Sunday Service from Hillside Circuit for March 23rd 2025:
Lectionary Theme: Repent and be saved
Occasion: 3rd Sunday in Lent
Lectionary readings:
Psalm 63: 1-8
Isaiah 55: 1-9
1 Corinthians 10: 1-13
Luke 13: 1-9
[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.
Tell out my soul.
God forgave my sin.
Here I am (Majesty).
To be in your presence.
O Heavenly King.
Arise, my soul.
Rock of ages.
Day by day.
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:
[No Children’s Address was received today.]
Sermon:
Bible readings:
Psalm 63
1 You are my God. I worship you.
In my heart, I long for you,
as I would long for a stream in a scorching desert.
2 I have seen your power and your glory
in the place of worship.
3 Your love means more than life to me,
and I praise you.
4 As long as I live, I will pray to you.
5 I will sing joyful praises and be filled with excitement
like a guest at a banquet.
6 I think about you before I go to sleep,
and my thoughts turn to you during the night.
7 You have helped me,
and I sing happy songs in the shadow of your wings.
8 I stay close to you,
and your powerful arm supports me.
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Isaiah 55
1 If you are thirsty, come and drink water!
If you don’t have any money, come, eat what you want!
Drink wine and milk without paying a cent.
2 Why waste your money on what really isn’t food?
Why work hard for something that doesn’t satisfy?
Listen carefully to me,
and you will enjoy the very best foods.
3 Pay close attention! Come to me and live.
I will promise you the eternal love and loyalty
that I promised David.
4 I made him the leader and ruler of the nations;
he was my witness to them.
5 You will call out to nations you have never known.
And they have never known you,
but they will come running because I am the LORD,
the holy God of Israel, and I have honoured you.
6 Turn to the LORD! He can still be found.
Call out to God! He is near.
7 Give up your crooked ways and your evil thoughts.
Return to the LORD our God.
He will be merciful and forgive your sins.
8 The LORD says: “My thoughts and my ways
are not like yours.
9 Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
my thoughts and my ways are higher than yours.
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1 Corinthians 10
1 Friends, I want to remind you that all of our ancestors walked under the cloud and went through the sea. 2 This was like being baptised and becoming followers of Moses. 3 All of them also ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink, which flowed from the spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. 5 But most of them did not please God. So they died, and their bodies were scattered all over the desert.
6 What happened to them is a warning to keep us from wanting to do the same evil things. 7 They worshipped idols, just as the Scriptures say, “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance around.” So don’t worship idols. 8 Some of those people did shameful things, and in a single day about twenty-three thousand of them died. Don’t do shameful things as they did. 9 And don’t try to test Christ, as some of them did and were later bitten by poisonous snakes. 10 Don’t even grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as a warning to us. All this was written in the Scriptures to teach us who live in these last days.
12 Even if you think you can stand up to temptation, be careful not to fall. 13 You are tempted in the same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be trusted not to let you be tempted too much, and he will show you how to escape from your temptations.
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Luke 13
1 About this same time Jesus was told that Pilate had given orders for some people from Galilee to be killed while they were offering sacrifices. 2 Jesus replied:
Do you think that these people were worse sinners than everyone else in Galilee just because of what happened to them? 3 Not at all! But you can be sure that if you don’t turn back to God, every one of you will also be killed. 4 What about those eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were worse than everyone else in Jerusalem? 5 Not at all! But you can be sure that if you don’t turn back to God, every one of you will also die.
6 Jesus then told them this story:
A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. One day he went out to pick some figs, but he didn’t find any. 7 So he said to the gardener, “For three years I have come looking for figs on this tree, and I haven’t found any yet. Chop it down! Why should it take up space?”
8 The gardener answered, “Master, leave it for another year. I’ll dig around it and put some manure on it to make it grow. 9 Maybe it will have figs on it next year. If it doesn’t, you can have it cut down.”
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[Did you miss last week’s Sunday Services? They can now be found at Worship Archive – March 16th 2025.]
Methodist Church: Hillside Circuit 
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