Father-as we just sang just now-there is only one Gospel upon which we stand. It is the gospel that is your eternal plan of rescue and redemption that brought us from death to life. By your grace and mercy, we have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of your beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

As we gather this morning, as we live out the days of our lives, may we look to Him alone for hope and peace. In the midst of the struggles and turmoil of this world, we are reminded that He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation and that by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together, therefore we need not be anxious because He reigns over all. 

He is the head of the body, the church and we are unified under Him. We all were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. But He has now reconciled us in his body of flesh by his death, in order to that we may be presented holy and blameless and above reproach before him.  

May we together, as your body on this earth, strive for unity and continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel. May we rejoice, as the apostle Paul did, in our sufferings for your sake, reminding each other that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 

Together we stand on the gospel of Christ with the goal of proclaiming, warning and teaching each other with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this we toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within us. 

And it is in the mighty name of our Lord, Jesus Christ that we pray-Amen