DIY Sunday Service Kit - 26/06/22 - Testing the 'Voices' and matters of 'Legacy'

 

Welcome to the DIY Sunday Service Kit for June 26th., 2022.

The matter of the sort of legacy we might leave and what it might be worth gets tackled in our six-minute Word For for the Week video this week, and evaluating the messages, voices or 'testimony' that comes our way is the subject of our Bible exposition looking today at 1 John 5:6-12.

Let's get straight down to it with a one-minute taster of the sermon that is coming later ...

Now let's pray ...

Lord and loving Heavenly Father we give you thanks and praise that, because of the life, death and resurrection of the Lord's Jesus we can live with the confidence that our prayers are heard in Heaven, from where you reign over all things.

Would you in your kindness be present with us today wherever we take the time to worship you and to hear ad receive your holy Word, so the we might renew our Christian identity and experience as people of your your presence.

For Jesus' sake, AMEN.

Here's the Word for the Week: 'Legacy'

Prayer Points

• Answered prayer ... FMD

We had a Foot and Mouth disease scare earlier this week, as a farm near Kings Lynn in Norfolk was shut down with symptoms of the disease in their pigs.

This caused widespread alarm in the farming community around here as the last outbreak was really challenging in our area, and we posted a prayer request about this on social media.

We are now able to give thanks to God that the Chief Veterinary Officer subsequently tweeted on Saturday that their urgent testing had ruled out that these symptoms were actually FMD. Let's not lose the opportunity to give thanks for answered prayer!

• Afghanistan

We have prayed fairly often recently for the situation that has arisen in Afghanistan after the withdrawal from the country of US and UK forces.

This week an earthquake hit and ruined mud-built homes in the province of Paktika in the East of Afghanistan. It is widely reported that at least 1,000 people have lost their lives with at least 1,500 injured.  It is a poor area. People have no money and no savings, their grain stores are inside their homes and these have been destroyed by landslides and house-collapse.

There was already an aid effort on-going in Afghanistan but the resources were not meeting the needs before this occurred, the infrastructure of the country collapsed when the Taliban took over and the extent of human suffering seems to be substantial. Disasters Emergency Committee have launched an appeal for Afghanistan but there are other pressing needs ... particularly in Europe ... that also draw on people's generosity and there is reluctance in the international community to do anything that might seem to be supporting the Taliban.

• Let's pray for the material needs in eastern Afghanistan's earthquake zone.

• Let's pray for the food and medical situation across the whole off post-withdrawal Afghanistan.

• And let's pray for persecuted Christians in this Moslem country. 

Under this country's Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, Christians are being made to wait till Spring 2023 to even apply for Refugee status. The Taliban have been hunting door to door for Christians since the withdrawal, and Open Doors says Afghanistan is the most dangerous country to live in as a Christian. This decision from the Home Office has been challenged legally in the UK courts and an application for a judicial review has been granted an initial oral hearing. An oral hearing can do either way, but this is progress. 

• Please pray for greater and more rapid progress to a happy conclusion of this matter, and for Paul Diamond the barrister leading the case.

• COVID in Trecastle

Finally, let's pray for Christian friends in the Trecastle area who appear to have caught COVID at a Christian meeting held there on Thursday nights. 

We pray especially for the recovery of health for our friends Wit and Ash, and also Stuart and Liz, and that the Lord will protect and heal others who were present and caught COVID at that time.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. May our prayers rise effectively into your presence. We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

The sermon Studiocam is here:

Let's conclude in prayer

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things ...

And the God of peace will be with you."

(Philippians 4:8 & 9)

Fill our hearts and minds we pray, Lord, in the coming week so that our lives might be filled with you.

We pray for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Thanks for joining is online and in spirit this week.

If you would like to share this DIY SSK with someone you think might appreciate it, please feel free to do so.

The giving link is attached to the Stewardship graphic below ... click the pic if you are able to join us in supporting the work of y GRWP.

There won't be a DIY SSK next week as Simon is having some time away from his desk, but in cases of need or emergency please call (or better, text) Simon on 07748 644958 and we will get back to you.

God bless you ... have a great week!

Simon.

DIY Sunday service Kit 19/06/2022 - Loving one another ... a burden or a breeze?

Hi guys

This week our Bible exposition tackles the duty laid on believers to love one another. It can of course be an absolute joy. It can also be slightly ,,, less so! But the responsibility (or whatever we're going to call it) is laid on us to love those who for one reason or another we don't find easy to love ... and THAT's where it gets really exciting!

1 John 5:1-5 can really help.

But first ...

Let's pray

Lord and Father we thank you for every local church u and down our land that meets today to seek you and to give physical shape and form to the work you are doing by your Holy Spirit to draw people from every language, tribe, people and nation to unite under the headship of Christ in this world and to prepare for the meeting of all your people before the great white throne in Heaven on that coming Day.

Be present also with us today by your all-prevailing Spirit and lead us into the paths you have prepared for us this day.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Here's a fine lock-down song of prayer for the Church from the Irish band Rend Collective:

Prayer pointers

• Radio ministry in Ukraine

FEBC is the most influential Christian radio stations ministry in Eurasia. 

It broadcasts in Ukraine on FM radio and through social media and also has a powerful reach in Russia, Moldova, Belarus. Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and other neighboring countries.

They:

- Broadcast the Good News amidst tragedy on 6 FM stations in Ukraine.

- Reach hundreds of thousands through social media broadcasts.

- Counsel hundreds of callers through their Gospel counselling centre.

- And seem to lead dozens to Christ every day - through various media tools, through phone and online counseling, and in one-on-one conversations.

They ask that we pray for Irina Nesterenko, who is helping to expand FEBC-Ukraine’s prayer helpline to include online counseling, allowing people to write in with prayer needs.

Irina is an FEBC-Ukraine broadcaster and trauma specialist who counsels soldiers and civilians who have been affected by war. She regularly joins Evgeny Goltsov on his program “Wounded by the War,” and has held several seminars in eastern Ukraine for women affected by the war.

• The safety of her family, loved-ones, and friends. Many of them are fighting in the war and Irina is well-known so is clearly a potential target.

• Wisdom on when to move back to Ukraine, and where. Early in the war, Irina’s apartment building was bombed while she was away from home. Another bomb blew up outside of her sister’s home, where she was staying, making it unlivable.

• God's guidance on the many other big decisions in her life.

• The hiring of additional counselors; the needs are great.

• The training of counselors in evangelistic counseling; many people are turning to the Lord when they call in to the prayer helpline.

• The development of online counseling. “I’m on a full train right now,” wrote one listener, hoping someone could counsel him online. Many Ukrainians have had to flee their homes and don’t have the opportunity to speak on the phone privately.

• "Please pray for an end to the war," said Irina. "And for God's help as we counsel hurting people and share the hope of Christ with them."

• Hard to reach places

The 100-fold organisation is a Christian mission that equips other agencies in trying

to reach the hardest to reach places on earth.

Burkina Faso I West Africa, for example, is a hard to reach place

but has14 million people own at least one mobile phone.

100-fold  have very clever volunteers who give Bibles and Bible training materials to people who have no internet access at all, mostly in developing countries. They do this by squeezing masses of material onto microSD Cards that fit inside a phone.

The person with the phone does not even need the internet, but gains access to the Word of God and other helpful materials that when the Holy Spirit is at work can become the means of life to the people who have these tiny micro-SD cards in their phones.

Let's pray today that people way beyond the reach of the Gospel carried by conventional means will be brought to Christ by these little 'Mustard Seed' micro-SD cards in the hardest to reach places in the world ... places so closed to the Gospel and so hostile to the Christian faith that 100-fold is very restricted in what they can tell us about where their recordings get used.

• The UK

There has been a lot of concern in the UK recently about standards in public life. Let's pray that the Lord will have mercy on our land, that those in authority would be blessed with a Biblical understanding of government and authority and that our leaders would know the joy of new life in Christ.

There has also been concern about the new policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda and Evangelical leaders have been speaking out openly ... Krish Kandiah (for example) had a challenging article published in The Time newspaper on Saturday. Let's pray that good and not greater evil will come from Bible-believing contributions to the public debate.

In Wales there is great concern about the pressure on the National Health Service at all levels, with access to an ambulance, to Hospitals and to GPs and dentist all causing concern.

Let's pray for our Health Service and it's often tired and demoralised staff.

And finally let's pray for the Gospel to go out clearly in the land of Wales, for the Spirit of God to empower the spoken and proclaimed Word of God and for souls to be saved wonderfully across our land.

We pray not in our merits but in Jesus' Name.

AMEN.

Our Scripture reading is Titus 3:1-11 (click the link 👇) 

Our Bible exposition is on 1 John 5:1-5

The video from the studio recording of the sermon is here 👇

Our closing song is a gentle meditation on how we can respond to God's love for us ... it's long. I just sat back and played it through listening and thinking, to be honest. I thought it was worthwhile.

Let's pray

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement 

give us the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 

so that with one mind 

and one voice 

we may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

For His Glory's sake.

Amen.

If you would like to join us in worshipping the Lord in giving, please feel free to do so by clicking the Stewardship link below.

If you would like a free copy of the summer book 'Incomparable', or some copies to give away to friends and neighbours, please let us know. We have delivered some ... others are still waiting (sorry - we see you and we're coming!)

God bless your week.

Simon.

DIY Sunday Service Kit 12/06/22 - 1 John 4:10-12 and a fresh look at 'Roots and Fruits' in the World for the Week

 

Hello ... and welcome to this DIY Sunday Service Kit in the middle of June!

This week the Word for the Week video is about 'Roots and Fruits', and the Bible exposition tackles 1 John 4:10-12 dealing with the sort of objection people make when they say 'God?! ... show me.' What their question is flagging up might not be what you expect ...

But first, let's pray.

Lord and loving Father we thank you for the privilege we enjoy of access to your presence each and every day. On this Lord's Day, the special day in every week, we ask you to lift our eyes once more in a fresh ad living way to the things that are above, where our Saviour sits at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven, and to transform our hearts as we gaze on your glories.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

Amen.

Here comes the Word for the Week video ...

Prayer points

Today we have a special focus on praying about access to the Scriptures where there is no written language to begin with.

That was the situation for the Gusilay language in Senegal.

What do you do then?

You have to work out how the spoken language works, how to write the words down and (working with the community) start to write some sort of dictionary.

With the first Gusilay language published in 2019, work began on translating Genesis. Why Genesis? It's because it offers a bridge between the message of Jesus and the majority region of the Gusilay people.

In the meantime, before they have the written Word, the Gusilay will be able to hear the Storie of Genesis in audio form as the translation team are producing radio broadcasts and dramatised readings ... and asking Gusilay musicians to write songs based on Scripture in their own language.

The broadcasts go out regularly and are based on the life of Abraham, which speaks directly into the Senegalese context.

Here are some of the ladies who are voting the stories in the broadcasts.

These broadcasts have been transmitted for a year now as the written translation work continues, and they cover the area in orange on this map.

You can read more about what is being done to bring the Bible to the Gusilay people HERE

Let's pray 

• for the protection of the team and their families
• for the people helping as actors, readers of dramatised readings, musicians and all the local helpers to meet with and to walk with their God
• for continued access to this area, to the radio and to the hearts of men and women for the materials that are being produced
• and for a great work of God amongst the Gusilay people

Here is the Studiocam video made while the sermon was being recorded

Let's sing

The Apostle Paul sends us off into the coming week today with a solemn charge and encouragement to Christian life:

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Be devoted to one another in love. 

Honor one another above yourselves.

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

So Lord, may your Word and will rule in our lives.

For Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

If you would like to join us in worshipping by giving, please click on the Stewardship link below.

DIY Sunday Service Kit 05/06/2022 - Jubilee, Pentecost and Knowing what love is

 

Registered charity number 1170827

Welcome to this DIY Sunday Service Kit for Pentecost 2022 on the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Weekend.

This week the Word for the Week video addresses both those issues and the Sermon takes us into 1 John 4:7-10 on the big, misunderstood matter of 'Love'.

So ... here we go!

"Yours, Lord, is 

    the greatness and 

    the power and 

    the glory and 

    the majesty and 

    the splendour, 

            for everything in heaven and earth is yours. 

Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; 

    you are exalted as head over all."

1 Chronicles 29:11

Let's pray

We give you thanks Lord and Heavenly Father for the stability and the order in our government over the last seventy years of our constitutional monarchy.

We give you thanks the there has been such a measure of peace in our time.

We acknowledge that whilst we have a great deal to be thankful for in the stability of our institutions and politics, it is from your goodness and favour that we are given these things and enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy.

Please grant a gratitude to our God to this land in which we live, and inspire us to rejoice in this kindness which we acknowledge we have received from your hand.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

Amen.

Here's our topical Word for the Week

Might you be able to share it with friends?

Let's sing

Prayer points

Yemen

We give thanks to God this week for the improvement in the situation in Yemen, which we prayed for last week.

The BBC World Service reported this week that the truce agreed for the Moslem feast of Ramadan has been extended, so that there will be no air, land or sea hostilities and the port of al-Hudaydah and the airport at Sanaa will remain open.

This is good news for the arrival of aid and for the halt to the bloodshed in Yemen.

Africa

• Over 40% of wheat consumed in Africa usually comes from Russia and Ukraine.
• Ukraine's ports in the Black Sea have been largely blocked for exports by Moscow since the conflict began. 
• "Failure to open those ports will result in famine," the UN's crisis coordinator Amin Awad said in Geneva, adding rain shortage could affect 1.4 billion people and trigger mass migration.
• There are existing shortages in Africa caused by bad harvests and insecurity. 
• Food prices have shot up across the continent since Russia invaded Ukraine 100 days ago, pushing huge numbers towards hunger.
• The World Food Programme says 80 million people in Africa are acutely food insecure, up from about 50 million people this time last year.

We pray for the food situation in Chad, where a third of the population needs food aid, according to the UN, the government has declared a food emergency and appealed for international assistance.

We pray for the food situation in Senegal, where the changing weather in the Sahel caused by global warming has already disrupted food production.

Senegal's President Macky Sall also leads the African Union, and he spoke to the 27 EU leaders meeting in Brussels and to President Putin about freeing up grain exports from Ukraine.

President Sall said the price of fertiliser was now three times higher than in 2021, while cereal yields in Africa were forecast to be 20-50% lower this year.

He also blamed EU sanctions on Russian banks for exacerbating the problem: “When the Swift system is disturbed, this means that even if the products exist, payment becomes more complicated, even impossible.”

We pray for a diplomatic breakthrough

Lithuania has proposed that a naval 'coalition of the willing' should lift the Black Sea blockade. Under the Lithuanian plan, the UN would call on Russia to ensure safe passage for ships and Ukraine to remove mines from the port of Odesa, a defensive measure to protect the strategic site.

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel said opening the Black Sea maritime route “should be the first priority … but we are not certain it will work”.

The European Commission wants to get 20m tonnes of wheat out of Ukraine before the end of July, half of the amount currently stuck in the country. 

But finding alternatives to sea transport is a huge logistical challenge, as trucks and trains cannot take the same quantity of goods, and face an average wait of 16 days to cross the EU border.

Let's ask the Lord to do what the politicians fear they might not be able to, to lift the log-jam in the delivery of crucial grain supplies to the poor of this world.

The UK

We pray ...

• For the Queen and all those in authority
• For leaders in industry, commerce, education and the arts
• For our health service personnel and those who work in social care
• For those with responsibility for our food supply: for farmers, for suppliers and distributors of the food we depend on to be able to eat
• And we pray for those who speak to the emotional, moral and spiritual needs of our people, that God may be known, that His Word might be heard, that His authority might respected and that the new birth that is necessary for all this to take place will be brought in a great outpouring of Heavenly love and grace to our land.

We pray all these things for Jesus' sake and for His Glory.

AMEN.

Let's read the Bible

Here's a sermon-taster for what's coming soon ...

The Gettys now lead us in our pre-sermon worship

The sermon studiocam is here

 

Let's pray

"So then, brothers and sisters, 

stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, 

whether by word of mouth or by letter.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, 

who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,

encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."

(2 Thessalonians 2:15-17)

And may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

AMEN.

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