I would like to say something this evening about the value of a brother – a brother in Christ. However, nothing I want to say about a brother in Christ is intended to detract from the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
I would like to say a little about the field which is being reaped. First of all, I would like to speak a word of encouragement for everyone here, and particularly for those who may be young in the faith. And then I would like to speak about the field that was reaped, the field that will be reaped, and the field that is being reaped.
I am thinking about the importance of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ being established. Paul speaks in this lovely doxology at the end of the Epistle to the Romans about God as the One Who “is able to establish you.”
I think the establishment of believers is a very important part of the ministry of the apostle Paul. You read, for example, in the Acts that he went on his missionary journeys to new territory to secure believers for the Lord Jesus. When he came back again to see these believers, one of the things he did was to establish them (Acts 14:22). In other words, it was important for them not just to hear the message and believe the message, but to be established in the great things of God. I think there is a need today for myself, and others who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to become established Christians.
INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY Rom 10:12-13 Rom 12:1-6 (to “gifts”) Rev 3:14,20-22 2 Timothy 1:14; 2:1,19-22 I would like to speak about individual responsibility. I want to speak firstly of the obligation of every man, woman and child of responsible age to heed God’s call in the gospel, to repent and put their faith in Christ; […]
I have been thinking about some lines of a hymn that we often sing to the Lord Jesus,
In Thee all human graces blend,
And to Thy Father e’er ascend
As incense rare.
(Hymn 313)
From these passages we might enquire into this wonderful blend of human graces seen in perfection in the Lord Jesus. In the Old Testament, and in the Gospels and epistles, a range of different qualities are often used to describe the Lord Jesus.
This address covers some of the things that Scripture says cease not. Firstly, of God’s covenant with the creation, “Henceforth, all the days of the earth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.” Then, about the living creatures who “cease not day and night saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.” Thirdly, about a woman who, Jesus said, “has not ceased kissing my feet.” And, finally, about the apostles who “ceased not teaching and announcing the glad tidings that Jesus was the Christ.”
This is a Bible Reading based on Numbers 19, 20 and 20, and shows us how necessary the Holy Spirit is to our christian experience