• There will be no Christian education classes after the service this morning due to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
• October 27 – Providence hosts The Conservative Reformed Young Adults Interdenominational Hymn Sing after the evening service.
• Please pray for Rev. Ben Tramper and his wife Herma, as they plan to travel to the United States and arrive this Thursday evening. Rev. Tramper currently serves as the pastor in the PKN, Oud Beijerland, NL.
• The Mattaniah Male Choir will perform at United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids on November 1 at 7:30 pm. Tickets may be purchased from Plymouth Christian Schools or at the door.

“All things that the Father hath are mine.” John 16:15.

Remember where all things are to be had; and that therefore, if you would believe, you must remember, that faith to believe in the Son of God is to be had where all other things are. Faith is the gift of God; and Christ is the Author of faith; therefore, seek not to bring faith out of your own bowels; for, as faith comes by hearing, so nothing but the power of God can produce it effectually; that is, by the gospel’s coming, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost. This power works secretly and silently upon the heart in hearing, when, perhaps, the person little knows that it is the power of God that is dealing with his heart; when yet, while the Spirit is in the word, shewing the things of Christ, there may be a heart-beating towards him: a heart-bleeding, a heart-bursting, a heart-burning towards him: and possibly, the heart that was hard like a rock, now melting like water before the Lord; yea, under this drawing power of the Spirit, there may be heart-panting after the Lord, and yet the poor soul, doth not know that the power of God is present. This faith comes not by working or doing, or forcing yourselves up to some strong acting: but it comes by hearing: the acting of faith comes by hearing of the object of faith presented in the word, and by hearing what the Spirit says of his glory.
Why then do you stand poring over your lack of faith, as if you were to pull it out of your own breast? You will be nearer to your purpose, if you pore over the object of faith, wherein all things are. The soul, in believing, considers not, What can I do, but What can Christ do? Not, What have I in me, but, what hath Christ in him? It is taken up with nothing but Christ; and it is the best act of faith that loses itself, and is swallowed up in his fullness.
The next direction to your faith, is, Let the claim of right that Christ hath to all things that the Father hath, be your claim. Christ is the first receiver of all things from the Father; and we can receive nothing but through his hand. We have no claim to any thing that the Father hath, but in him whom the Father loves, and to whom he hath given all things; they must be his before they can be ours. All is mine first, says Christ, before ever you can share; and they are mine, that they may be yours: my mediatorial right to them is on your account: his love falls upon me, that it may descend upon you; his blessing lights upon me, that it may light on you; his Spirit is given to me, and put upon me, that it may be put upon you; his fullness dwells in me, that out of my fullness ye may receive, and grace for grace; his promise lights upon me, that it may be accomplished to you: Psalm 2:9. Therefore, let your claim of right to any thing the Father hath, be grounded on my right; for, “All things that the Father hath are mine.” He is your God, because he is my God; and your Father, because he is my Father; he is yours, because he is mine; and all things the Father hath are yours, because they are mine.                     Ralph Erskine

• Please pray for Rev. C. van den Berg who continues to suffer from progressing cancer. They are continuing to treat him with radiation and chemotherapy.
• Reminder – Reserve your dinner seat for the Hudson Taylor Ministries Dinner at htmpresentations@gmail.com.
• Now available in the foyeris the booklet “Musings of the Heart” which is the collection of spiritual poems written by Jack Swets. Please feel free to take one or more. Plonia & Gary Swets
• Final announcement. – There will be an opportunity to follow a confession of faith course this year. Please contact a consistory member if you are interested in joining the class.
• The offerings for September 2019 are as follows:

General $18,414.75

Benevolent $  1,599.09

CEF $  2,696.61

Building $  1,699.06

World Renew $10,646.00

Sumba Mission Day $22,553.00

• Sincere thanks to the Titus 2 Women and all that remembered me on my birthday. “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me?”    Gary Kwekel
• The Mattaniah Male Choir will perform at United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids on November 1 at 7:30 pm. Tickets may be purchased from Plymouth Christian Schools or at the door.

Morning of a communion Sabbath.

Almighty and everlasting God, we bless Thee for the return of another day of the Son of man. Pour out upon us a double portion of Thy grace; fill our hearts with Thy love. May all vain and wandering, and sinful thoughts be repressed; may our communion and fellowship this day be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus.

We thank Thee for the prospect we have of anew commemorating the dying love of our risen and exalted Redeemer; of surrounding once more the table in the wilderness, and partaking of the bread of eternal life. Give to each of us the “wedding garment”. Let us prepare to meet our God. May we feel that the place whereon we are to stand is holy ground; and rejoice at the renewed opportunity of testifying, in the presence of angels and men, our unaltered and unalterable attachment to our blessed Lord and Master. In a strength greater than our own, may we be enabled to resolve, that He will be henceforth ours only – ours wholly – ours for ever.

Give us this day lively apprehensions of the great love wherewith He hath loved us. May these dead and lukewarm should of ours be quickened into newness of life. May our faith be invigorated, and our love deepened, and our graces strengthened. May this be the grateful aspirations of all our hearts, “What shall we render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards us? We will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord; we will pay our vows unto the lord now in the presence of all His people.”

We pray for all who are to receive along with us this day the sacred emblems. Give to each of them some special tokens of Thy covenant love. May they see the king in His beauty. May their experience be, “It was good for us to draw near unto God.” Keep back all presumptuous and unworthy guests. Encourage all misgiving, trembling, faint-hearted ones. While feeling their own unworthiness, may they remember to go and commemorate the infinite worthiness of Him who is all-worthy. May they hear Thy voice of encouragement saying, “Fear not, for I know that ye seek Jesus who was crucified.”

Preacher:  Rev. Budding

AM – Worship:

Scripture: Solomon’s Song chapter 2

Psalter 190:1-4
Psalter 439:1-4
Psalter 120:1-4
Psalter 162:1, 2

 

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PM Worship:

Scripture:  Exodus 10:27 -29, Exodus 11 and Hebrews 11:23-28

422:3,5,6
245:1-5
278:1-5
247:1-6

Morning Worship: Pastor Budding
Scripture reading: Psalm 45
Psalter 124:1-5
Psalter 45:1-6
Psalter 193:1-6
Psalter 420:6

Evening Worship: Pastor Budding
Scripture reading: Mark 5:1-20
Psalter 163:1-3
Psalter 426:1-5
Psalter 111:1-4
Psalter 225:1-3

• Gary Kwekel has his 86^thbirthday today.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Ps. 84:5.

• The Trinitarian Bible Society meeting will be held on Thursday at Plymouth Christian Elementary School at 7:30 pm.
• We ask that each family bring a hot dish and a side dish for the pot luck dinner on Friday. Dessert will be provided.
• There will be an opportunity to follow a confession of faith course this year, in order to make Confession of Faith next spring, the Lord willing. Please contact a consistory member if you are interested in joining the class.

“I am the vine you are the branches.” John 15:5

I am now to show HOW the branches are cut off from the natural stock, the first Adam, and grafted into the true vine, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks to the Farmer, not to the branch, which is cut off from its natural stock, and grafted into a new one. The sinner, in his coming off from the first stock, is passive, and neither can nor will come off from it of his own accord—but clings to it, until almighty power makes him to fall off, John 5:40, “You will not come to me, that you might have life.” The engrafted branches are “God’s husbandry,” 1 Cor. 3:9  The ordinary means he makes use of, in this work, is the ministry of the word, 1 Cor. 3:9, “We are laborers together with God.” But the efficacy thereof is wholly from him, whatever the minister’s parts or piety is, ver. 7, “Neither is he who plants anything, neither he who waters; but God that gives the increase.” The apostles preached to the Jews—yet the body of that people remained in infidelity, Romans 10:16, “Who has believed our report?” Yes, Christ himself, who spoke as never man spoke, says concerning the success of his own ministry, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing,” Isaiah 49:4. The branches may be hacked by the preaching of the word; but the stroke will never go through—until it is carried home by the omnipotent arm. However, God’s ordinary way is, “by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe,” 1 Cor. 1:21.

The cutting of the branch from the natural stock, is performed by the pruning knife of the law, in the hand of the Spirit of God, Gal. 2:19, “For I, through the law, am dead to the law.” It is by the bond of the covenant of works, as I said before, that we are knit to our natural stock: therefore, as a wife, unwilling to be put away, pleads and hangs by the marriage tie; so do men by the covenant of works. They hold by it, like the man who held the ship with his hands; and when one hand was cut off, held it with the other; and when both were cut off, held it with his teeth.

When the Spirit of the Lord comes to deal with a person, to bring him to Christ, he finds him in Laodicea’s case, in a sound sleep of security, dreaming of heaven and the favor of God, though full of sin against the Holy One of Israel, Rev. 3:17, “You don’t know, that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Therefore, he darts in some beams of light into the dark soul; and lets the man see that he is a lost man, if he does not become a new man, and betake himself to a new course of life. Thus, by the Spirit of the Lord, acting as a spirit of bondage, there is a criminal court erected in the man’s bosom; where he is arraigned, accused, and condemned for breaking the law of God, “convicted of sin and judgment,” John 16:8. And now he can no longer sleep securely in his former course of life. This is the first stroke which the branch gets, in order to cutting off. Thomas Boston

• Give thanks that Luke Engelsma could return home from the hospital after his surgery and pray for his total recovery at home.
• Mission collection today. The RCA partners with World Renew for humanitarian aid for natural disasters based upon Christian compassion. World Renew is responding to the devastation in the Bahamas from Hurricane Dorian.
• The consistory has received the transfer of membership for Mrs. Stephanie West.
• The consistory has received the transfer of membership for Mr. And Mrs. Dan Sweetman.

And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. 2 Cor. 8:5.

• The consistory has transferred the membership of Meleah Bazen to First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Grand Rapids at her request.
• The consistory has transferred the membership of Andrew Barnard to Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids at his request.
• The consistory has transferred the membership of Brandien Van den Berg, Brandineke Van den Berg, and Klaske Van den Berg at their request to Nederlands Hervormde Kerkof Sint Anthoniepolder, NL.
• There will be an opportunity to follow a confession of faith course this year, in order to make confession of faith next spring, the Lord willing. Please contact a consistory member if you are interested in joining the class.
• Additions/changes of contact information:

Dr. Daniel and Mrs. Patricia Sweetman (VanGrouw)

6672 Ramsdell Dr. NE,    Rockford, MI  49341

Dan’s cell: 845-406-2117   email: danieljsweetman@gmail.com

Pat’s cell: 616-914-1181    email: psweetman@live.com

Mr. Wade and Mrs. Stephanie West (Bouma)

2767 20 Mile Rd.

Kent City, MI 49330

Wade’s cell: 616-325-8995

Stephanie’s: 616-325-8997

Pastor Jan Arie and Mrs. Brandien Van den berg (Pieters)

Brandineke, Klaske

Polderdijk 77

3299 LM  MAASDAM, NL

Phone: 031 78 3030404 email:javdberg97@gmail.com

The Holy War by John Bunyan

Now, as was said, Emmanuel perceiving that by the craft of Mr. Carnal-Security, the town of Mansoul was taken off from their dependence upon him, and upon his Father by him, and set upon what by them was bestowed upon it; he first, as I said, bemoaned their state, then he used means to make them understand that the way that they went on in was dangerous: for he sent my Lord High Secretary to them, to forbid them such ways; but twice when he came to them, he found them at dinner in Mr. Carnal-Security’s parlour; and perceiving also that they were not willing to reason about matters concerning their good, he took grief and went his way; the which when he had told to the Prince Emmanuel, he took offence, and was grieved also, and so made provision to return to his Father’s court.