[0:00] I want to extend a very warm welcome to everybody this evening and it's good if you're able to join with us as we seek to worship God and our call to worship we begin by singing from Psalm, well not singing I wish we could sing but reading from Psalm 71 in sing psalms, Psalm 71 and sing psalms and we read verses 14 to just these two or three verses Psalm 71 at verse 14 but as for me my hope is steadfast and more and more your name I'll bless I'll show your measureless salvation and it all day long your righteousness I will proclaim your acts O Lord God your righteousness yes yours alone for since my youth O God you've taught me and still your wonders I make known and now my God who do not forsake me when old and gray I have become till I declare your might and power to generations yet to come let's now bow in prayer O Lord our gracious God as we worship you again today we give thanks for your goodness and mercy towards us which you have promised you people will follow them all the days of their life and after that that you will we will dwell in your house forever and we confess Lord that that is the great beat of our heart knowing that this is the prospect that is set out before us and so we pray that we might run the race that is set before us looking to
[1:45] Jesus who is the author and the finisher of our faith and that you will enrich our lives and that you will bless us and that you will enable us to see you and to believe in you and to trust in you and to hope in you Lord we give thanks for your great salvation we give thanks O Lord for all that you have done in us and for us and we pray Lord that you will bless us with health and with strength and body mind and soul and that you will equip us for all the duties that we have to perform every single day that we might have the ability to rest in you and to trust in you with all our heart we have to confess Lord that we are so prone to trust in ourselves and to rely upon our own wisdom and knowledge but to help us to remember that our own wisdom and knowledge they can lead us down the wrong path so we pray that we might follow what your word says to trust in the Lord with all our heart and to lean not to our own understanding and in all our ways to acknowledge you and that you will direct our paths and so we ask O Lord that that is what you will do in us and for us every single day and every single night and that you will lead us in the right way as we pray in the Lord's Prayer lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil because we're so prone to temptation and we're so prone to evil and there is within us a heart that is full of wickedness and there is a tendency within us to side with that which is wrong how little we understand of the folly and the deceit and the iniquity and all that is wrong that lies lurking within our heart as it says in the word that sin lurks at the door of our heart and how true that is and so we ask Lord that you will help us in a world that is against you and when we have hearts that are by nature against you and a ferocious enemy that prowls about that is against you it is nothing short of a miracle that we are able to eventually get through this world to be with yourself and we recognise it is by your grace alone and so we give thanks for that amazing grace and we pray Lord that today as we reflect upon your word that we may appreciate more and more what you have done for us and help us Lord to be committed to you help us Lord to have a zeal in our heart to do that which is right to follow righteousness and as you say in the word that we will be led in the paths of righteousness
[4:35] Lord we pray that that might be true for every single one of us bless our homes and our families we commit them all to your care and keeping ask Lord that we might know your presence and peace and power and we pray that you will bless us nationally and internationally and as we see the numbers rising of the cases with the COVID-19 and as there is the threatening possibly even of further lockdowns Lord we ask that you will be gracious to us and merciful to us you have been so gracious to us in the islands here and ask Lord that you will continue to do so that you will protect us because we have no defence in and of ourselves our reliance is upon you and it is upon you alone and so we pray that it might please you to preserve us throughout the duration of this awful virus we pray Lord that a vaccine will soon be found that will prove safe and effective we pray Lord for our care homes and for our hospitals and for our doctors and nurses and consultants and paramedics we pray Lord for all who are involved in the care and the well-being of others we remember our emergency services as well and the fire and the police and as we said the ambulance service, coast guard, lifeboat we give thanks Lord for all that they do and often risking their own lives for our safety and for our well-being
[6:10] Lord our God we give thanks for our carers both in the care homes and within the community we are indebted to them for their love and for their devotion Lord our God we ask that you will bless our leaders with wisdom from above O Lord we need you we need your direction we need your protection we need your safety O Lord we pray that as a nation we might hear your voice in providence and Lord we realise that maybe you are speaking to us more and more because you spoke to us initially in this lockdown maybe we didn't listen to you as a nation maybe we have to sink Lord we pray that it won't be so but we don't know but help us Lord to look to you and have mercy upon us we pray bless those who mourn and those who are sad and sore in our congregation this week we have experienced death and the sorrow that follows it and so we pray for broken hearts those Lord that are nursing broken hearts and we commit them to your care and keeping and bring them akin as family
[7:20] Lord watch over us do us good cleanse us we pray from our every sin in Jesus name we ask it Amen I'm just going to say a wee word to the young folk here if any of you are tuning in when I was a young boy I used to collect stamps loads of young people collected stamps I don't know if people still do that now we used to get stamp albums and we would collect stamps from other countries and particularly stamps from here in the UK and of course the pages there was pages like a page for Germany and a page for Australia and for New Zealand but the page there'd be pages for the UK because obviously we had most stamps that we could get from here different stamps and probably I don't know if you still do there's so many other things that people can do nowadays but back when I was a boy growing up we didn't have telly didn't have internet didn't have any of these things so it was a different world so collecting stamps was one thing that some people did and I always hoped that one day
[8:35] I would get this stamp called a Penny Black it was a wee black stamp with the head of Queen Victoria on it stamps today they're just a normal first class stamp there it's got Queen Elizabeth's head on it but that one had Queen Victoria's head and it was the first sticky stamp that was used and that was back in 1840 a long time ago and the Penny Black was the old stamp that everybody wanted to get and I don't know anybody who had a Penny Black the next stamp that was made after the Penny Black was the Penny Red and I think there were loads of Penny Reds made because I had a Penny Red I'm sure I had two or three Penny Reds and of course I was really chuffed when I got a Penny Red because it was I don't know was it 1841 or 1842 or 17 it wasn't terribly long after the Penny Black but the Penny Black was the stamp because it was worth and today it's not as worth as much maybe today I don't know with the likes of eBay and all that people can sell them but it's still worth it's still worth a wee bit
[9:44] Penny Red isn't really worth much at all because they're quite common to get but the Penny Black was the stamp now today a stamp I think it was in March the price last went up a first class stamp is 76p for the normal size you've got bigger ones and the second class stamp I think it's up to 65p so if you're going to send a letter you have to put a stamp on it a first or a second class stamp but if I said to myself right I'll tell you what I'm going to do I've got a Penny Black and I want to make sure that this letter goes really fast and I want to put the Penny Black on because it's worth far more than one or two or three or four or five stamps and I'm sure the postman will be really pleased when they see a Penny Black but you know if I stuck the Penny Black on my letter it wouldn't it wouldn't work and the letter if it was sent at all it might be returned but if it was sent the person who received it would have to pay the cost they would have to pay the 76p or the 65p for the cost of the letter because the Penny Black although it's worth more it's not any longer used for several who can only use what is given to us and we've got to remember that that even although it is worth more and that it was once a stamp that was used it is no longer able to do what it once did and you know there's a lesson there for us as boys and girls and as men and women as well because sometimes we think it would be wonderful to be rich and famous and powerful because then we could kind of do anything that we wanted that we would be so rich and so powerful and so famous that the world would open up to us and we could do whatever we wanted but you know it doesn't work like that because you know that God can use you and God does use you and use me to do things that the most powerful and the most famous and the richest people in this world that they cannot do
[12:12] I think it's is it Jeff Bezos the head of Amazon see the richest man in the world that used to be Bill Gates well you can do things that they can't do God uses you to do things that they can't do the most powerful woman in this world is reckoned to be Angela Merkel the German Chancellor you can do things that she can't do you can do things that the Queen can't do that Boris Johnson can't do that Donald Trump can't do because you can reach people that they can't you can do things for people that they can't despite all the power and all the fame and all the money that they might have that doesn't mean that they can reach everybody and do everything God uses you and me where we are and your prayer should be and my prayer as well is this first and foremost ask Lord
[13:14] Lord Jesus please be king in my heart rule in my heart and the second thing is ask Jesus every single day Lord help me to do something good for you every day open a door for me so that I might be able to help people that I may be able to tell people about you and you know that's the greatest thing because at the end of the day to be serving King Jesus is the most wonderful thing that you can do in this world and God has things that only you can do you remember it you're special in God's sight let's now say the Lord's Prayer our Father which art in heaven hallowed be your name kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever
[14:22] Amen we're going to read God's Word now from the Acts of the Apostles Acts chapter 20 Acts of the Apostles chapter 20 and we're going to read from verse 17 to the end of the chapter now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him and when they came to him he said to them you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plot of the Jews how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord
[15:23] Jesus Christ and now behold I am going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit not knowing what will happen to me there except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me but I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God and now behold I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseer to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood
[16:31] I know that after my departure few wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock and from among your own cells will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them therefore be alert remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears and now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified I coveted in no one's silver or gold or apparel you yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me in all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive and when he had said these things he knelt down and prayed with them all and there was much weeping on the part of all they embraced Paul and kissed him being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken that they would not see his face again and they accompanied him to the ship
[17:57] Amen and may God bless to us this reading of his own holy word and I want to to think to think of really Paul's words to the church here in Ephesus and he says to them from verse 18 and when they came to him he said to them you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day I set foot in Asia serving the Lord with all humility with tears with trials and so on and then he says that he went from house to house proclaiming and teaching the word testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord Jesus and then he says in verse 22 and now behold I am going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit not knowing what will happen to me there except that the Holy Spirit testified to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions weighed me but I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself if only I may finish my kosher and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God and now behold
[19:18] I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again I want us just to think a wee bit about about these words Life as we know is full of meetings and partings that's part of what happens in life we know that life doesn't stand still and the older we get the more often we wish that we could put the brakes on just to slow things down a little but we can't and it is true that as we reach probably the latter stages of life we find that time is galloping and life is as we said it is full of meetings and partings and that's sometimes what makes life difficult particularly the partings because many partings are painful the Bible is full of instances of as it were partings of final partings we have for instance
[20:22] Jacob and Moses and Joshua and David and Elijah although his parting was different of Jesus and here we have of the Apostle Paul as he is leaving the church in Ephesus Paul of course is having time to go back into Ephesus for he's in Miletus and the boat are there the boat is there it is loading up and it's more or less ready to go so he didn't have time to go back to Ephesus but rather the elders came to see him and it wasn't an easy time for either the elders or for Paul because a real bond of love had been forged in his time there in Ephesus and so this parting was a difficult time particularly when he said to them that they would never see his face again in other words this parting that Paul was making from the church in Ephesus he knew himself was going to be a final parting and that's what made it difficult final partings are always difficult when we part from one another normally we hope and expect to see one another again sometimes we don't well that was going to be true on this occasion but Paul knew he knew the Lord was making clear to him what was lying ahead and Paul of course he told them that he had been totally committed to the cause all the time so in verse 37 he said tells us
[21:56] I've been sorrowful most of all because he said he would not see their face again there was much weeping on the part of all and you and I know that the bonds in the gospel are deep and strong there are very strong bonds between a pastor and his people there's a strong bond between the minister and the elders and the deacons it's something that happened and within all the membership and within the adherent there is a bond within the flock and it's one of the things when a person becomes a Christian there is that was part of what was being talked about on Wednesday night this connecting this connecting and we do we connect with one another in a new way we become family there's a wonderful togetherness and the Lord Jesus is very very strong the Bible is strong the teachings particularly the apostolic teachings are so strong on the unity and the togetherness of the fellowship of God's people because a divided fellowship a divided church is not a church that is growing it is not a church that is going in the right direction a divided church is a poor witness in the community in the world and that's why
[23:22] Satan has spent so much energy in all trying to break up break up the church wherever he can in little groups wherever the church is Satan will be operating trying to break up the fellowship because he knows that the unity of the gospel the unity of the church is a powerful witness Jesus himself said that by demonstrating our love one for another people will know that we are his disciples it's a great mark it's a great evidence this love that we have for one another and so it was very clear that the church in Ephesus had that bond with the apostle Paul now Paul speaks to the church and he does three things and three things really that that we should should do as well well two of them at least first of all Paul reviews the past he reviews his ministry among them he's taking he has taken stock of what he was doing but it's also imperative for every single one of us to take stock of what we are doing not just in the ministry it's imperative that I in the ministry take stock of what I have what I have done but it's also imperative for every single
[24:42] Christian to take stock of what we have done because when we are saved we are saved to serve the Lord expects us to be in service to him wherever we are and so it's so often in scripture we're told to be examining ourselves examine yourselves whether you be in the faith it's a vital ingredient that we take stock and look at how we are and what we have done and so Paul says in verse 18 you know how I lived among you from the first day I set foot in Asia that was one of the wonderful things about the apostle Paul the moment he set foot the moment he came to Ephesus bang straight away proclaiming the word of God see Paul didn't come in and then sort of say I better feel my way about I better try and work out what sort of people I have here I better be careful that I don't rock the boat straight away
[25:42] I need to I need to feel my way into this community before I before I start no straight away Paul Paul started right away because there were two things about the apostle Paul first of all he was passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ secondly he knew time was short he knew that there is an urgency about the gospel of Jesus Christ that is through today as well there is a real urgency about the gospel and every time we come under the word which we're doing right now God is speaking to us through that word and an opportunity has been given to us to close in with Jesus Christ as Saviour this is a golden opportunity for anybody who is listening today who has not already closed in with Christ because he is although our situation is different and church is now coming into the home we have to embrace where we're at we might not like it and we all want
[26:43] I'm desperate for that we get back to church but this is right now where we are and we have to embrace this particular situation and realise this is where the Lord has us and he has given us he has been a step ahead with this technology where we're able to reach into people's homes what a wonderful opportunity we have and so what a wonderful opportunity as we come under the word and where the Lord is speaking to us remember there's an urgency in the gospel because it is in this life only we have time to make ourselves right with God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ this is now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation so Paul knew the urgency and so there was that's why there was a kind of a fire in his belly but Paul also faces up to the present and that's what we're going to look at in a moment but he also looks to the future and in verses 29 and 30 he says
[27:45] I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you because Paul knew that there were false teachers going around and he also knew that there were people who even within Ephesus itself who would rise up and for their own interest they would try and get followers and disciples after them and you know it's one of the it is one area where there should where there should never be any eagles there should there should never be any power lust for power in the church of Jesus Christ that's obnoxious in the sight of God there should never be struggles God has set a beautiful structure within the church government but even within that there should never be this vying for power and place and egos and things like that wanting one's own way and wanting everything should be done gracefully everything should be done peaceably everything should be done focused upon the Lord directed by the
[28:54] Lord for the glory of God so Paul warns the church it's going to come there are people who are going to rise up and they're going to cause they're going to be like someone tearing apart but Paul what he is doing also and that's what I want to focus on he's dealing with the present looking at how things are at the moment and I want us in the wee while just now to to try and apply these things to ourselves and so Paul tells us here that he's going he's leaving Ephesus and he's going because he's constrained by the spirit and it's here we see the constraining influence of the spirit of God God's the constraining influence of grace and thank the Lord for that constraining influence of grace if you're following the Lord Jesus Christ tonight it is because of the constraining influence of his grace we are
[29:56] Christians because of his grace everything we have done for him it is because of his grace little wonder it's called amazing grace grace and you know there's a doggedness about grace that just won't give up that's what I love about grace because when you look at your life when I look at my life and when I see the incredible capacity for for going wrong when I see all that's within me that is there for self-destruct when we are aware of the enemies that are about within and without seeking to derail you and to ruin your confession and profession to make shipwreck of your faith you know it's nothing short of a miracle that we're still going on in the paths of righteousness even though sometimes we might be limping sometimes we might be going slowly sometimes we might be following the
[30:56] Lord afar off like Peter sometimes we might be going a little bit astray but we're still going on in the paths of righteousness because of the constraining grace of God and let us thank the Lord for that grace so in any work that we do for the Lord it is because of his grace and you know side by side with that we often have an incredible sense of unworthiness and failure in whatever we do all ministers will confess to the battle that they often have in proclaiming the word of God because you know sometimes as you climb these pulpit steps and even as we do here just now as we come to handle God's word and proclaim the truth there comes often this fearful sense of our own uncleanness our own unworthiness of our own failure and you sometimes think how can I do this but that's it that's what you know the funny thing is in most areas of life we can not in every area but in many areas of life or many occupations in life you can reach a stage where you say to yourself you know
[32:20] I'm kind of on top of my job I've got a hold of it I now know what I'm doing I now know exactly what's expected of me I know that at the end of the day I've done a good job and we can often do that in our secular work and go away from our day's work and say well that was a good day's work I've given my all I feel I'm on top of things of course that's not always the case but you know in the Christian faith in the Christian work and in Christian service which every Christian is involved in we never feel oh you know I did a really good job there because even when we might have a sense of amazement at how God has opened a door and enabled us to speak or enabled us to do something or enabled us in whatever way and while there's a sense of thankfulness and sometimes a sense of amazement a sense of wonder that God has used us there's also this sense of the unworthiness and you know the more we grow the more we develop in the
[33:25] Christian faith the more unworthy we feel the fact that a person might become holier and holier doesn't all of a sudden make them feel better and better and say you know this I'm a pretty good Christian now I'm a lot better than all the look at me no it's a very reversion we've got the Isaiah oh woe it's me for I am undone I'm a man of unclean lips like the publican over in the corners Lord mercy upon me a sinner that's the way it is that's the way that grace works in our heart who is sufficient for these things it's like Moses remember when Moses was called by God to go and to lead Israel out of Egypt Moses was kind of debating with the Lord and he was more or less saying to the Lord anybody else but me Lord you mean me it's a very different Moses to 40 years earlier you see
[34:27] God had humbled Moses and this is a different Moses that has arisen in the desert that's what God does to us because if he sees us a bit a bit if he sees a wee bit of an eagle he's going to take us down because people with eagles have no there's no room there's no room for God and an eagle working together it's God or an eagle so that's what happened with Moses Moses was being broken that's why he became he was termed the meekest of men even though he was incredibly strong and incredibly robust a man made of leather and yet he was so meek but you see our duty to the Lord is such that we must give it all for him now it's also interesting that we see that from a human level it would be a lot easier for Paul to have stayed at Ephesus because the spirit had revealed to him what lay ahead for him and it's here that we face this kind of a dilemma sometimes now don't get me wrong of course we should ask advice from mature
[35:41] Christians it's always a good thing to speak to other people and to share but you know ultimately our direction must always be from the Lord because we need to know exactly if we're going to go somewhere or embark on something that this is God's doing that this is God's leading because inevitably wherever we go and whatever we do we will meet trials and difficulties and unless we're absolutely persuaded that in the first place it was God who led us into this situation then everything is going to crumble remember last week we're looking at Paul going into Philippi and he ended up in prison and been beaten up and all the rest of it but he was persuaded I am where God wants me to be despite the trial despite the difficulty and we know that the end result was a wonderful result so it's imperative that we know exactly where
[36:46] God is taking us and what we see that the apostle tells us three or four things and these three or four things should apply to ourselves as well very very briefly Paul looks at himself like an accountant see in verse 24 but I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself it's like as if Paul was an accountant and he spread out all the sheets before him and there all the assets and the liabilities and he's examining everything and he has decided that he is going to put Christ first ahead of everything else that is how it is going to be in life and you know that's how it has to be for ourselves as well you know Paul had a one track mind Paul was the most focused person and you know you often look at the life of the apostle Paul and you say oh Paul you were something else and he was but he was a very human man just like as human as you and me but
[37:55] Paul had long since he had decided there was only one thing that mattered this one thing I do forgetting the things that are behind I press toward the mark the prize of the calling of God in Christ Jesus that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering Paul had this one track mind for me to live is Christ to die is gain Christ was everything for him and you know we also should have this determination and this desire to live for Christ and I'm sure that as Christians at our days that that is exactly how you do live and that is how you want to live but I'm sure we have to confess that there are days that that is not of motive there are days we have the passion and the zeal and we want to be as
[38:55] Christ like as possible and we want to serve him with all our hearts but there are other days when that zeal isn't there when that focus isn't there when we're drawn spiritual laziness has taken over well it's almost inconceivable to think of a spiritual laziness in the apostle Paul here he is with the mind of the accountant having examined everything Christ first and we pray that that will also be true for ourselves too and then Paul secondly sees himself as a steward somebody who has been given responsibility of looking after what belongs to somebody else that's really what a steward is that you have the responsibility of looking after what belongs to somebody else he says the ministry I receive from the Lord Jesus now a steward is kind of in a strange situation because at one level he has little or nothing and yet he has all things and that's how it was with
[40:05] Paul because the gospel has been entrusted to the apostle and Paul is this gospel he has to be faithful to it and he has to use this gospel and to share this gospel and to proclaim this gospel every opportunity he gets and you know the same is true of you and me you know when we become Christians God has entrusted this gospel into our life to live for him and to share this gospel and to keep this gospel pure in other words don't add to it don't just detract from it be faithful to this word in your sharing of it and in your living of it and that's kind of what takes us to the next thing because Paul saw himself as a witness because that's what he says to testify to the gospel of the grace of
[41:07] God now there's not so much preaching because he talks about that how he's been proclaiming the word this is more the living for Jesus remember that you and I are ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ that's quite an extraordinary thing an ambassador represents the country that they've come from they're in another country and they represent that country and when you would look at an ambassador from supposing an ambassador from another country you will form an opinion of what that country is like by looking at the life of the ambassador and that's what people are doing as they look at your life and my life they are making an assessment of Jesus Christ because you and I are ambassadors for Jesus Christ once we become Christians and known as Christians people aren't so much looking at you as looking at
[42:11] Jesus because for many people you are the world's Bible for many people who will never open the Bible they don't know anything about Jesus Christ all they will know of Jesus Christ is what they see in you and the great prayer is that what they see in you will make them think and make them desire that they might come to know the Jesus whose life is evident in you because the living of our Christian life either attracts people or repels people and so that's what Paul is saying he's living as a witness to the Lord Jesus Christ it's a solemn responsibility but it's upon us all and then finally Paul sees himself like as an athlete if only I may finish my course see Paul knew that a particular course had been set out for him and on that course he was there to glorify God and although it might not have been a course that was comfortable or easy it was anything but at the very beginning the
[43:20] Lord told him that he was going to suffer many things for his sake and Paul did you can read sometimes of Paul's witness and testimony and he of Jesus Christ but that was a course that God had set for him and God has set a course for each one of us it's like what it says in Hebrews let us run the race that is set before us looking into Jesus who is the author and finisher and perfecter of our faith it's a key to life having Jesus as the focus of it and running the race that is set before us Paul in the not too distant future would write again about this very course and as he writes in 2nd Timothy he's waiting the executioner sword he knows that the time has come he has won the race and remember what he says and it's quite beautiful the time of my departure is at hand
[44:26] I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith what about you and what about me because when it comes to the end of the day for you and me as a inevitable will we be able to say like the apostle you know I have finished the course I have fought a good fight and the time is now ready Paul had done everything and he was ready to meet his maker you know it would be an awful thing if when that time comes to realise we have only lived to ourselves that God has not been in the picture at all that we have ignored him that we have forgotten about him that we lived only to ourselves but
[45:26] Jesus tells us if we live only to ourselves that's the way to lose our life the way to gain life is to lose ourselves for him that is the only way and I would urge anybody today who might be listening in if you're just living for yourself in this world remember our time is short then you have nothing because you have to everything this world has offered you or given you it takes away but you see the beauty of having Jesus Christ as saviour is that he gives you what death cannot take away it's precious it's powerful it's forever the life that begins the moment you come to faith in Jesus Christ is eternal life it's forever living in the presence of the Lord you leave your body behind one day the body will rise again to be reunited with the soul and the resurrection let us pray
[46:29] Lord we give thanks for reflecting for a little on your word and we pray that that word will go deep into our heart and challenge us take away our sin in Jesus name Amen we're going to conclude by singing to God's praise singing yes well singing from psalm it's a recorded singing obviously not able to sing but you can sing in your own home if you're able to which is great we're going to sing from psalm number 90 psalm 90 in the Scottish Psalter and verse 14 O thy tender message Lord as early satisfy so we rejoice shall all our days and still be glad in thee according as the days have been wherein we grief have had and years wherein we all have seen so do thou make us glad 14 to 17 O with thy tender mercy is Lord as the heart is satisfied as the heart is satisfied so we rejoice shall all our our days and still be glad in thee and still be glad in thee and still be glad in thee and still be glad in thee according as the days have been
[48:39] Who thou make us glad O let thy work and power appear Thy servants face before Thy servants face before And show unto their children dear Thy glory evermore And let the beauty of the Lord Our God be us upon Our God be us upon
[49:45] Our handy works establish love Establish them each one Establish them each one Establish them each one Establish them each one Now may the grace and mercy and peace of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit And abide upon each one of you now and forevermore Amen Thank you very much for joining with us This evening as we seek and absorb the blessing of God upon us And we've engaged in worship with them God bless you all How did they offer and glory Thank you very much We are going to see др.
[50:44] Let's hear in the reading Does he want to bring me That you would not understand Thank you very much and I'll see you at this point and we'll see you in presentations on the other food and here's the dining table you have a sturdy circle and here's fire and here are your intuition Which means that this word Mm-hm Which means