The Ohio Independent Baptist, December 1967

• eaning by Rev. John Lineberry •' , .~c > I' l I I l f C > ·' ' () I I i. /J () r I I f I 1 i S d av i 11 1/1c <'itr of D£1, ·icl a .. avi<>11r. ,rl1ic/1 ' " ( "' l1ri, t tl1e Lore/" (L111'e 2: 11). \\ hat , glori u ly n1emorable night! Th hun1ble hepherd dili– gently' \'latched their flock of heep. uddenl , the angelic ho t appeared tint the111. The dazzli ng glory of the Lord lighted the dark hill ide a. hright noonday. What an amaz– ing wonder! d' glory - Hi di - pla)'ed e cellence - tran formed the darkne of night into light of day. In that gloriou moment of day– time brightnes . God angelic me - . enger poke the very be t word ever t fall upon human ear saying, ..For unto you i born thi day in the city 0f D avid a Saviour. which i Chri t the Lord" - (Luke 2 : 11 ) . In tho e wo rds are given God's heart of limitless love, granted grace, telling eloquentl y of God's mani– fested mercy, like a,n ocean of abun– dance , or like an inexhaustible Amazon of fullness. They are, iin– deed, words of Truth in Triumph, fulfilling God's sure promise to send a Savior who by His Almighty omni– potence would save us from in, re– deem us from ruin, and deliver us from death so that we might be re- tored and reconciled to God in the blessed joy of salvation. What the angelic messenger meant to say and did say was rthait all the needs of the wayward human heart have been supplied in the Lord J e us, in view of the fact that Christ came to take away our guilt by dy– ing for us in our s,tead upon the Cross of Calvary, enabling God to be tow upon us freely the blessing of eternal life on the basis of God's righteous throne satisfied through the hed blood of Jesus. Christ came to give life to those dead in sin, hope to the hopeless, mercy to t he miserable, blessing to the blighted. The angels had sounded out the truth that CbriSit is the al]– sufficient Saviour, saving ·to the ut– termost all that come to God by Him, · seeing that He ever lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). DECEMBER, 1967 PAGE 6 Rev . Joh n Lineberry Acting wisely and immediately up– on the good words whi ch had fallen upon their ears, the shepherds said , ' 'Let us go and see 1 the Saviour." Leaving flock and fie ld, the humble herd men hastened away ct:o Bethle– hem the house of bread, to behold Him who de-clared Himself to be the Bread of Life (John 6:35), assur– ing al l who eat of tihat Bread that they hall never hunger. It wa the shepherds' joyous de– light and thrilling erperience to see the dear Saviour with t heir own eyes and in child-like faith commit the eternal safety of ,their souls unto H·im who had come to seek and to ave the lost (Luke 19: 10). Christ gives real meaning to Christ– ma . The ange ls announced the Chri s,tmas message, s a y i n g that "Christ had come." The shepherds believed the Christmas message, re– ceiving Obri t into 1heir hearts. You, too, must act w·isely as the hepherds of old and let God do a mighty work in your heart, [emem– bering ithat God h as promised the gift of eternal life to all who receive Jesus as Saviour, ' But as many as received Him, to them gave H e power to become it.he sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John 1: 12). That, ito be sure, j s the real meaning of Chri t– mas! Two New Churches Recognized Cle ve land 1 he We t Bethel Baptist hL1rch. ( ~lcvclancJ. Ohio called for a recog- 11ition coL1nci l to meet in it s ht1i]ding on October 12, 1967. Twenty Bapti st 111inisters a nd laymen convened an(t orga ni zed them e lves into a cot1ncil wit h Pa tor Wilbur Rooke of the uclid-Nottingham Bapti l Ch1urch . elec ted chai rman and P ac; tor Lynn Rogers, of the Northfield Bapti <; t Chu rch , elected clerk. Upon exan1ination of the chltrch's ar ti cles of faith , covenan 1 t and con– stitution , the council unanimou ly mo-ved th at the West Bethel Baptist Church be recognized as a duly or– ganized and properly consti,tuted Bapti t church. The pastor of the We t Bethel Bapt i t Church, Rev. Roy Hende r hot, was commended for the thorough work that he h ad done in organizing this Bapti t church in the downtown di trict of the city of Cleveland. Westerville The fo llowing report was recent ly received from Rev. Robert D. An– thony . . . "After a period of read– ing and que tioning and receivjng uggestion P astor Martin Holmes, of Grace Baptist Church, Sunbury, Ohio moved that Qpace Baptist Church, Westerville, Ohio be recog– nized as a duly orgarnzed and proper– ly con ti 1 tuted Bap tist Church. Mr. Je e Jewel, Central Bapti t Church, Columbus, Ohio seconded the mo– tion. The motion was unanimou ly carried. " Rev. J ames Lee serves a pa tor of the Wester ville church. ministering worldwide through missionaries and pastors • Orphans • Medical cl inics • Hospitals • Disaster relief • Leprosy clinics • Widows' homes • Rehabil itation of wayward girls in Korea A ministry of compassio11. ___ .,... _______ W rite INTERNATIONAL .CHRISTIAN RELIEF 801 HADDON AVENUE COLLINGSWOOD, NEW JERSEY 08108 THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST