Open—D. Martin, S. Stewart, J. House
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Because we look at some verses in Job.
We've had something of perfection in our readings and I'd just like to consider.
An aspect of perfection that I trust you'll understand in no way would conflict with anything that we've had in our reading meetings. I would just like to suggest a few thoughts on perfections that we can perhaps enjoy even now, even though it's already been said in the in the reading meetings that perfection is something that we will only realize and appreciate when we see his face for the first time yet.
While we're here.
May some of the perfections that we find in His Word and in His person overwhelm our hearts. And that's what I'd like to look at now in Job.
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To introduce it.
In.
The 37th chapter of Job in verse 16. This is something that keeps coming back to me. Maybe a few here have heard me say something about this before, but it's the thought that's been overwhelming me for months, and it just keeps coming back. And I'd like to just suggest some of these thoughts to us this afternoon. And that is in the 16th verse. Dost thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of Him, which is perfect.
In knowledge when we consider all around us in the vastness of the creation of of the universe and realize that we know the Creator.
How wondrous it is as we consider His signature and His imprint in everything around us. Do we consider that? Do we appreciate that the One who is the creator of it all? As we now look over to the 36th chapter and read the fourth verse where it says.
He that is it perfect in knowledge is with thee.
And that's a thought that.
I don't know if I can convey properly but.
We, I, I guess I have to say, we're so involved. I'm so involved in myself and in my own life and in everything that happens in my life, my family, my assembly, the things that.
Are so close to each one of us, we tend to see things through our own perspective.
But when we consider the works of the one who is perfect in knowledge and then realize that the one who is responsible for creating all of this says, I am with you.
How insignificant are we in the light of all of that?
The thought of of the creator of the universe recognizing me little.
Me, a dust mite on a hot air balloon. And yet he says, I who know everything, I'm with you. That thought just overwhelms me. What does it matter who I am, what my thoughts are, what my problems are, what my concerns are, what my exercises are? Even when I realized that the one who spoke and it was so, says I am with you.
And in the light of that, I just like to read 5 references in the New Testament that speak of perfection. And again, it's not anything that would differ from anything that we've heard this morning, but just perhaps add another perspective to it, and that is to look in Colossians.
Chapter one and verse 28.
Well, let's read 27 just to get the context. To whom we would make, to whom God would make known. What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles? Which is Christ in you? The hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. And we've had the thrill.
Explanation of the teaching of the sense of that perfection this morning, but I would just also like to suggest perhaps that we realized that.
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. And I don't know if it's I'm the only one who perhaps has a tendency to think this way. But sometimes we get so used to things growing old that we lose sight of the newness and the perfection of who we are in Christ. Those of us who know what it means to be parents when we see the perfection.
Of a new born child, the sentiments that overwhelm us, that sweep over us. Well, think of how God sees us when we're born again. Imagine the joy in the heart of God, the Creator, the one who's perfect in knowledge as he looks on you, as he looks on me, as we're born again and sees that new life within us. Does that new life ever become old?
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It doesn't. And we have perhaps a tendency to think, well, you know, back when I was saved however many years ago.
And then we start, you know, looking at how things have progressed and how things have changed and certainly how we should have grown and realized we haven't grown nearly as much as we should. But the newness of who we are in Christ, I don't believe, ever grows old with God. And may we see ourselves as God sees us perfect in Christ, in a newness and an eternal newness.
That never grows old and will find its fulfillment for eternity in His presence. And now let's look.
In first John.
Chapter 4.
And verse 17.
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world perfect. There is No Fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
Perfect.
In love, I can't begin to tell you how afraid I can be.
And I just began to realize that as I've read this verse over and over again. The fears that can come in and spoil the perfection. Fears of things in this world, of things that threaten us in every way possible. Fears of things that threaten the assembly and those that we love and the Lord's people. How we can. How many sleepless nights perhaps some of us have spent in the past year. The fear, the torment, the anguish, the pain.
That has had a tendency to, well, overwhelm my own heart. And then I realized it's because I don't realize and appreciate and understand the perfection of His love, not just for me.
But for each one of his people and for the assembly and for each one of his own, not just those that are gathered to his name or professed to be, but each one of his own. And I would just say this, I would say, what are you afraid of?
Are we afraid of not being gathered to the Lord's name when He comes? Is that something that causes us to act in certain ways that perhaps are not?
A showing out, a manifesting of the perfection of His love.
What's more important to my own heart, that I be gathered to His name, or that the Lord, before He comes, manifest His grace and mercy and power to His people in such a way that for eternity we will never, ever forget how the Lord was strong on behalf of those whose hearts were perfect towards Him. May we desire that the Lord would act, Not that we would be faithful, as important as that is, but may our hearts desire be that the Lord would act and glorify His name in His people before He comes.
Let's look over now in Second Corinthians.
Chapter 12.
And verse 9.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
I don't know if there's any time when we felt weaker, perhaps.
When we realized how weak we are in ourselves.
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But you know, there's a verse at the end of Psalm 78 that I just enjoyed recently once again, and that is when Speaking of David, he guided them. He fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hand. And you know, we tend to perhaps think of strength sometimes as brute force. And if there was ever any strength or power, it's in.
The person of the God's head, the Lord Jesus, the Father, all that we know of his infinite glory and power, but the skillfulness of his hand. It's not brute strength, it's absolute power used with perfect discernment and balance in our lives. And may we value that in our weakness. May we appreciate the perfections of the strength that he brings to bear in gentleness.
In our lives, in our lives as individuals, and in our assembly lives together, and as we consider all that exercises, each one of us so deeply. Or should.
Now if we could look at another reference to perfection in Hebrews.
At the end in chapter 13.
And it's at the.
20th verse that I'd like to start. Hebrews 13 and 20 Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
There is such a thing as a perfect work. And why is it perfect? Because God has prepared it beforehand. The works that He's given us to do are just those which He's prepared, which He allows us to fulfill according to His perfect will. And so we can look at what He has given to us to do as perfection, because they're His and not ours. And so may we be encouraged to do that which He gives us to do, because it's perfect.
Not because it's great or significant or noticed in any special way, but because it's a perfect work prepared by our loving and perfect Father for us to accomplish in His purposes for us. And now one last reference in John chapter 17.
We know this chapter probably almost by heart, and I have to tell you I struggle with this because this is the Lord's Prayer to his Father, and we know it will be ultimately answered in eternity. But what about now? What are we doing or not doing that would prevent that prayer from being answered to what in whatever measure it might be? And so let's look at verse.
22.
In John 17 and the glory which thou gavest me.
I have given them.
That they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and Thou in me. That they may be made perfect in one and the world, That the world may know that thou hast sent me and has loved them as thou hast loved me.
That is the Lord's desire for us, that we might be made perfect in one. And it's not just for eternity, because it's that the world might know. Certainly the world will know when we appear with Him. But what does the world see of it now?
May it exercise our hearts. May we have a desire, not that we would enjoy fellowship, or that certain things might be other than they are, but that the Lord's Prayer to his Father might be answered.
We turn to a scripture in the Gospel of John to start with.
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John, Chapter 5.
Chapter 5 and verse 46.
For had ye believed Moses?
He would have believed me, for he wrote of me.
But if he believed not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
There was never an honor given to the written word.
Above the honor that the Lord Jesus gave the written word in this verse.
To prefer it even above his own sinks we read in Hebrews.
And chapter 3, that Moses was but a servant in his house, but his son over his own house.
But it's because of the permanency that attaches to the written word. It's settled forever in heaven that He gives it this high honor.
And that's really.
What's on my heart and I'd like to look at a few scriptures and bring them together.
To that end.
Of the exaltation of the word, of the truth.
Could we turn over to the end of the Gospel of John?
John, Chapter 21.
Starting with verse one, after these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberius.
Just stop there.
It says in verse 14, this was the third time that he showed himself. The first time was connected with the first hymn we sang today, and that was in resurrection when he appeared in that upper room.
Having sent Mary Magdalene with that message, I ascend unto my Father, your Father, my God, and your God.
With that message of Christian truth, a relationship that.
He had always had.
As the Son was the father, but new to them, they were going to be brought into that place before the Father.
And so he appears to them, he says, Peace be unto you. And he shows them his hands and his sides, and then with the disciples glad when they saw the Lord, and he sends them forth in the Father's name. And so in resurrection he breathes that life into them, and the power of resurrection, and says, Receive the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God being the power of that life. And he sends them forth in the Father's name, and the good of that new relationship they were brought into.
And it's really Christian ground. That was the first appearing. The next appearing was in that upper room again eight days later. And there was one there who had not been there. The first time was Thomas. He had refused to believe.
That the Lord was risen, and so he abode in the darkness of that unbelief, until the Lord appeared that second time.
There's no message for Thomas to receive. I ascend to my Father and your father, my God and your God. There's no being sent forth in the Father's name. There's no in breathing.
To Thomas receive ye Holy Spirit, but as he sees those wounds in his hands on his side and receives that message of peace, he says my Lord and my God a picture of Israel the next appearing of Christ to his own and that private meeting he's going to have like Joseph with his brethren as he revealed himself to them and he shows that it was God's purpose that.
He went down into Egypt for their deliverance, and so Christ will reveal himself to his own, that remnant, and restore them to himself, and will appear to their deliverance, and they'll own him, my Lord and my God. Now this is the third time He appears, and it looks on to the day of His power and glory in the millennial Kingdom. And I'm not going to take time to read it all, but I think we're fairly familiar with the scene. The Lord is standing on the shore. The disciples are out fishing.
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And he calls to them, have you any meat? I say, no. They didn't recognize the Lord right away, but he was closest to the Lord in affection. After the Lord had told them to put the net over the side and they drew on those fishes, he says it's the Lord, it's the Lord. And they drew a great net full of fishes, and they dragged it to the shore. And for all the multitude of those fishes, the net wasn't broken.
It draws our thoughts back to a day when the Lord said to Peter.
Cast that net out and they drew it in and the net began to break. And as they loaded that ship up, the ship began to sink. And he cast himself at the Lord's feet and said, depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, but here in millennial perfection.
Then that doesn't break. The ship doesn't sink. They draw the net to shore. It's full of great fishes. There's no good to be put in vessels and bad to throw away. Everyone's a good fish.
Everyone is a good fish.
John was called by the Lord in the beginning of his ministry, and when he was called, the Lord found him, ending next here. The net doesn't need to be mended. It's millennial glory. It's all perfection. Though He uses man. It's manifestly the Lord's power in that day. No fish to escape through big holes in the net.
No bad doctrine. You know, the gospel that's gone out today and it gets holes in it. The doctrine of Christ has been corrupted in this world and the truth has been slighted. And so John's on the shore there when the Lord calls him, and he's busy mending Nets. And when the Lord leaves him, that's going to be his work. When the Lord's gone, he's going to have to mend the Nets.
And so John's ministry has a character of mending up the truth when it got misused, when it was discarded. I don't want to say broken, the truth can't be broken, but he had amending character in his ministry. The doctrine of Christ had become corrupted, and the Spirit of God used him to mend up finesse. I'd like to go to the end of the chapter.
Having just given that in a little synopsis.
And verse 17.
He said unto him, the 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 that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
I believe.
As Paul says of Peter, that he was the apostle of the circumcision, that this is the Jewish sheep.
Peter was especially charged with their care.
Verily I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou gerdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wittest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry the whither thou wittest. Not this spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, Follow me, What important those words to Peter, who said he would follow the Lord?
To prison and to death. He couldn't in his own strength. And now the Lord says follow me. Oh Peter, what does it mean? Yes, you will follow him to prison and to death. And the Lord told him what death he would die and glorify God.
Peter turning about, see if the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper and said, Lord.
Which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, And what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, What is that to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die, but if I will, that he tarry till I come.
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What is that to thee?
There's practical lessons that can be gleaned from this portion, but what I want to bring out of it is that Peter and John here are typical of two systems of things.
Peter, being the apostle to the circumcision, was closely linked with John. We often see them together in the Gospels, in their ministry. They were probably closer in affection to one another than Peter and his own brothers. We see them on the mount together. We see them here together as the Lord gets up from this meal he had prepared for his own, and he begins to walk down the shore, and he says to Peter, follow me. John isn't going to be left behind. And immediately he goes to follow.
Behind the Lord as well, and so they're linked together.
In connection with the Ministry to the circumcision.
Now in the beginning, when the gospel was preached, and the day of Pentecost and those years ensuing, the gospel went something like this. Repent.
And be baptized.
Repent because this nation is guilty of crucifying their Messiah. Be baptized and come on a new ground separate from this nation, which is under the judgment of God. Save yourselves from this unto our generation. And the Lord added to the church daily, not such as worse say, but such as should be saved. That is, they would be delivered from the wrath that was going to come, the judgment that was going to come upon that nation for crucifying their Messiah. And so Peter said, repent and believe, and the heavens that have received the Son of God are going to open, and he's going to come back and introduce those times of refreshing.
Promised by the prophets, the millennial glory in the Kingdom and Israel would be restored and brought in to replace.
Once again at the head of the nations, and the times of blessing will flow out to this earth, and their expectation was for the Lord to come and set that up.
And the church in those days had a character, if I can say the system of things in which it replaced Israel.
No longer the congregation of the Old Testament, but now a new one. A new one.
And it replaced that earthly Old Testament system of things.
But Peter says judgment must begin at the House of God.
Judgment must begin at the House of God, and so that earthly system of things was going to come to an end. Peter found out what death he would die. And so the Jews rejected the gospel that was preached. They took Stephen, cast him out of the city, and stoned him. He looked up and saw into the open heavens the Son of God standing on the right hand.
Of the throne of God waiting to come back and introduce those times of refreshing. And we never see them standing again at the right hand of God. Now he's taken his seat and they refused that offer.
They refused it, and then the Spirit of God raises up a man's Saul of Tarsus.
And he's converted in a wonderful way, and we know, and we've had brought much before us over many years of the ministry of Saul of Tarsus, whose name was Paul. And he introduces a heavenly system of things. Not an earthly system of things, of a view of the church as a replacement of that Old Testament congregation, but a new and heavenly system of things, of a bride called out of this earth.
Of a heavenly people, Jew and Gentile, joined in one body, a Newman.
And we've gotten that in Ephesians.
In 8070 the general Titus came with his armies to Jerusalem, and he destroyed that city, and before he did an offer went out to any who wanted to leave. They could leave, and the Christians left.
They left that city, and Titus with his armies destroyed it, and in contradiction to his own express commandment that the Temple be saved, it was torn down, and there was not one stone left upon another that the word of the Lord would be fulfilled.
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And two systems of things came to an end, the Old Testament.
System under the Law of Moses came to a full end, having rejected the gospel preached by Peter and the others beginning at Pentecost, and the temple was destroyed.
But that earthly system of things in which the church was looked at as a replacement of that congregation.
Waiting for the Lord to come and bring in the millennial blessing.
Also came to an end and Peter, the apostle of the circumcision.
He glorified God in his death on a cross.
And the heavenly system continued on. And that's what we have today.
And that's what we have in the book of Ephesians, the mystery that was hid in God, now made known for the obedience of faith to all nations. That secret that was hid in the heart of God from a past eternity. That the Lord Jesus Christ would be head over all things, not just on the earth as they expected to the Messiah, but in heaven also. And that he would have a companion, a bride, to share that place of glory with him, his body.
Flesh and of his bone.
And that system continued on, and so Peter and John continued down the shore.
And Peter finds that he's going to die.
And he says, what about this man? What about this man?
What is that to thee, Peter, If he continued till I come, What is that to thee? Follow thou me.
And so Peter, who said judgment must begin at the House of God, it did, and that temple was destroyed.
And judgment began at the House of God. But now John continues on. Paul is beheaded. He's with Christ, which he said himself was far better. The other apostles persecuted, some martyred. All gone but John.
John continues on down the shore, following Christ.
And he who was so closely linked with the apostle of the circumcision is left here to watch over that heavenly system of things that continues today.
That was brought out by Paul, not by John, but the Lord leaves him here as the guardian.
Of that system of things.
He's watching over it. He's mending the Nets.
Turn to.
First, John.
He too saw judgment beginning at the House of God.
And we get that in Revelation.
Chapters 1-2 and three.
And judgment will begin at the House of God once again, this time in connection with that heavenly system of things.
That's yet to come.
John First John chapter 5.
Verse one.
Whosoever believeth.
That Jesus is the Christ who is born of God.
And everyone that loveth him, that begat loveth him also, that is begotten of him.
Why do we love the children of God?
Because of who their father is.
You know, there's a lot of little rascals running around our meeting room.
A lot of different personalities, a lot of troubles. Some of those personalities sometimes come out in such not such a nice way. And the other fathers and mothers I'm sure can say the same thing. But you know.
I love them.
Why? Because they're always nice.
Because they're always well behaved.
No, I love them because of who their parents are.
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I love them because of who their parents are. Why do we love the children of God? Because they're nice. Because they're always well behaved.
Now you know what I mean. We love them because of who begat them.
Because of who begat them.
By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God.
And keep his commandments.
I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in truth. Because if we don't have the truth, we don't have love either.
The manifestation that I love God is that it keep His commandments. The Lord said If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. If I care not for His commandments, then I don't care for Him, and if I don't care for he who begat, then I don't really love those that are begotten of Him.
Without the truth, we don't have anything.
Oh, we had some helpful thoughts on hedges.
And on plants.
And we've had some helpful thoughts on lowliness and meekness.
The way we're to conduct ourselves.
Some helpful exhortations to lay to grow up.
But brother, and above all, is the truth.
It's the truth.
All what attracted your soul?
To this place.
I can tell you for my own self, it was the truth. I heard the truth spoken and I knew what it was in my soul. And where the truth is spoken and acted on, there will be love, there will be loneliness, there will be hedges, there will be plants, there will be all those things that are so necessary.
Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. If you believe not his words, how we believe what I say, He's exalted it above all His name.
And this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.
Oh, how I remember. Pardon the personal reference.
Those bracing exhortations.
That we received as young men going from house to house, sitting in the living room of this older brother. That older brother being at conferences or meetings. I the words start ringing my ears. You young brothers ought to forego a few hamburgers and buy some good ministry.
We needed that.
We needed that.
Those brethren who addressed us like sergeants in God's army and made us stand up straight and said you got to get into the truth. Those things that in the camp they say, oh, that's hair splitting. It doesn't matter. You say to a brother at work, I said you want to take all these beautiful things in the word of God and make a meatloaf out of it. Just mash it all up and make it all the same and you lose out on all the delicacies, the perfections, the beauties of the truth of God.
Our brother Brinkman mentioned about his granddaughter reading Revelation. I know a.
Young brother, the first book of Ministry bought was on Revelation, and if I know young men, they love that book. The Lord wins in the end. There's armies and there's battles and there's all those things and there's they just want to dig into it.
We need the truth.
We need to be grounded in it, rooted in it, built up in it. Love, loneliness, all those things will flow from it.
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Our brother Stuart was.
Spoke at the beginning of his talk about the important place that the Word of God has been given by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yesterday afternoon, our brother Heinz spoke about the importance of the Shepherd.
Another brother spoke on plants and about hedges, the need to protect that which is growing.
Our brother Martin spoke about perfection.
And Thursday night and in the prayer meetings.
There is much prayer that there would be encouragement for the people of God, and I'd like to bring that together by looking at a few verses here in Isaiah chapter 40. We'll start with verse one.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
That's why we're here.
The Lord wants to encourage us to build us up so that we can keep on going for Him.
There may not be much time left, but He wants us to keep going.
Till the end.
Verse 4. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.
Start at the end of the verse. The rough place is plain. There are hard times. There are easier times a conference like this. I know that personally. It seems so easy to go on for the Lord.
It's not that easy. When you get out, you're working. Your coworkers don't love the Lord. You fellow students don't love the Lord.
Doesn't seem like there's very many who love the Lord, yet you come here and you find out that there are lots who love the Lord and you're encouraged.
The rough place is made plain.
That's what the time like this can do. It can take out some of the bumps, give us what's needed to keep on going.
The crooked shall be made straight.
Many things in life we don't understand.
We don't know why this happens. We don't know why that happens.
What the Lord does?
Everything happens for a purpose. All things work together for good. To them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose, there's a reason for everything.
And it will only work for our good and the end and.
When we get to heaven, I'll be able to look back and what I'll say is the little hymn said that we sung this morning. We'll be able to say how good is the God we adore.
Every mountain and hill shall be made low.
I like to think of times like this at conferences and get togethers of the young people and the brethren as mountains. You're a spiritual high, you're with your brethren, you're having sweet fellowship, precious ministry being.
Spoken of for being exhorted and built up in our holy faith.
And then we get back to the grind, and we need the Lord's help to continue on through the grind.
To keep going and he can do it. He'll be with us. He promised that. He said, Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world.
Every valley shall be exalted.
David in Psalm 23 said, yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, valleys of the hard times, times that are rough to take.
You know it says here every valley shall be exalted.
At the end of Psalm 23.
David comes out with that blessed verse, and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
The House of the Lord will only seem so much sweeter because we've been through the valley of the shadow of death.
These times that we're passing through, where there's division, there's arguing.
And doesn't seem as though there's much love amongst the brethren. There are a hard time. They're a valley. Yet the Lord is with us. That doesn't change. May seem as though everything is changing, everybody's changing. Nothing is consistent, but He's consistent. And if we depend on Him.
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He'll be with us. He'll never let us down.
Verse 8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever.
Lord Jesus said heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. We're guaranteed. It's the one thing that we can turn to no matter what the time, no matter where we are, no matter what we've done. We can read it, we can find encouragement, and we can use it to draw closer to Him that died for us.
Verse 11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, and he shall gently lead those that are with young.
The Lord Jesus is the great Shepherd. He's tender. He's compassionate. He cares for each one of us.
My brother Heinz spoke about the hireling.
The hireling fleece.
The Lord's promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
He'll gather the Lambs with his arm.
The Lord's lament over Jerusalem and Matthew, he said. How often would I have gathered you as a hen, gathereth or chicks? That's a challenge to my soul as well as to yours. Do I let the Lord and my private life gather me under Him? Do I want to spend time with Him so that He can encourage me?
So that I can tell them what's bothering me.
So that if necessary, he can show me what I need to do so that I can live my life.
For His honor and glory.
The rest of the chapter is speaking about the glory of the Lord.
And how powerful he is.
But I just like to look at the last few verses. Verse 29 He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increases the drink.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as Eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.
At a conference like this, we can get much encouragement. That's one of the ways that the Lord uses to give us power. Reading your Bible every day, even if it's only for a couple of minutes, give you enough to get through the day. You don't have to spend hours in prayer. Just talk to him a little bit. He wants to talk to you.
Even the youths shall faint.
Just to continue on every day.
Start it with a bang. Start it running. Run fast. If you're going to run the marathon, you can't Sprint the whole way.
You have to pace yourself.
But with the Lord you can do that. You can pace yourself.
Are you pacing yourself spiritually?
You depend on him. Spend time in prayer.
Each day is to be with him to gather the need of strength.
But they that wait upon the Lord, that's the key. It's not in our power. We can't.
Resolve any assembly difficulties. We can't do anything. We can't continue on. It's only through the Lord they that wait upon the Lord.
I have trouble doing that.
It's not easy just to say, Lord, it's in your hands.
But if we do, it'll bring peace to our souls, and it'll bring blasting in our Christian walk.
They shall mount up with wings as Eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.
With the Lord.
He knows our each individual needs.
Some of us may be able to run spiritually, some of us may have to walk spiritually. It doesn't matter. The Lord wants to be with you and he'll keep going by your side. Like the poem Footprints, where the man looks back and he sees only one set of footprints. And the Lord says, that's when I carried you.
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That's maybe what come down comes down to in our lives.
But I think the reason why the prophet puts run and the spirit told the prophet to put run in here.
As well as walk is to accommodate the different stages of a Christian life.
And not faint.
Running, you're going fast. Walking, you aren't going so fast. Not fainting.
Implies that you may not even be moving at all, just standing still. That's what the Apostle Paul exhorts us to do in Ephesians after putting on the whole armor of God to stand.
To hold on, even if it's only just a little while, till He comes back. To hold on to the truth, the truth that He's given us in His precious word. May we do that till we come.
Or the.
Strong.
In Falls Fall 126.
Verse 3.
The Lord has done great things for us.
Whereas we are glad.
Turn again. Our captivity, O Lord, is the stream South.
May that sow in tears.
Shall reap the joy, he that goeth forth and weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. 127 Except the Lord built the house, they labor in vain that build it.
That the Lord keeps the city to watch him wake his **** in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows, or so can give it to beloved sheep, please.
Low children.
Our heritage of the Lord.
And the fruit of the womb is his reward.
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As arrows are in the hands of a mighty man, so are the children of the Union.
Happiest man that hath his quiver full of death.
Shall not be ashamed.
They shall speak with the enemies and the gates.
Psalm 144.
Verse 12.
That our son.
Maybe as plants grown up in their youth.
That our daughters.
May be as cornerstones polished after the similitude of the palace.