WS Online – 14 June 2020
Interactive service outline for Church at Home
Welcome to WS Online!
Welcome to our English online service at West Sydney Chinese Christian Church!
Some of you may be watching this service first thing in the morning. There are so many things that fight for our attention from the moment we wake up: our hungry stomach, the noisy kids, the news alerts, the Facebook feed, the weather report, but let’s start this morning with worshipping God together.
Over the next hour, we have the privilege of connecting with God and hearing what He has to say to us. Quite simply, we have the tools to do this through prayer, songs of praise and God’s word to us in the Bible. We’re also looking forward to hearing from one of our missionaries, Aaron Koh, as he speaks on the topic of Neighbours in a Global Village.
This service is designed in such a way to accommodate for both families and groups worshipping together but also for those who wish to follow along by themselves. Our online Sunday School materials are available here: https://wsccc.org.au/children-strathfield/
Service Video
Interactive Service Outline
Our call to worship
As we begin today’s service please read with us from Psalm 9:7-8.
“7 The LORD reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgement.
8 He rules the world in righteousness
and justges the peoples with equity.”
Opening prayer
Dear Lord,
We praise you, for you are a God who reigns and judges with equity. This brings us both comfort and fear.
Lord God we are sorry when we ignore the truth, and worse, when we fight against the truth. We pray that we won’t be like the mobs who tried to drown out the voice of Paul and Silas as they spread the good news from town to town.
Forgive us for whenever our words and actions dishonour your name. We pray in Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Opening songs
Let’s sing our opening song that celebrates God’s grace for us.
By Faith
Announcements
Here are some items of news for us as a church family.
- Missions Month – Who is my neighbour? Join us the next three Sundays as we explore how Jesus radically redefines the phrase “Love thy Neighbour”. Hear from our local and global missionaries and find out how you can join in the work of the church as we support God’s work around the world.
- Conversation on the Lawn – Stay after our S9 service this Sunday and catch up with others on the virtual lawn! We will be hosting a Zoom session for those who would like to have fellowship with others from 10:00am to 10:30am. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and join us at our Zoom meeting ID found in your weekly email. Youth who would like to join will need to attain parental consent.
- S430 Watch Party – Worship together with others at our S430 service! Join our Zoom meeting at 4:30pm at meeting ID found in your weekly email. Youth who would like to join will need to attain parental consent.
Covid-19 has led to a lot of inconveniences but also more opportunities, in particular, with home discipleship. As a church, we seek to “be a people of God, growing in Christ, reaching out with the Gospel until Jesus returns”. If you’re a parent, why not use this opportunity now to grow your children and youth in the Lord and “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). 555 Challenge is a discipleship tool developed by Youthworks to help your family to start building a home discipleship habit today. Join us for the 555 challenge and sign your family up here: https://youthworks.net/555
Congregational Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father
We come before you now as a broken people in a broken world. Lord God may your justice prevail, may all wrongs be made right, in your righteousness. Give us ears to hear the truth, and eyes to see your beauty.
We pray for our world, but may that not blind us from our own failings. First we pray for ourselves. That our hearts be transformed, softened to hear your truth, and to see your beauty. Lord, may this drive us to weep for our world, so that we may spread your good news like Paul and Silas even in the face of vocal and harsh oppression.
Thank you for Aaron Koh and his family, his wife Amy, his kids, Zoe, Felicity, Jonathan, and Mitchell. May they experience your love day by day, as they work in Taiwan. And may they spread this love to the people in Taiwan. Thank you for the knowledge, wisdom and skills you have given Aaron to preach your word. Continue to embolden him so that lost people will find you through him.
Lord we pray for our media driven world, which has given many people a voice. Yet, with the rise of our connectedness comes also the rise of our anonymity. We don’t speak to each other as people but as contestants. Lord soften our hearts to see each other as people, each of us with our own flaws. May we allow others to challenge and even change us, just as we desire to challenge and transform people more into your likeness.
Lord you are the God who reigns, you are the God who judges with equity. We trust all these things to you, in Jesus name.
Amen.
Bible reading
The reading for today comes from Acts 17 (NIV)
When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.
5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
In Berea
10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
In Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[c]
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
Sermon
Today we’ll hear from Aaron Koh as he speaks on the topic of “Neighbours in a Global Village” Please listen here to the recording:
Please listen here to the recording: https://wsccc.org.au/s9/sermons/
Offering Song
We come to a time in the service when we have the opportunity to worship God through offering, in giving back to the Lord a portion of what he has given to us. Even though we cannot all meet together in one building, we have still made our commitment to financially support our pastors, missionaries, and ongoing church expenses.
Because an offering bag cannot be passed around, please make your electronic offerings to church via these accounts.
- General fund: BSB 082 080. Acc 48 243 6244. Name: WSCCC.
- Mission fund: BSB 082 080. Acc 52 856 0495. Name: WSCCC.
- Building fund: BSB 082 451. Acc 73 932 0475. Name: WSCCC.
You can also give online through this link: https://tithe.ly/give?c=1291374
Our offering song is – This Life I Live
Offering Prayer
Lord, thank you that you continue to sustain us financially as a church through electronic means. We pray that the money collected will be used wisely by our leaders for the work of the church, for the community around us and for the growth and glory of your kingdom. In Jesus name,
Amen.
Closing prayer and benediction
Please continue to contemplate all you have heard from Scripture today, and please take the opportunity this week to share with your family and friends.
As we approach the coming week, let’s finish with Paul’s blessing from 2 Corinthians 13
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all evermore.
Connect with us! If you’d like to get in touch with us, join a small group online, or find out more about Christianity, fill out a response card here: Response Form.