Welcome to Dingwall & Strathpeffer Free Church God Calls Us to Delight in Christ and to Share His Hope.

See the whole picture this Christmas

COMMUNION TONIGHT

Psalm 147:1-7* (p. 192) 1O praise the LORD! How good it is to sing him songs of praise! How pleasant to give thanks to him for all his gracious ways!

Psalm 147:1-7* 2/5 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; and he it is alone Who reaches out to Israèl to bring the exiles home.

Psalm 147:1-7* 3/5 3He heals his people’s broken hearts, restores the bruised and the lame. 4He sets the number of the stars and calls them each by name.

Psalm 147:1-7* 4/5 5 Great is our Lord and great in power; his wisdom is profound. 6The LORD sustains the meek, but casts the wicked to the ground.

Psalm 147:1-7* 5/5 7 Sing to the LORD with thankfulness; with joy his praise proclaim; And with the music of the harp give glory to his name.

Prayer & Scripture Reading

Scripture Reading 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Page 1153.

1 Corinthians 13: :31b Love And now I will show you the most excellent way. 13: 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 13: If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

1 Corinthians 13: It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

1 Corinthians 13: When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Psalm 115:9-18* (p. 153) 9O house of Isr’el, place your trust upon the LORD alone; He is the mighty help and shield of all who are his own.

Psalm 115:9-18* (2/6) 10O house of Aaron, trust the LORD; he is their help and shield. 11All you who fear him, trust the LORD; he is your help and shield.

Psalm 115:9-18* (3/6) 12The LORD remembers Israel and he will bless us all— The house of Aaron and all those 13who fear him, great and small.

Psalm 115:9-18* (4/6) 14May God the LORD make you increase— both you and all your line. 15May you be blessed by God, who makes all things by his design.

Psalm 115:9-18* (5/6) 16The highest heavens belong to God; the earth to us he gave. 17It’s not the dead who praise the LORD; they’re silent in the grave.

Psalm 115:9-18* (6/6) 18But we extol the LORD on high, his majesty proclaim. Both now and evermore exalt and praise his holy name!

SERMON 1 Corinthians 13 (p. 1153) A Love Supreme

1 – THE REASON FOR 1 st CORINTHIANS 13 A selfish and immature Church needed to see past their ‘gifts’ to Christ - the giver of these gifts.A selfish and immature Church needed to see past their ‘gifts’ to Christ - the giver of these gifts. The right question to ask tonight: How will I build others up?The right question to ask tonight: How will I build others up? Love is our CORE spiritual activity. Love is not dreamy: it’s humbling.Love is our CORE spiritual activity. Love is not dreamy: it’s humbling.

2 – THE MESSAGE IN 1 st CORINTHIANS 13 God has a searching question (1). Why do you do the things you do?God has a searching question (1). Why do you do the things you do? God’s humbling standards.God’s humbling standards. Who can possibly fit into this chapter that personifies love?Who can possibly fit into this chapter that personifies love? God’s Lasting Challenge: 8, 13. The love that endures forever.God’s Lasting Challenge: 8, 13. The love that endures forever.

COMMUNION

1 John 4:7-21 God's Love and Ours 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 John 4: Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.

PRAYER OF THANKS

1 John 4: If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

1 John 4: There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Psalm 133:1-3 (p. 424) 1Behold, how good a thing it is, and how becoming well, Together such as brethren are in unity to dwell!

Psalm 133:1-3 (2/3) 2Like precious ointment on the head, that down the beard did flow, Ev’n Aaron’s beard, and to the skirts did of his garments go.

Psalm 133:1-3 (3/3) 3As Hermon’s dew, the dew that doth on Zion hills descend: For there the blessing GOD commands, life that shall never end.

God Calls Us to delight in Christ and to Share His Hope.

147:1-7* (p. 192) CM 115:9-18* (p. 153)CM 133:1-3 (p. 424) CM

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