Serving the King; Citizens of another country

[0:00] Well please keep your Bibles open at Ephesians chapter 4 and I want to start by reminding you of something that we were looking at last week when we saw that the Bible makes us wise for salvation.

[0:18] That's 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 15. The Bible makes us wise for salvation. We looked at this word salvation and saw that it is foundational to a right understanding of the state of the world.

[0:35] There is something very sadly and badly wrong with the world. It is a world which is richly beautiful but devastatingly broken.

[0:49] And here we are on Remembrance Sunday when we pause to consider the horror of war and we are surely reminded of how stubbornly broken the world is and each one of us in this world.

[1:06] The horrors of two world wars haven't stopped war. Why? Because the problem is actually far deeper than we like to think.

[1:21] The Bible addresses this by pointing out that the problems in this world are not down to other people but to each one of us. And that our fundamental need is not just to be saved from the evil and destructive habits which lead to personal as well as national wars.

[1:41] But more fundamentally to be saved from the just judgment of God. The God who we've neglected and rejected and disrespected all of which the Bible calls sin.

[2:03] And this is the fundamental problem. Our broken relationship with God inevitably leads to all the dislocation and misery that we see around us. People pour so much energy into trying to solve the real world's problems.

[2:25] But at the same time refusing to acknowledge that the fundamental problem is our rejection of God. What a mighty salvation we need.

[2:41] And it's by knowing what the Bible says that we can understand both the problem and God's unique and deeply loving solution of sending his son Jesus to become our saviour.

[2:53] Dying on the cross. Dying on the cross. Carrying our sin. Bearing the judgment of God upon that sin. So that we might be released and set free and be changed into the people who do exactly what we've been intended to be.

[3:15] People who know God and love and worship him. And the Bible urges us to accept God's verdict of judgment on us and to receive the forgiveness that he offers us in Jesus Christ.

[3:30] And that's why this book is so powerful. Because it not only says to us this is the problem. Not only does it say this is the solution.

[3:41] But it says come. Come. Embrace the solution that God has offered. And receive life in Jesus Christ.

[3:54] So I pause to ask this question. Have you seen your own need for this salvation?

[4:07] And have you recognised your responsibility today to receive God's forgiveness which he offers you? So to have a Bible and to read it is a great blessing.

[4:20] But we also saw that God's method is to save people not just by their reading the Bible. But by having it read and taught to them by men of God who have themselves experienced God's salvation.

[4:34] And show it by transformed lives. We can't save ourselves. No man can save another person.

[4:44] But the Bible says that God uses means to save people. And it is by the means of the life and teaching of such men that God is pleased to save others.

[4:57] And so there is this striking message on the right hand side of the screen there. 1 Timothy 4 verses 15 and 16. Where Paul says to Timothy. The same Timothy who himself had been made wise to salvation.

[5:11] He says to Timothy. Well God has called you now to this job. And this job is by your life and by your teaching to be the means of saving others.

[5:23] As well as yourself. Persevere in them says Paul. Because if you do you will save both yourself and your hearers.

[5:34] There's an intimate connection between the life and teaching of these Christian spiritual leaders. And the Bible's word for that is elders. And the salvation of those who hear them.

[5:47] It is God's gift to any church to have one or preferably more such elders. And we must take this matter extremely seriously. Not only because it's a matter of obedience to God.

[6:00] Because God has said in his word that that is the way it should be. But also because so much obviously hangs upon it. If we take these words seriously.

[6:12] It matters a great deal. That a church should have elders. Who by their transformed lives. And by the soundness of their teaching. Are able to be the instruments of salvation.

[6:24] To their hearers. Well how blessed any church is if that is the case. And what enormous responsibility of course it places upon those who are called to be elders.

[6:37] To show by their lives as well as by their teaching. How great a saving God we have. But I want to point out also that the opposite position is awful.

[6:49] If you have those who are not teaching soundly. And whose lives do not demonstrate the saving work of God.

[7:00] What does that mean? For those who are hearing these things. This morning I want to move on and consider what this salvation work looks like for every believer.

[7:16] What happens after a person turns from their old life and trusts in God's salvation offer of complete forgiveness. And our reading of Ephesians chapter 4 is very helpful on this point.

[7:31] In this chapter Paul is clearly speaking about the church of Jesus Christ. Look please with me at verse 4. This is the context. There is one body and one spirit just as you were called to one hope when you were called.

[7:46] One Lord. One faith. One baptism. He is not talking to people in the world. He is talking to the church of Jesus Christ at Ephesus. He's talking to the body of people who belong to Jesus.

[7:58] That's the context of this particular chapter. And he goes on to say that the Lord Jesus Christ has not left his people in a fog, in a state of uncertainty.

[8:19] With there being no clarity, no purpose and no direction about their lives here on earth. But the Lord Jesus has been extremely careful and extremely deliberate in the way that he has established and made things.

[8:36] So that this church of his, because it is his church, will flourish. Will grow. Will be to his glory and praise.

[8:46] And he will not be thwarted. The first thing I want you to notice is that it is as a result of Jesus' work in saving us upon the cross.

[8:59] And his father's vindication of that work by raising his son from the dead. That he has been now raised to a place of superlative authority and power and might.

[9:11] And as he is, as the Bible says, at the right hand of God, the place of honour. It seems like almost the first thing he does is to be giving gifts to men.

[9:28] And this is what we read in verse 11. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers.

[9:40] This is God's gift to the church. He has given this gifting to men, but it's actually a gift to the church.

[9:51] And before we go any further, I just want to briefly talk about those different roles. Because they are roles, not gifts. The roles that are expressed here in verse 11.

[10:04] So let's think about this. Apostles. Now Phil has been very helpful in recent weeks in just explaining the role of apostles. It's important because there's confusion over this at this time in the church of Jesus Christ.

[10:19] What is the role of the apostle? They are essentially eyewitnesses. They are people who were present during the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[10:31] And were equipped by him, by that close encounter. So much so that Paul himself, who is an apostle, would say of himself, I was one born out of time.

[10:46] I wasn't like the others. Because I wasn't an eyewitness of Jesus Christ. And that's a vindication really of the Bible's position that the apostles are those who were with Jesus during his earthly ministry.

[11:02] What about prophets? Now that's a puzzle. Because these are people who have been given to the church. So it seems to refer to a New Testament phenomenon.

[11:12] We know about the prophets of the Old Testament. But it's a New Testament thing. And indeed there were people in the days of the New Testament church who were called prophets. We read that in the book of Acts.

[11:24] They seem to be people who either had some particular insight, some helpful insight into what was about to happen. Which had relevance to the church. Or else had some particular helpful word from God on this particular matter.

[11:39] So what about prophets? Again, there's confusion over this matter. Are there prophets today? I'm not talking about prophesying. I'm talking about are there prophets today?

[11:50] Well I think again the Bible is very helpful on this point. Because we can look back in this same letter in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 20.

[12:02] And we can see that Christian people, the church of Jesus Christ, has been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

[12:15] With Christ used himself as the chief cornerstone. The foundation. We don't go back to foundations. The foundations are in place. And apostles and prophets are put into that same bracket of foundational people.

[12:34] So we do not expect to see an apostle upon the earth again. Or a prophet in that role. A prophet upon the earth again. But they're gifts to the church.

[12:47] They're not just history. They're gifts to the church because we have their writings. Maintained and kept for us here in the Bible. The Bible which we open every Sunday.

[13:00] The Bible that we speak from. This is based upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. What about evangelists?

[13:12] And I'm a little bit of an agnostic on this particular matter. Because there's very little said about evangelists in the New Testament. Philip is called an evangelist. Timothy is told to do the work of an evangelist.

[13:26] All Christian people are encouraged to be evangelists. And yet it seems possible, likely, that there were particular people at that time in the New Testament era.

[13:36] Who had that specific work of being an evangelist. And I believe there is no particular reason why there should not still be people today who have that particular task.

[13:47] In a previous church, there was a person who was appointed as an evangelist in the church. And it was patently obvious that that was exactly the sort of job that they should do.

[13:59] They were not an elder. They didn't have a facility for teaching the word of God. But they certainly had an enormous aptitude to be able to talk to people about Jesus Christ.

[14:10] In a way that was both attracted from Winsome. I mean, it was almost frightening the sort of effectiveness and fruitfulness of that particular person. Because you thought, how do they do it?

[14:22] How can they get so close to people? How can they talk so easily about the gospel? Well, we get all tongue-tied. And so I think it was the right thing to do for that particular church to call that person and say, we think you're an evangelist.

[14:35] And to do that work. And then we come, and this really is the pivot point this morning, is to say, these are gifts to the church.

[14:45] The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers. Now, I think that is merged into one. I think pastors and teachers are not two separate roles.

[14:59] I think they are one and the same, brought together, and they come under the umbrella of being the elder. Because the elders are not just those people who are able to teach, but they are those who are called to be under shepherds of the flock of Jesus Christ.

[15:16] Pastor. That's where that word comes from. And there may be some elders who are more apt in the area of pastoring and shepherding, and some elders who are more apt in the area of teaching.

[15:33] But together, pastors and teachers equals, to my mind, elders. And so you have it there up on the screen. Now, that's good and fine.

[15:45] And we could say, well, that's great that God has done that. But why has he done that? Why do we have this? Why does Paul take time and space and almost draws out on this sideline and says that Christ has given gifts to the church in this particular way?

[16:03] What is the grand purpose of Jesus Christ in all this? And the answer, the answers are given in verses 12 to 16.

[16:17] So let's run through those together. What does God's salvation work look like? And firstly, that we have this foundation so that we should be equipped for service.

[16:31] Do you notice in verse 12? To prepare God's people for works of service. Every believer is called to be a worker for Jesus Christ.

[16:46] To be serving the king. If you're a Christian today, that is exactly what you're called to. You're called to serve the king.

[17:02] But we need to be equipped. We need to learn how to do this. The word here is prepared. We've spent years not serving the king, so no surprise if we find the idea alien and awkward.

[17:17] We need to learn and we need to be taught what this service looks like and how to do it. And this takes time. Actually a lifetime.

[17:33] And it's a prime responsibility of pastor, teacher, elders in the church of Jesus Christ not to be fleeting messengers who simply make pronouncements twice on a Sunday. In fact, if that was the case, that would be rather grotesque.

[17:51] But rather men who roll up their sleeves and get alongside each and every person in the church to encourage them by words and life example to be serving the king. Please look at 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2.

[18:09] 2 Timothy 4 verse 2. Where Paul says to Timothy, Preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season.

[18:24] Correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. I'm sure that what Paul is referring to here is not just what happens on a Sunday when someone stands and speaks, but what happens during the rest of the week when pastor, teacher, elders seek to get alongside people to encourage them in the things of Jesus Christ.

[18:47] To do so on a personal level, one to one. Look also at 1 Timothy 4 verse 12. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

[19:08] So there's teaching. There's life example. And elders are in the business and equipped, or they're called to equip each member of the church of Jesus Christ so that they would be serving the king.

[19:25] So here's the blunt question. Are you serving the king? And it's not even were you serving the king, but are you serving the king?

[19:42] Because in every congregation there will be people who once were living a Christian life and they were once involved and active as it were, but they just got onto the back burner. But that really isn't an option that's available to us here.

[19:59] The question is, are you serving the king? The phrase here is works of service, which suggests toil, getting tired, hard graft, sometimes in the face of discouragement and difficulty, because actually every kind of work is hard graft and difficult after the fall.

[20:17] And maybe not appreciated except by the king himself. If your Christian service is an occasional pastime, it won't stand up to the scrutiny of the king.

[20:29] This is the calling of every believer without exception and in every stage of life. Are you serving the king? Could you serve the king more? What more could you give of your time, your talents, your energy for the one who gave his life for you?

[20:47] And maybe that's just the word you need to be hearing today. There's many more things I want to be saying, but maybe that is what you really do need to hear today and to take that very seriously.

[20:59] And to allow the particular challenge of God's word today to come to you and say, are you serving the king? Please allow that just to rest upon your spirit.

[21:11] Secondly, we are caught up in God's ultimate purpose. Verses 12 and 13.

[21:21] To prepare God's people for works of service. In order that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

[21:41] Your service of the king is not without meaning and direction. I read the other day of a rich man who wanted to help poor people.

[21:54] And so he got them working for money, but on pointless tasks. There really wasn't any point in the things they were doing. But they were doing something, so he gave them money to do it.

[22:06] Not like that in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus isn't that sort of a king. He gets us to work. So that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature.

[22:22] This is so vast and noble and ambitious. Every word of phrase is rich with intensity and excellence, isn't it?

[22:36] Well, how could the blood of Jesus Christ spilt for us on Calvary's cross result in anything less? What a grand, noble project we have been caught up with as a result of becoming Christians.

[22:53] You might have thought it was just an individual thing. It's just a thing between you and God. But it's not. It's not. There is something glorious.

[23:04] There's a massive, wonderful, magnificent building being created and you are a part of that. There is something wonderful which is going to be for the glory of Jesus Christ and you are a part of that.

[23:24] The body of Christ, that is to say all Christians being built up, all believers reaching unity in the faith, all believers becoming mature, all believers attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Jesus Christ.

[23:39] And who is it for? It's not just for a small group of Christians who lived 2,000 years ago, but it's for the whole church of Jesus Christ and every member of it and in all generations.

[23:52] And brothers and sisters of Calvary Church, this is written for us today. So that we should recognise what a noble project Jesus Christ has introduced us to.

[24:09] I really don't know how to expound this passage other than to suggest that it, this has to be the ambition and longing of every Christian. And if we feel nowhere near the sentiment of this purpose, it would be a good and honest prayer to pray that God would graciously give us such a spiritual appetite and longing.

[24:31] please turn to Philippians chapter 3 verses 10 to 15 where the apostle says, Apostle Paul writes, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

[24:56] Not that I've already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

[25:07] Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

[25:22] Thank you very much, Paul. It's inspiring to hear that, Paul. But he goes on to say, all of us who are mature should take such a view of things.

[25:37] Don't just feel that's what apostles and elders and other people do. All of us, all of us, every Christian is to have such an attitude, such a longing, such an ambition to be growing in Jesus Christ, to becoming fully mature, to be all that God wants us to be.

[25:59] Thirdly, we are part of the body. Back to Ephesians chapter 4, verses 14 to 16.

[26:12] Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

[26:23] Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is Christ. From him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.

[26:42] The New Testament uses many pictures to describe the church or the Christian workers, soldiers, farmers, athletes, but this is Paul's favourite and most comprehensive picture.

[26:54] The church is the body of Christ with Jesus being the head and each one of us being parts of that body. In the body, there is a unity and connectedness but enormous diversity.

[27:11] Every part of the body fulfils a function. If one part of the body is failing, the rest of the body feels it. Struggling parts of the body are compensated by other parts of the body helping out.

[27:24] It's always alert and at work. It is ever-changing. Like a child growing into adulthood, it is also growing but unlike an earthly body that weakens and decays, it is intended to grow and become stronger and more effective.

[27:41] All of this is directed by the head to whom we are most intimately and forever connected. It's a beautiful and it's a really helpful picture. And if you're a Christian, you're in that picture.

[27:57] So how does all this work out in practice? Surely by close-knit interaction with other believers within a recognisable church of God's people. The church of Jesus Christ in this world or nation or city is only truly visible to and known by Jesus Christ.

[28:16] He sees everything. But for the church to be recognisable to any of us, Christians or not, it must be seen.

[28:30] And it can only be seen as it functions as real people in relationship with other real people interacting in their everyday lives. in fact, most of the encouragements in the New Testament to Christians cannot be put into practice in any other way than by being committed to other Christians in a particular group of Christians.

[28:52] This is the dynamite idea of the local church, which is a local expression of the body of Christ. What I continually find most striking and inescapable is the enormous emphasis in the Bible on every Christian devoting themselves to the life of the local church.

[29:16] In the midst of the demands made upon us by the pressures of work and family and all that we need to do to keep going, this is a very challenging concept.

[29:29] So much so that I'd like to take a complete session one day just to address this particular point. How on earth does this work in relation to raising families, to having commanding job, demanding job?

[29:48] How does that work? How can that work through? And I have to tell you that my own thoughts of this have been very much challenged because I've been through those things and there are plenty of people I can see out here.

[30:02] You've got challenging situations as you're raising a family or you're in a demanding job where your employer is asking blood out of you and there are people who are suddenly faced with life situations where they're having to look after an elderly relative and so forth and you say, how can that work with all these things that I'm hearing from this particular passage about the working of the body of Christ and how important it is to be linked and related to it?

[30:34] I think there is a way. I think there is a way but we have to be completely counter-cultural to adopt that way. and I'll just offer you two or three hints this morning that I feel are extremely important on this point.

[30:53] I think the body of Christ in the local church is the main arena in which Christian character is formed. It is by a bunch of diverse people flung together by the grace of God and working intimately with one another and getting to know and sharing in each other's lives that our Christian characters are formed.

[31:18] I'm not talking about our general characters or even personalities but our Christian characters which equips us hugely for being effective in the lives that we spend one by one which others don't see.

[31:35] Secondly, if what I've just been saying about the church of Jesus Christ needing to be visible then it is surely to the glory of Jesus Christ that men and women should be able to see a community of God's people so wrought upon by the grace of God that they are astonished and I think we see that in the book of Acts in the early days of the church when there was both fear and favour going on when people were both fearful of this group and also wanted to join it at the same time.

[32:12] There was something absolutely electric about the way this community of people operated. There has never been a better time than November 2016 for this area of Brighton to see effective community.

[32:32] in the chaos of the political world as it is at this time and in the floundering of people trying to find meaning and satisfaction and direction in their life what a beautiful thing it would be for people to be able to see something which God is making a people whom God is forming a people who may be so different from one another in all other ways but so united in Jesus Christ that it's undeniable that God is doing this building work.

[33:12] That's the beauty and the glory of it and that's my second reason for saying it's very important please do not absent yourself from the body of Christ here because you are an essential brick in this building and thirdly it is surely a preparation for glory for our eternal future we are not going to spend our eternities in our workplaces or even may I suggest our families but we are going to spend eternity in the presence of all the brothers and sisters we have in Jesus Christ being a part of the church of Jesus Christ now in his body provides a wonderful dress rehearsal we scratched the surface on that subject matter let me briefly give you three pointers as to how the body of

[34:18] Christ grows by the king focused service of Christians firstly I want to say we need to live as spirit filled Christians Ephesians 1 and 2 says this as a prisoner of the Lord I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received be completely humble and gentle be patient bearing with one another in love I could have given you a hundred other passages in the Bible that speak in a similar kind of way it's a very typical encouragement I just want you to notice how amazing a thought it is that these kinds of words can be used with an expectation that this will actually happen that he's not speaking into a vacuum and just saying you need to know this don't worry too much if it doesn't happen no no no be completely humble and gentle be patient bearing one other in love Jesus Christ expects that to be present here at Calvary Church and he'll be very disappointed if it isn't well who's sufficient for that we're so blessed because we're being indwelt by the

[35:30] Holy Spirit of God and it's by his power the Spirit's power in our lives that such community life can happen humanly speaking it's not going to happen but what's impossible with man is possible with God it's a wonderful and realistic expectation that as Paul says we are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit make that your prayer living as Christ gifted Christians in Ephesians 4 verse 7 we read but to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it and then he goes on to talk about the particular grace that is made manifest by the appointment of apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers but the preface to that is that grace has been given to everyone and there is a gifting which is given to every

[36:38] Christian these are the gifts of Jesus Christ and I'm going to put up on the screen and you won't be able to read that probably it's very small but here are all the specifically named gifts that I can find in the New Testament which are gifts of Jesus Christ to the church there's a long list in Romans chapter 12 and another long list in 1 Corinthians 12 prophesying serving teaching encouraging contributing to the needs of others leadership showing mercy message of wisdom message of knowledge faith healing miraculous powers prophecy distinguishing between spirits speaking in different kinds of tongues interpretation of tongues and gifts of administration let me briefly comment on that if

[37:39] Jesus Christ gives gifts to each of his people for the building up of the church the body of Christ it is our serious responsibility to personally and together discover what gift he has given to each person and use the gift that Jesus Christ has given us the list of gifts given in the New Testament are never suggested as being complete so there may well be other Christ given gifts that are not specifically listed in the Bible record most people have a main or primary gift but may also have other Christ given gifts which are also to be used no gift from God is to be neglected or despised but all gifts regarding what appear to be more unusual or extraordinary gifts please remember that this is usually our verdict rather than God's the list of gifts in the New Testament do not distinguish between ordinary and extraordinary so we find speaking in tongues and interpretation of it immediately followed by gifts of administration which many

[38:53] I'm quite sure in this hall today would think is a really difficult gift to have but absolutely necessary and can I just put in a plea at this time here please pray for the gifts of administration to be present in this particular congregation we're a growing church the law is ballooning we need people with gifts of administration ask the Lord is that what you've given to me to be used I deem that to be an extraordinary gift as extraordinary as all the other ones however gifts are to be used for what Paul calls the common good i.e.

[39:40] the body of Christ to encourage and build up other Christians this is what counts in Christ's eyes and should count in ours some Christians consider that not all the gifts listed in the time of the New Testament are still in operation today the New Testament is not I believe definite on that point one way or another but it is worth noting that the more extraordinary gifts!

[40:10] elsewhere directly and indirectly and appear to be essential for the general underpinning of the life of the New Testament churches there are definitely more Christ given gifts that could be expressed at Calvary Church than we are currently aware of and this should be a matter of prayer thirdly living as life appointed Christians to be a Christian is to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and gifted by Jesus Christ so that we might serve him within a body of his people who we long to build up and bless but our life circumstances are different and we all pass through different stages of life where our opportunities for service will vary raising children the demands of paid employment the limitations of youth and older age health loss of energy loss of confidence relationships including care of parents these are major and time consuming!

[41:14] challenges that can generate some negative impacts for instance feelings of worthlessness and isolation and loss of identity guilt perplexity fear of the unknown loss of spiritual bearings and focus this is a tough and difficult territory but let me say this there is genuine opportunity for Christian usefulness in every season of our lives possibly greater usefulness please do not undervalue the enormous blessing of the testimony of a godly person in later life!

[42:01] love time i've been so blessed by seeing the patience of an older person that is an enormous encouragement please do not anyone in this room feel that your past should sell by date as it were there's nothing for you to do that is not correct that is not right thinking absolutely essential that every one of us use the gifts that God has given us in our particular stages of our lives secondly we need to especially care for and respect people passing through life transition we want to be very thoughtful about this as a church and recognise how upsetting and difficult it can be for people when they move from one situation of life to another and to help people to recognise their value because everybody is part of the body of Christ and there will be times when we need to pay particular attention and spend extraordinary amounts of time and care helping people pass through their transition times this needs to be a matter of prayer so we're going to conclude with three prayers picking up on the on the passage we've been looking at that we would all have an appetite for growing as Christians that we would be changed more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ would give us all the gifts that we need as his body at Calvary and that we would have grace and courage to accept, acknowledge and exercise those gifts for the common good and the glory of Christ and that praying for those in life seasons that appear to limit or change usefulness in the body of Christ let me lead you in a prayer

[44:18] Father the words are already on the screen we've thought about these matters we would want to offer and together simple prayers we want firstly our Father that we should have a longing and desire in our hearts to grow more and more like Jesus Christ and that you would build up your body here that it would be to the glory of Jesus Christ we confess the times perhaps long times when we have been hard in our hearts where our enthusiasm has ebbed away where we've just got stuck and we pray that we might once again know the impulses and pressures and longings of your Holy Spirit in our hearts so that we might be the people you want us to be

[45:27] Father we pray also for us to be able to recognize and to exercise the gifts that you have given to the body of your people here at Calvary you know the situations that we're facing and the ones that we will face in the future and we pray that everybody would be able to seriously engage with this please show us please speak to us Father if we have just got out of that habit and feel very nervous and perhaps even resistant about getting involved in that way let's pray Father that you would soften our hearts in this and show us a way forward and Father we do pray with tenderness and concern for those going through life changes which have may lead them with days moments nights when they feel very cast down and feel their life is over and there's nothing that they can contribute but Father we pray that these will be precious members of this body and that we would love and care and show concern for them and they would find out how they may in this stage of their life so please you our Father these are big prayers but we thank you that they are prayers they're Bible prayers they're the very things that you put before us and have put before us today and so we are confident as we pray and we are so glad to know that we are connected to the head

[47:05] Jesus Christ we thank you for our marvelous saviour who is also the great high priest who pleads and prays for us and you remember us may glory be brought to your great name we ask in Jesus name Amen Amen So