Amen. So like I said, it is our one year anniversary. We made it to a year and I say we made it to a year, but we're still here and you know a lot of people when this church started I don't think they expected that.
A lot of people not only around this nation but in many other nations didn't think that we'd still be preaching the Bible and I mean the whole Bible a year on.
In fact, I think a lot of people probably didn't think we'd be out soul winning every week. When this church started, which was, if you remember right in the middle of lockdown and, and all the COVID stuff.
And look, we've, we've had our fair share of challenges like I said it started in the middle of lockdown so we had soul winning was a bit rough at the beginning wasn't it.
Excuse me, there was some pretty, pretty funny people when we were knocking on the doors a lot of the time it wasn't always for the faint hearted they had a ready made excuse to get angry.
There was, we had the local news on us right at the beginning, just as we were becoming a church because we'd started doing some, some soul winning out of here anyway we're doing some practice church, then we had a, I think it was a local echo then they wanted
to basically print a piece on what a disgrace we were for soul winning. We had, we had COVID police on our first service didn't we came and interrupted the middle of the first sermon.
That was pretty fun. And then they left us to carry on so that was quite nice.
Council officials I was getting harassed by council officials at the beginning of this year as well and they were ringing and emailing and wanting us to do show him this and tell him that and inspect it and everything else.
I did point out that it seemed to me to be a bit of Christian persecution.
And that was the end of them so that was quite nice. We've had our fair share of fly tipping anyway we've had some fly tipping at the church in fact that's just read it's ugly head again.
We had quite a big bit of fly tipping at one point it got to the point where the mound in the car park seems to be, well take up half the car park but we've had, we've had other little bits and pieces minor sabotage most of you aren't aware but until I started
chaining this door up we were having all sorts going on in the toilets in the week and especially the ladies toilets they seem to like especially these guys.
We've had our fair share of weirdos here you know we've had a few haven't we we've had one official banning haven't we which was pretty fun.
Although he kind of banned himself so that was a bit annoying it would be nice to actually physically have evicted him but we've had you know a bit of soul winning persecution out there some people have put up with a bit haven't they a bit of stuff out there.
But today, rather than focusing on all that stuff, which it could have been a hell of a lot worse.
But we've still had our fair share but I want to focus on the blessings today, because this church after one year we have had some blessings and way within that year we've had a lot of blessings and have a look just from verse nine there of some 65.
Psalm 65 verse nine reads, thou visitest the earth and walterest it, thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God which is full of water, thou preparest them corn where now is so provided for it, thou walterest the ridges thereof abundantly, thou settlest the furrows thereof, thou makest it soft with showers, thou blessest the springing thereof, thou crownest the year with thy goodness and thy paths drop fatness,
thou drop upon the pastures of the wilderness and the little hills rejoice on every side, the pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered over with corn, they shout for joy, they also sing.
And the title of my sermon today is after one year, after one year.
Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer.
Father thank you for this church and thank you for your blessings over this year.
Thank you for all that you've done for us, thank you for everyone here, thank you for just all the many things which we can easily just forget about.
Help me today to just make a point of those blessings clearly to everyone and help us to just recognise that really it all comes from you and help us to appreciate you, appreciate this church and help me to just preach clearly.
Fill me with your spirit and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Okay so in Psalm 65 here David is talking about the many blessings of God in nature.
When you read through that psalm there's just all these blessings of God that we see in the natural world.
Well interestingly the Hebrew religious year starts and ends in springtime and for me that's probably a bit easier to be positive about the new year starting when it's spring.
It's a bit harder here isn't it when it's sort of you know you're about to start you know the bleak January aren't you and it's a happy new year and you're looking outside and it's oh great.
It's usually freezing cold and wet and miserable and windy and everything else.
Well there it was a little bit different okay and it's talking about you know that crowning of the year, it's talking about that new year and obviously springtime is a lovely time for that.
A lot of people that's their favorite time. It's great to just watch getting ready for that new year to really begin seeing that starting.
I want to look at Psalm 65 itself in light of our year, our first year at Shaw Foundation Baptist Church UK because I feel that our year has been full of blessings too, crowned with goodness.
And let's get going. Let's start in verse number one where the Bible reads and this is obviously a psalm and song of David.
It reads, praise waiteth for thee O God in Zion and unto thee shall the vow be performed. Thou that hearers prayer unto thee shall all flesh come.
And this church has been an answer to many prayers isn't it.
For many people and look I was talking about this yesterday.
Sadly there are many people that you thought it was an answer to prayer to which it maybe wasn't around the UK because still many people haven't even visited in a year that many people could probably think what happened to that guy, what happened to that.
And really you know it's one thing listening to good preaching, it's one thing going out and soul winning but it's another thing actually wanting to serve a church isn't it.
It's another thing wanting to come week in, week out and being able to come week in, week out and just serve God in a church because they're two separate things.
And just because someone's listening to great pastors online and just because someone is maybe doing the odd soul winning mantra it doesn't mean that they're actually ready and prepared to be part of a church is it.
And sadly for some even to visit a church but for many of us we just were just praying for a church, we just wanted a church, we were desperate for a church weren't we.
And look this church has been an answer to that and when I say a church and if you're sitting there thinking but there's churches on every corner, I went past the massive latter day saints block on the way here.
Well I'm talking about a real church okay, a real church, a church, a scriptural church, a church which preaches the Bible and not lies of men and a church which goes out and preaches the gospel, a church which doesn't change the gospel.
And sadly just with those three categories alone and when you're talking about the word of God which clearly is the King James Bible that narrows it down to very few doesn't it in this whole nation.
And we were praying for that weren't we and you know it wasn't just us two either, there have been prayers all around the globe for this church.
You know there's still prayers going on in the States, do you know how excited people are over there about this church.
They're so excited about everything that's going on here and the fact that now Europe is being reached as well and there are people all over Europe, we were getting some messages and some contact yesterday about that.
And over the last few weeks just especially just how excited people are and they're praying for us all the time.
And look this church has been an answer to prayers isn't it. I look at verse three, iniquities prevail against me as for our transgressions thou shalt purge them away.
That means to clear them isn't it and Psalm 103 you'd have to turn there verse 12 says as far as the east is from the west so far if he removed our transgressions from us.
That's amazing isn't it that Jesus Christ has removed our transgressions from us and look we're not sinless we're not saying oh we don't have any sin anymore but Jesus Christ has suffered once and for all for every one of our sins isn't he.
Every past present and future sin and he paid for it all on that cross and that's amazing isn't it.
Look at verse four, blessed is a man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy courts we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy whole temple.
So God's given us this church we should be satisfied shouldn't we. We should be satisfied that we have the ability now to serve God properly.
And like I said look we're going to get you know we're human we're going to get you know little niggles about things and irritations about people about me about whoever there's going to be those little things but we need to ultimately just appreciate what we got here don't we.
Okay we have we have a proper church a church that's going out and reaching the lost a church which is preaching the word of God and and that's amazing isn't it.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy holy temple and I hope everyone here is satisfied that we're in a house of God now we're in a real house God we're not sitting here going well when's he going to preach repent of your sins.
I'll tell you now I will never ever ever preach that heresy in this church.
Okay yeah we need to repent we need to change our mind for what we did believe to faith in Christ.
Okay no one is becoming sinless to get saved it's an absolute nonsense but we're a real church here and you're not sitting here wondering when's he going to drop it when's he going to drop the bomb.
Like so many of us sadly have been sitting there in church he's doing haven't we thinking oh man what's he going to say now.
Well I hope you're not sitting there thinking if you are well you could you're going to be waiting a while.
Verse five says by terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us our God of our salvation who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them that are far off upon the sea.
Now terrible here is awe inspiring and isn't anything more awe inspiring than his death on the cross.
For me that that is the ultimate isn't it because I've said to you many times before when I didn't understand it and people are people say he's the son of God he's gone in the flesh I'm thinking he got arrested and got you know didn't even get out getting on the cross.
But what power because when you really understand it to willfully come and die on that cross and go into the depths of hell for three days or three nights to suffer an eternity like that is a power that no one else no one else has got to get anywhere close to.
And that is awe inspiring isn't it that's that's terrible things in righteousness.
After one year that's the title of my sermon after one year that leads me to point number one we've had one thousand and eighty nine salvation.
Okay from February the fourteenth last year to today we've had one thousand and eighty nine salvation.
So I know we're a bit disappointed we didn't get them in the calendar year but we did get them in the year from the exact year from our church being planted here.
That's a lot of salvation isn't it one thousand eighty nine and for those of you that sit there and go well I'm sure a few of them might not have really believed.
Yeah but I'm sure a few people went away and did believe who we didn't count as well.
And I'm sure there were people that went away and maybe watched the gospel presentation and I'm sure there are people that maybe further down the line got saved as well.
But what we for people that that told us to our faces that they believed that they believe that Jesus Christ has died for them was has risen again the third day that's paid for all their sins.
That there's no way they could lose their salvation. It doesn't matter what they did in the future they're saved.
And no we're not encouraging people obviously to sin we're encouraging them to understand it is all of Christ.
It's got nothing to do with your own works if you if you think you still have to do something to keep your salvation you're not saved.
You're not saved.
Okay because you're still trying to put some faith and trust in yourself.
Okay.
Salvation is solely on what Jesus Christ did and a thousand eighty nine people have bowed their heads and called on the name of the Lord in faith in front of someone from this church.
That is amazing isn't it.
That is amazing.
Oh God of our salvation.
It said here in verse five who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them that are far from the sea.
After a year he's also the God of a thousand other people's salvation. A thousand plus.
And by the way in case you're wondering with the maths I had a look back and it was thirty eight salvations in the first six weeks here.
For those of you wondering what I'm talking about basically from the second of January we started meeting on a Saturday here and basically we were doing church but on a Saturday we didn't feel it was right.
So we were basically doing Saturdays until Pastor Thompson felt we're ready.
And then on the 14th of February we became a church.
Now in that six weeks where we were meeting on a Saturday and we were meeting on a Saturday and we were meeting on the 14th of February.
We were meeting on the 14th of February.
On the 14th of February we became a church.
Now in that six weeks where we were meeting on a Saturday and going through the church services and trying to get them nice and clean and everything else and just get it working.
Well we had thirty eight salvations.
What a difference after that eh?
Now I know we're only meeting once a week.
We didn't have the mid-week soul winning but what a difference when you're a proper ordained church.
And now that we're a proper church the salvation is on an average coming up to a hundred a month now.
That's amazing isn't it?
What a difference when a church is sending you out.
Isn't it a difference?
Because there are many people here that have been soul winning for many years and have kind of been sending themselves out.
Or at least the churches have tolerated them going out because it makes them feel uncomfortable because how many of those pastors in any of those churches actually went out and preached the gospel?
Borderline zero yeah?
Well now we've got a church sending us out who are saying go out preach the gospel and what a difference that is.
Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 because isn't that like I said earlier the most important goal of a church?
Shouldn't it be the most important part of church is going out and preaching the gospel?
Well 2 Corinthians chapter 5 obviously keep a finger in Psalm 65 because we're going to be coming back there.
But 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and from verse 17 reads therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away behold all things have become new.
So Sunday afternoons watching some over hyped football game or whatever it was that was your thing.
I think they've passed away haven't they? I hope they've passed away.
And by the way with the football games anyone notice the rainbow laces and all the propaganda and all the beer swelling adverts and everything else?
I mean how do you even sit through that now? But those afternoons have passed away aren't they?
Sunday afternoons being a glutton have passed away I hope yeah?
Although some here do get a good feast in but at least you're walking it off afterwards yeah?
And I see they're eating the third dessert on the sofa while staring at junk on TV.
What about midweek evenings watching back to back Netflix episodes?
And they just keep going and going sadly those episodes don't they?
Hopefully they've passed away as well.
Stuff that would have been R-rated when I was young because I tell you what the last time I saw any of that junk it's pretty horrific isn't it?
The stuff that's just yeah box set, before you wouldn't have even got that out on TV.
But hopefully that's passed away because you're a new creature aren't you?
I hope everyone here is saying I'm a new creature, a peculiar creature.
And what's that new creature, that peculiar creature designed for? Soul winning yeah?
You're a soul winning creature, you're a soul winning animal.
If you're saved God wants you soul winning doesn't he?
Okay and now David Attenborough might say you evolved that way but I would pick an argument with him you could imagine him couldn't you?
You know here we have the soul winner.
My lost voice is good for this we have the soul winner.
In his natural habitat.
The slums, the slums of the UK.
And notice how he treads upon the lion, the young lion and the adder.
And he tramples upon them underfoot.
Because we are designed for soul winning aren't we?
Yeah we're designed for soul winning.
But what a blessing to have a church full of these creatures yeah?
We've got soul winning creatures all over this church.
And I was at a church where a guy said, and this is a guy that by all accounts seemed to be saved at the time.
The church I'd kind of known him from, it's a long story but anyway he said to me he was giving out Bibles.
And they were going I've told you about this story before when they got 10,000 New Testaments.
And they were going to post them through every door in the area and just flood the place of the word of God.
Flood the bins with the word of God yeah?
But this guy, I said to him, I was trying to do it nicely, I wasn't being obnoxious about it.
I just said look, have you ever thought maybe whilst you've gone up that drive,
maybe just give him a knock on the door and try and preach the gospel to him?
Oh I'm not ordained to preach the gospel.
So what do you mean you're not ordained? Oh no I'm not ordained.
So we had a polite debate about it.
Well look at verse 18 here.
It says,
And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
Who's the first us?
Those reconciled to God by Jesus Christ.
Who's that?
Us.
Us, every believer isn't it?
I hope you're reconciled to God by Jesus Christ.
Well he has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.
So who's he given the ministry of reconciliation to?
It's the same sentence.
And the second us is the same subject matter.
Us.
Those of you that are saved have been given the ministry of reconciliation, haven't you?
So though it's not, oh well it's just the apostles there.
Well there's no more apostles so that means no one's getting saved is it?
That's us.
So we've been given that ministry.
That's the job of basically getting other people reconciled or saved isn't it?
And that is our job.
That's our ministry.
That's what we've been given to do.
Like it or not, when you got saved you were given a job to do.
Okay now, yeah your salvation doesn't depend upon that job.
That salvation was a free gift, but he still gave you a job to do.
And he wants you to do that job.
Look at verse 19.
To wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Yep, it requires the word of God, and the word is committed unto us, isn't it?
Unto us.
Not some scholar somewhere that's the only one that can understand it,
and he can tell you what the word really means.
Not some Catholic priest somewhere who luckily has studied Latin,
then they'll be able to tell you, but you better not read it yourself.
You know, because you'll get confused.
No, he's committed unto us, that same us that has saved, the word of reconciliation, hasn't he?
Verse 20.
Now then, we, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God beseech you by us.
We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
All believers therefore ambassadors for Christ, aren't they?
Every person here is an ambassador if you're saved.
Because look, Jesus isn't physically here preaching anymore, is he?
Anyone see him recently?
I'll be looking out for the long hair and the beard, isn't that true?
Apparently the Catholic said that's true.
And the kids' books, no, but Jesus isn't here, is he, preaching the gospel?
And by the way, Jesus didn't look like that.
But we're representing him, aren't we?
We are representing him here.
Every single one of us here is representing Jesus Christ.
Verse 21.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
That's the same us again.
And look, I bet most Christians, most saved people like that us there, don't they?
I like that us when it's him becoming sin for us.
Yeah, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
But do they like it when you look at it with the rest of the passage and it's saying,
you need to go out and tell people about that.
You need to go out and preach the gospel.
You need to go out and be an ambassador for Jesus Christ.
You need to do your best to do that, don't you?
Turn over to Romans chapter 10.
Because if a church isn't sending out ambassadors, what is it doing?
What is a church doing if it's not sending out ambassadors?
Any ideas?
Taking the tithing.
Employing people.
Having a little social.
Yeah, having a bit of fun together.
Should be sending out ambassadors.
Look at verse 13.
Romans 10, 13 says,
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Amen to that.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
But people aren't hearing it without someone preaching it, are they?
That's what it comes down to.
It comes down to every single one of us here.
And if you're saved, that means you know that hell is real.
If you don't know that hell is real, I'll question if you're saved.
You know that hell is real, and if you know that hell is real,
why aren't you out telling people how easy it is not to go to hell?
That Jesus Christ did it all for you.
Verse 15,
And how shall they preach, except they be sent as it is written,
our beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace
and bring glad tidings of good things?
What a difference when you have an actual bonafide of church
sending out soul winning, isn't it?
What a difference.
We have to be sent out, don't we?
We need to be sent out.
A lot of us here were getting sent out from 5,000 plus miles away, weren't we?
Truthfully, we were getting sent out by churches that we'd never even been into,
that at least were encouraging us to go out soul winning.
But now, what a difference.
What a difference.
And I bet most of you here are soul winning more than you were three,
maybe not at the beginning, but when you maybe had that little honeymoon period,
but I'm sure it quickly drifted.
But now you're here at church, now you're going out on a Sunday without fail.
You're going out, hopefully, in the week as well.
You're getting out soul winning, you're doing marathons every month,
and we're commanded to do that, aren't we?
We're commanded to do that.
What a difference it is, and what a blessing that is.
What a blessing for everyone here because, look, isn't it great to get people saved?
Isn't it great?
What an amazing thing it is, and isn't it like just something else
when you can come away from somewhere like yesterday,
whether you got one salvation, whether you even didn't get any salvation,
so you were going out being an ambassador and preaching the truth to people,
to have how many salvation you get every time you get that salvation.
What a blessing that is, isn't it?
What an amazing thing to be used by God to get people saved, yeah?
And don't forget the rewards as well.
Oh, weren't you talking about rewards?
What, you're not just talking about love?
No, I'm talking about rewards,
because God constantly reminds us of rewards you can earn in heaven.
Okay, and what an amazing thing.
What an amazing thing to be doing, and what a responsibility, though.
It says here, but they have not all obeyed the gospel, verse 16,
For as I saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
Because it doesn't mean that everyone's going to get saved, is it?
Going out soul-willing doesn't mean everyone's going to get saved,
and if you're going out and you're,
I just haven't got anyone saved, look, keep plugging away, okay?
Lord, who hath believed our report?
But to whom is the armor of the Lord revealed?
But, but, we still go out, don't we?
We still go out, we preach the gospel, and so far in this country,
1,089 people, it seems, have believed our report.
And that wouldn't have happened without this church, verse 17 says,
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
That's why we've kept preaching.
That's why we've kept preaching the word of God.
That's why we haven't been reading,
or telling people to read the word of God from a leaflet.
That's why we haven't been finding any other way
to try and persuade people to get into a church.
No, we just go out and preach the word of God, don't we?
Preach, preach the word of God, that's what we're called to do.
Preach, be preachers, preach the gospel.
And if only the other few churches around this country
just got that into their heads, they'd stop giving out flyers
if they even bothered doing that, yeah?
Preach the gospel.
And look, in this nation, we get blessed for that as well.
If you remember, I preached on this a long time back,
I remember, if you remember when Abraham is talking to God
about the destruction of that wicked, vile place Sodom,
and they're basically bartering,
and he says, Peradventure, if there were ten righteous,
and he says he won't destroy it for ten righteous,
and useless old Lord hadn't even got ten saved
in the whole time he was in that place.
But the more people we get saved here,
the more people we get saved, the more blessings,
and the less likely we're going to get cursed by God in this nation, isn't it?
Back to Psalm 65, verse 5.
It says, By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us,
O God of our salvation, who art the confidence
of all the ends of the earth,
and of them that are afar off upon the sea.
After one year, is my sermon title,
after one year we've had, number one,
one thousand eighty-nine salvations,
and buckle up guys, because there's ten points here,
and it's eleven thirty already,
but, I'm joking, the other nine points are a lot shorter.
Because, come on, the salvation is a big one, isn't it?
In case you get a bit nervous.
Okay, but number two, we've had twenty-eight baptisms.
We've had twenty-eight baptisms at this church.
If God is your confidence, it says here,
then you should follow his commandments, shouldn't you?
If God is your confidence, you have to follow his commandments.
And one of those commandments is to get baptised.
It is a command, yeah?
And I said, I talked about this a couple of weeks back,
don't matter who you are, if you've been baptised or sprinkled,
if you've been sprinkled, you need to get baptised,
if you've been baptised and you weren't saved,
you need to get baptised.
Look, God's not looking down and going,
oh, don't worry, you're a bit embarrassed about it,
you don't want a big deal, get baptised.
Because if you're not getting baptised, you're out of the will of God, okay?
Get baptised.
Now, you might be looking at it and going, wait a minute, brother Ian,
we've had over a thousand salvations,
why aren't there a thousand baptisms?
Because getting saved and serving God are two separate things.
And again, if only people could get that through their head as well, okay?
They're two separate things, you don't have to turn there.
John 8.31, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,
if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.
There are no verses in the Bible telling you to become a disciple to get saved.
He said, if, he said to those Jews which believed on him,
if ye continue in my word, because it's not automatic, okay?
The Bible's clear, whosoever believeth in him shall not pay for everlasting life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me,
everlasting life, okay?
It's got nothing to do with following him,
it's got nothing to do with giving your life to Christ,
it's got nothing to do with welcoming the Lord into your heart
or any of the rest of that ambiguous nonsense.
It comes down to putting your faith in Jesus Christ,
that's how you get saved, he did it all.
But after that, it's great if you serve him, isn't it?
It's a great life if you serve him, it's a blessing of God if you serve him.
And you will get blessed, no, no, you're not going to be a multimillionaire
and drive around in fast cars and everything else, you might do,
but you are going to get the blessings of God in this life and in heaven, aren't you?
And ultimately that's the happiness and joy that comes from serving God, doesn't it?
Okay, so, unfortunately in this nation there are many thorny ground believers, aren't there?
Okay, there are so many thorny ground believers it seems.
Again, you don't have to turn there, Luke 8.14 says,
And that which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard,
go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life,
and bring no fruit to perfection.
That sadly is a vast majority of people that get saved.
They don't bring fruit to perfection,
they don't end up going out and doing things for God and getting more people saved.
But it doesn't stop them being saved,
because they were saved the second they put their faith in Jesus Christ, yeah?
But, we've had 28 baptisms and that is a blessing.
It's a blessing that we have a church where people aren't being told
they have to do a 12-week course before they can get baptised.
Isn't that a blessing? Because that can be tough for many.
For many people that were saved were kind of going along to these churches,
it's like, how do I even get baptized?
Because I've got to either do a 12-week course,
or swear allegiance to Israel, to the pre-Trib rapture,
and whatever other damn, let's not go down a ball,
but big heresies that they tell you to swear to,
to be able to get baptized at their church.
What on earth is that about?
What did Philip say to the eunuch?
When he said, what does it mean to be baptized?
If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest.
That's what it takes to be baptized.
And this church wants to baptise new believers.
If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest.
And if you're here and you haven't been baptised,
and you believe with all your heart, we'd love to baptise you.
And it won't be a sprinkling,
we're not going to give you a little sprinkle of water,
you're not going to have to invite everyone you've ever known to hear,
you're not going to stand behind this pulpit and give your testimony, OK?
You can do that another time, OK?
Behind this pulpit we preach the word of God, OK?
But what you will be doing is getting dunked under water, OK?
And held down for as long as we think we need it.
Especially if we think you've got a lot of sins that need to be...
No, I'm joking, I'm joking.
I'm messing, OK?
But we baptise at this church, OK?
And on that as well, there aren't any child baptisms,
little babies just getting sprinkled with water because they happen to be babies, OK?
A child is baptised when they believe with all thine heart, yeah?
OK, and on that as well, in case you're wondering,
no, we don't have child baptism stroke christening alternatives here,
also known as a baby dedication, OK?
The baby dedication where,
OK, well, we can't dunk them under water because we know that's wrong,
but we just want to have that big worldly day out anyway
where everyone can come and we can do a cake and everything else
and just copy what they do with child baptisms,
but just call it a baby dedication
because shouldn't every single one of your children be dedicated unto the Lord?
Doesn't that go without saying?
Does it not?
Are we not told to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?
Why do I need to hold my child up in front of you and say that?
Do I need to do that?
No, it's just to get presents, isn't it?
And have a party.
No, we don't do dedications here.
And what a blessing to have a church which doesn't do all that nonsense.
You start to think, man, do I have to do the same?
Because everyone else is doing that.
And then I was at a church where anyone who wasn't moved by these dedications
is hard-hearted.
Needs to soften their heart and get right with God.
You know, what on earth were you even doing with that poor baby
who doesn't know what you're talking about?
Back to Psalm 65.
As I said, the points are speeding up, so don't worry if you're getting hungry.
Okay, Psalm 65, verse 6 says,
Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains,
being girded with power.
After one year, we've had 1,089 salvations.
We've had number two, 28 baptisms.
And number three, we've had one man-mountain come over here and preach.
We've had a man-mountain come over here and preach.
Yes, our pastor is a big guy, okay?
He's a big guy. He's actually six for eight, our pastor.
And, man, you do feel small around him.
And, yeah, he's a big guy.
But you know what? Yeah, he might be what some might call a man-mountain,
but he's also a man-mountain of the faith, okay?
That is a mountain of the faith.
We're currently one of three of our pastor's church plants.
He has his own church and three other church plants.
He's not building some sort of dynasty.
He just wants us to become independent.
He just wants to reach other people.
And what a blessing it is to have a pastor that has that heart for people,
even to the point of having to travel over to Europe to come over here.
For me, it's been an absolute blessing of God, that.
You know why, as well, it's such a blessing?
Because his church was a church plant itself.
So our pastor, our set fast mountain there,
he understands exactly what it's like,
exactly all the challenges we'll go through as a church,
what I'll go through, everything else.
He's done exactly the same himself.
And that's important, because for him he understands
he's got so much wisdom about this situation we're in and everything else
that many others wouldn't have, you know?
So that's been an absolute blessing.
Turner James 1.
Because who setteth fast this mountain for us?
Who sets it fast?
It says here, which by his strength.
It's by God, isn't it?
It was God that gave us the pastor that we needed here.
And James 1.17, James 1.17 says,
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Like I said, we've been blessed with a pastor
that understands the challenges that this church has gone through
and will continue to go through.
And what a blessing to have him come over here
in the middle of Covid restrictions, how did he even get here?
I mean, when you look back, you think, how did that even work?
And he managed to come here, he managed to pass on day five,
he managed to get involved with Soul Winning,
to have him out Soul Winning with us,
he preached four services as well while he was here,
having come from the US when literally hardly anyone else in the world was travelling.
That's a blessing, isn't it? That's an absolute blessing.
For me, that strengthened all of us.
And look, we actually got to sit here and listen to him preach as well.
And you didn't have to go on some camping trip to do that.
Which, don't get me wrong, that probably would have been fun,
I think that was the plan originally, someone planned a camping trip.
If you like camping for some, it might not have been so fun,
or it was going out to the States to listen to that sort of preaching.
Instead, we had it in this little building, didn't we?
Behind this pulpit preaching to us.
And that was a blessing, that was an absolute blessing.
He preached four times, the Soul Winning, the Fellowship time,
we all had with him over that time, we had food, we had laughs,
we all had a great time, didn't we?
Psalm 65 verse 6, it says,
Which by his strength set his fast the mountains,
being girded with power, which stilleth the noise of the seas,
the noise of their ways, and the tumult of the people.
After one year, we've had 1089 salvations,
we've had 28 baptisms, we've had one man-mountain come here to preach,
and we've had one ordination as well, we've had one ordination.
So, back on September the 19th, I got ordained as an evangelist here,
which might not seem to have changed things much.
Most of you might be thinking, well, what really did that do?
Did that make any difference?
Well, if I want to one day be a similar man-mountain to Pastor Thompson,
I would love to one day in the UK,
if we want to eventually be a fully independent church, it was a big deal.
Yeah.
Okay, that was a big deal.
Turn over to Jude.
Psalm 65, where I just read, 6 to 7 said,
Which by his strength seteth fast the mountains, being girded with power,
which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their ways,
and the tumult of the people.
You know there's a power that comes with being ordained in God's eyes.
There is a power that comes with that, there's a power from God with that.
It can still the noise of the seas, like it says here,
the noise of their ways, the tumult of the people.
In Jude, where you've just turned, talking of the reprobate,
the enemy of God, the child of the devil,
they're described as raging waves, in verse 13,
raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame,
wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
Now there are many people that want to attack churches like ours, okay.
They're all over the place, and with our pastor over 5,000 miles away,
my ordination was actually important.
Yeah.
Okay, because it should have helped to still the noise of their waves.
Whether it's through usurping, and there are many tactics,
discrediting, or some of the many,
my ordination does make that that little bit harder.
Okay, it does.
The tumult of the people on the outside,
who want to discredit our church plant model, for example,
now I'm an ordained evangelist, it makes it that little bit harder for them.
The tumult of the people that want to dismiss the word of God
by attacking the messenger, again, it's just that little bit harder now.
Now when I'm preaching, and I'm preaching the word of God,
it's being preached by an ordained man of God, okay.
It's that little bit different, isn't it,
has that little bit extra strength, that little bit extra power,
than it does from the guy that's leading the church on behalf of Pastor Thompson.
That ordination was a big deal, okay, that was a big deal,
and that was a blessing of God as well.
Psalm 65 verse 8 says,
They also that dwell in the uttermost parts,
that are afraid at thy tokens,
thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.
After one year we've had number 1,089 salvations,
number 228 baptisms, number 3 one man mounting, come and preach,
number 4 one ordination, and number 5 one preaching event in mainland Europe.
One preaching event in mainland Europe.
Now, it might not be in the uttermost parts of the earth,
although for some it might.
For the traditionally English here,
we don't really like to go any further than Spain,
Marbella, or somewhere else,
that's pretty far, Geneva, Switzerland is exotic.
Oh wow, man, you know.
But it's not the south of France and it's not Spain,
but you know what, it's pretty close.
But look, that was a big deal, yeah.
You know, there are people that fear God all over this world, aren't there?
Okay, and that's a good reminder, isn't it,
that even in what seems to be sometimes some spiritual darkness out in Europe,
there are people that fear God, that fear his tokens,
they're afraid at thy tokens.
Because we can be a bit insular, can't we?
It's easy for us to just focus on what we're doing here, us, the UK,
and, you know, forget everyone else,
maybe our favourite preachers in the States we pay attention to,
and forget the rest, well, you know, whatever.
Well, it's good that, you know, brother Kenton's out in Uganda,
and brother Matthew Stuckey's in the Philippines,
but I nearly called them the Philistines.
It doesn't seem like they are, actually,
because they seem to get saved easy, don't they?
I'm not even going to say it again, because I'm going to mess it up.
But, look, that preaching event, for me, that was a big deal, okay?
That was a big deal, because people thought,
people were looking at countries like that thinking,
you can't preach like that over there.
I even managed, and it wasn't like pre-planned,
I even managed to talk about sodomites out there.
I even managed to knock the Catholic Church,
and a few other things that need preaching, you know?
And, look, it needs preaching out there, doesn't it?
And I've got a chance to go out there,
I don't know if that will happen again,
but that was on the 5th of December,
I went out to Geneva in Switzerland,
and preached to a group of people out there,
you know, a group of faithful Christians out there,
who are gathering every week, doing what we were doing here.
But, you know, on top of that, we had people come from Poland,
who were doing the same, and meeting, and soul-winning.
We had people come from Germany, as well,
who came down to Switzerland to get involved,
to soul-win, to preach, to fellowship.
And that, for me, that was a good reminder for me,
because when I was out there, it just reminded me,
look, there are some people all over Europe, yeah,
that need, they need, they need encouragement,
they need, they need ultimately structure, don't they,
as well, in the future, and they need us not to forget them, OK?
Let's not forget them, let's not just be wrapped up
with what we've got here, and forget all those people,
because they're out there preaching,
like I just spoke about in our announcements,
look, there were some great results out there, weren't there?
Lots of people just gathering together in the colder winter,
it wasn't like a sunny day,
where you could work on your tan at the same time.
They're in the cold February out preaching,
and in Europe it's cold, isn't it, in February.
And look, that, that, that, for me, that's a blessing.
Turn to Acts 13,
because one of the results of that
was that soul-winning marathon yesterday,
because for me it spurred me on
to want to get involved with these guys more,
to encourage them more, to get them involved with us more,
and not just to forget them.
Why? Because Acts 13 and from verse 44 says,
And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together
to hear the word of God.
But when the Jews saw the multitudes,
they were filled with envy,
and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul,
contradicting and blaspheming.
Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said,
It was necessary that the word of God
should first be spoken to you,
but seeing you put it from ye,
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
For so hath the Lord commanded us,
saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles,
that thou shouldst be for salvation
unto the ends of the earth.
And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified,
the word of the Lord,
and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed,
and the word of the Lord was published
throughout all the region.
And yesterday the word of the Lord was published
throughout a large part of Europe.
Great that, isn't it?
Isn't that great to just know all over Europe
people are out preaching the gospel,
preaching the gospel,
and these are good faithful people,
they're preaching the gospel.
They're giving out some flyers,
they're not out there preaching a bit of a murky message
where you're not really sure what they're saying.
These are people that are preaching the gospel,
that are going up to people
and what we call confrontational soul winning.
Asking them clearly whether or not they're saved
and then preaching them the gospel.
And look, like I said,
we had soul winning in England, Scotland,
Ireland, Holland, Germany, Poland,
Switzerland, Hungary, Romania,
and possibly Finland.
I'll update you on that.
God crowned the year with His goodness, didn't He?
Now that was the last event of our year
and that was pretty good.
Yeah, that's the most salvation
that we've had on the day here as well.
Psalm 65 verse 9,
Thou visitest the earth, and walterest it.
Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God,
which is full of water.
Thou preparest them corn,
when thou hast so provided for it.
Thou walterest the ridges thereof abundantly,
thou settlest the furrows thereof.
Thou makest it soft with showers,
thou blessest the springing thereof.
Like I said, after one year,
we've had a thousand eighty-nine salvations,
twenty-eight baptisms,
one man mounted, come preach,
one ordination,
one preacher in mainland Europe,
and number six, three weddings.
We've had three weddings that have taken place
with people from this church.
Two have actually been administered myself
and one that wasn't.
So we've had Charles and Sarah got married.
That was the first wedding I've done.
I'll always remember that.
So, amen to that.
We had brother Glodi and Sarah,
who there have been a bit of issues
with moving and coming over here.
Hopefully we'll be seeing them soon.
And also Colin and Anna got married as well.
Although I didn't minister that one.
Now turn to Hebrews 13,
because in a world where less and less people
are getting married,
God's blessed our church with three in the first year.
Isn't that a blessing?
Three weddings, three marriages.
Hebrews chapter 13 and verse four reads,
Marriage is honourable in all,
and the bed undefiled,
but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Hear that, you woke generation out there?
It's honourable in all, yeah?
You live in partners out there, yeah?
It's honourable in all, right?
You teen icon players, you whoremongers out there,
because that's fashionable, isn't it?
Marriage is honourable in all.
Because God's going to be judging these whoremongers,
isn't he?
These adulterers, these whores.
Funny, isn't it?
You know it's when you go to a door and you go,
do you know you're going to heaven?
They're like, oh, yeah, yeah.
You know, I'm a good person.
And it's like usually not long after, you know,
their partner comes out from the back and everything else.
Just like, God hates that.
Yeah.
Yeah, look, of course, Jesus Christ paid it all, yeah?
But you think you're going to heaven
and you're a good person and you're some whore?
We had a guy, didn't we?
We had a guy recently.
Nice guy.
I don't know if I told you about this.
I don't know if I said this the other week, yeah.
I was going through, he's a bit unsure about sin and stuff
and I read through Revelation 21a.
And he went, yeah, I suppose I am a bit of a whoremonger.
It's so hard to keep a straight face.
He's not really proud of it, you know.
But he did get saved in the end.
Praise God.
And I hope that he's going to put an end
to his whoremongering as well.
It was.
Me and Father Gary couldn't stop laughing about it.
It was ridiculous.
But yeah, hopefully he's watching and he's thinking,
I'm going to come down.
We love you, man.
We want you down.
But yeah, it's honourable in all, isn't it?
Marriage is honourable in all.
Ah, so it's honourable in all.
So those C of E churches which are marrying same-sex couples,
that's OK, is it?
Is that OK?
Well, Genesis 2, 24 says,
therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother
and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
But you know what it is, all that, yeah?
Because really, they want to get us pulled up into that row
on that, don't they, and debating it.
So I was filling out some charity forms for this church
the other week, and one of the questions on it was,
would you like a statement on the sanctity of marriage
between a man and woman?
It's like, no.
I prefer to put a statement on the sanctity of the church
not having that sort of filth in it.
Because why do I need that?
Why do I need that on our charity statement?
Because it's just shifting the goalposts, isn't it?
Because, well, it's OK for them to be queer.
Well, that's all right.
We just don't want to marry them.
Because that's how it goes.
You just keep lowering the bar and lowering the bar
and lowering the bar.
But it's just a con, isn't it?
It's an absolute con.
Shouldn't it just go without saying?
You don't need a form.
You don't need a form to just go, just by the way.
Because you're only considered a member of our church
if you're saved.
And I ain't marrying no one in this church
who isn't a member of the church.
So how's that going to work?
Because if you're saved, in fact,
you're only welcome in this church
if you're not unsavable.
OK, so that kind of disqualifies
any sort of marriage, doesn't it?
And in case you're sitting here going,
oh, what does he mean?
What does he mean?
Well, the Bible's clear that they've been given over
to a reprobate mind.
They've been given up.
And if you're unsure about that, please watch
our Romans 1 sermon.
OK, the Bible's clear.
We're not going to go into that now.
But that is ridiculous, isn't it?
But, praise God, we have a church
where you're not sitting there going,
well, I wonder if they'll cave into that one day.
Yeah, I wonder if they'll marry, you know.
Look, that ain't happening, is it?
OK, it will never happen in this church.
But you know what won't happen in this church either?
They're not going to be welcome into this church either, OK?
Because that's not a safe environment at all for children.
But, look, we have a church.
We've been blessed with a church which just understands
and preaches the word of God and doesn't skip out sections, OK?
And look, and I'm not saying, oh, I'm so great.
Look, I know any other man in here would not,
if they preach the word of God here, week in, week out,
would just be cutting out sections.
Well, I don't want that.
Well, we won't preach that because that's going to be,
no, because otherwise you shouldn't be preaching, should you?
Yeah. Amen.
OK? And the Bible's clear, isn't it?
So, like I said, God haters, child abusers, false prophets,
they're banned, OK?
They're banned from this church.
If anyone need, we can put it on the door if they want.
Maybe it won't go down too well, but they are banned.
And our ushers understand that as well.
They are banned, OK?
We're here to reach the lost that are able to get saved, OK?
Psalm 65.
But, yeah, we've been blessed with three new real marriages.
Isn't that a blessing? Isn't that a blessing?
Psalm 65 and verse 9.
Thou visitest the earth, and walterest it.
Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water.
Thou preparest them corn, when thou hast I provided for it.
Thou walterest the ridges thereof abundantly.
Thou settlest the fires thereof.
Thou makes it soft with showers.
Thou blessest the springing thereof.
Now, marriage is God preparing the ground for new life,
the springing thereof, isn't it?
Thou crown this a year with thy goodness,
and thy paths drop fatness.
And after one year, we've had 1,089 salvations,
28 baptisms, one man mounted, come over here and preach,
one ordination, one preacher, event in mainland Europe,
three weddings, and three new babies.
And three new babies in a year here.
That's amazing, isn't it?
Three new babies.
And he really did crown the year here,
because all three were born basically in the last few months as well.
All in the baby, and I hope I'm not missing someone's baby here
that was born early in the year.
I don't think I have.
I did kind of think about this.
Three babies.
I think we had Elizabeth in November,
Nariah in December, and Hannah at the beginning of February, right?
Okay, turn to Psalm 127.
I'm sure most of you know why we're turning to Psalm 127,
but when you look around the church and see babies,
see kids of all ages, see expecting mothers,
it looks pretty healthy, doesn't it?
That is a healthy church, yeah?
You know, when you see some of these churches,
some of you have been and there's a couple of old ladies at the back,
and maybe you've come in and kind of reduced the average age by maybe,
well, I don't know, a large amount,
then that doesn't look so healthy for that church in the future, does it?
But look at this.
Look at this church, and kids everywhere,
and babies and babies on the way.
That's amazing, isn't it?
That's great because you don't see that many other places.
Look at Psalm 127 in verse 1.
It says,
Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
We want to do it God's way, don't we?
And God's way is children, isn't it?
God's way is having children.
Verse 2,
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late,
to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
When you do it his way, he blesses you along the way.
Verse 3,
Low children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
A long time to do that baby dedication after all, isn't it?
Every one of you should be dedicating your babies because they're his,
whether you have a child baptism alternative or not, aren't they?
They're his.
They're in heritage of the Lord.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth.
The children help build strong men in the church as well, don't they?
Children help build strong men.
Verse 5,
Happy is a man had his quiver full of them.
They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
Happiness not ashamed.
Boldness.
That's definitely a blessing, isn't it?
Isn't it a blessing to have that in our church?
It's not just that we get to see cute little babies, which is always nice,
but as well they actually bless the church in all those ways as well.
They bless especially the men in the church as well.
The women maybe have a bit of a harder time with it,
but ultimately it's a blessing,
and women, you're doing it for the good of the church, okay?
Men remember that, yeah?
Good one of youth.
But, look, ultimately they are great, aren't they?
And it's great to have kids.
It's great to have many kids.
No one looks back when they're older and goes,
I wish I'd just had less children.
I wish I hadn't had quite so many.
If I could have just got rid of that one, well, maybe a few people would do that,
but let's hope we don't raise kids where you wish you never had them, okay?
And ultimately it comes down to you, mums and dads, if that does happen.
But after one year, that's three more members of our church as well.
Yeah.
And that is a good way of building a church, isn't it?
Yeah?
Forget the soul winning guys, forget trying to invite me,
let's just have lots of babies, okay?
And we'll always have a busy church.
But verse 12 of Psalm 65, I'm trying to speed up here,
says, they drop upon the pastures of the wilderness
and the little hills rejoice on every side.
The pastures are clothed with flocks.
The valleys also are covered over with corn.
They shout for joy.
They also sing.
Like I said, after one year, we've had 1,089 salvation,
28 baptism, one man mounted to come and preach,
one ordination, one preaching event in mainland Europe,
three weddings, three new babies, and countless new members.
We've actually had countless new members come and get involved with this church,
and I didn't even try and count, yeah, because I just thought,
I'm going to miss someone, I'm going to get it wrong.
We've had a lot of new members here.
The pastures, verse 13, said, are clothed with flocks.
And, in fact, the year was literally crowned with the callings
moving down here in the nick of time, so thank you for that,
because that was just at the turn of our year anniversary.
And, look, we've had many flocks from the pastures of the wilderness,
haven't we?
We've had them come from all over to this church,
despite what's probably been the worst year for travel since,
I don't know, the Titanic.
I mean, it's been terrible in that year,
yet we've had people travelling, somehow getting on trains,
somehow even people travelling from abroad,
we've got people from different countries that come and visit,
and all at a time when hardly anyone else is kind of leaving their home,
literally not leaving their home, you know, and getting everything delivered.
So, look, that's been a blessing, hasn't it?
And, look, from all corners of England, we have people here,
we've had people come, we have had people come from Wales, Scotland,
Holland, Geneva, I don't think we've had anyone come over from Ireland,
have we?
Man, you Irish, you need to sort yourselves out.
No, we've had them come from everywhere, haven't we?
And, look, that's been a blessing, isn't it?
Turn to Acts chapter 2.
Are they coming because of the beautiful church building?
I tried a bit of stained glass at the back,
it didn't go down too well.
I only had white, unfortunately.
Is it because of the great tea and biscuits here?
Man, I forget to get the biscuits often.
Is it the lure of Southend?
And I'm not knocking Southend, but, I don't know, maybe,
I don't know in winter if it is, is it the great people here?
Look, we do have some great people here, but is that why people are coming?
Is it the amazing preaching?
I don't think so.
Have a look at Acts 2.
I'm glad I got your head out.
Nice.
Oh, yeah, you're preaching later.
Have a look at Acts 2, verse 46.
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple,
and breaking bread from house to house,
did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God and having favour with all the people,
and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
It's because God's adding to the church, isn't it?
God is building our church.
We do things His way, He builds the church.
That's how it works, doesn't it?
Jesus said in Matthew 16, 18, you don't have to turn that,
and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
That's a great truth, isn't it?
Okay, and He's building the church.
God's building our church.
Is that to have more numbers on the bulletin?
Oh, we can look at that last attendance.
More people to chat to after the service.
It's always nice to have a chat.
More people to have sleepovers with.
Nothing wrong with fellowship.
Maybe not the sleep well, depends.
But I know some travel from afar.
But ultimately, it's to have more people working for God, isn't it?
It's to build that army, to build those forces.
That's what we're doing.
That's why we want more people here.
More people working for God, more people producing fruit.
That's why God is building His church, isn't it?
Okay, and look, we want people from all areas,
all from baby Christians to mature Christians,
from the young to the old.
We want everyone at this church, don't we?
And ultimately, God's building His army.
He wants an army of variety,
but He wants an army of people that are going to one day go forth
and preach the gospel as well.
Because that's ultimately what it comes down to, isn't it?
It's not just building up to have a bigger social club.
No, He wants more people producing the fruit.
So that, He said here, the valleys also are covered over with corn.
That was Psalm 65 verse 13.
Psalm 65 verse 13 said,
The valleys also are covered over with corn.
They shout for joy.
They also sing.
After one year, we've had 1,089 salvations,
28 baptism, one man mounted, come and preach,
one ordination, one preaching event in mainland Europe,
three weddings, three new babies, countless new members.
And number nine, many lives changed.
We've had many lives changed with this church already.
There's nothing better than serving God
because life is empty when you don't, isn't it?
You look at your lives, like back before this church
or even go back further to before you were saved
and doing anything for God.
What a difference, hey, what a difference.
And being in church as myself and for everyone else
and just seeing people making those changes in their lives,
watching people change and watching them just grow in faith
and grow in the Lord and making those changes in their lives,
wanting to improve, wanting to do all those things
is a real blessing, isn't it?
Okay, it's such a blessing to see that.
Turn to Psalm 27.
Because when you're in church,
with a humble heart though,
wanting to improve, wanting to change from the better,
he blesses you, okay?
Look, it's not just turning up at church.
You've got to want it though as well.
You've got to want to make those changes in your life
because he can change your life.
He wants to change your life if you let him, okay?
You still have free will.
And like I said, it's been great watching people.
I've seen people here change their lives
in a short space of time, yeah?
And it's been amazing watching that.
Look at Psalm 27 and from verse 4.
It reads,
One thing have I desired of the Lord,
that will I seek after,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
For in the time of trouble
he shall hide me in his pavilion,
and in the secret of his tabernacle
shall he hide me.
He shall set me upon a rock,
and now shall mine head be lifted up
above mine enemies round about me.
Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle
sacrifices of joy.
I will sing, yea, I will sing praises
unto the Lord.
When you want church, you want to be there.
You want to learn of him and his statutes.
He'll deliver you from temptation,
won't he?
He'll set you upon the rock of Christ,
won't he?
He'll lift you up.
And that's the reason for joy in singing,
isn't it?
He said, I will sing, yea,
I will sing praises unto the Lord.
Okay?
And that's what you should be doing.
I hope that's what people are doing.
They're singing, thank you, thank you.
All these blessings.
Because ultimately it results in that last bit.
Singing praises unto the Lord.
And that's my last point here.
Psalm 65, 13 said,
The pastor clothed with flocks.
The valleys also are covered over with corn.
They shout for joy.
They also sing.
Are you ready for it one last time?
After one year we've had a thousand
eighty-nine salvations,
twenty-eight baptisms,
one man mounted, come and preach,
one preacher renting mainland Europe,
three weddings, three new babies,
countless new members,
many lives changed.
And number ten,
four hundred and sixteen hymns sung to the Lord.
How about that?
Four hundred and sixteen hymns.
And no, they're not all new hymns by the way,
in case you're thinking, no way.
We've sung four hundred and sixteen times.
Four one six times to the Lord.
And by the way, that's not counting today.
But that is counting the men's preaching night.
Little one hymn wonders as well by the way.
I went to the calculator on this,
yeah, I went to the calendar.
And we have sung four hundred and sixteen hymns to the Lord.
That's a blessing, isn't it?
Isn't it great to sing to God?
Great to sing to the Lord.
And turn to Psalm 100.
Now, you might think that this is a bit of a pointless point, brother Ian,
because it should go without saying, shouldn't it?
Shouldn't it go without saying that we meet together and we sing to God?
And I say that because there are churches around this nation
that didn't sing for nearly two years to God.
I spoke to someone recently who said they're still not singing
at whatever wicked, sorry excuse for a church they're at.
Isn't that a disgrace?
Isn't it an absolute disgrace?
And you know that that was one of the things at the time
that kind of spurred on some of the start of this,
was the church I was at refusing to sing to God.
And I think it was the last time I went there.
Just unbelievable, isn't it?
Why did they refuse to sing to God?
You're thinking, what's all that about?
Because our government, the UK government,
and hear me out here, suggested our righteous, knowledgeable,
all-wise secular government suggested that we don't sing to God in church
because we might catch COVID that way.
They suggested it was a guideline.
And it was clear it was a guideline if anyone bothered to look at it.
And if you're running a church, you'd think you were bothered to look at it,
wouldn't you?
You'd actually understand what you can and can't do.
So these people, these sell-outs, because some of them are saved,
these sell-outs around this country looked at that and went,
yeah, okay, yeah, we just won't sing.
What on earth?
Look at Psalm 100.
It's a command.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before his presence with singing.
By the way, are we not in his presence here?
Anyone wondering if we're in his presence?
Because Matthew 18, 20 says,
for where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there are mine in the midst of them.
So I'd say even your little silly Bible study,
we don't want to go to church group wherever they are around the country,
we're not going to go to church because we just do our own thing,
we'll just make our own.
Even they should have been singing, shouldn't they?
That's why the whole thing, all that, like home church,
and I'm not talking about people that have a house church,
that actually have a church.
I'm saying all that home church, organic church,
it's not biblical, isn't it?
Half of them aren't singing, they're not doing anything,
the whole thing's unordained, it's a nonsense, yeah?
But they should have been singing,
let alone when you're coming together in a group, yeah?
Now, verse 3 says,
Know ye that the Lord he is God,
it is he that have made us, and not we ourselves,
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Okay, that means we ought to do what he says
and not some ridiculous government guideline, yeah?
Yeah, he told us to sing to him, so we sing to him, don't we?
And look, I made it clear, look, I'll go out on a limb with that, yeah?
And even had they said, you cannot,
they said, I don't know how they would have done it,
some so-called law or whatever else,
even if they were camped outside this church,
when we meet here, we're singing, right?
Yeah, because that is a command of God, and who shall we obey?
We ought to obey God rather than man, shouldn't we?
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise,
be thankful unto him and bless his name.
Seems pretty black and white to me, doesn't it?
Seems pretty black and white.
Why should we sing to him, other than the fact that he told us to,
which kind of is the only reason, but there is another reason.
Verse 5, For the Lord is good,
his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations.
Oh, he's good, isn't he?
And around 3,000 years after that psalm was written,
his truth is still enduring, isn't it?
Isn't it? Yeah, because the Bible gets everything right.
His truth is still enduring to every generation,
and we're still looking at that now and going, yup, that's why we sing.
Because God is good, isn't he?
And what a year, what a year we've had.
What a year, I'm not going to do the 10 again,
I do have it here, but I'm not going to do it again.
But you're probably getting a bit bored of it now.
But what a year we've had.
And that last point, just to remind you again,
416 hymns sung to God.
We're commanded to sing to God, aren't we?
And we benefit from singing to God, don't we?
We do, we get filled with the Spirit when we're singing to God as well.
So I hope that everyone wants to be in a church singing to God,
not just watching online and maybe having a little moment.
You want to come together as a group and sing, isn't it?
That's the point of it.
416 hymns sung to the Lord, as well as all these other blessings.
What a year. After one year, we've had all of that.
I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to next year.
What are we going to get in the next year?
And I'll probably rehash this sermon next year.
It'll be a bit of a quick one to write that week.
That'll be nice.
Just change the numbers a little bit.
No, I'm messing.
But for me, yeah, that's been amazing.
And like I said earlier, it's been thanks to everyone here.
Everyone here has been a part of our first year at this church.
Even if this is your first service,
you're a part of the first year at our church because we're crowning it today.
The Lord is crowning it with goodness.
We've had a bit of a turnout today as well, haven't we?
And it's been amazing.
Like I said, we have pizza afterwards.
There's going to be a lot coming.
Please all get stuck in. Enjoy.
We're going to have a cake after that.
And we have an evening service at four o'clock.
So please help us celebrate.
God bless you all on that. Let's pray.
Father, I thank you for everything you've done for us at this church.
Thank you for this church.
Thank you for blessing us with the building to start with,
with all the other many blessings you've given us.
Thank you for this church.
Thank you for everyone here.
Please just continue to bless us.
Please just continue to help us to do your will,
no matter what comes our way,
to just keep just being strong for you
and to keep in the strength of your word, in your might.
And help us to go out this afternoon
and with full bellies still be able to go and preach the gospel.
Help us to get many more people saved
and just to carry on just going forth with the word of God,
the gospel of salvation.
And thank you that you've given us that duty to do that,
that you've given us that trust to do that.
Help us to all take that seriously.
Sign this afternoon and carry on this week.
And we thank you, Lord, for everything you've done.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.