Fellowship Community Church

Encourage0gram

November 18, 2020

Dear Friends,

Today IS my father’s 99th birthday!  Happy birthday Dad.  All birthdays in heaven must be AMAZING!  When we make deposits of loved ones into heaven, we are confident that they are not lost.  We are suffering a loss but soon we will be together again FOREVER with the Lord! 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.  This comfort is real.  It is the very best consolation because it is true! 

As I sat reading the Word today in John 12 and Job 15-17, I remembered a song which was written in 1875 at a dinner table. Fanny Crosby was visiting her very good friend William Doane in Cincinnati, Ohio. After dinner they were discussing the blessings they experienced because God remains near!  Spontaneously, Fanny began to recite the words of this hymn!  It was a message of hope from God. Mr. Doane later put her poem to music. The song is entitled: “I am Thine O Lord.”

1.    I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
 And it told Thy love to me;
 But I long to rise in the arms of faith
 And be closer drawn to Thee.

o   Refrain:
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.

2.    Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,
 By the pow’r of grace divine;
 Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
 And my will be lost in Thine.

3.    Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
 That before Thy throne I spend,
 When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
 I commune as friend with friend!

4.    There are depths of love that I cannot know
 Till I cross the narrow sea;
 There are heights of joy that I may not reach
 Till I rest in peace with Thee. 

In this pandemic season when our fellowship together has been interrupted remember God is always near!  When we draw near to Him, He always draws near to us!  James 4:8. Therefore, we are never all alone!  What a comfort this is to us! Soon we will be celebrating the birth of our Immanuel which means God With Us! Isaiah 7:14.

Until tomorrow – keep drawing near to Jesus,

Pastor Rick