2nd August 2020

[Music] good morning and welcome to victoria baptist church at home i'm saying good morning it is evening here while i'm recording this but it may be morning where you are and whatever time it is wherever you are welcome to this service it's a communion service this morning emma will be leading us during that time so please be prepared for that but first we're going to begin by worshiping together and pete martin is going to lead us in at this time of worship welcome to our morning worship and as we come to worship we're just focusing on that jesus being the way the truth and the life that no one can come to him except through that son that is jesus christ and as we worship we're just going to worship on those words around that because it's our living hope that we have in him the fact that one day we can live to be with jesus so join us as we worship together this morning and express our living hope and thanks to god as we do that how great the chasm that lay between us how high the mountain i could not climb in desperation i turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night then through the darkness your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul work is finished the end is risen jesus christ [Music] such boundless grace [Music] the god of ages step down from glory to where i sing and bear my shame the cross has spoken i am forgiven the king of kings calls me his son i'm yours forever jesus christ [Music] hallelujah praise the [Music] salvation in your name jesus christ [Music] then came the morning that sealed the promise your buried body began to breathe out of the silence the roaring lion declared a grave has no claim on me then came the morning that sealed the promise your buried body began to breathe out of the silence [Music] jesus hallelujah have broken every chain there's salvation in your name jesus christ [Music] you have broken every chain there's salvation in your name jesus christ by living hope jesus christ [Music] lori want to thank you this morning that you are our living hope for what you've done for us and through the cross that we can come to you to be forgiven for our sins that means that we can come this morning to worship you in spirit and in truth we pray for those that are around us in this world right now that are struggling so much with the illness through the coronavirus through famine through poverty for whatever it may be lord we commit them to you may they know their eternal hope in jesus christ this morning may we too in this country turn to you as lord and savior once again to rise up as a christian nation that we will honor you to be the king of kings and the lord of lords lord we want to commit our worship to you as we say lord have your way among us and be the king of kings oh man in the darkness we were waiting without hope without light till from heaven you came running there was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the lore and prophets to a virgin came the word from a throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt [Music] praise the father praise the sun praise the spirit god of glory majesty praise forever to the king of guests to [Music] you did not despise the cross or even in your suffering you saw to the other side knowing this was our salvation jesus for our sake you died praise the father praise the son praise the spirit three [Music] [Music] and the morning that she rose all of heaven held its breath till the sun was moved for good for the lamb had conquered death and the dead rose from their tombs and the angels stood in all for the souls of all who come to the father are restored and the church of christ was born and the spirit lit the flame now this gospel truth shall not kneel shall of faith by his blood and in his name in his freedom i am free for the love of jesus christ who has resurrected me [Music] praise the father praise the son praise the spirit three in one god of glory [Music] [Music] praise forever to the king of kings [Music] in a moment we're going to have our bible reading together but before we do i'd like to share a few things with you firstly concerning where we are in regards to returning to church we are still subject to a number of restrictions regarding uh how many people and who can come into the church we are still unable to sing together and to mix together our view is that until these restrictions are relaxed our current arrangements are better than anything we would yet be able to put in their place that said there are some things we can do and want to do from beginning in september so we would like home groups to start meeting again we'd like some of the youth group activities to start we hope that men's and women's fellowship will be able to meet in a limited way and that on a sunday evening we may be able to start a bible study a service or prayer time together as we do these things our current sunday morning online services will continue the leadership team are meeting tomorrow evening to discuss these things further and we'll be writing to you this week with more information it is of course a frustrating time for many of us and we are eager to get back to church to be together to worship together and to share all the things that we share in our sunday morning church services but at the same time we want to do so in a way that is safe and to ensure that we comply with all our legal obligations i'm sorry not to be the bearer of better news for those who are eager to get back to church but i thank you for your patience with us also a notice about lebanon and the gift day the lebanon summer camps went ahead this year our hope had been to send out a team to support that work and to take for them to take a gift with them although the team have been unable to go it is still our desire to send a gift and we've been raising money to send out to lebanon in support of the work they're doing if you would if you're able and you would like to contribute to that gift you can do one of two things firstly you could put an envelope into the church office mark lebeden or gift day or secondly you could make a payment direct to the bank if you do so then please do email the church office saying that you've done so telling us the amount so that we can keep that money separate from the general giving we also have a number of people unwell at the moment that we will have some time to pray for during the time of communion and now we're going to have our bible reading colleen mcmahon who is one of the people we've been praying for a lot recently and it's been great this week to welcome him back into the church office and here he is to read god's word to us this morning's reading is from john chapter 13 verse 31 through to chapter 14 verse 6. when judas was gone jesus said no is the son of man glorified and god is glorified in him if god is glorified in him god will glorify the son in himself and will glorify him at once my children i will be with you only a little while longer you will look for me and just as i told the jews so i tell you now where i am going you cannot come a new command i give you love one another as i have loved you so you must love one another by this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another simon peter asked him lord where are you going jesus replied where i am going you cannot follow now but you will follow later peter asked lord why can't i follow you now i will lay down my life for you then jesus answered will you really lay down your life for me i tell you the truth before the crows you will disown me three times do not let your hearts be troubled trust in god trust also in me in my father's house are many rooms if it were not so i would have told you i am going there to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where i am you know the way to the place where i am going thomas said to him lord we don't know where you're going so how can we know the way jesus answered i am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me one of the things that's happening in our society is a decline of personal relationships the other day i had to top up one of my son's phones and to do so but the card i'd used formally had expired so i had to register a new card which meant i had to use a telephone menu system it began with quite a long recorded announcement about what they were doing about covid how it was uh how they were responding to it and the restrictions it was placing on their service and then it gave me four menu options i listened to the four menu options and pressed one to top up my card that brought me to another four menu options and i listened to those and then pressed two to register a new card then i came to the part that said using your telephone keypad please enter the 16 digit long number on the front of the card so i did that and then it said please enter the three digit security code on the back of the card and then enter your expiry date so i did all of those things and then i had to wait while the card details were being checked finally i received this message there has been a problem with your transaction please call again later and the line went dead i didn't scream i want to speak to a person but i i really felt like it personal contact is in decline we are living in in a high-tech low-touch society we are speaking to machines more and to people less we are experiencing a decline in personal contact one of the other ways that is manifested is in our housing arrangements in the uk around 30 percent of all properties are single occupancy which means that about 8 million people are living on their own with very limited access to personal contact with others in their homes the current effects of the pandemic of course are amplifying this personal contact is in decline and according to the bible that's a problem because human beings are created for personal contact human beings cannot flourish without personal contact with other human beings at the deepest level of our being we need relationships we're designed for them one of the things john's gospel tells us teaches us is the strange idea about god not being one person but being three persons sharing one nature we call that the trinity now it's a strange idea to get your head around but it explains very well what it means to be a human being or or her experience of being a human being and it explains why personal relationships matter so much to us because because we are made in the image of a god who is in perpetual loving relationships then because we are made in the image of such a god we also need a personal loving harmonious relationships so that we can thrive and flourish and become the kind of people god intended us and designed us to be the absence of personal contact is as psychologically damaging to us as the absence of food would be physically damaging to us so as we look at this statement this morning i am the way the truth and the life i'd like you to see that it's a statement made in the context of personal relationships the conversation that leads to that statement begins when judas goes out to betray jesus when judas leaves the room jesus speaks these words now is the son of man glorified and god is glorified in him if god is glorified in him he will glorify the son in himself and he will glorify him at once that's an awful lot of glory jesus is saying this is it the time has come this is what i came into the world to do and he says to the disciples i will be with you only a little while longer where i am going you cannot come he adds to that a new command that they should love one another as he has loved them and that if they do love one another in that way he promises them that people will recognize them as his disciples but peter is not listening to any of that he's only heard one thing and he asks lord where are you going jesus replied where i am going you cannot follow now but you will follow later lord why can't i follow you now i will lay down my life for you then jesus answered will you really lay down your life for me i tell you the truth before the crows you will disown me three times you have to have a heart of stone not to feel the pathos of that moment imagine you are one of the disciples witnessing this conversation you know peter idolizes jesus you remember that peter was the first of the disciples to identify jesus as the messiah you remember that when jesus walked on the water towards the the boat filled with the disciples it was peter who got out of the boat and walked a few faltering steps on the water towards jesus you remember that when the large crowds who had followed jesus began to desert him and he turned to the disciples and said do you want to leave also it was peter who said lord we have nowhere else to go you have the words of eternal life peter has given up everything to follow jesus his whole world revolves around him as one of the other disciples you know that if any of the disciples are going to lay down their lives for jesus peter is the one who will do it and and and now he's said it he is devoted to jesus i will lay down my life for you it's a very moving scene and yet jesus knocks the legs out from under him he says no you will not i tell you the truth before the sun comes up three times you will have denied you even know me it's brutal now i don't know if you can feel that but it seems to me that it must have been a terrible scene for the disciples to witness and nobody speaks a word until jesus speaks again and says do not let your hearts be troubled trust in god trust also in me in my father's house are many rooms if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where i am peter is distressed by the thought of losing personal contact with jesus and jesus says to him and to all the disciples the reason that must happen for a little while now is so that it might not happen forever they losing personal contact for a little while now so that they can have personal contact with him in his father's house forever which tells us i think something important as in to think about in our society and that is that fixing the world is not at the top of jesus's agenda fixing the world is at the top of many people's agenda today fixing the environment fixing poverty fixing racism fixing injustice is at the top of many people's agenda but you can see here that fixing the world is not at the top of jesus's agenda it's on his agenda fixing the world fixing the environment racism poverty and injustice is on his agenda but it's not at the top of his agenda bringing us home to god so that we can be with him that we can be with the father and the son forever is at the top of his agenda and that has to come first because none of the other things can be fixed until that is fixed our first problem is separation from god all the other problems cascade down from there the reason nothing works properly in this world is because we have lost contact with god and the reason for which we were made the purpose for which we were made it's like it's like losing the internet connection in your home in a 5g world there's something called the internet of things the idea is that your toaster your kettle fridge oven and everything else in your home will be connected to the internet and controllable by your phone so imagine you you're in church after the service you're having coffee your conversations going on a bit longer than you thought and you've got a roast in the oven you want to check on that so you take out your phone you log into the uh into the oven you look at a picture of your roast see how it's doing if it looks like it's already done then just lower the heat slide it down on the phone that'll lower the heat of the oven or turn the oven off if you want to and you can control it all from your phone put it back in your pocket carry on your conversation it's a wonderful idea but it relies on your home being connected to the internet and if you lose that internet connection then all of those things in your home no longer work properly that's exactly where we are things in the world don't work properly pollution racism and injustice are the things that happen when you lose connection with god but the way to fix them is not to address the things individually but what we need to do is to get re-connected with god but we don't know the way and jesus said i am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me peter thought he knew the way he said i will give my life for you but jesus said that's not the way it's not ours giving our lives for jesus that brings us home to god it's jesus giving his life for us that does it it's not our love for him that gets us reconnected to god but his love for us our love is not what we think it is our love is subject to uh our moods it's subject to how much sleep we've had it's subject to our physical health our love goes up and down i i thought that i was going to be a loving parent until our first son was born and had colic for the first four months it was miserable he cried a lot we didn't sleep much i remember saying to him on one occasion callum you are ruining my life which is not the most loving thing you can say to a six week old baby if the way to god depends on our love we're in trouble because our love goes up and down depending on our moods depending on how tired we are depending on a whole range of things but it doesn't depend on our love it depends on his love and look at his love judas has gone out jesus knows now that the clock is ticking and that he is going in just a few hours that he will be enduring the worst kind of torture that human beings could possibly devise and what is he doing he's thinking about the needs of his disciples he's putting the needs of his disciples he's preparing them and he's putting their needs ahead of his own and in doing that he is doing what he has always done and would always do because jesus is love incarnate jesus is the epitome of love and going to the cross giving himself for our sins in our place upon the cross is the epitome of his love jesus is the way his love for us is the way back to god not our love for him but his love for us expressed upon the cross jesus is the way he is also the truth peter thought he knew the truth but when he said i will lay down my life for you it couldn't have been further from the truth to read about him just a few hours later reduced to cowardly denials to save his own skin is pitiful peter wasn't lying when he said what he said to jesus he just didn't know the truth about his own weakness and i wonder if we do i wonder if we want to i wonder if we prefer not to know the truth all human beings at best have an ambiguous relationship with the truth claire and i have recently been watching bbc a bbc documentary about rupert murdoch and it's remarkable to see just how many important and powerful people begin to look tainted when the truth about their relationships and behavior is revealed there's an even more memorable example in the final episode of the serial drama about the chernobyl nuclear disaster in the courtroom scene the final courtroom scene one of the scientists valerie legersoft under huge pressure to lie about what had happened said this when the truth offends we lie and lie until we almost believe the truth is not there but it is every lie incurs a debt to the truth sooner or later that debt is paid that is how an rbmk reactor core explodes suppressing the truth can have terrible consequences and jesus claims to be the truth every word jesus spoke was a truthful word much of it much of the things many of the things jesus say says are unpalatable to us he he tells us that we are sinners in need of a savior he tells us that our sins are a much bigger problem than any of us would possibly imagine that their consequences for us and for others are potentially horrific these are not things that anybody wants to hear but he also tells us that he came to deal with that problem for us and if that if we trust in god and trust in him he will make a way for us to be forgiven and to be free the cross was the place he would do that that's the place he was going that peter couldn't follow the truth that human beings need most is not a political philosophy or a religious code it is still less is it uh ideas about our own progress our own wisdom our own strength the truth we need most is found in a person jesus is the way and the truth and jesus is also the life dr addison leach professor at an american college once told a story about two young women at the college he was teaching they were both very bright students and their parents expected them to go on get good degrees and from there go on to good successful careers but during their time at the college the two girls became christians and decided to become missionaries their parents had a fit one of the mothers called the professor thinking that he was one of the reasons that he her daughter had become a religious fanatic she said we wanted our daughter to get her masters to start a career so she could save some money and have some money in the bank so she would have some security but now she's giving all that up to go who knows where and the professor said to her please allow me to remind you of something we are all living on a little ball of rock called the earth we are hurtling through space at unimaginable speed and even if we don't hit anything eventually each one of us is going to die that means that we live our lives standing on a trap door and one day that trap door will open when it opens as it must for everyone we will fall and the only thing that matters then is will we be caught by the everlasting arms or will we fall forever and you want your daughter to get a masters a career some money in the bank so that she might have some security the truth that is very hard to face is that there is no degree no career no amount of money in the bank that can give human beings the kind of security that our hearts need there's no degree no career no amount of money that can stop us being in a car crash or being betrayed by people that we have trusted or being diagnosed with a very serious illness but there is one thing that can help us in times like that and it is knowing god as our father through the lord jesus christ who is the way the truth and the life he's the only real source of security and life in this world he is the life he's he's the only one that when you have him you cannot lose him or be lost by him we have been made by a god of eternal personal loving relationships to share in those relationships with him and to share them with others jesus has made the way for us to do that on the cross he has spoken the truth about what that means spoken the truth about how we can have it spoken the truth about the consequences of refusing it and he offers that life to everyone who will receive it from his hands if you've been with us through this series i hope that you are beginning to see that these i am statements of jesus are not simply true in some abstract way but that they are true for us that jesus is the light for us that he is the bread for us that he is the gate for us that he is the good shepherd for us the resurrection the way the truth and the life for us and i don't know what more to say but to point you to him and to implore you to receive from him all that he has done to make it possible for us to have life in his presence life with him life with the son and life with the father forever we are made for loving personal relationships with one another and above all with god the father and god the son by the power of the holy spirit we are made for these things and these things are offered to us by the lord jesus christ i i'm going to pray now and if you would like to pray to receive that life then please pray this prayer with me heavenly father thank you for sending your son jesus into the world by myself i can't find the way know the truth or keep my life please forgive me all the things i have done that have grieved you and hurt others help me and strengthen me now as i choose to trust in jesus as the way the truth and the life for me and grant me to know that the place jesus has prepared and will come back to take us is a place for me amen we're going to sing together again now and then emma will lead us in a time of communion [Music] [Music] his hands is [Music] his body bound [Music] sealed [Music] [Applause] [Music] messiahs oh praise the name of the lord our god [Music] foreign [Music] the son [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] oh the blazing sun shall be [Music] jesus oh praise the name of the lord our god o praise his name [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] good morning church and welcome to the lord's table where we're going to celebrate the communion i've been thinking a lot this week about two extremes and yet how they complement each other and those things are flexibility and familiarity and how through this strange time of lockdown we've held on dearly to the things that are familiar to us but we've also had to be flexible and adapt how to how we do them in a new way it makes me think of jesus saying that new wine fresh expressions need new wine skins so when we come to the table today i'm going to use some words that are very very familiar to us we often perhaps think as as baptists and non-conformists that we don't use words of liturgy but we do we have a familiar pattern of prayer and we say the same things often because they're truth and it's important that we acknowledge and proclaim that truth but we're also flexible because the way that we celebrate this this remembrance meal can vary from time to time i want to encourage you not to let the familiarity of the symbols and this act of breaking bread and sharing wine the fruit of the vine don't let it become so familiar that we disengage from it let's be flexible as we come to the table this morning and let's remember who jesus is that he is the way the truth and the life and through this he's provided a way for us to remember him we're also going to have a time of prayer for our church family and for the world so we're not going to rush away from the table today but rather meet as family around it speaking to our heavenly father and sharing what's on our hearts and minds so let's give thanks to god in prayer we praise you father god lord of all creation because out of your love you made us for yourself when we turned away from you in our sins you did not reject us and turn away from us but you sent jesus into the world so that we can meet you through faith in your son you've embraced us as your children and you welcome us to sit and to eat with you in christ jesus lord god you shared our life so that we might have life in him abundant life eternal life jesus opened his arms of love on the cross and made the way for us to have a sacrifice for our sins let's spend a few moments in prayer thinking and bringing before god the people that are on our hearts and minds heavenly father we give you thanks that although we are apart geographically we are one in your spirit thank you for the unity of the faith that we have in christ jesus we pray for all the families the young people and the children in our church family we give you thanks for them and ask that you would bless their school holidays we ask that you would look after our teenagers our young people help them to be able to communicate with their friends even though they may not be able to meet in large groups thank you for the technology that allows us to do that through facetime and telephone calls and all sorts of means lord we pray for the children in our church we pray that you will reveal yourself to them through your word and through the work of eric and sandra and the family ministries that happen from this place lord we pray for families who are juggling work and home life and negotiating lockdown we particularly pray for families on our hearts and minds right now lord we pray for those in our congregation who are feeling very alone at this time for the isolated for those still shielding for health reasons for those who have been recently bereaved lord we ask that you would be the ever-present help in times of trouble that you would be that friend that sticks closer than a brother we particularly lift up those who are elderly and housebound for those in care homes around this town of eastbourne for those who live on their own and for those who are struggling with mental health issues like depression or anxiety lord would you give them the mind of christ and be their closest companion again we bring before you those particular individuals on our hearts and minds father god we bring before you those who are struggling with poor health for those that are awaiting tests and are anxious for those that have had test results that are really difficult to handle lord we pray for those who are battling against serious illness and we ask in your grace lord that you would heal them you would bless them you would comfort them and you would provide for every need in their lives so lord we remember those who need your healing touch and we bring them before you now and now we'll pray as we approach our time of sharing in the bread and the cup lord we don't presume to come to this your table in our own righteousness or strength because we acknowledge that we have sinned we've sinned in thought and in word and indeed sometimes through negligence through weakness and sometimes through our own deliberate fault we are truly sorry lord and ask that you would forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness thankful that you are just and when we come to you you hear our prayers on the night jesus was betrayed at supper with his friends jesus took some bread he gave god thanks and he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me so heavenly father we do this in remembrance of jesus his body is the bread of life we break this bread and share in the body of christ because though we are many we are one body because we all share in this one bread jesus lamb of god you take away the sins of the world have mercy on us lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world grant us your peace we'll eat the bread in just a moment and after the supper in the same way jesus took the cup the cup of wine and he gave thanks and he said to his disciples drink this all of you this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins do this in remembrance of me heavenly father we drink of this cup to remember that jesus is the way the truth and the life and his blood was shed for all of us we give you thanks lord for all the benefits that you have given to us we thank you for all the pains and sorrows and insults that you bear for us and as we receive you through these emblems as the way the truth and the life we pray that you would dwell in each of our hearts more deeply as we proclaim jesus's death and celebrate his resurrection send us your holy spirit to fill us afresh that this bread and this cup might be to us the body and blood of jesus we eat and drink these holy gifts make us one in christ wherever we might be so friends let's take a moment to pause to break the bread and to drink from the cup wherever you are with whoever you're with whether you're alone and you're in fellowship with jesus himself by faith or whether you're in company these are god's holy gifts for his holy people please pause for a moment and enjoy the lord's supper lord god with your whole church throughout all of the earth we offer you this sacrifice of praise and thanks lifting our voices to join the eternal song of heaven holy holy holy lord god of power and might heaven and earth are filled with your glory hosanna in the highest lord as we have broken the bread and received your life by the power of your holy spirit keep us always in love and truth through jesus christ our lord we pray jesus redeemer friend and savior that we might know you more clearly love you more dearly and follow you more nearly and now may the peace of god which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and the love of god and of his son our savior jesus christ and may the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be among us and remain with us now and always go in the peace of the lord go and serve him with gladness in the name of jesus amen [Music] jesus jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] died [Music] [Music] is jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] alive [Music] to see [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] jesus we've come now to the end of our service i want to thank those who have helped this morning to make this service happen and i'm going to close with these very familiar words now to him who is able to keep us from falling and to present us before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy to the only god our savior be glory majesty power and authority through jesus christ our lord now and forever amen the lord bless you all and i hope you have a super day you

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Length: 65min 4sec (3904 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 02 2020