[0:00] Amen. I want you to turn in your Bibles, where you are already turned, no doubt, to Mark chapter 1 and verse 21.
[0:38] And I want to read the Gospel again for you. It's a story of a gathering not unlike this on a Sabbath morning, perhaps not unlike this, though perhaps warmer.
[0:51] And the congregation are all assembled, and the service is in progress.
[1:04] And Jesus reads the passage and then begins to teach the people. And they are all open-mouthed with astonishment at the way he teaches.
[1:17] And then somebody in the 15th row back on the left-hand side cries out against him.
[1:31] A terrible cry comes from the congregation because of this man Jesus who's talking to them. And then Jesus answers him.
[1:43] And as it was, clears the unclean spirit out of him. And the people are amazed to watch this happen.
[1:57] I want to get this bear on my right here to help me with this, but I'll approach him in a minute. Before we do that, I'd like to read the lesson.
[2:07] And I'm going to be the narrator. I'm going to read the story. And I'm going to appoint you over here to be, collectively, the man with the unclean spirit.
[2:19] So you watch the quotation marks. And when we come to that part of it, I want you to read it as you think he would read it. With, you know, we want to hear this.
[2:30] And then I'm going to get Archie to take the part of the Lord Jesus to answer the man with the unclean spirit. And then this group over here, I want you to be the people.
[2:45] And when it comes to the part that you say, I want you to say it. It begins there in verse 27. So you have to have eyes wide open to the quotation marks.
[2:57] So we're going to read it again. I'm going to narrate it. This is the evil spirit speaking over here. Archie's going to speak the words of the Lord Jesus. And you're going to speak the words of the crowd that are assembled.
[3:09] Are you ready to go? Chapter 1, verse 21. And they went into Capernaum. And immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and taught.
[3:21] And they were astonished at his teaching. For he taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.
[3:34] And he cried out. For you, you are the last of Jesus of the Lord. And you are the last of his request. I know who you are, the holy one of God.
[3:45] Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent and come out of him. The unclean spirit convulsing him and crying with a loud cry came out of him.
[3:58] And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, For he is blessed, and you teach me, For the Lord will be in the land of me, and I will be here for his name, and I will be here for his name.
[4:11] And at once, his fame echoed everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. Well, that's the story.
[4:22] Now, I'm going to come back to it in a minute. But right now, what I'd like is all the children to come up and bring their gifts for the food bank, and leave them in here, and then take the feet on the floor.
[4:37] Stay away from the bear. Will the children please come up then? You want to put the things you have in the basket as you bring them up.
[5:08] Make sure you're comfortable, because you're going to be here a long time. So get a nice, warm piece of carpet to sit on. Oh, it's soft.
[5:21] It's soft. Thank you very much. Now, it was my purpose this morning.
[5:31] I brought along the bear, and I want the bear to help me tell this story. Goodness gracious, there's more and more stuff coming up. I think you kids were supposed to help carry it up, but here it comes.
[5:44] So bring it all up. That's wonderful. Can you get up with that? Good for you.
[5:57] Grah. Good for you. Yeah.
[6:14] goodness gracious you've done well here thank you very much there you are now I want oh still it goes on I want you all to to be comfortable and seated and I want to persuade the bear to come and help me tell the story so I'll go over and get him if he's in that mood I'll just leave him there for a while and maybe he won't he won't interfere for the moment now let me tell you the story the story is of the Lord Jesus going in and teaching and he had great authority and what that means is that if someday you are accused of stealing a hundred dollars and the policeman comes and catches you and takes you to the court and says this man is accused of stealing a hundred dollars and the judge says you must spend a week in jail and you say but I didn't do it well if you want to you can appeal to a higher court and so you go to the provincial courts and you go before a judge there and you tell them that you didn't do it and the others who think you did say they think you did you'd say but I didn't the judge says I'm so sorry but I believe the other people you go to jail for two weeks and then you say well what can I do I didn't do it and so you go to the appeal court and then you go to the Supreme Court of British Columbia and then you go to the Supreme
[8:10] Court of Canada and when you get to the Supreme Court of Canada you've gone as far as you can go and if you can't convince the judges of the Supreme Court of Canada that you didn't do it then you're going to go to jail you can't go any higher than that because they are the highest author in the land you can't go any higher but what if you know in your heart that you didn't do it who can you turn to you can turn to the Lord Jesus because he's the only one who really knows what is true and that was the way Jesus spoke on his Sabbath morning in the synagogue in Galilee he went and he tried to he taught them in such a way that they knew that there was nobody else in the world had the authority of this man that this man really knew what was going on in their hearts well there was one person in the congregation who didn't want him knowing what was going on in his heart and when Jesus taught them he stood up in the congregation and he said I know who you are you're Jesus of Nazareth and this is Capernaum and we don't need any people from up there coming down and telling us what we should do why don't you go back to Nazareth where you belong
[9:38] I know who you are you're the Holy One of God well we don't want to have anything to do with you and the congregation were all very startled because they'd never heard anybody talk like that and they wondered mostly people who want to talk like that just sit quietly and they wondered at what he said but Jesus saw the man and he loved the man and he wanted very much that that man should be able to hear what he was teaching but the man couldn't and the man was saying go away we don't want to around here it'd be nice if that bear could help me at this point because I need that but I'll see how he's feeling well we'll have to stay away from him for a little while longer I don't know what's wrong with him because he's always been a very nice bear and I've known him for a long time and I don't know what's wrong with him this morning that he's so grouchy but anyway we'll leave him and I'll go on and tell you something more of the story uh when Jesus uh had saw this man and loved him very much and knew why he was crying out against him he knew it because he had something wrong inside him and Jesus had to take that which was inside him and get it out of him before he could make a friend with him before he could be friends with him because he was always angry and he was always cross and he cried out we don't want to have anything to do with you and so Jesus said be silent to the man the man who had been shouting and raving suddenly was quiet and Jesus rebuked the evil thing that was in that man and the man shouted out with a terrible cry and he fell on the ground and when he got up it was the same person that they had known before before he was infected by this terrible thing that got into him and that made him cry out in anger against the lord jesus and the man fell on the ground and jesus picked him up and the crowd watched and they were amazed because not only did jesus know what was going on in their hearts but he was able to take what was evil and what made it impossible for the uh what made it impossible for him to hear what he was saying jesus was able to take that evil or unclean spirit out of them will you watch the congregation for a moment could i ask everybody in the congregation to raise their right hand and they have a right to do that but i uh but this was authority of another kind altogether this was authority in which jesus was able to clean to take out of the man the unclean spirit that possessed him well now i want to try and deal with this bear because i really need him at this point and i don't know what to do with it i wonder mrs watson donald if you would reach very carefully around behind him and put grab him so he can't bite me you know you and then uh and then i'll try and get hold him okay we're gonna do this slowly
[13:44] just Notice he said I didn't know about that horn, but I'm glad he tried that, because now he'll be a friend to bear again instead of being with an old brother.
[14:22] I know people who are just like him, you know, except that there's something gone wrong, and so you can't get near them because they're very cross, or very angry, or have something that has control of them and makes them behave like somebody that they're not.
[14:38] Have you known that to happen to anybody? Sometimes when you get very cross, or angry, or hurt, or upset, and nobody can go near you, and somehow the Lord Jesus has to be able to deal with you and to take that evil spirit from you, that evil thing that was taken to vestments of you, so that you can hear what he had to say.
[15:03] In fact, I think this spirit is so friendly to you now that I can put it down, and you can sit and listen to the rest of what I have to say. So I'll let you keep your hand on it, so you know if your friend is going to be.
[15:16] Well, that was the story, and when the congregation saw this happen to the man, and saw him convulse and fall on the ground, do you know what it says about them?
[15:31] They said, what is this, a new teaching? With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. Why do they obey him? Because he knows what's in their hearts.
[15:47] He knows who they really are, and they know that they have come up, not against a new teaching, but a new teacher. And this teacher is the one who knows all about the hearts of the people he's teaching.
[16:02] And that's who Jesus is. He is our Lord and teacher, and he knows all about our hearts. And do you know what it says after that?
[16:14] It says, at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the country surrounding Galilee. And do you know, do you know what, uh...
[16:26] A little struggle going on here. Yeah, I know, it's a... Well, we'll just let the bear... Because you've got to listen to his part.
[16:37] Let's let him hear his part back at him. What happened was, it says, the fame of him spread abroad throughout all of the country. And the word is echoed abroad.
[16:49] This person told this person, and everybody became an echo. And when Jesus is our teacher, we have to be echoes of him. So that when we hear it, then we pass it on to somebody else.
[17:02] Have you ever heard an echo? I think one. Okay, well, you pretend you're an echo, and I'll say to you something, and then you echo it for me, will you? Hello.
[17:13] Hello. That's not a very good echo. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Okay. Now, Jesus is teacher.
[17:24] Jesus is teacher. And Lord. And Lord. And Lord. And just as you've echoed that, so the people who went out from the synagogue in Galilee that morning, they echoed the things that Jesus had told to them, so that everybody in all the country knew about him.
[17:45] Can we bow our heads? Lord Jesus, we ask that you will deal with the things in our hearts which are evil, and the things which make us want to reject you and leave you out of our lives, and the things that make it difficult for us to acknowledge you as Lord and to obey you.
[18:07] Will you heal us of those things, so that we may learn of you and be your disciples? We ask this, Lord Jesus, in your holy name.
[18:18] Amen. Thank you very much, boys and girls. Will you go and take your places again? Thank you. Our service continues now on page 189, near the bottom of the page.
[18:40] Please stand. Please stand.
[18:53] Let us confess the faith of our baptism as we say, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
[19:04] I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and with the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
[19:20] He descended to the dead. On the third day, he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
[19:34] I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, communion of saints, forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
[19:47] Amen. Will you kneel? Will you kneel? Will you kneel? Will you kneel? Will you kneel? Will you kneel, please kneel, please kneel. Amen.
[19:58] I will kneel. Lord Jesus, I thank you, that this Christian way, that this Christian way whereon I walk is no untried or uncharted road, but a road beaten hard by the footsteps of saints and apostles and prophets.
[20:35] I thank you for the finger posts and danger signals with which it is marked at every turning, which may be known to me through the study of the Bible.
[20:45] Of all history and of all the great literature of the world. Beyond all, I give you devout and humble thanks for the great gift of Jesus Christ, pioneer of our faith.
[21:01] I praise you. You have caused me to be born in an age and in a land which have known his name. And that I am not called upon to face any temptation or trial which he did not first endure.
[21:21] Forbid it, holy Lord, that I should fail to profit by these great memories of the ages that are gone by or to enter into the glorious inheritance which you have prepared for me.
[21:33] through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen. Harry has spoken about the great relief and healing which came to the bear when a thorn was pulled from his side.
[21:49] And we have perhaps thorns in our sides. We know people who are sick, really genuinely afflicted with great illness.
[22:08] There are those in our midst who are mourning the loss of loved ones. This morning we pray for Marianne, for John, and for Rosemary, who are sick.
[22:23] We pray for all those who are mourning, especially for the Andrews family on the death of Mr. Arthur Andrews.
[22:35] We pray for his wife and his daughter. Amen. We bring to you, O loving Savior, those sufferers of whom we think, whom we have named.
[22:49] All healing is with you. We can only bring them to you and offer our minds in love and tenderness and sincerity. Grant them healing, if that be.
[23:03] But above all, grant them your peace and joy that they may know that you are with them that they are safe and that nothing can snatch them from your hand.
[23:17] We ask it for your name's sake. Amen. God of love and power, we come to you for those who are ill in body or mind, particularly for those who are cast down, those who are mentally ill, afflicted.
[23:36] Tell them in the midst of all their pain and anxiety that your name is love. And since you have ordained that your own will needs our cooperation, please use these, our prayers.
[23:53] Turn our caring into their courage. Turn our asking into their comfort. Turn our faith into their will.
[24:06] Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Above all, we need to have a reverence for life, which was our God's.
[24:20] This is a prayer written by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. Eternal Father, source of life and light, whose love extends to all people, all creatures, all things.
[24:33] Grant us that reverence for life which becomes those who believe in you, lest we despise it, degrade it, or come callously to destroy it. Rather, let us save it and secure it.
[24:48] And will you sanctify it after the example of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. To conclude, would you turn in your book of alternate service to page 682?
[25:03] Amen. Page 682, and we say together the prayer beginning at the bottom of the page, number 31.
[25:24] Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us so love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is discord, union.
[25:37] Where there is doubt, faith. And where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.
[25:57] for it is in giving that we are perceived, for it is in giving that we are pardoned, and in dying that we are born to eternal life. Service now continues on page 191.
[26:14] Dear friends in Christ, God is steadfast in love and infinite in mercy.
[26:26] He welcomes sinners and invites them to his table. Let us confess our sins confident in God's forgiveness. forgiveness. Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
[26:52] We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your name.
[27:15] Almighty God, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in eternal life through Jesus Christ.
[27:30] our Lord. Now we sing together our offertory hymn number 514. 514.
[28:00] Jesus, I am God. Jesus, I am God. I will serve you to be heaven.
[28:12] Just a second. Just a second. Just a second. I will serve you to be heaven. Let's go. Jesus, I am God.
[28:31] Amen. You are good. ๋๋ censoring, I am God. Let us are Friday, for God we sing together. Let us join the่ฝๅ ofkinieng I into a Campbell's voice with the man Thank you.
[29:06] Thank you. O let me hear you sing, in accents we ever see, above the songs of passion, above the earth's hearts of women.