Address—Shawn Allan
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good evening everybody.
I'd just like to open up our meeting this evening by singing him number 88, number 88.
That I heard uh, I wasn't there, but I heard the meeting of vessel conference. I heard this tune sung and I, I really enjoyed it. So I hope I can start it properly and I just like to sing the 1St 4 standards of this hymn 88.
Oh bless.
Is gonna get it run is I love some but somebody else better started but that's the tune. I think you know which one I mean.
It was a good day, I don't know how long. I have a lot of money. I'm sorry. Laughing like a lot of money.
Graham and Dave.
Call Gregory. I don't have something else. But then, oh, you're good friend. You're doing a different salon and everything.
Thank you very much. Thank you for calling Microsoft.
Grand Theft Auto producing Crowns. I don't know how long I'm going to consider it, but I'm sorry, I'm going to go over there. Oh, 499.
Well, that, that actually wasn't the tomb, but I enjoyed it a great deal, so now I'm gonna have to listen to this meeting and learn it afterwards. Thank you, I appreciated that. Let's just, uh, let's just pray.
Lord Jesus, we come before thee tonight and we express our great need of help for this hour.
Let us know the needs of each and every person here this evening.
We do not know them nearly so well.
And we just pray that God's word.
And the one of which every page in God's Word speaks.
Would be would minister to the needs of the hearers tonight?
We just give thanks for this day that has been provided for us, also the fellowship, the service.
The good weather.
And we acknowledge that all these blessings come from.
Thy bountiful hands. We just ask these things and give thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
I have in my heart this evening to speak of.
A verse that has been mentioned a few times already at the camp.
I'd just like to turn to a briefly in Luke chapter 22.
And the 27th verse of Luke chapter 22.
For weather is greater, he that sitteth at meets, or he that serveth is not he that sitteth and meets.
This expression in particular, but I am among you as he.
00:05:02
That service.
I'm among you as he that serveth.
You know, when we first drove into the the camp, It's our first time coming here.
I so appreciated that somebody came up to us almost the moment we went to the main lodge over here.
Greeted us with a hug.
Big smile on their face.
Gave us a tour of the facilities here.
This particular person or person would have been very, very tired because they had been serving for several days.
But they went out of their way to make us feel at home.
And there are many here at the camp.
Some young people.
There's a girl here, I won't name her, very kind to some of our family.
Was an active service.
And, you know, all of our lives have been touched.
In one way or another, by the kindness and the service of others.
It's not my desire tonight to preach about how we do such a poor job of being servants. It's really my heart's desire this evening to put before you.
The perfect example? The one service who should occupy our gaze. 1 servants who should occupy our gaze each and every day.
And with the Lord's help, we're going to go through a chapter in the Gospel of Mark and examine a day in the life of the Lord Jesus. But before I do that, I'd like to turn to that very familiar.
Passage, Philippians. Chapter 2.
And we're going to start with.
The fourth verse.
Look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you.
Which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of his servants.
And was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death.
Even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also have highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
It wasn't my intention to.
Speak of the gospel this evening, but this afternoon the Lord put it on my heart.
That there are many, many people in this room tonight and we don't know whether they're all the Lords.
And this passage of the Lord.
Coming down into this world as a servant and going to Calvary's cross beautifully illustrates the Gospel.
And I just want to challenge everybody in this room tonight and ask this question.
As a result of the Lord Jesus coming down into this world as a servant, obeying his Father's will and going to Calvary's cross, God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name and every knee. Every knee will bow and confess to Jesus Christ is Lord.
You can only do that in this life or the one to come.
00:10:01
And my question to you tonight.
I ask it of you children, but perhaps there's adults too.
Have you?
Confess Jesus as your Lord.
If you don't do it in this life.
There will come that day when it will not be a question.
Of whether you can do that, you will file the knee and confess Jesus as Lord and that will be a sad and a tragic time.
Again I ask this question, is Jesus your Lord?
The Lord Jesus shed his blood on Calvary's cross.
And I long and hope that nobody in this room.
Has put off that question of accepting the Lord Jesus as their Lord. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus is Lord, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
You know.
What's really on my heart this evening in connection with the subject?
Is the fact that we live in a world.
Full of needs.
Full of need.
Assemblies.
If they're small assemblies, they're lonely.
The young people struggle with fellowship.
The parents struggle with discouragement if there's large assemblies.
There's difficulties too.
If you're parents, you struggle with your children and what to do and how to do it. And we had a very helpful word last night.
Your mother's you struggle with exhaustion.
If your father's you struggle with how to handle the pressures of work.
We struggle with how to manage our time properly, we struggle with health issues. There's sin in this world and the needs are enormous and immense.
You know, just in a couple of days at my work, I.
I was astonished to find out that four people in the group that I look after.
Have mental challenges. One in particular, he was sitting in my office and he said to me that he was married to an Aboriginal lady. No, he wasn't married to her, he was living with her.
And the family had drug problems and alcohol problems, and they kept asking him for part of his paycheck to cover off the needs to satisfy those desires. And one of the members of the family had moved into the house.
And their mayor, their relationship was falling apart because of the struggle managing this family member there in the house. And he had depression issues. He himself was on medication. His family was broken up. They were divorced.
And then he proceeded to tell me if two other people, two other meteorologists, I'm a meteorologist on medications for similar sorts of things.
I remember sitting on a plane one day and I sat down beside somebody.
And you ask that routine question, how was your day?
And you know, most people say, fine, thank you.
We never know really how their day was, but this lady, she decided to be honest. She said, well really, it was a really terrible day.
My boyfriend was arrested as he stepped onto the plane.
How do you answer that?
This world is full of need and we need servants.
And so I'd like to turn now to the divine example.
In Mark chapter 6.
And we're gonna start reading from.
00:15:06
Verse 30.
And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.
And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat, and they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were a sheep, not having a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.
And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place.
Now the time is far past. Send them away, that they may go into the country roundabout and into the villages, and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat. He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.
They say unto him, Shall we go and buy 200 penny worth of bread, and give them to eat?
He said unto them, How many loaves have ye go and see? And when they knew, they say five and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
And they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by 50s.
And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and break the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them. And the two fishes divided he among them all, And they did all eat, and were filled, and they took up 12 baskets full of the fragments of the end of the fishes. And they did eat of the loaves were about 5000 men. And He can straightway constrain his disciples to get into the ship and to go to the other side before under Bethesda, while He sent away the people.
And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when evening was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone in the land. And he saw them toiling and rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them.
And about the 4th watch of the night He comes unto them walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out. And they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and said unto them, Be of good cheer it is I be not afraid. And He went up under them into the ship, and the wind ceased, and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.
And now we'll just skip to verse 53. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Genesis and drew to the shore.
And when they were come out of the ship straightway, they knew him, and ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick where they heard he was. And whithersoever he entered into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch, if it were about the border of his garment, and as many as touched him were made whole.
So just like to.
Point something out that has been a real and touching thing to me in this little passage.
I know there are a lot of mothers here tonight.
Who don't get a lot of sleep.
And if you read this account.
It's difficult to know for sure, but it would appear that the Lord Jesus as a man, He we don't know when he started this day.
But it would, you would presume it was in the morning. And he takes his disciples by boat and they go out on the Sea of Galilee and they get to the other side and they're immediately accosted by thousands of people with needs.
And man, there is so much work.
And then there's the feeding of the 5000 and all that was involved in that.
And then as late in the day, and the Lord Jesus personally dismisses all those crowds.
And his day doesn't stop. He goes up into the mountain and he prays late into the night.
And then in the middle of the night.
He sees the disciples struggling out on the water.
There's no nap to be taken, no rest. He goes out on the water.
00:20:07
Gets into the ship.
And when he gets to the shore, there are the throngs again, waiting for their needs to be met. How long did the Lord Jesus stay awake?
Perhaps he got a nap. We're not told, but it would certainly appear that it could easily have been 36 hours or longer.
And he was a man, and it would have been exhausting.
I share that with you for this reason.
We all go through things in our lives that we find very difficult.
When I first moved to Newfoundland.
There is a time of difficulty.
I was very helpful in considering that the Lord Jesus could understand a little bit.
And what I would like to encourage you in this is simply this. If you know something of exhaustion, and I think there are many in this room tonight who know something of exhaustion, the Lord Jesus felt it.
And he cares, and he's simplified.
And he appreciates it.
He appreciates the labor that you do.
And I'd just like to start with that one little thought.
But there's something else here.
John the Baptist had just been beheaded.
We learn in another gospel, the Gospel of Matthew.
That the Lord Jesus received that news and he departed by ship, there's no mention.
Of his disciples in the Gospel of Matthew in this account.
And I take it.
That the Lord Jesus felt the weight of the fact that the last prophet.
Have been killed by those Jews, by the nation of Israel. He felt the weight of the fact that the cross was before him.
And.
If you could say it reverently, he was troubled in mind. But then you have here in this chapter where he's presented as a servant. His disciples come to him and they say, look what we've done. We went out.
We did as you as you told us. Miracles were performed. We learned these things. We learned those things. We taught these people.
The Lord Jesus doesn't say.
Another time please.
He doesn't say.
Why are you occupied with what you did?
He says come apart, rest a while.
I have been rebuked as a father and I say this to parents now.
Greatly rebuked.
But very often our children do things imperfectly.
Our first instinct is to lecture.
Is it not?
My children have said you're lecturing me, Dad.
And I suppose yes, there's a time and a place for instruction. But here in this chapter, the servants heart didn't say anything like that. The disciples he just simply said come apart and rest a while. And you know what? If you trace this story.
The disciples said we taught, we did these things, and the Lord Jesus, he's going to show them how he taught and what he did. What's the lesson there?
Be an example. The servant's heart is occupied so much less with lecturing and all.
And just being an example of the Lord.
I take that to heart, but I fail greatly in it.
And I think it's so beautiful.
And so the Lord Jesus here, he says, come apart and rest a while. A servant desires rest.
Rest for those that they love.
00:25:00
You know, we came apart this week. Some have just arrived.
And I think there was a desire in the hearts of some that we come apart and rest a while.
And isn't that beautiful?
And the Lord Jesus here, he took the disciples apart, and he spent time privately with them in the ship.
You know, I think the disciples were expecting that they were going to have perhaps a leisurely time when they got to the shore in the desert place.
But they had their time with the Lord in the ship.
We don't know what the Lord Jesus said to them.
And I say this to you in connection with the fact that the Lord desired that they go apart and rest because they didn't even have time so much as to eat, they were so busy.
Do we not live very busy lives?
Too busy?
I struggle with it. I know you struggle with it.
But brethren, we need time with the Lord.
And he desires that we are apart with him.
And there's always time for that.
You know, I thought about it a little bit in connection with this story.
I don't think that disciples considered that that time in the ship was their time with the Lord, because there was a great interruption when they got to the shores and the multitudes met the Lord.
And you know, again I say to parents, but I say it to us all.
Do we live such structured and busy lives?
That when something comes up that needs to be dealt with, as a servant, we can stop and meet the need.
I think it's beautiful that the Lord Jesus recognized at this time in the ship was a very important time for the disciples.
Maybe you drive to work?
Maybe you're on airplanes. Maybe you drive a tractor.
Maybe you pilot a ship, I don't know. Do you take the time that you get? The precious time that you get?
Could be consumed listening to things that may be enjoyable.
But more profitably could be spent in quiet time with the Lord Jesus. I say that to myself.
And I just leave it with you.
And so they get to the other side, and here come the multitudes. It says the people saw them departing and many knew him, verse 33 and ran afoot. And Jesus when he came out saw much people and was moved with compassion.
Toward them because they were a sheep, not having a shepherd.
The day was interrupted. The crowds were there.
And you know, our children might interrupt us. They might knock on our door in the middle of the night and say, Mommy or Daddy, I need you to come use the washroom. Or perhaps your child stops you as you get home from work and said, come here, I gotta show you something. And here I'm just gonna raise my hand and say, as a father, I fail in this.
The Lord Jesus.
He stopped. He saw immediately the needs.
And he was filled with compassion.
He didn't treat it as an interruption. I don't have time for that. I have other plans today.
And you know, I've been very, very.
Touched his little word compassion, and I'd just like to spend a moment or two upon it.
The Lord Jesus, he steps out of the boat and there are all these crowds.
He doesn't send them away, he mingles with them.
Luke 15, the father, he saw his son Alfarov, and he had compassion, and he ran to his son and he threw his arms around his son, the Good Samaritan. What did he do? He saw that broken, bleeding man on the trail.
And he goes to where he is. He came where he was.
And he bound up the wounds.
You know we don't do enough of that to meet people right where they are.
You know.
One thing I'm not very good at, I don't want to use myself as an example. It's.
00:30:14
You sit beside a brother in meeting or a sister. Do you know really where they are at?
And do you seek to meet them right where they are?
We don't really know people the way we think we do. We don't know the hurts underneath.
As parents and I have struggled with this, you, you struggle sometimes to know your children. Maybe they're different in personality than you you are or your wife, because your wife is different than you are.
The Lord Jesus, he came to where people were.
You know, in my work, one of the things that I do from time to time is this is a humorous thing. It's not funny exactly, but I train people who plow roads.
Have trained people who plow roads how to use a road weather information system.
And these are truck drivers. They've never worn a suit in their life. I work in the in the business world. I don't go and train them with a suit and tie.
I go to the Depot and I wear jeans and a sweatshirt because they want me to be where they're at. And I definitely don't show up and drink Starbucks coffee when I go there because they drink Tim Horton's coffee.
And I don't go to the out ports of Newfoundland and expect to be served a Mediterranean diet. They eat cod, fish and brews.
You know, sometimes it's just as simple.
As sitting down and getting to know a person and then soon enough you find out the needs.
And that's all I'm going to say about that. But it's a very searching thing. I do believe, brethren, that many of the reasons that we struggle in our assemblies is because we don't come to where our brethren are, really.
That takes time, it takes effort it takes.
A willingness to be exposed a little bit.
But let me ask you in your marriage.
Do you want to have a relationship where you don't really know your spouse? You don't spend the time to get to know them?
You will put up walls because it's not worth it.
To be heard a little bit, maybe.
Come to where people are. Come to people where where people are.
And you know here the Lord Jesus, he looks at them and he sees sheep not having a shepherd.
It's often been said we need shepherds.
Oh, how we need shepherds.
These people.
Didn't have teaching.
They didn't have the word of God.
And the Lord Jesus very graciously.
Begins to teach them.
And you know, I just want to say this, that I am so thankful that there were brethren in my early years who did that.
I vividly remember people coming through the assembly where I grew up in and they stayed for three or four days and there would be paper charts all over the wall on both the Tabernacle about prophecy and Daniel. And they would teach. And you know, these weren't, I remember 1 laboring brother again, I won't name names, but I was very impressed by this. He used to take his driving in his car. I can still, I can still smell the scent of his car.
He didn't drive.
The speed limit in a straight line. I remember driving in his car one day. He started to swerve the car like this on the road. And we were, he was trying to be funny and we as kids were like, wow, this is really fun. He was coming to where we were.
I want to relate to this person, this, this boy who's 12 years old. I'm not a stoic, growing up laboring brother.
And I appreciated that. I'm not saying anybody here is like that, like it is stoic or anything like that. I just say that it was appreciated that he would be like that with us.
00:35:01
And you know, we don't appreciate teachers in general enough.
We live in a society that doesn't want to be taught anything. They want to be able to go to Google and get the instant answer right away. No teaching. Instead of having somebody carefully take the time to show how to do a piece of fine piece of woodwork, let's have a YouTube video that shows you exactly how to do it. I'm not saying YouTube videos are wrong. I'm all for them. I've used them myself.
But as adults, do we take the time to teach?
Teaching is a beautiful thing.
And our assemblies need teaching.
Our children need teaching. We had it last night, the family Bible reading. Do you teach your children the word of God? If you don't, they're sheep without a shepherd.
It tells us in another gospel, Gospel of Matthew, that the Lord had compassion. Same story, but he says he healed them.
He saw the physical needs of the people.
And he sought to meet those needs.
And I take it perhaps, you know, sickness is the result of the fall. It's a result of the curse.
And you know, goes back to what was said earlier about the fact that people have these broken lives. We all have broken lives because the fall has brought things in. Do we seek to minister to those needs?
The Lord Jesus, He did. He did.
And now it says, When the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him and said, This is a desert place. Now the time is far past. Send them away, that they may go into the country roundabout and into the villages, and by themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat.
I don't wanna spend a lot of time on this particular story, but here the disciples.
They know the day is long gone and they look at the situation. They say it's impossible that these people can be fed, send them away. What they saw was a hopeless situation and what is on my heart this evening is this in connection with this.
That oftentimes we look at our situations and we say they're hopeless situations.
There's no way the Lord can bless.
It's impossible.
But the Lord Jesus here says in verse 37, give ye them to eat. It's a command. It's a command. Give them to eat. In this connection, I'd just like to reference a verse in the Gospel of John.
One of my favorite verses in the scriptures.
And it's in verse chapter.
Excuse me?
Chapter 14 in the last verse.
But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandments, Even so I do rise. Let us go ahead.
The Lord Jesus had a commandment from his Father. It was to go to Calvary's cross.
And he obeyed it.
What was the result of that obedient act?
Salvation for you and me, blessing for this world. Blessing incomprehensible because the Lord Jesus was willing to obey.
And you know, I'd like to share this thought with you. If your situation looks impossible, the Lord Jesus calls you simply to obey. And if you obey, you can expect there will be blessings.
In what seemingly looks like an impossible situation. And what happened here?
The Lord fed the 5000.
Incomprehensible blessing.
And faith does not look at the impossibilities, it's just simply trust the Lord.
00:40:04
You know, I don't believe that the disciples here really.
Thought this was gonna happen.
But they did follow the Lord's instructions.
And the Lord used the disciples to feed the crowd that day. And that brings me to another thing in connection with servanthood.
That I just I've enjoyed and is this of course the Lord Jesus was the giver of the bread and fishes that multiplied that day.
But he shared the work with his disciples. And you know, sometimes we do something for the Lord and we we don't want to share. We don't want to involve others. And I really, really appreciate it when I see other brethren, they come and they ask a child, will you come help me do this? Or they might invite you to do something, to go give out gospel tracks or something else.
Do we share with others in the work of the Lord?
The Lord Jesus did that, and that's a servant's heart, and the Lord Jesus did that.
And everybody was fed.
And now I just want to turn down to verse.
46.
And when he sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
So here we have the Lord Jesus, and we discover the source.
The source of all that had happened that day?
He was independent upon his father, and he prayed in that mountain.
Do you pray?
Do you pray?
That was the secret. You can't serve the Lord in your own strength at all. It must flow. When we had this beautifully brought out in a couple of the young people's meetings in the last two evenings, we must spend time with the Lord Jesus. We must spend time with the Lord Jesus.
And if we do that?
The result of that communion with him will be a heart that has compassion, that desires to serve, and that reaches out.
And the Lord Jesus, here, he spent the night in prayer.
You know, I think it's very beautiful to see here a few other things in connection with the Lord Jesus and his desire for his disciples to be a part if you turn over and these things are well known, the Gospel of John chapter 18. We know this very well.
When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with his disciples over the brook Kedron, where was the garden, to the which He entered, and his disciples, and Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place. For Jesus off times resorted thither with his disciples.
Jesus often went into that Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples.
He desired to be alone in their company.
In the garden, and He desires that with you and me.
And now I just want to quickly make a few comments and we're almost done in connection with the disciples toiling.
They go out into the ship.
And the rowing and the wind is contrary and they're having a difficult time.
A very difficult time.
And the Lord Jesus, he comes to them, and does he say to them.
Stop being so worried now, he did say we read in another book. Oh ye of little faith. Wherefore did sou doubt?
But here, when they were afraid, what we have in verse 50 is that the Lord Jesus.
It says he said to them, Be of good cheer. It is. I be not afraid.
You know what I love about that? The Lord Jesus encouraged them. He encouraged them to encourage one another.
You know, there's a beautiful verse that we know well, and let's just turn to Isaiah 42.
00:45:03
Well known versus.
Behold, my servants.
Verse One Whom I uphold my elect, and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor 'cause his voice to be heard in the streets. And this is what I was thinking of. A bruised Reed shall he not break?
And the smoking flax, shall he not quench?
He shall bring forth judgment under truth. What's a bruised Reed? It's something that's very, very fragile.
Sometimes we're fragile.
You think shouting at somebody and telling them to get into shape, it's gonna help them be strong?
Behold, my servants, a bruised Reed he will not break.
What's a smoking Reed? I like to think of it this way. You make a fire.
And in Newfoundland, it can be very difficult to make a fire because it's windy all the time. You can see the smoke blowing, but it's not Catching Fire. And what do you do? You go down and you cup your hands and you blow and you try and get it to burst into flame. It's very delicate thing to do. You're trying not to make the fire go out. Do we encourage one another so that the fire doesn't go out?
Well done.
You did a good job. I was really encouraged by what you did. Thank you. How was your day today?
The Lord Jesus we had that verse be a kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as.
Tired even God is even God is Christ. Sake hath forgiven you.
Isn't that beautiful?
Isn't that beautiful? The Lord Jesus here.
He sought to encourage. We have a very similar expression, the apostle Paul.
In prison.
Enact and we know that he had failed quite a bit.
In the days leading up to where he was put into that dungeon, faithful Paul, the Lord doesn't come to him and say Paul.
Why did you lose your temper?
He says, Paul, be a good cheer, be a good cheer. We need to encourage one another.
And so those are the thoughts that I I had this evening in connection with being a servant that the Lord Jesus, if you trace out this chapter.
Did you ever think about the fact 5000 men might have been 15,000 people?
What it would have been like we get tired out in crowds of 200, sometimes in crowds of 50.
There was easily 10,000 people in this situation and the Lord Jesus.
Sought to help in every way he could.
He sought to spend time alone with his disciples. He sought to encourage them. He sought to be the perfect example.
In teaching and in doing, he labored. And you know, there's a verse in connection with that that I have enjoyed in Luke.
I'm sorry, the Gospel of John, Let's just turn to it if I can find it.
I think it's John chapter 5.
Yes, John. Chapter 5.
In verse 16 it says, therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father works hitherto and I work. What was the Lord Jesus saying?
It's not the Sabbath in this world. There's sin in this world.
And until that day comes of rest, perfect rest, there's work to be done.
And so I'd like to close by going back to Philippians Chapter 2. You really don't need to turn to because we know it so well.
00:50:05
Look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Do we look on the things of others?
The Lord Jesus is our example.
Let's not look on our own things, but on the things of others. Let's do that in our marriages and our families, in the assembly, in a dying, broken, hurting world.
And the Lord Jesus sets the perfect example of that for us. Let's just close by singing the last four verses of that hymn.
88.
I'll let someone else start it.
Just in singing that I couldn't help but think we should read in closing Exodus chapter 20.
One Exodus 21.
Verse two. If thou buy a Hebrew servant six years, he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his wife.
Should go out with them. His master have given him a wife, and she had borne him sons or daughters. The wife and her children. She'll be your masters, and he'll go by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free, Then his master shall bring him unto the judges.
He shall also bring him to the door or under the doorpost.
And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl.
And he shall serve him forever.
And I couldn't help, even as I read that, thinking of a verse that Mister Sikora quoted to me today in Luke chapter 12.
We'll close with this verse.
Verse 37.
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. Just pray.
00:55:04
Lord Jesus.
How can we possibly thank thee?
For what that was done for us.
We just pray, Lord Jesus, that as our vision is filled.
With gratitude.
For what has been done?
For those who are so wholly and completely undeserving.
That we might, in turn desire to.
Serve to help others.
Do not look on our own things, but on the things of others.
And tonight, Lord Jesus, we would just give thanks also for the many examples that we have in our lives of those who served, and give thanks for all that has been done for us here at this camp, the many who have labored ceaselessly.
Well, I'm long and late into the night in order that we could have this time apart.
And we give thanks for them.
We give thanks above all for the Lord Jesus our Savior. In his name we pray. Amen.