 213 - On Calvary we’ve adoring stood

• Scripture:

  • Acts 2:22 & 23 - Here we have Peter speaking. In the first part of the verse, we find that the cross was God’s idea in a past eternity. Then we find out that it was man’s idea, in wickedness and evil, to crucify Jesus. Both God and man had the same plan.
• Galatians 1:3b & 4 - God planned it and man carried it out; Jesus had a purpose. No wonder we marvel and adore when we come to the cross—what stories it tells!
• Prayer
• Hymn 105 - Glory, glory everlasting
• Scripture: Leviticus 4:2-4 - I was thinking of the hymn we sang this morning, “Our sins were laid on His sacred head.” In the sin offering, the sin transfers from the offerer to the offering. Here we see a blessed type. “Who gave Himself for our sins.”
• Breaking of Bread
• Hymn 146 - We bless our Saviour’s name
• Ministry: Revelation 5:9 & 10
• Prayer

Children’s Meeting: Philip Burgess

Hymn 358 – Tell me the story of Jesus

Today we will read the story of Jesus feeding the 5000.

John 6:1- 13

Jesus saw a multitude of people coming to Him. Being omniscient, Jesus already knew that He was going to need to feed them and how he was going to do it. Jesus asked Philip how they should feed the people in order to test Philip’s faith in the His powers. Philip didn’t think that 200 pennies would buy enough bread to feed the whole crowd. Andrew found a young boy with a lunch of 5 loaves and 2 fish. I can just imagine that morning he told his mom that he wanted to go to see Jesus and his mother made this little lunch for him. Little did he know what the Lord was going to do with his lunch! Andrew didn’t think that it would be enough for everyone there, but the disciples didn’t realize Jesus’ power. Jesus took the lunch, blessed it, and pass it to His disciples to distribute to the crowd. When they were finished eating, there were 12 baskets of leftovers.

The boy’s lunch is a picture of our actions. Jesus is able to take our actions and use them for blessing. Jesus also uses our talent for Himself and others. In the lunch, we can also see the Lord: the loaves are the bread of life, and the fish were a picture of when Jesus went into the waters of death for us. Just as this lunch was for whosoever, Jesus offers salvation to whosoever will.

Reading Meeting

Paul and Barnabas ended their first missionary journey at the end of chapter fourteen, having made a full circle back to Antioch. Following that, we move on to chapter fifteen, and it’s an important chapter. There were two assemblies back then—Jerusalem and Antioch. Then Paul and Barnabas were commended to go preaching and started more. Chapter fifteen shows us how to deal with assembly issues correctly, so that unity is kept and assemblies are not divided. It also gives us the scriptural basis for an assembly meeting. As we said, it’s an important chapter.

Acts 15

There were some people who came from Jerusalem to Antioch who said that the Gentiles had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses in order to be saved. They were adding something to the work of Christ. Salvation was no longer by faith alone through grace alone; there was work to do. The law was precious to the Jews, and a lot of Jews might have felt this way. You can imagine how they felt, working at keeping the law and then all that work counting as nothing, but God had brought in something new. Grace had first been offered to the Jew, but now God had also given it to the Gentiles.

This was a big issue, but if you look back at history, Satan will use any little thing to divide assemblies.

It was decided that this issue would to be taken to Jerusalem. At Jerusalem, the elders and apostles came together as an assembly, and listened to what the word of God said, and to what it did NOT say. It didn’t say that you had to be circumcised and keep the law to be saved. God had told them to do these things before, while under the law, but not under grace. Vv. 8-11. The decision was made not to put this yoke on the Gentiles, to not go beyond what God had given.

First Cornelius was let in, and given the Holy Spirit. Now, in a way, the Law—the Jewish hedge that kept them separate from the Gentiles—was coming down and all men would be equal. The Gentiles were getting saved and meeting in assemblies, not synagogues. Here in chapter fifteen, everyone was trying to get on to the same page as to how to deal with the changing times.

Paul and Barnabas didn’t agree that you had to be circumcised and keep the law to be saved, and they disputed the point. Notice, though, that they didn’t try to deal with the issue by themselves. Galatians 2:1-6 apparently speaks of this time, and tells us that Paul had special revelation concerning the issue. Notwithstanding this, and the fact that he was an apostle and gifted, Paul took the question to Jerusalem. It was an issue of unity; he didn’t stand alone. In Jerusalem, the brethren held the assembly meeting, listened to the word, and—as we’ll see—left in agreement on the requirements for Gentiles.

As Paul and Silas traveled to Jerusalem they brought joy to the brethren they met by telling what God had done through them. They also related what God had done with them to the church in Jerusalem. Then certain believing Pharisees stood up and said that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised and keep the law to be saved. Next week we’ll see how the apostles and elders came together to consider this question.

Hymn 366 - We are little children, very young indeed

Prayer