Welcome and Greeting
Here we are back again with you. Thank you for your understanding as we had a couple of week’s break. It has been good to hear of some new contacts made amongst you, with phone calls, emails and cards which have been much appreciated. We look forward now to sharing this service with you all.
Opening prayer
God has made us, with all the saints from every generation, one in Christ.
He has set his seal upon us and, as a pledge of what is to come, has given the Spirit to dwell in our hearts. Thank You Father that You are here with us tonight and that You love the worship of Your people. Please help us to open our hearts to You now.
Peace to you from God our Father who hears our cry.
Peace from his Son Jesus Christ whose death brings healing.
Peace from the Holy Spirit who gives us life and strength.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you
Song: 10,000 REASONS (Bless the Lord)
Chorus:
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
O my soul,
Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, O my soul.
I’ll worship Your holy name.
Verse 1:
The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning;
It’s time to sing Your song again.
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me,
Let me be singing when the evening comes. Chorus
Verse 2:
You’re rich in love, and You’re slow to anger.
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind.
For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing;
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find. Chorus
Verse 3:
And on that day when my strength is failing,
The end draws near, and my time has come;
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending:
Ten thousand years and then forevermore! Chorus
(C) Matt Redman
CCLI No 384593
Psalm 100. For giving grateful praise.
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Matthew 10: 40-42
40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.
42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
Devotion: Robyn Today’s mission – What does it look like?
Matthew’s Gospel
Chapters 8-9 Jesus’ ministry: teaching, healing, casting out demons, raising the dead
At the end of chapter 9 Jesus looks at the crowds of people around him and has great compassion for them. In verse 36 He says, ‘they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’. So, He tells His disciples in verses 37, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into the harvest.’
We then begin Matthew 10 with the verses we had two weeks ago, where Jesus sends His disciples out to the neighbouring village to do all those things they had seen Jesus do. The teaching, the healing, the casting out demons. This is mission. But is it our mission?
When I read these verses and Jesus’ thoughts, I am reminded of precisely what our world around us is like. For many people, the isolation and regulations of life with the corona virus have made them listless and disconsolate, sad and without motivation. Sheep without a shepherd.
While for others, it has given us a time to try new things, to contact old friends, to email and phone people, to have coffee with friends. To reach out to others and to sometimes put away former busyness and spend that time reaching out to others.
This is what today’s passage in these three verses is about.
- V40 Welcoming people. By your facial expression and first words a person can know if you are welcoming them or merely putting up with them because you feel you should. If we welcome others, it is as though we are welcoming Jesus and the one who sent Him, God the Father.
V41 talks about welcoming a prophet and a righteous person. It is important to give a friendly welcome or hello to whoever we can in church, at the shops, over the internet or wherever or however we encounter them. When we are at the coast especially, and out walking along the beach, I look at everyone I pass and say hello. It is amazing the different responses I receive. However, I love it when someone also greets me and stops for a chat.
- Being Hospitable V42 says that ‘if anyone gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly, I tell you, that person certainly will not lose their reward’.
The meaning here is whoever is prepared to give the least thing to the least important person will please God by their hospitality. On Facebook there is a page called The Kindness Pandemic. On this page you can read all sorts of lovely, generous things people are doing for each other. The only trouble I have with this is that doing an act of kindness should be a surprise, and out of the ordinary event when people are kind to each other. Not necessarily something that should be announced or proclaimed via Facebook!
I know that many of you are doing acts of kindness very often and it is wonderful to hear about them. I think that is one thing that has benefitted our church during this Corona Virus season. Because we miss each other, we want to do something nice for those we are missing, or for those whom God puts on our mind. This should be our norm. Giving glasses of water to those who need them, whoever they are.
As Jesus talks about the harvest (those in need) being plentiful, we need to ask the Lord of the Harvest, Jesus, whom He would have us welcome or be hospitable to. If we all ask and listen, then do an act of reaching out, of welcoming, of hospitality, everyone in our church should be reached in some way. Everyone should feel valued and loved. We still have a way to go, but I believe, from what I am hearing, we are well on the way.
And from our Psalm today we have a beautiful verse that we can share with others.
V5. ‘For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.’ That is precisely why we can (V1) ‘Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth’.
Think about what God has done for you during this Corona Virus time, how He has helped you and sustained you; what new things He has helped you with. These are things you can share with others. I have found this an exciting time as I listen to others and the challenges they have taken on. And remember above all things that God has promised in Deuteronomy 31:
Never will I leave you
Never will I forsake you.
And in Isaiah 49: 15-16
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands!
As we embrace these verses and keep them in our hearts God will use us to be people who make a difference to others, to play our part in being engaged in mission in today’s world.
Song: Christ, Be Our Light
Longing for light, we wait in darkness.
Longing for truth, we turn to you.
Make us your own, your holy people,
Light for the world to see.
Chorus:
Christ, be our light! Shine in our hearts.
Shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light! Shine in your Church
Gathered today.
Longing for peace, our world is troubled.
Longing for hope, many despair.
Your word alone has power to save us
Make us your living voice. Chorus
Longing for food, many are hungry.
Longing for water, many still thirst.
Make us your bread, broken for others,
Shared until all are fed. Chorus
Longing for shelter people are homeless.
Longing for warmth, many are cold.
Make us your building, sheltering others,
Walls made of living stone. Chorus
Many the gifts, many the people,
Many the hearts that yearn to belong.
Let us be servants to one another,
Making your kingdom come. Chorus
(2000) Bernadette Farrell
OCP Publications
CCLI No 384593
Prayers
Confession:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you that your word says that as we draw near to you,
you will draw near to us by the working of your Spirit in us.
We are sorry for doing those things that have displeased You
and we ask for Your forgiveness.
Please cleanse our hearts and hands and minds.
Help us to walk in love and newness of life
so that we can be more like Jesus
and make him known to all we meet. Amen
If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We thank you Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, we come before you today, thanking You that we can enter Your gates with thanksgiving and your courts with praise. We come before You now with thankful hearts that You have kept us all safe through another week. Thank You that Your love endures forever, and Your faithfulness continues through all generations.
Please help each one of us to be people who are welcomers; who are generous and who are helpful. Please show us how we can be Your light in the little world around us. Thank You that the Holy Spirit helps us through the difficult times and the times when we need your strength, wisdom and power.
We pray again today for all our health workers who provide us with the care we need. Please protect them from the Corona virus. We pray for researchers and ask that a COVID vaccine will be developed soon.
As winter is with us now, we pray also for protection from the flu and colds.
We pray again for schoolteachers and children as they have their last week of school before the holidays. Please give them all patience and understanding. We commit to You especially our own children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Thank You that SRE can begin again in schools next term. Please give wisdom to those who teach SRE.
We pray for our local council, for our state and territory governments, and for our national parliament. Please be with all those who make laws and help them to do so with good judgement. Please continue to give wisdom to our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and to all members of our governments.
We pray for those members of F5 who are unwell, and we think especially of Ruth Dawe, Robert Lawrence, Penny, Anne’s Mum and any others known to us. Please bring Your comfort, healing and peace to them. We pray for people who are struggling because of loss of jobs and lack of income. We do ask that their needs will be met and that no one in Goulburn goes hungry or cold. Please show us if there is any way we can help bring joy and comfort to someone this week.
We ask that you give each one of us strength to go forward this week. We ask for healing for those who are unwell, and for comfort for those who are lonely. Please help each one of us to look to You for our strength, our peace and our comfort and to make the most of this time of continued changing isolation. Please show us ways that we can encourage others. We pray that you will protect each of us from a second outbreak of the Corona Virus.
In Jesus name.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and forever. Amen
Song: All My Days
All my days I will sing this song of gladness,
give my praise to the Fountain of Delights;
for in my helplessness you heard my cry,
and waves of mercy poured down on my life.
Chorus
Beautiful Saviour, Wonderful Counsellor,
clothed in majesty, Lord of History
you’re the Way, the Truth, the Life.
Star of the Morning, glorious in holiness,
you’re the Risen One, heaven’s champion,
and you reign, you reign over all!
I will trust in the cross of my Redeemer,
I will sing of the blood that never fails,
of sins forgiven, of conscience cleansed,
of death defeated and life without end. Chorus
I long to be where the praise is never-ending.
yearn to dwell where the glory never fades,
where countless worshippers will share one song,
and cries of ‘worthy’ will honour the Lamb! Chorus
© 1998 Thankyou Music/worshiptogether.com songs
Stuart Townend CCL Lic No384593
Blessing
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, evermore Amen.
Prayer Points
• Thank God that we can join together for our services, even though far apart.
• Ask God to show you ways you can contact others from F5, F10 and beyond to encourage them along. Pray for wisdom to know who to ring, who to send a message or note to
• Pray for nurses, doctors and hospital staff as they learn to work differently and wisely
• Pray for those who are going through difficult times with sickness, depression, loneliness, loss of work, separation from family and friends.
• Pray that we will each have God’s strength and wisdom to be able to make each day worthwhile.
• Pray for Scott Morrison and our governments as they make unprecedented decisions regarding all things connected to the Coronavirus. We especially ask for wisdom for them as they direct the opening up again of Australia.
• Pray for teachers and students as they settle back into school
Enquiries – Paul (0418 633 396) and Robyn (0414 254 154)
Website – www.f5refresh.org.au & Facebook
PLEASE SUPPORT THE MINISTRY OF F5
Direct Debit – for F5 – is now available through the Anglican Development and Investment Fund http://www.aidf.com.au/www/home/
The details of the account are as follows:-
Account Name: F5-Refresh Ministries; BSB: 702-389 Account Number: 05209657
