Sunday 6 March 22 Divine Service NZ

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] do [Music] wow [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] okay um [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] hmm [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hmm [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] do [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] okay [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning my dear brothers and sisters we welcome you to this morning's divine service which will be conducted by the priest john abrams and i invite the congregation to please rise and we can sing here opening him together number fifteen [Music] my [Music] in the name of god the father the son and the holy spirit dear father of love grace and mercy we bow before you with humility with thankfulness in our hearts and thankful father for this opportunity to be in your house this opportunity father where we can lay down the concerns that we have where we can set aside our thoughts and agendas father and we can open our hearts towards that which you want to teach us that you that which you want to lead us in that which you want to reveal to us father we think especially today of the many in the yonder world who have left this life and father they've also now have an opportunity where they can come freely father to this altar of grace that you have established an altar of grace where they can hear your word with where they can come and receive father that which they need for their salvation so that they can also commune with you just as we commune with you today father father we ask that we open our hearts towards that which you want to teach us to do this we pray purify sanctify us we ask that you also purify and sanctify us as your servants grant us unity of heart and mind we think of our leaders who stand before us and we pray for unity with artistic evangelists our justice elder our apostle disick apostle and the achieve apostle that we may be a conduit of your word and blessing your living word father we pray now that you also bless those who could not be here there are many connected fire the audio-visual transmission and we ask that you also bless this father that it may be uninterrupted bless the hearts of your children that they can receive father wherever they may be your living word and then there are those father who have also lost the way they have grown cold father towards their faith and their belief and their trust their love for you and we ask that you restore this in their hearts once more that you draw them back and that you draw them closer father so that they can once more experience the power of your blessing and your grace in their lives now father we pray come into our midst and bless us fill our hearts with your peace this we pray in your son jesus name sake amen my dear brothers and sisters this morning we have a word out of psalm 139 and we read verse 8 to 10 if i ascend into heaven you are there if i make my bed in hell behold you are there if i take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me so far [Music] [Music] okay hi dear brothers and sisters what a beautiful rendition and we all know too so automatically the words appear we may not hear the words but what a beautiful desire pass me not a gentle savior and this is the desire of many souls this morning they come and they have a desire that jesus does not forget them that god does not forget them my dear brothers and sisters this morning the lord wants to reassure us through this word that he is all-powerful that he is ever present that he is everywhere the psalmist davis explains this in in these words in our text word that there is no place that god is not present there is no place that is beyond these bounds and this is the message to this warning dear brothers and sisters that the lord is present in all wherever his creation is and that is everything all encompassing the lord is there my dear my dear brothers and sisters god is goodness god is love and we all come out of god we are all from god and we were all we turned to him one day sin has skewed the somehow for us some of us do not see this plan some of us do not understand this path on which we walk but this is where our faith comes in this is where belief and trust comes in so almost david expresses this ever presence of god this omnip this omnipotence is all-knowing and dear brothers and sisters this is important that we understand that god is in everything and that we belong to him and that he wants to save all of mankind he wants to be with all of us one day this is his desire this is his desire out of his love and when we consider the sacrifice of his son jesus christ then this reassures us of his longing this reassures us of his love as men we when i say men i mean human kind we and we also struggle to understand this sometimes we sometimes have doubts in our heavenly father in his ability we have doubts in what he's able to accomplish we have doubted he's able to achieve and what we need to understand is that nothing is impossible for our heavenly father no there's there's no barriers there's no limitations that he cannot overcome everything is possible the only limitations in our lives are the the ones we set their dear brothers and sisters or the ones we place in our lives we limit our relationship with our heavenly father we limit the blessing that we receive the relationship that our heavenly father wants with us is the one he has with us but he needs us to come our half he needs to bring with he needs us to bring our part and this is a battle for all of us as humans is to is to change is to become more like christ is to seek our heavenly father in every single moment is to seek our heavenly father in everything we do when we look at our relationship with our heavenly father as humans we we also have our egos we have our our successes in our life we do things and we believe that this is due to our own capability my dear brothers and sisters the lord has created us we come from him what could we possibly do that is so great that we can take this on ourselves however this is human nature this is this is the the the the the humanness that sometimes creates these emotions and sometimes this egoism is something that holds us back dear brothers and sisters because with egoism comes lots of other emotions my dear my dear brothers and sisters we all are sinful and with sin comes the guilt of sin and sometimes it's not easy for us as humans to face the guilt of sin this is something that we shy away from sometimes we are not very proud of the things we do we're not very proud of the the decisions we make we're not very proud of the things we say or even think remember the lord knows all things he knows our thoughts he knows what we are going to do he knows what we are where we are going to be in one year we he sees our life in its entirety and he wants to guide us he wants to bless us he wants to give us the best possible life but he needs us to follow his will he needs us to reach out to him just as he is present in our life just as he is there ever present in every decision we make he wants us to reach out to him this is his desire but sometimes we we find this very difficult because we have our weaknesses and sometimes as humans we don't want to show we don't want to reveal we don't want to reflect these weaknesses we harbor them my dear brothers and sisters the lord knows all things he knows our thoughts before we think them he knows the deepest darkest corners of our heart what those emotions are what our feelings are he knows all things dear brothers and sisters and when we consider this should should we not be more open towards his love and grace should we not be open towards his guidance well we may be thinking up to ourselves but i am i'm totally open the lord i'm an open book for the lord but do our actions reflect that guilt dear brothers and sisters sometimes change the way we see things change the way we feel towards others change the way we feel towards our heavenly father and the guilt of sin can weigh heavily on many decisions we make many souls in the yonder world today have gone into this yonder world with this guilt of sin they've come out of this life into the yonder world and they've realized that okay life doesn't end on earth but now they sit with this guilt of what they have done on earth maybe the things that they have done that wasn't pleasing to our heavenly father the things that they knew were not right they now sit with this guilt and today we want to be reminded and the many souls the message is that it's okay the lord jesus forgives he had made the sacrifice on the cross a a a a a valid sacrifice for you and my sin and when we come with a repentant art when we come with a forgiving heart when we come with a believing heart then all sin is removed and then we can get into a closer communion with our heavenly father again and this is the same for the souls in the underworld they also come into this into this yonder world and realize that things are quite different to what i thought the ease of life after there is a greater power there is a god that i've come from and now i want to return to him and now they have to make decisions just as we need to make decisions dear brothers and sisters to come closer to our heavenly father to draw closer to him and today they have this opportunity where the the the gates of heaven are open towards them they can come freely yes they will still have many things that they need to navigate there will still be things that would hold them back from doing this from accepting this just as we have challenges in our lives we sometimes don't trust we don't trust maybe the will of god we don't trust the guidance that's given sometimes we hear a word over the altar and we still ponder and wonder is that the right thing is this really the way i should be doing things there are still doubts in our hearts my dear brothers and sisters the lord wants to restore this with trust he wants to restore this with hope and he wants us to come openly and freely and not let the guilt of sin hold us back but come openly and freely for this grace accepting this grace just as the many souls will long to accept god's grace but we can also be an open door we can be a beacon of light for them when they see our trust in the lord when they see our love and our hope for the future this beacon of light is also what draws them it also gives them confidence to see our congregation to see our unity to see our love and trust in god and then they feel more comfortable to come to this altar of salvation they feel more comfortable to accept what jesus has to offer my dear brothers and sisters we have a task as those who believe those who understand and have a relationship with jesus christ we have a task and i'm sure over the last few days we've also interceded we've thought of many who have passed out of this life maybe in the last few months weeks maybe in the in the past years we've all made encounters and experiences we've all been reminded in one way or the other i was in the sacristy yesterday and looking for something and i found a a uh a program of a funeral held in in newland congregation many years ago and automatically i recognize that this is somebody reaching out this is somebody reaching out to saying remember me and this is also sometimes how these things are revealed dear brothers and sisters souls reach out in many different ways we have thoughts we have familiar situations we have a song that we shared with somebody or somebody enjoyed there are many ways we remember others or those that have passed in out of this life and these are also ways that they used to to to touch us to reach up to ask us to remember them and as we do this morning we intercede we think of those we we pray for them because we have a longing that they too can be with jesus christ that they too can have a relationship with jesus christ that they too can receive what they need for their worthiness amen my dear brothers and sisters you'll ask mr jean to serve us further and if the choir i'm sorry the musical item [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my brothers and sisters the early times of the jews they considered that when a human being come to us in on this earth that everything is forgotten you know the hate the love the memory it is wiped away and in an enthusiastic brothers and sisters just to shed some light it says enthusiastic nine the verses six to the seven this was the notion which the jews had and this is what they see it for the living know that they will die but the dead know nothing and they have no more reward but the memory of them is forgotten also the love the hatred and the envy have now perished never more will they ever see in anything done under the sun and yeah my dear brothers and sisters the text you and i received today it describes as the psalms at the time he thought that he needed this as a warning but for you and i would they come within the knowledge knowing that this word we receive today act as a comfort my dear brothers and sisters it reassures you and i that god is omnipotent as directors mentioned in his omniscience and in his ombre prison and today we know god is ever present god has created you and i my dear brothers and sisters with the crown of his creation and above all he has created us in his image and this is his will that we all come to the understanding and to the knowledge that he wants to impart his salvation to you and i this includes the living and it could include those in the beyond and my dear brothers and sisters that's why it is very important is that we intercede with these souls in the beyond that they can understand that god's grace his open wall let me go back my dear brothers and sisters to the time when god has created adam and eve god gave them a special instruction one instruction you know it says in the garden was the tree of life and god prohibited him from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and of evil and of course we know the story when the serpent came he encouraged eve that my dear brothers and sisters you know when god came in god walked in the garden god called adam and he said adam hid himself eat myself i'm afraid that my dear brothers and sisters god knew already what adam has done god wasn't angry with adam but he wanted to get the broader picture god wanted him to acknowledge look i sin i win begins that which is your will it was the same with cain and abel my dear brothers and sisters but where's your brother and he said i'm not my brother's keeper but god said what have you done his blood cries out from the ground my dear brothers and sisters what do you understand from mercy is that god knows our thoughts he knows our actions he knows uh in our deeds he knows our heart we can we can hide nothing from god but my dear brothers and sisters through these two illustrations it shows that god is loving that god is all encompassing no matter what the one or the other has done in his life on this earth god still draws him out of his love he still draws him out of his grace and as we sit here today my dear brothers and sisters none of us can lay claim to the salvation it is but only grace that we can obtain the salvation but through our prayers my dear brothers and sisters as we have heard we want to be the portal we want to be the example unto these souls in the beyond again come under this grace we want to share with them the knowledge that christ will come but my dear brothers and sisters for those in the beyond that the offer of grace is also available this is what we pray for that they can do obtain salvation and this is only obtainable by the one who said by the encouragement and exhortation of the holy spirit and many my dear brothers and sisters when they have passed over many have not even encountered jesus christ in their lifetime but in the beyond there is an opportunity where they realize look that i've come short i have need of this grace and my dear brothers and sisters that we intensify in our prayer life that these souls too can come under this grace that my dear brothers and sisters but if we do not live in accordance with god's will and according to god teaching how can we be an example until those souls can be on if we doubt or we do not believe in god or in jesus christ how can these souls come to the understanding if i cannot forgive my neighbor i cannot forgive my brother and my sister how can these souls who find him in this realm be able to forgive if we cannot my dear brothers and sisters we are instrumental in the lives of the souls that went into the beyond we the ones that draw them we're the ones that can pave the way that they can come to the altar of grace which is established in the apostolate and my dear brothers and sisters our first article of faith it says that i believe in god the father the almighty creator of heaven on earth and my dear brothers and sisters once again it shows and it proves that god is the all-powerful god is omnipresent god is on decent and whatever we do my dear brothers and sisters let us never ever forget god is always by our side god is my brother god is in my sister god is in my neighbor why my dear brothers and sisters but god is love let us continue my dear brothers and sisters as to die we celebrate departed let us not forget departed in today it is every day my dear brothers and sisters as we all as life on this earth that we intercede that we pray for those in the beyond not only for them and beyond they are those even on the household my dear brothers and sisters who have gone honestly we have not seen it necessary to follow the path and just always remember them that it's not up to you and i my dear brothers and sisters to sit and to worry about what is the one with the other done in his lifetime god is not interested in it my dear brothers and sisters god is interested in saving all mankind god is interested in bringing all those in the beyond to experience his grace and his salvation my dear brothers and sisters that now be the time that we can pray that those in beyond and also make the change and experience salvation army my dear brothers and sisters then there would be many who are here on earth and we also are concerned maybe i have a concern for our brother and sister maybe that maybe they didn't know jesus christ maybe they never had a relationship now we can also be filled with confidence that there too in the underworld they can still receive grace they can still come into contact they can still have and develop a relationship with jesus christ nothing changes between the underworld as we head at the beginning god is ever-present he is all powerful nothing there are no boundaries as we see boundaries beyond between the underworld and ourselves there is no boundary for our heavenly father his love he takes there too and this gives us also confidence this gives us a feeling of comfort that all is not lost but dear brothers and sisters we want to do the best we can we want to repay our souls for jesus christ's return just as these souls long for that day and we want to be as we had witnesses of this in the way we conduct ourselves in our in the way we live our lives here on earth my dear brothers and sisters we have an opportunity now to celebrate holy communion to partake of this holy sacrament and we need to let this guilt of sin also go when we receive this grace this is a grace that has come about to the sacrifice of jesus christ to giving his life on the cross dear brothers and sisters when we consider the sacrifice for the purpose for the this valid purpose how much of us who do this how much of us would give our lives for a purpose like that for the purpose of forgiveness of sin of all mankind this is not once again not limited to us here in this congregation or in our fellowship or christians this grace is is not limited to those that believe it is for all for all those that accept and also the men in the yonder world maybe today is the first time that they acknowledge maybe today it is the first time that they are going to accept this grace it will be the first time that they can also be relinquished and and and and have to deal and face the guilt of their sin when i thought about the the the the reference that the priest made about adam and eve that is why they hid they hid because of this guilt they knew what they had done let us not hide from this grace to brothers and sisters but let us come and accept it openly let us not allow this guilt to be the void between us and our heavenly father this grace is now available open our hearts accept the guilt the lord jesus and our god knows what we have done there is nothing to hide it is for us to accept and then we can elevate ourselves spiritually we can grow spiritually to a closer relationship with the heavenly father and in this acknowledgement in this acceptance we are also strengthened through the holy sacrament we are strengthened to go into the days ahead with renewed strength renewed conviction renewed strength to also to to also make decisions that are the will of god make decisions that just does not lead us into sinful activities or sinful nature that we do not that we abstain from sin and this is the strength we can now receive if we are open to receive a dear brothers and sisters and in preparation we can sing together hymn number 133 133 [Music] our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your 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 debtors and do not lead us into temptation but delivered us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen in the commission of my sender the apostle do i proclaim unto you the glad tidings that in the name of jesus christ son of our living god your sins are forgiven the peace of the risen one abide with you amen dear father of love we thank you for this love that is now been expressed in the words we have just heard the free making words that we are now freed from all sin father we are also freed father from the guilt of the sin and we ask help us to overcome this help us to accept this father so that we come with open hearts to you knowing that you are all knowing that you understand all things help us to accept this father help us to always realize this so that we can also not allow this to be a barrier between us but that we can fill this with the knowledge of your grace and your love for us father help us to draw closer to you in every single moment of our day we also thank you father for your son jesus christ and the sacrifice that he made to make this possible now father we ask prepare heart and souls now for your holy sacrament so that we can also partake of this worthily father purify sanctify us now open our hearts towards the strength and the power embedded in having communion with your son we ask father that you also sanctifies as your servants so that father we can also dispense this and that we can also experience a great blessing bound to this we pray this in your son jesus name sake amen will now celebrate holy communion the lord's table is now prepared in the name of god the father the son and the holy spirit i consecrate bread and wine for holy communion and lay thee upon the once broad and eternally valid sacrifice of jesus christ for the lord took bread and wine gave thanks and said this is my body which is broken for you this is my blood of the new covenant given for many for the remission of sins eat and drink do this in remembrance of me or as often as you eat this bread and drink this wine you proclaim the lord's death till he comes amen amen the body and blood of jesus is given for you amen jesus funny you can remain seated dear brothers and sisters while we partake of holy communion we can sing together hymn number five number five the lord and i invite you to holy communion [Music] my dear brothers and sisters and being a service where we intercede on behalf of the many souls we want to now arise and we can say a short prayer dear father of love we thank you for this opportunity we have allowed the many souls in the underworld to come freely to your altar of grace come freely to accept and to experience that which they need father your living word the holy sacraments and we ask father that you also bless them in this decision when bless them father in what they may experience at your altar of grace out of the the hand of and heart of your apostles father those whom you have placed there to also provide that which we need for our eternal salvation that which we need father to come into a closer relationship with you and now we ask father that we may also stand with them resolute father in faith and belief so that they may walk confidently father that they may walk knowing that there is love that is truth and that there is hope in a relationship with you and we think father of the many who maybe have doubts the many who are maybe burdened with the the the guilt of sin there are many father who have been disappointed through unrelief or feel in a state of unfairness or challenged when they left this life may you also be gracious and receive them too and may you also be a guide to your love father we pray this all not that we deserve it but we pray it in your son jesus name sake amen [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] okay we can give thanks dear father of love we thank you for your grace and mercy we thank you for your great love for reminding us father that all things come from you that we come from you and that you want an eternal life with us an eternal relationship with us help us father to recognize this every day of our lives help us to accept this help us to continue to work on overcoming and accepting and changing the things we need to change as humans father so that we can become more christ-like in our nature so that we can follow this example your son jesus christ has said we thank you father for this opportunity where many in the yonder world have also joined us we feel their presence father although we cannot see them and we ask now that you also bless them in that which they need to experience and we ask that you protect them and that your angels guide over them that you guide them towards your truth and your light this light of love father we ask now that you also accept our thanks offering and that you lay your rich and heavenly blessing upon it your many sacrifices brought father known and unknown there are many that are unseen father and we ask that you bless each and every one now we think of our leaders who stand before us and we ask that you bless them protect them uplift and strengthen them we think especially our dear apostle disick apostle and the chief apostle strengthen and uplift them fill their hearts with your joy and your love and your peace always help them in the many decisions they have to make to guide us as your children father that your holy spirit may always be guiding them father and inspiring them now we think of those who plead out for your hand of grace and help there are those that go through very difficult situations in their life there are those fathers who have situations that are way beyond their control but father we know and believe that all things are in your control and father we ask that you also bless them with your hand of nearness so that they know that you are in control that they know that you are with them and that we can that we can draw strength out of this knowledge father now we pray for the week ahead for your protection your guidance and your grace and we pray father for the the return of your son jesus christ this is our longing and desire and we ask if this day bring the coming past not one soul by but accept us in your grace in jesus name sake amen the grace of the lord jesus christ the love of god and the communion of the holy spirit be and remain with you all amen we can remain seated for a few minutes brothers and sisters thank you very much for your prayers thank you very much for your presence and all those connected we thank you also for your prayers and and for being in fellowship with us although we cannot see each other you know many also connect with us here today and it's a challenging time you know there's there's lots of different emotions and feelings and unknowns um and we just pray for each other and we pray for um also this morning my heart went out to you know the men in in that are in the middle of a war right now and we can can't imagine what what they'd be going through but we want to also pray for them we want to think about them we want to stand in solidarity with them especially our brothers and sisters those that also have a congregation as we have just remember then dear brothers and sisters we ask now that we have a musical item we sing together three seven zero we can sing together three seven zero as a conjugation [Music] have a blessed week

Channel: New Apostolic Church New Zealand

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Id: bkoSTMFp03I

Length: 89min 37sec (5377 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2022