If you're dropping in here for the first time, watch this
Welcome to our Sunday morning Grace@Home 'gathering'!
Scattered as we are across Tipton and the Black Country (or further afield even in this time of lockdown?!) we're doing the best we can to keeping meeting together Sunday by Sunday to hear God speak to us and to respond in trusting praise of Him in song, prayer and in our lives.
How to use this?
Scroll down the page:
- read the text
- listen to the words of the songs (hum or singalong too if you can/want to)
- listen to the reading & message
- take time to pray on your own or with others (depending on your situation).
- For those with young children there's an idea for a simple craft, some colouring and a word search too.
If you're visiting us, we'd love to hear from you - so please use the form or WhatsApp or Facebook, even just to say hello using the form below if you've dropped in. We'd love to connect with you.
If you're a church member or regular with us, you can also interact with others in our WhatsApp group or by Zoom (you will have had details sent to you).
[Since Easter I've (Tim) had a week's holiday and a week of 'getting back up and running'. So we're delighted to be able transport ourselves to join with St Andrew's Free Church in Scotland for the second week in a row!
Paul Clarke recently took the church there through a chapter of the Bible that tackles the really important issue of keeping going as Christians when life is testing. And it is testing at the moment isn't it?! So, I hope that while this message wasn't preached with Tipton or Coronavirus-19 in mind, it will be very relevant for all of us.]
An invitation from God as we begin
Since we have a great high priest who has go up into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all in all
Here, in the love of Christ, I stand
In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save
'Til on that cross, as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin, on him, was laid
Here, in the death of Christ, I live
There in the ground, his body lay
Light of the world, by darkness, slain
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave, he rose again
And as he stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am his and he is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
God speaks to us in His Word the Bible
Hebrews 12:14–29 (Listen)
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken
18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
(ESV)
Responding (as Christians) to what God is saying to us
We've heard God's command to us: pursue holiness. Or be who you are.
- What do you need to say sorry for?
We've heard God's reason to us: we've come to Mount Zion through Jesus!
- What do you need to believe about God's promises to you right now and for the future?
We've heard God's warning to us: beware resisting God's voice
- What actions will you take this week to listen to God's voice more carefully and more eagerly?
Words to help our hearts sing of our unshakeable joy in Jesus
Let's speak to God for one another (He loves to hear us!)
Keep the words of that song in your mind and use the truths expressed to pray for a few people in our church family (giving thanks to God for them and asking Him to help them this week). Here are some ideas:
- someone (else) who is living on their own
- someone very ill at the moment (e.g. Gill's mum (Janet), Carol's mum (June), June Fellows, Rebecca White, Sylvia A, Donna)
- someone who isn't yet a Christian yet (if you've time maybe you could scroll back up our GCC WhatsApp chat and pray for someone else's family and friends as well?)
- someone who is facing challenges at work or with teaching their kids at the moment
Since we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe
As we continue to worship God as we live for Jesus day by day
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone
and to be holy.
See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God
and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless.
We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
let us be thankful,
and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
for our “God is a consuming fire.â€
In Jesus name, Amen.