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This Week at First

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10:30 AM Traditional

September 15th: What is Better for Others?

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    As we honor the work of our ambulance workers and those involved in managing emergency situations, we will turn to Philippians 2:1-11 and Mark 10:46-52 to see how God responses to people in need. Our message will be titled “What is Better for Others?” During the second service, we will honor those who stand ready to respond to all kinds of emergency situations.


    See you Sunday.


    Grace and Peace,

    Pastor Jim


    Philippians 2:1-11


    Imitating Christ’s Humility

    2 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy,  2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.  4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  5 Let the same mind be in you that was[a] in Christ Jesus,

     

    6 who, though he was in the form of God,    did not regard equality with God    as something to be exploited,7 but emptied himself,    taking the form of a slave,    being born in human likeness.And being found in human form,8     he humbled himself    and became obedient to the point of death—    even death on a cross.

     

    9 Therefore God also highly exalted him    and gave him the name    that is above every name,10 so that at the name of Jesus    every knee should bend,    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue should confess    that Jesus Christ is Lord,    to the glory of God the Father.



    Mark 10:46-52


    The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus

    46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.  47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  49 Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”  50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.  51 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher,[a] let me see again.”  52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

       








    9am Service:

    (Not available)


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    September 8th: Welcome

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      Jesus came to earth to offer salvation to everyone. During his time on earth, he reached out to the least, the last, and the lost. By Jesus’ standard, how are we doing at reaching out? Using the James 2:1-17 and Mark 7:24-37 as the foundation for our message, “Welcome.”


      See you Sunday.


      Grace and Peace,

      Pastor Jim


      James 2:1-17


      Warning against Partiality

      2 My brothers and sisters,[a] do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?[b]  2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,  3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,”[c]  4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?  5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.[d] Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?  6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court?  7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

       

      8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.  10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.  11 For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.  12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.  13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

       

      Faith without Works Is Dead

      14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters,[e] if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?  15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,  16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?  17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.



      Mark 7:24-37


      The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

      24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre.[a] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice,  25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet.  26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.  27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”  28 But she answered him, “Sir,[b] even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  29 Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.”  30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

       

      Jesus Cures a Deaf Man

      31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.  32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him.  33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.  34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”  35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.  36 Then Jesus[c] ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.  37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

         










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      September 1st: Proper Motivation

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        Motivation! What motivates you to do things? Are we doing right things for right reasons, right things for wrong reasons, wrong things for wrong reasons or wrong things for right reasons? (Confused yet?) Our readings will be from James 1:17-27 and Mark 7:1-8, 17-23. The message will be “Proper Motivation.”


        See you Sunday.


        Grace and Peace,

        Pastor Jim


        James 1:17-27


        17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.[a]  18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

         

        Hearing and Doing the Word

        19 You must understand this, my beloved:[b] let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;  20 for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.  21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

         

        22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.  23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves[c] in a mirror;  24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.  25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.

         

        26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.  27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.



        Mark 7:1-8, 17-23


        The Tradition of the Elders

        7 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,  2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.  3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands,[a] thus observing the tradition of the elders;  4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it;[b] and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.[c])  5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live[d] according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”  6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

        ‘This people honors me with their lips,    but their hearts are far from me;7 in vain do they worship me,    teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

         

        8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”


        17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.  18 He said to them, “Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile,  19 since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)  20 And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles.  21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,  22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.  23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

           








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