Good Monday Morning –
By David Phillips
I hope your week is off to a good start. If you are reading this, it means there are many things that are working right, and that is something to be thankful for on a Monday morning.
Brother Mitch Henry was with us yesterday for the Sunday school hour and morning worship service, and he delivered two good lessons. It was refreshing to have Faulkner’s President request to come speak to us, and the two Bible students he brought with him made good impressions too.
In the evening service, we continued our study in the theme of Connections, and specifically looked at another lesson on Strengthening Our Connection to God the Father. As previously noted, becoming a Christian by obeying the Gospel of Christ is the initial step in coming to God. As Christians, we all must be seeking out ways to strengthen our connection to God, as per James 4:8 – Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Our first point of discussion was the RECIPROCAL nature of this matter. This is nothing new, for God has always expressed a desire for a mutual relationship with His children. Azariah the prophet told King Asa of Judah, The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. (2 Chronicles 15:2) In Zechariah 1:3 and Malachi 3:7, God promised His children, Return to Me and I will return to you.
Next, we took a look at a couple of familiar songs we frequently sing which encourage nearness to God. The first one, Nearer My God to Thee was written around the turn of the 20th century. It is alleged to be the song that the ship’s band played continually as the ill-fated Titanic sank. It seems to be based on the story of Jacob’s dream about the ladder reaching to heaven, from Genesis 28. Surely one of the most significant lines in the song is in the last verse, near the end: Still all my song shall be, Nearer, my God to Thee. No matter what life throws at me, still all my song shall be, nearer my God to Thee.
We looked closely at another familiar song, after we sang it together: Near to the Heart of God. This song had its origin in a tragic situation in 1903. The writer, Cleland B. McAfee was a Presbyterian minister. Two infant daughters of his brother’s died within 24 hours of each other, from diphtheria. Due to the nature of the disease, no one was permitted inside the house and the parents of the two girls were not permitted to attend the double funeral. Cleland McAfee wrote the words and music to the song the night before the funeral and sang it to the bereaved parents, standing outside their house. The song depicts nearness to God’s heart as a place, condition, or position. Verse 1 describes a place of quiet rest, wheresin cannot molest. Verse 2 tells of a place of comfort sweet, where we our Savior meet. In verse 3, it is a place of full release, where all is joy and peace. All of these are descriptive reasons to draw near to God, allowing Him to draw near to us.
If you missed any of yesterday’s services, you can view them at http://www.rrcoc.com under the sermons tab.