AM Service Information 9:15am:  Dr. Adriaan Neele

Scripture: Hosea 11; Matthew 2:13-15

Psalter: 373:1,2,5,6
Psalter: 87:1,2,3
Psalter: 127: 1, 8
Psalter: 262:1,2,3
Doxology

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PM Service Information 6pm:  Dr. Adriaan Neele

Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-8; Matthew 6: 24-34.

Psalter: 403:1,2,3
Psalter: 121:1,2,3,4
Psalter: 292: 1,3,4
Psalter: 133:1,3
Doxology 306:1,2

• The Lord’s Supper will be administered during the morning service. There will be no Christian education classes after the service.
• The mission collection next week is for the Sumba Mission. The Sumba Mission is on one of the 17,000 islands comprising the nation of Indonesia. With the Sommer’s advancing age and the mission’s steady development, a Canada-based board was created in 2016 to help oversee the mission. Today, a children’s home and school provide nearly 90 Sumbanese youth with a Christian upbringing and a safe haven in which to grow. Some are now studying for the ministry, medicine, teaching and a variety of trades.
• Dear Church Family,     Thank you so much for all the love and care expressed in prayers, notes, visits, and help to us during Elizabeth’s illness. “Shew me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths.” Ps. 25:4.  Elizabeth and Walter Rozeboom.
• There are two corrected amounts for the December collections.

General –  $26,428.85 TimotheosUSA – $7,548.00

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matt. 5:6.

But some may object: My hunger after righteousness is so weak, that I fear it is not true. I answer: Though the pulse beats but weak it shows there is life. And that weak desires should not be discouraged, there is a promise made to them. ‘A bruised reed he will not break’ (Matthew 12:20). A reed is a weak thing, but especially when it is bruised, yet this ‘bruised reed’ shall not be broken, but like Aaron’s dry rod, ‘bud and blossom’. In case of weakness look to Christ your High Priest. He is merciful, therefore will bear with your infirmities; he is mighty, therefore will help them. Further, if your desires after righteousness seem to be weak and languid, yet a Christian may sometimes take a measure of his spiritual estate as well by the judgement as by the affections. What is that you esteem most in your judgement? Is it Christ and grace? This is good evidence for heaven. It was a sign that Paul bore entire love to Christ because he esteemed this Pearl above all. He counted other things ‘but dung, that he might win Christ’ (Philippians 3:8).

But, says a child of God, that which much eclipses my comfort is, I have not that hunger which I once had. Time was when I did hunger after a Sabbath because then the manna fell. ‘I called the Sabbath a delight’. I remember the time when I hungered after the body and blood of the Lord. I came to a sacrament as an hungry man to a feast, but now it is otherwise with me. I do not have those hungerings as formerly. I answer: It is indeed an ill sign for a man to lose his stomach, but, though it be a sign of the decay of grace to lose the spiritual appetite, yet it is a sign of the truth of grace to bewail the loss. It is sad to lose our first love, but it is happy when we mourn for the loss of our first love. If you do not have that appetite after heavenly things as formerly, yet do not be discouraged, for in the use of means you may recover your appetite. The ordinances are for the recovering of the appetite when it is lost. In other cases feeding takes away the appetite, but here, feeding on an ordinance begets a appetite.

The text exhorts us all to labor after this spiritual hunger. Hunger less after the world and more after righteousness. Say concerning spiritual things, ‘Lord, evermore give us this bread.’ That manna is most to be hungered after which will not only preserve life but prevent death (John 6:50). ‘The beauty of holiness, never fades (Psalm 110:3). ‘The robe of righteousness’ (Isaiah 61:10) never waxes old! Oh hunger after that righteousness which ‘delivereth from death’ (Proverbs 10:12). All men are ambitious of the king’s favor. Alas, what is a prince’s smile but a transient beatitude? This sunshine of his royal countenance soon masks itself with a cloud of displeasure, but those who are endued with righteousness are God’s favorites, and how sweet is his smile! ‘Thy loving-kindness is better than life’ (Psalm 63:3). Thomas Watson

• Please remember in prayer those who are not able to gather with us today due to illness or weakness from old age or concerns for contracting Covid-19. Also, pray for our widows and widowers and others who are called to travel life’s path alone.
• Dear Church Family,     Sincere thanks for the cards and tokens of brotherly kindness shown especially as we enter the New Year and a difficult time of physical separation. So thankful loving hearts are not confined and the Lord’s promise “I will never leave you” is our comfort at this time.                                     Kwekel
• We thankfully report the collections for December:

General $16,428.85

Building – Church safety $  6,362.23

CEF $     343.00

Benevolent $  1,476.35

Mission-TimotheosUSA $17,548.00

 

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Matt. 5:4.

They that mourn are happy; Blessed are they that mourn. This is another strange blessing, and fitly follows the former. The poor are accustomed to mourn, the graciously poor mourn graciously. We are apt to think, Blessed are the merry; but Christ, who was himself a great mourner, says, Blessed are the mourners. There is a sinful mourning, which is an enemy to blessedness—the sorrow of the world; despairing melancholy upon a spiritual account, and disconsolate grief upon a temporal account. There is a natural mourning, which may prove a friend to blessedness, by the grace of God working with it, and sanctifying the afflictions to us, for which we mourn. But there is a gracious mourning, which qualifies for blessedness, an habitual seriousness, the mind mortified to mirth, and an actual sorrow.

A penitential mourning for our own sins; this is godly sorrow, a sorrow according to God; sorrow for sin, with an eye to Christ, Zech. 12:10 . Those are God’s mourners, who live a life of repentance, who lament the corruption of their nature, and their many actual transgressions, and God’s withdrawings from them; and who, out of regard to God’s honor, mourn also for the sins of others, and sigh and cry for their abominations, Eze. 9:4 . A sympathizing mourning for the afflictions of others; the mourning of those who weep with them that weep, are sorrowful for the solemn assemblies, for the desolations of Zion (Zep. 3:18 ; Ps. 137:1 ), especially who look with compassion on perishing souls, and weep over them, as Christ over Jerusalem.

Now these gracious mourners,

(1.) Are blessed. As in vain and sinful laughter the heart is sorrowful, so in gracious mourning the heart has a serious joy, a secret satisfaction, which a stranger does not intermeddle with. They are blessed, for they are like the Lord Jesus, who was a man of sorrows, and of whom we never read that he laughed, but often that he wept. The are armed against the many temptations that attend vain mirth, and are prepared for the comforts of a sealed pardon and a settled peace.

(2.) They shall be comforted. Though perhaps they are not immediately comforted, yet plentiful provision is made for their comfort; light is sown for them; and in heaven, it is certain, they shall be comforted, as Lazarus, Luke 16:25. Note, The happiness of heaven consists in being perfectly and eternally comforted, and in the wiping away of all tears from their eyes. It is the joy of our Lord; a fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore; which will be doubly sweet to those who have been prepared for them by this godly sorrow. Heaven will be a heaven indeed to those who go mourning thither; it will be a harvest of joy, the return of a seed-time of tears (Ps. 126:5, 6); a mountain of joy, to which our way lies through a vale of tears.

Matthew Henry

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5:3.

That, then, is what is meant by being `poor in spirit’. It means a complete absence of pride, a complete absence of self assurance and of self-reliance. It means a consciousness that we are nothing in the presence of God. It is nothing, then, that we can produce; it is nothing that we can do in ourselves. It is just this tremendous awareness of our utter nothingness as we come face to face with God. That is to be `poor in spirit’. Let me put it as strongly as I can, and I do so on the basis of the teaching of the Bible. It means this, that if we are truly Christian we shall not rely upon our natural birth. We shall not rely upon the fact that we belong to certain families; we shall not boast that we belong to certain nations or nationalities. We shall not build upon our natural temperament. We shall not believe in and rely upon our natural position in life, or any powers that may have been given to us. We shall not rely upon money or any wealth we may have. The thing about which we shall boast will not be the education we have received, or the particular school or college to which we may have been. No, all that is what Paul came to regard as `dung’, and a hindrance to this greater thing because it tended to master and control him. We shall not rely upon any gifts like that of natural `personality’, or intelligence or general or special ability. We shall not rely upon our own morality and conduct and good behavior. We shall not bank to the slightest extent on the life we have lived or are trying to live. No; we shall regard all that as Paul regarded it. That is `poverty of spirit’. There must be a complete deliverance from and absence of all that. I say again, it is to feel that we are nothing, and that we have nothing, and that we look to God in utter submission to Him and in utter dependence upon Him and His grace and mercy. It is, I say, to experience to some extent what Isaiah experienced when, having seen the vision, he said, `Woe is me ! … I am a man of unclean lips; that is `poverty of spirit’. As we find ourselves in competition with other men in this world we say, `I am a match for them’. Well, that is all right in that realm, if you like. But when a man has some conception of God, he of necessity feels `as one dead’, as did the apostle John on the Isle of Patmos, and we must feel like that in the presence of God. Any natural spirit that is in us goes out, because it is not only exposed in its smallness and weakness, but its sinfulness and foulness become apparent at the same time.                                   D. Martyn Lloyd Jones

• Give thanks to the Lord that Mr. Bobby Vander Boon was able to return home on Monday evening and is recovering well. He had surgery to implant a defibrillator and is taking medicine to help control his heart rate.
• Dear Church Family,

Thank you for the many tokens of love in your prayers, cards, visits

and meals during our dear husband’s and father’s illness and passing

(Galatians 6:10). “So teach us to number our days, that we may

apply our hearts into wisdom.” Psalm 90:12.  Jo Boerkoel and Family.

• Rob Kamrath is currently a member at HRC. Eight years ago he completed his seminary training in the RCA, but was turned down for ordination by the North Grand Rapids Classis because of his persuasion to stay with traditional Biblical interpretation.
• Christian education classes resume this week. The snack time resumes as well.
• Thank you so much for the shower gifts! We look forward to using them in our new home. We are thankful for your support and appreciate your prayers. ~ James & Susanna

Service Information 9:15am: Rob Kamrath

Sermon:  Truly God is good; but as for me…
Scripture:  Psalm 73

Psalter 14
Psalter 140
Psalter 1
Psalter 408

 

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Service Information 6pm:  Chris Engelsma

Sermon:  The Parable of The Chief Seats
Scripture:  Luke 14:7-15

1. The Context
2. The Central Point
3. An Example Given

Psalter 417
Psalter 38
Psalter 366
Psalter 32

Service Information Old Years Evening 7pm: Chris Engelsma

Sermon: The Burden of Dumah
Scripture: Is 21:11-12

1. Silence
2. A call from Edom
3. An answer from Jerusalem

Psalter 244
Psalter 159
Psalter 202  v3,4
Psalter 426 vs5-10

 

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Service Information New Years Morning 9:30am: Chris Engelsma

Sermon: How shall we begin?
Scripture: Rev. 22:13

1. Seals
2. Trumpets
3. Bowls

Psalter 247
Psalter 94
Psalter 4
Psalter 101

Service Information Sunday 9:15AM:  Chris Mourik

Sermon: The Fall of Man
Scripture: Gen. 2:15-3:8
Text: Gen. 3:1-8

Introduction
1. It began by erosion of the truth.
2. It was willful rebellion against God.
3. It has devastating consequences for man.

Psalter 254:1,3,4
Psalter 291:1-6
Psalter 156:1-3 (2nd Tune)
Psalter 140

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Service Information Sunday 6PM:  Chris Mourik

Sermon: Peter’s Bold Confession of Christ
Scripture: Acts 4:1-12
Text: Acts 4:1-12

Introduction
1. The challenging circumstances of this confession
2. The source of strength behind this confession
3. The convicting nature of this confession
4. The gospel truth in this confession

Psalter 94
Psalter 29
Psalter 302
Psalter 161