MALAGASY LUTHERAN CHURCH
Communion’s prayer, Sunday II before Easter
Week from 19th to 24th March 2018
“Be prepared to receive redemption”
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Introduction: It’s of utmost importance for us humans to receive redemption since it is the guarantee of our complete deliverance from the yoke of sin, from death and from the devil’s seduction and condemnation. And according to this, God gives us a total and eternal victory as it is written: “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” Rev 12:10-11. The Apostle Paul echoes and explains this statement by saying: “when you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” Col 2:13-15. As a result of Jesus Christ’ sufferings, God the Father gave Him the name above all names, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Phil 2:10-11. This involves the full power to overcome everything that stands against God and his will, namely, sin and the sinful nature of the old Adam that still remains in us, and the devil’s schemes, enemy of God and of our faith (Eph 6:11); and that in order to convince the sinners to come back and to be reconciled with Him. He makes with us a covenant of redemption, indeed, when He says: “I will be their God, and they will be my people” Jer 31:33b.
Monday 19: Be prepared to receive redemption.
“Your redemption is drawing near” Lk 21:28b.
Reading 1: Rev 3:14-22; Reading 2: Lk 21:20-28; Preaching 1 (choice); Preaching 2: Lk 21:28. Other references:
– “Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” Lk 2:38.
– “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city” Rev 22:14.
Tuesday 20: Jesus comes to bring redemption for the world.
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” 1 Jn 2:2
Reading 1: Lk 1:68-75; Reading 2: 1 Jn 2:1-10; Preaching 1 (choice); Preaching 2: 1 Jn 2:1-2. Other references:
– “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles” Is 42:6.
– “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” Jn 3:16.
Wednesday 21: God’s people know their Redeemer.
“I know that my Redeemer lives” Job 19:25a.
Reading 1: Jn 10:22-30; Reading 2: Job 19:21-29; Preaching 1 (choice); Preaching 2: Job 19:25. Other references:
– “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” Jn 10:14.
– “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed” 2 Tim 1:12a.
Thursday 22: Let yourself be seen as ready to receive redemption.
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” Mt 25:13.
Reading 1: 2 Tim 3:10-17; Reading 2: Mt 25:1-13; Preaching 1 (choice); Preaching 2: Mt 25:13. Other references:
– “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless” Mt 22:8-14.
– “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them” Lk 12:37.
Friday 23: God does his best to redeem his people.
“In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people” Is 11:11a.
Reading 1: Acts 17:22-31; Reading 2: Is 11:3-12; Preaching 1 (choice); Preaching 2: Is 11:11-12. Other references:
– “But the Lord said, ‘you have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” Jon 4:10-11.
– “The Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land” Is 14:1.
Saturday 24: Only a repentant heart receives God’s redemption.
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” Mt 4:17.
Reading 1: Lk 15:11-24; Reading 2: Mt 4:12-17; Preaching 1 (choice); Preaching 2: Mt 4:17. Other references:
– “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed” Rom 2:5.
– “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” Mt 11:21.
Note: This pericope is published in Malagasy, French, English and German and can be seen on the site www.hifi-madanet.org and on Facebook “HiFi – english “ © Madanet.