VERDUGO COMMUNITY CHURCH WORSHIP SERVICE APRIL 14, 2024

 

We open our service with song. Pastor Gail welcomes all to worship and to participate in the life of our church family, and leads us in the responsive call to worship. Luisa Fernandez engages us with a reading of Psalm 111, and Michael Blanco centers us with opening prayer. Nick Baltazar and Ed Manacop lead us in our praise singing. Greg Hart takes up the praises and concerns of the church and our world in the Prayers of the People.

 

Pastor Gail in her sermon, “Jesus Leads Us into the Future,” continues the study of the Easter story from Luke 24 with the encounter between Jesus and the disciples that evening in the locked room. They are terrified and doubt that he really is alive again. Jesus recognizes their fear and doubt and calms them by eating with them. He then explains, as he did to those on the road to Emmaus, how his death and resurrection were prophesied in the Scriptures, with the promise of forgiveness and new life for all who believe in him. He was preparing and empowering his followers to share the Good News wherever they went. We can take comfort and courage from these stories. Jesus went to where his followers were physically and emotionally, as he does with us today. He instructs and empowers us to share the Good News wherever we go. Like the disciples, our fears and doubts do not separate us from God’s love and redeeming power through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We can confidently live out our faith and follow our risen Lord.

 

Verdugo makes its Sunday sermons available to you on Facebook and posts audio copies of the service and sermon at https://verdugochurch.podbean.com.

 

Prayers of the People have been edited to respect the privacy and confidentiality of those participating or mentioned. All CCLI songs are performed under Verdugo Community Church’s CCLI license # 2486815.

 

Verdugo Community Church is a Free Methodist congregation serving the Glassell Park, Eagle Rock, and Glendale areas in Los Angeles. It is located at 4300 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles, CA 90065. Our email address is verdugofmc@gmail.com. Contact Pastor Gail at (323) 500-3343.

 

Worship service copyright 2024 by Verdugo Community Church. Sermon copyright 2024 by Gail Whitcome Linstrom and Verdugo Community Church.