2025-04-27 St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Welkom

ABSA BANK, WELKOM

4052 0411 25

Cheque account

Welcome

Scripture Readings

Hymn There is a green hill far away

Chorus

Chorus

General Confession said together.

 Almighty and most merciful Father, we have strayed from Your ways like lost sheep, we have left undone what we ought to have done,  and we have done what we ought not to have done. We have followed our own ways and our own desires and we have neglected and broken Your holy laws.

Have mercy on us Lord.

Restore those who repent and confess their sins  according to Your promises declare in Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant, merciful Father, for His sake, that hereafter  we may live a righteous and obedient life,  to the glory of Your Holy Name. Amen. 

 Assurance of forgiveness said by the minister standing.

 Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, does not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.  He has given authority and commandment to His ministers to declare to His people that He pardons and forgives the sins of all who truly repent and believe His holy gospel. 

 Therefore, let us ask Him to grant us true repentance and His Holy Spirit, that we may please Him now, and that the rest of our life may be pure and holy so that at the last we may come to His eternal joy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

 The Lord’s Prayer said together. 

Our Father, which art in heaven,

Hallowed by thy Name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

In earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

And forgive us our trespasses, 

As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever.  Amen. 

The Ten Commandments

Minister:

Our Lord Jesus Christ said : “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it : Love your neighbour as yourself.  All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments”. 

Congregation :

Lord have mercy on us, and write these commandments in our hearts and minds to keep them. 

Elizabeth will now read the Old Testament reading to us from the NIV pew bible.

She begins with “Hear the Word of God as it is written in Psalm 111”

She ends with “This is the word of God”.

Congregation: “Thanks be to God”

Evelyn-Rose

will now read the New Testament reading to us from the NIV pew bible.

She begins with “Hear the Word of God as it is written in John 20:19-31”

She ends with “This is the word of God”.

Congregation: “Thanks be to God”.

Hymn When I survey the wondrous cross

Sermon

(John 20:30-31) The summary statement of the Gospel of John.

John 21:11ff

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

a. Jesus did many other signs: John admits that he presented an incomplete collection. He couldn’t possibly record in writing all that Jesus said and did (Jhn_21:25).

i. A person may collect everything possible about a dead prophet; it is all one has of him. But you only tell enough of a living person to introduce your hearers to him. John trusts that a personal relationship with Jesus will reveal more to the believer.

ii. In this book: “That this was the original or intended conclusion of the gospel is shown by the use of the words ‘in this book,’ which indicate that the writer was now looking back on it as a whole.” (Dods)

b. These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: Though there were many other signs, John selected the signs presented in His Gospel to explain Jesus and bring readers to faith in Jesus as Messiah and God. This really isn’t a book about signs - it is a book about Jesus. The signs are helpful as they reveal Jesus.

i. The Gospel - and all of the Bible - was written so that we may believe, not that we might doubt. “There is no text in the whole Book which was intended to create doubt. Doubt is a seed self-sown, or sown by the devil, and it usually springs up with more than sufficient abundance without our care.” (Spurgeon)

ii. Jhn_2:11 speaks of the beginning of signs, and throughout his Gospel John has listed at least seven signs.

• Jhn_2:1-11 - Water into wine.

• Jhn_4:46-54 - Healing of the nobleman’s son.

• Jhn_5:1-15 - Healing at the pool of Bethesda.

• Jhn_6:1-14 - Feeding the 5,000.

• Jhn_6:15-21 - Jesus walks on water.

• Jhn_9:1-12 - Healing of the man born blind.

• Jhn_11:1-44 - Lazarus raised from the dead.

iii. The greatest signs of all were the death and resurrection of Jesus. Collectively, these signs give strong foundation for faith in Jesus as Messiah and God. That faith isn’t a blind leap; it is a reasonable step based on strong evidence.

iv. The Son of God: “The title does not, of course, imply biological descent like that of the Greco-Roman demigods; but the metaphor of sonship expresses the unity of nature, close fellowship, and unique intimacy between Jesus and the Father.” (Tenney)

c. And that believing you may have life in His name: John understood that faith in Jesus as Messiah and God had value beyond the honorable recognition of truth. It also carried the promise of life in His name. This was life that transformed John himself, and he wanted that same life and transformation for all through his Gospel account.

i. This belief isn’t complicated. Our response is as simple as ABC: Accept, Believe, and Commit. It isn’t always easy, but it isn’t complicated.

ii. Life in His name: “Through his name does not mean ‘through the naming of His name’, but through the power of the Person who bears the name. In the Bible the ‘name’ of God is not merely the name by which He is designated, but all that He is in Himself.” (Tasker)

Notices

Collection

Praise God from whom all blessing flow

Prayer

Hymn When we all get to heaven

Benediction

Doxology Now unto Him