Sunday Worship – Services available for 11 October 2020
Pre-recorded All Age Harvest Service led by St Andrews Junior Church.
Please see link below:
HOW TO WIN THE WAR AGAINST WORRY
Text:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6 –
7NIV)
Reading: Philippians 4: 1-9
Hymn: What a friend we have in Jesus – StF 531
Yesterday, 10th October 2020, was world mental health day. We are very much aware that
mental health is a difficult issue in the world today. The statistics tell us that, 1 in 6 people
experienced a common mental health problem every week. With the pandemic that has beset
the world, this number may be quadrupled. It is my prayer that we shall hear the voice of God
speaking to us so we can take care of our mental health and help others to do so.
Worrying is part of life. As Abraham Maslow has said in his hierarchy of human needs, food,
clothing, and shelter are basic human needs and we all worry about them. Certainly, one of
the greatest worries we all have, families, individuals, churches, governments, and
communities – is the dread of the COVID-19 pandemic with its attendant lockdowns,
restrictions and fears about.
When Paul wrote to the Church in Phillipi, he had his own worry and that church he wrote to
also had worries. Yet he invited them to rejoice and not to be anxious, instead, they should
channel their energies into doing something about the sources of worry. In Philippians 4:1-9,
Paul gives us conditions that will help us to overcome worry. Overcoming worry has to do
with having the peace of God that transcends all understanding, guarding our hearts and
minds. To achieve this, Paul invites us to a mourning of right thinking, right living and right
praying.
Paul calls us to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians
10:5). We are invited to think about God’s truth and all that is noble, purely, lovely, and
praiseworthy. This will set our minds free from anxiety and panic. We are again invited to
live right by imitation Christ and Paul himself, making sure that we are endeavouring to do
things right and live right with all people. Finally, we are invited to pray right. In praying
right, we learn to look at our problems in the light of God’s power rather than looking at God
in the shadow of our problems. We are not to worry about anything, but we must pray
about everything. Our God is so much concerned about every detail of our lives so we must
tell Him about everything. No problem is too big to warrant your worry and no problem
should be too small to escape your mind in prayer. William Barclay says, “there is
nothing too great for God’s power; and nothing too small for his fatherly care.”
Joseph Madlicott Scriven wrote “WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS.” He fell in love
twice and in both cases, before the wedding, the women died. In 1855, while in Canada, his
mother in Ireland became ill. Scriven had no money to visit her. So, to encourage her, he
wrote a poem containing the Words of “What a Friend we have in Jesus.”
Pre-recorded Service led by Rev Kofi Amissah from Caerphilly – ‘How to Win the War Against Worry’.
Please see link below and the attached reflection above :
Stay blessed
Kofi
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