After Brother Laurel Smalling shared a few thoughts on the blessings we receive from God—our justification and future glorification—Brother Glen Smalling spoke on the amazing truth of our identity as the Church. As we read in John 17 and elsewhere, the Church is a gift from God the Father to the Lord Jesus. What a thought to know we are His treasure!

Brother Laurel Smalling shared some thoughts this Lord’s Day on the Church as the Bride of Christ. Truly, this blessed identity can encourage us as we continue on in our walk with the Lord.

Brother Glen Smalling from Jamaica visited today and brought an encouraging message, asking us to search our hearts for the answer to this question: Why are you following the Lord? May we be like the women we see at the cross, who had followed the Lord from Galilee to Jerusalem in order to minister to Him.

The Lord Jesus is a refuge for all in a time of storm. One of our hymns we sang this morning says,

Then that closing scene of anguish; / All God’s waves and billows roll / Over Him, there left to languish / On the cross to save our souls. / Matchless love! How vast, how free, / Jesus gave Himself for me.

Like the ark Noah built to save his family from the flood, Jesus is our shelter from the terrible consequences of sin. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Brother Collin Beckford shared some thoughts during our Lord’s Day meeting on the connections between Genesis 22 and Isaiah 53; like a lamb that was led to the slaughter, so our Lord opened not His mouth. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

The final book of the Old Testament, Malachi, gives us a touching picture of a small group of God’s people who gathered together and spoke to one another about the Lord. As we reflect on the final verses of Chapter 3, we can see that this activity, of speaking about the Lord together in the midst of widespread trouble and decline, can have many beneficial effects on us.

The story of the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib gives a powerful picture of the intimate relationship between Christ and His bride: the Church. May we be encouraged to live in light of this blessed position we have as members of His own body.

Reflecting on the desire of King David to build the Lord a house of cedar, Brother Laurel Smalling encouraged us to continue to wait on the Lord and submit our desires to Him regarding our regathering. Surely, the Lord’s timing is perfect.

Some thoughts of encouragement from the prayer of Jabez, one of the most famous (and often misunderstood) prayers of the Old Testament.

The Bible is constantly reminding us that God’s power and might are revealed when we are at our weakest. Indeed, this seems to be a central theme of 2 Corinthians, the book we are studying together on Thursday nights. And no Old Testament character embodies this truth more than Gideon.