March 10^th. 2019

9:30 am ----------------------------------The Sacrifice and Service of Faith – Philippians 2:16-30

10:00 am ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- An Old Man Waiting – Luke 2:25

Be Content and Be Confident -- H.T.M.

Someone wrote that Martin Luther’s strength and confidence lay in the fact that he believed so strongly that the ministry in which he was engaged was not his own but the Lord’s. He often prayed, “Lord, this is your cause, not mine.”
What would this persuasion do for you and me? Is not most of our depression and unhappiness caused by the desire to SEE more than we are seeing, DO more than we are doing, HAVE more than we have, and to BE what we are not?
If this is THE LORD’S CAUSE AND NOT MINE, then I ought to be content to serve diligently where He has placed me, with the gifts He has given me, doing all that I find to do, and rejoicing in His love. “Where two or three are met in my name.” Enoch walked with God in a day few did. Paul rejoiced in the Lord when all had forsaken him except Luke.

Walking Before Our Children

Children take more notice of what their parents do, than what they say. Actions speak louder than words. Even small children can see through us when we are not sincere and honest. If we live contrary to God’s word, a child will pick up on it. Not only might that child lose confidence in a parent’s profession of faith, but the child may learn to be a hypocrite like the parent. God give us grace to walk honestly and sincerely before him first and foremost. Then and only then will we walk honestly and sincerely before our children. – Bruce Crabtree

Waiting on the Worthless . . . Waiting To Be Gracious

“And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you . . .” – Isaiah 30:18

The Lord God of Heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, does not wait on anyone or anything but rather predestined, purposed, and ordered all things to come to pass long before the world began. “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” . . . . “Him, Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” . . . “All things work together . . . according to His purpose. The salvation of His people, each and every one of them, was determined by God before the world began. He purposed the year, the day, the hour and the moment when each of them would hear His voice, be born again by the preaching of His gospel. He waits to speak . . . to save . . . waits on the appointed time and place . . . the fullness of time and events, to bring His child to Himself.

One day the Lord of glory came to a low down town called Sychar in Samaria. He headed straight for a well and sat on that well. Though hot, tired, and thirsty Himself, He didn’t come for a drink of water but He came for a woman, a sinner, came to give her a drink of water. And so He sat on that well, waiting. If someone in town had asked Him, “who are you waiting on?” and He told them; they might have said, “O my! THAT woman? Why she’s a lowlife. She’s a bad one. She’s no good. She’s not worth waiting on.” All true, but there the Lord sat, waiting on her; and was not going to leave without speaking to her. Though He didn’t need her, she needed Him. Though she was not waiting and looking for Him, bless the Lord, He was waiting on her. Though she was not worth the wait, the Lord made her worth His while, and was greatly exalted by her. And so He waited . . . waited to be gracious to this one, worthless, forlorn woman. He’s not leaving without her. What a merciful Lord!

And so, you and I are going to have to wait . . . wait on the Lord . . . wait and see if He will be gracious to those we have a burden for; that husband or wife, that son or daughter, that father or mother who doesn’t know Him. And while waiting, call. Call on the Lord to save them. But don’t plead their merit plead mercy. Don’t plead their worth, plead His glory and honor. And if He does . . . if He is gracious to them and gracious to us in saving them, O wouldn’t it be worth the wait, worth all that happened, worth all the sin and sorrow! And O won’t He be exalted!