2021-10-17 Letter to the Church at Pergamum. 10am Service

hello good morning a very special greeting to you on the lord's day again you know sometimes i wish that i could see you through this camera instead of just staring at a camera with an empty crowd a hall here in this century but we just pray in the very near future we will be meeting up again face to face but in the meantime we will always learn to make do with whatever situation that we may be in and uh and just look for the future that we'll be meeting again very soon before i do this morning reading to you uh just two announcements the first one is join us for prayer at nine o'clock every sunday morning we have we've been very encouraged by the last couple of weeks many of you turn up which is fantastic we have never had so many people come for prayer meeting before so we want to encourage you to join us at 9 o'clock and this week we'll be praying for confidence when i'm confused based on isaiah 55 1-13 even though you are unable to join us for whatever reason please do pray together as a church through this situation this pandemic in the global crisis the second announcement is after service today we have virtual morning tea join us uh for the time to catch up with fellow brothers and sisters in the lord it will be wonderful to see some of you again this morning i want to draw your attention to a reading in luke chapter 17. look chapter 17 the story of the 10 health of leprosy luke chapter 17 verses 11 to 19. whatever situation we may be in it's always good to be contented and the way to be contented is to learn how to give thanks to god luke chapter 17 i would like to read from verse 7 11 all the way down to 19. verse 11 now on his way to jerusalem jesus traveled along the border between samaria and galilee and he was going into a village ten men who had leprosy met him they stood at a distance and they called out in a loud voice jesus master have pity on us when he saw them he said go show yourself to the priest and as they went they were cleansed one of them when he saw he was healed came back praising god in a loud voice he threw himself at jesus feet and thanked him and he was a samaritan jesus asked were not all ten clans where are the other nine has no one returned to give praise to god except this foreigner and then he said to him rise and go your faith has made you well you know when i read through this passage i often ask myself why didn't the other nine return what could be some of the reasons that caused them not to return but only one came back i could think of three things maybe just my guess maybe they were overwhelmed with what happened for whatever reason it is sometimes harder to show gratitude for the big things than for the little things it's easier to thank someone for saving our place in the line than for saving our lives as benjamin franklin once said most people return small favors they acknowledge medium ones and they repair greater ones with ingratitude so maybe we are overwhelmed with what happened and they just have a new life they just overwhelmed with everything and therefore they forgot about who healed them and second reason i could think of why they deny didn't return is if there's such a word maybe they were underwhelmed you know when there was someone who was lepers they were just hanging around their goal is just to be alive and they may be dreaming of a day that they may be well again and then the day arrive when they return back home the husband or the wife no longer there the children no longer there and they started to have responsibilities back again and have to work so all this responsibility came back so maybe they'll be under well what they think that it may be wonderful again you build up so much expectation that after they are healed it was so normal in the sense what they thought of in reality is a complete different thing so maybe they were a little bit underwhelmed and thirdly i could think of maybe perhaps they took it for granted they took it for granted they thought well of course jesus healed us but he's supposed to do that anyway you know kind of the difference between the dog and the cat you treat the dog nice the dog thinks that you are god and when you treat a cat nice the cat thinks she is god and uh and maybe we have this entitlement mentality thinking that while this is what jesus is supposed to do someone said that sometimes we need to remind ourselves that thankfulness is indeed a virtue it's indeed a virtue you see all jesus gave the lepers was life but he gave us he gives us an even more incredible gift he gives us eternal life and so i just hope that this morning as we come before the lord to start our day our week we come to him with thanksgiving we will truly bow our heads and remember all that we have all that we are is a gift from god and we want to give thanks to god and that is the starting point of everything in our lives so may i just invite you to bow your heads with me as we offer a thankful prayer to jesus lord i'm reminded of this simple poem who wakes up who wakes me up in the morning so i can start to play my mother does but who wakes up the day who turns the light on in my room so i can have some fun my father does but who turns on the sun who starts the water in my bath and closes up the drain my mother does but who turns on the rain who fixes things when they don't work when staff gets cracked or cold my father does but who repairs the world who hangs my clothes for me to see right there before my eyes my mother does but who hangs the skies who wakes the day turns on the sun make sure the bar for the world is begun who fixes the world when it needs repair who hangs the skies away up there god does have you thank your loving mother for getting you up to play have you thanked your father for working things out okay and most importantly have you thank your heavenly father for waking up the day father what a beautiful passage that we read and as well as this poem as a reminder of what you've done for us forgive us either we are overwhelmed or underwhelmed or whether we have taken you for granted lord we come to you and ask you to forgive us thanklessness is a sin that's why we practice saying grace before we eat just as a way to acknowledge that everything is a gift from you we want to give you thanks lord despite of the many challenges and trials that we are facing even during this time we are separated some of us from family friends when it is hard to travel and gather together with friends or families but lord help us to embrace what is help us to give thanks within the uncertainty help us to give thanks within our sorrow help us to give thanks within our fears in all things lord may we open our hearts and always count our blessings and give you genuine and sincere thanks from our hearts we ask this sincerely in jesus name amen well i'm going to invite you to sing a song and then pastor caroline will come and bring god's word to you from revelation [Music] this is a place where mercy it reigns dies [Music] this is a place where streams of grace [Music] i surrender my [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] there's a place [Music] when my heart has peace with god forgiveness it's like [Music] i surrender my life [Music] to you here my hope is [Music] i where you're [Music] at the my [Music] i [Music] jesus [Music] amen and praise the lord for this beautiful song isn't it at the cross now i want to pass the time over to pastor caroline and she will pick up and preach from the book of revelation to the church in pergamum master caroline well good morning to you all after a brief break last week we returned to the book of revelation to those words of jesus to the the seven churches uh and just to recap briefly we've worked our way through chapter one where we saw jesus or john saw a vision of jesus standing among the seven churches and the seven churches were pictured as as lamp stands and then we moved on into chapter two after john falls at the feet of jesus as though dead which is probably you know an entirely appropriate reaction for someone who's just had such a vision jesus reassures him and then he proceeds to dictate these letters to each of the seven churches in asia minor and the first letter was to that hard-working church in ephesus who had persevered who had endured much hardship but somewhere along the way they had forsaken the first love that they had known the passion in their relationship with the lord had dried up remember repent and return to your first love says jesus to them rekindle that passion that they once had and then the second letter you might remember was to the church in smyrna that church that was living in bitter circumstances crushed under the weight of persecution and yet spiritually so rich in their relationship with christ be faithful even to the point of death says their bridegroom and i will give you the crown of life and today we move on to consider the third church that is listed there in revelation the church in pergamum or pergamos as it was also known now if you were to start out on a journey from ephesus which is where we began ephesus is on the coastline of turkey so it's on the west of the country and if you were to travel north after about 60 kilometers you would come to that coastal city of smyrna which is where we were a couple of weeks ago if you continue on in a northerly direction from smyrna about 110 kilometers and then you move in from the coast about 30 kilometers you will reach pergamum which is our destination for today pergamum is located in that part of asia minor which was known as mycea back then today it is turkey now historically pergamon was one of the principal centres of greek civilization but over time pergamum's rulers formed an alliance with rome and eventually severed ties with the greeks the last of pergamum's kings died without an heir and so as was detailed in his will the romans assumed control of the city in about 133 bc making it the capital of the roman province of asia pergamum is best known as a center of greek culture and learning there was a university there and the city was famous for its library and its medical center the medical center known as the esclepian was one of the best healing centres in the world galen who was pergamum's best known physician worked there in conjunction with the esclepian he wrote around 500 works on medicine and even today he is considered an important figure in medical history cures that were offered at the esclepian included music running water walking barefoot dream analysis sun water and mud bathing surgeries herbal remedies and honey cures which all kind of makes the place sound a bit like it was some kind of health retreat until you understand the actual process that was involved there people came to the pert to pergamum from all over the world to be healed at the esclepian by the god esculpus the greek god of healing and if you wanted to be healed you would first undergo a ritual cleansing you would offer sacrifices you would drink a potion and then you would descend into what was called an inaccessible place where you would fall asleep in a room full of snakes and you would wait for a dream from esculapias and when you awoke you would tell your dream to the priest who would interpret the dream and prescribe a healing treatment for you so whilst there was traditional medicine practice there like surgery and there was what we might call alternative therapies practice their healing was very much a pagan religious experience escolapius was commonly referred to as saviour and he was believed to have power over death he was represented by a serpent which explains the falling asleep in a room full of snakes and this is why even today some of our great medical professional bodies like uh the australian and the american medical associations continue to be represented or to have as on their logo uh the serpent around the staff or the stick pergamon's library consisted of some 200 000 volumes now that's a large library even by today's standards but if you consider that each one of those volumes was written by hand that's a pretty amazing library and it was second only to the alexandrian library at the time the city was also known for its production of parchment which was required to maintain this huge library particularly when relations with egypt deteriorated and papyrus was hard to come by pergamon was also a center of caesar worship it had a temple dedicated to rome and it had attained the status of niekores which was a rank that was granted by the roman senate to cities which had built temples to the emperor or had established cults to members of the royal family pergamum became the capital of caesar worship and just as was the case in smyrna all citizens were expected to burn incense and make an annual declaration that caesar is lawed failure to do so would make life extremely difficult and such was the case for christians in that city in addition to their fanaticism for caesar worship the usual pantheon of greek gods was also worshiped at pergamum and the city was home to many magnificent temples dedicated to to them to give you an idea of the magnificence of some of these structures in the 1880s an archaeologist discovered and excavated a massive altar to zeus on the hill that overlooked the city and those of you that have received the announcements this week that email i put a photo in there of just what that alter looks like it is enormous it stood on a foundation that was 38 meters by 35 meters just stop and think for a minute just how wide 38 by 35 meters is it's huge and it was 15 meters high set in a collinated enclosure and it's you can see it today in the pergamum uh museum in berlin well that's a little bit about the city but what about the church in pergamum well we know from acts 16 8 that paul silas and timothy traveled through missouri on their way to macedonia but there's no record in the bible of them ever having had any ministry in my seer on that particular journey they may have we just don't know but what is more likely is that the gospel reached pergamum via paul's extended ministry in ephesus so acts 19 10 tells us that in ephesus paul regularly held discussions in the lecture hall of tyrannius and this went on for two years and that this ministry was so powerful that all the jews and greeks who lived in the province of asia heard the word of the lord so it is likely that at some stage during paul's ministry in ephesus travelers who were moving between these cities would have taken the gospel with them and a community of believers would have been established there in pergamum in the midst of what was a very pagan city now if smyrna was the church of myrrh the church of bitter circumstances what was pergamum well the name pergamum or pergamos apparently has several meanings it has been used to mean citadel or high tower and this usage is likely to have become an accepted definition over time and it is appropriate since the city was built on top of a hill which rose about a thousand feet above the valley below so this first meaning could describe what the city was like physically it was built on a hill but the second meaning is instructive for us today because i think it tells us what the church was like spiritually the name is made up of two greek root words pergos which means high tower and gamos which means married we find gamos in words like monogamy or polygamy and it refers to marriage so the literal translation of pergamos is married to the high tower now i'm going to leave that one to sit with you for a little while and we'll come back to it later have a think about references to high towers in the bible and see what you think it might mean for a church to be married to the high tower so while you're pondering that one let's have a look at what jesus has to say to this church that was married to the high tower would you turn to revelation we're looking at chapter 2 verses 12 to 17. to the angel of the church in pergamum write these are the words of him who has the sharp double-edged sword i know where you live where satan has his throne yet you remain true to my name you did not renounce your faith in me not even in the days of antipas my faithful witness who was put to death in your city where satan lives nevertheless i have a few things against you there are some among you who hold to the teaching of balaam who taught balak to entice the israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the nicolasians repent therefore otherwise i will soon come to you and fight fight against them with the sword of my mouth whoever has ears let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to the one who is victorious i will give some of the hidden manner i will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it known only to the one who receives it well from the very first line there this letter is set apart from the two that have gone before it because here the title that jesus uses for himself holds something of a negative connotation to ephesus he was the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands and and that image you will remember was one of jesus being present right there among his church to smyrna he introduces himself as the first and the last who died and came back to life and the image there is of jesus having defeated death and come back to life which is kind of reassuring if you're a church that is facing death but to pergamum he is the one who has the sharp double-edged sword and that perhaps doesn't sound too bad maybe it's not positive and not negative until you get to verse 16 where jesus calls the church to repentance otherwise he'll come and fight against them with that sword so right here at the very outset we have indications that there could be some problems in this church at pergamum the sword symbolizes his word and by it each one will be judged hebrews 4 12 puts it like this for the word of god is living and active sharper than any double-edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit joints and marrows it judges thoughts and attitudes of the heart the sword is double-edged because it is his word that brings us to repentance but if we choose not to repent then ultimately that same sword the word of god will be used as an instrument of judgment so by his word jesus will separate the true church from the world the next thing jesus has to say to this church is i know and we've heard that before it's a feature of each of these letters to ephesus it was i know your deeds your hard work and your perseverance to smyrna i know your afflictions and your poverty yet you are rich and here to pergamum jesus says i know where you live where satan has his throne yet you remain true to my name now that's a commendation it's something that they're doing well satan's influence was active in this city and yet pergamum had remained faithful smyrna you might remember had a synagogue of satan and that was a false kind of judaism but here in pergamum according to jesus was the very throne of satan there are there are a number of possibilities for what that throne of satan might be and we can't be completely sure of which one of them jesus is actually referring to or intending here some say it refers to this worship of escuelapius remember escuelapius was the greek god of healing and people came from all over to seek healing from all kinds of illnesses and ailments and he was represented by a serpent and he was sometimes called savior and he was said to have power over death so their worship of escuelapius could be a good candidate for satan's throne then there's that massive altar to zeus said to look like a huge chair or throne because it's raised up at the sides and lower where the stairs are in the middle now zeus was the greek god of the sky and he was considered by the ancients to be the father of all gods and all humans the king if you like of the gods so that massive altar to zeus was also a worthy candidate for being satan's throne a third candidate for satan's throne could be their prominence as a center for emperor worship or the very worship of rome itself which elevates created human beings above the creator still others would argue that it's not the worship of any individual god in this great city that's being singled out here rather it is that together this beautiful grove where all of these magnificent temples were clustered together which was the pride of pergamum was an abomination to god and the worship practices that were used at these pagan temples led the people into moral decline so whether any one of those four possibilities was in view or not what is clear is that satan was very active in this city and right there in the midst of it all was a church and even in the midst of all of the evil that was going on around them in this city verse 13 tells us that this church had remained true to the name of jesus and had not renounced their faith in him antipas is mentioned there in verse 13 as my faithful witness what a wonderful compliment from the lord to be his faithful witness now don't get confused we're not talking about herod antipas here this antipas was someone in the church by that name who was martyred for his faith in jesus the facts about this man have been lost to history but legend claims and i say it's legend claims that he was a local dentist who was killed for failing to participate in the worship of caesar and he was placed inside a hollow brass bull which was heated until it was white hot now it's legend it's not biblical fact but what is clear is that within pergamum there were people of exceedingly great faith and antipas was one of them and there were others who had held strong and did not renounce their faith even when their friend antipas was killed nevertheless jesus holds a few things against this church the first of these is that they have people within the church who hold to the teachings of balaam now you'll find balaam's story within the book of numbers in chapters 22 to 24 and then a little bit in chapter 31. israel had defeated a number of the surrounding nations and had traveled to the plains of moab so balak the king of moab stands for a prophet by the name of balaam to come and pronounce a curse on israel balaam asked god about this god says no don't do it so balak sends a bigger contingent to go and get balaam and offer him more money or gifts or whatever it was god allows him to go this time but only to speak what he tells him to speak so he goes and every time balaam opens his mouth outflows blessings instead of curses eventually balaam is ordered home by balak and that might just have been the end of that except that it's not balaam is ordered home and then strangely in the next chapter chapter 25 chapter 25 details the rapid decline of israel into sexual immorality and bill worship and it all seems very odd until we read two little verses from a few chapters later in chapter 31 chapter 31 verses 15 to 16 which explain why the prophet who refused to curse god's people is viewed so negatively throughout the rest of the bible in those verses we discover that balaam had actually hatched a plan to use the midianite women to seduce the men of israel he couldn't utter a curse but intermarrying with these women caused the men to fall into sexual immorality and idolatry and so whilst he didn't utter that curse on israel he orchestrated one against her because ultimately god brought an end to that incident with a plague that killed 24 000 of them so what are the teachings of balaam referred to in this letter to pergamum quite simply balaam taught compromise he taught them to intermarry with the world around them to intermarry with these foreign women and adopt their ways which were the ways of the world and that led them away from god likewise says jesus you have some who hold to the teaching of the nicolasians now exactly what the nicolasians taught here has also been somewhat lost in history but jesus's use of the word likewise here indicates that this was another group that was causing the church to compromise with the pagan world that was around them two of the early church leaders irenaeus and hippolytus claimed that the nicolasians were those who followed the teachings of nicholas of antioch who was a proselyte jew so a jew who had converted from a pagan background who later became a believer and was then made a deacon in the church he's mentioned in acts chapter 6 verse 5. now if that was correct it would seem possible that a man who had changed his religion three times from pagan to jew proselyte jew to christian might not have much trouble in adopting elements of all of those things into his own belief system and the effect that this would have would be the same as the influence of balaam on israel compromise a blurring of the lines between right and wrong a mingling of the church with on ungodly lifestyles and eventually a merging of the church with the world around it jesus will not stand for any of it repent he says turn around have nothing to do with this keep yourselves separate from it and if you don't i'm coming to fight against you with the sword of my mouth judgment is coming now compromise comes in many forms usually it sneaks up on you few people would set out as christians to immerse themselves in something which they know is wrong but slowly slowly step by step each step doesn't seem so bad in itself and eventually you turn around and realize how far you've come during the reign of the roman emperor constantine who was 306 to 337 a.d christianity grew to become the dominant religion of the roman empire constantine was the first roman emperor to convert to christianity and he was responsible for the end of the persecution of christians in that empire he became the patron of the christian faith he supported the church financially he granted exemptions from taxes to the church he returned property that had been confiscated he promoted christians to high office and he declared sunday a day of worship now this period is often called the triumph of the church or the peace of the church but if you look at what happened in the church in those years or in the few hundred years that followed that time this was piece that came at a high price and that price was compromise you see constantine was pontifus maximus and what that meant was that he was the head of all the religions in the roman empire including the pagan and the mystery religions he appointed leaders over them and it was near impossible for the bishops in the christian church to refuse his desires heathen priests became christian priests during this time heathen temples became christian places of worship christians took on heathen days of fasting and feasting for their own special days the church became hierarchical during this time all of the children were required to be christened eventually christianity became the state religion many new converts were made although many of these conversions happened in the context of perhaps in increasing one's own job prospects the church grew but at what cost pergamon made its wa paganism made its way into the church and the church became entwined with the government now this is a complex issue because there was indeed much good that constantine did for the church at that time but the church has paid a high price for this union of compromise charles spurgeon once wrote an unholy church is useless to the world and of no esteem among men it is an abomination hell's laughter and heaven's abhorrence the worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church the apostle paul says simply to the church in corinth 2 corinthians 6 14 to 15 do not be yoked together with unbelievers for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common or what fellowship can light have with darkness what harmony is there between christ and belial who was a hebrew name for satan james is a bit more forceful with his language james 4 4 adulterers and adulteresses he says do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with god well as we said back at the beginning this morning pergamon means married to the high tower and hopefully by now it is self-evident that being married to the high tower is not a good thing now proverbs tells us that the name of the lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and are safe that was a strong tower but high towers in the bible often carry a quite different connotation what is the highest tower in the bible that you can think of is it not the tower of babel that symbol of the pride and the arrogance of the babylonians who thought they could build a tower that would reach the heavens isaiah also twice uses high towers as a symbol of pride and arrogance in the world to be married to the high tower is to be married to the world and god won't stand for it not in his church and since each of us are part of the church not in our lives as individuals either you know when lot parted ways from abram and headed towards the fertile jordan plain did he realise that he was heading towards sodom when he decided to pitch his tents just outside of sodom the bible certainly gives every indication that sodom's sodom was well known for its wickedness it wasn't long before lot was no longer camped outside the city he was inside the city he was a resident of the city and he wasn't there on a missionary agenda he was there for his own material gain it is unlikely that he set out to end up in sodom as one of the city's leaders but that's the nature of compromise it creeps up on you one thing leads to another which leads to another and something which previously would have been completely abhorrent to you over time seems not quite so bad you adjust to a new normal and as you adjust all the while your bar falls lower and lower lot first headed in the direction of sodom because it was fertile well-watered land that would be great for feeding and increasing the size of his flocks pretty soon he pitched his tents in the direction of sodom next he's living in the city next genesis 19 1 finds him sitting in the gateway of the city most likely as a member of sodom's ruling council a bit further on we learn his daughters are betrothed to men in sodom and lot is referring to the mob that is surrounding his house wanting to have sex with his guests as friends or brothers and he's offering his own daughters to them lot was a man of genuine faith there's no indication in his story that he ever lost that but lot was married to the high tower he had compromised with the world and so he paid dearly for it everything that he treasured ultimately was lost to him in sodom his wealth his status and his family the apostle paul writes to the church in corinth in 2 corinthians 11 verse 2 i am jealous for you with a godly jealousy i promised you to one husband to christ so that i might present you as a pure virgin to him that is the kind of church that christ desires one that is pure one that is not married to the ways of the world repent says jesus otherwise he will come and separate out the true church from the world with the sword of his mouth he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches to him who overcomes i will give some of the hidden manner i will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it known only to him who receives it now what exactly each of these three things are has been the cause for plenty of debate manna we know is that flaky honey bread of heaven that god provided to sustain the israelites in the wilderness why is it hidden well some of israel's manner was placed inside a gold jar in the ark of the covenant so there's probably some sort of illusion going on there but manna points to jesus as being the bread of life hidden from those who do not know him to him who overcomes will be given the food from heaven to sustain life forever the bread of life as to the white stone there are loads of theories on that one i won't run through all of them because it'll take a long time but i'll briefly run through the two that sit best with me the first of them has legal connotations when a member of a jury was in favor of acquittal they would hand in a white stone so by this reckoning the white stone is a mark of acquittal an alternative theory suggests that in the games that were popular in these cities victors would be given a white stone and often that stone would be inscribed with their name and it was part of their prize and that stone was to be used as an entry pass to the victor's festival that would happen after the game so by this reckoning the white stone is a mark of victory now there are at least five other plausible explanations truth is we don't know for sure likewise with the new name known only to the one who receives it perhaps the new name represents a new character we don't know for sure all that we know is that the name is unique to the one who receives it it is a heavenly name and it is given by christ himself so it speaks of this intimate fellowship that each of us will have with him persecution is not the real enemy of the church compromise is satan's best strategies are not those which are obvious but those which seem innocent enough and we hear it today we're being welcoming and inclusive well are we or is what we're doing compromising give a little bit here give a little bit there and then suddenly christians aren't really that much different from the world around them it's that frog in the in the boiling water analogy put him in when it's boiling hot and he's going to struggle and try and get out as quickly as he can but put him in when the water's cold and bring up the temperature slowly and he won't realize until he's cooked it's easy for us to read these letters to the seven churches and to think of the church in pergamum or the church under constantine and judge them for their compromise but our culture today could just as easily be described as where satan has his throne we say that we want to grow spiritually but then we invest our time and energy elsewhere in meaningless activities we don't have time to squeeze god in but we seem to have time for an abundance of other things we have an insatiable appetite for experiences and material things we desire to fit in and not attract attention to ourselves we need to examine our motivations and our attitudes we need to examine whether the things that we're watching on tv or online reflect our desire for purity or whether they are indeed a reflection of compromise in our lives lot i am sure never imagined himself offering his own daughters to a bunch of rapists when he headed off with his cattle in the direction of those fertile pastures but every step along the way small seemingly innocuous decisions had to be made and at the end of the day the sum of each of those small decisions was huge and so it is for us every day every week every month every year we make small seemingly insignificant decisions and with each one there's potential for compromise if this letter was addressed to pathway instead of to pergamum could we be sure that jesus would find us true to his name and if you answered yes to that question what would his nevertheless be for us nevertheless i have a few things against you what would he have against us where are we prone to compromise what would jesus have against me what would he have against you let's think about those things as we come before him in prayer lord will you show us will you point out to each one of us this morning these areas of our lives where we tend to compromise lord we want to be people to be a church that is presented as pure to just one husband we want to be presented as pure to jesus christ our lord forgive us for the times when we have compromised help us to recognize compromise for what it is that we might confess it to you now that we might repent of it and commit ourselves to once again walking in your ways amen well may the grace of our lord jesus be with you today tomorrow and always amen please don't forget to grab something to eat or drink after the song and to log in to zoom for our virtual morning tea a chance to catch up with one another it is lovely to see one another after all of this time apart it's just great to see faces even if it's only in that virtual sense would you join with me now as we're led by ed and sarah in our closing song lord you are my god [Music] [Music] lord you are my [Music] made you remain the the same and unchanging part [Music] lord you are good and your mercies are ever new [Music] and i will sing of the goodness of god [Music] and i will [Music] know my days i'll praise the name of christ [Music] who shared his blood for me [Music] your kindness calls me [Music] [Music] of god [Music] words [Music] though my days i'll praise the name of christ [Music] who shed his blood [Music] for me [Music] do [Music] of god i will tell [Music] all my days [Music] the name of christ who shed his blood for me [Music] who shared his blood for me [Music] you

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Published: Sat Oct 16 2021