WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 Okay, just for a short while this evening, we're going to look back at the prodigal… 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:11.040 a bit of the prodigal son story. So, this is the start of a three-part series that I mentioned. 00:00:11.040 --> 00:00:18.240 It's called Passing Thoughts, okay? And it's a theme of three loving God tonight, 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:24.160 loving one another, and then loving the lost. These are the three kind of themes that I would 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:33.039 like to leave with you as we come towards the end of January, and we move to a new chapter down in 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:37.600 Leith. I hope you'll be able to stay away, particularly those who are away, at the weekend. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:42.159 But as Brian said this morning, it was a spa weekend we were on, so we're all pretty refreshed, 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:47.519 and I'm not sure what particular glasses he was wearing when he thought that was the case, 00:00:47.519 --> 00:00:53.439 but… and just for your information, Brian, we were singing bangers of hymns at the weekend away, 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:58.879 because I heard you were making mockery of our hymn choices as well. So, just to keep 00:00:58.879 --> 00:01:04.799 Brian in his rightful place, and I heard that he preached a banger of a sermon this morning here, 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:13.840 we also had great messages from Bob, who shared, actually, quite a lot of what I was going to say. 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:17.680 So, every time he said something, I said, oh, dear, that's the same thing as I'm going to say, but… 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:24.240 But what I'm going to do is not really… they're not really sermons, okay, as such. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.440 They're not the kind of normal sermons that you… well, maybe you'll think they are, 00:01:29.440 --> 00:01:36.240 but not the normal sermons. The kind that you need all through the year. You might not want to 00:01:36.240 --> 00:01:41.280 call them sermons or preaching. They're really just passing thoughts that are based on God's word. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:46.160 But I hope they'll be quite towards the end, maybe not so much tonight, but certainly the next two 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:51.920 will be more heavy on application specifically towards St. Columba's moving forward. So, 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:56.719 again, if you're visiting, I apologize, but I'm sure it'll still be relevant at that level to us 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:05.039 individually as we think about these things. So, tonight I want to speak about the importance, 00:02:05.039 --> 00:02:13.280 and this is really important for all of us, just the importance of loving God. And to look at that 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:18.640 by not really looking at the parable, particularly that it's a really well-known parable of the 00:02:18.640 --> 00:02:26.240 lost son, really famous story. And I think it's probably my favorite… it's definitely my favorite 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:31.520 parable. It's one of my favorite parts of Scripture, because it's so rich and it's so deep, 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:39.360 and it's so revelatory as a parable of what God wants us to think about Him, the kind of God He 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:45.520 wants us to think about, or the character of the God that He wants us to understand and know. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:50.720 And I love it. I mean, I can't remember ultimately who it was who said this. It's been attributed 00:02:50.720 --> 00:02:56.880 to different people, that the gospel of John is a gospel in which elephants can swim and toddlers 00:02:56.880 --> 00:03:02.880 can… and children can paddle. And that's true of the gospel of John. It's also true, I think, 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:09.840 of this parable. You can go into great depths in this parable for many different mature believers 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:16.560 can find amazing truth in it. But it's also very simple, and I think that's… it's genius, 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:24.400 and it's the inspiration of Scripture for us. But I really want to focus on the father here 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:29.759 in the story. And Bob, actually, we can spoke quite a lot about the fatherhood of God for us as 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:37.280 believers. Because I think it's hard for us actually to love… well, maybe not for you, 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:43.679 but I find it hard in many ways to love God. And there's different reasons for that, I think. 00:03:44.239 --> 00:03:49.519 One is because we can't see Him. You know, we're used to loving what we can see, and the 00:03:49.519 --> 00:03:56.639 relationships are about who we can see. And we find that to love a person by faith in a faith 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:01.679 spiritual relationship. It's quite a difficult thing to do for us. So there's a difficulty 00:04:01.679 --> 00:04:07.039 in loving God because we can't see Him. I think also because we're in the minority here 00:04:07.679 --> 00:04:12.799 in Scotland, in the… you know, in the world in which we live, there's not many Christians. 00:04:12.799 --> 00:04:16.719 So we don't have a lot of support. It's why church is… one of the reasons church is so important. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:23.759 But there's not many other people in your school or in your university or in your workplace or in 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:29.759 your neighborhood who also love Jesus unpopular to love God and love Jesus Christ. That makes it 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:36.560 hard as well. And I think it's hard sometimes because we still have a remaining sinful nature 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:42.319 in us. We're still rebels and that may… it's uncomfortable for us to think about that. But 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:47.279 sin in our lives, our rebellion against God, which we were born with naturally and have against of 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:55.199 remains in us even as Christians to a degree. And that hard wires us to see God negatively, 00:04:55.919 --> 00:05:01.359 to see Him as harsh and to see Him as… that's what sin does. It twists the relationship. So we 00:05:01.359 --> 00:05:07.759 see God in a negative and in a harsh way, a killjoy, someone who's oppressive and someone who 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:16.959 we are right and free to challenge. And sin, I think, also makes us jealous of his rightful place. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:22.239 I don't mean in terms of being on the throne of the universe, none of us aspire necessarily to that. 00:05:22.239 --> 00:05:28.639 But to be the kings of our own lives, as it were, the queens of our own lives, the rulers of our 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:36.159 own lives, he challenges that. And that remaining sense of independence within us makes it sometimes 00:05:36.159 --> 00:05:40.319 hard to love God. And I think the other thing within our sinful nature is that 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:51.599 self-justification permeates everything about us, that we want to earn what we have, 00:05:52.159 --> 00:06:02.399 earn who we are, do it because we deserve it, and we find grace. And the helplessness 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:08.719 of having to accept something because we can't earn it, we find that as believers, 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:15.600 I think, with sinful nature is remaining and is very difficult. So it makes us bend towards 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:22.480 legalism all the time, that we must earn our favor with God, that we must do something to 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:30.560 earn His love. And that's a challenge for us. But here we see an amazing picture of God that I hope 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:36.160 helps us to love Him better and to keep that focus as you go into this year and into a new chapter 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:45.600 of life at the Seat Club. It's the prodigal God. This is Jesus' divine mind painting a picture 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:53.920 of our Heavenly Father. And it's a remarkable picture. And we're going to focus on just Him here. 00:06:56.960 --> 00:07:05.760 And it's a great picture because it enables us to see God almost from a human perspective, 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:11.279 because we can understand. That's why Jesus gave us parables. Jesus' great stories because they 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:18.560 help us. I'm terrible at stories. I've got to learn. But Jesus' great stories that help us 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:28.000 understand impossible truths. And here He gives us an amazing story. To illustrate who God is and 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:37.120 the kind of Father we can really appreciate and understand as God. And what do we see about Him? 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:45.519 Very briefly here we see He's incredibly generous to His ungrateful sons. Now, I'm not sure I ever 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:52.079 noticed this before until I was reading it again this week. In verse 12 we're told, 00:07:52.079 --> 00:08:00.719 and He divided His property among them. Father, give me a share of the property, says His Son. 00:08:00.719 --> 00:08:08.159 And it says, and He divided His property between them. So even at that point He's got two ungrateful 00:08:08.159 --> 00:08:14.560 sons as we go on to see one of them who's a grump, who's a misery guts, who's a total legalist, 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:20.799 and who is not really very loving in any way. And then He's got this other son who basically 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:26.879 wants him dead and He wants his money. And He gives them both generously what they don't deserve. 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:31.520 Clearly, He divides his inheritance with them. We don't know what the elder son did with it, 00:08:31.520 --> 00:08:37.919 but the younger son went on and just had a wildlife away from his father. But He was generous. There 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:42.000 was no questions asked. He gave them what they didn't deserve. These amazing gifts. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:48.000 And as the story goes on, of course, we learn of what happens to the prodigal son. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:53.679 But in reality, it's probably a story about the prodigal father, prodigality of his love. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:09:02.639 But he, in verse 21, it's such a great picture of God the Father. In verse 21, 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:08.080 the Son said to himself, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you no longer were 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:13.360 depraved by your Son, but the Father said to the servants, bring the fatted calf. Actually, 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:18.960 sorry, verse 20, go before that He arose and came to his Father. But while He's still a long way off, 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:25.519 His Father saw Him and felt compassion and ran and embraced Him and kissed Him. It's a great picture 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:32.000 of the Father. It's a great picture of God, isn't it? He's waiting and He's longing for His child to 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:39.519 come home. And it's a picture of salvation. It's a picture of the gospel without any mention of 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:43.919 the full extent of the Father's love. There's no mention of the cross. There's no mention of 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:50.480 atonement. There's no mention of sanctification. There's nothing. There's just this picture of the 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:55.679 Father welcoming His Son back with open arms. And for me, there's a picture there of the cross, 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:01.439 a Christ Himself on the cross with His open arms. That's maybe just making too much of it. 00:10:01.439 --> 00:10:08.240 But it's a picture that does, I think, implicitly speak of the love of Jesus Christ 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:16.159 in a remarkable way because it is Christ Himself, Christ the Son who becomes the prodigal on our 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:25.039 behalf. Christ the Son becomes the one who is thrown into distant countries, who is cast out, 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:35.919 who becomes a rebel in our place to be our redeemer. And He is the one who, having finished His work, 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:45.439 and I may be obviously slightly twisting pictures here, but He's the one who the Father 00:10:45.439 --> 00:10:52.399 welcomes back into heaven with open arms and celebrates because of the work He's done and 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:59.439 that Christ went to the cross on our behalf for the joy that was set before Him of knowing His 00:10:59.439 --> 00:11:04.799 finished work. Now, I know that that's not the actual application of the prodigal here, 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:14.000 but it's deep down implicit in the story itself, is that we have a Father who welcomes us with 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:20.959 open arms when we come to Him because of what the Son did in becoming the one who was cast out 00:11:20.959 --> 00:11:27.599 on our behalf, who took the cost of our sins and who received us back to Himself. And then He 00:11:27.599 --> 00:11:32.639 celebrates. That's what we see about the Father. You see, the Son who's generous, the one who's 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:39.039 welcoming with open arms and who then celebrates, who celebrates the return of the recalcitrant 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:44.720 and rebellious Son. And that's the great thing that we can know and understand from Scripture, 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:51.919 that every believer gets treated the same way as Christ was treated as He returned into heaven, 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:58.319 victorious over death and grave and sin. Victory, joy, feasting, happiness. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:04.400 God the Father this evening looks at you as a Christian just as He looks at His beloved Son 00:12:05.280 --> 00:12:13.360 with the infinite depth of love between Trinitarian Father and Son and Holy Spirit. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:20.640 And that should change everything about how we think, about how we live, and about how we love 00:12:20.640 --> 00:12:26.400 in our own lives because of this love that the Father has for us. It does transform our characters. 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:32.319 You know the difference in your life when you're unconditionally loved at a human level by your 00:12:32.319 --> 00:12:36.959 parents. You know the difference that makes. And you know what it's like when you see children 00:12:36.959 --> 00:12:42.159 who are not loved unconditionally by their fathers and mothers and how broken and how 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:50.639 dysfunctional the lives can become because of that. You know what it's like to be brought up, 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:57.679 or at least if you don't know, you long to understand and appreciate what it's like to be 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:04.319 part of a family where you are loved in this unconditional and in this glorious way. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:11.600 But you know what it's like to be reconciled to someone you love when you've been divided and 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:18.480 separated from them. You know that your demeanor changes, your face changes, your identity changes, 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:26.000 your stability changes. And that's true at a human level. How much more is it true at a 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:33.120 spiritual level when we grasp the love of God for us? It changes everything about how we live 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:41.440 and how we think as Christians. So that's the kind of theological bit as it were of this passage 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:46.879 over. But in 2024, what is it, what is that going to look like for you as a church family 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:50.799 in St. Columbus? What is it going to look like for me as an individual as well? But for you, 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:57.919 why is it so important that you've got at the foundation, at the bottom of your lives, at the 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:07.679 core of your life, that loving God is primary? Or how can we make sure that that's the case? 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:12.000 Well, the first thing I think we have to do is, and there's just one or two things here before we 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:18.480 finish. First is take stock and return to Jesus Christ and to God the Father in repentance. All 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:23.759 of us need to do that. And the same as the prodigal did for the first time here, we need to always 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:30.480 be doing that as a way of life. In repentance for not seeing God that way, 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:42.000 repent of having such a small love in our lives that we don't really give Him all our heart and 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:50.000 life is soul and everything that we are. Repent because the trouble in our lives is that we love 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:56.320 other things more, isn't it? That we have many other functional gods before the living God because 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:02.640 there's things we love more than Him. Our loves are continued to be disordered and we constantly need 00:15:02.640 --> 00:15:10.000 to be going back to the living God for forgiveness and for strength to love Him as we ought to do. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:16.800 That's the transforming work of the Spirit in our lives. If the preaching of the Word here or if 00:15:16.800 --> 00:15:22.480 your understanding of the Christian faith is simply about stopping sinning, it's just about 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:31.600 stopping sinning. That self-righteous legalism will just well up from your belly and it'll just be 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:40.080 about the best you can do and trying your hardest and just stopping the negativity in a kind of 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:47.279 outward way. We need to be people who deal with that because we're captured by a greater love 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:55.679 and we see someone more beautiful, more perfect, more just, more strong, more dependable, more 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:03.679 life-giving than we can currently see to see that God is love and that He has to be the source of our 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:09.519 life and our future because of who He is. And that is a heart revolution for us. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:20.240 But it's the understanding, it's the only understanding that breaks us free from legalism 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:23.679 and from a cold and 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:34.399 loveless relationship with God and with one another. So take stock and repentance are good words. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:40.480 We don't use it enough and we don't do it enough. I think it's a great thing. As it's based on love 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:44.879 because you know in human relationships the same thing, isn't it? For that relationship to deepen 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:50.559 and grow, we need to recognize where we fail and fall and we come back and we come back stronger 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:58.799 that way. So take stock and return on repentance. But also secondly, can I say strive this year to 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:08.399 keep His loving company foundational to your walk of faith. Recognize that it's absolutely 00:17:08.399 --> 00:17:14.240 foundational. It's His gift, it can't be earned. It's something He gifts to us. We have nothing to 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:22.240 offer Him but our own sinful repentance, our sin and our repentance. But we're called to rely on 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:30.240 the Holy Spirit to enable us to see His love and to live it. So that means that maybe in 2024, 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:37.519 if you haven't done it quite so much in the past, don't blame God for your circumstances. Don't blame 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:45.920 other people. Don't blame the church or whatever it might be. Don't look for everything else around 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:55.200 you to change. But focus on your own heart and your own relationship with Christ. Focus on being 00:17:55.200 --> 00:18:02.240 His child in the way that we're shown in this parable. Encourage you to wake up every day in 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:13.360 2024 and say, my father loves me like he loves his son, Jesus. I am His beloved son. I'm His beloved 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:20.079 daughter. Even in the battle, even in the darkness, even when things are difficult, we wake up every day 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:28.159 and say, I'm loved eternally. I'm loved through whatever life may throw my way. Meditate on that. 00:18:28.879 --> 00:18:36.319 Listen to His voice. Pray to Him. Can I ask you to make time every day, not religiously, 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:44.319 but lovingly to be in His company, to learn from Him? And I'd encourage you to change that routine. 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:49.759 Don't always do the same way because it becomes ritualistic sometimes and it maybe becomes difficult 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:57.679 for us freshen things up. Go for a walk up Arthur's seat and speak to Him there and be in 00:18:57.679 --> 00:19:02.319 relationship with Him. Listen to Him in different ways. Listen to the word read in different ways. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:08.960 Read it. Listen to it. Do different things. But be intentional about thinking through your 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:15.919 relationship with God and continue always to be dependent on Him. Because when we go it alone in 00:19:15.919 --> 00:19:21.759 our Christian lives, it's like returning, it's like living in a pigsty. Spiritually, it's a 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:30.639 spiritual pigsty that we choose when we leave our fatherly loving God out of our hearts and out of 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:35.680 our lives. And you know, it's amazing what we content ourselves with when we lose sight of His love. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:43.040 We quite like wallowing in a pigsty sometimes. But we need time to break us out of that and to 00:19:43.040 --> 00:19:48.560 see the glory and the beauty of our relationship with Him rather than see it as a legalistic or 00:19:48.560 --> 00:19:54.240 a harsh thing. So that's the second thing. Try to keep His loving company foundational. Thirdly, 00:19:54.240 --> 00:20:02.000 recognize the role Sincese has in helping you to know the love of God. That's what the church is 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:10.400 about. That's the priority of the church is to teach us and to show one another how to live 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:16.640 in communities of family and how to love God. What is it that, you know, take a few minutes just to 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:23.359 think about what you think Sincese and the church, if you go another church, what that church is about. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:28.559 What's it about? It's about personalities, it's about community, it's about religion, 00:20:29.439 --> 00:20:34.479 is it just an institution? Is it something that really only matters to the guy who's always up 00:20:34.479 --> 00:20:40.000 the front and is involved in the life of the church and for everyone else it's just peripheral? 00:20:40.639 --> 00:20:48.879 Or do you never really think about what church and Sincese and gospel community is about? 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:58.400 Well, it is to be a place that actually reflects heaven. It's a shadow of something far greater 00:20:59.360 --> 00:21:05.680 that we look forward to because God is with us and God is in us through His Spirit. It's to be a 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:13.440 worshiping place, it's to be a community of worshipers who love God and who reflect that love 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:20.080 together. And it's to be a place that elevates the love of God to all who belong. 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:27.840 So when we come to worship on a Sunday, which is part of what we do, a very important part of what 00:21:27.840 --> 00:21:37.120 we do, prepare. Make it a priority coming to worship, not an optional extra but a priority. 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:47.279 So, today, see the open arms of Jesus Christ at the door, the open arms of the Father 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:53.759 at the door as it were. I'm not saying you see Christ in a building in a way that's different 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:58.639 from anywhere else in your life but it is a place where we're all gathered together 00:21:59.679 --> 00:22:06.319 and a place that should inspire our personal life of worship. And understand that that's the role, 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:13.039 see the preaching, see city groups, the engine room, seven days of prayer, one to seven one prayer 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:20.399 or grace groups or anything else. It's there to help you and me love God better. That's what it's 00:22:20.399 --> 00:22:25.759 there for. That's to be the priority in terms of the decision-making of what's important in St. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:31.679 Columbus. That will it help us make God better. That's a vision, that's a priority, that's why we exist. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:38.640 And can I just ask in conclusion just to take personal responsibility towards that 00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:43.519 over this year. Leaders in the church, elders, deacons, all different kind of leaders, 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:48.640 women's pastoral team and any who's leading in any way. Remember that you're called to promote 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:56.640 God's prodigality and the prodigality of His love. That's what you're to teach, that's what 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:02.480 you're to example. That's what's to be important about your role. That's the most important thing 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:08.320 in your role. That's your calling, that's your priority. That's to be your... He is to be your 00:23:08.320 --> 00:23:14.160 example and you're to show that example to others. And you're to help Corey in his preaching to make 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:19.920 sure that that is always the end and the focus and the perspective that he's bringing from the 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:26.240 pulpit and whoever else is preaching in the pulpit. Ever and always is the love of God in our lives, 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:31.839 His leaders, that's tremendously important. And as a church family, as all of us in a church family 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:41.120 learn to see the church as a canvas where we paint out the love of God and where we show it 00:23:41.120 --> 00:23:47.200 and where we live it. See everything through the lens of God's infinite love for you. 00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:55.279 And how can I reflect the Father's love through my involvement in His family here in St. C's? 00:23:55.279 --> 00:24:02.240 Do I see the role of the church to help me love God more and worship and discipleship, 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:12.720 an example in trials and failure? And how can I help others to love their Heavenly Father more? 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:19.839 I'll probably say a bit more about that next time we meet. But I really want you to think about 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:27.919 the place St. C's has in helping you to grow your love for Christ. It's a very important thing 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:35.279 that we recognize and see that that's the primary importance of the church, is to glorify God and 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:41.039 to worship Him in such a way that enables us to love Him more. It's not a human institution. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:47.199 It's not even a human family. It's not even just a community. It's worshiping people who seek to put 00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:52.799 the love of God at the very core of all we are. And that has huge implications for the way you think 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:57.680 about church, the way you think about the priority of church, the way you think about the priority 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:05.279 of St. Columbus, the way you think about one another within the church. He is our Father. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:10.960 Jesus Christ is what we're seeing earlier on today is our elder brother and we are brothers and 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:21.039 sisters in Him. And in order for all of that to happen, prayer remains the key. It must always 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:28.480 remain the key. It must always be key to this church's survival, both individually and corporately. 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:35.680 It must be. And so I'm just finishing with a well-known C.S. Lewis Quote, which is one of my 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:41.279 favorite quotes of all time when he speaks about prayer and the significance of prayer. And don't 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:48.640 be surprised that I finish on this note. I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:55.600 helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't 00:25:55.600 --> 00:26:03.519 change God. It changes me. And that's what we need here is that prayer life that enables us to see 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:11.440 how much we need to be changed to love Him and how much we need His strength to love 00:26:12.639 --> 00:26:20.000 and focus on His love in our lives. It's that, for me, it's the greatest challenge is 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:30.079 our remaining sin, which hardwires us to see God negatively, which wants us to crawl back onto the 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:37.039 throne and which also demands that we justify ourselves, that we earn it. And he says, you 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:44.480 don't earn it, you receive it. I mean, let's pray. Father God, help us to understand you better and 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:53.839 help St. Columbus over this year as things are changed and as new chapter begins, 00:26:53.839 --> 00:27:03.199 we pray that that wonderful and changing reality might be the foundation of the ongoing growth 00:27:03.199 --> 00:27:10.319 and blessing and a multiplication of blessing in the year ahead. We pray that might be the same for 00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:16.559 us and Leith and for every church in the city and beyond. We pray that we would keep our minds 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:27.440 focused on what is primary because it reminds us of, or it's the foundation for everything else. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:37.119 And Lord, help us to keep in mind that glorious picture of a father longingly waiting for his 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:51.199 child to return and running with open arms and celebrating joyfully in the glory of reunion 00:27:51.199 --> 00:27:58.639 and of reconciliation. And may our lives be celebratory and our spiritual lives reflect that 00:27:58.639 --> 00:28:06.879 celebratory nature. Forgive us when we're far more like the elder brother who has that legalistic 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:15.600 streak. Forgive us when we're grumpy and dull and judgmental and self-righteous and demanding of God 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:24.560 as if we owe or owed anything by you and deserve anything. Lord, help us, we pray, to see that 00:28:24.560 --> 00:28:35.120 spirit within us dissolved and dealt with by your amazing grace, by your amazing fullness of your love, 00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:43.919 by the finished work of Jesus which says it's done, it's finished. And to have that reality of love 00:28:43.919 --> 00:28:50.399 already expressed, He's given us Christ, how much more will He give us all things, all that we need 00:28:50.399 --> 00:28:56.719 to live our lives, even in the midst of things we don't understand, difficult and confusing and dark 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:05.440 circumstances that don't make sense. May we hold on to this great fact, great truth of your fatherly 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:14.640 love and a celebratory joy in being in a relationship with you. And may we see that as we pray, 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:18.960 that you love to hear us pray, that you want us to pray, you want us to pray individually, 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:25.519 you want us to pray together, you want always to hear us even when we don't want to hear ourselves 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:30.799 sometimes and don't want to hear others. Lord, we thank you that you never tire of hearing our 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:37.279 dependent cries to you. So may we find prayer at the very foundation of all we are and do 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:56.240 and continue to be and do here. Continue with us as we return our thanks to you and praise for Jesus' sake. Amen.