February 28^th - 2021

9:30 am -----------------------------------------Let No Man Judge or Beguile You – Colossians 2:13-23

10:00 am ------------------------------------------A Wonderful Story at the Beautiful Gate – Acts 3:1-11

Message to Hear – ‘Gray Hair & Ignorance’ (HTM) https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=112205153057

Death and Life in a Believer – J.C. Philpot

"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,

that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." 2 Corinthians 4:10

It is in this earthen vessel, our poor mortal body, that both the death of Jesus and the life of Jesus are manifested. In the trouble, the perplexity, the being cast down, is the dying of Jesus; in not being distressed, in not being in despair, in not being forsaken, in not being destroyed, is the life of Jesus. Thus in the same body there is a dying Christ and a living Christ, Christ in his cross in his weakness, and Christ at the right hand of God in his power. To know these two things is to know the power of Christ’s resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, those two divine blessings which the soul of Paul so longed to realise and experience. In the knowledge then, the experimental knowledge, I mean, for all other is of no avail, of Christ crucified and Christ risen, consists the spiritual life of a child of God. So to live is to live a life of faith in the Son of God. So to live is to be baptised with that Spirit wherewith Paul was baptised when he said, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." The present life of Christ at the right hand of God the Father, is the source and foundation of all our present life. "Because I live, ye shall live also," was His gracious promise when here below; and He is gone up on high, to fulfil that promise and make it effectual. He is "our life," and this life must be made manifest in our mortal flesh, manifest to ourselves, and manifest to others; manifest to ourselves by the communication of light, life, liberty, and love, manifest to others by the fruits of a life and conversation adorning the gospel, and by walking in all holy obedience to its precepts.

Symptoms of a Fatal Disease

MOST fatal diseases do not show up immediately, nor do they kill someone overnight. They generally begin with little unsuspicious symptoms, such as a sniffle, a sore, a small lump or a brief pain. Most times the person ignores these little symptoms until they become much worse; until it becomes evident to others something is wrong. So it is with the fatal disease called apostasy.

Apostasy means departing from God, departing from the faith,leaving the gospel, forsaking the assembly of the church, the saints. It most times begins with little symptoms, such as . . . no real desire to attend the worship services (but only do so to maintain appearances), no real fellowship with believers (quick to get in and out of services), avoidable absences from the worship service, little distractions at home, little temptations to work late, ‘little sins’ indulged (even enjoyed), the pull and call of the world, which, at one time was resisted, now quickly and easily answered. The symptoms are many and varied, and if ignored, they eventually break out into glaring problems. The person begins to be unsociable with God’s people, unreachable, not easily entreated. They begin to resent and avoid the calls and concerns of their (concerned) brethren. They begin to find fault with their ‘brethren’ and especially the preacher. Until finally they see no need to gather with ‘those people’ anymore, nor listen to ‘that fellow’ anymore. Little do these apostates realize (nor do they care), but THEY HAVE MISSED CHRIST! “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be manifest (revealed, exposed to all) that they are not all of us” (I John 2:19). Fact is, one who leaves never had life to begin with, never was born from above, never was quickened but was and is dead in trespasses and sins.