“How Beautiful!”

Good Morning,

We are having another transitional day in Maine. It is Post-summer and Pre-Fall (my terminology) all in one. The wind is blowing through the trees and it sounds like the leaves of our Bibles turning during church service.

Did you have a good Lord’s Day of Worship? I did!

I was thinking this morning of the words to a beautiful “new” song called “The Body of Christ.” It describes how beautiful the elements are of the Lord’s Table, how beautiful are the ones who prepare it. How beautiful are the brethren who meet together. In other words it is expressing gratitude and grace for the Lord’s Church, the Body of Christ.

Then I thought of two other songs, “old” ones. “Blest be the tie that Binds, our hearts in Christian Love, the Fellowship of kindred minds, is like to that above.” The other one was “What a Fellowship what a joy divine leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”

The Christian expression of worship is so very encouraging and vital to the People of God. It offers grace to the worshipper, encouragement to the brotherhood, and glory to God. You can’t get much better than that.

Here are some expressions of the Body that blest my heart yesterday and I hope will be reminders to you to pray and to be an exhorter, (that biblical word is from the word for “comfort,” paraklete. It is the same word from which we get one of the titles of the Holy Spirit).

The following are all my paraphrases.
“Pastor, the chemo has caused me to be so weak”
“Pastor, my son is at peace with no more cancer treatments, He is coming to see me Lord wiling in a few weeks.”
“Pastor, Oh the burden is so great!”
“Pastor, your message blessed me today, thank you.”
“Pastor, blog means web log.” (I really needed help with that one, thanks)

Then there were the songs that we chose to sing and the testimonies of our dear people. “More Love to Thee, Oh Christ”, “Sweet Peace, the Gift of God’s Love” “I Am His, and He is Mine”, and many, many more. It was precious.

I honestly cannot understand how anyone who claims Christ as his Savior, let alone Lord, can miss the fellowship of the Saints on the Lord’s Day! I guess I never will, praise the Lord.

Here are our Lessons:

Hebrews 10:21-25 21 And [having] an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together , as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

I like the word “provoking” in verse 24, it means “to stir up.” We are to stir up one another to love and to good works. My church did that for me yesterday!

Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the LORD he [is] God: [it is] he [that] hath made us, and not we ourselves; [we are] his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, [and] into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, [and] bless his name. 5 For the LORD [is] good; his mercy [is] everlasting; and his truth [endureth] to all generations.

Praise the Lord if your church is true to the Word of God. I praise the Lord for my church! I wish you all could have been here!

Have a wonderful day serving our Wonderful Lord, by Grace Alone.