Spiritual Health Check

We're gonna turn to, the book of Revelation.

So we're going at Cornerstone through the letters of Jesus, through the apostle John to the churches in Asia Minor, but also therefore all the churches and therefore, therefore us. And we're in Revelation chapter 3 in verse 7 to 13. If you have a Bible, then turn to that. It's the last book in the Bible. If not, it will come up on on the screen.

And, of course, we planned this very well that this would that you didn't have last week's letter, which is you are dead. Basically, no, we didn't plan it, actually. We but the lord, the lord is good. So here we are in Philadelphia. To the angel of the church, in Philadelphia right, these are the words of him, who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.

What he opens, no 1 can shut And what he shuts, no 1 can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no 1 can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews, though they are not, but are liars.

I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have. So that no 1 will take your crown.

The 1 who is victorious, I will make a pillar in the temple of my god, never again will lay leave it. I will write on them the name of my god, and the name of the city of my god, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my god. I will also write on them my new name. Whoever has is, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, Tom. Thanks, Pete.

And, if you could keep that letter to the church in Philadelphia open. That would be, good. If we haven't met before, my name's Tom on 1 of the pastors here, and, it really is a joy to be opening up god's word and speaking on this, on this happy occasion. It's a sad occasion as Pete says, but it is a happy occasion. Laura said to me in the car this morning, I think I'm gonna cry this morning.

If you know, there was never any thinking, you know, about that. But neither of us expected the tears to start flowing in the car park. Only just as we've gone out of the car. So, there's a lot of tears, but it is a joyful occasion. And there is something good about that.

There is something good about that, because it means relationship, and it means joy, and it means years of service together, you think of that moment where the Ephesian elders gathered with Paul as he was about to leave. And, he gave them their commission to look after the church and to keep preaching the gospel. And then just before he set sail, they all bow together and there's weeping And we're told that what grieved the Ephesian elders the most was that they would never see his face again. Now I don't think this is as final as that necessarily. But there's something there isn't there about relationship and serving the lord together.

So look, as I say, keep this, letter, open in front of you. Pete's right. When we did the preaching router, back in August or September, we had no idea what we just hadn't seen, that this letter was going to coincide with the commissioning of, Hope Church. And it's a wonderful turn of providence, really, because this is 1 of the only letters. There's 1 other, but this really is the jewel in the crown.

This is 1 of the only letters where Jesus seems to be completely pleased. With the church. This letter is a kind of unqualified, well done, and commendation. So it's, a lovely turn of providence that we're looking at this, letter together. The only question, of course, is Who should that praise and commendation be directed at?

You know, should it be rightly directed towards Hope Church? You really haven't done anything so far. Have they? Or is the lord wanting to say no, Cornerstone? My giving sacrificing generous planting, loving church.

Well done. You know, who's who's who's who who are we gonna apply it to? Of course, we'll see that it applies to all of us, but, let's pray as we, we look together. Heavenly father, we rejoice, in the work of the gospel. That for generations, for thousands of years, your people have heard the call of the lord Jesus to go into all the world and to make disciples of all nations.

And we thank you that you do that not chiefly through individuals. But by the planting and establishing of outposts of glory. As churches go and they go to parts of the world to proclaim a great savior. And we thank you that together, we can celebrate that and we can partner together. In this mission to reach the world for the lord Jesus Christ.

Bless us. We pray, speak to us now as we look at this letter in Jesus' name. Our men. If you had to summarize, this letter in a sentence or summarize the, the condition of these Philadelphia Christians. I think you could say something like this.

This church is weak but it is holding on. It's weak, but it's holding on. Now in many areas, that would not be a very positive way of talking. So if I said to you, how's your how's your relationship going? And you said it's weak, but we're holding on.

It's done great. Is it? So I said, how how's the diet going? It's pretty weak, but I'm holding on, you know. How's that new car?

It's weak, but it's holding on. You know? Does it sound great? Does it? In fact, from time to time, people will ask me, they'll say, you know, how you how are you going and how's the church doing?

I never wanna answer like that. Do you? I never wanna say well, to be honest, I'm weak, but I'm holding on. The church is weak. But he's holding on.

Yeah. It doesn't sound great. Does it? And yet here, Jesus seems to think that that is that's a really good thing. It's a really good description.

He's thankful for that. He's praising them for that week, but holding on. And here's the reason why because in Jesus's mind, these weak people are depending on him. They're trusting in him. That's the key thing.

You see, in some ways, there is no virtue in being rich or in being poor, in being strong or in being weak, in being intelligent or being unintelligent. That isn't really the issue. The key thing, the pleasing thing is, do we realize our spiritual weakness and do we then depend on the lord Jesus Christ for strength? Philadelphia, this church in Philadelphia, seem to have been doing that, which is why the description weak but holding on becomes becomes a glory. And so in 1 sense this morning, as you prepare to, to launch hope church, next week, I hope that you're you're not feeling too weak.

I mean, there's a sense in which if you were this morning on the cusp of planting a brand new church and yet you were all feeling absolutely exhausted already, and drained of strength and your motivation had all but gone away, that would be less than ideal, wouldn't it? In that to feel weak in that sense. But in another sense, in this proper sense, weakness is exactly what we we need and we ought to feel. At this time, Philadelphia was actually known as mini Athens. That was his nickname, mini Athens.

So I don't know if you've ever been to, 1 of those model villages or model railways where the idea is they they build a model of London, let's say, or Edinburgh. And it's not the real thing, of course. It's a model, but you can look around it, and it's a scale model and it looks exactly like the real city, and you can enjoy it as as a model, that kind of thing. Well, Philadelphia was was like a model village of Athens. It was a it was a mini Athens.

It was set up to support the same gods to look the same to to worship the same gods. And so just as you and I are made in god's image, Philadelphia was made in the image of Athens. In other words, this was an important city. It was a prosperous city, and it was a city alive with idolatry. And therefore, what possible influence could this little church have on a place like that?

What possible influence? What possible change? Could they enact on a culture so strong? And don't we feel like that? About Tollworth and Kingston.

Just the sheer number of people who seem to want nothing at all to do with the lord Jesus Christ and the sheer number of world views and teachings, which contradict god's word, you look at it all, and you think, how can we as just as a little few individuals possibly influence or change a culture like that? Philadelphia felt weak. They were a church in many Athens, but they were holding on and they were depending upon Christ. And as Christ looked at that, he thought that was a glorious thing. He thought that was a glorious thing.

And yeah, as you can see in this letter, the lord Jesus also provides them with with 2 images. There's loads of images, really, but he provides them with 2 images in order to strengthen them. He comes to this weak church and he says I want you to picture 2 things that are gonna give you strength. 1 image is of a key. The next image is of a pillar.

There's a royal key. And there's an unshakable pillar. And I just want us to open up those 2 images together from this letter in the time that we have left. We're gonna look at the key and we're gonna look at the pillar. Okay?

Firstly, look at the key verse 7. So the angel of the church in Philadelphia right These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David, what he opens, no 1 can shut, and what he shuts, no 1 can open. I don't know if you remember receiving your first set of house keys. Do you remember that? When your parents or whoever looked after you decided that you were old enough and mature enough, to have your first set of house keys, man, the freedom in that.

Yeah? Here you are now with your own set of keys. What does that mean? It means you can go and come as you please. You can walk out of the house.

And you can come back into the house. Whenever you want, you don't have to ring up and find if mum's in. You don't have to come only at certain times. You've got your keys. You can go out first thing in the morning.

Come home last thing at night, come home even if you want in the middle of the night, you got your own the freedom that comes with keys. It's huge, isn't it? But also there's this idea of authority. When you have the key to a lock, you are in the position of authority, aren't you? So sad last week.

We, we had to say goodbye to Naomi, and Naomi's been on our staff team, for the last 9, 10 months or so. And, when you no longer are a member of staff at the hub, 1 of the things that you have to do is to give back your keys. Yeah? So Naomi, she can now no longer come and go. Is she pleasing?

You know? Although most of the time it's open and the alarms off, and she knows the key code anyway. So, she she can largely do it. But in principle, you get the idea. Yeah.

You you surrender the keys. It means giving back authority. If you've got keys, It means you you have authority. You can get in. You're trusted with a lock and with a building and with a premises.

That's the idea with keys, isn't it? There's freedom there. There's authority there. Well, the lord Jesus, have a look at verse 7. These are the words of him.

Who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. Our lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, and he sits on David's throne. He is the forever king in David's line, and therefore, him having the key is to say that in god's kingdom, and over every single human heart, our lord Jesus Christ has supreme authority. He has authority over every human heart in the kingdom of god. Last week, last weekend, actually.

There was about 30 of us who went away to Ashburnham, which is a Christian conference center on the south coast. And, 1 of the things in, in, in hotels or, places like that is if you lose your key, you have to do is to go to reception and very often at reception, they will have a master key. There's a master key. There is 1 key that only they have the right to own, which can unlock every single room in the place. There's a master key.

Yeah? The lord Jesus Christ is the only 1 with the master key. He has authority over every human heart. And actually, this is not the first time we've seen language like this in Revelation. If you just turn back over to Revelation 1 verse 17, here's John's, glorious vision of Christ.

1 verse 17. The lord Jesus says, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living 1. I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever, and I hold the keys.

Of death and Hades. I love that image of the lord Jesus Christ after dying for our sin being taken down from the cross and being placed into a tomb, but in his hands, he holds a key. And he holds it there for 3 days. And then on the third day, he has authority to take up his own life and he puts his key that only he can hold into the tombstone and he unlocks it and Death and Hades fly open forever. The lord Jesus Christ, the only 1 buried with the key in order to break death and come out of it 3 days later.

And so you see, you put those images together, and here's what we learn. If our lord Jesus Christ chooses to come into a human heart and to open it up, if he by his grace comes into somebody's life and says, I'm gonna renew that person. By my spirit through my word and I'm gonna make them live, then what he determines to open, none can shut. None can shut. If he determines to open a heart, none can close it.

If he determines to speak words of life to a person and to call them from death and hades and hell and to bring them to heaven forever, then no force can stop it. No force can stop it because he has the keys. To open and to renew and to give life. But similarly, if he chooses to shut a door. If he chooses to come in his providence in judgment upon a heart, then none can open.

What he has determined to shut. And you notice how this actually gets illustrated in the letter. If you have a look at sentence number 9, I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan who claim to be Jews, though they are not, but are liars. I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Now there's loads I think that could be said about this group of people.

And if you want to, know a bit more about them and what they might have been teaching, I'd be very happy to talk with you about that afterwards. But for now, I just want you to see, and it's pretty plain that in Philadelphia, there were these false teachers, there were these false believers that were lying to the Christians and doing them harm with false teaching. And yet, what does Jesus say is gonna happen to them? Have a look. I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

Now he could be talking there about judgment day. He could be saying that 1 day, all of your opponents are gonna fall down before you, and they will have to confess with their mouths that even though we didn't like these people, we now see that Christ loved them. They were loved by Christ and how foolish we were not to have seen it. It could refer to judgment day, but it could also mean in this life. The lord Jesus could be saying to them that as you little church in many Athens continue to preach my name and hold fast to my word, I'm even going to bring your enemies.

To your feet, not to worship you, but to worship through you the god who you serve. In other words, I will convert even your enemies as you, little church keeps holding to my name. In other words, brothers and sisters, Christ is so sovereign. That's what he's telling his church. He is so sovereign, and he is so in possession of that master key, the even staunch opponents of the good news.

If he decides that they are to be converted and that their hearts are to be opened and their lives renewed, even the fiercest opponents can come to him. That is how sovereign he is. And so I don't think this is necessarily a guarantee that in week 1 of Hope Church or in week 2 of Hope Church, there will be people born again and then every week after there will be a steady stream of constant conversions. I don't think that's a guarantee. But if this doctrine doesn't give strength to your hands.

If this doctrine doesn't give hope to your to your prayers and convict conviction to your preaching, then nothing can. So here's the point for Cornerstone Church and for Hope Church. This is a truth to strengthen weak churches. The lord Jesus Christ is sovereign in salvation. And he is sovereign in judgment.

And no matter how powerful a culture may seem or how big a task might feel, if he determines to open or close, Nothing can stop him. Nothing can stop him. Nothing can stop the progress of his word and his gospel in the world. And so can I encourage you in in the freedom of that truth? You see, it is very tempting, I think, for all churches to think, well, if if we can just get our welcome right, that's the main thing.

If we can just get our small group program right, then people are gonna come to faith. If we can just make sure our media is is frequent and sharp, which it will be, by the way, because you've got a great team going, then we can see people coming to faith. If we can just make sure our kids work is really high quality and again it will be because there's so many good kids work is going, then people will come to faith. If we can just get the right recipe and make sure everything works as it should and it's quality, then we'll see people coming to Christ. And look, of course, it goes without saying that that all of that is good and all of the gifts that you have are to be used.

But this is a reminder that for a heart to open, a key is needed. And only Christ possesses that key. We had a lovely men's breakfast yesterday for those who were there. And, there were 3 men in the church who gave their, gave their testimonies. And, their stories were very different and their experiences were very different, but in every 1 of their stories, there was this sense that I am what I am now only because Jesus has opened my heart, and only because Jesus has made a difference in my life.

And so hope church, we wanna say to you this morning, you use your gifts. And preach the lord Jesus Christ and pray for open hearts that he would do what only he can do because this key speaks to us of Christ's sovereignty in the kingdom of god. And so the key comes to the church. But secondly, have a look now at the pillar. We've seen the key.

Now let's look at the pillar. If you're joining us for the, the first time or you're unfamiliar, with these letters to the churches in Revelation, you may not know that Jesus often uses words and images that speak directly to the to the context or the village or the city of that church. So in Bergam, for instance, we saw this a few weeks back. Jesus promises to give his people a white stone. And you think, what's that about?

White stone? Why is he talking about that? But then you realize that in the culture at at the time, a white stone was like an invitation. So if you were invited to a banquet or a party, you would be given a white stone. And when you got to the banquet, you would present your white stone, and it was a way of saying I've been invited.

I'm qualified to be here. Please let me in. And so you think, wow, okay. That's what the white stone's about. That would have spoken in a very special way to them.

Jesus has given you the great white stone because he's qualified you for the banquet of heaven. And so you see he knows the culture and he uses words which are going to affect them and move them in ways that only they might know. And so I was looking up in that in that kind of vein, some information about the sun ray estate, yesterday. And I was thinking, how would Jesus what what would Jesus' letter look like to the sun ray estate given that? So here's something I found out about the sun ray estate.

And you'll have to decide whether this is true or sort of extending into exaggeration a little bit, those of you who live there. The estate was laid out using garden suburb principles. Which involved a a planned layout around generous green spaces. Is that right? Not yet.

It's now the roundabout. Houses are all of a consistent design. Arranged in short terraces along long avenues with wide verges. I don't know why I'm putting this accent on, but it doesn't really? So you can see what I'm trying to do.

With wide verges and street trees and smaller cul de sacs arranged around central grass areas and it goes on and on like this. And after reading that, I spent really quite a long time trying to think through what Jesus would say with that sort of context to the, to the church on the sunray of state. And I came up with something like this. To the ones who overcome I will plant them as trees in wide green gardens, known only to them, and no longer will there be any cul de sacs. For none shall stop them or turn them back.

Instead, they shall walk clearly forever on roads paved with gold. You know, that was 1 I had a few others as well. That was the best 1. I had a lot of fun with that, actually, as you as you can tell. But the serious point behind it is that Christ Christ knows his people And he knows where his people are, and he speaks to them even through their locations.

He wants them to walk around in their culture and see things and to hear a promise from Christ as they live where they live. And that is never more true than here with Philadelphia. Have a look at verse 11. I'm coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that no 1 will take your crown.

The 1 who is victorious, I will make a pillar in the temple of my god, and never again. Will they leave it? Never again. Will they leave it? People reckon that Revelation was written in about AD 95, but in AD 17, we're told by historians that there was an earthquake that was so big and so devastating that it virtually wiped out Philadelphia.

So all of the buildings and all of the cities and all of their homes were just leveled by this terrible earthquake in AD 17, which would have been fresh in the minds of those who lived there even decades on. And if you look up today, you see that still this region of Turkey, this part of Turkey is very prone to earthquakes and tectonic activity, and it's a dangerous place to live in that sense. And of course, in the first century, that there was no mapping system. There were no richter scales. There was no warning system.

And therefore, many people because they knew how devastating these earthquakes could be actually chose to live away from the temples and outside of the city in the suburbs. That they wouldn't get destroyed by falling masonry and buildings. Or at the first sign of a little tremor, they would have to flee. They felt the ground shake. They would have to flee and get out and get away from the temp and get away from their homes.

That was the setting. And so, aren't those words then amazing? I will make a pillar in the temple of my god. Never again, will they leave it? Never again.

Will they be forced to flee? Never again will they fear destruction? They will be there enduring forever. See, if you try and imagine, I read I read this this week and it worked for me at least If you picture in your mind, try to picture in your mind, an ancient ruin. So you try to just see in your mind's eye some part of Rome or some part of Athens, and and you picture an ancient ruin in your mind.

What what's there? What can you see? I think pillars. Pillers do come to mind, don't they? You can sort of peel up the pillar speaks to ancient ruins more than almost any other thing.

And why is that the case? Because there is something about pillars, isn't there, which speaks of stability, and it speaks of endurance. And in your mind, you know that here is something that was built to endure. Here is something that was built survive and does survive even when other things fall apart. And so what a contrast?

Here is a church in verse 8 that has little strength. In the face of a culture that is oppressive in its idolatry, and in the presence of false teachers who lie to them and tell them that god doesn't really love them. I imagine they would have been feeling more like jellyfish than pillars. But Christ says to them, no, no, my people, by my strength, you will be kept, and you will survive. And you will be victorious.

And 1 day, the strength that you actually now have in me is going to be seen on a global stage and in my new creation temple, you are going to be pillars. Never again. Will you have to flee? And never again. Are you gonna be destroyed?

You are going to stand as my people forever. Now thankfully Tollworth is not known for its earthquakes. But what a promise for you all? Brothers and sisters The work that you are about to begin, and the work that you will be engaged in we trust for many years to come is a victorious work. It is true that in god's providence, individual churches do come and go over time, but the gospel that faithful churches preach is a victorious gospel.

You see, when we get to the new creation, you notice that the churches are not just pictures in the new creation. They're not just watercolors on the wall where you go and have a look and you can see what they were. They are actually pillars. Faithful gospel preaching churches are not pictures, they're pillars. There is something about them which which endures forever and which even seems to hold up the new creation, the faithful testimony of Christ through his church.

That is what gospel preaching churches are. They are pillars they are engaged in this never failing enduring work, which will stand forever. And notice what's on the pillars. Have a look at that. Verse, verse 12.

The 1 who is victorious, I will make a pillar in the temple of my god. Never again will they leave it? I will write on them the name of my god and the name of the city of my god, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from god and I will also write on them my new name. You see how sealed they are with the name of god. I will write on them the name of my god once.

Name of the city of my god twice. My new name 3 times. They are 3 times sealed. With the name of Christ forever. And so do you see how it goes?

The ones who are victorious become pillars, and god writes his name on those pillars. Can you picture it?pillars with names engraved upon them. It's not as weird as it sounds, is it? If you go to a cathedral or to an old church, you might find those honorary stones. Stones in the wall, and they've got inscribed upon them names.

That meant something to this community or that church. And even though the furniture gets old and has to change and the staff come and go, there are these names engraved in the pillars and the stones of those places. Where it's the same idea here. In the new creation, every faithful church is a pillar, and on every pillar are the names of god's people. Isn't that glorious to think of your names engraved by the pierced hands of Jesus onto a pillar called the church, and that structure upholds a new creation.

The testimony of the church and the people of god. And so the whole picture here speaks to us of this life and the 1 to come. In this life, there is gonna be weakness and there is going to be sin and there are going to be false teachers, but we are moving to this place of eternal security and strength. And so with all that in view, Let's come to the 1 command in this letter. It's in verse 11.

Don't know if you saw it. There's the general command in verse 13, which is to here, which is given to every church, but there's just 1 command given to this church, and it's in verse 11. Hold on. Hold on to what you have. Hold on to what you have.

As you start this journey, there is bound to be upset. There are bound to be times when you wanna grumble. There are bound to be temptations to water down or to change the message in order to impress the culture, and I'm afraid that none of you are able to leave without taking your sin with you. Your sin will go with you, and therefore, there's bound to be problems. But Jesus says my people hold on to what you have.

Because I am sovereign, and you, and this work that you are engaged in, has a kind of eternal strength to it that will never be destroyed. And never be undone in eternity's eyes. And so do you see there's the key that says Jesus sovereign over your work and there's the pillar which says weaken this life but eternally strong in the age to come. And with those promises in mind, Jesus says, hold on. Hold on.

1 last story. I don't know if you I don't know if you ever saw a, a program called child of our time. It was, aired from 2000 to 2018. And what they did was they took a load of children that were born in the millennium. And they followed them for 18 years looking at how they developed and what sort of characters they were and their personalities.

It was very interesting, you know, program. And 1 of the things that they did with the children when they were about 5 or 6 is something called the Stanford Marshmallow experiment. And I don't know if you've ever heard about that, but it's basically the idea is you get a 5 year old or a 6 year old and you sit them down at a table and you put a marshmallow in front of them. And the supervisor says to the child, You, if you want to, can eat that marshmallow now. If you wait 5 minutes, you will get 2 marshmallows.

And then the children sit there and they stare at the marshmallow, and they have to decide what they're gonna do. And some of them, you know, are very good and they can wait and fold their arms and look at something else. Others not so much. You know, others are are on it in sort of 5 seconds, you know, because they can't resist the marshmallows. It's a very interesting experiment, and they work out why it is based on personality and education that some people are able to wait and some people aren't.

Well, there's a variation of the Stanford Marshmallow experiment, which is which is really, really interesting. So what they do is they get 2 control groups 1 is 1 by 1 supervisor, the other is 1 by another supervisor. And before they put them through the marshmallow experiment, they have 30 minutes with each group in order to play with them. Supervisor 1 is told to lie constantly in little ways to his control group. And so what happens is you've got all these 5 or 6 year olds playing in a room, and the supervisor is just saying things to him like, oh, go and get that truck, will you and bring it to me, and then I'll give you a car.

Little boy goes, gets the truck, brings it back, doesn't get the car. And and and there's just over half an hour, there's just lots of little lies that they tell them. Others control group, they're told to make lots of little promises, but to keep every single 1 of them. So you go get the truck and I'll give you a car. I've got the truck.

Here's your car. And for half an hour, they make and keep lots of little promises, and then they put these 2 control groups through the marshmallow experiment. And you can guess what happens. In the first group, the supervisor says, I want you to just wait And if you can in 5 minutes, you'll get 2 marshmallows. What do you think all the kids do?

They eat it straight away. They eat it straight away because they've been conditioned in the last half an hour to think that this person doesn't keep their promises. What do you think happens in control group number 2? Much more of them are able to wait because their supervisor has made and kept lots of promises to them and they trust them. And what they realized about that experiment is that the strength we need in order to hold on for something doesn't depend in the final assessment on our self control.

And on I've gotta do it, and it's down to me, and I can wait if I try what it actually depends on is the faithfulness of the 1 who has promised. If they know that the 1 who has promised is faithful to them, then they can hold on. Jesus says, I want you to hold on. Hold on. Doesn't his faithfulness provide us with the strength that we need to do that?

He keeps his promises. He's sovereign over salvation, not a single word of his has ever failed. And so when he says brothers and sisters, I have the key to every human heart, and I will make you an unshakable pillar, we know he's telling the truth, and his faithfulness is what enables us to hold on. And so it's a delight for us to be commissioning you with this letter to go out and preach that savior to Tollworth. Should we pray together?

Let's pray. Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you that these are the words of him who is holy and true. That you are a true god who makes true promises and that not 1 of your good promises has ever failed. We thank you lord Jesus Christ, that you have key of David and what you determine to open, none can close, and what you close, none can open. And we pray for both Cornerstone and Hope church that we would trust you lord Jesus as the 1 sovereign in judgment and sovereign in salvation.

And yet we do play, pray, please, that there might be many hearts on the sunray estate and in Tollworth who you in your good grace will unlock at the sound of the preaching of the gospel. That there might be many people, they're pleased who do come to Christ and say, wow, I now do realize that Jesus loves you, that he loves your church and I am now part of that church. We pray for times when the church feels weak when there are challenges to community life, when there are pressures from the world around. And we ask you that as they feel weak, they would look to that day when they will be unshakable pillars in the temple of god that they will see their eternal security very clearly and that that would give strength to their hands even in these days of weakness. We thank you for all who are going with the church and we pray that you bless their work and bless the gospel work here at Kingston as well in Jesus name.

Amen.