DIY Sunday Service Kit 28/08/22 - Matthew 9:9-13 Part 1 - the Scandal of God's grace

 

Welcome to the DIY Sunday Service from y GRWP for 28th. August, 2022.

We're continuing our 'occasional' series of sermons for August this week and next with a look at how scandalous God's grace and its implications were for many of the Lord's contemporaries as well as for many of ours. This certainly has some implications for all of us too so fasten your seat belts BUT ... first of all, before we go there, let's quieten our hearts before God with the help of the Psalmist.

Some verses from Psalm 90

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born
    or you brought forth the whole world,

    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn people back to dust saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”

A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.

Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
    that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
    your splendour to their children.

May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us,

establish the work of our hands for us, 

yes, establish the work of our hands."

Andy Bannister from the Solas Centre for Public Christianity in Dundee has some really interesting things to say in this short video about hypocrisy in our society ...

Prayer points

Vietnam

According to International Christian Concern (31/07/22) – Hmong Christians in the Nghe An province of Vietnam are suffering from severe persecution.  

Morning Star News reports that officials in the province are trying to create “Christian-free zones” where they are able to operate “with no conscience or humanity,” as if the religious freedom violations were occurring a country other than Vietnam, where such acts are not legal.  

Other forms of persecution come from within their own communities. Most Vietnamese follow traditional animist teachings, and many who convert to Christianity from the traditional faith face rejection and even persecution from their family members and communities.  

Additionally, Vietnamese authorities’ pressure animist relatives of Christian converts to drive Christians from their homes and exile them. The only hope these Christians have of rejoining their communities is if they renounce their new faith. 

These forms of persecution, which are especially brutal in the Nghe An province, have primarily affected members of the Vietnam Good News Mission Church (VNGNMC) and the Evangelical Church of Vietnam-North (ECVN-N). The churches have reported that since, April, gangs have come to terrorize congregants in Hoi Tu and Na Ngoi villages.  

Leaders from both churches have appealed to government authorities for intervention and support, but all their attempts have been unsuccessful. The Vietnamese government has not responded to any of their pleas for assistance.  

Please pray for Christians who are suffering in Vietnam.

Ethiopia

After a brief stalemate, the civil war in Ethiopia may be poised to get even bloodier ...

A humanitarian truce to let food be brought to the besieged region of Tigray was broken on August 24th, raising fears of a return to all-out war in the north (see map). 

At the same time, rebellions around the western and southern edges of Ethiopia threaten to fragment the entire country. In particular, the Oromo Liberation Army (ola), a rebel group which says it is fighting for the self-determination of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, has been weakening the grip of the federal government which sits in Addis Ababa, the capital.

Faced with growing disorder in its borderlands, the government has arrested more than 4,000 people allegedly linked to rebel groups or jihadists in the past two months. 

By May, large-scale fighting, including numerous atrocities, had reached within 100km of Addis Ababa. The Oromia Support Group, an NGO, says it has identified 695 Oromo civilians killed by government forces or Fano militiamen since January. “They don’t even ask questions,” says a farmer in Gimbi, 430km west of Addis Ababa. He says his father was shot in the neck by government troops. “They answer any kind of query with a bullet.” The un reports that half a million people may have fled. Schools have closed, health clinics have been looted. Roads in the far west are too dangerous to travel along.

But there are features of the nation's needs and spiritual life you won't hear of in the Mainstream Media.

In this video, an Ethiopian Christian leader leads us in prayer for his country ...

The outreach work of y GRWP

Please pray for the outreach work of y GRWP:

• Livestock markets and the Word of God

We recently received fresh New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs bound in wipeable, strong covers which we are giving to people we come across and have spoken with about the Lord - particularly but not exclusively so far in livestock markets.

Two copies were given and a few people with clear and out of the ordinary needs were spoken with both in Llandeilo and in Carmarthen.

Please pray that the Lord would speak clearly to these people.

• The Sheep Festival

Llandovery Sheep Festival happens September 17th-18th this year and we are involved in outreach at it in a joint venture with Memorial Chapel.

Please pray that we get the right people involved in this outreach and that the people the Lord is already at work in and who will be helped by having contact with us would be contacted at this event.

• The new premises in Llandovery

Work is proceeding on the premises we hope to be able to rent in Llandovery to run as a café, creating a warm and welcoming place to be used as an outreach centre in the town serving both the town centre and the rural communities lying beyond the town.

We are now preparing to speak to trusts and organisations that might help us with this but please understand that the business side of this is still being conducted 'in commercial confidence'. As soon as we can we will be telling all, because we're bursting to, but for the moment we need to behave responsibly about it all to give us the best chance of pulling this off.

So could we all pray that the Lord will do whatever pleases Him with this project, and what will best serve the purpose of the people He is drawing to Himself coming to see His Glory?

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers for your people here and around your world, and in hearing would you do all that pleases you and serves the purpose of your Glory being acknowledged throughout your world.

We pray for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Click the Bible Time button to go to Matthew 9 ...

Here's the studio cam of today's sermon recording

Let's sing ...

Let's take to ourselves and pray for one another Paul's bidding and blessing on the Christian people of Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 5:

"Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.

23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26 Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."

AMEN!

Thanks for being with us today.

Please feel very free to get in touch with any queries, questions and requests!

You can get in contact on:

    HoWChaplain@gmail.com

or by texting, WhatsApp messaging or when it's urgent by phoning

    07748644958

If you want to speak confidentially you can find me using hat mobile number on the Signal app

Finally, if you would like to join us by worshipping through giving, please click the Stewardship Giving graphic below.

God bless you. Have a great week!

Simon.

 

DIY Sunday Service Kit - 21/08/22 - The Biblical Theology of the Tactical Withdrawal

 

Welcome to the DIY Sunday Service Kit for August 21st., 2022.

This week we are looking at the idea that if we follow Jesus we will sometimes find ourselves ... retreating!

This short soundbite might give you ask insight into what it's all about ...

Let's pray

Lord and Father we pray that you will form us more and train better us in your presence today to be ready to follow you in directions that may at first surprise us.

Prepare us better to follow you faithfully, leaning on your wisdom rather than our perceptions of reality, so that we might bring you Glory and so that your Church may be built resiliently.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

Amen.

Prayer Points is a bit different this week ...

Andrew Boyd from Release International, interviewed on Trans World Radio UK, helps us understand how to pray when the nations are shaking.

He challenges and inspires us to live our own lives in a particular way, while highlighting maters for prayer in two needy parts of God's world as he goes along.

Let's hear what he has to say, praying as the Spirit leads us as Andrew speaks to us ...

Lord, hear our prayers for our brethren and for those who are joining us in your worldwide Church and enable us to embrace and to work to fulfil the desires of your heart for our world.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Sovereign Grace lead us in worship inspired by Psalm 90

Here is the studiocam video

Let's pray

Father we thank you for the way you teach us and challenge us in your Word to walk with you through all the surprising twists and turns through which you lead us on the path that leads to life.

Thrill us with your Word and thrill us with the way you lead us during the course of the coming week we pray, and inspire us and empower us to walk close to you in the safety of your shadow and secure in your loving care.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Giving link

DIY Sunday Service Kit 14/08/22 - Jude the transparent - part 2

 

Welcome to the DIY Sunday Service Kit for August 14th. 2022.

We are living in challenging times and need very much to cling at such times to the God of all grace.

Our first hymn today was the favourite of five missionaries who were dedicated to sharing the gospel to the Huaorani people (colloquially known as Auca) tribe in the Ecuadorian jungle.

After months of flying above the tribe’s land and dropping gifts of goodwill, on the morning of January 3, 1956, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Jim Elliott, Roger Yoderian, and Peter Fleming gathered to pray before setting out to finally meet the Indians face-to-face.

Jim Elliott’s wife Elisabeth later wrote, "At the close of their prayers the five men sang one of their favorite hymns, We Rest on Thee to the stirring tune of Finlandia. Jim and Ed had sung this hymn since college days and knew the verses by heart.”

As the words comforted and emboldened the missionaries, they embarked on the next stage of their mission which looked promising.

Nate Saint gave a young Huaorani man a plane ride and a Huaorani woman talked freely with Roger Youderian although he barely understood her.

On Sunday,January 8, Nate Saint spotted from the air a group of Huaorani men heading for the Americans’ camp. Excitedly, he shouted to the others: ‘This is it, guys! They’re on the way!’

He radioed his wife Marj: “Pray for us. This is the day! Will contact you next at four-thirty.”

But no call came at four-thirty.

Over the course of the week, all five missionaries’ bodies were found in the river and on the beach, speared by those they were trying to reach.

But God’s work didn’t end there.

Jim’s wife, Elisabeth and Nate’s sister, Rachel, later went back to the tribe and shared the gospel. Many Huaorani were converted and are still being converted to this day.

Let's sing and be inspired by their example to face in faith whatever challenges lie across our path in the Lord's service in the coming week.

So let's rest our concerns for ourselves and our world 

on our Shield and our Defender in prayer ...

Let's pray

• Global warming

Our Welsh weather has been very unseasonal. not just this summer but for the last five years or so now.

This is not just about 'warming', in fact many have come to call this not 'global warming' but 'global weirding'.

We are beginning to see that this is not a matter of simply getting nicer summers, but a matter of the whole course of nature being disturbed.

... and the messages offering alleged solutions that get delivered by our news media and the big personalities that appear on our televisions and radios often don't seem to have mastered the implications of their solutions let alone the complexities of the situation itself.

Scripture, however, is clear:

Humanity has a mandate from the beginnings in Genesis onwards to steward the Creation for God Himself (not OURSELVES, as we see fit), and at the end of this evil age (see Revelation 11:18) God will 'destroy those who destroy the earth' (the Greek word there DEFINITELY means the material creation).

So, we pray ...

1) For the recovery of the Biblical creation-mandate for humanity in our own consciousness, in the hearts of the people of Wales and across the whole world in which we live

2) For a more equitable distribution of wealth across the planet, so that the temptation to cut corners and cause more polluting practices will be reduced across the whole world

3) For a recognition that exporting our polluting practices to other countries to hide them and that planting a tree to salve a conscience about doing things we shouldn't be dong a all is going to be displeasing to God ... as those who conceal their sins do not prosper

4) For the child labour and the exploitation of labour in the mines that produce the technologies to 'solve' man-made climate change to be exposed and to be ended

5) For the scientists and technologists devoting their efforts to resolving the global weirding problem to be successful in their work and for the reversal of human actions and their consequences that are reaping the displeasure of the Lord.

Lord have mercy on its, show us what our part in the repentance and amendment of life over this issue needs to be and lead the people of your world (and especially your rural world, which faces particular problems) forward in faithful stewardship of our planet.

Kenya

Preparations for voting in Kenya's Presidential election this week have been troubled by irregularities and voting has accordingly been suspended in four states.

Panic buying has occurred in the shops as people feared civil unrest would ensue.

Social media has been awash with allegations that fake results have been uploaded as the count is verified.

Media tallies show the two leading candidates - Raila Odinga and William Ruto - are neck and neck. 

But it is only the electoral commission that can declare the winner - and it has seven days to do so.

Following the 2007 vote, at least 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 fled their homes following claims of a stolen election.

In 2017, huge logistical errors led the Supreme Court to annul the result and order the presidential poll to be re-run. 

Officials are under pressure to get things right this time.

The country often grinds to a halt during elections, activities across the country have slowed and schools remain closed at least until next week on Monday. In Nairobi's central business district, the usually busy streets are mostly deserted.

There is a sense of anxiety in the country as disputed elections in the past have led to violence or the whole process being cancelled.

Compassion Kenya specifically ask us to pray for:

• Free, fair and peaceful elections that bring justice and cohesion. 
• Good leaders who will serve the Kenyan people and stand up to corruption and injustice. 
• A government that will prioritise the needs of the poor and vulnerable. 

Carmarthenshire East and Dinefwr

A major row of which you may be awarehas broken out in our parliamentary constituency .

Our MP Jonathan Edwards has been at the centre of a row about the restoration of his party whip to him after he did not deny but confessed an assault on his then wife and accepted a police caution for it two years ago. He has continued to confess his fault in the matter and maintains his contrition but senior party figures have been unwilling to accept this and he has had to accept that he will not be forgiven by them.

Many people in our local politics have been hurt and upset.

Jonathan and Emma Edwards are currently concluding the divorce settlement that Mrs. Edwards has sought and she has this week withdrawn at this late stage her acceptance of her husbands apology and contrition.

Please pray for:

• the well-being of the husband and wife at the centre of this sad issue and for their young children whose lives are bound to have been affected by what has happened and is currently happening

• the message this sends out in our society that contrition and seeking to amend one's error cannot restore a bad situation - God's grace is 'scandalous' to many in our culture and we need to address that issue in our Gospel witness. May the Lord help us to hard-pedal the seriousness of sin and the magnitude of God's grace to repenting sinners

• the effect of all of this on the issue of integrity in public life in modern Wales ... I have had to give this a lot of thought but if you can't confess your fault openly and repudiate it then there is nowhere left to go for sinful human beings than into hypocrisy and the concealment rather than the confession of sin ... is there? Proverbs 28:13 surely applies ... but what do I know?!

• the opportunity for us all ij this local context to both stress the seriousness of (all) sin and the need we all have for genuine repentance and faith so that we may receive God's mercy in our time of need

• the replacement of Jonathan Edwards in due course with a person who will in their turn be a very good constituency MP for us and a significant help to us in supporting people we will be advocating for in the course of our outreach and witness here in the future

Lord, in your mercy hear our prayers for these diverse and difficult situations in your world.

Heal the broken hearted.

Bind up the wounds sin has inflicted.

Deliver from the dominion of darkness and shine your glorious light into the souls of many we pray.

And may this all bring acknowledgment of your Glory.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Here's this week's Word for the Week video

Now let's sing

Today we conclude our brief look at the book of Judah/ Jude

Here's the studio cam from today's sermon recording

Let's celebrate the Fount of Every Blessing ...

In closing, we commit our way to the Lord for the coming week

Lord and Heavenly Father we thank you for the truth of the Gospel that you revealed to us in the Lord Jesus Christ and applied t our own hearts by your Holy Spirit.

May we walk in fellowship this week with you, the one true living God, in the grace you have shown us in your Son the Lord Jesus Christ being kept in step with your Spirit by your grace.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Thanks for joining us here at the DIY Sunday Service Kit this weekend.

The weather has been slowing us down but we are still here functioning as best we can in the circumstances! Don't forget folks ... drink lots of water and protect yourselves from the sun ... from the weather forecast it looks as if we could be back to life-jacket weather soon!

You can readily contact me on HoWChaplain@gmail.com or using texts or WhatsApp on 07748b644958 (that tends to get through better than phoning but please also feel free to phone if the need arises.

If you'd like to join us in worshipping through giving, please click the link on the Stewardship graphic below:

DIY Sunday Service Kit 07/08/2022 - Jude the transparent (Part 1)

 

Hi.

Welcome to the DIY Sunday Service Kit for August 7th 2022.

Thomas Hardy wrote a famous novel called 'Jude the Obscure', and it seems many people think the New Testament book of Jude is pretty obscure too, when actually Jude is being pretty plain and obvious. 

Our Bible ministry gives an overview of that book today, a book with a pretty strong bearing on some things that have been going on in the news this week.

But first, we are going to sing ...

Prayer points

When our news media broadcasts are often dominated by the war in Ukraine it is good to be able to maintain our prayerful concern for other needy parts of the world, as well as to give thanks for the work believers are doing to bring light and life and the hope of the Gospel to the people of this troubled and war-torn land.

Ukraine radio

News came in today from FEBC radio which is doing a great job of broadcasting the Gospel across Ukraine and neighbouring countries, supplying people with scripture in contemporary Ukrainian (rather than the language of their invaders which is all they've had until now) and running a heavily used phone-in prayer line where people are regularly coming to commit their lives to Christ.

They write:

"FEBC-Ukraine is now officially broadcasting in Kyiv!

We have received a temporary license to broadcast through the end of the year, and we need everyone’s prayers to receive a permanent license!

Please continue praying for many Ukrainians to hear the Gospel, and especially pray for FEBC-Ukraine’s newest stations, in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia. 

Zaporizhzhia, where we distributed many radios - not far from the nuclear plant that’s in the news - is now producing our largest number of responses. 

Thank you, friends, for your prayers and support!"

https://www.febceurasia.org/

Let's pray for:

• Protection for their workers both in the studios and on the ground visiting contacts, sharing Scripture and radio receivers and reaching out to the troops on the front lines.
• Power for the Word of God as they proclaim it and share it with people under enormous traumatic pressure and stress.
• Provision for all their personal, family and ministry needs ... and for the permanent FM radio licence for them to continue to broadcast in Kyev.

The Gulf States

About thirty million migrant workers from some of the poorest countries of the world live in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These workers provide the manpower that is building gleaming 21st century cities in these desert, oil-based economies.

In some Gulf states, migrants make up most of the population, and about 80% are employed in construction, hospitality and domestic jobs.

And amongst them, Evangelical churches are providing low-paid workers facing horrific abuse with aid and support in what can be times of crisis and many people are coming to faith in Christ in countries where it can be illegal to do so.

These migrants face exploitation, financial hardship, domestic servitude and sexual abuse.

“Rape is a very, very common problem across the entire domestic help industry,” a pastor has told the Guardian newspaper, “and it’s not just females – males come to us because they get raped as well.”

Due to secrecy around conversion in the Gulf, the exact number of Christians in the region is not possible to ascertain, but church leaders and researchers agree there are significant numbers of migrant workers converting in Gulf countries.

Let's pray for:

• People being abused to get help
• People being helped to find faith in Christ, Who can be of more help to them in their difficult circumstances even than these well-organised churches that seek to serve them
• For protection for the church's workers and for their safety and that of new believers even as they gather as underground churches, serving the Lord in a hostile environment

The Eisteddfod

The Eisteddfod in Tregaron has now come to a close.

We have heard from Steffan Job who was running the Evangelical Movement of Wales outreach team there last week.

Steffan writes:

"I'm sitting at home writing this email as I came down with covid on Thursday evening. It was frustrating to leave the Eisteddfod with only two days left, but we know that the Lord's ways are perfect (and the team will do just fine without me!).

The last part of the week has been a mixture of different experiences. We've had the highs of sharing the gospel with people, and bringing some people back to the Lord, and we've also had the lows of some opposition.

Please pray for:

• The many hundreds of people we've spoken to and shared John's gospels with. Pray that they would read the Gospel, and that the Lord would save them in His mercy.
• We've met a number of people who obviously have some kind of faith. It has been difficult to know where these people stand. We certainly don't judge anyone of them, but we've been anxious to point them to Christ so that they become sure of their salvation. Please pray for these people - that they would fully depend on Christ for their salvation.
• There is a need in our land, and many people are aware of it. This has encouraged us - please that this need would drive people to Christ.
• As we finish today with a smaller team, please pray for good conversations.
• Please pray for the practical arrangements as those left standing clear the tent, pack up, and bring all the equipment back to Bangor.

I am personally aware that quite a proportion of the team there have come down with COVID, and others may yet do so.

Let's add to our prayers the needs of these faithful team members to recover thoroughly and well without passing the infection on to family and friends.

The Sheep Festival

The Llandovery Sheep Festival takes place on the 17th and 18th. September this year.

We are collaborating with Rob Morse and the folks at Memorial Chapel to maintain a Christian presence there with a gazebo and literature. 

There will be a cost for us to share with Memorial on a 50-50 basis and I hope to be there myself for at least one of those days although I have a family commitment on the other day.

• Please pray for Rob as he is currently ill with COVID and has quite recently been in hospital with heart problems.

• Please pray that we will be able to prepare well and that the Lord will supply the right people to work together on the stand.

• Please pray that we will be able to pick up the threads with people we had contact with when we had the café on Market Square and that we will soon be able to welcome such folks again to an even better place to work out of in Llandovery.

Lord we thank you for the assurance that the Gospel gives us that when we pray putting our trust in you we are heard in Heaven.

Hear our prayers and our thanksgiving today for these needy and blessed situations across our troubled world, and lead us to be people whose prayers, in your mercy and grace, powerfully move our world on its axis.

We pray for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

We sing a great old battle song of the faith written by William Williams (Pantycelyn)

City Alight lead us in a song that heeds the big themes of Jude's book

We conclude today praying ourselves Jude's own concluding words:

"To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 

to the only God our Saviour be 
     glory, 
     majesty, 
     power and 
     authority, 

through Jesus Christ our Lord, 

before all ages, 
now and forevermore! 

Amen."

Thanks for joining with us today in fellowship around God's Word as we enjoy - at our various times and in our various places - the fellowship of the time-and-space-transcending Holy Spirit.

Please feel very free to reach out to us by email or by text using HoWChaplain@gmail.com or 07748 644958. I'm on WhatsApp using that number too, and if you want to talk really confidentially I am also on the Signal app ... give it a go!

Pob bendith i chi gyd.    Every blessing to you all.

Simon.

P.S. if you would like to join us in worshipping by giving please click the link below to go to our Stewardship Giving page. Thanks.