RSL Chapel Stream

e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning morning good morning everyone morning and welcome this fine lovely day hasn't the weather been warm is has it been warm or is it just me warm Psalm 145 verses 1 and two actually I will exalt you my God the king I will praise your name Forever and Ever every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever let's pray gracious father Heavenly God as we come to worship you this day we do praise your name we sing We rejoice in our hearts we are glad that we are yours because you've reached out to us in the person of our savior Lord Jesus Christ thank you Father that we know you because you first knew us we praise your name this day amen amen we're going to sing our first uh hymn oh worship the king [Music] the [Music] an with praise all s of his gra who world is the [Music] his the and the ring the [Music] St Mighty God [Music] anding the it Shin in the [Music] the I haven't done any family news which is uh silly of me uh what was that I'm back to to it have I I don't know what it's happening we haven't given a card to someone very special we should have done that a week ago we haven't done so and she's coming forward now not knowing what's happening Dy are you coming to try and solve problems or you coming to get your card or you need to turn around cuz the camera is that way really dy over many many years and I haven't been here so I can't say how many you have served this congregation faithfully and we just wanted to say thank you oh oh that's doesn't say thank you no it says definely we thought we'd put your name on it not thank you thankk you very much everybody but I can't get back at the moment to family news cuz that was SEC first on your list it was first on my list and I didn't do it and that's not doing it anyway no okay I have to we have to do it from memory that's right just Tony will be back on Tuesday in his office um so um that's where he'll be he's not here today um is actually still on leave so what was the second one yeah father's there was another one too but Father's Day breakfast is has a change of venue it's not in the lone Pond and can you please give your names to Robin today if you are going to attend they need them desperately by I think it's tomorrow we went Tuesday I'm not sure was Tuesday can remember Elizabeth those who have um BCA boxes are now due so if you can give them to Elizabeth um next week um she'll be grateful for that and you poor people who had birthdays in July you can't see your picture because I can't get back to it so happy birthday to all August not July born babies not whatever the second whatever this it is August whatever the second one is can't see thank [Applause] you and the great jurist was me sorry about that uh Rob is uh going to come and read our first Bible reading it is from Psalm 84 thank you good morning good morning um this is a prayer of longing for the house of the Lord uh for longing for the sweetness of God in his Temple that a levite now ban from it' be better if I put these on wouldn't it yes that's what that's what they're for I'll start again A Prayer of longing for the house of the Lord a longing for the sweetness of God in his Temple that a levite now bowed from attendance yearns to return how lovely is your Dwelling Place Lord Almighty my soul yearns even faints for the courts of the Lord and my heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God even The Sparrows have found a home and a swallow a nest for herself where she may have her young a place near your altar Lord Almighty my king and my God blessed are those who dwell in your house they are ever praising you blessed are those whose strength is in you whose hearts are set on pilgrimage as they pass through the valley of baka they make it a place of Springs the Autumn rains and also cover it with pools they go from strength to strength till each before appears before God in Zion hear my prayer Lord God Almighty listen to me god of Jacob look on our Shield oh god look with favor on your anointed one better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked for the Lord God is a son and shield the Lord bestows favors bestows favors and honor no good thing does he withhold from those who walk whose walk is blameless Lord Almighty blessed is the one who trusts you thank you rob our next hymn love divine all loves excelling [Music] us PR oh my [Music] [Music] bless Sal the [Music] heart might [Music] to th [Music] the pr and [Music] PR one God [Music] you let us let us [Music] Sal restoring k glor the glory till we take our P till we come before [Music] what a wonderful Hume we're going to have our second reading Morin is going to bring that to us before Campbell comes to speak to us it's from John 5: 31-47 John 5 31-47 if I testify about myself my testimony is not true there is another who testifies in my favor and I know that his testimony about me is true you have sent to John and he has testified to the truth not that I accept human testimony but I mention it that you may be saved John was a lamp that burned and gave light and he chose for a Time to enjoy his life I have testimony what weigher than that of John for the works that the father has given me to finish the very works that I am doing testify that the father has sent me and the father who sent me has himself testified concerning me you have never heard his voice nor seen his form or or does his word dwell in you for you do not believe the one he sent you sudden you study the scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life there are the very true scriptures that testify about me if you refuse to come to me to have life I do not accept Glory from human beings but I I know but I know you I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts I have come in father's name and you do not accept me but if someone else come in his own name you would accept him how can you believe since you accept Glory from the one another to and seek Glory that comes from the only God but do not think I will accuse you before before the father your your accuser is Moses on whom your hopes are set if you believe Moses you would believe me for he wrote about me but since you do not believe what he wrote how are you going to believe what I say may God bless the reading of his word amen well friends this morning we're looking at uh this passage from John's gospel John chapter 5 and uh as I read these few verses I could not help be uh taken by the hugeness of jesus' heart his great concern for people which is to be reflected in our congregational life and in our attitudes towards each other this generosity this man who was full of grace and truth we see in Jesus it's Grace upon Grace and we saw saw that back in the introduction to John's gospel that in Jesus Christ we have Grace upon Grace like the ways of the Asian they just keep coming and coming and coming and replacing each other we see that perfectly in Jesus it's Grace upon Grace law came through Moses but it's grace and truth that came through Jesus and we see this Grace this kindness uh this acceptance of people while not agreeing necessarily with what they might say or do we see this perfectly in the Heart of Jesus and as we walk with Jesus and put to death sin and selfishness this is what's to be reflected in our life it's the kindness and the generosity and the uh grace of God we see it here in this passage because despite what Jesus had done now what had Jesus done Jesus had done many mighty Miracles like he turned the water to wine he healed that crippled man who had been the thir 38 years lying beside that pool in Jerusalem uh despite his authoritative teaching and despite his exaltations to the crowd that he is who he is and that they need to listen to him and to listen to him means to listen to God the Father despite all that he' said and all that he'd done the religious leaders and Sadducees were seeking and plotting to kill him such was their jealousy as well because of the crowds that were following him they're motivated in very dark ways but despite what the religious leaders especially had been doing and are doing what does Jesus do return good for evil forgive those who defame you despite what they had done to him he perseveres and he is incredibly and divinely patient with these people these people these Pharisees and religious people he is incredibly persevering and patient with them he does indeed in this respect show the love of his father and in the passage today what he does is to bring four Witnesses four Witnesses or four testimonies you notice that word testimony it occurred at time and time in those few verses this morning he brings four witnesses to be upon the crowd and upon the religious leaders that he is the Son of God that he is from God the father that he is their long awaited Messiah their Savior King and so this morning what we'll do we just look at these witnesses that Jesus appeals to and then we'll apply it uh to Our Lives four Witnesses well just thinking about the first uh witness um this perseverance uh this woman Monica came to mind now Monica was the mother of um Augustine back about uh 1,400 years um ad and uh she lived in the northern part of Africa and her son Augustine and as Augustine grew uh he became a wayward boy very very wward uh he he fathered a son outside of marriage and then he left North Africa and he went over to Italy went to Rome and other cities in Rome like Milan and so forth just to Foster his wood lifestyle but his mother persevered his mother never gave up and maybe there are some of you here today and you think of maybe some of your grandchildren or children even and they haven't turned out the way you would want them to turn out you nurtured them to come to know God and to honor him but it hasn't been that way well Monica had a son like this and she followed her son over to Rome and then um one day um her son Augustine he walking through Milan in Italy and keep in mind that uh Monica has persevered particularly in prayer prayer for 72 years for her son he's walking through Milan and there's these kids apparently playing a game over some hedge or somewhere and and one child was saying take and read take and read take and read maybe they were just taking turns to do some little thing in their game but he heard this voice take and read take and read take and read and then he just looked at the side there was a Bible lying and he took the Bible and he thought well the message is take and read I better take this book and read it he opened it up to Romans 1313 to14 and this is what he read let us behave decently as in the daytime not in ories and drunkenness not in sexual immorality and debauchery not in dissension and jealousy rather clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful human nature that was an answer to the perseverance of his mother and later on Augustine would bear testimony to the fact that my mother prayed for me for 17 years and after 17 years God answered her prayer and God worked in this wonderful way to bring me to Christ and Augustine became probably the greatest Christian leader in North Africa in the four around 400 b ad well here we see Jesus doing the same thing but perfectly he's persevering with the crowd so let's go to the text he says this if I testify that is the word if I testify about myself my testimony is not valid now he he speaks like that because in the Old Testament it states that if you're going to bring a case against somebody you need at least two reasonable Witnesses he says if I testify about myself my testimony is not valid there is another who testifies in my favor and I know that his testimony about me is true he's speaking about his father in Heaven and he'll speak more about the father in a moment he goes on to say you have sent John John the Baptist and he has testified to the truth not that I accept human testimony but I mention it that you might be saved so there's the first uh witness that he appeals to it's John the Baptist he says John the Baptist was a lamp that burned and gave light and you chose for a time to enjoy his light John the Baptist is a a prophet from the desert he came out of the desert he's preaching repentance to the people to turn back to God to amend their ways and to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah he he was a light and he was a witness to Jesus and you notice the bigness of human of Jesus heart here he says I mention this to you I mention this first witness to you so that you may be saved you may be saved I mean this is his response to their hatred and to their plans to murder him he responds with goodness his heart is so big he is so persevering he is so patient and so the first witness is John now verse 36 again this word testimony I have testimony weightier than that of John for the very work that the father has given me to finish and which I am doing this work testifies that the father has sent me so here's a for example a second testimony Jesus appeals to um his miracles the Miracles that he done and remember that man 38 years by the pool by a word raised to life only the father does that and Jesus is one with the father and doing the father's will turning the water to wine John Chapter 2 and so forth so he's appealing to the works that he's doing the Miracles they bought test they bear testimony to him and in fact when you go back to the Old Testament um in Isaiah 35: 5 six we have a statement there from Isaiah that when God comes to redeem his people when God comes to redeem his people and take them home or lead them home then I quote Isaiah 35 then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the de unstopped then will the lame man leap like the deer and the mute tongue shout for joy and here Jesus is saying that word from the Old Testament scriptures is being fulfilled before their very eyes and so in persevering with his crowd and particularly with the religious leaders Jesus appeals to two things he appeals to John the Baptist and he appeals to the Miracles and the works that he had done in the name of the father now here's the third witness verse 37 and the father and the father who sent me has himself testified con concerning me you have never heard him and there I think he's suggesting to them that they're de to these spiritual realities you have never heard his voice and they're blind nor seen his form nor does his word dwell in you for you do not believe the one he sent you don't believe the one he sent so here's the third witness and it's the father who might just follow on the thought about the Miracles the father God is speaking to these people through jesus' Miracles he's one with the father he does what the father tells him to do as the father works so he works too and we've had reference to that in past scriptures here in John's gospel now there's a fourth witness here he says in verse 39 you diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life you see these religious types they thought that just by the activity of studying the Bible that would be meritorious in their acceptance with God say you diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life these are the scriptures that testify about me yet you refuse to come to me so when you go back to the Old Testament we see there line upon line of prophecy about the coming Messiah like Moses in Deuteronomy 18 there spoke about the prophet who would come one day and they would need to listen to him need to listen to him and of course we have that prophecy I read from Isaiah 35 but the whole of the Old Testament is one big signpost pointing to Jesus and Jesus says to them here you study the scriptures but you miss the very purpose for which they've been written they testify about me and yet you won't come to me well what do we make of this this morning what do you make of it does your heart break for these people does it and when we look at the masses here in Australia throwing out the back door their Christian Heritage there are two things I notice here the first thing is their hardness of hard the people are hard honestly it's amazing I mean I can't point the finger because I was brought up in a Christian home and for 18 years I heard this and yet I could not respond to it I didn't respond to it I chose not to respond to it but I couldn't either but I was deaf and blind but here we see this Hardness of Heart and it just is amazing you know how you can speak in front of crowds of people sometimes s like a funeral when the Great enemy of the human race is right before everybody's eyes and people just think you're talking fairy tale and have no hope themselves and yet you hold out the one who's defeated death and risen from the dead the people are so hard they're so hard they've had so much light they've had the Old Testament scriptures they've had his miracles and so on they had these witnesses to which he's appealing and yet they're so hard now look let's look at our own Hearts this morning and may I look at mine too is it soft is it soft to the evidence that Jesus is the son of God because when people are hard to God they refuse and they choose to look at the evidence the evidence for Christ as the Son of God is overwhelming and when people choose not to look at the evidence that's a symptom of hardness of heart as is a lack of gratitude remember the the chat by the Pearl 38 years by the Pearl he's symptomatic of the crowd symptomatic of these religious leaders what did the man who'd been healed do in response to that act of Power by Christ remember what did he do the word starts with d do he dobbed him in he dobbed him in what a hard heart a man is healed from his leness for 38 years his response is not gratitude to God and to follow Jesus but to go do Jesus in to the religious authorities now the other thing I notice here that comes out of these verses is the perseverance of Christ his one wonderful perseverance and patience with people and his Divine ability to respond to evil with good and you know may God lay it upon our heart and my heart this morning to put to death any sense of retaliation to those who do us harm and speak evil against us because in Romans 8:13 it says there if by the Holy Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body you will live but just sung A Hymn changed from one degree of Glory to another and that is ours in Christ we're born with a wayward sinful human nature but in Christ we have a new life it's the life of God it's the Life of Christ it's the life of the Holy Spirit and as we understand this and put to death selfishness we will live and grow in this ability to be patient to be persevering and to show the love of God George Mueller comes to mind and his perseverance uh that man in the 1800s he built numbers of orphanages many orphanages in Bristol and he says uh that he had five non-Christian friends and he determined to persevere in his relationship with them to pray for them until they were converted the first one was converted through persevering prayer after 1 and A2 years another one after 5 years another one after 6 years and the last two after 52 years after 52 years and by that time mu had died but the whole lot of them come to came to Christ and I only recall my own family I'm one of nine but the whole nine of us have professed Christ and I believe it's largely through the persevering example testimony and prayer of believing parents so how do we grow in this perseverance and this patience well we prayerfully meditate on the example of Jesus and we see the wonderful example of patience in his life but I'll finish on this point once we receive Christ as Lord and as our savior he comes to live within us by the Holy Spirit now what we have to understand we have to understand that the holy spirit is not an abstract he's not impersonal he is the third person of the Trinity he is the very persevering patient life of Jesus come to live within us he is with within us and a good friend of mine said recently he said I'm in love with the Holy Spirit I'm in love with the holy spirit because as I trust in Christ as I trust and depend upon the holy spirit I see more clearly The Wonder of Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ I'm reminded that I'm in relationship with God my father because the work of the holy spirit is to glorify Christ and to open up the word of God to us and dear friends we need to understand that once we come to Christ we have a new life yes we have an old life but we have a more powerful new life and we're meant to live in that new life as Paul says when he writes to the Romans in Romans 8:13 if by the Holy Spirit who's within you put to death the misdeeds of the body you will live as you step out and return good for evil understanding these truths you will find the holy spirit will be there and you'll bear a harvest of fruit fruit that's how we can live this life that's how we can persevere and grow to be more like Jesus and be changed from one degree of Glory to another so in our service we come this morning and we confess our sins but don't go out just focusing on your sins go out focusing on Christ and the reality of the Holy Spirit who lives within your heart and fall back on that Holy Spirit and live in that Holy spirit and grow from one degree of Glory to another and evidence the very perseverance and patience that you see here in Christ as he brings these four Witnesses in order that these people might be saved what a heart what a man there's nobody like Christ thank you Campbell we're going to uh sing again this will be our offering him uh God has spoken by His [Music] prophets spoken his his unchanging [Music] world the Wonder in the Wonder Eternal the first and [Music] jusr son of his Spirit to our [Music] the first and [Music] the let's pray gracious father Heavenly God we give you thanks and praise that although we have come comes from your gracious love and your hand we ask Lord that you would use this money to further your work in this world may you send it and use it to glorify your name and we pray in Jesus name amen John is going to come forward he's going to bring us our prayers prayers for the people morning everyone let us pray Almighty loving great God in heaven we come before you this morning very thankful for your love and concern for us we thank you for your faithfulness your wisdom and especially for your Holy Spirit that Comforts and guides us on our journey to your kingdom father we live in difficult times we live within a society that has seems to have rejected Jesus Christ and his teachings we ask you to please continue to strengthen our faith as we heard in the sermon let us never forget what Jesus has done for us we pray for all the residents in the Care Homes please help them to overcome their fears of loneliness of anxiety of sickness both physical and mental please reassure them of your eternal love and of the wonderful future that you have planned for them we pray also for our political leaders both state and federal that they would use wisdom compassion and common sense in all their decision making that affects the lives of the people they govern loving God we pray for all those in our community who are confronting various health issues and we specifically mention at this time Sula cost John Bowers Irene Axton Morin pikel Daryl hatch Lyn Coleman Wendy gray Louise Brown Teresa how and Pat serson whose son is grieving the loss of his wife please comfort them all father surround them with your healing presence and we pray now also for those two astronauts who are stranded on the International Space Station we pray that the efforts to return them safely to Earth are successful and that they can be reunited with their loved ones father we thank you for our two chaplain Tony and Keith and we would ask that you would continue to bless encourage and Empower them to serve the needs of our Christian Community loving God our young people today are facing challenges like never before you've got uh illicit drugs you've got vaping you've got cyber bullying amongst others we're told that many of them are having to deal with mental health issues that quite alarming we pray for our grandchildren and we pray for our great grandchildren that you would watch over them and protect them from all these evil influences we pray for Pam custa who's suffering a hip problem and for her son re re some family issues there so please be with them Father as instructed by Jesus Christ we pray for your kingdom to be set up here on planet Earth and for your will to be done throughout the world under the leadership of your beloved Son and we pray all this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen amen we're going to sing again before we come to uh together to celebrate commun Union my God now is your table spread all [Music] love still overow your children [Music] to Jesus chist [Music] his and is one who and [Music] T his and [Music] his sh children's [Music] bre GL [Music] all and [Music] [Applause] [Music] one let's pray almighty God we to whom all hearts are open all desires known and from whom no secrets are hidden cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by your holy spirit that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your Holy Name through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen amen he these scriptures Psalm 116 says how can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me I will lift up the cup of Salvation and call on the name of the Lord I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people Christ Our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed says 1 Corinthians 5 therefore let us keep the festival Psalm 34 taste and see that the Lord is good good blessed is the one who takes refuge in him let us confess our sins to God almighty God our heavenly father we have sinned against you and one another in thought word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone in your mercy forgive us for what we have been help us help us to correct and to be what you would have us be through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners Christ died for us is Romans 58 that in because of that we know that in Christ there is forgiveness Grace covers over all things We Are Forever his and so Jesus says this in Matthew 11 come to me all you are weary and burden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls the Apostle Paul recorded for us what we are doing here today I receive from the Lord what I pass on to you he says the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper he took the cup saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes on the night the Lord Jesus was betrayed he took bread and after giving thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is broken for you take eat in remembrance of me the same way after supper he took the cup saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood drink from this all of you in remembrance of me going to ask those who are serving to come forward we're going to celebrate together there is some glutenfree bread uh Viv will have that want to take oops [Music] no [Music] no okay for [Music] [Applause] [Music] stand up in [Music] Jesus was broken for us that we might have life take eat in remembrance of him amen Christ's blood was shed that we might always be his drink in remembrance of him let us pray Our God our Father you greatly loved us mercifully redeemed us and now you have fed us and strengthen us at your table give us Grace that in everything we may give ourselves our wills and our works as a way of giving thanks to you may we live in peace and in fellowship with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ and rejoice together in your Eternal Kingdom through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen go in peace and may the blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you always amen As we sing Our Last hymn together this life I live [Music] to my you is to my heart [Music] Joy [Music] the and I [Music] every [Music] has is a voice that a sound of the of my so I will rise and the the [Music] of I know my is with so I will rise and all the glory of the I to I know my heart [Music]