Sunday Sermon - 03/08/2020 - 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Sunday Sermon - 1 Corinthians Message 39

03/08/2020

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

Opening Prayer:

O Holy God, you give common blessing to all humanity, undeserved joy and pleasure to the submissive and rebellious alike, so generous are you toward your creatures. And yet you give your children the special blessing of the knowledge that good gifts are not random but are a means of joy in and closeness with you. Thank you for blessing us with food and drink, friends and family, work and rest. May the consistent joy of your people bring you honor before those who have yet to trust you. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Closing Prayer:

Lord Christ, how patient you were with the Apostles on the night you were betrayed in Gethsemane! They pledged their allegiance to you only minutes earlier saying with Peter, “I will not deny you!” But succumbing to sleep in the hour when you asked for their company, and fleeing the crowd who seized you, they were wholly unaware of their own inability to prove true on that commitment. Yet in the loneliness of that garden, you did not lash out at them in anger or deride them for their weakness; indeed, in divine patience you were even tender toward your betrayer saying, “Friend, do what you came to do." Lord, how much are we like the Apostles, in need of your patience, in need of your gentle correction, in need of your strengthening presence! Truly, we are not better than they. Looking back on that night in Gethsemane we see how mighty you are, bearing not only the weight of coming condemnation but the utter cold of a loneliness unknown by any creature! Patient you were with the Apostles as you bore that weight, and patient you are with us when pledge our allegiance to you and fall pitiably short of proving that commitment! Lord, thank you for your patience, for bearing with us, for not abandoning us, for keeping us until the Last Day. Blessed is the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep!

We pray this in the name of Jesus Amen.

Click the image below to listen to the message:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x84F8VMruMHPgmms494ojWOHBwrpGODr/view?usp=sharing