We consider the great example of Zaccheus’ faith who had Jesus come into his house to commune with him. He had the blessing of feeling salvation personally in his home and the deliverance that comes from believing in Jesus Christ. We then look at other examples of deliverance and salvation coming into the homes of God’s people when they were obedient unto the Lord.

Visiting speaker Brother Joe Ott considers the description of our walk of faith from Romans 12. We commanded to present our bodies a living sacrifice, proving the will of God. We ought to use our spiritual gifts to edify the entire body of Christ. We have to show agape and brotherly love to our kindred in the church, and many other needful exhortations for how we ought to walk in faith, serving the Lord.

Visiting minister Lic. Ben Shettles considers God’s great provision for Elijah the prophet. Elijah was sustained at the brook with ravens in the midst of the drought. Then, after the brook dried up, the Lord in his providence directed Elijah to a widow who was on her last meal. God used some very uncommon means in the ravens and the widow to sustain his prophet during this severe drought.

Visiting minister Elder Jackie Smith considers the elect as being heirs of God in Jesus Christ. It is a great blessing to be included in God’s inheritance and in God’s will. We have rights to the full heirs of all the riches of our Father’s house as chosen heirs of God in Jesus Christ.

When discussing some common objections to the doctrine of election, it is common to hear John 3:16 – that God loved the whole world – as a rebuttal for why God did not elect a people to salvation before the world began. We consider together the proper rightly dividing of John 3:16 in context and see from the scriptures that did unconditionally elect a people to salvation by nothing more than his own free and sovereign grace.

Click on this link to read a full article on this topic. http://macedonia-pbc.org/articles/election-john-316/

In the face of blasphemous threats from the Assyrians to destroy their faith in God, Hezekiah remains faithful to the Lord and spreads the matter before the Lord in prayer. God delivers his people in a mighty way by slaying 185,000 Assyrians and slaying their blasphemous king. Today, in our spiritual warfare against Satan, we must ignore Satan’s threats and undermining God’s word and trust in God for deliverance and victory.

We consider the last 3 of the 7 spiritual gifts given unto the church, which are giving, ruling, and showing mercy. Some in the church have been given a great aptitude to give of their money and time to help others. Other members have a gift of leadership and administration to organize tasks and accomplish projects in the church. Some members have also been given a great heart for showing mercy to those in need. All of these spiritual gifts are integral and vital to the health of the overall body of Christ.

We consider the spiritual gifts in the church of teaching and exhortation. The church should have a dynamic teaching environment; parents teaching children; older members teaching younger members; teaching and admonishing one another through hymns and songs. Those with the gift of exhortation – such as Barnabas, the son of consolation – are great spiritual cheerleaders to encourage others in the church.

We gain encouragement from God’s mighty deliverance of Jehoshaphat and Judah from their enemies. Against an enemy where they felt they had no might, and did not know what to do, their eyes were fixed on the Lord. The battle was not theirs, but the Lord’s. God destroyed their enemies in a mighty way and gave them deliverance. We need to live in faith, looking up to Jesus for deliverance in the battles of our life.

Every single person has been given a spiritual gift (or multiple gifts) to edify the body of Christ. We need to cultivate our spiritual gifts to help other people in the church. Some have been given the spiritual gift of prophecy, a gift to preach or a gift of wise biblical counsel to others. Some have been given the special gift of ministry to others, to serve them in their time of need.