New Testament | 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 (with Nick Locke)

Opening Song:

O Lord, open our lips and our mouths will declare Your praise.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end,
Amen.

The Scripture for today is 1 Corinthians 1:1-9.

Let’s prepare our hearts to hear from God’s word as we listen to Grace and Peace by Joel Sczebel. Smooth, contoured phrases form the verses of this song. At first, the choruses are sung in quiet wonder, but driving drums and electric guitars build in a joyful crescendo. The voices jump an octave higher and sing the text in full voice: “what an amazing mystery that Your grace has come to me.”
Lyrics:

Grace and peace oh how can this be
For lawbreakers and thieves
For the worthless the least
You have said that our judgment is death
For all eternity without hope without rest

Oh what an amazing mystery
What an amazing mystery
That Your grace has come to me

Grace and peace oh how can this be
The matchless King of all
Paid the blood price for me
Slaughtered Lamb what atonement You bring
The vilest sinner's heart
Can be cleansed can be free

Grace and peace oh how can this be
Let songs of gratefulness
Ever rise never cease
Loved by God and called as a saint
My heart is satisfied
In the riches of Christ

Oh what an amazing love I see
What an amazing love I see
That Your grace has come to me
Passage:

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Musical Reflection:

I Need Thee Every Hour (NEED) by Robert Lowry
Reflection Notes:

Each stanza of this familiar hymn was written by Annie Hawks as part of a poem. When she showed the composition to her pastor, Robert Lowry, he added the refrain and set the text to music for their congregation to enjoy. The musical lines always tend upward before falling back down, an apt parallel to the textual pleas reaching up to God.
Prayer:
Merciful Lord, the comforter and teacher of your faithful people, increase in your church the desires which you have given, and confirm the hearts of those who hope in you by enabling them to understand the depth of your promises, that all your adopted children may even now behold, with the eyes of faith, and patiently wait for, the light which as yet you do not openly manifest; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
-Ambrose