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: