Dear BLCF Friends,
Effective April 10, 2022, Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church will reopen by reservation only for Sunday worship under the limitations and guidelines set by Public Health and the Board of BLCF. In order to protect those who are vulnerable at Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship from COVID-19 Virus infection, the BLCF Board mandates that the church will be open by reservation, with the following rules:
- attendees must wear a mask while on the premises
- attendees give their contact information upon arrival
- attendees observe two meters social distance while seated
- attendees use hand sanitizer as needed
- attendees follow any additional directions given by members of the board, while inside the church
Please be advised that both the BLCF Café Community Dinner and the BLCF Wednesday Prayer Service will continue to remain closed effective March 16, 2020, and until further notice. We pray with the administration of sufficient COVID-19 vaccinations, and following the determination of Health Canada and other Health Authorities, that the danger of the Pandemic will have subsided sufficiently, to allow BLCF to reopen safely more of our worship and outreach activities without any concern of infection to the vulnerable within our community.
– Pastor Steve
Bloor Lansdowne Christian Fellowship – BLCF Church Message for Sunday:
‘Divine Miracles that Satisfy: A Wedding, a Widow, and a Multitude’
© May 8, 2022, by Steve Mickelson
Based on a Message shared at BLCF on May 9, 2021, and on May 10, 2015
Music Special - Church (Take Me Back) Cochren & Co. Worship Video with lyrics - https://youtu.be/ns8lIG6cLc8
Announcements & Call to Worship; Prayer
Tithing and Prayer Requests: Hymn #572: Praise God; Prayers
Today’s Scriptures: John 2:1-12, 2 Kings 4:1-7, Matthew 14:13-21
Music Special - O' Lord w/ Lyrics (Lauren Daigle) - https://youtu.be/K42bvpgimTg
https://youtu.be/K42bvpgimTg
Music Special - Shout to the Lord (Hillsong Worship) Lyrics Video - https://youtu.be/-uMiCFfva3M
https://youtu.be/-uMiCFfva3M
Let us pray...
Good morning and welcome to BLCF Church’s Praise and Worship Service on this Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8, 2022. I pray the Lord will bring a special blessing to all the moms on this day where we appreciate motherhood.
For our lesson this morning, I would like to examine how the Lord supplies for the needs of those who serve Him faithfully. Today’s lesson, ‘Divine Miracles that Satisfy: A Wedding, a Widow, and a Multitude,’ we shall begin with the reading of three accounts in the Bible, where the Lord responded to the needs of His faithful servants, each by way of a Divine miracle.
The first Scripture, John 2:1-12, describes the miracle at the wedding at Cana:
John 2:1-12 (ESV): The Wedding at Cana
2 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.[a] 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers[b] and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
Footnotes: a. John 2:6 Greek two or three measures (metrētas); a metrētēs was about 10 gallons or 35 liters b. John 2:12 Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters
In the above passage, Jesus was asked by his mother, Mary, to help provide more wine for the wedding. The wine had run out and, though Jesus told his mother that his hour had not yet come, her son obeyed his mother’s wishes by changing six stone jars of water into wine.
This was the first of the miracles Jesus that was to perform as a sign to the disciples of his manifested glory.
The second Scripture, 2 Kings 4:1-7, tells of how the death of one of the sons of the prophets had created a situation where a creditor has come to make the widow’s two children his slaves, as payment for the dead man’s debts. The widow asks the prophet, Elisha, to help save her sons:
2 Kings 4:1-7 (ESV): Elisha and the Widow's Oil
4 Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” 2 And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” 3 Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. 4 Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” 5 So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”
In our second Scripture, Elisha asks the widow, what does she have of value in the house? Her reply is a single jar of oil. The widow was instructed to acquire as many empty vessels as possible, from her neighbors, next to close the doors, and then fill the empty vessels from her single vessel of oil. When all of the empty vessels were filled, the oil stopped flowing. Elisha instructed the widow to sell the oil from the vessels in order to pay off her debts, and that she and her sons could live off the rest.
The third Scripture account, from Matthew 14:13-21, describes how Jesus multiplies five loaves of bread and six fish to feed some five thousand men, plus their women and children:
Matthew 14:13-21 (ESV)
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
In these three miracle accounts, we see that the Lord provided an abundance of wine, oil, and food to take care of his faithful servants. Not only do these miracles demonstrate the ‘Glory of God’, but they also provide food from the earth to feed the hungry, wine to gladden the believers’ hearts, and oil to anoint the widow and her sons.
These first two accounts show how the Lord takes care of the needs of the faithful by providing wine for a wedding in one case and oil for an indebted widow in the other. All three miracles required actions of faith on the part of those seeking help from God.
It is appropriate that on Mother’s Day, we see that the first two miracles are in response to requests from the Lord's faithful servants, who are mothers seeking the Lord’s help for the needs of others. It is just like a mother, who is faithful to the Lord, putting the needs of others ahead of her own! And the third had sought guidance from a prophet of the Lord to meet her family's needs.
In the three Scripture accounts that we studied, we have miracles of the Lord providing an abundance of wine, oil, and food, all staples, and necessities of life. These miracles demonstrate how God provides for the needs of His own, which the Psalmist acknowledges in, Psalm 104:13-16 (ESV):
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth
15and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man's heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
Our righteousness, as demonstrated by our obedience to God, gives us His reward of wine, oil,, and food to gladden our hearts. In the same manner, when we honor and obey our parents, we provide joy to our parents. For when we honor our parents, we honor His commandment, Proverbs 23:22-25 (ESV):
22 Listen to your father who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 Buy truth, and do not sell it;
buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
25 Let your father and mother be glad;
let her who bore you rejoice.
When we are not obedient to the Lord, by not serving God and following His commandments; worshipping other gods, we face His wrath and judgment, Deuteronomy 11:13-17 (ESV):
13 “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 he[a] will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. 15 And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. 16 Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; 17 then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.
Footnotes: a. Deuteronomy 11:14 Samaritan, Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew I; also verse 15
And just as a servant of the Lord may look to Him to provide for the physical needs, Jesus promises to provide for our spiritual needs, John 6:35 (ESV):
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
The Divine Miracles shared in today's lesson are wine, oil, and bread, all multiplied by the power of the Lord. The three are not just staples of our physical life, providing for the physical needs, when blessed, they are also used as elements of spiritual worship; wine and bread when we remember the Lord as elements of communion and oil to anoint those who seek His healing.
Just as the ordinary elements of these staples of life are transformed into elements of spiritual worship, when blessed through faith, by faith, ordinary people are elevated to a place of sanctification when they accept, by faith, the gifts of the bread of life and living water, given by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus.
The provision of the Devine, both physically and spiritually, is faith’s reward, which gladdens our hearts and glorifies His name. Let us praise His name and share the Gospel of the Lord Jesus unto the ends of the earth and until the end of our days.
Let us pray...
Music Special - In Jesus' Name (God of Possible) - Katy Nichole - Lyric Video - https://youtu.be/R84PqRdZ7_Y
https://youtu.be/R84PqRdZ7_Y
Benediction – (Philippians 4:19-20): And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen
