Bible Sunday..The invitation, our call & Communion
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Call to worship (voice recorder)
Call to worship (voice recorder)
Faithful Father, we begin today by giving you thanks. Your love endures forever, it never fails. Though there are many ways in which we have failed, we have not exceeded the supply of your mercy and grace. We thank you for revealing yourself to us through your Word. As we open the Bible today we pray that we would hear your voice. We ask that your Holy Spirit would be at work, opening our ears to hear and our hearts to receive your Word. May we be transformed into your likeness. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
HYMN: To God be the glory 3.5min
HYMN: To God be the glory 3.5min
SONG: You were the Word (Beautiful name) 5.75min
SONG: You were the Word (Beautiful name) 5.75min
Prayer 7min
Prayer 7min
Today is going to be slightly different. I am going to read a bible verse, then ask a couple of questions to think about, and then pray. It is all related to Bible Sunday.
1. Read: So also will be the word that I speak — it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do. (Isaiah 55.11, GNB) Think: How is Bible reading part of my life each day? Am I listening to what God is saying through his word? Pray: Lord God, the Bible is a gift that brings truth, hope and freedom to our lives. Help me to hunger and thirst for your words.
2. Read: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living. (2 Timothy 3.16, GNB) Think: Are you engaging with the Bible in the best way you can? Do you take time to consider how you might need to respond to what you’ve read? Pray: Thank you God for inspiring all the authors of the books in the Bible. Thank you for the Bible. Help me to grow in wisdom and understanding. Please let your gracious word convict, inspire and help me today.
3. Read: Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15.16, ESV) Think: Are you eager to read God’s word and allow it to shape your perspective and actions? Pray: Lord God, guide me when I read your word. Speak to me through the Scriptures. Help me to seek you, listen to you and obey you.
4. Read: As you have promised, keep me from falling; don’t let me be overcome by evil. (Psalm 119.133, GNB) Think: In what way can you walk more closely with God? Identify a key step you can take. Pray: Dear Father, direct my steps in the wisdom found in the Bible. Prevent me from stumbling and help me to live in a way that honours you. Amen.
5. Read: For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness. (Psalm 18.28, ESV) Think: In what way can you walk more closely with God? Identify a key step you can take. Pray: Thank you that I have been reached by your word. Please create opportunities for the Bible to be shared with more people, here in England and Wales as well as around the world. Please inspire mission workers, church leaders and individuals to communicate your promises to others. Amen.
Song: Thy Word is a lamp 3min
Song: Thy Word is a lamp 3min
Bible Society Video 3.75 min
Bible Society Video 3.75 min
Notices 4min, Offering and Kid’s out
Notices 4min, Offering and Kid’s out
Bible Society Powerpoint 4min
Bible Society Powerpoint 4min
RECORD!
RECORD!
The Bible Society have also produced a sermon on this passage - the link will be on the Oldfield website by tomorrow along with today’s sermon.
1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David. 4 Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. 5 Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.” 6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. 12 “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
The invitation
The invitation
Tozer said: The person who would know God must give time to Him. He or she must count no time wasted which is spent in the cultivation of His acquaintance. He or she must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end. So did the saints of old, the glorious company of the apostles and prophets and the believing members of the Church in all generations. (Tozer edited)
This passage of Scripture we read is trying to get us see that even if we have nothing or if we have everything why do we think that we will be satisfied with anything less than God Himself? Let me ask again this very important question: why do we think that we will be satisfied with anything less than God Himself? The limit of our knowledge of God is down to us, and how much we let Him into our lives.
When DL Moody was to visit England on a revival crusade an old pastor here said why do we need this Moody fellow to come here? Does he have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit? To which a wiser young pastor replied. No. But the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on him.
To what extent do we spend time with God in prayer and His Word that He has the monopoly on us? How much you desire is how much you’ll know.
Is this not what it is saying here in verses 1 and 2? Listen again: 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy?
And verse 3 says Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. We can never be content with anything other than God Himself.
But do we rely upon the faith of other people’s experience of God to get us through? Or is it that we have experienced God for ourselves as One who hears and answers our prayers, with Whom we have had the experience of not just knowing the Scriptures saying He is here but knowing He is. This is the God who sent His Son so we could be reconciled to Him, for what? A dry faith based upon the Bible? Or a living faith every day with God in our everyday activities. You all know that I hold the Bible in the highest esteem, and today IS Bible Sunday!, and I have preached many, many sermons on this for it is where we get all our true understanding of God, His person and His ways; where we get guidance and hope. But we can miss the point if we do not have a relationship with God that is living and vital.
What did Jesus say?
John 5:39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
The invitation that is asked at the beginning: Come to Me is the same invitation that Jesus gives: Come to me for living water and you will not be thirsty. Come to me for living bread and you will not be hungry. Come to me you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
They missed out because the Living Word was right in front of them and did not see that the Bible was talking about Him. All Scripture points to Jesus, a real living Person. Our faith is the true faith, our faith is the living faith, our faith is the only way…do we know this or are we going to miss out?
All that we know about God is found in the Bible. No experience can contradict the Bible. If it does then we are interpreting the experience wrongly. But to experience God is the lifeblood of our Christian life. We are not called to a staid religion where all we know about God stays in our minds. Knowledge is good but knowledge that touches the heart is needed.
And we can find out about those who experienced it but we cannot relegate these experiences to the past or to others for God is not just the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Spurgeon and Luther and Calvin, Corrie Ten Boom, Fanny Cosby, and Hudson Taylor and other names we know, Is He not our God too who is alive just as much now as He was then?
God is a God who acts. God through Scripture not only says I did in the past and I will do in the future but also I do and I am doing. God is not absent in the here and now. God is not just God of the past and God of the future but God of right now who acts and is acting right now.
God is missing today, in this hour, in this very minute. Do we really believe, as Hebrews tells us, that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Today. Today’s stories are tomorrow’s testimonies and the biographies of 50 years’ time.
How can we tell others about Jesus and what He has done if He is not real and alive to us, to you and me? What is our testimony? Our testimony should be full of answered prayers, of financial provision, of healing, of joy, of the forgiveness of sins. It is the experiences we have that we share with others, the stories we have accumulated over our Christian lifetimes of a living relationship with the living God.
If we have not known this then we need to desperately seek God for those who genuinely seek Him will find Him. And do we think that this is an experience that will be boring and plain and mediocre? We are talking about God here! The life of the disciple is exceptional for it is living life to the full for it is God who is living in us. If, indeed we are allowing Him to.
I have had many experiences of God throughout my life. The highs of those experiences do not last long as we are quite forgetful of God’s dealings with us. We are called to remember what God has done for us. Faith expects God to work today just as He has done in the past and will do in the future. Faith doesn’t mean God will do things the same way but that God will indeed act, not on demand or command as some people I have heard teach, but He will act if we trust Him to do so.
This is not about getting all the things we want because sometimes God’s answer is ‘no’. But it is about developing that relationship with God that He yearns to have with us and that we should have with Him. Why did He send His Son? Was it not to reconcile us to Him? Was it not so that we could commune with Him and He with us? Isn’t this what is said in John 15 when Jesus speaks about abiding in Him and Him is us?
6
How often Scripture talks of seeking God that He may be found as we see in verse 6! When He is found the experience is as awe-inspiring as you would expect even if it is the hearing of a still small voice. Other times it is the feeling of comfort of knowing that God loves you and cares for you. Other times it is a Scripture verse that jumps out giving us the light we need for our path. We do not seek experiences for experiences sake but we seek to know the living God in the here and now, in our lives short as they are that gives us the impetus to live lives holy unto God and wholly for Him.
Knowing God is our highest calling and to be like Him our next.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
You cannot get a closer communion than that. He lives in us and lives His life out through us. The thing is we don’t always experience this or allow God to do His work through us. We have such a low expectation of God to quote the title of a book in the 50’s by J. B. Phillips: Your God is too small.
Tozer said:
It is vital to have a right understanding of who God is and what He wants to accomplish in us and through us. For instance, we cannot think rightly of God until we begin to think of Him as always being there, and there first. Because He is, we are and everything else is. Only God can say: “As I was—so I will be.” Only the Eternal One could stand in the timeless I AM and say, “I was” and “I will be.”
The more we understand about God the more we should be in awe of Him. To be a disciple means we learn about our Master. To be a disciple means to leave off anything that gets in the way of us doing this. The things that crowd our lives are choking the lives that we live as Christians.
This is all too easy to happen. I’m sure you can tell me what is filling your lives but we are all invited to know God better. God has to be priority, my friends. Following the verse about being crucified with Christ it goes on to say in
Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Is this not what Isaiah 55 is saying? We cannot be satisfied with anything except God.
The more we understand about the awesomeness of God the more we wonder about His love.
Psalm 8:3–4 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
Our call
Our call
Out of the invitation to know God above all comes our call. The more we know God the more we will want to tell others about the love that God has for people. People are lost without the saving work of Jesus on the cross. He came to seek and save the lost. This is our calling too.
John 20:21 Jesus said to them again, “...As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
God has done all these things because He wants us to know Him. He has revealed Himself in His Word and it is this Word of God revealed in Scripture that will have its work in people’s lives if we tell it.
Isa 55 10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Let God be at work. Sometimes we will not see evidence but, as I said last week, we are simply to be faithful. There is power inherent already in God’s Word on its own to achieve all that God wants to do by it.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Speak God’s Word and then we are told we shall go out with joy. We shall have seen God at work!
Conclusion
Conclusion
We cannot be those who simply rely upon the experience of others. God is the God of the past and the God of the future but God is also God of the present, right now. He has not done a disappearing act and left us behind until the 2nd Coming but we have the Holy Spirit living in us and through us right now, even in this minute. So, let us be people of close fellowship with God, living in His Word, as we are told: James 4:8a Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. We cannot be satisfied with anything less than God.
Song: All I once held dear 4.5min
Song: All I once held dear 4.5min
Communion
Communion
We come today to the table of remembrance. It is called communion because it took Jesus to go to the cross for us to have communion with God. Because we are together celebrating the work of Jesus on the cross and through His resurrection we have communion with one another. And this is also called Eucharist which is the Greek word for thanksgiving. We give thanks today for Jesus taking our place for this was the only way to be reconciled again to God.
So, I ask… to give thanks
1 Cor 11 23-26 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when 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 also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Now, I ask… to pray for us
And now we are going to sing the song that ends Isaiah 55:
Song: You shall go out with joy 2.5min
Song: You shall go out with joy 2.5min
Benediction
Benediction
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Chafer, L. S. (1993). Systematic theology (Vol. 1, p. 184-6). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.
Tozer, A. W. (2007). God’s pursuit of man (p. 3-4). Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread.