Skip to main content

an easter prayer

The following is the Sunday morning prayer offered by Paul Ribbe at the BCF Easter service about four years ago, as recorded by Jason Meyer:  

Most exalted and loving Jesus, we bring our praise and worship to you this  morning. You have indeed been raised from the dead! You are alive!

What we celebrate today is the crowning miracle of your Gospel, the Good News: It’s the Greatest News ever heard by mankind in all of history!

Because of your death on the cross in our place, and your glorious resurrection from the tomb, we are no longer alienated from the Father, dead and rotting in our sins – Instead, we are completely wrapped in the perfection of your righteousness.

We have hope in this life and assurance of the life to come! You will present us – even me, Lord(!) -- to God the Father – holy, and blameless, and above reproach. And those who have passed away in you, who have “gone to sleep” in you, are today in Paradise with you.

Because you, Lord Jesus, have been raised from the dead, everything has changed. You are the first-fruits and the guarantee of a whole “new 
creation.”

Redemption, reconciliation, and restoration are your gifts of grace to us.

The decline and decay of our earthly bodies will soon give way to the glory of our resurrection bodies. Death is swallowed up in victory!

“Thanks be to God who gives us that victory through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord."

We thank you that the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of God our Father, and of you, Lord Jesus! You are already reigning, and you will reign forever and ever. 

All evil powers and Satan himself have already been defeated by your death and resurrection. And, one day they will be completely removed when you return for your own. 

Our prayer is: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

Jesus, your death was the death of sin and death itself, and your resurrection is beginning of life – new and victorious life for all those who love you. 

The wonder of it all!

By your compelling grace, Lord Jesus, open our eyes and minds to see you in your beauty. Free us from the emptiness of living for ourselves, and may we live for the praise of your glory.

Bring your resurrection power to bear in our homes, in our church, and in our community. Capture our children early and re-capture our hearts when we drift.

Speak to us from your Word this morning through your servant, David, and hear us as we sing your praises.

May the rest of our days be spent for your glory, empowered by your Holy Spirit. So, Risen Lord Jesus, we pray in your most glorious and worthy name, AMEN.





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

bible reading nov 1-2

  Bible reading for weekend Nov 1 -- 2 Nov 1 -- Hosea 7 and Psalms 120-122 Nov 2 -- Hosea 8 and Psalms 123-125 ================   "Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing." (Hosea 8:12) THE RESULTS OF SIN (ch 7-8). Notice the words and metaphors to describe Israel's sinful condition: they are surrounded with, and proud of, their evil (7:1-3); like adulterers in the heat of passion (7:4-5); their anger is like a hot oven (7:6-7); they are like a half-cooked (one side only) cake (7:8); their strength is gone (7:9); they are like silly doves easily trapped (7:11-12); they are undependable like a warped bow (7:16). In spite of all of this they are so proud of themselves! (We might say they have a strong self-esteem.) They have spurned what is good (8:3); they sow to the wind and have no real fruit (8:7); they are a useless vessel (8:8) and a wild donkey wandering alone (8:9); they regard God's law as a strange thing

bible reading dec 3-5

  Bible reading for weekend December 3 -- 5  Dec 3 -- Nahum 1 and Luke 17 Dec 4 -- Nahum 2 and Luke 18 Dec 5 -- Nahum 3 and Luke 19 ================ "The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness." (Nahum 1:7-8)  TIME'S UP FOR NINEVEH (Nah 1-3). The prophecy of Nahum is God's word to the people of Nineveh, part two. Jonah was part one, chronicling a city-wide repentance of Assyrians in the capital about a hundred years earlier. The closing bookend is Nahum, and the Assyrian empire is big, powerful, and aggressive. Notice the references to chariots (2:3-4, 13; 3:2). The Assyrians were a militarily advanced culture, and cruel in their warfare. Whatever spiritual receptivity they had at the time of Jonah was gone by the time of Nahum. Nahum may not have actually visited Nineveh, for it seems the book was w

bible reading june 4-6

Bible reading for weekend June 4 -- 6 Jun 4 -- Isaiah 36 and Revelation 6 Jun 5 -- Isaiah 37 and Revelation 7 Jun 6 -- Isaiah 38 and Revelation 8 ================    "So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD." (Isaiah 37:20) HISTORICAL INTERLUDE (ch 36). Chapters 36 and 37 demonstrate that what Isaiah prophesied actually came to pass. The pre-siege negotiations begin. The Rabshakeh, referring to the chief representative of the Assyrian army, dissuades the people of Jerusalem from trusting in Egypt for deliverance (good advice), and also not to trust the Lord, the God of Israel, to rescue them (bad advice). The Assyrians are mocking the God of Israel as just another regional god who would fall at the hands of their mighty men. "Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?" (v 20). Hezekiah's trus