Open—Mark Allan
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I'd just like to share.
A few thoughts that I just have enjoyed the last couple of days. You know, we've been taking up First Corinthians 15 about the Lord's resurrection and, uh.
One of the things that has been impressed upon me was that it yesterday, particularly that it didn't have the meaning to me yesterday.
And perhaps the way I would have liked it to.
Thursday I came home from work and had a very busy week this week and we're in First Corinthians 14, umm, right now in Rio Ferry at the end of the end of the chapter and I had read a little bit on 1St Corinthians 15 and I was.
Impressed in the outline of Rustanstein's outline, he goes through how in the first part of that chapter Paul goes through an explanation as to the proof of the resurrection. And then he goes through, well, what would happen if it didn't happen. And then later on in the chapter he goes through what are the implications of the resurrection.
And I, I read it and I thought, oh, you know, that's, that's neat. Umm, I never really noticed that before.
It didn't really hit my heart and you know, yesterday as we were going through it in the, uh, reading meeting.
The import of what it means is beyond what I can even comprehend. And it was very well explained yesterday. But you know, I just, I felt like my heart needed to be touched a little bit more. And you know, this morning and we know this is Easter, umm, I woke up and.
I've been considering it. I spoke to a number of people about it yesterday and I said well.
Maybe I'll read the end of Matthew, the Lord's resurrection. I said no, I'll just read where I normally read, which is in Hosea right now in a verse call down there that I just want to read because it struck me. Jose, chapter 4.
The end of verse 15 and I'm not even sure I fully understand.
This first, I think most people here would know the story of Hosea. He was asked to marry a prostitute because Israel had turned their back on the Lord. There was two primary things and you know, these are two primary things that I struggle with in my own life.
They were going after things that replaced God.
And they were enjoying pleasures wine. See that in chapter 3 it says there.
At the end of the verse one it says who look to other gods and love flagons of wine. And you know, if I had to point to what in my own life keeps me from an appreciation of the resurrection of those two things, I let things take the substitute.
Of God in my life. And I like pursuing after pleasures. You know, that's a natural tendency that we all have.
And what does it say at the end of verse 13? I just want to read it because it really struck me. It says, though thou Israel play the harlot, yet not due to offend, and come not ye unto Gilgal neither go up to Bethaven, nor swear the Lord liveth.
I don't know and I'd be interested in other thoughts and this it seems like the verse is saying they weren't to say the Lord lives.
Or maybe they were saying it and didn't mean it.
Does it mean something to you that the Lord lives?
Is it evidenced in your life that he lived? What, what, what effect is it? You know, yesterday? And I thought it was beautifully brought out. You know, it isn't really about us.
What you have in First Corinthians 15 there is God's plan from eternity past to the eternal state in the future to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was said that we are brought into tremendous blessing because of that. Because of that, we're brought in the phenomenal blessing.
And that's a little bit what I'd like to look at. You know, we stepped through it yesterday of a future day when the Lord is he's been rejected by this world and God the Father is going to set him up. He'll become, he'll rule this world for 1000 years in righteousness. You know, you look at the governments today and it's hard to even comprehend where things are going, but to consider a day when the Lord will rule this world.
00:05:13
And everything that goes with that imperfection for 1000 years. It's an incredible thing to consider. And then eternity.
All because of the resurrection, but what I I just so after I read Jose in that version just thought about should I in my life be saying the Lord lives. I went to Matthew the end of Matthew and I'd just like to read.
Last chapter in Matthew.
Matthew 28.
Verse 19, this Great Commission here, but it wasn't so much the Great Commission that struck me when I read this morning. It's the next verse that says, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
And lo, I am with you always, even under the end of the world.
Amen.
The implication of the Lord being risen again in terms of the blessing that it brings to us is He is with us even to the end of the world.
Do we need to worry about the Canada how Ontario having the largest sub sovereign debt in the world? No. Do we need to worry about the fact that tensions between Russia and and the rest of the world are growing and they pulled the diplomats out and all of this is going on that the debts are skyrocketing? No, it says here the Lord will be with us even unto the end of the world.
An incredible, incredible thing. You know what struck me? And, and.
Even in First Corinthians.
15 And it's a very solemn thing, you know, that chapter starts out and, and, and Paul has to say, he says, you know what if if you don't think the resurrection happened, you're not saved?
And yet he recognized his own failing in that when he lists all the evidence of the people who saw the Lord in his resurrection.
He had to, at the end, say, and maybe this was commented on in the first reading. We got here a little bit late. He was the least of Saints. All of that was happening in Jerusalem where he was taught all about the word of God. He didn't recognize it. He didn't recognize it. He didn't recognize that Jesus had been risen from the dead, even though all that evidence was there. He had to be struck down.
By God himself before he got the import.
Of the resurrection and who the Lord really was, you know, searches my heart.
He is with at the believer. If you believe that he's risen, he is with you.
Even to the end of the world, you know, I've been struck, umm, and I know I've commented on some of these things before. I'd like to step through some people who had an appreciation just quick, quickly of what it meant to have the Lord with them. The first one I'd like to turn to is an Exodus Chapter 33.
I remember Dave. Hey ho.
Seeking on this portion and I have never forgotten it.
He referred to two times the question was asked and the answer was the same. The Lord would go with you.
And you know, I'm not gonna turn to it, but if you go to John.
The garden scene there it was right this morning.
What did the Lord say?
To marry, he says, I go to your father.
And my father.
And to your God and my God, we had fathers before us Thursday night. You know, one of the privileges of the resurrection is that we all have a father.
00:10:08
No matter what the situation.
I comment on this just briefly, you know.
And I helped my wife and mother-in-law will forgive me. Lindsay made the comment to me, she said. You know, Mark has been almost 20 years since I saw him, I thought.
My son prays that he'll be able to see him thank the Lord he's given.
Me, I've got any mother-in-law who loves the Lord, who wants to follow him. But you know, there's no place replacement for somebody you can turn to in the struggles of every day and ask advice who will help you along the way, you know, as a father.
It's incredible, the example we have that was shown to us in Genesis 22 of Fathers there with God the Father's. Ultimately the whole story of the Lord being glorified is the story of a father. And we have a father here you have Moses, and where is he? They've left Egypt. He's with two million complaining people.
And he has the job of leading them for 40 years in the wilderness.
That's not a daunting task. I don't know what is and you know.
I have five children.
And that's not always easy, but I'm very thankful for the privilege of being a father. You know, at work I have challenges. Every day there's challenges. You know, the nice thing is, is because the Lord lives, I have a father. Go to my father and your father. And, you know, here Moses doesn't know how he's going to handle all of this.
Let's just reverse what it says.
Exodus 33.
Verse 13 says Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I might, I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people.
Show me now thy way. He wanted to know how he was going to do it. And what does the Lord says? He says My presence shall go with thee. I'll be with thee until the end of the world. My presence shall go with thee. That's how Moses did it.
The Lord's presence went with Him every day.
Does the Lord's presence go with you every day when you wake up in the morning and you can't feel you can handle what the Lord has put on your plate, whether it's family situations, whether it's work situations, whether it's assembly situations, whatever it may be.
Your words present.
Is with us by presence. Shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. I'd like to turn to the next one, Joshua.
His verse has been a tremendous encouragement to me. I haven't. I had it in my the back wall of my office for the last four years.
Largely because.
Well, I think it's self-evident. Joshua going. The rains are being handed from Moses to Joshua. What's Joshua's task? He's to go into a land where he is to do something that is naturally impossible.
The concord cities that couldn't be conquered by Israel, and yet God had asked them to do it.
He could not do it on his own.
And Moses says this to Joshua, but then later actually in the beginning of in the beginning of Joshua, the same thing is said directly to him. But it says there be strong and of good courage, fear not be, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord thy God he it is.
The dust go with thee. He will not fail thee.
Nor for safety. And Moses called in Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all the people.
Be strong and of good courage. The Lord goes with us.
The Lord goes with us. Here's Joshua.
He couldn't have done it any other way and we can't do it any other way either.
The impact of arisen arisen order.
00:15:02
Striking, isn't it? Well, you know I.
Every once in a while I'll come across a verse that really hits me, and I've spoken to several people about this verse. It's actually currently my password, which has to change every 90 days, but.
Umm Isaiah. Isaiah had to prophecy.
In a very difficult time in Israel's history.
When things are going downhill and they're gonna be going to captivity. And yet the Lord gives promises through the books of Isaiah that are truly remarkable.
Truly remarkable and this verse has been a tremendous encouragement to me. Isaiah 4110.
Hi, speaking with John Kemp who voted in this.
December, I believe it was. And then he gave me a book and you know, in that book it had that verse in a comment, this verse in a commented on it for several pages. Angels and light thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I was listening to umm, a brother speak and he was talking about how there's four promises that he loved to have whenever he spoke that he could just rest on, and this was one of them.
Isaiah 4110 Fear thou not. You know, fear is the natural enemy of just about everybody in this room. But how does this first start? Fear thou not. But then what does it say? It says I am with thee.
I am with.
God is with us.
You couldn't start the verse any better. Don't fear, I'm with you. And then what does it say next? It says be not dismayed. I get dismayed all the time. You just have to ask my wife and kids. Be not dismayed, for I am my God. The creator of the universe is with us, the one who can do anything, the one who orchestrated this all to glorify the Lord and work we come into blessing through it.
I am like God.
Could anybody better strengthen us? I will strengthen thee. Yay, I will help thee, yay, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Incredible promise, incredible promise. The Lord being with us gives us that. It's a phenomenal thing. You know, I have been amazed.
I'll, I'll there'll be a meeting that I absolutely dread going to. I think about it the week before and and I'll just have to work for help in the morning at the end of the day.
I just say he didn't necessarily make the problems go away, but he took me through it and it's incredible. The Lord gives us the strength we need. He's he's with us, he's our God. He strengthens us, he helps us and he upholds us. That's what it says here in Isaiah. Go to Jeremiah the next book. What what kind of a job did Jeremiah had? He started preaching in the reign of Josiah and things just went straight downhill from there.
They didn't listen to him through just about any of those rains.
It BA basically went against almost everything that he said.
He was threatened to be killed. He was thrown into mud and they told him not to go to Egypt. They went to Egypt. When he told the king not to surrender, he wouldn't surrender.
When he wrote a scroll God gave him, he came through it in the fire.
What was the strength allowed Jeremiah to go on if you just go to Jeremiah 1?
Verse 7.
But the Lord said unto me, Say not I am a child.
Supplies.
To even the youngest tier. For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. He had that promise.
And it was carried through his whole life.
I am witty to deliver the sample of the Lord's presence. It's a result of the resurrection.
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Something that we have you go to Lamentations, which was also written by Jeremiah, but you know, we like, we often read it in the breaking of bread and, uh.
Perhaps.
One of the verses that we enjoy are the Lamentations the most. You know, Jerusalem was ransacked, the Temple des destroyed, people taken captive and by all natural circumstances.
It was not a very good picture, was it? But what does it say in Lamentation chapter 3?
1St 22 Well well known versus.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Because thy compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion.
The Lord is my portion.
Incredible.
That even in the midst of all of that.
The Lord was still there with something new every single morning to help through the difficulties. Incredible to consider Ezekiel and uh.
I just finished Ezekiel and uh, it was.
Sharing with my brother and and those there just some thoughts that I enjoyed. And you know, Ezekiel was a priest.
And he was at a similar time when Israel was on the decline and they're going to go into captivity and.
He lived through some pretty brutal things himself. He saw as a priest. Of course, the temple where the Lord was was the center there.
He saw the Shekinah glory Cloud leave.
If that was your job and what would that do you know?
As we see things and ruin around us.
As the shift is slashed, we're heading for shore. You know, it's easy to get discouraged.
But I, I so appreciate and I've again, this is something that I've mentioned before, just the last four. What what the whole end of Ezekiel is, is the it's the millennial picture of the, the temple in new Jerusalem, the new earthly Jerusalem. And it ends with the Lord is there.
What a comfort that must have been to Ezekiel to realize what was coming and the Lord would be there again after he saw everything completely fall apart before his eyes. The last chapter it says the Lord is there and what it also struck me in the final verses of.
Of this chapter was the sons of Zadok and, and I've, I've mentioned this to a couple of people and, uh, how they kept the Lord's charge and they were near, they had the privilege of being near to the Lord because they didn't, they didn't go away. You know, the Lord's presence is an incredible, incredible thing.
Daniel.
You know, I was thinking.
The three friends What is Daniel Shadrach Mesa Bendigo.
Your throne shot, a piece of Bendigo are thrown into the fiery furnace.
Bucky's and strength there.
So the fourth person in the fire.
I don't know. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have been in the circumstance of those four men, but the Lord's presence was with them.
Incredible, incredible to consider Hosea, we've just talked about. So just over and over and over the Lord's presence. This is a, a practical reality of every single day. You know, I yesterday when I was thinking about the resurrection, just how to bridge that gap between knowing it in theory in your head and putting it into practice in every day of your life.
Do we naturally turn to the Lord who has promised to be with us as Father, the Lord Himself?
I will never leave thee, nor for safety. You may boldly say the orders might help, or will not fear what man shall be doing to me. The promise of the Holy Spirit in dwelling is phenomenal to consider.
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Phenomenal to consider. You know, that's really what I had on my heart. Was this just to consider?
The implications of the resurrection. I just wanna read those verses again. End of Matthew, uh, last verse it says.
Teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen. And then let's just go over to John.
Verse that I quoted earlier.
Chapter 20.
Jesus said unto her, Touch me not.
For I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren, and I say unto them, I ascend unto my father, and your father, and to my God, and your God.
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that He had spoken these things to her.
Oh, I hope myself that I as I go to work tomorrow morning, and I forget it as often as I remember it, that I will realize that the Lord.
Is with me busy with you? I hope you know it's.
One of the greatest evidences of the reality of a believer.
Is that they realize that the Lord is with them and you see the evidence of that in their life. You know, sometimes we don't know and it tears us apart.
Are you leaning on the Lord, or are you leaning on your own strength?
Without the Lord, you have nothing. With the Lord you have everything. The future that we have ahead of us is beyond comprehend. You know we can read through those verses in Corinthians.
And sort of know it in our head, but it doesn't even excite us sometimes. And it's probably because of we're no different than the children of Israel in the book of Hosea.
And you know, I think we need to consider that, but tomorrow I, I don't know what you're struggling with. I certainly know that all across North America, there's struggles in the assembly. All across North America, there's struggles and marriages all across. People are struggling with their work everywhere we go, every day, whether it's relationship, whether it's school, not knowing what to do next.
If you look at the general outlook of North America right now and the whole world.
How can you help but be depressed?
Yes, you didn't know that we have our risen Lord, who wants as it says in Revelation, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and stop with him and he with me.