“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” John 20:17.

Is Christ ascended to the Father as our fore-runner? Then the door of salvation stands open to all believers, and by virtue of Christ’s ascension, they also will ascend after him, far above all visible heavens. O my friends, what place has Christ prepared and taken up for you! what a splendid habitation has he provided for you! “God is not ashamed to be called your God; for he has prepared for you a city,” Heb. 11: 16. In that city Christ has provided mansions, and resting-places for your everlasting abode, John 14: 2. and keeps them for you till your coming. O how august and glorious a dwelling is that, where sun, and moon, and stars, shall shine as much below your feet, as they are now above your heads? Yea, such is the love Christ has to the believer, that, as one saith, if thou only hadst been the chosen of God, Christ would have built that house for himself and thee. Now it is for himself, for thee, and for many more, who shall inherit with thee. God send us a joyful meeting within the vail with our Fore-runner, and sweeten our passage into it, with many a foresight and foretaste thereof. And, in the meantime, let the love of a Savior inflame our hearts, so that whenever we cast a look towards that place, where our Fore-runner is for us entered, our souls may say, with melting affections,

Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ; and again,

Blessed be God for his unspeakable gift.

John Flavel

• The last Christian education classes for the season are today.
• A Plymouth Christian Schools Information Meeting for interested members will be held on Wednesday, May 12. We will also discuss the current status of Rev. Pronk.
• Equipped Community is hosting a Question & Answer evening for all ages on June 3, 2021. Our speakers, Pastor A.T. Vergunst (Reformed Congregation of Carterton NZ) and Dr. G.M. Bilkes (PRTS), will also present short topics. Email equippedcommunity@gmail.comfor details or find Equipped Community on Facebook.
• Thank you so much for the many ways in which you expressed your sympathy on the death of my father. It was greatly appreciated. “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and his righteousness unto children’s children.

Psalm 103:15 & 17.    Dave and Barb Meeuwse

• Thank you so much to all who contributed to our church shower gifts; it means a lot to us! We are so grateful for the care and generosity of the church family! Samuel Boerkoel and Audrey Zevenbergen.
• Please thank the congregation for their generosity. The support of the Congregation is more appreciated than we can express. May the Lord bless you all as a Church family.
  Warmly,On behalf of the Sumba Committee, Bill

• The last Christian education classes for the season are next week.
• A Plymouth Christian Schools Information Meeting for interested members will be held on Wednesday, May 12. We will also discuss the current status of Rev. Pronk.
• The appointment that Rev. Pronk had at the US Embassy in Amsterdam for May 3 has been canceled. His new appointment date is scheduled for September 8. This is discouraging, but we continue to pursue other options for expedited service. May the Lord open the way.
• Collection totals for April are as follows:

General $  7,744.40

Building $  2,730.00

CEF $  1,638.00

Benevolent $  1,179.35

Mission – Sumba $17,362.53

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Matt. 5:6.

See here at what a low price God sets heavenly things. It is but hungering and thirsting. ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, buy without money’ (Isaiah 55:1). We are not bid to bring any merits as the Papists would do, nor to bring a sum of money to purchase righteousness. Rich men would be loath to do that. All that is required is to bring an appetite. Christ ‘has fulfilled all righteousness’. We are only to ‘hunger and thirst after righteousness’. This is equal and reasonable. God does not require rivers of oil, but sighs and tears. The invitation of the gospel is free. If a friend invites guests to his table, he does not expect they should bring money to pay for their dinner, only come with an appetite. So, says God, It is not penance, pilgrimage, self-righteousness I require. Only bring a stomach: ‘hunger and thirst after righteousness’. God might have set Christ and salvation at an higher price, but he has much beaten down the price. Now as this shows the sweetness of God’s nature he is not a hard master so it shows us the inexcusableness of those who perish under the gospel. What apology can any man make at the day of judgement, when God shall ask that question, Friend, why did you not embrace Christ? I set Christ and grace at a low rate. If you had but hungered after righteousness, you might have had it, but you slighted Christ. You had such low thoughts of righteousness that you would not hunger after it. How do you think to escape who have neglected ’so great salvation’? The easier the terms of the gospel are, the sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy of who unworthy refuse such an offer.

It shows us a true character of a godly man. He hungers and thirsts after spiritual things (Isaiah 26:9; Psalm 73:25). A true saint is carried upon the wing of desire. It is the very temper and constitution of a gracious soul to thirst after God (Psalm 42:2). In the word preached, how he is big with desire! These are some of the partings of his soul: Lord, thou hast led me into thy courts. O that I may have thy sweet presence, that thy glory may fill the temple! This is thy limping house; wilt thou draw some sacred lineaments of grace upon my soul that I may be more assimilated and changed into the likeness of my dear Saviour. In prayer, how is the soul filled with passionate longings after Christ! Prayer is expressed by ‘groans unutterable’ (Romans 8:26). The heart sends up whole volleys of sighs to heaven; Lord, one beam of thy love! one drop of thy blood!       Thomas Watson

• Please remember in prayer and with sympathy, Mrs. Barb Meeuwse, Dave, her mother and siblings as Barb’s father passed away last Sunday.
• Tropical cyclone Seroja affected a  number of islands in the country of Indonesia recently, including the island of Sumba. The mission collection today will be for the orphanage in Sumba as they recover from the damage inflicted by the cyclone.
• On Thursday, May 6, we will have a National Prayer Day Prayer Meeting. Elder Vander Boon and Elder Rozeboom will lead with a meditation and prayer; one for the nation and one for the church.
• Heritage Voices Choir concert was postponed and now is planned for Saturday, May 22 at 7pm.

“He is not here; for he is risen, as he said: come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Matt. 28: 6.

Has Christ, and has his resurrection such a potent and comfortable influence into the resurrection of the saints? Then it is the duty, and will be the wisdom of the people of God, so to govern, dispose, and employ their bodies, as become men and women, that understand what glory is prepared form them at the resurrection of the just. Particularly,

First, Be not fondly tender of them, but employ and use them for God here. How many good duties are lost and spoiled by sinful indulgence to our bodies? Alas! we are generally more solicitous to live long, than to live usefully. How many saints have active, vigorous bodies, yet God has little service from them. If your bodies were animated by some other souls that love God more than van do, and burn with holy zeal to his service, more work would be done for God by your bodies in a day, than is now done in a month. To have an able, healthy body, and not use it for God, for fear of hurting it, is as if one should give you a strong and stately horse, upon condition you must not work or ride him. Wherein is the mercy of having a body, except it be employed for God? Will not its reward at the resurrection be sufficient for all the pains you nor put it to in his service?

Secondly, See that you preserve the due honor of your bodies. “Possess them in sanctification and honor,” 1 Thess. 4:4. O, let not these eyes be now defiled with sin, by which you shall see God. Those ears be inlets to vanity, which shall hear the Hallelujahs of the blessed. God hath designed honor for your bodies, O, make them not either the instruments or objects of sin. There are sins against the body, 1 Cor. 6:18. Preserve your bodies from those defilements, for they are the temple of God; “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy,” 1 Cor. 3:17.

Thirdly, Let not the contentment and accommodation of your bodies draw your soul into snares, and bring them under the power of temptations to sin. This is a very common case. O how many thousands of precious souls perish eternally for the satisfaction of a vile body for a moment? Their souls must, because their bodies cannot suffer. It is recorded to the immortal honor of these worthies, in Heb. 11:35.“That they accepted not deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.” They might have had a temporal resurrection from death to life, from reproach to honor, from poverty to riches, from pains to pleasure; but upon such terms they judged it not worth acceptance. They would not expose their souls to secure their bodies. They had the same natural affections that other men have. They were made of as tender flesh as we are, but such was the care they had of their souls, and the hope of a better resurrection, that they listened not to the complaints and whinings of their bodies. O, that we were all in the same resolutions with them. John Flavel

• Christian education classes will not be held today due to the commemoration of the Lord’s Supper.
• Tropical cyclone Seroja affected a  number of islands in the country of Indonesia last week including the island of Sumba. The mission collection in April will be for the orphanage in Sumba as they recover from the damage inflicted by the cyclone.
• The Heritage Voices Choir will present a concert this Friday, April 23 at 7:30pm in the sanctuary of Heritage Reformed Church at 540 Crescent St. NE.
• Collection for the month of March were as follows:

General $8,271.51

Building $4,137.00

CEF $1,373.00

Benevolent $   934.00

Mission – PRTS $3,331.35

Prayer Day – PCS $1,325.00

“The Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” 1 Cor. 11:23-25.

It is not therefore a bare historical, speculative, but a gracious, affectionate, impressive remembrance of Christ, that is here intended: and such a remembrance of Christ supposes and includes,

1. The saving knowledge of him. We cannot be said to remember what we never knew; nor to remember, savingly, what we never knew savingly. There have been many previous, sweet end gracious transactions, dealings, and intimacies betwixt Christ and his people, from the time of their first happy acquaintance with him: much of that sweetness they have had in former considerations of him, and hours of communion with him, is lost and gone; for nothing is more inconstant, than our spiritual comforts: but now at the Lord’s table, there our old acquaintance is renewed, and the remembrance of his goodness and love refreshed and revived: “We will remember thy love more than wine; the upright love thee,” of Sol.1:4.
2. Such a remembrance of Christ includes faith in it. Without discerning Christ at a sacrament, there is no remembrance of him; and, without faith, no discerning Christ there. But when the precious eye of faith has spied Christ, under that vail, it presently calls up the affections, sayings “Come see the Lord.” These are the wounds he received from me. This is he that loved me, and gave himself for me. This is his flesh, and that his blood; so his arms were stretched out upon the cross to embrace me; so his blessed head hung down to kiss me. Awake my love, rouse up my hope, flame out my desires; Come forth, all ye powers and affections of my soul; come, see the Lord. No sooner does Christ by his Spirit call to the believer but faith hears; and discerning the voice, turns about, like Mary, saying, Rabboni, my Lord, my Master.
3. This remembrance of Christ includes suitable impressions made upon the affections, by such a sight and remembrance of him: and therein lies the nature of that precious thing which we call communion with God. Sometimes the soul there calls to mind the infinite wisdom, that so contrived and laid the glorious and mysterious design and project of redemption: the effect of this is wonder and admiration. O the manifold wisdom of God! Eph. 3: 10. O the depths, the heights, the length, the breadth of this wisdom! I can as easily span the heavens as take the just dimensions of it. Sometimes a representation of the severity of God is made to the soul at that ordinance. O how inflexible and severe is the justice of God! What, no abatement! no sparing mercy; no, not to his own Son? This begets a double impression on the heart. John Flavel

• Christian education classes will be held today, but not next week due to the commemoration of the Lord’s Supper.
• Mrs. Jo Boerkoel plans to celebrate her birthday this Thursday.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide

under the shadow of the Almighty. Ps. 91:1.

• There are 3 cards and 3 envelopes downstairs for the bridal shower on May 1. They will be there until after the evening service tonight.
• Please pray for those who are not able to gather with us today due to the weakness of old age, studies, work, or travel.
• Tropical cyclone Seroja affected a number of islands in the country of Indonesia last week including the island of Sumba. The mission collection in April will be for the orphanage in Sumba as they recover from the damage inflicted by the cyclone.

“He is not here; for he is risen, as he said: come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Matt. 28:6.

Christ’s body was marvelously improved by the resurrection, and so will ours. It fell in weakness, but was raised in power; no more capable of sorrows, pains and dishonors. In like manner our bodies are “sown in weakness, but raised in strength, sown in dishonor, raised in glory. Sown natural bodies, raised spiritual bodies,” as the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. 15: 43, 44. Spiritual bodies, not properly, but analogically. No distemper hang about glorified bodies, nor are they henceforth subject to any of those natural necessities, to which they are now tied. There are no flaw, defects, or deformities, in the children of the resurrection. What members are now defective or deformed, will then be restored to their perfect being and beauty; as Tertullian speaks, and from thenceforth they are free from the law of mortality, “They can die no more,” Luke 20: 35, 36. Thus shall they be improved by their resurrection.

Christ’s body was raised from the dead to be glorified and crowned with honor. Oh it was a joyful day to him; and so will the resurrection of the saints be to them, the day of the gladness of their hearts. It will be said to them in that morning, “Awake, and sing, ye that dwell in the dust,” as Isa. 26: 19. O how comfortable will be the meeting betwixt the glorified soul, and its new raised body. Much more comfortable than that of Jacob’s and Joseph’s, after twenty years absence, Gen. 46: 29.

For glorified souls in heaven have such an appetite and desire of reunion with their own body. Indeed, the angels, who are pure spirits, as they never had union with, so they have no inclination to matter; but souls are otherwise tempered and disposed. We are all sensible of its affection to the body now, in its compounded state, we feel the tender care it has for the body, the sympathy with it, and lothness to be separated from it. It is said, 2 Cor. 5: 6. “to be at home in the body.” And had not God implanted such an inclination to this its tabernacle in it, it would not have paid that due respect it owes the body while it inhabited in it, nor have regarded what became of it when it left it. This inclination remains still with it in heaven, it reckons not itself completely happy till its old dear companion and partner be with it, and in that sense some understand those words, Job 14: 14. “All the days of my appointed time,” i.e. of the time appointed for my body to remain in the grave, will I wait till my change (viz. that which will be made by the resurrection) come; for it is manifest enough he speaks there of the resurrection. Now, when this its inclination to its own body, its longings and hankerings after it, are gratified with a sight and enjoyment of it again, oh what a comfortable meeting will this make it!       John Flavel