Open—J. Kemp, N. Wood, S. Stewart
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I don't know right now.
I don't know. We have a diamond and spread everything.
We pray together, our God and our Father, we thank Thee for the sentiments that are.
Have been expressed in this beautiful hymn that we have sang together, lifting our hearts truly above this present scene and all the difficulties and circumstances we encounter. But we thank Thee for that bright hope of glory that shines before us.
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Uh, which at any moment?
Will be realized, fulfilled, but while we are here, our God in this scene of conflict.
Trial.
And, uh, exercise. We pray that Thou wilt guide in the meeting this afternoon, that there might be food convenient for us, that the ministry may be directed of Thy Holy Spirit.
About us Know the needs of every heart.
Every young person, each one of us, have special circumstances, perhaps different from other from every other. But we know that Thy Word gives us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. The principles of Thy word apply to every situation in our lives. Alas our God, how often we are not acquainted with them. So we do pray for help.
And the direction this afternoon?
In those that may minister the word to us, that our souls might be.
Strengthened and drawn out toward Christ, truly like the two on the road to Emmaus, that our hearts may burn within us as He talks with us by the way and opens unto us the Scriptures. We seek Thy blessing. We own our weakness and dependence upon Thee and how untrustworthy our our nature, our flesh is, and we pray that it may not be manifest.
In the ministry, today are the days that are before us. We ask thy blessing, we commit ourselves into Thy care with Thanksgiving and the worthy and precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
So we turned for a few moments, brethren, to First Peter chapter 4. I don't want to speak too long here, sure that another brother has something.
Or more than one Chapter 4.
Where is uh.
Verse 10. First Peter 410.
As everyone.
Has received the gift.
Even so, Minister, the same.
One to another.
As good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man minister speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.
If any man, minister.
Let him do it as of the ability.
Which God giveth?
That God in all things may be glorified.
Through Jesus Christ, to whom be praised and dominion, forever and ever. Amen.
I hope that we all understand that.
There are two things that should be distinguished in the Word of God.
One is priesthood and the other is ministry.
Priesthood is a common privilege of all believers in this present period of grace.
Uh, sisters as well as brothers.
Are priests. They have a holy calling. They are a spiritual house. First Peter 2A holy priesthood.
To OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. That is an indisputable privilege of every believer in the room here today. It's not a priestly task that is set aside and ordained by man before they can participate. No, it is the privilege of each one. The youngest believer.
In the this assembly this afternoon is a holy priest made soul through the work of Christ and the blood that he shed separated from this world, brought into a place of nearness. In the Old Testament, of course, this was not the case because, uh, the priests were a class of people that were distinguished from the rest of the nation of Israel. Sons of Aaron, they were called to that office.
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And no one else.
Dare intrude into it.
On pain of death. But, uh, now in Christianity we have been brought into this marvelous place of nearness to the Lord. Uh, no longer, far off, no longer enemies, strangers and foreigners, but we are fellow citizens of the Saints and of the household of God.
And having assurance, let us draw near with the true heart and full assurance of faith. Our place is in the sanctuary. That's our home. That's where we belong. And, uh, the priest is one who, uh, offers something to God.
Uh, in the Old Testament, it was on behalf of the people. Of course, we don't, uh, offer on behalf of anyone else now that our great high priest has finished the work.
There's no more offering for sin, but now that we have been brought to God, brought near to God in Christianity, there's no separate class of people in a privileged place that others do not enjoy. Just think how marvelous it is that we as believers can come into the very presence of the creator of the universe, as we were speaking this morning, who holds all things.
Uh, who has created all things and sustains them by the word of his power?
That we can move the hand that moves the universe in prayer. That's part of our priestly function. And then in the assembly, uh, by the way, there's no such a thing as a gift of prayer, uh.
In fact, priesthood is not a question of gifts at all. The simplest brother and sisters as well have the privilege of offering those sacrifices of praise and worship and prayer.
Probably, uh, we wonder sometimes why the prayer meeting is so poorly attended. I don't know how it is here, but sometimes there are very few at the prayer meeting. Maybe they don't realize that sisters are priests too and that, uh, it's an assembly meeting. I don't think Rorden chapter Acts chapter 10 would miss very many prayer meetings after her experience there. Well, prayer and praise.
Supplication is all part of the our priestly work.
And that does not depend upon gift or ability. If you have divine life and young brothers I'm speaking to who have the, uh, public, uh, responsibility, you can participate in a word of Thanksgiving or prayer. Perhaps you won't take a, a prominent teaching position, but uh, you are certainly at liberty.
To offer a word of thanks to the Lord in prayer.
And it's very encouraging to hear you. But we notice in our verse that we read here at the outset that there is gift. And we want to distinguish between those two things. Gifts, uh, has been imparted to believers in the body of Christ by the Lord after he has, uh, rose from the dead and he ascended to the glory.
He received gifts in manhood. Ephesians chapter four. He showered down those gifts upon his church. Gifts are for the body of Christ, not going to be gifts in heaven. In fact, I don't think it's proper to speak of the body of Christ in heaven anyway. The body of Christ is here on earth. It is functioning now like your body and my body.
And every member has a place to fulfill in the body of my hand.
Doesn't do its work well, uh, the foot perhaps could do something, but uh, it can never do it like the hand. And you have been given a place in the body of Christ different to anyone else. And those gifts were showered down by an ascended Christ after the body was formed, which was at Pentecost. And, uh, they are something that has.
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Our brother mentioned this morning eternal life being put into the believer but also.
A spiritual gift has been deposited in every believer, or you say just the brothers who are taking part in the meeting. No, every member of the body of Christ has a gift.
An ability, a function, a work to do to every man, his work. In the Old Testament, you remember in the time of the Tabernacle there were the three different tribes, Mariah, Johath and Gershom. They all had a work to do.
It was appointed by Aaron. They didn't choose their own work. It was appointed by Aaron. And it was different in every case. Sometimes it was right out in the forefront, carrying the different, uh, pieces of furniture where everyone could see them. At other times it was in the background, maybe just carrying a few pins.
Uh, I think this was the sons of, uh, whole hat, but you have them all listed there in numbers Chapter 4, four and five.
To every man his work.
Appointed the work to do now you cannot go to anyone and say, brother, what is my work to do now in the body of Christ? We are all servants of the Lord. We all have a a part, a place to fulfill in the body. But you have to be before the Lord to know what your gift is. I know this sometimes poses a problem among the young people. What is my gift? What does the Lord want me to do?
Well, you have to go on in the assembly doing what comes to your hands and, uh, as you develop and as you continue, the Lord will, uh, open up the way for you and He'll make it clearer what work He has for you to do.
Now, naturally, we look to the, uh, the prominent place, the uh.
The uh, we might say the uh.
The public places something that attracts us, but that is not always God's mind for us. In fact, it is a very dangerous place. We need ministry. We need brothers who are well taught in the Word to minister. But uh, not everyone is called to public ministry, but everyone is called to a work in.
The local assembly in the body of Christ. It may be something that is not noticed by the public eye, but it's noticed by the Lord. And if you fulfill that place.
That work that the Lord has given you to do, and you do it heartily. Whatsoever thy hand find us to do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, and not unto man. The Lord will give you a reward.
But in our verse it says, As every man hath received the gift, Even so minister the same one to another.
Or the ability. This is not only in public ministry.
Uh, If you minister to a sick St. or the sisters who minister in providing for the temporal needs of this meeting and the, uh, fellowship teams and so on, this is a ministry for the Lord. But there is also the public ministry. We want to, uh, recognize this. Mr. Darby said if there was more devotedness among us, there would be more gift. Certainly there is.
As never before, a need for ministry that would establish, uh, souls in the truth. Ministry that would build us up. Ministry can be divided into those areas. Edification, building up. We need that continually, do we not? Uh, exhortation, stirring up. I like a brother that stirs me up because sometimes I find I become very.
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Lazy in the things of the Lord and tend to become cold in my soul. I need a brother that would stir me up to get out with the gospel to the lost because I don't seem to have the energy to do it sometimes or to to minister the word we need to be stirred up. In fact, that's what Paul says to uh, Timothy in second Timothy, one stir up the gift of God that is in thee, which was given thee by.
Prophecy. With the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, he was imparted a gift by the Apostle Paul. But there was a danger he was a timid retiring man of then allowing it to to umm lie dormant. It was a day of great declension and giving up a lack of faithfulness.
Forsaking Paul and his doctrine, Timothy might just say, what's the use of ministering now in the this condition of things? No, the apostle says, throw up that gift.
Awaken it.
Minister the word uh.
To the Saints of God, well.
We minister as a.
As a mouthpiece of the assembly. So in fact, ministry is something that is peculiar to Christianity. You didn't have a ministry in the Old Testament. It was a very.
Uh, circumscribed, uh, group of both of people who outwardly were the people of God, but, uh, there was no outreach in Judaism.
They were confined among themselves, but now we have a ministry, the gospel.
In the in the presenting the truth of God to believers, we have a ministry that we are to fulfill, say to Archippus, Fulfill the ministry which thou hast received of the Lord.
Uh, and, uh, there was a danger of archipelas apparently, uh, giving up the ministry. Things were too difficult and he, uh, didn't continue. Well, may the Lord help us to fulfill that ministry which has been, uh, imparted to us. The Lord is taking note of, uh, everything in our pathway. All is recorded in the annals of eternity.
The judgment seat of Christ is before each one of us. We're going to have our lives manifest and reviewed our service.
Our motives, uh, our work, everything is going to come out in that coming day. So we should be exercised, umm, have I fulfilled the ministry which the Lord has given to me? Or like Demas, he forsook the apostle Paul, having loved this present evil, doesn't say evil world. It says this present world doesn't mean that Demas went into some outrageous sin.
But uh, he uh.
Did not want to walk with the Apostle Paul anymore.
This, it was too narrow for him. Uh, it was too restrictive. He wanted a wide path. Beware, there's a lot of believers that want a white path. Today we are called to separation. Eric Smith was once asked the question, if you say you are right, why is it that there are so few gathered with you? He said it's I'll give you 2 words.
That explain it. One is discipline, the other is separation. They will be careful that, uh, we are separate from the world. Yes, of course, from all its entertainments and its pleasures and its evil, most definitely. But also separate from all the ecclesiastical confusion that we have in the great House of Christendom today.
Let everyone that name the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Oh brethren, let us be careful in the assembly. There is place for the exercise of that gift. Publicly. Gift is given to an individual, uh.
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It is not something only local. Office is local, but gift is universal. You might say a brother who is an evangelist in Vestal. He's an evangelist wherever he goes.
And in the assembly, it's not a democracy, but there are, uh, there's opportunity for those who have a gift from an ascended Christ to minister that gift.
Uh, but the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophet.
Let the prophet speak two or three, and let the others judge. My ministry is subject to the judgment of my brethren, and if it is not profitable, the kindest thing they they can do is to tell me so. Because the ministry should be profitable, it should encourage the Saints, not confuse them. It should build them up, and God wants us to.
Be exercised about that.
So young people, young brothers especially, you are preparing yourself for perhaps a future role in the assembly. And, uh, not to prolong my message here, remember that there is going to be a day of reckoning coming.
How wonderful it will be when we stand before the Lord and hear him say, Well done, thou good and.
Umm pro umm, good. And uh.
A good servant, uh, well done to hear his commendation will mean everything to have his approval. You know, I've noticed lately in studying the.
Uh, the, uh, lists of the mighty men that David records at the end of his life after the battles were all over and he was established in his Kingdom. Security and blessing, he relates.
The mighty men who, uh, shared with him his rejection, who were faithful.
And it's very difficult circumstances. Their names are recorded there in Second Samuel 2324. There's about 14 names, 40 names, but.
The surprising thing is, there's one missing.
There's 40 places there.
Uh, and I think if you count them, you only find 39. Did David not know how to count to 40? There's someone that is missing in that list. It was to be penciled in there. The place was was given to it, but the name is not there.
And uh, we wonder who it was. Was it Joab? Was it Jonathan? We don't know. The Spirit of God has not informed us of, of the person who should have been, whose name should have been put there. But it's a voice to every one of us. Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Eternal life can never be lost. That link of relationship will never be broken. But we can lose our reward.
Our reward is connected with our walk.
And our conduct down here, our sins will never be resurrected to condemn us at the judgment seat of Christ. Praise God for that. Because of the work of Calvary, those multitude of sins in your life and mine that we would hate to see again brought up have been put away by the precious blood of Christ. But our works are going to be resurrected. How we have walked, how we have behaved.
How we have conducted ourselves in this world in the assembly of those gathered to the Lord's name, It's going to be manifest in that day. A lot of, shall I say, controversy as to whether it's a public manifestation or not. Uh, I, I cannot speak dogmatically because perhaps Scripture does not say so. In my opinion, I feel it is a public manifestation.
But others have different views of that. But there's going to be a manifestation and, uh, a wonderful it will be to hear the Lord's commendation.
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Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord. That will be worth it all, having, uh, occupied until the Lord comes. But there's going to be lost at the judgment seat of Christ as well. There's going to be lost. In what way we're going to experience that loss, I don't know, but it tells us clearly in First Corinthians 3 where it's a question of man's responsibility in building the House of God.
That if any man's work, if any man suffer loss, I'd better turn to it first. First Corinthians chapter, uh, three. We know the verse well.
Umm.
Uh, there's 14 If any man's work abide which you have built, thereupon he shall receive a reward. 15 if any man's work shall be burnt.
He should suffer lost, but he himself should be saved. It saw us by fire. Yes, a saved soul, a lost life lost a good example spend all spent his energies to try to reform and build up and change Sodom. And it was a dead failure from the beginning. He lost his testimony nearly lost. He lost his family and uh uh.
Escaped with the skin of his teeth. There won't be a much the Lord can commend, but, uh, in his life there will be something. But, uh, his, uh, his life as a believer, uh, was not fruitful. But we don't want to have an end like that. We want to have a, an abundant entrance and, uh, that which will abide at the judgment seat of Christ and hear the Lord's re, uh, approval.
For that which, uh, glorified him, thank you.
I have a scripture in Luke's Gospel Chapter 9.
Pardon me, Chapter 10.
Mm-hmm. And I don't wanna speak long.
And I'm looking at the Good Samaritan story, which we know well. I just want to read the last part of it.
Well, let's start at 33.
But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to the inn and took care of him. And on the moral, when he departed, he took out 2 Pence and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay you. So this is a a parable that we all love very much, but I want to just.
Uh, speak toward the latter part of it. Our brother John was talking about the activities in the assembly, whether it's, uh, ministering or whether it's worshipping or praising, all of these types of things. And there's many others, which many, uh, Saints do, whether they're brothers or sisters or young people, those that are there that have a real interest in helping the Saints and anybody else perhaps going out in the gospel.
Well it says here, and of course the Samaritan is the Lord Jesus and perhaps his own beast is the Holy Spirit. And as the Lord the Holy Spirit brings us to the assembly, rather as the yes, the beast brings us to a sentence, the assembly, there is found the innkeeper who again is the Holy Spirit. And I think of that line of the hymn that says it relates to the hymn we sing at the start.
The Holy Ghost is leading home to the Lamb, his bride. Uh, but I was thinking right at the very end, uh, the end, uh, the, uh, well, the Lord says take care of him. He's brought him to the assembly.
And he asked the assembly, as it were, to take care of that newborn soul. And the the promise is, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come, when I come again, I will repay thee. And if you and I do something in the assembly or outside the assembly, if, if it's a private thing, the Lord is not going to be any man's debtor, whatever little thing we do.
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The Lord is going to pay us back, isn't it? Now, that's not why we do it. We do it because we're interested in helping the Lord's people or in giving out the gospel and pleasing the Lord.
But as we end up here, the thought when I come again, and that's a marvelous thought and it's a thought that all of us need to keep in our minds. I'm going to turn to that hymn that we had 208 for just a moment and look at a couple of scriptures and then I'm going to sit down.
I will not speak long.
2208 And hopefully lift our wishful longing eyes, waiting to see the morning star arise. How bright, how gladsome will his advent be Before the sun shines forth in majesty. The whole hymn is so lovely, but I won't continue it. But the Lord is just about to come.
As we step along life's pathway, we're going to take one, we're going to lift 1 foot in the in this in our step and we're not going to put it down the Lord's. It'll be the shout from the glory and will be swept away. And whatever we're doing at that time, it will be left behind and we're going to be with the Lord for all eternity. Just to think that we're going to look into the blessed face of the man that died for us, that face.
That was so mired more than any man turned quickly to Luke or two. Genesis 24 again, the last half of that story, which is so sweet.
Where Abraham sends his elder servant out back to his homeland.
Or the land of his where he was born to bring a bride back for Isaac. We know this well too. I want to go right to the end.
Verse 58, Genesis 24 and verse 58.
And so, umm, down near the end of the chapter, umm, Rebecca's relative, uh, are here. And they called Rebecca, and said unto this man, said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. And they sent away Rebecca their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebecca, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, unless I seed possessed the gate of those that hate thee.
And Rebecca arose and her damsel damsels, and they rode upon camels, and followed the man.
And the servant took Rebecca and went his way, And Isaac came from the way of the well, the Hey Roy, which means the well of the living and seeing one, And he dwelt in the South country, And Isaac went out to meditate in the field of the even tide, and he lifted up his eyes.
And saw and behold the camels were coming. And Rebecca lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac.
She laid it off the camel, for she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us?
And the servant had said, It is my master. Therefore she took a veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother's, Sarah's tent and took Rebecca. And she became his wife, and he loved her.
And Isaac was comforted after her mother's death. You know, we're just about at this point now. Maybe this afternoon we may not finish the meeting. And, uh, we see this company coming across the desert. Uh, they didn't take the long way around as Abraham was directed to do. And he was called out of the earth. He went up the gorgeous Euphrates valley, which was a Green Day here, and then back down the, into, uh, Israel.
About, uh, here the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit.
And as it were, this elder servant is leading Rebecca and her group right straight across the desert. And that's where we're being LED this afternoon and on our way home to heaven, where being LED straight across the desert. And the young person or older person, if that means nothing to you, I wonder if you're saved at all, if if you're just here in the the words here and saying, boy, norm, would I wish you'd just go Saddam, if it doesn't ring in your heart.
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Are you saved at all, the Savior that suffered So for us in Calvary's cross, we're just about to see him. And here we are in Rebecca's place and the lovely verse 64. And Rebecca lifted up her eyes. You know, that's something we get to do every Sunday morning, every Lord's Day morning, if you will, at the breaking of bread, we come in to remember our Lord Jesus.
The best of all meetings and our hearts are tuned as various brothers.
Led by the Holy Spirit, pick out lovely scriptures and lovely hymns and there's lovely prayers said and it just lifts up our eyes and our hearts to the glory. And the same thing at a conference like this where the brethren have invited us and the Holy Spirit has gathered us together and we and there there's different things, different one says that touches our hearts right in here.
And we, our love for the Lord, just it rises up and our spirits rise up and we think about him. We think about his coming. And our thoughts are gathered away from this world of glory. Well, here Rebecca lifts up her eyes away from the desert, looking on to this one that she's been told so much about. You know, Adrian Roach, her brother, years ago, used to often say, ask the question, what do you think?
That the elder servant occupied Rebecca with when she crossed the desert. And his answer was this. Oh, I'm sure.
The the elder servant was telling her all about Isaac. And you know, that's exactly what the Holy Spirit is doing for us this afternoon and during these meetings and other times they're private readings. As we fellowship one with the other, the Holy Spirit is bringing up lovely things about the Lord Jesus. Well.
Here, uh, Rebecca lifts up her eyes. Uh, you know, we're looking ahead to this wedding that we're going to take part in, uh, that's going to occur so very soon in the glory. And you know, umm, I was thinking, often times our meeting rooms have a porch and a door into the porch and then the aisle goes straight up like to the podium here. And it's just, uh, you know, if, if, if we could visualize that this afternoon.
That that wedding party is almost on the porch. It's just about to step into the porch. It's that close, isn't it, Freddy? We're just about to be called home and then we're in very soon into Revelation chapter 5. What a marvelous thing that is. Now, verse two and Song of Solomon.
Just another minute or two.
Sonia Solomon. You know, I sometimes think the song, the song is Solomon.
Which brings our Lord before us.
Pictorially, I know it's a picture of the earthly pride, but, umm, if it's that marvelous for the earthly pride, how much more marvelous is it for the heavenly pride? Uh, I want to read just, well, verse 8A, chapter one verse, chapter 2, verse 8.
The voice of my beloved, Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. He's just about to come, and you know, it says He's cometh leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills. That reminds us of real problems, problems which occur in our lives. There are mountains before us. We wonder how we're going to get around it, how we're going to climb that mountain. But here the Lord is skipping over those mountains, over those hills.
There's absolutely no problem.
That will keep the Lord from coming for us.
All right, on to verse 10. My beloved baked and said unto me.
The Lord Jesus, the King of glory, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Does it sound like he's interested? You know, we have some couples here at the conference, which is so nice to see. And, uh, we can tell if they're really in love. You can see it in their eyes and how they affect one another. And it's so marvelous to see that. And, uh, and so here we have that the Lord of glory.
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As it were, so in love with his bride says rise up, my love, my fair one, and come over here. Aren't those beautiful words? Shouldn't we, our hearts respond to that kind of of.
Of words rise up my loved one and come away for although the winter is past, you know, I sometimes think our lives are divided into The Four Seasons of the calendar. When we're born, it's the spring and as we get into our teens, perhaps it's uh.
It's late spring and then as we're adults, it's a full bloom of manhood and womanhood. It's summer. And then as we get into the fall, uh, you know, the white starts here and there's harvest and Li and the life is, uh, is trying to an end. And then the winter approaches and, uh, that's not so good. Some, uh, here have felt the, the, the fierce, uh, winds of wind already.
Uh, but, you know.
The spring is coming again, and there's no question here that spring speaks of the Lord's coming. And you know, we're just about into spring in the Lord's timetable, I really believe. Let's read it. My beloved Bacon said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past. Isn't that something? The winter of old age and all the problems? And I'm not saying that maybe.
Youngsters don't feel winter too, for though the winters pass, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, The time of the singing of birds is coming. The voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land that we don't have turtle doves on our feeder, but we have mourning doves and they're very similar. Now here's this beautiful picture of spring approaching. I know it's talking about the Millennium here, but will transpose that and think about.
What we are going to experience when we get to heaven. The fig tree. Put it forth her green figs that would be Israel, And the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Arise, my love, my Fairwind, and come away over to one last verse.
Song of Solomon 4:00 and 6:00.
And this talks about at least we can read into this the Lord's coming too. Until the Daybreak and the shadows flee away.
You know, we're just about there. I will get me to the Mountain of Myrrh and to the Hill of Frankincense. Well, you know, the day is just about to break. The night of this Dark World is just about over. The morning star is in the sky, the promise of his coming and the it's starting to get light. So the shadows are fleeing away. And what are we to be doing at this time? I will get me to the Mountain of Myrne, to the Hill of Frankincense.
Well, there's no question, is there what Mer speaks of. We we read about the three gifts of the wise men to the Lord as they came so far and followed the star. Their Mer speaks of suffering and that speaks of Calvary's cross.
And the hill of frankincense, doesn't that speak about the Lord's beautiful life down here?
Well, rather than until the day break, which is going to happen so soon, that's where we should be, shouldn't we? We should be occupied as often as we can with the Lord, his beauties and the fact of Calvary, that terrible, awful suffering there, the marvelous victory that means so much to us. That and His coming, you know, Hebrews 9 and 3710 and 37.
Says he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.
Ephesians and 4th chapter.
Ephesians 4.
Verse 15.
But speaking the truth and love may grow up into Him and all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplier, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body onto the edifying of itself in love.
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Verse 11 And he gave some apostles.
And some profits. And some evangelists. And some pastors and teachers.
For the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
And then in, uh, Exodus.
15th chapter.
Verse 27.
And they came to Elam.
Where were 12 wells of water and three score and 10 palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters.
And then one more scripture in the Psalms.
Perhaps to some.
92.
And verse 12.
The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the House of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing.
And then just in chapter 990 or Psalm 90, verse 10, the days of our years, our three score and 10.
When Ephesians were we get.
The body of Christ and uh.
And these verses that we read together in the 4th chapter, we see the desire of, uh, uh, the apostle. And the purpose of God is that the whole body would, uh, grow up.
Into Him and all things, which is the head, even Christ, and then from Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together, compacted by that which every joint supplier. Just briefly this.
Body of Christ, of which we are all members, is nourished and ministered to by Christ the Head in heaven. But the way that He does that has been brought out earlier in this meeting is by those members of the Body of Christ, each in their place and each in their function in the body. And here they are pictured as that which every joint supplier.
Earlier he says he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists, that is, he gave a certain quantity of apostles, a certain amount of evangelists. And there in Ephesians 4, the gifts are pictured as individuals, uh, that are given by an ascended Christ to the church for the edifying of the body of Christ. But first he mentioned.
For the perfecting of the Saints.
If ever Christ's object.
Our head in heaven to perfect us that we might be fully grown up, mature in the faith, uh, fully entering into Christian truth and enjoying it and walking in it those truths that are proper to us as those who are part of the body of Christ. And for that end, he gave these ones as gifts to the church With a view to the ministry. Because of the Saints are perfected, then the ministry is going to be carried on with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ because of the ministries, ministries carried on, then the whole body is going to be edified.
And so as each one is stirred up.
And becomes useful in their function, where a joint of supply, each one of us, is a joint in the body of Christ. In that way we each give mobility to the body of Christ. We each give it ability to express what is in the head, Christ and glory reunited to him by the Spirit of God. And as that ministry, his love for his own flows from him. Down it goes through.
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Uh, each joint of supply. So we have a joint action and we have a supply action. You think of like a, a copper plumbing and there's an elbow there. It, uh, it allows that plumbing to take a bend, but it also has as a channel for the water that flows through it. Each of us is a channel, a joint of supply for that ministry that flows from Christ to every other member of the body of Christ, but also when we're functioning as we ought to in the good.
Of New Testament truth and those things that these foundational gifts in verse 11 have given to us.
Then Christ is displayed on this earth and his body. If all my joints are frozen, you can't tell anything that's in my head, because my mouth couldn't even open.
Each one of us is a joint as well on the body price. And when functioning, then Christ is displayed in His body on this earth. The directions and that flow from the head in heaven can be displayed. I might, you know, reach out and pick up a hammer and take a nail and drive it into a piece of wood. And what are you seeing? You're seeing what's going on in my head carried out in the members of my body. But if I had no joints, I couldn't do it. So each one of us in the body of Christ has a joint action.
And the supply action?
Now we come to Exodus, where we read about Israel coming to that place of Elam, that place of refreshment. There were 12 wells, but really the thought is it's 12 wellsprings deep down in the earth, deep down in the earth where you could not see. There was a well of water and it came up through channels in the earth and it came out in those well springs.
Each one of us is a joint of supply. Each one of us has connected, united by the Spirit of God to Christ and glory produces. That is, which is for the refreshment of the Saints of God. They weren't individual wells, so to speak. They were well springs connected to that source, hidden source deep down in the ground. And so Israel came and they were refreshed. But what else was there? There were three score and 10 palm trees.
You know palm tree seems to grow and nothing else can grow.
There it comes up, and its leaves and the most arid conditions and greatest heat are green, and it produces refreshing sweet fruit. Those palm trees, when they're mature, can produce 100 lbs of fruit a year.
They have their roots down too, where that wellspring is. And a palm tree is a, is a extremely useful tree just in creation. God has put that tree in its place, uh, where it's very needed. And there's, uh, I think, uh, that, uh, book the land and the books that there's about 360 different uses for the palm tree from weaving together for mats from the fruit of it, uh, to the, uh, medicines produced from it.
There are many, many uses for that palm tree.
When we come over to Corinthians, I won't turn to it because it was mentioned before. We each have.
A place in the body of Christ and it says their gifts differing. How many different gifts are there? We can't tell. We don't know. But each one of us in that way has something like that palm tree that's useful. That's for the blessing of those who come to that tree and make use of it. And just in that same way, each of us is a joint of supply. Each of us has something as our roots are down there and and taking up.
From that hidden spring, that which is for the blessing.
Of the Saints of God, you know they produce fruit for about 70 years.
And we read in the 90th Psalm, our days are three score and 10. We have a space of time here and as our brother brought out, maybe soon come to an end that little bit of time. That's the time that we have to produce that which is for God first and for the blessing of the Saints. But I think of Israel coming to that little Elam, you know, they come across that desert and that must have just looked wonderful. They would have seen as they came on the green.
Of those palm trees long before they got there and they must have just looked forward to the sweet fruit and the shade that was going to be afforded to them. The city of Jericho and the word of God was the city of the curse. Picture of this world shut up with walls in between Israel and Jerusalem, the enemy of God's people. But you know in Deuteronomy in the end, we'll just read that verse before it close here and.
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Moses, in his old age, is LED up to the Mount to look over that land that he could not enter into.
Verse three of Deuteronomy 34 and the South and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, city of palm trees. There is an aspect, and when it's referred to as the city of palm trees in Scripture, it's pictured to us as part of Israel's inheritance that God gave to them and for their blessing, not as a place of the curse. It's a city of palm trees. It's a place of refreshment and blessing.
And God will make it that in the coming day in reality for Israel.
And Moses sought from God's viewpoint of the wonderful land he had given his people, not as that which was opposed to the children of Israel, but in it as a gift of God for the blessing of his people.
It's a wonderful thing when the assembly is like a city of palm trees, their roots deep, drinking up from that hidden spring, each one a joint of supply. The whole body is edifying. It grows up, it matures under Christ, the head. And the full enjoyment of those truths that God has opened to us in his precious word through those New Testament apostles and prophets, those things which are peculiar, particular to us to walk.
OK.