Morning Church & North Rocks - Easter Sunday 2021

huh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] myself [Music] is [Music] this [Music] me [Music] we'll be here forever [Music] [Music] is [Music] of salvation in our eyes [Music] is [Music] that is [Music] jesus [Music] salvation while we for the day when jesus comes belongs to jesus [Music] love he will come for his patience [Music] to jesus [Music] to jesus [Music] to jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] your will i had no righteousness [Music] you have raised me up so high above my station i'm a child of god by grace and grace [Music] you knew time good morning everyone welcome to saint paul's this beautiful day and this wonderful day where we celebrate the vindication of christ's sacrifice for us on the cross by his resurrection we're going to start with two songs please stand and join with us in song as we crown him with many crowns please stand [Music] crown him with many crowns the lamb upon his [Music] the throne anthem drowns all music but its own awake my soul and singing of him who died for thee and hail him as thy matchless king through all eternity crowd him the lord of love behold his hands and side rich wounds yet visible [Applause] glorified the angel in the sky can fully bear that sight [Music] so bright [Music] may cease [Music] is extend their fragrance [Applause] [Music] is [Music] my grace shall [Music] please stay standing as we continue to sing [Music] how deep the father's love for us [Music] his trash how great the pain of searing lost his face away as wounds which mother chosen bring any sons to glory my [Music] i hear my mocking horse [Music] is breath has brought i know i will not post in anything no [Music] keith but i will boast in jesus christ his death and resurrection [Music] but this i know [Music] is [Music] his wounds [Music] please have a seat everyone good morning everyone and welcome to some pauls it is so good to have you here my name is jack day and i am one of the pastors here let me say an extra special welcoming you if you are new here if it's your first time at saint paul's or perhaps your first time in a while we love seeing new faces we hope we get the chance to say g'day later on after the service and it's terrific that you're here let me say hello as well to those joining us online if you perhaps are tuning in for the first time even checking us out online great for you to join us this way we hope that you enjoy the morning with us too let me just get a couple of housekeeping things out of the way as we get going it is wonderful that we can be here in greater numbers today we praise god for that eased restrictions this week means we are able to to be here with more people in this room under the two square meter rule and it's fantastic to see so many of you here we know that some of you may still prefer to sit a little more spaced out and we completely respect that so we we want you to be very free to make use of the social distance seating that we have on this side of the room let me also point you to the qr code that is going to come up on the screen now if you scan that on your phone you'll be taken to a page on our church website where you'll see some resources that will help you this morning you'll see an outline for the bible talk which will be coming a little later on you'll see a link to our connect card which is a great way that you can be getting in touch with us here at church more on that later for those with children preschool or under today we are running holiday programs staffed by our gracious parent volunteers you might like to wait until after the kids spot in a moment but you are welcome to take your children out to the programs at any time if you're not sure where to go please head into the the foyer and someone one of our welcomers would love to point you in the right direction and for primary age children you're joining us in here today and we love having you in the room uh as i said before we'll be having something for you shortly and hopefully you've seen the activity sheets on the way in as well feel free to get up and grab one of those packs if you haven't yet with all of that said what is it that we are doing here today we gather as do christians all over the world to remember that death could not keep its hold on our lord jesus we're here to rejoice together because after jesus was taken down from that cross he also walked out of that tomb jesus is alive and for hundreds of years christians have celebrated this resurrection sunday with a little call and response we're going to do that that same thing now when i say christ is risen you respond he is risen indeed so christ is risen yes he is and that is the best news in the world because it means we have hope it means that death has been conquered it means that god has the power to give us new life after death just as he gave it to jesus christ as the bible says death has been swallowed up in victory whereo death is your victory whereo death is your sting thanks be to god he gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ friends jesus lives and he reigns and we're going to bring our thanks to god for that now would you please pray with me almighty god we praise you for you have conquered death through your dearly beloved son jesus christ we thank you that you have opened to us the gate of everlasting life we ask that you will bless our time together as we gather on this easter sunday give us joy give us thanks enable us to set our minds on things above so that by your continual help our whole lives may be transformed through jesus christ our lord who is alive hallelujah and who reigns with you and the holy spirit in everlasting glory we pray in his name amen it is good to be together today it is good to be here with you as i said we have something for our kids now i'm going to hand over to mike well good morning everybody and happy easter jack i might get you to move this for me if that's all right buddy happy easter and if you were here on friday you would know why i am dressed this way boys and girls anyone here friday anyone tell me why i'm dressed this way anybody do you know why i heard over here yell it out someone over there said it wrong way around that's right i dress this way on friday because we talked about how on good friday everything was the wrong way around you think about it it was dark in the middle of the day the wrong way around all of jesus friends deserted him left him alone the wrong way around and when we left the story on good friday jesus who was always alive was dying that's the wrong way around but boys and girls that is not where the story ends and i want to tell you the next part of the story and to tell it well i've got some envelopes i've got some sticky tape and i've got a gold coin now i want you to use your imagination boys and girls i want you to use your imagination that this gold coin represents jesus okay represents jesus now when jesus died the wrong way around they took his body down and they put it in some grave clothes now i need a helper i need some helpers can anyone boys and girls anyone help me you guys down the front you guys want to come join us give him a round of applause all right oh you're right tommy good boy good boy so this is seon and tommu now this is jesus can you please put jesus into the grave clothes can you do that good boy okay now can you get some sticky tape all right can you take that off there good boy pull pull pull pull keep going keep going keep going good boy now can you make sure you put that on the envelope jesus is in the grave clothes good boy fantastic yep nice and hard all right can you feel jesus in there can you feel it he's in there isn't he in there that corner yeah fantastic okay now do you boys know where they put jesus body they put him in a tomb well done here's the tomb okay so we're gonna put jesus body in the grave clothes in a tomb and we better we better seal that up all right can you can you seal that up for us nice and tight good boy well done okay so jesus body is in the tomb what did they put in front of the tune do you know the big rock the big rock that's exactly right like a stone well done the stone so we're going to put jesus body in the grave close in the tomb and we're going to put a big stone in front of it now do you know what boys boys and girls jesus had told people that he was going to die be killed and he was going to come back to life and jesus enemies knew that and they said well we need to make sure that the disciples don't steal the body because they thought jesus was telling a lie and they thought his disciples might try and tell the lies as well and so they they wanted to make sure that jesus wouldn't get out of the tomb and so they put the stone and then they sealed the stone up now um tommu can you take that off we'll see all right so can you seal the the stone up for me good boy you can put that on the ground just on the ground we don't need that anymore all right jesus bodies in there okay grave clothes in the tomb with the big stone but that wasn't enough they said the disciples still might try and steal the body so we're going to get some soldiers here's here's the soldiers okay see the soldiers and we're going to put the soldiers and we are going to make sure that the soldiers yeah and we can seal that up to good boys all right right jesus in there right he's in there okay that was friday when everything was the wrong way around do you know what happened on easter sunday there was a big earthquake can you shake this for me show everybody out here big big shake big earthquake go go go shake shake shake shake shake shake fantastic i think we need even a bigger earthquake can you be going for me big brother yes yes yes yes yes yes and i might then do a big one yes earthquake do you know what happened with the earthquake you know what happened yeah what happened the soldiers fell away and what happened to the stone it got opened by an angel away all right oh get out all right what about the tomb what happened they could see inside the tomb couldn't they can you see inside the swim for me and what did they find inside the tomb pull it out just the clothes and when they took the seal off the clothes we might all do this together boys come and help us all right open it up can you do it the sticky tape's in the way oh rip it go rip we can't wait it's so exciting the women are waiting peter's running john's running and they're opening it up and what did they find yeah is there anything in there now i can't even do it you guys sealed this grey place so well i can't even open it up but is there anything in there where did jesus body go somewhere oh yeah somewhere jesus is missing on the rooftop do you know even better than that jesus was risen from the dead they went to the tomb and he wasn't there because he was alive and that's so important that's why we celebrate jesus isn't it boys and girls because jesus no longer dead he is alive and that means that jesus is alive today that means we can trust everything that jesus said because he said he would rise from the dead and he did and it means if we trust in jesus we don't have to die either we can live forever with him and so boys and girls happy easter thank you sion thank you tommy give him a round of applause happy easter everyone thanks boys morning everyone happy easter uh i'm denise this is adam and we're going to be reading this morning from luke chapter 24. so if you find luke chapter 24 i'll be reading the first part verses 1 1-12 luke chapter 24 verses 1-12 on the first day of the week very early in the morning the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb [Music] they found the stone rolled away from the tomb but when they entered they did not find the body of the lord jesus while they were wondering about this suddenly too many clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them in their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground but the men said to them why do you look for the living among the dead he's not here he's risen remember how he told you while he was still with you in galilee the son of man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners be crucified and on the third day be raised again then they remembered the words when they came back from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the others it was mary magdalene joanna mary the mother of james and the others with them who told them this to the apostles but they did not believe the women because their words seemed them like nonsense peter however got up and ran to the tomb bending over he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves and he went away wondering to himself what had happened our second bible reading is also from luke chapter 24 but from verse 38 to 53 so luke chapter 24 38-53 he said to them why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your minds look at my hands and my feet it is i myself touch me and see a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see i have when he had said this he showed them his hands and feet and while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement he asked them do you have anything here to eat they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their presence he said to them this is what i told you while i was while i was still with you everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of moses the prophets and the psalms then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures he told them this is what is written the messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at jerusalem you are witnesses of these things i am going to send you what my father has promised but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high when he had led them out to the vicinity of bethany he lifted up his hands and blessed them while he was blessing them he left them and was taken up into heaven then they worshipped him and returned to jerusalem with great joy and they stayed continually at the temple praising god thanks guys he is risen what a wonderful morning it is hey to be able to meet together and celebrate the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead um i just want to quickly introduce myself i might be a foreign face to some of you my name is raj i am now one of the pastors at this church it's my great privilege to be able to preach here today and lead us as we celebrate this very special day indeed i wonder if you might join me in prayer that the lord may work in us and in our hearts by his spirit our father we thank you for the incredible privilege we have to be able to meet this morning we thank you for the easing covered conditions and restrictions that mean we can really fill this room to the brim as we meet for the purpose of celebrating the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead father we pray that you would work deeply in our hearts we pray that you might lift the veil that might cover over some of our uh minds as as maybe yet there are people who haven't been able to fully grasp all that jesus has done and the full significance we pray today would be helpful and father we pray in jesus name amen well uh i'm still calling this church my new friends at saint paul's and my new friends at saint paul's i want to just take your minds back into the days of world war ii for a few moments um almost 80 years ago and during that time as many of us would be quite aware prisoner of war camps sprang up everywhere now there was one location in germany and there were 9 000 men who were being held captive and it was late in 1943 that the stalag luft number one pow camp where someone worked out how to put together a radio and the process began where people smuggled in different parts now i mistakenly called it a transistor radio at early morning church and i was very thankful for early morning church who educated me subsequently but transistor radios have not yet been invented at that stage so and they they corrected my terminology uh tr valves radio valves is what they and jack knows all about this he's you can educate me even more later on during the week jack we'll we'll get it going they smuggled in tran radio valves and they put together a device on which they could listen to the bbc broadcast coming out of england and on the basis of that information they then started an underground paper the paper was called the pow wow um the prisoner of war pow wow waiting on winning that publication allegedly contained the most accurate and truthful news in the whole of germany and this whole production facility underground um in this in this camp went into production to produce copies and distribute them they ended up working out how to smuggle copies out of that particular pow camp into other camps as well and one day they got an absolute scoop june 6 1944 what happened on that day d-day they got an absolute scoop the allied forces landed at normandy and the production of the pow-wow went into absolute overdrive history shows that the pows picked up the news 20 minutes before any united states news broadcast and word spread like absolute wildfire they produced an extra edition to get the news out on this special edition they did something they haven't done before and that is it was no longer just text they added in the cartoon here's a picture of a cartoon on the screens can you see it they're coming boys their coming boys as they picked up this news this news that inspired hope this news that they quickly and immediately knew everyone had to know there was no time to waste because of the hope that was now coming for these nine thousand men in the starlight loft number one pow camp and not just for those men but for all scattered across europe who were about to be rescued freedom was coming hope was there now my new friends in some falls i start off in this way on easter morning of course because 2 000 years ago were similar scenes in another part of the world in luke's gospel we come to some of those scenes and where the reading began for us we did a couple of different parts of luke chapter 24 we see we've seen some women who went to the tomb these women they didn't have time to properly bury the the body and so now after the sabbath day they now come to return to the tomb now they were amazing women because of the efforts they went through to to honor jesus for who he was and to care for jesus after all that he had gone through and just a couple of days before there was jesus on a cross all around jesus as he was on the cross they were hearing him say his last words remember those last words it is finished they heard him breathing his last and now the women are about to realize that something is not quite right something does not make sense i i wonder if you've ever forgotten something important anyone you guys are alternative early morning church all of the hands went up yes [Laughter] in their haste and their despondency these women forgot something really important and now they arrive at the tomb where jesus was allegedly buried and they expected as you would to find a body right and instead of finding a body they found an angel and here is where the news starts to hit their ears he is not here he is risen remember how he told you the son of man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners be crucified and on the third day then rise again now my friends they didn't have transistor radios or radio valves they didn't have printing presses to put into overdrive a special edition of the pow wow but they had this news they had this news that was about to change absolutely everything it was about to change them it was about to change all the people they knew it was about to change the world we're given this flash into another scene of something that was happening somewhere else as two men now were walking on the road to a place called emmaus and they were discussing one another all of the events that happened surrounding this man jesus in fact these guys they were consoling each other they had hoped that jesus was the one who would be coming to rescue the world they had hoped that this man jesus would be the one who had been promised to come and redeem israel and not just redeem israel but to be the messiah and the king not just of that nation but of the world yes they were slow not because they were men by the way but because the news was still spreading their eyes had not yet been opened you know how when i prayed a few moments ago i was praying for us and one of the things i prayed is that god might lift the veil that's covering up over our eyes and our hearts these men on the road to emmaus they had not yet had the veil lifted from over their eyes and their hearts they had not yet seen jesus for who he was the risen jesus but that was in the process of happening and as it happened my friends the plans that they had they would realize were now plans that had to be put on hold or shelved almost entirely as that happened and they realized this death defying news would change everything as they would receive the news and understand the news and process the news they would understand that now the news had to get out let there be no delay i i wonder can you imagine the excitement in the starlight luft number one pow camp as they received that broadcast can you imagine the flurry that would have gone through the 9 000 men that evening realizing their lives were about to be different and realizing their comrades and their colleagues their lives were about to be changed freedom was about to be theirs you go back two thousand years and you realize the women and now the men on the road to the mayors they had the information but in a sense they didn't quite know what to do with the information they had the information and one of the questions they would have had is is the time now right many in this room i take it have had the joy of having a baby of your own right you guys are quiet anyone it's a joyous time right four times over you know when you first find out what's your reaction you want to tell the world don't you and yet you realize the time is not quite right you want to get to a certain point usually over 12 weeks or thereabouts first trimester generally that's when the time is right but in that 12 weeks you have to keep it all to yourself and just a couple of people perhaps that you tell and yet there's the excitement whirring away and building and developing and exploding can you imagine what it was like for these men on the emmaus road when jesus appeared and stood among them and he said those words that wouldn't work for me they are peace be with you if i was on the emmaus road and jesus appeared behind next to me and said peace be with you well peace would not hit me at that moment let me just say my reaction would be like theirs in verse 37 they were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost but time had not yet come for the news to get out that that was about to happen and i find it fascinating the first thing jesus does is deal with their doubts i think it's great for them and i also think can i say it's great for us because no doubt in this room and people listening on the live stream today or in hindsight some of you have doubts in verse 39 jesus says look at my hands and my feet it is i myself touch me and see a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see i have and when he had said this he showed them his hands and his feet and i can understand their initial reaction being one of disbelief have you ever had something happen to you and it was your reaction was this is too good to be true anyone um a number of years ago i arrived home one time and i went to my desk and my mail was on my desk now you can tell how long it was ago because that happened in the days when i was living at home with my parents right because now i have to get my own mail but anyway i opened up the mail and and there was something on my desk and there was this thing in there which let's see how many of you know what what it was it was a check now do i need to explain to this congregation what a check is or do i say that explanation for six o'clock it was a check and it had a lot it was for a lot of money and it was just too good to be true i thought what is this check for and i read all of the stuff i thought it was a joke i thought it's not april fool's day or anything like that what is this all it's just too good to be true now my friends i tell you that story in part in case there's anyone here who wants to help me recreate that experience i'll tell you my address but also to help us understand and just reflect on the nature of receiving news that's too good to be true for so that we might understand in part their disbelief as they get wind of this news that was about to change them and about to change the world jesus he firstly tries to help them touch me and then he says give me something to eat and watch me eat ghosts don't eat and then when they are in a place to listen and a place to understand he begins to explain verse or sentence 44. this is what i told you while i was still with you everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of moses the prophets and the psalms and then he opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures it's not random once people grew in their understanding they were able to put it all together and yet on the way each person they went through a journey and i say this to encourage those of you who are here this morning or listening on on a live stream who might be on a journey one of the journeys we've read about in the scriptures it's the journey of the apostle peter one of the the kind of you know um inner circle of apostles and we're told the story of this this man peter and i tell this to encourage you guys we're told the story of this man peter and jesus before he had died he said to peter peter you're going to deny me three times and peter he said no not me maybe him not me and jesus said no no no you you're gonna die me three times and after you've not denied me three times i'm going to remind you and i've said this by causing a rooster to crow twice and we're told the story as jesus was then tried and arrested and the trial was happening over in one place and there we're told peter was somewhere else and someone came up to him and said hey you you were hanging out with that man jesus and peter said woman i don't know him and not long after someone else came up to jesus and peter said man no no i'm not one of them and then a third person came up to peter man i don't know what you're talking about and then the rooster crowed twice and we told peter he wept bitterly that was part of his journey of trusting jesus and i hope you're encouraged friends because no matter who you are no matter what doubts no matter what questions you might have this man peter he went on to be one of the people who led the charge in the news getting out once he understood that it was life-changing for him and for everyone else his life was changed the germans they tried to find the pow wow they tried to close it down because even they saw news of the truth was getting out and beginning to have an impact and we go back 2000 years and yes the chief priests and the elders they wanted to keep a lid on the truth getting out and so what they tried to do they tried to cover over truth with falsehood and of course they failed and it's interesting once again even the fact that they tried to cover over truth with falsehood their attempts of fabrication even that goes some way to us knowing that what the bible tells us about jesus is absolutely true in the end truth always wins out over falsehood jesus he tried as best he could to calm people down so that they could have their doubts dealt with so they could process so that they could understand so that they could go on their journey to trusting in him and he summed up so magnificently why he came into the world in verse or sentence 46 if you have a bible in front of you have a look with me this is what is written the messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at jerusalem and to the people in the room at that time he says to them you are witnesses of these things my new friends here is the news that changes the world forgiveness of sins is here my my mind my heart goes back to just pondering from time to time what would it have been like to have been a prisoner of war in a concentration camp during the second world war a few years back i had the privilege isn't really the word i want to use i had the opportunities better way to put it to visit different museums in different parts of the world that opened my eyes as to the conditions in different concentration camps around the world and from time to time you would hear stories of people who were trapped in those camps and who had the opportunity to later on be freed you heard stories of what people would go through to even just with an attempt of having their freedom in those camps it was extraordinary what people would do for freedom and my new friends at some polls that is nothing compared to the forgiveness of sins and the freedom that we have the opportunity to embrace because of jesus previously because of sin every single one of us we were destined to be judged and what jesus has done now he's come into this world he's died on the cross and all of the judgment has now been put on him for the sins of all the people who have ever lived who will ever live who do ever live even including every single one of us that's why he's coming to the world in rising from the dead the very thing we remember and we celebrate today it means we can now have hope that death can be conquered our death just like jesus conquered death because two 000 years ago jesus came into the world to do both of those things provide forgiveness of sins and conquer death and it is this news that now will change the world and these last couple of verses of luke's gospel they're fascinating verse or sentence 50 when he had led them out to the vicinity of bethany he lifted up his hands and blessed them and while he bled was blessing them he lit he left them and was taken up into heaven and then they worshiped him and returned to jerusalem with great joy and they stayed continually at the temple praising god this news of jesus rising from the dead it changed the first disciples radically isn't that last verse fascinating verse 53 they stayed continually at the temple praising god it wasn't just a flash in the pan that kind of comes and goes they were changed forever when they grasped the news within 12 months of d-day toward the end of the second world war hitler was dead pows were freed freedom had come and now we're in that period so to speak where people would hear the news and have new life that's what today in no small part is about hearing the news of jesus rising from the dead and celebrating the life that we can now have in jesus and the more you think about it and the more you understand about it there's so much significance tied up with this day jesus when he was living in the world he anticipated this day and he anticipated the impact that this day would have and he did that one of the ways he did that he told a story of of a rich man and another man named lazarus now some of you will know this story others of you will think what are you talking about others of you would have heard the story but never made the connection with easter day it's a very simple story where there's a rich man and there's another man a beggar who's called lazarus and the way the story set up we're told in this world lazarus um he he really was a bigger you know the sort of person you might see from time to time um huddling in a bus shield or someone who's homeless living in a park or something like that we don't hear much in australia but occasionally we do in this world lazarus longed to eat just what fell from the rich man's table and yet the important difference that jesus picks up on is that lazarus he had god as god but the rich man in this world who had all of the blessings of this world he did not have god as god that's going to be the defining point and this rich man he went to he was judged and he went to hell because he didn't have god as god and he cries out from that place father abraham have pity on me and send lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because i am in agony in this fire but abraham said there is this great chasm fix that can't be crossed and he said to the rich man in your earthly life you received good things he had bad things now it's going to be the other way around with a defining point being he had god as god and you didn't have god as god and this is chewing and throwing it happens where this rich man he begs and begs and begs for the opportunity to be released and to be freed from where he was and eventually he accepted his eternity in agony but that's not the end of a story because then what he does he thinks about his five brothers in this world and he cries out to father abraham and he says abraham i have these five brothers please let lazarus rise from the dead then and go and warn those five brothers so that they won't end up in this place of torment that i am in and abraham replied and he said they have moses and they have the prophets let your brothers listen to them and their response came back no no abraham but if someone rises from the dead and then goes and tells them then they will listen and the response that came and here's the point for us if they did not listen to moses and if they did not listen to the prophets nor will they listen and be convinced even if someone rises from the dead do you see the connection with today my dear friends jesus has risen from the dead he appeared he calmed people down from their doubts he gave them evidence the story has been passed on to us in god's word and the resurrection of jesus from the dead is now the most powerful sign in human history it's news that spreads like wildfire and it's news that needs to keep on spreading like wildfire and so let me just finish by asking you the question of this most powerful sign in human the history is this what impact has it had on you we're going to sing again so please stand remembering that jesus paid it all [Music] i heard of savior's play my strength indeed is small child of weakness watch and pray find in me thine all in all jesus paid it all all to him i [Music] had left a crimson stain he [Music] washed lord now indeed i find thy power and thine alone can change the leper spots and [Music] sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow [Music] and when before the throne i stand in him complete jesus died my soul to say my lips shall still repeat jesus paid it all all to hear my own sin had left a crimson state he washed the snow had left a crimson stink he washed in white as snow he washed it white as snow he washed in white as snow oh praise the one who paid my debt and lit a from the dead all praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead oh praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead jesus paid it all all to him i owe sid had left the crimson stain he washed it white as snow jesus paid it all all to hear my oh sin had left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow please say it everyone well friends we're now going to share together in a time of remembering what jesus has done for us as we've combined together good friday and easter day his death and resurrection and we're going to share together in the lord's supper and you'll find the way we're doing that in these covert times is with these little cups my advice to you is not to open them i'll give you a lesson on how to do that it took me five goes i want to spare you that agony and the other thing i'll say at this point if you have low expectations for how these things taste you won't be disappointed but as we prepare our hearts and minds let's come before the lord remembering that we have fallen short let's pray together the words which you'll find on the screen together merciful father we have strayed from your ways like lost sheep we have followed too much the desires of our own hearts and have broken your holy laws we have left undone what we ought to have done and we have done what we ought not to have done yet good lord have mercy on us restore those who are repentance according to the promises declared to us through your son jesus christ grant merciful father for his sake that from now on we may live godly and obedient lives to the glory of your holy name amen the lord's supper is an outward invisible sign of the grace shown to us in christ as we share bread and wine together in this way this morning we are invited to feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving and at the same time we are faced again with god's love for the unworthy and are strengthened by faith in the one whose body was given and whose blood was shed for us come then we've heartfelt repentance and genuine trust in the lord jesus realizing the profound significance of sharing in this way if in good conscience it would not be right for you to participate then may i encourage you this morning to use this time to reflect on god's love for us in christ let's pray together merciful lord we do not come to your table trusting in our own righteousness but in your limitless grace we are not even worthy to eat the crumbs from under your table but you are rich in mercy enable us to eat by faith the flesh of your dear son jesus christ and to drink his blood that we may be cleansed from sin and forever dwell in him and he in us amen we thank you our father that in your love and mercy you gave your only son jesus christ to die on the cross for our salvation by this offering of himself once and for all time jesus made a full perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world and commanded us to continue a remembrance of his precious death until his coming again hear us merciful father and grant that we who receive these gifts of your creation this bread and this wine in remembrance of his suffering and death may be partakers of his body and blood on the night before he died jesus took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and then gave it to his disciples saying take and eat this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me and after the meal he took the cup and again giving thanks he gave it to his disciples saying drink from this all of you this is my blood of the new covenant which he said for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me in a moment i'm going to give you the education lesson i promised just before i do though let me warmly invite all who love and serve jesus to join us you might be from an anglican background or a different denomination if you love and serve jesus we want to extend a very warm invitation to you to join us at this time and also if you are here this morning and you are a child who loves jesus if your parents are happy we're very happy at some pools for you to join us and participate in this symbolic meal as well now the education lesson you need to with one hand hold on to the foil and you see the transparent white comes up over it as you're holding onto the foil yes we can all make a joyful noise together and you can get then get the wafer the body of our lord jesus christ which was given for you keep your body and soul for everlasting life take and eat this remembering that christ died for you and feed on him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving and now you can take the foil off together let's drink this remembering that christ's blood was shed for you and be thankful lord and heavenly father in your loving kindness accept our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving granted by the merits and death of your son jesus christ and through faith in his blood we and your whole church may receive forgiveness of our sins and all other benefits of his passion with gratitude for all your mercies we today offer ourselves to you as a living sacrifice through jesus christ our lord amen let's continue in prayer but before i do let me remind you of paul's word in words in 1 corinthians 15 22 but in fact christ has been raised from the dead the fruits of those who have fallen asleep let's pray oh god our lord jesus christ has indeed risen today we remember anew the wonder of his resurrection father you are a god of justice and truth a god of righteousness and love and with our sinful natures we have no right to look upon you let alone call upon you yet in your love you sent your son to redeem us while we yet sinners by your grace you accept us as your sons and daughters by adoption we did not deserve such love yet you through your son allowed us to return to you if we but believe and today we remember your first bon borne's victory over sin and death a promise that we want so much to be ours also as we think of our church universal and its challenges and needs we pray for our broken and fallen world civil wars continue in so many countries horrifying racial tensions remain even in our land social media too often makes attacks and hurts those around us but it cannot hide the love of jesus christ who submitted himself voluntarily to death for us we pray for those of our world whose families have been torn apart by the timely loss of life from pandemics wars and calamitous weather events may they even in their loneliness and sorrow catch a glimpse of your deep deep love for every human being and come to know you as they their lord we thank you our father that you have given us so many ways to serve you in our country and beyond here in this church our leadership team challenges us to walk with you as we should may our ministers led by raj gupta confront us with your truths time and again may your holy spirit convict us to be the people your son seeks so as to change our sinful world dear lord as a critical part of this task we ask you to care for our communities children teach them of your love involve us both here in our church and in our schools in this work lord we rejoice that three other local churches have joined with our church to care for school children and that there's a rising number of parents who ask for their children to attend sre at their schools so glad lord that singing has returned to our scripture classes in our primary schools and here in our church and now helpers are allowed back as the risk of covet infections fall in this work oh lord we praise you for pearl cou judy bronger diane mcgill and meryl moore in their role as school coordinators to lead these sre teaching teams we thank you our district has the sre teacher numbers this four schools need however lord we know school numbers are growing and criticism of christian teaching is becoming more transient we ask our father that our leaders and teachers continue to have strong and warm relationships with the schools and their principles may this christian work grow by your controlling plan for this world coupled with our pre-personal and prayerful support this easter sunday lord we are convinced once again that jesus by his death and resurrection has covered over our sins and restored our relationship with you our creator and lord saint james reminds us that as christian believers we are brothers and sisters in christ and we must work as a caring family we are to be led by the risen christ to be doers of the holy spirit's work to rescue the lost to care for the sick to love the sad and lonely and so bring those in need to you our creator our father make this special day and the rest of the year a time of obedience may this world become a place flooded with your love and encircled by the power of your holy spirit as we wait for your son's glorious return for in his name we pray amen hello everyone it's really good to see you this sunday morning my name is candy i'm one of the ministers here at saint paul's i want to welcome you guys again if especially if you are new uh this is your first time coming we have come a few times and you're checking out the things of christianity and if that is you i have something i would like to especially welcome you to so we've got explore coming up this coming tuesday what this is is if you've got questions about christianity if you're not sure who jesus is what he's come to do this is a time where you'll get to learn more about jesus it's a time when we assume nothing and we like let you ask anything i have not yet been asked a question that i've been offended by so please come along ask your questions dinner is provided as well so um if you would like to come along to that let us know so that we can get dinner for you it's a really casual time it's not threatening i can come and just check out christianity so i'd love to invite you to that and there's two other three other things that i'd like to let you guys know as well are just happening in the life of church the second thing is something you guys have been hearing about a lot if you're regular and that is camp awesome yay so i am very happily informing you that there is currently 157 youths who have already registered really excited about that isn't that amazing there's going to be so many youths who are learning about jesus and especially on the topic of the cross which is pretty significant if you are quite last minute like myself and you have not yet registered your youth and you are desperately wanting that to happen i'm not entirely sure how much space we still have but if that is you um do let us know in the connect card that you would still like your youth to come along um yeah and that would be great the other thing i would like to let you guys know about is also uh in light of the flood and uh what has happened uh saint paul's would love to partner with windsor anglican so we've reached out asking look how can we help and there's two ways that they've given us on how we can help them and the first way is if you are quite handy or even if you're not but you have some time to spare windsor anglican has partnered with the samaritan's purse and they've set up a truck where they're going around to the different houses helping with repairs helping with getting rid of any sort of things that have been left around from the flood and so if you would like to help you don't need to have any skills just as long as you have the time let us know in the connect card you can show up in windsor anglican and you will be informed as to how to help go out in teams because there are houses there that don't have insurance and this is a especially they need help in fixing their houses and just sorting out the damage from the flood so if you'd like to do that you can do that the second way that they've told us they'd love help is that in light of what they're doing for the community there is a rise in operational cost as well so they're asking for a thousand five hundred dollars which i don't think is a lot of money um and so if you would like to help out with that as well put that down in your connect card um and the third thing i'd like to let you know about oh sorry the fourth thing i'd like to know you know about is also the cash giving box that's out the back if you'd like to give this is for the regulars of our church normally we do this electronically but if you much prefer cash giving the boxes out the back as well so i would now like to ask you all to get out your device and what you can do is you can i have an iphone you can grab the camera button and you just put it onto that qr code we all know how to do this now because of code and a connect card should pop up okay i can't do this from this angle okay so a connect card should pop up and you're going to get time now to fill in that connect card so just a reminder if you're interested in explore let us know that's happening this coming tuesday and if you'd like to help out with windsor anglican or register your youth for awesome camp so i'll give you guys a minute to fill that out [Music] so [Music] as we come near the end of our time here this morning let's stand and sing that wonderful hymn when i survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died [Music] cross which the prince of glory dies my riches [Music] on all my pride [Music] foreign of christ my god all the things i sacrifice them to his blood see from his hands his hands his face [Music] [Music] tonight [Music] oh [Music] [Music] my please take a seat as we come to the end of our time together this morning the formal time anyway we rejoice jesus is alive death has been defeated this is the news that has already changed our world and will keep changing our world let's go out and rejoice together friends if you're here in the room we'd love you to hang around take some time to encourage each other with the wonderful words that we've heard we'd love you to head out of your seats and head out through those doors outside it's a beautiful day outside the space out there for us to spread out and spend some time together for those who've joined us online we're so glad that you've been with us in this way we look forward to being with you again soon as we finish hear these words from the book of romans since we have now been justified by jesus's blood how much more shall we be saved from god's wrath through him for if while we were god's enemies we were reconciled to him through the death of his son how much more having been reconciled shall we be saved through his life because he is alive god bless we'll see you next time

Channel: St Paul's Anglican

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Id: h-FwtGduuFU

Length: 90min 20sec (5420 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 03 2021