Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 13 May, 2018
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind ...” (Rom. 12:2)
Morning Service - 11:00 AM - Rev. M. McGeown
Jonathan: David’s Covenant Friend (8)
Jonathan Strengthens David’s Hand in God
[download]
[youtube]
Scripture Reading: I Samuel 23
Text: I Samuel 23:16-18
I. The Need for This Strengthening
II. The Strengthening Itself
III. The Fruit of This Strengthening
Psalms: 87:1-7; 74:6-11; 119:25-32; 27:9-14
Evening Service - 6:00 PM - Rev. M. McGeown
Jonathan: David’s Covenant Friend (9)
David Laments for Jonathan
[download]
[youtube]
Scripture Reading: I Samuel 31; II Samuel 1:11-27
Text: II Samuel 1:17-27
I. Extolling the Virtues of the Fallen
II. Expressing Great Grief
III. Leaving Us With Questions
Psalms: 111:1-6; 74:12-17; 78:9-17; 116:13-19
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services,
contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart
or the elders
CPRC Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live Webcast:
www.cprf.co.uk/live.html
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quote to Consider
Dale Ralph Davis: “Of course, Jonathan’s presence itself would have been a great comfort and refreshment for David. Yet our personal presence does not have the abiding encouragement that God’s sure word does. We best encourage not by being cuddly with people but by reminding them of the promises of God. Encouragement from God for the people of God comes from the word of God. I am not depreciating the helpfulness of the personal touch or care, but in an age that wallows in ‘caring’ and ‘sensitivity’ on every hand believers need to know that solid encouragement comes not from emotional closeness but from God’s speech” (I Samuel: Looking on the Heart, p. 239).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
We welcome Rev. & Larisa McGeown and Sam & Anga, Jason, Eleanora and Jonas Watterson from the Limerick Reformed Fellowship to our services today. Rev. McGeown will be preaching for us, while Rev. Stewart is in the LRF.
Everyone is invited to stay for tea after this evening’s service. It will include a presentation to the catechumens. Tea rota: Group B.
Family visitation continues this week. A schedule is on the back of the bulletin. If you are not a member and would like to be included in the family visitation, speak with Rev. Stewart or an elder.
Tuesday Bible Study at 11 AM will discuss the pilgrimage feasts in Acts, etc.
Rev. McGeown will be interviewed on the subject of abortion in connection with the upcoming referendum in the Republic of Ireland on a Christian radio station in Cork (93.1 FM) this Wednesday around 12:10 PM. You can listen live on-line (www.lifefm.ie).
Limerick Lecture: Rev. McGeown plans to give a lecture entitled, “The Bible and Abortion,” this Saturday. Please remember this witness in your prayers.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM).
S. Wales Lecture: Rev. McGeown will give a lecture on “The Development of God’s Covenant” in Margam Community Centre on Thursday, 24 May, at 7:15 PM.
The CPRC Annual General Meeting is scheduled for Monday, 28 May at 7:30 PM. All are invited. Evangelism, audio-visual, missionary and financial reports will be given.
Offerings: General Fund: £686.50. Building Fund: £248.50. Donation: £200 (England). Translator Fund Donations: £100, £40.
Translation Additions: 1 Swahili.
PRC News: Heritage PRC (Sioux Falls, SD) called Candidate J. Langerak.
Alfred Edersheim: “It was thither that in the very height of these first persecutions, Jonathan came once more to see his friend, and, as the sacred text emphatically puts it, ‘strengthened his hand in God.’ It is difficult to form an adequate conception of the courage, the spiritual faith, and the moral grandeur of this act. Never did man more completely clear himself from all complicity in guilt, than Jonathan from that of his father. And yet not an undutiful word escaped the lips of this brave man. And how truly human is his fond hope that in days to come, when David would be king, he should stand next to his throne, his trusted adviser, as in the days of sorrow he had been the true and steadfast friend of the outlaw! As we think of what it must have cost Jonathan to speak thus, or again of the sad fate which was so soon to overtake him, there is a deep pathos about this brief interview, almost unequaled in Holy Scripture, to which the ambitious hopes of the sons of Zebedee form not a parallel but a contrast” (Old Testament Bible History, p. 492).
John Gill: “So he was [a brother], not only by nation and religion, but by affinity, having married the sister of Jonathan; and still more so by affection and friendship, he being a friend of David’s, that stuck closer to him than a brother, and who loved him as his own soul; he was distressed for him, not on account of his spiritual and eternal state, which he doubted not was happy, but for the manner of his death, his loss of him, and want of his pleasant conversation, of his counsel and advice, and assistance in his present circumstances” (Commentary on II Samuel 1).