Thank you, Kate, and good morning, everyone.
Very glad to have you with us, whether you're in the church here or watching online.
I want to begin by introducing you to Duncan Donaldson,
otherwise known as Dunkey or as Drunken Duncan.
I never met him, but he was a contemporary of my father who knew him fairly well.
Duncan lived in Airdrie and was known locally as a character, in inverted commas.
But he said that when he went into a pub, that everyone else walked out,
because they knew that when he got a few drinks in, he would turn violent, and he was very strong.
He reckoned he'd been in prison between 60 and 70 times.
And then one day he was walking past Airdrie Cross,
and someone handed him a Christian leaflet and said,
would you like to come to a gospel meeting?
And he thought, well, I might as well.
Well, and he went along, he got free tea and biscuits, he got a warm welcome.
He thought, well, I'll go back again next week.
Arrived the following Sunday and found the hall totally locked.
No one there.
And he thought, oh, no, they know my reputation.
No one's coming back.
It turned out he was an hour early.
So eventually everyone did arrive,
and he found out that people had been praying for him during the week.
And as he listened to the gospel message being preached,
there were tears streaming down his face, and he gave his life to the Lord Jesus.
And after that, he was completely transformed.
He became a well-respected, much-loved school janitor.
But what he loved to do above all was to tell his story,
particularly in the open air, but in halls as well.
Everywhere he went, he wanted to tell people what a difference Jesus had made in his life.
Here's how I was.
Here's when I met Jesus.
And here's what has changed in me now.
And I was reminded of Duncan Donaldson as I was reading this week
the story of the blind man in John 9.
Because in many ways, it's very similar.
As we go through the chapter, the blind man is just repeating again and again,
here's what I was.
I was blind.
Then I met Jesus.
Now I can see.
And that must be from God that the healing has taken place.
And what I want us to leave thinking about this morning,
we'll talk about lots of things as we get into the chapter.
But what I want all of us to leave thinking about this morning
is what is my story?
Do I have a story I can tell of what Jesus has done in my life,
the difference it makes to me of knowing him?
And if I do, am I prepared to go and to tell people about it?
Do I want to share it with others,
what the Lord has done for me and what he can do for them?
So we'll come back to that various points.
And at the end this morning, what is your story?
Are you able to share it with others?
But let's begin by just reminding ourselves of a bit of the background here.
We're looking at John's gospel.
So every time you're in John, what you have to think is,
what does this passage, what does this chapter tell us
that will help us to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God?
That is John's purpose in writing his book, and he's very focused.
Every chapter points us to Jesus as the Messiah and as the Son of God.
I think it's fairly evident how that applies to chapter 9.
We're in a section that extends from chapter 5 to chapter 10,
which is based around various feast festivals in Jerusalem
and Jesus attending them.
Chapter 9 is a little bit different from the chapters round about.
If you have a red-letter Bible or you have an app that shows you
the words of Jesus highlighted, that might be fairly evident.
In most of the chapters in this section,
there is some narrative,
but there is a lot of Jesus teaching.
He says a lot in almost all the chapters.
In chapter 9, Jesus speaks at the beginning and at the end,
and he doesn't feature at all in the middle.
What comes in the middle is a kind of crime scene investigation,
CSI, Jerusalem, if you like,
but it's a bit more Keystone Cops and Sherlock Holmes in the way it happens.
The Pharisees believe a crime has been committed,
actually several crimes.
Jesus has spat on the Sabbath.
He's molded clay on the Sabbath.
He's healed someone on the Sabbath.
And according to their rules, their regulations,
all of these things were not allowed.
They were sins.
Now, we will have our own view on that,
but that's the Pharisees' view,
and that is what they persist in as we go through the chapter.
And so they are trying to find something
that they can pin on Jesus
and can arrest him and condemn him.
And they go around talking to the people,
talking to the blind man,
talking to his parents,
desperate to get something
that they can say a crime has been committed
and there must be consequences for it.
And they become increasingly desperate
as they go along,
particularly because the blind man,
all he can say is,
I was blind,
I met Jesus,
now I can see
that must be a work of God.
They don't have any effective argument
against that.
The other backdrop to the chapter
is we are still in the Feast of Tabernacles.
We've been there since chapter 7,
and indeed the first part of chapter 10
is around the same time.
Now, we're possibly just after the end
of the formal feast,
but it will still very much be in people's minds.
So the Feast of the Tabernacles
had three aspects to it.
It looked back to how God had provided
for these lives in the wilderness.
There's a mention of Moses in this chapter.
It looks at the present
as a joyful harvest Thanksgiving ceremony,
and it looks forward to the coming Messiah.
And there are two particular themes to it.
One is light.
The knights are drawing in,
and there are four great lamps
lit in the temple
that lights up the whole city,
representing the light that God gives.
And the other is water.
It's the dry season,
and so there's a daily ceremony
where water is taken from the Pool of Siloam,
carried up the hill,
and put onto the altar.
And you'll see again both light and water
as we go through this chapter.
But let's get into John 9,
and we'll divide it into three sections.
So the first section is from verse 1 to verse 7.
I've called it a miraculous intervention.
This is the narrative
about the healing of the blind man.
We don't know much about this blind man,
but I think we can deduce a little bit
about his age from the passage.
He's got two parents still alive.
That's established.
And the parents say to the Pharisees,
he is of age.
Ask him what's happened.
Now, being of age in first century Israel
meant for a boy that he was at least 13 years old.
That was when a boy was deemed to become a man.
I'm not suggesting this man is necessarily 13 years old,
but I think we can take it from the fact
that his parents refer to him being of age,
that he was relatively young.
He may well have been a teenager.
That's speculation,
but I think we can assume he was probably
quite a young man.
And Jesus and his disciples come across him
as they're walking through Jerusalem.
Now, that wouldn't have been an uncommon thing
if in that day you were disabled in any kind of way
and weren't able to earn a living,
there was no social security,
so you were dependent on the goodwill of others.
Most disabled people,
whether blind or lame or whatever,
they would sit beside the roadside and beg,
and people would give them alms,
would give them money out of sympathy.
So it wasn't an uncommon sight,
but for some reason it attracted the attention
of Jesus' disciples.
And they asked a question
which we might find a little strange.
They said,
is this man blind because of his sin
or because of the sin of his parents?
Now, remember, he'd been blind from birth.
So a type was saying,
perhaps his parents had done something wrong,
and he is suffering the retribution for that.
Or even more surprisingly,
they're saying,
perhaps he did something wrong
before he was born,
before he even came into this world blind.
Perhaps he's done some kind of sin
and is being punished for that now.
Now, we won't go into theology of that.
It was something that might have been
quite a common view in that day,
although it seems strange to us.
But Jesus makes it clear
the reason he's blind
is not because of his sin
or his parents' sin.
He is going to be healed.
He is going to have his sight given to him,
and that will mean that his illness
will bring glory to God
as Jesus heals him.
I think maybe we need to take a little pause there.
Because when people suffer,
very often we ask,
why?
Whether it's ourself
or someone close to us,
we think,
well, why is that happening?
Now, usually there are no straightforward answers.
We can say that all suffering
is a result of being
in a sinful, fallen world.
And Christians are not exempt from that
in any kind of way.
I think we need to be very, very careful
about saying that people are suffering,
whether ourselves or others,
because of some sin of theirs
or because of something
someone else has done.
In some cases it will be.
It will be very obvious there's a connection,
but generally need to be very careful
about making that deduction.
What I think we can say
is that every suffering,
every illness,
is an opportunity
to bring glory to God.
Now, sometimes it can be
through miraculous healings,
through things happening
that confounds the medical profession
and can only be from God.
But other times,
it is not as spectacular as that.
When we suffer,
if we're Christians,
then that should draw us closer to God.
That should develop our Christian character,
help us to be more like the Lord Jesus.
We suffered in ways
that we never could know
or even imagine.
And as we develop as Christian,
as we become more like Jesus,
that brings glory to God.
Paul says in Romans 5,
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
he has given to us.
So as we become more like Jesus,
as we suffer and grow in character,
that is glorifying to God.
We also can glorify God
through times of suffering,
through the example
that we set to others.
Through showing our faith
in the Lord Jesus,
and they can look at us
and they can say
in the face of the most difficult situations,
they still trust,
they still love Jesus.
In our church at the moment,
we have quite a lot of people
who are unwell.
Some acute,
some chronic,
some mental illness,
some physical illness,
some who are suffering
for other reasons.
And I can look at quite a lot of them
and I see an example they set
that it would be good for me
and others to follow.
whether it's those who are suffering
or those who care for them.
There are some quite remarkable people
in this church
and we thank God for them
that in times of difficulty
and suffering
would point us to Jesus
and would show the difference
that knowing Christ makes
when we go through difficult times.
So even in our suffering,
God can be glorified.
Now I've covered that very quickly.
If you want to talk about it more later on,
speak to me or to Archie or to Graham
or to another Christian you know.
So we've got to the point
where the disciples have been talking to Jesus
and then Jesus approaches the man.
But before he does that,
he has a little bit of explanation for us.
And this links us back to chapter 8.
You remember, I think it was probably
about three weeks ago now
that Graham was talking about Jesus,
the light of the world
and that we need to recognize
that we're lost
and to follow the light.
Well, Jesus again says,
I am the light of the world
and he's about to demonstrate that
in a physical as well
as in a spiritual sense.
But he says,
I'm only here for a while.
The night is coming.
I think that probably refers
to his crucifixion.
While I'm here,
I have to do God's work.
And so saying that,
he goes up to the man,
he makes something out of the mud
from the clay,
puts it in the man's eye
and sends him down
to the pool of Siloam.
I suspect there's a lot of symbolism in this.
The clay that the Lord uses
perhaps is symbolic of the fact
that all of us are made from the earth,
from the dust as Adam was to begin with.
John points out the pool of Siloam
means sent
and Jesus sent the man
and he himself had been sent
into the world.
Lots of symbolism there,
but let's not get too caught up in that.
What we see here
is the most remarkable miracle.
Imagine you are the blind man.
You go out that morning as normal
to beg,
to look for sympathy from people
and hope they'll give you some money.
You meet this man,
perhaps you hear a bit of the conversation
saying,
was he a sinner before he was born?
And that might seem a bit strange.
Jesus comes
and apparently without any explanation
puts the mud in his eyes
and sends him away.
It wasn't like the case of Bartimaeus
where Bartimaeus called out to Jesus
to have mercy.
There's no sign
that this man even really knew
who Jesus was.
And yet Jesus sends him down to the pool
with the mud on his eyes.
He washes his eyes
and he can see.
And what an amazing thing
that must have been for the man.
Blind all his life,
he meets Jesus
and he's able to see.
And we can rejoice
in the miracle
of what God does there
and in the miraculous ways
God changes people's lives
today as well.
This man really had
a story worth telling.
Let's move on.
And the main section
of the chapter
I've called
a malicious interrogation.
On the face of it,
the Pharisees were saying,
well, we're just trying
to enforce the law.
In practice,
what they were doing
was trying to trap people
into condemning Jesus
and ultimately
to arrest him.
And when they can't do that,
they eventually take it out
on the man
who had been blind.
So there are a number
of conversations here.
We'll just go very quickly
through what they are.
So it begins,
the man born blind,
he goes home
and the people are wondering,
what's happened?
Is this really the person
we knew
who sat begging
beside the road
or is it someone else?
And the man says to him,
no, it's me.
Jesus put mud in my eyes.
I washed it off.
Now I can see.
So the people then
go to the Pharisees.
I guess if you've got
a religious problem
as this might have appeared to be,
you go to religious people.
And they went to the Pharisees
and told them what had happened.
And the Pharisees
saw an opportunity here
perhaps to get at Jesus.
So again,
they go to the blind man
and they ask him
about the healing
and he explains again
very simply
what had happened.
And they say to him,
well, what do you deduce
from that?
And he said,
this man must be a prophet.
Now in the Old Testament,
most of the miracles
of healing
were in the times
of the prophets
like Elijah
and Elisha.
That was why
he might have deduced
that Jesus
was a prophet.
They still not satisfied.
They think,
well, maybe it's not
really the same person.
So they go to his parents
and ask them.
Parents are really cowardly.
They confirm
as their son,
but they're not willing
to go beyond that
because of what
the Pharisees
might do to them.
So they fob them off
and say,
well, he's of age.
Go and ask him.
The Pharisees go back
and have a slightly
longer conversation
with the man.
He gets, I think,
a bit irritated with them
and he says,
well, why do you keep
asking me these questions?
Do you want to become
Jesus' disciples too?
And that really annoys
the Pharisees
and they end up
sending him
out of the temple.
They excommunicate him
in the religious terminology.
And then Jesus finds him
and explains
what's happening
and who he is.
So that's the story.
What I particularly want us
to notice from it, though,
is how the blind man's
understanding increases
as time goes on.
As he tells this story,
he becomes more confident in it,
but he also becomes
more aware of how this
must be God at work
in his life.
So to begin with,
he is just stating
the facts.
There was this man
called Jesus.
Verse 11,
they're following along.
There's a man called Jesus.
He told me to go
to the pool of Siloam
and wash off the mud.
I did and I saw.
So we start with the man,
Jesus.
He knows nothing about him.
At this point,
he hasn't even seen him
because the only time
he encountered Jesus,
he was blind.
We then have
the first
interrogation
by the Pharisees
and then in verse 17,
as I mentioned a minute ago,
the man says,
he's a prophet.
So he's gone from,
this was a man
I'd never met before.
I know his name was Jesus,
but nothing more.
And he's deduced,
this must be a prophet
because of what
he's done.
If we jump forward
to the end
of the second interrogation
in verse 33,
the man says,
if this man
were not from God,
he could do nothing.
So we've gone from,
he's a man called Jesus,
he's probably a prophet,
and he could do nothing
if he wasn't from God.
And then Jesus comes
and talks to the man,
explains that he is
the son of man,
and then in verse 38,
the man says,
Lord,
I believe
and worships
Jesus.
So he goes from,
I met this man
called Jesus
to,
Lord,
I believe
in you.
As he tells
this story,
as it sinks in
exactly what
the Lord Jesus
has done
for him,
he begins to realize
more and more
how special
this man
Jesus
is.
He's a prophet,
he's from God,
he is the Messiah.
That was what Jesus
implied by calling himself
the son of man.
And by the end,
he is a true disciple
of the Lord Jesus.
Can we come back
to our stories?
If you have a story
to tell,
to begin with,
it can be quite difficult
to speak to people.
But like this man,
the more you tell it,
the more people
you explain
what Jesus has done
for you to,
the more confident
you will become
in talking about
the Lord Jesus.
And as you do
and as you
read the Bible,
as you learn more
about and from Jesus,
then your faith
will also grow.
And you'll begin
to understand
more and more
about who Jesus is
and exactly
what it is
that he has done
for you.
I think that is
one of the great
lessons from this chapter.
If you know Jesus,
if you have an experience
of Jesus
in your life,
tell people about it,
think about what
he's done,
and then you'll
grow in your faith
and in your confidence
in sharing it
with others.
Let's look at the last
bit of the chapter
which I've called
a momentous insight.
Momentous meaning
really important
or significant.
I think it is
that.
So we're looking
particularly
at verse 39.
Jesus said,
For judgment
I have come
into the world
so that the blind
will see
and those who see
will become blind.
We'll have a very
clear example
of the blind seeing here.
Not just physically,
but as the man's eyes
spiritually were open
and he came to know
and to recognize
who Jesus was
and to worship him.
The reference
of the seeing
who become blind
I think is fairly clear
and they got it
is fairly clearly
a reference
to the Pharisees.
Jesus says,
You're not going to
see because you
should be able to see
but you've chosen
not to.
They had chosen
darkness
rather than light.
The people who knew
the Old Testament
knew what God
had said in the past
knew what God
had done
in the past
chose instead
to reject
God's Son.
To get so caught up
in petty arguments
of what you couldn't
or couldn't
could or couldn't
do on the Sabbath.
That they lost sight
of the fact
that here was
a wonderful thing
God's Son
with us
working among us
healing
and drawing people
to God.
They were
sighted
but they chose
to be
blind.
The saying goes
there is none
so blind
as he who
will not
see.
Can I put it
a different way
using words
from Tim Keller?
Now some of you
may know
that Tim Keller
passed away
earlier this weekend.
Tim Keller
was a minister
in the United States.
He for many years
had a big church
in Manhattan
in New York
which he planted.
He found a church
planting movement.
He was a co-founder
of the Gospel Coalition
and he was a well-known
Christian writer
and theologian.
Also I believe
a very humble man
of great integrity.
He'll be
much missed.
I'm going to quote
three things
from him
this morning.
And here's the one
that particularly
relates
to this passage.
Tim Keller
says there is
no blindness
so deep
and incurable
as the one
we don't
acknowledge.
There is no
blindness
so deep
and incurable
as the one
we don't
acknowledge.
Can't we see
that in this passage?
These Pharisees
who should
have sight
who should be able
to understand
who Jesus is
yet they have
blinded themselves
with their own law
and they can't
acknowledge that.
They think
they are superior
they think
they are the ones
who see clearly
when in fact
they've been blinded
by themselves.
Let's challenge
ourselves on that
as well.
We look at
these Pharisees
and might say
well we are
not like that.
We know
Jesus
we follow
him.
But couldn't
the Pharisees
say we are
Moses
disciples?
On the face
of it
they were
good living
religious
people.
I wonder
whether many
of us
have blind
spots
in our
Christian life.
Things that
we wouldn't
want to
acknowledge
and yet
which are
going against
God's
way.
Perhaps
there are
works of
God we can
see round
about us
and we say
well I'm not
sure they
should really
do it that
way.
I don't
really approve
of that.
But God's
at work
and we
don't
acknowledge
it.
Tim
Keller
as I said
worked in
Manhattan
in New
York.
He went
to an
environment
where people
said you
have no
chance
as an
evangelical
Christian
preaching the
gospel.
You're
never
going to
reach
these
people.
They're
so
materialistic
and so
caught up
in themselves.
He ended
up with a
church of
more than
5,000
people.
And he
did that
partly by
respectfully
challenging
people about
their lifestyles
and their
attitudes.
So here's
something he
said.
He said we
want to
feel beautiful.
We want
to feel
loved.
We want
to feel
significant.
That's
why we're
working so
hard.
And that's
the source
of the
evil.
Talking to
respectable
New Yorkers,
people who
are pillars
of society
and saying
actually you've
got things
wrong.
You think
the way to
get on in
life, the
way to
succeed is
to work
hard and
to be seen
to be an
achiever.
You're
missing the
point.
The way to
get on in
life, the way
to really have
satisfaction in
life is to
follow Jesus
and to
know him
and to
live for
him.
Perhaps that's
a word for
us in
Edinburgh as
well as
in New
York.
Do we get
too caught
up in the
busyness of
life, in
our personal
ambitions, in
wanting to be
seen to be
good and
respectable?
And do we
sometimes miss
the point that
the key thing
is that we
know Jesus
and that
our lives
are with
him and
led by
him?
So the
answer that
Tim Keller
presents,
the third
quotation I'm
going to give
from a very
well-known
quotation you
may have
heard before,
Tim Keller
says,
we are more
sinful and
flawed in
ourselves than
we ever
dared believe,
yet at the
same time we
are more
loved and
accepted in
Jesus Christ
than we
ever dared
hope.
So two
things in
that quotation,
we are more
sinful and
flawed than
we ever
dared believe.
I know a
lot about the
sin in my
life.
You may know
a bit about
it too,
perhaps there
are things
you spot
that I
don't spot.
But how
much more
is there
that God
looks on
and sees
my sinfulness,
my putting
myself first
my going
against his
way and
not following
Jesus as
I should.
We're more
sinful and
flawed than
we ever
dare believe.
And yes,
says Tim Keller,
at the same
time we are
more loved and
accepted in
Jesus Christ
than we ever
dared hope.
Despite all
my sin,
despite all
my failure,
Christ loves
me more than
I could ever
hope could
ever understand.
He loved
me enough
to go to
the cross
on Calvary
and to
die for
me there
and to
take my
punishment.
And I'm
accepted not
just grudgingly,
not just
while your
sins are
forgiven,
and that's
it.
I'm accepted
as a child
of God.
I can come
to God as
my father,
knowing my
relationship
with him
has been
restored through
the Lord
Jesus.
And that
is the
story of
everyone who
has trusted
in Jesus.
And the
challenge for
all of us
is have
we come
to that
point?
Have we
recognised
the sin
that's in
our life
that we
have gone
our own
way rather
than God's
way?
And have
we accepted
the only
way back
to God
is through
Jesus?
And if we
have, if
we're
Christians,
let's just
think, where
do we stand
today?
Are we
in some
ways getting
blinded?
Are we
letting sinful
things that
maybe we
don't even
realise take
the place
of God
in our
lives?
And perhaps
we need to
come back
to the
cross and
to recognise
again all
that Jesus
has done
for us.
So the
question is
again, what
is your
story?
I suspect
some people
may be
thinking, well
I haven't
got much
of a story.
You might
be a
Christian, you
might know
Jesus as
your
saviour,
think, well
actually my
story is a
bit dull.
I trusted
the Lord
Jesus when
I was seven
years old and
my father led
me to the
Lord.
Not very
exciting, very
significant for
me, but
not the
most exciting
of stories.
Well if you
feel I've
not got much
of a story,
let me tell
you about
one other
person.
We're going
to sing one
of his hymns
in a few
minutes.
It's John
Newton.
It's quite
well known that
John Newton
was a slave
trader and
that he
lived a
very sinful
life, but
he had a
pious mother
who remembered
something of
what she had
said to him
and in the
midst of a
storm when he
feared for
his life, he
put himself on
the mercy of
God and his
life was
changed.
So that was
his conversion.
But if you look
at the story of
John Newton, it
actually took a
long time before
you could get to
the point where
he said, I was
blind, but now I
see.
He continued as
a slave trader
for several
years, at
first not
seeing any
problem with
it, laterally
being much
more convicted
about it.
He fell
several times
into moral
sin.
And it was
probably around
ten years
after his
conversion, a
process that
John Newton
went through
in getting to
know Jesus
and having his
eyes opened
and eventually
becoming a
clergyman as
well as a
hymn writer and
very influential
in the
abolition of
slavery.
And I think
for many of
us, our
story might
not be that
different.
We probably
don't have the
dramatic start
that John
Newton had.
But having
trusted the
Lord Jesus,
that is not
something that
immediately changes
everything for
most of us.
Sometimes it
did.
It seems for
Duncan Donaldson
it did
immediately.
But over
time, God
speaks to us
and draws us
to himself.
So if I look
back at my
own life,
there was a
period of
around five
years from
when I was
17 to when
I was 22,
which I would
mark as being
when I matured
as a Christian
and became
committed really
to the Lord
Jesus.
It started with
a holiday
club in this
church, the
first holiday
club we had.
I was a
very junior
helper.
At the end
of five years,
I was leading
my first trip
through Union
Mission, which
would have
been unimaginable
when I was
17.
In between,
there was
university.
And a series
of things where
God worked in
my life and
I can look
back and
say, I've
got a story
there of
what God
did for me.
And of course,
there are other
stories as we
go on.
And I would
encourage you,
if you're a
Christian, not
just to think of
the moment of
your conversion,
that's really
important if you
can identify it,
but to think,
what has God
done in my
life that has
been significant
and how can I
share that
with others?
We all have
a story, and
we have a
story that we
should be able
to share with
other people.
And if we
have a story,
don't be afraid
to tell it.
Yes, it's
difficult to
begin with.
I struggle
with it as
well.
But don't be
afraid to tell
your story.
People want
to hear.
People are
interested in
our story.
Some of them
might laugh at
us.
Some of them
might not be
interested.
But generally,
if you've got a
good story, that
is a really
powerful witness
to others
alongside telling
them about
Jesus.
So if you
have a story,
tell it.
But the
question also
this morning
is, do you
have a story?
Can you say,
yes, there
was a time
when I trusted
in the Lord
Jesus, when
I handed my
life over to
him, and
that has
really changed
and transformed
me?
If you can't
say, yes, I
have a story,
yes, I know
Jesus, then
please consider
this morning
what Jesus
has been
saying to
us, and
what the
story of
the blind
man signifies
to us.
Here is
someone who
can take
us from
blindness,
from sin,
who can
transform us
and can
help us
to know
God and
to have
confidence
in the
future.
Let's
make sure
that we
have a
story we
can tell
about God's
goodness to
us, and
let's make
sure that we
go and we
tell it.
Let's pray
together.
Father, we
thank you for
your word to
us this
morning.
Thank you for
the story of
the blind
man, the
very powerful
story and
the real
transformation
in his
life.
Once he
was blind,
then he
met Jesus,
then he
could see.
And we
thank you
that many
of us
have stories
that we
can tell
others about
how Jesus
has worked
in our
lives.
Help us
to be willing
to do
that and
to share
with others
how God
has been
good to
us.
And we
pray that
all of
us will
come to
the point
where we
do have
that story
where we
can say
Jesus is
my
saviour.
My life
has been
changed
through
trusting
in him.
We thank
you for
your presence
with us.
Pray for
your blessing
as we
continue
together
now.
In the
name of
the Lord
Jesus.
Amen.