Our Sunday morning message focused on the theme of the Christian and his role in the local church. For the afternoon, we looked back at Leviticus for our communion service.
The Ministry of Christians to One Another (Rm 1.11-12) || Audio || Notes
Our proposition: “Christians, gathered in local churches, are God’s agents for the purpose of strengthening one another’s spiritual life.”
Paul desired to minister a spiritual gift to the Romans, and expected them to minister the same back to him. The cycle of mutual encouragement and ministration to one another is the genius of the local church. Jesus said He would build his church, and He does. But He does it by means of human agents, doing his will, ministering to one another.
The Offering for Purification (Lev 4) || Audio || Notes
“In order for God to forgive sin, the pollution the sinner has caused must be cleansed.” The purification offerings (called ‘sin offerings’ in the KJV) were for the purpose of cleansing the tabernacle, the sanctuary, the dwelling place of God on earth. The Day of Atonement was the ultimate purification offering, where the annual pollution caused by the nation was cleansed from the sanctuary. The purification offering involved the disposal of the meat, hide, and head of the sacrifice ‘outside the camp.’ Heb 13 identifies that ‘outside the camp’ sacrifice as Jesus being sacrificed outside the gate, outside the world. The believer is called to join with Him outside the camp, purifying himself as the NT sanctuary of the living God, and communing with Christ apart from the world. There is rich imagery here, I am not sure that I adequately dealt with it.
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The business of the Lord’s work still carries on. We are dealing with weak men, and we are weak ourselves. The last two Sundays we have seen a significant drop off for our afternoon service. As you think of it, would you pray that any spiritual troubles that might be behind this would be resolved? May God bless you in your ministry for him.
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