Open—E. McCavour, S. Allan
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27 Six 276.
Mm-hmm.
You need me to come back on the 1St.
Grade each other's day and your birth so we can give you anything. I'm gonna say anything to you by the time I've been in the end of the year in life. I need to do to deliver the Lord in the end of the day in life.
Uh.
Crowd here in the end.
All day, many times.
Uh-huh. I've given you Singapore and come forward and give it to our daily power.
OK.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters.
Heavily hired a little bit to talk today about.
Leaders and followers.
The structure we have.
Prominent leaders mentioned, one I believe was Moses in the Old Testament with the Lord's people under Egypt.
One I was thinking about speaking on today was is Peter.
Peter was a leader.
We know that naturally speaking, people will say, well, the leaders are.
They're uh.
They're bored, not made well. God raises up over the children. Man knows that he would put in governments and places to leave, but also in the church. He has given uh, leaders in the form of shepherds, elders that care for the flock, look after the flock. And Peter and Dave was a, a leader. He, he wanted to shepherd his, the other disciples.
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He uh.
Even sought to shepherd the Lord a few times and uh, he, uh, cared very much for, uh, the Lord's people.
And, uh, oftentimes he got himself into a little bit of trouble when he spoke, but he still had a shepherd's heart and the Lord knew it. The Lord was nurturing Peter along. He had things, the people that we have to learn some lessons.
Lord would teach us certain things. Perhaps we can we can look at a few things with much time in Peter's life that would help us.
First one I'd like to look at is, uh, Matthew 14 and 29.
And he said he'd come, and when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked in the water to go to Jesus.
And when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and began to sanctify, saying, Lord, save me. Immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, said on to him, Old Thou a little face faith, wherefore it felt doubt.
Here we have, uh, you might say, uh, dependence.
On the Lord, in spite of our present circumstances that we are in.
Here the Lord had was walking on the water. If we could picture ourselves in position that the cycles we're in stormy night, say in the Bay of Hyundai or any water.
And.
Fearing they were trembling, they thought earlier on. They thought maybe it was a spirit. They thought something coming on the water, They were afraid.
And uh.
Peter being the shepherd that he is.
He uh.
In the 26 versus the Disciples Song walking on the sea, they were troubled saying it as a spirit, they cried out for fear.
But straightway, uh, Jesus, take on to them, saying, Be a good cheer to die, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come unto me onto thee on the water.
Peter wants to prove who it was. He wasn't about to have anyone come aboard that ship.
That might harm them. He was protecting them.
And, uh, when the Lord said that Peter come walk in the water, Peter put his foot down and he started. But you know, when he saw that the waves were rough.
And uh, condition of things is safe waiver that he started to think.
You know, that's like us. Sometimes we, we go through a trial and, uh.
We should remember here that the Lord never leaves us or forsakes us, and He has His eye on us all the time. He's watching us. He's watching Peter and his disciples in that ship. No harm was going to come to them. No harm is going to come to Peter because the Lord has His eye on Peter. But Peter took his eye off the Lord, and sometimes we do that.
And sometimes the circumstances that we are in, you might say, reverently speaking, we get that sinking feeling. It's like Peter, they start to think, what are they going to do? It's too much for me.
We all have circumstances where we feel like this. If you're a child and you're in school, perhaps you're faced with a common thing today is what they call bullying, where another boy or girl may may pick on a person, call names.
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That, but if you just look to the Lord.
Look to the Lord that He sees there. He will pick you up from that circumstance. He'll give you the strength to go through it and.
Could be another somebody else that's worried about a job and they're going through school, they're graduating, they don't know what they're gonna be working at or if they can find work. And that's a trying circumstance for a young person. Or maybe it's a partner you're trying to pick out a partner for yourself that you're gonna spend the rest of your life living with. That can be a a trying circumstance, but you know.
The Lord is sufficient for every circumstance that we find ourselves in, even one like this. Where it seemed impossible for Peter, the Lord reached out to grab Peter. Peter wasn't going to sink as long as the Lord was there. Neither were you and I. But sometimes we've got to recognize that we need the Lord's help. We can't do it on our own. We don't have the strength.
In our own selves.
To rise above circumstances when they come along could be a marriage problem with some that's common today. There's all sorts of things, could be health, could be old age, have to leave your home, going into a care home or something. So people of every age, they have a circumstance that can trouble them and just don't know what to do about it.
Well, the Lord is sufficient. This was a.
Lesson, I believe that Peter learned if we, if we turn to, uh, Peter.
First, Peter.
First Peter, chapter 5.
And verse seven Peter could say.
Here I believe he learned this from his walk with the Lord and in the pathway, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you.
When the Lord reached out and grabbed Peters.
Arm Feeder saw that the Lord cared for him.
And he knew that he could cast whatever care it might be upon the Lord, and the Lord would take care of it. And so Peter has passed that good news to us along.
Cast all your care upon him, for he cares for you. So we are able to do that. We have.
We have it written here where the Lord took care of Peter and He's able to take care of us whatever circumstance may come along in our pathway.
The other thing I would like to look at is uh.
Watching. We have that in Mark's Gospel.
Mark's Gospel, chapter 14.
And verse, uh, started, uh, verse 33.
These three that mentioned here, the Lord took them aside a lot when it is.
Pathway we were all three were leaders, but Peter seemed to be the one that was took the lead among them all. There's always Peter that would sneak out first and uh, verse 33 is that he taketh with him Peter, James and John and begin to be sore amazed and to be very heavy and set on to them. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful unto death. Hear ye hear and watch. We'll wait forward little.
Fell on the ground and pray that we're possible.
The hour might pass from him. And he said, I have a father. All things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless. Not what I will, but thou will be done. Cometh, findeth some sleeping, and saith on to Peter. Simon sleepless S put us now not I'll watch one hour. Watch ye and pray. Let ye enter into temptation. The Spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed.
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Make the same words we returned. He found him asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
Neither let's say what to answer him becoming the third time says onto them sleep on now take your rest is enough. The hours come the oldest son of management trade in the hands of sinners.
This little portion here, I enjoyed a thought in it.
My subscriptly true or not, but I enjoyed the thought when the Lord came on that first watch and he fell asleep and I I looked look at that asleep of complacency. You know, in the Lord Jesus appeared on the scene, the nation of Israel. They were asleep. They weren't looking or they weren't watching for the Messiah to come. They were.
Sleeping. They weren't looking and watching and waiting. There was a few preps that were, but the station itself, they weren't watching.
The second time the Lord Jesus came, He saw that they weren't watching. He told them to watch and pray.
So he told them you need prayer, not just naturally watching isn't enough. You need to be independence upon God. You need to ask God for grace to watch. We ask for the prayer. Well, you know.
When he came the second time, I believe it's a picture of the rapture.
Came three times, and when he came, when he comes in the rapture, we have the parable of the 10 virgins.
Five fiber wise and fiber foolish, five had oil in their lamps. They were real. The other, the other five were just profession only. But you know, it tells us that they all slumbered and slept all 10. And you know, if today we're living in a day where the church in general speaking is not dependent upon the Lord, you read Second Timothy, we find a condition of things today.
Is everything but dependent on the Lord. Mann is doing everything that he thinks is right in his own eyes. He's going on the way that the world in a lot of cases. And so when the Lord Jesus comes in the rapture, there will be a remnant that's going to be watching, but I believe not the whole church.
Going to be found asleep.
Because the third time.
I believe it's uh.
It's the rest of the nation he's talking about here. Sleep on and I'll take thy rest. He's already looking at the work of the cross being finished, and we know that Israel is going to enter into the rest because of that work.
And so the third time you could say.
At your rest.
But anyway, we should be found not only praying but also or not watching but also praying like a verse to look at connection with that first Peter again 4.
That's uh.
First Peter 4.
Uh, Peter Speaking of this, you know, he says here in verse 7.
But the end of all things is at hand.
He therefore sober and watched on the prayer.
And so perhaps.
Peter learned in that time there in the garden that prayer was needed. Wasn't just the watching, but the watch on the prayer. And so we need to be dependent upon the Lord as we journey through this sea. We're not going to be able to, uh, expect, uh, that we can be ready and watching using our own strength or the flesh. We need to be dependent upon the Lord. We have a nature that God has given to us as a dependent nature.
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And, uh, wants to do things that's pleasing to the Lord.
Uh.
We got too much time. So I maybe, uh.
Yeah, helpful here and I think I'll, uh, perhaps go on to this one.
Mark 8 and 31.
Here is learning the lesson of of that the flesh in US has no profit or profit nothing that is in the pathway.
And so we have verse 31. He began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders. You know the chief priests describes and be killed and after three days rise again. We think that saying openly and Peter took him to get to rebuke him.
When he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Is he behind me Satan, for thou savers, not the things that be of God?
But the things that we have been.
And so here we have a account of Peter might say this speaking.
That, uh, he had a natural love for the Lord Peter. He, he didn't want to see any harm come through.
And uh, when uh, the Lord spoke about going to the cross suffering, uh naturally Cedars natural heart kicked in and he re really rebuked the Lord He didn't not so Lord, but our natural hearts can be the same. I've gone through attended funerals before where somebody that has passed on from the scene into eternity.
And somebody has spoken about the person that has gone.
And during their life, that person showed no evidence of ever being a Christian or having a desire and the Lord sings it all. But they would bring bring out some of the natural things that the person was noted for, perhaps some kind act that they did and because of certain amount of works, maybe that the person did that they thought were good works and they exalted them up into into heaven.
Well, that's the flesh speaking.
That's the flesh speaking. No one wants to see anybody leave the scene and go into a lost eternity.
But once a person dies, it's too late to speak to them about salvation.
I've seen that.
As a sad thing.
That a person.
Not only does it speak wrongly about the person that has died, but it gives the wrong word to everybody in that that's there for that funeral. It sends the wrong message that, well, perhaps if I do my best, I too can be accepted in heaven. There's no gospel message given. Well, that's, that's wrong. So here we have, uh.
Peter speaking naturally.
And uh.
Is the Lord rebuke not only Peter, but Satan too as well? He knew the root of it, where it was coming from.
And oftentimes when we.
Uh, Satan knows that our natural desires are, are put ahead of spiritual truth and gives an opening for the enemy to come in and use that to dishonor the Lord. And we might do that with the different things that could be, uh, uh, in a funeral like I mentioned.
It was dishonoring to the Lord. It could be somebody that's seeking to be restored or, or you want to restore someone and maybe the natural flesh in us maybe hinders that. I'm not saying that somebody that perhaps is put away from the Lord's table that we shouldn't show love. I'm not saying that we, I think we should. And perhaps, uh, something could be said.
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To the person, uh, from the word of God, that would help restore the person's soul. But does this distinct, uh, from the flesh alone without any, uh, direction from the word of God would end up perhaps just like it did here? And, uh, and what he was trying to do really was prevent the Lord Jesus from carrying out.
The work that the father gave him to do, where would we be if that happened?
Be here, you wouldn't have salvation. So it was a serious thing what he did, but the Lord knew that. And Peter, I'm sure Peter was, uh, restored his soul and, uh, in connection with that, I'd just like to look at first Peter 4 again.
And uh.
I guess the first part of the 11Th 1St.
Says there, if any man speak, let them speak as the oracles of God.
Or oracles really is means revelation. Well, Peter learned a lesson so he gives it to us any mass state. Let him speak as the oracles of God that is to have.
God's blessing and what we say.
There was a time when when Peter Peter spoke the truth and that's recorded. Let's look at Matthew chapter 18.
A wonderful revelation that we have there.
Looking for the verse that says uh yes it's chapter 16.
On the 17th verse of chapter 16, he said unto them, As disciples, With whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered, and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed ourselves, Simon Barjona, For flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven.
What a difference.
But his blood had revealed this truth to him, but his Father that was in heaven gave him the truth and Peter and gave it out. And the Lord could say, blessed art thou Simon or Jonah? Not a rebuke like we just read about, but instead of blessing. And so it's like us sometimes we speak.
And perhaps we don't have.
God's mind and what we say, and it's just only from the flesh, the natural flesh, something that we might desire ourselves.
The other thing perhaps UMM is important that we have is in Mark chapter 14.
Mark chapter 14 and verse uh.
27.
This is perhaps a lesson of absolving ourselves to a higher level than than we are. And Peter? It's all to themselves above his brother.
Here Jesus said unto them, All Ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I shall smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said, ought to have.
All shall offend, be offended.
Yeah, well, not I. We know all the disciples for such award when he went to the cross. But because Peter took the lead, as he often did, the Lord Jesus spoke to the leader.
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And oftentimes it's a, it's a leader that the Lord has to bring more correction to because he is in a higher place of responsibility if he's going to be a shepherd and, uh, to look after the flock. And so the Lord Jesus.
He spoke to Peter, he addressed Peter and we know what a lesson that Peter, Peter learned out of this, that, uh, the Lord told him that before the clock would crawl, he, he would deny him three times. And we know that happened. That was true. And uh, if we look at, umm, I think it's, uh.
Matthew's Gospel.
18 chapters.
20 uh, Matthew 22 or Luke 22. Sorry about that.
Move 22 I was thinking of and verse 20 verse 61, it says the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the talk, Grow thou shalt deny me right here without left thoroughly.
Let's just have that one look from the Lord Jesus, a reminder of what Peter had said.
Was enough to restore Peter to the soul. He wept bitterly above that he knew he had what he had done wrong. And.
It was through this schooling that that Peter went through that the Lord could, could, uh, address Peter.
In in John chapter 21. We'll just look there for a moment.
You know that when the Lord died on the cross and he, he was, he rose again, that some of the disciples, they went back to their old ways, their old occup occupations that they had. And uh, it tells us here that uh, the second verse that they were together, Simon Peter Thomas called Didymus, Nathaniel, Kanan, Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other his disciples.
Here we see Peter's mentioned first.
Simon Peter said on to them, I go fishing. They say unto him, We go, We also go with thee. They went forth and are into a ship immediately. That night they caught nothing.
So here they were, they were going back really from Commission that the Lord had given them. And, uh, Lord was very gracious.
A uh, he approached them and he told them to let the net down the right side of the ship we shall find. And they did so they, they drew it in. It was a multitude of fishes. What I was more interested in was uh.
The 15th 1St When they had died, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonas, Lovest thou me more than these? He said unto him, Gay Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He says unto him, Feed my land.
He said unto him again a second time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He said often, Yes, yeah, Lord, thou knowest that I love you. He said unto him, Feed my sheep. Said unto him Third time Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, Thou knowest I love thee. Jesus said out to him, Feed my sheep.
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And so.
The Lord had something for Peter to do. He was a shepherd, he was a leader, and he wanted Peter to feed his lands and his sheep.
Peter who could be trusted by the Lord to do this? The Lord knew he could trust Peter and uh, Peter didn't like half of the VX or the three times. Sometimes when we we sit under the sound of God's word and we hear the same thing.
Process repeated and then somebody else repeats it again and short time after we hear the same thing. Sometimes we we get a bit annoyed because.
And we don't like to suffer the word of expectation sometimes, but here Peter suffered the word of expectation from the Lord. He heard three times. He was grieved about it, but he suffered it. And the Lord knew that Peter needed it because it wasn't the first time that Peter was called to serve. And he went back into his old ways. We find in, uh, in the book of Peter again.
Since closing, I'd like to look at.
Second Peter.
Chapter 5.
And we saw that Peter was a leader.
He, uh, he took the lead, but you know, a good leader is also needs to be a good follower.
And uh.
He learned the Lord Jesus said follow me.
It's orthopedic three times the following, you know if it's if a natural leader.
Is going to be a good leader. He has to take commands from the.
Hit. If it's in Canada, the the captain in chief, the chief commander would be Stephen Harper.
If it's in United States, the chief commander there of all the military would be Barack Obama.
And so whatever that administration might decide to do militarily, they would call in the generals, they call in their leaders, they would give them direction. And those leaders would have to go forth and carry out that destruction if they if they didn't do it, and that they carried out something different than what they were instructed to could cause.
A lot of damage.
And so they were instructed to, they would be instructed to carry out.
From their leader. So here Peter learned to listen to the chief shepherd. We have achieved shepherd the Lord Jesus and glory. He's our chief captain and.
He could say here in chapter 5, the elders which are among you, I exhort will also an elder.
To say that, yeah, I, you know, I'm a leader.
The Lord has put them into this position.
And, uh, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
You know, they, the disciples, they didn't enter into the sufferings of Christ when he was here, this scene, they only entered into the glory part. But here Peter puts the two together.
Sufferings of Christ and also partaker of the glory that she shall be revealed. She didn't understand that he had to go. Lacrosse was a nation of Israel and for the even for their own souls to have their sins purged away. They didn't enter into that truth at all.
Until after, but uh, we could say feed the flock of God, which is among you taking oversight thereof. Not like this trade, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind either is being Lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, he shall be receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. And uh here says we're all to be subject 1 to another in the fifth verse.
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Humility and so on. And so Peter learned these things.
And we can learn things too from Peter as believers. Another one in closing was just, uh, read a nice person first, Peter.
Uh, chapter.
Chapter 2.
Verse 21 it says for even here on to where you call because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that he should follow his steps.
You know, they tell us they're they're faithful men that whose faith follow and that we can look up to in Scripture. And certainly we can look up to certain ones that Apostle Paul, different ones of Scripture. But the only one that that's mentioned that says for us to follow his footsteps is the Lord Jesus. If we follow his footsteps, we can't have a misstep. We can't do anything wrong if we follow his steps.
And so Peter learned this and so he writes it down. The follow in his steps wasn't all the time that Peter followed in the Lord's steps that he learned to, he learned to follow the instruction.
That the Lord Jesus had given to him. And so it might be with us that we would, uh, follow and along in the, in the pathway that the Lord has marked out for us. But we will be found not only watching, but praying and, uh, have our eyes looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's coming soon. May we, we be found, uh, faithful when that show is given.
I've had on my heart.
Just recently, a subject that perhaps is, uh, a little long for this afternoon, but we could just look at a little bit of it. This weekend has been one of very practical ministry, I believe.
And, uh, I was wondering about just continuing for a few moments and that same vein, uh, I'd like to turn to, uh, John chapter 12.
Uh, we've already referred to these verses, but, uh.
I just wanna read them again. John chapter 12.
And uh, I'm worried from verse one.
Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been raised from the dead, whom he raised, from whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then Mary, uh, took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.
And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
And then those verses we read earlier too, in uh, Romans chapter 16.
Romans 16.
And we'll just read, uh, verse, uh, three again, Greek, Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus who have for my life laid down their own necks onto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the, of the Gentiles. So thinking of this first, likewise greet the church that is in their house.
Well, what I had before me particularly was the thought of the Christian whole.
You know, I believe that the Christian home has a tremendous influence on the assembly.
And, uh, what we see here in these verses I've just been reading are samples of Christian homes, uh, first that of Lazarus, Mary and Martha and that of Aquila and Priscilla. And, uh, it's very interesting to trace through the word of God, the thought of the home. And you know, it's very interesting as you go through the, umm, the old, the New Testament, uh, you find, uh, that you have homes that were devoted.
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To the Lord Jesus and his interests. And I think that's something that should exercise each one of us. We know that here in this room, there are many homes represented. Is it our exercise to, umm, have homes that are devoted to the Lord Jesus and to his interests? Well, that was certainly true of this house in Bethany. And you know, if you look in the hacks, uh, I'm sorry, uh, Acts chapter 10.
You find the House of Cornelius and there the word of God was preached. And then when you go to Acts 16, uh, you find the home of Lydia and the home of the Philippian jailer and what characterized them. That's what we had before us earlier this afternoon, hospitality. And then, you know, if you go to, uh, first Corinthians chapter one, you find there the House of Chloe and that home was very concerned.
About the umm, the abuses that were going on in the, in the Corinthian assembly. And then, uh, further on in umm, in the, in the book of Corinthians, you come to umm, one of the last chapter, the House of Stephanus. And it tells us there that they were addicted to the umm, to the service of the Saints. And so over and over again in the Scriptures you find these various homes that were devoted to the Lord.
And here's interest and certainly that's what you find here in this 12 Chapter. And, uh, you know, I think it's wonderful to see that in the chapter before, uh, John Chapter 11, you'll see the, the conditions that existed in Israel at that time. Notice what it says just to read a couple of verses. Umm.
Just take me a moment here to find an example. Umm.
Well, verse 57, the very last verse, now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment that if any man knew where he was, that's Jesus, He should show it, and that he, uh, that they might take him. And then there's another verse here too. Umm, uh, verse 53. Then from that day forth, they took counsel together to put him to death. So here were the con. This was the condition of things.
At that particular time, the the people of Israel, they didn't want the Lord Jesus. They wanted to cast them out. They wanted to get rid of him. And yet how wonderful that there was a home where the Lord was honored, there was a home where he was cherished, and there was a home where he was obeyed. And you know, why are we living in a similar time right now? We know the world has passed out. The Lord, they don't want him. They don't want him in the school. They don't want him in the business place.
They don't want them in the government. They want them out. But you know, do we have a place for them in our home? I think that's so important today. And uh, you find that that here was a place in Bethany where the Lord felt welcome. You know what I think of that first two in Revelation chapter 3. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man open the door, I will come in to him and suck with him. And he was me the Lord wants.
To have fellowship with us He wants he wants our hearts. He wants a place where he can feel comfortable. And how wonderful here in this little story that the Lord felt welcome there in Bethany. And there was Lazarus, that one that had been raised from the dead. What a testimony to what the Lord had done raising that man from the dead. He could say I am the Lord says there in the chapter just before.
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall we live. And there was Lazarus, a living example of what the Lord can do. And you know, aren't we in a certain sense like that too? There was a time, there was a time when we were dead and trespasses and in sins. But the Lord saves us and He brought us into a place of blessing, and now we can be a testimony for Him. Well, that was Lazarus.
And then there was, uh, Martha. And we were saying earlier that here in this chapter, I believe Martha is in her proper place.
She's serving the Lord. She wants to give Him the very best that she has. She was no doubt a housekeeper that enjoyed making meals and so on. And here she is serving the Lord. And then of course, there is, uh, Mary. And Mary is in her usual place. Where is it? At the Lord's feet. We know in Luke chapter 10, I think it is, uh, there she sat at the Lord's feet. Martha wasn't too happy at that particular time. She thought that her sister was wasting her time. Why wasn't she in the kitchen helping getting the meal ready?
00:50:31
But you know, the Lord had to say Martha, Martha, uh, one thing is needful.
And Mary has desired that good part that shall not be taken from her. Yes, she wanted to learn more of the Lord and so she was at his feet. And, uh, but here Martha, I believe was not like that. She wasn't being, uh, resentful and uh, she was just simply serving the Lord and Mary not only at his feet, but wanting to give her, give him the treasures of her heart. And so she takes this, umm, this umm, uh, pound of ointment or spike in art, very costly.
And if she anoints his feet, so how wonderful to see if the Lord was honored, he was cherished in this house, in this home. Well, we can't take too much time. But when you go to uh, uh, uh, Romans chapter 16 in connection with Aquila and Priscilla, again, we're just sort of repeating what I said. We, we said earlier.
But here's another hope, and this is the home of Aquila and Priscilla.
And you'll notice that it says there in that, uh, fifth verse particularly likewise greet the church that is in their house. You know, it must have been just a small company. I, I wouldn't know if it was 25 or 30 or whatever, but equivalent for sale. They opened up their homes to the Saints. And I have no doubt there was the breaking of bread there and there was a reading and there was prayer.
And, uh, no doubt they were very hospitable.
Uh, and what a wonderful, uh, thing that is, uh, hospitality. I've often told the story and I hope people don't mind telling me, but, uh, me telling the story again. But my wife and I were over in England, uh, in 1969 and there was a little.
Uh, assembly there in Bow and, uh, we got to know this one couple very well and it didn't matter who was out to the breaking of bread on Lord's Day.
They invited everyone who didn't have a place to go to their home. And, you know, their home was very, very small. Uh, the, the living room couldn't have been much wider than my outstretched arm, maybe a little bit bigger. But you know, they always invited anyone that wanted to come for dinner. And sometimes there were maybe 10 or 15 that hadn't been there before, you know, that were there for dinner. But you know, they didn't worry about how much food they had.
You are welcome. And I wanna tell you that that assembly prospered because of those dear Christians. Some here in this room know exactly what we're talking about. And that's the kind of people that Aquila and Priscilla, uh, were. And, uh, so it says here, the church that was in their house. And you know, I believe that there are probably places like that today, maybe not here in North America, but I, I guarantee if you went to China today.
You would probably find believers who have opened up their home to the Saints and have them in for a Bible study and for singing the the word of God or singing hymns, I should say, and having a happy time trying to encourage the Saints. Well, that's the kind of people that Aquila and Priscilla were.
And of course, we know that in the home, the father is very important or the husband. Aquila here was the husband and no doubt he had a, a real responsibility to guide the home and, uh, to do what the Lord would have him to do. And I believe there are very important verses in the word of God as to how the husband should ask. And I don't have time to go into all these things, but if you want to Psalm 128.
I think you'll find there what should characterize the Christian husband who would be the head of the home, uh, Psalm 128.
And, uh, we'll just read, uh, one verse.
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It says there in the first verse, Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways. Verse three, thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the size of thine, thine house. In other words, I believe what characterizes the husband is the fear of the Lord. Isn't that important For each one of us here who are uh, fathers, each one of us here who are husbands, do we fear the Lord?
You know, it says in Proverbs, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And So what a responsible place we have as husbands and as fathers to fear the Lord. Do our children see that? Do they see in us a desire to open the word and to talk about it and to discuss the Lord's interests? Well, we find here that that's what characterized this man, the fear of the Lord. And of course the wife is the same. We won't take time, but if you went to Proverbs 31.
You would find there the virtuous woman. And the same thing is said of the wife. It says that, that she feared the Lord. She feared the Lord. So how wonderful it is when the husband and the wife, uh, act together. And uh, we were mentioning yesterday that Aquila is mentioned, uh, uh, three times, uh, in the scriptures and Priscilla is mentioned three times. So there was that beautiful balance between the husband and the wife.
Well.
I'm just going to take a moment to take a look at a couple of other homes, just briefly. Uh, the next one uh, I would like to look at is in, uh, in Genesis chapter 12.
Genesis chapter 12.
And I'm not thinking here of the home of Abraham.
And, uh, you'll notice what it says about Abraham here, umm, in verse 7.
The Lord appeared unto Abraham, saying, unto thy seed, will I give this land? And there builded he an altar unto the Lord, and appeared, uh, that that who appeared unto him, and umm, next verse. And he removed from fence onto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the West and Hai on the east, and so on. Two things that characterized.
Abraham, what was it?
One, the altar and secondly, the tent. And isn't it very important for us, uh, in our homes to remember that we are pilgrims? You know, we have there in first Peter where we were reading earlier in chapter 2, it says, therefore, uh, strangers and pilgrims. That's our position in this world, isn't it? We're strangers away from home and we're pilgrims on the way home. Well, Abraham here, he had that Pilgrim character, but besides that, he built this altar. You'll notice there it mentions the altar.
He builded an altar onto the Lord.
Important that is in our home too, you know, to give the Lord that first place. He wants our hearts and he wants us to give thanks to him and to worship him. You know, often in our, our prayers, we're, we're concerned about our needs and, uh, what the Lord can do for us. But you know, the Lord likes to hear, umm, songs of Thanksgiving and praise. Do we take time to just thank him, Praise him?
Sing about him. You know, I think sometimes that singing is getting to be a lost art. You know, we have so many things now, MP3 players and CD's and all that. We don't sing like we used to. I remember when I was young, uh, hearing my mother saying that she was stirring the pot, uh, of Stew or whatever it was. Uh, and it's something that seems to be lacking today, singing and making a joyful noise under the Lord. Well, Abraham here, he had his altar, the place where he could worship the Lord. Give him that first place.
Well, then you have another a home and this time in Daniel chapter six, I think you know what I'm going to say. I just sort of quizzing through this pretty quickly. But in Daniel chapter 6, we have the story of Daniel Ayrton and umm, we know that he was surrounded by those that hated him, uh, because he loved the Lord and because he desired his glory.
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And, uh, we know too that the these men.
There in Babylon, what they wanted to do was to find occasion against Daniel so that he get rid of them. But what does this say about him? Notice verse 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house, and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime.
Isn't that wonderful?
Dave Daniel was a man of prayer. He didn't just do it because he was in trouble. It was what he had constantly done day after day. He prayed in the morning, he prayed at noon, he prayed at night. Maybe he prayed much more than that. It might have been 33 times a day. But uh, Daniel was a man of prayer. And we know what wonderful visions the Lord gave Daniel of the future, uh, because he was so much a man, that independence upon God.
And so our homes should not be one where there is worship, but there should be homes too where prayer is important. How much time do we pray? You know, I think I speak to myself. I remember, uh, my father-in-law, sometimes he would just steal upstairs and he'd be on his knees for half an hour praying for someone, perhaps in the assembly or perhaps even for his family. But, uh, how much time do we spend on our knees? You know, we're living in a day of.
Rushing and hustle and bustle. We need to spend time on our knees. Daniel was that kind of a man.
Well, let's turn now to Deuteronomy chapter 6. Again, we can't take time to dwindle all these things in Daniel six. We don't have an actual person brought before us, but we do have a home brought before us. And I'll just read these verses briefly.
Notice what it says in verse UH-5. Thou so love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way.
And when the rise is, uh, lies down, and when the rises stop, and thou shall bind them, uh, for a sign upon thine hands, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt right upon the post of thy house and on thy gates. So here we have a home where the word of God was uh, honored and uh, loved. And uh, you'll notice here that it says in the seventh verse, thou shalt teach, or I think the word could be impressed. Thou shalt impress.
Upon my children diligently and shall talk to them when thou sittest in line hands. You know, we can talk about so many things, technology, cars, umm, vacations and all the rest. But you know here they were instructed to talk about the Lord's things, about the word of God when they were standing, when they were sitting, and when they were lying down. In other words, the Lord Jesus was the object of the whole.
And uh.
How much we need this, we need to read the word. I know there are young parents here. Read the word of God to your dear children. I was brought up in a home, I'm very thankful, where my mother spent 20 minutes every day before going to school reading the word with us, telling us about what the Lord Jesus said and how much we need this. And you'll find here that this is what is I am important and it was to be bound around their hands.
And it was to be as frontless between their eyes. In other words, whatever they did was to be governed by the Word of God.
Whatever they saw was to be governed by the word of God. Can we say that is what we look at? Is it governed by the word of God? I sometimes come across things, uh, in our home. I didn't know we're there, but it's the, the, the things that I saw were not what should be there. They had, they had to be gotten rid of. Well, we need to be guided. Uh, what we do with our hands, where our feet go should all be guided by the word of God. Because you'll notice here, it wasn't just.
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Uh, their hands and their eyes, but it says, uh, in verse 7, when thou walkest by the way, so it had to govern the feet too. Again, I'm rushing over this, but uh, and then you'll notice in the ninth verse, it says thou shalt write them upon the post divine house and upon thy gates. In other words, the word of God should be a testimony to those in the neighborhood. And uh, so.
The people around should see that we love the word of God and want to please the Lord and, and do what is right. So the word of God is important in the whole umm. And now just one other thing, uh, First Corinthians. I know our time has put up First Corinthians the last chapter.
Umm yes, the 15 first of the last chapter of First Corinthians.
I beseech you, brethren, ye know the House of Stephanus that it is the first fruits of IKEA and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the Saints. We had the earlier yesterday. I think that ministry is the thought of service. So here wasn't a here was a household that was addicted to the service of the Saints. How wonderful. Well, to just sum up very briefly.
We have, they had a home that was, uh, characterized by worship. We had a home that was characterized by prayer. We had a home that was, uh, characterized by the word of God and one that was, uh, characterized by the service of the Saints. What a wonderful example we have in the Scriptures of what should characterize our homes. And so I just say that I believe that our homes can be a tremendous influence on the assembly.
And, uh, if we're careless in our homes.
There's not going to be the leading of the spirit as there should be in the assembly. And So what a, uh, an important thing it is to make the Lord the object in our homes and, uh, to be a bright light and a testimony, uh, for him until he comes.
Ticket #318 Old Lamb of God, still keep us close to thy piercing side. Is only there in safety and peace we can't abide.
Our hands and breathing anything Aloha, you know, within horror and glory.
To all Wanderers of Allah.
Yeah, I don't need to be there in the world.
Of all, I could take it in the dark.