There’s Work To Be Done

[0:00] The theme very much has been the coming of Jesus, but the sermon is continuing where we left off in the Gospel of John, which obviously has to do with the coming of Jesus and why He came and what He's all about.

[0:13] So the theme in many ways is the same. A couple of things. I do want to thank you all for your kind comments and gifts with regard to Lucille and I becoming grandparents.

[0:24] We're delighted, we're so pleased, and we look so good, but we're biased, obviously. So thank you very much. It means a lot to us, and just to feel the warmth of the church in that way, it's very good. Secondly, Wednesday, prayer meeting Bible study.

[0:38] We're starting the new wee booklet. There might be one or two copies out there, and we're looking at certain Psalms. We're looking at Psalm 3 and Psalm 4 this Wednesday.

[0:50] We'll go through it twice as fast as we went through the book of Jonah, so instead of doing half a study, we'll do a whole study. So we might not look at every question, although you have the opportunity to go back to it, but do the homework.

[1:01] Come and we'll share as we look at Psalms. I think this one is called a song for when you can't sleep. Something like that. For sleepless nights, how the Lord speaks to us during those times.

[1:13] So I commend the study, Psalm 3 and 4 this Wednesday. Let's read together. We're in John chapter 4, and when Stephen came to preach last week, we gave him the passage, or I gave him the passage, the first and end of chapter 4 in some ways about the Samaritan women.

[1:32] What I want us to do is to go back to the bit in the middle. The bit in the middle is very important, but it's a kind of standalone thing. So I want us to look at that. So John 4, verse 27, it's obviously to do with Jesus' work with the Samaritan woman.

[1:48] So let's read from verse 27. Just then his disciples returned, and were surprised to find him talking to a woman. But no one asked, what do you want, or why are you talking with her?

[2:00] Then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, come see a man who told me everything I've ever done. Could this be the Messiah? They came out of the town and made their way towards him.

[2:14] Meanwhile, his disciples urged him, Rabbi, eat something. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you know nothing about. Then his disciples said to one another, could someone have brought him food?

[2:27] My food, said Jesus, is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work. Don't you have a saying, it's still four months until harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields.

[2:41] They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.

[2:54] Thus the saying, one sows and another reaps, is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.

[3:07] Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me everything I've ever done. So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.

[3:19] And because of his words, many more became believers. They said to the woman, we no longer believe just because of what you said. Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.

[3:37] This is God's Word. Let's ask for his help now as we come to study it together. Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. It truly is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

[3:48] We sit under its authority now as we come to it. Father, we pray that the Holy Spirit himself would be our teacher. So, Father, teach us more about Jesus. But in doing so, Lord, as we consider his mission this morning, impress upon us our mission as well.

[4:06] So, Father, lead us and guide us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Question. What is the purpose of the church? Church. Here's an image that asks that question.

[4:19] God has a plan and a purpose for the church. In churches, we do many things. We worship together. We come on a Sunday morning. We sing praise.

[4:29] We pray together. We have intercessory prayer. We have fellowship. We'll have tea and coffee after the service. We may have some social activities like hot dogs or mulled wine or whatever that looks like.

[4:42] And we pastorally care for each other. There are so many purposes in the church where we seek to help and each other. But this morning, I want us to take us back to probably our greatest purpose as a church.

[4:57] And it's probably symbolized in the image on the screen. It seems strange. God has a plan and purpose. And you see some guy standing in the middle of a field.

[5:07] But it's very symbolic. It has to do with the harvest. It has to do with we become farmers, as it were. Not harvesting crops in the fields around about us, but harvesting souls for the glory of God.

[5:24] We are involved in mission. We have a great commission to go and make Jesus known. And Carol was touching on this with the boys and girls this morning. That after, to tell people about Jesus, that surely has to be our great purpose, our great commission.

[5:40] As good as worship is and singing and fellowship and prayer is, all of these things are aimed towards telling people about Jesus. It's why we're here. If the Lord, if it wasn't for that, the Lord would take us to glory just now.

[5:54] But we are here to tell people about Jesus. And that's what we're going to do in the moments that remain to us in this passage before us. We've learned a lot about Jesus up until chapter 4, that He's the Son of God.

[6:07] He's the Messiah. He is sent from God. And so forth. And we've seen many things. I won't go back over some of them. The last sermon I preached reminded you that He is one above all.

[6:18] Because He is from above. He is not a man. He is the Son of God. And He's sent from the Father. He sees and speaks what the Father has told Him.

[6:30] He is filled with the Spirit. He is the Son of God. He is supreme. All things have been placed into His hands. And last week, Stephen preached to us from John chapter 4 about Jesus' conversation with a Samaritan woman.

[6:45] Those two very words themselves gave them the heebie-jeebies. First of all, he's speaking to a woman. It mentions this in the passage. They're surprised. Why is Jesus speaking to a woman?

[6:56] Not only that, a Samaritan woman. Not even a Jewish woman, but a Samaritan woman. And they are surprised at this. But in the passage that we read, and you remember John's purpose in presenting this material, is to show us who Jesus is that we might believe in Him.

[7:15] This passage shows us that here are people outside of the Jewish nation who have come to realize that Jesus is the Savior of the world. It was the very last words that we read in the passage.

[7:29] We have come to know, we have heard Him ourselves, that He is the Savior of the world. To the most unlikeliest of people and of people groups.

[7:39] And here we see in chapter 4, early on in Jesus' ministry, the breadth or the extent of His mission. He's not just sent to the Jewish nation.

[7:51] He is the Savior of the world. We read in John 3.16, we quote this, And that's what we remember at Christmas, isn't it?

[8:02] He comes as the Savior of the world. And you remember there was a time, and at this time in Jesus' walk with the disciples, they just don't get this.

[8:13] Why is He speaking to a woman? Why is He speaking to a Samaritan? They don't get the extent of His, they know He's the Messiah, but He's their Messiah. That's how they see it. He's just for them.

[8:24] And in speaking to this woman at the well, and the townsfolk, and they become saved, they become followers of Jesus, they realize, or they should realize it, He is not just the Savior of one nation.

[8:39] You remember John. There was a time when John never got this. He just never got the whole global aspect of Jesus' mission. Remember when, later on, when Jesus has to go to set out for Jerusalem, He has to go through a Samaritan village, probably another village to this one.

[8:56] But the people there did not welcome Him. Why? Because He was heading for Jerusalem. And you remember James and John saw this. They said, Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?

[9:10] That was in John's heart. The apostle of love, before the Lord does a work in his life. Lord, just call fire. Do you want us to do this? Happy to do this, Lord. Don't mind. Let's call fire down and destroy them.

[9:22] And we are turned. Jesus turned and rebuked them. They had no idea of the bread and the extent of Jesus' mission. They couldn't grasp this.

[9:34] And that's what you have here, this global nature of Jesus' mission. One of my favorite passages, I'll be away from here before we get to John chapter 12, but one of my favorite verses or passages in the whole of the gospel of John is John 12.

[9:51] Let me read it to you. Now, there were some Greeks among them who went up to worship at the feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida and Galilee, with a request, Sir, we would like to see Jesus.

[10:03] Philip, not knowing what to do, he goes and tells Andrew, and Andrew and Philip in turn go to see Jesus. Jesus replied, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

[10:14] Now the gospel, now that these Greeks come, it triggers something in Jesus' ministry. Now the end has come. Now I must die. Greeks are now coming. The world is now coming to me.

[10:26] It's not just my own people. Greeks are coming. They want to see me. Now is the time for the world to be saved. It really, it sends a shiver down my spine.

[10:37] The whole of history, from Genesis to this point, has been leading up to the global nature of salvation. And that's what we have here in this passage before us this morning.

[10:50] Jesus' death would symbolize a harvest. That is how the Bible describes people being saved. It calls it a harvest.

[11:02] In that culture, they can understand what a harvest is. Harvest is a good thing. Things are now ready. And the wheat or whatever is chopped down, it's harvested. And it's a time of rejoicing.

[11:15] The disciples don't get it. So Jesus has to teach them. And that is what he's teaching them here. So let's look at four things very quickly. First of all, the harvest is ready. That's what Jesus is implying by speaking to the Samaritan woman and saving this whole village.

[11:31] He reaches out with living water, a changed life, hope in this life and in the next life. And the whole stepping stone to the conversation with this woman centered around water.

[11:45] And the conversation that Jesus now has with the disciples centers around food. The woman wanted water. Jesus says, I can give you living water, showing who he is and the abundant life he can give.

[11:58] He now talks about food to the disciples and who eat something. And Jesus says, my food, verse 34, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

[12:14] What is Jesus saying here? They don't get the picture. But Jesus says, what I'm doing is the will of God. It's right that I speak to this woman. Some that you maybe despise, a Samaritan woman.

[12:26] You don't get it. My whole reason for being here is I am sent from the Father. He will mention this many times in John's gospel. I have not come down from heaven to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

[12:39] John 6. John 7. My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. John 12. When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.

[12:51] When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. Basically, my food, everything I do is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

[13:02] Begs the question, what is the Father's will? To do the will of him who sent me. What is the Father's will? The Father's will can be summed up in John 12 by Jesus' own words.

[13:16] I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. That is the Father's will, plain and simple, to save the world. Jesus comes to be the Savior of the world.

[13:30] The whole of the Old Testament points, the whole of the Scriptures point to us. Do you remember this wee image here that we looked at when we did clarifying the Bible?

[13:41] If you can show that, Phil. If he's not nodded off, good man. You're still with us. Still with us, good. Old Testament. The whole of the Old Testament is not about the Jews.

[13:52] It is about Jesus. It anticipates him. It looks forward to him. It's all about Jesus, the prophecies. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming.

[14:02] Jesus is coming. Genesis to Malachi. Then Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is the manifestation of Jesus. Who he is. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

[14:14] And then what happens after Jesus dies and rises again and gives a great commission? Acts is the proclamation. How the church told people about Jesus. And then in all the confusing and all the teaching, they need to be taught.

[14:28] So the Lord raises up Paul and others to explain what the gospel is. John and Peter and Paul. So from Romans right the way through to the second last book of the Bible, it's basically explaining Jesus, the gospel, and what it means to be a Christian.

[14:46] All these practical things. And then the very last book of the Bible is a consummation of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God fully come. That is what the whole Bible is about.

[14:56] It is about Jesus. And this is God's plan. He comes to be the Savior of the world from every tribe and tongue and nation.

[15:09] God is not slow in keeping his promises, Peter says. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Before Jesus comes, in that sense, the world is without hope in the world.

[15:24] But Jesus comes with hope and with salvation to deal with our sin. And that is why Jesus comes. His work. Jesus says to do the will.

[15:35] What is the will? That he might be the Savior of the world. What is the work? The work is to actually save people. And you know this. He does this by the sacrifice of himself.

[15:47] He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus will teach many things. He will do many miracles.

[15:57] It's not what he's primarily about. It's only when the cross is in view, he says in John 17, I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

[16:10] The work that God has given him to do. When he cries, it is finished. What happens when he is finished? Suddenly there's a harvest of souls.

[16:21] People can now be harvested in, into the kingdom. Before that point, it's not the case. They have no hope because Jesus has not died further since he's, they have no Savior of the world.

[16:33] There is this harvest. And Jesus likened his death to a harvest, you remember. In John 12, I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single.

[16:47] It produces many seeds. Jesus died over 2,000 years ago. You are the harvest this morning of his death, of that one seed that died to produce a harvest.

[17:00] I just love the thought of throughout the world today, not just Edinburgh or Scotland or the United Kingdom. In every tribe and tongue and nation, there are people praising him. This is the harvest that Jesus died to save.

[17:14] Even a rebellious harvest. People that had rejected him. And what Jesus is saying to the disciples here, you need to expect this harvest. Expect it.

[17:25] Now that I have come, the Savior of the world, people can now be saved and ushered into the kingdom of God. Souls can be saved. Now is the day of salvation.

[17:36] In other words, the barn doors are now flung open for the harvest of souls to be brought into the kingdom of God. Up until this point, there is no good news.

[17:46] But Jesus comes, and that is the good news. Jesus died for sinners. He died for you and for me. And that is what they need to realize. I wonder if you're excited at the prospect of this, that as we live in this harvest field, do you see people as that they are too hard, they're not worth saving, they're too difficult to save, or members of your family as well, or do you see them as a harvest that the Lord could save and bring into his kingdom.

[18:16] That is worth being excited for, the prospect of salvation of others. So the harvest is ready with the coming of Jesus and subsequently his death. Secondly, the harvest involves reaping.

[18:31] The sheaves of not just to be left out there, they need to be sown, and the time is now for this. He talks about this in verse 35. Still four months, I tell you, look, the fields are ripe for harvest.

[18:47] In other words, now is the time for this harvest. We can't put this off anymore. The whole of salvation history has been leading to this point. Now the shoots are growing, and they need to be harvested in.

[19:02] This is our great commission. This is seen in the salvation of a Samaritan woman, an outcast in every way. The very fact that she is saved and the town folk saved is showing that the barn doors are open, and an unusual harvest is now beginning to come.

[19:21] He needs to drive this home to them. And he's saying that the work has now begun. Look at verse 36. Even now, the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop to eternal life.

[19:34] In other words, he paints this picture that the harvester is ready to get his wages. His wages are basically his, and it's a great incentive.

[19:45] Look at verse 36. So that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Harvest is a great time. If you've ever known farmers, I've been in churches where there have been a few farmers, and they're hardworking, such hardworking people.

[20:00] They work all the time to get a harvest. If they don't get a harvest, they think, my year's wasted, floods or whatever. But when the harvest is in, and you get to this time of year maybe, and you think that the seed was sown, and early on in the year, August, September came, we harvested it, and the reaper and the sower rejoice together.

[20:22] And it's quite a picture. If God has said there will be a harvest, that now that Christ has come, and the fields are white unto harvest, we should rejoice that there is a reaping.

[20:37] A reaping will take place. Look at what he says in verse 36. It says, talks about the sower and reaper rejoicing together. It's a prophecy that was mentioned in Amos chapter 9, verse 13.

[20:51] It says this, It's this picture of while the person's gone out to sow seed for the grapes to grow, the person's already treading the grapes.

[21:12] In other words, the success is guaranteed. He's gone before. It's just a crazy picture. It's bonkers. It's just crazy. It says the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman.

[21:24] And it says the planter by the one treading grapes. Such is the pace of this, such is the size of the kingdom, the reaping of souls.

[21:35] That should encourage us. Are you confident in the gospel to save souls? So it involves reaping. The harvest is not only now.

[21:47] Souls are certainly being saved. Thirdly, the harvest involves sowing. If the harvest is now and it involves reaping, we need to sow.

[21:57] We need to sow. Matthew expands on this when he says, The harvest is plentiful. Cairn prayed this, but the laborers are few. Send more workers into the harvest field.

[22:10] In other words, there are people to be saved. The harvest is ripe, but we need people to sow. And this ministry involves sowing.

[22:20] There is no shortcut to this. We reap what others have sown. That's what Jesus says in verse 38. I send you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work.

[22:32] You're reaping what they have not sowing. Verse 38. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. We are basically reaping what Jesus has sown in his death, but also that we sow or we reap what others have sown.

[22:48] That's what it says, what others have done the hard work. In some of the churches I've been in, I remember my last church. It's crazy. You're just inducted. And then along comes a church anniversary.

[22:58] So they ask you, Pastor, can you speak at the church anniversary? And I think, I don't know anything about this church. I know the folk that's here, know nothing of the history. So I was asked in my last church, would I speak at the church anniversary?

[23:11] Church anniversaries are great. I love them. A recalling of the history of the church and thanking God. So I says, well, this is London. They have transient congregation. Nobody's been there for any length of time, really.

[23:22] So they don't know the history either. So I says, give me the books. Give me the minutes of the meetings. And this was an old church, a big old church. And as I'm reading this, the work started in one part of East Finchley, went to another part of East Finchley, went to another part of East Finchley, grew, became two massive churches.

[23:40] They used to do cricket and all sorts of things in these churches. It is immensely exciting and humbling to read old minutes of a church and to see the desire that people had.

[23:54] And the way God answered prayers, especially in the foundation of that church. When you have founder members in your church, they have swept for that church. That is their church.

[24:05] They are proud. They chose the name of the church. I'm a bit like that with Nidre because I was there at its inception. It's your baby, your grandson or whatever. It's precious to you. And to read the minutes of the passion of those who said, we must trust God for this and God will provide and so forth.

[24:25] We must keep sowing and we will reap if we do not give up. These type of verses. And then when a church becomes older, you read the minutes. So and so says, can we not paint the toilet yellow and green?

[24:38] And can you imagine the shame it must be if folk go back and look over minutes and all you ever did was complain? So, well, the problem with that, pastor, is, and you just think, wow, do we need members like that?

[24:52] Where is the positive folk need to be saved? The gospel needs to be preached. Let's work. Let's strive. Sow the seed. Sow that people are saved. I wonder if folk read the church minutes over the past 20 years or however long you've been here.

[25:07] What picture would they gauge of the church? I'd love to read the minutes of the church when this first started. It would be, wow, the folk just, we have a vision, has to be here.

[25:18] We don't have the money. Let's pray the money in. The vision that they have, they want to sow. Sow the seed of the gospel. May we never lose sight of that. This time of sowing and reaping.

[25:31] Sowing is difficult. Reaping is the best bit. We like to reap, but we don't really want to sow. But in many ways, we are standing on the shoulders of giants, people who have been in this church, and we're building on their work.

[25:48] That's what Jesus is saying. In this work of gospel ministry, you're just standing. You're reaping what others have done. Remember, Paul said this, I planted the seed, but Apollos watered.

[26:00] But God gave the increase. But sometimes, we like the reaping, but we don't really want to do the sowing. Sowing is hard. Next May or April, whatever it is, whenever the farmers do their stuff.

[26:13] That is the hard bit. The reaping's great, but we need to be involved in sowing. The sowing is the hard work. You know that old song, Bringing in the Sheaves?

[26:24] I forgot the words of this. Let me read you the words of this. Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows, fearing neither clouds nor winter's chilling breeze.

[26:34] By and by the harvest and the labor ended, we will come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves. We will come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

[26:47] Going forth with weeping, sowing for the master. Though the loss sustained, our spirits often grieved. When our weeping's over, he will build us welcome.

[27:00] We will come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. You sow in weeping. It is hard. It is not easy to your family.

[27:10] But that is where the work is. It is in the sowing. Others might reap. We might never get to reap. Paul never always got to reap. He did what he did. But are we prepared to sow, even if we do not see the reaping?

[27:25] That others might come afterwards. I think I've told you about the pastor who preached through the Holy Romans, and somebody was saved through the conversion, the testimony of little and large. The Lord has his ways of humbling us.

[27:37] He can save through a donkey. But we must be faithful to sow. Do we believe that the harvest is ripe? Then sow, sow the seed.

[27:48] Every Christian might not be able to reap, but we all must sow, every single one of us. Lastly, I'm finished. The harvest involves loving. You need wisdom if you're going to sow.

[28:00] Jesus showed great wisdom with us women. Stephen's probably touched on some of it, but very quickly, let me finish. He crossed cultures. Be prepared to cross cultures. Be prepared to go to a people group that's very different from you.

[28:14] They're awkward. They're messy. It's a different world from your world. It's easy to minister to folk like you, but Samaritans, women, freaked the disciples out.

[28:25] They couldn't get this. Jesus showed them, I'm speaking to a Samaritan woman. There are prejudices that we all have. Be humble. Come to people, and Jesus said, prepare to receive from others as well.

[28:40] You don't have all the answers. You couldn't fill their shoes. I used to say this in Nidre. You need to believe. You have no idea the life that they have. You couldn't fill their shoes.

[28:51] Come humbly. The good thing about Jesus in this conversation, he wasn't odd. He didn't come across as weird. He's talking about water. He's having a normal conversation, but just about water.

[29:05] He says something. She doesn't go, oh, can't cope with this. You're weird. Well, I must be going. Thanks, Jesus. She engages. Jesus engages in conversation. In conversation, sometimes we are not very good at this.

[29:18] We come. When I first became a Christian, the tract I used to give out all the time was God's plan of salvation, and it explained everything, the Old Testament, the New Testament.

[29:29] It was almost like a book here. This is what I've discovered. You need to read this, and I had to keep reminding myself, before I became a Christian, I didn't know any of that. All I needed, all I needed to know was I had a need, and Jesus could meet that need.

[29:43] And that's how Jesus came to that woman. He talks about a need she has, physical, turns it into a spiritual thing. Recognize the need of people and speak to them at that level, their felt needs.

[29:54] Are you lonely? Are you anxious? Are you troubled? Are you depressed? There is a Savior who can help with that. He can be your Lord. Be wise in the way in which we speak.

[30:05] Don't be weird. Be loving. Often our failures in evangelism are because they're failures in love. We don't really love the people that we're talking to, and we're saying people don't care what we believe until they know that we care.

[30:20] That's very true. Be loving. Don't come with all the answers. Become in humility. Be focused. Jesus did bring this woman back to himself.

[30:31] We know when the Messiah comes, he will lead us. I am he. It's not just about Jesus helping you with your job. They do need to repent. He pointed out the sin in this woman. We do need to point out sin.

[30:42] That's why we present Jesus as Savior, not just a prayer answering God, but as Savior. Be focused. So what have we said? The harvest is ready.

[30:53] Now the harvest is ready. Jesus said it to them. He reminds us. It involves reaping. There will be a harvest. Today there will be people added to the kingdom of God.

[31:04] who won't be separate from God on that great day of judgment. They will be truly those who have been saved and brought into the kingdom of God. But it involves sowing.

[31:15] This is down to you and I. We might build on the work of others. Others might sow. Others might reap what we sow. But we need to sow. Others might reap. Or we might reap.

[31:27] We must not give up. And we must do so lovingly. Be prepared to cross cultures. Be humble. Be relevant. Be loving.

[31:38] Be focused on the gospel. Does that make sense? We have a great message to tell. I wonder if you really believe in the power, if I really believe in the power of the gospel.

[31:50] I want to just close by, I've read this wee book. I've been reading. This is a wee book called A Time to Mourn. And it's such a wee book. It's just out this year. Rico Tice and amongst others, all good folk at the back says, I wish I had read this book 30 years at the start of my ministry.

[32:07] And the wee bit at the top says, grieving the loss of those whose eternities were uncertain. There's not many books like this. And I know there are people in the church who have members of their family who still aren't saved.

[32:21] This is one of the most powerful wee books I've ever read. It's just, it's quite new by Will Dobie. And it's, rather than wait to the time when they're past and then you wonder where they are, it's, the chapters in it are so great.

[32:35] God who cares, the God who grieves, the God who knows, the God who judges, the God who heals, the God who self-glorifies. It's a great wee book about God. And it is not an easy read.

[32:47] It's a deep read. It's not, it's not frivolous. I really commend this to you. And even for yourself, I ask you, make sure that you are saved. Because there will become a separation.

[32:59] Sheep and goat, tares and wheat. There is a harvest ready now. There will be that ultimate harvest in heaven where some people will be entered into heaven and others won't be.

[33:10] They need to recognize that Jesus is the savior of the world. Let's close. I'm really glad the women sang For the Cause this morning. So you've heard that. You should be ready to sing this.

[33:21] I love this song. This is a great song. How many of you know this? I thought we'd sung this a few times. Good. It's Lucille and I and these three lovely ladies. There's five of us will be able to sing this.

[33:32] As you know, we sing here, not because we like the tune. We sing the lyrics. We worship when we rubber stamp the words in our heart. So rubber stamp these great truths in your heart as we stand and as we sing.

[33:51] Amen. That's a great song to finish with. Thank you, Ian, and to the singers who really led us in our worship there. We have a great message to take to the nations. May the Lord really empower us in this.

[34:01] Just before I finish in prayer, just to remind you, we will finish the book of Ecclesiastes tonight. One more sermon. And that great book, I've really enjoyed Ecclesiastes. So we'll finish that this evening. If you can make it out tonight, that would be great.

[34:13] But let's just commend ourselves to God. Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love and your grace and your mercy in each one of our lives. Lord, we pray that we might not just be rejoicing, standing on that rock, but that, Lord, that we might stoop down to reach others who are perishing, to seek to pull them, Lord, as a branch from the burning.

[34:34] Lord, so, Father, impress upon us the urgency of the gospel, but encourage us, Lord, to know that there is a harvest out there, a harvest just waiting to be reaped. Help us, Father, to be involved in that.

[34:46] Help us to continue to sow and use our feeble efforts, Lord, that others might be saved, that we might rejoice, Lord. So, Father, lead us and guide us. Bless us, we pray.

[34:57] In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, folks. Amen.