Welcome to our morning worship, we join in praise to our living God.

Rev Stephen Haward has recorded this service as church buildings are closed again this week.

The hymns are all available on YouTube.


HYMN Mission Praise 746 ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’
Joseph Scriven (1819-86)


Welcome and Call to Worship, Prayer and Bible Reading 1 Samuel 16:1-12

All lands to God in joyful sounds,
aloft your voices raise.
Sing forth the honour of his name,
and glorious make his praise.

For you did prove and try us Lord,
As silver men may test,
Then opened up a way for us
To freedom, health and rest.  

O let the Lord, our gracious God,
for ever blessèd be,
Who turnèd not my prayer from him,
nor yet his grace from me.                  
from Psalm 66

SONG ‘All through history’
Nick & Becky Drake // Worship For Everyone

Bible Reading 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Church News

HYMN Mission Praise 164 ‘From the sun’s rising’
Graham Kendrick ©1988 Make Way Music

Sermon, Prayers and Blessing

Prayer after the Sermon
Merciful God, like Paul we need to call ourselves ‘the least of all’. 
As you know, we are not much of an advert for Jesus. 
Please forgive us, change us and, because we are willing, speak through us. 
SEND US OUT AS YOUR MESSENGERS,
NOT BECAUSE WE ARE PERFECT
BUT BECAUSE YOUR PERFECT LOVE
IS WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS;
AND NOT BECAUSE WE ARE WORTHY
BUT BECAUSE THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS IS
WORTH CELEBRATING, WORTH LIVING AND WORTH SHARING. 
IN HIS NAME WE PRAY IT, AMEN.

HYMN Mission Praise 173 ‘Glorious things of thee are spoken’
John Newton (1725-1807)

1 Samuel 16:1-12

Samuel Anoints David 
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”
2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”
The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”
4 Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”
5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”
Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”
12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.
Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

The Resurrection of Christ
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.