top of page

This Week at First

Live Services

9 AM Contemporary

10:30 AM Traditional


Inevitably, one thing leads to another. This has been true throughout history. This week, we will look at how one thing led to another for Israel and King David and how similar things happened to the followers of Jesus. Will we just let one thing lead to another or will be take control of situations so that one thing leads to the right thing? Our scriptures will be 2 Samuel 11:1-15 and John 6:1-21. The sermon is titled “One Thing Leads to Another.”


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


 

2 Samuel 11:1-15


David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba

11 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

 

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.  3 David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”  4 So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house.  5 The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

 

6 So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.  7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going.  8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king.  9 But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.  10 When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?”  11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths;[a] and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.”  12 Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day,  13 David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

 

David Has Uriah Killed

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.  15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”  


 

John 6:1-21


Feeding the Five Thousand

6 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.[a]   2 A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.  3 Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.  4 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.  5 When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”  6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.  7 Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages[b] would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”  8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,  9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?”  10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they[c] sat down, about five thousand in all.  11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.  12 When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”  13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.  14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

 

15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

 

Jesus Walks on the Water

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,  17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.  18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.  19 When they had rowed about three or four miles,[d] they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified.  20 But he said to them, “It is I;[e] do not be afraid.”  21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

   

 







9am Service




10:30am Service




When you have what seems like a good idea, do you vent it with others or just plunge ahead with your plans? When we have what seems like a good idea for the church, how do we evaluate its merits? Using 2 Samuel 7:1-14a and Mark 6:7-13 we will focus on “Whose Will?”


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


 

2 Samuel 7:1-14a


God’s Covenant with David

7 Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him,  2 the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.”  3 Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”

 

4 But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan:  5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?  6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.  7 Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders[a] of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”  8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel;  9 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.  10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly,  11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.  12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.


 

Mark 6:7-13


 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.  8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;  9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.  10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.  11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”  12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.  13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

   

 







9am Service

(Not Available)


10:30am Service





Seventy years ago, our spiritual forbearers were in the midst of a multi-year journey toward a season of change and growth. In a similar way, the people of Israel were in the midst of change during the reign of King David. The early disciples were also in for a season of change. Using 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19, and John 15:1-12, we will look to God for direction as to what change might be in store for Palmyra First Church. The message will be, “Honoring the Past, Looking to the Future.”


See you Sunday.


Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jim


 

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19


David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

6 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.  2 David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim.  3 They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio,[a] the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart  4 with the ark of God;[b] and Ahio[c] went in front of the ark.  5 David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs[d] and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.



12 So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing;  13 and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.  14 David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod.  15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

 

16 As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

 

17 They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord.  18 When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts,  19 and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat,[a] and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes.


 

John 15:1-12


Jesus the True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.  2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes[a] to make it bear more fruit.  3 You have already been cleansed[b] by the word that I have spoken to you.  4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.  5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.  6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become[c] my disciples.  9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.  11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

 

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  

   

 







9am Service



10:30am Service



bottom of page