After opening words of welcome and a review of announcements, we read Psalm 30 (via our congregation participation).
Our next song lead by the music team was "I Love You Lord" and then we held prayers for those in need and closed with the Lord' Prayers. Pastor Stanley then sang for us a song he had written, titled "Cause My God Loves Me" (which was an excellent tie into his sermon that would be coming up).
We then reviewed 1 John 1:8 - 1 John 2:2
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word is not in us. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.".
The Hymn "He Looked Beyond My Fault" then was sung to lead us up to the sermon "My Faults and My Needs He Knows Them All".
Summary points from his sermon are as follows:
- Have we thought about what salvation is and what it means to us?
- It is available to us all through our belief in Jesus' life, death and resurrection.
- Despite our sins, through God's grace we are forgiven of our sins.
- Jesus paid the price and reconciled us to our heavenly Father.
- Nothing can be hidden from God, He knows all things. Yes we want to rid ourselves of our sins (small & large), but unfortunately we struggle to live a life that pleases God.
- We remember that God is light - His love illuminates all things.
- All we have to do is to ask ourselves - have we let God's love into the dark places of our heart?
- Pastor Stanley then went on to share his prayer to God, he confessed his sins as an example and reminder that we all must confess our sins to God. For when we do, God forgives us, heals us and strengthens us so that we can pursue His will on this earth.
We closed with the Hymn "Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling"