Uncategorized – Page 2 – Knightswood Free Church of Scotland (continuing)

Communion Season Closes

On Thursday 14th September, 2017, the congregation of Knightswood began its communion season. The Reverend Iain H. Murray preached from Romans 8. We will shortly share the audio of the sermon, provided there are no technical issues.

Reverend Murray is perhaps best known to the youngest generation of Christians for having written a biography of Baptist Pastor John MacArthur, and to older generations as the one who brought to light the diary of Reverend Kenneth MacRae. He has written many books and served as editor of the Banner of Truth magazine. He is a former minister of the Free Church of Scotland.

At the time of the division of the Free Church in 2000, Mr Murray authored along with Murdoch Murchison the book “When Justice Failed in Church and State” which available for free on the denominational website.

On Friday 15th through to the Lord’s Day (Sunday) 17th September the preacher was the Reverend David Fraser, formerly of Shettleston Free Church in the east end of the city. Although recently retired, Mr Fraser keeps up a busy preaching schedule and remains a pastor and preacher to many. We would similarly hope to provide links to the sermons when they are available.

Many guests from neighbouring congregations attended in support of our services and a fellowship on Sabbath evening saw Reverend Fraser speak of God’s gracious dealings with him in his own life, having ministered both word and sacrament, the word of testimony.

The Covenant of Grace

As part of our studies in the Larger Catechism we have addressed the covenant of grace under the Old and New Testaments.

Have you considered before how different the Worship of the Old Testament was compared to that which we are used to? Three times a year, adults had to go to Jerusalem. Foods were termed clean or unclean. Death in the family or disease placed a complicated burden on families. But, was salvation any different? Was salvation achieved by keeping of rules and regulations? No! Or as the Minister puts it “[that is] totally wrong…by works nobody can be saves”.

You can find the administration of the Covenant of Grace in the Old Testament in this sermon and compare it to how that Covenant is administered today in the New Testament.

Prayer

Recently people have been in touch through this blog regarding the state of the Church of Scotland, but we are thankful that the Church of Scotland is not the entire Church in Scotland. There are still faithful witnesses being raised up in other denominations. In his last Editorial in the ‘The Witness’ magazine, the Minister of the Congregation stressed that even the conservative and orthodox denominations are deserving of God’s judgement. We wish to look at ourselves and to encourage prayer to God for his mercy towards us for Christ’s sake.

However, many recognise the power of prayer and have advised of a certain routine that guarantees an answer to prayer. It is first of all important to establish what prayer is, the Westminster Shorter Catechism (citing Scripture Proofs: Psalm 10:17; Psalm 32:5-6; Psalm 62:8; Psalm 103:1-5; Psalm 136; Daniel 9:4-19; Matthew 7:7-8; John 16:23-24; Philippians 4:6; 1 John 1:9 and 1 John 5:14) gives the following answer to the question “What is prayer?”: “Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will in the name of Christ with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies.”

The best example of a prayer life is that of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and this subject was addressed recently in this sermon, and as a church we are in great need of prayer – it is the greatest need of the church. We need to remember there are reasons that prayers are not answered and we can look to examples of prayers being answered in Scripture.

Nine years ago, the Minister addressed the subject of “Prayer” in a 66 minute talk. It considered that the Christian’s life begins with prayer and that prayer is a feature of Christian life. This can be downloaded or listened to on sermonaudio. One of the best helps in prayer, the talk points out, is to read the Psalms and pray the Psalms. Or to vocalise even our private prayers.

Once we understand what prayer is we can look to the Bible to guide us in the content of our prayers. We can look to other helps and resources. The Catechism offers development on each petition of the Lord’s Prayer. Too often today prayer lists being read out are the substitute for prayers. Study the Bible’s prayers and look to the helps of prayer produced by former generations.

In terms of encouragement to pray, one of the Elders of the Knightswood Free Church (Continuing), Reverend John J Murray, wrote an article encouraging us to pray for revival. It is perhaps a needful read for all who have a concern for the decline of Christian religion in Scotland.

Congregational Changes

On the 30th April 2017, Reverend James Haram was inducted to the office of Elder in the Knightswood Congregation and joined the Kirk Session. Mr Alastair Manderson was ordained and inducted to the office of Elder in the Congregation and joined the Kirk Session. A sermon was preached by the pastor and can be found on sermonaudio here.

The Minister of the Congregation is no longer the editor of the Denominational magazine “The Free Church Witness” but backdated copies since 2006 of the magazine during his time as editor are available here. To start from the oldest copies and work your way into modernity, you may wish to begin here.

It is hoped that the Minister Reverend William Macleod will take up a role teaching Systematic Theology at the Free Church Seminary, in addition to the present workload as Minister of Knightswood Congregation of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing).

The Lord’s Day

Recently a comment on the page sought an answer from the Ministry of Knightswood Free Church (Continuing), the question concerned the observance of the Lord’s Day as the Christian Sabbath as taught in Holy Scripture. It is assumed that the question was asked out of a genuine and humble desire to learn, rather than a guest taking advantage of this page to propagate a cause they hold to themselves, and as such it is important to give a thorough response.

Thankfully there are plenty of resources which are available on this subject some of which have been compiled together and can be read online thanks to the work of Mr Travis Fentiman of Reformed Books Online. You can access those resources here.

We have not posted the comment as we do not wish others to engage in argument, the church of Christ is here to engage with lost sinners about the Gospel of saving grace, not to engage in theological amusements. The question however came as follows “Please could you tell me when and where the Sabbath was changed from the seventh day (i.e. from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) to Sunday (the first day) in the Bible. Thank you.”

The answer to when: the day of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The answer to where is difficult to pin down – we would briefly answer “over the whole creation”, but perhaps by “where” is not meant a geographical location but a Scripture proof. We will assume the latter.

Our own Minister has addressed this subject when speaking on Question 59 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, addressing the texts he says “In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve kept the seventh day as the Sabbath.” True enough. And the patriarchs and the manna and the law at Sinai all agree in this. But then see the New Testament, when the Women who love Christ, go to him on the First Day of the Week. Soon the Church will gather on the first day of the week, and offerings will be collected. Mention is made of the Lord’s Day when special things happen.

Elsewhere in a recent lecture, the Reverend William Macleod said this:

Change of day

From the creation till the death of Christ the Sabbath was the last day of the week. It was changed with the resurrection. The great work of creation was celebrated by the Old Testament Sabbath, but now a far greater work has been accomplished. Jesus work of redemption was much greater and more costly than the work of creation. It was completed on the first day of the week and to celebrate that the early church kept the Christian Sabbath on Sunday. They met for worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). You would expect that they would make their collections at the end of the week, when everyone got their wages, but Paul says specifically, ‘Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come’ (1Cor.16:1-2). John tells us that he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (Rev.1:10). The day of Jesus’ resurrection was ever after called ‘the Lord’s day’ and to John it was a blessed day. The principle of one day in seven still holds but the day celebrated has changed. We worship Christ as our Creator, ‘All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made’ (John 1:3), but even more do we worship Him as our Redeemer ‘who love me and gave himself for me’ (Gal.2:20).

We trust that this information will be of help to all who are interested.

Services on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) which is the Christian Sabbath are held at Knightswood Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) at 11am and 6.30pm. The Church is located at 361 Fulton Street, Knightswood, G13 2SR. All are welcome.

Upcoming Communion Season

On Thursday evening 16th March 2017 at 7.30pm, the congregation will begin the preparatory services for the Lord’s Supper. The expected preacher on Thursday is Reverend Andrew Allan, on Friday (7.30pm), Saturday (7.30pm) and on the Sabbath (11am & 6.30pm) the expected preacher is Reverend James Clark.

Visitors are warmly invited to worship the Lord Jesus Christ and to learn of his Gospel as the congregation meets for the solemn purpose of hearing the Word of God preached and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper administered. All will be made very welcome, and those who are the Lord’s People can speak to the Elders prior to the Lord’s Day morning in order to obtain a Communion token.

The services will be broadcast live, God willing, on the Bible Sermons website and people unable to attend at 361 Fulton Street can find their way with less petrol to the online stream. Please note however, that it is an audio only broadcast.