It meets once a month after morning worship.

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‘But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. And  they that understand among the people shall instruct many.’ Daniel 11:32–33

Suggested Further Reading:  Ezra 7:1–10

“Search the Scriptures. Do not merely read them—search them; look out the parallel passages; collate them; try to get the meaning of the Spirit upon any one truth by looking to all the texts which refer to it. Read the Bible  consecutively: do not merely read a verse here and there—that is not fair.  You would never know anything about John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress  if  you opened it every morning and read six lines in any part and then shut it up  again; you must read it all through if you want to know anything about it. Get  those books, say Mark or John; read Mark right through from beginning to  end; do not stop with two or three verses, or a chapter, but try to know what  Mark is aiming at. It is not fair to Paul to take his epistle to the Romans and  read one chapter: we are obliged to do it in public service; but if you want to  get at Paul’s meaning, read the whole epistle through as you would another  letter. Read the Bible in a commonsense way. Pray after you have read it as  much as you like. When you are reading it, if you come to a knotty point, do  not skip it. You all have some Christian friend who knows more than you do;  go to him and try to get the thing explained. Above all, when you have read  any passage, and do understand it, act it out, and ask the Spirit of God to  burn the meaning into your conscience till it is written on the fleshy tables of  your heart.”

For thought and action: Daily readings should supplement Bible study, not replace  it. Have you ever tried to read the Bible in a year? Try the reading schedule the Elders have chosen to help you. It may be hard work, especially the first time, but many have been so blessed that they have resolved to read the whole Bible every year.  But beware of it becoming an academic exercise. Note Ezra’s example—his  desire was to study God’s word, to do it and to teach it—in that order (Ezra 7: 10). His aim was not to practice what he preached, but to preach what he practiced!

Grace and Peace,
Elder Dale

‘Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.’ John 17:20–21
Suggested Further Reading: Ephesians 4:4–16

“If you would promote the unity of Christ’s church, look after his lost sheep, seek out wandering souls. If you ask what is to be your word, the answer is in the text—it is to be concerning Christ. They are to believe in him. Every soul that believes in Christ is built into the great gospel unity in its measure, and you will never see the church as a whole while there is one soul left unsaved for whom the Saviour shed his precious blood. Go out and teach his Word! Tell out the doctrines of grace as he has given you ability. Hold up Christ before the eyes of men, and you will be the means in God’s hand of bringing them to believe in him, and so the church shall be built up and made one.  Here is work for the beginning of the year; here is work till the end of the year. Do not sit down and scheme and plot and plan how this denomination may melt into the other; you leave that alone. Your business is to go and ‘tell to sinners round what a dear Saviour you have found’, for that is God’s way of using you to complete the unity of his Church. Unless these be saved, the Church is not perfect. That is a wonderful text, ‘That they without us should not be made perfect.’ That is to say, saints in heaven cannot be perfect unless we get there. What! the blessed saints in heaven not perfect except the rest of believers come there? So the Scripture tells us, for they would be a part of  the body and not a whole body; they cannot be perfect as a flock unless the rest of the sheep come there.”

For meditation: God’s instrument for furthering and completing true unity is spiritual—the ongoing addition of souls to his kingdom through the proclamation of Christ crucified. Man’s instrument for promoting organisational unity is political and carnal. Unity, just like the new birth, is ‘not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God’ (John 1:13).

Sermon no. 668, 7 January (1866), Metropolitan Tabernacle

Grace and Peace,
Elder Dale

“Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Grace and Peace,
Elder Dale

O the riches of the patience and forbearance of God! Romans 2:4(ESV) How patient he is toward us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9(ESV)
You have not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us according to our iniquities, Psalm 103:10(ESV) but you wait to be gracious to us. Isaiah 30:18(ESV)
Sentence against our evil deeds has not been executed speedily, Ecclesiastes 8:11(ESV) but you have given us time to repent and make our peace with you, Revelation 2:21(ESV) and call even faithless sons to return to you, and have promised to heal our faithlessness; and therefore, behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God. Jeremiah 3:22(ESV)
Surely the patience of our Lord is counted as salvation; 2 Peter 3:15(ESV) and if the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not now have shown us such things as these. Judges 13:23(ESV)
And O that this kindness of God might lead us to repentance! Romans 2:4(ESV) For though we have broken faith with our God, yet now there is hope for us in Israel in spite of this. Ezra 10:2(ESV)
You have said it and have confirmed it with an oath, that you have no pleasure in the death of sinners, but rather desire that we should turn and live. Ezekiel 33:11(ESV) Therefore will we rend our hearts, and not our garments, and return to the LORD our God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him? Joel 2:13-14(ESV)

Grace and Peace,
Elder Dale

“Everybody wants to be happy. That is the great motive behind every act and ambition, behind all work and all striving and effort. Everything is designed for happiness. But the great tragedy of the world is that, though it gives itself to seek for happiness, it never seems to be able to find it. The present state of the world reminds us of that very forcibly. What is the matter? I think the answer is that we have never understood this text as we should have done: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.” What does it mean? Let me put it negatively like this. We are not to hunger and thirst after blessedness; we are not to hunger and thirst after happiness. But that is what most people are doing. We put happiness and blessedness as the one thing that we desire, and thus we always miss it; it always eludes us. According to the Scriptures happiness is never something that should be sought directly; it is always something that results from seeking something else.”
-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Grace and Peace.
Elder Dale