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[0:00] from time to time when we're coming to worship is to remind ourselves of the one that we are coming to worship as he is described in the scriptures to us and in Colossians 1 we have a wonderful description of the Lord Jesus Christ and of who he is and why we should indeed worship him and it's verse 15 we're going to read from verse 15 through to verse 20 when you just as you're going through the verses I read them mentally count how many times Jesus is referred to okay either by the word son or Christ or Jesus or he or him and see if you can count up I'm not going to test you on how many you count because I haven't counted them but just see how this is full of Christ the son is the image of the invisible God the firstborn over all creation for in him all things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities all things have been created through him and for him he is before all things and in him all things hold together and he is the head of the body the church he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have the supremacy for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through his blood shed on the cross what an amazing savior we have and the day will come when everyone will see that by God's grace he's opened our eyes to see Jesus as God amongst us and our savior but one day every knee will bow and every every person will confess him as Lord 304 at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow every tongue confess him and confess him King of glory now let's stand as we sing in heaven here in nothing of us in anywhere and we are in nothing of outras

[3:00] Every tongue confess Him King of glory now Tis the Father's pleasure We should call Him Lord Who from the beginning Was the mighty Lord Humbled for a season To receive a name From the lips of saviors And to whom He came Faithfully He bore it Spotless till the last Brought Him back victorious When from death He passed

[4:04] Let's come to the Lord in prayer together And those who feel able Lead us in prayer In praise of the Lord Jesus Let's confess Him The King of glory now In our worship and praise So I'm going to pray again briefly And then please do come Let's bring our worship to the Lord We're so looking forward to that day Our Father when we shall see you And your Son in all your glory and splendor When He shall come once again To bring justice to the earth And righteousness to dwell We ask O Lord that as we continue In this pilgrimage As we continue in this journey Of the Christian life Help us ever to set before us That wonderful goal That assurance that this world Is heading to that great end That great moment of triumph When Jesus shall come again And every knee bound before Him Help us to live O Lord Those lives in the light of His coming As those who will dwell in eternity with Him

[5:04] Help us not to lose heart In the difficulties of this world In the challenges In the failings of men and women Help us O Lord we pray To ever keep our eyes on Jesus Draw us to Him now We pray in this time That our hearts may be warmed And that we may be more and more In love with Him And obedient to Him For we ask these things our Father In His name Amen And hakkah

[6:13] And I will trust in you, dear, I will trust in you.

[6:25] For your endless mercy follows me, your goodness will lead me home.

[6:37] 1 Peter and chapter 2, as we have been the last few Sunday evenings. And again, earlier on in the year too. So 1 Peter and chapter 2.

[6:48] I'd like to turn there with me for a moment. I'm going to read from verse 11. We already looked at verses 11 through to 17.

[7:01] But we're going to read from there through to the end of the chapter. Particularly concentrating this evening on verses 18 and following. Here is God's faithful word.

[7:17] Verse 11. Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul.

[7:29] Live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority.

[7:44] Whether to the emperor as a supreme authority or to governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.

[8:01] Live as free people. But do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Live as God's slaves. Show proper respect to everyone.

[8:12] Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Slaves, in reverent fear of God, submit yourselves to your masters.

[8:23] Not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.

[8:36] But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

[8:48] To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin. No deceit was found in his mouth.

[9:00] When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he trusted himself to God.

[9:11] Sorry, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness.

[9:23] By his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

[9:36] Thanks. Richard, if the prayer. We're back in with moms and toddlers and 610 and 711. We're looking forward to the summer beach mission.

[9:47] Looking forward, of course, to Gospel Music Convention and the Bible Week with Brian Edwards. That's only a little way away, just a few weeks. I'm going down to North Cotes, actually, in three weeks' time to speak.

[10:00] I spoke there at the beginning of last year and I'm going down to do their chapel service but it'll be a good opportunity to catch up with Alan and Mandy just to see how they felt the weekend went as well but let's pray let's seek the Lord together again we're so grateful Lord that we're part of this worldwide church that universal church all those who know and love the Lord Jesus whatever their outward label we thank you that when we are born again of the spirit we are part of the family of God and again we thank you as we read at the very beginning that our Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the body not just of the local church but of the universal church we thank you that he is the head of this church and Lord Jesus again we long that you would continue to lead us and guide us in your way and in your will that we may follow after you closely we thank you for those believers who are with us from North Coates and again from different parts of the world Australia, Germany, Northern Ireland and parts of the UK, Romania as well we ask you to richly bless them and bless the churches that have sent them and encourage them Lord we pray as they give of their best we pray Lord that you would provide for them Lord workers in their own churches and situations thank you Lord that you're no man's debtor and as your people give

[11:24] Lord so you are glad to give and give again we do again ask oh Lord for your help for ourselves in the week ahead for the opportunities for ministry amongst young people and others as well we long for our hearts to be opened we long Lord for that winsomeness in ourselves we ask that our lives may display and portray the very grace and goodness of God we pray Lord for those who are here this morning we think Lord of several Lord who need you think of Mike and Alan Green think of Tom comes with Paul and cares for him we think of Dan and Paul Bracken think of Tony as well and June and we thank you for those several folk who Lord were here and heard your word but we know Lord that it's not the preaching of the word that produces salvation though Lord your gospel is the power of God to those who believe how can they believe oh Lord except that you give them faith oh Lord it is your gift we pray that you'd give faith to those that we've mentioned in prayer every now and those who heard your word and have heard it again and again we ask for that saving faith recognizes their need of you recognizes their sin the judgment that is to come flees to you the rescuer and deliverer and the friend of sinners we continue to remember the needs of our dear brothers and sisters in Christ around the world we thank you for those connections that we have in various parts of Eastern Europe those connections we have in Africa and in America and Canada connections Lord in so many different parts

[13:06] Asia we thank you oh Lord for the links and that link oh Lord is you Lord Jesus we pray though again that where your people are serving you and wherever they are that they might know again grace upon grace help upon help and that Lord you would encourage them we again pray for John and Anne as they travel out to the States in a little while be with them bless them encourage them help them there we pray for your particular blessing upon the graduation of David and for the family that you would help them continue to remember oh Lord the great needs of our nation as we face the choices and challenges of the future our connections with Europe or not Lord we ask that your will be done we ask oh Lord that again you would overrule as you have done we believe the very history of this nation and that Lord you would turn this nation more than turn it to one way or the other Europe or not we ask that you would turn this nation back to the God who founded it and fashioned it and blessed it and again we ask for ourselves oh Lord that as we come to your word now that you would fashion us shape us fit us for your service in these days make us oh Lord those whose lives are beacons of Christ and oh Lord we pray these things in his name and for his praise and glory

[14:33] Amen let's sing as we come to 1 Peter and 2 to 5 I have a friend whose faithful love is more than all the world to me remember again the humility and the condescension of our Lord Jesus as he came into the world to save sinners so 2 to 5 we'll stand as we sing and I have a friend whose faithful love is gone and all the world to be tis by the love the lights above and deep and endless soundless sea so long so new such cross the truth before he had received his praise he loved me as to be his name he held the highest place of earth but on my own the sons of faith yet such is self-denying love he made the sight his crown and came to save the hearts that have the cost of heavenly and heavenly pain he sought me blessed be his name turn back then to 1 Peter in chapter 2 and to particularly verses 18 and following where

[16:59] Peter continues his instruction concerning this matter of submission and we looked at that particularly the other week what it means to submit now whenever we read the scriptures and we're very thankful for them and whenever we look at church history as well we find there are a myriad of great examples for us examples of men and women whose lives are there for us to help us to live and follow Christ as we should every one of them of course is flawed though every single one of them has their faults their warts their failings their sins just as we do and so the very best example of living in this world as we've seen living as foreigners as exiles as those who are pilgrims those who are passing through is of course to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ truly human in every way lived as we did tempted as we were and are and yet without sin the words of our Lord Jesus the actions of our Lord Jesus the attitudes of our Lord Jesus are faultless and are perfect of course we can turn to

[18:16] Moses to learn about humility we can turn to Daniel to learn about faith we can turn to David to learn about courage but Jesus surpasses them all one quality perhaps that we may not immediately think of being exemplified in the Lord Jesus is the matter before us this matter of submission particularly of course submission to every human authority we have it there at the very start of the passage verse 13 submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority and we looked at that and we looked at what that meant in respect to government and to our land and now we're going to look at that in the area of the workplace particularly and then in the home later on next time we come back to 1 Peter now of course we're aware that our Lord

[19:17] Jesus Christ lived a life of submission to his heavenly father he was obedient in every way in fulfilling his life of service and ministry to God he spoke often of that truth of that reality as in John chapter 6 he says this I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me it's a great mystery to us isn't it that the Lord Jesus Christ the very Son of God co-eternal co-equal co-authorative if I can put it that way with the father was one who submitted himself for the purpose of course of the mission of salvation to his father but really that Jesus should submit himself to human authority is perhaps taking it a step too far we might feel it's something different after all even in his incarnation even as he took on our human nature and submitted himself to the father he still remained fully God he still remained fully Lord we read that in Colossians didn't we having the supremacy it's not that our Lord Jesus

[20:27] Christ stopped being God while he was with us or stopped being supreme or stopped being fully in every way divine and then took it up again later no all the way through his life through his incarnation as well he was never any less God than he had been for the eternity beforehand he still retained full supremacy full authority whilst humbled and contracted into a human body there's something not quite right isn't there in our minds of thinking of one who is the author and the sole authority and ruler of the universe submitting to men submitting to creatures submitting to those who should have known their place but that's exactly what Jesus did from the very start when you look at Jesus that one incident of his childhood when he was with his parents you see him submitting to his authority in fact we have that sense of the phrase at the end he went home and obeyed and was submissive to his parents we have him of course being submissive to the religious leaders of his day the chief priests with their taxes and their rules he didn't go out of his way to break them he submitted himself even to some of their religious establishment he submitted himself to the

[21:52] Roman emperor under the person of Pilate the governor just as Peter suggests and instructs that we should when he was led out to be crucified when he was judged when he was sent out to his death in all these ways he submitted himself to human authority why did he do that and what does it have to do with this passage here where Peter speaks about slaves submitting it has to do with this I believe that our Lord Jesus Christ was one who came to serve in fact the very phrase we have here slaves really means it comes from household servants which really were slaves but it means those who do a service those who are under a master carrying out a ministry carrying out a work Jesus came that he might serve humanity that he might serve and work for our salvation that's why he said the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many and will come to the very act and the work of his service which particularly expresses his submission so this passage in which

[23:19] Peter brings out the submissive nature of our Lord Jesus is in this aspect of work of service of labor and as we've seen already that this labor this service this submission is something which must come from the heart it cannot be simply a forced thing it cannot be a begrudging service it cannot be a begrudging submission we aren't to submit to these things because for some reason well we have to do it and so we'll bite our teeth and we'll grit our teeth and we'll just do it because we have to do it and get it over with that's nothing that's a million miles away isn't it from the Christian attitude to everything because as we saw there submit yourselves for the Lord's sake it's because of our submission to him because of our love for him our devotion to him our absolute delight to be as we're told his slaves God's slaves that we do these things to do things from a heart of

[24:22] I must is really not the heart that God wants now we all struggle with that don't we not just in the workplace but in all aspects of our lives so Peter speaks here to slaves verse 18 to servants and he calls for us to submit in the workplace in a way which reflects the Lord Jesus Christ and follows his example notice here that unlike Paul who writes elsewhere about slaves he doesn't speak about masters he only speaks to slaves because really there were such a large proportion of believers who were slaves in fact the vast majority of slaves were sorry vast majority of Christians in the early century were slaves there was very few Christian masters we know one Philemon because he pops up doesn't he in the letter there he owned slaves but on the whole there were very very few that may be why

[25:25] Peter doesn't give any instruction about slave owners and there's a great deal of difference isn't there between working we may feel like we've been slaving over a hot typewriter or computer or desk or classroom or whatever it may be but there's a great difference we aren't slaves in that way anymore by God's grace and actions as believers we have a freedom slavery in our country was outlawed over 200 years ago but the reality is that there are people who are still slaves people who are enslaved in the sex trades people who are enslaved in labor usually immigrants brought in smuggled in in the UK and around the world it's an evil that continues but on the whole in Peter's day in Paul's day slavery was just an accepted way of doing things most slaves were well treated some weren't of course but most were treated as important parts of the household and of the family business so what does this have to say to us what does this passage have to teach us about working in the world working as believers in a world where more often than not we will work for unbelievers we will be employed by non

[26:44] Christians what does it mean for us it means first of all that we are to be submissive to our bosses and to recognize that in work there is suffering work is not easy work is not a joy most of the time work is not something which comes to us easily now that's part of the reality of the world in which we live we're living in a fallen world a world which is under the curse of sin and the curse of God that was given by the Lord to Adam and Eve at the very start in Genesis chapter 3 made it clear that we as people the descendants of Adam would have to work and that work would be difficult here's Genesis 3 17 cursed is the ground because of you that's their sinful rebellion through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground we're living in a fallen world unfortunately of course we or fortunately in one sense we live in good conditions many of us work in good conditions and situations but the reality is that when we work it's hard it's difficult it's not easy there's meant to be an element of pain of cost involved and because we work for sinful men and women whether they be the headmaster whether they be the principal whether they be the factory foreman even the very best of men are sinful men at best and therefore work can be difficult and it's in that context particularly that Peter's writing here we know that these were

[28:26] Christians who were suffering we know these were Christians who were persecuted and some of that persecution and difficulty was taking place right in the workplace or in the home right where they were in direct attacks from those over them thankfully most of us don't have bosses who beat us I think most of us have bosses who don't persecute us but we can feel at times that we're being unjustly treated given more hours than we can cope with expected to do things that we aren't able to and so on we may even feel that to a certain degree we're being picked on because of our faith what should we do what should our attitude be when this happens how can we respond to work whether it's good difficult hard costly or whatever well again we look at the example of our Lord Jesus Christ as he did good as he worked for our salvation we see that he suffered he says verse 21 to this you were called because Christ suffered for you leaving your example that you should follow in his steps as he fulfilled the task of

[29:37] Messiah as he fulfilled the ministry of the Christ of the Savior of sinners he met with opposition he met with difficulty he met with suffering he met with pain as he took upon himself the labor of Savior of the world he found he found it hard and therefore what do we learn from Jesus what we learn is this that we are to work in all that we do as if we are serving the Lord that's the primary thing verse 18 slaves in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters verse 19 if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God we've seen that all the way from the beginning verse 13 the very attitude we're to have is for the Lord's sake that we do these things that's transforming I believe transforming because the primary principle that underlies everything that we do in our work life in our labors as believers is that we're serving

[30:48] God if we miss sight of that then the work that we do will become all the more burdensome the work that we do will become all the more difficult pointless even at times yes we work so that we can earn money so that we can buy food so we can pay rent but we also work at times to help people out whether it's jobs next door with the neighbors working with other believers in evangelism with its acts of service or kindness in everything that we do we are working and we're to work with the attitude I'm doing this unto you Lord it's exactly the principle that Paul speaks of when he writes the Colossians in this similar way whatever you do verse 23 of chapter 3 work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord not for human masters since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward it is the Lord Christ you are serving so when we do things around the church work warnings fabric teams other work we're doing it for the Lord and when we're working in the office and in the school when we're about helping others or serving or whatever it may be we are doing it with our eyes upon the Lord he's the boss he's my master he's the one I'm seeking to please and for that reason we're told here that we're not to fear in one sense our masters our bosses our employers we're to fear God we saw that again that the very principle of living our lives is beginning with the fear of the Lord if we have the fear of the

[32:29] Lord we fear nothing else and we're working not to please them Paul puts it in a lovely way in that Colossians passage where he says earlier on he says obey your earthly masters and everything and do it not only when their eye is on you this is the new NIV to carry their favour well that's exactly it but with sincerity of heart and reverence to the Lord so it's a temptation isn't it to look busy the boss is coming only to work when you're going to get his attention or her attention that can't be again the Christian attitude that's a man pleasing attitude isn't it a man serving no we're serving the Lord we're to do things for his commendation verse 20 if you suffer for doing good and you endure it this is commendable pleasing to God cleaning the toilets pleasing to God scrubbing the floor pleasing to God and that's

[33:38] Jesus isn't it all Jesus work all his ministry was done with one goal in view to do the father's will to finish the work the father had given him to do he was never a man pleaser that's probably why he got into trouble sometimes he did what was right he did what was good whatever the consequences we're to be the same now of course we can make things more difficult for ourselves if we work with a wrong attitude and Peter points out that there may be those who suffer because they've done wrong he says this how is it to your credit verse 20 if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it if you think the boss is picking on you could it be perhaps because you're late every morning for work could it be because you're lazy in the way that you go about your work is it that you work badly with a wrong attitude well you can expect that you're going to have a hard time a rough time of it but what's worse than that of course is the witness that we give not only to our boss but to our fellow workers as Christians we are to be exemplary as much as we can be in the way that we work and the way that we have that work ethic that reflects the

[34:54] Lord Jesus goes for school as well what's my attitude all the boys at the back and mucking about and flicking things around and I want to be part of the gang with them no so they might call you square they might call you a swat what about Jesus what's his attitude I want to have a work ethic like Jesus' attitude I want to follow his example pleasing God serving God I'm doing what I'm doing for the Lord's sake well what else should we do what else should we learn from the Lord Jesus here about in the workplace particularly again when it's difficult when it's hard when we don't perhaps want to be there on a Monday morning or when perhaps the boss is being unreasonable in their demands we see there I think verse 23 that we are not sorry that we are to work without complaining now Jesus talks here when they hurled their insults at him he did not retaliate when he suffered he made no threats it's talking about the use of his words the use of his language the Lord

[36:01] Jesus was that sheep before the shearers who were silent now it doesn't mean that we should always be silent in the workplace if there is injustice going on it doesn't mean that we should turn a blind eye when the work firm that we're working for is doing something illegal it doesn't mean that we should keep quiet about it just to keep our jobs unlike the slaves of Peter's day there are several protective laws regulations to ensure the safety and treatment of employees God has given us these things we're to use them if there is something wrong going on if there is sexual harassment going on if there is fiddling of the books going on or in some way we're being cheated or wrongly dealt with in that way which is illegal we're to use the authorities that God has given us we've seen that already God's given authority and government for our blessing and goods however there are things that we need to avoid we need to avoid gossiping behind the boss's back we need to stop complaining to others about their behavior and that's a no-no that's not the way that isn't showing them the respect that we're called to give them to respect them even if we disagree with them to respect them because of their position even in their character does not deserve it again we're following the pattern of

[37:26] Jesus but when we do that we're following the pattern of the world isn't that exactly what the world does the non-Christian does they complain they moan they murmur it's the done thing to call the boss names behind their back to treat them with no respect we find ourselves being sucked into that we've got to resist that dear friends we've got to be different that's the whole transformative work of the gospel we are different people we're to hold our tongue we're not to let it loose and say things that we'll later regret remembering that we're serving God in what we do will enable us to do that would the Lord really want me to say that does that really honour him does that glorify him we know we know that our Lord Jesus as we said gave no threats spoke no insults those who insulted him when he was about the work of our salvation but how could he do that how did Jesus do that because I don't know about you

[38:33] I find that really hard I don't have in that sense what I used to have when I first started work life a boss over me and supervisors over me I was very rude very disrespectful as a young man I don't have that now how could Jesus do it how could he hold his tongue how could he keep back from saying those things did he just grit his teeth did he just bite his tongue no of course not the answer is given to us in verse 23 instead instead of hurling insults instead of retaliating instead of making threats guess what he entrusted himself to him who judges justly all that we're to do in this life we're to do with faith this life is a life of faith in fact the key verse in the whole bible the key verse that's repeated in several places is that simple statement the righteous shall live by faith it's found in Habakkuk when we looked at Habakkuk a few months ago it's in

[39:35] Romans it's in Galatians Hebrews that verse is again and again repeated the righteous shall live by faith not only in our relationship in the sense of coming to God by faith but we live every day by faith in him by trusting him Jesus endured all the sufferings of injustice because he had faith in God his heavenly father what did he believe what did he trust in when it says he trusted in and believed in him where he trusted him that he is the judge who sees all things and judges justly there in verse 23 God sees all things God sees you in the workplace just as much as he sees us in the church building God sees us when we're at the computer or the laptop just as much as he sees us when we're in prayer whatever happens to us he knows about and he will reward our faithfulness in his time and in his way remember again in Colossians telling us that we're to work for the

[40:38] Lord not for human masters since you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward it's the Lord you're serving nothing that we do is wasted nothing that we endure is pointless now Jesus knew he was innocent Jesus knew that as they were flogging him and accusing him and insulting him that he had no sin for them to speak against he didn't fight for his rights he could trust his father to fight for him God sees all knows all judges accordingly and again what's so important is this truth that he believed that God had a purpose in his sufferings a purpose in his suffering that what Jesus went through what Jesus was doing God would use to bring about his purposes that it wasn't pointless sometimes again we can be in a job situation or in a school situation or wherever it may be and we think what is the point of this I just want to get through the day I just want to get to the whistle at the end at five o'clock I just want to be out of the factory I just want to get it over and get back to enjoying my life that's wrong dear friends you are in that factory you are in that office you are in that school and in that place because

[42:04] God has a purpose for you there in what you are doing it may be taking out the rubbish it may be cleaning the toilets it may be any of those things but that is not the important matter the purpose that Jesus suffered the purpose that he was working towards and doing good which brought upon him difficulty and of course ultimately sacrifice and pain was the accomplishment of our salvation what did the Lord Jesus do he bore our sins in his body on the cross he suffered in our place to restore us to God we had gone astray we were far from him and the work of Jesus had a purpose which was clear to rescue and bring back the wandering sheep but so it is with you and I God has a work to accomplish through you in your workplace and through the difficulties you face as you seek to work and to live and serve him first of all one of the things that God accomplishes in us he sanctifies us through those things we need to learn patience don't we where do we learn patience watching

[43:12] TV now of course not we learn patience in the workplace dealing with people who wind us up where do we learn to love the unlovely in the workplace with people that we find difficult so on and so forth God is sanctifying us working in us changing us fashioning us shaping us using those people God is working in us to use us that we might be soul winners how many Christians are in your office apart from you how many Christians are in your classroom apart from you how many Christians are in your workplace apart from you probably none but how will they know about Christ how will God bring them to you to himself may it be through your witness may be through your testimony may be through your life particularly that life which in the midst of a difficult job situation at times and a difficult boss radiates the personality and the attitude of Christ perhaps God has other plans to fulfill in that workplace through you plans that we have no idea about he has a reason he has a purpose of which we're often ignorant but it's no accident that we are where God has placed us now we trust God for our salvation don't we we trust him for the forgiveness of our sins therefore we can trust him with everything every circumstance every situation we trust him with our lives and we can trust him with the details of our lives we trust him to provide for all our needs then we can trust him with my job my career my future my retirement my skills we live in an unjust world we deal with unjust people but we have a just God and a just saviour who's walked where we have walked a saviour who knows what it is to serve knows what it is to submit know what it is to suffer as he goes about the business of serving

[45:25] God and others and he knows how to sustain you and sustain me in the places in which he's put us and so we are to submit because we know that we have a God who we can trust let's sing our final hymn this evening it's 456 speaks again about the reality that everything we have we are to give for the Lord's service verse 4 my talents gifts grace is Lord into thy blessed hands receive and let me live to preach thy word not just preaching the word from the pulpit but preaching the word from the life 456 we'll stand as we sing hymn doing her not just shim but the hymn of holy serp oh ph nhưng and Teslaуры tar do male

[46:32]  Phang in herple dove and sing her verse while she a child my great love which wants to build my house again my love my heart oh God and all my sinful soul divine then large in flame and fill my heart with loveless charity divine so shall I hold thy strength answered and love them with my steel like thine and lead them to thy open side the sheep of who has shared in her pride now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout every generation now and forevermore amen that let's you