Sunday 23rd January 2022

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Today’s service sheet can be downloaded here

Today’s service should be streaming live from 10:30 AM and can be accessed here. It is best viewed on a laptop or desktop computer. If you’re viewing on a phone or tablet, you may need to use headphones to access the sound.

 

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SONG

Holy holy holy, Lord God almighty
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty.
God in three persons, blesséd Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns
around the glassy sea.
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
who was and is and evermore shall be.

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see.
Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee.
Perfect in power, in love and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name,
in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty.
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

 

WELCOME by Josh Milsom

 

 

SONGS

Come and stand before your maker
Full of wonder, full of fear;
Come behold his power and glory
Yet with confidence draw near,
For the one who holds the heavens
And commands the stars above
Is the God who bends to bless us
With an unrelenting love.

Rejoice!
Come and lift your hands and raise your voice;
He is worthy of all praise, Rejoice!
Sing the mercies of your King
And with trembling, rejoice.

We are children of the promise,
The beloved of the Lord.
Won with everlasting kindness,
Bought with sacrificial blood.
Bringing reconciliation
To a world that longs to know
The affections of a father
Who will never let them go.

All our sickness, all our sorrows
Jesus carried up the hill.
He has walked this path before us,
He is walking with us still;
Turning tragedy to triumph,
Turning agony to praise,
There is blessing in the battle
So take heart and stand amazed.

 


 

The splendour of the King clothed in majesty;
let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice.
He wraps Himself in light and darkness tries to hide
and trembles at His voice, and trembles at His voice.

How great is our God!
Sing with me – how great is our God!
And all will see how great, how great is our God!

And age to age He stands and time is in His hands;
Beginning and the End, Beginning and the End.
The Godhead, three in one; Father, Spirit, Son.
The Lion and the Lamb, the Lion and the Lamb.

Name above all names! Worthy of all praise!
My heart will sing: how great is our God!

 

CHURCH FAMILY NEWS!

 

Our children and young people go out to their groups

 

PRAYERS led by Cate Ross-Waddell

 

SONG

Strength will rise
as we wait upon the Lord,
we will wait upon the Lord,
we will wait upon the Lord. (repeat)

Our God, you reign forever.
Our hope, our strong deliverer.

You are the everlasting God,
the everlasting God.
You do not faint, you won’t grow weary.
You’re the defender of the weak,
you comfort those in need,
you lift us up on wings like eagles.

 

BIBLE READING read by Becca Milsom

1 Kings 18:1-40

18 After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” 2 So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. 3 And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, 4 and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.) 5 And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.” 6 So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself.

7 And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” 8 And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’” 9 And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? 10 As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, ‘He is not here’, he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. 11 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ 12 And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth. 13 Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water? 14 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here”’; and he will kill me.” 15 And Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” 16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.

17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

20 So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. 23 Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. 24 And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” 25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” 26 And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped round the altar that they had made. 27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name”, 32 and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” 34 And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. 35 And the water ran round the altar and filled the trench also with water.

36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” 40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

 

BIBLE TALK by Richard Hopkins

 

CONFESSION

Our loving heavenly father,
you have made great promises to us.
But in our everyday lives,
we often forget about them.
Lord, please forgive us
and help us to trust you.

You have promised to provide for us,
but we still worry,
as if you had made no promises at all.
Lord, please forgive us
and help us to trust you.

You have told us to worship you alone
But in our lives we turn to other gods
Which are really no gods at all.
Lord, please forgive us
and help us to trust you.

You have promised that to follow you
is the best way to live.
But we go our own way instead.
Lord, please forgive us
and help us to trust you.

You have promised us a home forever with you
and yet we tend to live as if this world
is where we belong.
Lord, please forgive us
and help us to trust you.

Thank you that you sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to die for all our sins and rise again
to bring us new life.
You promise that all who believe in him
will be forgiven and welcomed home.
Thank you Father,
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH

Do you believe and trust in God the Father,
source of all being and life,
the one for whom we exist?
We believe and trust in him.

Do you believe and trust in God the Son,
who took our human nature,
died for us and rose again?
We believe and trust in him.

Do you believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit,
who gives life to the people of God
and makes Christ known in the world?
We believe and trust in him.

This is the faith of the Church.
This is our faith.
We believe and trust in one God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen.

 

SONG

In Christ alone my hope is found,
he is my light, my strength, my song;
this cornerstone, this solid ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all.
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone who took on flesh,
fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
scorned by the ones he came to save:
till on that cross as Jesus died,
the wrath of God was satisfied –
for every sin on him was laid;
here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground his body lay,
light of the world by darkness slain:
then bursting forth in glorious day
up from the grave He rose again!
And as he stands in victory
sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
for I am His and he is mine –
bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
this is the power of Christ in me;
from life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
can ever pluck me from his hand;
till He returns or calls me home
here in the power of Christ I’ll stand!

 

CLOSING PRAYER

 

 

Some material in this service is © Used by permission CCL Licence # 1102690. The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.