The Little Engine That could

I pray that you are all feeling well and ready to join in worship together as we praise God's name.

Let us join together and sing: O Lord my God, how great thou art

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Time Of prayer

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Let Us Pray

Oh, God, today help us to live with faith. To see in You, Your infinite power. Your infinite glory, and greatness, and grander, and majesty, Your infinite ability. Keep us, oh God, from trusting in our power. Help us to trust in Your power. Help us to pray accordingly as we pray, even right now. God, help us to realise we're talking to You, the king of the universe that has all authority and all power, who's sovereignly ruling and reigning over all things. Help us not to underestimate You in our praying. As we pray for others, as we serve others. We don't want to lead our lives to do ministry to others in our own power, in our own strength, in our own ability. Forgive us, oh God, for our tendency to do that. Lord, help us to trust in You. Help us to seek You. Help us to believe You. God, give us greater faith, we pray. Lord, help us to live with trust in Your power to do that which would be impossible otherwise. We think about things that we're praying for, I'm guessing and supposing, in each of our lives right now. That we know if You don't come through, if You don't do it, it won't happen. We trust, oh God, that You have the power to do it. You have the power to answer these prayers, so we pray that You do it in a way that displays Your glory. Give us faith like that. "We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let us share together in the Lords prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who 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.

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Let us share together and sing: In the Cross

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I Think I Can

Have you ever read the children’s book, The Little Engine That Could. It’s a story about a little train, a train that saw this huge hill that it had to climb and at the bottom of this hill, the train was daunted by the climb. It’s always like that at the bottom of a steep hill and on the way up the hill, it said to itself, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” And then, “I know I can, I know I can, I know I can.” That’s why the book is called The Little Engine That Could.

Did you know that this little book was written around the time of the Great Depression? It was written at a time when people’s confidence was shaken; when they were at the bottom of this huge hill and they didn’t know whether they had it in them to climb that hill.

At the age I am and for the many mountains I’ve climbed and valleys I’ve been through, there’s one thing I’ve learned and it’s this; You can just about put up with anything, you can survive through just about anything and you can achieve just about anything, but boy what a brutal, arduous journey I have had just to learn that.

I guess that’s what we learn in the school of hard knocks, how to crash through things and how to get through the other side even though it all feels incredibly daunting at the time. But, (and there is a huge but), can I say? Despite all of that life training, I still get to some mountains in my life and I’m at the bottom looking up and I find them hugely daunting and I’m sure you’ve had that same experience

You know, you’re at the bottom of the hill, you’re looking up and the inertia is debilitating, you just don’t seem to be able to get going. You’re paralysed by how daunting the whole thing appears and that’s what happens when we don’t have the confidence to move forward. We just stop because we look up this hill and we think, “I don’t know if I can get over the top of that. I just don’t know whether I’ve got it in me to make it up that hill and to get over the top.”

It can be something at work, it can be a difficult situation that has to be confronted. It can be cleaning the house or mowing the lawn or washing the car. A million little things, but they feel like they’re insurmountable, like the mountains that we just can’t get over the top. And what’s going on is that we have a crisis of confidence.

There are many things in this life that shake our confidence and one of them is the sheer magnitude of doing something, even the smallest of things and it robs us of the confidence that we need in order to be able to do it. In my wanderings through the Bible I’ve discovered this one simple statement, it’s written by the apostle Paul, a couple of thousand years ago. He says this:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

That’s a pretty confident statement but so what, I mean, words are cheap. Until you learn that he wrote this on death row in a Roman prison. He penned these words in Philippians chapter 4. he says this.

I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me.’ (So he’s writing to his friends.) ‘Indeed you’ve been concerned but you’ve had no opportunity to show it. I’m not saying this because I’m in need because I’ve learnt to be content with whatever my circumstances are. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty but I’ve learnt the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether I’m well fed or hungry, whether I’m living in plenty or in want, I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.

In other words, Paul isn’t putting his confidence in his own circumstances. Let’s face it, circumstances go up and down and for Paul on death row, they were definitely down. Paul’s not putting his faith or his confidence in what he has because, let’s face it, sometimes we have almost nothing and we seem to get through and other times we have it all and we just can’t seem to do what we have to do. Now Paul puts his faith in Jesus Christ and he was on death row on account of the fact that he was preaching Christ to people around him.

Circumstances will come and go. Sometimes they’ll be daunting; sometimes they’ll be difficult; sometimes they will seem absolutely insurmountable and the problem with the whole ‘little engine that could’ story is sometimes ‘I can’t’. Sometimes you and I don’t have what it takes in us and of ourselves to do the things that we have to do.

Sometimes we have to confront a difficult situation with someone. Now I’m not someone to mince words but I don’t like difficult situations much, I’d much rather just gloss over them. Sometimes I don’t have what it takes, that’s true of everyone, it’s true of you. And that’s the problem with self-confidence. Confidence in self relies on how good or bad I am on a particular day.

But confidence in Jesus is another thing entirely. Jesus who created all things, who has all things in the palm of his hands. You see, that’s what Paul had learnt. Here he was on death row, he wasn’t afraid to die because he knew that when he was executed he’d go to be with the Lord. He just said, “Look, I know what it’s like to have a lot and I know what it’s like not to have everything, I’ve learned to be content with whatever I have and I rejoice in God.”

He’s got his confidence in Christ and when you and I can’t, Jesus can and because he can, we can. It’s quite simple really but so often we want to place confidence in ourselves. And that’s when we have a crisis of confidence, when we put confidence my our own abilities. But when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, He who has everything in the palm of His hand, that's when we have victory. Amen

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Lets listen to the Staff Songsters sing: With All My Hart

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.