September 20, 2015
Scripture:
Ministry:
Let’s turn to Exodus 14:10 and 15:1. Think about the situation that Israel was in: they were escaping and Pharaoh was on their heels. They were afraid, but God came in for them in a marvellous way and the Children on Israel passed over on dry ground. Pharaoh and all his army, on the other hand, were drowned in the Red Sea. Israel then raised a song, as they saw their enemies drowned. But let’s contrast that to the hymn we just sang, “Sing His blest triumphant rising.” We are not singing about the fact that our enemy is vanquished, but we singing about much more. We have been thinking of the Saviour who went down to the bottom of the Red Sea to give us a dry passage and vanquished our foe. The Lord also helped the children of Israel cross the Jordan and in the Promised Land they made a memorial for what had taken place. We have been delivered from the enemy, ourselves, and the law. And we have been delivered to Him to have our eternal portion with Him. And we are here to remember Him until He comes and takes us there. What a triumph!
Hymn 282 - What a Friend we have in Jesus
Prayer
We are still going through the book of Esther. Esther was the queen, and Ahasuerus was the king. Then, there was Mordecai, who was Esther’s uncle, and who sat in the King’s gate. King Ahasuerus had just promoted a man by the name of Haman. Last time, we read about a letter that was sent all through out the kingdom, saying that on a certain day of a certain month all the Jews were to be killed. This letter was written by Haman, who was angry at Mordecai for not bowing to him. So the letter went out and was delivered. Today we will find out about everyone’s reactions.
Esther 4
Mordecai had rent his clothes and had put on sackcloth with ashes. It was his way of showing how he felt about the letter. He went through the city crying because he was upset about the whole situation. He came only to a stop in front of the king’s gate. The king had a rule that you couldn’t come into the gate if you were clothed in sackcloth. You had to be clothed properly and in a good mind.
Well, the rest of the Jewish people had the same reaction to the decree. They all fasted, wept, and wailed. They were all in sackcloth and ashes. We know that the name of God is not mentioned at all in the book of Esther. But we know that He was over everything going on. Though prayer is not mentioned here, they were crying out to God through their actions.
Esther found out about Mordecai, and how he was dressed in sackcloth and ashes. She was not happy about this so she sent him real clothes. Mordecai wouldn’t take them. So Esther tried to find out what was wrong with him. She told Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, to ask Mordecai what was bothering him. Hatach found Mordecai, and asked him what had happened. He told Hatach everything, and gave him a copy of the decree, and asked him to tell Esther to go to the king and make supplication for them. Mordecai might feel a little bit responsible for what was going on.
Hatach brings all the news back to Esther. You might think the King and Queen saw each other often, and maybe had breakfast, lunch and dinner together. But that is not how it happened. If you were not invited to see the king, you couldn’t. If you went to him anyway, he might kill you. But if he held out his sceptre you would be all right. Esther hadn’t been called for thirty days. But Mordecai told her that this may be the reason she was queen at this time.
Esther had to make a decision on whether she would go in to the king or not. She told Hatach to tell Mordecai that she would go in to the king, but before she did they would fast for three days and three nights. Maybe she would be accepted, maybe not.
There is no mention of prayer here, but we have prayer. We can tell God everything. We have the privilege of turning to God in prayer and are able to tell Him our needs.
Psalm 107:6,v13,v19,v28
It is nice to see in the Bible that God hears the cry of His people and delivers them. We can be people of prayer.
God put Esther in the palace for that time, just like the Israelite maid was in the right place at the right time when she was taken captive and given to Naaman’s wife. Sometimes we are given the opportunity to share with someone about salvation, and just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Do we accept the opportunity like Esther?
Next time we will see if King Ahasuerus accepts Queen Esther.
Ephesians 4:1-12
Verses 1-6 give us the position of the Body of Christ, and grounds for oneness and the gathering of the assembly. Verses 7-12, on the other hand, show us the gifts given to individuals within the assembly.
Patterson is one of the clearest writers on church and eccsiastical doctrines. He has given us the “Three Circles” diagram outlining verses 4-6. The center circle represents verse 4, the middle circle verse 5, and the outside circle verse 6.
[Chart Coming]
The outside circle is universal: it includes everyone in the world. You enter it by creation or birth. There are 7.3 billion people in this circle. The middle circle is a bit more constricted; it includes “Christendom,” or only those who profess to be Christians. You may enter by baptism. Presently, that is about 2.2 billion people. The center circle contains those who are truly saved, and you enter this circle by the new birth. How many people are in this circle? We can only say what Paul did to Timothy: “The Lord knoweth them that are His.”
Within the third circle there is another group; those that seek to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Paul was writing to those in that circle, telling them to keep this unity.
Each of these three circles has a Person of the Trinity attached to it. The outside circle has God the Father over all people. The second circle contains those that call Jesus Lord; and the third circle is contructed of those that the Spirit has made into one body.
We aren’t called to keep the unity of the Body of Christ. If we were, we would have to find every saved person, and all walk in agreement and harmony. No, we are to keep the unity of the Spirit. How? Patterson says it boils down to one thing: departing from iniquity. We need to keep ourselves and the assmebly from anything evil and foreign to the Lord and His word. That’s how we become the group within the saved that the Lord is in the midst of. When we meet, however, it is in accordance to the truth of the one Body, and that entire Body is represented by the bread on the Lord’s Table. We would like to include all believers in our walk, but as we judge the evil that we must avoid, we find ourselves few.
We do not form ourselves into a church or group: we are just believers who seek to go on in truth and in judgement of evil. The Spirit that called us to God is known both as the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth; so we must walk in both holiness and truth. That is why we are where we are. If other believers gather on the same ground, we would like to be with them.
In many denominations, the churches tell their ministers what they believe and can teach. Here, God says that He has given us the truth in His word, and has gifted different saints to teach the Church. The Church doesn’t teach the people; gifted people teach the Church.
It’s not enough to have the truth, though; you must practice it. Others we used to walk with believed this truth, but they didn’t practice it. There was Ecclesiastical evil that eventually—after much patience and desire for reconciliation—had to be seperated from. Truth and practice must go hand in hand; and the ground of gathering is vitally important to the Lord. Things like evangelism are good, but it’s more important to Him to have a place on Lord’s Day morning where He can be in the midst of a people who seek to praise Him.
Hymn 290 — Praise the Saviour, ye who know Him
Prayer