[0:00] We'll begin our worship this morning by singing to God's praise. We're going to sing in Psalm 25, the first version of the psalm, in the Scottish Psalter, Psalm 25, page 231.
[0:17] The tune is Dennis. We're going to sing from verse 1 down to verse 6. To thee I lift my soul, O Lord, I trust in thee. My God, let me not be ashamed, nor foes triumph for me.
[0:30] Let none that wait on thee be put to shame at all, but those that without cause transgress, let shame upon them fall. We'll sing from verse 1 to 6 to God's praise.
[0:47] To thee I lift my soul, O Lord, I trust in thee.
[0:59] Let thou that wait on thee. Let thou that wait on thee. My God, let me not be ashamed, nor boast high of glory.
[1:20] Let the man that wait on me be put to shame and all.
[1:37] And those that will and cause transgress, let shame upon them all.
[1:57] O me, my grace, O Lord, my past, O tree, shall we?
[2:14] And do thou read me in my truth, then my teacher be.
[2:32] For thou art God, let us to meet salvation, strength.
[2:49] And die upon thee, O Lord, my best, O Lord.
[3:07] Amen. Let us bow our heads in a word of prayer.
[3:52] Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, as we gather in your name this day, as we come praising you, as we come offering up praise to you in song, as we come looking to you in prayer, as we come seeking to hear from you in your word.
[4:10] We thank you that you are a God who has remembered us, that you have remembered us in such a special and a significant way, that you have sent salvation to us as we have sung.
[4:23] We thank you that we come in the name of Jesus today, that we come looking to him to be Lord and God of all, and Lord and God for us, that we would come looking to him to trust in him with all our heart, with all our soul, and to love you as we should.
[4:42] And we pray and thank you, Lord, for your word that instructs us, that helps us. Your word teaches us day by day. And we thank you that all of us together here, from youngest to oldest, hears from your word and help us to learn, help us to hear what you are saying to us.
[5:03] And as we come to the end of this year, as we come to the last day of the year, we thank you for all your goodness to us in so many ways over this year. Through all the ups and downs of life, Lord, you are faithful.
[5:17] You are our constant companion. And we pray, Lord, that as we look, God, willing to a new year, that we will put our hand in yours and walk with you and trust in you with all our hearts.
[5:29] May you guide us and help us along every step of the way. So, Lord, be near to us as we worship you this day. And in all our homes and our families, Lord, we ask your blessing, your help, your strength in all the different needs that we have.
[5:46] We thank you, Lord, for a time of holiday. We thank you for many families being together, both here and maybe some away as well. We thank you for these times that we are able to share together and to be able to share it around your word today as well is a real blessing to us.
[6:04] So, Lord, we thank you for everyone here, everyone visiting with us, everyone tuning in online as well, wherever they may be, Lord, that you will surround us all with your love and with your grace.
[6:16] We thank you for your faithfulness, Lord, and help us that we may be faithful to you in all that we do, in all that we say, and in all that we do in the days ahead as well, Lord.
[6:27] May we know your goodness with us and your mercy upon us. So, Lord, hear our prayers and pardon all our sin as we ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
[6:40] Before some of the younger ones go out, I'll just share a word with you. We're thinking today in our service about what it means to walk with God, to go on looking to him and trusting in him every day of our lives.
[6:57] And I hope you've had a good week this week. I hope you've been enjoying your holiday and enjoy the last few days of it. And today is the last day of 2023.
[7:08] Tomorrow, all being well, we'll be into 2024. Another year has gone by. And when you think about a year and you think about it in terms of numbers, there's so many numbers that you can think about in a year.
[7:23] You think about it as one year. And it sounds quite small in some ways. One year has passed. Or we think about it in another way.
[7:35] We think about it in terms of months. And we have 12 months in the year. And everybody in that period of time, I'm sure everybody's had a birthday or other different occasions over these months.
[7:48] Then you think about it in terms of weeks. How many weeks are there in a year? We've got 52 weeks in the year.
[7:59] Then you can break it into days. And how many days there are in a year? 365 days in the year. So the numbers are getting bigger.
[8:11] And then you start thinking, well, I've got 365 days. Every day's got hours. So how many hours are there in a year? Now the numbers are starting to get quite big.
[8:25] 8,760 hours in a year. Now we're going to go one more. What about number of minutes in the year?
[8:38] A lot higher than 8,000. How many minutes are in a year? 525,600 minutes in a year.
[8:51] Now we're not going to go to seconds because that will just be getting a really big, big, huge number. But you just think about all these numbers that we have. From one year down to 525,600 minutes.
[9:05] And you break it all down into that. And the question is this. What have we done with our time? In Ephesians, the letter of the Ephesians, in the New Testament, in chapter 5 and verse 15, it says, Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time.
[9:30] It's talking there about walking. How are we walking with God? Are we making the best use of our time?
[9:42] All of the last year, and as we look ahead to another year to come, God willing, as we look back over 12 months, as we look back over 52 weeks, as we look back over 365 days, as we look back over all these numbers, and we think of them, yes, some of them are just small numbers, but we ask ourselves, have we lived every minute trusting in God?
[10:06] Have we lived 525,600 minutes trusting in God with all our hearts? And is that what we will do as we go into a new year?
[10:18] If we haven't already done so, are we going to make the best use of the time? Walking with God, not as unwise, which means we're doing silly things with our time, stupid things with our time, but as wise.
[10:34] Wise people, making the best use of our time every minute that we have. We often say time is precious, and we are to spend it in the right way.
[10:45] It means looking out for others, helping others, living our lives in a good way, but above all, it means trusting God every minute, every second of every day, that we will walk with Him and trust in Him.
[11:01] So may God bless these thoughts to us and be with us all as we look ahead to a new year. We're going to say now the Lord's Prayer together. Amen.
[11:12] 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.
[11:30] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Amen.
[11:42] We're going to sing again to God's praise, this time in Psalm 57, in the Sing Psalms version. Find us on page 74 of the Psalm books.
[11:54] Psalm 57. We're going to sing from verse 1 to verse 5. The tune is Selma. Have mercy on me, Lord, to you my soul holds fast.
[12:06] Your covering wings will shelter me until the dangers pass. I cry to God, most high, to God who answers me, for he fulfills his purposes for me most perfectly.
[12:19] We'll sing from verse 1 to verse 5 to God's praise. God's praise. Let's amen.
[12:39] Let's pray.د hands I cry to God most high, to God who answers me.
[13:14] For he fulfills his purposes, for he moves perfectly.
[13:29] He sends his help from her, and saves me all my love.
[13:46] Reveal me close to see my life, God sends this truth and love.
[14:02] I live with savage peace, I dwell with high up strong.
[14:18] With man who speak, with piercing words, a sharp sword is their tongue.
[14:34] Above the highest head, O God, exalted thee, And O God, on the earth below, display your majesty.
[15:15] We'll turn together to read in God's word now in the Old Testament, in the book of Micah. Micah, we're going to read in chapter 6. Micah chapter 6, you'll find it around page 942, towards the end of the Old Testament.
[15:34] Micah chapter 6, and we can read the whole of this chapter together. Micah chapter 6, from the beginning.
[15:46] Hear what the Lord says. O my people, what have I done to you?
[16:12] How have I wearied you? Answer me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery. And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
[16:26] O my people, remember what Balak, king of Moab, devised, And what Balaam, the son of Baor, answered him, And what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, That you may know the saving acts of the Lord.
[16:40] With what shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old?
[16:52] Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, With ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
[17:05] He has told you, O man, what is good, And what does the Lord require of you, But to do justice, and to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.
[17:19] The voice of the Lord cries to the city, And it is sound wisdom to fear your name. Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it. Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness In the house of the wicked, And the scant measure that is accursed?
[17:38] Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales, And with a bag of deceitful weights? Your rich men are full of violence, Your inhabitants speak lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
[17:52] Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, Making you desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied, And there shall be hunger within you.
[18:04] You shall put away, but not preserve, And what you preserve I will give to the sword. You shall sow, but not reap. You shall tread olives, But not anoint yourselves with oil.
[18:17] You shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. For you have kept the statutes of Omri, And all the works of the house of Ahab, And you have walked in their councils, That I may make you a desolation, And your inhabitants a hissing.
[18:34] So you shall bear the scorn of my people. And so on. And may God bless to us that reading of his word. Let's again turn to God in prayer.
[18:47] Let us pray. Amen. Our Father in heaven, As often as we read of your blessings in your word, The many great and wonderful promises That you have given to us, That are all fulfilled in your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.
[19:07] We recognize and give thanks, Lord, For every one of them, That are precious to us as a people. And yet, O Lord, As we read your word as well, In the fullness of it, We see the many promises, But also the many challenges, And rebukes that there are for us.
[19:26] The many truths that they are reminding us Of the consequence of sin. The many truths that remind us of what it means, What it entails not to listen to you As you speak to us.
[19:42] And as we have read in your word together just now, We see so many of these things. We see the challenges and the rebukes to your people. But we thank you that in the midst of them, We read too of your great love towards us as a people.
[19:57] That you know our sins, You know our helplessness, You know how we cannot do anything for ourselves Because our hearts are so inclined to wander away from you.
[20:11] We are pulled in so many different directions. We are pulled so easily away from your truth and from your ways. The things that appeal to us in this world, O Lord, Can so easily take over our hearts.
[20:26] But help us, Lord, to find mercy with you. Help us to find renewal with you. Help us to repent as your word calls us to.
[20:37] Help us to turn away from our sin And to seek to walk humbly with the Lord. For we thank you for your steadfast love, Your covenant love, Through which we are blessed and blessed abundantly.
[20:52] That you are a God who loves steadfast love. That you are a God who desires it for all people. And yet so quickly, Lord, we turn away.
[21:04] And so help us, Lord, Even as we reflect at the end of this year. As we look back and As we are maybe reminded of the many ways in which your promises have blessed us and helped us Throughout so many different situations.
[21:18] We thank you that we can look back and see your faithfulness to us in so many ways. The way that you have kept us, sustained us, watched over us. The way that you have provided for us.
[21:30] In the simplest of ways, Lord, that we so often forget. Whether it's the air that we breathe, the water that we drink. The simple things in life that we see as attained by ourselves.
[21:44] And yet your word reminds us that every good and perfect gift is from above. From the one who changes not. And so, Lord, humble us before you today. That we might walk rightly with you.
[21:57] That we would seek your face. That we would come, O Lord, with much to give thanks for. And that we would praise your name. That we would also come, O Lord, confessing our sin.
[22:09] Our sin of forgetfulness. Our sin of turning away from you. Our sin of not leaning on your word or trusting in it. And also, Lord, in the many things that go on in our lives.
[22:22] When we are challenged. When we are finding the way tough. We thank you that we can come, O Lord, and cast our cares upon you. And help us to do so for ourselves and for others around us.
[22:35] For our communities. For our nation. For our world. We thank you that you are a God who hears and answers prayer. And every one of which we have seen answer to in this past year.
[22:46] We give you thanks. For every prayer offered up that we wait upon. Still wait upon. We pray for patience to wait. For every prayer that we offered up, Lord.
[22:57] Not according to your will. But for our own selfish hearts. We ask forgiveness. And we pray, Lord, that you will be the one that guides us in the days ahead.
[23:08] That as we go into a new year, God willing. We would know your presence with us. We would know you going before us in all things. Directing our paths. Helping us to walk closely with you.
[23:21] We pray that, Lord, for our nation as a whole. When we think of our rulers and all who govern us in so many different ways. We think of our king and his family, Lord.
[23:33] We pray your blessing on them. We pray, Lord, for them all to come to see the light of the glory of Jesus Christ. We pray for them to come to know what it is to fully believe in God.
[23:48] And the fact that you sent your son as a savior for this world. That they would come to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. The one who is there for us.
[24:00] Lord, help them. We pray in all their own needs as well, Lord. We pray above all for their souls, O Lord. That you will bless them richly. That you will bring them to know and to rule according to your word and to your truth.
[24:14] We pray that also for our governments. For Westminster. For Holyrood. For Prime Minister and First Minister. Lord, again, that their hearts will be turned to you.
[24:26] That they would come to know the glory of God. That they would come to know the wonder of your grace. And the power of your word. The power of prayer. And that righteousness exalts our nation.
[24:39] We pray, Lord, for the year ahead to be seeing your glory in our land. To be seeing your power at work. To be seeing people turn to you in great numbers.
[24:51] And people coming to know and believe in the Lord Jesus. We pray these things so often, Lord. Maybe just asking as a token gesture.
[25:02] Not really believing it's possible. But we thank you that your word reminds us of how quickly you can turn a people. Turn a nation. Turn a world to yourself. And we pray, Lord, that you will come in your power.
[25:16] That you will hear your praying people throughout the world today. Far and wide. That you will look down upon us. That you will remember those in need in all corners of the earth.
[25:27] The persecuted church. Those who suffer for your name. Those who are suffering in the midst of conflict and wars just now. Those who suffer in so many different ways.
[25:40] Through rulers oppressing a people. Keeping things for themselves when a people are in need. And we, oh Lord, pray for mercy.
[25:51] And your goodness to be poured out upon us. We thank you, Lord, that you remember us. That you know us in every need that we have. That you know our names. That you know us in all our personal needs, our innermost thoughts.
[26:06] And we come, oh Lord, pleading with you to remember our people here. To remember our homes. And our families and our communities at this time. Remember those in sorrow and sadness.
[26:17] Remember those who are anxious over loved ones. Remember those who are unwell. In whatever situation that may be. Physically or mentally or spiritually. Oh Lord, we know that the battles in this world are so many.
[26:33] And so varied. But we thank you that we have a God who is able. A God who is able to help and do abundantly more than all that we ask or imagine. And so we pray, Lord, to draw near to us.
[26:45] And to help us to draw near to you. That every day of a year to come. Every week. Every hour. Every second even.
[26:56] That we would live for the Lord. That we would seek to trust in you. And to walk closely with you. Lord, bless us, we pray. From our youngest to our oldest.
[27:08] That you would be with us in all that we seek to do in your name. In families and communities. In all our island communities here, Lord. We pray for your goodness and mercy to be with us.
[27:20] To pour out your spirit upon us. To revive us as a people. And to do us good. Lord, help us, we pray. And all we ask, we ask. Knowing our own frailties and weakness.
[27:32] But thankful, Lord, for your goodness towards us. Your strength. Your grace that is always sufficient. And we pray. Pleading in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[27:45] The name above every name. The name before whom we must all come and give an account. On that day of judgment. And we pray, Lord. Help us to be prepared for that day.
[27:56] To be ready for it. To be trusting in you. Recognizing that there will be no injury time when it comes to that. There will be no second chances. There will be no time to make amends when the Lord comes.
[28:09] Our day is now. Our time is now. And we pray, Lord, that you will help us in this day. To hear your voice speaking to us. Give us ears to hear then.
[28:20] And go with us, we pray. Pardoning all our sin as we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. We're going to sing again to God's praise before we turn back to look at the passage in Micah and Psalm 39.
[28:39] Psalm 39, we'll sing from verse 7. Page 258 of the Psalm book. Psalm 39 at verse 7.
[28:51] And now, O Lord, what wait I for. My hope is fixed on thee. Free me from all my trespasses. The fool's scorn make not me. We'll sing from verse 7 to 13.
[29:03] And the tune is, Wetherby. Amen. The fool's scorn make not me.
[29:34] The fool's scorn make not me.
[29:47] The fool's scorn make not me. The fool's scorn make not me.
[29:59] Because this world was nigh. Thy soul's scorn make not me.
[30:16] The fool's scorn make not me. Of thy hand I do hide. When with refuse thou dost glory, Man for iniquity.
[30:45] The fool's scorn make not me. The fool's scorn make not me. The fool's scorn make not me.
[30:56] The fool's scorn make not me. The fool's scorn make not me. But then, my cry, Lord, that my tears And there's the silent beat I soldier not My father's all And Savior come with me O say by me That I my strength Recover me again
[32:04] Before progress I do depart And here No more Reveal Let's turn back to our reading in Micah chapter 6 We can read again at verse 8 We're going to look really at verse 1 through to verse 8 Micah 6 at verse 8 He has told you, O man, what is good And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice And to love kindness And to walk humbly With your God To do justice And to love Steadfast love You could say there And to walk humbly With your God As we think of coming To the end of a year
[33:06] As we've thought about Our time in that sense Of the year gone past And what we've done With our time Has it been a year That we have been walking Humbly with the Lord Or is it something That we have to reflect on And think about How we could be better In that sense Of walking Humbly with the Lord Have we lost our focus From him As we look at the book of Micah It's a book that's Full of this challenge Both in the sense of Yes, in many ways Things are going well The people are getting on Okay But they're losing sight Of God And that always has Consequences And Micah comes to them With a word With a rebuke With a challenge And to walk humbly With your God You imagine going Into your workplace And you're going in Expecting that your boss Will give you the jobs
[34:06] For that day But instead They say to you I'm sure you've Got enough To catch up on yourself I know you've just Been on holiday You're coming back After your Christmas And New Year break But you've probably Got things that you Would like to do yourself Things you want to get Back on top of So just take the day To yourself You're probably thinking Well My job must be at risk Or something There's something Just not right here Maybe he's not going Not going to get paid For this day's work So you ask that question What about my pay?
[34:39] And they say Don't worry You'll still get paid But just go And do your own thing I'm sure you'll be surprised If any boss Would say that to you Because you go to work Expecting To do a job Likewise You wouldn't go into work And just say to your boss Look I can't do the work That you're paying me for today I've got so many things I've got to do for myself I'm going to go and do that But you're going to still pay me My wage at the end of the week You wouldn't go in doing that Because if you did You would probably expect To be sacked But what is our relationship With God like In this way?
[35:23] How are we living With God? Do we treat God With a selfish Kind of attitude? Where we come to God And say to him I'm going to do my own thing I'm going to live as I want But at the end of the day You're going to give me The goodness Of your heart You're going to give me All the good things That you promise In your word But I'm still going to Just go and do My own thing That is how we So often end up living We want to do Our own thing And we want to do it In our way But we want the blessings Of God too And as you look through Micah That's the very situation You find They were doing Anything they wanted To please themselves But still expecting To God God to be on demand As well When he was needed They'd call And they would expect him
[36:24] To give them Exactly what they wanted And that's why God Sent Micah He sent Micah to them To show them The error of their ways To show them Where they were going wrong How they're turning Away from God And expecting just God To do as they wanted When they wanted This was going to have Consequences Consequences That without their way Being changed Would lead them down A path That was not good The relationship With God Was breaking up The steadfast love That they had enjoyed From God So much And that the goodness Of God As we read through Here of what he'd done For them They were forgetting And just turning Away from When you see The setting of Micah And the kind of situation He's writing into you Begin to realise How similar it is
[37:24] To our own day You read through Micah And you see Turning away from God Leads us to turn To other things To pleasing ourselves To getting our own gain And there's probably Four different ways That you could see it When you read through Micah You read in chapter 3 Verse 11 Something that was happening There was bribery There was bribery Going on In verse 11 of chapter 3 Its heads give judgment For a bribe Its priests teach for a price Its prophets practice divination For money Yet they lean on the Lord And say It's not the Lord In the midst of us No disaster Shall come upon us It's this situation Of bribery going on Just you tell us What will please us And we'll give you money For it But if God is not happy You can bring God into it And give him a token gesture
[38:25] So that he will bless us And isn't that how Our nation seems to operate So much now We bring God in Just for the essentials From time to time But we want to continue And live our lives In our own way Turning away from God's word Rejecting God's word But in the midst of disaster We'll come and say Oh but God help us It doesn't work You see there was violence In Micah's day as well Micah chapter 2 verse 8 But lately my people Have risen up as an enemy You stripped the rich robe From those who passed by Trustingly With no thought of war There was this violence Going on for self gain Again you look at our world today Such a similar situation Corruption was there as well Similar to bribery But slightly different Micah 6 verse 11 Which we read
[39:25] Shall I acquit a man With wicked scales And with a bag of deceitful weights Corruption going on And you see too In chapter 7 There's a sense of community Breakdown too In verse 5 and 6 Of chapter 7 Put no trust in a neighbor Have no confidence in a friend Guard the doors of your mouth From her who lies in your arms For the son treats the father With contempt The daughter rises up Against her mother There's community and family Breakdown to the fore here as well Again it's the same kinds of things That we see in our own society today All these things are so prominent In our life And what is behind it all We fail to acknowledge We fail to look at Is abandoning God And turning her back on God There are consequences
[40:25] To doing that In Micah's day And in our own day And yet God still comes in God still speaks to a nation here And to a nation ourselves To a people ourselves And he calls his people To repentance What remains constant Throughout Micah's day And our day And every generation Is the need of repentance And the offer of salvation From the Lord In Micah chapter 7 Verse 18 You read there Who is a God like you Pardoning iniquity And passing over transgression For the remnant of his inheritance He does not retain his anger forever But he delights In steadfast love He delights In his covenant love In his faithfulness Towards his people And that is what Micah
[41:26] Is calling us to In this section Just as the Lord Loves Steadfast love So in verse 8 We are being called To God He has told us What is good What he requires of you To do justice To love Steadfast love And to walk humbly With your God It is there Before us And the question is What are we doing With it Somebody once Put it like this The same old story Which is what we see And look at here The same old story Of all that is wrong With our world He said It needs The same old story The same old story Needs The same old story The same old story Of corruption And bribery Turning away from God Needs the same old story Of the steadfast love Of God It needs The gospel
[42:26] And that is what We all need As we come to the end Of a year Going to a new year God willing The gospel The goodness of God With us And to walk humbly With our God And there's three things That we learn here Of what we need To walk humbly With God And the first is this We see it in verse 1 and 2 Hear the Lord Hear the Lord If we're not listening to God If we're not hearing God It is impossible To walk humbly With God Because if we're not Listening to God We're listening to ourselves Or to everything else That this world Will throw our way And we're turning away From God And so Micah's role If you like As a prophet Was to bring The word of God That the people Would hear And listen To the word of God There were these False prophets
[43:26] Who were coming They were taking a bribe They'd tell the people Whatever they wanted To hear Not what God Was saying to them But whatever they wanted To hear Just carry on as you are Do as you please Do what you want But God will still Be there for you But Micah He comes With the truth In verse 1 And verse 2 You see It says Hear what the Lord Says Hear what the Lord Says Hear you mountains The indictment Of the Lord God is speaking And he is speaking Powerfully here To the people And they need To listen And how much Has the Lord Been speaking to us All through our days All our lives All our years All our weeks All our months All our hours Every second of the day God is speaking To us
[44:27] Through everything That goes on In our own lives Our lives around us The world around us God is speaking And yet What had happened To the people In Micah's days The same as is Happening to ourselves Today People are growing Tired of listening To God They are growing Tired of hearing What God is saying And they are Turning away And Micah is saying There are consequences If you do What you need to do Is hear What he is saying To you Have you ever had Someone Who has always Got advice To offer It doesn't matter What you are doing It might be just A little job Around the house You might be working With this person But they have always Got a bit of advice To give as to How it should be done Or to do it like this Instead of like that And if this is going on All the time You can become Tired of hearing it
[45:27] You become frustrated With hearing it You don't want to Hear it anymore And yet When we are hearing God speaking to us It is so often The way we can be God Why do you keep Saying that I am a sinner God Why do you keep Telling me that I need To repent And turn and live My life in a particular way Can I not do it My own way And it tires us It wearies us It is a recurring problem Throughout the scriptures From the old Into the new testament You find a people Who become weary With God Although he is offering His steadfast love His salvation His redemption People just reject it And turn away from it We will do it our way We will go our own path We will walk our own way Not humbly before God But proudly before others We will show them How it is done But it will not end well
[46:29] And so The word of God Is telling us To listen To hear what he is saying Not to tire of it But to love it To love the fact That God speaks To love the fact That God Longs for goodness For his people To love the fact That we have A great story To hear Not to tire Of it There was a woman Called Catherine Hankey And she was born In London In 1834 And born into A very wealthy family But she came To love the Lord And serve the Lord From her young age She was very young When she became A Christian And she had a real Love for God And a love for sharing His word with others And when she was Just a teenager She began A Bible class For girls
[47:29] In her neighborhood In her late teens She began organizing Sunday schools Around different parts Of London For girls In her late teens As well And she used to love Just serving the Lord She used to publish Poems and tracts To share with others She was always busy With the Lord But then when she was In her thirties She became seriously ill And she was ill For quite a long Period of time And she realized During that time That in all the busyness Of what she'd been doing She had become In a danger Of forgetting The gospel Forgetting to listen To God And she wrote A poem And it's called Tell me The same old story And it goes Like this Tell me the story Slowly That I may take it in The wonderful redemption God's remedy For sin
[48:30] Tell me the story Often For I forget So soon The early dew Of morning Has passed away At noon That was one of the verses In it She longed just to hear The story The same old story Tell it to me often For I forget So soon And it's so important That we listen To what the Lord Is saying To us Tell me The story Often Let us Love Hearing The gospel The good news Of God Through Jesus Christ To us We are to listen To the Lord Why is that So important Well the second thing We see here Is because we have To give answer To the Lord The day is coming When we have to give Answer To the Lord We have to give answers
[49:31] We see in verse 6 With what shall I come Before the Lord And bow myself Before God On high A day is coming When we will have to Appear before God And what are we going to Bring Before God On that day How am I going to Bow myself Before God On high Do you realize The significance Of this Yes we can Not listen To God Just now We can turn Away from God Just now But the day Is coming When you must Come face To face With God And what will You bring Before the Lord On that day You might Watch Television And see These programs They have now When they have A judge Judge Judy Or judge Rinder Of one of these Programs And it's all
[50:31] Televised so people Can see what's Going on in people's Lives And a person Will come Making a case Against somebody Else Presenting The evidence And this is almost Like a court case We're having here In verse 6 In verse 6 And 7 What we see here Is God While saying What evidence Do you have Against me You go back To verse 3 And it says there Oh my people What have I done To you How have I Wearied you Answer me What have I done To you How have I Wearied you Answer me And when you See God Put across His case There In verse 4 And verse 5 For I brought You up Out of the Land of Egypt And redeemed You from the House of slavery And I sent Before you Moses and
[51:32] Aaron And Miriam Oh my people Remember What Balak King of Moab Devised And so it goes On And then In the end of verse 5 That you may know The saving acts Of the Lord This is God's case What have I done To weary you I've brought you Out of Egypt I've brought you Out of slavery I've brought you Redemption I've brought you All of this How have I Wearied you Answer me God is a God Of covenant A God of Faithfulness A God of Steadfast love And he shows it Again and again And again And he says How can this Be wearisome To you And what is Our case That we are Going to make Against that How are we Going to answer Is there anything That we could Bring against God to Justify and Say Look Lord You did this Wrong Look Lord
[52:34] This would have Been better In my life When God Knows best For us All the time The word Of God Is so clear To us If you think Of it When you go To a workplace And you have A contract It makes clear Everything for you But you don't Always read All the fine Details Until something Goes wrong And they say Well if you read The small print You'll see It's there And even when we Think of the hard Things in our life The troubles That come our way The trials That are there Can we say But Lord You didn't tell me No because It's there Before us And it's not In small print It's in bold It's clear To us God makes Clear to us There will always Be challenges There are consequences To sin Death has come in Pain and misery And suffering It's all there It's clear to us
[53:35] So that there is Nothing that we can Say to God You didn't tell me When it comes To that day of judgment We can't come And say Lord You didn't tell me My life would be Like that My life would be This hard The Lord has told us In this world You will have Many troubles It's there Before us But he also Says But be of good Courage For I have Overcome the world There is always That promise That God Will be with us So that when we Appear before The judgment seat With what Shall we come Before the Lord How will we Bow ourselves Before God On high What answer Will we give There is no Avoiding this There is no Hiding from him The message From Micah To his people Then is the same
[54:36] As for ourselves Today How are we Living with God Are we walking Humbly with him Are we bowing Ourselves before him In all our need How will we answer God Well the final Thing we see Is as we come Into the Verse 8 He gives us The answer We cannot Come In verse 7 With thousands Of rams Or ten thousands Of rivers Of oil We cannot Come with any Of these things So what can We come With He has told You a man What is good And what does The Lord Require of you But to do Justice To love Steadfast love And to walk Humbly With your God He is telling Us What to do He is giving Us The answer
[55:36] In the same Way as he Reminds the People of All that he's Brought them Through From the land Of Egypt Redeeming Them from The house Of slavery Sending Moses And Aaron And Miriam Before them We look At our lives And what has God done For us He has Bought us Out of the Bondage of Sin He has Redeemed us Through his Son Christ Jesus He has Given us His spirit To guide us And to help Us along The way Has he Wearied us With these Things Are we Tired of Hearing Of the Goodness Of God Or do we Need to Hear it Again and Again Tell me The same Old story Of the God of Steadfast Love Of the God of Faithfulness To his People When we Think of The world In which
[56:36] We live In And the Way We have Turned Away From The word Of God Are we Surprised At where We're at When there's Consequences Outlined For us Charles Swindle He's got a Book called Living above The level Of mediocrity And listen To what he Says In this Imagine if You will That you Work for A company Whose President Found it Necessary To travel Out of The country And to Spend an Extended Period of Time Abroad So he Says to You and To the Other Trusted Employees Look I'm Going To Leave And while I'm Gone I want You to Pay Close Attention To the Business You Manage Things While I'm Away I will Write To you Regularly And when I do I will Instruct You In what You should Do From now Until I return
[57:36] From this Trip And Everyone Agrees To this So the President Leaves And he Stays Gone For a Couple Of Years During That Time He Writes Often Communicating His Desires And Concerns Finally He Returns He Walks Up To the Front Door Of The Company And Immediately Discoveres Everything Is In a Mess Weeds Flourishing In Flower Beds Windows Broken Across The Front Of The Building The Person At The Front Desk Sleeping Loud Music Roaring From Several Offices Two Or Three People Engaged In Horse Play In The Back Room Instead Of Making A Profit The Business Has Suffered A Great Loss Without Hesitation He Calls Everyone Together And With A Frown Asks What Happened Didn't You Get My Letters And You Say Oh Yeah We Got All Your Letters
[58:37] We Even Bound Them In A Book And Some Of Us Memorized Them In Fact We Have A Letter Study Every Sunday You Know Those Were Really Great Letters I Think The President Would Then Ask But What Did You Do About My Instructions And No Doubt The Employees Would Respond Do Well Nothing But We Read Everyone What's He Getting At There He's Getting At The Fact That Yes We May See God Has Gone Away For A Time But He Is Coming Again And In The Meant Time He Has Spoken To Us Through His Word Which We Have Bound In A Book Before Us Which We Hear Every Sunday Which We Maybe Memorize Great
[59:37] Parts Of It But The Question Is What Have We Done With It Have We Listened To What God Is Saying Do We Hear What God The Lord Is Saying To Us He Calls Us Here To Hear Because We Are To Appear Before God And God Will Say To Us What Have I Done To You How Have I Weed You Answer Me What Answer Do You Give Do You Have Anything To Come Before God And Say You Got That Wrong There Is No Answer Before God In That Way The Only Answer Is To Listen And To See That All We Are To Do All We Are Required Of Us Is Before Us In This Word To Do Justice To
[60:38] Love Steadfast Love And To Walk Humbly With Your God How Do We Do That We Look To God We Trust In His Faithfulness His Steadfast Love His Covenant Love That We See Before Us Fulfilled In Christ Jesus And We Seek To Walk Humbly Putting Our Trust In Him Turning Away From Our Sin Repenting Of Our Sin And Looking To And Trusting In Him It's No Use Having The Word Beautifully Bound Before Us Memorizing It And Doing Nothing With It We Are To Hear And Do As The Word Commands So As We Come To The End Of A Year As We Look To A New Year God Willing We Seek To Do These Things To Do Justice
[61:39] To Love His Steadfast Love And To Walk Humbly With Our God Let Us Pray Our Father In Heaven We Thank You That You Have Revealed Yourself To Us Through Your Word That You Are Speaking To Us Today As You Have Ever Been For We Are Living The Same Days As Micah When We See So Many Of The Problems And Troubles Of His Day Are So Common To Our Own And We Are Turning Away From You In The Same Way But We Thank That You Speak That You Call Us To Yourself And Help Us To Hear What You Are Saying And To Do Justice To Love Kindness And To Walk Humbly With Our God Lord Teach Us In These Things We Ask And We Ask It With For Our Sin In Jesus Name Amen We're Going To Conclude By Singing To God's Praise In Psalm 138 In
[62:39] The Sing Psalms Version Psalm 138 Page 179 We'll Sing Verse 1 To 3 I'll Praise You Lord With All My Heart Before The Gods I'll Sing Your Praise I'll Bow Towards Your Holy Place And Bless Your Holy Name Always We'll Sing From Verse 1 To 3 And The Tune Is Warrington I'll Bow to Lord With All My Heart Before The Cross I'll Sing Your Praise I'll Bow to God Your Holy Place And Bless
[63:40] Your Holy Name Always I'll Praise You For Your Faithfulness And For Your God Love O Lord For Over All Things You Have May Your Holy Name And Faithful Word The Very Day I Call To You You Give
[64:41] An Answer To My Be You May Be All Within Myself When You Is All You Say The Day After The Benediction I'll go to the door to my right we'll close with a benediction now may grace mercy and peace from God Father Son and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forever more Amen Tamb do Especially of for, you