Welcome!
Sadly, in light of the latest covid regulations put in place by our provincial government, our Thursday Prayer Meetings and Sunday Services are temporarily suspended until Monday, December 7th. This week Pastor Brett’s message from the Bible will be posted below, and we will try to have audio and video technology working to post a message next Sunday, November 29th. We hope and pray that we as a local church would move forward in truth, love, and unity in these coming weeks.
We will post further updates here and on our facebook page. There is always hope in Jesus Christ because His tomb is empty.
Scripture Reading
I appeal to you therefore, brothers (And sisters), by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
- Romans 12:1-2
Announcements
Sunday Services, Prayer Meeting, Bible Studies, and office hours are suspended until December 7th due to Covid-19. Pastor Brett is available to chat and pray Tuesday through Sunday at 250-242-8494 or feel free to email him at brettrobertson.ministry@gmail.com
Tithes and offerings can be made via e-transfer to trfbcoffering@hotmail.com . Please contact Lori Madsen if you have any questions regarding online tithing and church offering options. She is available by call or text at 250-242-1419
Songs for Worship
Sermon
Happy Lord’s Day church friends! What a whirlwind of a week it has been?!! When the sudden new regulations came on Thursday, it turned my busy week upside-down. Yet in it, the Lord has been so good. I cannot think of another week that I have had more interaction with our different congregation members than this week, though I still have some calls to make. To be upfront and honest, I have heard extremely differing and passionate views on what path our church should take going forward. Not sure if you all knew that, but it’s true. However, at this point to my knowledge the vast majority, if not all, of us are moving together unified in truth and love. May we give God the glory! I have been ministered to much by you, our church family, as well as others in town this last week. And, I hope I have ministered to you in the Lord also. We have tons to be grateful for. And now, to the message!
The last two Sundays, we have looked at The Blessing Of God In The Past and how in faith in Christ we were, and are, chosen to be His people. Also, we have learned about The Blessing Of God In The Present and how in Christ we are redeemed by His blood shed for us and our sins. Today we will look again at The Blessing In The Present in our series “I Once Was Lost, but Now I’m Found” working through the New Testament book of Ephesians. This divine book is all about identity, and specifically about the new identity we can have through faith in Christ. The big idea from the Text today is – you are assured. Now you may ask – Assured of what? What am I assured of by God? Well, you get to have a break from Youtube, you get to mute the speakers, and you get to do some old-fashioned reading! Please read this with your Bible open in front of you, and your heart open inside of you. To the written Word of God in Ephesians 1:11…
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 1:11-14 In him [That’s “In” the One and only Jesus Christ…] we have obtained an inheritance [We have already gotten it! We have already obtained it! And it is Jesus who is the source of this allotted portion, this inheritance. It is important to note that in the first century Greek language this book was originally written in, the Greeks would often speak of something in the future that was so certain to happen as if it had already taken place. That is what is going on here. That is what is communicated. Furthermore, our Lord God speaks to us through the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:3-4:
“ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…”
This Truth and the Word “Inheritance” is seen again in this last passage. And this is the most generous gift of eternal life with God in the heavenlies coming only through saving faith in the Lord Jesus. Here’s our initial glance at our theme – you are assured. Cause friends, what is more assuring than Heaven? Nothin’.
Back to Ephesians – So “In Him we’ve Obtained an Inheritance…”], having been predestined according to the purpose of him [God… This echoes what we heard in Verse 4 of Ephesians 1 – He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless… Predestination and election are nothing new to the truth about God we find in the New Testament and Old Testament. If you are interested or have questions about this, I would be glad to lend you a book on this subject that is rich with Scripture. So “Having been Predestined according to the Purpose of Him…”] who works all things [“All Things”! Not just things that benefit! Not just things that are good! And not just things that are in His redemptive plan of salvation either, but this includes all of God’s providences in our everyday lives. God Himself states that He “Works All Things…”] according to the counsel of his will [What a statement! What a statement affirming the sovereign working of God almighty in the lives of us who are in Christ!]
God “Works All Things” – How? “According to the Counsel of His Will”. In other words, He’s pre-occupied in pushing His Plan. He attends to it with careful thought. And He is trustworthy in doing so. He’s not random. He’s not fickle. He’s not inconsistent. He’s not One who acts on a whim! And He’s not like some people in the world who promise one thing, but when times get tough they never deliver. The only true God, the God of the Bible, is the opposite of those people who act in those ways. Friends, God does not just plan things, He does them. He is not an absentee landlord. He is not the boss who has mapped everything out, only to leave on the first day of the job. What God plans to happen, He makes happen. Talk about being assured? That’s assurance.
God “Works all things according to the counsel of His Will” – Verse 12…], so that we who were the first to hope in Christ [And what a privilege that would have been! Being the eye-witnesses and first generation of Jesus Followers in the first century, in the early church! They, and we who are in Christ twenty centuries later, still have our hope in Christ. And we can hope in Christ as long as we have breath through His Gospel, His message of Good News! This is the message everyone, that if you and I turn from our ungodliness and sin to believe in Jesus Christ and His perfect death for you and your sins you will be forgiven. You will be one with God. You will no longer be alone. You will no longer be in the path of the active wrath of God. You will no longer have to fear the dooms of eternal hell. In faith in Jesus alone, He is our eternal hope! He is our never-to-go hope! Such assurance! This is to be so that we, reading on…] might be to the praise of his glory. [If we are in living faith in Jesus, we are that way because He made us predestined for His praise. More on the people of God being to the praise of His glory next week.]
The Apostle Paul elsewhere writes by the moving of God on predestination from a very Pastoral perspective. I identify with these Words personally for our small town, and our small but growing church…
“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior…”
Now on the infinite and mind-boggling truth of predestination… I mean why not close with that? Right? It has been said that the divine side and human side of personal salvation can be understood like this – When you look towards heaven you see a sign that says, “Whosoever Believes May Come”. But then after you arrive in heaven – and how glorious that will be! After you get into heaven, you look back to the same sign and it does not say “Whosoever Believes May Come”. Instead, it says – “Chosen Before the Foundation of the World”. Those are the divine and human sides of salvation. Those are the different sides of the same mountain, the different sides of the same coin.
My prayer is that all who are in Christ who read this will know this assurance, and be assured with this truth at the present time on this side of heaven.
May God bless our church family…