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[0:00] Good morning to everyone and a warm welcome to our service this morning. We welcome Reverend Roddy Morrison here once again to preach. And we welcome to anybody who is visiting with us today and pray for God's blessing upon you as you're with us.

[0:17] The Gaelic service is at 6pm this evening and that's followed by an English fellowship at 7.30. Lucy, is there a lady's Bible study tomorrow night? Oh no, okay.

[0:30] Maybe, maybe not. Road to Recovery meets on Tuesday. Prayer meeting on Wednesday at 7.30 will be conducted by Neil C. McKinnon. And the service is next Sunday.

[0:42] And the minister's absence will be taken by Gordon McLeod at 11am and John McSween at 6pm. The minister and his family are away until the 8th of April and Roddy Morrison has kindly agreed to provide pastoral cover during this time.

[0:58] If anyone needs assistance, please get in touch with one of the elders in the first instance. Many thanks to all the helpers who have prayerfully, and all those who have prayerfully supported the Jam Club since October.

[1:14] And that finished on Friday. And I understand it's been a great blessing to many children, including those who have no formal church connections.

[1:25] We pray on for God's blessing upon that work that has been done. The next community lunch is going to take place on Tuesday the 16th of April.

[1:37] So you can put that one in your diaries. And there will be a cafe in the Tarbot Community Centre to raise funds for the group going to Romania on Friday the 19th of April.

[1:48] So donations of baking and various things will be gratefully received. Please speak to Peggy regarding that if you would like to help out. These are all the intimations.

[1:59] We pray for God's blessing upon our service. And Roddy will now lead us in worship. Thank you. Let us now draw near to God in prayer.

[2:13] Let us all pray. Let us all pray. Let us all pray.

[2:46] Let us all pray.

[3:16] Lord, Lord, if we listen to your voice and if we obey what you tell us to do, then we give testimony that we are indeed your sheep.

[3:35] Lord, Lord, if we listen to your sheep, we are indeed your sheep. Lord, if we listen to your sheep, we are indeed your sheep. We are indeed your sheep. We are indeed your sheep. And upon every one of those who will hear your voice and who will follow you.

[3:48] So, Lord, Lord, we are indeed your sheep. stand out in the community that we belong not to ourselves or to anyone else but to Jesus we belong not to a denomination or to a church or to a congregation first of all we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and we pray that as we live our lives in this world from day to day that we will indeed show forth that we are your people help us to grow in grace and in knowledge of Jesus and to become more and more like him day by day we pray that you'd bless our time together that we would be conscious of the presence and the nearness of the Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity with us and moving among us when he is in the midst of us in a very real way we will rejoice in our hearts and we will know that we have God's smile upon us and that's what we want more than anything else that you would show us your favour and that you would move among us to the glory of your name we ask your forgiveness for all the things that we do wrong from day to day there isn't a day that we do not do wrong in some way or other and we ask that you would cleanse us with the only thing that will cleanse us the blood that was shed that day on the cross the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin so sprinkle us with that blood now Lord as we wait upon you in worship take away all that stands between us and yourself and forgive us and accept us graciously in the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour and our Lord and we shall give you the glory in him forever and ever

[6:15] Amen the boys and girls where are they there a few of them up there you haven't gone on holiday yet no that's good and there are a few one or two here and one or two still up there well I'm sure you know what day it is today that it is alright alright right you know what day it is today that it's what the Lord's Day what are the names for this day Sunday and there is a special name for this day today yes Mother's Day now I'm not going to speak about any of these days but I'm going to speak about tomorrow do you know what day it is tomorrow yes the first first of April what do you call that day the holidays yes yes yes yes it is but there's something special about tomorrow yes

[7:39] April April Fool's Day now we don't know how April Fool's Day began but the point that people are going to be trying to make is to get you to go on an errand somewhere or do something that is just not any sense to it at all maybe you'll get a wee note from somebody take that to the shopkeeper and you'll go off to the shopkeeper and the shopkeeper will open the note and it'll be saying something like send the fool another mile and it's really playing tricks on one another and if you fall for the trick then you are an April Fool in Scotland we have a good name for it a gawk you're a gawk an April Fool gawk you know in France you know what it's called in France an April fish

[8:46] I don't know how they got that name but that's what it's called it's all over Europe you know it's not just in Scotland and England but it's something that's happening all over Europe on the 1st of April so watch out that you don't get caught tomorrow and be an April Fool I was interested to read in the Bible how many times the word fool is used 110 times the Bible mentions fool you know there's a few here I've jotted down fools make a mock of sins says God in his Bible a fool despises his father's instruction the fool has said in his heart there is no God now as far as God is concerned it's not the person who goes on a daft errand here and there that is the fool the fool as far as God is concerned is the person who leaves

[9:59] God out of his life the person who doesn't believe in God at all that's the one who is a fool as far as God is concerned there was a famous king in the Old Testament his name was Saul and he spent a lot of his time trying to kill David who was to be the king after him because he was jealous of David and when he was coming near the end of his life he was fighting the Philistines and he was being defeated and he said and everybody heard him I have played the fool you know he had turned away from God and he had turned his back on the things of God and that's the person who is a fool indeed Jesus spoke about fools as well when he was here on earth remember the story he told about the farmer who had a bumper crop of wheat and hay and potatoes and all the rest of it that they had in those days and he said what am I going to do with these things

[11:15] I've got so much he never thought of giving some to the poor or even thanking God for them he said I'll tear down my sheds and my barns and build bigger ones and bigger ones and I'll store everything that has grown in the ground for me and then I'll sit back and I'll have years and years of doing nothing and I'll just enjoy peace and quietness but he died that very night and you know what God said you fool tonight your soul will be taken from you so that is the fool not the person who goes on daft errands on the first of April so I hope that none of you will be called out tomorrow but especially that none of you will come to be called a fool by God the fool said in his heart there is no

[12:24] God the fool doesn't listen to his father's instruction these are the things that causes our passion to be a fool as far as God is concerned so will you remember that then and I hope that none of you will be a fool in God's sight by forgetting him and leaving him out of your life now a wee prayer and then we'll sing the hymn that we have for you today just a wee prayer heavenly father we thank you that you are the one who can make the simple wise and the people who are not very bright to make them to be really on fire for yourself and live for your glory that will keep us from being fools in God's sight oh Lord bless these children may they all grow up to be true soldiers of Jesus in their own day and in their own generation bless them now and bless us as we sing the hymn that has been chosen for them especially these are prayers we ask in

[13:45] Jesus name Amen our reading is from the gospel according to John chapter 19 and reading from verse 31 to the end of the chapter chapter 19 John's gospel verse 31 Jesus has just been crucified and he has finished the work of atonement on the cross and the next verse says therefore because it was the preparation day that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the sabbath for that sabbath was a high day the Jews asked Pilate that their legs may be broken that they might be taken away then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out and he who has seen has testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe for these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled not one of his bones shall be broken and again another scripture says they shall look on him whom they pierced after this

[15:33] Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the Jews asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him permission so he came and took the body of Jesus Nicodemus who first came to Jesus by night also came bringing a mixture of milk and aloes about a hundred pounds then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in strips of linen with the spices as the custom of the Jews is to bury now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid so there they laid Jesus because of the Jews preparation day for the tomb was nearby amen amen and may

[16:33] God bless to us the reading of his own holy word and to his name be all glory and praise now let us again draw near to God in prayer loving loving heavenly father we come to you with all our requests and our petitions today knowing that you are ready to hear us and to listen to our cries sometimes we can't find words for our prayers and we bless you oh God that you understand the sigh that comes from our breasts and the tear that comes to our eye because there is a prayer in these things as well as what we do audibly loving heavenly father we bring to you the needs of those around us in this community we think especially of those who are not able to come to your house to be with us because of old age and infirmity and illness we commit them to you in our prayers we pray for those who are away from us at this time on holiday we thank you oh

[17:59] God for giving them free time to enjoy themselves and we are sure that whatever they are today that they will find their way to a church that they will attend and will be united in worship with us here although seas and hills and distance divides us from one another and we pray that they will be brought back home to us once again when the holidays are over we pray for any others who are going away tomorrow maybe or during the week we pray that you would give them journeying measures and keep them safe on land or sea or in the air we pray for all the homes of this congregation and we pray for your blessing to be with us as individual families pray for the man's family for David and his wife

[19:07] Mary and the three girls we remember them before you bless them Lord and use them as you have been doing in the days that are ahead to your glory and to your honour and praise we pray for all your people everywhere today and we pray that you bless every preacher of the gospel wherever he preaches the true and living word we pray that you would anoint them all with that anointing that can only come from yourself alone remember us as a nation oh God in these troublous times we don't know what to say or what to pray for regarding the situation in Westminster in the Parliament with Theresa May as the leader of the

[20:09] House of Commons we pray for her Lord and for all who seek the good and the glory of your name we ask oh God that you would overrule in all the affairs that are before us there in such a mess oh God and we pray that you would bring out of this chaos your own will and your own glory above everything else we pray now that you would bless your word to us speak to us from it and help us to understand it and help us to obey it as well for we need to hear and we need to do what you command us to do be with us now as we continue to sing your praises together and as we worship you in our hearts Lord we thank you for being with us and according to your word you are here in our midst breathe upon us the breath of your Holy

[21:20] Spirit in Jesus name Amen for a few moments let us turn prayerfully to God's word and to that passage that we read chapter 19 of John's gospel and at verse 38 John 19 verse 38 after this Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the Jews asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him permission so he came and took the body of Jesus and Nicodemus who first came to Jesus by night also came bringing a mixture of men and aloes about a hundred pounds in these verses at the end of the 19th chapter of John we come face to face with two disciples disciples of

[22:30] Jesus who were secret disciples and secret followers of him it's not the first time that we come across this in the scriptures in this very book that John wrote in chapter 12 and verses 42 and 43 we read these words nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in him but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God now sadly that is something that is in our own churches throughout our land to this very day and in every generation there is that that happens when people turn away and hide what God has done in their lives men and women and young people who ought to be all out for God and not ashamed to own him hide what God has done in their lives and refuse to come out to the open to tell the world that they belong to

[24:02] Jesus they are afraid to lose their popularity with their friends and with the people that they work with as well it's very possible that it was Joseph and Nicodemus that John had in mind when he was writing in chapter 12 and in these verses that we read for here in this chapter they both emerge out of the shadows after Jesus died and they come out openly on the side of Jesus we don't know a great deal about these two men very little is told about them but the little that we know about them tell us a lot and teach us a lot in the Christian life they were both Pharisees for a start they were members of the Sanhedrin the ruling court of the

[25:07] Jewish church at that time they were members of something like the presbytery in our day something like that they both believed in their hearts that Jesus was indeed the Messiah the Son of God the Saviour of the world they believed that deep in their hearts that their grasp might not be so strong on spiritual things as it could be a lot can go on in the human heart that we know nothing about only God alone can see into the human heart Nicodemus had confessed three years ago that Jesus was a teacher who had come from God he said chapter 3 and verse 2 that no one can do these things that you do if he were not of God that he was afraid to identify in any way whatsoever with Jesus he came under the cover of darkness at night so that nobody would see him

[26:20] John makes a point of mentioning that every time the name of Nicodemus comes up as in verse 39 and Nicodemus who at first came to Jesus by night also came bringing a mixture of mills aros about 100 pounds the fear that gripped the heart of Nicodemus remained with him throughout his earthly ministry ministry and it stunted his spiritual growth in grace and in knowledge of Christ when you're afraid to stand out and be counted as one of the disciples of Christ you are depriving yourself of many things and you will not make much progress in the spiritual sense as long as you keep your witness hidden away from men and women in the community around you the fear that kept him back spiritually there are those that are doing the same thing in our midst in every congregation

[27:41] I believe throughout our land fear kept Nicodemus from growing in grace and kept him from developing spiritually and kept him silent that night that Jesus was arrested and falsely accused and condemned to death he didn't open his mouth that night Joseph of Arimathea is described as verse 38 says a disciple of Jesus Matthew 27 calls him a rich man who had become a disciple of Jesus Mark 15 says that he was waiting for the kingdom of God and Luke in chapter 23 calls him a council member a good and just man who had not consented to their decision and did he didn't consent to put Jesus to death but his protests were feeble at the best and futile and mostly they were silent as well we hear nothing about

[29:03] Joseph or Nicodemus in the scriptures anymore after this this is the last time they are mentioned in the New Testament and there's no mention made of them either in the literature of the early church no mention of these two men they disappear from sight now perhaps you're saying well they did something anyway they took the body of Jesus and they dressed it for burial and looked after it and put it in a grave they did better than Peter did he denied Jesus and fled away it was nowhere to be seen when Nicodemus and Joseph were dressing the body of Jesus for burial well that's right they did more than

[30:06] Peter and the others did that night but would it not have been more glorifying to God if Nicodemus and Joseph had come out into the open long before now and identified with Christ of course it would but now it's too late it's too late to do anything now Jesus was dead and now he's being buried the commentator Alexander McLaren says this that they came to lavish honour and tears on the corpse of the master whom they had been too cowardly to acknowledge whilst acknowledgement might have availed if they had acknowledged Jesus as their saviour they might have had more impact upon the people than they had and there are many in their own day like that too they believe in

[31:13] Jesus deep down in their hearts for years but they say nothing about it until it's too late they wait until the battle of their lives is over and they have become too old maybe to be of much service in the church anymore and that is a very sad situation to be in are you like Joseph are you like Nicodemus letting the years go by year after year without taking your stand for Jesus as your saviour if you are and you know in your own heart where you stand I hope these final verses in chapter 19 of John will challenge you today we're going to look at these verses in the two headings first of all the causes of secret discipleship and the failure of secret discipleship so first of all the causes of secret discipleship

[32:32] John makes it quite clear why Joseph and Nicodemus did not come to openly stand out on the side of Christ they were afraid of the Jews they were afraid of the other Jews in the Sanhedrin but as well as fear I think that we can say that vanity and pride came into the equation as well for they were among those referred to in chapter 12 as those who loved the praise of men rather than the praise of God they wanted people to think well of them they wanted people to look upon them as being popular and wanted the goodwill of the people around them what is the use of having people around us pleased with us if God is not pleased with us it's to please God that we are here on earth and not to please our friends or our work colleagues or anyone else there are so many who are happy enough to attend

[33:55] Sunday services like this morning and evening perhaps and even put in the occasional appearance of the weekly Bible study and prayer meeting as long as no more is asked of them than that no more as far as they go as long as no greater depth of commitment is expected of them they are happy enough thrundling along year after year doing the same things hiding away their witness when they should have been out in the open why is it in this day and generation when the hidden vices associated and practiced by the human race is coming out of their closets in a way that never happened before why is it that the disciples of Jesus

[35:03] Christ do not come out and tell the world that they believe in Jesus they love him they trust in him he is their saviour when those who should be ashamed of their unnatural lifestyle are parading the streets even in our island situation here proud of the fact that they are practicing what they are practicing in public claiming their rights and marching with banners let me tell you and ask you this when these people are so vocal about their own lifestyle why should you be ashamed to tell the world that you love Jesus and that you are one of his followers and that you are wanting to live your life for his glory why do you keep quiet they clamber for recognition and they proudly march in public claiming their rights shouting about things that when we were young would never be spoken of in public or in the home even if possible and yet the servants of

[36:38] Jesus Christ for whom God has done so much he has come into their hearts and into their lives and yet they're afraid to say that he has done anything for them and they hide their lantern under a bushel and avoid it but it won't harm us not in this country anyway so far it might in the years to come come to the time when you'll be persecuted for being a Christian but so far you can be a

[37:48] Christian and tell the world about it and nothing will be done to you you'll get a few sneers a few laughter guffs of laughter and you'll be ridiculed but that's as far as it goes quite often indeed the danger is to compromise to compromise your witness that's where the danger is we are at our most secure position when we stand up for Christ and for the gospel you're here today in the service and you are saying to yourself something like this well supposing I wanted to profess faith in Christ openly it would not do all that much good what am I just one passion what is important is that I'm a child of God and that I will be that in silence

[38:51] I don't need to tell anybody about it and I'll be in heaven at last anyway though I think there are those who are saying that to themselves I don't need to profess my faith openly and go to a Kirk session and being questioned there I can be a child of God and I can do something for him in this world in silence without telling anybody about it but can you I challenge you today can you be a child of God and can you be a secret follower of Christ without coming out into the open can you have the confidence to say I've been born again I've become a Christian if you're not willing to acknowledge Christ as your saviour and your redeemer you see part of discipleship is to take up the cross and follow

[40:00] Jesus in this world that is part of discipleship Jesus himself says in Luke 14 27 and whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple there's nothing as clear as that if you're not willing to take up your cross and follow Jesus openly for all to see then you can't be his disciple you may think yourself that you are and others may think you are but he doesn't it's Christ who said that he cannot be my disciple and again in Matthew 10 and verses 32 and 33 they're worth thinking about and spending time pondering them listen to them therefore whoever confesses me before men him

[41:04] I will also confess before my father who is in heaven but whoever denies me before men him I will also deny before my father who is in heaven these are the words of Jesus who could not lie and cannot lie I will also deny before my father in heaven if you do not confess Christ openly before the world how different are you from Pontius Pilate long ago it was fear that kept him from doing what was right that day he respected Jesus he admitted that he could find no fault in him and yet he had him scourged he did not let him go why because he was afraid what

[42:04] Caesar would say once Caesar heard that he had let this imposter go the one who was supposed to be the king of the Jews and everybody heard that well it's either to tell the world that he wanted to be a disciple of Jesus too or try and please Caesar the Roman head of the Roman Empire fear kept him back from doing what was right that day then all his desires were on one side and he put that on one side of the scales he wanted to do right he wanted to let Jesus go and he put on the other side of the scales what

[43:09] Caesar thought of him and the fear that had gripped his heart as far as this was concerned and the fear he had in his heart because of Caesar and what he would do far outweighed what he thought in his heart that was right in his dealing with Jesus don't make the terrible mistake that he did on that day pleasing men rather than pleasing God who cares what men see who cares what the workmates see who cares what your pals at school see I got converted on Saturday night and on Monday morning I had to go back into the shipyard where the air was blue all day long from morning till night cursing and swearing and no time for the gospel or for anything else and I made up my mind with God's help that I would tell my fellow apprentices that I had given my heart and life to

[44:35] Jesus that Saturday night before I was waiting for them to start mocking me and jeering and all the rest of it but they didn't God must have been in control of course he was and they never gave me any grief whatsoever indeed they were coming to me and asking me how did I become a Christian and what would they have to do to become a Christian themselves I don't know I was witnessing every day of my life while I was in that ship yet there wasn't a day going by that I wasn't speaking to somebody about his soul maybe I was too keen at times God only knows but I wanted all of them to be saved so I was telling them about

[45:36] Jesus every day but I saw none that changed in all the years that I was there but only God knows and eternity will reveal what my witnessing was Nicodemus said no man can do these signs that you do unless God is with him oh how much Nicodemus and Joseph would have benefited by becoming part of the company of the disciples of Christ they lost doubt on the fellowship they could have all these years and this comes to the failure of secret discipleship one of the sad resources failing to stand up for Jesus is that you are missing out on the communion and the fellowship you could have with

[46:41] God and also the fellowship you could have with God's people they had both heard of Jesus and his claims from the very beginning of his earthly ministry he had heard of and perhaps seen often the miracles that he performed and that miracle in chapter two was still much in their minds the water being changed into wine and I'm sure that is what Nicodemus is referring to when he says no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him how much Joseph and Nicodemus would have benefited from being in the company of the disciples over these three years they would have enjoyed and benefited from his teachings they would have enjoyed and benefited from seeing his miracles because that was the first miracle that Jesus did that he changed the water into wine there were many other miracles going to be performed in years to come

[48:01] Joseph was waiting for the kingdom of God it says and yet the kingdom was there in the midst of them and the kingdom was so near so near and yet he missed it all the same is true to this day for our fellowship with the Lord is deepened and the more committed we are and the more committed we are the more we will place ourselves under the teaching of his word on the Lord's day and during the week we cannot have the smile of God upon us while we are still disobedient to him think of how much joy the man who was given one talent missed he put it in the ground dug a hole and covered it over left it there until his master returned he missed on years of seeing that talent growing and growing and accruing interest that he missed out on all that he missed out at the end of what he did brought no joy to his master who had given him the talent in the first place he not only does the secret disciple miss out on the fellowship with

[49:34] Christ but also on fellowship with God's people if you and I are not going to be with the Lord going on with the Lord then we can't have much fellowship with those who are going on with the Lord you'll feel in your heart you'll feel that you are letting God down and there'll be a barrier between yourself and the other Christians in the community if you're not living a life that is close to God then there is a barrier between yourself and the others who are walking close to God it has often been pointed out by preachers down the years that an ember that falls out of the fire soon burns out and becomes cold and covered with ashes but if you take that ember and place it back among the rest in the fireplace it begins to glow and it sets others aflame around it as well and that is how it is in the

[50:53] Christian life if you're keeping away from the prayer meeting keeping away from going to God's house to worship and you're a Christian then you'll just die like that ember grow cold and die but when you come back to the bosom of the congregation once again you'll begin to glow spiritually and you'll affect others around you for good as well we need to be near to Christ and near to each other who can tell what blessing you'll be in your family and your loved ones if you came out openly on the side of Christ down the years God has blessed families and homes in this way one of the family becomes committed to

[51:56] Christ and their witness is blessed to the rest within the family I've seen it happen again and again and I think I've spoken in various parts of the islands about the young girl of 11 years old that I had in my congregation in Stornaway who took a courageous stand for Christ in her home she was the only person in the home the home was as dark as dark could be the father was an alcoholic and he saw her going up to her room with her Bible one day and he said or he shouted it was if I see another Bible in this house I will burn it every Bible that's in this house is going into the fire that father was particularly bitter against the gospel the girl would put the

[53:08] Bible under her jumper and go to the prayer meeting hiding the Bible from her father she used to attend the prayer meetings when no one else from the church had any gospel interest whatsoever but then the day came when the father and the mother became Christians and the other members of the family became Christians one by one and the whole family came to know the Lord Jesus Christ and that young girl was brave enough to stand up and be not ashamed to own her Lord remember the day that her father came to the church for the first time in his life since he was baptising the children

[54:10] I suppose was the last time he came to the morning service and he went home and he gave his wife a row and he said you were telling the minister about me and about the kind of life I've lived and she said I haven't told anybody anything about you it was the spirit of God in the service convicting him and he was out in the evening after that and he came into the months I didn't know anything about this until I saw him at the door and he wanted the tears were streaming down his face and he said I want to get right with God I took him into the rest spoke to him prayed with him and

[55:11] I said now Ian you pray us well just myself and yourself and God and he prayed brokenly words came out that he was a sinner in need of salvation and that he believed in Christ to be the only saviour for him and he went home and his face was shining and he was still a delight to be with he was with us for a few years and then one morning his wife woke and he was dead beside her in bed death came and took him away God called him home to to stand to stand up for

[57:01] Jesus but if the love of Jesus was poured out into our hearts then we would not be afraid what people would say about us we would not be slow in coming forward to tell the world what the Lord has done for our soul said it again and again and I'll say it again today that I was converted on the 15th of August 1964 and I knew that the communion season in the church in the gardeners it would be in October and I was desperate to find out how do you go around becoming a communicant member what are the steps what are the steps I couldn't wait until the communion season came round of course it all fell in place when the minister gave the invitation for anyone to come to the session and I went the first opportunity

[58:16] I could and there he was he had his arm around my shoulder and he prayed with me old Mr.

[58:29] Giddes and I'm not sorry that I took that stand and never will see it was the death of Christ that moved Nicodemus and Joseph to stand up for Jesus they saw his love towards them and nothing would keep them back after that there was there was a guilty conscience there right enough that we hoped for their sakes and we believe it was that they saw how much Jesus had loved them and had died on that cross in that place and their hearts responded to that love saying as John said in his declining years to the church we love him because he first loved us and if only we could see how much he loved us we wouldn't stand one moment hiding our witness being afraid of what people will say about us what of it if they say something about us and the worst about us that will pass that is what we do for

[60:01] God that will stand forever and ever what a help there would have been to each other and I'm sure there were a help to each other after this but I want to point out the causes of secret discipleship and the failure of secret discipleship may God help someone to make up their minds today that for them life is uncertain and they don't know what tomorrow will bring the communions are over now until the autumn who knows who would see the autumn make sure you stand for Christ communion or no communion stand up for him in the community and tell people tell people or tell them what they have missed if they have not

[61:09] Jesus as their saviour and tell them what God has done for your soul may God bless to us this world let us bow in prayer Lord help us to be more dedicated more committed than ever to you and to your cause the nearer we are to Jesus the more enjoyable the Christian life is it's exciting when we are walking with God oh Lord take away the lukewarmness of our hearts and of our lives take away the fear of man for it brings a snare always and there are those who have been caught in that snare and have been in the snare for years in this congregation and in other congregations set them free oh Lord by the power of your love hear us in our prayers in Jesus name

[62:17]  Amen Amen and now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with you and with all whom you love and with all God's people here and everywhere both now and forever more Amen I