McPhail Weblog Feb 20 2022

 

McPhail Baptist Church

Prelude: “Prelude in Eb Major” (A. Guilmant)

Hymn: “Come, Christians Join To Sing”

Prayer

Lord Jesus, for You have promised that if we ask, we shall receive, and that if we seek, we will find; and that if we knock, we will be welcomed.

In response to that invitation, we ask for an unwavering faith. We seek the answers to the puzzles of life and we knock at heaven's gate for an assurance that You are alive and acting in our world.

And so we come confessing, Lord, the conceit which makes us think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We confess that we are prone to rationalize our faults, and sometimes we make snap judgments about others. We rewrite our past, and sometimes we take credit for our successes while blaming our failures on others. 

Forgive us Lord of all our misdeeds. Help us to open our eyes to your pardoning grace, grace that is greater than all our folly and failure. We ask that your love will conquer us, that your mercy will restore us, and the Spirit's power fill us. Amen.

Special Music: "The Lord's Prayer"(Gates)

Terri-Ann Wint/ Margot Lange

Scripture Readings

Matthew 25:31-46 NRSV

The Judgment of the Nations

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,[a] you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Hymn: “Open My Eyes That I May See” 

Sermon: “Why Be A Christian?” 

Rev. Ernie Cox  

                                                                     

Hymn: “I Then Shall Live” 

Benediction 

Postlude: “Tuba Tune” (Paul Fey)