Sunday 31st May: Pentecost Sunday
Major Graham Bailey
Welcome to Pentecost worship, what better way to start than to remind ourselves that this is a new day, given to us by God for our benefit.
Song: This is the Day
Salvation Army Songbook # 398
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Click on the image to hear the song.
The accompaniment is provided by special request and played by Patricia from Birmingham Citadel & The Kenya Trust. |
Prayer:
click on the sound bar to hear the prayer
Songsters: 'His Provision'
John Gowans
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Recorded at Bedford Congress Hall during Sunday worship on the 9th June 2019.
Songster Leader writes: This song written by General John Gowans when he was the Divisional Commander in Southern California almost 35 years ago, reminds us that, just as those first disciples were empowered, the Holy Spirit still gives us power and strength and equips us for our everyday life. |
Personal Word of Testimony: Beena
Dear All
Thank you for everyone’s thoughts and prayers for us, during my difficult time of sickness thank you all for sending cards, messages and flowers. We are overwhelmed with your love and thoughts.
On the first week of May, I was feeling unwell with having Covid symptoms. I went down for the Covid swab after 2 days the test result came back as negative. But the symptoms were getting worst. I called my GP, the GP advised that I have to isolate myself and continue with painkillers as the symptoms were still there even though test results are negative Doctor advised me to consider as Covid positive. I was getting severe head ache, body ache and sore throat. It got worse at night time.
One of the night I couldn’t sleep at all. I was experiencing severe headaches and body pain, even after taking strong medication. I didn’t have any relief. I was rolling in bed and couldn’t get any sleep. I started praying and I prayed ‘Lord you are great physician’. I have hope in you only Lord, you touch me and heal me. After that I felt better and I managed to sleep. During these days I felt God’s mercy and comfort. This lock-down time has given me an opportunity to get closer to God and strengthen my relationship with him.
Psalms 91-3-4(Contemporary English Version (CEV)
3 The Lord will keep you safe from secret traps and deadly diseases.
4 He will spread his wings over you and keep you secure. His faithfulness is like a shield or a city wall.
These bible words encouraged me every day.
During this quarantine I have spent most of the time reading the Bible and meditating upon it. I have also listened to many worship songs. There was one song particularly touched me. It was a Malayalam song (Indian Language) lyrics by a Priest called Father Sajan Thomas from India. He wrote this song while he was on Chemo-Therapy for cancer. While he was suffering with the illness, it encouraged him to write this song. These particular lines really touched me these lines translate as:
Rain doesn’t last forever
A Storm doesn’t last forever
Darkness doesn’t last forever
Pain doesn’t last forever
Suffering comes like waves in the sea,
But God is in control of everything.
So I can survive above all.
These lyrics provoked the story of Noah’s ark. The heavy rain and flood lasted only for 40 days, after that it came to an end. Noah’s ark landed on a mountain and Noah’s family and all the animals and birds inside were safe. God kept his promise and kept them safe during times of heavy rain and flood.
When we are going through difficult situations whether it is physical illness or mental stress, God’s grace will always be enough for us. There is always an end to a storm. No matter how strong it is. There is always an end to pain and sickness. God will help us to survive these situations; Our Lord will stay in the midst of all out situations.
We just need to call upon him Psalm 91-15 "When you are in trouble, call out to me. I will answer and be there to protect and honour you. Let us put all our faith in God,
He is our Protection,
He is our shield
He is our light in the darkness.
Let us call upon him during this time of uncertainty.
God answered all our prayers, I feel much better and hopefully I will return back to work from next week. Thank you for all your prayers and continue to keep us in your thoughts
Thank you.
Thank you for everyone’s thoughts and prayers for us, during my difficult time of sickness thank you all for sending cards, messages and flowers. We are overwhelmed with your love and thoughts.
On the first week of May, I was feeling unwell with having Covid symptoms. I went down for the Covid swab after 2 days the test result came back as negative. But the symptoms were getting worst. I called my GP, the GP advised that I have to isolate myself and continue with painkillers as the symptoms were still there even though test results are negative Doctor advised me to consider as Covid positive. I was getting severe head ache, body ache and sore throat. It got worse at night time.
One of the night I couldn’t sleep at all. I was experiencing severe headaches and body pain, even after taking strong medication. I didn’t have any relief. I was rolling in bed and couldn’t get any sleep. I started praying and I prayed ‘Lord you are great physician’. I have hope in you only Lord, you touch me and heal me. After that I felt better and I managed to sleep. During these days I felt God’s mercy and comfort. This lock-down time has given me an opportunity to get closer to God and strengthen my relationship with him.
Psalms 91-3-4(Contemporary English Version (CEV)
3 The Lord will keep you safe from secret traps and deadly diseases.
4 He will spread his wings over you and keep you secure. His faithfulness is like a shield or a city wall.
These bible words encouraged me every day.
During this quarantine I have spent most of the time reading the Bible and meditating upon it. I have also listened to many worship songs. There was one song particularly touched me. It was a Malayalam song (Indian Language) lyrics by a Priest called Father Sajan Thomas from India. He wrote this song while he was on Chemo-Therapy for cancer. While he was suffering with the illness, it encouraged him to write this song. These particular lines really touched me these lines translate as:
Rain doesn’t last forever
A Storm doesn’t last forever
Darkness doesn’t last forever
Pain doesn’t last forever
Suffering comes like waves in the sea,
But God is in control of everything.
So I can survive above all.
These lyrics provoked the story of Noah’s ark. The heavy rain and flood lasted only for 40 days, after that it came to an end. Noah’s ark landed on a mountain and Noah’s family and all the animals and birds inside were safe. God kept his promise and kept them safe during times of heavy rain and flood.
When we are going through difficult situations whether it is physical illness or mental stress, God’s grace will always be enough for us. There is always an end to a storm. No matter how strong it is. There is always an end to pain and sickness. God will help us to survive these situations; Our Lord will stay in the midst of all out situations.
We just need to call upon him Psalm 91-15 "When you are in trouble, call out to me. I will answer and be there to protect and honour you. Let us put all our faith in God,
He is our Protection,
He is our shield
He is our light in the darkness.
Let us call upon him during this time of uncertainty.
God answered all our prayers, I feel much better and hopefully I will return back to work from next week. Thank you for all your prayers and continue to keep us in your thoughts
Thank you.
Family Item: Song 'Ndoteura Muponisi'’ sung in Shona by the Limted family
'I Am Praying, Blessed Saviour'
Salvation Army Songbook #760
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I Am Praying, Blessed Saviour
Fanny Crosby I am praying, blessèd Saviour, To be more and more like Thee; I am praying that Thy Spirit Like a dove may rest on me. |
Thou who knowest all my weakness,
Thou who knowest all my care, While I plead each precious promise, Hear, O hear, and answer prayer! I am praying to be humbled By the power of grace divine; To be clothed upon with meekness And to have no will but Thine. Chorus I am praying, blessèd Saviour, And my constant prayer shall be For a perfect consecration That shall make me more like Thee. Chorus |
Bible Reading:
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Click on the image of the Scripture reading to hear Joyce bring us the Bible reading for today.
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Band: They Shall Come from the East
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The Bandmaster writes: Our thoughts this week are on Pentecost, which we celebrate as Christians. With this in mind the piece of music selected for today is ‘They Shall Come From the East’. With the words "They shall come from the east, they shall come from the west and sit down in the kingdom of God." An apt piece of music for Pentecost as we Christians come from all corners of the world to worship our God and Saviour.
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Song: Send the Fire
Salvation Army Songbook # 326
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Click on the image to start the song.
The recording of this song was made during worship at Bedford Congress Hall on the 20th May 2018. |
Thought:
Well, we have arrived at another of our Christian festivals, that of Pentecost, under lock-down. What a difference it makes!
As we saw last week, in Acts 1, just before the resurrected Jesus was taken up into heaven, he told the disciples about the Father's promised gift of the Holy Spirit which would soon be given to them in the form of a powerful baptism. He told them to wait in Jerusalem until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, which would empower them to go out into the world and be His witnesses.
A few days later, as we saw in our reading, on the Day of Pentecost the disciples were all together when the sound of a mighty rushing wind came down from heaven, and tongues of fire rested on the believers. The Bible says, "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." The believers communicated in languages they had never before spoken. They spoke with Jewish pilgrims of various languages from all across the Mediterranean world.
‘Normally’ we celebrate the fact that Pentecost is seen as the birthday of the Church - the time when the disciples were anointed by the promised Holy Spirit and the pilgrims who flocked to see what was going on said, “We all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”
There seems to be a few words / phrases that have, during this time, become part of our vocabulary & one of these is the phrase ‘new normal’. We don’t know what this ‘new normal’ is going to look like yet and many people are spending hours trying to come up with ideas. I think it’s safe to say that most people do not want things to go back to the way they were! (which itself is an interesting thing to think through).
For the disciples too there was a ‘new normal’. Normal had been having Jesus with them albeit unpredictably, now they had Jesus with them again - by His Holy Spirit – the new normal!
So, I wonder what our ‘new normal’ might look like? What do we hope for?
Well there can be many things that could / should happen but, to look at the Scripture that we’ve shared today, the thing that stood out for me is what the Pilgrims said about the disciples, “We all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” Not that the disciples were speaking in other languages, but they were speaking about what the wonderful things that God had done. That is what witnessing is about! If we are to witness, then we have to have something to witness about, our relationship with God has to be real and all we are then required to do is not have a degree in apologetics, but to witness to the difference that God is making / has made to our lives. Remember we have the empowering of the Holy Spirit in us! Remember how the disciples were transformed from a group who locked the doors for fear of anyone trying to find them into a group who stood out in the crowd and witnessed that they were followers of Jesus! We have the same Spirit’s anointing!
This last week, on Tuesday, was the 25th anniversary of Angie & my Commissioning. We stood on the platform at the Royal Albert Hall with our friends in the ‘Messengers of Hope’ session and sang our dedication song, written by Joy Webb, the chorus of which said:
‘Messenger, I’ll be Your messenger!
Where hope has died and left a blank despair
I’ll take the word of grace You’ve given me to share:
And in days when I can’t see the way
I know You’ll be a heart-beat’s prayer away
To energise the words I’ll try to say,
Your messenger.’
We all have a message of hope; of a future, don’t we? In so many places in these days there has been a real despair and lack of hope, but we can witness to a God who give us hope!
In Luke chapter 4 we read of Jesus when He witnessed to who He was and what He had come to do, He quoted from the prophet Isaiah and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
We’re all messengers of the hope that we have; to be witnesses of what we have experienced of God and we have been anointed and empowered to do be people who will do that. Come on, let’s dare to do it! Let’s dare to be different! Let’s witness to what has done for us!
As we saw last week, in Acts 1, just before the resurrected Jesus was taken up into heaven, he told the disciples about the Father's promised gift of the Holy Spirit which would soon be given to them in the form of a powerful baptism. He told them to wait in Jerusalem until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, which would empower them to go out into the world and be His witnesses.
A few days later, as we saw in our reading, on the Day of Pentecost the disciples were all together when the sound of a mighty rushing wind came down from heaven, and tongues of fire rested on the believers. The Bible says, "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them." The believers communicated in languages they had never before spoken. They spoke with Jewish pilgrims of various languages from all across the Mediterranean world.
‘Normally’ we celebrate the fact that Pentecost is seen as the birthday of the Church - the time when the disciples were anointed by the promised Holy Spirit and the pilgrims who flocked to see what was going on said, “We all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”
There seems to be a few words / phrases that have, during this time, become part of our vocabulary & one of these is the phrase ‘new normal’. We don’t know what this ‘new normal’ is going to look like yet and many people are spending hours trying to come up with ideas. I think it’s safe to say that most people do not want things to go back to the way they were! (which itself is an interesting thing to think through).
For the disciples too there was a ‘new normal’. Normal had been having Jesus with them albeit unpredictably, now they had Jesus with them again - by His Holy Spirit – the new normal!
So, I wonder what our ‘new normal’ might look like? What do we hope for?
Well there can be many things that could / should happen but, to look at the Scripture that we’ve shared today, the thing that stood out for me is what the Pilgrims said about the disciples, “We all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” Not that the disciples were speaking in other languages, but they were speaking about what the wonderful things that God had done. That is what witnessing is about! If we are to witness, then we have to have something to witness about, our relationship with God has to be real and all we are then required to do is not have a degree in apologetics, but to witness to the difference that God is making / has made to our lives. Remember we have the empowering of the Holy Spirit in us! Remember how the disciples were transformed from a group who locked the doors for fear of anyone trying to find them into a group who stood out in the crowd and witnessed that they were followers of Jesus! We have the same Spirit’s anointing!
This last week, on Tuesday, was the 25th anniversary of Angie & my Commissioning. We stood on the platform at the Royal Albert Hall with our friends in the ‘Messengers of Hope’ session and sang our dedication song, written by Joy Webb, the chorus of which said:
‘Messenger, I’ll be Your messenger!
Where hope has died and left a blank despair
I’ll take the word of grace You’ve given me to share:
And in days when I can’t see the way
I know You’ll be a heart-beat’s prayer away
To energise the words I’ll try to say,
Your messenger.’
We all have a message of hope; of a future, don’t we? In so many places in these days there has been a real despair and lack of hope, but we can witness to a God who give us hope!
In Luke chapter 4 we read of Jesus when He witnessed to who He was and what He had come to do, He quoted from the prophet Isaiah and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
We’re all messengers of the hope that we have; to be witnesses of what we have experienced of God and we have been anointed and empowered to do be people who will do that. Come on, let’s dare to do it! Let’s dare to be different! Let’s witness to what has done for us!
Song: I Dare to be Different
The Salvation Army Songbook # 321
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Click on the image to start the song.
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Benediction Song: May the God of Hope
Doug Horley
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Click on the image to hear the song. |
Can you help?
In this current situation when our church doors are closed to our normal activities but our work to support those in need our normal source of funds (Sunday Tithes and Offerings) have reduced dramatically. We need your help, so that we continue to be ready to meet the ongoing needs of our community that will undoubtedly impact beyond this lock down period. If you are willing to help please visit our Just Giving Page to make a donation to this work. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bedfordsa