Worship led by Brian Legg
Let us turn our eyes away from the many things that have filled our lives in the past week, and for just one hour turn our eyes to Jesus alone.
SONG: Turn your eyes upon Jesus
A few verses from Psalm 66 to encourage us to worship the Lord together.
SONG: Praise Him Praise Him, Jesus out blessed redeemer 465
Jesus – redeemer, one who has paid the price for our salvation –brought us back into God’s family .
Col 1: 13 – 20 - v13 – from darkness to light – cf Halloween; into LIGHT – Jesus, the Light of the world.
V13 – reminds us also that we HAVE redemption through Jesus
V16 – all things created by Him – leads us into our next song:
SONG: O my soul, arise and bless your maker 1481
Speaks of our Saviour Jesus – one who is there for us whenever we need him.
Speaks also of the precious blood of Christ, which was shed at Calvary to pay the price for our redemption.
Our next song continues to think about our redemption, about us, by God’s mercy, being restored into a right relationship with the Father.
SONG: O the mercy of God 958
What a wonderful God that He should want us in his family – his children, his sons and daughters,
SONG: Father God I wonder 92
There’s surely no greater privilege than to be a child of God. To be loved by Him, to know that He is there beside me.
What is our response? Surely it should be to seek after Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. To literally offer up our lives to Him in service, recognising all He has done for us.
SONG: I will offer up my life 851
Breaking of Bread
Good for us to take a few moments to look back to the cross – to what our Saviour endured for us.
Luke 23: 32 – 43
What a contrast between the verdicts of these 2 men on Jesus – one hurling insults, the other seeking mercy, and finding it in Jesus.
We each deserve punishment for our sin – we’ve all fallen short of the standards God has set. Like those 2 thieves on their crosses, we should get what we deserve – death. But by His grace our eyes have been opened to the wonder of the saving power of Jesus, by which we have been given eternal life. His sacrifice has opened the way for us to look forward with joyful anticipation to eternity
SONG: Jesus Christ, I think upon your sacrifice 865
Thank you for the cross
Taking the Bread and Wine, in memory of our Lord’s sacrificial death.
Brief notes of James Winter’s Message
James began by reading Psalms 42 and 43.
These two Psalms of David form basically a single prayer for deliverance from “being oppressed by the enemy”. David was a man who experienced many battles, not just against Goliath. We too experience battles in our minds, affecting our feelings. In Romans ch 7, Paul writes about the battles we all experience, of wanting to do good, but failing and doing just the opposite. So here in these psalms we find David revealing the inner turmoil he was experiencing.
David had been anointed king, and as a result spent much time on the run from Saul, who had been rejected as king by God. David was meticulous in honouring God in his relationship to Saul, but still things went wrong for him. “I’ve done things God’s way, yet still I am struggling. Why – what is God doing?”
It is likely that David wrote this Psalm resting near a desert water-hole, where he would have seen desert deer arriving to get refreshing water from the stream. He also knew how vital it was for him to support his life, especially when hunted by Saul. So he likens this to his thirst for God – he has such a desire to meet with God, but He seems so far away.
We have similar struggles – trying to follow God, but at times wondering where He has got to, and then allowing rebellion to take hold of our lives. The only way is for us to trust God - and allow Jesus to fulfil for us the longings of our lives.
Here David is downcast and dejected. And today many Christians become depressed, often worrying that they are failing to be the witnesses that God desires. But he is also able to recall great times he had enjoyed, leading people to the house of God for worship.
When we feel particularly depressed, try to remember the good times of worship you have enjoyed here at Lee Street, when God has felt so very real to us all. That same God we worshipped together IS now with me, even in my times of depression.
In 43:5. David challenges himself “Why are you downcast?”, but immediately then writes “Put your hope in God”. That’s what we need to do – it’s no use feeling sorry for yourself – trusting God, putting our hope in Him alone, really is the only way.
David knew this, for he then writes “for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.” We can trust the Lord to be with us in every circumstance of our lives – He knows our struggles and will be beside us in them.
43:5 – “Deep calls to deep” – when we are at our lowest ebb, there is a resonance with God’s love – see v8 where he speaks about the Lord directing his love to him by day. It’s often through trials that we get a greater sense of God’s glory. God is love – remember too what Jesus went through on the cross – the deepest of pain and rejection, solely on our behalf to reconcile us to God.
As we repent of our sin and trust Jesus for salvation, our heart changes – then God can start sorting out our trials. We should even rejoice in the purpose of trials, knowing that God has something even better planned for us.
Psalm 42 reflects David’s question “Why Lord?” – yet his confident response was to affirm “I will yet praise Him”.
Psalm 43 continues as a prayer to God – but concludes by declaring “Put your hope (= trust) in God.” Whatever the trials, however hard the journey, the only way through is by trusting the Lord.
David ultimately ended up on the throne of the nation of Israel, having overcome all his years of fear. We ourselves will, by God’s grace, be presented to God with great joy. As Jude writes (verse 24 – 25) “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and for evermore! Amen.
Closing Song: As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after You”
Notices
- Speaker next Sunday: Lee Jerromes
- There is a Crawley Millenium Band concert in Crawley next Saturday 12th November at 7.00pm
- Also a FRO Quiz evening in Horsham on 19th November at 7.00pm
- The funeral for Debbie Harris will be at Surry & Sussex Crematorium at 3.45pm on Wednesday 16th November.