Following Christ is by no means an easy way out – life can really be tough. As a follower of Jesus, we learn what pleases God and he gives us the power to live to please him. Of course we trip up, but the Lord is gentle in picking us up and dusting us down, when we turn to him for his help. He doesn’t place impossible burdens on us, but we receive untold blessings in this life and eternal life with God in the life to come. In fact ‘eternal life’ starts now, when we put our faith and trust in Jesus. So is the burden light, as Jesus promised? Yes, it is – as we know that our life, however challenging, is not lived in vain; and that we are living life as God intended – and when life is over, it isn’t really over! We get to go home and be with our Lord!
Thank God for all that he has given you. Pray that he will give you courage to face the challenges of the day and the strength, grace and love to deal well with each person who crosses or shares your path.
10:00 Sunday church video meeting
Southcrest Online is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Southcrest Church – Sunday @ 10:00am (online call)
Time: 11th April 2021, 10:00 a.m.
Join Zoom Meeting
The meeting will be followed by a 10-15 minute chat.
10:30 a.m. A local online service?
- Woodgreen Evangelical Church at Worcester weekly online service can be found at their YouTube site.
- Manor Park Church at Worcester also have an online service. You’ll find it at their YouTube site.
(Don’t worry if you are late for either of these, as you can catch up on the YouTube links above.)
11:00 a.m. Hillsong UK online service
https://online.hillsong.com/room/uk
Sung praise: Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me
Sung by: CityAlight
'Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me' lyrics
What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer There is no more for heaven now to give He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus For my life is wholly bound to his Oh how strange and divine, I can sing: all is mine! Yet not I, but through Christ in me The night is dark but I am not forsaken For by my side, the Saviour He will stay I labour on in weakness and rejoicing For in my need, His power is displayed To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me Through the deepest valley He will lead Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome! Yet not I, but through Christ in me No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven The future sure, the price it has been paid For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon And He was raised to overthrow the grave To this I hold, my sin has been defeated Jesus now and ever is my plea Oh the chains are released, I can sing: I am free! Yet not I, but through Christ in me With every breath I long to follow Jesus For He has said that He will bring me home And day by day I know He will renew me Until I stand with joy before the throne To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus All the glory evermore to Him When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat: Yet not I, but through Christ in me! When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat: Yet not I, but through Christ in me! Yet not I, but through Christ in me! Yet not I, but through Christ in me!
A couple of links for younger ones…
Daily devotionals
Max Lucado’s daily page with brief encouraging talks.
- Max’s page is here – words of help and comfort, daily devotionals
- You may have learned a lot, or a little, in the last year during the pandemic. What you have learned may be a mix of the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’, but last week Max gave us a couple of positive lessons we can learn…
Max quotes from Ephesians 1:19-20 and John 14.
Life Connect daily page from Counties on a channel called Counties Connect.
This next couple of weeks Counties Connect is taking a break, so it’s an opportunity for us to pick up one of the previous talks.
The series back in February, was entitled Conversations. In this one, Tim Cracknell was in conversation with Aderyn Taylor-Roberts…
Find the others in this week’s series here.
Angus Buchan daily devotional thoughts. He’s a no-nonsense Christian from South Africa; you may enjoy his direct presentation (or not), but he always gives a strong message from a verse or two from the Bible.
- His daily thought audios are posted here.
- Angus posts his short video thoughts here.
In his 5-minute episode, here, Angus often says that a good idea is not always a ‘God idea’ – he tells us of when he was doing something good, but not what God wanted.
Angus refers to: Acts 16:6-9.
Has the Lord laid on your heart someone to pray for especially this week?
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12