[Did you miss last Sunday’s services? They can still be found at Worship Archive – May 16th 2021.]
Sunday Services from Hillside Circuit for May 23rd 2021:
Theme: Empower Your Church
Occasion: Pentecost
Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b
Ezekiel 37: 1-14
Acts 2: 1-21
John 15: 26-27
[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.
Spirit Song (O Let The Son Of God Enfold You).
Come, Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire.
Spirit of the Living 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 104
24 Our LORD, by your wisdom you made so many things;
the whole earth is covered with your living creatures.
25 But what about the ocean so big and wide?
It is alive with creatures, large and small.
26 And there are the ships, as well as Leviathan,
the monster you created to splash in the sea.
27 All of these depend on you to provide them with food,
28 and you feed each one with your own hand,
until they are full.
29 But when you turn away, they are terrified;
when you end their life, they die and rot.
30 You created all of them by your Spirit,
and you give new life to the earth.
31 Our LORD, we pray that your glory will last forever
and that you will be pleased
with what you have done.
32 You look at the earth, and it trembles.
You touch the mountains, and smoke goes up.
33 As long as I live,
I will sing and praise you, the LORD God.
34 I hope my thoughts will please you,
because you are the one who makes me glad.
35b With all my heart I praise you, LORD! I praise you!
Ezekiel 37
1 Some time later, I felt the LORD’S power take control of me, and his Spirit carried me to a valley full of bones. 2 The LORD showed me all around, and everywhere I looked I saw bones that were dried out. 3 He said, “Ezekiel, son of man, can these bones come back to life?”
I replied, “LORD God, only you can answer that.”
4 He then told me to say:
Dry bones, listen to what the LORD is saying to you, 5 “I, the LORD God, will put breath in you, and once again you will live. 6 I will wrap you with muscles and skin and breathe life into you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”
7 I did what the LORD said, but before I finished speaking, I heard a rattling noise. The bones were coming together! 8 I saw muscles and skin cover the bones, but they had no life in them.
9 The LORD said:
Ezekiel, now say to the wind, “The LORD God commands you to blow from every direction and to breathe life into these dead bodies, so they can live again.”
10 As soon as I said this, the wind blew among the bodies, and they came back to life! They all stood up, and there were enough to make a large army.
11 The LORD said:
Ezekiel, the people of Israel are like dead bones. They complain that they are dried up and that they have no hope for the future. 12 So tell them, “I, the LORD God, promise to open your graves and set you free. I will bring you back to Israel, 13 and when that happens, you will realize that I am the LORD. 14 My Spirit will give you breath, and you will live again. I will bring you home, and you will know that I have kept my promise. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
Acts 2
1 On the day of Pentecost all the LORD’S followers were together in one place. 2 Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. 3 Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. 4 The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.
5 Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. 6 And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages. 7 They were excited and amazed, and said:
Don’t all these who are speaking come from Galilee? 8 Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? 9 Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam. Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, 11 Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done.
12 Everyone was excited and confused. Some of them even kept asking each other, “What does all this mean?”
13 Others made fun of the LORD’S followers and said, “They are drunk.”
14 Peter stood with the eleven apostles and spoke in a loud and clear voice to the crowd:
Friends and everyone else living in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I have to say! 15 You are wrong to think that these people are drunk. After all, it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 But this is what God had the prophet Joel say,
17 “When the last days come,
I will give my Spirit to everyone.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will have dreams.
18 In those days I will give my Spirit to my servants,
to my servants, both men and women,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will work miracles in the sky above
and wonders on the earth below.
There will be blood and fire
and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will turn dark,
and the moon will be as red as blood
before the great and wonderful day
of the Lord appears.
21 Then the Lord will save everyone
who asks for his help.”
John 15
26 I will send you the Spirit who comes from the Father and shows what is true. The Spirit will help you and will tell you about me. 27 Then you will also tell others about me, because you have been with me from the beginning.
[Continue reading below]
John 16
4b I was with you at the first, and so I didn’t tell you these things. 5 But now I am going back to the Father who sent me, and none of you asks me where I am going. 6 You are very sad from hearing all of this. 7 But I tell you that I am going to do what is best for you. That is why I am going away. The Holy Spirit cannot come to help you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you.
8 The Spirit will come and show the people of this world the truth about sin and God’s justice and the judgment. 9 The Spirit will show them that they are wrong about sin, because they didn’t have faith in me. 10 They are wrong about God’s justice, because I am going to the Father, and you won’t see me again. 11 And they are wrong about the judgment, because God has already judged the ruler of this world.
12 I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. 13 The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. 14 The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you.
Text version of the Children’s Address for Hillside Circuit on May 23rd 2021 with Mrs Chiedza Chagudhuma:
I greet you all in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our theme today is Empower your church.
Our Bible readings:
Ezekiel 37 vs 1-14
Acts 2 vs 1-21
John 15 vs 26-27
May you read Acts and John with the help of your parents at home. Thank you.
In Ezekiel 37 vs 1-14. The Israelites were in Exile. Their city Jerusalem had been destroyed. The nation of Israel had come to an end. To prophet Ezekiel in a vision, it appeared as if a great army had been slaughtered in battle and the bodies of the dead left to rot in the sun.All that was left was a lot of dry bones. Israel’s condition appeared to be beyond hope. God promises Ezekiel to do the impossible. Bringing Israel to a living nation as if he brings the scattered bones together, puts flesh on them and breathes life into them. Dead Israel will become a living nation again but only through the direct creative action of God. Why was Ezekiel able to bring the dry bones to life? God empowered him. The hand of God was upon him, he was filled with the Spirit of God, God led him and gave him power to prophesy.
What do we learn from this as Sunday scholars. We learn that we are children of God. God has Empowered us with the Holy Spirit just like what he does to Ezekiel. What we are expected to do now is to empower our church by singing in the church or choir, praying, reading the Bible, bringing musical instruments like hosho to the church, learning to beat drums, operating key boards, inviting friends to church among others. If we as children of God empower our church it will keep on moving forward.
Let us pray. Thank you
Methodist Church: Hillside Circuit 