Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our service this morning, and especially our service of remembrance. We remember the Lord every Sunday, but we're also going to remember those who gave their lives for our religious and political and spiritual freedom. So we are going to include that in our service. And I just want to let you know exactly what we're going to do for these first few moments in our service. We are going to sing a hymn, which will be number 70, And then we, at the last verse, will have two people who will lay wreaths at the front of the church. And then after that last verse, we will stand for a minute's silence. Remain seated for the singing, but we'll stand for a moment's silence. And then the silence will be broken by the playing of the last post. And then we shall close in prayer. And then you may be seated and the service will continue as usual. I do want to read a few verses, as I thought about this morning, and in particular, the important significance of the act which we are about to do. We find it here in, first of all, our scripture reading in John's Gospel, chapter 15. Jesus says, greater love has no one than this, than to lay one's life down for his friends. And then over in Romans chapter 5 verses 6 to 11, and it says this, knowing this, sorry that's the wrong chapter, I've got the wrong verses, but anyway, sorry, Romans chapter five, verse six to 11 says, for when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man would one day, yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so scripture tells us about the greatest and the highest act of love is to lay down your life for others, maybe for friends, but Jesus laid down his life for those who were still his enemies. We do want to remember those who gave their lives. Never was there ever so many, so little, laid down their life for so much, for so many, as in the past wars and conflicts. And so let us stand to sing number 70, O God, our help in, sorry, remain seated, we'll sing together, O God, our help in ages past. Please, thank you. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave In the shadow of Thy throne, my faith has well secured. Submission is Thy arm alone, and our defense is sure. Before the hills in order tuned, o'er earth we sing her praise. Ever rolling stream, where soaring suns away, They fly, forgotten as a dream, night at the opening day. Now can I ask you all please to stand as we remember those who gave their lives for our spiritual and religious freedom, as we think of those who laid down their lives in so many conflicts in the past and who still lay down their lives for us, for our present continuous freedoms. Now stand for a moment of silence which will only be broken when the last post is played. ["Taps"] The end The end. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can bow together and before God and this company and Lord, as we remember those who very courageously and sacrificially gave their lives so that we might know and experience freedom. Thank you, Lord, for courageous men who fought for our freedom and who gave their lives so that we might enjoy the freedoms that we do enjoy in this part of the world. thank you lord for those who faced a fierce foe and enemy and lord even in the face of that fiercest foe and enemy we're not willing to turn tail and run but lord stood up for what's right we thank you lord not only as we remember them we remember their loved ones and families that were left bereft of a We pray, dear God, that as in these days, as we enjoy these freedoms, that we'll continue to remember such and live, Lord, in memory of them with appreciation and humility. We thank you, Lord, for your son who died for us, who gave his life for our freedom, not from physical or material tyranny, but from spiritual tyranny. The one who gave his life that he may conquer death and the enemy of man. and we thank you, Lord, that the empty tomb and the open grave is an evidence of the fact that he overcame Satan, sin, death, and hell itself. So, Father, we pray that you'll help us to value these freedoms, that we won't squander them, we won't throw them to the side or the wayside, but, oh God, that we will, in truth, value them, that we will live in honor of those who gave their lives, but, Lord, live in honor of what Christ has done, that we may acknowledge, Lord, his greatness, his goodness, His generosity, His courage, tasting death for every man. Lord, right around this world, we pray for the many conflicts that still rage, for those who are still constantly, continually laying down their lives for freedom. And we ask God that you will be with each one. We ask that you'll meet each need and be very near to those, especially those who are of the household of faith. We commit ourselves and the remainder of this service to you, praying your blessing upon us. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Amen, you may be seated. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our service this morning and to our special act of remembrance. We don't normally do it this way, but of course, everything is restricted now with COVID, and I want to thank Carl and Jackie for helping us in our service this morning. Now, our pastor is speaking this morning, and we're also looking forward to hearing from Heather Wilson as she gives a report of what's been happening with her during this COVID time. We have our prayer meeting, sorry, I should say about our service this evening. Come along, the pastor is speaking, if you've pre-booked your seat. Then Wednesday at half past seven we have our church prayer meeting, and that's open to everyone, whether you are, well, whether you've booked or not. We don't need a booking for Wednesday night, so do just come along. Next Sunday, our services are at the usual times now of 11.30 in the morning and 5 o'clock in the evening. And next Sunday morning, Andrew will be preaching, and the pastor will be preaching in the evening service. And in the morning service, Beverly McMaster will be giving a report on what she's been doing during these difficult times with CEF. And then can I remind you of the usual booking arrangements, whether you want to go to the hall in the morning, the church in the morning or the church in the evening, all the usual bookings for those. And then finally, just when you are leaving the service this morning, can you please go out that door? I don't know whether that's the back or the front, but go that door because out here it gets a bit messy when the rain's heavy. So thank you very much. And of course, all the announcements are made God willing. I know that Billy meant 11 o'clock, not 11.30, but you're all pretty switched on to that. Hands up, those of you who knew he made a mistake. There you are. All right, thank you so much. We do want to worship the Lord, and that's why we've come. We're going to sing a couple of songs together, and then we, as has been mentioned, Heather Wilson is going to bring a report on her involvement in the work of God in these past difficult months. The first song we're going to sing, we're just going to sing two just now. There is a Redeemer. Remaining seated, we'll sing it together, please. Thank you so much. you Oh The second song we're going to sing just for now is 544. As the deer pans for the water, so my soul longs after you. I'm sure, like myself, you all feel we're in a bit of a desert land in these days and we grow weary. But thank the Lord we can come and find ourselves encouraged and inspired, refreshed and renewed, revived as we come to drink of the water. As Jesus said, that water that shall never, that well that shall never run dry. as the deer pants. If you haven't got a hunger and a thirst for God, then you're not very well, spiritually speaking. If you haven't got a desire for who he is, then can I urge you to consider that hunger today as he who is the well of life and the fountain of life for every soul who will drink of that fountain as a deer pants. Thank you very much, Amy. you. You are Lord of the Rings I Well, this last number of weeks we've been hearing from our various missionaries and trying to let the folks see and how they are getting on and coping with the various challenges that lie before them. We had Timothy and Lindsay, we had Matthew and we had Liz. And this week we're having Heather Wilson, who works with the faith mission and is based in Enniskillen in these days. And so Heather is going to come now and share her burden. and tell us a little bit about what she's involved in and how they've had to also readapt to the current situation. Thanks. Well, good morning, folks. It's really good to be here and to be able to share with you by way of report. Thank you to the pastor for this opportunity. It's also great for me to be able to personally thank you as a church family also for your support, not only over this past year, but over the amount of years since I've become a member here. It's really encouraging to me just to have that support for many people who have been texting or phoning me during this time. But I just want to read a couple of verses from God's Word this morning. First one is found in Malachi chapter 3 verse 6 and it says, And over in Hebrews 13 verse 8, it says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. You know, both of these verses, they declare that God is the same always and never changes. He is always good, He is always loving, and He is always powerful. And no matter how much this world changes and we all know things have changed dramatically especially over this last eight months we can trust that God is consistent and we can praise and give thanks to God that he is a secure place for us to invest our trust and our heart's desire. He is our rock and our fortress and what he says he means and I have certainly known the reality of those truths in my own life personally and also in the Lord's work up there in West Fermanagh. especially over this past year. It's been a year of changes and challenges within the mission, but through it all, God remains faithful, and he has been my comfort and my guide. Despite the changes and the limitations, God has been working in hearts and lives, and we praise God for that. The main thrust of my ministry initially during the first lockdown, and it still continues today, was that via the telephone ministry. It was the only thing that we could really do as a mission, because most things had closed down. We couldn't go to visit people. Our meetings had been cancelled. But you know, I have to say that that was such a blessing, not for me. I don't know how much it blessed the folks. I hope it blessed those that I contacted. But for me personally, to be able to read God's word with the folks, to be able to pray with them and to encourage them, especially people who I would normally only have seen in a group setting. So that was a really encouraging time for me and that still continues to this day. You know our summer work was very different, we weren't able to have our camps, we weren't able to have our children's club and that was all done via zoom or else online ministry through recorded messages. But I have to say I still struggle with that and I remember our own pastor saying you know the zoom whenever we did zoom prayer meetings here in the church. It doesn't do it for me and it certainly doesn't do it for me not being able to be with the children and to see them and interact with them has been really difficult and a real challenge for me. But I praise God for those who heard God's word and for those who God spoke to and whose lives God changed. We had many that came online who wouldn't normally come to our camps but for them it was easier to come online. And we've heard of young people who said that God has really spoken to them, those who have come back to the Lord through that ministry. You know, we praise God that his word is not bound because of the restrictions and because of the limitations that have been placed upon us. in these days. Unfortunately my regular children's clubs have not been able to start back. The one in Enniskillen in the little hall called Taba, because of the size of the hall we have been unable to restart that. But I've been able to send out ministry to each of the children to their homes and currently they are doing that ministry and then they will send it back to me hopefully in a few weeks so we just pray for that that as it goes into their homes that they will do it and not only them but for the parents as well that they'll be interested in what the young people are doing hopefully in Christmas. I'll be able to visit each of the children with more ministry stuff for the Christmas story and also I'll be recording a video to go along with those lessons. The club down south, it was planning, we were planning for it to start but unfortunately because the new restrictions across the border that has been again has been unable to start but I've been recording videos and memory verses to send to them, and I have to say I've been so encouraged. Now, I miss not seeing the children, but I've been encouraged to hear that even the parents are watching those videos, so we praise God for that, because many of the parents would not know the Lord as their own and personal Savior. So through this, even though for me it's hard, it's a challenge, even recording those messages, there's nothing, even though I was nervous coming up here this morning but as the pastor reminded me you know when we open our mouth that the Lord fills it but yet doing those videos that's nearly more nerve-wracking for me than standing seeing people face to face so I long for the day whenever I'm able to meet the children face to face but pray for our young people and the children in these days that they will really know God speaking into their hearts and lives even through online ministry and watching videos of God's Word but it's a great means of being able to speak to them. Also the other ministry that I've been involved in has been again via Zoom or online with our prayer unions or sometimes we do conference calls where we phone up and we're talking to different folks via that way and again that has been an encouragement I know for the folks. For many who don't have internet and can't use zoom so that has been good as well that continues other drive-ins have been happening as well over the summer and they they're just finished um now this past couple of months but we just look to god for for the future also assemblies um i've been really encouraged actually as you know probably obviously the schools we can't physically go into the schools in these days but i'm able to go um to four schools via again via online um ministry i've been able to record messages there. So that's a continuing work to send in messages and then that goes round each of the classes. Please pray for again for that ministry for many of the schools perhaps who don't have a Christian influence or many of the children as well who don't have a Christian influence that as those messages go forth again that God will really speak into hearts and lives. And also, coming up to Christmas, I'm hoping to have my regular coffee morning again. That has been unable to start. We're planning it for the first weekend of December, God willing, and also my carol service that I hope to be speaking at again the first Sunday in December. But again, everything as subject has changed. There had been a mission planned in April that was rescheduled for November, and now that has been cancelled as well. And whilst that is a burden and it's difficult for me that these things are being cancelled, you know, I'm encouraged to know that God is sovereign and that God is in control of all of these situations. He knows the beginning from the end. And as I close, I would just ask you to pray that as I seek God regarding the path ahead, that I will know a clear direction from God, that I'll not run ahead of him, that I'll be patiently waiting to be guided by God in his direction and led in his way. Because faithful is he who calleth you, who also will do it. Amen. Many thanks, Heather, for that report. I'm sure we all share the same frustration, the things that we, the Gares Brigade, for example, have wanted to get going and has been so frustrating, and many other organizations. And we're, probably you would see it as we're running a kind of a skeleton program, doing the best we can. Many, but can I say thanks to those of our church fellowship for the many encouraging messages we get from you. We speak by phone or we get the odd little text message. saying they really appreciate the effort that the diaconate and the leaders of the church are making. And I want to tell you there are tremendous efforts being made, and please be aware of that. There are tremendous efforts being made daily so that we may have some semblance of normality. But nevertheless, Heather did quote there, God says, he's the Lord, he changes not. And that's wonderful. And as I keep saying, nothing that's happening today is going to change one iota of the last chapter of human history. And that is something certainly to look forward to. Nevertheless, we are changing individuals, aren't you? You're not as good looking as you were 10 years ago, sure you're not. we are definitely living and some of us are more worried today than we were at the beginning of the year. And also our health and a number of people as you see from our prayer WhatsApp group, it's growing, it's not getting any smaller and so our health is changing as well. I just want to remind you of some folks that we want to pray for in the service this morning and that is Eileen Turner's sister Sadie was taken into hospital yesterday I understand and is very seriously ill with COVID-19 and also Eileen's husband Charlie was taken into hospital as well and he's got an infection as well and so we want to remember him. Margaret Tyford, I try to remember. I couldn't remember the name until laying in the bed this morning and I put the face to the name now. I remember the name but I couldn't put the face to it and I know exactly who she is. Been coming to our church for the last couple of years. and Margaret's in hospital as well, and we want to remember her in prayer. It's great to see Patricia out this morning, the one who, two weeks ago, was in such severe pain, wasn't getting no relief. Patricia, you're a real courageous lady, and that's a good example to everybody around, and not to let small things, you would nearly say, stop you, whenever someone who's had a fractured leg and ankle and all sorts of things is able to be out, and welcome to you, Eddie, as well. It's nice to see you this morning, and others. So let's pray together in prayer. Let's pray and seek the Lord together. Father, we are so glad that we can bow together, unite our hearts in prayer, thanking God for your faithful and gracious hand on us as individuals and as a collective group of your people who meet here in Abbots Cross. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of God that has been upon us. Lord, we might not necessarily identify it and we might not necessarily acknowledge it, but Lord, you're with us, you've been with us through it. And Lord, like the song says, when we look back over this, we will see that God carried us through. He will carry you through. Lord, what a wonderful verse of a hymn and Lord, we have many of us today have been able to acknowledge that and identify that. He is carrying us. Lord, our hearts are not failing. Our faith is not failing. We're believing in God, the God who never changes, who has a a wonderful purpose and plan for all of his people and who will execute, who will do his Lord, elections come and elections go. People come and people go, but God never changes. I am the same. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. What great comfort that brings to our hearts when we think about him who never changes. Father, we would also thank you for the work that's been done through the work of the faith mission in Enniskillen. Lord, we thank you for Heather and for your call upon her life and those young lives that are being impacted for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we pray that those videos that are going into those assemblies and the schools in the morning, Lord, for those four schools. We pray, Lord, for those children's clubs and the ministry resources that have been sent out and the daily contact with individuals, those who had professed not to be saved. We thank you, Lord, for all of this. We thank you for what you're doing. And we believe, Lord, that you are building your church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And we rejoice in that, Lord. All hell might be against us, but with God with us, we're on the side of victory. Remember Margaret Twyford this morning, Lord. We pray that you'll be with her in the hospital bed. Grant, Lord, that she may indeed know recovery from her sickness and from the fall that she had. And as we investigate her heart condition, we pray that you'll guide the doctors and the nurses. Thank you, Lord, for seeing Patricia here this morning. Thank you, Lord, for how you've undertaken for her. Thank you, Lord, for the fact that she's able to be in church with us here this morning, and we rejoice in that. We pray for Eileen Turner's sister, Sadie, and for her husband, Charlie. We ask, Lord, that you'll draw graciously near. Give courage and strength, Lord, we pray. and grant, O God, that they may indeed know the peace of God, which passeth all understanding. We ask, too, for Rita Greer, for others, Lord, who have contracted this virus. And we pray for our land, Lord. We know that we have a physical enemy, Lord, and as we remember them today, we also have a spiritual enemy. Lord, we realize, Lord, that the enemy is against everyone who seeks to make progress in the things of God. But we thank you that you again and again give us the victory in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, we pray that as we go through these days and as we face the various challenges that come upon us, we thank you, Lord, that our confidence is not in our ability in the flesh, but our confidence is in God. We ask, Lord, that you'll meet every need. Lord, I don't know every need that's in this church, nor do I know every need that's listening online or over in the hall. Lord, I do know that you know everyone, and pray, dear God, that you'll minister to each one at this time. And may your word find a resting place in every heart. And may the enemy be cast out, Lord, we pray. Bring encouragement and inspiration, revelation to our hearts, we ask. For you ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. If you've got a Bible and would like to follow the reading, I want you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians please. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and I'm reading from the verse 11. We will also be reading from our two verses. There are two verses that we've been looking at for this wee while in Nehemiah chapter 6. Nehemiah chapter 6 verses 15 to 16. But I want to, we will be looking at these verses in a few moments in our message, but I want to read together from 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 11 to chapter 7 and verse 1. as we go through the gates. And because there are quite a number of new folk in today, I'm going to take a very, very quick run through each gate and then give you a wee glimpse as to what each gate means. But before we read, I'm going to get you to stand. So those of you who are able to stand, you stay seated. But the rest of you, if you're able to stand or anybody who's able to stand, would you please stand for the reading of God's word at this time? Thank you so much. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 11, and the title in the May Bible says, Be Holy. O Corinthians, we have spoken openly to you. Our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections, or desires, or lusts. But in return for the same, I speak as to children, you also be open. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with our idols? You are the temple of the living God, as God has said. I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having these precious promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. And then over there to Nehemiah chapter 6 verses 15 and 16 which is our base text for these messages. Verses 15 and 16. As Nehemiah was building these walls, this miracle of God's power as they were building the walls in Jerusalem and setting the gates back on their hinges. So the wall was finished on the 25th day of Elul, in the 52 days, and it happened when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God. Amen. And we trust the Lord will bless that reading of his word to our hearts. You may be seated. Well, you know what we've been doing? We've been looking at this city called Jerusalem and the building of the walls. And right away you know that Jerusalem, the direction and the point that we've been making is that the city of Jerusalem meant the heart of worship. It was focusing on the center of worship for the people of God. That's where they saw as being the hub of worship and being the significant part to do with their religion and their involvement in the things of God. But the walls have been broken down and the gates have been lifted off their hinges through various conflicts. Enemies coming and ripping apart the gates. And you know when gates are open, anything can flood in. And Nehemiah, under the hand of God, came to Jerusalem and was seeing these gates re-established and fitted and set up again, all in 52 days. And in a very, very quick rerun, the first gate that we looked at, and by the way, they went round the city anti-clockwise, for whatever reason, I don't know, but they went round the city anti-clockwise. First of all, there was the Sheep Gate. The sheep gate represented their lamb, the lamb for sacrifice. The only way you can get to the heart of worship is through the sheep gate. The only way you can get to the very heart of God is through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. The sheep gate reminds us that you must have a sacrifice for sin. And our sacrifice can't be our good works. It can't be our self-righteousness. It can't be our respectability. Our sacrifice must be the blood of another. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And as soon as you left the sheep gate, you went to the fish gate. The fish gate reminded us to be come fishers of men, to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Lo, I am with you always. The call of God upon every believer is to go out and reach others for Christ. To tell them of what Christ has done for you, just like the scriptures teach us. We are to be fishers of men, not somebody who's specifically gifted. We do know that there are some who've got the gift of the gab, and they're called evangelists, and they're able to reach many people. But every one of us are to tell of what Jesus has done for us. the Sheik gate. And then we looked very quickly at the old gate. We spent a bit of time the week before and last week. The old gate was closely connected with the word of God. Closely connected. In other words, it was like our discipleship, our foundations course, which Andrew does before the service starts. And what happens there? Well, people are taught the basics of the gospel of Christ, and what it is that we've come into, what we've surrendered to. And we're taught about discipleship, we're taught about surrender, about worship, and the very basic fundamentals of our Christian faith. Closely connected with the Word of God. The old gate. Many people in recent days, we used to think that whenever you got saved, you got it all. And we're like a little baby, just as soon as the baby's born in the maternity ward, you would never leave it outside to fend for itself, would you? And the Bible says we're to go and make disciples, not decisions. And so the Old Gate tells us about the discipleship of new believers. That they need to be instructed in things of righteousness. To know what's required of them and what the Scriptures demand of them by way of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Last week we looked at the Valley Gate. Well, we thank the Lord that there was a valley gate, didn't we? There's somewhere we can go to with our burdens. There's somewhere we can go to with our failures. There's somewhere we can go with our weaknesses. There's somewhere we can go with our hurts. And who is it that hasn't got a hurt? Or who is it that hasn't hurt someone? We may be the cause or we may be a casualty. But we can come to this valley gate and know that when we come to the valley gate, there's someone there and his name is Jesus. the valley gate. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. I did a little bit more reading on the valley gate since I was speaking to you last Sunday. The valley gate also reminds us it's closely connected with humility. God allows you and me to go through valleys. Why does he allow us to go through valleys? To keep us humble. humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. Notice it says that, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. If you're facing a circumstance or a situation and you find it and you feel it in a sense humbling you, then know that God's in it. And know perhaps that God is in this pandemic. He's allowing it to humble us. We can't do without God. Period. We need him. It shows how weak and how frail we are. It teaches us dependence upon God. We who have become so independent. So the valley gate tells us about that relationship that we need to have with humility and the grace of God. I can't do it on my own. I can't make it on my own. I am nothing without God. We're only going to get one more gate done today. This is a vitally important gate. It's called the Refuse Gate, it's called the Dung Gate, or it's called the Garbage Gate, whichever word you like to put on it. And it's a fancy name, the Refuse Gate, for the garbage dump. And our God is a very practical God. Every town and city needs a dump. And we could talk all day about the practical needs of the garbage or the dump, the Dung Gate. which led to the city dump. It is necessary for cleanliness. It's necessary to keep germs away, to keep vermin away, and to provide a safe and healthy environment. For the child of God, the obvious representation is that of confessing and forsaking sin. There are three areas which emphasize the significance and the importance of the use of this gate. The first area that would come to us as the people of God is this, our fellowship with God. If we are to maintain a close walk with God, we need to, we must, we ought to confess all those things that creep into our lives that offend God. And as long as we live in these fallen bodies, as long as we live in this fallen nature, you and I are gonna continually offend God. we're going to cause a division between him and after all, don't we utterly depend upon God for our source of strength and encouragement and that connection with him is what brings life into our mortal bodies? And so oftentimes sin comes into our lives. Sins in thought, sins in word and sins in deed. sin. And it grieves him. It might not grieve you so much but let me tell you, sin grieves the heart of our heavenly father. And it drives a division between him. And if we want to understand what sin really is and all you need to do is read the scriptures and they'll tell you. Sin is anyone, the catechism tells us, how's up those of you who learned the Presbyterian catechism? What is sin? Sin is any I thought you learned the Christianity. Sin is any want or conformity to or transgression of the law of God. And what is God's law? Just look at the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness unto thy father and thy mother. Hands up those of you who have kept every one of God's law. Absolutely none of us. Sin is any transgression, any wrong thought, any angry thought, any unforgiving heart, anything that comes between you and your Maker, that is sin. And that comes between you and God. It offends Him, and it drives a wedge between us and Him. Well, here I came up with a little, what we call, recipe for to help you understand what it means and the importance of confessing and retaining, maintaining fellowship with your heavenly Father. First of all, the reason that we have to confess sin is we have to own it. What is confession? Do you think that you're telling God something that he doesn't already know about you? After all, our God knows everything. sin. What we really do is we agree with God. So therefore we own it. We own our sin. Against thee the only says David have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Lord be merciful to me the sinner. Said the one praying in the temple. So you have to own it. Not one of us lives a perfect life. Whether we've got a sin of temper, tongue, tantrums, desire, lust, the list goes on and on. own it. And then we have to frown it. What does that mean? Have you got the first one? What's the first one? Own it. My sin. Oh, the bliss of this wondrous thought. My sin not in part but the whole was kneeled to the cross and only when you own it can be kneeled to the cross. You have to own it. Lord, I agree with you what you think about me. Oh, my dear friends, if only we were as grieved at our sin as God is. If only we took as desperate a look at our sin as God does. If only we treated the sin in our lives as directly and as demandingly as God did, we would be a whole lot better and a whole lot holier. Frown it. Don't hide it. Don't put up with it. Frown it. Oh, I hate the sins that made thee mourn, said the hymn writer, and turn thee from my breast. The psalmist David, after he'd sinned, he said, restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Well, what was the joy of David's salvation? The joy of David's salvation was the presence of God in his life. Don't let anything come between you and your relationship with God. Own it. Throne it. And then drown it. You like it? own it, own it, frown it, and drown it. Drown it in the sea of his blood. If he confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Here's what Isaiah said in Isaiah 59 verses one to two. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot see it. Neither his ear heavy that he cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you Jesus. Now, here's what the Zechariah says then. Is that not in that day a fountain shall be open for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. And as we read together in two Corinthians chapter seven and verse one. Therefore, having these precious promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Oh, the sins of the flesh but there's also sins of the spirit. You know what it is? You Get them out. Get them gone. All the little rabbits in the field. Have you all gone to sleep? It's far too much carbon dioxide. Get them out. Get them gone. All the little rabbits in the fields of corn. Here's our spiritual sins. Envy, jealousy, malice, and pride. They must never in their heart abide. Those are spiritual sins. Remember the two sons, the prodigal son, I'm sorry, the wayward son, and then there's the other son. Both of them were prodigal. One never left the house, but he was every much a sinner as the boy that went and splashed out on everything. Spiritual sins. I'm better than that person on the other side of the pew. I'm greater than another individual that only comes to church every now and again. There are such things as sins of the flesh and sins of the spirit. Oh, my dear friend, confess so that we will have our fellowship as God retained. Not only our fellowship as God, but what about our fellowship with others? I like what it says in 1 John 1, verses 6 to 9. Listen to what it says. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. sins. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. My dear friends, let me tell you, holding bitterness, envy, unforgiveness, spite, resentment, or even revenge in your heart. Towards another brother in Christ. We'll break the fellowship between you and that brother and it'll also the two are intertwined. And so you need to come to the dung gate, you need to come to the garbage dump, and you need to expel all of those things, to detox yourself from sin. You can get a diet nowadays, you know that, it's called detox diet. I just say, just close your bake and there'll be enough detoxing. You can get detox diets, you can get detox soups, you can get detox potions. Well, I want to tell you, my dear friends, confessing sin is a great detoxification of the soul. Our fellowship with others. Now I'm going to look you all in the eye and I'm going to look the camera in the eye because that means I'm looking you in the hall as well. And I've got one eye on the congregation here and I've got one eye on that camera there and I've got one eye on the people that's watching online. It means I have three eyes. I'm abnormal. Can I say this to you now? Have you anything against another brother in Christ? Another sister in Christ? Other harboured hurts? that you have not forgiven them for. You need to come to the dung gate. You need to come to the refuse gate because that will come between you and God and it'll come between you and your brother in Christ and your sister in Christ and your soul will slowly die. Slowly die. Oh, but you want to hear what they said about me. You want to hear what they did to me. You want to hear what they thought about me. So what? Listen, my dear friend, God will sort them out. God will sort them out. In God's time. Vengeance is mine. I shall repay, saith the Lord. Confess. And then also it's important for our fishers of men. Our lives and its effectiveness and its efficiency depend on us dealing with personal sin and forsaking it. We need to be humble and honest and tell God the sin that he already knows about. We hide our sin. We want everybody to think we're far holier than what we really are. But I want to tell you, God knows who we are. He sees right through us. And he sees the feeble attempt like Adam and Eve to cover ourselves with the thick leaves of lies, deceit, and innuendo. And I've got a fairly big Bible these days, and it's only because there's some comments made by a commentator. You can carry a far bigger Bible than that and still have a lot more sin in your heart. We need to confess and forsake it. Sometimes we're far more concerned with what people think about us than what God thinks about us. And we can hide nothing from him. Paul knew what he needed to throw away so that he might retain a close relationship with God and have a strong effectiveness in the work of God. Here's what it says in Philippians chapter 3, verses 7 to 8. Jesus Christ my lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. So, Paul brought everything his religious respectability to the rubbish gate. He says, lord, I have nothing to gain so that I may gain Christ. I like He says, he puts it like this, come to the gate to rid ourselves of all that is not of Christ. Not be something. Come to the gate, the dung gate, that rids us of everything that's not of Christ. An old gossiping tongue, an old slanderous tongue. What are you gaining in the kingdom of God? What are you gaining for the kingdom of Christ? come to the down gate. Get rid of those things that have that that are nothing of Christ and rid you of and robs you of of the Christ and Christ likeness of spirit and heart. I like also what he has to say. So that I have Christ to my gain is what JND says. And the margin he has it said I might win Christ. We're in the habit of throwing How come? Why are we willing to risk fellowship with God? We will squander usefulness, effectiveness. We will throw away the blessing of the Spirit. And we'll be not next, sorry, not next Sunday. We'll be on the following Sunday, because Andrew's preaching next Sunday. We'll throw away the blessing of the Spirit for the sake of maintaining a good appearance before men. What we're really doing is we're throwing away the presence of God. We're throwing away his power. Achan held on to all of those things that he'd acquired at Jericho, and yet he threw away his livelihood. Maybe you need to come to the refuge gate this morning. Perhaps there's been some sin, whatever coat it is wearing, and you need to come to the rubbish dump via the dung gate and throw it out. Detox your soul. It may be that you don't have the same hunger, the same zeal, the same enthusiasm for the things of God. You've noticed you're not as keen and you're not as aware of God's presence in your life. It may even stretch back for years. You could even pinpoint exactly where it all went wrong. Come to the down gate. But wonderful, a wonder of wonders, thank God there is a place that you can bring it and throw it out of your life. Thank God for this gate. you? Can you imagine all the germs and all the filth that would that would build up in your life? Thank God there's a gate that you can go to just now. He himself became sin for us and you know sin. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. It may well be that you're someone to say sorry to. And by the Never, ever walk up to someone and say, I'm sorry for thinking wrong of you. Because they didn't know it anyway. But what you've done is you've broken their hearts. What you've done is you made them, oh, what did they say? No, all you have to do whenever you've thought wrong of someone, tell the Lord about it. Now there might be, you have to go to someone and say sorry. But sometimes people are very foolish when it comes to saying sorry for things that they thought. Now, if you said things to them, that's another kettle of fish. It may well be that you have to walk up to someone and say, sorry. Sorry for holding bitterness and strife against you. Maybe it'll be that a grievous mistake that happened in your past, and you're not willing to forgive yourself. All I'll say to you is you are not God, and God has the right to forgive you. You cannot forgive yourself. You have to let God forgive you, and you walk on after having confessed it, because the blood of my Jesus is able to cleanse me from all sin. Just come humbly, honestly, reverently to him. Thank God there's a place where you can lay your faults and failures, your sins. What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. The dung gate. By the way, I do know why they went anti-clockwise. Because the last gate, if you go to the sheet gate and you go to the right, well, it's the inspection gate. Well, the inspection gate is the beam of seat of the believers. And that would be a foolish place to have the inspection gate when you follow the picture, the example. We go from the sheet gate, fish gate, oak gate, valley gate, dung gate. And then we go on to the fountain gate and then the water gate. There's two water gates, the fountain gate and the water gate. Then we come on up to the East Gate and we come to the inspection gate. The East Gate, guess who's coming through the East Gate? I will meet you in the morning just inside the Eastern Gate. Who's that? Christ. The gospel in the gates, folks. The gospel in the gates. Maybe you just need to come to the down gate today. Let's bow together in prayer before we sing our closing song. Lord, thank you that there is a place of refuge. There's a place, Lord, where we can lay our burdens, but also there's a place where we confess our sins at the foot of the cross of Jesus. Thank you, Lord, that we can lay our burdens and our petitions, but also we can confess our faults and failures and lay them at your feet today. It may be in your boat in God's presence that you need to come and confess your sin to him. You've tried your best to hide it, but it comes out everywhere you go. And you only have to say this once, and you only have to confess it once. And when you confess it, then forsake it, and allow God to rebuild and restore your life again. Maybe you just need to do that quietly where you are now, or why don't you? Father, we pray for those who desperately need your touch and your grace at this time. We thank you that you reach out in mercy and grace and forgiveness. And we pray just now, Father, that those who are reaching out will know that cleansing. We'll be able, like the woman, to be able to say, I'm clean, like the lepers who said, I'm clean, I'm clean, through the precious blood of the Lamb. God grant your peace, your favor, your blessing to your children. In Christ's name, amen. 369, we'll just remain seated and sing together. I heard the voice of Jesus say, come on to me and rest. Lay down, you weary one, lay down thy head upon my breast. Remain seated and we'll sing together, please. Thanks, God. have a I heard the voice of Jesus say, behold, I bring you to earth. I gave you water, thirsting water, to doubt and wait and wait. I am I look to Jesus when I'm in my sorrow. I do not hide nor hide my want to travel. And before we close in prayer, just to remind you that you're all leaving through that door, balcony. You stay until someone lets you down. The folks enter from the church and a deacon will show you which seat and when to leave. Let's bow together in prayer. Now, Father, we thank you that this mercy There's grace and there's cleansing in the precious blood of Jesus. Thank you, Lord, that he has tasted death for every man. He's paid the penalty for all of us. Thank you, Lord, that we can come. Come, every soul by sin oppressed. There's mercy with the Lord and he will surely give you rest by trusting in his word. Lord, we trust your word because it's your word, it's not ours. We believe, Lord, that when we bow together in an attitude of prayer, humbly confessing our need, you come and you forgive and you cleanse. Father, we pray that you'll part us in your fear with your blessing. Cause us to know something of the cleansing power of the precious blood of the lamb. And we ever walk in robes of white, professing Christ the savior, deliverer, healer, the lover of our soul. In Christ's name we pray. And everybody said, and they whispered, thank you so much. May God bless you as you go home.