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Waterloo United Free Church Sunday Worship 14th June 2020 This week’s reading, sermon and hymn choices come from Rev John Thompson who sends his love to us all. There is no recording or DVD for this week. Call to Worship Back then there was the twelve. Here and now there is us. We are your disciples today and today we gather to worship you. Back then they followed you in the flesh. Today we follow in your Spirit. We are your disciples and today we gather to follow you. Back then there were but a few. Today we, numbering billions, are part of a worldwide Church. We are your disciples today and today we gather to serve you. Psalm 116: 1-2, 12-14 I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. 2 Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

1 Gathering for Worship, p.306

What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me?

13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. 14 I will fulfil my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

Prayer Lord God, our ways are not your ways, and your love is not like ours. Our love judges by appearance but yours looks deep in the heart. Our love coldly counts the cost but yours is freely given. Our love cannot bear much pain but yours is ready to suffer. Our love wants instant results but yours keeps waiting and hoping. Holy God, in Christ we celebrate the warmth of your welcome, the strength of your goodness, and the folly of your faith in us. Glory to God!1 The Lord’s Prayer Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done; On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, The power and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen Song An army of ordinary people, A Kingdom where love is the key, A city, a light to the nations, Heirs to the promise are we. A people whose life is in Jesus, A nation together we stand. Only through grace are we worthy, Inheritors of the land.

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A new day is dawning, A new age to come, When the children of promise, Shall flow together as one: A truth long neglected, But the time has now come, When the children of promise, Shall flow together as one. A people without recognition, But with Him a destiny sealed, Called to a heavenly vision: His purpose shall be fulfilled. Come let us stand strong together, Abandon ourselves to the King His love shall be ours for ever, This victory song we shall sing.2 Prayer Lord Jesus, you call us to follow in your footsteps, to live a life of love; by serving our neighbours, by being kind, by being generous, by welcoming people, by forgiving those who hurt us. You did this when you lived on the earth, you have shown us by your example and now you ask us to do the same. It is hard Lord, but we promise to try. Help us Lord Jesus to be more like you. Amen.3 Reading: Acts 19: 1-20 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul travelled through the interior of the province and arrived in Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”

“We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit,” they answered.

2 CCL License number 414523 Copyright ©1983 Thankyou Music, Dave Bilbrough

3 “Well, then, what kind of baptism did you receive?” Paul asked.

“The baptism of John,” they answered.

4 Paul said, “The baptism of John was for those who turned from their sins; and he told the people of Israel to believe in the one who was coming after him—that is, in Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 Paul placed his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them; they spoke in strange tongues and also proclaimed God's message. 7 They were about twelve men in all.

8 Paul went into the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly with the people, holding discussions with them and trying to convince them about the Kingdom of God. 9 But some of them were stubborn and would not believe, and before the whole group they said evil things about the Way of the Lord. So Paul left them and took the believers with him, and every day[a] he held discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the people who lived in the province of Asia, both Jews and Gentiles, heard the word of the Lord.

11 God was performing unusual miracles through Paul. 12 Even handkerchiefs and aprons he had used were taken to the sick, and their diseases were driven away, and the evil spirits would go out of them. 13 Some Jews who travelled around and drove out evil spirits also tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to do this. They said to the evil spirits, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches.” 14 Seven brothers, who were the sons of a Jewish High Priest named Sceva, were doing this.

15 But the evil spirit said to them, “I know Jesus, and I know about Paul; but you—who are you?” 16 The man who had the evil spirit in him attacked them with such violence that he overpowered them all. They ran away from his house, wounded and with their clothes torn off. 17 All the Jews and Gentiles who lived in Ephesus heard about this; they were all filled with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was given greater honour. 18 Many of

3 Spill the Beans, Issue 35, p.17

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the believers came, publicly admitting and revealing what they had done. 19 Many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in public. They added up the price of the books, and the total came to fifty thousand silver coins. 20 In this powerful way the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing stronger.

This week’s message from Rev John Thompson The Day of Pentecost had come and gone. The disciples had received the promised experience of the Holy Spirit coming upon them in power, but that was not the end of it. What changed them and enabled them to become living witnesses continued to work in them and through them. The Church, which had seen three thousand people brought to faith on that first day, continued to grow as, in the words of Scripture, the Lord added daily to their number those who were being saved!

A new age had begun with the birth of the Church. It was an age of both promise and fulfilment. It was an age of power and expectation. What the Believers experienced at the beginning led them to expect as a continuing experience. They expected to know the presence and power of the Holy Spirit day by day, not merely as a one-off experience. They expected on a daily basis to see conversions and healings and miracles - and they did! They expected a worship that brought them into the presence of God and a fellowship that led them to share their lives together. They expected an experience of the Holy Spirit as real as on that first day to be renewed as they regularly gathered together. This was something so real to them and so transforming that it became noticeable if for any reason it was missing.

When Paul was at Ephesus on his third missionary journey he met some believers and something about them caused him to ask the question, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They replied, “We haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit”, so Paul led them into a life transforming experience of the Spirit. I’ve often wondered what Paul would say if he were to come to our churches today or speak with today’s believers.

As a young Christian I was not taught about the Holy Spirit, or the possibility of being filled with the Spirit, or of receiving, and using, the gifts of the Spirit. So, unlike the early Church, there was no real expectation of power in the church or the supernatural presence of a living God.

There have been many arguments in the Church about the Holy Spirit and the Baptism in or with the Spirit. For me, the most telling point was made by the question posed by Dr Martyn Lloyd- Jones in his book about the Holy Spirit. He was addressing those who would say to him that there was no need for any further experience beyond that of conversion. He wrote, “You say that you got it all at your conversion. Then let me ask you this - Where is it?” That’s what really matters - not how or when you could have received the power of the Holy Spirit, but - do you have that power now?

In the old small ads in newspapers, now largely taken over by eBay are many items for sale. Often under “reason for sale” there are the words - “unwanted gift”. This used to amaze me, as I couldn’t imagine an unwanted gift. Let me ask you - is the power of the Holy Spirit an unwanted gift?

Jesus said, “How much more will your Heavenly Father give His Spirit to those who ask Him?” Ask and you will receive.

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Prayers of Intercession There have been many responses to the death of George Floyd in the USA and among them are many prayers. This is a prayer of lament from the Baptist Union written by the Hudson sisters: Lord, how long? From the depths of our soul we cry, How long? From generation to generation your children have suffered. How long? Our pain is great. How long, Lord? Day and night we cry out to you, How long do we see our loved ones crushed

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under the yoke of hate and injustice? Weighed down by societies institutional bias. God, you are the God of all, From before the beginning of time you are sovereign God. Your mercy endures from everlasting to everlasting. Show us your hand of mercy at this time, in this generation. Let your power be manifest throughout your earth, Heal your lands, Heal all minds, Heal all hearts. For it is only you, our God, who can create a new heart and a spirit of love and compassion in those hearts that are as stone. Lord, order our steps, May we all march in one accord. Move through us by your might, For you are the power and the glory. So, in our struggle, We will still praise you, We will still lift our hands in prayer towards you, We will do your will, Whilst we wait on you. For we know you are with us in the storm And that healing, peace and joy Will come in the morning. Amen. Song These are the days of Elijah, Declaring the word of the Lord: And these are the days of Your servant Moses, Righteousness being restored. And though these are days of great trial, Of famine and darkness and sword, Still, we are the voice in the desert crying "Prepare ye the way of the Lord!"

4 CCL License number 414523 Copyright ©1996 Daybreak Music Ltd, Robin Mark

Behold He comes riding on the clouds, Shining like the sun at the trumpet call, Lift your voice, it's the year of jubilee, Out of Zion's hill salvation comes. These are the days of Ezekiel, The dry bones becoming as flesh, And these are the days of Your servant David, Rebuilding a temple of praise. These are the days of the harvest, The fields are as white in the world, And we are the labourers in Your vineyard, Declaring the word of the Lord!4 Blessing The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, evermore. Amen

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Offering The offering for the Lord’s work is gratefully received. Please send by cheque (to Sue W), or direct payment. Homegroup/Bible Study We are meeting for a Bible study at 8pm on Tuesday evenings via ‘Hangouts’, studying Paul’s letter to the Philippians. You can join if you have online access, or by telephone. Contact Sue or Linda for joining information. If you can’t join but would like to do the study at home, this week’s passage is Philippians 4: 10-23 The questions (same each week): • What did you like/what was helpful about the

passage? • What was more difficult or you found

challenging? • What does it teach you about God? • How does it relate to your current situation? • Does it draw a response?