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[0:01] We're going to begin our worship this evening singing to God's praise in Psalm 95.! This is in Sing Psalms, page 126 in the Blue Psalm book.

[0:23] Sing the first three stanzas. So come, let us joyfully sing to the Lord, to the rock of salvation. Let us raise our voice. Let us come before him expressing our thanks. Let us with loud singing praise him and rejoice.

[0:38] I will sing to verse 7 to God's praise. Come, let us joyfully sing to the Lord. O come, let us joyfully sing to the Lord, to the rock of salvation.

[1:05] Let us raise our voice. Let us come before him expressing our thanks.

[1:19] Let us with loud singing praise him and rejoice. The Lord is the great God, King over all gods.

[1:39] The earth's deepest places he holds in his hand. The heights of the mountains belong to the Lord.

[1:59] The oceans are his hand, he formed the dry land. Come, let us bow humbly and worship the Lord.

[2:19] Let us kneel before him, our maker in prayer. For we are his people, and he is our God.

[2:38] He shepherds and feeds us in his loving care.

[2:48] Well, let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, how good it is that we can come tonight to worship you and to come acknowledging your greatness and goodness, your love and your faithfulness, your firm covenant towards us.

[3:22] It is good for us, Lord, to remember why it is that we are here this evening. As we gather on the first day of the week, we rejoice in the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

[3:36] We thank you that he is risen tonight, has been conquered death. We thank you that the reason for that is because of the manner of his death, that death of the cross at Golgotha, which was so satisfying to you.

[3:55] Satisfying not because you take a perverse delight in the suffering of your son, but because your love required that justice be met for the salvation of your people, because your grace had to be displayed.

[4:15] And so because of that great display of the love of God, of the God the Son laying down his life for his people, we tonight can have hope and assurance, a certainty of a future, a confidence that lies beyond the reality of death, and even the failure of this world itself.

[4:47] There is great hope that God will redeem, and that God will do good things. And so we seek tonight to praise you for who you are and for what you have done, for what has been secured by Jesus in our place, and for the hope that we have that one day we will see him with our own eyes.

[5:11] We come tonight longing for that meeting, therefore, with you. We long for that presence of God with us here that would challenge us from what is so often a spiritual lethargy and slumber, that you would awaken us from the stupor that so often entices us to relax about our spiritual walk.

[5:37] Give to us, Lord, a seriousness about our relationship with you, that we would long to put to death the sin that is in us, and live all the more for your righteous standards and sake.

[5:57] We pray, therefore, tonight that you would hear us as we confess our sin before you. Each one of us sin daily in our thoughts and words and actions, and yet we have an advocate with you, a high priest in Christ Jesus, who has done all that is necessary to take away the guilt and stain of our sin and to give us an assurance of forgiveness and life.

[6:23] And may we, therefore, as men and women and boys and girls who enjoy the freedom of the gospel, may we, therefore, be filled with good cheer and encouraged to come to you in the right way.

[6:38] We pray, therefore, to know the Holy Spirit's touch upon our lives. May he tonight open hearts here. May he encourage those of us who are struggling.

[6:51] May he grant peace to those who are in turmoil. And may, Lord, in your own profound way, would you upset those who are far too comfortable and at ease with where they are.

[7:07] Lead us to yourself. As we were thinking today, that rock that is higher than us, the mountain of the Lord. May we know that place of security and peace for your people.

[7:19] And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to continue singing to God's praise, this time in Psalm 51. Again in Sing Psalms, page 67.

[7:40] We're going to sing verses 1 to 12, so five stanzas to God's praise. O my God, have mercy on me. In your steadfast love I pray.

[7:50] In your infinite compassion my transgressions wipe away. Cleanse me from iniquity. Wash my sin away from me. These words penned by King David speak of his own acknowledgement of sin.

[8:09] And as we were praying, it's right for us to come before God in that way with that humble confession of sin and need that we have, each one of us, for cleansing. And so let us sing these verses to God's praise with that spirit of reflection.

[8:23] O my God, have mercy on me in your steadfast love I pray. O my God, have mercy on me.

[8:40] In your steadfast love I pray. In your infinite compassion my transgressions wipe away.

[8:59] Cleanse me from iniquity. Wash my sin away from me.

[9:14] For I know my own transgressions. I can see my sinful plight.

[9:29] You, you only I've offended And an evil in your sight.

[9:42] So your words are verified And your verdict justified From my birth I have been sinful Such the nature I received Sinful from my first beginning In my mother's womb conceived Truth you look forth In my heart Wisdom to me you impart Cleanse with his soul

[10:44] So purify me I'll be whiter than the snow Let the bones you crushed be joyful May I joy and gladness know From my failure I do this Blot out all my wickedness Lord create a pure heart in me And a steadfast mind renew Do not take your spirit from me Cast me not away from you

[11:49] Give me back the joy I had Keep my willing spirit glad Please turn with me in your Bibles To Paul's second letter to Timothy Chapter 2 So 2 Timothy chapter 2 If you read in the church Bible I think it'll be around about page 1197 You then my child be strengthened By the grace that is in Christ Jesus And what you have heard from me

[12:52] In the presence of many witnesses And trust to faithful men Who will be able to teach others also Share in suffering as a good soldier Of Christ Jesus No soldier gets entangled In civilian pursuits Since his aim is to please The one who enlisted him An athlete is not crowned Unless he competes According to the rules It is the hard-working farmer Who ought to have the first share Of the crops Think over what I say For the Lord will give you Understanding in everything Remember Jesus Christ Risen from the dead The offspring of David As preached in my gospel For which I am suffering Bound with chains as a criminal But the word of God is not bound And therefore I endure Everything for the sake of the elect That they may obtain the salvation That is in Christ Jesus With eternal glory

[13:52] The saying is trustworthy For if we have died with him We will also live with him If we endure We will also reign with him If we deny him He also will deny us If we are faithless He remains faithful For he cannot deny himself Amen This is God's word to us Let's bow our heads Once again In prayer to God Heavenly Father It is out of that Sense of Your unfailing love As Paul wrote to Timothy That you are One who remains Faithful Your son is faithful to us In his love for his people It is out of that sense Of your great faithfulness That we would come to you This night Because Lord You know Our great need You know The great desire That we have

[14:53] For answers Lord To the many Many things That burden our hearts We come tonight Lord Each one of us With our own Concerns We come Lord Perhaps some With concerns So private So personal And buried Deep within That we haven't Shared them with a soul And yet Lord You know You see You see So often Lord The tears Of your people And the concerns That they have And that they carry forward So Father Tonight We would lay All of these things Before you And we would long Oh Lord To hear your answer We would long To see a movement Of your hand And power Bringing Lord Answers To these prayers Perhaps so often Lord Most concerning For loved ones Whom we know Who do not know you For those around us In our families In our In our homes Those In our Places of work Friends And neighbours And colleagues Who simply

[15:54] Do not know Jesus As Lord And as Saviour Who haven't yet Discovered The mercy of God We cry to you Father tonight For An intervention In the lives Of those around us In our community Who do not know you We cry to you Father That you would Remember Your grace Towards The lost People Of this world The lost People Of this town The lost In our community We ask and pray Father That you would Help us Therefore To Remember All of the things That Paul Instructs Timothy In To remember All of the good news That has been passed on to us To understand And be able to live And tell the gospel Ourselves To be able to shine As lights In the world And so we pray Father For your help In the great mission Of the church In the great mission Of God himself

[16:54] A mission that we are Privileged to share in May we be given Tonight Refreshing And boldness Confidence In the gospel To know That it is Indeed The power Of God To the salvation Of men And women As we come Before you This night Lord We know That the burdens That trouble us Are often As well Related to The reality Of grief And sorrow That the world In which we live Is one where we see Constant reminders Of that And in this Last week We know Lord That as a congregation We have Seen the passing Of folk Associated with us We remember Anne MacDonald's Family tonight We pray for them And for Catherine Anne Mitchell's Family as well And we ask Father That out of Your great grace You would reach Into the lostness The darkness And the sorrow Of grief And that you Would minister Your own compassion And care And love there We thank you Once again Father For the bonds

[17:55] Of love That unite us Together And that in These times Of suffering And loss Your love Towards us Is expressed Through the compassion And the tenderness Of those whom You have placed Around us We thank you For the arms Of fellowship In the church We thank you For the Encouragements That these things Can be And we ask That you would Continue to bless Us And grow And strengthen The love And the fellowship Of this congregation We pray therefore Father For the ministry Of the word Amongst us We remember Calamurdo Especially And we pray For your blessing On him And on his family We pray For the elders Of the church For those who serve In so many different ways In the life Of the congregation And we ask Father That in every way That your blessing Would be upon us Guard hearts It's easy for us Lord To become bogged down In the detail Of organization It's easy for us To be distracted With the burdens Of many things

[18:56] That need to be done And yet In all of this We pray That you would Constantly refocus Our attention And our desires Upon Jesus We want to see him We want to see his name Lifted high Over this town We want to see Your blessing flow Through the witness Of the saints In this congregation And so we ask Father That you would Refresh us Continually In the living waters That are found In Christ himself We thank you Tonight Father For the Not only for the Fellowship of the church That we have Internally in the congregation But externally as well With many other Like-minded believers Around about us Both here locally And nationally And internationally We thank you That tonight We can truly say There is but one Holy Catholic church We thank you That the body of Christ Is not limited By race Or nation It's not limited Even by the things

[19:57] That so often divide us Within the church The creeds And the confessions That are so important And have their place And yet the gospel Which unites us Is so broader So tonight We pray for our nation And for all nations Under heaven That whatever the gospel Has been preached This day Wherever the saints Have gathered To encourage And to pray And to listen To your voice May your spirit Father In that vastness Of his great And immeasurable power May your spirit Visit each one Of these places And bring forth Life and hope In what are so often Dark and difficult places We remember Lord The changes Of the seasons We remember Lord That that's true Not just of the Physical seasons As the nights Draw in And as the days Shorten But we remember it Lord In the political Realities of our World as well That you are the one Who raises up rulers And brings others down And so we cry to you

[20:59] Father In this year In which there have been And continue to be So many changes Happening in the world We pray for wisdom For those who will Elect leaders We pray for wisdom And grace For those who are elected And above all We pray for your glory To be revealed In all of these things Send forth We pray Triumph and glory For your cause In this world Spare the hand Of judgment That would fall upon us Because of our sin And give to us Grace and renewal And hope In terrible And dark times We pray therefore For peace tonight We thank Lord Of all of the places In the world That we know And in recent years I've been praying for For peace to come And for the places That we forget as well There are so many places Lord this night Of conflict And grief And sorrow Where your people Are displaced And fearful May your grace Lord extend To bring peace In all of these places We thank you That Christ himself

[21:59] Is the prince of peace And we long For a day When his reign Will extend To the ends Of the earth And where with that Cry of command All wars will cease And all bows Will be broken And chariots burned And where the swords Will be beaten Into plowshards Lord bring forth peace We pray On this day of remembrance We long for that We remember Lord This night That there are many people Who are engaged In difficult And trying works We think Lord Of all of the people Who we so often rely on Perhaps to keep us safe We don't even imagine What challenges They face We think of the Security services We think of the Armed forces Serving throughout the world Seeking to bring Our peace Home to us Lord bless them Bless those who go Into harm's way For the sake of the good And the blessing of others

[23:00] And may your spirit Rest upon them We ask and pray Especially for the work Of those who Minister the gospel Amongst these communities We pray for those Who are serving In the police And are seeking To be a Christian witness There through the Christian police federation We pray for those Who work and minister In evangelism In the armed forces And organizations Like SASRA We ask and pray Your blessing On these men and women And pray that you would Help them to be Lights for Christ Jesus As well We remember Lord That our peace Has demanded over the years The sacrifices of many And so we pray Father That we would never take These things for granted Encourage us therefore In the truth Help us to stand Boldly for this And in the days that come May we see evidence Of your spirit upon us We ask and pray These things With that great sense Of joy and expectation That belongs To the children Of almighty God And we pray in Jesus name

[24:01] Amen We're going to sing Once more to God's praise This time again From Sing Psalms In Psalm 119 Psalm 119 It's a long meditation On the law of God That has been given To his people And as we sing Just now We're going to sing From verse 105 And this is page 163 Of the blue book It's this idea Of the word of God Being a lamp That lights our path And that's very much What Paul is meaning When he addresses Timothy As well And he says Remember Jesus Christ We need to remember That God has given As we'll see A lamp To shine before us And Jesus is often The one Not only who is The light of the world Ultimately for our salvation But as the one Who speaks into Our lives And who speaks With authority Into our lives He is the light By which we need to live And so we'll sing These words Of praise to God

[25:03] As we turn shortly To God's word Your word is a lamp That shines before my feet It is a light That guides me on my way The oath that I have taken I have confirmed That all your righteous laws I will obey We'll sing this section Of the psalm To God's praise We'll stand to sing Your word's a lamp That shines before my feet It is a light That guides me on my way The oath that I have taken I've confirmed That all your righteous laws I will hold O Lord

[26:05] You know That I have suffered much Preserve my life According to your word Accept the willing Praises of my heart Instruct me in your righteous Oh Lord I will not disregard Your holy law Though constantly My life is in my hands Although the wicked Set and sail for me

[27:06] I have not left the path Of your calm lands Your statutes are My heritage always And every day And every day Make my heart rejoice My heart is set On keeping your desires And to the very end They are my choice Well would you turn with me Please in your Bibles Back to that passage We've read in 2 Timothy 2 Timothy 2 verse 8

[28:07] There's remember in Sunday I'm sure the word remember Has been spoken Far above its usual quota Today But this is the verse That we're looking at this evening Remember Jesus Christ Risen from the dead The offspring of David As preached In my gospel Let's bow our heads briefly In prayer to God Before we turn to the word Heavenly Father As we come aside For a short time this evening Around your word May this continue to be For us part of our worship And may we Inwardly in our hearts Declare the glory of God May we Pour out praise to you As we feast upon the word That you have given As we nourish ourselves On your great gifts Towards us And as we Endeavour to do As Paul instructs Remember Jesus Christ We need Lord To be brought back Continually To that place Of remembrance

[29:07] And so we ask Father for your help In the coming week That we would reflect On this imperative And that we would Take it to heart And grow Therefore In grace We ask this In Jesus name Amen So the letter That we're reading In tonight 2 Timothy It's helpful Maybe just at the beginning To reiterate Refresh ourselves Maybe on some of the Context The occasion Of the letter Paul Is coming to the end Of his life He is at this point Imprisoned In Rome He expects Probably to be Executed In the spring And it's now Getting into The winter Although he knows He's going to be Executed He still asks Timothy To bring some things To him That tells us A little bit In this letter Maybe of Paul's Own state of mind He's longing for Timothy to bring A beloved cloak

[30:08] And he longs for Along with that For parchments To come An old man Feeling the cold And longing to read Probably comforting words That have blessed him In the past And this old man Now writes this letter Encouraging Timothy Timothy's a very We know a fairly Timid character He needs Encouragement Many of us are like that We need Encouragement Along the way And Paul Writes therefore To him He had been Paul's student Timothy had come With Paul On some of his Missionary journeys And had been Encouraged by Paul To continue In his own Ministry Previously Just in passing I would say that To young Christians Tonight It is so important For your growth To find Someone who will Have that kind Of relationship With you Someone who will Mentor you And encourage you

[31:10] And seek to Build you up So find a Paul If you are a Timothy Paul's concern then For Timothy Is very clear He wants him To continue In the work Of the gospel And that's what The letter is all about John Stott In fact writing A very famous Commentary on this Subtitles his commentary Guard the gospel And that's very much The theme of the letter Guard the gospel And so as we think About remembrance Today on Remembrance Sunday It's very much In that theme That Paul says To Timothy Remember the gospel Remember Christ Jesus Sorry As you have heard him In my gospel And so this idea Of the gospel Is something about Jesus Obviously And it's that Remembering of Jesus That Paul has Brought Is bringing to Timothy's mind And reminding him Of everything he's heard In the gospel The good news That Timothy Has already Received And tonight That's where we need To begin Is just wondering About this instruction Remember

[32:10] Christ Jesus Is that like What we've been doing Today Today I'm sure Many of us On Remembrance Sunday We're not just Remembering The armistice Remembrance Sunday Originated after World War II And it was A remembrance Of the horrific Loss of life And sacrifice That had followed In the previous Two world wars And we've seen Wars continue To spread The last century Was by far The bloodiest In human history And I'm sure Many of us know Families who have Lost loved ones In conflict And borne that Grief and sorrow When we remember We remember so often I think To honour Those who have Paid the ultimate Sacrifice for our Freedom We honour Their memory We honour Their sacrifice And in the Aftermath Sometimes as well We remember them To say Never again That too

[33:11] Was part of The remembrance The act of Remembrance Was involved Almost a Solemn vow Being made To say We can never Allow the world To sink into This level Of violence Again And how grievously Perhaps we have Failed in that Aspiration Is that the kind Of remembering That Paul means Does he want Timothy To recall Jesus And to recall Certainly the Sacrifice of Jesus With a view To perhaps Giving thanks To honouring The memory Of Christ And I'm sure That actually Many people Who come to Church That's what You're looking To do And there's An earnestness And a Genuineness About that You are Impressed By the Person Of Jesus There are Things about Him that Are intriguing Things about His life And his death In particular And the Claims of His resurrection That are Interesting

[34:11] Certainly That you would Want to call To mind There are Many people In the world Who would Say Jesus Was a Wonderful Educator And philosopher And someone Who promoted Peace These things Are all True But that's Not what Paul is Saying to Timothy It's not What he's Saying to Us The word Remember Here in Greek Is what You call A present Imperative Which means It's not just Something you Do one Off to Fondly Look back On the Past It is Something that You must Do Continually In a Sense What Paul Is saying Is Timothy I want You to Think about Jesus As you've Understood him From my Gospel And I Want that To be So present In your Life And so Present in Your thinking That your Life itself Is going To be Continually Shaped By What you

[35:11] Know Of Jesus Allow Jesus As you Understand him In the Gospel To shape Everything About you Make it Your world View Make it How you Think about All of Your Relationships Certainly With other People But above All your Relationship With God Make Jesus The one Who you In order To think About everything That's happening In your Life today Remember him So that You understand Your situation Correctly When Paul Says Remember Christ Jesus That's the Kind of Remembering He wants Not a One-off Not something That we Occasionally Come back To But something That is Constant And permanent In the Way we Think And that Takes a Lot of Work That takes I think Perhaps

[36:12] In fact The fruit Of the Holy Spirit That takes The divine Work of God Renewing In your Life Transforming You To enable You To have That Presence Of Jesus In your Mind Continually And Paul Speaks like This elsewhere He talks about Constantly being Renewed in the Gospel Renewing your Mind in these Things And that's What we Should be Aiming for This evening Now he Doesn't just Leave us With that Sort of Blank Understanding Of Or a Blank Understanding There for What that Might involve Paul is Very helpful And very Structured In the Way he Thinks About Jesus And so he Gives us More information If you look At the Verse Remember Jesus Christ Not just Jesus But Jesus Christ Jesus The Messiah Jesus The anointed One That's what The Christ Means Someone who Was anointed And when we Think about The anointed One There's Really

[37:12] Three Things That we Should Always Remember In Jewish Thought In the Old Testament In the Old Testament Scriptures When somebody Was anointed For a Task It denotes A special Separation God is Saying you Are set Apart For this And normally There's one Of three Offices That that Would happen In it There's The office Of a Prophet So someone Who speaks With divine Authority That person Would be Anointed Set apart By anointing For the Work of Prophetic Ministry Speaking God's Word Into The lives Of his People And then There's the Office Of a Priest Priests Were anointed And again The anointing Shows them Being specially Set apart For a Priestly Function An Intermediary Function Where you Stand Between God And man Where you

[38:13] Engage In some Practice Towards God On behalf Of the People Or towards The people On behalf Of God And ultimately There was also That office Of king The king Was anointed David You remember Was anointed By Samuel When he was A young lad Not because He was something Extra special Outwardly He was The kid Of the Family The scrawny One But Samuel Observing This Is rebuked By God And reminded That God Doesn't look On the Outward Things But he Looks On the Heart And God Says that One Is anointed That's the One To set Apart For the Mission Of leading My people Of governing Them And Jesus When he's Receiving The title Christ Is being Set into These Offices We Recognize Them And so Tonight I think It would Be helpful For us

[39:13] To think About what Paul Says Here About these Offices Because he Does Refer to Them And we Think about The person And work Of Jesus In relation To this To see How our Lives Can be Shaped By Remembering Continually Jesus The Christ How do We remember Him then As he's Preached Because that's Where it Begins Paul says Remember Christ Jesus Risen From the Dead The Offspring Of David As Preached In my Gospel The Gospel Paul's Preaching Of the Gospel It's a It's a Declaration Paul Understands The Gospel As a Proclamation Of good News That's what The Gospel Is In fact The Very Word Gospel It's Not Merely That There Is Good News But There's Good News That Needs To Be Proclaimed Heralded Told That's What we Do On Sundays In This Church We Preach The Gospel We Herald The Good News Of Jesus For Men And Women And The Good News That

[40:18] Forgiveness Of Sins Is Possible That The Hope Of Eternal Life Is There The Good News Is That Death Doesn't Potentially Hold Us Doesn't Lay A Grip On Us That Can Be Defeated Because Christ Has Conquered Death And In His Resurrection On The First Day Of The Week Death Was Beaten We Have That Hope That There Is Something Worth Saying!

[40:42] An Authoritative Voice Who People Here Who He Is Wrestling With In This Way Through His Spirit People Who Are Resisting People Who Are Hearing The Call Of Jesus And Invited To Follow Him People Who Are Hearing The Call Of Jesus And Resisting And Saying I Know If I Follow Him The Cost Will Be Great There Are Many Things That I Will Have To Give Up And Change There Are Many Things About My Life That Will Be Complicated

[41:42] If I Become A Follower Of Jesus At This Time What Will My Friends Think What Will My Family Think Will I Have To Stop Shopping At Tesco These Sort Of Things You Know The Cost That Is In Being A Follower Of Jesus Will I Become A Self Righteous Horrible Person If I Become A Follower Of Jesus Not Will I Become It But Will People Think I Will My Friends Despise Me Because I Am A Follower Of Jesus And It's Into That Realm Of Our Thinking That We Are Invited To Remember The Prophetic Authority Of Jesus When We're Called To Be Followers Of Jesus We're Called To Follow Someone Who Speaks To Us With A Clear Voice In

[42:43] John's Gospel Jesus Himself Says I Am The Good Shepherd Of My Sheep Hear My Voice They Know My Voice And They Respond When I Call Each One Of Them By Name Tonight!

[42:56] Tonight If Jesus Is Calling You The Good News Says That You Will Respond The Good News Is That He's There Calling Into The Darkness Of Our Lives And Inviting Us To Faith To Trust In Him He's Inviting Us As Well To Hope To Share In The Hope Of As Paul Says Here Jesus Christ Risen From The Dead The Hope Of His Resurrection The Hope Of Death Not Being The End Of Our Experience Or Not Being The End Certainly Of Our Experience Of Life One Of Most Horrifying Things In The Bible Is Indeed That Idea Of The Second Death An Everlasting Experience Of Death It Sounds Horrific He Invites Us Also To Love To Taste

[43:56] And See The Goodness Of God Himself And Jesus Is The One Who Speaks To Us Of This He Speaks Into Our Lives Of The Love And The Compassion Of Our God And Our Father In Christ Jesus Of His Father Who He Has Infinite Eternal Everlasting Knowledge Of The Love Of A Father To His Son And Jesus Says That Love That I Have Known For All Eternity He Invites Us Into That To Know His Father That Too Is The Good News That's The Gospel That No Matter How Broken Our Lives Might Be No Matter How Miserable Our Lives Might Be No Matter How Awful Our Experience Of Fatherhood In This World Might Have Been The Good News Is That There Is An Infinite Loving Compassionate Father Of Our Upon Them His Love And Jesus The Prophet Speaks Of This And Says Come Come

[44:57] And Experience For Yourself Taste And See The Goodness Of My Father Which Tonight Invites All Of Us Here Therefore To Respond And Worship As We've Been Doing As We've Sung Praise To God And As We've Rejoiced In The Fatherhood Of God And As We've Rejoiced In The Sufficiency Of Our God And As We've Rejoiced In The Fact That He Speaks To Us And Calls Us To Walk In A Certain Way To Be A Lamp To Our Feet All Of That Flows Through The Prophetic Voice Of Jesus And It's Good His Voice Is Good Last Night We Were Over In Shobost At The Fireworks And Coming Back Over And You Could See In The Distance In Barvis The Occasional Bright Flash Of Light There Were Fireworks Down In The Maha Had A Big Bonfire Down There And It Lights The Way To It Says That's Where Your Attention To Your Attention Can Be Focused That's The

[45:57] Route To Where This Is Happening And You See The Fireworks There And Then As We Came Over The Barvis Moon And Coming Down You're Seeing The Same Thing Out Over Melbost And Out Over Barts Of Point Out To Back Someone In The Middle Of The Night Last Night Let One Off In The Middle Of Storn Away It Was Quite Loud About Half Past Ten But These Lights In The Sky They Light Up A Path A Direction Again A Remembrance Of Something And Jesus Comes With That Light Into The Darkness Of Our Lives Flashes Up Something Bright And Glorious That Calls For Our Attention!

[46:35] This Is Important This Is Worth Something And Tonight That Is What We Are Invited To That Constant Way Of Thinking About Jesus As The One Who Speaks The Gospel And The Question For Us Is Are We Like Timothy Have We Heard The Gospel Have We Listened To The Voice Of God Calling To Us As The Gospel Has Been Preached In Our Ears And Have We Heard And Turned And!

[47:08] So He Is A Prophetic Voice But He Is Also A Priestly Savior And This This Verse It Tells Us A Little About That Remember Jesus Christ Now Jesus Being The Name God Saves Remember Jesus Christ Risen From The Dead And That's A Profound Statement If Ever There Was One Because There's Nothing Like It Anywhere In Human History And You Have To Remember This Is The Event By Which The World's Focus On Christianity Stands Or Falls This Is The Statement Which Is The Veracity Of The Gospel Was There An Empty Tomb 2000 Years Ago Did Someone Steal The Body Where Did It Go And You Can Go Away And You Can Spend Time Examining And Questioning And Looking At All Of This But The Inescapable Reality Is There Was A Grave That Had A Body In It And Then There Wasn't Something

[48:09] Changed Jesus Conquered Death Rose To Life And We Need To Ask Why What Happened There Well It Means He Died I Mean That's The Simple Truth Of It We Can Talk About The Resurrection An Off Lot And I Would Love To But We Have To Kind Of Ask The Question Why Does He Rise What's Happening There And The Reason Is His Death Was Not Normal His Death Was Not Normal In The Sense That It Wasn't Able To Hold Him You Know When You Or I Any Other Human Being Ever In The History Of This World Dies We Tend To Stay Dead And The Reason Is That Ultimately Our Deaths Are

[49:09] Justified Our Deaths Are Entirely Reasonable They're Reasonable Not Because Our Bodies Fail Not Merely Because Medical Science Can't Rescue Us From Every Death They're Justifiable Because Every One Of Us Is A Sinner And Every One Of Us Deserves Death Just As God Had Said In Genesis 3 When You Rebel Against God You Deserve To Die I Deserve It You Deserve It Every One Of Us Deserve It But Jesus Didn't Because He Didn't Rebel Against God Because He Was The Perfect Priestly Savior And He Went To The Cross At Golgotha And There He Died A Death

[50:10] That He Did Not Deserve And He Died It In The Place Of Others He Was There As A Substitute He Took Our Place He Took Our Ultimate Guilt Upon Himself Satisfying The Justice Of God And Therefore Death Could Not Hold Him It Was Not Permissible For Death To Hold Him And So The Father Satisfied That His Justice For The Sins Of God's People Had Been Fully Paid For All Encapsulated In These Three Hours Of Darkness At The Cross Where He Had Cried Out My God My God Why Have You Forsaken Me He Experienced That Interruption To Fellowship And Closeness With His Father A Hellish Experience For Him He Experienced That And Said It Is Done It Is Finished And Because Of The

[51:10] Finished Work Of Jesus At The Cross Death Could Not Hold Him It Would Not Have Been Right It Would Not Have Been Fair It Would Not Have Been Just And So He Raised He Was Raised To This Life As Paul Here Says!

[51:26] Christ Jesus Risen From The Dead His Priestly Work As A Savior Was Done It Was Completed And All That Is Necessary Therefore For Our Salvation Was Completed In Him And Paul Says I Want You To Remember Christ Jesus Risen From The Dead Now Why Is He Saying That Is He Saying Because The Resurrection Is Important Well Yes Is He Saying Well Because I Want You To Think And Remember That You Got That Hope As Well That One Day You Will Be Raised From The Dead Yes That Is True But The Reason You Would Do It Continually Is Because We Forget The Importance Of It Often How Many Of You As Christians Have Experienced That Way Of Thinking That Says I Really Failed God Today And You Feel Rotten To Your Core And You Are Thinking To Yourself Somehow Like The Prodigal Son I Will Go To My Father And

[52:26] Somehow Promise His Salvation I Will Re-earn His Favor There Is Surely Something I Must Do In Order To Be Right With God And To Enjoy His Peace We Could Do A Show Of Hands But I Know Most Of You As Christians Would Put Your Hands Up Because Most Of Us Do That We Fool Ourselves Into Thinking The Gospel Says I Have To Do Something To Earn God's Favor And Paul Says Remember Christ Jesus Risen From The Dead Tonight Your Salvation Your Eternal Salvation Does Not Rest On You Earning The Father's Favor The Father's Favor Was Earned At Golgotha The Father's Satisfaction Was Fully

[53:27] Met By Your Elder Brother At The Cross And So Tonight You Say Thank God For Jesus My Savior Thank You For Dying In My Place For Bearing My Guilt And For Entitling Me To The Full Access Of The Throne Room And The Embrace And The Love Of God Himself He Has Done It All It's Good News It's The Gospel It's That Promise Of God's Complete Favor Rooted In The Finished Work Of His Son And Tonight We Dare So Often Don't We To Take Away From The Work Of Jesus To Imagine That

[54:27] Something More Is Needed And To Look Elsewhere Paul Says Remember Jesus Continually Remember Him Every Morning When You Get Up Remember Him Every Moment Of Every Day When You're Tempted To Sin And You Feel Like In Fact The Sin Is Going To Overwhelm You Because It's Too Much Remember Him Because He Has Purchased Your Salvation And He Has Secured Your Hope And You Go With Him Remember Him As A Priestly Savior So A Prophetic Voice A Priestly!

[55:10] Savior But Also Finally Remember Him As A Kingly Lord Paul Says Remember Christ Jesus Not Only Risen From The Dead But Also The Offspring!

[55:26] Of David And That's In Paul's Worldview In Paul's Way Of Thinking That's A Really Important Phrase Because For Paul The Identity Of Jesus Is Bound Up In This Position That He Has As The One Who Receives The Throne Of David So When Paul Thinks Of Jesus As Lord He's Actually Thinking Not Merely That Jesus Lord Because He's God And He's Entitled To Sit On The Throne Of Heaven Because He Is He's God The Son But Because He's Also Entitled To Sit On A Kingly Earthly Throne He Sits On The Throne Of David He's The One Who Will Rule In Your Stead He Goes Back Actually Further To The Promise Of The Seed Given To Abraham And Ultimately The Promise Of The Seed Given To Adam And Eve The Promise In fact Given To Satan That

[56:27] Someone Will Bruise His Head A Valiant Victor Who Triumphs Over Sin Who Defeats The Evil One Who Does All The Things That A King Should Do Who Leads And Governs His People Who Defends Them From The Enemy Who Triumphs Over The Vicious Attacks That Are Designed Against Them He Is The Perfect Figurehead And We Have To Constantly Remember That Because We Are Tempted Not To We're Tempted To Think My Pain Cannot

[57:40] Tempted To Think To Think That Tonight Having Not Come To Faith Yet Maybe Tonight You're Tempted To Think That The Mire That You're Trapped In The Bog Of Sin That You're Stuck In It's Just Too Much That Jesus Can't Get You Out Of That That He Can't Liberate You From These Chains The Man's Too Big The Man's Too Strong And Yet I Assure You Tonight Jesus Is The One Who Is Worthy To Sit On The Throne Of David He's Worthy To Sit In That Covenantal Promised Position Of A Divine Figurehead Over God's People All Powerful All Reigning Sovereign Over Everything You

[58:42] Might Be Thinking No The Cancer Diagnosis Is Too Much Or You Might Be Thinking No The Chains Of Addiction Are Too Strong Or You Might Be Thinking No The Backsliding That I've Slipped Into Is Too Much And Paul Says Remember Jesus Christ Constantly Every Time Satan Comes To You With A Lie It's Too Much You You Are Too Hard Work It's Too Much Hassle He Doesn't Care Remember Christ Jesus Every Time The Temptation Is There To Say I Can't Get Through This Every Time The Temptation Is There To Say I'm Not Going Back To Church It's

[59:42] Just Too Much Every Time The Temptation Is There To Say I'll Abandon It And I'll Throw It Away Every Time The Temptation Is There To Say I'm Not Opening My Bible Today I'm Not Praying Today I'm Too Busy There's Too Much Going On Remember Remember Christ Jesus As He's Known In The Gospel The Good News Is He's Waiting For You He's Fighting Off The Inner And Outer Demons Who Are Seeking To Destroy You And Bring You Down He's Longing For Your Fellowship He's Made It Possible For You To Have Access To The Throne Room!

[60:21] Of God It's All Done And So Therefore Remember Him Train Yourself That's Why I Think This Verse Is Really Interesting That Earlier In The Passage Paul Has Been Talking About Training The Way Timothy Has To Train Himself To Think To Think Like A Good Soldier To Think Like An Athlete To Think Like A Farmer And These Are All Professions Where You Have To Be Dedicated!

[60:50] To Cause To Purpose! As a Soldier You've Got To Be Dedicated To The Victory And The Following Orders As a Farmer You've Got To Be Dedicated To The Harvest Coming As an Athlete You've Got To Be Dedicated To The Prize And The Goal To And So You Need A Mindset And As a Christian You Need A Mindset And That Mindset Is Christ And So Paul Simply Says Remember Jesus Christ Let's Pray To Him Lord We Need Our Minds Constantly Reshaped Constantly Renewed In This Way Of Thinking That Christ Is Sufficient He's Sufficient As the Prophet Who Calls Us To Follow And

[61:51] As the Saviour Who Has Died In Our Place And Purchased The Fullness Of Our Salvation And The Absolute Security Of It And He Is Sufficient As King To Rule Over Our Lives In Every Aspect Of Them And To Help Us And He's Powerful Enough To Help Us In Every Single Aspect Of Life When We Feel Disappointed And Let Down When We Feel It's Not As We Want It To Be He Is Sufficient In His Own Goodness For Us And So Let Us Remember Christ Jesus May The Spirit Tonight Open Up Our Hearts To This Truth And We Ask It In His Name Amen We're Going To Sing In Conclusion In Psalm 103 And This Is In The Scottish Psalter Version We're Going To Sing Verses 1 To 5 So 5 Stanzas Page 369

[62:52] O Thou Thou Thou Thou Thou My Soul Bless God The Lord And All That In Me Is Be Stirred Up His Holy Name To Magnify And Bless Bless O My Soul The Lord Thy God And Not Forgetful Be Of All His Gracious Benefits He Hath Bestowed On The It's Good When The Psalms In The Old Testament Say The Same Thing As You See In The New Testament Don't Be Forgetful Of God's Blessings Remember Christ Jesus So Let's Stand And Sing To God's Praise Verses 1-5 O Thou My Soul Bless God The Lord Please Please The precious benefits he hath bestowed on thee.

[64:28] All thine iniquities to death most graciously forgive.

[64:41] Who thy diseases, fall and pain, doth heal and be relieved.

[64:57] Who doth redeem thy life that thou to death mayst not go down.

[65:11] Who thee with loving kindness thou untended mercies crown.

[65:27] Who with abundance of good things doth satisfy thy mouth.

[65:39] So that even as the eagles say renew it inside you.

[65:54] Amen. Now the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit be with each one of us now and always. Amen. Amen.

[66:04]  Amen.