Opening Reflection
A very warm welcome to our service today and we pray that as you come to spend time today that you will surrender yourself to God, you will give thanks in our prayers and our praise, no matter what situation we are facing, for the Lord is always near.
Each day we face many challenges, the busyness of our lives, thoughts and concerns.
May you dwell on God's word as he continues to remind us, Do not yield to fear, for You are always near. Never turn our gaze from Him,[l] for He is our faithful God. He will infuse us with His strength and help us in every situation. He will hold you firmly with His victorious right hand.’ Yahweh, our mighty God! He grips our right hand and won’t let us go!
Today we start our new study series as we look deeper into the book of Romans. We pray that you will journey with us.
Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, as I draw close with you today Lord, I come to offer my praise and say thank you Lord for guiding and directing me. Lord, each day may I come to you, and seek you more in my life, for Lord, I know that it is through your Word, coming in prayer, that you will speak further into my heart, mind and soul. Thank you Lord for this new day, and may you reveal more of your presence in my life. This I pray in Jesus Name Amen.
Hymn:
Prayers of Confession:
God of healing, God of wholeness, we bring our brokenness, our sinfulness, our fears and despair, and lay them at your feet. God of healing, God of wholeness, we hold out hearts and hands, minds and souls to feel your touch, and know the peace that only you can bring. God of healing, God of wholeness, this precious moment in your presence and power grant us faith and confidence that here broken lives are made whole.
Let us spend a few minutes as we offer up our own prayers of confession, seeking God's forgiveness before concluding with the prayer Jesus taught us,
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as it is 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 forever.
Amen
Hymn:
Prayers of Intercession
Father God we pray for our world, for all those being affected by violence, through persecution, those seeking exile. We think particularly of those who have lost loved ones following the terror attacks in Kabul. Lord we think of all those who are risking their lives to help those trying to evacuate Afghanistan. Lord we pray your protection and pray for peace in these very challenging circumstances.
Father we give you thanks and praise that you have brought us safely through another week. Although for some there may have been difficulties along the way, we have been blessed in many ways that we possibly didn’t even see. Thank you for all the blessings you pour out upon us daily – both the seen and the unseen. Help us to remain strong in our faith as sometimes when life throws it’s challenges at us, it’s not always easy to remain strong. We know you are our Lord, saviour and king and that you will always be with us, and for that we give you thanks and praise. You are beautiful in all ways – help us to reflect some of that beauty to those around us.
Continue to uphold all whom are in difficulty of body, mind or spirit. Cradle them in your loving arms until they’re strong enough to face the world again. Heal the wounds that are both seen and unseen, cleanse the thoughts that we wouldn’t share with even those closest to us, fill the cracks in our life with more of your love and let us learn how to shine your brightness throughout the world.
Let us continue to be vigilant in our lives, especially with the resurgence of COVID. We give you thanks for the NHS whom are once again on the frontline against the battle with COVID, and pray that in time we will be able to return into a normal, and better life than we had before COVID19.
As we go through this week, may we be a positive influence on those around us. Let us be the comforting word, the safe arms, the silent mouth with confidential ears, the compassion that is needed and most of all, let us be the children you want us to be. Amen.
Hymn
Announcements
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Coffee morning via zoom: 11am see church email with details on how to join. To gather from the comfort of our homes, and share, Songs, word of encouragement, testimonies, prayer. We look forward to seeing you. If you would like further details on how to join contact office@standrewsbletchley.org.
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Offering
Whilst we appreciate this is a challenging time, we are grateful and give our thanks to God for all His provision, for your word says: 16 Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.
We are thankful Lord that you have blessed us with a church building, although whilst we are unable to meet there in person at the moment we know that we still have expenditure that we have to meet.
Lord place on our hearts what we are able to give, ensuring we do not give beyond our means.
Ways to Give - Please click on this link to see our Ways to Give.
Prayers of Thanksgiving
Lord we have so much to be thankful for, the blessings you continue to bestow upon us. Lord thank you for our families, friends, colleagues, for our homes, for food.
Let us spend some time offering up our own prayers of thanks and praise.
“O Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.” Ps 95:1-3
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Ps 100: 4-5
"Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever." Ps 118:29
"I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” Ps 9: 1
"I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High." PS 7:17
Lord thank you for your Word and for all you do in our lives. This we pray in Jesus Name Amen
Hymn:
Reading: Psalm 107:1-31
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God – 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s longing to visit Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,[d] that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.
14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’[f]
God’s wrath against sinful humanity
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is for ever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practise them
Sermon
Closing Reflection
As we draw to a close, may you continue to allow God's Word to dwell within your soul, within your heart and consider, as you seek God's wisdom, spend time each day, asking God what He wants you to do and give thanks in all situations.
We give thanks to Sue for sharing God's Word for us today and may we reflect on The Good News and the Bad News from Romans 1 today.
We are so thankful for all those who continue to pray and support us during our time of interregnum. for it is our faith, our unity, or diversity which makes church. What a wonderful blessing.
We give thanks to God for our families, our fellowship, our neighbours, our work colleagues. God people, the living body of our Lord Jesus Christ. God calls us into a deeper communion with Him. We are here to encourage, to serve our communities, seeking God's face, His wisdom as we walk together. Not our own wants but aligning our hearts desire to that of God. We look forward to the day the church doors are open wide, and we can celebrate, and we are thankful for all those in the preparation and participation for this to happen God will and purpose.
The Lord bless you and keep you,
The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace
And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the son and Holy Spirit
Be among you and remain with you always Amen
Numbers 6:24-25
Closing Hymn:
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