Sunday Service: "God Has Come To Help Us!" (Sunday 19 September 2021)

welcome to our all sales online service let me read from isaiah 42 the lord says here is my servant whom i uphold my chosen one in whom i delight and he's talking about the lord jesus and also says i the lord have called you in righteousness i will take hold of your hand i will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the gentiles we're going to sing in our first song of the lord jesus whose blood availed for me let's sing together let's sing together [Music] my great redeemers praise my grace [Music] the triumphs of his grace the triumphs of his grace the triumphs of his grace that triumphs [Music] jesus [Music] this music in the [Music] is [Music] he speaks he speaks into his voice [Music] my gracious master and my god [Music] through [Music] [Music] isaiah describes the character of the servant of the lord jesus a bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out in faithfulness he will bring forth justice in the lord jesus we have someone both gentle and also just and so as forgiven sinners we come to him to confess but with confidence in the answer we'll receive thanks to his death on the cross so please join me in saying the words of this confession almighty god our heavenly father we have sinned against you and against our neighbours in thought and word and deed through negligence through weakness through our own deliberate fault we are truly sorry and repent of all our sins for the sake of your son jesus christ who died for us forgive us all that is past and grant that we may serve you in newness of life to the glory of your name amen later in isaiah the death of the lord jesus is described like this we all like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to our own way and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors our father we thank you for your mercy to us in the death of your son the lord jesus thank you that you have placed on him the sin and guilt and punishment of all those that who turn to you in faith and repentance and we praise and thank you that we can be included as your children in the death and resurrection of your son to his praise and glory amen we're going to sing a children's song now rooted in the story of joseph from genesis [Music] from prison to palaces [Music] became the boss his brothers and souls [Music] replies the dream was true [Music] is [Applause] [Music] seven years later [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] we are alone is [Applause] [Music] this week there's one particular need that we have at all souls i'd love to tell you about our director of operations monty erskine is moving on to bigger and better things as the ceo of a different charity after many years serving adult souls and as well as taking this chance to say a huge thanks to him and in particular to his work in guiding the church during and into regnum and during covet and many many other changes um it also is a chance for me to to say that the the application for that all the details are on the wall sales website and if you or anyone you know would be suitable or be interested in applying for that role and please would you pray it's absolutely crucial for us here and encourage people you know to be in touch if uh if they might be interested otherwise i want to say the same things i said last week which is that we are now as we open up after kovid we would love those who are watching like this but are in london we would love you to be involved in service and also in a small group and the the links for that will come up on the screen but all sales.org forward slash serve and all souls.org forward slash and uh we would love for every person who has either been a long-term member of all souls or has joined in like this over the lockdown we'd love to become a sort of plugged in family member knowing and serving and studying god's word alongside the rest of us of course all that we do is only possible because of the generosity of christians who give and we are only able to give because of the generosity of our lord god before that so we'll say as we do every week our lord all things come from you and of your own do we give you we're going to turn to pray now and then we're going to sing the lord's prayer together i am mary carrion it is my privilege to lead our prayers this morning i will say a number of short prayers and after each will say gracious lord hear our prayer and invite you to join in with our men as we come to you gracious father we pray that in your great mercy you will have compassion and look upon those who are struggling in the world through loneliness bereavement wars famine fires floods and political upheavals raise up leaders within society who can make wise decisions who will put the needs of others before their own and work for peace and adjust society we continue to pray for the people of afghanistan asking that you in your great mercy will intervene to protect the vulnerable those who are facing reprisals those who have lost employment education and a purpose for living lord in your mercy reveal yourself as the one who ultimately provides hope and security gracious lord hear our prayer amen we pray for your worldwide church our brothers and sisters in christ recognizing that in many places people are being targeted just because they identify themselves as followers of you today we focus on the believers in north africa where christians are a tiny minority of the population we ask that you lord will give them the courage that they need day by day to stand firm in the face of persecution and pressure from their families and wider society we ask that you will protect them and give them your peace and hope in the certainty that you are the sovereign lord gracious lord hear our prayer amen at the beginning of this new academic year and at a time when many people are moving to london to study and to work we ask that we at all souls will be a welcoming church sensitive to the needs of others a church which demonstrates your care and compassion a church where your word is taught in the services on sundays in our life groups and as we encourage and disciple each other we ask that we will be people of prayer desiring to commit each day to you that you will mold us into the people you want us to be that we might be worthy ambassadors of your gospel in our colleges our workplaces our schools and our communities for those feeling uncertain about the future we ask that you will clearly go before leading guiding and directing gracious lord hear our prayer we thank you for our mission partners serving you cross-culturally in the uk and across the world asking that they might know you in a very special way today giving them the wisdom and the strength that they need we particularly pray for richard and catherine east and their daughters marianne and amy based in london seeking to work with churches and student ministries in making disciples amongst japanese people as they reach out we pray that they will have the joy of seeing many young japanese one for christ built up in him and sent back to japan as passionate followers of jesus ready to serve in churches as pastors evangelists and youth workers gracious lord hear our prayer amen finally we pray for richard east as he opens your word to us this morning enable him to speak with your voice help us to hear and build us up ready to serve you wherever you call us lord in your mercy accept these prayers through the name of your son jesus christ amen [Music] like [Music] as it is give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our death as we [Music] forgive our death [Music] into temptation [Music] for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory foreign for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and never [Music] today [Music] and the glory [Music] we're going to begin with an old testament reading and that can be found in 1 kings chapter 17 verses 17 to 25. sometime later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill he grew worse and worse and finally stopped breathing she said to elijah what do you have against me man of god did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son give me your son elijah replied he took him from her arms carried him to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his bed then he cried out to the lord lord my god have you brought tragedy even on this widow i'm staying with by causing her son to die then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the lord lord my god let this boy's life return to him the lord heard elijah's cry and the boy's life returned to him and he lived elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house he gave him to his mother and said look your son is alive then the woman said to elijah now i know that you are a man of god and that the word of the lord from your mouth is the truth we're not going to have a new testament reading that's from luke chapter 7 verses 11 to 17. soon afterwards jesus went to a town called naon and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him as he approached the time gate a dead person was being carried out the only son of his mother and she was a widow and a large crowd from the town was with her when the lord saw her his heart went out to her and he said don't cry then he went up and touched the beer they were carrying him on and the bearers stood still he said young man i say to you get up the dead man sat up and began to talk and jesus gave him back to his mother they were all filled with awe and praise god a great prophet has appeared among us they said god has come to help his people this news about jesus spread throughout judea and the surrounding country this is the word of the lord thanks be to god some people love conspiracy theories and a few years ago when i was a physics teacher some of my pupils introduced me to the idea that the moon landings 50 years ago weren't real apparently some people think they were faked but whether or not that really was a giant leap for mankind in this morning's passage luke shows us clear evidence not of man going to the heavens but that the god of heaven the old testament god of compassion the powerful life-giver came to earth in the person of jesus and yet some people who should have known better rejected the evidence that's what's going on in this chapter of luke last week we saw an outsider's surprising faith but many seeming insiders rejected him so how about you what exactly do you think of jesus well let's take a look at the evidence this morning and it comes in two parts jesus actions show compassionate care and jesus words show proven power and if we're persuaded then his words and actions require a response compassionate care proven power point to this man being creator god come to earth promised in the old testament and if that's true then you and i need to respond conspiracy theory well luke's account is based on eyewitness accounts and for today's episode he wouldn't have been short of eyewitnesses admittedly more than there were on the moon 50 years ago this raising of a dead sun to life takes place when two large crowds come together as you can see in verses 11 and 12 and do have the bible passage open in front of you if you can two large crowds saw it happen in front of their eyes so that when this was written you could go to nain and expect to find some people who could tell you if this really happened or not maybe even the mother or the man himself so that jesus disciples could say in public even in the courts you know these things really took place they didn't happen in a corner now what would we expect if this if the god of israel the maker of heaven and earth walking dusty roads as a human being was confronted with the tragic death of a child many of us know friends who have lost children at a young age joe bailey in his book a view from the hearse talks about his experience of losing three sons one at 18 days after surgery another five years another at 18 years after a sledding accident in his book he writes of all deaths that of a child is most unnatural and hardest to bear in a way that is different from any other human relationship a child is bone of his parents bones flesh of their flesh when a child dies part of the parents is buried in our passage this morning we don't know the age of the boy who died but we do know that his mother had lost her husband sometime before and this was her only son we can imagine that every day she'd felt the pain of missing her husband and felt comforted by her precious son we can imagine that she came home after a stressful day of trying to provide for herself and her son and found joy in seeing her son develop we can imagine that she feared for the future probably without property rights and found hope when she thought of her growing son and now her source of comfort joy and hope is lying cold and still in the bottom of a casket as jesus approached the town gate a dead person was being carried out does he care we know that if he really is the god of the bible come down to earth then he must i am compassionate thunder's the god of the old testament perhaps you're watching this and you feel something like the widow in this story joy hopes comfort gone will jesus actions show compassionate care look down at verse 13 when the lord saw her his heart went out to her and he said don't cry his heart went out to her that means something like his stomach lurched with emotion do you ever get that maybe you witness the scene of someone watching their child hit by a car and you feel something physical in your stomach jesus feels deep down compassion and it comes to the outside in care for this woman his heart went out to her and he says don't cry isn't that extraordinary can you imagine he's saying i can see your hurt and i want to take it away he sees he feels her hurt his actions show compassionate care now in the background to this episode is the true story of elijah 900 years previously raising another widow's son we heard it in the old testament reading today luke's mentioned her in chapter 4 he clearly wants us to have the elijah story in mind like today's episode in elijah's time it was a widow it was her only son who died and elijah was a lodger staying in the house of the widow whose son died and he calls on the god of compassion and brings the sun back to life but in today's episode our widow has no previous connection with the man jesus we don't even know her name she's just a widow in a sense she's a nobody we're not told she's done anything worthy to deserve this miracle she didn't even ask jesus for help jesus acts unilaterally because of his compassionate care and he doesn't call on the god of compassion he is the god of compassion i remember my atheist friend andrew telling me that the only time he cried out to god was when he feared for his daughter's life well luke shows us that jesus is the one to go to he's the god of compassion and his actions show it notice how he touches the open coffin he knows full well that symbolically he's letting the uncleanness of death infect him only son of god gave himself to be crucified and killed out of compassion for you and me we're helpless before death jesus actions show compassionate care so do you know and trust his compassionate care for you today in this moment jesus knows and cares and he's no longer confined to one part of our planet at a time he's been raised from the dead and ascended to heaven and has all authority but he's no less compassionate at this very moment than he was towards this woman in the story do you know and trust jesus compassionate care for you when the lord saw her his heart went out to her this is the maker of heaven and earth lord his actions show compassionate care and his words show proven power that's the next thing we see in this passage let me read verses 14 and 15. then he went up and touched the beer they were carrying him on and the bearers stood still he said young man i say to you get up the dead man sat up and began to talk and jesus gave him back to his mother you know luke writes his gospel so that we'll know for certain these things about jesus it's not a conspiracy theory his words show proven power the boy had had no pulse for a long time if you could have measured for brainwaves there would have been none no medical procedure then or now could in any way bring back life what's needed is the one who breathed life into the universe into the first man jesus tells the boy to get up but the body can't hear the ears don't function and the brain is dead but jesus speaks and by his word the changes in each cell which death brought about are undone this is genesis 1 stuff and verse 15 is very stark the dead man sat up and began to talk i wonder what he said mum you look terrible mum what am i doing what are these crowds well what he said isn't important is it but the fact that he was fully dead and now he's fully alive i love those words jesus gave him back to his mother elijah remember called on god to raise the widow's son jesus commands the man back to life his words show proven power so the people at the time have all they need to be sure that jesus is the real messiah god's saving presence in human form and we're going to see that in this chapter unbelievably many people who should have known better doubted it missed it jesus words show proven power compassionate care proven power so that his actions and words response and the crowd in this passage point us in the right direction verse 16 they were all filled with awe and praised god a great prophet has appeared among us they said god has come to help his people the crowd is filled with all as they should be and say a great prophet has appeared among us in other words what this jesus man says must be a reliable message from god do you remember what the woman said to elijah after her son was raised now i know that you are a man of god and that the word of the lord from your mouth is the truth what's the required response here now i know jesus that the word from your mouth is the truth of course it is this is the god of truth come to earth but later in this chapter some astoundingly reject him so let me ask you have you responded like that to jesus the word from your mouth jesus is the truth jesus doesn't offer to stop people we love dying jesus doesn't promise to stop you dying his message is better than that jesus goes on to die himself and rise again so that all those who trust his words will have hope above and beyond the grave jesus message for you and me is even better than the news that widow had that day her weeping was taken away but she still died and her son would die another day but jesus compassion and power give us hope of new and everlasting life life as it was intended to be he says to you and me see your helplessness in the face of death covet cancer jesus says to us let me be the one who deals with your weeping and come to me for everlasting life to the full the crowd also says god has come to help his people and they're right jesus is that ultimate hope for mankind jesus is the real messiah jesus coming is the time of god's coming but the key thing for each human being is will we recognize that towards the beginning of this the sermon i mentioned joe bailey who tragically lost three sons the day after he buried his five-year-old son who died from leukemia he visited the hospital to say thank you to the doctors while he was there they told him about another boy with the same illness his son died from and he went over to talk to the mother in the course of their conversation he said even though the medical situation is helpless we can have hope for our children we can be sure that after our child dies he'll be completely removed from sickness and suffering and everything like that and be completely well and happy if only i could believe that the woman replied and hearing that joe had buried his son the day before she said to him you look like a rational person how can you possibly believe that the death of a man or a little boy is any different from the death of an animal how because the compassion and power of jesus testify to it his words and actions require a response i wonder is there anyone watching today who's ready to say to jesus deal with my weeping i'm ready to obey you give me new life if so please talk to a christian you know about that and if you believe that jesus is who his compassion and power shows him to be will you hold on to that confidence will you hold it out to others for the widow there was a short delay between jesus telling her don't cry and the tears being taken away only a short delay for us who trust jesus in this time it can be a very long delay there was a man in his 70s who always carried around in his wallet a faded picture of his son who died over 50 years previously don't cry tears taken away the delay can be very long and bitter we used to live in the north of japan and for months i would walk home on top of deep snow sometimes temperatures of minus 10 as i stepped out of the car on my way to our apartment as the bitter cold stung my mouth and nose i was no better off than the cars and bicycles set out in the freezing winter weather but i was confident of a happy welcome warmth and love once i got inside those of us who have recognized jesus feel the cold along with those who don't share our hope but in the freezing moments we have the hope of reunion and home a hope guaranteed by jesus the real messiah this is no conspiracy theory his actions show compassionate care and you and i are needy his words show proven power and we've seen the evidence his actions and words require a response as we go on next week in luke's gospel will the people we expect to recognize him well some of those we don't expect to recognize him will we let's pray together father thank you for sending jesus in his compassion and power we pray for clear sight of him and his promises for ourselves and for those we love amen [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and let's fill this place with the praises of god tonight [Music] everyone needs compassion [Music] the hope of nations [Music] my god is [Music] author of salvation jesus [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] let the whole world [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] he is [Music] [Music] foreign shiny he's [Music] me [Music] thank you very much for joining us we'll be back with the next in our series in luke 7 next week um i'm going to close with some verses from isaiah 65. the lord says see i will create new heavens and a new earth the former things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind but be glad and rejoice forever in what i will create amen you

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Length: 47min 18sec (2838 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021