The Gathered Church (3) - Gathered to Listen to God

to now conduct the worship, and we'll begin by singing in Psalm 138. Psalm 138, that's in the Scottish Psalter, that's on page 431, verses 1 to 5, the tune of St. Paul.

Thee will I praise with all my heart. I will sing praise to thee before the gods, and worship will toward thy sanctuary. I'll praise thy name even for thy truth, and kindness of thy love.

For thou thy word has magnified all thy great name above. Psalm 138, verses 1 to 5. If you're able to stand, please stand while we sing these verses.

Amen. For thou art, I'll praise thy name even for thy truth, and kindness of thy love.

I'll praise thy name even for thy truth, and kindness of thy love.

For thou art, I'll praise thy name even for thy name. And find all thy great name above.

Thou didst me answer in the day, when I to thee detry.

For thou art, I am us for thy thy name. For thou art, We are our�� of thy ways of authority, and grace of thy 입니다. For thou art, I am us for thy sins that I am número one for thy faiths, and grace of thy O Cookie Snow. Than月 in Film on iTunes, Comeakenve Of our automatism, God to modem. Thee is for our ticking system Which is For thou art, for our bodily work,'sgest have been saved.

Changers of byまずly, and the impotor, our honour people, Perded or other man.

How gifted place, O Lord, when a sin from thy mouth shall hear thy true and faithful word.

Yea, in the righteous ways of God with gladness they shall sing, for grace the glory of the Lord who doth forever reign.

Let's now join together in prayer briefly. We're praying for the young folks on the Sunday school and creche and also the tweenies at this time. Let's call upon the Lord. O Lord, our God, we thank you that our children and young folks can gather with us, that we have a heart's desire for them that they will know you and that they will come to follow you all the days of their lives.

And we thank you today, Lord, that they are here with us and we pray for those who are away on holiday at this time and not able to be with us. And we pray for other children too who may have joined us as visitors.

We ask that your blessing will be with them today as well as we meet together here to worship you. Help us, we pray, to give attention to your word. Help us to learn from it and help us especially to know yourself and to know the blessing that you have for your people to be our portion today.

Receive us, we pray now, and cleanse us from sin in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, a word to the children now before we move on with the service.

I'm going to say a number of things to you and I want you to stick up your hand if you think that they are actually true. There are more Lego figures in the world than there are people.

Now, there are 8 billion people in the world. That's 8,000 million people in the world. That's a lot of people. And if you think there are more Lego figures than that in the world, stick your hand up.

Adults can do it as well if you want. Are there more Lego figures than 8 billion people? What do you think? If you think no, don't put your hand up. If you think yes, put your hand up.

Lots of people think that's not true. Some people do think it's true, so they've got their hands up. Okay. What about this then? Astronauts who go into space.

When an astronaut goes to space, their body actually grows a bit taller while they're in space and then go back to normal when they come back to Earth. Hands up those who think that's true.

Yeah, there's more people think that that's true than the first one. One more for you. A sea lion is the only animal that can clap in time either to music or to a beat.

How many people think that's true? A sea lion is the only animal that can clap in time to a beat. Nobody thinks that's true.

No hands going up. Okay. Well, let me tell you, all of these are actually true. All of them are true. Yeah. But it's not going to make much difference to your life whether you actually know that or not.

I mean, if you hadn't heard any of that today and you went back home and you hadn't learned that there are more Lego figures in the world than human beings and that the astronauts actually grow taller for the time they're in space and that a sea lion can clap in time to music or to a beat, it wouldn't really make much difference to your life if you didn't know that.

But let me say something else. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

How many believe that that's true? Every hand should go up. Is there anyone who thinks that that's not true?

No. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Jesus would not perish but have everlasting life.

See, it makes a big difference what you think is true and not when it's really important. Some people say, well, truth is something that I can just believe for myself.

If it's true for me, then it doesn't matter about anything else. And some people will say, that's what you should have, that's the kind of attitude you should have to the Bible or to the Gospel.

If it's true for you, then that's okay, but it's not true for me. Now, we must never come to the Bible or to church to worship God with thoughts like that.

It is important that this is God's truth. It's not just truth for some people, it's truth for everybody. And it's important because it tells us the things that are really, really important for us to believe and to follow and to accept.

So today, it doesn't really matter that some things may not be true or some things may be true. It doesn't matter whether you know about them or believe them or not, but it really does matter that you know Jesus for yourself and that you know that Jesus is God's Son who came into the world to save us from our sins.

And there's nothing more important for us to know and to know as the truth than that. So today, this truth, God's truth, the truth that's in the Bible is so important compared to many other things that may or may not be true.

Now we're going to say the Lord's Prayer. It's on the sheet if you need to follow it. We're doing this because we want to learn the Lord's Prayer off by heart. It's important not just to know the words but to know the meaning of them too.

And in fact, certain other passages of the Bible, as much of the Bible as you can, it's important for us to learn and to be able to recite. So let's say the Lord's Prayer then.

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

We're going to sing once again. This time we're singing Psalm 119. In St. Psalms, that's on page 157, verses 1 to 8. Tune this before the throne.

Blessed are those of blameless ways who live according to God's Word. Blessed are those who keep His laws, who with their whole heart seek the Lord.

Our theme topic for the sermon today is listening to God, following the series we're having on the gathered church, but the gathered church in the sense in which today we're going to look at it as the church gathered to listen to God's voice.

These words in our Psalms today have to do mainly with how we're hearing God and how God is speaking to us through His Word. So these words, Blessed are those of blameless ways who live according to God's Word.

Let's stand to sing. Blessed are those of blameless ways who live according to God's Word.

Blessed are those who keep His laws, who with their whole heart seek the Lord.

They keep themselves from doing wrong by walking in His strength with praise.

You have established laws on us that are to be open always, that are to be open always.

O that my grace were steadfast, Lord, in making your your deeds leads my aim.

So when I think God you commands, I would not feel disgrace or shame.

I will praise you with an upright heart, as you just lost are there by me.

All your deeds I will obey, do not forsake me utterly, do not forsake me utterly.

Let's now turn to read God's Word, and our reading this morning is from Acts chapter 10. The book of Acts chapter 10, reading from the beginning down as far as verse 33.

Acts chapter 10, from the beginning of the chapter.

You'll find it around page 1106 in the church Bibles if you're using those. At Caesarea, there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.

About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. And he stared at him in terror and said, What is it, Lord?

And he said to him, Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon at Tanner whose house is by the seaside.

When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

The next day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat.

But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air.

And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.

And the voice came to him again the second time, What God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was lodging there.

And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.

And Peter went down to the men and said, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming? And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.

So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he arose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. And on the following day they entered Caesarea.

Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him.

But Peter lifted him up saying, Stand up, I too am a man. And as he talked with them, he went in and found many persons gathered. And he said to them, You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation.

But God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I asked then, Why you sent for me?

And Cornelius said, Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour. Behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God.

Send, therefore, to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon at Tanner by the sea. So I sent for you at once and you have been kind enough to come.

Now, therefore, we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. Amen.

And may God follow with this blessing, this reading again of His Word. Let us once again join together in prayer. Lord, we give thanks today that we are gathered here in Your name.

We thank You for the purpose of our gathering, which is to worship You, to come into Your presence, to draw near to You, and to come, Lord, that we might give You the praise, the worship, the honor that is due to You, that we might also be receivers of Your blessing, and through Your Word we might come to know more of that wonderful eternal life that You give to Your people, that we might also be able to encourage one another in the things of the Lord.

Oh, bless us, we pray, as we come before You. And that Holy Spirit, Lord, of whom we were reading in this passage of Your Word, may it please You, Lord, to bestow Your Spirit today to guide us, to open our hearts and minds to receive Your Word, and to enable us, oh, Lord, to understand more fully and more completely and more accurately those things that are revealed in it for our edification, for our growth in holiness and in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bless us, then, we pray, as we come together in this way once more. We ask that Your blessing may rest upon us as a congregation of Your people and all the congregations we represent today wherever we live.

Lord, we pray that You would be pleased to bless Your own Word in our midst. We ask that You would assure us that where Your people gather together in Your name, You are there in the midst.

And You are there in the midst because You take delight in them and are pleased to bless them. And we come before You, Lord, also conscious of our unworthiness, of our sinfulness, conscious that we need to confess our sin as we do to You, conscious that we need Your cleansing from our sin, Your washing of us by Your Holy Spirit, that our hearts may be clean, that our hearts may be sprinkled with this power of Your Spirit in forgiving our sins and cleansing us from our defilement.

And therefore, that we may come before You, O Lord, with our conscience purged and our sin put behind us. We come before You, Lord, seeking that You would, as we confess our sin, that You would assure us of Your great promise that if we confess our sins, then You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We ask Your blessing to be with us in all activities related to our congregational life. We pray for all that will take place, Lord, by Your will in this week to come.

And we ask that You would continue to bless and to own and acknowledge all that we seek to do in Your name and accompaniment with the worship services of the congregation.

We ask, too, Your blessing, O Lord, for Nigel Kenny as he comes to speak on Wednesday. We give thanks for him and from the Christian Institute. And we ask, Lord, that You would continue to bless them as they bring to our notice and attention and help us with various materials and matters that help us to face the issues of the day and those things that are especially of concern to us in our generation.

And so, remember Him, we pray, as He goes from place to place and as He brings to us, O Lord, the work of the Institute. Remember, too, Lord, our friends in the international mission to the Jewish people.

We thank You for them and we pray for them at this time, especially when we know of such heightened tension in Israel and in the surrounding area. We, Lord, ask that You bless all their missionaries in the various parts of the world where they serve You.

We pray that You would continue to bless their message, bless their witness to the Jewish people, O Lord, throughout all these areas of the world. Remember, too, that troubled area of the world, O Lord, especially at this time.

We pray for the people of Israel. We pray for the people of Gaza. We pray that You will bless them at this time of difficulty, of the outbreak of war, and the tension that accompanies it, and the destruction that inevitably is part of such a situation.

Lord, our God, may it please You to bring about a true and lasting peace. And may the hearts of those who are at enmity with You and with each other and with the Gospel, may they come to be won by the Holy Spirit, that they come, Lord, to lay down their enmity, and especially their enmity against Yourself, and may they come to know You as the Prince of Peace, the God of peace, the God who brought from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ.

We ask Your blessing for all other parts of the world today, all other nations where there is war and where there is terrorism, where there is tension, where there is so much difficulty for people to live their daily lives in peace.

We ask especially again that You'd remember Ukraine and the situation there. We pray that You'd bless them, and we ask that You would continue to help them against the aggression of those who have invaded their country.

We ask, Lord, that You would be pleased to bring about peace there as well, but help us as we pray for peace in our world, Lord, to realize that peace so often comes at a cost.

We need to stand for principles that we know from Your Word are right and true. We ask, O Lord, that You would continue to bless Your people there especially, and we ask that You would be pleased to grant them, especially those of them who remain in Ukraine as well as those who have gone to other countries.

Lord, remember them, we pray, as a people, and the hostility against them at this time. We ask for our own Ukrainian friends here in the congregation, and the family who have come to be with us for some time.

Bless them. Bless them as they think of situations back home. Bless them here with us, we pray, and guard them about and keep them and help them in their daily lives, Lord, as they adjust at this moment to being here in a difficult place for them, difficult in terms of their language and of the situation and the culture.

Be pleased, Lord, to bless them and continue to watch over them. We ask that You would now continue to bless us here as we worship You. We pray that You would help us to hear Your voice, to listen to Your voice, to hear us as You speak to us through Your Word.

We ask that You would help us, Lord, to focus our mind on the importance of hearing the living God and coming to respond to His voice with our obedient response.

Lord, grant us these mercies, we pray, for we ask them in Jesus' name. Amen. Before we turn to God's Word, we'll sing once again, again in Psalm 119.

And this time we're singing in the Scottish Psalter. I'm sorry, we're singing in the Sing Psalms on page 165, singing verses 137 to 144.

The tune this time is Warrington. O Lord, You are the righteous one. The statutes that You give are just. You lay down laws of righteousness entirely worthy of our trust.

So, Psalm 119, verses 137 to 144, on page 165, to God's praise. O Lord, You are the righteous one.

The statutes that You give are just. You lay down laws of righteousness entirely worthy of our trust.

My zeal consumes and wears me out, because my foes forget Your word.

Your promises are tried and true, and I, Your servant, love them, Lord.

O I am lowly undespised, Your peace and time do not forget.

Eternal is Your righteousness, true is the law that You have said.

The stress and trouble best be done, but Your commands are my delight.

Grant wisdom so that I may live. Your statutes are forever mine.

Now please turn with me to Acts chapter 10, the passage we read, especially the words we find in verse 33, but we'll need to take these few verses before that as well.

And indeed, we read through the whole passage just to give us the buildup to what we find in the verse that we're looking at today. So verse 33, So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come.

Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord, especially that second part of the verse. We are here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.

So a third in the series, a very short series on the gathered church, where we're looking at matters that are particularly of importance with regard to the church as gathered together, such as we are today in worship.

We've looked previously at Matthew 18, as many as are gathered in the name of Christ, even if there are just two or three, God or Christ is present in the midst. We looked at that passage first of all.

Then we looked at Hebrews chapter 10, from the foundation of Jesus being the high priest of His people, that we are to draw near to God. And then it says a number of things that are related to that, finishing with that we are to draw near to God and be together, assembling, not forgetting, the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is, but rather that we stimulate one another to love and to good works, another important aspect of our gathering together, along with the worship of God, which is given primary consideration.

And today we're looking at this particular focus on being in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. Now, there's a lot to do with attending to the worship of God, and that is more than just listening to God.

We're singing His praises. We call upon Him in prayer, as you know. But we're focusing today on this verse as it gives particular interest to us with regard to listening to God.

We're gathered together as the church of God to hear what God has to say to us. And it's interesting, the way that it's put here.

We've read through the build-up to it, this man Cornelius, and how the Lord brought this to his house, how He brought him into this situation. And so our focus, and really this in many ways is a miniature, isn't it, of what the church ought to be or what the gathering of the church, the gathering of the church in a congregational sense or even the wider sense or even a smaller sense, how it ought to be.

And the words here, I think, are so appropriate for ourselves, whether it's here in a congregational setting or a smaller or larger setting, that we can say we are all here in the presence of God to hear what God has to say to us through the preaching of His Word, the things that are commanded by the Lord.

Now, what then can we take from this passage? Well, first of all, we learn from this the importance of a due preparation to hear God's voice.

The importance of a due preparation. The key to any successful project or event is in the preparation. It doesn't matter what you're going to do, whether it's a small or great event or project, the key is in the preparation.

Tradesmen will tell you that if you come and say to them, well, that's a really brilliant job you've made, whether it's painting or joinery, whatever it is, and they'll tell you, yes, but the secret is in the preparation.

If you do the preparation, if that's the way it should be, then that's really the basis of a good job, the basis of a successful project. And it's the same with our hearing of God's Word.

In many ways, the preparation is as important as the moment you're actually hearing the Word itself being preached to you. And the key, therefore, in the preparation is also in this passage as well.

Because you notice, he called his friends in verse 24. You notice what Cornelius did when he, on the following day, as they entered Caesarea, Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

You see, for Cornelius, this was going to be a really important event. He was expecting the apostle Peter. He was expecting him to come with some people accompanying him.

And this word expecting that you find in that verse is really an important word. It's important because it means something more than just a general sort of expectation.

Cornelius was expecting them means Cornelius was eagerly looking forward to them coming. Cornelius had his mind set upon them coming and upon Peter especially coming at his invitation to his house to tell them more about the Lord.

Cornelius was not a Jew. He was a Gentile. He was a convert to Judaism. He still had a lot to learn, as you obviously see from his reaction when Peter entered.

He wanted to worship Peter until Peter corrected him. But he was a devout man. He worshipped God. He prayed. This was an answer to his prayers to God. And here is Cornelius expecting them.

He had prayed. He knew he was coming. And the coming of Peter was of such importance to him that he called together his friends and his relatives to be part of that occasion.

It wasn't enough for him that he was expecting Peter eagerly. It wasn't enough for him that he was excited at the prospect of this apostle coming to speak to him, to tell him more about the Lord.

He wanted others to share in that experience. He wanted others to come and benefit from that event. And you know, that's what is true for us as well, isn't it?

Surely. That we come together here not just for our own sake. We don't just come as individuals. We come collective. We're the gathered church of God.

But you want others to share that experience. Why do you want others to share that experience? Well, you don't say to people, come and hear our minister. That's not where you begin. You begin with saying, there's an important event happening every single Sunday and other times in Stornway Free Church or whatever church we belong to.

And it's important because it's made important by the fact that God is there and that God is speaking to us through His Word. Come and hear Him. That's the conviction, really, isn't it, of what's happening here today.

We haven't just gathered together here because we have a nice time together, because we enjoy fellowship with each other. That's all part of it, I'm sure. But we have come together today because we're convinced that this is a place and this is an occasion, this is an event where God comes to speak to us.

Where God addresses us through the Bible, through the Word of God being preached. Where God has laid upon a preacher's heart things that He wants to share out and preach to the congregation.

That's what God, that's why God has placed us where we are. You see, our invitation to others to come to church, however we put it, doesn't really make much difference how we put it, though we have to think carefully about our words, but we want people to come to church.

We want others who've stopped coming to church or dropped out of the habit of coming to church for whatever reason, especially since the COVID period. We know that there are some people maybe still reluctant to come out physically to church to join others.

All of that is part of where we are as a people and as a congregation and as a community, but however we put it and however much the invitation is meant, this is the basis of it because we are convinced that the importance of this event is based on the fact that God is here and that God speaks to us and that we should be ready to listen to Him.

So the preparation in the preaching of the gospel, the preparation for it is based on the fact that it's an occasion where God speaks to His people and therefore not only do we want to come to be part of that ourselves, but we want others to share it with us as well.

That's where the invitation, that's where the evangelistic emphasis of the church really reaches out to people on the basis of what happens in the preaching of the Word. But there's also, along with calling His friends, this due preparation, there's a readiness to hear.

Now he says, we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. They are there in the presence of God, Cornelius is saying, we are all here, and we are here specifically to hear what you have to say, what God has commanded you to say to us.

Well, many of us are old enough like I am to go back to pre-television days and even to pre-digital radio days. And when you wanted to listen to something on the radio, I remember as a boy with my father listening to things like international football matches Scotland were playing.

You would listen to it on the radio, but you had to tune the radio to the right channel, and sometimes the signal wasn't all that great, and you would hear a lot of whistling and cracking and noises, and then the channel would come up and you'd be listening to it, and then just maybe at a very important part in the commentary and the radio commentary of it would go again, crackling away, and you'd lose so much of it.

But you were trying to tune that radio to the correct position to hear what was being said, and you were really listening keenly, and because you were keen to hear and keen to listen and keen to actually follow what was being said and hear all the details of it, you wanted to make sure that the tuning was as accurate as possible.

And that's really, in a sense, what we're doing with our minds and with our souls as we come to church, as we come to hear the gospel. And as we come to follow the words of Cornelius there, this is how it should be for ourselves, our minds to be tuned accurately and carefully and prayerfully to the voice of God.

There's no ordinary voice. There's no ordinary occasion. We may think at times that it's something that we just do habitually, and we do. It is a habit. It's a good habit, but it's more than that.

It's something where we, every time we come, should be thinking, I'm there to listen to God. I'm there to listen to what God has given the preacher to say. And however much we've heard it already, it's the same on this occasion as on previous occasions.

We're here to listen to God. the larger catechism, question 160, what is required of those that hear the word preached?

Important question. It is required of those that hear the word preached that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer, that they examine what they hear by the Scriptures, that they receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind as the word of God, that they meditate and confer of it, that they hide it in their hearts and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.

Now, there's a lot packed into that answer to the question, what is required of those that hear the word preached? but it's such an important issue and so many things that are related to it because it's such an important issue.

We are here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by God to say. I'm always annoyed if I'm on a plane or any place else that has a safety announcement.

Just recently on a plane, the safety announcement was about to be made and over the time I came, the announcement, I want you to listen very carefully to this following safety announcement.

Even if you heard similar before, this is particularly appropriate to this type of aircraft. So, please put off your headphones, stop your reading, whatever you're doing, please listen and watch the demonstration.

And you know, it's really annoying because there was somebody in front of us who just had the earphones on all the time. I don't know, maybe they were listening to it through the earphones. I doubted. And there were other people that were just in conversation so loudly with their fellow passenger that you could hardly hear what was being said because of their voice being raised to get it above the announcement.

What's really happening there? There's people being given directions as to their safety and their well-being and they're just hearing it as a noise but they're not really listening to it.

They're maybe saying, oh, I heard all this before, I know it all. Or maybe they're saying, well, I don't want to think about this plane crashing. I don't want to think about that sort of disaster so I'm not really going to listen to this.

It really scares me. Maybe that's the reason they don't listen. But they should listen. Their safety depends on it.

If that were to meet with an emergency, just imagine the panic for people who hadn't been listening to what was being said. What do I do? Where's my life vest?

Here, God is doing exactly the same thing but in a much more important way. He's giving you a safety announcement today.

He's announcing to you the things that are so crucial to the well-being of your soul, the well-being of your life, to your eternity. And even if it's difficult for us, as it is at times for us naturally, to think about the end of life, what might be true at the end stage of life, what is true about death itself, what is true about eternity, what the Bible has to say.

I know it's difficult for us to actually think of those things because they're such serious issues, but it's because they are such serious issues that we have to listen to God. And we have to clear our minds so that we're attuned to the voice of God.

The gospel is in many ways God's safety announcement to us. Here is where our security is. Here is where our relationship with God is set out for us.

Here is what is most important and crucial for us. And even you young folks today, you're not too young to listen to the voice of God. And I know sometimes you actually show us that you do listen, and that's great to the voice of God because you tell your parents or others when you get home of what the minister was saying or what the children's address was or whatever, and we hope that that's true.

But it's important always that you listen to the voice of God in the gospel, in the Word of God, in the preaching of the gospel. So you're never too young to prepare to meet with God.

Never too young to serve God. Never too young to be a disciple of Jesus. And so to do so, we listen to God.

We are here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. You know, the Bible joins together three things very, very closely.

So closely, in fact, that you can't separate them unless you've been deliberately difficult about it. And the three things are hearing, listening, and obeying.

Because hearing in the teaching of the Bible generally means that you are listening. It's not just the hearing of a sound. It's the hearing that is listening to what actually is being said, to what God is actually saying to us.

And it's with a view to obeying that with a view to actually working that through in your own life. These are the three things the Bible so closely joins together. Sometimes, as we've seen with the safety announcement, people are hearing, hearing the noise of it, but not really listening to the words, not listening precisely.

It must never be like that. You and I must never get so used to the preaching of the gospel or to reading the Bible for ourselves that we will just do it as a matter of fact and a matter of form and think that we've just ticked that box.

We are here in the presence of God to hear, to listen, to have our minds attuned to what God is actually saying to us through the message of the gospel.

So that's the due preparation, due preparation that flows into what we actually do while we're here in church, while we're gathered together under the gospel.

But there's something else that I want to mention as our second main point is that we are all here, not just to hear all that you've been commanded by God, but he's saying we are all here in the presence of God.

We are here in the presence of God. He didn't say we are all here in the presence of each other. We are all here together. That was true. We are here, he says, in the presence of God.

And you know, in many ways, we might say that that's one of the most important issues for us to have in our minds as we come together collectively to worship the Lord.

That we are, in fact, in the presence of God. And the more we fill our mind with the facts of that, with the fact of that, with the factuality of that, with the truth of that, the more you and I will be prepared to listen.

Because if we come consciously to church or to wherever else we are, even if we're just reading the Bible on our own, if we come conscious of the fact that it's God's presence we are in, we're always in God's presence in a sense, we're never out of God's sight, but it's a special sense in which we come into God's presence as we come together collectively as a gathered church to worship Him.

We're in the presence of God in that special sense of which the Bible often speaks, that we draw near to God. And we saw that in Hebrews 10. You'll find in Hebrews 4, verse 16, let us draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and obtain grace to help in time of need.

James 4, verse 8, draw near to God and He will draw near to you. So when we come to gather together as the gatherer church of God, we are drawing near to God.

And as we're drawing near to God as we gather, we do so mindfully. We do so mindful of the fact that it is God that we approach, that we're in the presence of God.

And that's what makes the occasion truly special and significant to us, that we're not just meeting together, we're meeting together in the presence of God. How important is that to yourself today?

Is that how you prepare to come to church today? Did you prepare by saying, I know that I'm going to be with others coming into the presence of God, so I've really got to think about that?

I've got to think about the privilege of that, the importance of that? I know that I'm going to a place which is associated with God speaking through the preaching of the Word. I need to prepare for that, I need to pray about that, I need to think about what that means to myself, is that how you came, is that how you prepared?

And when you think about the fact that God is speaking, that that's what makes the occasion very special through the preaching of the Word, did you invite somebody else to come? Did you say to somebody, look, I really would like you to come to church with me today, it's important?

Did you invite someone to church? When did you last invite somebody to come to church with you? See, if we're thinking as we should be of how important an occasion it is that God speaks to His people, how important an occasion it is where we're in the presence of God, that our hearts should surely be burdened that others would come and share that and share that experience and know that for themselves.

And that's why we invite them, because it's important to us that God is here, that God is speaking, and we want others to benefit from that with us.

And he says here, we are all in the presence of God here. And that word all actually is very emphatic in the Greek text of that verse. Now, therefore, we are all here.

Cornelius said, all of us are here. Everybody that I invited is here, and we're here to hear what God has to say to us through you. And that makes it important too, because we can say that of ourselves today, we are all here.

In other words, you say of yourself, well, I'm here and I'm here with a lot of other people, and we're here to hear what God is saying, and that's where I want to be, and that's what I really love to be.

It doesn't matter what others say. It doesn't matter what others outside the all have to say. This is for us. This is where I want to be. This is what's meaningful. This is what's important to me. And we are all here.

Nobody's left out. Those who are here are here because they want to be here, because they know that it's an important occasion.

for themselves. And it's to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. That's interesting because the beginning of the chapter, we read that this man, Cornelius, was a centurion of a certain group of soldiers called the Italian Corps.

You might say that was his group. That was the group he was in charge of. And as a centurion in charge of a hundred soldiers, this man would be well used to giving orders.

And not only would be well used to giving orders, but well used to expect that the orders he gave would be obeyed. That people would actually do the things that he was ordering and that he often would be for their own safety as well.

And as he gave the orders, he expected those who were hearing him to carry out these orders to the best of their ability. And that's what God, our commander, is saying to us today. The things that you have been commanded by the Lord, there's no ordinary task to preach the gospel.

I'm not highlighting myself when I say that. Others who are preachers of the gospel will say exactly the same thing. It's no ordinary task to preach the gospel. It's the greatest privilege given to human beings to actually be the mouthpiece for God, to actually be someone that God is using to convey His truth or to seek to explain or expound His truth.

That's why it's commanded by God. That's why it lies upon us as something that God Himself places upon us as a burden. He commands us to preach the gospel.

It's not a burdensome command in the sense in which we don't want to do it. It's burdensome because it carries responsibility. But you see, the thing for you today as hearers of the gospel, hearers of the gospel preached is this.

All the things, I trust in speaking the truth, all the things that you will be hearing today in this sermon are things commanded by the Lord. You're not here to listen to me.

You're not here because I have something that I am commanding you to do. You're not here because I am instructing or pointing or doing something that draws your mind to certain activity that you're hearing you should be doing or ought to be doing.

You are here because God has commanded His message to go forth. And as He has commanded it, so it's incumbent upon you and it's incumbent upon me too as a preacher of the gospel to first of all listen to God for myself.

And if I'm not listening to God for myself, then I'm not going to be serving you as you minister in the gospel. Now therefore, He said, we are all here in the presence of God.

What is the purpose of the church gathered together? Well, as I said at the beginning, there are many aspects to that. But we're narrowing our focus to this very important aspect.

We are gathered together as a church to hear what God is saying to us. You can go to many places today where the sermon will be just five minutes, ten minutes, where the sermon will not be an exposition of Scripture, where people are not used to listening to a sermon, what is it, about half an hour or so since I began preaching.

Many places in the world today will be absolutely appalled at the fact that people would come to listen for half an hour to somebody in a pulpit spouting. This is God's truth.

The things that have been commanded by God for us to believe and you are here in the presence of God to listen, to hear, not to hear the voice of a minister, though that's the medium, that's the agent by which the message goes forth.

You are here to listen to God. You are here to say to the Lord, Lord, speak to me through this man. Speak to me through the preaching of the gospel. Stir up my soul from your word.

Teach me, edify me, sanctify me, guide me, lead me, comfort me, convict me. It all comes to the same that you are here to listen to God, to what you have been commanded, he said, by the Lord.

Now I've got a wee exercise for you to finish with. You can do it when you get home, please. James chapter 1, verses 21 to 25. I'd like you to just spend some time looking at these verses because you could call them the before and during and after the word being preached.

The before, the during, the after, the word being preached. Verses 21 to 25. I'll just read them and leave you to do the exercise yourselves whenever you have a moment.

Epistle of James chapter 1, verse 21. Therefore, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted or engrafted word which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

See, there's things you do before, there's due preparation, the things we do during the preaching of the word. We're looking at ourselves through what the word of God shows ourselves to be and we're hearing about God and what God is saying to us.

And we don't leave it at that. We then become doers of the word. We carry out what God is saying to us to do as his people in the world as Christians, as followers, as disciples.

of the Lord. Well, may God bless his word to us. Let's pray. Our gracious and eternal God, we give thanks to your name today that you continue to speak to us, that you have not turned your back on us, that you have not turned us away from you.

And we give thanks, Lord, that you continue to address us through your word and through the preaching of the gospel. your people are edified and others called to join the number of your believing people.

Oh, Lord, today we pray that you would enable us as each day goes by to be more keen to hear what you say to us, that we will be glad to gather together as we do today so as to hear what God, the Lord, will speak to us.

Help us to receive your word. Help us, Lord, as James said, to receive that engrafted word, that our hearts may be spliced open so as to receive your word and thereby that we will grow into the kind of people that we ought to be in your presence.

Help us, Lord, to honor your presence. Help us to realize as we come together into the presence of God that we are to be like Moses long ago who came to draw near to the burning bush, having heard God say to him that he was to take his shoes from off his feet for the place on which he was standing was holy ground.

And we pray today, Lord, for a sense of your holiness, a sense of our own need and relation to that. We pray that you'd continue to own and bless your word amongst us as we continue as your people.

Hear us, we pray, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Well, our final psalm this morning is in Psalm 85. It's 85 in the Scottish Psalter, verses 8 to 13.

The tune is Newington. I'll hear what God the Lord will speak. To his folk he'll speak peace unto his saints, but let them not return to foolishness.

To them that fear him surely near is his salvation, that glory in our land may have her habitation. Page 340 in Psalm 85, that I'll hear what God the Lord will speak.

I'll hear what God the Lord will speak.

To his folk he'll speak peace. unto his saints, unto his saints, unto his saints, but let them not return to foolishness.

To them that fear him surely near is his salvation.

and glory in her land may have her habitation.

truth met with mercy, righteousness, and peace is mutually.

Truth springs from air and righteousness, truth's down from heaven high.

If what is good the Lord shall give, our wrath shall yield in peace.

Justice who sent us in his steps shall go before his face.

I'll go to the main door after the benediction. Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you now and evermore.

Amen. and both Him africa of God will pergunta