Lord's Day June 1 2014

I am happy to say that I am now officially off the sick list. I am not preaching yet, however, as I had already arranged to have a sabbatical from yesterday. Yesterday was the Lord's Day, of course, and our preacher was Dr Robert Oliver the retired pastor of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire. We had an excellent say with him and I was only sorry there were not more of us to hear him with at least four families away and others absent. As it was Ascension Day recently he chose to preach on the ascension in the morning and on repentance (Acts 11:18) in the evening. I particularly appreciated Dr Oliver's prayers. We began the day with communion led by one of our deacons, as it is a new month. It is always a privilege to be with God's people.

Ascension Day

Today is what some people call Ascension Day. If you want to read about the subject, you could do a lot worse than to turn here to T V Moore's Last Days of Jesus. See page 255 forwards where he covers

Why the Ascension is so little alluded to in scripture.

I. The fact of the Ascension. (1) The time. (2) The place. (3) The attendant circumstances.

II. The reason for the Ascension. (1) The Priesthood of Christ. (2) The entrance into glory after suffering. (3) To display his Divine nature. (4) Connection with the descent of the Holy Ghost. (5) His intercession. (6) Preparing a place for us. (7) Our forerunner and example - His Ascension the picture and pledge of ours. (8) Sitting at the right hand of God - The Pilgrim.