Murrayfield Sunday Worship 11th June 2023

well warm welcome to you this morning and from wherever you may be joining us I do trust that you would know God's presence with you the psalmist says the Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works this morning as we lift up our voices in Praise we celebrate the kindness and the goodness of God so let's join together and lift up his name in Praise [Music] foreign [Music] the sun comes up it's a New Day Dawning it's time to sing your song again whatever [Music] lies before me let me be singing when the evening comes bless the Lord so I saw my soul worship His holiness [Music] your rich in love and you're slow to anger your name is great and your heart is kind for all your goodness I will keep on singing ten thousand Reasons [Music] sing like ever before [Music] and for not today when my strength is failing the end was near and my time has come my soul sing your praise on ending Ten Thousand Years more bless the Lord I saw oh my soul worship His Holiness [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes I'll worship your holy name Lord I'll worship your home holy name [Music] we have sung to God now let's pray to God our loving Heavenly Father what a joy it is to come together before you the Living God on this new day and worship you and bless your name and our praise we thank you for the many reasons we have to Sing of Your Love patience kindness and goodness we thank you that whatever may happen in our lives or in the world around us whatever we may go through we are completely secure in you for we are your children precious to you and dearly loved by you we thank you for the beauty of the world around us with its signs of new life and growth that we see and we thank you for the new life we enjoy in Jesus we bless you for him we bless you for his death on the cross through which we are rescued from our sin we bless you for his resurrection and the Assurance of life that will never end we bless you that each day we have your Spirit dwelling within us to help us become more like Jesus and we pray that as we worship you you would become even more precious to us and so with a desire to bless your name in every part of our life and our day We join together in the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray Our Father Who Art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen want you to think of a Time when you have shown kindness to someone and put that felt like just think back to it and think about that moment and what it meant to you and to that person think also over time perhaps when someone has been kind to you when they have shown you kindness think of what that meant to you in your life in that moment it could be simple acts of kindness could be deeper acts of kindness Well that took a bit more from someone or from you this morning we're thinking about being kind we're thinking about kindness really in terms of God's kindness to us and of the call upon us as his people his children to be kind I know reading this morning hopefully we'll pick up on those words of kind and kindness today's Bible reading is taken from psalm 103. the love of God praise the Lord my soul all my being Praises holy name praise the Lord my soul and do not forget how kind he is he forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases he keeps me from the grave and blesses me with love and mercy he fills my life with good things so that I stay young and strong like an eagle the Lord judges in favor of the oppressed and gives them their rights he revealed his plans to Moses and let the people of Israel see his mighty Deeds the Lord is merciful and loving slow to become angry and full of constant love he does not keep on rebuking he is not angry forever he does not punish us as we deserve or repay us according to our sins and Wrongs as high as the skies above the Earth so great is his love for those who honor him as far as the East is from the West so far does he remove our sins from us as a father is kind to his children so the Lord is kind to those who honor him he knows what we are made of he remembers that we are dust as for us our life is like grass we grow and flourish like a wildflower then the wind blows on it and it is gone no one sees it again but for those who honor the Lord his love lasts forever and his goodness endures for all generations of those who are true to his Covenant and who Faithfully obey his commands the Lord placed his throne in heaven he is King Over All praise the Lord you strong and mighty Angels who obey his commands who listen to what he sees praise the Lord all you Heavenly Powers your Servants of his who do his will praise the Lord all his creatures in all the places he rules praise the Lord my soul [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign foreign foreign are you a kind person do you treat others with kindness living in what can at times appear to be a very unkind world one thing we can depend upon very much is the character of our heavenly father I was reading Psalm 103 one morning lately and the words that caught my attention were in verse 2 which says praise the Lord my soul and do not forget how kind he is and then verse 13 it says the father is kind to his children so the Lord is kind to those who honor him well that description of God has kind of stuck with me since then I mean this is one of David's great Psalms where he begins by praising God for the blessings that he has received from God he knows of God's forgiveness and his life and the blessings of God's love and God's mercy and to David these are wonderful expressions of the character and of a loving tenderness of God to his children listen to what verses 11 and 12 of Psalm 103 say God does not punish us as we deserve or repairs according to our sins and Wrongs as high as the sky is above the Earth so great as his love for those who honor him as far as the east is from the West so far does he remove our sins from us I think that was right David also says God is kind to us because he knows what we are made of he remembers that we are dust he knows us because he was the one who formed Adam Out of the Dust Out of the Dust of the Earth and it was when God breathed life into him that Adam became a living soul so God knows that we are free he knows the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak he knows the human heart and that's why according to this Psalm God is kind and loving and merciful it's why he's ready to forgive and heal and bless his children with good things in their lives of course Jesus is the ultimate expression of the kindness and the love of God isn't he and we see this in the New Testament Titus 3 and verse 4 says when the kindness and love of God our savior appeared he saved us not because of righteous of the righteous things we had done but because of his own Mercy it's in Jesus that the kindness and the love of God is seen at its best at its highest in Jesus God saved us knowing that we were not always going to obey him he saved us knowing we would often speak or act in ways that are wrong he saved us even when we weren't living right or or doing the right things he saved us because he is kind and loving and merciful what a great God we have and kindness is one of God's best gifts to us it brings Beauty into our life it lightens our burdens it overcomes anger it takes a sting out of failure it lifts and encourages the heart now the poet William Wordsworth the first kindness is that best portion of a good man's life his little nameless unnumbered acts of kindness and of love according to Wordsworth it is those little acts of kindness and love that make up a good person's life and if you're thoughtful and alert we know that we can recognize and and take those opportunities each day to perform acts of kindness that come our way maybe to speak a word of encouragement to give someone a need help to help a neighbor or to telephone or to write to someone who is needing just to know that they are thought of or maybe visiting someone who is ill or elderly or making friends with someone who maybe just needs a bit of companionship there are many ways we can show kindness to others we're all called to be kind but the Bible makes it clear that as those who belong to Jesus those of us who belong to him are to be kind as God is kind Paul writes in Colossians 3 you are the people of God he loved you and choose you for his own so then you must clothe yourselves with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience you have to be tolerant with one another and forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you and to all these qualities as Paul I'd love which binds all things together in perfect Unity well kindness is something we have to clothe ourselves in have you ever thought about that but let's be honest showing kindness doesn't always come easy to us sometimes we just don't feel kind we might even at times feel that someone doesn't deserve our kindness I have discovered it's often hardest to be kind when canes isn't returned it's even harder to be kind when someone is being outright and kind to you when they are speaking to you or about you without any kindness or when they treat you with a lack of kindness just in their actions which means really that kindness is a choice kindness is about doing what is right even when it's hard it's making a conscious effort to treat others as God has treated you the Bible says we are to get rid of all bitterness passion and anger there's to be no more shouting or insults no more hateful feelings of any sort instead we have to be kind and tenderhearted to One Another We're to forgive one another as God has forgiven us through Christ so kindness is more than just doing something kind now and then being kind is is something that comes from the heart and shows itself and what we do there are times when the people around you are a situation you find yourself in will really test your patience and it can affect the way you relate to the people around you are you kind with your family are you kind to your friends are you kind to strangers and are you kind to people when they are not kind to you can you be well yes and the reason is that God helps us to be kind Ness is a fruit of the spirit within us in Galatians 5 we read the spirit producers love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness humility and self-control the spirit produces the character of kindness within us and and helps us to show kindness to everyone that includes not just what you do about how you speak Jesus says the mouth speaks where the heart is full of and Proverbs 16 says that intelligent people think before they speak what they say is then more persuasive and it says kind words are like honey sweet to The Taste and good for your health kind words can heal the heart and mind both yours and others your words should be kind when we get angry and upset how often do we see things that are unkind or maybe we see something that is true but we don't see it in a very kind way all kindness is evidence of the holy spirit in our life it's easy to be kind to people we like but we're to be kind with everyone even those who don't deserve it we can all think of a time when we were kind to someone and they just threw it back in our face by being unkind to us choosing you see to be kind isn't always easy but as those who belong to Jesus and who know the kindness that God has shown us we are to choose to show kindness to others no matter what you see God's kindness isn't influenced by the Gratitude or the ingratitude of the people to whom it is showing in Matthew Chapter 5 Jesus speaks to those who are children of their heavenly father and he says that God makes his son the shine on bad and good people alike he gives Reign to those who do good and to those who do evil so God blesses everyone and Jesus asks why God should bless someone who only loves those who love them or do good to those who do good to them but he does I'm not kind if I refuse to forgive I am not kind if I only show kindness to those who treat me the same I'm not being kind if I fail to treat others with love and compassion even when they can't or won't return that kindness I'm not reflecting God's love when I'm not being Keen the kindness of God is a love of God for those who love him and those who don't the wonderful passage in First Corinthians 13 says love is patient and kind we know that don't we that passage so well when I am kind it is a way of expressing my love for God it's how I tell him that I am choosing to love him as much as he chose to love me and to be kind as he is kind to allow kindness to be a part of my character in such a way that it comes naturally and it flows from me as we seek to do that as we seek to be people who reflect God's character as we seek to be those who are like Jesus as we seek to be kind may God bless us may God bless you [Music] thank you foreign thank you thank you okay let us join together in prayer we thank you God for everything we Delight in the joy and beauty of your creation which we see every day and every season of the year we're grateful for music poetry human achievement family laughter work well done love and friendship and all your gifts to us most of all we're thankful for your salvation the knowledge of your love and the gift of eternal life we pray for those who work in harsh conditions and those who have no work and struggle financially those whose lives are drab and gray with no purpose those who are in poor health the lonely the homeless give them the human help and comfort which they need and the spiritual encouragement which will help them to live with hope and courage we pray for the elderly that they would receive the help and support that they need on a daily basis we pray for those in Middle years asking for wisdom in their life choices we pray for the Young asking for them good opportunities and their Ambitions would include a desire and willingness to serve you may we all continue to seek the god of every age made known in Jesus Christ the greatest friend of all we Bless You O God way maker miracle worker promise keeper light in the Darkness we thank you for the great company of saints who have gone before us and no Delight in your presence within and honor you and praise your holy name amen foreign [Music] faith for what I cannot see give me passion for your Purity Holy Spirit Breathe new life in me foreign [Music] thank you Holy Spirit from creations [Music] to see well thank you for joining us today as we go into the rest of this day and indeed into the week ahead we go with these words of blessing may the Lord bless you and take care of you may the Lord be kind and gracious to you may the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace amen