Sunday Service from Hillside Circuit for June 29th 2025:
Lectionary Theme: Jesus sends us on a mission
Occasion: 3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Lectionary readings:
Psalm 77: 1-2,11-20
1 Kings 19: 15-16,19-21
Galatians 5: 1,13-25
Luke 9: 51-62
[Click or tap on a Bible reference above to jump down the page to the Bible reading to read it for yourself (and/or to listen to it) 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.
Praise the Lord.
Make me a channel of your peace.
Shepherd of my soul.
We bow down and confess.
Now thank we all our God.
When we walk with the Lord.
One more step along the world.
Shalom to you.
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 77
1 I pray to you, LORD God, and I beg you to listen.
2 In days filled with trouble, I search for you.
And at night I tirelessly lift my hands in prayer,
refusing comfort.
11 Our LORD, I will remember the things you have done,
your miracles of long ago.
12 I will think about each one of your mighty deeds.
13 Everything you do is right,
and no other god compares with you.
14 You alone work miracles,
and you have let nations see your mighty power.
15 With your own arm you rescued your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
16 The ocean looked at you, God,
and it trembled deep down with fear.
17 Water flowed from the clouds. Thunder was heard above
as your arrows of lightning flashed about.
18 Your thunder roared like chariot wheels.
The world was made bright by lightning,
and all the earth trembled.
19 You walked through the water of the mighty sea,
but your footprints were never seen.
20 You guided your people like a flock of sheep,
and you chose Moses and Aaron to be their leaders.
^ Back to top. ^
1 Kings 19
15 The LORD said:
Elijah, you can go back to the desert near Damascus. And when you get there, appoint Hazael to be king of Syria. 16 Then appoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king of Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat to take your place as my prophet.
19 Elijah left and found Elisha ploughing a field with a pair of oxen. There were eleven other men in front of him, and each one was also ploughing with a pair of oxen. Elijah went over and put his own coat on Elisha.
20 Elisha stopped ploughing and ran after him. “Let me kiss my parents goodbye, then I’ll go with you,” he said.
“You can go,” Elijah said. “But remember what I’ve done for you.”
21 Elisha left and took his oxen with him. He killed them and boiled them over a fire he had made with the wood from his plough. He gave the meat to the people who were with him, and they ate it. Then he left with Elijah and became his assistant.
^ Back to top. ^
Galatians 5
1 Christ has set us free! This means we are really free. Now hold on to your freedom and don’t ever become slaves of the Law again.
13 My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love. 14 All that the Law says can be summed up in the command to love others as much as you love yourself. 15 But if you keep attacking each other like wild animals, you had better watch out or you will destroy yourselves.
16 If you are guided by the Spirit, you won’t obey your selfish desires. 17 The Spirit and your desires are enemies of each other. They are always fighting each other and keeping you from doing what you feel you should. 18 But if you obey the Spirit, the Law of Moses has no control over you.
19 People’s desires make them give in to immoral ways, filthy thoughts, and shameful deeds. 20 They worship idols, practice witchcraft, hate others, and are hard to get along with. People become jealous, angry, and selfish. They not only argue and cause trouble, but they are 21 envious. They get drunk, carry on at wild parties, and do other evil things as well. I told you before, and I am telling you again: No one who does these things will share in the blessings of God’s kingdom.
22 God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, 23 gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. 24 And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. 25 God’s Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit.
^ Back to top. ^
Luke 9
51 Not long before it was time for Jesus to be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind to go to Jerusalem. 52 He sent some messengers on ahead to a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. 53 But he was on his way to Jerusalem, so the people there refused to welcome him. 54 When the disciples James and John saw what was happening, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy these people?”
55 But Jesus turned and corrected them for what they had said. 56 Then they all went on to another village.
57 Along the way someone said to Jesus, “I’ll go anywhere with you!”
58 Jesus said, “Foxes have dens, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man doesn’t have a place to call his own.”
59 Jesus told someone else to come with him. But the man said, “Lord, let me wait until I bury my father.”
60 Jesus answered, “Let the dead take care of the dead, while you go and tell about God’s kingdom.”
61 Then someone said to Jesus, “I want to go with you, Lord, but first let me go back and take care of things at home.”
62 Jesus answered, “Anyone who starts ploughing and keeps looking back isn’t worth a thing to God’s kingdom!”
^ Back to top. ^
[Did you miss last week’s Sunday Services? They can now be found at Worship Archive – June 22nd 2025.]
Methodist Church: Hillside Circuit 
You must be logged in to post a comment.