top of page

This Week at First

Live Services

9 AM Contemporary

10:30 AM Traditional

March 17th: When Trouble Comes



March 17th, The Fifth Sunday in Lent: Some people, even preachers, believe that all faithful Christians live charmed lives. If we just have enough faith, God will be with us every step of the way and ensure life will be good, and trouble is only what someone else experiences. Based on our reading from John 12:20-33, Jesus is likely to disagree with this kind of thinking. Our message, “When Trouble Comes” will be based on the

reading from John and Hebrews 5:5-10.


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


 

This Week's Scriptures

Hebrews 5:5-10

5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,

“You are my Son,    today I have begotten you”;

 

6 as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever,    according to the order of Melchizedek.”

 

7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus[a] offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.  8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;  9 and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,  10 having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.


 

John 12:20-33


Some Greeks Wish to See Jesus

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.  21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

 

Jesus Speaks about His Death

27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.  28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”  29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”  30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.  31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people[a] to myself.”  33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.  


 






9am Service



10:30am Service



March 10th: The Main Thing



March 10th – The Fourth Sunday in Lent: It has been said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” So, what is the main thing in your life? What gets lifted up above all else? In our scriptures from both Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21, we hear about things that are lifted up. This week we focus on “The Main Thing.”


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


 

This Week's Scriptures

Numbers 21:4-9

4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea,[a] to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way.  5 The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.”  6 Then the Lord sent poisonous[b] serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.  7 The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.  8 And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous[c] serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”  9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.


 

John 3:14-21


 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.[a]

 

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

 

17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.  20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.  21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”[b]


 






9am Service



10:30 Service




March 3rd: A Zealous Fool



March 3rd – The Third Sunday in Lent: Did you ever ask, “What was God thinking?” This week, we acknowledge that part of our faith seems like foolishness to many people, but is it foolishness to you? Our scriptures will be 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 and John 2:13-22. Our message is titled “A Zealous Fool.”


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


 

This Week's Scriptures

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

 

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.  22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,  23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,  24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.  


 

John 2:13-22


Jesus Cleanses the Temple

13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.  15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”  17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”  19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”  21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body.  22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.


 






9am Service


10:30am Service



bottom of page