Speaking The Words of Life & Suffering Dishonour For The Name

[0:00] Turn with me to the Word of God, if you would. We're in Acts chapter 5 this morning at verse 17.

[0:13] Acts chapter 5 at verse 17. Now the background to this is important.

[0:35] Because if your Bible is anything like mine, it has sometimes headings that are helpful and sometimes misleading. And this talks about the apostles being arrested and then freed.

[0:50] Actually, this isn't an arrest, it's a re-arrest. Because they had been arrested just a week or so ago. So, and this is the authorities are up in arms and just can't take any more of it.

[1:06] So, they've re-arrested them on this occasion. Now, you'll remember that last week we heard about Ananias and Sapphira. And the fact that they tried to deceive God and, well, they paid for that.

[1:23] It was a terrible lesson and great fear. Fell upon the church, fell upon everyone. Because people began to realize that God was not to be trifled with.

[1:35] He's a consuming fire. And yet, if we can't exaggerate the justice of God, neither can we exaggerate the love of God. Neither can we exaggerate the power of God and the ability of God to help his people in the most trying of situations.

[1:52] Terrible, terrible situations. And these men here have been arrested. And, well, they're about to be arrested. So, let's just read about that.

[2:03] Now, the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

[2:18] Now, let's just grasp something here right at the outset. Let's understand here that this is not a lawful action.

[2:30] This is not the authorities acting because a crime has been committed. This is men of a jealous frame of mind using the law wrongfully to imprison people because they're jealous of them.

[2:47] Okay, let's keep that in mind. Verse 19. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.

[3:03] And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now, when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

[3:21] But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison. So they returned and reported, We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.

[3:34] Now, when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to.

[3:45] And someone came and told them, Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

[4:01] And when they had brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, We strictly charged you not to teach in this name.

[4:16] Yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men.

[4:32] The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed, by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

[4:45] And we are witnesses to these things. And so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

[5:00] But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.

[5:12] And he said to them, Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days, Theodos rose up, claiming to be somebody.

[5:28] And a number of men, about 400, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him, Judas, the Galilean, rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him.

[5:43] He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone.

[5:55] For if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.

[6:08] You might even be found opposing God. So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

[6:28] Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple, and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that Christ is Jesus.

[6:51] May God be praised for his amazing history that he has given to the church. I mean, we're following in that history.

[7:03] This is your history and mine. These are our forebears in the faith. And there is absolutely no reason why the church today should behave any differently than the church of the first century.

[7:20] There is no reason why there should be any distinction. Because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

[7:31] The Lord says, I, the Lord, do not change. So God doesn't change. His Son hasn't changed. The Holy Spirit is the same Holy Spirit given to you and to me when we became believers.

[7:46] The same Holy Spirit that empowered these people. So there is absolutely no reason why the churchy story today should look any different from this story that we've just read.

[8:01] Now, should we just stop there? Do you think? Is that, is that an awesome thought to take away with us? That there's, there doesn't have to be any distinction between how the church looks and feels and behaves and speaks today and how it looked and behaved and felt and spoke in the first century.

[8:31] Because the connecting tissue is the eternal power of the living God. He's the one we worship here today.

[8:41] He's the one Gene just sang about. And it is no secret what God can do. What he's done for others he will do for you. Let's make no mistake about that folks.

[8:54] So let's, let's allow God's word, let's allow God's reality to challenge us to the very core of our being and give us a holy dissatisfaction with what we've got.

[9:07] Does that seem fair? Do you think we should be dissatisfied with what we've got today? How do you, how do you compare today's church with this church that we've just read about?

[9:25] Is this a, do we have a church today that makes the whole country sit up and take notice? Or do we have a church today that is largely a matter of some, it's considered irrelevant?

[9:44] It doesn't have the respect that once it had. I know this. I, I used to go in and out as a, as a pastor to visit folks in the hospital and hospitals would fall over themselves to accommodate you so that you could bring comfort and encouragement to folks who were sick.

[10:03] But ministers don't meet with that. By and large today they're considered to be irrelevant. They might even not be allowed in in some places depending on who's in charge. So all sorts of things have changed.

[10:17] Is that a problem? It's not a problem to the Lord. It's not a problem to the Holy Spirit. It's not a problem to the head of the church. It's only a problem to us.

[10:29] And I want to suggest the reason for that. In one word, focus. Focus is the reason that the church today is different and is not to be reckoned with.

[10:47] Now don't get me wrong, the church is never meant to be an aggressive body that rises up and says, bring it on, we'll take what we want. That's not the church. That's not the body of Christ.

[10:59] If you can imagine Jesus behaving like that, then the church should behave like that. But if you can't imagine Jesus being aggressive and nasty and horrible and just grabbing what he decides he wants, then you can't imagine the church behaving like that either.

[11:17] But what's wonderful here is that all that's happening here in Jerusalem has a context. context. And in fact, when I looked at this passage, I saw four different contexts.

[11:32] I could fill it out and go on a bit longer, but I'm sure you want to get home for your dinner at some point today. But four different contexts to what we've just read.

[11:43] The first context is what I would call continuity. It's a context of continuity. If you look at Acts chapter 1 and verse 1, Luke set out for his friend to set out an orderly account of all that Jesus began to do and to teach.

[12:05] And that's what's happening here. Because what Jesus began to do and to teach is continuing. Here's the continuity. It's continuing. It's like business as usual.

[12:19] Jesus has gone to heaven, but in some way or other that folks can't get their heads around, all the stuff that he began to do and to teach is still happening. It's still happening in the church.

[12:34] The second context of all that we read today is that there's a new creation. Jesus Christ makes people new.

[12:47] He doesn't recycle us. He doesn't rehash us. He doesn't patch us up. Jesus makes us new.

[12:58] 2 Corinthians 5, 17 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone.

[13:09] The new has come. And Paul said to the Ephesians that God's purpose in Christ was to create one new humanity in Christ.

[13:22] And Jesus is the head of the race. He's the firstborn of many brothers. What's the firstborn of many brothers mean? It's a meaningless thing unless it's absolutely true.

[13:33] You know, Tim Keller says, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then why would you pay attention to anything he said? But if Jesus did rise from the dead, you need to believe everything he said.

[13:51] If Jesus actually rose from the dead, you need to believe everything he said. There's not a single word of Jesus that should ever be doubted if he kept the promise to rise from the dead.

[14:05] Now, I'm not going to go into it today because that's a dozen other sermons, but there is so much evidence for the resurrection. It just thrills you to read it.

[14:17] Please, if you want to know how to find evidence for the resurrection that it's a historical event, that it actually happened, that it's attested by eyewitnesses, if you want to know, please come and see me afterwards and I'll point you in the direction that you can go to to get this evidence and build your faith.

[14:37] It's the surest fact of history. It's as sure as the crucifixion of Jesus, which is historically attested even outside of the Bible. There's plenty of evidence for the resurrection and since he kept his promise to rise from the dead, we shouldn't doubt a word he said.

[14:57] And he said, and the last thing he said to the church before he rose into heaven was, surely I will be with you always. So brothers and sisters, our sister Jean was spot on today when she started us off singing, surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.

[15:22] Let's make no mistake about that. So there's a new creation. These are new people. That are causing this stir in Jerusalem. Completely new people. And the third context is that prophecy has been fulfilled.

[15:38] Peter gave a context to all that's happening. On the day of Pentecost, he said, this is what Joel the prophet prophesied. Now, none of us are quite sure exactly when Joel lived.

[15:49] Somewhere between 600 and 900 years before Jesus, he was writing his prophecy. prophecy, but he prophesied that God would pour out his spirit on all flesh.

[15:59] And Peter said, this is what's happening right now. This is what Joel prophesied. And by the way, if you're worried sometimes about how the apostles use the Bible, how they use the Old Testament scriptures to support what they're saying, why would you worry about how the apostles use the scriptures?

[16:19] who was their teacher? Do you think the author of the scriptures would teach them to misuse the scriptures? Do you think the author of the scriptures who could say, these are the scriptures that speak of me, would actually mislead his apostles so that they would misuse the scriptures afterwards?

[16:43] Listen, when you see the apostles using the scriptures and saying, this is what Joel prophesied, you had better believe that this is what Joel prophesied.

[16:54] Peter's not got it wrong. And what was God doing? What's the purpose of pouring out the Holy Spirit? Answer, it's to produce a holy people.

[17:08] The purpose of pouring out the Holy Spirit is to produce a holy people. Now, if I was to try and express to you, what holiness means, I'm still talking about the context of the story that we read today, so I'll get there in a minute, but if I was to try and explain what holiness means, I would say this.

[17:32] In today's world, you can either be holy or you can be politically correct. You can't be both. You can either be holy or you can be politically correct.

[17:45] you can't be both. Because you see, if you're politically correct, then you tick all the boxes that society demands of you and you say yes to this and yes to that, and if society says black is white, then you say, yeah, that's true, black is white.

[18:02] That's political correctness. That's how many countries around the world today are run. You don't dare speak against the government's position. They even teach little children to report on their parents to the authorities so that the teacher in the classroom discovers how the parents are talking and thinking and behaving at home, and that gets reported up the line, and then suddenly a whole family disappears off to a camp, and it's never heard of again.

[18:35] That's political correctness. Jesus said there was political correctness around in his day. He said, you're like children sitting in the marketplace, playing games, and you play funeral music, and you get angry with each other because somebody won't be mournful when you want to be sad-looking, and then you play wedding music, and you want to be all jolly, and somebody feeling miserable and doesn't want to be all jolly, and you get angry with them.

[19:02] That's just, you're just like children playing games and going in the huff with each other. That's political correctness. Try expressing your thoughts freely in any university campus these days, and you'll soon enough know what political correctness is.

[19:24] But if you're holy, if you're holy, you stand apart from the crowd. If you're holy, you don't belong to yourself, you belong to God.

[19:36] You don't think of yourself as superior to other people. Holiness is not moral superiority. Holiness is just belonging to someone other than yourself.

[19:49] Holiness is being separated and set apart for the glory of God, for his namesake, not for anything else. And so these people that we're looking at today, their context is that prophecy is being fulfilled.

[20:08] The Holy Spirit has been poured out, and here they are, because the Holy Spirit's been poured out, they've become a holy people, and they're not politically correct. So the authorities are up in arms with them.

[20:21] Because you see, the official line of the authorities is that Jesus of Nazareth was a criminal, and he was crucified as a criminal on a Roman cross. So if you're going around the town saying that Jesus has risen from the dead, you're saying Jesus has been vindicated, and the real criminals were the ones who put him on the cross.

[20:41] That's not exactly politically correct. They were holy, you see. That's why they said we must obey God rather than men. And the fourth context I saw for the events that we read today is a context of jealousy.

[21:00] a context of jealousy. These apostles, you see, weren't actually arrested. They were rearrested. They were known to the police, as we might say in our modern language.

[21:15] They were condemned by association with Jesus of Nazareth. They were condemned by the jealousy of the people who hated them because these men were popular.

[21:27] And if you're a celebrity who loves to go around with your flowing robes and your A-list categorization in people's minds, and then suddenly these guys who are nothing at all, they come from nowhere.

[21:42] They belong to nowhere. They've got no proper education. They've got no theology. They've got none of the training that you've had. And suddenly the whole crowd is going after them.

[21:53] Why? Because they healed a guy who had been crippled from birth. And you can't do any of those things. Because you see, you don't believe in Jesus of Nazareth who did all those things.

[22:06] But these holy people believe in Jesus of Nazareth who did all those things, and now they can do all those things. And so there's tremendous jealousy there, and we read that.

[22:20] That's what we actually saw in the reading. Right at the start of our reading, the high priest rose up, and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees. Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection.

[22:33] They didn't believe that you could rise from the dead. And that is why they were sad, you see. Okay? You understand? But the Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection.

[22:47] And the high priest rose up, and it says, filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in prison. So these weren't good guys doing something nice, they were religious guys.

[22:59] But listen, I'm sure we all know that you don't, being religious doesn't necessarily mean you're a good guy. So the context here is jealousy.

[23:13] And this is rearrest. This is a contest in the eyes, not of the apostles, because they're not contesting anybody. they're just carrying on with work as normal.

[23:27] But in the eyes of the authorities, this is a contest between the jealous and the justified. And the justified are the apostles. There was a man in the 19th century called Henry David Thoreau.

[23:43] And he was very opposed to the American government's war against Mexico. And he refused to pay his poll tax, so he ended up in prison. And he said that if a government imprisons people unjustly, then just people belong in jail.

[24:04] And his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson, another famous man, came to bail him out of jail. And Ralph Emerson looked in through the bars and said to him, Henry, what are you doing in there?

[24:18] And Thoreau spoke to him quietly and said, Ralph, what are you doing out there? You see, this is jealous people putting justified people in jail.

[24:37] And a government that imprisons unjustly will always be a jealous government one way or another. So that's another context for what's happening here.

[24:52] Now let's get to grips with the text a wee bit, because in verses 17 to 24, is there, Cameron, is it possible to put the scripture back up on the screen?

[25:03] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If we look at verses 17 to 24, we're looking at the flesh versus the spirit.

[25:17] We're looking at religion versus redemption. We're looking at jealousy versus justification and confusion versus confidence. You see, the apostles are supremely confident.

[25:30] They're very much at peace. You would imagine them to be, you would think they would be nervy and anxious and reclusive and always their eyes darting over their shoulder to see who's coming after them.

[25:44] But these guys are completely composed. They're completely poised. They're in perfect balance, perfect harmony, because they're at peace with God.

[25:56] And in that position of peace with God, they're a complete conundrum to a senate that's up in arms. And it actually says here in the reading, that when they gathered them together, they gathered the entire senate of Israel.

[26:12] Now this is almost like you and I go out to do a little bit of street preaching. And it gathers a crowd. And of course, in these days, you can't gather a crowd, can you?

[26:24] You know? And so suddenly, you've got the authorities after you. And the next thing you know, you're standing in front of the entire cabinet of number 10, Downing Street.

[26:34] And you're standing, and Cobra has been convened, because this could be a matter of national security, in some sense. And Sage has been convened because of the clinical implications of crowding and all the rest of it.

[26:51] And they bring you in and they say, so do you realize what the charges are against you? And you say, well, I think it's street preaching, is it? Is that right? It's as silly, it's as ridiculous as that.

[27:02] Because Peter had already said to the same body of people, he said, are we being asked to give an account for why we did something good for a crippled man?

[27:15] Is that what we've done wrong? It is laughable, it's sad to think that jealousy would put religious people in a place where they would persecute goodness.

[27:29] goodness. And that's all the church should ever be known for. That's all we should ever be known for, brothers and sisters, is his goodness. Everything we do should have that stamp on it that says that we serve a God who is good.

[27:46] And at verse 25 and 26 we read this.

[28:01] Someone came and told them, look, the men you put in prison are standing in the temple teaching. And the captain where the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

[28:13] You're looking at an unstoppable church in this story here. This is a church that doesn't miss a beat in serving the Lord.

[28:25] It makes no difference what the authorities do to them. It makes no difference whether they're popular or hated. They just don't miss a beat. You see, they're visible, they're out there, they're not hiding.

[28:41] They're not reclusive. They were to start with before the Holy Spirit came. They were behind closed doors and they were locked for fear of the authorities. And then Jesus came and stood among them through the closed door and said, you know, I can reach you when no one else can.

[28:59] I'm with you. So they were visible. They're out there. They've got a public profile. And they were irresistible. And they were favored by all the people.

[29:12] The soldiers didn't dare take them by force. They had to ask them politely. I wonder if you would accompany us to the Senate. It's a ridiculous, almost farcical kind of scene that we're looking at here.

[29:28] And why? Because in verses 27 to 32 we see this. When they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest questioned them, saying, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name.

[29:44] This name. He can't even bring himself to say the name of Jesus. Yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men.

[29:59] The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him in a tree. God exalted him. I mean, really, this is not the way to win friends in the Senate, you know, because they're basically saying, you killed this man and God exalted him.

[30:21] So here you are, you're the religious leaders of Israel and you're on the wrong side of God. That's a very, very bold thing to say.

[30:32] But why would they say that? Why? Because the church here that you're looking at is under authority. But it's under God's authority. Let me explain what that means.

[30:46] This is a new humanity. And when the high priest questions them, he's asking questions to which he already knows the answers. He's asking to go also.

[31:09] Submit the thoughts and I'm up to the church. They actually said to the church, now make sure that you submit to the authorities because the powers that be are ordained of God.

[31:25] It's God who puts your government in place and it's God who will remove a prime minister when he no longer serves his purpose. Throughout history, God has done that.

[31:36] Nebuchadnezzar is called my servant by the Lord. How many of us would vote for Nebuchadnezzar at the next election, eh? But there's a new humanity here with a new accountability and a new sense of authority.

[31:54] They do have respect for the secular power, but, and this is a big but, ultimately their submission is reserved for God. Bishop J.C. Ryle said that we should always make sure that we do render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but only what belongs to Caesar.

[32:28] What belongs to God is not ours to give away. Do we see that? What belongs to God is not ours to give away.

[32:42] And then up comes Gamaliel at verse 33. A God-fearing voice of sanity. I wonder often about Gamaliel.

[32:53] Gamaliel, by the way, was the man who was the mentor and the teacher of Paul of Tarsus, the apostle. So Paul actually learned at the feet of Gamaliel. And Gamaliel was a hugely respected figure in Israel.

[33:07] So this well-respected man stands up in the assembly and he sounds a voice of warning. And he says to them, in effect, he's saying to them, if this is of man, let it self-destruct.

[33:22] And he gives them some examples. If this movement is of man, let it self-destruct. If it's of God, you will self-destruct by opposing it.

[33:37] See, James the apostle said, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Is there anyone here today who would like to find themselves as an opponent of God?

[33:53] Huh? Would we expect to win? And this is what Gamaliel is saying. He's saying, this could be just, this could be just another one of these crowds of people that get up in arms and cause a stir.

[34:09] And ultimately, there's no blessing of God upon it and it's going to self-destruct. It will wear itself out. So just let things take their course. But if this is of God, and I think he would have said it that way, to be honest, if this is of God, because I suspect that Gamaliel, in this advice, probably, he's an intelligent man.

[34:34] He's looking at what's happening. He's looking at the miracles for which there is no explanation. He's looking at the transformation of these Galilean fishermen and people of no education who are able to theologically challenge the great and the good in the land.

[34:52] He's looking at a church that is completely irrepressible. He's looking at a church that can't even be kept in jail. Even when the authorities think they've got them locked up, they're not locked up.

[35:07] And Gamaliel puts all these things down one column and has to come to a conclusion. This could be of God. And so he sounds the warning, if this is of God, you will self-destruct if you oppose this movement.

[35:22] So you see, we're back to what Keller said that I mentioned earlier on. If Jesus rose from the dead, you must believe everything he said.

[35:36] If he didn't rise from the dead, then why pay attention to anything he said? Gamaliel had no answer for the miracles, the confidence, and the authority of the dead criminals' followers.

[35:49] He had no answer. And so he was wise enough to see that God was probably somewhere in the mix of it all. And he sounded the warning.

[36:04] There is every likelihood, too, that since, I mean, even as an apostle, Paul spoke respectfully of Gamaliel. And it's highly probable that Gamaliel was horrified at the kangaroo court proceedings that preceded the trial, the execution of Jesus.

[36:27] And Nicodemus and others within the Sanhedrin had obviously come to the conclusion that Jesus had come from God. So here we are.

[36:38] We reach verse 41, the end of our passage, and we see the most astonishing thing. We see these men being beaten and warned not to preach in the name of Jesus.

[36:54] And they go home and cry their eyes out and look for folks to comfort them and say, I'm never going out in that street to preach again. Is that what they did?

[37:06] No. No. They rejoiced that they had been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Do you know the thing that really strikes me about this church?

[37:21] This is a church that is completely and utterly irretrievably focused on Jesus. If the song Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus had been written 2,000 years in their day rather than our day, our era, they would have had no need of the song.

[37:45] You see, these songs are written to remind people like you and me that we've lost sight of Jesus and would become distracted and that we're looking away and that we're problem-centered instead of Jesus-centered.

[37:58] And these lovely songs bring us back to reality and remind us of the things that matter. But there was no need of that song for this group. They were absolutely preoccupied with Jesus.

[38:11] They spoke about him 24-7. People would have expected them to be covered in shame because they were the followers of a discredited, dishonored criminal who had been murdered and put to death on a cross, tortured before he went there.

[38:32] And yet, and yet, here they are actually rejoicing. And later on, James, the Lord's brother, who's writing in his epistle, says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

[38:51] And Peter, the apostle, says, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. You see, Jesus had said to them, he had made them a promise in regard to the Holy Spirit, and he said, I will not leave you as orphans.

[39:13] I will come to you. And that promise was fulfilled in the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of Jesus was poured into their hearts. And so these people were actually behaving as men and women who were absolutely fascinated with Jesus.

[39:31] They were preoccupied with Jesus. You didn't need to say to them, turn your eyes upon Jesus. They never took their eyes off him. And I want to suggest my brothers and sisters, you know, I'm discovering these days, and I plead guilty to this too.

[39:50] I read all the headlines. I was completely absorbed with the Brexit thing when it was on the go. Now I'm completely absorbed with coronavirus and vaccines and hand gel and all the rest of it.

[40:05] My brothers and sisters, Satan is a master of distraction. Our brother, Carl, when he was preaching just the other week, said there were three things in the main that Satan used against the church.

[40:20] One is persecution, one is corruption, and the other is distraction. And I want to say to you, my brothers and sisters, I believe that what we're looking at today is a powerless church because it's a distracted church.

[40:33] Paul said, quite simply, we who all, with unveiled faces, behold the glory of the Lord, are transformed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Spirit.

[40:54] Now, what would happen in this town if each of us bore a striking resemblance to Jesus? Because these people did. These people bore a striking resemblance to Jesus.

[41:09] They were hated with the same jealousy that had put Jesus on the cross. We read earlier in the chapter that until Gamaliel spoke, these men, this council, wanted to kill the apostles.

[41:23] It was the exact same jealousy because these men bore a striking resemblance to the man they had put on the cross and they were just as much trouble to their reputation as the man they had put on the cross.

[41:41] And they were jealous of them as they had been jealous of Jesus. My brothers and sisters, my personal prayer right now is that God will raise up a church to be jealous of.

[41:56] A church that looks like Jesus. A church that becomes like Jesus because we refuse to allow ourselves to be distracted by the headlines of the day and our hearts and our minds and our whole beings are filled with Jesus.

[42:12] Let me finish off by reading you a very old hymn. I haven't sung it in goodness knows how many years. Horatius Bonner was the brother of Andrew Bonner and they were both great friends of Murray McChain and Dundee.

[42:33] One four six in Mission Praise if you want to look it up. And by the way, I think we might have copies of Mission Praise since we're not using them here. I'm going to suggest that we let people take copies home if they want them.

[42:46] Not necessarily today but at some point. so that you've got a book at home and you can use it to sing songs in your own at home. But here's one of his.

[42:58] Agnes and I when we arrived in Perth to begin our first ministry were blessed by a lovely, lovely couple who knew that we were coming and it was our first day in the manse.

[43:09] We opened the back door of the kitchen and right on the step was a full month's supply of provisions for our home. Just sitting on the back step from this couple and this was their favourite hymn.

[43:27] Fill thou my life O Lord my God in every part with praise. That's what we read about today. That my whole being may proclaim thy being and thy ways.

[43:45] Not for the lip of praise alone not in the praising heart I ask but for a life made up of praise in every part. A life. What did the angel say to them?

[43:57] Go into the temple and proclaim all the words of this life. That's the name, that's another name for the gospel. It's a life. Praise in the common things of life.

[44:09] It's goings out to then praise in each duty and each deed however small and mean. You're ironing the clothes and you're doing it for the glory of the Lord. Fill every part of me with praise.

[44:22] Let all my being speak of thee and of thy love O Lord pour through poor though I be and weak and so shalt thou Lord from me in me receive thy glory to you and so shall I begin on earth the song forever new so shall no part of day or night from sacredness be free but all my life in every step be fellowship with thee.

[44:50] A good prayer. Let's pray. Father what a joy it is to think that there were people who walked around this planet who when they suffered for the name of Jesus rejoiced in it.

[45:11] They saw it as something of great honor to suffer for Jesus' name. Father we marvel at this.

[45:23] We ask you to forgive us for our constant grumbling and complaining for our fretting and worrying over the headlines and the trends of the day.

[45:38] Lord in the name of Jesus please give us the new fascination with your son. If indeed the church is the bride of Christ Father should not the bride's great preoccupation be with her groom and if she's not preoccupied with her groom is she fit to be his bride?

[45:58] Father let Jesus be our great preoccupation and as we gaze upon him may we be transformed into his likeness and may this whole town see what it looks like when people are filled in every part with praise to the name of Jesus.

[46:22] Be glorified in us oh Lord in Jesus name Amen okay