Dear Friends,

Sadly, we are back in lockdown and unable to meet together. We hope this ‘service’ will allow you to worship and connect with God in your own home. Hopefully it will also remind you that we are one fellowship, united through our love for the one, ever-faithful God. We may not be together in body, but we are united in faith.

We pray that we will be together again soon.

Worship

Sing or say the words to this wonderful hymn as an expression of your worship to God.

Here is love vast as the ocean,
Loving kindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember;
Who can cease to sing His praise!
He can never be forgotten
Throughout heaven’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion
Fountains opened deep & wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast & gracious tide.
Grace & love, like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above;
And heaven’s peace & perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

Sermon on the Mat: No Greater Love.

‘When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time & died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though some might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us – while we were still sinners!’ Romans 5:6-7 NLT.

What greater love is there than the one being described here. The love of Jesus! A love so great that even when our hearts were as far removed from Him as they could possibly be & our rebellion towards Him was at an all time high, far from disowning & rejecting us, as He could so easily have done, He gladly & willingly surrendered His life for us. Thereby, in one single act of sacrificial giving & selfless loving kindness, delivering us from the unthinkable prospect of a lost eternity without Him & into the glorious reality of an eternal heaven, with Him. Here’s how Ephesians 2:4-8 puts it –

‘But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ & seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.’

Do you doubt God’s love for you? Do you wonder at the value He places upon your life? Whether or not your existence actually counts for something? Then take a moment to look upon the barely recognisable form of a man. A man hanging upon the crudely hewn timbers of a blood soaked cross. A man, according to the prophet Isaiah, who was broken beyond all human likeness. (52:14).

Broken, take note, for no other reason that you, in your brokenness, might be made whole. I.e. The best of all that you can be & indeed will be, in Him, as well as through Him. Like Pastor Max Lucado says –

‘Nails didn’t hold God to a cross. Love did! The sinless One, Jesus, took on the face of a sinner so that we could take on the face of a saint.’

Today we remember and give thanks for the sacrifice of the countless many who laid down their lives & continue to lay down their lives, for the long term safety & well being of us all. As we do so, let us also focus our minds on the one sacrifice that stands head & shoulders above the rest.

‘The sacrifice of God’s Son for the sake of the whole world. That the world because of Him might be truly free.’

Prayer of Blessing

‘Now to Him who is able to keep you from
stumbling or falling into sin & to present you
unblemished, blameless & faultless in the
presence of His glory with triumphant joy &
unspeakable delight, to the only God, our
Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be
glory, majesty, dominion & power, before
all time & now & forever.’
Amen.

Please pray that –

• Tommy Walker will know the light & presence of Jesus during this time of being laid aside through illness.
• A safe & reliable vaccine would soon be available to effectively combat the spread of Covid 19.
• God would raise up leaders across our world, who really know & understand what it means to seek first His Kingdom & His righteousness.