ONLINE WORSHIP:
“Easter Crisis”
April 26th, 2020
Verse 1:
Come, you faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness!
God has brought His Israel
Into joy from sadness.
Loosed from pharoah’s bitter yoke
Jacob’s sons and daughters,
Led them with unmoistened foot
Through the Red Sea Waters.
Verse 2:
‘Tis the spring of souls today:
Christ hath burst his prison,
And from three days’ sleep in death
As a sun has risen;
All the winter of our sins,
Long and dark, is flying
From his light, to whom is giv’n
Laud and praise undying.
Verse 3:
Now the queen of seasons, bright
With the day of splendor,
With the royal feast of feasts,
Come its joy to render;
Comes to gladden faithful hearts
Which with true affection
Welcomes in unwearied strains
Jesus’ resurrection!
Verse 4:
For today among His own
Christ appeared, bestowing
His deep peace, which evermore
Passes human knowing.
Neither could the gates of death
Nor the tomb’s dark portal
Nor the watchers nor the seal
Hold him as a mortal.
Verse 5:
Alleluia! Now we cry
To our King immortal,
Who, triumphant, burst the bars
Of the tomb’s dark portal.
Come, you faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness!
God has brought His Israel
Into joy from sadness!
Confession: Psalm 116 I Love the LORD
I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I love.
The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O Lord, I pray; deliver my soul!”
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple, when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
O LORD, I am your servant; you have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.
God is here and he looks upon us with love and responds to our cries for help.
Forgive us Lord for when we don’t care. Forgive us when we are unaware of our need for you.
When we hit bottom; when there is no one else to turn to, we cry out to you in desperation.
Forgive us Lord and convince us of your presence. Help us to no longer wait for pain or suffering to drive us to you. Enable us to walk in your course, be committed to your purposes and carry out commitment to love you with our whole heart, soul, strength and mind and our neighbor as ourselves. Encircle us with your merciful hand and draw us to yourself.
To all who trust in Christ as Savior and follow him as Lord, He promises forgiveness, pardon and peace. Take heart, your sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake.
Acts 2: 14a, 36-41 Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them…
“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. “
1 Peter 1:17-23 Ransomed
And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but one of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.
Luke 24:13-35 On the Road to Emmaus
The very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
And he said to them, “What things?” and they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
