Derek Maxwell from SGA
[0:00] Good morning everyone and a warm welcome to the service this morning. It's good to see all of you. It's good to see so many and many visitors with us this morning and it's especially good to see you.
[0:15] There's tea and there's coffee at the end of the service. If you're able to stay behind, please do so. And then after the tea and the coffee, the young Scaladale campers are having their lunch here.
[0:26] So it's good to see the young ones down here. Derek, just so you know where they are, the young sleep deprived campers in rows two and three. So just raise your volume. I'll throw a hymn book in our direction if you see any eyes going down.
[0:39] So it's good to have you all and it's good to have visitors from various places and congregations this morning. Good also to have people on the live stream. And just a word about the live stream.
[0:50] Derek, who we're delighted to have with us this morning with his wife Carol. Derek's going to be speaking about the work of Slavic Gospel Association. We've had Derek for longer than you've had me. He's been coming here for a lot of years.
[1:04] And Derek, for the live streamers, he will speak and he'll share a word from the Bible and then he'll move from the preaching to the presentation on the work of Slavic Gospel.
[1:19] Some of that is sensitive. There are situations, there are personalities that it's best not to put over YouTube. And so for those on live stream, the live stream will end at the end of the message and then it will just be in person.
[1:34] Only other intimations to note, I think, are that the evening service is at six and Scott will be taking that service, our minister in training.
[1:50] So that's six o'clock this evening. The rest of the notices you've got on email or you've seen on the screen before the service. So let's begin this time of worship. Sorry, one more thing.
[2:03] One more thing is to say that the Sunday school is only for primary school children. It's a holiday Sunday school today. So primary school children will go out after the second praise or during, at the end of the second praise.
[2:15] Secondary school children will stay in for the duration today. There's also a creche behind me. So for the young ones, if they're struggling to sit or to remain within the service for the duration, please go out and use the creche. You can go out either that door or go around the long way that way.
[2:34] So these, I think, are all the notices. So let's begin this time of worship. Let's sing to God's praise the words of Psalm 100. Psalm 100, a psalm that reminds us that all nations, all people, everywhere are called to worship the Lord.
[2:53] So Psalm 100, the words are on the screen, and we'll stand to sing to God's praise. Psalm 100, a psalm that lies in the singing of Psalm 100.
[3:19] Psalm 100, a psalm that lies in the singing of Psalm 100. Psalm 100, a psalm that lies in the singing of Psalm 100. Psalm 100, the singing of Psalm 100, the singing of Psalm 100, the singing of Psalm 100, singing the singing of Psalm 100, singing the singing of Psalm 100. said with birth his praise for tell.
[3:31] Come ye before him and rejoice. Know that the Lord is God indeed.
[3:50] Without a way he did us make.
[4:02] We are his prop he doth us be. And for his sheep he doth us take.
[4:22] O enter then his gates with praise. Approach with joy his course unto.
[4:44] Praise God and bless his day always. For it is seemly so to you.
[5:04] For why the Lord the God is good his mercy is forever sure his truth that all times shall and shall from age to age endure and let's bow our heads and close our eyes and let's unite our hearts as we come before God in the future.
[6:00] our heavenly father we thank you that we are able to come before you this morning.
[6:13] We thank you that we are called to come in worship. We thank you that the way has been open for us to come in worship. and we thank you that we have the promise that as we come to you as we seek to draw near to you you're the God who never rejects us or pushes us away but you're the God who draws us close.
[6:39] And we thank you for the wonder of that and for the truth of that that we who are sinful we who are sinners are able to come into the presence of the holy God and we recognize that we do so not because of us not because of our name not because of our lives but it's all because of Jesus your son our saviour we thank you that he is the way into the presence of the father we thank you that he is the one who is truth and who brought us the truth and fullness of the gospel message and we thank you that in him there is life life which we taste in this world and life which we know eternally if we believe in him so we ask Lord Jesus that in all that we do this morning as we sing from psalms and hymns we pray that the name of Jesus would be lifted up and we pray that as we pray and as we listen to your word being expanded that we would know the presence of the Lord
[7:49] Jesus with us we thank you that he has promised that where two or three gather in his name he will be here in the power of the Holy Spirit and we pray that we would sense that that we would know that even in our inner beings that our hearts would burn within us because we recognize that we are in the presence not just of people but that we are in the presence of God so bless us Lord we pray as we come in worship help us to see and to know more and more of the wonder of your love and your grace and your mercy help us we pray to come once more to that place of Calvary where we see our sin being taken into the body of Jesus on the cross and where we see his righteousness his salvation being offered to us as we believe we thank you for the cross that place where our salvation was bought and we thank you for the fact that
[8:51] Jesus although he died to pay the wages of sin we thank you that he rose from the dead and on this Lord's day and on every Lord's day we remember the joy of that resurrection so bless us Lord we pray and help us to be responsive to your word your truth endures forever we have sang it and we believe it and we pray that we would hear that truth spoken into our lives this morning and that we would be given faith to take hold of it we ask Lord that as the truth of the gospel goes out in different places through different means that you would bring it in the power of the Holy Spirit we thank you for the campers here from Scalladale we ask Lord that you would bless all that has been shared with them over this weekend we thank you for answered prayer in their safety so far we thank you for the relationships the friendships that they form as they take time together and we ask
[9:52] Lord as they hear messages being shared with them and as they talk about your word in dorm discussions that they would not only see Jesus but that they would believe and that they would be saved we pray for Derek we thank you for him and for Slavic Gospel Association we thank you for many years of ministry and we ask that as he brings your word to us this morning and as he shares more of what continues in your name in Europe and in Asia and different parts of the world we ask Lord that we would be encouraged and that we would be inspired to pray for this ministry as it continues so hear our prayers lead us and guide us in worship we pray and we ask all this together with the forgiveness of our sins in Jesus name Amen Boys and girls would you like to come forward not all the boys and girls but the primary school ones you want to come forward as usual and this morning
[11:03] I'm not going to speak to myself I'm going to introduce you to my friend Derek who is here come on through and Derek is going to speak to you and then Derek will take the service from there just through to almost the end so Derek I'll hand over to you now please voy voy!
[11:45] voy! voy! voy! voy! voy! voy Good morning, boys and girls. Morning, mums and dads, my grandmas, granddads, everybody.
[12:00] It's great to see you at church this morning, but I'm so pleased to see you here. So it's good to have you. I'm sure you have gathered from my accent I'm not from the Isle of Horace or the Isle of Lewis, but I am from an island. I'm from Ireland. Yes. And I have come up here to visit some churches.
[12:18] Now, I want to take something out of my bag. In fact, in my bag, I have got the most wonderful, amazing book in the world.
[12:32] Do you know what it could be? Yes? You are right. It is the Bible. This Bible is God's Word. The Bible is amazing because the Bible tells us so much about ourselves.
[12:46] The Bible tells us that we have all sinned. We read that in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, for all have sinned and they've fallen short of God's standard.
[12:58] But the Bible also tells me that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And that is really good news. Jesus, God's Son, can take away our sins.
[13:11] And then the Bible tells us in John chapter 1 and verse 12, to as many as received him, to them give he the power to become the sons of God. So if we receive the Lord Jesus, then we become part of God's family.
[13:27] And then the Bible tells us how we can grow to be really strong in God's family. And one way of growing to be strong is to pray. The Lord Jesus spoke about prayer.
[13:40] And the Apostle Paul, who wrote many of the books in the New Testament, he also said we should never stop praying. We should just keep praying and praying and praying. A little boy called Paul lived in a country far away from here.
[13:57] But I wonder, could you guess, if I give you a little clue, what country this might be? Or maybe we'll need the big people. But we'll try you first of all. What country? Ah!
[14:09] Well done! Yes! Did you all know that? No? Aha! Cut you out! Well, well done! This is the flag of the country of Romania.
[14:21] And Paul, he lived with his mum and dad in their little home. And Paul was a Christian. He'd asked Jesus into his heart. And he really believed in prayer. And he prayed so much.
[14:34] But there was something that Paul really, really wanted. Oh, above everything else in the world, Paul really wanted this.
[14:46] He wanted it so, so much that he prayed and prayed that he might get this. Just that he might have one.
[15:00] A banana. They didn't have bananas in Romania when Paul was a little boy like the age of you. And he had obviously heard about bananas or he'd seen a picture of a banana, but he never had a banana in his hand.
[15:16] Have you eaten bananas? Yeah? Do you like bananas? Nope? Oh dear. Well, okay. But Paul really wanted a banana. And he had really prayed.
[15:26] So one night he was going to bed and his mum was with him when he was praying. And he really prayed, Dear Lord Jesus, please get me a banana. And he really believed that God was going to get him a banana because then he said, Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are going to get me a banana.
[15:44] And so his mummy thought, Well, this is getting a little complicated because there's no way he can get bananas. There's no bananas in Romania. There hasn't been bananas in Romania for years because they were under a very difficult government.
[15:58] So they didn't have bananas. So there was just no way he could get a banana. And this is how his mummy was thinking. And so she said, Paul, I've heard you praying and you've prayed so hard that God would give you and get you a banana.
[16:12] But Paul, you can never get a banana because there are no bananas in our country. But Paul had prayed. Paul had thanked God that he was going to get a banana.
[16:26] The next day, people were arriving from England with Slavic Gospel Association. That's the mission that I work with. And guess what? They were coming to Paul's house.
[16:39] And whenever they came into the house, they were speaking to the mum and dad. And Paul was sitting there and he was just waiting and waiting. And he had prayed that God would give him just one banana.
[16:52] And so the friends who had arrived in the house, they were emptying out their bag and they were giving different gifts to mum and to dad. And then they took out a bunch of bananas.
[17:07] Oh, whoa! Paul was so excited. And he thought, Lord, I prayed for one banana, but you've given me a whole bunch of bananas. This is wonderful.
[17:19] Can you guess what his mum was thinking? She had busy told him the night before, it's not possible to get bananas. And now God had answered prayer. And you see, God just didn't give him one banana.
[17:34] God gave him a bunch of bananas. See, the Bible tells us that God does even far greater than we can even ask or even think.
[17:45] We have got a great God. When we love Jesus and we're serving Jesus and we pray and we ask, God does here, sometimes we have to wait for the answer, but for Paul, God really answered prayer.
[18:02] And this really helped Paul to grow strong in his faith and to become a strong Christian. And so, boys and girls, it's so important, and mums and dads and granddads and grandpas and everybody here, this is so important that we really pray that we believe God, that we trust God, because God, who answered Paul's prayer, is the God who can answer our prayers.
[18:28] So you trust God. And you're off school tomorrow. Yes. Happy? Very happy? Uh-huh. I thought so. But whatever is before you, you can bring it to God, you can pray about it and really trust God.
[18:44] And he'll strengthen you in your faith if you're a Christian. The more we pray, the stronger Christians we'll become. Okay. Great to see you this morning. And thank you.
[18:55] And you remember Paul as he prayed and how God answered his prayer. Thank you so much. You can go back to your seats now. And it's great to have you here this morning.
[19:06] Thank you. That is great. Okay. So we're going to praise the Lord together and sing, Bless the Lord, O my soul.
[19:17] And the primary school children will leave while we're singing this song together. Let's sing together. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Worship his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, Worship his holy name.
[19:48] Sing like never before, O my soul, I worship his holy name.
[19:59] The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning, it's time to sing your song again.
[20:11] Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing. Let me be singing when the evening comes.
[20:23] Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship his holy name.
[20:34] Sing like never before, O my soul, I worship your holy name.
[20:44] You wish in love, and your soul to honor. Your name is greater, your heart is dying.
[20:56] For all your goodness, I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.
[21:09] Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship his holy name.
[21:20] Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship your holy name.
[21:30] And on that day, when my strength is failing, the end was near, my time has come, and still my soul, once in your praise, unending.
[21:49] Ten thousand years, we've been forevermore. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship his holy name.
[22:05] Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship your holy name.
[22:16] I'll worship your holy name. Worship your holy name. voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy voy support, your prayer support as we serve together and seek to reach Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Far East Russia and Mongolia with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're so grateful for all who stand with us in these days of great opportunity. This indeed is our 75th anniversary year of the mission and we look back with grateful thanks to God but you know as we are in our 75th year the great commission still stands and this is God's last command to the church and that we might fulfill it, that we might be part of it as we seek to reach these nations for Jesus Christ.
[23:34] So just let's read together from Matthew chapter 28 and we'll commence at verse 16 please. Matthew chapter 28 and verse 16 and here we have these wonderful words and the commission that has been given to the church of Jesus Christ. In verse 16 of Matthew 28 we read, now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them and when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted. Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age. Amen. And we know that God will bless the reading of his precious word to all of our hearts this morning. We want to praise the Lord again as we come to sing from Psalm 67 and this Psalm will be sung in Gaelic so I can't join you in singing this but we have got the English words and we can sing it together unto the Lord. Wonderful
[24:52] Psalm and the Lord bless and pity us shine on us with thy face that the earth thy way and nations all may know thy saving grace. And that's what world mission is all about in bringing the message of God to the nations that they might know God's saving grace. Let people praise thee Lord, let people all thee praise. Oh let the nations be glad in songs their voices raise and how we long for the nations to raise their voices to our great God in praise. So let's sing together this morning. Lord bless and pity us shine on us with thy face.
[25:36] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[26:07] Amen. Amen.. SONG CONTINUES SONG CONTINUES
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[35:43] There's life for a look at the crucified one. And today Jesus Christ is the one who can give us fullness of life. You see it's a privilege to go because of the master that we serve but it's a privilege to go because of the message that we proclaim. Because we go with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul, he spoke of it as the glorious gospel.
[36:08] Whenever we think of the gospel, I see it in two ways because it's a message that condemns and it's a message that changes. Yes, the gospel does condemn us. The gospel is very clear as I was sharing with the boys and girls, for all have sinned and come short of God's glory or fallen and short of God's standard. We have all sinned for as by one man. Sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death have passed upon all men for that all have sinned. Romans 5 verse 12.
[36:39] The word of God, the gospel, yes it condemns us but thank God the gospel changes us because when we come to Jesus Christ as sinners, a miracle takes place. I can't explain it to you my friends this morning all that has happened because it's a miracle. There are so many things in this world that we don't understand but we accept them. I don't understand how a black cow can go out and eat green grass. It produces white milk and you have yellow butter on the table but it happens and I accept it and no friends there's lots of things in this world that we cannot understand. We can't understand all about the God's saving grace because it's a miracle. We can never really explain a miracle but it's real. We feel it. It changes us. It makes us a new person. It fills us with life and joy and peace and fullness. The message of the gospel is a privilege to go because we bring this message to the nations of the world. But can I say my friends it's a privilege to go because of the mission we're engaged in. This is the work of God. You know there's so much that we do in life that's for the material and for the earthly. And you know the word of God reminds us we're going to leave all that behind. The word of God says lay up treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth crop where thieves cannot break through nor steal. And it's a privilege to go for the Lord. It's a privilege to live this one life for Jesus and to be involved in his ministry whatever level that may be for you.
[38:18] But it's a privilege to do because of the mission that we are engaged in. This is something that is for eternity. Not only the privilege the great privilege but the great program.
[38:31] Because here in this last command of the Lord it says go and make disciples. The Greek verb translated go is really while you are going make disciples of all nations. No matter where you are where you're living. We should be witnesses for Jesus Christ. We should be winning others for Jesus as you are going. As you are living your life. That's what the original is saying. Be making disciples of all nations and those that are around us. I'm sure deep in every Christian there's awareness that we are on this planet for purposes greater than having a career or paying our bills or loving our families or fulfilling our roles as citizens. There's one supreme role that we can only fulfill here on earth that will have eternal consequences and that is making his last command our first concern. And the word of God reminds us that we are witnesses. It was Archbishop William Temple who said in 1945 and these are tremendous words. This is what he said. The church is the only society on earth that exists for the benefit of its non-members. And the church is here to reach its non-members. That's why the church is here to fulfill the last command. To reach the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. To be used by God in such a wonderful way that through our lives as we're going day by day we are fulfilling this great commission.
[40:13] The great program. Making disciples. Isn't that wonderful? That we just don't go empty-handed to heaven but we come there and others have come because of our lives that we have lived for Jesus.
[40:29] I want you to notice thirdly the great promise. Because he says, Lo, I am with you to the very end. The one who has all authority in heaven and earth it is not so much that he goes with us but rather we are going with him. That's what it means.
[40:48] When we're fulfilling the great commission and we're going with Jesus then he says, I will be with you as you come with me on this great command and this last command and this great commission I will be with you until the very end.
[41:09] You know, we don't know where God is going to take us when we surrender our lives to the Lord. When we give all we have to Jesus. When I was much, much younger I know I'm not that old and you'll agree about that I'm sure as you look at me but when I was a little younger I had my plans.
[41:26] I was in business. I had my future mapped out. I decided where I was going to live and what I was going to do with the rest of my life but then isn't it wonderful when God intervenes. When God comes and you come to that place where you say, Lord, it's not about me it's all about you.
[41:43] I surrender all I give you everything that I have, Lord that this one life might impact someone for Jesus. And God took me to Eastern Europe to Central Asia to countries that I never would have thought I'd been in but my friends there's one thing we can be certain that when we go with God God will be with us to the very end and we can think of some missionaries and that was so true for them we think of the Pari family who went out to what was the Congo then in the 1964 Simba rebellion where the rebels were shooting the missionaries and it was so difficult for them but day after day their little daughter Grace she would sing and she kept singing her favourite song Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary Jesus is very very near the day arrived when the Simbas took the Pari family out to shoot them and as the family were being marched before the firing squad little Grace ten years of age began to sing burdens are lifted at Calvary
[42:48] Jesus is very near as that family were murdered by the rebels it's not surprising that little Grace was called the martyr of Congo little ten year old who knew Jesus who knew that he'd be with her and with her family to the very end Jesus is very near and dear friends we can be assured this morning the Lord will be with us and he'll go with us to the very end the great privilege go the great program make disciples the great promise I'll be with you to the very end but can I just leave a challenge with you this morning that is the great problem and the great problem is this his last command is not every believer's first concern I wonder today what are we living for and what is most precious to us how the Lord wants us to be those who will serve him to live for him to glorify his great name
[43:59] I'm just trying to think of the name of the missionary who wrote those words C.T. Studd who said of only one life on this earth it will soon be passed only what's done for God will last I trust today that we will give our one life to Jesus that we will serve him that we'll live for him that we'll fulfill make his last command our first concern that everything we do and everything we live for will be all about Jesus and then friends one day and every day I live is closer to this event he's coming again one day he will come to take us home and I trust and pray that as I stand before him I might hear those words well done you good and faithful servant only one life will soon be passed only what's done for God will last may we make his last command our first concern yeah yeah