DIY Sunday Service Kit 29/01/2023 - Brave Esther puts the pedal to the metal: Esther 7:1-10

Welcome to the DIY Sunday Service Kit for the last Sunday in January (already!)

 ... January 29th., 2023.

I don't know how New Year's resolutions have gone for you, of course, but I have to admit I found myself wide open to the accusation of indecision on Saturday morning ... and then had to record a sermon on today's passage! 

Suffice it to say, in Esther 7, Queen Esther comes out as a paragon of anything but indecision.

Here's a taster ...

Let's pray

Father we commit this time to you.

Please set it apart and protect it from interruption or disruption, and enable us to truly meet with you by your Spirit Who, indwells all your people today.

For Jesus' sake.

Amen.

Sovereign Grace lead us off in worship with their version of Psalm 65

It is very easy at this time of year to retreat into our own lives and hibernate there mentally and spiritually until the warmer days return.

As we pray at this time it is even more important, then, to lift our eyes to the wider world around us and focus our prayers outside ourselves, our own challenges and needs, on God's people and cause across the world.

Democratic Republic of Congo

More than a year after her husband was murdered by Islamic militants, Esther
from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is standing strong, and being helped by believers' prayers and support.

“I felt deep pain that one cannot bear,” said Esther after Pastor Isaac’s body was discovered hanging from a tree in North Kivu province. He was aged 33. Local Christians suspect he was targeted because of his evangelistic activities.

At the time, Open Doors local partners visited Esther and her three children, to provide comfort, food, clothing and money for other needs.

The team recently made a return visit and found that Esther is doing well physically, and with the financial support of her family and of Open Doors, she’s been able to build a small house on her in-laws’ compound. 

The money she was given has also enabled her to start her own business selling snacks.

Let's pray that this business prospers and that this dear lady who has lost so much will know the deep and surrounding love of her Saviour.

North Korea

Given the hostility towards Christianity in North Korea, the number of believers is few, but their love for the Lord Jesus is strong.

For example, to express gratitude for winter relief aid that she'd received, Sa-Myung (not her real name) sent an envelope to Open Doors fieldworkers returning a tenth of what she was given. She is dependent on this support to survive, so this effectively meant risking a tenth of her life. Praise God for her remarkable faith!

Let's pray that the seed of faith sown in the hearts of God's persecuted people in North Korea will bear much fruit across their country.

Burkina Faso

In the midst of a deepening security crisis caused by last year’s military coup, jihadist activity is expanding and Christians are increasingly being targeted and killed. 

Let's ask the Lord to heal and comfort those severely traumatised and affected by jihadist attacks, and pray for wisdom for those believers on the ground, particularly those seeking to strengthen the church there with trauma care and relief aid.

Families at home and abroad

Repeatedly persecuted Christians in the world's most hostile countries ask for prayer for their wives and families, whose hostility to the Gospel they feel most keenly.

Let's pray for those at home and overseas who feel this pain of the hostility of their loved ones, and for God to unite families here and elsewhere by saving those who are hostile to the faith. 

And let's also pray for great personal watchfulness, great grace and great love for the Lord in believers who find themselves under great domestic pressure.

Lord, in your mercy hear our prayers and strengthen our hearts to persevere in prayerfully pursuing your cause, both in your world and in your people.

AMEN.

Let's celebrate the Lord we pray to ... our good and gracious King

Click on the Bible open below to be taken to today's Bible passage. If you click on the symbol on the landing page, and today's passage will be read to you.

From the sometimes challenging experience of Scottish inner-urban housing schemes comes this version of a popular modern classic ... let's worship the God Who has a very firm grip on the lives of His people

We don't often sing hymns as old as this next one which is taken from the second volume of John Bunyan's famous book  Pilgrims Progress ... 1684 was certainly a long time ago ... but this ancient composition is still a great battle hymn of the Kingdom of God and has a lot to offer us as we consider the heart displayed by Esther in today's Bible passage.

Let's commit to it and sing!

Let's pray

Heavenly Father we thank you for the encouragement and inspiration we draw from your Word.

May the Spirit Who inspired it inspire our hearts this week with the message and example of Queen Esther, and helps us to see the finger-prints of your hand on the everyday experiences that come our way.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Thanks for being with us to worship today.

If we can be of help or can pray for you please feel free to get in touch.

And as we head off int this week, let's pray that the Lord Himself uses Hs Word to build our decisiveness in the cause of God and of His people!

If you would like to join us by worshipping through giving, please (as usual) click on the offering bag below to be taken to our giving link.

DIY Sunday Service Kit 22/01/2023 - Has God got a sense of humour? Esther 6:1-14

 

Hi guys

Well, the wind turbine that feeds the internet set-up here is not mended yet, but we've had sunshine today so the solar panels have fed the batteries and are currently taking the load!

Our worship songs today are led from Scotland by '20 Schemes', which exists to plant Biblical, faithful churches across Scotland's deprived inner-urban housing schemes.

Today we're tackling a question that sometimes comes up about God and humour, but there's a lot more there that's of use to us to learn from Esther 6 ... here's the quickest of sound-bite snap-shots ...

Let's pray

Father we thank you that you know us through and through, that you love and care for us and that you provide for us the things we need for our well-being.

Help us to appreciate your provision for us in the every-day things of life, and teach us afresh from your Word the things that we will profit from in our 'every days', and enable us to better walk with you from day to da we pray.

In Jesus' Name.

AMEN.

Let's pray

Sin's definition and the Synod

On Friday the Church of England's General Synod decided to maintain its history stance off opposing gay marriage, introduced blessing gay partnerships and apologised for the rejection and hostility gay people have faced.

Anglican evangelical friends have expressed a range of emotions from deep concern to despair at the consequences of the abandonment of submission to Scripture in some of their church leaders' comment on the matter ... and homosexually orientated evangelical Anglicans who remain celibate out of faithfulness to God's Word have been explaining how very undermined they feel by all these comments.

Can we please pray for those who hold faithfully to Scripture on these issues and on many others that the Lord would encourage their hearts and direct their feet in the way they should go?

Let's pray for our non-Christian friends who are confused or misinformed by all this public discussion, and also pray for ourselves that and all God's people we will grow in discernment, compassion and grace to faithfully reflect God's truth into His world.

Crime and the constabulary

This week a high-profile case against a Metropolitan police officer who was a prolific sex offender has given rise to widespread criticism of the Police.

Let us pray that corruption and criminality will be rigorously rooted out of our country's police forces.

Let us pray that those officers who take pride in their integrity will not feel sullied by the conduct of a minority of their colleagues.

Let us pray that the extensive recruiting campaign going on at the moment in our Dyfed-Powys Police Force will lead to honest and professional police officers being recruited who will serve our area well for many years to come.

Wealth and our Health Service

This week industrial action has left us without nurses and without ambulance staff and junior doctors in England have voted for strike action.

News channels have carried reports of a lot of excess deaths outside these strike days as the NHS in Wales struggles to meet demand, and doctors, nurses and other staff are leaving the service - and sometimes the country - in large numbers.

Many of us would find it easier to protest than to pray about the current situation in our health service.

So could we please take a moment to correct that and pray for our hospital consultants, junior doctors, hospital staff of all sorts, paramedics and ambulance crews and GPs at the front end of health service delivery ... and that we will have effective and efficient health care provision, equitably provided, regardless of personal wealth, supplied according to need and free at the point of delivery?

Abrams, Challenger's and Leopards

There is no doubt that with the coming of Spring there is likely to be a step-change in the severity of the fighting in Ukraine.

Many lives are being lost in fierce battles across a very long front and Ukraine is calling for better armaments for the next stage in the conflict ... specifically British Challenger 2, German Leopard 2 and the American M1 Abrams.

There are fears, particularly in Germany, that this will lead to a significant escalation in the conflict.

Let's pray that those who have to make the decisions involved will be given both wisdom and courage to decide what is best, and that this terrible conflict at the boundaries of Europe will both be prevented from spreading, and be rapidly and justly concluded

Lord, in your mercy, please hear our prayers for our deeply divided and broken world. Hear from your home in Heaven and bring peace with justice and security to our world, we pray for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Here's a deep and moving song born from the Scottish inner city outreach of 20 Schemes

'In this world we still have trouble, but we take heart 

... there is a joyful ending to this story, so we take heart'

Click the Bible below to go to today's reading

(There's a transcript on the podcast page in this link)

Here's the sermon video

We sing again with 20 Schemes

If you'd like to join us in worshipping the Lord by giving to His work please click on the offering bag to go to our giving link.

Let's close in prayer

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.

AMEN.

Thanks for being with us today.

If we can be of help practically or by praying, or if the ministry has prompted thoughts ... or a testimony to God's goodness ... that you'd like to share for our mutual help and encouragement, please get in touch using HoWChaplain@gmail.com

God bless you in the every-day experiences of the coming week!

DIY Sunday Service Kit - 15/01/2023 - Esther 5:1-14

Hi guys

I'm afraid our internet has really been about as bad as it gets after the storms etc. this week BUT ... we're getting there slowly!

Let's pray

DIY Sunday Service Kit 08/01/2023 - Motto Text Sunday - Hebrews 3:12

 

Welcome to the first DIY Sunday Service Kit of 2023 ... and may it prove to be a Happy New Year for us all!

Being the first Sunday of the year we are declaring it 'Motto Text Sunday', and today we'll be taking a topical look at Hebrews 3:12. Here's a taster:

Now let's take a moment to pray:

Dear Lord and loving Heavenly Father we thank you that you have brought us safely to the end of the last year, with all its challenges and its joys, and set us off on the path you intend for us to follow in 2023.

Grant us a close walk with you this year, ears that are attentive to your voice and hearts that are filled with joy as we ponder your grace and glory, and inspire us afresh to live as the people of our God.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Here's a cracker from Sovereign Grace to sing at the start of a new year ...

Let's take this opportunity at the start of the year to pray for our land, for its spiritual condition and the welfare of all of our people.

Let's pray for the weak and the vulnerable in our society

• For those who are elderly and infirm
• For those who are young and living in relative poverty, where the recession we are currently experiencing is being particularly felt
• For those who are suffering ill health and those who are struggling under adverse circumstances at present in our NHS to provide the care that they require

Let's pray for the leaders in commerce, the professions, in public service and in trade unions

• We pray for wisdom, compassion, insight and leadership for those who lead in all the institutions and organisations of our land and our state
• We pray for integrity, responsibility and justice to be at the core of the ethos of those who lead in our society
• We pray particularly for those who represent us in our politics, for a selfless devotion to public duty, a right-minded passion for what is right and perseverance in seeking the good of others that our politicians represent without fear or favouritism

And let's pray for the spiritual restoration of our people

Our Father we sense a spiritual hunger and a feeling of being bereft in our land. A loneliness and an emptiness as if someone is missing from the lives of people who have rejected and turned from our Living God.

• We pray for the leaders of the high-visibility churches and the large congregations that feature in the consciousness of the people of Wales, that they will be kept from drifting from the Lord, from the conduct that results from such spiritual drifting and from the damage that can so easily be done to the cause of the Gospel in Wales

We pray that you will reform your Church in our land.

• We pray that those who love you and who seek you faithfully will be filled with the Spirit of God and with a love for the things of God ... 
• We pray that you will raise up and anoint with your Spirit a people who will proclaim you and represent you to the land of Wales, that we might once more know the conviction of your truth as we hear these servants of yours preach the Gospel to life-changing effect with the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven.

We pray that you will empower your Church in our land.

• We pray for the effectiveness of the preaching of the Gospel in Wales, that it will become compelling and attractive as the loveliness and the graciousness of Christ take hold of the hearts of people as yet unsaved
• We pray for the empowered preaching of the Gospel to draw people in large numbers from amongst those who have as yet had no constructive thought of God to hear about Him and to personally hear from Him
• We pray that there will be a new and large-scale turning of the hearts of the people from their materialistic and God-defying idols ... whatever these may be ... to love, follow and serve the Lord of Glory.

We pray that you will revive and build your Church in our land.

And we ask these things Lord because we see the needs of our people, the damage that is being done to them by their being like sheep without a shepherd here, and because we dare to ask because we have seen your emboldening grace and mercy taking hold of and transforming even OUR undeserving hearts.

So we pray in Jesus' Name.

AMEN.

Click the open Bible below to be taken to today's reading

City Alight lead us into a really good set of New Years resolutions here ...

It's time to open up the Bible together ...

(don't forget there's a transcript to be had with the audio version ... check it out on the podcast page you land on when you click the graphic above)

Here's the video of that sermon

Our last song today expresses the Christian's confidence 

in the God we pursue ...

Let's pray

Father we pray for the determination to fix our eyes on Jesus in 2023.

We ask that we shall not turn away from the Living God.

We ask that you will make us loyal and faithful to you and loyal and faithful also in encouraging one another, every day, as long as it is called 'today', to help one another to keep away from sin's deceitfulness.

We ask that you will enable and empower us to hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

Inspire us we pray with thoughts of the Jesus we meet in the Scripture, in our personal way with you and in the fellowship we have with all those who authentically was with our God.

Keep us in and bring others onto the Way that is everlasting.

We ask for Jesus' sake.

AMEN.

Thanks for being with us here today.

If you would like to continue to worship with us as we give to the Lord's work around here, please click the bag to be taken to our giving link ... and may God bless your week in His fellowship and service!

Until next time ...