As I’m sure you are all aware, due to lockdown restrictions our church building has been closed and we haven’t been able to meet together in person. However as restrictions have eased we were able to hold a mid week Covid-safe service and it was enjoyed by those who attended. Particularly for those who haven’t been able to attend the Zoom service or access online material. Here are the notes from the service.
Broughty Ferry Baptist Church 11am service PBC 9 September 2020
Welcome: It is so good to see you back in our church building, the first time since Sunday March 15th2020.
Opening Scripture verses:The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.2He makes me lie down in green pastures,He leads me beside quiet waters,3He refreshes my soul.He guides me along the right pathsfor His name’s sake. (Psalm 23:1-3)
Opening praise: The Lord’s my Shepherd Please listen to these words on screen
The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want; He makes me down to lie In pastures green; He leadeth me The quiet waters by.
My soul He doth restore again, And me to walk doth make Within the paths of righteousness, E’en for His own name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale, Yet will I fear no ill: For Thou art with me, and Thy rod And staff me comfort still.
My table Thou hast furnished In presence of my foes; My head Thou dost with oil anoint And my cup overflows.
Goodness and mercy all my life Shall surely follow me; And in God’s house for evermore My dwelling-place shall be.
Opening prayer:Lord it is a real joy to be back here in this church today with some of our brothers and sisters in Christ in this congregation. We thank You for all Your amazing grace to us during these difficult and very challenging months we have already faced. As we recall our Bible verse for the year, it reminds us that nothing takes You by surprise, even if it certainly did so with us. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.Father these words so encourage us as we continue in uncertain times, but You have provided for us in this time of need in these past months and will do so again as we go forward. We ask for Your blessing on our time of worship as we gather in Jesus’s name, Amen.
Scripture reading: Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, 3 He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lordfor ever.
Intercessory prayer using Psalm 23:
Heavenly Father, we live in a very troubled world with violence and killing of our fellow Christians in a growing number of particularly Muslim-majority countries. We continue to be conscious of many needs in our own land too and pray for wisdom for our governments in Edinburgh and London as they grapple with the ever more complex demands of both restraining the spread of the virus as well as allowing the economy to get going again and ensure that many people’s livelihoods can be spared. We pray for the necessary assistance to be provided for the several hundred thousand who have already lost jobs, but thank God that the emergency measures that included the furlough scheme has saved many more businesses from closing. As we pray for others we also come to pray for ourselves using the 23rd Psalm to assist us. I will pray briefly on a point and then pause in silence for you to add your own silent prayers:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing… Thank you Lord that despite all the challenges we have faced for Your provision for my needs. In particular, Lord, I want to thank you for… [private prayer]
He makes me lie down in green pastures,He leads me beside quiet waters,He refreshes my soul… Lord, we have had our legitimate concerns about many things, but we thank you for the wonderful assurance of Your presence with us. For Your peace that passes understanding that guards our hearts and minds. In particular Lord, I want to praise You for Your assurance to me when I was struggling with …. In recent weeks or months [private prayer]
He guides me along the right pathsfor His name’s sake…. Thank you Lord for your guidance in these past months in the choices I have made. However, Lord I want to ask for further guidance for things I am facing just now or coming up in the near future [private prayer]
Even though I walkthrough the darkest valley,I will fear no evil,for You are with me;Your rod and Your staff,they comfort me.Lord during this lockdown we honestly admit that we have struggled with being unable to visit friends or family who were unwell or in hospital; we may even have shed tears because we were unable to visit friends or family members in the last weeks or months of their lives and may even have had to miss their funerals too. Lord, I bring before You the people and circumstances that have come to my mind… [private prayer]
You prepare a table before mein the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.Lord thank You that even in the times when there were some food shortages in the supermarkets at the beginning of the pandemic that I always had enough food to eat, and enough of other essential goods. You are Jehovah Jireh, the one who provides for us. Lord, we bring before You today our own needs, together with other people’s needs known to us; for those struggling with lower or no incomes; for those searching for employment; for young people going off to university at this time, and any other needs on our hearts that we want to pray about today. [private prayer]
Surely Your goodness and love will follow meall the days of my life,and I will dwell in the house of the Lordfor ever.Lord we honestly don’t know how long our days will be in this life. We remember the families of Ian Rodgers and Bill Marshall, John Goodfellow and John Nyguist and Jim Ford who have entered Your presence since last we met here in this place. Lord we pray for them together with ….[private prayers]
Thank you Lord that You will hear and answer our prayers, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.
Message from Psalm 23:1-2 ‘Contented sheep of the good shepherd’
Closing song: ‘Crown Him with many crowns’ Please listen to these words on screen
Closing prayer: Thank you Lord for our blessings. We never thought we would be so grateful to be back in the church premises for today’s service. Thank You that You go before us each step of the way in our lives to guide and direct our pathways. We entrust to You what is in store for us in the coming days, for Jesus’s sake, Amen.
Benediction: The Grace
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore, Amen
Our next service is planned for the same time on Wednesday 23rd September at 11am.
– You may want to use some of these resources for daily worship during this week
– The Messy Church At Home information is now available on our church website www.broughtybaptist.org
– JAM Kids’ focus: The Virtual Sunday School. Today’s session is a focus on the story of David and Goliath.
– JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:15am on Sunday on the Zoom platform –parents of teenagers can get a link code by contacting Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com
– Sunday Evening Prayer Livestream 7.00pm. We will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm on Sunday 6 September 2020. This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Please join in and, if you don’t already do so, would you let your fellowship know about this and put it on your social media. The link to access the event is https://www.facebook.com/scottishbaptist/live/
Call to worship: Psalm 98
Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvellous things; His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him. 2 The Lord has made His salvation known and revealed His righteousness to the nations. 3 He has remembered His love and His faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5 make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the Lord, for He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.
We are grateful to Kevin Clark for selecting the songs for worship for this service
Our opening song of praise and worship is: ‘To God be the glory’
Opening prayer:
Our loving heavenly father we come into Your holy presence today with hearts full of thankfulness to You for all the blessings and encouragements we have received over this past week. For some of us we thank You for answers to prayer and things going well. For others we come grateful for the needed grace to keep going in the midst of very hard times. Thank You that despite the difficulties we are going through we have been enabled to persevere through to this the start of another new week.
We come before You today confessing our sins and asking afresh for Your forgiveness for them. Once more we ask for the fresh empowering of Your Holy Spirit as we prepare for another week at school, work or our other regular routines. Help us to honour You as we gather for worship and come to read, listen to and respond to the proclamation of the message from the Bible, for Jesus’ sake we pray Amen.
Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'” For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever Amen.
All Age Talk – Moraig Piggot
So this morning we are think about how life has big decisions, but one outweighs all the rest. If we don’t prioritize it above all else, nothing else matters. I wonder from this list which one would you order from most important to least important:
Do homework Spend time with friends Attend sports practice Go to youth group Call friends Sleep a lot Read Bible Go to class Talk with family Eat a lot Become a Christian Shop Watch TV Do chores Pray Go to church Help a friend in trouble
Its difficult isn’t it because a lot of these would be really important to us. Well in the bible there is a story about two ladies would argue about what was important in life. Lets watch it:
In this story we are reminded as Jesus said that only one thing matters and that is God. Our relationship with God should be our priority over everything else. If our love for God is the central piece of our lives, then everything else will sort itself out.
Now it can be tricky because we have got to decide what, or who, will be number one in our life. Many of us want Jesus plus something else. We’re afraid that we may, somehow, be restricted. When we come to know Jesus and count Him as Lord, we give up everything. The funny thing is, when we do that, we realize we’ve never had it so good. He takes what we’ve given to Him and He reforms it, reshapes it, adds new meaning to it, and gives it back to us in a new way.
So this week let’s have a think about what maybe is out of priority in our lives? It’s time to rearrange our priorities – and recapture our joy.
We continue in worship as we sing: ‘Jesus strong and kind’
Prayers for others
Dear Lord,
We pray for countries such as Thailand, Pakistan and Bangladesh that are having to deal with the effects of the monsoon season and problems with flooding as well as the Covid-19 pandemic. Pray for wisdom for those in government in these monsoon-affected countries.
We pray for the people affected by the hurricane in Louisiana and Texas in America, and especially for the families of the many Christians slaughtered by Islamist militias in Nigeria and the families of the more than 500 Christians targeted for killing by Islamic extremists in Ethiopia in recent weeks.
We remember the other countries in the world where there are much higher numbers of cases of covid-19 virus than our own country and pray that their governments will soon be able to get this problem under control. We give thanks for those at the cutting edge of science working flat out to find treatments and a vaccine. We pray that God would send wisdom, direction and scientific breakthroughs
We remember in our own country the people affected by the recent virus outbreaks. We thank You that the testing and tracing regime appears to be working more effectively across the UK. We pray for wisdom for the management teams at the schools and workplaces in our city and region that have experienced positive test results that they will be able to adjust effectively to safeguard the health and wellbeing of those under their care.
We pray too for young people from our own church and others around the country who are heading off to university for the first time. We pray that they will settle in to university life quickly despite the challenges of the current pandemic.
In our Baptist Union of Scotland we also remember to pray for:
Scottish Baptist Lay Preachers’ Association – We give thanks for the ministry of the SBLPA, particularly during this time as preaching and pulpit supply will have been provided via video/online. We pray for the SBPLA as they continue to support our churches, as well as other denominations, in their preaching ministry and development of younger leaders.
We also pray for the Lead Academy learning communities during this challenging time. We pray that these church leadership teams may soon be able to meet online or eventually in person so that they can continue developing their vision and learning together.
Lerwick BC – We give thanks for the ministry of Lerwick Baptist Church in Shetland. We pray that the congregation know God’s presence with them in the months ahead in their work and witness in their community.
Leslie BC – We give thanks for the first year with their new pastor. They are in the process of expanding their building that will be completed early in 2021. We pray for its successful completion and the opportunity for them to draw closer to God, one another and their community during this process.
Leven BC – They thank God for His presence and people’s adaptability during this lockdown period. In this emerging season, they would appreciate prayer for God’s wisdom for developing new things, for those from teenage years to their 40s.
We now pray for other people with particular needs that are connected to our own congregation: In particular, Lord we remember Peter P continuing his rehabilitation in Royal Victoria hospital after surgery at Ninewells and his wife Jean coping with her own health challenges at home.
We pray for a number of families seeking to help some of their older members make the best plans for their future care needs. We pray for Elizabeth F and her sister to recover full health and strength after a recent car accident. We pray for Rachel, John and Ann S’s niece as she recovers from brain surgery. We also pray for Alan McR as he leads the third week of the new introductory course in the Christian Faith that starts on Tuesday evening on the zoom platform.
We also remember … In addition, we bring our own needs to You at this time …, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.
Bible readings Psalm 42:1-5 and Luke 10:38-42
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’
4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. 5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God. (Psalm 42:1-5)
As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said.
40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ 41 ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’ (Luke 10:38-42)
Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing: ‘I want to walk with Jesus Christ’
The Message
Matthew 5:6 Getting our priorities right
Introduction
The Sermon on the Mount, the teaching contained in Matthew chapters five to seven, was directly address to people who claimed to have put their faith and trust in Jesus. In other words they are people who have already begun to follow Jesus. The beatitudes are deeply challenging as they act like a mirror for our hearts and affections, to reflect on our priorities and desires, none more so than in this particular verse.
Jesus declared: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled (Matthew 5:6). This is the most intensely active of these sayings and provides an opportunity to look within our own lives and see how we are progressing in the way Jesus wants us to live. Jesus has already raised a challenge to us in earlier beatitudes about our views of ourselves and in certain respects our attitudes, but in the earlier ones there is a more passive element of seeing what God is doing in our lives in changing us to be more like Jesus, whereas here He turns from what we are like within –albeit with a lot of room for further progress!
To what we do; a person in whose life God is at work will have an awareness of their own sinfulness, in fact the more holy we become the more acutely we will be aware of it. We know that in ordinary life. Looking at some windows in your house at night, looking at the same window on a cloudy day in daylight and then looking at the same windows in direct sunlight will be a very different experience. Only in the latter scenario do we really see how clean they are! The intensity of the sun’s rays brings to light the remaining dirt on the window that we may have missed when cleaning them, maybe only minutes earlier!
1. The context of natural hunger
In our world today there are people who die of hunger and thirst. Several hundred million day- labourers in significant parts of the two-thirds world are living a very precarious existence at the moment with a loss of employment and its income.
If we think it is not a problem here at all remember around 250 of the staff in the factory with the virus outbreak in Coupar Angus were on zero-hours contracts. No work meant no income. What does two week’s self-isolation mean in that context to those workers from other countries with no money to buy food? This is a real example close to home. There was a solution of course available in our city, but it appears not all of these individuals were aware of it.
Others suffer because of economic mismanagement or through living in war zones and others affected by climate change. What is so appalling about this problem is that there is no need for anyone to go hungry or to go without access to adequate amounts of clean water, as humanity in the twenty-first century has the means to address this issue very quickly – if there is the will to do so. It has been distressing in recent weeks to have messages and phone calls from people overseas who have no food. Some who were not looking for help only wanted someone to listen to their difficulties, but others were begging for help that I was not in a position to provide.
However, until roughly the last hundred years this was not so. In the world of two thousand years ago the majority of people could not be certain of adequate supplies of food and water. Many people were day-labourers, who hoped to get work each day, but were not guaranteed it. No work might mean no food for your family for the next day.
A farmer whose crop failed might fear weeks of inadequate supplies; a fisherman who caught nothing with his small net on the Sea of Galilee would likewise know the pangs of hunger. Various scholars have estimated that the typical family of that time would have only had access to meat once a week due both to its scarcity and its cost. Only the rich could afford something approaching a balanced diet. In the first half of the nineteenth century in Scotland the growing population in the north-west highlands and island, in some communities, was living almost exclusively on potatoes or kelp (seaweed); when a serious disease destroyed much of the potato crops in some years starvation was a real issue there, albeit not on the scale of the potato famine in Ireland.
Food scarcity was a major factor that led many people to emigrate to other countries; especially North America; Our world, and especially the provision of food in western supermarkets would have been unimaginable to the people listening to Jesus that day. For almost all of them genuine hunger and thirst would have been part of life they took for granted. We must hear these words of Jesus in such a context if we are to grasp the intensity of his message to us. In effect Jesus was saying: ‘Blessed are those who desire righteousness in the way a starving person longs for food and a thirsty person wilting under the Middle-Eastern sun desires cool refreshing water.’
2. The importance of spiritual hunger
(a)The Old Testament backgroundJesus was speaking in a way that echoed various Old Testament passages. Listen to some of them. For example, Psalm 42:1-2: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? Or Psalm 63:1: You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
Do we not feel a little embarrassed that the Psalmist’s language is a bit over the top here! Surely God doesn’t expect me to be that intense about my relationship with Him – does He? There is a parallel to human relationships. Imagine you have fallen in love with someone and they are asking you to call them or visit them and you are thinking or may even say: ‘Do I have to this week?’ I suspect there might be a bit of a reaction!
Now in a long-term friendship or a marriage that has stood the test of time the depth of commitment may be less visible to other people because it is less outwardly demonstrative – as other ways may demonstrate that practical love and commitment, but it is genuine and alive! However, may God the Holy Spirit give each of us an intensity of desire to live for Him and to fellowship with Him. Sometimes, though, God’s people had to be recalled to their first love for God and what really mattered in life. They had been so busy with lesser things that they had forgotten what was most important.
(b) The New Testament challenge The challenge Jesus was giving His disciples was very simple. Do you desire righteousness with the intensity of desire with which a starving person seeks food or a thirsty person water?
I know looking into my own heart that the answer I have to give is not that often at that level. I have had such times; and recalled a couple of times in preparing this message in my undergraduate years when I took time out to wrestle with some major spiritual and doctrinal issues that have been formative in my spiritual journey in the decades that followed. I thank God that I have fairly consistently had a desire for righteousness, but too often it falls short of the standard Jesus commends to us here.
Maintaining the intensity of spiritual desire here is like maintaining physical fitness in the gym or some other similar facility. It is a daily discipline that is with us each week, month and year of our lives. We can never reach a position of total comfort and be serious about what we are doing.Yet do I have that hunger for spiritual food, for meeting with God in my daily devotions or with His people collectively in worship services? I was born a month premature, but also the birth process did not go to plan and I was almost got out too late! What is more I was so weak and exhausted I wanted only to sleep; in that situation I had no desire for the milk I needed to stay alive no matter how hard my mother tried to persuade me to do so. My greatest need in that context was my mother’s milk but in my fragile state it was not top of my priority list! As a premature baby I had a reasonable explanation for my choice of actions!
However, in spiritual terms there are Christians at various stages of the Christian life who have either never truly possessed or who have lost their hunger for spiritual food. To ask ourselves today how much does it really matter whether I have my time with God in daily prayer and reading and reflecting on His Word? It doesn’t have to be a long time ‘quality time over quantity time – any time’! Do I safeguard those few moments each day because I treasure my time with the Lord? I suspect all of us will confess as Christians that there are days when we need to challenge ourselves on this matter? How seriously do I safeguard time in God’s house on His day as a priority to start the week with Him – only missing when I genuinely cannot avoid it?
The question to ask ourselves might be this: ‘Lord on what area of my life do I need to work most to gain a greater hunger for righteousness, for spending time with you?’ Or maybe you have been on the Christian pathway for some time and you need to confess that you have lost your passion for righteousness and need to rekindle that affection and earnest desire for the Lord’s presence.
(c) The New Testament calling (i) PrioritiesIn Luke 10:38-42 we have a familiar story to many of us: As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ 41 ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’
Now we must not misrepresent the passage to portray Jesus’ message here as saying there are two types of Christians here; some who ‘do’ things for Jesus and others who ‘spent time with Jesus’ as if there were two exclusive categories here. The work in each area of Christian service needs to happen from evangelism to property maintenance; from personal discipleship to stewarding rotas and a whole lot more! The question is about our motivation of heart why we are doing what we are doing.
It has to be Jesus at the centre –looking to Him, growing in Him and serving Him. We must regularly remind ourselves what it is all about as well as each other so that when choices have to be made we don’t lose our focus. In the busyness of life we cannot be too busy to spend time with Him. Yet Christians can do that –all of us. In the busyness of Christian ministry the focus on ‘doing’ God’s work can dominate to such an extent that time alone with the Lord can be squeezed out.
If we do not invest in our own spiritual lives we will dry up as Christians and our dedication to duty will eventually become lifeless and spiritually arid. Living for Jesus at its essence is quite simple of putting God first and thinking of others as well as ourselves; however, it only happens in practice when we consciously set out our priorities and stick with them. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus gave this challenge: But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Am I doing that today? Are you doing that today?
(ii) Discipline Paul’s words about our contribution to growing as a Christian in Philippians 2:12-13 will always be a challenge. Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good purpose. In I Timothy 6:11-12 he wrote: But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight [agwnizou lit. agonise!] the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
This is strong active language of intentional, dedicated, spiritual discipline. It will often not be easy to live our lives as the Lord would have us do. Like a serious sports-person we have to have self-discipline over our choices in life – if our lives are to accomplish what God intends us to do. There are a small number of Christians over the centuries who have accomplished amazing things for God. Ordinary people whose lives are wholly dedicated to Him will always achieve more than a high gifted individual who fails to give God the place He deserves in their lives. What do you aspire to accomplish for God before you leave this life?
3. A Spiritual health check
There are times when we need a medical to check the general state of our health. Our cars get an M.O.T. test annually to see if they are roadworthy. Doing a personal spiritual health-check from time to time can also be a good idea!
This verse is a profound reality check as we look within our hearts. Jesus said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled (Matthew 5:6). The simple question to ask is this? Am I spiritually hungry? Do I want to get to know God better? Do I want to find our more from His Word? Do I want to get closer to Him through prayer? Do I want to sense His presence with me more clearly? Does it thrill my heart to hear of someone committing their life to Christ? Do I rejoice when I hear of someone who has come back to the Lord? Am I grieved by the coldness of my own heart towards the Lord at times or by that of other people who once walked with Him but who are no longer even present with His people in His house? Do I have a heart to pray for people who need Jesus and to keep at it year after year until I hear they have come to Christ? Do I have a willing heart to serve the Lord when opportunities come up to give my gifts or time in His service?
In I Peter 2:1-3 the apostle wrote these words: Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
A living and healthy baby is hungry for physical nourishment. The child of God will be hungry for spiritual nourishment. Ask yourself: am I growing in my faith? How have I progressed since this time last year? Or over some other time scale; we must not expect to record dramatic progress every year but like a healthy tree that shows in its rings that it grows each year there should be some progress in our walk with the Lord.
Is this something you need to pay attention to at this time? How we may encourage each other to progress? There is a place for having a fellow Christian or Christians as a kind of accountability partner whom we give permission to them to ask us –how are you getting on in your Christian faith? This can be through some form of mentoring. The pathway discipleship programme that we have offered in the church may be something you may benefit from in 2020 or 2021? Or there are books we could read with profit or podcasts to listen to –some many choices.
4. What I should be desiring most?
Jesus said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled (Matthew 5:6). Righteousness or holiness is what we ought to seek most. Hebrews 12:14 states: Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
This is not an optional extra for super-saints with polished halos, but a call or every man and woman, boy and girl who wants to live a life pleasing to the Lord. Now a Christian has been saved through Jesus’ sacrifice for us and His perfect righteousness was credited to our account to bring us into fellowship, with God.
However, we also have a calling to live a disciplined Christ-centred lives. Jesus must have shocked His hearers later in the Sermon on the Mount when, in Matthew 5:17-20 He declared:
‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Did He mean we must have a longer list of ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ than they did? No! that would be impossible; what began centuries earlier with practical guidance for living in a God-honouring way in exile in Babylon had become an unmanageable series of volumes of thousands of rules and regulations that required professional scribes to keep a track of them all. If sincerity alone got you into heaven they would have been first in the queue. If that is not what it means then what is Jesus asking of us?
It is a conscious determination to honour Him and live for Him in each area of our lives with the highest integrity. In our attitudes, speech and conduct in the workplace; as we socialize, in our homes or wherever we are to conduct ourselves in a way that is pleasing to Him. Notice the intentionality and responsibility for making the effort. It doesn’t happen while we sleep! No matter what it is, to be good at something requires effort. I remember a newspaper article some years ago on Nick Faldo the well-known British golfer of a former generation who had great success in his career, but at one particular time was going through a rough patch and not hitting the ball particularly well. The article reported that he stayed on day after day practicing till his hands were bleeding determined to correct whatever the problem had been. We could multiply these examples from the fields of sport, arts and music, together with other whose dedication to academic studies has accomplished in time great things. There are no short-cuts to becoming like Jesus.
Our Lord was issuing here a challenge across our daily lives –do you and I want it enough to please God in our lives day by day? Psalm 84:11-12 encourages us with these words: …the Lord bestows favour and honour; no good thing does He withhold from those whose way of life is blameless. 12 Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in You.
Have you and I missed out on some blessings because we have set too low a standard to aim for as a Christian? But our motivation is not just to please Him in this life –one day we will be with Him for ever. What was this goal? – to live in a way now that when I see the Lord that I will be satisfied that I have honoured Him as well as I can in each area of my life.
In I Corinthians 10:31-33 Paul expressed it in words more readily grasped. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God – 33 even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. If we endeavour however inadequately to have similar goals then we are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and will receive the blessing on God on our lives. May that be our life-long goal, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.
Our song before we come to communion is: ‘Here is love vast as the ocean’
The Lord’s Supper
Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.
Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’
Our closing song is: ‘And can it be’
Closing Prayer:
Thank You Lord for the privilege of being called Your children and invited to follow the pattern of life Jesus modelled for us two thousand years ago. Help us this week in all the circumstances we experience to live in a way pleasing to You, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Benediction: The Grace
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore, Amen
Starting Tuesday 25th August, 7.30pm on Zoom. Get in touch if you would like to join in or would like more information. Jesus offers us hope and a future, even in these uncertain times.
You may want to use some of these resources for daily worship during this week.
The Messy Church At Home information is now available on our church website www.broughtybaptist.org
JAM Kids’ focus: The Virtual Sunday School – ‘Jonah and the Big Fish in the Bathroom’
JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:15am on the Zoom platform –parents of teenagers can get a link code by contacting Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com
We will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm on Sunday 23 August 2020. This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Please join in and, if you don’t already do so, would you let your fellowship know about this and put it on your social media. The link to access the event is https://www.facebook.com/scottishbaptist/live/
Call to worship: Psalm 100
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures for ever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
We are grateful to Margaret Clark for selecting the songs for worship for this service
Our opening song of praise and worship is: There’s a place where the streets shine:
Opening prayer:
Heavenly Father, once more we come with joy into Your holy presence today.
We are so thankful for all Your kindness to us during these difficult months we have been experiencing this year. Lord we thank You, that You hear our cries in our times of need and although it may take much longer than we would like to get answers, we know that You will hear and answer our prayers.
Once more we come with a sense of expectancy to offer our praises and thanksgiving for all our blessings of health and strength and the provision of a roof over our heads and food on the table and so much more besides. We come with thankful hearts to You today. We also come confessing our sin and asking for Your forgiveness. Purify our hearts and fill us afresh with Your Holy Spirit as we start another new week, for Jesus’ sake we pray Amen.
Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever Amen. ‘
Our second song is ‘Lord you hear the cry (Lord have mercy)’
Prayers for others
Dear Lord,
We come before you to pray for a world of so much pain and suffering. We remember the ongoing heartache of the people of Yemen living in the midst of famine and the violence of war that has claimed so many lives. Lord have mercy upon them.
We remember the country of Syria seriously ravaged by the Covid-19 virus pandemic that is claiming so many lives. We particularly bring before you the family and church family in Aleppo of the inspirational Christian doctor and bi-vocational pastor of Aleppo Baptist Church, Jani Haddad, who died last week of the virus.
We thank you for his courageous leadership on the frontlines in that city and the opportunity a few of us in this church had to meet him six years ago in Dundee and elsewhere. We pray that the unjust sanctions regime being applied against Syria that prevents many essential medicines being obtained by their health service will soon be lifted. Lord have mercy upon them.
We pray too for the people of Lebanon. Words fail us to describe the tragedy to fall upon Beirut with the devastation that has been visited upon mile after mile of urban communities. We ask that You would open the hearts of the international community to provide both the aid to alleviate the suffering, together with pressure to see a reform of the political system that has been so disastrous in recent years. We are encouraged to see the visionary contribution to aiding the suffering being played by the churches in Beirut, despite so many of their own buildings being damaged or destroyed. Lord have mercy upon them.
We pray too in the United Kingdom for the young people and their families coping with the problems associated with grading their studies by the examining authorities. We pray for peace of mind as they together with schools, colleges and universities try to sort out the mess that has taken place. We hope that each young person will obtain a viable pathway to achieve their proposed course of studies or chosen form of employment. Lord have mercy upon them.
In our Baptist Union of Scotland we also remember to pray for:
King’s Park BC – They are grateful for the different forms of technology that have helped them keep in touch with one another and to reach out to people that don’t or cannot normally attend services in their building. We pray for those, who in partnership with Cambuslang and Rutherglen Reachout Trust, will be hosting a virtual Holiday Club in August. We also pray that children in their area will register and engage with this opportunity.
Kintore Community Church (Hillview, Aberdeen, Church Plant) – We are thankful that their church family have been able to stay relatively connected throughout the lockdown, and have found ways to serve their local schools and community. We pray for God to give them wisdom and favour as they begin to reengage with each other and their community in person. And that they would see many in their community come to faith.
Kirkintilloch BC – We thank God that despite the pandemic their Food bank and Christians Against Poverty (CAP) centre remain open. We pray that God would guide them in these challenging times as they try to do Church differently and search for a new minister.
Kirkwall BC – They give particular thanks to God in terms of timing, that they were able to take on Fraser (their new full-time Leader of Evangelism and Youth) just before lockdown began. Through that, they have been able to use this time to reach out with the message of Jesus. We pray for them, that they would see many people come to a living and personal faith in Jesus Christ.
Knightswood BC – We give thanks that the Lord has sustained them and blessed them through the lockdown. Like many churches, they are thinking and praying through what the next stage will hold for their corporate worship services and prayer, their discipleship, pastoral care and community connections. They view these circumstances as a time for innovation, experimentation and anticipation.
We now pray for other people with particular needs that are connected to our own congregation: In particular, Lord we remember Peter P continuing his rehabilitation in Royal Victoria hospital after surgery at Ninewells and his wife Jean coping with her own health challenges at home. We pray for the school staff and pupils in our congregation adjusting to life back at school, in particular those like Ali T and Robert L associated with the King’s Park School in Dundee. We pray for Ali T and her family as they work through the best plans for her mother’s future care needs.
We remember a number of older people, especially those living alone who have not been able to go out and for whom the isolation of recent months has been hard to cope with. We pray for Rachel, John and Ann S’s niece as she recovers from brain surgery. We also pray for Hamish R as he will depart on 31 August for his work with a church in Nice, France. We also pray for Alan McR as he leads the new introductory course in the Christian Faith that starts on Tuesday evening on the zoom platform.
In addition, we bring our own needs to You at this time …, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.
Bible reading II Corinthians 1:1-11
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.
9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing: ‘O love that will not let me go’
The Message
Matthew 5:4: ‘The right kind of attitude’
Introduction
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. In theory it is possible to translate the opening words of this verse as Happy are those who mourn (Good News Bible).There are Bible versions that use this rendering, but in our use of the English language today we associate this word almost exclusively with our feelings; like a little child skipping around happily playing with its toys. There may be adults in the room discussing weighty or serious matters, but the child is oblivious to the nature of their conversation. They are happy and secure in their own little world. In this context – is this how God wants us to be quite oblivious to what is going on in the world? I don’t think so! We would need to stop watching the news on TV; avoid the internet and certainly stick to the most basic type of mobile phone available.
The world has become a much smaller place and many of us have experienced that in the recent months of lock-down due to the Covid-19 virus. We take for granted the ease of communications. On the day I wrote this message I was able to respond to a request from a Baptist pastor in Pakistan with advice from two Baptist pastors, one from England currently on holiday on a remote Scottish island and the other in Virginia, USA. The messages sent between us took twenty minutes maximum and we take this kind of opportunity for granted.
But it is not just factual communications we can make. We cannot avoid becoming aware of the dreadful things going on in the world. I have had numerous unsolicited phone calls from pastors in other countries in recent months, all resource poor in comparison to our own country. They were all struggling to find food to feed their families or other people. In one incredibly difficult to listen to, I was asked to listen to little children crying because they hadn’t eaten that day. Just imagine anyone wandering around such communities exhorting people to ‘Be Happy’ with their situation and feel good about it would be unlikely to receive a warm reception from those who have ensured so much difficulty this year. They would have assumed you were either being cruel or had taken leave of your senses.
There have been enough extremely difficult situations in our own land for many people in recent months and we still could face more difficult times to come. We could all list numerous examples from the recent past where exhortations to ‘Be happy’ would be seriously out of place. So what is it that Jesus was advocating for people who want to follow Him? What kind of sorrow is it that Jesus is speaking about here to which He promises to bring comfort?
John Stott answered this question with these words: those here promised comfort are not primarily those who mourn the loss of a loved one, but those who mourn the loss of their innocence, their righteousness, their self respect. It is not the sorrow of bereavement to which Christ refers, but the sorrow of repentance [John Stott, Christian Counter Culture: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount pp.40-41]. Only when we grasp the context in which Jesus is speaking will we appreciate the message He wishes to communicate to us here in Matthew 5:4. In life there are different kinds of sorrow or grounds for mourning that we will view quite differently.
A person might be overcome with tears of happiness because of some unexpected good news that they hadn’t expected. It may be tears of relief because you were expecting bad news of some kind, but in such a context it would be inappropriate for someone to try to ‘comfort’ you! What kinds of sorrow are there?
1. Natural Sorrow
The verb ‘to mourn’ here is a strong expression of sorrow. It is not a mild term used of someone feeling under the weather; rather it is normally used in the context of someone bereaved who has lost a person they loved and really miss. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament it was used of Jacob when he was told by his older sons that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal in Genesis 37:34-36:Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.’ So his father wept for him.
The same verb is used in the New Testament in Mark 16:10 with reference to Mary Magdalene. It concerns her reaction to meeting the risen Lord Jesus. She went and told those who had been with Him and who were mourning and weeping. There are some Christians who have a theology that implies we should always be happy with a smile on our face and be almost effortlessly victorious over all our trials. This is not consistent with the teaching of the Bible!
There are plenty of examples of commended figures with tears, mourning in the face of death or, for example, in King David’s case the needless death of his rebellious son Absalom (II Samuel 18:33-19:4). Jesus wept over the spiritual hardness of the city of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-42) and at the graveside of His friend Lazarus (John 11:35-38).
In the long time of appropriate activities that are a part of the human experience Ecclesiastes 3:4 includes: a time to weep… Yet as Christians in the face of death our understanding of it was explained so clearly by the apostle Paul in I Thessalonians 4:13-18:
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. There is natural sorrow which we will all experience. May we never give anyone the false impression that we as Christians somehow escape or experience less natural sorrow than other people around us.
2. Unnatural Sorrow
(a)Remorse but not repentance It can be described as a despairing kind of sorrow in which a person bitterly regrets a course of action, but is unwilling to take the necessary steps to getting their life back on track. There are people who struggle to accept forgiveness for their own past wrongdoing and go on torturing themselves in their minds for past mistakes, long after other people have forgiven them and moved on.
Judas Iscariot is a powerful and well-known example of a man who was remorseful about a course of action, but unlike Peter was unwilling to do anything constructive about it. Matthew 27:3-5 records the sorry end to his life. When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 ‘I have sinned,’ he said, ‘for I have betrayed innocent blood.’ ‘What is that to us?’ they replied. ‘That’s your responsibility.’ 5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
We need to stress repeatedly that we believe in a gospel of grace to the undeserving, no-one is beyond the grace of God. The devil wants us to live in condemnation for past failures even when we have been forgiven, but Romans 8:1-2 states clearly God’s perspective to us. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Do you need to hear that today?
(b) Fake mourning There are people whom you have met and I have met who say or do things that are wrong and appear to be deeply sorrowful at a course of action taken, again and again! We want to believe that ‘this time’ they really mean it –but when you have been there with them so many times before it is difficult to accept the sincerity of their confessions.
In I Samuel 15 the spiritual leader of the nation, the prophet Samuel, was asked by God to go and tell the King Saul that God was removing him from his office as a result of his persistent failure to honour God. In I Samuel 15:30-31 it states: Saul replied, ‘I have sinned. But please honour me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.’ 31 So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.
The problem was that Saul was mourning the potential loss of his office not that he had failed to honour God as he should have done. The words and the posture looked good but there was insufficient desire to live in a manner pleasing to God. We can fool other people, but never the Lord. One day we will stand before the Lord to give an account of our lives so it is foolish to live in pretence.
3. Godly sorrow
Paul explained it this way: Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done (II Corinthians 7:10).
The prodigal son in Jesus’ story in Luke 15 has wasted his life, but reaches turning point where he faces up to what he has done and sets off for home to apologise to his dad. The forgiveness of his father was bestowed on an individual who knew there were no excuses to offer. He could only cast himself on the mercy of his father. At one level it was a risk.
In real life when we have seriously hurt someone or caused them harm in some way there is no guarantee that if we apologise and offer to do our best to make restitution that it will be accepted. They might want to have nothing to do with us again. Yet the genuine follower of Jesus wants to have a clear conscience. In the New Testament there are some precious words for us to remember when we come to God to ask for forgiveness of our sins. I John 1:8-9 declares: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. What wonderful good news for the one who seriously asks God to forgive their sin and give them a clean slate, a fresh start.
As we grow as a Christian and become more like Jesus, we also become more acutely aware of our shortcomings and failures. When this happens in a human heart a person who in the past might have been harsh and displaying a condemnatory attitude to someone who had failed in some way, now is acutely aware of ‘but for the grace of God that might have been me’. If I had kept that company, if I had been born into those circumstances, if I… whatever it might be – it could have been me. We can thank God for the blessing of good parents who guided and directed us; for Christian leaders or teachers or others who gave us wise advice about how to live our lives.
William Barclay (The Plain Man looks at the Beatitudes pp. 29-30) noted a progression in Paul’s references to himself in his letters. In his earliest known letter written to the churches of South Galatia, in response to some serious doctrinal errors, he asserts right at the beginning that this letter comes from Paul an apostle…(Galatians1:1); seven years later when he writes I Corinthians to another church with significant problems there is a different self-reference.
In I Corinthians 15 he lists some of the people who were witnesses of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. Last in the list he mentions himself before making this comment in I Corinthians 15:9-10a:For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
Then in the letter to the church at Ephesus a few years later he states: I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all theLord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:7-8).
Later still in a private letter to the young pastor of the church in Ephesus, Timothy, he writes in I Timothy 1:15-16: Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life.
What does this progression of thought in Paul teach us? When we are very young we are asked by our parents not to point the finger at people because it is rude! Many a little person is puzzled by such an exhortation. Yet we as adults know that when we point one finger at someone else there are still three others pointing back to ourselves! It is a reminder that my biggest duty is to address the sin issues that arise in my own life first, rather than highlighting the failures of other people.
Our graciousness or lack of it in response to the failings of others is a window offering insight into the level of progression we have made in becoming more like Jesus. We are not ignoring wrongdoing or pretending it doesn’t matter, but instead, like our Saviour, are called to have compassion on other people who need to be right with Him. We will be delighted to see someone turning from wrongdoing not highlighting they have a previous history of failures! We are not called to be naïve, but eager to see someone make progress in their journey of faith as we trust they also will take pleasure when we have spiritual successes too!
4. Spiritual Comfort
Jesus said: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4). In the Oxford English Dictionary there is a reference to the older sense of this word. When we go back to the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries this word had the idea of ‘to strengthen’ or ‘to give support’; in other words it was a stronger word than we understand today. What was Jesus was saying was not simply a form of words offering sympathy or a hug, but conveying a sense of encouragement to those who take their progress in becoming more like Jesus very seriously. Such a person is aware of their shortcomings but is making a real effort to make changes to do better! It is true that God will offer support to the people who love Him who have been bereaved, but this beatitude addresses the issue of a person genuinely sorrowful in heart for their failure to progress in their spiritual journey as they should. The Bible makes reference to different sources of comfort and encouragement.
(a) From God the Father In II Corinthians 1:3-7 Paul wrote: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
These words were written immediately prior to a reference to a severe trial Paul had come through, which he had felt might even have been the end for him, in terms of this life. However, he sensed the encouragement and comfort of God to keep going with whatever lay before him. In I Samuel 30:6, in a context of a genuine crisis when all around him were ‘losing their heads’, the Bible states: But David found strength in the Lord his God. Paul, in the wonderful words of Romans 8, gets so excited at God’s encouragements to progress in his spiritual life that he exclaims in Romans 8:31: What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
(b) From Scripture In Romans 15:4-5 Paul wrote: For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had. In the ministry of Jesus there are various examples of people leaving His presence greatly encouraged.
In John 8:1-11, the authorities in Jerusalem wanted to trap Jesus by asking him to pass sentence on a woman who with an unknown man had been caught in the act of adultery. The officials did not care on this occasion about the actual rights and wrongs of that encounter; rather they wanted to find a way to undermine Jesus’ authority. However, He turned the tables on them and invited the one amongst them who was perfect and who had never done anything wrong to cast the first stone at her.
It was a most dramatic moment, but this is how it ended in John 8:9-11: At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’11 ‘No one, sir,’ she said.‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared. ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’ Jesus is not offering cheap grace. His words of comfort and encouragement are accompanied by an exhortation to a change of lifestyle. In the Bible there are many examples of lives transformed by the power of God.
(c) From the Holy Spirit Jesus gives quite a bit of teaching in John 14 and 16, in the context of His message at the Last Supper about the comfort or encouragement provided by the Holy Spirit. He is the one called alongside us to aid us in living for Jesus. In John 14:15-17a Jesus said: ‘If you love Me, keep My commands.16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate[encourager, comforter, Counsellor] to help you and be with you forever – 17 the Spirit of truth.We are never on our own as followers of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is there to assist you in your walk of faith.
(d) From other people Even the greatest apostles needed a team of willing volunteers to assist and encourage them through tough times. In II Corinthians 7:5-7 Paul stated that life had been very tough on mission in Macedonia: For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn – conflicts on the outside, fears within. 6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever. Who might you be an encourager to this week?
Jesus said: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). May we have that earnest desire to grow in Christ-likeness and genuinely mourn our failures but only in so far as it serves as an incentive to become more like our Saviour, for Jesus’s sake Amen.
Our song before we come to communion is: ‘Search me O God and know my heart today’
The Lord’s Supper
Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.
Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’
Our closing song is: ‘Blessed be Your name’
Closing Prayer:
Thank You Lord for placing within our hearts a desire for fellowship with You, the living God. Thank You for sending Jesus to show us how to live and then the gift of the Holy Spirit within us to equip us and empower us to live our lives for You. Help us to have that commitment to want to become more like Jesus in our attitudes, speech and conduct. Give us that desire to be more like Him in the coming days, for Jesus’ sake Amen.
Benediction: The Grace
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore, Amen
– You may want to use some of the Engage Worship resources for daily worship during this week
– The Messy Church At Home information is now available on our church website www.broughtybaptist.org
– The Prayer Livestream is at 7.00pm on Sunday 16 August 2020. This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Click here to access.
JAM Kids’ focus:
The Out of the Box series has now finished. This week we turn to the Virtual Sunday school with an episode on ‘The Body of Christ’ in I Corinthians 12 – what It means to belong and to have a part to play.
JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:15am on the Zoom platform –parents of teenagers can get a link code by contacting Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com
Introduction
Welcome to our Back to School with God service.
Today we are thinking about the start of a new school year and how we might prepare well. All of us are settling back into a routine after a major time of change and challenge. Perhaps you are starting school for the first time, going into a new year group or moving on to further study. Maybe, as an adult, you are starting a new job, or going back to work. In all of these things it is normal to feel excited and nervous at the same time! Sometimes we might wonder what lies ahead in the days and weeks to come, but here is a Bible verse to encourage and remember.
This Bible verse is a wonderful reminder that God not only hears us when we pray, he wants to come close to us, care for us and rescue us. God wants us to talk to him about everything, so let’s talk to him now.
Opening prayer
Lord God, thank you that you are close when we talk to you. Thank you that you listen to us; that your son Jesus came to die to save us; that you love us deeply. Thank you that you hear the cries of our heart. As we come together this morning, may we be aware of your presence. Help us to listen to your words in the Bible. Help us to know what you want to teach us. Give us hearts that long to obey you. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Let’s praise and thank God for hearing our prayer by worshipping him together.
Bible passage introduction
When you hear the name Daniel, who do you imagine? Maybe you are called Daniel, or you know someone who is! The Daniel we are thinking about today is the Daniel of the Bible. That Daniel lived a long time ago, approximately 600 years before Jesus was born. He had many great adventures. Let’s find out a little more about him. Click here to watch a special news broadcast.
Daniel has had an exciting life so far! In chapter 6 of the book of Daniel, Daniel is about to have another adventure. A new king, King Darius, is on the throne. Let’s find out what happens next.
Bible reading Daniel 6:1-10: It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, 2 with three chief ministers over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. 3 Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the chief ministers and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. 4 At this, the chief ministers and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent.
5 Finally these men said, ‘We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.’ 6 So these chief ministers and satraps went as a group to the king and said: ‘May King Darius live for ever! 7 The royal ministers, prefects, satraps, advisors and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lions’ den. 8 Now, Your Majesty, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered – in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.’ 9 So King Darius put the decree in writing.
10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened towards Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Prayer Shapes
It isn’t always easy to follow rules. King Darius couldn’t be everywhere at once, and he ruled over a very large kingdom. For that reason, he chose reliable, responsible leaders to make sure people were keeping his rules. One of them was Daniel.
It’s a bit like what happens in school: your Head Teacher is in charge, but he or she asks others to help so the school runs smoothly. Perhaps some of you here today might help a teacher or Head Teacher – acting as monitors, mediators, or buddies to younger children. In secondary school you might be a prefect, a head of your house, or even Head Boy or Head Girl. Hopefully, like Daniel, you are given responsibility because you can be trusted and people think well of you.
Daniel stood out from the crowd. He was trustworthy, he wasn’t lazy, and he didn’t cheat. In school, I wonder what that might look like. It might be working hard; not being late for class; getting your homework in on time; helping others; keeping your promises; listening well; being respectful and kind. If you do these things, people will notice.
Sometimes, however, we don’t do things with the best motives. We are going to watch a wee clip from the children’s programme Horrid Henry that shows this.
Horrid Henry didn’t have good motives. He was only nice to Peter because he wanted to gain something. Daniel wasn’t like this. Daniel loved and trusted God, and that shaped who he was. Daniel always worked hard. He did this so his life would bring honour to God – not so he would become rich or famous. God gave Daniel success. He caused the king to give Daniel promotion.
God loved Daniel, and Daniel loved God. Daniel allowed God to be in charge, and as a result, God was the one who was shaping Daniel’s life for him. God is pleased when we live for him, rather than living for ourselves. We might hear people around us say that you can map out your own future, or the future is in your hands, but the Bible tells us that only God knows our future! Let’s be like Daniel and trust God to shape our lives for us. The more time we spend with God, the more he changes our thinking and our attitudes to be more like Jesus.
Three times a day Daniel got down on his knees and prayed. Wow!
He didn’t just pray a quick prayer in the morning, or a brief thank you prayer at night. Because he prayed often, he became the kind of person God wanted him to be. His strength and trust were in God, not in himself. His focus wasn’t on what great things he could do – but what great things God could do through him.
Remember back in our Bible reading when the king made a new law that put people who prayed to God in danger? Did Daniel stop praying? Not at all! Did he pray to King Darius instead? Certainly not! When he heard about the new rule, he did as he usually did. He went to his room, knelt down and prayed.
Even when the king’s new law was introduced Daniel “prayed and thanked God, just as he had always done.” Taking everything to God in prayer was normal for Daniel, and he wasn’t going to stop now. He thanked God as he usually did, before asking him for help. Prayer made Daniel the person he was – prayer shaped Daniel. What about us?
– Do we pray regularly, like Daniel? – Does prayer shape our character, like it did Daniel’s?
That’s something to think about.
Bible reading Daniel 6:11-28: 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: ‘Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?’ The king answered, ‘The decree stands – in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.’
13 Then they said to the king, ‘Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.’ 14 When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sunset to save him.
15 Then the men went as a group to King Darius and said to him, ‘Remember, Your Majesty, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.’
16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, ‘May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!’
17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.
19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?’
21 Daniel answered, ‘May the king live for ever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.’
23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.24 At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
25 Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth:‘May you prosper greatly! 26 ‘I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. ‘For he is the living God and he endures for ever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. 27 He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.’ 28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Prayer Saves
Introduction
In today’s context in 2020 Daniel would have been required to be shielding at home as a man of over 70 years of age during the Covid-19 virus pandemic! However, he may be weaker in body than when he first came to prominence in Babylon (Iraq) as an older child or a young teenager, but the character of this individual was already formed in his earliest years. God came first in his life. Does He come first in yours and mine? Humanly-speaking today many readers of the book of Daniel might think this was his biggest test of commitment to God. But I believe they would be wrong. He was a man shaped in his daily life by his commitment to a regular pattern of prayer. He saw this as an essential part of the rhythm of his life and all the experiences of life that he would face was viewed through the lens of his relationship with the God who is able to hear and answer his prayers. Is your life and mine based on this spiritual foundation? If not, why not? Let us remind ourselves of the awful day when Daniel got the worst possible news he could have received at that time. What did he do?
1. Daniel’s prayer (Daniel 6:10)
Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened towards Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Daniel was in very real danger! It was a wicked trap that had been set with a view to him being executed so that others could gain from his death. What Daniel did and how he did it tells us something of the mind-set of the man. He deliberately continued his regular routine. He would not allow other people to bully him into giving up his faith or its priority place in his life.
In an increasingly secular world today there can be huge pressures on people of faith in prominent political offices to play down their faith. Some of us can remember the answer of former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s press secretary Alistair Campbell to a press enquiry about the fact that his boss went to church and the enquiry was in effect: ‘Will his belief in God affect how he conducts his government?’
The panicked response: ‘We don’t do God’. It might have been the response the secular reporters wanted to hear, but to us as Christians the idea that our faith in God has no impact on the way we behave is ludicrous! A faith that has little or no impact on the choices we make or the priorities we hold is pointless.
However, the men who wanted to harm Daniel found him praying and asking God for help – not running away and hiding, and definitely not praying to King Darius. They knew the kind of man Daniel was and by turning up at his regular prayer time, they knew how he would behave. Are you and me men and women, or boys and girls of principle, whose faith in God through the Lord Jesus directly influences how we think, speak and act?
2. Daniel’s predicament (Daniel 6:11-15)
11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: ‘Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?’ The king answered, ‘The decree stands – in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.’ 13 Then they said to the king, ‘Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, Your Majesty, or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day.’
14 When the king heard this, he was greatly distressed; he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sunset to save him. 15 Then the men went as a group to King Darius and said to him, ‘Remember, Your Majesty, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.’
The law of the Medes and Persians, at least as practised at that time, appeared to be very inflexible. The wicked men had got the vain king to pass a ridiculous decree that was a load of nonsense. How could the private prayer lives of citizens be observed and reported throughout a large empire? It wasn’t! No-one else was checked up on, only Daniel the Prime Minister.
He was now breaking the law. That meant he would have to face the consequences, and the penalty was to be flung into a den of lions. Take a moment to think how you might feel in his place once the men drew attention to the consequences of his prayer time. I suspect many of us might feel very stressed inside with our hearts pounding, even if we were trying to pretend that we were ‘okay’! I feel bad enough when driving my car on public roads whenever I hear a police siren on a police car behind me. Even if I cannot think of anything I could have done wrong in my driving, until it has gone past me I cannot relax. But that was nothing to what Daniel was facing.
We aren’t told how Daniel felt. But we can see from his actions that he was calm and collected. He knew he had done nothing wrong. Daniel showed no panic, just absolute trust. Why? This could be because he had spent time in prayer; he knew he was not alone, that God was with him. He didn’t go to the king for help. He asked God for help. Prayer helps us to know God and what He is like. Remember again the Bible verse we read at the start of our service? Let’s read it again. The Lord is near to all who call on Him; to all who call on Him in truth. 19 He fulfils the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. (Psalm 145:18-19)
3. Daniel’s peril (Daniel 6:16-20)
16 So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, ‘May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!’ 17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.19 At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?’
Darius the foolish ruler of the land was desperately sad at the mistake he had made that looked like costing the life of the person he most respected in the whole government. He was at that moment in time a totally powerless individual. This is why Psalm 146:3 reminds us: Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.
Politics is important, but whether kings or queens or other monarchs, or presidents or prime ministers in elected offices, they are human beings with flaws and weaknesses just like us. They need our prayers so much to prevent them passing bad laws or making bad choices that can have a devastating impact on ordinary people’s lives. All of us can think of examples of that in the very recent past without having to delve into the history books!
What is really important is that God was close to Daniel, and that made all the difference. We don’t read of Daniel protesting, or making a fuss. Unlike King Darius, who was now in a real panic! Daniel’s prayers didn’t just save Daniel. There is a twist in this story – prayer saved the king and others as well. Darius liked Daniel and the Bible tells us he tried to rescue him.
The Bible says in Daniel 6:14: [the king] made every effort until sunset to save him. And yet he came to realise that even as king, he could do nothing. He had to carry out the law he had issued, as royal decrees could never be changed. Even though he was king, he was powerless. He had to throw Daniel into the lion’s den. He couldn’t rescue Daniel: only God could. Suddenly, as Daniel was being flung into the den of lions, King Darius realised Daniel’s only hope was God. Have you come to that realisation of your need of God too? The question is what happens next when you get such an insight; will you act on it or dismiss it and carry on your life as before?
He shouted, ‘May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!’ (Daniel 6:16). King Darius showed the first step it takes to truly trust God by recognising that God is in control and we are not. He alone can save. So after a sleepless, hungry night, the king hurried to the lions’ den, desperately hoping that God had heard his prayer.
4. Darius’ proclamation (Daniel 6:21-28)
21 Daniel answered, ‘May the king live for ever! 22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.’ 23 The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
24 At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. 25 Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: ‘May you prosper greatly!
26 ‘I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. ‘For he is the living God and he endures for ever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.
27 He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.’ 28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
The king’s heart would have been pounding as he walked all the way to the lion’s den. Over and over again in his mind he must have been condemning himself for his stupidity. Praise God that we don’t have to face the consequences of all our mistakes, there are times when God in His sovereignty overrules for our good and for His glory.
Miraculously, Daniel was completely safe and unharmed. What an amazing sight that must have been! God had saved him. God had heard both Daniel, and Darius’s, prayer. The impossible had happened. Daniel was alive, not dead! Only God could have done this. Darius had seen first-hand the power of God, and he was overjoyed. And so, Darius came to trust God for himself. Not only that, he declared that everyone else in his kingdom should worship God too.Prayer saves.Prayer saved Daniel. And prayer saved King Darius. What an encouragement to us today. May we never forget that prayer shapes who we are. And prayer saves. Hallelujah! Amen
Prayer:A prayer of response
On this Back to School with God Sunday we want to pray for our children, teachers, and local schools. It is a privilege to be able to support schools in prayer, particularly as we all know they have been through a difficult time.
A number of people will lead us in prayer. However, so we can all take part – at different points when we read the words: ‘Lord, hear our prayer’, we will respond by saying together the words: Thank you, God that you are close to us when we pray.
Parent (Claire): Let us pray Father God, we pray for our nurseries and those who work in them. Thank you, Lord, for watching over our little children. Thank you that you love them. We pray you will help nursery staff in the amazing job they do, creating happy places where our children can be safe and cared for well. Please help the children to settle, make friends, and learn to love and help one another. Lord, hear our prayer.
All: Thank you, God that you are close to us when we pray.
Child (Sarah): Let us pray Father God, thank you for our primary schools and all those who work in them. Thank you that we are able to get back to school again, and we remember in prayer all the children in the world who have no school to go to. Please encourage our school staff, who do such a brilliant job of running our schools. Help them to adjust to a new routine. Please help all the boys and girls who are starting school for the first time, or who are nervous about returning to school. Help them to settle quickly and know that you are with them. When we are worried like Daniel, remind us that we can turn to you and ask for help. Lord, hear our prayer.
All: Thank you, God that you are close to us when we pray.
Teenager (Ruth): Let us pray Father God, thank you for the Bible story of Daniel and for his good character, shaped by prayer. Lord, we pray the same might be said of those who work or study in our secondary schools. We pray that we may be people who can be trusted; who work hard; are respectful and kind. Lord, we are grateful for our education. Help us to appreciate those who teach us. As we go back to school please help those who are anxious or afraid. Strengthen our school community, so that we might help and support one another. Lord, hear our prayer.
All: Thank you, God that you are close to us when we pray.
Adult (John): Let us pray Our heavenly Father, thank you for this service today and for the reminder that prayer shapes, prayer saves. Remind us to pray for our schools, those who work in them, and the children and young people who attend them. We pray for the SU Groups that meet in them, asking that pupils will grasp what a great God you are.
We lift our children to you. We love them, and we want to see them flourish at school. Lord, thank you for sustaining them through the months spent at home. Help them now to readjust and to gladly benefit from being part of a church and school family once more. We ask you to bless our community and our role as a church within it. May our prayers make a difference! Lord, hear our prayer.
All: Thank you, God that you are close to us when we pray. AMEN.
https://youtu.be/uwiUunAChos
The Lord’s Supper
Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.
Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’
Our closing song is: ‘How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord’
Closing Prayer
Thank you Lord for the wonderful assurance that You will never leave us nor forsake us no matter what circumstances in life we are facing. We pray particularly for our children and young people and those who teach them or who support them in their learning in other ways in our nurseries and schools as they are starting back for the new year at this time. We pray too for those seeking places or commencing courses in Higher Education in the near future and those who will teach or assist them in our colleges and universities in the new academic year, that each may have the necessary wisdom to carry out all the tasks entrusted to them
For each one of us we pray for Your strength and enabling grace to live our lives in this coming week, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.
Benediction: The Grace
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore, Amen
Morning worship online has moved to start at 10am and JAM at 11:15am on the Zoom platform
You may want to use some of the Engage Worship resources for daily worship during this week.
The Messy Church At Home information is now available on our church website www.broughtybaptist.org
Sunday Evening Prayer Livestream 7.00pm We will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm. This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Please join in and, if you don’t already do so, would you let your fellowship know about this and put it on your social media. Click here to access.
JAM Kids’ focus:
Here are the links to the new series from Out of the Box for JAM Kids age group.
JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:15am on the Zoom platform –parents of teenagers can get a link code by contacting Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com
Call to Worship
How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.
We are grateful to Dave Rowe for selecting the songs for worship for this service
Our opening song of praise and worship is: 10,000 Reasons
Opening Prayer
Loving heavenly Father,
We praise you for the opportunity to meet in worship today. We thank you for the gift of worship, of prayer, of praise, of gathering around your word and around your table – that you lay before us.
We praise you afresh this morning, that because of Jesus, and him giving of himself on the cross that we can be forgiven, saved from our sin and from hell – not because of anything we have done, but because of your lavish grace.
Indeed we come knowing and confessing our sin before you – forgive us Lord for what we have done, thought, said or things left undone that you have called us to do.
As we have read in the Psalm, may our hearts today yearn, for our heart and flesh to cry out to you today, that we want more of you.
We want more of your presence, we want more of your Spirit filling us with your love.
Enable us to open our hearts today, to have that desire – not just to come together as a group of people
But as your people Lord in expectancy that you would speak into our lives today, challenge us and mould us.
Only for your purposes and glory we pray.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
All Age Talk by Moraig Piggot
This week I want to speak to you about distractions. Sometimes distractions can be a good thing and other times they can not be so good in our lives. For example, in my life I welcome anything that distracts me from having to do the ironing as I really do not like ironing! However if I am watching my favourite tv programme or as the case has been during lockdown a box set I don’t like it if a little voice shouts ‘Mum’ in the middle of the programme which means I have to pause it to and go and see what he/she needs/wants.
During lockdown I think there have been some funny distractions that have probably happened in quite a few households. As most people have been working from home and children/young people have been learning at home there have been lots of online calls, meetings and teaching sessions going on. I wondered how many times someone has been on a call and had someone else from their household appeared on the video or started up a conversation that everyone else on the meeting has then heard. I am sure there have been a few embarrassing moments!
One time I was on a work call I wondered what everyone else was laughing and pointing at and I turned around to get the fright a my life as my window cleaner was behind me cleaning the window and everyone on the call had been watching this and I was taking away oblivious to this! We will all of course remember the famous BBC new report from a few years ago when a man was being interviewed in his study at home, when suddenly the door opened and one of his children appeared in the room, then the next things his wife came running in to remove the child much to the amusement of everyone watching.
Sometimes though life can become a distraction when you are a follower of Jesus. Maybe even during lockdown when we actually may have had more time then ever to spend with God but instead because our normal routines have not been the same we have not been giving him enough time or the time we are spending with him has become a request session of all the things we need him to fix. You see when you become a Christian and accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour you need to develop a relationship with Him, and you do this by spending time with him every day.
There is an old bible song which reminds us of this and puts its very simply- “Read your bible, pray everyday and you will grow, grow, grow.” We should be excited about spending time with Jesus each day and listening for Gods voice speaking to us and guiding us.
In the bible there are lots of verses that remind and encourage us to do this and one that we will hear today is in Matthew 6 5-9 where it tells us to go into a room, close the door and pray to God, getting rid of distractions, seek him on our own regularly, spend time on God’s word and what is he saying to us. Therefore we need to be so careful not to allow the distractions of life to stop us from doing this and developing our personal friendship with Jesus. Jesus is the best friend we will ever have and need.
So this is a time to stop and think are we doing this or did we need to be reminded this morning how important making time for God each and every day is. Now don’t panic if you are listening thinking I didn’t know this or have been forgetting because this is what God does, HE knows we need reminders sometimes and he prompts us to get back into good habits.
So boys and girls/ young people it’s a good idea to have something to use to help guide your time with God each day. It may be a bible app on your phone, you get daily bible study books or there are lots of online resources. If you need help to find something, then please speak to your mum or dad or Claire or Gary.
Now Gary is going to share more about this later on in the service and something that I thought would be a good challenge for us all to go away and do this week was to share what we like to use to help guide us in the time we spend with God each day. So I would like you to email the name the book you use, the name of a podcast or app you use or the link to an online resource you use.
You will all know that I am a teacher and as I teacher I like nothing better than we a colleague shares a new resource with me that I didn’t know about and it then helps me to teach/explain things to my pupils. Well it is the same for us in church we should want to help and support each other to grow in our faith and by sharing the different daily deviational resources we use with each other we can do this. So if you email them to me then I will compile a list then send it to Isdale to include in our weekly newssheet so that everyone can see what is available.
Before we sing let’s pray:
Dear Lord and loving heavenly father, we thank you that you love us, we thank you that you loved us so much you were prepared to send your one and only son to take our place on the cross for all the wrong things we think, say and do, we thank you that you are always there, we thank you that you give us daily reminders of how much we are loved, we thank you that you give us daily reminders through your words in the bible of how we should live our lives.
Please Lord help and support us to remember everyday to spend time with you reading your words and speaking to you in prayer, please help us not to be distracted from doing this, please fire us an excitement in us all to want to do this and help us to also encourage others to do the same.
In Jesus precious and wonderful name we pray,
Amen
All Age Song: My Lighthouse
Bible Readings
John 10: 2 – 5 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
Matthew 6: 5 – 9
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Message – Hearing God’s Voice Personally
A couple of weeks ago I was reflecting on the particular aspect of God’s vision;
“Looking to Christ”
And as we reflect on the glory of Christ, with unveiled faces, we are overwhelmed by His love and grace. And we can then reflect His glory to others in ever-increasing glory!
I have felt led today to continue with the theme of “Looking to Christ”, falling in love with Jesus and encountering Him, so am going to reflect today on “Hearing God’s voice personally.”
Are we doing this? Is this our experience and How does Jesus teach us to pray, to commune with our Father, to fully develop our relationship with God through Jesus by Hearing God’s voice regularly in our rhythm of life. To attune ourselves to the voice of Jesus personally.
In John 10; 2 – 5, as we read earlier Jesus says;
“The Sheep listen to my voice” so as we follow Jesus, we will be people that can recognise the voice of Jesus and LISTEN TO IT!
“He calls us by name” Do you know that Jesus calls you by name and if you will let Him, he will “lead you out”.
“They follow Him” because they “know His voice”
How do we get to know the voice of Jesus – well he teaches us, but what he also says in John 10; 5;
“But they will never follow a stranger in fact they will run away from him because they do not recognise a strangers voice” – so knowing and hearing the voice of Jesus clearly, regularly and importantly being able to discern, when it is His voice. Being a Christian, which is being a disciple of Jesus, a follower of Jesus – is not about rules, its not about ritual, its not even about following religious practices – it is about developing a relationship with God which comes only by faith in Jesus Christ, because of His sacrifice on the cross and developing a daily, devoted, relationship with Jesus.
Illustration
I want to take you back to when you met the love of your life – when you fell in love.
What did it feel like?
Remember the butterflies, as you got yourself ready, as the clock ticked down to when you met them.
You just couldn’t wait to spend time with them, that was what you looked forward to most, in your week, in your life – indeed everything revolved around this. You got so excited about the prospect of seeing them!!
I wonder how many of us have the same excitement of spending time with Jesus, after all, if we are disciples of Jesus, if we claim to be Christians & followers of Jesus – He is our first love after all. Spending time with Jesus then ought to be a daily priority, spending time with Jesus in prayer, meditating on God’s word – and hearing His voice speak into our lives and guiding us is the way to develop this daily, vibrant, Spirit-filled Christian’s experience, at least most of the time. So let us reflect on the passage we read earlier about what Jesus teaches about how not to pray and indeed how to pray.
How not to pray, Matthew 6; 5
Jesus clearly shows us the way not to pray. Some people especially the religious leaders wanted to be seen as “holy” and public prayers was one of the ways to get that attention. Jesus saw through this act of self-righteousness, however. There is a place for public prayer, but to pray only when others will notice you, indicates your real audience is not God!
As Jesus says “They have received their reward in full” only because people are looking at them and that is all they will get – because importantly he knows their hearts and motives. Jesus also comments on using more words than we need. He was addressing the pagans at the time, who thought God could be bullied into giving in if they prayed long enough – Jesus says “Do not be like them” v 8
What matters you see is “motive” If prayers are done with an eye on the crowd, then Jesus calls this “hypocritical” – What matters is learning to pray simply to and for God himself. For this reason Jesus now gives quite specific instructions into how to develop a prayer life – as prayer is not just about talking to God – but more about listening to Him. This is how a relationship with God is developed day by day, and is deepened. So how does Jesus instruct us?
How to pray, Matthew 6; v 6
Jesus says “BUT when you PRAY, go into your room, CLOSE the door and PRAY to your Father who is UNSEEN”
So when you pray “Go into your room” This is about finding a personal space, a private space, a room in your house, a seat by your bed, in your living room – but it becomes regularly the “go to place” – It can be outdoors, but difficult to close the door and might be raining!!
“Go into your room and CLOSE the door” Close the door – This is a really important part of Jesus’ instruction in “how to pray” What does this mean and signify? It means you are taking seriously your need to be ALONE WITH GOD.
Why? Because when you close the door, there are no other distractions. You have intentionally closed the door and who else is with you in the room? No one else is physically with you in the room, but spiritually you are with “Your Father in Heaven – As Jesus prays “Our Father in Heaven” That is who is with you, present by the Holy Spirit.
What does this say to God about you? You are intentionally making yourself AVAILABLE TO GOD, only you, only Him – you are putting God first. When you do this, what does it mean – Love is spelled T.I.M.E
In James 4; 8 it says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Remember Moses and the Burning Bush, it was about proximity and as Moses drew closer to the Bush, God spoke to him – he felt the presence of God and heard the voice of God. It is the same here in what Jesus is teaching us today.
Other element is faith. Matthew 6; 6 Pray to your Father who is UNSEEN”
What does it say being in a room, on your own – there is no other physical person there. Remember you have closed the door to the world, you are saying no to every other person but yes to Jesus. That is what Jesus is teaching us, if you want to pray, and you need to pray, if you want to meet with God, hear his voice – THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO – No more and no less, but it is scaringly simple isn’t it!
So spiritually in FAITH, you are communing with your heavenly Father and faith you see is a vital element.
The bleeding woman healed by Jesus, Mark 5; 34 Jesus says – “Your FAITH has healed you”
The Roman Centurion who knew Jesus could heal his servant from a distance in Luke 7; 9, Jesus says – “I tell you I have not found such great FAITH in Israel”
Blind Bartimaeus healed by Jesus, Mark 10; 52, Jesus says – “Go your FAITH has healed you.”
“Without FAITH it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he REWARDS those who earnestly seek him” WOW!! Hebrews 11; 6 (Read again)
Jesus teaching on prayer “Go into your room – on your own – close the door – and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret WILL REWARD YOU”
Is this your experience just now? Are you hearing God’s voice speaking into your life, into your calling for Him, regularly?
Psalm 84 that I read at the start of the service;
“How lovely is YOUR DWELLING PLACE, O Lord Almighty
MY SOUL YEARNS, EVEN FAINTS FOR (WHERE??) THE COURTS OF THE LORD
MY HEART AND MY FLESH (IN OTHER WORDS MY WHOLE BEING)CRY OUT FOR THE LIVING GOD” WOW!! To be more like this in my life…
Is this something we yearn for, cry out for, you, me, individually, as a church, in these times, in any times.
Maybe you’ve become dry, struggling to hear God’s voice in your life, maybe because you are not yearning, heart and flesh, your whole being.
It can though be you – our – experience – Jesus says – “Go into your room – close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen”
“Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” Matthew 6; 6
With what?
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you – your reward is;
The listening ear of the God of the universe, who loves you and longs to draw you into deeper, relationship and revelation ….
The presence of the God of the universe – Psalm 46; 10 says “BE STILL (BE QUIET, SHUT UP) AND YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM GOD!”
The guidance of the God of the universe – by meditating, stopping and allowing the word of God to enfold you, and guide you into the day Proverbs 3; 5 & 6 “Trust in the Lord in with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in ALL your ways acknowledge him AND HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT!”
As we reflected last time, being aware of God’s overwhelming love and lavish grace – “In him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of GOD’S GRACE WHICH HE LAVISHED ON US!” Ephesians 1; 7 – 9.
As I have been seeking God’s direction on my life recently I have been so blessed to be guided to a Lectio 365 from the 24/7 Prayer Movement which is based around Lectio Divina an ancient prayer pattern;
P R A Y
P Pause, breath slowly and re-centre my scattered senses upon the presence of God.
R Rejoice with all God’s saints by reflecting/meditating on a couple of verses from a Psalm
A Ask, that God would reveal something new to me about Him and me by meditating on a short piece of scripture.
Return to the passage
Y Pray for my heart to YIELD to your will once again.
Followed by a prayer that I will use at the end, amazingly simple but been amazing to sense the daily presence of God and Him speaking into my life and guiding me step by step in what God is calling me too.
So how do we “Hear God’s voice personally”? Are you seeking God, “LOOKING TO CHRIST” and having that expectancy to listen for and hear God’s voice?
Or maybe today, you come feeling a bit dry, struggling to make that time – for your first love in Jesus. Is this a regular rhythm in your life, do you have that desire or, if you are honest you have lost this – if so cry out to God today, in repentance and ask for His help to re-commit yourself to Him, to surrender to Him, consecrate your life to Him and ask Him to give you that desire – to reawaken that desire in your life.
Is God calling you to a deeper, richer relationship.
If that is you I will leave a bit of quiet shortly for your own private time – but if you would like help or support or prayer into your life then please contact myself, Brian, the deacons, Alan or Pat and if there is sufficient interest and desire we can always put on a short practical course to enable you in not only how to set aside time but to give you a framework into how to practice the presence of Jesus.
To develop a relationship – there are no shortcuts – you have to have firstly that desire and be wiling to spend time and as Jesus says “Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you “ in amazing ways, speaking to you, guiding you, overwhelming you every day with his amazing love and grace.
I am just going to leave a short time of quiet for your own prayer and reflection – what is God by His Holy Spirit saying to you – how will you respond – now….
Let us pray;
“Father – help me to live this week to the full, being true to you in every way.
Jesus – help me to give myself away to others, being kind to everyone I meet.
Spirit – help me to love the lost, proclaiming Christ in all I do or say.
Amen.”
Our song before we come to communion is: The Power of the Cross
The Lord’s Supper
Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.
Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’
Our closing song is: How great is our God
Closing Prayer
Dear Loving Heavenly Father
Thank you for your presence with us today. Father thank you for speaking into our lives – be it through song, quiet, communion, prayers or through your word.
May you by your Holy Spirit lead us into the week that is ahead; for times that will be good, for times when it may be a real struggle.
In the midst of all this let us be a people that will seek to put you first in our lives, by having that desire to spend time with you and to hear your voice, clearly, speaking into our lives. We pray that all we do will be for the glory of Christ.
Amen.
Benediction: The Grace
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God
and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore, Amen
Remember tonight the national online prayer service at 7pm in Scotland
JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:15am on the Zoom platform –parents of teenagers can get a link code by contacting Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com
We will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm. This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Please join in and, if you don’t already do so, would you let your fellowship know about this and put it on your social media. Click here to access.
Jam Kids
Here are the links to the new series from Out of the Box for JAM Kids age group.
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples. 4 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
Psalm 96: 1-4
We are grateful to Fiona Small for selecting the songs for worship for this service
Our opening song of praise and worship is:
https://youtu.be/61CJdXmxxLU
We continue to worship the Lord in our second song of praise and worship:
https://youtu.be/n32ACTdNASo
Opening prayer
Thank you Lord for the privilege of praising and worshipping You today. You are the great and almighty God in whose presence we are privileged to be this morning. We have gathered to glorify Your holy and majestic name. We are mindful of the invitation of the psalmist to ‘Declare [Your] glory among the nations; [Your] marvellous deeds among all peoples’.
We come with thanksgiving because we have much to thank you for. Many blessings are ours at this time. You truly are great and ‘most worthy of praise’.
Once more we come confessing our sin and asking for Your forgiveness. So grateful that You are a loving and merciful God who forgives Your penitent children who come humbly before You acknowledging our sins of thought and word and deed. We ask for a fresh anointing with the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to live lives pleasing to You in the coming week. We bring our praises and prayers in the name of Jesus, Your Son, our Saviour, Amen.
Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:
‘Our Father in heaven, who art in heaven hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'” For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever Amen.
All Age Talk: Alan McRobbie
Imagine that you are sitting outside late at night. You look up and what do you see? Stars! Hundreds and hundreds of beautiful shining stars. Some are twinkling, while others are making pictures in the night sky.
Who do you think created the stars? The answer is God. The Bible says “The Heaven’s declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).
The stars don’t speak with words like we do, but they speak in their own way. Every time we see stars they are a reminder of the God who created them.
We are not the only people who can see the stars. They can be seen all over the Earth by all people on Earth. In some places in the world there are people who don’t know about God.
The stars can speak to these people by making them wonder who created the stars and maybe someday they will understand that there is a God who created the stars and controls the universe.
When we think about how wonderful the stars are it might seem like they are one of God’s most wonderful creations. But there is something that God created that He cares for even more than the stars. Can you guess what it is? Us! God’s love for us is even greater than all the stars in the sky. Watch this film:
All Age Song
https://youtu.be/ty9bZXN4uWA
Prayers for others
We give thanks for the beauty of God’s creation given for us to enjoy and care for. We pray that as a family of churches in Scotland, we can find ways to steward our environment better and use resources carefully
We give thanks that those in the shielding category are now able to get out and have more freedom to meet with others. We pray for those who are nervous and wary about leaving the safety of home. We pray for peace and protection for them.
We give thanks for the online Induction of Matt Alexander to Wick BC yesterday and for Martin Hodson, our General Director who took part in that online service.
We pray for all churches across Scotland as they consider when and how best to reopen for worship in a safe way at this time. Pray for God’s guidance and wisdom as church leadership teams across Scotland make plans for the coming months.
In our Baptist Union of Scotland we also remember to pray for:
Ivy Young (Ministry Administrator) – Ivy states: I’m grateful to God for His goodness and faithfulness throughout this past year. Please pray for me as I continue to support Jim Purves and Andrew Clarke in our national staff team in their work with our ministers and churches. I would also appreciate prayer for my family, for the challenges and opportunities presented as we navigate life through work, university and school.
Hopeman BC – We pray also for the fellowship at Hopeman Baptist as they seek to be salt and light in their community during these challenging times.
Inverkeithing BC – We praise God, no-one has had the Coronavirus illness in their fellowship and God has drawn many of us closer together as friends in prayer. We pray for them as they continue to grieve over the death of their beloved pastor, Ross Brown, so soon after his retirement. They never got to say goodbye as a church after 20 years of ministry. We pray for a new vision and way forward for this congregation.
Inverness BC – We give thanks for this city-centre church. We pray for the church as they seek to make Jesus known in the city of Inverness.
We now pray for other people with particular needs that are connected to our own congregation: We ask that you would comfort those who have been bereaved in recent weeks. Help them to come to terms with their loss and to know Your presence with them each step of the way. We remember those with ongoing health problems like John Cairney, and those like Jim and Helen Simpson that have been waiting a long time for hospital treatment or operations, together with some older members struggling with declining health.
We also pray for those in residential care like Gwen Paterson and Sylvia Williamson and others shielding in their homes who are acutely conscious of the restrictions they have had on their movements. We remember in particular Grace C recovering at home after breaking an ankle; for Ali Torbet’s mum still in hospital and for her dad at home.
We also pray for Chris and Helen Danielson as they move this week to Campbeltown. We are so thankful that they have now obtained a house on a temporary basis while they search for a more permanent home in the area. We also pray for Hamish Rice as he prepares for the coming year of mission work in France and Niamh Shiel as she prepares for starting her Ministry Training Scheme in St Andrews.
We also remember … In addition, we bring our own needs to You at this time …, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.
Bible Reading
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him, 2 and He began to teach them. He said: 3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 ‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5: 1-12
Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing:
The Message
Pre-recorded message
Introduction
Over the next few years, although we hope the worst of the virus pandemic is over, we will have to get used to living with the uncertainty that our lives and circumstances could change quite markedly.
What we might do in our schools, colleges and universities or workplaces might change significantly in ways we had not anticipated at the start of 2020; likewise, church life too will not be the same again. However, as we live by faith, trusting in God to take care of our future, these verses speak about the kind of people we should be regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
The beatitudes spoken by Jesus in the opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount two thousand years ago are qualities that a high proportion of people are happy to commend as a good way to live, but far too often most people, including many Christian people, think they are an idealistic vision of how things ought to be, rather than a declaration of what God desires in our lives in the world today.
What is particularly importance to notice is that all these statements are intended to describe a present reality not a future aspiration. They are like a series of mirrors on a wall that invite us to stop and reflect on what we see and consider how close to what we ought to be is the image portrayed powerfully in front of us.
Mirrors or photographs, when not altered by photoshop or some similar technology, are a statement about what is actually seen on the day in question! There are few of us alive who have never grimaced at a photograph of ourselves and declared that it is not going to go in the family album- if you are still creating them!
The truth is not always particularly pleasant. None of us is getting any younger. New clothes or finally getting a haircut after weeks in lock down may enable us to look better for a time, but they cannot halt the march of time!
In I Timothy Paul uses this word makarios (Blessed) with reference to God in I Timothy 1:11: …the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which He entrusted to me. And also in I Timothy 6:15: …God, the blessedand only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
In essence, the kinds of qualities referenced when this word is used are associated with the character of God and how He conducts Himself. They are a model for a right view of ourselves, and the basis for relationships with other people in our families, church and wider community. There are introductory remarks from Matthew that set the scene for this famous Sermon in Matthew 5:1-2 that state: Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him, 2 and He began to teach them. Then Jesus declares the first beatitude in Matthew 5:3: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
1. The confusion about this quality – What it does not mean
(a)Mean-spirited There are a vocal minority of people in our land who might fit into this category. They may make loud and belligerent noises that we stop, for example, the international aid budget and spend all the money on people in need at home. Our reply to such people will always be a ‘yes-but’ response; needy people at home should be taken care of from public funds, that is one reason why we pay our taxes to the Government.
In one of the richest countries in the world everyone should have a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs, food on the table and the basic necessities of life that enable each individual to participate in society. Yet to restrict our vision to the needy at home is inadequate. As one of the most significant countries on the international stage we must play our part in helping the genuinely needy overseas as well. The majority of people get that thankfully. There are so many circumstances in daily life covered here.
Life can never just be about me and my needs; it must always be about us collectively and our needs. During the current Covid-19 virus pandemic it has been so encouraging to see so many people offering to serve their communities in whatever way they were needed. In our local Food Bank in Broughty Ferry approximately fifty people have helped in different ways to ensure that those who needed food provision had their needs met.
In a family, Church family, local community or country, this principle is applicable across the range of life circumstances. You will think of your own examples here, but a way of living that is primarily about me and what I want must be challenged by the follower of Jesus as a most inadequate way to live. We live in communities so it is about ‘us’ and ‘our’ needs, not ‘me’ and ‘my’ preferences as the priority.
(b) Intellectual povertyThere are people who boast about not knowing things; in the 1840s and 1850s there was an American Political Party called the ‘(Native) American Party’. It emerged out of the popular ‘Know Nothing movement’.
It gained this name because its adherents were instructed to simply reply “I know nothing” when asked about its specific policiesby outsiders, thus providing the group with its unusual name! The Know Nothing movement managed to get a member Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, a former Union General in the USA Civil War, elected as a member of the US Senate. He was later Speaker of the House of Representatives, in the lower house of the American Parliament. Boasting about wilful ignorance is not at all pleasing to God. ‘Ignorance can never be bliss’ or ever welcomed.
I remember my former College Principal at the Scottish Baptist College in Glasgow, a fairly mild-mannered man, overhearing one of my fellow students boasting to other students about not taking time to study something. We got a passionate speech from the Principal about the sin of ignorance committed by those who have opportunities to gain knowledge or skills and choose not to bother.
The book of Proverbs again has plenty to say on this subject. Proverbs 3:13-14: Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. Another reference on this topic is even more pointed. The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding (Proverbs 4:7).
(c) A poor self-image One of the most important qualifications to be made here is that it does not mean having a poor self-image or envisioned as someone with serious self-esteem issues so that they have little confidence in anything for themselves, let alone for others or for God. This is not what this beatitude is about!
There are plenty of people who struggle with their self-image or self-esteem because of their appearance in a world where photo-shopped, brushed up images of glamorous models star out of the pages of magazines with figures and an appearance that has only a passing semblance to the person who got out of bed that morning.
The problem is that too many people actually think these individuals look like that in real life when too often it is not the case or that they literally starve themselves of adequate nutrition in their diet to look horribly thin to please the clients that hire them for photo-shoots.
We live in a society that values people in accordance with their social status, their wealth or their occupation; over the years I have met a few people who looked down on others and were not afraid to say so. Thankfully only rarely have I experienced it in a church context.
I was profoundly shocked to hear one particular individual who was volunteering to be added to a door-stewarding rota not because they were particularly keen on welcoming new people in, but in order to keep unsuitable people out!
They were much more specific than that, but that individual was kept away from visitors to that church as far as the leaders could manage it.
Genesis 1:26-27 states: Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ 27 So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God He created them;male and female He created them.
Every human being on the planet of both genders must grasp the truth of these verses. You are special because God created you equally in His image as much as the Queen or the Prime Minister or as a beggar on the streets. There are no exceptions! This is a fundamental issue to grasp if we are going to accomplish anything at school, in our career or vocation or whatever we do with our lives.
If my life is valuable then I must take care of my body to feed it appropriately; exercise it adequately and get the rest I need to renew and refresh it, for example; likewise with my mind I can be so enriched and stimulated with books I can read; music I can listen to or other forms of intellectual stimulation that may be for pleasure not always for work! All of creation is God’s – arts as well as sciences and we can be blessed by experiencing something of a range of diverse and profitable stimuli in these fields.
(d)A particular temperament There are some very confident charismatic personalities who can sometimes be fun to be around. But there are equally others who are naturally shy and retiring and find it hard to speak in public or do certain things that someone with an extrovert personality wouldn’t think twice about. Our temperaments are God-given and part of who we are; God intended us to have a mix of temperaments otherwise social interactions in a range of settings would be, for example, less stimulating and less creative.
(e) ‘false humility’ The character Uriah Heep in Charles Dicken’s novel David Copperfield was always reminding people that he was ‘but a very ‘umble person’. It was believed that this character was based on someone Dickens knew personally, but there are individuals who exhibit similar insincerity in every generation.
In some cases it is a mannerism practiced by people who are constantly fishing for compliments. By contrast it can be an excuse used by others to try and get out of tasks they are more than qualified to undertake. We might see Moses in this category, in Exodus 4:10-13, where he pretends he is inadequately qualified to lead the nation of Israel despite the fact that his high school education had been undertaken in the Egyptian equivalent of Eton College alongside crown princes and the sons of other leading figures in the nobility in that land.
Moses said to the Lord, ‘Pardon Your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.’ 11 The Lord said to him, ‘Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.’ 13 But Moses said, ‘Pardon Your servant, Lord. Please send someone else. (Exodus 4:10-13)
2. The Characteristics of this quality in my life: what it does mean
(a)Knowing yourself All of us have strengths and weaknesses; all of us have interests and desires, hopes and ambitions; a range of skills that may include certain sports or the ability to play musical instruments or dramatic skills, for example. Praise God for a few individuals that are multi-talented people who seemed to be highly qualified to do many things and treasure them! When we know ourselves well we know there are strengths we can increase and have an idea how that might happen.
There are some areas of weakness that may never be strengths, but we can by significant effort make them less of a weakness. Knowing ourselves can help avoid making sometimes serious mistakes in career choices or help us form more healthy relationships with other people, for example, than might otherwise be the case. The people who have accepted who they are in Christ are more able to accept other people for who they are as well.
A person seriously struggling with their own identity may have real issues accepting other people and developing quality relationships with them. A person who is constantly feeling the need to ‘put down’ other people or who finds it really difficult to applaud the achievements of others has probably either failed to come to terms with their own identity or has yet to reach the place where they can accept it.
(b) Accepting yourself God created you to be you. You might have preferred to look like someone else you admire; you might have wished to have the gifts and abilities you observe in other people rather than the apparently lesser ones you believe you possess. What is important here is to grasp that God does not make mistakes. He created you and me to be that person.
Once we can come to terms with who we are then it can make some aspects of life less difficult to handle. It can also more positively affirm some of our strengths that we had overlooked by trying to be someone else. It is good to be ambitious and to set ourselves goals. But if you are over forty and have never displayed conspicuous skills with a football in earlier life there is no point hoping to get picked to play professionally with Dundee or Dundee United. It isn’t going to happen!
There is, though, a place for all of our skills. It is true in church life too as Paul explained with his image of the body in I Corinthians 12:16-20: And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.All of us have a part to play, or gifts to contribute. This is really important to grasp.
(c) Accepting circumstances How do I handle circumstances that do not go the way I think they should? Do I react angrily and let myself and the Lord down by the words I use or the attitude I have taken? All of us at times will have situations like this in different contexts. There will be those times when we need to pause for reflection and think carefully before uttering words. Can I view situations from the perspective of another person or other people? Do I understand where someone else is coming from, even if I do not agree with their line of argument?
This is very important because if we can understand why someone else might come to a different conclusion to ourselves then it is much more likely that our tone of response will be more moderate and considered than if we feel unfairly treated or deeply disappointed if a decision does not go our way.
The apostle Paul wrote these powerful words in Philippians 4:11: I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I know that I still have a lot to learn on this matter. I suspect it took Paul a lot of years before he could honestly say these words. His fiery temper in his youth had to be conquered long before he could even contemplate writing or thinking these words of guidance to this lovely Greek congregation. In addition, Jesus is not asking us to call wrong choices in the past right and vice versa. It is a call to release ourselves from the successes and failures of the past to be free to live in the present and the future in the way God wants us to do.
(d) A right attitude to possessions A person who is genuinely poor in spirit does not find their highest satisfaction and joy in acquiring things; rather their desire is supremely to delight in God and to serve Him. Paul in the same letter continued with these words: I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want (Philippians 4:12).
People who are poor in spirit do not value a person who comes into their local church, for example, on the basis of their wealth or social status, but genuinely welcomes each and every newcomer who comes in. Jesus, in response to an invitation to arbitrate between two men over the contents of a will made this comment in Luke 12:15: Then He said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’
I think the current covid-19 virus pandemic will have caused a lot of people to think quite seriously about what is really important to them. It is alarming in our Western society how many professing Christians make shipwreck of their spiritual lives because of having too great a focus on acquiring more money through a better paid job, but at too high a personal and spiritual cost. Success in business can be something honouring to God, but it can also be the exact opposite. It depends on how a business is conducted.
Jesus’ story of the rich farmer in Luke 12:16-21 illustrated that perfectly when God’s verdict on that man’s life was this: ‘But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” 21 ‘This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God.’ Paul, in I Timothy 6:10 explained what the problem was here. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 6:19-21:‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(e) Accepting God’s will for your life This can be a real challenge for us. Sometimes we know exactly what God wants us to do in a situation and things go to plan. However, there are many and sometimes more situations where we may genuinely be unsure what God’s will might be for me or for my family or my church family in particular situations?
At a personal level for someone engaged in finding employment, it may be a good work situation where two options come up both of which are available and appear equally appropriate under the circumstances. If we genuinely have prayed to the Lord openly willing to accept His choice and both paths remain open it may be that either may be equally acceptable in the will of God. It may not be the case that in every situation there has to be a wrong and a right choice; equally both choices may be out or both choices available. Other factors will need to come into play as we seek to discern what the Lord might be saying in the situation.
Often what God has laid on our hearts takes much longer to come to pass than we had expected and sometimes that pathway never opens up for us. We need to entrust things to the Lord and leave them with Him when we face these puzzling situations. We must also be cautious that God declining our request may actually be a blessing to us. There are situations where we do not realize some of the consequences of God granting our request. This is especially the case of us asking for something that will be harmful for us. There will be times in our lives when if we really saw the full picture we would say ‘thank you’ to God for declining our requests.
3. Cultivating this quality in my life in summary
(i) Accepting God’s view of my life Trust that God knows what He is doing with our lives. Romans 12:3 states: For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. We must believe that our loving Father is watching over us and knows what we need.
(ii) Acknowledging His lordship over my life on a daily basisJesus said in John 15:5: If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. Through our times of Bible reading and prayer to seek to cultivate a close relationship with the Lord;
(iii) Keeping Jesus as the model we emulateHumility primarily comes not from focusing on our sins and lamenting them, but meditating on the goodness of God and His kindness to us (Romans 2:4:Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?)
(iv)Taking opportunities given to us in service …Serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13); If God has greater blessings to come allow Him to open the door of opportunity in His time, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.
Our song before we come to communion is: ‘By the grace of God’
The Lord’s Supper
Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.
Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’
Our closing song is:
Closing Prayer:
Thank you heavenly Father for the privilege of spending time in Your presence today. Thank You for Your Holy Bible that is a mirror on which to reflect how our lives are going and a signpost to direct our feet in the way we should go in the present and the future. Help us in this new week to honour You in all our attitudes, speech and conduct, for Jesus’ sake Amen.
Benediction: The Grace
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore, Amen
Morning worship online has moved to start at 10am and JAM at 11:30am on the Zoom platform
You may want to use some of these resources for daily worship during this week
This link takes you to the Rooted Family series for JAM Kids. There is a video to watch and family discussion material for each week.
https://outofthebox.me.uk/rooted-family-series/
JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:30am on the Zoom platform –parents of teenagers can get a link code by contacting Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com
We will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm on Sunday 26 July 2020. This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Please join in and, if you don’t already do so, would you let your fellowship know about this and put it on your social media. Click here to access.
Call to worship: Psalm 1; 1 – 3
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
Our opening song of praise and worship is: “What a beautiful name it is”
We continue to worship the Lord in our second song of praise and worship: “I am who you say I am”
Opening prayer:
Loving heavenly Father,
As we gather for worship this morning, we can say, how beautiful is the name of Jesus, how wonderful is the name of Jesus, how powerful is the name of Jesus. We come in awe of you, your majesty which reaches up to the heavens, and your love which stooped so low to be born as a baby in a smelly manger.
Thank you for your love, thank you for your grace, which sets us free from the power of sin and death.
We come afresh confessing, how often we stray from how you want us to be in thought, word, deed or not even doing what we know you ask us to do. Please forgive us.
We pray today as we come we may indeed “delight in the law of the Lord”, may we delight in the opportunity to study your word and not just do this out of ritual – but seek to be touched by and changed by it.
We offer ourselves now in worship to you, come Holy Spirit, we invite you to have your way among us today, not what we would will but may your will be done in our lives and worship today.
For we pray in the powerful name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
All Age Talk: Gary Torbet
“Metamorphosis – From caterpillar to beautiful” Video
That was a beautiful video with such amazing imagery – the process of metamorphosis as a caterpillar miraculously is transformed into a beautiful butterfly. Another piece of God’s amazing creation!
That is what we are reflecting on later in the service, and I am using the imagery of the butterfly to illustrate what can happen when we put our trust in Jesus. Just like in the video we can be rid of our old selves – our sin, by accepting the forgiveness of Jesus, then as we gaze on the glory of God shown in Jesus – He can transform us by His Holy Spirit into something so beautiful. Into the likeness of Jesus Christ – hands up, thumbs up, who would like to be more like Jesus this week. I would!!
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” 2 Corinthians 3; 18.
When we say Jesus – “I put my trust in you – I accept your forgiveness – I want to gaze, to reflect, to focus on your glory Jesus – Please give me the power of your Holy Spirit – to become more like Jesus”
If you, we say that, Jesus will come and each day turn you into a beautiful child of God reflecting his glory to others. We are going to sing about that now.
All Age Song:“Shine” with actions
This time tomorrow – Update from Project Footsteps Team including video (3mins);
Project Footsteps – Fundraising for Tearfund and Carpathian Aid
Project Footsteps is made up of members of Broughty Ferry Baptist’s Youth Group and aims to support a number of different charities as best we can. We fundraise for causes that we believe in and try to shed light on areas of the world that are less fortunate than we are. We are now planning to do some fundraising for Tearfund – more specifically their work to support people in Yemen – and Carpathian Aid – to send desperately needed support to Casa Harului. Both charities need our support at this time as coronavirus has understandably had a huge impact on people in both Yemen and Romania.
Yemen is currently trying to fight off cholera, famine, a war, and covid-19 all at the same time. This paired with their already struggling economic and healthcare systems has led to the country suffering from the worst humanitarian crisis of the last 100 years. Major news sites such as Sky News have predicted that coronavirus will “delete Yemen from maps all over the world”.
Quite simply, without help, the people of Yemen will not survive this. We decided we wanted to do something to offer any relief we can to Yemen, and we thought the best way to do this would be a sponsored walk. We have mapped the distance from Dundee to Al Hudayah in Yemen, and we hope that if enough people join in, we can walk the 4924 mile distance between the 1st of August and the 26th of September. If you can pledge to walk, run, swim or cycle even a short distance it would make such a difference to these people but if you are unable to do this, you can sponsor any of the people taking part or simply donate to our Just Giving page and help us smash our goal of £500.
As most of you know, our church has had a very close relationship with both Carpathian Aid and Romania for many years. Every year, members of our church travel out to Casa Harului in Romania to help the people there and offer much needed support. This year a group was due to go out to Romania around this time, however due to the covid-19 pandemic, they could not travel out and the camps were cancelled.
This has left the camp with no income for most of 2020, as well as depriving many children of a much-needed couple of weeks of fun and biblical teaching. To raise money for Casa Harului, we are putting together a live online concert. Even though it deeply saddens us that we cannot meet together, we want to share our music with you and hopefully raise some money for a really important cause at the same time. Some of our church’s young musicians are all coming together over zoom for what is shaping up to be a wonderful night of music making. Confirmed details will follow shortly, we hope to see you there!
Thank you in advance for your support with these projects. If we all come together, we can help some of those who are really struggling to get through this pandemic.
Bible reading ; 2 Corinthians 3; 7 – 18
The Greater Glory of the New Covenant
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Prayers for others – Led by Alison O’Brien
Dear Lord
We thank you for the opportunity of meeting together today via Zoom and ask that you bless our time together as we remember others.
We pray for those at this time suffering from illness or frailty or from corona virus and ask that you would be with them and improve their health. We pray for all those involved in caring professions especially in hospitals and care homes and ask for your protection as they go about their day to day work.
We pray for the government and those in leadership positions as they continue to make decisions regarding the easing of lockdown restrictions especially as we await final decisions on the return of schools. We are thankful for the opportunities that we can enjoy since some of the restrictions have been lifted.
We give thanks that in the UK the numbers of those currently affected by Corona virus has reduced over the last few weeks. However we pray for those Countries which are still experiencing increases in numbers and do not have the health care services which we enjoy here. We remember the US, Brazil, India and South Africa and ask that you be with health professionals in these countries.
We remember Churches locally, nationally and abroad that they can continue their witness through these difficult times. We pray for our own church as the deacons make preparations for starting services and grant wisdom for the decisions that require to be made.
We pray for the churches in our Baptist Union including:
High Blantyre Baptist Church – as they continue to adjust to Zoom services and midweek Bible studies and for the non Christian contacts reached through the Church facebook page
Hillhead Baptist Church – give thanks to God for enabling to retain a sense of community during this time via Sunday services and midweek groups, and the blessing of being joined by family and friends on other continents as well as throughout the UK each week
Hillview & Kintore Community Church – ask us to pray for creativity, energy and wisdom as they seek to share Jesus’ light and love.
We remember those in our own fellowship who are grieving from losing loved ones recently and ask that you comfort them at this time. We pray for those awaiting hospital appointments and treatment and ask that you strengthen them over the coming weeks.
We pray for those in the fellowship on holiday or enjoying time off from the routine of work and ask that you refresh them. We pray for the teachers in our fellowship as they prepare for returning to a classroom situation. We remember all the children as they think about returning to the structure of nursery or school and for those preparing for university and the challenges which they currently face. We pray for those who are facing difficult work situations or financial worries and ask that you grant them peace.
Lord we thank you for the world that you have given us to look after. Help us to enjoy the many blessings which you give us each day.
We pray in Jesus name.
Amen
Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing: King of Kings – a fairly new song!
When we are reflecting on the glory of the new covenant in Christ, I want us to remember the beautiful imagery of the caterpillar and it’s transformation into something much more beautiful – a butterfly. In the same way, by the power of the Holy Spirit how God can, and will if we let Him, can transform us into the beauty of the likeness of Christ.
V 7 -11 The comparison of the old and new covenants
Paul was recalling the old way, the stone tablets had written the Old Covenant, the Law and Ten Commandments. He identified the “Law” as a “ministry that condemns/brings death” (verse 7) as operating under the law can only condemn those who fail to meet its demands. However, under the new covenant of Grace, which Jesus has brought through his death on the cross, this is a ministry which brings “righteousness/right standing before God” (verse 9). You see under this provision, those, you, me who are certainly guilty of sin, are nevertheless accounted righteous by God – Hallelujah!!
The Law is nowhere near as glorious in what came by the new covenant – the new way of life in the HOLY SPIRIT – “will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious” (verse 8) The Holy Spirit was present at the creation of the world, as one of the agents in the origin of life itself. (Genesis 1; 2) The Holy Spirit is the power behind the rebirth of every Christian. The Holy Spirit is the power which enables us to live for Christ and as we shall see, be transformed.
I wonder if any of us, are trying to prove ourselves to God, trying to earn God’s approval, are tied to works in our own strength. Even in us coming to church or Broughty Baptist Live! as it is just now, coming to church in a religious even ritualistic way, operating under the law – for where the law reigns, there is no freedom, there is bondage. Rather than operating under the grace of Jesus, by faith, in that he alone can save us by his blood shed at the cross. It can be so tiresome trying to make yourself acceptable to God – and Jesus says, just come, come as you are, “I love you, have died for you – receive my salvation, my forgiveness, and receive the freedom only I can bring you!”
V 12 – 16 The veil is taken away which leads to freedom in Christ.
Paul also highlights the veil. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the Ten Commandments his face glowed from being in the presence of God (Exodus 34; 29 – 35). Moses had to put a veil on to stop the people from being terrified about the brightness of his face. Then in verse 16 – 17 it says “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” This brings eternal life and freedom from bondage, and when this happens that person can then become like a mirror reflecting God’s glory – no need for a veil, no chance of it fading.
Those who were trying to be saved by keeping the Old Testament Law were soon tied up in rules and ceremonies BUT now through the Holy Spirit, God provides freedom from sin & condemnation In Romans 8; 1 it says “Therefore, there is NOW no condemnation for those who are (where?) – in Christ Jesus.” Amen. Is that your experience, day by day – have you fully put your trust in Christ for your salvation. In Christ do you have freedom, have you fully surrendered your life to Him?
When we fully trust Christ to save us, he removes our heavy burden of trying to please him to earn salvation, and our guilt of having failed to do so. By trusting Christ we are:
“Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3; 17)
There is no remembrance of sin (Romans 4; 6 -8)
There is no condemnation for sin (Romans 8; 1)
We are children of God (John 1; 12)
So for us to reflect on – do we live in this freedom and also do we release others into this freedom as well – do we treat people with the same grace shown to us by Jesus – or in fact by the Law??
And that is not all;
In verse 18 it says
“And we, who have unveiled faces, all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
When the wife of missionary Adoniram Judson, told her husband that a local newspaper had likened him to some of the apostles, this is how he responded;
“I do not want to be like Paul, or any apostle, or any mere man. I want to be like CHRIST! I want to follow Him only, copy His teachings, drink in His Holy Spirit and place my feet in His footsteps. OH TO BE MORE LIKE CHRIST!”
So what is Paul saying here, 3 things –
So as I conclude today, let us reflect on our Church vision;
Looking to Christ – falling in love with Jesus, encountering Jesus in individual devotion and corporate worship
Growing in Christ – becoming a passionate follower, disciple of Jesus.
Sharing Christ – developing a growing desire and confidence to share the good news of Jesus with others.
As we come to Jesus today, what areas do we want to ask Him to help us with – so – as we refresh our knowledge and experience today of the new covenant, as we behold and see the glory of Christ. What areas do we need help in transformation this week – remember it is to be continuous and progressive!
We shall sing a song in a moment in way of response to what God has been saying to you today in this time of worship, and would encourage you to reflect on these questions – what is God saying to you today?
“That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”
I will now finish with a prayer that I have become familiar with through the 24/7 Prayer Movement devotional series “Lectio 365” Prayer;
Let us pray;
“Father – help me to live this week to the full, being true to you in every way.
Jesus – help me to give myself away to others, being kind to everyone I meet.
Spirit – help me to love the lost, proclaiming Christ in all I do or say.
Amen.”
Our song by way of response and as we come to communion is: ‘Behold our God’
The Lord’s Supper
Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.
Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’
Our closing song is: Yet not I but through Christ in me
Closing Prayer:
Father, thank you for the opportunity to come to you in worship, thank you for the freedom in which we do this.
Help us by your Holy Spirit to gaze afresh on your glory, to be transformed day by day and seek this coming week to reflect you to others.
May you continue to guide us, strengthen us, give us wisdom in all that we encounter this week and most of all your love to touch others that we meet.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Benediction: The Grace
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God
and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore, Amen
Remember tonight the national online prayer service at 7pm in Scotland
Jam Kids – This link takes you to the Rooted Family series for JAM Kids. There is a video to watch and family discussion material for each week.
JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:15am on the Zoom platform –parents of teenagers can get a link code by contacting Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com
(Online) Life and the Christian Faith course, August 7.30pm-9pm. A short introductory online course via Zoom/Skype that opens up conversation about life, faith and God for people who want to know and understand more. People beginning to explore and ask questions about the Christian faith are encouraged. August start date to be confirmed. For details or to take part contact webmaster@broughtybaptist.org.
We will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm on Sunday 19th July 2020. This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Please join in and, if you don’t already do so, would you let your fellowship know about this and put it on your social media. Click here to access.
Call to worship
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
Acts 17: 24-28
We are grateful to Helen Rice for selecting the songs for worship for this service
Our opening song of praise and worship is:
We continue to worship the Lord in our second song of praise and worship:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eqwoqRo9N6E
Opening prayer
Psalm 100 “It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”
Our Lord and loving Heavenly Father, we acknowledge that you are the Sovereign Ruler, the one and only true God exercising supreme authority over all of creation and over all of mankind. We are so grateful Father that you took our sin debt away and that we can now come into your presence through your Son. We thank you that you created us anew and that you will help us to be all that you want us to be.
We thank you that we can trust and rely on you to instruct and teach us in the way we should go. Help us to live a life filled with love for you and for others following the example of your Son. Help us to keep growing in knowledge and understanding of your ways so that we may live pure and blameless lives.
May we always be filled with the fruit of our salvation produced in us through your Son Jesus. Surround us with your protective love. We ask that you speak to us this morning in accordance with your will for our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
All Age Talk: Helen Rice
Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He reminded the disciples that He would always be with them. And He told them to go into all of the world and make disciples of other people. That meant they were commanded to spread the Gospel, start churches, and tell others of Christ.
We often refer to this sending as the “Great Commission”, as Jesus was sending us out to perform an essential task. This video shows Paul and Silas following Jesus’ command.
Paul and Silas shared God’s story and God’s love just as Jesus had instructed. Those special instructions apply to us, too! God wants us to serve others and tell them about the good news of Jesus. It’s our job to share God’s love with one another. We can do this around the whole world, but we can also do this with people near to us.
What are some ways we can follow that Great Commission of Jesus? Well, we can tell people about Jesus. We can invite them to church and church activities. We can send them cards, emails or messages…and we can just love them and be their friends! That’s a great way to share and spread the good news.
Remember God sent His Holy Spirit to be with us to help us do this. What can you do this week to share God’s story and God’s love?
Prayer Dear God, Thank you for Your love. Please help us to love and serve others. Those near us, and around the world. Thank you for allowing us to be part of your great plan. Help us to share the good news. And spread your love to one another. In Jesus name, Amen!
All Age Song
Prayers for others
Our Father, in you we trust, and our hope is in you. We thank you for the privilege of praying for others at this time. We pray for the people around the world who are far from you who have not yet received the gift of your grace through your Son Jesus. We trust in your wonderful promise that for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
We pray that by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit your people around the world will live the gospel and bring the gospel to them and through that same power you remove blind eyes to see the truth and empower them to accept the gift of your Son.
We acknowledge that sovereign power belongs to you Lord. You rule all the nations. And it is through our faith in your sovereignty that we pray for the Governments in Edinburgh and London. We ask you to surround the First Minister of Scotland and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom with Godly advisors and we pray for the salvation of those who lead.
We pray for your mercy O Lord to be granted to the people of this land particularly at this time in history during the COVID-19 pandemic which has swept through and devasted the world’s population. By your common Grace, we pray that you would guide Governments to make wise decisions to minimise the spread of this virus and to encourage national economies which have been affected.
We give you thanks Lord for the love you share with us particularly during these times of viral transmission through the work of the National Health Service and social care sectors. We ask that your protective love would be upon the people who serve us within these services to enable them to sustain health and social care to those of us who are in greatest need.
In our Baptist Union of Scotland we remember to pray for sister churches and others: • Beatrice Anderson (BUS Finance Administrator) • Harestanes Baptist Church • Hawick Baptist Church • Helensburgh Baptist Church
We pray too for the ongoing work of the Christian Churches in our land who are the hands and feet of Jesus. Help your people O Lord to be salt and light in your creation. Empower us to make an effort to affect the world. Give us confidence and boldness when we should speak up for injustice and to obey your will. Let us not deny the Light in our communication with the world but explain the Light and our light to others. Grant us the desire to meet the needs of others through the love of Christ which indwells us and enable us to be a beacon of Truth.
We pray for Broughty Ferry Baptist Church and we ask Holy Spirit that you would sanctify us in the truth of the Word. That we would submit to your will and serve you faithfully in our lives. Help us more and more to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind and to love others as we would wish to be loved.
You provide us with the peace that you know of our needs and are interceding in our lives. We pray for people that are connected with our own fellowship:
In particular, we remember… In addition, we bring our own needs to You at this time… In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.
Bible Reading
11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
John 14: 11-14
Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing:
The Message
Pre-recorded message
John 14:11-14 The title of this message is In Jesus’ Name.
Introduction When we pray privately and when together it is common to end our prayers, or include in our prayers, the words “in Jesus’ name” because Scripture teaches us to offer our prayers in this way. What is the significance of these words? Do you find yourself ending your prayers with these words without knowing their meaning? When we learn the rich meaning behind these words, they can pave the road to answered prayer and bring us closer to God.
Let’s look at the context of John 14:11-14. Jesus and his disciples have been sharing life together for the last 3 years as Jesus fulfils his ministry. He has revealed to them his identity and mission. He has demonstrated God’s power and authority to teach, over sickness, over death, over nature, and to forgive sin. He has taught them and prepared them and now we reach the section of John’s gospel when Jesus is gathered with his beloved disciples on the night before his death. It’s a very private affair with only the disciples as his audience.
As they ate their last meal together just before his arrest and death, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. In his final teachings to his disciples, knowing that he would send his beloved out into the world to be his hands and feet proclaiming the good news bringing glory to God, he taught them that he is the way to the Father. He taught them that He is the way, the truth and the life and that no one can come to the Father except through him. He taught them that anyone who believes in him will do the same works that he has done, and that the disciples would carry out even greater works as the power of Holy Spirit carries the Good News of God’s Kingdom out of Judea and into the whole world. However, Jesus then says, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (14:13-14). So, what does he mean when he says, “ask in my name”?
John 14:13a;14 And I will do whatever you ask in my name…You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
There are five words which teaches us what he means by “ask in my name”.
Association In these verses, our Lord reveals his provision to the disciples. They were to be sent out carrying the Good News into the nations, however, the power of the gospel would prevail not by their own merit or effort but through their association with Jesus Christ. Like the disciples, it is possible for us to come to the Father through our association with Jesus.
When we were saved, we were born again. We who have received him as our Saviour now have a new relationship with God the Father through the Son. It is our association with Jesus Christ that when asking in Jesus’ name we are saying to the Father that we are coming to him because of our new relationship with him which was provided through Jesus Christ.
Access Because of what Jesus would do at the cross and subsequent resurrection, the disciples in their forthcoming works for our Lord could access the throne of grace in the name of Jesus. It is because of Jesus Christ that we too can also access the throne of grace in his name (Hebrews 4:16) and find help, grace and mercy in times of need.
Authority The disciples’ future works throughout the nations would not be accomplished out with Jesus’ divine permissive will. They were coming on the authority of Jesus Christ. Two examples are in Acts. In Acts 3:6 when Peter commands the lame man “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk”, he is speaking on the authority of Jesus, not on his own authority.
When the Sanhedrin asks the disciples in Acts 4:7 “By what power or by what name did you do this?”, they are asking “By whose authority did you do this?” When Paul rebukes an unclean spirit in Acts 16:18 “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!”, he makes it clear that he is doing so on Jesus’ authority, not his own.
To come in the name of someone means that another person has authorised us to come on their authority, not on our own. Praying in Jesus’ name means praying with his authority and asking God the Father to act upon our prayers because we come in the name of His Son, Jesus. The word “name” means representation. When we say, “Father I come in Jesus’ name” we are saying, “I am coming to you on the authority delegated to me by your Son.”
Jesus has the authority to give to us the authority to come to the Father and expect our prayers to be answered.
Agreement “In my name” represents all that he is, his entire character. This means that the disciples would not only be conducting their works for our Lord in his authority, but also in a way that would be consistent with his character, that truly represents him and reflects his manner of life and his own will. Praying in Jesus’ name means the same thing as according to the will of God, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15). We ask of him that which is consistent with his person, will, his purposes and what he’s attempting to do in the world. This is the essence of praying in Jesus’ name, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you” (John 15:7). When we align our will with God’s, we can truly pray in Jesus’ name.
It is easy to misapply “And I will do whatever you ask in my name” (14:13a) thinking that saying “in Jesus’ name” at the end of a prayer results in God always granting what is asked for. Jesus is not merely speaking about adding certain words that would give power to our prayers.
This is essentially treating the words “in Jesus’ name” as a magic formula. Our prayers are a representation of what Jesus would pray. When we are praying in Jesus’ name what we are saying is “I believe this is what Jesus would pray if he were praying into this situation.”
Praying the will of God in your life means to submit your life to his will. It means laying down your dreams, desires, and wants because you would rather see his will and purpose happen instead of your own. So, when we pray for the world’s issues. When we pray for Governments and those in authority. When we pray for the church.
When we pray for people who have health conditions. When we pray for people who are grieving. When we pray about injustice. When we pray for the dying. When we pray for our family. When we pray for our marriage or singleness. When we pray for our own needs and issues, we pray as if Jesus would pray for these matters.
Looking to Christ teaches us how to pray. God always makes his will plain to the person who seeks to know it. For instance, Jesus said “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). For example, when tempted to respond harshly to a person who frustrates you, pray in Jesus name that you will yield to the Holy Spirit in practicing kindness. That you would lay aside all the attitudes that don’t fit who you are in Christ, like selfishness, pride and a critical spirit.
This is God’s character and will, and his will for you, so ask him to help you. Then watch how our Lord provides opportunities and respond in obedience when our Lord reminds you to be merciful.
Assurance Because the disciples would act in keeping with his will, they would approach their good works for our Lord with the assurance that whatever they ask, God is going to hear and answer their prayer, in Jesus’ name. We too can approach our Father with the assurance that he will hear and answer our prayer. When we come to the Father in Jesus’ name this is a phrase of confidence. It is our confession of assurance.
John 14:13b …so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
In John 14:11, Jesus is connecting himself with the Father so that the Father may be glorified, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” God wants the whole universe including mankind to glorify Him.
Ephesians 1:4-14 teaches us that we were saved and made right before God “in order that we…might be for the praise of his glory.” Romans 11:36 “For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory. All glory to him forever!”
Notice how John in 14:13-14 has put the phrase “so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” in the centre – it’s between the two repeated phrases. This portrays its importance. Jesus is saying that he will promise to do the request of any prayer in his name for the purpose to glorify the Father through him. This means that when a prayer, even though it might have “in Jesus’ name” attached to it, doesn’t fulfil the purpose to glorify the Father through Christ, then Jesus won’t do it.
The purpose of prayer does not end in the comfort, safety, and provision for the Christian, but the glory of the Father through Jesus. If a prayer is made that doesn’t glorify God, then it won’t be answered.
Invoking Christ’s name means that we desire to glorify God instead of ourselves. James gives this warning: “You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3).
To understand that, let’s consider those who are trying to pray their way out of financial debt. The question is: does a person want to get out of debt so that they have more for themselves or so that they can use the excess in God-honouring ways?
Motives are apparent to God. He will not offer help until our heart is right. If what we ask for or say in prayer is not for God’s glory and according to His will, saying “in Jesus’ name” is meaningless. What have you been asking of God in prayer? What do your prayers focus on?
Jesus said to His disciples, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (14:13). That’s the purpose of prayer: “that the Father may be glorified.” When we pray, glorifying God should be our underlying motive and core pursuit.
Prayer Our Father in Heaven may all glory, honour and praise be yours. I thank you for your Word this day which directs me in how to pray in Jesus name. Help me to keep growing in knowledge and understanding of your ways so that I may learn how to pray. Help me when I pray to focus my prayer in agreement with your character and your will, glorifying you. In Jesus name, Amen.
Our song before we come to communion is:
The Lord’s Supper
Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.
Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’
Our closing song is:
Closing Prayer:
Father, you saw it fit for us worship you today. It is not because we are perfect people but because you are a God that is worthy of our worship. Thank you for making us worthy to stand before you to worship you through your son Jesus Christ. May our worship be acceptable before you. Let the peace that surpasses all understanding be with us. Help us to make a difference in the world this new week. Let our words and actions align with your word. Help us to practice what we have learned here today. Bless us and help us to be a blessing to everyone that we meet and interact with. Help us never to forget that you’re with us always. In Jesus’ name, we believe and pray, Amen
Benediction: The Grace
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore, Amen
