Open—Bob Thonney
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Perhaps we could sing #230.
#230.
* Wars.
Student of God.
Like God.
To say.
When you follow my son and Bethlehem Smith daughter, that's the only life.
Loudness I fathers.
Make progress and it is well-being life I knew, I say.
Matter of law.
Clause I drive a chill.
It's the desire of the local brethren here in Shadow Hills that the next 60 or 70 minutes be spent with an open meeting.
It's a lot of different thoughts and feelings and opinions. I'm learning about open meetings.
Sometimes it seems kind of.
Contentious. I hope not.
Want to talk a little bit about a little bit before we start.
A little story about a recent care meeting we had in Shadow Hills. The brethren got together. It was a good group. We were at full strength, which is always encouraging. We we're going to talk about the speakers for this.
Conference.
So we got out the whiteboard, actually it was a chalkboard because we're kind of old school in Shadow Hills, but put, started putting down some names and, and with different meetings and, and we got through all the speakers and that was encouraging. We, we, we were of one mind. We thought we were making good progress and.
Quite a few of the brethren canceled.
The other day, so our well laid out plans were.
Changed thankful to say that the Lord provided suitable alternatives and to those of you that filled in, we want to say thank you.
Back to the care meeting, we got to the end and somebody says, well, what about that TBD meeting to be determined? So that led to a discussion. Well, we could have an open meeting, you know, but it might make more sense to have a fifth reading meeting. Sometimes there's there's merit in that. And then somebody else thought, well, maybe an address would be good, you know, and.
We talked for a while.
Actually, quite a while.
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I.
And at the end, at the end of the meeting, we concluded that.
If we can look to the Lord for these three days of meetings to provide for a spiritual help blessing financially that that there wouldn't be any serious health or sickness.
We should be able to rely on him for 60 minutes or 65. So I'd like to read a few verses. Turn, please, to a familiar portion in First Corinthians.
First Corinthians, chapter 14.
And verse 29.
1St Corinthians 1429 Let the prophet speak two or three, and let the other judge, if anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, Let the first hold his peace.
Free e-mail prophecy one by one, that all may learn and all may be comforted.
Or encouraged.
The spirits and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.
As in all churches of the Saints.
One more verse first, Peter.
A.
First Peter chapter 4 and verse 11.
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.
If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth.
That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Let's pray.
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee.
For answered prayer with respect to the last day and a half, we thank the again that so many of our brethren.
Had the desire to spend their.
Holiday weekend here with us. We are honored and we thank thee.
For this we thank you for undertaking for us in so many ways. Now at this time, we ask for help.
On the hour ahead, we just pray, Lord, that it would be a blessing. We pray that there would be a brother or two, possibly three, that has a portion indeed for myself that they would in fact have the liberty to take the podium and.
Share it with us.
Just ask this request now and I alone worthy and precious name.
I want to turn to Colossians chapter 3.
And read the 1St 4 verses of that chapter.
Let's say that what our dear brother Bill had to say in the last meeting.
Echoed a lot of some meditations I've had on that same subject of the Father's house, but I'm going to go from this scripture.
If then ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.
Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
Set your affection or the margin says your mind.
On things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
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So here we have the exhortation.
To seek those things which are above.
Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God to set our minds. This means that you and I take a definite measure.
To think on things that are above and I must say, brethren, when I look at my life sometimes at the end of a day and reflect how much of today.
Have I had my mind on things above? The percentage is pretty low.
O brethren, at a moment's notice, we're going to vacate planet Earth, and we're going to go into that glory above.
And as Bill was saying, to try to imagine what it's going to be.
Is pretty much beyond this and I find that so often we say well.
There's no way we can understand those things and we kind of dismiss it and we don't really carry out what this exhortation is telling us to set our mind on things about.
Say brethren. It's kind of interesting. At one time at a outing in Bolivia we had in our local meeting at that time, it was Cochabamba.
We went out into, we had a.
Day where we all got together out in the countryside.
Some of the beautiful Andes mountains and.
They wanted to have some kind of a Bible study. So we took up this these verses and we had a chalkboard there and it says here set your mind on things which are above.
I said OK now.
I want somebody to stand over the chalkboard and write down the things that are above.
You know, at first glance around everybody.
What are you talking about? Well, there's Lovejoy Peace up there and there are things like that. But things I said, come on, brethren, it talks about things above.
Let's come up with some of the scriptures that talks about.
Those things which are above one of the things that was listed was when Brother Bill took out the Father's house.
Oh, I find that so thrilling, Brendan.
The Lord Jesus didn't sit in my house, no.
In my father's house. Why isn't it his house?
Yes, but he doesn't present it that way. It's in my father's house.
Yesterday we had.
John chapter one and our brother.
Mentioned that question.
That the two disciples that followed the Lord Jesus asked.
Where dwellest thou?
And I must say, brethren, I have really enjoyed thinking, where was the Lord's dwelling place even when he was down here in this world?
It says if you go back to the 14th verse of chapter one.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.
He hath declared him.
Where was his dwelling place?
The bosom of the Father, that was his dwelling place from all eternity.
And even when he was passing through this world, it was his dwelling place.
And brethren, I like to think of the fact that the Lord Jesus, when he was here in this world, didn't really have a House of his own. He said the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Why didn't he have a house? Was it prohibited? No, wasn't prohibited.
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But he came from the Father's house.
And he couldn't find any place down here that equaled that.
Frankly speaking, he wasn't interested in anything else.
Because he had come from the Father's house. It's the place of the enjoyment of the Father's love, that place that he enjoyed from all eternity.
You know, brethren, I must say, I get such a thrill out of mingling with other countries where we have those who are in fellowship, the Lord's table with us and.
The beginning of this month we were down the Dominican Republic.
And quite a few of those countries they have.
Large families.
And I this time we were with a brother in the meeting of Loma Alta. It's a big it's a high hill that overlooks the Caribbean Sea on the north of the island.
He has eighteen children.
That's something that's not.
Much known in this country. So I was with him and I said, your 18 children, brother, which of them is your favorite?
He looks at me and shakes his head. I don't have favorites.
I thought that was so interesting. You know how children are different? Each one is different from another.
And.
I think he could have said they're all my favorites.
And it would be true.
But when we think of the Father's house rather than when we think of the glory, have you ever thought of the millions, I suppose we could say billions of the reading.
We're going to feel lost in the crowd up there, and I kind of get lost in the crowd down here. Where is that person I was looking for?
Oh, brother.
Everyone will have a special place for him. There's been a place for you that I can't feel. There's going to be a place for me that you can't fill. And I think that's the sense of.
In my father's house are many abodes is really the word. It's a place adapted for each one. You will not feel lost in the crowd. How do you explain that? I can't do that, sorry.
But that's what I believe to be the truth. Everyone is going to have a special place.
Suited, adapted for you. I find that so amazingly wonderful. You know, I was in a big crowd one time in La Paz, Bolivia. They were having.
A political.
Rally for some candidate and I don't remember who it was.
But I can still remember who we must have been 5-6 thousand people on that big open Plaza.
And I can see the candidate way up front, barely see him.
As he started addressing the crowd.
Talk about being lost in the crowd.
But rather than we're not going to be that way when we get to the glory. The Father's house has a place. He says I go to prepare a place for you. I hope I'm not interrupting any of your thoughts here Bill, but I must say I enjoy this so much and and to think that God has a place for everyone. And so these are some of the things.
That are above.
What else can we say about those things which are above?
And I'm not going to be long up here, brethren, but you know, we have Revelation chapter 21 and chapter.
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Two verse five of chapter 22 describes the heavenly city. The 1St 8 verses of chapter 21 describe the heavenly city in the eternal day.
After the 1St heaven and the first earth had passed away.
And it's very interesting what it says. One of the things I just like to point out there and just turn over to it in Revelation 21 That I find very interesting.
In verse 7.
Talking about that city.
And those that will be there, he says, he that overcometh shall inherit all things. Excuse me, I mean verse six. He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end I will give unto him that is.
Thirst of the Fountain of the Water of Life.
Freely, freely.
1St in heaven.
In eternity.
And you know, thinking through that, what has come to my own heart?
His brethren, even in that eternal day where everything is perfect.
Where there is no more sin tomorrow anything.
We will never be sufficient in ourselves. We will always depend on our God to satisfy.
The thirst of our souls, I must say I thoroughly enjoy that to think about it.
So we have a lot to be said and like I say the 1St 8 verses are the eternity and then from verse 9 down through chapter 22, verse five, you have the heavenly city in the millennial day. There you have walls. Interesting. What do you need walls for?
You need walls to keep something out.
And so that won't be necessary in the eternal day. So you don't find anything about walls in the 1St 8 verses. It's in the next part which deals with the millennial day because they're still going to be sin in occasions on earth. And so there's walls, there's gates.
And so those things will be necessary in the millennial day. There's the Tree of Life there, the Tree of life that was found in the Garden of Eden.
Really. A picture of the Lord Jesus?
But here is transplanted to the heavenly paradise.
And.
Isn't that wonderful? It says.
That the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nation. So there is not going to be any sickness anymore in the millennial day. Can you try to imagine this world without hospitals, without doctors, without medicines, without pharmacies? It's hard to imagine those things, but that's what it's going to be.
Oh brethren, these are things that I must say. I just want to challenge you.
To set your mind on things above.
Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Find it so beautiful. One further thought and I want to leave.
The rest of the time for others, but that I must say I have enjoyed when the Lord Jesus says there in John 14 I go to prepare a place for you.
I remember years ago somebody saying when he entered there as a man.
The place was prepared. Never before was there a human being in resurrection glory in the presence of God.
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When he entered there and took his seat at God's right hand as a human being, as a man, he will be there, a human being for ever. The place was prepared for us. O brethren, these are wonderful things.
To think about, to meditate on. And I think the more we do meditate on it, it's going to have the effect of transforming our lives, to take away so much occupation with things down here. Yes, we need to.
Have a job and provide for our families. That's very proper. Scripture tells us that.
But brethren, it gets overwhelming sometimes, and as I say when I reflect on how much time I spend on the material instead of those things which are eternal, it really.
Must say it really is a challenge to me. Just before I close, I want to read the last verse of Second Corinthians chapter 4.
Two Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 18.
He says while we look.
Not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal or connected with time, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
O brethren, the Lord help us. Ye dear young people, spend your time.
Your extra time on things that will last forever.
We have to be occupied in a certain measure with things of time, but the Lord help us in the time we have over and about to set our minds on things above.