August 25, 2019, Fr. Ryan Hilderbrand – Evangelization

Here, brethren, is an account of the gospel I preached to you. It was this that was handed on to you; upon this your faith rests;

through this (if you keep in mind the tenor of its preaching) you are in the way of salvation; unless indeed your belief was ill founded.

The chief message I handed on to you, as it was handed on to me, was that Christ, as the scriptures had foretold, died for our sins;

that he was buried, and then, as the scriptures had foretold, rose again on the third day.

That he was seen by Cephas, then by the eleven apostles,

and afterwards by more than five hundred of the brethren at once, most of whom are alive at this day, though some have gone to their rest.

Then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles;

and last of all, I too saw him, like the last child, that comes to birth unexpectedly.

Of all the apostles, I am the least; nay, I am not fit to be called an apostle, since there was a time when I persecuted the church of God;

only, by God’s grace, I am what I am, and the grace he has shewn me has not been without fruit;

In those days, Jesus set out again from the region of Tyre, and came by way of Sidon to the sea of Galilee, right into the region of Decapolis.

And they brought to him a man who was deaf and dumb, with the prayer that he would lay his hand upon him.

And he took him aside out of the multitude; he put his fingers into his ears, and spat, and touched his tongue;

then he looked up to heaven, and sighed; Ephpheta, he said, (that is, Be opened).

Whereupon his ears were opened, and the bond which tied his tongue was loosed, and he talked plainly.

And he laid a strict charge on them, not to speak of it to anyone; but the more he charged them, the more widely they published it,

and were more than ever astonished; He has done well, they said, in all his doings; he has made the deaf hear, and the dumb speak.