WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.060 Now what I hope to do this morning is kind of split the sermon into two parts. 00:00:05.060 --> 00:00:10.640 So this first part I'm going to do just now, which is really looking at the grace of serving 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:13.759 from the Bible, from the reading that we took in 1 Peter. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:17.280 And then after that, there'll be something slightly more practical. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:22.559 There'll be some slides up on the screen with just explaining a little bit of who we are 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:30.199 and what we do and why we need your help in such a real way as a church. 00:00:30.199 --> 00:00:37.759 But I think, interestingly, I've been thinking a lot about, well, I guess life really, but 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:44.960 specifically because on Tuesday I've been asked to speak at an evangelistic outreach 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:49.879 at Edinburgh University, a lunchtime thing. 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:53.359 And the theme is purpose. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:59.160 So I've been thinking a lot about how you can relate the idea of purpose to the concept 00:00:59.160 --> 00:01:08.280 of believing in a personal and in a loving God and how without that life is very purposeless 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:14.960 if you wind it back and if you strip it back to where, to our beginnings and to who we 00:01:14.960 --> 00:01:15.960 are. 00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:25.759 So I think in the society we live in, increasingly without God, society increasingly has no purpose, 00:01:25.759 --> 00:01:34.039 ultimate purpose anyway, other than how society or how in my life I can let myself flourish. 00:01:34.039 --> 00:01:43.479 So it's all, it's kind of a self-centred reality that we have where if the ultimate 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:48.280 truth is just self, if there's nothing else beyond that and beyond the world in which 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:53.000 we live, then self comes absolutely first. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:02:02.560 And everything, even others and society, becomes self-serving for us to a greater or lesser 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:06.080 degree and I know that's a sweeping statement. 00:02:06.080 --> 00:02:13.000 But altruism, that is the kind of unselfish concern for others, is, can be diminishing 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.400 and I think is in some ways diminishing. 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:20.439 And even when it is there in the world which we live without God and without that external 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:26.960 reality, then serving others, altruism can be nothing more than just making our lot 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:28.319 better. 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:33.199 For the few years we're here, it's just about perking life up and making it a bit better 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:39.920 for me and the people around me and maybe to act in selfless ways but with no ultimate 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:45.599 reason and for no ultimate purpose. 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:52.439 It's a bit like when we pray just now or the world in which we live will pray for the absence 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:55.359 of war and the absence of war is a great thing. 00:02:55.359 --> 00:02:59.039 But the absence of war is different from peace. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:05.279 And so sometimes I think serving without God is different from understanding it and knowing 00:03:05.279 --> 00:03:07.560 what serving is with God. 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:12.680 And I think as believers, as Christians, we need to battle against that philosophical, 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:17.680 secular philosophical tide in which we're living where individuality and the individual 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:23.920 is king or is queen, that is absolutely central because we have an identity, we have a transforming 00:03:23.920 --> 00:03:29.159 love in our lives, we have a purpose and we have a calling. 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:33.759 And we are to reflect that calling in our lives and in our understanding of our relationship 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:37.679 with God and our understanding of our relationship with one another. 00:03:37.679 --> 00:03:40.359 God the Son is our example, Jesus Christ. 00:03:40.359 --> 00:03:48.079 He came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. 00:03:48.079 --> 00:03:59.000 Matthew 20, 28, that summarizes, that subsumes the whole purpose of who God is in Jesus Christ. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:09.080 And He has come to redeem us in order that we will serve God and serve one another. 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:11.159 That's what we've been created to do. 00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:14.599 So you ask about who you are and you ask about what you're doing, you ask about your life. 00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:16.279 Well, that is in Christ, that's what we are. 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:22.120 We're created to love Him and serve Him and love one another and serve one another. 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:26.040 Love has that certain characteristic. 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:33.960 And so we are constantly confronted with the church as a commodity, as something to be 00:04:33.960 --> 00:04:38.360 consumed and we have to battle against that. 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:43.800 It's not a commodity that can be critiqued and walked away from when it falls short of 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:46.680 our standard, which is easy for us to do. 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:47.680 We find that easy. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:48.680 I find that easy. 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:49.759 I'm sure you find it easy. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:55.959 But the challenge is that we're called to love the church because it's people and it's 00:04:55.959 --> 00:05:02.399 fallen people, redeemed people, people that need forgiven and as a person I will need 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:05.480 to be forgiven within that. 00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:11.879 And it reflects, imperfectly of course, but it reflects the God community, Father, Son 00:05:11.879 --> 00:05:12.879 and Holy Spirit. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:19.439 The ultimate, the prototypical, the original community that there is God, the Father, Son 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:20.439 and Holy Spirit. 00:05:20.439 --> 00:05:25.759 So the church and as we see them biblically serving one another, then we recognize and 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:27.480 see our position. 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:32.639 So spiritual serving, just want to say one or two things from this passage briefly. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:41.399 We recognize and see that it's other centered in all of its attitudes and considerations, 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:47.120 keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins and as each has 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.399 received a gift, use it to serve one another. 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:53.079 So there's the great beginnings of it. 00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:55.159 It's other centered. 00:05:55.159 --> 00:06:02.319 It's not about me, although it is sometimes about our gifts, but it's a fantastic paragraph 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:07.239 here that speaks about the outward nature of grace and of love. 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:16.639 It's a spiritual reality that covers over the failings of others, looking over one another's 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:18.319 sins, covering a multitude of sins. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:21.560 Now that doesn't mean that we hide sins. 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:25.800 It's not saying that sins don't matter and are unimportant, our behavior doesn't matter. 00:06:25.800 --> 00:06:28.600 It's talking about not nitpicking. 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:30.600 Not being nitpick, there's not being fault finders. 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:35.000 It's easy, you know, there's lots of little things that we can nitpick and find about 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.240 people, but it's cover them over because we love them, because we see and know who we are 00:06:39.240 --> 00:06:40.240 ourselves. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:45.959 So we say, well, that's okay, we recognize these kind of failings. 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:49.000 But what we see is that grace first changes us. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:52.160 I wish everyone else was different. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:53.680 I wish they were much better. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:56.759 I wish they served much better. 00:06:56.759 --> 00:07:01.879 But rather grace says, well, what is God and Christ doing in my life and my heart? 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:10.279 And we see and recognize that that centeredness that Christ is looking in us and in our lives, 00:07:10.279 --> 00:07:12.800 using our gifts to serve others. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:18.920 But it's also not only other centered, but it's also God sent us dependent on God, good 00:07:18.920 --> 00:07:25.839 stewards of God's grace, whoever it serves as one serving in the strength that God supplies. 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:31.480 So you know, we just get up in the morning and say, well, I think I'll serve today. 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:35.480 Because it's not just simply this is something that's simply natural. 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:40.360 It is a spiritual endeavor that comes from spiritual motivation. 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:45.319 And for that we need the strength of God and the grace of God in our lives. 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:49.080 That's what makes it unique. 00:07:49.080 --> 00:07:51.600 It is God dependent. 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:54.280 And it is in God's strength. 00:07:54.280 --> 00:07:58.960 And it makes it unique because very often when we serve, we're looking for praise. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:04.359 We're looking for people to say, well done, pat us on the back, because that's our natural 00:08:04.359 --> 00:08:05.359 inclination. 00:08:05.359 --> 00:08:09.599 And so we need God's grace. 00:08:09.599 --> 00:08:11.439 Not that encouragement isn't very, very important. 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:13.079 I've preached in it recently here. 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:18.319 Encouragement is good, but we need to take encouragement with the grace of God with humility 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:21.439 and that great sense that God is the one who empowers us. 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:24.519 It's hugely paradoxical. 00:08:24.519 --> 00:08:28.679 So it's in the strength of God and it's other centered. 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:30.240 It's also eager. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:37.720 We saw that in the second section we read in verse 8, the leaders of the church were encouraged 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:40.799 by Peter to serve eagerly. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:45.440 And there to be examples to the rest of the congregation. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:46.759 In other words, willingly. 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:56.600 It's where we struggle so often as leaders to serve willingly, not grudgingly to do so 00:08:56.600 --> 00:09:04.720 in a way that recognizes what Christ has done for us and how willingly he served a rebellious 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:11.680 and disinterested and disbelieving discipleship and others. 00:09:11.680 --> 00:09:18.040 Our natural response in serving is quite often not eager, isn't it, if we're honest? 00:09:18.040 --> 00:09:20.920 It's sometimes grumbling. 00:09:20.920 --> 00:09:23.080 Sometimes we have that underlying philosophy. 00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:27.000 A friend in need is a pain in the neck. 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:30.520 And sometimes it's a sense of mere duty. 00:09:30.520 --> 00:09:32.879 Well, I ought to do this. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:36.879 Maybe I'll have a good day if I do this, a bit of a quid pro quo. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:42.800 If I do this for God, He'll make the sun shine on my life. 00:09:42.800 --> 00:09:48.800 Or at the end of all the different areas of service and life that we give, we'll have 00:09:48.800 --> 00:09:52.920 maybe at the odd minute at the end of the day, say, well, maybe I can give that. 00:09:52.919 --> 00:09:54.759 And service to God. 00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:58.759 And it's therefore sometimes not eager. 00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:00.839 But again, we seek to be reflective. 00:10:00.839 --> 00:10:07.319 What a great challenge to have Christ-centered altruism, rather sometimes than the battle 00:10:07.319 --> 00:10:09.679 that we face against self-centered egotism. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:11.879 But it's a tremendous thing. 00:10:11.879 --> 00:10:13.959 And it's a tremendous battle. 00:10:13.959 --> 00:10:18.559 And I find it easy to pick out all these things because I see them in myself so much. 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:26.079 There's so much rottenness, so much wrong motives, so much that falls short of Christ-standard 00:10:26.079 --> 00:10:31.079 yet the freedom that we get when we come to Him and ask for forgiveness and seek to serve 00:10:31.079 --> 00:10:33.439 Him His way is a great thing. 00:10:33.439 --> 00:10:40.199 So there's an eagerness, there's another centeredness, and there's a dependence. 00:10:40.199 --> 00:10:45.919 So can we take that as I finish this section just now? 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:51.319 So within our own context here, within the congregation here, we seek not to be selfish 00:10:51.319 --> 00:10:55.399 in asking for your gifts and graces. 00:10:55.399 --> 00:11:02.159 We recognize that this isn't the only aspect of your church, of your Christian involvement. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:07.000 We recognize it's broader than just the local congregation, that you have a life outside 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:09.759 which takes up the majority of your time. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:14.679 But we do seek you to consider the works of service here. 00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:19.439 You know we're also working against programs towards relationships. 00:11:19.439 --> 00:11:24.319 We seek not to be a busy, busy, busy church with lots of different programs taking up, 00:11:24.319 --> 00:11:26.959 sucking up all your time. 00:11:26.959 --> 00:11:32.639 We don't want you to take up all your time maintaining this formal organization. 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:39.639 We want you to serve Christ, serve people, serve the lost and the ordinary things of 00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:41.319 life. 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:47.840 And it is, we are a growing, worshiping community, and just like a growing, worshiping family, 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:52.440 the more it grows the more you need to serve, and the more you need to help one another 00:11:52.440 --> 00:11:55.840 and organize things together for Christ and for His glory. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:59.840 And so what we want to do, particularly on a Sunday when we gather together in these 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:08.240 formal acts of worship, is to do Sundays really well, really spiritually, with the right motive. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:15.159 And within that to do the community that we meet as together really well and for the glory 00:12:15.159 --> 00:12:17.000 of God. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:22.720 So I think the challenge as we will come to the second part is, lots of people doing 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:25.919 a little in the big church. 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:29.799 I think sometimes in a bigger church, and it's all relative, of course, this is very small 00:12:29.799 --> 00:12:33.600 compared to many other churches, but as the church grows sometimes I think we think, oh 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:39.720 there's plenty of people to do these things, plenty of other people, so, but if a lot of 00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:46.120 people do a little, then it makes a huge difference to the few that maybe are getting burnt out 00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:49.560 and failing because there's so much. 00:12:49.560 --> 00:12:57.560 And also to do it really well, prayerfully, eagerly, for God's glory, not to please me 00:12:57.560 --> 00:13:02.360 or the elders or your city group or your friends or the people next to you, but kind 00:13:02.360 --> 00:13:10.000 of having tunnel vision to do it for Jesus Christ because of all He's done for His glory. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:13.519 And that is one of the priorities of our church. 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:21.800 And to do it cooperatively, to be self-forgetful in serving, that's a really hard thing to 00:13:21.800 --> 00:13:23.279 do. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:27.560 Sometimes you respond when you're asked, sometimes to volunteer, sometimes to respond 00:13:27.559 --> 00:13:36.359 to those who speak to you, who have discerned your gifts and who maybe challenge you and 00:13:36.359 --> 00:13:38.479 thinking prayerfully about these things. 00:13:38.479 --> 00:13:44.959 So it's a bibs and braces kind of attitude that we come one way, one way we come round 00:13:44.959 --> 00:13:48.359 and look and seek you to serve. 00:13:48.359 --> 00:13:56.879 So please remember these motives and what is taught here in this passage with regard 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:01.080 to serving and the attitude with regard to serving. 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:07.360 And I'm going to come back in a minute or two just to explain a little bit about who 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:12.240 we are and why we do what we do. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:19.159 The first section of the sermon I called spiritual serving. 00:14:19.159 --> 00:14:22.600 And this section I've called a serving smorgasbord. 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:24.919 Okay, that's great, isn't it? 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:27.919 Well, I like to end with no one else does. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:33.959 A serving smorgasbord, okay, is just to recognize and know what we are and what we do and it 00:14:33.959 --> 00:14:43.000 might give you a bit of an idea of some of our needs. 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.159 We have here a vision for the city of Edinburgh. 00:14:45.159 --> 00:14:50.639 I know that many other churches in Edinburgh also do as well. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:56.319 I believe through God's providence and what God has been doing and is doing over these 00:14:56.319 --> 00:15:02.319 last 16, 17 years that God's leading us towards a church planting movement in the city of 00:15:02.319 --> 00:15:03.319 Edinburgh. 00:15:03.319 --> 00:15:08.240 And I think at one level, at least in our own context, we're a catalyst for that certainly 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:10.240 in the free church context here. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:14.360 In his providence and his grace, he's chosen to use stumbling, failing, falling people 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:15.360 like ourselves. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:22.080 And we want to be a serving church, a serving church that enables that to happen by God's 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:27.360 grace with our resources, with our vision, with the support that we offer and by our 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:28.360 example. 00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:32.480 Now, you know, the people at our core to the congregation will know that there's been 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:36.759 a text that has maintained and enabled me to carry on. 00:15:36.759 --> 00:15:41.440 And I hope sometimes you can carry on as we've moved forward, not only that he would do a 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:47.960 new thing from Isaiah 43, but also from Acts 18, that he had the promise of God that he 00:15:47.960 --> 00:15:50.640 had many people in this city. 00:15:50.640 --> 00:15:56.840 And we believe that and we believe that we are part of God's answer to that particular 00:15:56.840 --> 00:15:57.840 promise. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:15:58.840 And it's tough. 00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:01.520 It's been tough for us at many different levels. 00:16:01.520 --> 00:16:06.480 And we have been attacked and we've struggled and we've battled and we've made lots of mistakes. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:12.680 But I would ask that you would recognise and embrace and enjoy and be part of that vision 00:16:12.680 --> 00:16:20.159 and support us as leaders within that and be committed as you have been, as you undoubtedly 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:28.200 have been over these last number of years, that we would move forward as foot soldiers 00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:30.840 together in this kingdom serving the Lord. 00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:37.200 Now I feel old and worn out, I mean here, nearly 17 years, but the bad news for you is that 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:42.759 I think God's got a little bit more for me to do here before that we pass, I pass the 00:16:42.759 --> 00:16:46.160 baton on, but I'm asking you, will you stay with it? 00:16:46.160 --> 00:16:47.160 Will you keep going? 00:16:47.160 --> 00:16:49.280 Will you be part of the vision? 00:16:49.280 --> 00:16:55.600 And will you keep moving forward because we're just barely scratching the surface? 00:16:55.600 --> 00:17:01.320 It's a huge quantity of lost souls in the city and we want this city to be transformed 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:06.640 by the gospel, not for the free church or for this church or for any other reason than 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:12.640 that we've been holding on to God's coattails the whole way, just and no more, and He's 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:14.480 brought us to this place. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:20.160 And so we've recognised that we're a church that has the city centre vision that's committed 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:26.000 to worship mission, community and discipleship and we want to plant churches throughout the 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:27.519 city of Edinburgh. 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:32.519 It's a great vision, we've seen it happening in Cornerstone and Est Valley and it's beginning 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:38.320 to happen in Harrington, we want that to happen again and again and it's impossible. 00:17:38.320 --> 00:17:43.519 We sometimes can't get out of bed thinking about it, but we believe that that's what 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:49.200 God has for us and we seek to move forward in His grace and in His favour. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:53.400 And we've said this before that the pillars of the work that we seek to do come from these 00:17:53.400 --> 00:18:00.200 things, the grace of God and the gospel of God, for growth in God to the glory of God. 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:04.759 These are simple things, we want them just to be imbibed in our living and in our thinking 00:18:04.759 --> 00:18:09.240 and in our acting as a church, that these are the things that are important to us. 00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:14.840 We want to decrease, we want Him to increase and the grace of God is all we have that we 00:18:14.840 --> 00:18:15.840 can share. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:25.279 And the gospel is the unchanging gospel, it doesn't get better and it certainly can't 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:26.279 get worse. 00:18:26.279 --> 00:18:34.679 It's a great gospel that this community needs more than ever and we seek in all the impossibility 00:18:34.679 --> 00:18:40.279 of that to do that to the glory of God and we need Him, don't we, for that. 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:44.679 So our priorities as we've looked over this last year at the church and as it's growing 00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:50.920 from being a small kind of manageable church to a bigger unmanageable church, from our 00:18:50.920 --> 00:18:56.640 point of view, then we've tried to structure the church so that we maintain the focus on 00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:57.960 these areas. 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:02.000 So we want to be a church that engages when we gather together in a living worship and 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:05.000 that's not just, that's not a passive thing. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.640 It's got to be something in which we're all active, not just when we sing or whatever, 00:19:09.640 --> 00:19:14.920 but in our preparation, in our prayers, in our hunger and thirst after righteousness, 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:17.000 our longing to receive what God has to give. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:20.640 You've come to church today asking, well what is God? 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:22.440 God knows my heart today. 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:23.800 He knows who I am. 00:19:23.800 --> 00:19:30.640 He knows my needs and my failings and thoughts and how will He expose and comfort and forgive 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:37.480 and redeem and challenge through the living worship, living worship and relational mission 00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:40.360 where we recognize it's hard to share the gospel. 00:19:40.360 --> 00:19:42.160 We want to do that together. 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:45.319 We want to do it in community because some people are better at speaking, other people 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:50.039 are better at hospitality, some are better at inviting, some are better just at serving 00:19:50.039 --> 00:19:51.039 in different ways. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:56.200 And so as a people together as a community in city groups or in friendship groups in 00:19:56.200 --> 00:20:04.279 the church, we share the mission of God and we do that by serving, serving in community, 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:09.079 serving one another, serving in love. 00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:13.799 That always seems soft, doesn't it, we say serving in love. 00:20:13.799 --> 00:20:19.759 It's much easier to be disconnected, much easier to be self-righteous and legalistic 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:26.319 and point, it's a hard, tough reality to serve in love in a community. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:31.920 But that is what makes us sweetest and most like Jesus. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:33.920 And that's what we want. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:40.039 And also within that, these are not prioritized, I think they're all together in significance 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:42.160 and equipping discipleship. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:49.840 We recognize the need to teach one another one to one, to share in the Bible studies, 00:20:49.840 --> 00:20:56.840 to be mentored, to learn, to teach leaders to bring up a new generation with all these 00:20:56.840 --> 00:21:02.440 things, discipleship, men's meetings, women's meetings, different ways of discipling one 00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:04.880 another and encouraging. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:07.480 It's tough to be a Christian today. 00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:11.920 And you don't want church to be the place where you come and you're discouraged and 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:16.600 you're desperate to leave and you think, that's over for another week. 00:21:16.600 --> 00:21:24.559 I'll sort of stumble on until next week and then I'll survive church again. 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:28.960 We want it to be a place you long to come to because you long to meet with God through 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:34.480 His people, but also to meet with God through His people during the week that we have as 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:35.480 well. 00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:37.640 Okay, I'm rambling on far more than I should have. 00:21:37.640 --> 00:21:42.960 But anyway, so we come, these areas that we have, worship, mission, community and discipleship, 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:52.160 we've decided we structure the church organizationally in these spiritual heads as it were, and also 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:53.920 an organizational ministry. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:22:01.080 So we've got worship as a ministry, as a ministry team, we've got a worship ministry team that's 00:22:01.080 --> 00:22:04.320 overseen by three or four or five different people. 00:22:04.320 --> 00:22:07.680 There's an elder, a deacon, and that's the same with all the groups. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:13.800 But the idea is to delegate everything down and to do it all under the spiritual oversight 00:22:13.800 --> 00:22:15.240 of the elders, the leaders. 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:19.759 So the worship ministry covers things like Sunday worship, preaching, prayer, the liturgy, 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:28.119 the worship, the music, welcoming visitor assimilation, that sounds very technical and cold and community-like, 00:22:28.119 --> 00:22:31.119 sorry, welcoming people. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:35.680 And keeping them is really what we're about, is that we want to welcome them and make them 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:43.839 feel at home and keep them here because we want them for God's glory. 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:47.960 And vision casting, it all comes under the worship and the idea of who we are and other 00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:48.960 things. 00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:53.600 That's the kind of areas that are covered and looked after by the worship ministry team. 00:22:53.600 --> 00:22:58.120 And within that, we're looking then and continually looking. 00:22:58.120 --> 00:23:02.360 Sometimes we don't look very well, sometimes we don't understand very well what people's 00:23:02.360 --> 00:23:03.360 gifts are. 00:23:03.360 --> 00:23:08.680 So something a day like this is where we just let you know some of the needs. 00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:14.960 And if you have musical and singing gifts, if you would like to explore praying in public 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:19.360 or if you have reading and teaching gifts, if you're great again to some people that 00:23:19.360 --> 00:23:25.160 are really great again to know people who stand at the door and who just are wonderfully 00:23:25.160 --> 00:23:31.440 welcoming and warm, if you want to help organize church events and hospitality within that, 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:34.160 under that heading, then there are opportunities. 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:38.400 And we've put out tables today, so at the end of the service, there'll be different heads 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:44.039 of these teams will be at the tables and you can sign up if you feel so led by the Holy 00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:45.559 Spirit to do so. 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:51.119 But please know and recognize that these are just some of the areas in under worship that 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:56.519 we're looking for help and support and those with gifts in that area. 00:23:56.519 --> 00:24:02.720 And then we have mission ministry team, which oversees a lot of the big stuff that we do 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:06.639 in the visionals stuff, the church planting and the evangelism and the mercy and the 00:24:06.639 --> 00:24:11.920 international mission work that we're engaged in or support at least at some level. 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:18.720 And so the requests here are in a sense they're more general, it's more about ethos and the 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:28.000 kind of attitudes we want to keep developing as a church and that we seek to recognize 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:34.720 and know, do you have a heart for reaching out to the poor and how that looks like in 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:38.560 the city, what looks like in our gathered congregation, your heart for sharing your faith, 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:42.639 do you have evangelistic gifts, do you have a heart for international mission and supporting 00:24:42.639 --> 00:24:47.720 and encouraging and developing links that we have there, would you consider moving house 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:49.720 for a church plant? 00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:50.720 Radical. 00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:56.159 But nonetheless the kind of thinking that we want to encourage and to inspire thoughts 00:24:56.159 --> 00:25:03.279 and deliberations about when we think about mission, God centered, God glorifying, seeking 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:09.680 to reach out and meet the needs that we believe He is putting in our path. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:14.119 And then community is a third of the five ministry teams that we have, that looks after 00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:19.639 the pastoral care side of city groups as opposed to the teaching discipleship side and we've 00:25:19.639 --> 00:25:24.720 got the Sunday catering which you all benefit from and enjoy every Sunday and maybe don't 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:30.720 think about where it comes from and who organizes it and who buys things and how it's always 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:34.240 smooth and wonderful and the best biscuits in the free church. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:43.160 And hospitality, in fact in any church, hospitality, family meals, baby meals, Struan was born 00:25:43.160 --> 00:25:48.600 this week and we like to give meals to the family who have had a baby, just one less 00:25:48.600 --> 00:25:54.200 thing for them to worry about, it's a simple and a gentle thing and it will be done through 00:25:54.200 --> 00:25:59.559 the city groups who will all have an opportunity to provide the meal and it's a nice and simple 00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:00.679 thing. 00:26:00.679 --> 00:26:05.000 Different events, connect meals in a Sunday, city group meals, all of the things that are 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:15.720 kind of unglamorous, ordinary, hugely significant and hugely important, particularly in an increasingly 00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:24.679 isolated individualistic, lonely society and that includes Christians in the church. 00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:33.360 So in community, we want to be, this is a phrase I've coined personally, organic and 00:26:33.360 --> 00:26:42.840 organized, so we want community to be organic, in a sense it's difficult to organize community, 00:26:42.840 --> 00:26:46.640 it's different to manufacture, the word I'm looking for, you can't manufacture community 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:48.640 and love can you? 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:55.720 A practical level, we want it to be organic so that we seek to be in a community, but 00:26:55.720 --> 00:27:01.720 also as we grow it does, there does need to be a level of organization as we seek to 00:27:01.720 --> 00:27:07.040 get to know each other and seek to care for one another, so are you willing to open your 00:27:07.040 --> 00:27:16.280 home, can you host, beans on toast, that's all it needs to be, are you willing to feed 00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:21.200 church families or individuals in need, are you willing to visit the housebound or the 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:26.599 sick, we very fortunate, we have very few who would be in that category but it's an 00:27:26.599 --> 00:27:32.799 unseen and important and significant work, are you able to serve before church, can you 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:39.759 be part of the catering teams, we need more people to join our events team which helps 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:44.240 when different things happen in the church, they are all down to earth and dull and boring 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:51.480 I know, but then the fourth is discipleship and that covers adult discipleship and mentoring, 00:27:51.480 --> 00:27:57.680 creche, kids church, the den, identity, in a spiritual formation we seek to do together 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:05.640 maybe seven days of prayer or we're considering doing a Bible reading thing all year next 00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:10.279 year which we encourage everyone to do, biblical counseling, faith and work, some of these are 00:28:10.279 --> 00:28:15.200 underdeveloped, some of them are not developed but these are the kind of areas and the works 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:20.839 that we seek to do in discipling people in the faith and drawing them closer and closer 00:28:20.839 --> 00:28:25.440 to Jesus Christ, you may be looking at this and think I didn't know any of that goes on, 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:30.799 I didn't know we did these things and then that's our failure that we haven't made that 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:37.079 clear, so discipleship ministry work some of these, do you like playing with toys, I know 00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:41.720 you do, I've seen you come to our house and play with the toys we have for the kids and 00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:45.319 shove the kids out of the way so that you can play, I know I can see that, so we need 00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:49.759 more people for creche, you know it's great to have a growing creche but we have a legal 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:56.319 responsibility to make sure that we oversee and have the right numbers for these, for 00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:02.519 the number of children we have huge responsibility and a huge blessing and a huge challenge, 00:29:02.519 --> 00:29:06.240 so we do need more people for creche, there will be opportunities to sign up, do you have 00:29:06.240 --> 00:29:12.000 gifts in teaching children, we need more kids church teachers among some of the other discipleship 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:17.559 issues, so these are kind of core and important needs and I know it's sacrificial, can I 00:29:17.559 --> 00:29:21.720 go back to what we were saying earlier about the kind of servants and the kind of service 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:28.920 we look for in Christ's kingdom and then the fifth one is the kind of practical dealings 00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:35.160 that enables the building and the church and the worship service practically to happen, 00:29:35.160 --> 00:29:40.240 it's tremendously significant and important, so the sound and the screens, the communication, 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:45.640 the website, the social media, bulletin, print materials, building management, IT, all these 00:29:45.640 --> 00:29:51.320 things, it's a whole lot of things that maybe we forget that goes to making this one hour 00:29:51.320 --> 00:29:56.720 Sunday morning service happen in your warmth and comfort and I hope ability to read and 00:29:56.720 --> 00:30:04.360 see and be informed from the Wednesday email or the Sunday bulletin, so there's IT skills 00:30:04.359 --> 00:30:11.159 and experience, sharing your testimony on the website, practical or DIY skills, always 00:30:11.159 --> 00:30:18.240 a great need in a congregation of professional lawyers and teachers and everything else, 00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:23.039 we don't have many builders and workmen and scaffolders, we need some more, well hope 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:29.159 not scaffolders, well we would, I would love scaffolders but not in a professional capacity 00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:34.640 because I think all that scaffolding and work has hopefully been done, photography and video, 00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:40.320 all these kind of things and it's just a reminder to us of what is happening and what 00:30:40.320 --> 00:30:47.400 we seek to do, now I know we missed out lots of things here but do speak to us, any of 00:30:47.400 --> 00:30:53.360 the elders, Deacon myself or Corey, at any time if you have an area that you're interested 00:30:53.360 --> 00:30:58.560 in, we will take your interest today if you sign up for things and we'll look at things 00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:03.799 and responsibilities and where the need is greatest and we'll try and balance out, we 00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:09.480 don't want people doing a whole lot of things because they get burnt out and it's difficult 00:31:09.480 --> 00:31:19.119 to coordinate, so we'll seek to do the very best we can under God to serve and to share 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:26.159 together the gifts of God, so really all I would do in conclusion is to encourage you, 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:30.680 I know we live in a hugely busy society, I know that you're, and I know that you're 00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:41.600 all genuinely, fully engaged in much of what you're doing and we also know that this isn't 00:31:41.600 --> 00:31:46.720 the only opportunities you have for Christian service and we love you to be serving and 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:52.160 working in your communities, in your workplaces, getting to know your friends there, sharing 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:56.720 the gospel with them and hoping you will introduce them to your wider Christian community here 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:03.200 in the church, but if there are areas where you can serve, just lots of people doing a 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:11.000 little to the glory of God eagerly and in His strength to keep you close to Jesus Christ 00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:16.120 and reflecting Him both in your love for one another and in your love for Him, then that 00:32:16.119 --> 00:32:22.839 would be just a wonderful outcome from today because I know it's already happening, I'm 00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:27.719 not coming here in the position of it, it's such a great example and so many people are 00:32:27.719 --> 00:32:33.519 doing so many things, it's tremendous, but as we grow we look for that to happen more, 00:32:33.519 --> 00:32:37.799 so there will be opportunities at the end of service with the tea and coffee just to 00:32:37.799 --> 00:32:43.199 meet with and to discuss and to talk through some of these things. 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:49.840 May God have the glory in all that He does, let's pray together. 00:32:49.840 --> 00:32:54.559 Father God we ask and pray that you would help us and that you would bless us and that 00:32:54.559 --> 00:33:01.920 you would wash over us with your cleansing grace, you'd forgive what we do with the wrong 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:11.680 motives or what we do maybe selfishly or carelessly, but you would give us wonderful, gracious, 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:14.519 dependent hearts to serve you. 00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:19.039 Today I thank you for the congregation and for their incredible work and witness for 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:24.160 their service, for their willingness to get to know people, for the opening of their homes, 00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:29.480 for opening of their hearts, opening of their lives to one another here. 00:33:29.480 --> 00:33:35.519 Thank you for their prayers, for their friends, for their commitment to praying, to mission, 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:42.920 to planting churches, to going the extra mile, to the risks that are involved, to not being 00:33:42.920 --> 00:33:50.799 content with just what we have for their inspiration to drive forward and to keep going and to overlook 00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:53.440 sins and to be forgiving. 00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:58.240 They give thanks for all that they are and for all that they do and for the leadership 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:03.079 of the congregation and for their commitment in all the business and pressures and struggles 00:34:03.079 --> 00:34:10.639 of time and effort that they give and commit to the church, for the staff who work and for 00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:18.679 what we seek to do help us to as much as possible keep things simple and relational but organized 00:34:18.679 --> 00:34:26.679 well and to God's glory and in a way that inspires and encourages us all. 00:34:26.679 --> 00:34:30.799 So I thank you on this day, on this day of remembrance and on this day when we think 00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:41.640 of those who in a very tangible but very horrific way were willing to serve their country and 00:34:41.640 --> 00:34:44.600 many have lost their lives in so doing. 00:34:44.600 --> 00:34:52.200 And may we recognize the greater glory we have in serving the King of Kings and the 00:34:52.200 --> 00:34:58.320 Lord of Lords, the crucifixion that it requires in our own hearts, crucifying us to self and 00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:05.160 to the dying to self and the living for Jesus because that is life to the fool. 00:35:05.160 --> 00:35:07.480 May we know and recognize that today. 00:35:07.480 --> 00:35:28.480 Amen.