[0:00] Well, I'll extend a very good morning to everybody today and we pray that as you join with us, Stornoway Free Church, that you will know the blessing of God on our worship.
[0:12] And we give thanks for this opportunity we were able to meet together in this way. So we're going to begin our service looking at Psalm 4, from St. Sam's, Psalm 4, and from verse 3. Know that the Lord has set apart the godly as his own. The Lord will hear me when I call and my request make known.
[0:37] In anger do not break God's law, consider and be still. Present a righteous sacrifice and wait upon his will. Oh, who can show us any good? I hear so many say, O Lord, shine on us with your light. Show us your face, I pray.
[0:53] You filled my heart with greater joy than others may have found, as they have rejoiced at harvest time, when grain and wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, my heart will rest secure. For you alone, O gracious Lord, will keep me safe and sure.
[1:14] Let us bow in prayer. O Lord, our God, we give thanks for all that you do for us every single day.
[1:26] We give thanks, Lord, that as we gathered before you this morning, that you will indeed bless us. We have come to the end of another year, and this year has been a strange year.
[1:38] It has been a year that, like so many other years, promised so much, and yet we do not know the future. And our futures can be so unpredictable, because we do not know what a day nor an hour may bring.
[1:54] But we give thanks, Lord, that what we don't know, you know. And nothing ever happens that will ever surprise you. Because not only are you the God of grace and the God of salvation, but also the God of providence.
[2:08] And so we ask, O Lord, that you will be with us and that it might please you to be gracious to us in your providence, as well as in your grace and in your mercy.
[2:19] And we ask, O Lord, that you will help us. It has been a difficult and trying year on so many different levels. And as we look back and reflect upon many of the difficulties that have risen, many of the problems that have appeared, and many of the challenges that people have been called upon to face, new challenges and new difficulties.
[2:45] And it has left us in a situation that, for most of us in our lifetime, we have never known anything quite like it. And yet all these things have the opportunity to develop us and to strengthen us and to enable us to look more and more to yourself.
[3:04] And we pray that we might use these challenging providences as times when we might come to know you more and more. We pray that as a nation that we will, that our eyes will begin to turn heavenwards, that we won't be ground down in the futility and the hopelessness and despair that can so often engulf people, but that they will be able to, in all the challenges and all the difficulties and lockdown and the illness have brought into our lives, that we will look to you, that we will turn to you.
[3:39] And we pray that as we come to the end of one year and look towards entering into another year, that we will do so focused upon yourself, that we will put our hand in your hand.
[3:53] We pray, Lord, for those for whom this year has been particularly personally difficult and sad, for they've lost loved ones. And as they reflect over the year, how much this year has changed for them, and it has brought with it pain and sorrow and heartache and changing circumstances, the like of which they had never envisaged.
[4:14] And we pray that you will enable them to cope with the changing circumstances and with the pain that is within their heart. O Lord, we know that every death, it leaves a mark, it leaves a painful mark within the life.
[4:29] And we ask, Lord, that you will grant comfort and consolation into every broken heart. We pray that you will be with us. And as we meet today around your word, we pray that that word will speak meaning and reality and light and life into our souls.
[4:46] We give thanks that you are the light of the world, that you are the bread of life. And here we are in a world that is full of darkness and chaos. May we come to discover more and more of you as that light.
[4:59] And that that light will shine up our path, that that light will shine with us, within us, so that we in turn will shine with something of the beauty and the love of Jesus.
[5:12] And we pray that as you are the bread of life, that we may feed upon you, that our souls might be nourished and strengthened, that we might grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[5:23] And we pray, O Lord, that you will be with us in every area and in every aspect of our life. We ask, O Lord, that you will be with us nationally and internationally.
[5:36] Bless our leaders and all in authority over us. All have to make important decisions and often very difficult decisions, decisions that aren't popular. But we pray that the decisions that they will make will be for our good and for our benefit.
[5:51] O Lord, that our leaders might remember that ultimately they are answerable to you and that you are the God who is exercising authority and rule over all the nations of this world.
[6:06] We pray, Lord, that you will bless those who are far away from home at this time, those who wanted to get home and couldn't. We pray for all who are homesick and those who feel isolated and lonely and feel abandoned and they feel just so tied into their own little corners.
[6:27] And we ask, Lord, that you will bless them. Bless your word as it goes out throughout this world. And we pray for every soul that comes under your word today, wherever that is.
[6:38] We pray that it will be a day for rejoicing in heaven where many will come to faith, many sinners will come in repentance and that it will be a day where a great blow will be struck against the kingdom of darkness and it will be a day where the kingdom of light will prosper.
[6:56] And throughout the nations of this world, we pray, Lord, that you will work a great work. Oh, open the windows of heaven and come down pouring blessing upon us, not according to our deserving, but according to your tender mission and upon your great love.
[7:11] And so be with us all. Be with those who are ill in hospital. We commit them to your care. Those who are ill in their own homes. Lord, that you would bring healing and restoration. We pray, Lord, for those who are struggling with all the different issues of life and those, Lord, who have problems, mental health problems.
[7:33] Lord, we ask, Lord, that into the insecurity and into the, maybe the fear, depressions, the darkness, the anxieties, that so envelop them, Lord, that you will grant them a sense of contentment, a sense of your peace, and that they may discover something of what the apostle was able to say, that he had learned that in all situations he was able to be content.
[8:00] Contentment with godliness, we're told, is of great gain. Lord, we ask that you will grant us a greater sense of contentment and help us to discover that ultimately that contentment is found in you.
[8:14] The same way as joy is found in you, and peace is found in you, cannot separate these things from you. And so, Lord, we pray that we may all discover the reality of this.
[8:25] We pray to bless our young folk. We give thanks for all the work that was done with the virtual Sunday school, the tremendous work that was done by the teachers and by bringing it all together so that it was a time of enrichment in homes where children and parents were able to be involved and engaged in this work.
[8:49] And we give thanks for all that our teachers did. And we pray that you will bless them. We pray for our day teachers as well in school. It's been a difficult time for them too.
[9:01] We pray for all in our children and all our whole education system. We ask, Lord, that you will watch over and that you will bless and that it will be your ways and that your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[9:17] Watch over us, then, we pray, and forgive us our every sin we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Right, I'm just going to say a wee word, excuse me, one moment to the young folk.
[9:32] I've got a whole pile of keys here. And some people have said that the Bible, in fact, is a book that, well, it's not some people, but everybody knows that the Bible is a book that is full of promises.
[9:47] But some people have looked on the promises of God like keys to our life. Now, of course, you know that there are all kinds of keys. I've got keys here to the house, house keys.
[10:03] You need them. Car key is quite different. And the thing is that whether it's a house key or the car key or even a key you have here for a case.
[10:18] Suppose you're going away on holiday and you say, well, I want to keep my belongings safe because I'm going to be putting it on a plane and I won't be picking it up until maybe an hour or two later.
[10:31] I want everything to be safe so you can padlock your case and you click that closed and then, of course, you need that key or else you can't open it because unless you have the key to open it, then it's not going to open.
[10:48] And I hope I have the right key for this. Oh, yes, I do because it's opened. I have another padlock here there's that one and that's the right key.
[10:59] Here's another padlock but that key is of absolutely no use. Now, I can't close this padlock until I find the right key for it. And sometimes people have keys for your house, for cars, you might have keys for your case, for a briefcase, for a bicycle.
[11:19] Sometimes people have sort of, they put a lock on their bike and sometimes now, instead of actually having keys, it's a lot handier that you have a wee code.
[11:30] You have numbers on this and you click it closed and the problem with this one is that I can't remember, I can't open it anymore now because I can't remember what the code was. You have numbers and supposing it was one, two, three and when you turn it around, it opens.
[11:45] But unless you get the right code, you cannot open it in the same way as you couldn't open without a key. You need the key to open. There's no point having keys if you leave the key on a shelf or you leave the key on a hook or the keys in your pocket and trousers or the back in the house and you're saying, I need the keys.
[12:05] Well, people say and it's very true that the Bible, the promises in the Bible are like keys to open up things for our life and God has given us many things to help us to live a full and a happy life and for instance, we often worry about what we're going to eat or what we're going to drink or what we're going to put on what we're going to wear and these are things sometimes we sometimes worry about when Jesus said, no, no, no.
[12:37] He said, don't worry about these things. So here's one of the keys. This key will open the door so that you won't be worrying about what you eat and drink or what you have to wear because this is what Jesus says, don't worry about what you have to eat or to drink or to wear but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things, that is, what you're going to wear and what you're going to eat and what you're going to drink, these things, all these things will be added to you.
[13:09] In other words, God look after that. So don't you worry about it. The key to not worrying about all these things is to seek God and his kingdom first. And if you put that first, then God has promised that he will look after all the other things.
[13:26] So that's the key to getting rid of all these worries. Again, for instance, sometimes we're really worried about the future, about decisions that we have to make, choices that we have to make.
[13:41] do I go this way, do I go that way, what am I going to do, what should I, what job, even when I finish school, what subject should I take in school, what job am I going to go, gosh, a lot of things that you say, I really don't know.
[14:01] That's why you get people trying to advise you along the way. But it's not just with regard to school and to your schoolwork and to your job. All the time we're having to make choices and decisions.
[14:14] Do what the Lord says. Here's another key. Don't worry, he says. Here's what you do. We're told, trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lead not to your own understanding, but in all your ways, in every way, in everything, in all your ways, acknowledge him.
[14:34] And do you know what he says? I will direct your path. Isn't that wonderful? God says, you put everything to me. In everything you do, put me first.
[14:48] And my promise to you is this. I will direct you. I will teach you the right way to go. I'll show you the way. I'll guide you. Isn't that wonderful? So that every day you're able to say, well, Lord, here I am, my life, I'm giving my life to you, and I'm asking you that in everything I do, that I will acknowledge you, and you, Lord, now will do what you promised.
[15:14] You will direct my path so that I make the right decisions and the right choices. Wonderful. Again, that takes away the pressures and the worries that so often we have.
[15:27] So you see how the promises of the Bible are like keys that open up, because God wants us to have a rich life and a full life and a happy life, but he says the key to all that is found in my word and living according to my word.
[15:50] And just as keys are of no use, I can't go out in the car if my key, if the key of the car is lying in a wee dish somewhere. I can have the car, but I can't do a thing about it.
[16:04] Same as I can't get into the house, it's the most annoying thing. It's if you drop the key or you lose the key and you come to the house and the house is locked, you can't get in.
[16:16] And there's lots of things you can't get. You couldn't open your bike. If you get your bike on a lock and you don't have the key, you can't open it. The keys are so important and so are the keys to the Bible.
[16:29] Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. There's another promise. There's another key. So every day you make sure that you go to the Bible and you say, Lord, help me to discover your promises.
[16:45] Help me to live upon your promises and help me to discover that this is the key that opens up to make my life more and more wonderful as I live it with you and for you.
[17:00] Let's say the Lord's prayer. 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.
[17:15] And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Now we're going to read God's word from the book of Proverbs.
[17:30] Proverbs chapter 18. Proverbs chapter 18. Book of the Proverbs chapter 18.
[17:43] Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire. He breaks out against all sound judgment. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding but only in expressing his opinion.
[17:57] When wickedness comes contempt comes also and with dishonor comes disgrace. The words of a man's mouth are deep waterish. The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
[18:10] It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice. A fool's lips walk into a fight and his mouth invites a beating.
[18:20] A fool's mouth is his ruin and his lips are a snare to his soul. The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels. They go down into the inner parts of the body.
[18:34] Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous man runs into it and is safe. A rich man's wealth is a strong city and like a high wall in his imagination.
[18:52] Before destruction a man's heart is haughty but humility comes before honour. If one gives an answer before he hears it is folly and shame.
[19:04] A man's spirit will endure sickness but a crushed spirit who can bear? An intelligent heart acquires knowledge and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
[19:16] A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before the great. The one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him.
[19:28] The Lord puts an end to quarrels and decides between powerful contenders. A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city and quarrelling is like the barge of a castle.
[19:42] From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach is satisfied. He is satisfied by the yield of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruits.
[19:56] He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from the Lord. The poor use entreaties but the rich answer roughly. A man of many companions may come to a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
[20:21] A man of many companions may come to ruin but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
[20:33] One of the great blessings of this world is the blessing of friendship and all throughout our land just now there are so many people who are struggling trapped with this great sense of isolation and loneliness.
[20:52] The COVID-19 pandemic has caused so much havoc in people's lives not just with regard to illness but with regard to lockdown and all the many implications that that brings and it's been a very distressing time for so many so many people and of course one of the great difficulties that people have felt is the whole area of loneliness and isolation and the desire for companionship is a natural desire that virtually every person feels I suppose there are always loners who want to be on their own but the vast majority of people enjoy the togetherness and the friendship of life companions and friends are a vital ingredient to life family and friends and it's part of what enriches people's lives and one of the great blessings that
[21:54] God has given of course we do need times when we need to get alone times to recharge the battery time to reflect time to be alone with God and it's essential in our days and weeks and months and years times we do need that but we need family and we need friends and it's not good to be alone in fact even in the earthly paradise even in Eden it was the one thing that God said over everything that he had made that it wasn't good God said over every single thing that he had made and he looked and did this deliberately he said it is not good for man to be alone I will make an help for him and of course there's that wonderful picture given to us in Genesis 2 of where God made Eve a broader fashion and shaped broader to Adam and
[22:56] Adam instantly recognises in Eve this is the version that I am looking for there's a sense of identity and oneness and yet somebody who was different and yet somebody who so complemented him and that's the beauty of the whole area of marriage is where the differences complement and where we are able to share and identify one with another and it's one of the great blessings that God has given for the two become one a oneness in life and a great blessing of course not that everybody will go down the road of marriage but it is one of the great blessings that God has given in fact in this chapter that we read that it tells us there in verse 22 who who who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favour from the Lord and so God in Eden he instituted marriage but also put in us a great desire for friendship and companionship and of course that is a vital part of our homes and our communities of our church of everything and it's one of the great things that happens when you become a
[24:13] Christian that you enter into an extended family and some of your closest friends today are people that you might have known before but once you became Christians you were drawn together and that's the wonderful thing that the Lord does we become friends we become families and the lack of having friends and having the sense of isolation can have a devastating impact upon a person it was Elijah's cry remembers part of when he went into his great depression I even I only am left he felt that he was the only believer left that there was nobody else that wasn't the case but that's how he felt it and so that was all part of the package that brought Elijah down and our Lord recognized Jesus' need of companionship of togetherness when he sent the disciples out he sent them in twos you look at the early church and you see them again they were in pairs there was
[25:24] Peter and John you see Paul with either Barnabas or Silas and Jesus of course had his disciples and out of the twelve he had an inner group that seemed to be closer to him and he took them on the special occasions Peter James and John and so there's this sense of friendship in life is so important as the Bible says a friend loves at all times and again we're reminded that iron sharpens iron and just as iron sharpens iron so we sharpen one another two are better than one the Bible tells us that one falls the other is there to lift them up so you see how important it is the whole idea of community and friendship the Bible highlights some of the great friendships for instance like David and Jonathan however having said that like all
[26:24] God's blessings sometimes these blessings can be misused and abused and they can go wrong and our very verse warns us of this because it says a man of many companions may come to ruin and on the one hand while we said good friends are a great blessing friends or companions that are not good can lead us astray can lead us in the wrong direction many parents are really worried sometimes about the friends and companions that their children have because they're afraid they're not going to be a good influence on them that they're going to lead them off the right path lead them astray and that's what this very verse is highlighting first part of the verse while they should be a blessing can actually in fact bring a person to ruin which is an awful thing but that doesn't alter the fact that friendship is so important so vital to our lives and of course it's one of the great blessings when we become
[27:32] Christians that our Christian friends even although we might just meet them for a few minutes in a day sometimes just these two or three minutes something that is said exchanging experience or exchanging thoughts on the word or something like that it can have a real impact and profound effect upon us and as we said coded iron sharpens iron that's exactly what happens so these things are great blessings and they're good for us but our verse goes on to talk of a special friend somebody who has a major influence and bearing upon the life and I believe that the passion that is closer even than family is the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ I believe that we can see or identify Jesus as being spoken of here now at one level Jesus is a brother to all his people we talk of brothers and sisters in the faith and
[28:37] Jesus looks on himself as a brother where he says I'm not ashamed to call them my family my brothers and sisters and even when Jesus walked in this world as critics as enemies they were meaning it in a derogatory sense but they said that he was a friend of public and sinners they looked at that as just he said he's a disgrace but you know it was a wonderful term and he is still to this day the friend of sinners and I can't think of anything greater than here we are at the end of 2020 and if you're still without the Lord Jesus Christ take hold of that because if you're without Christ you're still in your sin we're all sinners but you're still in your sin in other words your sin as you are your sin is going to bring you into condemnation it needn't because Jesus is a friend of 2020 into 2021 than putting your hand in the hand of
[29:47] Jesus who is a friend of sinners who is a friend who is there for you and will lead you in the right way and so irrespective of what you may have done in your life I would urge you even just now at the end of this year that you would ask that Jesus would come into your life I don't know how the situation is with yourself maybe you're saying it's all very well you saying all this to ask Jesus but I don't know how to pray sometimes people who are sympathetic to the gospel but they say I don't know what to say how can I go to the Lord but there's a starting point where you are just now just say to the Lord Lord I have no idea how to pray because I've never really prayed before I don't even know what to say begin with that tell him because that's praying and say
[30:51] Lord I'm here I have no idea what to do or how to go about things but I really do I would love to be able to just to speak to you but that's actually what you're doing so begin with that and tell him how it and he'll help you on and it'll become a greater part of your life because it is important the worst thing you can do is say I don't know how to go about this and just leave it like that and hope that somebody else is going to pray for you no you pray yourself because he's a friend of sinners that's a great thing you ask him to help you so Jesus speaks to us in terms of friends but not only is he a friend of sinners and of course we're all sinners but in John's gospel he talks to his disciples and he terms them his friends this is what he says you are my friends if you do what I command you I don't call you does but
[31:51] I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known to you so what does it mean for us to have the Lord Jesus Christ as a friend well there are loads of things we could say but let's confine it to two or three things he is a friend that is closer to you and to me and more affectionate than you see in life we often share our joys and our sorrows with our friends it's part of what we do but Jesus wants us also to share all our joys and our sorrows with him as well and he wants us always to be communicating with heaven and he wants us when there is an occasion or a reason for thanksgiving and joyfulness to be joyous in him to be thankful to him and to say
[32:51] Lord thank you thank you for what you've done Lord I want to praise your great and wonderful name you are worthy of my praise so you praise God he's looking for that he's looking for your thanks so that is part of what you do having Jesus as your friend but he's also this is the beauty of it he is a shoulder to lean on and a shoulder to cry on both to lean on and to cry on when you feel weak and you feel that you're going under his strength has made perfect in our weakness he wants to impart his strength to you and he says to you I'm seeing you battling away there in your weakness because of what you're going through I'll help you just come to me and so it's vital that we go to him and we learn to lean upon him and similarly when our world has collapsed around us and we're flooded with all sorrows and pains he's the most sympathetic friend that you will ever have you know you can have a friend who's void of sympathy and when you're going through a difficult time you tell them they might be decent friends good enough friends but they really help you because there are times when your heart is sore and you try and tell them something it's just it doesn't really mean anything to them they're hard hearted the
[34:22] Lord is not hard hearted when you look at his life it was a life that was filled with compassion and with sympathy we're told he is a sympathetic high priest he is touched with a feeling of weaknesses and so whatever our pains whatever our sorrows he wants us to go and to pour them out to him because he's there for you and he is the only one who can really dry up your tears he is the only one who can come into your heart and deal with the pain those those that have broken in their heart and grieved in their minds their painful wounds he tenderly abides that's what the psalm tells us and you know the closer that you live with the Lord and to the Lord the more he will reveal of himself to you you begin to share the secrets of the kingdom with you you know what I would say is the secret of the Lord is with them that fear and the more that you live in this way with the
[35:25] Lord Jesus as your friend the closer he comes to you and you will find that in your reading and in your prayer that the more you spend with him and the closer you are to him the closer he draws near to you and as you read the word you feel you say I really feel the Lord close to me today I feel he's right here with me and you're able to embrace you're given the faith to take hold of these words these promises the promises that we're talking to the children about the keys to open up for life these promises the Lord gives you the faith to lay hold upon these promises and make them real and to plead them before him but Christ is also a faithful friend you know sometimes in a person's life things can go a wee bit ski whiff things can happen and you think oh this isn't too good and it's sometimes on occasions like that that people discover who their friends really are because sometimes and you hear it quite often people say you know
[36:31] I thought he was a friend I thought she was a friend but when I really needed them they weren't there when things went upside mind friends and who aren't well the thing is Jesus will never disappoint you he is a friend who will be with you through thick and thin and even when you let him down he doesn't turn his back upon you there was nobody let Jesus down more than the apostle Peter remember Peter he was denying Jesus with oaths and with curses and he says I don't know anything about this man Jesus remember he was there he was being held by the enemies and they were before his trial and in fact it was the beginning of his trial and eventually his crucifixion and Peter and John had been there and Peter was there and of course Peter was filled with fear and he was being questioned you are one of his no not don't know anything about him means nothing to me and what did
[37:39] Jesus do Jesus couldn't do anything physically but he turned and he looked at Peter and he looked with such a look that it broke Peter there and then Jesus was dealing with Peter there and then with that one look a look sometimes more powerful than a thousand words and it was in that case and Peter went out and he wept bitterly he was broken hearted because he realised what he had done and Jesus was dealing with him there and then and after the resurrection one of the first things that Jesus did was he got hold of Peter and he sat Peter down the two of them there and Peter was Jesus dealt with Peter and Jesus restored Peter and Peter became this vibrant powerful voice in the early church that's what the kind of friend Jesus is won't let you down won't walk away from you won't turn his back upon you even supposing everybody else forsook you even supposing your family and friends supposing everyone turned their back upon you
[38:46] Jesus as your friend he never ever will do that and since what it says as a constant friend having loved his own which were in the world he way and so there's never a step that you will take in your life but he is there with you he has promised I'll never leave you and I will never forsake you and finally though there's a lot of other things we could say he's a powerful friend and again that is so important for us to know because you and I have friends and with the best will in the world there are things that they might want to do for you and there's things that I might want to do for my friends and family that I can't do I don't have the ability I don't have the resources I have the will to do it I have the mind to do it I desire to do it but I can't do it and it's the same for them that they might wish to do but that's never so with the
[39:49] Lord Jesus because all power belongs to him and the power that he has is a power that will keep you all the way through this world we little do we realise just how powerful the keeping of the Lord is but there are enemies around us and about us and within us all the time trying to derail us and to destroy us if the Lord were to open our eyes to see all the powers of darkness that are around us that are with enmity against our soul that are seeking to drag us to the lowest hell in a moment it would unhinge us we don't see it but he is keeping us every step of the way and despite all our blunders and all our failings and all our sin and the moments in our life like Peter where we really let the Lord down and deny him he is there all the time all the time as a royal friend and he will do anything for us far and beyond anything that we could ask or think and this friendship doesn't simply extend to this world but it goes right all the way down into death you know our friends and our family can't do anything for us as we enter into death they can be there for us and that's a wonderful thing and it's wonderful that we can be family can be there with those as they go down into death star that awful moment but there comes a point where family and friends can't do any more but it's in there the Lord is still with you and he has a hold of you into death and he takes you up and receives you to be with himself forever and he still remains guardian over your body which will be laid into the grave still watching over that souls of believers are made perfect in holiness and their death and to immediately pass into glory and their bodies being still united to Christ to rest in the grave and the resurrection what a mystery that is but it's true there is a mysterious union that exists between the very dust the very dust is precious to Christ and on resurrection morning your body which is laying in the grave will be raised up more glorious and wonderful and beautiful and the body you have now but it's going to be the same body won't be somebody else's it'll be yours but made perfect for the new environment of glory to share with your soul there's a coming together again body and soul to be forever with the
[42:42] Lord that's what his friendship does he's a royal friend he's a powerful friend and you know if you're without Jesus Christ today I don't think you realize what you're missing that's what you're missing and that's what Jesus is wanting to give you so today as we say the last Lord's Day last Sunday of 2020 will you make sure that you do not go to this year on your own anymore it's a dark dangerous threatening painful world it's hard going on your own in fact it's impossible journey on your own and then you have nothing for death unless you have Jesus you make sure that today you say Lord Jesus please come into my heart into my life and become this friend to me through life into death and forever let us pray
[43:47] Lord our God we again give you thanks for your goodness and mercy towards us and pray that you will bless us with every spiritual blessing cleanse us from our every sin we pray in Jesus name we ask it Amen now we're going to conclude singing from Psalm 84 in the Scottish Psalter Psalm 84 from the Scottish Psalter and we're going to sing from verse 8 Psalm 84 from verse 8 Lord God of hosts my prayer hear O Jacobs God give ear see God our shield look on the face of thine anointed dear for God for God the Lord says sun and shield he'll grace and glory give and will withhold no good from them that uprightly do live 4 stances 8 to the end of Psalm 84 100 Lord the Lord God for Godvelanders his
[44:51] Kahen Senhor smellseti amaflode nantly saiyam of thine and ointed tears.
[45:19] For in thy course one day excels a person rather than my thoughts as good my heap adore and dwell in tents of sin.
[45:56] For God the Lord has sun and shield till grace and glory give and dwell with all your good from them that have right me to live.
[46:32] O thou that art the Lord of all that man is truly blessed whom I have shown with confidence and O tell the great Now may the grace, mercy and peace of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore. Amen.
[47:19] Thank you very much for joining with us today and do join again at 6.30 when the evening service will be conducted by the Reverend James McKeever.