This Week
Daily Readings
May 8, 2016
Bible Reading Plans
Bible Reading Plans (available for download below)
- Beginning to End - A one-year plan that takes you through the Bible in order from Genesis-Revelation.
- Chronological - A one-year plan that takes you through the Bible in chronological order.
- Two-Year - A plan that takes you through the Bible over the span of two years, reading the New Testament and Psalms twice and the rest of the Old Testament once. (This plan has an accompanying devotional titled For the Love of God by D.A. Carson.)
Additional Bible reading plans are available at esv.org/biblereadingplans & bible.com/reading-plans
Downloads
Scripture Memory
Pray for the Church
Praise God for seeking and saving us, even while we were His enemies and far from Him. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s ongoing conviction of sin in our lives and for Him to lead us to repentance and faith on a daily basis. Pray we will all be readily responsive to God’s guidance and direction in our lives. Thank God for the blessing of fellow Christ-followers who disciple us, challenge us, correct us, encourage us, help us, and support us. Pray we will each be that for someone else. Ask God to continue to bless the gospel witness of our faith family and for Him to multiply our church through those He saves through our ministry here and around the world.
Pray for the City
This week, we are praying for the ESL Ministry at Brook Hills. The ESL Ministry serves English learners in the community by providing free English classes on Thursday nights on the Brook Hills campus. The ESL Ministry aims to extend hospitality to strangers, establish community between people of varying nationalities, ethnicities, and religions, and share the love of Jesus Christ with foreigners living in Birmingham. We are also praying for Shades Mountain Baptist Church and Pastor Danny Wood.
DAY 1: Pray for the 57 students from 18 countries who participated in the ESL program this school year. Pray for patience and persistence as they continue to grow in the understanding and practice of the English language.
DAY 2: Pray for the Spirit to provide growth for the many gospel seeds that have been sown in the hearts of the ESL students this year, and that in due time He would put forth a plentiful harvest.
DAY 3: Pray for the children attending childcare or receiving homework help while their parents attend ESL classes. Pray that the volunteers would effectively demonstrate and declare the love of Christ toward them and that they would learn of God’s great love for them.
DAY 4: Pray for the relationships formed between students and volunteers to continue to develop throughout the summer.
DAY 5: Pray for God to lead and bless this ministry, and that He would bring more students from unreached people groups to join us in the fall.
DAY 6: Praise God for what He has done during this first year of ESL! Pray for the leadership team as they reflect on the past 10 months and make Spirit-led decisions about the future of this ministry.
Pray for the World
The Church at Brook Hills is a point church for the new Global Cities Initiative. Specifically, we have been tasked with leading the mobilization of believers to the strategic city of Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur is located in Malaysia and is home to over 8 million people in the metropolitan area. Our desire is to send many Brook Hills professionals, students, and retirees to do what they do well and to do it somewhere strategic for the Kingdom of God. Join us this week as we pray for our church, the city of Kuala Lumpur, and the overall Global Cities Initiative.
DAY 1: KL is the capital of Malaysia and primary hub for trade, financial services, and decision-making. Pray for Christ’s name to be known among all peoples living in KL. Pray for this city to be a launching pad for the expansion of the church throughout Southeast Asia.
DAY 2: The population of KL is diverse, including ethnic Malay, Indian Malaysians, Chinese Malaysians, and many expatriates who live in the city. Pray for the gospel to spread among each of these categories of people groups represented in KL.
DAY 3: To be ethnic Malay is to be Muslim. Malay are protected by the government and community with a separate set of laws from witness and conversion. Pray for wisdom in strategically reaching ethnic Malay peoples.
DAY 4: There has been some concentrated work among the Malay people in KL since the late 90’s, but little fruit. Pray for more workers where the harvest is plentiful.
DAY 5: The doors are wide open for students to come and study, work, and live in KL. Pray for many Christian college students to take advantage of the incredible opportunities to study abroad and live strategically to make disciples among the unreached.
DAY 6: This task of engaging UPG’s in strategic cities cannot be accomplished by human powers. Pray for our church to be faithful to humbly submit and rely on the power of God to accomplish His mission of making disciples in every nation. Praise Him for allowing us to participate in this mission.
Come Thou Fount
Verse 1
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the name! I’m fixed upon it
Name of Thy redeeming love
Verse 2
Hitherto Thy love has blessed me
Thou hast brought me to this place
And I know Thy hand will bring me
Safely home by Thy good grace
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
Verse 3
Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
Verse 4
Oh that day when freed from sinning
I shall see Thy lovely face
Full arrayed in blood-washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry
Bring Thy promises to pass
For I know Thy pow’r will keep me
Till I’m home with Thee at last
Shout Hosanna
Verse 1
To the King of glory and light all praises
To the only Giver of life our Maker
The gates are open wide we worship You
Verse 2
Come see what love has done amazing
He bought us with His blood our Savior
The cross has overcome we worship You
Chorus 1
Shout hosanna Jesus He saves
Shout hosanna He rose from the grave
Come and lift Him up hosanna
Verse 3
Now let the lost be found forgiven
Death could not hold Him down He's risen
So let the saints cry out we worship You
Bridge
The same power that rolled the stone away
The same power alive in us today
King Jesus we call upon Your name no other name
Ending
(Come and lift Him up) Hosanna
(Come and lift Him up) Hosanna
(Come and lift Him up) Hosanna
How Deep the Father's Love for Us
Verse 1
How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory
Verse 2
Behold the Man upon a cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
Verse 3
I will not boast in anything
No gifts no pow’r no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom