"God is my Father"
The service for this Sunday 15th November has been prepared by Nigel Malka. Unfortunately, Covid-19 prevented Nigel from visiting us to preach this Sunday. Julie has kindly added all the links to the music and words.
We are still restricted to holding private prayer at church until the lock-down is lifted but encourage you to follow the service at home.
Call to Worship
1 John 3:1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Hymn 3 Abba Father
Prayers of Intercession
God of all time, you made time and you entered time to be with us. We move from ordinary time to extraordinary time, and in all this, we wait for you. Keep our hearts aflame with the things that please you: mercy, humility, justice. And as we turn to worship you, we worship you in time, in spirit and in truth. Amen.
Where there is a table, you are always ready to make room. Where there is a home, you are always ready to welcome. Where there is thirst, you are always ready to quench. Where there is hunger, you are always ready to share. O God, who breaks bread for all, and who broke your body to show us the way, we praise you for your unending readiness to welcome. Amen.
We pray to God, who is always ready – for those overtaken with demands. Give rest, O Lord. For those overburdened with anxieties. Give rest, O Lord. For those overcome with debt. Give relief, O Lord. For those oppressed by powers that despise them. Give salvation, O Lord. For those in situations they cannot see a way out of. Give freedom, O Lord.
For those in need of hope. Give hope, O Lord. Amen.
Prayers for those known to us.
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn 327 Immortal, invisible
Bible Reading Genesis 2:7-9, 15-18, 25, 3:1-13, 21-23
A condensed version of Adam and Eve story taken from Genesis Chapter two.
The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it commanding the man, not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Lord God decide it was not good for the man to be alone so he made him a helper
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
The Lord God had made the serpent who was craftier than any of the wild animals. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, apart from the fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, else we will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She gave some to Adam, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
When Adam and Eve heard the Lord God walking in the garden they hid. The Lord God called to Adam, “Where are you?”
Adam answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
“Who told you that you were naked? The Lord God asked, “have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Adam replied, “Eve gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God said to Eve, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me into eating it.”
The Lord God made garments and clothed them, then exiled them from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
Song 3 Josh Groban - You raise me up
Bible Reading John 15:5-17
John 15:5 -17 from the NIV Bible
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
Hymn 746 What a friend we have I Jesus
Talk: Who can say, "God is my Father"
In John (14:19-20) Jesus says “Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
Amazing, because of Jesus we are at one with him and with The Lord God our Father
Yet who can really call God, Father?’ And how do we know who they are?
Well Jesus tells us it is someone who believes in him
And as a consequence of that, will then live trying to put a smile on God’s face.
This maybe far too simplistic and for theologians has far too many holes
Yet within those words to be a follower of Jesus we must have made him our Lord
We believe He was and is God’s Son who The Way, The Truth and The Life
And to put a smile onto God face, we have to follow his commands
We know Jesus’ Father made a relationship with us when creating mankind
This is why we start by looking at the Adam and Eve Story
In telling Adam not to eat the tree’s fruit before he ate surely this means
Adam was created able to make choices thereby knowing that something’s were wrong
When God asked, “Where are you?”, and, “who told you were naked”?
This tells us God does not interfere with our freewill and expects us to keep to his ways.
What is this story telling us about mankind’s relationship with God?
First we were created by him and made as social animals needing to care for each other
We should be proud of our bodies, designed and formed by our Creator and Father
The relationship between a man and woman should make them as one
Second we have a purpose – caring for his creation that is we have work to do
Work is part of our natural existence, to eat and live we have to work
Third we ought to have a personal relationship with God
Meet with him, talk with him and love him and let him guide us to live to his ways.
Fourth we have choices to make,
Our Father allows us the freedom to live without the desire to control us
We are given Freewill – That is to do what God wants us to do or disobey him
As God’s children we have a responsibility to our Creator to live to his purpose
We know there is good and evil and we have to choose accordingly
We will be tempted to do things that seem good for us but are not
Both women and men are easily persuaded to do the wrong thing
Fifth there will be a judgement on each of us in how we live our lives
We don’t like to admit our mistakes and like to blame others
We are wilful and desire knowledge that we do not need
In how we live they will be consequences, for we will be judged.
When Adam and Eve were being sent away God still cared enough about them
He gave them clothes to ensure that they survived
But he also said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil’
Surely this would mean he had companions, let’s call them angels
These are able to choose to do good or evil and in doing so influence us to follow them
And so Satan the tempter more easily comes into focus
The story of creation is trying to explain to a society some 3,000 years ago
That had limited knowledge of science or history
God wanted to tell people his fatherhood and his relationship to them.
We all have choices to make in the freewill we have been given
That we will be tempted by spiritual forces to do both good or evil
We now come to the question once we accept God created everyone
Does that mean everyone can call God their Father?
It is God’s own Son, Jesus, who was sent to tell us the truth of this
He is the Way to know God, by accepting him we know the Truth
So then we will join him in his home, for our reward is having eternal life
To do this we look the words of Jesus when tells us, ‘I am the true Vine’
We are his branches, an extension of him and by living in him he will live is us
We can have his thoughts, knowing his ways, helping us to know him and be like him
For then we will know what the things are that Jesus would want us to do
We have been given the gift of God’s own Spirit to help us
And in doing so we will achieve many things that will please Our Heavenly Father
And when we don’t it is Jesus’ forgiveness that allows us to be his brothers and sisters
Jesus tells us, to remain in his love, and he then tells us how to remain in his love,
We do it by keeping to his commands. So it not what we do it is why we do it.
Just as he kept his Father’s commands and remained in his love.
He commands us to Love each other as he loved us
We are his followers, those that are within the vine, his brothers and sisters
A group of people who are sharing their love of him with one another.
Jesus tells us he knows who his True Disciples are and those who are not
Mat 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name
and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’
23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
So what makes a Christian? Someone who can truly call Jesus Lord
Who honours Jesus as the Son of The Father and who honours The Father
And How do we Honour The Father and Jesus his Son?
By carrying out his commands because we love them. This is the Why we do things
We Love God with all our Heart, mind, soul and strength and love others as ourselves
How do we show our love in our relationships, including to Our Father in Heaven
We have been given free will to decide how we live and what we do
Don’t wait to be told what to do, just do it, to show the love you have.
In showing our love we can’t get it wrong,
What makes us a Christian is in Making Jesus Lord of our life
Doing those thing that put a smile on his face
We have an inner spirit that Jesus knows us by
It is Jesus who makes that final decision if we are his true follower.
And in him doing so, then we can then truly call God our Father.
Hymn 857 I The lord of Sea and Sky
Final Blessing
