[Did you miss last Sunday’s services? They can still be found at Worship Archive – July 24th 2022.]
Sunday Services from Connexion for July 31st 2022:
Sunday Service from Hillside Circuit for July 31st 2022:
Lectionary Theme: Out of Egypt I called my son/daughter
Special Theme: The Harvest Festival
Occasion: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary readings:
Psalm 107: 1-9
Hosea 11: 1-11
Colossians 3: 1-11
Luke 12: 13-21
Readings for The Harvest Festival:
Psalm 126
Deuteronomy 16: 10-17
2 Corinthians 8: 1-9
John 4: 31-36
[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.
We plough the fields.
There are the days of Elijah.
Who is there like you.
Hide me now.
For the fruits of his creation.
May the Lord.
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:
Sermon:
Bible readings:
Psalm 107
1 Shout praises to the LORD!
He is good to us, and his love never fails.
2 Everyone the LORD has rescued from trouble
should praise him,
3 everyone he has brought from the east and the west,
the north and the south.
4 Some of you were lost in the scorching desert,
far from a town.
5 You were hungry and thirsty and about to give up.
6 You were in serious trouble,
but you prayed to the LORD, and he rescued you.
7 Right away he brought you to a town.
8 You should praise the LORD for his love
and for the wonderful things he does for all of us.
9 To everyone who is thirsty, he gives something to drink;
to everyone who is hungry,
he gives good things to eat.
Hosea 11
1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and I called my son out of Egypt.
2 But as the saying goes, “The more they were called,
the more they rebelled.”
They never stopped offering incense and sacrifices
to the idols of Baal.
3 I took Israel by the arm and taught them to walk.
But they would not admit that I was the one
who had healed them.
4 I led them with kindness and with love,
not with ropes.
I held them close to me; I bent down to feed them.
5 But they trusted Egypt instead of returning to me;
now Assyria will rule them.
6 War will visit their cities, and their plans will fail.
7 My people are determined to reject me for a god
they think is stronger, but he can’t help.
8 Israel, I can’t let you go. I can’t give you up.
How could I possibly destroy you
as I did the towns of Admah and Zeboiim?
I just can’t do it.
My feelings for you are much too strong.
9 Israel, I won’t lose my temper and destroy you again.
I am the Holy God – not merely some human,
and I won’t stay angry.
10 I, the LORD, will roar like a lion,
and my children will return, trembling
from the west.
11 They will come back, fluttering like birds from Egypt
or like doves from Assyria.
Then I will bring them back to their homes.
I, the LORD, have spoken!
Colossians 3
1 You have been raised to life with Christ. Now set your heart on what is in heaven, where Christ rules at God’s right side. 2 Think about what is up there, not about what is here on earth. 3 You died, which means that your life is hidden with Christ, who sits beside God. 4 Christ gives meaning to your life, and when he appears, you will also appear with him in glory.
5 Don’t be controlled by your body. Kill every desire for the wrong kind of sex. Don’t be immoral or indecent or have evil thoughts. Don’t be greedy, which is the same as worshipping idols. 6 God is angry with people who disobey him by doing these things. 7 And that is exactly what you did, when you lived among people who behaved in this way. 8 But now you must stop doing such things. You must quit being angry, hateful, and evil. You must no longer say insulting or cruel things about others. 9 And stop lying to each other. You have given up your old way of life with its habits.
10 Each of you is now a new person. You are becoming more and more like your Creator, and you will understand him better. 11 It doesn’t matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, or if you are circumcised or not. You may even be a barbarian or a Scythian, and you may be a slave or a free person. Yet Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.
Luke 12
13 A man in a crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of what our father left us when he died.”
14 Jesus answered, “Who gave me the right to settle arguments between you and your brother?”
15 Then he said to the crowd, “Don’t be greedy! Owning a lot of things won’t make your life safe.”
16 So Jesus told them this story:
A rich man’s farm produced a big crop, 17 and he said to himself, “What can I do? I don’t have a place large enough to store everything.”
18 Later, he said, “Now I know what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I can store all my grain and other goods. 19 Then I’ll say to myself, ‘You have stored up enough good things to last for years to come. Live it up! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.’ “
20 But God said to him, “You fool! Tonight you will die. Then who will get what you have stored up?”
21 “This is what happens to people who store up everything for themselves, but are poor in the sight of God.”
Psalm 126
1 It seemed like a dream when the LORD brought us back
to the city of Zion.
2 We celebrated with laughter and joyful songs.
In foreign nations it was said,
“The LORD has worked miracles for his people.”
3 And so we celebrated
because the LORD had indeed worked miracles for us.
4 Our LORD, we ask you to bless our people again,
and let us be like streams in the Southern Desert.
5 We cried as we went out to plant our seeds.
Now let us celebrate as we bring in the crops.
6 We cried on the way to plant our seeds,
but we will celebrate and shout as we bring in the crops.
Deuteronomy 16
10-11 go to the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped and celebrate the Harvest Festival in honour of the LORD your God. Bring him an offering as large as you can afford, depending on how big a harvest he has given you. Be sure to take along your sons and daughters and all your servants. Also invite the poor, including Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows. 12 Remember that you used to be slaves in Egypt, so obey these laws.
Moses said to Israel:
13-15 After you have finished the grain harvest and the grape harvest, take your sons and daughters and all your servants to the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped. Celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days. Also invite the poor, including Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows.
The LORD will give you big harvests and make you successful in everything you do. You will be completely happy, so celebrate this festival in honour of the LORD your God.
Moses said:
16 Each year there are three festivals when all Israelite men must go to the place where the LORD chooses to be worshipped. These are the Festival of Thin Bread, the Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters. And don’t forget to take along a gift for the LORD. 17 The bigger the harvest the LORD gives you, the bigger your gift should be.
2 Corinthians 8
1 My friends, we want you to know that the churches in Macedonia have shown others how kind God is. 2 Although they were going through hard times and were very poor, they were glad to give generously. 3 They gave as much as they could afford and even more, simply because they wanted to. 4 They even asked and begged us to let them have the joy of giving their money for God’s people. 5 And they did more than we had hoped. They gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, just as God wanted them to do.
6 Titus was the one who got you started doing this good thing, so we begged him to have you finish what you had begun. 7 You do everything better than anyone else. You have stronger faith. You speak better and know more. You are eager to give, and you love us better. Now you must give more generously than anyone else.
8 I am not ordering you to do this. I am simply testing how real your love is by comparing it with the concern that others have shown. 9 You know that our Lord Jesus Christ was kind enough to give up all his riches and become poor, so that you could become rich.
John 4
31 While this was happening, Jesus’ disciples were saying to him, “Teacher, please eat something.”
32 But Jesus told them, “I have food that you don’t know anything about.”
33 His disciples started asking each other, “Has someone brought him something to eat?”
34 Jesus said:
My food is to do what God wants! He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me to do. 35 You may say that there are still four months until harvest time. But I tell you to look, and you will see that the fields are ripe and ready to harvest.
36 Even now the harvest workers are receiving their reward by gathering a harvest that brings eternal life. Then everyone who planted the seed and everyone who harvests the crop will celebrate together.
Methodist Church: Hillside Circuit 
You must be logged in to post a comment.