Let's worship the Lord
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100
Here's some old-fashioned Belfast-style rejoicing in worshipping the God Who makes His people glad
Prayer points
We pray today for Afghanistan, for a new church plant in the West and for a base for our work again in Llandovery.
Afghanistan
Pray for the peace of the land of Afghanistan which has been war-torn for generations.
Pray for freshly marginalised women in shock at the way their hopes have been deferred, for children and young people now being denied opportunities in education and employment, for God's provision and protection for displaced people, refugees and people hiding in fear of their lives as they are hunted down.
Pray for God's people, especially the leaders of the house church networks who persist in serving God's flock, often with a bounty on their heads.
Pray that God would lead, guide and protect His Afghan people for whatever lies ahead of them.
Hundleton
Pray for Rev. Josh Maynard and his wife Rachel along with their three children.
Josh was a rural vicar in West Pembrokeshire with nine small churches centred on Hundleton.
Over the last few years these churches have been revitalised with a good number of adult baptisms taking place.
Josh has resigned from the Church in Wales over its decision to recognise and bless same sex partnerships, out of his faithfulness to Scripture.
The congregation are very supportive and are planning to create a new church ... they met last Thursday evening to decide what to do.
Josh and Rachel have until the end of the year to leave the vicarage and are seeking a home for themselves, a place for the new church to meet and work for them both to fund their family.
The situation is complicated by being in an area where property prices have been artificially inflated by holiday home buyers.
Please pray!
Llandovery
We are talking through agents to the owner of a prominent property in the town centre of Llandovery to see if we can negotiate a realistic price, buy it, fix it up and use it (within planning regulations) to serve the work of God's Kingdom amongst rural people while they are in the town ... as we did at Ty'r Bugail.
This could be a really good place to reach out from, and a useful place to house stuff that people can come to for help and to hear from God.
It could also be a GREAT place to run and to build on the sort of thing we did on Sunday afternoons at Ty'r Bugail. If we did that, would you serve there? (It's time to be praying about things like that, too.)
It currently looks as if this purchase is a fair possibility, but it's still a long way off yet. Sometimes you just have to pray and see what happens! But if you feel able to pray for the necessary miracles to get this to happen, please do.
So we pray ...
Lord hear us we pray as we bring these large and pressing needs before your throne.
To us the things we pray for often seem to be a really big ask.
But you are the Lord of all the earth.
Hear the prayers that we bring.
Weigh the longings of our hearts and pour out your blessing not according to what we deserve but according to your grace.
Acts as the Sovereign Lord of Glory to bring your will and your ways into effect on earth, and bring great Glory to your holy Name we pray.
In Jesus' Name.
AMEN!
1 John 2:1–11 (Listen)
Christ Our Advocate
2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
The New Commandment
7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
(ESV)
Here's the studio cam ...
Let's conclude our time with prayer
Lord and loving Heavenly Father, please guard our hearts and our minds as we head into a fresh week.
Set our minds and fix our wills to walk through this week in your light.
Inflame our hearts with your love for us, that our hearts might burn brightly with a proactive love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, so that we are kept from causing one another to stumble and rather lift one another up in Christ, to walk on to Glory together in your Way.
And would you cleanse our fellowship and cleanse our Land from the indirect effects of sin in our midst.
Would you make us to be as salt and light to purify rather than those who are unclean in our thinking, speaking and behaviour, polluting the world in which you have placed us to worship you and to serve you as we serve one another in your Name.
Any may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of your Holy Spirit be with us all. Evermore.
AMEN!
Worshipping by giving
If you would like to add practical giving to spiritual praise and worship please click the Stewardship graphic below to be taken to our online giving page.
Thank you.
