Our church. So if you have a Bible with you, if you open up to the Book of First Corinthians. Today we’re going to take a little break from our study of Luke that we’ve had going on for several weeks now. I’m going to do a sermon from First Corinthians 15.
Our text of study is going to be verses 50 through 58. If you don’t have a Bible with you, there are pew Bibles scattered throughout. It’s on page 560. And so as you open up your Bible, please do keep them open throughout the service.
So First Corinthians 15, verses 50 through 58. So let me read the sacred text and then we’re going to pray, and then we’re going to get to work to work through this. So first Corinthians 15, starting in verse 50, this is what the Holy Spirit says as I tell you this, brothers flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, they tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be all changed in a moment, in the twinkling of eye.
At the last trumpet, the trumpet will sound. The dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. The imperishable body must put on imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable push on imperishable, the perishable puts on imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Let’s ask God’s word for this morning.
Would you please pray with me, Lord? It’s good to be here, Lord. Thank you for your Bible.
Thank you for the Holy Spirit, who opens up your word that we might not only understand it, but that through your word that we would see the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, God, please pray that you’d help me to be a good communicator of your word this morning. Please keep me from error. Please help me from stumbling. Please also be with the congregation.
Please give them ears to hear what you are saying through the Spirit to us. I pray this on Jesus name. Amen. So there’s an old hymn that’s written in the late 1800s. It sings this chorus.
Some of you are probably familiar with it. It says, when we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory. And that chorus sings truth that when it comes to the end of this life, as the eternal life is ushered in, as God gathers all of his people of faith from all time into one glorious church that will fill the new heavens and new earth, that day will be a day of great joy, a great rejoicing. With one voice, we will sing our praises to our God and to his lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who shed his blood for us, so that through him, through his death, through his resurrection, his victory, we might enjoy eternal life.
And on that great day, rejoicing, we’re all together, gathered together as one. That’s going to kick off an eternal reality. From that day forward, every day will be a great day, as every day will be filled with great joy. Great rejoicing as every day, God’s people will be together with him as one where forever we will sing praises to our God into His Lamb. However, that being said, even though that day will be a day like no other in this life, as we gather together as God’s people, uniquely in the local church, the Bride of Christ, we still have great days.
We’re still even now. We still rejoice. We still experience God’s joy in his love. We still even today, sing praises to our God and to his lamb in the victory that he has won for us. And every time we gather together as the local church really is a great day of rejoicing.
But for us this morning, today is actually a little more unique, a little more special, maybe a little added rejoicing for us. Because today, as we gather together as Red Village Church, we do so to mark the 15th anniversary of the first time we officially did this as a local church, where it was 15 years ago this weekend, for the first official time, we gathered together to rejoice as Red Village Church was born with her first members, a total of 16 of us who signed a membership covenant on a cold December night 2010, which I should mention, that was also a special day of rejoicing as well. So now, before we texted this morning, let me just give you some desires that I have for us through this text for this time. And these hopes relate to where I actually want us to look this morning. So just look back at the text we look to celebrate 15 years first, I do hope that through this text, it helps us to be a bit reflective and to look back on 15 years of red Village Church.
So I know some of you were with us last night, and that’s actually a lot what we did, we look back, and it’s good for us to look back. In fact, every Sunday since the first Sunday that we’ve met, we’ve actually taken time to look back, like to look back at the cross and what the Lord Jesus Christ have done for that or done for us, where we particularly have looked back as we celebrate the lord’s supper. So First Corinthians 11 actually speaks about that, celebrating that it’s something we’re actually going to be doing again today. So that’s one desire that I have for us in this text, is to look back and be reflective. But then the second hope that I have, which actually is an even more so hope, is that in the text today, I hope we actually can, like, look ahead where as we look ahead, I hope it’ll be like, motivating for us through this text to continue on in this work that by the grace of God, there’ll be many more days of rejoicing for us as Red Village Church, with many more anniversaries still yet to come.
So that’s. That’s the hope for this time. So let me just add a little bit of context for us with this passage before we dive into it and the context I want to start giving just to surround this church from the city of Corinth, who is the local church, who is the first on the receiving end of this letter. And this letter is written to this church in Corinth from the Apostle Paul was actually the one who started the church in one of his missionary journeys. And by the contents of Paul’s writings, we see that this letter, First Corinthians, was actually one of at least four letters that we know of that Paul wrote to this church.
So, so two of these letters we still have as part of sacred Scripture, So First Corinthians and then Second Corinthians, but the other two letters have been lost to history. Furthermore, let me mention that this church in Corinth has received this letter, one that we’re studying this morning. They’re a really young church when this letter was delivered to them. In fact, actually much younger than even 15 years young. So at the time this letter, the church in Corinth was maybe like 3 to 5 years old, really young.
And as Paul wrote this Letter, we can see that he was thankful for this young church. But we’re also to see just we read through it by the contents of this letter as well as Second Corinthians written a few years later, that this young church had a lot of issues. In many ways it was kind of a hot mess where they needed a lot of growth and a lot of issues to be resolved as they look forward as they’re hoping to forge ahead in ways that honor the Lord. So if you read through 1st and 2nd Corinthians, you can see some of the issues. See, the church had issues with pride, issues with division, issues of like obsessing over like their favorite preacher, issues with sexual sin, issues with actually being like lackadaisical with sin, issues with like properly using their gifts, issues with money, issues on how to like conduct themselves in like an orderly manner in church services, issues how they like we’re seeking to love one another, issues with entertaining like false teachers.
And these are just a few of like many issues that seem to plague this young church. However, despite the many issues as mentioned, Paul was still thankful for them. And the reason why Paul was thankful for them, because Paul could see the evidence of God’s grace on them where God was even using this young church with all their issues to do his work, which for them, for us, this work can be weary work. It was weary work for them even though they’re maybe like three to five years old at the time. The letter, by the way, think about that.
A three to five year old weary church in Corinth probably gives us some perspective on like maybe a potential weariness that maybe some of us are experiencing. But church is now 15 years old. Church life, as great as it can be, as important, essential as it ought to be. As mentioned, the church, the bride of Christ. At times, church life can be weary work.
They can say in 15 years there’s been plenty of weary work for us, right? Lots of ups, lots of downs, lots of transitions, lots of things for us to work on, issues to grow in and resolve that no doubt has met at different times that probably have left many of us feeling weary. This leads us back to the text today where Paul is encouraged this young church in Corinth and churn us to not grow weary in doing good. In the text, how Paul encouraged them us to not grow weary in doing good by helping them see where they should look, starting with looking to Jesus, always the most important in the particular text. Here they were to look to Jesus in ways that they were like looking ahead to See that which is still in front of them.
Okay. Now as you start to look back at the text, you can see there’s two different looks ahead that are going to be important for us, I think, to notice here. So first in the text we’re going to see, looking ahead is going to be actually a look all the way into eternity and all that that awaits those who have faith in Jesus Christ. So let’s go through the passages of morning. That’s going to be verses 50 through 57.
Just look all the way into eternity. Just look ahead. And the second look in light of the eternal look, was to look actually like what was maybe more directly in front of them as a church in the work that God had given to them. So that’s gonna be verses 58 for us today. Okay, so that is the instruction.
Let’s look back with me starting verse 50. And as you look back at verse 50, we’re just gonna do the same thing we’ve actually done Sunday after Sunday for 15 years now, which simple math, that’s over like 750 times. There’s a few times, Covid, things like that that we didn’t meet, but over 750 times. What we’ve done as a church is just walk verse by verse through a passage of scripture, ways that whoever’s preaching is trying to faithfully exposit the text in ways that we’re making much of Jesus, his wooden cross, his empty Tomb that for 15 years we have declared means everything to us. So verse 50 says this.
It says, I tell you this, brothers, or I tell you this, brothers and sisters, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And the reason why flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God is that our current bodies, our current flesh and blood have been stained with sin. And we live with a curse, this curse that came as a result of sin, a curse that has affected all things in this present life, where all of creation is actually under a curse, which, because of sin, because of curse. This is why, like, our current bodies, like, break down, why they get sick, why eventually our current bodies, our current flesh and blood, why they die. Because sickness, sin, sickness, death, the curse.
Because these things mark our current flesh and blood. Because none of these realities are going to be present in the eternal kingdom of God that is to come. So it’s in the text. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom. Flesh and blood and all that they have with them are not allowed in.
It’s actually why we just sung Joy to the World. The famous line there, when it comes to eternal life. It says, no more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow. As far as a curse is found.
So eternal life, right? No sin, no sorrows, no death, no more curses, rather just the blessing of God. The end of verse 50. To further explain what he’s trying to teach, Paul wrote, this says, that which is perishable, also speaking direct of flesh and blood, you cannot inherit that which is imperishable. This reality starting verse 50 of our passage today.
This is actually something Paul is building on in the text and the preceding verses as he talks about this resurrection of the dead that was to come, where he wrote, like our natural bodies, flesh and blood bodies are sown in weakness. But for those who have faith in Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead, that is to come, as they inherit the imperishable, the inherit eternal life is calm, something to look forward to. They’re gonna be given, like new spiritual bodies, they’re going to be raised in power, spiritual bodies that will never suffer the consequences of sin, meaning they’ll never break down, they’ll never get sick, they’ll never die, they’re never going to have sorrow, they’ll be completely removed from the curse, as mentioned, only under the blessing of God. So in our new spiritual bodies, people never have to worry about growing weary as we live forever with our God in the kingdom that is to come. Verse 51.
Behold, I tell you a mystery, that we shall not all sleep, we’ll not all be stuck in the grave having both physical and spiritual death which are the consequences of sin. But for those who are in Christ Jesus, who have their sins forgiven, who have tasted of his grace, who have received his incredible love, in the text, we all shall be changed with a change that’s going to come quickly in a moment that there will be like a twinkling of an eye as the last trumpet will sound that will mark the end of this present life. And as that last trumpet sounds, everything will change and the dead will be raised as our souls will be knit to our new spiritual, imperishable bodies, where it will be changed forever and ever. Amen. Now let me hit pause here just for a bit, just maybe clarify maybe some questions you may be having.
First, let me just address. So what happens when a Christian dies? So as a text implying some type of like, in between state, between, like death and then the last trumpet sounding in spiritual bodies being raised. And the answer to that question is kind of a yes. Okay, so when a loved One dies, someone dies in Christ.
Scripture tells us, absent from the flesh, meaning absent from this natural body, but present with the Lord in heavenly places. So for all those from all of history who have had faith as they’ve died in this life, right now they are present with the Lord in the presence of his joy in the heavenly places. However, even though they are present with the Lord in the heavenly places, these are not fully complete until the last trumpet sounds and their souls are once again united to a body, the spiritual body, that will last for all eternity. Okay, so as God created mankind, he created us, body and soul. So, yes, absent from the flesh, present with the Lord.
But in this current presence with the Lord, things will not be complete until the soul and body are once again united. Okay, so for those of us who have been around Red Village for a little while, you may remember in the early years, one of the songs we sung often was actually an old Isaac Watam held absent from flesh. Do you remember this? Let me just sing these words or not sing. Read these words for you.
Says, Absent from flesh O blissful thought what joy that moment brings. Freed from the blame my sin has brought Free from pain and death and its sting Absent from flesh O glorious state in one triumphant stroke My reckoning paid My charges drop and the bonds round my hands are broke Absent from flesh Then rise my soul where feet nor wings could climb beyond the sky where planets roll and beyond I’ll keep of time the chorus is, I go where God and glory shine to one eternal day and this failing body I now resign for the angels point the way for the angels point my way And I love that song. Because when we are absent from flesh and present with the Lord, it will be a glorious day, a day like we have never experienced in its present reality. However, what would be even more of a glorious day, an even greater day, rejoicing. It’s actually the day the trumpet sounds and we’re united to our new heavenly, spiritual body.
On that day, things will be complete. On that day, our rejoicing will be full. Which actually leads to maybe a second potential question. You have just maybe a little bit of what eternal life looks like. And for God’s people, the answer in part is eternal life is going to be a physical reality, or are we going to dwell in the new heavens and a new earth?
What scripture presents as, like, a physical place? This will be the place where we’ll live with our new physical, spiritual bodies, where I think we’re actually, like, recognizing one another. I don’t want to get Too sidetracked here. But eternal life is not some type of, like, nirvana of consciousness where our souls are just kind of floating around. Rather, eternal life.
Say it again. It’s gonna be a physical life where I think many of the physical realities that we have today will actually be present there, but in perfect holy ways. As mentioned, the new creation that waits will be free from the stain of sin, from its curse. Third, I do want to mention these realities of eternal life, so Scripture is clear. These are only for those who have faith in Lord Jesus Christ, only for those who trust in him, who have his righteousness counted as their righteousness.
So for all those who are not trusting in Christ, they actually can’t look ahead for this eternal life that is to come unless they turn from sin and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. They can actually only look to eternal death, damnation. Which, by the way, if you’re here and you’re not yet a Christian, we really are happy they’re here with us today. And please know, as excited as we are to celebrate 15 years as a church, which should be far more exciting to us, if you trusted in Jesus today and you joined us in rejoicing in him, you can say a lot more here, but let’s keep moving on. Verse 53, Paul’s continued with his thoughts continue to stress this point.
For this perishable body, flesh and blood, must put on imperishable. This mortal body must put on immortality. These are necessaries for eternal life that is to come. It must happen to enter into eternal life. It must happen for eternal life to be full and complete.
Verse 54. So when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on the immortality, then shall come to pass the same death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Now, a number of things here.
So first is saying 54 is referring to. So this actually comes from two different Old Testament passages. So the first One is Isaiah 25. It says this, he speaking of God. God will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.
The other one is from Hosea 13, says this. O death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes. Second, let me also mention, as you read this text and this scene that is written, we need to read it with a sarcastic and mocking tone.
Okay, so death is swallowed up in victory. Then with sarcasm. Oh death, where’s your victory? With mocking. O death, where’s your sting?
So in this life, death mocks us, and death mocks us because, as mentioned in his present life, we actually all will succumb to it. But because of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of his wooden cross, because of his empty tomb, because of his goodness and kindness and mercy, because of the resurrection of the dead that he promises, because he is the one who is the victor. In the end, as we look ahead, not only is death going to be silenced, as Jesus actually puts death to death for his people, but for those who are in Christ, in the end, the tables will churn and we will be the ones who will mock death with like holy gloating, oh, death, where’s your victory that for so long you claim that you have, oh, death, where’s your sting now you’re not so powerful anymore, are you? Third, let me do mention here. Even though, yes, for those who are in Christ, we will mock death forever, I do think it’s important to understand how these two quotes the mocking of death, like the when this will take place, at least fully take place.
So let me just read this again, and as I read through it, just notice a couple time markers. So you see in the text is when this is the first time marker, when the perishable puts on the imperishable, when the mortal puts on immortality, it is then second time marker, then shall come to pass. Death is swallowed in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O death, where’s your sting?
And the reason I want to point these out is because in this life, as we live in the current flesh, when death comes, particularly those that we love, it still does sting. And it stings even though we know and we trust in the promise of God regarding eternal life. Does it come, it stings even though that we know that those that we love who died in Christ, yes, are absent from the flesh, but present with the Lord. It stings even though that we know the trumpet will sound one day. Even though we know these things in this current life, death still stings.
It’s still painful, it still mocks us, it still hurts us, right? This is why we mourn at funerals, even those who die in Christ and are now present with the Lord. So time markers of the text, they’re important when at that time, when the perishable puts on imperishable, the mortal puts on imperiality, then at that time, when the tables are finally turned, then we will be able to fully mock death, as the sting of death will be forever removed from us. So, friends, in this life, yes, by faith, we trust in ways that we still declare. We still use mocking and sarcasm at death, but we do so with tears in our eyes, with pain still in our hearts as we look forward and long for that trumpet to sound.
When the Lord will dry all of our tears, then the tables will be turned. Keep going. Verse 56. The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law, meaning death.
Its sting entered into the world when the first man, Adam, sinned, which led to death. And the reason why sin has brought forth death, because that’s what the law of God demands, which is a good law. Sin comes with a death sentence from a holy and just God. So if you’re with us last week will so helpfully pointed out to us, like the bad news that actually hangs over us. Bad news that in Adam, and like Adam, we all have sinned.
We all on our own have fell short of the glory of God. None of us meet his righteous standard on our own. We all have been given a sentence of death in this mortal life because we all have broken God’s good law. Scripture is clear. The wages of sin is death.
And that’s the bad news for all of us here, particularly those who have yet to trust in Christ, that if you are not in Christ, all you have is bad news. Not only death in this life, but also eternal death that awaits. But then, as we keep going the text, we see, even though there is this bad news for mankind, God, in His great grace and his incredible mercy and his deep love according to his eternal plan, has given good news to us, really good news to us. Good news that ought to mean everything to us. Good news that ought to drive all that we do.
Good news that is available to even those here this morning who have yet to trust in Christ. Good news that I want to plead with you to hear in ways that becomes real to you. Verse 57. But thanks be to God for His good news. Good news that he gives us victory through the Lord Jesus Christ, which is a victory found in the message of His Gospel, which for us every Sunday for 15 years, 750 plus times, this is something that we’ve sought to declare.
It’s my privilege to declare again to you this morning. The good news that there is victory, always victory in Jesus Christ. Because in his love the Lord Jesus Christ came for us by becoming one of us, as the eternal word of God became flesh like us in every way, yet without sin. However, even though Jesus was without sin, in his great love, in accordance with the Scriptures, He, Jesus became sin for us. Where He, Jesus, died for us to take on the demands of the law, where He, Jesus, stood before the judgment seat of God in our place as our representative, where he, the Lord Jesus Christ, humbly accepted upon himself the death sentence reserved for us.
For he, the Lord Jesus, died on a wooden cross in the flesh where, according to the Scriptures, he was buried. But, friends, there’s good news. And according to the scriptures, in great power, Jesus Christ rose again from the dead into a new spiritual body. And He, Jesus, offers forgiveness of sin and eternal life to all who by faith turn from sin and turn to him, including all here in this room. That’s the good news of Jesus Christ.
Good news for you. Good news that he is the victor. Yes, for God’s people, one day we will die in this flesh. But like Jesus, for those who have faith, we will rise again and like Jesus, be given new spiritual bodies where forever and ever we will be with Jesus. Which is why heaven.
Heaven will be heaven. Why, it will be so great? Yes, it’s going to be great to be free from sin and death, free from the curse, free from bodies that, like, break down, become weary. That’s going to be sweet. You know what’s going to be even more great, even more sweet, why heaven’s going to be heaven?
Because we’re going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, our victor and friend. That is such good news to us. We don’t have to be like Adam in our sin. We can be in Christ the second, the better Adam. Something we talked about a few weeks back in our study of Luke, something Paul actually writes about a few verses up from our passage today.
For us in the text, this is actually the first look ahead, right? This look all the way into eternal life.
At the end of this life, eternal life awaits for all those who are in Christ Jesus, which eternal life with Christ and with each other, we’ll dwell together as one. As mentioned, our new spiritual bodies will be filled with day after day of incredible rejoicing in the new heavens and a new earth. We’ll be filled with God’s love, his joy, which is certainly a day that we look forward to and long for. That’s the first look. This look, eternal life, the victory that Christ has taken us towards.
And this look ahead should encourage us and should motivate us in ways and how we actually live out the rest of our days here in flesh and blood. Which is now the second look. Second look ahead in our text, which is this look that’s still in front of us as we wait for that trumpet to sound as we look ahead. I specifically want just consider this look as a church family and that which perhaps is still in front of us. So keep going the text so because of the gift of God found in the Lord Jesus Christ, because of the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death, Read these words, verse 58.
Therefore, because of all those things, therefore, my beloved brothers, or my beloved brothers and sisters, or therefore for us, Red Village Church because of Jesus, because of his victory. Therefore, be steadfast in this flesh and blood. Be immovable. Therefore, in this present life as we wait for that trumpet, always abound in the works of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, their labors, our labors, as weary as they may feel, they’re not in vain. God is at work in them.
He is using them to build his eternal kingdom. I think often in ways that we don’t always see in the moment. I think it has been true all the different labors that have been done here for the last 15 years. I’m sure in the moment we probably wondered, was it worth it? Different things that you did, we did.
Did it make a difference? Was it worth it serve in the nursery yet again or to be a greeter yet again, or just to help clean up after an event? Was it worth it to, like, participate in a workday or join a prayer meeting or make yet another meal for another meal train? Was it worth it just to try to encourage someone who is down and discouraged? Was it worth it to once again put on the hat of hospitality and have someone over to your house for a meal?
Was it worth it to invite that same neighbor to church yet again who never comes? There’s just a few. Among countless other acts of service that have made up the church for 15 years. Is it worth it? Did any of these labors actually matter?
Perhaps? Were they just weary work done in vain? However, today as we celebrate, as we reflect back, more importantly, as you look at the text, friends, I do hope we see that in the Lord none of your weary work has been in vain. Hope you see collectively, hope we see that the Lord has been very much at work in our weary labors. As mentioned last night, in 15 years God has used our labors here in the lives of lots of people that have now touched all over the state of Wisconsin, people who now live all over the country, people who indeed live all over the world, where through your labors, people from Madison all the way to the ends of the earth have heard about the victory of Jesus Christ, have learned that the wooden cross Empty tomb really do mean everything.
So for us in the text, as we reflect back, even more so as you look ahead to that which is still in front of us in church life. Right? We must continue to trust in the Lord, continue to take him up at his word, that whatever labors that we continue to do in the Lord for however long God gives to our church, those labors also will not be in vain. Rather they will be used by God. It’s a real reason we just can’t grow weary in doing good in ways that we just like, give up.
Rather, by the grace of God, we must continue to move forward. How do we move forward is look ahead well back to text.
Move forward by seeking to be steadfast, just holding on to the truth of Scripture, trusting whatever God says in his word. It’s right, it’s true, it’s good by being steadfast, but not by giving like two up, two down with all different ways of life that not only like come crashing against us in our own personal lives, but also come crashing against us in church life. I do think like these waves up and down. This is a real reason why we can feel so weary, maybe want to quit doing good. In the text.
We are to be immovable. Not only holding to the truths of Scriptures, we hold on to ways that we stand on them and deep convictions where we set our hearts to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. And to love each other, which is never the easiest thing to do. We’re to be immovable in ways in the text. We’re always abounding in doing the work of the Lord, where we’re active and involved, intentional seeking to care for each other.
We’re intentional, trying to serve one another with our gifts and our time and our talents.
Where we’re intentional and bold to try to bear one another’s burdens in love, which also can be so hard, so weary, where we are praying with one another, where we’re continuing to sow the seed of the gospel in the lives of those around us. I mentioned this last night. I didn’t want to mention this again here this morning. So 15 years ago, when the church was born, it was born with a little phrase that actually I took from the founders of the seminary I went to. It was a phrase that we had was Red Village Church may die, but we die first.
Meaning as long as God gives us breath, as long as we have life in this mortal flesh and blood, as we trust in God, his goodness, his plan. Fifteen years ago, we decided that we’re going to do all that we could to labor together and ways to try to see the church move forward. Friends, may that mantra we start out with, Red Church may die, but we die first. May that always be our mantra. As we look ahead, as we wait for that trumpet to sound, that we continue to say, red Village Church may die, but we die first.
Knowing that in the Lord our labors are not in vain, knowing the victory has been won in Christ Jesus through his one cross and empty tomb to close. We really do have so much to be thankful as a church. As we think back to 15 years where God has been so good to us, so kind to us in so many ways.
As we reflect back and as we look around the room, we’re reminded our labors have not been in vain. But this morning, I don’t want to look back, just look back. But we must continue to look ahead in ways that our eyes are on Jesus and the promise of eternal life that he has given to us through his victory. And as we look ahead, as we wait for that trumpet to sound, may God give us his strength and his motivation to continue to move forward where we are, boldly declaring the message of Jesus to each other and to the world around us with the hope and the prayer that many others in this life, in this flesh and blood, will turn from sin and turn to Jesus and join us in our rejoicing.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for just your kindness and goodness to our little church.
And Lord, as we look ahead, thank you for that which awaits all of us who are in Christ Jesus, this great eternal life that is to come.
And Lord, I pray that as we look ahead, as we think about eternal life, that it would motivate us and compel us to continue to try to move forward, continue to seek to do good, continue to proclaim good, the good news of Christ.
Lord, thank you that for 15 years you’ve continued to be the head of the body that is Red Village Church. May that always be true. May your word always rule and reign supreme. May all that we do be done for Christ out of love for him and love for each other.
I do pray if there’s any here that are not yet Christians, they’ve yet to taste and see that you’re good, that today you would give them faith to believe, that they would see Christ crucified and risen. For them today, you would birth just trust and belief in their hearts that they might see you pray. It’s on Jesus name. Amen.