Why you should be baptised

It must be, I guess, for a lot of people, quite strange. Why, when you come into a church, do you find a pool of water exposed on a Sunday night? That last hymn that we sang has got a bit of a military basis. Bold I approach the eternal throne and you can think in terms of a soldier marching up in the presence of his commander-in-chief and presenting himself and feeling comfortable there.

There is a sense in which we're helped in understanding what's happening tonight by employing a military metaphor. You see, when the church was born, I'm turning the clock back 2,000 years, Rome was the dominant force in the world. And the Roman army, they really packed a punch.

Now, if you were a Roman soldier, annually you would make your oath. And the oath would be simply this, you'd take your fist, you'd clench it, and you'd place it over your heart and you would say, as for me, I will serve Caesar. That oath was also known as the sacramentum.

And the Christian church, when it developed, it incorporated some of the more helpful things from the Roman army. And some of you who come to church quite often will have gathered by that word sacramentum, a sort of familiar ring because, well, within the church here, we recognise two sacraments. One of those sacraments we were demonstrating this morning because we came around the Lord's table.

We took bread and we took wine. And when we were eating the bread and drinking the wine, we were in effect saying, I pledge myself again to the cause of Jesus Christ. I am a Christian.

That is my sacred oath. And what we're asked to do, following the example of the early church, is to engage in that oath-taking at least once a week. That's why in this church here, and our example followed by many other churches, or we in turn following the examples of our predecessors, we have communion every Sunday at least.

But there was another part to the sacramentum that was engaged in by the early church. Not just did they take bread and wine on a regular basis, but once they would do what you will see this evening. But they would do it without the comfort of this tank here.

They would do it without the privacy of a church building. There are people in Saudi Arabia tonight, and if they were doing what is going to happen here this evening, they would probably lose their lives as a result. And that was the case 2,000 years ago when the church was born.

Because what is happening is there will be a public confession that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour on the part of three people who have recently become Christian. This is what we call the sacrament of baptism. It only happens once.

Some churches have a different mode of applying this sacrament, but that really is unimportant. As far as a Christian church is concerned, it's what the sacrament stands for, more than the mode that is of supreme consequence. And what these candidates will be doing is they'll go into this tank, this tank which is full of water, about three foot or three foot six depth, and they'll have the pleasure of immersing them in water.

And at the point of their immersion, what they're saying is this, I used to live a life which was not under the control of Jesus Christ, and to that life I have died. He is now the supreme captain. He is the one that I want to serve.

I may not ever be a faultless soldier, indeed I won't be, but I want to do my best. I want to live a life that pleases Him. I want to come under His command.

And this is something that these candidates pledged, not just this evening, but to some of them a month or two ago, and maybe some for as long as a year ago. And tonight they'll be making a public confession. That won't make them Christians.

Baptism doesn't make you a Christian. Baptism is what follows on after you have confessed your faith in Jesus Christ. When you become a Christian, you ask that God will forgive your sins.

There's a sense in which your sins are washed. We use that verb, to wash away sin. And therefore you could almost see that parable in this tank too.

The sins have been washed away. The candidate's been raised to a different life in Jesus Christ. Believing that His death on the cross was the means whereby their sins were cancelled.

I used to be a teacher many years ago. And at the end of the day I'd take the blackboard duster and I would clean the board. The following day we'd have a fresh start in our classroom, in that school.

That's what happens when you become a Christian. You get a clean start, a new beginning. Your life, you offer Jesus Christ.

Two sacraments. I follow Jesus Christ, therefore I take bread and wine regularly. I repeat my oath.

I follow Jesus Christ and once I publicly demonstrate it by being immersed in water, our candidate's going to have an easy time. Nobody will stone them as a result of this. Their lives physically are not in jeopardy.

In the early church that would have been the case. And in areas today, as I've highlighted, that would be the case. But for them, there is still the challenge of living for Jesus in the complexity of the world in the United Kingdom as we know it today.

If you believe in God and our Lord Jesus Christ and you've had an experience of His grace, then there's an opportunity to tell others. It's a formidable thing to do that for 500 people when they're present. So I'm asking these brave candidates this evening just to imagine that it's one person and them and they're talking to one individual and telling us something about what the Lord Jesus means to them, what He's done for them.

Glad to have children with us, it's always a delight. There's too much competition, just slip out with them and then come back in. You'll still see in the screen in the lounge, but let's make it as easy as possible for our candidates.

I'm glad to introduce to you first of all Trevor Lewis, who I came to know just a couple of years ago. I've come to love and appreciate. Trevor, tell us what the Lord's done to you.

I thought you'd change sex for a moment. Good evening, everyone. To begin, I've not come from a Christian background, but at a very young age, my parents sent me to Boys' Brigade and Sunday school, which I greatly enjoyed.

I wish I could say this was to teach me about morals, the difference between right and wrong and so forth. But for the main part, it was to give my parents a break from me. I was a very troublesome child.

I could not settle in school and quickly fell behind. By the age of seven and eight, I'd fallen seriously behind in my class, risking being removed from school. Some professionals believe this behaviour was because of a serious head injury I'd suffered at the age of a few months.

So throughout my childhood, I'd undergone complicated medical tests, which you just can't explain to a child. There were problems at home, with my mother suffering from a severe case of postnatal depression, which really wasn't understood at the time, causing it to last for years. The climax of all of this was one day at school, when a teacher pulled me aside to tell me exactly what she thought of me and my prospects in life.

I don't have to tell you what was said in that conversation, but something died in that little boy that day. In adult life, I've come to the conclusion that through hate, great things can be achieved, as well as through love. I was the perfect example of this.

Overnight, I began to succeed, topping my class's grades, especially in the arts. Over the years, I became obsessed with my personal success, drifting away from God. I began working myself to exhaustion, just to be the very best at whatever cost, moving away from the bulk of my friends, especially those who showed me loving, caring feelings.

Over the years, I became jealous and spiteful of those who succeeded, and in myself, I was boastful and extremely arrogant, a bully, especially to any Christians I came into contact with. Success became a drug to me, but deep down in my soul, I'd developed a painful fear of failure and especially weakness. My pride had consumed me and got in the way of Jesus.

I'd stopped going to church. Towards my 20s, I see now, my life had become a hollow, cold shell, where I just felt I was heading in the wrong direction. Of course, everyone else saw the happy-go-lucky student who was successful in everything he had done, but I'd reached the point where it didn't matter how high my grades were, how many speeches I gave, or how many art exhibitions I'd put on, life was very shallow and empty.

I started reading the Bible and going to church very occasionally, but God played no part in my life, or so I thought. About four years ago, I met a girl who became a casual friend, the girl Sarah, who had a lot of problems of her own, drifting away from God in her own life, became a close friend. We just kept meeting up, answering each other's questions about life, especially about relationships with other people.

About two and a half years ago, we met again at a party, having both just fallen out of relationships. Instead of counselling each other, we decided to go to the cinema and kissed. We talked for hours about God and the Bible, arrogantly, I decided to visit the Worthing Tabernacle with Sarah, to dispel such religious myth from my mind and basically poke fun at such nonsense.

Tim Saunders was preaching, and I honestly believe I was at odds with just about everything he had to say, but it made me think. It made me think about the emptiness in my life and how spiritually I was dead. I suppose my first reaction was that I was scared, because deep down I knew at that moment God had never left that little boy, and now he wanted the man.

Each time I go to church, though, however much I fought it, I knew God was about to dramatically change my life, as I was falling in love with my future wife. At the same time, God was softening my heart. Suddenly, all my attitudes and opinions began to change.

I had time for people. I suddenly found myself worrying and caring for others, even strangers. I, although at the time, began to see serious problems in my own life.

I'd be practicing interior design for my degree, for a rich family, for example, and I would see people homeless on the streets. It would make me cry. I began to see that I'd never really cared about anyone else except for myself.

I had feelings of shame at what I'd suddenly seen before my eyes. But on the other hand, I was beginning to find my loving side, my godly side. I found that I had talents that could really reach and touch people with the Gospel.

For many months, I had many inner struggles trying to fight what I felt about God and his direction for me. My wife and I have, too, faced terrible tragedies in the form of two miscarriages, which have caused us real soul-searching. These circumstances caused me great pain and suffering for a long time, but simply brought me and my wife closer together in Jesus Christ.

My character began to dramatically change. It was like I was a child in God again. Friends could no longer recognize me, and my family thought I was going a bit balmy, especially when I realized, and this isn't always the case, that without my godly life, godless life, I no longer had quite the passion for my career as I did before.

I began to recapture my spiritual walk with God in a way that overwhelmed me in Jesus. I've just finished my visual arts degree, but have not been able to concentrate on it with the passion I started with. I'm just a different person.

This new person has found love in God and in a woman. I've found greater strength in myself than ever before. All of my life, all I could think of was myself and my mission.

Material wealth, it had blinded me, but God had taken away my insecurity, my pain, whatever you want to call it, and I'd just lost interest in all I was before. I started to see my true direction. I suppose I found my Damascus road.

For me, it was never that I did not believe in Jesus Christ, I just couldn't face him. I started to receive forgiveness through Jesus Christ with his death on the cross. I've always searched for truth.

Jesus simply is truth to me. For me, Jesus is not about knowing the person, knowing our God. It's about having Jesus in everything that you do, finding that harmony, that strength, that freedom, which is Jesus.

Jesus asked us to believe and be baptized that we might live in his way and receive Holy Spirit and hopefully rejoice in the kingdom of heaven one day. Jesus gives so much, especially to me, and asks for so little. So I'm here tonight to start paying back for such peace.

I do not know what this might mean, but by powerful revelation, we believe it's in the form of going to Bible college to begin work for God's kingdom. All I can say to you tonight is to pray and watch this space. Thank you.

The praise is not for Trevor. The clapping is an appreciation, a response to what God does in the life of a young person. I thought if he continued much longer, he might fill a pastoral vacancy from this pulpit, actually.

Who knows what the good Lord will have in store. Nicola, come and tell us what the Lord's done for you. Good evening.

I was born and brought up in Brighton. I come from a family of two half-sisters, one half-brother and two real sisters. I had no association with any church as a child and only learnt about God and Jesus from religious studies at school.

When I was 13, I moved to a Catholic boarding school in St Leonard's, East Sussex. There I went to church every Sunday and learnt more about Jesus. I left school when I was nearly 16 with three CSEs grades in English, Art and Home Economics and moved back to Brighton with my family.

I did not know what I wanted to do, but I ended up on a youth training scheme at Tesco's. They took me on permanently as a provisioned assistant and I stayed for nine years. Towards the end, I was wrongly taking time off sick, so I had to leave.

I then drifted from job to job and in and out of relationships. I ended up with a job as a part-time trolley steward at Gatwick Airport with the help of my brother. Through this job, I met a boy whom I shall call Fred and became his girlfriend.

Fred lived in Croydon, but then moved into a single bed... then moved into a single bed set in the same house as me. I fell pregnant and had my first daughter, Belinda, when I was 30 years old. We then moved into a one-bedroom flat together.

I found it hard to bond with and love Belinda. We had problems within our relationship. As a result of this, social services came involved and we had to move to a special unit in London for assessment.

Fred was then asked to leave. When Belinda was ten months old, we moved to a special mother and baby foster home in Worthing. Fred and I were still friends and he visited Belinda and me.

The family I was placed with were Christians who went to the Tab and I started to come here with them on the occasional Sunday service. I was making out I was coping, although I was not, and social services wanted to put Belinda into a home with foster parents. While Fred found a home with him and I, so we could build up our relationship again, Belinda would eventually move in with us, however, this plan failed.

Pressure was too much for me, so I asked social services to take Belinda for fostering. Belinda was moved to foster parents and her case was taken to court. As a result of losing Belinda, I came to a turning point in my life where I felt I needed a change.

The foster parents where I was staying arranged a contact for me with a counsellor who turned out to be a Christian from the Tab. As a result of this counselling, I realised I needed to become a Christian. At four o'clock on the 12th of June, 1995, I asked Jesus to forgive my sins and come into my life.

I was born again. As I no longer had Belinda, I had to move out from my foster home, and having nowhere to go, I asked Fred to put me up. Being a new Christian and not fully understanding right from wrong, I slept with Fred in a last attempt to revive our relationship.

This failed. As a result of this mistake, I found myself pregnant with Laura. I thank the Lord for the love and support I received from Christian friends during and after the pregnancy.

Laura was born on 16th March, 1996, at Southlands Hospital, the day before Mother's Day. I loved Laura right from the start, and with God's help, will continue to make a success of bringing her up. I had Laura dedicated on Christmas Day, 1997.

This was a very special day. I have completed an Alpha course, and I am currently attending discipleship classes and Bible studies to learn more and grow stronger in the Christian faith. This Easter, I went to Spring Harvest, and with what I learnt there, I moved on another step in my faith.

As a result of all of this, I felt the next step in following Jesus is to be baptised, and this is why I am here today. Could I please ask that you continue to pray for Laura and myself. Thank you.

And now another, Nikki. Hi, everyone. I never thought I'd be standing here before you today.

As I remember saying to a friend after seeing my very first baptism about a year ago, I could never get up there and do what they're doing, I'd be too scared to. And she said, you would if you felt the way they do about God. And she was right, and this is my testimony.

I was brought up in a non-Christian home with my four brothers, and was very lucky to have a very loving and caring mum and dad. The only time I entered a church was on special occasions. I remember sitting right at the back on the balcony with Aunt Hilary, and I really enjoyed the singing, but didn't really think about anything else.

My mind was elsewhere when the sermon began, and I didn't really understand it and found it boring. I never thought much about God, although I'd always believed. But when Aunt Hilary died, it affected me so much that I started to think about my faith and what Aunty had found so special.

I remember at her thanksgiving, Tony giving a very moving service. And at the end, I asked Tony if he could find out about a local church in my area, which at this time was in stains in Middlesex. I received a letter from a local church inviting me along, but I never ended up going and eventually forgot about it.

When I got married, I was very happy with my life, and even more so when, because of a job offer my husband received in this area, we were able to move to Worthing. This was in the May of 96. After we'd been here a few months, one of my Aunty's dearest friends, Eileen Brownrigg, told me of a new service at the TAB, the 945 Live.

It was mainly for people who hadn't been to church and was very informal. I ended up going to nearly all the services and really enjoyed them. When they finished, I carried on going to the normal service with my son, George.

My husband wasn't interested in going, but didn't seem to mind if we did, and even thought the church would be good for George. We talked about having another child and decided to try for a baby, and by the March of 97, I was pregnant. But by this time, I'd started to feel lonely in our relationship.

I used to go out weekends with my son, George, nearly always on my own, and see other families together, and wished that Terry would spend more time with us. I knew at the time he was working very hard with a new job, and I thought perhaps in a few months, things would improve. I'd been seeing quite a bit of Anne White by this time, and we were becoming good friends.

She'd been helping me with Bible studies, and I'd opened up to her about my feelings. She said that becoming a Christian could enrich your marriage, and that if Terry sees a change in you and how much happier you are through your faith, then maybe he'll want to find out for himself. But I still hadn't 100% committed myself to being a Christian until I was taken to a concert held at the Tab last year called Seasons and Souvenirs.

I don't know what changed inside me, but I knew after that night, I wanted to be a Christian. But almost as soon as I'd made that decision, my life changed drastically. My marriage went downhill very quickly, and Terry seemed different to me.

And after a strange phone call one afternoon, I'd started to suspect there was someone else. By the May of 97, my marriage was seriously in trouble, and after finishing work early one Thursday, I came home to find Terry had left us. I couldn't believe he would do that to us.

I was two months pregnant with a three-year-old son, and now on my own. I didn't know where to turn to. I was desperate.

I remember saying to God, how could you let this happen? Why? I was so hurt and angry that I felt myself pulling away. But my friend Anne and her family were there for me, always giving me the love and support as well as praying for me. And as I hadn't told any of my family, they were my rock to cling to.

But Terry eventually came back to us after five weeks, and we seemed to be getting on really well until we went away with his brother and sister-in-law. He seemed to distance himself from us, and when we got back, he left again, saying he was depressed and was going to stay with a friend. This happened on and off until he finally left for the last time on the 8th of March this year, to live with someone else.

Melissa was now ten weeks old. I don't think I would have got through all the mess and all the heartache if it hadn't been for my growing faith and the love and caring shown to me. A week after my husband and I finally parted, Melissa, who was now 11 weeks old, contracted whooping cough and was very ill.

I spent the best part of two weeks in hospital, parted from my son George. But during my stay at hospital, I had many visits from friends, and once again felt that overwhelming feeling of love and being close to God. When I look back over the last year of my life, I realise that God has been there for me, and he's opened my eyes and made me see all the things that were wrong in my marriage, all the lies and deceit that had been there even before we got married, but I was blind to.

Since becoming a Christian, not only have I felt much sadness and hurt, but also an overwhelming sense of belonging, love and happiness, and wanting to give that back to others. I know as a single parent, I'll have many difficulties to face in the years ahead, and a lot of growing to do in my faith, but I know God will be right next to me. I want to be baptised today because I believe Jesus died for me and for all my sins, and I know he'll always be there for me, even when I do or say things I shouldn't.

He loves me for the person I am inside. Let me say that when a person gives testimony here, they're not told what to say, nor indeed the length. People do not necessarily have to go into their background.

We don't encourage them necessarily to do so. They have complete freedom to share what they wish to, and to give a summary statement where they feel it's appropriate. This evening, our friends have shared with us quite a lot, and some of you may have felt uncomfortable with it.

This is what they wanted to say as they outlined the fact. Some of us perhaps don't really understand, those of us who've been brought up in secure Christian environments, that life today is, it's rough out there. And the nuclear family that many of us knew of, mum, dad, and fellow brothers and sisters, alas, is becoming a minority experience.

I think I needed to say that to some of you, because you have here a sample of an authentic expression, a description of life as it has been for three of our friends. We thank the Lord for the sincerity with which they speak. The verse for Trevor Lewis, You who fear him, trust in the Lord.

He is their help and shield. Trevor Lewis, on confession of your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, I baptise you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. For Nicola Farley, I have loved you with an everlasting love.

I have drawn you with loving kindness. Nicola Farley, on confession of your faith in our Lord Jesus, I baptise you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. For Nicky Brodie, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Nicky Brodie, on confession of your faith in our Lord Jesus, I baptise you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. So we come towards trying to draw the threads of this evening together. There's not really much more that I want to add.

There was a guy in scripture who found himself in Jerusalem. He wasn't a Jew, he was actually Chancellor of the Exchequer, came from a neighboring country. He wasn't informed about Judaism, at least not very much.

But he did want to know the truth. He believed that God is. Then you've got to be daft not to believe that God is.

Anyone who says that God is not has a greater degree of faith than me. That God is, is evident from a flower. That God is, is evident from a sunset.

Sometimes I have opportunities of preaching in various parts of the world. Whenever I'm in Africa or India, I'm never asked to defend the notion that God is. It's not who God is, or that God is, it's what God is, what is God like.

This guy who went to Jerusalem 2,000 years back, you can read of him in the Acts of the Apostles in the 8th chapter. He came from a country called Ethiopia. He's probably a black man.

Ethiopian church is a very strong church today. It's got a very ancient liturgy and very long, long history. And he bought a parchment, a bit of the Old Testament.

He had problems reading it. Somebody's just given me a dictionary on how to understand Scotch. Or is it Scottish? No, no, this guy, he buys this document and part of the Old Testament is written in Aramaic.

Which is not an easy language. And he starts to, he's in a chariot. I told you he was the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I've never met a poor one.

He's got the equivalent of a BMW. He's going back home. Maybe there's a chariot horseman in the chariot with him, I don't know.

Must have been a canopy to screen off the sunshine. And he's standing up and he's trying to mouth the words. And he doesn't really understand what it's all about.

There's a guy by the name of Philip and he was an evangelist. And he'd been preaching to thousands. But I want to tell you that God is bothered about one person as well as thousands.

And Philip was able to leave that large audience that he was ministering to. And he comes into the desert and he sees this guy reading a bit of the Old Testament, not understanding. And Philip says, well, basically, can I help you? You know, we run what are known as Alpha Classes or Discipleship Classes.

And basically, we run them to try to explain what the New Testament, the Old Testament have to say. It's not always easy to understand the Bible at first go. Well, some people have by the empowering of the Spirit.

And one of the reasons why we have these classes is, as I say, to explain the ABC. And you're very welcome to come along. You'd have to be fairly courageous to get up and contradict me from the pulpit here.

And people don't generally stand up and ask questions. I don't really mind. But in a small group, that's possible.

And I guess that when Philip was talking to this Chancellor of the Exchequer, that's basically what he was doing. He was riding alongside. It was time to inform this man a little bit more about, well, Jesus was predicted as coming into the world in the Old Testament.

And there's a passage in Isaiah, right? That's one of the books of the Old Testament that describes about Jesus. It's phenomenal, really, because it's dead accurate. It described about the death of Jesus.

And the guy didn't know who was reading it. Was the prophet talking about himself? Or was he talking about someone to come? That was a gift opportunity. So Philip said, well, you got it right on the second attempt.

He was talking about Jesus who actually has just died, been raised again. He started to tell him about the Lord Jesus. I was once in a plane flying from Lahore down to Karachi in Pakistan.

The guy was sitting next to me. He was dressed like a Muslim. He was actually a fighter pilot, though I didn't know, because of his rig out.

And he said to me, he said, look, we'll probably never meet again in life. Have you got anything to tell me? What a wonderful opportunity. Have you got anything to tell me? I was hoping that the plane would go from Karachi down to Delhi.

But that would have created some political problems out there. There are people who need to be told, who want to be told about the Lord Jesus. Philip was prepared to do that.

And you know we've got people who go from door to door here at the tab. The Jehovah's Witnesses are not the only people who go from door to door. They create a problem for us because we're often confused with JWs.

But we do want to tell people about the Lord Jesus. So that as these three who gave testimony to the fact that they've now learned a little about Jesus and had an experience of the Lord Jesus, so it might be possible for others to do so. So this Ethiopian is informed about the Lord Jesus.

There's time to stop your car. And the Bible says that when this man had been informed about the Lord Jesus, he stopped his chariot because they were passing some water. And he said, what would stop me? What would prevent me from being baptized? And he was informed that, well, there was nothing to stop him provided that he really did confess Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

And he'd done that. And so Philip took him down to a natural baptistry, dunked him. And the man came out of the water as these two did successfully.

And the third one with a bit of a struggle, Nicola. And he went on with his life under the captaincy of Jesus Christ. You know, my dear friends, that's what Christianity is all about.

So simple a little kid could understand it. Here's your sin. Here's the life of Jesus.

You've done so many things that you're ashamed of. We all have. But on the cross of Calvary, Jesus took the sins of the world and paid the price as he died.

But that doesn't automatically grant everyone forgiveness and absolution. You've got to personally accept it for yourself. That's what this Ethiopian did.

That's what Trevor did and the two Nikes have done. And having done that because, well, they love the Lord Jesus. They wanted to tell others about it.

And they did in a very generous fashion in terms of giving us information about their background this evening. We glory in what Jesus Christ has done through them by his Spirit. But what he's done for them he can do for you.

As they've confessed him by being immersed in water, so you too should confess him. I want you to come to myself or to Dave or to John, these men who were helping me down below and praying for the candidates before they were baptized, asking that God would give them an empowering spirit. I want you to come to one of the three of us this evening.

We'll be in the foyer. And tell us some of you youngsters who need to be baptized that you want the next time that we open this tank and we'll have the water a little cooler. In August, the first week in August, I want to be baptized.

I want to publicly confess Jesus Christ. You may not want to give a screed of your life. That doesn't matter.

As long as you'll give us the basic essentials that you are a Christian and that you want other people to know that you are a Christian. Some of you who are not sure, we want to talk to you. We want to enroll you in our discipleship class.

We want to help you. I don't think you've had a chance to stand, have I, even though I did suggest 20 minutes or so that you all, let's just all stand right now. Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father, we come before your throne. This is a large congregation. It's a hot night.

It's not been too easy to concentrate. But we've got the drift, Lord, because, well, we heard a bunch of illustrations in terms of testimony as well as the preamble and the tying together a few moments ago. We ask that the consequences of what Jesus Christ has done may be entered into by all of us here, that we may benefit by his death and his mighty resurrection.

We pray your hand to be upon everyone here and that those who would like your salvation, that as they respond to the impulse of your spirit, they will find it and receive it and enter into it. And those who need to confess Jesus Christ publicly, that they'll have the guts so to do. We pray for those Filipinos in Saudi Arabia at the moment who are in prison for doing something similar to this.

We ask, Lord, for your hand to be upon them and grant them your peace and deal with those Saudi authorities, we pray. So bless your church in the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.

Amen. We're serving tea and coffee in the lounge at the rear of these, go through these doors on my left, right. Glad to have some fellowship with you.

Remember my invitation to speak to John, Dave, or myself in the foyer. We'll be here again next Sunday at 6.30, and if you can make the evening service, we'll be glad to have your company. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for what we've heard, for what we've seen this evening. We pray for Trev, particularly, and both Nickys, and ask your blessing, your preservation, recognizing that when a person's baptized, he or she becomes very vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one. We ask that you'll be with them and strengthen them.

We thank you for their families and for those who've patiently come along this evening. From unusual circumstances, as far as their experience of church may be concerned, we ask that it shall be meaningful and moving to them. We thank you for this total congregation and ask your blessing to be upon us during these next days before we meet again.

The blessing of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We ask that for our Lord Jesus, we might see him more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly throughout the rest of our lives. Amen.

Good night. God bless. Thanks for coming.