I encourage you. I know you've had tea and coffee. Do you have tea and coffee again?
Johnny, no, that's it. Okay. Okay. Well, can I encourage you then as you're leaving
to go and browse the stand back there and pick up maybe a copy of our prayer news
or pick up a magazine, some fuel for prayer, and just use it maybe during this coming week to pray.
And also, too, we're producing new prayer cards for our new workers.
And one of our new couples who I might mention later on,
Joel and Katcha Marcus, who are working from the Cavan Church into the town of Belturbet.
We kind of use them as guinea pigs for our first prayer card.
We're checking the thickness of the card and all the rest of it.
So we've got new cards for them.
Now, you may never have heard of Belturbet here in Carrigaline. Where is that?
Well, it's just slightly west of the town of Cavan.
But the Cavan Church, Ivan Watson is a pastor there who Johnny knows well
and going out soon to Ghana again with.
And they've got a vision to see a church planted in the town of Belturbet.
And so you might take Joel and Katcha upon your hearts and prayers and pray for them.
Let's read together from God's Word, 1 Peter chapter 1.
And we're going to read from verse 1.
It's on page 1217 if you have a church Bible.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit
to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with His blood.
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.
This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,
who through faith are shielded by God's power
until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In all this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold,
which perishes even though refined by fire,
may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him.
And even though you do not see Him now,
you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.
For you are receiving the end result of your faith,
the salvation of your souls.
Let's just pause for a moment and pray and ask for God's help as we look into His Word together.
Father, we thank You for this opportunity of meeting together here
in the name of the Lord Jesus this morning.
We thank You for the freedom we have in this land.
We thank You for Your Word in our own language, Lord.
We thank You for all the privileges we enjoy of fellowship with one another
and being able to gather together this morning to worship You.
We thank You for Your Word and we ask that by Your Spirit now He would be our teacher
and that You'd lead us into all truth, that You would speak to our hearts,
that You'd challenge us, that You'd encourage us,
that You'd send us out from this place this morning ready to serve You afresh
in the power and enabling of Your Holy Spirit.
We ask it for Jesus' sake.
Amen. Amen.
Well, here we are in 2019, and I don't know whether it's the same on RTE.
I kind of listen to RTE 1 when I'm going along in the car
to try and keep in touch with all that's happening here.
I watch then BBC News to see what's happening, if you like,
in terms of what's going on, because you get local news in the north.
And certainly nearly every day the headline is something to do with Brexit,
and how Brexit is going to affect the economy
and the housing crisis in Dublin and all that kind of stuff.
Our friend Mr. Trump appears every so often
on the wall between Mexico and here,
and whether it's maybe something to do with his involvement in Russia.
Our North Korean friend pops up every so often too.
And in our world, we have a mixture, don't we,
of, I suppose, terrorism going on in various places,
turmoil in terms of Brexit and the uncertainty of that,
and also technology being used in all sorts of ways for evil.
And to do destructive things in our world.
And people in our society, whether it's here in Ireland
or in other parts of the world, are living in fear
with all that uncertainty that's going on,
whether it's globally or locally.
And here in the Republic, certainly in recent times,
laws have been passed that are increasingly anti-God,
that are going to put pressure on us as believers
in terms of morality and the things that are acceptable to us
according to God's Word.
Our tolerant society is becoming increasingly intolerant
of the Christian worldview,
and certainly of what is found here in the pages of Holy Scripture.
The Apostle Peter writing this book around the year A.D. 61-62
is writing to believers who are under pressure,
writing to believers who are being persecuted,
or certainly are going to face persecution for their faith.
And it's seen really as something normal.
If you look over in 1 Peter chapter 5 for a moment,
and verse 9,
Peter writes these words,
we'll read from verse 8 just to get the context.
Be alert and of sober mind.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion,
looking for someone to devour.
Resist him standing firm in the faith,
because you know that the family of believers throughout the world
is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
So in a sense, Peter is saying,
listen, this is happening to your brothers and sisters
in other parts of the world,
just like we know today,
whether it's North Korea, China, India, other places,
there's all sorts of terrible things being done
to people like you and I,
who simply name the name of Jesus and say,
hey, I'm a person who follows him.
And many of our brothers and sisters,
even today,
may pay the ultimate price
for naming the name of Jesus.
The Lord Jesus said in John chapter 15,
they persecuted me,
they will persecute you.
Also in this world,
you will have trouble.
And so these believers that Peter is writing to,
they're facing persecution.
They may be lost their homes,
they may be split up from their families.
Certainly they're going to face persecution
in the years to come.
Under Nero and Rome,
in AD 64 and following,
many believers were fed to the lions.
Many believers had oil poured over them
and there were huge as human lamps
to light up Nero's garden parties.
Many of them were literally led
like lambs to the slaughter,
dressed in maybe sheepskins or goatskins
and fed to wild dogs and wild animals
just for the fun and the sport of it.
So the context in which Peter is writing this book into
is the people who are being persecuted,
people who are suffering,
people who are under trials.
Look at verse 6, he says,
and this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while
you may have had to suffer grief
in all kinds of trials.
So their trials are real.
Their grief is real.
God doesn't promise us as believers,
as the false teachers and prophets
that you'll find on certain TV channels,
tell you,
come to Jesus
and he'll take all your problems away
and you'll be happy
and wealthy
and all will be good.
The Lord Jesus never promised that.
In fact,
the very opposite we just read a moment ago,
they persecuted me,
they will persecute you also.
But into this context of suffering,
of grief,
of trials,
of persecution,
Peter writes to these believers
and he reminds them of certain things.
He reminds them, first of all,
that they're living
under the mercy of God.
Look at verse 3.
Praise be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ
in his great mercy.
He has given us new birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead.
In his great mercy.
Look at chapter 2 for a moment.
Turn over to chapter 2
for a moment.
And verse 9.
Words I'm sure
that we're familiar with.
But you are a chosen people,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
God's special possession.
Or I think as the
older NIV translation said,
a people belonging to God.
That you may declare
the praise of him
who called you out of darkness
into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people,
but now you are the people
of God.
Once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
And brothers and sisters this morning,
whatever difficulties
and trials
and problems,
and we all have them.
We stayed here this morning
and we formed ourselves
into a circle.
I'm sure we could go around the circle
and we could all name them.
Whatever struggles you have,
and maybe we're not facing
the persecution yet
of these early believers
facing,
or what our brothers and sisters
are facing across the world,
but whatever difficulties
or trials
or things that are causing you
grief this morning,
can I remind you?
Remind yourself.
We this morning
are living
under the mercy
of God.
In his great mercy
he has given us new birth.
Theologians debate
and there's,
I don't know,
endless books being written
on the sovereignty of God
versus, you know,
the human decision,
all this kind of stuff.
But this morning,
here's what we can rejoice in.
Not fully ever understanding it,
I certainly don't.
But here's the thing,
God in his grace
and mercy
has saved you this morning
and he saved me.
And as I go on longer
as a believer,
the thing that I suppose
I ponder on more
is not the hows
and wherefores
of all of that,
but the wonder,
why did God
ever save me?
And the more I go on
as a believer
and the more I understand
the holiness
and the so
different God is
to us
and I see my sin
as God sees it
and I get a glimpse of it,
how utterly rotten
and sinful
we really are.
The wonder
that God
should ever
set his love upon us.
The old song,
I think,
said,
oh,
the wonder of it all.
The wonder of it all.
Just to know
that God
loves me.
And here we are
this morning,
brothers and sisters,
a people living
under the mercy
of God.
Look what he says
in verse 2,
have been chosen
according to the
foreknowledge
of God the Father
through the sanctifying
work of the Spirit
to be obedient
to Jesus Christ
and sprinkled
with his blood.
The work of God's
grace and mercy,
the triune God.
Somebody once said this,
the Father sought us,
the Spirit brought us,
and the Son bought us
by his precious blood.
Determined before
this world was ever
created,
in the mind of God,
Father,
Son,
and Holy Spirit,
God setting his love
and mercy
upon you and I,
not for any good
that we have ever done
or could ever do
as we've reflected
in our songs
this morning,
but because he chose us
in love
and in grace
and in mercy,
were a people
this morning
who belong
to God
and Peter says,
praise thee
to the God
and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what causes
this morning
as we have done already
to glorify him,
to praise him,
to thank him.
Father in heaven,
thank you this morning
that despite all
the things that are
going on in my life
and the difficulties
and the pressures
and the problems,
you've saved me
by your grace
and in your mercy.
Living under the mercy
of God,
he also reminds him
that there are people
who have a living hope
in a risen Savior.
Look again at verse 3.
Praise be to the God
and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In his great mercy,
he has given us
new birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ
from the dead.
Today is Resurrection Sunday.
Every Sunday
is Resurrection Sunday.
The Lord Jesus conquered death
again as we reflected
in our songs this morning.
He conquered the grave.
He's alive forevermore
and he's defeated death
in all its three-dimensional ugliness.
Physical death,
spiritual death,
eternal death.
He conquered it all
when he died upon that cross
and rose again.
And he lives today
in the power
of an endless life.
Death has been defeated.
And brothers and sisters,
you and I are going to live forever.
Not in this cursed,
fallen world,
but in that new heaven
and new earth
where there will be
no more suffering,
no more sickness,
no more tears,
no more pain,
no more death,
no more separation,
and God himself,
John writes in Revelation,
will wipe every tear
from our eyes.
We have a living hope
because we have
a risen Savior
who's alive
and ever lives
this morning
to make intercession for us.
Isn't that amazing?
Isn't that incredible?
The Lord Jesus
this morning
interceding
on our behalf
before the Father
in heaven
today.
We're living
under the mercy of God.
We're a people living
with hope
and a risen Savior.
If we look again
at verse 4,
an intimate inheritance,
he says,
that can never perish,
spoil or fade.
This inheritance
is kept in heaven
for you
who through faith
are shielded
by God's power
until the coming
of the salvation
that's ready to be revealed
in the last time.
Not only are we
people this morning
living under the mercy
of God
with a living hope
and a risen Savior,
but we have
a lasting inheritance.
I heard Michael O'Leary
on the radio
the day after
Tony Ryan died.
Now you've all
have probably flown
on a plane
with Tony Ryan's name on it.
Well,
at the beginning
of his second name anyway.
If you've flown,
we used to call them
Ruin Air
when I was in
the airline business,
but we called them
Ryan Air, right?
Tony Ryan.
And this is what
Michael O'Leary
said about Tony Ryan
the day after he died.
He was talking about
how Tony was a great man
and always thinking
about new projects,
always planning
for the future,
always working out
new strategies,
new markets,
where he was going
to go next,
etc.
And the thought
that went through
my mind was,
I wonder how much
planning Tony Ryan
has done
for where he is now.
He's gone to meet
his maker.
And I don't know
where Tony Ryan stood,
but what I can say
on the authority
of God's word
this morning,
if Tony Ryan
died without a saviour,
then all the money
he had,
all the cars he drove,
his big mansion
in County Wicklow,
would have no use to him
if he was without Christ
and without hope.
Somebody asked a question
after a wealthy person died,
how much did he leave?
And the answer was
he left everything.
He left it all behind.
Brothers and sisters,
this morning,
we may not have
that much here
on this earth,
but we have
an inheritance
in heaven.
And ultimately,
that inheritance
is not in things,
but it's in a person.
We have
the Lord Jesus.
He is our joy.
He is our salvation.
And one day,
we are going to see him
face to face.
That salvation
will ultimately
be revealed.
Paul says,
the coming of the salvation
is ready to be revealed
in the last time
when Jesus
comes
again.
and we are shielded
by God's power.
Come with me for a moment
to John chapter 10.
Again,
familiar words,
familiar passage,
but good to be reminded
this morning
that we are safe,
not in ourselves,
not on what we do,
not in our church attendance,
not in our involvement,
but we are safe
because of Jesus.
We are safe in him.
Verse 27 of John chapter 10.
My sheep listen to my voice.
I know them
and they follow me.
I give them
eternal life.
It can never be bought.
It can never be merited.
It's a gift.
And they shall never perish.
No one
will snatch them
out of my hand.
My Father
who has given them to me
is greater than all.
No one can snatch them
out of my Father's hand.
I and the Father
are one.
And Peter reminds
these believers
that they have,
they're living their lives
under the mercy of God,
that they have this living hope
in their risen Savior,
that they have a lasting inheritance
in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that they're being kept
by the power of God.
God is keeping them
through their trials,
through their difficulties,
through their problems.
They're being kept.
They're being shielded
by God's power
until Jesus comes again
or calls them home.
And then he says
in verse 6,
and this is where I want
to challenge us all
this morning.
He says,
in this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while
you may have had to suffer grief
in all kinds of trials.
These have come
that the proven genuineness
of your faith
of greater worth than gold
which perishes
even though refined by fire
may result in praise,
glory, and honor
when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Though you have not seen him,
you love him.
And even though you do not see him now,
you believe in him
and are filled with an inexpressible
and glorious joy
if you are receiving
the end result of your faith,
the salvation of your soul.
In this you greatly rejoice.
You're filled with an inexpressible
and glorious joy.
So here's the challenge
to us all this morning,
brothers and sisters.
Whatever our difficulties,
whatever our problems,
whatever our struggles,
whatever grief we're going through,
whatever we're facing
in this world,
despite it all,
and God doesn't take
those problems away.
But when we reflect
on all that we have
in the Lord Jesus,
that we're a people
who have been forgiven by God,
that all our sins
have been washed away,
that as far as the East
is from the West,
so far as he removed
our transgressions from us,
that he's written our name
in the Lamb's Book of Life,
that he's given us
eternal life,
that we're going to be with him
in glory forever,
one day when he comes again
or calls us home,
that we have an inheritance,
that we belong to him,
that can never be taken away.
We're in the Father,
we're sealed by the Son,
we're sealed by the Spirit,
the Son of the Father
have us in their hands,
we can never be snatched
out of their hands.
Brothers and sisters,
this morning,
that should be filling us
with an inexpressible
and glorious joy
despite our circumstances.
Now, it's not a false
outward smile,
it's not a pretense
that we have no problems,
it's saying that
in the midst
of our difficulties,
in the midst of our trials,
in the midst of our suffering,
as Peter writes
to these believers,
that they can still have
a deep inward joy,
that goes out into a world
of darkness,
and hopelessness,
and pain,
and suffering,
and says,
we can declare his praises
even in the midst
of our difficulties.
Like he says,
and we read earlier
in chapter 2,
declaring his praises,
who's called us
out of darkness
into his wonderful light.
We can go out
on mission
and tell people
the wonder
of our God
because of who he is
and what he's done
in our lives.
And even those
trials
and persecutions
and problems
that come our way,
God has a way
as only God can
of using them
to hone
and shape
and make our faith
even more precious
than it is now
because only he
has the power
to do that.
He can take trials
and difficulties
and use them
for our good.
Look at Romans chapter 5
for a moment
as we come to a close.
We're probably all very familiar
with verse 1.
Therefore,
since we have been justified
through faith,
we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained
access by faith
into this grace
in which we now stand.
And we boast
in the hope
of the glory of God.
But look what he says
in verse 3.
Not only so,
but we also glory
in our sufferings
because we know
that suffering
produces perseverance,
perseverance character
and character hope.
And hope does not
put us to shame
because God's love
has been poured out
into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit
who has been given
to us.
None of us want suffering.
None of us,
I'm sure tonight
are going to pray,
Lord,
send persecution
to Ireland.
We just long
for a bit more,
right?
We're not going
to pray that,
are we?
But in the midst
of our trials,
in the midst
of our difficulties,
in the midst
of our sufferings,
God can even use
those things
to deepen
and sharpen
our faith
and make it
even more genuine.
He says in verse 7,
these have come
that the proven
genuineness of your faith
of greater worth
than gold
which perishes
even though refined
by fire
may ultimately result
in praise,
glory and honour
when Jesus Christ
is revealed.
Brothers and sisters,
this morning,
if we're living
under the mercy of God,
if we're living
in that great hope
of knowing
that we have
a risen saviour,
of knowing
that we have
a lasting inheritance,
of knowing
that we're being kept
by the power
of God,
then this morning
we can rejoice
in Him
and we should be
people of joy
and we should be able
to go out
into a world
full of pain
and difficulty
and speak to them
of our saviour
who's given us
this joy,
point them
to Him.
And the glorious thing is
in the midst of our pain,
in the midst of our trials,
in the midst of our difficulties,
get to the end
of 1 Peter,
you come to chapter 5
and verse 7
where he says,
cast all your cares
upon Him
because He cares
for you.
And I ask you this morning,
do you have
this joy?
Are you rejoicing
in the fact
that you're part
of the people
who belong
to God?
Are you going
to go out
tomorrow
not in your own strength,
not
conjuring up
something within you
but in God,
with God's strength
and by His grace
and the enabling
of His Spirit
to go and declare
the praise of Him
who called you
out of darkness
into His marvelous light?
You see,
mission
is not going
and telling other people
how wonderful we are.
It's going
and telling people
who Jesus is
and what He has done.
And our circumstances
can either make us
bitter
or better.
Remember the servant girl
Naaman's time?
We don't even know
her name.
She was captured,
taken from a homeland.
She was effectively
a slave.
She had every reason
to be bitter
and angry
with God,
with her circumstances,
what was going on
in her life.
But rather than allowing
that to make her bitter,
it made her better.
And even
to the leader
of her enemies,
she was given
the grace
to point Him
to the one true God
who could ultimately
see Him healed
and restored.
We have
mysteries in Spain.
The Reed family
who live up in Barcelona.
It's in the news a lot.
Andrew Reed's involved
in training pastors
in Spain.
The Federation of Churches
we are linked to
in Spain
called the Federation
of Independent
Evangelical Churches.
Only about a third
of those churches
have their own pastor.
But two thirds don't.
A lot of those pastors
have not been trained.
They've just,
I suppose,
they may even be
just the pastor
because nobody else
wants to be the pastor.
And Andrew Reed's involved
in training men
in pastor ministry,
training men
and preaching
across the land of Spain
in partnership
with Langham,
partnership
and other agencies
as well.
So pray for them
as they seek to equip
men and women
in Spain for preaching.
Right down the very
south of Spain
we have a couple
called Andrew Rosali Elliot.
Rosali is from Brazil
and they work
in a place called
Algatherus
which is a big port
in the south of Spain
and a lot of their
work is involved
in reaching people
from a Muslim background
and they have a
children's club
in different ways,
homework clubs
and different things
of reaching
into that area.
and they're seeking
to reach into
a new town
in Spain
called Medina Sidonia
so it's a bit
like Caratul
an area in Spain
a town in Spain
but 45 minutes away
from where
the church is
in Agatherus
and where that town
is in Medina Sidonia
there are four other towns
you're standing
on the hilltop
in Medina Sidonia
there are four other towns
you can look down
and see
where there's no
Bible believing church
as well
so from that place
they'd love to see
more churches
being planted.
Sometimes God
brings people
into mission
in different ways
we had a couple
and they're young
their name is young
they don't look old enough
to be legally married
in my opinion
they're so young looking
but they came to me
about a year ago
and said
Mervyn we've been
really burdened
for Spain
we've been there
on teams
served God there
we don't want to go
as missionaries
we don't want to
cause Baptist missions
or anything
we want to go
as tent makers
and so in the goodness
of God
they moved to Spain
he got a job
teaching French
in Gibraltar
so only God
can do that
have somebody
go to Spain
but actually
teaching French
he teaches a bit
of Spanish as well
and his wife
is a physiotherapist
she got a job
in Gibraltar as well
so God's provided
for them
they set up home
in Agathiris
their hope is
they're being involved
in the church
but they also want
to reach out
into a new community
where there's no church
and so be part
possibly of a new
church plan
in that area as well
we also have
a mystery couple
at the other end
of the age spectrum
or a non-identified couple
as we're calling them
who have taken
early retirement
but because of their involvement
in other parts of the world
in the past
they've asked us not to
put their names out there
in the public arena
so you won't find their names
in the magazine
or prayer news
or anything
but there are a couple
who came and said
listen
we don't want to just sit
and vegetate
in our local church
there's too many people
in it already anyway
we want to go
and serve God
somewhere else
and so
they sold up
moved to Spain
they don't have any Spanish
so you can pray for them
as they go through
language learning
but they just begun
to get to know people
meet people for coffee
and so forth
and here's the way
God works
in his grace
and his sovereignty
the only place
they could find to rent
in Medina Sidonia
there was no other place available
all the estate agents
said we don't have
plenty of stuff to sell
nothing to rent
one place available to rent
and they moved into
an upstairs flat
they got to know
their landlady
came down
to speak to her
one day
and discovered
that their landlady
had a bible
on her shelf
and she actually
reads it as well
and something like
20 odd years ago
a man from Puerto Rico
gave that lady
he'd lived in that flat
in the past
and he'd given that lady
a bible
and so
that couple
had begun to meet
with the landlady
and her husband
because she's interested
in knowing more
about the bible
now again
only God
can take people
from Ireland
to an inland town
in Spain
lead them to a place
where maybe
the only person
in the town
maybe not
but the only person
certainly
who had a house
available to rent
and the lady
had already been in touch
with a believer
would you pray
that the light
of the gospel
as they seek to shine
the light
of the gospel
as they seek to bring
that living hope
of a risen saviour
to the people
in Medina Sidonia
that God would work
through them
and in them
for the furthest
of his kingdom
and the glory
of his name
thank you John
level
.