February 7^th – 2021

9:30 am Bible Study-------------------------------------- Complete in Christ – Colossians 2:8-12

10:00 am Service---------------------------------------Gathered Under His Wings – Luke 13:31-35

Before Sermon….During Sermon….After Sermon– by Henry Mahan

There is not one heart alive that does not need to be prepared to worship, to enter into the presence of God, and to hear the Word of God for this hour. We would do well to rise a little earlier, to read the Scriptures, and to arrive at the house of God in time to get our greetings over with and prepare to worship the King in an attentive and prayerful fashion.

During the sermon, with the open Bible before us, we should give the most sincere attention to the minister. Let our eyes, ears, and thoughts be directed to the message not to those about us. The birds of night use every subtle means to rob us of the life-giving seed. A crying infant, a late comer, a sleeping companion, a slip of the tongue by one who speaks - any and all things are used to make one turn attention from the Word.

And I am certain that many serious impressions have been lost through the idle chit-chat and foolish talk after the sermon. We feel that we must talk, and I suppose that we must, for we cannot stand around and stare at one another. Love and fellowship must be expressed. But wouldn't it be more profitable for us to direct our conversation toward the message, the Scriptures, the mercies and blessings of God in Christ? That our hearts not wander from spiritual impressions made by the Word!

Faith in The Dying Christ and Risen Christ

"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." -- 2 Corinthians 4:10

The two aspects, if I may use the expression, of our gracious Lord, in which are wrapped up all our faith, and hope, and love, are a dying Jesus and a risen Jesus; Christ in his sufferings and death, Christ in his resurrection and life. This is the Christ of God, this is the Son of God in whom we believe unto life eternal, as he is presented to our view in the Scriptures of truth, and by the inward teaching and testimony of the Holy Ghost. If, then, you do not believe in a dying Christ and in a risen Christ, your faith is not the faith of a Christian. Now just see how this bears upon our text. Why do we bear about the dying of the Lord Jesus? It is that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. As then we bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus; as we suffer with Christ, die with Christ, and enter by faith into the mystery of his crucifixion so as to be mystically and spiritually crucified with him, we rise, so to speak, out of this death into union with the risen, living Christ, so as to derive life and strength, grace and power out of his glorious fulness. For he is risen from the dead: he is no more in the tomb, into which he sank in all the weakness of death; but is risen again, and was thus "declared to be the Son of God with power." Yes, he has gone up on high, and now sits at the right hand of God in the highest heavens. He is gone within the veil, to be the High Priest over the house of God; there, too, he rules and reigns as King in Zion; and there he ever lives as our glorified and risen Head. As, then, we bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, as crucified with him and conformed to his death, so as "risen with him," there is even now in our body a manifestation of his risen life. – J.C. Philpot