Psalm 148

¹ Praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

praise him in the heights above.

² Praise him, all his angels;

praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

³ Praise him, sun and moon;

praise him, all you shining stars.

⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens

and you waters above the skies.

⁵ Let them praise the name of the LORD,

for at his command they were created,

⁶ and he established them for ever and ever—

he issued a decree that will never pass away.

⁷ Praise the LORD from the earth,

you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds,

stormy winds that do his bidding,

⁹ you mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars,

¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle,

small creatures and flying birds,

¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations,

you princes and all rulers on earth,

¹² young men and women,

old men and children.

¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD,

for his name alone is exalted;

his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

¹⁴ And he has raised up for his people a horn,

the praise of all his faithful servants,

of Israel, the people close to his heart.

Praise the LORD.

Our God fulfils his promises

and is true to his word.

We have confessed our sins.

God has forgiven us,

because Christ died for us.

Ecclesiastes 3

¹ There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³ a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

¹⁵ Whatever is has already been,

and what will be has been before;

and God will call the past to account.

¹⁶ And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,

in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

¹⁷ I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment

both the righteous and the wicked,

for there will be a time for every activity,

a time to judge every deed.”

¹⁸ I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. ¹⁹ Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. ²¹ Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

²² So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

Acts 17:24-28

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷ God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

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 5