[Did you miss last Sunday’s services? They can still be found at Worship Archive – July 18th 2021.]
Sunday Service from Connexion for July 25th 2021:
Sunday Services from Hillside Circuit for July 25th 2021:
Theme: Jehovah Jireh the Lord our Provider
Occasion: 9th after Pentecost
Psalm 14
Genesis 22: 1-14
Ephesians 3: 14-21
John 6: 1-21
[Click or tap on a Bible reference above to jump down the page to the Bible reading to listen and/or read it for yourself and then click or tap on Back to top to come back here.]
Songs:
Here are the songs for Sunday morning service. Click or tap on a song to open it in YouTube, or go to the Songs for worship webpage to find them embedded.
God will make a way.
Wonderful, merciful Saviour.
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah.
Lord I come before your throne of Grace. (What a faithful God.)
Prayers:
You can listen and join in with prayers from the English Methodist Service Book. They can be found at the Prayers for worship webpage.
Children’s Address:
Sermons:
Bible readings:
Psalm 14
1 Only a fool would say, “There is no God!”
People like that are worthless;
they are heartless and cruel and never do right.
2 From heaven the LORD looks down to see
if anyone is wise enough to search for him.
3 But all of them are corrupt; no one does right.
4 Won’t you evil people learn? You refuse to pray,
and you gobble down the LORD’S people.
5 But you will be frightened,
because God is on the side of every good person.
6 You may spoil the plans of the poor,
but the LORD protects them.
7 I long for someone from Zion to come and save Israel!
Our LORD, when you bless your people again,
Jacob’s family will be glad, and Israel will celebrate.
Genesis 22
1 Some years later God decided to test Abraham, so he spoke to him.
Abraham answered, “Here I am, LORD.”
2 The LORD said, “Go get Isaac, your only son, the one you dearly love! Take him to the land of Moriah, and I will show you a mountain where you must sacrifice him to me on the fires of an altar.” 3 So Abraham got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire. He put a saddle on his donkey and left with Isaac and two servants for the place where God had told him to go.
4 Three days later Abraham looked off in the distance and saw the place. 5 He told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, while my son and I go over there to worship. We will come back.”
6 Abraham put the wood on Isaac’s shoulder, but he carried the hot coals and the knife. As the two of them walked along, 7-8 Isaac said, “Father, we have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”
“My son,” Abraham answered, “God will provide the lamb.”
The two of them walked on, and 9 when they reached the place that God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and placed the wood on it. Next, he tied up his son and put him on the wood. 10 He then took the knife and got ready to kill his son. 11 But the LORD’S angel shouted from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.
12 “Don’t hurt the boy or harm him in any way!” the angel said. “Now I know that you truly obey God, because you were willing to offer him your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the bushes. So he took the ram and sacrificed it in place of his son.
14 Abraham named that place “The LORD Will Provide.” And even now people say, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
Ephesians 3
14 I kneel in prayer to the Father. 15 All beings in heaven and on earth receive their life from him. 16 God is wonderful and glorious. I pray that his Spirit will make you become strong followers 17 and that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. Stand firm and be deeply rooted in his love. 18 I pray that you and all of God’s people will understand what is called wide or long or high or deep. 19 I want you to know all about Christ’s love, although it is too wonderful to be measured. Then your lives will be filled with all that God is.
20-21 I pray that Christ Jesus and the church will forever bring praise to God. His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine. Amen.
John 6
1 Jesus crossed Lake Galilee, which was also known as Lake Tiberias. 2 A large crowd had seen him work miracles to heal the sick, and those people went with him. 3-4 It was almost time for the Jewish festival of Passover, and Jesus went up on a mountain with his disciples and sat down.
5 When Jesus saw the large crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?” 6 He said this to test Philip, since he already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered, “Don’t you know that it would take almost a year’s wages just to buy only a little bread for each of these people?”
8 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the disciples. He spoke up and said, 9 “There is a boy here who has five small loaves of barley bread and two fish. But what good is that with all these people?”
10 The ground was covered with grass, and Jesus told his disciples to have everyone sit down. About five thousand men were in the crowd. 11 Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave thanks to God. Then he passed the bread to the people, and he did the same with the fish, until everyone had plenty to eat.
12 The people ate all they wanted, and Jesus told his disciples to gather up the leftovers, so that nothing would be wasted. 13 The disciples gathered them up and filled twelve large baskets with what was left over from the five barley loaves.
14 After the people had seen Jesus work this miracle, they began saying, “This must be the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Jesus realized that they would try to force him to be their king. So he went up on a mountain, where he could be alone.
16 That evening, Jesus’ disciples went down to the lake. 17 They got into a boat and started across for Capernaum. Later that evening Jesus had still not come to them, 18 and a strong wind was making the water rough.
19 When the disciples had rowed for three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water. He kept coming closer to the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said, “I am Jesus! Don’t be afraid!” 21 The disciples wanted to take him into the boat, but suddenly the boat reached the shore where they were headed.
Text version of Children’s Address for Hillside Circuit on July 25th 2021, with Mrs Chipo Marara:
I greet you all in the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen
Today’s Lesson comes from the Gospel of John:
John 6 : 1 – 21
Topic: JEHOVAH JIREH THE LORD OUR PROVIDER
Good morning girls and boys. I hope I find you well protected indoors this time of a deadly disease called corona virus.
Our lesson shall be taken from a few verses, that is John 6 : 5-12.
Girls and boys, from what we have read, we have learnt that our God is our Provider…that is the meaning of Jehovah Jireh. He gives us what we need. We should remain faithful and obey His rules.
We also learnt that as children of God we should pray first in whatever we do or need. From what we have read we see Jesus praying first before distributing the bread and fish to those who were seated. Does it mean that those who did not sit did not receive. Jesus was teaching us to obey. We should also obey our parents. Children, our God loves us. He gives us what we need. He has given us good parents, He gives us food, clothes and other things that we need in our lives. He gives our parents money to pay for our school fees. He is a loving God. He protects us from the diseases and gives us medicines when we are sick. Jehovah loves us. He has given us shelter, a house to live in and provides transport to go to school. We should worship him and pray that he continues to look after us as his children.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly father we come before your name this morning. Thanking you for giving us our daily bread. You are a wonderful God. We bless your name. Amen
Text version of message for Hillside Circuit in English on July 25th 2021, with Dr Christine Tenga:
I greet you all in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Let us pray. Our Heavenly and loving, kind and merciful Father, creator of the Heavens and earth and all that therein dwell, we come before your throne of mercy casting all our burdens at your feet because we know you will hear our praises and our cries to you. We plead for your intervention in this pandemic for nothing is impossible with you. Heal your earth.
Forgive us our iniquities and show us the path to follow in order to please you. Forget our sins no more and hear this our morning prayer Father.
Jesus Christ you who sits at the right hand of God intercede for us .
We pray all this in the precious name of Jesus Christ our Saviour and Redeemer. Amen.
The Theme is: JEHOVAH JIREH THE LORD OUR PROVIDER.
At a glance of the theme one would think its a matter of kneeling down and asking God for all your earthly needs and it will be done.
When you go through the passage which we read in Gen. you will understand how Abraham came to name the place where he was to sacrifice his only son, “The Lord will provide” and up to now the place is known as “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Abraham’s faith had been tested. God had exposed him to a situation where his character had to be refined and developed. He was asked to go to a place which took him 3 days to reach and sacrifice his only son. He obeyed and set on the journey. He could have changed his mind and gone back home without sacrificing his son. But lets remember that Abraham had started obeying God when he was ordered to leave his country of origin and go to an unknown place Canaan and there he would be blessed and also nations would be blessed through him.
Abraham obeyed God and when he was ready to kill his son, an Angel of God stopped him. Am sure he was wondering why and looked around thus his eyes fell on a ram entangled in a thicket by its horns and he sacrificed it in place of his son. What a sigh of relief.! This was attributed to his fear of God. God had PROVIDED THE RAM.
Have you ever named something or a place because of what God did for you? This can be a constant reminder and it can help to shape your life and character. Up till to date, when believers read about the mountain where God provides, their hope is kindled, their Faith is strengthened. The story still has an impact in our lives. God wants us to obey Him. He wants us to sacrifice what we love most be it ourselves our children our time to show we love Him more than our possessions. In return He gives us more. Why? because he is the one who gives in the first place. God saved Isaac because Abraham didn’t withhold Isaac from God. For doing that he would get more descendants, more children who will have power to destroy their enemies. Nations would be blessed because of the obedience of Abraham. You may do something and think you have lost out but in return God may bless you more. God provides not only the physical needs but eternal life as well. While God wants you to show your love for him, He self showed it to you by giving to the world His only begotten son to cleanse our sins so that we could receive eternal life. (John 3:16) In parallel of Isaac God gave Jesus His only son the lamb of God who died on the cross for our redemption. Had it not been for that, humanity would have died eternal death because of sin.
Therefore, for us to get God’s provisions we have to be obedient which is not easy as you may be required to take painful decisions, you may have to give up what you love most to love God.
In John 6 passage, a large crowd is fed on 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. This happened after Jesus gave thanks for the food. Jesus asked Phillip about how they were to feed such a crowd. He thought of money to buy, which he did not have. Jesus was talking about spiritual feeding. He wanted the disciples to understand his ministry of spiritual needs for people. The crowd followed Jesus to see miracles performed but were spiritually hungry. They needed disciples to teach them about the kingdom of God . They had nothing to offer for which God could use but the little boy had something. God wants us to bring the little we have and from His resources He can add.
He is able to multiply and increase to benefit you and others. Don’t withhold thinking it’s not enough because God will provide more. Do not be afraid to serve God thinking you are young, He will use you for greater things like that little boy .Many were fed and there were left overs. God gives more than you can imagine. Disciples were failing to see Jesus power and were afraid when he approached them walking on water. Do we realise the power of Christ when we are in trouble? How deep is our faith in Him? Can we compare with Abraham, not so! because out trust in Jesus is small. We walk with him but we can not embrace the provisions he has for us through his power from God. This is why we behave like none Christians and the world doesn’t get blessings through us. We are not obedient because of little Faith.
What advice do we get from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians in today’s passage?
He says we are united through Christ. God provides inner strength to humanity through the Holy Spirit and says God is resourceful. We are called to submit to God therefore. He Paul says the inward working of the Spirit will be seen on the outward by the influence the spirit manifests on an individual in their attitude, in their decision making and deeds both in private and in public.
What binds the people of God together is LOVE. The church’s foundation and nourishment for life is found in Christ as he indwells in man’s heart. This inward work causes Christians to experience the love of Christ which we may not understand its magnitude. It reaches all corners of the earth. Christ’s provision for redemption, adoption and empowerment creates a human race that loves one another and loves God now and in future.
The fullness of God is expressed fully in Christ and we access it through faith and prayer.
At the end Paul glorifies God by pronouncing a doxology. He says we ask for so little from God but He God knows what we need from his bountiful resources and He gives us more than we think of.
In conclusion, we realise that God’s provisions are bountiful. We can access them as long as we obey Him. We must be able to sacrifice what ever little we have for God to increase it, not just for ourselves but for others as well.
Christ is there for us to achieve all this as He works in our hearts. Being faithful is not an easy journey as we learn from Abraham but Christ will help us.
May God bless His word.
Amen.
Let us pray.
We thank you Heavenly Father for your providence both in physical and spiritual needs. We thank you for Christ as he guides and directs us to obey you, to pray, to have faith and to love you so that we may proclaim that “You are Jehovah Jireh God the Provider. Amen.
Methodist Church: Hillside Circuit 