Philip and the Ethiopian

(words for hymns and bible reading can be found below the order of service)

Welcome & intimations
Call to Worship
MP 708 To God be the glory
Opening Prayer & Lord’s Prayer
“How God began”
Video  ‘Look at the world’ – John Rutter
Bible Reading  Acts 8: 26-39
“Finding God”
CH4 606 Lord you sometimes speak in wonders
Prayers for the world
MP 857 Here I am Lord.
Benediction

MP 708 To God be the glory

1 To God be the glory! great things He hath done;
so loved He the world that He gave us His Son;
who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
and opened the life gate that all may go in.

Chorus
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord!
let the earth hear His voice;
praise the Lord, praise the Lord!
let the people rejoice:
O come to the Father,
through Jesus the Son
and give Him the glory;
great things He hath done!

2 O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood!
to every believer the promise of God;
the vilest offender who truly believes,
that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
Chorus

3 Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
but purer, and higher, and greater will be
our wonder, our rapture, when Jesus we see.
Chorus

Philip and the Ethiopian  Acts 8: 26-39

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’  So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means ‘queen of the Ethiopians’). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.  The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’
Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked.
‘How can I,’ he said, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’ So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
‘He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.’
The eunuch asked Philip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’  Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptised?’  And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptised him.  When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

CH4 606 Lord you sometimes speak in wonders

1 Lord, you sometimes speak in wonders
unmistakable and clear;
mighty signs to prove your presence,
overcoming doubt and fear.

2 Lord, you sometimes speak in whispers,
still and small and scarcely heard;
only those who want to listen
catch the all-important word.

3 Lord, you sometimes speak in silence,
through our loud and noisy day:
we can know and trust you better
when we quietly wait and pray.

4 Lord, you love to speak in Scripture:
words that summon from the page,
shown and taught us by your Spirit
with fresh light for every age.

5 Lord, you always speak in Jesus,
always new yet still the same;
teach us now more of our Saviour;
make our lives display his Name.

MP 857 Here I am Lord

1 I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard My people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin
My hand will save.
I who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear My light to them?
Who shall I send?

Chorus
Here I am, Lord.
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go, Lord,
if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.

2 I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne My people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak My word to them.
Whom shall I send?
Chorus

3 I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide
till their hearts are satisfied.
I will give My life to them.
Whom shall I send?
Chorus