Notes of Meeting Sunday 6th February 2022
Lee Street Church Notes of Meeting 6th February 2022 Worship led by Ken Cowell Psalm 95: 6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture the flock under his care. This invitation to worship comes from our fellow believers. “Come, let us bow down and worship” Sometimes our motivation to church comes from our brothers and sisters. There are three reasons in this verse why we should worship the Lord. He is our Maker, our God and our Shepherd. Our first song this morning is also an invitation to worship. I like to think of it as God’s invitation. Come now is the time to worship. It also could be considered a command. It’s an immediate call to us as God’s people to worship him now not sometime in the future. The second song is the model response to that invitation towards Jesus. Let’s worship with our hearts and our whole being. SONG 1205 : Come, now is the time to worship SONG : 851 I will offer up my life in spirit and truth Prayer Ecclesiastes 3.11 He has made everything beautiful in his time Recently I read this devotion and was really blessed by it, so I want to share it to you. I am a professional lettering artist, and I still make mistakes every day! I misspell words, or I write an ugly letter. Not a day goes by that I don’t smear ink or make something I’m not really proud of. Early on in my business I would get frustrated when I had to cast the mistakes aside; the scrap paper bin beside my desk was overflowing with colourful scraps that were almost right, but not quite. One day I got the nudge to run my scrap paper through my office shredder. Out came the most beautiful confetti you’ve ever seen! Once it became confetti, you couldn’t see the mistakes anymore. All the scribbles and textures and colours worked together in a new way to make the confetti more beautiful. Confetti is just trash. It’s the scrap paper, the broken pieces, the misfits, and the damaged goods that were cast aside. But then it was repackaged one day and given a brand-new job—a job that just so happens to make a lot of people very happy. Confetti is just trash that’s chosen a much happier life. Today I choose to find joy in the mess. I am not as hard on myself when I mess up in lettering (or in life) because I know that I can turn my mistakes into confetti. We all make mistakes. It’s how we bounce back from them that really matters. I give myself grace and take pride in everything I’ve learned along the way. He has made everything beautiful in its time, even our failures and mistakes. When we sin and fail God doesn’t cast us away, but forgives, restores, renews and recommissions us into His service. Like the broken items they repair in the Repair Shop on TV. The transformation back to its original condition takes time but the finished result is amazing. Peter had a miserable failure when he denied Jesus. It was similar to the trip I had last week, it came suddenly and totally unexpected. Sometimes we mess up when we think we’re okay. I tripped once but he tripped three times. No one could have imagined that within 50 days he would preach the gospel and see three thousand people saved. Jesus took the broken pieces of Peter’s failure made his life into something beautiful and useful again. Our failures and mistakes are not the end but can signal a new beginning. As we give the broken pieces of our failures to Jesus he can in his time remake us into something beautiful and use us once again. SONG: In His time, in His time He makes all things beautiful in His time
In his time, in his time Lord please show me everyday
In your time, in your time Lord my life to you I bring
The next song is about of a new commitment to be cleansed and surrendered to God. SONG: 475 Purify my heart let me be as gold and precious silver Breaking of Bread Song: 1151 Above all powers …….. you thought of me above all
1 It was alone the Saviour prayed Refrain: 2 It was alone the Saviour stood 3 Alone upon the cross He hung
Prayer Time Please continue to remember the following needs:
Euan’s Message What lies ahead in 2022?
Bible demands we look/consider beyond this life/these bodies/these horizons to eternity & new world order
Much of what we can know about the future from Bible is in Book of Revelation – not given lot of detail – its possibly beyond human description & beyond understanding so we are just a glimpse of what lies ahead
Revelation
Why read it? So people know how to live today
Eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him & these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
So much could be said but limiting ourselves to Ch21. I want us to consider 4 things
We associate new things with potential & opportunity. They generally bring fresh enthusiasm/delight Out goes what is old, broken, grimy, dilapidated; in comes what is bright, shiny & ready to enjoy
Ch21
This was always the plan & God will deliver on His plans and promises
Psalm 102 says Of old God laid the foundation of the earth, & the heavens are the work of His hands. They will perish, but God will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. God will change them like a robe, and they will pass away but God is the same and His years are without end
Apostle Peter writes of time when old creation will be purged by fire Heavens will disappear with roar; elements will be destroyed by fire, earth & everything done in it will be laid bare
OT prophet Isaiah foretold time when God will create new heavens and a new earth, & the former things will not be remembered or come into mind
Not just old physical elements but old spiritual realities are swept away too
Throughout Bible we see God in a sense always making things new He restores
He renames
He resurrects
2 God will be at the centre
v2-3 holy city comes down from God (repeated in v10) v3 city is called - dwelling place of God – abode, residence v3 the people are called His people & He is called their God (repeated in v7) v3 God is one enthroned – displaying authority v4 God is one who removes all crying & tears, pain & suffering v5 God is one making all things new v6 God is one delivering on his promises – trustworthy & true, v6 God is A & O - beginning & end – accomplishes what He starts & brings assurance v6 God is giver of the free water of life – which satisfies
To be very clear - God is Author of all, Sustainer of all, Owner of it all – at centre of it all
God will be at centre of new heaven & new earth God ought to be at centre of our lives now Easy to usurp his place – ourselves at centre or something else – work, family, leisure pursuit
4 A people who are ready
Although new world made for God to dwell with mankind, not everyone will be there 2 verses v8 and v27 are a stark & sombre reminder
Those who will not be there v8
v27 Impure, shameful, deceitful – those who have not sought forgiveness for sin People whose names are not in Lamb’s book of life – see Ch 20 – record of those who have trusted work of Jesus Christ at cross
Those who will be there
CLOSING SONG: 1041 There’s a place where the streets shine
NOTICES
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