12.2.23 am

[0:00] Good morning, a warm welcome to the service this morning. Good to see a few visitors with us again, and you're especially welcome. If you can stay behind for tea and coffee at the end, please do so.

[0:15] The intimations just you've seen on the screen before the service. I'm not going to go through all the intimations. There's various things that are happening every week, and you can just take note of these and pray for these.

[0:26] But if you could note in particular, the evening service tonight is at 6 usual time. It's taken by the Rev. Thomas Davis, who is from Carloway.

[0:39] Thomas has just written a book recently about evangelism, about how we speak to people about Jesus. And so he's going to preach on that subject, and then afterwards we'll have a fellowship, and Thomas will speak to us, and maybe we'll have a discussion just about how we can, how we can as Christians try to tell people the good news about Jesus.

[1:04] I don't find it easy in conversation, and I don't think any of us really find it very easy. So I think we need all the help that we can get. And if you come along this evening, then we'll be thankful to get some help and some guidance.

[1:19] Tomorrow, there is a community lunch. Normally it would happen a wee bit later, and it probably will still happen in a couple of weeks' time, but this was not my idea.

[1:32] It's a great idea. But we've seen all the pictures on the TV of the suffering in Turkey and in Syria following the earthquake. And Tini and Anna, Morris and Anna Pesh, they asked if they could use the church here to have a community lunch to raise some funds for that appeal.

[1:53] So that's tomorrow, Monday 13th February tomorrow, and that's from 11 o'clock till 2.30pm. There's a wee poster there.

[2:05] And the soup, sandwiches, home baking, just the usual kind of thing. If you can make any home baking or soup or sandwiches, then speak to Tini.

[2:15] I think they would still be happy to receive some things. And if you want to help out as well, then again, speak to Tini, and she can guide you on that.

[2:29] So that's tomorrow, 11 till 2.30pm. Be encouraged to come to that if you're able to. The Kirk session meets tomorrow night at 6. Please note that, elders. The other things I want to highlight are on Thursday this week, we're going to have the beginning of a course called Hope Explored.

[2:51] You remember Christianity Explored, which we've done in the past, and Discipleship Explored. Hope Explored is, haven't done it before, but it's a three-week course just on the simple truths of the gospel message.

[3:07] And it's on Thursday, for the next three Thursdays, half past seven. So be encouraged to come. It's one of these things as well where it's maybe easy to ask people to come to that kind of a course.

[3:20] There'll be videos, there'll be a discussion, and there'll be Bible passages that we're looking at and working through. Very informal and relaxed. So please pray for that.

[3:34] Please come to it, and please invite people to that course. That's half past seven Thursday for the next three weeks. And the final thing to highlight is just a date for the diary.

[3:46] Saturday 25th of February, which I think is a week on Saturday, just before the communion, as we've done in the past. We're hoping to tidy up around the outside of the church and inside the church.

[3:58] So if you're able to help, you can see there that there's opportunity to help and to serve in that way. And I think these are all the notices.

[4:10] Other than just to say that this morning, we've got a friend, a familiar friend with us, Donnie McLeod, Donnie Faith Mission. And Donnie is going to lead the service this morning.

[4:24] It's the last service that he'll lead in his capacity as the faith mission worker. So in a sense, it's kind of farewell to Donnie from that particular ministry.

[4:37] But we're not really saying farewell because I've already got him in the diary to come back and preach here in April. So we'll see him soon. But I think on behalf of the congregation, I just want to say thank you to Donnie and for all the work that he's organized and taken part in and work with others over.

[4:58] We've seen a great impact for the gospel through the faith mission over the... I don't know where to stand here. Over the last few years, both in terms of those who don't know the gospel who have responded.

[5:17] And also at times when it's been somewhat tense between different Christians, the tent has been a great place and a place of real blessing where we've been able to come together and to worship God together.

[5:32] So just on behalf of the congregation, thank you for all that you have done and all that you will continue to do. Christians never get to retire. You just get different seasons of work.

[5:45] And so I'm going to pray for you, Donnie, just before you come and take the rest of the service. And if you're wondering why I run out the door, it's not because I don't want to listen to Donnie. I do, but I've been asked to go and preach it in Grava at short notice.

[5:58] So I'm going to say pray and then I'm going to head off after that. So let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this, your day.

[6:09] We thank you for the blessing of being able to come together as your people. And we thank you for those that you equip and gift to be able to lead us in worship.

[6:20] We thank you for Donnie and for all that you have done in him and through him over the years here. We thank you, Lord, for the many blessings that we have experienced and that we still benefit from.

[6:33] As we think back on the tent, as we think back on meetings where we saw the tent filled and many people coming along who wouldn't normally come to church buildings.

[6:44] We thank you that we've seen the gospel at work and for the blessing of coming together as brothers and sisters united in the gospel, all one in Christ Jesus.

[6:55] We thank you, Lord, for the way that you have used Donnie to encourage that. So we pray, Lord, that you would bless him and Catherine as Donnie retires from this particular job.

[7:07] We know that he will be industrious still in the work of the kingdom, serving you. But we pray that he may know rest and refreshment and that he would know that sense of your guiding and your leading as he continues to serve you in whatever capacity that may be.

[7:24] We pray for Jeff as well as Donnie hands over to him. We ask, Lord, that you would bless him and that you would use him in this part of your vineyard and in many other places.

[7:35] We ask, Lord, that through the faith mission and through Jeff in particular that we would see the gospel continuing to progress. So lead us and guide us, we pray, in this hour of worship.

[7:49] Bless Donnie and enable him to know that sense of your presence, that freedom of speech and thought that comes from when the Holy Spirit is at work. So be at work, Lord, amongst us, we pray.

[8:02] Cleanse us from our sin. Empty us of self. Fill us with the Holy Spirit. And may Christ Jesus be lifted up and all of us be drawn to him. And we ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake.

[8:15] Amen. Thank you, Donnie. I'll hand over to you now. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you very much, indeed, David, for your kind welcome.

[8:34] And I suppose I wanted to do a little round of meetings to visit a number of churches. I'll not be able to get them around them all who have been so kind and who have supported us in the work of the mission over the past 17 and a half years we've been in the Highland District.

[8:55] And the support from David and yourselves, we have deeply appreciated that. And I want to have an opportunity to say thank you, a sincere, heartfelt thank you to you for the way you have supported and for the way you have prayed for us and showed us such kindness.

[9:14] And a man at the door said to me as I was coming in, welcome home. It always feels a bit like that when we come to Tarbert and I've appreciated it so very, very much.

[9:27] So let's come and worship God. Singing, first of all, from Psalm 145. 145 verses 1 to 7. Let's stand and worship God as we praise him together.

[9:38] of the Expo, my Lord, O King, I'll bless thy name always.

[9:56] He will I bless each day and will thy name forever praise.

[10:11] Great is the Lord God to be praised, His grace that search and sees.

[10:26] Praise unto race, shall praise thy works, and show thy mighty deeds.

[10:42] I of thy glorious majesty the honor will record.

[10:56] I'll speak of all thy mighty works, which wondrous heart, O Lord.

[11:13] Men of thine acts, the might shall show, thy acts a dreadful arm, and thy thy glory to advance thy greatness will declare the memory of thy goodness great they largely shall express.

[11:59] With songs of praise they shall extol thy perfect righteousness.

[12:14] God blesses. Sorry, probably I caused some confusion with that, so I apologize.

[12:29] Let's come together in prayer. Lord, we do indeed thank you for all your goodness to us. We thank you that we can come and sing your praises. We thank you that you are worthy of all worship and of all praise.

[12:43] And we want to praise you from our hearts because we have so much to praise you for. Thank you for your provision towards us, for being able to come here today in the warmth of this building together.

[12:59] We thank you for the food that we enjoy, the tables that are so often spread before us. We thank you for the clothes that we have, our homes.

[13:11] Thank you for friendship and fellowship together. Thank you for the air that we breathe. We know that every breath that we draw, you give it to us. We take so much for granted, but yet we thank you that you are the giver of every good and of every perfect gift.

[13:31] We thank you for the young people here today and for the work in the Sunday school. and we pray that together as a congregation of your people we would grow in grace and in the knowledge of God to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to follow him.

[13:51] Lord, help us to do that day by day and help us to know your presence near us. We gather this day that we would know your help. We can't do this of ourselves.

[14:03] we need the help of the Holy Spirit. We pray, Lord, for the one that comes alongside to help us that we would know much of your presence.

[14:18] We would know much of God alongside us by your Spirit. Lord, we thank you again and we praise you. Undertake for David as he travels up to Graver as he takes the service up there.

[14:32] We pray that he too would know your protection. That he would know your help. That together we would give praise and glory and honour to you. Help us and cleanse us afresh from sin.

[14:47] We spread out this time of worship to you. Pray that you would have your way that your will would be done. As we give thanks in Jesus' name.

[14:58] Amen. I was reflecting back when I was much, much younger than I am now when I was at school.

[15:10] Our school holidays, our summer holidays, we used to go up to we had an uncle who lived up in Diabeg on Westeros. I'm sure many of you will know where that is.

[15:23] Shieldig, Torridon up that direction. And they had a fishing boat himself. He was our uncle William and his father-in-law who we knew as Mr MacDonald.

[15:35] They would have gone out fishing for crabs and lobsters setting out creels and during the summer holidays we would have gone up there and we would have got to go out in the boat most days unless it was too stormy then they wouldn't take us out.

[15:50] And we used to sit up on the bow when we were younger and just observe what was happening. One day as I was thinking about this I remembered an incident that happened sometimes it was an old engine well it looked just like an old engine to me and sometimes the engine would just conk out and they would have a little bit of a job to get it started but they would always manage to get it started doing various things and cranking away at the handle and it would start chugging away again and it never happened that often but it did happen from time to time.

[16:26] But this day they were either setting or hauling lobster pots and often that was closer to the shore and we were reasonably close to the shoreline where there was quite a lot of rocks and all and did the engine not cut out and it was a bit of a the wind was blowing a bit and I could see this boat drifting in getting closer to the rocks and then after the two of them spent some time trying to get the engine going then my uncle he had a set of oars on the side of the boat so he got the oars out and he got onto the seat and he started rowing for all his he wasn't going anywhere but he was just keeping the boat away from going onto the rocks and I'm sitting there and just watching all this and as I was thinking about that you know obviously they knew what they were doing and we were quite safe but there's a little verse in

[17:30] Timothy that talks about holding faith and a good conscience and by rejecting by discarding by throwing this away some have made shipwreck of their faith I'm sitting on that boat thinking I hope my uncle is just strong enough and he can keep rowing this boat for long enough to keep us off the rocks and at the same time I'm thinking I hope Mr.

[17:58] MacDonald gets this engine going before too long because of course the way the sea was we were bobbing up and down and getting blown in towards the rocks we wouldn't have lasted very long there but you know when we're trusting in Jesus we don't have to concern ourselves is he going to be strong enough to keep us safe or like the engine conking out no one but we trust in Jesus we're trusting in the one who is the solid rock who will keep us safe and who one day will take us on to perfection in the glory and the splendor of heaven where God is and so we need to be careful that you know we have this wonderful book the Bible don't we

[19:02] God's precious word we don't want to be like some just to discard this glorious truth because people have done that and they've made shipwreck of their what they know to be right and true to make shipwreck of it because they've discarded it they've rejected it they've ignored it friends we don't want to do that do we we want to embrace it we want to trust in the one that can keep us safe and that can guide us safely on oh right through life to one day to a life that is far better to be spent with him make sure you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ we're going to sing again the hymn hear his love vast as the ocean he is love vast as the ocean loving kindness as the flood when the prince of life are ransomed shed for us this precious blood who his love will not remember who can cease to sing his praise he can never be forgotten throughout heaven's eternal days on the mount of crucifixion fountains open deep and wide through the flood gates of

[21:11] God's mercy flown a vast and gracious tide grace and love like mighty rivers born incessant from above and there's peace and perfect justice kiss the guilty world in love love he舍 what if we can turn to Psalm 145. Please, Psalm 145, and we'll read the whole psalm. Psalm 145.

[22:20] I will exalt you, my God and King. I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. His greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another.

[22:45] They will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness, and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all he has compassion on, all he has made.

[23:23] All you have made will praise you, O Lord. Your saints will extol you. They will tell of the glory of your kingdom, and speak of your might, so that all men may know of your mighty acts, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all his promises, and loving towards all he has made. The Lord upholds all those who fall, and lifts up all who are bowed down.

[24:07] The eyes of the Lord look to you, and to you give them their food, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and loving towards all he has made. The Lord is near to all who call on him, and to all who call on him in truth.

[24:37] He fulfills the desires of those who fear him. He hears their cry and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name forever and ever. Amen. And may God bless to us this reading of his own holy word. Let's again unite in prayer.

[25:12] Lord, we thank you for your word. Lord, we thank you for your word. You have given it to us. We pray that we would be attentive to it. It's your word. It's your voice to us. And we praise you that your word is a living word. We ask that it would be alive in all of our lives and all of our hearts. That it would be our guide, and it would be that lamp to our feet, and it would be that light to our path.

[25:52] We thank you, Lord, for all that you mean to us. We thank you that you are a great God.

[26:02] Lord, you are high and holy. You are majestic and glorious. You are the Almighty One. And we come before you, and we ask that we would bow humbly in prayer and come with reverence and a sense of godly fear before you, O Lord. Help us to do that.

[26:24] And we want to remember others today in great need. And we think of the desperate situation in Syria and Turkey.

[26:39] And there's so many people who have lost their lives and such devastation. We can hardly take it in. Thank you, O Lord.

[27:17] Lord, we pray. Lord, we remember them and we lift them before you and pray for the aid to reach them for help, for medical supplies and all that they need.

[27:31] Lord, we pray in all of this that there would be a crying out to the living and the true God of heaven. We pray, O Lord, that many might be found calling out to you.

[27:42] You see, O Lord, that many might be found to you. You see, a word reminds us that the Lord is near to all who call to him, who call to him in truth. May there be a crying out to you, O God.

[27:56] And may your grace and mercy and help and comfort. May there be a prayer and help. We pray for your own people in these parts, too.

[28:09] That you would just uphold them and give them wisdom and help. There's no doubt they will seek to be ministering and helping and speaking into this situation your truth.

[28:23] Lord, may there be many hearts changed. May there be many brought from darkness to light. And we ask, O Lord, that you would come.

[28:35] Lord, it just reminds us of the shortness of time. It reminds us of the fact that we are like a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

[28:47] It reminds us of the time we're not promised tomorrow. It reminds us that we need to be ready. Be ye also ready, for ye know not the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will come.

[29:05] Lord, help us to be ready. And we pray, O Lord, for the work of the Gospel. Thank you for all who seek to proclaim your word this day.

[29:16] We pray for Ian McRitchie up in Tolstown, for the new ministry there with Donald. We thank you for the induction and thank you for the call that you have placed on his life to go and be their minister.

[29:31] And we pray that you would uphold him and keep him. May there be much blessing and may there be many inroads made with the truth in that area. And we pray, O Lord, for the services throughout the island, throughout our land.

[29:44] We pray for the highlands and islands of Scotland. That we would know a day of Gospel, truth and power going forward. That we would see yet much blessing and many people turning to yourself.

[29:59] Thank you for the work with young people. Bless the children in this Sunday school and in many Sunday schools. And for work with youth and young people. We pray that there might yet be a generation raised up and set apart for yourself.

[30:14] That would be just a great witness in this day that we live in. O Lord, we pray that you would raise up those who would be your witnesses.

[30:26] Raise up those, O Lord, who would be gone out with this glorious Gospel. Because the harvest is plentiful. But the labourers are so few. And so we pray earnestly, the Lord of the harvest, to send workers into the harvest field.

[30:40] Lord, we pray for any today who are not well. We ask that you would come to them and grant them peace and strength. And your grace and help in time of need.

[30:50] We pray for any who are just feeling the loneliness of loss. That they would know the comfort of the God of all comfort. Just so near to them day by day.

[31:04] O Lord, we thank you and praise you for all your goodness to us. And we ask that you would help us as we further sing and meditate upon your truth. And we ask it all in Jesus' name.

[31:15] Amen. Amen. So we're going to sing again this time. It's the hymn, I Hear Thy Welcome Voice. I hear thy welcome voice.

[31:47] I hear thy voice.

[32:17] I hear thy voice.

[32:47] I hear thy voice.

[33:17] I hear thy voice. I hear thy voice. I am coming Lord, coming down to thee Watch me, cleanse me in the blood that flowed on Calvary All hail atoning blood, all hail redeeming grace All hail the gift of Christ our Lord, our strength and righteousness I am coming Lord, coming down to thee Wash me, cleanse me in the blood that flowed on Calvary

[34:32] I would like to turn back, seeking God's help to the psalm that we read And particularly thinking of the words of verse 18 of Psalm 145 The Lord is near to all who call on him To all who call on him in truth Lord we are so aware that we need your help as we come to look at your word together And we ask that you would help us We pray that as we need help to speak, we need help to listen And so Lord we are cast upon you We want to understand and know what it means to call upon you To call upon you in truth Because your word reminds us that you are near to those who do this So we pray for your help In Jesus name, Amen We all have friends, we gravitate to, don't we?

[35:39] If you have the church meal and all the tables are set out And you go in and you have a wee look around to see Who you would like to sit beside And if there's a space there you would go and sit with that person Somebody you get on well with Somebody you can make conversation with easily And we all do it, don't we?

[36:01] And that is quite a natural thing Of course We should always make a special effort to speak to people Where we don't know Or if there are visitors Or if there are people on their own We must be conscious of including everyone I was coming across on the ferry Yesterday morning And sitting there I was trying to do a little bit of preparation And I just found myself looking around at one stage And just seeing lots of people People sitting together Chatting away, making conversation Just a thought came to me I wonder how many of the folks even on the ferry Had spoken to God That morning And How many would have known anything of the nearness of God?

[36:57] I was just thinking Like that Thinking how much do I know Of his nearness? How much do you know Of God's nearness?

[37:11] And that's really what I want to think about See the text tells us That the Lord is near To all who call on him To all who call on him in truth It seems Just like a simple thing, doesn't it?

[37:28] And yet we wonder Well why are we not sensing more Of the Lord's nearness In our lives Something that should be so much part Of our lives If we think about the one that That as Christians We love And we serve And the one who has Done so much for us He has done for us What we could never do for ourselves And We just long I'm sure Like me If you know the Lord Jesus Christ As your saviour Just long Like me Just to know more of him To know more of his nearness In our lives But this can also Become a reality For any as well Who don't know The Lord's nearness That you can Too You can call out to him And you can come to know That nearness So I want to think First of all Just about How us For those who don't know The Lord Jesus Christ As a saviour How this text Could be meaningful And how we could respond

[38:29] To a verse like this When we think of What we're missing out You know To go on through life Not knowing The nearness Of God We're missing out Desperately To go on Through life Like that There is a sense Of course That the Lord Is near to everyone Because The Lord Is everywhere And in that sense He is near In that way Like in Psalm 139 It says The psalm has said Where shall I go From your spirit Or where Shall I flee From your presence And that thought alone Should Should waken us up Shouldn't it He knows every thought In verse 2 Of the same psalm It says You know When I sit down And when I rise up You discern my thoughts From afar So in that sense The fact that the Lord Is everywhere He's omnipresent

[39:30] He is near In that way But For anyone Who doesn't know The Lord Then He is not near And you say Well How can you say that I can say it Because the Bible Tells us that Because in Isaiah 59 Verse 2 It says But your iniquities Have made a separation Between you And your God And your sins Have hidden His face From you So that He does not hear And that's That's tragic That we can go To go through life Not knowing His nearness The one who is able To set you Free from that The bondage of sin From the The darkness of sin The blindness That sin Brings to us And to go on Through life Like that

[40:30] Not knowing the one Who Can't come near to us You know It's tragic And we need to Realize this If you don't know Jesus Christ As your saviour The Lord is not near In this sense But he can be He can be Because in Romans 10 13 It says For everyone Who calls On the name Of the Lord Will be saved See the verse says The Lord is near To all Who call on him To all who call On him In truth And that's it I can't make you Do that Neither can your Minister Neither can anyone Else We can tell you The truth Knowing that it's The truth of God's Word that can Set you free Knowing that the Lord is near

[41:31] To all who call On him In truth I'm sure You know people That can spin A good yarn We've all come Across people Like that And they'll tell you A wonderful story And it'll sound Very convincing But at the end Of it you'll Probably think Well Maybe there was Some truth In there Somewhere But you just Don't know What to believe That's never The way With God's Word The Bible It's all Truth From beginning To end From Genesis To Revelation Jesus has Described us The truth Jesus said I tell you The truth But you don't Believe me See it's all Who call on him In truth There's nothing False There's no Pretense It's Straight Forward It's open To scrutiny It's truth With

[42:31] No fault Whatsoever My friend This is how You need to Come If you have Never come To Jesus Christ To call out To him In truth You need to Come like This And if you Don't know Jesus today It's because You've never Called out To him So that must Just first of all Just To be able to Call out to him We must call out To him For his saving Grace and power To come to our lives He says in verse 19 He fulfills the desire Of those who fear him And he hears their cry And saves them But what about For those who are The Lord's people Those of us Who do know The Lord Jesus Christ As saviour Can you go back To a time in your life When you called out To God To save you Oh it could have been

[43:32] Just at a particular time That you can go to It might have been Just something that Happened over a period Of time And you can't Pinpoint the actual Time when You actually came To know the Lord It doesn't matter But when you came To that realisation That you were trusting In the Lord Jesus Christ As your saviour Do you remember That first communion When you openly Professed your faith And you went forward And you took your place At the table Was he not near?

[44:07] That's what we need To ask ourselves Is he still near? Is he still near? Is he near today? Or have we lost something Of God's nearness?

[44:24] When we called out to him However we called Lord save me Lord have mercy upon me Lord come and forgive me When we called out to him When we know That time in our lives We had that Blessed assurance To know that Jesus is mine As the hymn says Oh what a foretaste Of glory divine Did we not sense The Lord near At that time?

[44:58] And it's just It's a childlike calling And little children They don't give up Asking when they're Wanting something They keep at you Don't they?

[45:10] They don't just ask And walk away But they'll get your attention Some way They'll tug at your clothes They'll just keep asking You know it's that Kind of asking And it was a call From a helpless sinner That we couldn't go Anywhere else There was no one else We could go to We had a need in our lives We had the conviction Of sin upon us The weight of sin And we couldn't do Anything about it No matter how hard We were trying But we had to call out To him And he answered And we sensed He was near Didn't we?

[45:48] No other to go to As the psalmist says In Psalm 34 This poor man cried And the Lord heard And saved him Out of all his troubles How wonderful that is But you know We can lose That childlike cry We can lose That childlike Dependence upon God And we must never Lose it Because it Because it must be A daily cry A daily call You know There'll be many voices Demanding out attention In this day That we live in Isn't there?

[46:23] There's more distractions Probably than ever There were Oh we've got so many Things coming at us We've got social media Just the busyness Of life Sometimes we can feel Like we're never Off duty There's phone calls There's messages There's emails There's Snapchat There's Instagram There's WhatsApp Groups There's so many things You know We need to work hard At living the Christian life Oh but you might say Well Is it not all of grace?

[46:55] Yes of course it is In Ephesians 2 8 we say For grace You have been saved Through faith And this is not Your own doing It is the gift of God Not a result of works So that no one May boast But we're also told And we must always Balance scripture With scripture Rather than just Pull out one part And say that's it But we're also told That we are his workmanship Were created in Christ Jesus for good works Which God prepared Before on That we should walk In them We're also told In 2 Peter To make Every effort To add to our faith Virtue And to virtue Knowledge And knowledge Self control And so on We're also told In Philippians To work out Your own salvation With fear And trembling For it is God Who works in you Both to will And to do For his good pleasure That what God Is working in

[47:55] We have to work out None of this Sounds like Just sitting back Does it? Doesn't sound Just like An easy run Through life As a Christian No But how do we do that?

[48:14] How do we manage To walk the life? Fulfill the good works That God has prepared In advance for us To do That we should walk In them How do we add To our faith Knowledge And virtue And self control And goodness And love And all of these virtues How do we work out What God is working in?

[48:41] Well we call on him Don't we? We call out to God Because the Lord says For all who Who call on me He will be near To those who call To him Who call to him In truth See this is life Transforming When we know The Lord near I'm always so encouraged When I'm able to Sit with people Who have Especially Experienced The nearness Of God And that's Especially true When you Sit with people Who have Lived And experienced Revival Agnes Morrison Comes to mind When you sit In her presence And you listen She She can tell you About the nearness Of God I just long So often I wish I could Know something More

[49:41] Of that You see This is a life Transforming Word The Lord is near To those who Call to him Read the psalm It's such a Wonderful psalm It's a psalm Of praise It's David's Psalm of praise It's praise Line Verse after Verse of Praise Great is the Lord And greatly To be praised His greatness Is unsearchable See when we We know the Nearness of God Through calling On him We have Something to Tell One generation Verse 4 Shall commend Your works To another And shall Declare Your mighty Acts When we Know the Nearness of God We have Something to Think about Verse 5 On the Glorious Splendour Of your Majesty And on Your Wondrous Works I will Meditate We have

[50:42] Something to Speak about And they Shall speak In verse 6 Of your Mighty Awesome Deeds And I Will declare Your Greatness They shall Speak of The glory Of your Kingdom And tell Of your Power To make Known To the Children Of man Your Mighty Deeds And the Glorious Splendour Of your Kingdom Something to Speak about Something to Sing about Even They shall Pour forth The fame Verse 7 Of your Abundant Goodness And they Shall sing Aloud Of your Righteousness I'll just Read through The psalm When you get Home again You see This kind Of Christian Living Would Change Our Conversation It would Change What we Talk about After a Service When we Meet for Tea This kind Of Christian Living Would change Our lives As we Witness to The communities Round about Us and the

[51:43] People How do we Call We said That we Call With child Like Dependence We have To keep Coming With that Dependence Just like Little Children We go On like That Totally Dependent I've got A wee Grandson And he Comes to Visit us And that's Always such A joy He says Say Granddad Will you Help me Build my Train Track Of course I'll help You But sometimes I might say I'm just Having a Coffee Angus I'll come When I Finish my Coffee The Lord Never says That You know Here's a Wonderful Promise It says The Lord Is near To all

[52:44] Who call On him To all Who call On him In truth In Psalm 73 The psalmist Says But for me It is good To be near God I have Made the Lord my Refuge That I May tell Of all Your Works There's an Enemy Friends we Need to be Aware of That will Tell you Something Different There's an Enemy Will tell You Like you The way You are You're not Really going To be able To call On God There's an Enemy Will tell You Your calling Is not Genuine He will Even try And tell You that God is Not Listening To you You will Put many Reasons In your Head to Try and Stop Your calling Dear friends We need to

[53:45] Take God At his Word Don't We Just Take God At his Word The Lord Is near To all Who call On him Who call On him In truth Especially Near Especially Near to Those who Call On him Who know Him Perhaps You have Never Called Out To God You Can Call To him You Can Know His Nearness Perhaps You have Never Really Called Out To Him In This Way Of Truth For Some Time Means You Can Sense We All Need To Refresh Our Call To

[54:46] Him So That We Can Know Afresh This Glorious Promise That The Lord Is Near To All Who Call To Him Who All Who Call To Him In Truth May God Bless These Few Simple Thoughts To Us From His Word Lord We Pray That You Would Help Us Help Us To Be A People Who Would Indeed Know How To Call To You But We Should Know Because You Tell Us In Your Word You Say The Lord Is Near To All Who Call To Him To All Who Call To Him In Truth Lord Forgive Us Where We Have Failed To Call Forgive Us Lord Where We Got So Distracted With So Many Other Voices Coming To Us Who

[55:47] Have Not Listened To Your Voice Help Any Lord Who Have Never Called Out To You Never Experienced The The Nearness Of God Lord May This Day They Call And Know The Fulfillment Of Your Promise That The Lord Is Near To All Who Call Out To Him Lord We Thank You For This Reminding Us From Your Word Thank You For This Wonderful Psalm And Bless Your Word May It Be Mixed Up With Faith In Our Hearts We Pray In Jesus Name Amen We're Going To Close Our Service Singing This Time I Think It Is Sing Psalms This Time Psalm 73 And It's Verses 23 To 28 We'll Stand And Praise God Please God Yet

[56:58] I Remain With You Continually I My Right And You Hold Me As My Guide You Lead Me With Your Counsel To The End And Take Me Into Glory To All Light In Heaven Heaven Have I But You Alone On Earth There's No One Else To My Adore

[57:59] Although My Heart May Fail And Flesh Grow Weak God Is My Strength And Portion Ever More Those Who Are Far From You Will Be Cut Down All Those Who Are Unfaithful You Destroy But I Draw Near And Shelter In My God Hear Tears O Lord I Will Recamp With Joy

[59:00] And Now May The Grace Of The Lord Jesus Christ And The Love Of God And The Fellowship Of The Holy Spirit Be With You All Amen Wish To l Bryan S The Can Fight In A