DIY Sunday Service Kit - 29/10/2022 - 'How bad can things get around God's people and everything still be OK?'

 

Welcome to the DIY Sunday Service Kit for October 30th., 2022 ... the day the clocks go back and we get another hour in bed! 

(Does that ever REALLY work for you, or are you up at the 'normal' time anyway for at least a week afterwards?!)

Well, with the DIY Sunday Service Kit it doesn't matter at all whether you are 'early' or 'late' ... it comes 'on demand', as they say. So whenever you open this up ... you are welcome!

Have you found the news getting you down this year, with too much that seems to be anti - good and anti - God going on? Quite a few people have said to me that they're finding the news just too depressing and they can't imagine what the world's coming to. 

Well if that sounds like you, the first chapter of Esther is made for you!

Here's a one minute sneak preview of where we're going with this today ...

But first let's pray as we sing and get our minds fixed on the Lord ...

Let's pray

... for France

This week we had news from Alan Davey and his wife Pat in Bordeaux in south west France where they have been leading and supporting a French-speaking and a Chinese-speaking church in their building for the last seventeen years.

Alan and Pat are now working alongside Sylvain and Océane Coquerel who are young French believers who are likely to move into increasing responsibility for the work and who Alan and Pat hope will benefit from the Daveys' financial support as soon as Alan and Pat can draw their pensions. Let's pray for these French believers and for them to raise their support.

The church has an I-outreach worker who runs Internet outreach for the church there, but she is having visa problems so is currently having to work from her family's home back in the UK. Let's pray that her permission to live and work in France comes through quickly.

Recently the Church in Bordeaux has rented premises and opened a café (sound familiar?) 

They host the university Christian Union's meetings in the café and have a team of ten people who run it with them. Having just started in September, they are encouraged that the café is taking its place in the life of the area around the church ... which has a strong café culture. 

Some folk call in for take away coffee while others settle down to work using the wifi. 

Groups and Workshops have started up there, including a craft group, a book group, a women’s study group, Tots and co., and they plan to start an English Conversation group soon. 

Let's pray the Lord blesses these efforts with souls saved and people discipled to Christ.

... for Uganda

We prayed a while back about the small outbreak of Ebola in a rural part of Uganda. But it has sadly grown.

This was the week in which that outbreak, having travelled to the very crowded capital city of Kampala, became the 10th biggest on record, with the latest numbers being:

- New cases: 6 - New deaths: 2 - In hospital: 46 (+1) - Total cases: 135 (115 conf.) - Total deaths: 52 (32 conf.) - Total recovered: 34 (-) - Case fatality rate: 60%

That's a really high fatality rate for this Sudan variant of the disease.

In a possible breakthrough that may help Uganda combat its outbreak of Ebola, the pharmaceutical giant Merck has acknowledged that it has up to 100,000 doses of an experimental vaccine for the deadly viral disease in its freezers in Pennsylvania and will donate them. 

This vaccine targets Sudan ebolavirus, the pathogen now circulating in Uganda. Merck quietly made the product in 2015 and 2016. Soon afterwards the company had a landmark success with a similar vaccine against the Zaire ebolavirus, a different virus that caused a big epidemic in West Africa between 2014 and 2016. 

The company froze the Sudan Ebola vaccine in bulk form and never tested it on people. But it has been shown to protect monkeys intentionally injected with Sudan ebolavirus, and given the efficacy of Merck’s Zaire Ebola vaccine, scientists have high hopes that the Sudan Ebola shots will be safe and effective as well.

Let's pray that this trial on humans goes incredibly well, and that the Lord continues to bless faithful believers in Uganda?

... for Iran

This month has seen outbreaks of protest, rioting and violent crack-downs from the authorities and 'morality police' in Iran.

Christians are not allowed to convert from Islam and converts are not allowed to join churches in the country, forcing them to meet in house churches which can be raided with implications for believers and their families.

But the recent spate of unrest has been due to the refusal of women to wear the hijab head covering and to accept the restrictions put on them as women in Iran. There have been violent outbreaks in an infamous Tehran prison where political prisoners are held, a young woman has been famously assaulted and killed by the religious police and there are frequent reports of sexual assaults by the servants of the state on the arrested women.

We must assume that Iran is by now a nuclear power, and it is apparently supplying Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine so this instability in Iran is not helping either Iranian citizens, Iranian believers or the cause of world peace.

Let's pray for the peace of Iran and the protection of its citizens, as well as the security and peace of the people of God?

Lord we thank you for the measure of peace and stability that seems to have broken out at the core of our Government in Westminster this week.

We pray for the security, stability and peace of the church in Bordeaux, the people of Uganda and the believers and citizens of Iran.

Please bless our nation and the nations of the world with stability and peace that your people may be freed and empowered to live as servants of God in this life, rest in peace when their work here is concluded and rise to rejoice and to reign with you in Glory.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

And hit this graphic for the Studiocam

"for in my need, His power is displayed"

As we have sung, Lord, may this truth permeate and colour our lives in a world hostile to God, until for us and for all your people who claim "Jesus is my only plea" "we stand with joy before the Throne".

Help us to hold to our confession that "all my hope is only Jesus" ... "yet not I but through Christ in me."

For Jesus's sake and glory.

AMEN.

Thank you for joining with us in spirit to worship and to feed your soul with us in God's Word today.

If you'd like to reach out to us you can do that ... call or WhatsApp Simon on 07748 644958 or fire off an email to HoWChaplain@gmail.com

We'd love to share prayer and fellowship with you, whether face-to-face or on the phone ... and we still have ZOOM! (Remember that?)

God bless you.

Have a great week!

As ever, the giving link is here:

 

DIY Sunday Service Kit 23/10/2022 - Just WHAT is the POINT of this book we call 'Romans'?

 

Hi guys

What a week! Thank you so much for your prayers as we have been seeking to serve the Lord while we serve the people He's entrusted to us here in the rural Heart of Wales.

It's been a long week full of challenges and reaching out to people living through challenging times and difficult situations where we've been honoured to have people open their hearts to us. But God is good in our everyday experience ... as we LONG to see Him being in the people we've been living amongst this week. 

If that chimes with your experience too, please get in touch so that we can cherish together the work our God gives us, encourage one another's hearts in His service and pray on more effectively as we walk with the God Who is always good to us.

Let us pray

Dear Lord and loving Heavenly Father we thank you that you have called us into fellowship with yourself and with our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ.

Would you wash us again from the sins and rebellious acts of the last week as we come to you again in prayer and worship today.

May your Holy Spirit inspire us with your Glory, instruct us in your truth and lead us in your ways as we worship in song, in prayer and in both reading and gearing your holy Word ... and make us more the people that you want us to be.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Shane & Shane nowlead us in worship using their take on Psalm 34

Let's pray

"Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name."

Nehemiah 1:11

 

For our Government

The news is full of accounts of instability in our government and in our economy.

Please pray for the events we know about to be over-ruled and worked out in the goodness of our Sovereign God, and for His grace and mercy to prevail in our land.

Please pray that the things our people are enduring at this difficult time might be relieved, and that they will turn our nation away from a merely self-help mentality to also seek out the help of the One True Living God.

Please pray that we and the wider Church across the land, as we face the same concerns and pressures as the people around us, might bear clear testimony and find areas of useful Christian service so that as we live in challenging times we might nonetheless be useful in the cause of God's Kingdom

For the people of Ukraine

As winter approaches and power is cut off from many homes in the course of the fighting, let's pray for those who face a winter in the cold and dark.

As the fighting intensifies in the south of the country, let's pray for peace and justice to prevail across Ukraine.

As wider conflicts and rivalries from other regions of the world are increasingly played out in the Ukrainian theatre of war, let's pray for international efforts in diplomacy to prevail.

And for those Christian organisations and churches in Ukraine actively engaged in meeting the needs of their people let's pray for faith, strength and courage in their lives and labours.

For the witness we bear in this part of Wales

The last few weeks have led to significant fresh opportunities to serve in the Kingdom of God where we live.

Please pray for the family of the farmer recently killed by his bull in Llandeilo and for the more than four hundred people who attended his funeral which Simon led on Friday. Please pray for further opportunity to minister to individuals for whom this all raised issues and for those who exchanged contact details and took Scripture.

Please continue to pray for the progress in accessing the premises we hope to rent in Llandovery and for the outreach in the marts where the events of the last few weeks can be expected to lead to further deep conversations.

Lord we thank you that you call us to be your people in times such as these.

Equip us and enable us to be faithful and fearless in your service.

We ask for Jesus' sake and Glory.

AMEN.

Here's the Studiocam of today's sermon recording

Let's commit ourselves afresh to live this week for Christ the coming King

Whatever the coming week holds

Whatever the temptations we face to turn away from trusting everything to the God of all grace

Whatever would distract us from living to call people from amongst the nations to the obedience that come from saving faith

Father strengthen us in our faith

Embolden us in your service

Hold us fast as we seek to walk with you.

We pray for Jesus sake and for His Glory.

Amen.

Thanks for being with us here this week.

If you'd like to be in touch requesting prayer, clarification of points raised by the sermon or if we can be of help feel free to message, WhatsApp or call Simon on 07748 644958.

And if you'd like to support what we do by giving to y GRWP please feel free to do so by clicking the link below ...

DIY Sunday Service Kit 16/10/22

 

Welcome to the DIY Sunday Service Kit for today, October 16th., 2022.

I've been away in Bosnia-Herzegovina for the last two weeks, preaching, visiting old friends and visiting family ... and in order to share that experience with you there'll be brief mention of things to pray for in the churches there in the Prayer Points below, along with a few other needs for prayer both at home and overseas. We certainly live in a needy world where the cause of God can sometimes seem to be on the back foot ... but mercifully we have a God we cn both know and (therefore) trust, which is where the Book of Esther takes us in the Bible this week.

But let's start by committing this time to the Lord in prayer.

Lord and loving Heavenly Father, we come again to you conscious of 

our weakness and your greatness, 

our inability and your omnipotence and of 

our sinful failure as well as your awesome holiness.

Wash us once more we pray from our sin.

Grant us real repentance that leads to amendment of life.

Inspire us with your person, works and grace to persevere with living in committed relationship with you.

We ask for Jesus sake.

Amen.

Let's worshipfully focus our minds for prayer ...

Uganda

You may have seen in the news that Uganda is being troubled by an outbreak of the Sudan strain of the haemorrhagic disease, Ebola. There is no licensed vaccine to protect against this strain and to date four health workers have lost their lives in this outbreak, which has now spread to the capital, Kampala, with one case having been identified as far away as Israel. 

According to Saturday's Daily Mail (LINK here):

• Uganda's President has introduced an overnight curfew to stem the Ebola spread
• Two districts will be subject to orders as the nation fights to get the virus under control 
• Places of worship and entertainment will also be closed for at least 21 days
• The impacted districts are Mubende and Kassanda in central Uganda 

Covid facilities are quickly being repurposed to treat Ebola patients

• 54 Ebola cases have been detected since September 17. 
• Of those, 19 have died 

Let's pray for an end to people who've been infected fleeing from hospital and spreading the disease

Let's pray that the churches will both respect the 21-day ban on meeting and find ways t sustain faith and care for the vulnerable in spite of church closures

Let's pray that the Lord will support His many faithful people seeing Him in Uganda during this health crisis.

And let's pray that the Lord soon delivers this part of Africa from this highly contagious and often deadly disease.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Simon preached a week last Sunday in two churches in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina where this ministry was warmly received and a number of people sought meetings in the following week to discuss issues raised ... for which we gave thanks to God.

Please pray for these friends and also for those non-Christian friends with whom coffee was drunk and Gospel truth shared. There is still a devastating amount of Post Traumatic Stress in BiH thirty years on from the end of the conflict there. Please pray for those still suffering, with whom we were able to share Christ.

Please pray for the mission this week that is being held at the Mostar Baptist Church through an English Language course by a team travelling over to serve there from the U.S.

And also pray for fruit from a significant conference held this week in a hotel in Čaplina which drew people scattered in small groups from Western Herzegovina, Dalmatia and which Ben attended from Mostar. 

The potential for this conference to establish and encourage Christian meetings in some pretty rural places must be exciting. Please pray good things come out of these new relationships that are being built across rural Western Herzegovina?

y GRWP

The premises we are hoping to rent to restart a café outreach in Llandovery have been pretty much renovated now and made watertight ... there are just a few snags left to resolve with that where some persistent small leaks need attention but it ought to be pretty straightforward ... and it's all starting to feel much more 'real'!

Please pray that this goes through, that we will be able to fund it and 'staff' it and that the Lord will get us boots on the ground in Llandovery again so that we can co-operate with churches in Llandovery whilst ourselves reaching out to attempt to develop small meetings in the villages and work to establish the Gospel at grass roots in local communities with people living and working beyond the town itself.

Would you please also pray for wisdom for our mart volunteers needing to respond quite a bit more at the moment to medical emergencies in livestock marts and to listen to a lot more psychological trauma and seek to help with that too. Wisdom and compassion and the ability to cope with hearing troubling things for ourselves are significant needs to pray for. 

Simon was on All Things Considered for BBC Radio Wales when in Bosnia- Herzegovina last week. LINK here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cx5r Farmers who heard it have responded positively and made a point of coming over to chat about it. Unusually, most of the Bible content put into the mix didn't get cut this time, for which we give thanks to God. Please pray that bears fruit?

The week before this a well-known person in the Llandeilo farming community was tragically killed by a bull. Simon has been deeply involved with the bereaved family there and knew the farmer well. The family themselves say they are not 'religious' but have asked Simon to lead the funeral, at which we can expect a large crowd. Please pray that Simon is able to give SOME Biblical content and hope in the service in what is not likely to otherwise be a very hopeful situation?

This tragic incident led to Simon being interviewed for BBC Wales evening news about the accident and at the request of the family he was able to raise issue of concern for them on air and also in the UK farming press, which has comforted the family and strengthened bond between the rural chaplaincy and the local farming community. Please pray that bridges will be strengthened sufficiently to carry the weight of significant Gospel-orientated traffic that leads to good hope in Christ?

Father, hear the cries of our hearts for the need we see in your world and bring Gospel faith, life, hope and healing we pray. 

In Jesus Name.

AMEN.

Click here for the sermon podcast

The Sermon Studiocam is here ...

Let's sing

Let's pray

Equip us Lord as we head into another week in your service to persevere in cherishing and reflecting the passions of your heart in a world that often seems untouched but the tender grace of God.

May we bring honour not to our names but to yours.

May we step up to the things you have prepared for us to do for your cause and Kingdom in the coming week.

May we always lean not on our own resources but on the sufficiency and strength of our Sovereign Lord.

And may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with us and upon us this coming week and for evermore.

AMEN.

Huge thanks for sharing in this act of online worship this week.

Please continue to pray that we shall have a great place to meet in shortly to worship face-to-face and to reach out from to people who are as yet without God and without hope in rural Wales.

If you would like to add generosity to your act of worship today please click the link below to be taken to the Giving Page, and if there are things we can pray about with you or other ways we can help you please text or call us on 07748 644958 0r email HoWChaplain@gmail.com

God bless you - have a great week!