WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.240 Well, a very warm welcome to you all to our service this morning. 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:12.880 This morning is a baptism service, so there'll be a baptism of two children towards the end 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:14.140 of our service today. 00:00:14.679 --> 00:00:17.359 And I'd like to welcome you all, especially those of you who are visitors. 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:21.280 I know there are quite a number of visitors with us today, and we're really pleased to 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:25.339 have you, not just a family of those who are baptizing and relatives, but also some who 00:00:25.339 --> 00:00:29.300 have come for the festival and were in the hall, I think, for their breakfast. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:33.079 We're glad to provide that and glad to see so many people making use of it. 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:37.939 So you're very welcome with us today, and there will be tea after the service as well 00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:40.760 in the hall again, and you're welcome to join with us there. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:44.560 And please take a bulletin sheet with you as well, giving some information. 00:00:46.460 --> 00:00:50.100 Well, just to pick up a number of things from the intimation sheet. 00:00:50.820 --> 00:00:52.960 As I said, there's tea in the hall after the service. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:54.200 Everyone's invited to that. 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:59.260 You'll see details of the midweek meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, the Gaelic on Thursday, 00:00:59.299 --> 00:01:01.019 at 7.30. 00:01:01.619 --> 00:01:05.879 I'll be taking the English as well on Wednesday at 7.30. 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:09.840 And the services next Lord's Day are shown there as well. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:16.120 And I think the rest of them, pretty much apart from the thank you from God is Good Africa, 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:24.400 sincere thanks from them for the amount that was raised in support of the children and schools 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:25.620 and colleges in Africa. 00:01:26.240 --> 00:01:31.260 £5,000 was raised at the lunches on Thursday, Friday last week. 00:01:31.260 --> 00:01:34.160 So that's a great thing to intimate as well. 00:01:35.020 --> 00:01:39.780 And just for the benefit of visitors, our practice is that we stand for the singings, 00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:45.500 we remain seated for the prayers, and the same goes right through to the end of the service. 00:01:45.500 --> 00:01:48.439 So we're going to begin our worship today. 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:50.959 We're singing in Psalm 122. 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:53.819 That's in the Scottish Psalter. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:55.319 We have two versions of the Psalms. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:58.739 They're both within this one blue booklet, if you have one. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:02.599 And this one is on page 416. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:09.800 A psalm that expresses joyfulness at coming to worship God. 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:14.460 Page 416, the tune is St. Paul. 00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:18.640 I joyed when to the house of God go up, they said to me, 00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:22.620 Jerusalem within thy gates our feet shall standing be. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:26.080 Jerusalem as a city is compactly built together, 00:02:26.720 --> 00:02:31.820 and to that place the tribes go up, the tribes of God go thither. 00:02:31.819 --> 00:02:43.299 So it's page 416, and we sing the whole of the psalm. 00:02:43.379 --> 00:02:44.639 We'll stand to sing. 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:55.299 I joyed when to the house of God 00:02:55.300 --> 00:03:08.280 Jerusalem as a city of God go up, 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:10.680 warumeth counten able to the rhetoric of God go up, 00:03:10.820 --> 00:03:12.620 by verse 1, 00:03:12.620 --> 00:03:13.180 Temür6, and Elyria. 00:03:13.180 --> 00:03:14.420 Chapter 216, the district of God go up, 00:03:14.640 --> 00:03:15.400 where sistemaano-one, 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:16.640 hang of the Hello, 00:03:16.640 --> 00:03:17.939 and Allah Instagram, 00:03:18.060 --> 00:03:19.040 you know, 00:03:19.100 --> 00:03:21.700 He or protector of God are safer, 00:03:21.699 --> 00:03:33.099 As the city is done, and we build together, 00:03:33.099 --> 00:03:42.099 And to that place the tribes go up, 00:03:43.099 --> 00:03:50.099 The tribes of God go wither. 00:03:51.699 --> 00:04:00.099 To his best testimony there, 00:04:00.099 --> 00:04:07.500 To lost infants to pay, 00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:16.500 Our tones of judgment keep the thrones, 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:24.899 All day is found their sin. 00:04:24.899 --> 00:04:33.299 Pray that Jerusalem may have 00:04:33.299 --> 00:04:39.899 Peace and Felicity, 00:04:39.899 --> 00:04:50.299 Let them that love thee and thy peace 00:04:50.299 --> 00:04:55.899 Have still prosperity. 00:04:55.899 --> 00:05:07.299 Therefore I wish that peace may still 00:05:07.299 --> 00:05:14.299 Within thy walls remain, 00:05:14.300 --> 00:05:30.300 And ever may thy policies prosperity retain. 00:05:30.300 --> 00:05:41.699 Love for my friends and brethren sing, 00:05:41.699 --> 00:05:48.300 Peace be in thee I'll sing, 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:57.699 And for the house of God our Lord, 00:05:57.699 --> 00:06:04.699 I seek thy good only. 00:06:04.699 --> 00:06:11.099 Now we're going to call upon the Lord in prayer, 00:06:11.099 --> 00:06:13.099 Let's join together in prayer. 00:06:13.100 --> 00:06:19.500 Our gracious God, our Father in heaven, 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:21.500 We thank you as the psalmist did, 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:25.500 For being able to gather together today to worship you, 00:06:25.500 --> 00:06:28.500 And we acknowledge that you are worthy of our worship, 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:31.500 And worthy even of that perfect worship, 00:06:31.500 --> 00:06:33.500 That is ascribed to you in heaven. 00:06:33.500 --> 00:06:37.100 We thank you today for the many privileges that are ours 00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:38.899 As we come to worship you, 00:06:38.899 --> 00:06:41.100 For the many privileges and promises 00:06:41.100 --> 00:06:44.899 Attached even to this gathering itself for worship. 00:06:44.899 --> 00:06:47.899 For we know that you delight in being with your people, 00:06:47.899 --> 00:06:50.899 That you delight in hearing their praise, 00:06:50.899 --> 00:06:52.899 In hearing their prayers, 00:06:52.899 --> 00:06:55.899 In presenting yourself to them through the gospel, 00:06:55.899 --> 00:06:57.899 And through your Holy Spirit. 00:06:57.899 --> 00:06:59.899 And we thank you today, O Lord, 00:06:59.899 --> 00:07:01.899 For all that this means to your people, 00:07:01.899 --> 00:07:05.000 As they regularly gather together to worship you, 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:05.899 As we do now. 00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:10.500 We thank you for this day that enables us to gather in this way. 00:07:10.500 --> 00:07:14.500 We recognize, O Lord, that from the beginning, 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:16.500 In the creation of the world, 00:07:16.500 --> 00:07:18.500 And of human life, 00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:21.500 So you gave this day to be a day set apart, 00:07:21.500 --> 00:07:23.500 To be holy to the Lord. 00:07:23.500 --> 00:07:28.500 And we thank you that we come in the New Testament age, 00:07:28.500 --> 00:07:31.500 To recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:34.600 As he rose from the dead on the third day after his death. 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:39.100 And so he sanctified this day to be the first day of the week. 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:44.100 And to be a day in which your people are able to gather together in worship, 00:07:44.100 --> 00:07:45.100 Such as we do now. 00:07:45.100 --> 00:07:48.600 We thank you for your word that guides our thoughts, 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:49.600 That teaches us. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:54.100 Your word that you use to form and fashion and shape our lives. 00:07:54.100 --> 00:07:55.700 And we thank you, O Lord, 00:07:55.700 --> 00:07:57.200 That we have your word freely, 00:07:57.200 --> 00:07:59.700 And so many people in the world do not. 00:07:59.700 --> 00:08:01.700 We pray today, O Lord, 00:08:01.700 --> 00:08:03.700 That your word will be blessed to us, 00:08:03.700 --> 00:08:05.700 And blessed throughout the world. 00:08:05.700 --> 00:08:09.200 We thank you for those who proclaim your word, 00:08:09.200 --> 00:08:11.200 Who testify to your word, 00:08:11.200 --> 00:08:13.700 In their Christian life and in their calling. 00:08:13.700 --> 00:08:16.700 And Lord, we thank you today that we can approach you, 00:08:16.700 --> 00:08:20.700 And seek that your word will be blessed to us here too. 00:08:20.699 --> 00:08:23.300 Open our hearts and our minds, we pray, 00:08:23.300 --> 00:08:25.300 To understand your word anew. 00:08:25.300 --> 00:08:27.599 And give us today, O Lord, 00:08:27.599 --> 00:08:28.599 To be concerned, 00:08:28.599 --> 00:08:32.100 To place our own will beneath yours, 00:08:32.100 --> 00:08:34.600 Beneath the authority of your word. 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:38.600 And help us to realize that it is your word that sets out for us 00:08:38.600 --> 00:08:41.200 The pattern of how our life should be, 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:43.600 Both individually and collectively. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:47.100 And not whatever ideas we ourselves may have. 00:08:47.100 --> 00:08:50.600 Help us then, Lord, to come with sanctified minds, 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:55.200 Minds that seek for God earnestly and sincerely. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:59.500 Minds that will truly be set out for you in a way that 00:08:59.500 --> 00:09:05.000 Would want to serve you and want to be a living testimony to you and to your grace. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.000 We thank you today for all those who have come to join us. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:12.500 Who have come to join us in relation to the baptisms. 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:17.500 And also who come from different parts, O Lord, to the island in these days. 00:09:17.500 --> 00:09:21.100 We thank you for their presence here with us today. 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:25.100 We thank you for those who are joining the service online. 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:29.399 We pray, O Lord, for those in different places of the world 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:34.100 Who come to connect themselves to us as a congregation in this way. 00:09:34.100 --> 00:09:42.700 We thank you for the messages of encouragement that some send from different parts of the world. 00:09:42.700 --> 00:09:47.000 That enable us, Lord, to know the thrill of your gospel being blessed. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:49.700 And being blessed to people that we have never met. 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:55.500 We give thanks, O Lord, that these provisions are made for us in your goodness. 00:09:55.500 --> 00:10:02.100 And we ask today that you would enable us to be thankful for all the blessings and all the privileges. 00:10:02.100 --> 00:10:07.100 All the good things that you provide for us, even in the daily course of life. 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:13.100 We pray today, O Lord, for those who don't have these or don't have them in the abundance that we have. 00:10:13.100 --> 00:10:20.700 We pray throughout the world for those who are beset with poverty, with deprivation, with persecution. 00:10:20.700 --> 00:10:28.000 In places where war and terrorism has plagued the lives of people, sometimes for the whole course of their life. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:37.060 We ask, O Lord, where there is war, especially those places that war is raging in at present in different parts of the world. 00:10:37.060 --> 00:10:39.899 O Lord, we pray that you would bring peace. 00:10:39.899 --> 00:10:43.899 And our prayer is that you would especially bring the peace of the gospel. 00:10:43.899 --> 00:10:49.899 And bring your people, O Lord, that sense of being your living witnesses in the world. 00:10:49.899 --> 00:10:51.899 Witnesses to peace. 00:10:51.899 --> 00:10:57.899 We pray for the governments of the world, especially, Lord, those who have influence. 00:10:57.899 --> 00:11:01.899 And we pray that that influence may be guided by your truth. 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:09.899 We pray for our own nation at this time and ask that you would bless them in government over us in Scotland and in Westminster. 00:11:09.899 --> 00:11:18.899 And, O Lord, we ask that your blessing will be with them in such a way that would enable them to realize that it is to you they are accountable. 00:11:18.899 --> 00:11:27.899 That you have given us direction in your word, in the promises and in the commands of your word, so as to organize our human lives thereby. 00:11:27.899 --> 00:11:38.899 We ask today that you would bless those who disseminate your word, who are involved in the translation of your word, involved in the recording of your word in different languages. 00:11:38.899 --> 00:11:48.899 We pray, O Lord, for the way in which that enables your word to go forth to people that have yet not heard the gospel in their own language. 00:11:48.899 --> 00:11:53.899 And we thank you that that is something which we ourselves have an ongoing interest. 00:11:53.899 --> 00:11:59.899 We pray your blessing today for those who have illness to contend with. 00:11:59.899 --> 00:12:05.899 Remember, we pray those who are in hospital, those who we know ourselves, Lord, belong to us. 00:12:05.899 --> 00:12:08.899 As a congregation, as families, we pray for them. 00:12:08.899 --> 00:12:13.899 We pray for those recovering from surgery, from various operations. 00:12:13.899 --> 00:12:16.899 We ask that you would bless them and draw near to them. 00:12:16.899 --> 00:12:23.899 We pray today for any Lord here or elsewhere under the gospel who still do not know you savingly. 00:12:23.899 --> 00:12:40.899 We pray that you would be present today with them so as to open their heart to receive the Savior and to enable them, Lord, to reach out in faith and in trust and bring you into their own possession by your grace and by the power of your spirit. 00:12:40.899 --> 00:12:47.899 And we ask that you would bless us, Lord, in this service now as we anticipate baptisms as well. 00:12:47.899 --> 00:12:52.899 We thank you for the ordinances you have given to your church in baptism and in the Lord's Supper. 00:12:52.899 --> 00:12:58.899 We pray that they may be blessed today to the families and the children directly involved. 00:12:58.899 --> 00:13:03.899 We pray these mercies, Lord, seeking the pardon of our many sins and your cleansing. 00:13:03.899 --> 00:13:07.899 For we ask it all in Jesus' name and for his sake. 00:13:07.899 --> 00:13:08.899 Amen. 00:13:08.899 --> 00:13:13.899 Now, word to the children at this time. 00:13:13.899 --> 00:13:15.899 Nice to see the tweenies in for a moment. 00:13:15.899 --> 00:13:19.899 And any other children here and watching online as well. 00:13:19.899 --> 00:13:23.899 Now, I'm sure even from a very early age you know what a mobile phone is. 00:13:23.899 --> 00:13:25.899 I don't have one on me at the moment. 00:13:25.899 --> 00:13:34.899 I don't carry it to the service just in case I've forgotten to switch it off or to put it on silent and it goes off in the middle of my sermon, which would not be very nice to happen. 00:13:34.899 --> 00:13:37.899 But you know what mobile phones are and what they're for. 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:40.899 And there's so much packed into a mobile phone these days. 00:13:40.899 --> 00:13:43.899 It's not just so that you can phone someone and speak to them. 00:13:43.899 --> 00:13:48.899 You've got your camera, you've got your music player and so many other things as well. 00:13:48.899 --> 00:13:50.899 Some of them that I don't even know how to work. 00:13:50.899 --> 00:13:53.899 I'm sure some of you know how to work them already. 00:13:53.899 --> 00:13:59.899 Well, mobile phone needs two things for you to use them effectively or properly. 00:13:59.899 --> 00:14:03.899 There are two things without which your mobile phone is really of no use. 00:14:03.899 --> 00:14:05.899 First is a signal. 00:14:05.899 --> 00:14:14.899 You need a signal either through the mobile phone network or sometimes you can do it through the internet if you don't have a mobile phone network that you can connect with. 00:14:14.899 --> 00:14:22.899 But you need a connection in some way or other to the mobile network, to the internet before you can use your phone properly. 00:14:22.899 --> 00:14:31.899 And that reminds me how important it is that we take note of the connection that God has given us with himself. 00:14:31.899 --> 00:14:35.899 And that connection is the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:14:35.899 --> 00:14:42.899 Because the Lord Jesus Christ is the way by which we come into connection with God. 00:14:42.899 --> 00:14:44.899 He is the contact point. 00:14:44.899 --> 00:14:52.899 He, if you like, is the network or the hot point through which we actually come into contact with God. 00:14:52.899 --> 00:14:58.899 And you know, sometimes your mobile phone signal doesn't work very well in certain areas. 00:14:58.899 --> 00:15:03.899 I was in a place recently where there was no mobile phone network and no internet. 00:15:03.899 --> 00:15:07.899 And I thought, before I went to the place I knew that this was going to be the case. 00:15:07.899 --> 00:15:10.899 And I thought, that's really going to be difficult. 00:15:10.899 --> 00:15:18.899 How am I going to manage without being in touch by phone or through the internet for a whole five days or a week? 00:15:18.899 --> 00:15:20.899 That actually turned out alright. 00:15:20.899 --> 00:15:26.899 Because at least you could talk to people, which is something we don't do enough of when you're depending so much on mobile phones. 00:15:26.899 --> 00:15:32.899 But if your connection goes down and you lose the contact that you need to use your mobile phone. 00:15:32.899 --> 00:15:39.899 Now, the great thing about God is the contact point that you have in Jesus never actually is lost. 00:15:39.899 --> 00:15:47.899 It never even goes to a low sort of signal point that you can't get in touch with God. 00:15:47.899 --> 00:15:52.899 It's always a perfectly live and strong signal. 00:15:52.899 --> 00:16:04.899 And that's why it's so important for us to use the contact point that Jesus is so that we can speak with God and hear God speaking to us through His Word. 00:16:04.899 --> 00:16:15.899 So when you use your mobile phone, remember how important it is that you have contact with God and that the contact point that Jesus is, is always live. 00:16:15.899 --> 00:16:17.899 It never goes off. 00:16:17.899 --> 00:16:19.899 It's always there for us. 00:16:19.899 --> 00:16:26.899 The second thing about the mobile phone in order to work effectively is that you need to have it charged. 00:16:26.899 --> 00:16:36.899 If you don't have your battery charged, it needs to be connected to the mains electric somehow or other for the mobile phone to actually get a charge to work. 00:16:36.899 --> 00:16:47.899 And you know how frustrating it is sometimes you've forgotten to put it on charge and maybe you don't have your charger with you or access to the mains electric to put your phone on charge. 00:16:47.899 --> 00:16:53.899 And somebody is trying to get you and your phone has gone off because there's no battery charge. 00:16:53.899 --> 00:16:58.899 And then when you meet the person next time, they'll say to you, why weren't you answering your phone? 00:16:58.899 --> 00:17:02.899 And you have to say, it was because the battery was flat. 00:17:02.899 --> 00:17:08.900 Now, our lives as human beings also need to be charged spiritually. 00:17:08.900 --> 00:17:13.900 And the battery that we have for our human life is our souls. 00:17:13.900 --> 00:17:20.900 In our souls, not only do we have contact with God, but we need to keep our souls charged up. 00:17:20.900 --> 00:17:24.900 How do we keep our souls charged up spiritually? 00:17:24.900 --> 00:17:27.900 How do we keep ourselves spiritually strong? 00:17:27.900 --> 00:17:35.900 Well, we do that by what we're doing today, by coming to hear God's Word preached, by coming to worship Him. 00:17:35.900 --> 00:17:49.900 And in our own lives personally, we keep our souls strong, our battery, if you like, strong, by praying to Jesus, by reading the Bible, by being with other Christians as well. 00:17:49.900 --> 00:17:55.900 And if we have these, and if we keep up the charge of our souls, then we'll be in a good condition. 00:17:55.900 --> 00:18:02.900 Whether we're young or middle-aged or old, these are things that all of us need to do all the time. 00:18:02.900 --> 00:18:18.900 We need to have use of the signal that God is giving us, the contact point we have in Jesus, and also keep our souls properly charged up so that we will not have our spiritual battery go flat. 00:18:18.900 --> 00:18:26.900 That's what happens when you stop reading the Bible, stop coming to church, stop interacting with other Christians. 00:18:26.900 --> 00:18:28.900 Your soul goes flat very quickly. 00:18:28.900 --> 00:18:34.900 And you need to recharge then in order to get things back the way they should be. 00:18:34.900 --> 00:18:46.900 So remember, contact point of Jesus, and keep up the strength of your own soul, your life, to actually have a Christian life that is healthy. 00:18:46.900 --> 00:18:51.900 We're going to now say the Lord's Prayer together, so the congregation join in in saying the Lord's Prayer. 00:18:51.900 --> 00:18:53.900 Let's pray the Lord's Prayer together. 00:18:53.900 --> 00:18:58.900 Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 00:18:58.900 --> 00:19:00.900 Thy kingdom come. 00:19:00.900 --> 00:19:03.900 Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:19:03.900 --> 00:19:09.900 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 00:19:09.900 --> 00:19:13.900 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 00:19:13.900 --> 00:19:18.900 For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. 00:19:18.900 --> 00:19:19.900 Amen. 00:19:19.900 --> 00:19:25.900 Now we're going to turn to read God's Word, and we have two short passages today to read. 00:19:25.900 --> 00:19:30.900 Firstly, Paul's letter to the Galatians, chapter 6 and verses 1 to 10. 00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:36.900 The twinnies will just go out just now. 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:41.900 So that's Galatians 6, verses 1 to 10. 00:19:41.900 --> 00:19:46.900 And also from 1 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 14 to 16. 00:19:46.900 --> 00:20:00.900 So Paul's letter to the Galatians, the Pulpit Bible here, it has it on page 1173, so it will be around about that point in your Bibles as well. 00:20:00.900 --> 00:20:03.900 Galatians 6 at the beginning. 00:20:03.900 --> 00:20:05.900 Boom. 00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:09.900 Now the following me, we say, is the Daily heaven. 00:20:09.900 --> 00:20:10.900 Blue. 00:20:10.900 --> 00:20:11.900 Letcha commence... 00:20:11.900 --> 00:20:13.900 ... 00:20:13.900 --> 00:20:14.900 And they have theerekonom Hiii. 00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:20.860 burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, 00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:27.400 he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be 00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:31.860 in himself alone and not in his neighbor, for each will have to bear his own load. 00:20:32.860 --> 00:20:37.040 One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. 00:20:37.980 --> 00:20:44.220 Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 00:20:44.900 --> 00:20:50.519 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to 00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:58.140 the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not grow weary of well-doing, for in due 00:20:58.140 --> 00:21:05.820 season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, 00:21:06.600 --> 00:21:14.460 and especially to those who are of the household of faith. We can turn now to 1 Timothy, just some 00:21:14.460 --> 00:21:21.840 pages on from there. And 1 Timothy chapter 3, just at the end of the chapter from verse 14, 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:28.220 where Paul is writing these words to Timothy, 00:21:28.220 --> 00:21:52.940 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, 00:21:52.940 --> 00:21:59.820 proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. 00:22:01.320 --> 00:22:05.779 And we pray God will bless these readings of his word to us today. 00:22:05.779 --> 00:22:09.700 We're going to sing to his praise further, and this time our singing is in Gaelic. 00:22:10.299 --> 00:22:15.139 Whenever we come together for a baptism or commune time, we have a Gaelic singing. 00:22:15.660 --> 00:22:19.660 And I know that this will be of interest too to visitors who may not have Gaelic, but 00:22:19.660 --> 00:22:24.920 will probably appreciate singing in Gaelic in a traditional way. 00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:31.120 So it's Psalm 25, verses 4 to 5. I read them in English first of all. 00:22:31.120 --> 00:22:35.420 O Lord, reveal to me your ways, and all your path help me to know. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:39.920 Direct and guide me in your truth. Instruct me in the way to go. 00:22:40.580 --> 00:22:44.740 You are my Savior and my God. All day I hope in you alone. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:51.019 Remember, Lord, your love and grace, which from past ages you have shown. 00:22:51.019 --> 00:22:54.139 So these verses in Gaelic are as follows. 00:22:54.140 --> 00:23:15.400 And for the Gaelic singing, we remain seated. 00:23:16.060 --> 00:23:16.980 So these two verses. 00:23:16.980 --> 00:23:46.960 So these verses. 00:23:46.980 --> 00:24:16.960 So these verses. 00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:46.960 So these verses. 00:24:46.980 --> 00:24:48.980 So these verses. 00:24:48.980 --> 00:24:49.980 So these verses. 00:24:49.980 --> 00:24:50.980 So these verses. 00:24:50.980 --> 00:24:51.980 So these verses. 00:24:51.980 --> 00:24:59.480 da 00:25:13.400 --> 00:25:19.279 o 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:49.259 Thank you. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:26:19.259 Thank you. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:26.279 Thank you. 00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:37.519 Now, will you turn with me, please, to the second reading from Scripture that we read a short 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:38.079 time ago? 00:26:38.699 --> 00:26:43.599 That's in 1 Timothy chapter 3, reading again at verse 14. 00:26:47.059 --> 00:26:52.220 I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you, so that if I delay, you 00:26:52.220 --> 00:26:58.299 may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living 00:26:58.299 --> 00:27:02.339 God, a pillar and buttress of truth. 00:27:02.339 --> 00:27:09.980 Yes, last time we met in the morning, you remember that we began a series of studies, 00:27:10.299 --> 00:27:14.839 short series of studies, on Scripture portraits of the church. 00:27:14.919 --> 00:27:20.599 In other words, the way the church is described in different passages in the Bible, which can 00:27:20.599 --> 00:27:27.559 raise to us a lot about what our understanding of the church should be, how we actually approach 00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:33.079 the whole issue of what the church is, what the church is for, the function of the church, 00:27:33.179 --> 00:27:35.519 the composition of the church, all of these things. 00:27:35.919 --> 00:27:43.119 And we saw last time this description in verse 15, the church as the church of the living 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:43.720 God. 00:27:44.379 --> 00:27:49.519 And you recall, we noticed those who were there, remember that we emphasized, as this passage 00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:53.440 does, as the Bible does, that the church is not a building. 00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:57.779 The church is people, the people of God who worship Him. 00:27:58.340 --> 00:28:00.759 That's what the Bible means by the church. 00:28:01.340 --> 00:28:06.620 Even though sometimes we refer to this place, this building as the church, the Kenneth Street 00:28:06.620 --> 00:28:12.539 Church, it's not entirely wrong to do that, but it is, strictly speaking, the place where 00:28:12.539 --> 00:28:13.580 the church meets. 00:28:14.259 --> 00:28:20.980 It is the place where God's people, God's worshiping people, as His church, regularly meet to worship 00:28:20.980 --> 00:28:21.279 Him. 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:26.079 And today we're looking at this next phrase here that we find as a description of the 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:28.639 church, the household of God. 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:36.460 Sometimes, as we sang in Psalm 122 in the Old Testament, the temple was referred to as 00:28:36.460 --> 00:28:42.599 God's house, the very structure of the temple, because God dwelt there, and the people went 00:28:42.599 --> 00:28:47.819 there to the temple to meet with God as they came together to worship Him as He Himself had 00:28:47.819 --> 00:28:48.759 set out for them. 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:54.539 But coming into the New Testament, the church, as we said, becomes much more the people rather 00:28:54.539 --> 00:28:55.559 than any building. 00:28:56.220 --> 00:29:01.299 And as you find it described here as the household of God, you also find sometimes in the New Testament 00:29:01.299 --> 00:29:06.359 the word house is used, but more often than not, it has the idea of household. 00:29:06.980 --> 00:29:11.500 But the people of God as the church of God are His household. 00:29:11.500 --> 00:29:16.720 In other words, it's the idea of the church as an organized family. 00:29:17.259 --> 00:29:21.819 It's really the same term that's used for a family in the ordinary sense. 00:29:22.460 --> 00:29:26.920 A family in the natural sense, as we'll see going through the study today. 00:29:27.559 --> 00:29:33.700 So, the household of God is really a description of God's church, God's people, but looked at 00:29:33.700 --> 00:29:36.920 from the perspective of being a spiritual family. 00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:43.680 And we'll see that many of the things that define family in the ordinary sense also carry 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:48.220 through into how the Bible describes the church for us. 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:54.140 And it's important that we actually understand this, especially because we today are having 00:29:54.140 --> 00:29:55.779 a baptism of children. 00:29:56.180 --> 00:30:01.800 But it's important that we understand what the church is at all times, because it's one 00:30:01.799 --> 00:30:05.680 of the fundamental teachings of the Bible, what is the church? 00:30:06.359 --> 00:30:07.659 Who are the church? 00:30:08.399 --> 00:30:09.819 What is the church for? 00:30:10.339 --> 00:30:12.980 What does God say about His church? 00:30:15.299 --> 00:30:23.359 Well, you know that the composition of family, in the normal sense, was set by God at the creation 00:30:23.359 --> 00:30:31.779 of Adam and Eve, and then their children comprised this family unit that really is basic. 00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:34.960 to human society from that time onwards. 00:30:35.539 --> 00:30:38.180 Father, mother, children. 00:30:38.779 --> 00:30:46.079 Sometimes, of course, that family unit cannot remain intact, because sadly, death comes into 00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:47.159 family circles. 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:49.599 Fathers die, mothers die. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:53.659 Sadly, sometimes both die, leave children as orphans. 00:30:53.660 --> 00:31:01.460 And also, tragically, children themselves pass away sometimes, even before their parents. 00:31:02.220 --> 00:31:06.519 These are the facts of life, facts of life in a fallen world. 00:31:06.680 --> 00:31:12.740 But ideally, this is what you actually have, father, mother, children, though, of course, 00:31:12.820 --> 00:31:17.860 couples sometimes aren't able to have children, and that's in the providence of God, something 00:31:17.859 --> 00:31:21.199 that has also to be reckoned with in a proper fashion. 00:31:21.199 --> 00:31:27.979 But we're looking at the ideal, as the Bible sets it out for us, of this human society of 00:31:27.979 --> 00:31:32.099 people together forming a family unit. 00:31:32.459 --> 00:31:36.599 The father, the mother, children brought up in that setting. 00:31:36.599 --> 00:31:46.619 Now, I don't need to tell you that in the Western world, for many years now, that biblical idea 00:31:46.619 --> 00:31:50.199 of the family has been steadily dismantled. 00:31:51.159 --> 00:31:58.159 And as Christians and as a Christian church, we need to maintain the Bible's teaching on 00:31:58.159 --> 00:32:03.000 what the family is, who comprises a family, and what the family is about. 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:10.599 And that steady erosion or dismantling of family has actually gone side by side, and it's not 00:32:10.599 --> 00:32:14.000 an accident, with the way that the Bible has been set aside. 00:32:14.140 --> 00:32:19.299 When you put the Bible aside, when you put the authority of God's Word aside, inevitably 00:32:19.299 --> 00:32:26.079 you're left with consequences such as these, that people then organize things, even family 00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:32.700 life, in their own terms, or in the way that mere human wisdom might dictate, or in the 00:32:32.700 --> 00:32:35.980 way that the prevailing culture of the age might dictate. 00:32:36.100 --> 00:32:40.100 And that's where we're at as a society in our own country as well, largely. 00:32:40.700 --> 00:32:43.460 We have redefined marriage. 00:32:43.720 --> 00:32:45.840 We have redefined family. 00:32:46.519 --> 00:32:49.100 We have all sorts of ideas about gender. 00:32:49.779 --> 00:32:55.279 And all of these are steadily taking us away from what the Bible itself, what God has set 00:32:55.279 --> 00:32:58.440 out in the Bible as His standard. 00:33:00.059 --> 00:33:06.200 And that has affected negatively people's view of the church. 00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:12.559 Now, of course, I have to say, and you agree with me, I know that no church body is perfect. 00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:14.660 No congregation is perfect. 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:16.619 No denomination is perfect. 00:33:16.879 --> 00:33:19.279 There is no perfect church in this world. 00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:25.899 That has to await eternity when the bride of Christ will be revealed in her perfection. 00:33:26.779 --> 00:33:33.660 Having said that, the way in which the prevailing culture has dismantled ideas of family relations, 00:33:34.139 --> 00:33:39.559 of marriage, of gender, that has made its way into people's ideas about the church as well. 00:33:40.379 --> 00:33:45.279 And it's colored various ways in which the church is understood by many people. 00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:49.740 You even attend church and belong to various denominations. 00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:54.779 Let me just give you a definition from the Westminster Confession of Faith. 00:33:54.920 --> 00:34:00.139 I know sometimes that seems to be rather dusty theological dry stuff, but it's a brilliant 00:34:00.139 --> 00:34:04.299 document in regard to the way definitions are said. 00:34:04.379 --> 00:34:06.200 And of such things as the church, it says this, 00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:12.679 The visible church consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion. 00:34:12.679 --> 00:34:14.599 By that they mean the Christian faith. 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:16.700 And of their children. 00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:17.600 And of their children. 00:34:17.600 --> 00:34:21.220 And as the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, 00:34:21.820 --> 00:34:26.180 out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. 00:34:26.620 --> 00:34:31.040 Till that point especially, the visible church consists of all those throughout the world that 00:34:31.040 --> 00:34:33.700 profess the true religion and their children. 00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:36.800 And as the house and family of God. 00:34:37.780 --> 00:34:40.840 And as such a definition, we carry that forward. 00:34:40.840 --> 00:34:47.079 There are three points I want to bring from that today in order to see what is meant by the household 00:34:47.079 --> 00:34:53.980 of God and how that has an impact upon ourselves as a congregation and our understanding of church 00:34:53.980 --> 00:34:55.400 and what church really means. 00:34:55.400 --> 00:35:03.780 Now, first of all, as the household of God, God's church has order and structure about it. 00:35:04.099 --> 00:35:05.860 There's an order and structure. 00:35:05.960 --> 00:35:11.500 Just the way that in a domestic family, the ideal, as said out in the Bible, the father, mother, children, 00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:13.740 they're organized in a certain way. 00:35:14.019 --> 00:35:20.480 So, as the church as well, it's both an organism and an organization or an organized group. 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:23.719 Being an organism means it's a living entity. 00:35:23.940 --> 00:35:26.940 The church is the people, the living people of God. 00:35:27.860 --> 00:35:31.059 But there's also the side to it that the church is organized. 00:35:31.260 --> 00:35:35.539 When you go through the New Testament especially, although it's there in the Old Testament too, 00:35:36.119 --> 00:35:42.139 you'll find the way that Paul sets out how the church is to organize itself in the various places 00:35:42.139 --> 00:35:44.139 in which he's writing his epistles to. 00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:48.760 There are elders, there are deacons, there are members, there are families, there are husbands, 00:35:48.760 --> 00:35:53.900 there are wives, all of these different categories are mentioned comprising the church, let's say, 00:35:54.020 --> 00:35:56.520 in Ephesus or in Corinth or wherever. 00:35:57.560 --> 00:36:06.940 And that avoids two extremes because the two extremes really are that you have some are of the view that 00:36:06.940 --> 00:36:15.260 what's really important is the church as an organism, as a living entity of people who are living disciples 00:36:15.260 --> 00:36:20.900 of Christ. And really it doesn't matter what the organization of that is, how it's organized together, 00:36:20.980 --> 00:36:26.480 that really doesn't matter. You don't need to have lists of communion members, you don't need to have 00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:31.660 lists of those who are baptized. These are things that really aren't all of that much importance. 00:36:32.200 --> 00:36:36.760 What's really important is that the church is defined in terms of being a living organism. 00:36:36.760 --> 00:36:44.100 Well, that's one extreme. The other extreme is the other side of the issue where it's all about 00:36:44.100 --> 00:36:54.580 organized and organization rather than the organism, where you have an emphasis on how big is your 00:36:54.580 --> 00:36:59.080 congregation, how many communicants do you have, how many people come to church every Sunday, 00:36:59.160 --> 00:37:04.380 how well are your records kept, all of those sort of things. And that means that by and large, 00:37:04.380 --> 00:37:13.500 the spiritual side, the organism side is really left in abeyance. You have to have both. The church is 00:37:13.500 --> 00:37:20.940 both an organism and an organized group of people under the direction of God's Word in Scripture. 00:37:21.940 --> 00:37:29.400 And in that organism and organized group of people the church is, our children in our system, 00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:37.599 in our Presbyterian theology, are actually members of the church by covenant. That's why we baptize 00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:43.559 our children, because they are already regarded as being members in covenant with God through their 00:37:43.559 --> 00:37:50.320 believing parents. We have respect for those who differ from that point of view, and I know that there 00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:55.079 are some who will insist that that's not what the Bible teaches. And there's been controversy, as you know, 00:37:55.079 --> 00:38:00.739 over the age. It's not really something to be in controversy about. It's something that we just 00:38:00.739 --> 00:38:05.759 accept. People have different views of, but this is how in our Presbyterian theology, in our Reformed 00:38:05.759 --> 00:38:12.900 Presbyterian theology, this is what we understand the teaching of the Bible to be. And so baptism, 00:38:13.239 --> 00:38:20.900 as we find it today, is not a mere act of dedication. I say mere act. It is an act of dedication, 00:38:20.900 --> 00:38:26.980 but it's much more than that. It's not just parents bringing their children to be dedicated to the 00:38:26.980 --> 00:38:33.660 Lord, although that's involved. It's actually parents bringing their children in such a way as 00:38:33.660 --> 00:38:41.559 says, I want my child to belong formally to the membership of this congregation, to the baptized 00:38:41.559 --> 00:38:49.800 covenant membership of this congregation. And it's from that membership that then later on 00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:58.080 communicant membership is drawn. One of the great theologians of Scotland way back, Samuel Rutherford, 00:38:58.720 --> 00:39:06.060 and he was insistent that the children of parents, believing parents, were already members of the 00:39:06.060 --> 00:39:14.300 church, therefore were baptized. He put it this way, communicant membership are drawn from the covenant 00:39:14.300 --> 00:39:21.380 membership of the church. This is why we come in the structure we have to baptize our children. Now, 00:39:21.420 --> 00:39:30.760 that's something that should confer a sense of belonging. One of our concerns always is that our 00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:36.200 young people drift away from the church. Even from their youngest days, they may be lost to the church. 00:39:36.960 --> 00:39:43.500 And this is maybe one of the reasons that we don't convey the sense that they belong to the church 00:39:43.500 --> 00:39:50.559 already as children. And if you don't convey that sense of their belonging, it's not really surprising 00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:57.539 if they drift away. If they're not actually dealt with from the very start as those who belong to the 00:39:57.539 --> 00:40:02.860 church already as children, then it's not surprising that at some point or other they might drift away and 00:40:02.860 --> 00:40:08.679 say, well, I'm not really any better than those others who are not going to church or whatever. 00:40:08.679 --> 00:40:16.039 We have to convey that sense of them belonging. All the children who were in here earlier as baptized 00:40:16.039 --> 00:40:21.759 are members of the church in covenant, in the covenant sense. And the prayer is they will come 00:40:21.759 --> 00:40:27.879 as they grow up to actually become themselves willingly communicant members of the church as 00:40:27.879 --> 00:40:32.980 well when they reach that age of discernment by which they're able to discern the Lord's body 00:40:32.980 --> 00:40:39.599 in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. That's the first point. The church has order and structure, 00:40:40.079 --> 00:40:45.639 drawing from the order and structure of the family unit and the church being a family of God, 00:40:45.699 --> 00:40:51.079 the household of God. Let's move on to the second point, which is that the church also, 00:40:51.340 --> 00:40:58.240 as the household of God, is a place of nurture and discipline. It's the same as in a family, 00:40:58.239 --> 00:41:04.899 in a domestic family. Ideally, you have nurture of the children, discipline of the children, 00:41:05.339 --> 00:41:10.779 knowing how to behave. That's what Paul is saying here to Timothy. If I delay, you may know, I'm writing 00:41:10.779 --> 00:41:17.159 this to you, that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God. You bring up children 00:41:17.159 --> 00:41:22.839 in a household, one of the things you want to pass on to them is how they behave, how they behave in the 00:41:22.840 --> 00:41:28.920 family, how they behave outside the family, how they carry the name of the family, the reputation of the 00:41:28.920 --> 00:41:34.519 family. All of that comes into rearing and nurturing children, and it's the same with the church as well. 00:41:34.620 --> 00:41:40.660 They're all, of all ages, it's not just our children, our young people, we are all in that way 00:41:40.660 --> 00:41:49.920 needful of being nurtured and disciplined under the truth of God. And this is not a negative thing, 00:41:49.920 --> 00:41:56.840 this is a very positive thing. It's not something we should regard with gritted teeth, as if it's 00:41:56.840 --> 00:42:01.960 something really that's so harsh and so hard that really it's not something that we should find 00:42:01.960 --> 00:42:09.700 acceptable at all. Where the family is the place of education, the place of shaping lives, the place 00:42:09.700 --> 00:42:16.720 of preparing lives, so too in the church. And let me just pick up that point and say that in accordance 00:42:16.719 --> 00:42:24.579 again with the Bible, the main place of teaching and shaping lives for our children is not in school. 00:42:25.719 --> 00:42:32.259 It's in the home. It's under the tutelage of their parentage, of their parents. It's under the teaching 00:42:32.259 --> 00:42:37.419 and the guidance and the advice and the shaping of the teaching that they receive in the home. That's why 00:42:37.419 --> 00:42:45.519 the home is such a precious, precious unit, and such an influential unit in the way that we bring up our 00:42:45.519 --> 00:42:55.719 children. But as a church, as the household of God, all ages are nurtured in the church, are nurtured by 00:42:55.719 --> 00:43:02.079 what God has given to the church to enjoy their shape. Our lives are shaped by the Word of God, 00:43:02.539 --> 00:43:07.679 shaped by the Word preached, shaped by the Word shared, shaped by fellowship and interaction with 00:43:07.679 --> 00:43:13.619 fellow Christians. All of these things contribute to the shaping of our lives. That's the standard that 00:43:13.619 --> 00:43:20.159 Paul has how you ought to behave in the household of God. God has a standard. God has an expectation. 00:43:20.739 --> 00:43:27.319 God has a reputation Himself. And let's face it, it's not just our reputation as a church that 00:43:27.319 --> 00:43:35.880 we actually carry into the world in which we live our lives as Christians. It's God's reputation as well. 00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:44.680 That was one of the concerns for Moses. When God had threatened to destroy the people after the 00:43:44.680 --> 00:43:52.440 incident of them making the idol of the golden calf, remember God, that Moses, he pleaded with God 00:43:52.440 --> 00:43:57.980 to forgive, to take them as His people. And one of the things he said was, 00:43:57.980 --> 00:44:04.480 if you destroy us, then what will the Egyptians say? What will the enemies of God's people say? 00:44:04.679 --> 00:44:09.240 They will say something bad about you, Lord. They will say you weren't able to carry these people, 00:44:09.579 --> 00:44:14.860 that you weren't able to do what you promised for them. See, the reputation of God is always 00:44:14.860 --> 00:44:20.539 connected to our lives and to our manner of life and to our way of life and how we carry forth 00:44:20.539 --> 00:44:24.039 those things that God has given us and our privileges in this world. 00:44:24.039 --> 00:44:31.739 It really does matter what the world thinks of us in that sense, though in other senses, 00:44:32.380 --> 00:44:38.360 it may not matter very much. And you know this word discipline, I mentioned nurture and discipline. 00:44:39.420 --> 00:44:45.480 Sometimes we think of the word discipline as entirely negative, as if it's just to do with 00:44:45.480 --> 00:44:51.099 what happens when somebody does something wrong and needs to be corrected. Of course, that's something 00:44:51.099 --> 00:44:57.619 that also forms part of the church's responsibility that has to be done lovingly and tactfully and with 00:44:57.619 --> 00:45:03.799 a view to restoration. But discipline is much more than just that side of things, dealing with 00:45:03.799 --> 00:45:10.179 correction when somebody's gone wrong. Discipline also involves giving the right guidance, giving the 00:45:10.179 --> 00:45:15.619 right counsel, giving the right advice, giving the right steerage to people from the youngest days 00:45:15.619 --> 00:45:22.259 through to adulthood. And that's what we find in God's provision in the gospel that He's given to His 00:45:22.259 --> 00:45:30.839 church. It is the household of God. It's where there's order and structure according to God's direction 00:45:30.839 --> 00:45:39.900 and God's specification. And it's also a place of nurture and discipline. And finally, I need to be 00:45:39.900 --> 00:45:48.240 quick with this one. It's a place of unity and love. The household of God is a place of unity. It cries 00:45:48.240 --> 00:45:54.139 out to us about unity and love. When you go to Ephesians chapter 4, that speaks about the unity of 00:45:54.139 --> 00:45:59.380 God's people. It's always combined there with love all the way through that passage, Ephesians 4, 00:45:59.420 --> 00:46:05.920 chapter 4, verses 11 to 16. Now, that's the same again in the domestic setting, in the domestic family. 00:46:05.920 --> 00:46:15.260 The ideal is harmony and love and unity. But of course, being in the world we're in, being sinners 00:46:15.260 --> 00:46:27.159 ourselves, that's also subject to our own sinful practice, sadly. And it's a tragedy. When you do have 00:46:27.159 --> 00:46:35.240 family breakdown, for whatever reason, it happens. But whatever reason is behind it, it's always 00:46:35.239 --> 00:46:45.019 something that's got consequences. It's tragedy and there are implications. It's the reality of the 00:46:45.019 --> 00:46:51.619 world in which we live without making excuses for ourselves. But I want to just focus on one thing, 00:46:52.959 --> 00:47:00.939 and that is the emphasis today on individualism or the individual. The emphasis on choice, 00:47:00.940 --> 00:47:09.019 on personal choice, on personal independence, on personal freedom just to do what you want to do. 00:47:09.400 --> 00:47:14.500 And you know yourselves that that's very much how the world out there thinks. That's very much, 00:47:14.720 --> 00:47:19.780 sadly, how the majority of our politicians think. It always has to be about personal choice, 00:47:20.300 --> 00:47:26.300 personal individual freedom of choice, independence. Well, when you come into the church as the household 00:47:26.300 --> 00:47:31.880 of God, and you think what the Bible says about the household of God, the church as the household of 00:47:31.880 --> 00:47:41.780 God is not me-centered. It's not me-centered or I-centered. It is God-centered. It is Christ-centered. 00:47:43.140 --> 00:47:51.920 It's not about me. And it's not a situation of me versus us. I've referred many times to the way that 00:47:51.920 --> 00:47:59.900 Paul writing in his epistles very significantly and frequently uses the plural. It's not just 00:47:59.900 --> 00:48:07.700 focusing on individual sanctification, individual growth and grace, individual relationship with God. 00:48:07.760 --> 00:48:15.880 Of course, there is all of that. But when God brings life into your experience, eternal life, 00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:21.119 spiritual life, He doesn't say, now you're on your own, just develop that the best way you can. 00:48:21.119 --> 00:48:28.059 He places you in a fellowship of God's people. He brings you into the body of the church. 00:48:29.059 --> 00:48:39.779 He brings you into the household of God, a place that's not me versus us or me-centered. 00:48:41.119 --> 00:48:50.119 In Acts chapter 2, you have a very good example of this ideal, as you find after the coming of the 00:48:50.119 --> 00:48:57.259 Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost, you find near the end of that chapter 2 of Acts, when they were 00:48:57.259 --> 00:49:03.920 actually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers, 00:49:04.539 --> 00:49:11.900 awe came upon all, and all who believed were together and had all things in common. They were selling 00:49:11.900 --> 00:49:18.679 their possessions and so on, proceeding to give out to those who had need. There is sharing in the life 00:49:18.679 --> 00:49:24.539 that God had given to His people and sharing out for the benefit of others. And that sharing in and 00:49:24.539 --> 00:49:31.159 sharing out is really an element, a prominent element, of the household of God. That's what we 00:49:31.159 --> 00:49:39.839 exist for. That's how God has put us together. The world out there will say to you, be true to yourself. 00:49:39.840 --> 00:49:47.620 Never mind what the minister says. Never mind what the Bible says. Never mind what people might say, 00:49:47.700 --> 00:49:51.960 this is actually what God is specifying. You be true to yourself, the world is saying. 00:49:53.260 --> 00:50:00.720 You be the real me. That's where you find the real me, just following your own inclination, 00:50:00.719 --> 00:50:08.719 your own choices, your own will. What does the Bible say? The Bible says, be true to God, 00:50:09.839 --> 00:50:21.259 not be true to yourself. Be true to your God, because the real me is not found in my following 00:50:21.259 --> 00:50:30.079 of my own inclinations. The real me, my proper identity, is found in Christ. As a Christian, 00:50:30.079 --> 00:50:38.679 that's what defines me. That's where my identity is. And if my identity is in Christ, I'm not free to do 00:50:38.679 --> 00:50:44.199 what I myself would want to do, although I hope what I would want to do would be in line with 00:50:44.199 --> 00:50:54.719 what Christ wants me to do. But His will and His choice and His Word is what controls my life 00:50:54.719 --> 00:51:03.719 as part of the household of God. And that's what we do in the likes of our improvement of baptism, 00:51:03.859 --> 00:51:12.079 as the old theologians used to put it. We endeavor to live a life of faith in righteousness and holiness, 00:51:12.079 --> 00:51:23.079 unto which therein we have given up our lives to Christ. That's what's signified in baptism for us as 00:51:23.079 --> 00:51:32.679 adults. That's the implication. We have given up our lives to Christ. He's our master. He's our loving 00:51:32.679 --> 00:51:44.319 Lord. He's our teacher. He's the one who dictates lovingly how we must live too. There's a lot more 00:51:44.319 --> 00:51:50.699 we could say on the household of faith, the household of God as a description of God's church. 00:51:50.819 --> 00:51:55.719 But we'll leave it there for the moment and come to the remainder now of the service. 00:51:55.719 --> 00:52:01.500 And we're going to sing next in praying that God will bless these thoughts on His Word. 00:52:01.939 --> 00:52:11.039 We're going to sing from Psalm 127. Psalm 127, that's on page 171. 00:52:16.219 --> 00:52:17.859 Singing to a tune, Evan. 00:52:17.860 --> 00:52:26.180 Unless the Lord builds up the house, its builders toil in vain. Unless He keeps the city safe, 00:52:26.300 --> 00:52:31.780 they vainly watch maintain. In vain you rise before the dawn and late hours vainly keep. 00:52:32.320 --> 00:52:38.720 But you may toil for food to eat, He gives His loved ones sleep. And while we sing these verses, 00:52:38.940 --> 00:52:43.920 the mothers and those who are accompanying them will come in and take their place in the service. 00:52:43.920 --> 00:52:46.680 Unless the Lord builds up the house, let's stand to sing. 00:52:47.860 --> 00:53:03.320 If the Lord build up the house, its builders toil in vain. 00:53:03.320 --> 00:53:12.519 Unless He keeps the city safe, 00:53:12.519 --> 00:53:20.199 May we watch them sing. 00:53:21.019 --> 00:53:29.460 And when you rise before the dawn, 00:53:29.460 --> 00:53:36.840 And let our daily keep, 00:53:36.840 --> 00:53:45.860 That you may toil for food to eat, 00:53:46.220 --> 00:53:53.840 He gives its love one seed. 00:53:53.840 --> 00:54:02.840 God's not a precious heritage, 00:54:02.840 --> 00:54:10.880 A blessing from the Lord, 00:54:11.420 --> 00:54:20.180 The children that are born to us 00:54:20.180 --> 00:54:27.840 Are to be his reward. 00:54:27.840 --> 00:54:36.840 God, God, who sing now all years, 00:54:36.840 --> 00:54:44.840 Come, our children of one's year, 00:54:44.840 --> 00:54:51.840 The man who's with us, 00:54:51.840 --> 00:54:54.840 Full of them, 00:54:54.840 --> 00:55:01.840 Is blessed by God in truth. 00:55:01.840 --> 00:55:10.840 God, who sing now all years, 00:55:10.840 --> 00:55:12.840 To shame, 00:55:12.840 --> 00:55:19.840 That will not be there for you, 00:55:19.840 --> 00:55:24.840 When we want to end, 00:55:24.840 --> 00:55:29.840 God is the force, 00:55:29.840 --> 00:55:37.840 Who is the man in the heat. 00:55:37.840 --> 00:55:40.840 Please be seated now. 00:55:40.840 --> 00:55:47.840 Well, we've come to the point now, 00:55:47.840 --> 00:55:49.840 Where we come to the baptism of those children, 00:55:49.840 --> 00:55:51.840 And it's a very pleasant, 00:55:51.840 --> 00:55:53.840 Though very solemn occasion as well, 00:55:53.840 --> 00:55:58.840 Given that we saw that they are being formally admitted by baptism, 00:55:58.840 --> 00:56:02.840 Into covenant membership of God's church. 00:56:02.840 --> 00:56:08.840 And the first thing that we will do is put certain questions to the fathers to be answered. 00:56:08.840 --> 00:56:11.840 So can I ask you please to stand just now, Alistair and Alan. 00:56:11.840 --> 00:56:15.840 I'll just ask the question once and ask you both for our response. 00:56:15.840 --> 00:56:26.840 Do you acknowledge God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, as the only true God, and your God? 00:56:26.840 --> 00:56:33.840 Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and mankind? 00:56:33.840 --> 00:56:40.840 Do you now promise to bring up your child in the discipline and instruction of the Lord? 00:56:40.840 --> 00:56:43.840 Thank you. 00:56:43.840 --> 00:56:44.840 We're going to now pray. 00:56:44.840 --> 00:56:46.840 So just please remain seated during prayer. 00:56:46.840 --> 00:56:54.840 And also as we go forward to the baptism, I'll call the parents up to where I'm standing for each of the baptisms. 00:56:54.840 --> 00:56:57.840 First of all, we're going to engage in prayer. 00:56:57.840 --> 00:57:00.840 Let's pray. 00:57:00.840 --> 00:57:07.840 Lord, our God, we thank you for this ordinance of baptism that you have given to your church, 00:57:07.840 --> 00:57:14.840 so that it might represent for us the washing away of our sins and our union with Christ. 00:57:14.840 --> 00:57:18.840 We acknowledge, O Lord, that it does not itself confer salvation, 00:57:18.840 --> 00:57:25.840 and yet it is a visible representation to us of matters that are important to us spiritually. 00:57:25.840 --> 00:57:37.840 We pray at this time, O Lord, that you would grant us a thankful heart as we recollect the way in which you have given this ordinance to your church for all time. 00:57:37.840 --> 00:57:40.840 We thank you for all that is in it represented. 00:57:40.840 --> 00:57:46.840 We pray that you will bless the element used of water, and the Lord remains ordinary water. 00:57:46.840 --> 00:57:53.840 We pray that you would bless it so it may carry spiritual significance to the children and to the parents alike. 00:57:53.840 --> 00:58:04.840 We pray for the parents, Lord, at this time and for the children, that you would truly bless them and all who belong to them as they come to this important juncture in their experience. 00:58:04.840 --> 00:58:07.840 And so go before us, Lord, we pray now. 00:58:07.840 --> 00:58:14.840 Make this time a time of real spiritual blessing to us, and all for Jesus' sake. Amen. 00:58:14.840 --> 00:58:19.840 I ask you and Helena to come up first of all, please. 00:58:19.840 --> 00:58:21.840 Amen. 00:58:21.840 --> 00:58:22.840 Amen. 00:58:22.840 --> 00:58:23.840 Amen. 00:58:23.840 --> 00:58:24.840 Amen. 00:58:24.840 --> 00:58:25.840 Amen. 00:58:25.840 --> 00:58:26.840 Amen. 00:58:26.840 --> 00:58:27.840 Amen. 00:58:27.840 --> 00:58:28.840 Amen. 00:58:28.840 --> 00:58:29.840 Amen. 00:58:29.840 --> 00:58:30.840 Amen. 00:58:30.840 --> 00:58:31.840 Amen. 00:58:31.840 --> 00:58:32.840 Amen. 00:58:32.840 --> 00:58:33.840 Amen. 00:58:33.840 --> 00:58:34.840 Amen. 00:58:34.840 --> 00:58:35.840 Amen. 00:58:35.840 --> 00:58:36.840 Amen. 00:58:36.840 --> 00:58:37.840 Amen. 00:58:37.840 --> 00:58:38.840 Amen. 00:58:38.840 --> 00:58:39.840 Amen. 00:58:39.840 --> 00:58:40.840 Amen. 00:58:40.840 --> 00:58:43.840 Amen. 00:58:43.840 --> 00:58:44.840 Amen. 00:58:44.840 --> 00:58:46.840 Amen. 00:58:46.840 --> 00:58:47.840 Amen. 00:58:47.840 --> 00:59:00.840 Amen. 00:59:00.840 --> 00:59:01.840 Amen. 00:59:01.840 --> 00:59:03.840 Amen. 00:59:03.840 --> 00:59:04.840 Amen. 00:59:04.840 --> 00:59:34.820 Thank you. 00:59:34.840 --> 00:59:38.019 May God bless you and keep you. 00:59:38.640 --> 00:59:41.280 May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. 00:59:41.820 --> 00:59:45.180 May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. 00:59:59.260 --> 01:00:01.039 Let's join together once again in prayer. 01:00:01.039 --> 01:00:01.139 Amen. 01:00:03.539 --> 01:00:10.519 O Lord, our gracious God, we pray that what we have now engaged in will be blessed in the days to come. 01:00:11.480 --> 01:00:16.980 We ask that these children, as they grow up, that they will come, Lord, by Your grace and by Your sparing mercies, 01:00:17.539 --> 01:00:19.679 to grow in the knowledge and the grace of Christ. 01:00:19.679 --> 01:00:24.919 We commit them to You and we pray for ourselves as a fellowship of Your people, 01:00:25.719 --> 01:00:31.579 that we may indeed be a proper family to them, to support the parents and to support the children alike. 01:00:32.359 --> 01:00:39.799 Help us, Lord, to be available to them, to give them every encouragement and counsel and advice whenever required. 01:00:39.800 --> 01:00:45.780 We pray that You would direct them in Your ways and cause them, Lord, to continue in Your paths 01:00:45.780 --> 01:00:49.000 as they now bring their children to be baptized. 01:00:49.960 --> 01:00:52.560 And as the children themselves receive that sign of the covenant, 01:00:53.400 --> 01:00:57.500 Lord, may it prove to be for them every time they think of it in days to come 01:00:57.500 --> 01:01:01.000 as a reminder that they have given up their names unto Christ 01:01:01.000 --> 01:01:04.940 and that they are obliged to live for Him and to His glory. 01:01:04.940 --> 01:01:07.519 Bless us, then, we pray, throughout this day. 01:01:07.579 --> 01:01:08.500 Be with us this evening. 01:01:09.099 --> 01:01:11.179 We anticipate coming once again to worship You. 01:01:11.780 --> 01:01:14.360 And all of these things we ask, confessing our sins, 01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:17.900 seeking cleansing and pardon for Jesus' sake. 01:01:18.440 --> 01:01:18.800 Amen. 01:01:23.280 --> 01:01:25.940 Now we're going to conclude again with praise to God. 01:01:29.519 --> 01:01:31.559 Praise in English. Don't worry about the noise. It's fine. 01:01:31.559 --> 01:01:38.239 Children's noises are what a congregation should expect. 01:01:39.279 --> 01:01:44.320 And there's something wrong if children's noises are not actually heard in a congregation. 01:01:44.559 --> 01:01:46.279 So it's something to rejoice in. 01:01:47.619 --> 01:01:50.299 So we're saying Psalm 78, verses 1 to 6. 01:01:50.840 --> 01:01:54.079 You'll find that on page 101 of the Psalm books. 01:01:54.079 --> 01:02:01.420 Oh, my people, hear my teaching. 01:02:02.000 --> 01:02:03.400 Parables I will unfold. 01:02:03.559 --> 01:02:04.860 Give attention as I utter. 01:02:05.400 --> 01:02:06.860 Dark and hidden things of old. 01:02:07.420 --> 01:02:10.059 Things that we have heard and known by our fathers. 01:02:10.500 --> 01:02:11.559 They were shown. 01:02:11.759 --> 01:02:14.500 These are verses that impressed upon the people of Israel 01:02:14.500 --> 01:02:17.900 the need to pass on the teaching they received from God 01:02:17.900 --> 01:02:20.480 to their children and to their grandchildren 01:02:20.480 --> 01:02:22.219 down through the generations. 01:02:22.219 --> 01:02:26.199 And so we'll sing them as now as we come to conclude our service. 01:02:26.319 --> 01:02:26.879 And we'll stand. 01:02:27.279 --> 01:02:29.359 Please remain standing for the benediction afterwards. 01:02:29.719 --> 01:02:31.759 All my people, hear my teaching. 01:02:31.759 --> 01:02:38.379 All my people, hear my teaching. 01:02:39.379 --> 01:02:45.059 Parables I will unfold. 01:02:45.059 --> 01:02:54.320 Parable andincere in seguactorily now, 01:02:54.320 --> 01:02:59.420 Parable andincere in seguיי desu in pond. 01:02:59.460 --> 01:03:10.279 Things that we have heard and known by our fathers. 01:03:10.280 --> 01:03:14.980 They were shown 01:03:14.980 --> 01:03:21.980 We will tell them to our children 01:03:21.980 --> 01:03:29.400 Generations yet to run 01:03:29.400 --> 01:03:36.080 We will show the Lord's great power 01:03:36.079 --> 01:03:43.079 And the wonders he has done 01:03:43.079 --> 01:03:52.079 Lost for Israel he made 01:03:52.920 --> 01:03:59.079 Statues bound to be, O maid 01:03:59.079 --> 01:04:07.079 In the order of forefathers 01:04:08.159 --> 01:04:14.079 To their families to tell 01:04:14.799 --> 01:04:21.079 So the coming generation 01:04:21.079 --> 01:04:28.079 Not yet born would know them well 01:04:28.079 --> 01:04:38.079 And their children in their turn 01:04:38.079 --> 01:04:44.079 God's commands and laws to them 01:04:44.079 --> 01:04:48.940 I'll use the door to my left here 01:04:48.940 --> 01:04:51.119 Just to greet folks on the way out just now 01:04:51.119 --> 01:04:53.380 Let's now go for the benediction 01:04:53.380 --> 01:04:57.579 Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 01:04:57.579 --> 01:04:58.920 The love of God the Father 01:04:58.920 --> 01:05:01.000 And the communion of the Holy Spirit 01:05:01.000 --> 01:05:03.079 Be with you all now and evermore 01:05:03.639 --> 01:05:04.599 Amen 01:05:14.079 --> 01:05:33.079 Amen 01:05:33.079 --> 01:05:39.079 Amen 01:05:39.079 --> 01:05:40.079 Amen 01:05:40.079 --> 01:05:41.079 Amen 01:05:41.079 --> 01:05:43.079 Amen