November 12^th 2023

10:30 am ------------------------------------------------------Message by Brother Bruce Crabtree

Lunch following service this morning.

We are thankful to our Lord for bringing us together for this special weekend of services . . . thankful for our many brethren who came to worship with us . . . thankful for brother Bruce’s preaching. May the Lord bless this day, the Lord’s day, for His glory and for the good of all who meet in His name, wherever they may be.

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” -- John 14:1

We have here a royal command. Do not give way to despair, depression, doubts and fears, for a troubled heart is dishonoring to our heavenly Father.

1. It puts a question mark on his love. "No good thing will he withhold from them that fear him.” His love designs and desires eternal good for his children.

2. It puts a question mark on his providence. "We know that all things work together for good to them who love him, who are the called according to his purpose." Though Job lost all, he did not charge God with foolishness.

3. It puts a question mark on his promises. "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." "Lo, I am with you always." "If ye being evil know how to give good things to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask him."

4. It robs us of the joys and blessings God has given us. When I am murmuring and complaining about what I want which I do not have, I am overlooking the great mercies and blessings I do possess. It may be true that I do not have all that I want but I have much more than I deserve. My circumstances may not be as good as I want them to be, but neither are they as bad as they could be.

Besides the royal command, we have the cure for heart trouble. It is faith! "Let not your heart be troubled—ye believe in God, believe also in me." There is no want he cannot supply; there is no sickness 30 he cannot heal; there is no danger he cannot prevent; there is no misery he cannot remove; there is no sin he cannot forgive; there is no enemy he cannot defeat. Christ is God in our nature—so near at hand and so accessible to our faith. David said in Psa. 42:5—"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance." – Henry Mahan

A Drastic Change – by Bruce Crabtree

There is a drastic change coming for every individual who has ever lived in the history of this world. For those who die in their unbelief there will be a change they could never have imagined. Their eyes will suddenly be opened to see devils and the souls of others who are damned with them. Such horror they will experience can never be grasped in this lifetime.

Brother Scot used to say, 'Sinners are skating on thin ice over the very pit of hell.' and when the thin ice breaks through they will immediately sank into eternal misery the mind could never conceive.

There is a drastic change coming for the believer also. Here they live by faith. They walk by faith, and they see by faith. Their walk is often slow and their sight is often dim. But when their soul and body sever one from another they will experience a wonderful change. They will be with Christ their Lord immediately - "having a desire to depart and to be with Christ; which is far better" (Phil.1:23).

But not even this is the best part that awaits every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. They await and rest while they with, the resurrection of the body, when soul and body will be reunited in a glorified state.

No man can imagine the glory that awaits the believer in that hour. It will be so eternally wonderful that even their glorified minds cannot fully grasp it. Even the apostle John said, 'it doeth not yet appear what we shall be: (and then he gives a hint as to why) but we know that, when he appears, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1Jh.3:2). Free from sin forever; In the very image of our living and loving Lord and Redeemer. What a desired change is coming! And this is a change to live and die for.

When I stand before the throne,

Dressed in beauty not my own,

When I see thee as thou art,

Love thee with un-sinning heart,

Then, Lord, shall I fully know -