DIY Sunday Service Kit - 31/07/2022 - The True God and Eternal Life Part 2

 

Hello ... and welcome to the DIY Sunday Service Kit for the last day in July, 2022!

We're through the heatwave and into authentic Welsh summer dampness, but the Word for the Week video this week touches on the atmosphere and the weather, the way we account for it and what we do next ... so don't forget to click ad watch the six minute video short below.

This week we come to the end of our series in the powerful New Testament book John wrote to a few house churches around Ephesus ... and he definitely got out with a bang rather than a whimper! The audio file for that and the studiocam video from recording that sits just beneath the 'sermon' button.

There's a quick audio soundbite for that here

Can't wait now, eh?

😃

So let's get started ...

Let's pray

"If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
    Lord, who could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness,
    so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the morning,
    more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Israel, put your hope in the Lord,

    for with the Lord is unfailing love
    and with him is full redemption.

He himself will redeem Israel

    from all their sins."

4 Psalm 130:3-8

Our Father we come longing to meet with you and to be restored by your live-giving fellowship.
Please deal with us according to our need and in your rich mercy.
Wash us from all our weaknesses and failures of the past week.
Set us free from the things that entangle us ... and equip us to walk in the Way that lasts for ever.
We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

While we're on that subject ...

Here's the (slightly controversial but) seasonally adjusted 

Word for the Week video

Let's sing

Prayer pointers

We are so used to praying about adverse circumstances in developing parts of the world that praying for people in trouble in developed countries can seem unusual, but today we begin by praying for ...

Kentucky

• According to the US Geological Survey, Kentucky saw eight to 10 inches of rainfall in a 24-hour period.
• Kentucky’s rivers are expected to peak this weekend, with more rain expected after a break in the bad weather on Saturday. More storms are expected there today (Sunday).
• Flash flooding in eastern Kentucky has now claimed 25 lives, with at least a dozen more people reported missing, as officials in the Appalachian region attempt to calculate the cost of the worst natural disaster there in decades.
• The Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, said he expected the death toll to continue to rise in the state and warned officials still could not reach certain areas.
• There are still a lot of people unaccounted for.
• Traumatic accounts of people of all ages being swept away have been recorded
• Many people have lost all their possessions and it will take a long while to rebuild homes and infrastructure.
• The state Governor has asked everyone to pray. (Click the link for BBC news video of that).
• Pray for Samaritans Purse which is active in the area: "Teams are removing ruined walls and flooring, carrying debris out of homes, and recovering any precious belongings not claimed by the floods. We are working in Jesus’ Name, representing the Lord Jesus Christ, working as His hands and feet and sharing the hope found only in the Gospel."
• Pray for a significant number of Bible-believing congregations whose premises and people have been flooded out and who have lost loved ones
• Tony Brown, pastor of First Baptist Church in Whitesburg, was hauling out everything that was damaged on the first floor of the church Friday morning. 
  “The biggest problem we’re facing is we’re already economically depressed,” he said. “Because of this we may have a mass exodus of people. We were already on the verge of being a ghost town.”
  Pray for churches like these the are doing everything they can with what they have left to serve their communities in meeting the people's needs at this time.

Iraq

• Iraq has seen nine months of political stalemate preventing the creation of a new government.
• Muqtada al-Sadr is a Shia Moslem cleric who wants to end US and Iranian influence over Iraq's internal affairs. Mr. Sadr claimed victory for his nationalist Saeroun movement following October's election, but it has proved impossible since then to build a new governing coalition, as Mr Sadr has refused to work with rivals.
• Mr Sadr's block won the most seats last October, but it is not in power due to the political deadlock.
• His supporters again breached the high-security Green Zone (for the second time recently) in Baghdad today, as they oppose the nomination of a pro-Iran rival candidate for prime minister.
• Over 120 people were injured across the area in the latest unrest.
• At least sixty people were injured today when the parliament building itself was stormed for the second time in a week
• Give thanks for the measured response of Iraq's current prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who instructed the security forces to "protect the demonstrators" and called on protesters to "maintain their peaceful move, avoid escalation and abide by the directives of the security forces whose goal is to protect them, and to protect official institutions".
• Give thanks for the emergence of Iraqi Arab evangelicals in recent years (now over 50,000) which is an amazing answer to prayer!
  0.2% of the population are now reckoned to be Evangelical Christians.
  Many of these come from Muslim and even extremist backgrounds, but they encountered Christ through evangelical witness, gospel radio, and especially through dreams and visions of Jesus.
  Pray for leaders for the churches.
  Many fled the country and others died, often targeted by Islamists.
• Pray for the peace of troubled Iraq, for the safety of believers and the reconstruction of stable and benign government.

Wales

The Eisteddfod

From July 30th - August 6th. the National Eisteddfod is being held at Tregaron with a. range of Christian outreach taking place on the Maes and 150,000 visitors expected.

The Evangelical Movement of Wales have a stand and ask for prayer that:

• That people will be willing to receive a copy of John's gospel and be ready to consider what John said about Jesus.
• That people will respond to all theverses that will be around the stand, and accept Jesus as their saviour.
• That God will lead people to us who have a deep need and thirst for truth.
• That enough people will join the team (we are very weak on the first and last weekend).
• Pray for us that Christ will be glorified.

The Sheep Festival

y GRWP will be working jointly with Memorial Chapel on the outreach at Llandovery's Sheep Festival this year,

Please pray for 

• The literature that is in the course of being prepared and for our meeting to finalise content and design next week
• The right people with the right experiences in life and a good understanding of how to share the Good News about Jesus to be available for the people we'll meet at the stand over the two days of the event
• That God will be glorified and souls will be saved as a result of the effort we are undertaking

Lord in your mercy would you inspire, hear and answer our prayers ... because we ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

(To see the lyrics for this next song, please click on it below, then click the button on the bottom right when you open the video to watch it in YouTube ... I've no idea why, but if you do that it should work for you.)

"There is one Gospel on which I stand

For all eternity
It is my story, my Father’s plan
The Son has rescued me
Oh what a Gospel, Oh what a peace
My highest joy and my deepest need
Now and forever He is my light
I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ"

Let's sing it!

Let's pray

We thank you Lord and Heavenly Father for feeding us by your Spirit through your Word. 

We thank you for all that we have learned from 1 John to secure our faith and increase our understanding of your ways.

Take us out into the coming week aware and alert to all that your Word has impressed upon us so that we might live in the wisdom you provide.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Many thanks for being united here with us in the Spirit here today.

If you'd like a chat 'at the door' afterwards, please drop me an email or a WhatsApp message on 07748 644958. Sadly phone calls to that number and texts still do not work but we am pursuing my service provider hard to resolve this issue.

If you'd like to join us in worshipping by giving please feel free to click the Stewardship graphic below to be taken to our giving site. Thanks!

Until next time ... pob bendith!

Simon.