Communion Meditation

by

Communion Meditation

Exodus 12:23

When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

During the Passover, the Lord, the destroyer was passing through the land of Egypt to claim every firstborn son. Every household door with blood from the spotless lamb was protected from death.

Death was coming to all, but the blood of the covenant protected those who sheltered beneath it.

The sons of the covenant were no better than the sons of the Egyptians. All have earned the judgment of God. But the blood shelters them.

When we come to the table, we find shelter in the blood of the spotless lamb of God. We are not claiming to be better than anyone else. We are admitting our sins, and confessing that we need forgiveness, shelter from the judgment due us for our sins.

We come, trusting in the blood to cover us. We come believing in Jesus, the spotless lamb of God, and his sacrifice for sin.

We come as the covenant people of God trusting in the promises of the Covenant.

If you have no faith, don’t come. If you are a member of covenant community in good standing, then come in faith to the shelter that God has provided for you.

Communion Meditation

by

Communion Meditation

John 3:16-18

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned,

but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

God loves. That is the heartbeat and the core of the good news.

God so loved the world. The world was loved in an astonishing manner.

BB Warfield, “The point … is not to suggest that the world is so big that it takes a great deal of love to embrace it all, but that the world is so bad that it takes a great kind of love to love it at all.”

A Good God greatly loved a bad world. How do we know? What is the evidence?

He gave his son. A lot is contained in those simple words.

He gave his son to suffering, humiliation and death; so that the guilty might be forgiven. That is an astonishing kind of love.

“That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” He sent his son, that “the world might be saved through him.”

This good news comes to a world in rebellion against God.

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned.” Not condemned. Forgiven, accepted, loved, adopted into the family of God. He is taken from darkness into the marvelous light of the Lord.

Those who embrace this good news are family; forgiven, accepted – they have been given eternal life. Their faith has made them whole.

But there are some who are condemned. And why are they condemned? Because they have not believed in the Son of God.

If you do not believe, do not come to this table.

Faith is required to come to Christ and to come to this table.

If you believe, you are not condemned, even though you have sinned.

Come, trusting in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

The blood and righteousness of Jesus makes us worthy partakers of the Lord’s Supper.

Session Summary December 2019

by

Session Summary December 2019

For our last session meeting of the year we had one elder away on business and one on injured reserve. Two women of the church also attended the meeting to share their wisdom. Pastor Mark led a devotion on Psalm 133 and how good and pleasant it is when brother dwell together in unity. Roy Smith will again give a brief meditation at our Christmas Eve service. Eric Eagle and Ed Payne will fill our pulpit on December 29 and January 5. Our next session meeting will be on January 20th. We discussed the officer nominations and noted that Jim Finlay, Randy Waters, and Ted Kuhn, are scheduled to rotate out of office having completed their terms. We discussed the possibility of new signage for the church. The financial report for end of November shows we are $30,000 in deficit spending YTD. We are moving ahead with plans to update our web site, computers, equipment and to enhance our digital ministry to improve our appearance to the world. We discussed environmental stewardship, outreach to Fort Gordon, Worship and possibly contributing to our debt reduction. We also prayed for many families of the church and closed the meeting praying for each other and our families.

Tags:

Communion Meditation

by

Communion Meditation

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The Lord’s supper is personal. This is my savior – I know him, I love him, I live for him.

The Lord’s supper is also communal. We partake together. Each of us personally communing with and committing to Christ. But we do this, together. We come as the blood bought people of God, together, in unity with one another.

The Lord’s Supper is a confirmation of our faith. Jesus Christ feeds us with his body and blood to assure us of the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life.

The Lord’s Supper is a profession of faith. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; he is our savior. We come expressing gratitude for our blood bought redemption and we commit ourselves to thankful living in loving fellowship with God.

The Lord’s Supper is a separation from the world. It defines the believing community and separates them from the world. This is a family meal; the family of God.

The Lord’s Supper is a bond of love. Here is the love of God in Christ. Here we respond to his love with love to God and to his people. Being untied to Christ, we are bound to one another – for eternity.

When you partake, you say, (Galatians 2:20) “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

When you partake, do this. (Philippians 1:27) “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.”

Communion Meditation

by

Communion Meditation

Communion Meditation November 24, 2019

Titus 3:3-8

Who we are.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

What God did about it.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us,

How did God save us?

not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Why did God save us?

so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

During communion, we confess our need, and God’s provision.

We needed saving. Our very nature needed to change. He washed us in regeneration.

We now stand justified with God, we are the heirs of God, having the sure and certain hope of eternal life.

If you are born again, given saving faith in Jesus Christ for your salvation, this table is spread for you. Come, embrace the provision of your Savior.

If you do not believe, do not come. This is not a mere ritual for the rebellious, it is a salve to the saints. It is designed to strengthen faith and to encourage obedience to such a great salvation.

The Easy Battle for Christian Maturity

by

The Easy Battle for Christian Maturity

The church has stopped growing. Why is that? For every church in that situation, and there are far too many, the specific answer requires a painfully honest self-examination to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. But here is one factor that is not often considered. The flock stops growing because the sheep stop growing.

What are some of the tell-tale indicators of Christian growth and maturity? Growing means increasing in our knowledge of, love for, service to, and sweet delight in, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Knowledge We are exhorted to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18 Knowing God as He has revealed Himself in the Word is the foundation for the entire Christian life. Understanding the person and the work of Jesus Christ is the fuel that powers the engine of the Christian life. For the church to grow, her members must grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.

Love ‘To know me is to love me.’ That aphorism is supremely true of God. Perhaps, it is only true of God. God is love and to truly know him is to enter into that unfathomable love. You don’t know God until you are overwhelmed by his grace, love, and mercy in Jesus Christ. We cannot rightly serve a God that we secretly hate. Knowledge of God leads to love and love inspires service.

Service “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15 It is not legalism to serve a God you love. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Service is the expression of our love for the Savior. Christians learn from their King to give themselves away in loving service to others. When the knowledge of the love of God in the gospel gives new life to a dead soul, the inevitable outcome is sacrificial service.

Delight I say, sacrificial service because that is what it looks like to others. But to those who serve it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice. It is not so much a required duty, and a soul-satisfying delight to serve such a loving King. To be like Jesus, to be transformed by his love and filled with the knowledge of God is to know the delight of serving God.

The pathway to Christian maturity is paved by the knowledge of His great love and fueled by delighting in His service.

Many find personal devotions a dry, unfulfilling, and elusive duty. Worship is important, of course, but they just can’t find the time or the heart for it. Service, yes, I should but I have kids and commitments and where does the time go. Delight in God? Delight in service? I just don’t understand.

If that is true, and it is, striving for Christian maturity can be called a battle, but why do I call it easy? Knowing the love of God in Christ makes obedience a delight and the Christian life easy.

Will power alone doesn’t even help Will! It is the grace of God that transforms sinners into saints and duty into delight. Embrace the mighty grace of God by a deepening knowledge of his love and you will delight in the law of God and be thrilled in the way of obedience.

God is calling us to fulfillment, to soul-satisfaction, to joy and delight in the way of obedience. When the factory of the church produces such joyful, obedient, mature Christians, the church will grow.

Why? Because the mature Christian multiplies. “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” (2 Corinthians 2:14) “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4:5-6) When we mature into this transforming love of God we became agents of transformation. We are living epistles of grace. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3) The hope that we have in God through Christ becomes so obvious that others will ask us where it comes from. (1 Peter 3:15)

So then, what is the key to church growth? Growing mature Christians to know, love, serve and delight in their savior. The best way to invite others into the church is to invite them into your life, into your heart, into your prayers. They will follow you to church when they can read the living epistle of grace that you have become.

Tags:

Communion Meditation – Noah

by

Communion Meditation – Noah

Genesis 8:20-21

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

The burnt offering turned away the wrath of God from his people. It was a sacrifice of atonement. Like the other sacrifices of the Older Testament, this prefigured the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

In fact, just like the Lord’s Supper, Noah’s sacrifice was united to, linked with the shed blood of the Son of God.

“When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma.” The blood sacrifice, offered in faith, was pleasing to God. “The Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man.”

God would deal with sin in a way other than direct punishment. Sin could be paid for by the life-blood of another.

Noah was trusting in the blood of the covenant, or better, the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it pleased the Lord, turned away his wrath, and secured the blessing of God.

That is what we do today at the Lord’s Supper. We trust the blood of Jesus to cover us, to cleanse us, to please God, and to secure his blessing.

The key is to trust in what God has promised to give. Without faith, and the knowledge of faith, this table will be be a blessing to you. If you do not understand, or if you do not believe, do not come to this table.

But for believers, just as the flood was a warning that sin would be punished, this table is a guarantee that the full judgement fell upon Jesus.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was a pleasing aroma to God and now from his heart God can said to believing sinners, my son, my daughter, come and welcome to my house, to my table.

You do not deserve to eat at this table, “the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” but Christ has provided you a place.

Your sins are forgiven, you are accepted, and greatly loved. Now, as a living sacrifice yourself, you can be a pleasing aroma to God.

Tags:

Session Summary January 2020

by

Session Summary January 2020

Ted opened our time together with a devotion from Ephesians 1:3-14 on the blessed sovereignty of God in the ‘big’ things of life. And, He is present and working even in the ‘little’ things, too. We prayed for 8 families of the church, and even for one family outside the church. Classical Conversations has a summer Parent Practicum on May 27-29 and we approved their request to hold the event at Westminster. We discussed the many recent visitors to our church and were encouraged by their presence and those who invited them. We have several men willing to stand for the office of deacon and we will hold a training class beginning in February. All are welcome to attend. See Pastor Mark for details. Giving was up in December and the first 2 weeks in January and we are nearly reaching the black. We are about $6400 in the red. A new Family Discipleship Sunday School Class will start in March sometime. We are encouraging whole families to attend together and to walk through Workbooks on the Shorter Catechism, among other things. On April 2, we will host Christ in the Passover Seder meal led by a converted Ukrainian Jew from Jews for Jesus. Mark your calendars. Next year for Easter, we are looking into having a Physician explain to us the physical sufferings of Jesus on the cross. Johan will soon begin a class on brainstorming for practical evangelism, potentially both on Wednesday Evening and during the Sunday School hour. Roy is looking into obtaining a bus to transport willing Fort Gordon Soldiers to our worship services. We already have a driver. The once a month Thursday Intercessory Prayer meetings will multiply to every week at the church at 9:30 am. All are welcome to storm the throne of grace together. Several proposals from the Worship Team were considered and the changes, as we make them, will be evident. We are tweaking the Communion Service a bit, changing the presentation and cleaning up in the kitchen and not in the sanctuary. We would like to sing more Psalms, add an Old and New Testament readings in the worship service, consider a new Psalter Hymnal, and a new children’s cry room. We would also like to encourage our young boys and girls to participate in our worship services and encouraging additional work-lists. More to follow. The Web site / social media / digital Team reported and there will appear to be significant changes on the horizon. We spoke again about several shepherding concerns and encouraged prayer for and follow up with them. We approved funding the Catechizer’s class for this year and will put it in the budget for next year. Two possibilities were discussed for the 5th Sunday Fellowship Meal program in March. We ended our time in executive session and with prayer, fatigue, and a few laughs. Your session is encouraged by the growth, maturity, prayer, and service of our congregation. God is at work, may the people rejoice!

Session Summary February 2020

by

Session Summary February 2020

Eric opened our session with words of encouragement from Psalm 78 and our need to listen to our fathers and speak to our children in order to pass on the faith. We prayed for 11 families of the church according to their needs. An officer training class is beginning this week. Future Sunday School plans were discussed reaching into the next year when we will start a Christian History class. A Family Discipleship Class will begin in March. We named Dan and Ted as our delegates to General Assembly in Birmingham in June. Our income is about $8,ooo behind our expenses for the year. We are nearer the implementation of our push for a larger digital impact (Web site, social media, advertising, etc), better and more frequent communications, and a simplified financial process. This will entail large changes and the transition will be slow but steady. The Thursday morning prayer meetings that start at 9:30am in the church office are off and running. Everyone is welcome to join in the work and encouragement of corporate prayer. Several shepherding concerns were discussed, prayed for, and contact assignments were made. A ministry/service opportunity list will be drawn up and placed in the bulletin soon. We discussed other concerns in executive session. The issues that we deal with are at times difficult and heart rending, but the wisdom that we seek never fails to arrive and the Spirit that binds us together in unity and gives us the patience to truly hear one another is precious. Pray for us as we lead you beside the green pastures and the quiet waters.

Tags:

Genesis 15 – Thoughts

by

Genesis 15 – Thoughts

Doubt Assured and Faith Strengthened

So what do you do when those questions about God’s goodness and trustworthiness press in on you, as they inevitably will in this fallen world? You look again to the cross, the ultimate sign, where Jesus Christ proved once and for all God’s undying love for you, and where he paid in full the price of all your sins. Even you sinful doubts and questionings about God’s goodness were covered there, and the perfect faith and trust in Jesus Christ, which never wavered from his Father even fo an instant, in now credited to you as if it were your faith. That is why we have been given the Lord’s Supper as a precious fit – a sign and seal of God’s faithful commitment to his covenant promise. Each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim the fact that the sign of Genesis 15 became a reality in Christ: that God in human form was broken for us and for our transgressions, so that our relationship with him, broken by our sin, might be restored. In this way, God feeds your faith and strengthens your assurance that, at the end of this life’s long journey, he stands ready to welcome you into the fullness of your heavenly inheritance. This is how he stills your questions and fills you with hope and new strength for your challenging journey of faith.

Iain Duguid, Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality, p. 60-61.

The meaning of this passage is this, that we shall be truly happy when God is propitious to us; for He not only pours upon us the abundance of His kindness, but offers Himself to us, that we may enjoy Him. Now what is there more, which men can desire, when they really enjoy God?

For whosoever shall be fully persuaded that his life is protected by the hand of god, and that he never can be miserable while God is gracious to him; and who consequently resorts to this haven in all his cares and troubles, will find the best remedy for all evils.”

John Calvin