Okay, well, good morning, everyone. It's lovely to see you today. Always love this time of year.
It feels like people come back to our city, people are visiting, students are back, people are moving for jobs.
So lovely to see you here today, particularly if this is your first Sunday with us. You're so, so welcome.
Here's what I'd love you to do. I'd love you to grab a Bible and turn to Genesis chapter 35.
Genesis, that first book of the Bible, grab your own Bible. Maybe there's ones in the pews round about.
Hopefully we've spaced them out well enough that they're always within reach.
Or even on your phone, if you promise me you won't be looking at WhatsApp messages, get Genesis 35 on your phone as well.
As you're turning there, two things I just want to highlight.
The first one is next Sunday evening. I would love you to come to our church vision evening.
We run three of these a year and they're just wonderful chances for us to look back as a church on the past season of church life.
And just to give God thanks for his faithfulness during that season.
And then to look forward as well, just to some of the things that are in the pipeline that we can pray about as a church family.
There's lots of exciting things in the run up to this vision evening that we're going to be thinking about.
So please put it in your diary, half past six next Sunday evening.
The second one is just to say, this is another chance where you can sign up to this course that we're running called God's Great Story.
Knowing the plot line that makes sense of life.
I've ordered the books for this course that are going to come to us next Sunday for those who've signed up.
Really thrilled that there's kind of six or seven folks who've said that would be really interested in this course journeying together.
Just thinking about the Bible story, about some of the key events that happen in that Bible story.
And just getting to know our great God better.
If that's something you want to get involved in, I'd love to hear from you.
Grab one of these as you go this morning.
The dates and the topics are on the back there.
You'll get a free book as well.
Just would love to see you come along to this.
But Genesis 35, why don't we pray as we turn to this chapter and then we'll get into it as we finish off this series in the life of Jacob.
Father, thank you so much for this morning.
I thank you for every single person here.
Lord, I recognize that we come this morning from all sorts of different weeks with different things going on in our lives.
Father, we've got different questions.
We've got different aspirations, Lord.
We've got different feelings as we come here today.
But Father, I ask in the words of Psalm 119, that you would enlarge our hearts that we may run and obey your law.
Father, as we gaze at the glory of who you are today.
Father, increase our knowledge.
Lord, and increase our affection for your son, Jesus, we pray in his worthy name.
Amen.
So Genesis 35.
Here's what we're going to do.
We're going to be thinking about this chapter this morning.
But we're finishing a series today that we've been in over the last number of months in the life of Jacob.
So this morning we're kind of finishing it off, bringing it together.
I'm really excited about this.
But as you're turning there, let me tell you about two things that happened in my life this week.
And how I was really humbly reminded that there's one thing that now connects them.
Here's the two things.
Ready for them?
Number one, plaiting my girl's hair.
And number two, staying up past 11 o'clock.
Okay, both things that I cannot do.
And I'm playing fives on Tuesday night next week and at the tender age of 39, running around for an hour.
I'm paranoid that there's going to be another one added to that list this week.
But we've all got things in our lives, haven't we, that we cannot do.
We struggle to do them.
We cannot do them.
Have a think about those things in your life just now, the things that you just cannot do.
And as you're chewing on that, let me throw you a curveball question to get you thinking today.
No matter what you think of the God of the Bible, no matter what has brought you here today, have a think about this question.
Do you think there's things that God can't do?
That's what we're going to be thinking about today.
One thing that God says he can't do.
That's not so much a statement about his ability.
When he tells us that in his word, it's a promise about his character.
And it's wonderful news for our souls today to take in this thing that God says he cannot do.
In fact, I've just finished a book called 12 Things That God Cannot Do.
Subheading and how they can help you sleep at night.
And it was that second one that made me buy it.
And if you're going to read one thing this year, can I highly recommend, apart from the Bible, that you make it this book.
Right?
If your time's tight, or maybe you're looking after the pennies, then at least download the free Kindle version, the free Kindle sample on Amazon and take a look at the contents page.
Because the contents page will really blow your mind.
Can I give you a few of the chapters?
Here they are.
God can't learn.
Yeah?
God can't be surprised.
God can't change his mind.
God can't be lonely.
And here's the last chapter heading.
And this is what we're going to be wonderfully thinking about today.
And here it is.
God cannot deny himself.
God cannot, and let me just add a flavor to it, will not go back on his word.
Right?
Some of you might remember, if you're of a generation, the adverts for, and this is a testament to the power of advertising that I can remember this.
The adverts for Ron Seal.
Yeah?
Do you remember Ron Seal?
From the UK?
What was the slogan with Ron Seal?
It does exactly what it says on the tin.
Right?
Never bought a can of Ron Seal in my life, but I remember that as the slogan.
It does exactly what it says on the tin.
And that's this God.
Or if you want to put it positively, when God says that he will do something, you can guarantee that he will do it.
That is the immovable object that's there.
It's God's promise.
Nothing is going to move it.
Nothing's going to undo it.
Nothing's going to get in the way of God accomplishing his will.
His promises will not bounce like some kind of expired check.
No, his promises are ones that we can take to the bank and we can cash.
And of course, what does Jesus say?
The wise man, the wise person does.
He built his life on the rock.
And what is the rock?
The rock is his words.
Because that's a place where we can base our lives.
And I think that's what the passage, this passage is designed to convince the first readers of today.
And it's designed to convince us of today that this God will not go back on his word.
The fact alone that Jacob, if you come with me to chapter 35,
the very fact that he is still standing in the words of Elton John is proof of it.
The fact, have you ever thought about this today?
The fact that you and I have got breath in our lungs today.
The very fact that we're here today is proof of this promise.
Because the fact that Jacob is still standing in chapter 35
is nothing to do with the fact that he's able to duck and dive his way through life.
Nothing to do with that.
If you think about it, the Bible really should be a three-chapter book.
Yeah?
Genesis 1 and 2, God creates the world.
He creates Adam and Eve.
He creates human beings in his image.
The world is declared very good.
But Adam and Eve, they desire that tree of knowledge and good and evil, right?
In the words of Don Carson, what they are doing in that moment is they are trying to de-God God.
Right?
They are asserting their own authority to be able to assert what is right and what is wrong.
And in that moment, that is when sin enters the world as they believe the serpents lie.
And at that point, it should be like a 90s computer game.
Those words that came across the screen when you were defeated by the body, right?
Game over.
It should be game over at that point in the story.
But God made a promise in Genesis 3.15 that he would send a serpent crusher,
someone who would act and by acting would defeat the work of Satan.
And all the effects of that fall as they enter the world.
But God promised Abraham, this nobody, that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
He promised them that he would give them a future.
He would bring them to a land.
And that through his offspring, he would bless the peoples of the world.
And again, take that in.
And if we are, I don't know what, 120 or so this morning, maybe 100.
How many nations are represented here?
Proof that God will not deny himself.
But God.
See, when you see that phrase in the Bible and it crops up often.
But God.
What it means is that God has acted.
Not because of people's character.
Not because of things that we've done.
But God means that he acted out of his character and promises.
That's the kind of God we're dealing with as we turn to the pages of the Bible.
Our God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You want to blow your mind about this?
Think about this.
From eternity past to eternity present, he is the great I am.
He is the one who has always been in this community of love.
That's how we know he is love.
Because that's what he's been doing.
He acted because of his character.
In fact, as I heard someone put it recently,
the moral of the story in Genesis is that morals do not get you into God's story.
Grace does.
This God cannot deny himself.
This God will finish what he started.
I've got two really simple points for us this morning then.
Here's number one that we can learn from this, I think.
As we take in this God of grace,
despite our mistakes, grace calls us to move on from what's behind.
Right off the back of that horrendous car crash of a scene that is chapter 34,
God speaks to Jacob at verse 1.
And if it were me, the first words at verse 1 would have been,
Jacob, we're done.
But God says, Jacob, arise.
This is the God of grace.
This is the God who gets us back on our feet.
This is the God of second chances and third chances.
This is the God of steadfast love and faithfulness.
And this is the God with plans and purposes to bring to fulfillment,
to bless the peoples of the world.
He says, come to Bethel.
Now, that's the place that we hung out with Jacob
when he encountered God back at chapter 28.
And here is God saying, I'm going to meet with you again.
And what does Jacob do?
See at verse 2, he says to his people,
he relays this message and he says to them effectively,
we've got to get ourselves ready.
Right?
Morally speaking.
We've got to cleanse ourselves.
And just look at the language that he begins to say to people
as he responds to this God of grace.
Right?
We've got to rid ourselves of the foreign gods that are in our midst.
That's presumably just these little idols that they'd picked up
from the nations round about.
Or maybe it's even the gods that, if you remember,
Rachel brought with her when she fled from Laban's house.
Jacob's saying, we've got to get rid of all of these things
that are distracting us from devotion to the Lord.
We've got to get rid of the rings.
And I think this is to their shame that may well have been the plunder
that they've taken from the people of the land at the end of chapter 34 there.
So it just gives you a little insight into what's going on
in this rogues gallery of people that is Israel at this point.
But do you hear the call here?
Because he's the God of grace.
He's calling his family to repent of their mistakes.
Right?
To be honest about their failures.
He's saying, let's let God deal with our shame.
Let's make a decisive break from our past.
And let's get rid of the stuff that's clogging up our devotion to him.
We've got to get rid of it in our lives.
So, you know, let me just tell you how this works out for us today, I think.
If your faith is in Jesus today, then I want you to hear me loud and clear
that you should never doubt your union with him.
Okay?
Your life is his.
He is yours.
All that is his is ours.
All that is ours, he took responsibility for and made it his.
The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, lives inside of us.
Never doubt your union with Jesus.
Bestemming from that union, we are invited to know Jesus,
to know the Lord, to experience his love and faithfulness,
to know him, to love him, to learn more of him,
to revel in him as we press into knowing him more.
And the thing is, I know this about my life,
how often that just gets clogged up by other stuff.
Right?
We had a guy around last year to the end of the winter
to clean out our gutters in our house,
the ones that we just didn't have a ladder long enough to get to.
And I remember seeing the price for it and thinking to myself,
are you charging for that?
But the stuff that he was able to get out of our gutters
that were just clogging it up, right?
Leaves, dirt, weeds, all of these things were just stopping the water flowing.
And I think that's what's going on here.
You know, the thing about idolatry is certainly,
as Jacob and his family know it here,
it's rarely about leaving the Lord behind
and going all in with Molech, right?
The God of the Canaanites who they worship.
Going all in with the sun gods.
Going all in with the God of the rain.
It's much more subtle than that.
It's worshipping the Lord
plus worshipping something or someone else.
Right?
Stuff gets in the way,
drags us away from him being the centre of our devotion.
You know, I read a stat recently
that we spend, apparently,
we will spend seven and a half hours of our lives watching television.
We're breathing in a version of the good life
that our society is telling us that we need to have.
I remember my friend Andy openly telling me
that he took the Facebook app off his phone
because he was just looking at it all the time.
And to do so, he said,
my soul was so much better for doing it.
The question that comes at us here is,
do we, is God calling us
to let go of something
that is clogging up our love for and devotion to him?
And the other side of it
is the Lord asking us to take hold of something
in order to facilitate that communion with him.
It's why Olympic sprinters,
when you watch them,
they wear really tight fitted vests, don't they?
It's why Olympic swimmers,
when you see them do their thing,
they're wearing the tightest of caps.
They just don't want anything getting in the way.
And that's what this is calling us to do today
as God's people.
You know, grace says,
today is a new day.
Grace says,
as we respond to this God of grace,
he gets us back up on our feet.
And I find it so often as a parent,
when I've made mistakes the night before,
when I wake up the next day,
today's a new day of God's grace.
It's a new day.
You take ownership for your mistakes.
You go towards the kids
and you say sorry for raising your voice.
Today is a new day because God is like this.
You know, listen, just some of you,
and just to speak into the season of life that we're in,
I know many of you just now are in new seasons of life.
Right?
You've taken up a new job.
You guys are here,
your new term at uni.
Maybe it's your new time at school.
In so many years of the Christian life
and just a season of doing life at this church,
can I just say that there is never a better time
to nail your colors to the mast
than at the start of a new season of life.
Monday morning,
what is it the question that everybody asks you?
What did you do at the weekend?
And on Friday,
what is the question that people ask you?
What are you doing at the weekend?
Friends, we have two opportunities
that are right there every week when we do this.
You miss the Friday,
you get back in on the Monday.
You miss the Monday,
you get in on the Friday.
Why don't tomorrow when that question comes,
we talk about church,
and I hope this is true,
we talk about church
like it was the best thing we did at the weekend.
Just go for it
and see how God honors that witness to him.
You know, when it comes to Christian growth,
I heard a guy called Sam Albury,
he was speaking at the Keswick Convention this year,
and he was talking about
how he's changed his perspective
and how he measures progress in the Christian life.
And he said,
he looks back on his life
and he stopped asking himself the question,
as I look back on my life now,
am I behaving better?
Right?
Am I doing more?
Am I busier in life?
I remember him saying
just way too shallow a barometer
for measuring growth in the Christian life.
And here's what he said,
and I found this so profound.
You look back on your life a year ago,
here's the question.
Is sin more bitter to me now
than it was then?
And is Jesus more sweeter to me now
than he was a year ago?
It's a bit like,
and this is his illustration as well,
not mine,
I thought it was really helpful.
It's like orange juice, he said.
Okay, everybody loves orange juice,
but not everybody loves orange juice
after you've brushed your teeth.
Right?
But it's the same orange juice,
but what has changed?
Your palate's changed, hasn't it?
Your taste buds have changed.
And that's what he's saying.
Do we look back on life
and we say,
Jesus is sweeter to me now
than he was a year ago.
Is sin more,
is it more bitter to me now
than it was a year ago?
That's how we measure growth
in the Christian life.
And that's what encountering
the God of grace does.
He changes us.
Right?
And it's all of him.
It's not of us.
It's all of him.
He takes out the heart of stone
and he puts in the heart of flesh.
And you see when Jacob goes to Bethel,
and don't miss that,
how God sovereignly protects him
and his people
from the surrounding nations.
God says,
remember Jacob,
I have given you a new name.
No longer will you be Jacob.
Your name will be Israel.
And we thought about that
a few weeks ago.
Jacob, we are by nature.
But Israel, we are by grace.
And it's as if God is saying,
I want to reiterate to you
that promise that I made to you.
To be fruitful and multiply.
Now, hopefully that reminds us,
if you know the Bible story,
of the commission that God gave
to Adam and Eve right at the start.
Yeah?
Be fruitful and multiply.
God says,
not only will nations come from you,
but now do you see,
he's kicked it on a level,
kings will come from you.
You see, Jacob's morals
are not the thing
that keeps this plan on track.
And that means that his failings
will not derail God's purposes.
And that means that
despite our mistakes,
and we've all got our mistakes,
we need to understand that, right?
This is a sinner's only party.
Every Sunday.
What grace does
is it calls us to get up
and move on from what's behind.
And second thing,
and this will be a lot shorter,
despite our tears,
grace carries us towards
what's ahead.
Now, I use the word carries
there deliberately,
not just because it goes
with the sea from before,
I promise you.
Because this is what
the life of faith feels like.
As we journey,
it feels like it at times.
We need to know that
nowhere does God promise
his people an easy ride.
You cannot read about Jesus,
you cannot hear from Jesus
as you read about him
in the Gospels
and come away with that conclusion.
Now, things happen on this journey
that can so often shake us
and rattle us,
but I think this is written here
to say,
let none of that cause you
to doubt God's steadfast love
and his commitment to you.
Because this God
is never going to let go of you
and this God
is never going to forfeit
his purposes.
And I think we get
two of them here.
And here's the first one.
It's really when people die.
And I hope this is just
a real word in season
for us as a church,
given what's been happening
over the last number of months.
Let's never doubt God's
steadfast love
and faithfulness to us.
Do you see how we get
kind of three deaths
in this account?
We get Deborah at verse 8.
And then we get Rachel.
She is Jacob's wife.
The one who he served to win.
Do you remember that wonderful description
of how he felt towards her?
He served,
was it seven years?
But it seemed like a day
because of his love for her.
Right?
Who his heart was captivated with.
Hers is an
unexpected death.
She gives birth to Benjamin
at verse 17.
And to see her go through that,
I can't imagine how painful
that must have been
for Jacob to watch.
And then we get Isaac,
Jacob's dad,
at verse 29.
His is an expected death.
I guess you could call it that.
I was going to say natural death,
but there is no such thing
if you understand the Bible story.
Death is not natural.
Death is the great intruder
into this world.
That is what Jesus Christ
has conquered.
He dies,
and just take in this little description
of him right at the end.
NIV,
ESV,
he died full of days.
And I take it that's a reference
to more than just the amount of hours
that he managed to clock up
in his life,
which if you look at his age
are significant.
It is telling us something
about how this man died
full of faith.
Sprinting right to the end.
Right?
A guy who knew his fair share
of mistakes in his life,
but who died full of faith.
Let me just say,
there's nothing more encouraging
than seeing
someone through the tears,
someone despite the questions,
get to their end of their life,
and not only are they still going strong,
but they cannot wait
to go home and be with Jesus.
Full of days.
In the words of Billy Graham,
someday you will read or hear
that Billy Graham is dead.
Don't believe a word of it.
Love American brashness.
It's great.
Don't believe a word of it.
I shall be more alive
than I am now.
I will just have changed my address.
And if you think about it,
he's bang on the money.
But death is a reality
for the people of God,
for us as we journey home.
But let's not let it rock us.
And let's be a community together
that helps one another
through these things.
It's why God has put each other
in every one of our lives here.
Don't let death doubt
your confidence
in his steadfast love for you.
And don't let sin do it either.
Right?
Reuben, verse 22,
he sleeps with his father's mistress.
I think you can understand that
as being like a power play
against his dad.
That I can take what is yours.
Right?
As the lion cub challenges the lion,
is just somebody making
a really bad,
angry decision.
And many of us will know
that pain in our lives
as we watch people make decisions
and we just,
our heart breaks.
of children walking away
from the faith
of family and friends
thinking Jesus isn't for them anymore.
Of just seeing people
who were once on fire for Jesus.
All of a sudden,
they're just cold.
Of people denouncing the Jesus
who they once loved.
Of church leaders
caught up in scandals.
All of these things
can rock us.
But the message here
is death and sin.
Let none of it
doubt your confidence
in who the Lord is.
None of it is going to
derail God's plan.
Do you see how we get
the list of Jacob's 12 sons?
There.
This rogues gallery
of people.
But what this is doing here
is that is acting
as something
that's telling us
that this is proof
that God is working
out his plan.
The fact that this family
are still standing,
that they're still going,
is testament
to this God
who will keep his promises.
And centuries later,
Jesus will come
from this line.
He will be the offspring
through whom God
will bless the peoples
of the world
with joy of forgiveness,
of joy of newness
of life.
There is joy
and life to be found
in the one
that God sent
to win the peoples
of the nations.
He does it through
his death on the cross.
You know,
I was reading
with my mate
from football,
football team
the other day,
reading Mark's gospel
together.
And we talked about that.
The fact that
that we're still
talking about him
all these years later.
We're not talking
about Nero.
We're not talking
about Caesar.
We're not really
talking about Aristotle.
Who are we talking about?
We're talking about Jesus.
This is his plan.
This is who he is.
He dies,
he rises again,
and he ascends.
And the plan is,
his first coming
was as a helpless baby.
But the plan culminates
in him returning
as a conquering king.
As he banishes
those who have
rejected him
to a place
of eternal
torment.
And we need to understand
that that is real.
Jesus talks about hell
with tears in his eyes.
As he deals with sin,
as he makes
all wrongs right,
as he wipes away
every single tear,
as he ushers in
this new heavens
and a new earth
where there is
no more sea,
we have to understand
in the context there
to the first century audience,
the sea represents
everything chaotic
and destructive
and evil
about the world.
And it's no more.
That's the plan.
And that is what God
can't do.
He cannot
fail
to deliver
on his
promises.
I want us to be
so encouraged
as we finish
this series
by taking in
what God says
that he can't do
and adding
to that
as a wonderful,
glorious flavour
to that recipe.
The strength
that comes to us
today
by fueling our souls
with the things
that Jesus says
he will never do.
Right?
If I ever write a book,
I think it will be that one
because I love that.
Okay?
Seven,
there doesn't need to be seven.
All the things
that Jesus said
that he will not do.
He will never
turn away
anyone who comes
to him in faith.
He will never
let the gates
of hell
prevail against
the church.
He will never
leave us
as orphans.
He will send
the Holy Spirit
to us.
He will never
leave us
or forsake us.
He makes that promise
at the end of Matthew 28.
On and on and on
we could go.
These promises
that Jesus says
he will never
do.
And that's where
our hope is to be
found today.
You know,
just as we close,
I was reminded
of this
as I was thinking
about it this week.
Some of us
might have watched
the film
Chariots of Fire.
Right?
It's a really old film.
That was the best
quality image
I could get
of Chariots of Fire.
If you know that film,
really it's the story
of two sprinters
at the 1924 Olympics.
One man is called
Eric Liddle.
He was a Christian guy.
He was asked
why he runs.
And he said,
when I run,
I feel God's pleasure.
Right?
As I do the thing
that God has made me
uniquely good at.
I feel his pleasure.
I want to honor him
and glorify him.
There's another man
who also ran the race
and his name
was Harold Abrahams.
Right?
And the same question
was put to him.
Why do you run?
Well, running for him
was about proving
that he mattered.
Right?
Running gave him,
and this is the full quote,
it said it gave him
ten lonely seconds
to justify
his whole existence.
Now, as you think about that,
what he's saying there,
it's true, isn't it?
We all have those things,
don't we?
It's something I think
that is so prevalent
in the generation
that we have today.
People looking for
reasons to live.
People looking for
causes.
People looking for careers.
People looking to find it
in partners,
in family,
in holidays.
all these kind of things
that we can wake up
each day and say,
what I am doing today
because of
the grand thing
that I'm living for
gives me and my life
purpose.
And what I want to say
to you today
as we finish this series
is we need to understand
that God doesn't say
go out and find that.
That thing,
that purpose.
No, no.
God comes forth
in grace to us
when we weren't
looking for him,
when we were his enemies.
The gospel says
that God has given us
a purpose in life.
This story that we're in
as we understand
who Jesus is,
as we understand
God's heart
and his purposes
for the world,
the gospel
gives the Christian believer
purpose to every moment
of your existence.
And what that means
is we draw this
to a close.
It means that
if tomorrow
for you
as you think about it
is going to be a day
of changing nappies
and battling tiredness
because you didn't get
any sleep
from the night before
and you get to the end
of the day
and you think to yourself
what on earth
was my life about?
Did it matter?
Did it count?
You need to know
that your life
is caught up
in his great story
of grace.
Maybe you're sick
and you're unable
to get out of bed tomorrow.
Do the things
that you used to do.
Does my life matter?
Friends,
your life
is caught up
with his story
of grace.
Maybe tomorrow
is a day
when mental health
struggles.
It's just another day
when they never
seem to pass.
You need to know
that your life
is caught up
in his story
of grace.
Maybe tomorrow
is a day
when you go
to the lecture hall
or you meet friends
and none of them
want to know
about Jesus
and you think to yourself
what am I doing
with my life?
You need to know
that your life
is caught up
in his story
of grace.
Maybe tomorrow
feels like another
day at the office
and you think
to yourself
why am I doing
this?
What is going on?
You need to know
that because of
his grace
God has caught
you up
in his story
and that means
as we gather
here today
think about it.
This is the greatest
show that's happening
on earth
right now.
As God's people
gather all over
the world
on the Sunday
to celebrate
the risen Jesus
this is the greatest
show in town
because this is
what God is doing
in the world
today.
As he gathers
people from
the nations
finding life
in Jesus Christ
all because he
is this kind
of God
who cannot
go back
on his words.
And let's just
finish with these
words from
Romans chapter 8
right at the end
that we get
and Paul writes
this
Who shall
separate us
from the love
of Christ?
Question mark.
Shall trouble
or hardship
or persecution
or famine
or nakedness
or danger
or sword?
Question mark.
As it is written
for your sake
we face death
all day long.
We are considered
the sheep
to be slaughtered.
Would have known
that exactly
in the first century
in Rome.
Paul writes
no.
In all these things
we are more
than conquerors
through him
who loved us
for I'm convinced
that neither
and think about it
in the context
of everything
that we've been
thinking about today
I'm convinced
that neither
death
nor life
neither angels
nor demons
neither the present
nor the future
nor any powers
neither height
nor depth
nor anything else
in all of creation
as he covers
his bases
nothing will be able
to separate us
from the love
of God
that is in
Jesus Christ
our Lord.
And that's the promise
that he makes us today
as we finish this series.
Nothing
nothing
will separate us
from the love
of God
in Christ Jesus.
Why don't we pray?
And let's just be quiet
for a moment
just before we
close our time together
with another time
of singing.
And dear friends
just pour out your heart
before the Lord.
The God who sees
the God who knows
the God who loves
the God who cares
and the God who
in Christ Jesus
is able to offer us
forgiveness
a newness
of life.
And so Father
I just pray
that wherever
we're at today
Lord I trust
that as you
your word
has gone forth
thank you
for that promise
that it will never
fail to do that
which you
purpose for it
to do.
So Lord
I pray
that your word
this morning
as your spirit
takes it
and applies it
deep into our hearts
that you would
comfort
and challenge
and rebuke
and prompt
and nudge
and transform.
Thank you Father
that we've been
thinking about
over the last
number of months
that you are
the God of grace.
so Father
thank you for each
other
thank you for this
time
and as we close
now
Lord be with us
help us leave
today with a
bigger vision
of who you are
in Jesus' name
we pray
Amen