Order of Worship
6th of April 2025 | 10:30 (Espoo) & 16:00 (Helsinki)
Song 1 – A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
1 Peter 2:9–10
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Song 2 – May the Peoples Praise You
Song 3 – Great Are You, Lord
Song 4 – Trials of Many Kinds
Our welcome team members will pass an offering basket during this song.
For information about giving online, please visit ucclife.fi/give or follow the QR code on the screen. You can also speak to our pastors or leaders for more information about giving and generosity. You can also ask the welcome team or any of our staff team members for more info on giving online.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him, all creatures here below
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen
A warm welcome to all, and especially to any visitors joining us today – if you’d like to get connected or find out more about UCC, please see our digital visitors card or speak to us after the service!
If you have children, they are welcome to join our Sunday school classes!
Our Scripture reading today is 2 Corinthians 6:1–13 (ESV). Hear the Word of God:
6:1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says,
“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.
This is the Word of the Lord.
A Life Wide Open
When the grace of God takes hold, it produces a life of urgency, endurance, and open-hearted love.
I. Don’t Receive Grace in Vain vv 1–2
II. The Integrity That Commends the Gospel vv 3–10
III. The Open Heart of Gospel Ministry vv 11–13
If you believe in Jesus as your Saviour and King, you are welcome to the Table.
Please hold the elements until all have received; we will all take them together.
The bread is gluten free, the cup is alcohol free.
Song 5 – Jesus Paid It All
Song 6 – Is He Worthy?
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Introduction
1. When have you received a message or opportunity that felt important, but you delayed acting on it? What was going on in your heart at the time?
2. This passage is Paul at his most personal. He pleads, he endures, and he opens his heart to the Corinthians. Why might it be important that gospel truth is not only taught but also lived and felt?
Into the Text
3. Read verses 1–2. What does Paul mean by “receiving the grace of God in vain”? How does his quote from Isaiah give weight to his urgency?
4. In verses 3–5, Paul describes the hardships of his ministry. How does his willingness to suffer challenge the Corinthian view of what makes a leader credible?
5. Verses 6–7 list qualities like purity, patience, and love. What is the relationship between these virtues and Paul’s credibility as a servant of God?
6. In verses 8–10, Paul names paradoxes like being sorrowful yet always rejoicing. How do these tensions reflect the shape of Christ’s life and how we are called to live?
Apply the Text
7. In the sermon it was said, “Grace is not just an offer. It’s an invitation that comes with urgency.” Where in your life might you be treating grace casually or delaying your response?
8.In the sermon it was said, “You don’t have to be eloquent. You don’t have to be popular. But you do have to endure.” What does endurance look like in your faith right now and how can the cross of Jesus Christ recalibrate our endurance?
9. Paul ends with, “Our heart is wide open… widen your hearts also.” Is there someone or something you’ve closed your heart to? How might Christ’s love call you to open it again?