Online service, 29th November

27/11/2020

Online Service

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Welcome to our CP10 service online

Good morning and welcome to our Sunday service! Thanks for joining us today as we gather online as a community of believers who seek to know our Saviour, Jesus better and to love others more deeply.

Today Pastor Chadd concludes our series from the Book of Joshua, focusing on Joshua’s last words in chapter 24. This chapter is like a marriage recommitment ceremony, during which Joshua reminds Israel of all God’s faithfulness to them (and their ancestors) and then calls Israel to recommit themselves to serving God.

Opening Songs

Let’s begin our last set of online songs singing Christ Our Hope in Life and Death. Life and church have certainly been bizarre during COVID, with many changes that will follow even as we go back in person, but the one thing that remains constant is the hope that Christ gives us.

In Joshua today, God reminds the Israelites of his faithfulness to them; it is similarly a call for us to remember how he has the power to save us and take care of us, above any other power.

Announcements

Return to on-site services

By God’s grace, the Covid situation in Australia has improved so that now we can meet again on site for worship at Strathfield (90 Homebush Rd) each Sunday at 2pm. This means that today is our last combined Zoom service. However, we would still love for you to join us for online church via our livestream and recordings on YouTube (linked from our website, sign up from our weekly emails, or https://www.youtube.com/user/CroydonParkTen).

If you can join us at church, Covid measures will take place, including temperature checks and registration of attendance via a CovidSafe QR code at church.

Christmas at Church

Although Covid has affected how we have worshiped together, as a church we nevertheless look forward to celebrating Christmas together. This year we will have:

Gingerbread House parties at various CP10 members’ homes.
Christmas Eve Carols Service at 4:30pm, 24 December combined with S9 at WSCCC Strathfield (led by CP10, and will be livestreamed).
Christmas Morning Service at 9am, 25 December, combined with S9 at WSCCC Strathfield (led by S9 and S430, and will be livestreamed).

Please join us!

Other Announcements

Please refer to our bulletin attachment in the service email for other announcements about church ministries such as Scripture teaching, training events and ordinations.

Parents, start KM online to view the latest from Georgie and QuizWorx.

Offertory

Like the Old Testament offerings, our own monetary offerings today are more than donations – but are a spiritual way to give back to God, as an act of worship and gratitude, reflecting what is in our hearts. The church seeks to honour God with how our finances are used. It is wise to balance your giving across the church’s 3 funds (general, mission and building funds). For regulars, we encourage you to set up automatic electronic deposits, otherwise, you may also give using the banking details below. Note that currently the greatest financial need is for the general fund, which covers the ministry costs and pastors’ stipends.

Even if you have set up automatic deposits, please take a moment now individually to prayerfully offer your “offering” to the Lord from your heart. Give thanks that He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ and also generously meets our daily needs.

This year’s weekly budget targets are:

General Fund weekly target: $21,492
Mission Fund weekly target: $3,243
Building Fund weekly target: $6,923

Give online

using bank transfer, Card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Regular members can give online as an act of worship. visit: wsccc.org.au/giving/

General fund

BSB: 082080
Account number 482436244
Name: WSCCC

Mission fund

BSB: 082080
Account: 528560495
Name: WSCCC

Building fund

BSB: 082451
Account: 739320475
Name: WSCCC

Congregational prayer

Please remember to pray for locals who are hungry and in need.

Please continue to pray that God will grant wisdom to our CP10 leaders as they work through the details of returning to onsite services at Strathfield.

Gingerbread house parties and WSCCC Carols service: Please be praying for each other as we plan and invite these Christmas celebrations. Pray for our friends, that more may truly know Jesus this Christmas.

Pray for Wayne and Angela Chen who are Christians we have sent to Taichung, Taiwan to minister to:

Families of children with special needs. Thank God that the evangelistic camp will proceed in December, despite no main speaker (due to Covid), but pray for Angela’s preparation of the new programme and the 150 uni students/workers who will care for the children during the retreat. Pray for the impact of the gospel on over 80 families.
Working class people of Taiwan. Together with churches and seminaries, Wayne has led training seminars for students to minister to these people

Bible Reading

Today’s Bible reading is Joshua 24:1-28.

The Covenant Renewed at Shechem

¹Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

²Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. ³But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, ⁴and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.

⁵“‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. ⁶When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen^[a] as far as the Red Sea.^[b] ⁷But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

⁸“‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. ⁹When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. ¹⁰But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.

¹¹“‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. ¹²I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. ¹³So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’

¹⁴“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁶Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! ¹⁷It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. ¹⁸And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”

¹⁹Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. ²⁰If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

²¹But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”

²²Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”

“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.

²³“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

²⁴And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.”

²⁵On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. ²⁶And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord.

²⁷“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”

²⁸Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.

Sermon

Song of Response

In response to Chadd’s sermon, let’s sing of God’s faithfulness – a joy that we share as Christians, in which the only appropriate response would be to declare our faithfulness to him.