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Greetings, everyone!
TODAY three of our Bible Quizzers competed in regional quizzing put on by Midland Ministries in preparation for nationals in April in the Wisconsin Dells. Regionals began Friday evening and continue through late afternoon today. Please pray for Ruthie Clements, Chloe Dixon, and Olivia Wright as they prepare to recall the Scriptures they have committed to memory. TOMORROW is THE LORD’S DAY On the traditional Christian calendar, this Sunday is "Palm Sunday" (also called "Passion Sunday"), both references to the events of the week before Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Tomorrow, we emphasize the "passion"part by participating in the Lord's Supper following the sermon, which is entitled "A Time to Remember Christ," and will focus on Christ as Covenant-Giver, Servant, and Betrayed One. If you haven't already done so, spend some moments in self-examination, asking some basic questions in preparation for receiving the Lord's Supper. I have attached some sample starter questions, but feel free to go deeper. Remember, the goal of self-examination is to participate in the Lord's Supper, to approach the Lord's Table with an attitude of confession and contrition for sin, and with the resolve to reconcile any broken relationships with other believers. As we do so, we feast by faith on Christ's broken body and shed blood in the symbols of bread and the fruit of the vine. We do so joyfully as members of the body of Christ in its local expression. Below are the Scriptures that will frame our worship service. Please take a few moments to read and meditate on them in preparation for the Lord's Day. Click anywhere on the link to view a printable version of these verses, or use your favorite format for reading them elsewhere. Fighter Verses: Philippians 2:12-13 Call to Worship: Psalm 31:9-16 Old Testament: Isaiah 50:4-9a New Testament: Philippians 2:5-11 Assurance of Pardon: Psalm 32:1-2 Sermon Text: Matthew 26:26-29, 45-50; John 13;3-15 Benediction: Hebrews 13:20-21 THIS WEEK
ICYMI Last Sunday’s Message The First Disciples, Luke 5:1-11 To view last week's service, and previous services, in their totality, visit our YouTube Channel. READ THROUGH THE BIBLE Week 13 of the 5 Day Bible Reading Program. Read through the entire Bible following this plan, or read only the New Testament (in italics). Day One: Deuteronomy 27-31; Luke 12 Day Two: Deut. 32-34; Psalm 13; Luke 13 Day Three: Joshua 1-4; Psalm 143; Luke 14 Day Four: Josh. 5-8; Psalm 14; Luke 15 Day Five: Josh. 9-13; Luke 16 (When you get through this week, you will have completed one-fourth of the reading plan. Way to go!) Visit the website for more up-to-date information! BONUS: As we prepare for the events of next week, culminating in Good Friday, take a few moments to listen to the congregation of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., singing the Hymn "Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted." Be in awe at the silent majesty of the crucified Christ, reigning as King from the tree, rejected by His own people, making full atonement for sins with His shed blood. See you in church! Grace and peace, Pastor Greg
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**NOTE: Due to length, you may want to scan this week's update from top to bottom for highlights before reading the whole thing. Blessings!
Greetings, everyone! As we approach Easter, I want to encourage you to give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. We have reached a little over 25% of our $1200 goal so far. We will continue to receive this offering through "Resurrection Sunday," April 4. For more information on the AAEO and where the money goes, visit https://www.anniearmstrong.com/ TODAY between 10 am and noon, Muriel Elder will be honored for her retirement from over 20 years as administrative assistant for St. Joe Baptist Association at a drop-in reception at McCarthy Baptist Church. If you have been involved in the association during that time, you have been affected by Muriel's ministry. Please take some time to extend your appreciation to her if you are able to do so. TOMORROW is THE LORD’S DAY! From The Valley of Vision, a book of Puritan Prayers, a prayer entitled "New Beginning" is a fitting way to mark the new season, the season of new beginnings: "Incomprehensible, great, and glorious God, I adore thee and abase myself. I approach thee mindful that I am less than nothing, a creature worse than nothing. My thoughts are not screened from thy gaze. My secret sins blaze in the light of thy countenance. Enable me to remember that blood which cleanseth all sin, to believe in that grace which subdues all iniquities, to resign myself to that agency which can deliver me from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Thou hast begun a good work in me and canst alone continue and complete it. Give me an increasing conviction of my tendency to err, and of my exposure to sin. Help me to feel more of the purifying, softening influence of religion, its compassion, love, pity, courtesy, and employ me as thy instrument in blessing others. Give me to distinguish between the mere form of godliness and its power, between life and a name to live, between guile and truth, between hypocrisy and a religion that will bear thy eye. If I am not right, set me right, keep me right; And may I at last come to thy house in peace." (The Valley of Vision is one of the few books of written prayers which I recommend. The language is so steeped in Scripture and the prayers of the Puritans that it can be, not a replacement for, but an enrichment to your personal prayer life. I recommend even just taking a few phrases or sentences which are meaningful to you and incorporating them into personal or public prayer to help avoid sameness and dullness of expression). As we gather for corporate worship tomorrow morning, remember the words of the psalmist, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." Read, meditate on, and inwardly digest these Scripture passage as you prepare your heart to meet the living God with the living people of God through faith in His Word: Fighter Verses:Philippians 2:10-11 Call to Worship: Psalm 119:9-16 Old Testament: Jeremiah 31:31-34 New Testament: Hebrews 5:5-10 Prayer of Confession: Psalm 51:1-12 Assurance of Pardon: Psalm 51:16-17 Sermon Text: Luke 5:1-11 Benediction: Numbers 6:24-26 Right after morning worship, join us for a brief VBS INTEREST MEETING at the front of the sanctuary. The purpose of this brief meeting will be to determine interest and set dates and format for Vacation Bible School. (Anticipated length 15 minutes). THIS WEEK
ICYMI Last Sunday’s Message Jesus, the One with Authority, Part Two Luke 4:38-44 To view last week's service, and previous services, in their totality, visit our YouTube Channel. READ THROUGH THE BIBLE Week 12 of the 5 Day Bible Reading Program. Read through the entire Bible following this plan, or read only the New Testament (in italics). Day One: Deuteronomy 6-9; Luke 7 Day Two: Deut. 10-14; Psalm 5; Luke 8 Day Three: Deut. 15-18; Psalm 115; Luke 9 Day Four: Deut. 19-22; Psalm 6; Luke 10 Day Five: Deut. 23-26; Luke 11 Visit the website for more up-to-date information! BONUS: Voddie Baucham has a new book coming out entitled Faultlines, dealing with the effects of Critical Race Theory in evangelicalism today. The book comes out April 6, but if you would like to pre-order it, let me know and I will add it to my order next week. Here is an interview from The Sword and Trowel podcast with Tom Ascol and Jared Longshore on the subject with Voddie Baucham as a guest. (This podcast dates from fall 2020 before Voddie's heart surgery, which we as a church prayed for). See you in church! Grace and Peace, Pastor Greg "Rejoice evermore!" This two-word verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:16 is one of only two in the New Testament with only two English words comprising it. (The other one is John 11:35, the familiar "Jesus wept."). Nestled in the middle of thirteen unqualified commands from Paul to the church at Thessalonica, this one is easy to overlook. But its message is packed with power for us as believers for whatever we face from the world: sorrow, sadness, sickness, and even death are ultimately overcome through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. In these weeks leading up to Easter, remember to "rejoice evermore," for the Savior has bled and died for the remission of our sins and that isn't all: the tomb is empty, our Savior is risen indeed!
TODAY remember our Bible Quiz team "Contagious" as they compete with 25 other teams from our region in this final competition of the regular season. They have done well this year and deserve our congratulations. If you would like to watch them compete today, go to Journey Baptist Church, 5708 King Hill Ave., in St. Joe. You will need a mask once you go inside. Competition starts at 12:30 pm and usually goes until about 4 pm. TOMORROW is THE LORD’S DAY, so don't forget to join your fellow-believers in corporate worship. As Hebrews 10:25 reminds us, "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves, and so much more as you see the day approaching." We are blessed to be able to gather, and we treat it as a privilege to do so. In this country, that God-given right is guaranteed in our Constitution. May we never take it for granted. Here's what's happening tomorrow:
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 19:1-11 OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus 20:1-17 NEW TESTAMENT:1 Corinthians 1:18-25 PRAYER OF CONFESSION: Psalm 19:12-13 ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Psalm 28:8-9 SERMON TEXT: Luke 4:31-37 BENEDICTION: Numbers 6:24-26 THIS WEEK in addition to our regular opportunities for Monday Evening "Sunday School" via ZOOM at 7 pm (see Pastor Kyle for details) and Midweek Service in person and via ZOOM on Wednesday at 6:30 pm, don't forget:
COMING UP
Currently, these things are tentatively scheduled and will likely take place. Please stay tuned as we keep this information updated. ICYMI Last Sunday’s Message Jesus, the Incarnate Word Luke 4:31-37 To view last week's service, and previous services, in their totality, visit our YouTube Channel. READ THROUGH THE BIBLE Week 10 of the 5 Day Bible Reading Program. Read through the entire Bible following this plan, or read only the New Testament (in italics). Day One: Numbers 8-11; Colossians 1 Day Two: Numbers 12-14; Psalm 28; Colossians 2 Day Three: Numbers 15-18; Psalm 113; Colossians 3 Day Four: Numbers 19-21; Colossians 4 Day Five: Numbers 22-25; Luke 1 How are you doing with this? If you have kept up with the plan, you are more than one-sixth of the way through your Bible reading for the year. Congratulations! But what about if you haven't? I want to encourage you: it is common to fall behind and give up altogether. Resist the urge to give up! Even if you have fallen behind, just do one of two things: keep going at your own pace until you have read the Bible all the way through. This might take two years instead of one, but that is ok. The other thing you can do is to simply start afresh this week with the assigned reading. You can then come back to the part that you missed later. Either way, keep pressing on! BONUS: Some of you have been thinking about the various vaccines that have rolled out for the COVID-19 virus. Please allow me to stress at the beginning that I am neither recommending that your obtain the vaccine nor that you avoid obtaining it. I am simply providing what I believe to be true and accurate information in order to help us think through the moral and ethical implications. Pfizer and Moderna have been on the leading edge of vaccine production back before the first of the year, while Johnson & Johnson just completed the third clinical trial and is just on the horizon of availability. A number of ethical considerations have been raised concerning how these vaccines were tested and how they will be produced. The primary question, as I understand it, revolves around the role of fetal tissue lines. A little history here. Two fetal tissue lines, the so-called "immortal lines," came from two aborted children in the 1960s. One abortion in particular in the Netherlands at that time produced the HEK293 cell line in 1972. These lines have been replicated ("cloned") for use in much current medical technology, not just the COVID vaccines. Pfizer and Moderna did not involve fetal cells of any kind in the production of their vaccines, although some of the replicated fetal cells may have been used in the testing of those vaccines. The J & J vaccine used replicated fetal cells from the aforementioned immortal lines both in the production and in the testing of the vaccines. It is important to note that none of the vaccines currently in production involve or rely on the current aborting of babies or the use of aborted baby parts. The involvement with abortion is an historical involvement with two babies which were aborted more than 50 years ago. Does this remove the the taint of abortion from these vaccines? No, it doesn't. If it were not for the abortion of two babies in the 1960s, the J & J vaccine would not exist at all. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may have an indirect relationship to these replicated cells in the testing phase, as mentioned above. If given a choice, it appears that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do not have a direct link to these two abortions, while J & J does. But it is likely that, if and when you decide to obtain the vaccine (and I believe this is a matter of individual freedom and choice), you will not, as Al Mohler puts it, "be given a menu. You will be given a vaccine." In order to arrive at the most ethical choice, one must take into consideration proximity in time of the vaccine to the actual abortion, directness or indirectness of the use of fetal tissue obtained from those abortions, and whether any more babies will need to be aborted in the future in order for the vaccines to be produced. (The answers in order are: 50+ years ago; a mixture of direct and indirect use, depending on the company; and "no"). For a more thoughtful discussion of this subject, I recommend that you listen to or read the transcripts from The Briefing with Al Mohler from Monday December 14, 2020 (concerning Pfizer and Moderna) and Wednesday March 3, 2021 (concerning Johnson & Johnson). Visit the website for more up-to-date information! See you in church! Grace and peace, Pastor Greg |
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