DIY Sunday Service Kit 10/12/2023 - When things were REALLY bad ... He sent His Son. Malachi 2:17-3:5

The Word for the week joins a serious point, to a little bit of fun ...

Welcome to the DIY Sunday Service Kit for December 10th., 2023.

Christmas is coming closer and what we do here is now starting to reflect that, but today there's a mix of contemporary Christmas songs with things you might remember from ... long ago!

Here are the notices:

There's a lot of new stuff going up on the new WelshRev.com website and we're working towards gradually phasing out this site and having it all over there, so please do go and have a look at that. 

If you'd like to keep it really simple and just get a thing that comes up on your phone to stay on top of new stuff going up there, you can take your phone and ...

For iPhones

On your iPhone or iPad 

Open the Chrome browser

Go to www.linktr.ee/WelshRev 

At the top right of the address bar, tap Share .

Find and tap 'Add to Home Screen'.

Confirm and tap Add

For Android phones 

Open the Chrome browser. 

Go to  www.linktr.ee/WelshRev . 

Tap on the menu button (three dots) on the top-left. 

Finally, on the slide-out panel, select 'Add to Home screen'

This process puts a thing that looks like this 👇 on your phone and you click the button for what you want to see ... video, audio, the transcript of the Deep-Dive and the contact form are all on there.

It's a work in progress so this is going to develop and change to suit our needs better, with a button for this week's DIY SSK going up there as soon as it is developed 

... but have a go at loading and saving the link to your phone anyway using the instructions above and be an 'early adopter'!

You should see something like this ... click the pic and have a look around there!

Enough of the notices ...

Let's pray.

Lord and Father we thank you for the gift of technology which enables us to reach people all across the world and dispersed across rural Wales week by week with your Word.

As we come to worship you we pray that you would take us once again to calvary's Cross, to find true repentance and amendment of life once more, so that we might be right once more with you and might be more effective in our prayers and in our lives for the service of your Church and Kingdom.

Would you please speak clearly to us and to those spread across our Land through your Word today, and may your Kingdom come, may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

For Jesus' sake.

Amen.

Here's the seven day prayer calendar for the world this week:

1. We pray for the 16 million people (and more) of India who have been impacted by Cyclone Michaung. The city of Chennai was flooded. At least a dozen people were killed. Videos show people wading in deep water and helicopters dropping rations to the stranded. Pray for believers in the area (and churches and missions) to have opportunities to help their neighbours.

2. We pray for the million and more Somalis who have been displaced by flooding. Somalis have suffered from disaster after disaster. Somalia has a semi-arid climate. It receives little annual rainfall, making droughts common; but its two rainy seasons can be heavy and intense, leading to severe floods. El Nino has brought even wetter conditions than normal. Pray Psalm 69 over Somalia: "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck."

3. We pray for the many who have been suffering in Sudan, the "war the world forgot." (Those of us in deomai have not forgotten this war, but pray for it weekly.) It seems the RSF is close to "taking Darfur," and with every conquest comes massacres, pillaging, kidnappings, and abuse. Cease fire talks have been suspended by the mediators, and the capital of North Darfur is bracing for violence, thinking it is surely the next domino in line. We continnue to pray for believers in the region, for the suffering, for the ministries working amongst the refugees, and for an end to the violence. "The Lord is close to the broken hearted..." (Psalm 34:18)

4. We are thankful for, and pray for, new avenues of access to Bhutan and Nepal. Traveler magazine reported this week on new safari-style travel in Bhutan that allows people into less-explored areas of the country; and many spiritually hungry Indians on pilgrimage, who would normally be headed to Tibet, are instead visiting spiritual pilgrimage sites in Nepal. Pray for believers to be able to meet these pilgrims and find innovative ways to travel into Bhutan. Pray for these spiritually-hungry pilgrims to have dreams and visions of Jesus!

5. We also thankful for new tourism opportunities in Kashmir, and pray for believers to use these and other possibilities to bring the gospel into this area. Kashmir is one of the Top 40 Least Reached Provinces. Access to it has been severely limited. Pray that the Kingdom will use these newly open doors to flow into the region! Praying "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news" (Isaiah 52:7) seems appropriate to the area.

6. We continue to praise God for a strand of seeming openness in China. The government says its visa-free travel policy is boosting tourism and indicates it will continue to open this door. Additionally, during the recent conference in California, Xi Jinping indicated they would be "rolling out more measures to facilitate travel and promote people-to-people exchanges." Is God shaping the hearts of kings (Proverbs 21:1)? We “despise not the day of small beginnings,” but rather pray that believers will move through these small windows.

7. We pray for the million or more in Burkina Faso, and the wider Sahel, who suffer  under the blockades and violence of jihadist groups. We pray that the Kingdom would spread in the midst of this darkness, and that believers would find ways to be a blessing. We pray especially for peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) within the individual areas, who will both work for peace and bring the Prince of Peace.

(With thanks to Justin Long JustinLong.org /ActBeyond )

And now the carols start here!

We read the Scriptures today in Malachi 2:17-3:5

(Click the pic) 

Let's sing

Click the Deep-Dive button for the audio of the sermon

If you'd rather watch this than just listen, here's this week's 

Deep-Dive VLOG

As an added extra, if you are concerned in view of the sermon today about the recent developments in the Church of England, the majority of churches in the Anglican communion around the world are also very concerned and you might be interested in this encouraging video blog on these recent events hosted by Evangelical Anglicans in Australia featuring an Anglican minister from Oxford. It might be an encouraging Sunday afternoon watch.

There are good people caught up in all this. Please let's pray for them?

The refuge and hope of all God's people in their more trying and confusing times is the God Who has come to be with us. 

Let's sing to Him

If we can pray for you or be of help, why not try contacting us through the WelshRev.com website, where there's now both a contact form to use AND a microphone button in the bottom right corner of your screen which lets you leave a short (45 second) voice message?

And if you'd like to join us in worshipping God by giving, please click the offering bag below.

Let's pray

We thank you Lord and Father that you have provided us with all we need in your Word and by your Holy Spirit for a life that pleases you and enables us to stand.

Keep us walking in your way throughout this week and for all our days, and may the reflection of your face be increasingly seen by you in us, as you purify us and teach us to follow Jesus.

We ask for His Name's sake.

AMEN.