[0:00] Hello everyone, welcome to our service this morning. A special welcome to those who are visiting with us. We are also delighted to have with us Derek Maxwell from SGA. He is no stranger to us, he has been with us many times before, but we are delighted to have with us in person this time. I think last year we met online by soon, which wasn't the same thing but we are pleased that he is able to be with us today and to share with us the activities of SGA at this difficult time in Eastern Europe. We will hear from him and give a report of the work and give us a message from God's Word. We are going to begin our service singing from Psalm 89. Psalm 89, verse 13. Thou hast an arm that is full of power, thy hand is great in might, and thy right hand exceedingly exalted is in height. Justice and judgment of thy throne are made the dwelling place. Mercy accompanied with truth shall go before thy face. O greatly blessed the people are, the joyful sound that know. In brightness in brightness of thy face, O Lord, they ever on shall go. They in thy name shall all the day rejoice exceedingly, and in thy righteousness shall they exalted be of high. Because the glory of their strength doth only stand in thee, and in thy favour shall our horn and power exalted be. For God is our defence, and he to us doth safety bring. The Holy One of Israel is our Almighty King. And so on.
[2:10] You can sing these verses. Psalm 89, verse 13. Thou hast an arm that is full of power, thy hand is great in might. Psalm 89, verse 13. Thou hast an arm that is full of power, thy hand is great in might, and thy right hand is great in might. It's all to this in might. Justice and judgment of thy throne, O Lord, thy little hand is great in might.
[3:07] O Lord, thy little hand is great in might. Mercy accompanied with truth shall go before thy face. O Christ, O Lord, thy little hand is great in might.
[3:34] O Lord, thy hand is great in might.
[4:02] New toer certaines of oert Já perhaps thereof rush spots Will show them wonderful. Are you toda Morrison on earth,ym?
[4:19] Hear my stoklyn Christ, O Lord, thy little half-talism My name is great in might. funcion iterative shall they exalt him in the on high.
[4:37] Because the glory of the Lamb God only stands in the And gain with thy bitter shout Of the corn on a plough of red salt to the king.
[5:09] For God is our King, and is not me, to us the safety thing.
[5:25] The Holy One of Israel is the Almighty King.
[5:41] Amen. Let us join together in prayer. Ever blessed God, as we come into your presence with praise and with prayer, we pray for your blessed revelation of your presence here amongst us as we join together in your name.
[6:11] We know how hollow our worship can appear to us at times, especially when we engage in our regular activity, when we dutifully reach out for your word and do what is asked of us, take your word and read it, and seek to meditate upon it.
[6:45] And yet, our heart and mind may be engaged in other things. Perhaps there are other things that weigh heavily upon our minds, and there are other things that call upon our time, and even before we have put the word down, we have gone ahead of ourselves into the work of the day.
[7:13] And you know that is but one of our weaknesses and one of our shortcomings. And you understand us better than we understand ourselves.
[7:27] And we come to you and ask, Lord, that you would help us the short time that we're together here in this place, that we would know the restraint of your own spirit upon our hearts and minds, so that we would be guided to the truth and in the truth.
[7:48] And that we would know what it is to experience the true nature of fellowship. Not just one with the other, but with our God as you are in heaven above, in your Son, Jesus Christ, at your right hand, and in the person of your spirit who is at work here in our lives as your people are the temple of the spirit, this world, this sphere of this activity.
[8:21] And our prayer is that you would work in us and through us and amongst us so that every person here would know something of what it is to have God's word speak to them.
[8:33] we pray especially for our young people as they are met here to prepare for Sunday school as they go out from us to be taught from the scripture.
[8:48] We pray that you would bless them in their own lives and whatever these lives are made up of. We cannot think of what it was like for ourselves at that age when we remember back to occasions in our youth, in our early youth when the world was so huge and the things that were going on in the world was a strange activity to us.
[9:18] Many things were spared from knowing about and seeing anything of these things. But now the world in which we live is a world that has shrunk and the things that are going on in it are much more before us each one and even our children are not denied access to things that perhaps they would be better not knowing about.
[9:43] We pray Lord for them that you would guard, keep and protect them and especially young minds that so many seek to pollute them to propagate the insidious lies of the enemy of our soul within hearts and minds that are unable to resist.
[10:06] We pray for your own protection upon our homes upon our families upon young and old amongst us that you would remember us as a congregation and we pray for your blessing upon all that is done in your name here at this time and on every occasion that we meet together.
[10:26] We pray for the needs of the congregation that are met and those who cannot meet with us because of their own infirmities. We remember the sick and the elderly and the infirm.
[10:37] We pray for those in hospital. We pray for those who are committed to care of others in care homes or the hospice. We remember the needs of the many as we remember the needs of the few.
[10:50] We extend our eye beyond the borders to the world in which we live where there is so much of evil going on about us and we are reminded of it daily and we pray for the pain and the awful goings on there that we find it so difficult to spend time looking at because of the destruction that has brought our attention.
[11:16] We pray for people, for homes, for families, for old, for young, for parents who are driven from their homes and as outcasts from their own environment.
[11:28] We pray, Lord, for those who have had to flee and that you would keep them safe in their flight and that you would prepare a place for them, even a temporary residence where they can be secure and safe.
[11:42] Remember the soldiers who are on the battlefield. We pray for their enemies as truly as we pray for them. We remember, Lord, the other nations of the earth where there are evidences of ongoing wars, be they civil wars or wars that are carried on against their neighbour.
[12:06] We pray, Lord, for peace. We give thanks that when we pray to you, we pray to you as the God of peace. We see that in the gospel, the gospel of peace.
[12:18] The son of peace is the one who is at your right hand and we have peace with you through him and may the gospel remind us of the need that we have to be bound up in the security of knowing that the wrath of God is no longer upon us but that Christ, the Redeemer, has come into our experience and that he is the Saviour of souls.
[12:42] So bless us together, we pray. Bless your servant who is with us again on this occasion. We give thanks for his ministry. We give thanks for the way in which he is diligently seeking to remind others of the activity of the gospel in a different sphere where the sharing of the good news takes many forms.
[13:07] We pray for those who support him and we pray for those that they support in turn. We remember John, he preaches today in the point that we give thanks for him and the knowledge that we have offered, the friendship that we have developed over many years.
[13:26] We remember, Lord, all our friends in the gospel and we give thanks for the ties that bind us together that whatever it is that takes place in this world that these are securely bound and eternity itself will expose the one who is responsible for bringing these relationships into being.
[13:52] So continue to bless us as we read your word and as we reflect on what that word has to say to us. Pardon sin in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm going to read from the scriptures of the New Testament the book of Acts and chapter 20 and verse 17 I'm reading down to verse 27 This describes too the journey of the apostle Paul And from my leaders he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church and when they were to come to him he said unto them Do you know from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner
[14:56] I have been with you at all seasons serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying weight of the Jews and how I kept back nothing that was profited but unto you but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and now behold I go bound in the spirit into Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there say that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide me but none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God and now behold
[16:03] I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men for I have not shone to declare unto you all the counsel of God amen and may God and his blessing to a reading of this word I am now going to ask Derek to say a few words to the boys and girls before you go out to silence well boys and girls it is really good to see you in church this morning and I am really glad to be with you and we are going to take a little journey together this morning so we are going to leave the Isle of Lewis and we are going to go on a very long journey and I think the best way to go on this journey is to take an aeroplane do you like flying well we are going to try and fly this morning because we are going to the country of Ukraine so I want you to fasten your seatbelts make sure your seat is in an upright position your window blinds are open because we are going to fly it will take us about three hours to get there we are going to the city of Odessa and in the city of Odessa there is an orphanage a place where boys and girls can be cared for and can live and Slavic
[17:33] Gospel Association have been supporting this big house where many up to 60 boys and girls are living so they get food they have a comfortable bed to lie on and they have people who love them and care for them before the boys and girls came to the orphanage many of them were living on the streets and they were eating out of the bins in the city and that wasn't a very nice experience or life for them but Slavic Gospel Association have been helping to send out money to help over the past 22 years let me tell you how it all began at Grace Church in Odessa there was a building that was lying there in waste it wasn't being used and the minister and the elders were praying that God would guide them what they should do with this building one morning the minister came very early to the church and on the grounds of the church there was an old car abandoned car that wasn't being used and that morning the minister could see some movement in the car whenever he went over he discovered that there were three young children in the car they were really frightened and the minister got speaking to them and he discovered that they'd been sleeping in the car for over a year every night and he knew this is what
[19:07] God wanted them to do God wanted the church to open an orphanage or as they call it the children's shelter so that those three children and many others could come and stay and get food and have a comfortable place to live and that's exactly what has been happening and we're so pleased to be able to help them over all these years but something happened a few weeks ago and I'm sure you know a little about it about what is happening in Ukraine and the war that is there well in our orphanage and the house parents they wanted to stay in Odessa and they wanted to stay in the big house and care for the 60 children but one day a bomb or a shell fell very close to the building and so it was no longer safe to stay there and they had to decide to move so they got all the 60 children with the house parents into the train and they made a long journey back train and then on the bus and they crossed into the country of Poland they were able to stay there for a few weeks and now they're in Germany where they've got a big building where they can all live together and be cared for by the house parents and I want you to pray for them because it's been very difficult pray for the children in grace shelter that God will help them and that he'll minister to them and when you're doing that you thank God for all that you have you have a comfortable bed you have food you have those who love you and care for you and that is something wonderful you thank God for that and also pray for these little children that God will be very near to them and help them and the house parents as well and in this little book and there's one for you this morning here so don't go home without it there's a story about a little girl that was in the shelter and you can read about her life and there's recipes here from Poland there's puzzles there's lots of things you take one of these with you they're here on this pew don't forget and you can read something more this morning great to see you boys and girls at church and you pray for the boys and girls in grace shelter thank you so much
[21:44] I'm going to sing now to God's praise from Psalm 96 Psalm 96 at the beginning of the psalm we'll sing a new song to the Lord sing all the earth to God to God sing bless his name show still his saving health abroad among the heathen nations his glory do declare and unto all the people show his works that wondrous are and so on we'll sing to the end of verse 7 for sing a new song to the Lord oh sing a new song to the Lord sing all the earth to God to God
[23:13] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS
[24:15] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS Thank you.
[25:23] Their beauty shine. To the게요, scribes, to the Lord, people every thrive.
[25:47] Glorie, Gloria, To the Lord that I keep out a time It's a great joy to be back with you after a few years Not being able to travel and all the restrictions But it's wonderful to be with you again this morning in person And be able to worship the Lord together And to share something with you about the work of Slavic Gospel first of all And then we'll come to the ministry of God's Word We are grateful for God's help and blessing to us Even over the past couple of years of restrictions And how the Lord has been working And God is faithful And God is providing for us
[26:48] And we rejoice in that today As a mission you may be aware that we're not a sending agency And that we don't send missionaries from the UK or Ireland Out to the countries where we serve And of course that's in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe Central Asia and Far East Russia But we invest in the national believers And we equip them and train them That they will fulfil the Great Commission of Jesus Christ That they will be the missionaries The ministers, the church planters amongst their own people We do that through our four core ministries There is the training the workers Which is our Bible school ministry Leadership support where we finance the church leaders Publishing literature that's providing good, sound, biblical material And crisis response is where we provide for those in crisis situations Like widows, like the orphans I was sharing with the boys and girls Like the refugees in Ukraine at the moment And all that is happening in the countries surrounding Ukraine Taking first of all the training of the workers in our Bible schools
[27:50] And we thank God for how the Lord has kept his hand on that work Over the restrictions and the past couple of years Because obviously we were not able to travel To carry out the teaching programme But God raised up the national church leaders To teach their own people And this is something we wanted to see happening for years But they were never prepared to step up to the mark As long as we were able to travel But due to the pandemic They stepped up to the mark They have been teaching their own people And we're grateful for that And we're going to keep that programme in place In the future Teachers from the United Kingdom Will carry out 50% of the teaching And the national church leaders the other 50% So we thank God for new groups of students One new group started in Moldova in January At the same time another group started in Poland And God willing this autumn There will be a new school opening in Romania And another one opening in the north of Serbia So we thank God for the teaching ministry
[28:53] As we seek to teach and train a new generation of Christian workers Across the different countries where we serve Coming then on to another project And I want to bring you to Central Asia I want to share with you two projects That are very active in Central Asia When we speak about Central Asia We're talking about countries like Kazakhstan Which border with China Also Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan And Turkmenistan And SJ are partnering with Trans World Radio In Central Asia As we seek to raise funds And provide for the radio ministry The project that we launched last year Was Sending Little Missionaries That was providing funds for radios And also uploaded SD cards That had Bible sermons, Bible readings, songs And testimonies on them The wonderful thing is with the SD cards That if the people cannot get a reception To tune in to the Trans World Radio programs They can listen on the SD card
[29:55] Anywhere, anyplace, at any time And so these are being distributed across Central Asia When we launched this project Initially we wanted to provide 500 of them But the Lord made it 1,000 And then the Lord has made it almost 1,500 And it continues to grow Believers are being edified in their faith Non-believers are being reached with a gospel And Central Asia is in the Muslim context And the Muslim lady Shared her testimony of how she felt That she would always be a Muslim Her husband was a strict Muslim And that would be their lives But this lady received one of the radios With an SD card Secretly she began to listen to the message Of the SD card And that woman was wonderfully converted To Jesus Christ And that's just one testimony Of what God is doing Through sending little missionaries In partnership with Trans World Radio The second project I want to mention
[30:56] In Central Asia Is Bibles for the Nations And this is in partnership With Bible Mission in Germany And to date we have helped To provide God's word In the Kazakh Uzbek And Tijik languages And those are some of the main languages Of Central Asia And we are thankful That we were able to do that Indeed Just a few weeks ago In a country That has been very much involved In the conflict and war In Ukraine God's word was printed In these different languages And it began the long journey To Central Asia We just got a message through recently To say that the large container of Bibles In Tijik, Kazakh, Uzbek And Russian Have arrived in Central Asia And are being distributed To non-believers And to families Bibles for the nation Is Bibles for the family The family unit is very strong And powerful in Central Asia And so we give Bible sets to families That's a children's Bible
[31:56] And an adult Bible That families will be reached for Christ Through the word of the living God Our current Bible project Is in the Russian language And you might ask the question Well why are you printing Russian Bibles For Central Asia There are over 35 different people groups In Central Asia And they have their own languages And dialects And so Russian is a common language A little bit like Spanish In the common language of South America Russian is a common language In Central Asia Of course it would be much better To have it in the mother tongue But that would be a huge task And we may not have time to do that So currently with Bible Mission We're raising funds For Russian Bibles And again something wonderful happened Because just on Friday Week last I got a picture through And there I could see in my own eyes Palettes and palettes Of Russian Bibles
[32:58] Have been printed And they're in a place today And they're being prepared For distribution And we thank God for that And we believe It's understood That 15 people groups Will be reached With the word of God Through this project Of the Russian The Bible in the Russian language Please pray for Central Asia Please pray for these two projects That I've mentioned Sending little missionaries Bibles for the nations And that Central Asia Will be reached for God As we seek to go forward In his name And in partnership With Transworld Radio And Bibles Mission In Germany As we serve together Another project I want to mention to you And if you've read our literature I don't think you could have Escaped this one And that is Project 70 This was launched To mark the milestone Of the mission's 70 years of existence In 2020 We give God Thanks for his faithfulness We had many events Planned for the United Kingdom And Ireland To mark this special milestone
[33:59] But you know what happened Two years ago I don't need to remind you Across the world And so all our plans Were either cancelled Or postponed But the project For the field For Central Eastern Europe Central Asia Far East Russia It continued God had laid A very special project On our hearts As we would Mark this special milestone And that was That God would send 70 missionary families And Slavic Gospel Association Would support Those 70 new Missionary families Who would be Church planters Who would be Pioneering A new work Into different areas Of their countries And I rejoice To be here with you This morning And to be able To tell you That God just Didn't send 70 God sent 80 Missionary families And God has Wonderfully helped To see almost All of those 80 families Sponsored by churches And individuals All over the United Kingdom And Ireland And we rejoice That this project Really developed
[35:00] In three areas Not our planning But God Who is the Lord Of the harvest He sent four labourers Into the harvest field And this project Really developed In Far East Russia Where today We're now supporting 12 missionary families That is in Siberia And beyond We're also supporting The aviation programme Where two missionary planes Are flying missionaries To isolated areas And that's continuing Many people have asked What about the work In Far East Russia Due to President Putin's Involvement in Ukraine I just got a message Through this week To inform us That the work And the spread of the gospel In Far East Russia Is continuing unhindered You see We're closer to Moscow Than the people In Far East Russia Are to Moscow They're much further away Than we are to Moscow And so They're continuing To serve the Lord And we thank God For that ministry Project 70 also Developed hugely
[36:00] In Central Asia Where I've been talking About the Reuse And the Bibles Today We're now supporting 30 missionary families In Central Asia And then one country In Eastern Europe This project Really developed And that was Ukraine Today We're supporting 35 missionary families Across Ukraine In total With the 70th anniversary Project And the other missionaries That we're supporting SGUK Are now Providing for Around 200 Missionary families Across the different countries Ukraine Has a population Of 44 million 73% of them Will consider Themselves to be Orthodox But in Ukraine The Evangelical Church Has been an expanding church After the fall of communism There was a great move of God Many churches planned The denomination That we serve with Their churches grew To around 900 By the year 2000
[37:01] But since 2000 Up till Before the war began The number of churches In that denomination Was almost 3000 And that gives you Some indication Of the church growth Of what God Has been doing In Ukraine But not only Reaching Ukraine But Ukrainians Have been reaching The world In the SGA Sponsored Theological Seminary In Odessa That has A mission faculty And in the mission faculty There's a cross Cultural course Where they're Training Ukrainians To bring the gospel Across the world On the 24th of February Early in the morning Something happened That we wish Would not have happened And that was The invasion Of Russian military Some of the cities That have been Bombarded for years Or for weeks now Are cities Where we have missions For example Kharkov Which is the second Largest city In Ukraine On the north Eastern border
[38:02] With Russia Deniz is our Project 70 Missionary there God helped To plant a church He was a drug addict His life was broken But God saved him Isn't it wonderful What God can do In the life 2 Corinthians Chapter 5 17 Is still true today That if any man Be in Christ He's a new creature The old things Have passed away Behold all things Have become new God transforms lives And God transformed Dennis He became a missionary And a pioneer worker In Kharkov God helped him To plant a church Drug addicts Were getting converted The church Was growing And then the war Began A few weeks After the war Began Dennis' apartment Was bombed By Russian military And he had to Take his family To a safe place We think of Gennady Our missionary In Moripal Down in the southeast And you have heard About this city So much in recent days God helped him To plant a church Just outside The city But of course That city Is over 90% Of it Is totally destroyed
[39:02] Today And believers I understand There are still Some believers In that city At this time And we pray For Gennady And pray for his family They were able To move out Of the city Also We think of Ivan today Who is a Project 70 missionary Close to Moripal His wife was Expecting Their fifth child And what did Ivan do?
[39:28] Ivan took His wife Who was due To give birth And the four children And drove them To Germany Left them there And returned to Ukraine To serve the Lord God has helped him In a unique ministry As he's seeking To reach out In these days And reach The Ukrainian military With the gospel Of Jesus Christ He visits 15 checkpoints Every day To bring hope To bring the gospel That they might have Eternal life In Jesus Christ As these young men Feast the Russian military And so we thank God For our Project 70 missionaries And as they continue To serve the Lord And the Lord is working In Ukraine today The reports that we're receiving Are just amazing Of how many many people Are coming to faith Are people on the ground Who were there After the demise Of communism And when there was A great openness And a hunger And people were reaching Out for Jesus And for the word of God
[40:29] Today It's even greater People are longing For God And for reality And as a mission With Bible Mission We've recently decided To provide 100,000 Bible sets In Ukrainian language We've also Recently decided To support Another 120 Missionary pastors In Ukraine For at least Three months So they'll be able To stay in the country And minister God's word Preach the gospel And help men and women In these times Of war Pastor Igor Bindur Who is a dear brother That we serve with In Ukraine He shared with us Of how recently Sunday morning He was preaching At the ordination service Of a young man As he's been ordained Into ministry Just at the end Of the service An elderly couple Walked from the back Of the church To the front And knelt on their knees And repented That is something They do in the countries Where we serve
[41:29] They repent of their sin Openly before The congregation It's what they do Out there But that morning Igor couldn't understand Why the emotions Of the congregation Were so high It was after the service He learned That the elderly couple Who repented that morning Were the parents Of the young man Who had just been Ordained into ministry They had been hostile To the gospel And hardened But God reached them That morning And saved them By his grace And God is reaching People In Ukraine SJ are seeking To help in four ways Providing for refugees In the bordering countries Of Moldova Romania Slovakia Hungary And Poland And our teams Are on the ground Reaching out And we're sending out The finance To help them At this time But also in Ukraine We're seeking To provide food And help And medicine For people Who are in Greek need
[42:29] And we thank God That we're able To do that Right now And also Our medical teams That we have been Supporting for years Are moving up To cities Like Irpin Bukha Where the Russian Military have Withdrawn from And into the city Of Kharkov Because Civilians need Medical help And our medical Doctors and nurses Are going there To serve God And to reach out At this time Also as a mission We're seeking To connect Ukrainian families To UK families Who want to host The Ukrainian family For these six months There's more information About that On our website Do pray for Ukraine Pray for God's Faithful servants As they continue To serve the Lord In these very challenging And difficult days But something Has really touched Our hearts As a mission As we have Listened to our Friends from Ukraine And heard about
[43:30] What God is doing And that is Their faithful service For the Lord And it's remarkable Because we've got To understand That these people Are in a country That is suffering Disruption Devastation And death And yet in the midst Of all that's Happening in Ukraine Right now The church of Jesus Christ Is very much alive God's people Are faithfully Serving and reaching out Every opportunity That they have To minister to people Who are in great need When I consider them And I think of them Serving God In the good times And the troublesome times Their commitment Right now In their service For God Is inspiring Their attitude Is encouraging And their service For God Is challenging As we look on From a distance As we speak to them As we hear from them And these people Are faithfully Serving The Lord
[44:31] You know my friends This morning This is something That God wants All of us To do And the quality That God wants In our service For him Is faithfulness Remember The letter To the church At Smyrna In Revelation Chapter 2 Verse 10 And the word of God Says Be thou faithful Unto death And I will give thee A crown of life It was also The commendation Which the servants Received from the Lord In Matthew 25 And verse 21 Well done Thou good And faithful Servant And the Apostle Paul Highlights the need For faithfulness In God's serving As he addresses The Ephesian elders By example And exhortation From the scriptures That were read to us From Acts chapter 20 And verse 17 And here I want us To look first of all At faithfulness To the work Of the Lord This requirement Is highlighted In the words Which Paul spoke In verse 19 Where he said
[45:31] Serving the Lord With all humility Of mind And with many tears And temptations And then He reveals How willing he was To deny self In serving the Lord In verse 24 Where we read Neither count I my life dear Unto myself So that I might Finish my course And with joy The ministry Which I have received Of the Lord Paul the Apostle Here was heading For Jerusalem In obedience To the Lord's Direction for him And despite Knowing the awful Trials that would Come and that He would face This was Paul The Apostle Where he said I want to finish The ministry That God Has given me To do As we read In verse 19 Serve the Lord With all humility Of mind The Lord's Interest Must always Be first And that was True for the Apostle Paul The Lord's Interest The ministry For the Lord
[46:32] Was the most Important thing In the life Of the Apostle Paul As he served God And as we think Of our brothers And sisters In Ukraine This morning In the midst Of war This is Their priority That they might Faithfully Serve God That they might Finish the work That God Has given Them to do Even in the Midst of Destruction And death At this time Paul the Apostle Was one who Was focused Who was Faithfully Serving His God And here He's speaking To the elders At Ephesus And Paul Recognized that They would have A different role To the role That he had In ministry Because in Verse 28 They're told To feed The church Of God In verse 29 to 31 They're told To watch Against false Teachers That would Come into The church Or false Teachers Who are Already In the church And so
[47:33] There are Different roles As we Faithfully Serve the Lord There are Many roles For us In the Ministry And in What we Can do For our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ But you know Friends As we have Gathered here This morning I want to Impress upon You that There's one Important role For every Child of God Who are Faithfully Serving The Lord Jesus Christ Do not think That there is No role for You in the Kingdom of God Perhaps Maybe some Of us Have certain Limitations That prevent Us from Serving the Lord But there's One thing That we All can Do And that Is we Can all Pray And to Faithfully Serve the Lord in Intercession In prayer As you Intercede For Ukraine As you Intercede For the 35 Missionary Families That SGA Supports As you Intercede For the Bibles
[48:33] That will Be printed In the Ukrainian Language And reaching Out into That country As you Intercede That God Will come Into that Nation At this Time This is Something We can Do As we Faithfully Serve The Lord The Ministry Of Prayer You know The word Of God Says The effectual Fervent Preaching No It says The effectual Fervent Prayer Of a Righteous Man Availeth Much Prayer Is the Greatest Ministry That the Child of God Will ever Carry Out Here On Earth You know Many times After Meetings Especially elderly People Will come To me And they Will say Well I Can't Do Much To Serve God Now My Body Is Tired And I Don't Have The Energy And then They Will say To me All I Can Do Now Is Pray Pray But You Know Friends It's Not A Last Resort Prayer It Is The Greatest Ministry For The Church Of Jesus Christ
[49:33] And Here Paul Was Exhorting The Ephesian Elders To Faithfully Serve The Lord Faithfulness To The Work Of The Lord May We Be Faithful In The Work Of The Lord Even In This Church Serving God In This Community Giving Ourselves Completely To The Service Of God You Know It's Three Years From We Been On The Island And I'm Three Years Older Than I Was And You're Three Years Older As Well We Can't Do Anything About That The Time Passes And Our Lives Are Passing And I Have A Big Birthday In A Few Weeks Time And I'm Not Going To Tell You The Age Because You Wouldn't Believe It That I'm So Old But I Know One Thing This Morning My Life Is Passing By So Quickly On This Earth And It's Only My Service For God That Is Going To Last I Will Leave Everything
[50:34] Else Behind It's Only What I Do For God That's Why The Bible Exhorts Us To Lay Up Treasure In Heaven Where Neither Moth Nor Rust Of Corrupt Where Thieves Cannot Break Through Nor Steal My Friends It's What We Do For Jesus It's How We Serve God And His Church Here On Earth That Will Really Count For Eternity That When We Stand Before The Lord We Might Hear Those Words Well Done Thou Good And Faithful Servant My Friends We Will Hear Those Words If We Faithfully Serve God Here On Earth In Your Community In This Church That God Has Brought You Into To Serve God Faithfully Dear Missionary Molly Harvey Who's With The Lord Today I Met Her When She Was In Her Nineties And She Was From Northern Ireland God Called Her To Go To Be A Missionary In Brazil And To Serve God There When She Went Before The Panel Of Doctors In The Royal Victoria Hospital They Discouraged Her And They Told Her That
[51:34] She Would Never Last With Her Heart Condition And She Shouldn't Go To The Mission Field But Molly Was Called Of God And She Went To Brazil And She Served God For Almost 40 Years I Think Or More In Fact She Used To Say With Some Amusement That The Doctors Who Told Her Not To Go Are All Dead And She Was Still Alive But There Was Something That Molly Harvey Said That Really Inspired Me As A Young Person That Really Touched My Heart Deeply Words That I Never Forgotten This Is What She Said Don't Count Your Years But Make Your Years Count Faithfully Serving The Lord Faithfully In The Work Of God Secondly Faithfulness To The Word Of The Lord And This Is Mentioned For Us When Paul Here Speaks In Verse 26 About The Whole Counsel Of God He Says Wherefore I Take You To Record
[52:35] This Day That I Am Pure From The Blood Of All Men For I Have Not Shunned To Declare Unto You All The Counsel Of God This Refers To The Word Of God Paul Did Not Withhold Any Teaching Of God's Word From The Ephesians But As He Said That Was Profitable Unto You Now I Want To Note This Important Detail And Notice This Paul Did Not Say I Kept Back Nothing That Was Pleasant Unto You Because Certain Teachings In The Bible Don't Seem Pleasant To Our Ears But The Wonderful Thing Is They Are Profitable For Us And Paul Here Could Say To The Ephesian Embers I Kept Back Nothing That Was Profitable But I Gave You The Whole Council The Whole Word Of The Living God You See All Scripture Is Profitable
[53:35] Paul Reminds Us Of That As He Wrote To Young Timothy And Here Paul Is Saying I Have Given You The Whole Council And He Declares That In Verse 21 He Says I Testifying Both To The Jews And Also To The Greeks Repentance Toward God And Faith Toward The Lord Jesus Christ That's The Whole Council Of God And Maybe In This Service You Have Never Repented Of Your Sin People Don't Like To Hear About Sin They Don't Like To Hear About A Lost Eternity And About Hell God's Judgment And God's Wrath But That's The Whole Council Of God And Paul Here Is Saying To The Ephesian Elders I Kept Back Nothing But I Told Jews And Gentiles That There Must Be Repentance Toward God And Faith Toward The Lord Jesus Christ That's God's Salvation That's The Whole Council Of God And
[54:36] Paul Was Exhorting The Ephesian Elders That He Would Soon Believe In Them And That They Should Have The Whole Council Of God That They Might Grow In Grace And In The Knowledge Of The Lord Jesus Christ Faithfulness To The Work Of God Faithfulness To The Word Of God And Faithfulness In Our Walk With God Paul Here Was Exhorting Them In Verse 28 Take He Therefore Unto Yourself And To All The Flock Paul Was Saying To The Elders Look After Your Spiritual Life Before You Think Of Others And Feeding Others And Caring And Shepherding For Others Paul Is Saying To Them Let There We
[55:53] Would Feed On God's Word That We Would Guard Our Spiritual Lives And That Our Walk With God Would Be Right Di We love the Lord and serve him and be faithful in these days as we seek to go forward in his name.
[56:40] May the Lord give us the strength and the help as we think of our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. Remember them, pray for them, that God will give them the strength for every day as they faithfully serve.
[56:56] And then for ourselves, may we faithfully serve our God. And his word and our spiritual walk. May we love him with everything that we have and serve him for the rest of our lives.
[57:13] As you leave this morning, and I understand you will leave this way, please take your time and stop at the pew here. There's literature available covering some of our projects and please do take that with you this morning.
[57:27] I want to also mention just this prayer booklet. Which has been published recently. Praying for SGA for 31 days. And you can take this home and remember our work as you faithfully pray for us.
[57:41] And remember us in that great ministry of intercession. Also our ladies ministry, a Phoebe project which was launched quite recently. That leaflet's available.
[57:51] Our project leaflet, Ukrainian leaflet. They're available. Take your time and look at the pew here and the literature and also our magazine. And also just to mention finally, there is a set of books that I want to mention.
[58:05] You can take them with you today and pay it some other time or whatever. That will be fine. We've done that here before and that's not a problem. This one here is on the work in Moldova. A wonderful read about God's blessing.
[58:18] And Brother John Burney who's been with you has been very busy helping to write these books. And then the second one is Transformed. 22 short testimonies from Central Asia.
[58:29] And then Casa Philippe is the story of Casa Philippe. The house of Philippe in Romania, Includes.
[58:41] Young man who died at the age of 36 with cancer. This house has been opened up in his memory to give accommodation to cancer patients and their families. And these are wonderful reads.
[58:52] The three books, the set of three are five pounds. I think that's a bargain. You can take the set with you. Pay some other time. Ring up the office or whatever. Don't worry about that.
[59:03] Take the books. We want them to be a blessing to you. They're there this morning. And then this book on Peter, The Making of Dynamite. This is the story of the founder of SGA.
[59:14] And it's pitched for those aged between 8 and 14 years of age. Because we want a new generation to have a heart for mission and a heart for God. And that book is available at three pounds.
[59:27] Or you can get five of them for ten pounds. Bulk buying. And those are available this morning as well. Please do take the literature with you. We trust it will be a blessing as you remember the work of SGA.
[59:40] And as we seek to serve the Lord together. Thank you for being here this morning. And thank you for this opportunity just to share a little of what our God is doing in these days.
[59:54] The Lord said, I will build my church. And today, God is doing that across his harvest fields. And thank you for your partnership in this ministry.
[60:06] Praying for us. Remembering us. And helping us. Over so many years. We're so grateful. And with God's help, we want to go forward. And see greater things happening for the glory of God in the coming days.
[60:19] And may all of us faithfully serve him. Faithfully in his work. In his word. And in our walk with God.
[60:32] May the Lord richly bless you. Shall we bow just in prayer? Dear God and Father, we thank you for the opportunity to be in your house and to come to your word.
[60:44] We pray, O God, that you'll help us to serve you and live for you like the Apostle Paul. And O God, that we might know your strength and power within us. And your enabling. That through you, dear God, we might be able to do great things.
[60:59] In your name and for your glory. Help us to walk with you. To serve you. To love you. Lord, may your blessing be upon us. In Jesus' name.
[61:10] Amen. On behalf of the congregation, I'd like to thank Reverend Maxwell for his time with us today.
[61:28] We pray for reminding us of the work that is ongoing and informing us of the progress of it in what is very difficult times throughout the world.
[61:40] We pray that God would continue to bless it. We're going to conclude our service. We're going to conclude our service just now by singing the words of Psalm 126.
[61:52] Psalm 126. And we'll sing the word of Psalm 126.
[62:06] And Zion's bondage God turned back, and as men that dreamed were weak. Then filled with laughter was our mouth, our tongue with melody. They among the heathen said, The Lord great things for them hath wrought.
[62:22] The Lord hath done great things for us, whence joy to us is brought. As streams of water in the south of bondage Lord recall, who sow in tears a reaping time of joy, enjoy the sham.
[62:36] That man who bearing precious seed and going forth doth mourn, he doubtless bringing back his sheep, rejoicing, shall return. When Zion's bondage God turned back.
[62:49] When Zion's bondage God turned back.
[63:01] God's name and the three were weak. Then filled with laughter was our mouth, our tongue with melody.
[63:25] The Lord of Jesus said the Lord, With this for them had brought, The Lord had done, With this for us, When joy to the blessed God, As three of the water in the sun, A bondage turned with God, Through soil and years, The re았어요 of your information,
[64:35] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS
[65:45] Thank you.
[66:15] Can you just sit here? Can you just sit here?
[67:15] Can you just sit here?
[67:45] Can you just sit here?