☀️🌴 Is Jesus Going on Holiday With You This Summer?
Don’t leave Him behind this summer! In this powerful message from Hebrews 10:1-25, Stewart Green shows us why only Jesus will do — life without Him is not life.
The holiday season can feel like a spiritual pause… but the enemy loves it when our guards drop. This sermon is a wake-up call to take Jesus with you everywhere — the beach, the pool, the airport, and every moment of your summer.
In this message you’ll discover:
– Why the Old Testament sacrifices were only temporary shadows pointing to something greater
– How Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice completed everything the law could never do
– The dangerous cycle of “parking Jesus for the summer” and how to break it
– Why we need Jesus AND each other more than ever in these days
– Practical ways to press in, stay on fire, and carry the anointing wherever you go
📖 Scripture: Hebrews 10:1-25
🎯 Theme: Only Jesus will do — life without Him is not life
Whether this is your first summer walking with Jesus or you’ve known Him for years, this word is for you. Don’t arrive in September having to reset everything. Resolve today to take Jesus on holiday with you — and make it the best summer of your life.
If you could turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10, we’ll be going there in a few minutes.
First of all, I want to ask by a show of hands: who has been on holiday so far this summer? A few people. And who is going on holiday? Who has plans, even if it’s just for a short break?
Fantastic. Everyone loves going on holiday every now and then, don’t they? I’m not big on holidays myself, but I do enjoy a little break every now and then.
We’re in this holiday season just now. It seems like everyone’s going on holiday. For those in the workplace, you know how many people get an out-of-office at this time of year: “Oh, I’m just out on the beach.” They even use AI now to generate it. It used to be just “I’m out of office. I’ll be back on this day.” Now it’s “I’m sunning myself on the beach — it’s a terrible shame you can’t join me, but I’ll pick your email up soon.”
But in this holiday season, everything kind of winds down for a while. Even in the news, once we hit August, they have what they call “silly season.” A few years ago, a whole live reporter team was sent to Aberdeen to investigate the shortage of seagulls. That was the biggest story on Reporting Scotland at 6pm. You would have thought that would be good news — you can actually enjoy your fish and chips in peace — but apparently it was a big story.
Everything winds down. Schools are off. Colleges are closed. Half the workplaces are shut. The train station car park I use — normally you’re fighting for every last bit of grass and curb verge — now it’s “Will I park here? Will I park there?” It took me about five minutes to park the other day. I was like, “This is a luxury. I might even go into a whole new section of the car park I’ve never parked in before.” It’s ridiculous. Where is everyone? It’s like they’ve all just shut down.
We can go overboard. We can end up living for the holiday. How many times have you heard people come back from holiday and immediately say, “It was great — we’re busy booking our next one”? My sister’s on her fifth holiday of the year at the moment. People constantly booking the next holiday just after they get back. Then you get so stressed about the holiday, it’s no wonder you need another one.
Even before you’re away, people get stressed about what to take, what not to take, how to pack, when to pack. There’s the pre-drop at the airport now, where you can drop your bags the night before. I’ve done that once — it didn’t work out too well. I’m not sure I trust it again.
Some people plan weeks in advance. They start looking like they’re in odd clothes for two weeks in a row because they’ve started packing. You go shopping and buy new clothes just for the holiday that you’re never going to wear again. Or you end up with a whole wardrobe of nice clothes you can’t fit into anymore without breathing in.
But here’s the question: how do you decide what to take and what not to take? Sometimes you can get so caught up in deciding what to take that you end up missing a basic essential item — and you only realise when you’re just far enough away from home that you can’t go back without missing the plane.
You took factor 30 and you’re heading to Lanzarote where you need factor 70. Some people get so stressed about holidays, I just wonder sometimes if it’s really all worth it.
If you’re not careful, you can end up missing what you need and taking tons of stuff you don’t really need. You take 20 kilos of suitcase and wonder what’s in it — seven toothbrushes, one for every day, because you don’t actually plan on brushing your teeth that often.
The more you try to remember everything, the more you miss — because your focus is on the wrong thing.
The Wrong Focus: The Law and Sacrifices
We’re going to see in this passage that in Old Testament times, people were caught up in trying to adhere to the law for the law’s sake. They were focused on the wrong thing.
The purpose of the law was to help keep people on the straight and narrow. But instead of focusing on improving themselves and keeping themselves on the straight and narrow, they focused on trying to adhere to the law.
You shouldn’t be focusing on the law. You should just be focusing on the main thing. Take an extreme example: it’s illegal in this country to take someone’s life. But how many of us spend every waking moment thinking, “Oh, I must avoid murdering someone today”? We don’t. Hopefully you don’t. If you do, we can pray about that. We tend not to think about these things because it’s just what we do — it’s in our nature.
But what happened in Old Testament times is you end up getting focused on adhering to the law for the law’s sake and end up getting tangled up in it, turning your life into essentially a miserable existence.
I wonder if only they could have stopped to pause and focus on the main thing — the condition of their soul — they would maybe have been able to do something about it.
Church Doesn’t Stop — And Neither Should Your Walk with Jesus
Whilst it’s a season of holidays, church doesn’t stop. Your walk with Jesus should not be put on hold.
It’s fine to take a rest from normal life. It’s fine to take a rest from the mother-in-law, from the chores, and everything else. It’s absolutely fine, and it’s good to have a rest from time to time.
But it’s not good to try and take a rest from Jesus — because Jesus should be with us everywhere we go, all the time.
For some of you who have recently come to know Jesus, this might be your first summer walking with Jesus. Your summer holiday should look a little bit different this year. Maybe where you’re going, you find a church to go to. Maybe you spend time reading the Word rather than the latest novel.
For others, maybe you’re really good at this and you always remember Jesus with you on holiday. That’s fantastic — keep going.
And for others, maybe you need to start taking Jesus with you. Maybe you’ve always been on holiday and you just kind of leave Jesus behind. Maybe He’s the thing that you leave behind, that you forget to pack, as it were. You’ve got your seven toothbrushes, but you’ve not got Jesus.
You see, Jesus is everything. If we stand here and sing, “Lord, I give You my all. I live for You alone,” except for these two weeks when I’m on the beach, we can’t really say that we’re actually giving it our all for Jesus.
“Lord, I live for You alone” — except for when I’m pulling the weights in the gym. We have to actually take Jesus everywhere we go with everything that we’re doing.
Hebrews 10: The Shadow and the Reality
Let’s head into Hebrews 10. We’ll read the first 25 verses.
The Law Was Only a Shadow
The chapter opens talking about the animal sacrifices — that temporary sacrifice that was there before Jesus came to be the permanent, once-for-all sacrifice for our sins.
Verse 1 says clearly that the animal sacrifice is just a shadow. It’s a foretaste of what is to come. It was the temporary solution put in place by God for the imperfection of man until Jesus came to deal with sin once and for all.
The law condemns because it sets standards that fallen men cannot attain. It sets a bar that we can’t reach.
Has anyone ever tried to do the limbo? You see, if you try and just hop over it, it doesn’t count. The whole point is you’re meant to contort yourself. It gets lower and lower. By the end, even the most flexible person can’t achieve it. That’s why the law will eventually catch you out — it sets a standard that fallen men can’t attain.
Why did God institute a law that was bound to catch us out? Who made the need for the law in the first place — God or us?
We were created in perfection. When Adam and Eve were created, they were created to walk in perfect harmony with God. When that first bite happened and sin entered, imperfection came in, and God had to bring in a standard and say, “No, this is wrong, and here are the consequences.”
Before you go blaming God, blame yourself for sinning and falling short of the standards that were set in the first place. Sin wasn’t God’s idea. It was Satan’s idea that then came into us because we fell into temptation.
The law was instituted not to crush us down, but to try and bring us back into line with God. If God had just lowered the standard, He would have made Himself imperfect. He can’t do that. The law has to be the bar that is always there.
The Bible clearly says here that the animal sacrifice could not make a man whole. It could not pay the price of our sin forever. Therefore there was a need to keep repeating it continuously.
Verse 2 confirms that if it was permanent, there wouldn’t be the need to continually offer sacrifices. Verses 3 and 4 suggest that animal sacrifices were actually a continual reminder of sin — not cleansing from sin. It was almost as if they were bringing a curse to remind them and point the finger: “Look how terrible we are.”
The people thought they could get forgiveness for their sins through sacrifice. They thought they could wipe the slate clean and carry on. But it wouldn’t really work, because it was only a temporary measure. They were missing the key thing: full forgiveness.
Thank goodness we don’t live in that time. Can you imagine the mess on this platform if Arthur and I had to come on here and do animal sacrifices? This carpet would just be a sponge of blood. Thank goodness we live now in a time where Jesus has come and paid the price for every last sin we’ve ever done, thought, or said. If we go to Him and say, “Jesus, I’m sorry,” He forgives us, wipes the slate clean, and gives us a new life in return.
And it’s that grace that gives us the freedom from sin — not the freedom to sin.
Jesus: The Once-for-All Sacrifice
Then the chapter moves on to talk about Jesus as the once-for-all sacrifice.
Jesus points to Himself very early on as the atoning sacrifice for sin. All of Scripture, from beginning to end, points to Jesus. He quotes Psalm 40 in verses 6–8.
God is not pleased with sacrifices — not because He instituted them, but because He’s not pleased with the sin and the fallen state of man, and He’s not pleased with the continual need for sacrifices. If the sacrifice was working, they would be made better and wouldn’t have to keep doing it.
In verse 9, we see that Jesus recognised His mission was to reconcile man to God. He knew it right from the start.
Then that wonderful verse 10:
“And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Hover on that word “have been” — it’s past tense. It’s already happened. It wasn’t a trial run. It wasn’t plan B. God’s only got plan A.
The animal sacrifices after Jesus’ death and resurrection were no longer required, because the final sacrifice in Jesus Christ had already been offered. Everything before was temporary — it was pointing to Jesus.
Sin requires a blood sacrifice. The Bible tells us in Romans that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.
It could have been anyone who put themselves in that place, but there was only one found worthy. His name is Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us:
“He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him.”
We can become righteous. We can come back into that place of communion with God through the precious gift of eternal life made possible through the blood of Jesus Christ.
John the Baptist himself pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” He pointed directly and said, “That man there is Jesus. He’s the man you need to focus on.”
Today, Jesus is the man. He’s the only man we need to be focusing on. Because it’s only through the blood of Jesus that we’re saved. There is no other way. Only Jesus wipes that slate clean. Only Jesus removes the sin as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
Jesus is the answer. He’s the only answer.
Made Perfect (Completed)
In verse 14 we see this little phrase: “being made perfect.”
This word is often mistranslated. It really means completed, fulfilled. If you read it as “being made complete” — God’s will being fulfilled — what it’s saying is that Jesus’ single sacrifice completed those being made holy, which is those who profess Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Until we profess Jesus, until we declare Him as Lord and Saviour, until we say yes to Jesus, we’re incomplete. We’re only completed once we say yes to Him.
The New Covenant
Verses 15–17 quote Jeremiah 31 — one of my favourite chapters in the whole Bible.
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” says the Lord. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put my law in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” says the Lord. “For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more.”
He’s not just going to forgive us — He’s going to remember it no more.
Even if the devil tries to remind you of something you did years ago that you’ve already dealt with and sought forgiveness for, Jesus is going to sit there and say, “What sin?”
That’s not to say Jesus has the ability to forget — of course He’s all-knowing. But He chooses not to hold it as a record against you. Because on the cross He publicly cancelled the record of debt that was against each of our names.
When you go to Jesus, He paid the price so that slate could be wiped clean, so that you could be given a new heart — a heart of stone taken away and a new heart of flesh given to you.
Therefore… (Hebrews 10:19–25)
Having understood that the original animal sacrifices were not only insufficient but are now not needed, that Jesus is all-sufficient and everything else is insufficient, the second half of the chapter is about persevering in Christ Jesus, pressing on in Christ Jesus.
The word “therefore” is there for a reason. When you see “therefore,” you have to ask, “What is it there for?”
In verses 19–23 we see that there’s a need to be continually and constantly washed in the blood of Jesus, to continually hold to the profession of our faith, to not waver from the truth, to remain committed to Jesus and His church — His glorious bride that He’s making spotless, ready for His soon return.
We all need Jesus. We all need saving. John 14:6 says there’s no other way to the Father but through Jesus.
But also, we all need each other.
Now more than ever. Arthur opened up this morning talking about the state of our nation. We need each other. It’s becoming harder to live a holy life because of distractions.
How many people have been distracted even today? I was distracted on the way here. I was praying, and all of a sudden I’m not praying because I got distracted by yet another slow-moving car.
We can get distracted by the pleasures of the world. It’s not to say we don’t get pleasure out of them, but it’s not profitable. There’s a difference between pleasure and profit. Some things are pleasurable but not necessarily good for us.
Let’s flip quickly to 1 John 2:15–17:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life — is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Don’t be distracted. That’s easier said than done, but Jesus is there to help us.
We also need to be supporting one another. We need to be looking out for one another, checking up on one another.
“Hey, what’s your screen time this week?” It’s not about being nosy. If someone said they were going to read the Bible more next week, and then the following week you ask how it’s going and their screen time has doubled — you can gently ask, “So how’s it going with reading the Bible more?”
Let’s hold each other accountable. Not in a legalistic, religious spirit, but because we love each other and care for each other.
In the same way that if you were with a friend and they ran out into the road without looking both ways, you wouldn’t just say “Bye then” — you’d clamp onto their arm and pull them back.
We Are the Body of Christ
Let’s turn to 1 Corinthians 12. This is perhaps most appropriately put here.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptised into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any lesser part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any lesser part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? And if the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as He chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
What is being referred to here is the body of Christ — the church. That’s us. Many parts, many people, many giftings, many backgrounds, many roles, many ways to serve. All of them important — not one more or less important than the other.
As God is growing our church here (which is amazing to see), He’s bringing new people with new talents. He’s bringing people who can play the drums and help keep us in time. He’s bringing people with discipleship experience to help those of you who are newer to the faith.
We can’t do without the different parts. If we had a whole load of people great at discipling but no one coming into the church becoming a Christian, there’d be nothing for them to do. Vice versa, if loads of people were becoming Christians and no one to disciple them, then we wouldn’t learn.
Being part of church is not some kind of nice idea — it’s a command, because we need it, and it’s how we glorify God.
The Holiday Danger Zone
The onus is on us — on me, on all of us — to keep pressing in to Jesus. Because if we’re not pressing in, then we’re backsliding.
Do you know something? The holiday time is the easiest target for the devil to get us to backslide. Why? Because our guards are down. We’re relaxed. We’re in an unusual setting if we’re away. We’re unwinding. And then boom — suddenly we’re surrounded by everything that takes our eyes literally off Jesus.
These last few days of sunny weather and you’re just strolling around. I’m just going about my business, and you don’t really know where to look. One of these days I’m going to ask some of these people if they would maybe bother to get dressed tomorrow. Seriously.
It’s becoming harder — particularly for us men, but I’m sure it’s the same for you women. The men are not much better when it comes to decency. Let’s look out for one another, guys. It’s getting harder, but it doesn’t make it impossible. It means we need to look up and look to Jesus even more.
If you park up Jesus for the summer, don’t expect yourself to still be driving with Jesus come September.
We’ve got to press in more. We’ve got to believe for more. We’ve got to draw nearer to Him.
What better place to pray than lying on the beach when you’re just relaxing? Nothing wrong with lying on the beach (a bit hot for me, but you might enjoy it). Just talk to Jesus whilst you’re there.
Instead of reading the latest nonsense self-help guide — “3 Steps to a Better Figure” or whatever it is, that will just make you marginally less miserable for about four hours until you go back to your same old miserable existence — why not pick up the Word of God and start learning the promises of God?
Get those promises into your heart this summer, and you’ll still be walking with Jesus more so than you are today come September.
You take a week off church just because “Oh well, it’s the summer. We just thought we’d relax, and it’s a nice day. We thought we’d go up Loch Lomond and spend the day on Luss Beach rather than coming into church.”
Hey, there’s been plenty of weeks recently where maybe we would want to do that. Plenty of weeks where maybe I would want to stay in bed. “Oh, it’s okay. It’s only one week. It’s absolutely fine.”
Do you know what? One week becomes a couple of weeks, becomes a month, becomes a whole summer. You haven’t been in church. You haven’t been surrounding yourself with other people. And there are less people in our society now that profess a faith in Jesus. If you’re out there in the world surrounding yourself with people who are not following Jesus, do you think they’re going to encourage you to follow Jesus? Do you think they’re going to be challenging you to read the Bible more, to pray more?
No. We need to spend time together.
If this continues for the whole period of this summer and this kind of wind-down relaxation season, bit by bit we’re really wandering away from Jesus. We reach September and find ourselves having to reset everything.
I’ve lost track of the number of years every September people come and say, “Oh, I just want a fresh start with Jesus.”
Hey, let me skip all of that right now and just say: if you press in with Jesus over these next few months, you won’t need the reset in September.
Let’s not waste time spending September resetting. Let’s actually skip that and not even need it because we’re still pressing on with Jesus just now.
Break the Cycle
You have this reset in September. You just about get going, and then you build yourself up just in time for Christmas, just in time to burn the turkey in the oven again. Then January arrives, the credit card bill drops, and it’s doom and gloom. February arrives, the holiday adverts start, and you start booking another holiday. You struggle through to June: “It’s okay, I’m going on holiday in three weeks. If I can just get through, it’ll be okay.”
And the whole cycle carries on.
Folks, don’t get trapped in that cycle.
We need to break this cycle to the point where we’re so on fire for Jesus, so in love with Jesus, so caring about each other, that we take Jesus with us everywhere we go, every time — carrying the anointing of the Holy Spirit wherever we go.
So that when you’re on holiday, you might be relaxing, but you’re also looking to see where God might want to use you in the most unsuspecting ways. Arthur said he was on holiday and there was a woman who needed prayer.
What happens is a holiday then becomes a time to charge up rather than to wind down — to the point where you come back from holiday and say, “Yes, my holiday was amazing. Yes, I’m ready for even more. Yes, I’m ready to press on,” rather than “Oh, I just want to go back.”
You should want to come back fired up, refuelled, ready to go, ready to face what God has got for you next.
We’re so committed to not just this church, but to each other. That’s what the church is — a group of people in a building where we’re looking where we can serve each other more, where we can do more, where walking with Jesus is not just some kind of hobby or pastime that we tack onto the end of our lives.
“Oh well, you know, He’s Lord of my life, but only on a Tuesday between 12 and 4, and on a Wednesday maybe not so much.”
No. Jesus should be all of your life, all the time, all the day, every day.
Stir One Another Up
1 Thessalonians 5:11 says we are to comfort and build up one another.
And in Hebrews 10:24 it says:
Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
How do we build up and encourage each other to do these things and stay on track with God?
Verse 25 gives the answer straight afterwards:
…not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Not neglecting meeting together. It’s more than just a couple of hours on a Sunday. Do you know there are 168 hours in a week? If we give God just two hours on a Sunday, what are you doing with the other 166 hours? You’re going to allow the devil to fill that time? You think that’s going to cut it?
We must spend time together in fellowship.
We had a great day out yesterday over in Edinburgh. Those of you that made it, it was good. It would have been nicer if the weather was the same as the day before, but that’s Scotland for you — 10 degrees difference in one day.
Can I be really raw and honest with you? I could have quite easily just stayed in bed yesterday. I could have quite easily just relaxed for the day and just spent the day staring at the ceiling and discovering another crack in it and not doing anything about it. I was quite tired.
But you know what? I get so much more blessed spending time with you guys. So much more blessed being out and about, spending time together with God’s people, getting to know you more. Yes, enjoying some yummy food, but also just getting to know each other.
“Where are we at in life? Hey, what’s going well? What’s not going well? What can we pray for? How can we support each other?”
That’s what it’s about.
Let’s go to 1 Peter 4:7–11:
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies — in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
That’s the most important thing to focus on. It’s not just about spending time together and building each other up. It’s about bringing glory to God.
Because when we come together, when we build each other up in the strength of Jesus and the love of Jesus, then God’s church arises as it’s meant to — and when God’s church arises, God Himself is glorified.
Final Challenge
I saw this written this week by the apologist Wes Huff:
“Ultimately, practising membership of a church glorifies God as Christians gather to form His body, living under the life-giving words of Scripture, fellowshipping with one another sacrificially, and reflecting His character.”
So, folks, let’s not leave Jesus behind this summer.
He’s not an optional extra that we tack on to life when the going gets tough.
Don’t find yourself having to start over in September, regretting wasting away these months.
Life doesn’t get put on hold just because it’s the summer. It might look slightly different, but it doesn’t get put on hold.
Resolve today to take Jesus with you everywhere. Take Him with you every day, every single time.
The old people of the Old Testament desired to be free of sin and to be in the presence of God, but they couldn’t — because their sacrifices were insufficient. They ended up getting caught up focusing on the law.
Jesus came to be that once-and-for-all sacrifice to pay the price for our sins so that we could be in that place of perfect communion with Him just as He intended.
The wonderful thing about Jesus — He says His grace is sufficient for us, because His power is made perfect in our weakness. You’re not too weak for Jesus to deal with. In fact, He wants to come and help you.
Romans 5:8 says that while we were still dead in our sins, Christ died for us. He took the first step. He did it for us. He came to take your place. Where you should have been the one condemned because of that sin, He came to offer you new and everlasting life.
Just as the fullness is in Jesus, the fullness of life can only be found in Him. And as much as you try, you can’t do life without Him.
So let me help you get to that next step. Don’t try to do life without Him. It’s not worth it.
Closing Prayer
Maybe you’re at the point where you need to commit more to the life of the church. Maybe you’ve been trapped in that annual cycle of parking up Jesus for the summer and then being terribly surprised by the consequences in autumn.
It’s time to take Jesus on holiday with you. It’s time to take Jesus with you through the summer. It’s time to step up, to step out. It’s time to take Jesus with you everywhere, every time — to start fitting life around church rather than church around life.
Maybe today you’ve never accepted Jesus. If you make that step to say yes to Jesus today, just that first step, then do you know something? You too can take Jesus on holiday with you this year. It could be the best holiday ever — because things are going to be totally different.
Or maybe you need to come back to Jesus. Maybe you’ve already parked Jesus up a little bit and you realise, “Yeah, maybe Jesus has been a little bit on the back burner in my life.”
Hey, it’s time to turn yourself up to gas mark seven and move Him to that big centre ring where He’s at the centre of your life — where the Holy Spirit is burning brightly in you.
Let’s pray.
Father God, we thank You for the summer. We thank You for the opportunity to relax and spend some time in the nice weather, Lord. We thank You for holidays.
Father, we ask that You would help us, Lord, to not neglect You this summer. We ask that You would help us to take You on holiday with us — that we wouldn’t just park You up and then try and pick You up whenever we need a bit of help later on.
Lord, let us not try to struggle on through life without You, but let us turn to You, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before You endured the cross, despising the shame, and as a result You are now sat down at the right hand of the Father.
Lord, I thank You, Jesus, that we can come into right relationship with You. We can come into the fullness of life only through You. I thank You that You have that door open for us, and I thank You that You say in Your Word in Revelation that You are knocking at the door of our hearts, and anyone who opens that door, You’ll come in and You’ll dine with us. You’ll give us a new heart. You’ll give us a new life.
And Lord Jesus, I pray, Father God, that if there’s anyone here today that doesn’t yet know You, Lord, I pray, Jesus, that You would indeed knock at the door of their heart and that they would open that door to You.
And Lord, for the rest of us here, I pray, Lord Jesus, that You would stir us up, Lord. Stir us up to even greater things in the mighty name of Jesus, Lord, as You take us forward this summer. Let it not be a time of just being on hold, but let it be a time of rising up, of building up, of coming together, and pressing on for even more of You, for even more of what You’ve got for this church and for us as a people, Lord.
So we thank You for Your Word now, Lord. Jesus, we pray. Amen.
