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Good morning everyone. A warm welcome to the service today. It's good to see everyone and it's good to see perhaps one of two visitors with us as well.
We don't have tea and coffee after the service this morning as we usually do, but we have tea and coffee and cakes and the kind of fellowship this evening after the evening service, so please come along to that if you're able.
So we have been blessed to have Derek with us, Derek Lament over the weekend and Derek will be taking the services today, this morning and this evening and he'll share a little at the fellowship also of God's work in his life.
The collection this evening for those who are able to give is going to the Sparkle Sisters. If you were here last night you'll know what that means. If you weren't here last night, Derek maybe will say a little about that tonight.
It's basically a ministry to women who are struggling and who have suffered abuse in past years and so it's a ministry that Derek's wife and others set up in Edinburgh and it continues so there's the opportunity to give to that.
The other thing to say is we were very thankful and encouraged to see Agnes Cross and Rebecca Morrison coming into membership over the weekend, both who transferred over this weekend and so we are encouraged by that.
And for any who are here this morning who are not members in North Harris Free Church but who are Christians, it's the Lord's Table, not the North Harris Free Church Table.
So be encouraged to come and join us as we take the bread and we take the wine and we remember all that the Lord Jesus has done for us. The rest of the notes you can read through at your own community. So I'll hand over now to Derek, please.
Thanks, David. Thanks, David.
Thanks, David. Vs.
as we worship him i stand amazed in the presence of jesus the nazarene i stand amazed in the presence of jesus and do is lip lip is lip is go go go go go go go go go
How wonderful is my Savior's love for me. While He was in the garden, He prayed not my well but died.
He had no tears for His own praise, but sweat drops of blood for mine. How marvelous, how wonderful a land my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.
In the mighty angels we held him and came from the world of light to comfort him in the sorrows he bore for my soul at night.
How marvelous, how wonderful a land my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.
He took my sins and my sorrows, he made his very own. He bore the burden to God's suffering and died alone.
How marvelous, how wonderful a land my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.
How marvelous, how wonderful a land my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful a land my song shall ever be.
How marvelous, how marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. We'll join together in prayer once more. Let's pray.
Father, we give thanks for your word. We give thanks for being able to sing your praises. We give thanks for being together here on this Lord's Day morning, this resurrection morning, this first day of the week.
And we remind ourselves that we are part of a great multitude of people who today, in different parts of the world, who may have already worshipped. But who will at this point and this time be raising up their adoration and praise to the living God.
We thank you for that. And we pray that we would remind ourselves that we are indeed not just a very small number of believers, but we are part of a worldwide communion of saints, of the growing, ever growing kingdom of God.
And we pray. We pray for the encouragement to remember that. But also we pray for this congregation of your people here in North Harris. We pray for their leadership. We pray that you give them wisdom and grace and humility and insight and passion for Jesus.
We pray for every Christian in the congregation. And we thank you for them. We pray that you blend their gifts together, that they would encourage and love one another. That as a people, they would be a strong and powerful witness in this community.
And that they would, people would see, see how they love one another. We pray for all those who are connected with the church here, the congregation who come faithfully and regularly, who sit under the word of God, who maybe are not yet those who have committed their lives to Christ.
We pray for them. We thank you for them. We love them. And we ask that you would open their hearts and their eyes, that they would hear your voice and obey your command to repent and to follow Jesus and to give their hearts and lives.
And we thank you for your open arms, the open arms of Christ and the cross, the open arms of the resurrected Savior, the open arms of the ascended King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We thank you for your presence here today.
And we do ask that you would revive us, revive our hearts. We know that Christianity is a low ebb on our islands and on the mainland in Scotland.
We do pray for an outpouring of your spirit. We pray for people who come to know Jesus. We pray for the lost of our country. We pray for those who are broken, who are blind, who are leading one another blind, leading the blind.
And we pray for them. We pray for our leaders. We pray for those in authority. We pray for those in education, in schools and in universities. And we pray against the ideologies that are so damaging and so destructive of the family, of individuals, of people, as they reject Jesus and reject the gospel.
We pray for people to cry out for hope and for salvation. We pray that people would reach out and say, Lord, what must I do to be saved? We pray for that today.
We pray for it in our nation. We pray that we would be ready as churches to welcome many, many people. We know there will be a cost to that. We know it will be sacrificial. We know we will be discipling people from just very early stages who maybe know nothing about the gospel.
But we pray we would love them and that we would disciple them and pray for them and encourage them and pick them up when they fall. And that there would be an honesty and an openness about our relationship with Jesus.
That they might see and be, that we might be an example to them. So help us, Lord, we pray. Hear our prayers. Govern and guide and protect us in our worship today, we ask.
And that all that we do would be in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Okay, I'm going to speak to the children. Do the children want to come forward here just for a minute or two before we go to your Sunday school?
A good squad. How are you all this morning? You're all fine? Good. Oh. Great. Good to see you.
I should really sit down as well, shouldn't I? I think I will. Is that better? That's better. Okay. I'm just going to tell you a little story. On Friday night I was here in church and I told the people in church here who are here on Friday about a program that I used to watch on a Saturday morning.
A children's program. And it was, do you know how many years ago it was? 50 years ago I started watching it. How old do you think I was 50 years ago?
10. Pretty good guess. Yeah, I was actually 12. Is anyone here 12? You're 12, are you? No? Not quite.
Okay. Well, I was 12 years old. Now the program was called Swap Shop. The children swapped things that they maybe didn't want anymore and they asked for something they wanted and someone would maybe phone in and give them what they wanted.
It was a great program. I loved it. But can you imagine if someone one day, a little boy one day decided he was going to swap something.
And what was he going to swap? He was going to swap the only set of clothes he had. And they were rags. They were dirty, smelly, ripped, the mud on them.
They were just horrible clothes. It's only clothes he had. And he decided, I'm going to swap them. But no one, no one would want them, would they? No.
No one would want these clothes, dirty, smelly clothes. But a little boy phoned in. And he was from a very rich family. And he said, I'll give you a brand new set of clothes.
A whole new shirt and trousers and shorts and shoes. In fact, he said, I'll give you my whole wardrobe. And I'll take your dirty clothes instead. Do you think that would ever happen?
No. No one would ever do that, would they? Why would you take a dirty old set of rags and then swap them for all the good, beautiful new designer clothes that he had? Well, you know what?
That's just a story. But actually, Jesus, he takes all the bad and dirty and wrong things inside us that we think and sometimes that we then go on and do in our lives.
And he promises to take them away and be punished for them on the cross. That's what we're going to talk about today and watch when we're doing the communion. And he takes all that and pays the price for it on the cross and is punished in our place.
But you know what he does? He doesn't just do that. He gives us his goodness. So that inside that we are covered in his goodness. And that we can be friends with God the Father because we have Jesus' perfect goodness inside us.
And that takes away all the barriers between us and God. So that's a great swap, isn't it? He takes all our bad things. We get all his goodness when we trust in Jesus.
And I hope you all will trust in Jesus. Will you all trust in Jesus? Will you love Jesus? And will you follow Jesus? That's good. That's what you'll learn about today in Sunday School. Will I say a prayer before you go?
Okay. Jesus, we thank you for who you are. And we thank you for the amazing thing you've done. You've taken all the bad things inside us, the bad thoughts, the bad attitudes we have.
And sometimes then the bad things we do. You've taken that and you've paid the price for it. You've taken the punishment that's due to us. And you give us your perfect goodness. The fact that you've never been bad inside.
And you never did anything wrong. And you give us that and our inside, our hearts are covered in that goodness. And we can be friends with God our Father and become his children in a real and important way.
So bless the children today. Thank you for them. Give them a great time in Sunday School. May they learn more and more about Jesus and all be followers of Jesus. And may their lives be different completely because they follow Jesus.
All for good we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. I hope you have a great time in Sunday School. I think you'll go out during the singing of this song. Okay? Well done.
Sorry for everyone at the back for turning my backs on you. It wasn't deliberate. Well, it was. I hope you could hear it anyway. So we're going to sing now a psalm in Gaelic.
Psalm 51. It's a great psalm. And a psalm which reminds us of the goodness of God. I'll read the first verse in English.
It's Psalm 51. And we're singing the first two stanzas. After thy loving kindness, Lord, have mercy upon me. For thy compassion's great blot out all mine iniquity.
Me cleanse from sin and throughly wash from mine iniquity. For my transgressions I confess my sin I ever see. To God's praise. To God's praise.
Oopan Dittra Yon Thank you.
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It's all about Jesus Christ.
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In verse 18.
Thank you.
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So, through him, and you,搶est P fight between good and evil. Not so. Not so. Christ is supreme. Christ is sovereign. Christ is authoritative over all that happens. Evil is under his dominance and his control and is defeated by him and is still, with all the mystery and all the confusion and all the difficulty that comes from that, it's not pointless, it's not random, and it's not victorious. He has his purposes, and we entrust ourselves to him through that. All things were created by him, and in him, we're told, all things hold together. In verse 17, he's before all things, and in him, all things hold together. You are here today because he's holding you together so to be here.
A remarkable reality. He's not this God that you sometimes see on debates about who he is and what he is. He's like the people who say, oh, he's just like a clockmaker who set the world in motion, wound it up, and just lets it unwind in its own way. It's not that idea that God has created the world and then is letting it go to a rack and ruin it. Get on with it, he says. Literally, he enables you to be here today.
He empowers you to be here today, and it's significant that you are. He wants you to be here today. He wants you to know about him and hear about him and respond to him because all things are created by him, through him, through him, and for him, and by him all things hold together. So, science, and I know nothing about science, but I suspect that something like all things are held together by gravity.
The world seems to be, oh, people will put me right on that. But beyond the science of what keeps this world together, as it were, doesn't just make it explode or collapse, is the divine power of Jesus Christ that holds it all together. Every atom is held by divine gravity, by divine will, by a person who cares about this world and who is bringing this world to his conclusion with Christ Jesus crucified and resurrected and resurrected and ascended right at the center of that with all the beauty, simplicity, so that children can understand it. And yet all the complexity and mystery that cause it makes us have to trust him because it's so majestic and so glorious we can't fully understand it all.
But the claim of God's Word today for all of us here is that you are alive. You're here. Your heart is beating because God is holding you, holding you together. And all the people who have no thought for God, no interest in God, spend their lives damning God and ignoring God and rejecting God, He holds them together. He holds them together, gives them life in His compassion and in His patience and in His justice and grace. It does, I hope, give us pause for thought when we think about our lives, you know.
And when we reject that by our life or by our unbelief or by our lack of faith, what do we replace it with? What is the governing power behind the universe? There will be none, will there? It's just we're lonely, isolated, miserable beings in a world that has no purpose, no direction, no meaning, no hope, no future. And we live and we live and we grow old and we die. Is that it? Is that what it's all about?
As you get older, you think about that more. This place is full of young people as well. You might think, ah, we can think about that. When I get as old as that guy in preaching, I'll maybe think about it then. But I want to live first. I want to live. Who gives you that breath? Who gives you that gift of life? Who gives you the reality that you can come here and meet with Him and acknowledge not just Him as the one who is sovereign over creation, but as we'll go on to see, He is supreme over death and all that that means. So He's supreme over all creation, which is great, which is important, and which is interesting, maybe you think, or not. Maybe you don't think that is interesting. But surely all of us take note and would sit up when the claim is that He is also supreme over death.
Supreme over death. Verse 80, He is the head, the body of the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. The same Middle Eastern joiner, sovereign and supreme, not just over life, but also over death and over all the darkness and misery and fear and sadness and tears that death brings into this life that none of us want and none of us care care to embrace as we think about it. And it's the same sovereign Jesus who we sometimes say He doesn't understand. He doesn't know. He doesn't know what it's like to live with this shadow of death and with this darkness and with the brokenness that death brings into life. He doesn't know my loss, my pain, my ordinariness, but He does. He lived 30 years in complete anonymity, emptying Himself of His glory so that He could be the one who would appreciate and understand and taste and experience and be tempted and go to that place where He becomes sin for us on the cross. So, what does something 2,000 and however many years have to do with you or me? Well, everything. Because as believers, our death has been dealt with then. He's victorious over it. So, if I go tomorrow, if I go 10 years from now, or if I get senile or get dementia, these are all terrible things. But I know that I'll rise. I know that death is not the end.
I know that He comes with me. I know not because of anything in me. Oh, whatsoever not. But because of His victory, what He has done, what He has achieved, and what He promises to all those who put their trust in Him. He is the head, therefore, of the church that we profess to belong to and that we love with all our hearts. He's the beginning of it. He's the source of it. He is the supreme head of the church. That's the historical basis on which the free church was formed. That He is the alone head of the church and that's what we believe. And He is the head of every Christian. We are all part of the body of Christ. We are all part of His church. But He is the one who has authority over our lives. No man, no person. Christ has the authority over our lives and we are in it together. We are bound together by His love and by His grace and by the resurrection life that, as I said to the children, gives us the goodness that we can't display, we can't have that would make us right with God. We get, I said in simple terms for the children, the Bible would say we receive His righteousness. He becomes sin for us so that we can know the righteousness of God. Isn't that incredible? We become the one who are participants in this Christ, who is supreme over all things, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Ordinary Joe Bloggs like us can know this amazing reality in our lives because He is the head of the church for all who put their trust in Him.
And through Him, He says that we are reconciled to Himself. In verse 20, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross. And we'll remember, we'll symbolize that in the participation in the Lord's Supper. It is His blood, it is His body, it's His life that we remember and we recognize as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. And that alone enables us to be reconciled to God. That's not a hard message. It's a simple message, but it's a hugely humbling message. And we'll see a little bit more about that tonight when we try and add to what Jesus has done for us. But He's the one who takes our alienation and our hostility to God. Verse 21, once you who are alienated and hostile in mind,
He is now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death on the cross. That's a hard truth, isn't it? That actually, without Christ, we are alienated and hostile.
Maybe not outwardly. We may be the nicest, best, charitable, warmest individuals with each other.
But He says that in our hearts, there's a self-centered alienation and hostility towards this free gift, which says it's all been accomplished on your behalf by Him. Our death, which we all die, and our hell, which we all face is dealt with by Jesus Christ. And He promises in His outstanding love to redeem us and to not leave us or forsake us, to forgive us and to give us life and life to the full.
So, I'll finish with this. Verse 23, that we are called to remain grounded and steadfast in the truth.
If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to all creation under heaven, which I, Paul, becomes a minister. So, this young church was being, he pleads with them to remain faithful to the significance and the truth of Jesus Christ and the faith in Him.
And strengthened, as we're told earlier on in verse 11, strengthened with His power and with His glorious might. And you know what an interesting thing about that is? We think about the glorious might of God, don't we?
The glorious power of Jesus, the one who holds and everything is held by Him in creation and in salvation. That's incredible power. That's incredible strength. And what does Paul say that that incredible power and strength is used to do in our lives?
In verse 11, he says, it'll help us, what? To climb mountains? To soar in wings like eagles? Well, not primarily. It's to endure. And it's to be patient with joy. They're very ordinary things, aren't they? To endure and to be patient with joy.
Yet it takes the divine power of the risen Savior with all that strength and with all that power and with all His glorious might to help us endure.
We can endure it in our own strength. And we certainly can be joyful in our own strength with patience when things are difficult. Because that's the inference, isn't it? That the Christian life's a battle.
That it's not all just a walk in the park. It's a battle. It's a struggle. We struggle against our own sinful nature. We struggle remaining sinful nature. We struggle against unbelief. We struggle with doubt. We struggle with temptation. We struggle with circumstances.
It's a battle. But, he says, this divine power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to enable us to endure with great patience and with joy.
And that's what we hope to do. And that's what we hope to do. And to be nothing is more significant than Jesus Christ. And just as a lamp beside the bed will not give any light if it's not plugged into the source.
So, you and I will not have any light or any power or any grace or any hope if we are not plugged into Jesus Christ. It's not simply about intellectual knowledge. It's not about theological understanding.
It's about a relationship with Jesus Christ. Being plugged into a relationship with Jesus Christ. It's about having that personal walk with Him.
Which will be symbolized by the participation we take in the Lord's Supper. He promises never to leave you or forsake you. To walk with you through the battles and to bless you with goodness and welcome you into a new existence where death is defeated.
And where, actually, it says that all things will be reconciled to Him. And that's a very powerful, but actually a very solemnizing statement.
Because all things are not reconciled to Him at the moment. But there will be a day when even those who have rejected Him in this life will one day recognize that they have rejected the one who only could be their Savior.
And they will recognize His justice and their desperate fate of being outside of that great feast. It will be just and fair. There will be no longer hostility or rebellion.
Only a sad and desperate recognition that He was right. And He was good all along.
So the call is always to faith in Jesus Christ. Continue in the faith. Stable and steadfast. Come to faith. Repent and believe.
Know His peace. Be reconciled. The barrier has been broken by the holy, faultless Son of God. And peace and forgiveness is in Him.
For all who reach out to Him. Today or whenever you come to Jesus Christ. But what better day than today to come to Jesus Christ.
Let's pray. Father God, help us to know You. To love You. Forgive anything that has been said that has been unclear or has maybe put people thinking and walking down the wrong direction or down a rabbit hole of distracted thought.
We pray that Your Spirit would take Your word. We thank You for it. And we thank You that You promise that it will not return to You void. So help us, guide us, protect us, and keep us as we now celebrate together at the Lord's Supper.
We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I'm going to read a very brief passage before we sing together.
from Luke. Chapter 22.
From verse 14. Where the institution of the Lord's Supper happens. And Jesus said to them in verse 15, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
For I tell you, I will not eat of it again until it's fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And He took a cup. And when He had given thanks, He said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.
And He took bread. When He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup is poured out for you as the new covenant in my blood.
But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me at the table. The Son of God goes as it has been determined, but woe to him by whom it is betrayed. We began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.
So we recognize that the Lord's Supper was instituted as a follow-on from the Passover. And we know that the Passover was an Old Testament shadowy and symbolic pointing towards Jesus Christ with the blood on the lintel, the angel of death passing over.
And so the Lord's table is for all those who recognize that, who recognize the power of the blood of Jesus, who have come to Jesus Christ and are covered in the blood of Jesus Christ, for whom the angel of death has passed over, because the angel of death was focused on Jesus Christ, our Savior, and He took the death that we deserve.
So it is the Lord's table, and it is for all those who love the Lord Jesus and who have put their faith and trust in Him. Sometimes we have a great kind of mystery about the Lord's table and we make it something almost like a next stage up for believers.
It's for broken people who have come to Jesus Christ. It's for every believer. There's no gradation. There's no special people who come to the Lord's table. It's for those who have given their hearts and lives to Jesus Christ.
And the invitation is for all who trust in Jesus to participate in the Lord's Supper and to love Him and to believe in Him. And if you're unable to be in that place, I think it's a wonderful, wonderful thing that you're here.
I think it's a great thing that you come to worship. I want you, I would love you to just examine your motives in your heart and think about the amazing person of Jesus Christ who knows you better than anyone else knows you and who knows your needs, knows what is true of your need before Him and that you would consider taking Him as your Lord.
And see, even as you watch today, that it would be kind of a spiritual thing for you to watch and to consider what your next step will be in faith. So we're going to sing a psalm, Psalm 116, from the traditional version of the psalm.
And we're going to sing verses 13 to 19 of Psalm 116. And if there's anyone who's not yet at the table, which is the middle two sections here, I'm sure you'll come during the singing of this psalm.
Psalm 116. Oh, sorry, I've looked up the wrong version. They're great words from verse 13 to verse 19.
I love salvation, take the cup, on God's name will I call. I'll pay my vows now to the Lord before His people. Psalm 116, from verse 13, to God's praise.
I love salvation, take the cup, on God's name will I call.
I'll pay my vows now to the Lord before His people.
Here in your sight is His saints here, Thy servant, Lord, am I.
Thy servant's true, Thy hand made sun, My hands thou didst untie.
And God brings I to thee will give, And God's name will I call.
I'll pay my vows now to the Lord before His people.
Within the courts of God's own house, Within the midst of thee, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, O city of Jerusalem, lip.
lip. lip. It's a very personal thing and I think God has designed it that way.
It's a meal. So it's very personal because nobody else can eat for you. You know, you can get no nourishment from your neighbour eating a meal.
We only get nourishment when we eat physically at a meal together. And there's an important reality for that in us spiritually. That this is spiritual nourishment.
It's a sacrament. It's a symbol. It's a sign. But we believe as we consider the Saviour, as we consider who He is and we examine our own hearts and we deal with issues that maybe separate us from Him, that there's real nourishment for us as we participate.
Because we're saying, He's mine. He's my Saviour. Not just a general Saviour. He's my Saviour. I've committed and entrusted my hope and my heart to Him.
It's not a generic thing. So it's very personal. But it's not, it's personal, but it's not individualistic. We live in a very individualistic age. Everyone does everything on their own.
And people eat on their own all the time. They eat in front of the television. They eat on the go. They eat just without recognizing the value of fellowship in eating.
And we're called not to participate in the Lord's Supper individually in our homes or as we go along the road on our own. We do it together. Because it's one of the greatest joys of life, isn't it?
A meal together with people who love you and who are loved. And the feasting that is so much part of life, so much part of Jesus' ministry. And we're called to do it together because it's also a sign of our unity.
It's one body. It's one blood that's shed. There's not multiple saviors. You don't have your own personal Jesus in the sense of having someone that you've made up who's a suitable saviour for you.
There's only one saviour. And there's only one shed blood. And there's only one broken body. There's only one cross. And so we're all bound together in that. We become, once we were not a people, now we are a people.
And that's why it tells us that we come together. And there shouldn't be division. And there shouldn't be separation. And there shouldn't be judgmental spirit. And there shouldn't be cliques and groups in God's church and God's people.
We battle against that. We fight against that. And the Lord's Supper is part of that. Putting right what sometimes comes into our own hearts and is wrong. So we remember and we participate.
And we give thanks. We spoke about giving thanks last night. And how amiss it would be for us not to give thanks this morning. So let's bow our heads and give thanks for this spiritual meal. Father God, we ask and pray that you would bless these elements that have been set apart for the sacrament, the bread and the wine.
We pray that as the bread and the wine are passed over to each person and participated in, that it would not physically nourish necessarily, but that it would point to the nourishment we get as we consider and renew our vows and remind ourselves of who Jesus is.
And as we pass these things and sit together in unity. It is one wine, one wine, one bread, symbolizing that it is in Christ that we trust.
It's in Christ's finished work. And we thank you that the angel of death has passed over all who have put their trust in what Jesus has already accomplished.
The victory has already been won. And we pray that it would be a blessing to us all. And for those also who watch today, we pray your spirit, your grace, your compassion, your love, your voice would gently whisper to them, this is the way.
Walk in it. So, Lord, we thank you for these things. And we pray that you would bless the supper to us at this time. In Jesus' name. Amen. The bread on the outside is gluten-free bread for those who need that.
And we do remember on the night our Lord was betrayed that he took bread and after he had given thanks, as we've done, he broke it and said, this is my body, this is my body, which is for you.
And the same way after supper, he took the cup and said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Often as you drink it, you do so in remembrance of me. But as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Father God, we give thanks for the peace and quiet of these few moments together.
There are very few moments in life these days when we are able to enjoy peace and quiet without some kind of interference or noise or some distraction.
And so, Lord, we thank you for the few moments when we can focus in this way together in the beauty of silence. We remember heaven itself was silenced in that remarkable passage in Revelation for half an hour.
As they considered the plight of humanity and the only answer there could be. The great wrath of God was dealt with through the Passover lamb, the Lion of Judah.
So, Lord, we thank you for who you are. Thank you for this time together. And we pray your blessing on us as we return praise and glory to you. Amen.
Just before we do, can I finish this with our reading? It's an anonymous reading and it's quite famous.
You probably have heard at least bits of it before, but I think it helps us just to think about Jesus once more. More than 2000 years ago, there was a man born contrary to the laws of nature.
He laid aside his purple robe for a poor man's tunic. He was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. This man lived in poverty and was raised in obscurity. He received no formal education and never possessed wealth or widespread influence.
He never travelled extensively. He seldom crossed the boundary of the country in which he lived. But this man's life has changed the course of history. In infancy he startled a king.
In childhood he amazed religious scholars. In manhood he ruled the course of nature, walked on stormy waves and hushed the raging sea to sleep. He healed multitudes without medicine and made no charge for his services.
He never practiced psychiatry, yet has healed more broken hearts than all of the doctors far and near. He never wrote a book, yet his life has inspired more books than any other man.
He never wrote a song, yet he has furnished the theme for more songs than all songwriters combined. He never founded a college, but all the schools put together cannot boast of having as many students.
He never marshaled an army, he never drafted a soldier or fired a gun. Yet no leader has ever had more rebels surrender to him without a shot fired. Herod could not kill him, Satan could not seduce him, his enemies could not destroy him.
The grave could not hold him. After three days he rose from the dead alive forevermore. Each week, multitudes, congregations and churches to pay homage and praise to him.
The names of the past proud statesmen of Greece and Rome have come and gone. The names of past scientists, philosophers and theologians have come and gone. But the name of this man multiplies more and more.
He still lives. He is the ever perfect one. He is the Christ, the son of the living God. This man stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, proclaimed by God, acknowledged by angels, adored by his people and feared by demons as the risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We're going to close by singing in Christ alone, which has really been the focus of our thoughts and our worship today.
This man stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, his enemies could not destroy him.
Christ alone, my hope is firm. He is my light, my strength, my song. This glorious stone, this solid ground, earth into the fiercest breath and storm.
All times of love, all days of peace, when fears are still, when strides cease. My comfort, my all in all, healing the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone, who took on flesh, full is the world in hell, let's bring this gift of the Lord.
This gift of love, my righteousness, storm by the ones he gave to sin. Till on my cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.
For every sin of him was laid, here in the death of Christ I do. In the ground his body lay, the light of the world by darkness slain.
In bursting forth in glorious day, up from the gritty loads again. And as he stands in victory, since Christ has lost his grip on me.
For I am this and he is mine, off with the precious blood of Christ. The whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the whole life, the That ever God before His hand He returns or calls me home Here in the power of Christ I stand Grow in the grace and love of the Lord Jesus Christ
Our Lord and Saviour To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity And all God's people say Amen