What God Can't Do

Okay, well, good morning, everyone. It's lovely to see you today. Always love this time of year.

It feels like people come back to our city, people are visiting, students are back, people are moving for jobs.

So lovely to see you here today, particularly if this is your first Sunday with us. You're so, so welcome.

Here's what I'd love you to do. I'd love you to grab a Bible and turn to Genesis chapter 35.

Genesis 35 · chapter mention

Genesis, that first book of the Bible, grab your own Bible. Maybe there's ones in the pews round about.

Hopefully we've spaced them out well enough that they're always within reach.

Or even on your phone, if you promise me you won't be looking at WhatsApp messages, get Genesis 35 on your phone as well.

As you're turning there, two things I just want to highlight.

The first one is next Sunday evening. I would love you to come to our church vision evening.

We run three of these a year and they're just wonderful chances for us to look back as a church on the past season of church life.

And just to give God thanks for his faithfulness during that season.

And then to look forward as well, just to some of the things that are in the pipeline that we can pray about as a church family.

There's lots of exciting things in the run up to this vision evening that we're going to be thinking about.

So please put it in your diary, half past six next Sunday evening.

The second one is just to say, this is another chance where you can sign up to this course that we're running called God's Great Story.

Knowing the plot line that makes sense of life.

I've ordered the books for this course that are going to come to us next Sunday for those who've signed up.

Really thrilled that there's kind of six or seven folks who've said that would be really interested in this course journeying together.

Just thinking about the Bible story, about some of the key events that happen in that Bible story.

And just getting to know our great God better.

If that's something you want to get involved in, I'd love to hear from you.

Grab one of these as you go this morning.

The dates and the topics are on the back there.

You'll get a free book as well.

Just would love to see you come along to this.

But Genesis 35, why don't we pray as we turn to this chapter and then we'll get into it as we finish off this series in the life of Jacob.

Father, thank you so much for this morning.

I thank you for every single person here.

Lord, I recognize that we come this morning from all sorts of different weeks with different things going on in our lives.

Father, we've got different questions.

We've got different aspirations, Lord.

We've got different feelings as we come here today.

But Father, I ask in the words of Psalm 119, that you would enlarge our hearts that we may run and obey your law.

Father, as we gaze at the glory of who you are today.

Father, increase our knowledge.

Lord, and increase our affection for your son, Jesus, we pray in his worthy name.

Amen.

So Genesis 35.

Here's what we're going to do.

We're going to be thinking about this chapter this morning.

But we're finishing a series today that we've been in over the last number of months in the life of Jacob.

So this morning we're kind of finishing it off, bringing it together.

I'm really excited about this.

But as you're turning there, let me tell you about two things that happened in my life this week.

And how I was really humbly reminded that there's one thing that now connects them.

Here's the two things.

Ready for them?

Number one, plaiting my girl's hair.

And number two, staying up past 11 o'clock.

Okay, both things that I cannot do.

And I'm playing fives on Tuesday night next week and at the tender age of 39, running around for an hour.

I'm paranoid that there's going to be another one added to that list this week.

But we've all got things in our lives, haven't we, that we cannot do.

We struggle to do them.

We cannot do them.

Have a think about those things in your life just now, the things that you just cannot do.

And as you're chewing on that, let me throw you a curveball question to get you thinking today.

No matter what you think of the God of the Bible, no matter what has brought you here today, have a think about this question.

Do you think there's things that God can't do?

That's what we're going to be thinking about today.

One thing that God says he can't do.

That's not so much a statement about his ability.

When he tells us that in his word, it's a promise about his character.

And it's wonderful news for our souls today to take in this thing that God says he cannot do.

In fact, I've just finished a book called 12 Things That God Cannot Do.

Subheading and how they can help you sleep at night.

And it was that second one that made me buy it.

And if you're going to read one thing this year, can I highly recommend, apart from the Bible, that you make it this book.

Right?

If your time's tight, or maybe you're looking after the pennies, then at least download the free Kindle version, the free Kindle sample on Amazon and take a look at the contents page.

Because the contents page will really blow your mind.

Can I give you a few of the chapters?

Here they are.

God can't learn.

Yeah?

God can't be surprised.

God can't change his mind.

God can't be lonely.

And here's the last chapter heading.

And this is what we're going to be wonderfully thinking about today.

And here it is.

God cannot deny himself.

God cannot, and let me just add a flavor to it, will not go back on his word.

Right?

Some of you might remember, if you're of a generation, the adverts for, and this is a testament to the power of advertising that I can remember this.

The adverts for Ron Seal.

Yeah?

Do you remember Ron Seal?

From the UK?

What was the slogan with Ron Seal?

It does exactly what it says on the tin.

Right?

Never bought a can of Ron Seal in my life, but I remember that as the slogan.

It does exactly what it says on the tin.

And that's this God.

Or if you want to put it positively, when God says that he will do something, you can guarantee that he will do it.

That is the immovable object that's there.

It's God's promise.

Nothing is going to move it.

Nothing's going to undo it.

Nothing's going to get in the way of God accomplishing his will.

His promises will not bounce like some kind of expired check.

No, his promises are ones that we can take to the bank and we can cash.

And of course, what does Jesus say?

The wise man, the wise person does.

He built his life on the rock.

And what is the rock?

The rock is his words.

Because that's a place where we can base our lives.

And I think that's what the passage, this passage is designed to convince the first readers of today.

And it's designed to convince us of today that this God will not go back on his word.

The fact alone that Jacob, if you come with me to chapter 35,

the very fact that he is still standing in the words of Elton John is proof of it.

The fact, have you ever thought about this today?

The fact that you and I have got breath in our lungs today.

The very fact that we're here today is proof of this promise.

Because the fact that Jacob is still standing in chapter 35

is nothing to do with the fact that he's able to duck and dive his way through life.

Nothing to do with that.

If you think about it, the Bible really should be a three-chapter book.

Yeah?

Genesis 1 and 2, God creates the world.

He creates Adam and Eve.

He creates human beings in his image.

The world is declared very good.

But Adam and Eve, they desire that tree of knowledge and good and evil, right?

In the words of Don Carson, what they are doing in that moment is they are trying to de-God God.

Right?

They are asserting their own authority to be able to assert what is right and what is wrong.

And in that moment, that is when sin enters the world as they believe the serpents lie.

And at that point, it should be like a 90s computer game.

Those words that came across the screen when you were defeated by the body, right?

Game over.

It should be game over at that point in the story.

But God made a promise in Genesis 3.15 that he would send a serpent crusher,

someone who would act and by acting would defeat the work of Satan.

And all the effects of that fall as they enter the world.

But God promised Abraham, this nobody, that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

He promised them that he would give them a future.

He would bring them to a land.

And that through his offspring, he would bless the peoples of the world.

And again, take that in.

And if we are, I don't know what, 120 or so this morning, maybe 100.

How many nations are represented here?

Proof that God will not deny himself.

But God.

See, when you see that phrase in the Bible and it crops up often.

But God.

What it means is that God has acted.

Not because of people's character.

Not because of things that we've done.

But God means that he acted out of his character and promises.

That's the kind of God we're dealing with as we turn to the pages of the Bible.

Our God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You want to blow your mind about this?

Think about this.

From eternity past to eternity present, he is the great I am.

He is the one who has always been in this community of love.

That's how we know he is love.

Because that's what he's been doing.

He acted because of his character.

In fact, as I heard someone put it recently,

the moral of the story in Genesis is that morals do not get you into God's story.

Grace does.

This God cannot deny himself.

This God will finish what he started.

I've got two really simple points for us this morning then.

Here's number one that we can learn from this, I think.

As we take in this God of grace,

despite our mistakes, grace calls us to move on from what's behind.

Right off the back of that horrendous car crash of a scene that is chapter 34,

Isaiah 34 · chapter mention

God speaks to Jacob at verse 1.

And if it were me, the first words at verse 1 would have been,

Jacob, we're done.

But God says, Jacob, arise.

This is the God of grace.

This is the God who gets us back on our feet.

This is the God of second chances and third chances.

This is the God of steadfast love and faithfulness.

And this is the God with plans and purposes to bring to fulfillment,

to bless the peoples of the world.

He says, come to Bethel.

Now, that's the place that we hung out with Jacob

when he encountered God back at chapter 28.

And here is God saying, I'm going to meet with you again.

And what does Jacob do?

See at verse 2, he says to his people,

he relays this message and he says to them effectively,

we've got to get ourselves ready.

Right?

Morally speaking.

We've got to cleanse ourselves.

And just look at the language that he begins to say to people

as he responds to this God of grace.

Right?

We've got to rid ourselves of the foreign gods that are in our midst.

That's presumably just these little idols that they'd picked up

from the nations round about.

Or maybe it's even the gods that, if you remember,

Rachel brought with her when she fled from Laban's house.

Jacob's saying, we've got to get rid of all of these things

that are distracting us from devotion to the Lord.

We've got to get rid of the rings.

And I think this is to their shame that may well have been the plunder

that they've taken from the people of the land at the end of chapter 34 there.

So it just gives you a little insight into what's going on

in this rogues gallery of people that is Israel at this point.

But do you hear the call here?

Because he's the God of grace.

He's calling his family to repent of their mistakes.

Right?

To be honest about their failures.

He's saying, let's let God deal with our shame.

Let's make a decisive break from our past.

And let's get rid of the stuff that's clogging up our devotion to him.

We've got to get rid of it in our lives.

So, you know, let me just tell you how this works out for us today, I think.

If your faith is in Jesus today, then I want you to hear me loud and clear

that you should never doubt your union with him.

Okay?

Your life is his.

He is yours.

All that is his is ours.

All that is ours, he took responsibility for and made it his.

The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, lives inside of us.

Never doubt your union with Jesus.

Bestemming from that union, we are invited to know Jesus,

to know the Lord, to experience his love and faithfulness,

to know him, to love him, to learn more of him,

to revel in him as we press into knowing him more.

And the thing is, I know this about my life,

how often that just gets clogged up by other stuff.

Right?

We had a guy around last year to the end of the winter

to clean out our gutters in our house,

the ones that we just didn't have a ladder long enough to get to.

And I remember seeing the price for it and thinking to myself,

are you charging for that?

But the stuff that he was able to get out of our gutters

that were just clogging it up, right?

Leaves, dirt, weeds, all of these things were just stopping the water flowing.

And I think that's what's going on here.

You know, the thing about idolatry is certainly,

as Jacob and his family know it here,

it's rarely about leaving the Lord behind

and going all in with Molech, right?

The God of the Canaanites who they worship.

Going all in with the sun gods.

Going all in with the God of the rain.

It's much more subtle than that.

It's worshipping the Lord

plus worshipping something or someone else.

Right?

Stuff gets in the way,

drags us away from him being the centre of our devotion.

You know, I read a stat recently

that we spend, apparently,

we will spend seven and a half hours of our lives watching television.

We're breathing in a version of the good life

that our society is telling us that we need to have.

I remember my friend Andy openly telling me

that he took the Facebook app off his phone

because he was just looking at it all the time.

And to do so, he said,

my soul was so much better for doing it.

The question that comes at us here is,

do we, is God calling us

to let go of something

that is clogging up our love for and devotion to him?

And the other side of it

is the Lord asking us to take hold of something

in order to facilitate that communion with him.

It's why Olympic sprinters,

when you watch them,

they wear really tight fitted vests, don't they?

It's why Olympic swimmers,

when you see them do their thing,

they're wearing the tightest of caps.

They just don't want anything getting in the way.

And that's what this is calling us to do today

as God's people.

You know, grace says,

today is a new day.

Grace says,

as we respond to this God of grace,

he gets us back up on our feet.

And I find it so often as a parent,

when I've made mistakes the night before,

when I wake up the next day,

today's a new day of God's grace.

It's a new day.

You take ownership for your mistakes.

You go towards the kids

and you say sorry for raising your voice.

Today is a new day because God is like this.

You know, listen, just some of you,

and just to speak into the season of life that we're in,

I know many of you just now are in new seasons of life.

Right?

You've taken up a new job.

You guys are here,

your new term at uni.

Maybe it's your new time at school.

In so many years of the Christian life

and just a season of doing life at this church,

can I just say that there is never a better time

to nail your colors to the mast

than at the start of a new season of life.

Monday morning,

what is it the question that everybody asks you?

What did you do at the weekend?

And on Friday,

what is the question that people ask you?

What are you doing at the weekend?

Friends, we have two opportunities

that are right there every week when we do this.

You miss the Friday,

you get back in on the Monday.

You miss the Monday,

you get in on the Friday.

Why don't tomorrow when that question comes,

we talk about church,

and I hope this is true,

we talk about church

like it was the best thing we did at the weekend.

Just go for it

and see how God honors that witness to him.

You know, when it comes to Christian growth,

I heard a guy called Sam Albury,

he was speaking at the Keswick Convention this year,

and he was talking about

how he's changed his perspective

and how he measures progress in the Christian life.

And he said,

he looks back on his life

and he stopped asking himself the question,

as I look back on my life now,

am I behaving better?

Right?

Am I doing more?

Am I busier in life?

I remember him saying

just way too shallow a barometer

for measuring growth in the Christian life.

And here's what he said,

and I found this so profound.

You look back on your life a year ago,

here's the question.

Is sin more bitter to me now

than it was then?

And is Jesus more sweeter to me now

than he was a year ago?

It's a bit like,

and this is his illustration as well,

not mine,

I thought it was really helpful.

It's like orange juice, he said.

Okay, everybody loves orange juice,

but not everybody loves orange juice

after you've brushed your teeth.

Right?

But it's the same orange juice,

but what has changed?

Your palate's changed, hasn't it?

Your taste buds have changed.

And that's what he's saying.

Do we look back on life

and we say,

Jesus is sweeter to me now

than he was a year ago.

Is sin more,

is it more bitter to me now

than it was a year ago?

That's how we measure growth

in the Christian life.

And that's what encountering

the God of grace does.

He changes us.

Right?

And it's all of him.

It's not of us.

It's all of him.

He takes out the heart of stone

and he puts in the heart of flesh.

And you see when Jacob goes to Bethel,

and don't miss that,

how God sovereignly protects him

and his people

from the surrounding nations.

God says,

remember Jacob,

I have given you a new name.

No longer will you be Jacob.

Your name will be Israel.

And we thought about that

a few weeks ago.

Jacob, we are by nature.

But Israel, we are by grace.

And it's as if God is saying,

I want to reiterate to you

that promise that I made to you.

To be fruitful and multiply.

Now, hopefully that reminds us,

if you know the Bible story,

of the commission that God gave

to Adam and Eve right at the start.

Yeah?

Be fruitful and multiply.

God says,

not only will nations come from you,

but now do you see,

he's kicked it on a level,

kings will come from you.

You see, Jacob's morals

are not the thing

that keeps this plan on track.

And that means that his failings

will not derail God's purposes.

And that means that

despite our mistakes,

and we've all got our mistakes,

we need to understand that, right?

This is a sinner's only party.

Every Sunday.

What grace does

is it calls us to get up

and move on from what's behind.

And second thing,

and this will be a lot shorter,

despite our tears,

grace carries us towards

what's ahead.

Now, I use the word carries

there deliberately,

not just because it goes

with the sea from before,

I promise you.

Because this is what

the life of faith feels like.

As we journey,

it feels like it at times.

We need to know that

nowhere does God promise

his people an easy ride.

You cannot read about Jesus,

you cannot hear from Jesus

as you read about him

in the Gospels

and come away with that conclusion.

Now, things happen on this journey

that can so often shake us

and rattle us,

but I think this is written here

to say,

let none of that cause you

to doubt God's steadfast love

and his commitment to you.

Because this God

is never going to let go of you

and this God

is never going to forfeit

his purposes.

And I think we get

two of them here.

And here's the first one.

It's really when people die.

And I hope this is just

a real word in season

for us as a church,

given what's been happening

over the last number of months.

Let's never doubt God's

steadfast love

and faithfulness to us.

Do you see how we get

kind of three deaths

in this account?

We get Deborah at verse 8.

And then we get Rachel.

She is Jacob's wife.

The one who he served to win.

Do you remember that wonderful description

of how he felt towards her?

He served,

was it seven years?

But it seemed like a day

because of his love for her.

Right?

Who his heart was captivated with.

Hers is an

unexpected death.

She gives birth to Benjamin

at verse 17.

And to see her go through that,

I can't imagine how painful

that must have been

for Jacob to watch.

And then we get Isaac,

Jacob's dad,

at verse 29.

His is an expected death.

I guess you could call it that.

I was going to say natural death,

but there is no such thing

if you understand the Bible story.

Death is not natural.

Death is the great intruder

into this world.

That is what Jesus Christ

has conquered.

He dies,

and just take in this little description

of him right at the end.

NIV,

ESV,

he died full of days.

And I take it that's a reference

to more than just the amount of hours

that he managed to clock up

in his life,

which if you look at his age

are significant.

It is telling us something

about how this man died

full of faith.

Sprinting right to the end.

Right?

A guy who knew his fair share

of mistakes in his life,

but who died full of faith.

Let me just say,

there's nothing more encouraging

than seeing

someone through the tears,

someone despite the questions,

get to their end of their life,

and not only are they still going strong,

but they cannot wait

to go home and be with Jesus.

Full of days.

In the words of Billy Graham,

someday you will read or hear

that Billy Graham is dead.

Don't believe a word of it.

Love American brashness.

It's great.

Don't believe a word of it.

I shall be more alive

than I am now.

I will just have changed my address.

And if you think about it,

he's bang on the money.

But death is a reality

for the people of God,

for us as we journey home.

But let's not let it rock us.

And let's be a community together

that helps one another

through these things.

It's why God has put each other

in every one of our lives here.

Don't let death doubt

your confidence

in his steadfast love for you.

And don't let sin do it either.

Right?

Reuben, verse 22,

he sleeps with his father's mistress.

I think you can understand that

as being like a power play

against his dad.

That I can take what is yours.

Right?

As the lion cub challenges the lion,

is just somebody making

a really bad,

angry decision.

And many of us will know

that pain in our lives

as we watch people make decisions

and we just,

our heart breaks.

of children walking away

from the faith

of family and friends

thinking Jesus isn't for them anymore.

Of just seeing people

who were once on fire for Jesus.

All of a sudden,

they're just cold.

Of people denouncing the Jesus

who they once loved.

Of church leaders

caught up in scandals.

All of these things

can rock us.

But the message here

is death and sin.

Let none of it

doubt your confidence

in who the Lord is.

None of it is going to

derail God's plan.

Do you see how we get

the list of Jacob's 12 sons?

There.

This rogues gallery

of people.

But what this is doing here

is that is acting

as something

that's telling us

that this is proof

that God is working

out his plan.

The fact that this family

are still standing,

that they're still going,

is testament

to this God

who will keep his promises.

And centuries later,

Jesus will come

from this line.

He will be the offspring

through whom God

will bless the peoples

of the world

with joy of forgiveness,

of joy of newness

of life.

There is joy

and life to be found

in the one

that God sent

to win the peoples

of the nations.

He does it through

his death on the cross.

You know,

I was reading

with my mate

from football,

football team

the other day,

reading Mark's gospel

together.

And we talked about that.

The fact that

that we're still

talking about him

all these years later.

We're not talking

about Nero.

We're not talking

about Caesar.

We're not really

talking about Aristotle.

Who are we talking about?

We're talking about Jesus.

This is his plan.

This is who he is.

He dies,

he rises again,

and he ascends.

And the plan is,

his first coming

was as a helpless baby.

But the plan culminates

in him returning

as a conquering king.

As he banishes

those who have

rejected him

to a place

of eternal

torment.

And we need to understand

that that is real.

Jesus talks about hell

with tears in his eyes.

As he deals with sin,

as he makes

all wrongs right,

as he wipes away

every single tear,

as he ushers in

this new heavens

and a new earth

where there is

no more sea,

we have to understand

in the context there

to the first century audience,

the sea represents

everything chaotic

and destructive

and evil

about the world.

And it's no more.

That's the plan.

And that is what God

can't do.

He cannot

fail

to deliver

on his

promises.

I want us to be

so encouraged

as we finish

this series

by taking in

what God says

that he can't do

and adding

to that

as a wonderful,

glorious flavour

to that recipe.

The strength

that comes to us

today

by fueling our souls

with the things

that Jesus says

he will never do.

Right?

If I ever write a book,

I think it will be that one

because I love that.

Okay?

Seven,

there doesn't need to be seven.

All the things

that Jesus said

that he will not do.

He will never

turn away

anyone who comes

to him in faith.

He will never

let the gates

of hell

prevail against

the church.

He will never

leave us

as orphans.

He will send

the Holy Spirit

to us.

He will never

leave us

or forsake us.

He makes that promise

at the end of Matthew 28.

On and on and on

we could go.

These promises

that Jesus says

he will never

do.

And that's where

our hope is to be

found today.

You know,

just as we close,

I was reminded

of this

as I was thinking

about it this week.

Some of us

might have watched

the film

Chariots of Fire.

Right?

It's a really old film.

That was the best

quality image

I could get

of Chariots of Fire.

If you know that film,

really it's the story

of two sprinters

at the 1924 Olympics.

One man is called

Eric Liddle.

He was a Christian guy.

He was asked

why he runs.

And he said,

when I run,

I feel God's pleasure.

Right?

As I do the thing

that God has made me

uniquely good at.

I feel his pleasure.

I want to honor him

and glorify him.

There's another man

who also ran the race

and his name

was Harold Abrahams.

Right?

And the same question

was put to him.

Why do you run?

Well, running for him

was about proving

that he mattered.

Right?

Running gave him,

and this is the full quote,

it said it gave him

ten lonely seconds

to justify

his whole existence.

Now, as you think about that,

what he's saying there,

it's true, isn't it?

We all have those things,

don't we?

It's something I think

that is so prevalent

in the generation

that we have today.

People looking for

reasons to live.

People looking for

causes.

People looking for careers.

People looking to find it

in partners,

in family,

in holidays.

all these kind of things

that we can wake up

each day and say,

what I am doing today

because of

the grand thing

that I'm living for

gives me and my life

purpose.

And what I want to say

to you today

as we finish this series

is we need to understand

that God doesn't say

go out and find that.

That thing,

that purpose.

No, no.

God comes forth

in grace to us

when we weren't

looking for him,

when we were his enemies.

The gospel says

that God has given us

a purpose in life.

This story that we're in

as we understand

who Jesus is,

as we understand

God's heart

and his purposes

for the world,

the gospel

gives the Christian believer

purpose to every moment

of your existence.

And what that means

is we draw this

to a close.

It means that

if tomorrow

for you

as you think about it

is going to be a day

of changing nappies

and battling tiredness

because you didn't get

any sleep

from the night before

and you get to the end

of the day

and you think to yourself

what on earth

was my life about?

Did it matter?

Did it count?

You need to know

that your life

is caught up

in his great story

of grace.

Maybe you're sick

and you're unable

to get out of bed tomorrow.

Do the things

that you used to do.

Does my life matter?

Friends,

your life

is caught up

with his story

of grace.

Maybe tomorrow

is a day

when mental health

struggles.

It's just another day

when they never

seem to pass.

You need to know

that your life

is caught up

in his story

of grace.

Maybe tomorrow

is a day

when you go

to the lecture hall

or you meet friends

and none of them

want to know

about Jesus

and you think to yourself

what am I doing

with my life?

You need to know

that your life

is caught up

in his story

of grace.

Maybe tomorrow

feels like another

day at the office

and you think

to yourself

why am I doing

this?

What is going on?

You need to know

that because of

his grace

God has caught

you up

in his story

and that means

as we gather

here today

think about it.

This is the greatest

show that's happening

on earth

right now.

As God's people

gather all over

the world

on the Sunday

to celebrate

the risen Jesus

this is the greatest

show in town

because this is

what God is doing

in the world

today.

As he gathers

people from

the nations

finding life

in Jesus Christ

all because he

is this kind

of God

who cannot

go back

on his words.

And let's just

finish with these

words from

Romans chapter 8

Romans 8 · chapter mention

right at the end

that we get

and Paul writes

this

Who shall

separate us

from the love

of Christ?

Question mark.

Shall trouble

or hardship

or persecution

or famine

or nakedness

or danger

or sword?

Question mark.

As it is written

for your sake

we face death

all day long.

We are considered

the sheep

to be slaughtered.

Would have known

that exactly

in the first century

in Rome.

Paul writes

no.

In all these things

we are more

than conquerors

through him

who loved us

for I'm convinced

that neither

and think about it

in the context

of everything

that we've been

thinking about today

I'm convinced

that neither

death

nor life

neither angels

nor demons

neither the present

nor the future

nor any powers

neither height

nor depth

nor anything else

in all of creation

as he covers

his bases

nothing will be able

to separate us

from the love

of God

that is in

Jesus Christ

our Lord.

And that's the promise

that he makes us today

as we finish this series.

Nothing

nothing

nothing

will separate us

from the love

of God

in Christ Jesus.

Why don't we pray?

And let's just be quiet

for a moment

just before we

close our time together

with another time

of singing.

And dear friends

just pour out your heart

before the Lord.

The God who sees

the God who knows

the God who loves

the God who cares

and the God who

in Christ Jesus

is able to offer us

forgiveness

a newness

of life.

And so Father

I just pray

that wherever

we're at today

Lord I trust

that as you

your word

has gone forth

thank you

for that promise

that it will never

fail to do that

which you

purpose for it

to do.

So Lord

I pray

that your word

this morning

as your spirit

takes it

and applies it

deep into our hearts

that you would

comfort

and challenge

and rebuke

and prompt

and nudge

and transform.

Thank you Father

that we've been

thinking about

over the last

number of months

that you are

the God of grace.

so Father

thank you for each

other

thank you for this

time

and as we close

now

Lord be with us

help us leave

today with a

bigger vision

of who you are

in Jesus' name

we pray

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen