Sunday Service: "What is the Key to Happiness?" (Sunday 27 March 2022)

good morning and welcome to our online service from all souls here in london we are thinking today about the lord's goodness we live in a difficult and dangerous world but bible people keep insisting even the middle of great personal suffering that the lord is good let me read psalm 34 verse 8 taste and see that the lord is good blessed is the one who takes refuge in him it's particularly when we need a refuge that we find that the lord is good so we're going to begin by singing together about the lord's goodness [Music] [Music] the people stand kindness you carried us in faithfulness upon the past of righteousness [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] together [Music] is [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] is [Music] us is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh again [Music] the lord's goodness means that we can be honest with him in psalm 32 we hear blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven whose sins are covered and the writer says when i kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long so the invitation is to come to a good god and to break the silence and to tell him how we have lived tell him our sins in confidence of his forgiveness so we're going to confess together lord god we have sinned against you we have done evil in your sight we are sorry and repent have mercy on us according to your love wash away our wrong day and cleanse us from our sin renew a right spirit within us and restore us to the joy of your salvation through jesus christ our lord amen in the psalm when he does speak he says then i acknowledge my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity i said i will confess my transgressions to the lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin so we're going to sing again to our good god and remember he is our help [Music] jesus when you left you didn't leave us on our own a guide on this adventure to help us grow in holiness the true and living compass who leads us to what's best our health to understand your word our health it gives us [Music] your spirit lives inside and he points us to your truth shining like a flashlight revealing more of you he fills us with your love lord that god is always with us [Music] i've got two events coming up to tell you about so we're getting close to easter and in future weeks you'll be contacted if you're a friend or a partner of all sales about the easter services but two events in particular one is on the 14th of april so that's the thursday before easter and we'll be staging a play here at all salts it's called centurion and it is a retelling of the easter story and a great way to look in a fresh way at forgiveness and salvation tickets are 10 pounds and you can book them online and come and join us bring friends to a retelling of the easter story then exactly one month after that so that was 14th of april exactly a month later the 14th of may is prom praise prom praise at the royal albert hall and not only is this the the first chance to be physically together at the albert hall after covid it is also the 50th anniversary of the all souls orchestra so we would love you to join us for that it'll be possible to book tickets to come in person but also it'll be possible to book tickets to watch that online and again details for that will be on the screen or in the emails if you'd like to become a friend or a partner again please do email us and we'll send you the link to make that possible when we run guest services we love to interview a member of the church family to ask them their story and i've asked josh hill who's a member of the church family who's a part-time policeman and who works for the civil service to come and tell his story about how he came to put his trust in christ and to know that he had real hope in the person of jesus so i grew up in a christian family and i went to church throughout my childhood and teenage years when i was 17 i went to a christian conference where the speaker led the congregation in the sinner's prayer which led to me asking jesus into my life so i did this and i felt joy within me for a few weeks until it slowly died out but despite this i believed i'd become a christian and i continued to call myself one i then came to all souls and i worked as a church assistant for three years in total however during the end of my third year life got difficult for me when my dad was diagnosed with cancer and died a short while later and i also broke up with a long-term girlfriend during the same period which added to the grief and so after all of this and spending many years frustrated at why i did not feel like a christian despite that prayer i'd prayed when i was 17 i turned my back on god and i stopped going to church and i focused all my energy into my career i felt i could get purpose and meaning from however the more i did this the more unhappy i became because i could not get any fulfillment from it but i still had a belief in god and i decided that if it was all really true i needed to give it a second chance so i started reading the bible daily and i began following a youtube channel as it was during lockdown and all the churches were closed and i became drawn to these videos where a christian would interview people on huntington beach in california and he'd explain the gospel to them in a way i'd never heard he would start by taking them through the ten commandments the moral law and use them as a mirror to show each person their true state that they had fallen far short of god's standard and would all have to stand before him when they die and just like a guilty criminal would have to stand before a judge in a court of law to be held accountable and so after a few days of watching these videos i finally turned the questions that the christian was asking others onto myself um to see how i would do when i stand before god and so i asked myself had i ever lied had i stolen had i used god's name in vain had i looked upon a woman with lust just to name four of them and i realized in the eyes of a holy god i was guilty of all of these and so much more and when i faced god on judgment day i would be held accountable for all my sins my proud heart was humbled i've been thinking i was a good person according to my own standard and not by god's standard which is what i hadn't understood when i was 17. and i was struck with the fear of dying and hearing jesus say to me on the day of judgment i never knew you away from me you evildoer but that fear was my friend and it led me to jesus it's when jesus dying on the cross finally made sense to me i was in serious need of a savior jesus sacrificed himself to pay for the debt of my sins so that i could be forgiven my crimes were paid for in his blood so that i could be set free and receive eternal life as a free gift and i uh i fell down on my knees in my bedroom and wept and pleaded with god to forgive me i threw myself fully upon his mercy and from that moment a piece fell upon me and i knew i'd been forgiven i was filled with the love i had never felt and have never died out and now as a christian i love spending time reading the bible and building my knowledge of the god who saved me and i live my life in hope knowing jesus rose again and defeated death and so i no longer fear the future though my life may not get any easier there will be trials and temptations and i will sometimes fall into sin i have absolute assurance that i'm saved by his grace i trust in christ alone and i know i will spend eternity with him we're going to turn to pronoun and i'll work our way through psalm 34 and turn that into prayer for us to say together i sought the lord and he answered me he delivered me from all my fears thank you father that you invite us you command us to pray to you you are the the great god over all creation and yet you promise to hear and answer give us we pray humble hearts that we would be quick to turn to you and seek you in jesus name we approach you amen i will extol the lord at all times his praise will always be on my lips almighty father thank you for your great power and great knowledge nothing surprises you nothing limits you you keep your promises to a thousand generations so we praise you and we ask you to help us to understand you more so that we could praise you more thank you for the infinite depths of love and understanding that we see revealed in your son jesus for his sake we pray amen taste and see that the lord is good blessed is the one who takes refuge in him so father we ask for our nations our cities our neighbors that all would taste and see that the lord is good give confidence to your people to offer your goodness to all and we ask even today even in this service that many would come and taste your character your deeds and your promises for jesus sake amen the lord is close to the brokenhearted saves those who are crushed in spirit our loving father knowing that this is your nature that you are close to the brokenhearted so we ask you to be close to those around the world who are crushed and broken we think particularly of conflict zones of ukraine and other places in our suffering world we ask for those in fear and without hope that they would draw near to you we ask for those working to relieve suffering to help refugees and to provide aid please lord protect them help them guide them we pray and we ask for world leaders that they would remember that they are but human beings that you would give them humility before you and before their fellow human beings give wisdom we pray to those making decisions those in russia those in ukraine those in nato and all over the world that all would turn from evil and do good would seek peace and pursue it in jesus name we ask this amen and we're going to join together in the words of the lord's prayer our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us today our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for the kingdom the power and the glory are yours forever and ever amen well we're going to sing again and then it will be time for our reading and then for our sermon and the imitation is the one we started with from psalm 34 taste and see that the lord is good we want to see in his word what he is like that we could draw near to him the good lord so let's sing [Music] [Applause] [Music] more than anything we've ever [Music] just [Music] is brings his [Music] nation in our [Music] is [Music] his spirits with us [Music] god brings his love he brings [Music] his peace [Music] friends [Applause] is [Music] god brings his love he brings his [Music] is [Music] this morning's reading is in the gospel of luke chapter 15 verses 11 to 32. we're reading the parable of the lost son jesus continued there was a man who had two sons the younger one said to his father father give me my share of the estate so he divided his property between them not long after that the younger son got together all he had settle for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living after he had spent everything there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need so he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs he longed to fill his stomach with the parts that the pigs were eating but no one gave him anything when he came to his senses he said how many of my father's hired servants had food to spare and here i am starving to death i will set out and go back to my father and say to him father i have sinned against heaven and against you i am no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one of your hired servants so he got up and went to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him he ran to his son threw his arms around him and kissed him the son said to him father i have sinned against heaven and against you i am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants quick bring the best robe and put it on him put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet bring the fattened calf and kill it let's have a feast and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found so they began to celebrate meanwhile the older son was in the field when he came near the house he heard music and dancing so he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on your brother has come he replied and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound the brother the older brother became angry and refused to go in so his father went out and pleaded with him but he answered his father look all these years i've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders yet you never gave me even a young goat so i could celebrate with my friends but when his son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home you kill the fat and cough for him my son the father said you are always with me and everything i have is yours but we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found father thank you so much for the stories jesus told and for the relevance they have to all of our lives we pray that you'd speak to us now in the very depths of our being amen recently a friend of mine who lives hundreds of miles away rang me up he said to me on the phone rico i'm reaching out my doctor tells me that i've had a bit of a breakdown really it's because i've spent years lying to people about the products i sell them the pressure of that has now broken me i'm also missing my kids desperately since the divorce christmas without them was was just agony and a young mate of mine has just lost his wife from cancer he keeps ringing me and rico i don't know what to say to him do you know in our culture it takes quite a lot for someone to say i'm reaching out i think with the heaviness of ukraine on the telly we're feeling it we feel that lowness that sort of hole in our stomachs and to be honest as he rang up what would you say when he says i'm reaching out well i wanted to tell him the story we're looking at this morning because it's not just a story it's about life it explains life it's about being human it's about the mess life can be it's about having the courage sometimes amidst the telly and the news to look in the mirror and say you know despair isn't far away and i'm i'm at this moment i'm just hanging on by my fingernails and this is about broken relationships this story it's about broken domestic relationships and all of us one way or another can relate to that as well but above all this is a story about experiencing a relationship of such generosity such love such kindness that it can change any life that it can turn any life around that's why i've called the topic this morning the key to happiness i think understanding discovering this relationship is the key to happiness and that's why this is the most famous short story ever told because it's got such power such meaning such pathos this story has changed literally millions of yard lives over the centuries so let's look at it together just to summarize for mother's day today it's a family story it's about a father who has two sons i don't know where the mum was i think at times the boys would have needed her too a friend of mine tells it rather neatly he says like this he says it starts at home then the younger son gets sick of him and he gets out and he eventually goes to being plain sick and then he's homesick and it ends with him home again the father's thrilled to have him home and the older brother sick about that he says that's the story and as we are told the story by jesus it becomes obvious that in the story the father is like god and the two sons are like the two groups of people listening to the story in luke chapter 15 verses 1 and 2. let me read it to you now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear jesus that's the younger son's constituency verse two but the pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered this man welcomed sinners and eats with them that's the older brothers constituency and it's as though jesus is holding up a mirror to all of us and saying actually do you know you're all in the story how do you see yourself so you've got to walk on part as we look at this story together well let's have a look at it i've got two headings the first is there is a deceptive contrast between these boys so as we look down verse 11 12 there was once a man who had two sons and the story begins with the youngest son and he's what you might call the out and out rebel verse 12. the younger one said to his father father give me my share of the estate so he divided his property between them not long after that the younger son got together all he had and he set off for a distant country so this younger son cuts loose he says uh dad he says you know that life insurance that you've taken out for me and his dad says yeah he says well actually dad i'd like my share now. and his dad says actually some those things only mature when i die and the sun says yeah dad you got the point i wish you were dead i mean this boy wants the will this isn't some kid going off to university and mucking about a bit this is far far more serious he wants his father's things he doesn't want his father he wants his father dead and you see the father in the story is a bit like god and some people treat god like that they act as though he doesn't exist as though he's an irrelevance they want god's gifts they want fun and family friends falling in love food they want the gifts but they don't want the giver and their slogan is there in verse 12 can you see give me just give me the gifts now the question is what was it that so attracted this boy to life without god and i think the answer is independence this was his independence day uh he didn't want to be dependent on god he was saying to his father i don't need you i wonder if you can imagine the butterflies of joy he had as he walks down the drive with the remains of the life insurance in his back pocket and he is convinced that independence wild living and pleasure will give him happiness so that's the younger son i don't know if you can relate to him give me and he's gone i'll be independent i'll make my own way i don't need god so you may relate to him now let's look at the other son because it may be that actually the mirror's got to come up towards you for him he's what you might call the establishment figure now we read a bit about him at the end of the story i wonder if you can see him in verse 20 now 29 as his father comes out and has a row with him or he has a row with his dad at his brother's party the dad comes out to plead with him and he says verse 29 look all these years i've been slaving for you and i've never disobeyed your orders so you see he's a fine upstanding moralist in his own eyes he's lived the good life he's been a dutiful child he's joined the family firm i don't know career-wise he's something solid and loyal and and trustworthy like a a you know a solicitor or an accountant or a dentist welcome if you're listening but you know he's just done he's just done what's expected of him and you know where the father is you'd expect him to be close around so you know you you'd expect him to be on the church pcc he's respectable at every level the british would say he's a fine upstanding chap but it's a deceptive contrast he's different from his brother but he's nothing like his father either so in verse 28 when the younger son comes home we read the older brother became angry and refused to go in typical accountant so much repressed anger but you see the boy comes home the father's glad the brother's angry the father greets him with open arms the brother with clenched fists the father says my son the brother speaks of this son of yours verse 30 in other words he says i'm not even from the same womb as this peasant i'll have nothing to do with him so you see this older brother thought he was the model of unselfishness but actually in verse 29 all he can think about is himself he says i me or my four times in that verse one commentator has written the older son contrived without leaving home to be as far away from his father as ever his brother was in the pigsty he's actually a very self-centered guy it's all about him it was samuel butler who wrote about two very self-centered selfish people mr and mrs carlisle and he wrote this how good of god to cause carl and mrs carlisle to marry one another and so make two people miserable instead of four he's wrapped up in himself now you see again it's a deceptive contrast if you want to think about god and christianity in terms of religion then these two are very different but if you want to think about god and christianity in terms of relationship with god which is what we're on about well these two are similar they're both out of relationship with their father god is meant to be as central to our lives as a ball is to a game he's meant to be right in the center and with both these boys they're out of relationship with him one's religious the other's not one is respectable the other's not but they're both out of relationship with him now as the mirror comes up what do you make of it uh uh if you're in the younger son's constituency and you happen to be listening this morning can i say it's brilliant to have you you may be rather surprised to find yourself listening to this we're thrilled you're listening maybe you've not thought about god for many years and you're here and we're delighted but it may be that you're an older brother type you're a respectable conventional type but if you're honest your your view of religion has as much in common with relationship with god as a frigid marriage has in common with a real life-long love story and the question is how how can you diagnose if you're in the older brother's constituency i think this is it it's if your experience of religion just in your tummy with the butterflies you wouldn't say it but it makes you feel slightly superior to other people so you think you know what this country needs a more moral upstanding tax-paying religious people like me i mean on a sunday morning i'm the only one up who's listening to a service or going no one else is and it's that feeling of superiority that was the anglicanism with which i was brought up and can i say if you are there you are a million miles from real christianity and you're in terrible trouble spiritually if your experience of religion gives you that slight sense of superiority well both these boys there's a deceptive contrast but secondly they both make an amazing discovery they both discover they're welcome back with their father they both find it but it's clear with the younger son so let's rejoin him again can you see verse 13 here he is relishing his independence he's he's enjoying pleasure we read in the verse he's squandering his wealth in wild living so he's getting what he wanted alcohol promiscuity instant gratification but squander it leaves him empty inside it's the sense of a wasted life in the film papillon the judge accuses this man who's gone to prison not of the murder that he's been convicted of he hasn't done that but he says i accuse you of a wasted life he's wasting his life you've only got one life it's so short and he's wasting it and what this young man finds interestingly is not freedom but bondage so he's left home to be free but a famine comes and he's got nothing left and he has to hire himself out so he left home to be free but he finds himself in chains in bondage he's totally isolated he's alone and verse 16 we read but no one gave him anything so he found himself surrounded by by takers there are only two types of people in life there are givers and takers i think we're finding this across europe as the ukrainians uh uh come out of ukraine in their in their millions who are the givers who are the takers but but but but here he is he's got no money and because he's got no money he's got no friends and no job he's incredibly alone cosmically alone and then in the start of verse 17 we come to the halfway point of the story because can you see what it says when he came to his senses so suddenly he goes ah how can i have been so blind how could i have missed so it's the obvious how could i have been so ungrateful it's as though he wakes up do you know coming to faith he's like waking up he wakes up and he looks around and he says i'm in a pigsty that that's where i found myself he wakes up perhaps you're doing that perhaps you see what's around you with covet and ukraine and you suddenly wake up and say what am i trusting in he goes how could i have missed the obvious how could i have been so blind so he comes to his senses about himself and he comes to his senses about his father and he starts to see his father as he really is and and he realizes that you know what he needs is home that's what he needs he starts longing for home one psychiatrist has said children who don't experience a home live their lives with a fundamental inability of attachment and what is home home is the place where you belong and you're accepted so home is the place of unconditional love oh the west end of london where we are now love is conditional where love you will love you if you're young if you're good looking if your flats in the right place if the job is right but at home they know all about you and they love you anyway why is london so driven it's because deep down people know that if they don't win and they don't achieve they won't be loved but at home they love you anyway and he starts missing home he starts longing for his father but he knows he doesn't just need his father's food or his father's fellowship he knows that at this point he needs his father's forgiveness and so what happens well as he comes to his senses he realizes he's got to do something that's so hard he's going to have to swallow his pride he's going to have to say sorry the previous bishop of london richard chartres one day was uh addressing the clergy and he said london's biggest problem is bse we looked at each other bse he said yes blame someone else i mean maybe you're sitting on the couch next to a loved one but elbow's in for this but the two key elements of married life of family life what are the two key phrases you need i'm sorry i was wrong and that's okay i forgive you that's how you maintain intimacy you've got to be prepared to say sorry because we get stuff wrong and you've got to be prepared to forgive how do we do that and i don't know what you do i i delay it endlessly when i've got to forgive and you can imagine this boy in the pigsty he's walking up and down and he's rehearsing it you know father i've sinned against heaven and against you he's going through what he's going to say he's going to have to swallow his pride but he knows he needs to do it so what happens well we get to the heart of the story as we uh come down to this extraordinary story now so he got up he gets up out of the pigsty verse 20 and he went to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him now what does his father do does his father stand on the porch and tap his foot and go this better be good this better be good the money's running out he's coming back for more money on the credit card what does his father do well it's an amazing scene isn't it here it is my wife's favorite verse in the bible this one he was filled with compassion he saw him from a long way off he was filled with compassion you know that's like a turning of the stomach so you see the ukrainian refugees on the telly you see those children in the underground bunkers being bombed living there as their bedroom and creche and your your stomach turns at the suffering that's the compassion here and and what does he then do it's an amazing thing that he does this father he's filled with compassion that's what that's what the father feels and and what does he do he ran to his son now he would have run across perhaps a couple of the fields they'd had to have sold off for the life insurance and now if that boy had come into the village after the way he treated his father well you know the local neighbors could have they could have killed him in the culture for the way he treated his dad but this man he runs out to his father to his son doesn't care what the neighbors think and he throws his arms around him and it's very interesting this you know it it it it's present continuous you know he kissed him and he kissed him and he kissed him now what we're what we're learning here is how we experience the love of god i mean it's one thing to know your father loves you it's another have him embrace you how do i get god's embrace can we see three steps here these are steps to happiness number one you come to your senses you say i'm in a pigsty number two you realize that it's at home that you belong and you're accepted and thirdly you say sorry oh god i'm so sorry i've sinned against heaven and against you and and do you know interestingly in the morning as we read our bibles as we see our wrong doing our sin because the bible's like a mirror it shows us our sin when we say lord god i'm sorry that's when we feel god's embrace how's your morning bible reading going because as you say sorry you feel that embrace it's the heart of happiness for the christian well as we continue with the story what has happened well his father's been waiting and watching for him his father's been going just genesis 3 it's been there ever since the the start of the bible where are you god says it to adam and eve the father's being saying it to the son where are you perhaps you're watching this you've been a long way off god is going where are you where are you he wants relationship well what happens verse 21 the boy goes straight into his rehearsed speech father i've sinned against heaven and against you i'm not worthy to be called your son he's into the speech he only gets halfway through the father says bring the best robe a sign of honor put a ring on his finger a sign of authority a ring was like the family credit card put sandals on his feet a slave didn't have shoes a servant didn't have shoes her son had shoes go out and kill the fat and calf a little boy in sunday school was asked and who was not pleased to see the young son come home and he shot up his hand and said that would be the calf now what we get here and we come now to the key to happiness the key to happiness what we get here is the generosity of god you see a lot of people listening will be thinking you can't go near god because if you go near him he's going to grind your face into the dust but that's not the case this boy does not get treated as he deserves to be treated that's the heart of happiness for the christian god is so generous he's so kind years ago i was on the day on a day off at home at my parents and i was teaching my nephews to play rugby and i was with the four-year-old called dalton it's a silly name but he's a great kid and i was down with a four-year-old teaching him to scrummage and the two-year-old patrick got so excited he picked up a large plant pot and he started to empty it all over my parents sitting room and when i next looked up i'm not kidding there was mud all over the floor and at that point patrick's grandmother my mother came in the room and she walked in and there was mud everywhere and she walked over to patrick her grandson she picked up the plant pot she put it on one side she picked him up and she kissed him and she said let's go and have lunch and as she carried him off out over the over the mud on the carpet he looked over her shoulder at dalton on the ground and he went like that you see his grandmother knows what he's done she'll clear up the mess and she loves him anyway and can i tell you that is the experience the christian has of god's generosity i've been a christian for 40 years god knows what i've done he clears up the mess he's so kind that's the heart of human happiness to know that and of course it's easy to say sorry when someone's treated you like that and to trust them to know what's best i mean if god is like this then his law is a gift as well so when he said says this is the right way to go that is the safe way to go we learn that his law is the place of safety but the heart of this is the generosity of god and of course how does it happen how is it that we can say sorry and come home well it's because the lord jesus christ on the cross has paid the price he has paid in death and blood so that we can come home it's not an easy thing to be forgiven our sin actually has to be paid for but jesus says i'll pay in death and blood so that you can come home again the generosity of god the kindness is overwhelming god is kind but he's just sin must be paid for and i don't know what you see when you see jesus on the cross but the christian says he's dying for me in my place so i can come home and in fact there's only one way to hell the only way to hell is to trample over the cross of jesus jesus says i'm blocking the way you can't go there i'm paying for you to go home but if we want to trample over the cross then we find our way to hell so what is god saying in this passage to you if you're one of these younger brothers god is saying to you come home come home come to your senses see that it's at home where you belong and you're accepted and then say i'm sorry and there'll be a chance to do that at the end of the talk with a prayer let's finish now but i just want to finish with the older brother because how's he going as he listens to this and it's extraordinary you see what he says as the brother comes home what's in his mind you know verse 28 he refuses to go in he's furious about the party verse 29 all these years i've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders do you see what his weapon of rebellion against god is now this is fascinating what stopped him and what stops the pharisees and the teachers of the law chapter 15 verse 2 from going into the party it's his own goodness his weapon of rebellion against god is he says to god i've been good i've done my duty i control the situation and one of those things means that this whoremongering brother of mine does not come in and you see that's the problem with the pharisees and the teachers of the law they didn't know that they needed forgiveness too and actually the father humiliates himself and goes out to this older brother too he goes out and he says he says come in but what will that older brother do you see and if he can't see his wrong doing as many self-righteous people can't if they go actually god you're lucky to have me around i do my duty i don't need forgiveness it's my brother who needs forgiveness well of course they can never understand the generosity of god they can't see this relationship of kindness through the crosses available to them so what are you going to do with this story it's very interesting isn't it it's unfinished we don't know if the younger son was a flash in the pan we don't know if the older brother went in it's tantalizing and luke means it to be tantalizing because he says you've got to finish the story now how can you do that well hope explored tomorrow night that looks all souls online and in person will give you the information to finish the story yourself what do you make of the cross of jesus is this the way to get home because he pays for you to be forgiven and to be accepted by god what do you make of relationship in which god is essential to life as a ball is to a game and where are you in terms of younger or older brother well you'll need the information but there'll be one or two listening who'll go actually i know this is true and i've been in a far country and i need to come home or i've been a self-righteous church-goer but i've never really come to god and asked him to forgive me and if that's the case then i've got a little prayer now that i'm going to pray and it enables you to come home so so why don't you do that it would be a great day as we approach easter to be praying this prayer so here it is i'll read it through once and then if it's right for you why not echo it a second time as i say it slowly so this is the prayer to come home and in the light of the generosity of god and because this is the key to happiness to know this generosity can i ask you to do that here's the prayer father god thank you so much that you sent your son the lord jesus christ to die so that i could come home i put my trust in what jesus did on the cross so that i can be forgiven and ask you to be my master please come into my life and take complete control of it amen right let me say it phrase by phrase and if it's right for you why not come along and uh and pray that or join us at hope explored online or in person tomorrow night but here it is as we close maybe it's right for you as you sit at home now to pray this yourself do echo it after me father god thank you so much that you sent your son the lord jesus christ to die so that i can come home i put my trust in what jesus did on the cross so that i can be forgiven and ask you to be my master please come into my life and take complete control of it amen [Music] is [Music] like me [Music] was [Music] is is is [Music] is oh is [Music] me [Music] thank you for joining us this morning it is our firm belief the lord is good and that to turn to him in the midst of whatever there is in your life would be the best the only the right thing to do so we'd i invite you to join us again next sunday or um at thursday night the 14th of april for that play or at prom praise on the 14th of may i'm gonna pray using some words from luke 15. jesus says i tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent we thank you father for your good character that what gives you joy is for one who has turned away from you to turn back that you love you rejoice to forgive praise you and thank you for your character our great lord and god amen you

Channel: All Souls Langham Place

Views: 4,225

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Id: 0Mhi2jplf0A

Length: 59min 18sec (3558 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 27 2022