Preparing for corporate worship: 'first importance'

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:3-4). Paul says in the first two verses of I Cor. 15 he is making known the gospel to his readers, the gospel by which they are saved. Then, in verses 3 and 4, he describes the heart of the gospel: The death, burial and resurrection of Christ. It is in God the Son’s atoning sacrifice and His resurrection we stand justified before our Holy Judge. No message is as important as the gospel of Jesus, Paul says. It is a work prophesied in the Old Testament, Paul says. All who gather as believers this Sunday in the corporate worship of Covenant Community Church will have the opportunity to proclaim this most important message. We will observe the Lord’s Supper and through it proclaim the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord. May we come prepared to declare the glory of God and the gospel of His Son.