Open—R. Thonney, H. Brinkmann
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In my purpose I constantly.
Return.
My heart.
A freshman first.
Walking, he bravely returned.
I'll ever hear.
For everybody.
Like coming Lord.
When he may.
My.
Dear, where Lord can last the joy, of course.
Running my.
Favorite.
To have all my way for thee.
Wrong as I say.
I can walk and wave.
The fella and fly.
I never.
Heard from speaking.
Hard that I.
Will get private things.
And brethren is going to leave room for others, but there is something the Lord has laid on my heart in a very specific way. Maybe the best way to preface it is be reading from Psalm 150.
Actually, it is a little word of exhortation for us.
Feel it for my own soul, the need of it, and I want to pass it on to my brethren as well.
Psalms 150. I'm going to read the old Psalms since it was only 6 verses long.
The exhortation is found in the verses of this Psalm. I think you'll realize what it is when we get done with this Psalm.
Praise ye the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary.
Praise Him in the firmament of his power. Praise Him for His mighty acts.
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet, Praise him with the sultry in heart.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance, praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud symbols. Praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that at breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
This was written for Israel and they used instrumental music. We don't in the New Testament find that.
The praises of God are connected with any instruments. The instruments in the New Testament are the fruit of the lips. It is our hearts singing from the heart. Those are the instruments mentioned in the New Testament. But the exhortation I want to leave with you, dear brother and sister in the Lord Jesus.
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Is what is repeated so often in this Psalm phrase.
Praise. I really find it rather than exercising to travel around a bit and the little light do travel around.
That oftentimes in a breaking of bread meeting.
There seems a reticence to praise him.
Of times many dear brethren sitting there, fully capacitated to get up and praise Him, to give out a hymn of praise, to read some scriptures of phrase and silence, long silence.
It exercises me, brother.
We're going to talk about our testimony, brethren. It's going to be a testimony to our weakness. But if we can be more occupied with the glory of God's eternal Son and get our minds off of ourselves, I can guarantee you that praise will be the automatic flow of your heart.
You know how we should long for that to be the case in each one of our whole meetings, that there be more praise for His precious name. You know, there's an interesting expression I pondered, and I don't know how to understand it that well. In Psalm 22, it says, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Interesting expression, isn't it? He inhabits.
The praises of his people, I don't know what to say about that exactly.
But I can say this perhaps.
That where His presence is, there is His praise, brethren.
And that should exercise our hearts, brethren, we can talk about being in His presence.
What about His praise? You dear young brothers, in your home meetings, do you exercise your priesthood in praising the Lord? I sometimes wonder what it is exactly that hinders the praise that should flow so freely in His presence. I suppose it could be a number of things. I know we live in a.
Society here in the United States that is very self-centered and.
I'm not going to point at you, brethren, but I can point at my own heart and say that I have been affected by the society I live in. It shouldn't be that way, but I have to confess it has been. And oftentimes I find that my thoughts are about myself instead of being on that glorious person of the Lord Jesus. And when our thoughts are on ourselves, there will be no praise bread, and I can guarantee you that.
And so oftentimes when we come together in our meetings, I know as a young brother growing up in the meeting that OFT times when I thought about participating in the breaking of bread meeting and praising the Lord, I immediately started thinking about myself. What will brethren think about me? Maybe I'll make a mistake.
And we do make mistakes, but it should be an encouragement to us that the Lord Jesus.
Is our great high priest for that very purpose because of the weaknesses and infirmities that accompany us here in this world? I'd like to just turn briefly to Hebrews chapter 10.
To meditate briefly on the liberty that.
Belongs to the believer in the Lord Jesus in this connection and entering into the holiest of all to present to God the praises that our Lord Jesus is so worthy to receive.
Hebrews chapter 10 and let's read from verse 10.
He is speaking about the will of God, and he says by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
Once for all.
And every priest standeth daily ministry and offering oftimes the same sacrifices which can.
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Never take away sin, but this man after he had offered one sacrifice, 4 sins forever sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified down in verse 17.
And their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having an high priest over the House of God.
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Just to get the background of the provision that is made for us, dear brother and sister in the Lord Jesus.
To go into God's presence because when we come to Him.
Wherever it may be, in prayer or in praise, we are really in spirit entering the holiest of all.
And Scripture tells us to come with boldness. That's a strong word. I think we need to let it sink down into our soul. Boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Notice verse 10 speaks of that. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
Once for all, God has sanctified you and me. This is positional sanctification.
And then in verse 12, one by one offering.
After he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God.
The work of our redemption is complete. The testimony to that fact is that Jesus sits on the throne of God. If there was any question at all about the sufficiency of the work of Jesus on the cross.
He would not occupy that position he now occupies. Oh, to let those.
Truth sink into the soul rather than is so important. Dear young brother in the Lord Jesus, I want to encourage you especially to take up the praises of your God, of our glorious Savior. Soon we're going to see Him face to face, and then our praises are going to flow unhinderedly. Now we don't see Him so directly, and perhaps that's one reason we don't praise Him like we need to.
And so he has offered one sacrifice for sins forever. Now, verse 14.
By that one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Think of it perfect forever. We look at each other.
In our physical frailties and we say perfect. I don't think so, brother.
I can think of a few faults of yours. That's true for thinking about our state. But when we're talking here about our position before God in Christ perfected forever, no question can ever be raised about any of God's redeemed ones.
If there can be a question raised about God's redeemed ones, you have to raise the same question about the person of Jesus on the throne of God. He sat down there, having accomplished the work once forever. And brethren, this is the way it comes home to my soul if I don't understand that he, at such a price, opened the way into the very presence of God.
If I hold back.
Thinking about what I am, it is really putting a question mark on the sufficiency of the work of our Lord Jesus. We should not do that. The Lord encourage us to understand that this is the work that He has done. He has made every provision possible so that we can have boldness to enter into His.
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Holy Presence. Never should we forget that it is a holy presence. We should never use it lightly. We should enter there with all reverence at all times. But Scripture uses that word.
Boldness, oh, I love it. And so the exhortation is in verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, as we enter into the holiest of all through that rent, fail we remember the awful cost. What was that veil speaking, Speaking of?
His flesh.
Oh, the awful cost he paid in giving his himself in death for us. We should never forget the ghost. And so we enter right into the very presence of God. Think about, brethren, the tremendous privilege of it. In the Old Testament, of all the millions of Israelites, there was only one tribe chosen to do the service of God, the Levites. Of that one tribe, only one family that could go into the holy place.
The family of Levi, the family of Aaron, I should say the priestly family.
And of that one family, only one person could go into the very holiest of all, and that only once a year.
And that without not without blood.
And now, because of a work that is so complete, the way is open and the exhortation is to come with boldness.
Right into His very presence. Do we enjoy that, brother? There is no privilege that equals this privilege on the face of the earth than to enter in spirit into the very holiest of all to offer our prayers and our praises.
Notice it says in verse 21 and having an high priest over the House of God.
And so you and I perhaps make mistakes in the expression.
Of our praise to God. Sometimes I've heard brethren, and sometimes perhaps I've made the same mistake, Start out, blessed God our Father, and sometimes we say, thank Thee for dying for us on the cross. Instead of designating the Lord Jesus, we offer that to God the Father. It's a mistake, and sometimes in our nervousness we make mistakes like that. Does that mean that we should shut down and not praise Him at all?
Brethren, because of that He is our great High Priest, and as the little hymn says, to all our prayers and praises.
Christ adds his sweet perfume and love. The sensor raises those odors to consume.
He is there for that purpose because we do make mistakes. We do.
We're compassed about with weaknesses.
And then it says in verse 22, Let us draw near with a true heart.
Brethren, there is no place, given what He has done for us, there is no place for holding back now. Oh, may the Lord grant that we would have more exercise in praising Him. I must say it's an exercise, brethren, in South America.
Of times the brethren perhaps go a little to the other extreme, and they stumble over each other.
In giving out hymns and they need instruction about the leading of the Spirit of God.
Even we stumble over each other sometimes, brethren. Perhaps we needed to, but.
I really feel that there's a need of being exercised about praising the Lord more. Perhaps we don't praise Him during the week. You know, it says in Hebrews chapter 13, Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. It should be a continual flow of praise in the Old Testament.
There was an offering that was the continual burnt offering. It was an offering that was to burn.
All the time on the altar that was never to go out. One place that says it was to be burning all night until the morning.
So there was a lamb in the morning and a lamb at night. The sweet savour of that burnt offering was to always be going up to God. And I think we can say, dear brethren, as much as I may not enter into it, the sweet savour of what Christ is to God, and what He's done in that sacrifice of Calvary continually goes up to God.
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But if I am in fellowship with the Lord, with God about it, there is going to be praise that comes from my heart as well.
Oh, I think it's so important to praise it. Bread the Lord give us to be.
Exercised about it in our home lives. I know we live busy lives, high pressured lives, but this takes some time to stop. Sing his praise. Praise Him brethren, that's going to be our occupation for all eternity. It's something that belongs to us all, not to just certain ones.
Who may have a gift? Praise is not a matter of gift, brethren.
Praise is a matter of priestly activity. It is giving to God what is His part, and that should be first on our thoughts. Oh, may the Lord help us. My desire to encourage you, dear brother, younger brother, to be more active in the Lord's praises in your home assembly, in your very own home in the Old Testament. I think it's at least three times that I think of.
It says none shall appear before me Empty. How can we sit down in the presence of such a glorious God and Savior and be empty and have nothing to praise Him? With the hymn book we have What a precious little volume. I know of no volume that is so full of hymns that concentrate on the glorious person of the Lord Jesus and His work. Like that volume.
Hymn 150 What a beautiful hymn speaks almost entirely.
Of the Person of Christ.
Him 27 Another one that speaks so much of his person as well as his work.
But oh, how can we sit, dear young brother and sister in his presence and not praising? The sisters don't take the lead in praising in the assembly meetings, but they sing along. When we sing the praises. They say Amen when a brother gets up to praise the Lord. And in that it is assembly praise because all are represented in what is presented to God.
That's all I had to say. I just want to leave with you that little word of exhortation, brethren, that we have so many times repeated in Psalm 150. Crazy.
So the pop is not the only one that has felt the need for bringing.
This line of truth before us, because it is evident that we are neglecting in many assemblies, are priestly privileges.
And.
We better be careful, beloved Saints of God.
Not to neglect our privileges, otherwise we might lose them.
And I'm convinced that the best way for any person to start participating in the assembly meetings is to use their priestly privilege of prayer and worship. I believe that's the normal development for a young believer to open his mouth in the assembly.
The.
And it doesn't matter how well praised the statements are that we make in prayer or in praise. What does matter is that what you bring before the Lord is what you're really in the enjoyment of.
That you have really entered into these things by faith. The danger is sometimes that we hear somebody expressing himself and we repeat it. You know what somebody else has said.
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Well, thought about already said.
To praise, to worship, and to use the privilege of prayer. It's not the exercise of gift. It's a priestly function. But.
What about the sisters now?
They cannot audibly participate in prayer.
But what about their state of soul?
What is the occupation of the hearts and minds of not only the brothers but the sisters during the week?
Let's turn to.
A verse in Leviticus 23.
We know that in Leviticus 23 we have the feast of Jehovah, the seven feasts.
And we have the feast.
Of unleavened bread.
We have the Passover which is closely connected with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We find in the New Testament the statement the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, drew near.
And what?
Does this feast speak of the Passover? Speaks, as we find in the New Testament, of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Our Passover has been slain.
1St Corinthians 5.
So it means that we enter.
By faith.
Into the truth of the death of Christ. For me, that's where we begin.
But then for seven days, there was the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
That speaks of a complete period of time.
Our life should now be characterized as those who walk apart from evil and sin. That's what leaven speaks of. And they were not only not to eat leaven.
They were not to have leaven in their houses for seven days.
Is that perhaps?
Why there is?
Lack of praise in the assembly. Have we neglected to walk a separated path? Have we allowed things to come into our lives and into our homes?
That spoil our appetite for divine things or render us unfit.
To give him praise.
These are some things that should exercise us and might give us to see why we come empty handed.
We are not occupied with the Lord Jesus during the week. That is a very interesting statement in connection with the peace.
Of unleavened bread. Verse eight of Leviticus 23 And ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days.
Every day of those seven days, they were to bring a sacrifice.
Someone has suggested.
From Lord's Day to Lord's Day, seven days, there should be something each day that we offer up to the Lord Jesus. Worship is not limited to the breaking of bread.
You know, we are in the position of worshippers and we can use that privilege every day.
Sing a song of praise.
And thank the Lord Jesus for what He has done. Be occupied with him.
Seven days. Each day they were to bring a sacrifice.
And I'm sure that many times the.
Lack of the Spirit being able to move among us is not just the brothers.
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It's the state of soul of the sisters.
If my soul is not in the enjoyment of Christ and hasn't been in the enjoyment of Christ during the week, it affects the spirit in the assembly.
I'm either a help or a hindrance by the way I have lived during the week.
And the sisters, if they have been in the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus, and they come with a full heart.
Their state of soul contributes to how the spirit can lead.
In the assembly and young people.
You know this is not just an admonition for your parents, for those who are married and have families. If you belong to the Lord Jesus, it speaks to you just as well.
You know. Now turn to Deuteronomy 26.
You know, it's wonderful that Old Testament is a tremendous blessing, isn't it? Because many things are illustrated there and that we can learn from.
Deuteronomy 26 verse One shall be when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possesses it, and dwell. Estarian, that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land, that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall put it in a basket, and shall go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose.
To place his name there, and thou shalt go unto the priest.
There shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord swear unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God.
And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God. A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became their nation, great, mighty, and populous, and so on. Well, here we have.
One who has now come into his possession, into his portion.
Speaks to us of having.
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I love my heart.
OK.
No longer care.
Oh.
Oh, right of my heart stand OK.
I hear that crying.
Yes, call me there and.
Raise your mind please, we can not fall in love.
You're playing to face.
I am looking for a rush to get there.
Way out of things like, all right, I'm afraid.
Something to him.
But even then, He is there to help us and to assist us.
And it makes he makes it acceptable. Hebrews 13 verse 15 by him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. You see, the Jew brought sacrifices, animals or first fruits that which he gathered from the field. We don't have such.
Sacrifices. It's the fruit of our lips giving praise.
To God and the Lord Jesus is there to assist us, to help us by him. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Now I'm sure many of us many times have experienced, although we come together to bring something to the Lord Jesus or to worship the Father.
In spirit and in truth. Yet when we leave that meeting, we have been refreshed, we have been blessed because we have been in His presence and we have been able to respond to the request of the Lord Jesus. Let me ask you this, is there anybody here in the audience?
That knows the Lord Jesus as Savior.
Who never had any exercise to respond to his request.
Do this in remembrance of me.
There isn't much that he has asked us to do, has he?
Maybe you will be exercised.
That you will come.
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To him and respond with grateful hearts to his request to remember him and then to think, just to think.
What the Lord Jesus says in John chapter 4.
That the Father seeks such to worship Him and worship in spirit and in truth. There is a desire in the heart of God that can only be satisfied by you or me or the redeemed, any of the redeemed bringing worship to Him.
You know, but about Speaking of praise.
And that is a form of worship.
And years ago somebody explained to me and gave an explanation as to the difference of prayer, praise and worship, and I'd like to pass it on to you because I enjoyed that very much and still enjoy it, he said in prayer, which is a priestly privilege.
The soul is occupied with its needs.
Fears his dependence and comes before God in praise.
The soul is occupied with its blessings.
It is a form of worship, but the highest form of worship is to.
Be occupied with the Blesser.
And to be in the enjoyment of his person.
And to bring that to God, this is.
Fellowship with the Father.
Rejoicing.
In his son, it's like what the prodigal son did when he was sitting down with the father.
You know, they were feasting and that rose Lamb, the Father at the prodigal son together. Isn't it wonderful, just like we had in the readings, the breadth of God. You know, the Lord Jesus has been the joy and rejoicing of the heart of God the Father from all eternity. And he as much as he said, I'm going to share him with you. I'm going to make it possible that you by the Spirit can enjoy that same person.
And there is nothing higher, beloved, than to be occupied with him. Thou art my portion.
You know, many times when we're together to remember the Lord Jesus in his death, we're always occupied with what we have received through the death of the Lord Jesus. We are occupied with the sin offering aspects of his death.
And we very often do not think.
Or very seldom we think of what God received through it.
We ought to be thinking of that more often. That's the burnt offering aspect of the death of the Lord Jesus. There was all four.
Jehovah.
And beloved, this has been called the Acceptance.
Offering.
You and I are accepted before God because of what the Lord Jesus has done for God and what he means to God. That is the basis for our acceptance, it has been said.
When the Israelites brought a burnt offering, he put his hand on the head of the sacrifice.
And the Excellency of the sacrifice was transferred over to him.
That's the burnt offering aspect, beloved Saints of sacrifice, and his sinfulness was transferred over to that back of vice.
We think of that most often, and we usually begin as young believers to see that side of the death of Christ, that he bore my sins in his body on the tree. But oh, how wonderful to see what that sacrifice means to God, and that I'm accepted on that basis with the peace offering. Again, the Israeli put his hand on that sacrifice, but there I believe it.
Simply expresses identification with the sacrifice. It is the fellowship offering, and how wonderful.
That we as Christians.
Can OfferUp spiritual sacrifices the fruit of our lips or the calves of our lips giving praise to God? But isn't it interesting too that?
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Associated with that which we bring to God through the Lord Jesus or by Him, is also to do good and to communicate. Forget not for which that sacrifices God is well pleased.
Young people sometimes might ask the question, why do we have a collection in connection with the breaking of bread?
Well, here you have it. These two things go together, you know.
And don't you think if you're in the enjoyment of what you have in the Lord Jesus?
That makes you ready and willing to share things that He has entrusted to you of a material nature so that needs amongst the Saints might be met.
You know, God loves a joyful giver, you know, and one who is in the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus and is in the position and privileges, uses the privilege of a worshipper. He has a joyful heart, you know, and God is well pleased with such sacrifices. You know, even in this part of the world there are needs amongst the Saints of God. It's not just in Africa.
Or in South America or India. There are needs here and we ought to sympathize with those who have needs.
Someone has said.
It isn't so important how much you give.
The question is, how much do you keep for yourself?
You know, that really shows where our hearts are. But the Lord has entrusted to us beloved Saints of God.
Really doesn't belong to us.
The material things I'm speaking about, if one isn't faithful in that which is another's, that's the material things. How shall the true riches be entrusted to him?
So maybe.
Sometimes we are in a state of spiritual poverty because we have not been good stewards.
When it comes to that which God has entrusted to us, how can the two riches be entrusted to us?
Well.
I trust we are encouraged to.
Look into our lives and see what might be a hindrance for my enjoyment of Christ during the week so that we remove those things. Remove the leaven.
Not only not eating it, we move it out of our houses.
Then you can be in the enjoyment of these things and you have something to bring to the Lord Jesus.
He doesn't want vain repetition.
You know, I remember whether Urban will forgive me for mentioning what he once said. There was a brother that served the Lord amongst us years ago. I never knew the man, but some of his relatives are still in our midst.
And what he enjoyed was.
He always had something fresh to bring, you know, It wasn't always the same thing.
When I came from Europe.
I was in a meeting where there was an older brother and he had the habit of praying at the end of the Breaking of Bread meeting and after you had heard him pray twice or three times, you could have said that prayer for him was always the same thing.
That's not worship in the Spirit.
You know the Lord Jesus wants us to grow.
In the enjoyment and to get a fuller understanding and enjoyment and have fresh things to present.
He is so worthy of our praise and worship and let me just yet explain before I get down in John chapter 4.
We have the statement in spirit and in truth, worship in spirit.
And in truth, of course, we have spiritual sacrifices and it's spiritual worship. But I think the most important point is to realize that is by the Spirit that we worship. He is the power of worship. God is the spirit, and we worship Him in spirit. But according to the nature of God, it's spiritual worship. And truth is according to the revelation that God has given.
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Of himself in the person of the Lord Jesus. He does not want to be addressed by us as a Jew addressed him.
We were in Malawi and we noticed we didn't understand.
Their prayers, but there was a brother that several times while he was praying used the word, the name Jehovah that we understood.
Well, we were able to sit down with that brother and explain to him that, you know, we don't really know him as Jehovah.
That is the relationship that Israel was brought into, and God revealed himself in Exodus 6 verse three to Moses as Jehovah.
And he says to Moses, at that time he wasn't known in that way to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was known as God Almighty.
But he revealed himself now to Moses as Jehovah. Did he become Jehovah when he revealed himself as Jehovah? Of course not. He has been Jehovah all along, just like the sun. When he comes and reveals himself as a man, he on earth and gives God's revelation in the person of the sun. He doesn't become the sun. He was the sun all along. But this is the revelation that we have in Christianity. We have.
God revealed in the person of His Son and the Father is known and we address him as Father. No Old Testament St. could ever do that.
Growing by their true knowledge of God. Paul uses that term in Colossians chapter one.
Well, how wonderful to be a Christian.
And to live at this time in the church's history, not only since the work of Calvary's cross is accomplished and we can have this relationship to God as our Father, but to live at a time when that truth has been recovered.
The reformers had no idea of worshipping within the holiest of all, that they had a heavenly sanctuary that wasn't known until the Lord.
Raised up men of God about 170 years ago.
And the room where we meet is not the sanctuary.
His presence is the sanctuary we enter into the sanctuary of His presence.
And how wonderful he is the minister of that sanctuary, and is there to assist us. But beloved Saints of God.
Let's be exercised to be more occupied with the Lord Jesus, the things that we have in Him during the week, so that we don't come empty handed, that we have something to offer to God the Father and to the Lord Jesus. What a privilege those who have left the gathered Saints and ended up in the systems of men. Several have stated this, what they miss more than anything else.
Is the breaking of bread.
Yes, what a privilege to come together as holy priests and avail ourselves of the privilege to worship in spirit and in truth, But it requires a state of soul.
Going on with the Lord and not just before we go to the breaking of grad meeting to be in the enjoyment of these things throughout the week, seven days of the week to bring a sacrifice every day you know and.
The sisters can do that while they do the housework.
To kid sing a song, right? You know, you might not be able to be a very good singer, but you can still make a joyful noise. But to the Lord, you know, while you do the diapers or the wash, you can sink. And we don't have to necessarily be occupied for hours with these things, but have moments where we can raise our voice, where we can thank the Lord Jesus.
For what he has done for us and what he has brought us into.