Church Online | St Aldates Oxford | 19 September 2021

[Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so morning and a warm welcome to all dates and welcome to all of you joining us here in the building and all of you joining us online as well my name is stephen and uh it's great to meet you if you haven't met before good morning everyone so wonderful to be together my name is emily i'm one of the student pastors here and it's great that we can gather together and worship at home wherever you are and a particularly warm welcome if it's your first time here either in the building or watching online today and a particularly warm welcome if you've just arrived in oxford and you're a student we love students here lots about students you're going to be hearing in the service coming up but first we just wanted to introduce you to an amazing group of people who have just moved to the city to start as our interns in the school of ministry for this year so would you give us a really warm welcome for our new batch of interns so we're just going to run that list so why don't you tell us your name tell us where you're from and tell us what you're going to be doing thank you hi i'm jess i'm from the leeds and i'm going to be an act intern very exciting hi i'm morgan i'm from vancouver but i've been a student in oxford for three years and i'm the youth intern you that's really exciting thanks hello i'm oriole i'm from barcelona and i'm going to be the media intern wow that's great hello i'm holly i'm from oxford and i'm going to be a media intern as well fantastic long way there that's brilliant hi uh i'm johnny i'm from oxford and i'm also going to be an acting team exciting hi i'm alice i've just been studying at brooks and i'm going to be doing the children's intern hi i'm charlotte i'm from oxford i'm going to be doing worshiping kids hi i'm hayley i'm from pennsylvania in the states and i'm gonna be the student intern isn't it exciting why don't we give them a round of applause and we're gonna pray for them now so lord we thank you for these interns thank you that you've gathered them from across our city across the globe and we ask that this year would be a time of great blessing for them uh that as they refresh others they would be refreshed as they equip others they would be equipped and that you would give them everything they need for fulfilling your purposes in jesus name amen amen thank you so much everyone thank you fantastic and then we're going to be hearing from emily emily middleton come and tell us what's going to be happening with all day's kids hello hello audience family nice to see you this morning kids give me a wave um this morning and all days kids just a little notice we're gonna good morning hello we're gonna split into some smaller groups and we've had the past few weeks i just want to explain that really quickly now if you have a really tiny weeny baby from the age of zero up to two but not including two you can go into the backspace in the oak room as emily mentioned earlier there's some toys in there there will be a couple of leaders in there so you may be fortunate enough to be able to leave your child there for a little bit in the good care of our team everybody else from the age of two up to year six as in school year year six head over to the church center with us when the sign comes up on the screen um and we'll explain what rooms you're in over there parents if you could still bring your kids over just for the next few weeks that'd be really helpful for us but we're gonna have a super fun morning today guys we're gonna be talking about the church because that's what the big kids are talking about over in here as well and that's gonna be super fun and the last important thing we have super cool free wristbands for you today so if you haven't got your wristband let us know and we'll give it to you over in the church center we are going to have so much fun i hope you are ready thanks guys thanks so much and emily why don't you pray for us as we start our service together heavenly father we thank you that your faithfulness extends throughout all the generations from the youngest to the oldest person here to all those gathering at home we thank you for your faithfulness and lord we pray that you will be glorified in our time together and you have blessed the children as they gather that you would meet each one of them and now as we worship would you be lifted high we love you jesus and we welcome you here in this place oh man let's worship together [Music] [Music] we turn to you [Music] [Music] oh we long for you cause when we see you we find strength to face the day and in your presence [Music] you are the god who saves us lord jesus [Music] [Music] we [Music] baby [Music] strength [Music] [Music] you are the god who saves us [Music] um [Music] away let's declare this this morning when we see you cause when we see you we find strength [Music] [Music] you are the god who saves us [Music] we welcome you [Music] let's just begin to pray to say we welcome you lord we're here for you fix our eyes on you again this [Music] morning and god your love goes on and on time and again we've known your kindness [Music] a peace that lasts beyond the a night that never leaves a fight always the same your love surrounds us you are faithful in the fire faithful in the flood your love keeps coming you won't give up faithful in the battle you were strong enough [Music] [Applause] us [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] faithful in the flood your life [Music] thank you for the heavens that are open wide thank you for the rivers that will not run dry thank you for the blessing that is over my life over my life over my life thank you that you're faithful in the mystery thank you that you're working when i cannot see thank you that your love has got to hold on me hold on me hold on me thank you for the heavens that are open and wide thank you for the rivers that will not run dry thank you for the blessing that is [Music] [Music] keeps you are faithful old stuff thank you for the heavens that are open wide thank you for the rivers that will not run dry thank you for the blessing that is [Music] thank you [Music] thank you lord thank you jesus [Music] you for your mercy thank you for your love for your faithfulness [Music] we praise you [Music] there was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the loren prophets to a virgin came the word for my throne no vendors [Music] praise the father praise the father praise [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] knowing this was our salvation jesus [Music] praise the father praise the son [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] that you [Music] and the church of christ was born [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] praise the sun praise the spirit [Music] praise forever [Music] the son praise the spirit [Music] praise forever to the king of kings we praise the praising lord [Music] this morning [Music] is [Music] we lift our songs together [Music] your love is devotee like [Music] to the winter rain and beyond the horizon with mercy for today [Music] ever [Music] your praise will never be [Music] is [Music] is [Music] will never be [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you will be praying [Music] [Applause] you will be praised [Music] [Music] [Music] worthy you're so worthy so worthy and faithful you have been and faithful you will be you pledge yourself to me and that's my thing [Music] ever be on my lips your praise will never be on my lips ever be on my lips your praise will never be on my lips [Music] thank you jesus thank you jesus that you're here in this place thank you for your spirit thank you for your presence and that is our prayer lord that your praise will ever be on our lips whatever situation we may be feeling whatever circumstances we might be in we just thank you for the truth of who you are god that you are the same yesterday today and forever that we can praise you praise you in the storm praise you in the good times so that we can praise you we thank you for your promise to us in ephesians now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be the glory in the church and in christ jesus throughout all the generations forever and ever amen as we stand together let's pray now for students as they return to universities all across this nation lord we thank you that you are the god who can do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine though we thank you for what you've done in the past amongst students but lord we are crying out to you for more lord we thank you for this city this beautiful city of oxford lord we thank you for the thousands of students that are coming in that we thank you for brooks freshers we thank you for freshers that on their first week of university chose to come to churches to to join in with what you're doing here in this city and for those that are exploring that are coming closer to you but lord we are crying out to you for the harvest though we pray that many students will turn to you we'll have dreams we'll have revelations we'll get invited to to think about who you are will come into your family lord jesus father we lift up the students who are struggling right now lord we pray for your comfort and for your peace we thank you for your hope lord we pray that they would encounter you the living god we pray for our student ministry here at cinahl dates we pray it will be a place of home a place of encounter a place of transformation that many students would be sent out from here in this place to be salt and light in many different spheres of society and across the world lord we thank you for what you're doing and we ask for more in your name jesus amen amen and lord we want to pray for ourselves pray for those of us who maybe have started new jobs or just moved to the city or um at this time of new beginnings have found that new beginning tough and we want to pray for kids and youth going back to schools we want to pray for those going back into hospitals going back into our workplaces we asked lord that you would fan our gifts into flame that you would give us confidence and inspiration to use them well wherever you have placed us wherever you have planted us and we want to pray particularly today for those who are just struggling and maybe trying to work out what the right next step is for them pray lord that they would know you so close in this time pray after this time of confusion and uncertainty that they would be certain about your love for them be certain about your purposes in their lives and we ask that you give us eyes to see and ways of helping and coming alongside each other cheering each other on and supporting each other to shine as lives for you wherever you have placed us in jesus name oh amen fantastic and now there's a great opportunity just to turn to those around you ask how this week's been say hi to them and share christ peace with them and we're going to do that just for a moment [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] fantastic and now we're going to be hearing a little bit about what's going on in the life of the church the first thing to say is it's great you've had an opportunity to start those conversations we'll have some ice creams at the end of the service and they'll be a great opportunity to continue them emily tell us what else is going on thanks so much stephen well as you hopefully all know that freshers week for brooks has kicked off this week and it's been a really exciting week we've had members of the team up on brooks campus welcoming students chatting to those to try and see if they want to explore faith having some great conversations and we had our first student night and it was amazing to see this building filled again with students to have dinner together to worship it's been so long since you've been able to do that so really we want to just invite you if you are a student here today in undergrad come and join us thursday night seven o'clock in the building if you're watching at home you're so welcome we'd love to see you there and help you grow and journey in your faith while you're at university but also new for this term we have a student lunch happening every sunday after the 12 o'clock service come and meet in the foyer and we'd love to hang out with you and get to know you and have lunch together fantastic and just to say um lots of us at this time are asking big questions about life and trying to work out you know what what is most important what's most valuable and it might be you've started coming church in the last few weeks and you've got some of those questions or it might be someone you're working with or studying with is is thinking about some of those things and on uh tuesday the 12th of october we're going to start alpha right here in the building in the church we'll start with just a really great meal and then we'll have a short talk on a subject that's really relevant to the questions you're asking so about purpose or about guidance or about faith or about forgiveness and then there's a chance to discuss it with a small group of people and no opinions out of bounds no questions off limits and you just get to explore some of these things in a really relaxed friendly environment so that's tuesday the 12th of october right here in the building and so just to encourage you if you've never done alpha before that might be a great opportunity for you to come along but it's also a good time right now to be thinking about who could i invite and maybe it's one of those people you've been praying for at 1102 each day and you just want to think about inviting them along to start alpha in just a few weeks everything we do here as a church is enabled by your generosity and we're so blessed by the way you uh give so much of your prayer to this church your time in terms of service and we were talking last week all about the teams that we're building to help with our kids work and our youth work and our hosting team and our hospitality and it's not too late to express an interest in joining one of those teams and obviously how you give financially as well and we've got an opportunity as we sing this next song just to reflect on how we might be giving back to god out of all that he has so generously given to us so why don't we stand and the band are going to lead us in this song [Music] but you came down from heaven and made a way for us you give strands to the weary and power to the wing you call the sons and daughters at the table of the king oh it's your mercy your mercy it's new every morning grace for today it's your kindness that has saved us welcome down the table in the presence of our savior and now he is [Music] such a humble expression i know it's your mercy your mercy [Music] down the table the steadfast love of the [Music] [Applause] [Music] you give me strength to say great is your faithfulness [Music] [Music] you give me strength [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] your mercy is new every morning [Music] is [Music] [Applause] it's your mercy your mercy it's new every morning grace for today it's your kindness that has saved us welcome down the table in the presence of our savior [Music] please remain please remain standing for this morning's reading from matthew chapter 16 verses 13 13-19 when jesus came to the region of caesarea philippi he asked his disciples who do you say the son of man is they replied some say john the baptist others say elijah and still others jeremiah or one of the prophets but what about you he asked who do you say i am simon peter answered you are the messiah the son of the living god jesus replied blessed are you simon son of jonah for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by my father in heaven and i tell you that that you are peter and on this rock i will build my church and the gates of hades will not overcome it i will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven this is the word of the lord well good morning everyone my name is simon i'm one of the ministers here and i'm delighted to be sharing with you and if you have a bible please can i uh encourage you to open it at matthew chapter 16 and i want to draw around a few thoughts this morning but first let's pray lord thank you that you welcome us to sit at your table we pray lord today by your spirit and through your word and because of your son we might come closer and sit and sup with you amen [Applause] in the book and movie chocola it's set in a french village and the church is contrasted with a coffee shop i don't know if you've read the book i haven't read the book but i've certainly seen the film and the church is portrayed as a place full of miserable judgmental hypocritical people that kind of shadowy figures who sneak into the services when it's always raining into a crumbling building that is described as being aggressively whitewashed and there the priest in the dingy dark dank church performs his shadowy rituals across the way is a chocolate shop this is the center of the town and this is thriving with people and it's magnificent in its vibrant colors of golds and reds and oranges and the proprietor is this remarkable a spiritual and sensual woman who just exudes the affirmation of life people just love being around her and in the chocolate shop people are transformed it's a place of joy there they bring their troubles and together over chocolate life enters into their lives transformation it's a place full of grace and the church is set up against the chocolate shop and the book actually ends uh the film ends with the priests actually leaving the church on easter day and just stuffing his face with chocolates it's sad tragic the author clearly didn't have a very good impression of church and so the question i want us to think about and we'll look at it a bit later in the talk is church or chocolate church or chocolate the brilliant essayist and journalist malcolm muggeridge some of you are old enough to remember his writings he's an amazing man and for decades he was a convinced marxist so the champagne socialist he he lived a high life but he also very much lived a low life and he derided and scorned the church in fact in one on one occasion he described himself as a gargoyle on top of the church looking down and spitting as it were and mocking all these people doing their absurd things going into the cathedral and yet always despite his success despite his affluence despite his um promiscu promiscuousness and you know he had everything that he wanted it wasn't enough and in his old age in his 60s he was drawn to the church but before then he actually wrote this how difficult it is to convey the longing that one feels to belong to the church positive envy of those the bells call to worship those of you who were here early enough this morning will have heard the bells they're a call to worship they are actually a call to meet god and find that joy and that freedom and that wholeness and that purpose and that transformation that that french novel suggests is found in a chocolate shop in his 60s he came to faith he realized that the life he'd been living didn't get him where he wanted to go and that that longing he saw would be fulfilled in church and he heard the gospel he heard about jesus he responded to the love life and death of jesus he gave himself to him and joined the church and he describes that experience in this way a sense of home coming of picking up the threads of a lost life of responding to a bell that had long been ringing and of taking a place at a table that had long been vacant i loved the last song that we had before i came up and spoke they didn't know what i was going to say didn't know that quote but it finished off by saying that we're welcome at the table and maybe there's someone here this morning someone joining with us online and maybe you've never had anything to do with church or maybe just church is a kind of musty memory something that you abandoned years ago for a better life and here you are and you find yourself strangely drawn maybe you're on line today listening to this thinking why am i watching a church service with a fat man with a cool shirt preaching it's because jesus is welcoming you to his table i want to consider the first time of only two times that jesus mentions the actual word church and one of those is here in the passage that we had read let's look at it in our reading jesus has intentionally taken his disciples in the north to caesarea philippi and this is somewhat surprising because this is the pagan center the pagan capital of all israel it's actually named after caesar who declared himself to be a god it was believed to be the place of the gods and indeed of the demons the ancients believed and actually it was a portal where the demons came from hell down on this mountain it's the highest mountain in the land of israel permanently snow-capped long associated with pagan worship in the victorian era they discovered numerous uh temples and and sites of worship on there so jesus takes his disciples to the pagan capital the pagan center and there he asks this question verse 13 in our reading he says who do people say that i am and they reply well some say john the baptist come back from the dead some say the prophet that we've been waiting for some say this he says okay and who do you say that i am this is the most important question that's ever put to us and on it hangs forever in our lives who do you say that jesus is in verse 16 peter answers you are christ the son of the living god and jesus replies blessed are you simon son of jonah this one revealed to you by men but by my father and i say that you are peter the rock and on this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it at the base of the highest mountain in israel we have the highest revelation that the world has ever known that jesus is the son of god he's the messiah he's the rescuer he's the lord and he says that on that recognition that revelation that profession he will build his church now the church is often interested in its premises its buildings its bogs its bells its fabric its stuff and so on but today i want to talk about four premises that we can find four premises raison d'etre presuppositions of the church in this passage let's have a look the first premise is this that the church is the community of those who confess jesus is lord peter answers you are the christ you are god's son you're the one that we've been waiting for your emmanuel your god with us your god for us you've come to rescue us you're the king that we've been waiting for who's going to set us free and put things right that's who you are all of that is tied up in the answer that peter gives and jesus says you're the rock and on this rock i will build my church this is the first reference in scripture to the church and it's found on jesus's lips and it's found in response to a revelation and a declaration on peter's lips peter sees who jesus is and jesus says on this there i can build my church now we don't know what word jesus actually used for church in the aramaic or the hebrew we know that the greek word that the apostle used here is ecclesia literally is two words that mean to be called out and to be called together it's the people that god has called together our english word church comes from the old german word kisha and that comes from a greek word kiriakon that means of the lord it means the lord's house and the church is his house and the church is his people and the church is his body the church is his bride the church is the people that he's won for himself the church of those that he loves and gave himself up for and he says i will build my church it's his not the pcc's not the popes not the deacons not the staff not the members not the civic authorities it's his church and he's intimately involved with it i will build my church and if you're in the church today it's because he has drawn you you've seen him and he's drawn you and he's building something in you and on you and through you he's building his church that's the first thing i wanted to say the church is the community of those who profess jesus as lord the second premise is this the church is the community of the blessed who profess jesus it's the community of the blessed jesus first words to peter are these blessed are you simon son of jonah blessed are you the church is the blessed of god you see to see jesus to understand him to declare him to recognize him to say yes to him to align your life with him to say you're the one and i'm gonna follow you you're the one and i'm giving my life to you to to say yes to the god who says yes to us in jesus is to be blessed blessed are you this is the premise and the presupposition of the church we are the blessed ones god has always wanted to bless us god isn't out to get us god is out to bless us and he's working his ways and configuring all sorts to try and bring his blessing what is the blessing of god it's the favor of god it's the goodness of god it's all the wonderful things about god that he wants to put on our life god wants to do us good blessed are you and that blessing comes when we recognize him you know the very first words and the very first act of god are after creation are to bless do you know that after he makes the world and he makes humankind it says and he blessed them he put his goodness on them the very last words of jesus as he ascended into heaven are and he blessed them and spoke blessing over them in the very last chapter of the bible it talks twice about the church as the blessed ones we're blessed god isn't out to get you he's out to bless you and that blessing comes through jesus he is the blessed one this week i was in the shop i was going down to visit my mom in hospital and i stopped off somewhere on the way and at the end i was talking to the shop assistant she was they live in bristol i'm from bristol she was this is near bristol she said that she was a bristolian she was from south meade she called herself a meter which only means something to those who are from bristol and uh at the end she said well bless you i said oh thank you but bless you she sort of stopped and thought that was a bit heavy i said listen i'm a priest i'm a priest she said no you're not i said no i am you're not i said i am that says my job to bless you when a priest is ordained he's ordained to bless she's ordained to bless and the church is a community of blessing if you ain't get on you're not you never are i loved her meet her listen this is a blessing place why because god is a blessing god and god wants to put his blessing on you he wants to put his goodness he wants to put his favor he wants to put his love he wants to put his affection he wants to put purpose on your life he wants to give you dignity he wants to set you free he is a blessing god that's what church is about some of you will know that at informal dinners in oxford colleges they have the blessing they have the grace it's called it begins benedictus benedict let the blessed one bless and in latin it can mean that the one who's been blessed bless god or let the blessed one god bless the food it can be read both ways benedictus benedict let the blessed one bless the blessed one is the lord and he wants to bless us and then we the ones who've been blessed are called to bless others let us be a community that's not that can never be described as the church in chocolate but rather as a community of life and vibrancy and color and texture and joy and grace and transformation because jesus is at the center and he's a blessing one who is blessing through us that's the second premise the third premise is this that the church is the community of those whom jesus repurposes jesus says i tell you you're simon you are peter the rock and on this rock i will build my church it's the first reference to church but it's also the first reference to simon being peter you're the rock peter said jesus you are and jesus says oh peter now you are. you see when we see who jesus is he says who we are when we see and declare and align ourselves with who he is he is the making of us he sees who we are he sees what he made us to be from all eternity and he calls that out of us he's the making of us simon was a fisherman and he was rubbish at it we only see in the gospels two occasions when simon is fishing and both times it says we fished all night and caught nothing he was rubbish i mean honestly his business model was bad he's he was in the wrong business but when jesus calls him and when he sees jesus and when he says yes to jesus when he recognizes who jesus is when he gives himself to jesus and aligns himself with him then jesus says you are the rock you're peter and on this rock i will build my church jesus is the making of us and this is part of the blessing that he wants to give us he wants us to become who we are he wants us to step into our destiny into our vocation into our ministry he wants us to be all that we can be that he created us to be from all eternity simon you're peter i was simon the butcher and when i became a christian nothing wrong with butchering is a noble profession and i was a good butcher but when i became a christian simon the butcher became simon the preacher or at least someone he's trying to be it's an amazing thing he sees and he calls it out and he blesses some of you are in the wrong place you've always felt actually i've been fishing i'm not very good at it but god wants to bless you and call out of you what he's made you for jesus changes lives that's what we see here he changes lives he changes destinies he changes destinations he he brings about that vocation i've seen people's lives completely turned around and golf in other trajectories other directions and just become complete and fulfilled and effective frogs turned into princes and prostitutes into princesses i've seen these things terrorists who've become evangelists when the danish philosopher kierkegaard became a christian he wrote now with god's help i will become myself now with god's help i'll become myself jesus wants you to be you and so often we're not ourselves with what others have made us what society has molded us into being we've taken things and done things and that we thought we should do but we've never felt complete or whole or fulfilled jesus says this simon you're peter and even today i think the lord jesus wants to say that to some of you and then fourthly the fourth premise i've only got four the church is the community of jesus that inexorably progresses the church is the community that advances verse 18 i will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it they'll try but they'll fail the context is key at caesarea philippi there was a giant cave it's huge i've stood in front of it it says it's wider than this platform twice as wide in fact and in the first century it was actually called the gates of hell it was its name and it was believed to be the gateway to the underworld and they believed that pan who was the only greek god who ever died would come to life be resurrected out of these gates of hell and so every year they had festivities and parties and orgies in order to try and bring him back to life and here at the gates of hell jesus stands and said and is declared to be the son of god and he says i will build my church the gates of hell will not prevail against it death will not hold me back wouldn't hold him back and it won't hold his church back jesus will build his church and hell's best efforts won't win they won't stand in the way and from that one profession with simon who was who became peter we've now got what two and a half billion people today who know that jesus is lord and have been rescued from the mouth of death the gates of hell and have entered into eternal life with jesus verse 19 i will give you the keys of the kingdom whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven whatever you free on earth will be free in heaven some of you have watched or read harry potter but listen the keeper of the keys is jesus he's the keeper of the keys and he's the one who opens life and death blessing and cursing and heaven and hell and he's given those keys to the church he's given us that authority that dignity that ministry to open heaven to set people free to bring the kingdom of heaven to bring life through the gospel to extend eternal life and forgiveness of sins and freedom and life forevermore with the lord i began by talking about the movie chocola this dichotomy i'm having a funny diabetic moment at the moment in case you're wondering i'm all right but and i i'm going to eat chocolate in a minute [Applause] this diet chocolate or church let me tell you about three families who founded the chocolate business in britain they were all devout christians they were all the church they were the ones with the keys of the kingdom and they shut hell and they opened heaven and they bound up those who were broken and they set free the the oppressed and the prisoner there was the frye family fries chocolate manufacturer the first to invent the chocolate bar devout christians in the 18th century who tenaciously opposed slavery and then in the 19th century the fries pioneered prison reform and hospitals in britain and russia and france what about the cadbury family in the 19th century the first to sell chocolates in boxes they made 27 different types of chocolate drink bourneville and so on again devout christians who pioneered the shorter working week and unions to represent workers and parks for recreation and housing reforms and sports halls in the victorian era and then the round tree factor family they began as chocolatiers making cocoa drink but early in the 20th century they made arrow bars 1935 i think dairy box smarties rolos and kit kats chocolatiers but again devout christians who saw the lord and were part of the church and they founded what was called the joseph roundtree social services long before we heard of that word hundred years ago it was used by this christian family of chocolate makers who brought about social reform they built whole villages for the poor halved infant mortality rate in for their workers they were best known for education and schools reform fries and cadburys and round trees chocolate and church philanthropists altruists evangelists people who had seen jesus and because they'd seen jesus they uh they prospered because they followed him and in their prospering they used all that they had been given for the good did you know that coco comes from south america i'm sure you do it's oxford and in mexico there's a very famous statue of jesus holding a great big coffee bean it's called el senor del cacao the lord of the chocolate the lord of the chocolate it's never a choice and when we see him when we see jesus and when we say yes to us he blesses us and in blessing us in investing in us he blesses the world amen let's stand and we're gonna worship [Music] [Music] we've seen you working wonders [Music] we've prayed unanswered prayers we've lived within the tension of the now and not yet we've prayed for great [Music] awakenings but even after all these years we still believe [Music] you are moving in this [Music] your moment we will see your justice roll like a river through this city we still [Music] [Applause] you know i disappointment [Music] we still believe with one word you can change all things [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we still [Music] [Applause] [Music] cause jesus you are with us you will fulfill your promise jesus you are making all things new and jesus you are praying for every heart that's breaking we still believe you're making all things [Music] [Music] we still jesus [Music] [Applause] you are [Music] we will see your justice [Music] we still believe that we will see your miracles we will see your justice roll like a river soothes it we [Music] why don't we take a moment just encourage you if you're comfortable uh to maybe hold out your hands as a sign you'd like to receive something from the lord today and to close your eyes maybe to fix your thoughts on jesus [Music] and i'm going to pray uh one of the oldest prayers of the church goes back centuries would you come holy spirit [Music] come holy spirit [Music] lord we invite you to minister to every person here in the building every person with us online come holy spirit [Music] image of um a coal that's been taken out of a fire and just has maybe grown a bit cold over the last 18 months but it's almost like for some people today you've had that sense of being pushed back into the heart of the fire and it felt like suddenly you felt a warmth and a joy and a heat that maybe you haven't felt in many months just to encourage you that is the spirit moving through the church it is partly being here with other people but it's more than that it's the spirit drawing you [Music] jesus it's had a sense as well as simon talked about those families the fries the round trees the cadburys the impact they had on their companies their workplaces the impact they had on their communities and indeed on the nations for some of you that just stirred deeply in your soul and you thought lord would you would you use me through that in my workplace in my company and the school i'm teaching at in my hospital i'm working at in my startup i'm trying to get off the ground lord would you help me would you inspire me would you help me to see what it means for even that place to be an extension of your body an extension of your church to shape your world maybe if that's you just wanna always put your hand on your heart right now whether you're here in the building at home and just say lord would you fill me afresh would you increase my vision of what you might want to do through me in the place you have planted me he can use you in the arts he can use you in the coffee industry he can use you in business he can use you in the legal profession he can use you in the teaching profession he can use you in the hospital [Music] wherever he's placed you [Music] and maybe there's someone here who just felt a sign of speaking i i i long to know what he's calling me to if it's if it's to invest where he's already placed me lord would you just give me energy for that give me the strength of that give me the inspiration for that if you're calling me lord to start something new to step into something new lord would you speak to me about that [Music] maybe you're here for the first time as a student or watching online as a student and you're like lord i'd love to know what it means to look like to be part of your church in this season of my life in this new place why don't you just ask him [Music] it's a prayer he longs to hear and i just thank you father that you're restoring and rebuilding faith in the room this morning and at home for the church and just believe the holy spirit is just reigniting perhaps past dreams or things that you had in your heart or a sense of calling or something that you felt part of that the lord is just breathing over that this morning and just as we ended um the simon landed his talk and continuing in the chocolate metaphor i just saw a picture of a chocolate bar that was wrapped and it was just sat in front of someone at a table and just a sense that perhaps you might have been on the edge for a while you've been looking in at the church you for whatever reason don't quite feel like you fit or belong in the church but the lord is saying today to you that he welcomes you at his table that you can come in that you can taste of his goodness that you can be part of what he's doing here that whoever feels like they don't belong that he came for you that you belong in this place so we'd love to pray with you after or please get in touch we'd love to let you know how you can be part of this family fantastic what we're going to do right now is i could just encourage the pro ministry team just to come forward they're going to be here at the front and if you'd like prep and think at all it might be something was simon was speaking about his talk maybe um you know you'd love to grow in love for the church maybe to have a sense of how god might want to use you in the church um how your gifts um might be used in the church how you might be used um in your workplace or it's about calling or something else we'd just love to pray if you'd love to take the opportunity and i really encourage you maybe it's for healing maybe you just need healing today maybe you've been struggling with your sleep and you would love the lord maybe there's someone here you've been struggling with your sleep say lord i'd love a good night's sleep tonight you can have prayer for that um maybe it's something else it's just such a privilege to be able to pray for people and so as they come forward just feel free to come forward in a moment and to be prayed for but right now i'm going to bring the formal part of our service to a close in a moment ice cream is going to be available very exciting and um let's pray for god's blessing on us so lord we thank you for speaking to us thank you for the church thank you for this church lord thank you for all that you have done through this church over many years thank you that you are not finished with it you're not finished with us you have good purposes for us thank you for all you're doing through ours and through this church right now and we pray lord that many would come to know you that this church will be ablaze with love for you and love for this city pray that you would help us to shine for you wherever you have placed us and we asked lord that we would know the blessing of the blesser today and in all the days that follow so may the lord bless you and keep you may the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you may the lord himself turn his face towards you and give you his peace and may the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit rest upon you and remain with you always amen amen great to see you thank you so much for joining us online uh don't forget to come forward we'd love to pray for you um student lunch after the 12 student night 7 p.m this thursday otherwise god bless and we hope you have a great week and we'll see you very soon [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: St Aldates Church

Views: 783

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Id: QvqxA0ctDM0

Length: 81min 28sec (4888 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021