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This Week at First

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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.








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February 25th – The Second Sunday in Lent: This week, we turn our attention to the hard work of following the Lord and we look to both the Lord himself, as well as Abraham and Sarah as our examples. The scriptures will be taken form Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 and the message will be titled “And Your Excuse Is . . .”


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


This Week's Scriptures

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

The Sign of the Covenant

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty;[a] walk before me, and be blameless.  2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”  3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,  4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.  5 No longer shall your name be Abram,[b] but your name shall be Abraham;[c] for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.  6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.  7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring[d] after you.  


15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.  16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”  








9am Service



10:30am Service






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February 18th – First Sunday in Lent: This first Sunday in Lent will be a follow-up to the Ash Wednesday service. We will read about the covenant God made with Noah and every living creature, and then be offered an opportunity to make a recommitment to the covenant we too have with God using the Wesleyan Covenant service. Our scriptures will be taken from Genesis 9:8-17 and Mark 1:9-15. The message will be “Renewing Our Covenant.”


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


This Week's Scriptures

Genesis 9:8-17

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,  9 “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,  10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.[a]  11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”  12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:  13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,  15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”  17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”  


Mark 1:9-15


The Baptism of Jesus

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved;[a] with you I am well pleased.”

 

The Temptation of Jesus

12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

 

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news[b] of God,[c]  15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;[d] repent, and believe in the good news.”[e]











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Palmyra First UMC

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