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Family Service · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

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Let us pray.
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Lord, our gracious God, we thank you for every reason you give us to give thanks to you.
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! We thank you that you are a gracious and loving God towards us and that you enable us even today to gather here as a people to come and offer up our worship to you, singing praise to you and coming to hear your word together.
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And we thank you that your word helps us no matter what our situation is.
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Whether we come here today full of joy and happiness, gladness for all your goodness to us, or whether we come here today with heavy and sore hearts,
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we thank you that in any and every circumstance that you are one who is able to provide and that we can indeed rejoice in you because you are God and Lord of all.
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And we ask today that you will bless your word to us.
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We thank you that it is a living word, a word that speaks powerfully to us.
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And even as we think of learning it in this past week, as we think of the memory verse, thankful for your grace towards us.
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We thank you that it's a word that stays with us.
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We will not just have it here today or in the past week at the club,
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but that your word be precious to us each and every day,
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that we would seek to live by it and be guided through it.
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As we learn more of who we are in terms of our sin and what we do wrong so often,
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that we would see to your mercy towards us, your grace through Jesus Christ,
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and that we would come to love him with all our hearts and we would come to live for him.
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So we thank you for everything that you do for us.
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We thank you for this past week, for all the children who have come to the club and all the families,
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all who are here today, not just for the club, but for this time of worship.
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We thank you that you draw us together from different places and different homes,
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in different countries.
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And we thank you that together we come to praise your name.
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And may your name be lifted up high.
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May you be glorified in all that we do.
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And may we know your presence and your peace with us.
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That's all we ask.
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We ask for the forgiveness of our sin.
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In Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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Well, it's been a great week at the holiday club.
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And one thing I was missing today was actually coming in wearing this.
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Because all week I had this hat on where I was dressed as a cow,
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but I thought I'd better just maybe leave it off for today.
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But it's been a great week just looking at not just the Wild West and being dressed as cowboys,
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but looking at God's word and what God's word has to say to us.
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And we had a memory verse that we were learning from the book of Ephesians.
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And now what I want you to do is, and I hope you remember the memory verses,
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I want you to all say it together.
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To tell everyone else sitting behind you, the adults who are downstairs and upstairs,
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tell them what the memory verse was.
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Let's all say it together.
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What was it?
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For?
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Excellent.
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Well done.
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You all remembered it.
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For by grace you have been saved through faith.
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And this is not your own doing.
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It is the gift of God.
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That's what we were looking at this week.
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That verse is such a special verse because grace is such an amazing thing.
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It's a beautiful word, grace.
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And that's why you find some people are called the name grace.
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It's a beautiful word.
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And it reminds us that God loves us.
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That's what's behind the word grace.
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It reminds us that God loves us.
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There was a man called John Newton.
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I don't know if you've heard of him, but you've maybe heard a song being sung that he wrote.
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The song is called Amazing Grace.
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We hear it sung very often.
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And what John Newton in his life learned is that even as he tried to run away from God and live a life away from God,
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in the midst of a storm, when he was on a boat at sea, in the midst of a storm,
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he came to realize that he really needed God's help.
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That he really needed God in his life.
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And as he came through that storm, he was saved in that storm.
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Not just from the storm itself, but God saved him.
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He came to know Jesus there at that time.
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And that's what made him write that song, Amazing Grace.
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But what does grace look like?
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What's this?
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Anybody know what this is?
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What is it?
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Play-Doh, isn't it?
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Now, when you have Play-Doh, what do you do with it?
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Just leave it in the tub.
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What happens if you leave it in the tub?
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It's going to do nothing, isn't it?
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And over time, it's just going to go hard.
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So Play-Doh, you're meant to open the tub and take the Play-Doh out and see if it comes out.
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And what you do with a Play-Doh is you can do all sorts of things with this.
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You can squish it.
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You can squash it into different shapes.
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You can make it into a ball.
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And nobody was ready to catch it, were you?
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You can make it into a ball.
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You can pass it to each other.
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You can make it into all kinds of different shapes.
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You can punch it into different shapes.
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Make it into a plate or a cup.
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Or even put it into little spindly bits and make a little Play-Doh man out of it.
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You can do all sorts with Play-Doh.
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But the key is you can't just leave it in the tub.
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Because if you just leave it there, it's going to be useless.
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It's not going to do what it's meant for.
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Well, that's a little like what grace is like.
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You see, we're all like Play-Doh.
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And if we just stay in that tub, we're going to be useless.
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But in order for the Play-Doh to be used, someone's got to take it out and do something with it.
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And that's what God does with us.
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When we see ourselves and our lives and we're not trusting in God, we're just like we're confined.
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We're stuck.
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But God comes to make our lives have purpose.
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To make us live for Him.
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And He shapes us into different people.
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He makes us all different to do different things.
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But when we trust in Him, by His grace, we are able to do so much.
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And it's all of God.
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That's what that memory verse reminds us of.
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By grace you have been saved through faith.
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It's not your own doing.
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It is the gift of God.
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So just like someone has to take the Play-Doh and do something with it,
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the gift of God is that He takes us and works in us and makes us useful for Him.
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So grace is an amazing thing.
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And we're going to look at three different things about grace in a minute.
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But before we do, we're going to sing another song.
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We're going to sing Psalm 103.
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And you'll find this in the middle of your booklet, Psalm 103,
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or on page 135 of the blue Psalm books.
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We're going to sing from verse 1 to 11,
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and the tune is before the throne.
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And if there are any children going out to the tweenies,
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they can do so during this singing.
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Psalm 103, verse 1 to 11.
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Praise God, my soul, with all my heart.
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Let me exalt His holy name.
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We'll stand to sing these verses.
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Praise God, my soul, with all my heart.
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Let me exalt His holy name.
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Forget what all His benefits.
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It's praise my soul in song, no thing.
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The Lord forgives you all your sins,
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and gives your sickness and blisses.
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Your love, your grace, from the grave,
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and crowns you in His tenderness.
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And crowns you in His tenderness.
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He satisfies your deep desires
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From this unending source of good,
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So that just like the Ego's strength,
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Your youth will make a history new.
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The Lord is known for righteousness,
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And justice to them draw Him white,
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To Moses He made your best ways,
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His mighty deeds to Israel's sons,
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His mighty deeds to Israel's sons.
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The Lord is merciful and kind,
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To anger slow and full of grace,
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He will not constantly be moved,
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For in His anger hide His face.
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He does not punish our misdeeds,
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Or give our sins their just reward.
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How great is love as high as dead,
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Towards all those who fear the Lord.
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Towards all those who fear the Lord.
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Well, we're going to look at the first part
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Of the holiday club theme we had this week.
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We're going to read some verses
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In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11.
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Sorry, chapter 15 at verse 11.
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Luke chapter 15 at verse 11.
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The children, you have it in the middle
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Of the order of service.
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It's the parable of the prodigal son
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That we were looking at.
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So we're going to read from verse 11 to verse 20.
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This is Jesus telling this parable.
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And He said,
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There was a man who had two sons,
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And the younger of them said to his father,
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Father, give me the share of property
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That is coming to me.
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And he divided his property between them.
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Not many days later,
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The younger son gathered all he had
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And took a journey into a far country.
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And there he squandered his property
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And reckless living.
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And when he had spent everything,
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A severe famine arose in that country.
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And he began to be in need.
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So he went and hired himself out
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To one of the citizens of that country,
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Who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
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And he was longing to be fed with the pods
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That the pigs ate.
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And no one gave him anything.
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But when he came to himself, he said,
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How many of my father's hired servants
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Have more than enough bread?
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But I perish here with hunger.
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I will arise and go to my father
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And will say to him,
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Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
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I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
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Treat me as one of your hired servants.
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And he arose and came to his father.
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But while he was still a long way off,
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His father saw him and felt compassion
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And ran and embraced him and kissed him.
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And so on.
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Wonderful story, the story of the prodigal son.
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And it reminds us of the value of grace.
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And the love that God shows us.
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And to know this grace,
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We first have to realize the trouble that we are in.
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That's what happened with the prodigal son.
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He realized the trouble that he was in.
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And what trouble was it?
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Well, there were words that we were looking at this week
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As well as grace.
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And the other word that we looked at first
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Was a word, small word,
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That started with the letter S.
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Can you remember what that word was?
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Shout it out if you remember it.
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Sin.
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Yeah.
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Sin was that word.
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Sin was the word that reminds us
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We are in trouble.
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And what is sin?
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Well, sin is doing wrong against God.
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Now you remember in the story
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When I was doing the Bible story about it
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When we were looking at it
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And when Gordon was doing it as well.
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We were remembering that sin can first of all
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Make us feel comfortable.
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As if we come and just sit down comfortably
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And have a rest in a chair.
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But then what happens?
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What does this do?
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Look at this.
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What does this do when you put it around you?
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It makes you blind.
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You can't see, isn't it?
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So sin blinds you.
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And then sin makes you do things
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That you wouldn't normally do, doesn't it?
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So when you get a man who supports lochs
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Putting on a hat that says Westside
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You know there's something wrong.
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And that's what sin does.
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It makes you do things that you wouldn't normally do.
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And then eventually what you find is
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You end up stuck in sin.
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Remember what happened?
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We ended up tied to the chair.
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Tied to what was first of all comfortable.
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You end up tied to it.
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And that's what sin is.
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It just can grow and grow in our lives
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And we end up stuck in sin.
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Just like the prodigal son.
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There was a man who visited Niagara Falls.
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You ever heard of Niagara Falls?
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Big waterfall between Canada and America.
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And this man was visiting just as it was coming into springtime.
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So the winter had just passed
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And the snow and the ice was just starting to melt
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But there was lots of big chunks of ice floating down the river
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And then going over the edge of the waterfall.
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And as the man was watching
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He was seeing that there was birds sitting on the ice
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On these chunks of ice
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And they were eating fish.
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But the birds were also keeping an eye out
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What was going on around them.
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So as they were enjoying the fish
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They were always watching where they were going
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And just before it came close to the edge
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The bird would fly away
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So it wouldn't go over the waterfall.
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But then he noticed one bird
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And this bird had obviously been on this ice for a long time.
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Much longer than the other ones.
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And it was so busy eating this big fish that it had on the ice
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That it wasn't paying attention.
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And by the time the bird realized what was coming
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That it was coming so close to the edge of the waterfall
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And he started to try and fly away
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Put out his wings and started to fly away
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He started flapping
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A bit like Duncan Norman trying to get out of the chair the other day
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But he was stuck
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He was stuck in the ice
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His claws had been there so long that they had frozen into the ice
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And it was getting more and more in a panic
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Because he was coming close to the edge
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And he tried and the ice was coming up a little
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But then going back down
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And the bird ended up going over the waterfall
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It was too late
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It hadn't been paying attention
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And that's what sin is like
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It just makes us fall into the wrong place
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And not pay attention to the danger that's around us
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And we can end up stuck in sin
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And if we end up stuck in sin
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What do we need to do?
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Well we need to think about what the prodigal son did
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In this story that Jesus is telling of
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There's two sons
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We're thinking of the younger son
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And he wanted to just go away from God
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It's a story that speaks to many of us who are maybe older
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But also to you as you're young as well
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Because it reminds you what to look out for as you're growing up
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It reminds us that it's easy for us just to turn our back on God
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Turn away from God
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Have no interest in him
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To think that by getting away from church and God
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That we're going to be free and just able to do our own thing
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That's what the prodigal son did
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He got his money
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He went away
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Lived a life
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Spent all the money
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He had a good time
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But then he ended up in trouble
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He was feeding pigs
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A dirty job
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A smelly job
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He was feeding pigs
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And he wasn't happy
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He was miserable
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He thought that he was going to get away
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And that he was going to be happy
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But he wasn't
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And if we run away from God
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We might think we're going to be happy too
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But we're not
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Because we just end up miserable
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Life doesn't make sense
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Nothing goes right for us
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And we end up just doing our own thing
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And getting stuck in sin
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But the amazing thing about the story of the prodigal son
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Is the father
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And what we see is when the son came to his senses
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He said, why don't I go back?
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I can even just be a servant in my father's house
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I can just have a little job
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But I'll still have food
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I'll have a place to live
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But he didn't think the father would love him
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But what do we read in this story?
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When the father saw him coming
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He arose and ran towards him
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And put his arms around him
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And welcomed him home
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It's amazing that grace
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Even when we're stuck in sin
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That the father shows
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He is calling us
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He's speaking to us
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To come to him
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Do we see the danger
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That we're in with sin?
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Young and old alike
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Do we see the danger of being stuck in sin?
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Are you?
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Maybe even stuck in this sin today?
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Well, as well as the word sin
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There's another word that we're going to look at
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And we're going to read another passage of scripture just now
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Just to lead us into that word
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And we're going to read in Luke again
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All our readings are in the Gospel of Luke
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But our second reading is in chapter 23
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Luke chapter 23
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So in the order of service
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In the booklet you have
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It's just the next page over
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We're going to read in Luke 23
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And I'm going to read at verse 39
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And just a few verses down to verse 43
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Luke chapter 23
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Luke chapter 23
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At verse 39
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Now this is Jesus
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At the time when he was put on the cross
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And beside him
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On the cross were two others
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Who were criminals
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And one of them said
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One of the criminals who were hanged
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Railed at him saying
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Are you not the Christ?
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Save yourself and us
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But the other rebuked him saying
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Do you not fear God?
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Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation
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And we indeed justly
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For we are receiving the due reward for our deeds
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But this man has done nothing wrong
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And he said
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Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom
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And he said to him
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This is Jesus speaking to him
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Truly I say to you
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Today
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You will be with me
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In paradise
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Well as well as the word sin
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The second word we looked at
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Is a word that started with the letter M
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Can you all remember what that word was?
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Word
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Starting with the letter M
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Mercy
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Mercy
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Another great word for us
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Grace and mercy go together so closely
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When the prodigal son
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As we read in the first story there
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When he realized the trouble he was in
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That he was stuck in sin
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He went back to the father
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And what did the father do?
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He showed him
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He showed him mercy
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He didn't deserve it
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He knew he'd done wrong
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And just like the criminal here
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Who was saying
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We know we have done these wrong things
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We don't
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We deserve this
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Jesus doesn't
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He's done nothing wrong
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And yet Jesus showed him
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Mercy
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Is a wonderful word
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And where do we see
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This mercy
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Well we see it
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When we look at the cross
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Remember on Wednesday
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What was the craft
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That you were doing?
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It was a picture
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What was it of?
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The crosses
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Wasn't it?
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You had the crosses
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So there was Jesus on a cross
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And there was two criminals
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On either side
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And there Jesus was showing mercy
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Not just to the thief who came to him there
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But to us all
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Because we couldn't save ourselves
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Like our memory verse says
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It is the gift of God
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By grace through faith
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And the gift of God was giving his son
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To do what we couldn't
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But we couldn't
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We couldn't save ourselves
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From our sins
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God had to send someone
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To do it for us
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And so he sent his son
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There's a hymn called
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Our sins
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They are many
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His mercy
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Lovely hymn
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And one of the verses says this
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And it kind of ties in with the story
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Of the prodigal son
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What patience would wait
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What patience would wait
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As we constantly roam
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What father so tender
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Is calling us home
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He welcomes the weakest
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The poor
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Our sins
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They are many
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His mercy
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Is more
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His mercy
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Is greater
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And it's wonderful
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How it puts it in that picture
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What patience would wait
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As we constantly roam
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As we're going away
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From God
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We're roaming away
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And yet what father so tender
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Is calling us home
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That the father
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Just like in the story
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Of the prodigal son
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Is calling us home
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And that's what God is doing
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As Jesus is in the cross
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He's speaking to us
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To say there is mercy
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Your sins
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They are many
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Our sins
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They are many
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But his mercy
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Is more
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Imagine
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Standing
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In a courtroom
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And you're being charged
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It's a scary place to be
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You're afraid
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Maybe what's up ahead
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What's going to happen
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To me
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And you're standing there
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You know
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You've done something bad
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You know
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That you deserve
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To be punished
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And you are told
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By the judge
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That you could go to prison
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If you can't pay
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The fines
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You're going to end up
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In prison
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And your future
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Your life
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You don't know
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What's ahead of you
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Well that's the scene
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That we had on Wednesday
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In the drama
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You remember
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The three outlaws
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Three cowboys
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Were there
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They knew
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They had done wrong
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The sheriff
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Had arrested them
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And he brought them
25:25
To court
25:26
And there was a judge
25:27
The judge
25:28
And the judge
25:29
And the judge heard
25:30
All the charges
25:31
Being read out
25:32
Against them
25:34
And the judge heard
25:36
What they deserved
25:38
How much they owed
25:40
And there were big fines
25:42
But what happened?
25:44
What happened?
25:45
Instead of putting the cowboys into prison
25:50
Because they couldn't pay the fine
25:54
The judge asked
25:55
How much do they owe?
25:57
And the judge was told
26:00
And then the judge said
26:02
I'll pay it
26:04
I'll pay every last penny
26:08
And they can go free
26:11
Wasn't it wonderful
26:13
To think that someone would do that for us?
26:16
Because the judge showed mercy
26:19
The judge showed mercy
26:21
And that's what Jesus did for his people at the cross
26:27
Our sin deserved punishment
26:30
But he said
26:32
I'll pay
26:34
I'll pay every last penny
26:38
For all who believe in me
26:41
I'll save them by my grace
26:43
And by my mercy
26:46
The hymn that I quoted just a wee minute ago
26:48
Another verse goes on to say this
26:51
What riches of kindness he lavished on us
26:55
His blood was the payment
26:57
His life was the cost
26:59
We stood neath a debt
27:01
We could never afford
27:03
Our sins they are many
27:05
His mercy is more
27:08
The mercy that God shows to us
27:11
When we think of the cross
27:12
That Jesus went
27:15
There for us
27:17
That's what this man
27:19
Who was there with Jesus
27:21
Came to see for himself
27:23
One just mocked him
27:27
If you are the Christ
27:29
Save yourself and us
27:31
But the other one
27:32
Looked at Jesus and said
27:34
Or looked at the criminal
27:36
Do you not fear God
27:37
Since we are under the same sentence of condemnation
27:38
We justly
27:40
We deserve this
27:41
But he doesn't
27:42
He has done nothing wrong
27:44
But then he said these words
27:48
Remember me
27:49
When you come into your kingdom
27:52
And that's what we can say to Jesus
27:54
Remember me
27:56
And what did Jesus say
27:58
Truly I say to you
28:00
Today you will be with me
28:03
He showed him mercy
28:04
Mercy
28:05
He didn't deserve it
28:07
But he received it
28:09
Because he looked to Jesus
28:11
And trusted in him
28:14
If I do this sign
28:17
You can look at me just for a wee minute
28:20
If I do this sign
28:22
I point up
28:24
And then I do this
28:26
What does it mean?
28:29
Point up
28:30
What does that mean?
28:33
Who we point to?
28:36
You
28:38
And what does this mean?
28:40
Forgive me
28:45
Forgive me
28:47
And so we're reminded there
28:49
That Jesus
28:51
Is the one we look to
28:53
When we think of everything that we've done wrong
28:56
Forgive me
28:57
That's the wonder
28:59
Of his mercy
29:01
What do we do
29:03
With this mercy though?
29:05
What do we do
29:07
With the mercy that he shows?
29:09
Well that's the last thing we want to look at
29:11
And we're going to read another passage
29:13
In Luke chapter 15
29:15
At the beginning of that chapter
29:19
To verse 10
29:21
Sorry
29:23
Not Luke 15
29:24
Luke 19
29:26
Verse 1
29:27
To verse 10
29:28
Luke 19
29:32
We looked at a couple of people
29:38
Were transformed
29:41
And this is one of them
29:43
In chapter 19
29:45
Of Luke's Gospel
29:47
At verse 1
29:49
And there was a man called
29:51
Zacchaeus
29:52
He was a chief tax collector
29:55
And he was seeking to see
29:58
But on account of the crowd
30:02
Small of stature
30:04
So he ran on ahead
30:06
And climbed up into a sycamore tree
30:09
For he was about to pass that way
30:12
And when Jesus came to the place
30:14
He looked up and said to him
30:16
Zacchaeus
30:17
Hurry and come down
30:18
For I must stay at your house today
30:19
So he hurried and came down
30:22
And received him joyfully
30:24
And when they saw it
30:25
They all grumbled
30:27
He has gone to be the guest
30:29
Of a man who is a sinner
30:31
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord
30:34
Half of my goods I give to the poor
30:36
And if I have defrauded anyone of anything
30:39
I restore it fourfold
30:41
And Jesus said to him
30:43
Today salvation has come to this house
30:45
Since he also is a son of Abram
30:49
For the son of man came to seek
30:52
And to save the lost
30:55
So we have seen over everything is grace
30:59
And then we saw grace in the midst of sin
31:03
Then we saw how grace and mercy go together
31:06
And the last thing we want to think about
31:07
Just for a few moments
31:08
For a few moments is grace to live
31:11
Grace to live
31:14
You remember the cowboys in the drama
31:18
There was three of them
31:20
I think somebody said only one was good looking
31:22
I'm not sure which one you can decide for yourselves
31:26
But the three outlaws were there
31:29
What did they do after the judge had showed mercy?
31:33
After the judge had paid all the fines
31:35
Did they go back to stealing?
31:38
No
31:40
What did they do?
31:41
They went to do good
31:43
Because their lives were changed
31:45
They realized that they had wasted so much of their lives doing wrong
31:50
That now they wanted to do good
31:54
Jesus going to the cross
31:58
What purpose was in that?
32:00
It was that we might have life
32:04
And have it to the full
32:06
That's what he says in John's Gospel
32:08
That we might have life in him
32:11
But does our life have that purpose?
32:15
Are we living for Jesus today?
32:19
How are you spending your life?
32:22
How many weeks to go off the holidays before you have to go back to school?
32:26
Anybody know?
32:27
Anybody know?
32:29
Two weeks
32:30
Somebody's counting
32:32
Two weeks to go
32:34
Six or seven weeks of holiday
32:36
Sounds like such a long time, doesn't it?
32:39
But it goes past so fast
32:42
You think of the holiday club
32:44
Five days on a holiday club
32:46
But it was just such a short time
32:49
What are we doing with our time?
32:51
Well, someone made some calculations
32:55
And they were looking at our lives
32:57
And if we were to live to the age of 70
33:00
What our lives might be like
33:02
If you break it down into sections
33:05
So they worked it out as an estimate
33:08
And said, if you lived to your 70
33:10
How long would you have slept for?
33:13
Anybody want to have a guess?
33:16
Are we talking days, months or years?
33:19
Everyone have a guess
33:20
If you lived to 70
33:22
How long have you slept for?
33:24
Any guesses?
33:26
No?
33:28
Well, I'll have to tell you
33:30
Do you think it's five years?
33:32
That sounds like a long time, doesn't it?
33:34
To sleep for five years solid
33:36
No, it's not five years
33:39
Thirty?
33:43
They reckon about 23 years
33:46
Imagine
33:47
Sleeping
33:48
That's if you did it all at once
33:49
Twenty-three years
33:51
You would be asleep
33:53
Work
33:55
A little less
33:57
Probably about 16 years working
33:59
That's a long shift
34:01
Sixteen years solid working
34:04
Watching TV
34:06
How long?
34:08
Twelve years
34:10
Imagine
34:12
Twelve years
34:13
Watching TV
34:14
They estimated that getting dressed
34:17
Just a simple task of getting dressed
34:21
Two years
34:23
I reckon it's a lot longer for a woman
34:26
But it's an estimate of two years
34:29
Just getting dressed
34:32
So you look at your life like that
34:35
How can I spend that much time on these things?
34:38
Twenty-three years sleeping
34:39
If I live to seventy
34:40
It seems such a waste
34:43
Well, every time we hear about the grace of God
34:49
It reminds us and asks us
34:52
Well, what are we doing with our life?
34:55
If we're 23 years sleeping
34:58
If we're 16 years working
35:01
If we're 12 years watching the telly
35:03
How much time am I giving to God?
35:06
How much time am I living for Him?
35:11
What are we doing with our life?
35:14
Even as we think of the last week of the holiday club
35:18
What are we going to do with it?
35:21
You've heard all about Jesus this last week
35:25
We're hearing about Jesus again here today
35:28
Will we go from church today and say
35:30
Well, I look forward to hearing about Jesus again at the Christmas club
35:33
Or the holiday club next year
35:37
Is that how I would look at it?
35:40
Somebody actually put in the holiday club WhatsApp group on Friday
35:44
Only another 136-ish days to the Christmas club
35:49
So the countdown is on
35:52
There's excitement already about that
35:54
But what should we do between now and then?
35:57
Do we just leave all these Bible stories that we've learned to one side
36:01
And come back to them at Christmas?
36:05
Where do we go?
36:06
We want to go on learning about Jesus
36:09
Because the more we learn about Jesus
36:12
The more we live for Him
36:14
We plant ourselves
36:17
As one of the songs said
36:19
In the B-I-B-L-E
36:21
The Bible
36:23
Because that's where we learn
36:25
All about the wonder of more and more of the grace of Jesus to us
36:28
So we looked at two people
36:31
We looked at the woman who Jesus met at the well
36:35
And her life was totally transformed
36:38
And she became so excited about Jesus
36:42
Realizing who He was
36:44
That she went back to the town which she was from
36:47
Where she didn't have many friends
36:49
But she said to them
36:50
Come
36:51
See a man who told me everything that I ever did
36:54
She knew she had done wrong
36:56
But she said
36:57
Can this be the Christ?
36:59
The one who is able to show mercy
37:02
And Zacchaeus here again
37:05
He was someone who had done so much wrong in his life
37:08
He'd stolen money from people
37:11
People didn't like him
37:13
They stood in front of him to stop him seeing Jesus
37:15
Because he was just a small man
37:18
But what did Jesus do?
37:20
He showed him mercy
37:22
And he said
37:24
Come down Zacchaeus from that tree
37:26
Because today salvation has come to your house
37:33
It's amazing what grace does
37:36
It helps us see our sin
37:39
That we're stuck in sin
37:41
But it helps us also to see where we can go with our sin
37:46
To take it to Jesus and take it to Him
37:48
At the cross where He showed mercy to us
37:53
But it also reminds us
37:56
That we need to live
37:58
Not just for a moment or a day or two
38:02
But all our days
38:04
That our lives will be transformed by Him
38:08
Grace is an amazing thing
38:12
Mercy is an amazing thing
38:16
And that's what God has given to us
38:20
So once more can we say the memory verse together
38:24
You ready?
38:26
For
38:27
For
38:30
My grace
38:29
You have been saved
38:31
Through faith
38:32
And this is not your own doing
38:36
It is the gift of God
38:38
Ephesians chapter 2
38:41
Verse 8
38:43
Excellent
38:46
Forget it
38:48
Keep remembering
38:49
That grace
38:51
And for those of you who haven't memorized it already
38:53
It's a great verse
38:57
The grace of God
38:59
That by faith we can know
39:01
In Jesus Christ
39:03
And His loving
39:08
More of that grace
39:13
Our Father in Heaven
39:14
Lord in Heaven
39:15
We thank you
39:16
That despite all that we do wrong
39:18
Despite the many mistakes that we make
39:21
That you are a God who has shown grace
39:24
And that in your mercy you remember us
39:27
That you came to save us from our sin
39:30
And we pray today Lord that you would help us
39:34
To remember these great truths
39:36
Even as we go from here today
39:38
That every day of our lives would be touched
39:40
By the wonder of that grace
39:41
And mercy and love
39:43
That we can have in Jesus Christ
39:46
And so help us
39:49
And that you would hold on to us
39:51
As we go from here
39:53
As we ask it in His precious name
39:58
Well we're going to conclude by singing
40:00
To God's praise in Psalm 145
40:03
Sing Psalm's version
40:05
You'll find it on page 190 of the blue books
40:08
Or on the back page of the order of service
40:12
Psalm 145
40:15
And again this Psalm just speaks to us
40:18
Of this grace that the Lord shows
40:21
The Lord is gracious and compassionate
40:23
He's slow to anger, rich and steadfast love
40:26
The Lord is good to all that He has made
40:29
And merciful to all on earth that move
40:32
The tune is even tied
40:33
And we're going to sing from verse 8 to 14
40:35
And in verse 14 we stand to sing
40:38
The Lord is gracious and compassionate
40:40
The Lord is gracious and compassionate
40:44
The Lord is gracious and compassionate
40:51
Peaceful to anger, rich and steadfast love
40:59
The Lord is good to all that He has made
41:03
The Lord is good to all that He has made
41:14
And merciful to all on earth that move
41:24
All you have made
41:26
All you have made
41:28
We'll give you praise, O Lord
41:35
Your saints will all unite
41:41
To bless your name
41:44
The glory of your reign they will declare
41:55
And your surpassing might they will proclaim
42:05
Thus all will hear
42:09
Thou black your mighty eyes
42:16
And know the glorious splendor of your reign
42:18
And know the glorious splendor of your reign, your kingdom will endure forevermore.
42:39
All, O thy pure dominion will remain.
42:51
The Lord is faithful to his promises.
43:00
To all that he has made his love is sure.
43:13
The Lord himself has also to call.
43:22
And lift up everyone who is now down.
43:35
In a moment I'm just going to pronounce the benediction.
43:38
I'm going to go to the main door.
43:39
But if the children, you'll go out the door to my left here through to the hall.
43:43
And again, just a warm invitation to everyone to come through there if you're able to stay.
43:48
We'll close with a benediction.
43:50
Now may grace, mercy and peace from God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore.
44:01
Amen.
44:20
Amen.
44:21
Amen.