Worship at Home
Worship for the week beginning 25th July 2021
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Sunday 25th July
Rev Phil Snelson has prepared this week’s message
This short act of worship is for use from home. Please use this service whenever you like during the week.
Pause to settle yourself in God’s presence, knowing that other people are sharing in worship with you.
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© ROOTS for Churches Ltd www.rootsontheweb.com. Reproduced with permission.
Call to Worship – (from Matthew 22)
Jesus said, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.
Hymn - “Loved before the dawn of time”
Loved before the dawn of time,
Chosen by my Maker, hidden in my Saviour:
I am His and He is mine,
Cherished for eternity.
When I’m stained with guilt and sin,
He is there to lift me, heal me and forgive me;
Gives me strength to stand again,
Stronger than I was before.
So with every breath that I am given
I will sing salvation’s song;
And I’ll join the chorus of creation
Giving praise to Christ alone.
All the claims of Satan’s curse
Lifted through His offering,
Satisfied through suffering;
All the blessings He deserves
Poured on my unworthy soul.
Chorus… So with every breath…
Singing glory, honour, wisdom, power
To the Lamb upon the throne.
Hallelujah, I will lift Him high.
Singing glory, honour, wisdom, power
To the Lamb upon the throne.
Hallelujah, I will sing…
Chorus… with every breath that I am given.
Stars will fade and mountains fall;
Christ will shine forever,
Love’s unfading splendour.
Earth and heaven will bow in awe,
Joining in salvation’s song.
Stuart Townend & Andrew Small; Copyright © 2007 Thankyou Music
Opening Prayers
Glory to you Heavenly Father, the God of love, who created us; who continually preserves and sustains us; who has loved us with an everlasting love and shown us your glory in the face of Jesus Christ your Son.
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour,
who, though you were rich, yet for our sake you became poor, and were tested in every way as we are, yet without sin;
You proclaimed the good news of the kingdom and were obedient to the point of death… even death on a cross;
You were raised from the dead, are alive for ever and have opened the kingdom of heaven to all who trust in you.
Glory to you, Holy Spirit, the Lord,
the giver of life, by whom we are born into the family of God and made members of the body of Christ; whose witness confirms us; whose wisdom teaches us; whose power enables us, and who will do more for us than we can ask or imagine possible.
To the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to You be praise and glory for ever. Amen.
Bible Readings
The Call of Abram
12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord. 9 Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
This is my final worship at home, so I hope you’ll bear with me if I try to squeeze in the whole story!!! 
In the beginning God expressed His glorious creativity in making the world, the universe, and everything in it! The best thing of all, right at the heart of it, were human beings whom the Godhead made in their likeness; male and female, complimentary partners He created them and invited them to partner with Him in running this world He had made. Then, and only then, God declared it was ‘very good!’
When humanity rebelled, they broke the partnership with God and went their own selfish way, but God never let it go, never gave up on his perfect design. So, in Genesis 12, we find God calling Abram to join with Him in a journey of faith, to become a great nation that would be God’s people, and in missionary partnership with God, be a blessing to ‘all the families of the earth’. Abram said yes and set off at the age of 75 to he “knew not where”. Abram made plenty of mistakes along the way – even by the end of the same chapter! – but he continued in faith, they had name changes to Abraham and Sarah (Gen 17) and eventually the family promised him & Sarah began with Isaac, who with Rebekah, had Jacob and Esau and the plan began to unfold…
Notice that God’s plan was always about blessing all the peoples (families) of the earth, not just Abraham & Sarah and their own family.
The history of Israel is a long and complicated one, littered with mistakes, failures. More selfish rebellion corrupted their understanding of being God’s chosen people, thinking themselves superior, especially entitled to God’s blessings.
There were some major “successes” too… and all the while, in spite of it all, God was still working out His plan to bring blessing to all peoples, ultimately through his Son Jesus, his life, death and resurrection. And at the end of Matthew, Jesus restores the partnership calling again – ‘I am with you always’ – sending his followers to ‘go to all peoples’ teaching everyone to follow what Jesus had taught them – what he did as well as what he said – i.e. return to living God’s way according to His design.
I think that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the “chosen people” of the Church are perhaps doing better at bringing God’s blessing to all the peoples of the earth… but there is still a long, long way to go! We too have made plenty of mistakes and fall into the temptation of trying to keep God’s blessings for ourselves, while at the same time wanting all the pleasures of worldly things rather than the more challenging way of Jesus.
As we seek to move on into a new chapter in our respective stories, let’s reflect on the commission of Jesus to his followers, how we are going to make this the core of our purpose and vision in life, and heed the writer to the Hebrews who says:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. [Heb 12: 1-2]
Take a time to sit quietly and reflect…
Time to Pray…
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
Father of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ,
We ask your forgiveness for taking your blessing for granted, keeping them to ourselves and not always sharing them with others.
Help us, as your people, to follow the calling of Jesus to join with you in blessing all people and encouraging them into your kingdom family.
We pray for the persecuted Christians in our world, for whom following Christ means much suffering.
We pray for those who have been overcome with struggles of life, doubt and fear and for whom faith means nothing.
We pray for those who have been bereaved, those who are in physical, mental or emotional pain.
Faithful God, be with us as we seek to serve you so that we may reflect kingdom values rather than worldly values. We ask these prayers through the powerful name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.
Amen
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours
Now and for ever.
Amen.
StF 404 “God’s Spirit is in my heart”
God’s spirit is in my heart
he has called me and set me apart.
This is what I have to do,
what I have to do
He sent me to give the good news to the poor
tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more
tell blind people that they can see
and set the downtrodden free
and go tell everyone the news that the
kingdom of God has come
and go tell everyone
the news that god’s kingdom has come.
Just as the father sent me so
I’m sending you out to be,
my witnesses throughout the world,
the whole of the world
Chorus
Don’t carry a load in your pack,
you don’t need two shirts on your back
a workman can earn his own keep,
can earn his own keep
Chorus
Don’t worry what you have to say,
don’t worry because on that day
god’s spirit will speak in your heart
will speak in your heart
Chorus
Alan Dale – Publisher / Copyrights Words: 1982 Kevin Mayhew Ltd
Final Prayer of Blessing
May the God the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, fill you with a strong sense of His purpose in your life by His Holy Spirit;
May you be filled with the assurance that His love for you was from before the beginning, is now and shall be forever, Amen.
God bless you all,
with love & prayers,
Service prepared by Rev Phil Snelson
Webpage: Paul Deakin
