Coronavirus the decision was taken to live-stream services online.

Below is the recording of the sermon for this week. Pastor Ray Pountney looks at hope in this first sermon of a series on ‘Power for Christian Living’.

The Power of Christian Hope (Part 1 of ‘Power for Christian Living’ series) – Colossians 1 – Rev Ray Pountney – 10th May 2020

• Reflective hymn & Colossians 1

  My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

  My hope is built on nothing less
  Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
  I dare not trust the sweetest frame
  But wholly lean on Jesus’ name

  On Christ the solid Rock I stand
  All other ground is sinking sand
  All other ground is sinking sand

  When darkness hides His lovely face
  I rest on His unchanging grace
  In every high and stormy gale
  My anchor holds within the veil

  On Christ the solid Rock I stand…

  His oath, His covenant, His blood
  Support me in the whelming flood
  When all around my soul gives way
  He then is all my hope and stay

  On Christ the solid Rock I stand…

  When He shall come with trumpet sound
  Oh, may I then in Him be found
  Dressed in His righteousness alone
  Faultless to stand before the throne

  On Christ the solid Rock I stand…
  
  The Reading –

  Greeting
   
  1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

  2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:

  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  Their Faith in Christ

  3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.

  Preeminence of Christ

  9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

  15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

  Reconciled in Christ

  19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

  21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

  Sacrificial Service for Christ

  24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.

  New King James Version

Songs of Worship