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FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT
April 3, 2022
Year C, Revised Common Lectionary

This is an expression of the church, the fellowship of believers in and seekers of Jesus. We meet online in an online community on Facebook. This feed is available to Pastor Tom's friends and followers, but also the general public. There are no restrictions. Welcome. Help us make this a REAL community of Joy and love.

 

Online friends are REAL friends!

 

Please leave your comments, questions, and prayer requests in the comments section

We meet online at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fellowshipofjoy

Blog: https://pastortomsims.typepad.com/the_fellowship_of_joy/

 

The Fellowship of Joy is building a team of technical advisors to assist with the delivery and expansion of this message. Respond in comments or PM.

 

Devotions are posted daily - http://facebook.com/pastortomsims

 

Join us for the prayer our Lord taught us to pray

 

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.-

Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the LORD, who makes a
way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings
out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down,
they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a
wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider
the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it
springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way
in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild
animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for
I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to
give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I
formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Audio - Download Isaiah 43 16-21

Psalm 126
When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and
our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said
among the nations, "The LORD has done great
things for them."

The LORD has done great things for us, and we
rejoiced.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the
watercourses in the Negeb.

May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of
joy.

Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.

AUDIO Download Psalm 126

Philippians 3:4b-14

If anyone else has reason to be
confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the
eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the
tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the
law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church;
as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet
whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as
loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard
everything as loss because of the surpassing value of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have
suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as
rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in
him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes
from the law, but one that comes through faith in
Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I
want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection
and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him
in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection
from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or
have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it
my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own;
but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and
straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward
the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in
Christ Jesus.

 John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover Jesus came
to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised
from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him.
Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the
table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume
made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped
them with her hair. The house was filled with the
fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his
disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,
"Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred
denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this
not because he cared about the poor, but because he
was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to
steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone.
She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of
my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you
do not always have me."

SERMON from Pastor Tom:

More love to Thee, O Christ,
More love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make
On bended knee;
This is my earnest plea:
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!

Once earthly joy I craved,
Sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek,
Give what is best;
This all my prayer shall be:
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!

Then shall my latest breath
Whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry
My heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be:
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!

 

You may email Pastor Tom Sims at

mailto:pastortomsims@gmail.com

 

If you wish to give to The Fellowship of Joy through our legal entity, Baptist Temple, you may use this link.