September 20^th . 2020

9:30 am &hel lip;& helli p;&he llip; &hell ip;&h ellip ;&hel lip;& helli p;&he llip; &hell ip;.& helli p;&he llip; &hell ip;&h ellip ;Warn ings & Promises To Disciples – Luke 12:1-12

10:00 am &hel lip;& helli p;&he llip; &hell ip;&h ellip ;&hel lip;& helli p;&he llip; &hell ip;.& helli p;&he llip; &hell ip;&h ellip ;&hel lip;& helli p;&he llip; Good News For Sinners – Romans 7 & 8

Wednesday: 7:00 pm …Esther, part 4, The Beloved Accepted; The Enemy Hanged – Esther 5-7

** The following article has been in our bulletin twice before, but bears repeating and careful reading.

A Trumpet Of Alarm! – John Newton

If God gives up a people to the way of their own hearts, they will, they must, perish! When a general corruption of morals takes place, when private interest extinguishes all sense of public virtue, when a *profligate and venal spirit (* immorality, indecency, given to excess) has infected every rank and order of the state, when presumptuous security and dissipation increase as danger approaches; when, after repeated disappointments, contempt for God, and vain confidence in imagined resources of their own, grow bolder and bolder, then there is reason to fear that the sentence has already gone forth, and that the execution of it is at hand.

Loving Service Is Not Condescension

‘After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet’ – John 13:5

When we think of how the Lord of Glory stooped down to wash the dirty feet of those men, we think of His amazing condescension; how One so high could stoop so low. But to Him it was not condescension. All that He did was for the glory of God and the good of those He loved. Nothing was too low for Him, or beneath Him in service to His Father and His brethren. His Father’s business required much dirty work and menial tasks, but all were done by Him with desire, joy and pleasure. And whatsoever His hand found to do, He did it with all His might unto His God, be it ever so lowly and humble a task. No, it was not condescension to Him but LOVE! Besides, there was nothing unclean of itself to Him. The feet of the disciples were as important and needed washing same as their faces. The feet, though considered ugly by most, were not so to Him. (Nor is there a member of His body, the church, that is ugly and unnecessary to Him).

But Think of it; how the Lord labored in His Father’s field, sweating and getting dirty, yet it was not dirt in the sense that we think of it; it was not ‘dirt’ at all but beauty . . . a badge of honor. Dirt was not dirt to Him, but the soil of His Father’s making, which He delighted to get His hands into. And His hands, though covered with dirt, were clean and pure.

Tell me, you mothers, is it condescension for you to wipe the dirty parts of your children? Do you consider it beneath you or do you consider it a necessary thing and your delight? How much more did Christ do what He did out of love to His children. Though our Lord washing feet is great condescension to us, it was love to Him. And didn’t He say that the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven is the servant? That means that the lower one stoops the higher he is to God. It means condescension is not condescension at all, but ascension. May this mind be in us which was in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Prayer

“Prayer crowns God with the honour and glory that are due to His name, and God crowns prayer with assurance and comfort. Usually the most praying souls are the most assured souls.” -- Thomas Brooks, 1608-1680