[0:00] Good evening everyone, a warm welcome to the service of this evening. We're pleased to have Rory! Rory McRae, Reverend Rory McRae, Rory Barber, known to many in the congregation here. Rory's going to open God's Word and he is going to speak about the work of Mission International tonight as well and then he'll speak to the Youth Fellowship at the end of the service. So thank you Rory for being here, we look forward to God's ministry through you tonight. Two things to note in terms of intimations, one is to say that the funeral service for the late John Morrison is tomorrow at 1pm in Bima Borough and there will be a worship awake tonight in Bima Borough at 9pm. Also to note what I should have said this morning, there's a men's prayer breakfast this coming Saturday at nine o'clock and so those who attend that can know that. So these two notes are going to be handed over to the other person.
[1:13] So it's in Gaelic, Sam, is it? Yeah. Okay, well it's nice to be here, good to see you all. I think we're going to be singing in Gaelic but I'm just telling you now I'm not going to read it in Gaelic because I don't know what's going to come out. So it's Psalm 40, the last two verses, I'm just reading in English if that's okay and then we sing it together. In thee let all be glad and joy who's seeking thee abide. Who thy salvation love say still the Lord be magnified. Two verses to God's praise.
[1:52] Si'nยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยย To be continued...
[3:04] And here come, my mother, and here come, my mother, and here come, my mother, and here come, my mother, and here come, my mother,ยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยย
[4:30] Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Okay, let's pray. Lord God our Heavenly Father, we thank you once again that we can come together to praise you to honor you in song and prayer.
[5:29] And the reading of your word. Lord, I pray that the Holy Spirit will be working in this place and particularly in our hearts and our minds today. As we try and learn again about the wonders of the gospel, the living hope that we have in through Jesus Christ is death and particularly of course in the resurrection, defeating sin and death.
[5:52] So Lord, we thank you for what you do for us, what you have done for us, what you will do for us. And we thank you that you're still active in our lives, bringing about repentance where we need to repent, bringing joy where we need joy and healing and grace and much more in our lives from day to day.
[6:11] And Lord, we know that many of us will face many challenges. Though I'll speak about some places today that are extreme in many ways, who are going through very difficult times.
[6:25] We just pray for ourselves in the difficulties that we face, but also praying for others who are going through grave times in their own lives, from Myanmar to countries in Africa, as we'll see.
[6:40] So we commit our time to you. We pray more than anything else that our time will be honoring to you, glorifying to you as we lift up our voices in praise.
[6:51] May the glory and honor and praise be all yours. And we pray for the congregation here. Lord, I thank you for the opportunity of being able to speak again in North Harris.
[7:03] Lord, it is such a great privilege. And we pray that as we share the gospel again, we'll be blessed and challenged in equal measure.
[7:16] And I pray that all the work that is done here from pastoral work and daily work, and also to working with the young people. Lord, we pray your blessing upon each and every one of them.
[7:28] And we know the great challenges that the churches have. We give thanks for all that you give this place and all the people here and all the families and all the challenges that each and every one of course face.
[7:40] But we thank you for each and every one of them. And may your blessing rest upon each and every one of them. And Lord, we know that the challenges in life as we reach out in the gospel, it isn't always received well.
[7:55] But at the same time, we pray that you'll be planting seeds in the hearts of men and women, boys and girls, in the whole area. And in the lives of people that we know, seeking to bless them with the good news of Jesus.
[8:07] Lord, I pray that you would give us a heart and a desire to work through all of that in the mission of the church. And the testimony of the church. We worship you a living Savior.
[8:18] And so we ask that you will bless our time together and lift our hearts up and our minds and challenge us in our walk today so that we can honor you each day of our own lives.
[8:33] Go before us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, we're going to sing another song of praise. This time it's the hymn, Yet Not I.
[8:45] What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer. There is no more for heaven than now again. He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom, my steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.
[8:58] Let's sing this to God's praise. Amen. What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer.
[9:20] There is no more for heaven than to give. He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom, my steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.
[9:40] To this I call my hope is only Jesus, for my life is only God to live.
[9:53] All our strength and divine. All our strength and divine. All our strength and divine. All our strength and divine. All our strength and divine. All our strength and divine. All our strength and divine. All our strength and divine. To God is in need.
[10:05] The things inside are the triumph of the Savior, for by my side is the Savior we will stay.
[10:19] I leave a godly weakness and rejoicing, for in my need is our grace to stay.
[10:31] In this my home, my shepherd will defend me, to the deepest of the evil be.
[10:45] Oh, the night has begun, but I shall overcome, yet my life once provides to me.
[10:56] Oh, the night I have been, I know I have forgiven. The future sure, the price has been made.
[11:11] On Jesus' bread, I've suffered for my heart. I leave so much rage to the Lord, for the greater.
[11:23] To this I hold, as sinners may be dead. Jesus' love, whatever is my dream.
[11:35] All the chains are released, I can say, I am free and alive, but through Christ indeed.
[11:47] To this I hold. my I cry but through Christ in me.
[13:17] I do want to go back to Pastor Lucy at some point in the near future of Hollywood. But Brian and I was just the only nice mission into Marshall.
[13:29] Brian for the job of going to different places. We work currently in the 17, no, 16 different countries. And several in Africa, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
[13:43] Anybody know this flag? Burundi. It's a lovely flag. It's almost Scottish. But it's much more vibrant as you would expect.
[13:54] So what I'm going to do is I'm going to say very quickly some of the things, some of the people, some of the projects. And there's one flag at the end. I'm not going to be a speaker because I'm not speaker at the end of the summer.
[14:06] And it's one of the most important messages that I've ever received on mission. I'm being part of and I believe it's very much part of the assurance of Jesus Christ that we are ambassadors for.
[14:19] And you know what I mean when I get there. Okay. So Burundi. So next slide should be Hugh Henderson. The late Hugh Henderson. Started mission international over 20 years ago. And he was going to step down.
[14:33] I've been working with Vision International for about 11 years. Just going on trips, being part of Helm still and being able to go to other places. And work alongside Hugh. But he was getting old and he was mostly feeling well.
[14:45] And so he decided to step down in view of the fact that I would take over for a while. He didn't last long unfortunately. He ended up being transferred and I think he was spread and in a few months he had passed away.
[14:59] He was angry behind. And a difficult shadow to follow. I've just even, you could get nowhere near his ability in the way he dealt with people and the groups.
[15:16] And he managed to bring them all forward. And I'm curious about some things that I really overneared this guy. So, a difficult person to follow.
[15:29] I give thanks for him every day. He was, you know, definitely a saint of the Lord. And just profound in people that I've met through his work that he was doing for the Lord.
[15:41] So, the next slide is, I want to show you some of the projects we do. Now, we do things that help people on a day to day basis. Our primary thing with Mission International is we want to share the gospel.
[15:54] We want to train pastors and do whatever we can. And that means, however, we could be given Bibles out every week, but some of the people are in such dire straits.
[16:05] They don't have water, they don't have food, they might not live beyond two weeks in some certain instances, as you will see, being affected by flooding, etc. So, we want to be able to help them.
[16:16] This is in a rural area of Burundi. This is the fourth water project that we have. There is a spring up a hill. Beautiful, clean water. So, four projects we have managed to be able to pass on.
[16:28] Running water in homes and medical centres and schools, etc. In these rural areas, it has completely changed their lives. And that is through the generous donation, particularly of one organisation, the Souter Foundation, we are able to build many staging tanks that come down from the hill.
[16:45] And we have just finished that one in the last couple of months. And it is such a great blessing. Ok, next one. There is just an image of that. So, that is in the middle of housing.
[16:57] There is loads of these around and about. Some schools don't get any help from the World Food Programme unless they are running water. Now the schools in these rural areas are running water, which is fantastic.
[17:08] So, it is really a privilege to be able to bring something simple that we turn a tap on or keep running or just whatever. We don't really have a great attitude for water.
[17:22] But when you see places that don't have good, clean running water. But there you go. So, that is one of the projects we provide for needs that they have. What is up next?
[17:36] Ok, anybody know where this is? It is in Africa. South Sudan. Ok. Right, next picture.
[17:48] That is a refugee camp in Kekuma, Northern Kenya. About 100 and whatever miles from the border of South Sudan. There are Camp 1, Camp 2, Camp 3 and Camp 4.
[18:01] Calabayye, Camp 4. It is a different sort of camp. Where people who have been in the other camps, if they wanted to become residents of Kenya, they are given a little bit of ground. And they have a bit more ground than what you see there.
[18:13] Currently, in Kekuma, similar in other places like Northern Uganda, there are similar camps like that. Currently, because of the conflict in Sudan, which is now overflowing into South Sudan.
[18:27] And the number of people had died when we were there, but not in the camp, but back in South Sudan. There are 400,000 people currently in these camps. What was actually disturbing to me is that when I was speaking to a 26-year-old from South Sudan, I asked him the question, When did you come here?
[18:50] I was six months. So, you know nothing in life other than a refugee camp. 26 years. Yeah, and I want to go home. And he has never experienced home.
[19:03] He was on a journey. And the tribal issues in South Sudan, and then the conflict in Sudan, all of that is flowing over, and there's lots of things happening.
[19:16] So, if it's true to say that the figures we have, South Sudan is currently the poorest country in the world. Although it does have oil, and I'm sure there's corruption, there's a lot of violence.
[19:30] But it's overflowing as well from the dreadful events in Sudan that's happening, and it's really sad to see. So, we work with people. So, we go to the camp.
[19:41] I didn't personally feel any threats at all towards us. Although, there were maybe one or two. Some Muslims weren't very pleased with the fact that we were there working with a church from South Sudan in there.
[19:58] So, next slide. So, one of the things about South Sudan is that a lot of them speak English. So, we can actually give them English Bibles. So, this is study Bibles for pastors.
[20:10] Fantastic initiative we can give, and we help them in their studies, and so on and so forth. The big guy on the left there is the partner we have. Stefano Chaw, brilliant guy.
[20:22] Big lad, but is currently living in South Sudan, not in the camps. He just came to the camps to meet us. So, it's a great thing. We bought commentaries for them, and so on and so forth.
[20:33] So, we're able to provide material like that for them because they've got good English. Next one. This is the greeting that we have. So, you've got, I'm very surprised that Kiki and the guys that weren't, had a nice little line up for me outside there, they didn't bother.
[20:45] This is what we get in South Sudanese church. They dress up. They love visitors coming, and the youth guys are down the bottom. So, the young people didn't get off of it either.
[20:58] They lined up, and we got a great welcome. But, of course, you get to the nitty gritty if you give me the next slide. One of the things we did there.
[21:09] Now, that doesn't, it maybe looks like a lot of food. That's flour in the yellow green things. And there's beans there in the background, and you see these five litre things that are oil.
[21:23] We managed to provide $1,000 worth of food. That's $1,000 worth there.
[21:35] It's a rip off, quite frankly. But what I find most common, whether it's Malawi, in certain places that are struggling, you're ending up paying a lot higher prices for food.
[21:48] Especially for people who are starving. So, we provided for the most badly affected by the loss of aid or whatever, and then people coming from, who have been traveling miles and miles and miles to get to safety.
[22:01] This relative safety of Kakuma in Northern Kenya in the camps. So, we do that because we want people to be able to survive. We want the churches and the organizations that we work with to survive, but they also need food to survive.
[22:17] Next one. So, Kenya itself, we're actually, we are in Kenya. We were in Kenya meeting the South Sudanese guys. So, I know I showed the flag, but all the rest of it. However, now, here you have the two rodis.
[22:34] Right? See that poor wee guy I'm giving a hug to. He was baptized. Roddy Barbus McCray.
[22:47] He does have his Maasai name, but Roddy is in the middle of it. And they did spell it slightly different to the Scottish way. But that's wee Roddy. And it's a family that I supported myself directly.
[23:01] The older sister, not the one behind us on the right hand side there. But the older sister again through our education. And she's now working in a church, married and working in a church.
[23:13] But the family of Maasai, and this wee kid is not the youngest. The father is over 90. And he's got several kids. But this is wee Roddy. He's doing very well in school at the moment as well.
[23:27] So, we continue to support him. I thought I'd show wee Roddy to you, because I think he deserves a wee share. Anyway, that's what happens to you when you work with folk. They tend to name Hugh Haswell named after him and myself, the wee Maasai kid here called Roddy.
[23:44] Next slide. Don't like the post or anything. Now, there was another video I wanted to show you my dancing in the Maasai thing, round a fire. But you'd better leave that.
[23:55] It's not worth watching. They're worth watching. I'm not. I have absolutely no rhythm, whatever. Now, Myanmar. I was hoping to go to Myanmar just before COVID.
[24:06] We were in Bangladesh and we were told, you're going to have to do 14 days quarantine. So, we didn't go. So, what we did is when we came back, we did training of pastors. This to me is one of the most amazing countries and partners we work with.
[24:19] Tunnel Inn is such an incredible guy. Great organiser, incredible evangelist. So, let's just see some of the slides. So, what happens then, if you're, if your kids, hands up if you like, school.
[24:33] I was. I was here. That's pretty cool if you're there. Okay. Anybody else like school? Nah. Okay. Right. Now, I'm, I'm, I'm with you. I didn't go to school either much.
[24:44] But anyway, I advise against that. I learn as much as you can. Just saying, you might have to go back to school in your 20s. It really is very hard. Anyway, these guys, this is the big meal we have for Christmas with them on the left. And they're all super organised. You can see they're a bit different to other places.
[24:55] The, the Asians themselves tend to be really super organised and how they do stuff. However, if you're going to moan about your facilities in school, that picture on the right is them studying. They've taken all the benches out of their buildings. The reason for it is the military junta, bomb churches and other buildings that people meet.
[25:08] It's not, I don't think it's particularly because they're Christians, it might be, but it's because you can meet as a crowd. And that's because you can meet as a crowd. And that's because they're all super organised. And that's because they're all super organised. And that picture on the right is the picture on the right is in the forested areas.
[25:34] The kids are absolutely determined to have an education. They want to learn a system. And that picture on the right is in the forested areas. The kids are absolutely determined to have an education.
[25:46] They want to learn to speak English. They will do whatever it takes to have an education. Isn't that amazing? And so the big meal is what we provide at Christmas time. We, we think there were several thousand kids fed last Christmas.
[25:59] And it is just a joy to be able to see these kids enjoy a Christmas meal around Christmas. It doesn't necessarily mean it's on Christmas Day. We give them the flexibility to do what they need to do however they want to do themselves.
[26:12] It's truly fantastic. And next one. So that's, that's what I've just said. I'm not going to bother speaking about it, but that's what happens. The buildings tend to be bombed. That's where they often have their schools as well.
[26:23] Hence why they don't remain there. They're just going to the bush to try and survive. That's family, different family members who their village was pretty much put on fire. And, and now they're in just on the outskirts of Yang Gong in the capital.
[26:36] Next one. So what we see is the ministry to the water pump there cost about 200 pound. This was for a family of who were Buddhists, but they're reaching out to the Buddhists.
[26:48] And what we're discovering recently is that a number of them became Christians in the last few weeks, the people that they've been reaching out to. So we support the missionary himself, the local, to be able to do mission work in different ways, not just preach the gospel, but provide means for their survival.
[27:07] That only costs 200 pound. And it's such an amazing thing to see. There's food being given out again, beans and rice and whatever they need. Next slide.
[27:18] But here's the joy that we have. This is our number one coming through with the partners. Baptizing. We get pictures of people being baptized regularly, the preaching and so on and so forth.
[27:30] It is truly amazing to see what the partners that we work with, what they're doing from a day to day, and what they're being supported by, the people who give to Mission International. All their money goes to Mission.
[27:42] Wherever it is going, 100% of any gift always goes to the work of the mission. So, absolutely amazing. Pray for Myanmar. It is very, very difficult.
[27:54] I could get to Yangon, although we're not allowed to stay with the people. We'd have to be in a hotel and we'd be able to do some training with them just about now.
[28:05] But it's taken a long time to get to that place. We're hoping to do it. It's one of the places that I want to go to because we've been involved with them so long. Okay, next.
[28:16] Malawi. Malawi has been really tricky in the south. The further north you are, it seems to be better. But the southern area seems to be a real challenge.
[28:28] Now, that picture on the right was after a strong wind blew off the roof. Now, being an ex-builder, you don't build something with strength from mud bricks.
[28:39] And you can't have ties from the building really that will work effectively. So, this is a common phenomenon with people who need something, but they'll do it quickly.
[28:51] And they don't necessarily think about how it's going to work in a long term way. Now, currently, from the message I got the other day, it's been raining for about 10 or 11 days straight.
[29:04] Around Blantyre, south of Blantyre. It's just incredible what they have to endure. It's very difficult. They don't have the infrastructure like we do. If we had 10 days rain, we'd go, hmm, Scotland, innit?
[29:18] We just are used to it. But we've got a different, we don't have the red sand. It's rocky. It's just much more survivable than that. And a lot of the people have been starving in recent times.
[29:32] And it's a repeat, repeat cycle on hits. And then there's the effects of the cycle of crops damaged. The housing damaged. Just recently, we gave up a few thousand for building mud bricks, houses from mud bricks, food aid in Mozambique, as well as in Malawi.
[29:53] It's just a repeat, repeat, repeat. And it's predominantly because the infrastructure is so bad in terms of drainage and all the rest of it, everything gets impacted. And it's, it's, we've been here several times in the last two or three years.
[30:07] And it's really hard. So they'll eat things that, a lot of them can be that hungry. I don't know if you know what yams are. Yams, you get poisonous ones and ones that are edible, that you can buy.
[30:23] And, but a lot of people know that the poisonous ones will do some damage, especially to children. And a lot of people die from them. So that's the real challenge that we have from day to day.
[30:34] We want to provide them food, but it's really costly. This time it seemed to be better than normal, but still, it is really challenging. So next slide. We provide clean water for obvious reasons.
[30:48] Waterborne diseases are very common. And after the damage that is caused, obviously they're looking for whatever they can eat and drink. The one on the left there is a 30 foot well, manually dug.
[31:00] Not a machine dug one that costs about £2,000. So we were given £5,000 from a group in Dundee. We managed to get them to dig two wells. And you can see the blue on the bottom there, the beginning of the water coming through.
[31:14] So they have to go about 30 foot down. Now in Myanmar, the pump, you just went two foot down. Okay. This is a completely different. The water table is much deeper.
[31:26] Yeah, it's really difficult. We feel deeply sorry for them. And it's impossible for us to help them as a small organisation in a way we would like. Okay, next slide. So this is a lot of the people that were helping with food, emergency food.
[31:40] Children, all vulnerable people. And you can tell a lot of them don't eat very much. Just keep the slide. This one, no, go back, go on.
[31:51] Now these poor guys are listening to someone talk from 1 John 1. That's me. And I would prefer decent preachers to be doing the teachers, Mr. McLeod.
[32:05] I know. So there's plenty of opportunity. You can come with me to Burundi, Rwanda. Anytime. Okay, right. Okay.
[32:16] So anyway, they love being taught the word. They come from a long distance, but it's getting harder because of the cost of travel. It's a real challenge.
[32:27] But nonetheless, I'm doing it electronically in this occasion. And they take notes. I send them the notes. I do put it through the spell checker first.
[32:38] And even though that doesn't always catch the wrong words. But anyway, they're hungry for the word. Next slide. One of the amazing stories from the cyclone over two years ago was Cyclone Freddy.
[32:51] Absolutely, just hugely destructive. The second time it hit, it went back out to the Indian Ocean and picked up a lot of moisture. It absolutely decimated the place. A lot of people were killed.
[33:03] But the government put the people in loads of camps of thousands rather than multiple thousands. So it was just an incredible moment for me listening to Pastor Elton.
[33:16] He decided to preach the gospel. It was not long after that bit of teaching. He started to preach the gospel. And he said, the first message I got was this.
[33:28] And I asked Hugh, Hugh was still living, and I asked Hugh what it meant. He says, pray for me for the Muslim leaders are looking for me with red eyes. I went, what? What does that mean?
[33:41] They're full of rage that he was preaching the gospel in the camp and over 50 to 60 Muslims became Christians. And over 600 came to faith at the time.
[33:55] Just incredible. But they continue preaching and moving into rural areas and continue to preach. There's obviously baptisms and crowds meeting. You can see in the tents and so on.
[34:07] It's just amazing to see the work, even though the work is really hard to do. They've got every reason not to do it, but they continue to do it.
[34:18] So we want to keep supporting them as much as we can in the most feasible way possible. Training and obviously material that they need from day to day when we can.
[34:29] We'd hope to do maybe a bigger project in Malawi. Maybe a school that has a church attached so you can get a bit of both. Maybe a better structure on the next occasion.
[34:41] But it would take a lot more money and time to plan that. Next. Right. I'm not going to say very much about Rhonda because I'm going to bring this up in just a moment.
[34:54] Can I have the picture? Right. Bishop Nathan of Kigali is the boy I'm beside here in the dog collar and there's a couple of archdeacons. And one of our team is dancing with the teachers.
[35:07] That's what they do, by the way, when the teachers go on holiday and the kids have left, everybody's dancing. Okay. That's what they do in Harris, obviously. They do that definitely in Rwanda.
[35:18] They're absolutely looking forward to their several weeks of holiday. So I just want you to know that that's exactly how your teachers feel when you're off on holiday. Bishop Nathan is absolutely an amazing guy.
[35:30] The next picture is the person I'm going to be speaking about shortly. So you want to change that? Not this one. The next one. Sorry, just hold that and I'll stop now.
[35:41] Okay. That church is now a tomb. You know, when 800,000 people were killed in the space of 100 days or so.
[35:54] And what happened was that the priest stood at the door and the people outside coming to attack the people seeking refuge in the church building.
[36:07] And he said to them, they were from the same tribe. And he said to them, you have to, you will have to kill me if you're going to go in there and kill the people.
[36:22] And that's exactly what they did. Killed them right in the doorstep. And they went in and killed everybody inside. I found it so difficult to try and comprehend what actually took place there between the Hutu and the Tutsis and the events of 100 days.
[36:42] How it's possible to kill 800,000 or so. But I'm going to share with you in a moment, Stephen, in the next slide.
[36:53] I just want to show them to you, but say nothing. Stephen is in the middle. Bonnie's to the left. That is me to the right. And no, I don't dye my hair. But Stephen is the guy I want to speak about.
[37:06] Because he lost all his family. And I hope when we get to the message shortly, that we actually appreciate the wonder of the gospel. And how it changes lives.
[37:18] And how a person like this becomes a practitioner of the grace of God in his life as a pastor. And how that impacts not only this local church, but the whole community by the grace of God.
[37:33] So let's get going. We'll sing again. And I'm watching the time. I'm sorry, but I'll shift fairly quickly. Okay, Mr. McLeod. We've got a psalm to sing.
[37:48] Was it 60? I'm going to get my glasses on. Psalm 67. Psalm 67. The first verse. Lord, bless and piteous shine on us with thy face, that the earth, thy way and nations all may know thy saving grace.
[38:05] We'll sing these words to God's praise. Lord, bless and piteous shine on us with thy face, that the earth, thy way and nations all may know thy way.
[38:26] Let people praise thee, Lord.
[38:54] Let people all be praised. O let the nations be glad, in songs their voices raise.
[39:17] Well, just see people judged on earth through nations all.
[39:32] Let people praise thee, Lord. Let them praise thee, Lord. Let them praise thee, both great and small.
[39:49] The earth, the fruit shall yield. Our God shall blessings send.
[40:04] God shall us bless, men shall live fear. And shall live fear. And to earth's utmost end.
[40:18] God shall live fear. And shall live fear. Okay. Right, we're going to read some words from 1 Peter. If we just go down to, we'll read down to verse 9, just to take that last little section out.
[40:33] Oh, we can just finish it there. So we'll read from verse 1, 1 Peter 1, from verse 1 down to verse 9. Greetings. Greetings.
[40:44] Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, in the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ for the sprinkling with his blood.
[41:05] May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
[41:39] In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[42:05] Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
[42:25] May God bless the reading of his word to us. And so, because we are getting a little bit thin on time, I want to get into this as quickly as possible.
[42:36] Now, like a lot of people, I like Peter. He is a guy who has made many a mistake, verbally and whatever, but he has always made mistakes.
[42:47] That's how he appears. Yet, he's a special character. And from all the mistakes that he might have made, the Lord still uses him as one of the main apostles in the early church.
[42:59] But before I get to verse 3, 4 and 5, that's going to be the primary area I want to focus on fairly quickly. And it is just such a joy to be able to hear Peter write these words, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[43:17] According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
[43:39] Now, before we look at that, that is such an incredible testimony, what it is to have a living hope. Now, I don't know about the Herachs, but we Josachs are great at the hoping hope.
[43:56] Or at least bringing it down from its absoluteness in the gospel of Jesus Christ, through the blood of Jesus Christ, and the hope of the glory of God, and all of that that Scripture says clearly, powerfully.
[44:11] To at least bring it down here to a more livable level. You kind of, hmm, hmm, maybe aye, maybe no. Right, I want to speak about that, but here first I want you to grab this thought in your mind.
[44:25] I want to take you back to Peter, and when he's asked by Jesus, who do you say I am? Well, you know, yeah, you're the Messiah, you're the one sent by God. I'm pretty confident that Peter and the others didn't fully understand what Jesus would do as the Messiah.
[44:42] I'm pretty confident that they expected him to be on the throne in Jerusalem and to be the King of Israel. But God's kingdom is much bigger. And the Messiah would do something so radical in laying down his life and giving his lifeblood so that we, his enemies, could be redeemed and given new life in the new birth when we believe in Jesus Christ.
[45:08] So, you've got Peter seeing the miracles of Jesus, experiencing things that you would never imagine in so many different ways about the Messiah that he walked with.
[45:20] And yet this same Peter said when he heard Jesus say, the Son of Man must suffer on the third day be raised again. I paraphrase. And he said, no way. That ain't going to happen to you.
[45:32] And Jesus says, get behind me, Satan. You don't know the will of God here. This must be done. This is critical for the salvation of the world that I will lay down my life, give my life on the cross.
[45:49] But when you hear the words of living hope, we have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The blood of Jesus pays for the price of our sin.
[46:02] The resurrection is what gives us hope. Why? Because Jesus is alive. The grave couldn't hold Jesus.
[46:13] That's the power of the gospel. It is truly amazing. Right? So, Peter, right? He sees Jesus being arrested, denies Jesus three times.
[46:25] He's seen the physical Jesus in the flesh, in a boat, on a shore, up a hill. He momentarily sees the glory and the transfiguration.
[46:36] He sees some amazing things. Oh, I'm not going to deny you. Cock-a-doodle-doo, cock-a-doodle-doo, cock-a-doodle-doo. And there he is, led away to be beaten and crucified.
[46:51] And thinking about Peter in this moment, it is amazing what John and others in the gospel reveal about Peter and all of them, including John. They were fearful. They were fearful that they would experience this painful death, the brutality of Jesus, because they were one of Jesus' disciples.
[47:11] And then, of course, when the events happened and Jesus is buried in the tomb, and eventually the women come to anoint the body of Jesus, only to find the stone rolled away.
[47:24] The stone wasn't rolled away to let Jesus out. It was to let the disciples in to see the empty tomb. But the women went and ran, according to John, they ran to them to tell them that the grave is empty.
[47:39] The grave is empty. And they ran. John overtakes Peter, but Peter was flying in to see for himself. And it's interesting what John says as one of the witnesses at the time in terms of the conversation.
[47:54] They went away and locked themselves in a room. Why? For the fear of the Jews. Then the most glorious thing, and this is why I want you to have this in your mind.
[48:08] As you hear that we have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They saw their Messiah, the one sent by God, die and be buried.
[48:23] And he's no longer in the tomb. Maybe they're thinking someone stole the body. They're fearful. Jesus comes into a locked room in the resurrection body.
[48:37] My hands, my side, my feet. Now, if you're not expecting that, what are you thinking at that moment?
[48:50] You're thinking, how did you get in here? And it's said, they were terrified. Peace be with you. I don't know. I don't know if it would be that peaceful.
[49:03] But Jesus showed up in a resurrection body after dying on the cross. So he was fulfilling the Old Testament promises, especially at the very beginning, when the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.
[49:17] And here he is in resurrection power, fulfilling what he said himself, the son of man must suffer, must die and on the third day be raised again.
[49:31] Now, what I love about how Jesus deals with Peter, the failing Peter, the stumbling Peter, eventually that they would have breakfast on the shore when Peter sees him. It's the master and he jumps over, runs in, has breakfast with Jesus.
[49:45] Just imagine that for a moment. That resurrected Jesus having breakfast with Peter. Why do you think he's saying no to these churches mid 60, give or take, prior to the mass, destruction of Nehru and others to Christians.
[50:05] He's telling them, I have seen the risen Lord. It's interesting that he doesn't first of all say, I'm so sorry about your suffering. He doesn't do that.
[50:16] He just says, hold that thought. I want to tell you about Jesus. Praise be to God. Praise be to God for his mercy.
[50:27] Praise be to God according to his great mercy that he has caused us to be born again into a living hope. A living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[50:42] Jesus paid the price for the sin of the world, for the guilty to redeem them. To pay the price for the enemies of God who believe in him, to make them the sons and daughters of God.
[50:58] Here you are seeing the power of the resurrection. And why I have a problem with certainly the Lewis folk and the kind of hope that we have.
[51:12] I kind of hope so. I think that we have a feeling of hope. It's not a performance about you or me. We respond to the grace and the truth of God. And the truth is this, that we have a living hope.
[51:25] Why? Because Jesus is alive. And he has ascended to the right hand of God the Father. And it tells you that he is alive and continues to intercede for you.
[51:37] And there is nowhere on this earth where you are out in a boat or up a hill, or wherever it might be, that this hope diminishes in any way when you believe in him, when you're born again in him.
[51:50] This living hope is for every single person who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that doesn't mean that your character or that you have no failures in your life.
[52:06] We are all looking at Jesus knowing full well we need Jesus. It is the blood of Jesus that we need for the forgiveness of sin. It is this resurrection power of Jesus Christ from the dead.
[52:20] We have a living hope through him. And therefore he is at the right hand of God interceding for us. He is still alive. And what he has provided in the life and death on the cross is salvation is paid for in full.
[52:35] But the grave couldn't hold the one that paid the price in full. He was raised again. And so therefore we have a living relationship. Every day.
[52:47] Living, living, living. Therefore your hope is always alive. Always, always, always. And that is the staggering reality of what is in front of us.
[53:02] I remember the story of a man from Aberdeen coming to a funeral in Lewes. And he made a friend and they were chatting away and talking about the funeral that he was coming to. This old lady that passed away, a wonderful old lady who prayed for many a person.
[53:15] And the fellow from Aberdeen said, oh you know, Oh she'll be in the presence of the Lord now just praising God and enjoying the presence and peace of God.
[53:28] And the person from Lewes said, oh I don't know if I can say that about myself. And he looked startled, the boy from Aberdeen. And he said, what? You're a Christian aren't you? Oh aye.
[53:39] Do you see it? See, I get the fact that we're called to follow Jesus.
[53:51] And the call is to be continually transformed. But don't mistake that with being in Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ does completely.
[54:02] And your relationship is therefore complete when you're born again, when you believe in him. Because he's the only one that can make the unrighteous righteous.
[54:14] And provides for you the salvation required and the hope that doesn't perish. Now look at what happens here. Look at the text. We have a living hope because he has caused us, the ESV says, to be born again.
[54:31] To a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance that cannot perish. That is imperishable, undefiled and unfading. Kept in heaven for you.
[54:43] And the amazing thing is this. Is that what Jesus did about 2000 or so years ago still works. The priests in the Old Testament had a day, do it in the Day of Atonement.
[54:56] And do this and do it again, do it again, do it again. But Jesus did it once. Because of who he was. He was the great high priest who would do the ultimate sacrifice.
[55:10] And he did it in full. He did it completely. And he doesn't do it again. He did it once and for all. And the joy therefore is this. That when you believe in him.
[55:21] You enjoy the privileges and the outcome. Of what Jesus did in his life. In his death. And in his resurrection. And it's described in this way.
[55:34] It is imperishable. The inheritance that is imperishable. Undefiled. Unfading. Kept. In heaven for you. Because the one who did it for you.
[55:46] Is in heaven. At the right hand of God the Father. Continuing to intercede for you. Wherever you may be. Whatever the struggle.
[55:57] That is the glory of what. Where you are placed as a believer. That is what you're given. That is the joy. The privilege. The power. That you are given every day. Because of he.
[56:09] Who is a representative. Not just in the crucifixion. But at the right hand of God the Father. Continues to intercede for you. Is living. Alive. Loves you.
[56:20] Wants you to be transformed. Wants you to be wise. And loving. And all of the above. That's the whole of the rest of your life. But understand where you are placed in him.
[56:32] And what it means for you. Marina is absolutely adamant. That I am the only Lewis person. That has never been in my inheritance. Left a croft. I don't think I am.
[56:44] But the reason for it is. That every previous relative. Had a good old scrap about it. And by the time it got to me. The young. The young person in the family. There was nothing left. But you see.
[56:55] This inheritance. Is just beautiful. Just listen to them. And marvel at what God has done. In Jesus Christ for you. The inheritance.
[57:07] The inheritance is imperishable. Undefiled. Unfading. Kept in heaven for you. Just praise God for that. Just enjoy that.
[57:19] What a privilege. What an honor. Finally. Who. It's kept in heaven for you. Who. By God's power. Are being guarded. Through faith.
[57:30] For a salvation. Ready to be revealed in the last time. Different translations. Put it in slightly different ways. But it doesn't really matter. It's the same thing. So sometimes. I struggle myself. Because of. Maybe. The just my own personal nature.
[57:41] But often. I do feel. Sometimes. The rebuke of God. When I underplay this hope. When I underplay the inheritance. When I underplay the inheritance. When I do feel. When I do feel. The rebuke of God. When I underplay this hope.
[57:52] When I underplay the inheritance. When I start arguing with God in prayer. Why is this happening again. Lord. I don't know if you're like me. But I'm just being honest. That's a minister. Okay. Because I think it happens elsewhere.
[58:03] Because I want everybody. To tell them. To tell them. To tell them. To tell them. To tell them. To tell them. To tell them. To tell them. To tell them.
[58:14] To tell them. I don't know if you're like me, but I'm just being honest. That's a minister, okay? Because I think it happens elsewhere. It's just that we don't talk about it, but I do, because I want everybody to understand that it happens.
[58:28] And then he kind of brings me back to reality and say, hey, hey, hey, this is what I've done for you. My mercy and grace doesn't change at the whim of whatever happens to you, barless.
[58:45] And that is the great thing about the gospel. Just think, it's kept in heaven for you, but the power of God continues to sustain you and equip you.
[58:57] It's guarded, being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Jesus not only has saved you now, but he has readied you for his return.
[59:11] So what does that demand of you? What response comes from that? Do we just remain passive?
[59:24] Well, actually, we're called to, as a body, to live a life for the glory of his name.
[59:36] And the church itself becomes a place that practices the grace of God within it. Churches have been ripped apart when we fail to do the most central thing we're called to do.
[59:55] Isn't it interesting that Paul and Peter and John and James and pretty much everyone in the New Testament really challenges the outward reality of what is taking place inwardly and how churches can become a boiling pot for the wrong thing?
[60:12] Isn't it interesting if you really take the time to read? Love each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Brotherly love. Practice it. The command to practice brotherly love.
[60:24] That is a command on the back of what God has done for us. And also, by the way, you and I, as believers in Jesus Christ, have the gift of repentance.
[60:40] And repentance isn't just for the day I became a Christian, because I know I still fail. Therefore, if you're reading the Lord's Prayer, therefore, if the Lord is teaching you how to pray, guess what's in there?
[60:54] Forgive me my sins. That is not just referencing something that happened before I became a Christian and becoming a Christian in salvation. It isn't every day, because I know that I can give Satan a foothold in my life at any given moment because of my own weak character.
[61:15] And here's the thing for me. That man that you saw on the screen there, Stephen in Rwanda, taught me an incredible lesson.
[61:29] When we were sitting in that cafe after preaching over two days, two sermons on the Monday, two on the Tuesday, and after that, we went to this cafe to have a bite of food.
[61:46] And he turned around to me and he said, Roddy, see the day when you were preaching in the church, see the two guys that were sitting up beside you, two of my elders, and some of the congregation were the people who killed my family.
[62:04] All of my family. And I'm kind of looking at the other guys going, what? Yeah, all of my family, not just my close family, my extended family were all killed.
[62:16] We were in the DRC, we were in the jungle, we hid for a month during the violence, but we stayed an extra month because we didn't believe that it was over. We thought they were trying to coax us out so they could kill us.
[62:26] We stayed an extra month. And when we came back, everybody was dead. And I'm sitting there going, whoa. Right.
[62:37] So, the people that killed your family, some of them were, yeah. And all of a sudden, it dawned on me that I just had the most exquisite, incredible, teaching lesson of biblical love that I'd ever had.
[63:01] What does the Lord say? Love your enemy. He explained why.
[63:14] So, Rolnie, just after we were coming out and all the events had happened, I remember praying to the Lord as a young man. I was angry. I wanted to kill. And it was as clear as this, he said, Rwanda will never survive unless you forgive.
[63:31] Now, I think the testimony wasn't just there. It was the continued outcome of the pouring of grace in the community. It was a very rural community.
[63:43] You wouldn't know there was a lot of people. But 27 years ago, Hugh Henderson, Bishop Nathan, Amoti, and Stephen and others built two classrooms in that area.
[63:55] When we were there, there were over 2,000 children in the school. It's just amazing what happened. Now, when you understand, when he heard the voice of the Lord say, Rwanda will never survive unless you forgive, and he became a practitioner of what he experienced himself, and I think he had justifiable reasons to be angry.
[64:20] But here he was, knowing full well, I want to love like Jesus loved. I want to forgive like Jesus forgives.
[64:32] And years later, 26 years, as an eyewitness to the testimony of what grace can do in the life of a person, and therefore in the life of a church, when it is, when the church practices what it preaches, you're seeing a community that knows the truth, knows the people who killed, knows who died, and there they are, living in harmony with one another because the gospel has changed everything.
[65:04] just, we spent an hour and a bit coming back from the place back to Kigali, and we barely said a word.
[65:17] But that's when it dawned on me, I thought, you know what, I've just seen something so profound in my life, and we argue about the colour of paint, and we argue about this, and we argue about that.
[65:31] And we've got about 2% of the need, of the nation involved in evangelical Christianity or in our nation. What do you think the nation needs? What do you think Tarbert North Highers needs?
[65:45] It needs the gospel. It needs this vibrant community of believers to be on fire for the gospel, knowing the gospel changes lives, and it gives people a living hope.
[65:58] And you're called to be practitioners of that grace that you've experienced, loving, forgiving, moving on, helping, stirring up one another in love and good works. That's your calling in light of what you have in Jesus Christ.
[66:12] It's truly amazing. Well, that's my hope for you, that we take this, are blown away by it, enjoy it, love it, let it transform your life in every part of it.
[66:35] And next time in a couple of years when I'm back, if you allow me back before then, Mr. MacLeod, I'll be hearing great things about what's happening in North House. I'm hearing that anyway, by the way.
[66:46] Okay? So be encouraged. I'm hearing that I'm hearing that I'm hearing that it's just such an important message for the church. And I want people to be talking about the gospel and the power of the gospel and the fact that we have a living hope because we're born again in Christ, because he is our redeemer, because he lives and he keeps on giving to you every day so that you become practitioners of his love, not allowing Satan a foothold in your life, individually or collectively as the body.
[67:15] Okay? That's the future. Live for him, for the glory of his name. This is what you have in Jesus if you're not there yet. This is a call to you to stop resting in the flaky reality of your own life.
[67:31] You get everything you need from him. You have access into the new heavens and the new earth through him who lay down his life for you and you have hope, a living hope through him and him alone.
[67:46] And he does it for you entirely and completely. That's Jesus. And then he calls you to follow him. Follow him. Imitate him. Be like him.
[67:56] Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Keep in step with the Spirit. Produce the fruit of the Spirit. Amen. Okay, let's sing. Sorry, Miss MacLeod, we're battering on here.
[68:07] And I'll take the rebuke for going a few minutes over. Ready. Ready. What are we singing? We're singing in Christ Alone.
[68:19] And if you've got a book, it's 1072. And again, this hymn itself explains the joy that you have, the hope that you have in Christ alone. My hope is found.
[68:29] He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. Let's sing this to God's praise. Let's sing this earth to the fiercest drought and storm.
[69:13] What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are still, when strivings cease.
[69:25] My comfort, my holy hope, here in the love of Christ, I stand.
[69:35] I stand. In Christ alone, my took of flesh, full is a God in helpless faith.
[69:56] This gift of love and righteousness, this gift of love and righteousness, storm and wanting came to save, till on the cross, as Jesus died, the breath of God was satisfied, for every sin on him was laid, here in the earth of Christ, I stand.
[70:26] there in the ground, it's all delay, light of the world by darkness slain, then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave he rose again.
[70:56] And as he stands in victory, since Christ has lost its grip on me, for I am his and he is mine, off with the precious blood of Christ.
[71:17] No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me, from life's first Christ, final bread, Jesus commands my destiny, no power of hell, no sea of man, can ever plug me from his hand, till he returns, or calls me home, here in the power of Christ, I'll stand.
[72:10] Well, Lord, we thank you that in you, we have a living hope. We thank you for the cross, we thank you for the resurrection, we thank you that you have ascended, to the right hand of the Father, to continue to intercede for us.
[72:22] And therefore, in you we have a living hope, imperishable, undestructible. It is so incredible to read, to think through, that there is nothing, in all creation, above it, below it, or anywhere else, there is nothing, that can separate us, from the love of God, that is in Christ Jesus.
[72:39] No power, no dominion, nothing. And Lord, it is our joy today, to know you, by the grace, that you have poured out, on our lives.
[72:50] And we thank you, for all that you have done for us. And now, as we depart from here, may your grace, mercy and peace, and much more, that we find in you, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God. May these blessings, rest upon us now, and forevermore.
[73:04] In Jesus name we pray. Amen.