June 27^th - 2021

9:30 am ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- God Shall Avenge His Elect – Luke 18:1-8

10:00 am----------------------------------------------- Gone for A While, Home for Good – Philemon

*** NO WEDNESDAY SERVICE THIS WEEK ***

Lord willing, we will try to have another meeting November 12^th-14^th so mark your calendars. Speakers will be announced at a later date.

The Easy Part – By Don Bell

In a conversation with a brother, he made this statement; “I always figured going to church was the easy part of being a

Christian.” I immediately understood what he meant.

It is the “easy part” of our Christian profession. It is in attending the services where we get ready to live the rest of our lives. It is where we get our spiritual food, our spiritual strength, to be enabled to live to God’s Glory when we go out into the world.

“How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!” (Ps. 84:1) The gathering of the saints to worship and hear the word preached, the songs of Zion sung, prayers prayed, is the most enjoyable part of our lives. To gather with the dear children of God, and escape the world for an hour or two, to leave our cares, our worries, our problems, for A WORD from Our Heavenly Father. What a delightful and easy thing to do!

There is nothing more needful than the public gathering of the worship of God. It is this way that God has ordained that we learn Of Christ, that we obtain faith, that we gather our Manna, the True Bread from heaven. It is the means He has ordained that we grow in grace, that we learn and feel our need of Him; of Him to be our strength, of Him to be our shield, our buckler, our Hiding place.

Going to the church services is The Easy Part; this is where we get what we need for the hard part. The living as Christians in the world, on the job, in our homes, in dealing with just living in a world that is against our God and our Lord Jesus. If you are finding life too difficult, and even the simple things of life to be hard to deal with, it is because you are leaving off the Easy Part.

A Brother Offended – “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city…” – Proverbs 18:19

Though true, this ought not to be. What does it say of a ‘brother’ who remains offended though his brother try to win him, tries to reconcile, tries to restore the relationship and friendship? He must be a poor brother, a poor friend, a spoiled and pouting child who gets his feelings easily hurt and hardly healed. James said; “In many things we offend all” (James 3:2). We all have offended and been offended, because we are a bunch of selfish sinners by nature. But that new man must, yea will repent, reconcile, forgive and forget. That new man within realizes how often we offend our God and grieve Him; how often we sin against Him and yet He forgives, forgets, and has reconciled us to Himself by THE BLOODY DEATH OF HIS SON. This, and this only will cause us to forgive, forget, reconcile and love our brother as ourselves.

If you have knowingly offended a brother or sister, go to them and ask their forgiveness and try to reconcile. If someone has offended you, tell them; it may be a misunderstanding, it may have been an unintentional offence. It would be unimaginable for a brother or sister to say they are sorry and ask for forgiveness and the other person not accept it and forget it. That person must not have the grace of God in them; for all who truly know forgiveness will show forgiveness.

Christ, Our First Love, True Love

Man’s affections may be stirred by what he sees, man’s intelligence may be informed by what he hears, and man’s conscience may be convicted by what he feels; but to know Christ in a saving relationship, God must give him a new heart.

Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is a heart work, whereby we are brought not only to believe God and to trust Christ, but to genuinely love Him . . . to love Him for Himself and to love Him above all others.