[0:00] when the minister's wife stops talking. I'll pay for that one later. Not that much later either. Good morning and a warm welcome to the service today. It's good to see all of you and it's good to see a number of visitors with us this morning as well. You're especially welcome to the service. There's tea and there's coffee at the end of the service and please if you're able to stay, stay behind so we can have a time of fellowship. The evening service this evening is at 6 and I will be conducting that service in part. I'll be sharing that service with Mervyn. It's good to have Mervyn and Lucy France with us for their annual visit and Mervyn's going to be speaking to the boys and girls this morning and he's going to be speaking a little this evening also about the ministry that he's been involved with over the last 12 months. So please if you're able to come to the service tonight come along at 6. It may go on slightly after 7 but I'm sure for once that will be okay. The other intimations you have on the sheets and they've been going around the screen over the last few minutes. You can note there the ordinary things in the course of the week. The ladies
[1:15] Bible study, road to recovery, prayer meeting are all as usual. There's a notice there for the 11th of September which is this coming Tuesday regarding the ordination and induction of the Reverend Ian McCritchie to Park Free Church of Scotland and you have the details of that there.
[1:33] Also you can note that next Sunday the services will be taken by Duncan McPherson in the morning, 11 o'clock and the evening service is joined with Scalpy Free Church in the community centre.
[1:48] It's down on the notice at 6pm which is confusing to keep track of these services. It's actually 6.30pm, 6 in Leverborough but it's 6.30 in Scalpy. So 6.30 we join with the Scalpy Free Church in the Scalpy Community Centre for their communion service and the communion weekend runs from Thursday through till Monday. I hope to be in Kyle of Lachausht in communion services next Sunday and would appreciate your prayers for that. You've also got details regarding the Presbytery Worker Support Worker and the ETS Saturday course which is imminent again. One final intimation I've been given here, a new T-Rota has been drawn up. If you think you could serve the Lord in this way or if you'd like your name removed from the list, please speak to Fiona Tour or add your name to the list. These I think are all the intimations other than one thing and that's just to give us some guidance on parking. We're trying to get into routines just now of where to park and where's helpful to park and where's legal to park so
[2:52] David Cameron is just going to give us a short word to try and give us some guidance on that. Thank you David. The most difficult part of obtaining Planning Commission for this building was proving that there is enough parking space available and in some ways we are the victim of our own success because there are now an ever increasing number of people now attending our services and most of us because of where we are need to travel here with our cars. Now we recently became aware that representations had been made to the Planning people in the corner and also to the police about some of the parking that's caused problems on Scott Road. For example, parking in such a way that if somebody's coming down the hill with children or with a buggy they have to go onto the road to get past the parking. That's just an example. I know from my experience in the garage over the years when you go further up Scott Road it is a dangerous corner. There is no getting away from that.
[4:03] The last thing I think that any of us want is that any accident that might happen is attributed either to our church here or indeed anyone attending our church. Earlier this week David and I met Phil, the policeman and I have to say at the beginning it was a very amicable, constructive discussion.
[4:27] There is no way that he's trying to be heavy-handed or anything like that. It was very positive and I think very helpful to us. So to ensure continuing good relationships which we already have with the planners, with the police and with our neighbours. One of the suggestions that came up that we went with was that it would be helpful to highlight information of the available parking spaces that we have agreement for. Not to tell people where they should park. That is the right of the individual to do that and they will individually perhaps have to take the consequences if something goes wrong.
[5:04] But as a church we feel obliged to point out where we have agreement that people can park. And this Sunday and next Sunday there will be two people and thank you Cammy and Myrda Farahor today for standing in the rain and putting people into areas where we have already permission. Because there is some confusion about what actually is available. So to clarify, the areas which we can use, the area adjacent to the church entrance out there. And that's really for people who need easy access. It's close to the church door and it's on the level. So that area there and that already is being used in that way.
[5:41] The area behind the church building, that road up the back, and there are on the planning permission, I think it's six to eight spaces there. And the six to eight spaces are not being used just now.
[5:51] Very difficult for the person who goes to the far end, but we have the permission. If you're looking at the front of the Harris garage building, on the right hand side, the area in front of the big door and the area in the front of Island Stitches, we can park anywhere in there.
[6:11] The big area we have is the area between the electricity substation. And this area will soon be lined by the church to show individual parking areas so people can get in and out easy.
[6:22] On Sundays, the area behind the garage is quite a large parking area in there and it's courtesy of Mr Hugh McPherson, the owner of Spectral Lines. And on Sundays again, one side of the road entrance, that's opposite the Spectral Lines building, next to the garage side of the road, people can park all the way up to the main road on that street. There is a car parking area on the opposite side of the road from the doctor's surgery. So we're very further away, but it is a public area. And also anybody is welcome to use the road up to a Mari and my house. If they can stick to the riverside, that would be helpful because people who look after the electricity supply need constant access to the building.
[7:07] So you can see there are plenty of areas there for people to park. There are more parking spaces there than there are cars outside. But I have to stress, you can park where you wish, but this is just guidance more than anything else. And I have a very small personal thing afterwards as well, is that people who intend to stay for tea can they please not block people in. I was walking home the Sunday before last, and to mention no names, but it was Marian was sitting behind a car of somebody at tea, and she was very patient and I offered to go and get the person. She said, no, no, I'll just sit here until they come out of tea. So if you're at tea, please try not to block anybody yet. So there is a plan outside being produced by Cammie for anybody, sometimes pictures speak far more eloquently than anybody's words, including my words, especially my words. So that there are plans of where you can park when you go out the door on the way out, if you so do not. Thanks a lot.
[8:06] Thanks a lot. Praise you for this day and we praise you for this opportunity that you have given us to come into this place and to come with that desire and that expectation that we will meet with you and that we will bow before you in worship. We thank you for who you are, that you are God, that you are sovereign, that you are all-powerful, that you are almighty, and yet we thank you that you are a God who is gracious and kind and loving and good. We thank you that you are a God who has not hid yourself from us, but you have revealed yourself to us in and through Jesus supremely. We see your majesty in creation. We open your word, Lord, and we hear your voice as the volume rises through the prophets in the Old Testament.
[9:10] But we thank you for the amazing gift of love that is Jesus himself. And we thank you for all that he did and living for us and dying for us and rising for us that enables us who were sinners who were lost and hopeless to be saved and even adopted into the family of God and sons as sons and daughters of God.
[9:36] Lord, we acknowledge that none of this is because of who we are. We were in rebellion against you. We were your enemies by nature and by practice. But we thank you that in your amazing grace, you have condescended to us in Christ. And we thank you that as we look in faith to him, we are promised that we are saved, that we are secure. So we thank you for the gospel, the gospel that we pray that we would have our ears open to, the gospel that we pray that we would be those who are responsive to, and the gospel, Lord, that we pray that we would not only believe and be saved through, but that we would share. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunities that you give us in this place. We thank you for this building. We thank you for the congregation that you have called us into.
[10:37] We thank you for the community in which we live, for the families that surround us, for the friendships that we have, for the relationships that we have. And we pray that you would help us to be salt and light, that we would be amongst people as Jesus was. And Lord, that we would take every opportunity that you give us to reach out with that message of the gospel, that this world would see and hear, even through us, of the hope that is offered to them in Christ. We thank you for the gift of prayer. We praise you, Lord, that we can draw near to you as we bow in prayer. And we ask, Lord, that you would meet with us, we pray, and that you would draw near to us as we come in Jesus' name. And we ask, Lord, that you would hear us also as we pray for those who are on our minds, those who are precious to us, those who are in particular need.
[11:37] And we pray especially today for baby Colin, the grandson of Doll and Mary Catherine. We pray for him as he struggles in hospital at this time, that you would lay your hand of healing upon him.
[11:53] We pray for Alec John, his dad, and Chloe, his mum, as she struggles with her health also. And we ask, Lord, that you would surround that whole family. We pray for Audrey, Chloe's mum.
[12:06] We pray for DJ here with us, and for Mary Jane in Leverborough, and the whole family circle as they struggle with us. And, Lord, as they suffer, as they see that we want to suffer, we pray, Lord, that you would touch him with your hands of healing. You are the great physician, Lord. And as we bring him to you in prayer, we ask, Lord, that you would heal him, that you would be with all those who attend to him, that you would give them wisdom and strength and compassion. And we ask, Father, that we may see you glorified as we pray that we would see that young boy brought back to health and brought to faith in your time. We pray also, Lord, for others who are struggling this week. We pray for those who are grieving, the family of Alec Dan. And we ask, Lord, that you would be near to them, Christina, and all of the family, some here, some elsewhere. And we ask, Father, that they would know your peace and your comfort. We pray, Father, also for those in Scalpy who continue to grieve. We commit to Angusina and
[13:18] Alistair to you. We pray for Mags and for Kuna here and the boys and the wider family in different places. We thank you that you are the God who is the comforter. And so we pray that they may know the comfort of the Holy Spirit upon them this day. We pray, Lord, for all who are sick, all who would desire to be with us, but who can't be today. And we ask that you would lay your hand of healing upon them, that they would know that you are God and you are with them. And we thank you for those who have been brought into this world as well and who are healthy and who are strong at this time. We thank you for the new baby, Declan. And we ask, Lord, that you would bless him. We pray for his dad, Donald, and for his mum, Beth. We pray for Katie and Roddy, Granny and Shennar and Moraghan and the whole family. We pray for Lorna and Catherine and all those who are so delighted at this news. And we pray that this little boy would grow up also to know that you are God and that you love him.
[14:23] Lord, we pray for those who are away from us for the first time today from this community. We think of young lads who have left home and gone to university. We pray especially for Kyle and for William today. And we ask that as they settle into university life, as they make friendships and as they make decisions, that they would know your wisdom, your protection and your presence with them.
[14:48] And all other concerns and people, Lord, that are on our minds and our hearts in the silence of this time, we bring them to you.
[15:01] And we ask, Lord, that you would meet each one at the point of their need. Be with all of us here now, we pray. We ask that on your day we would be in the spirit.
[15:11] And Lord, that we would know that you are with us, that you are speaking to us. And Lord, we pray that we would each know that we are yours. And if there are those here this morning who are not yet yours, we pray that even today they would hear the call of Jesus and that they would believe and be saved.
[15:30] Hear our prayers, take away our sin. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Boys and girls, would you like to come forward, please? And I am going to swap chairs with Mervyn just now.
[15:50] And Mervyn will introduce himself. Some of you know him, some of you will just be meeting him for the first time. So he'll introduce himself and he's got something, I think, to show you. Well, boys and girls, it's lovely to be back again on the Isle of Harris.
[16:22] And I'm going to tell you a little story this morning about a village pump. And I told this story many years ago, probably before your children was born.
[16:34] And so I thought it would be nice if you could hear this story as well. Because we work out in Asia, out in India, Nepal, Thailand and Burma. And in those countries, they don't go to the tap and turn on the water.
[16:50] They have to go to the village pump to get the water. And I want someone to help me. One of the little boys is willing to come and help me to tell this story. Yeah, come on, that's good.
[17:03] I'll put this there, I think. Now then, you stand here. And you are going to be the village pump. Have you been a village pump before?
[17:14] No. Well, this is a new experience. So every village pump has a spout. So that's the spout. And every village pump has a handle. Like this. And every day, people from the village come along.
[17:27] And they put the water pot down there. Under the spout. And they pump the water. You know, in Nepal, we have a children's home. And the first thing we hear every morning at 5 o'clock is the squeak, squeak, squeak of the handle.
[17:43] As the children go to the water pump to have a wash. So it's very important that the water pump works okay. Alright. So one day, this lady in India went from a house into the centre of the village to get her water.
[18:00] So she put her water pot down and she began to pump. Pshh, pshh. But there was no water. No water came out of the pump. And so she tried a little again.
[18:13] Pshh. And still no water. So she thought, well, I'll try a little bit faster. So she was pumped, pumped, pumped. But there was no water came out. So she went back to the village to get the man who repairs water pumps.
[18:29] And he came and he looked at the pump and he thought, oh, the pump has gone very, very rusty. I think the pump needs a new coat of paint.
[18:40] So he went back and he brought his paint and he began to paint it blue and black and red and make it very, very bright coloured. And a bit like Joseph's coat.
[18:52] It was multi-coloured. Well, he painted it red and orange and white and black and green and purple. And it was the nicest looking pump in the whole village and in the whole area.
[19:03] So I thought, well, that must have cured it. So the lady came back and she put her water pot down and she pumped. Pshh. But there was no water. You see, the paint hadn't cured the problem.
[19:15] And so she went back again without the water and went to the village pump man who repaired the pumps and said, it's no better.
[19:25] It's still not working. So he came along and he looked at the pump and thought, well, I think it needs a new handle. So we took the handle off. Are you all right?
[19:38] It's not going to hurt too much, but we're going to take the handle off. So he twisted the handle and he took the handle off and he looked in his bag and he found a brand new handle.
[19:50] And he put it on and he screwed it back on like this. And then he said, that should cure it. And so he went back and the lady came again and put a water pot down.
[20:01] And pshh. Pshh. But no water came out. Oh, the village pump repair is useless, isn't it? Anyway, that's typical of India.
[20:12] And so she went back to the village and she told the water pump repairer, you still haven't repaired the pump. You've painted it.
[20:22] It looks nice and new and it's got a new handle, but there's still no water. So, well, this was going to be a big operation this time. So he came back and he brought his big spanners and he decided he would have to take the top off.
[20:37] Oh, my God! Are you ready for this? And so he got his biggest spanner and he put it on the top and he turned it and turned it and turned it.
[20:49] He walked really further. And he took the top off and then when he got the top off, he looked inside. Oh, dear. Oh, the pump was clogged up with all sorts of dirty things that had got inside the pump and it was stopping the water coming out.
[21:09] So if you stand over, he'd get that spout rack. And so he decided he'd have to look inside. Oh, my God!
[21:20] It's just a ball! And he took his jacket off and he rolled his sleeve up because he has to put his hand inside to get out all these things that are blocking up the water.
[21:34] And he looked down and he went, oh, there's something here. He pulled it out. Oh, dear. There was a big spider.
[21:46] And so he thought, well, that must be better. I've got the big spider out. So he looked down again. Oh, there's something else. There's something else down there. And so he put his hand down.
[22:00] And he pulled it out. Oh, the dead one. And he looked again. Oh, there's still something else. There's still something else down there.
[22:11] And, you know, in the country of India, they have all sorts of funny, creepy crawlers and animals. Oh, no. He put his hand down. Is that a bat?
[22:22] And a bat! Woo! And he thought, now I've got the dead rabbit out and the spider and the bat. Surely it must be OK now.
[22:35] And so he had a little look down. I can still see something down there, he said. And so he put his hand down again. Oh, please! He found something else.
[22:47] Oh, dear. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!
[22:59] Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!
[23:14] Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!
[23:24] Woo! Well, we're getting the pump empty and it's looking much cleaner inside and there's just something else down there.
[23:36] He'll put his hand down again and surprise, surprise, there was a bag of sweets. Well, I think we should give the bag of sweets to the pump.
[23:50] He can share them out amongst his friends. Alright, so you hold on to that. Now we look down again, there's nothing left inside. So he picked up the top and he put it back on again and screwed it tight round.
[24:07] Now the pump looks nice, nice on the outside, a new handle and most importantly clean on the inside. And so he went back to the village and he told the lady, you can go and get your water.
[24:20] And she came and she put a water pot down and plenty of clean water came out of the pump.
[24:30] Why? Because the pump was unblocked. The pump had been full of nasty things like dead spiders, dead rabbits, dead bats, even the odd snake and even a little duck.
[24:44] But it was blocking it all up. And you know, boys and girls, our lives can be a little bit like that village pump. Because our lives can get blocked up and filled up with all kinds of naughty things and sin.
[25:00] And we have to let Jesus come along and clean us up on the inside so that he can live his life in our lives.
[25:10] And so please remember the story of the village pump. How that it was blocked up inside. But when the pump repairer came, he cleaned it out and it worked perfectly with lovely, clean water.
[25:28] And Jesus wants you and I to be like that village pump where we're unblocked, no sin in our lives, that he might be able to dwell and live in each one of us.
[25:40] And that we can be used like God intended us to be used. The village pump was intended to be used to pump water. But it didn't work because it was blocked up.
[25:51] But you and I, our lives are intended by God to be used for his glory. To spread the good news of the gospel. And we need to have the sin taken out of our lives and his presence in us, each one of us.
[26:06] Okay? So remember the story of the village pump. Right, you can sit down. What was your name, love? Aimee. Aimee, John? John. John. Good luck. God bless you. Sit down. I'm just going to read one verse of scripture and then we're going to start to pray.
[26:27] There's a verse of scripture here, boys and girls. And it's in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And it says this. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
[26:46] And what is Paul talking about here? He says we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Well, our earthen vessel is our body. Our earthen vessel is the body that we live in.
[26:58] And he's talking about having treasure in our earthen vessel. And that treasure in our earthen vessel is the Lord Jesus Christ.
[27:08] And it's so important that we ask Jesus to come and live his life in our hearts and in our lives. And just like the village pump, before he can come and live into our hearts and our lives, we have to have all the sin and all the dirty things removed.
[27:27] And then he can come and live his life in us. So we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
[27:38] You remember that verse. Let's just pray for a moment. Lord Jesus, we thank you this morning that you love each one of us.
[27:49] We thank you, Lord Jesus, that you love these wonderful children here. And we thank you, Lord, that you have a plan and a purpose for each one of their lives. And, Lord, we pray this morning that at an early age they would invite you into their hearts, that they would give their life to you.
[28:08] And I ask, Lord, that you would take hold of these young boys and these young girls and cause them, Lord, to grow up to love you. And as they get hold of the Lord, to serve you. And to go out into all the world, you say, and preach the gospel to every creature.
[28:24] So, Lord, I pray for the boys and girls from Harris this morning, that your hand of blessing will be upon them, and each one would know you as their Lord and Saviour. We ask these things in Jesus' name.
[28:37] Amen. Before we, before I sit down, I think we should put all the things back in here, except the sweets. You can keep the sweets. Better put these in, otherwise you might be playing with these when you should be listening to something else.
[28:50] Okay. You're back. That's it. Thank you very much. Right, boys and girls.
[29:02] I don't know what to do now, but... After all the excitement of our children's talk, we should probably pray for the Sunday school teachers too. If we turn in your Bibles, please, now to Colossians chapter 2.
[29:36] Colossians chapter 2. And we will read from verse 6. 3 to verse 16, I think.
[29:54] Colossians chapter 2. I'm reading at verse 6. This is God's Word. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness.
[30:17] See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and on the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
[30:28] for in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
[30:39] In him you were also circumcised in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men, but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
[31:02] When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us.
[31:21] He took it away, nailing it to the cross and having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
[31:35] Amen. May God bless that reading of his word to us. Sangis Allah is going to lead us now in prayer in Galilee. Take my watch off here.
[31:55] That clock sends me into shock every time I look at it. If somebody's setting a clock 10 minutes fast here, when it's after 12 o'clock and I haven't started preaching, it unnerves me.
[32:06] But it's not after 12 o'clock, thankfully. In Colossians chapter 2, and we are looking at the verses from 6 through to...
[32:19] Well, we'll see how far we go. Colossians chapter 2 and from verse 6, we pray before we come to God's word. Lord, as we are sung of those who seek you, we pray that as we come, we would each in our hearts be seeking you.
[32:37] And we pray that through your word and the power of the Holy Spirit, we may find you or you may find us. Hear us, we pray. Help us, we pray. We ask you in Jesus' name.
[32:48] Amen. Some of you have already met the new addition to our family. Some of you haven't. We have a new addition in the family.
[33:00] He's a dog, a little dog. His name is Shoros. And he looks like a Shoros, you'll see when you meet him. And now he's starting to know his name.
[33:10] At first when he came, you could shout Shoros all day long and it meant nothing to him. But now as we speak to him and as we try to engage him, every time he hears the word Shoros, he's starting to become aware this is his name and he should pay attention.
[33:28] He's starting to respond to his name. Now, how did he get his name? He didn't ask for it. He didn't negotiate with us over a suitable name. We gave him his name and he received it.
[33:43] Looking at the passage that we're in this morning, we come to Paul's letter to the Colossians. And the Colossians were those who we see from the very beginning of the letter.
[33:54] They were those who were in Christ. They were Christians. Already, God's people were being referred to as Christians.
[34:04] And this gathering that Paul had addressed, they were Christians. That was their new name. And they were given that name. They received that name when they received Christ Jesus.
[34:19] And that's the first point for today. The Colossians were those who received Christ. Verse 6. Paul says there, So then, just as you received Christ Jesus.
[34:36] It was Christian Latham's birthday in the course of last week. I don't know what her age was. I won't ask her. But I imagine that in a birthday week, presents are given and presents are received.
[34:53] And the Colossians, they had received Christ. We could very, very easily just overlook that. But we must not.
[35:03] The Colossians were those who had received Jesus. Paul had preached Christ. Epaphras likely had been in that gathering and he had believed and he had received Christ.
[35:16] And then he had gone back to his people and he had preached Christ. He had preached the gospel. And they had heard and they had received Christ.
[35:27] The Colossians received Jesus. And so often, as we go through our Bibles, the terminology that comes to us in the gospel is that of receiving Jesus.
[35:40] We read so often of how Jesus is offered to us as a gift. His love, his salvation, his forgiveness of sin, his eternal life, his grace is God's gift to us.
[35:57] We sang as the service began today, behold the amazing gift of love the Father hath bestowed. Probably the most well-known verse in all of the Bible is John 3.16.
[36:13] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
[36:26] Romans 6.23. There's another verse that uses this kind of terminology. It says there, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
[36:38] in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2.8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and that's not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
[36:59] The Colossians were Christians. Christians. They were in Christ because they had received Christ Jesus.
[37:13] They heard about him. They believed in him that he was the Christ, that he was the Son of God, that he was the one who came and lived and died and rose for them.
[37:35] Can I ask you this morning, have you received Christ Jesus? Have you received the salvation that is offered to you in and through him?
[37:49] have you received the forgiveness of sin so that you can say as we thought about last weekend that no longer am I under condemnation because of what Jesus has done and because of what I have received in him?
[38:10] Have you received the eternal life that is offered to you in Christ? Have you really begun to live in this world and do you know if you were to die tonight that you would go on to eternal life?
[38:25] See, if you can hear this, if you understand this, if you can see your sin, if you can see what Jesus did in order to make an end of sin, if you see that you have the need of a saviour, then God is offering to save you.
[38:49] He's seeking you. And that salvation comes when we receive Christ Jesus. So have you received him?
[39:00] The Colossians received Christ. That's the first point. Second point is the Colossians revered Christ. Sometimes when we are offered a gift, there are qualifications detailed as to how we receive that gift, how it becomes something that we benefit from.
[39:21] Somebody gave me a book token a while back. It's for the Stornoway Bookshop. Now I can't go into Brownies or A.D. Monroe's and wave my £20 book token and say I want £20 worth of potatoes.
[39:35] I probably could and they'd probably give it to us but they shouldn't. That's the point. You know, we have conditions with an Amazon gift card or an iTunes voucher as to how we receive that gift.
[39:50] Now how did the Colossians received Christ? Well, they received him as Lord. So then says Paul, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, and in the light of all that Paul has already said to us about Jesus, to receive him reverently as Lord and as our Master, is the only fitting way to receive him.
[40:27] Who is Jesus? We might ask. But Paul has answered that in Colossians 1 15 and following. Listen to just this huge few verses that Paul speaks to them of Christ.
[40:43] Colossians 1 15. He is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn over all creation. For by him, that's Jesus, all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him.
[41:08] He is before all things. And in him all things hold together, and he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
[41:26] He is Lord. So Paul is at pains to press upon the Colossians, and God, through Paul, is at pains to point and press upon us.
[41:40] Jesus is Lord. Lord. And that's how we receive him. Jesus is not your equal or mine.
[41:54] You and I don't get to invite Jesus onto our team to give us just a wee boost. He is not our servant who just jumps at every request that we make.
[42:11] And then we set him aside for the times that we have no need of him. He's not our consultant advisor that we only speak to when we have particularly difficult decisions that we need specialist advice on.
[42:26] Jesus is not our life coach to make our lives a little bit better. He doesn't sprinkle our lives with some kind Christian fairy dust. He is our Lord and our God.
[42:40] He is the one who is to be revered every day and in every way that we live. He is the one who is to reign supreme over every aspect of our lives, our time, our talents, our money, our relationships, our everything.
[43:00] Christ reigns over it all. And you and I can only receive him and be saved if we are willing to give him that place.
[43:19] He will not come in saving power into a life if we do not revere him as Lord.
[43:33] So let me ask myself as I ask you have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord?
[43:49] And can that be seen in my life and yours? See, when a shop gets new management, instantly we see the change in the stock and the signage and the whole tone and tenor of the way business is done, we see a change when there's new management.
[44:10] When a football team comes under new management, we see a change in the way that they play and the tactics that they adopt. And for the Colossians, for those who had received Christ as Lord, there would be a change in their lives, because they were now under new management.
[44:34] They had lived for themselves up until now, but now they were living with Jesus as their Lord. And so they needed to learn how to live in such a way as to show that he is their Lord, to show that they were those who were in Christ.
[44:58] They were Christians. Sure, us, the girls would be thankful that there's a dog to look at now, and not them as the butt of all the illustrations I use, but sure, it's the dog.
[45:13] We've brought him into the family, but now we have this painful task of teaching him how to live as part of the family. We have this task of trying to persuade him and teach him what is an acceptable time to get up in the morning and what is not an acceptable time to get up in the morning.
[45:35] What is okay to chew and what is not okay to chew? Where is okay to go and where is out of bounds for a little dog? Where one goes to the toilet and where one certainly does not.
[45:47] God is all a part of learning how to live as part of the family. He has his name, he's been received in, but now he needs to learn how to live.
[46:01] Paul is kind of doing the same thing here. He's telling those who have been brought into the family of Christ how they can live as those who are in Christ. Do they receive Jesus?
[46:15] Do they revere Jesus? Do they receive them as Lord? The third thing here is Paul encourages them, he says that they need to be rooted in Christ. Verse 6, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
[46:39] For those who were here last Sunday evening when Alistair was asked the question about what it is like to live as a Christian. He majored on the fact that a Christian is in relationship with God and every relationship, he said, needs to have strong communication.
[47:03] So he said if we want to have a strong relationship with God, a steady relationship with God, we need to speak to him in prayer and we need to listen to him through the Bible.
[47:17] And that's the essence of what really it means to be rooted and built up in him. We are strengthened in the faith, we are rooted in Christ as we are taught about that faith, as we are taught about this Jesus.
[47:35] And that teaching comes as we open our Bibles and as we pray that the Holy Spirit himself will open us to that message of the gospel that we have in the Bible, that's how we become strong, that's how we are rooted in Christ.
[47:54] We see Jesus, we hear Jesus, we learn more of him as we are in God's word, and the more we see and receive of the grace of Jesus, the more that grace begins to bubble up within our lives and it starts then to overflow from our lives in a thankfulness that Paul speaks of here.
[48:18] Continue to live in him, rooted, built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
[48:30] How thankful are we this morning? When I lack thankfulness, I don't tell myself to pull my socks up and just be more thankful.
[48:43] I have to meditate upon the reason for me to be thankful. And I learn that as I look in the mirror of God's word and I see again my hopelessness in sin and my sure and certain hope in Christ.
[49:03] And as I learn that, and as we learn that, we become more and more steady. Our roots go down deeper and deeper.
[49:18] And that attractive thankfulness, which is what God so often uses to draw other people to himself, begins to flow out from us as we grasp more and more of who Jesus is and what he's done for us.
[49:39] The children's chorus probably gives the best commentary on this point, being rooted in Christ. They sing in Sunday school, read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow.
[49:55] And the more you and I grow, the more the grace of Christ bubbles up from within us and makes us sing what we just sang.
[50:07] That's the minute. My heart is filled with thankfulness. Why? Well, to him who bore my pain, who plumbed the depths of my disgrace, and gave me life again, who crushed my curse of sinfulness and clothed me with his light and wrote his law of righteousness with power upon my heart.
[50:40] So if you and I are to continue to live in him, if you and I are to continue to put down deep roots, if you and I are to get more strong and spiritually mature and steady, if you and I are to be filled with that attractive, winsome thankfulness, then day by day by day by day you and I need to keep coming to God's word, coming in prayer, coming to his house and learning more and more of Jesus and actually learning learning more and more from Jesus.
[51:26] Because if any of this is to be effective, then I am not the teacher. Christ has to teach me. And Christ has to teach you, I pray even through me.
[51:43] Jesus says in Matthew 11 verse 28, come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.
[51:59] That's not just a call to the lost, it's also a call to the Christian who needs day by day by day to be rooted in Christ.
[52:12] To the Colossians, they received Jesus. They revere Jesus, they received him as Lord. They were those who were being called as they live in Christ to be rooted in him.
[52:26] And the fourth thing here is they are called to resist false teaching. Verse 8, see to it says Paul that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
[52:46] One of the commentators, Paul Tripp, tells a story. He tells a story about when he was going into a big shopping centre in America at Christmas time.
[53:00] He had a son with him, his son was about seven years old, was absolutely full of Christmas cheer. So they went into this shopping centre and there was this massive display and there was a huge Christmas tree and lights and glitter and all these presents around the tree.
[53:16] And his son looks at the biggest present under the tree, huge big box with a bow on it and sparkles and it was just glimmering there in the light. And his son says to his dad, he says, dad, I want that for Christmas.
[53:30] I want that present there for Christmas. That's what I want. And his father says to him, son, that's not what you want for Christmas. He says, no, no, it definitely is.
[53:42] I don't want anything else. I just want that huge, big, that big, huge present under that tree. That's what I want for Christmas. His dad says, son, that's not what you want for Christmas.
[53:55] And the son looks at his dad and he says, dad, why do I not want that for Christmas? It's because, he says, son, because it's an empty box.
[54:07] It looks lovely. It looks attractive, but it's hollow. It's just a decoration. There's nothing in it. And Paul says that here, he says to the Colossians, those who are coming to you with teaching that is drawing you away from Christ and away from his gospel.
[54:35] The teachings that they offer, even though they look sharp, even though they look slick, even though they look plausible, you don't want them. You must resist them because it's empty.
[54:53] And that's what was happening in Colossae. There were false teachers. And they were coming into the church, and some of them were already in the church.
[55:05] And they were coming to those who were in Christ. And they were saying to those who were in Christ, well, Jesus is good, and his gospel is precious, but you need a bit more.
[55:17] And we can show you hidden truths, and we can take you to a deeper level. We can introduce you to more than just Jesus, and more than just his cross. And there were other Jewish false teachers who were saying, well, the gospel is one thing, and there's forgiveness to the grieve, but we can't leave behind some of these traditions, we can't leave behind some of these laws, circumcision needs to come back into play.
[55:42] There's rules, there's codes, there's regulations, that's what the verses 13 to 15 are all about, I haven't time to go into them. But they're all coming to the Christians in Colossae and saying, these are things we need to import to enrich this message that we want to hang on to, and God says to the Colossians, resist it.
[56:08] And God says to us through Paul, you'll watch interviews on television, and you will have blogs sent into your inbox that you'll click on and you'll read through, and you may encounter very intelligent professors, and you may listen to ministers stand up in pulpits, and put across arguments which seem to be very compelling.
[56:35] You may hear philosophies, and traditions, and principles that are wrapped up in very plausible seeming arguments. But he says resistant.
[56:51] Anyone who pulls you in the direction of this world, and any other religion, anyone who pulls you away from Jesus and his cross, must be resisted.
[57:09] That's what God is saying to us through Paul. So anyone who stands here, myself included, if I ever take you away from Christ, if I ever point you away from the cross, it's time to resist.
[57:31] Why? Because there is no one but Christ that can save. There is no means of salvation and eternal life other than through Jesus and his cross.
[57:50] there is no satisfaction in this world. There is no way to heaven. There is no true wisdom that is disconnected from Jesus.
[58:08] So Paul says we are to receive him as the Colossians did, and we revere him otherwise we can't receive him. He is Lord.
[58:18] we are to resist the false teachings of every age that ever we pass through. Now is this easy?
[58:31] Is it easy to continue in Christ as Paul calls them and calls us to? Well, the answer to that is no it's not. That's why some of you probably didn't come to the Lord's Table last weekend.
[58:43] fear. Because there is a fear that you cannot keep going. You can't keep on keeping on.
[58:55] The Christian life in this world is too difficult, and it can be difficult. It can be difficult to discern and to resist false teaching.
[59:06] It can be difficult to resist the temptations that come our way. the world, the flesh, the devil, all unite to try to stall your faith and mine.
[59:26] So it can be tough. But we need to remember that if we are in Christ, we have resources that are unlimited.
[59:38] That's the final point, just a brief one. We have resources that are unlimited. Tonight we are going to have a quick glance at Joshua chapter 10.
[59:52] And in that book, we see God's people, Israel, and they're continuing forward into the promised land, even though they have much in the way of resistance, even though there is much that would cause them to go backwards rather than forwards.
[60:10] But they keep on going forwards. Why do they keep on going forwards? Well, it's because God was with them and God promised he would never leave them, he would never forsake them. Because they have that promise, they have the courage and the strength to persevere.
[60:25] And the Colossian Christians, they were called to follow Jesus with their lives, they were called to continue to live in him. them. And it wouldn't always be easy, and it wasn't always easy.
[60:39] But Paul reminds them that they are not on their own. Paul says to them, remember, we have Jesus.
[60:52] Verse 9, Now you put yourself into the shoes of the Colossians in AD 60, receiving this letter.
[61:19] What an encouragement that must have been. they are told by the Lord himself through Paul, Jesus is with you.
[61:32] Yes, it will be tough, and it already was tough, but Jesus is with you. And that remains, I pray, an amazing and encouraging thought for you and I today, if we're Christians, the one who is head over every power and authority, God himself, in the power of the Holy Spirit, is with us, and for us, and even lives in us.
[62:15] God's promise. That's his promise. He doesn't leave us short on resources for our spiritual lives.
[62:27] He has given us himself. The Christian standard Bible translates this verse as follows, for the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by him.
[62:54] Christian, did you hear that? You have been filled by him. 2 Peter 1 3, his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.
[63:13] That's the promise for those who are in Christ. The promise for those who are in Christ is that Christ himself is in us.
[63:29] So let that encourage us, and let us in his strength, through his power, keep on keeping on, so that we who have received Jesus may continue to live in him.
[63:50] We'll pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the encouragement of your word. We thank you for the amazing thought and reality that we who are sinners and lost by nature can receive Jesus and can receive forgiveness for sin and life that is everlasting through him.
[64:19] We pray, Lord, that there would be no one here today that would leave this building without bowing the knee of their heart and receive in Christ as Lord.
[64:31] We pray that each one of us would indeed seek day by day to go deeper and to be rooted in Christ. Help us, we pray, to resist false teaching.
[64:44] We see it, Lord, sometimes we are less than alert to it. Help us, we pray, in whatever form or medium it comes, to resist false teaching and to fix our eyes upon Jesus.
[65:01] And we do thank you that the promise of Scripture is that Jesus is with us and Jesus is in us even when we are trusting in him.
[65:13] Hear our prayers. Help us to trust.