Vision of the Cosmic King

Good morning, everyone. It's great to be with you in church this morning or joining with you online to kick off this season of reflection and celebration and looking forward to what God has next for us as a church.

So be grateful if you've got your Bibles, open up to Revelation chapter 1. That'll be fantastic.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

In May 2017, Australian tennis legend and now Pentecostal Christian pastor from Perth, Margaret Court, wrote an open letter opposing the support of same-sex marriage by Qantas Airlines.

It received a whole heap of feedback at the time.

And one of the feedbacks, one of the responses to Margaret's letter came from another tennis great, Martina Navratilova.

She tweeted on her account, thank you, Qantas, for your support.

And Margaret, you've gone too far. Shame on you.

And it came with a hashtag, the wrong side of history.

It feels like that sometimes, I think, as a Christian, particularly in the modern West, that we are on the wrong side of history.

That is, history was for, sorry, Christianity was for times past, but we've kind of grown up as a society and now we just leave it behind.

You need to get new ideas, new thoughts about life and how life works.

Our society has been moving further and further away and even over the time of Vision 2020, in the last 11 years as a church, it has rapidly moved further and further away from Christian truths.

The foundation, in fact, of our society.

The Christian worldview is not just regarded as outdated.

It's not just the wrong side of history.

It's viewed as wrong in some circles and, amongst other circles, even deviant.

Church attendance is falling.

Christians in society are sinking into the shadows, hoping not to be identified as such, just wanting to stay under the radar.

So the question is, before us, as we just reflect on the past and as we look forward to the future,

what future does the Christian faith have?

What future does the church have in our culture?

What we're doing in this series, in terms of celebrating what God has done in the past and his work amongst us in the last 11 years,

and we also start to form a path for what is next for us as a church,

is this moment of this season we're in right now, this term, nothing more than just the band playing on the Titanic as it sinks,

entertaining us as we go down.

But we're almost at the end.

Is that what's happening for us?

Well, obviously, I think no.

But what we need to see as a church, what we need to see as Christians, and we need to see it again and again and again and again,

what we need to be convinced of again and again is that Jesus is reigning.

He's alive as much as you and I are alive, even more so that you and I are alive,

and he is reigning over all that is still.

He's resurrected, ascended, and he rules the universe.

We need to have him speak into the situations in our lives, in our society, in our church.

We need to know that God is right now on his throne in control in heaven,

and unlike us right now with masks on our faces and silent in the singing,

he is surrounded by myriads and myriads and myriads and myriads of angels,

beings far greater and glorious than us, on their knees, singing at the tops of their voices,

declaring his praise and worthy because he is so far even beyond them.

He is so great and glorious.

So right now when we can't sing, he is hearing the thunderous roar of that singing around his throne.

We need to see the way that this God who is so patient will one day pulverize wickedness and injustice

and obliterate those who oppose him and set up his kingdom for the eternal joy of all who trust him.

What we need in this season is the book of Revelation and these verses which are in front of us right now.

So I'd be grateful if you had your Bibles open, Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

If you have to, if you're using an electronic device, shut down every other app.

Shut down your notifications.

You need to be focused here right now.

Go to the St. Paul's app.

Shut down every app apart from this one.

Get to the St. Paul's app and there's a bit of an outline there for our message today.

Three points I want to get to.

First of all, which king is on the throne?

See, the message of Revelation was so essential for the first recipients of this letter about 2,000 years ago.

The first recipients of this letter were Christians living in the Roman Empire.

They were living in the Roman Empire and they were facing the biggest nightmare of their lives.

The storm clouds of persecution were building for them.

The might of the Roman Empire was against them.

Now this is important.

By the time the book of Revelation was written, the Roman Empire had been around for 600 years.

And it still had another 400 years to go.

What that means is the Roman Empire lasted four times longer than the British Empire, the Communist Empire, and the American Empire combined.

Four times longer.

It is so embedded in terms of its power.

The world has not seen anything like it.

And when John writes this word that we have in front of us now, Christians were facing the might and the glory of that empire.

Romans 1 verse 9.

Romans 1:9

Sorry, not Romans.

Revelation 1 verse 9.

Revelation 1:9

The second half of it tells us that John was exiled on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

Now these days, Patmos has around about 3,000 inhabitants.

And it is full of five-star resorts and luxury villas.

It's a great place to go for a holiday.

In John's day, it was a prison island.

It was a prison island for the Roman Empire.

And John is an old man.

And he is sentenced to work in the quarries, breaking stones on Patmos because of his faith in Jesus Christ.

And John is, if you like, typical of the hardship that many Christians were facing and were about to face.

Were about to face because of their emperor, Domitian.

Now we all hear of the emperor Nero and the way that he sort of set himself against Christians.

Domitian was, Nero was just sort of like a start.

Start of the persecution.

Domitian was a nasty piece of work compared to Nero.

According to the Roman writer Suetonius, the Roman emperor Domitian, who was emperor when John wrote these words, was both physically unimpressive and a moral catastrophe of a man.

Just to, I mean, I could give you a big long list.

But here's a couple of things.

He had many, many affairs with married women and eventually stole someone else's wife to be his own.

His own brother Titus fell ill while on a campaign and he ordered his entire army to leave him alone to die.

His own brother.

He seduced his married niece, got her pregnant, and then she died from the abortion that he demanded that she have.

This moral catastrophe of a man was physically unimpressive.

He was particularly sensitive about his boldness.

When what would be called nowadays a court joker made a joke, entertained the crowd, and made a bit of a passing shot at his boldness, Domitian had the guy executed straight away.

He was particularly sensitive about his baldness, his growing pot belly, and what was described by historians as his spindly little legs.

But he demanded that the entire Roman Empire referred to him as Lord God.

And Christians were suffering extreme hardship because they refused to have this Roman emperor as the dominant reality of their lives, as the point of their lives.

And so he threw the full force of the Roman Empire against them.

His persecution was horrendous.

He would have Christians laid out on the ground, have a horse attached to each arm and leg, and get the horses whipped so the horses would bolt and limbs would be ripped from torso.

And then the crowds would watch the person die in agony.

Some others, he would have them holes drilled into their skulls and molten lead poured in on their brains and watch them die that way.

Others were mercifully thrown to the lions and torn apart.

It was quicker.

This is what these Christians are facing.

And yet, they faced it with fortitude, with peace, and even joy.

How did they do that?

Because it is a historical fact they did.

It's a historical fact that lives throughout the whole Roman Empire were changed when Christians died this way with fortitude, peace, and joy.

And others wanted to know, how is it that you can live and die like that?

How is that possible?

Historical fact.

This, in fact, was written about Christians not long after Domitian's reign, but it was about Domitian's reign.

This is a Roman writer.

They loved everyone.

They loved everyone, but by everyone they are persecuted.

They are unknown, and yet they are condemned.

They are put to death, and yet they are brought to life.

They are poor, and yet they make many rich.

They're in need of everything, and yet they are bound in everything.

They are dishonored, and yet they are glorified in their dishonor.

They are slandered, and yet they are vindicated.

They are cursed, and yet they bless.

They're insulted, and yet they offer respect.

And when they do good, they are punished as evildoers.

When they are punished, they rejoice as if they are somehow brought to life.

And so Christians, when punished, daily increase more and more.

That is, the might of the greatest empire in the world could not stop them.

So how did they do that?

How did they live and die like that?

Well, it's because they were captivated by the cosmic king.

Revelation 1 was so important for them, and it's important for us.

It reminds these suffering Christians who is, in fact, the dominant reality of their life,

the cosmic king, Jesus Christ.

Have a look at how he is described here.

Verse 4.

Him who was and who is to come.

Verse 5.

Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Verse 6.

The one to whom power and glory belong forever.

And then we have in verse 8.

I am.

This is Jesus' declaration.

I am the alpha and the omega who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.

Verse 8 there is one of the most comprehensive statements in the entire Bible of the divinity of Jesus,

of exactly who he is.

During his ministry years, he consistently made these sorts of claims, claiming that he, in fact, was God himself.

It's claims that no other religious leader has ever claimed.

You know, Buddha, Muhammad, others have claimed to speak on behalf of the divine.

None of them dared to take the step of actually declaring that they were, in fact, the divine, that they were, in fact, the God, the almighty, the creator.

Now, I don't have time this morning to unpack all of that.

In fact, I do have time, but you don't have time for me to unpack all of that for us today.

Other times we do, and we will again into the future.

But I want you to know that this church here at St. Paul's, if you're watching me online, this church here at St. Paul's exists,

that you might grapple with that claim of who Jesus is.

It is so, so essential for you to understand who Jesus is.

And we would be delighted.

In fact, our missions team, I'd be delighted.

Our missions team would be delighted to lead you through exploring this claim and the many other claims of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith.

We want you to know him.

And so please send us an email.

Get in contact with us.

Our missions team, Adrian, would be very glad to pursue that with you.

But Jesus describes himself here as the Alpha and the Omega.

That is, that's the first letter and the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

He is, as we see a little bit later in chapter 1, he describes the beginning and the end.

He's the first and the last.

The Bible tells us that he existed before the universe was formed and he is its creator.

He is, if you like, the starting point of all that is.

He is the origin of all that is.

As the beginning of the Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 1, in the beginning was God.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

When all things started, God was already there.

Now, every single one of us has a starting point.

I don't mean, you know, your birthday.

I'm not referring to that.

I mean your starting point.

The starting point of life, of how life came to be.

How we exist.

The starting point of existence and how we derive our life and our meaning and our purpose from that starting point.

It's the beginning point from which we explain the world as it is.

What's your starting point?

We've all got one.

What is your starting point?

Whatever your starting point is, it will fundamentally determine how you live.

And especially it will determine how you handle tough times in life.

Secularism declares there is no divine starting point.

It declares that everything that exists now started because of a random act, random collision of atoms and stuff and gas.

And so therefore, all life as it exists right now is an accident that happened billions of years ago.

And life, existence, is therefore a collection of events and chaos.

It's the only explanation of life that they have.

There is no meaning.

There is no purpose.

If you want to be a true secularist.

And it means therefore that we are left to our own devices to determine our own path, our own meaning, our own purpose.

Everything is subject to the elements in which we exist.

We cannot plan on a future whatsoever.

And therefore, we live, we breathe, we die, we're gone, and that's it.

So you better make the most of it right now.

And so in Western society, personal happiness is the highest goal of life.

Because there's nothing else.

I might as well enjoy while the earth spins and I stand on it.

And so there is therefore no explanation for hard times.

There's no way to endure hard times.

Because it's not the purpose of life.

If, however, there is a creator at the beginning, then it's essential that we discover his truth, his purpose, his meaning.

And we are told here that Jesus Christ is the starting point.

He's the starting point.

We're also told here that he is the end point.

He is the omega as well.

He created the universe.

And the universe is orientated towards him as the starting point and the end point.

He has built everything for him and around him.

All things are for his glory.

All things are for his knowledge.

All things are for his service.

We are built for him.

And as long as we connect our life, our existence, our understanding with him, there is hope.

He didn't just start history, but all of history is rushing towards him.

So what we think our starting point and our end point are will determine how we live now.

And Christianity declares that if Jesus Christ is your starting point and he is your end point,

and an end point that I must add never actually ends, it goes on living with him forever,

then he is your point now.

He is the point.

And the good news here is that the source of all our hope and life and meaning and purpose

is not just a cosmic king who rules, but he's a cosmic king who rules and is present.

He's close.

He's not a distant divine being.

This cosmic king is close.

He's approachable.

And this is good news for the imprisoned John, for the persecution Christians in the Roman Empire,

and for Christians around this world in a thousand hard places right now.

It's good news for the suffering, for those who are tired, for those who are weary,

for those who are running out of steam, for those who are confused, disheartened,

for those who are disenfranchised, for those who are insecure.

We need to see Jesus Christ, the risen, ascended, cosmic king, as ruling and present.

So, in verse 12, John turns to see whose voice it was that sounded like a trumpet in verse 10.

Verse 20 tells us the interpretation of what he saw in that moment.

And that is, what he saw was the cosmic king standing in amongst the churches, standing right in the churches.

He's not just merely as a king over the churches.

He's not distant away from it.

He's not standing outside the churches.

He is right there in the middle of his church.

Now, I'll unpack this probably next week.

But the idea of seven churches, he's not just a promise here for seven churches.

The number seven in the book of Revelation is complete.

So, the idea here is that he is amongst his church, his global worldwide church.

And John saw, according to verse 13, one like a son of man.

In Daniel chapter 7, it's a reference to Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 to 14.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention Daniel 7:13–14

The term son of man or one like a son of man refers to a great ruler.

So, when John says that he saw one like a son of man standing in the middle of the lampstands,

he means he saw someone with dominion and glory and kingly power.

The one who stands amongst the churches is the one who received from the ancient of days

a reference to God himself, dominion and glory and kingdom rule and power and authority in heaven and on earth.

That is, all of God's divine rule has been given to this one like the son of man.

And in verse 13, we also see this son of man was dressed in a robe,

reaching down to his feet and with a gold sash around his chest.

Now, the robe here is similar to the robe in the Old Testament,

where it is almost always refers to the robe of the high priest.

So, Jesus is not just the son of man as the cosmic king.

He's not just the son of man from Daniel 7,

who receives everlasting dominion and rule over all nations and time and eternity.

We also see that he is the final high priest who brings all of the work of the temple to an end.

He is the almighty cosmic king who mediates between humanity and God.

And he does that, as we see in verse 5,

by giving his own blood.

He gave his own blood once and for all to put away sin once and for all,

the sacrifice of himself.

This is a king who gives of himself.

These early Christians willingly put their lives on the line

and some of them died horrible deaths

because Jesus, the cosmic king, gave his life for them.

And verse 5 says,

To him who loves us.

He loves them.

In fact, in the original language, it is in the present tense.

He loves them now.

He loves you now.

In the present, right here, right now.

They are so blessed because this cosmic king,

in complete comparison to Domitian,

gave his own life for them.

And he has freed us from our sins by his blood.

Verse 5.

Those who sin, those who live life as if they are their own little Domitians,

set themselves up as the cosmic kings,

making everything, making them the point of all of life.

The Bible declares deserve to die eternally.

But Jesus steps in as the high priest,

the cosmic high priest who dies on the altar for our sin.

He cancels our obligation to pay the penalty for our sins against God

so that we might be reconciled with God and live with him forever.

See, the blood of Jesus frees people from lust and greed and pride and anger

and every other enslaving sin that makes us, me, you, the point of life.

The blood of Jesus breaks the power of canceled sin.

He is the loving, sacrificial, cosmic king.

And in verse 14,

John describes his eyes were like blazing fire.

You see, the eyes of this son of man, this cosmic king,

are not the clouded eye of fading glory.

It's not like this Jesus is from another world,

from times past.

He's not on the wrong side of history.

His eyes are the eyes of sharpest clarity and purification.

They miss nothing that happens in his universe from time and eternity.

They're exploding with energy.

We all know, I'm assuming you know,

but I just declare you all know,

the dripping eye that's about to sleep,

you know, about to drive off to sleep,

and the resentful eye and the grumpy eye

and the half-shut scowl and the bad mood eye.

You can look in someone's eye and you know when you've ticked them off.

We all know what it is.

But we also know the eye that is alive with wonder and excitement

and hope and expectancy and energy

and Jesus' eyes were like a flaming fire.

Know today,

2,000 years after John saw this vision,

that Jesus is God,

he is on the throne,

he is as alive then as he is today.

He is the cosmic king,

he's not tired,

he's not burnt out,

he's not fatigued,

he's not scrambling for answers.

His eyes are aflame

with the flashing fire of inexhaustible energy

and hope and love.

He sees everything that will be

and has been.

Nothing takes him by surprise,

nothing can make him love you less

or love you more.

When Jesus thinks about his plans for you,

when he thinks about his plans for this church

and for this country

and for Christians all across the globe,

beyond this day,

he's not hesitant,

he's not tired,

he's not bored,

he's not scrambling for answers.

His eyes are aflame of fire

with utter exhilaration

and passion and enthusiasm

for the work that he began

2,000 years ago on the cross

and will bring to completion

when he comes with the clouds,

as we are told here in Revelation 1.

It will go ahead,

nothing will hinder it

and it excites him.

Let me tell you,

this year I have been tired

because I don't know the future.

constantly making decisions

and changing and shifting

and when I think about

what St. Paul's needs to do next,

I get tired thinking about it.

Not Jesus.

Not Jesus.

Now friends,

if you haven't quite grappled with it yet,

this is a worldview-shaping passage.

Worldview-shaping passages.

Now there are two ways

to approach God.

Really only two ways

you can approach God.

Either he is

the means to your end

or he's the end

and everything else

is the means.

And religion

is one way

to approach God

as the means

to your end.

religion is doing

certain things

in order

for God

to do

certain things

for you.

I loved watching

Flora's video

this morning

and seeing

the work of God

in her life

and the transformation

of needing

to be a good student

to someone

who now rests

in the sovereign grace

of this Lord Jesus Christ.

Love to see that.

In the past

I've described

religion

as treating God

like a cosmic

vending machine.

You put in

your offerings

your sacrifices

in the hope

that God

will spit out

what it is

that you truly value.

What is

your true point

in life?

So in other words

you use him

to get to your point

and inevitably

the point

has something

to do with us

gaining our glory

for ourselves

in some way.

In one way

or another

it becomes

about us

being little

Domitians.

The other way

to approach God

is to see

that it's all

about him

that he is

in fact

the cosmic king

and we discover

our point

we discover

our joy

we discover

our freedom

when we pursue

him

surrender

to him

and so my last

call here

is for us

to worship

to know

and to serve

the cosmic king.

Our cosmic king

is not just a ruler

he's a loving

relational ruler

as I've said

and when John

gets this vision

of Jesus

here

what we see

is he falls

to the ground

as though

he is dead.

That is

what we see here

is

it's a position

of submission

it's a position

of worship

Jesus Christ

is

to be

worshipped

he's not

the means

to your end

he is

the end

he is

the omega

he's

the starting

point of your

life

he's

the point

of your

life

every human

being

has the

choice

of either

living life

as little

Domitians

or surrendering

to the true

cosmic king

secondly

Jesus

wants you

to know

him

I think

this is

really important

for everyone

and I want

to say

particularly

for those

of you

who are

Christians

and really

struggling

with it

right now

this year

has just

put you

on tender

hooks

and you're

really struggling

to follow

him

what happens

here is

God gives

John

on the

island

of Patmos

a revelation

and this

revelation

is not

just for

John

this word

is not

just for

John

we are

told

in verse

11

write on

a scroll

what you

see

and send

it to the

seven

churches

see the

point of

John

writing it

down

is to

transmit

to the

seven

churches

and ultimately

to us

the experience

that John

had

of seeing

Jesus

that's the

point

now can you

imagine John

sitting on the

island of

Patmos

suffering

breaking rocks

in the

quarry as an

old bloke

every bit of

him hurting

and he gets

his vision

of the

cosmic

reigning

Jesus

how much

his soul

must have

lifted at

that point

and John

wants us

to see

what he

sees

he appears

to John

and says

write in a

book

what you

see

and send

it to the

seven

churches

John

gets the

vision

we get

the

book

that's

the

point

he

wants

us

this

cosmic

king

wants

us

to

come

to

him

through

his

word

to

us

he

wants

us

to

seek

him

in

his

word

he

wants

to

know

him

by

his

word

he

wants

us

to

gaze

on

him

and

all

of

his

majesty

in

his

word

to

steadily

gaze

until

the

point

that our

hearts

are

lifted

and we

feel

deeply

encouraged

he wants

us to

know how

blessed we

are to

call this

cosmic king

our friend

our lord

so I

want to

ask you

what

would

it

look

like

for

this

Jesus

to

become

the

point

of

your

life

the

dominant

reality

in

your

life

what

would

it

look

like

for

the

things

of

the

bible

his

word

to

us

where

we

get

to

gaze

on

him

constantly

where

we

find

out

the

way

things

truly

are

to

have

his

world

view

as

the

creator

and

the

purpose

of

all

life

and

existence

what

would

it

look

like

to

have

the

things

of

the

bible

to

be

more

real

for

you

than

the

news

media

than

what

you

watch

on

television

than

for

the

internet

and

social

media

what

would

it

look

like

for

his

narrative

to

dominate

your

life

more

so

than

academics

from

universities

and their

opinion

on

world

view

what

would

it

look

like

for

the

scriptures

for

God's

word

to

you

to

dominate

your

world

view

and

to

be

the

point

of

interpretation

of

all

things

I

want

to

ask

you

as

I've

already

done

are

you

losing

heart

are

you

weak

because

you

aren't

commuting

with

is it

because

you're

not

commuting

with

him

in

his

word

in

this

season

this

year

which

world

view

which

narrative

grand

narrative

has

dominated

your

daily

existence

I want

to speak

to you

particularly

if you're

at home

watching

from

this

I'm

not

speaking

to you

if

you've

got a

particular

medical

issue

I want

to

specifically

point

out

those

who

just

finding

right

now

it's

just

a

whole

lot

easier

to

do

church

at

home

just

don't

want

to

do

that

battle

anymore

it's

much

more

comfortable

convenient

to sit

on the

lounge

with a

cup of

coffee

in my

pajamas

and do

church

which

world

view

is

dominating

your

reality

right

now

who

is

the

king

over

your

life

right

now

thirdly

as the

cosmic

king

Jesus

Christ

also

wants

us

to

serve

him

whatever

dominates

your

life

whatever

is

your

starting

point

your

end

point

whatever

is

your

point

whatever

it

is

that

you're

putting

your

offerings

in

the

cosmic

vending

machine

whatever

it is

that

you're

grabbing

at the

bottom

as

your

point

whatever

it

is

it

will

require

you

to

sacrifice

everything

for

it

Jesus

is

no

different

but

he's

the

only

king

the

only

point

who

has

first

served

us

and

given

everything

to

us

and

so

our

service

of

him

is

always

freedom

in

verse

6

we

read

Jesus

has

freed

us

from

our

sin

and

made

us

a

kingdom

and

priests

to

serve

his

God

and

father

that

verse

is

an

allusion

to

the

moment

when

God's

people

were

gathered

at

Mount

Sinai

to

meet

with

God

to

hear

his

law

to

receive

it

and

to

enter

into

covenant

relationship

with

him

and

God

reminded

them

in

that

moment

that

he

had

freed

them

from

slavery

in

the

same

way

we

are

reminded

here

that

we

are

freed

from

sin

and

then

in

Exodus

19

he

describes

his

people

as

a

kingdom

of

priests

that

is

Israel's

role

as

he

saved

rescued

people

was

to

make

God

known

to

the

world

and

to

bring

the

world

to

the

sacrifices

that

would

free

them

from

their

sin

through

blood

Israel's

life

together

was

to

display

the

glory

and

the

goodness

of

God's

reign

over

their

life

if

you're

a

Christian

you

belong

to

Jesus

we

are

his

people

as

the

church

and

our

allegiance

is

to

him

our

life

together

is

to

attract

people

to

him

we

are

to

bring

people

to

the

sacrifice

the

only

sacrifice

that

frees

us

from

our

biggest

problem

sin

we

are

to

bring

people

to

Jesus

death

on

the

cross

for

them

proclaiming

the

good

news

of

the

benevolent

cosmic

king

who

offers

us

life

forever

with

him

is

central

to

the

mission

of

this

church

and

as

just

not

just

in

the

past

but

as

we

move

forward

into

the

future

we

are

in

the

service

of

the

cosmic

king

and

therefore

that

proclamation

of that

good

news

is

central

to

your

identity

as

one

of

his

children

we

are

to

herald

his

return

and

his

priestly

service

by

making

by

that

that's

not

easy

in

our

generation

it

seems

to

be

getting

harder

we

face

misunderstanding

apathy

even

hostility

Christians

are

regarded

as

people

from

another

era

wrong

side

of

history

and

yet

we

serve

the

cosmic

king

who

has

all

of

history

in

his

hands

the

encouragement

here

is that

despite

the

difficulty

that

you're

facing

in

your

life

despite

progress

in

your

own

conquering

of

sin

and

dealing

with

sin

is

slow

despite

the

movement

against

the

gospel

and

the

church

Jesus

is

with

his

church

now

with

his

church

he is

with

us

he is

the

son of

man

who

reigns

with

dominion

over

all

that

is

he

reigns

over

secularism

he

reigns

over

Islam

he

reigns

over

communism

he

reigns

over

everything

every

individual

that sets

up

against

him

he's

the

one

with

power

over

all

that

is

both

seen

and

unseen

and

so

friends

I want

to

encourage

you

whatever

your

position

is

right

now

to

gaze

upon

Jesus

and let

his

royal

power

and his

priestly

forgiveness

and his

fiery

hope

his fiery

hope

fill you

with confidence

afresh

that

treasuring

Jesus

is never

ever

a vanity

I

got to

say

I

was

bursting

this

morning

both

the

early

service

and

this

one

as

we

sang

crown

him

with

many

crowns

I'm

so

grateful

for

our

teams

our

corporate

worship

team

here

and what

they do

in working

to just

lift our

hearts

to Jesus

they

certainly

did it

for me

this

morning

even

though

I

couldn't

sing

I

was

bursting

so

all

that

could

happen

was

I

burst it

out of

my

eyes

instead

if it

wasn't

coming

out

of

my

mouth

but

those

words

all

hail

redeemer

hail

for

you

have

died

for

me

your

praise

and

glory

will

never

fail

for

all

eternity

let

every

throne

before

him

fall

come

to the

cosmic

king

and

worship

and

serve

and

love

him