It was great to be together on Sunday — the first Sunday of a new year! — and yet reflect upon the incredible, timeless, unchanging truth the gospel of Jesus Christ, and sing praises to our gracious God.

Yesterday’s sermon from Galatians 6:7-18 is available to listen to or download from here, via our iTunes podcast feed.

For those of you with children in the Generations Sunday School, unfortunately there’s no “Weekly Info” for this week.  Normal service will resume next week!

Here’s the quotes from the sermon:

John Stott:
“Many people are deceived concerning this unalterable law of seedtime and harvest. They sow seeds thoughtlessly, nonchalantly and blind themselves to the fact that the seeds they sow will inevitably produce a corresponding harvest. Or they sow seed of one kind and expect to reap a harvest of another. They imagine somehow they can get away with it. But this is not possible!”

John Stott:
“To ‘sow to the flesh’ is to pander to it, to cosset, cuddle and stroke it, instead of crucifying it. The seeds we sow are largely thoughts and deeds. Every time we allow our mind to harbour a grudge, nurse a grievance, entertain an impure fantasy, or wallow in self-pity, we are sowing to the flesh. Every time we linger in bad company whose insidious influence we know we cannot resist, every time we lie in bed when we ought to be up praying, every time we view pornographic material, every time we take a risk that strains our self-control, every self-righteous rebuke, we are sowing, sowing, sowing to the flesh. Some Christians sow to the flesh every day and wonder why they do not reap holiness… Holiness is a harvest; whether we reap it or not depends almost entirely on what and where we sow.”

Amy Carmichael:
“The picture before us is as of a river. Stand on its banks, and contemplate the flow of waters. A minute passes, and another. Is it the same stream still? Yes. But is it the same water? No. The liquid mass that passed you a few seconds ago fills now another section of the channel; new water has displaced it, or if you please, replaced it; water instead of water. And so hour by hour, and year by year, and century by century, the process holds; one stream, other waters– living not stagnant, because always in the greatest identity is perpetual exchange. Grace takes the place of grace [and love takes the place of love]; ever new, ever old, ever the same, ever fresh and young, for hour by hour, for year by year, through Christ.”