If you said amen to that prayer of confession, hear and consider these words from 1 John 5:11-12:

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Be assured that if You have Christ, we can come before God in praise and worship, and He will accept us.

Let’s respond to His goodness by singing together as His people. :)

Let’s begin our prayer as Jesus taught us to pray,

Our Father in heaven

Hallowed be Your name

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done,

On earth, as it is in heaven

Give us today, our daily bread,

And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil,

for the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,

Now and forever, amen.

Father,

We stand before You this morning as a church who needs You,

a people who need to know that You are here amongst us,

in our pain, in our joy, in our highs and lows.

You sustain all things Father. Sustain us Lord.

You see all things. See us Lord.

You make all things new Father. Make us new!

Father, Your Apostle Paul said, in 2^nd Corinthians

“Therefore, we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory”.

We treasure those words, and we believe those words. Help us to be shaped by these words in our thinking and in our dealings with those around us.

Father we ask that You help us to live well in these times of fear and uncertainty.

We ask for healing for those who are ill.

We ask for protection for those who are weak.

Help us to support and care for those who are worse off than ourselves, those who are struggling with mental illness, anxiety, depression, hopelessness.

We ask for opportunities to show Christian charity to those who have lost income or jobs. Give us opportunities to serve, rather than to be served.

Rid us of judgementalism or fear and fill us with Your love.

We continue to pray for the Keighley’s during this time of break. We ask for physical rest. We ask for true spiritual rest only found in You. Matthew 11 says,

“Come unto me, all that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.

Thank You Father for Jeff, and how he graciously works hard for the Kingdom,

for our growth, our maturity in the faith, and that we might be a church that pleases You. Bless Jeff for his service to us.

We pray that he and Naree and the kids find refreshment in this time.

Father we thank you for the women in our lives.

We thank you especially for those who have encouraged us to know and love Jesus.

We thank you for mothers who have worked tirelessly to love, feed, care and discipline their children.

We grieve with those women who yearn to be mothers,

those who have strained relationships with their mothers,

and whose mothers have died.

Please help us as a church to encourage the mums around us to press on in their unique and special job.

Lord we pray for those who we are supporting in ministry,

we think of Linda Mackerrell in Taiwan.

The virus has meant that her movements, and her ability to do ministry is being effected. She has also been without means of communication lately and needs a new computer for her continued work.

Father we thank-you for the good news that she is otherwise doing well.

As she is about to come home for home assignment, we make these requests to You Father:

- we ask that You would enable her return to Australia in June, Lord we ask that the flight would not be cancelled, and that she would make it back safely and on time.

- that she would find energy to prepare for her departure, packing up her home and saying all her goodbyes to those she loves in Taiwan, and for the wrapping up of her ministry there while she does home assignment here in Australia.

- also that her new computer would arrive so that she can communicate with people again.

Father we know that You care for us in all ways, so we ask all this in faith for Linda.

Lord there is much more that we rely on You for.

There are many of us who are lonely, tired, frustrated, anxious, and in need of comfort.

We know that You alone are the only One who can heal us in these ways.

We ask You for Your peace, joy and assurance this morning.

Thank you for the book of Ecclesiastes Lord, help us to listen deeply as we consider its strange and beautiful perspectives.

They are more relevant to us now, and to those around us than we might realise.

We thank You also for the partnership we have in other local churches around us who also pray for us, share with us, minister to us, and praise You with us.

These things also give us comfort and joy.

Hear our prayers Lord and grant us what we ask, as we ask it according to Your will.

Father we ask all this because of our Advocate, our Lord and King, Your Son and our Brother Jesus.

Amen.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:11

¹² I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! ¹⁴ I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be straightened;

what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶ I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷ Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

¹⁸ For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;

the more knowledge, the more grief.

^2:1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. ² “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” ³ I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

⁴ I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. ⁵ I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. ⁸ I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. ⁹ I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

¹⁰ I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

I refused my heart no pleasure.

My heart took delight in all my labour,

and this was the reward for all my toil.

¹¹ Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done

and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;

nothing was gained under the sun.

1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:3

¹⁷ But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. ¹⁸ For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan blocked our way. ¹⁹ For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? ²⁰ Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

^3:1 So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. ² We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, ³ so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Praise Him, all creatures here below!

Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts!

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Amen.

¹⁴ May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)

"Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and your neighbour.

• Update and Prayer Requests from Linda McKerrell - In regards to the virus she wants us to know she is going ok and has a flight booked for June 17th. Please pray that her flight would go ahead and she would be able to return to Australia in June. Pray for energy as she packs up her house for it to go into storage. Pray for the time she will spend saying farewells and wrapping up her work, that she would have energy and find comfort in God. Pray also that her new computer would arrive soon!

• Church Directory - If you're on our database, you'll have received the regular email linking to this service material, and in that email you would have noticed the link to an electronic version of our Church Directory. We were hoping to distribute the paper booklet version a few weeks back but restricted gatherings have made that a little hard. We're also conscious that trying to keep in touch without phone numbers or email addresses is a bit tough. Please use the details in the booklet to reach out to people you haven't seen in a while and haven't been able to call... If you're having trouble accessing the directory via that link please email info@mlpc.org.au and we'll sort something out.

This weeks Kids Catechism video - Question 4