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Eugene Carson Blake, "Apostle, servant for Jesus' sake," 22 January 1962.
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- speakerOr.
- speakerAre.
- speakerSinging together. Number three hundred sixty four. Three hundred sixty
- speakerfour. Or.
- speakerMORE.
- speakerMORE.
- speakerMORE
- speakerMORE
- speakerMORE.
- speakerSo.
- speakerMo
- speakerMo
- speakerthe.
- speakerI.
- speakerSo.
- speakerThe
- speakermore. I
- speakerget.
- speakerMore
- speakerI.
- speakerKnow.
- speakerYou know
- speakerI go
- speakerto my.
- speakerShow.
- speakerThe
- speakerI
- speakerknow the.
- speakerThe I.
- speakerMean.
- speakerTo.
- speakerYou know
- speakerme.
- speakerI
- speakerknow me
- speakerI
- speakermean.
- speakerI
- speakermay.
- speakerSave us all Lord our God.
- speakerThat we may get flags under thy holy name.
- speakerLet us pray today especially for the Orthodox and other eastern churches.
- speakerLet us pray be seated if you will.
- speakerOh Lord we beseech thee to be mindful of thy holy catholic and apostolic church
- speakerwhich reaches from one end of the world to the other. Grant peace
- speakerto this church which thou hast built up by the precious blood of Christ
- speakerestablished this holy dwelling even unto the consummation of the
- speakerworld.
- speakerThe theme for today is the apostle servants
- speakerfor Jesus sake. And the lesson is found in the second epistle to
- speakerthe Corinthians. The fourth chapter.
- speakerAnd beginning at the fifth verse.
- speakerFor what we preach is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as
- speakerLord.
- speakerWith ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake.
- speakerFor it is the God who said let the light shine out of darkness who has shown in
- speakerour hearts.
- speakerTo give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. In the face of
- speakerChrist.
- speakerBut we have this treasure in earthen vessels to show.
- speakerThat the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.
- speakerWe are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed.
- speakerBut not driven to despair. Persecuted. But
- speakernot forsaken struck down. But not destroyed.
- speakerAlways caring in the body the death of Jesus, so the life
- speakerof Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For
- speakerwhile we live, we are always being given up to death for
- speakerJesus sake. So the life of Jesus may be manifested
- speakerin our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us
- speakerbut life in you. Since we have the same spirit of
- speakerfaith as he had who wrote, "I believed and so I spoke."
- speakerWe too believe and so we speak, knowing that he
- speakerwho raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and
- speakerbring us with you into his presence. For it is
- speakerall for your sake, so that as Grace extends to more and
- speakermore people. It may increase thanksgiving
- speakerto the glory of God.
- speakerThe apostle.
- speakerConsequently, every minister or witness of Christ
- speakeris essentially a servant of man for Jesus
- speakersake. He must seek to decrease so that Christ
- speakermay increase, to mortify his nature
- speakerso the Lord may shine in his heart. And that through him
- speakermay shine the revelation of the glory of God, which is in the
- speakerface of Jesus Christ.
- speakerIt is in proportion as he accepts the position of a servant in humility, that
- speakerhe will be more transparent.
- speakerThat Christ alone will be revealed in his preaching
- speakeror in his witness.
- speakerIt is this thought of the church and its
- speakerministers as the servants of Christ.
- speakerServants of one another in
- speakerhis name that is the heart of our meditation today
- speakeras we pray for the unity. Of the church as Christ
- speakerwills it and remembering especially
- speakeron this particular day the Orthodox churches and the other
- speakerancient eastern churches with whom through the
- speakerecumenical movement in these latter times, very recently as
- speakerchurch history runs, we are beginning to have fellowship
- speakerand communion in that name which they revere above
- speakerevery name and in that name, which all of us gathered here,
- speakerfrom our very traditions equally
- speakerrevere.
- speakerLet us give thanks to God for making us one with himself and
- speakerwith one another.
- speakerBy the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross for our unity given
- speakerin thee and for thy constant presence in thy church.
- speakerFor the movement of the Holy Spirit renewing the life and mission of the
- speakerchurch throughout the world.
- speakerFor the blessings thou hast brought out of the suffering of the church
- speakerfilling up what is lacking for the whole body and strengthening its union with
- speakerthee.
- speakerFor all thy gifts to us, in spite of our divisions, and for
- speakerteaching us to share them with one another in the ecumenical movement.
- speakerOh Lord Jesus Christ.
- speakerIn penitence and humility we confess our sins
- speakerand ask thy forgiveness for all that impedes the manifestation of our unity in
- speakerthee. For our failure to believe in the reconciliation of
- speakerall men to thee and to each other through thy passion and death. And
- speakerfor the suffering we cause thee by our divisions.
- speakerFor our indifference and complacency for our ignorance and
- speakerprejudice. For our lack of humility and our
- speakerunwillingness to learn from one another.
- speakerFor our bitter controversies for our sarcasm and narrow
- speakermindedness and for our acts of hatred and violence against
- speakerone another. For the barriers of
- speakerrace and class, nation and culture,
- speakerwhich we erect among thy people.
- speakerFor our lack of love and our failure to pray for one another.
- speakerFor hindering the course of the Gospel by our divisions and for our lack
- speakerof zeal.
- speakerLet us ask the Holy Spirit to kindle in us the burning fire of his
- speakerlove.
- speakerSo that in the church all that is in conflict with his will may be destroyed.
- speakerAnd the things of the spirit may live and grow. Let us
- speakerpray that he may inspire all who work and pray for Christian unity
- speakerand guide them into all truth.
- speakerAnd let us now pray especially for
- speakerour brethren from the ancient Eastern churches who,
- speakersince the convulsions of our time, have
- speakercome to dwell amongst us. May we
- speakerpray that the life of their churches may bring
- speakergifts to the faith and life
- speakerof all of our churches, that have been longer planted here
- speakerin this land. And, let us pray for the
- speakerunity of the Orthodox churches and the
- speakerancient Eastern Churches amongst themselves and for
- speakertheir contribution worldwide to the new life
- speakerand hope of the ecumenical movement. And, let
- speakerus pray that we may be receptive to the gifts,
- speakerwhich their tradition have preserved for us.
- speakerLord hear our prayer.
- speakerLet us pray that he may open our hearts to our Lord offering his prayer
- speakerfor the unity of his people and thereby make us grow in union with
- speakerHim.
- speakerLord. Hear our prayer.
- speakerLet us pray that we may be ready to share in our Lord's agony
- speakerbrought upon him by our divisions and unfaithfulness so that we may
- speakeralso share in the power of His resurrection.
- speakerLord hear our prayer.
- speakerAnd let us pray that the Church on earth, in communion with her
- speakerLord who gave himself for men, may be ready to be broken and
- speakergiven for the needs of the world. So that the kingdoms of this
- speakerworld may become
- speakerthe kingdom of our God.
- speakerLord hear our prayer.
- speakerOur Father, who art in Heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy
- speakerkingdom come.
- speakerThy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us
- speakerthis day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we
- speakerforgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but
- speakerdeliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power.
- speakerAnd the glory for ever. Amen.
- speakerThere is one body and one spirit.
- speakerOne Lord, one faith, one baptism.
- speakerLet us bless the Lord.
- speakerMay the peace of God, which is beyond our utmost understanding,
- speakerkeep guard over our hearts and our thoughts. In Christ Jesus. Amen.
