Bits and Pieces – 23rd Edition – August 9, 2020

The Toronto church will be open (DV) for public service today. Only the morning service will be held for the next few weeks at its normal time of 11.00am. Certain restrictions will be in place, details of which have been sent out to those on the church mailing list. The evening service, at its normal time of 6.30pm, will continue on sermonaudio. The Wednesday evening prayer meeting (7.30pm) for this week will be on zoom as will the Sunday evening pre-service prayer time (5.50pm) Those on the mailing list will be informed of any further changes. 

Sincere thanks to the many faithful souls who prayed, phoned, visited, sent cards and e-mails with regard to the writer’s heart valve surgery.  The procedure took place on Tuesday at Sunnybrook hospital.  The recuperation period can be as much as six weeks.  Thank God for His mercy, and the good verse He gave, “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise,”  [Psalm 57:7]

There is an old saying that “all roads lead to Rome,” but this “Roman Road” leads souls to Christ.  It is a series of verses from the book of Romans that are helpful in leading a soul to the Saviour.  Any Christian can use it with profit when dealing with a needy soul. It is helpful to illustrate the “broad road” of life (Matthew 7:13) by imagining a great highway, like our 401, with its warning and directional boards to guide travellers. The first warning is:

THE REALITY OF SIN. (Romans 3:10 & 23).  Mankind is not evolving and getting better, but “there is none righteous, no, not one.”  Again, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  Impress upon your contact that every person, including the one being spoken to is a sinner. Everyone has broken God’s law.

THE REWARD OF SIN is the second warning board (Romans 5:12 & 6:23).  There are three deaths. We are all born in sin, that is spiritual death the same as Adam died. He did not die physically when he sinned.  Then there is physical death with which we are all familiar an to which we are heading, Spiritual death plus physical death leads to the most dread death of all – eternal death – which is the separation of the soul from God forever.

THE REMEDY FOR SIN (Romans 5:8).  The remedy lies in God’s great love (John 3:16).  God clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skins picturing Christ’s blood sacrifice for sins.  He sheltered Noah in the ark, safe from the judgment of God.  Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God is both our sacrifice and our covering (Psalm 32:1).

THE REMOVAL OF SIN.  The final exit sign – get off the broad road (Romans 10:9 & 13).  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Encourage your contact not to miss the “exit” sign.  It is a long way back.  It they miss God’s final warning Genesis 6:3 comes into the equation, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.”

May the Lord bless each one as you seek to lead souls to Christ.  “He that winneth souls is wise.”  (Proverbs 11:30).

“Walk in newness of life.”  [Romans 6:4] Walking is one of the very best exercises with particular benefits for the heart.  Walking is also an amazing faculty.

A little child begins to stand and then ventures forth with its first unsteady steps.  Proud parents watch with joy, scarcely aware of the astounding feat the child has just achieved.  Our centre of gravity governs our balance and is affected by every tiny movement of our bodies.  Think of the millions of calculations the child’s brain has to process to keep its balance as it moves in transition from crawling to walking.  When a person comes to Christ, he begins a new walk.  It is a miracle of God’s grace that we can progress from walking “according to the course of this (unholy) world” to walking “in the spirit.”       [Eph. 2:2 an Gal. 5:25]

The word walk appears 7 times in Ephesians and tells us how our spiritual life should be.  We ought to walk in “good works” [2:10] and to “walk worthy” of our position as Christians. [4:1].  We are not to walk “as other Gentiles” in empty and profitless worldly pursuits [4:17]. God especially exhorts us to “walk in love,” reciprocating our love to our loving and caring Saviour [5:2].  We should also “walk as children of light” [5:8], no longer desiring darkness which is the preferred domain of evildoers. [John 3:19].  Finally, Paul calls on God’s people to “walk circumspectly” [5:15].  That means to walk very carefully, picking our steps cautiously as we do when walking on swampy ground, always aware of taking a wrong step.  The best way to traverse the sinful swamps of this world is to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.