We continue our journey through the book of 1 CORINTHIANS. We’re at 1 Corinthians 6ff.
Let’s go!
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Anyone who restores classic cars (or other items, I’m sure) knows that they take extra love and work. You need to take time to nurture them and keep them going. They also have less amenities, they often don’t perform as well as modern vehicles, and they are less safe.
Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
1 John 3:3
But classic cars are awesome! They are simpler, bring back memories of forgotten times and, frankly, they look so much better than the vast majority of modern vehicles on the road!
We can be like some of those classic cars. Through our stubbornness and arrogance we take a lot of love, nurture, and work for the Holy Spirit to do in the process of a holy “restoration.” We are simplistic by the standards of many in the world and, in our case, I don’t think we look any better.
Yet God desires us. Us! He delights in putting in the love, time, and effort to continually restore us and keep us in Him. He grinds away our old, sinful heart and purifies us from the cancerous rust and decay of our sins into beautifully restored children living for Him. He takes the old, decrepit, sin-filled junk that we were and restores us daily through our baptism, through forgiveness, and the the death and resurrection of Jesus. He transforms us from trash to His treasured children! He purifies us from refuse through His righteousness.
Now, let us live and glem in His glory, transformed and restored to what He desires us to be – His holy children and examples to the world!
“Continually restore us, O Lord!”
Scriptures
- 1 John 3:1-7
- Psalm 4
We continue our journey through the book of 1 CORINTHIANS. We’re at 1 Corinthians 5ff.
Let’s go!
When we are in the dark our eyes adjust. We may not see everything as vibrantly or clearly, but we manage. And we get used to it. So much so that, when in the dark, we dread turning on the lights or going into a brightly lit place.
God is light, in in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practive the truth.
1 John 1:5b-6
Coming into the light from darkness can hurt! So many stay in the dark.
But being in the light means we see things clearly! In the dark we see only dark shades of grey. In the light, we see the vibrancy of everything! And when we go from light to dark, it also hurts. We bump into things. We miss crucial things that might be right in front of us!
This is the way of sin.
When we live in sin we live in darkness. We stumble around. We hit things. We get hurt. We can’t see the full picture of what’s going on around us.
And worst of all, we get used to it and like it!
But this is not the way it should be.
“God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” If we say we are Christians but keep walking in darkness (sin) instead of in Him, we are lying. Those two things are incompatible!
If we are Christians, we must live in the Light. Live in Him. We must not keep going back into the darkness of sin and hiding and shame.
But we must remember that, through faith in Jesus, when we stumble back into sin and darkness, “we have have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” who will forgive us, and bring us back to the bright living that is Him!
Thanks be to God!
Scriptures
- 1 John 1:1-2:2
We continue our journey through the book of 1 CORINTHIANS. We’re at 1 Corinthians 3:16ff.
Let’s go!
EASTER SUNDAY!!
The men said to them, “Why do you seek the Living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”
Luke 24:5b-6a
This Sunday marks the highest, most Holy day of the year; because the Resurrection of Jesus changed our eternity! It is the quintessential pivot point from despair to joy; from no future to an everlasting one; from death to life!
Join us as we celebrate!
Scriptures
- Luke 24:1-12
ANNOUNCEMENT
On Friday, March 29, 2023, at 7:00 PM, we will worship and “celebrate” Good Friday with a form of a “Service of Darkness.”
It will be a meaningful, but difficult service. We pray you will attend.
RECORDING
More information on “Good Friday” and a “Service of Darkness” from
lifebridgesealy.com/ministries/worship/good-friday/.
“Good Friday.” Such a strange name for the day when the innocent Savior of humanity and God’s Son died horribly. Yet, for us, the day marks a pivotal event in history. A holy and unbelievable imbalanced exchange: His perfection and innocence for our sins and guilt.
And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and put a reed in His right hand. And kneeling before Him, they mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on Him and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the robe and put His own clothes on Him and led Him away to crucify Him.
Matthew 27:29-31
Lord, have mercy!
And He did. Have mercy. For us. When we were still in sin and rebellion.
We worship and “celebrate” this event and exchange with a form of a “Tenebrae” service. Tenebrae means “darkness” and the service takes its name from the ceremony of extinguishing the worship candles in such a way that the Church is gradually cast into darkness, except for the light of a single candle. The focus of the Tenebrae is the consequence of sin and the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice. The worship ends in darkness and silence, symbolizing our Savior’s death upon the cross. The single candle symbolizes the hope of our Savior’s resurrection. At the completion of the Tenebrae service, the worshipers are asked to leave in silence, in order to maintain the spirit of the Good Friday commemoration of our Savior’s crucifixion.
Experience the depth of God’s love for you on Good Friday so that you can sour with the news of His resurrection on Easter Sunday!
You will be blessed.
Other Posts Dealing with Good Friday
GOOD FRIDAY, 2024 — Evil Friday is Also Good Friday
‘Good Friday” worship on Friday, April 2, 2021, at 7:00 PM. Join us.
GOOD FRIDAY, 2023 — Jesus’ Love and the Meaning of Life
‘Good Friday” worship on Friday, April 2, 2021, at 7:00 PM. Join us.
GOOD FRIDAY, 2022 — LOVE through DEATH
‘Good Friday” worship on Friday, April 2, 2021, at 7:00 PM. Join us.
GOOD FRIDAY, 2021
‘Good Friday” worship on Friday, April 2, 2021, at 7:00 PM. Join us.
April 10, 2020 — Good Friday Worship
Human Trafficking seeks to make victims less than others, but ALL are created in God’s image and worthy of dignity and respect!
GOOD FRIDAY, 2020
‘Good Friday” worship on Friday, April 10, 2020, at 7:00 PM. Join us.
GOOD FRIDAY, 2019
‘Good Friday” – the day Jesus died, is the pivotal point in human history; where God laid the sins of the world upon His Son for our sake. Jesus bore…
Holy Week – and indeed, Faith iteself – comes with a roller coaster of ups and downs; highs and lows.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
Genesis 50:20ab
We see that as Jesus rides into Jerusalem triumphantly, welcomed by the crowds as the Son of David; just to be betrayed, denied, abandoned, judged, sneered at, and crucified later that week.
In our readin from Luke we are backing up just a little in our journey to Jesus’ last supper where He instituted the Lord’s Supper and celebrated the Passover with His disciples.
He says, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
This is a high. Jesus having this wonderful celebration with His disciples that He has “earnestly desired” to have with them.
But the lowest low is coming. Evil s coming. Suffering, pain, and death will follow.
But there is an “until!” There will be more to the story! There will be the highest high when the day comes and He will once again when the Kingdom of God is fulfilled. When death is conquered. When suffering ends. When all evil has been utterly and permanently destroyed forever!
Until can be a difficult word when going through evil or when it is on the horizon. But it is also a word of hope – and patience. A word of anticipation and a word of reliance. It is a word which we can hold on to because we know that what comes after all the trials and pains and lows and evil will be far outweighed with good and joy!
And so we endure. And wait. UNTIL! And then we rejoice – forever!
Scriptures
- Psalm 118:19-29
- Luke 22:14-23
ALSO: WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!!
We continue our journey through the book of 1 CORINTHIANS. We’re at 1 Corinthians 2:6ff.
Let’s go!
Evil is often louder than good. We see it in the news. We see it in our lives. Criticism lingers even as compliments fade.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
Genesis 50:20ab
The evil around Jesus at the crucifixion was deafening. Mocking and ridicule by the religious leaders, by the executing soldiers, and by guilty criminals next to Jesus rand throughout the hilltop. And Jesus, the innocent One, the recipient of it all. Not only that, His own Father had forsaken Him for a time.
But then there is a voice of hope from a strange place. A voice of confession. A voice of longing. A voice of belief. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And this lone voice from a self-proclaimed sinner elicits a response from the One who had been experiencing only evil before now: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Today! You and Me! In paradise!
When all the world lifts their voice in a cacophony of evil and pain, remember those words for you: through faith in Jesus, His salvation is realy for you today and paradise awaits for eternity!
Let those words of truth and hope echo louder than any evil in your lives; for they are the ones that matter! They are the ones that will last! They are the ones for you; today and tomorrow and forever!
Scriptures
- Luke 23:26-43
We continue our journey through the book of 1 CORINTHIANS. We’re at 1 Corinthians 1:18ff.
Let’s go!
The world around us is a complicated place that can be hard to figure out. Life sometimes sends us a fair bit of pain and suffering. It’s not hard to spot cruelty and injustice, pain and confusion, all around us. Much of the time, it’s probably best for us to say two things.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.
Genesis 50:20ab
The first is this: “I don’t really understand how this is all fitting together, but I am here with you as we go through it.”
The other thing that we say and that we believe is: Our God is still at work, and he knows how to take the evil and use it for good.
It’s not a blind faith. The proof of it, simply put, is Jesus.
God worked good from evil for us and all people, through Jesus our King, our living, reigning King through His suffering, trial, death, and resurrection.
And God still does that today, for the people of the King.
Praise the Lord that, even though evil still hurts and affects us, it doesn’t overcome us.
It is a conquered enemy for our eternal future in paradise!
~ The Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs, edited by The Rev. Scott Heitshusen
Scriptures
- Luke 23:1-25
- Acts 4:23-28
