“Build on Christ Jesus, Your Firm Foundation.”

Sixth Sunday Of Easter

SERMON TEXT:  1 Corinthians 3:10-17

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

Bible Readings

FIRST LESSON:  Genesis 4:1-16

The man was intimate with Eve, his wife. She conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have gotten a man with the Lord.” She also gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel tended sheep, but Cain worked the ground. As time passed, one day Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the soil. Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord looked favorably on Abel and his offering, but he did not look favorably on Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and his face showed it. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why do you have that angry look on your face? If you do good, will you not be lifted up? If you do not do good, sin is crouching at the door. It has a strong desire for you, but you must rule over it.” Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” When they were in the field, Cain attacked Abel, his brother, and killed him. The Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the soil. Now you are cursed and sent away from the soil which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the soil, it will no longer give its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear. Look, today you have driven me away from the soil. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. And whoever finds me will kill me.” The Lord said to him, “No! If anyone kills Cain, he will face sevenfold revenge.” And the Lord aointed a sign for Cain, so that anyone who found him would not strike him down. Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. .

SECOND LESSON:  1 John 3:11-18

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: Love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the Evil One and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. This is how we have come to know love: Jesus laid down his life for us. And we also should lay down our lives for our brothers. Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him? Dear children, let us love not only with word or with our tongue, but also in action and truth.

VERSE OF THE DAY:

If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

GOSPEL: John 14:15-21

“If you love me, hold on to my commands. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him. You know him because he stays with you and will be in you.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. The one who has my commands and holds on to them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I too will love him and show myself to him.”