January 23^rd 2022

9:30 am -------------------------------------------- Christ, The Tabernacle – Exodus 25-30/Hebrews 9

10:00 am ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- Why Am I Thus? – Genesis 25:22

Wednesday: 7:00 pm ---------------------------------------------Christ, The Scapegoat – Leviticus 16

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. - Romans 10:17

Faith is belief, trust and confidence in God and in His Christ. Faith in God (Christ) gives peace, hope, assurance, rest, joy, strength, courage, patience and many more things to the believer. Faith cometh by hearing. In the wisdom and purpose of God, faith cometh by hearing His Word, the gospel, preached. If by His grace we hear it, believe it, and receive it, then all things mentioned will be ours. And all grace, mercy and peace will be multiplied . . . will grow, as we hear and feed upon the sincere milk of the Word. If we do not hear, the opposite is true. If we do not hear the Word . . .

- Trust will not grow, but doubt will.

- Hope will not grow, but despair will.

- Peace will not grow, but turmoil will.

- Assurance will not grow, but worry will.

- Patience will not grow, but impatience will, impulsiveness will.

- Joy will not grow, but sadness will.

- Strength will not grow, but weakness will.

- Courage will not grow, but fear and cowardice will.

- Godliness will not grow, but worldliness will.

- Knowledge will not grow, but ignorance will.

- Fellowship will not grow, but loneliness will.

- Humility will not grow, but pride will.

- Selflessness will not grow, but selfishness will.

- Kindness will not grow, but meanness will.

- Gentleness will not grow, but hardness will.

- Righteousness will not grow, but self-righteousness will.

- Temperance will not grow, but intemperance will.

- Love will not grow, but hate will.

How important then is the hearing of God's Word? We cannot live without It. We cannot cope without It. We cannot please God without It. We cannot be justified without It. We cannot live together without it. We cannot have any rest for our souls without It.

Hear It again; "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

Serve the Lord with fear; rejoice with trembling. - Psalm 2:11

Everything we do in the worship of our God should be 'with fear.' The way we enter this building, the way we dress, conduct ourselves, conduct our services, the way we read, pray, sing, hear the Word, preach the Word; all should be done with an attitude of fear and reverence; knowing Whose presence we are in; knowing something of His holiness, His Power, His righteousness, His purity. And so we worship Him with trembling. And we worship with rejoicing. We rejoice in the Lord; in Who He is and what He has done for us in Christ. We rejoice in His love, mercy and grace to us sinners. But even that rejoicing should be tempered with 'trembling.' This is not like any other thing we do. This is not like any other place we attend. This is the Lord's house and we are here to worship; we are here to hear from the Lord and hopefully to have His presence and see His glory. To rejoice with trembling is like being spared a catastrophe and being so very grateful for it; trembling to think what might have happened.

David once said: "the transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, there is no fear of God before their eyes." (Ps.36).

It is quite clear that the openly wicked have no fear of God. But the religious wickedness of my day says clearly there is no fear of God before their eyes. The way men and women carry-on in their so-called worship , with all their irreverence and wild-fire, rather than 'trembling'; says clearly they have no fear of God, and therefore know not God. The way men and women refer to God as the man upstairs, and other irreverent terms; the way God's Holy name is blasphemed, the way most everyone refers to the King of kings and Lord of lords, as simply Jesus; the songs they sing, the way they sing them, the way they dress before God, the way they treat the Word of God, their bulletin boards with all their clever clichés and not a Word of God on them; all this and so much more, says clearly to anyone who truly fears God and worships God in spirit and truth, that, THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES. O' let all the people of God with one heart and one mouth say, "UNITE OUR HEARTS TO FEAR THY NAME." Save us O' Lord, from this