Letham St Marks Sunday Worship Service 19th May 2024

all you've done but I have eternity to dve with thousand Hallelujah we magnify your name you alone deserve the glory the honor and the praise Lord Jesus this song is Forever Yours a thousand Hallelujah and a thousand [Music] more praise to the Lord to the lamb to the king King Of Heaven praise for he R now he we will sing forever praise to the Lord to the lamb to the king of Heaven praise for he [Music] R now heign we will sing forever with a thousand Hallelujah we magnify your name you alone deserve the glory the honor and the praise Lord Jesus this song is Forever Yours a thousand huah and a thousand [Music] [Music] more praise to the Lord [Music] to the to the king of heav praise for he now he we will sa [Music] forever thousand Hallelujah we magnify your name you areer glory the honor and the Praise Jesus this song is Forevers a thousand Hallelujah and thousand [Music] more when they're singing you're not going to hear that I'm not going to ask left [Music] I just want to speak the name of Jesus over every heart and every mind cuz I know there is peace within your presence I speak Jesus [Music] I just to speak the name of Jesus till every dark addiction starts to break declaring there is and there is fre for [Music] I just want to speak the name of Jesus over every heart and every mind cuz I know there is peace within your presence I speak Jesus [Music] I just want to speak the name of Jesus till every dark addiction starts to [Music] break declaring there is hope and there is freom I speak Jesus cuz your name is power your name is healing your name is life break every stonghold shine through the sh burn like a [Music] fire I just want to speak the name of Jesus over fear and all anxiety to Every Soul that's captive by depression I speak Jesus cuz your name is power your name is healing your name is Love yes it is break every stronghold shine through the sh burn like a fire shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness over every enemy Jesus for my family I speak the Holy Name [Music] Jesus oh shout Jesus from the mountains Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness over everyy Jesus for my family I speak the Holy Name Jesus your name your name cuz your name is power your name is healing and your name is life yes Jesus Break Every stronghold shine through the Shadows burn like a fire your name is power cuz your name is power your name is healing your name is healing your name is yes it is break every stold shine through the Shadows [Music] I just want to speak the name of Jesus over every heart and every mind cuz I know there is peace within your presence I speak Jesus Jesus Jesus the of the [Music] of shout Jesus from the mountains and Jesus in the streets Jesus in the darkness over every enemy Jus for my family I speak the Holy Name Jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] my soul [Music] good morning good morning everyone that was rubbish good morning everyone and good morning to those of you who are online you're not rubbish you're dearly treasured and loved it's this law in here who are half asleep this morning so welcome to you if you're joining us online or at some point down down the line um watching this service at a future date we hope and pray this a real blessing to you as we worship God today and we welcome to share our service this morning the Reverend Norman Smith Norman and I have known each other since probation days back in 95 after um completing our training I went to a good University in Glasgow Norman went to Aberdine so we'll say no more than that um and Norman's coming to share with us on this Pentecost Sunday his thoughts about the church the church of Scotland leam St Marks and things like that an Outsiders view although someone who's known a lot about this congregation for as long as I have been here and Norman's current role is pres Clark of loan and borders with this whole reshaping and we'll get into all of that um through it this is also what we would call assembly Sunday so the general assembly of the Church of Scotland meets started yesterday this is assembly Sunday meets until Thursday so that's no coincidence either why Norman um is here as well one or two other intimations uh as we get going um our week ahead we have what we've been having for the past few weeks we've got our baby and toddlers 12 till halfast 2 in a Tuesday Cafe Tuesday Wednesday Thursday 10 till 1 um social spaces H Thursday 2: till 7 again that's looking good um and also our friends at the Baptist Church they're holding confident uh Christianity evening run by Solas that's the 31st of May 7 till 9:00 p.m. now Andrew Simon is going to come up and as he's coming up I'll tell you another thing that's going on um as you know I've been announcing and telling you H about carolene Becker who's coming to us from South Africa she H is a minister in the church there and is coming to be part um of the Church of Scotland and sort of asked if we would take her on as a as a minister and as a congregation to help her transition into um into this new culture for her her first language is Africans so there you go she'll probably slip in and out of that but Jill's delighted because we got further someone who does speak Africans coming um and we want to welcome her to the congregation she's landing and coming into Perth um on the 29th of May so it's really quite soon now I have a specific request around that so on the 31st or the first of June I can't remember which date it is they're moving to their accommodation out at hunting Tower just a rented accommodation their Furniture is coming surface I.E you know being sailed it's probably on the high seas just now and there's a we time delay between that and them getting in so they'll be in before they're Furniture ised now the only thing that she's requested is quite quite an interesting thing you think you would need this can she borrow a double bed and a mattress and some stuff to go with it for about two weeks so think about that looking for a double bed a mattress and a duvet and various things that you will get back clean and healthy and all the rest of it after about two weeks so if you can help with that then speak to myself after the service and we'll arrange for that to happen but we're really looking forward to carlen coming Andrew please give us your intimation thank you good morning I'm Andrew Simon I'm the representative for this congregation and Perth action of churches together I made an announcement three weeks ago but I've been away for the last couple of weeks on I owna if anyone was thinking about becoming the second rep for this congregation please come and see me afterwards what's involved it's five meetings a year and there's we do work with the other churches in Perth around Easter and Christmas in particular also well Day of Prayer so there's various other things that go on throughout the year but it's about sharing with other churches in Perth and doing work together so if you're interested in ecumenical work please come and see me afterwards we do need a second rep uh for this congregation and it's two-way communication we pass up to PA what happens here and then we pass back to this congregation what what's going on at P level just please come and see me afterwards thank you thank you Andrew pop up the next one Neil so our call to worship is Psalm 103 and these are really helpful words for us on this day of Pentecost which the birth of the church people would call that and also this idea that God and His presence is out out there out there completely everywhere in that new and refreshing way and is still with us and part of the work of the spirit is to take the word of God the Bible and apply it to our lives that our hearts would be the ground to receive the seed of the word of God for it to grow roots and then to Bear a fruit listen to these words I'll say them and then I'll invite you to speak them and then we'll start well we'll start with our worship then we'll go into our first item of worship as a song so I'll say these words then we'll say them together God's word to our Hearts as we begin praise the Lord my soul all my inmost being praise His holy name praise the Lord my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle so friends let's stand together and we'll say these words as we come to God and worship this morning Psalm 103: 1 to5 let's say these words together praise the Lord my soul all my inmost being praise His holy name praise the Lord my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the [Music] [Music] eagles who else would RS cry out to worship whose Glory T the Stars to shine perhaps creation longs to have the words to [Music] sing but this Joy is [Music] mine with thousand Hallelujah we magnify your name you alone deserve the glory Glory the honor and the praise Lord Jesus this song is Forever Yours a thousand Hallelujah and a thousand more who else would die for our [Music] Redemption whose Resurrection me so right [Music] there isn't time enough to sing of all you done but I have eternity to Dy with a thousand Hallelujah we magnify your name you alone deserve the glory the honor and the praise Lord Jesus this song is Forever Yours a thousand Hallelujah and a thousand [Music] more praise to the Lord to the lamb to the king of Heaven praise for he rose now he we will sing forever PR to the Lord to the lamb to the king of Heaven praise for he rose now he Reign we will sing forever with the Thousand Hallelujah we magnify your name you alone deserve the glory the honor and the praise Lord Jesus this song is Forever Yours a thousand Hallelujah and a thousand more praise to the Lord to the L to the king of Heaven for he rose now he R we will save forever thousand Hallelujah we magnify your name you Lord deserve the glory the honor and the praise Lord Jesus this song is Forever Yours a thousand hallelu and a thousand more thank you please be seated we're going to have our opening prayer let's join our hearts together as we pray let's pray our gracious God our loving heavenly father as We Gather in this place We Gather in the knowledge that your spirit is with us you are with us as We Gather that same spirit that came at Pentecost is with us now that same spirit that woke us up in our souls and in our minds to the needs of Jesus Is With Us now that same spirit that gives gifts out according to your gracious will and loving cause that Grace and that wisdom that hope and that fearlessness all these gifts given to us that Spirit that's planted in our lives growing the fruit of the holy spirit that spirit that unlocks the word of God to make it our food for our souls all of that that same spirit is here in this building with us now so come oh God we pray make us aware of your holy spirit's presence today make us aware of his ministry in our lives make us aware of what you are doing through the spirit in our congregation in our community Lord we pray for that sense also of humility in a proud World in a world where many people are spiraling are tumbling looking for significance looking for that sense of direction that in our souls in the Stillness of these moments you bring your humbling Spirit to us that gives us that identity that we are all made to receive as daughters and sons of the Living God and Lord we thank you for that no longer do we need to search for significance because in your eyes we are significant we need no longer search and crave for power because in our weakness your power is perfected Lord God Almighty we give thanks to you today for the work of your spirit in our congregation in our community in our nation in our world and in our lives Lord Jesus this is a great day for us as the church around the world and the church in heaven to celebrate your great work and your great revelation of work in the world so as we come we ask that you would bless us and open our hearts again to receive more because you're so gracious and generous you never stop giving and you've a special message for each of us today to receive just for us unique to our circumstances and yet coming from the the mouth of your servant Norman bless him oh God we pray and here is now also as we further pray together in the words that you would have us say in faith and with an openness to receive again as we pray these words that Jesus taught us saying Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtor and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen amen right Norman do you need me no good it's really nice and lovely to be with you here today Jim and I when we say we go back a long way we really do go back a long way we first met when we were both presenting for Ministry selection in a place called St comes in Edinburgh and it's always pained me that since the first time I've met Jim he been both taller than I have been and he has been both thinner than I have been throughout that entire time but I have to tell you I'm younger than he is by a couple of years it is lovely to be with you with you here today and of course you know this is Pentecost Sunday and we are here and we're talk about the Holy Spirit and a whole pile of other things to do with to do with faith but I want to start off by asking a question so I come from the island of Lewis you I right yes okay right I was kind of ask asking and and we've done our family tree and our family tree we've traced it right back believe it or not to before codin now I'm really sorry to say this we fought for the jacobites coming from the north and we and we lost has anyone here downi your family tree any anything interesting in your family tree oh I've got a few not before you do your family tree you have to accept that there are some things in there you're going to like and there are some things in there that you're definitely going to be surprised at but you can do do nothing about it now have you ever I bet you've always read the family tree of Jesus but you never really thought about who's in there when we go look at kind of not his dad's side shall we say but his mom's side right now I've got I've got the family tree here but we're going to do it in a slightly different way of Jesus so so when I do this I want you to go y all right so let's try that right and when I do this you can guess and this oh you must have done this before that's brilliant right so here we go right ready for this this is the family of tree tree of Jesus and this is going to show you that God works with the most wide range of people that you could imagine so this is the list of ancestors of Jesus Christ a descendant of David he was a descendant of Abraham Abraham was the father of Isaac who was the father of Jacob the man who stole his brother's Birthright and Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers who sold Joseph into slavery oo and Judah was the father of peris and Zera by Tamar and peris was the father of hezin and hezin the father of RAM and RAM the father of aminadab we haven't got a clue who they were and Amin was the father of nation who was the father of Salomon who was the father of Boaz by Rahab who had a dodgy job right and Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth a great woman whose story is told in the book of the Bible bearing her name yeah and noid was the father of Jesse he was the father of David who was the king yeah and David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah whom he had murdered and Solomon was the father of reab a good King but he also dis disobeyed God for quite a few years so Bo and rabom was the father of abijah who had 14 wives right okay it says here in my script like this but but I'm a married man and I think one wife is more than enough so I'm going to give him a boo right okay right so and abijah was the father of Asa a good King but he later disobeyed God and he died of ganging of the feet Esa was the father of Jehoshaphat a king who ruled most wisely most of the time and Jehosaphat was the father of joram the father of zaiah whose Pride caused his downfall boo but Uzziah was the father of joram a very good King in every way and joram was the father of ahaz a very bad King in every way and ahaz was the father of Hezekiah who cleansed the temple and reestablished the kingdom there's a lot of them isn't there Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh who ruled for 55 years but most of these 55 years he was evil Manasseh was the father of Josiah who did right in the eyes of the Lord Joseph Josiah was the father of Janiah he was was the father of shaltiel he was the father of zerubabel he was a governor of the people he was chosen by God and zerb zerubabel was the father of Abid he was the father of eliakim he was the father of ezar he was the father of zarak he was the father of aim he was the father of Eli he was the father of elazar the father of matham the father of Jacob but not the one we spoke about earlier and Jacob we're getting into familiar teritory now was the father of Joseph the carpenter who was the husband of and so he gets her yeah of whom was born Jesus Christ whom we call the Lord of lords the King of Kings Christ Our Savior now that is Jesus's mother's family tree and it is amazing because you know you'd think even Someone Like Jesus would have only good people in his family tree but the most amazing thing about God is God loves dealing with good people but you know God can also speak to people who are not so good at all as well now I'm going to ask you a question have you been good today hands up now remember you're in church and I know there's quite a few ministers in here so you can't lie right or if you can lie we'll talk about that later in your prayers right hands up if you think if you think you've been bad today at some point or hands up if you're saying it's only half 10 there's still time right hands up if you've been good this week he's been good done a good de this week quite a few say yet do you think that will change how God feels about you no it's really important that we realize no it won't and one of the great things about God is even if there are times when we don't make the best of it God God still loves us and God still cares about us so I want you to do something now I want you to put I'm left sorry I'm left-handed if you're left or right-handed I want you to do what they tell you not to do and put your finger into a point like this point right and I want you to point at the person next to you right and not don't look at me look at them and say to them God loves you baby and so this week whether you're having a good or a bad week I want you to remember what that God loves you baby that's right there you go Jim next one to you oh thank you Norman let's sing together then before the and there's a couple here this morning so we love this we song We'll s it a few times love the Lord You're God looky thank you Neil [Music] oh [Music] yeah oh [Applause] yeah love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength with all your heart with all your soul with all your life with all your strength love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength [Music] oh yeah I will serve you Lord with all my heart with all my soul with all my mind and with all my strength I will serve you Lord with all my heart with all my soul with all my mind and with all my strength with all my heart with all my soul with all my heart with all my strength I will serve you Lord with all my heart with all my soul with all my all right guys now we're going to get low see how love this I know you love it the floor W okay and then when I count to three we're going to jump up all together as high as you can guys ready one two three with all my heart with all my soul with all my with all my strength with all my heart with all my soul with all my mind all my Str the Lord God your heart love your soul all your mind all your [Music] love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with all your [Music] strength oh [Music] yeah oh yeah I will love you Lord with all my heart with all my soul with all my mind and with all my strength right okie dokie see our we PS at the end pop the next one up please NE we'll just keep it going so we going to read from Mark 12: 28-34 Norman's chosen this reading for us today so it says one of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer he asked him of all the Commandments which is the most important the most important one answered Jesus is this here o Israel the Lord your God the Lord is one Lord love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind and all your strength the second is this love your neighbor as yourself there is no commandment greater than these well said teacher the man replied you are right in saying that God is one and that there is no other but him to love him with all your heart with all your understanding and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all the burnts offerings and sacrifices when Jesus saw that he had answered wisely he said to him you are not far from the kingdom of God and from then on no one dared ask him any more questions amen that's God's word for our hearts today we're going to sing again this lovely modern song the goodness of [Music] God I love you Lord oh your mercy never fails me all my days I've been held in your hands from the moment that I wake up until I lay my head I will sing of the goodness of God all my life you have been faithful oh my life you have been so so good with every breath that I am a I will sing of the goodness of God I love your [Music] voice you have me through the fire in the darkest nights you are close like no other I've known you as a father I'm known you as a friend I have lived in the goodness of God oh my life you have been fful oh my life you have been so so good with every breath that I am a I will sing all the goodness of God your goodness is running after it's running after me your goodness is running after after is running after me with my life laid down I'm surrendered now I give you [Music] everything your goodness is running after it's running after me your goodness is running after it's running after me your goodness is running out is running after me with my life laid down I'm surrendered now I give you everything your goodness is running after it's running up to [Music] me oh my life you have faithful oh my [Music] life good with every breath that I have made I will sing of the goodness of God all my life you have been faithful oh my life you have been so so good with every breath that I am I will sing of the goodness of God I will sing of the goodness of God thank you we're just going to take a moment now just to pray for others it's always good to have that Focus not always on our own situation but on other things and then after this I'll just go straight to invite Norman to preach after this thank you let's take a moment to pray there's some headlines there on the screen the general assembly of the Church of Scotland we pray for the annual meeting of the church and the decisions that they will take we pray for inspiration we pray for answers to difficult questions and we pray God that your spirit would lead and guide in all matters always in accordance with your word for the work of the Scottish Bible Society for the meeting I had this week with one of their representatives and thinking about their work and how that can progress here helping each of us to get to know the scriptures better and how that can help us grow in our faith in Jesus we pray for chaplaincy work we remember an and her role at Castle Huntley and other people are working in prison chaplaincy and hospital chaplaincies and other chaplaincies like military and Industrial chaplaincies walking beside people in their daily life whatever their job is we remember His Majesty the king and his family with their health situations and how they are helping others by talking about their condition we remember our governments our prime minister and those in opposition our first Minister and those in opposition and those in local government God we pray for justice to be a huge huge imperative for all of them we pray for this congregation and our witness to the community we pray for those who work within our community out of the The Hub and the different agencies that come in helping others with the complex nature of Life today and we pray for our schools and those schools we're associated with and those schools that are represented here either by families or teachers or workers within the schools Lord we thank you for the privilege of partnering with our schools we pray for our future Vision about working in the schools and God we ask your blessing upon all that needs to happen for this today take place and friends just in a moment for some personal prayers too for those who are dearest and nearest to us who need physical spiritual or mental healing or those who face a great challenge this week bring them before God now in a moment of Prayer and so in your mind's eye as we close this we prayer time here what happens when we pray well our prayers are send to God by the Holy Spirit who presents it to Jesus Jesus hears every single prayer he perfects it and then speaks it to his father in Heaven on our behalf and we leave leave that in the father's hands to see how he will answer these prayers through our Lord Jesus Christ father we ask all these things amen Norman up you come and share with us this morning thank you if you look at the screen what you're going to see is the family tree of the church in Scotland and I have to say it's a bit of a mess isn't it it's not you'd think that you could trace just a straight line from Jesus to us and one line but oh no chance this is the and I can see the head this is the family tree of the Church of Scotland and every time you see a fork or something else coming off that is what's called a church split right now see you law over here I think yeah I I think you're far more spiritual than on them hands up you agree with that oh yes that's right yes that's right yeah well you know I'm not so sure because you know they've got some really dodgy beliefs so so do you not think I mean I mean just look at them do you think you should spend eternity with them no absolutely not and every single one of these splits is where Christians who were worshiping together decided that the thing things that separate them were actually more important than the things that United them that's what that's the sadness of what what that picture represents and if we were to go back and you could spend days months weeks going through all of these splits at the time the splits took place they thought that that was the most important thing out so just let me ask you can you please tell me what def find a new lak from an old lak do any of you can any of you tell me what the marrow controversy is other than how long do you cook a bit of marrow right we don't know a lot of this stuff that they split over is absolutely trivial to us we we just we just don't know about it and the first thing if if a church splits do you know what the first thing that the new church does is anyone guess now I should warn you the tradition I come from has sermons an hour long and people sit really quietly and Suk on Pand drops so I have rebelled against that my sermons are not an hour long but I do expect you to speak to me and if you don't speak to me I'll pick on you okay it they build a new church that's right and it's usually one with a taller steeple because they want to be just that bit closer to heaven so actually over a bunch of time what you found was that in villages sometimes of five or 600 across the country where there was one Church you now had four or five churches and none of them were full now the other interesting thing is so see you the four or five different denominations play as it were but as you come down the list you'll see that not only did churches split but churches also came back together and so instead of having a village of four or 500 with four or five churches that were never full of four or five different denominations you now had a village of four or 500 with four or five churches of the same denomination that none of them were full and they were all kind of roughly doing the same thing and the last big coming together of the churches was in the year 1929 when the then church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland came together and they formed What We Now understand as our version of the Church of Scotland and they realized from 1929 we've got a whole pile of churches and places that actually should not be there because what they are is they're a product of the splits and we need to try and get everyone back together so since 1929 the Church of Scotland as we would have it has been engaged in doing unions and so the current thing of lots of different which we'll come to a minute is actually a product of this behind me of the coming back together now the thing at the moment is almost every single congregation in Scotland is involved in something that we call adjustment life is changing for them that can be a union a linkage a parish grouping a presbyter mission initiative a Mission Church a team Ministry there's a whole pile of stuff and it's it's like playing uh what's that card game called 52 card pickup it's like somebody took the cards Chuck them up in the air and we don't yet know how they're all going to fall out so I mean I know you're going through adjustment in in Perth Presby even though and Perth Presby itself has become a massive thing I congratulate you on keeping the name by the way so you you definitely got that one where I used to be Minister I used to be minister in a place called Granton that was very similar to letham actually in in Edinburgh Parish of about 11,000 but Granton was going through a union of Granton Wy um invol and surfs and Stockbridge and we would end up with a parish of about 60,000 served by three ministers yeah and that kind of thing has gone on all over the country and in my own pres Lo and borders there's a whole pile of stuff uh going on as well now we are in the midst of all this the Church of Scotland but I don't know if you've ever thought about what that actually means so let's do a we stroo hands up if throughout your life you've been in more more than one Church of Scotland here we go let's we're going to I'm going to ask you to keep your hands up as the numbers go up because this could be quite fun keep your hands up if you're a minister put your hand down because you've been in so many it doesn't count right okay right hands up you've been in more than five throughout your life even just visiting our worship on a Sunday more than 10 more than 15 all right here's the question did each of these congregations do exactly the same thing was the worship the same no was the minister dress the same was the hym choices the same no they were all different so if that's the case what does it mean to be Church of Scotland well if you look around here and I really hope there's no identical twins in the congregation right the one of the things that we share in here is that we're all human and that means we share a certain DNA but it's put together slightly differently so what is the DNA of the Church of Scotland well I'm going to show you just a sliver of DNA in the next slide that will come up here this is called an article declaratory to test Jim here and how many he remembers there are nine articles declaratory that are the DNA of the Church of Scotland they determine who fundamentally we are and this is one of the big ones article 3 it's about territorial Ministry and it means that the the the people of Scotland will be served by the church of Scotland in every town Village Hamlet City in Scotland and actually Beyond because we have churches across from us in the world it was passed as an act of the Civil parliament in 1921 and it gives us the responsibility to take what what the way they worded it was the ordinances of religion it is our responsibility as the Church of Scotland to take the gospel to the people of Scotland it's quite quite an awesome responsibility isn't it yeah when you think about it but that is what we have that's the responsibility we have been given now you're bound to recognize this next slide at least I hope you do where's this th if you don't recognize this then we really need to talk about the state of your mental health right this is leam isn't it yeah it's letham and um as when was the last time when you were in the copi on ranak road this morning someone say this morning right there you go okay as I drove past it's been about a year or more since I've been to visit you um you've got a fantastic new uh Hub don't you yeah who's ever been in the old Hub oh quite a few people have been in the old Hub that's right yeah who's ever had a we just a we because we are Christian just a we dram in the welcome in oh a few people have been there right okay excellent just a Wei one that's right yeah just a we one right so the congregation of leth and St Marks you out of every other congregation in Scotland has been given responsibility for taking the gospel to this bunch of people that's what it means right who's who's your neighboring give me a neighboring Parish anyone choose one Bank Ammon bank right someone from Amon Bank wouldn't come here because you've got this responsibility the same way you perhaps wouldn't go to Ammon bank because that's their responsibility but that's what the Church of Scotland has done done when when we had this article 3 this territorial Ministry we have given congregations the responsibility to to live out and to be the gospel in all of these places let me let me put it in a slightly different way you have been given the job of being the kingdom of God in this place and of growing the kingdom of God in this place it's a phenomenal responsibility now that's me that's not you that's me um now what does that actually kind of mean so if on next Sunday morning we had to take the chairs at the back and we had to put them out to the sides and your service was absolutely full does that mean that you would be successful in your task hands up if you think the answer is yes is nobody wants to be first you're all scared you know you know this is a trick question right the answer is no you would not be successful in your task if the Kirk session said you know what there are so many people coming to church we need three or four services on a Sunday we sure you can do that Jim it's easy right would you be successful at your task the answer is actually no what about if every single person in your Parish turned up here next week and said I want to meet Jesus would you be successful in your task if you were going yes we would be then but I'm going to tell you no you wouldn't be because part of our responsibility then is not just to bring people to Jesus it's also to grow the people of Jesus so there's an Evangelistic element to the task but there is a pastoral element to the task now I know that you have a number of ministers in your congregation and becoming a clerk I've had to learn a whole P legal stuff and one of the things that struck me was ministers are inducted into the Pastoral charge of such and such because it's fundamentally a pastoral Rel it's a nurturing relationship the task of the church is to bring people to Faith but also to grow the faith of the people that's the task that we have been given and so so the task of growing God's kingdom is actually it's actually a never ending task but it's really important we remember this it's the task that Jesus called us to do this is not this is not something the church has said we're going to do this is something Jesus has said we're going to do go into all nations baptize them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and make them my disciples and it's not opt in and it's not opt out but it is the expectation that Jesus puts on all the people of God wherever they are our Presby is loan and borders we were the Presby of loan the Presby of duns the Presby of jedburgh and the Presby of melros and pees and now we are the Presby L borders and people say to me CLK say what is the point of your Presby people have been asking for years what's the point of preser and I quite clearly say to them the point of our pres is this to see every individual in an area come to Faith and to see every person of Faith grow in that faith that's the point of what we are here for and no one said it was going to be easy but that's the task that Jesus has given us not that we've given ourselves but that Jesus has given us but remember that this is the this is the day of Pentecost this is the day when Jesus or when God gave the Holy Spirit to the church and so we don't do this on our own but even he recognized we can do it on our own so here's here's we kind of text from Luke chapter 18 it says who can be saved and Jesus replied what is impossible with man is possible with God we're not a business we're a church we are working to build God's kingdom God's kingdom will come people are coming to Faith in Scotland people are growing their faith in Scotland but we are not running a business we are running a church and it's important we realize that it is a spiritual task that we are all all involved in but then the question has to be how how do we do this how do we achieve this and that's where we get to the reading for today so this is the Great Commission as it is there and let's go to the Great Commission which is the next one yeah so when Jesus had this encounter with this guy he said to him you are close to the kingdom of God and Jesus was clear it is the practice of these Commandments that makes the difference difference in the world around us it really is it's the practice of these Commandments it's how we live them out how many of your people in the Parish of letham have an idea of what goes on in here yep and when I was in Granton and I'd been there for something like 16 years one of the families who lived right across the road from the church I mean literally you could go and wave to them from the church window they had a bereavement in the family and they said yes we'd like the local Minister Living Just across the road from the church and I was sitting in there doing the kind of usual family visit and all the rest of us and then one of them one of them looked at me and said yes we thought it would be great to have the local Baptist Minister do our do our funeral they didn't have a clue what we were doing just just across the road and that's the world that you and I live in now where most people have no idea what we do but when we live out this here and we we live this out in the cor and ran Road when we live it out in the hub when we live it out in the welcome in and when we live it out in all the other places of our parishes that's where people see what the gospel is actually it's really interesting and if you look at and if you study the life of Jesus did Jesus mean meet more people outside the synagogue outside the church or did he meet more people inside what do you think outside absolutely more outside and that's where we are going to to meet them as well so you you know this the story of the person who had bought something from the shop and it wasn't working so they went back to the shop and they went to the customer service desk and they slammed the item down in the desk and they said I can't believe you sold me this it's not working I demand that you give me a refund and the person said uh certainly uh sir would you happen to have the receipt and he says I'm not the kind of person who keep receipts I demand that you give me a refund and just like God this guy was full on and and the guy and the person behind the the de said fine fine yes no problem don't any hassle here have your um have the refund and anyway the local congregation was doing bring a friend to church that day and somebody invited The Man Behind the Counter to go to church and they said turn around behind you and greet the person who was sitting behind him so where was the Gospel at that point that's the point at which the rubber hits the road in all of this now some of you anyone ever been to London anyone been to a place called clap clap is interesting in church history so this is a this is a map of claen and in the 1800s there was a group of people called the claen sect you'll recognize one of the big names the big names was William Wilberforce what's he famous for slavery that's right he fought against slavery well he was part of the Clapham sect there was a whole group of people there and and what they did was they set up uh or a kind of community where people were actively fighting to improve the lives of the people round about them and people then looked at them and they said what are you doing and they said we're putting our faith into practice and the claim sect had they had a I mean they were all quite powerful well-off people they had a vast impact on the world around them and if you look at their Wikipedia this is what it says at the end says the claim sect have been credited with playing a significant part in the development of Victorian morality through their writings their societies their influence in Parliament and their example in philanthropy and moral campaigns especially against slavery in the words of one commentator the ethos of claen became the spirit of the age they had a phenomenal impact on the world around them and it was because they were putting in practice those two greatest Commandments love God love your neighbor in the 2000s one of the uh the great kind of um Crusade Festival people of our world Lou palow and this is a slide relating to him he came and started working in Manchester and for the six weeks before they had the big Crusade groups of local volunteers went out into the projects in Manchester and they began to just tidy up litter pick up litter do all that kind of stuff and people looked at them and you know the first thing they thought was are these people in some kind of community order that they're here the second thing they thought about them is you folks are blinking weird why are you giving up your time to come back here every day and clean up litter and do this for us we're not asking you to do it and over a matter of weeks the local people began to say to them why are you doing this and the answer of course was because we're Christians that's why we're doing this and it was as they lived out the Commandments of Love God love your neighbor that actually the gospel had the greatest impact if we say to someone why you know come to church with me why do we want them to come to church why are you here in church you're not I used to go to church as a child because I had no choice I don't know if any of you would any of you agree with that okay I knew I was bad in church if the Pand drop was withheld and we had to sit a very specific way in church it was my brother my mother my sister my father and me under no circumstances where my brother and I allowed to sit side by side in church I now go voluntarily but if we're asking someone to come to church what we're actually asking do what Jesus asks us to do as part of his community is he asks us to change the world come and be salt come and be light come and love God come and love your neighbor we are asked to change the world it is the most phenomenal calling that he has actually given to us and we are here we're here not just to be better people or to feel good we are here because we are called and commissioned by Jesus Christ to change the the world around us maybe not the entire world maybe just our Parish but we've often we've often lost that element of our faith now do any of you remember the the the TV game show uh catchphrase what was the phrase they said in catchphrase say what okay when you see this say what you see and the man on the desk is laughing cuz he knows what he's looking at but remember you're in church church so choose your word carefully all right you ready say what you see it's a pile of stinking poop is it not well the the church has been described to me as a pile of stinking poop let me explain what I mean when you leave it sitting together in a big Heap what does it do it stinks but when you spread it around and you work it through the field it makes things grow exactly and we were never designed ever it's not in our DNA remember that article we have the responsibility to take the gospel to the people of Scotland that's our DNA we were never designed as a denomination or a church to sit around and stink we were designed to go out into the community and to make things grow and particularly to make the kingdom of God grow and I guarantee you you will not have read that in The Courier when you open the Courier what do you read this church is closing that church is closing the Church of Scotland is dying so many years until the church is dead not true going to share a video with you this video is from the congregation of inner lean traquer and walkerburn and it's a rural congregation just to the let me get the geography right East of Peebles in the borders listen and watch this to say a few words to vocalize my recent journey to Faith as a young child I would attend church with my mom fairly frequently I have lovely memories of attending Sunday school unfortunately my granny my mom's mom was taken from us far too early at the age of 61 as a result my mom found herself questioning her faith and why God would take such a loving and caring person so young we steadily stopped attending church and life moved on I will say I have always believed in God but just never had the desire to explore this further it's no secret that I have struggled throughout my teenage years battling with my mental health family breakups and Hospital admissions I have never felt understood or loved by others for just being me last year I was again battling with anorexia and felt lost and alone we attended a church service to watch my sister play in the silver band and during that service a viable Alpha was played both me and my mom knew in that moment this was where we were meant to be and Alpha was something that we were supposed to do throughout those 12 weeks of alpha my life changed I finally received an Autism diagnosis which allowed me to understand why I am the way I I am and that nothing is wrong with me I'm just wired differently and that's okay I have made lifelong friendships that have shown me that I may have more to give to life than I give myself credit for my life for the first time ever feels stable I have the most amazing job as a nanny looking after three children Anna Luke and Owen who mean the absolute world to me I finally have friends who I can trust with anything and who despite not sharing the same beliefs as me are here today to support and be there for me I have an amazing relationship with my mom who without her love and support I would not be here today I feel content and at peace and I'm in no doubt that is a result of God's work and his plan for my future I especially want to say a big thank you to Fraser Fiona and Pamela who have welcomed me and mom into the church with open arms and who have been there to listen and pray for us at any time joining the church opens a new and exciting chapter in my life and one I hope all of you here today will be there to watch develop into something wonderful because I know God has marvelous plans for me thank you isn't that phenomenal but you would't read about that in the newspaper and that's what's happening across Scotland today in churches up and down the land that is what's happening people are coming to Faith now I did check with Jim you two young folk here last year professed faith is that right and we're baptized yeah you're just undergoing Alpha right so don't downplay yourselves this is what God is doing the God is active in our churches and when you read about Church's closing understand that is the message that the media might be putting out but that is not the message of transformed lives that the gospel is undertaking in our country 97% of our country does not know Jesus Christ 97 now you can sit there and go oh what a shame only 3% know Jesus or he can sit there and say what a phenomenal opportunity because if I speak to that person about God there's a 97% chance they don't know who I'm talking about it's a phenomenal thing and what you're inviting them to you're not inviting them to just be part of a big stinking lump you're inviting them to be part of something that is going to change the world I often thought as a minister that we didn't we weren't upfront enough with people about what it means to be part of the Christian faith because we are saying to them come and join The Greatest Adventure that you will will ever undertake you will do things as a Christian that you would never have done and have opportunities as a Christian that you would never have had your life will be different It won't always be easier but it will be different and that and there's a truth to that because we know that's true because on this Pentecost day as you look around I would like you to point out to me your visiting preacher who in this congregation does not have the Holy Spirit you can't because the promise was given to each one of us you have the Holy Spirit in you and you are capable of the most amazing things and if you ever wonder why we're doing this it's simple it's in our DNA as a denomination take the ordinances of religion to the entirety of the people of Scotland in every town in every village in every city in every Community that's our job it's phenomenal and it's to be celebrated and it's to be thanked and the most amazing thing is in leam that's guess whose job it is remember the finger take the finger out again and point it to the person next to you because it's quite easy doing this and say to them that's your job okay that is your job it's much easier doing that than doing that's my job isn't it but remember as you pointed at them what did they do they pointed at you so that's our job and and as I say since BEC I mean I was a minister in a parish in two parishes for 26 years and I absolutely loved it but since becoming a Clark I've had to learn a whole pile of church law that I never knew existed and I was always amazed when you that when you drill right down to the bottom of it the DNA of the Church of Scotland is an expanding DNA that says we will take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Scotland and we will grow God's kingdom wherever we are it is a phenomenal task and God will help us to do it let's pray father we often think about our faith in you but we don't often think about your faith in us you have called us you have commissioned us you have you have made us part of this your church and our calling is to go out we thank you that your spirit is active we thank you for the testimony of that young lady all the way down south in inner Le we thank you that her testimony is mirrored across our country and that people are coming to Faith and father when we read what the secular press are writing we know that is not the story the story is of lives transformed of your kingdom growing and father you have given us a part to play in it and sometimes we don't know why but you've done it and our prayer is that we would live out these two great things of love you love our neighbor and that we would see your kingdom grow and see you see your name glorified father we pray this in Jesus name amen sorry thank you Norman thank you for a very helpful challenging and encouraging word to us this morning normally about afterwards or tea and coffee if you want to chat to about any of these things let's close our time now an asked me to consider this song because this is a real favorite within uh the chapy within the prison system it's called chainbreaker which he thinks it's very funny of course um but it it was written by a country western guy actually having guess his name is what Smith one of those guys but um it's a really interesting song and it's probably a first time for many of us but we're going to sing this as we close and bring our time together to an end before we're dismissed and sent out to do exactly what Norman said thank [Music] you if you been walking the same old road for miles and miles if you've been here in the old voice tell the same old lies if you're trying to fill the same old holes inside there's a better life there's a better life if you got pain he's a pain taker if you feel L he's a way maker if you need fre sa he's a prison shaking savior if you got chain he's a chain breaker we've all searched for the light of day and the dead of night we've all found ourselves worn out from the same fight we've all run things we know stay right when there's a better there's a better if you got pain he's a pain taker if you feel lost he's a way maker if you need Freedom or sa he's a prison shaking savior you got change but he's a chain [Music] breaker if you believe it if you receive it if you can feel it somebody testify if you believe it if you receive it if you can feel it somebody testify testify if you believe it if you receive it if you can't feel it somebody testify if you got pain he's a pain taker if you feel lost he's a way maker if you need Freedom we saving he's the prison shaking saor if you got chain he's a chain breaker if you need fre sa he's a prison shaking Savor he got chain but he's a chain [Music] breaker great words let's pray PR father for your blessing upon all that we have heard may it come with abundance may it find a really good and fruitful place in our hearts to encourage us to live out our faith in Jesus for you and so friends go from this place you are dismissed to go and to be the very savoring power of Christ in our community and in our families Lord bless us and let us do that for the glory of your precious name in Jesus name amen thank you please be seated and please see for tea and coffee if you can thank [Music] you I love you Lord [Music] the I up iay oh I God [Music] all my life you have been all my life you have been so so good every breath that I am I will s of of God I [Music] your night you were other I've known you as a father I've known you as a friend and I have in the good of [Music] God my you have been F all my life you have been so so good every breath that I am I will s of the good oh God your good is running it's running after me your goodness is running after it's run my laid down surr I give you everything your good is running after it's running after me your goodness run after it's run after your good is running it's my down surr now I give you everything goodness is running after it's running after [Music] me so good every bre I [Music] [Music] am e for

Channel: Letham St Mark's

Views: 90

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Id: rrCzQAjmGkg

Length: 89min 10sec (5350 seconds)

Published: Sun May 19 2024