Preaching from 1 Corinthians 13

We are having a busy, productive week at Word of Life in upstate New York. During my morning sessions I decided to preach from 1 Corinthians 13. It has been personally challenging to meditate on phrases such as love “does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not rude, does not seek its own, and is not easily provoked.” On Monday I spoke on the preeminence of love from verses 1-3. Yesterday we looked at verse 4, today at most of verse 5, tomorrow at the rest of verse 5 plus verse 6, and on Friday we will wrap up with a look at the four phrases in verse 7.

Love . . .

Bears all things,
Believes all things,
Hopes all things,
Endures all things.

As I told the folks more than once, preaching these sermons is the easy part. Putting them into practice is something else. We plan to post the sermons as podcasts later this summer.

Meanwhile anticipation is building toward the big 4th of July celebration on Friday. For many years Word of Life has sponsored a free patriotic concert on the Schroon Lake beach that attracts up to 10,000 people. That’s amazing when you consider that we are located in the vast Adirondack Park and the all the nearby communities are quite small. There is a big parade late in the afternoon in downtown Schroon Lake (something of a misnomer since the main street starts with a gas station and ends two blocks later at the local grocery store) followed by the holiday program at the beach.

Jimmy DeYoung and I are sharing the teaching responsibilities this week. Each morning at 9:30 AM I start at the Campground eight nine miles south of Schroon Lake while he teaches at the Inn, then we switch places for the 11:15 AM service. Jimmy has been giving prophetic messages based on the Book of Revelation. When I asked the folks at the Inn what he talked about this morning, they laughed and said, “Everything!” He talks fast and covers a lot of ground and is a very informative and enjoyable speaker. He is especially knowledgeable about current events in the Middle East.

The weather here has been gorgeous. It’s easy to see why people drive long distances to visit the Adirondacks.