Church at Home – 24 January 2021

Intimations

JAM Kids’ focus: The Virtual Sunday School

Here is the link for Sunday 24 January 21 Virtual Sunday School: ‘Adam & Eve’

JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:30am.  Please contact Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com for more details of today’s programme.

Call to worship: Psalm 32 selection:

Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
² Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.

I acknowledged my sin to You
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, ‘I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.’
And You forgave
the guilt of my sin.

You are my hiding-place;
You will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Our opening song of praise and worship is ‘I Could Sing of Your Love Forever’

Opening prayer

Lord we come once more into Your holy presence in the wonderful name of Your Son our Saviour Jesus to worship and adore You for all Your goodness to us. We are thrilled by Your amazing grace and loving kindness to us. You know us through and through yet time and again You forgive us our sins when we seek forgiveness for them.

We can sense the real joy in David’s heart when he wrote the opening words of Psalm 32: Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And You forgave the guilt of my sin.

Thank You Lord for Your great love and mercy to us each new day. Lord, we want to live our lives with a clear conscience before You and in the sight of other people. Grant us the enabling power of Your Holy Spirit to equip and enable us to reflect something of Your holy character in the choices we make. Speak O Lord to our hearts today as we sing Your praises, read Your Word and consider what it might be saying to us today, for Jesus’ sake Amen.

Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:

We continue in worship as we sing: ‘The Blessing’ UK version

All-Age Talk Moraig Piggot

People make promises every day. Sometimes we give something to another person as a sign of our promise; sometimes we sign our name to seal our promise, other times we just give our word to another person that we will do something.

When the Postal Office sells you this stamp and you put it on a letter, it represents their promise to deliver it to the person to whom the envelope is addressed. It doesn’t matter if it is cloudy or sunny, raining or snowing, hot or cold, the mail gets delivered. That is the promise that this stamp represents.

People make promises every day. Do they always keep their promises? Unfortunately, some people don’t. The people of America will all be hoping that their new President Biden will mean the promises he made on Wednesday as their last President Trump wasn’t always very good at sticking to the promises he made!

God makes promises too. The Bible is full of God’s promises. Does God always keep his promises? Yes he does! In the Bible it says, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. (2 Cor. 1:20) That is what Brian is going to be speaking about today.

God can be trusted. There is no need for fine print or disclaimers. Whatever the promises of God are, in Jesus Christ they are Yes! And Amen! Which promises of God do we need to be reminded to hold on to? Do we need to be reminded about God’s promises about our past? God promises to forgive all the sins of our past.

 God has promised to forgive our sins, and for that reason we can live without guilt; at peace with God – what a blessing!! Do we need to be reminded about God’s promises about our present?

God promises to be with us and to help us, no matter what we face.

How wonderful to know that God has promised to be with us always, and to help us, so that we need not be afraid of anything! Do we need to be reminded about God’s promises about our future?

In John 14, Jesus promised: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

How’s that for a promise!! We will be with the Lord in a place He has especially prepared for us. Promises, promises, promises…God makes them and God keeps them!  For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ! AMEN!! AMEN!!

Our next song is ‘my Lighthouse’

Prayers for others

Heavenly Father,

We come before You with our prayers for others very conscious that so many people are really struggling with their emotional and mental health at this time. We are aware that ten months into this virus pandemic many of us are exhausted and finding it difficult to do our work as effectively as we would like; others of us are fearful that we might lose our employment at a time when it is especially difficult to gain alternative employment.

Some of us are lonely, used to spending time with family and friends as well as attending services and activities at church, but in this period of lockdown we see few people to talk with and rely on occasional phone calls for conversations with other people. By contrast, some of us are extra busy at work and are under heavy pressures to keep going especially in our hospitals where record numbers of patients with the covid-19 virus pandemic are stretching our resources to the limit.

Some of us who are getting older are finding our confidence in our abilities to do things diminishing as we are forced to stay at home; others are finding it hard to cope with ongoing health issues that in some cases have been a problem for quite some time. Lord we pray that You would give us the strength we need this week and the peace of mind to trust You that we will in time get through this pandemic to a more normal way of life in the future. 

We pray for the following chaplain and churches:

Nick Blair (Chaplain, Merchiston Castle School) – We pray for continued freshness, wisdom, strength and a positive witness as Nick ministers to over 500 boys and staff. We give thanks that the blogs Nick has been writing over the last few months have been well-received and continue to be a blessing to others. 

Ayr BC – The Church leadership completed a review exercise setting out a road map on the direction of travel. We pray for them as they seek God’s leading and guidance in implementing the road map for the future of their work and witness

Bearsden BC – We give thanks for the work that many people have done during lockdown to maintain the church’s role as a worshipping and missional community of believers. Many have up skilled to make all of that possible. Some of the highlights have been people recording songs, prayers, readings and testimonies for use in the services.

We give thanks too for their Barista cafe which opened outside during the summer and continues to open one day a week, rising to two days in mid-October.  We pray for their children and youth work which was tough during the lockdown. Their live Kidzone family events on a Sunday morning in the gardens have been a great blessing as the lockdown has eased and many families have connected with that, however, the youth work has still been tough, but is beginning to open up now with a couple of live events recently.

Bellshill BC – We continue to remember the outreach from this church, in particular the work of the cafe during this season. We give thanks for the gospel message that goes out each week at the cafe. We pray that people may come to faith in Jesus through this witness.

We come to pray for the needs in our own congregation:

Heavenly Father, We pray Your blessing on Garry Adam as he has now commenced his studies with Teen Challenge in England. We pray too for others in our congregation who have returned in person or online to their university classes this month. We pray Your blessing on staff and students alike as they adjust to the ever changing situation.

We pray too for others in the congregation in their workplaces that they will be able to do their work effectively but also safely. We remember especially front-line workers who are potentially exposed more often to the virus as they are mixing with many other people day by day. On the other hand, we pray that You would draw close to those living on their own or in residential care, especially those that are unable to have visitors as they would prior to this pandemic. 

We thank you that Betty W continues to make progress in her recovery as does Bill Turner. We continue to remember Dorothy and Jim G in our prayers, likewise for Alva and Hamid D, Isdale A’s dad, and for Fiona and Frank K that God may grant the strength needed at this time. We pray too for Fergus R with his ongoing health problems and for Helen S as she recovers from surgery.

We continue to pray for the T family, as they prepare for Ali’s dads funeral this week. We continue to pray also for Nicola L’s dad, Lawrie, as he recovers from major surgery and for Shona H’s niece Lynne too that she may make a good recovery.

We continue to pray for those with ongoing health conditions and bring them before You now…

We now pray silently for anyone else known to us who is in need of our prayers at this time…..

We pray also for our own needs…

We bring all these prayers before you in Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Bible Reading II Corinthians 1:12-22

¹² Now this is our boast: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. 

¹³ For we do not write to you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, ¹⁴ as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.

¹⁵ Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. ¹⁶ I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to let you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷ Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’?

¹⁸ But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us – by me, Silas and Timothy – was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, but in him it has always been ‘Yes’. 

²⁰ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. ²¹ Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²² set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing: ‘Great is Thy faithfulness’

The Message

II Corinthians 1:12-22 Maintaining integrity in a troubled world

Introduction

The apostle Paul has been speaking in the first half of II Corinthians 1 about his struggles in recent years in his work. It had been exceedingly difficult to continue with the ministry to which God had called him. The people and the circumstances he had endured had caused even him to think his life might be coming to an end. However, he was enabled with God’s help to continue and not just to survive; instead his work had become remarkably successful in the planting of new churches. Now he turns inward to speak about something equally important, our character. 

Does it matter that we are people of our word? When we make a promise to another person to say or do something, do you or I feel obliged to honour what we have said as far as we possibly can? Or do words mean nothing? Stepping back from our own lives and thinking of our wider society, let us consider the importance of this subject.

Political parties produce manifestos prior to an election campaign. If elected, should we expect them to do what they have promised? I didn’t say do we expect them to honour their undertakings; sadly too many people have lost faith in the promises of our elected representatives and sometimes with good reasons.

But what about our local garage, do we trust them that they have carried out the work for which we are charged before we drive the car away? Or what about the doctor who diagnoses a particular medical condition and provides a prescription for its treatment or who recommends a surgical procedure in hospital. Does it matter that they are telling the truth? Overwhelmingly we would say ‘yes’ here.

In the same way, in so many other social or work contexts the truth really matters. In our families or church family, or within our circle of friends, it really does matter that we can be trusted to be truthful and operating with personal integrity. Character matters. Who we are as people is just as important as what we do. Our private life and our public one are two sides of the same whole.

It is painful, to read, for example, the inconsistency of some American Evangelical Church leaders in their public pronouncements about the character qualities required in a US President when commenting on a candidate from their own favoured party to one of the other main party. The mainstream media so often are less than fair in their own pronouncements in moral matters in the public square.

But Christians and others who make public pronouncements too often make it easy for them to highlight our inconsistencies in the things we address. The response, though, is not to stay silent, but to take great care to be thoughtful and measured and consistent in such statements. The apostle Paul knew that not everyone in Corinth would agree with all the views he expressed, but he wanted to stress that no-one should doubt his personal integrity and sincerity in the way he carried out his work. In the same way, today, we must ensure that in the way we live we are honouring the Lord.  What does Paul particularly highlight here?    

1. The importance of personal integrity (II Corinthians 1:12-14)

(a)His conscience (II Corinthians 1:12-13a)Now this is our boast: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. ¹³ For we do not write to you anything you cannot read or understand.

It is clear that at least some members of the church in Corinth had in some way communicated to Paul, probably by hand-delivered letter, that he was viewed as inconsistent in his practice of the faith. This behaviour had clearly upset him and he stands his ground here insisting that he had conducted himself appropriately in the matters to which they refer.

It is certainly also claimed by individuals in that congregation that Paul is bolder in criticising things he believes are inappropriate in the church by letter than when he was in the church with them in person. We rarely have all the details about any situation in the present let alone the past, but it is possible that he asked for some issues to be addressed very graciously in person and then because nothing happened wrote a follow-up letter making the point more strongly. Was he wrong to have done that? Actually, no, this letter actually had the desired effect.

The letter is apparently lost, but in II Corinthians 7:8-13a, Paul makes a detailed reference to it. There is no doubt that Paul did alter his schedule of visits to churches at times when he saw a greater need to address or an opportunity that had to be taken in new evangelistic work.

All of us change our minds about priorities at times and can do so for very good reasons. It is quite inappropriate to view another person in a bad light automatically over decisions they have made. There is a big need for greater kindness to other people across society not just behaving this way in our families or church family. In a time like the present, with some people facing severe pressures, we need to be exceptionally gracious and encourage one another to keep going through their times of difficulty.

In his letters maintaining a good conscience was crucial for Paul. It was a repeated theme in his letters to other Christians. In I Timothy 1:5 he wrote: The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Church leaders, he said, … must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience (I Timothy 3:9).

In his final letter to Timothy, he testified that: I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience… (II Timothy 1:3). In the letter he wrote to the church in Rome, he stated in the most deeply personal part of it these words. I speak the truth in Christ – I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit (Romans 9:1).

In court when under oath before the Roman Governor Felix, he spoke these words: I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man (Acts 24:16). This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a pattern in his life.  Do you and I have the same determination to do the same before God and other people? We live in a culture of half-truths, fake news, political spin, and social media targeting. It is as hard as it has ever been to determine what is truthful or right. You and I cannot determine what other people do, but maintaining our integrity in a troubled world is something we can do – if we make that choice.  

For Paul, his strongest motivation for maintaining personal integrity is shared later in this letter. II Corinthians 5:9-10 states: So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due to us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Other people may never know the full facts of situations. Far too often judgements are made with limited information and if we speak hastily or unwisely we can cause deep hurts that can take a long time to heal. However, like Paul, if we have this same goal in life to please the Lord by the way we live then we are placing ourselves in a better position to avoid making major mistakes.

We cannot assume, for example, over an issue with which we disagree with another person that they have approached the matter with the same assumptions as ourselves. If we ‘stood in their shoes’ we might understand more clearly the decision they came to or the choices they made. Sometimes there can be genuinely more than one way of looking at an issue and as a result potentially different approaches to its resolution. We are currently in the midst of a virus pandemic and in such a time as this need to be particularly gracious and kind to other people, and some of us to ourselves as well. Our calling is to love and follow the One who first loved us and went to extraordinary lengths on the cross to demonstrate it.   

(b) His hope (II Corinthians 1:13b-15) And I hope that, ¹⁴ as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus. Why is being a person of our word so important? Why is it crucial to seek to maintain our integrity in our conduct?

Most of the time in life we either accept someone’s word or reject it based on our past experience of them or on our past experience of other people. If a person has seen you living the right way in the past they are much more likely to trust you in the present. In the same way, a person brought up with family and friends who keep their word is more likely to trust the word of another person more than someone who had grown up in a family marred by broken promises and complicated relationships.

What kind of culture are we developing or maintaining in our families or church family? How do other people view us when they first meet us? I thank God for the number of times when I have had people new to our church comment favourably on the warmth of welcome they received or the favourable perspective they reached of us by observing how people talked with one another outside of services.

How we live really matters. It can open a door to conversations about faith or do the very opposite depending on the opinion that person has reached about the life we lead. Paul had lived and worked with this congregation for more than eighteen months in total so they had plenty of opportunities to assess his approach to living. He sincerely hoped that they could be happy to acknowledge him as an important part of their lives and commend him to others, just as he wanted to be able to do the same for them.

Are you and I seeking to think the best, speak the best and act in the light of such a view towards one another? F.F. Bruce, the famous New Testament scholar, was brought up in Brethren Assemblies in some tight-knit small communities in the North-East Scotland. In later life he reflected on those years and included this remark with respect to churchgoers in one particular location: ‘…while others went to church to hear the gospel preached, they went to hear if the gospel was preached’ [cited by R. Kent Hughes, II Corinthians, and p.38]. 

In case anyone missed the point Bruce was making, he was expressing sadness that certain individuals went to church with the mind-set of looking for something to criticise rather than primarily in anticipation of God speaking to them through His Word! The culture of a church is determined by the choices its members make on this matter. It begins with each one of individually making Christ-like choices about our attitudes. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves – how am I getting on? Am I pleasing the Lord in my choices?  

2. Integrity in his decision-making (II Corinthians 1:15-22)

(a)A man of his word (II Corinthians 1:15-17) Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. ¹⁶ I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to let you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷ Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’?

Paul had planned to visit them twice on the way to Macedonia in Greece and then on his way back to Jerusalem afterwards. Travel in the ancient world was tough and lengthy. There were no tourist facilities or travel lodges for business travellers until much later in history. In part this was due to the very limited demand for such facilities. To have a friend or family member who could put you up for a few days to break a journey would be a real blessing. However, this was not the reason for Paul’s proposed plans. In II Corinthians 8-9 Paul will explain why he had this plan for two visits.

An alternative translation of the second half of verse 15 in II Corinthians chapter 1 is this ‘… so that you might have a second experience of grace.’ [English Standard Version] It is helpful when we come to the language of II Corinthians 8:6-7: So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. ⁷ But since you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

It appears that the church at Corinth was one of the wealthier congregations in this era. They were not in the habit of taking regular collections, but only when there were specific things to pay for. In his first surviving letter to this church, Paul urged them to start taking a weekly collection as part of their acts of worship (I Corinthians 16:1-2). You may be surprised that it was only in the last hundred years that our churches started taking weekly collections for the work of the local church as part of acts of worship. Up till then a visitor might have observed a fellowship offering taken at communion to assist with the cost of practical needs for members or offerings for other causes, but in house contributions were often collected during the week by members appointed to visit homes of members for that purpose.

Paul was seeking to instil a pattern of behaviour as disciples of Jesus that included them giving a proportion of the money they earned to the Lord’s work. They had been more than willing to cover their own costs; but the apostle wanted them to have a much greater vision for generosity in supporting other Christians in need (in Jerusalem during a time of famine) as well as also supporting mission work as church-planting was taking place in other parts of the Roman world. They would also have the blessing of his presence with them for two shorter visits as well.  

There are times when we have no choice but to change our plans. Circumstances can arise that we had not anticipated that require us as responsible individuals to change the course of action we had proposed. However, what is important is that we are seen consistently to be people of our word who maintain our integrity in a troubled world. In the past for many people in our country, a spoken promise over, for example, a business deal or a house purchase, and a resultant handshake, was viewed as coming to an agreement that the participants would honour. It was as good as a written legal agreement. Yet how many people would honour such a commitment today if they had been financially disadvantaged in the light of later information? Sadly it would be a minority of the population. Are you and I people of our word?

In 1984 Bernard Levin a well-known British journalist recounted a relatively recent story of an American police officer who held to these standards. The officer on lunchbreaks regularly ate at a café not far from where he was based. On this particular occasion he was filling in the numbers on a lottery ticket while eating his food. The waitress who regularly served him returned to the table and in a light hearted conversation he asked her to choose the rest of the numbers for his ticket and promised her half the proceedings if the ticket was successful. It was the winning ticket with a prize of six million dollars.

Shortly after receiving the prize money he made a point of giving three million to her. Some media critics at the time said he was a fool when a lesser gift would have been sufficient. His response when questioned was simply that ‘a promise is a promise’. Levin who warmly approved of the man’s actions wrote this: ‘The policeman kept faith with his friend the waitress. But he kept another faith with his own soul (which is the breath which animates the voice we call conscience.’ [B. Levin, The Times, 24 August 1984]

When we are people of our word in practice as a way of life, other people may be more open to give us a hearing when we speak about our Christian faith. But, by contrast, if we say one thing and live a different way then there will be little respect for us or anyone else who chooses to live that way.     

(b) The power of Christian integrity (II Corinthians 1:18-24) But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us – by me, Silas and Timothy – was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, but in him it has always been ‘Yes’. ²⁰ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. ²¹ Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²² set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Maintaining our integrity is a reflection of God’s character by people created in His image. I thank God for the many people in our communities who also are honourable men and woman who may or may not share our faith. If we believe that we are all created in the image of God, as Genesis 1:26 states to us, then we should not be surprised at the good choices of others; just as we are not surprised in the opposite way when human sinfulness is seen to affect the choices of even the best of us on occasions.

In this passage the focus is on the positive emphasis of honouring God by being people of our word.  Throughout the Bible there is testimony to how God acts in history. In the book of Numbers there is a remarkably gifted but unusual prophet called Balaam. In one of his best known public addresses, in this case to Balak King of Moab, he included these words about the character of God: God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change his mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfil? (Numbers 23:19)

Paul shares Balaam’s conviction that God is entirely trustworthy. God’s Word is entirely reliable. The coming of Jesus was a fulfilment of all the promises about the future Messiah in the Jewish Bible, our Old Testament. The Gospel of Matthew, for example, is based on this conviction that God is to be trusted because He keeps His promises. Try reading through the first few chapters of Matthew’s Gospel and count how many times the author highlights the fulfilment of what God had promised in the Old Testament.

What is particularly remarkable are the words at the end of this passage: He anointed us, ²² set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (II Corinthians 1:21b-22).

The referencing of the seal of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 1:13-14 is seen as a proof of our conversion, of being a member of His family. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory.

Here in this passage, the reference goes further and suggests that as God’s children we are reflecting something of His character as well as a guarantee of being children of God for ever. The child of God will act like their heavenly Father because they are revealing something of the family likeness! What a challenge that is to me and to you! How will I live this week in ways that reflect the character of my heavenly Father? One way is to safeguard our personal integrity and be people of our word. ‘Like Father, like…-how accurately will your name and mine fit such a statement? I pray it will do so accurately this week, so that through our lives others are pointed to Jesus as the way for their lives too, Amen.

Our song before we come to communion is: ‘How Deep the Fathers Love’

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:

Thank You Lord Jesus that You modelled for us the way we ought to live. Thank You that through the power of the Holy Spirit You honoured God the Father in all that You said and did. Help us in this new week to glorify Your name through the way we live our lives, for Jesus’ name’s sake, Amen. 

Benediction:  The Grace