WEBVTT 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.640 Hello, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning in to New Sun Churches Podcast. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:15.359 We're a gospel centered church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.399 May God bless you today through his life-giving word. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:26.079 Let us read responsively from Psalm 147 if you'd respond with the bolder text. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:30.559 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:36.880 For he has made strong the bars of your gates. 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:42.640 He makes peace in your borders. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:48.719 He sends forth his commandment upon the earth. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:59.920 He casts forth his ice like crumbs. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:06.000 He sends out his word and melts them. 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:12.319 He declares his word unto Jacob. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:24.319 Praise the Lord. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:29.120 And let's bow our heads in prayer. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:37.599 Heavenly Father, we now come before you to hear you speak directly to our hearts and our minds. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:43.599 Lord, we give you thanks and praise that we can gather in a warm building amidst the weather. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:50.480 Thank you, Lord, for all the celebrations of Christmas, being with family, being with friends. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:53.599 But Lord, we also acknowledge that Christmas can be hard. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:02:03.680 And we just ask, Lord, whether the distractions we have in our minds right now are good or bad, that they would fall away, and that we would hear your spirit speak directly to our hearts. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:05.840 And I pray us in Jesus' name. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:06.560 Amen. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:08.159 Please be seated. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:22.879 In the I believe it was the third year of our marriage my marriage with Amy, our marriage. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:25.360 Said that really poorly. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:33.199 But um in the third year of our marriage, um, before I met Amy, I bought a brand new car, a Hyundai Lantra. 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:37.840 And when I met her, it was still very much a new car. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.879 Um I did a lot of driving on it, going to places to go rock climbing and that, but it was like a brand new car. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:43.759 Brand new. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:49.759 And then one Christmas, about a week before Christmas, the engine just copped out. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:53.280 It was it was around a three-year-old car, and it just stopped working. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:54.639 The engine completely failed. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:03:03.120 And what happened was that the short block, which is, I believe, the smaller part of the engine, failed, completely just kaput. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:08.000 And it was like this shouldn't have happened for a brand new car. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:13.280 Yes, I just went over the 100k, 100,000 K kilometer mark. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:16.960 Um, but that shouldn't happen in a three-year-old car. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:27.120 And I I would take care of the car, I did all the things that the dealer told me to do, bring it in, get the oil changes, get all the things that they make you do when you buy a new car. 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:31.120 Because then the, if you don't, the warranty becomes void. 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:32.800 And that's how they get you. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:33.759 They get you on that. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:38.400 If you have to always bring it to their dealership, or your warranty becomes void. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:41.199 But I did all that, everything was fine. 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:47.520 But they would not pay or do the work that required to fix the engine. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:52.479 And it came to a point where I had to start fighting them on it and constantly calling them. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:55.439 And then the manager kept avoiding my phone calls. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:58.560 And eventually, eventually, they finally did it. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:01.840 It was basically a Christmas miracle because it happened, I think, Christmas Eve. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:06.960 Maybe he timed it, the manager timed it that way to make me a committed Hyundai driver. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:08.000 He did not. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:14.080 But uh, anyways, sometimes we have a habit of treating God the same way. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:24.480 That if we do certain things, we do this and do this, but then if we fail to do something, we think in our minds the warranty of our salvation is void. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:25.920 It becomes void. 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:34.560 And that might be you here, or you might have a tendency like myself to think that when something happened, when I maybe I do something that I shouldn't have. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.360 And I have to fight against that, and you might have to too. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:42.480 But the thing that is so good about what we're looking at today, we're gonna look at Psalm 147. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:47.360 Uh, there's only a part of it in your bulletin that's printed, but we're gonna look at the whole thing. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:53.120 So that's why it's always helpful to have your Bible with you, because you can get the full scope of the text. 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:55.920 You can look at what happens before and what happens after. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:57.519 But that's what we're gonna do. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:07.199 And the psalm that we're looking at speaks otherwise about this idea of that if you do something, your warranty becomes void with you and God. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:08.160 That's not the case. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:10.879 And the psalm really plays it out well. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:13.199 So if you haven't turned there, please turn there. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:17.279 I'll read the parts that aren't in your bulletin, so don't worry. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:18.399 You'll get them. 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:28.240 And the thing that's interesting about this section of the Psalms, as I mentioned when I preached on Psalm 146 many weeks ago, it's actually wild how many weeks it's been. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:30.639 It feels like it was just a couple of weeks ago. 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:38.000 That these Psalms, there's five Psalms at the end of the book of Psalms, and they are Psalms of Praise. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:48.160 And the people who compiled the book of Psalms, the five books that are within the entire book, were really smart about how they finished the book. 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:52.560 Because when you read through the Psalms, you experience all these emotions. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:06:01.199 Some of them are emotions of great praise, great praise, and other emotions are emotions of very great despair. 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:09.600 But the book ends in great praise, praising God for what he has done in their lives, in the in the psalmist's lives. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:21.839 And that is very wise how they do that, because we can go through life in many good highs and many good lows, many low lows, but we can always praise God because he is steadfast. 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:30.480 And the thing that's about this psalm, which is interesting, it's a psalm of praise, but it's also a historical psalm. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:43.600 So what that means is that through the book of Psalms, there's some psalms that when you read them, the reader is supposed to remember a time that when God worked in history in the lives of the Israel people. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:47.600 And these are these were meant to be sung, the Psalms. 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:50.959 If you go to some churches, they they sing the Psalter. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:53.279 And it reminds me of a phone call. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:07:01.680 And um, it reminds you that you need to remember God in times in your lives that He has worked. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:10.639 And the thing with this psalm is that it is a time when God moved mightily in the in the lives of the people of Israel. 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:20.560 Another easier way to rem to remember this or to think about it is that there's certain songs that we can think of that remind us about certain elements in history, certain times in history. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:23.360 You can think of Gordon Lightfoot, the wreck of the F. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:24.720 Scott Fitzgerald. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:26.959 That's a historical song. 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:31.600 Or you can think about a Bob Dylan song, The Times Are Changing. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:35.199 That was a moment when JFK was an assassinated in history. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:37.199 And it harkens that right away. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:39.279 So that's what the historical psalms do. 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:41.680 It's easier to remember something when you sing it. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:46.959 When you're trying to memorize it, if you sing it, it's actually easier than just reading a block of history. 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:58.720 And this is also a good reminder for us personally to write things down, to write moments down that God has worked in our lives, because it's so easy to forget them. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:04.720 And it's amazing when you keep a journal, you don't have to write like today I went to the grocery store. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:09.920 Just in moments in your life, when you have and you see God working in your life, write it down. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:21.040 Because there's gonna be times in your life where it's hard, things are hard, and you can look at it and be reminded when God was walking with when God walked with you very visibly. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.519 So let's see what the event was. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:25.360 Verses one to three. 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:35.440 Praise the Lord, for it is good to sing praises to our God, for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:44.879 The Lord builds up Jerusalem, he gathers the outcasts of Israel, he heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:53.360 A good translation of this is the NI NLT for verse 2, because it really it really tells you what's going on. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:59.440 And it says, the Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing the exiles back to Israel. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:07.679 Now, if you have read the Old Testament many times, this will remind you of a time in the book of Nehemiah. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:21.919 And he is a cupbearer for the king. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:37.279 And what happens at right at the beginning of the book of Nehemiah, that someone from Israel, from Jerusalem, because there were some people left, he talked to the person and he found out that the walls were torn down. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:40.960 Jerusalem was decimated, nothing was left of it. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:42.639 And he weeps. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:47.360 And the king notices this as he brings the king the cup. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:49.360 And he asks him, What's wrong? 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:55.919 And amazingly, after he tells him, he tells Nehemiah to go and rebuild the walls. 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:59.840 This is a moment when God works mightily through people in history. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:12.559 And when they come, when he comes, the people who are rebuilding the walls are facing opposition from all the nations around because they don't want the people to rebuild the walls. 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:18.559 Because the context of this is that the people of Israel are utterly destroyed. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:22.240 They feel abandoned, they're brokenhearted. 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:26.480 And they're trying to rebuild their lives, but their surrounding nations don't want it. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:32.080 Because the nations remember a time when Israel was strong and they were God-fearing. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:33.759 They followed their God. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:35.600 And they don't want that. 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:40.639 They don't want them to go back to that because they want them to follow their nation's gods. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:45.840 Because then God, their true God rejects them when they follow other gods. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:51.279 God wants them to live among them, but not be of them. 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:55.039 And you might be asking, well, how did Israel get like this? 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:02.240 It's kind of like it's kind of like when you think about it, it's not what they didn't. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:06.879 We instantly think that when we become Christian, we have to follow rules. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:09.679 And then if we don't, we break the warranty. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:14.240 And if you read this, it might look like that they broke the warranty with God. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:19.200 But that's not the case, and this saw this psalm shows us greatly. 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:23.120 It shows us God calls his people back to himself. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:30.240 He gathers the outcasts of Israel. 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:36.320 The people of Israel would have been so outcasts, so brokenhearted. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:39.919 And it shows God working in their lives. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:45.759 When I was a photographer, when I was a city news photographer, I had to cover many different things. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:55.759 And unfortunately, some of the times I had to cover fires and murders, and I had to take photos of the family members as they grieve, because that is what you read in newspapers. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:58.159 Unfortunately, that's what the photos they want. 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:01.679 But the thing is, the people of Israel would have been like that. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:07.519 Their lives would have been completely destroyed, but then they would have been exiled at the same time. 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:10.159 And that's what's going on in the text here. 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:23.440 But this, as the people read this, as they sung it many years later, after this, this would have seemed so far-fetched in their minds of God working in this way, sending people to rebuild Jerusalem. 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:29.759 But look how the psalmist reminds his readers in the next verses, and I'll read them, because they're not before you. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:21.200 And he lifts up the humble. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:30.559 What this means is that he lifts up those who worship him, and he casts out those who don't worship him. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:37.600 And the thing that's interesting, when we continue this, we see a God who cares, cares for his people. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:46.720 As it says, Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving, make melody to our God on the leer, on the instrument. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:14:00.480 He covers the heavens with clouds, he prepares rain for the earth, he makes grass grow on the hills, he gives to the beasts their he gives beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry. 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:03.600 See, this shows a God who cares. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:17.279 When I um got to go to a botanical garden for their first time, I was blown away by just the amount of care that the people put in to taking care of the plants that are there. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:27.919 Because it comes down to a science, because they have plants from all around the world, and they care for them, right down to the certain degree of temperature that they have to do. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.559 And God is the exact same way. 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:32.799 He cares for his creation. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:40.799 As you see it, it's hard to you can't deny it if you spend any time outside, that you see God working in nature. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:44.799 You see it through the sun, through the rain, it helps the nature. 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:51.759 You see it as the mist lifts off the trees during a time after it rains and then it gets warm. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:53.519 You see God working in nature. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:54.879 It's hard to deny it. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:15:05.360 That there's these, when you look under a microscope, you see just the intricate detail of God's creation and how it's everything is ordered. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:07.279 You see Him caring for it. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:13.759 Now, if you don't get anything from this sermon, let this be the part that you remember the most. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:16.240 Because these are great memory verses coming up here. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:20.159 In verses 10 and 11, maybe write them down so you can review them later. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:36.320 But these verses are great because it says, His delight is not in the strength of a horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:50.000 See, in Nehemiah's context, we see this playing out that when you read the first couple chapters of the book, is that it is God working through everything. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:51.519 It is God moving. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:56.240 Whenever the Israel people try to do it themselves, it fails. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:59.759 But when they submit themselves to God, it works. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:02.480 And that's the same for our own context. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:08.639 The call of a Christian life is that you lay down your life and you follow God. 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:09.759 You follow Him. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:14.960 And that doesn't mean that once you become a Christian, everything's gonna be amazing. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:16.639 There's gonna be hardship. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:22.799 But at the end of it all, God's steadfast love is always with you, always walking with you. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:32.559 And then if we link this back, we think we think of again at the car illustration that if you don't follow it, your warranty becomes void. 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:34.320 But that's not the case. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:39.919 God wants those whose hearts are after him, who are going towards him. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:49.279 And we see in the text here that you can humans have a tendency to rely on themselves or on technology. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:50.799 But God doesn't want that. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:52.399 God wants those who fear him. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:59.840 If you remember all the times that we when we preached through Proverbs, we kept reminding you that the fear of the Lord is the way to knowledge. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:06.400 And that's what it's talking about here is that God wants those who fear him. 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:16.559 And that isn't a fear where you cower in a corner, that's a fear of reverence when you acknowledge his great power, his great um all-knowingness. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:18.880 And that's what the psalmist is doing here. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:26.400 If you notice, he gives a point and then he gets you to reflect on creation or God working mightily within the world. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:28.799 That's what the psalmist doing here. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:34.720 And if we continue on, we notice that there's a God who commands. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:18:12.000 In verses 12 to 20, these are the verses that were read Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, praise your God, O Zion, for he strengthens the bars of your gates, he blesses your children within you, he makes peace in your borders, he fills you with the finest of the wheat, he sends out his command to the earth, his word runs swiftly, he gives snow like wool, he scatters from the ash he scatters frost like ashes, he hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs, who can stand before his cold? 00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:18.000 He sends out his word and melts them, he makes his wind blow and the waters flow. 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:22.400 He declares his word to Jacob, his statues and rules to Israel. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:25.680 He has not dealt thus with any other nation. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:28.319 They do not know the this rule his rules. 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:30.079 Praise the Lord. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:36.400 See what's going on here is that it hearkens forward to when the walls are rebuilt. 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:40.000 And it's talking about God, that God rebuilt the walls. 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:47.599 God strengthens their gates, and God takes care of their children within the walls. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:50.000 It's talking about God does it all. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:53.359 And then you see it in the verses that God commands. 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:54.640 You see it moving. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:57.279 God's commands move through nature. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:18:59.920 That He commands the weather. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:05.359 When you think about on a lake, when you see the ripples in the water, it's it's the wind moving. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:10.000 And that's the analogy here, that God works within his creation. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:12.640 He declares and it goes. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:19.440 But I want to I want to zero in on a point on this point here in verses 18 to 20. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:21.039 I want to focus on his word. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:22.640 I want to talk about his word. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:28.480 Because it says his word is for the his people, his chosen people. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:33.599 Now we can we can think about this in the context of that God's word. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:38.160 We just went through Advent and we just went through all the Christmas services. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:45.440 And what those services signify is that God's word comes into his history. 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:48.559 That comes in the form he comes in the form of baby. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:52.480 God's word becomes among us, God with us. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:20:04.799 And that word, Jesus, lives a perfect life and dies a perfect death for us, so that we can stand before God righteous, because Jesus takes our place. 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:07.599 God's word is for his people. 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:14.160 See, we have a God who redeems, we have a God who cares, and we have a God who commands. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:18.799 Now you might be thinking, so what are we to make of this? 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:21.200 How do we apply this to our lives? 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:22.640 How do we do that? 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:31.920 See, this is the service before New Year's Eve, and it is a time when we normally make goals or resolutions about the next year. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:39.279 But this can have a tendency to pressure us or cause disappointment when we don't measure up to our goals. 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:49.200 But if you did you notice in this psalm, I guess there's only the part that are in the bulletin, but this psalm has four calls to worship all through it. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:55.519 It commands the people of Israel to praise him all through these moments through the psalm. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:56.880 There's four of them. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:01.599 So when you think about this psalm, let it be this. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:08.640 When you think about what to do for the next year, let this be something you can refer to and think about. 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:11.039 That I'm gonna do these things. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:15.920 One, let this be an encouragement to come and worship at church. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:20.640 Let it also be an encouragement to keep a journal when God works in your lives. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:32.880 Let this also be a time to take note about verses 10 and 11, that the Lord wants those who admit they can't do it on their own, who put their faith and trust in Jesus. 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:45.200 Let this also be a time of when you reflect on verses 2 and 3, of that God takes care of the outcast, the brokenhearted, the wounded. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:49.200 Come to Jesus if you're feeling this way. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:51.359 Don't try to fix it on your own. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:54.079 Come to Jesus because he is with you. 00:21:54.559 --> 00:22:07.920 And also through this whole psalm, when you look at it in your Bible, from verse 1 all the way down to verse 20, it says he or his over 23 times. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:16.559 It says he heals the brokenhearted, he determines the numbers of the stars, he gives to all of them their names. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:24.079 The Lord lifts up the humble, he casts the wicked to the ground, he covers the heavens, and it continues on. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:28.880 This is a psalm to point you away from yourself, to point you to God. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:37.200 But let it also be something that most importantly points you to Jesus, God's word becoming flesh. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:48.880 Because that is the great joy of Christmas, that is the great joy of Christianity, that God came into the world to save us, for all to save everyone who puts their faith and trust in Him. 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:58.720 As John 3 16 says, God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever puts their trust in him will have eternal life. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:05.200 Let that be as the thing you hold on to as you move into the new year. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:14.319 And don't ever think that if you mess up, that the warranty of your salvation becomes void. 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:28.960 Because once you're put your faith and trust in Jesus and live a life following him, you will always have a God who cares for you, you'll have a God who will always lift you up, you'll have a God that always walks with you. 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:36.319 And there is that great hope that one day Jesus will return and we'll stand before him in hear well done and good and faithful servant. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:38.240 And let us pray. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:51.200 Heavenly Father, give you thanks and praise that you sent your Son into the world to save us, that those that we cannot do it for ourselves. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:24:14.799 Father, we thank you that through this time of Christmas and then coming into the new year, that we can put our hope in you, that we don't have to set goals about ways that we can be better Christians, but that we can just come to you and ask the Spirit to work in our lives, to fix the areas in our lives, Lord, that maybe we haven't given fully over to you. 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:24.079 And Lord, as we continue now into the service, um, continue to draw us into yourselves as we can worship you and lift you high. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:25.599 In Jesus' name. 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:26.559 Amen. 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:31.759 We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today. 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:37.279 If you live in the Port Perry area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:40.960 If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:46.000 Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us. 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:51.440 Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:59.759 If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca slash giving to make your contribution. 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.720 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.