Holiday Club Family Service

Well, we're going to begin our worship by singing to God's praise.

We're going to sing in Psalm 34, verse 7 to 11, the Sing Psalms version.

Psalms 34:7–11

I'm going to sing from verse 7 to 11.

The angel of the Lord surrounds and guards continually all those who fear and honour him.

He sets his people free.

And then verse 11, it reminds us of what we come together for today.

Come here, my children, gather round and listen to my word, and I will help you understand how you may fear the Lord.

So we're going to sing, we'll stand to sing verse 7 to 11 to God's praise.

The angel of the Lord surrounds and guards continually

All those who fear and honour him, he sets his people free.

Come, taste and see the Lord is good, who trusts in him, is blessed.

Oh, fear the Lord, you saints with need, you will not be oppressed.

Young lions may grow weak and faint and hunger for their food,

But those who wait upon the Lord will not lack any good.

Come here, my children, gather round and listen to my word,

And I will help you understand how you may fear the Lord.

I will join together in prayer just now.

Let us pray.

Our Father in heaven, as we gather in your name today,

We are thankful for this great privilege that we have,

That we are able to come and sing praise to you,

That we are able to come and hear you and your words speaking to us.

And as we read and as we sing and as we do all of these things,

May we know your peace and your blessing over us,

And your help and your strength in all that we do.

We do thank you for this time of family service after a holiday club week.

We thank you for all that was done during the week,

And we have so much to be thankful for,

For all who helped, for all who came along,

For all that was done.

But above all, Lord, that you were with us,

That you were in the midst of it all.

And we pray that you will bless us,

Young and old alike,

To know that joy that you are able to give.

To know that as we see so many athletes in these weeks,

Just now of the Olympics in Paris,

Striving for a gold medal,

But so many are left disappointed.

We thank you that when we come and follow you,

That you never leave us disappointed,

But that you give us that sense of real joy,

Your real presence with us,

And that we are encouraged to look to Jesus,

And follow you with all of our hearts.

And so we give you thanks, O Lord,

For all your goodness to us,

And we ask that as we go on,

Even in this week ahead,

That you will be with us in our homes,

And in our families,

In our communities.

Bless every family here,

Present,

And also tuning in online.

We give you thanks for each one,

And know that there are many going through different needs,

And different challenges at this time.

And so we pray for each one who needs you in different ways,

Times of sadness and sorrow,

Times of sickness,

Times of worry and anxiety.

We do pray, Lord,

For so many who go through these times just now,

And pray that your blessing,

Your peace might be upon them.

And so we ask, Lord,

That as we continue to worship you just now,

That you will guide us in your word,

Guide us in your truth,

Help it to be a light for our lives,

That we would see you and your glory,

The beauty of Jesus,

And that we would come and follow him,

With all of our hearts.

So look down upon us,

Bless us throughout this day,

Be with us,

As we gather for worship this evening as well.

Remember, Kenny I,

As he comes to preach to us,

Pull them and strengthen him in that,

And that throughout this day and in all our days,

We would know your goodness and mercy following us.

So hear our prayers,

And continue with us at this time,

Pardoning all our sin,

As we ask all in Jesus' precious name.

Amen.

I want us to read a few verses together.

Now if you're at the holiday club,

You'll recognize these verses.

It's in Luke chapter 6,

Luke 6 · chapter mention

And we're reading at verse 46 to verse 49.

You'll find this on page 3,

Of the little leaflets you have.

I'm just going to read these few verses together.

Why do you call me Lord, Lord,

And not do what I tell you?

Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them,

I will show you what he is like.

He is like a man building a house,

Who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.

And when a flood arose,

The stream broke against that house,

And could not shake it,

Because it had been well built.

But the one who hears and does not do them,

Is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.

When the stream broke against it,

Immediately it fell,

And the ruin of that house was great.

There we read of the wise and the foolish builder.

And we're going to come back to that in a wee moment.

But I want to say just a few words as a way of introduction just now.

And after this we're going to have a singing.

And if any of the younger ones who maybe want to go to the holiday twinnies,

That's the point that they can go out then.

But we hope that being a family service,

That the majority will be able to stay in.

So who was following the Olympics this week?

Were you tuning in?

Following what was happening?

I don't mean the one in Paris.

I mean the Champions Challenge Olympic Holiday Club

That was taking place here.

With everything that was happening in the hall next door.

We had a great week together.

Doing so many different things.

We had many different events.

We had many different athletes on show.

Some looking more athletic than others.

But a great variety.

And we had crafts and games.

We had medal hunts and drama.

But above all we had,

The central thing was Jesus.

And hearing all about Jesus.

What he has done for us.

And what he does for us.

And every day the different theme was based on Jesus.

And Jesus as a coach.

Jesus as a first aider.

There was a teammate.

There was a substitute.

And then on the Friday we had the champion.

So we're looking at Jesus in all of these different ways.

Now the Paris Olympics, they're still going on.

But in another week they'll come to a close.

And when the Olympics come to a close,

They have a big closing ceremony.

And so today is a little like a closing ceremony.

For our Olympics.

For our week of Olympics.

But I don't want us to be sad.

As things come to an end this week.

I want us to be happy.

Happy about all that we did and all that we heard.

And there was a story we heard on Friday.

About a man called Eric Liddell.

Now he won Olympic gold in Paris.

But it wasn't this week.

It was a hundred years ago.

Back in 1924.

I'm sure many people here are familiar with the film

Chariots of Fire.

Based on the story of Eric Liddell.

And the amazing thing about him was,

He was a Christian who honoured God.

He put God first in everything he did.

So the event he wanted to be in, he wasn't.

And yet he still won gold in the 400 metres.

And it's amazing that a hundred years later,

We're still talking about him.

And thinking about what he did.

How he stood up for his faith.

And I hope that's what it will be like for ourselves

As we come away from our holiday club.

That in years to come,

We will speak about all that we've learned and heard and seen this week.

And go on giving praise and glory to God.

And sharing about the good news of Jesus.

And today we're going to look at some of the highlights of the week.

We're going to look at some of the things,

The passages that we were looking at.

And some of the themes that we were thinking about.

But they're all based around our memory verse.

Now, look up to me just now for a minute.

Who remembers the memory verse?

Do you want to say it with me?

Shall we say it together?

So everybody can hear what we were learning.

Right, let's go.

If anyone would come after me.

He will deny himself.

Take up his cross.

And follow me.

Excellent.

23.

Brilliant.

All remembered.

And there's no words up on the screen anywhere to help you there.

So, well remembered.

That's the verse that was our memory verse for the week.

And as we were going through the week,

the word of God was always central to everything that we were doing.

So we think of the Olympics,

and they have the Olympic flame burning for the whole time

that the Olympics is going on.

That's the way it was for us with God's word.

It was like the word of God was the light in the midst of everything that we were doing.

And there's a psalm that tells us about that.

It's Psalm 119 and verse 105.

It says,

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a lamp to my path.

Do you remember what the craft was on Monday, anybody?

What did we do on Monday?

The torch, wasn't it?

The Olympic torch.

Well, look what I've got here.

Do you remember seeing this during the week?

Yeah?

Well, the rest of people here who weren't at the holiday club wouldn't have seen this.

This is an Olympic torch.

And on the top of it is where the fire goes.

So this is a real Olympic torch.

And we think of that, it's the fire that keeps burning.

And we want to think of Jesus as that fire, that light to the world that keeps burning.

We were singing one of the songs, and it was,

Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning.

And that's what we were looking at during the week.

And we were so thankful that as Jesus was with us during the week,

He was keeping us going and keeping us looking to His word and encouraging us through it.

All around that sense of following Jesus, denying ourselves, and following Him.

And so we're going to look at three different things to help us understand what that means.

But before we do, we're going to sing.

We're going to think about three things.

Listen, look, and live.

That's the three things we're going to look at today.

But before we come to the first one, we're going to sing Psalm 145.

Again, let's sing Psalm's version, Psalm 145.

And we'll sing from verse 15 to 21.

And as I say, during this singing, if any of the younger ones would like to go out to tweenies,

you can do so during this singing.

All eyes are raised expectantly to you, and in due season you supply their food.

You open wide your hand to all that live and satisfy their needs with what is good.

We'll sing from verse 15 to 21 to God's praise.

All eyes are raised expectantly to you, and in due season you supply their food.

You open wide your hand to all that live and satisfy their needs with what is good.

The Lord is just and good in all his ways.

He shows his love to all that he has made.

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call in through to him for aid.

The hopes of those who fear him he fulfills.

He hears their cry, saves them from distress.

The Lord protects all those who love his name.

But slays all those who practice wickedness.

My lips will frame a psalm of thanks to God.

My mouth will speak forever in his praise.

Let every creature magnify the Lord.

And praise his holy name now and always.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, I want us to think about our first part this morning together.

We're thinking of listening.

Listening on Monday, we're thinking about the coach and how we have to listen to the coach.

That's the first part of what we're looking at together today, the idea of listening.

And this is based on that reading that we had together in Luke chapter 6, the one who built

Luke 6 · chapter mention

his house upon the rock and the one who built his house upon the sand, the ground without

foundation.

Now, a good number of years ago in Glasgow, there was a preacher who was preaching at Glasgow

Green.

Glasgow Green is a big park in Glasgow and it's quite near to the river there, the river Clyde.

And he was preaching about the gospel, about Jesus.

And after he'd finished preaching, there was a man in the crowd who stood up and wanted to speak.

And so they let him speak.

And what he started to say was that he didn't believe anything that the preacher had said.

He was saying, I don't believe in heaven.

I don't believe in judgment.

I don't believe in anything of these things.

It's not true.

And I don't believe in God, he said.

I've never seen him.

I can't believe in God.

And then he sat down.

And then another man got up.

And he started to speak.

And he started to speak in a funny way.

He said, I don't believe that there's a river near here.

I've never seen it.

I don't believe that it's there.

And he said, you tell me that there are trees and grass all around us here.

I don't believe it.

I've never seen them.

And he said, you see that there are people all around me here.

There's a large crowd.

I said, I don't believe it.

And he said, you maybe wonder how I can say these things or why I'm saying these things.

You must think that I'm daft.

But then he went on to say, you know why I can say these things?

It's because I'm blind.

I can't see anything with my eyes.

But he said, but I know God.

And I know that God is real.

And looking at the first man who had spoken, he said to him, you cannot see him because you're spiritually blind.

But he said, there is a God.

And you need him.

Who of these two men would you listen to?

There was one who was wise.

And there was one who was foolish.

Well, that's exactly what Jesus is speaking about here as he speaks about these two men.

One who built his house upon the rock and one who built his house upon the ground with no foundation.

He was speaking to a large crowd here.

And as he was speaking, he was speaking to them in this way that they were to listen to what he was saying.

But he was saying, you call me Lord, Lord, and yet you don't listen.

And this week when we were thinking of Jesus as the coach, we needed to listen to Jesus as the coach.

But these people were saying like, yes, coach, yes, coach.

But they weren't doing anything that they were being told.

And so he describes it in this way.

He uses the illustration of these two builders.

And the question behind it all is, are we listening to Jesus today?

Are we listening to what he says?

One of these builders was wise.

Where did he build his house?

What did he build it on?

Do you remember what we were thinking about during the week?

Where did the wise man build his house?

Upon the rock, wasn't it?

And where did the foolish man, silly Billy as we was called, where did he build his house?

On the sand.

So who was wise?

Who was foolish?

He was wise, wasn't he?

One built upon the rock.

He was wise.

Because as Jesus describes here, when the flood came, the only house that stood was the one that was built on the rock.

The one that was built on the sand just got washed away.

And the Bible often speaks about wise and foolish people.

In Psalm 14, for example, in verse 1, it says there,

The fool says in his heart, what?

There is no God.

Like that man at Glasgow Green who stood up to say that, I can't believe in God.

I've never seen him.

He's a fool.

That's what the Bible says.

The fool says in his heart, there is no God.

But the wise, we build our house upon the rock.

The rock, that is Jesus.

We listen to the coach.

And in Ephesians chapter 5, it says,

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time.

That's encouraging us to listen to Jesus, make the best use of the time.

So it's so important for us that as we come to worship God and to learn about him,

that we do that first and foremost, that we listen to what he is saying.

As Jesus says here,

You call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you.

It's like listening to the coach and just going and doing your own thing.

It's foolish.

But let's be wise and listen to the coach.

Listen to Jesus.

Listen to what he's saying to us as he says,

Come and follow me.

Deny yourself.

Take up your cross and follow me.

So are we listening to the coach?

Are we listening to Jesus today?

That's the first thing that we're thinking about, that we were thinking about during the week.

Well, to help us further look at this, we want to think about what he does for us.

And we want to read again.

We're going to read our next reading, which is in Luke chapter 23.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

And this is at verse 39 to verse 47.

There's so many different parts that we could read for what Jesus has done for us.

So many things that we thought about during the week.

But I think the best place to read about Jesus and what he has done for us

is to think about Jesus at the cross.

And so we're thinking of him here in verse 39.

Here Jesus has been put on the cross to die for his people.

And either side of them, there's two criminals who are also being put to death.

And in verse 39, it says,

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying,

Are you not the Christ?

Save yourself and us.

But the other rebuked him, saying,

Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds.

But this man has done nothing wrong.

And he said,

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

And he said to him,

Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

And we read on,

It was now about the sixth hour,

and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,

while the sun's light failed.

And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said,

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

And having said this, he breathed his last.

Now, when the centurion saw what had taken place,

he praised God, saying,

Certainly, this man was innocent.

Well, we want to think about Jesus now and what he has done for us.

And in this way, we're thinking about looking to Jesus.

We want to listen to him first of all,

but now we want to look and see what he has done for us.

When Jesus was in this world,

so many people saw him.

So many people saw him doing amazing things.

And during the week, we were thinking of some of them.

As we look through the Bible,

you see many different things that Jesus did for his people.

As we had the sporting theme this week,

we were thinking of people who get injured in sport,

and they need the first aider to come on and to help them.

And we saw a story of how Jesus healed a Roman centurion's servant

who was unwell.

Jesus did amazing things.

We heard how Jesus fed more than 5,000 people in one sitting.

And it was an amazing miracle that happened there.

And there are so many other accounts of what Jesus did for people

in different places, how he healed, how he helped,

how he did amazing things.

But what so often amazed people was the things that he said.

His teaching, his preaching.

People marveled at it.

They saw these words that he was saying.

They were thinking, this is astonishing.

This is amazing, the things that he is telling us.

And he was telling them about what he had come to do to help them.

We see us all as sinners as we are,

but he came to help us.

Our greatest injury is sin.

But he has come to help us.

And the most amazing place to look and see what Jesus has done for us

and how much he loved us is this place where we read of Jesus on the cross

as he died for our sins.

And so many people were looking on and seeing Jesus on the cross.

And on either side of him were these two criminals.

And one looked at him and mocked.

He was joking at Jesus, saying things like,

if you are the Christ, save yourself and us.

He didn't realize who he was.

He didn't understand who he was.

But the other looked and pleaded with him.

He saw that this man was innocent.

He's done nothing wrong.

And then he said these amazing words.

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Amazing words from that criminal.

Remember me.

And even more amazing is what Jesus said to him.

Truly I say to you today,

you will be with me in paradise.

In the midst of the darkness of the cross,

we are reminded of why Jesus came.

He came to save.

He is our substitute.

He went in our place.

What we couldn't do ourselves,

he did for us.

He died on the cross.

That for all who believe in him,

we might have life through him.

A little boy once came to his father

and jumped up on his knee and sat on his knee.

And he asked him a question.

He said to him,

Dad, is your soul insured?

Now, what's your soul, first of all?

Well, your soul is our life,

our very being.

It's something we can't see,

but it's what keeps us alive.

What God has given to us all,

the breath of life,

is like our soul.

It makes us understand and think

and live and breathe.

God has given us a soul.

And insurance is something you put in place

so that if anything happens,

you're not left without.

So if you crash your car,

for example,

you don't lose out if you're insured.

You get your money back

because it's insured.

And so this is what was troubling this little boy.

He came to his father and says,

Dad, is your soul insured?

And his father asked,

Where's this question come from?

Why do you ask that question?

And the boy said,

Well, I heard Uncle John speaking

and he was saying that you have your house insured,

that you have all your barns insured,

that you have your life insured,

but he was worried

that you didn't have your soul insured.

And he was afraid that you would lose it.

And the father was shocked

because he had a big house.

He had lots of land and barns.

He had all of these things.

He had insurance to look after his family

if anything happened to him.

But the one thing that was most needed

was his soul to be insured.

And it wasn't

because he didn't trust in Jesus.

And through that little boy asking that question,

he began to think about this.

What was important in life?

What was the most precious thing?

It wasn't his barns and his land and his house.

It was his soul.

And he began to realize,

Jesus is the only insurance I need.

And so he put his trust in Jesus.

And as we look at the cross,

we see how Jesus is our insurance,

how he is our guarantee,

how because he died on the cross,

he was our substitute there.

And if we put our trust in him,

our soul,

our life is safe

for now

and for eternity.

Another little story.

There was a little girl

who was very unwell.

And she had a very serious illness

that meant that she needed to get

a blood transfusion.

That's her own blood wasn't healthy,

so she needed other blood

put into her body.

But it couldn't just be any blood.

It needed to be a particular kind of blood.

It needed to be from someone

who had had this illness before

and who had recovered.

And it needed to be the same type of blood

as hers.

And she had a little brother.

A brother who had had the same illness

and who had the same blood as her.

And so the doctor came and sat with the little boy

and said,

your sister's not well

and we need your blood to help her.

And he asked,

will you give her your blood?

And the little boy nearly started crying.

He was sitting there

thinking about this question.

Will you give your sister your blood?

And then he said,

yes.

I'll give my sister my blood

if it'll make her better.

And so they were taken into the operating room

and they were both put on beds

beside each other.

And they looked at each other.

The little girl was weak and frail.

The boy was strong and healthy.

And the boy smiled at his sister.

And as the nurse then started to take blood

from the little boy,

his smile started to disappear.

And he started to look quite sad.

And after a little while,

when it was nearly done,

he asked the doctor a question.

He said,

Doctor,

when do I die?

And the doctor realized then

that he hadn't explained fully

what giving blood meant.

It was only to give blood

to help his sister.

Not that he would die.

But he thought

by giving his blood to his sister,

he would die himself.

And the amazing thing is,

he was willing to do it.

Because his sister

was so precious to him.

Well, the little boy

didn't die.

They both survived

and lived.

But when we look

at the cross,

when we think of Jesus

there on the cross,

he gave

his blood

for us.

He died

for us.

We needed

a substitute.

And he was the only one

who could come

in our place.

And he gave

his life

for us.

Isn't that amazing?

That he would do that

for you

and for me.

So there was

the sad bit.

When we think of

Jesus

dying

on the cross.

But

it doesn't

end there.

And we want

to just think about

one more thing.

And we want to read

again

together

in Luke

Luke 24 · chapter mention

chapter 24.

The next

chapter along.

you find

this on

page 6

and 7.

We're reading

two different

parts

of it.

It's all

about the

story of

the two

on the road

to Emmaus.

An amazing

story.

But we'll just

read a part

of it.

So this is

after

Jesus

had been

put to

death.

It's the

third day.

And people

have started

talking about

Jesus.

That he

is risen.

But then

we come

alongside

these two

on the road

to Emmaus.

That very

day two

of them

were going

to a

village

named

Emmaus

about

seven

miles

from

Jerusalem.

And they

were talking

with each

other about

all these

things that

had happened.

While they

were talking

and discussing

together

Jesus himself

drew near

and went

with them.

But their

eyes were

kept from

recognizing him.

Then we

jump to

verse 28.

So they

drew near

to the

village to

which they

were going.

He acted

as if he

was going

further.

But they

urged him

strongly saying

stay with

us for

it is

toward evening

and the

day is

now far

spent.

So he

went in

to stay

with them.

When he

was at

the table

with them

he took

the bread

and blessed

and broke

it and gave

it to

them.

And their

eyes were

opened and

they recognized

him and he

vanished from

their sight.

They said

to each

other,

did not

our hearts

burn within

us while

he talked

to us on

the road,

while he

opened to

us the

scriptures?

And they

rose that

same hour

and returned

to Jerusalem.

And they

found the

eleven and

those who

were with

them gathered

together saying

the Lord

has risen

indeed and

he has

appeared to

Simon.

Then they

told what

had happened

on the road

and how

he was

known to

them in

the breaking

of bread.

An amazing

story of

how Jesus

came and

appeared to

these two

on the road

to Emmaus.

Now after

the cross,

after Jesus

died, his

body was

placed in

a tomb.

But on the

third day,

there was no

sign of

his body.

Those who

had followed

Jesus, they

were heart

broken.

Jesus died

on the

cross.

cross.

But that

wasn't the

end.

You see, they

hadn't listened

properly to

all that

Jesus had

said.

If they

had listened,

they would

have known

that he

died, we

would die,

but that on

the third

day, he

would rise

again.

What's the

biggest surprise

you've ever

had?

Maybe you

walk into a

room and you

see a

spider.

You get a

surprise, you're

frightened, you

get a shock.

It could be

a shock

result in

athletics or

football or

something like

that.

It leaves you

surprised.

Does anybody

remember this

from Friday?

Second place,

that's what I

got in a

two-man race.

Do you

remember who

beat me?

Anybody

remember who

beat me?

Kenny

I.

Embarrassing,

isn't it?

The right

shock, that.

Just the

two of us

in a race

and he

won.

I mean, my

goodness, come

on.

You get all

kinds of

surprises in

life.

But when we

think about

those who

followed Jesus,

those who

loved Jesus,

when they

thought that

he had died,

the greatest

surprise that

they got was

that Jesus

was alive.

They thought

he had died,

but he was

risen.

And so

they met

him in

different

places.

And it's

highlighted for

us in this

story of two

people traveling

on the road

from Jerusalem

to Emmaus.

They were

heartbroken.

They were

downcast.

They thought

their hope

had gone.

And they

start speaking

with a stranger

as it was

who came

alongside them,

telling him

everything that

had happened

in Jerusalem

and how it

was the third

day and how

they had hoped

that he had

come to save

his people.

And their

hope was

gone.

They were

just so

heartbroken.

But then

Jesus started

to speak to

them.

He started

to open up

the word

to them.

And he

showed them

everything about

the scriptures

in the Old

Testament that

was telling

them about

Jesus and

how he had

to come.

And what

happened to

them?

Instead of

being heartbroken,

they come to

the point where

their heart is

burning.

within them.

They're so

excited.

They're filled

with joy.

Jesus is

alive.

He is

risen.

And we

need to

tell others

about this.

It's an

amazing thing.

And so they

run back.

They run back

to tell their

friends,

we have seen

Jesus.

He is alive.

And they

say, we

know.

He's up

here to

Simon as

well.

And they

were rejoicing.

They were so

glad.

They'd

gone from

being almost

downcast,

beaten,

to being

upbeat and

full of

joy.

There's been

so many

amazing races

in the

Olympics this

week, so

many amazing

events.

Maybe you

saw this

week the

winner of

the men's

triathlon.

He was a

British man

called

Alec E.

And close

to the end

of the

race, he'd

done his

swim, he'd

done his

cycle, and

now he was

doing the

running part

of the race.

He was in

second place

and he was

starting.

He was

really struggling.

He was

finding it

hard going.

And instead

of thinking,

could he get

first, people

started to

wonder, would

he even get

second?

Because he

seemed to

be just

getting slower

and people

were catching

up with him.

But he

didn't give

up.

And he

was saying

afterwards, I

wanted to

cross the

finish line

knowing I'd

given a

hundred

percent.

So he

started to

push himself.

And then he

heard somebody

shouting in

the crowd at

the side, a

man called

Alan Brownlee.

Alan Brownlee,

when the Olympics

were in London

12 years ago,

he won the

gold in the

very same

event.

And he

heard this

man, he

saw this

man shouting

at him, and

he was saying,

keep going,

anything can

happen.

And if

you saw

the race,

you saw

how suddenly

he almost

just started

running faster

and faster.

He went

past the

man who

was in

first place

at that

point, and

he just

seemed to

get ahead

and ahead

and ahead.

And he

went on

to win

gold.

He was

encouraged.

He was

strengthened.

And that's

what God's

word does

for us.

It reminds

us that yes,

there is

sadness and

sorrow that

Jesus had to

die for

our sin.

But there

is also

great joy

that he

has risen.

And in

a book of

the Bible

called

Hebrews,

it says

this,

Hebrews

Hebrews 12:1

chapter 12,

verse 1,

therefore,

since we

are surrounded

by so

great a

cloud of

witnesses,

let us

lay aside

every weight

and sin

which clings

so closely

and let us

run with

endurance the

race that

is set

before us,

looking to

Jesus,

the founder

and perfecter

of our

faith,

who for

the joy

that was

set before

him endured

the cross,

despising the

shame,

and is

seated at

the right

hand of

the throne

of God.

Jesus

encouraged

these two

on the road

to Emmaus.

And we

are surrounded

by people

who encourage

us along

the way

in this

race.

And so

as we

think about

coming away

from our

Olympic week,

let us

encourage

one another.

Let us

see Jesus

as the

champion,

the one

we need

to believe

in with

all our

hearts.

Our memory

verse said,

if anyone

would come

after me,

let him

deny himself,

take up

his cross

daily,

and follow

me.

Wouldn't

be great

if all

of us

go away

from this

week

following

Jesus,

rejoicing,

not heartbroken,

but with

burning hearts,

rejoicing in

Jesus,

and telling

others about

Jesus,

so that the

day will

come when

Jesus will

reward us

all with

the gold

medal,

with the

crown,

for following

him with

all our

heart.

another of

our songs

that we

sang

reminded us

that we

are blessed.

I'm so

blessed,

the song

says,

when I

have you,

Lord.

So let's

come away,

let us

close our

ceremony

today,

let's close

with joy,

because

Jesus is

risen,

he is

our champion,

let us

listen to

him,

let us

look at

what he's

done for

us,

and let

us live

for him

every day.

Let us

pray.

Our

Father in

heaven,

we do give

you thanks

for all that

you have

done for

us,

and how

you speak

to us,

and help

us as we

go from

here today,

to live

for you

with all

our hearts,

as we look

for your

help and

your strength,

your encouragement

in all of

these things,

we ask in

your precious

name,

Amen.

We're going

to conclude

by singing

to God's

praise in

Psalm 146,

Psalm 146,

we're going

to sing from

verse 1 to

verse 6,

it's the

Scottish

Psalter

version,

I'll just

check with

the percent,

I've got two

different,

Scottish

Psalter,

you've got

music,

let's sing

Psalms,

so it's

the Scottish

Psalter on

one thing

and the

sing

Psalms on

the other,

I think

we'd better

go with

what the

presenter has,

so the

presenter has

sing

Psalms,

sorry for

that,

so we'll

sing,

it's Psalm

146,

the sing

Psalms,

I think

it's the

Scottish

Psalter that's

on the

booklet,

but it's

the sing

Psalms the

presenter has,

so we'll

use that,

praise the

Lord my

soul,

O praise

him,

I'll extol

him all

my days,

while I

live to

God my

Saviour from

my heart,

I will

sing praise,

we'll sing

these verses

to God's

praise,

praise the

Lord my

soul,

O praise

him,

I'll

extol

him all

my days,

while I

live to

God my

God my

Saviour,

from my

heart I

will sing

praise,

do not

put your

trust in

princes,

mortal men

who cannot

save,

all their

plans will

come to

nothing,

when they

perish in

the grave,

blessed is

the one

who truly

looks for

help to

Jacob's

God,

blessed is

the one

who places

all his

hope upon

the Lord,

he who

made the

earth and

heaven,

and the

seas with

all their

store,

he who

keeps his

every promise,

through his

faithful

evermore.

After the

benediction,

I'll go to

the main

door,

I think the

children can

go out this

door to my

left here,

and hopefully

as many as

possible can

come through

next door for

a cup of tea

and to see

and hear a

little bit more

from the

children as

to what was

happening in

the holiday

club.

We'll close

just now with

the benediction.

now may

grace,

mercy,

and peace

from God,

Father,

Son,

and Holy

Spirit rest

upon and

abide with

you all now

and forever

more.

Amen.

Amen.