[0:00] We're going to read together in God's Word. Now we've got two readings this morning. Our first in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. We're reading in Genesis chapter 11, and then our second reading is in the book of Acts. So our first reading in Genesis chapter 11.
[0:21] We're going to read from verse 1 to verse 9, where you see here God sending the people into confusion with different languages that they couldn't understand each other and then being sent out to all different parts of the world. So Genesis chapter 11, verse 1. Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as the people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shina and settled there. And they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, behold, they are one people and they have all one language. And this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down. And there confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth. And they left off building the city. Therefore, its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there, the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. And our second reading is in the book of Acts.
[2:12] Acts chapter 2. And we're going to read from verse 1 down to verse 13. Acts chapter 2 verse 1. So we're into the New Testament.
[2:32] Here we read of this day when the Lord came down by the power of His Spirit into the midst of His people. And the gathering of His people is what we see here. So Acts chapter 2 at verse 1.
[2:46] When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. And it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
[3:05] And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
[3:19] And at this sound the multitude came together. And they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking? Galileans. And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites. And residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene.
[3:53] And visitors from Rome, both Jews and Proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in our own tongue the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others, mocking, said, They are filled with new wine.
[4:16] And so on. And may God bless that reading from his word. Let's again come to God in prayer. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word and how it reminds us that it is a word that goes out to all ends of the earth. And we thank you that that is true today in our day and age, that your word, perhaps like at no other time, is able to find and cross boundaries like never before.
[4:49] That there is access to so many people and places. That your word is powerful and mighty. And it tells us of the mighty works of God, of what you have done for your people down through all the generations.
[5:03] Even as we have read in our two passages together, a time so far apart and yet the same God. The same God who was able to throw people in all different directions and into the confusion of different languages. So that instead of bringing glory to themselves, that they would seek you with all their heart. We thank you that that is what we have read in Genesis and that we are reminded then as we come into the New Testament that you are a God of mission. A God who is calling a people to himself from all ends of the earth, that your gospel would be heard and understood and received with great gladness and wonder. And we know, Lord, too, that there are many challenges to your gospel.
[5:53] There are many who will dismiss it, that there are many who abandon it. There are many who receive it with gladness for a time, but are so distracted by the things of this world that it falls away from them. But we thank you, Lord, that you are the one who is able to prepare the ground, that you are the one who is able to give the increase and the blessing, that you are the one who has given the power of your Holy Spirit. As we will read of and see more of this morning, we thank you that we have the Spirit promised with us. And we thank you that it is not through our power or strength, but through the power of your Spirit that your Word is blessed. And so we pray that for ourselves here and for all your people who gather today, and for your Word as it goes out, that it will go out with the power of your Holy Spirit, that it will accomplish great things, and that we would rejoice and delight in your Word, being received with gladness, being heard with joy, a Word that brings a sense of joy into the lives of so many broken people.
[7:05] We thank you that it is a power to heal and to heal to the utmost. So we pray, Lord, that you would continue to pour out your blessing on us, to be with us as a people, as homes, as families, as a congregation. We ask, Lord, that you will direct us in all our ways, that you will help us even in this coming week, that we would go into it with a sense of anticipation, that we would rejoice that you are the God who hears us, that you are the God who is able to answer prayer. And as we look ahead to a day of prayer for our denomination, we pray that our times together will not be times that we enter into without prayer, but that today and in the days leading up to it, we will draw near to you, that we will commit ourselves and our church and our denomination as a whole, all your people far and wide, Lord, that we would come praying for one another, praying for your blessing on us, praying humbly as sinners such as we are, confessing our sins, but thankful for the forgiveness that you have shared upon us through your Son, Christ Jesus. And so we come, Lord, seeking your face, asking as the psalmist,
[8:23] Lord, bless and pity us, shine on us with your face, that the earth, thy ways, and nations all may know your saving grace. We ask these things humbly before you. And we pray too, Lord, for our communion weekend ahead as well, Lord, that you will prepare our hearts for that, that you will encourage us, Lord, and strengthen us as a people, that you will increase our faith. Lord, we may become here today with our faith seeming so small, but we thank you that your word says that even if our faith is like a grain of mustard seed, so small and insignificant in many ways in our eyes, and yet able to flourish and blossom into the greatest tree in the garden, we thank you that you are the one who is able to make our faith flourish, that you are the one who is able to give it the increase and help us, Lord, to lean upon and look to you in each and every day. So we ask your blessing upon us in all of these things, and we ask your blessing on our homes and families and our different needs at this time as well. Those who are mourning and grieving, Lord, we commit to you, asking for your comfort, your grace, and your blessing to them. Praying for those who are unwell, those who are in hospital and homes, those who have anticipating hospital visits even in the coming weeks ahead as well. And we do remember in that mind, Lord, we pray for Donna and James just now. We commit them to you, Lord, asking for your grace and your peace towards them, that as Donna will await surgery in these coming weeks, Lord, that you will still our heart and give our calm and help us all to surround them with prayer at all times.
[10:13] So, Lord, we commit them to you and all others like them, Lord, who have times of anxiety and worries just now, Lord, that you will shower your blessing upon them, that you will bring comfort and help in all different times of need. We pray too, Lord, for Reverend Ian Morrison in Oban. We know he's been unwell this week and is in hospital just now, and we pray for him in his recovery, Lord, that you will strengthen him and uphold him, Lord, and that you will restore him in health. We pray, Lord, for the wider denomination too, Lord, that you will guide us and help us as a people, as a denomination that seeks to reach out with the gospel, that you will direct our steps and our paths and help us to do all for your glory.
[11:01] So, remember us, we pray, Lord. Remember all your people, all our loved ones, near and far, those who serve you in the gospel around us here and throughout all ends of the earth, Lord, that we would see that the harvest is great, but that we are praying to the Lord of the harvest to provide in every way. So, may you shower us with your blessings and pardon us in all our sin. That's all we ask. We ask in Jesus' precious name and for his glory. Amen.
[11:33] Well, again, sing to God's praise. This time we're singing in Psalm 85 in the Scottish Psalter. Psalm 85 and at verse 6, page 340 of the Psalm books.
[11:50] We'll sing from verse 6 down to the end of the Psalm.
[12:01] That in thee may thy people joy, wilt thou not us revive? Show us thy mercy, Lord, to us do thy salvation give. We'll sing from verse 6 down to verse 13 and the tune is Denfield.
[12:14] Amen. Amen. Amen. God, in thee may thy people joy, wilt thou not us revive? Show us thy mercy, Lord, to us do thy salvation give.
[12:44] I'll hear what the Lord will see. To his hope he'll seek peace.
[12:57] And to his sins, but let them not return to foolishness.
[13:09] Good, then, not fear him, surely near him, is his salvation.
[13:20] But glory in her loving heart, her habitation.
[13:32] のはemployed. Amen. Hash Messiah, O valor, to the關 capitalism, Lord, to us dev one of his wounded children. Amen. Can glory in his knees be his mercy become the лучше of God. That in Editionposts, upon his true life of the death, deliver him good to us weel hisinction and being Reynolds.
[13:50] Amen. Amen. Jesus, I, means, our frase豈 ego, to us in sic死, son of Gleich cai. Amen. Thank you, O also, to the end of thisakukan block on earth, that is over met colourful BeWorld, Нам Captain, to us write.
[14:00] For this good the Lord shall build, our land shall yield in peace.
[14:11] Justice to set us in his steps shall go before his grace.
[14:30] We can turn back to our reading in the book of Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2.
[14:41] We can just read again at verse 11. Where we see a reminder of how the people are hearing each other speaking. Although they would not normally understand, they were understanding one another.
[14:53] And it says there, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in our own tongue the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean?
[15:09] So they were hearing about the mighty works of God. As we begin this new week, we look ahead in many ways to the week ahead and what lies before us.
[15:22] And it is a time of national prayer as a denomination. We have the National Day of Prayer on Wednesday. It's a time of thanksgiving. It's a time of year when we look back over the year with much thanksgiving to God.
[15:36] And then we look ahead to the end of the week. We would, God willing, come together around the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. When we come to remember the Lord's death and all that he has done for us there.
[15:48] So how do we go into the week ahead? Are we going in our own strength? Are we looking to ourselves? Or are we looking to God, thankful for the mighty works of God?
[16:02] And who is with us as we go into the week ahead? That we do not go alone, but that we have the Lord with us. And especially as we will see in this passage that we have the promise of the Holy Spirit with us.
[16:18] And that it is through him and his strength that we seek to do all things to his glory. Now as you look at the book of Acts in this chapter here, chapter 2 or chapter 1 and 2 really, you could take together.
[16:32] You see what the people have witnessed of the power of God. The mighty works of God that they have already seen. They have been three years with Jesus and his public ministry, seeing his miracles, seeing all that he was doing, hearing his teachings and everything that they had over these last number of years together.
[16:53] They had enjoyed a real time of blessing. But then you think of what they'd seen in just the previous few days to this. How they'd seen the Lord crucified, put to death on the cross.
[17:07] How they'd heard about the resurrection. How they'd seen the risen Lord. And then as chapter 1 shows us how they'd seen his ascension.
[17:19] How they'd seen him go up to glory to be with the Father. And you think to yourself the wonder of all that they had seen, the amazement of all that they had seen, that this would be enough for anyone's lifetime to see all of this and to try and understand it.
[17:38] Where do you begin? But what we see here in chapter 2 is that God still had a purpose and a plan for his people and to see and continue to see the mighty works of God and to show the mighty works of God to others as well.
[17:57] There's more to come. This is just the beginning. In chapter 1 and verse 8, the people had been reminded as they were gathered together, just a small number of them.
[18:09] They were told that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
[18:23] That God was going to continue to send his people out on this journey, this journey that takes the gospel to all ends of the earth. So they were waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit and they didn't have to wait long.
[18:42] They have been waiting as instructed by Jesus, waiting with a sense of anticipation as to what was to come. Not thinking, well, we've got to take things into our own hands, we've got to do something about this ourselves.
[18:57] No, they had been given instruction by God and they were waiting on his coming, on the Holy Spirit coming and seeing what God would do in their midst.
[19:11] But they haven't just been waiting without doing anything. They've been waiting in prayer. They've been waiting and looking to God's Word. They've been waiting together as well.
[19:23] There's this sense of unity and oneness as they are together waiting on the Lord's coming in this way through the Holy Spirit. And then the day comes when the power of the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them.
[19:38] That's what we've read of here in the beginning of chapter 2. There's this sense of amazement and wonder among all the people there as to what's happening. And they're left with this question in verse 12, when they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean?
[19:57] And that's the question that so often is asked today as well. What does all this mean? What does this pouring out of the Spirit mean for us as a people?
[20:09] What does it mean for the church today? And so many people look at this seeking the same kind of experience once again, seeking another day of Pentecost as it is, a pouring out of the Spirit that we have to wait again for another day of the Holy Spirit being poured out, or that we are to come and speak in tongues to one another.
[20:32] But that's not what this is about. This is not about waiting for another time, but looking and seeing that God has given His Spirit, that He has poured out His Spirit on His people to be His witnesses to all the ends of the earth.
[20:48] And so that as we come together in His name here today, as we go into the week ahead in all that we do, whether it's in our own homes, in our workplaces, as we come together for prayer on the National Day of Prayer, as we look ahead to a communion weekend, that whatever we are doing, we are doing it knowing that we have the promise of the Holy Spirit, that He is with us, and that He is the one who is able to bless.
[21:17] You see, Acts chapter 2 must be understood in light of what was said in Acts chapter 1, verse 4 to verse 8. Well, there it's going through that He has told them to wait on the promise of the Father which He said, that the Holy Spirit, not many days from now, will come upon you.
[21:38] So they were waiting for it, and that after that, that they were to be witnesses to all the ends of the earth. That is what we see being accomplished and done in Acts chapter 2.
[21:50] And if you go on in Acts chapter 3 from verse 14, you have that great sermon, at Pentecost of Peter, which again explains it more clearly for us too.
[22:01] But what we want to think about just now is just the sense of wonder of the Holy Spirit, of the power that we have as a people, the power that we should depend on and look to in all that we do.
[22:17] And so we want to think of three things for ourselves as we look to all that's ahead of us, thankful for God's past faithfulness and goodness and looking ahead in God's sense of anticipation to God.
[22:32] So three things I want us to take from this passage. As we think of the day of Pentecost in the light of their experience then and ourselves today, first of all, that it was something that it was anticipated.
[22:46] The second thing, it was something that was amazing. And the third thing is, it was something that was awakening. And as we look to God, these are three things that we should have in our own hearts as well.
[23:01] A sense of anticipation, what God can do in our midst, what God can do for us and others. A sense of amazement as to who God is, the wonder of what he has done for us through Christ, which is what Peter goes on to preach in that sermon in Acts chapter 2 later on.
[23:25] How the Lord Jesus died for our sins. The sense of amazement. And then thirdly, the sense of awakening. That he would stir us up in our hearts.
[23:37] That in our deadness of our hearts, that we would see the Holy Spirit as the one who gives life to us and to all that we do. So the first thing we want to see is the sense of anticipation.
[23:52] The point of Pentecost here is mission. Mission. That the gospel would go out to all ends of the earth. Because what is the goal of mission?
[24:04] Mission. It is what Habakkuk spoke of in the Old Testament in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 14, where it says, That the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
[24:19] That is the sense and power of mission. That the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Just like Psalm 67 says to us, Lord, bless and pity us.
[24:33] Shine on us with your face. That the earth thy ways and nations all may know your saving grace. There is a sense of anticipation that God is blessing his church to all ends of the earth.
[24:51] And so to understand what Pentecost means here in Acts chapter 2, we have to think of it in light of what it meant in the Old Testament. And Pentecost was all to do with the harvest time.
[25:05] Pentecost, which means 50th, refers to 50 days after the Passover festival. And it's called different things. In the Old Testament, it's called the Feast of Wicks or the Feast of Harvest.
[25:20] It's known as these things. But very much it is a harvest theme behind it. Because at the Feast of Pentecost would be when the first fruits of the harvest were brought and offered up to the Lord.
[25:34] And so there was a sense of thanksgiving and anticipation. The people would bring the first part of the harvest, but it would be an anticipation of more to come.
[25:49] So there would be a sense of thanksgiving to God, but also looking to God and trusting Him that the full harvest would come in and that it would be successful. Remember what we were looking at last week in Matthew chapter 9, where Jesus was looking on the people with compassion and He saw the fields white to harvest.
[26:11] And He says, The harvest is plentiful, and the laborers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest. So the harvest anticipated in the Old Testament is now being signified here on this Pentecost as the harvest of God's people that is to come in.
[26:29] And so behind that is a sense of anticipation that God is able to save and save to all ends of the earth. That He is sending out His gospel to all people everywhere that they may be gathered in as part of the harvest.
[26:46] that they might hear and understand the gospel and receive it with gladness and rejoice in the Lord. And we ask ourselves, is that how we come to worship God today?
[27:01] Is that the sense in which we go into the week ahead as we anticipate a day of special focus on prayer in our national day of prayer? As we have a day of thanksgiving?
[27:12] As we have a weekend of communion? In all of these things, are we going into it with a sense of anticipation? That God has been good to us.
[27:23] That God has been rich to us through Christ. That God can bless us as we go forward as a people. That the harvest is there, but God is in the business of gathering in His harvest.
[27:37] That the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. That that is what we would see in our midst. Anticipate as a people and seek and long to go out from here with it as well.
[27:52] So the people here, they were gathered in one place. It says that in verse 1 for us. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
[28:05] They had that sense of anticipation. Prayer of expectation, of faith, and the wonderful things that God can do.
[28:17] And shouldn't we be like that as well? Shouldn't we have that sense of anticipation? What God can do for us.
[28:28] The second thing we see here, it was something that was amazing. You get the sense in which Luke is almost struggling for words at times to describe what he is seeing in their midst here.
[28:43] In verse 2 it says, Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. And it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as or like fire appeared to them and rested in each one of them.
[28:59] There was this sense of amazement at what was happening. The sense of, what is this? This is the mighty works of God.
[29:10] This is what God has promised for his people. That he would pour out his spirit upon them. And God showed himself to them in this way that just left them with this sense of wonder.
[29:25] There was this mighty rushing wind like a spirit had come in. There was this fire that came down. And all of these things that are mentioned, we think of how it relates to the Old Testament.
[29:38] And how God so often shows his presence in these amazing ways. When you read through the Old Testament, you find places where you think, that's only possible by God.
[29:51] And that's the whole point of the gospel. Salvation is only possible through God. Life eternal is only possible through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[30:03] You think here how it speaks of this sound, like a mighty rushing wind. The sound that came into their midst, this presence of God.
[30:17] It's so often how we see the presence of God in the Old Testament. In the book of Ezekiel chapter 37, where God commanded the prophet to prophesy in the valley of dry bones.
[30:31] He said, prophesy. And it brought life. The breath of life came upon these dry bones. And it brought life to them.
[30:41] And that's exactly what we're seeing here as well. That the Lord, through his Holy Spirit, is able to give life to what is dead. And that's how we are described.
[30:52] We are dead in our trespasses and sins. But he is able to give life. And he's able to give life to his church, to his people.
[31:03] And it's amazing how he does it. How even when we seem so far from God and so distant from God, that God in a moment can come and revive and quicken his people.
[31:19] And so here they were waiting in a sense of anticipation. And then they see these amazing things taking place. The tongues of fire coming down upon them.
[31:30] And you think of fire in the Old Testament, how again it symbolized the presence of God. Moses in the wilderness, he saw the burning bush. It wasn't consumed because God was in the midst of it.
[31:45] And God spoke to him there. And you think how God led his people through the wilderness journey. How did he do it? He guided them by a pillar of fire.
[31:57] He was with them. He was guiding them at all times. And so there's this sense of God with us here through his Holy Spirit. He will be with us.
[32:10] And then you think back to a reading in Genesis chapter 11. What happened there when there was so much confusion that people were cast into chaos?
[32:22] They'd all been speaking one language, but God confused them so that there would be a multitude of languages so they couldn't understand one another. Well, what we see here is that there will be a language that everyone can understand.
[32:38] That God is bringing his people back together. You look at the list of all the different people and places mentioned here. Between verse 7 down to verse 11 there, there's a number of different places.
[32:53] And the question is, how are all these people understanding? They have their own language. Well, because God is restoring and bringing his people back together.
[33:04] You see, in Genesis, they had been building this tower for their own glory, their own mighty works.
[33:18] But now they are talking about the mighty works of God in a language they can all understand. And that is the language of the gospel. That as the gospel goes out, it goes out with power.
[33:32] And it leaves a sense of amazement at what God is able to do. That he is able to bring people back together.
[33:43] That he is able to restore and heal in a way that we cannot do. Because it's all about the mighty works of God. It's all about the power of his Holy Spirit.
[33:57] We cannot do it ourselves. We look to him. And that's the way that they were to go on from this Pentecost day.
[34:08] And to go out to all ends of the earth. That is the way that we are to go on in the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. Albert Einstein once said, He who can no longer pause to wonder is as good as dead.
[34:26] And how easy it is for us to lose our wonder of God. Our amazement of God and his mighty works. Imagine coming to look to the Lord's death on the cross and to feel nothing.
[34:45] We have done it ourselves in the past. Perhaps we're doing it even now. We're looking at the cross and hearing of the cross where Christ died for sinners and nothing.
[35:01] There's no wonder. There's no awe and amazement because we're dead. But the mighty works of God are that he brings life through his Spirit.
[35:17] That the Holy Spirit is what revives us in our hearts. What quickens us to see the cross of Christ for what it is. That Christ died for my sin.
[35:29] That he gave his life as a ransom for me. And when the Holy Spirit awakens us and breathes life into our hearts.
[35:40] No longer do we dead to that. But we are made alive to Christ. We weep over our sin. And we rejoice that Christ died for our sins.
[35:56] And we marvel at the mighty works of God. That is how we should be. But are we dead? Have we lost that sense of awe and amazement?
[36:11] Well we need the mighty works of God through his Spirit to revive us and to bless us. So the third thing we see here is it's awakening.
[36:26] This is awakening. And this is what we want in our own hearts as well. We see here the church awakening.
[36:37] We see here the people of God awakening. When they're asking these questions in amazement and perplexity in verse 12 saying what does this mean?
[36:48] We ask ourselves that question today. What does this mean? When you see all these places and people mentioned what does this mean?
[37:00] It means that there's good news for all. For everyone and for all the nations. And this is what awakens the church of Christ.
[37:12] The Holy Spirit bringing life and to see and know that Christ died for all. In the book of Revelation chapter 5 verse 9 John is there proclaiming to us what Jesus has done.
[37:28] that Jesus has purchased it for God with his blood. Men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. That there is a mission for the church today as well.
[37:42] That we are awakened to this end to bring the gospel to all ends of the earth. And the people in this day of Pentecost and Acts here have been asking well how is it possible?
[37:56] How can we be your witnesses in Jerusalem? Far less Judea and even more so the ends of all the earth. How is it going to be possible? We have the great commission of the Lord Jesus and he says go to all ends of the earth.
[38:10] He says go but what else does he say? He says I am with you. I am with you. And that's the great question that we have for ourselves as well.
[38:24] How can we so small and insignificant a people here? How can we possibly go? Well it's to be awakened and to know the power of the Holy Spirit with us.
[38:38] It says in the Old Testament it's not by might nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord. That is how we are to go.
[38:51] He has poured out his Spirit upon us. He has given the Spirit to his church. Pentecost was about mission and empowering because we are powerless without the Holy Spirit but we have him promised with us.
[39:09] So let us look to him. Let us pray to God our Father. Pray through our Lord Jesus Christ and pray for the Holy Spirit with us.
[39:26] When you go back to verse 1 of chapter 2 here it gives us a reminder of the starting point of this journey and the starting point for ours as well.
[39:37] When the day of Pentecost arrived they were all together in one place. They were all together in one place. They were all tuned in to God.
[39:51] It was A.W. Tozer who once said a hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other.
[40:02] And what was the point that he was making there? Well he was making you could try and tune your own piano and somebody else could tune their own and everyone could just go ahead and tune their own piano but they're not going to be in tune because they're all individual but tune it to one tuning fork and they're automatically playing the same tune the same note.
[40:25] The point he's making is this that when we all tune in to God first and foremost then we are all in tune with one another.
[40:37] That is what makes things possible to be in tune with God to be together in one place with God in our hearts.
[40:47] knowing the blessing of the Holy Spirit with us. So as we go into this week ahead may we go with a sense of anticipation of what God can do for us.
[41:02] May we go with a sense of amazement at what God has done for us. And may we go with a sense of awakening knowing the life giving power of the Holy Spirit of God that we would see his mighty works in our midst.
[41:22] We will at the end of this week we will be focusing on the Lord's death. And that is our focus in all that we do that Christ died for us that we might have life.
[41:38] And the more we look to that the more we are in tune with that the more we are in tune with one another the more we are in tune with all that is around us.
[41:49] And the words on your notice sheet this week with regards to the communion the words that Matthew Henry had I want to leave you with these words because they remind us of what it means to come.
[42:04] Come to the Lord's Supper. It says let us come to the Lord's Supper with rejoicing and thanksgiving. these two must go together for whatever is the matter of our rejoicing must be the matter of our thanksgiving.
[42:20] Holy joy is the heart of our thankful praise and thankful praise is the language of holy joy. Both these are very seasonable when we are coming to this ordinance which is instituted both for the honor of the Redeemer and for the comfort of the redeemed.
[42:41] Isn't it a wonderful way of putting it? It is both for the honor of the Redeemer for the honor of Christ we do it but it is for the comfort of the redeemed.
[42:55] The comfort of doing it in remembrance of him. May we come into this week with a sense of knowing the Holy Spirit's leading and guiding and blessing in all that we do and knowing the mighty work of God in our midst.
[43:17] Let us pray. Our Father in heaven we give you thanks for your goodness to us as a people and deserving as we are Lord we thank you for the blessings that are ours in Christ and for the blessing that we have in the comfort of the Holy Spirit with us.
[43:35] And we pray Lord to know his mighty work in our midst in all that we do and there will be for your glory and yours alone. So we ask it in the name of Jesus.
[43:46] Amen. We're going to conclude by singing to God's praise in Psalm 104 Psalm 104 page 138 of the psalm books.
[44:01] Psalm 104 we'll sing from verse 31 down to the end of the psalm and the tune is Hifredal. Psalm 104 verse 31 May the Lord's majestic glory always last and never fade.
[44:16] May the Lord rejoice and triumph in the works that he has made. We'll sing these verses to God's praise. May the Lord majestic glory always last and never fade.
[44:41] May the Lord rejoice and triumph in the works that he has made.
[44:54] When he gives his song creation earth begins to shake and fear as it touched the mountains tremble smoke and flames of fire appear.
[45:19] to the Lord throughout my lifetime to my God I will sing praise.
[45:32] May my meditation be said as to him my song I raise.
[45:45] but with sinners free before and the wicked be no more.
[45:58] Praise to the Lord almighty O my soul the Lord adore.
[46:12] After the benediction I'll go to the door to my left. We'll close with the benediction. Now may grace, mercy and peace from God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore. Amen.
[46:27] Amen. Amen.