Known and Loved...

Known and Loved/CityAlight

God you were there from my beginning

For I was crafted by your hands

You see my hopes and hesitations

My days are written in you plan

If you have seen my weakest moments

And still you love me even then

I need no greater confirmation

That God your goodness has no end

CHORUS

I come to Jesus, lay down my weakness

No need for hiding, here in His light

This truth I treasure, my peace forever

Is being known and loved by Him

I trust with Jesus it is finished

For He has paid my every debt

No need to pull it all together

For what is broken He will mend

Though I can’t see the path before me

I know the one who knows the way

And as I walk His hand will guide me

Until I see Him face to face

On That Day...

 

On That Day/CityAlight 

I believe in Christ, risen from the dead

He now reigns victorious, His kingdom knows no end

Through His resurrection death has lost its hold

I know on that final day I’ll rise as Jesus rose

CHORUS

On that day we will see you shining brighter than the sun

On that day we will know you as we lift our voice as one

Till that day we will praise you for your never ending grace

And we will keep on singing on that glorious day

What a blessed hope, though now tired and worn

We will spend eternity around our Saviour’s throne

Though we grieve our losses we grieve not in vain

For we know our crown of glory waits beyond the grave

BRIDGE

Hallelujah what a day it will be

For at home with you my joy is complete

As I run into your arms open wide I will see

My father who is waiting for me

Wait on the Lord...

“‘Wait on the Lord’ is a constant refrain in the Psalms, and it is a necessary word, for God often keeps us waiting. He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not his way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time. When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When action is needed, light will come.”(J.I. Packer)

When Father Joseph Ratzinger Predicted the Future of the Church...

When Father Joseph Ratzinger Predicted the Future of the Church 

Way before becoming pope, or even a prelate, Ratzinger laid it out in a 1969 broadcast on German radio for all to hear. He didn’t pretend he could tell the future. No. He was much too wise for that....

Excerpt: 

“Let us go a step farther. From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge — a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so it will lose many of her social privileges. In contrast to an earlier age, it will be seen much more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision. As a small society, it will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members. Undoubtedly it will discover new forms of ministry and will ordain to the priesthood approved Christians who pursue some profession. In many smaller congregations or in self-contained social groups, pastoral care will normally be provided in this fashion. Along-side this, the full-time ministry of the priesthood will be indispensable as formerly. But in all of the changes at which one might guess, the Church will find her essence afresh and with full conviction in that which was always at her center: faith in the triune God, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, in the presence of the Spirit until the end of the world. In faith and prayer she will again recognize the sacraments as the worship of God and not as a subject for liturgical scholarship.

“The Church will be a more spiritual Church, not presuming upon a political mandate, flirting as little with the Left as with the Right. It will be hard going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to become the Church of the meek. The process will be all the more arduous, for sectarian narrow-mindedness as well as pompous self-will will have to be shed. One may predict that all of this will take time. The process will be long and wearisome as was the road from the false progressivism on the eve of the French Revolution — when a bishop might be thought smart if he made fun of dogmas and even insinuated that the existence of God was by no means certain — to the renewal of the nineteenth century. But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret."  Image

The Sermon on the Mount

 Pastor Rob Burns: Matthew 5:1-12 

 November 12, 2023 

The Sermon on the Mount

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

The Beatitudes

2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons[a] of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Day After Day, Jesus Reigns...

 

 Day After Day, Jesus Reigns/CityAlight

In the morning as I pray 

For the day that You have made 

I have hope and I have peace 

For Your presence is with me 

So whatever comes my way 

Lord remind me of this grace 

I can face it with this hope 

Jesus won’t forget His own 

CHORUS

Jesus holds me safely in His hands 

Ever close he leads me in His plans 

When I can’t see the way 

I have hope and I have faith 

Day after day, Jesus reigns

In the evening as I rest

I recall Your faithfulness

How You never left my side

From the morning to the night

Now until the dawning sun

Be the light that leads me on

I can face it with this hope

Jesus won’t forget His own 

 

BRIDGE

Always before me

And always beside me

My shepherd is always close

Morning to evening

Each day that I’m given

My shepherd is always close 

For tomorrow this I pray

Father help me live Your way

Every breath and every word

For the glory of the Lord

If the day should test my faith

Or fill my heart with songs of praise

I can face it with this hope

Jesus won’t forget His own

God does not leave us comfortless...

God does not leave us comfortless, but we have to be in dire need of comfort to know the truth of his promise. It is in time of calamity . . . in days and nights of sorrow and trouble that the presence, the sufficiency, and the sympathy of God grow very sure and very wonderful. Then we find out that the grace of God is sufficient for all our needs, for every problem, and for every difficulty, for every broken heart, and for every human sorrow. -Peter Marshall

God is over all...

God Is Over All-CityAlight

God You hold the world in hand 

Mountains move at Your command 

Yet my needs You will provide 

As a father loves his child 

CHORUS

God is over all

God is over all

I will sing for it is well 

My God is over all 

God You saw the sin in me

For you reign in majesty

Jesus died to make me clean

Jesus rose to set me free 

God above all time and space

You are never far away

For in Jesus I can see

How you are a friend to me 

Sermon: Jesus Begins His Ministry

Pastor Rob Burns: Matthew 4:12-25 

November 5, 2023

12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

16 the people dwelling in darkness

    have seen a great light,

and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,

    on them a light has dawned.”

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Sermon: "God never wastes a wilderness time..."

 

Pastor Rob Burns: Matthew 4:1-11 

October 29, 2023

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God

    and him only shall you serve.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. -Matthew 4:1-11

The Lord Is By My Side...

 

 CityAlight/ The Lord Is By My Side

I know my Shepherd gives me peace 

The Lord is by my side 

For every day He walks with me 

The Lord is by my side 

The Lord is by my side 

Forever by my side 

His hope, His strength, His peace is mine 

I know my Shepherd gives me strength

The Lord is by my side

For I am small and He is great

The Lord is by my side 

I know my Shepherd gives me hope

The Lord is by my side

For He will lead me safely home

The Lord is by my side 

And when I look back surely I will see 

Your goodness and love they have followed me 

For when I look back surely I will see 

My Shepherd has laid down his life for me