Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - ASSEMBLING TOGETHER

 ASSEMBLING TOGETHER

In the book of Hebrews there is this statement:

[N]ot forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, 

as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, 

and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

(Hebrews 10:25)

The above states very clearly that we should assemble together to help and support one another regularly and even more so as we see potentially the end of the age approaching. But in reality, the opposite seems to be happening. According to many news sources, church attendance in Canada is steadily dropping. CTV news has reported that only about 11% of Canadians attend church weekly, down from 67% after WWII and 30% in 1996. The Bible did also say that you should not be deceived for:

…that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, 

and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition…

(2 Thessalonians 2:3)

Humans have no problems filling stadiums for sporting events or concerts and expending large sums of money in doing so, but it often seems to be too much to go a few blocks to get together as a church body. There seems to be the idea that we can do the same by watching TV or doing whatever virtually rather than coming out of our homes and gathering as a group. Certainly, at times doing events on the internet can be beneficial, but it is not the same any more than attending a concert virtually replaces the in-person event.

But it is not only religious services that have changed, people often won’t leave their homes for goods, nor will schools be open if the weather is any ways inclement. Although there may be good reason for this, it may also indicate a tendency towards isolationism and the resultant increased social and mental problems. It wasn’t too long ago that people would walk miles to go to church or school and in all types of weather. As I mentioned before, persons in Minudie, N.S.* would walk for miles, carrying their shoes because of their value, just to attend Sunday services.

And as for school, well, before there were buses all children walked to school - winter or summer. It was just the thing to do. And still in many places, where people are not as fortunate as we are here, children still undertake great hardships just to get the education that we take for granted. In 1994, it was reported that 10 children, because of the carnage in Rwanda, walked through Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, without money, begging and stealing as needed, fording rivers and avoiding animals and eventually, after 2400 km, coming to South Africa. Why? The Refugee Center on the outskirts of Johannesburg reported that:

 

They were finished. All they had was what was on them. 

They came all this way to go to school.**

One of the group said:

[I]n Zimbabwe they told me to try South Africa. 

It was rich and I could study.**

It’s the desire to become educated and to study that drives people to do extreme things such as this. It’s also the desire to know God that drives people in Indonesia to go to church, causing them to have the highest church attendance on earth at 91.8% in 2018.***

It seems that the desire to obtain a secular education, or to know the Word of God, is not as great in the Western World as it once was. And perhaps, in part, that is why we have as many problems as we evidently do.

It certainly is enough to give one something to think about.  

*Something to Think About - Sept 13, 2020

**Rwandans trek 2,400 km to safety in South Africa by Alec Russell - The Chronicle-Hearld, Wednesday, October 5, 1994

***Church Attendance - Wikipedia

Rev. Roxann Spicer - April 28, 2024.

Church Service April 28, 2024

 

Please join us for our service this evening as the Rev. Roxann Spicer brings us a message from the Word of God.

Roxann and husband John will lead the worship.

The service will begin at 6 PM at the Hillside Community Hall 27 Chance Harbour Rd.

Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Books of Thessalonians Part 3

Dr. Barcly with Something to Think About - JUSTIFICATION

JUSTIFICATION

    According to the dictionary, justification in theology refers to that act of God whereby humankind is made or accounted just, or free from guilt or penalty of sin.* In other words, it is the means by which we are made right with God. Although it is often stated that we are made right with God through faith…

Therefore, having been justified by faith, 

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… 

(Romans 5:1)

…there are, in fact, seven different statements in Scripture about our justification by God.**

In fact, Scripture states very clearly that we are, indeed, justified by God.

 

It is God who justifies. 

(Romans 8:33)

In addition, the Bible says that we are

…justified freely by His grace 

through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

(Romans 3:24)

All of this is possible because of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and, therefore, the Bible also indicates that we:

now [having] been justified by His blood… 

…[and] saved from wrath through Him.

(Romans 5:9) 

It was accounted to him [Abraham] for righteousness. 

[B]ut also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him 

who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 

who was delivered up because of our offences, 

and was raised because of our justification. 

(Romans 4:22,24-25)

And as previously noted, Romans 5:1 states that we have been:

   

justified by faith

But it appears that it is not only by the above that we can achieve a degree of justification, even though the Bible indicates that it is primarily by faith that salvation is obtained. In Matthew it says:

“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” 

(Matthew 12:37) 

And again in James it states:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works 

when he offered Issac his son on the altar?

You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 

…was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works 

when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

(James 2:21,24-25)

Just another example indicating that salvation may be by faith…

For by grace you have been saved through faith… 

(Ephesians 2:8)

…but it may take more than faith alone for one to be justified and made right with God.

For as the body without the spirit is dead, 

so faith without works is dead also. 

(James 2:26)

And that should be something for us all to think about.

*dictionary.com

**Adapted from Romans Volume 2 God’s River Chapter 1 Pg 9-16 by Donald Grey Barnhouse  

     

Dr. Barclay's Bible Study - The Books of Thessalonians Part 2

Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - THE LOST

THE LOST

Many people are familiar with the Parable of the Prodigal Son, as found in the book of Luke, chapter 15. But not nearly as familiar are the Parables of the Lost Coin and the Lost Sheep, found immediately preceding the Parable of the Lost Son in the same chapter. There is an interesting difference between the three stories, all three of which were for the benefit of the tax collectors, Pharisees, and scribes who were gathered near Him.

Jesus told about the parable of the Lost Sheep this way:

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, 

if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, 

and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?” 

(Luke 15:4)

He told them that the man who has found that one lost sheep, goes home thankful and rejoicing because he has found it.

In a like manner, Jesus related the story of a woman who lost a coin and who diligently sweeps and cleans the house until the coin is found and then is thankful and rejoices because her money has been reclaimed.

Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost. 

(Luke 15:9)

And then there is the story of the Lost Son who wanted his inheritance and afterward, left into a far land where worldly living and unscrupulous friends soon left him destitute and homeless. Then it is said that:

I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, 

“Father, I have sinned before heaven and before you…” 

(Luke 15:18)

So he has to return to his father of his own volition. The father does not in this case go after his son. But when the son returns, the father is the first to notice and go to meet him.

Sheep are considered to be animals which are easily led, heedless and incapable of finding their way alone. Once lost they are essentially doomed unless the shepherd goes to find them. The coin, of course, is inanimate and incapable of anything. But humans are capable of making their way and making decisions based upon their circumstances. It is unfortunate that we often have to reach the lowest point possible before we decide to return to the Father. But even then, the story indicates that it is never too late and that He is always ready and eager to run to us and welcome us back into His arms. What cannot do or fend for itself must be sought out, but for those with free will, the initial decision must be theirs. And once that decision is made, the Father is right there.

All belong to God whether at times seems that way or not. There is a need and desire to search for those who may be lost. But there also remains a degree of personal responsibility for situations in which some people find themselves, and a true desire to return to their Father who is always there for them.   

Always something to think about.