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well welcome to you welcome to our video service for sunday the 31st of january i do hope all of you are doing all right a very warm welcome to you whether you're from michaels or all saints crossways or if you're just watching in to us this morning it's lovely to have you we're going to begin straight away there's an order of service it's on our church website under church at home it's also on the description to this video and some of the words will come up on the screen as we go through psalm 19 verses 1 and 2. the heavens declare the glory of god the skies proclaim the work of his hands day after day they pour forth speech night after night they display knowledge so lift up your hearts we lift them up to the lord and as we do that we pray and give thanks to god for his glory that we can see day by day that we can see his work and we can hear their words to us reminding us that he is worthy of our praise we're going to begin with praise we're going to sing our first hymn thine be the glory risen conquering sun [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] well we come to our confession and we pray our words of confession together lord god we have sinned against you we've done evil in your sight we are sorry and repent have mercy on us according to your love wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin renew a right spirit within us and restore us to the joy of your salvation through jesus christ our lord amen psalm 19 reminds us of these words as well who can discern his errors forgive my hidden faults keep your servant also from willful sins may they not rule over me then will i be blameless innocent of great transgression so almighty god he forgives all who truly repent have mercy upon you pardon and deliver you from all your sins confirm and strengthen you in all goodness and keep you in life eternal through jesus christ our lord amen and in response and praise to god we say glory to god in the highest and peace to his people on earth lord god heavenly king almighty god and father we worship you we give you thanks we praise you for your glory lord jesus christ only son of the father lord god lamb of god you take away the sin of the world have mercy on us you are seated at the right hand of the father receive our prayer for you alone are the holy one you alone are the lord you alone are the most high jesus christ with the holy spirit in the glory of god the father amen well today we're having two bible readings the first of them is is not written out in full in our order of service but it's philippians chapter 1 and verses 18 to 26. philippians chapter 1 verse 18 yes and i will continue to rejoice for i know that through your prayers and the help given by the spirit of jesus christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance i eagerly expect and hope that i will in no way be ashamed but i will have sufficient courage so that now as always christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or by death for to me to live is christ and to die is gain if i'm to go on living in the body this will mean fruitful labor for me yet what shall i choose i do not know i'm torn between the two i desire to depart and be with christ which is better by far but it is more necessary for you that i remain in the body convinced of this i know that i will remain and i will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith so that through my being with you again your joy in christ jesus will overflow on account of me this is the word of the lord thanks be to god we say the creed i believe in god the father almighty creator of heaven and earth i believe in jesus christ his only son our lord who was conceived by the holy spirit born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended to the dead on the third day he rose again he ascended into heaven he is seated at the right hand of the father and he will come to judge the living and the dead i believe in the holy spirit the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen our second reading is daniel chapter 3 and verses 1 to 18. king nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold 60 cubits high and six cubits wide and set it up on the plain of dura in the province of babylon he then summoned the satraps prefix governors advisers treasurer's judges magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up so the satraps prefects governors advisors treasurer's judges magistrates and all the other provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that king nebuchadnezzar had set up and they stood before it then the herald loudly proclaimed nations and peoples of every language this is what you are commanded to do as soon as you hear the sound of the horn flute zither liar heart pipe and all kinds of music you must fall down and worship the image of gold that king nebuchadnezzar has set up whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace therefore as soon as they heard the sound of the horn flute zither liar harp and all kinds of music all the nations and peoples of every language fell down and worshipped the image of gold that king nebuchadnezzar had set up at this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the jews they said to king nebuchadnezzar may the king live forever your majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn flute zither liar heart pipe and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace but there are some jews whom you've set over the affairs of the province of babylon shadrach meshach and abednego who pay no attention to you your majesty and either serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up furious with rage nebuchadnezzar summoned shadrach meshach and abednego but these so these men were brought before the king and nebuchadnezzar said to them is it true shadrach meshach and abednego that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold i've set up now when you hear the sound of the horn flute zither liar heart pipe and all kinds of music if you are ready to fall down and worship the image i made very good but if you do not worship it you'll be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand shadrach meshach and abednego replied to him king nebuchadnezzar we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter if we are thrown into the blazing furnace the god we serve is able to deliver us from it and he will deliver us from your majesty's hand but even if he does not we want you to know your majesty that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up this is the word of the lord thanks be to god i don't know about you but i've heard a lot recently of people who've decided deliberately to not watch the news anymore i can't watch any more but even if you're not watching the news you know don't you you know that never before have we been told so much about death rates about the sizes and numbers of funerals that's not often on the news is it it has been in the last months we've heard a great deal of personal stories of people with sadness and grief that we've heard so much about difficult hospital conditions and we've heard never before about the delight in needles and vaccinations we've heard a lot and thought a lot about death and as we're faced with the idea of death around us as we've seen before there are two temptations and the temptation is to think that no one is in charge i was reminded this week of a film uh indiana jones which begins with indiana jones running away from a ball rolling down a a slope towards him it's all out of control you've either got to run fast or find a good place to hide no one is sovereign no one's in charge it's all out of control that's one way of thinking about it or we think that we can sort it out we are sovereign we are in control when when we hear of the sadness of numbers of deaths we say we didn't do enough it was down to us or we say they did it wrong it was down to them and as we think about the future we say we shall be victorious we will sort it out or as we hear of a a virus variant we worry because what are we going to do are the things that we have done enough it's down to us to sort it out for us to be in charge well as we've also seen the correct answer that the bible gives is that god is the one who's in charge god is sovereign we've seen that he's been sovereign over a number of different issues and today we get to this one he's sovereign over death we're not going to be fatalist we're not going to say don't take the vaccine although i think it's right to say that not many people have been asking questions about the vaccine that perhaps should be asked we're not going to say don't follow the law and we're not going to say don't take precautions that is not what comes out of god being sovereign but god being in charge the one who's in control says i think these two things to us number one view our lives correctly view and value our lives correctly i suspect many of us if you're not even an avid watcher of the antiques roadshow love to hear of the person who brings in something from the attic and it's valued at many hundreds of thousands of pounds and the delight on their face the shock but we also quite like don't we uh the the item that someone has clearly brought in thinking that it's worth a great deal and the expert looks at it and after a lot of arming and aring declares it's a fake it's not worth so much after all we often get the value of things wrong don't we we need an expert to value things correctly and there's an expert speaking for us in philippians chapter 1 verses 21 and 23 to 23 it's paul let me read these verses to you for to me to live is christ and to die is gain if i'm to go on living in the body this will mean fruitful labor for me yet what shall i choose i do not know i'm torn between the two i desire to depart and be with christ which is better by far at the value of life he tells us and he says that we're tempted aren't we to hold on to a two pound coin when the offer is to let go of the two pound coin and take hold of a 20 pound note we hold the two pound coin we think of the here and the now what we've got we think that's best because it's it we think it's the most valuable we think it's the best we're gonna get we think don't we that as we age we go further away from our peak that we think what we do now is so important it's important for us it's important for others it's important for god there are lots of stories of young lives that seem to be worth so much given up aren't they here is one of them that you've probably not heard there was a very famous american theologian writer called jonathan edwards and he wrote a biography of david brainard here's his story david brainer was an american missionary who had a particularly fruitful ministry to native americans he had a short life beset by many difficulties but actually his story has been a great encouragement to many he was appointed and approved for missionary work on in 1742 and he worked from 1743 to 46 amongst native americans in 46 worsening illness prevented him from working and in his final years he also suffered from terrible bouts of depression yet his ministry was successful establishing a large christian community late in 1746 he became too ill to continue ministering in may 1947 he was diagnosed with incurable consumption and in those final months he suffered greatly during this time he was nursed by jerusha edwards jonathan edwards 17 year old daughter he died from tuberculosis on the 9th of october 1747 at the age of 29. he's buried at bridge street cemetery in northampton next to jerusha edwards who died in february 1748 as a result of contracting tuberculosis from nursing him we think don't we what a waste what a waste and that is true if now and here are the most important but philippians chapter 1 suggests otherwise doesn't it the context is paul in prison he is suffering terribly he is in chains his death is possibly imminent and yet his work his writing is full of joy he says to live is christ and he explains what that means in verse 22 to live is christ which means fruitful labor in christ keeping working for others and to die is gain he explains what that is in verse 23 it is to be with christ it is to trust the words of the thief on the cross or the words to the thief on the cross today you'll be with me in paradise you see now and then now and here now and here are not the best now and here are not the best the twenty pound note is better than the two pound coin this is not it this is not most valuable and this is not best aging is bringing you closer to your peak and not further away a young life ended early if here and now is what it's all about what a waste but it's not what it's all about think of the lord jesus a young life ended early god's sovereign over death that what is to come is best here are just a couple of quotes from the last battle by c.s lewis the last of the narnia books just give you a little hint don't they that the new heavens and the new earth are so much better than now here we are i've come home at last this is my real country i belong here this is the land i've been looking for all my life though i never knew it till now come on come further up come further in or as for us and for us this is the end of all the stories and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after but for them it was only the beginning of the real story and their life in this world and all their adventures in narnia had only been the cover and the title page now at last they were beginning chapter one of the great story which no one on earth has read which goes on forever and which every chapter is better than the one before or the term is over the holidays have begun the dream is ended this is the morning if god is sovereign over everything including death we need to view and value our lives here and now correctly but we also secondly need to view god correctly and here i'm thinking of the words of daniel chapter 3. the story is king nebuchadnezzar the king of babylon he's taken some of the israelites into exile with him he puts up a statue a tall statue in the middle of a plane so everyone can see it's a it's a symbol of his pride people are to worship it everyone is to worship it yet the israelites shadrach meshach and abednego do not they hold out nebuchadnezzar hears nebuchadnezzar is furious and they remind us and remind him that there is something more important than keeping our life there is something more important than avoiding death there are two things that they are they want to do they want to avoid worshiping the statue they will not do it it is not right and they want to worship god they want to carry on worshiping god view and value god correctly he is the one who is able to save and they very helpfully remind us don't they if we are thrown into the blazing furnace the god we serve is able to deliver us from it but even if he does not we want you to know your majesty that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up they know that he is sovereign over death he can do remarkable things but he may choose to end their lives then he is sovereign he's able to save he prolongs life and sometimes he does not it is remarkable to think isn't it that even in these last 10 minutes he has prolonged my life i've done nothing to do that i've not to set out to prolong my life i've just been here god has kept me going i have done nothing i i've done nothing to deserve it god has done it because he is god and sovereign one day we know not when he will choose to stop prolonging my life but he will do it in his time and in his way god is sovereign over death would you give it to anybody else no we would not so value our lives here and now correctly they are a generous and gracious gift by god use them well but don't hold on too tightly to that two pound coin and value god correctly he is the one we are to serve and he is the one we are to worship we turn to our prayers the collect for today lord god you know that we are in the midst of such dangers and that we cannot always stand upright because of the frailty of our nature grant us strength and protection to support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations through jesus christ our lord amen we continue in prayer heavenly fathers vaccinations continue please pray for those administering the system those giving injections and also our local surgeries as they are involved and also need to continue to look after their patients we continue to pray for our local schools remembering the work in school and the work being sent home and we continue to pray for families who find this situation difficult because of working life resources space money particularly this week we do pray for the staff of kirby primary academy we pray for our local churches giving thanks for them that we pray that as we seek to serve the lord god that those around us would be the same and we pray for all saints church in walton giving thanks for them and praying for their minister peter we thank you for our partnership and we pray for ongoing fellowship together may they love you and know you better and be a wonderful witness to you in walton and we pray for those among our churches who face particular difficulties perhaps in a moment's quiet praying for those we know thinking of perhaps ill health or loneliness or worry we pray the lord's prayer our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as in heaven give us today our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for the kingdom the power and the glory are yours now and forever amen we come to our final hymn in christ alone my hope is found [Music] so [Music] as we close these words and this is our prayer that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through jesus christ to the glory and praise of god so go in peace to love and serve the lord in the name of christ amen