WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.839 189, Tunis Highland Cathedral. I will exalt you, O my God and King. Forever I will praise your holy 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:15.359 name. I will extol your name forevermore. Day after day your praise I will proclaim. 00:00:16.219 --> 00:00:22.519 Great is the Lord, most worthy of all praise. His greatness none can search or comprehend. 00:00:23.420 --> 00:00:29.060 Each generation will recount your deeds, and to the next your mighty acts commend. 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:33.239 Psalm 145, verses 1-7. We'll stand to sing. 00:00:59.060 --> 00:01:12.060 Forever I will praise your holy name forevermore. Day after day your praise I will proclaim. 00:01:12.060 --> 00:01:30.060 Great is the Lord, most worthy of all praise. His greatness none can search or comprehend. 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:48.520 Each generation will recount your deeds, and to the next your mighty acts commend. 00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:58.519 May praise the splendor of your majesty. 00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:26.519 The power of the works that you have done. I do will meditate upon your deeds, and your majestic acts I will make known. 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:44.520 They will rejoice in your benevolence, and your abundant grace they'll celebrate. 00:02:44.520 --> 00:03:03.020 Their righteousness that you have shown today. In grace and joyful song they will relay. 00:03:03.020 --> 00:03:10.600 Let's unite now in a brief word of prayer. 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:22.199 Lord, our gracious God, our heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity once again of being together in this place of worship. 00:03:22.939 --> 00:03:33.419 We give thanks, Lord, for these words that we have been singing, reminding us of how much we need to be thankful when we recollect the goodness of God to us. 00:03:33.419 --> 00:03:53.759 And we thank you for this, Lord, and we thank you for this opportunity of expressing our thanks for your goodness through praise and adoration of your name. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:56.819 Bless us here, we pray. Bless us here, we pray. Bless the children. 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:01.000 And we ask, O Lord, that your blessing will always be with them. 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:05.299 And we pray that you would bless to them the teaching they receive from your Word. 00:04:06.239 --> 00:04:09.719 Lord, we ask that you would apply it to their heart even in their youngest days. 00:04:10.379 --> 00:04:13.879 We pray that they may learn to walk in your ways day by day. 00:04:14.539 --> 00:04:16.839 We pray for your protective care over them. 00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:24.759 We pray that you would give to them, Lord, that inwardly and outwardly they may know of your own provision and care for them. 00:04:25.399 --> 00:04:28.379 And we commend them today to you and ask that you would bless them. 00:04:29.139 --> 00:04:31.560 Be with us now, we pray, in the remainder of our service. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:37.659 And throughout this day, we ask it all in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. 00:04:37.660 --> 00:04:37.820 Amen. 00:04:40.620 --> 00:04:46.680 Okay, children, well, as you know, we had a minute's silence there because this is Remembrance Sunday. 00:04:47.880 --> 00:04:57.360 And on Remembrance Sunday, we remember those who died in the wars that took place, well, really since the First World War especially, 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:05.040 and the Second World War and other wars since then, many people died saving our nation, our country. 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:14.780 And if you were looking at watching the remembrance ceremony yesterday, last night, the Festival of Remembrance from the Albert Hall, 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:21.820 you'll have remembered that one particular phrase was frequently used there by those who spoke. 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:28.400 Just three words, and I'd like your children to remember these three words today, as well as ourselves as adults, 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:33.840 because they don't just refer to what happened in these wars that we remember. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:38.299 However, it's also three words that also apply very much to the Christian life. 00:05:39.139 --> 00:05:43.479 And the three words are service before self. 00:05:44.719 --> 00:05:47.899 Service before self. 00:05:48.579 --> 00:05:57.039 In other words, we, rather than just focus selfishly on ourselves, we think of our service to others. 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:03.520 Jesus is the great example of service before self. 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:13.520 Because although He was the Son of God, the Bible tells us many times that He came into this world to be a servant to God the Father. 00:06:14.460 --> 00:06:18.360 And that as a servant, He put others before Himself. 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:29.160 He gave Himself to suffering, to temptation, even to the death that He died on the cross because of His love for His people. 00:06:29.819 --> 00:06:34.500 It was always for Jesus, service before self. 00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:40.240 And that is what you find with those who gave their lives as they served their country. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:42.899 They were proud to serve their country. 00:06:43.699 --> 00:06:55.339 They went to war seeking to support their country in standing for freedom and in trying to remove those who had come to invade other countries, 00:06:55.339 --> 00:07:01.239 such as in the world wars, such as you find even just now in Ukraine. 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:15.500 Service before self is something that all service people put to themselves and are pleased to actually say this is how they try to live their lives as well. 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:19.420 But it also applies to the Christian life. 00:07:20.420 --> 00:07:25.779 Because we follow the example of Jesus when we put service before self. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:32.079 Our primary responsibility and delight is to serve God. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:37.240 We put the service of God before our own selfish pleasures. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:44.920 God always comes first if we're really following the teaching of the Bible as to what a Christian life is about. 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:52.399 We always think of serving God before we think of anything for ourselves, selfishly or personally. 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:57.959 And it's our great privilege to serve God in this life. 00:07:58.740 --> 00:08:01.959 But it's not just serving God, we also serve one another. 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:07.600 It's service before self when we think of the needs of other people. 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:16.060 When we think of the needs of all around us here in our community, whether it's through facing debt or poverty or other needs, 00:08:16.780 --> 00:08:21.000 whatever they may be, people around us have particular needs. 00:08:21.700 --> 00:08:28.980 That's why you children as well remember that you think of the needs of others before we think of our own needs. 00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:33.180 It's always service before self. 00:08:33.980 --> 00:08:37.779 And that's how it must be for us as Christians in this life. 00:08:38.420 --> 00:08:43.440 We're not always true to that principle. 00:08:44.519 --> 00:08:47.220 Sometimes we fail, as we do in many other things. 00:08:47.220 --> 00:08:51.460 But it's something we always want to remember and to apply to ourselves. 00:08:52.160 --> 00:08:54.440 Service before self. 00:08:54.580 --> 00:08:56.200 So will you remember these three words? 00:08:56.879 --> 00:08:59.720 Service before self. 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:02.860 Now we're going to say the Lord's Prayer together. 00:09:02.860 --> 00:09:30.399 Amen. 00:09:33.419 --> 00:09:38.639 Well, we are going to sing to God's praise once again, this time Psalm 25 in the Scottish 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:53.659 Psalter. This is on page 233, and singing verses 6 to 9. Sorry, that should be 6 to 10. Four 00:09:53.659 --> 00:10:03.159 verses. No, I'm sorry, I'm looking at the wrong version. It is actually 6 to 9. On page 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:11.219 233, the tune is St. Paul. Thy mercies that most tender are, do thou, O Lord, remember, 00:10:11.819 --> 00:10:17.199 and lovingkindnesses, for they have been of old forever. Let not the others of my youth 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:24.400 nor sins remembered be. In mercy for thy goodness sake, O Lord, remember me. So 00:10:24.400 --> 00:10:31.780 that's Psalm number 25, page 233, verses 6 to 9. Thy mercies that most tender are. 00:10:31.779 --> 00:11:01.759 Thy mercies that most tender are, do thou, O Lord, remember, and lovingkindnesses, for they have been of old forever. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:13.639 O Lord, remember, and lovingkindnesses, for they have been of old forever. Let not the others of my youth 00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:31.740 nor sins remembered be. In mercy for thy goodness sake, O Lord, remember me. 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:57.560 The Lord is good and gracious. He uprightest, O soul. He therefore sinners will instig. 00:11:57.559 --> 00:11:59.559 In ways that they should go. 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:04.559 In ways that they should go. 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:19.559 The meek and knowing he will guide, In judge let just away, 00:12:19.559 --> 00:12:34.559 To meek and knowing he will guide, To meek and pure, affraighted ones, He'll clearly teach his way. 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:41.459 Now, reading of God's Word today is from John's Gospel in chapter 15. 00:12:41.460 --> 00:12:47.460 Gospel according to John chapter 15, reading verses 1 to 17. 00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:59.000 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:06.240 Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, 00:13:06.340 --> 00:13:13.900 He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 00:13:13.899 --> 00:13:16.899 Abide in me, and I in you. 00:13:16.899 --> 00:13:21.939 As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, 00:13:21.939 --> 00:13:24.939 Neither can you unless you abide in me. 00:13:24.939 --> 00:13:28.220 I am the vine, you are the branches. 00:13:28.899 --> 00:13:33.720 Whoever abides in me and I in him, He it is that bears much fruit. 00:13:34.500 --> 00:13:37.059 For apart from me you can do nothing. 00:13:37.059 --> 00:13:42.679 If anyone does not abide in me, He is thrown away like a branch and withers. 00:13:43.459 --> 00:13:46.459 And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. 00:13:47.299 --> 00:13:50.079 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:53.179 Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 00:13:54.119 --> 00:13:58.199 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, 00:13:58.819 --> 00:14:01.019 And so prove to be my disciples. 00:14:02.019 --> 00:14:05.579 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. 00:14:05.580 --> 00:14:07.840 Abide in my love. 00:14:08.680 --> 00:14:11.900 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, 00:14:12.259 --> 00:14:16.160 Just as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:21.040 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, 00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:23.620 And that your joy may be full. 00:14:24.660 --> 00:14:29.060 This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. 00:14:29.940 --> 00:14:31.879 Greater love has no one than this, 00:14:32.520 --> 00:14:34.840 That someone lays down his life for his friends. 00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:39.220 You are my friends, if you do what I command you. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:41.800 No longer do I call you servants, 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:45.040 For the servant does not know what his master is doing. 00:14:45.740 --> 00:14:47.240 But I have called you friends, 00:14:47.480 --> 00:14:49.920 For all that I have heard from my Father, 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:52.080 I have made known to you. 00:14:53.180 --> 00:14:54.500 You did not choose me, 00:14:55.220 --> 00:14:57.460 But I chose you and appointed you, 00:14:57.899 --> 00:14:59.840 That you should go and bear fruit, 00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:02.160 And that your fruit should abide, 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:05.500 So that whatever you ask the Father in my name, 00:15:06.079 --> 00:15:07.279 He may give it to you. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:10.059 These things I command you, 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:12.799 So that you will love one another. 00:15:13.740 --> 00:15:19.220 And so on, may the Lord bless to us that portion of His own precious Word. 00:15:19.740 --> 00:15:21.259 Let's again engage in prayer. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:22.319 Let's call upon the Lord. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:26.660 Our gracious God, 00:15:26.740 --> 00:15:28.580 As we continue in prayer, 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:30.400 And praise before you, 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:34.379 We do ask for your Holy Spirit to help us, 00:15:34.540 --> 00:15:38.780 To recollect the many ways in which today we reflect upon your goodness. 00:15:38.779 --> 00:15:41.019 Help us, Lord, 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:42.939 As we give thanks to you, 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:44.919 To realize once again, 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:47.379 That the more we increase in thankfulness, 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:50.919 The more we will increase in our dependence upon you. 00:15:51.779 --> 00:15:54.199 But it is as we bring into our own memory, 00:15:54.959 --> 00:15:56.819 And as we recollect and think upon, 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:59.299 The many good things we receive from you, 00:15:59.339 --> 00:16:00.500 And give thanks for them. 00:16:01.259 --> 00:16:01.759 So, Lord, 00:16:01.819 --> 00:16:04.079 We realize our need to depend upon you, 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:06.059 And the truth of your Word, 00:16:06.059 --> 00:16:09.379 That it is in you we live and move and have our being. 00:16:10.379 --> 00:16:13.559 Our very physical frame is dependent upon you. 00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:15.319 It is indeed, O Lord, 00:16:15.419 --> 00:16:19.399 True that in our thoughts and in our bodily actions, 00:16:19.559 --> 00:16:22.119 As well as in those movements of our souls, 00:16:22.819 --> 00:16:24.659 We are truly dependent upon you. 00:16:25.379 --> 00:16:27.059 And especially in the things of redemption, 00:16:27.659 --> 00:16:28.399 Of salvation, 00:16:28.579 --> 00:16:30.179 We are dependent upon your grace, 00:16:30.959 --> 00:16:32.399 Upon the power of your Spirit. 00:16:33.299 --> 00:16:34.979 Lord, help us indeed to realize, 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:37.360 Therefore, as we have been reading in your Word, 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:39.360 That cut off from you, 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:41.279 And without a living connection with you, 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:43.379 We cannot achieve anything, 00:16:43.379 --> 00:16:45.259 That will be to your praise and glory, 00:16:45.980 --> 00:16:47.200 Or even to our own good, 00:16:47.259 --> 00:16:49.960 Or the advantage of our fellow human beings. 00:16:50.980 --> 00:16:52.220 We thank you today, Lord, 00:16:52.300 --> 00:16:53.200 For the opportunity, 00:16:53.860 --> 00:16:55.159 That we have to serve you, 00:16:55.220 --> 00:16:56.279 While we are in this world. 00:16:57.320 --> 00:16:59.500 We pray that you would enable us to do this, 00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:02.420 While you keep our faculties, O Lord, 00:17:02.419 --> 00:17:05.339 So that you give us the mind, 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:07.639 And the ability that we require, 00:17:08.379 --> 00:17:09.759 To be of service to you. 00:17:10.700 --> 00:17:12.759 Help us to bear that fruit, O Lord, 00:17:13.339 --> 00:17:15.200 Through that living connection with you, 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.420 So that we would bear that fruit of a righteous life, 00:17:18.460 --> 00:17:19.299 A holy life, 00:17:19.879 --> 00:17:21.579 A life that will be seen, 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:22.859 In all respects, 00:17:23.019 --> 00:17:24.599 As giving glory to God. 00:17:25.420 --> 00:17:27.119 This is how you taught your disciples, 00:17:27.259 --> 00:17:28.700 As we have been reading, O Lord. 00:17:28.700 --> 00:17:31.460 By this is our Father glorified, 00:17:32.120 --> 00:17:33.580 That we bear much fruit. 00:17:34.580 --> 00:17:35.420 We thank you, Lord, 00:17:35.500 --> 00:17:37.200 For the enabling grace, 00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:38.799 That you give us from day to day. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:40.380 And we thank you, 00:17:40.440 --> 00:17:42.900 That your grace is extended to us, 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:45.779 Even at our deepest points of need. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:48.519 And we are especially grateful then, O Lord, 00:17:48.940 --> 00:17:50.420 For your upholding strength, 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:51.319 And for your grace. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:54.519 O Lord, we pray today for all your people, 00:17:55.259 --> 00:17:56.880 And we pray for them throughout the world, 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:59.320 So many of them in different circumstances, 00:17:59.460 --> 00:18:00.060 To ours. 00:18:00.740 --> 00:18:01.960 So many of them, Lord, 00:18:02.080 --> 00:18:06.200 That find themselves caught up in such difficult, 00:18:06.800 --> 00:18:09.460 Trying, challenging circumstances in life. 00:18:10.320 --> 00:18:14.480 Lord, we think of our own circumstances at times being challenging, 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.520 And yet we know that they are far less so, 00:18:17.600 --> 00:18:19.680 Than so many others in the world in which we live. 00:18:20.420 --> 00:18:23.020 We pray that you would help us as we pray for them, 00:18:23.560 --> 00:18:25.240 And give thanks for our own freedom, 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:26.880 And for the measure, Lord, 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:29.740 That you give us of abundance in our lives. 00:18:30.460 --> 00:18:33.339 We pray for those today who are caught up in poverty. 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:35.640 So many places in the world, O Lord, 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:36.799 Where crops have failed, 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:41.559 Where drought and other climatic disaster has reached, 00:18:42.220 --> 00:18:45.720 In places where there is now scarcity of food. 00:18:45.720 --> 00:18:47.860 Lord, we pray for them, 00:18:47.860 --> 00:18:50.000 And that relief that is brought to them, 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:52.460 Might be brought to them quickly, 00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:53.980 And that they might, Lord, 00:18:54.039 --> 00:18:57.500 Find themselves at this time provided for, 00:18:57.960 --> 00:18:58.920 In your great mercy, 00:18:59.059 --> 00:19:00.400 And in your kindness to them. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:03.039 We pray that you would bless those today, 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:03.339 Lord, 00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:07.100 Also who are caught up in situations of war. 00:19:07.819 --> 00:19:10.819 We think again of those in Ukraine, 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:13.299 And the surrounding areas that have been affected, 00:19:13.299 --> 00:19:14.960 By this invasion. 00:19:16.019 --> 00:19:16.919 And Lord, once again, 00:19:16.980 --> 00:19:20.659 We appeal to you that you would deal with the aggressor, 00:19:21.299 --> 00:19:23.079 That you would bring these things, Lord, 00:19:23.159 --> 00:19:23.819 To an end, 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:25.940 And in your own way, 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:27.460 And as you see fit, 00:19:27.579 --> 00:19:30.220 We commend the people of Ukraine to you, 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:33.740 We commend especially those of your own church, 00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:34.680 And people there, 00:19:35.339 --> 00:19:36.279 Who pray to you, 00:19:36.379 --> 00:19:37.980 Who seek an end to this war, 00:19:38.579 --> 00:19:39.740 Who seek to return, Lord, 00:19:39.740 --> 00:19:41.279 Who are in other countries at the moment, 00:19:41.380 --> 00:19:44.220 And seek to return to their own native country. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:45.900 And we ask, Lord, 00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:49.319 That you would continue to uphold the government in Ukraine, 00:19:49.500 --> 00:19:52.319 Who battle against so many difficulties, 00:19:52.700 --> 00:19:55.460 So many things that seem to, 00:19:55.460 --> 00:19:58.079 Seek to discourage them from day to day, 00:19:58.140 --> 00:19:58.900 And yet we find, 00:19:59.019 --> 00:19:59.299 Oh Lord, 00:19:59.380 --> 00:20:01.660 That they continue to persevere, 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:04.539 And we take our own example from them, 00:20:04.660 --> 00:20:04.779 Lord, 00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:05.599 In many ways, 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:08.539 Of a life that perseveres against adversity, 00:20:09.379 --> 00:20:12.039 For this is also of the essence of the Christian life. 00:20:13.019 --> 00:20:13.639 We ask, 00:20:13.779 --> 00:20:14.000 Oh Lord, 00:20:14.099 --> 00:20:14.259 Too, 00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:16.619 That you'd bless those throughout the world, 00:20:16.719 --> 00:20:19.859 Who have other difficulties to contend with in these days. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:22.599 We pray for our own nation at this time, 00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:26.919 And we pray that you'd bless us in times of economic challenges, 00:20:27.139 --> 00:20:27.819 And other ways, 00:20:27.879 --> 00:20:28.219 Oh Lord, 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:29.859 Where in your providence, 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:31.619 We face difficulties as a nation, 00:20:31.619 --> 00:20:32.279 As a people. 00:20:33.179 --> 00:20:33.740 Teach us, 00:20:33.879 --> 00:20:33.980 Lord, 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:34.919 To turn to you, 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:36.960 Teach us to pray to you, 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:39.759 Teach us to come to depend upon you, 00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:42.700 Turn us away from our selfishness, 00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:43.880 Give us, 00:20:44.039 --> 00:20:44.300 Oh Lord, 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:47.600 To come to know you as our God, 00:20:48.120 --> 00:20:49.580 As our Father in heaven, 00:20:50.580 --> 00:20:52.840 Bless those who are in government over us, 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:55.039 The different parts of the nation, 00:20:55.600 --> 00:20:57.360 We commend them again to you, 00:20:57.940 --> 00:20:58.860 We pray for them, 00:20:58.980 --> 00:20:59.100 Lord, 00:20:59.140 --> 00:21:01.259 That you would give to them insight, 00:21:01.660 --> 00:21:02.100 Wisdom, 00:21:02.840 --> 00:21:04.000 Decisive decisions, 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:04.319 Lord, 00:21:04.380 --> 00:21:06.660 That are taken in the light of your word, 00:21:06.740 --> 00:21:07.400 Of your truth, 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:10.039 Help them to respect your laws, 00:21:10.779 --> 00:21:11.279 Oh Lord, 00:21:11.380 --> 00:21:12.059 We ask that, 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:13.220 In mercy, 00:21:13.339 --> 00:21:14.400 You would turn to us, 00:21:14.460 --> 00:21:15.940 For we have spurned your laws, 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:18.839 And we have turned aside to our own wisdom, 00:21:19.339 --> 00:21:21.980 We have set up the idols of selfishness, 00:21:21.980 --> 00:21:24.400 Instead of worshiping God, 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:25.560 And Lord, 00:21:25.620 --> 00:21:27.060 We pray that you would turn us, 00:21:27.140 --> 00:21:29.360 Back into the ways of your truth, 00:21:30.360 --> 00:21:31.620 Remember us, 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:32.000 We pray, 00:21:32.560 --> 00:21:34.640 In our own locality here as well, 00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:35.680 Lord, 00:21:35.740 --> 00:21:36.840 We ask that you would bless, 00:21:37.300 --> 00:21:38.660 Those in the Corle, 00:21:38.780 --> 00:21:39.320 Those in, 00:21:39.860 --> 00:21:40.660 Those in, 00:21:40.660 --> 00:21:42.120 In other places of influence, 00:21:42.120 --> 00:21:44.360 In our community here, 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:45.940 And we pray for all, 00:21:46.040 --> 00:21:46.160 Lord, 00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:47.860 Who help us from time to time, 00:21:48.500 --> 00:21:49.200 In our hospitals, 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:50.080 In our schools, 00:21:50.340 --> 00:21:51.580 We pray for our teachers, 00:21:52.340 --> 00:21:53.759 We pray for those who assist them, 00:21:53.860 --> 00:21:55.640 We ask that you would bless them, 00:21:55.779 --> 00:21:55.900 Lord, 00:21:55.980 --> 00:21:57.080 In challenging times, 00:21:57.779 --> 00:21:59.040 We pray again for our children, 00:21:59.220 --> 00:22:00.420 For our younger generation, 00:22:00.420 --> 00:22:03.259 And we ask that you would grant them, 00:22:03.420 --> 00:22:03.500 Lord, 00:22:03.600 --> 00:22:05.200 To be turned into your ways, 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:07.620 And where there is rebelliousness, 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:10.620 And where there is a spirit of, 00:22:10.620 --> 00:22:15.539 Of coming to resist and reject authority, 00:22:16.300 --> 00:22:16.580 Oh, 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:17.259 Gracious Lord, 00:22:17.300 --> 00:22:19.920 We pray that our young people may learn, 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:22.360 Of the grace and the authority of Jesus, 00:22:23.220 --> 00:22:25.980 That they may come to give their lives over to him, 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:29.360 And find that he is the best master by far, 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:30.459 Lord, 00:22:30.539 --> 00:22:32.699 We pray that you would grant them your blessing, 00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:34.579 To those who are engaged today, 00:22:34.639 --> 00:22:35.779 In missionary activity, 00:22:36.519 --> 00:22:38.519 Both locally and throughout the whole world, 00:22:38.619 --> 00:22:39.799 We pray that you'd bless them, 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:41.399 We pray for Muriel, 00:22:41.459 --> 00:22:42.959 As she spends time with us, 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:45.119 And in her travels, 00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:45.459 Lord, 00:22:45.500 --> 00:22:46.799 As she speaks about her work, 00:22:46.879 --> 00:22:48.599 We again commit her to you, 00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:50.199 And ask your blessing to be with them, 00:22:50.519 --> 00:22:50.899 With her, 00:22:51.659 --> 00:22:53.979 And with all who help her in the work in Cambodia, 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:57.979 We pray for those who are shortly to go to Gambia, 00:22:57.980 --> 00:22:59.759 And those who are already there, 00:22:59.819 --> 00:23:01.440 We ask that you'd grant them, 00:23:01.579 --> 00:23:01.660 Lord, 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:03.120 Your protective care, 00:23:03.180 --> 00:23:03.819 And their travel, 00:23:04.500 --> 00:23:05.740 We pray that you'd bless them, 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:07.660 And the initiative that they're involved with, 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:10.079 And we ask that they may know your blessing, 00:23:10.220 --> 00:23:10.839 Following them, 00:23:11.420 --> 00:23:13.720 And making them a blessing, 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:15.960 To the people there in the Gambia, 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:19.279 We pray today for those who are recovering from illness, 00:23:19.940 --> 00:23:20.960 Those of our own number, 00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:21.259 Lord, 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:21.880 At this time, 00:23:21.980 --> 00:23:23.819 We pray for Marianne, 00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:25.480 We pray for Alan, 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:27.059 We ask that you'd bless them, 00:23:27.579 --> 00:23:29.019 As they recover from treatment, 00:23:29.319 --> 00:23:30.319 From illness, 00:23:31.160 --> 00:23:32.980 We pray for all others, 00:23:33.140 --> 00:23:33.259 Lord, 00:23:33.339 --> 00:23:35.079 Who are at this time laid aside, 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:36.519 We pray for Michelle, 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:37.059 And Matthew, 00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:37.740 And their family, 00:23:38.420 --> 00:23:40.079 We ask that you'd bless Michelle, 00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:40.700 At this time, 00:23:40.779 --> 00:23:42.000 Lay your good hand upon her, 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:43.160 For her healing, 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:43.720 We pray, 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:45.539 And grant that your blessing, 00:23:45.900 --> 00:23:47.500 Will be with them as a family too, 00:23:47.579 --> 00:23:49.559 And all of their loved ones too, 00:23:50.279 --> 00:23:52.180 Remember those who mourn in our congregation, 00:23:52.360 --> 00:23:53.299 And in our neighborhood, 00:23:53.299 --> 00:23:54.720 Gracious Lord, 00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:55.240 Bless them, 00:23:55.299 --> 00:23:56.419 We pray with your comfort, 00:23:57.159 --> 00:23:58.940 Give them today to know that, 00:23:59.500 --> 00:24:00.579 They are indeed, 00:24:01.159 --> 00:24:02.440 Privileged to, 00:24:02.879 --> 00:24:04.339 Be able to call upon yourself, 00:24:04.579 --> 00:24:05.279 And help them, 00:24:05.819 --> 00:24:06.899 As they reflect us, 00:24:06.940 --> 00:24:08.779 We come towards the end of another year, 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:09.059 And, 00:24:09.899 --> 00:24:10.139 Lord, 00:24:10.200 --> 00:24:11.599 We know how poignant this is, 00:24:11.639 --> 00:24:13.019 For those who have lost loved ones, 00:24:13.579 --> 00:24:14.539 And we pray for them, 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:15.799 That your upholding strength, 00:24:15.819 --> 00:24:16.559 Will be with them, 00:24:17.159 --> 00:24:18.859 And we ask that in all of these things, 00:24:18.919 --> 00:24:19.919 As we pray for them, 00:24:20.500 --> 00:24:21.419 That we may do so, 00:24:21.420 --> 00:24:21.840 O Lord, 00:24:21.940 --> 00:24:22.600 Remembering, 00:24:23.100 --> 00:24:24.240 That we are indeed, 00:24:24.800 --> 00:24:26.900 Named by the name of God, 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:28.240 And so help us, 00:24:28.320 --> 00:24:29.460 We pray as our God, 00:24:30.019 --> 00:24:31.740 So that we may go from day to day, 00:24:31.860 --> 00:24:32.200 Safe, 00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:34.620 In the knowledge that we are in your hand, 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:35.640 Hear us, 00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:36.080 We pray, 00:24:36.180 --> 00:24:37.560 And pardon our many sins, 00:24:37.980 --> 00:24:39.019 For Jesus' sake, 00:24:39.220 --> 00:24:39.539 Amen. 00:24:41.700 --> 00:24:42.140 Well, 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:42.860 We'll sing once again, 00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:43.920 Before we turn to John, 00:24:44.620 --> 00:24:46.480 Singing this time in Psalm 80, 00:24:47.840 --> 00:24:48.640 Psalm number 80, 00:24:48.759 --> 00:24:48.920 Again, 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:50.140 And it's in the Scottish altar, 00:24:52.300 --> 00:24:54.019 And it's page 334, 00:24:55.140 --> 00:24:57.300 Singing verses 14 to 19. 00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:01.060 This is a psalm, 00:25:01.160 --> 00:25:02.200 That's really a psalm, 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:03.340 In many ways of lament, 00:25:03.460 --> 00:25:04.160 And of prayer, 00:25:04.259 --> 00:25:04.779 And petition, 00:25:05.620 --> 00:25:07.539 Where the people in the psalmist's time, 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:08.420 Reflect upon, 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:10.519 How God took them as a people, 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:11.440 From Egypt, 00:25:12.140 --> 00:25:13.900 Planted them in the land of Canaan, 00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:14.380 As it were, 00:25:14.380 --> 00:25:18.160 And he's using the imagery of a vine, 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.660 Being planted in a vineyard, 00:25:21.260 --> 00:25:22.700 But instead of bringing forth, 00:25:23.220 --> 00:25:25.360 The fruit that God sought, 00:25:25.580 --> 00:25:26.380 They brought forth, 00:25:26.980 --> 00:25:29.060 Fruit that was just, 00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:29.440 As you know, 00:25:29.460 --> 00:25:30.180 In the Old Testament, 00:25:30.980 --> 00:25:32.580 They brought forth idolatry, 00:25:33.020 --> 00:25:34.380 They turned away into the ways, 00:25:34.420 --> 00:25:36.220 Of pagan nations around them, 00:25:36.900 --> 00:25:38.500 And so God brought, 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:39.720 The disaster upon them, 00:25:39.780 --> 00:25:40.400 That we know of, 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:41.780 In the Old Testament, 00:25:41.779 --> 00:25:43.359 As the exile in Babylon, 00:25:44.539 --> 00:25:46.539 Here is the psalmist, 00:25:46.599 --> 00:25:47.740 Appealing to the Lord, 00:25:48.460 --> 00:25:49.759 To turn them as a people, 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:51.259 Back to himself, 00:25:51.779 --> 00:25:52.899 So from verse 14, 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:53.720 We'll sing to the tune, 00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:54.220 Morvan, 00:25:54.980 --> 00:25:55.899 O God of hosts, 00:25:56.019 --> 00:25:56.899 We thee beseech, 00:25:57.319 --> 00:25:58.839 Return now unto thine, 00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:00.960 Look down from heaven in love, 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:01.559 And behold, 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:03.399 And visit this, 00:26:04.059 --> 00:26:05.019 Thy vine, 00:26:05.639 --> 00:26:06.119 And so on, 00:26:06.139 --> 00:26:07.139 Through to the end of the psalm, 00:26:07.139 --> 00:26:07.980 O God of hosts, 00:26:08.519 --> 00:26:09.700 We thee beseech, 00:26:09.700 --> 00:26:18.580 O God of hosts, 00:26:18.580 --> 00:26:22.740 We thee beseech, 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:23.019 We thee beseech, 00:26:23.019 --> 00:26:24.519 We thee beseech, 00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:26.519 We thee beseech, 00:26:26.519 --> 00:26:27.319 And so on, 00:26:27.319 --> 00:26:30.319 To the end of the psalm, 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:35.019 Live thine from heaven, 00:26:35.019 --> 00:26:38.519 And love me all, 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:42.900 And the clap, 00:26:42.900 --> 00:26:46.400 And this sight is thine of mine, 00:26:47.400 --> 00:26:51.559 The됐 Bernhard, 00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:53.299 O God of hosts, 00:26:53.299 --> 00:26:57.539 Thy own right hand 00:26:57.539 --> 00:27:03.980 hath planted us upon 00:27:03.980 --> 00:27:09.980 and the same branch 00:27:09.980 --> 00:27:14.980 which for I sell 00:27:14.980 --> 00:27:22.980 thou hast made to be strong. 00:27:23.299 --> 00:27:33.019 Burned up ages with flame in high 00:27:33.019 --> 00:27:41.000 they also risk of time. 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:49.180 They, as army, are perished 00:27:49.180 --> 00:27:59.180 when as thy face doth rhyme. 00:27:59.180 --> 00:28:08.640 O let thy hand be still upon 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:16.180 the man of thy right hand, 00:28:16.180 --> 00:28:26.180 the Son of man, in for thyself 00:28:26.180 --> 00:28:34.180 thou needest strong to stand. 00:28:34.180 --> 00:28:44.180 So henceforth we will not go back 00:28:44.180 --> 00:28:52.180 nor turn from thee at all. 00:28:52.180 --> 00:29:02.180 O dear, thy wickedness and we 00:29:02.180 --> 00:29:10.180 upon thy name welcome. 00:29:10.180 --> 00:29:21.680 Turn us again, Lord God of hosts 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:29.680 and upon us thine 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:39.680 to make thy cartons to shine 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:47.680 and so we shall be saved. 00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:53.500 Now please turn with me to John chapter 15. 00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:57.440 I'm going to look today briefly at verses 1 to 11. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:01.620 John chapter 15. 00:30:01.720 --> 00:30:04.100 We can read a couple of verses from the beginning. 00:30:04.099 --> 00:30:05.099 I am the true vine. 00:30:05.099 --> 00:30:06.099 I am the true vine. 00:30:06.099 --> 00:30:07.099 I am the true vine. 00:30:07.099 --> 00:30:09.099 This is of course as Jesus is speaking. 00:30:09.099 --> 00:30:11.099 I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. 00:30:11.099 --> 00:30:14.099 Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit, 00:30:14.099 --> 00:30:15.099 he takes away. 00:30:15.099 --> 00:30:18.099 And every branch that does bear fruit, 00:30:18.099 --> 00:30:22.099 he prunes that it may bear more fruit. 00:30:22.099 --> 00:30:27.099 Now we're continuing with our short series of studies called 00:30:27.099 --> 00:30:29.099 the Portraits of the Church in Scripture. 00:30:29.099 --> 00:30:31.099 We've already looked at a number. 00:30:31.099 --> 00:30:33.099 Last time we looked in Luke chapter 13, 00:30:33.099 --> 00:30:37.099 you may recall at the fig tree in the vineyard 00:30:37.099 --> 00:30:40.099 and how we saw that that included some aspects 00:30:40.099 --> 00:30:43.099 of the life that we find in the church 00:30:43.099 --> 00:30:48.099 and how God has placed us deliberately under the gospel 00:30:48.099 --> 00:30:50.099 that we may flourish for Him. 00:30:50.099 --> 00:30:56.099 And that's continuing in chapter 15 here of John, 00:30:56.099 --> 00:30:58.099 where Jesus, as He addresses the disciples, 00:30:58.099 --> 00:31:00.099 says of Himself, 00:31:00.099 --> 00:31:04.099 I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. 00:31:04.099 --> 00:31:08.099 It relates to some of the pictures you have in the Old Testament, 00:31:08.099 --> 00:31:11.099 descriptions of the church, of the people of God, 00:31:11.099 --> 00:31:13.099 the covenant people of Israel, 00:31:13.099 --> 00:31:16.099 as they're described as a vineyard or sometimes as a vine. 00:31:16.099 --> 00:31:19.099 What you find in Isaiah chapter 5, for example, 00:31:19.099 --> 00:31:24.099 also references in Ezekiel as we sang Psalm 80. 00:31:24.099 --> 00:31:27.099 You find that imagery used in Psalm 80 as well 00:31:27.099 --> 00:31:33.099 of the people as a vine that God had planted in the land of Canaan. 00:31:33.099 --> 00:31:38.099 But here we find Jesus speaking of Himself as the true vine, 00:31:38.099 --> 00:31:43.099 the vine which is going to bear fruit through its branches, 00:31:43.099 --> 00:31:48.099 through those people who are connected to Him spiritually 00:31:48.099 --> 00:31:52.099 in such a way that they bear spiritual fruit. 00:31:52.099 --> 00:31:55.099 And that's really one of the great lessons of the passage, 00:31:55.099 --> 00:31:58.099 the nature of our connection with Jesus 00:31:58.099 --> 00:32:03.099 and what that connection needs to be if we are to bear fruit for Him, 00:32:03.099 --> 00:32:08.099 if we are to bear fruit spiritually to God's glory. 00:32:08.099 --> 00:32:12.099 So, that's the first point I want to really try and emphasize from the passage, 00:32:12.099 --> 00:32:18.099 and that is that there is here described a living connection to Jesus, 00:32:18.099 --> 00:32:23.099 a living connection to Jesus Christ. 00:32:23.099 --> 00:32:30.099 Secondly, we'll look at more fully a fruitful connection to Jesus, 00:32:30.099 --> 00:32:34.099 because the whole purpose of a vine is to bear fruit. 00:32:34.099 --> 00:32:37.099 And one of the things Jesus says, as we'll see, 00:32:37.099 --> 00:32:42.099 is branches of the vine that do not bear fruit are cut away from the vine. 00:32:42.099 --> 00:32:43.099 They're cut off from the vine. 00:32:43.099 --> 00:32:44.099 They're then dumped. 00:32:44.099 --> 00:32:45.099 They're rejected. 00:32:45.099 --> 00:32:50.099 And there's a spiritual lesson solemnly in that as well. 00:32:50.099 --> 00:32:54.099 So, here's first of all a living connection with Jesus. 00:32:54.099 --> 00:32:58.099 Now, obviously, it's fairly obvious that the vine and the branches, 00:32:58.099 --> 00:33:02.099 the main trunk of the vine and the branches that develop from it, 00:33:02.099 --> 00:33:04.099 are vitally connected together. 00:33:04.099 --> 00:33:10.099 And I mean vitally in the proper sense of the word, vitally meaning bringing life. 00:33:10.099 --> 00:33:19.099 The branch cannot live except as it draws its life-giving sap from the trunk of the vine, 00:33:19.099 --> 00:33:21.099 just like any plant, like any tree. 00:33:21.099 --> 00:33:26.099 If the branch is cut off for whatever reason or broken off for any reason, 00:33:26.099 --> 00:33:30.099 then obviously the sap doesn't reach through to that branch, 00:33:30.099 --> 00:33:33.099 and it begins to wither, and eventually it will die. 00:33:33.099 --> 00:33:37.099 And that's applied here to the life of God's people. 00:33:37.099 --> 00:33:42.099 Indeed, you could say that this extends to, in its principle, to every human life 00:33:42.099 --> 00:33:49.099 because God has created us to bear spiritual fruit that will glorify His name. 00:33:49.099 --> 00:33:55.099 God has created us as human beings as He placed us before we fell in Adam, 00:33:55.099 --> 00:34:01.099 before we sinned against God and brought upon ourselves the death that we now are so familiar with, 00:34:01.099 --> 00:34:05.099 spiritual as well as physical, the fruit of righteousness, 00:34:05.099 --> 00:34:10.099 the fruit of a perfectly holy life, was what God created. 00:34:10.099 --> 00:34:18.099 And that's what God has purposed and intends and designed us as human beings to be, 00:34:18.099 --> 00:34:27.099 to be fruit bearers, to bear that fruit of righteousness, of a life that is pleasing to God. 00:34:27.099 --> 00:34:35.099 Now, of course, that connection to God was broken off in Adam, and we all fell in Adam, 00:34:35.099 --> 00:34:43.099 and so we're not connected vitally to God until we are reconnected through coming to Christ, 00:34:43.099 --> 00:34:50.099 through what the Bible itself calls a repentance or turning from sin, from the ways of sin, from the ways of self, 00:34:50.099 --> 00:35:01.099 or turning from that or coming to accept Jesus or coming to close in, if you like, with the offer that God is setting out for us in the Gospel, 00:35:01.099 --> 00:35:10.099 where He's saying to us, here is life, here is a reconnection with me, here is my Son, here is Jesus, the Son of God in our nature, 00:35:10.099 --> 00:35:17.099 and He is, as the mediator, the provision that God has made for us to be reconnected with Himself. 00:35:17.099 --> 00:35:24.099 So, as you come to accept Him, as you come to trust in Him, as you come to turn from sin and receive Him, 00:35:24.099 --> 00:35:31.099 and seek to live a life following Him, that really establishes by that faith and trust, 00:35:31.099 --> 00:35:36.099 and, of course, behind it the regeneration of God by His Spirit. 00:35:36.099 --> 00:35:46.099 That's where we have a reconnection with life, a vital connection, a living connection to Jesus Himself. 00:35:46.099 --> 00:35:51.099 So, that first point for us is so incredibly important today. 00:35:51.099 --> 00:35:56.099 We have to look at ourselves, every one of us here, myself included, and ask ourselves, 00:35:56.099 --> 00:36:00.099 what is the nature of my connection with Jesus? 00:36:00.099 --> 00:36:07.099 Is my connection with Jesus just the connection I have through the Gospel or through worship in the church? 00:36:07.099 --> 00:36:14.099 Is my connection with Jesus just one of knowing about Him, of hearing about Him, of being familiar with the Gospel? 00:36:14.099 --> 00:36:19.099 Or is my connection with Jesus much more than that? 00:36:19.099 --> 00:36:24.099 Are the roots of my life rooted in Jesus Himself? 00:36:24.099 --> 00:36:26.099 That's the vital question, isn't it? 00:36:26.099 --> 00:36:32.099 Thomas Boston has, in one of his writings, he has a wonderful illustration. 00:36:32.099 --> 00:36:34.099 It's one I think I've used before. 00:36:34.099 --> 00:36:37.099 Let me just remind you of what he says. 00:36:37.099 --> 00:36:45.099 He says, if you look at a vine climbing up a tree, the vine is clinging closely to that tree. 00:36:45.099 --> 00:36:52.099 It's using that tree for its support, but it continues to grow on its own root. 00:36:52.099 --> 00:36:56.099 It doesn't take any of the sap from the tree. 00:36:56.099 --> 00:36:59.099 It continues to grow on its own root. 00:36:59.099 --> 00:37:04.099 Its roots are otherwise than in the tree itself, you might say. 00:37:04.099 --> 00:37:10.099 And he says that's how some people are under the Gospel too. 00:37:10.099 --> 00:37:14.099 They have a certain relationship with Jesus in the Gospel. 00:37:14.099 --> 00:37:16.099 They know about Him. 00:37:16.099 --> 00:37:20.099 They join together in worship of this God, of this Christ. 00:37:20.099 --> 00:37:24.099 They know much about Him through the Gospel, through the teaching of the Bible. 00:37:24.099 --> 00:37:28.099 But he says they continue to grow on their own root. 00:37:28.099 --> 00:37:39.099 They have not left their own root as sinners, as lost human beings, and come to be rooted in Christ instead. 00:37:39.099 --> 00:37:47.099 That's essentially what you and I need to be rooted in Christ. 00:37:47.099 --> 00:37:58.099 Leaving the root in which we are born into this world, the root of our connection, if you like, to Adam and his fallenness and our sinfulness and our lostness. 00:37:58.099 --> 00:38:08.099 And in coming to receive Jesus, and in coming to trust in Him as our Savior, so we come to be engrafted onto Him, if you like. 00:38:08.099 --> 00:38:17.099 We come to have our roots, the roots of our very human being, rooted in Him, vitally connected to Him. 00:38:17.099 --> 00:38:22.099 And that's like the tree, like the vine and the branches. 00:38:22.099 --> 00:38:28.099 Following the imagery of Thomas Boston there, let's ask ourselves the question today. 00:38:28.099 --> 00:38:40.099 Am I ensuring that Jesus is my hope, or is He just a prop for my own hopes? 00:38:40.099 --> 00:38:54.099 Am I ensuring that Jesus is my hope, that He Himself is my hope of eternal life, that my life is so joined to Him that because He lives, I shall live also? 00:38:54.099 --> 00:39:08.099 Or am I just using Him in a formal way, if you like, so that my own hopes, my own human hopes, my own hoping for the best, will somehow come to be fulfilled? 00:39:08.099 --> 00:39:17.099 Well, today, that's what the Lord is setting out for us, the need for a living connection with Jesus. 00:39:17.099 --> 00:39:26.099 And the benefits of a living connection with Christ, for a life-giving fruit to His glory, bearing fruit. 00:39:26.099 --> 00:39:29.099 That's the second point, a fruitful connection to Jesus. 00:39:29.099 --> 00:39:31.099 Now, you notice what He's saying here? 00:39:31.099 --> 00:39:44.099 Verse 4 00:39:44.099 --> 00:39:45.099 Verse 4 00:39:45.099 --> 00:40:15.099 00:40:15.099 --> 00:40:22.099 The first point is the first point in bearing fruit, in having this fruitful connection to Jesus. 00:40:22.099 --> 00:40:26.099 We need to just not just be in Jesus, but what He says here is to abide in Jesus. 00:40:26.099 --> 00:40:30.099 Of course, there's a sense in which once you're in Jesus, you're never out of Jesus. 00:40:30.099 --> 00:40:35.099 Once you're connected to Jesus for spiritual life, you never lose that connection. 00:40:35.099 --> 00:40:38.099 But what He's saying is you've got to look after it. 00:40:38.099 --> 00:40:40.099 You've got to make sure that it's a true connection. 00:40:40.099 --> 00:40:45.099 You've got to make sure that it's a connection that will indeed keep bearing fruit. 00:40:45.099 --> 00:40:48.099 Some vine branches, of course, get knocked off. 00:40:48.099 --> 00:40:53.099 Maybe some animals can break them off, or maybe it'll be the wind and a gale that'll break them off, or whatever. 00:40:53.099 --> 00:40:57.099 Sometimes branches in the vine get knocked off. 00:40:57.099 --> 00:41:05.099 And, of course, once they're broken, once that connection is broken, they don't continue to bear fruit anymore. 00:41:05.099 --> 00:41:13.099 And then some branches may even turn out, even if they are connected to the vine in some way or other, something or other causes that they don't bear fruit. 00:41:13.099 --> 00:41:22.099 In any case, Jesus is using that illustration to say that for a fruitful connection to Jesus, you must abide in Him. 00:41:22.099 --> 00:41:35.099 You must continue to live in connection with Him in a way by which His strength, His grace, His life flows into your own so that you continue to bear fruit. 00:41:35.099 --> 00:41:40.099 Because He says every branch that does not bear fruit, He takes away. 00:41:40.099 --> 00:41:49.099 And then later on in the chapter, the branches that don't bear fruit, they are gathered together, verse 6. 00:41:49.099 --> 00:41:55.099 And the branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned. 00:41:55.099 --> 00:42:02.099 And I don't think it's wrong for us to see the language of divine judgment in these words. 00:42:02.099 --> 00:42:08.099 Because that's what you find described elsewhere in the Bible, elsewhere in the New Testament. 00:42:08.099 --> 00:42:12.099 Matthew chapter 3, verse 12, Revelation chapter 20. 00:42:12.099 --> 00:42:16.099 The judgment of God speaks about eternal fire. 00:42:16.099 --> 00:42:20.099 It speaks about, well, what we call the fire of hell. 00:42:20.099 --> 00:42:24.099 And solemn though that is, we don't want to hear about that ourselves. 00:42:24.099 --> 00:42:26.099 Of course, it's difficult teaching. 00:42:26.099 --> 00:42:28.099 It's difficult to accept. 00:42:28.099 --> 00:42:30.099 It's difficult just to put that to yourself. 00:42:30.099 --> 00:42:31.099 But it's there. 00:42:31.099 --> 00:42:33.099 It's God's truth. 00:42:33.099 --> 00:42:45.099 That if we're not vitally connected to Jesus with a fruit-bearing connection, with a life-giving connection, this is going to be our destiny. 00:42:45.099 --> 00:42:49.099 Like the branches of the vine, they'll be gathered together. 00:42:49.099 --> 00:42:53.099 And they'll be rejected. 00:42:53.099 --> 00:42:59.099 And that's such a solemn point even as we look at this great passage. 00:42:59.099 --> 00:43:04.099 And Jesus Himself spoke more about that than anybody else. 00:43:04.099 --> 00:43:12.099 There's more about hell and the teachings of Jesus than anywhere else in the New Testament, in any other New Testament writer. 00:43:12.099 --> 00:43:16.099 There's Jesus' teaching very squarely. 00:43:16.099 --> 00:43:19.099 So, abide in me and I in you. 00:43:19.099 --> 00:43:21.099 So, there's the need to abide in Him. 00:43:21.099 --> 00:43:23.099 But how do you abide in Jesus? 00:43:23.099 --> 00:43:28.099 What is involved in abiding in Jesus and Jesus abiding in us? 00:43:28.099 --> 00:43:31.099 Abide in me and I in you. 00:43:31.099 --> 00:43:36.099 Abide in me as the vine and you are the branches. 00:43:36.099 --> 00:43:41.099 Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. 00:43:41.099 --> 00:43:43.099 So, how do we abide in Jesus? 00:43:43.099 --> 00:43:53.099 How do we ensure that our connection with Jesus continues to be one from which we receive the life that is in Him into our lives to bear fruit for Him? 00:43:53.099 --> 00:43:56.099 Well, first of all, by abiding in His love. 00:43:56.099 --> 00:43:58.099 Notice verse 7 here. 00:43:58.099 --> 00:44:07.099 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask, you can ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. 00:44:07.099 --> 00:44:12.099 And He goes on to speak as verse 9, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. 00:44:12.099 --> 00:44:15.099 Abide in my love. 00:44:15.099 --> 00:44:23.099 And this love relationship that Jesus has with His people is something that He requires us to abide in. 00:44:23.099 --> 00:44:25.099 Abide in the provisions of it. 00:44:25.099 --> 00:44:28.099 Remain within what He provides for us through His love. 00:44:28.099 --> 00:44:37.099 And as you come to know Him and to love Him and to know His love for you, what He is saying is, in that precious relationship, 00:44:37.099 --> 00:44:44.099 in that relationship that bears fruit as connected vitally to Him, as you continue to bear fruit, 00:44:44.099 --> 00:44:59.099 through keeping Christ's Word and also keeping yourself in His love, making sure that it's His loving provision that you continue to prize and to cherish and to live by. 00:44:59.099 --> 00:45:08.099 Something similar in chapter 14, actually, 14 and verse 21 there, where you find about Christ's commandments. 00:45:08.099 --> 00:45:14.099 He says, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. 00:45:14.099 --> 00:45:20.099 And he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. 00:45:20.099 --> 00:45:27.099 And then there's this question put to him by Judas, not Judas Iscariot, where Jesus answered, 00:45:27.099 --> 00:45:37.099 if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. 00:45:37.099 --> 00:45:46.099 And then there's the wonderful interconnections between loving Jesus, keeping Jesus' Word, keeping His commandments, 00:45:46.099 --> 00:45:49.099 abiding in His love, abiding in Him. 00:45:49.099 --> 00:45:53.099 It's all one wonderful complex relationship. 00:45:53.099 --> 00:45:58.099 When you keep the Word of Jesus, when you are obedient to Jesus, 00:45:58.099 --> 00:46:02.099 when you love Him to the extent that your life is controlled by Him, 00:46:02.099 --> 00:46:06.099 then you can say you're abiding in His love and His loving provision. 00:46:06.099 --> 00:46:14.099 And all of these things as they interact and as they inter-work remind us of what he means by abiding in Him, 00:46:14.099 --> 00:46:17.099 abiding in Christ's love. 00:46:17.099 --> 00:46:23.099 And there's the template for you in verse 10 where he says here about himself, 00:46:23.099 --> 00:46:31.099 as I keep my Father's commandment, so if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. 00:46:31.099 --> 00:46:39.099 Fruitful connection with Jesus through abiding in Him and abiding in His love. 00:46:39.099 --> 00:46:48.099 But it's a fruitful connection too through the Father's pruning process. 00:46:48.099 --> 00:46:54.099 See, every branch in me says that bears fruit, he prunes it. 00:46:54.099 --> 00:46:58.099 Or the word is really cleansed, the Lord's translated here prunes. 00:46:58.099 --> 00:47:01.099 The old translation has cleanses. 00:47:01.099 --> 00:47:09.099 Every branch that bears fruit, he cleanses, he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit. 00:47:09.099 --> 00:47:15.099 And that's God's dealing with us as we are connected to Christ. 00:47:15.099 --> 00:47:22.099 That connection to Christ, that fruit-bearing connection to Jesus, doesn't put us outside afflictions, 00:47:22.099 --> 00:47:27.099 doesn't put us outside having to bear certain challenges and sufferings for Him. 00:47:27.099 --> 00:47:28.099 Far from it. 00:47:28.099 --> 00:47:33.099 It actually draws, in a way, some sufferings to us that we wouldn't have otherwise, 00:47:33.099 --> 00:47:36.099 because they're for His sake. 00:47:36.099 --> 00:47:41.099 It's because we're related to Him, because people see Him in us and through us. 00:47:41.099 --> 00:47:49.099 And so, the challenges and the opposition that he faced, in principle, in the same kind of way from human beings, 00:47:49.099 --> 00:47:54.099 that we experience as we follow Him, as we seek to remain true to Him and abide in Him, 00:47:54.099 --> 00:48:02.099 and bear fruit that the world will see as Christian fruit, as the fruit of righteousness and a holy life. 00:48:02.099 --> 00:48:05.099 Well, the word clean, I think, is important. 00:48:05.099 --> 00:48:11.099 Already, he says, every branch that bears fruit, he cleanses or he prunes. 00:48:11.099 --> 00:48:14.099 It's not just a matter of pruning. 00:48:14.099 --> 00:48:19.099 The person who looks after a vine has to make sure that there aren't too many leaves. 00:48:19.099 --> 00:48:24.099 If there are too many leaves left on it, it will actually overshadow some of the fruit, 00:48:24.099 --> 00:48:27.099 and it won't ripen in the same way or to the same extent. 00:48:27.099 --> 00:48:36.099 So, some of the leaves have to be cut away, and so that the fruit itself is more exposed to the right conditions. 00:48:36.099 --> 00:48:42.099 But then, of course, once the fruit is done, once the fruit-beating season is over, 00:48:42.099 --> 00:48:48.099 the branches that have carried that fruit and produced that fruit need to be cut back. 00:48:48.099 --> 00:48:50.099 And that's all with a view to next year's growth. 00:48:50.099 --> 00:48:59.099 You see, this is such an important, such a wonderful relevance of this portrait that Jesus is painting for us here, 00:48:59.099 --> 00:49:04.099 where he's taking what you find in a vine and saying, this is true spiritually. 00:49:04.099 --> 00:49:12.099 The branches that are attached to me that are fruit-bearing branches are actually branches that, in order to bring forth more fruit, 00:49:12.099 --> 00:49:16.099 with a view to future growth, in other words, they have to be cut back. 00:49:16.099 --> 00:49:18.099 They have to be pruned back. 00:49:18.099 --> 00:49:26.099 Sometimes, you know, if you see an expert vine dresser, as it's put here, the person who keeps, looks after the vineyard, 00:49:26.099 --> 00:49:33.099 when you look at that person actually coming to prune the vines, taking his cutting shears, his secateurs, 00:49:33.099 --> 00:49:37.099 and cutting back the branches, you'll say, wow, that's a bit severe. 00:49:37.099 --> 00:49:40.099 Surely he should have left a bit more growth than that. 00:49:40.099 --> 00:49:42.099 But he knows what he's doing. 00:49:42.099 --> 00:49:52.099 He knows that if he cuts it back in a certain way, even if it appears to be rather severe to people who don't know anything about vines, such as myself, 00:49:52.099 --> 00:49:55.099 then he says, no, no, this is necessary. 00:49:55.099 --> 00:49:57.099 I've got next year's growth in mind. 00:49:57.099 --> 00:49:58.099 I know what I'm doing. 00:49:58.099 --> 00:50:05.099 If I don't cut it back this way, it will not produce that same amount of fruit that I need next year. 00:50:05.099 --> 00:50:10.099 Now, that's a spiritual point that Jesus is making for us. 00:50:10.099 --> 00:50:17.099 Our lives need pruned. 00:50:17.099 --> 00:50:22.099 God has to actually deal with the excesses of our lives. 00:50:22.099 --> 00:50:34.099 And he does that sometimes, indeed very often, in a way that hurts us, in a way that causes pain, in a way that we ourselves would not have chosen. 00:50:34.099 --> 00:50:53.099 Weas by, in his providence, events that come into our lives are very challenging and very difficult, such as the loss of loved ones, bereavement, illness, events in his providence that, whatever they are, cause us pain, sometimes very deep pain. 00:50:53.099 --> 00:51:05.099 And we may wonder at the time, even as Christians, even as those who know ourselves connected to Jesus with a vital, fruitful connection, we might be very much saying to ourselves, 00:51:05.099 --> 00:51:06.099 well, why does it have to be this painful? 00:51:06.099 --> 00:51:12.099 Why does it have to be pruned back this far? 00:51:12.099 --> 00:51:17.099 Why does it need to be to this extent? 00:51:17.099 --> 00:51:23.099 Why does God cut into my life so keenly as he does? 00:51:23.099 --> 00:51:26.099 Why has he done this? 00:51:26.099 --> 00:51:28.099 It's to produce more fruit. 00:51:28.099 --> 00:51:39.099 I know that's very difficult when you're actually in the situation at the moment, at the moment of God's pruning. 00:51:39.099 --> 00:51:41.099 It's very often the case. 00:51:41.099 --> 00:51:44.099 You cannot really see how this is going to be profitable. 00:51:44.099 --> 00:51:47.099 You can't see how this is going to produce more fruit. 00:51:47.099 --> 00:51:50.099 It seems to be doing the opposite. 00:51:50.099 --> 00:52:00.099 How can actually such pain, such loss, such deprivation, such sorrow, how can it work towards anything good? 00:52:00.099 --> 00:52:14.099 Well, there's a verse in the letter to the Hebrews which talks about chastisement, talks about a similar kind of thing, God's pruning, if you like, of his people, 00:52:14.099 --> 00:52:35.099 you find that this is how he describes it, that the cutting away of certain aspects of the growth of our lives is necessary in God's way of the future producing or production of more fruit. 00:52:35.099 --> 00:52:39.099 It is for, he says, your discipline that you have to endure. 00:52:39.099 --> 00:52:41.099 God is treating you as sons. 00:52:41.099 --> 00:52:44.099 For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 00:52:44.099 --> 00:52:52.099 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 00:52:52.099 --> 00:52:57.099 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. 00:52:57.099 --> 00:53:02.099 Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 00:53:02.099 --> 00:53:08.099 For they disciplined us for a short time, as it seemed best to them. 00:53:08.099 --> 00:53:13.099 But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 00:53:13.099 --> 00:53:20.099 For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. 00:53:20.099 --> 00:53:30.099 But later, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 00:53:30.099 --> 00:53:33.099 God is training his vine. 00:53:33.099 --> 00:53:39.099 God is training the branches of every vine that he has planted. 00:53:39.099 --> 00:53:47.099 Maybe today you are one of those vines that have known the severity of his cutting more than most. 00:53:47.099 --> 00:53:51.099 But here is the purpose of God. 00:53:51.099 --> 00:53:53.099 But here is the purpose of God. 00:53:53.099 --> 00:53:58.099 And it is always important to look to the purpose of God. 00:53:58.099 --> 00:53:59.099 What is he doing? 00:53:59.099 --> 00:54:01.099 What is it about? 00:54:01.099 --> 00:54:03.099 What is his intention? 00:54:03.099 --> 00:54:05.099 What is the end in view? 00:54:05.099 --> 00:54:12.099 That it may bear the peaceable fruit of righteousness to all those who have been trained thereby. 00:54:12.099 --> 00:54:21.099 Every branch in me that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 00:54:21.099 --> 00:54:23.099 And friend, keep that in mind. 00:54:23.099 --> 00:54:26.099 And let me keep it in mind with you. 00:54:26.099 --> 00:54:33.099 As we know of the difficult providences of God, we know we're going to have them during this life. 00:54:33.099 --> 00:54:40.099 But sometimes when they come, they're much more difficult than we anticipated. 00:54:40.099 --> 00:54:49.099 As C.S. Lewis said over the death of his wife, I did not realize it would be this painful. 00:54:49.099 --> 00:54:54.099 Sometimes God says, yes, it will be that painful. 00:54:54.099 --> 00:54:56.099 But this is my purpose. 00:54:56.099 --> 00:54:59.099 This is the end I have in view. 00:54:59.099 --> 00:55:04.099 That you will bear more fruit to my glory. 00:55:04.099 --> 00:55:07.099 Difficult though it is. 00:55:07.099 --> 00:55:09.099 There is God's purpose. 00:55:09.099 --> 00:55:15.099 And remember, God's purpose for his people is always a loving purpose. 00:55:15.099 --> 00:55:19.099 There's never a purpose just to cause pain for the sake of it. 00:55:19.099 --> 00:55:26.099 It's the loving purpose of bringing you onwards to bear more fruit. 00:55:26.099 --> 00:55:29.099 And he says that your fruit may abide. 00:55:29.099 --> 00:55:31.099 Look at verse 16 here. 00:55:31.099 --> 00:55:34.099 We're just going a bit ahead of the passage, but verse 16. 00:55:34.099 --> 00:55:42.099 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, 00:55:42.099 --> 00:55:45.099 and that your fruit should abide. 00:55:45.099 --> 00:55:46.099 See how it all comes together. 00:55:46.099 --> 00:55:52.099 This abiding in Jesus, abiding in his love, abiding in his word, so that we will produce 00:55:52.099 --> 00:55:57.099 fruit for him, but so that we'll produce more fruit for him. 00:55:57.099 --> 00:56:01.099 And he says, this, he says, is why I chose you. 00:56:01.099 --> 00:56:06.099 This is why I appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should 00:56:06.099 --> 00:56:07.099 abide. 00:56:07.099 --> 00:56:10.099 Your fruit has to abide, has to remain. 00:56:10.099 --> 00:56:14.099 Now, that's interesting because that's essentially the language of mission. 00:56:14.099 --> 00:56:15.099 See the word go there. 00:56:15.099 --> 00:56:22.099 I have chosen you, and I have appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit. 00:56:22.099 --> 00:56:26.099 Not just that you should bear fruit, that you should go and bear fruit. 00:56:26.099 --> 00:56:31.099 In other words, the mission of the church, the mission of God's people, the way in which 00:56:31.099 --> 00:56:35.099 we witness to the gospel, the way in which we present the gospel, our evangelistic activities 00:56:35.099 --> 00:56:38.099 are part of our fruit bearing. 00:56:38.099 --> 00:56:43.099 It's an aspect of fruit bearing where our fruit is going to abide. 00:56:43.099 --> 00:56:45.099 How is our fruit going to abide? 00:56:45.099 --> 00:56:50.099 Because as God blesses that evangelism, as God blesses that outreach of God's church, 00:56:50.099 --> 00:56:57.099 of his people, as the vine by God's planting bears fruit and goes, as he puts it here, as 00:56:57.099 --> 00:57:03.099 his disciples to others with the gospel, well, they come to be vines themselves. 00:57:03.099 --> 00:57:06.099 They come to be planted in Christ. 00:57:06.099 --> 00:57:08.099 They come to bear fruit. 00:57:08.099 --> 00:57:10.099 And so, our fruit remains. 00:57:10.099 --> 00:57:13.099 It keeps on going down the generations. 00:57:13.099 --> 00:57:16.099 Why are there people in this church today? 00:57:16.099 --> 00:57:18.099 Why are there people here worshiping God? 00:57:18.099 --> 00:57:23.099 It's because people before you prayed for you and passed on their witness to you. 00:57:23.099 --> 00:57:25.099 And you saw their fruit. 00:57:25.099 --> 00:57:26.099 Most of you saw them. 00:57:26.099 --> 00:57:30.099 Most of you realized that they had something which you didn't have yourself. 00:57:30.099 --> 00:57:33.099 So, you came to Christ and you're now a fruit bearer. 00:57:33.099 --> 00:57:36.099 And you're going to pass on that fruit to those who are coming after you. 00:57:36.099 --> 00:57:38.099 That's why we teach our children. 00:57:38.099 --> 00:57:45.099 Because God has chosen his people so that they would be joined to Christ and bear fruit. 00:57:45.099 --> 00:57:47.099 And their fruit will remain. 00:57:47.099 --> 00:57:56.099 And as their fruit remains, so the church from generation to generation continues to serve God in this world. 00:57:56.099 --> 00:58:01.099 And there's one other point I want to make before we finish. 00:58:01.099 --> 00:58:14.099 We have a fruitful connection to Jesus by abiding in Jesus, by abiding in his love, and through the Father's pruning for a fruit which abides. 00:58:14.099 --> 00:58:16.099 And what's the other point? 00:58:16.099 --> 00:58:21.099 It's to provide us with a fullness of joy. 00:58:21.099 --> 00:58:23.099 These things, verse 11, 00:58:23.099 --> 00:58:29.099 I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. 00:58:29.099 --> 00:58:40.099 I think that means that Christ's own joy in the salvation of his people meets up with their joy in him. 00:58:40.099 --> 00:58:45.099 So that his joy and their joy, as it were, combine together. 00:58:45.099 --> 00:58:50.099 That my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. 00:58:50.099 --> 00:58:55.099 You know, I'd like to take an atheist to this verse and say, 00:58:55.099 --> 00:58:59.099 Do you now believe that the Christian life is a dull life? 00:58:59.099 --> 00:59:05.099 Do you believe the Christian life is one of despondency and gloom and grayness? 00:59:05.099 --> 00:59:14.099 Because here's a verse that tells us to be obedient to Jesus doesn't fill your life with dullness, it fills it with joy. 00:59:14.099 --> 00:59:20.099 This, he says, is why the Father prunes us, that we may bear more fruit. 00:59:20.099 --> 00:59:26.099 This is why I'm connected to Jesus, you can say, so that I bear fruit to his glory. 00:59:26.099 --> 00:59:32.099 Because in all of that, it is my greatest joy to know him. 00:59:32.099 --> 00:59:35.099 It's my greatest joy to serve him. 00:59:35.099 --> 00:59:39.099 It's my greatest joy to be in him and for him to be in me. 00:59:39.099 --> 00:59:47.099 And anybody who tells you that the Christian life is otherwise, take them to John 15, verse 11, and tell them, 00:59:47.099 --> 00:59:54.099 That's what I know in my own experience. 00:59:54.099 --> 01:00:03.099 That I receive the joy that I need, that I was created for, through knowing Jesus for myself. 01:00:03.099 --> 01:00:10.099 Through having this living, vital, fruit-bearing connection to him. 01:00:10.099 --> 01:00:17.099 Friends, we were created to enjoy God. 01:00:17.099 --> 01:00:22.099 That was God's purpose in creating us in the very beginning. 01:00:22.099 --> 01:00:29.099 The first catechism of the shorter catechism, which many of us, if not all of us, learned in our younger days, 01:00:29.099 --> 01:00:32.099 has the question, what is the chief end of man? 01:00:32.099 --> 01:00:35.099 In other words, why was man created? 01:00:35.099 --> 01:00:38.099 What's the purpose of human life? 01:00:38.099 --> 01:00:45.099 Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. 01:00:45.099 --> 01:00:46.099 Take both parts with you. 01:00:46.099 --> 01:00:48.099 Don't leave it at the first part. 01:00:48.099 --> 01:00:54.099 Because as you glorify God, so you know of true and lasting joy. 01:00:54.099 --> 01:00:57.099 Yes, that joy sometimes will fluctuate. 01:00:57.099 --> 01:01:08.099 Sometimes it will be interrupted by the Father's secateurs cutting into your life. 01:01:08.099 --> 01:01:12.099 But it's a joy that will never end. 01:01:12.099 --> 01:01:17.099 It's a joy that nobody can take from you. 01:01:17.099 --> 01:01:23.099 It's a joy that those who are in Christ truly say they know. 01:01:23.099 --> 01:01:34.099 As we were created to enjoy God, so today enjoy this God. 01:01:34.099 --> 01:01:40.099 Make it your business to have that living connection, that fruit-bearing connection to Christ. 01:01:40.099 --> 01:01:50.099 That you may fulfill and I may fulfill the end, the purpose for which God created us, and for which God reconnected us to Christ. 01:01:50.099 --> 01:02:06.099 So that we as fruit-bearing branches connected to the vine may know that fullness of joy that only Jesus and knowing Jesus can bring. 01:02:06.099 --> 01:02:09.099 Let's pray. 01:02:09.099 --> 01:02:25.099 Our gracious God, we thank you for the way that you have appointed your people to be so vitally connected to yourself, through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. 01:02:25.099 --> 01:02:28.099 We thank you today for the nature of that connection. 01:02:28.099 --> 01:02:34.099 We pray, Lord, for grace to ensure that we each of us have that living connection with you. 01:02:34.099 --> 01:02:46.099 And even when we find, Lord, that our complaint is our fruit as we see it is so small and so puny and so insufficient and so different to what it should be. 01:02:46.099 --> 01:02:53.099 Nevertheless, Lord, help us to rejoice if we know that we are connected with you and seek more fruit for our lives. 01:02:53.099 --> 01:02:56.099 We pray that you would help us to do so. 01:02:56.099 --> 01:02:59.099 We ask that your blessing will be with us now throughout this day. 01:02:59.099 --> 01:03:02.099 And pardon our many sins, we pray in Jesus' name. 01:03:02.099 --> 01:03:03.099 Amen. 01:03:03.099 --> 01:03:08.099 Now we're singing in conclusion in Psalm number 92. 01:03:08.099 --> 01:03:12.099 Psalm 92 in the St. Sam's version of it. 01:03:12.099 --> 01:03:16.099 So it's 92a at verse 8. 01:03:16.099 --> 01:03:21.099 And the last few verses there to the end of the Psalm to the tune, Contemplation. 01:03:21.099 --> 01:03:25.099 But Lord, you are forevermore exalted very high. 01:03:25.099 --> 01:03:27.099 All evildoers will be crushed. 01:03:27.099 --> 01:03:29.099 Your foes will surely die. 01:03:29.099 --> 01:03:33.099 You made me strong as any ox with oil anointed me. 01:03:33.099 --> 01:03:41.099 I've seen my enemies defeat and I have heard them flee like palm trees and like palms and cedars flourishing. 01:03:41.099 --> 01:03:46.099 The righteous all will be and planted in the house of God will grow abundantly. 01:03:46.099 --> 01:03:50.099 These verses to the end of the Psalm to God's praise. 01:03:50.099 --> 01:03:55.099 The Lord, you are forevermore exalted very high. 01:03:55.099 --> 01:04:10.099 The Lord, you are forevermore exalted very high. 01:04:10.099 --> 01:04:19.099 All evil to earth will be crushed. 01:04:19.099 --> 01:04:27.099 Your foes will surely die. 01:04:27.099 --> 01:04:44.099 You made me strong as any ox with oil anointed me. 01:04:44.099 --> 01:05:01.099 I've seen my enemies defeat and die, have heard them flee. 01:05:01.099 --> 01:05:18.099 Like palms and cedars flourishing, the righteous all will be. 01:05:18.099 --> 01:05:37.099 And planted in the hearts of God will grow abundantly. 01:05:37.099 --> 01:05:55.099 So when old age they still percute, they will stay bright and strong. 01:05:55.099 --> 01:06:12.099 They will proclaim, the Lord is just my Lord who does no wrong. 01:06:12.099 --> 01:06:17.099 I'll go to the main door again today after the benediction. 01:06:17.099 --> 01:06:25.099 And now may grace and mercy and peace from God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with us this day and evermore. 01:06:25.099 --> 01:06:26.099 Amen. 01:06:26.099 --> 01:06:27.099 Amen.